Ghosts and Family Legends: A Volume for ChristmasCrowe, Catherine
General
Ghosts and Family Legends: A Volume for Christmas
Crowe, Catherine
Folklore -- Great Britain; Ghosts -- Great Britain; Legends -- Great Britain
"After a little time, some one suggested that we should extinguish the
lights. We did so, and were then in absolute darkness. There was but one
window in the room, and that was coated with dust, and the shutter was
shut; besides, as I have said, it was a very dark night, and this room,
being at the back, looked into a yard, I believe; at all events, not
into a street.
"Presently, the clairvoyante started, and exclaimed, 'Look there!' We
saw nothing, and asked what it was.
"'There!' she said. 'There again! don't you see it?'
"'What?' we asked. 'The lights!' she said. 'There! Now!' These
exclamations were made at intervals of two or three seconds.
"We all said we saw nothing whatever.
"'If Mrs. Crowe would take hold of my hand, I think she would see them,'
she suggested.
"I did so; and then at intervals of a few seconds, I saw thrown up,
apparently from the floor, waves of white light, faint, but perfectly
distinct and visible. In order that I might know whether our perceptions
of this phenomenon were simultaneous, I desired her, without speaking,
to press my hand each time she saw it, which she did; and each time I
distinctly saw the wave of white light. I saw it, at these intervals, as
long as I held her hand and we were in the dark. Nobody saw it but she
and myself; and we did not follow up the experiment by the others taking
her hand, which we should have done.
"During this interval, another light suddenly appeared in the middle of
the room, away from where we were standing, I saw a bright diamond of
light, like an extremely vivid spark--only not the colour of fire; it
was white, brilliant, and quiescent, but shed no rays. I did not mention
this, because I wished to learn if it was visible to any body else--but
nobody spoke of it; not even the clairvoyante. Whether she saw it or
not, I cannot say. When the candles were re-lighted these lights were no
longer visible. I and one of the gentlemen went over the house above and
below, but saw nothing but the dust and desolation of a long uninhabited
dwelling.
"When we came away, and Mr. Mc. N. had locked the door, we walked to the
carriage. I said, 'then you none of you saw the waves of light.'
"'No,' said they.
"'Well,' said I, 'I certainly did, and I never saw anything like it
before. Moreover, I saw another sort of light.'
"'Did you,' said Mr. Mc. N., interrupting me; 'was it a bright spark of
light like the oxy-hydrogen light.'
"'Exactly,' said I. 'I could not think what to compare it to; but that
was it.'
"I thus was certain that he had seen the same thing as myself; he had
not spoken of it from a similar motive; he waited to have his impression
confirmed by further testimony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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