Tangible perceptions of persons dying at a distance are, of course, very
rare. Still, more than one such case is authoritatively stated; among
these, the following: A lawyer in Paris had returned home and walked, in
order to reach his own bedroom, through that of his brother. To his
great astonishment he saw the latter lying in his bed; received,
however, no answer to his questions. Thereupon he walked up to the bed,
touched his brother and found the body icy cold. Of a sudden the form
vanished and the bed was empty. At that instant it flashed through his
mind that he and his brother had promised each other that the one dying
first should, if possible, give a sign to the survivor. When he
recovered from the deep emotion caused by these thoughts, he left the
room and as he opened the door he came across a number of men who bore
the body of his brother, who had been killed by a fall from his horse
(_La Patrie_, Sept. 22, 1857). The Count of Neuilly, also, was warned in
a somewhat similar manner. He was at college and on the point of paying
a visit to his paternal home, when a letter came telling him that his
father was not quite well and that he had better postpone his visit a
few days. Later letters from his mother mentioned nothing to cause him
any uneasiness. But several days afterward, at one o'clock in the
morning, he thought, apparently in a dream, that he saw a pale ghastly
figure rise slowly at the lower end of his bed, extend both arms,
embrace him and then sink slowly down again out of sight. He uttered
heart-rending cries, and fell out of his bed, upsetting a chair and a
table. When his tutor and a man-servant rushed into the room, they found
him lying unconscious on the floor, covered with cold, clammy
perspiration and strangely disfigured. As soon as he was restored to
consciousness, he burst out into tears and assured them that his father
had died and come to take leave of him. In vain did his friends try to
calm his mind, he remained in a state of utter dejection. Three days
later a letter came from his mother, bringing him the sad news, that
his father had died on that night and at the hour in which he had
appeared by his bedside. The unfortunate Count could never entirely get
rid of the overwhelming impression which this occurrence had made on his
mind, and was, to the day of his death, firmly convinced of the reality
of this meeting (_Dix Années d' émigration._ Paris, 1865).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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