Below is a startling news report from the November 1, 1899 edition of the Washburn Times:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85040437/1899-11-01/ed-1/seq-2/
At the link here, we read some testimony from a Bishop Fallows of Chicago who stated, "My father and mother separately saw the apparition of a young man who died in England."
At the link below, we read a story of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026844/1891-08-05/ed-1/seq-6/
Below is part of the account:
In the August 18, 1894 edition of The Evening World, we had an account which you can read below:
The account states that multiple named witnesses swore they saw the same apparition:
The newspaper account below includes an account of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses.
The first part of the account is shown below:
An interesting claim is made that the photo in the top left is an example of spirit photography, and that the face in the top left (apparently that of psychical research James Hyslop) appeared mysteriously in a photograph of an open coffin and some people looking at it. The article discusses sightings of an apparition of W. T. Stead, a well-known writer and editor who died in the Titanic sinking.
The PhD researcher James Coates published a book-length symposium record entitled "Has W. T. Stead Returned? A Symposium" You can read the book using the link below:
Below are some claims made in the book about sightings of W. T. Stead after his death in the Titanic sinking.
- On page 13 Mrs. Coates claims to have seen Stead "quite plainly" in a seance of May 3, 1912 (about two weeks after the Titanic sinking).
- On page 32 James Lawrence says that "If ever I saw a form, I saw him."
- On page 70 someone identified as "Arch. Bryson" says that on June 13, 1912 he saw a "manifestation of W. T. Stead," and that "there was no chance of mistaking the massive head and rugged features and the expressive eyes."
- On page 74 W. T. Stead's daughter Estelle says "three weeks after the ‘Titanic’ disaster, I saw my father’s head and shoulders, as plainly as I saw them when last we met on earth." She says she also heard his voice. On page 105 she says she saw her father's face and heard his voice on June 23, 1912.
- On page 85 we read Edith K. Harper say that she and her mother on May 6, 1912 "saw Mr. Stead, absolutely unmistakably, and heard him speak."
- On pages 95-96 we read Count Cedo Miyattovich say this: "There, in that slowly moving light, was not the spirit but the very person of my friend, William T. Stead...in his usual walking costume....Mr. Stead’s spirit nodded to me in a friendly manner and disappeared. Half a minute later he appeared again and stood opposite me (but somewhat higher above the floor), looking at me and bowing to me. And a little later he appeared again for the third time, seen by us all three still more clearly than before."
- On page 100 we read W. de Kerlor state that "Mr. W. T. Stead’s face appeared right in front of me" on June 18, 1912, and in the surrounding pages he says he had a conversation with Stead. On page 103 we have a statement saying that Stead was heard talking with de Kerlor on June 18, 1912, and the statement is signed by all these witnesses: "E. R. Richards, W. B. Yeates, M. Jacob, S. A. Adela Harper, Nini Blom, Herbert Platt, Etta Wriedt, Wm. Blom, Ella Anker, Martin Steinsvik, W. de Kerlor, Edith Katherine Harper, Secretary, Julia’s Bureau."
- On page 131 John Duncan and Margaret Duncan state that on July 17, 1912 they saw and heard W. T. Stead with more than a dozen other people present. Similar testimony comes from Peter Galloway on page 133.
- On page 156 James Coates (the book's author) says that on July 17, 1912 he saw a cloudy light about the size of a man's hand change into the form of W. T. Stead, who Mrs. Coates recognized as Stead. Coates says the light became more defined, and James recognized it as Stead, as did Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson. The account is backed up by Peter Reid's statement on page 159, in which he says, "On the evening of July 17th, Mr. Stead etherealised twice. The first time in cloudy form — not very clear. The second time, sufficiently defined to be recognised." Peter also says "there was an etherealisation of Mr. Stead" on July 28. On page 160 two other witnesses confirm Peter's statements, as does another witness on page 161.
An account of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses appears below:
The account can be read here:
You can read the account here:
Here is the second part of the account, in which we read about two additional witnesses of the same apparition.
We have two brothers and two sisters surviving the death of Anna on August 14, 1882. Of those four siblings, three of them reported that Anna (dying far away) was either seen or heard by them or one of their children, on August 14, 1882, before any of them knew that Anna had died on that night. This case is very strong from an evidence standpoint, the only weakness being that the editor telling the tale is not named. We may presume the person telling the story was one of the bureau chiefs of the writer's own newspaper, and the writer vouches that he is not the type who might invent stories of this type.
You can read the account here.
Below is another account of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses:
We have in the newspaper account here a story of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses, one that includes an account of a talking apparition. The account here also seems to tell a story of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses, as does the account here.
Below is an account of an apparition seen by multiple witnesses (click on the image to read it more clearly):
When I was a young boy I once had a job delivering the Evening Star newspaper in Washington D.C. The account below is from page 8 of the April 16, 1892 edition of the Evening Star, which can be read here:
The first part of the account is here:
It is interesting that in the very year this account was published, the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London, England. By the end of the 19th century that society would publish works such as Phantasms of the Living and articles in its journal and proceedings, establishing that accounts like the one above occur rather commonly. The name "crisis apparition" would eventually be given for an apparition appearing around the time of someone's death. But when this Evening Star article appeared, accounts like the one given had not yet been collected very well. The fact of the account above matching a pattern that would soon be widely recognized is a fact adding to the credibility of the account.
Volume One of Phantasms of the Living can be read online here, and Volume Two of the work can be read here. A significant fraction of the 700+ cases reported in that two-volume work are cases in which someone reports seeing or hearing an apparition of a particular person they did not know was dead, only to find out later that just such a person had died on about the same day or exactly the same day (and often on the same hour and day). I found more than 75 such cases in "Phantasms of the Living." I have cited many of those cases in the series of posts you can read below:
An Apparition Was Their Death Notice
25 Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
25 More Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
The accounts given above are only a few of many cases in which more than one witness reported seeing the same apparition. For many other cases different from the ones above, see my posts below:
More Apparitions Seen by Multiple Observers
Many an Apparition Is Seen by More Than One
Still More Apparitions Seen by Multiple Observers
Many an Apparition Is Seen by More Than One
Still More Apparitions Seen by Multiple Observers
Much less frequent that reports of apparitions of the dead are reports of apparitions of the living. You can read about some examples in my post here.
In the newspaper story below, we have a rare account of an apparition of the living seen by multiple witnesses:
The account can be read at the link here:
The case is described more fully below (click on the image to read it better):
Three members of the British parliament report with great conviction that they saw an apparition of a living man in the House of Commons, at a time that man was sick in bed far away. You can read the account here:
Apparitions of the living do nothing to discredit apparitions of the dead, whenever such apparitions are reported of people who are very sick, as in the case above. It is possible that the soul of a very sick person can kind of wander in a way similar to the soul wandering reported in near-death experiences.
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