Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-24
INTEREST In GHOSTS.
Eore Intelligent People Than Ever
Talking About the Nonsense.
sPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE.
Wherever They Have Locked Horns the
Former Has Been Worsted.
STILL THE WORLD ISN'T SATISFIED


Al uis IeCeuI collectlon Oh gnost etorleS
Mr.. W. 7. Stead is careful to give the eau
tion that these tales of the marvellous should
not be read by "anyone of tender years, Of
morbid excitability, or of excessively nerv-
Gus temperament" To this he adds that
''the latest students of the subject concur in
the solemn warning addressed in the Sacred
Writings to those who have dealings with
familiar spirits, or who expose themselves
to the horrible consequences of possession"
In the third place, be warns everybody that
''all experiences in hypnotism, spiritualism,
ETC., excepting in the most careful and
reverent spirit BY the most level-headed
persons, had much better be avoided"
A better way TO advertise his ghost stories
could hardly be devised. Everybody now,
Of course, is anxious to read this book, and
the supply as a spiritualist paper relates,
cannot be kept up to the demand, In Mr..
Stead's Judgment it is better that certain
number of people should be scared out Of
their wits and end up in lunatic asylum
than that the subject should not be investi-
gated, and the science of ghosts be clearly
shown up. But while some people are con-
siderably worried, there does not
appear to be much ground for
alarm. Just such stories have
been going the rounds of the press for-I
might say centuries-and have been related
in books over and over again, but while they
NAV turn weak people into goosefesh occa-
sionailv ard make the tiuid afraid to pass
churchyards, the effort soon wears away or
Is laugh down.
PerYersify of Human Nature.
There is a depravity in mankind that
leads them to long for forbidden fruit.
When Comstock aud the good preachers as
sailed Tolstoi's 'sKreutzer Sonata" as i'm
moral in its tendency, the world, possessed
with the spirit of perversity, went wild to
read it, although they found it to be dull
and disagreeable book When Mrs. Hum
phrey Wards "clever attack upon revealed
religion" was put under the ban OF the
pulpit and was written up by Mr.. Gladstone
in long chapter as "a snare" the whole
reading world pounced upon it as if they
had the strongest desire to have their belief
in miracles tested and the props taken from
under their faith in the supernatural
So when it is stated that there is pro-
found necessity for warning people against
reading ghost stories, it is to be fully
expected that very great number of them
expose themselves to the danger OF being
frightened out of their alleged "seven
senses"
In all ages of the world men have shown
the greatest hankering for signs and Won
ders. and the keenest relish for thrilling
stories even to the extent of having their
blood run cold, and their hair stand straight
up with fright. Literature is full of efforts
to NEE. this demand.
Science Rssn't Affected 1t.
Someone. has said that the scientific
spirit of the age has about "knocked-out"
fsith in the supernatural-that Darwin has
brought about ''a general decay of belief in
the unseen" But it would seem as if there
were to be general revival in the whole
ghost business. People are beginning to
Doubles" their Thought bodies" in
prognostications and premonitions, dreams,
visions, materialized spirits and tangible |
ghosts. The talk is that these are TO be
submitted TO the test of science and common |
sense. In books and papers, in drawing |
room talks, in scientific discussions the sub |
jeet comes up constantly.
Ali of this investigation, this friction of |
mind, this seeking out of scientific basis for |
what hiss hitherto been held as superstition |
-bolstered up by ignorance and ''old wives |
tales'-will doubtless bring out some light !
On this dark subject. The traps in the |
Fox house at Rochester that ushered |
modern spiritualism into the world A |
years ago are still, il is said, mot to be ex- |
planned by the skill of the magician, or the |
powers Of philosophy" It it true that the |
Fox sisters have admitted they are frauds, |
that the mysterious rappings were pro-
duced by power of theirs to make such |
noises by their toe ioints-or something of |
@I,- I'll l,,k III Al AZ L. 4; =
spiritualism maintain that this confession |
Of the Fox women was made in Difference to |
the ignorance of the world
EzpIznation That Doesn't. Explain. |
Why real believers should confess them |
selves to outsiders as cheats and proclaim !
themselves as liars, when good and sincere |
people were testing their pretensions, is |
something hard for outsiders to see. But, |
as is explained, upon the authority of |
prominent spiritualis:, "mediumship rests |
upon sensitiveness, which is not dependent |
upon morals or culture-though elevated |
and controlled thereby" This explained |
"the foolish farce" as he calls it, of the |
Fox girls ''owning up" that they had been /
playing upon the credulity of the people.
The phenomenon so impeached does not, as
believers hold, depend upon the moral |
qualities Of the mediums These last may be |
time be good mediums, through whom |
the angels in heaven come down at |
eeances to comfort their earthly friends, /
to cheer them with an account of their /
happiness, TO charm them with happy as
surances of future bliss ard the blessed |
boon of Immortality in mansions in the |
Ekies in company with their dearest and |
best beloved. This theory, that the saint
iest and godliest of spirits may materialize
Ia life again through immoral and disgust
ing creatures gifted with the powers of me-
diumship, is not pleasant one to outsiders,
but it explains the loyalty of the believers |
to those shown to be deceivers.
The Great Unsolved Problems,
''The mystic rap" however, saws LYMAN
G. Howe, is still the despair of science"
Tables dancing around, banios banging,
bells ringing, and such like doings
are also problems of science under
which the spirit of the age staggers
and falls into the depths of despair. Mater
islization of spirits by way of mediums has
rather gone out of style of late. "As it
grew common it began to deteriorate" says
this learned writer on spiritualism. 1.-THE
nglomeration of crude elements, the mob
excitement and The commercial spirit have
dominated the seanee room TO such an ex-
tent that its value is open to question, and
many spiritualists repudiate it entirely"
This is an odd sor, of q confession for an
apostle of spirip.alism to make. 1t means
that " tehgible ghosts IN their
recognized forms and clothes, and
voices are not the tests and proofs
thev used TO be, and they constitute
rather more of defeat in their claims than
q success To this phase of mediumship has
IL Il - |