Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
303
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
73
As
a
rule,
not
very
much
is
seen
of
a
ghost;
he
is
"something
of
a
shadowy
being".
Yet
we
very
seldom
hear
of
a
ghost
stark
naked;
that
of
Sergeant
Davies,
murdered
in
1749,
is
one
of
three
or
four
examples
in
civilised
life.
{69b}
Hence
arises
the
old
question,
"How
are
we
to
account
for
the
clothes
of
ghosts?"
One
obvious
reply
is
that
there
is
no
ghost
at
all,
only
a
hallucination.
We
do
not
see
people
naked,
as
a
rule,
in
our
dreams;
and
hallucinations,
being
waking
dreams,
conform
to
the
same
rule.
If
a
ghost
opens
a
door
or
lifts
a
curtain
in
our
sight,
that,
too,
is
only
part
of
the
illusion.
The
door
did
not
open;
the
curtain
was
not
lifted.
Nay,
if
the
wrist
or
hand
of
the
seer
is
burned
or
withered,
as
in
a
crowd
of
stories,
the
ghost's
hand
did
not
produce
the
effect.
It
was
produced
in
the
same
way
as
when
a
hypnotised
patient
is
told
that
"his
hand
is
burned,"
his
fancy
then
begets
real
blisters,
or
so
we
are
informed,
truly
or
not.
The
stigmata
of
St.
Francis
and
others
are
explained
in
the
same
way.
{70}
How
ghosts
pull
bedclothes
off
and
make
objects
fly
about
is
another
question:
in
any
case
the
ghosts
are
not
seen
in
the
act.
Thus
the
clothes
of
ghosts,
their
properties,
and
their
actions
affecting
physical
objects,
are
not
more
difficult
to
explain
than
a
naked
ghost
would
be,
they
are
all
the
"stuff
that
dreams
are
made
of".
But
occasionally
things
are
carried
to
a
great
pitch,
as
when
a
ghost
drives
off
in
a
ghostly
dogcart,
with
a
ghostly
horse,
whip
and
harness.
Of
this
complicated
kind
we
give
two
examples;
the
first
reckons
as
a
"subjective,"
the
second
as
a
veracious
hallucination.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
