The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-12-30
A REAL GHOST STORY
STRANGE EXPERIENCES OF A me-
SPECTACLE BUSINESS MAN.

Three Times In the Course of His Life
Ho Has Seen the Shade of His Dead
Mother, and Each Time She Seemed to
BE Trying to Warn Him Of Danger.
"There arc more things in heaven and
earth, Horatio"-
1t came to the knowledge of o reporter
quite by accident that in an eminently
respectable house lying between Mad
ison and Fifth avenues, on an eminently
respectable street, gentleman well
known in business circles has repeatedly
experienced what may be called. on lack
Of better word, visitations. This tho
reporter learned, while the gentleman
was quite unaware of his connection
with the press, Thanksgiving evening,
when conversation turned on mesmerism
and other occult subjects. From talk
to experiment the step was easy, when
1t was discovered that the man in ques-
ton was an almost perfect sensitive" to
hypnotic influence.
The discovery was probably a surprise
to most of those in the room. The man
is perhaps forty-five years old under the
medium height, stout and inclined to
badness, fond of the good things Of life,
shrewd business man, yet he was alb
solutely at tho beck and call of an anna
teur of tolerably developed hypnotic
power. When, after some grotesque
manifestations, the subject was restored
to consciousness, the company, with one
accord, pressed him to explain his feel
ing while under the influence,
"You are asking impossibilities, said
the man good humoredly, "for while
in the hypnotic state my waking self
is submerged, and I-real l, the ego
of the metaphysicians-am what is
called unconscious, although something
that must be second l, or, alter ego, Is
obediently active. u ia all as great q
marvel to me as it can be to any Of you.
am not weak willed man or one easy
to influence by ordinary methods, yet
have always been keenly susceptible to
psychic influences"
This caused stir of expectancy in the
little company.
II do not often speak of these things"
went on the man after a little pause
''Such nature as mine must seem I'M
canny to others, and to be frank, in a
business way could not afford to be
known as sensitive" but think l am
safo to speak under this roof.
81 can remember when quite small
boy seeing my uncle drive toward the
country home where then lived. While
he was yet far off, and neither face nor
attitude could have borne to me any
visual hint, | knew that his son, my
cousin William, was dead. ran and
sobbed In my mothers lap: oh, man.
ma! Willie's deadl Willies deadT She
chided me for my folly, as she be-
lieyed. In long two minutes my uncle
drove up, looking ashen gray and sad
and tho questions my mother would have
put died upon her lips. 1t was true. Ny
cousin had died unexpectedly after the
briefest illness. l couldn't have beer
more than six years old, and had nevel
heard Of occult art of any sort for ours
were old fashioned country folk,
LAS grow up experiences of this kline
were more common. / was stupid
bullet headed fellow in the main, bu
in this special sense, as ! must think it
was and am extraordinarily gifted
To this l attribute the fact that on three
occasions have seen the ghost of my
mother, who died very soon after tn,
incident which have just related"
A stir of incredulity caused rustic il
the room, and one festive chap whistlet
bar of ''Over the Fence Is Out"
''Oh, don't expect You to believe it,
resumed tho narrator easily. "In wa,
don't believe it myself. That is,
can't account for it, and my mind re
volts against accepting anything agains
my reason. Yet l am brought face /,
\ face with the fact. Thrice in my matur
| life, while wide awake, fully clothed
and as much in my right mind as an
! at this minute, have seen the shade
ghost or aura of my dead mother, seem
ing not worn and thin, as l remembe
her, but young and fairer. And her
is the curious part of it, She wa
clothed as in the days before my birth
there were older children than lin
] dress which had never seen or hear
described, and of which no picture is Il
existence. Yet, by my description o
, the dress as | saw it, my Oldest siste
recognizes it perfectly"
w ufAe ulA bhO BLlN1A soy W 1Ous
asked one Of the party.
Nothing. Yet in each case the visi
\ came before some misfortune which wa
! in sense avertable. 1t seems to me a
y if the wrath of my mother was tryin
Intellectually to warn her favorite an
youngest child. The set face, the mourn
full air, all so indistinctly seen, nigh
\ convey that impression. All the visit
i were at night. Twice the vision cam
when | was alone. The last time m
wife was with me. l said nothing I
her at the time, not wishing to alarm hei
but she can testify that l was wild
n awake. The room in which we sat
n large, and was at the time lighted onl
by we'll shaded lamp, which left til
j. farther end of the room i'll semiobscurity
!; But the figure seemed interpenetrate
4 with light of its own. Itdid not NOV
!, or beckon. II simply was and then wa
N not"
II An odd Thanksgiving night tale, W;
II not? II don't want my business asst
ciates to suspect me of seeing visions
the gentleman concluded, but this
my story, and l would like to kno'
s. what you make of it."-New York r.
" cordef.
Tho Oldest Amateur Orchestra.
!, The oldest amateur orchestra in Lo