The following case (L. 1193, Journal, Vol. XV., p. 342) connected with the loss of the Titanic was sent to us by Miss Alice L. Head, an Associate of the Society, who requested that, in printing it, the names and addresses of the persons concerned, except her own, should be omitted. Pseudonyms have therefore been substituted. The experience seems to have been a " vision " somewhat resembling that of Miss Paterson (L. 1207, see above, p. 243).
Miss Head wrote :
(L. 1193.)
26, LEINSTER SQUARE, BAYSWATER, W.,
July 4, 1912.
I have lately heard of a well authenticated case of telepathy.
A friend who is at present living with us, Miss Margaret Simpson, lost her brother in the wreck of the Titanic. This brother had had for some time past a post on board one of the other vessels of the White Star line, but he had been compelled to resign it on account of illness.
Just before the Titanic sailed he had the offer of a similar post on board the fated ship, which he accepted at the last moment. The fact of his having done so was known to Miss Margaret Simpson, but not to a married sister, Mrs. Henderson, who lives in Vancouver.
On April 19 [1912] Mrs. Henderson wrote in a letter to Miss Emma Simpson (another sister living at Clifton) the following account :
"I was busy in the afternoon after lunch on Tuesday, April 16, and I saw Bessie and Nina crying and clinging to one another. I seemed to be in a kind of dream and yet I was wide awake and had not even been thinking of them."
Bessie and Nina are the wife and child of Mr. Simpson who was drowned.
In reply to questions by Miss Margaret Simpson, Mrs. Henderson wrote again on June 13 :
"You asked me about seeing Bessie and Nina; I was alone in the house, and they seemed to appear to me in a sort of mist ; I could not see their faces. Had I been thinking of them at the time, I could understand it, but I was busy after lunch.
I did not know anything about Willie's illness then, or that he was on the Titanic, but I had no doubt that it was Bessie and Nina that I saw. I told Cissy and Daisy about it that evening (April 16th, 1912)."
I have myself seen the letters from which these extracts are copied.
The news of the wreck, which took place on [the night of April 14-15, 1912], was known in England on Tuesday 16th, and also in Vancouver.
ALICE L. HEAD.
To this account the signature of Miss Margaret Simpson was added in corroboration.
From the account given it seems probable that at the time of her vision Mrs. Henderson had just heard of the wreck of the Titanic, as the news of it reached Vancouver that day. But she did not know her brother was on board, and therefore had no reason to associate his wife and daughter with the loss.
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