The Virginia Gazette

Of Spectres and Apparitions

Some are over-credulous in these Stories, others sceptical and distrustful, and a third Sort perfectly insensible. Mr. Locke assures So being ask'd, How a Spirit, that never was embodied, can form to us, we have as clear an Idea of Spirit, as of Body: But if it itself a Body, and come up into a World where it has no Right of Residence, and have all its Organs perfected at once; or how a Spirit, once embodied, but now in a separate State, can take up its Carc ass out of the Grave, sufficiently repaired, and make many Resurrections before the last; or how the Dead can counterfeit their own Bodies, and make to themselves an Image of themselves; by what Ways and Means, since Miracles ceas'd, this Transformation can be effected; by whose Leave and Permission, or by what Power and Authority, or with what wise Design, and for what great Ends and Purposes all this is done, we cannot easily imagine; and the Divine and Philosopher together will find it very difficult to resolve such Questions.

Before the Christian Era, some Messages from the other World might be of Use, if not necessary, in some Cases, and on some extraordinary Occasions; but since that Time we want no new, nor can have any surer Informations.

As for the great Evil Spirit, 'tis his Interest to be mask'd or invisible. Among his own sworn Vasals, and upon certain Days of State and Solemnity, he may allow himself to appear in Dignity at a publick Paw-wawing (which is attested by a whole Cloud of Travellers) with all the Terrors necessary to confirm his Worshippers in their abject and implicit Slavery: But there is no Instance of his Appearing among us, except what is produc'd by the learned Echard, at a Time when our Country was hardly Christian, and to a Man in such a close Alliance with him, that it was reasonable to suppose, two such dear and intimate Friends should every now and then contrive to have a personal Meeting and Conference.

Some Ghosts and Spectres owe their Existence to a timorous or distempered Imagination, in the Midst of a dark and gloomy Interval; others take their Rise from the reciprocal Pleasure of deluding, and of being deluded: And for the rest, we must impute them to the early Errors of Infancy, and a motley Mixture of the low and vulgar Education: Mothers and Grandmothers, Aunts and Nurses, begin the Cheat, and from little Horrors and hideous Stories of Bugbears, Mormoes and Fairies, Raw-head and Bloody Bones, Walking Lights, Will-a Whisps and Hobgoblings, they train us up by Degrees to the Belief of a more substantial Ghost and Apparition. Thus instructed, or thus imposed upon, we begin to listen to the old legendary and traditional Accounts of local Ghosts, which, like the Genii of the Ancients, have been reported, Time immemorial, to haunt certain particular Family-Seats, and Cities, famous for their Antiquity and Decays. Of this Sort are the Apparitions that are Natives and Denizens of Verulam, Silchester, Reculver, and Rochester; the Dæmon of Tedworth, the Black Dog of Winchester, and the Bargest of York.

From hence we proceed to many other Extravagancies of the same Kind, and give some Share of Credit to the out-lying Night-Walkers and suburban Ghosts, rais'd by petty Printers, and Half-Penny Pamphleteers.

The Apparition of Madam Veal, because it recommends the Original Author, Mon. Drelincourt, and his elaborate Discourse upon Death, to all Readers, must therefore be of singular Use to the Translator as well as the Editor: And there are many others, of which no Account can be given but from Trick and Design, to promote some Temporal Interest; as, to bring a hard-mouth'd Malefactor to Confession; to oblige an unrelenting Parent to be reconcil'd to a Son or Daughter; or to sink the Rents of a House: And some Houses are said to be haunted just as some old Women are said to be Witches, only because they are squalid and uncouth, dilapidated and out of Repair.

But when we come to read of the Ghost of Sir George Villers, of the Piper of Hamelin, the Dæmon of Moscow, or of the famous German Colonel, mention'd by the Sieur Ponti, and see the great Names of Clarendon, Boyle, &c. affixed to these Accounts, we begin to find Reasons for our Credulity, 'til at last we are convinc'd by a whole Conclave of Ghosts, met together in the Works of a Glanvill or a Moreton.

Various Methods are proposed by the Learned for the Laying of Ghosts. Artificial ones are easily quieted, if we only take them for real and substantial Beings, and proceed accordingly. Thus, when a Fryar, personating an Apparition, haunted the Apartment of the late Emperor Joseph; the present King Augustus, then at the Imperial Court, flung him out of the Window, and laid him upon the Pavement so effectually, that he never rose or appear'd again.

I shall conclude with a memorable Conference between the late Dr. Fowler, Bishop of Gloucester, and the late Mr. Justice Powell; the former a zealous Defender of Ghosts, and the latter somewhat sceptical about them. They had had several Altercations upon the Subject; and once when the Bishop made a Visit to the Justice, the latter contracting the muscles of his Face into an Air of more than usual Severity, assur'd the Bishop that since their last Disputation, besides his Lordship's strong Reasons, he had met with no less Proof than ocular Demonstration to convince him of the real Existence of Ghosts. How! (says the Bishop) ocular Demonstration? Well I have preach'd, I have printed upon the Subject; but nothing will convince you Scepticks but ocular Demonstration. I'm glad, Mr. Justice, you are become a Convert: But pray, Sir, how went this Affair? I beseech you, let me know the whole Story. My Lord, (answers the Justice) as I lay one Night in my Bed, and had gone thro the better Half of my first Sleep, it being about Twelve; on a sudden I was wak'd by a very strange and uncommon Noise, and heard something coming up Stairs, and stalking directly towards my Room. I had the Courage to rouze myself upon my Pillow, and to draw the Curtain just as I heard my Chamber Door open, and saw a faint glimmering Light enter my Chamber. Of a blue Colour, no doubt, (says the Bishop). Of a pale Blue (answers the Justice). But give me your Favour, my good Lord! the Light was followed by a tall, meagre, and stern Personage, who seem'd to be of the Age of Seventy, in a long dangling Rug Gown, bound round his Loins with a broad Leather Girdle: His Beard was thick and grisly; he had a large Fur Cap on his Head, and a long Staff in his Hand; his Face was full of Wrinkles, and seem'd to be of a dark and sable Hue. I was struck with the Appearance of so surprizing a Figure, and felt some Shocks which I had never before been acquainted with Soon after the Spectre had entered my Room, with a hasty, but somewhat stately Pace, it drew near my Bed, and star'd me full in the Face. And did you not speak to it? (interrupted the Bishop, with a good deal of Emotion). With Submission, my Lord (says the Justice) and please to indulge me only in a few Words more. But Mr. Justice / Mr. Justice / (replies the Bishop still more hastily) you should have spoken to it: There was Money hid, or Murder committed; and give me Leave to observe, that Murder is a Matter cognizable by Law, and this came regularly into Judgment before you. Well, my Lord, you will have your Way; but in short I did speak to it. And what Answer, Mr. Justice, I pray you, What Answer did it make you? My Lord, the Answer was, not without a Thump with the Staff, and a Shake of the Lanthorn, That he was a Watchman of the Night, and came to give me Notice, that he had found the Street Door open; and that unless I rose and shut it, I might chance to be robb'd before Break of Day The Moment these Words were out of the good Judge's Mouth, the Bishop vanish'd with much more Haste than did the suppos'd Ghost, and in as great a Surprize at the Justice's Scepticism, as the Justice was in at the Bishop's Credulity.