Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: trances

A downright macabre postcard for the Weird Vintage Postcards group. -------- I dreamt I was in a trance, my folks thought me dead. They put me in a coffin; they cried and said nice things about me. All night long the old cat, whose kittens I had drowned that morning, sat on my coffin and gloated over my sufferings; she knew I was alive. I was placed in a hearse and in due time arrived at the grave yard. I could hear the mud hit the lid of the coffin and began to choke when I woke up. Gates ajar. He has went? His chair is vacant. -------- Printed on the back: "Bad Dream Series No. 1." Postmarked twice on Oct. 17, 1910: Once at Middletown, Pa., 7 a.m., and a second time at Manchester, Pa., 9 a.m. Addressed to: "Mrs. Katie May. Manchester, York Co., Pa." Handwritten message: "Dear Sister, I wanted to write this [for a] long time but I had no time. We are having two weeks off at the shoe factory. Why didn't you come over? I was at the river. Answer. From Elva, your sis. R.F.D. No. 1."

"J. H. Kanarr, professional hypnotist, Lancaster, Pa. Hypnotism thoroughly taught. Charges reasonable. Diseases cured without medicine. Public and private exhibitions given." Beverly Wilgus (Photo_History) posted an unused copy of this card on Flickr (see Blank Business Card for Professional Hypnotist - c. 1890 ) and speculated that the cards may have come from a nineteenth-century hypnotism school. In fact, I believe that the professional hypnotist cards originated with Lew Alexander Harraden of Jackson, Michigan, who offered mail-order lessons in hypnotism under the name "Prof. L. A. Harraden" in the 1890s and 1900s. Although J. H. Kanarr probably purchased one of Harraden's mail-order courses, it's doubtful that he ever actually worked as a "professional hypnotist."