Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/232

 CHAPTER X PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD

N the next two chapters it is proposed to pass in review those spontaneous apparitions—"ghosts" warning dreams, haunted houses—which have been held in all ages to indicate the presence of the dead. We have already in previous chapters considered some instances in which the apparition approximately coincided with the death of the person represented, and have seen that in such a case the vision may reasonably be interpreted as originating in the mind of a still living agent. Further we have seen that in some cases where it can be clearly proved that the vision occurred some hours after the death, we should yet not be justiﬁed in assuming the agency of the dead. After all reasonable deductions have, however, been made, there will be found to remain a considerable number of well-attested apparitions which prima facie refer rather to the dead than to the living. The simplest case of all is that in which the fact of the death is announced by dream, vision, or inner voice before the news could have reached the percipient by normal means, but at such an interval after the death as to make the 212