The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-28
STARTLING PHENOMENA.
A QUARTETTE OF MOST REMARK
ABLE OCCURRENCES.


aL!ying Vie Visits I er Husband
From the Princeton Nclg Rerielo.
The most familiar species Of hallucina-
tions-though not by any means the only
species-consistso Of the apparitions OF dying
persons occurring, simultaneous with the
death, to relatives or friends at distance.
Such an apparitiou is, on the one hand, a
clearly hallucinatory impression-the per
cipient apparently sees the clothed body of a
human being occupying portion of space
which is, in fact, not so occupied; at the
same time it is, in sense, a "veridicaln OF
truth-telling impression, since 1t suggests
that something remarkable is happening to
the human being so seen, and it after ward
becomes known that something remarkable
and unexpected did in fact happen to him
at the time.
The question then is whether this coinci-
deuce is merely accidental or whether 1t in
dicates that the external event and the ap-
partition are really connected as cause and
effect.
A lady writes: son the evening of Jan.
81, 1890, / had been reading aloud to a
young friend Tennyson's poem 'Roa, and
the last word on which my eye rested ere
closing the book was the name Rover ,
Please note this seemingly Insignificant cir
cumstance, for thereby hangs my tale.
Soon after my friend left my mother was
seized with a sudden Spasm in the throat,
which greatly alarmed me and caused me
10 lie awake that night il astate of extreme
nervous tension through anxiety on her be-
half.
while in this condition of mind, at about
2 o'clock in the morning, | saw a diffused
white light filling one side of the bedroom.
which seemed to focus itself to a still
brighter light that presently took the shape
of the page of book, which by and by be-
came crossed with dark lines that resolved
themselves into printed letters. Fascinated
at this unloOked-for occurrence, l thought
to myself if only | can read those letters l
may discover something that may prove
useful in the study of phantasmagorial APP
pearances. so l directed my whole attention
to the ghostly page Of the book and read
thereon Rover
THE SUDDEN ATTACK.
LAS my mothers sudden attack had been
the one subject engrossing my thoughts up
to that time, | could not at first imagine
how | could have conjured up the ghost of
word so out of place and so uumeaning,
till | remem bered that it was the last word
my eyes had rested on ere anxiety on my
mothers account had blotted out every
other subject from my mind, and had in
duced the morbid condition or nervous ten
sion that gave rise to the vision"
The lady who relates the next case was
walking along a familiar road one night in
1885, after spending the evening with a
friend. 1t was a full moon, and, as she ap-
preached cross, with which popular trsdi-
ton associated uncanny rumors, but which
she had often passed at night without see
ing anything. she saw, as she supposed,
tramp sitting on stone opposite to it. As
she drew nearer she perceived that IL was
female figure, and as it was bitterly cold,
she went up to the woman TO awake her. l
now give her own words:
with bewilderment | recognized the
dress | was myself wearing on the creature
on whose shoulder l was about TO place my
hand. At that moment it raised its head
looked fixedly at me with my own counten-
ance and vanished. An icy shudder passed
over me. ="
This lady had on previous occasion seen
figure herself, which she at first took for
another person, till it turned its face on her
and vanished. In neither case was there
any external event. simultaneous or subse-
quent, that the most ingenious superstition
could connect with the apparition.
CONFIDENTIAL CASES.
Now turn to the coircidentll cases. l will
first give well-attested specimen of an ap-
partition occurring within few hours of
the death Of the person seen. | give it In
the percpients own words:
In the spring and summer OF 1886 |
often visited poor woman, called Evans
who lived in our parish. She was very i'll
with painful disease, and it was, as she
said, great pleasure when l went to see
her. aud | frequently sat with her and read
to her. Toward the middle of October she
was evidently growing weaker, but there
seemed no immediate danger.
Il had not called on her for several days,
and one evening | was standing in the din
a witt fba f,fNl H.,
family, when | saw the figure of woman,
dressed like Mrs. Evans, in large apron and
muslin cap, pass across the room from one
door to the other, where she disappeared.
said, Who is thatP My mother said, What
do you meanp and | said, That woman who
other door, They all laughed at me and
said | was dreaming. But felt sure it was
Mrs. Evans, aud next morning we heard
she was dead"
My last case will illustrate a different
kind Of coincidence. 1t is that of an appa-
rition OF living person, representing that
person as she was, but not as the percipient
could have known her to be- The percipi-
ent was in the service of the government,
and was placeiin Fort Smith, Ark, his wife
living in Michigan.
Business had called him away for three or
four weeks out of reach of postoffices, so
that he had not written to her for some
lLIIIb ne I6LuTu6u 10 fOrU O0llL0 ana sat
up late writing to his wife. The next day
he was very tired, and after a noon dinner
went to his room TO rest He continues:
A BRIGHT STEP.
II turned the key in the lock and Law
down on the bed with my back toward the
door. l had not been there ten minutes
when l heard some one coming upstairs
with q light STEP and wondered who it
could be- l had expected several of my
friends would call as soon as they knew
had returned, and was too tired to see any
one. / took this course to get rested.
While this idea was in my mind, that
needed rest, heard the door open and foot
steps coming toward the bed. turned
over so as to look in that direction, and
there stood my wife.
81 was little excited, as it was unex.
pected. l Immediately got up and reached
for chair that stood near, and while doing
30 l said: Why, Libbie, when did you
comet GU look SO tired; you mus be-
you have had 800 miles of staging She
speze and said: Yes, l am a little weary.
/ stepped forward with the chair, and was
about TO ask her to be seated when, to my
surprise. she was not there. stepped to the
door and found it locked. Net being accus-
toned to such apparitions. l felt sure
that she was dead. AS soon as | could
Ia Il