"Francis Lightfoot Eddy was Orderly Sergeant of Company G, 5th Vermont Volunteers, in the late war. He contracted a heavy cold in the army that soon ran into quick consumption, and the poor fellow came home to die. He lay sick three months, but three days before the end approached, he wrote in the family Bible, the exact day and hour of his death. A fortnight previous to this, the family heard a wagon drive up to the front door, one evening, the latch lifted and the button turned, and they saw two soldiers bring in a coffin and place it in the entry, and then retire and drive off without saying a word. On the coffin was a plate with a name upon it, which not being able to read in the obscurity, they went for a candle; but upon its being brought, the coffin had vanished like its mysterious bearers. When Francis died they sent to Rutland by a neighbor for his coffin, and when that was brought, it was the counterpart of its spectral double, to the very plate and nails.

    Francis also dictated the style of his tombstone and wished it to bear the inscription, "passed into the world of spirits," instead of the usual formula, "died." He also wanted a flag carved on the stone, surmounted by the legend; "Freedom at last." But old Mr. Eddy was bound to have his own way in this as in everything else, and set up a stone to suit himself. This enraged the boy's spirit so much that he came back in materialized and unmaterialized form, and annoyed them until they replaced the obnoxious marble with one according with his dying request."

    - excerpt from People from the Other World (1875) by Henry S. Olcott | (pages 95 & 96)