Dead Carl Wickland - 30 Years Among the Dead

We found the patient sitting up in her bed, crying one minute like a forlorn child, and again screaming in fear: “Matilla! Matilla!” Then suddenly fighting and struggling, she would talk a wild gibberish of English and Spanish, (the latter a language of which she had no knowledge).

Mrs. Wickland immediately gave her psychic diagnosis, saying the case was unquestionably one of obsession, and this was unexpectedly confirmed when Mrs. Wickland, who was standing at the foot of the bed, with wraps on ready to leave, was found to be suddenly entranced. We placed her on a davenport in the music room, where for two hours I talked in turn with several spirits who had just been attracted from the patient.

There were three spirits - a girl named Mary, her suitor, an American, and his Mexican rival, Matilla. Both of the men had vehemently loved the girl and as fiercely hated each other. In a jealous rage one had killed the girl, and then in a desperate fight the two rivals had killed each other.

All were unaware of being “dead,” although Mary said, weeping wretchedly: “I thought they were going to kill each other, but here they are, still fighting.”

This tragedy of love, hatred and jealousy had not ended with physical death; the group had unconsciously been drawn into the psychic atmosphere of the patient, and the violent fighting had continued within her aura. Since her nervous resistance was exceedingly low at this time, one after the other had usurped her physical body, with a resulting disturbance that was unexplainable by her attendants.

With great difficulty the three spirits were convinced that they had lost their physical bodies, but at last they recognized the truth and were taken away by our invisible coworkers.

Meanwhile the patient had arisen, and speaking rationally to the astonished nurse, walked quietly about her room. Presently she said: “I am going to sleep well tonight,” and returning to bed, fell asleep without the usual sedatives, and rested quietly throughout the night.

The following day, attended by a nurse, she was brought to our home; we dismissed the nurse, discarded her medicines, and after an electrical treatment, the patient had her dinner in the general dining room with the other patients, and that evening attended a function given in our social hall.

Another spirit was removed from her the next day; this was a little girl who had been killed in the San Francisco earthquake, and who cried constantly, saying she was lost in the dark. It is needless to add that she was comforted and promptly cared for by spirit friends, who had been unable to reach her while she was enmeshed in the aura of a psychic sensitive.

After some months of treatment, rest and recuperation, the patient returned to her home and resumed her normal life again.

One of our early experiences in Chicago occurred on the 15th of November, 1906. During one of our psychic circles, Mrs. Wickland, entranced by a strange entity, fell prostrate to the floor, and remained in a comatose condition for some time. The spirit was at last brought to the front, and acted as though in great pain, repeatedly saying:

“Why didn't I take more carbolic acid? I want to die; I'm so tired of living.”

In a weak voice the spirit complained of the dense darkness all about, and was unable to see an electric light shining directly into her face. She whispered faintly: “My poor son! “ and when pressed for information said that her name was Mary Rose, and that she lived at 202 South Green Street, a street entirely unknown to us at that time.

At first she could not remember any date, but when asked: “Is it November 15th, 1906?” she replied: “No, that is next week.” Life had been a bitter disappointment to her; she had suffered constantly from chronic abdominal ailments, and finally, resolving to end her miserable existence, she had taken poison.

She could not at first realize that she had succeeded in destroying her physical body, for, like most suicides, she was in total ignorance of the indestructibility of life and the reality of the hereafter. When the real purpose of life, experience and suffering had been made clearer to her she was overcome with repentance and offered a sincere prayer for forgiveness.

Then her spiritual sight opened slightly and she saw dimly the spirit figure of her grandmother, who had come to take her to the spirit world.

Subsequent inquiry at the address given by the spirit proved her statements to be true; a woman by the name given had lived at this house, she still had a son living there, and we were told that Mrs. Rose had been taken to the Cook County Hospital and had died there the week before.

Upon investigation at the hospital we found further verification of the facts and were given a copy of the record of the case:

Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Ills.

Mary Rose.

Admitted November 7th, 1906. Died November 8th, 1906.

Carbolic Acid poisoning.

No. 341106.

Another case will show that identification of a spirit is often possible.

Mrs. Fl., a patient who had been declared incurably insane by several physicians, was a refined lady of gentle disposition, who had become very wild and unmanageable, swearing constantly, and fighting with such violence that several persons were required to restrain her.

She was also subject to coma states, again to fainting spells, would refuse food, announce that she “had been married above by celestial powers,” and used extraordinarily vile language; these various phases alternated constantly, but no full proof of obsession was evidenced until one day when Mrs. Fl. lost all power of speech, and, mumbling idiotically, simulated perfectly a deaf and dumb person.

At this time a gentleman from an adjoining state came to the house to visit a patient and, shortly after his arrival, the nurse who attended Mrs. Fl. reported that the patient had again changed and was talking like a little child. So striking was this alteration that the gentleman was asked to step into the room to observe the patient. He was a total stranger to her but as he entered the room she pointed to him and said, in a high childish voice:

“I know that man! He used to put bows on my shoulders. And he pulled my toofies! He took me to a gypsy camp too! He lived right across the street from me, and he used to call me Rosebud. I'm four years old.”

The astonished gentleman corroborated every statement, saying that he had known such a child in his home town in Iowa, but that she had died the year before. He explained that he was very fond of children and had on several occasions taken the child to a gypsy camp, and that whenever he bought taffy-on-a stick for the little girl, he would tug at the stick while she was eating the candy and playfully threaten to pull her teeth.

It was evident that affection had attracted the spirit child to her friend, and that she found in Mrs. Fl. a vehicle through which she could make her presence known to the gentleman.

The patient was relieved of this spirit and gradually of other obsessing influences, and several months later was pronounced entirely competent to sign legal papers, being declared normal and sane by a judge and jury.

Another case in point was that of Mrs. O., who was a cook in a restaurant. She had observed a waitress acting queerly, laboring under delusions and hallucinations, and brought her to my office. After an electrical treatment the patient declared she felt greatly relieved and returned to her home.

But that night Mrs. O. herself became disturbed by an unaccountable condition which prevented her from sleeping, and her restlessness continued until ten o'clock the following morning, when, in the midst of her preparations for dinner, she suddenly became wild, tore her hair, and threatened to harm herself.