Montezuma's Castle, and Other Weird TalesCory, Charles B. (Charles Barney)
General
Montezuma's Castle, and Other Weird Tales
Cory, Charles B. (Charles Barney)
Fiction; Short stories, American
"You see," said Watson, "we did not know what suggestion was given the
patient; these post-hypnotic suggestions are peculiar in their action
upon some sensitives. If, as it is fair to suppose, this man was ordered
to sleep, he should in the natural course of events sleep for a number
of hours and then awake, after passing from the hypnotic sleep to the
normal sleep; but we know very little of the effect on some nervous
systems of post-hypnotic suggestions. Another thing, in many cases the
patient will not waken or cannot be wakened except by the person who put
him to sleep. The reason for this is plain enough. Part of the effect on
the mind of hypnotic suggestion is due entirely to sleep. The skilled
hypnotist commands one of his sensitives to sleep under certain
conditions. The sensitive expects to be awakened by the same voice and
in the same way, and habit and association have fixed in his mind
certain conditions which he associates with the order to awake. There is
no doubt whatever that Mr. Herrick heard what we were saying when we
spoke to him in a loud voice, but he heard it without understanding,
much as a person in a sleepy condition hears noises about him without
trying to comprehend them. It is undoubtedly true that the man who put
Herrick to sleep could have wakened him in a moment, while we, with all
our knowledge and experience, were unable to make his brain regain its
normal condition. We decided to let him sleep; and if, at the end of a
few hours, he did not regain consciousness, we would try again what we
could do to assist him, of course watching the heart in the meanwhile
and using nitro-glycerin or strychnia if indicated.
"At that moment Herrick suddenly spoke, at first huskily and then in a
loud, clear voice, shouting, 'Yes, yes, I hear you; I am awake.' Then he
sat up, asking in a dazed way, 'Where am I? What does this mean?'"
"As he did so the old-fashioned clock in the hall struck the hour of
seven."
The queerest part of this story is suggested by a letter received from
Dr. Morse the next day, which read as follows:
DEAR WATSON: You asked me to write you about the injured man, and
I do so now to tell you he is dead. He died a minute or two before
seven o'clock last evening; I know the hour exactly, because I was
watching him at the time, and for some moments he had been
whispering and muttering to himself, but all I could catch was
something about, "I withdraw my command;" when, suddenly raising
himself, he shouted, "Wake up, wake up!" and fell back dead just as
the clock in the church-yard struck seven.
I should be much interested to hear whether his story was true or
not. Drop me a line about it when you have time.
Very sincerely yours,
F. MORSE.
STORY OF AN INSANE SAILOR.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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