Weekly Trinity journal., 1858-10-23

"WRAITus."-Certain Of the Scotch and their
descendants have supersttious belief in the
existence of 'Wmiths An Npparition OF aperSon
in his exact simlitudc seen just before death, or
a little after Evidence cumulative, by intelligent
and credible persons is given in support of this
belief, until individuals pro'esscdly skeptcal in
regard to the vulgar belicfn ghosts are compelled
/ to some slight credulity in respect to the former
phenomena.
/ In brief glance at this subject, we shall relate
only what has come under the observation of
/ persons whose veracity we know to be unques
! tionable-or course, making allowance for optical
or imaginative illusions. In Mary street, between
Front and Second, Philadelphia an intelligent
lady, now in this State, formerly resided, her
house being separated from neighbours by low
wall She was daily accustomed to go out to
walk with q neghbors daughter, about her own
age, and one day having dressed for the walk,
| went to the door to look for her companion,
/ whom she saw strangely attired, evidently trying
to hide behind the wall. Crossing to the house,
she was informed that the girl had not been out
/
| hours afterwards a servant discovered the young
/ lady dead in her room, and from appearance of
the body she had evidently died about the time
of the appariton in the door yard. When pre-
! pared for the funeral next day, our friend was
amazed to see the body arrayed exactly as she
had seen her friend in imagination when prcpar-
/ ing to walk out.
In, tbn al IIo ,,,ct thn haII Ia nr
New Orleans, lady saw her brother pass along
the street, apparently looking for her residence
she having removed during his absence-Nnd
enter neighboring store She Immediately
hurried ont, entered the door where she saw him
go in, and being told that no one had been there
for considerable time, cnquircd in every houso
on the block with like effect That evening she
heard the distant report Of q cannon, and the
rolling of the ball across the upper chamber floor,
! and in due time received INTEL gence that on the
same evening the battle Of New Orleans had
/ uvcu IUuSnt, tu,tt nuI ututnuI nau uvcu uuU
in two by cannon ball, which was the first init
nation that she had had of his enlistment in the
army.
A member Of our own family, who had been
]
/ tingush day lrom nght-was standing by the
window cndcavoring to discover the increasing
morning light, suddenly screamed aud tainted,
and afterwards declared that she saW large
white body descend past the window; subsequent
ly, intelligence came that her brothers. child,
and favorite of the blind woman, had been
burned to death at the exact hour when she imag
ined the presence Of something terrifying, though
she had always been remarkable for absolute
want of ordinary female tmorousncss.
We can establish the truth Of the foregoing, so
far as the belief of the persons mentioned goes;
all of them lived and died in the absolute convic.
tion that such apparitions had been presented;
none Of them were weak minded ghost seeers.
The narrative may afford ubcct for philosophical
speculation by persons astute to discover the
mysterious paths Of spirits, or that marvellous
telegraph by which the thoughts Of individuals
far separated, instantaneously pass. Many well
instructed people are sincere in their belief of
Clairvoyance, or 'clear-sccing,' by which the
mind can traverse almost infinite space and clearly
discover actual occurrences in measured leagues
without the range of actual vision. Pcrhapsthe
inquistivc human mind, having threaded the
rocky labyrinths Of the sea and measured the
altitude Of heaven, marking out the orbits Of
eccentric stars and fixing the hour Of their return
may yet attempt ascent to the forbidden presence
Of Deity, until they shall be hurled down from
the foot of Omnipotence like the prorane archi-
tects Of Babel.