The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-07-07
VISIONS OF THE DARKNrss.
The Queer Sights Some People See
When Their Eyes Are shut.
From the st James Gazattal


From the St James Gazette.l
Some months ago there appearedinon
of the monthly reviews paper on "The
Visions of Sane Persons" contributed
by Mr.. Gallon. In this article that dis
tinguished writer brought forward some
cases, which he seemed to think re-
markable, of persons who, when In the
dark, saw strange apparitions. Not that
these persons imagined that what filed
their vision existed anywhere out of it.
But these phantoms bad all the appear
ance of external objects, and wer5 GER
tainly not produced by any effort of
memory or imagination, but quite invol-
unfairly. One lady told how she used
to see in this way, from time to time,
showers of red roses, which presently
turned into fight of golden .speckles
or spangles, the roses being presented to
her vision as distinctly as real flowers in
broad day might be. land not only so,
but the lady says she used to smell their
perfume, too; but there is nothing like
that IN my own experience And there
were stories OF faces seen in the dark in
like manner; not pictures in the men,
DRY, but seemingly standing off upon
the air for the eye to gaze upon, and
coming and going as with a will and
purpose of their own. se'at sa-,
What struck me most about all this
when l read it was that Mr.. Gallon
should think it strange enough to lay
before the world as q curiosity. Fer all
my life had myself been familiar with
phantoms of this kind and without much
thought about the matter assumed that
many, if not most other people, were
equally at home with them. The golden
spangles too used to see when was
child only instead of turning into
showers of roses in my vision they were
transformed into focks of sheep running
rapidly down hill, as in a distant land
scape. When the sheep got to the bot
tom of the hill they faded into the dark
ness /; and then the tiny bright-yellow
spangles appeared at the top again, to
be again transformed. There was not
much In that, however; though dare
say, since Mr.. Gallon thinks so. that as
visual lllusionit was cur DIS. But as 10
the faces that appear to my vision in the
dark, that Is another matter, After
having been haunted by them in a civil.
quiet way for many years, still find
them very Interestingly indeed. ......
These faces are never seen except
when the eyelids are closed, and they
have always an apparent distance of
four or five feet. Though they seem
living enough, and not mere pictures
or reflections, they look through the
darkness as if traced in chalk on q
black ground. Color sometimes they
have, but the color is very faint. Moth
ing more than face is ever seen, and.
except for fraction of a moment, per-
haps, not all at one time. Here and
there the lines waver, fade and rel turn.
as if drawn with pencil of phosphorus;
but there is no phosphoric appearance
about them, their general aspect is as
if their substance were of pale smoke.
The faces In the dark always confront
the vision. Only one have seen in
profile; and this, also, was singular in
bearing a certain resemblance to some
one whom l knew in real life. For Ito
me) the most remarkable thing about
these visionary faces Is that, while they
are always of a strikingly-dstinctive
character, they are like non9 that can
ever remember to have seen in life or in
pictures. Passing through the street
we see hundreds of people with unfa-
miliar faces, of whom yet we could not
say that we beheld nobody like them
before. But occasionally some very
strange or striking, or what may be
called original, face meets our view
and excites our wonder. Now, my
faces in the dark are all of that
character. AS look at them
for there they are, plain to be looked
at-an ask myself who was ever like
that, l find no answer except in fancied
resemblance to some historical or myth
illogical parsonage. Possibly Blake's
visions were some such faces as these,
presented to his eyes in broad daylight;
1 am inclined to think it might have
been so, because his wonderful and
dreadful drawing, "The Ghost of a
Flea, is precisely such transcript as I
could have made by the score had pos
sessed the artists skill and his memory
for transcription. My faces in the dark
are much more often of men than of
women; they are rarely quite agre able.
But they are all extremely interesting
(when they can be endured), because
they look like the feetlng embodiment
of some passion or some mood of mind;
usually not the best of moods. There
are some very noble faces among these
apparitions-I rather mean expressive
of great nobility; but 1 have never seen
among them the mask of pity or love, or
of any tender emotion. Grief the most
despairing, scorn. pride, hatred, greed,
cunning inquiry, envious or triumphant
mockery-if Blake really did see these
faces, either in daylight or in darkness,
he must have had more than his mag
ination to draw upon when he depicted
the passions. .'
pendent of the will. The golden spangles
and the flock of sheepI can generally
call into vision when please, but the
faces come and go as plesses them. You
may be awake with your eyes closed,
thinking of the weather or the last
change of government in France, and,
as wreath of smoke might rise. there
is face in the dark. 1t is useless to
seek to retain it for contemplation, or
to recall it when it has faded
out. This you may greatly wish to do,
for sometimes the phantom has pro-
foundly meaning, or appealing Or reveal
ing look but all your arts of imagina-
ton fail to project it ON the air when it
has once died way. Only for a few
seconds does it ever remain, and it never
returns. But what frequently happens
is that one face changes to another after
the manner of "dissolving views" And
the change is almost always for the
worst. A face that begins by being
strange and interesting ends by becom-
ing something awful or hideous beyond
the power of description and the will to