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 CHAPTER VII POLTERGEISTS

ISITATIONS of raps and loud noises, accompanied by the throwing of stones, the ringing of bells, and other disturbances of an inexplicable kind, are from time to time reported by the daily papers as occurring in country villages, and, more rarely, in busy thoroughfares in our large towns. The squire, the parson, and the police constable are called in to investigate, and depart as a rule no wiser than when they came. Mysterious disturbances of the kind have been reported for many centuries. Mr. Lang has cited a case occurring as early as 856 The phenomena, according to the same authority, have as wide a range in space as in time: they extend, literally, from China to Peru; they are found amongst Eskimos, Red Indians, and Malayans, as well as throughout Europe, and conform in most cases to the same general type. Amongst the most interesting cases recorded in our own literature may be mentioned the Drummer of Tedworth (1661) of which an account is given by Glanvil in 'Sadducismus Triumphatus; the disturbances at Epworth Parsonage,

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