Modern spiritism; its science and religion - SpiritArchive.org

"POSSESSION" AND ALLIED STATES 119
health.
This woman was fortunately of exceptional
ability; had she had any natural flaw in her mentality,
such a visitation would probably be but
the prelude to real insanity.
A Lady in
Bayswater
Some years ago I had a case that much distressed
me. There were two quiet maiden ladies, Christians
of the Church of England, living in a small house of
their own in Bayswater, and full of good works.
How, I know not, the younger of them was suddenly
"possessed" with an evil spirit. The first
attack was truly terrible. I was hastily called to
the terrace, where they lived, and in the bedroom
I found the younger one on the bed, and the
elder, staring in agony at her sister, standing at
the foot.
The former was simply pouring out blasphemies
and obscenities with an ease and rapidity that
bespoke long practice. The language used and the
animus displayed against God were as remarkable
as they were horrible. She was quite unconscious.
Her sister, weeping at the foot of the bed, kept
declaring that, to her certain knowledge, her sister
had never even heard the fearful words she was
using so volubly. They had never been in the East
End, or visited among the poor, and had led
sheltered lives, where no such language was ever
heard. It was quite clear to me that the true
diagnosis of the case was "possession." After a
while, and after violent convulsions, the spirit left
her, and quite unconscious of all that had happened,
she was her own sweet self again. These scenes