Émilie Sagée

The story takes place in 1845 in the “Pensionnat of Neuwelcke”, an institution, under the superintendence of Moravian directors. There were in that year 42 young ladies, chiefly daughters of noble Livonian families; among them Mademoiselle Julie, second daughter of the Baron de Güldenstubbe, then thirteen years of age, who tells the story.

A new French teacher was hired that year, Mademoiselle Émilie Sagée, a 32 years old French lady, from Dijon. She was of the Northern type, — a blonde, with very fair complexion, light-blue eyes, chestnut hair, slightly above the middle size, and of slender figure. In character she was amiable, quiet, and good tempered; but of an anxious disposition, and somewhat nervously excitable.

A few weeks after she first arrived, the first rumors appeared, one student might have seen her in one place while another had met her elsewhere. One day the governess was giving a lesson to a class of 13 students, including Julie de Güldenstubbe. While she was writing on a blackboard, the young ladies suddenly saw two Mademoiselle Sagée, the one by the side of the other. They were exactly alike; and they used the same gestures, only that the real person held a bit of chalk in her hand, and did actually write, while the double had no chalk; and only imitated the motion. Soon after, one of the pupils, a Mademoiselle Antonie de Wrangel, was helped by Mademoiselle Sagée. The young lady, happening to turn round and to look in an adjacent mirror, perceived two Mademoiselle Sagée hooking her dress.

Over the months, similar phenomena were still repeated. The double sometimes imitating the original exactly, and sometimes not. The most remarkable phenomenon occurred one day when the 42 students were assembled in the same room, engaged in embroidery in a spacious hall on the first floor of the principal building. Through the windows, the young ladies had noticed Mademoiselle Sagée in the garden, gathering flowers, of which she was very fond. In the room, sat another teacher, in charge of the pupils. After a time this lady had occasion to leave the room, and her arm-chair was left vacant. It remained so, however, for a short time only; for of a sudden there appeared seated in it the figure of Mademoiselle Sagée. The young ladies immediately looked into the garden and there she still was, engaged as before ; only they remarked that she moved very slowly and languidly, as a drowsy or exhausted person might. Again they looked at the arm-chair, and there she sat, silent, and without motion. The students had become used to this, in a way, and two of the boldest students decided to get up and attempt to touch the apparition. They averred that they did feel a slight resistance, which they likened to that which a fabric of fine muslin or crape would offer to the touch. One of the two then passed close in front of the arm-chair, and actually through a portion of the figure. The apparition did not respond to this, or change position. At last, it gradually disappeared and then it was observed that Mademoiselle Sagée resumed, with all her usual activity, her task of flower-gathering.

This phenomenon continued throughout the whole time that Mademoiselle Sagee retained her position at Neuwelckej between 1845 and 1846. Eventually, parents began to worry about the strange events that their children told them. After 18 months, only 12 of the 42 students were left. Due to this, Sagee was asked to resign from her position. Upon being asked to do so, it is said that Sagee responded by saying in the presence of Julie de Güldenstubbe: "Ah! the nineteenth time! It is very, very hard to bear!" When asked what she meant by such an exclamation, she confessed that previous to her engagement at Neuwelcke she had been teacher in eighteen different schools, having entered the first when only 16 years of age.

After she left Neuwelcke, she went to live with a sister-in-law, who had several quiet young children. Mademoiselle de Güldenstubbe, going to see her there, learned that the children, all around three or four years of age, all knew of it; being in the habit of saying that "they saw two Aunt Emilies." Subsequently, she set out for the interior of Russia, and Mademoiselle de Güldenstubbe lost sight of her entirely.[1]

This amazing story was first published in 1860 by Robert Dale Owen in his book Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World. He claims to hold it from the direct testimony of Julie de Güldenstubbe who authorized him to mention her name and all those of the persons concerned. In 1883, the magazine Light, A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research published a text which it presents as the complete report of the testimony from what «an abridged version of this narrative was given by the Hon. Robert Dale Owen» in his book.[2] It is actually exactly the same text, word for word. The text is not signed, but Alexander Aksakov nevertheless presents it as a complement provided by Baroness Julie de Güldenstubbe herself.[3]

Camille Flammarion is interested in this case which fits perfectly within the framework of her research.[4] He write that in 1862 he met Julie de Güldenstubbe (1827–1888) and her brother Baron Johann Ludwig von Güldenstubbe (1818-1873), who were very active in the Parisian spiritualist circles.[5] Flammarion described them as "very sincere, perhaps a little mystical but unquestionably loyal". He notes that the Baron wrote a curious book on spirits (The Reality of Spirits and the Wonderful Phenomenon of Their Direct Writing[6]).

Flammarion understands that the whole story is based on the unique testimony of Julie de Güldenstubbe, whose her noble title of baroness cannot prevent her from having an overexcited imagination and who lives in a family acquired by theories of the supernatural. the description of the baroness in the Daily News in 1859 reveals her to be quite exalted indeed: «very clever and amiable, but the most weird, unearthly, elfin-looking little creature imaginable.»[7]

• In 1977, The Fetch, an episode of the British series Leap in the Dark was devoted to the story of Émilie Sagée, interpreted by Juliet Harmer (episode 2, saison 3)
• El Pensionado de Neuwelke is a Spanish novel written by José C. Vales in 2013 about Émilie Sagée

• Robert Dale Owen (1860). Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World. New York: J.B. Lippincott & Company. pp. 348–358.
• "Habitual apparition of a living person" (PDF). Light, A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research. 2: 366–368. August 18, 1883.
• Alexander Aksakov (1906). Animisme et spiritisme : essai d'un examen critique des phénomènes médiumniques, spécialement en rapport avec les hypothèses de la "force nerveuse", de l'"hallucination" et de l'"inconscient" (in French). Paris: Paul Leymarie. pp. 498–503.
• Camille Flammarion (1921). La Mort et son mystère : Autour de la mort (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Ernest Flammarion.

• Painting representing the Pensionnat of Neuwelcke in the 19th century