The Arena, Volume 4, No. 20, July, 1891 — John Shaqi
The Arena, Volume 4, No. 20, July, 1891Various
Philosophy
The Arena, Volume 4, No. 20, July, 1891
Various
American literature -- Periodicals
It occurred in Illand, a little village in the county of Bar, which
to-day belongs to the Department of Haute-Marne, not far from the
native place of both my maternal grandfather and myself. In childhood
I spent all my vacations there among the vine-planted hills, face to
face with gracious landscapes, amid forests alive with bird songs. The
house yet stands in which the incident happened. It is at the entrance
of the village, on the right, and is called the Chateau. One evening
my great-grandmother, on returning from her work in the fields,
perceived, by the huge chimney-corner (which can still be seen), her
brother, who had been dead several months. He was seated, and seemed
to be warming himself. "My God!" she exclaimed in affright, "it's our
dead Rolet!" and then she ran away. Her husband, entering in his turn,
also saw his brother-in-law sitting by the fireplace. At that critical
moment one of the farm hands uttered an oath, and the apparition
vanished.
I give this narrative as it was related to me. No misgivings as to the
reality of the vision existed in the minds of the personages in my
grandmother's household.
Allow me to mention another illustration. In February, 1889, I
received from H. Van der Kerkhare the following communication,
relating to an article I had published about this class of phenomena.
While in Texas, on August 25, 1874, towards sunset, I was
smoking my after-dinner pipe in a room on the ground floor
of the house I occupied. I was facing the wall, with a door
on my right opening towards the northwest. Here is a diagram
of the scene.
[Illustration]
Suddenly I saw my old grandfather in the doorway. I was in
that semi-conscious state of well-being and quietude natural
to a man with a good appetite who has dined satisfactorily.
I was not at all astonished to see my grandfather there. In
fact, I was vegetating just then, thinking of nothing in
particular. Nevertheless, I said to myself:--"It is droll
that the rays of the setting sun should pour gold and purple
through the least folds of my grandfather's garments and
face." In fact, the setting sun was red, and threw its last
horizontal rays diagonally athwart the doorway. Grandfather
had a beneficent countenance. He smiled and seemed happy.
All at once he disappeared along with the vanishing sun, and
I roused myself as from a dream, but with the conviction
that I had seen an apparition. Six weeks afterwards I was
apprised by letter that my grandfather had died on the night
of August 25 and 26 between one and two o'clock. Well, there
is a difference of five and one-half hours between the
longitude of Belgium, where my grandfather died, and the
longitude of Texas where I was, and where the sun set at
about seven o'clock.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account