The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-01-06
ANCIENT. AND MODERN GHOSTS.

sensations, creeping horrors and hideous
mysteries deadp Certainly not. Edu
cation may have spread, and science
may have proved very battering ram
against the towers OF superstition, but
humanity is still in the twilight of credu.
lous gullibility, and only half reconciled
to part with its ancient ghosts.
An English magazine Of respectability
is authority for the following instances
of special apparitions:
A student who had been studying to q
late hour had tried to rest his mind by
reading over bundle OF old letters from
a friend who had long been dead. He
had blown out the light, and while he
was thinking of the deceased and trying
to remember his appearance he suddenly
lelt his arm grasped. Although much
startled he lighted his candle and saw
standing before him the form of his old
friend. The apparition slowly moved
toward the door, and when he tried tC
follow it disappeared, and his rapid
movement was arrested by rather sharp
contact with the door, which was closed
When questioned in regard to the mat
ter he admitted that although he could
see the object clearly, yet his reason
told him that it was an illusion. Still
more remarkable is an instance which
is related of a young lady who was very
anxious about her father during thun
der storm. She went into his study tc
see il he had returned, and she was
pleased to see HIM seated in his easy
chair before the fire which was burning
brightly in the CRATE. When she ap.
preached the chair and tried to lay heI
hand OH his shoulder. imagine her dis.
may to find that her hand passed through
ana beyond the shoulder of the figure
and touched the back of the chair. AT
the same instant the phantom disap.
peared. She was so frightened that she
could hardly reach the next room; and
when at the end OF half an hour she re.
turned to the study she saw the same
figure. When her father actually arriv.
ed, some time after with Il wet coat and
umbrella, the phantom had disappeared.
The novelists have not been, slow to
avail themselves Of materials such as
these Tor incidents. Who that has read
Myrryat's Flying Dutchman, but remem-
bers the scene i'll one OF the early chap
ters where the mariners wife is sitting
in her cottage, when, suddenly, the, win
dows fly in with a crash, and, dripping
as just dragged out of the sea, the form
of her husband appears before her, and
relates his fearful doom. Dickens even
did not disdain to introduce the hoi
spice of weird tale into his Mugby
junction.
In that story it will be recalled that a
watchman who had charge of line o
railway saw a figure gestIculating in the
moonlight not far from the beginning o
a tunnel. 'The left arm is across the
tace and the right arm Is waved-violent
ly waved" He sees the figure several
-; tap lox n ha aror n of
of the apparition an awful railroad acci
dent occurs. Finally, about year after
wards, the figure is seen again, and the
same cry of warning is repeated. This
last appearance proved to be a premoni
tion OF approaching death, for the watch.
man was shortly after killed by an engine
near the beginning OF that tunnel. O
that species of supernaturalism called
second sight, or prophetic visions, Eilkie
Collins in his Frozen Deep has made Us
acquainted with vivid specimen. Much
more authentic are many instances or
record where events which have actually
taken place have been ioretold by dream
ers some time before.
Similar in character is the historic case
connected with Maria Martins murder
in Suffolk, England, which was revealed
and its perpetrator brought to justice
through the agency OF dream, in which
her mother saw the tragedy enacted, be
fore her eyes, and described it from be
ginning to end exactly in the way which
according to the murderers subsequent
confession, it happened. The late Rev
DR.. Cope, of England, in book o. anec
dotesr relates as fact known to hin
the following singular experience OF l
brother clergyman. Falling asleep one
afternoon he dreamed thai he was, ap
preached in u garden by popular minis
ter of the neighboring church, wearing 6
most troubled expression. He asked
him what time Vi day it was, to which
he replied: "Twenty-hve minutes aftel
tour,' whereupon the visionary visitor
said, alt is only one hour since died
and now -" There his countenanc,
spoke unutterahle misery.] "Why 81
troublcdW asked the dreamer. "Be
cause I have been accommodating to my
self the applause OF men more than thu
honor which cOmeth from above, ant
verify have my reward" Awakening
and proceeding toward his churcl
shortly afterwards, with the vision viy
IDLY in his smind, he was astounded tt
learn that the minister whom he ha,
seen In his dream had, indeed, died witt
great suddenness aG exactly twenty-iy,
minutes alter three O'Clock.
Much of the ghost lore extant is un
doubleday the fruit ola discussed imagin
alton, working optical illusions, as wei
as other deceptions Of the senses. Mel
| in the state known as delirium tremeni
undoubtedly see strange sights, whicl
probably surpass in horror the, wildes
Imagination of the noyelist's BRAIN, an,
throw the well-established instances O
spectral apparitions far into the shade
One of the most notable cases Of optica
Illusion from some unknown cause
that OF q professor who was haunted b.
seeing at the right of mis- desk. when er
gagged in composition, u yawning chasn
The optical illusion in this case was s
perfect that he could see the tops of d
trees far below. He looked far down bt
yond a jagged point of rock into a valley
SO far that it seemed to make him dizzy
He caused this strange. vision to disaI
pear by placing o screen at the right {
his desk, the point where the precipic
seemed TO begin. Persons Of weak an
! debilitated constitution are often sui
jeot to this class of delusi0ns, iancyin
they hear ootfalls where there are non
| but their own, or see persons where n0tl
ing but their own shadows exist.
But there is q much larger mine (
ghostiy Incidents, such as the1 Rcer
i Eddy manifestations, includinGzNe o.
ourrence OF unexplained noises and nl
lparontly causeiess movements wh
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