The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-01-09
Ghosts Leave Live Bodies.


| rounding it,
Ghosts Leave Live Bodies.
Il have spoken OF the permanent sepa-
| ration of the ghost from the physical
body as implying the death Of the latter;
but there is plenty of evidence to show
that it sometimes leaves the corporal
tenement for a brief time. presently re
turning. | myself have seen phantOIns
OF living persons on more than one oc-
casion, which looked and acted precisely
as the individuals themselves might have
done. They looked like figures thrown
upon A screen by magic lantern usually.
being recognized for few moments. and
then disappearing; but in some cases they
had every appearance of solidarity. to
the extent Of hiding objects behind them.
! never heard any Of them speak. but on
two or three occasions they gave inteili-
SiDle messages by their attitudes and
gestures. There is no essential differ
ence between the specter of a living hu-
man being and the appaIition Of a dead
person, so Ear as appearances 90. Each
Of US, as | have said carries his own
ghost with him, which ordinarily is under
the control of the possessor. but some
times appears TO act independently. As
a rule. the projection of a phantom by a
living person is an involuntary act, re-
sulting ordinarily from great mental per-
turbation, with the cause of which the
Individual 10 whom the specter appears
Is in some way connected. The most
startling instances OF this kind occur a
little before or shortly after the death
OF the sender, and such ghosts are known
as death wraiths'
One reason that l have for believing
the evidence of my own senses in this
matter is that on several occasions the
apparition o. my own personality has pre-
scented itself to other persons in places
where my body was not at the time.
Some years ago / was in Chicago. al an
ordinary evening party with about forty
friends, when an individual in Washing
ton. who did not even know where |
was. was visited by my phantasm and
received from it a brief message stating
WheIe L was at the time, and giving the
names of two or three of the guests pres
ent-persons with whom the observer
was unacquainted. This was one of the
rare cases where a ghost made itself audi
bic The Society for PsychicaI Research
has collected enough carefully attested
and fully authenticated instances of sur1
appearances to fill two bulky octave vol
umeS.
VI course in a study of this interesting
subject, the chief and obvious difficulty
is to distinguish veritable apparitions
from mere Authorizations. We know that
the bodily senses are very easily de-
Ceived. and therefore we have to be an
cur guard in sitting all the evidence OBJ
talnable. There is probably not one of
Us who might not be haunted this very
cay or night by a specter projected from
his own Imagination. Men of great rem
utation for learning have in numerous
Instances recorded their observations of
familiar phantasmS. which, though they
recognized them as purely creatures of
their own brains, have been constant
companions of their waking hours. al
ways likely TO be on hand and acceptinp
no hints to depart.
You ask what would happen if one
should approach a ghost such as / have
described and try TO touch it, Nv reply
is that there would certainly be no dan
ger in doing so, for specters never do
anybody any harm, the fear Of them en-
tertained by most people being simply a
dieid OF that which Is unknown and not
Gnders TODD. Whatever is unknown is al
ways terrible. But the phantom is COM
posed Of matter too tenuous TO present
any obstacle, and / do not doubt that il
would dissolve and disappear if you At
tempted 10 walk through it."