The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1907-07-26
FEAR OF GHOSTS.
paarmisss Visitors From Whom, W. Als',
sgsfs. r. atE ahrink In Terror. IA >,7etsts N

S34S538I Shrink In Terror. n %sE&a
Deep down in the heart of man there
abides firm belief in the power OF the
dead to walk upon the earth and al
fright II such be their pleasure, the
souls Of the living. Wise folks, versed.
In the sciences and fortified in mind
against faith In aught that savors Of
the supernatural, laugh IDEAS of the.
kind to scorn, yet hardly one 81, them
will dare to walk alone through q
graveyard in the night, or If one be-
found 80 bold he will surely hasten his
footsteps, unable wholly to subdne the
fear of sheeted specters which may
rise from the grass grown graves or
emerge from moonlit tombs and follow
on, for, strangely enough, the dead, II
not actually hostile to the living, are
esteemed dangerous and dreadful to-
encounter. t'sE&.. =, III ,
It used to be the fashion, says writ.
er in Lippincott's Magazine, to sweep
away all such notions by saying that.
they had their origin in the childhood
of the race and that they sprang from
fear of the unknown. This unques--
tionably was the easiest way to dis
pose of them, but was it fair? The
subject possesses intense interest for a
great majority of mankind, and, though
the existence of ghosts is improved,
there is undeniably vast deal Of tes-
timony in their behalf that deserves,
serious and respectful consideration.
Fortunately, within the last few years
the attitude of science toward the
problem has altogether changed. and,
actuated by new spirit of inquiry, the
wise men have been engaged, thought
fully and without prejudice, in study
ing 1t out. ra < ~ +
While 1t cannot be said that any final
and definite conclusions have as yet
been reached, an immense amount Of
evidence has been sifted, enough to-
show pretty conclusively for one point
that the traditional specter Of the Cock
Lane school, with clanking chain and
attributes disagreeably suggestive Of
the grave, has no basis in fact. On the
other hand, there are certain phantoms,o
altogether different in their character
istics, in whose behalf mass Of testi-
mony is adduced far greater than
would be required to establish COM
plete proof in any ordinary case in a
court Of law. Nothing short Of abso-
lutte demonstration in such a matter
can be satisfactory, but the evidence
in question certainly staggers incre-
.dulity. :.
Our fear Of phantoms appears to-
spring from a dread Of the unknown,
the mysterious and the intangible.
That it is a groundless terror is proved
by the fact that in many thousands Of
cases Of alleged spectral appearances
subjected during the last few years to
painstaking investigation not single,
instance has been found in which an
injury was inflicted by the ghost upon
the person or persons to whom it pre-
scented itself. So that, even if we are
to accept apparitions as veritable, we
ought to regard them with curiosity
rather than with apprehension, and in
stead of trying to avoid such supernat-
ural visitors we should eagerly seek an
opportunity to be haunted for the sake
Of observing for ourselves phenomena
10 intensely interesting.