Eyewitness Accounts of Mrs. White's "Visions"

By Dirk Anderson, 2004

Few topics are surrounded by as much mystique as the visions of Seventh-day Adventist [SDA] prophetess Ellen G. White. To believers, these experiences were wonderful evidences of her divine inspiration. But not everyone who saw her in vision agreed. Pastors, physicians, and fellow believers who personally witnessed these events described something far different from the fantastical supernatural scenes portrayed in sect publications.

The eyewitnesses below—all of them respected Christians and even early Adventist leaders—offered candid, firsthand accounts that raise serious questions about the true nature of Ellen White's visions. Their testimonies reveal a woman subject not to heavenly revelation, but to physical, emotional, or psychological phenomena that her followers misinterpreted as divine.

"A Beloved Brother" (Published by James White)

I cannot endorse sister Ellen's visions as being of divine inspiration, as you and she think them to be; yet I do not suspect the least shade of dishonesty in either of you in this matter. I may perhaps, express to you my belief in the matter, without harm - it will, doubtless, result either in your good or mine. At the same time, I admit the possibility of my being mistaken. I think that what she and you regard as visions from the Lord, are only religious reveries, in which her imagination runs without control upon themes in which she is most deeply interested. While so absorbed in these reveries, she is lost to every thing around her. Reveries are of two kinds, sinful and religious. Hers is the latter. Rosseau's, "a celebrated French infidel," were the former. Infidelity was his theme, and his reveries were infidel. Religion is her theme, and her reveries are religious. In either case, the sentiments, in the main, are obtained from previous teaching, or study. I do not by any means think her visions are like some from the devil.¹

Joseph Bates

Although Joseph Bates eventually came to believe in Mrs. White's prophetic calling, he initially expressed grave reservations about the visions:

It is now about two years since I first saw the author, and heard her relate the substance of her visions as she has since published them in Portland (April 6, 1846). Although I could see nothing in them that militated against the word, yet I felt alarmed and tried exceedingly, and for a long time unwilling to believe that it was any thing more than what was produced by a protracted debilitated state of her body.²

Isaac Wellcome

Isaac Wellcome, a minister who was baptized by James White in 1844 and was active in the Second Advent Movement, wrote:

Ellen G. Harmon... was strangely exercised in body and mind...falling to the floor... (we remember catching her twice to save her from falling upon the floor)... in meetings she would speak with great vehemence and rapidity until falling down, when, as she claimed, wonderful views of heaven and what was being transacted there were shown her. She claimed to have seen that Christ had left the office of mediation and assumed that of Judge, had closed the door of mercy, and was blotting out the names, from the book of life.... We saw her in Poland, Portland, Topsham, and Brunswick during the beginning of this career, and often heard her speak, and several times saw her fall, and heard her relate wonders which she said her heavenly Father permitted her to see. Her supernatural or abnormal views were not readily understood as visions, but as spiritual views of unseen things, which were quite common among the Methodists.... These visions were but the echoes of Elder [Joseph] Turner and others' preaching, and we regard them as the product of the overexcited imagination of her mind, and not as facts.³

Lucinda Burdick

Lucinda Burdick—the wife of a pastor—and Mary Bodge joined Ellen Harmon for prayer one afternoon in 1845. Here is Ms. Burdick's account of what happened next:

"While I was engaged in prayer, suddenly, Ellen Harmon became rigidly prostrate upon the ground. Miss Bodge immediately sent for James White who she said was the only one that could talk with her while in one of these spells. He and many others hurried to the spot and he immediately began to ask her a great variety of questions.
"Her eyes remained open and assumed a glassy stare. Sometimes as she answered his questions she would rise stiffly to a half sitting posture only to fall back rigidly prostrate upon the ground. Her position upon the ground seemed so uncomfortable that I placed her head in my lap and supported her thus throughout the event.
"Many of the questions asked her by White were relative to the spiritual standing of people who lived in the surrounding country. Some she declared were right with God while others had spots upon their garments. It was noticeable that the spotted ones were those who rejected her visions or hesitated to accept them fully. ...
"This trance condition lasted more than an hour and someone suggesting that the gathering dew would cause them to take cold, White said, 'I guess it will be the will of the Lord to bring her out,' and immediately she arose and assumed her normal behavior.
"Soon after this both confidence and interest in this fanatical couple vanished as the visions were not only childish and devoid of sense, but absolutely contradictory. Considerable scandal was created by the intimacy of this man and woman, but the "talk" gradually subsided after their marriage in 1846 about a year after the incident just related."⁴

Lucinda Burdick (Second Eyewitness Testimony)

I became acquainted with James White and Ellen Harmon (now Mrs. White) early in 1845. At the time of my first acquaintance with them they were in a wild fanaticism, --used to sit on the floor instead of chairs, and creep around the floor like little children. Such freaks were considered a mark of humility. They were not married, but traveling together. Ellen was having what was called visions: said God had shown her in vision that Jesus Christ arose on the tenth day of the seventh month, 1844, and shut the door of mercy; had left forever the mediatorial throne; the whole world was doomed and lost, and there never could be another sinner saved. She very soon pretended to see that Saturday must be kept as the Sabbath. Her visions were something new, and there seemed to be first no decided opposition to them in the different churches where they traveled. They caused a great deal of discussion and excitement, and all seemed disposed to investigate. But, after a little while, her visions began to conflict one with the other. It was ascertained by myself and others who saw her in vision, that she could throw herself into vision when she chose (this she confessed), but that James White could control them, and bring her out when he pleased.⁵

Israel Dammon

Dammon was an Advent thought-leader who was closely associated with Ellen Harmon in the mid-1840s. He wrote:

"It has been some twenty years or more since we were associated with Mrs. W.; but we remember very perfectly that her first visions or vision was told both by herself and others (especially by Mrs. W.) in connection with the preaching of the "shut door," and went to substantiate the same. While under that influence, and preaching the visions, she, in vision, saw N. G. Reed and I. Dammon, in the kingdom in an immortal state, and crowned. After that, she saw them finally lost. How could both be true? I think one was just as true as the other, and that God never told her any such thing."⁶

H.S. Dille

All who are conversant with the phenomena of visions, as they are experienced by Mr. [A.J.] Davis and Mrs. White, will readily perceive...their visions are nothing more or less than spontaneous extasis, which is the highest state of clairvoyance. ... We remark in concluding this point, that from all we know from personal observation and experience; from a knowledge of the so-called "occult mysteries," and the Word of God, it is perfectly evident that these visions are under that influence commonly called mesmerism. ...our advice is to investigate their doctrines carefully, candidly, and in a christian manner; but be very cautious about getting mesmerized.⁷

Dr. M.G. Kellogg

I have seen Mrs. White in vision quite a number of times between 1852 and 1859, in every instance she was simply in a state of catalepsy. In each instance she was suddenly seized, fell unconscious, and remained unconscious during the full time the fit lasted; every vital function was reduced to the lowest point compatible with life; pulse almost stopped and very infrequent breathing so slight as to be imperceptible except when she uttered short sentences; pupils dilated to great width, sense of hearing blunted; in fact all her senses so blunted that she could neither see, feel, nor hear; in fact was wholly unconscious, yet her mind was acutely active, the action being automatic and wholly involuntary, the whole vision being a conglomerated mental rehearsal of previous conceptions, scenes, meditations, and suggestions so vividly reproduced on her mind as to be to her a living reality. Catalepsy assumes many forms in its various victims, but in her case some phase of all forms was produced. I have seen many cases.⁸

Ellen White Admits Eyewitnesses Doubting Her Visions

Ellen White herself noted that "many" who witnessed her visions felt that they were witnessing nothing more than fanaticism or mesmerism:

...if it pleased the Lord to give me a vision in meeting, some would say that it was the effect of excitement and mesmerism.⁹

If I had a vision in meeting, many would say that it was excitement and that someone mesmerized me.¹⁰

What About Supernatural Manifestations?

Some have claimed that, while in vision, Ellen White performed supernatural feats, such as not breathing for an hour. Shallow, almost imperceptible, breathing is a symptom of a medical condition known as catalepsy. Dr. M.C. Kellogg diagnosed Mrs. White as having this condition. In 2014, a man in Spain suffering with epilepsy, Gonzalo Montoya Jiménez, was thought dead because his life signs could not be detected. He was sent to the morgue where it was discovered he was still living. Catalepsy has these symptoms:

A condition characterized by inactivity, decreased responsiveness to stimuli, and a tendency to maintain an immobile posture... Often, the person's vital signs such as breathing and heartbeat drop to very low levels, so they are nearly undetectable, even by doctors.¹¹

When faced with an unusual manifestation that one does not have an explanation for, one can make two choices:

1. Decide without thinking that this must be a supernatural manifestation coming from God
2. Research possible natural causes for this manifestation

It is irrational to assume a supernatural explanation for Ellen White's manifestations when there are other reasonable explanations. As shown above, many of the eye-witnesses did not believe there was anything supernatural or divine about her visions.

Conclusion

The evidence from credible eyewitnesses—including early Adventist leaders, ministers, and medical professionals—shows a consistent pattern: Ellen White's visions exhibited the symptoms of catalepsy or trance states rather than supernatural inspiration. Her so-called "messages from God" were unoriginal, often echoing the teachings and ideas circulating among her peers. These messages changed over time, sometimes contradicting earlier messages.

Ellen White herself admitted that many who saw her in vision believed she was mesmerized. When a prophet's authenticity depends on physical manifestations rather than consistent divine truth, alarm-bells should be going off. The record left by those who knew her best suggests that Ellen White's visions were not messages from heaven but the product of human imagination and physical malady that were misunderstood by her followers, and mythologized by later generations.