On this day in 1952 James P. Longworth of Middlesboro, Kentucky, was awaiting his death the next day.
The 69-year-old man told reporters that his death had been revealed to him in a vision in 1949, right down to its time and date: 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 28th, 1952. This vision had come to him during his two- hour daily walk into the mountains for prayer and reflection.
Mr. Longworth reported that the time he spent in the hills praying was “the most wonderful experience I have ever had and I am now ready to die.”
He had made his funeral arrangements, engaged three ministers to preach at his funeral and selected his pallbearers.
On the appointed day and time Longworth took to his bed to await his fate, accompanied by reporters and photographers who were planning to record the event, along with those three preachers, the pallbearers and his family and friends, as well as around 5,000 others who visited his home from Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois for the vigil.
7 a.m. passed, but James P. Longworth did not. Instead, at about 10 minutes after 7 he sat bolt upright in his bed and shouted:
“I see Heaven, it’s beautiful over there!”
Later that morning, he attempted to get up out of bed but fell down and announced that the lower part of his body was paralyzed, and again stated that he would die before the day was done.
Finally, after 24 hours of waiting, James Longworth got out of bed, announcing:
“Well, I guess God changed His mind.”
It turns out that people from around the country were very interested in Longworth’s story, and his show of faith, with the Cawood Funeral Home reporting having received 1,000 calls from all over America.
Mr. Longworth told those in attendance that God had decided to keep him on earth for a purpose. He went on to live another 14 years, dying in a convalescing center in Monroe, Michigan, on September 16th, 1966, at the age of 83.
