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Ernesto Bozzano, Professor - The parapsychological manifestations of animals – 32 The horse who saw Verplanck's ghost
Identifier
028633
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
NOTES on this case by Professor Ernesto Bozzano
Again, in this case, the animal was the first percipient. This circumstance shows even better which admirable sensitives the superior animals are.
The case is remarkable in itself, without presenting anything special, since we know about hundreds of similar facts, linked to a tradition of crimes committed in the haunting places - as I already pointed out in the book I wrote about these manifestations.
A description of the experience
Professor Ernesto Bozzano - The parapsychological manifestations of animals - 130 cases proving animal mediumistic abilities
Case 87. - (Collective Visual.) - This case appeared in the American Journal of S.P.R., 1910, p. 45. It is part of a small collection of facts examined by a minister of the Episcopal Church. Prof. Hyslop said that the names of the percipients cannot be published, as they are mostly well-known people who do not want to be named. The pastor, author of the story, reports the following facts:
Dr. G.'s villa, residing in New York City, 5th Avenue, 43rd Street, is located in Fishkill, on the Hudson River.
On October 20, Miss F. G., his daughter, had been in New York City, from where she returned at an early evening hour. The coachman had been waiting for her at the railway station, with a carriage and a good horse.
The night was very dark and the coach was not equipped with lanterns. The road was easy, and the horse walked quietly along the road. Tree-lined hills increased the darkness even further, when, at a certain moment, the horse began to kick violently, while the coachman did not know which saint to worship.
Miss F. G. looked and saw a long whitish column, like a fog, which, after rising in the middle of the path, in front of the horse, passed by it, grazed the girl's elbow and disappeared on her shoulders. As the apparition touched her elbow, she felt a sensation of cold and a shiver seized her. In any case, her mentality was too positive to accept a supernormal explanation of the event.
When she addressed the coachman, she said, "Be careful, Michael, we must have run over something. Step down and see what happened." - But the coachman disagreed and expressed concern, stating that it was not a material incident, but the encounter with a ghost. He added: "You and I may have made a mistake, but the same cannot be said of the horse. The poor animal is there sweating and jibs". -
He finally decided to get down and look, but he found nothing on the road. After that, we got back on the road. Miss F. G. ordered the coachman not to tell anyone about what had happened, for fear of frightening the servants.
A few days later, she spoke to a gentleman who had come to visit her, and who had been living in Fishkill for a long time. The listener was very attentive, after which he said: You have seen Verplanck's ghost. And he provided these explanations:
In the time of the previous generation, Miss Verplanck, the heiress of the large Danish family living here, was in love with a young lawyer from New York, but her family preferred that she marry her cousin, called Samuel Verplanck.
On the evening of October 20, the young lawyer was scheduled to meet her, but a violent storm broke out at that time, and he did not come.
The next morning, Miss Verplanck announced: "He was murdered last night."
A few minutes later, we received the news that his body had been discovered, with a dagger plunged into his heart. At the same time, Samuel Verplanck had disappeared. He was never seen again anywhere. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that on the night of October 20, Samuel Verplanck appeared at the crime scene.
What happened to Miss F. G. on the night of October 20 would confirm this tradition.