87. The Haunting and Murder of Teresita Basa / The Watseka Wonder

The night of February 21, 1977, the fire department was called to put out a fire in Teresita Basa’s apartment. In the blaze, they found her nude body under a burning mattress with a butcher knife buried in her chest.          https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Teresita_Basa

Teresita’s apartment had obviously been ransacked. Was this a robbery gone bad? Investigators had no idea if anything had even been stolen. https://ifthewallscouldtalkpodcast.com/episodes/teresita-basa/

Detective Stachula and his partner, Detective Lee Epplen, were notified that a Dr. Chua had information about Teresita’s death and wanted to talk to them. Not once, but twice did the spirit of Teresita speak through his wife Remy. She claimed that she had been killed by Allan Showery and to prove that she spoke the truth, she said some jewelry had been stolen the night he killed her and he gave the jewelry to his girlfriend . (Photo by chicagonow.com)  https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/did-teresita-basa-solve-her-own-murder-bba7259e08

Detectives questioned Allan and his girlfriend, who had indeed been gifted some beautiful jewelry by Allan, all of which was identified as pieces stolen from Teresita the night of her death. Allan was arrested and charged with Teresita’s murder. His trial ended with a hung jury. While waiting for a retrial Allan plead guilty in exchange for a sentence reduction. He got 22 years for murder, robbery, and arson. He served a total of only 5 years before he was released on parole. (Photo provided by Chicago Times)                   https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/did-teresita-basa-solve-her-own-murder-bba7259e022

When Mary Roff was just a baby she began having “cataleptic fits”. As Mary got older her condition worsened, and she was convinced that the fits allowed her to speak to spirits and gave her clairvoyant abilities. Doctors advised her parents there was nothing left to do but to send Mary to the insane asylum in Peoria, Illinois to get help. Mary died at 19 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watseka_Wonder

This is a woman in a cataleptic fit. The condition is characterized by muscular rigidity, fixity of posture and decreased sensitivity to pain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy

Lurancy Vennum, was fine until she turned 12. She began to suffer from cataleptic fits which would last for hours. And just like Mary had, Lurancy would speak in different voices and different languages, and said that she could speak to spirits. During this time she was “possessed” by Mary Roff and insisted that she go live with the Roff’s. At their wits end her parents allowed her to do this. Mary (using Rancy) stated that she would possess Lurancy until Lurancy’s soul had been healed. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Watseka_Wonder

The Watseka Wonder, published in 1887, Dr Stevens writes, “the most remarkable case of spirit return and manifestation ever recorded in history.  A girl dead and buried 12 years comes back identifies herself and lives for 3 months and 10 days as the recognized daughter of her parents.” photo from 4GirlsandaGhost Blog https://historyofyesterday.com/the-roff-house-much-more-than-your-typical-haunted-house-da3d67c939ca

On all accounts, after she left the Roff home Lurancy went on to live a normal and long life, no longer plagued by fits. She married George Binning and the family, which included 11 children, moved to Kansas. Lurancy died at the age of 88 in 1952 in Los Angeles, CA. Photo from alexmatsuo.com https://historyofyesterday.com/the-roff-house-much-more-than-your-typical-haunted-house-da3d67c939ca