How the abduction of two girls turned a Boom Town into a Hypnotism Epicenter
This is a sleuth series by a daughter and her mother looking into the disappearance of Byron Wadsworth Culver and the trial of Edna Mabel Briggs both ignited an international hypnotic craze and took place during the Gilded Age in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Listen to the entire podcast HERE. The entire podcast can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon and IHeart Radio.
Season One
Episode 2-Eau Claire, one of the most substantial towns in Northwest, Wisconsin.
Episode 4- Was She Hypnotized?
Episode 5- A Sensational Trail About to Begin in Eau Claire
Episode 6-Jodi Kiffmeyer of the Chippewa Valley Museum
Episode 7 Part I- The Myron Briggs Detour
Episode 7 Part II- The Myron Briggs Detour Part II
Episode 8 Bonus-The Florida Column
Season Two
Episode I-Hypnotism in Crime: Psychological Marvels Are Involved In The Strange Case of Mabel Briggs
More: Santanelli’s Pamphlet
A crime that captivated a logging boomtown in Wisconsin just after it’s peak and a 12 Year old boy who created a hypnotic craze just three years later.
The 1894 abduction of Edna Mabel Briggs and Alma Leonard ignited a two day search in the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. On September 4th, 1894 on the first day of school Mabel Briggs, a sixteen year old girl along with her friend Alma who was fifteen years old went missing. Late in the evening on September 5th, Mabel Briggs, the daughter of Joseph Briggs was found at a neighbor’s house in a dazed condition the first reports said. What came next was an incredible story of murder, rape and hypnotic influence by an unorthodox member of the medical community who, along with his son was the prime suspect of the girls undoing.
Eau Claire’s Dr. George W. Pickin, a 40 year old man who ran “The Vitapathic Institute” on Water Street, along with his 20 year old son Asagil Pickin, were charged with abduction and assault. The prosecution alleged that Mabel had been hypnotized and assaulted repeatedly by Dr. Pickin and his son. The defense would plead not guilty and the focus of the trial became the hypnotic element of Mabel’s accusation. The details of the trial became an international sensation and set future legal precedent.
Three years later a twelve year old boy who was my great grandfather created another hypnotic craze in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This time with a far different outcome. The overlapping cast of characters, a possible double murder and a city whose fortunes fell as hard as its trees, my mom, my friend and I try to get to the bottom of what hypnotism, Eau Claire, Wisconsin and an insane asylum have to do with what happened to my mom’s grandfather, Byron Wadsworth Culver.
We take a look at testimony, court reports, interview experts and local historians and dive into a world we never knew existed. If you ever thought Eau Claire, Wisconsin was boring, prepare to have your mind blown. Welcome to Juvenile Svengalis.
Episode 1: Juvenile Svengalis
Who is Byron Culver? Byron Wadsworth Culver is buried in an unmarked grave in the corner of Hillside Cemetery in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Who he was and what happened to him has been a mystery to my family. In an interview with my mom she says, “I never knew what it was that he did, or what it what what his life was like or anything and my mother always told me that he died of a football injury so it was only, I think I was 18 when I sort of found out that something was wrong that he was in fact alive and then I was never able to follow up.”
My mother and perhaps my grandmother were told that Byron was dead. He was, in fact, alive and at The Wood County Insane Asylum until his death in 1965. My mom decided this would be a good time to finally get a headstone and maybe figure out who he was and what happened and in her digging she found an article. ‘The Chicago Chronicle’ Sunday, October 3rd, 1897. “Juvenile Svengalis of Eau Claire, Wisconsin”.
After over 100 years of the family not knowing what happened to Byron, here he is on the front page.
There is a big drawing on the front page of a young boy hypnotizing another kid in this drawing room and then there’s another drawing of the boy hypnotist at work in the schoolyard. This boy, being Byron Wadsworth Culver.
“The school authorities through Superintendent Gross took official cognizance of the practices the other day by issuing a peremptory order to the effect that hereafter any boy who was caught trying to hypnotize another boy either in a Schoolhouse or on his way to or from school or in the public streets or parks will be suspended with an excellent chance at being permanently expelled.”
A hypnotic fever had taken over Eau Claire, Wisconsin and a 12 year old Byron Culver and another boy Lum Skatvold, 17 were only two among the 250 boys who had developed the power and talents on their fellow schoolmates and enjoyed a success that was almost phenomenal.
But while researching the ‘Juvenile Svengalis’ article, I found another article from three years earlier about another hypnotic craze in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and this one has another possible relation, Edna Mabel Briggs. Byron would go on to marry Margaret Drummond. Margaret Drummond’s mother’s maiden name was Briggs.
Were they related? We are not sure, but the two stories have a paralells. Both Byron and Mabel were school aged youths who created a hypnotic craze that became international news for Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Both were from prominent families and their hypnotic legitimacy was determined by Judge Bailey. Both also had relationships with a snake oil type character. Mabel was “under the power” of Dr. George W. Pickin of the ‘Vitapathic Institute’ and Byron was perhaps a protege of Professor Santanelli, Master Hypnotist. Also, they were both inseparable from a companion who shared their hypnotic ability. Mabel had Alma Leonard, a younger, taller girl of 15 and Byron had Lum Skatvold, a taller older boy of 17. What is going on?
But while researching the ‘Juvenile Svengalis’ article, I found another article from three years earlier about another hypnotic craze in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and this one has another possible relation, Edna Mabel Briggs. Byron would go on to marry Margaret Drummond. Margaret Drummond’s mother’s maiden name was Briggs.
Were they related? We are not sure, but the two stories have a paralells. Both Byron and Mabel were school aged youths who created a hypnotic craze that became international news for Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Both were from prominent families and their hypnotic legitimacy was determined by Judge Bailey. Both also had relationships with a snake oil type character. Mabel was “under the power” of Dr. George W. Pickin of the ‘Vitapathic Institute’ and Byron was perhaps a protege of Professor Santanelli, Master Hypnotist. Also, they were both inseparable from a companion who shared their hypnotic ability. Mabel had Alma Leonard, a younger, taller girl of 15 and Byron had Lum Skatvold, a taller older boy of 17. What is going on?
