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Death and its Mystery, At the Moment of Death; Manifestations and Apparitions of the Dying – Camille Flammarion

Letter from the physician of the Mademoiselle in this account and sent to Monsieur de Vesme December 1919

In February 1904, Monsieur B, aged 31, became engaged to Mademoiselle D.  These two young people loved each other.  Family differences soon jeopardised their plans and assumed such importance that the marriage, which was to have taken place in the middle of May, was broken off on the 4th of that month.  Heart broken, the two young people parted and began to travel, that they might lessen their sorrow.

Mademoiselle D thought daily of her fiancé, whom she hoped to be able to marry some day, when family difficulties should have ceased to exist.

In September 1904, she received a letter from her former fiancé.  It was the last which reached her.

In December 1905, she learned that, yielding to the entreaties of his family, he had married.  She herself, for her part, married on July 5th 1906 and went to live with her husband on an estate in the environs of Bordeaux.

Monsieur B, though married, could not forget his former fiancee. 

In March 1907, the young woman was alone, her husband being on a trip.

One night, it was the 17th, she had gone to bed as usual.  She awakened abruptly about 2 o’clock in the morning; she had heard her name called three times – close to her, it seemed.  It appeared to her that this given name had been uttered behind the door which was beside her bed and gave onto a hallway.  She rose, opened the door, believing her husband had come back unexpectedly, and was greatly astonished to see no one.

Asking herself who could have called her, she went to wake her chamber maid, who was sleeping in an adjoining room.  The maid had heard nothing.  Both of them dressed, went over the whole house and found nothing.  They ended by going back to bed.

After some time Madame D dozed off.  But again she heard her given name twice uttered in a voice full of anguish.  Greatly agitated, she leaped from her bed precipitately, called her chamber maid and told her ‘This time it’s impossible that you didn’t hear it; someone called out twice ‘Jeanne! Jeanne!’’

The servant answered that she had heard nothing; that since she had not been asleep, she would certainly have heard if anyone had called. Both, intensely curious, explored the whole house once more and found nothing.

Madame D went back to bed a second time, sent her maid away and, not being able to sleep again, remained in a state of mind that can be easily understood.

Half an hour later, she heard herself called for the third time, in a tone still more agitated than on the previous occasions.  She spent the rest of the night in great agitation.

Some days afterwards one of her relatives arrived from Noyon, where her former fiancé lived and told her that the latter had died of consumption on the night of March 17th/18th.

His end had been particularly tragic.  He had died the victim of most violent dyspnoea and in the course of his death agony had several times called his former fiancé – ‘Jeanne!’ – as he was expiring in his wife’s arms.