Observations placeholder

The Future and Beyond – H F Saltmarsh

This is a summary of a case taken from Proc., XI  448-51.

The family of Mme. Isnard were seated at dinner with a friend, while their mother was lying ill in an adjoining room. A sudden and inexplicable gust of wind arose, blowing together with a crash, and then open again, the folding doors between the dining-room and Mme. Isnard's bedroom.

Mlle. Isnard then saw an hallucinatory figure of a woman pass into the corridor. The head and shoulders were covered with a veil and the face was hidden. The figure was like that of a nun. She felt an immense sadness and thought, 'My mother will die.'

Looking at the others seated at the table she perceived that they, too, had seen the apparition. She spoke of it and the visitor tried to comfort her by saying that it was only a play of shadows. Mme. Isnard, who had been dozing, and had seen and heard nothing, was somewhat worse on waking.

The following week the son, Dr. Isnard, was alone with his mother, when the doctor called and she rose to let him in. As she went slowly to the door, Dr. Isnard was struck with the likeness between her and the apparition which he had seen. Mme. Isnard died that month. The story is well attested and is confirmed by the independent account of the visitor.