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[Illustration: THE SPIRIT LAND.]
THE SPIRIT LAND.
by
S. B. EMMONS.
Philadelphia:
John E. Potter and Company.
Nos. 614 and 617 Sansom Street.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
L. P. Crown & Co.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District
of Massachusetts
TO THE READER.
This volume is intended as an antidote to a species of errors that have
been rife in every age of the Christian church. Notwithstanding the
disclosures the Most High made of himself to his ancient people, they
were yet prone to turn aside from the worship of the true God, to
follow the lying spirits of the prophets of Baal, and other deceivers,
from the days of Moses till the destruction of Jerusalem. So, likewise,
under the Christian dispensation, there has been a succession of
Antichrists, until their name is _legion_, whose teachings have clouded
the understandings and blinded the moral perceptions of men, subverting
the faith of many whose mountains stood strong, and who had been
counted the chosen people of God.
The present is viewed as an age of _isms_. Men have run mad, and are
chasing phantoms. They are roaming round to find some fulcrum to
overturn the church and the Bible; they are imagining they are
receiving utterances from heaven, when nothing is uttered but the
vain fantasies of their own minds and hearts. It is the grossest
fanaticism--fanaticism in its most frightful form, leading its unhappy
victims, not unfrequently, to flagrant crimes, and to the most horrid
of all--that of self-destruction.
These pages are submitted to the public with the counsel of the wisest
and best of all ages, that, amid the wily arts of the adversary, we
should cling to the word of God, the Bible of our fathers, as the only
safe and infallible guide of faith and practice.
NOTE.
We would here give credit to the principal works from which valuable
and important matter has been selected for these pages: Whitman's
Popular Superstitions; Upham's Lectures upon Witchcraft; Christian
Freeman and Family Visitor; Abercrombie on the Intellectual Powers;
Influence of the Imagination upon the Nervous System, by Rev. Grant
Powers; Life of Adam Clarke; Hayward's Book of all Religions; Miller
on the Second Coming of Christ; Borrow's Gypsies of Spain; Stone on
False Prophets and Christs; Dickens's Household Words; Capron and
Barron on the Spirit Knockings; Dick on the Improvement of Society;
Revelations of A. J. Davis; The Great Harmonia; Rogers on Human and
Mundane Agents; Miss Crowe's Night Side of Nature; Spiritual
Telegraph, &c.
As the work embraces a mass of facts of an absorbing and intensely
interesting character, we trust that it will commend itself to an
enlightened and judicious public.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PART FIRST.
INTRODUCTION.
THE OBJECT OF THIS WORK.
PAGE
Nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches.--
Their effect upon juvenile minds.--A belief in ghosts still
prevalent.--The excitability of the public mind.--Ghost reported
as having been seen in Waltham, Massachusetts. 17
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
Ignorance of correct reasoning.--Conclusions from particular
facts.--Water boiled by heat.--Signs.--Breaking a mirror.--Gene
ral conclusions from a few facts.--A victim to superstition in
New Hampshire.--How signs may be multiplied.--The design of
the Creator in endowing us with reason. 19
CHAPTER II.
INDUCTIVE PHILOSOPHY NOT UNDERSTOOD.
Ignorance of it the cause of many superstitions.--Lights seen in
marshy grounds, &c.--Supposed to be supernatural.--Causes of
these lights, and phenomena connected with them.--Shrinking and
swelling of pork in boiling.--Cause.--Supposed influence of the
moon in making soap, grafting trees, cutting timber, &c.--Lunar
influence in matters of wedlock.--Love not to be fed on
moonshine. 22
CHAPTER III.
IGNORANCE OF THE CAUSES OF DREAMS.
Fruitful source of superstitions.--Opinions of ancient divines.
--Dreams related in the Scriptures.--Their object.--Principles
of mental philosophy applied to modern dreams.--Examples of
singular dreams.--Dreams occasioned by sickness.--Fulfilment
of certain dreams.--Causes of the same.--Remarkable case of
a German student.--Case of a member of Congress.--Amusing
case concerning a passage of Scripture.--Necessity of a pure
conscience, and a careful attention to our stomachs. 24
CHAPTER IV.
EFFECTS OF THE IMAGINATION ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
Ignorance of it has given rise to many superstitions.--Experiments
of Mesmer and Deslon in Paris.--Singular developments.--Trials at
Dr. Franklin's house.--Children uninfluenced by mesmeric operations.
--Magnetizing a tree in Dr. Franklin's garden.--Experiments upon
two females.--Effect produced.--Experiment upon a female by Dr.
Sigault.--Practice among the Chinese.--Girl frightened to death by
a Gypsy.--Practice among the New Zealanders.--Killing others by
incantation.--Intercourse with departed spirits.--An account of
Perkins's metallic tractors.--Their supposed influence in various
diseases.--Suspicions concerning them.--Experiments with wooden
tractors.--Result of these experiments.--Statements of a modern
mesmerizer. 29
CHAPTER V.
IGNORANCE OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
This ignorance a cause of many superstitions.--Case of a person
who slept in a bed room supposed to be haunted.--Skeleton seen by
moonlight.--Apparition seen by Dr. Gregory.--Case related by Dr.
Conolly.--Ship's crew frightened by an apparition.--Young lady
supposed to have been murdered by pirates.--Cases of impressions
connected with bodily disease.--Phantasms in febrile diseases.--A
farmer frightened to death by a light in the road.--A figure like
Death striking a lady in her side with a dart.--Illusion of sight
and hearing.--Case of a lady who saw her absent husband standing
by her side.--Countenance of a friend seen in a mirror.--Tunes
heard.--Inverted objects.--Visions of the world of spirits.--Case
of Baron Swedenborg.--Case of a lady in Boston, who saw her
deceased grandmother.--The phantom ship seen in New Haven.--The
science of optics.--Of nauscopy.--Cases of mirage. 38
CHAPTER VI.
IGNORANCE OF TRUE RELIGION.
God the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.--The natural world governed
by regular laws.--Sign of the howling of a dog under the window.--
Lucky and unlucky days.--Sir Matthew Hale's opinion.--Early laws of
Connecticut.--Superstition of sailors.--Timidity of Voltaire.--
Peace and happiness on all days.--How procured. 50
CHAPTER VII.
BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT.
A witch as regarded by our fathers.--Compact or agreement with the
devil.--Carried through the air on brooms and spits.--Anointing their
bodies with a magical ointment.--How to prepare the same.--Singular
ceremonies at the meetings of witches.--How they afflicted others.
--The bewitched pins shown to Grace Greenwood.--Mode of examining
and trying witches.--Witch catcher in England.--How he was arrested
and condemned.--Singular record on a church book in Scotland.--
Notice of the Salem witchcraft.--How such superstitions are to be
done away.--Witches and wizards of modern times. 53
CHAPTER VIII.
NECROMANCY AND FORTUNE TELLING.
Moll Pitcher, the queen of the race.--Her place of abode.--Company
that visited her.--Member of a church sent to consult her.--Casting
out evil spirits in Syria.--Account of Lady Hester Stanhope.--The
astrologer of Hopkinton, Massachusetts.--Chief characteristic of
fortune seekers.--Effects produced upon them. 58
CHAPTER IX.
FAIRIES, OR WANDERING SPIRITS, AND GYPSIES.
Description of fairies, habits, localities, &c.--Subterranean spirits
in Wales, called _Knockers_.--The _Brownies_ in Scotland.--A farmer
in Ireland who was tormented by fairies.--Method taken to appease
their anger.--Spenser's poem of the Fairy Queen.--Gypsies and their
employments.--Casting the evil eye.--Safeguard against it.--Charm of
the Bible and key.--Superstition called the _elf-shot_.--Practice of
poisoning animals, and the cure.--Superstitions concerning the
loadstone.--Translation of St. Luke into the Gypsy tongue.--
Singular notions of the Gypsies concerning it.--Condemned by the
royal edict at Madrid.--The Gypsy choirs at Moscow.--Anecdote of
Madame Catalini. 61
CHAPTER X.
OMENS, CHARMS, AND DIVINATION.
Books published upon these things.--Their injurious tendency.--A
sample of their contents.--Practice of boxers.--Whistling in a
storm at sea.--Setting hens on an _odd_ number of eggs.--Salutes
of an _odd_ number of guns.--Omen concerning the number _thirteen_.
--Methods of ascertaining who will be a future husband.--Crossing
of knives.--Click of insects.--Advent of comets. 76
CHAPTER XI.
MODERN MIRACLES.
They partake of superstition.--Instructions of the Savior concerning
them.--Object of Scripture miracles.--Modern miracles not satisfactory.
--Judge Howe's opinion concerning Christianity.--Times of miracles
ceased. 79
CHAPTER XII.
FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS.
History of the prophet Matthias.--His career in Albany and New York.
--His deceptions upon conspicuous individuals.--His arrest for
alleged crimes.--Account of John of Leyden.--Sketch of Cochrane,
and his impositions. 81
CHAPTER XIII.
MORMON SUPERSTITION.
Account of the golden plates found by Joseph Smith.--Their
translation and publication in a volume.--Peculiar style of the
writings.--Attempt at imitation.--Mormon preachers speaking with
new tongues.--Increase of the doctrine, and why.--Mormon cities
not to be identified.--Strong indications of fabrication.--
Fluency and earnestness of their preachers.--Traits of the
Cochranites.--Effects produced upon their hearers.--An account
of the _real_ origin of the Mormon Bible, and its author.--Of
Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon prophet.--His early characteristics.
--Exposure of the indecent ceremonies at Nauvoo; as established
by Smith and others. 96
CHAPTER XIV.
MILLER DELUSION.
Prophecies of Mr. Miller.--His computation of time.--Management
to suit his own particular views.--Keeping the world standing
thirty years on a simple _if_.--Various blunders and mistakes.
--Confession of his errors.--False information respecting signs.
--Disappearance of stars.--Of the Aurora Borealis.--Shooting
stars.--Sun and moon turning to blood.--Darkness of the sun.--
Its cause.--Remarkable appearances in various ages of the world.
--Opinion concerning Halley's comet.--Ignorance of the constitution
of comets.--The comet of 1770.--Tests of signs that shall indicate
the end of time.--Scientific men stationed in various parts of the
earth.--No such changes as have been spoken of by the second
advent preachers, observed by them. 102
CHAPTER XV.
INTERCOURSE WITH DEPARTED SPIRITS.
Spirits, ghosts, and spectres seen in all ages.--Account of the
magic crystals, or divining glasses.--Seeing spirits in Egypt.--
Lady Blessington's crystal in England.--Spirit of Lord Nelson
described.--The Latin language commonly used by spirits.--An
account of spirits that live in the SUN.--Spirits conversing
with human beings.--Mode of communication by letters of fire,
or large printed _capitals_.--Interview with the spirit of
_Pharaoh_.--His present dwelling in the planet _Jupiter_.--
Information gleaned in conversation with him.--Swedenborg's
account of Sir John Franklin.--Describes his situation, blocked
up by _ice_.--Spirits do not understand about _latitude_ and
_longitude_.--Description of the spirit of Socrates, his dress,
&c.--Account of the emperor Alexander in the spirit world.--
Dickens's account of fashionable dupes in England.--The sciences
of astrology and magic.--Practices of high titled ladies in
London.--Account of famous conjurers, or fortune tellers.--
Account of the "rappers," or "knocking spirits."--Children
frightened by their noises.--Snapping of fingers, and clapping
of hands, imitated by the spirits.--Mrs. Fox asks questions of a
spirit.--Answers given by a succession of _raps_.--Account of a
ghost that appeared in Waltham, Massachusetts.--Conversation with
the ghost by a gentleman.--Said he had been murdered, and told by
whom.--Tones of the ghost, (unearthly,) its mode of walking, &c.
--Great excitement on account of the ghost.--Mode of communication
with the _rapping_ spirits.--Tables and chairs moved, sounds heard,
&c.--Band of music, beating of the _bass drum_, and roar of artillery.
--Guitar played by unseen hands.--Ladies' hair taken down and
braided by spirits.--People touched by unseen hands.--How spirits
produce the sounds of _music_.--How they make the _rapping_ noises.
--Account of an interview with the spirit of Dr. Franklin.--
Sounds heard like trying the batteries in the telegraph office.--
Occupation of Franklin in the spirit world.--Getting up a line of
communication between the two worlds.--Dr. Franklin predicts great
changes in the nineteenth century.--Connection of _magnetism_ with
the _spiritual rappings_.--Clairvoyant interpreters between men
and spirits.--Spiritual postmasters, letter paper, and envelopes.
--Letters received from the spiritual worlds.--The _Spirit Journal_,
in Auburn, New York.--Its pages edited, controlled, and superintended
by _spirits_.--The _prophets_ and _apostles_ its conductors, acting
under the LORD SUPREME.--Blunders and errors of the rapping spirits.
--Ignorant spirits.--Mischief produced by them.--Swedenborg's account
of their stupidity.--How to distinguish the sounds made by an
ignorant or an intelligent spirit.--Wonderful precocity of infant
spirits.--Progression of spirits, both upwards and downwards.--
The spirit of Dr. Channing _deteriorated_ in the other world.--
Theological teachings of the rapping spirits.--Prophecy of
Swedenborg concerning the year 1852.--Noises of the _rappers_
indicative of the approach of his prediction.--Are to be considered
as _omens_ of a new advent.--Compared with the Miller prophecy of
1843.--Miracles, both of the rappers and the Millerites.--A sick
man and his bed taken up by spirits.--The body of a Mr. Gordon
taken up by spiritual hands.--Miracles wrought in favor of
_Millerism_.--Miracles wrought in favor of _witchcraft_.--
Millerites taken up by spiritual hands.--Strange noises made
by _spirits_ among the Adventists.--Houses shaken, mirrors
shattered to pieces, furniture broken.--Four women carried
through the air on a _pole_.--Testimony under oath respecting
it.--Account of a bewitched _ventriloquist_.--Witches in 1850.
--What the editor of a Boston journal says of them.--Witches,
ghosts, spooks, and hobgoblins, in all ages of the world.--
Account of a haunted house in Boston.--Every window illuminated
at midnight.--A young man frightened by the scene.--Singular
notion of the Greenlanders respecting the cause of thunder,
and of the Aurora Borealis.--Notion of the ancients concerning
the foundation of the earth.--Of the mathematician Kepler.--
Performance of Signor Blitz.--Effects produced by _ventriloquism_.
--Singular vibrations of the guitar.--Spirit rappings considered
as a new science.--Noises heard by the Wesley family, in 1716.
--Noises heard by Martin Luther.--Empty barrels and hogsheads
tumbling down stairs.--Information of past, present, and future
events.--The fortune tellers in comparison with the spirit rappers.
--Spirits unwilling or unable to spell their own names.--Spiritual
communications on the decline.--Contrast between the doings of
ancient and modern spirits.--Swedenborg's information concerning
the spirit of Melancthon.--A clairvoyant interview with Tom Paine.
--Account of an interview with Mr. Sunderland.--Dialogue with a
young lady.--Interview with a clairvoyant medium in Lowell.--Facts
respecting mesmeric operations.--People deceived by "sympathetic
spirits."--Judson J. Hutchinson made insane.--Exposure of the
deception practised upon him.--Davis's account of Benjamin
Franklin.--Dr. Phelps concerning the "spirit rappers."--Singular
developments at his house.--How tables, chairs, &c., are moved by
spirits.--Exhibitions of "chin music" in London.--Singular
transactions in England, as related by Dr. Thomas Dick.--Tricks
performed by Joe Collins of Oxford.--Spirits seen by the votaries
of St. Vitus, and the Shakers of later times. 118
CHAPTER XVI.
EVIL EFFECTS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
Great waste of time.--Ceremonies among the ancients.--Practices
in Catholic countries.--Injurious practices in Protestant
lands.--Dreams, visions, signs, tricks, omens, &c.--Great waste
of human life.--Account of the trial by _ordeal_.--Murder of
innocent persons.--Belief in dreams and forewarnings.--Modern
miracles, appearances of the dead, &c.--Unfavorable influence of
a belief in dreams.--The death watch, new moon, &c.--Predictions
of Nanny Scott.--Of the good Mrs. Taylor.--Marriages on a stormy
day.--Practice of wedded couples.--Moles on the wrong side of the
body.--Opening books, tricks, fortune telling.--Practice of a
lady in a clergyman's family.--Disadvantageous matrimonial
alliances.--Anticipation of dreadful calamities.--Practice of
Rev. John Wesley.--Temperaments of Melancthon and Luther.--Luck,
chance, fatality, &c.--Saul and the witch of Endor.--Conjurers
and impostors.--Injury done to the cause of medicine.--King's
touch in scrofula.--The _ninth_ son of a _ninth_ son.--The
_seventh_ son of a _seventh_ son.--Cure by the cold hands of
a malefactor.--Plaster on a pitchfork; polishing rusty nails.
--A female heart made into pills for consumption.--Heart taken
out of a female in Maine, and in Waltham, Massachusetts, and
made into pills.--Influence of the imagination.--Account of a
Mr. Austin, in Vermont.--His singular mode of healing the sick.
--Account of the celebrated _rain-water_ doctor.--Sketch of an
_astrological_ physician in New York.--Of Valentine Greataks
and Francisco Bagnone.--Momentary relief obtained, and why.--
Injury done to the cause of religion.--Account of the Pharisees,
compared to vipers and toads, and their numerous progeny.--How
we may know a Pharisee.--A young man catechized by our Savior.
--St. Paul once a Pharisee.--Proof.--Customs among the Catholics.
--Practices of many Protestants.--Mistaken views upon religion.
--Views concerning Satan.--Satan _versus_ Cotton Mather.--Professor
Stuart's views concerning the devil.--_Periodical_ revivals
of religion; the cause.--How to have a constant revival. 165
CHAPTER XVII.
BANISHMENT OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
How shall it be effected?--The proper use of our _reasoning
faculties_.--The exercise of our understandings.--Persevering
self-discipline.--Conduct towards believers in ghosts, signs,
&c.--Misconduct in families; trying tricks, &c.--How we should
employ our time.--Belief in an all-wise Providence, as Governor
and Controller of all events.--Importance of a correct education
of youth.--Nursery tales and marvellous stories.--Their baneful
influence.--Correct examples before children.--Superstitious
tales to be avoided.--Attention to the means of education.--
Immense value and importance of knowledge.--No lack of means
to educate the young.--Money foolishly wasted in various ways.
--Perseverance in laudable exertions.--The blessing of Heaven
to crown our labors. 185
PART SECOND.
MIRACLE IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.
Miracle performed by spirits in Springfield, Massachusetts.--Case
of biological deception.--Case of a "writing medium."--Effects
produced by pathetism.--Incident related by Miss Martineau.--
Travelling to other countries, and to other spheres.--Singular
feat by a boy of Dr. Phelps.--Wonderful case of a lady in New
Jersey.--Advice of Hon. Horace Greely.--Testimony of Rev. Dr.
Phelps. 191
PERSONS TRAINED BY A LECTURER ON MAGNETISM. 199
SCENE AT EAST BOSTON.
"Circle" at the house of Mr. Hoyt, at East Boston.--Effects of
vital electricity.--Imitating handwritings, writing poetry, music,
&c. 200
EXTRACT FROM THE PURITAN RECORDER.
Facts related by a gentleman of Maine.--Renunciation of a spirit
rapper.--Murder committed at the instigation of "spirits."--
Conflicting testimony concerning John Thompson.--Experiments
of Mr. Kellogg, the table lifter.--Discovery by Dr. Taylor,
the writing medium.--Renunciation of Mr. Cooley, of Springfield,
Massachusetts.--Attempt to murder a family in Barre, Massachusetts.
--Sacrifice of the innocent in heathen countries.--Great danger
in civilized communities.--Reports concerning the burning of
the Lunatic Asylum in Maine.--Testimony of Professor Stowe.--
Reply of Bingham to Professor Pond.--Singular confessions of the
reviewer.--Intelligence said to be communicated by "spirits."--
Vital electricity of embodied and disembodied spirits. 203
EXTRACT FROM THE HOME JOURNAL.
Star singers, concerts, parties, and lectures in the other
spheres.--Studies of French, Italian, geology, chemistry, drawing,
&c.--Semi-clergymen, outsiders, or come-outers. 215
FORETELLING FUTURE EVENTS.
Prediction concerning the ship Staffordshire.--General Pierce's
election foretold by Professor Anderson's glass bell.--False
predictions of the "spirits."--Error committed by Professor
Lester.--Suggestion of a lady to a sick friend.--Sentiments of
Alexander Pope. 218
VISIONS, MIRACLES, AND WONDERS.
Sights, sounds, signs, miracles, maps, drawings, hieroglyphics.
--Talking cow in Maine.--Her prophecy.--Proposition for _another_
"NEW CHURCH."--Predictions concerning all other churches.--
Opinions three hundred years ago.--Fate of Galileo. 220
CLAIRVOYANT PHYSICIANS.
Prescriptions from the dead.--Power of the imagination.--Wonderful
efficacy of brown bread pills.--Singular cure of palsy, by Sir
Humphrey Davy. 221
STYLE OF "SUPERNAL" COMPOSITIONS.
Fishbough's new work.--Fancy-captivating publications.--Refined
atheism.--Transcendental nonsense.--False communications relating
to patriots, statesmen, orators, and divines.--Mountebank scenes
of "psychology."--Testimony of A. J. Davis, upon the tricks of
the spirit demonstrators.--Concealments, misstatements, and
exaggerations. 223
MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA, WITH THEIR AGENTS OR CAUSES.
Thumping noises in New Jersey.--Door opened as if struck by a
mallet.--Great excitement.--Glass broken, &c.--Knockings heard in
New Hackensack.--Pile of lumber shaken; tables, chairs, stand,
and candlestick thrown about.--Bags of salt, tin ware, and
cooking utensils thrown in a heap.--An English officer haunted by
noises in the night.--Heavy marble top tables poising themselves
on two legs.--Brass door knockers bewitched.--Commotion among
crockery, tin ware, &c.--Firing a gun at noises in the walls.
--Tearing up floor to get at the noises.--Suit brought for
damages.--Bed of a sick girl raised.--Trembling of the house
walls.--Singular pranks in a factory.--Jerking of the frames,
and cylinder thrown at a distance.--Alarm and flight of the
operatives.--A chest with three men, and a man on a tub, taken
up by an invisible power.--A chair broken between two men's
hands.--An image seated on a stool, clad in white.--Visions of
beings like spirits.--Knockings on the walls, and noises in the
air.--A lady suspended by the tips of the fingers, as a magnet
suspends a piece of iron.--Electrical flashes from a lady's
body.--Knockings made to be heard at a distance.--Quotation from
a work by Rev. T. Hill, of Waltham.--Singular developments in New
York.--Freaks of a knob of a door bell.--Fiery flashes, and fiery
smacks, on kissing.--Blows in the mouth from a speaking tube.--
Account of two girls that could move tables without touching them.
--Effects of storms on raising tables.--Electrical circles in
Cincinnati.--Case of a lady in Strasburg.--Power of giving
electrical shocks to persons at a distance.--Singular effects
of the northern lights on a lady. 224
EXPERIMENTS IN BIOLOGY.
Chairs, tables, and persons moved.--Biological table-liftings in
East Boston.--"Mediums," as visible human operators.--Resolve of
the "rappers" at Poughkeepsie.--The unseen agent that moves
tables, beds, &c.--Dancing plates, knives and forks, &c. 264
FACULTY OF IMITATION.
Delivering speeches; imitating orators.--Case related by Walter
Scott.--Case of a man haunted by the devil.--Effects of wine and
heavy eating.--Voice heard by Judge Edmonds.--Lady in Providence
who writes music by "spirits."--Diagram of the spheres, by a lady
in a magnetic state. 268
UNSEEN LETTERS AND SIGNATURES.
Imitating unseen letters, signatures, and languages.--Suspicions
concerning Professor Bush.--Singular feat attributed to spirits.
--No difficulty in raising chairs or tables.--Spirits shown by
Egyptian boys.--Unbelief of practising "mediums."--School
children forbidden to move tables, &c. 273
A DANCING LIGHT.
Dancing light seen in Southboro', Massachusetts.--_Ignis
fatuus_ seen by Dr. Derham.--Corpusants seen by mariners.--
Dampier's account of them. 274
SAILORS' OMENS.
Sailors' omens and superstitions.--Devil's power in stirring up
winds.--Losing a cat overboard, a bucket, or a mop. 276
LOVE CHARMS.
Othello winning Desdemona by conjuration.--Execution of a young
lady for giving a love powder.--Her dying confession.--A charm or
an allay for love. 277
EFFECTS OF A BELIEF IN A GHOST.
Effects of a belief in the reality of ghosts.--Case at the
University at Cambridge.--A student frightened to death. 279
THE INVISIBLE LADY.
The invisible lady in Boston.--The invisible girl in London.--
Joice Heth, the India rubber woman.--Professor Grimes's
discovery among the "rappers."--Mrs. Culver respecting the
Rochester rappers. 280
SORCERERS IN THE EAST.
Persons killed by the enemy's fires.--Singular custom in Java. 281
SINGULAR METAMORPHOSES.
Men turned into tigers by eating a certain root, and turned back
again by eating another.--A tiger-man shot in the woods and
recognized, after having devoured some of his neighbors.--Account
of the wolf mania in Egypt and in Brittany.--A husband that lived
and died a wolf. 282
PERNICIOUS ERRORS RELATING TO HEALTH.
Astrology.--Vegetable oil of swallows, &c.--Cleanliness, diet,
&c.--Ablution.--Ventilation.--Food.--Quality of meats. 284
THE SPIRIT LAND.
INTRODUCTION.
The object of this treatise upon some of the various errors of the past
and present ages is to explain their nature--investigate their
origin--describe their injurious effects--and to offer and recommend
the necessary measures for their banishment. Most persons, even those
who have been well educated, can call to mind the avidity with which,
in their days of childhood, they listened to the nursery tales of
giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches. The effects of these
juvenile impressions are not easily effaced from the mind, and the
impressions themselves are but rarely, if ever, forgotten.
To doubt, in former times, the power of charms, and the veracity of
omens, and ghost stories, was deemed little less than atheism. The
terror caused by them imbittered the lives of persons of all ages. It
either served to shut them out of their own houses, or deterred them
from going abroad after it was dark. The room in which the head of a
family died was for a long time untenanted; particularly if he died
without a will, or was supposed to have entertained any peculiar
religious opinions. If any disconsolate maiden, or love-crossed
bachelor, became the instrument of their own death, the room where the
fatal deed was committed was rendered forever uninhabitable, and not
unfrequently nailed up. If a drunken farmer, returning from market,
fell from his horse, and by the fall broke his own neck, that spot,
ever after, was haunted and impassable. In truth, there was scarcely a
by-lane or cross-way but had its ghost, which appeared in the shape of
a headless cow or horse. Ghosts of a higher degree rode in coaches,
drawn by six headless horses, and driven by a headless coachman. As for
the churchyards, the legitimate habitations of spectres, clothed all in
white, the numbers who swarmed there equalled the living parishioners;
and to pass such a place in the night was more perilous than the
storming of Badajos.
Confuted and ridiculed as these opinions have been, in later days, the
seeds of them are still widely diffused, and at times attempt to spring
up in all their earlier excess. In the year 1832, crowds of men, women,
and children flocked to the village of Waltham, a few miles from
Boston, to see a ghost which was said to make its appearance towards
midnight, walking to and fro in a turf meadow, declaring itself, in
unearthly tones, to be the spirit of a murdered man, whose bones lay in
a mud hole near by. The excitement spread many miles around, and
hundreds from the city and neighboring towns hied to the spot, with
eyes agape, to behold the solemn visitor from the spirit world. And
such was the credulity inspired in the minds of the people, that a
clergyman in the vicinity declared from his pulpit, on the following
Sabbath, that the awful crime of murder had been revealed by the spirit
which had appeared in Waltham! Such is the _excitability_ of the
mind, and its tendency (notwithstanding the light that has been
scattered abroad) to give credence to all the vagaries and nonsense of
the darker ages.
CHAPTER I.
THE ORIGIN OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
Ignorance of correct reasoning has undoubtedly given rise to many
superstitions. Inductive reasoning teaches us to infer general
conclusions from particular facts which have come under our
observation. This definition may be illustrated by an example. You know
that water boils on the application of a certain degree of heat. You
have seen this experiment tried many times without a single failure.
You therefore conclude that water will always boil on the application
of this degree of heat, although you have seen it applied but to a
small portion of the water in creation. Thus you draw this _general_
conclusion from the few _particular_ facts which you have witnessed.
But had you noticed several failures in the trial, your conclusions
would have been doubtful. And if the experiment had failed ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, you would have adopted an opposite conclusion.
You would have said that the application of the specified degree of
heat would not boil water. In this way, logical reasoning leads to the
discovery of truth. Now, apply this principle of sound reasoning to the
whole mass of pretended _signs_. Let me select one to show you the
absurdity of believing in any. It is commonly reported that the
breaking of a looking glass betokens death to some member of the
family. This sign probably originated in the following manner: A death
happened to follow the breaking of a mirror. Some ignorant person
immediately concluded that the breaking of the glass was a sure sign of
death. The story soon spread among credulous people, and at length was
handed down from generation to generation as an established truth. But
you readily perceive the absurdity of forming this _general_ conclusion
from _one_ or a _few_ particular facts. We all know that death does not
follow the supposed sign oftener than once in a hundred times; and
therefore the breaking of the glass is almost a sure sign that no death
will immediately take place in the family. But as mirrors are always
breaking, and people are always dying, it is not strange that the
latter event should sometimes follow the former. It would be a miracle
if it did not. But the events have no connection whatever with each
other. The coincidence in any case is altogether accidental. We might
with the same reason affirm that the breaking of a teakettle is the
sign of death, or any thing else, as the breaking of a mirror. But the
truth is, there is no sign in the case. It first originated in
ignorance of correct reasoning, and has been perpetuated by the
credulous. It is but a short time ago that a girl in Exeter, N.H.,
broke a mirror. She believed that ill luck always followed such an
event and therefore became seriously affected in her mind. Finally, her
strength failed, and she died a victim to her superstition. Hence we
perceive the great importance of a just conception and well-informed
judgment upon such apparently trifling, yet oftentimes serious events,
in their effects upon social and individual happiness.
We have only to apply this principle of correct reasoning to every sign
in existence, to find them to be superstitious. We shall find, upon
investigation, that they are based upon no rational evidence, and
consequently are not entitled to our belief or confidence. If they
indicate any thing, it is something directly opposite to what is
generally supposed, for they do not come to pass more than once in a
hundred times, and therefore warrant a different conclusion. Not only
so. If you believe in the present pretended signs, you may make a
million more equally good. A man quarrels after drinking a glass of
wine; you may therefore say that taking a glass of wine is the sign of
a quarrel. A man draws a prize in a lottery; you may say therefore that
the purchase of a ticket is the sign of a fortune. A man dies after
supper; you may say therefore that eating supper is the sign of death.
In this you may multiply signs to infinity, and they will prove just as
true as any now in existence. But our Creator has endowed us with
understanding. He has given us reason to regulate our belief by
satisfactory evidence. And if we do this, we cannot believe in
_any_ of the pretended signs. We must conclude that they have all
originated in ignorance of correct reasoning, and are kept in
remembrance by those who will not use their intellectual powers as
their Maker designed.