That the sounds complained of by these witnesses were mere delusions, there can be no doubt. The actors in such bloody scenes are liable to tremendous recollections. The solitary hours of Charles IX. of France were rendered horrible by the repetition of the shrieks and cries which had assailed his ears during the massacre of St. Bartholomew.[26] When the mind is loaded with a sense of insupportable guilt, partial insanity is at hand; and warning, or reproaching voices distract the feelings of the sufferer.
The appearance of bodies, sitting upright in the water, was no deception, though it contributed by its horror, to the illusions of the ear. This terrific visitation has occasioned much alarm, under similar circumstances, even in modern times. We are told, that after the executions which took place, in the bay of Naples, by order of that court, in 1799, the body of Carraccioli[27] was seen floating, in an erect position, several days after his death, near the vessel on board of which he had suffered. In a certain stage of putrefaction, the bodies of persons which have been immersed in water, rise to the surface, and in deep water, are supported in an erect posture, to the terror of uninstructed spectators. Menacing looks and gestures, and even words, are supplied by the affrighted imagination, with infinite facility, and referred to the horrible apparition. I insert a striking instance from Dr. Clarke. “One day, leaning out of the cabin window, by the side of an officer who was employed in fishing, the corpse of a man, newly sewed in a hammock, started half out of the water, and continued its course, with the current, towards the shore—Nothing could be more horrible: its head and shoulders were visible, turning first to one side, then to the other, with a solemn and awful movement, as if impressed with some dreadful secret of the deep, which, from its watery grave it came upwards to reveal. Such sights became afterwards frequent, hardly a day passing without ushering the dead to the contemplation of the living, until at length they passed without observation.”[28]
Lucian has treated this malady of the mind with his usual severe ridicule, in one of his most entertaining dialogues, the Philopseudes. The stories of the statues, which descended at night from their pedestals, and walked about the court, are well told. But that of the inchanted stick is the best.
Eucrates says, that he became acquainted, in Egypt, with Pancrates, who had resided twenty years in the subterraneous recesses, where he had learned magic from Isis herself. “At length, he persuaded me to leave all my servants at Memphis, and to follow him alone, telling me that we should not be at a loss for servants. When we came into any inn, he took a wooden pin, latch or bolt, and wrapping it in some clothes, when he had repeated a verse over it, he made it walk, and appear a man to every one. This creature went about, prepared supper, laid the cloth, and waited on us very dextrously. Then, when we had no further occasion for it, by repeating another verse, he turned it into a pin, latch or bolt again. He refused to impart the secret of this incantation to me, though very obliging in every thing else. But having hid myself, one day, in a dark corner, I caught the first verse, which consisted of three syllables. After he had given his orders to the pin, he went into the market-place. Next day, in his absence, I took the pin, drest it up, and repeating those syllables, ordered it to fetch some water. When it had brought a full jar, I cried, stop, draw no more water, but be a pin again. But instead of obeying me, it went on bringing water, till it had almost filled the house. I, not able to endure this obstinacy, and fearing the return of Pancrates, lest he should be displeased, seized a hatchet, and split the pin into two pieces. But each part, taking up a jar, ran to draw more water, so that I had now two servants in place of one. In the mean time, Pancrates returned, and understanding the matter, changed them into wood again, as they were before the incantation.” We may fairly apply the Italian saying to this story; si non é vero, é ben trovato.
But there is ghostly authority for the division of a goblin, equal to most of Glanville’s histories, though I cannot now recover, the names of the parties. The relation came to me, however, from a friend of one of the Seers.
Two elderly ladies, resided, each in her ancient castle, adjoining to the other, near the borders of Scotland. While they were beguiling a tedious winter evening, with accounts of their domestic policy, the conversation insensibly turned on the subject of their household ghosts: for at that time, every venerable old mansion had an established resident of that nature, who was as well known as the family-crest.
‘Every evening, said one of the Sybils, I perceive the bust of a man, in one of the rooms, which is distinctly visible, down to the girdle.
‘And we,’ cried the other dame, ‘have the rest of his person in our castle, which perambulates the house every night; till this moment, I could not imagine how the head and shoulders of the figure were disposed of.’
I have thus presented to the reader, those facts which have afforded, to my own mind, a satisfactory explanation of such relations of spectral appearances, as cannot be refused credit, without removing all the limits and supports of human testimony. To disqualify the senses, or the veracity of those who witness unusual appearances, is the utmost tyranny of prejudice. Yet, who, till within the last fifteen years, would have dared to assert that stones fell from the clouds? Livy had regularly recorded such events, and was ridiculed for supplying those most curious facts, which must otherwise have been lost to natural history.
In like manner, I conceive that the unaffected accounts of spectral visions should engage the attention of the philosopher, as well as of the physician. Instead of regarding these stories with the horror of the vulgar, or the disdain of the sceptic, we should examine them accurately, and should ascertain their exact relation to the state of the brain, and of the external senses.