Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/292

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272
Haunted Houses

ments in thought transference. Instances were observed of terror and other unaccountable behaviour on the part of two dogs, which suggested that they also saw the ghost.

This narrative, it should be explained, cannot be taken as altogether typical. The appearances of the figure were much more frequent than is commonly the case in what may conveniently be called "haunted houses." The figure itself was more substantial-looking and more distinctly seen than many of the figures described in narratives of this class. But it is by the persistence of the apparition in this instance, its movement from place to place, and its apparently purposive action, that the case is most sharply distinguished from the bulk of the accounts furnished to us. It is possible that these very characteristics are due to the same cause which has preserved a contemporary record of the incidents, viz., the scientific temper and training of Miss Morton, who was actually studying medicine at the time when she wrote the account.

However that may be, in the ordinary ghost story, of which we have, as said, numerous examples recorded at first hand, the figure is as a rule seen only for a few moments, vanishing before it can be closely examined; it rarely indicates any purpose, or makes any motion indicative of intelligence. A more significant point is that in very few cases can we be satisfied that the figures seen by the different witnesses can fairly be described as the same figure. The details have in most cases