Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1910-08-19
A BELIEF IN GHOSTS.
Finds Lodgment In Many Minds Do.
spite Scientific Denials.


Are there such things as ghosts?
The incredulity with which the
question is often asked is parallclcd
by the passionate belief with which
the affirmative answer is often stat
ed. That there are apparitions is
granted even by the most skeptical
Investigators. But whereas the i'm
questionable seer Of ghosts believes
they are supernatural the colder
scientist says they are nothing but
hallucinations. Frank Podmore, the
English 'tghost hunter" has much
to say Of the attendant circum-
stances in most ghost seeing, cir
cumstances which do much to weak
en- the value of the testimony of the
seer. Almost invariably there are
mysterious noises, by which the wit
ness is put in state of nervous
alarm. Then comes the vision, which
often takes terrifying form. Is the
ghost seer viewing something objec
tive and external or is he merely
contemplating an image created by
his own Imagination? Of the good
faith of many people who say they
have seen ghosts there can be no
question, but Mr.. Podmore shakes
his head as to their credibility.
And yet when the testimony Of
people who believe they have seen
ghosts has been attenuated to the
utmost people will still believe. Sci
ence may discredit evidence, but it
cannot prove that ghosts do not ex-
list. Throughout the ages there is a
cumulative mass Of testimony
which, though it docs not amount to
proof, yet commands shuddering re-
spect. The sternest materialism
will not eliminate from peoples
minds that crcdenoe in the un-
known and the undemonstrable
which has been handed down to
them from the beginnings Of time.
Plato himself accepted the exist
ence Of ghosts, and he makes Socra-
ties explain their frequenting Of
gravcyards. These ghosts, says the
great Athcnian, long to re-enter the
body in which they could crafty
their desires. 1t is hopeless, but
memory tortures them with vain af
lection for the iicshly abode in
which they formerly dwclt. Shake
speare is full Of illusions to the
jewellers in the realm of shadows.
But he, too, knows the meaning Of
philosophic doubt, for he makes
Hamlet wonder whether the image
Of his father may not be some coin
age Of his fancy. He hcsitatcs be-
tween contrary opinions, but in
clincs toward belief in the supernat-
ural. He says to his friend:
\ There are more things in heaven and earth.
4 Iloratio.
Than are drcamt Of in thy philosophy.
From Shakespearc's day to now
We have advanced in one particular.
We know more Of the composition
Of the brain and the susceptibilities
Of nervous tissue. We are assured
today that a man may honestly be-
lieye he sees ghost and yet see
nothing but the projection of an
image within his own brain. But as
to the existence or nonexistence Of
ghosts we are as ignorant as the an
Gent Egyptian or the modern red
skin. Reason learnedly as we may,
we cannot eradicate from our mind
that vague feeling, half fear, half
hope, that ghosts may be. Sir
Thomas Browne touches on this
matter with characteristic quaint
ness. Some people, he says, hope to
see ghost that they may be per-
suaded Of the Immortality Of the
soul. But he adds that the devil
will never let them see one, for that
would be to turn them away from
. himself.-Rochester Post-Expres$.