The Epworth Phenomena

A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook Title: The Epworth Phenomena (1917) Author: Dudley Wright (1868-1949) eBook No.: 0301311.txt Edition: 1 Language: English Character set encoding: Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bit Date first posted: October 2003 Date most recently updated: October 2003
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A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook
Title: The Epworth Phenomena (1917) Author: Dudley Wright (1868-1949)

The Epworth Phenomena (1917)
To which are appended certain Psychic Experiences recorded by John Wesley in the pages of his journal
[Wesley if the founder of Methodism]
Collated by Dudley Wright [1868-1949]

Contents
Introduction, by J. Arthur Hill Forward by Dudley Wright The Epworth Phenomena Letters concerning some supernatural disturbances at the Rev. Samuel Wesley's house at Epworth, in Lincolnshire The Rev. Samuel Wesley's Journal or Diary, transcribed by John Wesley, August 27th, 1726. Summary of Phenomena Mrs. Samuel Wesley's statement to her son John Emily Wesley's account to her brother John Molly Wesley's account to her brother John Susannah Wesley's account to her brother John Nancy Wesley's account to her brother John The account of the Rev. Mr. Hoole, Vicar of Haxey The account of Robin Brown, manservant to John Wesley Narrative drawn up by John Wesley and published by him in the Arminian Magazine Excerpts from the Journal of the Rev. John Wesley-- A Gruesome Apparition A Curse-and its Result Dreams of Drowning A Miraculous Conversion A Clairvoyant Vision of Murder A Mysterious Obsession A Strange Disorder A Case of Possession Strange Apparitions to a Young Girl A Sexton's Weird Experience Psychic Experiences of Elizabeth Hobson A Case of Obsession (?) A Dream of Buried Treasure Two Remarkable Dreams Double Obsession Three Apparition Miraculous Cure of Blindness Life saved through a Dream Preaching under Spirit Compulsion Remarkable Panic An Angel Visitant

Introduction
It is fairly certain that Galileo never said, "It moves, for all that," and that Wellington never said, "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" And one humorous writer has proved that Napoleon never existed, so perhaps Waterloo was never fought, and no enemy there for the Guards to be up and at. History, in short, is an uncertain affair. It depends on fallible human testimony; and though most of us are agreed on the principal points, even these cannot be coercively proved, and from them there spreads a region of ever-increasing dimness, where many things are lost, all outlines are indistinct, and illusions and false perspectives abound. Who was the Man in the Iron Mask? Was William Rufus murdered, or killed accidentally? Did Branwell Bronte make love to his employer's wife? Did D. D. Home really float out of one window and in at another? We do not know. How then shall we expect to know exactly what happened in the parental home of John Wesley two hundred years ago, or the exact details of ghost stories and the like that were told him on his travels? No certainty is attainable. Each must judge for himself-or must suspend judgment-and the verdict will depend partly on the evidence, partly on our knowledge or ignorance of similar cases, and partly on our emotional bias if we have any. Anyhow, as John Wesley quaintly says, no great harm will be done "provided those who believe and those who disbelieve . . . have but patience with each other."
As for myself, I do not feel that I have any emotional bias about the Epworth haunting. I do not care whether it was due to a spirit, or to "animal magnetism," or to Mr. Podmore's naughty little girl (in this case Miss Hetty Wesley, aged nineteen), or to rats, or water pipes, or some undiscovered joker. If it could be proved that one of these was the real cause, whichever it were it would not conflict with any belief or disbelief of mine. I believe in the existence of all the causes mentioned, and would accept any one of them as the culprit, on sufficient evidence. But I do want sufficient evidence, and it seems to me that the more sceptical writers on these things have often shown a curious credulity, and even what seems like wilful blindness.
Mr. Podmore,