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Patrick revisits the mysterious story of\xa0Pearl Curran (1883 - 1937), the Saint Louis housewife who between 1913 and 1937, channeled entire books and other works from a spirit known as Patience Worth, and mostly through the Ouija board. Visit BigSeance.com/238 for more info.

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In this episode:

Intro :00

Patrick is planning for an upcoming speaking engagement and was looking back to some of the early episodes of the podcast. He was reminded of a short episode he produced about Pearl Curran and Patience Worth. :57

Patrick reads portions of \u201cPatience Worth: Author From the Great Beyond\u201d by Gioia Diliberto for Smithsonian Magazine from September of 2010. 2:20

\u201cSpeaking through a Ouija board operated by Pearl Lenore Curran, a St. Louis housewife of limited education, Patience Worth was nothing short of a national phenomenon in the early years of the 20th century. Though her works are virtually forgotten today, the prestigious Braithwaite anthology listed five of her poems among the nation\u2019s best published in 1917, and the New York Times hailed her first novel as a \u2018feat of literary composition.\u2019 Her output was stunning. In addition to seven books, she produced voluminous poetry, short stories, plays and reams of sparkling conversation\u2014nearly four million words between 1913 and 1937. Some evenings she worked on a novel, a poem and a play simultaneously, alternating her dictation from one to another without missing a beat.\u201d 4:36

\u201cThe Patience Worth case remains one of the most tantalizing literary mysteries of the last century, a window onto a vanished era when magic seemed to exist because so many people believed in it. In the decades since Pearl Curran\u2019s death, in 1937, no one has explained how she produced Patience\u2019s writing.\u201d 8:32

\u201cAt first Pearl spelled out every letter with the Ouija board, but as time passed, the mere touch of her hand on the pointer loosed a flood of spoken words. Eventually, she abandoned the board entirely; a feeling of slight pressure in her head would announce Patience\u2019s arrival, and Pearl would begin reciting.\u201d 15:28

Check out the book, The Patience of Pearl: Spiritualism and Authorship in the Writings of Pearl Curran by Daniel B. Shea. 18:23

Looking back at episode 32 of the Big Seance Podcast from 2015, where Patrick reads the article, \u201cGhostwriter and Ghost: The Strange Case of Pearl Curran & Patience Worth\u201d by Ed Simon, from The Public Domain Review. 18:47

Two Moms and a Baby from the article, \u201cOuija poet Patience Worth: 100 years and many moons later\u201d, by Jane Henderson, from the St. Louis Post Dispatch. 35:58

Outro 39:34

A special THANK YOU to\xa0Patreon supporters\xa0at the Super Paranerd and\xa0Parlor Guest\xa0level! 40:50

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The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts,\xa0Google Podcasts,\xa0Pandora,\xa0Spotify,\xa0TuneIn Radio,\xa0Amazon Music,\xa0Audible,\xa0iHeart Radio, and\xa0YouTube. Please subscribe and share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at\xa0Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my\xa0SpeakPipe\xa0page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at\xa0(775) 583-5563\xa0(or\xa07755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the seance!

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