Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathyPodmore, Frank
Philosophy
Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathy
Podmore, Frank
Apparitions; Telepathy
"When my little boy came upstairs and told us he had seen John
Blaney, we thought nothing of it till some hours after, when we
heard that he was dead. Then, for fear of frightening the children,
I avoided any allusion to what he had told us, and asked every one
else to do the same. Probably by now he has forgotten all about
it, but it certainly was very remarkable, especially as only one
child saw him, and they were standing together. The place where
he seems to have appeared was in the passage outside the pantry
door, where John Blaney's work always took him. My boy is a very
matter-of-fact sort of boy, and I never heard of his having any
other hallucination."
The interval in this case between the death and the vision may probably
be explained as due to the telepathic influence received from the
dying boy having remained latent in the percipient's mind, awaiting
a favourable opportunity for emerging to consciousness. But it seems
possible that the message may have come, not from the dying boy, but
from some member of the household who was aware of the death. It is to
be noted that Miss Gore Booth did not share her brother's experience.
_Hallucinations Affecting Two Senses._
So far we have dealt with hallucinations of one sense only. In the next
two cases, it will be seen, both sight and hearing appear to have been
affected.
No. 76.--From the REV. MATTHEW FROST.
"BOWERS GIFFORD, ESSEX, _January_ 30_th_, 1891.
"The first Thursday in April 1881, while sitting at tea with my
back to the window and talking with my wife in the usual way, I
plainly heard a rap at the window, and looking round I said to
my wife, 'Why, there's my grandmother,' and went to the door,
but could not see any one; and still feeling sure it was my
grandmother, and knowing, though eighty-three years of age, she was
very active and fond of a joke, I went round the house, but could
not see any one. My wife did not hear it. On the following Saturday
I had news my grandmother died in Yorkshire about half-an-hour
before the time I heard the rapping. The last time I saw her alive
I promised, if well, I would attend her funeral; that [was] some
two years before. I was in good health [and] had no trouble, [age]
twenty-six years. I did not know that my grandmother was ill."
Mrs. Frost writes:--
"_January_ 30_th_, 1891.
"I beg to certify that I perfectly remember all the circumstances
my husband has named, but I heard and saw nothing myself."
The house (seen by Mrs. Sidgwick) in which Mr. Frost was living when
the event occurred stands some way back from the road in a garden, and
the door into the garden opens out of the sitting-room, so that he must
have got to the door much too quickly, if he went at once, for any one
to have got away unseen by him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account