upon so far as the central incident is concerned, even if the details are liable to unconscious embellishment. Moreover, the very nature of the emotion aroused by the incident—as when the death of a dear friend is concerned—may in itself prove the strongest incentive to accuracy. Taken as a whole the reader will probably agree that the narratives here quoted bear on their face the marks of their authenticity: the witnesses in most cases have obviously been restrained in narrating their experiences by a strong sense of responsibility and of reality. And a comparison of the first-hand narratives here quoted with each other, and with the second-hand ghost stories bandied from mouth to mouth in ordinary social intercourse, will suggest that the narrators in the former case are describing with fair accuracy facts of their own experience; and that those facts constitute a true natural group, distinguishable, alike by what they include and by what they do not include, from the mere figments of the story-teller's imagination, whether invented for amusement or for edification.
The narratives which follow are printed as samples, and as samples only, of the evidences accumulated by the Society for Psychical Research. I have as a rule refrained, lest I should weary the reader, from drawing attention to the evidential aspect of the case; and have, for the same reason, presented in most cases only a brief summary of the corroborative testimony. I have endeavoured, however, in all cases, to bring out any evidential
