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For centuries, people have experienced an unexplainable phenomenon known as crisis apparitions. These encounters involve a living person unexpectedly seeing a loved one at the very moment that person has died.
This phenomenon has been reported by everyday people as well as prominent politicians, soldiers, and even a First Lady of the United States. Their accounts of crisis apparitions are at times comforting, but oftentimes chilling.
What Are Crisis Apparitions?
Crisis apparitions are believed to be the spirits of people at the time of their death. There are a few common characteristics of a crisis apparition, which lend credibility to their existence. These commonalities include:
- A person seeing the apparition of a loved one who is far away.
- An intense feeling that a loved one has died, even though the individual has no evidence of their death.
- The apparition communicates a final message and is aware of the living person they have visited.
Understanding Crisis Apparitions
Crisis apparitions get their name because they most often appear at the time of a sudden or tragic death. The term “crisis apparition” was coined by spiritualists in the late 19th century as many grieved the loss of loved ones in the Civil War.
One story goes that a Union sergeant saw a soldier standing in the doorway to his cabin one night. The soldier appeared confused, and the sergeant was equally perplexed because the soldier in question was stationed miles away. The soldier slowly turned around and walked into the darkness.
When the sergeant went to look for the young man, there was no one around. It was only the next morning that the sergeant learned of the soldier’s death the previous night. The time of the sighting occurred at the exact time of the soldier’s death.
Over a hundred years later, families of those who lost loved ones in the September 11th terrorist attacks reported seeing or sensing their loved one at the time the planes hit the World Trade Center.
One last visit
However, war and national tragedy are not the only circumstances in which a crisis apparition can manifest. In one compelling case, a woman was staying with friends in a youth hostel when she had a bizarre encounter with one of her friends.
The woman said that the male friend “moved towards me as though he was floating and with his arm outstretched as though trying to reach out to me. I just sensed he had died and was visiting the people and places he knew as though trying to figure out where he was. I went downstairs to tell my boyfriend that I’d seen our friend and felt he had passed.”
Although the boyfriend brushed off the woman’s concerns, she was sadly proven right. The friend’s body was found two days later in the nearby mountains, where he had gone hiking. The man was a seasoned hiker, making his death all the more shocking.
The Science Behind Crisis Apparitions
The question remains: how and why do crisis apparitions manifest? There is a school of thought among psychologists that the dying person uses telepathy to appear to a loved one. They aren’t necessarily ghosts, but some part of their spirit is able to travel great distances in a matter of seconds.
If telepathy is the source of crisis apparitions, it could also account for why some people have dreams that come true. In another case, a woman was visited by her aunt in a dream. The aunt informed the woman that she had died and had come to say goodbye.
The woman began screaming in her dream and eventually woke herself up with her own screams. At the same time, the phone was ringing. When she picked it up, a family member informed her that her aunt had just died. The woman would have had no way of knowing this when she was sound asleep.
Famous Crisis Apparitions
A number of famous crisis apparition cases involving well-respected political figures and entertainers have been documented over the years. The stories are all uniquely different from one another, but have the same unnerving conclusion. Somehow, someway, the dead made contact with their loved ones.
Lord Henry Brougham
Lord Henry Brougham was an acclaimed British statesman who spearheaded the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. However, his crisis apparition story started many years earlier in college.
It was there that he and a friend discussed what happened after death. Although the two disagreed, they made a pact to appear to each other when they died if there was indeed life after death.
Decades later, Lord Brougham was taking a bath when he saw a man sitting in a nearby chair. It was an older version of his old college friend. Lord Brougham apparently fainted at the unexpected sight.
Lord Brougham thought he had imagined the encounter, but discovered years later that his friend had died the same night he saw him in the bathroom. The friend had made good on his promise.
Mary Todd Lincoln
On February 20th, 1862, 12-year-old Willie Lincoln died at the White House from typhoid fever. The Lincolns were overcome with grief, and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln began holding seances at the White House to make contact with Willie. Mrs. Lincoln told friends that afterward, Willie’s ghost would appear at the foot of her bed with a frozen smile on his face.
Although Willie’s ghost appeared after his death, Mary Todd Lincoln did have a true crisis apparition encounter two years later. Hours before attending a play at Ford’s Theatre, Mrs. Lincoln saw the apparition of her husband. That evening, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln himself had also had premonitions of his death.
Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon
On June 22nd, 1893, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon made a fatal error in judgment. While sailing off the coast of Syria, he ordered that his ship, the Victoria, and another ship, the Camperdown, sail inward.
The crew knew this would lead to the ships colliding, but Tryon was so formidable that no one disobeyed his orders. Inevitably, the two ships struck each other and sank. As the Victoria went down with its 400 crew members, Tryon said of his folly, “It is eternally my fault.”
At the same time, Lady Tryon was entertaining 100 guests at her home. She was perplexed when guests told her that Sir Tryon was there. In fact, he was in his full Navy regalia.
She told the guests it was impossible because he was in the Mediterranean. It took until the following day for Lady Tryon to understand the strange phenomenon that had occurred at her soiree.
Billie Holiday
The iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday had a crisis apparition experience involving her mother. In her memoir, Holiday wrote that she was sitting on a hotel room bed with her boyfriend when she was overcome with a terrible feeling.
Holiday wrote, “I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits, but I believe what happened that night…We were just sitting there when suddenly I felt my mother come up behind me and put her hand on my shoulders. And I knew she was dead. I turned to Joe. ‘Mama just left and she’s dead,’ I told him.”
Joe didn’t believe Holiday, but the next morning, she was given the news that her mother had died. Holiday’s mother was only 38 and had not been sick. Her mother had given birth to her when she was only 13, and the two were extremely close. Perhaps their unbreakable bond caused Holiday’s premonition?
Lingering Between Worlds
While we may never fully understand the science behind crisis apparitions, their importance cannot be overstated. They offer closure to grieving loved ones and give hope that there is something remarkable on the other side of the veil.
https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-stories/mystery-and-lore/crisis-apparitions-and-the-moments-that-defy-explanation/