The Catholic bulletin., 1914-04-25
GHOSTS IN ENGLAND
STRANGE STORIES OF HAUNTED
HoUsEs-MGR. BENSON ON
"GHOSTS."
written for The Catholic Bulletin by
Cecil UnderWood.)

An amusing number of stories are
now in circulation throughout England
respecting the recent appearance of
ghosts and the multiplied instances of
haunted houses. Almost every week
brings the news of another appearance
with some slight variation of the
standard uncanny details. Several
haunted houses are reported in Liver
pool, Birmingham and London. Natur-
ally people take great deal of inter
est in such manifestations from the
spirit world, and there are the custom
ary investigations and notices in the
public press.
1t is not, indeed, surprising that
John Bull in his old age should be
troubled like the Macbeths with
'thick-coming fancies" According to
some of his critics, all the perfume of
Arabia would not sWeeten his hands
or his record. At any rate one might
reasonably expect few sleep-walking
scenes from King Harry or Queen
Bess or other celebrities who from
time to time have Redeemed the pages
of English history. The temperance
of Cromwell or some of the Planta-
genets should excite little surprise;
for If ghosts are permitted to revisit
the glimpses of the moon, why as
suredly some ought to return, if only
to report on the condition of the coal
beds in the region they inhabit.
Mar. Benson Believes in Ghosts.
Some time ago a lecture was given
in London by Monsignor Benson, who
took the ground that ghosts really ap-
peared, and that such genuine mani
festations from the spirit world have
occurred in the past and will occur
again. A plausible reason for their
frequent appearance now is the lack
Of faith in the modern world. Ghosts
may have private reasons for appear
ing at certain intervals, but whenever
their appearance is frequent enough
to draw public attention, we may rest
assured that divine providence wishes
thereby to stimulate our belief in a
supernatural world.
But aside from this general explana-
ton, Monsignor Benson went on to
say: "Apparitions at or about the
time of death are an established fact,
and these occur often by telepathy
and not by the soul travelling, so to
speak. First, there is no doubt that
the same type of apparition can occur
when both parties to it are very much
alive. And secondly, when it occurs,
the clothes of the person who appears
as well as part of the background in
which he happens to be dying or alive,
also often appear. No one thinks that
material objects have souls, and so
one must suppose that the apparitions
are real, but are due to the appearing
person being very much worked up
subconsciously by dying or by some
other event, and so being able to af-
feet along visual lines his wife or any
other person who is sympathetic to
him but long distance away.
Haunted Houses.
I'm the case of haunted houses, ex-
pectancy on the part of some one
visualize the conditions under which
person may have died there, and
the appearing ghost is then nothing
more than the creation of an active
subconsciousness which originates the
phenomenon. Yet there are cases
such as those to which Sir William
Crookes testifies, when subconscious-
1 4.
cases where the ghost has never