The Story of Ruth: One Woman's Haunting Psychiatric Odyssey

This is the story of a bizarre and astonishing case, a sane and intelligent young woman persecuted by the apparition of a living person.

Brutally raped by her father when she was ten years old, the woman who came to Dr. Schatzman for help had lived a seemingly normal life for the next fifteen years - until a terrifying night when she found her father’s apparition beside her in bed. From that moment her life became a nightmare, as the apparition pursued her, sleeping and waking, at home on the street, in Dr. Schatzman’s office. Even her daughter appeared transformed, the apparition’s head grotesquely perched on the child’s shoulders.

Not only did Ruth see the apparition, but she heard it talk, felt its touch and smelled its odour, which sometimes lingered in the room after the apparition itself had gone. To evaluate these perceptions Dr. Schatzman put Ruth through a series of tests, the results of which suggested that what she perceived was real to her, and the presence of an apparition could be verified by its effects on her brain.