We have unambiguously associated negative associations with the concept of obsession, but there have been cases when the infused spirit, as it turned out, had a good purpose. In the summer of 1877, Mary Lurancy Vennum, a thirteen-year-old girl from Watsick, Illinois, suffered a series of convulsive seizures.
Sometimes she fell into an unconscious state for several hours, and all attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.
In an unconscious state, the girl talked about seeing angels, a brother and sister, who died several years ago. Soon after that, several dominant personalities took turns in Larency's body, who spoke through her in other people's voices. Among them was a capricious old woman named Katrina Hogan.
In the end, the family came to terms with the idea that they would have to send their daughter to a psychiatric hospital. Fortunately, the Roff family, who lives next door, intervened. They persuaded Larensey's parents to see a doctor in Wisconsin who had been treating their own child for years. Their daughter was also named Mary, and for several months she also had similar attacks.
When she was in this state, she showed clairvoyant abilities, for example, she could read with a blindfold. This could be confirmed by well-known and respected residents of the city of Watsick, who were ready to testify under oath of what they saw. Mary Roff passed away 12 years ago.
Larency Winam (left) and Mary Roff (right).
When Dr. Stevens first arrived at the Winam family home on February 1, 1878, the spirit of Katrina Hogan entered the girl's body. At first she was cold and aloof, staring absently into space. When Dr. Stevens tried to get closer to her, she ordered to leave her alone.
However, his persistence was rewarded, and gradually Dr. Stevens was able to pull out the personal history of "Katrina". Soon she was supplanted by another personality, a young man named Willie Kenning, but his hold over Larency was rather unstable, and he managed to reveal little worth information that they could later check.
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With the permission of the parents, the doctor used hypnosis, and Larency returned to her body, but she continued to remain in a state of trance. She said that evil spirits had entered her, however, perhaps this was just her interpretation, due to a strict religious upbringing. Then events took an even more interesting turn.
Larency stated that she sees other spirits around her, among which was Mary Roff. Larency did not know Mary Roff, who died when Larency was only a year old. Up to this point, she also had never been to the Roff family's home.
At the moment when the spirit of "Mary" entered the body of the girl and began to speak on her behalf, Mrs. Roff was in the room. However, no one had the impression that Larency was pretending to impress or win the favor of the dead girl's mother.
The next morning "Mary" announced her intention to go "home", referring to the Roff family home. Naturally, this caused some confusion for Mr. and Mrs. Winam, who did not want their child to be adopted by the neighbors. Although, given the current mental state of Larency, it could hardly be argued that she is their daughter.
On February 11, after painful deliberation, the Winam family allowed their daughter to do as they saw fit.
On the way, Mr. and Mrs. Roff passed their old house, where their daughter died. “Mary” insisted that she be taken there, but in the end she was still convinced that he now belongs to other people.
Arriving at her parents' new home, she was delighted when she saw her old piano. It also turned out that she recognizes the relatives who greeted her.
Of course, this alone does not prove anything. Perhaps Larency was pretending to get attention. She risked little when she announced that she would recognize the previous home of the Roff family, since in those days everyone knew their neighbors and the history of the city. As for the piano, it would be fair to assume that it has belonged to the family for several years and occupied an honorable place in their previous home.
However, even the most distrustful of witnesses were amazed when "Mary" greeted her old teacher from Sunday School, calling her by her maiden name, which Larency could never know. Intrigued family members brought down a lot of tricky questions at Mary about the most insignificant events of her childhood.
The answers could not have been guessed so accurately by an impostor even with the most imaginative. However, their curiosity was more than rewarded. She even remembered the details of the family celebration and was able to name the place where her dog died. Most notably, she was able to accurately recall the words written many years ago by a medium during a seance, who claimed that he was receiving messages from the spirit of Mary.
Parents Larency Winam (left) and already an adult Larense with her child in her arms.
Over the next few weeks, she recognized personal items that previously belonged to her. Mr. and Mrs. Roff unobtrusively left them somewhere in a conspicuous place, in the hope that their daughter would recognize them. However, "Mary" didn't just recognize them. She grabbed the little thing with pleasure and remembered any little thing that was associated with her.
Often this information could be confirmed by her parents. Obviously, there was more to this than a wonderful performance. It was an amazing phenomenon, a rare example, when a soul with good intentions entered the body of a living person.
In many ways, this incident resembled the description of the reincarnations that people faced. The only difference was in one small detail: Mary died when Larency was a young child. Also in this case, the diagnosis of "multiple personality split" is not appropriate, because "Mary Roff" obviously knew a lot about the family and her previous life.
Arriving at the Roff family home, "Mary" predicted that she would be in Larency's body for three weeks, after which she would return to the spirit world and allow Larency to continue her life. She kept her word. On the morning of May 21, "Mary Roff" left the body of her hospitable hostess, and Larency returned to her parents.
She later married and lived an ordinary happy life. However, from time to time Mr. and Mrs. Roff came to visit her, and then, again, their daughter appeared to assure them that she was doing well. In gratitude for being allowed to say goodbye to her family, the merciful soul even intervened during the birth of Larense's firstborn, putting her into a trance state to ease the pain of childbirth.
From Paul Roland's The Big Book of Ghosts and Ghosts