Sleeping Lucy of Calais: Vermont’s Forgotten Medical Clairvoyant

In the quiet town of Calais, Vermont, a remarkable woman once practiced a form of healing that defied conventional medicine of her time. “Sleeping Lucy” Ainsworth (1819-1895), born Lucy Ainsworth, became one of the most renowned alternative healers in 19th-century Vermont, predating the more famous Edgar Cayce and establishing a legacy that would echo through the annals of alternative medicine for generations to come.

The Miraculous Beginning

Lucy Ainsworth's extraordinary journey began with a personal crisis. Early in her life, she fell deathly ill and entered a comatose state that would forever change her path. While in this condition, she reported hearing a voice that provided specific instructions for preparing a medicine that would cure her illness. Her brother George, hearing these instructions, followed them precisely. The treatment worked, and Lucy recovered from her seemingly terminal condition.

News of this miraculous recovery quickly spread throughout the region, marking the beginning of Lucy's remarkable career as a medical clairvoyant.

The Mesmeric Sleep and Healing Practices

In 1842, at just 23 years old, Lucy began treating patients using what she called a “mesmeric sleep” – a trance-like state that she would enter to diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments. During these sessions, Lucy claimed to possess extraordinary abilities, including:

1. The capacity to examine the human body internally with remarkable precision
2. The ability to detect diseases and prescribe effective remedies
3. The skill to set broken bones and correct dislocations
4. The power to locate lost possessions and missing people

Unlike many alternative practitioners of her era, Lucy never represented herself as a spiritualist or claimed to communicate with the dead. Her focus remained firmly on medical diagnoses and treatments.

Marriage and Professional Life

In 1846, Lucy married Charles Rawson Cooke and adopted the name Lucy A. Cooke. Her practice continued to flourish, and she eventually relocated to Montpelier, Vermont. From 1860 to 1876, Lucy operated her healing practice from her residence at 12 Liberty Street, a trim brick house that became well-known throughout the region.

The demands on her time grew so significant that she employed a secretary, Everett Raddin, who managed her business affairs and assisted with inducing her trances through mesmerism. Later in life, after moving to Boston in 1876, Lucy married Raddin.

Remarkable Achievements

Over her 50-year career, “Sleeping Lucy” built an impressive record of claimed achievements:

• Consulting with an estimated 200,000 patients
• Setting more than 1,300 broken or dislocated bones while in her mesmeric state
• Developing and selling her own line of herbal remedies that were shipped worldwide
• Diagnosing patients through mail correspondence, requiring only their full name and age

Lucy's practice took her to various locations across New England, including Cavendish, Reading, Montpelier, and Boston.

Notable Cases

Among her many patients, some cases stand out as particularly noteworthy:

• In March 1876, Lucy correctly diagnosed and treated a dislocated hip that had been misdiagnosed as a broken hip by another doctor. The patient, Mrs. Christie of Vermont, was reported to recover well after Lucy's intervention.
• Lucy reportedly used her clairvoyant abilities to locate the bodies of missing people, including a man whose boat had capsized in 1871 and a young woman who had drowned in 1872.
• She claimed success in treating chronic conditions that conventional physicians of the time had deemed incurable.

Comparisons to Edgar Cayce

Though they practiced in different eras, “Sleeping Lucy” Ainsworth and Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) shared remarkable similarities in their methods as medical clairvoyants:

Similarities:

• Both entered trance-like states to diagnose and treat patients
• Both claimed the ability to examine patients' bodies internally and detect diseases while in these states
• Both could provide diagnoses for distant patients without physical examination
• Both prescribed herbal remedies for healing

Differences:

• Ainsworth practiced in the mid-19th century, while Cayce operated in the early 20th century
• Ainsworth focused primarily on medical diagnoses and treatments, while Cayce's readings often extended to topics like reincarnation and ancient civilizations
• Ainsworth explicitly avoided association with spiritualism, while Cayce's work sometimes incorporated spiritual elements
• While Ainsworth was well-known in her time, Cayce achieved greater historical recognition

Final Years and Legacy

Despite her success throughout much of her life, Lucy's finances began to deteriorate in her later years. She passed away from colon cancer in 1895 after falling into a final coma.

Lucy Ainsworth's legacy as a clairvoyant physician represents an important chapter in the history of alternative medicine in America. Her success allowed her to overcome the societal constraints that limited women's opportunities in the 19th century, rising from humble beginnings as an impoverished Vermont farm girl to become a successful businesswoman and healer.

Today, “Sleeping Lucy” is remembered as a significant figure in Vermont's history of alternative medicine and as an important predecessor to more famous clairvoyants like Edgar Cayce.

Citations and Other Resources

1. “Sleeping Lucy.” Anomalies Substack.
2. “The 19th Century Physician Who Treated Patients in Her Sleep.” Newspapers.com
3. Lee, Guy. “Sleeping Lucy Cooke.” Vermont Daily Chronicle.
4. “Alternative Medicine in Vermont Historical Context” Vermont History Journal.
5. “Spiritualism in Vermont with Joe Citro.” Photos by Nanci Blogspot.
6. “Montpelier's Clairvoyant Physician” Montpelier Bridge

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