Seated in an Evanston drawing-room with some twenty other guests, Mrs.
John H. Curran of St. Louis wrote quaint poetry by the yard, all of
which, she claims, came from “Patience Worth,” who dwells in the land of
spirits. Mrs. Curran declares that she first made the acquaintance of
“Patience Worth” in July, 1913, while seated with a friend at a ouija
board. Suddenly the ouija wrote:
“Many moons ago I lived. Again I come. Patience Worth is my name.”
Since then, says Mrs. Curran, Patience has dictated to her numerous
poems, dramas and stories. Most of these are in archaic Anglo-Saxon.
“It is as though you spoke through a wall to a person every day,” said
Mrs. Curran in explaining the apparent phenomenon—“a person who would
tell you his habits and customs. After several years of conversation,
you would know as much about that person as if he were in the same room
with you. So I feel about Patience Worth. I have never seen her, nor have
I tried to picture her, but since she often talks in Anglo-Saxon I have
concluded that she must have lived on the Scottish border about the time
of the Stuarts. She has given me stories in the language of the Bible, of
the Elizabethan age, the last century, and this.
“It is not Spiritualism, and I am not a medium. I am perfectly normal
when I receive messages from the personality who calls herself Patience
Worth. In fact, I can converse with others in the room while she dictates
to me.”
Then, to prove her point, Mrs. Curran rapidly recited a poem that she
claimed was sent from the spirit world.