VOICE FROM UNKNOWN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20538, 12 April 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

VOICE FROM UNKNOWN.

WARNINGS OF TRAGEDY.

STRANGE PREMONITIONS.

AIR COMMODORE'S STORY.

Few will suspect Air-Commodore Samson Dare-devil " Samson, the dashing air and armoured car leader, on whose head the Germans placed a huge price—of being psychic or dabbling in spook-lore. Yet here, from the Commodore's own pen, says a London newspaper, is the startling confession of his belief in the warnings of portending evil which, in his belief, are flashed from the spirit world, and some striking examples, of what followed the ignoring of what is loosely termed premonition.

Air-Commodore Samson writesWe have heard a great deal lately of psychic mediums whose claims to communicate with " controls " :in the spirit world have not always been substantiated. Theic has been heated argument among scientific observers concerning the phenomena produced, but as yet little attention has been paid to another and more interesting avenue —the cause!! of which may be Called the " premonition of evil. It cannot be doubted that thoic aie almost daily instances of this mysterious power which are put down to coincidence, yet that is an explanation which in 110 . way covers the fat'ts. I should think that I 6m one of. the most unpsychic persons in the world, vet 1 have ; known many, cases where neither I nor anyone else could account for warnings which appear to conic, direct from the .other, side. Some years ago I was in command of the Royal Naval Flying School at Eastchurch." I had been home for a week-end, and one of my officers, a paymaster-lieu-tenant, called in for breakfast before wo returned together by train. On the jomney he was so silent that I asked him tho reason. An Impending Tragedy. " I've got a premonition," he replied. " Something pretty awful is going to happen. Don't ask mo how or why—l - just know!" I did not press the officer further, since at that very moment 1 was experiencing the iiame feelings! Some inner voice was warning me—" Do not fly to-day!" and do what I could I was unable tr> escape a feeling of impending doom. Yet I realised that it was out of the question to allow that creeping terror to dominate me, and immediately we arrived at the Fljing School I ordered out a machine. As I taxied off 1 wondered whether I should ever return alive, and for ten minutes every nerve was strained for a false note in the engine or the twang of an important wire, the breaking of which might send the machine spinning earthwards. Yet nothinng happened. 1 landed* only to meet a white-faced sailor, who rushed up to say that the paymasterlieutenant had been killed. In the centre of a little crowd 1 found the poor fellow, who had been standing in front of an aeroplane, and had been caught in the piopeller as it started off. " Don't leave me, o'id man—don't let go!" he muttered, as I knelt beside him and gripped his hand. 'lJie pilot of the machine was standing beside us with tha tears rolling down his face, for. the lieutenant was one of the most popular men on the station.

The Commander's Dilemma. ' 'Within an hour (lie lidutenant was dead, and I was left,.wontkring-\rhnt could have been the .cause of that premonition which had been fulfilled -in so ghastly a nionnei. Possibly from fear at--being.;:ridiculed-1 mentioned inv premonition to no one, bub within a fortnight it returned mora strongiv than before. This "time it 'was so strong that I ac. tually considered the issue of orders, cancelling all flying practice for that day* Then I realised that this would be impossible. It would create a sort of mental precedent involving an inferiority complex, and each time the feeling returned I should feel a stronger inclination to givf way before the unuttered warning-. Thus it was that routine went on ai usual, aud no one of my officers or men knew'.of that secret fear which lurked be. hind an impassive exterior. That dccisioa_ proved fatal. Throughout the morning I had been on tenterhooks, 'expecting each moment to hear of an accident, but it w,is not till the afternoon that it- actually occurred. The same pilot who had been concerned in the previous fatality spun to the groundfrom a height of 2000ft.,-and once again mv mysterious premonition of evil .proved true. The Mysterious Guide. ' It is possible that these two incidents were purely fortuitous, the result of coincidence, and they may have worked on-rov mind to such an extent that I went about "looking for trouble." , .. .. ... But it is curious that only a short tuna later the inexplicable feeling returned it third time., heralding the-death of one of mv men who was also killed, by a pro? peller. It was then that I promised myself to stop all flying tor the day c 'VJ r these premonitions occurred again. Oddly enough, they never did, at least not until 1 was in the operations at the Dardanelles. One morning it appeared liko magic out of a blue skv r accompanied by the thunder of big guns. There was no reason for it, but. I would 1 have sworn on oatli that some terrible e\u was about tn befall me or one of niy friends. This time it was poor Collett, one of my old Eastchurch pilots, who went up on reconnaissance and crashed to his death before our eyes on the edge of tho aerodronle. . Possibly airmen arc gifted with sonio extra sense denied to others, for within my own knowledge there have been several cases where pilots have admitted io a premonition of disaster, let 1 have ncyei known an instance where, on account pt that, they have made the slightest effotu to escape duties which they felt might involve their deaths.

It- may be that the dangers they run key their nerves up to a pitch so" receptive that they receive' " messages " to' which the ordinary man remains deaf: hut there is also the problem which faced iiio 4 as, time after time, these premonitions proved true. " Influence " Occurs Once More. Ought I to have stopped al! flying, and-, should I thus have saved valuable lives, for the country ? In poor Collet!'s caso, that was impossible, since we were on active service: but in the case of Iho others, pel haps that little interval of time might have Served to allow the-danger period to pass. For some years 1 was free from t«>>* " influence," yet not long ago it occurred ; once more, when I was in command of a the lighting squad) ons whose headquartcis were at Kenl.'v Aerodrome. 1 had been in London when assailed bv that black depression, and as L motored back I decided this time to obey the warn-, ing. Alas! it was 100 late. V\ hen arnung at°tho aerodrome 1 saw one of my pilots dive vertically to earth within a few hum died yards of my carl _ To Scotsmen the word " fey " is_ full ot. meaning, and to my mind there is little doubt that many ordinary people are susceptible to messages which, often thiougi fear of ridicule, they ignore or keep silent about. Perhaps v.ithin a few years psychic i>> search will bring ns enlightenment on tins point; but. meantime 1 shall take no fuitlier chantos if and when that to, ' ri . , feeling of foreboding returns. I shall mediately take steps tu warn niv- friends_ of their peril. :