The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
SENSATIONS AT DEATH
SOME INTERESTING EXPERIENCES
RELATED BY VICTIMS.
Mrs. OrmistOn Chant So Near Heaven
She Saw the Gates, Heard Sweet Mu-
sic and the Voice of God.

sic and the Voice of God.
London Chronicle.
Mrs Ormiston Chant writes: During
the passing from consciousness, whether as
the result of anesthetics, or fainting, or the
nearness of death from drowning exhaus-
ton from hemorrhage, or severe fever in
my case the Ginning of Chepstow church
bells, and the murmur of the Wye as
heard them from our garden in the earliest
days of childhood, have always been the
last sounds I heard before becoming I'M
conscious. 1 have been twice very nearly
drowned once while bathing at Ramsgate,
and once at Saithwaite. when in diving
I struck my ankle against a loose piece of
zinc piping, and l suppose tainted with the
pain and sank to the bottom. In the very
brief interval between the first failure of
consciousness above water, and the COM
plete loss of it, many home scenes flashed
wildly up from memory and faded out
with the ringing of the chimes and the
murmur of the river. I'm dying was nv
thought as 1 recognized the familiar sound
But it was very severe illness in 1892
. that enables me to state most accurately
what L felt in that strange weird time Of
seemingly certain and approaching death
The functional and sensorial life of the
body were almost at an end, and 1 well
recollect how restfully free felt in spirit
During the first realization Of how danger
ously i'll I was, I felt a most passionate
sorrow at the thought of the loss to hus-
band and children Of one whom they had
loved, and who had so loved them; a long
ing to see friends just once more, and a
fierce regret for not having made more OF
life and for having no worthy monument
OF all ones dreams and aspirations to leave
behind This condition gave wav inner
cepubly TO an idea that l was looking at a
sort gray mass of mist which [ knew was a
gate beginning to open, and beyond which
was the place to which / was going. At
last this was the only thing l knew or
cared about. Even my husbands face was
dim and his voice sounded very far off
when he or another doctor, or nurse dis
turbed me.
THE PEARLY GATES.
Il felt no eagerness about this gate, only
steady concentration on it, and a fixed
idea that was talking to God himself, and
that His voice answered me about my holi-
day in that place beyond the opening of
the gray mass. I had now no sense of sor-
row or regret no fear, nor any other feel
ing except a languid wish that that would
open wider, and let me through so as to
get nearer and hear what the voices were
saying in the distance. Now and, then I
had glimpSeS of patches of flowers like
canoes OF color amid the gray mass the
edges of which merged softly into the lignt
and color of the cameo. Sometimes a sound
like the wash of a slow tide on a long
sandy shore came over me, melting into
the faint Ginning of ChepstoW bells, and the
murmur of the Wye, at least / identified
the sound as such. Always it became
strain of music more or less indstinct but
giving me q feeling of still, deep rapture
Even now / sometimes hear little of it
for a moment and have tried to reproduce 1t
on the piano, but without success. Then the
gray slowly became black, and / neither
heard nor saw The next thing remember
was the effort to swallow something, and
that Nurse C.'s beautiful face was quite
clear and distinct. l fell asleep with her
hand resting on mine, and said within ms
this
After this began to be aware that the
gray mass was no longer near. only heard
confused sounds now and then, and one
night when | tried to listen for the chimes
and the river could not hear them. In a
very weak voice | said out loud, I am COM
ing back again. and my husband answered
You feel better, don't you?' Since then in
1892, l have gone through many strange
ana varied experiences, but know that 1
have peeped into the beyond and heard
some of it's voices and that there is peace"
"A" writes: Some sixteen years ago I
had bad boil on the right temple About
6 o'clock one morning before dressing, l
tried to remove the poultice, but it stuck.
and l suddenly remembered the case of a
man who some time previously had died
from q similar cause. The whole of my
past life flashed before me in an instant
| remembered also the amount of my life
insurance, and was greatly comforted
thereby also thought that as no one else
was up in the house it would cause rsss
alarm If 1 were found dead in bed rather
than on the floor. and turned round hoping
to get to bed The next thing I remember
was my wife pulling me by the arm I had
fainted in turning round. said, quite me-
chanically: Why, I'm dead; .I>remember
dying. The surgeon who shortly afterWard
attended to the boil told me he was sur
prised that the consequences We're not more
which had formed-I think he said-under
the first"
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
John Holmes writes: "On July 49, 1896,
journeyed with the Worksop cricket team
to play in match at Kirton Lindsey. We
had got the other side out and l was in
the scoring tent. storm was gathering
and soma sheep grazing in the field showed
great signs OF fear. 1 was straining my
eyes to see the last ball in the second over
of our innings, when the sheep scampered
off in an opposite direction. Something
seized me- producing IL humming noise, and
imparting a peculiar sensation Of contrac-
ton All my muscles seemed to contract
and my limbs to shrink into the smallest
and most awkward forms you ran imagine
distinctly remember the image of a cat
with an arched back; my sight was like
so many gossamer webs intersected. Hear
ing had fed touch was paralyzed. speech
destroyed the brain alone continued 70 act
for a few seconds. I tried to saw 4 am
struck with lightning but found 1 only
thought it, as no one heard me. Then re-
Numbering that very few survive a stroke
thought, I am killed l then reverted TO
home-to mother. Lastly I silently babe
goodbye to all, and looked for the pearlv
gates. BY this [ was gone, and considering
the quickness of thought, / ,'houd say I
was about four seconds before losing con-
SciouSness
For the rest I am indebted to eye-wit-
tent over two minutes before a ball IF fire
descended from the clouds almost perpen-
dicularly on to the roof. Then it glanced
down, doubled round the end of the zinc
and entered the tent l was sharing one
of the scorers stools as a seat, and a gold
watch hung at my left shoulder. The cur
rent caught this in entering and left it bro
ken and charred, passing on to my left arm
soaring my neck and cheek slightly, SINCE
ing the back of my head, then passed under
my right arm from the back, and ran all
down my right side. 1t embraced my right
thigh, and deeply burned my knee and feet
found me- my flannel trousers were ripped
open from top to bottom, the edges being
scorched rags. The right side of my shirt
was burned out, my Jacket was ripped open
crosSwiSe in several places while my cricket
shoes were split round by the soles. I was
carried out and laid upon the grass for
dead. / have often wondered where I was
during those ten minutes of unconscious
ness, and l still wonder. SO far as the crit