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
"A short time after my husband started (Monday) to go to
Indianapolis, I received a letter calling him to the burial of his
father; and some time after, in conversation with his mother, it
transpired that the time he and Artie saw the vision was within two
or three minutes of the time his father died.
"CLARA T. FALKINBURG."
Asked whether this was his sole experience of a visual hallucination,
Mr. Falkinburg replied that it was. Occasionally, however, since that
time, he has had auditory impressions suggestive of his father's
presence.
Here again, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it seems
more probable that Mr. Falkinburg's hallucination was telepathically
originated, than that the casual remark of a child of five could
produce an effect hitherto observed only as the result of hypnotic
influence or some other equally potent disturbing cause.
In the following case, which again comes to us from the United
States, the vision was of a more complicated kind, and part only of
the original percipient's experience was shared. The occurrence of the
apparition within a few hours of the death of a person to whom it bore
some resemblance seems to be established; but in estimating the value
of the coincidence, it should be borne in mind that the phantasm was
not at the time referred to the deceased, and that there are numerous
chances of the coincidence of an unrecognised hallucination with a
death amongst a doctor's circle of acquaintance.
No. 84.--From DR. W. O. S.,
who wrote to Dr. Hodgson from Albany, New York, on the 10th September
1888, enclosing the following account:--
"I am a physician, have been in practice about eleven years; am in
excellent health, do not use intoxicants, tobacco, drugs, or strong
tea or coffee. Am not subject (in the least) to dreams, and have
never been a believer in apparitions, etc.
"On Monday last, September 3rd, 1888, I went to bed about 11 P.M.,
after my day's work. Had supper, a light one, about 7 P.M.; made
calls after supper.
"My bedroom is on the second floor of a city block house, and I
kept all my doors locked except the one leading to my wife's room,
next to mine, opening into mine by a wide sliding door, always
left wide open at night. The diagram opposite will illustrate the
relation of the rooms.
"I occupy room 1 and my wife room 2. Her room has but one window,
and a door opening only into my room. My room has three doors (all
bolted at night) and one window. Both windows in our rooms have
heavy green shades, which are drawn nearly to the bottom of the
window at night, shutting out early daylight. No artificial lights
command the windows, and the moonlight very seldom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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