Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/150

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130
Telepathic Hallucinations

death came. Colonel Broussiloff adds that from the obituary notice in the Novoie Vremia, No. 6816, it appears that Colonel Meinander died at 9 p.m. on February 16th (28th).

The narrative in this case presents a rather unusual feature. The percipient was in company with several other persons, but her experience was unshared. In the great majority of cases the seer of the hallucination was alone, a peculiarity which is no doubt due to the dreamlike nature of the experience: when more than one person is present it is frequently the case that the hallucination is shared by all. The problem involved in this "collective" percipience will be discussed later.

In the next case the percipient's vision occurred about two hours after the death of the child. It seems possible that in this case the telephone clerk acted as agent.[1]

No. 35. From Mrs. Michell[2]

The Hollies, St. Helens, Lancaster, May 8th, 1894.
On the 25th of last month I was sitting in the nursery, and my little daughter Gwendoline was playing with her dolls, and she suddenly laughed so as to attract my attention, and I asked her what she was laughing at. She said, "O mother, I thought I saw little Jack in that chair"—a vacant chair in the room—and indicating her little cousin. About five minutes after this the clerk telephoned from the office saying he had just received a telegram from Penzance announcing the death of little Jack. It was about half-past nine in the morning
  1. See, in this connection, Cases 39 and 40 in the present chapter, and cases 42 and others in Chapter X.
  2. Journal, S. P. R., January, 1895.