- I'm Veronica Mohesky, and today I'm here with Dr.

Jody Sowell, president of the Missouri Historical Society, and for this week's "I Am St.

Louis" series, our story's a little bit spookier.

- So if St.

Louis could introduce itself, it would say, "I am the place where a dead English woman wrote bestselling novels."

That woman is Pearl Curran.

Actually, it's Patience Worth.

We'll get to that in just a second.

Pearl Curran was an author here in St.

Louis, and starting in 1913, she wrote an amazing amount, seven novels, countless plays and poems and short stories, and her work was celebrated.

"The New York Times" said her first novel was a feat of literary composition, but what she said is, "I'm not writing these things.

They're in fact being written by a woman who lived in the 1600s named Patience Worth, who I communicate with through a Ouija board."

It was a big hit in St.

Louis.

People would actually go to her house to see her work the Ouija board and talk to Patience Worth.

An amazing and fascinating, a little spooky chapter in St.

Louis history.

- Absolutely.

Why is Pearl Curran somebody we're still talking about today?

- You know, I think that oftentimes these artists get lost to time.

I mean, this was a person, however she actually wrote the novels, who was celebrated in her day, was celebrated by authors of the time.

And so we deserve to know these people, and if you want to read her work, you can still find it at the Missouri Historical Society.

- That's really cool.

(upbeat music)