The Epworth Phenomena | Page 5

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 upon whom it dropped; also whether "spirit-music" "was a real modulation of the air." Evidently he was trying hard to find out exactly how much objectivity there was in the phenomena.
In several cases his narratives are