L. E. Stanhope

Leonard Erastus Stanhope (December 31, 1860 - April 27, 1941) was an American physician, surgeon, dentist, and magnetic healer.

Background
By his own accounting, Stanhope spent some years as a railroad labourer, working the yards in an effort to scratch together the funds required to fulfill his dream of earning a medical degree from the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri at St. Louis, even going so far as to mortgage his home. After a few fits and starts, including a brief return to the railyard, he accomplished this in March 1887, and set to work in the medical trade, eventually expanding his operations to include pharmacy (1890) and dentistry (1896).

It was at this point in his career that Dr. Stanhope was inspired - likely by the success of the area Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics - to the study of Magnetic Healing, finding himself a natural fit for the practice, having "possessed extraordinary powers in this direction" since childhood. So it was that, in 1897, Dr. Stanhope determined to open a sanitarium, leasing a mansion at the corner of Elm and Cherry for his purpose: and thus was the Stanhope Sanitarium and School of Magnetic Healing born.

There was great early success for Stanhope and his fellow students of the Science of Magnetic Healing, for a time; but it was not to last, as he and his fellow practitioners reportedly aroused the condemnation of local Christian ministers, who affected boycotts and caused a sharp decline in area practices.

Stanhope continued to reside in Nevada, Missouri until late in his life, when he came into the care of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Home Hospital in Liberty, Missouri, where he passed away on April 24, 1941.



"A Blessing To Those Who Are Afflicted"
"Magnetic healing is classified into three subjects: hypnotism, vital magnetism, and mental science."

Selected Bibliography

 * "The Science of Magnetic Healing" (1898)
 * "Magnetic Healing Explained" (1900)

Resources

 * Patrick Brophy, "Weltmer, Stanhope, and the Rest: Magnetic Healing in Nevada, Missouri" (statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org) &mdash; from Missouri Historical Review (Vol. 91, Iss. 3, April 1997, p. 275–294)