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Professor Ernesto Bozzano - The parapsychological manifestations of animals - 130 cases proving animal mediumistic abilities

Case 68. - (Collective Hearing) - This case was originally published by Mrs. Sidgwick in her work on premonitions ( Proceedings of the S.P.R.; vol. V, pp. 307-308), and collected and studied by Myers in April 1888.

Mrs. Cowpland-Trelaor reports:

On a night in June 1863, in our vicarage residence in Weeford, Staffordshire, my sister and I were suddenly woken up by a plaintive howl. We inspected every corner of the house, which had stood isolated in the middle of the countryside, without discovering anything. In this first circumstance, neither our mother nor the servants were awakened by this howling. However, we found our wild-grown dog "Bulldog", with his snout buried in a pile of rubbish and trembling with fear.

On the 27th of the same month of June, our mother died.

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The second case we will report was by far the most impressive, and occurred in the same vicarage in August 1879. For some time our father had been sick, but his health conditions remained stable and on Sunday, August 31, he still served in the church, although he was to die nine days later. At that time, the family was composed of our father, my sister and me, our brother, two servants and a chambermaid. We all slept in separate rooms, located in various parts of the house, which, for a vicarage, was very large.

It was a calm and serene night in the last few days of August. No railroad tracks existed in the area. There were no houses in the vicinity, nor were there any streets that could be walked by late-going passers-by. The silence was absolute and the family remained in sleep, when, between midnight and midnight and a quarter, we were all awakened, except our father, by sudden, desperate and terrible howling, with a tone different from that of any human voice and similar to that heard before at the death of our mother, but infinitely more intense. The howling came from the corridor leading to our father's room. My sister and I got out of bed, no one would have slept in this uproar. We lit a candle, went into the hallway without even thinking about getting dressed. There we met my brother and the three servants, all terrified like us. Although the night was very quiet, these desperate howls were accompanied by violent blows, which seemed to spread far away and sounded like they were coming out of the ceiling. They persisted for more than a minute, only to fade through a window.

A strange circumstance is associated with this event: our three dogs, who were sleeping with my sister and me, had immediately run to lurk in the corners, their fur spiked on their backs. The "bulldog" had hidden under the bed and, as I couldn't get him out by calling him, I had to drag him by force, finding that he was shaken by a convulsive tremor.

We ran into our father's room, where we could see that he was sleeping quietly. The next day, with the necessary precautions, we alluded in his presence to the night's event, and this allowed us to see that he had heard nothing. However, since it was impossible to sleep in ordinary sleep, while the atrocious howling sounded, it must be assumed that it did not resonate for him.

About two weeks later, on September 9, our father expired.

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And here is a third case.

In 1885, I got married, and I was going to live in Firs, Bromyard, where I lived with my sister Mrs. Gardiner. My brother lived five miles away and was in perfect health. One night, around the middle of May, my sister and I, servant Emilie Corbett and the other servants, my husband was away, heard the usual desperate howling again, although not as terrible as the last time. We got out of our beds, checking the house, without finding anything.

On May 26, 1885, my brother died.

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The fourth case took place at the end of August 1885.

I, Emilie Corbett and the other servants, heard the howling again. However, since our home was not isolated, as were the Weesford vicarages, and the screams were not as vehement as on that occasion, I was comforted by the idea that they could come from some passer-by, although I could not avoid some concern about my sister, Mrs. Gardiner, who was in bad health at that moment. On the contrary, nothing happened to Mrs. Gardiner, who is still alive; but another of our sisters, Miss Annie Cowpland, who was in perfect health when the howling was heard, died a week later from  diphtheria.

Signed: Mrs. Cowpland-Trelaor; Mrs. Cowpland-Gardiner. Emily Corbett.