Observations placeholder

Light, vol. XLV, 1925, p. 113.

A friend who was with a firm in Shanghai used to come to England once in five years for a holiday, and had just returned to China after one of these visits. Some weeks later, on getting up one morning, I felt very unwell. I came down to my sitting-room but had to lie down again. I heard the clock strike noon and then dozed off to sleep.

I at once became aware that I had entered a strange-looking apartment; it looked like a long narrow corridor, with unfamiliar-looking plants and flowers on small tables and on the floor. There were some ordinary chairs and some deck chairs, on one of which I saw my friend stretched out at full length, attired in evening dress and smoking a cigar. I smelt the aroma of the cigar. My friend was evidently not aware of my presence though I stood close by his side, as he continued to look up at the ceiling.

Waking up, I found that only a few minutes had elapsed since the striking of the clock. I had photographs of every part-inside and out of my friend’s house in Shanghai, so that (as he used to say) I might picture him there; but I had no photo, like this place I had just seen. I wrote and told him of my experience, and this is his reply:

“On reaching Shanghai I had orders to go at once to Hong Kong, where one of the managers of the firm had just died. The house assigned to me was not ready, so I took up my abode at the club. The corridor you have described is the smoking lounge of the club, where I rest after dinner, smoke my cigar and think of my friends in England."

There is, I think, between eight and nine hours difference of time between England and China, so my flight before 12 noon corresponded with my friend's siesta after dinner (between 8 and 9 p.m.).

Telepathy is out of the question-I felt I had actually been to this place.