The New York herald., 1922-03-12
Ghosts Their Old Selves Again.

It is evident that the revival in the
old fashioned ghost, market, long
overdue, has come at last. In Anti
gonish, Nova Scotia, we have the pol
.tergeist that harasses the MacD Donald
farmhouse. In Newton, New Jersey,
there is the ghost that crashes doors
open yet leaves no. tracks in the
fresh snow. In Illinois ghost in a
cellar strangled an armed man who
went TO Investigate it..
. These are real ghosts, ghosts of
action. ghosts which our ancestors
would have admired and shivered at.
They stand in bold relief against the
background Of mild, psychic research
ghosts with which the world has been
obliged to content itself for several
years. 'n -
The truth about the ghost business
is that science had put it pretty well
on the fritz. Five or. six years ago
the ghosts, Iured by scientific seances,
became utterly too friendly and COM
municative. They would come at
any, mediums caH. sThey would die
tate to any owner, of a ouija board.
They stood still and let Dr. w. J..
CRAWFORD, the English investigator,
weigh and measure Them, 1t got to
the point where the. citizen who sat
down to pen a letter to- the plumber
about a leaky, pipe would find ghostly
hands guiding his pen
Interest in regular ghosts ceased.
Ghosts whose former business con-
sisted in plain or fancy haunting
were trapped by the psychic sharps,
measured as IL they. were crooks and
classified as is they were butterflies.
A spook who for centuries had made
good name for himself by regu-
larry sliding back the secret panel
OF the haunted chamber, II ar ances-
tral home and uttering an unearthly
moan found himself summoned every
Monday night to a meeting Of the
Psychical Research Society. where he
was made the subjec. of guessing and
gossip. ~ ~
Among ordinary humans there was
a sad reaction. It became impossible
to extract thrill from the most
blood curdling ghost story. When
the spirit OF the murdered Countess
OF Chutney stole down, the corridor
Of Worcestershire Castle the reader
wondered whether she would have
shown in the negative if photog-
rapher had had shot at her. The
condition was anomalous. Books on
psychic subjects were being published
and bought at rate unprecedented,
yet the classic ghost stories went beg
ging. The ghost business became a
thing OF technical phrases. A spook
was control"
In the last year OF so the interest
In the scientific side of ghost hunt
ing has died down, Many q ouija
board was useG to start the furnace
last October. And, perhaps through
a change in the mood OF tho super
natural world, the good old ghosts,
the kind you used to use, ha ye come
back. The ghosts, II seems, are sick
OF being summoned TO cabinets and
made to tip kitchen tables, thrum
banjos and knock six times on a pine
board. A ghost, after all, cannot
stand everything. A ghost may well
be assumed to long for self-expres.
sion, to desire the manifestation OF
its powers through activities OF its
own selection and In ways to suit its
own convenience. Performing for a
mortal must be unhappy.
IL recent happenings mean any.
thing il is that the ghostly world is
strong for self-determination and
weary OF open covenants openly ar.
rived at in the presence of lot of
people with notebooks. The good
ghost is an individualist. He haunts
best alone. Give him an old house,
the one he used TO occupy in the
flesh IL II is still standing, wild
fall or winter night with the rain
falling on the tin roof and the wind
whistling through the cracks in the
wall and he will do his best to>causc
congealing Of the spine. In summer