The Funny Side of Physic: Or, The Mysteries of Medicine, Presenting the Humorous and Serious Sides of Medical Practice. An Exposé of Medical Humbugs, Quacks, and Charlatans in All Ages and All Countries.Crabtre, Addison Darre
History
The Funny Side of Physic: Or, The Mysteries of Medicine, Presenting the Humorous and Serious Sides of Medical Practice. An Exposé of Medical Humbugs, Quacks, and Charlatans in All Ages and All Countries.
Crabtre, Addison Darre
Medicine -- Anecdotes; Quacks and quackery
"Waking up suddenly, I saw something white through the darkness before me;
for it was a fearfully dark night, I assure you. I rubbed my sleepy eyes
to make sure of my sight, and took another look. I discerned a form,
higher than a man, moving about over the mounds but a few yards distant.
It had wide side-wings, but they did not seem to assist in the motion of
the body part, which did not reach to the ground. I thought I must be
asleep, and actually pinched my legs to awake myself before I took a final
look at his ghostship. There he stood, stock still. I listened for my
companion, without removing my eyes from the white object before me. Still
I was not scared, but meant to see it out. I knew I could not see a man
far through that impenetrable darkness, for there were no stars nor
moon to reveal him. I would not call for help, for if it was a farce to
scare me, I should become the laughing-stock of the whole camp.
[Illustration: A GHOST IN CAMP.]
"Just then I heard the grass crackle, and I knew Charley was approaching
in the rear. Still there hung the apparition. I arose from the coffin, my
eyes fixed on the object before me, picked up my musket, took deliberate
aim at the centre of the thing, and just as I cocked my rifle, I heard
Charley set back the hammer of his 'death-dealer.' He, too, had discovered
the very remarkable appearance, whatever it was; and now the guns of two
'unfailing shots' covered the object. In another second it had suddenly
disappeared! I then spoke, and we ran forward, but found nothing! Where
had it gone so very suddenly? It had vanished without sight or sound. We
gave up the search; but still I did not believe we had seen anything
supernatural.
"There was no little discussion in camp on the following day on the
subject. Charley said but little. I could not explain the remarkable
phenomenon, and a splendid ghost story was about established, in spite of
me, before the mystery became unravelled.
"A tall fellow, who worked about the hospital, and who assisted in taking
away the corpse, was returning with the sheet, when he thought he would
give the sentry a scare from his coffin by throwing the sheet over his
head and stretching out his arms like wings. His clothes being black, his
legs did not show; hence the appearance of a white object floating in the
air. Hearing the guns cocked, he instantly jerked the sheet from his head;
winding it up, he turned and ran away. This accounted for it becoming so
instantaneously invisible.
"'Yes,' said the sentry, 'and in a second more you would have been made a
ghost!'"
RAISING THE DEAD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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