Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-01-28
MISCELLANEOUS.
A Hoosier Girl Visits Heaven and He'll
in a Trance.

The people living in the vicinity of White
land, johnson county, Indiana, have recently
been very much excited over matter which
to say the least, is very strange. Several
weeks since, Miss Van Arsdae, young wo-
man about seventeen years old, living at the
house of family near Whiteland, in the ca
pacity of servant, was taken sick with some
thing like Mysteries. She had been confined
to her bed little over week, to all appear
anccs, 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
wose making preparations to bury her, when
the physician 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 sensations and ex~
perences during the trance, averring that she
had visited heaven and hell, and had con-
vcrscd with the Saviour, aud many persons
whom she had known on earth She spoke
of seeing persons in both places who had re-
Gently died in heaven young man named
Quinn, who, although 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 3lst for TIE
murder of Lyons at Greenwood Miss Van
Arsdale sent for a number of persons in the
neighborhood, and not only impaired to them
news of lost friends, but told Of sins commit
ted by them, supposed to be unknown by any
one Among others, was man who had par
ticipated in the execution of the men named
above She told him that he had been there
that night (Which he acknowledged and had
in the sight of God committed murder. Pre-
vious to this, the names Of the band had been
kept a profound secret, and this man had not
even been suspected. She narrated good
many tragic things, relating mainly to indi>
viduals both in this world and the other
many Of which would have been almost i'm
possible for her to have invented.
But the strangest part of the story is yet
to come 4 few hours after the expiration of
the first trance, she predicted that she would
have another and told to the minute the time
at which it would commence and at which it
would end. Everything turned out she
had said, and at the exact time 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 all appearances, dead;
but the pulse beat family, and the body was
not cold. All sensation was gone. The ply
sician made numerous experiments, prjcking
the body, opening veins, and so forth, to dis
cover 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 well enough to leave her bed and
be about the house. The story OF her exPe-
ricnce, in the second trance, was similar to
the first one, and was confined almost wholly
to individuals. She seemed unable to de-
scribe the places she had been in, but gave
histories Of events and persons with remarka-
bic nnuteness. She also said that she would
never have a recurrence Of the trance unless
she should commit some fragrant sin; her
authority for thi: prediction was the Lord
himself had told her so.
This is certainly a strange thing, The girl
is uneducatcd and has lived about as 4 servant
ever since she was able to work. She has
always born a good character for truthfulness,
and is a member of a church. She is almost
the last person in the world to have manutac-
tured such stories, and one thing especially
noticeable is the fact of her sending for
persons to whom, before her illness, she would
have been afraid to have spoken, and convers-
ing with them without the least restraint,
and telling them stories and facts not the most
palatable to worldly people. She was visited
by a great many people, some OF them emf
nently respectable, who vouch for many of
the statements of her illness 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.
Instances of persons lying in frances and
protesting to have visited the other world are
not uncommon, but generally no particulars
have ever been related. The case of Mr..
Tennant, minister, of New jersey, who was
seemingly dead for several days, is in all the
circumstances one of the most mysterious on
record, aside from his statements that be had
been in heaven. An investigation of this
case in johnson county would certainly repay
any curious minded person,
"A stingy husband threw all the blame of
the lawlessness of his children In company