Observations placeholder

Ernesto Bozzano - Psychic phenomena at the moment of death [110 cases suggesting survival after death]

First category - Cases in which the apparitions of the deceased are perceived solely by the dying person, and relate to persons whose death he knew.

20-th case. - The following case, rigorously documented, was communicated by Alexander Aksakoff to the Annals of Psychic Sciences (year 1894, pp. 257-267). This description was long, so I will limit myself to report a few passages which are essential for understanding the subject:

My sister Catherine died leaving a 3-year-old daughter whom I took care of raising. At the age of eight or nine, Julie, who could hardly remember her mother, suddenly began to talk about her, saying that she would like to see her mother, whom she had seen in a dream. One day when we were together in the living room, the little girl said:

"That's mama coming." She went as if to meet her, and we heard her speak to her. Since then, these visions have been repeated often. First, I tried to persuade the girl that it was a fantasy, that her mother could not come to her house. But when I heard her tell me about events of the past, that happened before her birth, which were unknown to her, - conveyed to her from her mother, very deep and very serious advice, that at her age she could not even understand ... it was necessary to believe these appearances: so I believe in them with all my heart.

(Testimony of Madame Dimitrif.)

"The apparition of the mother always began thus: the little girl ran to meet her, seemed to receive a kiss on the forehead; then Julie sat on a chair in the living room, "beside which mama likes to sit," said the girl invariably. Then Julie, on behalf of her mother, began to speak always like this: "Tell your aunt, etc." One day, for example, she spoke like this: "Mother said to me, 'Tell your aunt that I could have made myself visible to her too, but that it would cause her such a nervous jolt that she would fall ill. Children are less afraid of us: that's why I'm talking to you through her."

(Testimony of Mrs. Marie Sabourof.)

"The last time she appeared to Julie ,she was with her companion Miss Keraskof. When saying goodbye to her, her mother added that now her appearances had to stop because Julie did not need them anymore, but that one day, in a serious moment of her life, she would come again ...

At the age of 21 Julie married a brave and honest sailor, Mr. Dobrovolsky, who made her perfectly happy. About ten years after her marriage, Julie contracted the ‘phthisis gallopante’ [consumption/TB]; she died at the age of 41 in the Crimea, where she had been taken in the hope of healing her ...

She ended up fully conscious like most consumptives. But, in her last moments she suddenly turned to one side, and her face expressed astonishment mingled with sadness and perhaps a certain fright; which makes one suppose that at this solemn moment her mother appeared again to her.

"Is this possible!" - she said, as if addressing someone, and these were her last words.

(Testimony of Natalie R ...)

In this episode, we find modes of manifestation that irresistibly suggest a spiritual interpretation of facts; in particular the attitude of the girl who, during her apparent conversations with her deceased mother, is aware of facts that had occurred before her birth and that were unknown to her. Unfortunately, the rapporteurs did not think to specify the facts, instead of simply referring to them in a general way.