The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-08
Perhaps O-e In Tea or Us sees, Hears. or
Touches y Spook.
Prom ne Springfield Republican.

Prom he Springfield Republican.
The Psy chical Research Society has come to
the conclusion, after investigating the matter
for about six years, that 10 only one in ten Of
us is II given To see, hear, or touch ghosts.
Ninety per cent. of mortals are seemingly too
dull or obtuse. too dim Of vision, or too thick Of
hearing to perceive these Embodied visitors, or
too healthy in mind and body to be subject
TO these Authorizations. The commonplace
routine OF bread and butter getting. to
which most Of this 30 per cent. of ghost
less men and women are bbund, seems to
AFFORD few opportunities for exhibitions of
psychic phenomena, and the fatigue after homes {
toll is a foe to dreams and visions Nor does he
rush and struggle for wealth which absorbs all
the energies and cxhausts the vital forces Of an
other portion of this 30 per cent. Of RhOstless In
dividuals help to glimpses Of the undiscovered
country The way in which the society for
psychical research reaches its conclusion. which
agrees well with the experience of most of us,
IL by a permissible use Of the doctrine Of av-
er NESmber. ., ,nO, society .a, ,nsm.s,v.. ,o
work to quiz all their friends and everybody
within reach about the wonderful and unex-
plainable events which had disturbed the mo
notOny of their lives, or set their friends to cOg
tating. Women and men together. there were
and they quizzed :. 600 persons. il took three
years to do this quizzlng systematically by ask
ing response from every one of the 1900 to
4 vivid Impression 81, seeing o. be:
animate object. or of hearipss voice which i'm
preston, 80 far as you could describe. was not
due to any external cause, TO this question
2,212 answered Yes" but the inquirers were
not satisfied that some hundreds OF these pre-
tended psychical subjects had really expert
enced the phenomena they described in their re-
plies or that these phenomena came within the
scope of their inquiry. For these reasons and
Others the number OF affirmative replies regis
tered was cut down to 1884. or almost exactly
10 per cent. of the whole number OF direct and
indirect replies received.
ri,
out facts as interesting as the replies them
selves. More women claimed 10 have had these
experiences than men, and the vast majority
saw the strange things rather than heard or felt
them. There were 1870. visions reported, while
3Ss heard mysterious voices or sounds. and only
~ were touched by the nnexplninable. Angels
showed themselves rarely. only sixteen having
been seen, and saints and religious appearances
were even more rare. Satan, with his gro
tesaue and disagreeable satellites, was seen
siXty-eight times, while spectral animals star
tied the observers twenty-sevcn times. Where
human figures were seen. the majority OF these
phantoms were Of living persons, II good many
were not recognized. while only 2:I2 OF the
or phantoms of the dead. All things considered,
this Is a remarkable result, for IL shows that
the phenomena Of reappearance, or Of direct
apparent communication between the dead
phenomena, is al best extremely rare. Where
such familiarity with these phenomena, have
been when this question of the psychical society
going aSd T. Il sent all tf
country from Russia TO Brazil, and Il is strik-
lug result that only 2I2 people were found who
would claim to have seen. heard, or touched
crossed the line between life and death. ~ '0
still. the fact remains that these careful in
vestigators OF the psychical research society
have found 232 such cases, which they are will
ing TO record and use as material for further in
vestigation. The honesty OF these .32 observers
seems TO be accepted as proved. and 80 does
their accounts of their Authorizations. Beyond
this the society does not go. II assumes the
scientific attitude and collects and classfes the
data from which II hopes that some time the law
under which these phenomena occur may be de-
duced-and this Is about the only safe attitude
for any one To assume at present toward these
my sterious happenings.