My mother’s family in Bahrampur was particularly close with them. The gentleman probably worked in the jail department. He was quite given to fine things, and his wife was also a good homemaker. Everyone used to praise not only her cooking and social graces, but the woman’s aesthetic sense as well. She would keep the house decorated like a picture. There was a deep bond of love between the husband and wife. Suddenly, after suffering a short period of illness, the woman passed away. A few months after the first wife’s death the gentleman married a second time. It was not possible to compare the virtues of the second wife with those of the first. Besides, regardless of what she may have been like at heart, there was no sweetness in her behaviour. Even though the man did not express anything verbally, it used to be perfectly apparent that he was experiencing inner turmoil.

A short while after the second marriage, disturbances of many types began to occur in the house. Out of constant fear the man and his wife remained extremely tense. The presence of a third individual was perpetually apparent, but it would never appear directly, face to face.

Once the wife awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of him moaning. She found her husband lying flat in an unconscious condition, drooling. When he became well thanks to much nursing and doctors’ assistance, he made known what had happened that night. While he had been lying on his back, much to his dread he suddenly saw his first wife slowly advancing toward him. Due to extreme fear he lost his power of speech. Next his first wife sat on his chest and grabbed him by the throat. What happened afterwards he could describe no further.

A few days after this, the gentleman had a photograph taken with his second wife. In fact it was one of my own relatives who took the photo. In the end though the picture was never given to him. The reason for this was that in the photo, it came to be seen that a third face seemed to have come up and peeped just between the gentleman and his wife. And the face was that of his first wife.

[Author’s explanation:] Dhanátmaka bhránti o cittáńavika srśt́i [Literally, “Positive hallucination and the creation of an ectoplasmic structure”]