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

Communication from Baron de M letter 964

I had the account of this most curious case from a chaplain, Father F R….  Not merely his ecclesiastical calling, but above all his personal qualities, do not allow me to doubt in the slightest degree the truth of the facts in every detail.

I am furnishing for you alone the exact names and addresses, but if you publish this narration, I ask you to give only the initials.  The observations were made in the presence of the above mentioned priest and of an entire class of the seminary of O…., including Professor X…. who is now an Archbishop.  It is therefore a case in which the manifestation was observed by a considerable number of witnesses, not of a haphazard sort.

In 1889, F….., a seminarist aged about 23, was seriously ill; for several months this kept him from attending the courses with his class.  Along the wall was a coat rack, on which there were nails reserved for each pupil’s garments.  In view of the prolonged absence of F… one of his comrades had taken possession of his nail and was hanging his hat upon it.

Now, one day, between 11 o’clock and noon, while the entire class was attentively following the professor’s course, the hat on the absent pupil’s nail suddenly began to turn, without the least plausible reason being discoverable.

This motion was so energetic and lasted for so long – almost a minute – that it drew the pupils’ attention and even the professor’s, and made such an impression that they talked of it for the whole day.  Everyone had the feeling that there was something strange connected with it.

In the afternoon of the same day, a telegram brought the news of the pupil F…’s death; it had occurred at precisely the time when the hat on his nail had attracted his fellow students’ attention.