This section is from the book "Phantasms Of The Living", by Edmund Gurney, Frederic W. H. Myers, Frank Podmore. Also available from Amazon: Phantasms of the Living.
[Cases 353 and 354 are omitted.] In the next example of the two persons present, one of whom was son, and the other a stranger, to the agent, the stranger alone saw the phantasm, though both seem to have shared in a singular auditory experience which they connected with it. The incident thus closely resembles that described in case 242, where the phantasm appeared not to the dying man's sister, but to a servant who was with her. The narrative was copied by the present writer from a notebook of the Rev. J. A. Macdonald, formerly of Manchester, and now of Rhyl.
(355) "On August 13th, 1879, I sailed to Hamburg with Captain Ayre, of the ss. ' Berlin,' of Goole, who related to me that, about 25 years before, he was staying with a friend named Hunt, at a small farmhouse at Arming Grange, about 2½ miles from Goole. On a summer evening, about 9 o'clock, Captain Ayre and his companion went to their bedroom, when they both heard a noise at the side of the house, and both went to the window to see what was the matter. The captain distinctly saw a man walking outside, but Hunt could see nothing there, though he had heard the tramp of feet as well as the captain. Being astonished that Hunt could not see the man, Captain Ayre proceeded to describe him. He was a man of short stature, with a stoop, and wore knee breeches, a red-fronted waistcoat with sleeves, and a little black hat. Hunt instantly identified the description as answering exactly to his own father. Captain Ayre assured me he had never seen Hunt's father. After this the men went to bed, and both now heard a noise as if the end of the bedstead had been wrenched, which continued until about midnight, when Hunt's brother arrived on horseback from Gilberdyke with the news of their father's death, which occurred about three hours earlier that evening.
The noises then ceased".
Mr. Macdonald adds: -
"This was taken down by me in pencil from Captain Ayre's own lips, and transcribed when I returned from the voyage. The pencil account was read over to Captain Ayre, and pronounced by him to be perfectly correct. I cross-examined him carefully on every point. He specially described the lonely position of the house, and the unlikelihood of any stranger moving about in the vicinity or creating a disturbance in the bedroom. "JAMES Alex macdonald".
This account was sent to Captain Ayre, who replied: -
" SS.' Dresden,' Goole. "November 4th, 1884.
"I have carefully read over the narrative, as given by the Rev. Mr. Macdonald; but it is so accurate in every detail that I fail to be able to add anything thereto. "Chas. Ayre".
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[Our efforts to trace Mr. Hunt have been unsuccessful. Captain Ayre has not heard of him for some time].
In the next case the agent was not dying, but was in a somewhat alarming fainting-fit. We have had other similar cases (e.g., No. 20); they recall what was said above (p. 387) as to the number of the death-cases where the mode of death has been drowning. The narrator is Mr. H. G. Barwell, of 33, Surrey Street, Norwich, "1883.
 
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