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HISTORIC GHOSTS

AND

GHOST HUNTERS




HISTORIC GHOSTS

AND

GHOST HUNTERS

BY

H. ADDINGTON BRUCE

_Author of "The Riddle of Personality"_

NEW YORK

MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY

1908




_Copyright_, 1908, _by_

MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY

NEW YORK

***

_Published, September, 1908_


_The Plimpton Press Norwood Mass. U.S.A._




To

THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND

JOHN J. HENRY




CONTENTS


                                                  PAGE

        PREFACE                                     ix

     I. THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN                         1

    II. THE DRUMMER OF TEDWORTH                     17

   III. THE HAUNTING OF THE WESLEYS                 36

    IV. THE VISIONS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG           56

     V. THE COCK LANE GHOST                         81

    VI. THE GHOST SEEN BY LORD BROUGHAM            102

   VII. THE SEERESS OF PREVORST                    120

  VIII. THE MYSTERIOUS MR. HOME                    143

    IX. THE WATSEKA WONDER                         171

     X. A MEDIEVAL GHOST HUNTER                    198

    XI. GHOST HUNTERS OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY      216




PREFACE


The following pages represent in the main a discussion of certain
celebrated mysteries, as viewed in the light of the discoveries set
forth in the writer's earlier work "The Riddle of Personality."

That dealt, it may briefly be recalled, with the achievements of those
scientists whose special endeavor it is to illumine the nature of human
personality. On the one hand, it reviewed the work of the
psychopathologists, or investigators of abnormal mental life; and, on
the other hand, the labors of the psychical researchers, those
enthusiastic and patient explorers of the seemingly supernormal in human
experience. Emphasis was laid on the fact that the two lines of inquiry
are more closely interrelated than is commonly supposed, and that the
discoveries made in each aid in the solution of problems apparently
belonging exclusively in the other.

To this phase of the subject the writer now returns. The problems under
examination are, all of them, problems in psychical research: yet, as
will be found, the majority in no small measure depend for elucidation
on facts brought to light by the psychopathologists. Of course, it is
not claimed that the last word has here been said with respect to any
one of these human enigmas. But it is believed that, thanks to the
knowledge gained by the investigations of the past quarter of a century,
approximately correct solutions have been reached; and that, in any
event, it is by no means imperative to regard the phenomena in question
as inexplicable, or as explicable only on a spiritistic basis.

Before attempting to solve the problems, it manifestly was necessary to
state them. In doing this the writer has sought to present them in a
readable and attractive form, but without any distortion or omission of
material facts.

                                               H. ADDINGTON BRUCE.

BROOKLINE, N. H., July, 1908.




I

THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN


Loudun is a small town in France about midway between the ancient and
romantic cities of Tours and Poitiers. To-day it is an exceedingly
unpretentious and an exceedingly sleepy place; but in the seventeenth
century it was in vastly better estate. Then its markets, its shops, its
inns, lacked not business. Its churches were thronged with worshipers.
Through its narrow streets proud noble and prouder ecclesiastic, thrifty
merchant and active artisan, passed and repassed in an unceasing stream.
It was rich in points of interest, preeminent among which were its
castle and its convent. In the castle the stout-hearted Loudunians found
a refuge and a stronghold against the ambitions of the feudal lords and
the tyranny of the crown. To its convent, pleasantly situated in a grove
of time-honored trees, they sent their children to be educated.

It is to the convent that we must turn our steps; for it was from the
convent that the devils were let loose to plague the good people of
Loudun. And in order to understand the course of events, we must first
make