![Pearl Curran](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Pearl_Curran.jpg)
Patience Worth was allegedly a spirit contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran (February 15, 1883 – December 2, 1937). This symbiotic relationship produced several novels, poetry and prose which Pearl Curran claimed were delivered to her through
channelling the spirit of Patience Worth.
Psychologists and skeptics who have studied Curran's writings are in agreement that Patience was a fictitious creation of Curran.
["Patience Worth"](_blank)
''The Skeptic's Dictionary
''The Skeptic's Dictionary'' is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 wi ...
''. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
About Pearl Curran
Curran was born Pearl Lenore Pollard in
Mound City, Illinois
Mound City is a city and the county seat of Pulaski County, Illinois, United States. It is located along the Ohio River just north of its confluence with the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 588.
History
Mound Ci ...
. The family moved to
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
when she was eight months old and she started school when she was six. She was an average but uninterested student, eventually dropping out in her first
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
year, later stating she had a
nervous breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
due to the strenuous academics. She later returned to classes at St. Ignatius Catholic school.
Curran was sensitive about her looks, considering herself to be ugly. She admitted to having little imagination and few ambitions, except to be successful as a singer. She had a short attention span and read very little during her formative years.
Her family moved to
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
when she was 14. She made a last attempt at attending school but was discouraged when placed in a lower grade based on her academic skills. However, she took music lessons, trained in piano and voice, and aspired to be a
prima donna
In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage per ...
. About that time the family moved again, to
Palmer, Missouri Palmer is an extinct town in southwestern Washington County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The GNIS classifies it as a populated place. Palmer is located on the banks of Hazel Creek on Missouri Route Z. The area is within the Hazel Creek Recreat ...
. As Curran's musical talents blossomed, she was sent to
Kankakee, Illinois for voice training, before moving to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
for tuition from J.C. Cooper. She worked at the McKinley Music Company addressing envelopes for $6 a week, then the Thompson Music Company selling music. From the age of 18 to 24 she worked at assorted jobs in Chicago during winter months, and during the summer she taught music at home in
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
.
Pearl married John Howard Curran when she was 24. Though by no means wealthy, they lived a lifestyle which gave Pearl free time for moviegoing or playing cards with her husband or neighbors. The Currans had an average education for that time and owned few books; neither of them had traveled extensively. The first seven years of their marriage were uneventful.
The appearance of Patience Worth
Beginning in July 1912, Pearl Curran and her friend Emily Grant Hutchings were making a call on a neighbor who had a
ouija
The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and grap ...
board and during that call there came what purported to be a message from a relative of Mrs. Hutchings. Mrs. Hutchings then bought a ouija board and took it to Mrs. Curran's house with the idea of continuing the communications. Pearl was somewhat indifferent and had to be coaxed to participate at the board. On June 22, 1913 a communication from "Pat-C" began to come through. Then on July 8, 1913 the board seemed to be possessed with unusual strength and supposed communications from Patience Worth began. "Many moons ago I lived. Again I come. Patience Worth my name. Wait, I would speak with thee. If thou shalt live, then so shall I. I make my bread at thy hearth. Good friends, let us be merrie. The time for work is past. Let the tabby drowse and blink her wisdom to the firelog." When asked when she lived, the dates 1649–94 were given and that her home was "Across the sea".
Although Worth indicated that she was from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, she never named the town or village in which she lived. She did give some clues which were deduced by Casper Yost and other intimates of the Currans to indicate that Patience Worth had lived in rural
Dorsetshire
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , Do ...
with her father John and mother Anne. Curran had a mental picture of the place in which Patience Worth lived indicating that Patience lived in "...green rolling country with gentle slopes, not farmed much, with houses here and there. Two or three miles up this country on this road was a small village ---few houses." Mrs. Curran then visualized Patience leaving for America on a huge wood, three-masted schooner. Patience was described by Mrs. Curran as "...probably about thirty years. Her hair was dark red, mahogany, her eyes brown, and large and deep, her mouth firm and set, as though repressing strong feelings. Her hair had been disarranged by her cap, and was in big, glossy, soft waves." Mrs. Curran also saw Patience "sitting on a horse, holding a bundle tied in sail-cloth, tied with thongs and wearing a coarse cloth cape, brown-gray, with hood like a cowl, peaked. The face is in shadow. She is small and her feet are small---with coarse square-toed shoes and gray woolen stockings." After a long voyage the ship arrives at the jagged coast of America, where they could find no landing place for the ship. They launched several flat boats. According to Mrs. Curran, Patience was standing in the prow of her boat and became one of the first to reach the shore. Patience Worth was later to indicate that she was eventually killed by the Indians.
In 1916, in a book with a foreword written by
Casper Yost
Casper Salathiel Yost (1864–1941) was the longtime editor of the '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat,'' a poet and an honored journalist.
Early life
Yost was born in Sedalia, Missouri on July 1, 1854. His parents were George Casper Yost and Sarah ...
, editor of the ''
St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', Henry Holt and Company publicized Curran's claims that she had contacted the long dead Patience Worth. Curran claimed she began to anticipate what the Ouija board was going to spell and by 1919 the pointer would just move aimlessly about the board. Curran described pictorial visions which accompanied Patience's words. She said "I am like a child with a magic picture book. Once I look upon it, all I have to do is to watch its pages open before me, and revel in their beauty and variety and novelty....When the poems come, there also appear before my eyes images of each successive symbol, as the words are given me....When the stories come, the scenes become panoramic, with the characters moving and acting their parts, even speaking in converse. The picture is not confined to the point narrated, but takes in everything else within the circle of vision at the time....If the people talk a foreign language, as in ''The Sorry Tale'', I hear the talk, but over and above is the voice of Patience, either interpreting or giving me the part she wishes to use as story." Pearl Curran went on to describe her association with Patience Worth as "one of the most beautiful that can be the privilege of a human being to experience." Pearl and Patience together wrote several novels including ''Telka'', ''The Sorry Tale'', ''Hope Trueblood'', ''The Pot upon the Wheel'', ''Samuel Wheaton'', as well as several short stories and many poems.
The Patience Worth writings coincided with a revival of
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
in the United States and Britain, possibly facilitating interest in the matter. Skeptics derided certain aspects of the supposed communication, noting particularly that Patience was able to write a novel about the
Victorian age
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...
, an era some 200 years after the one in which she claimed to have lived. Still, the literature produced was considered to be of a high quality by some. For instance, the literary critic
William Marion Reedy
William Marion Reedy (1862 – July 28, 1920) was a St. Louis-based editor best known for his promotion of the poets Sara Teasdale, Edgar Lee Masters, and Carl Sandburg to the audience of his newspaper, '' Reedy's Mirror''. Politically, Reedy was ...
considered ''The Sorry Tale'' to be a new classic of world literature. Patience Worth was also listed as one of the outstanding authors of 1918 by The Joint Committee of Literary Arts of New York. She was also cited by William Stanley Braithwaite in the 1918 edition of the ''Anthology of Magazine Verse and Year Book of American Poetry'' by printing the complete text of five of her poems, along with other leading poets of the day including
William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét (February 2, 1886 – May 4, 1950) was an American poet, writer, and editor. He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Benét.
Early life and education
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Col. James Walker Benét a ...
,
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
Life
Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...
, and
Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of ''Spoon River Anthology'', ''The New Star Chamber and Other Essays'', ''Songs and Satires'', ''The Great V ...
. Braithwaite's index of magazine verse for 1918 listed the titles of eighty-eight poems by Patience Worth that appeared in magazines during the twelve-month period, only two of which were considered by Braithwaite to be lacking in any distinction. The same index listed ten poems by Amy Lowell and five by
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...
.
After the death of her husband John Curran on June 1, 1922 who kept meticulous records of the Patience Worth sessions, the record of the Patience Worth sessions became episodic and fragmentary, with long gaps of time unaccounted for. Pearl was pregnant with her first child which was born six months after her husband's death. Pearl now had a family of four to support by herself and her financial situation so bleak that Herman Behr, a devoted friend, sent money to Mrs. Curran and announced that he would continue to do so as long as she needed it. Mr. Behr provided Mrs. Curran with an income of $400 a month for a number of years. Mrs Curran then entered the lecture circuit to make some money to support her family. A few months later, her mother Mrs. Mary Pollard died. The sessions with Patience Worth still continued regularly at Mrs. Curran's home. Mrs. Curran's financial situation continued to be bleak. She married two more times, but both marriages were short-lived. In the summer of 1930, Mrs. Curran left St. Louis for good and moved to California to live with an old friend Mrs. Alexander Bailey "Dotsie" Smith in the Los Angeles area. Patience was kept busy at the sessions, as always, by requests for her comments on major topics of the day and other issues. She continued to communicate through Pearl until November 25, 1937, when she gave her final communication. Pearl had apparently received a prior communication from Patience that she (Pearl) was going to die as Pearl told Dotsie Smith "Oh Dotsie, Patience has just shown me the end of the road and you will have to carry on as best you can." Even though Pearl had not been in ill health, she developed pneumonia late in November and died on December 3, 1937.
Evaluation
Paranormal belief
In 1916,
Casper Yost
Casper Salathiel Yost (1864–1941) was the longtime editor of the '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat,'' a poet and an honored journalist.
Early life
Yost was born in Sedalia, Missouri on July 1, 1854. His parents were George Casper Yost and Sarah ...
published ''Patience Worth: A Psychic Mystery''. In the book, he did not come to any definite conclusion but considered the case of Patience Worth to be inexplicable by any naturalistic theory. He was open to the
spiritualist hypothesis. A thorough investigation of the case was conducted by the psychic researcher
Walter Franklin Prince
Walter Franklin Prince (22 April 1863 – 7 August 1934) was an American parapsychologist and founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research in Boston.Berger, Arthur S. (1988). ''Walter Franklin Prince: A Portrait''. In ''Lives and Letter ...
, who published in 1927 his book ''The Case of Patience Worth'', which was a voluminous report of 509 pages covering the Patience Worth case from its inception in 1913 to about 1927, published by the
Boston Society for Psychical Research
The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States dedicated to parapsychology. It maintains offices and a library, in New York City, which are open to both members and the gener ...
. It provided a biographical sketch of Pearl Curran, eye-witness reports, opinions and reviews, poetry of Patience and Mrs. Curran, and much other information related to the case. Prince concluded his investigation by stating, "Either our concept of what we call the subconscious must be radically altered, so as to include potencies of which we hitherto have had no knowledge, or else some cause operating through but not originating in the subconsciousness of Mrs. Curran must be acknowledged."
The parapsychologist
Stephen E. Braude has examined the case of Patience Worth and concluded that Pearl Curran was probably a highly gifted child whose talent for writing was smothered by her mother, who wanted to force Pearl into a singing career. In the alter ego of Patience Worth, her subconscious could revive that talent. Braude has written "there is little reason to think that the evidence supports the hypothesis of survival. Although Patience offered various clues regarding her origin and identity, subsequent investigation revealed nothing to indicate that a Patience Worth ever existed." Braude also considered the possibility of "super-psi": the view that Curran had subconsciously utilized a form of
extrasensory perception
Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...
to gather information.
Scientific skepticism
In 1914 Curran travelled to Boston to be tested by the psychologist
Morton Prince
Morton Henry Prince (December 22, 1854 – August 31, 1929) was an American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, and was a leading force in establishing psychology as a clinical and academic discipline.
He was part o ...
. Curran used the Ouija board at his home on two occasions but refused to be put under hypnosis because she believed that it would destroy her contact with Patience Worth. Morton told reporters "nothing of scientific importance" occurred and "I consider the results inconsequential and of no scientific value".
[Alfred Douglas. (1982). ''Extra-Sensory Powers: A Century of Psychical Research''. Overlook Press. pp. 170-171]
In 1919, Charles E. Cory Professor of Philosophy at
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
published a paper titled ''Patience Worth'' in the ''
Psychological Review'' which came to the conclusion Patience Worth was a
subconscious
In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness.
Scholarly use of the term
The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...
personality of Curran. In 1954,
William Sentman Taylor, a specialist in
abnormal psychology
Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of psyc ...
, also explained Curran's mediumship by psychological factors.
The psychologists
Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones in their book ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking'' (1989) have written:
In 2011, the psychologist
Richard Wiseman
Richard J. Wiseman (born 17 September 1966) is a Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He has written several psychology books. He has given keynote addresses to The Royal ...
wrote:
In 2012, the researcher
Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal.
Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes regularly for their journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer''. He is also ...
, who published an article on the subject in the ''
Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''.
Mission statement and goals
Daniel Loxton, writing in 2 ...
'', said he spent five hours studying Curran's writings at the
Missouri Historical Society
The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis on August 11, 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state".
Organization
The Missouri Historica ...
in St. Louis. Nickell concluded:
Allegations of fraud
In 1916 the psychical researcher
James Hyslop wrote that the whole case for Curran's mediumship was based on fraud. Hyslop in the
Journal for the American Society for Psychical Research claimed Curran had known people from the
Ozarks
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
who spoke a dialect reminiscent of Patience Worth and Curran's husband had studied
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
and educated her on the subject.
According to Hyslop the case of Patience Worth was "a fraud and delusion for any person who wishes to treat it seriously." Hyslop also accused
Casper Yost
Casper Salathiel Yost (1864–1941) was the longtime editor of the '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat,'' a poet and an honored journalist.
Early life
Yost was born in Sedalia, Missouri on July 1, 1854. His parents were George Casper Yost and Sarah ...
and the publisher of his book
Henry Holt of knowing about the fraud but covering it up to increase sales of the book. In the ''Mirror'' articles appeared by Emily Hutchings and Yost defending Curran against allegations of fraud. In response, Hyslop wrote a letter to the ''Mirror'' which claimed he had been told of Curran's knowledge of Chaucer by a "scientific man" who had heard it from Mr Curran himself.
In 1938 the ASPR journal published an anonymous article which refuted all of Hyslop's accusations. According to the article the Ozark dialect did not resemble the language of Patience Worth and knowledge of Chaucer would not have given Curran the vocabulary to compose the Patience Worth literature.
Daniel Shea, a professor emeritus of English at
Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
, studied the case and wrote there might have been fraud involved by Curran's reading books and other material in the hours before the Patience Worth sessions. If true, Pearl may have felt guilt, which might have been expiated by her writing "Rosa Alvaro, Entrante."
Patience Worth by Gioia Diliberto
/ref>
See also
* Jane Roberts
Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, psychic, and spirit medium, who channeled a personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the ''Seth Material'', estab ...
* Christine Beauchamp
* Rosemary Brown
References
Further reading
*
*
* Cory, Charles (1919)
''Patience Worth''
Psychological Review.
*
* Goldenson, Robert. (1973). ''Mysteries of the Mind: The Drama of Human Behavior''. Doubleday.
*
* Hyslop, James (1916).
Review of Patience Worth: A Psychic Mystery
'. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. April: 189-94.
*
*
*
* Shea, Daniel (2012). ''The Patience of Pearl: Spiritualism and Authorship in the Writings of Pearl Curran''. University of Missouri.
*
* Taylor, William Sentman (1954). ''Dynamic and Abnormal Psychology''. American Book Company.
*
*
*
External links
Ghost Author? The Channeling of ‘Patience Worth’
– Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal.
Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes regularly for their journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer''. He is also ...
Patience Worth
– Skeptic's Dictionary
''The Skeptic's Dictionary'' is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 wi ...
Selected poems of Patience Worth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worth, Patience
1883 births
1937 deaths
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American poets
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American women writers
American spiritual mediums
American women novelists
American women poets
American women short story writers
Channelled entities
People from Mound City, Illinois