Alfred Smedley’s Wife

[Translated from French]

A few moments before her death, her eyes fixed on something that seemed to fill them with lively and pleasant surprise. Then she said, “How! Here is my sister Charlotte; here is my mother, my father, my brother John, my sister Marie! Now they are also bringing Bessy Heap! They are all here; oh, how beautiful it is, how beautiful! Can’t you see them? – No, my dear – I replied – and I regret it very much. – So, you cannot see them?” – the patient repeated with surprise. – “Yet, they are all here; they have come to take me with them. Part of our family has already crossed the great sea, and soon we will all be reunited in the new heavenly abode.” – I will add here that Bessy Heap had been a very faithful, very affectionate servant to our family, and she had always had a special affection for my wife.

After this ecstatic vision, the patient remained somewhat exhausted for a while; finally, turning her gaze steadfastly towards the sky and lifting her arms, she breathed her last.

Ernesto Bozzano, Phénomènes Psychiques au Moment de la Mort (JMG éditions, Agnières, 2001), p. 15-16.