The extraordinary anecdote thread

[Johann]

In the spirit of my enduring enigma of the anecdote thread, I have created a thread for proponents and skeptics to place and discuss the most compelling anecdotes which reason can afford. They can be personal, from people you trust, or documented somewhere, but they must be enigmatic and compelling.

I am most interested in seeing those which "the law of large numbers" proves inadequate to explain.

EDIT: One anecdote up for discussion at a time, please.

- Johann

[anonymous]

I have a blog with lots of anecdotes from Phantasms of the Living by Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore and Death-Bed Visions - The Psychical Experiences of the Dying by Sir William Barrett. I'm not currently posting to it but if you like anecdotes there are quite a few on the blog.

[Johann]

Here is one:

Nearly a century after Swedenborg, lived Mme. Huaffe, known as the seeress of Proverst. She died in 1829 at the age of twenty-eight years. As a child she exhibited peculiar psychical tendencies, but it was only during the last six years of her life, and after exhausting illnesses, that her peculiar clairvoyant powers were conspicuously developed.

Justinius Kerner, an eminent physician and man of letters, was her attending physician during the last three years of her life, and afterward became her biographer. She first came under his care at Weinsberg, in 1826. At that time her debility was excessive, and nearly every day she fell spontaneously into the somnambulic condition, became clairvoyant, and related her visions. On the day of her arrival at Weinsberg, having gone into this trance condition, she sent for Kerner but he refused to see her until she awoke. He then told her that he would never see her nor listen to her while she was in this abnormal state. I mention this simply to show that her physician was not then at all in sympathy with her regarding her peculiar psychological condition, though afterward he became thoroughly convinced of its genuineness and of her honesty. He relates the following incident, which, with many others, came under his own observation : -

Soon after her arrival at Weinsberg, and while still a perfect stranger to her surroundings, while in her somnambulic condition, she said that a man was near her and desired to speak with her, but that she could not understand what he wanted to say. She said he squinted terribly, and that his presence disturbed her, and she desired him to go away. On his second appearance, some weeks later, she said he brought with him a sheet of paper with figures upon it, and that he came up from a vault directly underneath her room.

As a matter of fact, the wine vaults of Mr. F., a wine merchant doing business the next door, extended under Mme. Hauffe's apartment, and Kerner, who was an old resident of the place, recognized from the seeress's description of her visitor a man who formerly was in Mr. F.'s employ as manager and bookkeeper. This man had died six years before, and had left something wrong with his accounts—in fact, there was a deficit of 1,000 florins, and the manager's private book was missing. The widow had been sued for the amount, and the matter was still unsettled. Again and again did this apparition come to Mme. Hauffe, bringing his paper and entreating her to interest herself in this affair. He declared that the necessary paper to clear up the whole matter was in a building sixty paces from her bed.

Mme. Hauffe said that in that building she saw a tall gentleman engaged in writing in a small room, which opened into a large one where there was a desk and chests ; that one of the chests was open, and that on the desk was a pile of papers, among which she recognized the missing document.

The wine merchant, being present, recognized the office of the chief bailiff, who had the business in charge. Kerner went at once to the office and found everything as described, but, not finding the missing paper, concluded that her clairvoyance was at fault.

Mme. Hauffe, in her description of the paper said it had columns of figures upon it, and at the bottom was the number 80. Kerner prepared a paper corresponding to this description, and at the next seance presented it to her as the missing document. But she at once rejected it, saying the paper was still where she had before seen it.

On renewing the search the paper was found as described, and the bailiff was to bring it on the following day. He came accordingly. In her sleep, the seeress exclaimed :

" The paper is no longer in its place, but this is wonderful. The paper which the man always has in his hand lies open. Now I can read more ' To be carried to my private book,' and that is what he always points to."

The bailiff was astonished, for instead of bringing the paper with him as Kerner had directed, he had left it lying open on his desk. All these things are attested by the bailiff, the wine merchant, Kerner, and others who witnessed them. Kerner himself visited the seeress more than a thousand times, and although during the first part of his observations he was skeptical, he was never able to detect her in the slightest attempt at deception. She was in no way elated over her peculiar power, on the contrary, she disliked to speak of it, and would gladly have been free from it altogether. Her clairvoyant powers were tested by hundreds of excellent observers during the last four years of her life.

The following was taken from Dr. Osgood Mason's book, Telepathy and the Subliminal Self; Hypnotism, Automatism, Dreams and Phantams, published in 1897 by Henry Holt and Company. Wikipedia has the following to say on Mason:

Dr Mason was the son of Rufus and Prudence (Woods) Mason. He prepared for college at Thetford, Vermont and later graduated at Dartmouth College in 1854. He then entered Union Theological Seminary, 1854–55, before moving to medicine. In 1859, he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City (now a part of Columbia University).[3] He became one of the most noted surgeons of his day in New York City.

During The American Civil War, (1861–1864) he became an Assistant Surgeon for The United States Navy. from 1861-64 he served on the USS Santiago de Cuba. In 1864 he took up medical practice in New York city, where he was attending physician, Northwestern dispensary, until 1869.[3]

- Johann

[Johann]

I forgot to add, one anecdote at a time please.

- Johann

[fls]

The information I would start with is the notes which were taken during the seance as to what she said. Is there a source for those?

Linda

[Johann]

Originally Posted by fls

The information I would start with is the notes which were taken during the seance as to what she said. Is there a source for those?

Linda

Kerner is the source; you can find a more extensive account of this case here, starting at the bottom of page 205.

BTW, you can search google too, you know.

EDIT: Mrs. Crowe, author of the manuscript provided above, had this to say about Kerner:

The sincerity and good faith of Dr. Kerner in this affair, has never, we believe, been impugned, even by the most determined sceptic. He is well known in Germany as an exceedingly sensible, amiable, and religious man; and is a lyric poet of considerable eminence. The point of attack, for those who seek one, must be his sagacity; but except the assailant were one who had had the same opportunities for observation and investigation that he had, the gratuitous imputation of credulity should be, at least, cautiously received. At the same time, although I confess I should be very sorry myself to be one of the many who, I am aware, will receive these alleged facts with contempt and derision, I do not deny that the question, whether the apparitions were subjective or objective projections of the nervous system, or actually external appearances—is one which can only, if ever, be definitively answered by the exhibition of repeated phenomena of the same description. Even Kerner himself, however ultimately convinced, seems long to have doubted; whilst he freely admits the impossibility of absolute conviction on the part of those who have never had any occular testimony that such appearances are permitted.

Thought that might be of interest.

- Johann

[Kamarling]

I don't know exactly what qualifies as anecdote but I think the story of Eileen Garrett and the seance that produced information about the R101 airship disaster would be worthy of inclusion.

A good summary by Michael Prescott can be found here:

R-101 | Michael Prescott

This is how MP ends his piece:

The bottom line is that no single case can establish the validity of a phenomenon like mediumship. What is impressive, as John Fuller and many others have pointed out, is the cumulative weight of hundreds, even thousands, of well-documented communications that have been received over more than a century of research. Even acquiring an overview of this mass of material is a large job, but a rewarding one. Those who would like to begin can find no better place to start than in the rainswept woods outside Beauvais, early in the morning of October 5, 1930, when the R-101 met its fiery end.

[fls]

Originally Posted by Johann

Kerner is the source; you can find a more extensive account of this case here, starting at the bottom of page 205.

BTW, you can search google too, you know.

Yes (are there people who can't?). I was wondering if you had found something with the information I mentioned.

Linda

[Johann]

Originally Posted by Kamarling

I don't know exactly what qualifies as anecdote but I think the story of Eileen Garrett and the seance that produced information about the R101 airship disaster would be worthy of inclusion.

A good summary by Michael Prescott can be found here:

R-101 | Michael Prescott

This is how MP ends his piece:

Now now Kamarling, one anecdote at a time, otherwise no one will want to wade through them. But I like this one; maybe we can reserve it next.

- Johann

[Kamarling]

Originally Posted by Johann

Now now Kamarling, one anecdote at a time, otherwise no one will want to wade through them. But I like this one; maybe we can reserve it next.

- Johann

Sorry - I thought you meant one per post.