The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-09-26
SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.
a Few Remarkable Examples and
Pertinent Remarks Concern.
ing Them.
GHOST SEERESS OF PREV0RST.

Prince Gallitzin and Maryland Priest
Experience, With Several Others
Related.
The New Orleans Picayune, of las
week, editorially announced that DR.
Justlnus Kerner, of Germany, is au
tho1ity for some ghostly visltations
This is an old story. DR.. Kerner, ;
famous neuro!ogist and more than al
average poet, published, number O
years ago, the remarkable history of ont
of his patients, Frederick Hauffe, whose
ordinary condition was that OF sleep
waking. In that situation she perform
ed extraordinary prodiRies. From hel
earliest childhood she was painfully
susceptible to spectral impressions. She
shnddered when her nurse carried hel
by or Through graveVards. In he1
youth she professed to discern spirits
and the evidence furnished is conclus'
i've Of her representation. DR.. Kerner
who undertook a physical cure to nc
purpose, became acquainted with hel
after she had attained matuli'y, and
was both wife and mother. He was
initial'y skeptic in matters preternat.
alral or supernatural, but grew to be an
enthusiast in the opposite extreme.
His detailed record is a psycho!oglcal
curiosity, and his two poems addressed
to her, as 1.-The Ghost beeress of Pre-
vorst,'' attested his belief. These poems
nave been translated by James Clarence
Mangan, who had the rare faculty. be-
ing true poet, of bettering the original
German text. The Ghost Seeress was
attenuated that she could be lifted from
bed by two fingers of a moderately Wig
orous man, and her body ia water had
almost the lightness of cork. In the
clairvoyant state she conld read sealed
writings when placed upon the pit OF
tbs stomach, but could not do so when
imposed on the ewes or forehead. Her
explanation OF this phenome non was
that the soul had an executive function
called the nerve spirit, which was To-
Gated near the epjgastllam, and that
this nerve-spirlt, in sone exceptional
natures, could be projected and brought
back again. This she said was explain
atOly of frances, and restorations from
apparent death. Ii true, it is poss ible
that Bishop, the mind-reader, was, not
long since. probably killed by the sur
geons who made autopsy on what they
supposed to be his corpse. AS a. mani
festa,ion of her power in this particular
the Ghost Seerass, by appointment, {,
while lying IN coma. on her bed, could
shake houses, miles away, to their foun-
dations. She also declaring that appar-
itions were caused by the return OF the
nerve Split from the other world, and
their fashioning, out Of the elements,
simulacra of tht ir previ Jus human pro-
portions. This unfortunate woman
bitterly beWailed her peculiar lot, and
professed to be under the dominion Of
"a dark spirit, who came to her in a
column Of smoke. with hideous head" :"
It never ccurred to DIR. Kerner or any
body else that the poor creature was
the victim Of demOnlac possession, and
that Catholic priest might have been
her best exerciser and physician. There
is testimony that she was naturally
bIameless woman, and that she sought
by hymns and aspirations, to be deliv-
cred from her tormentor. In her nor
NAL condition she was simple and COM
paratively ignorant. In her abnormal
state she discussed like a Swedenbore,
and could draw a perfect circle on
paper with an alert movement of the
hand. She assayed to disclose some of
the occult stations of the other world.
and it NAV be said TO her credit that
sinners IN this lite, who cio unrepent-
ant. have grnsome and miserable ca
reer in the land OF shadows. Soe tes-
titled that holy persons on earth could
help some OF the departed. and SO
adumbrated the existence of purgatory,
as she wlertlly comprehended it. Her
suffelings were almost Incredible and
incessant. The circuGstantial ac-
counts of her terrible decline and final
departure fret ze the blood and appal
the brain of the sensitive reader.
This is one OF the most memorable
examples Of possession on record. and
matches many Of the instances power,
fully sketched by Father Gmeiner, in
his book on 8 me Spirits Of Darkness, :.
a volume that can be safely ana in
.structlyely perused by sane and healthy
persons, but, as the author himself
savows, should be forbidden to sick and
timorous souls. Father GmeDir lucidly
.aissects all such maIYels, ]. in every age
and CLINE. and admitting the existence
and activity of good and evil spiritual
ntelligences, also shows how these 9