Daily national Democrat., 1858-10-26
Slght Seclng.

Walter Scott, in his work on Demonologv
and Witchcraft, relates numerous well au-
thenticated instances of ghostseeing in
Scotland. 1t seems from a remark in the
subjoined article from the Trinity Journal
that Mcdonald, who is of Scotch descent,
belongs to family member sof which pos
sessed this same mysterious gift:
"WRAITHs Certain of the Scotch and
| their descendants have a superstitous belief
in the existence of "Wraiths" san apparition
of a person in his exact simiitude, seen lust
before death, or a little after Evidence
cumulative by intelligent and credible per-
sons is given in support of this belief, until
individuals professedly skeptical in regard to
the vulgar beliefin 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 obser-
vation of persons whose veracity we know
to be nquestionable-of course, making al
| owance for optical or imaginative illusion.
In Mary street, between Front and Second
! Philadelphia, an intelligent lady, now in
this State, formerly resided her house being
separated from a neighbor's by a low wall.
SlI9 was daily accustomed to go out to walk
with a neighbor's daughter. about her own
age, and one day having dressed for the
walk, went to the door to look for her com.
paniOn, whom she saw strngey attred, evi-
IDENTIFY trying to hide behind the wall A
few 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 apparition in the
door-yard. When prepared for the funeral,
next day, our friend was amazed to see the
body arrayed exactly rs she had seen her
friend in imagination when preparing to
walk out.
In the same city, on the eve of the battle
Of New Orleans, a lady saw her brother pass
along the street, apparently looking for her
residence-she having removed during his
absence-and enter neighboling store 81 e
Immediately hurried out, entered the door
where she saw him go in, and being told that
no one had been there for a considerable
time, enquired in every house on the block
with like effect That evening she heard
the distant report of cannon, and the
rolling the ball across the upper chamber
floor, and in due time received intelligence
that on the same evening the battle of New
Orleans had been fought, and that her BROTH
er had been cut in two by a cannon ball,
which was the first intmation she had had
of his enlistment in the army
A member of our own family, who had
been nearly blind for thirty years-could
barely distinguish day from night-was stand
ing by the window endeavoring to discover
the increasing morning light suddenly scream
ed and tainted, and afterwards declared that
she sa,O large white body descend past the
window; subsequently,, intelligence came
that her brothers child, and favorite of the
blind woman, had been burned to death at
the exact hour when she imagined the pres
ence of something terrifying, though she had
always been remarkable for absolute want of
ordinary female timorousness.
| We can establish the truth of the forego-
ing, so far as the belief of the persons men
toned goes; all of them lived and died in the
absolute conviction that such apparitions had
been presented; none of them weak-minded
ghost-see-ers. The narrative may afford sub
ject for philosophical speculation by persons
astute enough to discover the mysterious paths
of spirits, or that marvellous telegraph by
which the thoughts of individuals, far separa-
ted, instantaneously pass. Many wellinstruc-
ted people are sincere in their belief of Clair
vovance, or "cear-seeing," by which the mind
can traverse almost infinite space, and clearly
discover actual occurrences in measured
leagues without the range OF actual vision
Perhaps the inquisitive 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 ther return, may yet attempt ascent
to the forbidden presence of Deity, until they
shall be hurled down from the foot OF Om-
Impotence, like the profane architects OF Ba'
bel