The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-01-03
Remarkable Case OF Trance.

very much excited over matter which,
to say the least, is very strange. Sew
eral weeks since Miss Van Arsdale,
young woman about seventeen years
old, living at the house of family
near Whiteland, in the capacity of
servant, was taken sick with some
thing like Mysteries. She had been con-
fined to her bed little over week,
when, to all Appearances, she died.
The body, however. did not entirely
lose its warmth, and a very slight
pulse remained. The people with
whom she was living supposed that
she was dead, and ware making prepa-
rations to bury her, when the physic-
ian interfered, forbidding any such
step.
After remaining in this state twelve
hours, consciousness returned, and the
girl pronounced herself much better
She then went on to describe her sens
ations and experiences during the
trance, averrirg that she had visited
heaven and he'll, and had converted
vita the Saviour, and many persons
whom she had known on earth. She
spoke of seeing persons in both plac
es who had recently died; in heaven a
young man named Quinn, who, at one
time professor of religion, had in the
last year or two of his life, led bad
life; in hell, the two men, Hatchell
and Patterson, who were lynched at
Franklin on the night of October 81.
for the murden. of Lyons, at Green
wood. Mrs. AN Arsdale sent for a
number of persons in the neighbor-
hood. and MT only impaired to them
news of lost ffiends, but told us of sins
committed by them, supposed to be
unknown by any one. Among others.
Yves man who had participated in the
execution of the men named above
She told him that be had been there
that night (Which he acknowledged
and had, in the sight of Gcd, commit
ted murder.
Previous to this the names of the
band had been kept a profound sec
ret, and this man had not even been
suspected She narrated a good many
strange things, relating mainly to in
dividuals both in this world and the
other, many of which it would have
been almost impossible for herto have
invented.
But the strangest part of the story
is yet to come. A few hours after the
expiration of the first trance she pre-
dicted she would have another, and
told to minute the time at which it
would commence, and at which it
would end. Everything turned out as
she had said; at the exact moment
she fell into the same state, In an
ordinary trance, or cataleptic state,
respiration is not suspended. but in
this case breathing could not be OBJ
served. She was to al appearances
dead; but the pulse beat family and
the body was not cold. Al sensation
was gone.
The physician made numerous ex-
periments, pricking the body, opening
the veins, and so forth to discover if
there could be any deception. In the
end, he was perfectly convinced that
there was none At the expiration of
the time set by herself she came to,
and in few hours was able to leave
her bed, and 60 about the house. The
story of her experience in the second
trance was similar to the first one, and
was confined almost wholly to individ-
uals. She seemed unable to describe
the places she had been in, but gave
histories of events and persons with
remarkable minuteness. She also said
she never would have a recurrence of
the trance unless she should commit
some fragrant sin; her authority for
this prediction was that the Lord him
self bad told her so.
This is certainly strange thing
The girl is uneducated, and has lived
about as servant girl ever since she
was able to work She has always
borne good character for truthful
ness, and is a member of q church
She is almost the last person IN the
world to have manufactured such sto-
ries, and one thing especially noticea-
BILE in the fact of her sending for per-
sons to whom, before her illness, she
would have been afraid to have spok-
en-, and conversing with them without
the least restraint, and telling them
stories and facts not the most palata-
BILE to worldly people, some of them
eminently respectable, who vouched
for many of the statements of her i'll
ness. The physician in attendance is
positive as to her condition during the
whole time, and had it not been for
him she would have been buried alive.