It rushed noiselessly down the steps, and, brushing swiftly past me, vanished in the furthest corner of the cellar.
Feeling that nothing more would happen now, I ascended the steps, and after a final and brief survey of the premises, walked home, feeling convinced that the phenomena I had experienced were due to a Vice Elemental attracted to the house by a murder that had once been committed there, the body of the victim being interred in one of the cellars.
I was not able to visit the house again, and the owner, though acknowledging that what I had seen and heard was a recognised feature of the hauntings, refused to disclose anything further.
PART IV.
CHAPTER VI.
SUGGESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES.
In accordance with a general opinion, which is unquestionably correct, it would be extremely ridiculous to dogmatise on a subject so open to controversy as Psychic Phenomena, hence my statements must not be regarded in any sense as arbitrary; they are merely views based on a certain amount of actual experience.
PHANTASMS.
A phantasm, in my opinion, is a phenomena that cannot be explained by any physical laws. It is an objective—something, that can materialise and dematerialise at will, that can sometimes emit sounds, sometimes move material objects, and sometimes (though rarely) commit acts of physical violence on material objects. It can produce various sensations on living material bodies, whilst it is, in itself, though sometimes sensible and rational, as far as we know, always insensible to physical action. It can adopt a variety of different forms, and, being subject to no limitations of space and time, it can pass through opaque objects in any place and at any time.
CLASSIFICATION OF PHANTASMS.
Without any attempt at an exhaustive classification (which is, of course, impossible), I have divided the different kinds of phantasms that have come within my experience as follows:—Phantasms of the Dead, Phantasms of the Living, and Elementals, and since I have defined each of these species in another of my works, it will be sufficient for me to say here, that by Phantasms of the Dead, I mean the phantasms of every form of life that has inhabited a material body, whether human, animal, or vegetable, for I maintain that there is a spirit in everything that lives; that by Phantasms of the Living, I mean the superphysical counterpart of a living material body that can, under certain conditions not at present fully known, leave that body and manifest itself at any distance away from that body, either visually or auditorially; and that by Elementals, I mean all spirits that have never inhabited any material body.