The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-08-24
UP TO DATE GHOSTS.
Americas Foremost Psychical Expert
Tells Something New Of SpOOks-Aps
partitions Actually Seen by Psychical

Washington Letter IN PntsburG bispatch'
Dhe most eminent seeker after truth
in the direction of the mysterious un-
known is DR. Elliott Coues. He IL per-
fectly satisfied that there are such
things as ghosts, basing his belief upon
the same sort of evidence as is consi-
dered to establish any sort of fact on
scientific basis. The problem. I'm his
national: nothing that exists Is super
national nothing that exists Is super
national. The question Is simply
whether there are mot certain phe-
nomena in nature which have not been
recognized or understood.
IL will tell you OF an actual apparl-
tion which was seen by u friend OF
mine n man of scientific training. In
whose Judgment and truthfulness 1
have absolute confidence" said DIR.
Coues recently. "The witness had just
gone to bed the light being turned out.
and was composing himself for slum-
ber when he suddenly became aware
of a presence in the room.
Furthermore. the impression was
conveyed to his mind that ii was the
presence of a certain person lately de-
ceased. with whom he had been on very
intimate terms. There was, in fact. an
overpowering sense of the nearness of
the individual referred to. At about
the same momnt there rose slowly from
the floor q nebulous mass of what
looked like shining white vapor. which
began to take shape. as did the smoke
from the casket containing the geni
that was opened by the fisherman in
the Arabian Nights tale. The shape
gradually assumed an outline more
distinct until 1t presented a radiant
image of the person who had died.
T. Ssl,
NAY. more. the lips appeared to
move, and from them came an intelli-
gible utterance-a message, in short,
from the departed. am not at liberty
to say what that message was. Now,
why should l not suppose that this al
legged apparition was merely "a vision of
the night-that my friend fell asleep
and dreamed 1t? Partly. would reply,
because my friend assured me that
such notion was out of the question.
He was certainly as wide awake when
he saw the phantom appear as when
ITS seeming substance was gradually
dissipated before his eyes and finally
disappeared. Obviously his belief to
that effect was not sufficient evidence:
he might even have been awake and
the victim of an hallucination. But
what determines my faith in the testi-
mony is the fact that the phantasm in
all important respects resembled others
which have been reported upon by
many credible witnesses.
Il will mention the case of another
friend of mine. who saw a considerable
number OF ghosts at the same time and
by daylight He was lying on a lounge
| in his library, alone. while the dusk OF
the evening was beginning to gather.
Broad awake, he felt all at once a Pc
culiar sensation.
The Apparition Bursts Upon Us.
"a dim light seemed to grow about
him and to enNelop him, becoming
steadily brighter. Being sure that
something was going to happen he
waited quietly and presently he per-
| ceved shadowy figures Of human beings
passing to and fro in the light mist.
They become more distinct and he was
enabled to recognize some of them as
people dead whom he had known in
life. 1t was as If he had been on the
| street in a busy throng. but the crowd
was of ghosts and not Of living people.
Il am speaking with not sufficiently
precise description when l refer to a
peculiar sensation Of chill which Is en-
perienced by person whose conscious
ness passes for a brief time beyond the
threshold of ordinary physical percep-
| tion. 1t is felt very rarely even by the
| few individuals who are so organized
physically as to be ghost-seers When
such a feeling comes across you, you
may expect to witness phenomena
which usually are not under human OBJ
| servation. Respecting the nature and
causes of these phenomena we know
little or nothing as yet; the study of
them Is In the extremist infancy. End
less questions at once arise before the
| explorer who would pursue this un-
trodden path of knowledge. Most in
| teresting Of them all is that which con-
| Germs the relation of the phenomena de-
| scribed to the problem of human i'm
mortality. May 1t be that all around
| us are unseen multitudes of ghosts?
Dead More Numerous Than Living.
1.-THE room In which we are alone may
be crowded with our dead friends; the
apparently deserted thoroughfare may
be thronged with invisible beings. The
present population Of the earth Is but
a handful compared with the billions
| who have died.
"Supposing that my friend was
neither dreaming nor the victim of al,
hallncination, what was the shape
which he saw take form out of the
shining white vapor in his bedroom
| Was 1t human soul? How pregnant
with most intense interest Is that ques-
ton! If there was no deception in the
case-and ! am convinced that there
was none---it Is made certain that there
| Is existence beyond the grave. Is that
existence everlasting? These are in
| quiries which nobody can answer. We
know that no particle Of physical mat
| ter can be destroyed, though IL may be
| transformed into other shapes. Does
| the same law apply to the conscious
| ness. the soul. the intelligence-calli 1t
what you will--that animates the
body?
"One very interesting discovery OBJ
| tained by research in this line Is that
there Is such a thing as the ghost Of n
| living person. Furthermore, there Is
| no essential difference between the
| specter Of living individual and the
| apparitiOn Of n dead one. The latter
| has abandoned the body permanently.
| while the former has left It only tenn
| porarlly. An immense mass of testi-
mony has been adduced to prove that
phantasms of living human beings
that Is, simulacra representing them in
form and feature-do actually appear
sometimes, and even at great distances
from the persons to whom the ghosts
belong.
| Every Person Has Ills Own Ghost.
| "Usually such phantasms are pro-
jected without the knowledge of their
owners. Each one OF us carries his
own ghost within him, 1t might be
said. Whether that ghost Is the same
thing as the soul or the faculty of in
telligence Is an unansYerabse ques-
ton. Ordinarily the ghost IL under
the control Of Its possessor. acting In
harmony with the physical functions
Of the body. Apparently. however. 1t
sometimes acts independently. and
even goes out OF the body for n time.
II may then make Itself visible In the
same manner as does the specter OF a
dead person. I am confident that many
Of the alleged appearances OF dying In