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CURRAN, Pearl
(Investigator 220, 2025 January) Like Geraldine Cummins, but living on the other side of the Atlantic in St Louis, Missouri, Pearl Curran was an average quiet living woman who became one of the world’s most prolific automatists. At a seance she attended in July 1913 she placed her hand on a ouija board and hoped to hear from the spirit of a relative who had recently died. To her astonishment the pointer started to move and a message was spelled out, “Many moons ago I lived. Again I come...my name is Patience Worth.” Further seances revealed that Patience Worth was a Quaker girl, born and raised in England and who had emigrated with her family to America early in the seventeenth century. Working hard and long she had not particularly enjoyed her short life on earth and met her death at the hands of an Indian raiding party in 1641. Patience Worth’s initial revelations were laboriously recorded letter by letter from the moving pointer of the ouija board, but this method was far too slow and clumsy for the amount of material coming through. Mrs Curran then tried automatic writing but again the speed of delivery was too fast, finally she engaged a professional shorthand writer to take down the words and sentences racing through her mind. Mrs Curran had had little formal education, she was not particularly fond of reading and her knowledge of history left much to be desired, yet in a single night she recorded twenty-two poems the literary quality of which was far beyond her intellect. Subsequently Mrs Curran published many historical novels dictated by Patience Worth, among them, the 350,000 word The Sorry Tale, a narrative containing incredible detail of life in ancient Palestine and Rome, and Hope Trueblood, a dramatic tale set in Victorian England. Her epic poem Telka, ran into 60,000 words and was renowned for its accurate rendition of Middle English and Elizabethan prose. Critics were impressed, and a thorough investigation by the American Society for Psychical Research failed to find any evidence to dispute the authenticity of Mrs Curran’s claim that her prodigious writings were not her personal creation. Coincidentally, and in accordance with Patience Worth’s wishes, Mrs Curran adopted a child who fitted the description given her of herself by Patience Worth. The child grew up wearing Quaker-like dresses, married twice, and after having a premonition of approaching death died at the age of twenty-seven. Was she the reincarnation of Patience Worth? Comment: Mrs Curran’s literary ability was greater than was generally known, this, together with the help of her husband enabled her to achieve her nonetheless remarkable output. Questions remain however, how could Patience Worth who died hundreds of years prior to the Victorian era have any knowledge of that period, or for that matter, that of Jesus Christ who died hundreds of years before? See also Geraldine Cummins. Further reading: Cavendish, R. (Ed.) 1970. Man Myth and Magic. BCP Publishing London Ltd. Brandon, Ruth. 1984. The Spiritualists. Prometheus Books. Buffalo, New York. Picknett, Lynn. 1990. The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Macmillan, London, Ltd. From: Edwards, H. Magic Minds Miraculous Moments, Harry Edwards Publications |