Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-01-11
DO DOGS SEEGHUS1'S?
FoR ie sRuTES SEE GHOSTS THEn
THERE MUST Be GHOSTS.

Examples to Prove That Dogs Have
Been Frightened in Houses in which
Spirits Were said to Have Appeared.
Question of Animal Immortality.
Some time ago had something TO say
On animal immortality. In that article
briefly referred TO the argument. now
not uncommon, that some animals ap-
pear 10 have intercourse with beings, OF
forms and states of being, unseen by us.
This on the face uf it is not improbable;
but il may be stretch of our own i'm
aSinatiou 10 assume that this is vision
Of ghosts. Bur if it can be shown first
that. ~ Wallace ai1irinS, objective phan-
tlsnlS appear To men sometimes, and 10
dogs sometimes then it would he hardly
fair TO assume that men are 10 have
spirit life hereafter and the dog not. IL
might become necessary for us to shove
back our dividing line between Inlnor-
tails and nonirunorials. and take over on
our side at least some Of the beasts. Is
the Indian right who, in Pop''s language,
believes "hi> faithful dog will bear him
company" IN the spirit lind? There
seems, however, to he conviction in
the minds of some observers that dogs
not only sometimes. but at all times. see
and hear what We do not hear,
FIRST of all, III justice, let us get the
facts or the averred facts. In Rod and
Gun appears the following letter: Sir.
there is reason TO believe that animals
can SEQ spirits. At any rate, have
very remarkable fact to relate. There
is in Devonshire large, rambling old
house. which has long had the reputa
tion of being haunted. Family after
family tried to make it their home. One
after another they gave il up, all for the
same reason - that was frequent spec
trail ongoings in one of the corridors,
Sometimes the ghost was seen by one
member of the household, while it was
invisible to others close by" which, of
course, would indicate that the seeing.
or not seeing, depended on the ocular
condition of the family. At least, a
skeptic would strongly urge that the
probabilities We're i'll favor of visual de-
fusion. Sometimes mysterious sounds
showed the ghost to be about. while he
was not visible to any Of the watchers"
/ A SCARED DOC.
! Hearing easily follows hysterical see
( ing. have myself seen wires and lamps
when knew none existed. THE fam
lily that last occupied the house thought
fierce dog might settle the problem,
on the supposition that human trick
ster was at the bottom of the disturb
ance. On the first night of the dogs
residence the spectral ratings were
! heard. The watchers took the dog TO
| the corridor True to the instincts of
his nature he rushed to the front, bark
through the corridor, the dog stopped
and gazed upward in evident terror.
His tail dropped, and then he retreated
trembling. But to the human eye
nothing was visible" This story is
authenticated as coming from persons of
unqnestioned veracity and excellent
powers of judgment.
| If You will excuse me for turning
aside from the main thought | will give
one or two illustrations to show that
ghost seeing is not so improbable as you
have judged. Fanny Kemble tells us
that when residing in Rittenhouse
square her maid, sitting SO that she
faced and could see the staircase and
upper landing, saw the door of her bed
room open, and an elderly woman in a
flannel dressing gown, with a bonnet on
| her head, come out, walk the whole
| length of the passage, and then return
deliberately i'll the same manner. The
maid knew her mistress was down stairs,
and also was confident that no such per-
son AS she saw could be in the house.
Having good nerves. the woman did not
at first tell Miss Kemblc what she had
seen, but ransacked the rooms to see if
she conld solve the puzzle, all the time
afraid her mistress would be disturbed
by some similar apparition. She after
ward came on a portrait in the house
suddenly that was an exact copy of her
ghost. A good chance, of course, for an
imaginative maid, or Il cunning one, TO
work up II fine yarn. Yet it Is something
that Miss Kemble believed the girl did
see an opnarItiou