A first-hand account of Bennett Mayrick

I very recently heard from a reader named Barbara who said that she had known Bennett Mayrick in the 1970s as his patient and student, and wrote that she was glad that he was finally getting some recognition for his work. I asked her if she could tell me more, and this is what she wrote:

I remember that when he placed his hand on my left side, which was where I had pain, it felt warm and he would hold it there for several minutes for sure. He also placed his thoughts and hands on my son who has autism. The goal was to increase verbal communication and this did occur, but one is never sure of what intervention was ultimately responsible for the success.

I know that we stayed very goal oriented with singleminded purpose for these healings and he did them in his apartment over a period of a session a week over several months. It seemed clear to me that you did not have to believe in it for it to work.

Regarding the classes, he wanted people to become aware of the potential of this kind of healing. Therefore he wanted us to begin to see that there was a force of a sort that was not what we were used to. So, we began by holding various items and trying to tell something about the owner of each. Of course only one person in the group knew the facts of each item and usually it turned out to come pretty close to the truth. We sent healings to a few people who we knew needed it even though they were not present. We sat in a circle and it was all very cordial.

Ben said that this just came to him. One day he saw an image of himself with some kind of medical equipment on his head and he knew he was to heal. His hands got hot and maybe, or maybe not, reddish. We did these healings to each other for minor things like toothaches etc.

I do know that at the time I knew him at least one person came to see him with a serious cancer. I have no idea how it worked out.

Ben was not a wealthy man and had been working installing carpeting or floors. He lived in a middle income apt. and had a very nice wife and two children.

He wanted to be tested at Duke University or someplace that was researching the paranormal as it was called in those days.

He showed some intuitive abilities I think and was eager to share.

Bill Bengston's book, The Energy Cure, has an amusing account of what happened when Bennett Mayrick was finally tested by researchers of the paranormal: a lot of their equipment appeared to malfunction in very odd ways and they were quite distressed and apologetic that he could not be tested properly.

For an article on Bennett Mayrick, see my earlier entry, Bill's teacher speaks.