Knocking

Yes. Malen Church bell would have been tolling in Castletown at that time, for the passing hell or for the funeral. I never asked whether the passing hell was rung, but it is a common habit in the Isle of Man to toll the church bell immediately after the decease of any one of some social importance. I feel sure it was done in this case ; we were so well known there. I mean it is done for the gentry, and such of the farmers. and shopkeeping class who care to pay for it. I may add that the lady who died was inexpressibly dear to me, being more like a sister than an aunt. The name of the lady was given to us in confidence, and also the date of her death ; and we have verified this date by reference to an Isle of Man newspaper. The day proved to be a Sunday. This was pointed out to our informant, in case he might be able to recall anything which would point to a Sunday as the day of his experience. He replied : — I cannot well remember the day, but I think that, from what I do remember, it was a Sunday. I was probably stowing the mizen topgallant sail, or doing some necessary work up aloft ; but I remember that when I went down to look at the bells the ship was still, and I don't remember any work going on. I am, however, not certain on this matter. ^ If this case was telepathic, it must remain doubtful whether the form of the impression represented the last sensations or ideas of the dying person, or was a piece of death-imagery supplied by the percipient, as illustrated in several of the visual cases of Chap. XII. The preceding distress and nervousness were probably subjective, but can scarcely be regarded as the cause of the hallucination. When we pass from musical impressions to noise proper, the degree of oddness and unaccountableness in a sound is a point which it is very hard to judge of from description. The reader may form his own opinion of the following account, received from Mrs. Samuda, of Shipton Court, Chipping Norton. I do not number it as an evidential case. If the details of what occurred to me (and which I believe to have been purely accidental) can be of any service to your Society, I will with pleasure describe them ; but in doing so I must beg that you will thoroughly understand that I do not in the least believe in any of these coincidences, and at the time was much amused when I was told that the sounds I heard were death- warnings. On the 5th of October, 1878, about 3 o'clock in the morning, I was suddenly aroused by three distinct loud knocks exactly over the head of my bed. At th