On pages 259-260 of Death and Its Mystery: After Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of a Dr. Cabral who had helped a poor, deserted patient named Deolinda who died of consumption:
"I had scarcely stretched myself out on my bed when I was pervaded by an intense feeling of well-being. I could not account for this sensation. Soon I had an impression that some object was touching my head, as though some one were wrapping me up in something. Astonished at this feeling, I called to the two ladies who were on duty in the next room. Madame Felicia Diaz said to me: 'I see a young girl, dressed in white, at the head of your bed; she's putting a wreath of roses on your forehead. She says that her name is Deolinda, and that she has come to show her gratitude for the generosity with which you cared for her.' I was greatly astonished by this statement. I recalled the fact that it was the anniversary of Deolinda's death; neither I nor any one else had thought of this. I had never spoken to any one in that house of what I had done for Deolinda."
On page 278 of Death and Its Mystery: After Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account by an L. Devert:
"One morning, when all the sisters were leaving the chapel, Mademoiselle Adrienne was seen in the kitchen. She said that she did not wish to live in her room any longer, that a sister had frightened her. They proved to her that all the sisters — that every one except herself was at mass. 'I know that,' she said. 'It was a sister whom we don't know. She's tall, slender, and very pale. She came up to my bed, and looked at me. I spoke to her and she did not answer, but I shall never forget her gaze. She walked all around the room, slowly, then went away.' There was no sister who corresponded to Mademoiselle Adrienne's description, and they spent the whole day discussing this phenomenon. Then one of the nuns thought of showing her a photograph of Sister Bouchez, whb had died two months before Mademoiselle Adrienne entered the school. She recognized her at once. Sister Bouchez had been accustomed to working in these small rooms, where she gathered together all sorts of things for the sick."
On page 279 of the same Flammarion book, we have an account that is doubly interesting. The first reason it is interesting is that it is yet another account of very high brain damage causing no serious damage to intellectual functioning. You can read about similar such cases in this post. Such accounts conflict with prevailing neuroscience dogmas that the brain is the source of the human mind, as do very many other facts gathered at this site. We read the following:
"A young girl, Marie Bottini, aged thirteen (she is a peasant from Boregio), fell over a precipice and struck her head against a stone which made a wound on her right temple. It fractured her skull and a piece of bone was driven into it. It was 6 x 7 — that is to say, 42 centimeters square. The fragment of bone, completely
detached from the skull, buried itself in the gray matter of the brain, where it still is. A great deal of the gray matter issued from her head; in order to sew up the flesh wound I had to take out about fifty grams of it. The little girl was brought to me thirty-six hours after the accident; I found her able to give clear answers to all my questions, and up to the present time she has not been afflicted with any nervous disorder, either of her intellectual faculties, her muscular control or her sensibility. In spite of the effects of the wound on her system, she suffered no mental disturbance, and was able to give, and can still give, minute explanations of what happened to her."
Here we have a story of a girl with massive brain damage, and a loss of at least fifty grams of gray matter, but no noticeable intellectual damage. There are many similar cases discussed in this series of posts, including many epileptics who had little loss of intellectual function or memory after they lost half of their brains in hemispherectomy operations to stop seizures. No such things should happen were it true that the brain is the source of the human mind and the storage place of memories.
The second interesting thing about the account of Marie Bottini is this part:
"Having fallen into a ravine hollowed out by water, she took refuge in it and remained there until the following day. When she was asked if she had not been afraid during the night, she answered that she had not, and stated that toward the close of the day her father had appeared to her and had given her courage, telling her to wait patiently for her relatives, who would surely come to look for her the next day and would take very good care of her. Her father had been dead for three years. I told her that a person who had been dead for so long could not come back, but she stated with conviction that her father had come, and had protected her during the whole night."
On page 304 of Death and Its Mystery: After Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of an apparition of someone seen three years after the person's death:
"That was how I saw Palladia for the first time, three years after her death. I have often seen her since. Sometimes she appears to me three times in a week or twice on the same day; or even a month may go by without my seeing her. Palladia always appears unexpectedly, taking me by surprise at a time when I am least anticipating it. Never do I see her in my dreams. I see her both when I am alone and with a great many people. She always appears to me with the same serene expression in her eyes; sometimes with a slight smile. I always see her in the dark dress which she wore when she died before my eyes...The apparitions of Palladia last one, two, or three minutes, then gradually vanish and dissolve."
This is only part of a longer narrative that includes some corroboration from other people. On page 307 Flammarion states the following:
"Plainly, if we should persist in seeing here only an hallucination, we should be in error, for we should have to admit that (1) the narrator (2) his wife, who was at that time a stranger to him (3) his child, two years old, (4) his dog — we should have to admit, I say, that all these were the victims of hallucinations. We should still have to explain the first warning, regarding the cemetery. Everything, in this case, would lead us to decide in favor of real manifestations on the part of the deceased Palladia (who died at the age of fifteen) in the years 1873, 1875, 1876, 1879, 1885, and 1890— that is to say, two, three, six, twelve, and seventeen years after her death."
On page 213-214 of Death and Its Mystery: At the Moment of Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of someone appearing decades after her death. A Thomas James Norbis tells us the following (the phrase "twenty-four hours before her death" refers to the mother's death):
"Sixty years ago a Mrs. Carleton died in Leitrim County. She was my mother's intimate friend, and a few days after her death she appeared to her in a dream, and told her that she would never again see her thus, save on one occasion which would be twenty-four hours before her death...My son-in-law heard a noise, awakened his wife, and asked her to go and see what was happening. She found my mother half-way out of bed, with an expression of horror stamped upon her features. They soothed her as best they could....Having sent for her granddaughter, she told her that Mrs. Carleton had at last, after an interval of fifty-six years, come to speak to her of her death, which was imminent, and that she would die the morning of the next day, at that same hour. She added that she had, as a precaution, taken a bath to make unnecessary the washing of her dead body. She then began to sink, little by little, and died the morning of March 4th, at the time she had specified. "
On page 96 of Volume 2 of the Annals of Psychical Science (1905), we have the following account of an apparition seen several weeks after someone's death:
"Under the title Real Apparition of my Wife after her Death, Chemnitz, 1804, Dr. Woetzel published a book which produced a great sensation at the time. He narrates how one evening, some weeks after the death of his wife, being in his own room, there arose around him suddenly as it were a gust like a whirlwind, although the doors and windows were shut. The light was extinguished, and at the same time a little window in the alcove was opened. By the dim light that pervaded the room, Woetzel perceived the form of his own wife, who said to him in a feeble voice : 'Carl, I am immortal ; one day we shall see each other again.' "
On page 238 of Death and Its Mystery: At the Moment of Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of C. H. who had an apparition of her husband who died a month earlier:
"It was sixteen years ago, one month after my husband's death, which occurred in August, 1883. One night, when I had awakened, I heard the door of my room open; then I heard steps and saw my dead husband draw near my bed. He pressed my right side to him, very hard, without saying a single word. Astounded, I did not speak. Then he went away, and I leaned out of my bed to watch him go (this proves, absolutely that I was awake.) I heard steps again, and heard the door close once more. Long afterward, I still felt pain in my side."
Later on the same page we hear from another person:
"My mother and my sister — about a month after my mother's
brother-in-law, our uncle, had died — were witnesses of an apparition of him. They saw this on different dates — my mother about a month after the death, and my sister fifteen days later still."
"That was how I saw Palladia for the first time, three years after her death. I have often seen her since. Sometimes she appears to me three times in a week or twice on the same day; or even a month may go by without my seeing her. Palladia always appears unexpectedly, taking me by surprise at a time when I am least anticipating it. Never do I see her in my dreams. I see her both when I am alone and with a great many people. She always appears to me with the same serene expression in her eyes; sometimes with a slight smile. I always see her in the dark dress which she wore when she died before my eyes...The apparitions of Palladia last one, two, or three minutes, then gradually vanish and dissolve."
This is only part of a longer narrative that includes some corroboration from other people. On page 307 Flammarion states the following:
"Plainly, if we should persist in seeing here only an hallucination, we should be in error, for we should have to admit that (1) the narrator (2) his wife, who was at that time a stranger to him (3) his child, two years old, (4) his dog — we should have to admit, I say, that all these were the victims of hallucinations. We should still have to explain the first warning, regarding the cemetery. Everything, in this case, would lead us to decide in favor of real manifestations on the part of the deceased Palladia (who died at the age of fifteen) in the years 1873, 1875, 1876, 1879, 1885, and 1890— that is to say, two, three, six, twelve, and seventeen years after her death."
On page 213-214 of Death and Its Mystery: At the Moment of Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of someone appearing decades after her death. A Thomas James Norbis tells us the following (the phrase "twenty-four hours before her death" refers to the mother's death):
"Sixty years ago a Mrs. Carleton died in Leitrim County. She was my mother's intimate friend, and a few days after her death she appeared to her in a dream, and told her that she would never again see her thus, save on one occasion which would be twenty-four hours before her death...My son-in-law heard a noise, awakened his wife, and asked her to go and see what was happening. She found my mother half-way out of bed, with an expression of horror stamped upon her features. They soothed her as best they could....Having sent for her granddaughter, she told her that Mrs. Carleton had at last, after an interval of fifty-six years, come to speak to her of her death, which was imminent, and that she would die the morning of the next day, at that same hour. She added that she had, as a precaution, taken a bath to make unnecessary the washing of her dead body. She then began to sink, little by little, and died the morning of March 4th, at the time she had specified. "
On page 96 of Volume 2 of the Annals of Psychical Science (1905), we have the following account of an apparition seen several weeks after someone's death:
"Under the title Real Apparition of my Wife after her Death, Chemnitz, 1804, Dr. Woetzel published a book which produced a great sensation at the time. He narrates how one evening, some weeks after the death of his wife, being in his own room, there arose around him suddenly as it were a gust like a whirlwind, although the doors and windows were shut. The light was extinguished, and at the same time a little window in the alcove was opened. By the dim light that pervaded the room, Woetzel perceived the form of his own wife, who said to him in a feeble voice : 'Carl, I am immortal ; one day we shall see each other again.' "
On page 238 of Death and Its Mystery: At the Moment of Death by the astronomer Camille Flammarion we have an account of C. H. who had an apparition of her husband who died a month earlier:
"It was sixteen years ago, one month after my husband's death, which occurred in August, 1883. One night, when I had awakened, I heard the door of my room open; then I heard steps and saw my dead husband draw near my bed. He pressed my right side to him, very hard, without saying a single word. Astounded, I did not speak. Then he went away, and I leaned out of my bed to watch him go (this proves, absolutely that I was awake.) I heard steps again, and heard the door close once more. Long afterward, I still felt pain in my side."
Later on the same page we hear from another person:
"My mother and my sister — about a month after my mother's
brother-in-law, our uncle, had died — were witnesses of an apparition of him. They saw this on different dates — my mother about a month after the death, and my sister fifteen days later still."
No comments:
Post a Comment