A Little-Known Classic of Parapsychology

People who make serious study of the paranormal tend to be well aware of certain classic volumes of parapsychology, such as the often-mentioned works below:

• Camille Flammarion's monumental three-volume work Death and Its Mystery (which you can read here, here and here);
• Flammarion's also monumental opus The Unknown;
• Catherine Crowe's long book The Night Side of Nature;
• The often cited work two-volume Phantasms of the Living by Gurney, Podmore and Myers, which you can read here and here;
• The long and well-known work Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World by Robert Dale Owen;
• The very long two-volume work Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death by Frederic Myers, which you can read here and here;
• From the Unconscious to the Conscious by Gustave Geley;
• The Widow's Mite and Other Psychic Phenomena by Isaac Funk, the same Funk of the famous Funk and Wagnall's dictionary;
• Noted Witnesses for Psychic Occurrences by W. F. Prince;
• Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism by Sir William Crookes;
• The Survival of Man by physicist Sir Oliver Lodge;
• Life After Life by Raymond Moody;
• New Frontiers of the Mind by J. B. Rhine;
• After Death -- What? by Cesare Lombroso;
• Thirty Years of Psychical Research by Charles Richet.

Conversely, the 576-page work Man and His Relations by Samuel Byron Brittan MD is almost never cited, although it seems to be in the same class as most of the often-mentioned books above.  Maybe the work failed to get the attention it deserved because it lacked an intriguing memorable title such as The Night Side of Nature or Death and Its Mystery. It sure didn't help that the book's full title was the way-too-long and boring-sounding title "Man and his relations : illustrating the influence of the mind on the body : the relations of the faculties to the organs, and to the elements, objects and phenomena of the external world." From that dull-sounding title, you would never guess that the chapters are rich with fascinating material. Let's take a took at some of the book's very interesting contents, which discuss very many topics in psychology and parapsychology. 

Samuel Byron Brittan MD

After dozens of pages of well-written but not-very-interesting prose, we have on page 67 the first very interesting account of the book:

"Mr.  Charles  Lawrence,  with  whom  the  writer  was  for  several  years  on  familiar  terms,  possessed  a remarkable  voluntary power  over  sensation  and  vital  motion.  He  could  so  paralyze the  censor  nerves  that  his  skin  might  be  punctured without  causing  pain,  and  a violent  blow  did  not  occasion the  least  suffering.  By  the  power  of  his  volition  he  could immediately  accelerate  the  pulsation  in  a surprising  degree  ; and  he  could  also  entirely  suspend  the  heart’s  action  in  three minutes ! These  effects  were  repeatedly  produced  in  the presence  of  the  writer,  before  public  asssemblies,  and  to the  satisfaction  of  several  committees  composed  of  members of  the  medical  profession."

The author mentions Eastern holy men with similar abilities, and modern reports corroborate such claims.  In 2021 the Daily Mail reported the following:

"Russian scientists are actively studying Tibetan monks in the hopes of garnering tips for astronauts on future long-distance space missions. Experts from Moscow State University are examining ancient techniques for putting the human body into a 'semi-lethargic state' - 'suspended animation', before returning to normal weeks later."

A similar anomaly involves mysterious cases of Buddhist monks whose bodies seem to not decay for a very long time after death.  At the mainstream materialist site www.bigthink.com, we read this: "After the apparent death of some monks, their bodies remain in a meditating position without decaying for an extraordinary length of time, often as long as two or three weeks."

Most of the first two hundred pages of the book aren't very interesting.  On page 197 there begins a discussion of psychometry. We read on page 202 this remarkable claim: "The  capacity  of  certain  impressible  persons  to  perceive,  by an  exquisite  power  of  cognition,  or  semi-spiritual  sensation, the  general  and  particular  characteristics  of  distant  and  unknown  persons,  by  merely  holding  their  autographs  in  the hand,  or  against  the  forehead,  has  been  demonstrated  to  the satisfaction  of  numerous  experimental  observers."  On page 204 we read this similar claim, mentioning the "animal magnetism" experiments that are now called hypnotism: "The early  experimenters  in  Animal  Magnetism  did  not  fail  to observe  that  persons  of  acute  sensibility  were  enabled  to establish  a sympathetic  rapport  with  others  at  a distance,  by holding  a lock  of  hair,  an  article  of  clothing,  or  a finger-ring which  the  absent  party  had  worn  ; or,  indeed,  by  taking  in the  hand  any  small  article  of  personal  property  that  had been  in  contact  with  the  body." 

The claims may seem outrageous, but it matches what was reported at great length by a nineteenth century physician (Joseph R. Buchanan) and also an early twentieth century investigator (Osty), as reported here. Even in recent decades similar things may be reported, as we read below:

"In 1991, when her daughter’s rare, hand-carved harp was stolen, Lisby Mayer’s familiar world of science and rational thinking turned upside down. After the police failed to turn up any leads, a friend suggested she call a dowser—a man who specialized in finding lost objects. With nothing to lose—and almost as a joke—Dr. Mayer agreed. Within two days, and without leaving his Arkansas home, the dowser located the exact California street coordinates where the harp was found."

This was before the Internet was widely available. The account above matches what Brittan states on pages 204-205:

"Crimes  and  criminals were  occasionally  discovered  in  this  way.  The  smallest fragment  of  a cravat,  worn  by  a thief,  would  hold  him  fast ; a shirt  was  a better  means  of  detection  than  a sheriff  ; and an  old  shoe  would  suffice  to  put  the  sensitive  explorer  on  the track  of  those  who  were  either  concealed,  absent  or  lost. When  the  search  resulted  in  finding  the  object,  not  only physical  conditions  and  specific  localities  could  be  described, and  pointed  out,  but  the  memory  became  an  open  book,  that could  be  read  in  the  darkness  of  midnight  ; the  unspoken thoughts  of  men  were  mysteriously  revealed  ; and  the  most secret  purposes  were  disclosed  before  time  had  afforded  an opportunity  for  their  actual  accomplishment."

On page 207 Brittan gives us some very specific examples to back up such claims. Referring to Semantha Mettler, whose first decades are documented in the biography here, Brittan states the following: 

"While  Mrs. Mettler  was  holding  a sealed  letter  from  Dr.  Buchanan — who  was  at  that  time  editing  the  Journal  of  Man — she declared  that  the  chief  study  of  the  writer  was  ‘Man,  in  his whole  nature.'  When  an  envelope  enclosing  some  [poetry] stanzas written  by  a convict,  was  placed  in  her  hand,  she  observed, that  the  author  had  a double  character — the  sphere  was unpleasant,  but  that  the  person  could  'write  poetry  tolerably well.'  A letter  written  by  Kossuth,  immediately  after  the delivery  of  a powerful  speech  in  St.  Louis,  caused  her  to  gesticulate as  if  she  were  addressing  a multitude,  and  this  was folloved  by  a feeling  of  extreme  exhaustion.  The  letter  of an  insane  man,  who  had  killed  his  own  child,  occasioned sympathetic  delirium  and  convulsions.  Some  irregular pencil  lines  and  scratches,  traced  by  the  hand  of  an  infant child  gave  no impression.  A very  delicate  picture  on  silk — painted  by  Miss  Thomas,  of  Edwardsburg,  Mich.,  and  presented to  the  writer — was  handed  to  Mrs.  M.,  under  the cover  of  a sealed  envelope,  whereupon  she  affirmed  that  the author  of  the  contents  of  the  envelope  had  painted  her  idea, instead  of  expressing  it  in  words."

On page 252 we read of the astonishing success that Dr. James Esdaile had in India in performing dramatic surgeries in patients who were given no anesthesia but had only been hypnotized to a state of deep trance:

"He  found  the  natives  of  Bengal  extremely  impressible, and  a few  trials,  by  himself  or  his  assistants, generally  subdued  their  natural  powers  of  resistance,  leaving them  in  a state  of  profound  coma,  and  insensible  of  pain.  In the  short  period  of  eight  months  he  performed,  at  Hoogly, no  less  than  seventy-three  painless  operations  in  surgery,  embracing among  others  the  dissection  and  amputation  of  different members  of  the  body,  operations  for  scrotocele  and hydrocele,  removal  of  scrotal  and  other  tumors,  actual and  potential  cauteries,  etc.,  etc.  In  these  operations  the subjects  were  entirely  deprived  of  physical  sensation  ; with rare  exceptions,  they  were  altogether  unconscious,  and  often expressed  the  greatest  surprise  on  learning  what  had  been done  to  them  during  the  interval  of  oblivious  repose."

On pages 286-287 Brittan discusses successful ESP experiments he did with various subjects. In one a subject was able to instantly identify flowers shown on a dozen or more cards Brittan was looking at but the subject could not see. In another a subject was able to identify tastes Brittan was experiencing. 

On page 287 he describes astonishing success doing experiments with a Mrs. Rice, one involving a "traveling clairvoyance" very widely reported in nineteenth century literature:

"Mrs.  Rice,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  was  distinguished  for  a most  delicate  susceptibility  of  mental  impressions.  Having been  invited  to  visit  her  one  afternoon — at  her  residence,   and  in  company  with  several  friends — I seated  myself  at  her side,  at  the  same  time  requesting  her  to  take  an  excursion,   and  to  describe  whatever  she  might  observe  by  the  way. Without  giving  the  slightest  intimation  respecting  the  direction we  were  to  travel,  I proceeded  on  an  ideal  [mental] journey,  by  railroad  and  steamboat,  to  New  York.  Madam  Rice described  with  singular  fidelity  all  the  important  objects  on  the  route  of  which  the  writer  could  form  a distinct  conception— spoke  of  persons  whom  she  met  by  the  way,  and  repeated  the  very  words  they  were  by  me  supposed  to  utter. On  the  same  occasion,  I imagined  a letter  to  be  placed  before her,  when  she  suddenly  exclaimed,  “ Here  is  a letter from  Mr. -----' mentioning  the  name  of  an  absent  friend  of whom  I was  thinking  at  that  moment ; and  going  through with  the  appropriate  motions,  as  if  she  were  really  breaking a seal  and  unfolding  the  sheet,  she  commenced  and  read  verbatim, from  my  mind,  for  several  minutes.  These  were  the first  and  only  experiments  made  with  Mrs.  Rice."

On page 288 Brittan describes a telepathy experiment with a Mrs. Mills of Albany:

"This  gentleman  having  expressed  a desire  to  witness  the experiment,  it  was  agreed  that  I should  cause  the  lady  to  leave  her  place  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  and  occupy a vacant  chair  by  his  side.  In  less  than  one  minute  she obeyed  the  silent  action  of  my  will  and  seated  herself  in  the unoccupied  chair.  In  like  manner  she  was  impelled  to change  her  position  several  times,  and  finally  to  leave  the room  temporarily,  with  no  specific  object  in  view,  and  without  so  much  as  suspecting  the  origin  of  an  impulse  she  was  quite  unable  to  resist."

Later we read of a similar ESP experiment:

"Miss.  A.  promptly  obeyed  the  silent  mandate of  my  mind,  and  going  to  the  center-table,  selected  a particular  book,  that  had  been  singled  out  from  among  a number  of  others  equally  conspicuous.  Some  one  required that  she  might  be  incited  to  take  up  another  book,  of  five hundred  pages,  and  turn  to  a short  poem — somewhere  about the  middle  of  the  volume — which  was  accordingly  done  without the  least  hesitation.  Again,  by  a similar  effort,  this  lady was  influenced  to  make  choice  of  a particular  engraving, from  amongst  a number  contained  in  an  annual."

On page 290 Brittan reports a dramatic case of ESP in which a distant person was apparently telepathically summoned:   

"On  one  occasion,  while  spending  a few  days  at  Waterbury,  Conn.,  I found  it  necessary  to  see  a young  man  in  the  village.  The  immediate  presence  of  the youth  was  of  considerable  importance  to  me,  but  not  knowing his  residence,  place  of  business,  or  even  his  name,  I could not  send  for  him.  In  this  emergency,  I undertook  to  [mentally] telegraph him,  by  concentrating  my  mind  on  the  young  man,  with a fixed  determination  to  bring  him  to  me.  Some  ten  minutes had  elapsed  when  he  came  to  the  house  and  inquired  for  the writer.  Meeting  a gentleman  at  the  door,  he  asked,  with much  apparent  interest,  whether  1 wanted  to  see  him.  On being  interrogated  by  this  individual,  he  stated  that  a few moments  before,  and  while  actively  engaged  in  his  workshop — distant  one  fourth  of  a mile — he  suddenly  felt  that  he  must seek  my  presence  without  delay." 

On page 335 we have this account of information apparently acquired in a dream:

"Some  years  since  the  Highland  Eagle  of  Westchester County,  New  York,  published  the  fact  that  Mr.  Dykeman, Deputy  Sheriff  of  Putnam  County,  had  made  a singular  discovery in  a dream.  It  was  stated  that  George  F.  Sherman, of  Cold  Spring,  had  lost  his  pocket-book,  containing  three hundred  and  seventy-two  dollars.  On  the  night  following the  Deputy  Sheriff  dreamed  that  a clerk  by  the  name  of McNary  had  the  money.  Unable  to  resist  the  suspicion excited  in  his  mind,  Mr.  Dykeman  arrested  McNary,  who thereupon  made  a confession,  and  restored  over  three  hundred dollars  of  the  money,  which  he  had  concealed  in  places indicated  in  the  dream."

On page 362 we have some fascinating accounts of people who performed very complex tasks while sleepwalking:

 "Dr.  Gall  gives  an  account of  a miller  who  was  in  the  habit  of  rising  every  night and  running  his  mill.  Mertinet  mentions  the  case  of  a saddler who  worked  at  his  trade  when  sleeping; and  Dr.  Prichard that  of  a farmer  who  got  out  of  bed,  dressed  himself, saddled  his  horse,  and  rode  to  market  while  asleep.  Professor Soave  reports  the  case  of  an  Apothecary’s  clerk  who not  only  walked  while  asleep,  but  would  kindle  his  fire  ; pursue  his  studies,  examining  authorities,  classify  botanical specimens  ; engage  in  animated  controversies — with  his  employer or  Professor  Soave — on  Chemistry  and  other  scientific themes  ; and,  indeed,  perform  any  duty  or  service  that he  was  accustomed  to  do  in  his  waking  hours.  He  would carefully  compound  medicines,  according  to  the  prescriptions that  were  before  him,  but  conscientiously  declined  filling false  prescriptions,  or  such  as  would  be  likely  to  injure  the patient.  Mrs.  Newton,  a relative  of  the  writer,  was  a skillful  seamstress  and  was  accustomed  to  the  unconscious use  of  her  needle  for  hours at  night,  when  there  was  no light  in  her  room.  A friend, who  was  an  accomplished horseman,  often  rode  many  miles  while  he  was  in  a profound slumber  ; and  it  is  a still  more  remarkable  fact — but  well authenticated — that  in  the  disastrous  retreat  of  Sir  John Moore,  before  the  battle  of  Corunna,  many  of  the  soldiers fell  asleep,  yet  continued  to  march  with  their  comrades."

On page 389 we hear this account of the legendary scientist and clairvoyant Immanuel Swedenborg:

"It  is  alleged  by  M.  Dieudonne  Thiebault,  Professor  of  Belles Letters  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  Berlin,  that  the  Count  de Montville,  Ambassador  from  Holland  to  Stockholm,  having died  suddenly,  a shopkeeper  demanded  of  his  widow  the  payment of  a bill,  which  she  remembered  had  been  paid  in  her husband’s  lifetime.  Not  being  able  to  find  the  shopkeeper’s receipt,  she  was  induced  to  consult  the  distinguished  Seer, though  she  did  so  less  from  credulity  than  curiosity.  Swedenborg informed  her  that  her  deceased  husband  had  taken the  shopkeeper’s  receipt  on  a certain  day  (also  naming  the hour),  while  he  was  reading  such  an  article  in  Bayle’s  Dictionary, in  his  cabinet  ; and  that  his  attention  being  called immediately  to  some  other  concern,  he  put  the  receipt  into the  book  to  mark  the  place  at  which  he  left  off ; where,  in fact,  it  was  found  at  the  page  described!" 

The next page tells another account about Swedenborg that was well authenticated:

"When  Swedenborg  was  in  Gottenburg,  three  hundred miles  from  Stockholm,  he  announced  the  occurrence  of  a great  fire  in  his  native  city,  giving  the  facts  respecting  the time,  place,  and  circumstances  of  its  origin,  and  accurately describing  its  progress  and  termination.  It  was  on  Saturday night  that  this  conflagration  was  described  as  occurring  at that  time.  The Seer  repeated  the  substance  of  his  statement to  the  Governor  on  Sunday  morning.  This  was  substantially confirmed  by  a dispatch,  received  from  Gottenburg on  Monday  evening,  and  on  Tuesday  morning  the  arrival of  the  royal  courier  furnished  an  unqualified  attestation of  the  truth  of  all  the  particulars  of  the  clairvoyant revelation.  These  facts  rest  on  no  doubtful  authority.  Their authenticity  is  sanctioned  by  Kant,  the  great  German  metaphysician, in  whose  judgment— to  use  his  own  words — they 'set  the  assertion  of  the  extraordinary  gift  of  Swedenborg out  of  all  possibility  of  doubt.' "

Kant's original account of the incident above can be read here. 

The book gives many other accounts of clairvoyance, including the well-documented case of Alexis Didier, which I won't repeat since I already described it here.  We then read of a case I had not previously heard of:

"Mrs.  Semantha  Mettler,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  has  long  exercised her  clairvoyant  powers  in  discovering  the  immediate and  remote  causes  of  disease,  its  organic  relations — noting, at  any  distance,  its  essential  character  and  its  phenomenal aspects  - and  in  selecting  from  the  great  pharmacopeia  of Nature  the  appropriate  remedies  for  her  patients.  During a period  of  fifteen  years  she  has  been  constantly  before  the public,  in  a professional  capacity,  and  her  diagnoses — made in  the  course  of  her  daily  transfigurations—  amount  to  more than  40,000  in  number.  In  numerous  instances  the  representatives  of  accredited  science  have  been  put  to  shame  by Mrs.  Mettler’s  disclosures  respecting  the  original  cause,  the particular  seat,  the  precise  nature,  and  the  ultimate  result  of a disease,  when  these  were  previously  all  unknown  by  the afflicted  parties,  and  not  to  be  detected  by  ordinary  professional sagacity."

The case of Semantha Mettler (comparable to that of Edgar Cayce) was so remarkable that she inspired an 1853 biography that detailed her rise from abject poverty and extreme bad luck to an apparent wonder worker.  Brittan's work dates from 1865, so apparently that 1853 biography detailed only part of Mettler's success.  The Brittan work gives this example:

"The  writer  could  easily  fill  a volume  of  facts  illustrative of  the  Clairvoyance  of  Mrs.  Mettler,  but  a brief  digest  of  a few  well-authenticated  facts  must  suffice  in  this  connection. Mrs.  William  B.  Hodget,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  had  extreme pain  and  inflammation  in  one  of  her  limbs.  Mrs.  M.  made an  examination  at  the  distance  of  twenty-four  miles,  and  discovered a  fine  cambric  needle  concealed  in  the  flesh.  This staggered  the  faith  of  Mr.  Hodget,  and  the  family  Physician was  equally  skeptical  on  the  point  of  the  needle  ; but,  to remove  all  doubts,  he  applied  his  lancet,  when  the  needle was  discovered  and  removed."

Brittan recounts a case of a man who was shot in the pocket, and who did not recover from his wound.  We read this:

"On  my  return  from  the  West I took  an  early  opportunity  to  submit  this  distressing  case to  the  clairvoyant  inspection  of  Mrs.  Mettler,  merely  telling her  that  she  was  requested  to  examine  a young  man  who  had been  shot.  There  was  no  intimation  respecting  the  circumstances attending  the  accident,  the  seat,  or  the  extent  of  the injury  ; nor  was  the  existing  condition  of  the  young  man  in any  way  implied  or  referred  to.  In  the  course  of  the  investigation and  diagnosis — conducted  at  Hartford,  while  the patient  was  in  Central  Michigan  — Mrs.  M.  discovered  a piece  of  copper  in  the  limb,  and  observed  that  the  wound would  not  heal  until  it  was  removed.  But  young  Barker was  sure  that  he  had  no  copper  in  his  pocket  at  the  time  of the  accident  ; and,  inasmuch  as  the  medical  attendant  had made  no  such  discovery,  it  was  presumed  that  the  Seeress was  mistaken.  But  some  time  after  the  foreign  substance described  became  visible,  when  Mr.  Barker’s  mother — with a pair  of  embroidery  scissors — removed  a penny  from  the wound  ! In  such  a case  science  is  a stupid,  sightless  guide, and  must  stand  out  of  the  way.  The  doctors  in  Michigan could  not  see  that  penny  when  it  was  within  their  reach, and  their  eyes  were  wide  open  ; but  this  Seeress  discovered it  at  a distance  of  nearly  1,000  miles  with  her  eyes  closed !"

Call it a case of telemedicine before there was what we now call telemedicine. The next pages of the book give us equally impressive accounts involving the same Mrs. Mettler. 

On page 427 the author tells us that he personally witnessed an astonishing case of accurate prophecy:

"The  writer  and  several  other  persons  were  witnesses  of a prophetic  announcement  of  the  destruction  of  the  steamer Henry  Clay,  on  the  Hudson  River,  made  by  Mrs.  Harriet Porter,  at  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  on  the  27th  day  of  July, 1852 — the  day  before  that  boat  was  actually  burned.  On the  28th,  at  about  tbe  hour  of  three  o’clock,  p.  m.,  Miss. Porter — being  entranced  in  presence  of  several  persons — again  referred  to  the  subject,  and  proceeded  to  describe  the terrible  catastrophe,  which  was  then,  as  she  affirmed,  being enacted  before  her.  She  declared  with  great  emphasis  that a steamboat  was  burning  on  the  Hudson ; that  she  could  see the  name — Henry  Clay;  and  that  the  village  of  Yonkers was  also  distinctly  visible.  She  appeared  to  be  thrilled  and terrified  at  the  spectacle,  and  expressed  the  deepest  anguish on  account  of  the  loss  of  so  many  lives.  On  the  following morning  the  public  journals  contained  the  verification  of  all she  had  said,  in  the  details  of  the  mournful  disaster,  so  mysteriously foreshadowed  and  so  graphically  portrayed  at  the very  hour  of  the  fatal  occurrence."

Bridgeport, Connecticut is more than 25 miles from the closest part of the Hudson River. Wikipedia.org lists the fire on the Henry Clay as occurring at about 3 PM on July 27, 1852, with a loss of nearly 50 lives, as the ship passed near Yonkers (40 miles from Bridgeport). The details in the wikipedia.org article exactly match the details given above. 

On page 476 of this book written more than a century before the terms "near-death experience" and "out-of-body experience" became widely used, we have an account of a near-death experience that included an out-of-body experience:

"A few  months  since,  an  eminent  Presbyterian  divine  in New  York  was  borne  by  disease  to  the  very  portals  of  the invisible  world.  He  had  a distinct  consciousness  of  his  condition. Veiled  in  light,  his  spirit  rose  and  hovered  over  the body.  He  could  distinctly  see  the  wasted  form,  stretched on  the  couch  ‘beneath  him,  pale,  pulseless  and  cold,  but  his immortal  self  was  thrilled  with  inexpressible  peace  and  joy. Just  then  his  wife,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  but  strongly attached,  called  to  him  with  the  deep  earnestness  of  that  undying love  which  can  endure  all  things  but  separation  from the  object  of  its  devotion.  The  potent  magnetism  of  that loving  heart  counterpoised  the  combined  attractions  of  the spheres,  and  even  recalled  the  unshackled  spirit  from  the Heavens  just  opening  to  receive  it.  He  returned  to  the body.  The  next  moment  a gentle  voice — calling  his  name in  tones  of  mingled  tenderness  and  grief— vibrated  on  the outward  ear,  reminding  him  that  he  was  still  a dweller  in the  earth." 

Alternate Explanations (Some Paranormal) for "Past Life Recollections"

What is called past life regression is a technique wherein a therapist puts someone in a hypnotic trance or a state of deep relaxation, and then asks the person to tell about a past life that occurred before the person's current life. Very many people will give accounts suggesting a previous life. Skeptics say this is not really evidence for reincarnation, but just an example of suggestibility. It is well known that people can be extremely suggestible under hypnosis. 

But there may be some reasons for thinking that more than just imagination may be involved in such "past life accounts." Psychologist Helen Wambach used hypnotic regression techniques on more than 1000 people, and collected data sheets on the statements made.  A series of common questions were asked, mostly relating to details about that could be checked, such as the type of home and the type of eating utensils used.  Wambach said that when the data sheets were checked against historical realities, very few discrepancies were found.  She said she found that only 11 out of 1088 accounts had "clear evidence" of historical or factual discrepancies (such as someone claiming he had played a piano at a time before the piano was invented). 

Reading Wambach's book Reliving Past Lives: The Evidence Under Hypnosis, I have some concerns about her technique. Her technique was apparently to ask leading questions such as "It is now the year 1700, what do you see?"  That kind of question will create an expectation that the hypnotized subject is supposed to provide some story of a past life. A better technique would be to ask neutral questions that do not suggest some belief in reincarnation. An example might be to first ask: "What year were you born?" and then to ask "Do you recall anything that happened to you before that year?"  On page 96 she tells us that she told people before being hypnotized that "their subconscious would have control over their experience of the past life recall," thereby creating the idea that some past life recall was expected from the hypnotized people. 

We know that under hypnosis people are extremely suggestible. A nineteenth century work describes this aspect of hypnotism, describing some hypnotized subjects:

"When they drank water, and were told that it was milk, coffee, rum, whisky, or wormwood, they tasted it as such. Nay, after drinking it as whisky, they were told that they were drunk, and in a minute or two became, in every particular, very drunk indeed. The expression of the face was perfectly that of intoxication, and they could not walk a step without staggering or falling. They were easily made, by suggestion, to fancy themselves any other persons, and acted in character. They shot, fished, swam, lectured, and exhibited every feeling suggested to them. They were as easily made to suppose a stick to be a gun, a rod, a sword, nay, a serpent ; or a chair to be a tiger or a bear. From these animals they fled with extreme terror. They were made to see, hear, and feel a dreadful storm, and to creep for shelter under a table or a chair, supposed by them to be a house."

Since people are so very suggestible under hypnosis, it could be that people telling stories of past lives are merely responding to the suggestion of their hypnotist, in a way similar to the cases listed above. 

Another type of possible evidence for reincarnation consists of young children who start to say they have memories of a previous life. Typically the child will claim to remember details of the life of a person who died not long before the child was born. There have been many cases in which information on the  claimed "previous life" was obtained, and a close match was found between the child's statements and the details of the corresponding person's life and death.  Researcher who have published investigations of many such cases include Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker. 

On a web page discussing the research of Jim Tucker, we have the following interesting set of numbers:

Median age at the time of the previous person's death: 28.
Percent of the children claiming they died a violent or unnatural death: 70%.
Percent of the children saying they had the same gender in a previous life: 90%.
Median time between the claimed death and the child's birth: 16 months. 

The previous figure differs from a figure cited by Wambach, who gives a figure of about 50 years between past lives. 

Does the evidence above show the likelihood that reincarnation occurs? Perhaps not, partially because there are alternate explanations why such things might happen even if no one is being reincarnated.  If you are a materialist, you are very limited in the alternate explanations you can give. But there is no reason why we have to limit ourselves to material explanations. We can imagine paranormal explanations or spiritual explanations other than actual reincarnation. 

One explanation is that souls survive death, and that when a young child gives stories of what he calls his previous life, such information is telepathically coming from another person who had such a life.  Such person may exist as a disembodied spirit in some realm of the dead.  There could be some reason why very young children could be more likely to be targets of such telepathic communication.  One possible reason might be that very young children have not been trained by society to dismiss the paranormal as impossible. 

A similar explanation could explain accounts given in past life regressions.  For quite a few years the trance medium Leonora Piper would seem to speak in the voice of dead persons, stating information that such persons could have known, but she could not have known.  Such cases may suggest that during a hypnotic trance there can be some extrasensory communication between the dead and the living.  If that is true, then such communication could be the source of many or most of the accounts given in past-life regressions.  

So if you are put in a hypnotic trance, and say that you recall living as Wilbur Dalton in the nineteenth century, it may not be that you actually were Wilbur Dalton in the nineteenth century. It may be that you are picking up through ESP some recollections sent to you by Wilbur Dalton, who may be currently living in some heavenly realm of the dead. 

There's another possible paranormal explanation for past life recollections. It could be that the memories of each person's life are stored in some information system that persists indefinitely. Such an information system has sometimes been called the Akashic records. Without believing all the claims that have been made about such Akashic records, we can postulate some paranormal information repository that accumulates information on each person's life, information on a person's experiences.  It could be that during hypnotic regression, people are able to fleetingly access such a repository.  So you may remember being Wilbur Dalton in the nineteenth century, not because you were Wilbur Dalton in the nineteenth century, but because you were somehow able to tap in to some mysterious repository that includes details of his experiences. 

Such an idea may not seem so improbable when we consider extraordinary cases involving what is called psychometry.  There have been many documented cases where some psychic seemed to be able to tell all kinds of information related to some object when being shown the object. So, for example, a psychic such as Mrs. Morel when given some piece of jewelry to see for the first time would be be able to tell accurate details about the object's owner and the owner's experiences, people she had never met.  You can try to explain evidence for psychometery by postulating that sometimes memories get stored in objects. But a better explanation may be that the object simply serves as a kind of prompt allowing the psychic to retrieve information from some paranormal repository of information perhaps storing information related to the lives and experiences of all those who have lived. If such a repository exists, it could be the source of some of the information accessed in past life regressions and past life recollections. 

It was abundantly documented during the nineteenth century that some hypnotized subjects would display astonishing powers of clairvoyance (see here and  here and here and here and here  for examples). They would describe in the most accurate detail places known only to some other person in the room.  Such a thing was called "traveling clairvoyance," and was rather similar to the "remote viewing" of the twentieth century, although it seemed to work far more powerfully. If such a "traveling clairvoyance" can be unlocked in a hypnotized subject to allow him to see far away in space, it could be that such a subject (with unleashed psychic powers) could also mentally travel in time, to peer into the experiences of some person who lived before (but not a person who the seer ever was in a previous life).  

The evidence for paranormal occurrences under hypnosis is extremely vast. A typical psychology textbook discussing hypnosis will discuss only a small subset of the phenomena that have been observed under hypnosis, typically only the least interesting phenomena.  A deep study of hypnotic phenomena will lead you to think that hypnosis can be the doorway to unfathomable powers of the human mind.  If that is true, then there are many strange possibilities that might explain reports of past-lives during hypnosis, some of them being possibilities that do involve reincarnation. 

Bruce Greyson (an MD who is one of the leading researchers of near-death experiences) tells us of an interesting case in which three family members all claimed to be the reincarnation of the same person.  You can read about the case on page 6 of the link here.  We read the following:

"She [Rhonda Mead] also identified pieces of jewelry and other objects of Susan Albert’s as hers, and mentioned by name her great-grandmother’s dog, who had died before she was born. Furthermore, she had an oddly shaped scar on her right arm that resembled a tattoo her great-grandmother had on that arm, and she expressed likes and dislikes that were the same as Susan Albert’s. Around the same time of Rhonda’s birth, two other baby girls, Sheila and Susan Richards, were born to the extended family, both of whom also claimed to have been Susan Albert in their past life. Antonia Mills has investigated other cases of multiple children who claim to remember the same person among several of the Pacific Northwest tribes, and Ian Stevenson has noted such cases among the Inuit in Alaska and among the Igbo in Nigeria.  In other cases, a child will remember the past lives of two people who lived at the same time. And in some cases, the person whose life the child remembers died after the child was born. Such cases raise questions about how to interpret the children’s knowledge of someone else’s life."

Such cases may support the idea that "past-life recollections" may come from a person who did not actually live the life recalled. Because of a wealth of possibilities, it is hard to know exactly what is going on during past life regressions and past life recollections.  Such things may or may not be evidence for reincarnation.  In some cases they may be evidence for survival after death, but not clearly evidence for reincarnation. 

There is one type of protocol I would like to see done when using hypnosis relevant to reincarnation. We might call this a replication-seeking protocol. It would go like this:

(1) Put a person under hypnotic regression, and ask him to tell about his past lives.
(2) Record in a video all of the statements made.
(3) Bring the person out of the trance, and do not tell him about what he said, and do not show him the video. People normally do not recall (at least while they are not under hypnosis) what they said under hypnosis. 
(4) Months later put the same person under hypnotic regression, and ask him him to tell about his past lives, without mentioning anything the person said six months earlier.
(5) Record in a video all of the statements made.
(6) Compare the statements made in the first video with the statements made in the second video, to see whether they are consistent with each other, or whether they conflict with each other. 

 If there was no match, it would be evidence that an actual past life was not being recalled. For example, if John X. said in his first hypnotic session that in his previous life he was a fat baker in St. Louis, and said in his second hypnotic session that in his previous life he was a thin farmer in China, that would be evidence that he was not actually recalling a past life he had.  (By "his previous life" I mean here whatever earthly life he lived, if any, directly before this life, and do not mean "any previous life." For example, if John X. was born in 1960, and he says in Hypnotic Session 1 that in 1959 he was a fat baker in St. Louis, but says in Hypnotic Session 2 that in 1959 he was a thin farmer in China, those two stories conflict with each other, and would suggest that neither story is true. ) 

I am aware of only one case with a good information repetition across multiple hypnotic "past-life regressions." I read a claim that in the famous Bridey Murphy case, the person under hypnosis repeated "much of the information unchanged."  Looking up the book "The Search for Bridey Murphy" on www.archive.org, I do see some repetition of name, town and occupation information in each of three hypnotic sessions. The book provides transcripts of the hypnotic sessions. For example:

• In the first hypnotic session on November 29, 1952 the subject first identifies herself as Friday Murphy (page 112), says she lives in the town of Cork, and says her father is named Duncan Murphy and her mother is named Kathleen. She identifies her father as a barrister (page 113). Later (page 114) she states her name as Bridey Murphy.
• In the second hypnotic session on December 18,1952 (page 136) the subject identifies herself as Bridey Murphy living in Cork,  She says her mother's name is Kathleen and her father's name is Duncan (page 135), and she identifies her father as a barrister (page 137). 
• In the third hypnotic session on January 22, 1953 (page 154) the subject identifies herself as Bridey, her mother as Kathleen, and her father as Duncan, with a job as a barrister in the town of Cork. 

This good repetition places the Bridey Murphy case above reported past life regressions in which we have no data on repetition of claims between different sessions. However, the repetition does not prove that the hypnotized subject really was Bridey Murphy in a previous life.  It could be the subject imagined Bridey Murphy in the first session (or telepathically communicated with the spirit of a deceased Bridey Murphy in the first session), and then simply remembered in the second and third sessions what she had said in that first session. 

A book by William Gregory MD stated this (using the word "sleeper" for a hypnotized person, and "sleep" for a hypnotic trance):

"As a general rule, but not a rule without some exceptions, the sleeper does not remember, after waking, what he may have seen, felt, tasted, smelled, heard, spoken, or done, during his sleep ; but when next put to sleep, he recollects perfectly all that has occurred, not only in the last sleep, but in all former sleeps, and, as in the ordinary state, with greater or less accuracy, although usually very accurately indeed."

So the repetition of a past-life claim in multiple hypnotic sessions does not show a past life really occurred. But a complete lack of repetition between the narrative details of multiple "past life regressions" might be used to discredit the claim that a past life is really being recalled. 

Accounts of near-death experiences tend to conflict with claims that people undergo multiple lifetimes on Earth. One of the most common features of near-death experiences is a report of encountering one or more deceased relatives in some afterlife realm.  Such reports may conflict with claims that souls are reincarnated soon after death. But there is always the possibility that earthly reincarnation is an option granted to a soul that survives death, an option that most surviving souls do not use, or only use rarely. 

Accounts by mediums also tend to conflict with claims that people undergo multiple lifetimes on Earth. Such seers typically report a deceased person as being available for communication, not unavailable because the person had reincarnated as someone else.  In a nineteenth century work a medium or clairvoyant is asked about the nature of the afterlife. When asked "Do we, after a certain time, inhabit again the earth ?" the simple answer of "No" was given. 

Some of the points I have made here are reasons for doubting much of the testimony in the book Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens by Harvard psychologist John E. Mack.  Very much of the testimony of that book is testimony extracted under hypnotic regression.  But much of that testimony could be spontaneous imagination produced after suggestive questions by the hypnotist (Mack). It's very hard to tell, because Mack does not provide any transcripts of the hypnotic regression sessions. So we don't know how much the people were responding to leading questions. Mack also seems to give no sign that he checked for a repetition of recalled details by the same person under two different hypnotic sessions. We have no way of checking for repetition because of a lack of hypnotic session transcripts. So we should be skeptical when we read a statement like this on page 610:

"With conscious recall Arthur had not been able to make out details of an actual vehicle, but now [under hypnosis] he remembered something like ribs, a hatch, and seams, and the vehicle seemed to be made of a 'really shiny, light metal, like metal when it's superheated.' " 

Mack emphasizes that his reputed abductees have considerable similarities in their stories of abduction by extraterrestrials. But there is a way of explaining a large degree of similarity in such stories under hypnosis by the same person, without assuming abductions by extraterrestrials. It is abundantly claimed in the literature of hypnosis that powers such as telepathy and clairvoyance may be greatly increased when someone is hypnotized.  Now let us suppose a hypnotist such as Mack might have had a kind of model in his mind of what to expect when someone describes an extraterrestrial abduction.  Then, though a combination of suggestion and telepathy, it might be that hypnotized people might tend to give similar answers when asked by Mack questions such as "Tell us what happened during your extraterrestrial abduction." They might tend to pick up telepathically ideas about extraterrestrial abduction in the mind of their own hypnotist. 

Postscript: In his interesting book "Life Before Life," Richard M. Eyre discusses the concept of a spiritual pre-existence of souls, not here on Earth, but in some transcendent or heavenly realm, or some other dimension. On page 32, Eyre makes the interesting point that so-called past lives recollections may be the result of information acquired during a soul's pre-existence.  

Here is a hypothetical example:

(1) Long before having an earthly life,  John X. exists for 500 years in some heaven. 

(2) In such a heaven John X. talks to Peter Y. who died in 1950, and went to the same heaven. 

(3)  The earthly life of John X. then begins in 1960. 

(4) Around 1970 John X. is aware of things that happened to Peter Y., who he never met on Earth. 

John X. knowing such details about the life of Peter Y. might be taken for evidence that John X. was once Peter Y. But under the scenario above, we have a very different explanation of how John X. learned such details about the life of Peter Y. 

Clairvoyance Outside of Hypnosis

In the posts here, here, here, here, here, here and here, I cited very many accounts of clairvoyance in those who were hypnotized,  accounts often written by physicians. Reports of clairvoyance in people in hypnotic trances (sometimes called somnambules) seem to be more common than reports of clairvoyance in those who are not hypnotized. But in the literature of the paranormal, there are reports of people with a "second sight" who seemed to have remarkable clairvoyance, even when they were not hypnotized. 

In a nineteenth century work, we read this quote from the influential scholar and theorist Allan Kardec:

"We know in Paris a lady who possesses permanent second sight, and with whom it is as natural as normal vision. She sees without effort and without concentration, the character, the habits, and the antecedents of those who approach her; she describes disease and prescribes efficacious treatment with greater facility than that of many ordinary somnambulists; it suffices to think of an absent person—she at once sees him and describes him. On one occasion we were with her and we saw someone pass in the street who was connected with us, but whom she had never seen. Without the preliminary of any question being put to her she very exactly depicted his moral character and gave us very sound advice about him.  This lady is not a somnambulist; she speaks of what she sees as she would speak of other things, without interrupting her occupation. Is she a medium ? She does not herself know, for until recently she did not even know the name of spiritualism."

The author of the work (Gabrielle Delanne) cites two similar cases that the author witnessed:

"We can add our testimony to that of Allan Kardec. About twenty years ago we were associated with a Madame Bardeau, who possessed this faculty. She was able to describe exactly people who lived far away in the southern provinces, and whom she had never seen, and was able to give details concerning their characters and circumstances. She made certain predictions which were fulfilled. Nevertheless she was in a normal state, her eyes wide open, and she carried on conversation on other subjects, interrupting herself occasionally to add some trait concerning the face or character of the absent person which rendered the description more complete. At the present time we know a woman, Mme. Renardat, who can see at a distance without being entranced. We have had incontestible proof of this, for she correctly described one of our uncles who lived at Gray, she specified the disease he had (unknown to his medical attendants), and predicted his death, and this without ever having known him."

A nineteenth century work describes the following cases of clairvoyance during "natural somnambulism" that was not brought on by a hypnotist:

• A girl of twelve was inflicted with convulsions, catalepsy, paroxysms and syncope (fainting).  During such paroxysms, she was able to distinguish all colors presented to her, and recognize the numbers on cards, even though her eyes were firmly closed, and a bandage placed over her eyes. 
• A rope maker would often fall into some kind of sleep or trance, during which he would move about with great agility, avoiding obstructions and obstacles in front of him, even though his eyes were firmly closed. 
• A girl aged sixteen would often suffer paroxysms that would involve a "profound sleep." In such a state she would often run around all over the place outdoors, never injuring herself. We are told "During all these hazardous operations her eyes were fast closed and she appeared to be deprived of all her other senses." 
• A girl aged fifteen would often fall into catalepsy and trances. We read this: "If, as she lay upon the sofa, her eyes firmly closed, I opened a book having pictures in it and sat behind her in a position where it was physically impossible that she could see what I was doing, and I looked at one of the pictures, she forthwith exhibited, in pantomimic action, the posture of each person there depicted."  In such an altered state of consciousness she could also apparently tell what people were doing in other rooms, with such an ability being confirmed in tests run many times. 

In the account below it is hard to tell whether hypnosis was involved. Some school boys completely unfamiliar with hypnosis said that one boy "only seemed to go to sleep when we told him to do so."  We read the following:

"But his eyes alone were shut, for he walked about, and talked, and said he could see things in our boxes. One of our games with him was to place a book upon the floor, throw the blanket over it and then tell him to read any page we named. He always did so quite rightly. But none of as knew what was on that page. We tried this so many times, with so many different books, that it was impossible he could have known beforehand what the page contained. We tested him with pocket-books and letters, and he did the same."

In the nineteenth century, there was once a habit of making walnut-shaped candies containing small strips of paper called mottoes, with there being innumerable variations of such mottoes (which might have between one and four lines of text). These confections were kind of "fortune cookies before there were fortune cookies," since fortune cookies only appeared in the early twentieth century.  In an edition of the journal The Zoist (the 20th Number of the Zoist for April, 1848, 6th vol., p. 96 and thereafter) a Dr. Ashburner records about seven pages of tests of two subjects who could read the paper strips inside walnut-shaped candies before the candies were broken open to reveal what was on the strips inside the candies. He states on page 101 that "both the girls were wide awake," indicating they were not in a hypnotic trance.  

Sometimes clairvoyance seems to occur as a one-shot thing. In the case reported here, a little girl claimed to see her father (stationed far away in India) with "blood running from a big wound."  Her companions denied seeing any such thing. It was later found that her father had been shot and died from the wound, at about the same time the strange vision occurred. 

Some people have demonstrated a dramatic second sight outside of hypnosis, by means of what is called psychometry.  Psychometry occurs when a person seems to display an inexplicable knowledge of someone living or dead, after touching some object associated with that person  Below is a dramatic account of such a thing from the nineteenth century:

"At one time while in Chicago, after I had delivered a discourse on the subject of psychology, a lady by the name of Mrs. Wilson Porter, who lived at Peoria, III., taking hold of my cane (which had been placed upon the piano, with several other canes, hats and umbrellas) without knowing whose it was, and had never seen me before, commenced to read my history, and spoke of some of the leading events in my life, at the same time telling the dates on which the events occurred, also my age at the time these events happened, as well as my age at the time of reading. She then took up the cane of another man, and read his history as accurately as she had done mine, and spoke of what was likely to happen when he would reach the age of forty-two years. And on appealing to the man for testimony, the man said: 'A part of it was true, but he could not vouch for the truth of all that had been said.' When the lady replied : ' I am aware that you cannot vouch for all that has been said, because you have not reached the age of forty-two years ; but in one week from next Tuesday, you will be forty-two years old, and on that day you will be able to testify.' The gentleman arose and stated that on that day he would reach the age of forty-two years, and that, although he had never seen the lady before and (being a travelling man) was a stranger to everyone present, still what she had told him was true. I might give you many more instances of similar experiences, but what I have said is sufficient to give you an idea of what is meant by psychometry."

According to a newspaper account in the Duluth Herald, a young girl named Ethel Gilliam suffered an illness that left her body cold, clammy and apparently dead.  Her body was placed in a coffin. An hour before her funeral was to begin, she awoke, complaining that she wished she had not been brought back. This is a common complaint of those having near-death experiences, who often say they had visited some place where they very much wanted to stay.  The girl said she had visited heaven. 

The girl was now blind. But she seemed to be gifted with "a wonderful power that enabled her to read and see by the sense of touch alone." Such a power has been been reported after 1970 in very many children in China, as you can read about here. We read the following from the newspaper account:

"Although blind, this girl can read by passing her fingers over the printed or written page, and can describe persons whose pictures were handed to her. The latter power was first discovered by ]. B. Cawthorn, a photographer, whose mother lives in Walla Walla. He told the marvellous story to a Sunday-school in Palouse city, and Mr. Gray and wife, hearing it, drove out to the home of the girl to see for themselves. Mr. Gray first handed the sick girl his watch, and she told him it was a gold watch, and the time of day by passing her fingers over the glass.To make sure that her power was genuine a paper was held between her face and a photograph that Mr. Gray handed to her, and she described the picture perfectly as that of an old gentleman with gray whiskers, wearing a dark suit and a cravat. She read from books and papers handed to her, by the use of her fingers. Mr. and Mrs. Gray tell many other wonderful things in relation to this child."

In a nineteenth century work we read the following:

"The Pacific Hotel, in St. Louis, was destroyed by fire, February, 1858. A little brother of Mr. Henry Rochester, living at home with his parents near Avon, N. Y., woke screaming from sleep the night of the fire, and declared that his brother Henry was burning to death in an hotel. Such was the boy's horror and alarm that it was with difficulty he could be pacified. This was about midnight. Twelve hours afterwards the parents received a telegram from St. Louis, confirming the boy's vision in every particular."

The case of Mollie Fancher of Brooklyn is a very-well documented case of clairvoyance outside of hypnotism (although there was often a kind of trance not produced by hypnotism). Mollie's case is probably the most interesting medical case history in the history of New York City. Mollie suffered terrible injuries such as falling from a horse, and being dragged for a block after her skirt got caught in a street car she was trying to exit. She was left bed-bound for decades, suffering from a complex variety of severe physical problems and severe mental afflictions which  included blindness,  nine years in a state rather like a coma (characterized by spasms, trances and catalepsy), and eventually something like split personality.  Her observers claimed to have observed six different personalities appearing from Mollie.  She often claimed to see spirits. In the midst of all of this physical and mental turmoil, she repeatedly displayed dramatic powers of clairvoyance, according to very many reliable witnesses.  She also seemed to survive for incredible lengths of time without eating.  Her story is told in a 300-page 1894 book by Abram Dailey. 

Below is testimony from a Miss Crosby who long observed Mollie:

"Some of the remarkable things which she, Miss Fancher, has done during her sickness are as follows : She could tell the exact time by simply passing her hand over the crystal of the watch ; also tell the exact time across the room ; she could tell the approach of a thunder storm some hours before it came ; she could also tell the fire bells were going to ring sometimes as much as five- minutes before they really did ring. She has very often told what parties were doing over in New York, and even further away, and has always been correct in her statements. Persons ringing the door bell at the house, she could recognize before they entered the house."

The author of a book describing in great detail the case of Mollie Flancher writes the following (using the word "visited" to describe a kind of "traveling clairvoyance"):

"In this way she has visited the homes of friends, and, as will be related by Mr. Sargent, she has been to him when he has been nearly a thousand miles away, and described his surroundings and the persons present so minutely, in advance of any statement from him, that to doubt her powers would be absurd. Many and severe tests have been made to determine the fact of her clairvoyance, and I am not aware that any person who has made the test, has any doubt that she possesses that very interesting and remarkable gift."

The author describes a test he made, using a double blindfold that was superfluous because of Mollie's blindness or near-blindness:

"I immediately arose, and securely covered her eyes by placing a double handkerchief over them and covering the lower part of her face, as she lay upon her bed. There was not a movement that any of us could make, or a thing which we could do, which she could not distinctly describe to us, with as much readiness as either of us could have done, had the same been done before our eyes. So many rigid tests have been made of Miss Fancher's powers in this direction, that human testimony fails in its purpose, if it is not believed that Miss Fancher is at times more or less clairvoyant. She is much more clairvoyant at some times than at others. When the day is gloomy and dark, or great storms are about approaching, the atmospheric conditions appear to affect her very sensibly, and then her clairvoyant sight is very much impaired. She sees best, and reads the most readily, when the room is so dark that others can scarcely see the print. The most hardened skeptics in these matters have been compelled to succumb when in the presence of Miss Fancher."

The account below is very interesting, and the mention of Mollie  being "strangely transfigured" and with "illuminated" features matches many accounts of people reporting such an illumination in faces just before death:

"I have seen her at times when she was strangely transfigured ; her features were illuminated. She seemed on the very border-land between the seen and the unseen universe. When I have questioned her upon the subject, she has told me that she was conscious of the presence of friends and relations who have died, and particularly of her mother and aunt, whom she sees clairvoyantly."

 On June 7, 1866 a newspaper called the Brooklyn Eagle published an account of Mollie Fancher which stated this: 

"When in the quiet condition of rigidity, the patient is in a trance. Her eyes closed, the ears are dead to sound, the muscles cease to act, respiration is hardly perceptible, and once or twice a state of ecstacy indicative of mental unsteadiness has resulted. These seasons last for four days, or two hours each. When in this condition, she is powerfully clairvoyant in her faculties. She can tell the time by several watches variously set to deceive her, read unopened letters, decipher the contents of a slate, and repeat what 'Mrs. Grundy says,' by serving up the gossip of the neighborhood. She appears to possess the faculty of second sight to a remarkable degree."

A Dr. West testified this about the bed-bound Mollie Fancher after long observing her:

"Her power of clairvoyance, or second sight, is marvelously developed. All places in which she takes any interest are open to her mental vision. Distance interposes no barriers. No retirement, however secluded, but yields to her penetrating gaze. She dictates the contents of sealed letters, which have never been in her hands, without the slightest error. She visits the family circles of her relations and acquaintances in remote places and describes their attire and their occupations. She points out any disorder of dress, however slight, as the basting thread in the sleeve of a sack which to ordinary sight was concealed by the arm. Any article which has been mislaid she sees and tells where it may be found. She discriminates in darkness the most delicate shades of color with an accuracy that never errs. She works in embroidery and wax without patterns. She conceives the most beautiful forms and combinations of forms."

An astronomy professor named Henry M. Parkhurst wrote that he had tried a test of clairvoyance on Mollie that she had passed, correctly identifying words (including "jurisdiction") and numbers in a slip that had been surrounded with papers and put in a sealed envelope.  

On November 24, 1878 the newspaper The New York Sun reported the following about Mollie Fancher:

"No sooner had Miss Fancher emerged from her first trance, soon after the accident, than she astonished her relatives by an extraordinary description of what she had seen while in that condition. It was unmistakable second sight. As the trances continued the manifestations increased. She watched and related in detail the movements of the family's friends in different parts of the city, and ultimately narrated what was happening to those who were many miles away. She read letters that were enclosed in envelopes and kept in the pockets of those about her. She recognized persons who rang the door bell, while they were still outside the house, and, of course, not visible to her. She read books whose covers were closed, and newspapers that were folded. Every day brought some new and astonishing development of this power."

This newspaper account of The New York Sun is reproduced in full on page 289 of the December 20, 1878 edition of The Spiritualist, which can be read here. The same newspaper account in The New York Sun also describes the following, suggesting an ability of Mollie to see without eyes:

"While Miss Fancher's eyes were absolutely sightless, the eyelids being closed and the eyeballs fixed as though in death, she was able with facility and without seeming effort, to make marvels of fancy work. For her gentlemen friends she embroidered suspenders and worked slippers and watch pockets, and for companions of her girlhood she made needlework of all kinds, pin cushions and wax flowers. Every stitch was in proper place, every shade of colored thread and worsted was correctly drawn. Her handiwork was as near perfection as could be. Some of it was sent to fairs, where its maker being unknown it was pronounced superior to all others of its kind exhibited."

Later we read this astonishing account of the powers of Mollie  Fancher:

"She does all sorts of little things that fill you with astonishment. Sometimes I have carried to her a photograph of some one whom she knew before the accident. She always saw and recognized it before it was taken from my pocket. I know of many instances in which she has read letters while they were in an envelope in the pockets of gentlemen. As for books and newspapers, she reads them readily, no matter what part of the room they are in. When first taken she seemed to read by sense of touch, which, by the way, was for many months the only sense she possessed. Drawing her thumb over the printed lines with great rapidity, she was able to tell for a long time thereafter just what the text was. Her memory of things that happened while she was in that rigid condition was astonishingly accurate. I took her a book one day, and she drew her thumb rapidly over the title page and began to laugh. Of course I asked the cause of her merriment, and she answered that — , mentioning the name of a very dear friend, had two years before given her the same book ; and with that she gave me a running sketch of its contents in a highly intelligent and surprisingly accurate manner. She soon ascertained, however, that it was not necessary to touch the words to understand their meaning, but absorbed the contents of printed or written matter. She knows whenever the newspapers print anything about her before it is read to her."

We have in the case of the blind or nearly-blind and bed-bound Mollie Fancher a subject who was so severerly injured and handicapped and restricted in so many ways that no can explain the reported clairvoyant effects without suggesting some utterly unbelievable conspiracy theory.  The standard device of trying to explain away such reports by appealing to "wily trickery" is unthinkable in this case. 

A declassified document from the files of the CIA makes the following claims about a Chinese person:

"One of the more spectacular examples is Mr. Chao Chey Zboun - previously an ordinary worker at one of Beijing factories. After qigong training he developed mental telepathy and clairvoyance skills as well as ability to diagnose and cure some diseases. He is known to see people's interior 'like on an X-ray picture' and can distinguish in this way malfunctioning body organs from the healthy ones."

The document notes some credible figures involved in research on such topics, stating that, "among the world class scientists who were the first ones to show the courage to attach their reputation to the research of paranormal abilities and phenomena are Dr. Qian Xuesen (graduate of MIT and Caltech, the founder of. China's space and missile technology), Dr. C.Y. Chao (discovery of external e + e- pair production and annihilation processes) , and Dr. G. C. Wang." 

A nineteenth century writer tells how he knew a person who reviewed very skeptically a book on the paranormal, but who confessed that he had a servant in the habit of sleepwaking during the night and in such a state doing all kinds of complex chores, avoiding obstacles, with her eyes closed, as if she were clairvoyant.  The man  was convinced this behavior was no simulation or trick.