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Death and its Mystery – After Death – Camille Flammarian

An account of the apparition of a young girl who had been dead for a year, was sent me from Sestri Ponente, Italy, in a letter dated July 22, 1899, by Monsieur Giuseppe Cavagnaro; he took an oath that it was true. This young girl, who had died at eighteen, was seen crossing certain rooms, not only by the narrator but by other occupants of the house. The observer was calm; there are no grounds for the hypothesis of an hallucination. Here is the letter:

I was eighteen years old and was a student in Genoa, where I was living in my father's home. One morning, about seven o’clock, while I was turning the pages of a Greek book, I heard a noise like that of a door being opened. I looked up and saw a young girl, in her chemise, coming out of the kitchen. She was tall, white-skinned, and beautiful, with long dark-brown hair which fell in curls down her back. She passed me, looking at me and almost smiling, then entered my father's room, opening the door and closing it noisily.

I was astounded, and said to myself, “I'd like to find out who she is and why she's here."

About ten minutes afterward my father came out of this same room and, as was his custom, went into the kitchen to wash his face and hands. At once I ran into the room which he had just left, but found no one there. I looked everywhere: under the cup- board, where, as a matter of fact, no one could have hidden because the shelves were so low ; under the bed, which was very low-not even a child could have got beneath it. I also opened the drawers! I looked behind the chairs and in all the corners ; in a word, I sought everywhere.

 It would have been impossible for the young girl to escape by the window, for we were living on the fifth floor, in an isolated street, 4 Via Edera.

When my father came back, after washing his face and hands, I told him what had happened. At once we ran to the stairway, to search it carefully, and could find nothing. My father was obliged to unbolt the street door, which was still locked. The concierge assured us that no one had either entered or gone out.

Then we went to a neighbour who lived opposite us, Manzini, a lawyer and told him of the occurrence. To our great surprise, he was not at all astonished by our story, recognizing, from my description of her, a young girl of eighteen, who had, died a year before in my father's room, which l had seen her enter.

He added that I was not the only one who had seen her, and that a whole family which had lived in the house before us, had been obliged to give up that apartment because of these apparitions, which had frightened all those who had witnessed them.

I affirm under oath that what I have told you is the exact truth

C. CAVAGNARO

(Letter 767.)