1869-1954
Elsa Barker, poetess, novelist and writer, was born in Leicester, Vermont, USA. She was a teacher for a short period but moved on to writing articles for newspapers and syndicated magazines, eventually doing editorial work for Hampton's Magazine in 1909 -1910.
Her published works included The Son of Mary Bethel (1909), The Frozen Grail & Other Poems (1910), Stories from the New Testament for Children (1911), The Body of Love (1912), "Songs of a Vagrom Angel", (1916), Fielding Sargent (1922), The Cobra Candlestick (1928), The C.I.D. of Dexter Drake (1929) and The Redman Cave Murder (1930).
In 1912 Barker was in Paris and one evening she allegedly began automatic writing; the process or production of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer.
Much of this inspired writing over the years claims to have originated from discarnate beings and Barker was no exception.
The entity responsible for the writing claimed to be Judge David Patterson Hatch, a lawyer from Los Angeles.
The judge explained that he had recently passed over and that he wanted to document his experiences on the other side in the form of letters that he would write through Elsa's hand.
Within a few days Barker received verification from a friend that the Judge had indeed died recently in Los Angeles.
Patterson Hatch was no ordinary man. Apart from being a lawyer and a judge he was also a published author whose subjects included philosophy and the occult with works including "Scientific Occultism", "The Twentieth Century Christ", "The Blood of the Gods", "Text Book of Christian Hermit Philosophers" and the novel "El Reschid" (one of a series of books written under "the Hindu name of Karishka").
When Patterson Hatch died in 1912 the Los Angeles Times called him "a remarkable man" who was "exceptionally versed in the deep philosophies of life" and who had "obtained a deep knowledge of universal laws, which, although natural to himself, appeared as mysticism to those who had not followed his great mental strides."
During the next few years over 130 letters were `dictated' and published and these formed a trilogy debuting with Letters from a Living Dean Man, followed by War Letters from the Living Dead Man and Last Letters from the Living Dead Man.
Do not fear death; but stay on earth as long as you can.
Not withstanding the companionship I have here,
I sometimes regret my failure in holding on to the world.
But regrets have less weight on this side--like our bodies.
Everything is well with me.
I will tell you things that have never been told.
Letter 5: Letters From a Living Dead Man
