The Watseka Wonder |
When Dr. E. Stevens first came to the residence of one 13 year old Lurancy Vennum, she warned him not to come any closer, snarling savagely like a wild beast. The reason he was there was because for around 6 months since July of 1877, the girl from Watseka, Illinois had suffered from a mysterious and chilling malady. A seeming case of multiple personality disorder, her character could and would change suddenly from one extreme to another. Sometimes she would sit silent and sullen, other times she would go into visionary trances, reporting ecstatic trips to heaven. Her parents were so worried for her they considered sending the child to an asylum, an option little better than the middle age practice of abandoning unwanted children in the forest. Sometimes in those long ago times it was thought that a malformed or mentally ill child had been switched by the "wee" people who lived underground (of course) and the child would be left in the woods with some food or coins in hope that the wee people would switch back the missing child. All of this of course has absolutely nothing to do with Lurancy Vennum, but indulge me. Dr. Stevens eventually gained the girls trust. She told him that she was in fact several entities, including several people. She divulged that she was a 63 year old woman named Katrina Hogan as well as a young man called Willie Canning. Stevens was able to suggest to Lurancy that perhaps she should try and allow a "better controlling" spirit to control her. Maybe he was a witch doctor. I guess you just cant say enough about 19th century medicine. So Lurancy chose the spirit of a former neighbor's daughter, Mary Roff. Poor Mary Roff had died when she was only 18 years old after being plagued by seizures her entire life. Lurancy assumed the the identity of Mary, became docile, timid polite and mild. In addition she no longer recognized her home as her home or the Vennums as her family. She begged to be allowed to "go home". The Roff family agreed to this, and asked Lurancy - Mary how long she would be staying. She replied that the angels would allow her to stay until some time in May. For just over 3 months Lurancy was Mary. She recognized Mary's friends and relatives, was familiar with all of the objects in the home and incredibly could recount hundreds of incidents from Mary's childhood. But she would still occassionally go into trances, refusing meals saying she would have her dinner in heaven. On May 21, 1878 Lurancy returned to her old self, however Mary would make appearances every so often. Later Lurancy got married and had a child. During the baby's delivery, Mary put Lurancy into a trance and the child birth was painless. Richard Hodgson, who inquired into the case on behalf of the American Society for Psychial Research, was convinced Lurancy was possessed by Mary's spirit. Some skeptics claimed Lurancy was simply an opportunistic teenager who enjoyed the attention. However this scenario calls for some remarkable role-playing, as she would have fooled Mary's parents. Whatever the real case was for her behavior, Lurancy Vennum was aptly given the name "The Watseka Wonder". |
