The Literary Miracles of Patience Worth

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1913, a St. Louis housewife named Pearl Curran sat down at a Ouija board and claimed to make contact with a spirit called Patience Worth—a seventeenth-century Englishwoman who spoke in archaic language and spun tales with uncanny speed. What began as a parlor amusement soon erupted into a literary mystery: novels, poems, and dialogues flowed effortlessly through Pearl, though she had no known training in such artistry. Was this the voice of a forgotten soul, the hidden genius of an unlikely medium, or just a big hoax, either for profit, or simply to cure boredom? SOURCES Litvag, Irving (1972) Singer in the Shadows: The Strange Story of Patience Worth. Macmillan, NY, USA. Yost, Casper S. (1916) Patience Worth: A Psychic Mystery. Henry Holt & Co. NY, USA. Prince, Walter Franklin (1927) The Case of Patience Worth. Boston Society for Psychic Research, Boston, USA. St. Louis GLobe Democrat (1915) The Mystery of Patience Worth. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Sun 7 Feb 1915, p41. USA. St. Louis GLobe Democrat (1915) The Mystery of Patience Worth. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Sun 14 Feb 1915, p41. USA. St. Louis GLobe Democrat (1915) The Mystery of Patience Worth. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Sun 21 Feb 1915, p41. USA. St. Louis GLobe Democrat (1915) The Mystery of Patience Worth. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Sun 28 Feb 1915, p41. USA. The New York Times (1916) Patience Worth A Psychic Mystery. The New York Times, Sun 27 Feb 1916, p69. NY, USA. ------ For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at ⁠⁠darkhistories.com ⁠⁠ Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: ⁠⁠http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: ⁠⁠http://author.to/darkhistories⁠⁠ Dark Histories merch is available here: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3GChjk9⁠⁠ Connect with us on Facebook: ⁠⁠http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast⁠⁠ Or find us on Twitter: ⁠⁠http://twitter.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ & Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/⁠⁠ Or you can contact us directly via email at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ or join our Discord community: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf⁠⁠ The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:01.9	In 1913, a St. Louis housewife named Pearl Curran sat down at a Ouija board and claimed
1:07.6	to make contact with a spirit called Patience Worth, a 17th century English
1:12.5	woman who spoke in an archaic language and spun tales with uncanny speed. What began as a parlour amusement
1:19.5	soon erupted into a literary mystery. Novels, poems and dialogues flowed effortlessly through
1:25.6	Pearl, though she had no known training in such
1:28.0	artistry. Was this the voice of a forgotten soul, the hidden genius of an unlikely medium,
1:34.4	or just a big hoax, either for profit or simply to kill boredom? This is Dark Histories,
	...

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