Autobiographical data, centring on Freud's dreams of an anatomical preparation of his own pelvis, suggests the influence of early trauma. A result was an evil, destructive maternal revenant, exemplified by H. Rider Haggard's SHE. Avoidance and denial of this revenant was facilitated by Freud's preoccupation with the Eternal Feminine. Schur (1972) documented Freud's concerns and preoccupation. Another consequence of the early trauma was Freud's underestimation of the major influence of the mother on the psychic life of the pre-oedipal child.