Tuesday, December 8, 2009

In the case(1) here abridged, the singing and voice of the unseen visitant were


From Death-Bed Visions - The Psychical Experiences of the Dying by Sir William Barrett, Chapter 3 Visions seen by the Dying of Persons known by them to be Dead, and Death-Bed Visions seen by Others

In the case(1) here abridged, the singing and voice of the unseen visitant were heard by the mother as well as by her dying child; and a cousin of the deceased child appears to have had a vision of the child and heard a premonitory intimation of her death.

(1) See R. Pike's "Life's Borderland and Beyond," p. 28, in which the Atlantic Monthly, of March, 1879 is quoted as the source.

"Mrs. G., with her two little girls, Minnie and Ada, of the respective ages of eight and nine years, had been staying in the country on a visit to her sister-in-law, but having taken a house near London, she sent the two children with their nurse off by an early train, following herself by one a few hours later. Towards the evening of the same day, one of the little girls walked into the room of the house which they had quitted in the morning, where a cousin to whom she was much attached was sitting at his studies, and said to him, 'I am come to say good-bye, Walter; I shall never see you again.' Then kissing him she vanished from the room. The young man was greatly startled and astonished, as he had himself seen both the little girls and their nurse off by the morning train.

"At this very time of the evening both the children in London were taken suddenly W, while playing in their new home, a few hours after they had arrived. The doctor called in pronounced their complaint to be small-pox of the most malignant kind. They both died within the week, but the youngest, Minnie, died first. The day after she was buried, the poor bereaved mother was anxiously watching the last hours of the one still left, for whom she well knew no chance of life remained. Suddenly the sick child woke up from a kind of stupor, and exclaimed, 'Oh, look, Mamma, look at the beautiful angels!' pointing to the foot of the bed. Mrs. G. saw nothing, but heard soft sweet music, which seemed to float in the air. Again the child exclaimed: 'Oh, dear Mamma, there is Minnie! She has come for me'; she smiled and appeared greatly pleased. At this moment Mrs. G. distinctly heard a voice say, 'Come, dear Ada, I am waiting for you!' The sick child smiled once again and died without a struggle."