On the front page of the San Jose Herald, Volume XXXII, Number 13, 17 July 1882, which you can read here, we have a newspaper article entitled "The Process of Death." It was very widely reported in the nineteenth century that people being hypnotized would develop clairvoyance, and that is part of the account (the reference to "mesmerism" is a reference to hypnotism). We read this:
"A complete description of the spirit's departure from the body was recently given by Kyra Carpenter in a letter to Mr. Joseph Baker. She was treated by mesmerism for epileptic fits, and soon became a good clairvoyant, and eventually a seer of spirits.
'My mother and I had often talked of death and immortality. She frequently magnetized [hypnotized] me when she was in health, and I was in the clairvoyant state, by her assistance, when the spiritual sight was first given me. By your assistance (Baker's) I acquired the power of putting myself in that state without the assistance of an operator [hypnotist]. She had often requested that I would, at the time of her decease, put myself in that state, and carefully notice the departure of the spirit from the body. Her failing health admonished her that her end for this life was near, but she viewed it with calmness, for her thoughts were full of the life to come, and hopes placed on he Father in Heaven. Death had no terrors for her. When she felt its approach she sent for me, as I was absent attending an invalid. I came and remained constantly with her until she left us for a better home. Her last words were addressed to me. Perceiving that she was dying, I seated myself in the room, and was soon in a state of spiritual clairvoyance.
With the opening of the inner sight the painful scene of mother’s death was changed to a vision of glory -- beautiful, angelic spirits present, watching over her. Their faces were like transparent snow. I could feel them as material, and yet they communicated a sensation I can only describe by saying it seemed like compressed air. Some of these heavenly attendants stood at her head and some at her feet, while others seemed to he hovering over her form. They seemed so pure, so full of love, that it was sweet to look at them as they watched the change now taking place in my mother.
I now turned my attention more directly to my mother, and saw the external sense leave her. First, the power of sight departed, and then a veil seemed to drop over the eyes; then the hearing, and next the sense of feeling. The spirit began to leave the limbs, and they died first, and the light that filled each part, in every fiber, drew up toward the chest. As fast as this took place the veil seemed to drop over the part from whence the spiritual life was removed. A ball of light was now gathering just above her head, and this connected with the body. The light left the brain last, and then the silver cord was loosed. The luminous appearance soon began to assume the human form, and I could see my mother again! But oh, how changed! She was light and glorious, arrayed in robes of dazzling whiteness, free from disease, pain and death. She seemed to be welcomed by the attending spirits with the joy of a mother over the birth of a child. She paid no attention to me, or any earthly object, but joined her companions, and they seemed to go away through the air. I attempted to follow them in the spirit, for I felt strongly attracted and longed to go with my mother. I saw them ascend, till they seemed to pass through an open space, when a mist came over my sight and I saw them no more.”
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