GHOSTS OF THE LIVING ON BUSINESS.
"'A strange coincidence,' to use a phrase
By which such things are settled nowadays."--Byron.
Chapter I.
Warnings of Peril and Death.
It is said that every family has a skeleton in its cupboard. It would be
equally true to say that every family has a ghost in its records.
Sometimes it is a ghost of the living, sometimes of the dead; but there
are few who, if they inquire among their relatives, will not find one or
more instances of apparitions, which, however small their evidential
credentials, are implicitly accepted as genuine by those who witnessed
them. In taking the Census of Hallucinations I made inquiry of an old
schoolfellow of mine, who, after I came to Wimbledon, was minister of
the Congregational Church in that suburb. He subsequently removed to
Portsmouth, where I found him with his father one morning, on the
occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone of the new Sunday school.
On mentioning the subject of the Census of Ghosts, the Rev. Mr. Talbot,
senior, mentioned a very remarkable apparition which, unlike most
apparitions, appeared in time to save the life of its owner.
_How a Double Saved a Life._
The Rev. Mr. Talbot, the father of my late pastor, gave me the following
account of the apparition:--
"My mother had an extraordinary power of foreseeing and also of seeing
visions. Of her premonitions and dreams I could give you many instances;
but as that is not the point at present, I will give you the narrative
of her other faculty, that of seeing spiritual or phantasmal forms which
were not visible to others. We were sitting at tea one evening when my
mother suddenly exclaimed, 'Dear me, Mrs. Lister is coming up the path,
with her handkerchief to her eyes as if crying, on her way to the door.
What can have brought her out at this time? There seems to be something
the matter with her head. I will go to the door and let her in.' So
saying, my mother arose and went to the front door, where she firmly
expected to find Mrs. Lister. None of the rest of us had seen Mrs.
Lister come up the path, but as our attention might have been occupied
in another direction we did not think anything of it. To my mother's
astonishment, when she reached the door Mrs. Lister was not visible. She
came back into the room much disturbed. 'There is something the matter
with Mrs. Lister,' she said. 'I am certain there is. Yoke the horse and
we will drive over at once to the Listers' house'--which stood about one
mile from our place--'and see what is the matter.'
"My father, knowing from of old that mother had reason for what she
said, yoked the horse and drove off with my mother as rapidly as
possible to Lister's house. When they arrived there they knocked at the
door; there was no answer. Opening the door they found no one
downstairs. My mother then went to Mrs. Lister's bedroom and found the
unfortunate lady, apparently breathing her last, lying in a pool of
blood. Her husband, in a fit of insanity, had severely beaten her and
left her for dead, and then went and drowned himself in a pond.
"My father immediately went off for a doctor, who was able to stitch up
Mrs. Lister's worst wounds and arrest the bleeding. In the end Mrs.
Lister recovered, owing her life entirely to the fortunate circumstance
that at the moment of losing consciousness she had apparently been able
to project a visual phantasm of herself before the window of our
tea-room. She was a friend of my mother's, and no doubt in her dire
extremity had longed for her company. This longing in Mrs. Lister, in
some way unknown to us, probably produced the appearance which startled
my mother and led to her prompt appearance on the scene of the tragedy."
This story was told me by Mr. Talbot, who was then a boy, seated at the
table at which his mother witnessed the apparition, and was regarded by
him as absolutely true. Evidence in support of it now will be somewhat
difficult to get, as almost all the witnesses have passed over to the
majority, but I have no reason to doubt the truth of the story.
_More Doubles Seeking Help._
The story of Mrs. Lister's double appearing to Mrs. Talbot when in
imminent peril of death, however it may be scouted by the sceptics, is
at least entirely in accord with many other narratives of the kind.
A member of the Psychical Research Society in Southport sends me the
following account of an apparition of a severely wounded man, which
bears considerable resemblance to Mr. Talbot's, although its evidential
value is nothing like so good. Its importance rests solely in the fact
that the apparition appeared as the result, not of death, but of a very
serious injury which might have had fatal consequences:--
"Some years ago, a lady named L. B. was staying with relations at
Beckenham, her husband being away at a shooting party in Essex. On a
certain afternoon, when she had, as she says, no especial reason for her
husband being recalled to her mind, she was somewhat surprised, on
looking out of her bedroom window, to see him, as she imagined, entering
the front garden gate. Wondering what could have been the cause of the
unexpected arrival, she exclaimed to her sister-in-law, 'Why, there's
Tom!' and went downstairs thinking to meet him entering the house. He
was nowhere to be seen. Not long afterwards there arrived the news that
her husband had been shot accidentally and considerably injured.
Directly they met she related to him her curious vision, and on
comparing notes it was discovered that it had certainly taken place more
or less at the same hour as the accident, the husband declaring that as
he fainted away his wife was most distinctly present in his thoughts.
There was, unfortunately, no means of exactly fixing the hour, but there
was no doubt at the time that the two occurrences--viz. the
hallucination and the accident--must have anyhow taken place within a
short time of one another, if not simultaneously."
Here we have an incident not unlike that which occurred to Mrs.
Talbot--the unexpected apparition of the phantasm or dual body of one
who at the moment was in imminent danger of death. Tales of this class
are somewhat rare, but when they do occur they indicate conclusively
that there is no connection between the apparition of the wraith and the
decease of the person to whom it belongs.
Here is another story that is sent me by a correspondent in Belsize Park
Gardens, who vouches for the _bona fides_ of the lady on whose
authority he tells the tale:--
"A Scotch waitress in my employ, whilst laying the cloth for dinner one
day, was startled by perceiving her father's face looking at her through
the window. She rushed out of the room and opened the front door,
expecting to see him. Greatly surprised at finding no trace of him,
after carefully searching the front garden, and looking up and down the
road, she came in, and sitting down in the hall nearly fainted with
fright. On inquiring for particulars she told me she had distinctly seen
her father's face, with a distressed expression upon it, looking
earnestly at her. She seemed much troubled, and felt sure something was
wrong. A few days after this vision a letter came, saying that her
father (a Scotch gamekeeper) had been thrown from a dog-cart and nearly
killed. She left my employ to go and nurse him."
_Two Doubles Summon a Priest to Their Deathbeds._
The next narrative should rather have come under the head of
premonitions, but as the premonition in this case was accompanied by an
apparition, I include it in the present chapter. It is, in its way, even
more remarkable than Mr. Talbot's story. It is more recent, it is
prophetic, and the apparitions of two living men appeared together to
predict the day of their death. The narrative rests on the excellent
authority of the Rev. Father Fleming, the hard-working Catholic priest
of Slindon, in Sussex. I heard of it from one of his parishioners who is
a friend of mine, and on applying to Father Fleming, he was kind enough
to write out the following account of his strange experience, for the
truth of every word of which he is prepared to vouch. In all the wide
range of spectral literature I know no story that is quite like this:--
"I was spending my usual vacation in Dublin in the year 1868, I may add
very pleasantly, since I was staying at the house of an old friend of my
father's, and whilst there was treated with the attention which is
claimed by an honoured guest, and with as much kindness and heartiness
as if I were a member of his family. I was perfectly comfortable,
perfectly at home. As to my professional engagements, I was free for the
whole time of my holiday, and could not in any manner admit a scruple or
doubt as to the manner in which my work was done in my absence, for a
fully qualified and earnest clergyman was supplying for me. Perhaps this
preamble is necessary to show that my mind was at rest, and that nothing
in the ordinary course of events would have recalled me so suddenly and
abruptly to the scene of my labours at Woolwich. I had about a week of
my unexpired leave of absence yet to run when what I am about to relate
occurred to me. No comment or explanation is offered. It is simply a
narrative.
"I had retired to rest at night, my mind perfectly at rest, and slept,
as young men do in robust health, until about four o'clock in the
morning. It appeared to me about that hour that I was conscious of a
knock at the door. Thinking it to be the man-servant who was accustomed
to call me in the morning, I at once said, 'Come in.' To my surprise
there appeared at the foot of the bed two figures, one a man of medium
height, fair and well fleshed, the other tall, dark, and spare, both
dressed as artisans belonging to Woolwich Arsenal. On asking them what
they wanted, the shorter man replied, 'My name is C----s. I belong to
Woolwich. I died on ---- of ----, and you must attend me.'
"Probably the novelty of the situation and feelings attendant upon it,
prevented me from noticing that he had used the past tense. The reply
which I received to my question from the other man was like in form, 'My
name is M----ll, I belong to Woolwich, I died on ---- of ----, and you
must attend me.' I then remarked that the past tense had been used, and
cried out, 'Stop! You said "died," and the day you mentioned has not
come yet?' at which they both smiled, and added, 'We know this very
well; it was done to fix your attention, but'--and they seemed to say
very earnestly and in a marked manner--'you must attend us!' at which
they disappeared, leaving me awe-stricken, surprised, and thoroughly
aroused from sleep. Whether what I narrate was seen during sleep, or
when wholly awake, I do not pretend to say. It appeared to me that I was
perfectly awake and perfectly conscious. Of this I had no doubt at the
time, and I can scarcely summon up a doubt as to what I heard and saw
whilst I am telling it. As I had lighted my lamp, I rose, dressed, and
seating myself at a table in the room, read and thought, and, I need
hardly say, from time to time prayed, and fervently, until day came.
When I was called in the morning, I sent a message to the lady of the
house to say that I should not go to the University Chapel to say Mass
that morning, and should be present at the usual family breakfast at
nine.
"On entering the dining-room my hostess very kindly inquired after my
health, naturally surmising that I had omitted Mass from illness, or at
least want of rest and consequent indisposition. I merely answered that
I had not slept well, and that there was something weighing heavily upon
my mind which obliged me to return at once to Woolwich. After the usual
regrets and leave-takings, I started by the mid-day boat for England. As
the first date mentioned by my visitors gave me time, I travelled by
easy stages, and spent more than two days on the road, although I could
not remain in Dublin after I had received what appeared to me then, and
appears to me still, as a solemn warning.
"On my arrival at Woolwich, as may be easily imagined, my brother clergy
were very puzzled at my sudden and unlooked-for return, and concluded
that I had lost my reckoning, thinking that I had to resume my duties a
week earlier than I was expected to do. The other assistant priest was
waiting for my return to start on his vacation--and he did so the very
evening of my return. Scarcely, however, had he left the town when the
first of my visitors sent in a request for me to go at once to attend
him. You may, perhaps, imagine my feelings at that moment. I am sure you
cannot realise them as I do even now after the lapse of so many years.
Well, I lost no time. I had, in truth, been prepared, except hat and
umbrella, from the first hour after my return. I went to consult the
books in which all the sick-calls were entered and to speak to our aged,
respected sacristan who kept them. He remarked at once, 'You do not know
this man, father; his children come to our school, but he is, or has
always been, considered as a Protestant.' Expressing my surprise, less
at the fact than at his statement, I hurried to the bedside of the
sufferer. After the first few words of introduction were over he said,
'I sent for you, father, on Friday morning early and they told me that
you were away from home, but that you were expected back in a few days,
and I said I would wait.' I found the sick man had been stricken down by
inflammation of the lungs, and that the doctor gave no hope of his
recovery, yet that he would probably linger some days. I applied myself
very earnestly indeed to prepare the poor man for death. Again the next
day, and every day until he departed this life, did I visit him and
spent not minutes but hours by his bedside.
"A few days after the first summons came the second. The man had
previously been a stranger to me, but I recognised him by his name and
appearance. As I sat by his bedside he told me, as the former had
already done, that he had sent for me, had been told that I was absent,
and had declared that he would wait for me. Thus far their cases were
alike. In each case there was a great wrong to be undone, a conscience
to be set right that had erred and erred deeply--and not merely that, it
is probable, from the circumstances of their lives, that it was
necessary that their spiritual adviser should have been solemnly warned.
They made their peace with God, and I have seldom assisted at a deathbed
and felt greater consolation than I did in each and both of these. Even
now, after the lapse of many years, I cannot help feeling that I
received a very solemn warning in Dublin, and am not far wrong in
calling it, the Shadow of Death.--T. O. Fleming."
_A Double From Shipboard._
During my visit to Scotland in the month of October the subject of
Ghosts naturally formed the constant topic of conversation, and many
stories were told of all degrees of value bearing upon the subject. The
following narrative came to me as follows: We had been visiting the
Forth Bridge, driving down from Edinburgh in the public conveyance.
Shortly before our visit three men had fallen from one of the piers of
the bridge and been killed. The question was mooted as to whether or not
they would haunt the locality, and from this the conversation naturally
turned to apparitions of all kinds.
As we reached Edinburgh on our return a middle-aged passenger who had
been seated on a seat in front turned round and said, "What do you make
of this story, for the truth of which I can vouch:--A young sailor,
whose vessel at that moment was lying at Limerick Harbour, appeared to
his father, who at that time was at home with the rest of his family in
Dublin. He appeared to him in the early morning. At breakfast his father
told the rest of his family that he had seen his son, who had said to
him: 'In my locker you will find a Bible in the pocket of my coat. In
that Bible you will find a place-keeper which was given me by my
sweetheart after I left home, and on it are the words, "Remember me."'
That day at noon the young sailor, after making ready dinner for the
crew, went up aloft, missed his footing, fell, and was killed. His
effects were fastened up in his locker and sent through the Customs
House to his father. When they arrived the locker was opened, and
exactly as the apparition had described the Bible was found in the
pocket of the coat, and in the Bible a place-keeper, which none of the
family had seen, on which were the words 'Remember me.'" "But," said I
to my fellow-passenger, "how do you know that the story is true?"
"Because," he said, "the sailor was my brother, and I remember my father
telling us about the vision at the breakfast-table."
Unfortunately I did not ask for the name and address of my informant. We
were just alighting from the drag, and I contented myself with giving
him my name and address, and asking him to write out an account with
full particulars, dates, etc. with verification. This he promised to do,
but, unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten his promise, and a story
which, if fully verified, would be very valuable, can only be mentioned
as a sample of the narratives which are reported on every hand if people
show any disposition to receive them with interest, or, in fact, with
anything but scornful contempt.
Chapter II.
A Dying Double Demands its Portraits!
Perhaps the most remarkable and most authentic ghost is a ghost which
appeared at Newcastle, for the purpose of demanding its photographs! The
story was first told me by the late secretary of the Bradford
Association of Helpers, Mr. Snowden Ward. I subsequently obtained it
first hand from the man who saw the ghost. Running from the central
railway station at Newcastle, a broad busy thoroughfare connects Neville
Street with Grainger Street. On one side stands St. John's Church, on
the other the Savings Bank, and a little past the Savings Bank,
proceeding from the station, stand the shops and offices of Grainger
Street. It is a comparatively new street, and is quite one of the last
places in the world where one would expect to find visitants of a
ghostly nature. Nevertheless, it was in one of the places of business in
this busy and bustling thoroughfare that the ghost in question appeared,
for that it did appear there can be no manner of doubt. Even if all the
other cases published in this book were discarded as lacking in
evidential value, this would of itself suffice to establish the fact
that apparitions appear, for the circumstances are such as to preclude
the adoption of any of the usual hypotheses to account for the
apparition. I called upon Mr. Dickinson at 43, Grainger Street, on
October 14th, examined his premises, was shown the entry in his book,
and cross-examined himself and Miss Simon, the lady clerk, who figures
in the subsequent narrative. It will probably be best to reprint the
statement, which originally appeared in the _Practical Photographer_,
merely filling in names and supplementing it here and there with a
little more detail:--
"On Saturday, the 3rd of January this year," said Mr. Dickinson, "I
arrived at my place of business, 43, Grainger Street, Newcastle, a few
minutes before 8 a.m. The outer door is protected by an iron gate in
which is a smaller lock-up gate, through which I passed into the
premises. Having opened the office and turned the gas on at the meter,
and lit the gas fire, I stood at the office counter for a few minutes
waiting for the lad who takes down the iron gate at the front door."
Mr. Dickinson told me that the reason he was down so early was because
the lad who usually brought the keys was ill, and he had come earlier
than usual on that account. The place is lit with electric light. Mr.
Dickinson does not remember turning on the light, although, as it was
only eight o'clock on the 3rd of January, he must have done so in order
to read the entry in the book.
Before the lad came, a gentleman called to inquire if his photographs
were finished.
He was a stranger to him. He came into the room and came up to the
counter in the ordinary way. He was wearing a hat and overcoat, and
there was nothing unusual about his appearance excepting that he did not
seem very well. "He said to me, 'Are my photographs ready?' I said, 'Who
are you? We are not opened yet.' He said his name was Thompson. I asked
him if he had the receipt (which usually accompanies any inquiry), and
he replied that he had no receipt, but his photograph was taken on
December 6th and that the prints were promised to be sent to him before
this call.
"I then asked him whether it was a cash order or a subscription one. The
reason for asking this is because we have two books in which orders are
entered. He said he had paid for them at the time; his name would
therefore be in the cash orders. Having got the date and his name, I
referred to my book, and found the order as he stated. I read out to him
the name and address, to which he replied, 'That is right.'
"Here is an exact copy of the entry in the order book:--
7976. Sat., Dec. 6th, /90.
Mr. J. S. Thompson,
154, William Street, Hebburn Quay.
6 cabinets. 7/- pd.
"The above was written in pencil; on the margin was written in ink,
'Dec. 16,' which, Mr. Dickinson explained, is the date on which the
negative came to the office, named and numbered, and ready to go to the
printers.
"Below this again was written in ink.
5th.--3 Cabinets gratis, neg. broken, letter sent asking to re-sit.
"In my book I found a date given, on which the negative was ready to be
put into the printer's hands; and the date being seventeen days
previous, I had no hesitation in saying, 'Well, if you call later on you
will get some;' and I called his attention to the fact that it was very
early, and explained to him that the employés would not be at work until
nine o'clock, and if he could call after that time he would be certain
to get some of his photographs. He said 'I have been travelling all
night, and cannot call again.'
"Some short time before I had been at a hydropathic establishment in
Yorkshire, and had travelled home at night. When he said he had been
travelling all night, I remembered my own journey, and I thought perhaps
he had been to some hydropathic establishment to benefit his health; and
finding that he was getting no better, he had come back, perhaps to die,
for he looked wretchedly ill. He spoke weariedly and rather impatiently,
when he said he could not call again.
"With that, he turned abruptly and went out. Anxious to retain his
good-will, I shouted after him, 'Can I post what may be done?' but I got
no answer. I turned once more to the book, looked at the number, and on
a slip of paper wrote _No. 7976, Thompson, post_. (This I wrote
with pen and ink, and have the paper yet.)."
Mr. Dickinson said he had handed over this piece of paper to a
representative of the Psychical Research Society who had lost it. It
was, however, a mere memorandum written on the back of a traveller's
card.
"At nine o'clock, when Miss Simon (clerk and reception room
attendant, a bright, intelligent young lady) came, I handed the slip
of paper to her, and asked her to have it attended to, telling her
that the man had called for them, and seemed much disappointed that
he had not received them before. Miss Simon, with considerable
surprise, exclaimed, 'Why, an old man called about these photographs
yesterday (Friday), and I told him they could not be ready this week
owing to the bad weather, and that we were nearly three weeks behind
with our work.' I suggested that it was quite time Mr. Thompson's
were ready, and inquired who was printing the order. I was told that
it was not in print, and, pointing to a pile of negatives, Miss
Simon said 'Thompson's is amongst that lot, and they have been
waiting quite a fortnight.' I asked to be shown the negative, and
about half an hour later Miss S. called me saying 'This is
Thompson's negative.'
"I took it in my hands and looked at it carefully, remarking, 'Yes,
that is it; that is the chap who called this morning.'"
Mr. Dickinson said he had no difficulty in recognising it, although
the man wore a hat and top-coat when he called, whereas in the
portrait the sitter wore neither hat nor top-coat.
"Miss Simon again referred to the fact that she had told the man who
had called on the previous day that none were done, or could be done
that week. 'Well,' I said, 'put this to one side, and I will see to
it myself on Monday, and endeavour to hurry it forward.' On the
Monday (January 5th) I was in one of the printing-rooms, and about
10.30 a.m., having one or two printing-frames empty, I thought of
Thompson's negative, and accordingly went down to the office and
asked Miss S. for it. 'Oh! yes,' she replied, 'and here are a few
more equally urgent, you may take them as well.' I said, 'That
cannot be, as I have only two or three frames at liberty' (she had
about twenty negatives in her hand, holding them out to me); 'give
me Thompson's first, and let me get my mind at rest about it.' To
which she answered, 'His is amongst this lot, I will have to pick it
out.' (Each negative was in a paper bag.)
"I offered to help her, and she commenced at one end of the batch
and I at the other; and before we got halfway through I came across
one which I knew was very urgent, and turned away to look up the
date of taking it, when crash! went part of the negatives on the
floor. This accident seemed so serious that I was almost afraid to
pick up the fallen negatives, but on doing so, one by one, I was
greatly relieved to find _only one_ was broken; but, judge of
my horror to find that that one was Thompson's!
"I muttered something (not loud, but deep), and would fain have
relieved my feelings, but the presence of ladies restrained me (this
accident being witnessed also by my head printer, Miss L.).
"I could not honestly blame Miss Simon for this--each thought the
other was holding the lot, and between us we let them drop.
"The negative was broken in two, right across the forehead of
figure. I put the pieces carefully away, and taking out a memo.
form, wrote to Mr. Thompson, asking him to kindly give another
sitting, and offering to recoup him for his trouble and loss of
time. This letter was posted five minutes after the negative was
broken, and the affair was forgotten by me for the time.
"However, on Friday, January 9th, I was in the printing-room
upstairs, when I was signalled by the whistle which communicates
with the office, and Miss Simon asked if I could go down, as the
gentleman had called about the negative. I asked 'What negative?'
'Well,' she replied, 'the one we broke.'
"'Mr. Thompson's,' I answered. 'I am very busy and cannot come down,
but you know the terms I offered him; send him up to be taken at
once.'
"'But he is _dead_!' said Miss Simon.
"'Dead!' I exclaimed, and without another word I hastened down the
stairs to my office. Here I saw an elderly gentleman, who seemed in
great trouble.
"'Surely,' said I to him, 'you don't mean to say that this man is
dead?'
"'It is only too true,' he replied.
"'Well, it must have been dreadfully sudden,' I said,
sympathetically, 'because I saw him only last Saturday.'
"The old gentleman shook his head sadly, and said, 'You are
mistaken, for he died last Saturday.'
"'Nay,' I returned, 'I am not mistaken, for I recognised him by the
negative.'
"However, the father (for such was his relationship to my sitter)
persisted in saying I was mistaken, and that it was he who called on
the Friday and not his son, and, he said, 'I saw that young lady
(pointing to Miss Simon), and she told me the photographs would not
be ready that week.'
"'That is quite right,' said Miss Simon, 'but Mr. Dickinson also saw
a gentleman on the Saturday morning, and, when I showed Mr.
Dickinson the negative, he said, "Yes, that's the man who called." I
told Mr. Dickinson _then_ of your having called on the Friday.'
"Still Mr. Thompson, sen., seemed to think that we were wrong, and
many questions and cross-questions I put to him only served to
confirm him in his opinion that I had got mixed; but this he
said--no one was authorised to call, nor had they any friend or
relative who would know of the portraits being ordered, neither was
there any one likely to impersonate the man who had sat for his
portrait.
"I had no further interview with the old gentleman until a week
later, when he was much calmer in his appearance and conversation,
and at this interview he told me that his son died on Saturday,
January 3rd, at about 2.30 p.m.; he also stated that at the time I
saw him (the sitter) he was unconscious, and remained so up to the
time of his death. I have not had any explanation of this mysterious
visit up to present date, February 26th, 1891.
"It is curious to me that I have no recollection of hearing the man
come upstairs, or of him going down. In appearance he was pale and
careworn, and looked as though he had been very ill. This thought
occurred to me when he said he had been travelling all night.
"James Dickinson.
"43, Grainger Street, Newcastle."
Miss Simon, in further conversation with me, stated that when the father
called on Friday night and asked for the photographs, he came late, at
least after the electric light was lit. He seemed disappointed, but made
no further remark when he was told they were not ready. Mr. Dickinson
stated that in conversation with the father afterwards, he told him that
his son, on the Friday, had been delirious and had cried out for his
photographs so frequently that they had tried to get them, and that was
why he had called on Friday night. Hebburn is on the south side of the
Tyne, about four miles from Newcastle. The father was absolutely certain
that it was physically impossible for his son to have left the house. He
did not leave it. They knew the end was approaching, and he and his wife
were in constant attendance at the death-bed. He also stated that it was
impossible, from the position of the bedroom, for him to have left the
house, even if he had been able to get out of bed without their hearing
him. As a matter of fact, he did not get out of bed, and at the moment
when his Double was talking to Mr. Dickinson in Grainger Street he was
lying unconscious at Hebburn.
It is impossible to explain this on the theory that Mr. Dickinson
visualised the impression left upon his mind by Mr. Thompson, for Mr.
Dickinson had never seen Mr. Thompson in his life. Neither could he have
given apparent objectivity to a photograph which he might possibly have
seen, although Mr. Dickinson asserts that he had never seen the
photograph until it was brought him on the Saturday morning. If he had
done so by any chance he would not have fitted his man with a top-coat
and hat. It cannot, therefore, be regarded as a subjective
hallucination; besides, the evidence afforded by the looking up of the
book, the making an entry of what occurred, and the conversation which
took place, in which the visitor mentioned facts which were not present
in Mr. Dickinson's own mind, but which he verified there and then by
looking up his books, bring it as near certainty as it is possible to
arrive in a case such as this. Whoever the visitor was, it was not a
subjective hallucination on the part of Mr. Dickinson.
It is equally impossible to believe that it was the actual Mr. Thompson,
because he was at that moment within six hours of death, and the
evidence of his father is that his son at that moment was physically
incapable of getting out of bed, and that he was actually lying
unconscious before their eyes at Hebburn at the moment when his
apparition was talking to Mr. Dickinson at Newcastle. The only other
hypothesis that can be brought forward is that some one personated
Thompson. Against this we have the fact that Mr. Dickinson, who had
never seen Thompson, recognised him immediately as soon as he saw the
negative of his portrait.
Further, if any one had come from Hebburn on behalf of Thompson, he
would not have asserted that he was Thompson himself, knowing, as he
would, that he was speaking to a photographer, who, if the photographs
had been ready, would at once have compared the photographs with the
person standing before him, when the attempted personation would at once
have been detected. Besides, no one was likely to have been so anxious
about the photographs as to come up to Newcastle an hour before the
studio opened in order to get them.
We may turn it which way we please, there is no hypothesis which will
fit the facts except the assumption that there is such a thing as a
Thought Body, capable of locomotion and speech, which can transfer
itself wherever it pleases, clothing itself with whatever clothes it
desires to wear, which are phantasmal like itself. Short of that
hypothesis, I do not see any explanation possible; and yet, if we admit
that hypothesis, what an immense vista of possibilities is opened up to
our view!
PART VI.
GHOSTS KEEPING PROMISE.
"There is something in that ancient superstition
Which erring as it is, our fancy loves."--Scott.
Chapter I.
My Irish Friend.
Many of the apparitions that are reported are of phantasms that appear
in fulfilment of a promise made to survivors during life. Of this class
I came, in the course of my census, upon a very remarkable case.
Among my acquaintances is an Irish lady, the widow of an official who
held a responsible position in the Dublin Post Office. She is Celt to
her back-bone, with all the qualities of her race. After her husband's
death she contracted an unfortunate marriage--which really was no
marriage legally--with an engineer of remarkable character and no small
native talent. He, however, did not add to his other qualities the
saving virtues of principle and honesty. Owing to these defects my
friend woke up one fine morning to find that her new husband had been
married previously, and that his wife was still living.
On making this discovery she left her partner and came to London, where
I met her. She is a woman of very strong character, and of some
considerable although irregular ability. She has many superstitions, and
her dreams were something wonderful to hear. After she had been in
London two years her bigamist lover found out where she was, and leaving
his home in Italy followed her to London. There was no doubt as to the
sincerity of his attachment to the woman whom he had betrayed, and the
scenes which took place between them were painful, and at one time
threatened to have a very tragic ending.
Fortunately, although she never ceased to cherish a very passionate
affection for her lover, she refused to resume her old relations with
him, and after many stormy scenes he departed for Italy, loading her
with reproaches. Some months after his departure she came to me and told
me she was afraid something had happened to him. She had heard him
calling her outside her window, and shortly afterwards saw him quite
distinctly in her room. She was much upset about it.
I pooh-poohed the story, and put it down to a hallucination caused by
the revival of the stormy and painful scenes of the parting. Shortly
afterwards she received news from Italy that her late husband, if we may
so call him, had died about the same time she heard him calling her by
her name under her window in East London.
I only learnt when the above was passing through the press that the
unfortunate man, whose phantasm appeared to my friend, died suddenly
either by his own hand or by accident. On leaving London he drank on
steadily, hardly being sober for a single day. After a prolonged period
of intoxication he went out of the house, and was subsequently found
dead, either having thrown himself or fallen over a considerable height,
at the foot of which he was found dead.
I asked Mrs. G. F.--to write out for me, as carefully as she could
remember it after the lapse of two years, exactly what she saw and
heard. Here is her report:--
_The Promise._
"In the end of the summer of 1886 it happened one morning that Irwin and
myself were awake at 5.30 a.m., and as we could not go to sleep again,
we lay talking of our future possible happiness and present troubles. We
were at the time sleeping in Room No. 16, Hotel Washington, overlooking
the Bay of Naples. We agreed that nothing would force us to separate in
this life--neither poverty nor persecution from his family, nor any
other thing on earth. (I believed myself his wife then.) We each agreed
that we would die together rather than separate. We spoke a great deal
that morning about our views of what was or was not likely to be the
condition of souls after death, and whether it was likely that spirits
could communicate, by any transmitted feeling or apparition, the fact
that they had died to their surviving friends. Finally, we made a solemn
promise to each other that whichever of us died first would appear to
the other after death if such was permitted.
"Well, after the fact of his being already married came to light, we
parted. I left him, and he followed me to London on December '87. During
his stay here I once asked if he had ever thought about our agreement as
to who should die first appealing to the other; and he said, 'Oh,
Georgie, you do not need to remind me; my spirit is a part of yours, and
can never be separated nor dissolved even through all eternity; _no,
not even_ though you treat me as you do; even though you became the
wife of another you cannot divorce our spirits. And whenever my spirit
leaves this earth I will appear to you.'
"Well, in the beginning of August '88 he left England for Naples; his
last words were that I would never again see him; I should _see_
him, but not alive, for he would put an end to his life and heart-break.
After that he never wrote to me; still I did not altogether think he
would kill himself. On the 22nd or 23rd of the following November ('88),
I posted a note to him at Sarno post office. No reply came, and I
thought it might be he was not at Sarno, or was sick, or travelling, and
so did not call at the post office, and so never dreamed of his being
dead."
_Its Fulfilment._
"Time went on and nothing occurred till November 27th (or I should say
28th, for it occurred at 12.30, or between 12 and 1 a.m., I forget the
exact time). It was just at that period when I used to sit up night
after night till 1, 2, and 3 o'clock a.m. at home doing the class books;
on this occasion I was sitting close to the fire, with the table beside
me, sorting cuttings. Looking up from the papers my eyes chanced to fall
on the door, which stood about a foot and a half open, and right inside,
but not so far in but that his clothes touched the edge of the door,
stood Irwin; he was dressed as I last had seen him--overcoat, tall hat,
and his arms were down by his sides in his natural, usual way. He stood
in his exact own perfectly upright attitude, and held his head and face
up in a sort of dignified way, which he used generally to adopt on all
occasions of importance or during a controversy or dispute. He had his
face turned towards me, and looked at me with a terribly meaning
expression, very pale, and as if pained by being deprived of the power
of speech or of local movements.
"I got a shocking fright, for I thought at first sight he was living,
and had got in unknown to me to surprise me. I felt my heart jump with
fright, and I said, 'Oh!' but before I had hardly finished the
exclamation, his figure was fading way, and, horrible to relate, it
faded in such a way that the flesh seemed to fade out of the clothes, or
at all events the hat and coat were longer visible than the whole man. I
turned white and cold, felt an awful dread; I was too much afraid to go
near enough to shut the door when he had vanished. I was so shaken and
confused, and half paralysed, I felt I could not even cry out; it was as
if something had a grip on my spirit, I feared to stir, and sat up all
night, fearing to take my eyes off the door, not daring to go and shut
it. Later on I got an umbrella and walked tremblingly, and pushed the
door close without fastening it. I feared to touch it with my hand. I
felt such a relief when I saw daylight and heard the landlady moving
about.
"Now, though I was frightened, I did not for a moment think he was dead,
nor did it enter my mind then about our agreement. I tried to shake off
the nervousness, and quite thought it must be something in my sight
caused by imagination, and nerves being overdone by sitting up so late
for so many nights together. Still, I thought it dreadfully strange, it
was _so real_."
_A Ghost's Cough._
"Well, about three days passed, and then I was startled by hearing his
voice outside my window, as plain as a voice could be, calling,
'Georgie! Are you there, Georgie?' I felt certain it was really him come
back to England. I could not mistake his voice. I felt quite flurried,
and ran out to the hall door, but no one in sight. I went back in, and
felt rather upset and disappointed, for I would have been glad if he had
come back again, and began to wish he really would turn up. I then
thought to myself, 'Well, that was so queer. Oh, it _must_ be
Irwin, and perhaps he is just hiding in some hall door to see if I
_will_ go out and let him in, or what I will do. So out I went
again. This time I put my hat on, and ran along and peeped into hall
doors where he might be hiding, but with no result. Later on that night
I could have sworn I heard him cough twice right at the window, as if he
did it to attract attention. Out I went again. No result.
"Well, to make a long story short, from that night till about nine weeks
after that voice called to me, and coughed, and coughed, sometimes every
night for a week, then three nights a week, then miss a night and call
on two nights, miss three or four days, and keep calling me the whole
night long, on and off, up till 12 midnight or later. One time it would
be, 'Georgie! It's _me_! Ah, Georgie!' Or, '_Georgie_, are you
in? Will you _speak_ to Irwin?' Then a long pause, and at the end
of, say, ten minutes, a most strange, unearthly _sigh_, or a
cough--a perfectly intentional, forced cough, other times nothing but,
'Ah, Georgie!' On one night there was a dreadful fog. He called me so
plain, I got up and said, 'Oh, really! that man _must_ be here; he
must be lodging somewhere near, as sure as life; if he is not outside I
must be going mad in my mind or imagination.' I went and stood outside
the hall door steps in the thick black fog. No lights could be seen that
night. I called out, 'Irwin! Irwin! here, come on. I _know_ you're
there, trying to humbug me, I _saw_ you in _town_; come on in,
and don't be making a fool of yourself.'
"Well, I declare to you, a voice that seemed _within three yards_
of me, replied out of the fog, 'It's _only Irwin_,' and a most
awful, and great, and supernatural sort of sigh faded away in the
distance. I went in, feeling quite unhinged and nervous, and could not
sleep. After that night it was chiefly sighs and coughing, and it was
kept up until one day, at the end of about nine weeks, my letter was
returned marked, 'Signor O'Neill e morto,' together with a letter from
the Consul to say he had died on November 28th, 1888, _the day on
which he appeared to me_."
_The Question of Dates._
On inquiring as to dates and verification Mrs. F---- replied:--
"I don't know the _hour_ of his death, but if you write to Mr.
Turner, Vice Consul, Naples, he can get it for you. He appeared to
me at the hour I say; of course there is a difference of time
between here and Naples. The strange part is that once I was
informed of his death by human means (the letter), his spirit seemed
to be satisfied, for no voice ever came again after; it was as if he
wanted to inform and make me know he had died, and as if he
_knew_ I had not been informed by human agency.
"I was so struck with the apparition of November 28th, that I made a
note of the date at the time so as to tell him of it when next I
wrote. My letter reached Sarno a day or two after he died. There is
no possible doubt about the voice being his, for he had a peculiar
and uncommon voice, one such as I never heard any exactly like, or
like at all in any other person. And in life he used to call me
through the window as he passed, so I would know who it was knocked
at the door, and open it. When he said, '_Ah!_' after death, it
was so awfully sad and long drawn out, and as if expressing that now
all was over and our separation and his being dead was all so very,
very pitiful and unutterable; the sigh was so real, so almost
_solid_, and discernible and unmistakable, till at the end it
seemed to have such a supernatural, strange, awful dying-away sound,
a sort of fading, retreating into distance sound, that gave the
impression that it was not _quite all_ spirit, but that the
spirit had some sort of visible and half-material being or
condition. This was especially so the night of the fog, when the
voice seemed nearer to me as I stood there, and as if it was able to
come or stay nearer to me because there _was_ a fog to hide its
materialism. On each of the other occasions it seemed to keep a good
deal further off than on that night, and always sounded as if at an
elevation of about 10ft. or 11ft. from the ground, except the night
of the fog, when it came down on a _level_ with me as well as
nearer.
"Georgina F----."
Chapter II.
Lord Brougham's Testimony.
When we come to the question of the apparition pure and simple, one of
the best-known leading cases is that recorded by Lord Brougham, who was
certainly one of the hardest-headed persons that ever lived, a Lord
Chancellor, trained from his youth up to weigh evidence. The story is
given as follows in the first volume of "Lord Brougham's Memoirs":--
"A most remarkable thing happened to me, so remarkable that I must tell
the story from the beginning. After I left the High School I went with
G----, my most intimate friend, to attend the classes in the University.
There was no divinity class, but we frequently in our walks discussed
many grave subjects--among others, the immortality of the soul and a
future state. This question, and the possibility of the dead appearing
to the living, were subjects of much speculation, and we actually
committed the folly of drawing up an agreement, written with our blood,
to the effect that whichever of us died the first should appear to the
other, and thus solve any doubts we had entertained of the 'life after
death.'
"After we had finished our classes at the college, G---- went to India,
having got an appointment there in the Civil Service. He seldom wrote to
me, and after the lapse of a few years I had nearly forgotten his
existence.... One day I had taken, as I have said, a warm bath; and,
while lying in it and enjoying the comfort of the heat, I turned my head
round, looking towards the chair on which I had deposited my clothes, as
I was about to get out of the bath. On the chair sat G----, looking
calmly at me. How I got out of the bath I know not; but on recovering my
senses I found myself sprawling on the floor. The apparition, or
whatever it was that had taken the likeness of G----, had disappeared.
"This vision had produced such a shock that I had no inclination to talk
about it, or to speak about it even to Stewart, but the impression it
made upon me was too vivid to be easily forgotten, and so strongly was I
affected by it that I have here written down the whole history, with the
date, December 19th, and all the particulars, as they are now fresh
before me. No doubt I had fallen asleep, and that the appearance
presented so distinctly before my eyes was a dream I cannot for a moment
doubt; yet for years I had had no communication with G----, nor had
there been anything to recall him to my recollection. Nothing had taken
place concerning our Swedish travels connected with G----, or with
India, or with anything relating to him, or to any member of his family.
I recollected quickly enough our old discussion, and the bargain we had
made. I could not discharge from my mind the impression that G---- must
have died, and that his appearance to me was to be received by me as a
proof of a future state. This was on December 19th, 1799.
"In October, 1862, Lord Brougham added as a postscript:--'I have just
been copying out from my journal the account of this strange dream,
"Certissima mortis imago!" And now to finish the story begun about sixty
years since. Soon after my return to Edinburgh there arrived a letter
from India announcing G----'s death, and stating that he died on
December 19th.'"
_A Vow Fulfilled._
Very many of the apparitions of this description appear in connection
with a promise made during lifetime to do so. A lady correspondent sends
me the following narrative, which she declares she had from the sister
of a student at the Royal Academy who was personally known to her. He
told the story first to his mother, who is dead, so that all chance of
verifying the story is impossible. It may be quoted, however, as a
pendant to Lord Brougham's vision, and is much more remarkable than his,
inasmuch as the phantom was seen by several persons at the same time:--
"I think it was about the year 1856 as nearly as I can remember, that a
party of young men, students of the Royal Academy, and some of them
members also, used to meet in a certain room in London, so many evenings
in the week, to smoke and chat. One of them--the son of a colonel in the
army, long since dead--this only son kept yet a remnant, if no more, of
the faith of his childhood, cherished in him by his widowed mother with
jealous care, as he detailed to her from time to time fragments of the
nightly discussions against the immortality of the soul.
"On one particular evening the conversation drifted into theological
matters--this young Academician taking up the positive side, and
asserting his belief in a hereafter of weal or woe for all _human_
life.
"Two or three of the others endeavoured to put him down, but he,
maintaining his position quietly, provoked a suggestion, half in earnest
and half in jest, from one of their number, that the first among them
who should die, should appear to the rest of their assembly afterwards
in that room at the usual hour of meeting. The suggestion was received
with jests and laughter by some, and with graver faces by others--but at
last each man solemnly entered into a pledge that if he were the first
to die amongst them, he would, if permitted, return for a few brief
seconds to this earth and appear to the rest to certify to the truth.
"Before very long one young man's place was empty. No mention being made
of the vow that they had taken, probably time enough had elapsed for it
to have been more or less, for the present, forgotten.
"The meetings continued. One evening when they were sitting smoking
round the fire, one of the party uttered an exclamation, causing the
rest to look up. Following the direction of his gaze, each man saw
distinctly for himself a _shadowy_ figure, in the likeness of the
only absent one of their number, distinctly facing them on the other
side of the room. The eyes looked earnestly, with a yearning, sad
expression in them, slowly upon each member there assembled, and then
vanished as a rainbow fades out of existence from the evening sky.
"For a few seconds no one spoke, then the most confirmed unbeliever
among them tried to explain it all away, but his words fell flat, and no
one echoed his sentiments; and then the widow's son spoke. 'Poor ---- is
dead' he said, 'and has appeared to us according to his vow.' Then
followed a comparison of their sensations during the visitation, and all
agreed in stating that they felt a cold chill similar to the entrance of
a winter fog at door or window of a room which has been warm, and when
the appearance had faded from their view the cold breath also passed
away.
"I _think_, but will not be positive on _this_, the son of the
widow lady died long after this event, but how long or how short a time
I never heard; but the facts of the above story were told me by the
sister of this young man. I also knew their mother well. She was of a
gentle, placid disposition, by no means excitable or likely to credit
any superstitious tales. Her son returned home on that memorable evening
looking very white and subdued, and, sinking into a chair, he told her
he should never doubt again the truths that she had taught him, and a
little reluctantly he told her the above, bit by bit, as it were, as she
drew it from him."
A similar story to the foregoing one was supplied me by the wife of the
Rev. Bloomfield James, Congregational minister at Wimbledon. (1891). It
is as follows:--
"My mother, aunt, and Miss E., of Bideford, North Devon, were at school
together at Teignmouth. The two latter girls formed a great friendship,
and promised whichever died first would come to the other. About the
year 1815 or 1816 my aunt Charlotte was on the stair coming from her
room when she saw Miss E. walking up. Aunt was not at all frightened, as
she was expecting her friend on a visit, and called out, 'Oh, how glad I
am to see you, but why did you not write!' A few days afterwards news
came of Miss E.'s death on that evening."
It is very rare that the apparition speaks; usually it simply appears,
and leaves those who see it to draw their own inferences. But sometimes
the apparition shows signs of the wound which caused its death. The most
remarkable case of this description is that in which Lieutenant Colt, of
the Fusiliers, reported his death at Sebastopol to his brother in
Scotland more than a fortnight before the news of the casualty arrived
in this country.
_The Case of Lieutenant Colt._
Captain G. F. Russell Colt, of Gartsherrie, Coatbridge, N.B., reports
the case as follows to the Psychical Society (Vol. i. page 125):--
"I had a very dear brother (my eldest brother), Oliver, lieutenant in
the 7th Royal Fusiliers. He was about nineteen years old, and had at
that time been some months before Sebastopol. I corresponded frequently
with him, and once when he wrote in low spirits, not being well, I said
in answer that he was to cheer up, but that if anything did happen to
him he was to let me know by appearing to me in my room. This letter, I
found subsequently, he received as he was starting to receive the
sacrament from a clergyman who has since related the fact to me.
"Having done this he went to the entrenchments and never returned, as in
a few hours afterwards the storming of the Redan commenced. He, on the
captain of his company falling, took his place and led his men bravely
on. He had just led them within the walls, though already wounded in
several places, when a bullet struck him in the right temple and he fell
amongst heaps of others, where he was found in a sort of kneeling
posture (being propped up by the other dead bodies) thirty-six hours
afterwards. His death took place, or rather he fell, though he may not
have died immediately, on September 8th, 1855.
"That night I awoke suddenly and saw facing the window of my room by my
bedside, surrounded by a light sort of phosphorescent mist, as it were,
my brother kneeling. I tried to speak but could not. I buried my head in
the bedclothes, not at all afraid (because we had all been brought up
not to believe in ghosts and apparitions), but simply to collect my
ideas, because I had not been thinking or dreaming of him, and indeed
had forgotten all about what I had written to him a fortnight before. I
decided that it must be fancy and the moonlight playing on a towel, or
something out of place; but on looking up again there he was, looking
lovingly, imploringly, and sadly at me. I tried again to speak, but
found myself tongue-tied. I could not utter a sound. I sprang out of
bed, glanced through the window, and saw that there was no moon, but it
was very dark and raining hard, by the sound against the panes. I turned
and still saw poor Oliver. I shut my eyes, walked through it, and
reached the door of the room. As I turned the handle, before leaving the
room, I looked once more back. The apparition turned round his head
slowly, and again looked anxiously and lovingly at me, and I saw then
for the first time a wound on the right temple with a red stream from
it. His face was of a waxy pale tint, but transparent looking, and so
was the reddish mark. But it was almost impossible to describe his
appearance. I only know I shall never forget it. I left the room and
went into a friend's room, and lay on the sofa the rest of the night. I
told him why, I also told others in the house, but when I told my father
he ordered me not to repeat such nonsense, and especially not to let my
mother know.
"On the Monday following I received a note from Sir Alexander Milne to
say that the Redan was stormed, but no particulars. I told my friend to
let me know if he saw the name among the killed and wounded before me.
About a fortnight later he came to my bedroom in his mother's house in
Athole Crescent in Edinburgh, with a very grave face. I said, 'I suppose
it is to tell me the sad news I expect,' and he said, 'Yes.' Both the
colonel of the regiment and one or two officers who saw the body
confirmed the fact that the appearance was much according to my
description, and the death-wound was exactly where I had seen it. His
appearance, if so, must have been some hours after death, as he appeared
to me a few minutes after two in the morning.
"Months later his little Prayer-book and the letter I had written to him
were returned to Inveresk, found in the inner breast pocket of the tunic
which he wore at his death. I have them now."
APPENDIX.
SOME HISTORICAL GHOSTS.
The following collection presents a list of names--more or less well
known--with which ghost stories of some kind are associated. The
authority for these stories, though in many cases good, is so varied in
quality that they are not offered as evidential of anything except the
wide diversity of the circles in which such things find acceptance.
_Royal._
Henry IV., of France, told d'Aubigné (see d'Aubigné Histoire
Universelle) that in presence of himself, the Archbishop of Lyons, and
three ladies of the Court, the Queen (Margaret of Valois) saw the
apparition of a certain cardinal afterwards found to have died at the
moment. Also he (Henry IV.) was warned of his approaching end, not long
before he was murdered by Ravaillac, by meeting an apparition in a
thicket in Fontainebleau. ("Sully's Memoirs.")
Abel the Fratricide, King of Denmark was buried in unconsecrated ground,
and still haunts the wood of Poole, near the city of Sleswig.
Valdemar IV. haunts Gurre Wood, near Elsinore.
Charles XI., of Sweden, accompanied by his chamberlain and state
physician, witnessed the trial of the assassin of Gustavus III., which
occurred nearly a century later.
James IV., of Scotland, after vespers in the chapel at Linlithgow, was
warned by an apparition against his intended expedition into England.
He, however, proceeded, and was warned again at Jedburgh, but,
persisting, fell at Flodden Field.
Charles I., of England, when resting at Daventree on the Eve of the
battle of Naseby, was twice visited by the apparition of Strafford,
warning him not to meet the Parliamentary Army, then quartered at
Northampton. Being persuaded by Prince Rupert to disregard the warning,
the King set off to march northward, but was surprised on the route, and
a disastrous defeat followed.
Orleans, Duke of, brother of Louis XIV., called his eldest son
(afterwards Regent) by his second title, Duc de Chartres, in preference
to the more usual one of Duc de Valois. This change is said to have been
in consequence of a communication made before his birth by the
apparition of his father's first wife, Henrietta of England, reported to
have been poisoned.
_Historical Women._
Elizabeth, Queen is said to have been warned of her death by the
apparition of her own double. (So, too, Sir Robert Napier and Lady Diana
Rich.)
Catherine de Medicis saw, in a vision, the battle of Jarnac, and cried
out, "Do you not see the Prince of Condé dead in the hedge?" This and
many similar stories are told by Margaret of Valois in her Memoirs.
Philippa, Wife of the Duke of Lorraine, when a girl in a convent, saw in
vision the battle of Pavia, then in progress, and the captivity of the
king her cousin, and called on the nuns about her to pray.
Joan of Arc was visited and directed by various Saints, including the
Archangel Michael, S. Catherine, S. Margaret, etc.
_Lord Chancellors._
Erskine, Lord, himself relates (Lady Morgan's "Book of the Boudoir,"
1829, vol. i. 123) that the spectre of his father's butler, whom he did
not know to be dead, appeared to him in broad daylight, "to meet your
honour," so it explained, "and to solicit your interference with my lord
to recover a sum due to me which the steward at the last settlement did
not pay," which proved to be the fact.
_Cabinet Ministers._
Buckingham, Duke of, was exhorted to amendment and warned of approaching
assassination by apparition of his father, Sir George Villiers, who was
seen by Mr. Towers, surveyor of works at Windsor. All occurred as
foretold.
Castlereagh, Lord (who succeeded the above as Foreign Secretary), when a
young man, quartered with his regiment in Ireland, saw the apparition of
"The Radiant Boy," said to be an omen of good. Sir Walter Scott speaks
of him as one of two persons "of sense and credibility, who both
attested supernatural appearances on their own evidence."
Peel, Sir Robert, and his brother, both saw Lord Byron in London in
1810, while he was, in fact, lying dangerously ill at Patras. During the
same fever, he also appeared to others, and was even seen to write down
his name among the inquirers after the King's health.
_Emperors._
Trajan, Emperor, was extricated from Antioch during an earthquake, by a
spectre which drove him out of a window. (Dio Cassius, lib. lxviii.)
Caracalla, Emperor, was visited by the ghost of his father Severus.
Julian the Apostate, Emperor, (1) when hesitating to accept the Empire,
saw a female figure, "The Genius of the Empire," who said she would
remain with him, but not for long. (2) Shortly before his death, he saw
his genius leave him with a dejected air. (3) He saw a phantom
prognosticating the death of the Emperor Constans. (See S. Basil.)
Theodosius, Emperor, when on the eve of a battle, was reassured of the
issue by the apparition of two men; also seen independently by one of
his soldiers.
_Soldiers._
Curtius Rufus (pro-consul of Africa) is reported by Pliny to have been
visited, while still young and unknown, by a gigantic female--the Genius
of Africa--who foretold his career. (Pliny, b. vii. letter 26.)
Julius Cæsar was marshalled across the Rubicon by a spectre, which
seized a trumpet from one of the soldiers and sounded an alarm.
Xerxes, after giving up the idea of carrying war into Greece, was
persuaded to the expedition by the apparition of a young man, who also
visited Artabanus, uncle to the king, when, upon Xerxes' request,
Artabanus assumed his robe and occupied his place. (Herodotus, vii.)
Brutus was visited by a spectre, supposed to be that of Julius Cæsar,
who announced that they would meet again at Philippi, where he was
defeated in battle, and put an end to his own life.
Drusus, when seeking to cross the Elbe, was deterred by a female
spectre, who told him to turn back and meet his approaching end. He died
before reaching the Rhine.
Pausanius, General of the Lacedæmonians, inadvertently caused the death
of a young lady of good family, who haunted him day and night, urging
him to give himself up to justice. (Plutarch in Simone.)
Dio, General, of Syracuse, saw a female apparition sweeping furiously in
his house, to denote that his family would shortly be swept out of
Syracuse, which, through various accidents was shortly the case.
Napoleon, at S. Helena, saw and conversed with the apparition of
Josephine, who warned him of his approaching death. The story is
narrated by Count Montholon, to whom he told it.
Blucher, on the very day of his decease, related to the King of Prussia
that he had been warned by the apparition of his entire family, of his
approaching end.
Fox, General, went to Flanders with the Duke of York shortly before the
birth of his son. Two years later he had a vision of the
child--dead--and correctly described its appearance and surroundings,
though the death occurred in a house unknown to him.
Garfield, General, when a child of six or seven, saw and conversed with
his father, lately deceased. He also had a premonition, which proved
correct, as to the date of his death--the anniversary of the battle of
Wickmauga, in which he took a brave part.
Lincoln, President, had a certain premonitory dream which occurred three
times in relation to important battles, and the fourth on the eve of his
assassination.
Coligni, Admiral, was three times warned to quit Paris before the Feast
of St. Bartholemew but disregarded the premonition and perished in the
Massacre (1572).
_Men of Letters._
Petrarch saw the apparition of the bishop of his diocese at the moment
of death.
Epimenides, a poet contemporary with Salon, is reported by Plutarch to
have quitted his body at will and to have conversed with spirits.
Dante, Jacopo, son of the poet, was visited in a dream by his father,
who conversed with him and told him where to find the missing thirteen
cantos of the Commedia.
Tasso saw and conversed with beings invisible to those about him.
Goethe saw his own double riding by his side under conditions which
really occurred years later. His father, mother, and grandmother were
all ghost-seers.
Donne, Dr., when in Paris, saw the apparition of his wife in London
carrying a dead child at the very hour a dead infant was in fact born.
Byron, Lord is said to have seen the Black Friar of Newstead on the eve
of his ill-fated marriage. Also, with others, he saw the apparition of
Shelley walk into a wood at Lerici, though they knew him at the time to
be several miles away.
Shelley, while in a state of trance, saw a figure wrapped in a cloak
which beckoned to him and asked, Siete soddisfatto?--are you satisfied?
Benvenuto Cellini, when in captivity at Rome by order of the Pope, was
dissuaded from suicide by the apparition of a young man who frequently
visited and encouraged him.
Mozart was visited by a mysterious person who ordered him to compose a
Requiem, and came frequently to inquire after its progress, but
disappeared on its completion, which occurred just in time for its
performance at Mozart's own funeral.
Ben Jonson, when staying at Sir Robert Cotton's house, was visited by
the apparition of his eldest son with a mark of a bloody cross upon his
forehead at the moment of his death by the plague. He himself told the
story to Drummond of Hawthornden.
Thackeray, W. M. writes, "It is all very well for you who have probably
never seen spirit manifestations, to talk as you do, but had you seen
what I have witnessed you would hold a different opinion."
Mrs. Browning's spirit appeared to her sister with warning of death.
Robert Browning writes, Tuesday, July 21st, 1863, "Arabel (Miss Barrett)
told me yesterday that she had been much agitated by a dream which
happened the night before--Sunday, July 19th. She saw _her_, and asked,
When shall I be with you? The reply was, Dearest, in five years, where
upon Arabel awoke. She knew in her dream that it was not to the living
she spoke." In five years, within a month of their completion, Miss
Barrett died, and Browning writes, "I had forgotten the date of the
dream, and supposed it was only three years, and that two had still to
run."
Hall, Bishop, and his brother, when at Cambridge each had a vision of
their mother looking sadly at them, and saying she would not be able to
keep her promise of visiting them. She died at the time.
Dr. Guthrie was directed, by repeated pullings at his coat, to go in a
certain direction, contrary to previous intention, and was thus the
means of saving the life of a parishioner.
Miller, Hugh, tells, in his "Schools and Schoolmasters," of the
apparition of a bloody hand, seen by himself and the servant but not by
others present. Accepted as a warning of the death of his father.
Porter, Anna Maria, when living at Esher, was visited one afternoon by
an old gentleman--a neighbour, who frequently came in to tea. On this
occasion he left the room without speaking, and fearing that something
had happened she sent to inquire, and found that he had died at the
moment of his appearance.
Edgworth, Maria, was waiting with her family for an expected guest, when
the vacant chair was suddenly occupied by the apparition of a sailor
cousin, who stated that his ship had been wrecked and he alone saved.
The event proved the contrary--he alone was drowned.
Marryat, Captain--the story is told by his daughter--while staying in a
country-house in the North of England saw the family ghost--an
ancestress of the time of Queen Elizabeth who had poisoned her husband.
He tried to shoot her, but the ball passed harmlessly into the door
behind, and the lady faded away--always smiling.
De Stael, Madame, was haunted by the spirit of her father, who
counselled and helped her in all times of need.
L.E.L.'s ghost was seen by Dr. Madden in the room in which she died at
Cape Coast Castle.
De Morgan, Professor, writes: "I am perfectly convinced that I have both
seen and heard, in a manner that should make unbelief impossible, things
called spiritual which cannot be taken by a rational being to be capable
of explanation by imposture, coincidence, or mistake."
Foote, Samuel, in the year 1740, while visiting at his father's house in
Truro, was kept awake by sounds of sweet music. His uncle was about the
same time murdered by assassins.
_Men of Science._
Davy, Sir Humphrey, when a young man, suffering from yellow fever on the
Gold Coast, was comforted by visions of his guardian angel, who, years
after, appeared to him again--incarnate--in the person of his nurse
during his last illness.
Harvey, William, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, used to
relate that his life was saved by a dream. When a young man he was
proceeding to Padua, when he was detained--with no reason alleged--by
the governor at Dover. The ship was wrecked, and all on board lost, and
it was then explained that the governor had received orders--in a
dream--to prevent a person, to whose description Harvey answered, from
going on board that night.
Farquhar, Sir Walter, physician (made a baronet in 1796), visited a
patient at Pomeroy Castle. While waiting alone a lady appeared to him,
exhibiting agony and remorse (who proved to be the family ghost)
prognosticating, the death of the patient, which followed.
Clark, Sir James, Wife of, while living in their house in Brook Street,
saw the apparition of her son, Dr. J. Clark, then in India, carrying a
dead baby wrapped in an Indian shawl. Shortly afterwards, he did, in
fact, send home the body of a child for interment, which had died at the
hour noted, to fill up the coffin it was wrapped up in an Indian scarf.
Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, one of the first to systematise deism, when
in doubt whether he should publish his "De Veritate," as advised by
Grotius, prayed for a sign, and heard sounds "like nothing on earth,
which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took my petition as granted."
Bacon, Francis, was warned in a dream of his father's approaching end,
which occurred in a few days.
_Theologians._
Luther, Martin, was visited by apparitions,--one, according to
Melancthon, who announced his coming by knocking at the door.
Melancthon says that the apparition of a venerable person came to him in
his study and told him to warn his friend Grynaeus to escape at once
from the danger of the Inquisition, a warning which saved his life.
Zwingli was visited by an apparition "with a perversion of a text of
Scripture."
Oberlin, Pastor, was visited almost daily by his deceased wife, who
conversed with him, and was visible not only to himself, but to all
about him.
Fox, George, while walking on Pendle Hill, Yorkshire, saw his future
converts coming towards him "along a river-side, to serve the Lord."
Newman, Cardinal, relates in a letter, Jan. 3rd, 1833, that when in
quarantine in Malta, he and his companions heard footsteps not to be
accounted for by human agency.
Wilberforce, Bishop, experienced remarkable premonitions, and phenomena
even more startling are attributed to him.
Saints.--The stories of visions, apparitions, etc. which are told in
connection with the Saints are far too numerous to quote. The following,
however, may be referred to as of special interest:--(1) _Phantasms of
the Living._--St. Ignatius Loyala, Gennadius (the friend of St.
Augustine), St. Augustine himself, twice over (he tells the story
himself, Serm. 233), St. Benedict and St. Meletius, all appeared during
life in places distant from their actual bodily whereabouts. (2)
_Phantasms of the Dead._--St. Anselm saw the slain body of William
Rufus, St. Basil that of Julian the Apostate, St. Benedict the ascent to
heaven of the soul of St. Germanus, bishop of Capua--all at the moment
of death. St. Augustine and St. Edmund, Archbishops of Canterbury, are
said to have conversed with spirits. St. Ambrose and St. Martin of Tours
received information concerning relics from the original owners of the
remains. (3) _Premonitions._--St. Cyprian and St. Columba each foretold
the date and manner of his own death as revealed in visions.
_Miscellaneous._
Harcourt, Countess when Lady Nuneham, mentioned one morning having had
an agitating dream, but was met with ridicule. Later in the day Lord
Harcourt--her husband's father--was missing. She exclaimed, "Look in the
well," and fainted away. He was found there with a dog, which he had
been trying to save.
Aksakoff, Mme., wife of Chancellor Aksakoff, on the night of May 12th,
1855, saw the apparition of her brother, who died at the time. The story
is one very elaborate as to detail.
Rich, Lady Diana, was warned of her death by a vision of her own double
in the avenue of Holland House.
Breadalbane, May, Lady, her sister (both daughters of Lord Holland), was
also warned in vision of her death.
The Daughter of Sir Charles Lee.--This story, related by the Bishop of
Gloucester, 1662, is very well known. On the eve of her intended
marriage with Sir W. Perkins, she was visited by her mother's spirit,
announcing her approaching death at twelve o'clock next day. She
occupied the intervening time with suitable preparations, and died
calmly at the hour foretold.
Beresford, Lady, wife of Sir Tristam, before her marriage in 1687, made
a secret engagement with Lord Tyrone, that which ever should die first
would appear to the other. He fulfilled his promise on October 15th,
1693, and warned her of her death on her forty-eighth birthday. All was
kept secret, but after the fated day had passed, she married a second
time, and appeared to enter on a new lease of life. Two years later,
when celebrating her birthday, she accidentally discovered that she was
two years younger than had been supposed, and expired before night. The
story is one of the best known and most interesting in ghost-lore.
Fanshawe, Lady, when visiting in Ireland, heard the banshee of the
family with whom she was visiting, one of whom did in fact die during
the night. She also relates (in her "Memoirs," p. 28) that her mother
once lay as dead for two days and a night. On her return to life she
informed those about her that she had asked of two apparitions, dressed
in long, white garments, for leave, like Hezekiah, to live for fifteen
years, to see her daughter grow up, and that it was granted. She died in
fifteen years from that time.
Maidstone, Lady, saw a fly of fire as premonitory of the deaths--first,
of her husband, who died in a sea-fight with the Dutch, May 28th, 1672,
and second, of her mother-in-law, Lady Winchilsea.
Chedworth, Lord, was visited by a friend and fellow-sceptic, saying he
had died that night and had realised the existence of another world.
While relating the vision the news arrived of his friend's death.
Rambouillet, Marquis of, had just the same experience. A
fellow-unbeliever, his cousin, the Marquis de Précy, visited him in
Paris, saying that he had been killed in battle in Flanders, and
predicting his cousin's death in action, which shortly occurred in the
battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine. (Quoted by Calmet from "Causes
Célebres," xi. 370.)
Lyttleton, Lord (third), died Nov. 27th, 1799, was warned of his death
three days earlier, and exhorted to repentance. The story, very widely
quoted, first appears in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxxxv. 597. He
also himself appeared to Mr. Andrews, at Dartford Mills, who was
expecting a visit from him at the time.
Middleton, Lord, was taken prisoner by the Roundheads after the battle
of Worcester. While in prison he was comforted by the apparition of the
laird Bocconi, whom he had known while trying to make a party for the
king in Scotland, and who assured him of his escape in two days, which
occurred.
Balcarres, Lord, when confined in Edinburgh Castle on suspicion of
Jacobitism, was visited by the apparition of Viscount Dundee--shot at
that moment at Killiecrankie.
Holland, Lord (the first), who was taken prisoner at the battle of St.
Neot's in 1624, is said still to haunt Holland House, dressed in the cap
and clothes in which he was executed.
Montgomery, Count of, was warned by an apparition to flee from Paris,
and thus escaped the Massacre of St. Bartholemew. (See Coligni.)
Shelburne, Lord, eldest son of the Marquis of Lansdowne, is said, in
Mrs. Schimmelpenninck's Memoirs, to have had, when five years old, a
premonitory vision of his own funeral, with full details as to
stoppages, etc. Dr. Priestley was sent for, and treated the child for
slight fever. When about to visit his patient (whom he expected to find
recovered) a few days later, he met the child running bare-headed in the
snow. When he approached to rebuke him the figure disappeared, and he
found that the boy had died at the moment. The funeral was arranged by
the father--then at a distance--exactly in accordance with the
premonition.
Eglinton, Lord, was three times warned of his death by the apparition of
the family ghost, the Bodach Glas--the dark-grey man. The last
appearance was when he was playing golf on the links at St. Andrews,
October 4th, 1861. He died before night.
Cornwall, the Duke of, in 1100, saw the spectre of William Rufus pierced
by an arrow and dragged by the devil in the form of a buck, on the same
day that he was killed. (Story told in the "Chronicle of Matthew
Paris.")
Chesterfield, Earl of (second), in 1652, saw, on waking, a spectre with
long white robes and black face. Accepting it as intimation of some
illness of his wife, then visiting her father at Networth, he set off
early to inquire, and met a servant with a letter from Lady
Chesterfield, describing the same apparition.
Mohun, Lord, killed in a duel in Chelsea Fields, appeared at the moment
of his death, in 1642, to a lady in James's Street, Covent Garden, and
also to the sister (and her maid) of Glanvil (author of "Sadducismus
Triumphatus").
Swifte, Edmund Lenthal, keeper of the Crown jewels from 1814, himself
relates (in Notes and Queries, 1860, p. 192) the appearance, in Anne
Boleyn's chamber in the Tower, of "a cylindrical figure like a glass
tube, hovering between the table and the ceiling"--visible to himself
and his wife, but not to others present.
W Mate & Sons (1919) Ltd., Bournemouth.