An Essay on Demonology 5

An Essay on Demonology 5

The dress was decidedly a

_shroud_, as Mrs B. remarked even the punctured pattern worked in a

peculiar manner round the edges of that garment. Mrs B. describes

herself as sensible of a feeling like fascination, compelling her for

a time to gaze on this melancholy apparition, which was as distinct

and vivid as any reflected reality could be; the light of the candles

on the dressing table appearing to shine fully upon it. After a few

minutes she turned round to look for the reality of the form over her

shoulder. It was not, however, visible; and had also disappeared from

the glass when she looked in that direction again. Coupled with the

previous illusions I related to you, this last apparition becomes more

interesting than it would be alone. In the first place, its melancholy

and indeed horrible character, distinguishes it from the others, but

brings it still nearer the ordinary stories of supernatural

visitation. At the same time the possible continuance of such spectral

appearances is highly disagreeable, however firm the lady's nerves,

and however sound her philosophy. 2d. The mind in this case seems not

to have had the remotest influence in raising or dissipating the

illusion. Mrs B. is convinced there was no train of thought previously

passing through her mind, likely to have the slightest association

with the idea of the relative, whose form she suddenly saw with all

the distinctness of reality. 3d. The former illusions might be

supposed ideas of sensation, sounds, or pictures reproduced, with

extraordinary vividness in the same shape and character, in which they

had been perceived by and stored up in the mind. But in this last case

there is a new combination of ideas which never entered the mind in

connexion.

 

'The union of the well known features with the shroud, must have been

a pure effort of, or creation of the mind. There seems, therefore, no

reason why, under the same disposition of the nervous system, any

monstrous creation of the faculty we call imagination might not be

produced to the eyes and other senses; indeed, with all the qualities

that constitute reality, except their endurance, though this should

hardly be excepted, since there can be no reason why the appearances

may not endure, by a continuance of the conditions for days, or

months. I need hardly say that the relative, whose ghost was seen

after so dismal a fashion, was at the time in perfect health. Had it

been otherwise, and the apparition coincided with illness or death, as

has no doubt frequently happened in other instances, our philosophy

would have had to stand a severe trial.'

 

 

 

 

IMAGINATION AND FEAR.

 

 

The influence of the imagination on the nervous system has on some

occasions produced effects bordering on a state of insanity. It

deprives the mind of all correct reasonings, perverts the

understanding with which we are endowed by our Creator to regulate our

belief, guide us in our pursuits, and enable us to trace effects to

their true causes. Instances are not wanting, in which the imagination

has been so highly excited as to produce fatal effects. We have on

record, among others, the story of a German student, who dreamed he

was to die at a certain hour the next day. He immediately made his

will, and prepared himself for the awful event. Every argument was

used to convince him that no dependence is to be put in dreams, but

without shaking his belief, and as the hour approached, he exhibited

the alarming signs of death. He watched the clock with the greatest

anxiety, till his attending physician contrived to place the hands of

the clock beyond the specified hour, when his mind was relieved from

the impression, and he was rejoiced to find that he might still

continue to live in despite of his dream. In another instance, a man

whose nervous system was impaired, and imagination excited, conceived

the extravagant idea, that his legs were made of glass, and would use

no exercise lest he should break them. He was prevailed on, however,

to ride, and the carriage was designedly overset, when he was soon

convinced that his legs were made of the substantial material intended

by nature. A few years since, Elijah Barns of Pennsylvania, killed a

rattlesnake in his field without any injury to himself, and

immediately after put on his son's waistcoat, mistaking it for his

own, both being of one color. He returned to his house, and on

attempting to button his waistcoat, he found to his astonishment that

it was much too small. His imagination was now wrought to a high

pitch, and he instantly conceived the idea that he had been bitten

imperceptibly by the snake, and was thus swollen from its poison. He

grew suddenly very ill, and took to his bed. The family in great alarm

and confusion summoned three physicians, and the usual remedies were

prescribed and administered. The patient, however, grew worse and

worse every minute, until at length his son came home with his

father's waistcoat dangling about him. The mystery was instantly

unfolded, and the patient being relieved from his imaginary

apprehensions, dismissed his physicians, and was restored to health.

 

The philosophy of mind is a study of peculiar interest, and after all

our powers of research are exhausted, numerous phenomena will remain

inexplicable. Indeed our mental faculties are continually overwhelmed

with things inexplicable. We too often embrace for substantial truths

mere phantoms, which vanish into air, and leave the mind to deplore

its own imbecility. While superstition weakens our moral virtues, and

the influence of imagination deludes our intellectual powers, the

passion of fear has a pernicious and even a hazardous tendency. It is

the passion, which most of all others, exerts its effects directly on

the heart; on some occasions, it produces instant death, and in

numerous instances, it lays a foundation for a chronic disease of that

vital organ, which, after a long duration of distressing complaints,

has a fatal termination. Not long since, an instance was published,

of a child having died of a disease of the heart, in consequence of a

fright received by being thrown upwards and caught in its fall for

amusement.

 

Few persons are aware of the extreme danger of sudden fright on timid

minds. The most melancholy consequences have on some occasions

resulted from stratagems with effigies, representing apparitions for

innocent and momentary amusement. Instances are not wanting of a total

loss of intellect during life, from such inexcusable folly. Parents

and nurses should carefully avoid imbuing the minds of children with

idle stories of ghosts and apparitions. The following facts, selected

from numerous others, will illustrate the effects of terror on the

mind. In a poor-house in Haerlem, a girl was seized with a convulsive

disorder, which returned in regular paroxysms; not long after, another

was taken, and others in succession, till all the boys and girls in

the house were affected in a similar manner. The medical prescriptions

failed to perform a cure. At length the celebrated Dr Boerhaave,

ascribing the occurrences to the habit of imitation, ordered several

furnaces to be placed in the chamber. Over the burning coals a number

of crooked irons were laid, and the doctor ordered his attendants to

burn the arm of the first child, who should be seized in a fit, even

to the bone. This alarming remedy produced the desired effect; their

imagination was overpowered by the force of fear, and not a case of

the kind again occurred. In a family of six children, one of them was

afflicted with convulsive affections; all the others exhibited the

symptoms of the same disorder, by imitation. No remedy could remove

the extraordinary affection, till the father placed a block and an axe

in their view, and declared that he would decapitate the first one who

should exhibit any more gestures, except the first one taken. By this

expedient, all imitation and imaginary feelings were overcome, and the

five last were happily delivered from the nervous agitations. With

respect to the appearance of ghosts and apparitions, it cannot be

doubted, but many of the reports found on record, or repeated by

tradition, were mere illusions of imagination, or fictions, contrived

solely to amuse, or to answer some particular purpose; and too many

have been the dupes of implicit faith, without examining the affair

with that jealous attention which it required. It is not improbable,

that in many instances, hobgoblin stories may be explained by the

deceptive powers of ventriloquism. We have had auricular demonstration

of the extraordinary powers of ventriloquists; they can counterfeit

the voices of animals and all imaginable noises, at pleasure, and

conjure up a ghost or witch on any occasion. Although ventriloquism

was not practised, as an art, in ancient times, it was not unknown,

and individuals possessing that faculty might have put it in

operation, on particular occasions, without suspicion. In most cases

of supposed apparitions and spectres, the reports originated with

timorous and credulous persons, or those of questionable character.

The scene is always exhibited in the night, when the eye is prepared

to see frightful spectres, and the imagination is awaked to magnify

every object, whether real or unreal.

 

'All things are full of horror and affright,

And dreadful even the silence of the night.'

 

The darkness of the night, the gloom and horror produced by the

report of haunted houses, or some disastrous occurrence, as murder or

robbery in a particular situation, and a state of mind naturally

depressed and melancholy, have doubtless contributed to give a

currency to many of those legendary stories which have been

credulously received and disseminated by the vulgar. Those,

especially, who are trembling with a guilty conscience, are liable to

deception; even the most intrepid have been alarmed, when in the

night, posts, trees, and other objects, have been presented in a

distorted form. We are familiar with the story of the frightened

person, who, on passing a church-yard in the night, conceited that he

saw a ghost clothed in white; but on examination it proved to be no

other than a white horse. A few years ago, Dr Stearns was travelling

from Boston to Salem in the evening, having a considerable sum of

money about him. He suffered himself to be strongly impressed with the

apprehension of being robbed. While his mind was wrought up to the

highest pitch, he imagined that a robber approached him with a club

suspended over his head, and demanded his money. He instantly took

out his pocket book and threw it on the ground, and in great affright

drove off with all speed. Having procured assistance and lights, they

visited the spot in search of the robber, when to their surprise they

found a pump standing near the road, having its handle turned upwards,

and the doctor's pocket book instead of being in the hands of a

robber, was found lying beside the pump.

 

Were all the supposed apparitions and spectres to be met with the

intrepidity displayed in the following instance, ghost stories would

seldom be repeated. About the latter part of the last century, a Mr

Blake, of Hingham, Massachusetts, was passing the church-yard in the

night, when he saw an object in human form, clothed in white, sitting

near an open tomb. Resolving to satisfy himself, he walked toward it.

The form moved as he approached, and endeavored to elude his pursuit;

when he ran, the object ran before him, and after turning in different

directions, descended into the tomb. Mr Blake followed, and there

found a woman, who was in a deranged state of mind, who had covered

herself with a sheet, and was roaming among the silent tombs.

 

The passion of fear is implanted in our nature for wise purposes. It

prompts us to self defence and the avoidance of evil. It is excited

into action by various causes, depending on the condition of the

nerves in different constitutions, or in the same at different times.

But when extended to imaginary objects of terror, fear becomes

superstition, as by a sort of instinct, and has a direct tendency to

cherish ignorance and credulity. Dr Franklin had no faith in

apparitions and spectres, but he proposed to a friend, that the one

which should die first, should return in spirit and visit the

survivor; his friend died first, but his spirit never returned. The

strong mind of Dr Samuel Johnson was not altogether free from

agitation and embarrassment, when contemplating the question of the

appearance of incorporeal spirits in our world. This great man said to

Mr Boswell, his biographer, 'it is wonderful that 5000 years have now

elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided

whether or not there has ever been an instance, in modern times, of

the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is

against it, but all belief is for it.' Boswell suggested, as an

objection, that if spirits are in a state of happiness, it would be a

punishment to them to return to this world; and if they are in a state of misery, it would be giving them a respite.