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
We have a parallel case amongst our records. Miss V. saw in church
the hallucinatory figure of an acquaintance looking at her, and
subsequently learned that he was at the time at the deathbed of his
mother. A few other cases are given in _Phantasms of the Living_. I
should be disposed to explain these narratives as instances of the
misinterpretation of a telepathic message. I should conjecture, that
is, that the impulse received from the dying woman, instead of giving
rise, as in an ordinary case, to a hallucination of herself, called up
in the percipient's mind, whether through the operation of associated
ideas or from some other cause, the image of a near relative. Indeed,
seeing how potent is the influence of associated ideas, it is perhaps
a matter for wonder that such miscarriages do not more often occur. It
should be stated that, beyond their rarity, there is no special reason
to mistrust stories of this type. Their distinguishing feature is not
apparently of a kind which appeals readily to the imagination. Indeed,
by most persons the want of precise correspondence would probably be
regarded as a serious blemish in the story. Certainly cases of the kind
occur rarely, if at all, among second-hand and traditional narratives.
_Heteroplastic Hallucinations._
But another possible explanation of the incident suggests itself. It
has already been conjectured that in some cases of hallucination or
other impression, the percipient's vision may have originated not
in the mind of the person primarily concerned, but in that of some
bystander.[130] Conversely, the image seen in the narrative just cited
may have been flashed directly from the dying woman's mind. In the case
which follows a picture of the past preserved in the memory of one of
two friends appears to have been spontaneously transferred to the mind
of the other.
The case was sent to Dr. Hodgson on the 18th May 1888, and was
published in the _Arena_ for February 1889.
No. 90.--From MRS. G----.
"... For nearly two weeks I have had a lady friend visiting us from
Chicago, and last Sunday we tried the cards and in every instance I
told the colour and kind; but only two or three times was enabled
to give the exact number....
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