A woman in Kentucky had been unable to keep up all her friendly correspondence after the arrival of her second baby and felt particularly conscience-stricken from not having written to her friend Betty, a girl suffering from tuberculosis. She says:

"One early morning in April after I had been up to give the baby his bottle, I went back to bed. It seemed as though I were lying there awake when I heard the door in the lower hall open. I arose to see who it was; hanging over the banisters, I looked into the upturned face of my friend Betty. She was steadily climbing the stairs, and it was as though this was a usual thing; I felt no surprise. She reached the upper hall where I stood and put her arm about me and said:

"'I just couldn't go by without seeing those two wonderful babies you've been telling me about.' I took her into the room where they slept, and she went from one crib to the other, hanging over them and admiring them, making such remarks as, 'How can I make up my mind which is the prettiest--the blonde or the brunette?' She then said, 'I must go now,' and I took her to the head of the stairs where she told me, 'Don't bother about coming down with me. I can let myself out.' And I stood watching her as she moved down the stairs and out the door.

"Naturally, this incident, which seemed more vivid than the actual facts of the morning chores and those around me, made me feel guiltier than ever, and losing no time I wrote Betty the long-overdue letter. Usually within a week or so an answer would come--of late dictated to her nurse--but no answer came. In the rush of activity I did not dwell on Betty, so was surprised when about a month later a letter was in the mail from England.

"It was from Betty's father, who managed the English branch of an American company there, and in the letter he remarked on the fact that when I had written Betty of the incident involving her in my 'dream' I had given the time and the date, which he pointed out was very strange indeed since that was the exact time at which she had passed away. Needless to say, this shook me up considerably; but in time I just accepted what I believe to be a fact--that Betty stopped by to see us on her way to her 'new environment.'"

SOURCE: Hidden Channels of the Mind by Louisa E. Rhine, 1961, p. 109. Account untitled, author's name witheld; I added title & byline to aid searching & indexing only.

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