1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So, since we're still 4 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: in October, I thought today would be fun for a 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: literary mystery sort of. It's technically a ghost story, and 6 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: it had a lot of speculation about what was going 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: on when all of this was playing out in the 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: early twentieth century. More than one hundred years later, there 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: are still only theories about what actually took place, although 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: the nature of those theories has almost always been more 11 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: about psychological profiling than any paranormal Today we are talking 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: about Patience Worth and Pearl Curran, who I mentioned last 13 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: year during our wag Aboard episode that this might be 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,279 Speaker 1: an episode, and it finally is a yearly. I mean, 15 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: that's not that long considering how long no, so of 16 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: our stuff on the list is way older than that. Yeah. So, 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: Patience Worth was an english woman born in sixteen forty 18 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: nine maybe sixteen ninety four. As an adult, she immigrated 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: to North America, settled on the island of Nantucket, and 20 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: she would eventually become a prolific and popular writer penning 21 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: multiple novels and poems and other works, but that all 22 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: happens after she was dead. She, according to this, was 23 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: killed by Native Americans, and her writing career was centuries 24 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: later because Patient's Worth was just almost certainly a fiction herself, 25 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: although for a long time it was claimed that she 26 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: was dictating her writing through a wija board. Yeah, that 27 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: life story or things that she told people that have 28 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: never been very in any way. Yes, as I understand it, 29 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: this isn't a person we can conclusively point to in 30 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: the historical record and say, like, here's her name on 31 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: the ship's manifest et cetera. Pearl Lenor Pollard, a very 32 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: real person, was born in Mound City, Illinois, in eighteen 33 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: eighty three. Her father was George Pollard, a railroad worker, 34 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: and her mother was Mary Pollard. George duded the nature 35 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: of his job went where work was, so the family 36 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: moved pretty frequently. This was apparently not a life that 37 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: Mary was really cut out for. She was not ever 38 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: really able to find a way to live with the 39 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: uncertain nature of her husband's job that was not very stressful, 40 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: and after Mary had what is described as a nervous 41 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: breakdown when Pearl was still a small child of four. 42 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: At that point, Pearl went to Saint Louis for a 43 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: while to stay with her grandmother. Pearl struggled in school. 44 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: She was creative and she got along well with her peers, 45 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: but she just didn't do well academically. She later described 46 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: herself as an impudent child and bored with school. At 47 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: an early age, she was given music lessons, which she 48 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: saw as her one way out of a life that 49 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: she otherwise thought was hopeless. Then at thirteen, her education 50 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: abruptly ended when she had some kind of a nervous collapse. 51 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: She told an interviewer in nineteen twenty seven that she 52 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: broke down. She chalked it up to quote, too much 53 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: piano elocution, Delsarte, school and entertainments. Details beyond that we 54 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: don't really have. But she did not return to school. 55 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: She was re enrolled, but the long break in her 56 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: education meant that she was bumped back a grade. Rather 57 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: than fall back to that lower grade, she just dropped out. 58 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: She also wasn't raised in any particular religion, and later 59 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: in life recounted asking her father if there was a god, 60 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: and her father replied, my dear, I don't know her 61 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: only exposure to spiritualism was a brief stay with an 62 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: uncle in Chicago. That uncle was a medium. She played 63 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: piano in his church briefly and later said she didn't 64 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: like the people that it attracted. In nineteen oh seven, 65 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: Pearl married John H. Curran, who was a land developer. Yeah, 66 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: her early life is a little bit tricky to piece together, 67 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: because it does seem like she bounced around from relative 68 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: to relative sometimes when her mom felt a little bit overwhelmed. 69 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: But she did end up back with her mother after 70 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: a while. And then in nineteen twelve, Pearl and her 71 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: friend Emily Grant Hutchings. It sounds like Emily's husband and 72 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: Pearl's husband were friends. These two women decided to play 73 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: with a Wigi board. There are different versions of this 74 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: story somewhere. They were first at another woman's house and 75 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: then Emily got very interested and bought a board for herself, 76 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: and it emits that part entirely. So it's unclear which 77 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: of those is real. But at this point in nineteen twelve, 78 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: Pearl's father had recently passed and Emily, who had been 79 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: very much swept up in the tide of spiritualism that 80 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: was happening in the US in the nineteen teens. Spiritualism 81 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: had been happening before that, but there was a particularly 82 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: big wave of popularity then. She one hundred percent believed 83 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: in the supernatural, and she thought that perhaps she and 84 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: Pearl could contact Pearl's father, George on the other side. 85 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: Pearl later described her own position on the matter as 86 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: skeptical at best. She called it silly chatter. She was 87 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: not afraid of the weige aboard, but she also wasn't 88 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: all that interested, and the two ladies would kind of 89 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: mess around with it when their husbands got together, but 90 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,039 Speaker 1: they never got much of anything but random, kind of 91 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: jittery pointer movements until July third, nineteen thirteen, when the 92 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: two women sat down with the board between them that night, 93 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: a clear message came through. It started with the word many, 94 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: and then it quickly continued from there. When all the 95 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: letters had been pointed to one by one, the message 96 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: was quote many moons ago, I lived again. I come, 97 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: Patience worth my name. There was a brief pause, and 98 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: then the communication continued and the ladies wrote down Patience's 99 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: words as she spelled them out, quote wait, I would 100 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: speak with THEE if thou shalt live, then so shall I, 101 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 1: and make my bread by thy hearth. Good friends, let 102 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: us be married. The time for work is past. Let 103 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: the tabby drowse and blink her wisdom to the fire log. 104 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: At this point one of the women commented that this 105 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: communication was quaint, and then the spirit continued, quote, good mother, 106 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: wisdom is too harsh for thee, and thou shouldst love 107 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: her only as a foster mother. I do love the 108 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: the line. Let the tabby drowse and blea her wisdom 109 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: to the fire log. Well talk about some of Patients's 110 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: other bits of wisdom later on, but this was merely 111 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: the beginning, because it turned out that Patience was a 112 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: pretty chatty spirit. She communicated it seemed any time that 113 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: Pearl Current touched the wijiboard, Emily Hutchings did not have 114 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: the same effect. It was Pearl, always Pearl, no matter 115 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: who her wigeaboard partner was. And from that very first instance, 116 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: the dialogues were always documented with notes about the situation 117 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: and whoever was partnering with Pearl on the wi jam. 118 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: But these sessions with patients are interesting in the spiritualism 119 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: picture because they were never dressed up in the trappings 120 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: that came with it. They were all very casual. They 121 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: happened in full light, like in a living room. There 122 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: were no incantations, there was no formality. This is not 123 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: a lip candles in darkened room situation. It's like, would 124 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: you like to come over and sit on the couch 125 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: and I'll get out the wigiboard. These sessions had observers 126 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: pretty frequently because talk about what was going on with 127 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: Missus Curran spread rapidly. Pearl had started to describe her 128 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: own experience when communing with Patience to her friends and family. 129 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: This became a source of fascination for everyone they knew. 130 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: Pearl said that in addition to the words patience spelled 131 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: out on the wijaboard, she was also receiving mental pictures 132 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: and sometimes additional text in visual form. Soon, Pearl and 133 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: her husband John were essentially hosting just a continuous run 134 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: of open house events where they served food. Anybody could 135 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: come and watch Pearl and patients talk. In a lot 136 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: of cases, guests even participated. They acted as Pearl's weja 137 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: partner while John recorded everything that patients was sharing. Guests 138 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: could ask questions and patients would rapidly answer them. She 139 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: was very quick with a sharp retort when any of 140 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: the participants said anything that she did not like. One 141 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: of the exchanges between Patience and a physician who visited 142 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: the currents and was not a believer, it's a good 143 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: example of this, and it went in part like this. 144 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: The doctor says, I hope Patience worth will come. I'd 145 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: like to find out what her game is, and Patience 146 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: quickly replied. Doss then desired the plucking of another goose, 147 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: and the doctor says, by George, she's right there with 148 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: the grease, isn't she. Patience replies, enough to base the 149 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: last upon the spit. The doctor says, well, that's quick 150 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: wit for you. Pretty hard to catch her. Patient says, 151 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: the salt of today will not serve to catch the 152 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: bird of tomorrow. When visitors came and questioned patients, a 153 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: lot of the time they wanted to ask about the future, 154 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: but the spirit was always mum on such queries. She 155 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: would not tell anyone the future, but she would write poetry, 156 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: and she wrote a lot of it. She had carried 157 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: literary ambitions, but she explained to Pearl that she'd just 158 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: been looking for the right vessel to work through. At 159 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: one point, Patience was reportedly sending as many as fifteen 160 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: hundred words an hour through the ouija, but eventually that 161 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: became too cumbersome, so Patience was just speaking directly through Pearl. 162 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: Missus Curran described just sort of getting a feeling before 163 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: it began, and then there was Patience. Pearl didn't appear 164 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: to be in a trance or tuned out of her 165 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: surroundings in any way during these sessions. She could converse 166 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: briefly with the people around her, or lay out food 167 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: on a platter, or anything else that a hostess might do, 168 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: but she was also speaking the words that Patience Worth 169 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: was sending through her. One of the things that always 170 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,839 Speaker 1: sounded like a pretty amazing part of her story is 171 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: that a lot of the witnesses say she never backtracked, 172 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,680 Speaker 1: never repeated words, and that she didn't include any filler words. 173 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: All of Patience's communications came through clear with no kind 174 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: of editing, which is astonishing if you just listen to 175 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: people conversation at all. We are going to delve into 176 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: some of the writings of patients Worth after we paused 177 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:18,839 Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors. One of the earliest 178 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: pieces of poetry that Patients wrote through pearl is as follows. 179 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: A blighted bud may hold a sweeter message than the 180 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: loveliest flower. For God hath kissed her wounded heart and 181 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: left a promise there. A cloak of lies may clothe 182 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: the golden truth. The sunlight's warmth may fade its glossy 183 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: black to whiten and green, and prove the fault of 184 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: weak and shoddy dye. Oh, why let sorrow steal thy heart? 185 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: Thy bosom is but its foster mother, the world it's cradle, 186 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: and the loving home its grave. Weave sorrow on the 187 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: loom of love and warp the loom with faith. So 188 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: as we said, that was one of the earlier efforts. 189 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: But Patients evolved and became a stronger writer and produced 190 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: some really striking lines of verse. Here's an example. I 191 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: am molten silver running. Let man catch me with his cup, 192 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: Let him proceed upon his labor, smithing upon me. Let 193 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: him with cunnings, mte my substance, Let him at his dream, 194 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: lending my stuff onto his creation. It shall be no 195 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: less me. The line I am molten silver running is 196 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: so striking to me I want to put it on shirts. 197 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: I just love it those things that just when I 198 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: read it, I was like, Oh, I love uh. Sometimes 199 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: Patience would reveal more about herself and where she had 200 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: lived when she was alive, theoretically in the seventeenth century. 201 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: At one point she shared this recollection quote, well, I 202 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 1: remember a certain church with its wei windows and its 203 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: prim walls, with its sanctity and meekness, with its aloofness 204 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: and chilling godliness. Well, I remember the Sabbath and its 205 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,599 Speaker 1: quietude of uneasiness, wherein the creaking of the wood was 206 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: an infernalism, the droning and scuffing of the menfolks shoes, 207 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,560 Speaker 1: and the rustle of the clothes of the dames and maids, 208 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: the squeaking of the benches, and the drowsy humming of 209 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: some busy bee who broke the Sabbath's law. Aye. Well, 210 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: I remember the heat that foretold the wrath of God, 211 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: making the good man the parsons sweat Aye, and heaven 212 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 1: seemed far far. In nineteen sixteen, Casper Yost, who had 213 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: become one of Kurrn's friends after Patients appeared, and who 214 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,959 Speaker 1: was also editor of the Saint Louis Globe Democrat, wrote 215 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: a book about Patience Worth titled Patience Worth a Psychic Mystery. 216 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,199 Speaker 1: This was written with the Kurran's permission and their collaboration. 217 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 1: That book opens with the following message quote. The compiler 218 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,199 Speaker 1: of this book is not a spiritualist, nor a psychologist, 219 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: nor a member of the Society for Psychical Research, nor 220 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: has he ever had anything more than a transitory and 221 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: skeptical interest in psychic phenomena of any character. He is 222 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: a newspaper man whose privilege and pleasure it is to 223 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: present the facts in relation to some phenomena which he 224 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: does not attempt to classify nor to explain, but which 225 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: are virtually without precedent, and the record of occult manifestations. 226 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: The mystery of Patience Worth is one which every reader 227 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: may endeavor to solve for himself. The sole purpose of 228 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: this narrative is to give the visible truth, the physical evidence, 229 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: so to speak, the things that can be seen and 230 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: that are therefore susceptible of proof by ocular demonstration. In 231 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: this category are the instruments of communication and the communications themselves, 232 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: which are described, explained, and in some cases interpreted, where 233 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: an effort at interpretation seems to be desirable. Make no mistake, 234 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: though Kaspri Jost believed in Patients this book. Book describes 235 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: the early experience of Pearl Keran and her friend meeting 236 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: patients in the summer of nineteen thirteen, and he discusses 237 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: patients as a real person, writing quote. Patience as a rule, 238 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: speaks in archaic tongue that is, in general the English 239 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: language of about the time of the Stuarts, but which 240 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: contains elements of a usage still more ancient and not 241 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: rarely word and phrase forms that seem never to have 242 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: been used in English or in any English dialect. Almost 243 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: all of her words, however, whether in conversation or in 244 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: literary composition, are of pure Anglo Saxon Norman origin. There 245 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: is seldom a word of direct Latin or Greek parentage. 246 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: Virtually all of the objects she refers to are things 247 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: that existed in the seventeenth century or earlier. In all 248 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: of the great massive manuscript that has come from her, 249 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: we have not noticed a single reference to an object 250 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: of modern creation or development. Nor have more than a 251 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: dozen words been found in her writings that maybe of 252 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: later origin than the seventeenth century, and some of these 253 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: words are debatable. She has shown in what would seem 254 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: to be a genuinely feminine spirit of perversity, that she 255 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: can use a modern word if she chooses to do so. 256 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: And if she is living now, no matter when she 257 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: was on earth, why should she not. Yos then goes 258 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: on to catalog all of the interactions with Patients up 259 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: to that point when he wrote the book, and so 260 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: there's a lot of record of what she had said 261 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 1: included in this writing. After Yost's book came out, patience 262 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: Worths work had an explosion in popularity. The whole country 263 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: wanted to see Pearl and Patience, and if they couldn't 264 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: do that, they wanted to read more about them. And 265 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: in a very auspicious bit of timing, Patience was ready 266 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: to write a novel right around this time. Her first 267 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: book was The Sorry Tale, which relayed the last several 268 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: days of the life of Jesus from the point of 269 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: view of one of the other men crucified at the time. 270 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,199 Speaker 1: The book includes a preface that explains to anyone who 271 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:09,199 Speaker 1: might not be familiar with the workings of Patience in 272 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: Pearl's relationship, quote, Missus Curran, through whom all of this 273 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: matter has come is a young woman of normal disposition 274 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: and temperament intelligent and vivacious. She receives the communications with 275 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: the aid of the mechanical device known as the wigiboard 276 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: as a recording instrument. There is no trance or any 277 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,159 Speaker 1: abnormal mental state. She sits down with the wigi aboard 278 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,719 Speaker 1: as she might sit down to a typewriter, and the 279 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: receipt of the communications begins with no more ceremony than 280 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: a typist would observe. Missus Curran has had no experience 281 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,920 Speaker 1: in literary composition, and has made no study of literature 282 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: ancient or modern. Nor, it may be added, has she 283 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,239 Speaker 1: made any study of the history, the religions, or the 284 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: social customs of the period of this story, nor of 285 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: the geography or topography of the regions in which it 286 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:04,960 Speaker 1: is late. The introduction also details how initially Patients normally 287 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,360 Speaker 1: dictated three hundred to one thousand words of the book 288 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: to Pearl in a sitting, but that she would also 289 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: dictate verse and didactic or humorous conversation in the same sittings. 290 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: But then the sessions became more focused, and soon twenty 291 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: five hundred to thirty five hundred words were being produced 292 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: in a session of ninety minutes to two hours. The 293 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: description continued quote. As in all her work, it mattered 294 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: not who was present or who sat at the board 295 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: with Missus Curran, whether the visa VI was a man 296 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: or woman, old or young, learned or unlettered. The speed 297 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: and the quality of the production were the same from 298 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,360 Speaker 1: start to finish. Some two hundred and sixty persons contributed 299 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,959 Speaker 1: in this way to the composition of this strange tale, 300 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: some helping to take but a few hundred words, some 301 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: many thousands. Parts of the story were taken in New York, Boston, 302 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: and Washington. Each time the story was picked up at 303 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: the point where work was stopped at the previous sitting, 304 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,879 Speaker 1: without a break in the continuity of the narrative, without 305 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: the slightest hesitation, and without the necessity of a reference 306 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: to the closing words of the last preceding installment, and 307 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: then maybe to get out in front of criticism. The 308 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: elephant in the room is addressed head on quote. The 309 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 1: interesting question arises, if Patience is, as she says, an 310 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: English woman of the seventeenth century, where did she get 311 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: the knowledge and the material for this story. It is 312 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: a question that gives rise to many speculations, But apparently 313 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: she answers it for herself. In the words of THEA 314 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: to Tiberius in the garden of the Imperial Palace at Rome, 315 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,959 Speaker 1: thy hand did reach forth and leave fall a curtain 316 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: of black that should leave a shadow ever upon the 317 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: days of THEA. And the hand that shall draw the 318 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: curtain wide and leave the light to fall upon thy 319 00:19:54,520 --> 00:20:00,360 Speaker 1: shadows shall be this. And she held her hand high. 320 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: Convenient Patience's literary career, it turned out, was just getting started, 321 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about how it continued and 322 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: how Pearl's life continued. After we paused to hear from 323 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: the sponsors that keep stuff you missed in history class going. 324 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: Patience Worth's first novel, The Sorry Tale, was a hit 325 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: when it came out in nineteen seventeen, both financially and critically. 326 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: Patience Worth was lauded as a literary genius like she 327 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: literally got put on lists of like the greatest authors 328 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,919 Speaker 1: of the year. So naturally there was call for another book, 329 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: and Patience obliged, this time, producing a work that was 330 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: titled Hope True Blood. This book did not get the 331 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: same loving reception as the first. The main issue was 332 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: that while people seemed able to accept that somehow Patience 333 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: had not of the days of the Crucifixion, which would 334 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: have happened before she was allegedly alive. They were not 335 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: as able to accept that she had intimate and detailed 336 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: knowledge of life in Victorian England, which happened almost two 337 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,360 Speaker 1: hundred years after she would have been alive and when 338 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 1: the book is set. Even believers at this point started 339 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: to doubt, and critics kind of got over her in 340 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,360 Speaker 1: a hurry and started deeming her work boring and kind 341 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: of silly. For the next several years, Patients through Pearl 342 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: continued to churn out literary work to ever mixed reviews. 343 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: After Hope True Blood, opinions stayed very divided about whether 344 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: Patience was a real entity or Pearl Kurran was experiencing 345 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: some sort of mental illness, and there were also people 346 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: who thought she was just faking it for fame or money. 347 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,120 Speaker 1: They didn't really need to worry about the money part, though, 348 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: because Patients really did not help the Currans financially, at 349 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: least not very much. They made a little bit from 350 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: the deal they had made with Casper Yost, but that 351 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: money went to the adoption of a daughter who they 352 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,880 Speaker 1: named Patients worth current, but the Patient's Worth novels did 353 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: not really bring in much money, even though they were popular. 354 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: Pearl and John tried to start a magazine named for 355 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: their spirit author, but this turned out to be a 356 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: money pit, and then it kind of sputtered out. Yeah, 357 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: there's also a great quote from John where he was 358 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: talking about like how expensive it was to start the 359 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: magazine and to do some of the touring that was 360 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: going on, and then he makes a comment that, like, 361 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 1: and we also had basically like fed eight thousand people 362 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,640 Speaker 1: in our home already at this point, Like, patients is expensive, right. 363 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: In nineteen nineteen, Pearl and Patients appeared before an audience 364 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: in New York City. That audience was filled with people 365 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:52,000 Speaker 1: eager to see their unique working relationship. Patients dictated a 366 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: poem about Russia and then another about the Red Cross 367 00:22:55,520 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: in front of the curious group. There were definitely still 368 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: people who supported Pearl's claim of being a vessel for 369 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: a ghost author, but overall, the novelty that had brought 370 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,119 Speaker 1: Pearl rapid fame was kind of wearing off. By the 371 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, fewer and fewer people were following Patience Worth's 372 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: literary career, even though she did continue to churn out plays, novels, 373 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: and poetry. That same year, Pearl published a work not 374 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: under Patience's name but under her own. The short story 375 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 1: Rosa Alvarro Entrante appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and 376 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: it bore a striking resemblance to the story of Pearl 377 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: and Patience. When the main character of Maimie, who lives 378 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: a dull life, visits a clairvoyant, she's told that the 379 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: spirit of a beautiful woman from Spain named Rosa Alvaro 380 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: is watching over her. Mamie starts to manifest Rosa, and 381 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: Mamie's intentions, intellect, and sanity are all called into question, 382 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: but she comes clean to her best friend that it 383 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: was an act all along, and one that was sparked 384 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: by feeling unimportant and unseen. In her confession made me 385 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: says quote, I was sick of myself. I wanted to 386 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: feel feel like a woman that somebody cared about. This 387 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: story was adapted into a movie called Whatever Happened to Rosa. Yeah. Surprisingly, 388 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: this did not get a lot of attention in nineteen nineteen, 389 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 1: and one would have thought that it would, but it didn't. 390 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 1: Uh During this time, though, there were also numerous accusations 391 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: of fraud against Pearl. Psychologists and other scientists wanted to 392 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: study Pearl, and while she did meet with some of 393 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,639 Speaker 1: them and allowed a lot of them to watch her 394 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,679 Speaker 1: use the weageboard and channel patients, she never submitted to 395 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: anything like a psych evaluation, and she refused flat out 396 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: refuse to be hypnotized. She generally begged out of such 397 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: scenarios by saying that she was worried that something like 398 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: hypnosis was going to damage her ability to connect with 399 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: patients in the long term, but that did not stop 400 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,960 Speaker 1: papers from being written about Pearl current and what people 401 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: thought was going on in her head. In nineteen nineteen, 402 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: Charles Corey of Washington University wrote of Pearl and patients quote, 403 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: it should be said at once that the case is 404 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: one upon which no satisfactory report can be made without 405 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:17,359 Speaker 1: the aid of hypnosis. Anything like a real explanation of 406 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: the problems to be solved requires data that can be 407 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: obtained no other way. He makes the case that the 408 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: likely explanations of subconscious memory or subconscious thought can't really 409 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 1: be explored without hypnosis, and he notes that it's interesting 410 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: that there's no trance state when Pearl is channeling patients, 411 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: and no displacement of the primary identity, that being Pearl. 412 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: He suggests that rather than a subconscious identity of Pearls, 413 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: which is a popular theory that was going around at 414 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: the time, that Patience might be considered more of a 415 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: co conscious manifestation. Near the end of the paper, Corey 416 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 1: says this of pearl current quote. It is worth noting 417 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: that Patience Worth made her appearance after Current had spent 418 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: many evenings with a friend, a confirmed spiritualist with a 419 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: view of getting a message from the spirit world in 420 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: the atmosphere of expectancy of hope that a voice from 421 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 1: the dead might be heard. She may be said to 422 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: have been born, and it is more than possible that 423 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: the idea became at that time a vital part of 424 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: the dissociated self then developing. Now, we've said a lot 425 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 1: of times on the show, we are not mental health professionals. 426 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: Even if we were, we would not diagnose people who 427 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: are not even alive to be examined. But it just 428 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: seems extra unethical for a person who is a science 429 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,919 Speaker 1: professional to write and publish papers essentially diagnosing a person 430 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: who is still alive without their consent. This is only 431 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: one of several such papers that were written about Pearl 432 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: Kurran during her life, and for the record, Patience was 433 00:26:54,040 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 1: apparently really amused by Charles Corey's opinions. Yeah, I forget 434 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: exactly how she put it, but basically it made her laugh. 435 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,479 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty two, Pearl's husband, John died. He had 436 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: been sick for a while, and at this point Pearl's 437 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: mother was living with them, So she suddenly found herself 438 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: with a daughter and a mother to support on her own, 439 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: and as a little surprised there was another child on 440 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: the way. Pearl, who was thirty nine at this time, 441 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: had tried to have a child biologically with no success 442 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: earlier in her marriage, but she was pregnant when John died. Additionally, 443 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: John had been really instrumental in her rise to fame. 444 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: We mentioned earlier that he was the one most frequently 445 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: making notes and writing down the words of patients. One 446 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 1: of Pearl's followers and supporters, a man named Herman Behar, 447 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: arranged to give her four hundred dollars a month after 448 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,199 Speaker 1: John's death to help her out. Bear also translated some 449 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: of Patients's writings into German, but though that was certainly 450 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: no paltry allowance. In nineteen twenty two, Pearl took Patie 451 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: on the road and started accepting appearance bookings to help 452 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: provide for the family. She demonstrated the way that she 453 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: used the wage board to talk with patients and receive 454 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: her thoughts and writings, and these demos were performed for 455 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 1: anybody basically that would book her. She would do these 456 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: in large auditoriums, or she would do them in small groups. 457 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,000 Speaker 1: She would sometimes be in the private homes of very 458 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: wealthy and famous clients, just kind of seeking to slake 459 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,880 Speaker 1: their curiosity. I wasn't able to find verification, but one 460 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: biography of her mentioned that she did this like in 461 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: Douglas Fairbanks's home for example. Pearl got married two more 462 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: times after John's death. First, four years after he died, 463 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: she married a Saint Louis doctor who was older than 464 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: she was. His name was Henry Rogers. That marriage ended 465 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: after several years, and she moved to Los Angeles and 466 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: rekindled a romance with a man she had known when 467 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: she was a lot younger. That was Robert Wyman. They 468 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: got married in nineteen thirty one and Unfortunately, Pearl and 469 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,400 Speaker 1: Robert's marriage did not last long either, but this time 470 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: it was because Pearl died after they had been together, 471 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:14,240 Speaker 1: just six years after allegedly receiving a warning of something 472 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: bad coming from patients, which Pearl is said to have 473 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 1: told friends. Pearl contracted pneumonia in November of nineteen thirty seven, 474 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: and she died on December third. An article in the 475 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 1: La Times the following month ran under the headline will 476 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: she meet her astral Guide? People continued to debate whether 477 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: Patience Worth had ever been a real person, although there 478 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 1: were some efforts to find her, but no evidence of 479 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: her in the historical record ever turned up. Casper Yost 480 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: even traveled to England and went to the places that 481 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: she seemed to be describing, and couldn't really line things 482 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: up properly. One aspect of the story of Pearl and 483 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: Patience that becomes apparent is how frequently Pearl Kerrn's biography 484 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: has been sherry pick. These biographies characterize her in ways 485 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: that would suggest that she just wouldn't have been capable 486 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,120 Speaker 1: of writing the works of Patience Worth, or they kind 487 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: of insinuate that she was a bored housewife who was 488 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: maybe faking this whole thing because she needed a thrill. 489 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: Regarding that first angle that she was too uneducated to 490 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: write the works that were attributed to patients, that doesn't 491 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: really hold up. Even though she did end her formal 492 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: education early. Even when she was a preteen, she wrote 493 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: what have been described as incredibly imaginative letters. That was 494 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: according to family members, she would write to them when 495 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: she was staying at other people's homes. She was known 496 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: to be really creative. Also, there are plenty of people 497 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: without formal education who were autodide acts that have a 498 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: vast range of knowledge. Like before there was compulsory education 499 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: in North America that was almost everyone. We have so 500 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: little documentation about most people's day to day lives. It 501 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: is entirely possible that she was a reader in her downtime. Yeah, 502 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,960 Speaker 1: it's interesting. Some write ups about her I have seen 503 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: have mentioned like she and John didn't even have books, 504 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: and I'm like, really, that's like impossible. And then there 505 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: is this idea that Pearl was lonely or bored. Listen, 506 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: everyone experiences those feelings from time to time. But the 507 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: thing is a quick search for Pearl in newspapers from 508 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: the years before the appearance of patients worth yielded a 509 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: lot of mentions in various write ups. For example, in 510 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: January of nineteen ten, her name appears in an article 511 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: in the Cherryvale Journal of Cherryvale, Kansas about some efforts 512 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: of women's groups to help grow Missouri. Pearl Curran had 513 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: spearheaded the whole thing. This article states, quote Missus Pearl 514 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: Lenorke Curran, wife of John H. Curran, chief Commissioner for 515 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:57,640 Speaker 1: the Missouri Board of Immigration, is the organizer. She lives 516 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: in Saint Louis and is an ardent advocate of the 517 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 1: development of Missouri's resources. She is public spirited and is 518 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: a good speaker. Her idea is to enlist the cooperation 519 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: of the women's clubs in developing the state and inducing immigration. 520 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: Pearl is mentioned in another article that same week in 521 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: a different paper, this time the Saint Louis Star in Times. 522 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: This one mentions that she was elected president of the 523 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: Society to Elevate Missouri. In that instance, the project the 524 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: group was focusing on was quote better factory laws for 525 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: women and child labor. They were also planning to quote 526 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,960 Speaker 1: consider the establishment of restrooms for women in towns. So 527 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: it really doesn't sound like Pearl Kerran was sitting on 528 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: her hands at home wishing for attention or for something 529 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: to do. That isn't to say that she couldn't have 530 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: been wanting something more than her life was offering her 531 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: before Patients appeared on the scene. But it's just inaccurate 532 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: to describe her as having this empty, lonely, isolated life 533 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 1: before this ghost writer brought fame. Yes, she was like 534 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: so engaged with community efforts and with like trying to 535 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: better her town. There is another really interesting point that 536 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: popped up while I was doing research that to me 537 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,719 Speaker 1: reframes the Patience and Pearl story a little bit. Everything 538 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: that was produced through their connection was published under Patience 539 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: Worth's name. The only thing that Pearl Current published as 540 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: herself was that Saturday Evening Post short story. But Stephen E. 541 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: Broade wrote the following in an article that appeared in 542 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: Journal of Trauma and Dissociation in June of two thousand. 543 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 1: Quote one more preliminary observation. Wich aboards have no provisions 544 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: for indicating capitalization, punctuation, or parsing into line stanzas and paragraphs. Therefore, 545 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: all the published and unpublished versions of Patient's communications represent 546 00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: a joint creative venture involving the source whatever or whoever 547 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: it was, of the words, and the editor who parses 548 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: and punctuates them. And because there are no strict or 549 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,319 Speaker 1: clear guidelines to follow in these cases, every rendering of 550 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: patients's words is inevitably tentative and presumably possible to improve. 551 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,879 Speaker 1: This is an interesting thing because it's the only time 552 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: I ever found anyone saying, Okay, let's just say she 553 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: was channeling a ghost or this was part of her 554 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:30,240 Speaker 1: subconscious mind. Pearl still deserves some credit for actually turning 555 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,960 Speaker 1: this into readable stuff, which is an interesting way to 556 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,839 Speaker 1: look at it that I had not considered. So to 557 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: close out, we're going to share a handful of patients 558 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: worths kind of wisdom zingers. These are just a fleet 559 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: a few of them. There are a lot of them 560 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: on record. Some of them are very funny. So the 561 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: first and is he who buildeth with peg and cudgel, 562 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: but buildeth a toy for an age, who will but 563 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: cast aside the bubble as not? But he who buildeth 564 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: with word and a fluid buildeth well? Should I present 565 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: thee with a pumpkin? Wouldst thou desire to count the seeds. 566 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,360 Speaker 1: A drink of ass's milk would nurture the swine, But 567 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,760 Speaker 1: wouldst thou then expect his song to change from Want 568 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: Want Want, Puddings fit for lords would sour the belly 569 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: of a swine boy. To clap the cover on a 570 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: steaming pot of herbs will but modify the stench. And 571 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: then one that cracks me up. A lollipop is but 572 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: a breeder of pain. For the record, per Miriam Webster, 573 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: the word lollipop is in non use didn't appear until 574 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: about seventeen eighty four. That would have been one hundred 575 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 1: years after patients Worth was alive. Yeah. I looked in 576 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: the Oxford English Dictionary and it had about the same year. 577 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: I don't remember if it was exactly the same one, 578 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: but it was right around there. Yeah, not really the 579 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:59,799 Speaker 1: I I'm fascinated by Patience Worth. We can talk about 580 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:04,400 Speaker 1: all this on Friday. I have so many thoughts. In 581 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:08,720 Speaker 1: the meantime, though, I have a listener mail from our listener, Heather, 582 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,320 Speaker 1: who writes, Hi, Holly and Tracy, thanks for putting so 583 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 1: much effort into your podcast. It definitely has introduced me 584 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,160 Speaker 1: to so much history I wasn't aware of or introduced 585 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,920 Speaker 1: me to a much deeper context for historical figures I 586 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: did know. I especially love episodes about women doing things 587 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,479 Speaker 1: that women weren't supposed to do in their era. Since 588 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 1: I am a woman in a male dominated trade. I 589 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: shoe horses for a living, and when I began thirteen 590 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: years ago, it was pretty rare to see other women 591 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,359 Speaker 1: at continuing ed events. But in that time, the demographics 592 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,760 Speaker 1: have shifted in a big way, and almost fifty percent 593 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 1: of new students entering the trade are women. It's been 594 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,759 Speaker 1: very exciting to watch the change, but I digress. As 595 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,399 Speaker 1: a side note, I am fascinated by the fact that, 596 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: like the ferrier trade would shift so rapidly, because thirteen 597 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,760 Speaker 1: years is not a long time, so that's very cool. 598 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: But Heather continues, I got super excited today listening to 599 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 1: the episode about milk sickness when you got to listener Mail. 600 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:06,319 Speaker 1: I grew up near Greenfield Village. That's the collection of 601 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,520 Speaker 1: historic buildings that Henry Ford put together, and it was 602 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,880 Speaker 1: one of our very favorite places to visit. It is 603 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 1: set up like a historic town and many of the 604 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:18,440 Speaker 1: buildings have costumed living history presenters showing everything from historic 605 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,719 Speaker 1: farming techniques to hearth, cooking and crafts like glass blowing, tinsmithing, 606 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: and weaving. In addition to the highlights Linda listed in 607 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,320 Speaker 1: her Listener mail, they have a replica of George Washington 608 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: Carver's cabin, Robert Frost's house, enslaved people's quarters from a 609 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 1: Georgia plantation, something that was often not preserved or considered 610 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: a value, and one of our favorites as a kid, 611 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,320 Speaker 1: the William McGuffey one room log Schoolhouse McGuffey of McGuffey 612 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: reader fame. I would highly recommend visiting if you're ever 613 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:50,880 Speaker 1: in the Detroit area. There's also an amazing museum attached 614 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: which has many high profile artifacts like the chair Lincoln 615 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 1: was assassinated in and the Rosa Parks bus, which is 616 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 1: part of an exhibit on the civil rights movement that 617 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 1: was really eye open for me as a teenager. Sorry 618 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: about the long email, but I love the place so 619 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: much and I had to share more about it. Here 620 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,919 Speaker 1: is a picture of our extremely sweet cat, Lucy, named 621 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:13,000 Speaker 1: after Lucy Oball listen, am I in love with everything 622 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: about this? Yes? She is a rare female orange tabby 623 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,160 Speaker 1: and loves everyone and purrs pretty much all the time. 624 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 1: Thanks for all the education and entertainment, Heather, Lucy is adorable. 625 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:26,879 Speaker 1: She's so cute. I want to kiss that face. Heather, 626 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,879 Speaker 1: thank you so much for sending this email. I love 627 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 1: hearing about ways that people have engaged with history, like 628 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,879 Speaker 1: when they're kids, and that it got them excited. That's 629 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,359 Speaker 1: always nice to hear, because sometimes those museum trips weren't fun, 630 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:40,840 Speaker 1: so I'm glad she loved them. If you would like 631 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: to write to us, you can do so at History 632 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:45,920 Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also find us 633 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 1: on social media as missed in History, and if you 634 00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: have not subscribed yet and would like to, you can 635 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 1: do that on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen 636 00:38:53,160 --> 00:39:01,120 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. Missed in History Class is a 637 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:05,560 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 638 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,080 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 639 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:09,840 Speaker 1: favorite shows.