This story was documented in the Reader's Digest book, Strange Phenomena, and was considered one of the strangest true stories in the book.
This story was written by the famous Dr. Weir Mitchell, who was one of the most important neurosurgeons in the American state of Philadelphia in the late nineteenth century. The details of the story were written by Dr. Mitchell in his memoirs before appearing in the book, and they are as follows:
“One day I returned from work exhausted, and the weather outside was raining and very cold, so I sat in a chair in front of the fire and fell asleep. After a few moments, I suddenly woke up to the sound of the doorbell. When I opened it to the knocker, I found a young girl shivering from the cold, wrapped in a semi-scarf. Torn, and the little girl begged me to go with her immediately because her mother was very sick and in dire need of a doctor. Despite my extreme fatigue, I responded to the child’s desire and my compassion for her, and went with her to her home.
There I found a sick woman. It turned out to me that she had previously worked as a maid in my house. After I examined her, I learned that she was suffering from a severe chest flu, so I gave her the medicine she desperately needed. When her health crisis calmed down a little, I looked around to reassure the little girl, but I did not find her. I returned to the mother and congratulated her on the courage of her little daughter who ran out at night, in this rainy weather, to bring the doctor to her mother. She looked at the mother in surprise and said:
“My daughter died one month ago, and you will find her shawl and shoes in the closet here.” And when I opened the closet, I actually found the shawl that the child was wearing, and it was dry, which means it is impossible for anyone to have worn it outside the house on that rainy night.”
Doctor Mitchell searched for a long time for the girl who had come to him for help, but he found no trace of her after that.