The visions of Mr. O…

We extract the following account from the Spiritual Magazine, published in London, in its issue of April 1861.

“Mr. O…, a gentleman of Glocestershire, had never had visions until the moment when he came to reside in P.., on October 3, 1859. About a fortnight after his arrival, he began to see at night; at first they were rays of light, which came to illuminate his room, passing through the windowpane. He paid little attention to them, attributing them to a watchman’s lantern or to a lingering flash of lightning. However, one night when he was fixing his eyes on the wall of the room, he saw a rose form, and then stars of various shapes. Another night he saw, in the mysterious light, two magnificent angels with a trumpet. On that night Mr. O… had retired earlier than usual because of a slight indisposition he felt. The presence of the two angels, which lasted one or two seconds, made him experience a sweet sensation, which continued after their departure.

“The following week the same light appeared to him with the figure of a child embracing a little cat. Several other figures likewise appeared, but too obscure to be distinguished. In March he saw the profile of a lady, surrounded by a luminous circle; he recognized his mother and exclaimed very joyfully: “My mother! my mother!” but soon the vision vanished. On the same night, he saw a beautiful lady, dressed with distinction, a hat on her head.

“A night or two later he saw a beautiful little dog and a small boy. Next there appeared to him a light similar to that of a window, whose outline was not clearly delimited, which was repeated four times and, on the first three, for about half a minute. Mr. O… retired and tried to guess the meaning of that vision, imagining it meant that he had no more than three years or three months of life left. The light returned once more; Mr. O… got up and the light disappeared after a minute.

“On April 3 he saw a light producing the effect of a luminous crack and, within the room, a part of a man’s face: only the forehead, the eyes, and the nose were visible. Very large and very prominent, the eyes stared at him fixedly; soon it disappeared. On the dates that follow he had also the following visions:

“April 4 – Face and bust of a lady, smiling at two children who were embracing each other. Shortly after it was the upper part of a man’s head whom Mr. O… recognized, by the hair and the forehead, as one of his friends, recently deceased; July 27 – A hand, directed downward; at first it appeared on the wall as a phosphorescent light, gradually taking the form of a hand. Then he saw the head of an elderly man, belonging to that hand, a little gray bird, with light feathers. The face looked at him with a solemn air, but disappeared; Mr. O… was seized with a certain fear and felt himself tremble, while at the same time experiencing an agreeable sensation of warmth. He also saw a roll of paper upon which there were hieroglyphs; December 12 – A bird in its nest feeding its young; December 13 – Two leopards’ heads; December 15 – A loud knock was heard by Miss S… in her room, which awoke Mr. O…, who was deeply asleep; December 16 – The ringing of bells, also heard by Miss S… An angel and a shining child, who transform into flowers. The head of a stag, with great antlers; December 18 – some faces and two doves; December 20 – Various faces of men, women, and children; January 1 – a great vessel, behind which gradually rises the head of a child, which ends by flying forward; January 3 – A cherub and a child. “One night he saw a picture representing a superb landscape, as if it were an opening in the darkness; he saw meadows, fields, trees, etc.; a man walking and a cow. The most beautiful brightness of the Sun illuminated the landscape. What is peculiar about these luminous visions is that often the light brightens the whole room, in such a way as to let the furniture be seen as in broad daylight. When it disappears, everything returns to darkness.

“Mr. O… had many other visions, of which he did not take the care to make note.

It seems to us that there is enough here to allow us to appreciate them, and we do not think that any person enlightened about the cause and nature of Spiritist phenomena can regard them as true apparitions. If one refers to the first article of this issue [Essay on the theory of hallucinations], in which we attempted to determine the character of hallucination, one will understand the analogy it has with the figures that often present themselves in states of drowsiness, and which must have the same causes; of this we are convinced by the mere fact of the multitude of animals that he saw. It is known that there are no wandering spirits of animals in the invisible world and that, consequently, there can be no apparitions of animals, save in the case where a Spirit might cause an appearance of that kind to arise, with a determined end, which would nonetheless always be an appearance, and not the real spirit of this or that animal. n The fact of apparitions is incontestable, but one must guard against seeing them everywhere and against taking as such the play of certain easily exaltable imaginations, or the retrospective vision of the images impressed upon the brain. The very minuteness with which Mr. O… reveals certain insignificant particulars is an indication of the nature of the preoccupations of his mind. In sum, we find nothing in the visions of Mr. O… that has the character of apparitions properly so called, and we believe there is much impropriety in propagating such facts without the due commentary and without the reservations that prudence recommends, because, without wishing it, we would be furnishing weapons to criticism.

[1] Translator’s note: See question 600 of The Spirits’ Book, and item 283 of The Mediums’ Book.