8 - The Strange Case of Clara Coffin

The tale of Clara Coffin, a well-to-do Jersey girl who in 1903 vanished - and reappeared days later, halfway across the country, telling an unbelievable tale.  Also: a man claims to have gotten married while in a hypnotic fog, another man claims to have stolen a woman's jewelry under the hypnotic command of a whiskey-drinking, gun-toting man, and a young girl claims to have cut her hair short and dressed like a boy while hypnotized.

“A sensation,” Arkansas City (KS) Daily Traveler, February 21, 1896.

“Cast spell over him,” Alton (IL) Evening Telegraph, November 27, 1900.

“Clara Coffin arrives home,” New York Sun, November 15, 1903.

“Clara Coffin's story doubted,” New York Evening World, November 7, 1903.

“Girl in boy's dress found at Coney,” New York Tribune, July 11, 1905.

“Girl tells queer story,” New York Times, November 7, 1903.

“Her eyes hypnotized,” Waterloo (IA) Courier, November 9, 1903.

“Hypnotic fog did for him,” Los Angeles Times, November 26, 1900.

“Hypnotism,” Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer, November 8, 1903.

“Is searching for a missing girl,” Richmond (IN) Item, November 6, 1903.

“Miss Coffin better,” New York Sun, November 8, 1903.

“Mother seeks missing girl,” New York Evening World, November 5, 1903.

“No trace of Miss Coffin,” New York Sun, November 6, 1903.

“Oil magnate's daughter lost,” New York Evening World, November 4, 1903.

“Other side is heard,” Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), October 28, 1897.

“Rev. C.O. Brown's startling story,” San Francisco Examiner, January 1, 1896.

“Said she traveled alone,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 1903.

“She may be in California,” St. Louis Republic, November 6, 1903.

“Sticks to hypnotism story,” Lincoln Nebraska State Journal, November 10, 1903.

“Taken into court,” Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 31, 1895.

Bartholow, Roberts. “What is meant by nervous prostration?” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 110:3 (January 1884).

Cobb, Ivo Beikie. A Manual of Neurasthenia (Nervous Exhaustion). London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1920.

Gunn, Selskar M. Letter to Frederick Russell, January 15, 1921.

-----. Letter to Wickliffe Rose, March 1921.

-----. Letter to Frederick Russell, November 1925.

Van Deusen, E.H. “Observations on a form of nervous prostration (neurasthenia), culminating in insanity.” American Journal of Insanity (1867).

The Blue Book for the Oranges, New Jersey. New York: Dau Publishing, 1908.