Jobson, Mary (ca. 1840)

Nineteenth-century psychic of Bishop Wearmouth, England. Her strange case is recorded in a brief book by Reid Clanny, A Faithful Record of the Miraculous Case of Mary Jobson (1841). At age 13, in November 1839, Mary was taken ill and had convulsions for 11 weeks. The first time she was seized her mother heard three loud knocks in the sickroom. The knocks were repeated, violent scratching was heard, and the door opened and shut violently four or five times.

While in a helpless and apparently hopeless condition, the girl heard voices and occasionally made accurate predictions. In May 1840 she foretold an attempt on the life of Queen Victoria. The voices claimed to come from the Virgin Mary, from apostles, and from martyrs. R. B. Embleton said he once heard the voice begin, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt."

Many other witnesses testified to a series of occult phenomena. Water appeared from nowhere and was sprinkled in the room, an astronomical design in green, yellow, and orange appeared on the ceiling, and music was frequently heard.

The latter phenomenon was confirmed by Jobson's governess, Elizabeth Gauntlett, and by a Dr. Drury. Drury stated, "On listening I distinctly heard most exquisite music which continued during the time I might count a hundred. This she told me she often heard." The girl alternately became blind, deaf, and dumb. After eight months of unaccountable illness she was mysteriously cured.