A photo by Nadin Sh on Pexels titled "Time Lapse of Person." A blurred woman in a blue dress is walking past a gold curtain and a wooden chair. https://www.pexels.com/photo/time-lapse-of-person-9435434/

ALT

Crisis Apparitions

February 9th, 1884.

In the higher part of the door was a glass window, and I all at once, in the darkness, saw a face looking through that window. The face was very well known to me, though for the instant I did not associate it with the original, as she was 300 miles away. I instantly opened the door, found nobody there, and then searched the ivy with which the porch and house are covered. Finding nothing, and knowing it was impossible anyone could have got away. … I at once knew the face was that of a married sister-in-law of my wife’s. I told all our family of the circumstance directly I got home, and judge of our dismay when we had a letter to say she died at the very hour I saw her. Monday was the evening I saw the face, and on Wednesday, when we were at dinner, the letter came.

W. Goodyear.

From Apparitions of the Living Vol 1 (free to read online).

The story goes like this: when someone is in a moment of crisis, whether it be death, near-death, or just a time of great anxiety, they can project an image of themselves to a loved one. The image can speak or be silent. It can look ghostly— someone floating above the floor, shining with radiance, or resting in a coffin— or it can seem exactly like a real person visiting. Many times crisis apparitions are comforting: a beloved family member coming to say a last goodbye.

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post for the whole story and some spectral writing prompts, such as:

Loose lips and ships. A common story involves the mother of a shipboard soldier receiving a crisis apparition of her son at the moment of his death. The military doesn’t like to announce the loss of ships right away, but knowing that her son has died gives the mother advance notice of a sinking. What would she do with that information? Inform the other families? Press the military for details? Go to the press? Try to save other ships from befalling the same fate?

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