THE SLEEPER OF OKNO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 1514, 9 November 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SLEEPER OF OKNO.

32 YEARS SPENT IN A TRANCE-

FROM 14 TO 46. There have been several cases of long sleep, quite apart from the celebrated persons of Ephesus and Rip van Winkle. One of the most remarkable was the long sleep of a Gorman Government official named Arnheim, who had an accident in which his. head was injured in 1904, and, falling asleep, was still unconscious four years afterwards, and may. be sleeping still. But the most interesting esamplo was that of a woman living in the little island of Okno, off the. coast of Sweden, who fell asleep in 1875 and did not wake up till 19Q7. Dr. Frodei strom, of the Salpetricre Asylum, in Paris, has made a detailed examination of her experience, and now publishes, says the Hamburger Nachricht.cn, the result of his inquiries in the asylum journal. It seems that 'the sleeper .of Okno" was born in 1861. Nothing can be .discovered as to any inherited of nerves or brain or on other abnormal feature in her record. The first fourteen years of Caroline Olsson were passed iT» perfect health, although extraneous difficulties prevented her from - attending school. It was not till just before her fourteenth birthday that she received any schooling. At the following Christmas she fell ill. On the all-eventful day she came home from the school, which was three miles off, and complained of toothache and indisposition, and was put to bed. A very few hours later she fell into a trance, uttered no word, seemed to hear nothing, and showed no trace of feeling anything when needles and such like things were run into her arms. For thirty years and more, according to her mother's evidence, Caroline remained in this condition without a sign of change. Only one? in reply to the despairing cry of her mother for a prayer did she move her lips and cav, "Jesus have mercy on me!" Some three or four time® did the invalid leave for a moment her bed, on which all the rest of the time she. lay in. a crouching posture, with the bed clothes drawn up over her head. It is said that her whole nourishment consisted of. two cups of milk a day. When her mother ciied Caroline must have been conscious to some extent of the fack; for $he burst into tears, though otherwise no change was noticeable in her condition. After the mother's death a brother undertook the charge of the sleeping girl and her food, but after two years ho was drowned, and this, sad event occasioned a, second violent fit of weeping. Glimmers of the Daws. The car© of her then devolved upon a housekeeper, and Caroline seems to have shown more intelligence and sharpness in I noticing her presence. It began to be j noticed that her hair was always kept tidy, and that her nails did not exceed the usual length. As the resultt of an experiment in leaving her alone for some, hours of the day, a suspicion arose that her trance could not have been so complete and unbroken as formerly. At last there was no doubt about it, food disappeared mysteriously. A few months later, Caroline suddenly asked for her mother, and when her brothers hurried to her side she waved them away, pay kg, "Yon aren't my brothers; they were quite small." Front that- moment she was r. different being. The trance had ceased, and ieft her quite well and hearty. The most careful ex- : amiaation failed to reveal to the doctor th« slightest trace of weakness or of mental defect. She remembered every detail of her early life, but showed a, great reluctance to speak about her illness. The only hint of an explanation that Dr. Froderstrom can supply is that the time of life from 14 to 46 spent by her hv this trance corresponds exactly amongst women of the North German race with the period of possible mother hood. •