Year: 1867

From the indianapolis Herald. Dec, IA.
The people living in the vicinity OF
| Whiteland, johnson county, have recently
been very much excited over a matter
which, 10 say the least, is very arrange.
| Several weeks since Miss Van Arsdale, a
yolng woman about seventeen years old,
living at the house of family near White.
land, in the capacity of a servant, was taken
sick with something like Mysteries. She
had been confined to her bed little over a
week, when, to all appearances, she died.
/ The body, however, did not entirely lose its
warmth, and a very slight pnlse remained.
The people with whom she was living sup
posed that she was dead, and were making
preparations TO bury her, Rhenihe physician
interfered, fOrbidding any sueh step. After
remaining in this state for twelve hours.
consciousness returnedand she pronounced
herselfm much better She wenton TO describe
her sensations and experiences during the
trance, aVerring that she had visited heaven
and hell, and had eonversed with the Savionr
and many persons whom she had known
on earth. She spoke Of seeing persons in
both places who had recently died in
heaven, young man named Quinn, who,
although at one time a professor of reli.
gion, had in the last year or two Of his life
led bad life; in hell, two men named
Hatchell and Patterson, who were lynched
at Franklin on the night of October 81, for
the murder of Lyons, at Greenwood. Miss
Van Arsdale sent for number of persons
in the neighborhood, and not only i'm
parted to them news of lost friends, but
told of sins committed by them, supposed
to be unknown to any one. Among others
there was a man who had participated 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.
Previous to this the names of the band had
been kept profound secret, and this man
had not even been suspected. She narrated
a good many strange things, relating mains
ly to individuals both in this world and
the other, many of which it would have
been impossible for her to have in
vented.


But the strangest part of the story is yet
to come. A few hours after the expiration
of the first trance she predicted that she
would have another and told to a minute
the time at which it would commence and
at which it would end. Everything turned
out as she had said at the exact time she
fell into the same state. In an ordinary
trance, or cataleptic state, respiration is not
spspended, but in this case breathing could
not be observed. She was to all appear
ances dead; but the pulse beat family and
the body was not cold. All sensation was
gone. The physician made numerous ex-
periments pricking the body, opening the
veins, and so forth, 90 discover if there could
be any deception. In the end he was per-
fectly 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 90 about the
house. Fhe story of her experience in the
second trance was similar to the first one,
and was confined almost wholly to indi-
yiduals. She seemed unable to describe
the places she had been in, but gave histo-
ries of events and persons with remarkable
minuteness. She also said that she would
never have a recurrence of the trance I'M
less she should commit some fragrant sin !;
her authority for this prediction was that
the Lord himself had told her so.


This is certainly a strange thing The
girl is uneducated, and has lived about as
a servant ever since she was able TO work
She has always borne good character for
truthfulness, and is member Of a church.
She is almost the last person in the world
to have manufactured such stories and the
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 conversing with them
without the least restraint and telling
them stories and facts not the most pala-
table to worldly people. She was visited
by great many people, some of them EN-
inently respectable, who voHch for many
of the statements of her illness. The
physician in attendance is positive as to
her condition during the whole time, and
had il not been for him she would have
been buried alive.