The New York Weekly Witness of January 15, 1896, reports
“A LONG CATALEPTIC SLEEP
“Information was received at Milford, Pa., last Friday, that William Depue, a prominent citizen of Bushkill, Pike County, whose mind for seven years has been a blank, had suddenly returned to consciousness.
A SEVEN YEARS’ TRANCE.
“Seven years ago, while at work, Mr. Depue became ill. Doctors were summoned, but they could find no possible ailment. The sick man sank into a cataleptic sleep, from which medical science could not arouse him.
“At no time during the long period did he recognise any one, and food was given him through a tube inserted in his mouth. He lost no flesh, and was apparently as healthy as any man. Although the best medical men in the country were called to his bedside, his case baffled them all.
“Upon recovering his senses he set about his usual labours as if he had been asleep but the ordinary time. He remembers nothing that has taken place during his seven years’ trance.”
The following case appeared in the Middlesbrough Daily Gazette, February 9, 1896, and in a number of English papers:—
“The young Dutch maiden, Maria Cvetskens, who now lies asleep at Stevensworth, has beaten the record in the annals of somnolence. At the beginning of last month she had been asleep for nearly three hundred days. The doctors, who visit her in great numbers, are agreed that there is no deception in the case. Her parents are of excellent repute, and it has never occurred to them to make any financial profit out of the abnormal state of their daughter. As to the cause of the prolonged sleep, the doctors differ.”