- 56 - 5. 3 Clairvoyance at a deathbed. (Journal for Parapsychology, 1927, pp. 475-477) A man from San Francisco relates the things he witnessed for five hours at the bedside of his dying wife. His report is as follows: “Was I subject to an illusion, or had I suddenly become clairvoyant during the last five hours before my wife’s passing? This is today a moot question for me, to which I will probably never have a satisfactory answer. Before I begin the story of this little incident, I want to state for the benefit of the reader that in my case alcoholic beverages as well as cocaine or morphine are out of the question, and I am not at all high-strung or visionary. On the contrary, I am generally considered to be cool-headed, calm and collected, and I am exceedingly sceptic about everything having to do with spiritism. As all my friends know, my wife passed away on Friday, May 23rd , 1902, a quarter of an hour before midnight. A few of my closest friends had gathered around her, together with the physician in the case and two registered nurses. I sat at the patient’s bedside, holding her right hand in my own, and in this way two hours passed without any visible change. The butler came in to announce that supper was served, but no one seemed inclined to partake of any food. At about half past six I urgently begged my friends to eat something, as there was no telling how much longer our night vigil might last, whereupon all of them finally left the room. • A quarter of an hour later I happened to glance toward the door and saw three separate, well-defined layers of cloud drift into the room. Each cloud seemed to be about four feet long and six or eight inches wide. The lowest one was about two feet off the floor, while the others seemed to move with about six inches of space between them. My first thought was that some of my friends were standing outside of the bedroom smoking, and that the smoke from their cigars was blowing into the room. With this in mind I jumped up to express my indignation at their conduct, but there was nobody near the door, nor could I see anyone in the hall or in the adjoining room. • Seized by astonishment, I looked back at the clouds. They floated silently toward the bed and enshrouded it completely. As I stared into the mist, I saw at my dying wife’s head a female figure about three feet tall, transparent but like a bright beam of shining gold; it was the figure of a woman so sublime that I cannot find words to describe her in more detail. She was draped in a Grecian garment with long, wide sleeves that hung down loosely. Upon her head she wore a radiant crown. The figure stood motionless in full splendour and beauty, her hands raised above my wife, seeming to bid her welcome with a cheerful and serene expression, and radiating peace and repose. Two other figures in white knelt beside my wife, apparently leaning against her. Still other figures, more or less distinct, floated above the bed. Above my wife, but connected to her by a cord [of od], hovered a nude white figure, apparently her odic body. For a time, the person connected in this way remained perfectly still; then she shrank in size until she was barely 18 inches tall. The odic body was complete, with perfectly formed arms and legs. As the odic body shrank in this way, it writhed to and fro, beat about with its arms and legs, presumably struggling to free itself and escape. It writhed to and fro until it seemed exhausted; then it grew calm, increased again in size, and the process began anew. This vision, or whatever it may have been, was before me uninterruptedly for the entire five hours that preceded my wife’s passing. Occasional interruptions that occurred, as when I spoke with my friends or closed my eyes and turned my head aside, failed to affect the mirage in the slightest, for as soon as I looked back at the deathbed, I would see the spirit figures again. Throughout these five hours I had a strange feeling of oppression. A heavy load rested upon my head and limbs, while my eyes felt heavy and sleepy. During the entire time my sensations were so peculiar, and the apparitions so constant and lively,
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