Belief and Teaching of the Roman Catholic
Church--Instructions to Ecclesiastics in reference to
Demons--Swedenborg's Intercourse with Spirits--Marcus
Brutus and his Evil Genius--Cassius and Julius Caesar's
Ghost at Philippi--Phantom Soldiers and
Horses--Plutarch on Spectres--Socrates on the same
subject--Archbishop Bruno and the Spectre--A Haunted
House--A Child's Ghost--Spectre at Sea--Ghost of a
Murdered Man in New South Wales--A Haunted House--A
Spectre at Sea.
The belief and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church lead to a
conviction that there are many evil spirits who act on men immediately
by forming in the imagination representations and phantasies of an
evil nature. The subjects of Satan, on whom his tyranny is chiefly
exercised, are those who wilfully come under the empire of the prince
of darkness, such as magicians, sorcerers, and persons who have
renounced their baptism.
In a summary of instructions for the guidance of ecclesiastics,
entitled _De Instructione Sacerdotum_, which appeared about the middle
of the seventeenth century, we find in substance the following:--
"Magic is produced by the power of demons. In reality
there is no power existing in the magician, for the
effects are produced by the devil at the command of
the magician. In the first place, demons produce
effects by transferring bodies with great rapidity
from one place to another. For they have power over
all inferior things, natural and artificial, in this
respect; and, moreover, they are endowed with
wonderful agility, which enables them to pass in an
instant from one place to another, however remote.
Secondly, demons produce effects by the occult
application of natural causes, and by accelerating
their actions, for their knowledge is incredible. They
understand the nature and properties of everything in
the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds, and they
know where everything is. Hence they sometimes produce
trees, fruits, and animals in an incredibly short
space of time. They often effect cures by the occult
use of medicines, or by entering the body and
expelling evil humours. Thirdly, they perform
prodigies by acting on the senses. The compacts
between the demons and magicians are based upon
engagements mutually entered into. The magician
promises to obey the demon, and the demon, on his
part, promises to work for him and at his bidding. The
compact is sometimes entered into with great
solemnity, with the demon seated on a throne,
surrounded by a host of evil spirits, as attendants
and witnesses."
Swedenborg entertained the conviction that the world of spirits held
communion with certain favoured persons in this life; and up to the
period of his death, in the year 1772, he pretended to have
intercourse with spirits of celestial origin and those of deceased
men. Swedenborg frequently narrated the wonders of other worlds, and
particularly those of the infernal regions.
There are endless accounts of spirits appearing to men on earth. Here
are a few of them:--Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius
Caesar, being one night in his tent, saw a monstrous figure coming in
about the third hour of night. Brutus immediately cried out, "What art
thou, a man or a god? and why art thou come hither?" The spectre
answered, "I am thy evil genius; thou shalt see me at Philippi."
Brutus, with feigned calmness, answered, "I will meet thee there."
Disordered, however, in body, and disturbed in mind, Brutus related
the affair to Cassius, who, being of the sect of Epicurus, told Brutus
that what he supposed he saw was nothing more than mere fancy; that
there were no such things as genii or other spirits which could appear
to man; that even if they should appear, they could not assume a human
shape or voice, and had no power over men. Though Brutus was somewhat
encouraged by what Cassius said, he could not entirely overcome his
uneasiness. In the midst of the battle of Philippi, Brutus thought he
saw Julius Caesar, whom he had assassinated, riding to him at full
speed, which so terrified him that he fell upon his own sword. Cassius
also fell there under the hand of his freedman Pindarus.
Pausanius writes that, four hundred years after the battle of
Marathon, there were heard, in the place where it was fought, the
neighing of horses, and the shouts of soldiers animating one another
to the fight. Plutarch also speaks of spectres seen and dreadful
howlings heard in the public baths, where several citizens of
Ch[oe]ronea, his native town, had been murdered. He says that the
inhabitants had been obliged to shut up these baths, but that,
notwithstanding this precaution, great noises continued to be heard,
and dreadful spectres were frequently seen by the neighbours. Plutarch
frequently makes mention of spectres and apparitions; particularly he
says, that, in the famous battle above alluded to, several soldiers
saw the apparition of Theseus fighting for the Greeks and against the
Persians.
It is recorded in Socrates, that after the defeat of the Athenian army
under the praetor Laches, as he was flying in company with the Athenian
general, and came to a place where several roads met, he refused to go
the same road that the others took, and the reason being asked him, he
answered that his genius, or familiar spirit, who frequently attended
him, dissuaded him from it; and the event justified the precaution,
for all those who went a different way from him were killed or made
prisoners by the enemy's cavalry.
When Bruno, Archbishop of Wirtzburgh, a short time before his sudden
death, was sailing with Henry III., he descried a terrific spectre
standing upon a rock which overhung the foaming waters, by whom he was
thus hailed; "Ho! bishop, I am thy evil genius. Go whither thou
choosest, thou art and shalt be mine. I am not now sent for thee, but
soon thou shalt see me again."
A house at Athens was haunted by a spirit which roamed through the
apartments at night, seemingly dragging a heavy chain after it.
Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired the house, with the intention of
discovering the cause of so much alarm to the inmates. One night,
while pursuing his studies, he was startled by hearing what seemed to
be the rattling of chains. On looking up he beheld a spectre enter his
apartment and make a sign to him to follow. The philosopher rose and
followed the ghost, which went into the courtyard and disappeared. The
philosopher marked the spot where the spectre vanished, and on the
following day caused a search to be made. The result was that the
skeleton of a man in chains was discovered. The bones were publicly
burned, and the ghost never again appeared.
A lady, while going along a dreary path one evening to see a sick
child, was frightened by a strange sight before her. The mysterious
object represented her friend's child dead, and wrapt in its winding
sheet, floating up in the air heavenwards. It is almost needless to
say that just about that time the sick child died.
Many years ago, when a ship of war was one night off the African
coast, the officer on watch became deeply affected in a manner he
could not explain, and became partially insensible, and could not
rouse himself before a cold hand touched him. He then beheld a white
figure walking away. It turned round, and in the face he beheld the
features of a brother in England. The spectre, after remaining a few
seconds, vanished. On arriving in Great Britain, the officer
discovered that his brother died on the very night he saw the
apparition.
A ghost story was related for the first time about twenty years ago,
of the ghost of a murdered man appearing in the colony of New South
Wales. A farmer named Fisher, in the prime of life and unmarried,
suddenly disappeared, leaving L4000 worth of property behind him. A
neighbour called Smith reported that Fisher had gone to England, and
that he was authorized to act for him in all business matters during
his absence. The statement was received as a fact; but a strange
circumstance changed public opinion. An old man named Ben Weir, who
had a small farm near that of Fisher, was returning home one night
from Sydney, when he beheld farmer Fisher with a severe wound on the
forehead, and blood flowing from it. When Weir got within a few paces
of the figure, it disappeared. He could not rightly comprehend the
meaning of all this, and did not mention what he had seen, lest his
neighbours would say he had been drunk. A few nights afterwards he had
occasion to pass the spot where Fisher had appeared, and there again
the farmer stood before him as before. Weir could not now remain
silent. He went to a justice of the peace and told his tale. At first
the justice would not credit his informant, but subsequently he
instructed an inquiry to be made. Marks of blood were discovered at
the spot where the ghost appeared, and in a pond, a little distance
off, Fisher's dead body was found. Smith was consequently arrested,
and tried before the late Sir Francis Forbes. His guilt was
established, and he was sentenced to death. Before his execution he
confessed that he alone had murdered Fisher at the very spot where
Weir saw the murdered man's ghost.
An account is given of a house that was haunted at Bow last century. A
young girl declared one morning that a cold hand had been laid on her
about midnight. This proved to be the hand of death. She sickened, and
before many suns went down she lay in her winding sheet. Then followed
a series of strange annoyances, which gave rise to the report that the
house was haunted. So dreadfully were the inmates frightened, that
though the house contained many apartments upstairs and downstairs,
they took refuge in a small room on the ground floor. Night and day
strange noises were heard, and furniture and other articles were flung
about by unseen hands. A gentleman, a friend of the family, hearing of
what was going on, engaged to solve the mystery. Entering an apartment
upstairs, he observed the furniture moving about the floor, although
no living being could be seen. Stones and bricks were thrown through
the window; a staff danced round the room; dishes were thrown at his
head. He examined every hole and corner, but could not discover any
person or thing by which the articles were made to move. Fearing the
presence of evil spirits, he hastened out, closing the door after him.
It was instantly opened, and chairs, stools, candlesticks, and dishes
were hurled after him. The worst had not come. While all the family
were standing in amazement, a small boiler with hot water moved from
one side of the grate to the other, the poker and tongs stood up and
exchanged places, the pots and pans clattered loudly, and a small
table was lifted into the air. A witch residing in the neighbourhood
being suspected of causing the mischief, a noted wizard undertook to
solve the mystery. He ordered the dancing staff to be burned. When it
was blazing up, a suspected witch entered in great agony. She asked
for a drink of water to quench her burning thirst. Those cognisant of
the facts concluded that the perpetrator of the mischief was
discovered. She was apprehended, tried, and acquitted for want of
sufficient evidence. As she left the court she was heard to mutter, "I
shall be revenged." She kept her word. The following night, the
annoyance, which had ceased during her incarceration, recommenced with
double fury. The inmates of the house, who had previously escaped
without bodily injury, were struck by invisible persons, who, as often
as they dealt their blows, shouted, "Take that;" while at the same
time the furniture was knocked against the walls and broken to pieces.
The inmates fled for their lives, and the house was shut up for many
years, none daring to occupy the haunted house.
A young man at sea was alarmed, one night, to see an apparition of his
mother standing before him. She delivered a message concerning family
business. So frightened was he that he could not reply or put any
questions to the spirit, although he earnestly desired to speak. After
delivering the message, the apparition slowly retired, went over the
ship's bulwarks, dropped gently into the sea, and floated away. The
last glimpse he had of the unearthly figure was on the crest of a wave
near the vessel's stern. On his return home he learned that his mother
had died at the time he had seen her ghost. What was more strange, she
left a message for him similar to that which the apparition delivered.
On his next voyage the young man told his companions that on the
previous night he had seen his mother floating in the water like a
mermaid, and that she had made a sign for him to come to her. Next
night a storm arose; the ship was in great danger, the decks were
swept, and the young man was washed away. His last words were,
"Mother, I come."