The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-29
4 BRITisH GHOST.
London Pcst.l


 Those who entertain the belief that the spirits of the departed revisit this world for the purpose of fplaying grotesque tricks will fnd no difficulty in accounting for the singular series of occurrences now re- ported from small Shropshire village, and may even regard these manifestations as constituting at the present moment a triumphant proof of the soundness of their opinions. The person with whom the strange events are associated is a young girl, Emma Davies, living with her parents at Weston Lulling6eld, and de- scribed, on medical authority, as of highly nervous temperament, but not, appar- ently, of cunning disposition. Wherever this girl may be, the surroundings appear to become occasionally animated. Flower pots dance on the window sills, chairs and tables stroll about the room, clothes are torn and glass and china broken as they hang on the walls. When she att tempts any domestic task the brush or bucket is torn from her hands, the house linen flies away to a distance and her boots usually accompany it. More serious missiles are mysteriously flung from her
 
 cut with knife and another injured by a stone, and not unnaturally the whole district is alarmed and excited, while the investigations Jet may fail to afford any solution of the marvels which have now, as alleged, continued for some weeks Doctors apd local magnates have been baffled the superstitious but somewha, illogical Salopians fancied that the invis- ible power might be awed or detect ed by the eye of the law. Accordingly large body of the Shropshire constabulary vis- ited and inspected the place, and one of their number has since remained on guard. But the unseen agent attending Emma Davies makes fun of the police man, causing lenders to move across the floor, and obstruct his path, and books, cushions and other articles to fly around his head with terrible results, it may be assumed, to his professional dignity. Two centuries ago, instead of watching for some natural cause of such effects, he would probably have seized this girl of thirteen on the charge of witchcraft and she might have shared the fate of other juvenile witches, the last of whom, burned for casting "spells " on the Throckmor- tons in Huntingdonshire, was considera- bly younger. There can be no doubt, afte. making due allowance for misrepre- sen,a,ion and exaggeration. that remark able circumstances have occurred in con- nection with Emma Davies, and that she belongs to the hystericai, hyper-sensitive class which has in all centuries produced fasting girls, vision beholders, mystic dreamers, and too often lunatics. Medi- cal scientists declare that the peculiar condition of brain and nerve power which has unquestionably enabled such young women to perform wondrous feats of en- durance, trickery, ingenuity, and simula- tion is present only for few years, dur ing which, however, they are scarcely re- sponsible for the use made of it. In the present instance the eccentric scheme seems more complicated and cleverly managed than that of the Cock-lane Ghost and numerous similar impostures, but there is little reason to doubt that i, is wholly devised and performed by the girl herself. The idea that she has ac- complices in her home is rendered less probable by the fact that the manifesto tions were first shown at the farmhouse where she was in service, and that they have appeared when she was visiting n shbors. Itis m re yer. noticeable tn. , they curiously resemble the phenomena of the most advanced so-called spiritual ism, in which movement this little maid servant in her abnormal s.ate of mind might furnish a celebrated medium A far better fate would be her removal from the scenes of her notoriety and speedy restoration. under medical care. to ordinary sense, when she might return to show her humble friends that she was more pitiable than bl4mable in alarming them As in the case of Joan of Arc, un- natural exal,ation may lead 10 great and noble ends, but almost invariably it's ut most aim is self-torture or notoriety. While the old system of meeting such manifestations by punishment was obvi- ously barbarous. there may be well-nigh as much cruelty in pampering and ex- citing them by exhibition and encourage ment. In these days of general education It may be hoped that such cases as that in Shropshire will soon be attributed to the right cause-mental disorders and meanwhile that the proceedings around Emma Davies will not long remain re- markable or unexplained.