1845
THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR
by Edgar Allan Poe
OF course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for
wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited
discussion. It would have been a miracle had it not-especially under
the circumstances. Through the desire of all parties concerned, to
keep the affair from the public, at least for the present, or until we
had farther opportunities for investigation --through our endeavors to
effect this --a garbled or exaggerated account made its way into
society, and became the source of many unpleasant
misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great deal of disbelief.
It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts --as far as I
comprehend them myself. They are, succinctly, these:
My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn to
the subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago it occurred to
me, quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto,
there had been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission: --no
person had as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to
be seen, first, whether, in such condition, there existed in the
patient any susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly,
whether, if any existed, it was impaired or increased by the
condition; thirdly, to what extent, or for how long a period, the
encroachments of Death might be arrested by the process.
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