" Mary is to leave the body of Rancy to-day, about eleven o'clock, so she says. She is bidding neighbours and friends good-bye. Rancy to return home all right to-day. Mary came from her room upstairs, where she was sleeping with Lottie, at ten o'clock last night, lay down by us, hugged and kissed us, and cried because she must bid us good-bye, telling us to give all her pictures, marbles, and cards, and twenty-five cents Mrs. Vennum had given her to Rancy, and had us promise to visit Rancy often".

[Mary arranged that her sister, Mrs. Alter, should come to the house to say good-bye to her, and that when Lurancy came at eleven o'clock she should take her to Mr. Roff's office, and he would go to Mr. Vennum's with her. There was some alternation of the control on the way, but the final return of the normal Lurancy Vennum took place before they reached Mr. Roff's office, and on arriving at her own home she recognised all the members of her own family as such, and was perfectly well and happy in her own surroundings. A few days later, on meeting Dr. Stevens, under whose care she had been at Mr. Roff's house, she had to be introduced to him as an entire stranger, and treated him as such. The next day she came to him spontaneously, saying Mary Roff had told her to come and meet him, and had made her feel he had been a very kind friend to her, and she gave him a long message purporting to be from Mary.

A letter from Mr. Roff, dated December 4th, 1886, published in the Religio-Philosophical Journal, states that Lurancy Vennum continued to live with her parents until January 1st, 1882, when she married a farmer, George Binning. The Roffs saw her often both before and after her marriage, until she moved further west in 1884, "and then," Mr. Roff says, "Mary would take control of Lurancy just as she did during the time she was at our house in 1878.... Aside from this, she had little opportunity of using her mediumship, her parents being afraid to converse with her on the subject lest it should cause a return of the 'spells' (as they called them),... and her husband never having made himself acquainted with spiritualism.... Lurancy has what might be called, perhaps, a remembrance of her old experience while controlled by the spirit. She always speaks of it thus: 'Mary told me,' or 'Mary made me acquainted,' etc. She became acquainted with several persons while Mary controlled her,... and when the control left her, she continued the acquaintance thus formed.... She has never had any occasion for a physician since she left us, never having been sick since then." Mr. Roff also stated that at the birth of her first child she became entranced, and did not recover consciousness till after the child was born].

Dr. Hodgson visited Watseka on April 12th, 1890, and cross-examined the principal witnesses of the case who were still living in the neighbourhood, including Mr. and Mrs. Roff, Mrs. Minerva Alter (their daughter), Mrs. Robert Doyle, Mrs. Kay, Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Wagner, and Mrs. T. Vennum, a distant cousin of Lurancy's. The evidence obtained from them was published by Dr. Hodgson in the Religio-Philosophical Journal for December 20th, 1890, from which I quote extracts as follows: -

Mr. Roff stated that when Lurancy Vennum first arrived at his house she looked around and said, " Where's Nervie?" - the name by which Mary Roff had been accustomed to call her sister Minerva, now, and at the time of Lurancy Vennum's experience, Mrs. Minerva Alter.

Mrs. Roff stated that Lurancy Vennum had never been in her house until she came there as Mary Roff. After looking round the house she said, "Why, there's our old piano, and there's the same old piano cover." This piano and cover had been familiar to Mary Roff in another house, where Mary Roff died. Lurancy referred to some peculiar incidents in Mary Roff's life almost every day, and she spoke once in detail about her stay at a water-cure place in Peoria where Mary Roff had been. Mrs. Roff once said to her, "Mary, do you remember when the stove pipe fell down and Frank was burned?" "Yes." "Do you know where he was burned?" "Yes; I'll show you," and she showed the exact spot on the arm where Frank was burned.