Death / Near Death / Revival

William Graham's Resuscitation from Apparent Death

Published October 12, 2026 at 6:35 AM

1890s · 1898
Santa Monica, California

Contributed by

Millennial Star Research

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William Graham, a young man living in the southern part of Santa Monica, California, had been ill for months and apparently died. His friends and wife gathered around his body, and an undertaker was summoned. His wife, overcome with grief, rushed back to the room and threw herself upon his body, calling to him in agony. A tremor was observed, she rubbed his face and limbs, and within an hour he had recovered sufficiently to speak. Witnesses in the room confirmed he had been dead, and Graham himself reported having left his body and journeyed to a beautiful land.

In Their Own Words

“A young man, William Graham; living in the southern part of Santa Monica, Cal., apparently died of consumption. He had been ill for months, and at last expired in the presence of many friends and his weeping wife. An undertaker was called to prepare the body for its last resting place and the widow run fled away from the room in agony and grief. Soon, however, she tore herself from her friends, and rushed back into the death chamber. Here she threw herself on the corpse and called in a voice full of agony to her loved one. There was a slight tremor in the body. The watchers noticed it and so did Mrs. Graham. She rubbed the face and limbs and within an hour the man had recovered sufficiently to speak. The paper states that there were in the room three doctors who declared that the man was dead, and William Graham himself says that he went out of life and journeyed into another country; one that was far more beautiful than this. — Millennial Star 60:7”

Sources & References

The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 17 February 1898 (Vol. 60, No. 7). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1898-02-17_60_7 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high)

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