Interesting Articles, Links and Other Media

Considering testimonials of visitations of people from ‘beyond’—or what is sometimes called ‘the ascended realm’—allows some significant correlations to be found.  These cases encompass documented cases of human interaction with so-called ’space people.’  In 2012, blog articles reported about ’flying saucer contactees’ Truman Bethurum, Daniel Fry and Orfeo Angelucci.  In this post, I am presenting four excerpts involving accounts that might lead one to recall the ‘ambrosia’ of the ancient Greeks and ‘amrita’ of Hindu scriptures.  The first is from Angelucci’s initial account of his contact experiences from his self-published Twentieth Century Times in 1953.

The autobiographical writings of Dr. John Dee (1527-1609) show what life was like in Elizabethan England for one who worked with ’scryers’ (mediums) to chronicle interaction with ‘spiritual creatures’ and ‘good angels.’  There were many times when Dee wrote down the details as the scryer described what he saw and heard upon gazing into a crystal globe.  Consider this predicament as a Renaissance equivalent of ‘the movies’ for the scryer with ‘spiritual creatures’ (usually human emissaries) appearing in different settings along with assorted objects, letters and numbers; sometimes with symbolic or metaphorical significance.  The visions are described as featuring diverse attire, animals, furniture, transformations, swords, fire, trumpets, jewelry, beams of light, celestial sights, plants, smoke, gold, water, etc.  There were also occasions when there was interaction with visitors from ‘the ascended realm’ without the use of a crystal, as will be shown by the excerpt featured in this article.

I first learned about Dee during the period between 1985 and 1995 when I visited antiquarian book fairs searching for literary treasures and found a limited edition reprint of the 1659 book A True & Faithful Relation of What passed for many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee (A Mathematician of Great Fame in Q. Eliz. And King James their Reignes) and Some Spirits: Tending (had it Suceeded) To a General Alteration of most STATES and KINGDOMS in the World.   The book may now be read without charge with an Internet edition.  The title page also divulged further contents: “His Private Conferences with Rudolphe Emperor of Germany, Stephen K. of Poland, and divers other Princes about it.  The particulars of his Cause, as it was agitated in the Emperors Court; By the Popes Intervention: His banishment, and Restoration in part.  As Also The Letters of Sundry Great Men and Princes (some whereof were present at some of these Conferences and Apparitions of Spirits: ) to the said D. Dee.  Out Of The Original Copy, written with Dr. Dees own Hand: Kept in the LIBRARY of Sir THO. COTTON, Kt. Baronet.  With a PREFACE Confirming the Reality (as to the Point of Spirits) of This RELATION: and shewing the several good uses that a Sober Christian may make of All.  By Meric. Casaubon, D.D.”

The inside book jacket for the 1974 reprint described Dee as having attempted “to aid humanity by bringing peace and reconciliation to a Europe torn by war and religious intolerance.  He and his medium journeyed throughout 16th-century Europe to Bohemia, meeting leading political figures . . . Throughout their journey the two partners called upon the guidance and help of the spirits and we learn how these spirits were summoned, the help and advice they gave, and the commands that they had for Dee.” Casaubon’s edition brings together twelve of John Dee’s books documenting what Dee referred to as his “actions with spirits.”  The book jacket also reminds that these ’spiritual diaries’ were “written at a time when despite the risk of prosecution and public execution, Magic was widely studied and practised.”

I am using contemporary English spelling for the passage that follows, except for a sentence in Latin.  Prague on April 30, 1586 is the setting for a unique event recorded by Dee.  Although it is mentioned that he had burned a large collection of his books and papers on April 10, an account of that day isn’t among those to be found in A True & Faithful Relation . . .

The life of medium Gordon Higginson (1918-1993) is described in the 1993 biography On The Side Of Angels compiled by Jean Bassett.  Gordon served as president of the Spiritualists’ National Union for more than 20 years.  He joined the SNU after World War II and once gave a sitting to Arthur Findlay, who bequeathed his Essex mansion Stansted Hall to the union.  The estate is administered by the union as a College for the advancement of psychic science.

Gordon’s mother Fanny had also been a medium.  She had been trained by trance medium Annie Brittain.  Gordon began participating in his mother’s ‘development circle’ when he was five or six years old.  He recalled having once glimpsed “a clear vision” of his Black guide ‘Cuckoo’: “That was not her name: it was the way I called to her, then she would call back.  Because of this she chose to be called Cuckoo . . . Cuckoo had always talked to me and often used to come with me to school.”

I became a boy medium when I was 12 years old and travelled with my mother and a speaker.  I had been trained as a demonstrator so needed a speaker to go with me.  My mother worked to develop my mediumship to the calibre she felt was necessary.

I became known before the war for giving full names and addresses.  This was considered quite remarkable and widely reported in the papers in the towns where I worked as well as the Spiritualist publications.

Gordon was 18 when he realized he was a trance medium.  He remembered shutting his eyes when he felt drowsy at a Sunday Spiritualist Church service.

The next thing I knew was that the chairlady stood by my side offering me a glass of water.  I thought I had fainted, apologised and said to her, “Am I to give the demonstration now?”  “Yes, after we have sung the hymn,” came the reply.  I asked if the address had gone all right.  “But you gave the address!” said Mrs. Northall.

Of course, I told her that I couldn’t have done as I didn’t do the speaking.  She explained I had given an excellent trance address, and moved down the steps from the pulpit among the people.  The spirit control had then given those present a message to be given to me, the medium, when I came out of trance.

The message was for my mother.  It stated she was to find an envelope in which would be found the name of the spirit control, Light, and that this was also my spirit name.
Upon telling his mother about the incident, she went to her room and brought back the sealed envelope enclosing a paper with his ’spirit name’ written on it by Annie Brittain at the time of his naming (the Spiritualist alternative to Christening) — “Of course, the name on that paper was Light!”

World War II resulted with Gordon turning 21 while serving in the army.  He commented, “As a gifted medium, I was able to help so many young men who were troubled.”

I made many friends whom I knew were going to survive the war because a medium is conscious not only of the past and present, but also the future as well.  When mediums are working, they are not conscious of time, but are sharing a consciousness of no time.  We are conscious of an existence that goes beyond the present.

During the post war years, his first appearance in London resulted with a couple who had received messages, Mr. and Mrs. Hiscock, confirming the accuracy of the messages in a letter to Psychic News.  In the 1950s, Gordon consistently sat in a circle to develop his physical mediumship at the suggestion of his guides.

I have experienced burns and injury when my seances had unexpected interruption so you see how important it is to know what you are doing before you embark on this type of development.

It was some seven years before we were getting good trumpet and apport phenomena; we nearly always had one sometimes two trumpets moving.  We had spirit lights and the movement of objects quite early on . . .

It was around 1964 when the circle started to observe materializations.

We started our seance with an invocation and then had one short hymn.  I would take that opportunity to go into trance.  Once I was entranced, the proceedings were then handled by the spirit guides.

Of course, two of my guides have become so well-known to people through my physical mediumship; they are Cuckoo and Paddy.  Cuckoo, as already explained, has been with me ever since I can remember, a great friend to me over the years.  Paddy usually takes charge during physical seances and is very good.  I have another guide called Choo Chow of whom I was aware, but who did not come forward until the beginning of my trance mediumship and seemed to take charge.  It was through him that I became a trance speaker.

I have another guide who only comes to me once a year.  He takes over during my regular Christmas Day trance address, speaking about the world and the current and future situations.

This guide is Light.  I am named after him in the spirit world.

Gordon began giving public demonstrations with his circle around 1970 with Paddy usually being Gordon’s chief communicator.  Gordon mentioned that not all of the seances were successful.

Early in 1970 my good friend and colleague, Frank Tams, built a cabinet for me to use in the library at Stansted Hall.  The cabinet is not to conceal anything that is happening, but used to focus the energy around the medium for Spirit to utilize in their work.  Although there are curtains, these are usually drawn back so people can clearly see what is happening.

A photo from the book: Jean.

Frank and Kath went to visit Jean at first.  For weeks, Frank gave her healing.  In the end, he asked if I would go as he felt Dr. John’s expertise was needed.  I agreed and went not once or twice, but many times in the following months.

The guides used to talk to Jean.  So did Frank, Kath and I.  We spoke about Spiritualism, about life and death, about the many things which are important to the spirit self.  Jean seemed to have a tremendous insight and gradually gained hope of a different horizon.  I never promised her she would walk again.  I couldn’t because I knew the eventual outcome.

I did promise that one day she would join in with a Spiritualist service.  Then the time came when I realised she had not much time to go.  There was part of me that was sad.  Jean was so young, but had suffered so much.  Even with spirit help, we couldn’t change her destiny.

I decided that she would see a service, even though I had to make special arrangements for it to be in her own home.  I spoke to our church members.  Bill Harratt arranged some hymns whilst Frank came along and did a reading.  Kath gave a short address and I a demonstration.

It was a proper service, even though there were only a few there.  Some of our church people joined us along with members of Jean’s family.  Two weeks later, her time here on earth ended and she passed into her new home.  We had become very fond of this child yet could not grieve.

There was a rather marvellous sequel to this which happened only a few weeks later.  In the physical circle I held regularly in our church at that time the voice of Cuckoo was heard, saying, “I have a surprise for you.”

The ectoplasm built up, and a form moved to the outside of the cabinet.  A young person with a swirling gown moved gracefully and confidently out towards Kath.  It was Jean!

“Look Kath,” she said.  “I can walk!  Look at my hands!”  She held out her hands.  And the fingers were straight and true; those poor fingers so deformed in this life were straight and supple.  Tears of joy ran down Kath’s face.  Other members of our circle who had not known Jean felt the emotion and responded in turn.

Jean thanked Bill Harratt for the hymns played at her own special service.  She moved across the room to Sally Morgan, a member of our church who attended the service at Jean’s home, thanking her for the flowers which she gave to brighten her room.  Lastly she spoke to Frank.  “I enjoyed your reading,” she said.  “Please thank Gordon.  He gave me so much happiness.”  “May God bless him” were her last words as she returned to the cabinet.

Gordon Higginson was also the subject of last week’s article “Gordon Higginson’s Visitor from the Ascended Realm”.  For more information, visit www.gordonhigginson.co.uk.  Here is an article by Gordon that may be read online.

During recent epochs, people from the ascended realm chronicled to interact with humans in the physical world have been typically termed ‘ascended masters’ and ’spirit guides.’  Some unusual anecdotes of encounters beyond the seance room may be found in biographical books about mediums.  One  example may be read in the life story of Gordon Higginson compiled by Jean Bassett On The Side of Angels (1993).  Higginson served as president of the Spiritualists’ National Union and was a medium whose work may now be seen on You Tube as mentioned in a previous article.  The following is an excerpt from Chapter 19 of the book.

I was born to be a medium and at first thought that was my destiny.  Then I met Arthur Finley, who lit a blaze of idealism for Stansted Hall within me, one which has never died.

It was really in the early part of 1970 I was to be helped — or led — into the dual nature of my life’s work.  I really wonder sometimes which way it was, but this is what happened.

I was taking the service at Portsmouth one Saturday evening and due at my own church on the Sunday afternoon.  I decided to travel back through the night.  I had done this a number of times, but it was a shock to find that I had, somehow, lost my directions.  I was on my way to Stansted Hall!

I knew that Walter Sills and his wife May would be at the hall.  Mr. Sills was then union treasurer and, at that time, the acting manager of the hall.  There would be no guests as it was closed during the winter months at that time until about April.

I rang to check they would be willing to give me a bed as I would be arriving rather late.  I was fairly certain it would be all right because I knew Mr. Sills quite well, and he was a very nice man, very kind.  He waited up for me with tea and sandwiches.  We spoke for a while about the union, of which I was then vice-president.

In the morning I got up and went downstairs.  Mr. Sills greeted me and to my surprise told me there was someone waiting to see me.  The person had told him I would know he was coming.

Well I didn’t.  Indeed, I should not have been there that day and did not know until late the previous night that I would be.  I really had no idea who it could be and said so.  Mr. Sills had asked the visitor to wait in the library so I had breakfast before going in to find out who it was and what he wanted.

Quietly, I looked round the door.  To my surprise, my visitor was a monk in a brown habit and sandals.  I was quite astonished.  Well, I didn’t know any monks!  I went back to Mr. Sills and said: “I don’t know of any monk who would want to see me.  I didn’t expect any visitors.  No one knows I am here.”

“Well,” Mr. Sills replied, “he asked for you by name.”

I was really curious by now.  I went back in and asked the monk what he wanted.  “Did you know that you were to meet me here?” he asked.  I said “No.”  Then the monk inquired, “Where should you have been this morning?”  I told him I ought to have been at home, and explained what had happened, that I had lost my way.

“Didn’t you stop to think that perhaps there was some reason why you should have to stay here the night?” asked my visitor.  “I have come to bring you a message.”  “Oh dear,” thought I.  “This is a peculiar thing to be happening.”  But I was very curious.

The monk went on: “You have a mission in life.  You have turned down an opportunity that is important to the mission you have in life.”

“Well,” I said, “the only thing I can think of that I have refused to do is to stand as the president of the SNU.”  I couldn’t think of anything else.  I very seldom found it in me to say “No” to people.  It always seems such a hard and final word to me.

“We would like you to reconsider,” said the monk.  “You have a job to do, a mission to fulfill.  A lot will depend on what you intend to do.”  I asked if he would mind if I spoke with the treasurer of the union as I could not give him my answer straight away.

I went out and said to Mr. Sills: “This man is crazy.  I can’t possibly take on the presidency.  I have a very demanding job.  I have my own church; I am the vice-president; I work for the college; I take services.  I can’t possibly take on any more.”

I cannot remember wondering what it had to do with a strange monk whether I should or should not accept the presidency as it all happened quite quickly and there was an air of unreality about the whole thing.

But Sills offered to speak to the monk for me.  We both returned to the library — to find he had disappeared!  We looked around, but there was no sign of him.  We searched the hall, the grounds, even down to the village asking if people had seen anyone dressed like a monk.  They must have wondered if we were crazy, but no one had seen him.

I rather wanted Mr. Sills to hear what the monk had to say because I could hardly believe it myself.  I also wanted him to be a witness.  This particular experience, which had been shared in part by Mr. Sills, left me shaken.  You see, there was no way  the monk could have left the library without our seeing him.  We were standing on the stairs, opposite the only door.

We had searched because it seemed he must have slipped out.  We knew in our hearts he could not have done, but still wanted to accept the normal rather than the supernormal.  That, of course, is human nature.

I decided to write to Richard Ellidge, the then general secretary, and tell him I withdrew my objection and would now stand for office.  Again, I believed it would only be for a few years.  How strange it is that 22 years later I should still be holding the same office!  And what changes there are.

At that time, we were practically bankrupt.  The hall owed thousands of pounds with no clear view that we could ever pay our debts.  There was no obvious way out of our dilemma.  I did not want to be the president who was responsible for winding up the SNU yet here I was accepting this position.

Now, we still have financial problems.  Often we work from week to week with few reserves, but we have paid our debts.  The college has become a symbol of Spiritualism that is accepted all over the world.  From having a few guests per week and a limited season we now fill the hall most weeks of the year.

Foreign students come in chartered plane-loads.  Name any country and we have people who travel from there to take what we can give at Stansted, something they cannot get anywhere else in the world.  I believe that Stansted Hall is the center of Modern Spiritualism in the world.

I also believe that the SNU was chosen to take on this responsibility because it teaches pure Spiritualism.  It has no prefixes, but a definite message that all religions can accept.  There is nothing they cannot accept because life after death can be proven.

It is a fact.  Therefore, we have that uniting principle to bring people together.  I believe there is a greater force than man operating in this world.  This force — which always has been and always will be — has moved men and women in their hearts and minds to bring good into this world.

Previous blog articles including descriptions of ‘visitors from the ascended realm’ include last week’s article about Muhammad and the articles “Excerpts from the  Philo T. Farnsworth Biography by Elma Farnsworth” and “Phenomena and Madame H. P. Blavatsky“.

The 2006 edition of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings is a revised edition that includes the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005.  The book is based on eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies and is described as presenting “original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.”  This book provides perspectives of the life of Muhammad (circa 570-632) that humanize a historical figure of religious influence, encompassing descriptions of miraculous experiences.  Muhammad is quoted on one occasion: “I hold intimate converse with one whom ye converse not with.”

In chapter 65 an incident of ‘Revelation’ was described by ‘A’ishah, one of Muhammad’s many wives, after she became the object for suspected adultery.

“He remained sitting in our company and all of us were still present when a Revelation came to him: he was seized with the pangs that seized him at such times, and as it were pearls of sweat dripped from him, although it was a wintry day.  Then, when he was relieved of the pressure, he said in a voice that vibrated with gladness: ‘O ‘A’ishah, praise God, for He hath declared thee innocent.’”

The book also presents descriptions of occasions in the lives of other people who heard the voices of unseen communicators and experienced prophetic dreams and visions.  Similar to many human figures associated with religious traditions, many of the anecdotes involving Muhammad seem to have been filtered through a prism of acceptance and aggrandizement; however, as Lings observed: ” . . . the revealed Book itself was the central miracle of the Divine intervention now taking place, just as Christ had been the central miracle of the preceding intervention.”

In the following excerpt from chapter 15 “The First Revelations,” voices of unknown speakers are described to have been heard by Muhammad as precursor events to his first encounter with Gabriel.  The “outward sign” mentioned regarding Mohammad’s “authority” was an incident where it had been suggested that the arbiter of a disagreement be “the first man who shall enter in through the gate of this Mosque.”  That individual was Muhammad who was returning to Mecca after an absence.

It was not long after this outward sign of his authority and his mission that he began to experience powerful inward signs, in addition to those of which he had already been conscious.  When asked about these he spoke of “true visions” which came to him in his sleep and he said that they were “like the breaking of the light of dawn.”  The immediate result of these visions was that solitude became dear to him, and he would go for spiritual retreats to a cave in Mount Hirã’ not far from the outskirts of Mecca.  There was nothing in this that would have struck Quraysh [his Arab tribe] as particularly strange, for retreat had been a traditional practice amongst the descendants of Ishmael, and in each generation there had been one or two who would withdraw to a solitary place from time to time so that they might have a period that was uncontaminated by the world of men.  In accordance with this age-old practice, Muhammad would take with him provisions  and consecrate a certain number of nights to the worship of God.  Then he would return to his family, and sometimes on his return he took more provisions and went again to the mountain.  During these few years it often happened that after he had left the town and was approaching his  hermitage he would hear clearly the words “Peace be on thee, O Messenger of God,” and he would turn and look for the speaker but no one was in sight, and it was as if the words had come from a tree or a stone.

Ramadan was the traditional month of retreat, and it was one night towards the end of Ramadan, in his fortieth, when he was alone in the cave, that there came to him an Angel in the form of a man.  The Angel said to him: “Recite!” and he said: “I am not a reciter,” whereupon, as he himself told it, “the Angel took me and whelmed me in his embrace until he had reached the limit of mine endurance.  Then he released me and said: ‘Recite!’  I said: ‘I am not a reciter,’ and again he took me and whelmed me in his embrace, and again when he had reached the limit of mine endurance he released me and said, ‘Recite!,’ and again I said ‘I am not a reciter.’  Then a third time he whelmed me as before, then released me and said:

“Recite in the name of thy Lord who created!

He created man from a clot of blood.

Recite; and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful,

He who hath taught by the pen,

taught man what he knew not.”

 

He recited these words after the Angel, who thereupon left him; and he said; “It was as though the words were written on my heart.”  But he feared that this might mean he had become a jinn-inspired poet or a man possessed.  So he fled from the cave, and when he was halfway down the slope of the mountain he heard a voice from above saying: “O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.”  He raised his eyes heavenwards and there was his visitant, still recognizable but now clearly an Angel, filling the whole horizon, and again he said: “O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.”  The Prophet stood gazing at the Angel; then he turned away from him, but whichever way he looked the Angel was always there, astride the horizon, whether it was to the north, to the south, to the east or to the west.  Finally the Angel turned away, and the Prophet descended the slope and went to his house.  “Cover me!  Cover me” he said to Khadîjah [his first wife] as with still quaking heart he laid himself on his couch.  Alarmed, yet not daring to question him, she quickly brought a cloak and spread it over him.  But when the intensity of his awe had abated he told her what he had seen and heard; and having spoken to him words of reassurance she went to tell her cousin Waraqah, who was now an old man, and blind.

The old man warned Mohammad about the likelihood of him being called a liar and experiencing other ill-treatment due to his predicament.  Some people called him ‘the reprobate’ and ‘Mudhammam’ (meaning blamed) instead of Muhammad (meaning praised).

The singularity of the forementioned ‘thy Lord’/Creator is ameliorated by a passage at the beginning of the chapter “Smoke” in The Koran (here from the N. J. Dawood translation):

Ha mim.  We swear by the Glorious Book that We revealed the Koran on a blessed night.  We revealed it to warn mankind, on a night when every precept was made plain as a commandment from Ourself.  We sent it down as a blessing from your Lord, who hears all and knows all.

He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them.  (Mark this, if you are true believers!)  There is no god but Him.  He ordains life and death.  He is your God and the God of your forefathers.  Yet they divert themselves with doubts.

In chapter 34, there is an incident where Muhammad found himself in disfavor of the voices—here one is identified as Satan—after Muhammad promised paradise for people who became his followers after a man of Khazraj told them they would be pledging themselves to war.

And Satan was watching and listening from the top of Aqabah; and when he could contain himself no longer he cried out in the loudest voice possible and spoke the name Mudhammam, Reprobate; and the Prophet knew who it was who had thus cried, and he answered him, saying: “O enemy of God, I will give thee no respite.”

In chapter 69, another apparently clairaudient occurrence is described.

It happened on this occasion that seated next to the Prophet was a Khazrajite named Bishr, the son of the Barã’ who had led the Muslims of Yathrib to the Second Aqabah and who had been the first ever to pray the ritual prayer in the direction of Mecca.  When the Prophet took a mouthful of lamb, Bishr did the same and swallowed it, but the Prophet spat out what was in his mouth, saying to the others: “Hold off your hands!  This shoulder proclaimeth unto me that it is poisoned.”  He sent for the woman and asked her if she had poisoned the joint.  “Who told thee?” she asked.  “The shoulder itself,” said the Prophet.  “What made thee do it?”  “Well thou knowest,” she said, “what thou hast done unto my people; and thou hast slain my father and mine uncle and my husband.  So I told myself: ‘If he be a king, I shall be well quit of him; and if he be a Prophet he will be informed of the poison.’”  The face of Bishr was already ashen pale, and he died shortly afterwards.  But the Prophet nonetheless pardoned the woman.

There are incidents of voice-hearing also chronicled as having been experienced by others, as in chapter 69:

“Where are the Bani Ghatafãn?” was a question that was being asked throughout Khaybar, but not answered.  They had in fact set out with an army of four thousand men as promised.  But after a day’s march they had heard during the night a strange voice—they did not know whether it came from earth or heaven—and the voice cried out three times in succession: “Your people!  Your people!  Your people!,” whereupon the men imagined that their families were in danger, and hastened back whence they had come, only to find everything in order.  But having returned, they were unwilling to set out a second time, partly because many of them were convinced that they would now arrive too late to have a share in the defeat of the enemy.

There is also a momentous occasion in chapter 82 when the angel Gabriel is reported to have been seen with Muhammad although the dogma expressed by him as recorded is manifestly imperfect.

Umar said: “One day when we were sitting with the Messenger of God there came unto us a man whose clothes were of exceeding whiteness and whose hair was of exceeding blackness, nor were there any signs of travel upon him, although none of us knew him.  He sat down knee unto knee opposite the Prophet, upon whose thighs he placed the palms of his hands, saying: ‘O Muhammad, tell me what is the surrender (islâm).’  The Messenger of God answered him saying: ‘The surrender is to testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s Messenger, to perform the prayer, bestow the alms, fast Ramadan, and make, if thou canst, the pilgrimage to the Holy House.’  He said: ‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ and we were amazed that having questioned him he should corroborate him.  Then he said: ‘Tell me what is faith (iman).’  He answered: ‘To believe in God and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe that no good or evil cometh but by his Providence.’  ‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ he said, and then: ‘Tell me what is excellence (ishan).’  He answered: ‘To worship God as if thou sawest Him, for if thou seest Him not, yet seeth He thee.’  ‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ he said, and then: ‘Tell me of the Hour.’  He answered: ‘The questioned thereof knoweth no better than the questioner.’  He said: ‘Then tell me of its signs.’  He answered: ‘That the slave-girl shall give birth to her mistress; and that those who were but barefoot naked needy herdsmen shall build buildings ever higher and higher.’  Then the stranger went away, and I stayed a while after he had gone; and the Prophet said to me: ‘O Umar, knowest thou the questioner, who he was?’  I said: ‘God and His Messenger know best.’  He said: ‘It was Gabriel.  He came unto you to teach you your religion.’”

Chapter 83 of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources identifies the Koran as a work of transcendental communication (the common contemporary expression for this is ‘channeling’).

It was in Ramadan every year that Gabriel would come to him to make sure that nothing of the Revelation had slipped from his memory; and this year, after the retreat, the Prophet confided to Fatimah, as a secret not yet to be told to be told to others: “Gabriel reciteth the Koran unto me and I unto him once every year; but this year he hath recited it with me twice.  I cannot but think that my time hath come.”

In chapter 84, an eventual proverb is associated with Muhammad at the age of 63.  “They had grown accustomed to thinking of him as one who is already in a sense in the Hereafter.  Perhaps it was partly for this reason that when he spoke of his death . . . his words made little impression on them . . . Yet on one occasion a remark of his when he was with his wives was sufficiently ominous to prompt the question as to which of them would be the first to rejoin him in the next world.”

He replied: “She of the longest reach will be the soonest of you to join me,” whereupon they set about measuring their arms, one against another.  Presumably, though it is not recorded, Sawdah was the winner of this contest, for she was the tallest of them and in general the largest.  Zaynab, on the other hand, was a small woman, with an arm to match.  But it was Zaynab who died first of them all, some ten years later.  Only then did they realize that by “she of the longest reach” the Prophet had meant the most giving, for Zaynab was exceedingly generous, like her predecessor of the same name who had been called “the mother of the poor.”

A ‘chosen one’ by God achieving success on the battlefield perhaps finds an epithet with the word ‘mad’ being prominent in the English translation of the name Muhammad.  On one occasion reported by Lings, Muhammad declared that “war is deception.” In the final chapter Muhammad is quoted: “I and this world are as a rider and a tree beneath which he taketh shelter.  Then he goeth on his way, and leaveth it behind him.”

During the late 1980s I was researching Julia Pastrana, who I had first learned about upon reading one of Frederick Drimmer’s books.  I was curious to see what further information was available and obtained photocopies of some of the printed materials about Julia that had been made at the time of her public appearances during the mid-nineteenth century.  I featured the first portion of a Boston playbill in a previous blog article and similar information appears in the Worcester flyer (presented below) that provides a brief account of her life until then.  The Boston playbill also reported about Julia: “She has a thick, heavy skull, and half an inch of flesh over it; a small brain, well-proportioned and capable of being cultivated and improved, like a child’s eight years old.  Her disposition is mild and childish.”

Upon becoming acquainted with this information, I recalled some of the accounts of strange beings and tribes presented in Ivan T. Sanderson’s Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come To Life (1961).  Sanderson’s book was presented as “The Story of Sub-Humans on Five Continents from the Early Ice Age Until Today.”  Central America testimonials presented in the book include a report from a resident of “the outer periphery of the Mexican state of Chiapas” about a form of ‘ABSM’ or ‘Bigfoot’ in nearby forests known locally by such names as Salvaje, Cax-vinic, or simply fantasma humano.  There is also a description by people living in the vicinity of Gautemala’s Baja Verapaz, around the town of Cubulco: “There live in the mountain forests very big, wild men, completely clothed in short, thick, brown, hairy fur, with no necks, small eyes, long arms and huge hands.  They leave footprints twice the length of a man’s.”  Cases in this chapter include two anecdotes of women being captured by a similar being known as a Sisemite.  Sanderson also reported that people living or working in the southern forested area of British Honduras (now Belize) associated sightings of “small semi-human creatures” sometimes associated with the expression Dwendis.  The chapter concludes with the statements: “We are, in fact, once again confronted with the strange fact that great numbers of people of all manners of tribes, nationalities, and even races, insist that ABSMs are wild men, as opposed to manlike animals.  This is one theme that runs consistently through all ABSMery.”  Sanderson also wrote about ‘man-things’ in the books “Things” (1967) and More “Things” (1969).

Visiting the British Library in London in August 1989, I found some more details about Julia Pastrana’s life.  I eventually wrote a screenplay about Julia and the man who married her, Theodore Lent.  I was working on finding a producer for this screenplay (among others I’d written) at the time I traveled to Oklahoma to interview a family experiencing what had been described as a ‘talking poltergeist’ case.  Among those who expressed a favorable response to the screenplay about Julia was a co-producer of the movie “Fire In The Sky” and the president of marketing for Paramount Pictures, where I was working as a publicist at the time.  As readers of my case study Testament know, soon after my trip to Oklahoma I relinquished all of my previous writing projects.

Here follows accounts of the life of Julia Pastrana as presented in two original brochures publicizing her ‘levees’ (appearances for a public assembly) in the 1850s.

First, the following information is presented here precisely as it was worded in this Worcester advertisement.

T H E O P A T E I N D I A N S .

These remarkable beings inhabit the Sierra Madre Mountains in the State of Sinaloa, near California. They live in caves, in a naked state, and subsist on grass, roots, insects, barks of trees, &c. They have a great many tamed animals, such as Bears, Monkeys, Squirrels, &c., which they know no difference between and themselves. Their face and whole person is covered with a thick black hair, and their features have a close resemblance to those of a Bear and Ourang Outang. Their mouths are elongated, with very thick double lips. They have no front upper teeth, but a strong jaw to masticate nuts or any hard substance, much like a brute. Their stature is from three to four feet, and they weigh from eighty to ninety pounds. They have intellect, and are endowed with speech, which no monsters have ever possessed. They have always been reported by travelers as a species of Ape or Babboon, having no intellect. Their dispositions are very much of the Monkey order, very spiteful and hard to govern. This tribe of beings have always been looked upon as forming a kind of link between the man and the brute creation, and this singular Hairy Woman will go far to prove that philosophy which establishes the perfect order and graduation to be found in all animated Nature. She is in some respects an exception to her tribe, as she is much larger, and has no hair on her bosom, hands and feet, and human nature seems to predominate. She is 22 years old, four feet six inches high, and weighs 112 pounds. No description of her could be given so minute, as to be at all satisfactory. The public are, therefore, respectfully invited to call and see and judge for themselves, and all will be perfectly satisfied that there is no imposture attempted by her exhibition.

In 1829 several women went up from Copala, (a little town just at the edge of the mountains,) to a small pond above, on the side of the mountain, to bathe, after their custom; on their returning home they missed Mrs. Espinosa, one of their companions; all endeavors to find her proved fruitless, and it was believed that she was drowned, until six years afterwards a Ranchero, who was hunting for his cattle on the mountain, heard a voice in a cave, which he took to be a Mexican woman. He went down to Copala and got a company of men, who went up and surrounded the cave, and by great stratagem succeeded in recovering Mrs. Espinosa. She stated that she had lost her way, and had wandered to the top of the mountain, when she fell into the hands of these Indians, who had ever since kept her shut up in this cavern. She expressed a great liking for this child, which was then about two years old; she having nursed her from her infancy. Her mother died when she was only a few days old.

Mrs. Espinosa took her home, had her christened, gave her the name of Julia Pastrana, and made her husband godfather, and herself godmother to her. A few years after they removed to Durango, and gave Julia to Pedro Sauchez, Governor of the state of Sinaloa. She remained in his family until April, 1854, when finding no happiness there in consequence of their bad treatment, she left home, resolved to go to the mountains again, when M. Rates met with her in the woods adjoining Copala, and induced her to go to the United States with him for exhibition. He got his friend, F. Sepulveda, who now accompanies her, to go with her to protect her and return her again to her guardian Gov. Sauchez. They arrived at New Orleans in Oct., 1854, and went directly to New York, to Mr. Barnum, with whom they expected to make an engagement, but the cold weather not agreeing with them they returned to New Orleans, where they arrived on the first of February, 1855. Here her exhibition commenced under the management of J. W. Beach.

The following information is presented here precisely as it was worded in a text chronicling Julia’s life after her London engagement at the Regent Gallery: Account of Miss Pastrana, The Nondescript; and the Double-Bodied Boy. In this periodical also, statements about Julia’s tribe arouse many questions.

There are two remarkable exhibitions at the present time in London, whose objects are of a conformation so wonderful that they may well startle all who go to see them. As only a small proportion of the vast population of this great metropolis, and the country around have been to view those extraordinary natural curiosities, but who should as early as possibly pay them a visit, we, to induce them to do so, will lay before them all the interesting facts concerning their history, habits, and physiological nature that we possess. In due order, therefore, we will first call our reader’s attention to the annexed advertisement in the newspapers of the day:—

THE NONDESCRIPT, MISS JULIA PASTRANA.—This young lady, the wonder of the world, supposed by eminent naturalists and Physicians to be a hybrid, wherein the nature of woman predominates over the Ourang-Outangs is very singular; her Nose, Forehead, and entire Face, Shoulders, Arms, &c., are covered with Thick Black Hair. She has no Pupil apparent in the Eye, no Cartilage in the Nose, with double gums in the upper and lower jaw, and only One Row of Front Teeth. The Lower Jaw is much extended, and the angle of the face is very singular. Miss Julia Speaks and Sings in English and Spanish, and dances the Highland Fling, Schottish, &c., &c., and has decidedly the prettiest little Hands, Feet, and Ankles, in London. Levees, from Eleven to One, Three to Five, and Eight to Ten Daily, at the Regent Gallery, 69, Quadrant. Admission, 1s. and 2s., Stalls 3s. Miss Julia is pleased when the Ladies and Gentlemen ask her Questions, and examine her pretty Whiskers, of which she is very proud.

Being earnest enquirers after truth, ever prone to investigate the phenomena of nature, animal, vegetable, or physical, and consequently among the first to be attracted to by such an announcement, we accordingly struck work, threw down our implements of trade, donned our best attire, shut up shop, and hurried off as fast as the “marrow-bone stage” could carry us, the very first evening after we perused it; and when arrived at the Regent Gallery, with great difficulty, amidst anxious crowds of sight-seers, elbowed our way in, to take a peep at the Extraordinary Lady just imported from the regions of wonder.

Language fails us, when we attempt to depict the mingled sensations that filled our minds, at even a first sight of Miss Julia Pastrana. A closer inspection struck us with awe; a lengthened interview created astonishment unbounded; and a minute examination, compared with the printed history of her in our hands, which we purchased there, including an intense attention to her various entertaining performances (referred to in the above advertisement), so inspired us with amazement and delight, that, “Strangely-formed Being!”—”Singular-looking Creature!”—”Wonderful Curiosity of Nature!” and other ejaculation manifesting the excitement we were under, involuntarily escaped from our lips, and which were no sooner overheard by the spectators nearest to us, but they were caught up and responded in a similar strain by every lady and gentleman present; so extraordinary and fearfully wonderfully they deemed the “Nonedescript,” that their eyes feasted upon. (She has since left London for the Provinces).

That the bulk of our readers should hasten to see this “world’s wonder,” before she leaves these islands, we introduce the following extracts from the history mentioned, which we doubt not will remove any lukewarmness or hesitation in respect to Julia Pastrana they may now possess:—

“Before proceeding to give an account of the origin, nationality, and peculiar characteristics of Julia Pastrana, the ‘Nondescript,’ it will be proper to make some general allusion to a race of savages, known by the common term of the Root Digger Indians of Mexico.”

There are tribes called Shoshonees or Snakes, and Utahs. Some are dark like Africans, others have a copper-coloured or bright yellow complexion, like that of Mulattos. “These Indians have aquiline noses, long hair on their heads, well-shaped feet, and speak different languages, although they subsist on the same kind of food. They are scattered over a wide extent of country, from Oregon to the Gulf of California, and throughout the territories of Utah and New Mexico. Near the Gulph of California, a tribe of these Indians is found who live in caves, in a naked state, and subsist on grass, roots, bark of trees, &c.; they eat no animal food! They have a great many tamed animals, such as bears, monkeys, squirrels, &c., between which, and themselves, they know no difference. Their stature is from three to four feet, and they weigh from eighty to ninety pounds. They have intellect, and are endowed with speech. It seems as if Providence has created and provided for them in the state in which they now live. This mountain country is very fertile, full of springs, while grass and vegetation grows in abundance throughout the whole of the year. They get their food daily, and never lay up anything. They have no cause to labor, as they neither cook or wear any clothing.

The term “Digger” is applied to all of these Indians, wherever located, in consequence of the method of procuring their food, which consists principally of grass-hoppers, snails and wasps. They are very fond of a certain little animal which the Bible tells us greatly afflicted the Egyptians in the days of Pharaoh. The California grass-hoppers, however, mainly compose their mess. These insects are caught by digging a hole in the ground, then making a wide circle round it, and driving them into it, and capturing them. After baking the grass-hoppers in the fire, or drying them in the sun, they crush service berries into a jam, and pulverizing the insects, mix both together, when the pulpy mass is fit to be eaten. Sometimes they mix their cricket-meal with parched sun flower seed, but this kind of food is a luxury indulged in only by a few. They burn off the grass, and then grub in the earth for the nests of wasps. Acorns are also a favorite article of diet. The Carpenter bird of California is in the habit of making holes in the Redwood trees, and filling them with acorns. When a Digger finds a tree stocked in this manner, he kindles a fire at its root, and watches it till it falls, where he helps himself to the acorns. They usually pound these nuts into a meal, and, mixing this with wild fruit, form a sort of bread. They also make a kind of bread from grass seeds.

The male digger never hunts, but usually depends on the exertions of his squaw to provide something to appease the cravings of hunger.

Travellers say that of all the Aborigines known within the limits of the Western Continent, the Digger Indians are certainly the most filthy and abominable. They come into the world and go from it with as little purpose as other Carniverous animals.

It is said that Captain Sutter, the first settle on the Sacramento River, employed these Indians to build his fort. He paid them in a tin coin of his own invention, upon which he stamped the number of days the holder had worked. These stamped pieces of tin were taken at his store for articles of dry goods, &c. He fed his field Indians upon the offals of slaughtered animals and bran sifted from ground wheat. The latter was boiled in large iron kettles, and then placed in wooden troughs, from which they scooped it with their hands and ate with great relish.

ORIGIN AND PARENTAGE OF

JULIA PASTRANA, THE NONDESCRIPT

The origin and pedigree of this wonderful creature is involved in obscurity.  If of any of the tribes of Digger Indians, she has many characteristics essentially different from those people.  They have no hair on any part of them, except their heads; their stature is from three to four feet; they weigh only from eighty to ninety pounds, and have dispositions very spiteful and hard to govern.  The case is quite the reverse with Julia Pastrana.  She is now four feet six inches high, and weighs one hundred and twelve pounds.  She has thick black hair all over her person, except her bosom, hands and feet.  Her mouth is elongated, with very thick lips.  She has double gums in front, both in the upper and lower jaw—with only one row of front teeth, and those teeth in the back gum of the lower jaw.  She is good natured, sociable and accommodating—can speak the English and Spanish Languages—dance, sing, sew, cook, wash and iron—these latter accomplishments being acquired, of course, since her introduction to civilized life, having been recovered from a state of nature when she was very young.  She is now supposed to be twenty-three years of age.

The statement that is generally credited concerning her is as follows:—

In 1830, several Digger women went up from Copala, to a small pond on the side of the mountain, in order to bathe, according to the usual custom of the country.  On returning home, they soon after missed one of their companions.  All endeavours to find her proved fruitless, and it was believed  that she was drowned, until six years afterwards a Ranchero who was hunting for his cattle in the mountains, heard a voice in a cave, which he took to be a Mexican woman.  He went down to Copala and got a company of men, who went up, surrounded the cave, and by great stratagem succeeded in recovering the lost woman.  She stated that she lost her way, and had wandered to the top of the mountain, when she fell into the hands of a rival tribe of Digger Indians, who kept her closely confined in a cave for the whole time from her capture to her recovery by the Mexican Ranchero.  The place, however, where she was found, was some hundreds of miles from any human beings, whether Digger Indians or others, and in a region of country abounding in monkeys, baboons, and bears.  She was at the time giving nourishment to this child, about two years old, from the maternal fount.  The woman professed to love this child dearly, though she disclaimed being its parent.  The child was christened Julia Pastrana, and its supposed mother being deceased, she was allowed to remain in the family of Pedro Sanchez, Governor of the State of Sinaloa, in a domestic capacity.  She remained in his family until April, 1854, when she was brought to the United States for exhibition, and has since appeared in all the principal cities and towns, exciting the greatest curiosity, especially among the medical faculty and Naturalists.”

Certificates were given from three of the most eminent of the faculty in America, as follows:—

Dr. Mott’s Certificate

“New York, December 3, 1854

“Sir:—To naturalists alone we leave the task of solving the enigma concerning the origin of Julia Pastrana, the “Semi-Human Indian,” which would have puzzled the Sphynx.

“She is a perfect woman—a rational creature, endowed with speech which no monster has ever possessed.  She is therefore a Hybrid, wherein the nature of  woman predominates over the brute—the Ourang Outang.  Altogether she is the most extraordinary being of the day.

I remain, your’s, respectfully,

ALEX B. MOTT, M.D.
 

Examination by the Boston Natural History Society.

Boston, September 21, 1857.

“The looks, anatomical conformation, abnormal growth of hair upon the person, sufficiently show that Julia Pastrana belongs to some of the Indian Tribes, supposed to be of Asiatic origin.  She is a perfect woman, performing all the functions of the sex.  Her hair is very opaque but cylindrical in sections, showing there is no admixture of Negro blood.  In her disposition and appearance she is certainly human.

SAMUEL KNEELAND, JR.,

Ex-Curator of Comparative Anatomy of Boston Society of Natural History.

From Professor Brainerd.

Cleveland, August 5, 1855.

“Sir:—In compliance with your request, I will state that I examined the hair of the specimen of the Genus Homo, which you have in charge, and compared it with the hair of the African, under a high magnifying power, and from this comparison, have no hesitation in saying that the individual in question possesses, by this test, NO TRACE OF NEGRO BLOOD.

Her other peculiarities; the hair upon the body, its length and structure, the form of the mouth and nose, the size of her limbs, peculiarities of her breasts, &c., and various other features, entitle her, I think, to the rank of a DISTINCT SPECIES.

Yours, truly,

S. BRAINERD, M.D.
 

THE INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL TRAITS OF MISS JULIA:—

Anecdotes, &c.
 

Miss Julia Pastrana is now twenty-three years of age, but the calibre of her mind is by no means so well developed as that of most persons.  Her face, covered with jet black hair—her elongated mouth—her double, very thick, coral-like gums—her skull, covered to the depth of half an-inch with a fleshy substance, on which grows a cumbrous mass of long glossy jet-black silken straight hair, all go to demonstrate that she is really the most extraordinary being that has ever existed on the face of the earth.  The health of Julia Pastrana is perfectly good.  She seems to be able to endure much, in a physiological point of view.  She has never been sick while travelling, delights to travel, and is inclined to be discontented when idle.  Her ideas of making money are limited, but they are brightening, and there are hopes that she will acquire in time the money-getting faculty, equal to that of the rest of the family of man.

It will not be out of place at the present time, to mention a few of the many things that occur to persons situated like Miss Pastrana.

While on an expedition to Carrol Hall, in Baltimore, she was invited to a ball given by a Military organisation of that city—for a copy of whose Card of Invitation, with the signatures of the Executive Committee, see p. 19 of the more copious 6d. edition, from which we quote, to be had at the Exhibition.

“At first Miss Julia seemed indisposed to accept the proffered civility, on account wither of diffidence, or because she imagined that the ladies and gentlemen who would be in attendance would make of her an object for their merriment.  These objections being overcome, she finally consented to attend the festival.  She accordingly dressed herself in a most magnificent manner for the occasion.  Her attire, or costume, consisted of a blue dress, trimmed with silver lace, white kid gloves, black satin slippers, bracelets, watch, and a splendid set of Jewellery, including a diamond ring, which has just been made a present to her.

Although somewhat timid or bashful on entering the ballroom, she soon recovered her self-possession, and passed the evening as graceful as if she had been accustomed to scenes of fashion and gaiety all her life—making herself agreeable to all the joyous company.  Indeed, had her face been screened from observation, no one would have discovered anything extraordinary in her behaviour or general appearance, save that her handsome dress alone, might naturally have rendered her the “cynosure of all eyes,” particularly among the lovely belles of the Monumental city.

“On her introduction to the ball-room, in company with her guardian, she was welcomed by the band of musicians playing Hail Columbia, followed by a grand march, in which the goodly company promenaded around the hall, with Miss Julia at the head of the procession.  After the march, each lady and gentleman present was introduced to her, shook hands with her and took their seats.  When the second cotillion was announced, Julia was invited by several gentlemen to become their partner in the merry dance, all of which attentions she positively declined, inasmuch as it was the first time she had ever attended a ball, and because of her lack of knowledge of the “five positions” of the salstatic divertisement.

Soon, however, the band struck up a waltz, whereupon she accepted an invitation from one of the military gentlemen and waltzed around the room a number of times with him, having previously learned the waltz by some natural intuition, or instruction, of which her guardian had no previous information.

Her next beau was a very genteel young man in citizen’s dress.  Quite an incident heightened the zest of this dance.  The handsome gallant ran up to Miss Julia with considerable eagerness, to secure her for a partner in a Schottish dance.  When the couples however, had taken their places on the floor, the young gentleman, either from fright or some other undefined emotion, was observed to change colour several times, and to exhibit a degree of embarrassment strangely at variance with his character.  He quickly rallied his feelings however, and having acquitted himself in a creditable manner through the evolutions of the “light fantastic toe,” led his partner in a graceful and courteous manner to her seat.  In this way the festival passed off piquantly and delightfully to all present—Miss Julia included, who afterwards expressed the pleasure felt on the enchanting occasion.

During her exhibition at Bellair, a small town in the interior of Maryland, it happened that the County Court met for its usual session.  Judge Price presided, having just been elected and inducted into the office.  The Judge was invited by Julia’s guardian, to pay her a visit.  He did so, and after examining her sufficiently, he remarked that she was too great a curiosity to see without paying for it.  He promptly tendered a piece of money and retired.  The reason and circumstances of the Judge’s liberality being explained to Julia, she instantly replied that he was a “good Judge and an honest man,” and that she would be willing to have him preside even were she on trial for Murder! The reason of her speaking of murder arose from the fact, that a man was on trial at that time for that hideous crime, having killed a fellow creature by shooting him.  This incident would show that Julia had a mind capable of reflection, and that she has proper notions of human accountability, as well as a sense of the true distinction between right and wrong.

Miss Pastrana’s ideas of a city or town, after seeing it, as a general rule, are tolerably correct.  In most cases, she expresses herself quite sagaciously in relation to the probability of doing a good business in her line of profession.  Her memory is very retentive, and she never forgets the countenance of any one she has ever seen, and will readily name the place or occasion when she first saw the individual.  She often meets persons that she has seen months previous, and will at once inform them of the fact, and detail all the circumstances of the case quite succinctly and clearly.

She learns everything with about the same readiness of a child of eight years of age, and retains knowledge in a similar degree.  Her disposition is kindly and affable, and she endeavours to pleas everybody.  She is aware that she is on exhibition, and understands that all who visit her expect to be satisfied that there is no attempt to at imposition made upon their curiosity or credulity.  She unhesitatingly submits to every examination or inquisition conducted in a proper manner, as if willing to advance the cause of science or to gratify the laudable curiosity of all who attend at her public levees.  She is always cheerful and appears perfectly contented with her position in life, and seemingly is philosophically resigned to every contingency of destiny, of whatever character in the sublunary state of her existence.”  Hoping the enquiring reader will hasten to see Miss Pastrana for himself, and willing to indorse as a further recommendation the concluding remarks of the gentleman who has the exhibiting of her, because, fully agreeing with their truthfulness, we in this place insert them:—

“In conclusion, the guardian of Julia Pastrana would remark, that there is nothing in her appearance in the least calculated to offend the sensibilities of the most fastidious, whether viewed, socially, morally, or physically.  A feeling of pity, rather than of repugnance or antipathy, is generally experienced in the bosom of all who pay her a visit.  There is sufficient of the characteristics of her womanly nature to dispel anything allied to the revolting or disagreeable, and connected either with her personal appearance, or the manner in which her levees are conducted.  Persons who visit her with an idea of seeing a wild beast in the cage of a menagerie will be disappointed.  Those who go with the expectation of seeing some frightful monster will have such expectations changed to sentiments of allied at once to awe and astonishment at the mysterious ways of Providence, while his philosophy will be puzzled amazingly to account for his share of the milk of human kindness, and the abundant juiciness of his own heart in view of the wonderful phenomenon that will irresistibly for the time being engross his attention.

In any point of view Miss Julia is a curiosity of remarkable interest, and must be seen to be fully appreciated.  She is worthy of a special visit, if it be but to realize something of the profound riddle in which the origin of the Aborigines of America is involved.  The Indians were found on the Hesperian Continent in countless myriads, at the time of its discovery by Christopher Columbus, while the manner in which they were treated by Cortez, in his “Conquest of Mexico,” has been the theme of the romancer and historian for centuries.  Yet neither revelation nor science have as yet offered the key for the solution of the perplexing problem whether the “Red Skins of America are of Asiatic origin, or whether they have not always been indigenous or native to the land of the Incas and Aztecs!  Surmises abound, from the most absurd to those of some plausibility.  The Indians have been, at will, transferred into exiled Jews or banished Chinese, while their language has been called Syriac, Welsh and Celtic—still their origin remains unknown.

Go and see Julia Pastrana, the “Nondescript,” and learn wisdom, subdued by becoming humility.  Go and endeavour to realize where man’s bestial attributes terminate and where those that are Divine begin!”

While in Russia, Julia died less than five days after giving birth to a son who is reported to have lived for 35 hours.  Although Julia and her son’s bodies were embalmed and mummified by a professor named Sokolov who chronicled the process, it  is noticeable that photos of Julia’s mummy show facial characteristics that contrast with those seen in the various depictions of Julia made when she was alive.  This may have been due to the embalming process.  Sokolov mentioned that “signs of rapid decomposition were plainly visible” when he began the embalming “by injection of decay-arresting mixtures to halt the decay.”  A book presenting passages from Sokolov’s report along with assorted photos and drawings of Julia is Julia Pastrana: The Tragic Story of the Victorian Ape Woman (2001) by Christopher Hals Gylseth & Lars O. Toverud.  A brief profile of Julia’s life and career may be read at thehumanmarvels.com.  Evidently Julia’s arms and legs were either shaved or photographic retouching was done for the daguerreotype shown below.

In the chapter about Julia in A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities (1997) by Jan Bondeson, the author observed about anthropologists’ and dermatologists’ theoretical diagnoses of the genetic disorder ‘congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa’ (inherited increased hairiness with lanugo hair) —

Microscopic examination of hair from the head and beard showed that all features were consistent with human terminal facial hair.  Since replacement of lanugo with terminal hair never occurs in true congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa, it is clear that Julia Pastrana did not have this disorder.  But what was the cause of her strange deformities?

No observer would have been able to ascertain what was beneath the overgrown gum during her lifetime, but inasmuch as the jaw of the mummy is relatively undamaged, it is now possible to do so.  A skull X-ray and panoramic X-rays of the mummy’s jaws show that Julia Pastrana had a complete set of permanent (secondary) teeth, with the possible exception of the upper left lateral incisor.

Among some other speculations, Bondeson acknowledged that in relation to the theoretical diagnosis of another rare genetic disease “the autosomal dominant syndrome of congenital hypertrichosis and gingival hyperplasia”: “Nothing even resembling her gross facial deformity — the thick lips, broad and flat nose, and large ears has been seen in any later example of this syndrome.”