SLEEP WALKING.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 20, 12 March 1918, Page 2

SLEEP WALKING.

CURIOUS CHRISTCHURCH CASE. An unusual case of sleep-walking, says the Lyttelton Times, occurred in Christchurch in the very early hours one morning, the chief actors being the somnambulist, a young lady of about 27, a constable, and a taxi-driver. The constable was patrolling the Co-lombo-street block from Cook and Ross's corner southwards, at about 2 a.m., when he noticed a woman walking alone through Cathedral-square. He was struck by the fact that she was alone and was puzzled to know whether she could have been attending a dance. So as not to frighten her, as she continued to walk in his direction, he stepped out into the road, and then he noticed that she was wearing no hat, and nothing on but a long chemise and shoes, but no stockings. He came to the conclusion at once that the woman was a somnambulist, and realising that it was dangerous to suddenly'" waken anyone in such a condition, he decided to keep her under close watch. Ho therefore walked closely alongside her. They went up Colombo-street northwards, when a young man, walking home from a night job, sighted the young lady, and, to use his own words, was on the point of taking to his heels when he also saw the constable. He called out in some alarm:

“Who is that lady, constable?” “It’s all right,’’ said the constable, “she is walking in her sleep, and it would be dangerous to wake her. The young lady walked on over the Colombo-street Bridge with the constable close behind. Possibly there is something in the history that a sleepwalker cannot cross running water, for on reaching the other side the young lady paused and swayed, and the constable was just in time to catch her as she collapsed. He put his greatcoat around her, and in a few seconds she seemed to waken up, as if cut of* a sleep, and soon regained absolute normality. Immediately on coming to consciousness the young lady exclaimed. “Ihave lost the key of the house.’’ This was not so, however, for the constable had found it in her hand, and had taken it from her after he caught her. He reassured her about the key, and she was greatly relieved, for it appeared that in her sleep she had made her way out of the house, unlocking the front door and locking it again quietly behind her. The constable summoned a taxi, and drove the young lady home, where she was able to let herself in quietly with the key. The distance she walked was possibly a mile, and the strange thing is that she encountered nobody but the constable.

The young lady was not subject to sleep-walking, although she w T as supposed to have walked once in her sleep when a child. Enquiries on the following day showed that she had suffered no ill-effceta from her nocturnal walk.