OBJECT FILE
Joanna Southcott's Box
FOLLOWUnited Kingdom
THE OBJECT
A sealed wooden box of writings left by the Devon prophet Joanna Southcott (1750–1814), with instructions that it be opened only at a time of national crisis and in the presence of the 24 bishops. Its first keeper was William Sharp (1749–1824). The Panacea Society of Bedford obtained it on 27 May 1957 from the widow of Cecil Kaye Jowett and kept it at a secret location; when the Society's last member died in 2012 it passed to the Panacea Charitable Trust, which still keeps its whereabouts secret. The box shown in the Panacea Museum in Bedford is a display replica.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
In 1927 the psychic researcher Harry Price announced that he had the box and opened a box before one reluctant bishop; it held oddments including a lottery ticket and a horse-pistol. Southcottians said Price's box was not hers. The Panacea Society ran newspaper and billboard campaigns in the 1960s–70s — 'War, disease, crime and banditry … will increase until the Bishops open Joanna Southcott's box.' No meeting of the bishops has been convened; the box is unopened.
WHERE IT IS NOW
Private collection — kept by Panacea Charitable Trust (location undisclosed). United Kingdom.
PROVENANCE · 4 ENTRIES
TRACE ON THE MAP →1814 – 1824
William Sharp (first custodian)
London, United Kingdom · not placed on the map
Year-level: Southcott died at the end of 1814; Sharp died in 1824.
Source: Panacea Museum, 'This is the Box' ('The very first custodian of this precious object was William Sharp (1749 - 1824)')
1824 – 1957
POSSIBLE LOCATIONSouthcottian keepers, finally the Jowett family
United Kingdom · not placed on the map
The keepers between Sharp and the Jowetts are not named in the sources used.
Source: Wikipedia, Joanna Southcott (obtained 'on 27 May 1957 from the widow of Cecil Kaye Jowett')
1957 – 2012
The Panacea Society
secret location, United Kingdom · not placed on the map
A photograph was allowed to be published in July 2001.
Source: Wikipedia, Joanna Southcott; Panacea Museum, 'This is the Box' ('they actually didn't come into possession of it until 1957')
2012 — CURRENT LOCATION
Panacea Charitable Trust
undisclosed location, United Kingdom · not placed on the map
Source: Wikipedia, Joanna Southcott (transferred to the Panacea Charitable Trust on the death of the Society's last member in 2012)
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS · 0
REPORT AN EXPERIENCE →Nobody has filed an encounter with this object yet.
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