Mothered by a Ghost: Patience Worth’s Daughter: Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and as I am nothing if not topical, today we look at a a strange case of spiritual motherhood: the mother-daughter duo–or perhaps trio: Pearl Curran, her daughter Patience, and the “ghostly mother,” Patience Worth.
In 1917 John Van Valkenburg, a Salt Lake City inventor, announced that he had conquered the laws of gravity and had an aircraft that could fly from Salt Lake City to the Pacific Coast and back in a night. It was reported that he had taken it to Washington and then turned it over to the US government for use in the War effort. Then, suddenly, Van Valkenburg found himself on trial.
The Case of the Jitterbug Coal In March of 1944 a remote schoolhouse in North Dakota suddenly went mad–books and papers mysteriously combusted, a phantom attacker left threatening notes, and coal began popping like popcorn out of the scuttle. The children claimed a “pixie” was behind it all….
A Suffolk witch story from 1877, involving a spell meant to be cast on a man, but transfered to his wife, who suffered for years under the bewitchment. In a series of ill-spelt letters, the witch confesses and suggests a transfer of the spell to its rightful owner.
In 1915 a lady ghost-writer is visited by the Devil in her flat in Curzon Street. Although she believes him to be a dream, the Evil One leaves behind a physical sign.
