Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/127

Rh forgetfulness has seriously vitiated the results. After a careful estimate of all the circumstances the committee came to the conclusion that to arrive at the actual number of hallucinations experienced by the persons questioned, the numbers given should be multiplied by at least 4, and possibly more.

If we include only recognised and realistic apparitions of the human figure, and subtract all doubtful cases, all cases occurring before the age of ten, and all cases where the percipient had more than one similar experience, we find that we have 322 cases to deal with. Multiplied by 4, these amount to 1288, or in round numbers 1300. But of the 322 we find 62 coincided with a death—i. e., occurred within twelve hours, on one side or the other, of the death of the person represented. Now of the 62 death coincidences, 11 are reported as occurring in the previous ten years, and 51 before that date. So far from being forgotten, the hallucinations coinciding with death appear to be remembered too well. It is clear that as the experience recedes into the past the closeness of the coincidence is apt to be magnified, or the narrative in some other way unconsciously improved. After