Aaron Mahnke

Others, though, think it's possible that she suffered from some sort of psychosis, which ultimately manifested as schizophrenia.

They believe that had the Roths not taken her in and given the girl time to recover, the Venoms might have sent her to a mental asylum, which in the 1870s was a one-way ticket to suffering and possible death.

According to those who subscribe to this theory, it was the generosity and open-mindedness of her neighbors that saved her.

But too many questions are left on the table for us to sort through.

How did symptoms as dramatic and serious as powerful seizures simply vanish after just 15 weeks?

How did she know things about the Roths that no one else could have known?

There was even a moment during the ordeal when Laurence, claiming to be Mary, told Dr. Stevens that she had seen his deceased daughter in heaven.

Mary described a cross-shaped scar on his daughter's cheek.

Dr. Stevens, amazed, confirmed that the scar was from a surgery that she'd undergone to stop an infection.

Whatever we end up believing, here and now, today, Laurence's parents were convinced.

They said that their daughter had returned to their home and, I quote, "...more intelligent, more industrious, more womanly, and more polite than before.

She'd grown up somehow, and she was physically restored.

No more seizures, no more random trances.

It was all gone."

For a couple of years, though, Laurence tried her hand at being a medium.

Maybe the Roths talked her into it, or maybe she wanted to see if she could still do all the things that she had become famous for.

Four years after that, she married a farmer named George Binning.

George, it seems, had no interest in spiritualism, and shortly after, her efforts to work as a medium sort of ground to a halt.

Two years later, they left town, moving to a farm in Kansas.

They raised 13 kids, and naturally, life got busy.