(195) "I was on a visit at Colnbrook, in Buckinghamshire, in 1878, and one night when I went to bed, and while yet fully awake, I felt an influence as if some one was in the room. I sat up to see what it was, and saw my grandmother, in the plaid cloak she usually wore, leaning upon my mother's arm.2 I looked round the room to see whether the vision could have arisen from any reflection from the mirrors in the room, and while doing so I saw the figures walk slowly round the room and disappear. I afterwards ascertained that my grandmother died in London about the time I had seen the apparition in Buckinghamshire.

"Kate Rogers".

In conversation, Miss Rogers told Mr. Podmore that she was not absolutely certain as to the year in which this incident occurred. Subsequently she found from the Times obituary (as we had meanwhile discovered from the Register of Deaths) that her grandmother, Mrs. Mac-donald, died on March 14, 1877.

In answer to inquiries, Miss Rogers says that she has had no other hallucination. She adds that the phantasm was seen "soon after getting to bed about 10 p.m."; and that "on my return home, I heard that my grandmother had passed away just about the time of my vision".

Appended is a letter from Mrs. Rogers (a sister of our valued helper, the Rev. J. A. Macdonald), who was herself nursing her mother at the time.

" October 30th, 1884.

"On receipt of your letter relative to the hour of my mother's death, I made inquiries of those who remembered the time, and I find she died nearer to 12 o'clock p.m. The reason my daughter mentioned 10 as the time of the vision only depended upon the usage of the family she was visiting, who generally retired at 10. Her memory could not serve her to fix the time exactly; besides, in cases of visitors being in the house, the family remained up later. The exact time of the appearance cannot be noted now, only that on reflection my daughter thinks it would be later than 10. Besides, she would, perhaps, have remained up a long time in her room, conversing with the lady of the house, before going to bed, as was often the habit. It was between 7 and 8 years ago that this experience occurred, and my daughter cannot fix exact times and hours; but, at the time, she thinks her vision corresponded with the time of the death. My daughter is very sorry that a more definite account cannot be given of the circumstances.

The facts can be depended upon, but the hours and times have entirely slipped our memories.

1 Cf. the "borderland" case, No. 172, where the apparition was preceded by a feeling as of "someone bending over." In such cases one may suspect that what is described as a sense of presence (as sometimes in ordinary life) is really a faint auditory impression, not noticed as such, and here of course hallucinatory like the visual impression which it introduces. Cf. cases 182, 201.

2 As to the appearance of the second figure, see p. 359 below.

"My daughter suggests that she was so greatly attached to her grandmother that, in so continually thinking of her, the vision might have come through the influence of strong imagination; but it impressed itself upon her mind at the time as a real presence, and she told me about it on her return to town. She did not expect her grandmother's death just then, as she had been ailing for years, and the death occurred rather suddenly. "JANE M. Rogers".

In conversation, Mrs. Rogers explained to Mr. Podmore that Miss Rogers, being absent from home, did not know of any change in her grandmother's condition.1

The following is a letter from Miss R.'s friend, Mrs. F. She is not explicit as to the vision having been mentioned before the news of the death arrived. But we presume she means to imply that it was, as the question was definitely asked; and in a previous short note she uses the words, "Kate certainly seemed to know her grandmother was dead, before the news reached us".

"April 8th, 1885.

"Mrs. R. has sent your note to me, asking me to reply to it; but it is really little I can tell you in reference to the matter, beyond that Miss R. felt convinced that her grandmother was dead before the news reached us, from a dream or vision2 (whichever you like to call it) that she had had. I cannot give you her words as she told it to me. The fact that Miss R. had a vivid dream in reference to the death of her grandmother did not strike me as anything but natural. She was always deeply attached to her, and doubtless had gone to bed with an anxious mind, knowing that her grandmother was ill. "C. B. F".

[Case 196 is omitted].

In the following case a visual phantasm first appears, and then words are heard3 which, in the mind of both agent and percipient, were probably of all others the most significative of the bond between them. The narrator is Mrs. Bishop, formerly Miss Bird, the well-known traveller and authoress. The account, received in March, 1886, is almost identical with a secondhand version which was given to us in March, 1883. When travelling in the Rocky Mountains, Miss Bird had made the acquaintance of a half-caste Indian, Mr. Nugent, known as "Mountain Jim," over whom she established a considerable influence.4

(197) "On the day in which I parted with Mountain Jim, he was much moved and much excited. I had a long conversation with him about mortal life and immortality, and closed it with some words from the Bible. He was greatly impressed, but very excited, and exclaimed, 'I may not see you again in this life, but I shall when I die.' I rebuked him gently for his vehemence, but he repeated it with still greater energy, adding, ' And these words you have said to me, I shall never forget, and dying I swear that I will see you again.'1

1 [In a reply to Professor Peirce (Proceedings of American Society for Psychical Research, 1887, vol. i., p. 165) Mr. Gurney says, "It ought to have been stated that the percipient returned home almost immediately after - she and her mother think the very day after - the death, thereby missing a letter which was sent to her, and finding her grandmother dead. She would thus only have to carry her memory back a day or two to identify the date of her vision with that of the death." - Ed].

2 As to the great injustice done to the telepathic argument by confounding dreams and waking visions, see pp. 255-7, and 373-4.

3 [From the contemporary letter quoted below, it appears that the words were an impression on the mind, not an auditory hallucination. - Ed].

4See A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, letters vi.-ix. and xiii.-xvii.

"We parted then, and for a time I heard that he was doing better, then that he had relapsed into wild ways, then that he was very ill after being wounded in a wild quarrel, then lastly that he was well, and planning revenge. The last news I got when I was at the Hotel Interlaken, Interlaken, Switzerland, with Miss Clayton and the Kers. Shortly after getting it, in September, 1874, I was lying on my bed about 6 a.m., writing to my sister, when, looking up, I saw Mountain Jim standing with his eyes fixed on me, and when I looked at him he very slowly but very distinctly said, 'I have come, as I promised '; then waved his hands towards me, and said, ' Farewell'.

"When Miss Bessie Ker came into the room with my breakfast, we recorded the event, with the date and hour of its occurrence. In due time news arrived of his death, and its date, allowing for the difference of longitude, coincided with that of his appearance to me. "I. B".

In answer to inquiries, Mrs. Bishop says that she has never had any other hallucination of the senses; that she had last seen Mountain Jim at St. Louis, Colorado, on December nth, 1873; and that he died at Fort Collins, Colorado. She hopes to be able to show us the diaries in which the date was recorded; but she wrote from abroad, and under very great pressure.

We have procured a copy of some of the testimony given at the inquest at Fort Collins, from which it appears that the death took place on Sept. 7, 1874, between 2 and 3 p.m. - which would correspond with about 10 p.m. at Interlaken. The coincidence therefore cannot have been as close as Mrs. Bishop imagines. If the vision took place on the 8th of September, it followed the death by 8 hours; but if it took place on the 7th, then the 12 hours' limit was exceeded by some 4 hours.