Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-04-08
SOME QUEER YARNS.
GATHERED BY THE SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. =

ISI1lSAE hGOcAnS0s
The Phantom of q Gloved Hand-Explana
tion of the Coffin on tho Lake Shore
Several Strange Prophecies and Warn
ings-Investigates the Yarns.
A diligent hunt has been made fo1
years after stories Of telepathy, mind
reading, second sight, clairvoyance,
crystal vision, and SO on, by the Society
For Psychical Research, and great pains
have been taken to obtain confederation
if possible.
One Of the most experienced and in.
defatigable Investigators in that organ.
ization, Frederic W. H. Myers, en-
bodies scores Of these narratives in q
paper printed in the report of the pro.
ceedings of the Society For Psychical
Research. A few are selected for repro
duction here to illustrate some of the
supposed workings of the mysterious
faculty in question.
D. J. Parsons. a physician in Sweet
Springs, Mo-, says he discovered years
ago that he was able to see things,
mentally, which had happened hundreds
Of miles away and many years before.
He wrote in 1891: "While in company
with DR.. Trotter Of Lexington, Mo-, !
could see before and near to him deli
cate hand on which was dark red kid
glove. The hand was all the time in
motion. called his attention to it, and
he was much surprised. I told him the
hand had history, and if he had no
objections I would be pleased to know
it. He said: 4 was travelling in Canada
on the cars, and one day we ran up to a
train that had been wrecked a little
while before. went to the wreck, and
about the first thing that saw was a
young lady lying upon the ground dead.
One hand was naked, and one was COW
cred with a dark red kid glove. In
stantly upon his uttering the words the
dark red kid glove and the hand van
ished.
Subsequently the DR.. Trotter here
mentioned sent full account Of the ac-
cident and the conversation with DR..
Parsons to an officer of the Psychical
Research society in reply to inquiries.
He corroborated the foregoing story
fully, adding that the gloved hand made
strong impression on him, (which has
remained to this day, about 40 years. -
He was astounded at DR.. Parsons. re-
mark to him nearly 80 years after the
event, and even yet cannot understand
how that person should have broached
the subject, inasmuch as DIR. Trotter had
never to his knowledge mentioned the
sight of the dead girl to living SOUL
A large group of incidents found in
this collection occurred almost exactly
at the same time when the "percipient''
received corresponding impression.
Shipwrecks, more trifing accidents, the
recovery of lost dog and the position
in which watch that had been dropped
in bayfield, a few hours before still
lay were paralleled by vision, either in
sleep or half waking condition. Thus,
on the morning of Oct. 2, 1885, the wife
of Chicago man asked him, while they
were both dressing and before either Of
them had left their sleeping room, il he
had ever known person named Esdale.
He replied in the negative. Then she
narrated a dream in which she saw a
coffin on the lake shore SO marked. Later
in the day the man discovered in the
morning paper of that date an account
of the disappearance of William E. Es-
dale, but with no theory as to his fate.
After elaborate inquiry it seems to be
established that this was the first public
mention of the fact that he was missing.
For several days the Chicago papers re-
ferred to the topic, but suggested that
he was alive, but insane, and would be
found. The notion of suicide was scout
ed. On Oct. 10 Esdaile's dead body was
found. He had been drowned. IS
Visions, dreams or impressions which
seemed to be prophetic figure frequently
in Mr.. Myers catalogue. Occasionally
there would be only vague impulse or
sensation. A railway engineer stopped
his train, he could not say why, and
sent fagman ahead. He thus stopped
an express train coming toward him and
on the same track, but out of sight
around a curve. Having landed in a
strange city, man was picking his way
along in the dark, when he was i'm
PEELED to change his route abruptly. He
found next day that a-few more steps
would have thrown him off dock. A
fathers anxiety about a son in another
part of the country increased to such a
point that the family had just decided
to summon the boy home when the
news of his death was received.
Again, of the prefigured events some
were only a few seconds away, others
perhaps months distant. A naturalist
would discover, without search or suspi-
cion, exceedingly rare ferns or moths
almost instantly after an image of the
specimen was found in his mind or a
hint was whispered in his ear by some
unseen agency. Accidents. and even
deaths, were predicted weeks in ad-
vance, and sometimes On specified
date, and the forecast was fulfilled. A
man dreamed of seeing the headstone OF
his own grave inscribed "Jun. g." As
the word June" is seldom abbreviated,
he believed that this was meant for
"Jan. g." Soon afterward one Of his
children died On June 8, and he consld-
cred this occurrence fulfillment of the
supposed prophecy. However, he died
himself several years afterward on
Jan. 8.
The experts who have undertaken the
study of the phenomena here described
are eagerly locking for more stories OF
this sort. Dr.. Richard Hodgson, B Boyl-
ston place, Boston, is the American Sec
retary and treasurer Of the Society For
Psychical Research, and when he gets
hold of a new yarn he proceeds to in
vestigate the matter carefully before re-
porting the facts to headquarters in
London. York Tribune.
Color Photography.
Professor John Jolly of Trinity col
lege, Dublin, the disooverer OF the Jolly
method of photographing in colors dl-
rectly from nature, is paying brle1
visit to this country. His method con-
sists simply in the use while taking the
picture of screen ruled minutely IN
the three primary colors, and IN the use
Of similarly ruled screen OF slightly
different shades in printing. So far the
-, boo,, ,,cod ou1v in tranSnar.