Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-28

Hal1ucinations-What nm Actual Phantom
10 Like-Some Ghost Stories.
A RE GHOSTS THE DREAMS OF THE
IA dead?
Before considering that question" said an
expert in psychical science to Q writer for The
STAR, '1et rs discuss the question a. to what a
ghost is like. The popular conception Of such
q phenomenon is familiar enough to be termed
conventional. Typically, as represented by
tradition and described in popular fic-
ton, it is corpse-like apparition,
which enters by preference at the
stroke Of midnight, dressed in winding sheet,
smelling of the grave and dragging q clanking
chain through the sliding panel just by the
blood stain on the floor. The candles are apt
to burn blue incidentally, so as to increase the
ghastliness Of the effect, and if there are any
dogs about they howl dismally or hide them
selves, feeling their powerlessness to take
bite ont Of ything 80 immaterial and taste
less.
Such is the old-fashioned style Of ghost. I
will not assert that it is an impossibility, but
that such one was ever in reality beheld has
not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of
the student Of spectral philosophy. On the
contrary, the ghost of sober matter-of-fact is
recognized by those who have most earnestly
pursued this interesting branch of metaphysics
as something Of a very different character and
quality.
GENERAL sKEPTICIsM.
"On the part Of the public at large there is q
tendency to extreme skepticism respecting post
norton apparitions 1t could not well be
otherwise, in view Of the fact that very few
people have ever been witnesses to such phe-
nomena, and the tendency of the human mind
Is very naturally to deny the possibility OF
that which is altogether beyond and outside
OF the range Of its own experience. In
considering subject Of the sort also, the only
proper scientific attitude is one Of non-belief,
except upon adequate, which means entire,
demonstration. Obviously, it would be incor-
rect to attribute to supernormal causes any
thing for which causes purely normal are able
to satisfactorily account.
1.-THE study OF post-mortem apparitions is
new branch OF metaphysical research. Little
more than beginning has been made in it.
However, the impression which has gone to
some extent abroad that those who have begun
to investigate the subject are parcel of cranks
Is surely not just one. Some OF the foremost
men Of science in this country and in Europe
have interested themselves in the matter, not
by any means for the purpose of proving the ex-
istence Of ghosts, but in order to find out
whether or not such phenomena were possible.
seems to point irresistibly to the conclusion
that phantasms of the dead do sometimes APP
pear to the living. If this be 30 how intense an
interest must be felt in the discovery by all
mankind, to whom the question as to whether
aught Of the individual entity survives the
body has ever been the most absorbing of all
speculative inquiries
THE GHOST OF REALITY.
''What does the ghost of reality look like?
Naturally you ask that question first, and will
answer it as definitely as 1 can, though the de-
scription is not 80 easy. The appearance of
such phantoms. so far all scientifically gath
cred testimony goes to show, is very different
from the conception Of them formed
by imaginative writers Of romance. As
an almost invariable rule, the spec
ter OF dead person, when seen, shows few
signs OF life. 1t does not speak nor use its
limbs. 1t resembles q magic-lantern picture
more than anything else to which it is readily
comparable, its method of locomotion when it
moves, being gliding. 1t is clothed not IN a
winding sheet, but in garments such as were
worn by the individual of whom it is
the eidolon or image. 1t appears by day
light as often as at night, but never
with any purpose in its actions that
Is at all comprehensive. Occasionally it is
self-luminous. In most cases it disappears
through door or wall, but frequently it SIM
ply fades away in a shadowy mist. Sometimes
the phantasmal figure is seen as though illu-
minated on a dark background. Sometimes it
appears as in q disk or oval of light. Some
times its contour is indistinct and it resembles
luminous cloud, and sometimes there is no
figure at all, but merely diffused glow.
because ghosts are rarely seen it is not to
be inferred necessarily that they are a rarity.
1t is reasonable to imagine that the appear
ance OF one Is occasioned only by conditions of
very extraordinary nature. Surprising that
to be the case, we may be moving in q world OF
unseen specters and continually surrounded,
whether at home or on our walks abroad, by
invisible Phantoms of the dead, 1t has been
now living $4,000 have died on
this earth, 90 that if the spiritual
bodies Of all preserve existence here after
death, we survivors are but comparative few,
passing brief term of years of what we cali
life in the flesh amid a vast impalpabie swarm
OF beings incorporeal. All that is the merest
speculation OF course, but I, for one, am dis
posed to believe that. surprising the occurrence
OF post-mortem apparition to be thing DEM
onstrated, 1t is to be regarded as an exceptional
phenomenon. affording hardly more than an
accidental glimpse into supernormal world.
CONDITION NECESSARY TO SEE GHOST.
"One condition necessary to the seeing Of
ghost il purely subjective. The percipient
must be in certain state, psychicaIly speaking,
which implies the sensitiveness requisite for
seeing that which would be invisible to him un-
der ordinary circumstances. DIR. Elliott Coues
speaks Of this as a change in the threshold
Of consciousness by which what is un-
seen at other times becomes perceptible
A premonition of the apparition is usually
given by what is technically called the ghost
chill 1t is only very exceptional organism
in which the threshold of consciousness is ca
pable of this shifting. have friend a scholar
and q man Of science, who often experiences
the phenomenon. He comes home every after
noon at about o'clock. more or less tired after
his days work, and lies down on the sofa in his
study for = brief rest before din
ner. Occasionally, while enjoying this
repose, though perfectly wide awake,
there comes upon him-so he tells me-the pc
culiar sensation Of the ghost chill, and he waits
with much attention and interest to see what is
going to happen. Presently he finds his own
consciousness projected effectively, as it were,
SO that his conscious self stands out in the room
and views his body lying on the lounge. About
tho latter is bright light, which grows grad
ually until it has filed all the room, and his
conscious self finds itself surrounded by
phantasms most Of them of persons who APP
pear to be strangers to him, while others re-
semble acquaintances who have long been dead
They seem to walk about and converse in the
ordinary way, though not audibly. All the
time my friend is clearly aware of the situation
| and makes careful mental note Of whatever he
observes. until after q few brief moments the
spectacle vsnishes and he finds himself on tho
sofa again. He insists that he is never asleep
oh frr,a< d.