Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1900-07-26
BELIEVED IN GHOSTS
DR.. ELLIOTT COUES SAID THAT Ne
OF ZEN SAW THEM.
The Famous Ornithologist's Descrip-
ton of the Spirit of n Dead Friend
Who Appeared to and Convened
with Him In His Room.

Who Appeared to and Convened
with Him In His Room
DR.. Elliott Coues. the famous orui.
biologist and member of the Ameri
can Academy of Sciences, was long
recognized as the foremost advocate of
belief in the existence of ghosts. He
had promised several of his friends
that, il able to do so, he would appear
to them after his own demise, and they
are still waiting, with no little inter
est, to see If he can carry out the
agreement.
Il have myself seen the ghosts of
good many dead persons" said the
doctor one day. Il remember one oc-
casion when / had just gone to bed
the light being turned out, | was com
posing myself to slumber when | sud
denly became aware OF n presence In
the room. The impression conveyed
to my mind was that 1t was the pres
ence of a certain person lately deceas-
ed. with whom | had been on very in.
innate terms. In fact, | felt "A over.
powering sense of the nearAess of the
individual in question.
About the same moment there
arose slowly from the floor a nebulOus
mass Of what looked like shining
white vapor, which began to take
shape, as did the smoke from the cas-.
ket opened ,by the fisherman in the
arabian Nights tales. Gradually II
assumed more distinct outline. un-
til ii presented a radiant image of my
friend. The lips appeared TO move,
and from them came an ineligible ut
terance, a message in short, from the
departed. | do not care to say what
that message was.
II can assure you that the vision was
no dream, and the nature of the mes
sage was such rs to eliminate. to my
own satisfaction at all events. the the
DRY of hallucination. What, then, was
this shape of shining white yapor?
Was it a human soul? 1t is a question
pregnant with intense interest.
Each of us, | believe has in him
ghost, which ordinarily is confined to
the precincts of the body, When |
/
nently, and, having done so, perhaps it
may continue to be the vehicle and
means of expression of conscious will,
memory and understanding. st. Paul
says, There is a natural body and
spiritual body 1t is of the spiritual
body that | am speaking.
Our senses take cogniZance of no
forms of matter except those which
are in certain degree of condensa-
ton, but the spiritual body may be Of
a more rarefed and tenuous substance
The nonappearance of ghosts to us
may be question not of the existence
Of specters, but of the acuteness of our
perceptiye faculties.
MY own experience is that the com
ing Of an apparition is always preced-
ed by curious sensation which | call
the ghost chill When this symptom
arrives, the threshold of consciousness
seems to be shifted to the extent Of
rendering possible a perception OF
something ordinarily invisible. The
change is usually very brief, lasting
only a few seconds, during which the
manifestation occurs.
zone reason that | have for believing
the evidence of my own senses in this
matter is that on several occasions the
apparition of my own personality has
presented itself to other persons in
places where my body was not at the
time. Some years ago | was in Chica-
go, at an ordinary evening party with
about 40 friends, when an individual
in Washington, who did not even know
where | was, was visited by my phau-
tasm and received from ii a brief mes
sage stating where ! was at the time
and giving the names of two or three
of the guests present-persons with
whom the observer was unacquainted.
This was one OF the rare cases where
ghost made itself audible.
You ask what would happen if one
should approach ghost such rs nave
described and try to touch IT, My re-
ply is that there would certainly be no
danger in doing SO, for specters never
do anybody any harm, the fear Of them
entertained by most people being SIM
ply dread OF that which is unknown
and not understood Whatever is IN
known is always terrible But the
phantom is composed of matter roe
tenuous to present any obstacle anu
do not doubt that it would dissolve
and disappear ii you attempted 10
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