(268) "A strange experience occurred in the autumn of the year 1879. A brother of mine had been from home for 3 or 4 days, when, one afternoon, at half-past 5 (as nearly as possible), I was astonished to hear my name called out very distinctly. I so clearly recognised my brother's voice that I looked all over the house for him; but not finding him, and indeed knowing that he must be distant some 40 miles, I ended by attributing the incident to a fancied delusion, and thought no more about the matter. On my brother's arrival home, however, on the sixth day, he remarked amongst other things that he had narrowly escaped an ugly accident. It appeared that, whilst getting out from a railway carriage he missed his footing, and fell along the platform; by putting out his hands quickly he broke the fall, and only suffered a severe shaking. ' Curiously enough,' he said, ' when I found myself falling I called out your name.' This did not strike me for a moment, but on my asking him during what part of the day this happened, he gave me the time, which I found corresponded exactly with the moment I heard myself called".

In answer to an inquiry, Mr. R. Fryer adds: -

"I do not remember ever having a similar experience to the one narrated to you; nor should I care to, as the sensation, together with the suspense as to the why and wherefore of the event, is the reverse of pleasant".

In conversation, he has explained that he had frequently expostulated with his brother on the latter's habit of alighting from trains in motion; and the automatic utterance of his name, on this occasion, might thus be accounted for by association.

The agent's account of the matter is as follows: -

"Newbridge Road, Bath.

"November 16th, 1885.

"In the year 1879, I was travelling, and in the course of my journey I had to stop at Gloucester. In getting out of the train, I fell, and was assisted to rise by one of the railway officials. He asked if I was hurt, and asked if I had anyone travelling with me. I replied 'No' to both questions, and inquired why he asked. He replied, ' Because you called out "Rod."' I distinctly recollect making use of the word Rod.

"On arriving home, a day or two afterwards, I related the circumstance, and my brother inquired the time and date. He then told me he had heard me call at that particular time. He was so sure of its being my voice that he made inquiries as to whether I was about or not.

"John T. Fryer".

Curiously similar is the next case [269, but it is here omitted, as are also 270 and 271].

In the next case it is very possible that the agent actually used the words heard, but proof of this fact is unattainable. If he did not, we must suppose some idea of his distress to have been objectified by the percipient in the "agonised tone." The account is from Mr. Lister Ives, master at the Grammar School, Stockport.

"1883.

(272) "About midday of the 24th July, 1875, I was in the baths at Llandudno, when I suddenly and distinctly heard my boy's voice calling loudly and in an agonised tone. So assured was I of it being his voice, that I hastily got out of the bath and looked out of the nearest window, thinking he must be on the rocks beneath - the bath-house stands on a rock, though since then much has been cut away - though I believed him at the time to be, as indeed he was, at the other side of the Orme's Head, three or four miles away. The boy was killed at that very time by a fall from the rocks".

We find from a report of the accident in the Stockport Advertiser that the date was the 26th (not the 24th) of July. The boy had joined his parents on the 24th, which may perhaps account for the mistake.

Mrs. Ives says: -

"Until late at night, when the boy did not return, my husband had thought no more of the circumstance. When the boy could not be found he exclaimed, ' We shall never see him alive again,' for he remembered the sound of the voice; but it was not until some time afterwards that he told me that he felt assured he had heard the last cry, not a supernatural warning, but a cry for help when none could reach him. I made memoranda of all the circumstances connected with the unhappy affair, and of that [i.e., the voice] among the rest. With regard to the distance which the sound came, I can scarcely give absolute information. The headland is of peculiar form; but according to local maps, if they are to be relied upon, if it were possible to take a direct line through the mountain from the Crab Rocks, where my boy was found, to the baths where Mr. Ives was, it would measure something over 3,000 yards; round by the path, as it then was, about 3 miles; over the summit, I cannot tell how far".

Mr. C. Kroll Laporte, of Birkdale, Southport, says: -

"Mr. Ives told me all this [i.e., the incident of the voice] the day after the funeral, and I noted it down".

[Our colleague, Mr. Richard Hodgson, has had an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Ives. Mr. Ives has had no other hallucinations. The time of the boy's death was estimated only. He was expected back to dinner at 1 p.m., and it was between 12 and 1 p.m. that Mr. Ives was bathing and heard the cry. The words he heard were, ' Papa! mamma! ' in an agonised tone. The boy was 18 years of age. He appeared to have fallen on the rocks face downwards, from a height of about 80 feet. The cliff at the spot begins at the summit with a sloping bank of grass, which suddenly, however, is followed by an almost sheer precipice, not seen from the top of the bank].