Transient absorption spectra of cis-stilbene in solution, recorded in the range 275-690 nm with 80 fs instrument response, reveal two successive evolving bands. One at 630 nm decays on a subpicosecond scale; it corresponds to vertically-excited nearly planar S-1 state. The other, growing and decaying band at 340 nm, is shown to be consistent with theoretically predicted phantom state p* of perpendicular molecular geometry. The lifetime of p* is determined to be tau(p*) = 0.4 ps in acetonitrile and 0.3 ps in hexane. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.