The Opelousas courier., 1892-06-25
A REMARKABLE INVALID.
Fl ALMOST INCREDIBLE STORY
OF MoLLIE FANcHER.
,v,nn in Bed in One Position For
Twenty-six Years-Extraordiiiary
Powers of Mental Vision.

Il oSNCkS w
- N September 10, 1860, Mollie
Fancher was taken by an aunt
Y to the Brooklyn IN. " Heights
O Seminary as a pupil. She was
a delicate and almost supernaturaiiy
beautiful girl of If" -Four years later,
as she was about to graduate with the
HIGHEST honors the school could confer,
her nervous system began to give way
alarmingly. She neither ate nor slept as
a girl of her age should. She was Or
dered to rest and take a course OF lessons
in eouestrianism. One day, while u
with her ridingmaster, she was thrown
from her horse and sustain severe IN
iuries, besides having soms of her ribs
broken. She recovered sufficiently to
get about again, but a year after her
mishap her skirt caught, as she was
alighting from a street car, and she was
dragged a block over thepavement. The
second accident seemed to completely
shatter her nerves. Not long after 1t
she began to have strange contortlons.
She would bring her head and feet to"
gether and roll around the floor like a
hoop, or stand on her toes and spin like
a top. Her violence was such III 'ne
paroxysm that it took several persons to
take care of her. During the month OF
February, 1886, all her senses left her.
Chloroform was administered to relax
her laws and food was forced down her
throat. Her stomach refused to retain
it. She turned upon her right side in
bed and placed her right hand in behind
her head with the fingers pressed into
the palm. Then she became rigid and
remained so nine years, without any
relaxation of the muscles except when
she was given chloroform. There were
many times during this period when she
showed no sign of life except a slight
warmth in the region Of her heart. Her
limbs were as cold as ice and she was
pulseless.
After that came q time of awful an
guish, and tbo1 the rigid muscles relaxed
of themselves and the senses OF touch
and hearing returned, with power to
speak. The inner sight of c%lairvoyance,
or second sight, came too. Of that
there is no doubt whatever. Miss
Fancher is not disposed to cultivate or
exert the subtle power, but to her mental
vision everything concerning those IN
whom she is interested is revealed. She
can tell how friends far away are dressed
| and what they are doing. Totally blind,
she will read the contents of sealed let
tiers without. the slightest error. She
recognizes instantly persons who entes
her house, whether they arc acdhaint-
ances or strangers. If anything is mislald
| she tells where it can be found. By
running her finger over print she can
| read much faster than one who sees,
whether in light or darkness. Her mar
velous sense of touch enables her to dis
tinguish the photographs of friends with
her fingers. Holding pen or pencil IN
her left hand she writes with almost
li~ghtning-like rapidity, the letters being
well formed and perfectly legible. She
once wrote a melodious poem OF ten
verses in less than ten minutes.
Her nine years of rigidity are an entire
| blank to this strange beng, who is IN
herself a miracle of miracles. When the
aunt, who had been a mother to her,
died, she was left without resources, so
she had a little embroidery shop
opened on the first floor of her house,
and it has supplied all her wants.
Many of the articles sold are made
BY her. She embroiders without pat
/ tern in many unique and beautiful de-
signs. She cuts velvet leaves for PIN
cushions with both hands behind her
| head as true as though they were cut
with a die. She never studied botany
or took a lesson in wax work, yet she
makes exquisite wax howersi diserim-
mating the most delicate shades of color,
and never making q mistake in the form
of flower or leaf.
For a well person endowed with every
sense all this would be wonderful. For
Miss Fancher it is apparently supernat-
ural. She is tirelessly industrious and a
constant sufferer. She remains with her
right hand behind her head and never
changes her position. She never sleeps.
When she rests she does SO in a trance
state. The only ordinary function o,
human existence she performs is that of
breathing. Her blood circulates very
sluggishly and she has very little animal
heat. Her sensitive nerves Graves the
cold, however, and she willhave nc fire
in her room at any season. Her food
consists of a few drops of acid food juice
or a bit of pickle. She prefers the night
to work in and does her finest work
when half the world is wrapped. in
slumber. Time and again she has lain
for weeks like one dead, and only been
brought back to life, as it were, by the
manipulations of her doctors. She
suffers untold agonies from THIRST,
but cannot drink because hel
stomach will not retain liquid. No pen
could possibly give an adequate descrip-
ton of what she endures. Her sufferings
are indeseribable and in her presence
science, even the most advanced, is thor
oughly baffied.
For twenty-six years Mollie Fancher
has lain in her bed in one position. She
is not by any means a pitiful object to
look upon. She is not emaciated. Owing
to her latest trouble-dropsy-her face
and form are well rounded and her com.
plexion is the envy of all who see her.
Her hair is short aud wavy and makes
bonny frame for her lovely face. He
eyes are closed and long silken lashes
curve down upon her cheeks. sh'
utters no complaint. A martyr o
martyrs she meets fate serenelg and ever
with cheerfulness. Life holds nothing
IL. 80 - -aauIl - LII -