Do men with psychic superpowers fleece and murder wealthy women … by psychic means alone! … in these United States?

Image: “Intrepid Journalist Mabel Potter Daggett (1918),” by Alice Stone Blackwell, July 1918, in Wikimedia Commons … commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mabel_Potter_Daggett_(1918).png … public domain

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• TRAILER TO PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA MOVIE
• MABEL POTTER DAGGETT ON “THE HEATHEN INVASION”
• WIKIPEDIA ON THE HINDU PSYCHIC CRIME SCANDAL OF 1911
  • Sidebar: Black Men and Black Magic: Black Reversal Curse?
• MORE INFORMATION GARNERED FROM MRS. DAGGETT’S ARTICLE
• PSYCHIC CRIME: IN LEGAL TERMS, IS THIS ‘UNDUE INFLUENCE’?
  • Fortune Telling Is Considered Fraud in New York State
• THE DEATHS OF SARA CHAPMAN BULL AND HER DAUGHTEROLEA BULL VAUGHAN, ONLY 6 MONTHS APART
• MRS. VAUGHAN DIED ON THE DAY HER MOTHER’S ESTATE WAS RE-ASSIGNED FROM THE VEDANTA SOCIETY TO HER
• THE “CAMBRIDGE TRIBUNE” ACCOUNT OF MRS OLEA BULL VAUGHN’S DEATH
  • The Funeral of Mrs. Vaughan and the Violin Music of Her Father, Ole Bull
• CONCLUSION

Dear Ones,

I hypothesize that certain men who have yogic superpowers may misuse those powers to fleece and murder wealthy women here in the United States.

The case in point is the Hindu psychic crime scandal of 1911. It was a case where a mother died, leaving a fortune to the Vedanta Society, a neo-Hindu group here in America. The daughter thought the mother had been hypnotized into doing this.

The daughter contested the will, fell mysteriously ill, and died 6 months after her mother. The daughter died on the very day the contested will was to be settled in her favor.

THE DEATHS OF SARA CHAPMAN BULL AND HER DAUGHTER OLEA BULL VAUGHAN, ONLY 6 MONTHS APART

TRAILER TO PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA MOVIE

I was looking at one of the very nice trailers for the new Paramahansa Yogananda video “Awake: The Life of Yogananda,” a few weeks ago …

Link: “AWAKE: THE LIFE OF YOGANANDA Official Trailer #1 (2014) HD,” by FilmIsNowMovieTrailers, 22 August 2014 … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oORHVf3cu8M ..

… and I came across a section at measuring point 1.16 on the trailer that referred to this article …

MABEL POTTER DAGGETT ON “THE HEATHEN INVASION”

Link: “The Heathen Invasion: American Women Losing Fortunes and Reason Seeking the Eternal Youth Promised by the Swarthy Priests of the Far East,” by Mabel Potter Daggett, in ‘Hampton Columbian Magazine,” Donald Wayne Castellano-Hoyt, Editor, Vol. XXVII, No. 4, October 1911, pp 399-411 … https://books.google.com/books?id=iUdFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA399&lpg=PA399&dq=mabel+daggett+heathen+invasion+hampton&source=bl&ots=CrZw7NYjp_&sig=d2DqKSpXoKSnhLUjAdKO7hCfb3k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL0PqI0PvbAhXKx4MKHXT7CXcQ6AEINzAD#v=onepage&q=mabel%20daggett%20heathen%20invasion%20hampton&f=false  ..

I saw that the date of the article was 1911, which was 9 years before Yogananda arrived in America, so it could not have been written about him. Intrigued, I delved further. Here is what I found out …

WIKIPEDIA ON THE HINDU PSYCHIC CRIME SCANDAL OF 1911

There was a Miss Sarah Farmer (1847-1916) in New England. In 1892, she went with her father to the Chicago Columbian Exposition, where she met a man named Charles Bonney, a Swedenborgian who had promulgated the notion of holding a World’s Parliament of Religions.

In 1893, Sarah Farmer’s father died. In her grief, she journeyed to Norway with Sara Chapman Thorp Bull (1850–1911), wife of famed musician Ole Bornemann Bull and mother of Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan (1871-1911). I’ve read that Sara was a disciple of Swami Vivekananda and a religious activist of the Vedanta Society.

Thus she missed the meeting of the Parliament of Religions. at which Swami Vivekananda introduced Hinduism to the United States.

After Miss Farmer’s return to the United States, she set up Greenacre, then a 75-bed inn, as a conference center that might host lecturers on religion. From 1894 to 1899, notable religious lecturers taught at Greenacre. For instance, Swami Vivekananda visited there in 1894. Then in 1900 she converted to the Bahai Faith, and it looks like Greenacre then became the Bahai center of learning that it is today.

Link: “Green Acre Bahai School,” in Wikipedia …  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Acre_Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_School#Sarah_Farmer’s_inauguration_of_Greenacre ..

Link: “Sara Chapman Bull,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Chapman_Bull ..

Link: Swami Vivekananda,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda ..

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Sidebar: Black Men and Black Magic: Black Reversal Curse?

I note that, for a while the Bahai center there hosted Black Men’s Gatherings for African Americans, and that, apparently, these days the term ‘black man’ is tied in, through slang, with the term ‘black magic’ … which might possibly be a black reversal curse against the Bahai Faith.

Link: “The Story of the Bahai Black Men’s Gathering,” Frederick Landry, Harvey McMurray, Richard W. Thomas, authors, at Bahai Bookstore … https://www.bahaibookstore.com/The-Story-of-the-Bahai-Black-Mens-Gathering-P6778.aspx ..

Link: “Black Magic,” in Urban Dictionary … https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=black%20magic ..

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MORE INFORMATION GARNERED FROM MRS. DAGGETT’S ARTICLE

Returning to Mrs. Daggett’s article, cited above, as a source of information …

Speaking generally of Swamis, she notes that their following then consisted mainly of women, who were attracted to the notion of yoga as a promise of youthfulness and long life. She says that Miss Sarah Farmer’s spent some time in an insane asylum located in Waverly, Massachusetts due to a mental imbalance brought on by studying various religions.

Then she speaks of a Miss Alouise Reuss of Chicago, who was confined to an Illinois asylum after a mental breakdown at the Mazdaznan Temple of the Sun.

Next she speaks of Mrs. Ole Bull, travelling companion of Miss Sarah Farmer. Mrs. Bull died in 1911. Mrs. Bull had lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her will made the Vedanta Society hundreds of thousands of dollars the richer.

PSYCHIC CRIME: IN LEGAL TERMS, MIGHT THIS BE CONSIDERED ‘UNDUE INFLUENCE’?

The will was taken before the court, which re-bequeathed it, citing undue influence and mental incapacity. The former term, undue influence, I find of interest …

Link: “How ‘Undue Influence’ Can Invalidate a Will,” by Mary Randolph, J.D., in FindLaw …    http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/wills-trusts/undue-influence-invalidate.html ..

Fortune Telling Is Considered Fraud in New York State

Fortune telling as fraud is a related topic. New York State, for instance, condemns as fraud fortune telling that claims to have authority over evil spirits or curses ….

“A New York State statute condemns a person who ‘claims or pretends’ to ‘influence or affect evil spirits or curses’ in its prohibition of fortune telling, while letting a person ‘who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement’ off the hook…. Most current judicial opinions have held that fortune telling in itself is protected speech under the First Amendment, … though some judges have noted that “such devices are routinely, if not uniformly used to bilk or fleece gullible patrons’….”  –from Link: “Fortune Telling Fraud,” in Wikipedia …  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_telling_fraud ..

To return to the general topic of psychic crime as ‘undue influence’ … In a similar line of thought, claiming undue influence, the court decided, through an agreement with the parties involved, to reassign Mrs. Ole Bull’s fortune to her daughter, Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan. However, the very day of the award, Mrs. Vaughan died. Mrs. Daggett’s article noted tuberculosis to be the technical cause, but a ‘broken heart’ to be the true reason. In support of the latter, Mrs. Daggett noted that a Mrs. May Wright Sewell, a friend and companion of Mrs. Bull, was then in poor health due to occult studies and yogic practices.

THE DEATHS OF SARA CHAPMAN BULL AND HER DAUGHTER OLEA BULL VAUGHAN, ONLY 6 MONTHS APART

The sudden death, on 18 July 1911, at age 40, following with bitter alacrity on the heels of the death of the mother, on 14 January 1911, at age 61,  seemed untoward to me. I checked with Wikipedia, and with the Cambridge, Massachusetts, newspapers of the time, for more details …

Wikipedia mostly agreed with Mrs. Daggett’s account, and then added a little more information: “Sara [Chapman Bull] left almost her entire estate, valued at approximately US$500,000, to the Vedanta Society. Her daughter challenged the will, went to court to have it annulled. The grounds were insanity because of ‘undue influence’ with the main argument being made by her attorney that ‘Hindus had driven Mrs. Bull insane’; The New York Times calling the trial ‘one of the strangest cases in the history of will contests in this country’.

There was a settlement mostly favourable to Bull’s daughter. However, she died on the day of the settlement. The findings of the civil trial were also not in favour of the defendants….” –from Link: “Sara Chapman Bull,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Chapman_Bull … CC BY-SA 3.0

MRS. VAUGHAN DIED ON THE DAY HER MOTHER’S ESTATE WAS RE-ASSIGNED FROM THE VEDANTA SOCIETY TO HER

The death of Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan made page 10 of the “Cambridge Chronicle” on 22 July 1911 …

Link: “Death of Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan, on Day of Will Settlement: Judge Hobbs, of York County, Me., Gives Decision, Tues., Disallowing Contested Will of Mrs. Ole Bull and Approving Agreement Reached Out of Court by Parties Interested,” in “Cambridge Chronicle,” 22 July 1911, page 10 … https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Chronicle19110722-01.2.79 …

The “Cambridge Chronicle” article mentioned that Mrs. Bull Vaughan’s mother, Mrs. Bull, had given large amounts of money to various Indian teachers and their followers.

Also that Mrs. Bull had a close friend, a Mrs. Abbie Shapleigh, whom she accused of having a ‘hostile mental influence’ in her regard. [Perhaps mind control, or a curse, or demonic obsession was meant by this?] Then later, apparently, Mrs. Bull began to believe her daughter Mrs. Vaughan brought a ‘malign mental influence’ to her … an influence [ would this refer to a demon, or perhaps another sort of evil spirit?] that had been in Mrs. Shapleigh’s home.

Thus, as Mrs. Bull lay on her deathbed, she asked that her daughter Mrs. Vaughan be kept away from her. But then Mrs. Bull lost consciousness, and her daughter Mrs. Vaughan was allowed to be at her bedside.

Then the article skips to the death scene for the daughter, Mrs. Vaughan. By her side was the enigmatic Mrs. Abbie E. Shapleigh, along with her two children, said to be like mother and siblings of Mrs. Vaughan, in their degree of friendship with her.

According to the article, Mrs. Vaughan felt, to the bitter end, that she would survive the onslaught of tuberculosis and nerves. She died on 4 March 1871, exactly 6 months after her mother, and on the same day that the contested will was to be settled. From the article, I gathered she may have died just before the settlement was rendered by the court.

THE “CAMBRIDGE TRIBUNE” ACCOUNT OF MRS OLEA BULL VAUGHN’S DEATH

The death of Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan also made the front page of the “Cambridge Tribune” on 22 July 1911 …

Link: “Death Intervenes: Mrs. Olea Bull Vaughan Passes Away Just as the Famous Will Case Is About to Be Settled,” in “Cambridge Tribune,” Volume XXXIV, Number 21, 22 July 1911, pages 1, 6 … https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Tribune19110722-01.2.8 ..

From this article I got a few more details … Mrs. Vaughan was the sole child of Ole Bull, who was a famous violinist. The funeral took place at Mrs. Abbie E. Shapleigh’s home in West Lebanon, Maine. The death apparently took place at 3:30 am on Tuesday, 18 July 1911; that was a few hours before the court met. The funeral took place at 3 pm on Thursday, 20 July 1911, which to my mind was rather soon after the death; July might have been a hot month, though.

The court at Bibbleford, Judge Nathaniel Hobbs presiding, gave effect to Mrs. Vaughan’s award of $500,000 from her mother’s estate. Mrs. Vaughan had one child, Edwina, born on an island called Lysoen, about 200 miles from the Norwegian city of Bergen. Both Edwina Vaughan and Ole Bull were buried in Bergen, Norway.

It was the island Lysoen, and little else, aside from the decorations given him by royalty round the world, that Ole Bull had in worldly goods on his passing. He had made a fortune in Wisconsin lumber, but then lost it. Thus it was that, on his death he had bequeathed the island to his daughter Mrs. Vaughan, and the decorations to Mrs. Bull, his wife.

As you may recall, Mrs. Bull had expressed fear of both her friend Mrs. Abbie Shapleigh, and her daughter Mrs. Vaughan, on her deathbed. Possibly because of this fear, she had left Mrs. Vaughan nothing in her will, aside from a stipend of $3,500 a year.

Mrs. Bull had left her brother Joseph G. Thorp $50,000; he was also to receive the remaining estate on the death of the daughter Mrs. Vaughan. There was also a bequeathal of $30,000 to a friend, Miss Margaret E. Noble, who was at her bedside at her death.

Then there was a Dr. Jagardis Chunder Bose, of Calcutta, of Raja Yogi; he received $20,000. I’ve read in Wikipedia that Swami Vivekananda, introduced Raja Yoga to the United States. Thus possibly, he was a friend or follower of Swami Vivekananda …

Link: “Swami Vivekananda,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda ..

Link: “Jagadish Chandra Bose On Swami Vivekananda,” in Swami Vivekananda Quotes,” 25  December 2013 … http://swamivivekanandaquotesgarden.blogspot.com/search?q=Jagadish+Chandra+Bose+On+Swami+Vivekananda ..

I read that Mrs. Vaughan told the court contesting the will that her mother had been ‘of unsound mind’ and also ‘unduly influenced’. It would be interesting to view the transcripts of the trial, as apparently some of the testimony was quite vivid.

Mrs. Vaughan, after the death of her daughter Edwina, had adopted three children: Dorothy, David, and Sylvia. The Cambridge Chronicle article opined that these adopted children would receive bequests from Mrs. Vaughan, as might her close friend and lawyer, Ralph S. Bartlett, who had argued long and ably in her interest.

The newspaper further opined that Mr. Bartlett might be an executor of the estate, though perhaps not the only executor.

The Funeral of Mrs. Vaughan and the Violin Music of Her Father, Ole Bull

Interestingly, Mrs. Vaughan was to be buried in a West Lebanon, Maine, burial lot owned by the Shapleighs [perhaps relatives of the enigmatic Mrs. Abbie E. Shapleigh? ]. In fact, the funeral, which took place at 3 pm on Thursday, 20 July 1911, was held at Mrs. Abbie E. Shaplelgh’s home … where Mrs. Vaughan had died two days prior.

At the funeral, two famous musical pieces composed by her father Ole Bull were played: “Adagio Religioso” and “Saetergentens Sondag” …

VIdeo: “Ole Bull: Adagio Religioso A Mother’s Prayer (En Moders Bøn), by Arve Tellefsen,” by Muzikazaile, 5 November 2012 … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7YZQoAEAjw .. and 

Video: “Ole Bull Sæterjentens Søndag,” by qq559yed, 26 June 2010 …  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXqnLooMLO0 ..

CONCLUSION

Could the mysterious deaths of Sara Chapman Thorp Bull and her daughter Olea Bull Vaughan have had to do with the devious stratagems of black magic? Had they to do with obsession or possession by evil spirits, perhaps through curses laid by a practitioner of the occult arts? By men who seemed pure and public minded, if exotically robed and oddly spoken, but who, in truth, held the aim of greedy acquisition more dear than the sacrifice of that most precious of gifts, life in human form?

I expect that, as time goes on, and as telepathy for all humankind becomes an accustomed fact of life, legal systems around the world will begin to grapple with concerns regarding psychic crime (‘psychic crime’) and the undue influence that mind control by spiritual adepts espousing the heresy of consequentialism might be thought to have upon the lives of its purported hapless, and all too often female, victims.

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Written and published on 2 July 2018; revised on 9 October 2023

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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psychic crime, fortune telling, fraud, undue influence, law enforcement, history, law, HInduism, scandal, gossip, Sarah Farmer, Greenacre, Swedenborgians, Charles Bonney, World’s Parliament of Religions, Sara Chapman Thorp Bull, Ole Bornemann Bull, Olea Bull Vaughan, Swami Vivekananda, Greenacre, Yogananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, Mabel Potter Daggett,Hampton Columbian, Vedanta, Vedanta Society,  Adagio Religioso, Saetergentens Sondag, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Lysoen, Cambridge Tribune, Cambridge Chronicle, Abbie E. Shapleigh, Donald Wayne Castellano-Hoyt, Joseph G. Thorp, Ralph S. Bartlett, Bahá’í Faith, Mrs. May Wright Sewell, consequentialism, heresy, spiritual adepts, black magic, psychic harm, psychic murder, obsession, possession, entity attachment, telepathy, occultism, psychic theft, bequests, sums outright, Neo-Vedanta, Neo-Hinduism, my favorites, crime and crime prevention,