25 Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
25 More Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
In this post I will discuss additional cases of this type. The links I will give will usually take you to the exact page of an account that I discuss or quote.
On page 8 of Volume 7 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case:
"My little daughter Gwendoline was playing with her dolls, and she suddenly laughed so as to attract my attention, and I asked her what she was laughing at. She said, 'O mother, I thought I saw little Jack in that chair'—a vacant chair in the room—and indicating her little cousin. About five minutes after this the clerk telephoned from the office saying he had just received a telegram from Penzance announcing the death of little Jack."
People once learned of a death by a telegram like this
On page 80 of Volume 7 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case:
"Mrs. Shaw has nephew at Mentone for his health. No special anxiety on his account. One night (10 o'clock summer) she met his apparition at her mother's gate, and noted details of costume. Before she could speak figure vanished. Telegram announced death at that hour."
On page 259 of Volume 7 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case told by Charles E. Martratt:
"I went to bed one evening about 9 o'clock. About an hour afterward, I was awakened from sleep by my wife, who said, 'Charlie, granny has been here, and she spoke to me. She said to me "Ellen, I am dead, but don't be afraid. When you come to the funeral, look at the left side of the back part of my head, and you will see the cause of my death." Granny stood at the foot of the bed, with a night-cap on.' My wife said that when she had spoken to her she disappeared. The next morning about 8 o'clock a.m., a telegram came, saying that the old lady was dead. My wife took the earliest possible train to the nearest railway station to where her grandmother had lived, which was Gansvoort near Fort Edward, New York), and then rode some five miles into the country to the house where she had died. The old lady had not been put in her coffin yet, and lay in the front parlour with a night-cap still on her head. My wife said that she went and raised the night-cap and examined the head of the corpse, and found a large bump or bruise on the back of the head."
On the same page, Martratt tells us of a very similar incident involving his wife:
"She was sitting in a room sewing, and noticed a shadow at the door. On looking up, she saw my brother Matthew standing before her. She said, 'Why, Mat, what are you doing here? I thought you were sick.' She arose to get a chair, but when she turned toward him, he was gone. She looked up and down the street, but could find no trace of him. On my return in the evening, she told me what had happened, and expressed a fear that my brother was dead. The next morning a telegram came, saying that my brother had died the previous day at about the hour in which she saw the vision. He died about ten miles distant."
On the same page, Martratt tells us of a very similar incident involving his wife:
"She was sitting in a room sewing, and noticed a shadow at the door. On looking up, she saw my brother Matthew standing before her. She said, 'Why, Mat, what are you doing here? I thought you were sick.' She arose to get a chair, but when she turned toward him, he was gone. She looked up and down the street, but could find no trace of him. On my return in the evening, she told me what had happened, and expressed a fear that my brother was dead. The next morning a telegram came, saying that my brother had died the previous day at about the hour in which she saw the vision. He died about ten miles distant."
On page 64 of Volume 5 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case:
"Naval lieutenant sees apparition of sister on bridge of his steamer. Vision persists while he makes a note. Some months afterwards he learns that sister died at the same hour."
On pages 86-87 of the same volume, we read of the following case of seeing the apparition of someone at about the time of his death:
"C. and I had gone to sleep, when we were suddenly
awakened by L.'s bursting into our room, at about two o'clock, and calling out, 'Oh, Mr. K. has been in my room !' She said that he had come in while she was reading a novel in bed. She heard his footsteps up the stairs, and saw him come in and go to the window, where he stood looking out for a few moments, and then went away. We said that this must be all nonsense ; but she insisted that she had not been to sleep. We went to sleep, but were again awakened in a couple of hours by a groom, who came from the great house, taking telograms to the village, to say that Mr. K. was dead."
On page 108 of Volume 5 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case of a godmother seeing the apparition of a boy of 17 at the time of his death:
"The following is a case, coming within the range of my own experience, of a lad of 17 years appearing to his godmother at the moment of his death. The lad was dying of consumption, and wrote to me to come to him. He was hundreds of miles distant from where I was residing at the time.....I was in bed at a quarter-past eight, and at 20 minutes to nine I saw standing at the door, illumined by a soft light which appeared to emanate from his person, and thereby rendered him visible, as the room was dark. An ecstatic expression lit up his countenance, and he appeared to be habited in his usual day wearing apparel. I felt intuitively that it was a phantom, although real appearance, and was daily in expectation of receiving news of his departure. On the third day from this
occurrence I got a letter informing me that he had died at the very time I saw him."
"Mrs. Parker saw face and form of brother-in-law just as he appeared when last seen. He was known to be very
seriously ill at a distance. His death occurred at the time of the apparition."
On page 164 of Volume 5 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we read the following case:
"Martin informs us that when in India in 1857 Major Gall left Lucknow with dispatches to go across country. On the second day after his departure Mrs.Gall communicated to Mrs. Martin that she had seen the apparition of her husband on the previous night and she felt assured he must be dead. Tidings of the Major's death reached Lucknow a few days after."
On page 50 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, dating from 1894, we read the following:
On page 50 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, dating from 1894, we read the following:
"The number of apparitions thus included of persons who are definitely reported as dead at the time is nine, and the number of apparitions of persons who died at or near the time their apparition was seen—but about whom it cannot be affirmed that they were at the moment either living or dead—is 56."
Not all apparitions have full-body forms. Some are only partial body forms. On page 123 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"Mrs. B. described the apparition as exactly like a coloured picture of her mother, head and shoulders, which passed along the wall and faded. She did not mention what she had seen to anyone, and the following evening an aunt of hers arrived from London to tell her that her mother was dead."
On page 212 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"He had gone to bed early, 8.30 or a little later ; and between 9 and 12 he woke up and saw the figure of his aunt, Mrs. P——, standing with her arms down near the foot of the bed at one side, dressed in an ordinary black dress such as he had seen her in many times....Then the figure gradually vanished...So he put down on a piece of paper, 'I believe Aunt P died on the 17th,' and put the paper in a drawer....Then in due time an English paper gave the news of his aunt's death with date, November 17th."
On page 214-215 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"In June, 1879, I was a teacher in Macclesfield. A friend, Mrs. ____ , was near her confinement. She told me she was afraid she would die. I went into the county of Durham for a holiday. While there I was roused from sleep by Mrs. ______ as I supposed. She was shaking me, and saying, ' I have passed away, but the baby will live.' Then the figure left the room by the door. I got out of bed and went to my sister and related the incident. We agreed to make a note of it. Next day I received a letter from a friend in Macclesfield
saying that Mrs. ______ was dead but the baby was alive."
On page 225 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
Not all apparitions have full-body forms. Some are only partial body forms. On page 123 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"Mrs. B. described the apparition as exactly like a coloured picture of her mother, head and shoulders, which passed along the wall and faded. She did not mention what she had seen to anyone, and the following evening an aunt of hers arrived from London to tell her that her mother was dead."
On page 212 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"He had gone to bed early, 8.30 or a little later ; and between 9 and 12 he woke up and saw the figure of his aunt, Mrs. P——, standing with her arms down near the foot of the bed at one side, dressed in an ordinary black dress such as he had seen her in many times....Then the figure gradually vanished...So he put down on a piece of paper, 'I believe Aunt P died on the 17th,' and put the paper in a drawer....Then in due time an English paper gave the news of his aunt's death with date, November 17th."
On page 214-215 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"In June, 1879, I was a teacher in Macclesfield. A friend, Mrs. ____ , was near her confinement. She told me she was afraid she would die. I went into the county of Durham for a holiday. While there I was roused from sleep by Mrs. ______ as I supposed. She was shaking me, and saying, ' I have passed away, but the baby will live.' Then the figure left the room by the door. I got out of bed and went to my sister and related the incident. We agreed to make a note of it. Next day I received a letter from a friend in Macclesfield
saying that Mrs. ______ was dead but the baby was alive."
On page 225 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"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 anyone ; and still feeling sure it was my grandmother, and knowing, though 83 years of age, she was very active and fond of a joke, I went round the house, but could not see anyone. 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."
On page 228 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"I remember very distinctly my step-brother, J. H. , getting up in bed one night in August, 1878, and saying he could see an apparition of my brother in a kneeling position, and my father coming into the bedroom to ask what was the matter. He referred to his watch, and found it was about 2.30 a.m. The following morning we received news of my brother's death at the time stated."
On page 237 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have this account:
"I saw very distinctly the apparition of a friend passing in front of a looking glass. I was then in bed. I lived at the time in Rio de Janeiro. It was, I believe, about 3 a.m....The appearance coincided, as nearly as we could make out, with the moment of death."
On page 252 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account by a Mrs. G. who says, "I saw my mother...standing at my bedside," but that "when I spoke to her and tried to touch her, she immediately vanished." Mrs. G. stated, "My mother died at the exact time I saw her at my bedside, as I found next morning."
On page 370 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account by a woman who says that she saw an apparition of someone she said had not seen in years, only to get a letter the next day saying the person had died.
On pages 155-156 of Louis Rhine's book Hidden Channels of the Mind, we have the following extremely spooky account of a young girl who apparently saw a ghost she did not know was a ghost, a figure wearing the traditional First Communion attire of a white dress:
"In New York City a bright three-year-old girl had a play mate, Anne, who was seven. Anne, a diabetic, died. The little three-year-old was told that Anne had gone away on a trip. She did not see her or go to the funeral. Several days after the funeral, the mother says, 'I sent my daughter to get a broom for me from the hall closet and she returned without it. I asked her why. She said Anne would not let her. I asked what she meant, and she said Anne was standing in the hall closet and would not let her by. When I was convinced she was not joking or telling a story, I asked what Anne had on. She said a pretty white dress and veil, and that they could not go out because Anne had no coat. Anne had been buried in her communion dress....Two days later my daughter became ill and two weeks from the day Anne died, my daughter died of pneumonia.'"
On page 263 of the same book, we have this spooky account:
"Several young daughters slept in one room in different beds. One night ten-year-old Mary wakened her mother in an adjoining room to complain that her older sister Nancy was standing by her bed and wouldn't go away. The mother went to the girls' room, and saw that Nancy was asleep in her own bed, and she thought Mary was just imagining things. Before long Mary again disturbed her mother. Nancy was standing by her bed, she said, but she wouldn't answer when spoken to. Again the mother went to the girls' room and again found Nancy asleep. Throughout the night at intervals Mary kept talking to Nancy, asking her to please go over to her own bed. The next morning, as was their custom, the family arose, leaving Nancy asleep, for she was not a strong child and needed extra rest. Later, at bed-making time, her mother called her and getting no response, came closer and discovered that Nancy was dead. The doctor's opinion was that she must have died soon after retiring."
On pages 409-410 of Volume 5 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account of a woman who saw an apparition of a man who previously seemed to have some romantic interest in her:
"I felt a cold waft of air through the room and a feeling as though some one touched my shoulder; my hair seemed to bristle all over my head and I shuddered. Raising my eyes to the door (which faced me), 1 saw Akhurst standing in his shirt and trousers looking at me, when he seemed to pass through the door. In the morning 1
mentioned it to my husband. I did not hear of Mr. Akhurst's death for some weeks after, when I found it corresponded with that of the apparition, and though my father knew of it before, he thought in my weak state of health it were better I should not be told."
On pages 373-374 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account of a Miss M. who saw an apparition of someone named Jessie, before she knew Jessie was dead. The apparitions persisted for a while. She stated, "I received a letter the next morning informing me that she was dead, after which I saw her only at intervals that day and part of the next, when the appearances ceased."
On page 10 of Volume 5 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account by a Mrs. V.:
"I then saw most beautiful lights at the end of the room ; these lights gave place to a cloud, and after a few moments the face of a dear sister, then living (as I believed), appeared in the cloud, which remained a little while and then gradually faded away. I became much alarmed and at once felt I should hear bad news of my sister, who was living in London and had been very ill, though the last accounts we had received had been better. I told my husband what had happened, and when a telegram was brought by a friend at 8 o'clock that morning I knew what its contents must be. The telegram contained the news of my sister's death during the previous night."
On pages 155-156 of Louis Rhine's book Hidden Channels of the Mind, we have the following extremely spooky account of a young girl who apparently saw a ghost she did not know was a ghost, a figure wearing the traditional First Communion attire of a white dress:
"In New York City a bright three-year-old girl had a play mate, Anne, who was seven. Anne, a diabetic, died. The little three-year-old was told that Anne had gone away on a trip. She did not see her or go to the funeral. Several days after the funeral, the mother says, 'I sent my daughter to get a broom for me from the hall closet and she returned without it. I asked her why. She said Anne would not let her. I asked what she meant, and she said Anne was standing in the hall closet and would not let her by. When I was convinced she was not joking or telling a story, I asked what Anne had on. She said a pretty white dress and veil, and that they could not go out because Anne had no coat. Anne had been buried in her communion dress....Two days later my daughter became ill and two weeks from the day Anne died, my daughter died of pneumonia.'"
On page 263 of the same book, we have this spooky account:
"Several young daughters slept in one room in different beds. One night ten-year-old Mary wakened her mother in an adjoining room to complain that her older sister Nancy was standing by her bed and wouldn't go away. The mother went to the girls' room, and saw that Nancy was asleep in her own bed, and she thought Mary was just imagining things. Before long Mary again disturbed her mother. Nancy was standing by her bed, she said, but she wouldn't answer when spoken to. Again the mother went to the girls' room and again found Nancy asleep. Throughout the night at intervals Mary kept talking to Nancy, asking her to please go over to her own bed. The next morning, as was their custom, the family arose, leaving Nancy asleep, for she was not a strong child and needed extra rest. Later, at bed-making time, her mother called her and getting no response, came closer and discovered that Nancy was dead. The doctor's opinion was that she must have died soon after retiring."
On pages 409-410 of Volume 5 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account of a woman who saw an apparition of a man who previously seemed to have some romantic interest in her:
"I felt a cold waft of air through the room and a feeling as though some one touched my shoulder; my hair seemed to bristle all over my head and I shuddered. Raising my eyes to the door (which faced me), 1 saw Akhurst standing in his shirt and trousers looking at me, when he seemed to pass through the door. In the morning 1
mentioned it to my husband. I did not hear of Mr. Akhurst's death for some weeks after, when I found it corresponded with that of the apparition, and though my father knew of it before, he thought in my weak state of health it were better I should not be told."
On pages 373-374 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account of a Miss M. who saw an apparition of someone named Jessie, before she knew Jessie was dead. The apparitions persisted for a while. She stated, "I received a letter the next morning informing me that she was dead, after which I saw her only at intervals that day and part of the next, when the appearances ceased."
On page 10 of Volume 5 of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, we have an account by a Mrs. V.:
"I then saw most beautiful lights at the end of the room ; these lights gave place to a cloud, and after a few moments the face of a dear sister, then living (as I believed), appeared in the cloud, which remained a little while and then gradually faded away. I became much alarmed and at once felt I should hear bad news of my sister, who was living in London and had been very ill, though the last accounts we had received had been better. I told my husband what had happened, and when a telegram was brought by a friend at 8 o'clock that morning I knew what its contents must be. The telegram contained the news of my sister's death during the previous night."
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