4. A Mr. Harry, in the South of Europe, saw a white female figure
glide through his library into his bedroom. Later, his daughters
beheld a similar phenomenon. Mr. Harry, a gentleman of sturdy
common-sense, 'dared his daughters to talk of any such nonsense as
ghosts, as they might be sure apparitions were only in the
imagination of nervous people'. He himself saw the phantasm seven
or eight times in his bedroom, and twice in the library. On one
occasion it lifted up the mosquito curtains and stared at Mr. Harry.
As in the case of meeting an avalanche, 'a weak-minded man would
pray, sir, would pray; a strong-minded man would swear, sir, would
swear'. Mr. Harry was a strong-minded man, and behaved 'in a
concatenation accordingly,' although Petrus Thyraeus says that there
is no use in swearing at ghosts. The phantasm seemed to be about
thirty-five, her features were described as 'rather handsome,' and
(unromantically) as 'oblong'. A hallucination, we need hardly say,
would not raise the mosquito curtains, this ghost had more heart in
it than most.
5. Various people see 'a column of light vaguely shaped like a
woman,' moving about in a room of a house in Sussex. One servant,
who slept in the room in hopes of a private view, saw 'a ball of
light with a sort of halo round it'. Again, in a very pretty story,
the man who looked after an orphan asylum saw a column of light
above the bed of one of the children. Next morning the little boy
declared that his mother had come to visit him, probably in a dream.
On this matter of lights {146} Mr. Podmore enters into argument with
Mr. Frederick Myers. Mr. Myers, on the whole, believes that the
phenomena of haunted houses are caused by influences of some sort
from the minds of the dead. Mr. Podmore, if we understand him holds
that some living person has had some empty hallucination, in a
house, and that this is 'telepathically' handed on, perhaps to the
next tenant, who may know nothing about either the person or the
vision. Thus, a Miss Morris, much vexed by ghostly experiences,
left a certain house in December, 1886. Nearly a year later, in
November, 1887, a Mrs. G. came in. Mrs. G. did not know Miss
Morris, nor had she heard of the disturbances. However sobs, and
moans, and heavy thumps, and noises of weighty objects thrown about,
and white faces, presently drove Mrs. G. to seek police protection.
This only roused the ghost's ambition, and he 'came' as a man with
freckles, also he walked about, shook beds, and exhibited lights. A
figure in black, with a white face, now displayed itself:
barristers and clergymen investigated, but to no purpose. They saw
figures, heard crashes, and the divine did a little Anglican
exorcism. The only story about the house showed that a woman had
hanged herself with a skipping rope in the 'top back bedroom,' in
1879. Here are plenty of phenomena, apparitions male and female.
But Miss Morris, in addition to hearing noises, only saw a pale
woman in black.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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