Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-18
wheel a.. 81 as MORNING, -I5E
"a of haIlucination remains 10 be dealt

with. Let US inquire whether it be appli-
cable in the present case.
Miss S. first saw the figures, not in
the obscurity of night, not between sleep
ing and waking, not in some old chamber
reputcd to be haunted, but in the open air,
as she was descending from carriage, in
broad daylight. Subsequently, she not
only saw them, but heard them speak, and
that always in daylight There are, how
ever cases on record in which the senses
of hearing and sight are alleged to have
been both halluciuated.
That of TaSso, for example, Aud if the
| case rested here, such is tie Interpretation
which the physicians would put upon it.
But.sOme weeks nfterward another lady
| sees the appearance of the selfsamc figures.
This cOmplicatcs the case.
| For as elsewhere shown, it is generally
admitted by medical writers on the subject
that, while cases of collective illusion are
common. il is doubtful whether there be
on record q single Nuthentici case of collec-
tive hAllucinhtion the inference being that
| If two persons see the same appearance 1t
is not imagination, there is some objective
foundation for it.
1t is true, and should be taken into ac-
count, that Miss s. had described the
APPEARANCE to her friend, and that for
time the latter had some expectation of
witnessing it. And this will suggest to
the skeptic, AS explanation, the theory of
expectant attention. But in the first place,
| it has never been proved that mere expec-
tant attention could produce the appear
anrc of a fgnre with detail of costume, to
say nothing of the phosphOrescent letters
Iappearing above it, which Mrs. R GER
tainly did not expect, and secondly, Mrs.
R expressly stated to me that, as four
weeks had elapsed and she had seen moth
ing, she had ceased to expect it at ALL
Still less can we imngine that her thoughts
would be occupied with the matter mt the
moment when, hurried by n hungry and
impatient brother, she was hastily COM
pleting her dinner toilet. 1t would be
difficult TO select a moment out of the
twenty-four hours when the Imagination
would be less likely to be busy with spir-
itual fancies, or could be supposed excited
to the point necessary to reproduce (if 1t
can ever reprOduce) the image of n de-
scribed apparitiOn.
But, cOnceding these improbabilities,
what are we to make of the name OF Chill
dren, communicated to one lady through
the sense ofhearing, and the other through
that of sight?
The name is very uncommon one, and
both the ladies answered me thatthey neY-
er heard of it before, to say nothing of
tnelr Del0G wholly lRuOEdHJ "ueluSt uuy
family bearing that name had formerly oc-
cupied the old house. This latter point
they seek to clear up, but neither servants
or neighbors can tell them anything about
it. They remained for four months with
out any explanation. At the end of that
time one of the servants, going home, ac-
cidentaIly esccrtains that about one huu-
dred years ago, or more, q family of the
name of Children did occupy that very
house.
What could imagination or expectation
have to do with this2 The images OF the
figures may be set down. in the cases OF
| both ladies. as hallucinatiOn; but the name
remains stubborn link, connecting these
with the actual world.
Ifeven we were to argue-what no one
will believe-that this agreement of family
name was buta chance coincidence, there
remain yet other coincidence to account
for before the whole difficulty is settled
| There is the alleged Christian as well Ns
family name-Richnrd Children; there is
the date indicated by the costume, 'the
regin of Queen Anne or one of the early
GeOrges;' and finally there is the year OF
Richard Childreu's death.
Thcsetle ladies stated to me, notknowing
when they did so, what the actual facts
wore. These facts myself subsequently
disintcrrcd, obtaining the evidence of
document preserved in the British Museum
in proof that Richard ChiIdren did inherit
the Rnmhurst property in the fourth year
of the reign of George l., and did make
| the Ramhurst mansiOn-house his family
residence. And he is the only represents
| tive of the family who lived and died
there. His son John may have resided
there for time; but, previous to his de-
cease he hadleft the place for another seat
near Tunbridgc.
Then there is the circumstance that
misfortune compelled the defendants of
Richard Children to sell the Ramhurst
property, and that their ancestors family
| mansion passing into the hands OF stTan-
gers, was degraded (as that ancestor would
have considered it) to an ordinary farm
house; all this still tHllyiug with the com
munications made.
1t is perfectly idle. under the circumStan-
ces, to talk of fancy or fortuitous CO.
Incidence. Something other than imHgina-
tion or accident, he what it may, determin-
ed the minute specifications obtained from
the nppnritions in the Old Kent Manor
House.
The lesson taught by this story-if we
admit the figures which presented them
selves to the two ladies to have been, in
verify, the apparitions of the Children
| family is, that crime is not necessary to
attract the spirits of the departed hack to
earth; that "a frame of mind of an eHclu-
| sivcly Worldly cast-a character that new
er bestowed thought on anything beyond
this earth, and was troubled only by cares
of possession and thoughts of gain-mny
equally draw down the spirit, though freed
from the body, to gather, cumbcr, and sor-
row amid the scenes of its former care. If
this be so, how strong the motive not TO
suffer the present and the temporal, neccs-
sary and proper in theirplaces as they are,
so completely to engross us as to usurp the
place, and wholly to exclude the thoughts,
of the future and spiritual