There are many people who unconditionally believe in ghosts, there are those who met them personally, but there are also many who laugh at such a phenomenon, considering ghosts to be fictions or the fruit of a sick fantasy. Science can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the afterlife. However, facts are stubborn things and more difficult to ignore.
In the middle of the 19th century, a religious and philosophical trend was born in the United States, known as spiritualism (spiritualism). Its supporters believe in the reality of the afterlife and in the possibility of contact with the souls of the dead. In the years 1840-1920 all over the world, and especially in the English-speaking countries, there was an increase in the worshipers of spiritualism. Soon their number reached several million.
At the same time, the general public's interest in supernatural phenomena grew. American newspapers of those years eagerly published notes about encounters with ghosts in different states and cities of the country.
WOMAN IN WHITE
The Philadelphia Press, March 25, 1884:
“Lately, thousands of people have surrounded a cemetery every night in the small town of Miamisburg near Dayton, Ohio, to watch the ghost appear. There is no doubt that this is a real ghost. The ghost was seen and witnessed by the mayor of Marshall, the tax inspector, and hundreds of other respected citizens.
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Finally, several hundred men armed with clubs and rifles attacked the ghost, which appeared as a woman in white. However, neither clubs nor bullets caused any harm to the mysterious creature floating in the air. Then the next morning a crowd of townspeople descended on the churchyard and began to unearth graves and inspect the bodies of people buried here. However, the search did not bring any results.
Now hundreds of people from other cities come to the city every day to enjoy the unprecedented spectacle. The strange figure appears at about 9 pm.
The townspeople recognized her as a young woman who is believed to have been killed several years ago. The ghost wanders through the air among the graves with an air of deep thought, with his head lowered and his hands folded behind his back.
GHOST WITH OAK
The Philadelphia Press September 13, 1896:
“One night a farmer named John W. French and his wife were returning from a neighbor to their farm. The road passed an old church and skirted a cemetery densely overgrown with bushes, where the remains of those who once cultivated the land in these places were buried.
Ten years ago, an elderly man living nearby, who almost every day came to the cemetery to pray at his relative's grave, was treacherously murdered because, according to rumors, he kept a large supply of gold in his lonely home. The criminals were not found, and the unfortunate old man was buried where he spent so much time.
As French and his wife drove past the white headstones, their horses suddenly stopped, backed away, and snorted in fright. French became alarmed, suspecting that the horses had sensed the robbers, and bent down to retrieve the gun he carried with him just for such occasions. However, then he heard the piercing cry of his wife. Grabbing her husband's hand, she pointed forward:
- John, look there!
On the road next to the cemetery, French saw a ghost. He was a man about eight feet tall with a long gray beard that covered his entire chest. In his hand he held a club - the same as the one that murderers had blown out the brains of a lonely old man ten years ago. The ghost slowly raised his hand and majestically ordered French to come closer.
The terrified farmer could barely restrain his horses, which reared and darted away. Cold sweat covered his entire body as he realized he was seeing a ghost in front of him. His wife screamed that he would turn back as soon as possible, otherwise they would die. But the gaze of the horrified French was fixed on the white ghost on the road, who slowly, without touching the ground and holding the club on his shoulder, moved forward towards the farmer's wagon.
He finally came to his senses, turned the cart and, whipping the horses, rushed headlong back to the house he had just left. How they got there, neither he nor his wife remembered.
The next person to see this ghost was Milton Moon, who enjoyed the reputation of not only being smart, but also fearless. Almost the same thing happened to him as to the French. After that, out of curiosity, local residents drove to the cemetery several times in groups.
And every time they were convinced that the ghost really exists.
It was observed and studied by many scientists, but no convincing explanation for this strange phenomenon was found."
VALLEY OF GHOSTS
The St. Louis Globe Democrat, October 6, 1887:
“In the state of Missouri, on the highway between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, there is a place that is commonly called the Valley of Ghosts. This valley is located four miles from the Cape - where the road skirts a high cliff, and looks rather gloomy.
On their way from Jackson to the Cape, two salespeople from a large St. Louis wholesaler recently saw a white object floating in the air and growing before their very eyes. The object then made several maneuvers, swam through the gloomy valley, and eventually disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
It should be noted that American salespeople are known as people who stand firm on the ground. They are not fond of the now fashionable spiritualism and do not believe in the other world of spirits. And now they saw a ghost with their own eyes, and even in broad daylight.
By the way, night travelers often noticed frightening creatures in this valley, so it's not for nothing that this place is notorious in those parts."
THE GHOST OF THE PRESIDENT
The Philadelphia Press, October 2, 1898:
“The Washington Capitol is probably the most haunted building in the world. It has been reliably evidenced that at least a dozen ghosts live there, and some of them pose a noticeable threat to people.
The work of the guards, especially at night, requires strong nerves, given that the interior of this huge structure is literally filled with knocks, rustles, creaks and other manifestations of a supernatural nature. For example, everyone who walks through the National Hall of Statues is accompanied by the echoes of someone's steps.
It was in this room, where the House of Representatives once sat, that former President John Quincy Adams died on February 28, 1848, right at his desk. Therefore, many believe that it is he who comes here to continue his work.
One brave guard decided to check if this was some kind of joker. He bought boots with rubber soles and walked through this part of the building in the silence of the night. When the echoes of footsteps were heard from behind, he lured the pursuer into a dead end, from which he could not quietly get out. However, after a moment, sounds were heard in another part of the hall. So it was not possible to catch the troublemaker. Other such attempts have also failed.
The spirit of Vice President Henry Wilson, who died in 1875 in his office in the part of the building where the Senate is located, occasionally looks into the Capitol. It is said that he once almost scared to death the guard on duty at the coffin of a Senator from Tennessee, installed in the Senate courtroom.
Every night, at exactly 00:30, the door of the Military Service Committee opens and the ghost of General Logan, the former chairman of this committee, emerges from there. He is recognized by his long gray hair, military bearing and the hat he always wore during his lifetime. If the witnesses are to be believed, he obviously still faithfully fulfills his duties."
THE SECRET OF COPPER BUTTONS
The Philadelphia Press, June 15, 1889:
“In New York, in a beautiful old mansion near Stuyvesant Square, as we know, a strange ghost lives.
The house stood uninhabited for several years, until a certain gentleman bought it, who immediately moved there with his wife and little daughter. While the arrangement was underway, the parents allowed the girl to play in the mezzanine, which, apparently, had previously served as a nursery. There was nothing but a fireplace with a large protective panel in front of it.
When the parents put things in order downstairs, the mother decided that it was better for her daughter to go down to them so that she was supervised. However, she always slipped upstairs. Finally the mother asked why she was so eager to go to the mezzanine. The daughter replied that she liked to play with a funny little boy. Inspection showed that there are absolutely no secluded corners where a person could hide. However, the girl stated that the boy appears from behind the panel.
The parents were worried, suspecting their daughter of lying, and threatened her with punishment. However, she insisted that she was playing with a funny little boy who was wearing a jacket with many brass buttons. Then the parents decided to conduct a real investigation.
The girl's father, an old sea captain, learned that an Englishman named Cowdery had previously lived in the house, who had three children: two boys and a girl. One of the boys, demented by birth, allegedly fell into the East River, where he often walked with his nanny, and drowned. Soon after, Mr. Cowdery moved somewhere east of the country.
Then the little girl's father decided to check the wall next to the fireplace. There he found the body of an unfortunate baby with a smashed head. The boy was wearing a navy blue jacket with four rows of brass buttons. The captain didn't make a fuss. He simply buried the boy's remains and hastened to leave this house."
THE SPIRIT OF HENRY BEACHER
New York Herald, April 4, 1903:
“The head of the Funk and Wegnalls publishing house, the Reverend Dr. Isaac Funk, devoted a quarter of a century to the study of spiritualistic phenomena, but does not consider himself a supporter of spiritualism. Meanwhile, he was so impressed by the materialization of the spirit of Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent religious figure, brother of the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, that he devoted a report to this topic at the Boston Society for Parapsychic Research. Now he is eagerly awaiting the conclusion of specialists and an explanation of what he observed during the seance.
Despite his best efforts, Dr. Funk could not find any falsifications. They were close friends with Mr. Beecher, so he thoroughly studied the appearance of the deceased. During the session, the ghost was less than three feet from Dr. Funk, so in his opinion it would have been easy for him to spot the fake.
“I could clearly see Mr. Beecher's features,” says Funk, “his eyes and hair, his skin color and body shape. The light during the session was quite enough for this. I had a short conversation with an embodied spirit, and then he sank to the floor and disappeared.
Of particular interest to Dr. Funk was the opportunity to find out from Mr. Beecher the riddle connected with his previous seance. Then the spirit of a certain Jack Reykstro, who was the leader of a choir in one of the churches during his lifetime, informed him that Mr. Beecher was worried about the fate of the coin known as the "widow's mite."
Dr. Funk borrowed it from the renowned numismatist, the late Professor Charles West, to be used for illustration in an upcoming dictionary. Dr. Funk himself believed that he had long ago returned the coin to the owner, but after the statement, Reikstro decided to check it and unexpectedly found it in his safe among old papers.
When Mr. Beecher's spirit materialized, Dr. Funk asked him several straightforward questions about the matter, but the answers, although grandiose, were vague. The fact is that Dr. Funk did not know who should return the coin, which, by the way, was worth more than $ 2,500. The fact is that after the death of Professor West, the collection he had collected was sold. Whom to transfer the "widow's mite" - the professor's heirs or the purchaser of the collection - remains unclear. Apparently this problem no longer troubled Mr. Beecher's spirit.
- I propose to solve this problem for the Society for Psychic Research. Let Mrs. Piper, as an experienced medium, try to find Professor West in the other world and find out from him what to do with the coin,”said Dr. Funk. “By the way, Mr. Beecher's spirit emphasized that he agreed to meet with me to convince me of the existence of ghosts. At the end of the session, he apologized, said that he had another appointment, and disappeared.
As Dr. Funk emphasized, he does not want to be considered an adept in spiritualism. However, in his opinion, during the session, he did not find any deception. The medium, an elderly woman from Brooklyn, never spoke to the public, and her relatives, who were present at the meeting with the spirit of Mr. Beecher, did not hear anything about the existence of this coin.
Based on materials from foreign press prepared by Boris KOSENKOV