The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-13
THE GHOSTS OF THE DEAD.
Pos1-MoR1EM APpARITIoN TALK.
A Scientist's Opinion-Gruesome Phantzsms
How the Hunting of Ghosts Has
Grown to Be n Science-Some
Ghost Stories.
Are ghosts the dreams OF the dead?

Are ghosts the dreams OF the dead?
Before considering that question" said
an expert in psychical science to a writer
for the Washington Star. "let us discuss
the question as to what ghost is like.
The popular conception of such phenom-
enon is familiar enough 10 be termed con-
ventional. Typically, as represented by
tradition and described in popular fiction.
it is a corpse-like apparition, which enters
by preference at the stroke OF midnight,
dressed in a winding sheet, smelling of the
grave and dragging a 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 in
crease the ghastliness of the effect, and If
there are any dogs about they howl dis
mally or hide themselves, feeling their
powerlessness to take a bite out of any
thing so immaterial and tasteless.
'Such is the Old-fashioned style of ghost.
] will not assert that it is an impossibility,
but that such 4 one was ever in reality be-
held has not been demonstrated to the
satisfaction of the student of spectral phi
losophy. On the contrary, the ghost OF
sober matter-Oi-fact is recognized by those
who have most earnestly pursued this in
teresting branch OF metaphysics as some
thing of a very different character and
quality.
''On the part of the public at large there
is a tendency to extreme skepticlsm re-
specting pOst-mortem appaTitions. 1t
could not we'll be otherwise, In view OF the
fact that very few people have ever been
witnesses to such phenomena, and the
tendency OF the human miad Is very nat
urally to deny the possibility OF that
which is altogether beyond and outside OF
the range OF its own experience. In con-
sidering a subject of the sort also, the only
proper scientific attitude Is one OF nOn-be-
lief, except upon adequate, which means
entire, demonstration. Obviously, it would
be incorrect to attribute to supernOrmal
causes anything for which causes purely
normal are abe to satisfactorily account.
The study OF pOst-mOrtem apparlnOns
is a new branch of metaphysical reseach.
Little more than a beginning has been
made in il. 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 Ill Europe
have interested themselves In the matter,
not by any means for the purpose of prov
TO find out whether or not such phenOm-
ena were possible. The knowledge they
have gathered thus far seems to point
irresistiby to the conclusion that phan-
tasms of the dead do sometimes appear TO
the living. If this be so. 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.
What does the ghost of reality look
like? Naturally you ask that question
first and / will ansW er it as definitely as |
can, though the description is not SO easy.
The appearance OF such phantoms, so far
as all scientifically gathered testimony
goes to show. il very different from the
conception of them formed by imaginative
writers of romance. As an almost invari-
able rule, the specter of dead person.
when seen, shows few signs OF life. 1t
does not speak nor use Its limbs 1t re-
sembles a magic-lantern picture more
than enything else to which il is readily
comparable. its method of locOmotiOn,
when it moves, being a gliding. 1t is
, clothed not in a winding sheet, but in gar
knents such as were worn by the individ-
Ial OF whom 1t is the eidolon or image. 1t
appears by daylight as often as at night.
but never with any purpose III its actions
chat Is at all comprehensive Occasion
ally il is self-luminous. In most cases it
disappears through door or wall but ire
quently it simply fades away in a shadowy
mist. Sometimes the phantasmal figure is
eeen though illuminated on a dark
background. Sometimes it appears as in
a disk or oval OF light. Sometimes its con-
tour is indistinct, and it resembles a
luminous cloud, and sometimes there is
no figure at all, but merely diHused
glow.
Because ghosts are rarely seen it is not
to be inferred necessarily that they are a
rarity. 1t IL reasonable to imagine that
the appearance of one is OccasiOned only
BY conditions of very extraordinary ma
ture Surprising that TO be the case, we
may be moving in a world of unseen spec
tiers and continually surrounded, whether
At home or on our walks abroad. by invis-
IDLE phantOms of the dead. 1t has been
estimated that for every human being now
living $1,000 have died on this earth, so
that il the spiritual bodies of all preserve
existence here after death, we survivors
are but a comparative few, passing brief
term of years OF what we call lie in the
flesh amid a vast impalpable swarm of
beings incorporeal All that is the merest
speculation, OF course, but l, for one, am
disposed TO believe that, suppOsing the &C.
currence OF pOst-mortem apparltiOn to
be thing demonstrated, it Is to be re-
garded as an exceptional phenomenon,
affording hardly more than an accidental
glimpse into a supernormal world.
Zone condition necessary To the seeing
Of ghost is purely subjective. The per-
cipient must be In a certain state, psych-
ically speaking, which implies the sensi-
tiveness requisite for seeing that which
would be invisible TO him under ordinary
circumstances. Dr. Elliott Coues speaks
of this as a change in the threshold of con-
seriousness by which what is seen at other
times becomes perceptible. A Fremont
ton OF the appsrition is usually given by
what is technically called the ghost chill
1t is only a very exceptional organism in
which the threshold of consciousness is
capable OF this shifting. / have a friend,
a scholar and man of science, who often
experiences the phenomenon. lie comes
home every afternoon at about o'clock,
more or less tired after his days work,
and lies down on the sofa in his study for
a brief rest before dinner Occasionally,
while enjoying this repose, though per-
fectly wide awake, there comes upon him,
30 he tells me. the peculiar sensation OF
the ghost chill. and he waits with much
attention and interest to see what is going
60 harmon ho fnIo his orr,