gattino
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Messages
- 2,528
There are certain "classic" Fortean cases that get summarised and reprinted over and over in general books on the paranormal. One such, which you'll recognise by the details if not by the name is the "Wilmot case" from the SPR's fantasms of the living. Held up as a great exemplar of OOBEs/Astral projection/Crisis apparitions.
A refresher: in 1863 a Mr Wilmot , confined to this cabin bunk for several days due to severe seasickness during a violent storm had a vivid dream that his wife appeared at the cabin door, hesitated when she saw there was someone else in the upper bunk, but approached Wilmot, caressed him and left. When he woke from the dream, the businessman sharing the cabin with him, a Mr Tait, was staring at him and wanted to know about the woman who had - daringly in Victorian times - come to visit him in the dead of night. When Wilmot finally got home the first thing his wife says to him when they're alone is that she felt she went to visit him while he was out at sea, on that date. Eaten with anxiety for his safe return she perceived herself to travel across the seas, ascend the ship, enter his cabin and initially hesitate as she noticed there was another man there watching her.
Here are a couple of pages from the 2022 book Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition: a re-evaluation of some fascinating case studies. by SPR member Robert A Charman , giving the original written accounts by the participants (submitted many years later).
Charman's book incidentally revisits all of these much repeated cases by returning to the original source material and comparing it with checkable facts. Some very famous cases turn out to be pure fiction. With this one he merely notes the long gap before the report was made, the absence of direct confirmation from certain parties, and speculates that the coincidence of timing between the "dreams" was probably decided on later as its unlikely Wilmot noted down the exact date of his dream til the wife told him of hers. So while not debunking the story he concludes non paranormal explanations cover the same facts at least as well. He quotes Susan Blackmore as another who dismissed the value of the case.
So you can imagine my reaction when listening to the most recent episode, 643, of the excellent podcast "Jim Harold's campfire". A man called Ed from Devon rings into recount, as is the format of the show, his own encounter with the paranormal. Neither host nor guests seem to have any awareness of the Wilmot case.....
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...-campfire-special/id310656913?i=1000644653667
Ed's story begins at 12 minutes 15 seconds into the episode.
As the episode will disappear behind paying membership after 8 or 10 weeks I'll transcribe the relevant parts in the next post for posterity.
A refresher: in 1863 a Mr Wilmot , confined to this cabin bunk for several days due to severe seasickness during a violent storm had a vivid dream that his wife appeared at the cabin door, hesitated when she saw there was someone else in the upper bunk, but approached Wilmot, caressed him and left. When he woke from the dream, the businessman sharing the cabin with him, a Mr Tait, was staring at him and wanted to know about the woman who had - daringly in Victorian times - come to visit him in the dead of night. When Wilmot finally got home the first thing his wife says to him when they're alone is that she felt she went to visit him while he was out at sea, on that date. Eaten with anxiety for his safe return she perceived herself to travel across the seas, ascend the ship, enter his cabin and initially hesitate as she noticed there was another man there watching her.
Here are a couple of pages from the 2022 book Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition: a re-evaluation of some fascinating case studies. by SPR member Robert A Charman , giving the original written accounts by the participants (submitted many years later).
Charman's book incidentally revisits all of these much repeated cases by returning to the original source material and comparing it with checkable facts. Some very famous cases turn out to be pure fiction. With this one he merely notes the long gap before the report was made, the absence of direct confirmation from certain parties, and speculates that the coincidence of timing between the "dreams" was probably decided on later as its unlikely Wilmot noted down the exact date of his dream til the wife told him of hers. So while not debunking the story he concludes non paranormal explanations cover the same facts at least as well. He quotes Susan Blackmore as another who dismissed the value of the case.
So you can imagine my reaction when listening to the most recent episode, 643, of the excellent podcast "Jim Harold's campfire". A man called Ed from Devon rings into recount, as is the format of the show, his own encounter with the paranormal. Neither host nor guests seem to have any awareness of the Wilmot case.....
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...-campfire-special/id310656913?i=1000644653667
Ed's story begins at 12 minutes 15 seconds into the episode.
As the episode will disappear behind paying membership after 8 or 10 weeks I'll transcribe the relevant parts in the next post for posterity.