Category: Philosophy & Ethics
MOST persons are aware that the Greeks and Romans entertained certain notions regarding the state of the soul, or the immortal part of man, after the death of the body, which have been generally held to be purely mythological. Many of them doubtless are so, and of these I am n...
EVERYBODY has heard of haunted houses; and there is no country, and scarcely any place, in which something of the sort is not known or talked of; and I suppose there is no one w...
16. CHAPTER XVI.WITH regard to the so-called _hauntings_, referred to in the preceding chapter, there seems reason to believe that the invisible guest was formerly a dweller upon earth, in the...
9. CHAPTER IX.THE number of stories on record, which seem to support the views I have suggested in my last chapter, is, I fancy, little suspected by people in general; and still less is it im...
10. CHAPTER X.IN all ages of the world, and in all parts of it, mankind have earnestly desired to learn the fate that awaited them when they had “shuffled off this mortal coil;” and those pre...
6. CHAPTER VI.AMONG the phenomena of the dream-life which we have to consider, that of double-dreaming forms a very curious department. A somewhat natural introduction to this subject may be...
5. CHAPTER V.THIS comparison between the power of presentiment in a human being and the instincts of an animal, may be offensive to some people; but it must be admitted, that, as far as we c...
14. CHAPTER XIV.IN commencing another chapter, I take the opportunity of repeating what I have said before, viz., that in treating of these phenomena, I find it most convenient to assume what I...
15. CHAPTER XV.WITH regard to the appearance of ghosts, the frequency of haunted houses, presentiments, prognostics, and dreams, if we come to inquire closely, it appears to me that all parts...
8. CHAPTER VIII.IN the instances detailed in the last chapter, the apparition has shown itself, as nearly as could be discovered, at the moment of dissolution; but there are many cases in which...
17. CHAPTER XVII.IN a former chapter, I alluded to the forms seen floating over graves, by Billing, Pfeffel’s amanuensis. By some persons, this luminous form is seen only as a light, just as occ...
12. CHAPTER XII.A VERY curious circumstance, illustrative of the power of will, was lately narrated to me by a Greek gentleman, to whose uncle it occurred. His uncle, Mr. M——, was some years ag...
7. CHAPTER VII.SUCH instances as that of Lady Fanshawe, and other similar ones, certainly seem to favor the hypothesis that the spirit is freed from the body when the latter becomes no longer...
3. CHAPTER III.TO begin with the most simple—or rather, I should say, the most ordinary—class of phenomena, for we can scarcely call that simple, the mystery of which we have never been able t...
4. CHAPTER IV.IT has been the opinion of many philosophers, both ancient and modern, that in the original state of man, as he came forth from the hands of his Creator, that knowledge which is...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.OF the power of the mind over matter, we have a remarkable example in the numerous well-authenticated instances of the _stigmata_. As in most cases this phenomenon has been conn...
11. CHAPTER XI.THE power, be it what it may, whether of dressing up an ethereal visible form, or of acting on the constructive imagination of the seer, which would enable a spirit to appear “i...
1. CHAPTER I.MOST persons are aware that the Greeks and Romans entertained certain notions regarding the state of the soul, or the immortal part of man, after the death of the body, which ha...
2. CHAPTER II.IT is almost needless to observe, that the Scriptures repeatedly speak of man as a tripartite being, consisting of spirit, soul, and body: and that, according to St. Paul, we ha...