{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_44625/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_44625","id":"gutenberg_44625","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44625","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Ghosts"],"text":"Note: Images of the original pages are available through\n Internet Archive/American Libraries. See\n https://archive.org/details/trueghoststories00carr\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\n\n\n\n\nTRUE GHOST STORIES\n\nby\n\nHEREWARD CARRINGTON\n\nAuthor of \"The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism,\" \"The Coming\nScience,\" \"Death: its Causes and Phenomena,\"\n\"Death Deferred,\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNew York\nThe J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company\n57 Rose Street\n\nCopyright, 1915, by\nJ. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company\n\n\n\n\n _To_\n MY DEAR FRIENDS\n THE MARSHALLS\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 7\n PREFACE 9\n\n CHAPTER I\n What is a Ghost? 13\n The Terror of the Dark 14\n What is a Ghost? 18\n Historic Investigations 20\n Death Coincidences 21\n Are They Due to Chance? 24\n The Explanation 26\n Experimental Apparitions 27\n Telepathic Hallucinations 32\n Ghosts Which Move Material Objects 37\n Photographs of Ghosts 38\n The \"Double\" and the Spiritual Body 40\n What Happens at the Moment of Death 43\n How the Soul May Leave the Body 47\n Theories of Haunted Houses 51\n The Ghosts of Animals 53\n The Clothes of Ghosts 55\n Telepathy from the Dead 57\n The Psychic Atmosphere 59\n Forms Created by Will 60\n Physical Manifestations 62\n Can Haunted Houses be \"Cured\"? 63\n\n CHAPTER II\n Phantasms of the Dead--I 65\n A Russian Ghost 65\n Grasped by a Spirit Hand 71\n \"I Am Shot!\" 74\n \"Heave the Lead!\" 75\n The Rescue at Sea 78\n How Ghosts Influence Us 86\n How a Ghost Warned the King 90\n The Stains of Blood 93\n Face to Face 96\n \"Julia, Darling!\" 98\n The Cut Across the Cheek 99\n The Invisible Hand 100\n The Apparition of the Radiant Boy 104\n Fisher's Ghost 106\n Harriet Hosmer's Vision 109\n The Apparition of the Murdered Boy 112\n The Ghost in Yellow Calico 116\n\n CHAPTER III\n More Phantasms of the Dead--II 120\n Compacts to Appear after Death 120\n Lord Brougham's Vision 122\n The Tyrone Ghost 125\n Dead or Alive! 128\n The Scratch on the Cheek 135\n A Ghost in Hampton Court 139\n Half-Past One O'clock 147\n My Own True Ghost Story 155\n\n CHAPTER IV\n Haunted Houses 163\n The Record of a Haunted House 165\n Proofs of Immateriality 168\n Conduct of Animals in the House 169\n B---- House 170\n Willington Mill 174\n The Great Amherst Mystery 176\n Brook House 186\n\n CHAPTER V\n Ghost Stories of a More Dramatic Nature 194\n Disease-Phantoms 194\n The Tale of a Mummy 198\n Face Slapped by a Ghost 204\n Alone with a Ghost in Church 207\n A Haunted House in France 210\n A Haunted House in Georgia 213\n Shaken by a Ghost 220\n The House and the Brain 221\n\n APPENDIX A\n Historical Ghosts 230\n\n APPENDIX B\n The Phantom Armies Seen in France 236\n\n APPENDIX C\n Bibliography 245\n\n\n\n\nPUBLISHER'S NOTE.\n\n\nHEREWARD CARRINGTON, author of \"True Ghost Stories,\" is well known\nin this country, and in Europe, as a prominent scientific writer on\npsychical and occult subjects. He has been a member of both the English\nand American Societies of Psychical Research for more than 15 years;\nhas written over a dozen books on the subject--a number of which has\nbeen translated into foreign languages (such as Japanese and Arabic),\nand he has lectured in London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, Genoa,\nTurin, etc.--before scientific organizations. His writings are well\nknown, and have earned him a high place in psychical circles. He's a\nlate member of the Council of the American Scientific Society, of the\nAmerican Geographical Society, and of the American Health League. He\ncollaborated in the \"American Encyclop\u00e6dia,\" \"The Standard Dictionary,\"\netc. His experience in the investigation of psychical mysteries is\nunrivalled. He has travelled all over the country investigating\n\"cases,\" spending nights in \"haunted houses,\" and accounts of his\ninvestigations have appeared in the Reports of the various Psychical\nSocieties, and also in his own publications.\n\nIn \"True Ghost Stories,\" Mr. Carrington presents a number of startling\ncases of this character; but they are not the ordinary \"ghost\nstories\"--based on pure fiction, and having no foundation in reality.\nHere we have a well-arranged collection of incidents, all thoroughly\ninvestigated and vouched for, and the testimony obtained first-hand and\ncorroborated by others. The chapter on \"Haunted Houses\" is particularly\nstriking. The first chapter deals with the interesting question, \"What\nis a Ghost?\" and attempts to answer this question in the light of the\nlatest scientific theories which have been advanced to explain these\nsupernatural happenings and visitants. It is a book of absorbing\ninterest, and cannot fail to grip and hold the attention of every\nreader--no matter whether he be a student of these questions, or one\nmerely in search of hair-raising anecdotes and stories. He will find\nthem here a-plenty!\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe following little book endeavors to bring together a number of\n\"ghost stories\" of the more startling and dramatic type,--but stories,\nnevertheless, which seem to be well authenticated; and which have\nbeen obtained, in most instances, at first hand, from the original\nwitnesses; and often contain corroborative testimony from others who\nalso experienced the ghostly phenomena. Some of these incidents,\nindeed, rise to the dignity of scientific evidence; others are less\nwell authenticated cases,--but interesting for all that. These have\nbeen grouped in various Chapters, according to their evidential value.\nChapters II. and III. contain well-evidenced cases, some of which have\nbeen taken from the _Proceedings_ and _Journals_ of the Society for\nPsychical Research (S. P. R.), or from _Phantasms of the Living_, or\nfrom other scientific books, in which narratives of this character\nreceive serious consideration. Chapter V., on the contrary, contains a\nnumber of incidents which,--striking and dramatic as they are,--cannot\nbe included in the two earlier Chapters, as presenting real evidence\nof Ghosts; but are published rather as startling and interesting ghost\n_stories_. Chapter IV., devoted to \"Haunted Houses,\" contains brief\naccounts of the most famous Haunted Houses, and of the phenomena which\nhave been witnessed within them. Appendix A gives a list of a few of\nthe important \"Historical Ghosts,\" Appendix B describes the \"Phantom\nArmies\" lately seen by the Allied troops in France--while Appendix C\nlists a number of books of Ghost Stories which the interested reader\nmay care to peruse. A short Glossary, at the beginning of the book,\nexplains the meaning of certain terms used,--which are not, perhaps,\nordinarily met with in books of this character.\n\nIn the Introductory Chapter, I have endeavored to explain, very\nbriefly, the nature and character of Ghosts; what they _are_; and the\nvarious scientific theories which have been brought forward, of late\nyears, to explain Ghosts. I hope that this may prove of interest to the\nreader; in case it does not do so, he is invited to \"skip\" directly to\nChapter II., which begins our account of \"True Ghost Stories.\"\n\nI wish to express my thanks in this place to the Council of the English\nS. P. R. for special permission to quote and to summarize several\nstriking cases here reproduced; also to Miss Estelle Stead, for\npermission to utilize several cases previously printed at length in Mr.\nWm. T. Stead's collections of Ghost Stories.\n\n H. C.\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY OF TERMS USED\n\n\nAGENT--The person who, in thought-transference experiments, endeavors\nto impress his thoughts upon the \"percipient\" or \"receiver.\"\n\nDEATH-COINCIDENCE--A case in which an apparition or other ghostly\nphenomenon has taken place, at the moment of the death of the person\nrepresented by the phantom.\n\nGHOST--An apparition, a phantom. Some contend that all ghosts are\n\"subjective\" or purely mental (hallucinations); others that some\nghosts are \"objective\"--that is, space-occupying entities, which exist\napart from the seer, who sees them. These points will be found fully\ndiscussed in this book.\n\nHALLUCINATION--A mental experience, in which a phantom is seen, a voice\nheard, etc., when there is no real external cause for this seeing or\nhearing. Hallucinations are more complete than mere \"illusions.\"\n\nPACT--An agreement, entered into before death, between two persons,\nthat, whichever one dies first, shall appear to the other one. These\nare here called \"Pact Cases.\" [A Pact may also mean an agreement\nbetween a necromancer of some spirit-intelligence, as in Magic; but\nthe word is not used in that sense in this book.]\n\nPERCIPIENT--The receiver of the telepathic or other message. The one\nwho experiences the phenomenon.\n\nPHANTASM--A phantom; an apparition; a \"ghost.\" The word is more\ninclusive than any of the words suggested; and is used by preference,\nby most psychic students.\n\nTELEPATHY--Mind-reading; thought-transference.\n\n\n\n\nTRUE GHOST STORIES\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n\nWHAT IS A GHOST?\n\nGhosts have been believed in by every nation, at every time and at\nevery stage of the world's evolution. No matter where we may go, we\nfind them stalking through the pages of history;[1] and even in our own\ncynical and materialistic age, we not only find \"ghosts\" still; but\nthe evidence for their existence is stronger than ever! It is nonsense\nto say that \"no sensible person believes in ghosts,\" because many\nthousands of them _do_. Why do they believe? Would they believe if they\nhad no cause to do so?\n\n [1] See Appendix A.\n\nThe \"terror of the dark,\" which we all have more or less, from which\nevery child suffers (how intensely!) during its early years--a terror\nwhich is, to a certain extent, shared by animals and even insects--does\nall this signify nothing? Those who have looked into this question\nthoroughly, believe that there is, in every truth, a terrible reality\njustifying this instinctive fear; that evil and horrible things lurk\nabout us in the still, weird hours of the night; that there are truly\n\"powers and principalities\" with which we often toy, without knowing or\nrealizing the frightful dangers which result from this tampering with\nthe unseen world. Yes; there is a true \"tyranny of the dark.\" Phenomena\nand ghostly manifestations take place in darkness which would never\noccur in light; and which cease when a light is struck. All ghostly\nphenomena are associated with darkness, and the \"wee small hours of the\nnight.\"\n\nAll this is exemplified in the following interesting narrative, which I\nmay entitle:\n\n\nTHE TERROR OF THE DARK\n\n\"All my life I have been afraid of the dark,\" said an acquaintance to\nme the other day, when we were discussing psychical matters. \"I know\nthat it is childish,\" he continued, \"and I ought to have outgrown it\nyears ago; but, as a matter of fact, I haven't. After all, isn't there\nsome reason for the fears that we all feel, more or less, at that time?\nDoesn't the Bible speak of 'the terrors of the Dark;' and are not all\nanimals, and even insects, afraid of the dark--so much so that you\ncannot induce them to enter a dark place if they can help it? Light not\nonly enables you to see what is around you; but it acts in a certain\npositive manner over 'the powers of darkness,' whatever they are,\nand prevents their operation. All spirit mediums will tell you that\nmaterialization and manifestations of that character cannot take place\nin the light; it prevents their occurrence. So, after all, as I said,\nisn't there some reasonable ground for one's fear at such times?\"\n\nI said nothing; but gazed into the fire. After all, were not his\narguments somewhat impressive?\n\n\"But,\" continued my friend, \"it is not altogether because of these\nspeculative reasons that I fear the dark; it is because of a terrible\nexperience I once had, and which has left me terror-struck, ever since,\nwhenever I am left without light even for an instant. I will tell you\nthe story, and let you judge for yourself.\n\n\"It was several years ago; in an old house we rented at that time, and\nfrom which we removed soon after the event I am about to relate. I was\nafraid of the dark, even then, and always left a night-light burning by\nthe side of my bed when I went to sleep. One night I woke up, feeling\nthe springs of the bed on which I was lying vibrate in a peculiar\nmanner, impossible to describe.\n\n\"Looking up, I saw, standing by the side of my bed, a young man,\ndressed in rags, having a face ghastly white, and showing every\nindication of dissipation. He was regarding me intently.\n\n\"I shall never forget the shock I received on beholding that figure;\nnot only because of the unexpected appearance; but because of the fact\nthat I could perceive the opposite wall and furniture _through_ the\nbody. I knew at once that I beheld a spirit; and my blood ran cold at\nthe thought. What I had dreaded all my life was at last fulfilled!\n\n\"My next thought was 'I am so glad the night-light is burning. What\nshould I do if I were in darkness?' As though the form read my\nthoughts, and was intent on torturing me to the limit of endurance, it\nleaned over, and the next instant had snuffed the candle! The phantom\nand I were alone in the black darkness!\n\n\"Words cannot describe my feelings at that instant. The blood froze\nin my veins, and the tongue clave to the roof of my mouth. I tried to\nspeak, but could not. I only held out one hand as if to ward off the\nawful presence by pressing it away.\n\n\"The next instant I felt the bed-clothes gently turned down on the\nfurther side of the bed, and partly pulled off me. The springs of the\nbed were depressed, and I knew that the fearsome visitor was crawling\ninto bed! It would lie down by my side; perhaps touch me; perhaps--who\ncould tell? The agony of mind I experienced in those few moments I\nshall never forget! My only wonder is that my reason did not give way!\n\n\"Then a curious thing happened. Even in the state of mind, as I was\nthen, I could perceive that the bed was gradually rising up again into\nits normal position. The weight upon it was growing less and less.\nFinally, it was again level, and I felt the bed clothes carefully\nreplaced over me. The phantom had withdrawn!\n\n\"For hours I lay awake, not daring to move. After what seemed a\ncentury, the first faint shafts of light fell across the room,\nbetokening the welcome morn. Finally glorious day broke. Glorious\nlight! Hateful darkness! Cannot you see why I hate it so?\"\n\nBut, fortunately, this evil and horrible side of ghost-land is not\nuniversal.\n\nGhosts do not always present themselves as so formidable and gruesome!\nSome of them prove helpful; others seem to wish to right a wrong; some\neven seem to have a sense of humor! So there are all sorts of ghosts,\njust as there are all sorts of people; and the variety is just as great\nin the one case as in the other.\n\n\nWHAT IS A GHOST?\n\nBut, after all, what _is_ a ghost? What do we mean by this? Where do\nghosts live, and how? What do they do with themselves? How do they\nmanifest? Why do they return? These are some of the questions which the\naverage man asks himself--unless he totally disbelieves in them.\n\nMost men, it is true, disbelieve in ghosts--unless they have had some\nexperience to convince them to the contrary. Yet, after all, why should\nthey? As Mr. W. T. Stead once remarked:\n\n\"Real Ghost Stories! How can there be real ghost stories when there are\nno real ghosts?\n\n\"But are there no real ghosts? You may not have seen one, but it does\nnot follow that therefore they do not exist. How many of us have seen\nthe microbe that kills? There are at least as many persons who testify\nthat they have seen apparitions as there are men of science who have\nexamined the microbe. You and I, who have seen neither, must perforce\ntake the testimony of others. The evidence for the microbe may be\nconclusive, the evidence as to apparitions may be worthless; but in\nboth cases it is a case of testimony, not of personal experience.\"\n\nThe average conception of a Ghost is probably somewhat as follows:\nThat it is a thin, tall figure, wrapped in a sheet, walking about the\nhouse, clanking chains behind it, and scaring out of his wits anyone\nwho sees it. According to this view, a ghost would be as material\nand substantial a thing as a buzz-saw or a lap-dog, and exists just\nas fully \"in space.\" Such, however, is not the conception of the\nghost which modern science entertains. Many investigators who have\nexamined this question closely have come to the conclusion that\nghosts _do_ actually exist; but when we come to the more troublesome\nquestion: _What are they?_ we are met at once with difficulties and\ndisagreements. The recent scientific theories and explanations of the\nsubject are complex and subtle; and necessitate a certain preliminary\nknowledge on the part of the student in order for him to understand\nthem. I shall explain as briefly and clearly as possible exactly what\nthese theories are. For the moment, I wish to speak, first of all, of\nthe history of psychic investigation; and particularly that portion of\nit which deals with apparitions or \"ghost hunting.\"\n\n\nHISTORIC INVESTIGATIONS\n\nHere and there, serious investigators have always existed. In the\nsixteenth century Dr. Glanvil pursued this study with great genius\nand patience; Dr. Johnson also was a firm believer in the reality of\n\"ghosts\"; Sir Walter Scott and others of his time were investigators,\nthe famous Dr. Perrier wrote a treatise on apparitions, and similar\ninvestigations have been continued up to the present day. The first\norganized and systematic attempt to solve the problem, and to find\nout exactly _what ghosts are_, however, was made by the Society\nfor Psychical Research (S. P. R.) in 1882. Practically all the\ninvestigations which have been carried on since then have led to\nimportant results.\n\nSoon after the above mentioned Society was founded, and material began\nto be collected, it was found that many cases had to do with haunted\nhouses, many with apparitions, but the greater number of them hinged\naround the one point--the coincidence of apparitions with the death\nof the persons represented. An apparition of a certain person would\nbe seen in London, let us say; and some hours later a telegram would\narrive, conveying the news that this person had just been killed. When\nthe time was compared, it was found to agree exactly; the hour of the\ndeath and that of the apparition tallying to the minute.\n\nChance, you say? Perhaps so. _One_ case of this character might be\nexplained in such manner; but could _fifty_? Could a _hundred_? It\nbecame a question of statistics--of figures; these alone can answer our\nquestion.\n\nBefore considering these, however, let us give a few examples of cases\nof \"death-coincidences,\" so that the reader may see the character of\nthe evidence presented. He may then appreciate the value of a great\nmass of such evidence, when published _in extenso_.\n\n\nDEATH-COINCIDENCES\n\nThe first case we take is from M. Flammarion's book, _The Unknown_ (p.\n108), and is as follows:\n\n\"My mother ... who lived in Burgundy, heard one Tuesday, between nine\nand ten o'clock, the door of the bedroom open and close violently. At\nthe same time, she heard herself called twice--'Lucie, Lucie!' The\nfollowing Tuesday, she heard that her uncle Clementin, who had always\nhad a great affection for her, had died that Tuesday morning, precisely\nbetween nine and ten o'clock....\"\n\nIn the following instance, the notification is in visual, instead of\nauditory form, and is taken from the _Proceedings_, S. P. R., Vol. X.,\npp. 213-14:\n\n\"About the 14th of September, 1882, my sister and I felt worried\nand distressed by hearing the 'death watch'; it lasted a whole day\nand night. We got up earlier than usual the next morning, about six\no'clock, to finish some birthday presents for our mother. As my sister\nand I were working and talking together, I looked up, and saw our young\nacquaintance standing in front of me and looking at us. I turned to\nmy sister; she saw nothing. I looked again to where he stood; he had\nvanished. We agreed not to tell any one....\n\n\"Some time afterwards we heard that our young acquaintance had either\ncommitted suicide or had been killed; he was found dead in the woods,\ntwenty-four hours after landing. On looking back to my diary, I found\nthat the marks I made in it corresponded to the date of his death.\"\n\nThe following case is reported in Podmore's _Apparitions and Thought\nTransference_, p. 265:\n\n\"The first Thursday of April, 1881, while sitting at tea with my back\nto the window, and talking with my wife in the usual way, I plainly\nheard a rap at the window, and, looking round, I said to my wife,\n'Why, there's my grandmother,' and went to the door, but could not see\nanyone; and still feeling sure it was my grandmother, and, knowing\nthat, though eighty-three years of age, she was very active and fond of\na joke, I went round the house, but could not see anyone. My wife did\nnot hear it. On the following Saturday, I had news that my grandmother\ndied in Yorkshire about half an hour before the time I heard the\nrapping. The last time I saw her alive I promised, if well, I would\nattend her funeral; that was some two years before. I was in good\nhealth and had no trouble; age, twenty-six years. I did not know that\nmy grandmother was ill.\n\n \"REV. MATTHEW FROST.\"\n\n\nMrs. Frost writes:\n\n\"I beg to certify that I perfectly remember all the circumstances my\nhusband has named, but I heard and saw nothing myself.\"\n\nThe following case is from _Phantasms of the Living_, Vol. II., p. 50:\n\n\"On February 26th, 1850, I was awake, for I was to go to my\nsister-in-law, and visiting was then an event for me. About two o'clock\nin the morning my brother walked into our room (my sister's) and\nstood beside my bed. I called to her, 'Here is ----.' He was at the\ntime quartered at Paisley, and a mail-car from Belfast passed about\nthat hour not more than a mile from our village.... He looked down on\nus most lovingly, and kindly, and waved his hand, and he was gone! I\nrecollect it all as if it were only last night it occurred, and my\nfeeling of astonishment, not at his coming into the room at all, but\nwhere he could have gone. At that very hour he died.\"\n\nMr. Gurney writes:\n\n\"We have confirmed the date of death in the Army List, and find from a\nnewspaper notice that the death took place in the early morning, and\nwas extremely sudden.\"\n\nCases such as the above could be multiplied into the hundreds; but it\nis not necessary. For our present purposes, the above samples will at\nleast serve to show the character of these \"death-coincidences,\" and\nhow accurate and how numerous they often are.\n\n\nARE THEY DUE TO CHANCE?\n\nThe cases of \"death-coincidences\" came in so thick and so fast that,\nsome time after its foundation, the Society for Psychical Research\npublished an enormous book in two volumes, called \"Phantasms of\nthe Living,\" which contained some 702 cases of this character. The\npossibility of \"chance coincidence\" was very carefully worked out; and\nit was ascertained that the number of collected cases was many thousand\ntimes more numerous than chance alone could be supposed to account for.\nA \"connection\" of some sort was thought to be proved.\n\nBut objections at once began to be heard! \"In order to prove your point\nyou must collect a greater number of cases than this; you must get more\nfacts before we can consider your point proved!\"\n\nSo the investigators again set to work, and carried on a far more\nextensive investigation, in several countries, covering a period of\nseveral years. The results were the same. After collecting some 30,000\ncases, and calculating the number of death-coincidences contained in\nthis number, it was again proved, and most conclusively, that the\nnumber of coincidences was far more numerous than could be accounted\nfor by any theory of chance. Professor Sidgwick's Committee, therefore,\nsigned the following joint statement, at the conclusion of their\nlengthy Report:\n\n\"_Between deaths and apparitions of the dying person a connection\nexists which is not due to chance alone. This we hold as a proved\nfact...._\"\n\nThese are weighty words. They represent an important forward step in\nour investigation of these involved and complex questions. _Something_\ntakes place at death, which serves to unite, in some sort of spiritual\nbond, the dying and the still living relatives or friends. _What is_\nthis connection? In what may it be supposed to consist?\n\n\nTHE EXPLANATION\n\nFor an explanation, we must begin by going back to experimental\nthought-transference. We know that it is possible, under certain\nconditions, for one person to affect another, otherwise than through\nthe regular avenues of the five senses. This \"telepathic\" action\nbetween mind and mind is now pretty well known, and operates more or\nless throughout life. By means of this, it is occasionally possible for\none person to impress a scene or a picture upon the mind of another,\nso that the other shall see before him, as it were, in space, a vivid\nmental picture of the scene in the other's mind.\n\nThis being so, it seems plausible to suppose that it might be possible\nto convey the impression or picture of _one's self_ to another--since\nthis may be supposed to be the most precise and best-known picture we\nhave. Would it not be possible to think of one's own appearance so\nintensely as to cause a mental representation of it to appear before\nanother person, distant some miles away?\n\nApparently this _has_ been done, many times. \"Experimental apparitions\"\nof this character have frequently been _induced_; accounts of a few of\nwhich will be found in this volume. The picture is mental, in such a\ncase; it is an imaginative creation; it is a hallucination,--although\nit was caused or created by another, distant mind. It was, it is true,\na hallucination; but as it was induced by telepathy, we have for such\napparitions the name of \"telepathic hallucinations.\" It is this theory\nof \"telepathic hallucinations\" which is invoked to explain many of\nthese cases of death-coincidences, or apparitions of the dying.\n\n\nEXPERIMENTAL APPARITIONS\n\nThe following types of \"experimental apparitions\" are good examples of\nthe ability to induce a phantasmal form at a distance by \"willing\" to\ndo so. As to the nature of this figure: there is as yet no unanimity\nof opinion--some authorities preferring to believe that such cases\nrepresent merely an extension of the power of thought-transference,\nknown to us; others, on the contrary, contending that such cases prove\nthe existence and travelling powers of the \"astral\" or \"spiritual\nbody.\" Of this, however, more later.\n\nHere is a case of this nature, experienced by the English investigator,\nthe Rev. William Stainton Moses, who corroborates the following\naccount, which is furnished by the agent:--\n\n\"One evening I resolved to appear to Z., at some miles' distance. I did\nnot inform him beforehand of the intended experiment, but retired to\nrest shortly before midnight, my thoughts intently fixed on Z., with\nwhose rooms and surroundings I was quite unacquainted. I soon fell\nasleep, and woke next morning unconscious of anything having taken\nplace. On seeing Z. a few days afterwards, I inquired: 'Did anything\nhappen at your rooms on Saturday night?' 'Yes,' he replied, 'a great\ndeal happened. I had been sitting over the fire with M., smoking and\nchatting. About 12:30 he rose to leave, and I let him out myself. I\nreturned to the fire to finish my pipe, when I saw you sitting in the\nchair just vacated by him. I looked intently at you, and then took up\na newspaper to assure myself that I was not dreaming; but on laying it\ndown I saw you still there. While I gazed, without speaking, you faded\naway.'\"\n\nIn the case which follows, the initials only are used; but the writer\nof the account was known to the officers of the S. P. R., who vouched\nfor the general trustworthiness of the writer:\n\n\"On a certain Sunday evening in November, 1881, having been reading\nof the great power which the human will is capable of exercising, I\ndetermined, with the whole force of my being, that I would be present\nin spirit in the front bedroom of the second floor of a house situated\nat 22 Hogarth Road, Kensington, in which room slept two young ladies\nof my acquaintance,--namely, Miss L. S. V. and Miss E. C. V., aged\nrespectively twenty-five and eleven years. I was living at the time at\n23 Kildare Gardens, at a distance of about three miles from Hogarth\nRoad, and I had not mentioned in any way my intention of trying this\nexperiment to either of the above ladies, for the simple reason that\nit was only on retiring to rest upon this Sunday night that I made\nup my mind to do so. The time at which I determined to be there was\none o'clock in the morning; and I had a strong intention of making\nmy presence perceptible. On the following Thursday I went to see the\nladies in question, and, in the course of my conversation (without any\nallusion to the subject on my part), the elder one told me that on\nthe previous Saturday night she had been much terrified by perceiving\nme standing by her bedside, and that she screamed when the apparition\nadvanced towards her, and awoke her little sister, who also saw me.\n\n\"I asked her if she was awake at the time, and she replied most\ndecidedly in the affirmative; and, upon my inquiring the time of the\noccurrence, she replied, 'About one o'clock in the morning.'\n\n\"This lady at my request wrote down a statement of the event, and\nsigned it....\"\n\nMr. Gurney (one of the authors of _Phantasms of the Living_) became\ndeeply interested in these experiments, and requested Mr. B. to notify\nhim in advance on the next occasion when he proposed to make his\npresence known in this strange manner. Accordingly, March 22d, 1884, he\nreceived the following letter:\n\n \"Dear Mr. Gurney:--I am going to try the experiment to-night of\n making my presence perceptible at 44 Morland Square, at 12 P. M.\n I will let you know the result in a few days.\n\n Yours very sincerely, \"S. H. B.\"\n\nThe next letter, which was written on April 3, contained the following\nstatement, prepared by the recipient, Miss L. S. Verity:\n\n\"On Saturday night, March 22, 1884, at about midnight, I had a distinct\nimpression that Mr. S. H. B. was present in my room, and I distinctly\nsaw him, being quite awake. He came toward me and stroked my hair.\nI voluntarily gave him this information when he called to see me on\nWednesday, April 2, telling him the time and the circumstances of the\napparition without any suggestion on his part. The appearance in my\nroom was most vivid and quite unmistakable.\"\n\nMiss A. S. Verity also furnishes this corroborative statement:\n\n\"I remember my sister telling me that she had seen S. H. B. and that he\ntouched her hair, before he came to see us on April 2.\"\n\nThe agent's statement of the affair is as follows:\n\n\"On Saturday, March 22, I determined to make my presence perceptible\nto Miss V. at 44 Morland Square, Notting Hill, at twelve midnight; and\nas I had previously arranged with Mr. Gurney that I should post him a\nletter of the evening on which I tried my next experiment (stating the\ntime and other particulars) I sent him a note to acquaint him with the\nabove facts. About ten days afterwards I called upon Miss V., and she\nvoluntarily told me that on March 22, at twelve o'clock, midnight, she\nhad seen me so vividly in her room (whilst wide awake) that her nerves\nhad been much shaken, and she had been obliged to send for a doctor in\nthe morning.\"\n\nThese cases will at least prove the possibility of such a thing as\n\"experimental apparitions,\" and, explain them as we may, they are, at\nall events, most interesting and significant. They prove the reality of\n\"telepathic phantasms\"--of apparitions produced in another by the power\nof mind. This is, at least, the modern conception of the facts.\n\n\nTELEPATHIC HALLUCINATIONS\n\nHow may the theory be said to work? How can a telepathic impulse from a\ndistant mind cause a picture to appear in space, as it were, before the\nrecipient? Here is the last word of modern science in this direction;\nhere is the theory which has been advanced to explain puzzling cases of\nthis character.\n\nWhen we look at and see an object, the sight-centers of the brain are\nroused into activity; unless they are so aroused, we see nothing, and\nwhenever they are so aroused, _no matter from what cause_, we have the\nsensation of sight. We _see_.\n\nBut we get no further than this; we do not reason about the thing seen,\nor analyze; or think to ourselves, \"this is a red apple; I like red\napples,\" etc. No, we only see or perceive the object. All the reasoning\n_about_ the object takes place in the higher thought-centres of the\nbrain. A diagram will, perhaps, help to make all this clear.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen light-waves coming from the eye, A, travel along the optic nerves,\nand excite into activity the sight-centers--at B--we have the sensation\nof sight, as before said. Nerve currents then travel _up_ the nerves,\ngoing from B to C, and in these higher centers, they are associated and\nanalyzed, and we then \"reflect\" upon the thing seen, etc. This is the\nnormal process of sight.\n\nNow, if the eye, or the optic nerves, or the sight-centers themselves\nbecome diseased, we still have the sensation of seeing, though there\nis no material object there; we have ordinary hallucinations of all\nkinds--delirium tremens, etc. If the sight-centers are stimulated _as\nmuch_ as they would be by the incoming nerve stimuli from the eye, we\nhave \"full-blown hallucinations.\"\n\nNow, it is obvious that one method of stimulating the sight-centers\ninto activity is for a nervous current to come _downwards_, along the\nnerves running from C to B. It is probable that something of this sort\ntakes place when we experience \"memory pictures.\" If you shut your eyes\nand picture the face of some dear friend, you will be able to see it\nbefore you more or less clearly. The higher psychical centers of the\nbrain have excited the sight-centers into a certain activity; and these\nhave given us the sensation of dim, inward sight. If the stimulus were\nstronger, we should have cases of intense \"visualization\"; such as the\nfigures which occur in the crystal ball, etc.--they being doubtless\nproduced in this manner.\n\nAlthough the \"sluice-gates,\" so to speak, running from C to B are,\ntherefore, always open _slightly_; they are never open wide; it\nis not natural for them to be so. But if, under any great stress,\nthought or emotion, the downward nervous current were as strong as\nthat ordinarily running from A to B; then we should appear to see as\nclearly; the object would appear just as solid and real and outstanding\nto us as any other entity. We should experience a \"full-blown\nhallucination.\"\n\nAll this being so, it is almost natural to suppose that _one_ method\nby which these psychical sluice-gates could be more widely opened\nwould be under the impact of _a telepathic impulse_. If we assume that\nthis in some manner arouses into instantaneous and great activity the\nhigher psychical centers (C), these would very probably communicate\nthis impulse to B--downwards, along the nerve-tracts connecting the\ntwo (or to the hearing centers, when we should experience an auditory\nhallucination, and hear our name spoken, etc.). In this way we could\naccount for a telepathic hallucination, originating in this manner; and\nit is surely to be supposed that, at the moment of death, some peculiar\nquickening of the mental and spiritual life takes place--the peculiar\nflashes of memory by those drowning, etc., seeming to show this.\n\nSo, then, we arrive at a sort of explanation of many of these cases\nof apparitions, occurring at the moment of death; for we have shown\nthem to be \"telepathic hallucinations.\" This is also the correct\nexplanation, doubtless, for many cases in which apparitions of the\nliving have been seen--in which a phantasm of a living person has\nappeared to another, during sleep, or in hypnotic trance, etc.\n\nBut how about those ghosts which appear some time after death? They, at\nleast, cannot be explained by any such theory. What has been said by\nway of explanation of these cases?\n\nIt will be remembered that telepathy is the basis of the explanation\nthus far. Let us extend this. We have only to suppose that the spirit\nof man survives the shock of death, and that it can continue to exert\nits powers and capacities also. For, if a living mind can influence the\nliving by telepathy; why not a \"dead\" one? Why should not the surviving\nspirit of man continue to influence us, by telepathy? If they could,\nwe should still have cases of telepathic hallucinations--induced from\nthe mind of a discarnate, not an incarnate, spirit. The \"ghost\" might\nstill be a telepathic hallucination. And if several persons saw the\nfigure at once, we should, on this theory, have a case of collective\nhallucination--in which one mind affected all the rest equally and\nsimultaneously.\n\n\nGHOSTS WHICH MOVE MATERIAL OBJECTS\n\nSuch is the theory--rather far-fetched, it is true; but certainly the\nmost rational and common-sense so far advanced to explain many of the\nfacts. It is probable, however, that this explanation will not serve\nto explain _all_ of them. Thus, in those cases where the apparition\nmoved a material object, opened a door, etc., such a theory would\nhave to be abandoned, for the simple reason that a mental concept,\nan hallucination, cannot open doors and move objects! There must be\nan outstanding, material entity to effect this. There must be a real\nghost. And in those cases where the apparition has been seen by several\npersons at once, or even photographed, it seems more reasonable to\nsuppose that a material, space-occupying body was present rather than\nto assume that the various witnesses or the camera were hallucinated.\n\nIn the following cases, for example, the apparition performs a definite\nphysical action--snuffs a candle with its fingers, an action which a\npure hallucination could hardly be supposed to perform. The account\nis by the Rev. D. W. G. Gwynne, M.I., and is printed in _Phantasms\nof the Living_, Vol. II., pp. 202-3. After telling of certain minor\nphenomena, he proceeds:\n\n\"I now come to the mutual experience of something that is as fresh in\nits impression as if it were the occurrence of yesterday. During the\nnight I became aware of a draped figure passing across the foot of\nthe bed towards the fireplace. I had the impression that the arm was\nraised, pointing with the hand towards the mantlepiece, on which a\nnight-light was burning. Mrs. Gwynne at this moment seized my arm, and\nthe light _was extinguished_. Notwithstanding, I distinctly saw the\nfigure returning towards the door, and being under the impression that\none of our servants had found her way into the room, I leaped out of\nbed to intercept the intruder, but found, and saw, nothing....\"\n\n[Mrs. Gwynne confirms the story, adding, \"I distinctly saw the\nhand of the phantom placed over the night-light, which was at once\nextinguished.\"]\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPHS OF GHOSTS\n\nAgain, it is claimed that ghosts have sometimes been photographed,\nthough very rarely. In a number of cases, attempts have been made to\nphotograph ghosts seen in haunted-houses; but, though the figures\nhave been seen by all present, the photographic plate has failed to\nrecord any impression of the phantom. In other cases, on the contrary,\ndefinite impressions _have_ been obtained; and, though there is\ndoubtless much fraud among professional mediums, who claim to produce\n\"spirit photographs,\" there are many cases on record in which no\nprofessional medium was employed, and in which faces were certainly\nseen upon the developed plate. Experiments have also been made in\nphotographing the body at the moment of death; to see if any impression\ncould be made upon the plate--by the soul, in its passage from the\nbody; and, though many of these have proved negative, Dr. Baraduc,\nof Paris, has obtained a number of photographs which have never been\nexplained. Again, numerous researches in the region of so-called\n\"thought photography\" have given some basis for the belief that thought\nmay be, under certain conditions, photographed--as for example, in the\nexperiments of Dr. Ochorowicz and others. It may be said, therefore,\nthat some progress is being made in this direction by psychic\ninvestigators (particularly by the French observers, who are far ahead\nof the rest of the world in these branches of psychic investigation),\nand that, with increased sensitiveness of film and plate, and greater\nperfection of lens and camera, it is to be hoped that the time is not\nfar distant when it will be possible to photograph the unseen just as\nwe photograph living persons.\n\nThere are \"ghosts,\" therefore, which are hallucinations; and there are\nghosts which are genuine phantasms--the \"real article.\" It becomes a\nquestion, in each instance, of sifting the evidence; finding out _which\nthey are_. Yet, if there are real, objective, outstanding ghosts, how\ncan we explain them? In what do they consist? In short, we are back to\nour original question: What are ghosts?\n\n\nTHE \"DOUBLE,\" AND THE SPIRITUAL BODY\n\nBefore we can answer this question satisfactorily, we must consider\none or two preliminary questions. First of all, we must speak of the\n\"double\"--the astral or spiritual or ethic body, which resides in man,\nas well as his physical body.[2]\n\n [2] Theosophists distinguish between all these various bodies;\n psychic students strive, for the most part, only to prove the\n objective existence of any one of them.\n\nSt. Paul constantly emphasized the fact that man has a material body\nand a \"spiritual body.\" This inner body is the exact shape of the\nphysical body--its counterpart, its double. In life, under ordinary\nconditions, the two are inseparable; but at death, the severance takes\nplace and man continues to live on in this etheric envelope. This\ninner body has been studied very carefully by students of the occult;\nand a good deal is now known about it--its comings and goings, its\ncomposition, and the method of its departure at death. For our present\npurposes, however, it is enough to say that such a body exists, and\nthat it is the vehicle man continues to use and manipulate, after his\ndeath and his departure from this plane.\n\nIt so happens that, under certain peculiar conditions, the inner body\nof man is capable of being detached or separated from the physical\nbody. This usually occurs in trance, sleep, hypnotic and mesmeric\nstates, etc.; or may be performed \"experimentally,\" by some who have\ncultivated this power in themselves. When this body goes on such\n\"excursions\"--leaving the physical body practically dead, to all\nappearances--it may be seen by those in its immediate vicinity, just\nas a material body would be--if they are sufficiently sensitive or\nreceptive.\n\nThe following interesting case, (recorded in _Phantasms of the Living_,\nVol. I, pp. 225-26) is a good example of the apparent traveling of the\nbody to another place, and the perception of that body by a second\nperson, who happens to be there. Two individuals, at all events, shared\nin the experience, which is otherwise hard to account for. The case is\nrecorded by the Rev. P. H. Newnham, and is as follows:\n\n\"In March, 1854, I was up at Oxford, keeping my last term, in lodgings.\nI was subject to violent neuralgic headaches, which always culminated\nin sleep. One evening, about 8 p.m., I had an unusually violent one;\nwhen it became unendurable, about 9 p.m., I went into my bedroom, and\nflung myself, without undressing, on the bed, and soon fell asleep.\n\n\"I then had a singularly clear and vivid dream, all the incidents of\nwhich are as clear in my memory as ever. I dreamed that I was stopping\nwith the family of a lady who subsequently became my wife. All the\nyounger ones had gone to bed, and I stopped chatting to the father and\nmother, standing up by the fireplace. Presently I bade them good-night,\ntook my candle, and went off to bed. On arriving in the hall, I\nperceived that my fiancee had been detained downstairs, and was only\nthen near the top of the staircase. I rushed upstairs, overtook her on\nthe top step, and passed my two arms around her waist, under her arms,\nfrom behind. Although I was carrying my candle in the left hand, when\nI ran upstairs, this did not, in my dream, interfere with this gesture.\n\n\"On this I woke, and the clock in the house struck ten almost\nimmediately afterwards.\n\n\"So strong was the impression of the dream that I wrote a detailed\naccount of it the next morning to my fiancee.\n\n\"_Crossing_ my letter, _not_ in answer to it, I received a letter from\nthe lady in question: 'Were you thinking about me very specially last\nnight, just about ten o'clock? For, as I was going upstairs to bed, I\ndistinctly heard your footsteps on the stairs, and felt you put your\narms round my waist.'\"\n\n[Mrs. Newnham wrote a confirmation of this account, which was also\npublished.]\n\n\nWHAT HAPPENS AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH\n\nIn all these cases, of course, the psychic body of the subject returns\nand re-animates the physical body; for if it did not do so, death would\ntake place. When death does actually take place, this is what occurs;\nand psychics and clairvoyants assert that they are able to see and\nfollow this process perfectly; and many of them have described exactly\nwhat takes place at the moment of death. The following description,\nfor example, given by Andrew Jackson Davis, is taken from his _Death,\nand the After Life_, pp. 15-16, and is as follows:\n\n\"Suppose the person is now dying. It is to be a rapid death. The feet\nfirst grow cold. The clairvoyant sees over the head what may be called\na magnetic halo--an etherial emanation, in appearance golden, and\nthrobbing as though conscious. The body is now cold up to the knees\nand elbows, and the emanation has ascended higher in the air. The legs\nare cold to the hips and the arms to the shoulders; and the emanation,\nthough it has not risen higher in the room, is more expanded. The\ndeath-coldness steals over the breast and round on either side, and\nthe emanation has attained a higher position nearer the ceiling. The\nperson has ceased to breathe, the pulse is still, and the emanation\nis elongated and fashioned in the outline of a human form. Beneath,\nit is connected with the brain. The head of the person is internally\nthrobbing--a slow, deep throb--not painful but like the beat of the\nsea. Hence the thinking faculties are rational, while nearly every part\nof the person is dead. Owing to the brain's momentum, I have seen a\ndying person, even at the last feeble pulsebeat, rouse impulsively and\nrise up in bed to converse with a friend, but the next instant he was\ngone--his brain being the last to yield up the life principle.\n\n\"The golden emanation, which extends up midway to the ceiling, is\nconnected to the brain by a very fine life-thread. Now the body of the\nemanation ascends. Then appears something white and shining, like a\nhuman head; next, in a very few moments, a faint outline of the face\ndivine, then the fair neck and beautiful shoulders; then, in rapid\nsuccession, come all parts of the new body down to the feet--a bright,\nshining image, a little smaller than its physical body, but a perfect\nprototype or reproduction in all except its disfigurements. The fine\nlife-thread continues attached to the old brain. The next thing is\nthe withdrawal of the electric principle. When this thread snaps the\nspiritual body is free, and prepared to accompany its guardians to the\nSummer-Land. Yes, there is a spiritual body; it is sown in dishonor and\nraised in brightness.\"\n\nIt is doubtless this spiritual body which is the true cause of many\napparitions--of many ghost stories. It is this body which is seen by\nthe seer or percipient in many a ghost story; it is this body which\nmoves objects and touches the individual who sees the ghost. This body\nis detached at death, as we have seen, and afterwards is free to rove\nat its own free will. Apparitions of the dead might thus be accounted\nfor; while all those cases of apparitions of the dying which are with\ndifficulty explained as due to pure telepathy might also thus find\ntheir explanation. The spiritual body, freed at that moment, would\nmanifest its presence to the distant percipient as it did after death.\nSo far so good, but how about apparitions of the living? How explain\nthose cases in which the apparition of a living person has been seen,\nwhen the spiritual body is supposedly safely attached to the physical\nbody?\n\nMany of them are doubtless cases of telepathy; but in those cases\nwhich seem to demand the presence of a body of some sort, we may\nsuppose that the spiritual body may become detached, at times, under\ncertain peculiar conditions, from the material body which it inhabits\nand animates, and can then manifest independently at a distance. The\nfollowing cases are illustrative, apparently, of this fact; showing us\nthat the \"etheric body\" can manifest on occasion at will at a distance\nfrom the physical body.\n\n\nHOW THE SOUL MAY LEAVE THE BODY\n\n\"... I put out the light and returned, but no sooner had I done this\nthan ... I could feel a creeping sensation moving up my legs. I got up\nand lit the gas and went back to bed; with pillows arranged in such\na way as to make me comfortable. In a comparatively short time, all\ncirculation ceased in my legs, and they were as cold as those of the\ndead. The creeping sensation began in the lower part of the body, and\nthat also became cold.... There was no sensation of pain or even of\nphysical discomfort. I would pinch my legs with my thumb and finger,\nand there was no feeling or no indication of blood whatever. I might as\nwell have pinched a piece of rubber so far as the sensation produced\nwas concerned. As the movement continued upward, all at once there\ncame a flashing of lights in my eyes and a ringing in my ears, and\nit seemed for an instant as though I had become unconscious. When I\ncame out of this state, I seemed to be walking in the air. No words\ncan describe the exhilaration and freedom that I experienced. At no\ntime in my life had my mind been so clear and so free. Just then I\nthought of a friend who was more than a thousand miles distant. Then\nI seemed to be traveling with great rapidity through the atmosphere\nabout me. Everything was light and yet it was not the light of the\nday or the sun, but, I might say, a peculiar light of its own, such\nas I have never known. It could not have been a minute after that I\nthought of my friends, before I was conscious of standing in a room\nwhere the gas-jets were turned up, and my friend was standing with his\nback toward me, but, suddenly turning and seeing me, said: 'What in\nthe world are you doing here? I thought you were in Florida'--and he\nstarted to come toward me. While I heard the words distinctly, I was\nunable to answer. An instant later I was gone; and the consciousness\nof the memorable things that transpired that memorable night has never\nbeen forgotten. I seemed to leave the earth, and everything pertaining\nto it, and enter a condition of life of which it is absolutely\nimpossible to give here any thought I had concerning it, because there\nwas no correspondence to anything I had ever seen or heard or known of\nin any way. The wonder and the joy of it was unspeakable; and I can\nreadily understand now what Paul meant when he said 'I knew a man,\nwhether in the body or out of it I know not, who was caught up to the\nthird heaven, and saw things which it is not possible (lawful) to\nutter.'\n\n\"In this latter experience there was neither consciousness of time\nnor of space; in fact, it can be described more as a consciousness of\nelastic feeling than anything else. It came to me after a time that I\ncould _stay_ there if I so desired, but with that thought came also the\nconsciousness of the friends on earth and the duties there required of\nme. The desire to stay was intense, but in my mind I clearly reasoned\nover it--whether I should gratify my desire or return to my work on\nearth. Four times my thought and reason told me that my duties required\nme to return, but I was so dissatisfied with each conclusion that\nI finally said: 'Now I will think and reason this matter out once\nmore, and whatever conclusion I reach I will abide by.' I reached the\nsame conclusion, and had not much more than reached it when I became\nconscious of being in a room and looking down on a body propped up in\nbed, which I recognized as my own! I cannot tell what strange feelings\ncame over me. This body, to all intents and purposes, looked to be\ndead. There was no indication of life about it, and yet here I was\napart from the body, with my mind perfectly clear and alert, and the\nconsciousness of another body to which matter of any kind offered no\nresistance.\n\n\"After what might have been a minute or two, looking at the body, I\nbegan to try and control it, and in a very short time all sense of\nseparation from the physical body ceased, and I was only conscious of\na directed effort toward its use. After what seemed to be quite a long\ntime, I was able to move, got up from the bed, dressed myself, and went\ndown to breakfast....\n\n\"I may add that the friend referred to as having been seen by me\nthat night was also distinctly conscious of my presence and made\nthe exclamation mentioned. We both wrote the next day, relating the\nexperience of the night, and the letters corroborating the incident\ncrossed in the post.\"\n\nSuch strange doings certainly tend to prove that the human spirit can\nleave its body and rove abroad, at times; and if this is the case, it\nshows us that our body is far more detachable than we usually suppose;\nand hence that it can probably continue to exist after the death of the\nphysical body, when it is detached altogether. Once this is proved, all\nobjection to the reality and existence of \"objective\" ghosts will have\nbeen done away with.\n\n\nTHEORIES OF HAUNTED HOUSES\n\nIf we grant that certain houses may be \"haunted,\" in the sense that\nthey may be the centers of influences and forces as yet unseen and\nunknown, the question is: How explain such cases? What hypotheses can\nwe advance to explain cases of haunted houses, which will recognize the\nreality of the phantom witnessed therein, and attempt to explain them\nas rationally as possible? Four main theories have been advanced by way\nof explanation, which I shall briefly outline.\n\n(1). There is the theory that the figures seen in houses of this nature\nare genuine, outstanding entities--real beings, which are just as real,\nthough less solid and tangible, as any of the living inhabitants of the\nhouse. This is, of course, the popular conception of the ghosts seen in\nhaunted houses, and it must be admitted that such a theory covers and\nexplains the facts more completely and fully than any other. There are\nalso many facts telling in its favor. For instance, when two persons\nsee a figure from different angles or viewpoints; and one describes\nit in profile, while the other describes it as presenting a full face\nlikeness; and if this is the angle in each case from which a real\nfigure would naturally be seen, this surely seems to indicate that a\nsolid form of some sort was present.\n\nAgain, when three or four or more people see a figure at the same time,\nit is surely a strain upon our credulity to believe that a number of\npersons were similarly \"hallucinated\" at precisely the same time and in\nthe same manner; and easier to believe that they all saw a figure at\nthe same time, though in differing degrees of vividness and detail.\n\nThirdly, we have the evidence from photography. In some instances,\nthese figures have been photographed; and though there is doubtless\nmuch fraud in this connection, there is evidence that, in certain\ncases, genuine photographs of this nature have been taken. This is\ndiscussed elsewhere in this volume, however.\n\nFourthly, we have the behavior of animals, in haunted houses. They\noften appear to see figures visible or invisible to others present at\nthe time--bark at them, rub against them, stare at them, act as though\nterrified at what they see, etc. This will be noticed in many of the\nstories; and can be explained only with difficulty if we are to believe\nthat the figures seen are merely hallucinations.\n\n\nTHE GHOSTS OF ANIMALS, ETC.\n\nI have elsewhere spoken of the apparent ability of animals to see\nphantasmal forms and figures. The reverse of this is also true. Ghosts\nof animals have been seen--spectral dogs, cats, horses as well as human\nbeings. These apparitions are very perplexing, and raise the question\nof the immortality of animals--a very vexed question, which has given\nrise to much discussion. Mr. H. Rider Haggard records the case of his\nown dog, whose apparition he saw at the very moment that the dog was\nkilled by an express train some miles away. Did the animal succeed\nin affecting his master by telepathy? If not, why the coincidence? I\nmyself have recorded a case in which a (real) cat spat at a phantom\ndog, seen independently by a clairvoyant, who had described it a\nfew moments before to a group of spectators. Such cases are very\ninteresting. They tend to prove that dogs, cats, horses and other\nanimals also survive death--a conclusion which is certainly the most\nhumane and logical to many minds.\n\nIn addition to these animal apparitions, there are also grotesque,\nhorrible, monstrous and undefinable ghosts. One or two cases of this\ncharacter are described in this book. Sometimes the \"seer\" sees\nsomething awful, but cannot describe in words what it is. Many of the\nphantoms of the imaginative type are of this character. Again, there\nare grave-yard ghosts; banshees, gnomes, elementals, pixies, fairies,\nbrownies, nature-spirits, hobgoblins, sylphs, salamanders, dragons,\nvampires, wraiths, corpse-candles, and many other awful beings which\nhave been described from time to time in the past. We need not consider\nthese in a book of this character, however. But, to return to our\nargument for the objective reality of \"ghosts.\"\n\nFifthly, we have those cases in which the apparition has produced\na physical effect in the material world--snuffed a light, opened a\ndoor, pulled back the bed-curtains, etc. A hallucinatory figure could\nnot do this. It has been suggested that all this is only a part of\nthe hallucination, but when the thing is found to have been moved in\nreality, we must explain this somehow; for otherwise how did it change\nits place?\n\nSixthly, we have cases in which the same apparition has been seen by\nseveral separate and independent persons in the same room or house,\nand afterwards they have recognized the features of this person in\na photograph shown them--the photograph of the person supposed to\nhaunt that particular house. If we were to believe that a simple\nhallucination caused the figure, how account for this identification?\nSurely the theory is far-fetched!\n\nFor all these reasons, therefore, and others it would be possible\nto mention, there is much to be said in favor of this theory of\nhaunted houses; the theory which says that the figures seen are real,\nsemi-material entities.\n\n\nTHE CLOTHES OF GHOSTS\n\n(2). The second view, opposed to that mentioned above, is this: Someone\nliving in a house has experienced a hallucination, and then seen the\nsame thing over and over again, by reason of auto-suggestion; or, if he\nmoves away, and another tenant takes the house in turn, the thoughts\nof this second tenant are influenced, through thought-transference,\nby the first tenant, who broods and thinks over his experiences in\nthe \"haunted house,\" wonders whether the people now living in it\nare experiencing phenomena, etc. In this way, the minds of those\nliving in the house are constantly influenced by thought-transference\nby living minds; and hallucinatory figures are produced in them,\njust as the picture of a playing card is induced in experimental\nthought-transference.\n\nThere are two things to be said in favor of such a theory. In the first\nplace, we have the analogy which telepathic experiments give us, in\nwhich certain visual images are undoubtedly transmitted from one mind\nto another; and it is natural to assume that an extension of this same\nprocess might account for many of the phantasmal forms seen in haunted\nhouses, as explained elsewhere.\n\nIn the second place, we immediately surmount the difficulty presented\nby the ghost's _clothes_. This is a stumbling-block to many\ninvestigators. However much we might believe that an etheric or astral\nor spiritual body might continue to persist after death, it is hard to\nbelieve that the clothes of the person who died also had \"spiritual\ncounterparts,\" and returned with him, to visit the earth and the scenes\nof former joys and miseries! We seldom read of a ghost without clothes;\nnude ghosts are not the fashion! Yet if we cannot believe this, how are\nwe to explain this difficulty--and the fact that ghosts wear ghostly\ngarments?\n\nIf the ghost were a hallucination, we could understand all this easily\nenough. The clothes were imaginary, just as the figure was; they formed\npart of the mental image, just like the figures seen in dreams, etc.\nThis, therefore, is one very strong point in favor of this hypothesis;\nbut if the ghost is a real, outstanding entity, how account for his\nclothes?\n\nSeveral tentative explanations have been forthcoming. In the first\nplace, it has been suggested that all ghosts are in reality partial\n\"materializations\" and that it is possible for a spirit to materialize\nand form drapery as well as solid flesh and bone. Both are a sort of\ncondensation of matter, in varying degrees.\n\nAgain, it has been suggested that a spirit has the power to create\nobjects by the power of will; by merely thinking and willing to do so.\nIn this way, man would be a real creator, in a miniature scale, and\ncertain analogies could be found for this in the material world. The\nreturning spirit would desire to return clothed; and this very desire\nwould create the fitting garb. Other theories have been advanced, but\nthe above are the simplest and most intelligible, and are all we need\nconsider at present.\n\nAll these difficulties, however, tell against the substantiality of\nghosts; and in favor of this second theory of haunted houses.\n\n\nTELEPATHY FROM THE DEAD\n\n(3). The third theory which has been advanced, is an extension of the\nsecond. Thought-transference is still the agency invoked to explain\nthe facts--but from the minds of dead, and not living persons. That\nis, assuming telepathy to be true, and possible between living minds;\nand assuming that individual consciousness survives the change called\ndeath; we can readily imagine that those who have \"passed over\" might\naffect and influence the living by thought-transference also, just as\nthey did in life. On this theory, therefore, the ghost would still\nrepresent a hallucination; a mental or imaginary figure, and it would\nstill be induced by telepathy from a distant mind; but that mind would\nbe that of a so-called dead person. After death, we might suppose, this\nperson would be thinking or dreaming over the past events; the scenes\nof his joys and sorrows; and these dreams would tend to influence the\nminds of those still living, and cause them to see the figures seen.\nThe figures, on this theory, would be hallucinatory, but they would\nhave a real, objective basis and starting-point for all that; and, as\nsuch, would represent the continued existence and activity on the part\nof the dead.\n\nAgainst this ingenious theory may be urged all those arguments which\nhave been cited in favor of the materiality of apparitions.\n\n\nTHE PSYCHIC ATMOSPHERE\n\n(4). A fourth theory is that which says that some _subtle psychic\natmosphere_ is present in certain houses; and that this \"atmosphere\"\naffects and influences all who live within them, just as their physical\natmosphere would, only in a different manner and degree. Everyone has\ndoubtless experienced this atmosphere in certain houses, if they are\nat all sensitive. They either \"like\" a house or \"dislike\" it--for no\napparent reason. Some houses rest and refresh you; others irritate you,\netc. This theory contends that every living human being is constantly\ngiving off a peculiar vital emanation or aura or effluence; and that\nthis charges-up or impregnates the material objects in his immediate\nneighborhood, which soak it up like a sponge, and retain it after being\nremoved from its presence. It is because of this fact that articles\npresented to trance mediums often recall the person to whom they\nbelonged; it is because of this that \"psychometry\" is possible--that\nis, the ability of some persons to give the past history of an object\nby merely handling it; and it is because of this that certain houses\nbecome so charged with this magnetic aura, or whatever it may be, that\nthey remain \"charged\" for some time; and, in discharging, create\npsychic disturbances and impressions which are seen or experienced as\nphantasmal appearances.\n\nThe chief objection to this theory is that it is difficult to see how\nthis general and impersonal \"charging\" process can create definite and\nclear-cut forms, possessing all the appearances of reality. Doubtless\neach theory contains much truth; and haunted houses represent, in\nmany cases, a combination of _all_ these causes, working together and\ncombining into one complex and unfortunately ill-understood whole. It\nis the duty of the future to disentangle this maze, as best it can; and\nexplain the various factors which go to make up a haunted house of this\ncharacter.\n\n\nFORMS CREATED BY WILL\n\n(5). Besides these theories, another might be suggested, which\nhas never so far been advanced, so far as I am aware. It is that\nthe phantasmal forms seen in haunted houses are real substantial\n_creations_, manufactured by the thoughts or will of the discarnate\nspirit, who fashions it out of \"such stuff as dreams are made of.\" It\nhas been said that \"thoughts are things,\" and many believe that this\nis literally true. Certain it is that a limited number of peculiarly\nconstructed persons can produce phenomena which seem to be solid\ncreations of the will. So, if thought could ever be proved to be\nreally creative; if it could not only _formulate_ but _objectify_ and\n_project into space_ images and forms, we should have here a rational\nexplanation of many ghosts, as well as of their behavior. And just here\na few words as to this latter may not be out of place.\n\nIt has often been objected that ghosts cannot be realities; they cannot\nbe real spirits, for the reason that they act in such a senseless\nmanner. They seldom speak or reply, when spoken to. They seldom have\nany definite purpose. In short, they betray no intelligence. This being\nso, they must be hallucinations and not the realities they claim to be!\n\nThe answer to this objection is found in the following consideration.\nEven granting all this to be true, many believing in ghosts do not for\nan instant contend that such ghosts represent the actual person the\nfigure symbolises. It is a mere projection; a shell; a form created\nby the discarnate spirit, a resemblance, a phantasm. The central\nconsciousness which animated and still animates that person is not _in_\nthe ghostly form, but elsewhere. The phantasm represents, merely, a\nsort of impersonal wraith, and, as such, cannot be expected to possess\nintelligence or human characteristics. None are present within it.\nIt is a very different thing from the real person it represents. The\ninsipid and unintelligent behavior of ghosts, therefore, is only what\nwe should expect. This fact is no argument against their reality, when\nrightly understood and interpreted.\n\n\nPHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS\n\nIn addition to haunted houses of this type, there are others, which\nmust be referred to very briefly. Thus, in some cases, no figures have\nbeen seen, but remarkable sounds have been heard--sounds which have\nnever been accounted for. Bangs, knocks, monotonous reading aloud,\nwhispering, footsteps, etc., are some of the noises and sounds which\nhave been heard in this way, and their origin often remains a mystery.\nIt would take too long to discuss the various explanatory theories\nwhich have been advanced by psychic students to account for these\nsounds.\n\nIn other types of haunted houses, physical manifestations take place,\nthough nothing unusual is either seen or heard. Thus, in one case\nrecorded by Lombroso (_After Death: What?_) numbers of bottles\nwere broken one after the other, for no apparent cause, when he was\nactually looking at them. In still other cases, furniture has been\nupset, crockery broken, doorbells rung, etc., by no visible agency.\nJohn Wesley was persecuted in this manner for several years; and the\nreason was never discovered. Such cases are technically known as\n\"poltergeists,\" and may be found in abundance in the \"history of the\nsupernatural.\"\n\n\nCAN HAUNTED HOUSES BE \"CURED\"?\n\nOne question of considerable interest remains. It is this: Can\nso-called Haunted Houses be _cured_? Many of those who live in houses\nof this character would like to have these influences removed; but are\nunable to rid themselves of them. Can this be done?\n\nIn some cases, this has doubtless been accomplished; while in others it\nhas failed. We know too little as yet to lay down any arbitrary laws\nor rules which may be followed with safety in cases of this character.\nSometimes one method succeeds, while another fails. I have known of\ncases where \"exorcism\" worked a complete cure; of others in which it\nfailed miserably. I have known of cases in which suggestion, rightly\napplied, rid the house of its ghost; in other instances, no result was\nproduced by similar methods! In a few instances mediums and psychics\nhave been able to assist; in others their presence only seemed to\nmake matters worse. We can but experiment and learn. Those who may be\nmore interested in this aspect of the question will find it treated\nin Chapter XV. of my book \"_The Coming Science_,\" which is devoted to\n\"Haunted Houses and their Cure.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n\nPHANTASMS OF THE DEAD--I.\n\nIn the following Chapter, I shall give a number of cases in which\n\"Ghosts,\" or \"Phantasms of the Dead,\" as they are called, have appeared\nto one or more persons at one time; sometimes telling them something\nthey did not know; sometimes moving material objects in the room;\nsometimes pulling the bed-clothes off, etc. Nearly all these cases are\nwell authenticated, and have been narrated at first-hand. Many of them\nhave the corroborative testimony of several other persons, who also saw\nthe phantasmal figure, or in some way shared in the experience. I shall\nbegin with--\n\n\nA RUSSIAN GHOST\n\nThe following story is vouched for by Mr. W. D. Addison, of Riga, and\nsent by him to Mr. W. T. Stead, who published it in _Borderland_:\n\n\"It was in February, 1884, that the incidents I am about to relate\noccurred to me, and the story is well-known to my immediate friends.\n\n\"Five weeks previously my wife had presented me with our first baby,\nand our house being a small one, I had to sleep on a bed made up in\nthe drawing room--a spacious but cozy apartment, and the last place in\nwhich one would expect ghosts to select for their wanderings.\n\n\"On the night in question I retired to my couch soon after ten, and\nfell asleep almost the moment I was between the sheets.\n\n\"Instead of sleeping as, I am thankful to say, is my habit, straight\nthrough till morning, I woke up after a short dreamless sleep with\nthe dim consciousness upon me that some one had called me by name. I\nwas just turning the idea over in my mind when all doubts were solved\nby my hearing my name pronounced in a faint whisper, 'Willy.' Now the\nnurse who was in attendance on the baby, and who slept in the dressing\nroom adjoining our bedroom, had been ill for the past few days, and on\nthe previous evening my wife had come and asked me to assist her with\nthe baby. As soon, therefore, as I heard this whisper, I turned round\nthinking, 'Ah, it is the baby again.'\n\n\"The room had three windows in it, the night was moonless but starlit;\nthere was snow on the ground, and therefore, 'snowlight,' and the\nblinds being up the room was by no means dark.\n\n\"The first thing I noticed on turning round was the figure of a\nwoman close to the foot of the bed, and whom (following the bent of\nmy thoughts) I supposed to be my wife. 'What is up?' I asked, but\nthe figure remained silent and motionless, and my eyes being more\naccustomed to the dimness, I noticed that it had a gray looking shawl\nover its head and shoulders, and that it was too short in stature to be\nmy wife. I gazed at it silently, wondering who it could be; apparitions\nand ghosts were far from my thoughts, and the mistiness of the outlines\nof this silent figure did not strike me at the moment as it did\nafterwards.\n\n\"I again addressed it, this time in the language of the country, 'What\ndo you want?' Again no answer. And now it occurred to me that our\nservant girl sometimes walked in her sleep, and that this was she.\nBehind the head of my bed stood a small table, and I reached round for\nthe match-box which was on it, never removing my eyes from the supposed\nsomnambulist. The match-box was now in my hands, but just as I was\ntaking out a match, the figure, to my astonishment, seemed to rise up\nfrom the floor, and move backwards toward the end window; at the same\ntime it faded rapidly and became blurred with the gray light streaming\nin at the window, and 'ere I could strike the match it was gone. I lit\nthe candle, jumped out of bed and ran to the door: it was fastened! To\nthe left of the drawing room there was a boudoir, separated only by a\ncurtain, this room was empty too, and the door likewise fastened.\n\n\"I rubbed my eyes. I was puzzled. It struck me now for the first time\nthat the figure was hazy looking, also that my wife was the only person\nwho called me 'Willy,' and certainly the only person who could give the\nword its English pronunciation. I first searched both drawing room and\nboudoir, and then, opening the door, stepped into the passage, and went\nto my wife's door and listened. The baby was crying and my wife was up,\nso I knocked and was admitted. Knowing her to be strong minded and not\nnervous, I quietly related my experience. She expressed astonishment,\nand asked if I was not afraid to return to my bed in the drawing room.\nHowever, I was not, and after chatting for a few moments went back\nto my quarters, fastened the door, and getting into bed, thought the\nwhole matter over very quietly. I could think of no explanation of the\noccurrence, and, feeling sleepy, blew out the light and was soon sound\nasleep again.\n\n\"After a short but sound and dreamless slumber, I was again awakened,\nthis time with my face towards the middle window; and there, close up\nagainst it, was the figure again, and owing to its propinquity to the\nlight, it appeared to be a very dark object.\n\n\"I at once reached out for the matches, but in doing so upset the\ntable, and down it went with my candlestick, my watch, keys, etc.,\nmaking a terrific crash. As before, I had kept my eyes fixed on the\nfigure, and I now observed that, whatever it was, it was advancing\nstraight towards me, and in another moment retreat to the door would be\ncut off. It was not a comfortable idea to cope with the unknown in the\ndark, and in an instant I had seized the bed-clothes, and grasping a\ncorner of them in each hand, and holding them up before me, I charged\nstraight at the figure. (I suppose I thought that, by smothering the\nhead of my supposed assailant, I could best repel the coming attack.)\n\n\"The next moment I had landed on my knees on a sofa by the window with\nmy arms on the window-sill, and with the consciousness that 'it' was\nnow behind me--I having passed through it. With a bound I faced round,\nand was immediately immersed in a darkness impalpable to the touch,\nbut so dense that it seemed to be weighing me down and squeezing me\nfrom all sides. I could not stir; the bed-clothes which I had seized\nas described hung over my left arm, the other was free, but seemed\npressed down by a benumbing weight. I essayed to cry for help, but\nrealized for the first time in my life what it means for the 'tongue\nto cleave to the roof of the mouth'; my tongue seemed to have become\ndry and to have swelled to a thickness of some inches; it stuck to\nthe roof of my mouth, and I could not ejaculate a syllable. At last,\nafter an appalling struggle, I succeeded in uttering, and I know that\ndisjointed words, half prayer, half execrations of fear, left my lips,\nthen my mind seemed to make one frantic effort, there seemed to come a\nwrench like an electric shock and my limbs were free; it was as tho' I\ntore myself out of something. In a few seconds I had reached and opened\nthe door and was in the passage, listening to the hammerings of my\nheart-beats. All fear was gone from me, but I felt as though I had run\nmiles for my life and that another ten yards of it would have killed me.\n\n\"I again went to the door of my wife's room, and, hearing that she was\nup with the baby, I knocked and she opened. She is a witness to the\nstate I was in: the drops rolling down my face, my hair was damp, and\nthe beatings of my heart were audible some paces off. I can offer no\nexplanations of what I saw, but as soon as my story became known, the\npeople who had occupied the house previously told me that they had once\nput a visitor in that same drawing room, who had declared the room to\nbe haunted and had refused to stay in it....\"\n\n\nGRASPED BY A SPIRIT HAND\n\nThe following account is vouched for by Major C. G. MacGregor, Ireland,\nwho writes as follows:\n\n\"In the end of the year 1871 I went over from Scotland to pay a short\nvisit to a relative living in a square on the north side of Dublin.\n\n\"In January, 1872, the husband of my relative, then in his\neighty-fourth year, was seized with paralysis, and, having no trained\nnurse, the footman and I sat up with him for sixteen nights during his\nrecovery. On the seventeenth night, at about 11:30 p.m., I said to the\nfootman: 'The master seems so well, and sleeping soundly, I shall go\nto bed; and if he awakes worse, or you require me, call me.' I then\nretired to my room, which was over the one occupied by the invalid.\n\n\"I went to bed and was soon asleep, when some time afterwards I was\nawakened by a slight push on the left shoulder. I was at the time\nlying on my right side facing the door (which was on the right side of\nmy bed, and the fireplace on the left). I started up and said: 'Edward,\nis there anything wrong?' I received no answer, but immediately\nreceived another push. I got annoyed and said, 'Can you not speak, man,\nand tell me if anything is wrong?' Still no answer; and I had a feeling\nthat I was going to get another push when I suddenly turned around\nand caught (what I then thought) a human hand, warm, soft and plump.\nI said: 'Who are you?' but I got no answer. I then tried to pull the\nperson towards me, to endeavor to find out who it was, but although I\nam nearly thirteen stone, I could not move whoever it was, but felt\nthat I myself was likely to be drawn from the bed. I then said, 'I will\nknow who you are,' and having the hand tight in my hand, with my left I\nfelt the wrist and arm--enclosed, as it seemed to me, in a tight sleeve\nof some winter material with a linen cuff; but when I got to the elbow\nall trace of the arm ceased! I was so astonished that I let the hand\ngo, and just then the house clock struck 2 a.m. I then thought no one\ncould possibly get to the door without my catching them; but lo! the\ndoor was fast shut as when I came to bed, and another thought struck\nme--the fact that, when I pulled the hand, I heard no one breathing,\nthough I myself was 'puffed' from the strength I used!\n\n\"Including the mistress of the house, there were in all five females,\nand I am assured that the hand belonged to no one of them. When I\nrelated the adventure, the servants exclaimed, 'Oh, it must be the\nmaster's old aunt Betty,'--an old lady who had lived for many years\nin the upper part of the house, occupying two rooms, and had died\nover fifty years ago, at a great age. I afterwards learned that the\n_room_ in which I felt the hand had been considered 'haunted,' and many\ncurious noises and peculiar incidents had occurred there, such as the\nbed-clothes being torn off. One lady got a slap in the face from some\ninvisible hand, and, when she lighted her candle, she saw something\nopaque fall, or jump off the bed. A general officer, a brother of the\nlady, slept there two nights, but preferred going to an hotel rather\nthan remaining a third! He never would say what he heard or saw, but\nalways asserted the room was 'uncanny.' I slept for months in that room\nafterwards and was never in the least disturbed. I never knew what\nnervousness was in my life, and only regret that my astonishment caused\nme to let go the hand before finding out the purpose of the visit.\nWhether it was meant for a warning or not, I may add that the old\ngentleman lived three years and six months afterwards....\"\n\n\n\"I AM SHOT!\"\n\nThe next case is well authenticated, and appeared in the _Proceedings_\nof the Society for Psychical Research (S. P. R.):\n\nAfter some preliminary remarks, the writer proceeds:\n\n\"I awoke and saw standing by my bed, between me and the chest of\ndrawers, a figure, which, in spite of the unwonted dress--unwonted, at\nleast, to me--and of a full, black beard, I at once recognized as that\nof my old brother officer. He had on the usual khaki coat, worn by the\nofficers on service in eastern climates.... His face was pale, but his\nbright black eyes shone as keenly as when, a year and a half before,\nthey had looked upon me as he stood with one foot on the hansom,\nbidding me _adieu_.\n\n\"Fully impressed for the moment that we were stationed together in\nIreland or somewhere, and thinking I was in my barrack-room, I said,\n'Hello, P., am I late for parade?' P. looked at me steadily, and\nreplied, 'I'm shot!'\n\n\"'Shot!' I exclaimed, 'Good God, how and where?'\n\n\"'Through the lungs,' replied P.; and as he spoke his right hand moved\nslowly up to his breast, until the fingers rested over the right lung.\n\n\"'What were you doing?' I asked.\n\n\"'The General sent me forward,' he answered; and the right hand left\nthe breast to move slowly to the front, pointing over my head to the\nwindow, and at the same moment the figure melted away. I rubbed my\neyes, to make sure I was not dreaming, and sprang out of bed. It was\nthen 4.10 a.m. by the clock on my mantelpiece.\n\n\"Two days later news was received that he had been killed at Lang's\nNeck between 11 and 12 o'clock on the night in question.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe following is a nautical story:\n\n\nHEAVE THE LEAD!\n\nIn the year 1664, Captain Thomas Rogers, commander of a ship called the\n_Society_, was bound on a voyage from London to Virginia. The vessel\nbeing sent light to Virginia, for a loading of tobacco, carried little\nfreight in her outward hold.\n\n\"One day when they made an observation, the mates and officers brought\ntheir books and cast up their reckonings with the captain, to see how\nnear they were to the coast of America. They all agreed that they were\na _hundred leagues_ from the capes of Virginia. Upon these customary\nreckonings, and heaving the lead, and finding no ground at a hundred\nfathoms, they set the watch, and the captain turned in.\n\n\"The weather was fine; a moderate gale of wind blew from the coast; so\nthat the ship might have run about twelve or thirteen leagues in the\nnight, after the captain was in his cabin.\n\n\"He fell asleep, and slept very soundly for about three hours, when he\nwoke again, and lay still till he heard his second mate turn out and\nrelieve the watch. He then called his first mate, as he was going off\nwatch, and asked him how all things fared? The mate answered that all\nwas well, though the gale had freshened, and they were running at a\ngreat rate; but it was a fair wind, and a fair, clear night.\n\n\"The captain then went to sleep again.\n\n\"About an hour after, he dreamed that some one had pulled him, and bade\nhim turn out and look abroad. He, however, lay still and went to sleep\nagain; but was suddenly re-awakened. This occurred several times; and,\nthough he knew not what was the reason, yet he found it impossible to\ngo to sleep any more. Still he heard the vision say: 'Turn out and look\nabroad.'\n\n\"The captain lay in this state of uneasiness nearly two hours, until\nfinally he felt compelled to don his great coat and go on deck. All was\nwell; it was a fine, clear night.\n\n\"The men saluted him; and the captain called out: 'How's she heading?'\n\n\"'Southwest by south, sir,' answered the mate; 'fair for the coast, and\nthe wind east by north.'\n\n\"'Very good,' said the captain, and as he was about to return to his\ncabin, _something_ stood by him, and said: 'Heave the lead.'\n\n\"Upon hearing this the captain said to the second mate: 'When did you\nheave the lead? What water had you?'\n\n\"'About an hour ago, sir,' replied the mate; 'sixty fathom.'\n\n\"'Heave again,' the captain commanded.\n\n\"When the lead was cast they had ground at eleven fathoms. This\nsurprised them all; but much more when, at the next cast, it came up\n_seven_ fathoms.\n\n\"Upon this, the captain, in a fright, bid them put the helm alee, and\nabout ship, all hands ordered to back the sails, as is usual in such\ncases.\n\n\"The proper orders being observed, the ship 'stayed' and came about;\nbut before the sails filled, she had but four-fathoms-and-a-half water\nunder her stern. As soon as she filled and stood off, they had seven\nfathoms again, and at the next cast eleven fathoms, and so on to twenty\nfathoms. They then stood off to seaward all the rest of the watch, to\nget into deep water, till daybreak, when, being a clear morning, the\ncapes of Virginia were in fair view under their stern, and but a few\nleagues distant. Had they stood-on but one cable-length further, as\nthey were going, they would have been ashore, and certainly lost their\nship, if not their lives--all through the erroneous reckonings of the\nprevious day. _Who_ or _what_ was it that waked the captain and bade\nhim save the ship? That he has never been able to tell!\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe incident which follows is somewhat similar--though more\ndramatic--being also a nautical story:\n\n\nTHE RESCUE AT SEA\n\nThe following famous narrative is taken from Mr. Robert Dale Owen's\ncollection, printed in his _Footfalls on the Boundary of Another\nWorld_, and _The Debatable Land Between this World and the Next_. It is\nquite a famous case, and is vouched for by Mr. Owen. It is as follows:\n\n\"Mr. Robert Bruce, descended from some branch of the Scottish family of\nthe same name, was born in humble circumstances about the close of the\neighteenth century at Torbay, in the south of England, and there bred\nup to a seafaring life. When about thirty years of age (in the year\n1828), he was first mate on board a barque trading between Liverpool\nand St. John's, New Brunswick.\n\n\"On one of her voyages, bound westward, being then some five or six\nweeks out, and having neared the eastern portion of the Banks of\nNewfoundland, the captain and the mate had been on deck at noon, taking\nan observation of the sun; after which they both descended to calculate\ntheir day's work.\n\n\"The cabin, a small one, was immediately at the stern of the vessel,\nand the short stairway, descending to it, ran athwart-ships.\nImmediately opposite to this stairway, just beyond a small, square\nlanding, was the mate's state room; and from that landing there were\ntwo doors, close to each other--the one opening aft into the cabin,\nthe other fronting the stairway into the stateroom. The desk in the\nstateroom was in the forward part of it, close to the door; so that\nanyone sitting at it, and looking over his shoulder, could see into the\ncabin.\n\n\"The mate, absorbed in his calculation, which did not result as he\nexpected, varying considerably from the 'dead reckoning,' had not\nnoticed the captain's motions. When he had completed his calculations,\nhe cried out, without looking round, 'I make our latitude and longitude\nso-and-so. Can that be right? How is yours, sir?'\n\n\"Receiving no reply he repeated the question, glancing over his\nshoulder and perceiving, as he thought, the captain busy at his slate.\nStill no answer! Thereupon he rose, and, as he fronted the cabin\ndoor, the figure he had mistaken for the captain raised his head and\ndisclosed to the astonished mate the features of an entire stranger.\n\n\"Bruce was no coward, but as he met that fixed gaze, looking directly\nat him in grave silence, and became assured that it was no one whom he\nhad ever seen before, it was too much for him; and, instead of stopping\nto question the seeming intruder, he rushed upon deck in such evident\nalarm that it instantly attracted the captain's attention.\n\n\"'Why, Mr. Bruce,' said the latter, 'what in the world is the matter\nwith you?'\n\n\"'The matter, sir? Who is that at your desk?'\n\n\"'No one that I know of.'\n\n\"'But there _is_, sir, there's a stranger there.'\n\n\"'A stranger? Why, man, you must be dreaming! You must have seen the\nsteward there, or the second mate. Who else would venture down without\norders?'\n\n\"'But, sir, he was sitting in your arm chair, fronting the door,\nwriting on your slate. Then he looked up full in my face; and if ever I\nsaw a man plainly and distinctly in the world I saw him.'\n\n\"'Him! Who?'\n\n\"'Heaven knows, sir; I don't! I saw a man and a man I have never seen\nin my life before.'\n\n\"'You must be going crazy, Mr. Bruce. A stranger, and we nearly six\nweeks out!'\n\n\"The captain descended the stairs, and the mate followed him. Nobody in\nthe cabin! They examined the staterooms. Not a soul could be found.\n\n\"'Well, Mr. Bruce,' said the Captain, 'did not I tell you that you had\nbeen dreaming?'\n\n\"'It's all very well to say so, sir; but if I didn't see that man\nwriting on the slate may I never see home and family again!'\n\n\"'Ah! Writing on the slate. Then it should be there still!' And the\ncaptain took it up. 'By heaven,' he exclaimed, 'here's something sure\nenough! Is that your writing, Mr. Bruce?'\n\n\"The mate took the slate; and there, in plain, legible characters,\nstood the words: 'Steer to the Nor'-west.'\n\n\"The captain sat down at his desk, the slate before him, in deep\nthought. At last turning the slate over, and pushing it toward Bruce,\nhe said: 'Write down: \"Steer to the nor'west.\"'\n\n\"The mate complied; and the captain, comparing the two handwritings,\nsaid: 'Mr. Bruce, go and tell the second mate to come down here.'\n\n\"He came, and at the captain's request, he also wrote the words. So did\nthe steward. So in succession did every man of the crew who could write\nat all. But not one of the various hands resembled, in any degree, the\nmysterious writing.\n\n\"When the crew retired, the captain sat deep in thought. 'Could anyone\nhave been stowed away?' at last he said. 'The ship must be searched.\nOrder up all hands.'\n\n\"Every nook and corner of the vessel was thoroughly searched; not a\nliving soul was found.\n\n\"Accordingly, the captain decided to change the vessel's course\naccording to the instructions received. A look-out was posted; who\nshortly reported an iceberg, and then, shortly after, a vessel close to\nit.\n\n\"As they approached, the captain's glass disclosed the fact that it was\na dismantled ship, apparently frozen to the ice.... It proved to be a\nvessel from Quebec, bound for Liverpool, with passengers on board. She\nhad got entangled in the ice, and finally frozen fast; and had passed\nseveral weeks in a most critical situation. She was stove, her decks\nswept; in fact, a mere wreck; all her provisions and almost all her\nwater gone. Her crew and passengers had lost all hope of being saved,\nand their gratitude at the unexpected rescue was proportionately great.\n\n\"As one of the men who had been brought away in the third boat ascended\nthe ship's side, the mate, catching a glimpse of his face, started back\nin consternation. It was the very face he had seen three or four hours\nbefore, looking up at him from the captain's desk! He communicated this\nfact to the captain.\n\n\"After the comfort of the passengers had been seen to, the captain\nturned to the stranger, and said to him: 'I hope, sir, you will not\nthink I am trifling with you, but I would be much obliged to you if you\nwould write a few words on this slate.' And he handed him the slate,\nwith that side up on which the mysterious writing was not.\n\n\"'I will do anything you ask,' replied the passenger, 'but what shall I\nwrite?'\n\n\"'A few words are all I want. Suppose you write: 'Steer to the\nnor'-west.'\n\n\"The passenger, evidently puzzled to make out the motive of such a\nrequest, complied, however, with a smile. The captain took up the slate\nand examined it closely; then stepping aside so as to conceal the slate\nfrom the passenger, he turned it over and gave it to him the other side\nup.\n\n\"'You say that this is your handwriting?' said he.\n\n\"'I need not say so,' replied the other, looking at it, 'for you saw me\nwrite it.'\n\n\"'And this?' said the captain, turning the slate over.\n\n\"The man looked first at one writing, then at the other, quite\nconfounded. At last: 'What is the meaning of this?' said he. 'I only\nwrote _one_ of these. Who wrote the _other_?'\n\n\"'That's more than I can tell you, sir. My mate here says you wrote it,\nsitting at this desk, at noon to-day!'\n\n\"The captain of the wreck and the passenger looked at each other,\nexchanging glances of intelligence and surprise; then the former asked\nthe latter: 'Did you dream that you wrote on this slate?'\n\n\"'No, sir, not that I remember.'\n\n\"'You speak of dreaming,' said the captain of the barque. 'What was\nthis gentleman about at noon to-day?'\n\n\"'Captain,' rejoined the other, (the captain of the wreck), 'the\nwhole thing is most mysterious and extraordinary; and I had intended\nto speak to you about it as soon as we got a little quiet. This\ngentleman--pointing to the passenger--being much exhausted, fell into\na heavy sleep, or what seemed such, some time before noon. After an\nhour or more, he awoke, and said to me: 'Captain, we shall be relieved\nthis very day.' When I asked him what reason he had for saying so, he\nreplied that he had dreamed that he was on board a barque, and that\nshe was coming to our rescue. He described her appearance and rig,\nand, to our utter astonishment, when your vessel hove in sight, she\ncorresponded exactly to his description of her! We had not put much\nfaith in what he said; yet still we hoped there might be something in\nit, for drowning men, as you know, catch at straws. As it turned out, I\ncannot doubt that it was all arranged by some overruling Providence.'\n\n\"'There is not a doubt,' replied the captain of the barque, 'that the\nwriting on the slate, let it come there as it may, saved all your\nlives. I was steering at the time considerably south of west, and I\naltered my course for the nor'-west, and had a look-out aloft, to\nsee what would come of it. But you say,' he added, turning to the\npassenger, 'that you did not dream of writing on a slate?'\n\n\"'No, sir. I have no recollection whatever of doing so. I got the\nimpression that the barque I saw in my dream was coming to rescue us;\nbut _how_ that impression came I cannot tell. There is another very\nstrange thing about it,' he added. 'Everything here on board seems to\nbe quite familiar; yet I am very sure that I was never in your vessel\nbefore. It is all a puzzle to me! What did your mate see?'\n\n\"Thereupon Mr. Bruce related to them all the circumstances above\ndetailed.\"\n\n\nHOW GHOSTS INFLUENCE US\n\nThe following is a very interesting case, which brings vividly before\nus the fact that ghosts often draw power from those who witness their\nmanifestations--just as they draw vitality from a materializing\n\"medium,\" during a seance. As cases of this character are rare, the\nfollowing is of considerable value:\n\n\"It was an afternoon, last autumn, about six o'clock. I had returned\nfrom a stroll and was sitting in my own apartment on Central Park West,\nreading _Vanity Fair_. While turning over its pages I became suddenly\naware of a novel and indescribable sensation. My chest and breathing\nbecame inwardly oppressed by some ponderous weight, while I became\nconscious of some 'presence' behind me, exerting a powerful influence\non the forces within. On trying to turn my head to see what it could\nbe, I was powerless to do so; neither could I lift a hand, or move in\nany way. I was not a little alarmed, and began immediately to reason.\nMy mind was alive, though physically I was unable to move a muscle.\nIt was as if the current of nerve force within seemed forcibly drawn\ntogether and focussed on a spot in front of me.\n\n\"I gazed motionless, as though with something intenser than ordinary\neyesight, on what was no longer vacant space. There an oval, misty\nlight was forming--elongatory, widening, yes, actually developing\ninto a human face and form. Was this hallucination, or some vision\nof the unseen, coming in so unexpected a fashion? Before me had\narisen a remarkable figure, never seen before in a picture or\nlife--dark-skinned, aged, with white beard, the expression intensely\nearnest, the features small, the bald head finely moulded, lofty over\nthe forehead, the whole demeanor instinct with solemn grace.\n\n\"He was speaking to me in deep tones, as if in urgent entreaty.\nWhat would I not give to hear words from such a figure! But no\neffort availed me to distinguish one articular sound. I tried to\nspeak, but could not. With desperate effort I shook out the words,\n'Speak louder.' The face grew more intent, the voice louder and more\nemphatic. Was there something amiss with my own hearing, then, that\nI could distinguish no word amid these deeply emphasized tones?\nSlowly and deliberately the figure vanished--through the same stages\nof indistinctness, back to the globular lamplike whiteness, till it\nfaded to nothingness. Before it had quite faded away, the face only\nof a woman arose, indistinct and dim. The same emphatic hum, though\nin a subdued note; the same paralysis of voice and muscle, the same\nstrange force, as it was overshadowing me. With the disappearance of\nthis second and far less interesting figure, I recovered my power of\nmovement and arose.\n\n\"My first impulse was to look around for the origin of this strange\nforce; my second to rush to the looking-glass to make sure of myself.\nThere could be no illusion. There I was, paler than usual, the forehead\nbathed in perspiration. I threw open the window. It was no dream. There\nwere the passing trolley cars below, clanging up and down, while a\ncrowd of noisy youngsters were playing in the park across the way. I\nsponged my face, and, greatly agitated, walked hurriedly to and fro.\nIf this is real, I thought, it may recur. I would sit in the same\nposition, try to be calm, read a book, remain as still and passive as I\ncould, and see the result.\n\n\"To my intense interest, and almost at once, the strange sense of some\npower operating on the nerve-forces within, followed by the same loss\nof muscular power, the same wide-awakeness of the reason, the same\ndrawing out and concentrating of the energies on that spot in front,\nrepeated itself--this time more deliberately, leaving me freer to take\nmental notes of what was happening. Again arose the noble, earnest\nfigure, gazing at me, the hands moving in solemn accompaniment to the\ndeep tones of voice. The same effort, painful on my part, to hear, with\nno result. The vision passed. Again the woman's face, insignificant and\nmeaningless, succeeded it as before. She spoke, but in less emphatic\ntones. It flashed upon me that I _would_ hear. After a frantic effort,\nI caught two words--'Land,' 'America'--with positively no clue to their\nmeaning.\n\n\"I was wide awake when the first apparition appeared, and in a highly\nexcited state of mind on its re-appearance.\"\n\n\nHOW A GHOST WARNED THE KING\n\nKings and queens are not exempt from visitations of the supernatural;\nindeed, a large number of royal dignitaries have seen \"ghosts,\" and\nhave been haunted by specters in as unpleasant a manner as any ordinary\nmortal. Were we to hunt through the pages of history, we should find\nmany of these--some of which it will doubtless be of interest to give\nat some future time. The following account is taken from the _Annals\nof the Kingdom of Scotland_, and is told in queer old English, with\nlong 's's,' and so on, making it very hard to read in the original! I\ninterpret it into modern English as best I can, maintaining its form:\n\n\"While James IV. stayed at Linlithgow, to gather up the scattered\nremains of his army, which had been defeated by the Earl of Surrey, at\nFlodden-field, he went into the Church of St. Michael there to hear\nevening prayer. While he was at his devotion, a remarkable figure\nof an ancient man, with flowing amber-colored hair hanging over his\nshoulders, his forehead high, and inclining to baldness, his garments\nof a fine blue color, somewhat long and girded together, with a fine\nwhite cloth, of comely and very reverent aspect, was seen inquiring\nfor the king; when his majesty being pointed out to him he made his\nway through the crowd till he came to him, and then, with a clown's\nsimplicity, leaning over the cannon's feet, he addressed him in the\nfollowing words: 'Sir, I am sent hither to entreat you to delay your\nintended expedition for this time, and proceed no further; for if you\ndo, you will be unfortunate, and not prosper in your enterprise, nor\nany of your followers. I am further charged to warn you, not to follow\nthe acquaintance, company or counsel of women, as you value your life,\nhonour and estate.'\n\n\"After giving him this admonition, he withdrew himself back through the\ncrowd and disappeared.\n\n\"When service was ended, the king enquired earnestly after him, but\nhe could not be found or heard of anywhere, neither could any of the\nbystanders (of whom many narrowly watched him, resolving afterwards\nto have discoursed with him) feel or perceive how, when or where he\npassed from them, having in a manner vanished from their sight.\n\n\"This caused the king to feel some uneasiness; 'for,' said he, 'if he\nwere mortal man, how did he go so quickly hence, and how did he give me\nsuch advice, which I, of all men, know at this time to be of value?'\nThe king was sorely puzzled; and called the warden of the church to\nhim, and questioned him as to the man whom he had seen.\n\n\"And when the warden had heard the tale from the king, he questioned\nhim in turn, as to the man's appearance--whether he was this and that;\nand of the man's manner of speech. And when the king had answered to\nhis satisfaction, he turned pale; and said: 'Oh, king, the personage\nwhom you saw to-day was not mortal man; but one dead long ago; one\nwho lived and died close here; and known to many of us well. He has\nbeen known to come before in times of great stress; and his advice has\nalways been good. Truly, my lord, you have this day seen an apparition\nof a dead man.'\n\n\"And the king marvelled at what he had seen.\"\n\nThus ends the curious old narrative. It will be seen that several\nothers saw the ghost besides the king. These are called \"collective\ncases\" by those engaged in psychical studies; for the reason that\nseveral persons saw the figure at the same time, or \"collectively.\"\nSuch cases have never been satisfactorily explained. For, if the\nphantom were a mere hallucination, as many claim, how did several see\nit at once?\n\n\nTHE STAINS OF BLOOD\n\nThe following narrative was personally related to Robert Dale Owen, by\na clergyman of the Church of England, who was Chaplain, at the time, to\nthe British Legation in Florence. It is as follows:\n\n\"In the year 1856, I was staying with my wife and children, at a\nfavorite watering place. In order to attend to some affairs of my\nown, I determined to leave my family there for three or four days.\nAccordingly, on the 8th of August, I took the railway, and arrived that\nevening an unexpected guest at the Hall--the residence of a gentleman\nwhose acquaintance I had recently made, and with whom my sister was\nthen staying.\n\n\"I arrived late, soon afterwards went to bed, and before long fell\nasleep. Awaking after three or four hours, I was not surprised to find\nthat I could sleep no more--for I never rest well in a strange bed.\nAfter trying, therefore, in vain to induce sleep, I began to arrange\nmy plans for the day. I had been engaged some little time in this way,\nwhen I became suddenly sensitive to the fact that there was a light in\nthe room. Turning round, I distinctly perceived a female figure; and\nwhat attracted my special attention was that the light by which I saw\nit emanated from itself. I watched the figure attentively. The features\nwere not perceptible. After moving a little distance, it disappeared as\nsuddenly as it had appeared.\n\n\"My first thoughts were that there was some trick. I immediately got\nout of bed, struck a light, and found my bedroom door still locked. I\nthen carefully examined the walls, to ascertain if there was any other\nconcealed means of entrance or exit, but none could I find. I drew the\ncurtains and opened the shutters, but all outside was silent and dark,\nthere being no moonlight. After examining the room in every part, I\nwent back to bed, and began thinking calmly over the whole matter. What\nhad I seen? And why did _It appear_?\n\n\"In the morning, as soon as I was up and dressed, I told my sister what\nI had seen. She then informed me that the house had the reputation of\nbeing 'haunted'; and that a murder had been committed in it; but not\nin the room in which I had slept. Later in the day I left--after making\nmy sister promise to do all she could to unravel the mystery.\n\n\"On the following Wednesday morning, I received a letter from my\nsister, in which she informed me that, since I left, she had made\ninquiries and had ascertained that the murder _was_ committed in the\nvery room in which I slept! She added that she proposed visiting us the\nnext day, and that she would like me to write out an account of what I\nhad seen--together with a plan of the room, and that on that plan she\nwished me to mark the place of the appearance and disappearance of the\nfigure.\n\n\"This I immediately did; and the next day when my sister arrived, she\nasked me if I had complied with her request? I replied, pointing to the\ndrawing room table: 'Yes, there is the account and the plan.'\n\n\"As she rose to examine it, I prevented her, saying: 'Do not look\nat it until you have told me all you have to say, because you might\nunintentionally color your story by what you may read there.'\n\n\"Thereupon she informed me that she had had the carpet taken up in the\nroom I had occupied, and that the marks of blood from the murdered\nperson were there, plainly visible, on a particular part of the floor.\nAt my request she also then drew a plan of the room, and marked upon it\nthe spots which still bore traces of blood. The two plans--my sister's\nand mine--were now compared; and we verified the most remarkable fact\nthat _the place she had marked as the beginning and ending of the\ntraces of blood coincided exactly with the spots marked on my plan as\nthose on which the female figure had appeared and disappeared_!\"\n\n\nFACE TO FACE!\n\nThe following case is recorded by the wife of Colonel Lewin, and is\nreported in the _Proceedings_ of the S. P. R.:\n\n\"In January, 1868, I took a house close to Hastings.... One night\nthere was a heavy storm, the weather was bitterly cold, and a fire was\nburning in my bedroom when I went to bed at 10.30. I tried to go to\nsleep, but it was no use; the noise of the wind and the rain kept me\nawake. I must have been lying like this for a couple of hours when I\nbecame conscious of what seemed like a light in the room.... I thought\nthe fire must have re-kindled itself, and crawled along on my knees\non the bed to look at the fire over the high wooden foot, to see how\nthis might be. I had no thought of anything but the fire, and was not\nnervous in the slightest degree. As I raised myself on my knees and\nlooked over the foot of the bed, I found myself face to face, at a\ndistance of about three feet, with the semblance of a man. I never for\na moment thought he was a man, but was struck with the feeling that\nthis was one from the dead.\n\n\"The light seemed to emanate from round this figure, but the only\nportions which I saw clearly were the head and shoulders. The face I\nshall never forget; it was pale, emaciated, with a thin, high-bridged\nnose, and eyes deeply sunk and glowing in the sockets with a sort of\nglare. A long beard was seemingly rolled in under a white comforter,\nand on the head was a slouched felt hat. I had a nervous shock, and\nfelt a dead person was looking upon _me_--a living one, but had no\nsensation of being actually frightened, until the figure moved slowly\nas if interposing between me and the door, then horror overcame me and\nI fell back in a dead faint. How long I remained unconscious I know\nnot, but I came to myself cold and cramped; the room was quite dark and\nnothing was visible. Thoroughly tired out, I got into bed, and slept\nsoundly until morning.\"\n\n\nJULIA, DARLING!\n\nThe next example is from the _Proceedings_ of the S. P. R. (Vol. V.,\npp. 440-41), and Mr. Myers states that the writer was well known to\nhim. The account reads in part:\n\n\"My mother died on the 24th of June, 1874, at Slima, Malta, where we\nwere then residing for her health. Seven nights later she appeared\nto me.... I seemed to have been sleeping some time when I woke, and,\nturning over on the other side towards the window, saw my mother\nstanding by my bedside, crying and wringing her hands. I had not\nbeen awake long enough to remember that she was dead, and exclaimed\nquite naturally, 'Why, dear, what's the matter?' and then suddenly\nremembering, I screamed. The nurse sprang up from the next room, but\non the top step flung herself on her knees and began to tell her beads\nand cry. My father at the same moment arrived at the opposite door, and\nI heard his sudden exclamation of 'Julia, darling.' My mother turned\ntowards him, and then to me, and, wringing her hands again, retreated\ntowards the nursery and was lost. The nurse afterwards stated that she\ndistinctly felt something pass her.... My father ordered her out of the\nroom, and telling me that I had only been dreaming, stayed until I\nfell asleep. The next day, however, he told me that he, too, had seen\nthe vision, and that he hoped to do so again, and that if ever she came\nto see me ... I was not to be frightened ... but she never appeared\nagain.\"\n\n\nTHE CUT ACROSS THE CHEEK\n\nIn the narrative which follows, the apparition conveyed--by its very\nappearance--information which the percipient could not possibly have\nknown. It is from Mr. H. Walton, of Dent, Sedburgh, England, and was\nsent to Mr. Stead, who published it:\n\n\"In the month of April, 1881, I was located in Norfolk, and my duties\ntook me once a fortnight to a fishing village on the coast--so I can\nguarantee the following facts: It is customary for the fishing smacks\nto go to Grimsby 'line fishing' in the spring. The vessels started one\nafternoon on their journey north. In the evening, a heavy north-east\nwind blew, and one of the boats mistook the white surf on the rocks\nfor the reflection of a lighthouse. In consequence the boat got into\nshallow water, a heavy sea came, and swept two men from the deck. One\nman grasped a rope and was saved; the other, a younger man, failed to\nsave himself, though an expert swimmer. It was said that he was heard\nto shout about 11 o'clock.\n\n\"Towards one o'clock, the young man's mother, lying awake, saw his\napparition come to the foot of the bed, clad in white, and she screamed\nwith fright, and told her husband what she had seen, and that J. was\ndrowned. He sought in vain to calm her by saying that she must have\nbeen dreaming. She asserted the contrary. Next day, when her daughter\ncame in with the telegram of the sad event, before her daughter had\ntime to speak, she cried out: 'J. is drowned,' and became unconscious;\nshe remained in this state for many hours. When she regained\nconsciousness, she told them particularly and distinctly what she had\nseen; and what is to the point is this remarkable thing: she said: 'If\never the body is found, it has a cut across the cheek,'--specifying\nwhich cheek. The body was found some days after, and exactly as mother\nhad seen it, was the cut on the cheek.\"\n\n\nTHE INVISIBLE HAND\n\nThe following account was sent to the S. P. R. Ghosts are usually\n_seen_; they are sometimes heard; they are very rarely _felt_. The\naccount which follows is an example of the latter class, in which the\nghost was not only seen but touched.\n\nAfter stating that she was visiting a friend of hers in the country,\nwhen the event occurred, the narrator proceeds:\n\n\"We went upstairs together, I being perhaps a couple of steps behind my\nfriend, when, on reaching the topmost step, I felt something suddenly\nslip behind me from an unoccupied room on the left of the stairs.\nThinking it must be imagination, no one being in the house except the\nwidow and servant, who occupied rooms on another landing, I did not\nspeak to my friend, who turned off to a room on the right, but walked\nquickly into my room, which faced the staircase, still feeling as\nthough a tall figure was bending over me. I turned on the gas, struck a\nlight, and was in the act of applying it, when I felt a heavy grasp on\nmy arm of a hand, minus the middle finger. Upon this I uttered a loud\ncry, which brought my friend, the widow lady, and the servant girl,\ninto the room to inquire the cause of my alarm. The two latter turned\nvery pale on hearing the story. The house was thoroughly searched, but\nnothing was discovered.\n\n\"Some weeks passed, and I had ceased to be alarmed at the occurrence,\nwhen I chanced to mention it whilst spending the afternoon with some\nfriends. A gentleman asked me if I had ever heard a description or\nseen a 'carte' of the lady's late husband. On receiving a reply in the\nnegative, he said, singularly enough, he was tall, had a slight stoop,\nand has lost the middle finger on his hand! On my return, I inquired of\nthe servant, who had been in the family from childhood, if such were\nthe case, and learned that it was quite correct, and that she (the\ngirl) had once, when sleeping in the same room, awakened on feeling\nsome one pressing down her knees, and on opening her eyes saw her late\nmaster by the bed side--on which she fainted, and had never dared to\nenter the room after dark since. She is not an imaginative girl; nor am\nI. When I was grasped, however, _I_ did not _see_ anything.\n\n\"But worse was to follow! It so chanced that I had to sleep in that\nroom once again, as the house was full of company, and there was\nnowhere else for me to go. I had by this time got over my fears, and\nhardly minded the idea of sleeping in the room at all. I left the room\ndoor open, turned out the light and was soon sound asleep.\n\n\"Some time in the early hours of the morning I awoke with an\nindescribable feeling. I was _suddenly_ wide awake--without the\nslightest traces of sleep; yet I did not know _how_ I awoke; and had\nnot any recollection of waking. But there I was wide awake, and staring\nup at the ceiling with wide-open eyes. My right hand was hanging over\nthe side of the bed; so that it fell outwards, into the room. Imagine\nmy horror, then, in feeling a hand suddenly grasp my hand, and I felt\ndistinctly that it was _minus the middle finger_. The hand was icy\ncold, and of a peculiar hardness. I hung on to the hand, however,\ndetermined to go to the bottom of the affair. I gripped tightly; and\nstill retained the hand in my grip. Bending over, I stretched out my\nleft hand, and, with the fingers of that hand, felt over the hand and\nwrist I was holding. I then commenced to trace it up the arm. I had\nabout reached the elbow--or a little below--when the arm suddenly\nended--came to nothing; was no more! Yet the hand in mine was as\nsolid as ever. This gave me such a shock that I let go the hand I was\nholding, and sank back onto my pillows. Then terror took possession of\nme; and I do not know what happened later. I only know that I had brain\nfever, which laid me low for several weeks. The occurrence has never\nbeen explained.\"\n\n\nTHE APPARITION OF THE RADIANT BOY\n\nThe following is a famous case, well-known as the \"Apparition of the\nRadiant Boy.\" It was seen by the Marquis of Londonderry, and frequently\nspoken of by him afterwards.\n\nAt the time of the appearance, Lord Londonderry was on a visit to a\nfriend in the North of Ireland. The apartment assigned to him was one\ncalculated to foster the belief in ghosts, because of its richly carved\npaneling--its huge fireplace, looking like the open entrance into a\ntomb--and the vast, ponderous draperies that hung in thick folds around\nthe room.\n\nLord Londonderry examined his chamber; he made himself acquainted with\nthe forms and faces of the ancient possessors of the mansion, whose\nportraits hung around the room. Then, after dismissing his valet, he\nretired to bed.\n\nHis candles had not long been extinguished when he perceived a light\ngleaming on the draperies of the lofty canopies over his head.\nConscious that there was no fire in the grate--that the curtains were\nclosed--that the chamber had been in perfect darkness but a few minutes\nbefore, he supposed that some intruder must have accidentally entered\nhis apartment; and, turning hastily around to the side from which the\nlight proceeded, saw, to his infinite astonishment, not the form of a\nhuman visitor, but the figure of a fair boy, who seemed to be garmented\nin rays of mild and tempered glory, which beamed palely from his\nslender form, like the faint light of the declining moon and rendered\nthe objects nearest to him dimly and indistinctly visible. The spirit\nstood but a short distance from the side of the bed.\n\nCertain that his own faculties were not deceiving him, Lord Londonderry\ngot up and moved towards the figure. It retreated before him; as he\nslowly advanced, and with equal pace, slowly retired. It entered the\ngloomy arch of the capacious chimney, and then sank into the earth.\nLord Londonderry returned to his bed, but not to rest; his mind was\nharassed by the consideration of the extraordinary event which had\noccurred to him. Was it real? Was it the work of imagination? Was it\nthe result of imposture? It was all incomprehensible.\n\nHe resolved in the morning not to mention the appearance till he should\nhave well observed the manners and countenances of the family; he was\nconscious that, if any deception had been practised, its authors would\nbe too delighted with their success to conceal the vanity of their\ntriumph.\n\nWhen the guests assembled at the breakfast table, the eye of Lord\nLondonderry searched in vain for latent smiles--those conscious\nlooks--that silent communication between the parties, by which\nthe authors of such domestic conspiracies are generally betrayed.\nEverything, apparently, proceeded in its ordinary course. At last the\nhero of the tale felt bound to mention the occurrence of the night.\n\nAt its conclusion, his host said: \"The circumstances which you have\njust recounted appear very extraordinary to those who have not long\nbeen inmates of my dwelling; and are not conversant with the legends\nof my family; and to those who are, the event which has happened will\nonly serve as the corroboration of an old tradition that has long been\nrelated of the apartment in which you slept. You have seen the 'Radiant\nBoy'; be content--it is an omen of prosperous fortunes. I would rather\nthat this subject should not be mentioned.\" And here the affair ended.\n\n\nFISHER'S GHOST\n\nThe following incident comes from Australia, and is well-known in that\npart of the world. It is usually known as \"Fisher's Ghost,\" and is to\nthe following effect:\n\n\"A number of years ago, a free settler, named John Fisher, who had\nlong successfully cultivated a grant of land in a remote district, and\nwho was known to be possessed of a considerable sum of money, had been\nmissing for some time after having visited the nearest market town,\nwhither he had been in the habit of repairing with cattle and produce\nfor sale.\n\n\"An inquiry was instituted by his acquaintances; but his head servant,\nor rather his assistant on the farm--an ex-convict, who had lived many\nyears with him in that situation--declared that his master had left the\ncolony for some time on business, and that he expected him to return in\na few months. As this man was generally known as Fisher's confidential\nservant, his assertion was believed--though some expressed surprise\nat the settler's abrupt and clandestine departure; for his character\nwas good in every way. The 'month's wonder' soon subsided, however,\nand Fisher was forgotten. His assistant, meanwhile, managed the farm,\nbought and sold, and spent money freely. If questioned, which was\nbut rarely, he would express his surprise at his master's delay, and\npretend to expect him daily.\n\n\"A few months after he had been first missed, a neighbouring settler,\nwho was returning late on Saturday night from the market town, had\noccasion to pass within half a mile of Fisher's house. As he was riding\nby the fence which separated the farm from the high road, he distinctly\nsaw the figure of a man seated on the railing, and at once recognized\nthe form and features of his lost neighbor.\n\n\"He instantly stopped and called to him by name; but the figure\ndescended from the railing, and pointing appealingly toward the house,\nwalked slowly across the field in that direction. The settler, having\nlost sight of him in the gloom, proceeded on his journey, and informed\nhis family and neighbors that he had seen Fisher and spoken to him.\nOn inquiry, however, Fisher's assistant said that he had not arrived,\nand affected to laugh at the settler's story--insinuating that he had\nprobably drunk too freely at the market.\n\n\"The neighbors were, however, not satisfied. The strange appearance of\nFisher, sitting on the rail and pointing, with so much meaning, toward\nhis own house aroused their suspicions, and they insisted upon a strict\nand immediate investigation by the police.\n\n\"The party of investigators took with them an old and clever native.\nThey had not proceeded far in the underbrush when they discovered a\nlog, on which was a dark brown stain. This the native examined, and\nat once declared it to be '_white man's blood_.' He then, without\nhesitation, set off at a full run, toward a pond not far from the house.\n\n\"He ran backwards and forwards about the pond, like a dog on the scent;\nand finally, borrowing a ram-rod from one of the settlers, ran it into\nthe earth. He did this in one or two places; and finally said: '_White\nman here._'\n\n\"The spot was immediately dug up, and a corpse, identified as that of\nFisher, was discovered, its skull fractured, and evidently many weeks\nburied.\n\n\"The guilty assistant was immediately arrested, and tried at Sydney, on\ncircumstantial evidence alone--strong enough, however, to convict him,\nin spite of his self-possession, and protestations of innocence. He\nwas sentenced to death; and, previous to his execution, made an ample\nconfession of his guilt.\"\n\n\nHARRIET HOSMER'S VISION\n\nLydia Maria Child relates the following interesting narrative:\n\n\"When Harriet Hosmer, the sculptor, visited her native country a few\nyears ago, I had an interview with her, during which our conversation\nhappened to turn on dreams and visions.\n\n\"'I have had some experience in that way,' said she. 'Let me tell\nyou a singular circumstance that happened to me in Rome. An Italian\ngirl named Rosa was in my employ for a long time, but was finally\nobliged to return to her mother on account of confirmed ill-health. We\nwere mutually sorry to part, for we liked each other. When I took my\ncustomary exercise on horseback, I frequently called to see her. On one\nof these occasions, I found her brighter than I had seen her for some\ntime past. I had long relinquished hopes of her recovery, but there was\nnothing in her appearance that gave the appearance of immediate danger.\nI left her with the expectation of calling to see her again many times.\nDuring the remainder of the day, I was busy in my studio, and I do not\nrecollect that Rosa was in my thoughts after I had parted from her. I\nretired to rest in good health, and in a quiet frame of mind. But I\nwoke from a sound sleep with the oppressive feeling that someone was in\nthe room. I wondered at the sensation, for it was entirely new to me;\nbut in vain I tried to dispel it. I peered beyond the curtains of my\nbed but could distinguish no objects in the darkness. Trying to gather\nmy thoughts I reflected that the door was locked, and that I had put\nthe key under my bolster. I felt for it and found it where I had placed\nit. I said to myself that I had probably had some ugly dream, and had\nwaked with a vague impression of it still on my mind. Reasoning thus, I\narranged myself comfortably for another nap.\n\n\"'I am habitually a good sleeper and a stranger to fear, but do what I\nwould, the idea still haunted me that someone was in the room. Finding\nit impossible to sleep, I longed for daylight to dawn, that I might\nrise and pursue my customary avocation. It was not long before I was\nable dimly to distinguish the furniture in my room, and, soon after,\nto hear familiar noises of servants opening windows and doors. An old\nclock with ringing vibration, proclaimed the hour. I counted one,\ntwo, three, four, five, and resolved to rise immediately. My bed was\npartially screened by a long curtain looped up at one side. As I raised\nmy head from the pillow, Rosa looked inside the curtain, and smiled at\nme. The idea of anything supernatural did not occur to me. I was simply\nsurprised and exclaimed: \"Why, Rosa! How came you here when you are so\nill?\"\n\n\"'In the old familiar tone to which I was so much accustomed, a voice\nreplied, \"I am well now.\"\n\n\"'With no other thought but that of greeting her joyfully, I sprang out\nof bed. There was no Rosa there! When I became convinced that there was\nno one in the room but myself, I recollected the fact that my door was\nlocked, and thought I must have seen a vision.\n\n\"'At the breakfast table, I said to the old lady with whom I boarded:\n\"Rosa is dead.\" I then summoned a messenger and sent him to inquire how\nRosa was. He returned with the answer that she died that morning at 5\no'clock.'\n\n\"I wrote the story as Miss Hosmer told it to me, and after I had shown\nit to her, I asked her if she had any objection to its being published\nwithout suppression of names. She replied: 'You have reported the story\nof Rosa correctly. Make what use you please of it. You cannot think it\nmore interesting or unaccountable than I do myself.'\"\n\n\nTHE APPARITION OF THE MURDERED BOY\n\nAt the commencement of the French Revolution, Lady Pennyman and her\ntwo daughters and her friend, Mrs. Atkins, retired to Lisle, where\nthey had hired a large and handsome house. A few weeks after taking\npossession, the housekeeper, with many apologies for being obliged to\nmention anything that might appear so idle and absurd, came to the\napartment in which her mistress was sitting, and said that two of\nthe servants who had accompanied her ladyship from England had that\nmorning given warning, and expressed a determination of quitting her\nladyship's service, on account of the mysterious noises by which they\nhad been night after night disturbed and terrified. The room from which\nthe sounds were supposed to have proceeded was at a distance from Lady\nPennyman's apartments, and immediately over those that were occupied by\nthe servants. To quiet the alarm Lady Pennyman resolved on leaving her\nown chamber for a time and establishing herself in the one which had\nbeen lately occupied by the domestics.\n\nThe room above was a long, spacious one, which appeared to have been\nfor a long time deserted. In the center of the chamber was a large iron\ncage. It was said that the late proprietor of the house--a young man of\nenormous wealth--had in his minority been confined in this cage by his\nuncle and guardian and starved to death.\n\nOn the first night or two of Lady Pennyman's being established in her\nnew apartment, she met with no interruption. This quiet, however, was\nof very short duration. One night she was awakened from her sleep by a\nslow and heavy step pacing the chamber overhead. It continued to move\nbackwards and forwards for nearly an hour. There were more complaints\nfrom the housekeeper, no servants would remain. Lady Pennyman began\nherself to be alarmed. She requested the advice of Mrs. Atkins--a woman\ndevoid of every kind of superstitious fear, and of tried courage. Mrs.\nAtkins determined to make the Cage room itself her sleeping quarters.\nA bed was accordingly placed in the apartment, and Mrs. Atkins retired\nto rest attended by her favorite spaniel--saying, as she bade them all\ngood-night, \"I and my dog are able to compete with a myriad of ghosts.\"\n\nMrs. Atkins examined the chamber in every imaginable direction; she\nsounded every panel of the wainscot to prove there was no hollowness\nthat might argue a concealed passage; and having securely bolted the\ndoor of the room, retired to rest, confident that she was secure\nagainst every material visitor, and totally incredulous of the airy\nencroachments of spiritual beings. She had only been asleep a few\nminutes, when her dog, which lay by her bedside, leaped, howling and\nterrified, on the bed. The bolted door of the chamber slowly opened and\na pale, thin, sickly youth came in, cast his eyes mildly toward her,\nwalked up to the iron cage in the middle of the room, and then leaned\nin the melancholy attitude of one revolving in his mind the sorrows of\na cheerless and unblest existence. After a while he again withdrew, and\nretired by the way he entered.\n\nMrs. Atkins, on witnessing his departure, felt the return of her\nresolution. She persuaded herself to believe the figure the work of\nsome skillful imposter, and she determined on following its footsteps.\nShe took up her lamp and hastened to the door. To her infinite\nsurprise, she discovered it to be fastened, as she had herself left it\non retiring to bed. On withdrawing the bolt, and opening the door, she\nsaw the back of the youth descending the staircase. She followed till,\non reaching the foot of the stairs, the form seemed to sink into the\nearth.\n\nThe event was related to Lady Pennyman. She determined to remain no\nlonger in her present habitation. Another residence was offered in the\nvicinity of Lisle, and this she took under the pretext that it was\nbetter suited to the size of her family.\n\n\nTHE GHOST IN YELLOW CALICO\n\nThe Rev. Elwyn Thomas, 35, Park Village East, N. W., London, has\npublished a very remarkable experience of his own. It is as follows:\n\n\"Twelve years ago,\" says the doctor, \"I was the second minister of\nthe Bryn Mawr Welsh Wesleyan Circuit, in the South Wales District. It\nwas a beautiful evening in June when, after conducting the service\nat Llanyndir, I told the gentlemen with whom I generally stayed when\npreaching there, that three young friends had come to meet me from\nCrickhowell, and that I meant to accompany them back for about half a\nmile on their return journey, so would not be home before nine o'clock.\n\n\"When I wished good-night to my friends it was about twenty minutes\nto nine but still light enough to see a good distance. The subject\nof our conversation all the way from the chapel until we parted\nwas of a certain eccentric old character who then belonged to the\nCrickhowell church. I walked a little further down the road than I\nintended in order to hear the end of a very amusing story about him.\nOur conversation had no reference whatever to ghosts. Personally I was\na strong disbeliever in ghosts and invariably ridiculed anyone whom I\nthought superstitious enough to believe in them.\n\n\"When I had walked about a hundred yards away from my friends, after\nparting from them, I saw on the bank of the canal, what I thought at\nthe moment was an old beggar. I couldn't help asking myself where this\nold man had come from. I had not seen him in going down the road. I\nturned round quite unconcernedly to have another look at him, and had\nno sooner done so than I saw, within half a yard of me one of the\nmost remarkable and startling sights I hope it will ever be my lot to\nsee. Almost on a level with my own face, I saw that of an old man,\nover every feature of which the putty colored skin was drawn tightly,\nexcept the forehead which was lined with deep wrinkles. The lips were\nextremely thin and appeared perfectly bloodless. The toothless mouth\nstood half open. The cheeks were hollow and sunken like those of a\ncorpse, and the eyes which seemed far back in the middle of the head,\nwere unnaturally luminous and piercing. The terrible object was wrapped\nin two bands of old yellow calico, one of which was drawn under the\nchin, and over the cheeks and tied at the top of the head, the other\nwas drawn round the top of the wrinkled forehead and fastened at the\nback of the head. So deep and indelible an impression it made on my\nmind, that, were I an artist, I could paint that face to-day.\n\n\"What I have thus tried to describe in many words, I saw at a glance.\nActing on the impulse of the moment, I turned my face toward the\nvillage and ran away from the horrible vision with all my might for\nabout sixty yards. I then stopped and turned around to see how far I\nhad distanced it, and to my unspeakable horror, there it was still face\nto face with me as if I had not moved an inch. I grasped my umbrella\nand raised it to strike him, and you can imagine my feelings when I\ncould see nothing between the face and the ground, except an irregular\ncolumn of intense darkness, through which my umbrella passed as a stick\ngoes through water!\n\n\"I am sorry to say that I took to my heels with increasing speed. A\nlittle further than the space of this second encounter, the road which\nled to my host's house branched off the main road. Having gone two or\nthree yards down this branch road, I turned around again. He had not\nfollowed me after I left the main road, but I could see the horribly\nfascinating face quite as plainly as when it was close by. It stood\nfor a few minutes looking intently at me from the center of the main\nroad. I then realized fully that it was not a human being in flesh and\nblood; and, with every vestige of fear gone, I quickly walked toward\nit to put my questions. But I was disappointed, for, no sooner had I\nmade toward it, than it began to move slowly down the road keeping the\nsame distance above it until it reached the churchyard wall; it then\ncrossed the road and disappeared near where the yew tree stood inside.\nThe moment it disappeared, I became unconscious. Two hours later I came\nto myself and I made my way slowly to my home. I could not say a word\nto explain what had happened, though I tried several times. It was five\no'clock in the morning when I regained my power of speech. The whole of\nthe following week I was laid up with a nervous prostration.\n\n\"My host, after questioning me closely, told me that fifteen years\nbefore that time an old recluse of eccentric character, answering\nin every detail to my description (yellow calicoes, bands, and all)\nlived in a house whose ruins still stand close by where I saw the face\ndisappear.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n\nMORE PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD--II.\n\nThe cases included in this chapter are also very well\nauthenticated--some of them being longer and more detailed than those\nincluded in the last chapter. I shall begin with a group of so-called\n\"Pact\" Cases--cases, that is, in which a Pact or Agreement was made\nbefore death--to appear after death, if possible; when that promise\nseems to have been kept. The first case of this character is short, and\nmerely illustrative of the kind of ghostly phenomena to be expected\nin cases of this nature. The latter cases are better attested. I give\nfirst the case of the Marquis of Rambouillet.\n\n\nCOMPACTS TO APPEAR AFTER DEATH\n\nThe story of the Marquis of Rambouillet's appearing after his death\nto his cousin, the Marquis de Precy, is well authenticated. These two\nnoblemen, talking one day concerning the affairs of the next world, in\na manner which showed they did not believe much about it, entered into\nan agreement that the first who died should come and give intelligence\nto the other.\n\nSoon afterwards the Marquis of Rambouillet set out for Flanders, which\nwas then the seat of war, and the Marquis de Precy remained in Paris,\nbeing ill of a violent fever. About six weeks after, early one morning,\nhe heard someone draw the curtains of his bed, and turning to see who\nit was, discovered the Marquis of Rambouillet in a buff coat and boots.\nHe instantly got out of bed, and attempted to shake hands with his\nfriend, but Rambouillet drew back, and told him he had only come to\nperform the promise he had formerly made; that nothing was more certain\nthan another life; and that he earnestly advised him to alter his mode\nof life, for in the first battle he would be engaged in, he would\ncertainly fall.\n\nPrecy made a fresh attempt to touch his friend, but he immediately\nwithdrew. Precy lay upon his bed wondering upon the strangeness of the\ncircumstances for some time, when he saw the same appearance re-enter\nthe apartment. Rambouillet, finding that Precy still disbelieved what\nhe was told, showed him the wound of which he had died, and from which\nthe blood still seemed to flow.\n\nSoon after this, Precy received a confirmation of Rambouillet's death,\nand was killed himself, according to the prediction, in the civil wars,\nat the battle of Faubourg St. Antoine.\n\n\nLORD BROUGHAM'S VISION\n\nThe promise to appear was given and kept in the case of the apparition\nseen by Lord Brougham.\n\nThe story is given as follows in the first volume of \"Lord Brougham's\nMemoirs\":\n\n\"A most remarkable thing happened to me, so remarkable that I must\ntell the story from the beginning. After I left the High School I went\nwith G----, my most intimate friend, to attend the classes in the\nUniversity. There was no divinity class, but we frequently in our walks\ndiscussed many grave subjects--among others the immortality of the soul\nand a future state. This question, and the possibility of the dead\nappearing to the living, were the subject of much speculation, and we\nactually committed the folly of drawing up an agreement, written with\nour blood, to the effect that whichever of us died the first should\nappear to the other, and thus solve any doubts we had entertained of\nthe 'life after death.' After we had finished our classes at the\nCollege, G---- went to India, having got an appointment there in the\nCivil Service. He seldom wrote to me, and after a lapse of a few years\nI had nearly forgotten his existence.... One day I had taken, as I have\nsaid, a warm bath, and, while lying in it and enjoying the comfort of\nthe heat, I turned my head round, looking towards the chair on which\nI had deposited my clothes, as I was about to get out of the bath. On\nthe chair sat G----, looking calmly at me! How I got out of the bath\nI know not; but on recovering my senses, I found myself sprawling\non the floor. The apparition, or whatever it was that had taken the\nlikeness of G----, had disappeared. This vision had produced such a\nshock that I had no inclination to talk about it, or to speak about it\neven to Stewart, but the impression it made upon me was too vivid to\nbe easily forgotten, and so strongly was I affected by it that I have\nhere written down the whole history, with the date, December 19th, and\nall the particulars, as they are now fresh before me. No doubt I had\nfallen asleep, and that the apparition presented so distinctly before\nmy eyes was a dream I cannot for a moment doubt; yet for years I had\nhad no communication with G----, nor had there been anything to recall\nhim to my recollection. Nothing had taken place concerning our Swedish\ntravels connected with G----, or with India, or with anything relating\nto him, or to any member of his family. I recollected quickly enough\nour old discussion, and the bargain we had made. I could not discharge\nfrom my mind the impression that G---- must have died, and that his\nappearance to me was to be received by me as a proof of a future state.\nThis was on December 19th, 1799.\"\n\nIn October, 1862, Lord Brougham added as a Postscript:\n\n\"I have just been copying out from my Journal the account of this\nstrange dream. _Certissima mortis imago!_ And now to finish the story\nbegun about sixty years ago: Soon after my return to Edinborough there\narrived a letter from India announcing G----'s death, and stating that\nhe died on December 19th.\"\n\nLord Brougham attempts to account for this vision by stating that it\nwas probably a dream. But this is negatived by the fact that he was so\nstartled by it as to scramble out of the bath in a great hurry--which\nwould not be at all likely had it been a dream--for, as we know,\nnothing surprises us in dreams, or seems unlikely. And even granting\nthat it were a dream, we still have the _coincidence_ to account for.\n_Why_ should Lord Brougham have dreamed this particular dream at the\nvery moment his friend died? That fact has yet to be accounted for.\n\n\nTHE TYRONE GHOST\n\nThis is also known as the Beresford Ghost, and is one of the most\nfamous cases of its kind on record. The account, as herein given, is\nthat supplied by the granddaughter of Lady Beresford, to whom the\nexperience came; and hence may be considered as accurate as it can\nbe made. It furnishes us with a definite example of a \"ghost that\ntouches,\" and leaves a permanent mark of its visit, ever afterwards.\nHere is the account:\n\n\"In the month of October, 1693, Sir Tristram and Lady Beresford went\non a visit to her sister, Lady Macgill, at Gill Hall, now the seat of\nLord Clanwilliam.... One morning Sir Tristram arose early, leaving Lady\nBeresford asleep, and went out for a walk before breakfast. When his\nwife joined the table very late, her appearance and the embarrassment\nof her manner attracted general attention, especially that of her\nhusband. He made anxious inquiries as to her health, and asked her\napart what had happened to her wrist, which was tied up with black\nribbon tightly bound round it. She earnestly entreated him not to\ninquire more then, or thereafter, as to the cause of her wearing or\ncontinuing afterwards to wear that ribbon; 'for,' she added, 'you will\nnever see me without it.' He replied: 'Since you urge it so vehemently,\nI promise you not to inquire more about it.'\n\n\"After completing her hurried breakfast, she made inquiries as to\nwhether the post had yet arrived. It had not yet come in, and Sir\nTristram asked: 'Why are you so particularly eager about letters\nto-day?' 'Because I expect to hear of Lord Tyrone's death, which took\nplace on Tuesday.' 'Well,' remarked Sir Tristram, 'I never put you\ndown for a superstitious person, but I suppose that some idle dream\nhas disturbed you.' Shortly after, the servant brought in the letters;\none was sealed with black wax. 'It is as I expected,' she cried, 'he\nis dead.' The letter was from Lord Tyrone's steward to inform them\nthat his master had died in Dublin, on Tuesday, 14 October, at 4 p.m.\nSir Tristram endeavored to console her, and begged her to restrain her\ngrief, when she assured him that she felt relieved and easier, now\nthat she knew the actual fact. She added, 'I can now give you a most\nsatisfactory piece of intelligence, _viz._, that I am with child, and\nthat it will be a boy.' A son was born the following July.\n\n\"On her forty-seventh birthday, Lady Beresford summoned her children\nto her side, and said to them: 'I have something of deep importance\nto communicate to you, my dear children, before I die. You are no\nstrangers to the intimacy and affection which subsisted in early life\nbetween Lord Tyrone and myself.... We had made a solemn promise to\none another, that whichever died first should, if permitted, appear\nto the other.... One night, years after this interchange of promises,\nI was sleeping with your father at Gill Hall, when I suddenly awoke\nand discovered Lord Tyrone sitting visibly by the side of the bed. I\nscreamed out and vainly tried to arouse Sir Tristram. \"Tell me,\" I\nsaid, \"Lord Tyrone, why and wherefore are you here at this time of the\nnight?\" \"Have you then forgotten our promises to each other, pledged\nin early life? I died on Tuesday, at 4 o'clock. I have been permitted\nthus to appear.... I am also suffered to inform you that you are with\nchild, and will produce a son, who will marry an heiress; that Sir\nTristram will not live long, that you will marry again, and you will\ndie in your forty-seventh year.\" I begged from him some convincing sign\nor proof so that when the morning came I might rely upon it, and that\nit was not the phantom of my imagination. He caused the hangings of\nthe bed to be drawn in an unusual way and impossible manner through\nan iron hook. I still was not satisfied, when he wrote his signature\nin my pocketbook. I wanted, however, more substantial proof of his\nvisit, when he laid his hand, which was cold as marble, on my wrist;\nthe sinews shrunk up, the nerves withered at the touch. \"Now,\" he said,\n\"let no mortal eye while you live ever see that wrist,\" and vanished.\nWhile I was conversing with him my thoughts were calm, but as soon as\nhe disappeared I felt chilled with horror and dismay, a cold sweat came\nover me, and I again endeavored, but vainly, to awaken Sir Tristram; a\nflood of tears came to my relief, and I fell asleep....'\n\n\"That year Lady Beresford died. On her deathbed, Lady Riverson unbound\nthe black ribbon and found the wrist exactly as Lady Beresford had\ndescribed it--every nerve withered, every sinew shrunk....\"\n\n\n\"DEAD OR ALIVE\"\n\nIn the following case the ghost kept its promise to appear--doing\nso, to all appearances, in spite of great obstacles. The incident is\nreported in Mr. W. T. Stead's _Real Ghost Stories_, pp. 205-8:\n\n\"The following incident occurred to me some years ago, and all the\ndetails can be substantiated. The date was August 26, 1867, at\nmidnight. I was then residing in the neighborhood of Hull, and held an\nappointment under the crown which necessitated my repairing thither\nevery day for a few hours duty. My berth was almost a sinecure; and I\nhad for some time been engaged to a young north country heiress, it\nbeing understood that on our marriage I should take her name and 'stand\nfor the county' or rather for one of its divisions.\n\n\"For her sake I had to break off a love affair, not of the most\nreputable order, with a girl in Hull. I will call her Louise. She was\nyoung, beautiful, and devoted to me. On the night of the 26th of August\nwe took our last walk together, and a few minutes before midnight\npaused on a wooden bridge running across a kind of canal, locally\ntermed a 'drain.' We paused on the bridge, listening to the swirling\nof the current against the wooden piles, and waiting for the stroke\nof midnight to part forever. In the few minutes interval she repeated\n_sotto voce_, Longfellow's 'Bridge,' the words of which, 'I stood on\nthe bridge at midnight,' seemed terribly appropriate. After nearly\ntwenty-five years I can never hear that piece recited without feeling\na deadly chill, and the whole scene of two souls in agony again rising\nbefore me. Well! Midnight struck and we parted; but Louise said: 'Grant\nme one favor, the only one that I shall ever ask you on this earth;\npromise to meet me here twelve months from to-night at this same hour.'\nI demurred at first, thinking it would be bad for both of us, and only\nre-open partially-healed wounds. At last, however, I consented, saying,\n'Well, I will come if I am alive.' But she said, 'Say alive or dead.' I\nsaid, 'Very well, then, we will meet, dead or alive.'\n\n\"The next year I was on the spot a few minutes before the time; and,\npunctual to the stroke of midnight, Louise arrived. By this time I had\nbegun to regret the arrangement I had made; but it was of too solemn a\nnature to put aside. I therefore kept the appointment; but said that\nI did not care to renew the compact. Louise, however, persuaded me to\nrenew it for one more year; and I consented, much against my will; and\nwe again left each other, repeating the same formula, 'Dead or Alive.'\n\n\"The next year after passed rapidly until the first week in July,\nwhen I was shot dangerously in the thigh by a fisherman named Thomas\nPiles, of Hull, a reputed smuggler. A party of four of us had hired\nhis ten-ton yawl to go yachting round the Yorkshire coast, and amuse\nourselves by shooting sea-birds amongst the millions of them at\nFlamborough Head. The third or fourth day out I was shot in the right\nthigh by the skipper Piles; and the day after, one and a quarter ounce\nof number 2 shot were cut out therefrom by the coastguard surgeon at\nBridlington Quay (whose name I forget for the moment), assisted by Dr.\nAlexander Mackey, at the Black Lion hotel. The affair was in all the\npapers at the time, about a column of it appearing in the _Eastern\nMorning News_, of Hull.\n\n\"As soon as I was able to be removed (two or three weeks) I was taken\nhome, where Dr. Melburne King, of Hull, attended me. The day--and the\nnight--(the 26th of August) came. I was then unable to walk without\ncrutches, and that for only a short distance, so had to be wheeled\nabout in a Bath chair. The distance to the trysting place being rather\nlong, and the time and the circumstances being very peculiar, I did\nnot avail myself of the services of my usual attendant, but specially\nretained an old servant of the family, who frequently did confidential\ncommissions for me, and who knew Miss Louise well. We set forth\n'without beat of drum' and arrived at the bridge about a few minutes\nto midnight. I remember that it was a brilliant starlight night, but I\ndo not think that there was any moon--at all events, at that hour. 'Old\nBob,' as he was always affectionately called, wheeled me to the bridge,\nhelped me out of the Bath chair, and gave me my crutch. I walked on to\nthe bridge, and leaned my back against the white painted rail top, then\nlighted my briar-root, and had a comfortable smoke.\n\n\"I was very much annoyed that I had allowed myself to be persuaded to\ncome a second time, and determined to tell Louise positively that this\nshould be our last meeting. Besides, _now_, I did not consider it fair\nto Miss K., with whom I was again 'negotiating.' So, if anything, it\nwas in rather a sulky frame of mind that I awaited Louise. Just as the\nquarters before the hour began to chime I distinctly heard the 'clink,\nclink' of the little brass heels, which she always wore, sounding on\nthe long flagged causeway, leading for 200 yards up to the bridge.\nAs she got nearer, I could see her pass lamp after lamp in rapid\nsuccession, while the strokes of the large clock at Hull resounded\nthrough the stilly night.\n\n\"At last the patter, patter of the tiny feet sounded on the woodwork\nof the bridge, and I saw her distinctly pass under the lamp at my\nside. When she got close to me I saw that she had neither hat nor cape\non, and concluded that she had taken a cab at the further end of the\nflagged causeway, and (it being a very warm night) had left her wraps\nin the cab, and, for purposes of effect, had come the short distance in\nevening dress.\n\n\"'Clink, clink,' went the brass heels, and she seemed about passing me,\nwhen I suddenly, urged by an impulse of affection, stretched out my\narms to receive her. She passed _through_ them, intangible, impalpable,\nand as she looked at me I distinctly saw her lips move, and form the\nwords 'Dead or Alive.' I even heard the words, but not with my outward\nears, with something else, some other sense--what, I know not. I felt\nstartled, surprised, but not afraid, until a moment afterwards, when I\n_felt_, but could not see, some other presence following her. I could\n_feel_, though I could not _hear_, the heavy, clumsy thud of feet\nfollowing her; and my blood seemed turned to ice. Recovering myself\nwith an effort, I shouted out to Old Bob, who was safely ensconsed\nwith the Bath chair in a nook out of sight round the corner: 'Bob, who\npassed you just now?' In an instant the old Yorkshire-man was by my\nside. 'Ne'er a one passed me, sir.' 'Nonsense, Bob,' I replied, 'I told\nyou that I was coming to meet Miss Louise, and she just passed me on\nthe bridge, and _must_ have passed you, because there is no where else\nshe _could_ go. You don't mean to tell me you didn't see her?' The old\nman replied solemnly: 'Maister Rob, there's something uncanny about it.\nI heered her come on the bridge, and off it, and I knaw them clickety\nheels onywhere! but I'm domned, sir, if she passed me! I'm thinking\nwe'd better gang.' And 'gang' we did; and it was the small hours of the\nmorning (getting daylight) before we left off talking over the affair,\nand went to bed.\n\n\"The next day I made inquiries from Louise's family about her, and\nascertained that she had died in Liverpool three months previously,\nbeing apparently delirious for a few hours before her death, and, our\nparting compact evidently weighing on her mind, as she kept repeating,\n'Dead or Alive--shall I be there?'--to the utter bewilderment of her\nfriends, who could not divine her meaning--being, of course, entirely\nunaware of our agreement.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nThis completes the examples of the so-called \"Pact\" cases. In the\nfollowing example, the phantasmal form conveyed a piece of information\nto the percipient which he could not well have known by any normal\nmeans.\n\n\nTHE SCRATCH ON THE CHEEK\n\nThe case appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Amer. S. P. R., and the\nhigh character of the witnesses was vouched for by Dr. Hodgson and\nProf. Royce. It is to the following effect:\n\n \"_January 11, 1888._\n\n\"Sir: Replying to your recently published request for actual\noccurrences of psychical phenomena, I respectively submit the following\nremarkable occurrence to the consideration of your distinguished\nSociety, with the assurance that the event made a more powerful\nimpression upon my mind than the combined incidents of my whole\nlife.... I was never in better health or possessed a clearer head and\nmind than at the time the incident occurred.\n\n\"In 1867, my only sister, a young lady of eighteen years, died suddenly\nof cholera, in St. Louis, Mo. My attachment for her was very strong,\nand the blow a severe one to me. A year or so after her death, I became\na commercial traveller, and it was in 1876, while on one of my Western\ntrips that the event occurred.\n\n\"I had 'drummed' the city of St. Joseph, Mo., and had gone to my room\nat the Pacific House to send in my orders, which were unusually large\nones, so that I was in a very happy frame of mind indeed. My thoughts,\nof course, were about these orders, knowing how pleased my house would\nbe at my success. I had not been thinking of my late sister, or in\nany manner reflecting on the past. The hour was high noon, and the\nsun was shining cheerfully into my room. While busy smoking a cigar,\nand writing out my orders, I suddenly became conscious that some one\nwas sitting on my left, with one arm resting on the table. Quick as a\nflash I turned, and distinctly saw the form of my dead sister, and for\na brief second or two looked her squarely in the face; and so sure was\nI that it was she, that I sprang forward in delight, calling her by\nname, and, as I did so, the apparition instantly vanished. Naturally I\nwas startled and dumbfounded, almost doubting my senses; but the cigar\nin my mouth, and pen in hand, with the ink still moist on my letter,\nI satisfied myself I had not been dreaming and was still awake. I was\nnear enough to touch her, had it been a physical possibility, and noted\nher features, expression, and details of dress, etc. She appeared as\nif alive. Her eyes looked kindly and perfectly naturally into mine.\nHer skin was so perfectly life-like that I could see the glow or\nmoisture in the surface, and, on the whole there was no change in her\nappearance, otherwise than when alive.\n\n\"Now comes the most remarkable confirmation of my statement, which\ncannot be doubted by those who know what I state actually occurred.\nThis visitation, or whatever you may call it, so impressed me that I\ntook the next train home, and in the presence of my parents and others\nI related what had occurred. My father, a man of rare good sense and\nvery practical, was inclined to ridicule me, as he saw how earnestly\nI believed what I stated; but he, too, was amazed when later on I\ntold them of a bright red line or _scratch_ on the right-hand side of\nmy sister's face, which I distinctly had seen. When I mentioned this\nmy mother rose trembling to her feet and nearly fainted away, and\nas soon as she had sufficiently recovered her self-possession, with\ntears streaming down her face, she exclaimed that I had indeed seen\nmy sister, as no living mortal but herself was aware of that scratch,\nwhich she had actually made while doing some little act of kindness\nafter my sister's death. She said she well remembered how pained she\nwas to think she should have, unintentionally, marred the features\nof her dead daughter, and that, unknown to all, she had carefully\nobliterated all traces of the slight scratch with the aid of powder,\netc., and that she had never mentioned it to a human being, from that\nday to this.... Yet I saw the scratch as bright as if just made....\"\n\n[Confirmatory statements were obtained from the narrator's father and\nbrother; his mother having died in the interval.]\n\n\nA GHOST IN HAMPTON COURT\n\nMiss X. (Mrs. Hans Spoer) relates the following interesting case, as\noccurring to herself, on a visit to the well-known Hampton Court.\n(_Essays in Psychical Research_, pp. 31-34):\n\n\"I recently found myself the guest of a lady occupying a pleasant suite\nof rooms in Hampton Court Palace. For obvious reasons I cannot specify\nthe name of my hostess, the exact date of my visit, or the precise\nwhereabouts of her apartment.\n\n\"Of course I was familiar with the Hampton Court ghost legend.... I\nexamined the scene of the occurrences, and was allowed to ask questions\nat will. The ghost, I was told, visited habitually in a dozen different\nrooms--not, however, in the bright, dainty drawing room in which we\nwere chatting, and where it was difficult to believe that we were\ndiscussing recent history.\n\n\"As a matter of fact, it was very recent, indeed. But a few nights\nearlier, in a certain small but cheerful bedroom, a little girl had\nbeen awakened out of her sleep by a visitant so dramatic that I\nwondered whether the child had possibly gone to sleep again, after her\noriginal fright, and dreamed the later and more sensational part of the\nstory.\n\n\"My room was quaintly pretty, but somewhat peculiar in arrangement, and\nlighted only from the roof. I have seen 'ghosts' before, have slept for\nmonths together in haunted houses; and, though I find such visitants\nsomewhat exciting, I cannot say that my prospects for the night filled\nme with any degree of apprehension.\n\n\"At dinner and during the evening ghostly topics were avoided; there\nwere other guests, and music and chat occupied us till 11 o'clock,\nwhen my hostess accompanied me to my room. I asked various questions\nas to my neighbours above and below, and the exact position of other\nmembers of the household, with a view to knowing how to interpret any\nsounds which might occur. About a third of the ceiling of my room was\nskylight; the servant's bedroom being situated over the remainder. Two\nsides of the room were bounded by a corridor, into which it opened;\na third of the wall by the state apartments, while the fourth opened\nby folding doors upon a room for the time unoccupied (except by a cat,\nasleep upon a chair) out of which there opened a door, leading by a\nsecret passage to the bank of the river.\n\n\"I ascertained that the folding doors were locked; moreover, a heavy\ntable stood against them on the outer side, and a wardrobe on the\ninner. The bedstead was a small one, without curtains; indeed, the room\ncontained no hangings whatever. The door into the room opened so nearly\nto the head of my bed that there was space only for a small table, upon\nwhich I took care to place two long candles, and a plentiful supply of\nmatches, being somewhat addicted to late and early reading.\n\n\"I was tired, but a sense of duty demanded that I should not sleep\nthrough the 'witching hours,' so I sat up in bed, and gave my best\nattention to Lord Farrer's problem, 'Shall We Degrade our Standard\nof Value?' in the current number of the _National Review_, and, on\nthe principle of always trying to see both sides of a question,\nthought of several reasons why we should not, with the author, come\nto a negative conclusion. The matter did not, however, excite me to\nthe pitch of wakefulness; and when I finished the article, as the\nclock struck half-past one, I considered myself absolved from further\nresponsibility, put out my lights, and was asleep before the next\nquarter sounded.\n\n\"Nearly three hours later I was suddenly awakened from dreamless\nslumber by the sound of the opening of a door against which some piece\nof furniture was standing, in, as it seemed, the empty room to my\nright. I remembered the cat, and tried to conceive by what kind of\n'rampaging' she could contrive to be so noisy. A minute later there\nfollowed a thud apparently on _this_ side of the folding doors, and too\nheavy for even the prize animals of my home circle, not to speak of a\nmongrel stray, newly adopted and not yet doing credit to her keep! 'A\ndress fallen in the wardrobe,' was my next thought, and I stretched out\nmy hand for the match-box, as a preliminary to enquiry.\n\n\"I did not reach the matches. It seemed to me that a restraining\nhand was laid upon mine; I withdrew it quickly, and gazed around me\nin the darkness. Some minutes passed in blackness and silence. I had\nthe sensation of a presence in the room, and finally, mindful of the\ntradition that a ghost should be spoken to, I said gently: 'Is anyone\nthere? Can I do anything for you?' I remembered that the last person\nwho entertained the ghost had said: 'Go away, I don't want you!' and I\nhoped that my visitor would admire my better manners and be responsive.\nHowever, there was no answer--no sound of any kind; and returning to\nmy theory of the cat and the fallen dress, though nevertheless so far\ninfluenced by the recollection of those detaining fingers as not to\nattempt to strike a light, I rose and walked round my bed, keeping\nthe right hand on the edge of the bedstead, while, with my left arm\nextended, I swept the surrounding space. As the room is small, I thus\nfairly well satisfied myself that it contained nothing unusual.\n\n\"I was, though somewhat perplexed, about to grant myself license to\ngo to sleep again, when in the darkness before me there began to glow\na soft light. I watched it increase in brightness and in extent. It\nseemed to radiate from a central point, which gradually took form\nand became a tall, slight woman, moving slowly across the room from\nthe folding doors on my right. As she passed the foot of my bed I\nfelt a slight vibration of the spring mattress. At the further corner\nshe stopped, so that I had time to observe her profile and general\nappearance. Her face was insipidly pretty; that of a woman from thirty\nto thirty-five years of age, her figure slight, her dress of a soft\ndark material, having a full skirt and broad sash or soft waist-band\ntied high up, almost under her arms, a crossed or draped 'kerchief over\nthe shoulders, sleeves which I noticed fitted very tight below the\nelbow, and hair which was dressed so as not to lie flat to the head,\neither in curls or bows, I could not tell which. As she appeared to\nstand between me and the light, I cannot speak with any certainty as\nto the color, but the dress, though dark, was, I think, not black. In\nspite of all this definiteness, I was, of course, conscious that the\nfigure was unsubstantial, and I felt guilty of absurdity in asking once\nmore: 'Will you let me help you? Can I be of use to you?'\n\n\"My voice sounded preternaturally loud, but I felt no surprise at\nnoticing that it produced no effect upon my visitor. She stood still\nfor perhaps two minutes--though it is very difficult to estimate time\non such occasions. She then raised her hands, which were long and\nwhite, and held them before her as she sank upon her knees and slowly\nburied the face in her palms, in the attitude of prayer--when, quite\nsuddenly, the light went out, and I was alone in the darkness.\n\n\"I felt that the scene was ended, the curtain down, and had no\nhesitation in lighting the candle at my side.\n\n\"I tried to examine the impression the vision conveyed. I felt that it\nwas definitely that of reproach, yet of gentle resignation. There was\nno force, no passion; I had seen a meek, sad woman who had succumbed. I\nbegan to turn over in my mind the illustrious names of former occupants\nof the chamber. I fixed on one--a bad man of the worst kind, a mad\nfool of that time of wickedness and folly, the Regency--I thought of\nthe secret passage in the next room, and began to weave an elaborate\nromance.\n\n\"'This will not do here and now,' I reflected, as the clock struck\nfour; and, as an act of mental discipline, I returned to my _National\nReview_.... I turned to Mr. Myers' article on 'The Drift of Psychical\nResearch,' which I had already seen. I read:\n\n\"'... Where telepathy operates, many intelligences may affect our\nown. Some of these are the minds of living persons, but some appear\nto be discarnate, to be spirits like ourselves, but released from the\nbody, although still retaining much of the personality of earth. These\nspirits appear still to have some knowledge of our world, and to be in\ncertain ways able to affect it.'\n\n\"Here was, so to speak, the text of my illustration. I had quite enough\nto think about--more than I needed for that occasion. I never heard the\nclock strike five!\n\n * * * * *\n\n\"Let us try to examine this, a type of many ghost stories.\n\n\"Elsewhere I have classified visions of persons, whether seen in the\ncrystal or otherwise, as:\n\n\"1. Visions of the living, clairvoyant or telepathic, usually\naccompanied by their own background, or adapting themselves to mine.\n\n\"2. Visions of the departed, having no obvious relations to time and\nspace.\n\n\"3. Visions which are more or less of the nature of pictures, such\nas those which I voluntarily produce in the crystal from memory or\nimagination, or which appear in the background of real persons as\nillustrative of their thoughts of history. This is very often the case\nwhen an impression reaches me in visual form from the mind of a friend\nwho, it may be, imperfectly remembers or is imperfectly informed as to\nthe form and color of the picture his mind conveys.\n\n\"Again I emphasize the fact that I am speculating, not\ndogmatizing--that I am speaking from internal evidence, with no\npossibility of corroboration, and that I am perfectly aware that\neach reader must take this for what it seems to him worth. Such being\nthe case, I venture to classify the vision under Class III. Again,\nto borrow from Mr. Myers, I believe that what I saw may have been\na _telepathic impression of the dreams_ (or I should prefer to say\n'_thoughts_') _of the dead_. If what I saw were indeed veridical or\ntruth-telling--if my readers will agree to admit that what I saw was\nno mere illusion, or morbid hallucination, or imagination (taking the\nword in its commonly-accepted sense)--then I believe that my visitor\nwas not a departed spirit, such as it has before now, perhaps, been\nmy privilege to meet, but rather an image as such--just as the figure\nwhich, it may be, sits at my dining table is not _really_ the friend\nwhose visit a few hours later it announces, but only a representation\nof him, having no objective existence apart from the truth of the\ninformation it conveys--a thought which is personal to the brain which\nthinks it.\n\n\"I have already said that, preconceived notions apart, I had no\nimpression of reality. I recognized that what I saw and felt was an\nexternalization of impressions unconsciously received, possibly from\nsome discarnate mind....\"\n\n\nHALF-PAST ONE O'CLOCK\n\nThe following case is in many ways classical. Mrs. Claughton, to whom\nthe experience came, was a widowed lady, living in good social circles.\nThe full account of her experience is to be found in the _Proceedings_\nof the Society for Psychical Research (Vol. XI., pp. 547-59), and\ncontains statements and personal investigations by Dr. Ferrier, Andrew\nLang, Mr. Myers and the Marquis of Bute as well as corroborative\ntestimony from the Clerk at Meresby, Mrs. Claughton's governess, copies\nof letters, diaries, memoranda, etc. The whole case is very complicated\nand impressive; and embodies a combination of apparent spirit\ncommunication, clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, apparitions,\nand supernormal dreams. The chief and most interesting account is the\nstatement made by Mrs. Claughton to the Marquis of Bute, and recorded\nby him as follows:\n\n\"She was staying in 1893 with her two children at 6 Blake St., a house\nbelonging to Mrs. Appleby, daughter of the late Mrs. Blackburn ...\nbut let to Mrs. Buckley. She had heard the house was haunted, and may\nhave heard that the ghost was Mrs. Blackburn's. She had been told also\nthat water was spilt on the floors inexplicably. They arrived on\nOctober 4th. About 1.15 a.m., Monday, October 9th, Mrs. Claughton was\nin bed with one of her children, the other sleeping in the room. Mrs.\nClaughton had offered to be of any use she could to Miss Buckley, who\nhad arrived from London on the Saturday, not feeling very well. She\nhad been asleep, and was awakened by the footsteps of a person coming\ndownstairs, whom she supposed to be a servant coming to call her. The\nsteps stopped at the door. The sounds were repeated twice more at the\ninterval of a few moments. Mrs. Claughton rose, lit the candle, and\nopened the door. There was no one there. She noticed the clock outside\npointed to 1.20 a.m. She shut the door, got into bed, read, and,\nleaving the candle burning, went to sleep. Woke up, finding the candle\nspluttering out. Heard a sound like a sigh. Saw a woman standing by\nthe bed. She had a soft white shawl round the shoulders, held by the\nright hand towards the left shoulder, bending slightly forwards. Mrs.\nClaughton thinks the hair was lightish brown, and the shawl partly\nover the head, but does not remember distinctly, and has no impression\nof the rest of the dress; it was not grave-clothes. She said: 'Follow\nme.' Mrs. Claughton rose, took the candle, and followed her out of\nthe room, across the passage, and into the drawing-room. She had no\nrecollection as to the opening of the doors. The house maid next day\ndeclared that the drawing-room door had been locked by her. On entering\nthe drawing-room, Mrs. Claughton, finding the candle on the point of\nextinction, replaced it by a pink one from the chiffonier near the\ndoor. The figure nearly at the end of the room, turned three-quarters\nround, said 'to-morrow,' and disappeared. Mrs. Claughton returned to\nthe bedroom, where she found her elder child (not the one in the bed)\nsitting up. It asked: 'Who is the lady in white?' Mrs. Claughton thinks\nshe answered the child: 'It's only me--mother; go to sleep,' or the\nlike words, and hushed her to sleep in her arms. The baby remained fast\nasleep. She lit the gas and remained awake for some two hours, then put\nout the lights and went to sleep. Had no fear while seeing the figure,\nbut was upset after seeing it. Would not be prepared to swear that she\nmight not have walked in her sleep. Pink candle, partly burned, in her\nroom in morning. Does not know if she took it burnt or new.\n\n\"In the morning she spoke to Mr. Buckley, on whose advice she went to\nask Dr. Ferrier as to the figure about 3 p.m. He and his wife said\nthe description was like that of Mrs. Blackburn, whom Mrs. Claughton\nalready suspected it to be. Thinks Dr. Ferrier already told her that\nMiss Blackburn (Mrs. Appleby) had seen her mother in the same house.\nMrs. Claughton cannot recognize the photograph of Mrs. Blackburn shown\nto her by Mr. Y. (who got it from Mrs. M.). She says the figure seemed\nsmaller, and the features were more pinched and attenuated, like those\nof a person in the last stages of consumption, which was also the\ngeneral appearance. By his advice, Mr. Buckley put an electric bell\nunder Mrs. Claughton's pillow, communicating with Miss Buckley's room,\nas Mrs. Claughton determined to sit up that night and watch.\n\n\"That night Mrs. Claughton sat up dressed, with the gas burning. About\n12 she partly undressed, put on a dressing gown, and lay down outside\nthe bed, gas still burning, and fell asleep reading. Woke up and found\nthe same woman as before, but the expression even more agitated. She\nbent over Mrs. Claughton and said: 'I have come, listen.' She then made\na certain statement and asked Mrs. Claughton to do certain things.\nMrs. Claughton said: 'Am I dreaming, or is it true?' The figure said\nsomething like: 'If you doubt me, you will find that the date of my\nmarriage was * * *.' (This was the date of the marriage, which took\nplace in India, of Mrs. Blackburn to Mr. Blackburn, who is alive and\nmarried again. Mrs. Claughton first learned the corroboration of the\ndate from Dr. Ferrier on the following Thursday). After this Mrs.\nClaughton saw a man standing on Mrs. B.'s left hand--tall, dark, well\nmade, healthy, sixty years old, or more, ordinary man's day clothes,\nkind, good expression. A conversation ensued between the three, in\ncourse of which man stated himself to be George Howard, buried in\nMeresby Churchyard (Mrs. Claughton had never heard of Meresby or of\nGeorge Howard) and gave the date of his marriage * * * and death * * *.\n[Entries of these dates seen by me in Mrs. Claughton's pocketbook, as\ntorn out and lent to me. F. W. H. Myers.] He desired Mrs. Claughton to\ngo to Meresby and verify these dates in the registration, and, if found\ncorrect, to go to the church at the ensuing 1.15 a.m. and wait at the\ngrave therein (S. W. corner of S. aisle) of Richard Hart, died * * *,\n\u00e6tat * * *. She was to verify this reference also in the registers.\nHe said her railway ticket would not be taken, and she was to send it\nalong with a white rose from his grave to Dr. Ferrier. Forbade her\nhaving any previous communication with the place, or going in her own\nname. Said Joseph Wright, a dark man, to whom she should describe him,\nwould help her. That she would lodge with a woman who would tell her\nthat she had a child (drowned) buried in the same churchyard. When Mrs.\nClaughton had done all this, she should hear the rest of the history.\nTowards the end of the conversation, Mrs. Claughton saw a third\nphantom, that of a man whose name she is not free to give, in great\ntrouble, standing, with hands on face (which he afterwards lowered,\nshowing face) behind Mrs. Blackburn's right. The three disappeared.\nMrs. Claughton rose and went to the door to look out at the clock, but\nwas seized with faintness, returned and rang the electric bell. Mr.\nBuckley found her on the ground. She was able to ask the time, which\nwas about 1.20 a.m. Then fainted, and the Buckleys undressed her and\nput her to bed.\n\n\"That morning, Tuesday, Mrs. Claughton sent for Dr. Ferrier, who\ncorroborated certain matters so far as she asked him, and ascertained\nfor her the date of Mrs. Blackburn's marriage (she received his note\nof the date on Thursday). She went to the Post Office, and found that\nMeresby existed. Returned, and ascertained that it was in Suffolk,\nand so wrote that evening to Dr. Ferrier, and went to London with her\ndaughters that (Thursday) evening.\n\n\"Friday night, Mrs. Claughton dreamt that she arrived at 5, after\ndusk, that a fair was going on, and that she had to go to place after\nplace to get lodgings. Also, she and her eldest daughter dreamt that\nshe would fail if she did not go alone. Went to Station for 12 noon\ntrain on Saturday. Went to refreshment room for luncheon, telling\nporter to call her in time. He went by mistake to waiting room, and\nshe missed train and had to wait (going to the British Museum, where\nshe wrote her name in Jewel room) until 3.5, as stated. House where\nshe finally found lodgings was that of Joseph Wright, who turned out\nto be the parish clerk. She sent for the curate by porter, to ask as\nto consulting registers, but as he was dining out he did not come till\nafter she had gone to bed. Sunday morning, Mrs. Wright spoke to her\nabout the drowned child buried in the churchyard. Went to forenoon\nservice, and immediately afterwards went into vestry and verified the\nregisters; described George Howard to Joseph Wright, who had known him\nand recognized description; then was taken by Joseph Wright to the\ngraves of Richard Hart and George Howard. On the latter there is no\nstone, but three mounds surrounded by a railing overgrown with white\nroses. She gathered rose for Dr. Ferrier, as had been directed. Walked\nand talked with curate, who was not sympathetic. After luncheon went\nwith Mrs. Wright and walked round Howard's house (country house in\npark). Attended evening service, and afterwards, while, watching the\nlights put out and the church furniture covered up, wondered if she\nwould have the nerve to go on. Back to supper; afterwards slept and had\ndream of a terrorizing character, whereof has full written description.\nDark night, hardly any moon, a few stars. To church with Joseph Wright\nat 1 a.m., with whom searched interior and found it empty. At 1.20\na.m. was locked in alone, having no light; had been told to take\nBible, but had only church-service, which she had left in vestry in\nthe morning. Waited near grave of Richard Hart; felt no fear. Received\ncommunication, but does not feel free to give any detail; no light.\nHistory begun at Blake street then completed. Was directed to take\nanother white rose from George Howard's grave and gathered rose for\nMiss Howard, as had been directed. Home and bed, and slept well for the\nfirst time since first seeing Mrs. Blackburn.\n\n\"Next day went and sketched church and identified grave of Mrs. Rose,\non whose grave, she had been told in church, she would find a message\nfor herself. The words engraved were * * *.\n\n\"Then called on Miss Howard and recognized strong likeness to her\nfather. Carried out all things desired by the dead to the full, as\nhad been requested. Has had no communication from any of them since.\nNothing since has appeared in Blake street. The wishes expressed to\nher were not illogical or unreasonable, as the ratiocination of dreams\noften appears, but perfectly rational, reasonable, and of natural\nimportance.\"\n\n\nMY OWN TRUE GHOST STORY\n\nThe following narrative was told to me by a very well-known artist; who\nmaintains the strict accuracy of every word in his account, as given\nbelow:\n\n\"I had been living in Paris for some months when I decided to change\nmy quarters, and move into a studio more in keeping with my present\nallowance. After a brief search, I saw one which exactly suited me. It\nwas a large room, at the end of a long, dark rambling passage, with\ndoors leading into other studios on either side all the way down. As my\nneighbours turned out to be a very jolly, happy crew, I liked the life\nimmensely, and everything promised well for the new abode.\n\n\"I had been there for, perhaps, two weeks when I had my first 'ghostly'\nadventure. I had been out rather late, having had late supper, and\nperhaps a little too much wine for my best health. At the same time, I\nwas absolutely sober, and in full possession of all my senses. I felt a\nlittle happy and convivial--that was all.\n\n\"Walking along the passage, I was approaching my door when I distinctly\nheard the rustle of a silk skirt walking down the passage ahead of\nme. As the hallway was dark, I could not see whether or not the girl\nwas just in front of me, or some distance away. It never for a moment\nstruck me that it was not a flesh-and-blood visitant. My only thought\nwas: One of the boys has been having a little supper, and this must\nbe one of his visitors going home. I called aloud: 'Mayn't I strike\na light and show you the way along this dark hall?' And, suiting the\naction to the word, I struck a match, and held it up over my head.\nNothing was visible! I peered into vacancy; no female figure could\nI see. I listened for the sound of steps, or the swish of a silken\npetticoat; but not a sound could I hear. I walked along the passage;\nnot a sign of life was anywhere manifest. Everything was dark, lonely\nand deserted.\n\n\"I came to the conclusion that I must have been deceived; and thought\nno more about it. I went to bed and to sleep.\n\n\"It was, perhaps, two nights later when the same thing occurred. Coming\nhome, about 10 o'clock at night, I heard the same swish of the skirt;\nthe same soft, feminine footsteps. This time the hall was light, and I\ncould _see_ that no one was there. I recalled the incident of the other\nevening, and a cold chill began to creep up my backbone. I entered my\nroom, however, lit the lamp, leaving my door open. 'Now,' thought I,\n'if anyone passes that door again, I shall surely see them.' I put on a\ndressing gown and a pair of slippers, and sat down to read--facing the\ndoor.\n\n\"Perhaps five minutes had elapsed when I saw the door very slowly\nopen still further on its hinges. A moment later I felt in the room a\n'Presence,' which I distinctly felt to be that of a young woman, about\ntwenty years of age. So vivid was the mental picture I formed of this\nperson that her very features and coloring were sensed by me--though,\nof course, I had no means of knowing whether or not I was right.\n\n\"The Presence glided across the room, and sat itself upon the edge of\nmy sofa, about three feet distant from where I sat. I looked at the\nspot intently, and felt that the eyes of my invisible visitor were\nupon me, regarding me intently, as though studying my character to the\nbest of her ability. She had a comfortable sort of feeling about her,\nwhich made me seem at once at home with her; so that, without further\nceremony, I said to the Presence: 'Pray make yourself at home. If I can\ndo anything for you, let me know.'\n\n\"I waited, but of course there was no response. Only I thought I caught\nagain the faintest rustle of silk, as the figure seated itself in a\nmore comfortable position. I put down my book, and began to paint. The\nfeeling of loneliness, which I had experienced ever since my removal\ninto the new studio, vanished immediately. I felt that a living,\nhuman--if invisible--being was with me, watching my work and keeping me\ncompany during the long hours of discouragement and unproductive effort.\n\n\"Several times, during the course of the evening, I spoke to the\nPresence; but received no reply. Only I felt its proximity, and knew\nwhen the figure changed its position, as it did once or twice. Once it\ncame over and stood by my side, as though looking at the canvas, and\ncriticising it with me. Then it went back to its seat at the end of\nthe sofa.\n\n\"Bed time came. I felt almost abashed to go to bed with this feminine\npresence in the room! However, as there was nothing left for me to do,\nI undressed, got into bed, and blew out the light. The Presence came\nover and sat on the side of my bed. When I went to sleep, it was still\nsitting there.\n\n\"The next morning it had gone. I felt inexpressibly lonely. I missed\nthe Presence, whom I now began to call 'Her' instead of 'It,' and\nwished she would return and keep me company! It did not do so, however,\nuntil the following evening, when, about nine o'clock, I again felt her\napproach, felt her entrance through my studio door, and felt her seat\nherself in my easy chair, and turn her eyes upon me. I knew that she\nwas regarding me intently--perhaps critically--and I felt almost angry\nthat I, in turn, could not see her. I gazed at the chair _determined_\nto see her; but nothing save empty space met my gaze! With a gesture of\nimpatience and irritation, I turned away, and went on with my painting.\n\n\"Presently, I was aware that She was standing beside me, examining\nthe painting upon the easel. 'Well, do you like it?' I said almost\ncaustically. The Presence immediately returned and sat in the chair,\nand I knew that I had offended Her. I threw my brush and pallet aside\nand apologized. So she came and stood by me again; and again she\nremained with me until I closed my eyes in sleep.\n\n\"This sort of thing went on for several weeks. Every evening the\nPresence visited me, kept me company, making the day seem long and\ndreary until she came. I waited for her appearance with growing\nimpatience. I could never see or feel anything; my spoken words\nbrought no response; yet there she was; and I felt just as assured of\nthe presence, in my studio, of a feminine spiritual being as of my\nown existence. Every evening the Presence was with me when I went to\nsleep; every morning it had vanished. The sense of friendliness and\ncompanionship was complete and unmistakable.\n\n\"One evening my visitor failed to appear! I could do no work; I\npaced the floor, I could do nothing, think of nothing! The sense of\ndesolation and loneliness was absolute. I hardly realized, until then,\nhow completely I had grown accustomed to the presence of my invisible\nvisitor. I missed her more than I ever dreamed I could miss anyone in\nlife. Forlorn and forsaken, I went to bed, and finally dropped into a\nfitful and broken sleep.\n\n\"For about a week things went on in this way. I had grown gradually\nreconciled to my lonely life, and was painting hard for an exhibition\nwhich was near at hand. One evening I came into the studio, and I found\nthe Presence waiting for me--seated in the easy chair, by the fire.\n\n\"I felt my heart and whole being give a throb of joy and\nrecognition--just as it would at the sight of an old and very dear\nfriend. I knew how much I had missed her! I knew that She had risen,\nand was standing, facing me, as I entered. Before I had time to check\nmyself, or think what I was doing, I had rushed forward, crying\n'Dearest,' with outstretched arms, and had embraced the spot where I\nknew her to be standing! I grasped the empty air, but I somehow felt\ntwo hands placed upon my shoulders, and the imprint of a delicate kiss\nupon my lips.\n\n\"I no longer felt lonely. I whistled, I sang, I took off my coat,\nand, donning jacket and slippers, set to work with joy upon my\npicture. I painted hard, and all the while the Presence stood by me,\ncriticising--approving or disapproving--and in every instance I felt\nHer criticism and judgment to be right.\n\n\"A year went by. I had to give up my studio, and return to America, on\nmy father's sudden death. The parting with the Presence I shall never\nforget. Had two lovers in the flesh parted from one another, it could\nnot have been more real, more touching, more sincere. For my own part I\nwas heartbroken. The Presence, too, I knew to be weeping. The parting\nwas long and sorrowful. Finally, I tore myself away.\n\n\"I have never seen or felt anything from that day to this. But of\nthe reality and objective existence of that Presence I am as assured\nas I am of any event in my life. No one can tell me that it was a\ntrick of the imagination--I know better! She was as real to me as any\npersonality I have ever known. Yes, the Unreal is Real, of that I have\nno doubt whatever. My own experience with the Ghostly world has proved\nthat to _my_ satisfaction!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n\nHAUNTED HOUSES\n\nWhen \"phantasms of the dead\" constantly appear in one house, and\nthere only, that house is said to be \"haunted\" and, in such a case,\nthe phantasms seem to be attracted to the _locality_ more than to the\nindividuals living in it. This is usually the case in so-called haunted\nhouses; no matter _who_ lives within them, they one and all see the\nspectral forms; but this is not invariably so. In the case of the\n\"Great Amherst Mystery,\" for example--given below--the haunting seemed\nto be associated with the _person_ more than the _house_, so that we\nmight be said to have here a case of a Haunted Man (or Woman). But this\nis the exception, not the rule.\n\nThe cases that follow are all well-attested; and the phenomena have\nbeen witnessed by many persons. The original Reports, for the most\npart, have appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the S. P. R., and the facts\nwere carefully investigated at the time, by competent investigators.\nThe first instance is particularly interesting, because of the\nexperiments which were tried to ascertain the nature of the \"ghost,\"\nand if many more such experiments were conducted, we might hope, in\ntime, to know something about them. I shall begin with a carefully\nrecorded example, which I may call--\n\n\nTHE RECORD OF A HAUNTED HOUSE\n\nThe case of a haunted house here given is very well authenticated, and\ncorroborated by six written and signed statements, as well as that\nof the original informant. The account originally appeared in the\n_Proceedings_ of the S. P. R., Vol. VIII., pp. 311-32, and is drawn up\nby Miss Morton, a lady of scientific training who resided for a long\ntime in the house in question. She was well-known to Mr. Myers, then\nHon. Sec. of the Society. Very interesting experiments were conducted\nto test the nature of the \"ghost\" as the following brief account will\nshow:\n\n\"My father took the house in March, 1882, none of us having then heard\nof anything unusual about the house. We moved in towards the end of\nApril, and it was not until the following June that I first saw the\napparition.\n\n\"I had gone up to my room, but was not yet in bed, when I heard\nsomeone at the door, and went to it, thinking it might be my mother.\nOn opening the door, I saw no one; but on going a few steps along the\npassage I saw the figure of a tall lady, dressed in black, standing at\nthe head of the stairs. After a few moments she descended the stairs,\nand I followed for a short distance, feeling curious what it could be.\nI had only a small piece of candle, and it suddenly burnt itself out;\nand, being unable to see more, I went back to my room.\n\n\"On the night of August 2, the footsteps were heard by my three sisters\nand by the cook, all of whom slept on the top landing--also by my\nmarried sister, Mrs. K., who was sleeping on the floor below. They all\nsaid the next morning that they had heard them very plainly pass and\nrepass their doors.... These footsteps are very characteristic, and are\nnot at all like those of any people in the house; they are soft and\nrather slow, though decided and even. My sisters would not go out on\nthe landing after hearing them pass, but each time when I have gone out\nafter hearing them, I have seen the figure there.\n\n\"On the evening of August 1, we were sitting in the drawing-room,\nwith the gas lit but the shutters not shut, the light outside getting\ndusk--my brothers and a friend having just given up tennis, finding it\ntoo dark; my elder sister, Mrs. E., and myself both saw the figure on\nthe balcony outside, looking in at the window. She stood there some\nminutes, then walked to the end and back again, after which she seemed\nto disappear. She soon after came into the drawing-room, when I saw\nher, but my sister did not.\n\n\"The apparitions were (always) of exactly the same type, seen in the\nsame places by the same people, at varying intervals.\n\n\"The footsteps continued, and were heard by several visitors and new\nservants, who had taken the places of those who had left, as well as by\nmyself, four sisters and brothers; in all by about twenty people, many\nof them not having previously heard of the apparitions and sounds.\n\n\"Other sounds were also heard in addition which seemed gradually to\nincrease in intensity. They consisted in walking up and down on the\nsecond floor landing, of bumps against the doors of the bedrooms, and\nof the handles of the doors turning. The bumps against the doors were\nso marked as to terrify a new servant, who had heard nothing of the\nhaunting, into the belief that burglars were breaking into her room....\n\n\"During the year, at Mr. Myers' suggestion, I kept a photographic\ncamera constantly ready to try to photograph the figure, but on the\nfew occasions I was able to do so, I got no result; at night, usually\nonly by candle light, a long exposure would be necessary for so dark a\nfigure, and this I could not obtain.\n\n\"I also tried to communicate with the figure, constantly speaking to\nit and asking it to make signs, if not able to speak, but with no\nresult. I also tried especially to _touch_ her, but did not succeed. On\ncornering her, as I did once or twice, she vanished.\n\n\"One night, my sister E. went up to her room on the second story, but\nas she passed the room where my two sisters L. and M. were sleeping,\nthey opened their door to say that they had heard noises, and also\nseen what they described as a _flame_ of a candle, without candle or\nhandle visible, cross the room diagonally from corner to corner. Two\nof the maids opened the doors of their two bedrooms, and said that\nthey also heard noises; they all 5 stood at their doors with their\nlighted candles for some little time. They all heard steps walking up\nand down the landing between them; as they passed they felt a sensation\nwhich they described as a 'cold wind' though their candles were not\nblown out. They saw nothing. The steps then descended the stairs,\nre-ascended, again descended, and did not return....\n\n\"The figure became much less substantial on its later appearances. Up\nto about 1886 it was so solid and life-like that it was often mistaken\nfor a real person. It gradually became less distinct. At all times it\nintercepted the light; we have not been able to ascertain if it cast a\nshadow. I should mention that it has been seen through window glass,\nand that I myself wear glasses habitually, though none of the other\npercipients do so. The upper part of the figure always left a more\ndistinct impression than the lower, but this may partly be due to the\nfact that one naturally looks at people's faces before their feet.\n\n\nPROOFS OF IMMATERIALITY\n\n\"1. I have several times fastened fine strings across the stairs at\nvarious heights before going to bed, but after all others have gone up\nto their rooms.... I have twice, at least, seen the figure pass through\nthe cords, leaving them intact.\n\n\"2. The sudden and complete disappearance of the figure while still in\nfull view.\n\n\"3. The impossibility of touching the figure....\n\n\"4. It has appeared in a room with the doors shut.\n\n\nCONDUCT OF ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE\n\n\"We have strong grounds for believing that the apparition was seen by\ntwo dogs.\n\n\"Twice I remember seeing our dog suddenly run up to the mat at the foot\nof the stairs in the hall, wagging his tail, and moving his back in the\nway dogs do when expecting to be caressed. It jumped up, fawning as it\nwould do if a person was standing there, but suddenly slunk away with\nits tail between its legs, and retreated, trembling, under a sofa. We\nwere all strongly under the impression that it had seen the figure. Its\naction was peculiar, and was much more striking to an onlooker than it\ncould possibly appear from a description.\n\n\"In conclusion, as to the feelings aroused by the presence of the\nfigure, it is very difficult to describe them; on the first few\noccasions, I think the feeling of awe at something unknown, mixed with\na strong desire to know more about it, predominated. Later, when I was\nable to analyze my feelings more closely, and the first novelty had\ngone off, I was conscious of a feeling of _loss_, as if I had lost\npower to the figure.\n\n\"Most of the other percipients speak of a feeling of cold wind, but I\nmyself have not experienced this....\"\n\n\nB---- HOUSE\n\nThis is a very famous case of \"Haunting,\" which was investigated by\nSir Oliver Lodge, Mr. F. W. H. Myers, Colonel Taylor (a specialist on\nHaunted Houses), Miss X., the Marquis of Bute, etc. The chief reports\nof the occurrence are due to the last three named persons; and from the\nJournal kept during their occupancy of the house the following extracts\nare made:\n\n\n\"_February 4, Thursday._ I awoke suddenly, just before 3 a.m. Miss\nMoore, who had been lying awake for over two hours, said: 'I want you\nto stay awake and listen.' Almost immediately I was startled by a\nloud clanging sound, which seemed to resound through the house. The\nmental image it brought to my mind was as of a long metal bar, such\nas I have seen near iron-foundries, being struck at intervals with a\nwooden mallet. The noise was distinctly that of metal struck with wood;\nit seemed to come diagonally across the house. It sounded very loud,\nthough distinct, and the idea that any inmate of the house should not\nhear it seemed preposterous....\n\n\"I also had an experience this morning which may have been purely\nsubjective, but which should be recorded. About 10 a.m., I was writing\nin the library, face to light, back to fire. Mrs. W. was in the\nroom, and addressed me once or twice; but I was aware of not being\nresponsive, as I was much occupied. I wrote on, and presently felt a\ndistinct, but gentle push against my chair. I thought it was the dog,\nand looked down, but he was not there. I went on writing, and in a few\nminutes felt a push, firm and decided, against myself which moved me on\nmy chair. I thought it was Mrs. W----, who, having spoken and obtained\nno answer, was reminding me of her presence. I looked backward with an\nexclamation--the room was empty! She came in presently, and called my\nattention to the dog, who was gazing intently from the hearth-rug at\nthe place where I had expected (before) to see him....\n\n\"As the day began with the above, and as I had had a quiet rest, I went\nto 'the copse' at dusk. The moon was bright, and the twilight lingered.\nWe waited about in the avenue to let it get darker, but it was still\nfar from dark. Then we made our way up to the glen--Miss Moore, Miss\nLangton and myself.\n\n\"I saw 'Ishbel' and 'Marget' in the old spot across the burn. [Two\n'spirits' who had been seen about the house, several times before].\n'Ishbel' was on her knees in the attitude of weeping, 'Marget'\napparently reasoning with her in a low voice, to which 'Ishbel' replied\nvery occasionally. I could not hear what was said from the noise of\nthe burn. We waited for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes. They had\nappeared when I had been there for three or four. When we regained\nthe avenue (in silence) Miss Moore asked Miss Langton, 'What did you\nsee?' (She had been told nothing, except that the Colonel, who did\nnot know details then, had said in her presence something about 'a\ncouple of nuns.') She said: 'I saw nothing, but I heard a low talking.'\nQuestioned further, she said it seemed close behind. The glen is so\nnarrow that this might be quite consistent with what I heard and saw.\nMiss Moore heard a murmuring voice, and is quite certain it was not\nthe burn. She is less suggestible than almost any one I know.... The\ndog ran up while we were there, pointed, and ran straight for the two\nwomen. He afterwards left us, and we found him barking in the glen. He\nis a dog who hardly ever barks. We went up among the trees where he\nwas, and could find no cause....\n\n\"This morning's phenomenon is the most incomprehensible I have yet\nknown. I heard the banging sounds after we were in bed last night.\nEarly this morning, about 5.30, I was awakened by them. They continued\nfor nearly an hour. Then another sound began _in_ the room. It might\nhave been made by a very lively kitten jumping and pouncing, or even by\na very large bird; there was a fluttering noise too.[3] It was close,\nexactly opposite the bed. Miss Moore woke up, and we heard the noise\ngoing on till nearly eight o'clock. I drew up the blinds and opened the\nwindows wide. I sought all over the room, looking into cupboards and\nunder furniture. We cannot guess at any possible explanation....\"\n\n [3] This fluttering noise, as of a bird, is very often met with\n in the literature of the occult, and is typical of 'haunted\n houses.' In the famous case of Lord Lyttleton, for instance,\n this was recorded, and was said to announce his death. He died\n three days later, in bed.\n\nA few weeks later, Miss X., wrote in her \"Journal\":\n\n\"The general tone of things is disquieting, and new in our experience.\nHitherto, in our first occupation, the phenomena affected one\nas melancholy, depressing and perplexing, but now all, quite\nindependently, say the same thing--that the influence is evil and\nhorrible--even poor little 'Spooks' (the dog) who was never terrified\nbefore, has been since our return here. The worn faces at breakfast are\nreally a dismal sight.\"\n\nSoon after this the investigators left the house.\n\n\nWILLINGTON MILL\n\nThis is one of the most famous Haunted Houses on record. The case has\nbeen described in various books on ghosts, the most complete account\nbeing that contained in the _Journal_ of the Psychical Research\nSociety.... Mr. Proctor lived for several years in the haunted mill,\nand got quite used to the apparitions, which stalked about the place at\nall hours. Visitors, however, did not like them as much as he did. The\nfollowing extracts will suffice to explain the general character of the\nhaunting in this case--\n\n\"When two of Mrs. Proctor's sisters were staying at the Mill on a\nvisit, their bed was suddenly violently shaken, the curtains hoisted up\nall round to their tester and then as rapidly let down again, and this\nagain in rapid succession. The curtains were taken off the next night,\nwith the result that they both saw a female figure, of mysterious\nsubstance and of a greyish-blue hue come out of the wall at the head\nof the bed and lean over them. They both saw it distinctly. They saw\nit come out of and go back again into the wall.... Mrs. Davidson's\nsister-in-law had a curious experience on one occasion. One evening\nshe was putting one of the bedrooms right, and, looking toward the\ndressing table, saw what she supposed was a white towel lying on the\nground. She went to pick it up, but imagine her surprise when she found\nthat it rose up, and went up behind the dressing-table over the top,\ndown on the floor across the room, disappeared under the door, and was\nheard to descend the stairs with a heavy step! The noise which it made\nin doing so was distinctly heard by Mr. Proctor and others in the house.\n\n\"On one occasion, Mr. Mann, the old mill foreman, with his wife and\ndaughter, and Mrs. Proctor's sister, all four saw the figure of a bald\nheaded old man in a flowing robe like a surplice gliding backwards and\nforwards about three feet from the floor, level with the bottom of the\nsecond story window; he then stood still in the middle of the window\nand part of the body which appeared quite luminous showed through the\nblind. While in that position, the framework of the window was visible,\nwhile the body was as brilliant as a star, and diffused a radiance all\nround; then it turned a bluish tinge, and gradually faded away from the\nhead downwards.\n\n\"The children, however, were the chief ghost-seers. On one occasion one\nof the little girls came to Mrs. Davidson and said: 'There is a lady\nsitting on the bed in mamma's bedroom. She has eyeholes but no eyes;\nand she looked so hard at me.' On another occasion a boy of two years\nold was charmed with the ghost, and laughed and kicked, crying out: 'Ah\ndares somebody--pee, pee!' On one occasion the mother saw through the\nbed curtain a figure cross the room to the table on which the light was\nburning, take up the snuffers and snuff the candle....\n\n\"Several experiments were made with a clairvoyant by the name of\nJane, to ascertain the cause of the mystery. In the mesmeric trance\nshe described the house accurately; described the nature of the\ndisturbances which were going on within it; and stated that the chief\ncause of the trouble was to be found 'in the cellar.' This was not\nverified. The full story, as narrated, is certainly one of the most\ncurious to be found anywhere.\"\n\n\nTHE GREAT AMHERST MYSTERY\n\nThis is one of the most remarkable cases on record. It is the case\nof a haunted house, in which many _physical_ manifestations of all\nsorts took place, and were observed by nearly a hundred persons,\nall of whom testified as to the reality of the facts. The house in\nquestion is situated in Amherst, N. S.--hence the name. Residing in\nthis small house were (when the events occurred) Mr. and Mrs. Teed,\ntheir children, Willie, aged five years, and George, aged seventeen\nmonths. His wife's two sisters, Jennie and Esther Cox, also lived with\nthem--Esther being the person around whom nearly all the phenomena\ncentered. John Teed and William Cox also boarded at the house--brothers\nof Mr. and Mrs. Teed, respectively.\n\nThe manifestations began in a very peculiar manner. The two girls,\nwho had just gone to bed (they slept together) were on the point of\nfalling asleep, when Esther suddenly jumped out of bed with a scream,\nexclaiming that there was a mouse in the mattress. A careful search\nfailed, however, to reveal the presence of any mouse. The same thing\nhappened the next night; and when the girls got up to search for the\nmouse, a paste-board box, which was under the bed, jumped up in the air\nand fell over on its side. They decided to say nothing about it; got\ninto bed again, and were soon asleep.\n\nThe next night manifestations began in earnest. Esther began to swell;\nher body became puffed all over, and she thought she was going to\nburst. She screamed with pain. Just then, however, three terrific\nreports shook the room, and the swelling suddenly subsided. She was\nplaced in bed; but no sooner had she been placed upon it than all the\nbed-clothes flew off her, and settled in the far corner of the room.\n\"They could see them passing through the air by the light of the\nkerosene lamp which was lighted and standing on the table, and both\nscreamed as only scared girls can, and then Jennie fainted.\"\n\nThe bed-clothes were replaced. No sooner was this done than the pillow\nflew out from under her head, and landed in the center of the floor. It\nwas replaced, but again flew out, hitting Mr. Teed in the face. Three\ndeafening reports then shook the house; after which all manifestations\nceased for the night.\n\nThe next night, these manifestations were repeated; the bed-clothes\nflew off, in view of all; and in the midst of this, the sound of\nscratching became audible, as of a metallic object scraping plaster.\n\"All looked at the wall whence the sound of writing came, when, to\ntheir great astonishment, there could be plainly read these words:\n'Esther Cox, you are mine to kill.' Every person in the room could see\nthe writing plainly, and yet but a moment before nothing was to be seen\nbut the plain kalsomined wall!...\n\nThese things continued day after day, and were seen by many persons.\nArticles would be thrown about the house; Dr. Carrittee, the family\nphysician, saw \"a bucket of cold water become agitated, and, to all\nappearances, boil while standing on the kitchen table.\" A voice\nwas heard, in the atmosphere of the house, talking to Esther; and\ntelling her all manner of horrible things. Soon after this, to the\nconsternation of all present, \"all saw a lighted match fall from the\nceiling to the bed, having come out of the air, which would certainly\nhave set the bed-clothing on fire, had not Jennie put it out instantly.\nDuring the next two minutes, eight or ten lighted matches fell on the\nbed and about the room, out of the air, but were all extinguished\nbefore anything could be set fire by them....\"\n\nThis fire-raising continued for several days. The family would smell\nsmoke, and, on running up into the bedroom, they would find a bundle\nof clothes placed in the center of the floor, blazing. Or they would\ndescend to the cellar; and there find a pile of shavings alight and\nblazing merrily. They lived in constant danger of having the house\nburned over their heads.\n\nSoon after this, things got so bad that Esther Cox had to leave home,\nand went to visit a friend by the name of White, in the hope that the\nmanifestations would cease, when she was removed from her own home. For\nfour weeks things went well; then they began again just as ever. Knocks\nand raps were heard all over the house, which answered questions asked\nthem; and told the amount of money people had in their pockets, etc.\nArticles of furniture were thrown about; voices sounded; and, worst of\nall, Esther now began to _see_ the ghost; and described it to those\nabout her. Among other terrifying phenomena, which took place at Mr.\nWhites' house, the following should be mentioned--\n\n\"... A clasp-knife belonging to little Frederic White was taken from\nhis hand, while he was whittling something, by the devilish ghost,\nwho instantly stabbed Esther in the back with it, leaving the knife\nsticking in the wound, which was bleeding profusely. Frederic pulled\nthe bloody knife from the wound, wiped it, closed it and put it in his\npocket, which he had no sooner done than the ghost obtained possession\nof it again and, quick as a flash of lightning, stuck it into the same\nwound....\"\n\nSome person tried the experiment of placing three or four large iron\nspikes on Esther's lap while she was seated in the dining-saloon. To\nthe unutterable astonishment of Mr. White, Frederic and other persons\npresent, the spikes were not instantly removed, as it was expected they\nwould be, but, instead, remained on her lap until they became too hot\nto be handled with comfort, when they were thrown by the ghost to the\nfar end of the saloon--a distance of twenty feet. This fact was fully\ncorroborated.\n\nIt was at this stage of the proceedings that the spot was visited by\nWalter Hubbell, an actor, who remained some time in Amherst, studying\nthe case, and who has written a whole book about it--\"The Great Amherst\nMystery.\" On the night of his arrival, they all sat round a table, in\nfull light, to see what they could see, and knocks and raps resounded\nimmediately. \"We could all hear even the scratching sound of invisible\nhuman finger nails, and the dull sounds produced by the hands, as they\nrubbed the table, and struck it with invisible, clenched fists, in\nknocking in response to questions.\"\n\nThe next day, Mr. Hubbell records the following facts, among others: \"I\nhad been seated about five minutes when, to my great astonishment, my\numbrella was thrown a distance of sixteen feet, passing over my head\nin its strange flight, and almost at the same instant a large carving\nknife came whizzing through the air, passing over Esther's head, who\nwas just then coming out of the pantry with a large dish in both hands,\nand fell in front of her, near me--having come from behind her out of\nthe pantry. I naturally went to the door and looked in, but no person\nwas there.\n\n\"After dinner I lay down on the sofa in the parlor; Esther was in\nthe room seated near the center in a rocking chair. I did not sleep,\nbut lay with my eyes only partially closed so that I could see her.\nWhile lying there a large glass paper-weight, weighing fully a pound,\ncame whizzing through the air from a corner of the room, where I had\npreviously noticed it on an ornamental shelf, a distance of some twelve\nor fifteen feet from the sofa. Had it struck my head, I should surely\nhave been killed, so great was the force with which it was thrown....\n\n\"On Monday, June 23, they commenced again with great violence. At\nbreakfast, the lid of the sugar bowl was heard to fall on the floor.\nMrs. Teed, Esther and myself searched for it for fully five minutes,\nand had abandoned our search as useless, when all three saw it fall\nfrom the ceiling. I saw it, just before it fell, and it was at the\nmoment suspended in the air about one foot from the ceiling. No one\nwas within five feet of it at the time. The table knives were then\nthrown upon the floor, the chairs pitched over, and after breakfast\nthe dining-table fell over on its side, rugs upon the floor were slid\nabout, and the whole room literally turned into a pandemonium, so\nfilled with dust that I went into the parlor. Just as I got inside the\nparlor door a large flower pot, containing a plant in full bloom, was\ntaken from among Jennie's flowers on the stand near the window; and in\na second, a tin pail, with a handle, was brought half-filled with water\nfrom the kitchen and placed beside the plant on the floor, both in the\ncenter of the parlor, and put there by a ghost. Just think of such\na thing happening while the sun was shining, and only a few minutes\nbefore I had seen this same tin pail from the dining-room hanging on a\nnail in the kitchen, empty! And yet people say, and thousands believe,\nthat there are no haunted houses! What a great mistake they make in so\nasserting; but then they never lived in a genuine one, where there was\nan invisible power that had full and complete sway. By all the demons!\nWhen I read the accounts now in my 'Journal,' from which my experience\nis copied, I am almost speechless with wonder that I ever lived to\nbehold such sights....\n\n\"On this same day, Esther's face was slapped by the ghosts, so that the\nmarks of fingers could be plainly seen--just exactly as if a human\nhand had slapped her face; these slaps could be plainly heard by all\npresent. I heard them distinctly, time and again....\n\n\"On Thursday, June 26, Jennie and Esther told me that the night before\nBob, the demon, had been in their room again. They stated he had stuck\nthem with pins and marked them from head to foot with crosses. I saw\nsome of the crosses, which were bloody marks, scratched upon their\nhands, necks and arms. It was a sad sight. During the entire day, I\nwas busy pulling pins out of Esther; they came out of the air from all\nquarters, and were stuck into all the exposed portions of her person,\neven the head, and inside of her ears. Maggie, the ghost, took quite\nan interest in me, and came to my room at night, while the lamp was\nburning, and knocked on the headboard of my bed and on the wall near\nthe bed, which was _not_ next to the room occupied by the girls, but\non an outside wall facing the stable. I carried on a most interesting\nconversation with her, asking a great many questions which were\nanswered by knocks....\n\n\"A trumpet was heard in the house all day. The sound came from within\nthe atmosphere--I can give no other description of its effect on our\nsense of hearing.... I wish to state, most emphatically, that I could\ntell the difference in the knocks made by each ghost just as well as\nif they had spoken. The knocks made by Maggie were delicate and soft,\nas if made by a woman's hand, while those made by Bob Nickle were loud\nand strong, denoting great strength and evidently large hands. When he\nknocked with those terrible sledge-hammer blows, he certainly must have\nused a large rock or some other heavy object, for such loud knocks were\nnot produced with hard knuckles....\"\n\nIn July the phenomena became so bad that the landlord came and told the\nTeed family that either Esther would have to go, or they would all have\nto leave the house. It was decided that Esther should go, which she\ndid, visiting some friends by the name of Van Amburgh. From the time\nshe left her home the second time, she was never afterwards troubled\nwith the ghosts. Some years later, she married and went to live in\nanother town--where she was interviewed by the present writer in 1907.\n\nThis account was sworn to by Mr. Hubbell before a notary public, and he\nasserts under oath that every word of the account is true. He has also\nproduced the written confirmatory testimony of a score of still-living\nwitnesses of the phenomena in Amherst.\n\nA very similar case occurred in Tennessee, in 1818, and is recorded in\nfull by M. V. Ingram, in his book, \"The Bell Witch.\" Many other cases\nof a like nature are to be found in the \"History of the Supernatural.\"\n\n _For ghosts of the dead\n Through Infinite ages\n Have wandered and lurked\n In earth's atmosphere;\n Watchful and eager\n For victims to torture\n To follow and kill,\n Or make tremble with fear.\n Yes, ghosts of the dead\n Revengeful and evil,\n Still come in hordes\n From the Stygian shore;\n Entering houses\n To torment our maidens\n Burning and wrecking\n Our homes evermore._\n\n\nBROOK HOUSE\n\nThe following case is given in full by Mr. W. T. Stead in his _Real\nGhost Stories_, and I extract from his narrative some of the most\nstriking and interesting passages. It is a truly remarkable narrative,\nwell worthy of careful perusal.\n\nMr. Ralph Hastings, of Broadmeadow, Teignmouth, wrote in October, 1891,\nenclosing the following extracts from his diary, which he had kept in\nthe haunted house:\n\n\"I was spending some months of the summer of '73 at a favorite\nwatering place in the S.E. coast. One afternoon I went to visit some\nold friends who lived in an old house which stood in a quadrangle,\nand was approached from the church by a narrow lane. Brook House was\na commodious, red-brick structure of three stories, faced by a Court,\nwith its ground-floor windows unseen from the outside by reason of the\nlofty wall which encircled them.\n\n\"On the day in question, as I approached the house from the Church\nside, I happened to glance at the window to the right on the second\nfloor. There I saw, to my astonishment, the apparent figure of Miss B.,\nstanding partially dressed, arranging her hair and looking intently at\nme. On entering the house, I was at once shown into the drawing-room,\nand I found Miss B. reading. In reply to my question, she told me she\nhad been there an hour!\n\n\"My curiosity was now fully aroused, and I went to the house the next\nday, July 4, accompanied by a lady, a mutual friend. We went up into\nthe room in which I had seen the figure, threw the window open--it\nbeing very hot--looking on to the garden, and then went downstairs into\nthe drawing-room, where we had some music. We went up again in about\nhalf an hour's time. The window was _shut_.... We went back into the\ngarden, and looked up at the window. Presently, to our horror, a figure\nappeared resembling Miss B., yet most unlike her--its fearful eyes\nwere gazing at me without movement and totally expressionless. What,\nthen, caused the arresting of the heart's pulsation (as it felt) and\nblood--that the moment before had burnt as it coursed madly through the\nveins--to be chilled to ice? This--one was face to face with a spirit,\nand withered by the contact. Those eyes--I can see them--I can feel\nthem--after a lapse of nearly twenty years. Miss B. had incontinently\nfainted when she saw the shoulders (as she described it) of the figure.\nI continued gazing spellbound; like the 'Wedding Guest' I was held by\nthe spirit's eye, and I could not choose but look. The dreadful hands\nwere lifted automatically; they rested on the window sash. It came\npartly down, stayed a moment, then noiselessly closed, and I saw a\nhand rise and clasp it. I gazed steadfastly throughout. What impressed\nme strangely was this peculiarity, that as soon as the sash had passed\nthe face the latter vanished, the hands remained; the unreality of\nthe actual movement of the window, as it descended, also seemed to\ncontradict me: it suggested (for want of a better comparison) the\nmechanical passage of stage scenery, and some sorts of toys that are\npulled by wires; it made no noise whatever. Now I distinctly recognized\nthe shape as that of Rhoda, Miss B.'s elder sister, who had been dead\nsome twelve years.... We looked again, and saw the backs of two hands\non the _outside_ of the window, but they did not move it.\n\n\"We then went in, coming out again almost directly, and saw the window\nnearly closed; then went upstairs into the room; and again I flung the\nwindow as wide open as it would go, and before leaving set the door\nopen, with a heavy chair against it; but previous to this (I omitted to\nmention) as we were looking up at the window after the appearance of\nthe hands, we saw a horrible object come from the right (the apparition\ninvariably did); it resembled a large, white bundle, called by Miss B.,\nwho had before seen it, 'The Headless Woman'; it came in front of the\nwindow and then began walking backwards and forwards. After a lapse\nof half an hour, we went upstairs again, and found the chair by the\nwindow, and the door closed; whereupon I wrote 'It' a letter to this\neffect: 'Miss B. and Mr. H. present their compliments to the \"Lady\nHeadless\" and request her acceptance of this fruit from their garden;\nthey hope it will please, as she has often been seen admiring it. A\nreply will oblige, but the bearer does not wait for the answer.' We put\nthe chair once more against the window, placing the fruit and note on\nit; two or three times we went up, but nothing had changed.\n\n\"We then went and stood outside the summer house, whence a clear\nview of the window could be obtained; presently there came forward\nthe headless figure; and distinctly bowed two or three times, then\nimmediately afterwards a deafening slam of the door. The apex of this\nfigure, which was rotund, _i.e._, headless, once or twice dilated, and\nwe feared seeing something, we knew not what; it then vanished, and\nwe saw a beautiful arm come from the curtain and wave to us. Upstairs\nagain, the door was shut; on entering we saw the chair overturned in\nthe middle of the room, the fruit scattered in all directions, and, to\nour horror, the note, which I had folded crosswise, was charred at each\ncorner. I took it up; but lacked the courage to open, and perhaps find\na possible reply. Placing it in a plate I burnt it. The process was a\nvery slow one; and it distilled a dark mucus.\n\n\"The whimsical idea now possessed me to arrange the room like a\ntheatre, the armchair and others I placed facing the stand; on them\nI laid antimacassars, and books for programmes. We then went down to\nthe end of the garden which commanded a view of the room, and looked:\nblank space, nothing more--stay! A curious filmy vapor begins to float\nin the air, which slowly cohered, evolved vague phantasms; they unite,\nand gradually assume a definite shape. The headless woman fronts us\nat the window, she vanishes, and an immense sheet is waved twice or\nthrice from the right side of the window, something is flung out; we\nwalk quickly up the garden and there, under the window, lies one of the\nbooks. What had hastened our steps was the frantic gesticulating of the\nservant. She was frightened out of her senses by the peculiar sounds\nproceeding from the room; but she could not describe them, saying\nthat they seemed to be a terrible hurrying to and fro, accompanied\nby strange noises.... We took the Bible and entered the room, which\nwas in disorder: the flower-stand was thrown down, the two chairs\nwidely apart, one of the antimacassars was tightly folded up under the\nrecumbent towel horse, the other with the towel was airing itself on\nthe gigantic tree some seven feet from the window....\n\n\"The next day we went into the room, and discovered an impression in\nthe bed, as though some 'thing' had lain in it. On closer inspection,\nwe distinctly saw the coverlet gently moving, resembling the very\ngentle respiration of a body beneath. We returned to the garden, having\nthrown open the window. After waiting for a long time, we saw what\nlooked like a hand appear on the center of the window sill, then from\nthe curtain came the white figure.\n\n\"It disappeared and after a moment or two the hand also; but there must\nhave been a _something_ besides crouching under the window, for it\nheaved upwards and seemed to fill the window for an instant. It then\nsank, the hand vanished, and we saw no more. We waited a long time,\ntill I spoke of going. I had noticed as a curious thing that almost\nalways, when I had wearied of looking, seeing _nothing_ and about to\nleave, something was sure to happen....\n\n\"This ends my personal experiences. My health became impaired, and\nfor upwards of two years I was invalided, but as time wore on and\nthe impressions waned, I gradually recovered. I often wander back in\nimagination to the many mysteries that in the long ago held sway at\nBrook House.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n\nGHOST STORIES OF A MORE DRAMATIC NATURE\n\nIn the cases which are adduced in the present chapter, the standard\nof evidence cannot be considered so high; many of them have been\nrecorded in good faith as actual experiences, but they will probably\nfail to carry conviction to the same extent as those which have gone\nbefore. Still, many of these narratives are singularly striking and\ninteresting; and for this reason deserve to be included in this\nvolume. The reader may therefore place any construction he may choose\nupon these cases; as they are presented not as evidence but as\nentertainment. I shall begin with some personal experiences of a Scotch\nseer, who, according to his own accounts, has experienced some of the\nmost dramatic and remarkable manifestations conceivable.\n\n\nDISEASE-PHANTOMS\n\nMr. Elliott O'Donnell--a man about whom it has been said that \"the\ngates of his soul are open on the Hell side,\" has had many strange\nexperiences with spirits, mostly evil and horrible, and has recorded\nthese in his books \"Ghostly Phenomena,\" \"Byways of Ghostland,\" etc.\nFrom his voluminous writings on his own personal experiences, I cite a\nfew cases, to show the character of the phenomena:\n\n\"I have, from time to time, witnessed many manifestations which I\nbelieve to be super-physical, both from the peculiarity of their\nproperties, and from the effect their presence invariably produce\non me--an effect I cannot associate with anything physical. One of\nthe first occult phenomena I remember, appeared to me when I was\nabout five years of age. I was then living in a town in the West of\nEngland, and had, according to the usual custom, been put to bed at\nsix o'clock. I had spent a very happy day, playing with my favorite\ntoys--soldiers--and, not being in the least degree tired, was amusing\nmyself with planning a fresh campaign for the following morning, when\nI noticed suddenly that the bedroom door (which I distinctly remember\nmy nurse carefully latching) was slowly opening. Thinking this was very\ncurious, but without the slightest suspicion of 'ghosts,' I sat up in\nbed and watched.\n\n\"The door continued to open, and at last I caught sight of something\nso extraordinary that my guilty conscience at once associated it with\nthe Devil--with regard to whom I distinctly recollected to have spoken\nthat afternoon in a sceptical, and I frankly admit, very disrespectful\nmanner. But far from feeling the proximity of that heat which all those\nwho profess authority on Satanic matters ascribe to Satan, I felt\ndecidedly cold--so cold, indeed, that my hands grew numb and my teeth\nchattered. At first I only saw two light glittering eyes that fixed\nthemselves upon me with an expression of diabolical glee, but I was\nsoon able to perceive that they were set in a huge, flat face, covered\nwith fulsome-looking yellow spots about the size of a threepenny bit.\nI do not remember noticing any of the other features, save the mouth,\nwhich was large and gaping. The body to which the head was attached\nwas quite nude, and covered all over with spots similar to those on\nthe face. I cannot recall any arms, though I have vivid recollections\nof two thick and, to all appearances, jointless legs, by the use of\nwhich it left the doorway, and gliding noiselessly over the carpet,\napproached the empty bed, placed in a parallel position to my own.\nThere it halted, and thrusting its mis-shapen head forward, it fixed\nits malevolent eyes on me with a penetrating stare. On this occasion,\nI was far less frightened than on any of my subsequent experiences with\nthe occult. Why, I cannot say, as the manifestation was certainly one\nof the most hideous I have ever seen. My curiosity, however, was far\ngreater than my fear, and I kept asking myself what the thing was, and\nwhy it was there?\n\n\"It did not seem to be composed of ordinary flesh and blood, but rather\nof some luminous matter that resembles the light emanating from a\nglow-worm.\n\n\"After remaining in the same attitude for what seemed to me an\nincalculably long time, it gradually receded, and assuming all of\na sudden a horizontal attitude, passed head first through the wall\nopposite to where I sat. Next day, I made a sketch of the apparition,\nand showed it to my relatives, who, of course, told me I had been\ndreaming. About two weeks later I was ill in bed with a painful, if\nnot actually dangerous, disease. I was giving an account of this\nmanifestation at a lecture I delivered two or three years ago in\nB., and when I had finished speaking, I was called aside by one of\nthe audience who very shyly told me that he too had had a similar\nexperience. Prior to being attacked by diphtheria, he had seen a\nqueer-looking apparition which had approached his bedside and leaned\nover him. He assured me that he had been fully awake at the time, and\nhad applied tests to prove that the phantom was entirely objective.\n\n\"A number of other cases, too, have been reported to me, in which\nvarious species of phantasms have been seen before various illnesses.\nHence I believe that certain spirits are symbolical of certain\ndiseases, if not the actual creators of the bacilli from which\nthese diseases arise. To these phantasms I have given the name of\n_Morbas_....\"\n\n\nTHE TALE OF THE MUMMY\n\n\"During one of my sojourns in Paris,\" says Mr. Elliott O'Donnell, in\nhis \"Byways of Ghost Land,\" \"I met a Frenchman who, he informed me, had\njust returned from the East. I asked him if he had brought back any\ncurios such as vases, funeral urns, weapons or amulets. 'Yes, lots,'\nhe replied, 'two cases full. But no mummies! Mon Dieu! No mummies. You\nask me why? Ah! Thereby hangs a tale. If you will have patience, I will\ntell it you.'\n\n\"The following is the gist of his narrative:\n\n\"'Some seasons ago I traveled up the Nile as far as Assiut, and when\nthere, managed to pay a visit to the grand ruins of Thebes. Among the\nvarious treasures I brought away with me was a mummy. I found it lying\nin an enormous lidless sarcophagus, close to a mutilated statue of\nAnubis. On my return to Assiut, I had the mummy placed in my tent, and\nthought no more of it till something awoke me with startling suddenness\nin the night. Then, obeying a peculiar impulse, I turned over on my\nside and looked in the direction of my treasure.\n\n\"'The nights in the Soudan at this time of year are brilliant, one can\neven see to read, and every object in the desert is almost as clearly\nvisible as by day. But I was quite startled by the whiteness of the\nglow which rested on the mummy, the face of which was immediately\nopposite mine. The remains--those of Met-Om-Karema, lady of the College\nof the god Amen-ra--were swathed in bandages, some of which had worn\naway in parts or become loose; and the figure, plainly discernible, was\nthat of a shapely woman with elegant bust, well-formed limbs, rounded\narms and small hands. The thumbs were slender, and the fingers, each of\nwhich was separately bandaged, long and tapering. The neck was full,\nthe cranium rather long, the nose aquiline, the chin firm. Imitation\neyes, brows, and lips were painted on the wrappings, and the effect\nthus produced and in the phosphorescent glare of the moonbeams, was\nvery weird. I was quite alone in the tent, the only European who\naccompanied me to Assiut, having stayed in the town by preference, and\nmy servants being encamped at one hundred or so yards from me on the\nground.\n\n\"'Sound travels far in the desert, but the silence now was absolute,\nand, though I listened attentively, I could not detect the slightest\nnoise--man, beast and insect were abnormally still. There was something\nin the air, too, which struck me as unusual; an odd, clammy coldness\nthat reminded me at once of the catacombs in Paris. I had hardly,\nhowever, conceived the resemblance, when a sob--low, gentle, but very\ndistinct--sent a thrill of horror through me. It was ridiculous,\nabsurd. It could not be, and I fought against the idea as to whence\nthe sound had proceeded, as something too utterly fantastic, too\nutterly impossible. I tried to occupy my mind with other thoughts--the\nfrivolities of Cairo, the casinos of Nice; but all to no purpose;\nand soon, on my eager, throbbing ear there again fell that sound,\nthat low and gentle sob. My hair stood on end; this time there was no\ndoubt, no possible manner of doubt--the mummy lived! I looked at it\naghast. I strained my vision to detect any movement in its limbs,\nbut none was perceptible. Yet the noise had come from it, it had\nbreathed--breathed--and even as I hissed the word unconsciously through\nmy clenched lips, the bosom of the mummy rose and fell.\n\n\"'A frightful terror seized me. I tried to shriek to my servants; I\ncould not ejaculate a syllable. I tried to close my eye-lids, but\nthey were held open as in a vice. Again there came a sob that was\nimmediately succeeded by a sigh; and a tremor ran through the figure\nfrom head to foot. One of its hands then began to move, the fingers\nclutched the air convulsively, then grew rigid, then curled slowly\ninto the palms, then suddenly straightened. The bandages concealing\nthem from view then fell off, and to my agonized sight were disclosed\nobjects that struck me as strangely familiar. There is something about\nfingers, a marked individuality, I never forget. No two persons' hands\nare alike. And in these fingers, in their excessive whiteness, round\nknuckles, and blue veins, I read a likeness whose prototype, struggle\nhow I would, I could not recall. Gradually the hand moved upwards, and,\nreaching the throat, the fingers set to work at once to remove the\nwrappings. My terror was now sublime. I dare not imagine, I dare not\nfor one instant think, what I should see. And there was no getting away\nfrom it; I could not stir an inch, and the ghastly revelation would\ntake place within a yard of my face!\n\n\"'One by one the bandages came off. A glimmer of skin, pale as marble;\nthe beginning of the nose, the whole nose; the upper lip, exquisitely,\ndelicately cut; the teeth, white and even on the whole, but here and\nthere a shining gold filling; the under lip, soft and gentle; a mouth\nI knew, but--God, where? In my dreams, in the wild fantasies that had\noft-times visited by pillow at night--in delirium, in reality, where?\nMon Dieu! WHERE?\n\n\"'The uncasing continued. The chin next, a chin that was purely\nfeminine, purely classical; then the upper part of the head--the hair\nlong, black, luxuriant--the forehead low and white--the brows black,\nfirmly pencilled; and last of all, the eyes!--and as they met my\nfrenzied gaze, smiled, smiled right down into the depths of my living\nsoul, I recognized them--they were the eyes of my mother, my mother\nwho had died in my boyhood! Seized with a madness that knew no bounds,\nI sprang to my feet. The figure rose and confronted me. I flung open\nmy arms to embrace her, the woman of all women in the world I loved\nbest, the only woman I had ever loved. Shrinking from my touch, she\ncowered against the side of the tent. I fell on my knees before her and\nkissed--what? Not the feet of my mother, but those of the long-buried\ndead. Sick with repulsion and fear I looked up, and there bending over\nand peering into my eyes was the face, the fleshless, mouldering face\nof the foul and barely recognizable corpse! With a shriek of horror\nI rolled backwards, and, springing to my feet, prepared to fly. I\nglanced at the mummy. It was lying on the ground, stiff and still,\nevery bandage in its place; whilst standing over it, a look of fiendish\nglee in its light, doglike eyes, was the figure of Anubis, lurid and\nmenacing.\n\n\"'The voices of my servants, assuring me they were coming, broke the\nsilence, and in an instant the apparition vanished.\n\n\"'I had had enough of the tent, however, at least for that night, and,\nseeking refuge in the town, I whiled away the hours till morning with\na fragrant cigar and a novel. Directly I had breakfasted, I took the\nmummy back to Thebes, and left it there. No thank you, Mr. O'Donnell, I\ncollect many kinds of curios, but--no more mummies!'\"\n\n\nFACE SLAPPED BY A GHOST\n\nThe following remarkable event occurred to a friend of mine--an\nelderly, married lady, whom I have known for some time. She is now\nmaking her home in Brooklyn, but at the time of her gruesome experience\nwas residing in England. It is some years since this occurred, but the\nincident, she assured me, lives just as vividly in her mind as though\nit all happened yesterday. This is her story, just as she told it to me:\n\n\"I was staying with some friends in the country. They had an old,\nrambling house, with long, draughty halls and corridors all over it. As\nthe house was already full of guests, I had to sleep in a large room,\nat the end of the long passage, on the ground floor. The room in itself\nwas comfortable enough--large and warm. Yet there was an atmosphere\nabout that apartment which I did not quite like; in fact, the whole\nhouse made me feel 'creepy,' for no reason that I can give.\n\n\"Bed-time came all too soon; and I took my candle and was shown my\nroom. My hostess saw that I had everything I needed; and then, saying\ngood-night, went upstairs to bed.\n\n\"I had half undressed when I saw the door of my room gently and quietly\nopened, as though a stealthy hand were softly pressing it open. I\ngazed transfixed, until, when wide open, I could see that no one was,\nin reality, on the other side of the door. At that I drew a breath\nof relief. 'A draught,' I thought, 'coming down the hallway. It is\nnothing.' And I chided myself on my fears; shut the door, and proceeded\nto undress.\n\n\"I had not gone far, however, when to my amazement the door opened\nagain; just as quietly and stealthily as before. Again I closed the\ndoor, and proceeded with my undressing. I had by this time finished,\nand had donned my night-gown preparatory to getting into bed.\n\n\"At that moment I was horrified to see my door open for the _third_\ntime, just as it did before--slowly, slowly, until it rested on its\nhinges, wide open to the hall. I now determined to investigate; so,\ntaking my candle in my hand, I stepped out into the hall and proceeded\ndown towards the front door.\n\n\"I had not taken more than three or four steps, however, when the\ncandle in my hands was extinguished--as though a breath of wind, coming\nfrom nowhere, had blown it out. I did not much relish this, as the\nmatches were in my room. But I determined to keep on, in the dark,\nand see what the cause of this could be. So I kept on and on, down\nthe dark hall--my left hand holding the extinguished candle; my right\nextended so that I could feel the solid masonry all the way down the\ncorridor.\n\n\"I had proceeded, perhaps, half way, when a strange thing occurred. I\nsuddenly felt myself slapped on the left cheek by something cold and\nmoist and clammy. I put my hand up to my face, and felt it was wet. For\nan instant I hesitated; then I proceeded, down the hall, until I came\nto the front door. That I found closed and locked. Having thus explored\nthe whole length of the hall and found nothing, I turned back to regain\nmy room. Still holding the candle in my left hand, and still feeling\nthe wall with my outstretched right hand, I crept cautiously along, not\nknowing what to expect.\n\n\"Again, I had proceeded about half way down the hall when I felt the\nsame cold, quick slap in the face (this time on the right cheek) and\nagain I found it was wet.\n\n\"Thoroughly frightened now, I fled to my room as fast as my legs could\ncarry me. Once within, I closed and secured the door by placing a chair\nagainst it. Next, finding my box of matches, I relighted my candle.\nThen I surveyed myself in the mirror, to see what could be upon my\nface.\n\n\"Imagine my horror when, on looking in the glass, I discovered two\nlong streaks of blood, one upon either cheek! I was so terror-struck\nthat I gazed at myself for a few moments unable to move or speak. Then\nI screamed, and after that I have no very clear recollection of what\nhappened. I have a hazy recollection of anxious faces bending over me;\nof a low hum of voices; then oblivion.\n\n\"It took me many weeks to recover from the shock of that night.\"\n\n\nALONE WITH A GHOST IN A CHURCH\n\nThe following case is sent me by a correspondent:\n\nI once knew a young man by the name of Charles D. Bradlaugh, who took a\ndelight in ridiculing ghost stories and, whenever possible, in proving\nthem to be due to fraud, trickery or hallucination. He stated he was\n\"afraid of nothing.\" I said to him one day in conversation: \"If you are\nas fearless as you say, would you be willing to spend a night alone,\nlocked up in a Church with a corpse freshly placed in its coffin?\"\n\nHe replied that he would do it any time; so the test was shortly\narranged. One of the parishioners had just died, and had been placed\nin the crypt of the church, with the lid of the coffin removed. The\nlights were all extinguished; we locked the door after us, and went\naway, leaving Bradlaugh and the spirits to fight it out between them.\n\nWhat occurred during the night must be told in Bradlaugh's own words,\nas nearly as I can recall them:\n\n\"When I heard the key turn in the door, that night, I confess that a\nstrange feeling came over me for the first time in my life. I wanted\nto get out; but of course I knew it was useless; and in the next place\nmy pride forbade my leaving. Shaking off the superstitious fear that\nhad settled upon me, I turned away; and proceeded to explore, as best I\ncould, the whole of the church.\n\n\"A bright moonlight fell in through the windows, casting queer shadows\nin various directions; and across the long rows of pews and the altar\nat the far end of the church. I walked about, looking at everything\ncuriously, as it had been long since I found myself inside a church.\nThen I proceeded to the crypt, and, walking boldly up to the coffin, I\ngazed long and earnestly at the corpse lying within it, as though to\nfamiliarize myself with it. I went on the principle that 'familiarity\nbreeds contempt.' When I had done this, I went back to the nave of the\nchurch, and, finding a comfortable place, I lay down, and was soon in\na state bordering on sleep. I should have been asleep, probably, very\nsoon; but, just as I was dropping off, I heard a faint sound coming\nfrom the direction of the crypt. It was like a deep sigh, and this\nwas followed by other sounds which I find it hard to describe. All I\nknow is that, in the quiet and stillness of that awful place, those\nsounds, slight as they were, were truly appalling, and chilled the very\nblood in my veins. Their very indistinctness added to their terror. I\ncould not conceive what could make such uncanny noises. I sat up, and\nstrained my eyes in the darkness, trying to penetrate the gloom. Then\nI heard the first faint footsteps coming up the stairs from the crypt!\nAt first, these were faint, but they became louder and louder; until\nfinally I could hear them plainly. Undoubtedly they were foot-falls, as\nthough a human being were mounting the steps from the crypt where the\ncorpse had been laid!\n\n\"I rose from my seat, my hair standing on end, while queer, cold\nshivers ran up and down my back. I advanced one or two paces toward the\ndoor, hardly knowing what to expect. Then, as I looked, I saw step into\nthe bright moonlight, the corpse that a few moments before I had seen\nlying in the coffin downstairs!\n\n\"Frantic with fear, I rushed at the corpse, still shrouded, as it was,\nin the white wrappings which, torn and dishevelled, still enveloped the\nbody. I raised one hand as though to strike the ghost, and thrust the\nhateful thing from me; when I felt a stunning blow on the point of my\njaw, and a moment later I had lost sensibility. When I awoke, you were\nall round me. You know the rest.\"\n\nTo make a long story short, it turned out that the supposed \"corpse\"\nwas not really dead at all, but in a sort of trance; and had been\nburied prematurely. He had revived in the night; and was advancing into\nthe church when he encountered Bradlaugh in the doorway. Thinking him a\nrobber or an assassin, he had struck first; and, being a powerful man\nand a good boxer, he had knocked out Bradlaugh by a blow on the jaw.\nWhen we arrived in the morning, we found Bradlaugh senseless, and the\n\"corpse,\" now stripped of his grave clothes, bending over him, dashing\ncold water in his face!\n\n\nA HAUNTED HOUSE IN FRANCE\n\nThe following case, said to be authentic, is quoted here because of\nthe incident of the \"shouts and laughter\" which were heard, and which\nserve to throw an interesting sidelight on the case which follows it.\n\nThe Rev. F. G. Lee, in his book, _Sights and Shadows_, gives the\nfollowing account, sent to him, of a haunted house in France:\n\n\"In the spring of the year 1891, great excitement was occasioned by\na disembodied spirit in a haunted house in LePort, at Nice. This is\nsituated in a terrace close to the quarries, where, after the reports\nconcerning it, as many as two thousand persons were often gathered\nround it. The spirits haunting it--never visible, however--would\nbeat the inmates so unmercifully that the blows would leave bruises.\nHundreds of persons saw the result, and testified to the undoubted\nfacts. The local police, on being appealed to, and having heard the\nevidence of numerous eye-witnesses, and of those persons who were\ninconvenienced, formed a body of organized inquirers, who, shrewd\nenough in mundane matters, utterly failed to discover anything or\nanybody.\n\n\"On one occasion, thirteen men sat up in three rooms which had been\nwell lighted, and some of them played cards for several hours to while\naway the time. During the whole of this occurrence, the strangest\nnoises were heard in various parts of the building. It seemed, at\none time, as if a whole regiment of soldiers were tramping up the\nchief staircase. Pictures swung to and fro upon the walls, without any\nvisible motive effect.[4] Then heavy blows were heard on the walls, and\nit appeared that the closed doors and the shutters were being violently\nstruck and thumped, as if with a large hammer wrapped in cloth.\n\n [4] This is a common feature of haunted houses.--H.C.\n\n\"On two occasions, a room on the ground floor was found to be in the\ndensest darkness, though outside the house the sun was shining. On\nanother occasion, just before midnight, when certain persons were\nspecially present to note any supernatural occurrences, all the lamps\nin the house were suddenly put out; while shouts and laughter were\nheard in every part of the place, more particularly from the empty\nrooms. At the same time, heavy blows were experienced by those present,\nwho were very severely bruised, and a large bottle of ink was thrown by\ninvisible hands from the top of the staircase.\n\n\"Every attempt was made to discover the source of these extraordinary\ndisorders, but without avail. They were reported to have ceased for\nseveral months, but to have commenced again at a later period. A local\ncommunication says that they still 'occur at intervals.'\"\n\n\nA HAUNTED HOUSE IN GEORGIA\n\nThe following account is taken from the report of the San Francisco\n_Examiner_, and is certainly one of the most striking cases of the\ncharacter on record. It is not put forward as strictly \"evidential,\"\nbut its interesting nature certainly warrants its insertion in this\nvolume.\n\n\"Soon after the Walsinghams took up their abode in their new home,\nthey began to be disturbed by strange sounds and odd phenomena. These\ndisturbances generally took the form of noises in the house after the\nfamily had retired and the lights had been extinguished--continual\nbanging of the doors, things overturned, the doorbell rang, and the\nannoying of the house dog, a large and intelligent mastiff.\n\n\"One day Don C\u00e6sar, the mastiff, was found in the hallway barking\nfuriously and bristling with rage, while his eyes seemed directed to\nthe wall just before him. At last he made a spring forward with a\nhoarse yelp of ungovernable fury, only to fall back as if flung down by\nsome powerful and cruel hand. Upon examination it was found that his\nneck had been broken.\n\n\"The house cat, on the contrary, seemed rather to enjoy the favor of\nthe ghost, and would often enter a door as if escorting some visitor,\nwhose hand was stroking her back. She would also climb about a chair,\nrubbing herself and purring as if well pleased at the presence of some\none in the seat. She and Don C\u00e6sar invariably manifested this eccentric\nconduct at the same time, as though the mysterious being were visible\nto both of them.\n\n\"The annoying visitant finally took to arousing the family at all hours\nof the night by making such a row as to render any rest impossible.\n\n\"This noise, which consisted of shouts, groans, hideous laughter, and a\npeculiar, most distressing wail, would sometimes proceed, apparently,\nfrom under the house, sometimes from the ceiling and at other times in\nthe very room in which the family was seated. One night Miss Amelia\nWalsingham, the young lady daughter, was engaged at her toilet, when\nshe felt a hand softly laid on her shoulder. Thinking it her mother or\nsister, she glanced at the glass before her, only to be thunderstruck\nat seeing the mirror reflect no form but her own, though she could\nplainly see a man's broad hand lying on her arm.\n\n\"She brought the family to her by her screams, but when they reached\nher all sign of the mysterious hand had gone. Mr. Walsingham himself\nsaw footsteps form beside his own while walking through the garden\nafter a light rain.\n\n\"The marks were those of a man's naked feet, and fell beside his own,\nas if the person walked at his side.\n\n\"Matters grew so serious that the Walsinghams became frightened, and\ntalked of leaving the house, when an event took place which confirmed\nthem in this determination. The family was seated at the supper table\nwith several guests who were spending the evening when a loud groan was\nheard in the room overhead.\n\n\"This was, however, nothing unusual, and very little notice was taken\nof it until one of the visitors pointed out a stain of what looked like\nblood on the white table cloth, and it was seen that some liquid was\nslowly dripping on the table from the ceiling overhead. This liquid was\nso much like freshly-shed blood that it horrified those who watched its\nslow dropping. Mr. Walsingham, with several of his guests, ran hastily\nupstairs and into the room directly over the one in which the blood was\ndripping.\n\n\"A carpet covered the floor, and nothing appeared to explain the source\nof the ghastly rain; but, anxious to satisfy themselves thoroughly,\nthe carpet was immediately ripped up, and the boarding found to be\nperfectly dry, and even covered with a thin layer of dust, and all the\nwhile the floor was being examined the persons below could swear the\nblood never ceased to drop. A stain the size of a dinner-plate was\nformed before the drops ceased to fall. This stain was examined the\nnext day under the microscope, and was pronounced by competent chemists\nto be human blood.\n\n\"The Walsinghams left the house next day, and since then the place\nhas been apparently given over to spooks and evil spirits, which make\nthe night hideous with the noise of revel, shouts and furious yells.\nHundreds from all over this county and adjacent ones have visited the\nplace, but few have had the courage to pass the night in the haunted\nhouse. One daring spirit, however, Horace Gunn, of Savannah, accepted\na wager that he could not spend twenty-four hours in it, and did so,\nthough he declares that there is not enough money in the country to\nmake him pass another night there. He was found the morning after\nby his friends with whom he made the wager, in a swoon. He has never\nrecovered from the shock of his horrible experience, and is still\nconfined to his bed suffering from nervous prostration.\n\n\"His story is that shortly after nightfall he endeavored to kindle\na fire in one of the rooms, and to light the lamp with which he had\nprovided himself, but to his surprise and consternation, found it\nimpossible to do either. An icy breath, which seemed to proceed from\nsome invisible person at his side, extinguished each match as he\nlighted it. At this peculiarly terrifying turn of affairs Mr. Gunn\nwould have left the house and forfeited the amount of his wager, a\nconsiderable one, but he was restrained by the fear of ridicule. He\nsteadied himself in the dark with what calmness he could, and waited\ndevelopments.\n\n\"For some time nothing occurred, and the young man was half-dozing,\nwhen, after an hour or two, he was brought to his feet by a sudden yell\nof pain or rage that seemed to come from under the house. This appeared\nto be the signal for an outbreak of hideous noises all over the house.\nThe sound of running feet could be heard scurrying up and down the\nstairs, hastening from one room to another, as if one person fled from\nthe pursuit of a second. This kept up for nearly an hour, but at last\nceased altogether, and for some time Mr. Gunn sat in darkness and\nquiet, and had about concluded that the performance was over for the\nnight. At last, however, his attention was attracted by a white spot\nthat gradually appeared on the opposite wall.\n\n\"The spot continued to brighten, until it seemed a disc of white\nfire, when the horrified spectator saw that the light emanated from\nand surrounded a human head, which, without a body, or any visible\nmeans of support, was moving slowly along the wall, about the height\nof a man from the floor. This ghastly head appeared to be that of\nan aged person, though whether male or female it was difficult to\ndetermine. The hair was long and gray, and matted together with\ndark clots of blood, which also issued from a deep jagged wound in\none temple. The cheeks were fallen in and the whole face indicated\nsuffering and unspeakable misery. The eyes were wide open, and gleamed\nwith an unearthly fire, while the glassy eyes seemed to follow the\nterror-stricken Gunn, who was too thoroughly paralyzed by what he saw\nto move or cry out. Finally, the head disappeared and the room was once\nmore left in darkness, but the young man could hear what seemed to be\nhalf a dozen persons moving about him, while the whole house shook as\nif rocked by some violent earthquake.\n\n\"The groaning and the wailing that broke forth from every direction was\nsomething terrific, and an unearthly rattle and banging as of china\nor tin pans being flung to the ground floor from the upper story added\nto the deafening noise. Gunn at last roused himself sufficiently to\ntry and leave the haunted house. Feeling his way along the wall, in\norder to avoid the beings, whatever they were, that filled the room,\nthe young man had nearly succeeded in reaching the door when he found\nhimself seized by the ankle and was violently thrown to the floor. He\nwas grasped by icy hands, which sought to grip him about the throat. He\nstruggled with his unseen foe, but was soon overpowered and choked into\ninsensibility. When found by his friends, his throat was black with the\nmarks of long, thin fingers, armed with cruel, curved nails.\n\n\"The only explanation which, can be found for these mysterious\nmanifestations is that about three months before, a number of bones\nwere discovered on the Walsingham place, which some declared even then\nto be those of a human being. Mr. Walsingham pronounced them, however,\nto be an animal's, and they were hastily thrown into an adjacent\nlimekiln. It is supposed to be the outraged spirit of a person to whom\nthey belonged in life which is now creating such consternation.\"\n\n\nSHAKEN BY A GHOST\n\nThe following narrative is vouched for by Mrs. H. S. Iredell, of\nTunbridge Wells, England, a relative of the Rev. Dr. Lee, who gives the\ncase in his _Sights and Shadows_:\n\n\"The haunted house in question is near Wandsworth common. The late\noccupants of it were a man, his wife and their child. They had to\nleave it, for they could get no rest in it at night for the fearful\nnoises which went on incessantly, like sounds as of a sledge-hammer\nwrapped in flannel struck against the walls. The sister-in-law of the\nlate occupants, who told me of it, had spent some days at the house,\nso I heard all the story first-hand. One night she likewise felt as if\nsomeone had taken her by the shoulders and she was being roughly shaken\nfrom side to side. Her husband, who was with her, saw her at the time\nshe was being shaken by an invisible power, stretched out his hand\nto take hold of her; but he felt right up his arm to his shoulder a\n_shock_, as it were of electricity, which made him instantly draw back\nand cry out. Nothing was ever seen, but in the special sleeping-room\nwhich seemed to be haunted, the clothes used to be pulled off the bed\nat night and thrown on the floor, and then they used to raise or rear\nthemselves up again on the bed....\n\n\"Since the above was written, it is reported, that no less than five\nfamilies have respectively occupied the house as tenants, who one and\nall have left it as soon as possible. It is now said to be permanently\nuntenanted.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nThis case is given because of the incident of the \"electric shock\"\nwhich the percipient received, when attempting to interfere with\nthe \"spirit\"; and serves as an interesting modern and apparently\nwell-authenticated instance of what occurred in Lytton's story, which\nfollows.\n\n\nTHE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN\n\nBulwer Lytton's story, \"The House and the Brain,\" is, perhaps, the most\nremarkable ghost story of this character on record, and is considered,\nby many, the best ever written. The phenomena occur in a house which\nis reputed to be haunted; no one will live in it. At last one brave\nsoul determines to pass the night within its walls; he and his servant\ntake up their abode in it, and, after various startling adventures of\na minor character, the \"grand climax\" of the night is reached. As the\nauthor sat reading by the fire, the following occurred, which is told\nin his own words:\n\n\"I now became aware that something interposed between the page and the\nlight--the page was over-shadowed; I looked up, and I saw what I shall\nfind it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe.\n\n\"It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very undefined\noutline. I cannot say it was a human form, and yet it had more\nresemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to anything else.\nAs it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and light around\nit, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touching the\nceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An iceberg\ncould not more have chilled me; nor could the cold of an iceberg have\nbeen more purely physical. I feel convinced that it was not the cold\ncaused by fear. As I continued to gaze, I thought--but this I cannot\nsay with precision--that I distinguished two eyes looking on me from\nthe height. One moment I fancied that I distinguished them clearly; the\nnext they seemed gone; but still two rays of pale blue light frequently\nshot through the darkness, as from the height on which, I half\nbelieved, half doubted, that I had encountered the eyes.\n\n\"I strove to speak--my voice utterly failed me; I could only think to\nmyself, Is this fear? It is _not_ fear! I strove to rise; in vain; I\nfelt weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, my impression was\nthat of an immense and overwhelming Power opposed to my volition; that\nsense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond man's, which one\nmay feel _physically_ in a storm at sea, in a conflagration, or when\nconfronting some terrible wild beast--or rather, perhaps, the shark of\nthe ocean, I felt _morally_. Opposed to my will was another will, as\nfar superior to its strength as storm, fire and shark are superior in\nmaterial force to the force of man.\n\n\"And now--as this impression grew on me--now came, at last,\nhorror--horror of a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained\npride, if not courage; and in my own mind I said: 'This is horror, but\nit is not fear; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason rejects\nthis thing; it is an illusion--I do not fear.' With a violent effort I\nsucceeded at last in stretching out my hand towards the weapon on the\ntable; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange shock,\nand my arm fell to my side powerless. And now, to add to my horror,\nthe light began slowly to wane from the candles--they were not, as it\nwere, extinguished, but their flame seemed very gradually withdrawn--it\nwas the same with the fire; the light was extinguished from the fuel;\nin a few minutes the room was in utter darkness. The dread that came\nover me, to be thus in the dark with that Thing, whose power was so\nintensely felt, brought on a reaction of nerve. In fact, terror had\nreached that climax, that either my senses must have deserted me, or I\nmust have burst through the spell. I _did_ burst through it. I found\nvoice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember that I broke forth\nwith words like these--'I do not fear, my soul does not fear'; and at\nthe same time I found the strength to rise. Still in that profound\ngloom I rushed to one of the windows--tore aside the curtain--flung\nopen the shutters; my first thought was--LIGHT. And when I saw the\nmoon high, clear and calm, I felt a joy that almost compensated me for\nmy previous terror. There was the moon; there also was the light from\nthe gas lamps in the deserted, slumberous street. I turned to look\nback into the room; the moon penetrated its shadow very palely and\npartially--but still there was light. The dark Thing, whatever it might\nbe, was gone--except that I could yet see a dim shadow, which seemed\nthe shadow of that shade against the opposite wall.\n\n\"My eye now rested on the table, and from under the table (which was\nwithout cloth or cover--an old mahogany round table) there rose a\nhand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as much\nof flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person--lean,\nwrinkled, small too--a woman's hand. That hand very softly closed on\nthe two letters that lay on the table; hand and letters both vanished.\nThen there came the same three loud, measured knocks I had heard on the\nbed-head before this extraordinary drama commenced.\n\n\"As these sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate sensibly;\nand at the far end there rose, from the floor, sparks or globules, like\nglobules of light, many colored--green, yellow, fire-red, azure. Up\nand down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny Will o' the Wisps, the\nsparks moved, slow and swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as in\nthe drawing-room below) was now advanced from the wall without apparent\nagency, and placed at the opposite side of the table. Suddenly, as\nforth from the air, there grew a shape, a woman's shape. It was\ndistinct as a shape of life--ghastly as the shape of death. The face\nwas that of youth, with a strange, mournful beauty; the throat and\nshoulders were bare; the rest of the form in a loose robe of cloudy\nwhite. It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which fell over its\nshoulders; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to the floor; it\nseemed listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the shade in the\nbackground grew darker; and again I thought I saw the eyes gleaming out\nfrom the summit of the shadow--eyes fixed upon that shape.\n\n\"As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another\nshape, equally distinct, equally ghastly--a man's shape--a young man's.\nIt was in the dress of the last century, or rather the likeness to such\ndress (for both the male and the female, though defined, were evidently\nunsubstantial, impalpable, simulacra, phantasms), and there was\nsomething incongruous, grotesque, yet fearful in the contrast between\nthe elaborate finery, the courtly precision of that old-fashioned garb,\nwith its ruffles and lace and buckles, and the corpse-like aspect and\nghost-like stillness of the flitting wearer. Just as the male shape\napproached the female, the dark shadow started from the wall, and\nall three for a moment were wrapped in darkness. When the pale light\nreturned, the two phantasms were as if in the grasp of the shadow, that\ntowered between them, and there was a blood stain on the breast of the\nfemale; and the phantom male was leaning on its phantom sword, and\nblood seemed trickling fast from the ruffles, from the lace; and the\ndarkness of the intermediate Shadow swallowed them up--they were gone.\nAnd again the bubbles of light shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing\nthicker and thicker and more wildly confused in their movements.\n\n\"The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from\nthe aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she\nheld letters--the very letters over which I had seen the hand close;\nand behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if to listen,\nand then she opened her letters and seemed to read; and over her\nshoulder I saw a livid face, the face of a man long drowned--bloated,\nbleached--seaweed tangled in its dripping hair, and at her feet lay a\nform as of a corpse, and beside the corpse there towered a child, a\nmiserable, squalid child, with famine in its cheeks and fear in its\neyes. And as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines\nvanished; and it became the face of youth--hard-eyed, stony, but still\nyouth; and the Shadow darted forth and darkened over these phantoms as\nit had darkened over the last.\n\n\"Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were intently\nfixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow--malignant, serpent\neyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in their\ndisordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mingled with the wan moonlight.\nAnd now from these globules themselves, as from the shell of an egg,\nmonstrous things burst out; the air grew filled with them; larv\u00e6 so\nbloodless and so hideous that I can in no way describe them except\nto remind the reader of the swarming life which the solar microscope\nbrings before the eyes in a drop of water--things transparent, supple,\nagile, chasing each other, devouring each other--forms like nought\never beheld by the naked eye. As the shapes were without symmetry, so\ntheir movements were without order. In their very vagrancies there\nwas no sport; they came round me and round; thicker and faster and\nswifter, swarming over my head, crawling over my right arm, which was\noutstretched in involuntary command against all evil things. Sometimes\nI felt myself touched, but not by them; invisible hands touched me.\nOnce I felt the clutch of cold, soft fingers at my throat, I was still\nequally conscious that if I gave way to fear I should be in bodily\nperil; and I concentrated all my faculties in the single focus of\nresisting, stubborn will. And I turned my sight from the Shadow--above\nall, from those strange serpent eyes--eyes that had now become\ndistinctly visible. For there, though in nought else round me, I was\naware that there was a WILL, and a will of intense, creative, working\nevil, which might crush down my own.\n\n\"The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the air\nof some near conflagration. The larv\u00e6 grew lurid as things that live on\nfire. Again the room vibrated; again I heard the three measured knocks;\nand again all things were swallowed up in the darkness of the dark\nshadow--as if out of that darkness all had come, into that darkness all\nhad returned.\n\n\"As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it had\nbeen withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the table,\nagain into the fuel in the grate....\n\n\"The room came once more calmly, healthfully into sight.\n\n\"Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I\nlong to wait before the dawn broke....\"\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX A\n\nHISTORICAL GHOSTS\n\n\nRoyalty and well-known personages have seen ghosts in all ages of the\nworld's history; certainly they are not exempt from the common run of\nhumanity so far as ghostly visitations are concerned! Mr. Stead has\ncompiled a number of notable cases of this character, of which the\nfollowing are probably the most noteworthy:\n\n\nROYAL\n\n_Henry IV._ of France told D'Aubigne that, in the presence of\nhimself, the Archbishop of Lyons, and three ladies of the Court, the\nQueen (Margaret of Valois) saw the apparition of a certain Cardinal\nafterwards found to have died at the moment.\n\n_Abel the Fratricide_, King of Denmark, still haunts the woods of\nPoole, near the city of Sleswig.\n\n_Valdemar IV._ haunts Gurre Wood, near Elsinore.\n\n_Charles XI._, of Sweden, accompanied by his chamberlain and state\nphysician, witnessed the trial of the assassin of Gartavus III., which\noccurred nearly a century later.\n\n_James IV._, of Scotland, was warned by an apparition against his\nintended expedition into England. He, however, proceeded and fell at\nFlodden Field.\n\n_Charles I._, of England, was also warned by an apparition, but paying\nno heed, was disastrously defeated at Naseby.\n\n_Queen Elizabeth_ is said to have been warned of her death by the\napparition of her own double.\n\n\nEMPERORS\n\n_Trajan_ and _Caracalla_ both saw apparitions, which they recorded.\n\n_Theodosius_ and _Julian the Apostate_ both beheld apparitions, at\nimportant crises in their lives.\n\n\nFAMOUS MEN\n\n_Sir Robert Peel_ and his brother both saw Lord Byron in London when he\nwas in reality lying dangerously ill of a fever in Patras. During the\nsame fever, he also appeared to others.\n\n_Julius Caesar_, _Xerxes_, _Drusus_, _Pausanius_, _Dio_ (General of\nSyracuse), _Admiral Coligni_ all saw apparitions, which made a deep\nimpression on them in every case.\n\n_Napoleon_, at St. Helena, saw and conversed with the apparition of\nJosephine, who warned him of his approaching death. _Blucher_, on\nthe day of his death, was also told of it by an apparition. _General\nGarfield_ saw and conversed with his father, latterly deceased.\n_Lincoln_ had a certain premonitory dream which occurred three times\nin relation to important battles, and the fourth on the eve of his\nassassination.\n\n_Dante_, son of the poet, was visited in a dream by his father, who\nconversed with him and told him (correctly) where to find the missing\nthirteen cantos of the \"Commedia.\"\n\n_Goethe_ saw his own double riding by his side under conditions which\nreally occurred years later.\n\n_Tasso_ saw and conversed with beings invisible to those about him.\n\n_Cellini_ was dissuaded from suicide by the apparition of a young man\nwho frequently visited and encouraged him.\n\n_Mozart_ was visited by a mysterious person who ordered him to compose\na _requiem_, and came frequently to inquire after its progress, but\ndisappeared on its completion, which occurred just in time for its\nperformance at his own funeral.\n\n_Ben Johnson_ was visited by the apparition of his eldest son with the\nmark of a bloody cross upon his forehead at the moment of his death by\nthe plague.\n\n_Thackery_ wrote: \"It is all very well for you who have probably never\nseen spirit manifestations to talk as you do, but had you seen what I\nhave witnessed you would hold a different opinion.\"\n\n_Hugh Miller_, _Maria Edgeworth_, _Captain Marryat_, _Madame de Stael_,\n_Sir Humphrey Davy_, _William Harvey_, _Francis Bacon_, _Martin\nLuther_, _George Fox_, _Cardinal Newman_, _Bishop Wilberforce_, and\nmany others have seen apparitions, or held converse with the unseen\nworld in one form or another, as recorded by themselves.\n\nAmong the famous historical hauntings, we must not forget to mention\nthe famous _Cock Lane Ghost_ which occurred about 1760. According to a\nbrief paragraph printed in the _London Ledger_, 1762, we read that:\n\n\"For some time a great knocking having been heard in the night, at\nthe officiating parish clerk's of St. Sepulchre's, in Cock Lane near\nSmithfield, to the great terror of the family, and all means used to\ndiscover the meaning of it having failed, four gentlemen sat up there\nlast Friday night, among whom was a clergyman standing withinside the\ndoor, who asked various questions. On his asking whether anyone had\nbeen murdered, no answer was made; but on his asking whether anyone had\nbeen poisoned, it knocked one and thirty times. The report current in\nthe neighborhood is that a woman was some time ago poisoned, and buried\nin St. John's Clerkenwell, by her brother-in-law.\"\n\nThese knockings and phenomena occurred for a considerable time, until\nthe whole community became interested in the manifestations. While\nvarious theories were advanced at the time--and since--to explain this\nghost, no definite conclusion has ever been arrived at.\n\nThe _Drummer of Tedworth_ is a still older and equally famous ghost,\nwho flourished about a hundred years before the Cock Lane Ghost, and\nwas investigated (and the results carefully recorded) by Sir Joseph\nGlanvil, F.R.S., who wrote a book about the case: \"_Sadducismus\nTriumphatus_,\" which was also devoted to the general phenomena of\nwitchcraft. Here, also, we find records of unaccountable \"knockings\"\nand similar phenomena, which lasted for a considerable time, and which\nhave never yet been explained.\n\nThe ghost which invaded _John Wesley's_ house stayed with them for\nseveral years, and manifested his presence in a variety of elaborate\nand ingenious ways. Those who are interested in this ghost and his\ndoings should read Wesley's _Journal_; also the various discussions,\n_pro_ and _con._, which have appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the\nSociety for Psychical Research, from time to time. It is a most curious\nand suggestive record.\n\nThe _Devils of Loudon_ might also be cited as an interesting case\nof psychic phenomena; and here trance, automatic speech, etc., were\nobserved--as well as the usual physical phenomena. This is perhaps\none of the earliest cases which was closely observed, and in which\nskeptical criticism was applied. This case will be found recorded in\nMr. H. Addington Bruce's \"_Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters_.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX B\n\nTHE PHANTOM ARMIES SEEN IN FRANCE\n\n\nHistory abounds in cases showing the apparent intrusion of spiritual\nhelp in time of trouble, and in the annals of military history, these\naccounts are not lacking. On several occasions, the Crusaders thought\nthat they saw angelic hosts fighting for them--phantom horsemen\ncharging the enemy, when their own utter destruction seemed imminent.\nIn the wars between the English and the Scotch, several such cases were\ncited, and the Napoleonic wars also furnished examples. But the most\nstriking evidence of this character--because the newest--and supported,\napparently, by a good deal of first-hand and sincere testimony, is\nthat afforded by the Phantom Armies seen in France during the retreat\nof the British army from Mons--the field of Agincourt. Cut off by\noverwhelming numbers, and all but annihilated, the British army fought\ndesperately, but the 80,000 were opposed by 300,000 Germans, backed by\na terrific fire of artillery, and were indeed in a critical position.\nThey were only saved, as we know, by the heroism of a small force of\nmen--a rearguard--who were practically wiped out in consequence. At the\nmost critical moment came what appeared to be angelic assistance. The\ntide of battle seemed to be stemmed by supernatural means. In a letter\nwritten by a soldier who actually witnessed these startling events,\nquoted by the Hon. Mrs. St. John Mildmay (_North American Review_,\nAugust, 1915), the following graphic account is given. Our soldier\nwrites--\n\n\"The men joked at the shells and found many funny names for them, and\nhad bets about them, and greeted them with music-hall songs, as they\nscreamed in this terrific cannonade.... The climax seemed to have been\nreached, but 'a seven-times heated hell' of the enemy's onslaught fell\nupon them, rending brother from brother. At that very moment, they saw\nfrom their trenches a tremendous host moving against their lines. Five\nhundred of the thousand (who had been detailed to fight the rear-guard\naction) remained, and as far as they could see the German infantry was\npressing on against them, column by column, a grey world of men--10,000\nof them, as it appeared afterwards. There was no hope at all. Some of\nthem shook hands. One man improvised a new version of the battle song\nTipperary, ending 'and we shan't get there!' And all went on firing\nsteadily.... The enemy dropped line after line, while the few machine\nguns did their best. Everyone knew it was of no use. The dead grey\nbodies lay in companies and battalions, but others came on and on,\nswarming and advancing from beyond and beyond.\n\n\"'World without end, Amen,' said one of the British soldiers, with some\nirreverence, as he took aim and fired. Then he remembered a vegetarian\nrestaurant in London, where he had once or twice eaten queer dishes of\ncutlets made of lentils and nuts that pretended to be steaks. On all\nthe plates in this restaurant a figure of St. George was printed in\nblue with the motto, _Adsit Anglis Sanctus Georgius_ (May St. George\nbe a present help to England!) The soldier happened to know 'Latin\nand other useless things,' so now, as he fired at the grey advancing\nmass, 300 yards away, he uttered the pious vegetarian motto. He went\non firing to the end, till at last Bill on his right had to clout him\ncheerfully on the head to make him stop, pointing out as he did so that\nthe King's ammunition cost money and was not lightly to be wasted....\nFor, as the Latin scholar uttered his invocation, he felt something\nbetween a shudder and an electric shock pass through his body. The roar\nof the battle died down in his ears to a gentle murmur, and instead of\nit, he says, he heard a great voice louder than a thunder peal, crying\n'Array! Array!' His heart grew hot as a burning coal, then it grew cold\nas ice within him, for it seemed to him a tumult of voices answered to\nthe summons. He heard or seemed to hear thousands shouting:\n\n \"'_St. George! St. George!_\n\n \"'_Ha! Messire, Ha! Sweet Saint, grant us good deliverance!_\n\n \"'_St. George for Merrie England!_\n\n \"'_Harow! Harow! Monseigneur St. George, succour us, Ha! St.\n George! A low bow, and a strong bow, Knight of Heaven, aid us!_'\n\n\"As the soldier heard these voices, he saw before him, beyond the\ntrench, a long line of shapes with a shining about them. They were like\nmen who drew the bow, and with another shout their cloud of arrows flew\nsinging through the air toward the German host. The other men in the\ntrenches were firing all the while. They had no hope, but they aimed\njust as if they had been shooting at Bisley.\n\n\"Suddenly one of these lifted up his voice in plain English. 'Gawd help\nus,' he bellowed to the man next him, 'but we're bloomin' marvels! Look\nat those grey gentlemen! Look at them! They're not going down in dozens\nor hundreds--its _thousands_ it is! Look, look! There's a regiment gone\nwhile I'm talking to ye!'\n\n\"'Shut it,' the other soldier bellowed, taking aim. 'What are ye\ntalkin' about?' But he gulped with astonishment even as he spoke, for\nindeed the grey men were falling by the thousands. The English could\nhear the guttural scream of their revolvers as they shot, and line\nafter line crashed to the earth. All the while the Latin-bred soldier\nheard the cry 'Harow, Harow! Monseigneur! Dear Saint! Quick to our aid!\nSt. George help us!'\n\n\"The singing arrows darkened the air, the hordes melted before them.\n'More machine guns,' Bill yelled to Tom. 'Don't hear them,' Tom yelled\nback, 'but thank God, anyway, that they have got it in the neck!'\n\n\"In fact, there were ten thousand dead German soldiers left before\nthat salient of the English army, and consequently--_no Sedan_. In\nGermany the General Staff decided that the English must have employed\nturpenite shells, as no wounds were discernible on the bodies of the\ndead soldiers. But the man who knew what nuts tasted like when they\ncalled themselves steak, knew also that St. George had brought his\nAgincourt Bowmen to help the English.\"\n\nSuch accounts have been confirmed by others. Thus, Miss Phyllis\nCampbell, writing in \"_The Occult Review_\" (October, 1915), says:\n\n\"I tremble, now that it is safely past, to look back on the terrible\nweek that brought the Allies to Vitry-le-Francois. We had not had\nour clothes off for the whole of that week, because no sooner had we\nreached home, too weary to undress, or to eat, and fallen on our beds,\nthan the 'chug-chug' of the commandant's car would sound into the\nsilence of the deserted street, and the horn would imperatively summon\nus back to duty--because, in addition to our duties as _ambulancier\nauxiliare_, we were interpreters to the post, now at this moment\ndiminished to half-a-dozen.\n\n\"Returning at 4.30 in the morning, we stood on the end of the\nplatform, watching the train crawl through the blue-green mist of\nthe forest, into the clearing, and draw up with the first wounded\nfrom Vitry-le-Francois. It was packed with dead and dying and badly\nwounded. For a time we forgot our weariness in a race against\ntime--removing the dead and dying, and attending to those in need. I\nwas bandaging a man's shattered arm with the _majeur_ instructing me,\nwhile he stitched a horrible gap in his head, when Madame de A----,\nthe heroic president of the post, came and replaced me. 'There is an\nEnglish in the fifth wagon,' she said. 'He wants something--I think a\nholy picture!'\n\n\"The idea of an English soldier wanting a holy picture struck me, even\nin that atmosphere of blood and misery, as something to smile at--but I\nhurried away. 'The English' was a Lancashire Fusilier. He was propped\nin a corner, his left arm tied-up in a peasant woman's handkerchief,\nand his head newly bandaged. He should have been in a state of collapse\nfrom loss of blood, for his tattered uniform was soaked and caked in\nblood, and his face paper-white under the dirt of conflict. He looked\nat me with bright, courageous eyes and asked for a picture or a medal\n(he didn't care which) of St. George. I asked him if he was a Catholic.\n'No,' he was Wesleyan Methodist, ... and he wanted a picture or a medal\nof St. George, _because he had seen him on a white horse_, leading the\nBritish at Vitry-le-Francois, when the Allies turned.\n\n\"There was an F.R.A. man, wounded in the leg, sitting beside him on\nthe floor; he saw my look of amazement, and hastened in: 'It's true,\nsister,' he said. 'We all saw it. First there was a sort of yellow-mist\nlike, sort of risin' before the Germans as they came on the top of the\nhill--come on like a solid wall, they did--springing out of the earth\njust solid--no end to 'em! I just give up. No use fighting the whole\nGerman race, thinks I; it's all up with _us_. The next minute comes\nthis funny cloud of light, and when it clears off, there's a tall man\nwith yellow hair in golden armour, on a white horse, holding his sword\nup, and his mouth open as if he was saying: \"Come on, boys! I'll put\nthe kybosh on the devils!\" Sort of \"This is my picnic\" expression.\nThen, before you could say \"knife,\" the Germans had turned, and we were\nafter them, fighting like ninety....'\n\n\"'Where was this?' I asked. But neither of them could tell. They had\nmarched, fighting a rearguard action, from Mons, till St. George had\nappeared through the haze of light, and turned the enemy. They both\n_knew_ it was St. George. Hadn't they seen him with a sword on every\n'quid' they'd ever seen? The Frenchies had seen him too--ask them; but\nthey said it was St. Mich\u00e6l....\"\n\nMuch additional testimony of a like nature might be given--and has\nbeen collected by students of psychical research. If the spiritual\nworld ever intervenes in matters mundane, it assuredly did so on this\noccasion. And it could hardly have chosen a more opportune time. Could\nthe aspiring thoughts of the dead and dying, and those still living\nand fighting for their country, have drawn \"St. George\" to earth, to\naid in again redeeming his country from a foreign foe? Could a simple\n\"hallucination\" have been so widespread and so prevalent? Or might\nthere not have been some spiritual energy behind the visions thus\nseen--stimulating them, and inspiring and encouraging the stricken\nsoldiers? We cannot say. We only know what the soldiers themselves\nsay; and we also know the undoubted effects upon the enemy. For on\nboth occasions were the Germans repulsed with terrible slaughter.\nPerhaps the vision of St. George led our soldiers into closer touch and\n_rapport_ with the consciousness of some high intelligence--or the veil\nwas rent, separating the two worlds--as so often appears to be the case\nin apparitions and visions of this character.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX C\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\nGhost Stories of an Antiquary. M. R. James.\n\nWandering Ghosts. F. Marion Crawford.\n\nJohn Silence. A. Blackwood.\n\nModern Ghosts. DeMaupassant, (and others).\n\nTwenty-five Ghost Stories. W. Bob Holland.\n\nA Book of Ghosts. Baring Gould.\n\nThe Shape of Fear. Peattie.\n\nBook of Dreams and Ghosts. Andrew Lang.\n\nCock Lane and Common Sense. A. Lang.\n\nReal Ghost Stories. W. T. Stead.\n\nMore Ghost Stories. W. T. Stead.\n\nThe Great Amherst Mystery. Walter Hubbell.\n\nThe Bell Witch. M. V. Ingram.\n\nThe Alleged Haunting of B---- House. Miss X.\n\nHaunted Houses and Haunted Men. Hon. John Harris.\n\nGhostly Phenomena. Elliott O'Donnell.\n\nByways of Ghost Land. Elliott O'Donnell.\n\nHistoric Ghosts and Ghost Hunters. H. A. Bruce.\n\nPosthumous Humanity: a Study of Phantoms. D'Assier.\n\nApparitions and Thought-Transference. Frank Podmore.\n\nThe New View of Ghosts. F. Podmore.\n\n_Proceedings_ and _Journals_ of the S. P. R.\n\nBorderland (Magazine). _Ed. by_ W. T. Stead.\n\nHaunted Houses of Great Britain. Ingraham.\n\nThe Night Side of Nature. Catherine Crowe.\n\nThe House and the Brain. Bulwer Lytton.\n\nNightmare Tales. H. P. Blavatsky.\n\nApparitions: a Narrative of Facts. B. W. Saville.\n\nStartling Ghost Stories. Anon.\n\nSights and Shadows. F. G. Lee.\n\nDracula. Bram Stoker.\n\nThe Phantom of the Opera. Gaston Leroux.\n\n\n[NOTE.--The above list does not pretend to be in any way exhaustive nor\nare the books quoted in any way equal in evidential value. They are\nmerely types or examples of Ghost Stories, from various points of view;\nwhich, if the reader is interested, he may read with both pleasure and\nprofit.]\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nSmall capitals were changed to all capitals.\n\nThe following 3 missing section headers were added to the table of\ncontents: The Ghosts of Animals p. 53, Proofs of Immateriality p. 168,\nand Conduct of Animals in the House p. 169; but minor differences\nbetween the section headers in the table of contents and in the text\nwere not corrected.\n\nErrors in punctuation were corrected.\n\nSeveral badly printed words were guessed from the context and filled\nin.\n\nOtherwise the original was preserved, including unusual and\ninconsistent spelling and hyphenation and unmatched double\nquotation marks.\n\nThe following corrections were made, on page\n\n 7 \"Par's\" changed to \"Paris\" (in London, Paris, Rome, Venice)\n 11 \"occuping\" changed to \"occupying\" (space-occupying entities)\n 14 \"wierd\" changed to \"weird\" (in the still, weird hours of the\n night)\n 63 \"polteregists\" changed to \"poltergeists\" (technically known as\n \"poltergeists,\")\n 79 \"Boundry\" changed to \"Boundary\" (Footfalls on the Boundary of\n Another World)\n 106 \"occurence\" changed to \"occurrence\" (mention the occurrence of\n the night)\n 110 \"mutally\" changed to \"mutually\" (We were mutually sorry to part)\n 131 \"trysing\" changed to \"trysting\" (distance to the trysting place)\n 146 \"exterminalization\" changed to \"externalization\" (what I saw and\n felt was an externalization of impressions)\n 182 \"lynig\" changed to \"lying\" (While lying there a large glass\n paper-weight)\n 183 \"gneuine\" changed to \"genuine\" (they never lived in a genuine\n one)\n 186 extra blank line removed within poem (To follow and kill,/Or\n make tremble with fear.)\n 191 \"possesed\" changed to \"possessed\" (The whimsical idea now\n possessed me to arrange the room)\n 194 \"etxent\" changed to \"extent\" (conviction to the same extent as\n those)\n 196 \"slink\" changed to \"slunk\" (but suddenly slunk away with its\n tail between its legs)\n 196 \"has\" changed to \"had\" (the impression that it had seen)\n 197 \"fright-than\" changed to \"frightened than\" (far less frightened\n than on any of my subsequent experiences)\n 198 \"pantasms\" changed to \"phantasms\" (To these phantasms I have\n given the name)\n 208 \"familiary\" changed to \"familiarity\" (familiarity breeds\n contempt)\n 231 \"assasin\" changed to \"assassin\" (the trial of the assassin of\n Gartavus III.)\n 238 \"batallions\" changed to \"battalions\" (companies and battalions)\n 240 \"gutteral\" changed to \"guttural\" (could hear the guttural scream\n of their revolvers)\n 241 \"Vitry-le-Francoise\" changed to \"Vitry-le-Francois\" (draw up with\n the first wounded from Vitry-le-Francois).","title":"True Ghost Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":51201}