The Epworth Phenomena | Page 5

whose room the noises
occurred had died some miles away, as the result of an accident, twenty
minutes before the disturbance began.* The one who was ill afterwards
was the man's favourite sister. We cannot believe that he would
consciously alarm her thus, yet the coincidence of time and the normal
inexplicability suggest that he was at least somehow concerned.
Consequently the most reasonable thing to suppose is that he was
thinking of his sisters, and thereby causing physical manifestations in
their world without knowing it, somewhat as an apparition may often
be best regarded as an objectified "dream of the dead"; for, though
representing him, its aimlessness suggests that he is not all there.
* New Evidence in Psychical Research (Rider), pp. 120-122.
Moreover, these disturbances often seem probably connected with a
sudden and violent death. In a case known to me, occurring only last,
year, the rappings began soon after a man had been killed on a railway
near; they continued off and on for a month or two, and I think they
have now ceased. In this ease it was knockings also, plainly showing
intelligence, but of limited degree. The occupants of the house arranged
a code, one knock for No, three for Yes, etc., and also tried with the
alphabet; they received distinct orders to leave the house temporarily,
for no reason given; they did not do so-though very much in doubt
what to do-and nothing happened. It seems likely that the dead man,
thrown suddenly out of the body, was still occupied with the old
locality, and still producing effects there, in the half-conscious and
dreamy state which follows death and precedes the waking to full
consciousness of the next world, this waking and withdrawal from the
material plane coinciding with the cessation of the noises.

There seems to be no definite history of any sudden or violent death at
Epworth just before the Wesley outbreak, but in view of what we know
in other cases, we may not unreasonably surmise something of the sort.
The family called the ghost "Old Jeffery," and the Vicar of Maxey
referred to one Ferries, who had died in the house, but there seems to
be no tradition of violent or unexpected death-for it appears to be the
unexpectedness rather than the violence that favours the production of
these phenomena, otherwise there would be more of them in war time.
Certainly the Wesley incidents had human characteristics, for the ghost
was a Jacobite, knocking loudly and fiercely at the mention of King
George; it knocked angrily when charged with being only rats, and it
made a planing sound which perhaps suggested a former occupation.
But the Wesleys do not seem to have tried repeating the alphabet and
asking for a knock at the desired letter, or they might have obtained
something coherent. The ghost understood, as when Mr. Wesley
rebuked it for disturbing his children, and challenged it to come to his
study and make noises there, which it did. But its powers of
manifestation were limited, and we must sympathise With its
inarticulateness. Perhaps the family might have got rid of their
unwelcome visitor sooner if they had devised a code and helped the
ghost to say what it wanted to say.
However, this is only surmise. In the Epworth case, at least, we cannot
go much farther than the remarks of Emily and her brother Samuel, that
"some being besides those we see" was probably concerned, that as to
interpretations "wit might find many but wisdom none," and that "the
end of spirits' actions is yet more hidden than that of men, and even this
latter puzzles the most subtle politicians."
No doubt this haunting of his parental home made a great and lasting
impression on John Wesley, for his interest in psychical things
continued throughout life. Wherever he went he seems to have been on
the lookout for "cases"-as we now inhumanly style, them-not merely
with a romantic or literary interest, but with a real scientific aim. He
would travel considerable distances to hear first-hand accounts of
apparitions and the like, or to see a cataleptic subject, and he was wont
to ask "abundance of questions," as all good psychical researchers do.

In fact, John would have made an excellent member of the S.P.R., and
it is rather surprising to find in an earnestly religious man of that day so
much critical instinct. True, he repeats a very tall story about a curse,
and shows the expected attitude towards Satan, also holding strongly
that belief in the Bible (and therefore Protestant Christianity) stands or
falls with belief in Witchcraft. But he has a keenly questioning eye for
detail, asking whether a water-dropping apparition of a drowned man
really dropped water or only produced the sensation in the percipient