The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-12


The doctor took another pipeful of to-
bacco. lighted it, and, with a reflective
puff or two. continued:
Every afternoon at about ) o'clock L
lie down on the sofa in my library for a
while enjoying this repose, though per-
fectly wide-awake, there comes upon me
the peculiar sensation Of the ghost chill
which l will presently speak Of. 1 wait
with much attention and interest to see
what is going to happen, and presently l
find my own consciousness projected OBJ
iectively. as it were, so that my con-
scious self stands out in the room and
views my body lying on the lounge
Abont the latter is a bright light, which
grows gradually until it has filled all the
room. and my, conscious self finds itself
surrounded by phantoms, most of them
of persons who appear to be strangers
to me. while others resemble acquain-
tances who have long been dead. They
seem to walk about and converse in the
ordinary way though not audibly. AL
the time l am clearly aware of the sit
uation and make useful mental note of
whatever l observe, until after a few
Drlet moments the spectacle NoLiSllCS
and 1 find myself on the sofa again.
1T is obvious. if ghosts exist at all,
that they must be made of something.
My belief is that they are in sense sub
stantial and possess semi-material
structure What do 1 mean by semi
material? I will refer, for illustration,
to the ether which is understood to oc-
cupy all space. 1t has waves Of known
lengths and measured velocity, which
strike upon the retina of the eye and pro-
duce impressions of light. In short, We
know good deal about this ether, but
nobody ever saw a particle of it, mas
much as it has not the molecular con-
stitution of ordinary matter. Ii is semi
material l haveno notion OF the ma
ture of the substance that makes a
ghost. but ! suppose that when man
dies it separates itself from the grosser
particles that composes his physical or
ganism. ,The latter decomposes. but the
spiritual part Of the individual does not
necessarily share that fate. being com
posed of finer stuff.
Did it eve. occur 10 you that We our
selves may be moving in a world OF I'M
seen specters and continually surrounded.
whether at home or on our walks abroad
by invisible phantoms of the dead? It
has been estimated that for every human
being now living 5000 have died on this
earth so that if the spiritual bodies Of
all preserve existence here after death,
We survivors are but comparative few.
passing a brief term of years OK what We
call life in the flesh amid a vast irhpal
pable swarm OF beings incorporeal. In
deed. my notion is that il Is only the rare
and exceptional ghost that makes Itself
visible to the living. and that such
phenomenon is TO be regarded as wholly
extraordinary.
We have reason now 10 think that
there Is no such thing as the highly-con-
ventonalized ghost represented by ira
diuon and described in popular fiction
the corpseIIke apparation which enters BY
preference at the stroke Of midnight
dressed in q winding sheet. smelling Of
the grave. and dragging clanking chain
through the sliding panel just by the door
while the candies burn blue and the dogs
howl dismaly.
According TO my own observation. and
10 the. testimony OF many other reliable
persons who have observed such phenom-
era the real specter of a des1 person
shows few signs cf lie. resembling
magic l1atern picture more than any
thing else 70 watch Il is really c3Dpar-
able L does not speak nor use is limbs
its method % locomotion when il moves
being gliding. II IS clothed not in
winding sheet. but IN garments such as
were worn in life by The individual Of
whom It IS the eidolon. or image
III appears By daylight as often a AZ
night bar never With ANY purpose in Is
actions that is a. al con2reaensjble oc-
casIonalIy Il Is self-luminous- In most
cases Il disappears through a door 81
Wait has osten Il singty sa3ss away -
d.