Behind the Mystery.

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 53

Behind the Mystery.

" So-called warnings can always be traced to natural causes," sa| d a doctor to th» writer. " But there is something so impressive about an unusual happening at a death bed or on a solemn occasion that the reason foe it is seldom sought. " I was once called to see a man die, and as I stood with his family at his bed there came three distinct raps from the back of a large mirror in the room, and instantly it was shivered to fragments. Naturally we were all startled. There is supposed to be soma special significance in three raps, and the breaking of the mirror is popularly believed to mean sorrow to its possessor. "The family at ouce accepted the event as a sure indication of death, and ie added poignancy to their grief, although they knew before that the case was hopeless. " The next day, when all was over, I waa alone in the room. A white cloth covered the broken mirror ; bat on looking at the back of it I found that the point of a large nail which had been driven in the wall of the next; room had penetrated through and cracked the glass. So the message of the three mysterious raps was accounted for by purely human agency."