Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-06-11
snooa ana Dlreetlon Of Ghostg.

MY. Times.
A very largo proportion OF ghost stories
when they come to be carefully examiner,
nrove 10 have no more basis in truth than
has an average Tribune political taOle
There is. however, one variety oil ghost
story which claims respectful attention
1t usually runs as follows
A person sitting alone in his room sud
denly sees the appartion OF an absent
friend. He notes the precise time, and a
few days later learns that the absent |
friend died at that exact hour and minute
Incidents of this kind have happened toso |
many persons Of such unimpeachaole YER
acity that it is very dlilcult TO douot
them. They have happened too often TO |
he explained as singular condolences, and |
unIess we boldly assume that in all cases |
tbe persons thus visited 10y alleged ghosts |
we're either deceived or deceivers, we must |
admit that this particular type oi ghost |
story is worthy Of belief. .,
There is one remarkable feature in all
this apparition Of ghosts who are uh1er
stood to come straight from the death-DeI
of tbeir bodies to visit their distant and
surviving friends They apparently make
no allowance for difference OF Longitude.
A ghost, for example appears to person
i'm New York at, say o'clock on the niBht
OF the 10th Of June, and the person suose'
ouently learns that the ghost in question
left its body in London at nine O'Clock on
the same night. Now, m point OF lact,
when it is 8 o'clock p. NJ. in London 1t Is
about 4 o'clock P. NJ. in this city, and
when il is o o'clock p. VI. in New York u
is about 9 o'clock A. NJ. in London. II Is
hence evident that when the ghost OF
person who died in London at 8 o'clock in
the evening 10y London time presents him
self here ai o'clock by New York time,
that ghost has apparently been about five
hours IN crossing the Atlantic. If he had
made the journey at the electric rate OF
speed at which ghosts are popularly be-
lieved to travel, he would have arrived
here at 4 o'clock in the afternoon by our
time. As he did not, it is clear that his
rate Of travel is precisely that of the earth's
revolution on its axis. In other words,
the ghost has not Travelled at all, but has
simply poised himself in the London at
mosphere and waited until New York
came around This is q fact the Importance
of which cannot be Overcstimated by stu
dents Of ghosts and their habits.
A careful examination Of all the authen-
ticated ghost stories Of the peculiar type
now under discussion will show that in
every instance the ghost came from the
east. Persons in England have seen the
ghosts of friends who died in India OF
China, and persons living in America have
seen the ghosts Of persons who died on the
Atlantic Ocean or in Europe. In no IN
stance has ghost arrived in London il
hot haste from the United States, or hal
"A New York man been visited by the ghos
of a Chicago friend. 1t seems to be tn,
invariable rule that new ghost neye
travels in an easterly direction. Th
ghost may have to lay course to tn
northwest or the southwest; but no mat
ter how much norlhing or southing h
makes, he always appears at a point Yves
Of that from which he started.
We are now in q position to combln
what we know Of the direction and rate o
speed Of ghosts, and to deduce the impoI
tant law that ghosts have the power O
moving in a northerly or southerly direc
tion, but that, while they have an appai
ent motion from east to west coinciden
with the apparent motion Of the sun, the
cannot by any motion OF their own chang
their longitude. The new-made Londo
ghost, il he desires to visit o New Yor
friend, follows the meridian Of London
the direction of the equator Mt speed {
great as to be inapprccable, and, hayir
reached the latitude Of New York, pois
himself in air, and when the revolutit
Of the earth brings New York under h
teet Quietly drops INTO MS lTleHu TOol
We have here the first well-estabshI
ghost law that has over been formulate
and we have firm basis Of facts for
support in the shape Of the only autheni
cated class Of ghost stories.
We may go even further, and deduce I
hardly less important law that the peri
during which the new ghost can thus ho
er near the earth is less than twenty-fo
hours. II the London ghost could rema
as long as he chose watching the earth
volye and selecting his own time for dire
ping in on his friends, there would be
end Of the interesting appearance
ghosts nt the precise time OF their esca
from their bodies. The ghost that I
pears to announce his escape from
body is never behind time, but always {
pears ut the precise time, by the watch,
which the melancholy event took plat
We are thus compelled to believe, tl
while the ghost can remain near the eal
during twenty-four hours, and can I
that time in making farewell calls, he
afterward compelled to remove 10 so
distant sphere between which and
earth there is no regular and easy conn
nicaton.
These facts are submitted as the beg
ming OF u true science Of ghots, and Il
to be hoped that they will be followed
the discovery Of other and equally imr
tnnt laws, the knowledge Of which will
able us to separate with certainty the [
tho fu lgn la ghost lOFp