The north Iowa times. [volume] (M'Gregor [i.e. McGregor], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-11-28
MISCELLANEOUS,
From an old Paper.
SPECTRAL ILLUSION.
A GHOST STORY, FOUNDED ON FACT.

OhOSt stores are my adherence and
l never listen to, or narrate one, but for
the purpose of analysing it's truth, and
turning the whole theory Of apparitions
into ridicule and contempt. Since the
time l was merry schoolboy. and could
revel in the history of Robinson Crusoe
and his man Friday or the adventures
of'Munchauscu' or Baron Trenck, which
believed quite as firmly as my Bible, l
always laughed in my sleeves at the cred
ulity Of my class mates and the supersti-
ton of the oldest inhabitant' in our vii
lage. For the life of me, l could not be-
lieve in spirits, except in the potency of
the good honest Schiedam gin, or the lus-
cious pineapple Jamaica, which our wor-
thy schoolmaster, the village dominic, >
religiously drank before reading morning
prayers-also at noon, and for his night
cap, too. And as to a ghost, though call
ed holy it did not form one Of the
three persons of our juvenile trinity. nor
could we conjure it into one of the thirty
nine articles of our youthful creed. But
some years after the happy time of school
days, (and grumblers may say what they
like, for schooldays are bright and glori-
GUS times my sceptism received hard
battering by singular occurrence in the
populous town near which / lived. The
affair had SO many respectable vouchers,
and was attested by such scientific men,
who at first wrapt up the event in such
dark mysterious closeness, as if ashamed
of their own forced convictions, that any
longer to doubt, or express the slightest
disbelief, was the height of arrogance
the very worst kind of hcresy-the abso-
lutte acme of mental treason. The eye
witnesses, too. were religious, as well as
clear-headed and respectable men-and
of that sect of religion little respected
and less understood here in New York
who pursue inquiry to it's utmost limits.
and weigh and sift scripture evidence with
philosophic minuteness. and would not
believe in the existence of our Saviour
himself, if the facts were not as demon
strable as the first proposition in Euclid.
They were chiefly Of that much-reviled,
but little understood, order of Christians,
termed Unitarians-of whom, as contras-
ted with the Catholics. (the very opposite
extreme of the pole. it may, perhaps, be
good d-naturedly said, that they believe as
far too little as the devout Roman believes
too much. However, they were mostly
Unitarians-keen. cautious. and scruti-
nising-all of them literary persons. and
members of the same scientific club
The event so spiritual. SO inexplicable,
occurred in Liverpool. then considered
the Athens of England. ornamentad as it
was by the elegant scholarship Of Roscoe,
the poet anC historian of the Medici, and
by the sterling elaborate productions Of
such men as Carson. and Shepherd. and
Carpenter. These four philosophers were
members of the very club who saw the
apparition and many others. Of even
bolder and more energetic minds, whose
names remember as much distinguish
ed in politics, religion, and the exacter
sciences.
Let it not be objected by any stickler
for forms that a ghost story is too ancient
and obsolete an idea, and unsuited for this
our modern record of the Times or tha.
it is inadmissable in the columns of an
occasional expositor of fact. law. and ju-
risprudence. The facts. az they occur
red, would, for the time, have shaken the
credulity Of the coolest. most experien-
ced public officer. The evidence of the
apparition was that of the senses-sight,
hearing. and touch; the witnesses were
twenty-three clear-headcd, keen, scienti-
fic men. met in deliberatiye assembly
and yet the appearance was firmly believ.
ed, and the delusion remained unravelled
and unsolved for several years. No law
case could have stronger presumptive and
collateral evidence for its basis than this
my story.
However. without more preface, viii
narrate the event. and give the explanation
~ it afterwards trapspired.