. IC-NRLF SB M7 S5E i > [T - TI " Division Range Shelf Received University of California. CflH'T < 75 7 W&- GHOST LAND; RESEARCHES INTO THE MYSTERIES OF OCCULTISM. ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. IN TWO PARTS. BY THE AUTHOR OF ' ' ART MAGIC " ; WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE RECORDS OF "MAGICAL SEANCES," ETC. ETC. TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN. "I am He that liveth and. was dead, And behold, I am alive for evermore." rnvE PUBLISHED FOR THE EDITOR AT BOSTON, AMEEICA. 1876. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1876, By WILLIAM BRITTEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. Stereotyped and Printed by ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, BOSTON. CONTENTS. PART FIRST. PAGE. AUTHOR'S PREFACE 5-7 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 9-14 CHAPTER I. ON THE THRESHOLD. AUTHOR'S VIEWS. PARENTAGE. FIRST YEARS AT COLLEGE. PROFESSOR VON MARX. THE BERLIN BROTHER- HOOD. FIRST SEANCES 17-31 CHAPTER EL SECRET SOCIETIES. MAGIC. THE "ATMOSPHERIC SPIRIT." FLY- ING SOULS. MURDER, AND ITS RESULTS 32-44 CHAPTER III. CONSTANCE. THE VICTIM. -^ How A FLYING SOUL BECOMES AN IM- MORTAL SPIRIT 45-63 CHAPTER IV. ZWINGLER. HOW TO TRACK A MURDERER 64-75 CHAPTER V. MAGIC IN ENGLAND. JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY. OCCULTISM. THE LETTER-SHADOWS OF FATE 76-91 CHAPTER VI. MAGICIANS AND SPIRIT MEDIUMS. INVOCATIONS. ELEMENTARIES. PLANETARIES. MIRRORS AND CRYSTALS. KOBOLDS. FAIRIES. SPIRITISM IN THE SCOTCH HIGHLANDS 92-125 CHAPTER VII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF OBSESSION. THE ASTRONOMERS AND THE SPIRITS, 126-142 CHAPTER VIII. STRAY WANDERINGS. THE FASTING GIRL. THE GIPSIES. THE MODERN "DER FRIESCHUTZ" 143-171 CHAPTER IX. THE LETTER. THE LIFE TRANSFER. THE BEREAVED . . . 172-186 CHAPTER X. THE JOURNEY. THE DEAD PROFESSOR. How TO DIE OF STARVA- TION. THE STARVING POOR. THE SUN SPHERES. DYING. METRON 187-205 CHAPTER XI. THE AWAKENING. IN THE SPHERES. THE LIFE TRANSFER RE- VERSED. THE RETURN TO EARTH . . . 206-216 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PAGE. DIARY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY. PROFESSOR VON MARX'S HIS- TORY. THE PRINCESS. THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. "PROSPERO AND ARIEL" 217-244 CHAPTER XIII. DIARY CONTINUED. MAGICAL SEANCES. THE NINE DAYS' TRIAL. STARVED TO DEATH. THE RESCUE 245-203 CHAPTER XIV. DIARY CONTINUED. MAGICAL SEANCES. THE CHEVALIER'S RETURN TO LIFE 264-282 CHAPTER XV. DIARY CONTINUED 283-293 CHAPTER XVI. DIARY CONTINUED. A MYSTIC. DEPARTURE OF THE CHEVALIER . 294-305 PART SECOND. INVOCATION. THE SOUL'S LITANIES 309-310 CHAPTER XVII. INDIA. RETROSPECT. THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE . . . . 311-322 CHAPTER XVIII. THE ANGEL OF MIDNIGHT. THE RUINS. MAGICIANS. JUGGLERS. CHUNDRA UD DEEN 323-343 CHAPTER XIX. DAWNING LIGHT. THE BROTHERHOOD. SUBTERRANEAN REVELA- TIONS . 344-366 CHAPTER XX, OF OCCULTISM. ITS USES AND ABUSES. LOVE, MARRIAGE, SPELLS, CHARMS, ETC 367-381 CHAPTER XXI. THE ANGEL OF MORNING. SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS SOLVED. METRON, 382-401 CHAPTER XXII. THE ENCHANTRESS. THE LADY BLANCHE. GOOD AND EVIL ANGELS, 402-422 CHAPTER XXIIL BLACK MAGIC. VAUDOOISM 423-440 CHAPTER XXIV. BLACK MAGIC. THE MIDNIGHT VISITORS THE SACRIFICE. . . 441-455 CHAPTER XXV. DIARY OF THE LADY BLANCHE. VAUDOOISM. FAREWELL TO Louis, 456-468 CHAPTER XXVI. CLOSE OF THE LIFE EPISODE. THE CHEVALIER'S RECONCILIATION WITH THE SPIRITS. THE PRISON. How THE CHEVALIER RE- TURNED TO EUROPE. NOTE . . 469-485 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. BEFORE the subjoined papers are submitted to the critical reader, the author desires most emphatically to protest against their being ranked in the same category of literature as his recently published volume on "ART MAGIC." The autobiographical sketches now presented to the public were written, or rather collated from private memoranda, some four years since, at the earnest request of Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, and that with the simple design of contributing such a series of magazine papers to her admirable periodical, " The Western Star," as would be in harmony with its general tone and design. When it is remembered that these papers are only off-hand sketches of a fateful life, in which striking illustrations of the spiritual philoso- phy may be found in a less stately guise than abstract essays, and that at most they are only to be considered as magazine sketches, the author trusts that his work will be held exempt from that severity of critical analysis which he would have courted for l ' Art Magic " had it been placed before the world under similar circumstances. The only claim that the author can advance for the present work is that of strict veracit}'. Although the same reasons that induced him to withhold his name when it was first produced prevail with him to-day, all the incidents narrated have been faithfully set down with the strictest regard to truth as far as the present volume carries the history forward. To the author himself the details of his life convey in retrospection the most important lessons, but their value to the world is entirely dependent upon their actuality. As a mere tale of fiction far more interesting subjects could doubtless have been found in any sensational novel or newspaper romance; but if the narratives herein detailed faithfully represent the mystic action of mind upon mind, the fearful phenomenon of obsession, the possibility of an actual life transfer, and the interposition of beings in human affairs whose existence sup- plies the missing link which connects the realm of animate and inani- I 6 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. mate nature, then is this work, however crude in style or imperfect in philosophical deduction, a most important and noteworthy one. It is because it ought to be thus regarded, because it narrates step by step and incident by incident, actualities which may one day become the experience of the many rather than the few, that the author is again persuaded to brave the idle sneer and vulgar jeer of those who are only capable of appreciating the facts that may have come within the narrow circle of their own observation. That those persons who call themselves " spiritual teachers" and clainTtcTbe "interpreters and exponents " of the spiritual philosophy ( ?) have not all the truth nay, not even a tithe of the experience necessary to qualify them for the office they have assumed becomes more and more painfully evident to the earnest student into spiritual mysteries the more he compares the immensity of the realms to be traversed with the shallow pretences at explanation put forth by the self-elected spiritual teachers of this generation, By these great authorities occultion is assumed to be a word invented by a few individuals, whose chief aim is to destroy Spiritualism and substitute " black magic" iB its place, whilst occultists are renegades, who would " roll back the /car of progress" (a favorite expression, by the way, of those who denvy the right of any one to progress 'beyond their own standard of knowledge) and presume to add to the sublime philosophy enunciated through the table-tipping and trance-speaking media for " spirits of the seventh sphere," the antiquated stuff of Orien- tal cabalists, Chaldean astrologists, Hindoo, Eg}i:>tian, and Persian magi, Greek philosophers, Arabian alchemists, and mediaeval Rosicrucian mystics. Of course all these are mere ignoramuses, who for thousands of years have been blundering through the mysteries of occult science, which the aforesaid table-tipping and seventh-sphere-inspiring spirits instantly sweep away with the knock-down argument of ' ' What I don't know is n't true ; and what I can not explain has no existence." That the author of " Ghost Land" has attempted to explain occul- tion, or present a concrete scheme of occult philosophy in these pages, must not for one moment be assumed. He has simply introduced such scenes in his own life experience as will ^how what a vast amount of phenomena remain to be explained, which the spiritual philosophy of the present day has not touched, and which many modern Spiritists, following out the rude and illogical example of their own materialistic opponents, find it easier to deny altogether than to elucidate. No one has more faithfully, humbly, and reverently sought for truth wherever it may be found than the author of " Ghost Land" ; yet he is fain tq AUTHOR'S PREFACE, 7 confess the table-tipping and trance-inspiring spirits of America and England have not, to his blundering apprehension, covered the whole ground of the experiences which he has ventured to detail in this volume. When he adds that an additional score of years' experiences still more wonderful and occult yet remain to be accounted for, and that during his wide wanderings over the world he has encountered hundreds of individuals who have an array of equally occult testimony to render, the Illuminee of the modern spiritual movement may for- give him if he ventures to question whether there may not be some few things, scenes, and persons more in the spiritual universe than their seven spheres of purely human intelligence can account for. The author could have wished that his esteemed editor had dis- pensed with the chapters interpolated by their mutual and highly val- ued friend, " John Cavendish Dudley" ; not that any portion of this gentleman's writings are lacking in that strict fidelity to truth which has been the ruling genius of the entire work, whilst in style and interest they far . surpass the attempts of a foreigner to express his ideas in an unfamiliar language ; but the author has marked with deep regret the many eulogistic allusions to himself with which Mr. Dud- ley's diary is seasoned ; and whilst he knows they are dictated in all sincerity by a too partial friend, he feels their association with auto- biographical sketches will subject him to a charge of vanity which is equally repulsive to his habits of thought and action. On this point he has no other excuse to offer than the all-potential will of his editor. Mrs. Hardinge Britten alleges that the diary of Mr. Dudley was given to her in the same unconditional spirit as the " Ghost Land" papers ; also, that it was not until she came to examine the MSS. separately that she discovered how intimately they were related and how impos- sible it would have been to continue the narrative after the eleventh chapter without the assistance of Mr. Dudley's journal. When Mrs. Hardinge Britten further added I WILL to I wish, the author of " Art Magic," himself the strongest possible pleader for the omnipotence of will, found all his arguments on the per contra of the question silenced. With arftnal allegation that though the style of composition is all too faulty, the details are a faithful representation of facts known to and witnessed by many most honorable persons in the present genera- tion, the author gives his work to the winds of public opinion. Blow hot or cold as they will, they only represent the source from whence they come, but can not make or mar the work they ban or bless. PUEKTES GRAXDES, THE HAVANA, ISLE DE CUBA, 1876. INTRODUCTION, BY THE EDITOR. THE following series of papers was first prepared for the press in 1872, when a few ladies and gentlemen interested in the cause of Spiritualism, and believing its interests would be promoted by the publication of a high-toned periodical, agreed to sustain me in the production of " The Western Star," a magazine issued expressly to meet the above design. As soon as I had decided upon the expe- diency of this undertaking I applied to several European friends from whom I deemed I might obtain literary assistance of the highest value, and contributions which would be more fresh to my American readers than those of the writers on this side of the Atlantic. The foremost and perhaps the most urgent applications I made were addressed to two gentlemen from whose friendship for me and their talent as writers I anticipated the most favorable results. I knew that both had enjo} r ed rare opportunities of research into the realms of spiritual existence. One, whom I shall henceforth speak of as the Chevalier de B , was, as I well knew, a member of several Oriental and European societies, where he had enjoyed the privilege of initiation into the ancient mysteries, and opportunities for the study of occultism rarely open to modern investigators. I had myself witnessed many evi- dences of this gentleman's wonderful powers as a seer and adept in magical rites, no less than what is now called u medium ship," for everj' conceivable phase of spirit power. Already familiar with many of his remarkable experiences, and believing I could obtain still further information on the subject from his intimate and near connexion, an English nobleman, to whom I give the nom de plume of John Caven- dish Dudley, I laid my case before both parties, soliciting from them such a series of papers as would embody their joint experiences in Spiritualism without impinging upon any points they might desire to reserve from the public eye. The cordial response which I obtained from these well-tried and valued friends was accompanied, however, with some restrictions, the most important of which was the positive charge to withhold their names, also to arrange their MSS. under such 10 INTRODUCTION. veiled expressions as would effectually conceal their identity. Both gentlemen were aware that their personalities would be recognized by their own immediate circle of acquaintances should the narratives ever fall into such hands ; but whilst they were most willing to oblige me, and deemed their remarkable experiences might benefit and instruct many a spiritualistic reader, they protested strongly against subjecting themselves to the rude criticism and cold infidelic sneers of an uns3 r mpathetic world. " I would not wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at," said my English friend, in the words of the immortal bard of Avon ; whilst the Chevalier de B urged private and personal -reasons still more stringent. To mask the identity of my authors then, and even maintain a strict incognito for all those associated with them, became the conditions upon which the terms of my editorship in these papers were founded. Less, perhaps, with a view of enlightening a generation whiph is not always prepared to recognize its need of enlightenment, than with a desire to embellish my periodical with a series of papers which I deemed eminently worthy of the place assigned them, I cheerfully accepted the offer of my two friends, subject to the restrictions they 'laid upon me. On examining the MSS. committed to my charge, I /found- that I could commence the publication of the Chevalier de B 's papers in a serial entitled " Ghost Land," and from the mass of records furnished me by Mr. J. C. Dudley I extracted the humor- ous and racy description of that gentleman's experiences in America, to which he had given the caption of " Amongst the Spirits." The autobiographical sketches of the Chevalier were written originally in German, but as I was not sufficiently familiar with that language to read .or .translate it, my kind friend, himself an excellent linguist, engaged to furnish me with a literal translation, that is, to render his writings into "rough English," and leave to me the task of arranging the phraseology and construction of the sentences. In many instances I found this task unnecessary, although in others I have had much labor in re-transcribing, arranging, and compiling fragmentary memoranda, written not unfrequently in French or imper- fect English. As I proceeded with my work, I found that the MSS. would be wholly incomplete without that of Mr. Dudley, and as I had the good fortune to be in possession of the latter's journal, I selected from it such chapters relating to the Chevalier as supplied the hiatus in ques- tion,- arid enabled me to form a consecutive narrative of that gentle- man's singular and eventful career. INTEODUCTION. 11 I encountered some opposition from both my friends in this course of procedure, the Chevalier objecting strongly to the eulogistic tone adopted by *his friend in reference to himself, and Mr. Dudley urging me to say more on the same subject than I deemed it prudent to insert. Another and still graver difficulty in my path has been the necessity of transcribing a foreigner's ideas and statements to a con- siderable extent in my own language, and clothing thoughts, opinions, and even the framework of the dialogues given by the author in my own form of expression. I feel keenly the loss the reader must sus- tain in many instances by this infusion of my personality into the author's sublime and exalted ideality. I am aware, also, what a han- dle it affords to those untruthful and uncandid critics who see them- selves in others' acts, and who, being naturally deceptive and tricky themselves, cannot recognize truth and honesty even when it stares them in the face. Although I have been and shall be again, induced from the force of circumstances to mask the noble sentiments of the Chevalier de B in my own peculiarities of style, I have in vain labored to persuade him to place his works in other hands or avail himself of a less pro- noncee style of compilation. Had I not devoted myself to this work it would never have been accomplished, and that thought has been my chief recompense for the slander and misrepresentation that has been cast on my share of the publication. Although my friend's courtesy has induced him to treat these misrepresentations lightly, and even to allege that he felt honored in hearing the authorship of his works attributed to me, such a slander upon him, no less than the wrong done to my veracity and the character for straightforward candor which I deemed my life had earned, has been the worst stab nry ene- mies could have inflicted upon me, and calls for this explanation con- cerning the necessary share which I have had in characterizing the Chevalier de B 's writings. In view of the stringent charge I received from each of my authors, not only to preserve their incognito, but even to represent an ideal personage as the vehicle of the thoughts rendered, I drew up an intro- ductory sketch of the supposed author of " Ghost Land," which I printed in the first number of " The Western Star." In becoming more familiar with the later portions of the autobiog- raplvy, I found that the author had stated the real events of his life so candidly, and alluded to the various dates and epochs that marked it with such fidelity of detail, that my ideal sketch had to be abandoned ; the two histories would not cohere together : hence in republishing the first five chapters of ' ' Ghost Land " in their present form I have felt 12 INTRODUCTION. obliged to present the author in his real character from beginning to end ; and although I have observed all the other restrictions laid upon me in respect to the names of persons and places, the incidents of this strange life are so TRUE, so candidly and simply detailed, that I doubt whether the lovers of fiction will be able to recognize that truth, and I shall not be surprised to hear that the whole narrative is a made- up affair. I have some reason to believe this view would not be displeasing to the author himself, who, although compelled to write under the efflatus of the same power that obliges the ' ' sib}4 to vaticinate " even when she is not believed in, still feels sensitively opposed to parading his peculiar and often most painful personal experiences before a hard, unkind, and unsympathetic world. I, on the contrary, have a deep and religious interest in urging the exact truth of these experiences, and as I have been mainly instrumental in inducing my friend to narrate them, I would gladly, most gladty, add the lustre of a far more authoritative name than my own to the solemn assurance th'at they are all literal transcripts of history, and that they ought to be studied and classified by every philosophic thinker as amongst the rarest and most important ps3 r chological facts on record. It simply remains for me to explain how and why this autobiography appears at this particular time. I need not remind those of my read- ers who may have been subscribers to " The Western Star," that just after the issue of the sixth number, the occurrence of the disastrous Boston fires and the immense losses sustained by some of my princi- pal supporters, compelled me to suspend that periodical ; but immedi- ately upon the announcement of this suspension and up to the present time I have been literally besieged with requests to issue a reprint and continuance of " Ghost Land," my correspondents assuring me that those delightful and absorbing papers were more to them than all the rest of the magazine. The same request has been repeatedly made in reference to the articles of Mr. Dudley, entitled "Amongst the Spirits." In a word, the high appreciation accorded to those two serials made me often regret that leisure and opportunity were not afforded me for their publication in separate and continuous forms. It was some three years after the suspension of ' ' The Western Star" that my esteemed friend, the Chevalier de B , made a second visit to the United States, travelling as was his custom in a private and unostentatious manner under an incognito, and emplo}'ing his time in the observation and study of those spiritualistic facts which it has been the main object of his life to gather up. It was then that I learned from him that two works, the scheme of which he had often INTKODUCTION. 13 laid out in project to me, were nearly completed ; and as he was unable to undertake the fatigue and master the harassing details of their publication, he offered to present me with the MSS., although he wished that their production should be deferred for a stated period. One of the MSS. thus intrusted to me was " Art Magic." It was written, like u Ghost Land," partly in French and partly rendered into English, for the sake of aiding me in its translation. Much of the language I found capable of representing the author's ideas without any alteration ; but the whole work struck me as so important, sub- lime, and beautiful that I urged upon my friend its immediate produc- tion without waiting for further contingencies. Tendering all the services I deemed likely to be available on the occasion, I at last succeeded in overcoming the Chevalier's reticence, and provided that I would give it to the world under the conditions which he dictated, he said the work was at my disposal. My friend then laid down those conditions of publication which have called forth the clouds of abuse, scandal, and insult which it has been my privilege to endure in so good a cause, and I dictated the financial terms by which I had hoped to save him from loss. In this respect the results belong to ourselves, not to the world. It is enough that I have been instrumental in launching a noble work upon the ocean of human thought. Many a bitter experience has been added to those which both author and editor have had to endure, many that might have been more gracefully spared by those who inflicted them. The effect of these experiences, however, it may not be amiss to notice a little more in detail, for it is evident they have not fulfilled the exact purpose with which they were freighted. In the first place, they have taught the sensitive author to rise superior to all human opinion, by showing him that which the editor has long since understood, namety, that there is always a certain amount of journalistic criticism which can be bought or sold, according to the purchaser's disposition or means of payment ; another class from which praise would be dishonor ; still another, who never waste time one way or the other on any subject that is not a marketable commodity and likely to pay well ; and a fourth class, but one alas ! greatly in the minority, who can and will recognize truth and beauty wherever they find it : and to this class " Art Magic " has indeed been " the gem of spiritualistic effort of this and every other generation." All this the author has had to learn. That he was not entirely ignorant of the crucible through which his work would have had to pass had it been published for " the masses" instead of the few, he himself proved, as I find in a letter addressed to me on this very sub- 14 INTRODUCTION. / ject the following complimentary expressions of opinion concerning the " great public" : " The masses, to whom .you so enthusiastically would have me com- mend the perusal of ' Art Magic,' ever halt between two horns of a dilemma. If you tell them what they do not already know, they will cr}', 4 We can not understand this writer ! ' If you repeat old truths, no matter how new may be your methods of representation, they will scream against you for telling them nothing new ; and herein lies the real power of the critic, which is just to tell the world, according to his own personal predilections, what that poor imbecile thing ought to believe or reject, exalt to the skies or trample in the dust." I have learned something as well as the author in this publication, for despite the infamous slanders of one part of a press calling itself " spiritual," and the significant silence of others, the subscribers to this work have in general been of that class which bravely and boldly takes the task of thinking into its own hands ; hence they have not only written to me in the most glowing and enthusiastic praise of this " great and sublime work," but they have insisted upon having some- thing more from the same " facile and fascinating pen." Now, although this gentleman has submitted to me the rough draft of a still more elaborate exposition of the subjects on which "Art Magic " treats than even that admirable work itself, it may be some time before it can be completed and ready for press. In the interim the continued demand for ' ' another work from the same author " induces me to turn my attention to the long-promised continuation of "Ghost Land," the deeply interesting and instructive character of which is fully equal to "Art Magic"; and besides, I am still more inclined to pursue this course from the very natural and spontaneous desire of many readers to know more about the gifted individual who wrote " Art Magic. That these autobiographical sketches will prove as acceptable as they are instructive I can not doubt, and I once more commend them to the reader with the assurance that, though the truths in these pages are, as truth generally is, stranger than fiction, I respect myself and my friend too highly to apologize further for the fact that some of those truths may be unprecedented, hence difficult of realization. I now commit the precious MSS. intrusted to me to the tender mercies of a world of which my respectful but candid opinion may be gathered from the aphorism which has been my life's motto, and the one which has urged me forward to the publi cation of this volume, namely, " The truth against the world ! " Boston, 1876. EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN. GHOST LAND. CHAPTER I. ON THE THRESHOLD As the sole object of these sketches has been to pre- sent to the investigator into spiritual mysteries some experiences of a singular and exceptional character, I would gladly have recorded them as isolated facts, or even communicated their curious details to such Spiritu- alistic journalists as might have deemed them worthy of a place in their columns ; but on attempting to arrange them in such a form as would accord with this design, I found it impossible to separate the phenomenal por- tions of the history from the person with whom they were most immediately connected. Had I been a mere spectator of the scenes detailed, I could have easily reduced them to narrative form, but as in most instances I was either the w medium " through whom the phenomena worthy of record transpired, or their interest was derived from their association with a consecutive history, I found I must either relinquish the design of contributing my experiences to the world, or consent to the repulsive task of identifying them with one who has sufficient reason to shrink from publicity, and sighs for nothing so much as the peaceful retirement which should precede the last farewell to earth. As my own desires have been completely overruled by one whose 18 GHOST LAND. wishes I gladly prefer to my own, I find myself either obliged to identify my Spiritualistic experiences with a fictitious personage, or accept the repulsive alternative of adding to the many characters I have been compelled to act out on the stage of life's tragic drama the unwel- come one of an autobiographer. For many reasons unnecessary to detail, I have a spe- cial dislike to tales of fiction. Life is all too real, too thoroughly momentous, to be travestied by fictional rep- resentations. Truth appeals to the consciousness of true natures with much more earnestness than fiction; and Spiritualistic narratives in particular, as pointing the way on a new path of discovery, and one wherein the eternal interests of the race are concerned, are simply degraded by fictional contrivances. Even the too common ten- dency to exaggerate the marvels of Spiritualistic phe- nomena should be carefully avoided, for the sake of arriving at the heart of truths so important and unfa- miliar as those which relate to the spiritual side of man's nature. It is with these reverential views of truth that I enter upon the task of narrating my singular and exceptional experiences. The only departure I have permitted my- self to make from the line of stern and ungarbled fact is in relation to my own identity and that of the persons associated with me. My reasons for suppressing my real name, and in every possible way veiling the identity of those connected with me, are imperative, and if fully understood would be fully appreciated. In all other respects I am about to enter upon a candid history of myself, so far as I am connected with the incidents I am required to detail. My father was a Hungarian nobleman, but having deemed himself wronged by the ruling government of GHOST LAND. 19 * his country, he virtually renounced it, and -being con- nected on the mother's side with one of the most pow- erful native princes of India, from whom he received tempting offers of military and official distinction, he determined to prepare himself for his new career by the requisite course of study in England; hence, the belief very generally prevailed that he was an English officer, an opinion strengthened by the fact that for many years he abandoned his title, and substituted for the rank which he had once held in his native country that which was to him far more honorable, namely, a military distinction won on the battle-fields of India by services of the most extraordinary gallantry. Before his departure for the East my father had married a beautiful Italian lady, and as he resolved to maintain his Hungarian title and estates, barren as they were, for the benefit of his children, he left his eldest son, my only brother, in Aus- tria, for education, in the charge of near relatives. I was born on the soil of Hindostan shortly after my parents arrived there, and as my eldest brother died when I was about ten years of age, I was sent to Europe to take his place, receive a European education, and become formally installed into the empty dignity, title, and heirship of our Hungarian estates. As my poor father tenaciously adhered to these shadowy dignities for his children, even though he despised and rejected them for himself, I was accustomed from early child- hood to hear myself addressed as the Chevalier de B , and taught to believe, when my brother died, I had become the heir of a noble house, the prerogatives of which I have never realized, except in the form of the same wrong, oppression, and political tyranny which made my father an alien and a professed subject of a foreign power. 20 GHOST LAND. % I was about twelve years of age, as well as I can remember, when, returning one day late in the afternoon from the college I attended at B., just as I was about to enter the gate of the house where I boarded, I felt a hand laid on my shoulder, and looking round, I saw myself confronted with one of my teachers, a man who, during the period of my ten months', study hi that place, had exerted a singular and irresistible influence over me. He was a professor of Oriental languages, and though I had not been regularly entered in his class, I had joined it because he one day suddenly asked me to do so, and I as suddenly felt impelled to accept his offer. From the very moment that I entered Professor von Marx's class, I became absorbed in the study of East- ern literature, and the proficiency I made was doubtless owing to my desire to master the subjects to which these Oriental tongues formed the key. On the morn- ing of the day from which I commence my narrative, Professor von Marx had abruptly asked me if I were a dreamer. I replied in the negative, adding that I thought I often dreamed something, but the memory of what it might be only remained with me on awaking sufficiently long to impress me with the opinion that I had been somewhere in my sleep, but had forgotten where. When the professor touched me on the shoul- der, as above mentioned, at my own doorstep, he said, "L'ouis, my boy, how would you like to have some dreams that you could remember, and go to places in your sleep from which you should return and give accounts of ? " "O professor!" I exclaimed, in astonishment, "could I do this, and how?" * "Come with me, boy," replied my teacher. " I belong- to a philosophical society, the existence or at least the GHOST LAND. 21 real nature of which is but little known. "We want the aid of a good smart lad, like you, especially one who is not a conscious dreamer. I have long had my eye upon you, and I think I can not only trust you with our secrets, but, by making you a partaker of them, instruct you in lore of great wisdom, which few children of your age would be thought worthy to know." Flattered by this confidence, and more than usually thrilled by the strange shivering which always seemed to follow the touch of the professor's hand, I suffered myself to be led on until I reached with him the fourth story of a large house in a very quiet part of the city, where I was speedily introduced into an apartment of spacious dimensions, parted off by screens and curtains into many subdivisions, and half filled with an assem- blage of gentlemen, several of whom, to my surprise, I recognized as belonging to the college, some to neigh- boring literary institutions, and two others as members of one of the princely families of Germany. There was an air of mystery and caution attending our entrance into this place and my subsequent intro- duction to the company, which inclined me to believe that this was a meeting of one of those secret societies that, young as I was, I knew to have been strictly for- bidden by the government; hence the idea that I was making one of an illegal gathering impressed me with a sentiment of fear and a restless desire to be 'gone. Apparently these unexpressed feelings were understood by my teacher, for he addressed me in a low voice, assuring me that I was in the society of gentlemen of honor and respectability, that my presence there had only been solicited to assist them in certain philosophi- cal experiments they were conducting, and that I should soon find cause to congratulate myself that I had been 22 GHOST LAND. so highly favored as to be inducted into their associa- tion. Whilst he spoke the professor laid his hand on my head, and continued to hold it there, at first with a seemingly slight and accidental pressure; but ere he had concluded his address, the weight of that hand appeared to me to increase to an almost unendurable extent. Like a mountain bearing down upon my shoul- ders, columns of fiery, cloud-like matter seemed to stream from the professor's fingers, enter my whole being, and finally crush me beneath their terrific force into a state where resistance, appeal, or even speech was impossible. A vague feeling that death was upon me filled my bewildered brain, and a sensation of an undefinable yearning to escape from a certain thraldom in which I believed myself to be held, oppressed me with agonizing force. At length it seemed as if this intense longing for liberation was gratified. I stood, and seemed to myself to stand, free of the professor's crushing hand, free of my body, free of every clog or chain but an invisible and yet quite tangible cord which connected me with the form I had worn, but which now, like a garment I had put off, lay sleeping in an easy-chair beneath me. As for my real self, I stood balanced in air, as I thought at first, about four feet above and a little on one side of my slumbering mortal envelope; presently, however, I perceived that I was treading on a beautiful crystalline form of matter, pure and transparent, and hard as a diamond, but sparkling, bright, luminous, and ethereal. There was a wonderful atmosphere, too, surrounding me on all sides. Above and about me, it was discernible as a radiant, sparkling mist, enclosing my form, piercing the walls and ceiling, and permitting my vision to take in an almost illimitable GHOST LAND. 23 area of space, including the city, fields, plains, moun- tains, and scenery, together with the firmament above my head, spangled with stars, and irradiated by the soft beams of the tranquil moon. All this vast realm of perception opened up before me in despite of the enclos- ing walls, ceiling, and other obstacles of matter which surrounded me. These were obstacles no more. I saw through them as if they had been thin air; and what is more I knew I could not only pass through them with perfect ease, but that any piece of ponderable matter in the apartment, the very furniture itself, if it were only brought into the solvent of the radiant fire mist that surrounded me, would dissolve and become, like me and like my atmosphere, so soluble that it could pass, just as I could, through everything material. I saw, or seemed to see, that I was now all force; that I was soul loosed from the body save by the invisible cord which connected me with it; also, that I was in the realm of soul, the soul of matter; and that as my soul, and the . soul-realm in which I had now entered, was the real force which kept matter together, I could just as easily break the atoms apart and pass through them as one can put a solid body into the midst of water or air. Suddenly it seemed to me that I would try this newly discovered power, and observing that the college cap I had worn on my poor lifeless body's head was lying idly in the hands, I made an effort to reach it. To suc- ceed, however, I found I must come into contact with a singular kind of blue vapor which for the first time I noticed to be issuing from my body, and surrounding it like a second self. Whilst I was gazing at this curious phenomenon I felt impressed to look at the other persons in the room, and 24 GHOST LAND. I then observed that a similar aura or luminous se t*ri4 self issued from every one of them. The color and den- sity of each one varied, and by carefully regarding the nature of these mists, or as I have since learned to call them "photospheres," I could correctly discern the char- acter, motives, and past lives of these individuals. I became so deeply absorbed in tracing the images, shapes, scenes, and revelations that were depicted on these men's souls that I forgot my design of appropriat- ing the cap I had worn, until I noticed that the emana- tions of Professor von Marx, assuming the hue of a shining rose tint, seemed to permeate and commingle with the bluish vapor that issued from my form. I no- ticed then another phenomenon. When the two vapors or photospheres were thoroughly commingled, they too became force, like my soul and like the realm of soul in which I was standing. To perceive, in the state into which I was inducted, was to see, hear, taste, smell, and understand all things in one new sense. I knew that as a mortal I could not use more than one or two of the senses at a time ; but as a soul, I could realize all sensa- tions through one master sense, perception; also, that this sublime and exalted sixth sense informed me of far more than all which the other senses separately could have done. Suddenly a feeling of triumph possessed me at the idea of knowing and understanding so much more than the grave and learned professors into whose company I had entered as a timid, shrinking lad, but whom I now regarded with contempt, because their knowledge was so inferior to mine, and pity, because they could not conceive of the new functions and con- sequent enjoyments that I experienced as a liberated soul. There was another revelation impressed upon me at GHOST LAND. 25 tli at time, and one which subsequent experiences have quickened into stupendous depths of consciousness. It was this : I saw, as I have before stated, upon my com- panions, in distinct and vivid characters, the events of their past lives and the motives which had prompted them to their acts. Now it became to me clear as sun- light that one set of motives were wrong, and another right; and that one set of actions (those prompted by wrong motives, I mean) produced horrible deformities' and loathsome appearances on the photosphere, whilst the other set of actions (prompted by the motives which I at once detected as right) seemed to illuminate the soul aura with indescribable brightness, and cast a halo of such beauty and radiance over the whole being, that one old man in particular, who was of a singularly uncomely and withered appearance as a mortal, shone, I as a soul, in the light of his noble life and glorious ema- nations, like a perfect angel. I could now write a folio volume on the interior disclosures which are revealed to the soul's eye, and which are hidden away or unknown to the bodily senses. I cannot pause upon them now, though I think it would be well if we would write many books on this subject, provided men would read and believe them. In that case, I feel confident, human beings would shrink back aghast and terror-stricken from crime, or even from bad thoughts, so hideous do they show upon the soul, and so full of torment and pain does the photosphere become that is charged with evil. I saw in one very fine gentleman's photosphere the representation of all sorts of the most foul and dis- gusting reptiles. These images seemed to form, as it were, out of his misty emanations, whilst upon his soul I perceived sores and frightful marks that convinced me he was not only a libertine and a sensualist, but a 26 GHOST LAND. man imbued with many base and repulsive traits of character. What I saw that night made me afraid of crime, afraid to cherish bad thoughts or harbor bad motives, and with all my faults and shortcomings in after life, I have never forgotten, or ceased to try and live out, the awful lessons of warning I then learned. I must here state that what may have* taken me some fifteen min- utes or more to write, flashed upon my perceptions nearly all at once, and its comprehension, in much fuller detail than I have here given, could not have occupied more than a few seconds of time to arrive at. By this time, that at which I now write, w clairvoy- ance," as the soul's perceptions are called, has become too common a faculty to interest the world much by its elaborate description. Thirty or forty years ago it was too much of a marvel to obtain general credit; but I question whether those who then watched its powers and properties did not study them with more profound appreciation and understanding than they do now, when it seems to be a gift cultivated for very little use be- yond that of affording a means of livelihood, and too frequently opens up opportunities of deception for the quack doctor or pretended fortune-teller. But to re- sume my narrative. I had not been long free from the fetters of my sleep- ing body and the professor's magical hand, when he bent down over my form and said, ! < Louis, I WILL you to remember all that transpires in the mesmeric sleep; also, I desire that you should speak, and relate to us, as far as you can, all that you now see and hear." In an instant the wish of my childish life, the one in- cessant yearning that possessed my waking hours, re- GHOST LAND. 27 turned to me, namely, the desire to behold my dearly loved mother, from whom I had been separated for the past two years. "With the flash of my mother's image across my mind, I seemed to be transported swiftly across an immense waste of waters, to behold a great city, w^here strange-looking buildings were discernible, and where huge domes, covered with brilliant metals, flashed in a burning, tropical sun. Whirled through space, a thousand new and wondrous sights gleamed a^ moment before my eyes, then vanished. Then I found myself standing beneath the shade of a group of tall palm-trees, gazing upon a beautiful lady who lay stretched upon a couch, shaded by the broad verandah of a stately bungalow, whilst half a dozen dusky fig- ures, robed in white, with bands of gold around their bare arms and ankles, waved immense fans over her, and seemed to be busy in ministering to her refresh- ment. w Mother, mother I " I cried, extending my arms towards the well-known image of the being dearest to me on earth. As I spoke, I could see that my voice caused no vibration in the air that surrounded my mother's couch; still the impression produced by my earnest will affected her. I saw a light play around her head, which, strange to relate, assumed my exact form, shape, and attitude, only that it was a singularly petite miniature resemblance. As it flickered over the sensorium, she raised her eyes from her book, and fixing them upon the exact point in space where I stood, mur- mured, in a voice that seemed indescribably distant, w My Louis ! my poor, far-away, deserted child ! would I could see thee now." At this moment the will of my magnetizer seemed to intervene between me and my unexpected vision. I caught his voice saying in stern tones, "Do not 28 GHOST LAND. interfere, Ilerr Eschenmayer. I do not wish him to see his mother, and the tidings he could bring from her would not interest us." Some one replied ; for I felt that the professor listened, though for some cause unknown to me then, I could not hear any voice but his. Again he spoke and said, " I wish him to visit our society at Hamburgh, and bring us some intelligence of what they are doing there." As the words were uttered, I saw for one brief second of time my mother's form, the couch whereon she lay, the veran- dah, bungalow, and all the objects that surrounded her, turn upside-down, like forms seen in a reversed mirror, and then the whole scene changed. Cities, villages, roads, mountains, valleys, oceans, flitted before my gaze, crowding up their representation in a single instant of time, and ending their panoramic delineation in a large and splendidly furnished chamber, not unlike the one I had entered with the professor. I perceived that I was at Hamburgh, in the house of the Baron von S., and that he and a party of gentlemen were seated around a table on which were drinking cups, each filled with some hot, ruby-colored liquid, from which a fragrant, herb-like odor was exhaled. Several crystal globes were on the table, also sdme plates of dark, shining surfaces, together with a number of open books, some in print, others in MSS., and others again whose pages were covered with characters of an antique form, and highly illuminated. As I entered, or seemed borne into this apartment, a voice exclaimed, " A messenger from Herr von Marx is here, a 'flying soul,' one who will carry the promised word to our circle in B." "Question him," responded another voice. ""What tidings or message does he bring?" "He is a new recruit, no adept in the sublime sci- GHOST LAND. 29 ences," responded the first speaker, "and cannot be depended on." " Let me speak with him, " broke in a voice of singu- larly sweet tone and accent; and thereupon I became able to fix my perceptive sense so clearly on this last speaker that I fully realized who and what he was, and how situated. I observed that he stood immediately beneath a large mirror suspended against the wall, and set in a circular frame covered with strange and caba- listic looking characters. A dark velvet curtain was undrawn and parted on either side of the mirror, and in or on, I cannot tell which, its black and highly polished surface, I saw a miniature form of a being robed in starry garments, with a glittering crown on its head, long tresses of golden hair, shining as sunbeams, streaming down its shoulders, and a face of the most unparalleled loveliness my eyes had then or have ever since beheld. I cannot tell whether this creature or image was designed to represent a male or female. I did not then know and may not now say whether it was an animate or inani- mate being. It seemed to be living, and its beautiful lips moved as if speaking, and its strangely-gleaming, sad eyes were fixed with an expression of pity upon me. Several voices, with the tones of little children, though I saw none present, said, in a clear, choral accent, w The crowned angel speaks. " Listen! " The lips of the fig- ure in the mirror then seemed to move. A long beam of light extended from them to the fine, noble-looking youth of about eighteen who stood beneath the mirror, and who pronounced, in the voice I had last heard, these words : "Tell Felix von Marx he and his companions are searching in vain. They spend their time in idle efforts 30 GHOST LAND. to confirm a myth, and will only reap the bitter fruits of disappointment and mockery. The soul of man is compounded from the aromal life of elementary spirits, and, like the founders and authors of its being, only sustains an individualized life so long as the vehicle of the soul holds together and remains intact. If the spirits of the elements, stars, and worlds have been unable during countless ages to discover the secret of eternal being, shall such a mere vaporous compound of their exhaled essence as the soul of man achieve the aim denied to them? Go to, presumptuous ones! Life is a transitory condition of combinations, death a final state of dissolution. Being is an eternal alternation between these changes, and individuality is the privi- lege of the soul once only in eternity. Look upon my earthly companion! look well, and describe him, so that the employers who have sent you shall know that the crowned angel has spoken." I looked as directed, and noticed that the young man who spoke, or seemed to speak, in rhythmic harmony with the image in the mirror, wore a fantastic masquer- ade dress, different from all the other persons present. He on his part seemed moved with the desire that those around him should become aware of my presence, as he was. Then I noticed that his eyes looked intelligently into mine, as if he saw and recognized me; but the gaze of all the rest of the company met mine as if they looked on vacancy. They could not see me. " Flying soul," said the youth, authoritatively address- ing me, "can you not give us the usual signal?" In- stantly I remarked that dim, shadowy forms, like half erased photographic images, were fixed in the air and about the apartment, and I saw that they were forms composed of the essence of souls that, like mine, had GHOST LAND. 31 visited that chamber, and like mine had left their tracery behind. With the pictures thus presented, however, I understood the nature of the signals they had given, and what was now demanded of me. I willed instinct- ively a strong breath or life essence to pass from myself to the young man, also I noticed that his photosphere was of the same rosy tint as Professor von Marx's. I saw the blue vapor from my form exhale like a cloud by my will, commingle with his photosphere, and precipitate itself towards his finger-ends, feet, hair, beard, and eyelashes. He laid his hand on a small tripod of different kinds of metal which stood near him, and, by the direction of my will, five showers of the life essence were discharged from his fingers, sounding like clear, distinct detonations through the apartment. All present started, and one voice remarked, "The messenger has been here ! " "And gone!" added the youth, when instantly I sunk into blank unconsciousness. CHAPTER. H. " The original of all things is one thing. Creation is one whole. The differences a mortal sees are diverse only to the finite mind." FESTUS. As I recall the singular experiences which marked my early boyhood, it seems but yesterday that I, now a man in the meridian of life, was the lad of twelve sum- mers, led to my home by the hand of Professor von Marx, on the memorable night when I first realized the marvel of magnetic influence and somnambulic lucidity, in the experiment detailed in the last chapter. As such experiments were constantly repeated, and spread over a period of full six years, I do not propose to recapitu- late them seriatim, but will endeavor to occupy my readers' time more profitably by presenting them with a summary of the revealments which those six years of occult practices disclosed to me. On the night of what I may call my initiation into the society associated with Professor von Marx, that gentleman informed me, on our way to our lodgings, that the unconscious condition into which I had fallen after my spiritual visit to Hamburgh was occasioned by the lack of force necessary to sustain my system to the close of the seance. He added that as I grew stronger and more accus- tomed to the magnetic control, I should be privileged to retain a recollection of what had transpired; and where this power failed, as it might do, my memory should be refreshed by a perusal of the memoranda GHOST LAND. 33 which he kept of every seance, a storehouse of informa- tion which he intended to transcribe and correct in my presence. In fulfilment of this promise, the professor spent some hours of every week with me; and as I was per- mitted to propound any questions which arose in my mind, and he seemed to take a singular pleasure in explaining the philosophy connected with the facts he recorded, I soon became possessed of the opinions entertained by the society with whom I was unwit- tingly associated. Professor von Marx was not only a member of that society described so graphically by Jung Stilling in vision, but he also belonged to several others, all of whom were more or less addicted to the practices of animal and mineral magnetism. The particular asso- ciation to which I was first introduced constituted the German branch of a very ancient secret order, the name and distinctive characteristics of which neither I nor any other human being is privileged to mention, or even indicate more fully than I shall do in the following statements. Many learned men, and patient students into life's profoundest mysteries, had transmitted from generation to generation the result of their investigations and the opinions deduced from their experiments. This society, which I shall call for distinction's sake the "Berlin Brotherhood," conserving the experiences of their predecessors, had evolved the following elements of philosophy: They believed that every fragment of mat- ter in the universe represented a corresponding atom of spiritual existence ; that this realm of spiritual being was the essence, force, and real substance of the mate- rial; but that both inevitably dissolved together, both 3 34 GHOST LAND. being resolved back into their component parts in the chemical change called death. They acknowledged that the realm of spiritual being was ordinarily invisible to the material, and only known through its effects, being the active and controlling principle of matter; but they had discovered, by re- peated experiments, that spiritual forms could become visible to the material under certain conditions, the most favorable of which were somnambulism procured through the magnetic sleep. This state, they had found, could be induced sometimes by drugs, vapors, and aromal essences; sometimes by spells, as through music, in- tently staring into crystals, the eyes of snakes, running water, or other glittering substances; occasionally by intoxication caused by dancing, spinning around, or distracting clamors; but the best and most efficacious method of exalting the spirit into the superior world and putting the body to sleep was, as they had proved, through animal magnetism. They taught that in the realms of spiritual existence were beings who composed the fragmentary and unorganized parts of humanity, as well as beings of higher orders than humanity. Thus, as man was composed of earthly substances, vegetable tissues, mineral, atmospheric, and watery elements, so all these had realms of spiritual existences, perfectly in harmony with their peculiar quality and functions. Hence, they alleged there were earthy spirits; spirits of the flood, the fire, the air; spirits of various animals; spirits of plant life, in all its varieties; spirits of the atmosphere; and planetary spirits, without limit or number. The spirits of the planets and higher worlds than earth took rank far above any of those that dwelt upon or in its interior. These spirits were more pow- erful, wise, and far-seeing than the earth spirits, whilst GHOST LAND. 35 their term of existence was also more extended in pohlt of time ; but to no spirit did the Brotherhood attribute the privilege of immortality, and least of all to the fleeting and composite essence which formed the vital principle of man. Assuming that, as man's soul was composed of all the elements which were represented in the construction of his body, so his spirit was, as a whole, far superior to the spirits of earth, water, plants, minerals, etc., to hold communion with them, however, was deemed by the Brotherhood legitimate and neces- sary to those who would obtain a full understanding of the special departments of nature in which these embryotic existences were to be found. Thus they in- voked their presence by magical rites, and sought to obtain control over them, for the purpose of wresting from them the complete understanding of and power over the secrets of nature. Whilst I found, by re- peated conversations with my new associates, that every one of them emphatically denied the continued existence of the soul after death, they still believed that the soul's essence became progressed by entering into organic forms, and thus that our essences, though not our in- dividualities, were taken up by higher organisms than man's, and ultimately formed portions of that exalted race of beings who ruled the fate of nations, and from time to time communicated with the soul of man as planetary spirits. They taught that the elementary, spir- its, like the soul essence in man, were dissipated by the action of death, but, like that soul essence, became pro- gressed by existence in forms, and were taken up by higher organisms, and ultimately helped to make up the spirit in man. Strange ,and even fantastic as the belief sketched above may appear to the sceptic, materialist, or spirit- 36 GHOST LAND. ualist, permit me to assure all these differential classes of thinkers that these views have a far wider acceptance than the bare facts of history or biography would lead mankind to believe. I have conversed with leading minds of the German schools in many phases of thought, and have found them unable to combat the facts I had to show, and com- pelled them to acknowledge the plausibility of my the- ory as an explanation of many of what would otherwise remain insoluble problems in nature. The society to which I was introduced by Professor von Marx was not the only one which cherished these views. In Arabia, India, Asia Minor, Hungary, Bohemia, Italy, France, Sweden, and Great Britain, secret societies exist where these beliefs are accepted, and some of the experiences I am about to relate occurred in the great Babylon of materialism, London, during a visit which I made with Professor von Marx to England. The professor was exceedingly generous, and dis- tributed his abundant means with an unstinted hand. One day, discoursing with me on the subject of his lav- ish expenditure, he remarked, carelessly, K There is that-mineral quality in my organism, Louis, which attracts to me and easily subjects to my control the elementary spirits who rule in the mineral kingdoms. Have I not informed you how invariably I can tell the quality of mines, however distant? how often I have stumbled, as if by accident, upon buried treasures? and how constantly my investments and speculations have resulted in financial successes? Louis, I attract money, because I attract mineral elements and the spirits who rule in that realm of nature. " I neither seek for nor covet wealth. I love precious stones for their beauty and magnetic virtues, but money, GHOST LAND. 37 as a mere possession, I despise. Were I as mercenary in my disposition as I am powerful in the means of gain- ing wealth, I could be richer than Croesus, and command a longer purse than Fortunatus." " Is it not strange, my master," I replied, w that the specialty of your physical nature namely, the power of attracting riches, as you allege should not find a corresponding desire in your soul?" "Not at all, my Louis; on the contrary, Nature is purely harmonious, and ever tends to equilibrium in all her strivings. Have you not remarked how often the possession of a special gift is accompanied by an indif- ference to its possession? " Good singers, great musicians, and even poets, painters, and sculptors, rarely estimate their gifts as highly as the world that enjoys them. They are ever dissatisfied with themselves, and unless the world praises, applauds, and recompenses them, they find but little or no interior reward from the mere exercise of their fac- ulty. And thus it is with all Nature's gifts. Abun- dance of strength in the physical departments of our being rarely accompanies unusual vigor of thought or profundity of intellect; muscle and brain seldom hold companionship; and so the magnetic attractions which draw unto my physique the metallic treasures of the earth fail to find any response in the magnetic attrac- tions of my spirit, whereas, were I so constituted as to lack the force which attracts the service of the spirits of the metals, my soul would feel and yearn for a supply to the deficiency in a constant aspiration for money and treasure." And that is why (as I then believed) Professor von Marx was rich, but did not care for or value his wealth, whilst so many millions, who do not possess in their 38 GHOST LAND. organisms that peculiar mineral quality which, as the Brotherhood taught, was necessary to attract wealth, pine for its possession, yet spend their lives vainly in its pursuit. It becomes necessary, for the benefit of any students of psychological mysteries who may peruse these pages, that I should here state, as briefly as possible, the spe- cialties in my association with the "Berlin Brother- hood" which attracted them to me. They believed (and with good reason) that the spir- itual essence in man called soul is susceptible of acting a part independent, to some extent, of the body; that when the body is entranced, or subsides into perfect rest beneath the action of the mesmeric sleep, the spirit, becoming liberated from its control, acquires highly exalted functions, amongst which are the powers of traversing space, and beholding objects through the lucidity of spiritual light. Professor von Marx had detected, through certain signs familiar to good mes- merists, that I was a subject for magnetic experiments. My power as a "clairvoyant" exceeded what he had anticipated; hence my services to the Brotherhood were highly appreciated. Ever since the practices of Mesmer had become familiar to them, they had delighted in pur- suing them in support of their favorite theory, which was that the soul essence of man could appear, make signs, sounds, and disturbances, in places distant from the body; that at times, when these soul essences were dissipated suddenly, as in the action of violent death, they inhered to earthly things and places, and for a time could maintain a sort of vague, shadowy existence, which at length melted away, and became dissipated in space, to be taken up from the grand reservoir of spir- itual essences in other souls. Now, the brothers insisted GHOST LAND. . 39 that these soul essences, which . they called the f? double goer," and more frequently the "atmospheric spirit," by its occasional appearances, both before and after the death of individuals, covered the whole ground of spectres, ghosts, apparitions, hauntings, and supernat- uralism in general. The fact that the "atmospheric spirit" often lingered roiind the earth after the death of the body, and could be seen, heard, and felt, did not militate against their theory that immortality was a fiction and that the soul died with the body. "It was merely the atmospheric spirit; a shadowy remnant of the soul," they said, "which had ever been seen or manifested in the realm of ghost land ; and this was not a permanent, intelligent existence, but merely a temporary relic of the broken organism, like the perfume which lingers about the spot where the flower has been." By repeated and patient experiments with their magnetic subjects, they found that they could send the "double" or "atmospheric spirit" abroad in the somnambulic sleep, and that it could be seen, heard, and felt precisely like the spectres that were claimed to have been manifested in tales of the supernatural. On one occasion, the society having thrown me into a profound sleep by the aid of vital magnetism, and the vapors of nitrous oxide gas, they directed my " atmos- pheric spirit " to proceed, in company with two other lucid subjects, to a certain castle in Bohemia, where friends of theirs resided, and then and there to make disturbances by throwing stones, moving ponderable bodies, shrieking, groaning, and tramping heavily, etc. etc. I here state emphatically, and upon the honor of one devoted only to the interests of truth, that these disturbances were made, and made by the spirits of 40 , GHOST LAND. myself and two other yet living beings, a girl and a boy who were subjects of the society; and though we, in our own individualities, remembered nothing whatever of our performance, we were shortly afterwards shown a long and startling newspaper account of the haunt- ings in the castle of Baron von L , of which we were the authors. In a work devoted to the relation of occult narra- tives I have in my library at this moment an account of the "manifestations," as they were termed, which occurred, on three several occasions, at a certain castle in Bohemia. . The writer attributes these disturbances to disembodied spirits, but in the particular case in question, I insist that the atmospheric spirits of the Berlin Brotherhood were the authors of the facts recorded. As the experiments of these grave gentle- men were neither pursued in fun or mischief, but solely with a view to evolve the rationale of a psychological science, I must confess that they followed out their experiments without remorse or consideration for the feelings of others; and as we were all bound by the most solemn oaths of secrecy, there was little or no chance that a solution to any of the mysteries that originated in our circle could escape from its charmed precincts. I am now writing at a period of nearly half a century after the following occurrences; there will be no impropriety, therefore, in my recalling to any individual who may chance to retain a recollection of the event, the scandal that prevailed about fifty years ago in a town in Russia, concerning a nobleman much given to the study of occult arts, who was alleged to have put to death a young country girl whom he had subjected for some months to his magical experiments, and that for the purpose of proving GHOST LAND. 41 whether her atmospheric spirit, violently thrust out of the body in the vigor of vitality, could not continue hovering around the scene of death, and make manifes- tations palpable to the sense of sight and sound. The popular rumor concerning this barbarous sacrifice was that the nobleman in question had seduced the unhappy peasant girl, and, after having perilled her immortal soul by his magical arts, he had ruthlessly destroyed her body for fear she should betray him. Certain it was that the gentleman in question was charged with murder, tried and acquitted, just as it was supposed any other powerful nobleman in his place would have been. The results, however, were that strange and horrible disturbances took place in his castle. The affrighted domestics alleged that the spirit of the victim held possession of her destroyer's dwell- ing, and night after night her wild shrieks and blood- stained form, flying through gallery and corridor, "made night hideous," and startled the surrounding peasantry from slumber. Rumor added that the ghost, spectre, or " atmospheric spirit," whatever it might be, was not laid for years, and that the adept who had resorted to such terrible methods of gratifying his insa- tiate thirst for occult knowledge paid a tremendous penalty for what he had sought. Tortured with the horrible phantom he had evoked, his mind succumbed, and became a mere wreck. At the time w^hen I com- menced my experiences with the Brotherhood, this man, who had once been an honored member of their society, was confined as a hopeless lunatic, whilst his castle and estates were abandoned by his heir to the possession of the dread haunter and the destructive spirit of neglect and dilapidation. It was by the command of my associates that I one 42 GHOST LAND. night visited, in the magnetic sleep, the cell of the lunatic; and being charged by the power of the Brothers with their combined magnetic force, I threw it on the maniac, and by this means, whilst his suf- fering body slumbered tranquilly, I returned to our "sanctuary" with his spirit; and from the records of that night's proceedings, I extract the following minutes of what transpired. He whose office I am not per- mitted by my lionor to name, I shall call " Grand Master," and he thus questioned what was always called on these occasions the "flying soul" of the maniac: Grand Master. Did you kill the body of A. M.? Answer truly. Flying Soul. I did. Gr. M. For what purpose, and how? F. S. To ascertain if the atmospheric spirit, being fall of life, could remain with me. I killed her by a sudden blow, so as to let all the life out at once, and I drew out the spirit from the dead form by mesmeric passes. 6r. M. Did you see that spirit pass? F. S. I did. G. M. How did it look? F. S. Exactly like the body, only it wore an aspect of horror and appeal terrible to behold. G. M. Did the spirit stay with you, and how long? Did it obey you, and act intelligently, or did it act a merely automatic part? F. S. Mortals, know that there is no death! I did not kill A. M. I only broke up the temple in which her soul dwelt. THAT SOUL is IMMORTAL, A^D CAN NOT DIE. I found this out the moment after it had left the body, for it looked upon me, spoke to me, and re- GHOST LAND. 43 preached me. O God of heaven, saints and angels, pity me ! It spoke to me as intelligently, but far, far more potentially than ever it had done in earthly being. It was not dead. It could not die; it never will die, and so it told me at once ; but ah me, miserable ! whgn I sank down aghast and struck with ineffable horror, as the spirit approached me, into a deep swoon, I en- tered the land of immortal souls. There I saw many people whom I had thought dead, but who were all still living. There, too, I saw the still living and radi- antly glorious soul of my old pastor, Michael H . Sternly but sorrowfully he told me I had committed a great and irreparable crime ; that all crime was unpar- donable, and could only be wiped out by personal, and not by vicarious atonement, as he had falsely taught whilst on earth ; that my only means of atonement was suffering, and that in kind, or in connection with my dreadful crime; that, as the poor victim would be en- gaged during the term of her earthly life (broken short by my act) in working it out in an earthly sphere, so her magnetism, actually attracted, as I had deemed, to the spot where her life had been taken, would continue to haunt me, and repeat in vision the last dread act of murder until her life essence should melt away, and her spirit become free to quit the eartji, and progress, as she would do, to higher spheres. Sometimes this stern teacher informed me I should see the real living soul of my victim, and then it would be as a pitying angel striving to help me; but still oftener I should see only the w spectre," and this would always appear as in the death-moment, an avenging form, partly conjured up from my own memory, and partly from the magnetic aura of my victim, and always taking the shape and circumstances of my dreadful crime. Mortals, there is 44 GHOST LAND. much more to tell you of the awful realms beyond the grave, and the solemn connection between life and death, but more I dare not speak. Human beings will soon learn it for themselves ; for the souls of the immor- tals are preparing to bridge over the gulf of death, and men and spirits will yet cross and recross it. Meantime ye are the blind leading the blind; deceiving yourselves with a vain philosophy, and deceiving all to whom ye teach it. THERE is NO DEATH ! I must be gone. Hark, I am called! The minutes which follow, on this strange revelation of the maniac's "flying soul," add: "It would seem that the body was disturbed in its somnambulism, and the soul recalled; but we could have gained nothing by prolonging this interview, for evidently that soul had returned in its lucid intervals to the ancient and false philosophy in which it had in childhood been instructed, namely, the mythical belief in its immortality. "The spirits of lunatics can be evoked, and always speak and think rationally when freed from the dis- ordered body; but we note that they most commonly go back to the rudimental periods of their existence, and generally insist on the popular myth of immortality. "Perhaps they ^re en rapport with the prevailing opinions of men, and are thus psychologized into re- peating accepted ideas. There is nothing, however, to be gained from this experiment." CHAPTEE HI. COSTSTAKCE. TN the college buildings occupied by the professors and employees attached to the university of which I became a student, resided a mathematical teacher, whom I shall designate Professor Miiller. This gentleman held a distinguished place in the ranks of science, and was also one of the secret society associated with myself and Professor von Marx. He was a sullen, cold, ungenial man, and though esteemed for his sci- entific attainments, and regarded by our society as a powerful mesmeric operator, he was generally disliked, and was particularly repulsive to the "sensitives" whom he occasionally magnetized. Professor von Marx had always carefully isolated me from every magnetic influ- ence but his own, and though I was consequently never required to submit to the control of Herr Miiller, his very presence was so antipathetic to me that it was remarked my highest conditions of lucidity could never be evolved when he was by. He did not often attend the seances, however, in which I was engaged, although he belonged to our group, as well as others to which I wafe not admitted. Professor Mailer's chief interest in my eyes was his relationship to a charming young lady, some years older than myself, but one for whom I cher- ished a sentiment which I can now only liken to the adoration of an humble votary for his saint; and truly 46 GHOST LAND. Constance Miiller was worthy to be enshrined in any heart as its presiding angel. She was beautiful, fair, and fragile-looking as a water- lily; gentle, timid, and shrinking as a fawn; and though residing with her stern, unloving uncle in the college buildings, and fulfilling for him the duties of a house- keeper, few of the other residents ever saw her except in transitory, passing glances, and none of the members of the university, save one, enjoyed the privilege of any direct personal intercourse with her. That solitary and highly-favored individual was myself. I had made the acquaintance of the lovely lady on several occasions, when I had been sent from my friend, Heir von Marx, on messages to her uncle ; and deeming, I presume, that my boyish years would shield our inter- course from all possibility of scandal or remark, the lonely fairy had deigned to bestow on me some slight attention, which finally ripened into a friendship equally sincere and delightful. Constance Miiller was an orphan, poor, and dependent on her only relative, Herr Miiller. Young as I was, I could perceive the injustice, no less than the impropriety, of a young lady so delicately nurtured and possessed of fine sensitive instincts, being brought into such a scene, and subjected to such a life as she led in the university. She made no complaint, however, simply informing me that by the death of her father, a poor teacher of lan- guages, she had become solely dependent upon her uncle, and though she hoped eventually to induce him to aid her in establishing herself as a teacher of music, she was too thankful for his temporary protection to urge her choice of another life upon him, until she found him willing to promote her wishes. As for me, I lis- tened to her remarks on this head with strange misgiv- GHOST LAND. 47 ings. My own secret convictions were that the stern student of the occult had brought this beautiful young creature to the college with ulterior motives, in which his devotion to magical studies formed the leading idea. I may as well record here 'as at any other point of my narrative that, although I was deeply interested, nay, actually infatuated with the pursuits in which my clair- voyant susceptibilities had inducted me, I was never, from their very first commencement, satisfied that they were legitimate or healthful to the minds that were engaged in them. I felt the most implicit faith in the integrity and wisdom of Professor von Marx, as well as entire confidence in his affection for and paternal care of me ; but here my confidence in any of my associates ended. Somehow they all seemed to me to be men without souls. They were desperate, determined seekers into realms of being with which earth had no sympathy, and which in consequence abstracted them from all human feelings or human emotions. Not one of them, that I can remember, ever manifested any genial qualities or seemed to delight in social exer- cises. They were profound, philosophic, isolated men, pursuing from mere necessity, or as a cloak to the stu- pendous secrets of their existence, some scientific occu- pation, yet in their innermost natures lost to earth and its sweet humanities ; living amongst men, but partaking neither of their vices nor their virtues. In their companionship I felt abandoned of my kind. Bound, chained, like a Prometheus, to the realms of the mysterious existences whom these men had subdued to their service, I often fancied myself a doomed soul, shut out forever from the tender and trustful associations of mortality, and swallowed up in an ocean of awe and my s- 48 GHOST LAND. ticism, from which there was none to save, none to help me. If the knowledge I had purchased was indeed a reality, there were times when I deemed it was neither good nor lawful for man to possess it. I often envied the peace- ful unconsciousness of the outer world, and would gladly have gone back to the simple faith of my childhood, and then have closed my eyes in eternal sleep sooner than awaken to the terrible unrest which had possessed me since I had crossed the safe boundaries of the visible, and entered upon the illimitable wastes of the invisible. And now, methought, Constance, the fair, gentle, and loving-hearted orphan, Constance, who so yearned for affection that she was content in her isolation to cling even to a young boy like me, was to become their victim; be inducted into the cold, unearthly realms of half-formed spiritual existences; lose all her precious womanly attributes, and with fixed, wild glances pier- cing the invisible, stare away from the faces of her fel- low-mortals to the grotesque lineaments of goblins, the forms of sylphs, and the horrible rudiments of imperfect being that fill the realms of space, mercifully hidden from the eyes of ordinary mortals. Constance, I knew, longed for this knowledge, and whether prompted by the suggestions of her remorseless relative, or fired with the sphere of influence which he projected from his resolved mind, I could not .tell; certain it was that she had obtained some clew to the pursuits in which I was engaged, and was perpetually plying me with questions and attempts to elicit information concerning them. To this, though I felt as if I were betraying the inter- ests of my beloved master, I invariably returned answers clothed in discouraging words and hints of warning. All would not avail. On a certain evening when I was my- GHOST LAND. 49 \ self off duty, but when a special meeting to which I did not belong was held by the brothers, I saw Professor Miiller cross the college grounds, supporting on his arm the closely- veiled and ethereal form of Constance. I saw them enter a coach which was waiting for them at the gate, and running hastily in their track, I heard the professor direct the driver to set them down in that remote quarter of the town where the meetings of the Brotherhood were held. " Gone to the sacrifice ! " I men- tally exclaimed. " Constance, thou art doomed ! sold to a world of demons here and hereafter, if indeed there is a hereafter." Two evenings after this, as I was taking my solitary walk in the college grounds, a quick step pursued me; a hand was laid lightly on my shoulder, and looking up I beheld Constance Miiller, a transfig- ured being. Her eyes gleamed with a strange, unearthly light ; her head seemed to be thrown upwards as if spurn- ing the earth and seeking kindred with the stars ; her cheek burned with a deep hectic flush, and a singular air of triumph sat on her beautiful lips as she thus' accosted me : " Thou false page ! how long wouldst thou have kept the mistress, to whom thou hast sworn fealty, imprisoned in the darkness of earthly captivity, when realms of light and glory and wonder were waiting for her to enter in and possess?" " O Constance ! where have you been? " * Where I shall some day meet you, my young pala- din, in the land of light, for an entrance to which my soul has yearned ever since I could look up from the chill world of materialism, and feel that it must be vitalized and fired by a world of spiritualism. Yes, Louis, I know now the secrets of your nightly wander- ings, and I too can traverse space. I too can com- mune with the soul of things, and in enfranchised 4 50 GHOST LAND. liberty the inner self of Constance can roam the spheres of infinity and pierce the secrets of eternity." "Alas!" I murmured, and then, unable to explain even to myself the unspeakable grief that filled my heart, I hung my head, and walked on silently by the side of the poor enthusiast. For several weeks Constance Miiller lived in the ecstacy of a pioneer who has discovered a new world, and deems himself its sovereign. I never could convey to her, in language, my own deep sense of man's inapti- tude to commune with worlds of being at once foreign and repulsive to his mortality ; but she saw, and in her wonderfully sympathetic nature appreciated the emo- tions I could not shape into words. In the glory of triumphant power over and through the invisible, how- ever, the neophyte could not share the thoughts which some years of experience had forced upon me as convic- tions ; but, ah me ! . why should I have wished to hasten the eclair cissement? It came soon enough, or rather, too soon, too soon! I was never present at the seances in which Constance took part, nor were any of the other r lucid subjects " known to me, hence I never knew what transpired. The Brothers had many phases of spiritual communion among them, and though, thanks to the indulgent care of my teacher, I learned more than any of the other " sensitives " were permitted to know during their terms of initiation, I was aware that there were vast theatres of transcendental knowledge to be traversed, into which few if any mortals had been as yet fully inducted. To every seance a formulae was attached in the shape of oaths of secrecy, so tremendous that those who were sincere in their belief were never known to break them. That any part of the weird services conducted in GHOST LAND. 51 these meetings should be subsequently revealed to the world is the best proof that the neophytes haye ceased to be sincere or to regard their vows of silence as bind- ing. At the time of which I write, I was deeply in earnest, and regarded the knowledge I had acquired as the most sacred that could be communicated; hence I never questioned Constance concerning her experiences, although I too well divined their nature. As months glided on, I found most certainly that the spirit of this poor victim had been trained to become a "flying soul," and was, at most of the seances she attended, liberated for some purposes which I could only guess at. Whatever these were, they soon began to affect her health and spirits. She pined away like a flower deprived of light and air. Frailer and more ethereal grew that slight, sylph-like form; more wan and hollow waxed the once tinted cheek and lips day by day. Her large, blue eyes became sunken and hollow, and her curling locks of pale gold seemed like a coronet of sunbeams, already entwined to circle the brow of an eternal sleeper. At every seance she attended, her spirit, attenuating like a thread of long-drawn light, invariably floated away, as its first and most powerful attraction, to whatever place I happened to be in : some- times poring over my books in my quiet little chamber; sometimes dreamily watching the ripples of the dancing fountain which played in the college square ; not unfre- quently wandering in the arcades of the thick woods that skirted the town; and at times stretched on the grass, watching, but never entering into, the merry sports of the youths of my own age, with whom, as companions, I had lost all sympathy. At home or abroad, alone or in the midst of a crowd, wherever I 52 GHOST LAND. chanced to be, when the enfranchised soul of the beau- tiful Constance broke its prison bonds and went free, save for the magnetic spell of her operators, it invari- ably sought me out, and like a wreath of pale, sunlit mist, floated some two feet above the ground in bodily form and presentment before me. Accustomed to the phenomenon of the " double goer," this phantom neither surprised nor disturbed me. My spiritual experiences enabled me to perceive that during the few moments that the spirit of the "sensitive" was passing into the magnetic sleep, and before her magnetizers had yet full control of her, the instinctive attractions of her nature drew her to the boy whom she had already discovered to be her worshipper, the only being, perhaps, to whom she was drawn by the ties of affection, with which her loving nature was replete. All this I knew, and should have rejoiced in had not the phantom of the victim pre- sented unmistakable tokens of being a sacrifice, and that an unpitied one, to the dark magians with whom she was so fatally associated. In the vision of the "flying soul" of Constance, there was no speculation in the fixidity of the lustrous eyes; the form reposed as if on air, and the long, sunny curls would almost sweep the ground at my feet; but the look of hopeless sorrow and blank despair, which had grown to be a permanent expression on her waking features, was even more piteously depicted on the mag- netic shade. She did not see me, touch, or know me, but the bruised spirit fled unconsciously to the shelter of the only presence that would, if it could, have saved her, and then passed away, to do the bidding of the remorseless men that had possessed themselves, as I then thought, of her helpless soul. One evening, when we had been strolling out together, GHOST LAND. 53 and had sat on a lone hill side, watching the sinking sun setting in gorgeous, many-colored glory over the outstretched gardens, meadows, and plains beneath, Constance broke a long silence by exclaiming in low yet passionate tones, "Louis, you think the men who have entrapped us, both body and soul, in their foul, magical meshes, are good and pure, even if they are cold and ungenial in their devotion to their awful studies. Louis, you are mistaken. I bear witness to you as the last, and perhaps the only act by which I may ever more serve you on earth, that some of them are impious, inhuman, and, O Heaven, how monstrously impure ! " w Constance, you amaze me ! " " Do not interrupt me, Louis. I am injured past all reparation. You may be snatched from the vortex which pollutes the body and blasts the soul; but for me, oh, would the end were come ! " The indescribable tone of anguish in which this lament was uttered pierced me to the quick. I threw myself at the feet of the beautiful lady, pro- testing I would die to save her. For her sake, to do her good or even to pleasure her, I would crush the whole nest of magicians as I would so many wasps. I would kill them, denounce them to the authorities, anything, everything she bid me do. All I asked was to be permitted to save her. To this wild rhapsody the low tones of the gentle Constance only responded in stifled whispers, entreat- ing me to be still, calm, patient, and to be assured that neither I nor any other living creature could be of the slightest assistance to her. w I have seen the end," she added, when she had succeeded in calming me, w and I know that, impatient as I am for its coming, it will not 54 GHOST LAND. be long delayed. I shall enter into the realms of light and glory, for these dreadful men have only abused my helpless spirit so long as it is imprisoned in my weak body and its connecting forces; they have not touched its integrity, nor can they maintain their hold upon it one instant after it has severed the chain which binds the immortal to the mortal. When that is broken I shall be free and happy." " Constance ! " I cried, " is it then given you to know what new form you will inhabit? Surely, one so good and true and beautiful can become nothing less than a radiant planetary spirit ! " "I shall be the same Constance I ever was," she replied, solemnly. "I am an immortal spirit now, although bound in material chains within this frail body, and in magnetic chains still more terrible to the power of yon base, bad men." w Constance, you dream ! Death is the end of indi- viduality. Your spirit may be, must be, taken up by the bright realms of starry being, but never as the Con- stance you now are." "Forever and forever, Louis, I shall be ever the same. I have seen worlds of being those magians can not ascend to, worlds of bright, resurrected human souls upon whom death has had no power save to dis- solve the earthly chains that held them in tenements of clay. I have seen the soul world ; I have seen that it is imperishable. Louis, there are in these grasses beneath our feet spiritual essences that never die. In my moments of happiest lucidity, that is " and here a strong shudder shook her frame "when I could escape from my tormentors and the world of demons amongst whom they delight to roam, then, Louis, my soul winged through space and pierced into a brighter GHOST LAND. 55 interior than they have ever realized, aye, even into the real soul of the universe, not the mere magnetic envelope which binds spirit and body together. Louis, in the first or inner recesses of nature is the realm of force, comprising light, heat, magnetism, life, nerve, aura, essence, and all the imponderables that make up motion, for motion is force, composed of many subdi- visible parts. Here inhere those worlds of half-formed, embryotic existences with which our tormentors hold intercourse. They are the spiritual parts of matter, and supply to matter the qualities of force; but they are all embryotic, all transitory, and only partially intel- ligent existences. JSTothing which is imperfect is per- manent, hence these imperfect elementary spirits have no real or permanent existence; they are fragments of being, organs, but not organisms, and until they are combined into the organism of manhood, they can out- work no real individuality, hence they perish die, that we may gather up their progressed atoms, and incarnate their separate organs as the complete organ- ism of man." " And man himself, Constance? " "Man as a perfected organism can not die, Louis. The mould in which he is formed must perish, in order that the soul may go free. The envelope, or magnetic body that binds body and soul together, is formed of force and elementary spirit; hence this stays for a time with the soul after death, and enables it to return to, or linger around the earth for providential purposes until it has become purified from sin ; but even this at length drops off, and then the soul lives as pure spirit, in spirit realms, gloriously bright, radiantly happy, strong, pow- erful, eternal, infinite. That is heaven; that it is to dwell with God; such souls are his angels." 56 GHOST LAND. w Constance, you speak with assurance. How know you this not from the Brotherhood?" " The Brotherhood, Louis ! Why, they are but grop- ing through the thick darkness of the material world, and just penetrating the realms of force. "I tell you those realms are only peopled with shadows, ghosts, phantoms. w The hand is not the body, the eye is not the head ; neither are the thin, vapory essences that constitute the separate organs of which the world of force is composed, the soul. Mark me, Louis ! Priests dream of the exist- ence of soul worlds, the Brotherhood of the beings in the world of force. The priests call the elementary spirits of the mid-region mere creations of human fancy and superstition. The Brothers charge the same hallu- cination upon the priests. Both are partly right and partly wrong, for the actual experiences of the soul will prove that beings exist of both natures, and that both realms are verities; only the elementary spirits in the realms of force are like the earth, perishable and transi- tory, and the perfected spirits in the realm of soul are immortal, and never die. Louis, I have seen and con- versed with both, and I know I do not dream. Here, miserable that I am, I am bound to earth; my soul is imprisoned by the chains of force ; I am compelled to minister to the insatiate curiosity of the spirits who cannot ascend beyond those mid-regions, and oh! the horror of that bondage would have bereft my soul of reason, had it not been redeemed by foregleams of the more holy and exalted destiny reserved for the soul in the blest sphere of immortality. Dear boy, ask me no more, press me no further. My sweet brother, dearly, fondly loved by Constance ! when I am an enfranchised spirit, I will come to thee, and prove my words by the GHOST LAND. 57 very presence of an arisen, immortal soul. Remem- ber! " During the months succeeding this memorable con- versation, I only encountered the " flying soul " of the dying Constance once. I understood that this recession of her spirit was from no decrease of the experiments, whatever they might be, that she suffered, nor yet from any cessation of her at- traction to myself, but the bonds of earth were loosen- ing, the vital forces waning, and I knew that the pale phantom was losing the earthly essence necessary to become visible even in the atmosphere of invisible forces. My beautiful saint would soon be taken from me, my earthly idol would be shattered; and oh! were it possible to believe her words, and think that she could still live in a brighter and better state of being, I might have been comforted; but driven from this anchor of hope by the emphatic teachings of the Brotherhood and their spirits, I beheld my earth angel melting away into blank annihilation, with an anguish that admitted of no alleviation, a pain at my heart almost insupport- able. I had been away for some months in England, pur- suing studies of which I shall speak more presently. Professor von Marx had been my companion, and we had just returned, when one night, as I was about to retire to rest, and proceeded to draw the curtain which shaded my window, something seemed to rise outside the casement, which intercepted the light of the moon. The house in which I dwelt was on the borders of a beautiful lake, and too high above it to allow of any stray passenger climbing up to my casement. There was no boat on the waters, no foothold between them and the terrace, which was far below my window. I had 58 GHOST LAND. been gazing out for some time on the placid lake, illu- mined by the broad path of light shed over it by the full moon, and I knew that no living creature was near or could gain access to my apartment; and yet there, stand- ing on air against the casement, and intercepting the rays that streamed on either side of her on the mosaic floor of my chamber, stood the gracious and radiant form of Constance Miiller. In the flash of one second of time I knew it was not her atmospheric spirit that stood there. Radiant, shining, and glorious she now appeared, her sweet eyes looking full of penetrating intelligence into mine, her sweet smile directed towards me, and a motion of her hand like the action of a salute, indicating that the apparition saw and recognized me, and was all beaming with interest and intelligence. By a process which was not ordinary motion, the lovely phantom seemed to glide through the window and appear suddenly within a few feet of the couch, to which, on her first appearance, I had staggered back. Slightly bending forward, as if to arrest my attention, though without the least movement of the lips, her voice reached my ear, saying, w I am free, happy, and immortal." Swiftly as she had appeared, the apparition vanished, and in its place I beheld the vision- ary semblance of the old-fashioned room in the college building occupied by Constance Miiller. On a couch which I well knew, lay the form of the once beautiful tenant, pale, ghastly, dead! The form was partly cov- ered over with a sheet, but where the white dressing- robe she wore was open at the throat I observed clearly and distinctly two black, livid spots, like the marks of a thumb and finger. The face was distorted, the eyes staring, and I saw she had been murdered. Ghastly as was the scene I looked upon, a preternatu- GHOST LAND. 59 ral power of observation seemed to possess me, impelling me to look around the apartment, which I perceived was stripped of many things I had been accustomed to see there. The harp was gone, and so was the desk and books at which I had so frequently seen her seated. Looking with the piercing eye of the spirit behind as well as upon the couch where the body lay, I saw the black ribbon and gold locket which Constance had always worn round her neck lying on the ground as if it had been dropped there. If there was any meaning in this vision, it would appear that this object was the point aimed at, for I had no sooner 1 beheld it and the exact position in which it lay than the whole phantasmagoria passed away, and once more the shining image of a living and celestially beautiful Constance stood before me. Again the air seemed to syllable forth the words, r? I am free, happy, and immortal," and "I have kept my promise," when again, but this time far more gradually, the angelic vision melted out, leaving the pattern of the mosaic on the floor, gilded only by the bright moonbeam, and the diamond panes of the casement, shadowed only by the white jasmine that was trained over the house. Moonlight reigned supreme, the shadow was gone ; but ah me! it had been the shadow of an eternity of sun- beams. Never did I realize such a profound gloom, such an insufferably thick atmosphere, such " darkness made visible," as the absence of this radiant creature left behind. Whilst she stayed it seemed as if sorrow, evil, or suffering had never had an existence; life and being throughout was a mighty ecstacy : and now she had taken all the joy and sunlight out of the world, and that for- ever. The recital of the previous night's vision, every item 60 GHOST LAND. of which I faithfully related to Professor von Marx the next morning, found in him a grave, attentive, but still unmoved listener. He did not seem to doubt but that Constance Miiller was dead. He made no remarks upon the appearances which, I passionately declared, inferred that she had suffered death by violence. To all this he simply said, "We shall see"; but when I strove to convince him that the apparition of a soul after death, and that with all the signs of life and tokens of intelligence, must prove a continued existence, he seemed roused to his usual tone of dogmatic assertion. He repeated what he had often insisted upon before, namely, that the life emanations called "soul" did often subsist for a short period after death, and appear as an organic form, but he still maintained that was no proof of immortality, since such essences soon disintegrated, and became as scattered and inorganic as the body they had once inhabited. When I urged the words I had heard from the beau- tiful phantom, he insisted they were the reflections of my own thoughts, associated with the appearance of one who believed in idle superstitions, and to my plea that the dress of pure, glistening white in which the figure was arrayed could be no reflex of my mind, whilst the buoyant happiness that sparkled on her angelic face bore little or no resemblance to the sad, faded original, he replied that as the essence was pure and unalloyed by the earthy, so when I beheld the essence actually disengaged from the earthy, I should see it clothed in an image of its own beauty, light, and purity. I was silenced, but not convinced. Two days later Professor von Marx stood with me knocking at Herr Mailer's chamber door. The professor himself opened it, and GHOST LAND. 61 anticipated all we might have to say by informing us, gravely, that he had been unfortunate enough to lose his niece "by a sudden attack of putrid fever," which had compelled her speedy interment, the ceremony of which he had been just attending. "I knew that Fraulein Miiller was no more," replied my teacher, in a voice which, despite his philosophy, was something moved and broken, "and I called thus early, not to condole with you, for I know your resolved stoicism, but to ask if you are willing to let my dear young friend here make purchase of your niece's harp. You know the young people were much attached to each other, and Louis is anxious to possess this sou- venir of his beloved friend." I could not speak; a choking sensation was in my throat, and I was aston- ished at the cool invention by which Herr von Marx was trying the truth of my clairvoyance; but I lis- tened breathlessly for the reply. "I had her harp, desk, books, and other matters which might have been rendered unsalable by the contagion of the fever, removed," replied Herr von Miiller, with a slight shade of confusion in his manner. " I did not want a crowd of persons hovering around the sufferer in her dying moments, hence I had the apartment cleared in an early stage of her disease." "Is there nothing my young friend could procure from this much venerated spot?" persisted my crafty ally. "I do not well know," replied the other, completely thrown off his guard; "but if you desire it, you can step in and inspect the apartment." Following the two strangely matched associates into the desolate shrine from which the saint had been removed, I gazed around only to see a perfect fac-simile 62 GHOST LAND. of the scene I had beheld in vision. It was evident the quick, furtive glances of Professor von Marx were directed towards the same end as my own. Suddenly he stopped before a dark picture hanging on the wall, and standing in a line between me and Herr Miiller, directed his attention to something which he pretended to call remarkable in the painting, thus giving me the opportunity to cross the room hastily, draw out a couch in the corner, and gather up from behind it a Hack rib- bon and gold locket, which had lain there apparently unnoticed till then. Professor von Marx never lost sight of me for an instant, and no sooner saw me secrete my treasure in my bosom than he said abruptly, "Come, Louis, I don't like the atmosphere of the place. Herr Miiller is right: the contagion of death lingers aroihid; there is nothing left here now that you can desire to have. Let us go." As we returned to our lodgings the professor silenced my deep and angry murmurs against the man we had just left by a variety of sophistries with which he was always familiar. One of these was the total indifference with which all the Brotherhood regarded the lives of those who were not of their order. It mattered little, he said, how poor Constance's thread of being was finally cut short, since it was evidently too attenuated to spin out to any much greater length than it had already attained; and finally, if I would persist, he said, in indulging in unrestrained and pernicious bursts of passion, I should mar the necessary passivity and equilibrium so essential to pure clairvoyance, and he should lose the best " lucid " in the world. Before we parted for the night the professor asked me if I had ever seen or heard of Zwingler, the Bohe- mian. GHOST LAND. 63 "Who is he?" I asked, indifferently. " You have never seen or heard of Zwingler ? Then," he rejoined, w you have something to learn, another les- son to take, one, I think, that will help to dissipate your faith in the myth of immortality, and throw some light on the question of apparitions. w Come with me to-morrow, Louis, to Sophien Stradt. There I will introduce you to Zwingler, and in his per- son to one of the phenomenal wonders of the age; and Louis," he added, after a moment's pause, as we shook hands at parting, w carry that ribbon and locket some- where about you poor Constance's jewel, I mean. "We may find a singular use for it. Good-night." CHAPTEK IV. ZWL^GLEK, THE BOHEMIAN. To fulfil the promise which my teacher had made me of visiting Zwingler, we mounted several flights of stairs in an old house in Sophien Stradt, and at last reached a landing upon which many persons were con- gregated about and around an open door, through which I was led hy Professor von Marx into a large apartment, shahbily furnished, and half filled with loungers, amongst whom I recognized more than one official of the constabulary force of the city. Pushing his way through the assembled company to a sort of recess at the far end of the room, the profes- sor addressed himself to a little, black-eyed, Oriental- looking individual, who was seated on a table, dangling his legs, and fidgeting restlessly about, whilst a grave official, in the habit of a notary, was taking down depo- sitions or making notes from what the other was saying. The moment the little man set eyes on the professor, he sprang from the table, and seizing his hand with a sort of fawning, propitiatory air, which seemed more like the action of deferential fear than real cordiality, he cried, "Ah, my prince of the powers of the air ! welcome ! ever welcome to Zwingler, but more especi- ally at this time, when a most wonderful phase of your art, that is to say, of mine, or the devil's or some of his imps', for what I know, has just been perpetrated GHOST LAND. 65 through my innocent instrumentality." The little man whilst speaking manifested all the feverish excitement of an actor anxious to overdo his part, at the same time obviously desirous to interest his listener, as one of whom he stood in some awe. "Without paving any attention to this speech, Professor von Marx, turning to me, said calmly, " Louis, this is Zwingler." "Adept! " (to Zwingler) " a pupil of miiie> for whose benefit I wish you to recite some little fragments of your experience; " then, seating himself upon the table from which the Bohemian had dismounted, and motioning me to a stool by his side, he proceeded, addressing the notary, to whom he had slightly nodded, ' :? Well, Herr Reinhardt, what new discoveries has our lively little sleuth-hound been making?" " Oh, nothing out of the common line, professor," replied the other, in a grave official drawl. * We 've caught the murderer of Fran Ebenstein; that's all." 'That's all?" cried the Bohemian, with a tone and gesture of almost frantic excitement. w That's all, is it? Slave of the dull earth and the duller prison watch and ward ! All is it, to traverse nearly two hundred miles of ground, cross three rivers, plunge through marshes, scale mountain heights, pierce the forest, sink through the cavern's depths, and toss on the roaring rapids of the terrific Schwartz cataract; and still never to lose no, not for a single moment the scent of an invisible and unknown mortal, whom these eyes had never beheld, whom these hands had never touched, and of whom no sign, no symbol, no token in the realms of earthly ex- istence could be found, except by me, Zwingler ! " As he spoke, he beat his breast, and elevated his glittering black eye to the heavens in an attitude of half-ecstatic frenzy. 66 GHOST LAND. The notary, without the slightest change of feature, continued to write, wholly unmindful of his rhapsody; but Professor von Marx, fixing his deep, piercing dark eyes upon the Bohemian, said in a calm, soothing tone, as if he were attempting to subdue a fractious child, *You are a marvellous being, indeed, Zwingler, and that all the world knows. Come now! there's a good fellow, tell -us all about it. Sit down no, not there there, at my feet; so, that will do. Now, relate the whole story; we will listen most patiently and admire most fervently," he added, speaking aside to me in Spanish. w Remember, I have not seen you for two months, and only yesterday heard that you had returned in triumph from your long pilgrimage. When I was last here, the tidings had just reached us that Frau Ebenstein, the rich widow of Baden Baden, had been foully murdered, her house sacked and plundered, and her destroyer " w An unknown, " broke in the notary, as if impatient to recite details which were specially in the line of his duty, " an unknown, whether male or female also unknown, but supposed to be the former on account of blood-stained footprints, marks of a large thumb and finger on neck of the deceased, and a torn neckerchief, evidently a man's, part of which was clutched in the fingers of said deceased, and part of which was found beneath the couch, saturated with gore, and rent, as if hi a violent struggle." As the speaker proceeded, strong shudderings seized the frame of the Bohemian, though the hand of Profes- sor von Marx, laid lightly on his shoulder, for a time subdued the spasms and quelled them into slight shiv- erings ; but ^when the neckerchief was mentioned, the little creature's excitement was frightful to behold. He GHOST LAND. 67 writhed like an eel beneath the touch of the professor, who at last, raising his hand, said quietly, " Now, Zwin- gler, proceed. Tell the rest in your own way." 'Yes, yes, I will tell," he cried. "I always do. "When did I ever fail? Answer me that, prince of the air; answer me!" " Never, my king of adepts ; but go on." ' They brought me that neckerchief, then, mein Her- ren," he continued, as if addressing a vast assembly, but without looking at any of the loungers in the outer apart- ment, who now closed up about him; "and lo! as I clutched it, I saw. yes, instantly, I saw a dark-browed, broad-shouldered Dutch serving-man, the man of blood, the man who did the deed. I swear it ! I saw him do it. I saw him and the whole act; and oh, how horrible it was ! how cruel ! how cowardly ! and the poor, poor old Frau! I saw her too, saw her struggle, plead, choke, die! All this I saw, out of that neckerchief, mein Herren! Instantly, as I touched it, it came like a flash, a flash of darkness, but full of the scene I describe, and full, too, of all its horror. Gott in Himmel ! Then it went as all scenes do after the flash I get of them as I touch the thing ; after that I said ' Give me my shoes ; I must walk far. Put me a cup to scoop up water with in my wallet, give me my staff, and let me go.' I had been hungry and was about to dine, but I hungered no more ; no, not for seven long days did I touch other food than the nuts and berries close to the path streaked with the murderer's life, and the water of the rivers, streams, and cataract he had crossed ; but I will tell you all. Listen ! As I made to go, I chose my path as I always do, because a long black line seemed to stream out from the necker- chief I held in my hand, and point ever on the way I should go. It led me through the city; it pointed me 68 GHOST LAND.. into a low inn where he had stopped to rest. I told them such a man had been there. They shuddered, and said to one another, 'Zwingler!' and then to me, ? He has been and gone.' I knew it; but the way he had taken was still pointed by the black line. I know what you were going to say, professor; I see your thought. You want to know if I see the line I speak of with my eyes, my very eyes, or my soul's eyes. I reply, f With both.' My soul feels the line, and it draws me on, and seems like a cord dragging at the object I hold, and pulling me in the direction I must take to arrive at the owner of that object. Sometimes I seem to see the line, and then I do not feel it pull, but it never leaves one sense or the other sight or feeling until I abandon the object or find the person to whom it has belonged. Well, sirs, thus it led me on, day and night, never suffering me to get out of his track. It guided me through several vil- lages and some towns, and wherever it was the thickest and most palpable, there he had stopped to take rest or refreshment, and there I said, ' Such and such a man has been here ' ; and they answered with a shudder, * Zwin- gler! he has come and gone.' "I rested sometimes, but ever on the ground, the ground he had trodden; and then the black, vapory cord seemed to coil up all around me like a misty gar- ment. I tried to rest once on a bed he had occupied, but O Heaven ! all the scene of the murder was there. I heard her shriek, I saw her struggle, and what was still more horrible, it seemed to me that I was the mur- derer, and was actually doing the deed over again. I fled from the place, and should have lost the track had I not returned to it again, and started afresh from that house. w To one like me, professor, that house will always be GHOST LAND. 69 haunted; that is, until the murderer's shade melts away from it; and it will do so in time. I answer your thought again, you see, professor. It was near mid- night, some time I can not tell how long after I had started, that the black cord began to thicken and spread, and at length to assume the shape of a man. "It trembled and quivered, and at first was only the indistinct outline of a man, but presently it grew more and more dense, and now behold! It was the ghost of the Dutch serving-man in full, walking just so far before me, above the ground one foot, and ever look- ing over its shoulder at something coming after it. That man went to a great many places in the town I was now hunting through, for the ghost was at every street-corner and in every alley, and lurking in all the dark lanes and by-streets ; and though I knew he must be close at hand, by the density of the ghost, still he had wandered and wandered, and lurked about in so many places that I should have become confused had not both senses been suddenly appealed to at once. I saw him, and at last I felt him. I felt him, as it were, tugging at the neckerchief in my hand, and striving holy martyrs, how he strove! to get it away from me. " Sirs, he was just then thinking about that necker- chief, remembering he had lost it in the murdered lady's room, and wishing he had got it, and cursing his folly, and mentally longing, longing to get it back. Lucky for me he did think thus, for his thought, being set on the neckerchief, pulled at it so frantically that it led me straight to his hiding-place, and there and then, when 1 saw him, and screamed that that was the murderer of Frau Ebenstein, and the landlord and guests of the inn cried 'Zwingler, Zwingler!' he uttered a great cry, and 70 GHOST LAND. fell as if he had been struck; and then it was they cap- tured him and brought him thither." "Ay! and the strangest fact of all this is, gentle- men," broke in the grave notary, unable to keep silence any longer, "that this wretch had changed his dress ever so many times, and when this wonderful Bohemian here tracked him to his lair, he was disguised as a sailor, and so disguised that none but the devil, or perhaps his particular ally, Zwingler, could have found him out." w Pshaw ! " replied the Bohemian, scornfully, " what know you burghers of my art? I do not track the clothes of the man, but the man. His soul was in his hand, on his neck, and in the neckerchief around it w r hen he did the deed. The sleuth-hound senses his human game through the organ of smell. I sense it through smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. I sense soul through perception. Every thing, -every place, where soul has been, is full of it; and once give me a link, a single thread of association, such as an object the soul I would track out has come into contact with, and the depths of the sea can not hide it, the mountains can not cover it, the disguise of a monarch or the rags of a beggar can not conceal the identity of the man whose soul Zwingler would track out. But remember, mein Herren, Zwingler tracks souls, not masking habits." The little Bohemian's slight form seemed to expand, as he spoke with impassioned gesture and rapid utter- ance, into the proportions of a giant; and as he turned away to reply to some question addressed to him by one of his admiring auditors, the professor murmured in my ear, " He has detected more criminals in this way than all the constabulary of Germany. Give him but a garment, a lock of hair, or even a rag that has come in GHOST LAND. 71 contact with a living organism, and he will track out its owner with a fidelity unmatched by the best blood- hound that ever ran." Then addressing the Bohemian, he said aloud, " Glorious Zwingler ! as wise as you are gifted, tell my foolish young son here what you mean by a soul. He is eager to learn of you what soul really is." " Soul is the life, my prince ; you know that," replied Zwingler, half daunted, as he always seemed to be when addressing Piofessor von Marx. :? You think, then, soul is just the life principle and nothing more ; that which keeps the man alive ; is that so?" "What else can it be?" "But what is the ' black cord' you speak of, what the essence which clings to substances and enables you to describe or sense the person from whom it has flowed out?" ? The soul, of course, great master." "Is the soul, then, a substance?" "Is the air a substance, the wind a substance? You can not see or feel either until they come into contact with some other substance, and when they do, although invisible, you know they are something. The soul is finer than air, thinner and more ethereal than wind, and .only some souls as fine and pure as mine can sense it. But when a Marx can sense the air, and feel the wind, a Zwingler can sense the soul and feel the substance." "Admirable, my little philosopher! and now, one question more: What do you suppose becomes of the soul after a man dies?" "Pshaw, learned master! why ask me so foolish a question? What becomes of the body after a man dies? Why not ask me that?" 72 GHOST LAND. * Why not indeed?" muttered the professor, glancing triumphantly at me. "But, Zwingler, if the form of a soul can appear whilst a man lives, can it not and does it not appear sometimes after death?" "Does not the body appear too, if you look for it? Surely it does not all fade away at once, but decays and corrupts and at last disappears. ~No doubt soul and body both wear away, fade out, and melt into their original elements when they become separated, as at death. ~No doubt, too, some can see only the body, and some, like Zwingler,. can see the soul as well; but both live only when they are together, and die when they are apart;" then contracting his singularly mobile fea- tures into a frowri of impatience, he cried, irritably, " But why torment me, and make me talk about things which only you great professors understand? I hate to think of death ! I loathe it! I I fear it! I wish I could live forever ! " He was about to dart away, when Professor von Marx laid a hand gently on his arm; the Bohemian stood as if transfixed, and muttered submis- sively, 'What more would you have of me, great professor? " " Only to accept this slight token of my young friend's gratitude for your instructive narrative, adept," replied the professor; and as he spoke, Herr von Marx sud- denly snatched from me the locket and ribbon of poor Constance, which I held as he had desired during the interview in my right hand, and which he now as suddenly placed in Zwingler's. Before I could pronounce a word of protest against this unexpected and unwelcome transfer, the Bohemian clutched at the ornament with an action so fearfully spasmodic and full of terror that the words I would have uttered died on my lips. "Death again!" he mur- GHOST LAND. 73 mured, with a strangely piteous accent. "Ever sur- rounded with the faded blossoms of dead souls! But ah me! this was a cruel death, so young, so fair, so innocent; and destroyed, too, hy the hand of him who should have been her protector! Herr Professor, I shall not have far to go to trace the soul of him who did this deed of blood." "Hush, little dreamer!" responded the professor in a low whisper; "your art is not wanted here. Stay! I will change the token. Keep this, and be silent or worse will come of it." So saying, he took back the locket, returning it to me, and placing several gold pieces in the Bohemian's hand, led me through the crowd, who opened reverentially to permit the learned and celebrated Professor von Marx to pass through. At home again, and in our quiet lodgings, the ominous silence of the last hour between Professor von Marx and myself was thus broken : "What think you of Zwingler, my Louis?" "What think you of the death, or rather the murder, of Constance Miiller, my master?" "Ever harping on a worn-out theme and irrevocable past, silly boy! Science must, will, and shall have its martyrs, Louis, and woe to the progress of the race when idle emotion erects itself to match the interests of science. Enough, once and forever, of this, "^"hat think you of Zwingler?" "He fails to convince me that an apparition of a soul after death is only an apparition." "Then, what is it before death?" *'Ay! that is the question." " Zwingler's mode of philosophizing is crude enough," replied Herr von Marx, "but the philosophy itself is unanswerable. Like the lower elementary, and the 74 GHOST LAND. higher planetary spirits, the soul of man, the finest and most sublimated condition in which matter exists, inheres to all coarser forms, and thus it can be sensed, as Zwin- gler calls it, as a sphere, sometimes in a premonition of its approach, sometimes in the feeling of indescribable repulsion or attraction which we conceive for strangers even as we approach them. Sometimes it can be seen in bodily shape, apart from the body, as in the case of the ? double' or c atmospheric spirit,' and sometimes it can be seen when it has separated entirely from the body, ere it is quite resolved back again into its origi- nal elements. And that is all." "And that is all," I mechanically repeated, feeling, however, at the same time that the professor was merely reciting a lesson in a form of words familiar to him, whilst his spirit was strangely abstracted, and his manner vague and wandering as my own when I repeated his last words. As the professor and myself relapsed into deep silence, a chiming as of very distant bells was heard in the air ; a singular radiance stole through the dim twilight obscu- rity of our chamber, and settled about the table strewed with books, at which in the past morning I had been studying. That radiance at first appeared like a shim- mering fire-mist; then it expanded, bent, curled, and at last ^seemed to weave itself into the proportions of a human form. Clearer, brighter, stronger grew the vis- ion ; at length the mists rose and parted on either side, disclosing the shining apparition and seraphic features of the dead Constance. Turning her head of sunny glory towards me, she smiled, then bent over the table, seemed to select with swift action a large Lutheran Bible from a heap of books, opened it, took up the locket and black ribbon I had laid down near it, placed the ribbon GHOST LAND. 75 like a mark across a certain passage, pointed to it em- phatically three times, then with such a smile as a mortal could scarcely look upon and live, she vanished from my sight, and all was darkness. AVhat followed, or how long I may have remained unconscious of life and being, after this vision, I know not; but my first recognition of passing events was the sound of Herr von Marx ; s voice speaking through the thick darkness of night which had fallen upon us, say- ing, "Louis, are you awake? Surely, I must have had a long sleep, for the night has stolen upon me unawares." The janitor at this moment entered with lights, and placed them on a sideboard. The professor, rising from his seat, took one of the lamps, and advancing to the table held it over the open Bible, at the same time exclaiming in a voice of singular agitation, " Who has marked these passages ? " I advanced, looked over his shoulder, and saw him remove the ribbon and locket, only to disclose several deep black lines, drawn as if with Indian ink, beneath the following words, in different parts of the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. ' There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." w Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." w Death is swallowed up in victory." " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" CHAPTEE Y. MAGIC IN ENGLAND. BEFORE I had completed my educational term in Europe, I had the misfortune to lose my good father; but immediately after his death I received letters from my mother and our Hindoo connections, directing me to enter upon a course of study in a certain military school in England, where I was to fit myself for follow- ing my father's profession of arms in India. Although I was greatly averse to this course, and would have preferred any other occupation rather than that of a soldier, I found the arrangements for my con- tinuance in Europe were made contingent upon my compliance with these directions, and I had become so warmly attached to Professor von Marx, and his affec- tion for me had become such an indispensable element in my existence, that I was willing to avail myself of any opportunity that would enable me to remain near him, if not absolutely so much in his society as formerly. My mother informed me that honorable distinction and rapid military promotion awaited me in India, through the influence of my father's connections and the high estimation in which his noble services had been held, and she besought me not to blight all the hopes she had founded upon my compliance and good conduct, and concluded by referring me to the parties in Europe who would carry out her wishes by providing for my studies GHOST LAND. 77 in the English military school. Professor von Marx seemed half amused as well as- not a little pleased with the sorrow and reluctance I exhibited at the prospect of my separation from him. He told me his professorship at B had been accepted rather as a means of divert- ing attention from the more occult pursuits he delighted in, than from any necessity on his part to occupy him- self in scholastic duties. Being, as he said, free to come and go as he pleased, and having conceived an attachment for me which would render our separation mutually painful, while he advised me not to oppose the wishes of my friends in their choice of a profession, he completely reconciled me to my enforced absence from Germany by fre- quently visiting me in England, and spending much of his .time in a quiet lodging near my school, where he occupied himself in his favorite studies, and enabled me to pass all my leisure hours in his society. Once more, then, we devoted ourselves to the experiments in which we had been engaged with the Berlin Brotherhood, and as I invariably spent my vacations at my beloved friend's residence near the college at B , I troubled myself but little about the new views of life that had been opened up to me. My mother had consented to my remaining with Professor von Marx until I should have completed my twenty-second year; but as time sped on, and the attachment between myself and the professor deepened, the links which bound me to that strange man seemed to have become interwoven with my very heart-strings, and to contemplate rending them asunder was to me an idea fraught with indescrib- able anguish. After the lapse of many years of time, and with every youthful heart-throb stilled into the calm of waiting expectation until the mighty change 78 GHOST LAND. shall come, even now I can hardly recall the life of indescribable oneness and magnetic sympathy which attached me to my singular associate without amaze- ment that the identity of one human being should have become so entirely merged in that of another. In his presence I felt strong to act, clear to think, and prompt to speak; yet by some strange fatuity, it seemed to me as if acts, thoughts, and words took their shape from him, and without the least effort on my part to discover or inquire his will, I know that I lived beneath its influ- ence, and derived my chief motives for speech and action from the silent flow of his thoughts. When I was absent from him, I became an indescribably lost creature. I was dreamy, uncertain, wandering; not so much a child as a being without a soul, one in whom instinct remained, but self-consciousness lacked the pivot on which to revolve, and hence the wheels of mind vibrated and swung to and fro, searching for the sustaining power on which to anchor. I can now discern the secret of this mystic spell, although I do not know that I have ever had the oppor- tunity of observing a case in which one soul had ac- quired over another an equal amount of control. The magnetic life of Professor von Marx had been infused into my system until I was a part of himself; his strong and persuasive will had pierced my very brain, until it had found a lodgment in the innermost seat of intelligence. By a mutual understanding, though without any out- ward expression in words, I considered myself the adopted son of Professor von Marx, and I not only felt restful and happy in this tacit arrangement, but I vaguely speculated upon the possibility of my soul's becoming soon separated from the frail tenement it GHOST LAND. 79 inhabited, and perhaps absorbed in the grander and more exalted entity of the being I so strangely idolized. I do not know to this day how far the professor real- ized his magical power over me. He knew that I read his thoughts like an open page. He was able to con- ceal or reveal his will to me at pleasure, and without a word spoken. I knew when he willed to shut his thought from me, and at such times I was a blank. When there was no such mental wall erected between us, all was as clear and lucid to me as if he were my- self. I prepared myself to walk or ride with him, came and went as he wished, and all without a word spoken or a gesture made. Professor von Marx was, I now know, fondly at- tached to me, and, I think, pitied my fearful subjection to his will even whilst he enjoyed its triumphant exercise. This true gentleman was gravely courteous to the female sex, but never seemed to realize the slightest attraction towards them as companions. He under- stood them, as indeed he understood every one he approached; but though he never conversed with me on the subject, I perceived that he viewed the yielding and intuitive characteristics of the female mind with lofty contempt, and his intense and all-absorbing devo- tion to the peculiar studies he had adopted made him coldly indifferent to the attractions of female beauty. Eminently handsome in person, and polished though cold in manner, he might have commanded the adora- tion of even the fairest in any land. Why I alone, of all the human family, ever seemed to move his stoical heart to the least emotion can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that there was something of a reciprocal action in the magnetic processes which had so wonder- 80 GHOST LAND. fully bound me to him, and that in the absorption of his magnetic influence on my part, he involuntarily received in exchange influences from the elemental life which he displaced in my organism. Magnetizers not unfrequently imbibe some of the qualities of disease, or even the psychological tendencies of their patients, and call it sympathy. "When the term of my studies at the English military school ended, I accompanied my beloved friend on a tour through Europe and the East, which occupied us for many months, at the end of which, Professor von Marx informed me that his presence would be required for several months in London, upon business of impor- tance connected with the interests of a certain society with which he was associated. As I had never visited the great British capital, my dear master promised him- self much satisfaction from my introduction to a highly esteemed English friend of his, and the opportunity that would be afforded me for observing the progress of occultism amongst its votaries in England. Dark, blighting, and inauspicious was the day when first Professor von Marx and myself established our- selves in an old-fashioned, time-worn mansion, a portion of which we were to rent during our stay in London. The fire blazed in the grate, and the mellow light of softly gleaming lamps lent a cheering lustre to the scene, however, as we sat, on the first evening of our arrival, in company with two guests to whom we had dispatched letters of introduction, and who had hastened to wel- come us, at the earliest possible moment, to the British metropolis. One of our visitors, a gentleman of most estimable character and high social position, was an old college companion of Professor von Marx, and it appears that GHOST LAND. 81 ill early youth they had been sworn friends, and associ- ates in many of the societies to which the professor belonged. This gentleman, who subsequently enacted a most important part in the drama of my own fateful life, I do not feel at liberty to name, but for the sake of perspicuity I shall beg my readers to recognize his frequent appearances in these pages under the nom de plume of Mr. John Cavendish Dudley. The person- age who accompanied Mr. Dudley was, like himself, a distinguished occultist, but his chief object in making us this early visit was to press upon us the hospitalities of his town and country residences; in fact, he was, as he expressed it, burning with impatience to renew his early intimacy with the esteemed friend of his boyhood, Felix von Marx, and he could scarcely be persuaded that the professor was immovable in his resolution to retain a private home for himself and his adopted son, as he called me, during our stay in England, and only to make occasional visits from thence to the houses of friends. Mr. Dudley and his companion, Sir James M , were very enthusiastic in their description of the won- derful seances they enjoyed amongst the occultists of Great Britain. They surprised us by citing the names of a great many persons highly distinguished both in the ranks of fashion and literature, who were members of the British branch of an association to which Profes- sor von Marx had been elected an honorary member, and to which they both belonged. They assured us the professor's high renown as an adept of the most remark- able power, and mine as the famous somnambulist of the Berlin Brotherhood, had already preceded us, and our arrival was looked forward to with the utmost impa- tience by the students of occultism in Great Britain. They expected much of us too, because they were led 6 82 GHOST LAND. to believe the German mind was more than ordinarily capable of analyzing the unseen, and mastering the mysteries of the imponderable. A few hours conversa- tion with these gentlemen, however, convinced us that in point of varied experience, their magical information was not quite equal to our own, though they had visited Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and almost every part of Scandinavia, carefully acquainting themselves with the wild legendary lore of those regions, and taking part in many of their singular ceremonies of spiritual invocation. In Lapland, Finland, and the northeastern part of Russia, our new acquaintances had beheld so many evidences of inborn occult powers amongst the natives that they had come to a conclusion which the well-in- formed Spiritualist of modern times will no doubt be ready to endorse, and that is, that certain individuals of the race are so peculiarly and organically endowed, that they live, as it were, on the borders of the invisible world, and from time to time see, hear, act, and think under its influence, as naturally as other individuals do who are only capable of sensing material and external things. Moreover, our friends had arrived at the opinion that certain localities and climatic influences were favorable or otherwise to the development of these innate occult endowments. Experience had shown them that mountainous regions or highly rarefied atmospheres constituted the best phys- ical conditions for the evolvement of magical powers, and they therefore argued that the great prevalence of super- mundane beliefs and legendary lore in those latitudes arises from the fact that intercourse with the interior realms of being is the universal experience of the peo- GHOST LAND. 83 pie, not that they are more ignorant or superstitious than other races. Mr. Dudley had brought to England with him a scJiaman, or priest, of a certain district in Russia, where he had given extraordinary evidences of his powers. This man's custom was to array himself in a robe of state, trimmed with the finest furs and loaded with precious stones, amongst which clear crys- tals were the most esteemed. In this costume, with head, arms, and feet bare, the scliaman would proceed to beat a magical drum, made after a peculiar fashion, and adorned with a variety of symbolical and fantastic paintings. Commencing his exercises by simply standing within a circle traced on the ground, and beating his drum in low, rhythmical cadence to his muttered chantings, the scliaman would gradually rise to a condition of uncon- trollable frenzy; his hands would acquire a muscular power and rapidity which caused the drum to resound with the wildest clamor, and strokes which defied the power of man to count. His body, meantime, would sway to and fro, spin round, and finally be elevated and even suspended sev- eral feet in the air, by a power wholly unknown to the witnesses. His cries and gesticulations were frightful, and the whole scene of " manticism " would end by the performer's sinking on the earth in a rigid cataleptic state, during which he spoke oracular sentences, or gave answers to questions with a voice which seemed to proceed from the air some feet above his prostrate form. During my stay in England I was present at several experimental performances with this scliaman^ and though he could unquestionably predict the future and describe correctly distant places and persons, Pro- fessor von Marx and myself were both disappointed in 84 GHOST LAND. the results which we expected to proceed from his very elaborate modes of inducing the " mantic " frenzy. Mr. Dudley accounted for the inferiority of his protege's powers by stating that the atmosphere was prejudicial to his peculiar temperament, and though he had striven to surround him with favorable conditions, it was ob- vious he needed the specialties of his native soil and climate for the complete evolvement of the phenomena he had been accustomed to exhibit. Amongst the distinguished persons into whose soci- ety Professor von Marx and myself were now admitted, we found several individuals of the magical type, who had been imported by earnest students from different countries, for the purpose of aiding their investigations. One of these mystics was a native of the Isle of Skye, and had been remarkable for his gift of " second sight." Panoramic representations of future events, with all the vivid imagery of well-defined persons and circumstances, would be presented to this man's waking vision, like a picture daguerreotyped on the atmosphere. Another of the marvel-workers was a young Lap- lander, whose powers and methods of awakening them were not unlike those of the schaman described above, only that he seemed to possess an innate faculty of clair- voyant perception, which did not always necessitate the magical frenzy to call into play. There were several other personages, all imported from northern lands, through whom our new friends attempted to conduct experiments; but it seemed that in each case the powers for which these weird people had been distinguished had either diminished or utterly failed them when taken away from the influence of their home surroundings. The islander from Skye had only beheld one vision since he had quitted his native shores, GHOST LAND. 85 and that was the scene of a shipwreck, in which, as he affirmed, he was destined to perish, and for which reason he had steadily refused to return home, although his gifts as a seer were now suspended. It is a curious fact, and worthy of record, that this Skye man, having been placed in service as a gardener, was arrested for theft, convicted, sentenced to transportation, and after having been removed to the convict ship, finally perished in a gale, during which the ship, with all her hapless load of crime and suffering, was lost. We, that is, my master and myself, saw little or noth- ing amongst the w magicians " whom our new friends had taken such trouble to surround themselves with, that equalled the experiences of our Teutonic associates, but our opportunities for enlarging our sphere of observation strengthened our belief in the following items of spiritual philosophy: first, that there are individvals who possess by nature all the prophetical, clairvoyant, and otherwise supermundane powers which are only to be evoked in different organisms by magical rites or magnetic pro- cesses. Next, we found another and a still larger class, who seemed externally to have no extraordinary endowments of a spiritual nature, yet in whom the most wonderful powers of inner light, curative virtue, and prophetic vis- ion could be awakened through artificial means, the most potent of which were the inhalation of mephitic vapors, pungent essences, or narcotics ; the action of clamorous noise or soothing music; the process of looking into glittering stones and crystals; excessive and violent action, especially in a circular direction; and lastly, through the exhalations proceeding from the warm blood of animated beings. All these influences, to- gether with an array of forms, rites, and ceremonials 86 GHOST LAND. which involve mental action and captivate the senses, I now affirm to constitute the art of ancient magic, and I moreover believe that wherever these processes are sys- tematically resorted to, they will, in more or less force, according to the susceptibility of the subject, evoke all those occult powers known as ecstacy, somnambulism, clairvoyance, the gifts of prophecy, healing, etc. "We derived another remarkable item of philosophy from our researches, which was that under the influ- ence of some of the magical processes practised by our new associates, the human organism can not only be rendered insensible to pain, but that wounds, bruises, and even mutilation can be inflicted upon it without permanent injury; also, that it can be rendered positive to the law of gravitation, and. ascend into the air with perfect ease. Also, the body can be so saturated with magnetism, or charged with spiritual essence, that fire can not burn it; in a word, when the body becomes enveloped in the indestructible essence of spirit, or the soul ele- ment, it can be made wholly positive to all material laws, transcending them in a way astonishing and inexplicable to all uninstructed beholders. Of this class of phenomena, history has made such frequent mention that I feel justified in calling attention towards the array of evidence we possess on the subject. Let me refer to the w Convulsionaires of St. Medard"; the history of the " French Prophets of Avignon " ; the still more recent accounts of the frightful mental epidemic which prevailed in the district of Morzine in 1864; the now well-attested facts of supermundane power enacted by the fakirs, brahmins, and ecstatics of the East, and many of the inexplicable physical and mental phenom- ena attributed to monastic "ecstatics." GHOST LAND. 87 Amongst the " Convulsionaires of St. Medard" and the possessed peasants of Morzine, one of the most familiar demonstrations of an extra-mundane condition was the delight and apparent relief which the sufferers represented themselves as experiencing when blows, violent enough, as it would seem, to have crushed them bone by bone, were administered to them. At the tomb of the Abbe Paris, and amongst the frenzied patients of Morzine, the most pathetic appeals would be made that sturdy, powerful men would pound and beat their bodies with huge mallets, and the cries of "Heavier yet, good brother! Heavier yet, for the love of Heaven ! " were amongst the words that were most constantly uttered. During the fearful struggle maintained by the brave and devoted prophets of the Cevennes against their oppressors, every history, whether favorable or antag- onistic, makes mention of the exhibitions by which Cavillac and others of the "inspired" proved their ability, under the afflatus of ecstacy, to resist the action of fire. Amongst a vast number of records concerning the mystical power of the spirit to act upon and through matter, we may cite the lives of some of those remark- able personages canonized by the Catholic Church as saints. In the experiences of Saint Teresa, Saint Bridgetta, Saint Catherine, and many other "holy women/' we are confidently informed that an actual " stigmata " was developed on their hands, feet, and sides, in imitation of the wounds attributed to the martyr of Calvary. Their foreheads were encircled by marks as of a crown of thorns, and drops of blood were seen to ooze from the stigmata at stated periods. 88 GHOST LAND. Of the Arabian fire-eaters and Hindoo ecstatics, I shall have more to say hereafter; for the present I close this long and discursive chapter with a few passages of explanation concerning the existence of magical prac- tices and magical experiments in stern, gloomy, matter- of-fact old England. Nearly all the English gentlemen to whom Professor von Marx had letters of introduction were members of secret societies, and, with one exception, pursued their studies in the direction of magic, deeming they could ultimately resolve the nature and use of all occult powers into a scientific system, analogous to the magi- cal art as practised in the days of antiquity. The one' exception which I refer to is an order that owes nothing of its working or existence to this age or time. Its actual nature is only recognized, spoken, or thought of as a dream, a memory of the past, evoked like a phan- tom from the realms of tradition or myth; yet as surely as there is a spirit in man, is there in the world a spir- itual, though nameless and almost unknown association of men, drawn together by the bonds of soul, associ- ated by those interior links which never fade or perish, belonging to all times, places, and nations alike. Few can attain to the inner light of these spiritually associ- ated brethren, or apprehend the significance of their order; enough that' it is, has been, and will be, until all men are spiritualized enough to partake of its exalted dispensations. Some members of this sublime Brotherhood were in session in England, and their presence it was which really sent thither my master and myself, at the time of which I write. That there should exist within the very heart of rationalism and Christian piety, England, more than one secret society addicted to magical practices and GHOST LAND. 89 superstitious rites, but above all, that the highest order of mystics in the world should be uttering its potent spells in the midst of the great modern Babylon, dedi- cated to the worship of mammon and pauperism, is a statement so startling and original that I expect few but the initiated into its actualities to credit me, and many of my readers, especially good, honest, matter- of-fact English people themselves, to denounce me as a lunatic or a modern Munchausen. I can only say, I write of that which I know, and of what many esteemed and reputable citizens, in their private expe- riences, know likewise; and if good, honest, matter-of- fact English people would only remember there might be realms of being both higher and lower than man's, links of connection and mutual understanding through- out the universe, and some few things more in heaven and earth than they (worthy folk!) dream of in their philosophy, the magicians of England would not feel compelled, for their credit and honor's sake, to make their societies secret ones. As it was, the clairvoyants, seers, and weird subjects whom the societies procured for their experiments were generally employed in families, shops, or some simple ways of business, which effectually concealed their real characters. The magical experiments were conducted with the strictest reserve and caution; and it is only since the advent of modern Spiritualism, with its re- markable and wide-spread commonplaces in wonderful things, that the world has begun to discover that spir- itual facts and experiences in Great Britain are several years older than the movement of the last quarter of a century. It was some few weeks after our arrival in London, and one night just as I was taking leave of my dear 90 GHOST LAND. master for the night, that the following conversation ensued between us. "Louis, you have hitherto taken no part amongst these English magicians. I have secluded you from all exercise of your powers because but you know the reasons, do you' not?' 1 " Perfectly, my master : you wished me to have some rest, and to imbibe fresh force for future efforts; fur- thermore, you desired that I should have calm and de- liberate opportunities for observation. Is it not so?" ? You understand me thoroughly ; and now, what conclusions have you arrived at, from all you have wit- nessed? " " Conclusions ! O my master, I am more and more lost in an ocean of speculation; more wildly tost than ever before on the unresting billows of a shoreless sea! I realize the interference and all-persuasive power of invisible realms of being, but who or what they are be- comes to me each day an ever-deepening mystery. I perceive each hour fresh evidences of a wonderful and mysterious fountain of influence in human beings, ay, at times in the animal creation also; but who can fathom its depths, gauge its possibilities, define where it lies, or pronounce upon its destiny? The earth and the creatures that live upon it are all dual, and evidently maintain a dual existence; but I know no more the limitations of my own being than I do of the * double goers ' who flash before our eyes like tongues of flame or meteoric lights. Alas ! alas ! I think, believe, hope, and fear too much, and know too little." c You shall know more; know ay, even the abso- lute, soon, my Louis," rejoined the professor, with a deeper glow on his cheek and a more brilliant flash of his star-like eyes than I had ever seen before; then, GHOST LAND. 91 after a strange, long pause, in which he seemed fixed and abstracted like one entranced, he drew a letter from his bosom, glanced at it, and heaved a sigh so deep that it almost amounted to a wail. That letter he turned over several times in his hand, gazing now on the large seal which closed it, now on the direction, which was in his own bold writing, and marked simpry, " To my Louis." The painful sigh, the first and only token of deep emotion I had ever heard from this man, was re- peated several times; at length he placed the letter in my hands, saying with an air of singular solemnity, "Keep this in the most secret repository you have, and never open it until a voice, the most authoritative to you on earth, shall say, ' The time has come. Open and read!' w Good-night, Louis. Your experiences as a mystic in England are now about to commence." w Good-night, my master," I responded aloud, adding mentally, " Would God they were about to close in the sleep that knows no waking ! " ? The death-sleep of earth is the waking life of eter- nity," murmured a sweet, low voice, close to my ear. I started, and looked for the speaker. Professor von Marx was gone, and the luminous apparition of the beautiful Constance flitted by me like an electric flash, and vanished into the darkness, so much the more pro- found that she had been there. CHAPTEE YI. MAGICAL StiA^CES Ltf ENGLAND. "No page of retrospect in my fateful life-wanderings excites in me more surprise than the inferiority of the results obtained through magical processes, when com- pared with those which seem to arise spontaneously as an organic peculiarity of certain individuals. Our Eng- lish associates had studied with profound and scholarly research most of the arts of magic recorded by the mys- tics of the Middle Ages, the sages of classic lands, and the thaumaturgists of the East. Many of them were per- fectly well versed in the cabala, with all its veiled mys- ticism and apocalyptic significance; some of them had been initiated into the rites of both ancient and modern freemasonry, and become affiliated with the most poten- tial of the Oriental societies now in existence. Like Moses, Thales, Orpheus, and other sages of old, they had mastered the secrets of Egyptian wisdom, Chaldean astrology, and Persian chemistry; yet notwithstanding all their occult knowledge and the fidelity with which they strove to make it a practical power, they failed to achieve the feats common to the whirling dervishes of Arabia or the wandering fakirs of modern India, whilst the glimpses they obtained of the invisible realms around them were vague, unsatisfactory, and partial; indeed, many a good somnambulist would have regarded them with pity if not contempt, and any powerful "spirit it GHOST LAND. 93 medium " of this day could have displayed more pheno- mena by aid of a dancing table in five minutes than many of these really earnest students could have evolved by magical processes in five times five years of profound occult experiments. The methods of the great majority of the magians I was now introduced to may be briefly summed up as follows : Their first aim was to secure the services of such an one as they could discover to be a good natural magician, one whom the spiritists of to-day would call " a good clairvoyant " or w medium," and we Teutons style w a seer. " This prerequisite obtained and the society in session, they proceeded to form a circle on the ground, prepared after the fashion prescribed by Cor- nelius Agrippa or some of the mediaeval mystics. They formed their book of spirits on the same approved pat- terns, and carefully conformed to every item of the magi- cal ritual or other formulae declared to have been derived from the magians of Egypt and Chaldea and practised by such renowned mystics as Thos. Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, Nostradamus, Count St. Germain, etc. I found the practices of different societies varied but little, and consisted chiefly in a due observance of days, hours, times, and seasons, planetary, solar, and lunar phases. Much reliance was placed on the fumigations said to be appropriate to different days of the week, months and seasons ; in a word, our English associates had carefully studied the formulae of magic as taught in the writings of Oriental and classical authorities, and faithfully endeav- ored to practicalize the directions laid down, as far as the usages of modern society permitted. To those who are unfamiliar with the occult subjects , I am now treating of, let me say with all candor, I have faithfully devoted many years to the study of 94 GHOST LAND. spiritual mysteries; and both in my own person and that of my numerous associates of many lands have en- deavored, by aid of all the light I could obtain, whether derived from ancient or modern sources, to discover what were the most effective methods of communing with the invisible world and penetrating into the actual- I ities of other realms of being than those of mortality. The sum of all, to my apprehension, is that man, to ' obtain this boon, must be born a natural magician, or in more familiar phase, " a good spirit medium." Also that clairvoyance, clairaudience, scership, and all those spiritual gifts by which human beings can attain the privilege of communion with spirits, consist in cer- tain organic specialties of constitution, naturally apper- taining to some individuals, and latent in others, though susceptible of unfoldment by modes of culture. I believe that forms, rites, and invocatory processes, fumigations, spells, in a word, the science and practice of magic, may be applied as means to aid in this communion, and are especially potent in enabling the operators to exer- cise control over lower orders of spirits than themselves; but I affirm that they are inoperative to open up the communion as a primary means, and that without the services of a good seer, clairvoyant, or spirit medium, magical rites alone cannot succeed in evolving spiritual phenomena. This I soon found to have been the gen- eral experience of our new associates in England. All their magical formulae were subordinate in use to the one grand desideratum of a good natural magician. Professor von Marx once questioned, in his cold, sar- castic way, What was the use of magical ceremonies at all, so long as they could not effect any results without the required medium? and having secured this great desideratum, would not his or her presence render the GHOST LAND. 95 rites unnecessary? Our friends generally denied this position, however, alleging that magical rites were the means of culturing and unfolding spiritual gifts; also that they were essential to the orderly intercourse with spirits, and enabled mortals to command them instead of being commanded by them. In years of experience subsequent to the period of my first visit to England, I have found abundant reason to accept opinions composed of both sides of this ques- tion. The results of my experiments may some day be given to the world in a more practical form than these autobiographical sketches.* To those unacquainted with the methods of invoca- tion enjoined upon the high priest or chief magian of these rites, the following examples may not be unin- teresting. After all the ceremonies of "purification," "ablution," and "fumigation" had been duly complied with, the chief magian proceeded to summon the spirit of the day, week, and season, after this fashion: " I conjure and confirm upon you, strong, potent, and holy angels, in the name of the most dreadful ADO^AI, the God of Israel, and by the name of all the angels serv- ing in the second host before TETRA, that great, strong, and powerful angel, and by the name of his star, and by the name of the seal, which is sealed by God most mighty and honorable, and by all things before spoken. I conjure upon thee, Raphael, the great angel who art ruler of the fourth day, that for me thou wilt labor and fulfil all my petitions according to my will and desire in my cause and business. f" * The author has more than redeemed this promise in the publication of his magnificent work, ' ; Art Magic." ED. GHOST LAND. fFor a full and complete " Arbatel of Magic," together with the names of the angels of the various days and seasons, the fumigations proper to each, the modes of preparing the circle, robes, and book of 96 GHOST LAND. Invocations to Elementary spirits were given in a still more stringent and compulsory tone. The following will serve as a specimen thereof : " Therefore, come ye ! come ye, Serapiel, spirit of the air, ruling on the fourth day ! Angel of the southwest wind, come ye, come ye ! Adonai commandeth. Sadai commandeth, the most high and dreadful king of kings, whose power no creature is able to resist. Sadai be unto you most dreadful, unless ye obey and forthwith appear before this circle; and let miserable ruin and fire unquenchable remain with ye, unless ye forthwith obey. Therefore, come ye ! in the awful name TETE A- GRAMMATO:^. Why tarriest thou? Hasten! Hasten! Hasten ! Adonai, the most high, Sadai, king of kings commands ! " etc. etc. These words, lofty and sounding as they seem, can convey only the faintest idea of the fiery zeal and urgent ecstacy with which the Invocants were accus- tomed to pronounce them. The more they could stimulate themselves up to the pitch of fervent ecstacy, the more potential became the results. On many occasions, where the officiating magian was in deep, tremendous earnest, and the assist- ants partook of his fervent zeal, I have seen the whole assemblage sink on their knees, and break forth into uncontrollable sobs, cries, appeals to Heaven, spirits, angels, and elementaries. I have felt the walls shake, the house tremble; beheld the floor riven apart; fiery tongues flash swiftly through the apartment, and forms of elemental spirits become visible to all. Hands have been seized; many amongst us have been thrown vio- spirits, also for all the invocations and other formulae of magical art, consult the author's elaborate work on " Art Magic," and the Heptame- ron of Peter d'Abano, page 360, "Art Magic." ED. GHOST LAND. ; GHOST LAND. 97 lently on the ground, lifted up to the roof, and held suspended in the air. The entire scene has been one of the most tremendous and occult character, and though the experience of modern investigators with strong "physical force mediums " may supply abundant parallels of such scenes, and furnish what they deem to be a complete explanation 'of its marvels, there can be no question that the strong mental efflatus evolved by the scene, time, and modes of invocation combined to supply the powerful pabulum by which invisible beings effected such demonstrations of their presence. These magical circles were always effective in the production of strong responsive action from the spirit world in proportion to the zeal, energy, and ecstatic fer- vor of the invocants ; in short, it was the history of the Jewish Pentecost re-enacted in the nineteenth century. It was the harmonious accord of the assemblage, the Pentecostal spirit in which they met, that supplied the invisible world with the force which exhibited itself in tongues of fire and a " mighty rushing wind." When our magians were most terribly in earnest, their spiritual respondents were most obedient and potential. No doubt the specialty of certain human organisms present, always afforded the force necessary for spirits to work with. It is possible that our own spirits, too, stimulated to ecstacy by the efflatus of our earnest pur- pose, operated upon the inanimate objects around us, and served as instruments for the achievement of marvellous phenomena. I know that Professor von Marx and myself were never present at magical seances without obtaining results of a spiritualistic character. I believe we both furnished the pabulum by which spirits could come into contact with matter; but whether the wonderful phenom- ena we witnessed were the result of direct foreign inter- 98 GHOST LAND. vention or the exercise of our own spiritual faculties even Professor von Marx himself could not always determine. I know it would be proper in this place to anticipate the questions of some sincere spiritists concerning the character of the beings who were seen at those magi- cal circles, and declare whether they were not, as most believers in spiritism would expect they would be, the apparitions of our deceased friends. On this point I answer emphatically in the negative, nay, more, I hardly remember at this period of my researches certainly not in these invocatory seances ever to have seen human spirits as the respondents in acts of magic. Human spirits were not summoned. Those magians did not practise that phase of the art they termed necro- mancy, to wit, communion with the spirits of the dead. Many of our English associates professed an unconquer- able aversion to this idea, and Professor von Marx always discountenanced in me the belief that the spirits of the dead could subsist much longer than the period neces- sary to accomplish the disintegration of the body. No, we summoned the spirits of the elements, and they responded to us in all the varied forms in which these beings exist.* Sometimes we communed with bright planetary spirits; but those radiant beings were rarely visible to the whole circle; in fact, were seldom seen except by the clairvoyants and somnambulists, of whom there were several belonging to these circles besides myself. If 7 my readers would inquire what beneficial results, temporal or spiritual, man could derive from these weird communings, I frankly admit I am unable to * See " Art Magic " on Elementary Spirits, Sect. 7, p. 102. ED. GHOST LAND. GHOST LAND. 99 answer. Beyond the pursuit of knowledge or the attainment of power in some special direction, I do not myself realize any benefit from the achievement of in- tercourse with elementary spirits. Those beings ap- peared to me to be often malevolent and incapable of attaining to the perception of good. They seemed to look up to man as a god to be feared, propitiated, and served; but few of their species realized the good, truth, and beauty which belongs to pure reason and high exaltation of soul ; hence they naturally resorted to mischief, torment, and deceit, as their protection against the superior powers of man, and except in a few in- stances of communion with the higher realms of "nature spirits," I never knew good, happiness, peace of mind, or virtuous inspiration result from these intercommun- ings. If to know the universe of being, and the nature and immensity of the existences that people it, be the object sought, the search is legitimate to the philoso- pher; but efforts to attain these communings stimulated by mere curiosity, a desire to obtain wealth, discover hidden treasures, gain power over the elements, and subdue enemies, although often measurably success- ful, invariably bring unrest, disappointment, and ulti- mate evil to the seeker, and I would earnestly warn mankind against the attempt, stimulated, as before sug- gested, by purely selfish motives. I have had many pleasant interviews with the harm- less and innocent spirits of the mines, and those who preside over and correspond to the air, fire, and at- mosphere. Although rarely identified by mortals, and shy of holding direct communication with them, these classes of elementaries are still noble and exalted in their natures, constantly engaged in directing and in- spiring students in the natural sciences, indeed they are 100 GHOST LAND. \ so intimately related to human destiny that we breathe in their influence with every noble thought, and attract them, as sparks of intellectual fire, with every aspiration we cherish for scientific knowledge. During our residence in London we were constant attendants and welcome visitors at a circle which for distinction I shall name the Orphic Circle. Its pres- ident and w Grand Master " was a noble gentleman whom I shall call Lord Vivian. His methods were inspired by far loftier aims and regulated by much more pious aspirations than those of most other English magians. The seers, of whom Lord Vivian's society numbered several, conducted their ex- periments through the mirror and crystal, and the young ladies especially who attended these interesting seances, were particularly happy in attracting pure and noble planetary spirits in response to their call. On one oc- casion I attended a seance in London, when a mirror was to be presented to a fair young girl, whose acquaint- ance I made about twenty years before the date of my present writing. The seance of which I am about to speak took place several years later than the period at which I first visited London, and I am anticipating the events of that time in referring to it; but as I may not have an opportunity of mentioning it again, and the scene in question has exercised a most potential influence upon all the suc- ceeding years of my life, I shall plead guilty to the anachronism of recording its details in this place. The party in question consisted of the master of the house, three gentlemen, distinguished occultists of the country, the young lady before referred to, and her chaperone. The exercises commenced with a deep and heartfelt GHOST LAND. 101 invocation, the performance of some sweet part-songs, and the trance address of the fair somnambulist. This beautiful creature, like a Pythoness of old, rapt in ecstacy and filled with the divine efflatus, uttered one of the most sublime invocations for spiritual light, wis- dom, and guidance to the source of all light and knowl- edge, I have ever listened to. How cold, lifeless, and insincere do the parrot-like prayers of hireling priests sound compared to the burning appeals and eloquent beseechings of these modern Pythia! If there was an angel in the high empyrean of the unknown heavens, he must have heard and answered the plead- ings of this inspired girl. After the trance invocation our host, who was an adept of the modern magical school, unveiled the newly-made virgin mirror, and consecrated it in due form to AZRAEL, "the angel of life and death," whom the fair seeress had chosen as the guardian of her mirror. As its shining surface was disclosed to view, the lady, standing before it in a lofty attitude of rapt ecstacy, pronounced these words: " To Azrael, the shrouded angel, and his twin ministers of life and death, and to thee, O Father of spirits and Kuler of all life and being! I do hereby dedicate the service and consecrate the use of this mirror." When the spirit whom this invocation summoned, first ap- peared in the mirror, the seeress started, turned pale, and with an aspect of terror and aversion beckoned me to come and inspect the vision with her. What I then saw was as great a surprise to me as to the lady. There, distinctly outlined on, rather than in, the mirror, was the head and shoulders of a being whom for years I had been accustomed to regard as the presentation of my evil genius. It was a woman with a frightful aspect, full of malignity, rage, and ferocity. She wore 102 GHOST LAND. a head-dress worthy of a Medusa. Her large, staring eyes glared hideously at the beholder; and according to the expression those malign features assumed, so had I been accustomed to expect the approach of the mis- fortunes of which this spectre was the invariable fore- runner. When sickness was at hand, the hag would appear to me mocking and mowing like a wailing idiot; on the approach of discord, slander, or enmity, she would assume a grimace impossible to describe, but still graphically significant to a seer. Death, this hid- eous ghoul portended by opening wide her cavernous jaws and presenting within them a miniature resem- blance of some victim whom she affected to devour. This ghastly image always appeared to me objective, life-like, and real. I have faced it in the street, in my chamber, in the midst of the gayest assemblages, in royal salons, and quiet solitudes. Its appearance was an unfailing prophecy in the direc- tions I have intimated, and I had become so accustomed to behold it that it created in me neither surprise nor alarm until I saw it appear as one of the legionaries of " Azrael, the angel of life and death," in my fair friend's mirror. I endeavored to calm her mind by explaining to her that it was but an image, representative of the action of mortal death, from which the angel Azrael sent shadows, some ghastly in their ugliness, others radiant with the promises of the better life to come. "Whilst I spoke the mocking w image, " as I had termed it, moved, smiled, or rather grinned, chattered at us, and shook her lean, skinny arms as if to assure us it was no image but a thing of life, one too which heard and understood my attempts to soothe my companion. "It is an elemen- tary," she said, "and whilst it signifies all you say, it is still an actual existence, not a mere subjective image." GHOST LAND. 103 Once more I pause in my narrative to state that the seeress here alluded to has, since that time, been visited for a number of years indeed, up to the present time by the same apparition, in the same manner as I have described above, and with the same prophetic intimations. Banished almost instantly from the mirror by my will, I inquired what my friend would now wish to behold, as I doubted not the angel of the mirror would be ready to yield her a more agreeable and instructive vision. w Let me see whatever the wise and good guardian is pleased to display," she replied; when, after due invocation, soliciting Azrael to show us whatsoever would be instructive and prophetic, we both simultaneously beheld the following singular picture : Two forms arose in the mirror which strongly suggested the idea of the genii of night and day. They were apparently female forms, attired in flowing robes of black and white. Their long tresses were also the one of raven, the other of golden hue. Their faces were exquisitely beautiful, but sad, silent, and full of wonderfully pleading eloquence. The dark eyes of the one and the lustrous blue of the other were fixed upon us with a depth of sadness, pity, and sorrow which conveyed a whole history of prophetic meaning. Between these figures was displayed an open book, upon the pages of which both the seeress and myself read two words. The lady informed me she had seen these spirits before, had been told that they were plane- tary spirits, the guardians of a mirror belonging to a friend whom she occasionally visited, and that the book which they thus presented was one which for ages they had been endeavoring to inspire some earthly scribe to write. She added, " These spirits seemed, when first I saw them at my friend Mr. H.'s, to beseech me to 104 GHOST LAND. write that book; but it now appears as if they had transferred their plea to you, and I cannot but think the vision is significant of the prophecy that you are des- tined to write it." "If so then," I replied, "the first image is not meaningless, for the spirit of malignity as surely prophesies slander and malice in connection with what is to follow, as the beautiful legionaries of the stars prophesy that either you or I, or perhaps both, will become their scribe." I give this example chiefly to illustrate the character of the intelligence which comes through the mirror and crystal in seances devoted to their exhibition. What- ever is thus presented is designed apparently by the guardian spirits of the mirror or crystal, to whom these objects are dedicated, to convey instruction, advice, warning, or prophecy. Some of the noblest communica- tions I have ever received have been given by plane- tary spirits impressed upon the surface of the mirror, and some of the most startling and significant events of my life have been prophesied of by images, scenes, and representations rising up in the magnetic depths of a consecrated crystal. I do not claim that either of these instruments are essential to the unfoldment or exercise of clairvoyance; but where the power already exists, mirrors, crystals, a glass of water, or any polished, smooth, or untarnished surface seems available as a tablet for the use of the invisible artist, and a means of representation for scenic effects by attendant spirits. Keturning to the period when I first made the acquaint- ance of the English magians, I recall a special seance wherein I was myself the clairvoyant. Professor von Marx had as usual magnetized me by a single wave of his hand, and enjoined me to describe to those present various visionary scenes in which they were interested. GHOST LAND. 105 In the course of the seance I suddenly perceived the loathsome image I have just alluded to, "the hag," as I was accustomed to call her, crouching down close beside my beloved master, extending a long, lean, skinny arm, as if to clutch him, and gazing upon him with those distended jaws which to my shuddering apprehension prophesied the approach of death. My master at that moment seemed to be lost in profound abstraction. "With folded arms he sat looking vacantly into the dim distance, his thoughts evidently centred on scenes far remote from his present surroundings. It was in this moment of abstraction, and in the absence of the intense and concentrated influence he was accustomed to throw around me, that I seemed to awake as with a sudden start from dreaming to reality, and piercing the mist of self-woven mystery in which he chose to enshroud him- self and hide the realities of his being from me, I per- ceived a truth which he had not before permitted to dawn on my consciousness. He was unhappy, and his appear- ance betokened to my newly-opened vision the signs of physical decay and the fever of deep unrest. The pang of fear and anguish which thrilled through my frame touched his. He recovered from his state of abstraction with a slight shiver, turned an anxious, inquisitive glance upon me, rose, laid his hand lovingly on my shoulder, and instantly caused the clouds of reserve once more to roll down between us. The spectre vanished. Profes- sor von Marx resumed his seat, carelessly waved his hand to recall me from the magnetic state, remarking, " Enough, my Louis ; you are weary." To the external eye all was as calm and serene as ever, and our relations to each other had not in the least degree altered; inte- riorly, however, I had received a revelation which not even the will of this all-powerful controller could oblit- 106 GHOST LAND. erate, and with this cherished independent secret stored away in my soul, arose the determination to effect a change in our circumstances. Under the pretence that the air of the metropolis affected me unfavorably, I in- duced my beloved friend to set out with me on a tour through North Britain, purposing amidst the breezy hills and in the pure atmosphere of Scotland and Wales, to obtain that rest and renovation for him which he fondly deemed I needed for myself. My purpose is not to invite my readers to a perusal of my personal adventures, but to a retrospect of such scenes alone as may tend to throw light or bring evi- dence to bear upon the mysteries of spiritual existence. When I write of myself it will only be in illustration of that realm of mind whose varying emotions should become the field of more profound exploration and anal- ysis than has yet been bestowed upon that all-important subject. I pass by then, our wanderings through many memorable scenes, and only pause to record one illustra- tion of spiritual interposition, in connection with events which are still well remembered at the place where they occurred. Professor von Marx's reputation as a man of letters, and the report that he was accompanied by one of the seers of the renowned " Berlin Brotherhood," pro- cured us far more hospitable attention in our quiet ram- bles than we desired to attract. On one occasion we were so earnestly entreated to become the guests of a nobleman whose estate lay in the heart of the wild Tro- sachs, that we felt unable, without positive discourtesy, to resist his urgent invitation that we would remain with him for a few days. We arrived at our place of destination early in the forenoon, and after partaking of a lunch characterized by all that profuse hospitality for which the "kindly GHOST LAND. 107 Scot " is so justly celebrated, our host proposed that we should accompany him and one or two of his friends on a ride through some of the most romantic points of the neighborhood. In this excursion we visited many inter- esting places, frequently leaving our horses in charge of the grooms, whilst we explored on foot mountain-passes whose savage wildness might never have been disturbed by the invading presence of man. It seemed almost impossible for me to wander amidst these lovely glens, vales, and woods, climb mountains of rarest grandeur, and gaze over outstretched panoramas of gorgeous loveliness, without yielding to the spiritual efflatus which Nature in her profuse displays of scenic beauty ever inspires. Every foot of ground, too, was his- torical. Every wooded height was crowned with a castle or old manorial building, memorable as the residence of kings or princes, heroes or statesmen. We gazed upon gloomy fortresses which had once held captive the fairest and noblest of Scotland's peers and princes. Every scene was redolent of wild and thrilling memories. We passed through deep glens, or penetrated into the heart of moun- tain defiles, where the best blood of the land had drenched the ground, and lingered in many a fairy nook, imprinted with tragic legends of violence and wrong. Every tow- ering crag or peaceful glen, every deep defile or shady grove, was stamped with thrilling memories. To one who like me, lived on the borders of the unseen world, and whose clairvoyant sight revealed unbidden, a thousand pictures of interior life veiled to the outer eye, this land of mighty deeds and romantic associations opened up a page of wondrous revelation. Oftentimes when solitude and silence brooded over the glowing landscape to the eyes of my companions, to me the air was thick with visions. I beheld flying 108 GHOST LAND. armies, dying heroes, captive princes, persecuted mar- tyrs, and all the weird phantasmagoria of life in its stormiest and most unresting moods. And these vis- ions must not be classed as the result of a mere over- heated imagination or creative fancy. The spectral forms of the long ago are indelibly fixed in the " astral light," which is the spiritual atmosphere of the uni- verse; and what seer can pass amidst those scenes where these thronging phantoms most abound, with- out perceiving, through the rifts and rents of matter, the myriads of forms which hang on the gallery-walls in an imperishable world of spiritual entities? ISToth- ing that ever has been is lost to the vision of the seer; nothing that now is, can be hidden from his piercing gaze; nothing that shall be is wholly veiled from his prophetic glances. Involuntarily, though per- haps shudderingly, he finds his spiritual eyes are open, and he is compelled to gaze upon the innermost of life's awful mystery whether he will or no. N"o hand, not even that of his own tired spirit, can draw the curtain between his vision and that of the solemn scenes inscribed by the actors in life's wild drama upon the indestructible page of the astral light. Nature in her external loveliness afforded me but half-revealed glimpses of her meaning in each scene I looked upon. It was the array of phantom images that came trooping up before my soul's eyes, filling each spot with the living, dying, dead; with fierce battle-scenes, romances, intrigues; with all the stirring events, in short, which make up the wild legend of Scottish history, that I beheld, loading my spirit with the fatal burden of involuntary seership,- filling my heart with anguish for the woes of poor humanity, and isolating me alike from human sympathy and human companionship. GHOST LAND. 109 Lost as I was in the absorption of this fatal gift of second sight, I could rarely contribute much to the en- tertainment of my companions. Professor von Marx was scarcely more sociable, for he was divided in his wish to gratify our host and his friends with his fluent strain of conversation, and his anxiety to watch the waves of thought which rolled in upon my soul, the full detail's of which he could master without the inter- change of a single word between us, when he willed to do so. Meantime there was a markedly restless manner in our host and his friends, which could not escape the keen perception of the professor. They seemed to fence round some subject, which they were equally desirous yet unwilling to introduce. At length they asked abruptly what Professor von Marx thought of the nature of obsession, whether he had ever had any experience in that direction; and if, as he openly taught, the obsessing power did not proceed from the undevel- oped spirits of human beings, how he would account for the strictly human tendencies (evil though they might be) manifested in the conduct of the obsessed. Professor von Marx replied that he believed, though he could not prove the fact, that the obsessing power was to be traced to the elementaries. He claimed that these beings exist on every grade of the ladder which reaches from the lowest depths of inorganic matter to the highest stages of organized being; that many of the kingdoms of elemental existence were near enough to man to share his thoughts and inspire him with their own ideas. Meantime, he argued, in many notable cases of obsession, familiar enough to those who have studied the subject, a large proportion of the control seemed to influence its unfortunate victims to the commission of acts strangely in accordance with animal natures. 110 GHOST LAND. He cited a number of cases in which the obsessed ex- hibited the strongest tendencies to bark, whine, cry, and whistle, leap, crawl, climb, roll their bodies up into the distorted resemblances of animals ; in fact, to imitate by every possible method the habits of animals rather than human beings. It was in the midst of this discussion, and just as we had reached a romantic defile which wound its way partly through the mountains and occa- sionally opened up on the shores of an enchanting lake, that we all began to observe the unusual agitation and restlessness of our horses. They were rugged High- land steeds, strong, docile, yet sufficiently spirited to bear us safely over the most toilsome mountain roads. The pass we had now gained was intersected by numer- ous streams, which in many places swelled to torrents, and pouring over vast masses of piled-up rocks, formed cascades of exquisite beauty. Our horses had passed through many such scenes before in that very day's excursion; they had forded several streams, and in the midst of the foam and roar of the cascades had never before exhibited the least signs of terror. Now their obvious reluctance to proceed was marked and obstinate. The evening was fast deepening around us ; already we were beginning to view the scene through the haze of what the Scotch poetically term the "gloam- ing," and our host informed us of his intention to shorten our path by passing through a certain district which he had previously fixed upon as the scene of our next day's excursion. A nest of villages, through which we were to make our way, lay outstretched on the dis- tant plain, at the foot of the mountain we were crossing, and presented a most inviting picture of rural peace and tranquillity. It was just as these village houses came into view, and whilst we were passing through GHOST LAND. Ill the last portion of a very rugged defile, that my horse, which was somewhat in advance of the rest, became actually unmanageable, rearing, snorting, and plunging with all the signs of frantic terror. From early childhood I was accustomed to the man- agement of a horse, and had been taught to govern the wildest and most untrained animals of Arabia. In the present instance however, my past experiences were utterly unavailing. Even when I had dis- mounted, and strove by every ordinary method to soothe the frightened creature into tranquillity, I could scarcely prevent him from plunging into the depths of a foaming cataract to which he seemed drawn by some irresistible attraction. Looking curiously around to dis- cover the cause of this unaccountable action, I saw, or fancied I saw, amidst the vortex of foaming waters towards which the frantic creature was impelled, several dark bodies plunging and tossing, in the semblance of human beings. Deeming it impossible that any one, however hardy a swimmer, could live in the revel of those wild waters, I stooped down to examine them more closely, when I dis- tinctly saw a long lean arm and misshapen skinny hand stretched out towards my horse's bridle as if to drag him forward into the cataract. At the same moment the animal gave a tremendous backward plunge, and as he dragged me with him from the torrent, it seemed as if I was suddenly losing my senses, and passing into the condition of deep somnambulism. Never in my life did I experience so powerful or malignant an influence as that which was now sinking me into helpless uncon- sciousness. The more dim and shadowy the outer world grew to my sense of sight, the more real and horrible became 112 GHOST LAND. the objects revealed to my interior senses. The air, the earth, the waters, appeared to be thick with grotesque and hideous semblances of half man, half beast. Creep- ing, crawling, flying, and leaping things, of all shapes and sizes, held goblin carnival around me. The outer world was receding, and I passed into a veritable realm of demons. I scarcely dare even now recall the full horrors of this vision, nor should I have attributed to it any objective reality had I not witnessed tne terror of the poop horses, and connected the whole scene with subsequent incidents. I was aroused from this palsy of horror by the voice of Professor von Marx, whose tones, though modulated almost to a whisper, so as to reach my ear alone, sounded like thunder, as he murmured, "Louis, Louis! rouse yourself, or you will let the demons of hell get possession of you ! " My strength and compos- ure returned with the touch of my master's powerful hand. Even my poor horse owned the spell of his resistless influence ; for I found it standing, with droop- ing head, and sides flecked with foam, and at my side ; and though trembling violently, it was no longer restive or intractable. c You have forgotten your Eastern train- ing, methinks," said the professor half reproachfully, as I looked at my poor steed. "No training will avail here," I replied in the same tone. K Through this accursed spot I will not attempt to lead this suffering creature." There was no time for further discussion. In a single instant a thick, vaporous mist fell upon us, enveloping us in its damp, slimy folds as in a wet garment. It rolled, surged, and filled the atmosphere for a moment, just as I have seen the air grow instantaneously thick and almost impenetrable in the murky folds of a London fog; but before we could comment to each other on this remarkable phenomenon, the mists rose, curled, and sep- GHOST LAND 113 arated into ten thousand fragments, and with slight, sharp, detonating sounds, exploded into the well-known appear- ances called will-o'-the-wisps, or as the country folk of England call them, Jack-o'-Lanterns." Truth to tell, the appearance of these phosphorescent lights in a place where no marshy ground existed, and where, as our whole party affirmed, they had never been seen before, in no way tended to reassure us. As for me, I saw around these glimmering lights, which danced, flitted, wheeled, or floated by hundreds on every side of us, the opaque bodies and grotesque outlines of the elementaries, not as before in distinct resemblances of animals and men, but in a vague, undefined burr around each shimmering flame, which was situated, as my shuddering fancy sug- gested, just where the nervous centres of their strange life might be supposed to inhere. Sometimes fierce, malignant eyes glared at me through the fast-deep- ening gloom, when the sudden start and unmistakable terror of my poor horse, which I continued to lead, proved either that he shared with me the goblin sight, or my hand communicated a sense of repulsion to the sensitive animal. Soon after leaving the village, the phantom lights disappeared, one by one, and we reached our home without further interruption. That night, after retiring to rest, the same vague sense of terror that had beset me in the glen at the moment of my involuntary entrancement again took possession of me, and again seemed to threaten a mag- netic control as hateful to my feelings as it was strange and unusual. I felt that an unknown presence filled my apartment, and a nameless horror threw its chilling influence over every nerve. I had frequently visited the realms of the elementaries at the command of the Berlin Brotherhood or my dear master. In the service 8 114 GHOST LAND. of these adepts I had penetrated, clairvoyantly, the interior of the earth's crust, its rocks, caverns, mines, oceans, rivers, forests, and atmospheres. My all-poten- tial master had taught me how to summon and control elementary existences, as well as to penetrate the realms they inhabited. In all departments of Nature, my wan- dering spirit had explored, and communed with the countless spheres of graduated being that peopled the interior of Nature's wonderful and teeming labora- tories. Whilst I was sustained by the potency of Professor von Marx's magnetism, and maintained my relations of a superior being towards these elementaries, they could neither control nor distress me ; but now, by the effect of some strong magnetic influence, of which I had not been forewarned, the mysterious dwellers of the innermost had overpowered and almost mastered me. Arrayed against me, in unconquerable force, these malignant beings had now subdued me with a facility as new as strange in my experience. Even the fear with which they oppressed me I felt to be danger- ous; and conscious that a mustering of these evil genii was even now pervading the suffocating air of my apartment, I arose hastily, dressed myself, and deter- mined to seek Professor von Marx's apartment. Just as I had gained the door which led into the cor- ridor I was intercepted by a gigantic form, which seemed to loom up in the semi-darkness of my chamber as if it had arisen from the ground, and at the same moment a strong arm drove me back, and laid me, prostrate and breathless, on a couch near by. Being more astonished than frightened by this sudden apparition, I turned my gaze steadily upon it, and was able to master all the minutisB of its appearance. The figure, as I have said, was gigantic in height. GHOST LAND. 115 and of vast proportions; but as it seemed to be entirely shrouded in some envelope of a gray and misty nature, I was unable to determine whether it wore the human form or not. At first it loomed up before me like an irregularly-shaped column, but as I gazed, I could per- ceive the substance or material which enveloped it change, flutter, collapse, and expand, after the fashion of smoke or mist. It seemed, too, as if an atmosphere less dense than itself surrounded it, and occasionally emitted a luminous radiance through the apartment. ]STo word was spoken; no sound broke the deathly stillness as I reclined on the couch, where the force of that shrouded thing had cast me. At first a sense of terrible helplessness possessed me, and I felt oppressed even unto death by the power of a crushing nightmare; but after the pause of a few breathless moments, the unknown stirred, and extended a part of itself a robe or some attachment belonging to its columnar proportions towards me in the attitude of protection. Following upon this motion others ensued, and then it seemed as if wreaths of mist were rolling through the apartment, and folding up like cloudy drap- ery around the quivering mass that stood erect at my side. All this I saw, and as it seemed with my natural eyes, for on this occasion I retained all the normal faculties of my waking state, and can never recall the slighest sensation either of dreaming, trance, or mag- netic efflatus. Presently the mists which had filled the chamber cleared away, and with their dispersion the scene also changed. I beheld no more the walls, ceil- ing, and furniture of my sleeping-room, but I found myself gazing upon the interior of an old Gothic church. I looked around, and could distinctly trace, aye, even read, the brass tablets on the walls, the inscriptions on 116 GHOST LAND. many an ancient monument, and note various forms of marble statuary, some broken and defaced by time, others in a fine state of preservation. I saw no organ or instru- ment of music within the fane, but there were finely- carved stalls and a magnificent pulpit, the steps of which I perceived had been worn by the traces of many feet in by-gone ages. A splendid railing parted off the altar or communion-table from the body of the church, and behind it stood three men in black dresses, such as I learned afterwards were worn by ministers of the Scotch Kirk. Before the screen or railing, kneeling in long rows on the steps and ground, was a crowd of women and children clad in the ordinary dress of the poorer classes of the land; behind these again, and fill- ing up the entire body of the church, was a crowd of earnest, sorrowful-looking men, who seemed to be regard- ing the kneeling figures with the deep sympathy of inter- ested kindred. It appeared to me as if this vast concourse was gathered together to witness some ecclesiastical cer- emony in which the kneeling women and children played the part of penitents. One of the ministers appeared to be addressing them in a style of stern exhorta- tion, though I could not hear the words he spoke. At length I felt the approach of a new presence. A sound came soughing through the air like the rush of heavy wings. I could feel the wind stir the hair on my tem- ples, when the same demon crew rushed by that I had seen in the glen a few hours before. There they were in swjarms and myriads, dreadful-looking shapes, with gleaming eyes and faces distorted with the wild joy of their frantic revel. In an instant the whole host of demons swooped down on the kneeling crowd, and van- ished, immersed as it seemed, in the bodies of their vic- tims. I saw them no more, but in their places the women GHOST LAND. 117 and children themselves assumed the attitudes of the fiends that possessed them. They sprang up with whoops, yells, and shrieks of perfect frenzy. Some rolled on the ground, foaming at the mouth, others beat their breasts and tore their hair, uttering piteous cries and choking sobs ; some stood erect, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, in silent prayer; and others danced around them, uttering mocking execrations that made the blood of every listener curdle. Little children began to scale the walls and columns, run along the giddy heights of window-sills, and sus- pend themselves, coiled up like squirrels or monkeys, on cornice, roof, or pinnacle. The whole scene was one of fiendish import, horrible to hear, witness, or think of; yet it was not such a rare spectacle to me as many an unaccustomed reader may suppose. I had often witnessed cases of obses- sion before, in some instances falling upon whole com- munities, in others attacking only solitary individuals. The scene, shocking and loathsome as it was, I knew and felt to be a real picture ; and so feeling, I looked with ever-deepening interest to discover from whence the deliverance would come. Yet come indeed it did, and thus it was: Whilst the ministers shouted forth their prayers and exorcisms, mingling up passages of Scrip- ture and fierce cries for civic help in a strange jumble to which no one listened; whilst the excited friends and kindred of the possessed rushed from one to the other in the vain endeavor to subdue them into modest beha- vior by tears and supplications, in the midst of this pandemonium, another phase of the phantom-scene transpired. I saw two fair and gracious beings float into the midst of the demon revel, clad in robes of glis- tening white, and leading by the hand a young man, in 118 GHOST LAND. whom I at once recognized the exact presentment of myself. The dress of this wraith, although resem- bling the one I then wore, was still remarkable from the fact that it seemed to be composed of some glitter- ing substance, from which streams of light radiated in every direction, enveloping the phantom in an aura of wonderful brightness. As these figures appeared upon the scene, the disturbance instantly ceased. The cries died away; the children dropped down from their fantastic perches, and crept to their mothers' arms; every one subsided into the attitude of repose, and as if an enchanted wand had been waved over the wild revel, a deep, holy calm seemed to have been diffused on all around. Whilst I was gazing in delight upon this happy change, I noticed that a strange blue mist began to rise from the forms of the obsessed. At first it ap- peared to be a mere thread-like vapor, but gradually it extended in volume until it filled the church, and in the midst of its rolling waves I saw the forms of the elementaries shooting up in air with the same wild shrieks, hisses, and grimaces with which they had borne down on their victims. Upwards and outwards they soared, an obscene host, before whose approach the walls, ceiling, and windows seemed to melt away, or become soluble, permitting the dark shapes to pass through as if they had been air; and they sped, screaming and gibbering, into the heavy-laden atmo- sphere, where they were at last lost in masses of rolling clouds. Directly the elementaries disappeared from the build- ing, I beheld the noble and erect form of Professor von Marx entering it. He wore his college robe and cap, and carried in his hand a knotted staff wreathed round GHOST LAND. 119 with a serpent, similar to one I had seen him use in cer- tain invocatory processes. This staff he laid lightly on the heads of the lately obsessed ones, when instantly they arose from their semi-entranced positions like beings re- stored from the dead. With a slight start, as if awak- ening from slumber, the victims proceeded to arrange themselves in ranks before the altar, taking their places beside their husbands, fathers, and children with the calm and modest deportment of pure-minded matrons in attendance upon a religious ceremony. The ministers opened their books, and began to read. A dimness now crept oyer the scene, no longer emanating from the phantom worshippers, but stealing in insidious wreaths from the gigantic figure at my side. The couch on which I reclined rocked and reeled; enclosing walls seemed gradually to grow up around me; the church, with its tablets, sculptured ornaments, and silent congre- gation, melted out of view. My last memory was of a gloriously radiant face bending over me, loving eyes gazing tenderly into mine, and a sweet, distant, chiming voice murmuring as if from afar off, " He giveth His beloved sleep." It was nearly noon before I felt able to join my host and his friends on the following day. My dear master, with his usual kind solicitude, paid me an early visit, and listened to a detailed account of my previous night's vision. On this, as on every other occasion when I related to him my extra-mundane expe- riences, he never wounded me by doubt or denial of my statements. Many points of my narrative drew from him instructive and philosophical comments, and when I had concluded, he informed me that we were expected to accompany our host to the villages he had designed to pass through on the previous night, and he further 120 GHOST LAND. intimated that he somewhat anticipated I should find a commentary upon my previous night's vision in the pro- posed excursion. The place we were to visit had a barbarous Highland name, which I am now unable to recall, but the main incidents I have to relate are too well known to the inhabitants of that district to need more particular indi- cation. Once more we passed through the weird glen we had traversed the night before, and once more I experienced the approach of involuntary somnambulism; but being now on my guard, I was able to conquer the tendency, and we arrived without interruption at our destination. This was a beautiful village, nestling at the foot of a range of mountains, covered as usual with sweet purple heather, and crowned with the ruins of a fine old castle. On our arrival, our host intimated his intention of car- rying us to the house of the minister of the place, by whom he said our visit had been expected at a much earlier hour. My attention, however, was irresistibly attracted to a fine old Gothic church, which stood on an eminence surrounded by a grove of trees, and about the open doors of which were gathered an immense concourse of people. "Without waiting for guidance or consultation, I felt impelled to dismount, throw the horse's reins to a groom, spring up the eminence, and push my way amongst the throng into the church. Every one made way for me as I advanced. Whether they were impressed by my impulsive action, my foreign appearance, or some other inexplicable cause I know not, but the jostling crowds drew back as I approached, and parted a way for me, through which I sped on until I reached the scene of action. This I doubt not my readers will already be prepared to learn was the exact GHOST LAND. 121 counterpart of my last night's vision. There were the same brass tablets and marble monuments on the walls and floor; the same carved stalls and pulpit; the high Gothic windows of stained glass, casting their many-col- ored reflections of saints and apostles on the checkered marble aisle below. There, too, was the same gilded screen parting off the communion-table from the body of the .church. Behind this dividing line stood the three ministerial men, in black, that I had seen in my vision. They each held open Bibles in their hands, and were occupied, like their phantom presentments, in hurling exorcisms, prayers, passages of Scripture, and wrathful denunciations against a frenzied mob of women and children, who, with sobs, shrieks, wails, fierce laughter, wild oaths, and frantic gesticulations, were enacting in its hideous details, the exact counterpart of the scene I had beheld in vision twelve hours before. Turning my eyes upwards I beheld, as I expected, little children running along the dizzy heights of the windows and cornices, mewing like cats, barking like dogs, or coiling themselves up like serpents in nooks which would hardly have afforded foothold for a squirrel. One ecstatic was actually suspended in the air several feet above the ground, and her distracted husband, cling- ing to her feet, was vainly endeavoring by main force to drag her down to earth. Sobs and supplications, min- gled groans and prayers, wild laughter and bitter wail- ings, resounded on every side of me. Had I been myself and in full possession of my normal faculties, I should have stopped my ears and fled from this inferno as from a pest-house; but the spirit was on me, and though in full possession of my sense of observation, every other faculty was under the dominion of a bright and beautiful band of planetary angels, who accompa- 122 GHOST LAND. iiied and impelled me on, and who from my boyhood had guided, counselled, and influenced me, under the spell of the deep magnetic trance. Awake now, and fully aware of their blessed presence and ministry, I passed amidst the demoniac rout as if I had myself become a spirit. I can not recollect that I touched the earth or realized the slightest sense of weight or hin- derance to locomotion. I moved silently through the maddened groups, and they fell at my feet, clasping and kissing my hands, addressing me as " the angel of deliverance," and hailing me as the " sent of God." I do not recollect that I spoke in words, but I thought pity for these sufferers, and sent up thanks to an unknown God that they were to be free from their tormentors. I know that the same flight of demons that I had witnessed in vision rose through the groined arches and Gothic roof of the church; and when my part was done, and the stilled multitude, like rebuked children, subsided into their places, hushed, quiet, and prayerful, I too stood aside, moved by the angel pres- ence that attended me, and just as I expected, Pro- fessor von Marx and his friends came forward and took my place. At once assuming the post of authority that belonged to him, my noble master moved amongst the quiet and humble throng, laid his powerful hands upon them, and murmured a few words of encourage- ment in their ears. The effect of his action was no less magical than that which had attended mine. The women started up and began to arrange their dishev- elled hair and disordered dresses with modest haste. Many of them blushed, and dropped the peasant's cour- tesy of the country, thanking "the good doctor" for their recovery. One little child, whose shrieks had GHOST LAND. 123 been most frantic and whose actions resembled only those of a tiger, humbly murmured, "Forgive me, mother dear! I have had a sad, drear dream, and I fear I've been very naughty." Amongst this primitive and superstitious people it is almost unnecessary to say that the obsession which had thus fallen upon them had been attributed wholly to the power of witchcraft. The cure now so suddenly wrought in their midst, however beneficial its results, could not fail to suggest the same weird influence. Of this the laird we were visiting was perfectly aware. He hastened therefore, to whisper in the ears of some of the church officials, who had been amazed witnesses of the scene, that we were celebrated German doctors; that our cures were effected by means of concealed but very potent drugs ; and that, as warm Lutherans, they might rely upon our methods being strictly orthodox and in accordance with the doctrines of ecclesiastical practice. Fearful lest our inveterate heterodoxy might in some unguarded moment display itself in contradiction to these whispered explanations, our good host hurried us away, and it was on our return to his hospitable mansion that we learned the material details of the cir- cumstances in which we had been unpremeditated actors. About four months ago, it appeared, a young girl in the parish, who had always been more or less the sub- ject of strange dreams, visions, and tendencies to epi- lepsy, became suddenly frightened by what she insisted upon declaring to be the apparition of w six fairy peo- ple," who came into her chamber through the window, and after performing sundry pranks in her presence, laid their hands one after another upon her mouth, and declared that she should not again taste food until she 124 GHOST LAND. came forth at midnight, to dance with the fairy people. After this strange narrative, the girl began to pine away, refused food, and for several weeks lived en- tirely without any sustenance; fits of deep somnolency attacked her ; and to use her parents' simple phraseology, "She began to die while yet she lived." All at once she revived from this lethargic state, and at the recommen- dation of a neighbor, she and three girls of her acquaint- ance stole forth one night at the full of the moon to keep tryst with the mysterious " good people," who a month before had invited her to one of their midnight gatherings. Without deeming it worth while to repeat the wild tale of glamour the romantic adventuresses brought back from their midnight escapade, it is enough to relate that from that time forth they began to mani- fest all the signs of obsession, the excess of which has been described in the foregoing pages. Unfortunately, their aberrations were not limited to themselves. At first their little brothers and sisters, next their mothers, and finally, scores of young people and females of their acquaintance, fell under the same dreadful ban. Even the domestic animals associated with them seemed to share their fatal propensities; they ran wild, changed their natures, and in some instances died beneath the effect of the spell. Priests and mediciners exerted their powers in vain. The fell disease only increased in pro- portion to the efforts made to quell it; and finally our host, fearing that the superstitions of the country people, once aroused, would induce them to lay violent hands upon some helpless persons suspected of being instru- mental in promoting the witch mania, and hearing of our projected tour to the north, determined to try if genuine spirit power would not do for his afflicted neighbors what material science and superstitious piety GHOST LAND. 125 had failed to effect. He confessed, in fact, that he had pressed his hospitality upon us as much in the hope that our occult knowledge might devise means of relieving the district as in admiration of Professor von Marx's high reputation and standing in a certain society to which he belonged. The result was achieved with even more success than had been anticipated. Our host had purposely drawn us towards the scene of the visitation on the first day of our arrival, but without informing us of the real mo- tives which prompted him. The effect of our near prox- imity to the possessed village upon our unfortunate horses baffled him at first, and made him fearful of try- ing further experiments, especially when, during the night which followed our visit to the glen, he was in- formed by his grooms that the horse I had ridden dur- ing the day had actually died of fright. K I prayed," said the good old man, "to the Father of spirits to send his angel to guide us through this wilderness of terror. Long and earnestly did I pray, and when the gray of the morning came, I fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, and dreamed I saw myself and you, my friends, leading the Israelites of old through an awful wilderness, but I saw moreover, that we were guided by a pillar of cloud , which moved before us, and by this I knew that my prayers were answered, and that the angel of deliver- ance was at hand." Some months later we heard from our venerable friend that no signs of the demon fever had ever reappeared in his district, and that none of his young clanswomen had again seen fairies or stolen forth by moonlight to attend their midnight revels. CHAPTEE VH. THE PHILOSOPHY OF OBSESSION. IN this day of universal enlightenment there can be few if any readers of these pages who have not heard, read of, or witnessed some cases of obsession similar to that described in the last chapter. The well-informed student of psychologic phenomena must be aware that I have understated rather than exaggerated the worst features of such scenes, whilst I refer those who are unfa- miliar with the subject to the graphic accounts of obses- sion in different countries, and occurring at different epochs of time, given by William Howitt, Dr. Ennemo- ser, Schuberth, Horst, Upham, and other writers on spirit- ualistic subjects. By these eminent authorities descrip- tions have been given of the convulsionnaires of St. Medard, the nuns of Loudon, the preaching epidemic at Sweden, etc., before the thrilling horrors of which my brief sketch of obsession in the Scotch Highlands becomes tame and lifeless. Perhaps one of the most forcible and striking instances of this demoniac fever on record occurred as recently as 1864, when a wholesale obsession seized upon the quiet and peaceful inhabitants of Morzine, Switzerland, which lasted for a period of over four years, and included in its ravages more than a thousand of the best disposed, most pure, pious, and inoffensive dwellers of that district. William Howitt has given a fine magazine sketch of this terrible visita- GHOST LAND. 127 tion, which.he justly entitles w The Devils of Morzine." Whether this caption be regarded as referring to the unhappy victims or the power that controlled them, it is certainly a most appropriate definition of the condition in which hundreds of hapless persons appeared during the reign of the demoniac fever which infested Morzine for several years. I know it is the favorite theory of the modern spir- itists, especially in America, to attribute all extra-mun- dane visitations, good, bad, or indifferent, to the spirits of deceased persons. I have conversed with many very intelligent clairvoyants who have described appa- ritions which manifested themselves in the form of dogs, cats, bears, tigers, and other animals, and all these appearances they assured me, were but the repre- sentation of human beings under low conditions of development. The same persons have informed me, they often saw different individuals surrounded by toads, lizards, serpents, and vermin, but that such objects had no real objective existence, but were pro- jections from the evil tendencies of the parties, whose thoughts engendered them. They have cited Sweden- borg's doctrine of correspondences in support of their opinions, urging that the great seer assures us it is the invariable tendency of evil thoughts to clothe them- selves in the shape of the animals to which they corre- spond. It is wonderful to note with what ingenuity and ceaseless stretch of the imagination such reasoners argue for the crystallization of thought into forms. In their philosophy the varying appearances of the human spirit are sufficient to account for all the ground once occupied by supernaturalism. The Good People or Fairies of England and the Pixies of Scotland are simply the spirits of small children clothed in green. 128 GHOST LAND. t Pigmies, Gnomes, Kobolds, etc., are the souls of the early men, who of course, were very small or very large, in accordance with the size of the phantoms they are to account for. In the same manner, Sylphs, Undines, Salamanders, and all the weird apparitions of every country, clime, and time are disposed of on elastic human hypotheses. In the opinion of these philoso- phers there never was, will, or can be any other than human spirits, and the whole boundless universe must look to this little planet earth to furnish forth the material for its population. There can be but little doubt that this is a relic of that materialistic the- ology which made a man of its God, and taught that the sun, moon, and stars were but heavenly gas-lights, fixed in a crystal firmament for the especial purpose of illuminating the path of the sole end and aim of creation, MAN. Those who plead for the existence of human spirits only, are wonderfully ingenious in show- ing how they can enlarge themselves into giants, con- tract into dwarfs, expand into winged, horned, crooked, rounded, or elongated animal substances; and all this mobility of representation is designed, they assure us, to signify certain passions or states of spiritual growth and development. In the cases of obsession at Morzine, Sweden, Scot- land, France, etc., also in the reports of trials for witch- craft, especially in Xew England and Scotland, it is notorious that the reputed witches and wizards were accused of mimicking the actions of animals. In all cases of obsession, too, this is one of the most marked features of the frenzy. Little children are seized with the passion for climbing, mewing, barking, and coiling themselves up into all sorts of animal shapes. The records of witchcraft and obsession both present these GHOST LAND. 129 repulsive features as an invariable rule, and those who claim that nothing but the action of human spirit influ- ence is manifested in these, the lowest and most revolt- ing phases of spiritism, fail, to my apprehension, to account for this invariable tendency. It is contended that the demons of the Jewish Scriptures, whose ob- session of human beings is so often referred to, could be acccounted for on the ground of epilepsy and other con- ditions of physical disease to which Eastern nations are peculiarly liable. Without being able to combat the opinions of so many respectable witnesses and sound thinkers as abound in the ranks of American spiritism (the chief supporters I find, of the human spiritual theory), I would yet submit that there is a vast array both of direct and circumstantial evidence favoring a belief in the interposition of other than human spirits, especially in the cases of obsession, witchcraft, and all other forms of spiritual manifestation, where demoniac wickedness, animal tendencies, and malignity towards the race are demonstrated. I neither venture to offer my own testimony as a clairvoyant nor that of the thousands of seers and seeresses who in all ages of the world have professed to see and commune with the elementaries, as irrefragable proof of their existence. Swedenborg and the Ajnerican spiritists generally have undoubtedly a certain amount of truth on their side when they plead for the representa- tion of man's basest passions in the form of animals ; in fact it is rather in the tone of speculation than certainty that we should question whether this theory covers the whole ground of apparitional manifestations. In another place I shall present more extended views concerning the existence and gradations of elemental 130 GHOST LAND. life, for the present, it must suffice to say, the visions narrated in the previous chapter have Keen faithfully described, and their results conform so closely to the experiences of a vast number of seers, who have like myself, witnessed the underlying causes for obsession, the source of which is in the invisible world, that I have no shadow of doubt in my own mind concerning the exact nature of the influence at work in the case I have related. The theory of ancient magians and mediaeval mystics will be found in harmony with those of the Brotherhood from whom I first derived my opinions concerning the existence of the elementaries ; and as I have before dwelt upon this subject, I shall simply add in this place that whilst I now believe the undeveloped spirits of humanity are actively engaged in stimulating every scene of human folly and error which re-enacts their own misspent lives, I am still assured such occa- sions offer opportunities for the intervention of the lower orders of elementaries. I conceive, moreover, that those beings exert a more constant and important influence upon humanity than we have dreamed of in our narrow philosophy, and that the demonstrations of this moment- ous truth will form the next phase of spiritual revelation to this generation. Let me conclude these remarks by suggesting in brief the theories presented to us by certain of our spirit teachers, concerning the physical philosophy of obsession. The conditions that furnish opportunities for this affection are sometimes peculiar to individuals ; at others, to com- munities. In the former case, it is generally the result of a highly mediumistic temperament, in which some disturbance of the nervous system has arisen, rendering the subject unusually negative and open to the control of strong, brutal spirits, who desire to re-incarnate them- GHOST LAND. 131 selves again in human bodies, or elementaries, who are attracted by sympathetic states of the physical system they wish to obsess. In nearly every instance, the sub- jects best adapted to this terrible affliction are delicate and sensitive persons, young children, pure and simple- minded women, those in fact, whose physical and ner- vous temperaments are negative and whose minds are receptive to the influence of others. When obsession affects an entire community as in the case described in the last chapter, it may generally be attributed to epidemic states of the atmosphere. Solar, planetary, and astral changes are forever transpiring in the grandly permanent yet grandly varied march of the universe. That these changes must affect the earth, itself the subject of every beam of light that can reach its surface, the simplest review of the sublime scheme of the sidereal heavens will show. Yet more potential by far than the merely mathematical astronomer can perceive, are the influences which solar, planetary, and astral conjunctions exercise upon the receptive earth. We must also glance at the opinion which the study of astrology combined with astronomy inclines us to arrive at, which is, that all diseases, mental, moral, or physical, that bear upon man in the form of epidemics are produced in the first instance by malignant conjunc- tions of the bodies in space in relation to the earth. Tides of atmosphere, especially equatorial currents, are the carriers and distributors of these malignant influ- ences. Hence arises the war spirit which so often marches from land to land in regular tidal waves. In the same line of atmospheric influences are borne the subtile elements of criminal propensities, popular opin- ions, fashions, tastes, customs, an epidemic of genius, mechanical skill, physical susceptibility to certain dis- 132 GHOST LAND. eases and all manner of plagues. One susceptible or- ganism is first attacked; then by the force of sympathy in mental, and contagion in physical states, a whole com- munity or district succumbs, until the prevailing influ- ence is fully spent, when a reaction sets in. I have cited the experience of Professor von Marx and myself in the Scotch obsession chiefly to show how available the all- potential force of spiritual and animal magnetism may become in such affections, and how much more rapidly endemic disorders, especially of a nervous or spiritualis- tic character, might yield to such influences than to the ordinary methods of cure. In my own case I attribute the marvellous effect produced upon the demoniacs by my presence, to the operation of the beautiful plan- etary spirits who poured their divine influence upon a human multitude through the instrumentality of a human medium. Professor von Marx's influence was more direct and physically potential, for he infused his own powerful and healthful magnetism upon the afflicted ones by direct contact. I doubt if every case of obsession could not be thus instantly and effectually cured, could the right ele- ments of spiritual and human magnetism both be brought to bear upon the subject. I well remember being in London, some years ago, when a most malignant and fatal form of Asiatic cholera was raging through the city. The season was that of summer, the temperature immensely high, and the deserted city seemed wholly abandoned to the ravages of the fell plague. Going forth into the silent and woeful streets, one bright morning, when not a single particle of vapor flecked the deep azure of the sky, and not a cloud was visible, I beheld with open spiritual eyes an enormous column of black vapor hanging in seething, murky folds, horizontally extended and stretch- GHOST LAND. 133 ing for miles across the infected districts of the city. Curious to ascertain the nature of this columnar mass I gave myself entirely up to the magnetic afflatus, and presently perceived that the column was composed of millions and tens of millions of living creatures gener- ated in the atmosphere by a certain potent but malig- nant conjunction of the earth and the stars. I realized that this conjunction had converted the unparticled matter of the atmosphere into particled and finally organic conditions, and though the organisms thus pro- duced were far too attenuated to come within the range of any instruments yet known to science, they were and are perpetually in course of formation, and when oper- ating, under malignant planetary and astral influences, they impressed, as in the instance under consideration, a diseased and pernicious influence on the atmosphere through which they were swept, and wherever they were borne they left their tracery behind in the form of pestilence. I can scarcely hope to be believed by those who have not had the same opportunities of observation and anal- ysis as myself, but for the truth's sake I will here leave a record behind, which may be accepted and understood in future generations even if rejected now. It was during the prevalence of the great cholera plague to which I refer that I was invited by a few gentlemen, who were in sympathy with my mystical studies, to join them in a select party, the aim of which was to make astronomical experiments under peculiarly favorable circumstances. I do not feel at liberty to mention the names of those who graced our little gath- ering; it is enough to state that they were all distin- guished for their scientific attainments. At a certain period of the night we adjourned to an observatory, 134 GHOST LAND. where we were to enjoy the rare privilege of making observations through an immense telescope, constructed under the direction of Lord Eosse. When my turn arrived for viewing the heavens through this wonderful piece of mechanism, I confess I beheld a sight which for a long time held me breathless. At first I saw only the glorious face of the spangled firmament, with that sense of mingled awe and reverence which never for- sakes the mind of the most accustomed observer when he exchanges the view of the black vault of midnight, with its thinly-scattered field of distant lamps checker- ing the heavens, for the gorgeous mass of divine pyro- technics which bursts upon the sight through the daz- zling revealments of the magic telescope. Breathless, transfigured, whirled away from a cold, dim, cloudy world to a land not of fairies or angels, but of gods and demi-gods to skies burning and blazing with mil- lions of suns, double suns, star roads, and empyrean walls, in which the bricks and mortar are sparkling suns and glowing systems, miracle of miracles! I hold my breath and tremble as I think, for the sight never grows old nor familiar to me, and every time I have thus gazed, it has only been to find the awe and wonder deepen. Absorbed as I was in contemplating the immensity and brilliancy of this ever new and ever gorgeous spec- tacle, in about forty seconds from the time When I first began to look through Lord Hosse's telescope, I found a singular blur coming between the shining frame of the heavens and the object glass. I was about to draw back, deeming some accidental speck had fallen upon the plane of vision, when I was attracted by observing that what I had deemed to be a blur actually assumed the shape of a human profile, and was, even as I gazed, GHOST LAND. 135 in the act of moving along in space between the glass and the heavens. Fascinated and wonder-struck, I still retained the calm and fixed purpose of continuing my observations, and in this way I saw, yes! I distinctly saw, a gigantic and beautifully proportioned human face sail by the object-glass, intercepting the "view of the stars, and maintaining a position in mid-air which I should judge to have been some five miles above the earth's surface. Allowing for the immense magnifying powers of the instrument, I could not conceive of any being short of a giant whose form would have covered whole acres of space, to whom this enormous head could have appertained. When I first beheld this tremendous apparition, it seemed to be sailing perpendicularly in the air, intercepting the field of vision just between my- self and the planet to which the glass was pointed. I have subsequently seen it four times, and on each occa- sion, though the face was the same, the inclination of the form must have varied, sometimes floating horizon- tally, at another time looking down as if from a height, and only permitting a partial view of the features, greatly foreshortened, to appear. Still again I have seen it as at first, and finally, it sailed by in such a fashion as to permit the sight of an immense cloudy bulk which followed in the wake of the beautiful head, the whole apparition occupying at least a hundred seconds in passing the glass, during which period the sight of all other objects but this sailing dense mass was entirely obscured. On the occasion I at first alluded to, I became so fixed with astonishment and doubt, that I should not have mentioned what I saw had not the figure returned and from the side where it had disap- peared I beheld it slowly, gradually, unmistakably 136 UHOST LAND. float by the object-glass with even more distinctness than at first. This second time I could perceive as unequivocally as if I had been gazing at my own reflec- tion in a mirror, the straight, aquiline cast of features, the compressed lip, and stern expression of the face, the large, glittering eye, fixed like a star upon the earth beneath, and long lashes, like a fringe of beams, falling upon the side of the face. A vast curtain of streaming hair floated back from the head, and its arrangement seemed to imply that the form was moving at an incon- ceivably rapid rate through a strong current of opposing winds. When I had fully, unquestionably satisfied my- self that what I had seen was a reality, I withdrew from the instrument, then requested one of the company pres- ent to examine my pulse and report upon its action. " Moderate and firm," was the reply, given in a tone of curious inquiry; "but you look somewhat pale, Cheva- lier. May we not know what has occurred to disturb you?" Without answering, I proceeded carefully to examine the glass, and to scrutinize all its parts and sur- roundings, with a view of endeavoring to find some outside cause for what I must else have deemed an hallucination. I was perfectly familiar with the use, capacity, and arrangement of the telescope, and as neither within nor without the instrument, nor yet in the aspect of the cloudless sky could I find the least possible solution to my difficulty, I determined to resolve the occurrence into the convenient word I have just used, and set the matter down as hallucination. But my friends were not so easily satisfied. Some of them were personally acquainted with me, and fancied they perceived in my manner a thread of interest which they were not dis- posed to drop. At last, one of them, an old and very GHOST LAND. 137 if venerable scientist, whose opinions I had long been accustomed to regard with respect, looking steadily in my face, asked in a deep and earnest tone, "Will you not tell us if you have seen anything unusual? We beg you to do so, Monsieur, and have our own reasons for the query." Thus adjured, but still with some hes- itation, I answered that I certainly thought I had seen the outlines of a human face, and that twice, crossing the object-glass of the telescope. Never shall I forget the piercing look of intelligence interchanged by my companions at this remark. With- out a word of comment however, the one whose guest I had the honor to be, stepped to a cabinet in the obser- vatory where he kept his memoranda, and drawing forth a package, he thus addressed me : " What you may have seen to-night, Chevalier, I am not yet informed of, but as something remarkable appears to have struck you in the observation you have just made; we are willing to place ourselves at your mercy, and provided you will reciprocate the confidence we repose in you, we will herewith submit to you some memoranda which will con- vince you some of us at least, have beheld other bodies in space than suns and planets." Before my honored entertainer could proceed further, I narrated to him as exactly as I could, the nature of what I had seen, and then confessed I was too doubtful of my own powers of observation to set down such a phenomenon as an actual- ity unless I could obtain corroborative evidence of its truth. " Receive it, then, my friend, " cried my host, in such deep agitation that his hand trembled violently as he unfolded his memoranda, and raising his eyes to Heaven, gleaming through an irrepressible moisture, he murmured in deep emotion, "Good God! then it must be true." 138 GHOST LAND. I dare not recall verbatim the wording of the notes I then heard read, as they were so mixed up with details of astronomical data, which have since become public property, that the recital might serve to do that which I then solemnly promised to avoid, namely, whilst pub- lishing the circumstances I then heard of, for the benefit of those who might put faith in them, carefully to sup- press the names of the parties who furnished me with the information. My friends then (five in number on the occasion referred to) assured me that during the past six months, whilst conducting their observations at that place, and by aid of that as well as two other tele- scopes of inferior power, they had, all on several occa- sions, seen human faces of gigantic proportions floating by the object-glass of their telescopes, in almost the same fashion and with the same peculiarities of form and expression as the one I had just described. One gentleman added that he had seen three of these faces on one night, passing one after the other, their transit occupying, with slight intervals between them, nearly half an hour. For many successive weeks this party had stationed themselves at distant places, at given periods of time, and determined to watch for several consecutive nights and see if the same phenomenon could or would appear to more than one observer at a time. The memoranda which record the results of this experiment were indeed most startling. Take the fol- lowing extracts : " Tuesday, June 4, 18 . Third night of watching. Took my station at the glass at 11.30 p. M. At 2, or just^as the last vibration of the clock resounded from the observatory, the first outline of the head came into view. This time the form must have been directly perpendicular, for the sharp outline of the straight GHOST LAND. 139 profile came into a direct line with the glass, and enabled me to see a part of the neck, and clear the top of the head. The figure was sailing due north, and moved across the glass in 72 seconds," etc. etc. Memoranda 2d. "I began to despair of success as three days had now elapsed without any interruption of the kind anticipated in my observations. At 10 minutes and 3 seconds to 2, I began to experience an overpowering sense of fatigue, and determined to close my observations at the moment my chronometer should strike the hour. 2.30. The giant has just appeared; his head came into view exactly as the clock was striking 2, and placing my chronometer directly before me so as to catch the first glimpse of the time when he disappeared, I find that his transit occupied exactly 72 seconds. Attitude horizontal, position of head, a direct and magnificent profile." Note No. 3 simply states : w Tuesday, June 4, 18 . Titanus came into view at 2 o'clock precisely, sailed by in 71^ seconds, upright, and face in profile, moving due north," etc. etc. Some of the observations recorded by the spectators of this phenomenon were full of emotion, and as the venerable gentleman who first questioned me read over the comments this strange sight called forth, my com- panions were so deeply moved, and manifested such intense feeling on the subject of what they had seen, that the reading was several times interrupted, and one of the party remarked, he believed he should be dis- posed to shoot any one who should presume to cast doubt or ridicule on a subject which had affected them all so deeply. For the next fortnight I enjoyed the privilege of spending a considerable portion of each night in that observatory. Twice the strange phantom sailed before 140 QHOST LAND. my view in one week. By permission of my friends, I changed my station and continued my anxious watch with another instrument. On the second night I beheld the Titanic head with even more distinctness than before, and three of my fellow- watchers shared the weird spectacle with me from different posts of observa- tion. One week later, although greatly fatigued by my long and close vigils for so many nights, I determined to avail myself of a final observation with one of the most superb instruments ever constructed. For many hours my exhaustive watch was unsuccessful ; but just as I was about to take my leave of the enchanting fields of fiery blossoms that lay outstretched before me, two faces of the same size and expression, the one slightly in advance of, and measurably shading the other, sailed slowly, very slowly into view. They passed on with such an unappreciable, gentle motion that I could almost have imagined they were stationary for some seconds of time. Their appearance so com- pletely surprised me at the moment when I was about to retire that I omitted to take note of the time they occu- pied in passing. The companion who shared my watch had pointed his glass a little more to the east than mine, and I had but time to murmur an injunction for him to change it as the figures came into view. He saw them, however, just as they were passing out of the field of vision, and exclaimed, with a perfect shout of astonishment, w By heavens ! there are two of them ! " Some years after this memorable night I received a letter from one of my associates in this weird secret, according to me the permission I sought, namely, to publish the circumstances I have related thus far, but carefully to withhold the witnesses' names. In answer to my query whether my correspondent had again seen GHOST LAND, 141 the tremendous phantom of the skies, he replied in the negative, adding, "Call me superstitious or what you will : the whole history lays us open to ourselves and to each other, to such wild suggestions and inconceivable possibilities, that no hypothesis can seem so improbable as that we should all be correct. I will venture to hint to you, one of us, you know, that I have somehow always connected the apparitions in question with the preva- lence of the cholera. It was immediately in advance of this pestilence, and during the time when it raged, that we all saw them. Since that period we have never again beheld them, that is, none of us who now remain on earth. ? These appearances ceased with the pestilence, and came with it. Could they have been the veritable destroying angels, think you? You, who are a mystic, should be able to answer me. I, with all my mate- rialism, am so terribly shaken when I recall the terrific reality, that I endeavor to banish its remembrance when- ever it recurs to me." Again, I have anticipated the experiences of later years, and been guilty of wandering from the line of narrative which the march of events prescribes. I feel as if I should attempt too to render the explanations of the foregoing circumstances which my astronomical friends looked to me to supply them with, but looked, as the reader may do, in vain. It seems to me as if a vain and egotistical fear of a sneering and sceptical age, keeps many others besides my astronomical associates silent on the occurrence of events 'which are chiefly remarkable because they are unprecedented, and which encounter jeers and denial chiefly from those who strive to measure eternity by the foot-rule of their own petty intellects. The bufiets 142 GHOST LAND. of such small wits as these have done me the good service of making me at last wholly indifferent to their opinions; hence I have in this instance, and shall in many more throughout these papers, record what I KNX3W TO BE TRUE, without fear or favor. I can not always explain what I have seen, heard, and taken part in, but the favorite motto of a very dear friend has now become my own, and "the truth against the world" will be the ruling inspiration in the dictation of these pages. CHAPTEE Yin. STRAY WAKDERDTGS. "CoME, Louis! let us leave all this. I am tired for you, tired of seeing you exhausted in body and mind to please insatiate marvel-seekers; tired of beholding every nerve kept on the stretch, and a young life ebbing away to feed the curiosity of those who little know or hee'd that they are looking into the realms of the invis- ible through the telescope of your weary eyes. Come, my Louis! we will leave these festive scenes, where your very being furnishes forth the feast, to go and regale ourselves upon the fair face of Nature." Thus spoke Professor von Marx as I lay on a couch where I had sunk in sheer exhaustion some hours before, worn out indeed both in body and mind with the repeated seances, undertaken to gratify the numerous kind enter- tainers who besought us to "come and take rest" at their hospitable mansions in some charming retreat, which they converted into a scene of fashionable satur- nalia, where crowds of visitors were invited to meet and stare, and not uncommonly to sneer at also, "the great German occultist and his young somnambulist, who were so very wonderful and so very entertaining, and all that sort of thing." Thoroughly sick of being lionized, and solicited, the professor to talk philosophy and put fine ladies into be- coming trances, and I to raise up Undines and Sylphs, 144 GHOST LAND. and predict which would be the winning horse at the next " Derby," I joyfully obeyed the behest of my dear mas- ter to depart with him that evening on "urgent business," which would compel us to decline all further invitations, and leave the world of fashion for parts unknown. We did not travel very far at first, for I was too thor- oughly depleted to endure the fatigue of a long journey anywhere. Professor von Marx either desired me to realize practically, or else had to learn the lesson him- self, that the aims for which spiritual forces are em- ployed determine in a great measure the recuperative powers of the body that is their vehicle. So long as I was occupied as the seer of the noble professor, and the high-toned and powerful adepts with whom I had been constantly associated on the Continent, my soul Vas fed with intellectual inspiration, and my physique was vitalized by life-giving magnetism. I frequently passed whole days without food, whilst engaged in these ses- sions, yet I never experienced the slightest sense of fatigue, weariness, or hunger. I lived in a state of semi-ecstacy, my whole being sustained to its fullest capacity of reception, both men- tally and physically. In my dear master's presence I felt an influx of strength and spiritual power impossible to describe. I should not dare to relate to those who have never experienced their exalting and ecstatic possibilities the phenomenal evi- dences of magnetic force too which these seances evolved. It is enough to affirm, it was as natural for the seers on such occasions to ascend in air, and float there at will, as to remain attached to the earth, in fact the token which a closed circle of adepts were accustomed to receive that their magnetic aura had combined in the required degree was the levitation of their seers, and their suspension GHOST LAND. 145 in air for given periods of time. But let it be remem- bered that my companions were all intellectual men, and isolated in the grand purpose of their researches; they cguld at will send forth the spirits of their seers to trav- erse space, but they never exerted this stupendous power on trivial occasions or for the mere gratification of sel- fish aims. Their sole aspiration was to discover and gauge the forces of the unseen universe and penetrate into the profoundest of Nature's mysteries. They were often cold, hard, stern, and remorseless in the pursuit of knowledge, but in their presence the minds of their seers could not fail to grow and expand into lofty aspi- rations and soar away above the frivolities and petty aims in which most young people are educated. Of all their seers, too, I believed they loved me the most. Combined with their indomitable purpose of wresting from Nature her secrets at any cost, there was a special gentleness and appreciative respect in their dealings with me, which made the bond between us unusually kind and sympathetic, and thus I was kept completely isolated, I might say sacredly reserved for the most exalted purposes of research and aspira- tional effort. Let the character of these seances be compared with the littleness, selfishness, and frivolity of the fashion- able crowds by whom I had been recently surrounded, and the effect of the latter upon me may be measurably appreciated. It required but a few weeks of such a life to convert me into a forlorn, worn-out invalid, and to assure my dear master the stern restrictions he had laid upon the very thoughts no less than the lives and habits of the persons whose magnetisms were permitted to become incorporated into the systems of his sensitives 10 146 GHOST LAND. were justified by the practical though bitter experiences of his best-beloved somnambulist in fashionable English society. How well he understood both the nature of my suf- ferings and their cause, I one day learned by hearing him addressing a party of ladies and gentlemen who had been pleading for another seance, "just one more, before the cruel professor took his charming young mystic away, to bury his talents amongst German boors or plotting Bluminee." Addressing these butterflies in his gravest tones, I heard him say, " Spiritual forces are sacred elements which should not be tampered with, and unholy, impure, or sensually-minded individuals can more safely play with the lightnings, or hurl burn- ing coals at each other's heads, than deal with or touch the lightnings of life, or palter with the fires of soul. My Louis," he added with terrible emphasis, "is almost dying of such play, and I take him hence at once to save the remnant of his to me most precious life." I fear I may not succeed in impressing my inexperi- enced readers with the force of these positions. I nar- rate them as they occur, faithfully and truthfully, but to an age that has been accustomed to regard occult power as a mere hap-hazard endowment requiring no culture, no conditions, and spiritual gifts, as a mere source of amusement or curious experiment, to be exer- cised at will in any company or under any circumstances, I shall never write understanding^, and my views will be regarded as overstrained or rhapsodical, and my narrative as exaggerated if not actually untrue. Still I re-echo the above-quoted words of my beloved mas- ter, and confident that in a succeeding generation, if not in this, their import will be duly recognized and acted upon, I proceed with my narrative. GHOST LAND. 147 After passing through many a lovely scene, and halt- ing as our inclination prompted us at little wayside inns in the most rural and unfrequented spots we could find, Professor von Marx and I determined to make a toui through the lake district of Cumberland. Whilst we were lingering in this enchanting region, we were in- duced to make a detour of several miles from our pro- jected route, for the purpose of visiting the humble dwelling of one Frances Jones, an abnormal personage, known in that district as the "Welsh fasting girl." This case, which had attained considerable celebrity, pre- sented most of the general features which accompany protracted fasting, namely, long-continued fits of som- nolence and occasional intervals of remarkable lucidity, during which the girl delivered trance addresses of wonderful beauty and exhibited striking powers of clair- voyance and prevision. Professor von Marx was not prompted to make this visit by the motives of vulgai curiosity which attracted crowds of persons to the resi- dence of this phenomenon. He knew how long I could myself subsist without material sustenance ; he had witnessed the extraordinary effects of renewed life and vitality I had exhibited by sleeping for some time on beds of fresh flowers or sweet-scented herbs; above all, he had frequently seen me maintain a protracted fast of several days, without experiencing Imnger or weak- ness, by simply placing me in the magnetic condition at stated periods, and surrounding me with a strong circle of powerful magnetizers. The professor and his associates had demonstrated to their entire satisfaction the triumph of spiritual forces over material in my case, and were prepared to carry their theories forward into still more extraordinary re- sults, when opportunities were favorable for their exper- 148 GHOST LAND. iments. It was, therefore, with a view of analyzing a case which might present some kindred features that Professor von Marx and myself set out upon this visit. "We found our subject sitting upright in bed, with her eyes firmly closed, and her form and face by no means emaciated, though somewhat pallid from her frequent isolation from the light, which at times affected her unfavorably. Just as we arrived she was " in one of her fits," as her rustic parents informed us ; that is to say, in one of those crises or periods of her disorder when she was impelled to utter her singularly beautiful improv- isations, one of which she was pouring forth in a strain of remarkable eloquence to a crowd of gaping country folks as we entered the cottage. Directly Professor von Marx crossed the threshold the girl stopped speaking, and beckoning to him with an authoritative air, took his hand, laid it on her head, and with looks of ecstacy which transfigured her face into an almost angelic expression, murmured, " Great master, you are welcome ! Speak, and I will answer you." Question. Tell me truly, is it Frances Jones or the spirit of another who addresses me? Answer. I am the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord ! Q. "Whose voice cries? A. Him that cryeth now as of old. Q. You call yourself John the Baptist, then? A. Thou sayest it. Q. Who and what is the Messiah you predicate? A. The outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh; and behold (pointing her finger at me) even there, is one of the prophets of the new dispensation. Thou knowest it, and he can tell thee all thou hast come here to inquire. GHOST LAND. 149 Q. Not all; I wish to hear from your own lips a de- scription of your case. A. Ask him; he knoweth. Q. By what means are you sustained in life? A. I am fed by the angels, and live on angels' food; I hunger not, neither do I thirst. Q. You speak now as Frances Jones : where is the spirit who first addressed me? A. He moves these utterances and inspires these answers. Q. Was he a man or an angel? A. If I should answer thee thou wouldst not believe me. Thou art of the sect of Sadducees, who say there is no spirit or angel. I cast not my pearls before swine The professor here smiled at me significantly, but con- tinuing to address the patient, he rejoined, Q. Can I do you any good by the touch of my hand? A. Thou hast done all that was required of thee; the closed gate is unlocked by tliy liand, and in due course of time the angels of restored health will reopen it and walk in. Now depart in peace. Thy seer will telj thee the rest. At this point the invalid sank back upon her pillow with a slight convulsion, which, passing rapidly away, left her features calm, pale, and tranquil, when her ordi- nary deep sleep fell upon her, and her .parents assured us it might be many hours ere she would reawaken. Before we quitted the cottage I informed my master what I had clairvoyantly perceived in this case, namely, that a partial paralysis had attacked first the great solar plexus, then extended throughout the ganglionic sys- tem, finally impinging in the same partial way upon the cerebro-spinal nerves. The medulla and cerebellum 150 GHOST LAND. were more powerfully affected than the cerebrum, and the pneumagastric nerve was more completely paralyzed than any other of the cranial system. I observed that the processes of evaporation and absorption remained untouched, and acted with their usual force ; hence, she could receive such nourishment as imponderable elements afforded her, and her assertion that she partook of angels' food was not altogether irrational. It is certain that little or no waste of tissue could ensue in a state which was entirely one of passivity. Though the vital functions were in operation, they pro- ceeded so slowly that there could be little more waste or evaporation than the process of absorption might renew ; hence the absence of emaciation or any evidence of that decay which might have been the result of inanition. It seemed that a certain periodical condition of activity set in at stated times, and kind Nature us.ed these opportu- nities to attempt a renovation of the paralyzed system \ then it was, that the invalid became clairvoyant, uttered her remarkable trance addresses, and with eyes closely bandaged to exclude the light, which distracted her sen- sitive brain, the poor girl cut out paper flowers and made little drawings, which were sold by her poor rela- tives. I perceived that this young creature was sur- rounded by crowds of spiritual beings, who fed her with the emanations of plants, vegetables, and the magnetism of some of those who visited her parents' cottage. I also saw that the strong and potential magnetism of Professor von Marx, had, through the hand which he placed on her head, infused new life into her system, by virtue of which the paralytic condition of her frame had in truth been "unlocked." Eecuperative action once commenced, I had the pleasure of perceiving that nature would do the rest; that the real source of GHOST LAND. 151 cure was already infused, and that with ordinary care this girl would be restored in two months more. I mentioned this promise in my clairvoyant vision to her family. Professor von Marx at the same time gener- ously supplied them with funds to supersede the neces- sity of their appealing to the charity of inquisitive strangers, and I had the satisfaction of learning some months later, that a gradual and apparently spontaneous cure had set in from the time of our visit, until this poor sufferer had become completely restored. I understood that her faculty of trance-speaking and clairvoyance ceased with her recovery, in a word, spirits found no more a vehicle for the reception of their influence, and her own normal activity furnished no longer the condi- tions for abnormal control. I have since witnessed many cases of long-protracted fasting, accompanied by som- nolent states and periodical conditions of clairvoyance, and I very much doubt if the physical causes would not be found in every instance . measurably the same, had scientists the same opportunities for analyzing the ob- scure realms of causation as clairvoyance afforded to me. It was a few days after our visit to the "Welsh fasting girl" that Professor von Marx and I, sitting in the porch of a rustic inn-door, observed a tall and stately female approaching us, attired in the humble peasant garb, with the scarlet cloak and hood which distinguishes that singular class of vagrants known as " gypsies." Dressed as we were, simply in sportsmen's costume, and lodgers at an humble wayside public house, we did not expect to attract the attention of those shrewd wanderers whose favors are most liberally tendered to the wealthy; but our new visitor evidently deemed she was in the right track when she approached us, for she advanced with an air so decided that we felt as if we 152 GHOST LAND. were fairly captured before she had spoken a word. Fixing her lustrous black eyes with the most piercing expression upon me, she asked in a sweet voice, and with a far more polished mode of expression than ordi- nary, if I did not want my fortune told. "See what you can find out for my father first," I replied laughingly, pointing to the professor, who sat by my side. "He is no father of yours, senor," said the girl decid- edly, "nor does he come from the same land, or own one drop of the blue blood that flows in your veins." Now, if there ever were two human beings, who, without the slightest tie of consanguinity between them, closely resembled each other, those two persons were Professor von Marx and myself. "We were constantly taken for father and son by those who first met us; and whether from our peculiar interior relations to each other, or because [Nature had formed us out of the same mould I know not, but certain it is that it would have required some direct evidence to the contrary, to convince any stranger that we were not what we called each other, namely, father and son. As such we had been known in our rural wanderings of the last few weeks, and in those characters we had charged the single groom who attended us, to represent us at the inns where we stayed. This striking proof of our new acquaintance's dis- cernment then, awakened our curiosity, and induced us to let her proceed with her proposed delineation of our future. As far as the past was concerned, she gave a perfectly correct account of myself, my family connec- tions and characteristics, but when she came to depict the future she gazed at me with such deep and pitying earnestness that her eyes filled with tears and her sweet voice became broken with emotion. Her mode GHOST LAND. 153 of speech changed, too, from the rambling monotone of her craft to a fine sonorous rhyme, a sort of lofty "rune," in which she prophesied for me a life of deeply tragic import, and sorrows which God alone knows how truthfully she foreshadowed. At length she paused in her sad, wild song, indeed I interrupted her, for I felt she spoke the truth, and yet I would rathei not have heard the sad page rehearsed in those hours of fleeting sunshine and gladness. When it came to Professor von Marx's turn she absolutely refused to give him one word. He could neither bribe, threaten, nor coax her into a prophecy, and though her own bright eyes fell before his still more lustrous and penetrating glances, I saw the unbidden moisture trembling on her long lashes, as she resolutely reiterated she had nothing to tell him. Professor von Marx was in one of his satirical, if not gay moods, and snatching the little hand with which she was waving him off, he exclaimed, "What, not one word, my pretty Gitana? not if I cross this hand of yours with gold instead of silver?" "Not for the wealth of the Indies!" she cried, in a harsh, frightened tone, as she fiercely drew her hand away. Then, as the color died on her flushed cheek, and the wild expression of her dark eyes became sub- dued before his resistless glance, she murmured in a beseeching tone, "Master of spirits, spare me! I dare not speak now." " Enough, enough ! " he replied, waving her off and throwing into her hand several pieces of silver, which she as hastily pushed back. * You are wiser in holding your tongue, Gitana, than you are in loosing it; but take your money, nay, I command you!" The girl slowly and reluctantly dropped the money into a bag at her 154 GHOST LAND. side, and was turning away, when the professor recalled her in a half-laughing tone, by saying, " We shall see you again, my fair Zingara; we are coming to board with you a while. What is your name, my princess?" " Juanita," replied the gypsy, in a low, humble tone. "And you are a queen in your tribe, Juanita, is it not so?" " I am, senor," replied the girl, proudly. " I thought so," rejoined my master. :? Well, good- by for the present! We shall soon meet again." The gypsy turned submissively away without a word and that night, in obedience to my wayward father's will, we left our groom and baggage at the inn, and the pro- fessor, carrying a small valise in his hand, led me, by an instinct peculiar to himself, over moss and fell, moorland waste, and through mountain-passes, until we had trav- ersed a distance of nearly seven miles, and at length, a little before midnight, we came in sight of the lonely field where outstretched tents marked an extensive gypsy encampment. Juanita, who was indeed the veritable queen or leader of the tribe which we were about to visit, seemed, by the same instinct that had guided us, to be fully pre- pared for our coming. She had ordered two tents to be got ready for us, and already our savory supper smoked upon the wooden platters laid out for our entertainment. The red fires were smouldering in dotted heaps over the wild heath; a fe\y lanterns still burned at intervals on the crossed sticks that upheld them. Most of the en- campment were asleep, but the beautiful Juanita wel- comed us as expected guests, with that natural grace which belongs to the dispenser of hospitality every- where. Professor von Marx took her aside and spoke a few earnest words, to which she listened with a downcast GHOST LAND. 155 and reluctant manner. He then gave her money, which she received in the same subdued way, although at first she strenuously endeavored to return it. When the interview closed, she waited on us at supper with the grace and condescension of a captive princess, and showed us to our tents, in which beds of fragrant heather, covered with the skins of deer, were already prepared for us. My tent, I observed, was adorned with bouquets of sweet wild flowers, the professor's with some curious skins and a few stuffed lizards and reptiles. w The girl 's a witch," said the professor, as he ob- served these significant arrangements, " and has read us like a book." Before parting for the night my master gave me to understand he had long been seeking an opportunity for me to spend some days in this rough tent-life. w I want to bring you down from heaven to earth," he said, "to make you sleep on the earth, and partake of earthly things; it is only in this way I can hope to keep you upon the earth as long as you ought to remain." My master's expectations of benefit to an overtaxed frame were speedily realized. Deep and unbroken slumbers visited me under the greenwood tree, such as I had not known for many years. Believed from the artificial restraints of conventional life, and subject to the rough but appetizing fare of these wanderers, I became posi- tively rugged, and delighted my watchful and anxious companion by the length of my daily rambles and the keen enjoyment with which I entered, for the time being, into the rough sports of my entertainers. Everything was so new, free, and enchantingly natu- ral that I began to contemplate the tent-life as my future destiny, and actually set myself to studying the manners, 156 GHOST LAND. customs, and language of these vagrants, with a view to my adoption in their respectable ranks. Whilst the charm of this recuperative and healthful change lasted I sought to excuse to myself the aimless life of indo- lence I was leading, by endeavoring to discover if this singular people cherished amongst themselves any legendary opinions concerning their own origin. Exist- ing everywhere, but everywhere as a solitary, marked, and isolated band of fugitives; never at home, though everywhere familiar; always strangers, though they might be in the very country of their birth; realizing more completely than any other created beings the awful legend of Cain, "A vagabond and a fugitive shalt thou be on the face of the earth"; homeless, nationless, unconnected with any other races than those so widely scattered over the world, yet ever bearing in theii physiognomy, character, language, and customs, pecu- liar traits which never forsake them and at once distin- guish and isolate them from all other living peoples, who can solve the problem of their exceptional and incomprehensible destinies? Except in respect to the peculiar characteristics which must accompany very poor nomadic tribes, I have never found amongst the Bohemians of France and Germany, the Zingari of Italy, the Gitanas of Spain, the Gypsies of England, etc., any marked criminal ten- dencies or specialties that seemed to explain the world- wide ban of proscription that has followed them for at least the eight hundred years during which they have been known as a separate people. I found on this occasion, as on many others, when, in later years I spent a few days of free, wild, untrammelled life amongst the Gypsies, that the great majority of them, though shrewd and crafty enough in some respects, GHOST LAND. 157 were stoydly ignorant and indifferent concerning theii origin or national existence. Juanita was one of those rare and exceptional beings whose appearance amongst such hordes, serves to stamp them with an air of romance and throw around theii name and fame those captivations of ideality which have rendered them so celebrated in poetry, music, and romantic literature. Juanita was the reigning queen of a large tribe composed partly of Spanish and partly of English gypsies, over all of whom she, a Spaniard by birth and descendant of a former king of the tribe, ruled with undisputed sway. She was but twenty-five years of age, beautiful as a poet's dream, impulsive, passionate, poetical, and proud, with a natural tone of refinement and sensibility in her nature, come from whence it may, which would have graced an Andalu- sian princess. This beautiful and wayward being, deigned to select me as the special object of her favor during our esca- pade., and by way of disposing of Professor von Marx, for whom she conceived a corresponding aversion not unmixed with awe, she assigned him a guide and com- panion, in the person of her young brother Guido, a fine, intelligent lad some ten years her junior, with whom the professor took long rambles and soon became fast friends. It was our daily custom to make our simple sportsman's toilette, by a fre^h bath in the flowing river which skirted the encampment. Our breakfast was par- taken of in the large common tent to which Professoi von Marx on our first entrance, had paid such a footing, as should ensure the foragers of the party a quiet holi- day and total cessation from their ordinary methods of replenishing the larder, during the whole time of OUT residence amongst them. The morning meal disposed 158 GHOST LAND. of, the men betook themselves to their petty trades as itinerants, the women to their domestic duties and the care of their children, of whom there were the usual bountiful supply. The professor wandered off with Guido, and sometimes joined a hunting party, which, in less choice phraseology, might have been termed by the more conventional name of poaching. Meantime I wan- dered off with Juanita to gather flowers and mosses, visit the most romantic nooks and glens of a wild and almost savage district, and hear this beautiful creature pour out rapid and singularly sweet poetical improvisa- tions concerning that beloved Andalusia of which she informed me she was a native, though descended as she sometimes claimed from " a long line of Moorish kings." At night we returned to the tents, where the professoi won all hearts by romping with the little ones, playing at rough sports with the boys, cards with the English gypsies, whom of course he always allowed to beat him, and making himself generally delightful to young and old, and such an astonishment in my eyes, that he would often burst into a fit of uncontrollable merriment as he caught my looks of amazement at his thorough trans- figuration. I was not less popular with these ragamuffins than my plastic master, for besides being the chosen friend of their proud and authoritative ruler, I sang them songs which I will venture to affirm obtained more rapturous encores and genuine applause than ever greeted a prima donna assoluta. Besides my volJcs lied and Italian can- zonets, Juanita and the Spanish gypsies made sweet music with their guitars and lutes, and some of the English girls sang glees with a simplicity and sweetness that was wonderfully touching in this moon and star lit auditorium. GHOST LAND. 159 One old crone of the English tribe, whose forte was story-telling, and who varied our evening camp-fire amusements by legends which would have done honor to Munchausen, traced back for me the history of her people to one of the Pharaohs. She also detailed graphic accounts of some of her former states of exist- ence, she being, like others of her compeers, a decided " re-incarnationist," and finally gave me to understand that though she then performed the humble duty of tend- ing the gigantic cauldron from whose savory steams the promise of a real gypsy feast was to be derived, she well remembered the time when she was " one of the highly trusted officers of a certain mighty Pharaoh, by .whose orders the great pyramid of Egypt had been erected, under her supervision." In their natural gifts of improvisation, prevision, and spontaneous clairvoyance, no less than in certain physiog- nomical peculiarities, these people continually reminded me of some of the still existing low castes of Hindostan. There can be no doubt that their nomadic lives and constant intercourse with Nature in her ever-varying moods, are all aids in unfolding the interior perceptions of these dwellers in tents; still there are vestiges of Oriental tendencies in their fervid imaginations, alle- gorical modes of expression, some of their customs and religious beliefs, which plead strongly for an inheritance derived from the far East in many successive genera- tions. Their language, too, although containing whole vocabularies of slang phrases and thieves' jargon, still partakes of the Sanskrit character, and there are some words which I found to be pure and unadulterated Sanskrit. A vague traditionary belief exists amongst them all that'they originally came from the East, were a once " mighty people," but had become degraded and 160 GHOST LAND scattered. To my mind they have never been anything but a degraded people. I am more and more inclined to the opinion that they came from one of those low and oppressed castes of India which were driven forth and scattered upon the face of the earth under Moham- medan rule and oppression. The most accomplished amongst them were astrolo- gers, and I found that their calculations and methods were purely Chaldaic. Juanita was as well skilled in this art as any person, save one, I ever met with. That one was a distinguished Arabian physician, a member of the "Berlin Brotherhood," an admirable astronomer and mathematician; in fact, he was professor of astronomy at the scene of my boyhood's studies, and from him I learned the Chaldaic method of calculating the stars, one that had never been published to the world, and was only imparted under certain conditions to adepts. Yet here in the wilds of Cumberland I found it substantially known and practised by a poor Gitana, who could neither read nor write. w See, senor mio," she would cry, " I can not tell you how I know these things, but I will show you." She would then find a flat stone or smooth piece of wood, and chalk thereon maps of the heavens, divid- ing the stars by lines and connecting them in squares and figures with an accuracy which perfectly bewildered me. Substantially I repeat, her method was that of the Arabian philosopher, and yet this untaught girl worked out with her fingers and piles of pebbles a scheme that she could have obtained only from Chaldaic sources, and those of the most occult and secret nature. Juanita informed me she had derived her knowledge from her father, like herself a ruler in his tribe, and that he again had obtained it by direct succession from a long line of ancestors. GHOST LAND. 161 w Now, ^Tita," I said, w tell me the names of the stars you have figured out here, and then, show them to me on the heavens " ; for I wished to see if this was mere routine work, or whether the girl really understood what she had drawn. Fixing her dark eyes on the shining field of light above our heads she began, in a high strain of poetical imagery, to describe the famous legend of the astronomical religion, pointing out correctly every con- stellation of which she spoke, but to my utter amaze- ment giving to those shining bodies, not the ordinary astronomical names, but their cabalistic titles and his- tory, and reciting some of the myths in this connection that I have never seen anywhere detailed, except in the ancient " Zoliar " or " Book of Light." More and more perplexed by this sibyl's strange lore, I endeavored by every means I could devise, to ascertain how she had gained her extraordinary knowledge. I found then, what I had before suspected, that the gypsies were not, as has been generally supposed, conformists to the religion of any country in which they chanced to sojourn, but that with all their slang habits and reprobate style of life, they were genuine fire worshippers, and cherished amongst them the Sabaen system with the real ardor of Parsees. More than this I could not learn; but as Nita would go into ecstacies over certain stars which she delighted to liken to my eyes, ending by christening me her w star-beam," I determined to change the conversa- tion by inviting her to teach me the art of palmistry, "that art, you know, Nita, by which we first became acquainted," I said. " Palmistry ! " replied the girl, with a scornful laugh; "there is no such thing as palmistry in the sense you mean it, senor; we don't really tell fortunes by the lines of the hand. See, she added, snatching impulsively at my hand and pointing to its 11 162 GHOST LAND. undefined lines, " you have no lines here, like working people. Such a hand tells nothing, save of the menials that work for you. No, no, senor ; it was your eyes that told me all your sad, wild history. When I look at the stars they tell me a thousand times more than those charts of my fathers ; so it is when I look at your eyes. There I read your history, your soul, your mind; past, present, future, all linger in those dark depths so plainly, so clearly, that I could see, did I dare to gaze long enough, ay! see the day when the earth will grow cold and chill because the lustre of your life will be quenched out of it." " Never mind that day, Nita, would to heaven it were to-morrow! but tell me yet more plainly how yon see all this." "How should Nita know? It comes; it rises up to my mind and trembles on my lips before I know the words that are spoken. Mark you, senor, I have two ways of knowing. I first look into the eyes, and .there I see the soul, see its joys and sorrows, its Aweary travail and happy hours; I see its loves and T hates, and many of the paths it has taken the body, and many more it will have to follow. As to the hand, I feel, not see its meaning. Few hands are so diffi- cult to read as yours, senor, for your heart is locked away in the keeping of yon dark Master of Spirits," pointing off, as she spoke, towards Professor von Marx, of whom she still retained an unconquerable fear; "but with most persons whose hands I touch, their modes of life, past, present, and future, come up with the heart's blood, and thrill through my fingers just as if I could feel out the words which tell the tale. This, too, is the way Marianna and Louise" (alluding to two other sibyls of her tribe) " tell fortunes, senor mio. GHOST LAND. 163 Mother Elsie is blind, you know, yet she tells better than all of us, and she tells everything by the touch, and sometimes when she lays her withered hand on a stranger's head or a lady's dress, or even touches the glove or handkerchief that an inquirer has touched, she knows just as much as if the whole story were read out from a book. Don't you know this is true, senor?" " Quite so, Juanita. I have tested this Mother Elsie, as you say, and she can tell very wonderful truths ; but still you have not told me how Mother Elsie can do this, or how you can read my life in my eyes or feel it in my hand. That is what I wish to know, Juanita." * Because Elsie is a Gypsy and I am a Zingara, senor," replied the girl, simply. c You refuse to tell me then, Juanita," I replied, as- suming to be piqued at her reticence. w I thought you would have told everything to your friend; you prom- ised you would." A passionate burst of tears and the wildest protesta- tions of devotion, sincerity, willingness to lay down her life to please me, etc., followed, making me feel con- demned and humiliated for questioning the simple earn- estness of this poor, untaught child of the forest, and measuring her utter guilelessness by my own world- craft. It was evident to me, as it had become to Profes- sor von Marx, though he took other means to arrive at his conclusions, that these wanderers were naturally gifted with strong clairvoyant and psychometric perceptions, varying in degree, of course, with their different endow- ments, and that where these powers existed, they re- sorted to the fascinating gaze, or the touch of the hand, merely as a means of entering into rapport with, their subjects, even as the old woman above alluded to one 164 GHOST LAND. of the most celebrated pythonesses of her time found the contact of some object which had been touched, nec- essary to open up her psychometric perceptions. These methods are familiar enough now amongst well-informed spiritists ; but in the earlier days of my investigations, I was unceasing in my endeavors to find a deeper philosophy than Nature herself afforded me for the exercise of spiritual powers. My search was and ever will be in vain. As to the astrological lore existing amongst these people, that still remained a mystery. The possession of such knowledge involves scientific attainments, not natural endowments ; and from whence 'they derived their information except, as Juaiiita insisted, by inheritance from their ancestors, I was at a loss to discover. The poor girl had no more to tell, that was evident. She was beautiful, intelligent, and highly gifted beyond any one that I have ever met amongst her class. Transplanted into a fairer soil, she might have graced the royalty of a nation instead of a tribe of vagabonds ; but she was a Zingara, and the laws of fate which bound her to her destiny were as absolute as those which had set the ineffaceable mark upon the first fratricide. During the fortnight we spent amongst her people, I learned one trait concerning them which merits more consider- ation than is usually allotted to it. The gypsies, as a race, are everywhere acknowledged to be irrepressible thieves, and their approach in any neighborhood has proverbially been recognized as the signal for drawing bolts and bars against their inroads. Some of their biographers have even gone so far as to assert that they live entirely by plunder, and that their assumption of practising itinerant trades and fortune-telling, are only so many pretences to facilitate their access to GHOST LAND. 165 the houses or pockets of the wealthy. "Whilst emphat- ically disclaiming the character of an apologist for this distinguishing feature of gypsy life, I must be allowed to urge that the people in their innermost natures regard themselves as Ishmaelites, and the whole human family as their natural enemies. They conceive them- selves to be in some way outcast from their nation, land, inheritance, or place amongst men. Regarding mankind ever as their oppressors, they deem they are as much justified in plundering from the rich and highly favored of earth, as God's chosen people of old deemed themselves righteously employed in spoiling the Egyp- tians. I learned this questionable piece of morality through the unlimited confidence reposed in me by the fair Juanita, who was better informed of her people's secret opinions and idiosyncrasies than any one of her generation perhaps. I learned, also, that whilst they dared not openly avow these opinions, they were in reality unquestioned articles of faith with them, as much so as gratitude is towards those who favor or oblige them. I have been repeatedly assured that the smallest arti- cle of property belonging to any person or persons who treated them well was as safe and exempt from spolia- tion, though it lay in their path, as if it had been guarded by bolts and bars. " Our honor and gratitude are the best bolts and bars mankind can use with the gypsy folk," said one of their old patriarchs, in enlarging upon this subject; and in truth they gave us a practical proof of their good faith, for though Professor von Marx and I had brought with us some few toilet appendages of value, and left these, like our money, wholly unguarded in our tents, often scattering small coin amongst the chil- dren with tempting profusion, we never found a single 166 GHOST LAND. article touched or a penny abstracted; more than this, we had occasion to send several times to the servant we had left at our inn, and though the external appearance of some of our messengers would have furnished a ready passport to any jail in the land, and our groom, accord- ing to order, frequently left them in tempting situations for petty plunder, we never found them fail in the strict- est fidelity to their trust, or guilty of committing the slightest act of peculation whilst thus engaged in a con- fidential capacity. I have already said we had commenced our residence in the encampment upon certain conditions, and I am bound to add that during the whole period of our stay, the neighborhood enjoyed complete exemption from the ordinary predatory habits of the gypsies, as a strict fur- lough was observed, and not one foraging party of an illegal nature issued from our peaceful ranks. The evening at length arrived when our Gypsy life was to terminate. The Zingari were instinctively aware of this, although we had made no formal announcement of the fact. Our groom was ordered to be in waiting with the horses at a short distance, and old and young, from the cooking crones to the crowing babies, hung around us with a half-respectful, half-sorrowful fondness, which showed what a depth of human kindness still lingered in those outcast hearts, and how readily noble instincts and gen- tle sentiments might be enkindled in the rudest natures under appropriate influences. When all was done, many mutual kindnesses exchanged, and many slight presents forced upon the youngest and oldest of the tribe, the hardest task of all at least for me still remained. ~No word of our intention to depart immediately, had been spoken to the fair queen, whose stately form I GHOST LAND. 167 silently pointed out to Professor von Marx as she lin- gered by the river-side, some half mile distant from us, gathering the wild flowers with which she had been accustomed to adorn my tent. * Well, what of her? " asked the professor, brusquely. Somewhat confused by this direct question, I ventured to suggest, in a low voice, that it might be as well to take advantage of her pre- occupation, and depart without further leave-taking. * What!'" cried my master, with an unusual burst of merriment, " steal a inarch upon our gypsy queen in the fashion of deserters, Louis? Shame upon you for so recreant a proposal! No, no; that will never do. Be- sides, Juanita is too much of a sibyl not to know that the hour has come when she can sing her siren songs no longer in the ears of her young Telemachus. But fear not, craven cavalier as you are ! The gypsy queen will speed our departure, not oppose it." K I think not," I answered, with some hesitation. '* But why this haste, father? Could we not wait till to-morrow? " ? To-morrow! " rejoined the professor, sternly. K To- morrow may be too late. We have lingered too long already. Know you not that this Juanita is the peerless beauty of her tribe, and that there is not an unmated youth in the gypsy universe who does not look to her with some vague foreshadowing that he may yet secur.e her as his especial prize? Come away, foolish boy, and that right speedily, unless you calculate to live, with a dozen bullets in your body from the rifles of as many vagabond rivals." ' The bullet is not yet forged, my father, that can harm my life. My hour is not come." ? Trust not too much to destiny, Louis. These half- and-half savages know you bear a charmed life, but 168 GHOST LAND. t they are not altogether unacquainted with the arts of * Gramarie.' * Do you know that some amongst them have been melting up the silver we have been so lavish in dispensing, and forming bullets with it? and do you know what silver bullets are used for in the black art? w To destroy those whose lives are deemed invincible with baser missiles/' I replied, carelessly. " I have no fear; but how did you learn there was such a murder- ous plot on foot, father?" w Oh, by using my eyes and ears, and listening to the voice of a certain little bird called reason. But come ! we lose time. I give you one half hour to make your adieux, and then for a swift horse and a mid- night ride ! " A few minutes more and I was by the side of Jua- nita, of whom, during this conversation I had never lost sight, as she gathered flowers by the river half a mile off. No one had been near her nor did she change her attitude until I reached her, when, stooping to address her as she sat on a mossy stone, she murmured in her sweet, sad tone, " Juanita will sing no more siren songs in the ear of Star-beam. The hour has come when he must go, and the gypsy queen will speed his departure, not oppose it" The professor's very words! but how on earth could she have heard them at half a mile's distance? Then raising herself from the ground and slowly turning to gaze on the figure of my master, who still stood on the hillside and in plain view, she said, with a stern pride peculiar to her lofty moods, w O cold- hearted, insolent man of the world! Dost thou then think that the gypsy would turn to sting the hand that has fostered him? Dost thou know the wanderer so little as to deem that under the shadow of his own tent * Magical art, or sorcery. GHOST LAND. 169 he would murder, in treachery and cold blood, the guest he has broken bread with? " "How is this, Juanita?" I said, gravely. "Do you then know that I am in danger from some of your peo- ple, and yet you have not warned me of it? " " Danger ! " cried the girl, fixing her full, fearless eyes upon me, with an indescribable expression of mingled ten- derness and reproach. '< You, senor, in danger? Know you not," she added, sinking her voice again almost to a whisper, " that you bear a charmed life, and tliat tlie bullet is not yet forged wliicli can harm you? Your hour is not come. Nevertheless I am not unmindful of what is around us ; but oh ! " she cried, her voice raised to a pitch of enthusiasm and her cheek deepening to the richest crim- son, w Juanita has thrown around her Star-beam a spell from which every danger will fall away, and every bullet will turn back harmless, save to him who speeds it against thee. My people may pursue the sunbeams that have dazzled their poor eyes, accustomed only to look upon the humble light of the glow-worm ; they may, with in- sensate envy of a beauty and nobility they can never attain to, hunt for thee after thou hast left behind, the boundaries which even our rude hospitalities make sacred and which would shelter thee from harm, shouldst thou stay amongst us forever: but my spell extends farther than that, farther than the bullets of envy can ever reach; and thou mayst go on thy way harmless forever from any wrong that Juanita or her people can work thee." Poor Juanita ! I left her with a path in life to tread the more lonely and desolate, because the sun had shone across it, for once, all too brightly; a destiny the more unendurable because glimpses of a better lot had flashed like streaks of lightning before the eyes that would look on their brightness no more. 170 GHOST LAND. Three days after we had quitted the gypsy encamp- ment a strange accident befel us. We were wandering on the shores of a beautiful lake, and had halted to rest beneath the shelter of an overhanging precipice, where rugged projections shielded us from the afternoon sun. Just as we had placed ourselves in reclining position against the rocks, an immense mass from the portion above and beyond our heads, was suddenly dislodged, and fell with a tremendous crash on the pebbly shore, bury- ing itself with enormous force to a considerable depth in the loose ground at our very feet, and enclosing us in a narrow chasm between itself and the rocks against which we leaned. Simultaneously with this astounding descent, a shower of bullets was launched against us, which, being intercepted by the descending mass, dashed upon it in every direction. At the same moment the discharge of several rifles rang in our ears. The whole of these motions were so coincident one with the other that for some time we were unable to sep- arate and arrange each in its proper order. When we had succeeded in extricating ourselves from our newly formed prison and took note of the different points of our situation, we found the following series of striking coin- cidences. The rock above us had no doubt been long upheld in a very threatening position. Had we not re- treated beneath the alcove to which it formed a sort of roof, at a certain moment, it must have crushed us to death, as we should then infallibly have been standing in the immediate line of its descent. There in fact, we had remained up to the minute before it fell, when the inviting character of the nook induced us to retreat within its pleasant shade. Yet again, it was evident from a comparison of the rifle-sounds that we had heard, and the shower of bullets th#t beat against the descend- GHOST LAND. 171 ing rock, that but for that friendly catastrophe, the said bullets would have found their lodgment in our recum- bent forms. That they were aimed against us was un- mistakable from the fact that nothing but the intervening rock separated them from us, and their flight could only have been directed at the same instant, or possibly one second earlier than the fall of the rock, seeing that the bullets reached its sides and surface at the same moment that it touched the sand. "The bullets were evidently aimed by the hands of assassins, Louis," said my master, after carefully inspect- ing the whole scene. " And the rock thrown down by those of our guar- dian angels," I added. "Or the ? atmospheric spirit' of the fair gypsy queen, perchance," said the professor, smiling; "for see! here are the traces of her subjects' work," gathering up and showing me a handful of the flattened bullets, which were made of pure silver. "You see, father," I remarked, "we bear charmed lives." " Even so," answered the professor, gravely ; " but it may be as well in future, to avoid visiting powder maga- zines with lighted torches in our hands." CHAPTEK IX. THE LETTER. THE LIFE TRANSFER. TIME sped on, oh, how swiftly! The changing sea- sons with all their succession of varied beauty, alone reminded us how protracted had been our intended holiday, and how weeks had lengthened into months since we had determined to live for a brief period at least for ourselves alone and revel in scenes of enjoy- ment which we each secretly believed were means of restoration to the health and well-being of the other. I love to recall these wanderings, for they constituted the happiest period of my life, and they form, even now, the oasis in a stormy wilderness, around which the most cherished memories linger. Nature was to me an ever new, ever wonderful page of revelation. At the wave of my powerful master's hand, my external senses would become closed, suffer- ing my liberated soul to go free and my spiritual senses to explore that wonderful arcanum of life locked up in forms, colors, odors, and sounds, of which the external world gives but the faintest reflected shadow. With clairvoyant perception I beheld on every side, the myr- iad tongues of many-colored fire which played around or shot up from rocks, stones, gems, crystals, shells, grasses, flowers, in short, from every form of mineral or vegetable life. Under the wondrous achromatic glass of spiritual sight, the life of the universe became GHOST LAND. 173 revealed to me, and I found there was not a blade of grass or a sand grain, any more than a crawling worm or mighty man, that was not vitalized by an element which to the sense of sight resembled flame, and which in operation was life, with its varied graduations of power, eliminating motion and vital heat. How glori- ously beautiful creation appeared to me under the trans- figurating light of clairvoyance! I ceased to wonder that the ancient seer was a fire-worshipper, beholding in all luminous bodies the deific principle, and in the sun, as the centre of life, light, and heat, the god of earth, to which his knowledge of the universe was limited. In addition to the marvellous powers of discernment which clairvoyant sight afforded me, I also realized special faculties of perception through the spiritual senses of touch and smell. Every thing in being I found to be endowed with an individual character of its own, and it soon became apparent to me that, either by sight, smell, or touch, the human soul could come into contact with the soul of things, and thus recognize its special individuality. As sound could only be produced by the collision of two bodies in space, so the sense of hearing afforded a mixed revela- tion of two or more characteristics; hence I observed that sound represented the harmonious relations of things to each other; sight, smell, or touch, the indi- vidual character of the thing itself, and its grade in the scale of creation. I could at that tune have readily made charts in which the universe of created forms, organic and inorganic, each in its place in the scale of being, could have been ranged under their distinctive shades of color, their corresponding odors, and the density or rarity of each 174 GHOST LAND. substance as defined by touch. Let me add that touch, like sound, was often composite in its impressions, all things in creation being so liable to come into contact, and all things that collide leaving upon each other an appreciable taint of each one's peculiar qualities. It is thus that the psychometrist is able to realize so correctly the characteristics which have surrounded or come into contact with any object under examination. The airs which sweep over the face of the rock, charge it with the characteristics of all the elements that are in the atmosphere, but organic life, and human life in par- ticular, as the highest, most potential, and comprehensive of all elements, inheres most powerfully to the inanimate objects it comes in contact with; hence, after some weeks devoted to the culture of my sense of touch, I found I could correctly analyze the characteristics of every hu- man being that had recently passed through any room or scene I chose to examine, determine to a certainty the mental, moral, and physical status of any individual whose glove, handkerchief, etc., was presented to me, in a word, "psychometrize" all things in nature, and by the sense of touch alone realize their hidden qualities or most secret potencies. I cannot commend these occult studies to any one in pursuit of happiness or contentment. The knowledge I enjoyed was often ecstatic, wonderful, startling, and sug- gestive ; but where it concerned the revelation of human character, and dug up from the mine of inner conscious- ness the secrets which were wisely hidden from ordinary view, the revelation was nearly always painful, serving to expose to my wounded sight, petty meannesses and interior stains, which lowered human nature in my eyes and rendered me so painfully sensitive to the spheres and atmospheres of every place I entered that I was GHOST LAND. 175 obliged to put a strong guard upon myself, ere I could endure the revelations which public rooms, conveyances, or streets impressed me with. Yet in the midst of the pain, sorrow, and isolation which these revealments brought me, there were hours of unspeakable recom- pense. I often beheld such sweet stores of natural beauty and goodness hid away under unlovely exteriors that whilst I was on the one hand, shocked and dis- couraged, I would be on the other transported with the discovery of the brightest mental gems. It was this interior perception which made me admire, yet resolute to shrink away from the poor gypsy girl. It was this which one day wafted to my sense of smell such a perfume as is exhaled from a bed of the choicest clove carnations . Looking about me to discover in what human form this glorious emanation originated, one which my interior perceptions assured me must proceed from a generous and unselfish nature, I traced its source to a poor, old, threadbare street-porter, who stood waiting for employment at the corner of the square I was pass- ing through, and whose appearance was about as un- attractive as any which the motley city could have offered. Determined to verify or dissipate my fancy, if such it was, I entered into conversation with this person, and subsequently made many inquiries con- cerning him. Generosity, benevolence, and unselfish- ness were the characteristics wafted to my spiritual sense from this poor bundle of rags and wretchedness. Take the following description rendered me of this old man by a tradesman of the neighborhood who knew him well. T You would scarcely believe, sir, that yon forlorn old man was once a gentleman, and quite wealthy. He had a large family of extravagant sons and nephews, 176 GHOST LAND. upon whom he spent his means so liberally that he reduced himself to abject poverty on their account. He was so good to the poor, too, sir, ay, and he is so still, that when he gets a shilling he can not keep it. He runs errands now for many a gentleman who has sat at his table, and who would provide better for him if he did not lavish all that is given him on others. He should not be in rags, for he often has decent clothes given him, but he will strip them off his back to give to a poor neighbor, and go in rags that he may still help his dissipated and profligate family." How many sweet airs from the unknown paradises of the human soul have swept across my spiritual senses in this manner, bringing to light hidden virtues the world knows not of, and - alas for the per contra ! -how many foul and noisome exhalations have warned me from the sphere of perfumed fops and jewelled dames, whose attractive exteriors concealed the rank weeds of vice and base passions ! I have met in my career with several per- sons who partook of this faculty of discovering character by the sense of smell, one dear friend in particular, who suffered so keenly from the involuntary revelations this subtile gift occasioned, that she besought her spirit guides to quench the power, and remove from her a source of interior perception that rendered her daily intercourse with her fellow-mortals at times unendur- able. When we are known for what we are, not for what we seem, in the realm of spiritual truth and revelation, we shall find the number of every living creature, and in that mysterious figure we shall discover the peculiar color, sound, smell, and touch which appertains to each, and recognize that all and each are revelations which contain the whole in the part; also we shall learn that the color GHOST LAND. 177 of the odic light which lingers in the photosphere of every human being, the perfume which the soul exhales, the mystery of the impression conveyed by the touch of the hand, and the tone which vibrates through the air in which we move or breathe, are all exact revelations of what we are and who we are; that all these things are known to the angels, and can measurably be felt, if not clearly defined, by every sensitive whose spiritual percep- tions are more or less unfolded. Oh, wondrous revelation, world of fairy lore, angelic teaching, heavenly inspiration ! How blest and happy I was when living in this unseen realm, this universe of shining truths and spiritual entities ! "Will these pages ever fall beneath the piercing eye of spiritual lucidity? If so, it will discover how I fence about the dividing line w r hich separates me from this -period of unmixed happi- ness and the bitter, bitter to-morrow that awaited me. One there is who will read these lines understandingly, and to her deep, pitying sympathies I appeal, with the agonizing cry of "Not yet! not yet! Let me linger a while ere the flaming sword drives me forth from the para- dise of my vanished youth and early gleams of life-rest." Wandering with my much-loved father in woody dell or over moorland wastes, sometimes encamping for the livelong night beneath the canopy of glittering stars and solemn, queenly moon, within the shelter of some ruined fane, through whose green, ivy-mantled towers and sculptured arches the celestial lamps looked in with soft and holy lustre; sometimes reposing on grassy banks in deep communion with the soul of Mature, or stretched on yellow sands beneath the beet- ling rocks that overhung the ever-sounding sea, we lived for a few brief months on earth, yet not of it. Sometimes we sat for hours, our open books unnoticed, 12 178 GHOST LAND. listening in deep, abstracted mood to the tinkling stream or hoarse cascade, but ever recognizing in every sound, in every voice of Mature, from the sighing breeze to the crashing thunder-peal, the story of creation sung by unseen intelligence. Happy days, and hours of divine entrancement ! How I love to roll the misty veil of fading memory back, and gaze again on your sunlit pictures, the bright real- ities of which are fled, all fled forever ! Professor von Marx had been summoned to London on business, and as he did not expect to be absent more than a few days it was agreed that I should remain in our quiet north-country inn, from whence we had pro- jected a tour into "Wales. I insisted that he should take with him our only attendant, and leave me to the enjoyment of that deep, undisturbed repose which I prophetically felt was to be the last moment of hush and stillness I should ever know again on earth. A few days after his departure my dear father wrote me word that he wished me to join him in London, as he was likely to be detained longer than he had antici- pated, and could not endure to have me absent from him. I was staying at a very remote village, distant many miles from the railroad, which there was no means of reaching except by a stage or private conveyance. Having secured my place in a coach which was to leave at night and connect with the train which started for London the next morning, I proceeded to beguile the hours that must intervene before I could leave, by a final ramble in the beautiful scenery of the neighborhood. Towards evening, some three hours before that fixed for my departure, I sat down on the banks of a winding stream, broken by rapids and miniature cascades, to watch the glory of the approaching sunset. GHOST LAND. 179 On the opposite side of the river was a high bluff of rocks which shut out the land view in that direction, but away to the west, hill and plain, valley and moor- land, were beginning to be bathed in a flood of crimson and purple radiance reflected from the glowing sky. "Whilst my whole soul was imbued with the soothing tranquillity of this lovely scene, there suddenly crept over me a shuddering chill, an indefinable sense of dread, which completely obscured the surrounding landscape and impressed me with sensations of unac- countable fear and loneliness. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the trunk of the tree beneath which I was sitting, when a whirr as of rushing wings sounded in the air, and the hag whom I had so often beheld as the precursor of evil tidings, flashed before my eyes, and with a mocking, gibing expression, terrible, hateful, fearful to behold, swooped close against my face, and then as suddenly swept on and was gone. In a few moments this well- accustomed yet ever-terrible apparition was succeeded by a thought which pressed upon me with overpower- ing urgency. The letter which Professor von Marx had given me some months before, seemed to rise up to my mind in a form so vivid that the impulse became irre- sistible to draw it forth from the lining of my vest, where I had placed it for special safety, and, holding it in my hand, turn it over and over again, with a senti- ment of deep and newly-born interest. At this moment it seemed to mo that I heard a chorus of voices in every imaginable tone, crying, w Read your letter ! Read your letter letter! Bead! Read! Read!" I knew it w T as imagination, and yet those voices sounded very real in my ears. Some of them were hoarse and rough, others shrill and piercing, faint, near, distant yet close. 180 GHOST LAND. I was under the influence of a spell, and determined I would break it. I was about to replace the let- ter in my vest when, in the midst of those weird voices so uncertain in their origin, one I never could mistake, one whose tones were the echo of my life's deepest meaning, even the voice of my dear adopted father, repeated my name, calling to me evidently from the high bluff on the opposite side of the river. Raising my eyes in amazement to this point of view, and in answer to his again reiterated sharp cry of "Louis, Louis ! Look up ! " I beheld Professor von Marx standing on the very edge of the rock, and leaning over its rugged sides towards me. In equal astonish- ment and delight I responded, w Dearest father ! is that you? Have you then come to fetch me? " Then rising hurriedly I looked about to see in what part of the narrow river I could find a ford so as to cross and join him, but again I was arrested by the voice of the pro- fessor distinctly pronouncing these words : '' Open and read your letter! The voice most authoritative to you on earth commands you. At once ! Now ! " With such a quick, imperative wave of the hand as I had never disobeyed, the professor turned away, and I saw his retreating form pass over the heights and melt away into the gray horizon. Perceiving that he was going around the hill in order to cross the river at a rustic bridge some half a mile below the spot where I then stood, and would soon join me, I, who had never yet questioned or resisted the commands of that poten- tial voice, resumed my seat against the tree, and opening the letter read the contents, which were as follows : "It is now some months, my Louis, since the vague, un- satisfactory character of the researches to which I have devoted my span of life have begun to pall upon me, and GHOST LAND. 181 strike like ice-bolts into my tired spirit, freezing up its energies and palsying its powers. The realm of being which alone responds to my piercing inquisition is too embryotic, and too far beneath the perfected intelligence of man, to feed his yearning aspirations or furnish his higher nature with healthful communion. Dragged down to merely rudimental states, and groping amidst the cha- otic spheres of twilight intelligence, I am weary, life- sick, baffled ! When I would reach higher and ascend beyond myself, my soul only stretches away into the ocean of the unfathomable, where I find no compass to steer by, no pilot to guide me, and whether I stand in the gray mists of a coming morning, whose sunny light shall yet dispel all mystery, or linger on the edge of a vanishing day, whose evening shades will deepen into a rayless, never- ending night, I know not. I wander on in the midst of fog banks which skirt a shoreless sea, and the future has now become for me a problem too urgent and too terrible to wait for longer. I must solve it or perish eternally. But whilst my soul trembles on the verge of the unknown, the sharpest pang it feels is not for myself but for you, child of my love, being upon whom my all of heart-love or human affection is anchored ! For you, darling compan- ion, whom I have led into the same unfathomable abyss of mystery and unrest which destroys my own peace and almost wrecks my senses. To think that I have guided your young feet into the wild and awful solitudes of un- lighted gloom in which I am lost myself is now my bit- terest thought, my keenest pang of self-reproach. But Louis, spark of sunlight! the only one that now sheds warmth or light upon a starved and imprisoned nature, to you at least, I can and will make reparation. Even whilst I write I know that the end is for me fast ap- proaching. Louis, I am dying; and whether death be 182 GHOST LAND. the sleep that knows no waking, no return, the worm of slow decay, or something I cannot comprehend of con- tinued life and consciousness, know it soon I MUST and WILL. Think not I shall hasten the time of this tremen- dous unfoldment by the coward's act of rushing from this life, or shaking off the mortal coil so hard to bear. 3S"o, I scorn self-murder, nor will I commit any act of rash impatience. " In one sense alone can I speed the great denouement, and that is in acting out to you my intended reparation. Louis, I WILL GIVE MY LIFE TO YOU. I am now en- gaged in constantly projecting, by the power of my will, the life and force by which I am, in magnetic tides upon you. w I know it is in the power of the adept to part with these living waves and send them ebbing to the shores of another's life at will. "In this mysterious- transfer my life can become yours, my being can incorporate itself with yours, and the effects will be seen and felt when I am gone, in the increased power and prime of your noble manhood and the enlarged capacity of your unfolded spiritual nature. My strength shall supplement your gentleness ; my pow- erful manhood shall uphold your dependent youth ; my commanding force shall inspire your attractive beauty; and this great and wonderful work is on the very eve of accomplishment. The woof of destiny is nearly spun. Day by day I keep the force of my will so exercised upon you that you can not, shall not see the fading pro- cess of my life's transfer to you, or note how thin and attenuated the cord becomes which binds the waning spirit to the dying form. "In the hour when the last process of transfer is to be made my body will be far away from you. I shall leave GHOST LAND. 183 you a while alone, so that your glance of tender pleading may not recall me to the life I loathe, or stay my flutter- ing spirit on the shores of the mystic ocean in whose silent waves it must sink forever or rise to swell thy young life's barque with the freight of my new-born soul and its resurrected powers. " I shall leave thee during the process of the mighty wrench, my darling ; then shall I gather up the broken threads of life, weave them into one mighty chain of purpose, and throw the last links around thy neck, my Louis, to anchor there my liberated soul. Louis, I die that you may live. To you I give the fires of parting life, to you dispense the spirit's mystic breathings. If I live again, or the essence of my soul is not all dissipated into viewless ether, it will be as a part of you. I will my life to you, whilst yet I can send it forth in living fires to illuminate the temple of your spirit. I will to you whatever may be left of the smoul- dering flame when the breath of the destroyer shall have put it out for me. Perchance that dying flame may yet retain some spark of consciousness, which, added to your own, shall vitalize your frame, give double manhood to your character, clear from your spirit's eyes the scales of earth, lift up your soul to loftier heights than mortal ever reached before, and raise you above those grovel- ling elementary spheres in which we have been doomed to wander, to the shining realms of sunlike nature, in which the cause of causes must inhere. On earth fare- well, my loved one ! When these lines have met thine eyes thy father will be no more. Either thy soul and mine must be united in the mystic bonds of a dual Me, or else the fires of mine will be extinguished in eternal darkness. One with thee or nothing ! "FELIX VON MAKX." 184 GHOST LAND. The letter dropped from my palsied hand. Grief, fear, doubt, and confusion filled my distracted brain. The sudden perception of my beloved friend's failing health, that glimpse of his real condition which a mo- ment of abstraction on his part had permitted me to catch when we were last in London, that glimpse of a possibility too dreadful for me even to dwell upon, yet that which had induced me to urge this country tour, - all this recurred to my mind like a torrent overleaping its barriers and rushing in upon an overwhelmed plain with resistless force. At length stole over me the stu- pendous reality that this beloved friend, this more than father, the master of my life and being, was no more. By this time, even at the moment when I held that aw- ful letter in my hand, he must be dead, or rather gone, gone for ever! and oh, for what cause! Dead that I might live! What new and horrible mystery was in- volved in this confused and wild idea of a life transfer? At another time this one thought alone would have swallowed up all others, and compelled me to turn upon myself with loathing and aversion, living whilst he was dead ! living because he was dead ! but now all my visions of the occult were swallowed up in the one tremendous reality of my irreparable loss. Struck, stunned, helpless as I felt, I buried my face in my hands, cast myself frantically down on the grass, and gave vent to the anguish of a breaking heart in choking sobs and scalding tears. In the midst of my frenzied grief it was no surprise to me to feel a gentle touch on my shoulder and a caressing arm thrown round my neck. The capacity for new emotion was dead within me, and the heavens might have been shaken down to earth without awakening one sentiment of surprise or adding to the intensity of my feelings. Yet I heard GHOST LAND. 185 again his voice, the voice dearest to me in creation; I felt again his touch, the touch of those lips through which my own life breathings seemed to have exhaled. That touch was surely on my cheek, and I heard him murmur in such accents as recalled his hours of deep- est tenderness, " One with thee forever ! Weep no more, my Louis. There is no death ! " Mechanically I raised my streaming eyes to gaze upon the speaker. A flash, a radiant stream of light, the vision of those dark, lus- trous eyes fixed for a second only on me, looking into my soul ; then a radiant fire-mist seemed to hover round me; a blazing star shot up from the earth on which I knelt, sped meteor-like through the sunlit air, paling the glory of the western sky, then vanished in the heavens and left me alone ! Upspringing from the cold, dark earth, the sunlight gone, and a rayless night now closing fast around me, I sped to our empty cottage. I knew he was not there. He had not been there, I knew that, too. He would never come again, there or anywhere. A moment's pause to think out where I was, and then I was on the road to London. Oh, that weary road, that endless night, and the next long, weary day! Changes there were to make and hours to be sped away, oh ! would they never end? Somewhere upon that endless desert road I left my youth and boyhood, left them behind forever,, and as once more I entered gray old London, I returned a man, matured in a few short hours of anguish into untimely manhood. The streets were cold and empty, the night had begun to fall, and the dim, pale lights served only, as it seemed, to show me what a strange and sickening void had overspread the once gay city. 186 GHOST LAND. I made my way to what had once been our home, but the familiar faces of the domestics who admitted me had grown strange and altered in my eyes. I asked no questions, spoke no words, and none addressed me. I think now, though I scarcely knew it then, that some one said, in a low and pitying tone, "It is the poor young Chevalier. How could he have known it?" Mechanically I ran up the stairs, stood before the door of our common sitting-room, and turned the lock ; but I retreated without entering, for I knew he was not there. I moved on to another door, and now with throbbing heart and finger pressed on my hushed lip, softly, softly I trod. Stealthily I entered, entered like one who feared to disturb a sleeper. I knew my step would never wake him more: he slept the sleep that knows no waking. Something like a praj^er stole through my bewildered brain, "Would God I were sleeping with him ! " Professor von Marx was dead. He lay all cold and white, with burning lamps at the marble brow and stirless feet, pale white flowers on the paler hands, and a frozen stillness everywhere. Professor von Marx was dead; and yet a still small voice, in the well-remembered accents of the speechless dead, rung through the hush and gloom of that solemn place, and seemed to murmur, "One with thee forever! Weep no more, my Louis. There is no death!" CHAPTEE X. IK THE WILDERNESS. THERE is an instrument whose manifold uses few of earth's children really appreciate until they are com- pelled by necessity to use it. Should the gardener desire to open the earth for the reception of the pre- cious seed, he takes this instrument to break apart the stubborn clods withal; when the plant he sows has grown to be a stem, he uses it to prune the branching shoots and trailing tendrils. The mineralogist applies it to sever the rough quartz from the pure gold 01 shape the precious gem. The reaper uses it to cut his sheaves; the housewife to slice her bread; the butchei to prepare his meat; the cook to carve it; the surgeon uses it to cut, to probe, to amputate, to cure; the assas- sin uses it only to kill: and thus from a single blade of steel all of life's uses for good or ill may be evolved ;, nay more; these multitudinous uses can not be per- 1 formed without it, and though in one single instance it may kill in the hands of crime, the knife that prunes and trims, dissects and amputates, and ministers to every form of art and science, may surely be esteemed as very good, even if its name is " sorrow." And yet it takes a life of many bitter trials to realize the manifold uses of this same keen knife, sorrow! I know this lesson now, though it has cost me many a year to learn it. I did not know it as I sat, a helpless, lonely being, 188 GHOST LAND. more than a child in years, but far less than a man in self-reliance, beside the silent, rigid form of him that had been my idol, my very life, my more than self, the inspiration that had made me anything! I had been in the presence of death many times before, and de- spite all the lessons of the Brothers, tending to render me callous to the sight, it had always aifected me pain- fully, depressing me physically, and filling my mind with a sense of blank mystery which derived no satis- faction from the doctrines of annihilation insisted on by my philosophic associates; but when the subject of these revulsive emotions was my more than father, O Heaven! as I look back now on the dumb anguish of that terrible hour, the hour I passed in such awful still- ness and mystery with the best beloved of my life, I pity myself, and could almost weep for the miserable being, then too deeply sunk in despair to weep for him- self. But at length that dreadful hour of silent watch- ing ended ; with its close, two fixed ideas took possession of my mind : the first was that Professor von Marx was no more, utterly, irretrievably dead and gone, gone forever; the next, that I, too, must die, for life without him would not be wretchedness merely, to me it seemed an impossibility. Accustomed to act upon rapid flashes of thought, the future with all its bearings seemed mapped out before me the moment I roused myself to quit the chamber of death. My spiritualistic readers may question why I did not derive hope and comfort from the vision which had, in the semblance and tones of my beloved friend himself, apprised me of his decease. I answer, I could not at that time derive either hope or consolation from such a visitation. Facts make their impression on the mind in proportion to its tendencies and receptivity for GHOST LAND. 189 special ideas. My mind had been bent into materialistic forms of belief. I had been constantly censured for indulging in any of the w vagaries " of religious aspira- tion; taught to regard immortality as the attribute of the elements only, and the apparitions of the dead, like those of the living spirit, as magnetic emanations from the body, which might subsist for a brief period after death, but which could maintain no continuous being when once the body became broken up by the process of natural disintegration. Even the many flashes of wondrous light, irradiated as they were, too, with intel- ligence, which had appeared to me in the semblance of the beautiful Constance, I had been taught to regard as subjective images only, projections from my own fervid imagination, taking shape in the w astral light," where the impressions of all things that ever had been, remained imperishably fixed. This was my creed at the time when I silently stole down the stairs leading from the death- chamber, and passed out into the quiet street. It was deep night in London. A pale spring moon shone fit- fully through the rifts and rents of a stormy sky. The air was chill and blighting, and my neglected attire was not calculated to protect me against the damp, chill winds which moaned around me. I was all alone on earth, for though dim memories of friends and kindred flitted through my mind, they were all shut out by the one engrossing thought of him. A vague idea possessed me that some one on earth might be sorry for my loss and miss me ; but I could not centralize this idea on any one in particular, save on him, and he was gone. Professor von Marx had succeded so far in filling up my whole being with himself that I perceived nothing real, nothing tangible in existence but his image; and now that he was no more, quenched, nothing, what 190 GHOST LAND. remained for me but to become, like himself, no more, quenched, nothing? "With a rapidity truly astonishing to those who have not studied the philosophy of extraor- dinary mental states, I ran over the different methods by which I might arrive at the bitter end, but I rejected at once all that might incur, even for my worthless remains, publicity or curiosity. I would not be pitied or mouthed at, speculated over or talked about. In my utter desolation, I shrank even from the possibility of human sympathy or contact with pitying mortals when I was dead. I would hide away, die in secret, where none could find me. I finally determined I would starve myself to death, and thus gain time to see the world passing away and myself fading out of time before I was launched upon that ocean of oblivion, which had swallowed up my better self. One more thought of him I permitted my mind to indulge in ere I abandoned myself to my fate. Strange 'to say, that thought was not one of tenderness or regret: it was a sentiment of reproach, reproach that one, to whose mighty will destiny itself seemed to bow down, should have thus forsaken me ; or rather I inwardly questioned why he did not take me with him, he who so loved me, he who alone of all mankind could understand me ! It was but a few short weeks ago that, in his half- dreamy, half-satirical way, he had affected to predict for me a splendid destiny. ? Young, rich, and handsome Louis ! " he said. " Youth, wealth, and beauty, are not these the conquering graces before which the world bows down?" Alas! alas! Did he even then contemplate cast- ing me on the world, reliant on those adventitious aids to guide the stumbling feet that he had led so blindly? With what a strange mixture of anguish and bitterness did the memory of those cold, speculative words return GHOST LAND. 191 to me now ! Oh ! did he know me then so little as to deem that 'any possessions could be aught to me when he was gone? Gone! Ay! that was the word that put all questioning to rest forever. On I sped, past the quiet rows of houses and through the silent streets; on through miles of dreary suburbs, where the ugli- ness of waste places and half-built roads became soft- ened in the gloom of midnight; on through lanes and fields, I scarce knew where, yet by an instinct that seemed to propel my eager steps, I pursued my way until I had left the city and all its hateful wilderness of slumbering life behind, and penetrated to the woods that skirted the north of London. I believe I was traversing one of those suburban districts known as Hampstead or Highgate. I had been driven there some months before, and was greatly attracted by the beauty and retirement of those woody heights, which at the time I write of, nearly thirty years ago, were almost in the country. I had no idea of the distance I must traverse to reach that spot, or the direction in which I should go, yet I wished to be there; and ere the deep pall of night yielded to the gray dawn of morning, I had attained my goal, and sinking on the ground beneath the shadow of a deep and almost pathless wood, I felt as if I had arrived at my last earthly home. Being unaccustomed to steady walking for any great distance, the excessive fatigue I had undergone, no less than the stunned con- dition which succeeded to the anguish of the preced- ing hours, induced a deep sleep, from which I did not awaken till the sun was high in the heavens, so high indeed, that I perceived the day must be far advanced. Unlike most persons who awake from the first sleep that succeeds some mighty sorrow to a gradual con- 192 GHOST LAND. sciousness of the truth, I awoke at once to the mental spot from which I had sunk to sleep. There might have been but one intervening second between the great agony with which I lay down and arose again, to take up the burden just where I had dropped it. Instinctively noting the features of the place where I had sought shelter, I perceived it was not the deep re- tirement I desired to find.' .The woods were thick 'tis true, but they resembled more a grove of trees whose pleasant shade might attract suburban loungers to my retreat than a lonely spot where a hunted hare might die in peace. That was no place for me ; and quick as the thought occurred, the action followed on it. I started from the ground and determined to make my way yet farther on, on to a safer solitude, one where no wandering foot of man might track me. I arose stiff, weak, and weary. At first I could scarcely drag my tired limbs from the spot where I had lain; but as I moved, I gained elasticity of limb, and strengthened by my will and feverish purpose, I walked on for several hours, walked on in fact, till night again overtook me, I passed through many pleasant places, country roads, and shady lanes. I left behind me handsome villas, nestling cottages, and homes where happy people seemed to dwell, where children's voices and merry village tones resounded through the air. I passed them all, like a spectre as I was, shrinking from sight, sound, or com- panionship. The very echo of a human voice drove me away. Some wretched tramps in fluttering rags, with lean and hungry faces, passed me on the road, and looked wistfully into my face. An old and white-haired man, with very threadbare clothes, was tottering on amongst them, and fixed on me a pleading glance. One human GHOST LAND. 193 feeling still remained within my seared heart, prompt- ing me to throw my purse amongst them. How glad they seemed! How I hastened on with wavering steps to escape from their noisy thanks ! Did they know that the youth " so young, so rich, so handsome," looked upon them, so old, so poor, so hideous, in their rags and pov- erty, and sighed to think he was not one amongst them? Undoubtedly they belonged to each other. There were fathers, sons, and brothers there perhaps; friends at the least they must be. But who and what was I? Father, brother, friend, all, all were gone for me. On, on I sped, on till night again overtook me. On the banks of a deep and sullen river I reached a thick and extensive wood. Pushing my way through the tangled underwood, a few steps brought me to a deep and rugged dell, whose gloomy depths seemed as if they had never been traversed by human feet. The solitude and utter desolation of this wild haunt were all I sought. Here I would stop and wait for the destroyer. An- other long, long night, but not as before a restful one. Aching in every limb and racked with feverish thirst, I spent that weary night in pain unutterable. The morn- ing came, and with it a new and strange sensation. The gnawing pangs of hunger now beset me. It was two days and nights since I had tasted a morsel of food, and this sensation of racking hunger was something new and urgent. I knew it was a part of the programme, a scene in the drama I had set myself to enact; but I had not considered, for indeed I did not know, how pain- ful it would prove. As the sensation deepened, my spirit seemed to pass out in the old familiar way and take note of many dis- tant scenes, but only of those where hungry people were. 13 194 GHOST LAND. I saw none but those who were hungry, because I sup- pose I was attracted to no others. I saw beggars, little children, old men and women; poor laborers who had nothing to eat, and would not have till a long day's work was done. All were hungry, sad, and sullen. I saw those English work-houses where the wretched in- mates were always hungry, besides a great many little children who looked eagerly and longingly into the shops where provisions were kept. Many a little, emaciated, pale creature I saw crying for bread ; and besides these, my unresting spirit seemed drawn as by a spell to the interior of wretched huts, up to roofless garrets, and down into noisome cellars, where miserable people lin- gered, people of both sexes and all ages; but all were, like me, so very hungry ! All of them had little or noth- ing to eat; and the multitudes I saw thus, seemed to me to be more in number than I had deemed of the whole human race. It was a ghastly yet wonderful sight this, and awful to know that in one vast, rich, and mighty ^city were hungry wretches enough to constitute a nation. Presently I began to speculate upon the different effects which this one great pang produced on different people. Some of those whom I gazed upon were merely restless, then fretful, irritable, angry, sullen, savage: all these were stages in the great woe, but only the first stages. The next was a fierce, wild crav- ing, and after that the natures of these hungry ones became wild and brutal, whilst all the nervous force, of the system concentrated about the epigastrium, and then they were all hunger, just as I was all despair. Kind- ness, pity, shame, honesty, and virtue, all were merged in the intolerable sense of urgent hunger; but this was an advanced stage of the pang, and was very terrible to witness. GHOST LAND. 195 The physiological conditions of these people too, were opened to my clairvoyant vision as I flitted amongst them, a phantom drawn to them by the irre- sistible ties of sympathy. Had I been at the ends of the earth, and there existed but one hungry creature at its centre, I should have been infallibly drawn to that one, so potential is the strength of spiritual sympathy. How strange, yet orderly and strictly natural, I found to .be the routine which ensues in hungry systems! First there was the sense of demand, the want which a craving stomach makes known to the intelligence, for the sake of its own repair. Then came the mustering of the gastric and salivary juices, promoted by the thought of food. These secretions flowed in tidal cur- rents to the salivary glands and gastric follicles, and if there was nothing to act upon, they began to dry up and become inflamed, and this it was that produced that gnawing sense of pain which attended the first stages of hunger, and communicated to the nerves an intense degree of irritability. In the next stage I per- ceived that the mucous membrane lining the digestive apparatus was in a measure consuming itself; also I saw how the entire force of the nervous system mus- tered to the point of suffering, and manifested sympathy with the epigastric regions. Hour after hour I traced by involuntary but inevita- ble clairvoyance the entire progress of this ghastly phe- nomenon, want, acting upon hundreds, ay, thousands of victims in and about the happy, well-fed, rich, and splendid Babylon of the world, London. I noticed as a curious fact in the physiological results of starvation that whilst the tissues of the body generally, wasted, dried, and consumed themselves, the nerves never wasted, never failed; on the contrary, their power of 196 GHOST LAND. sensation grew more and more acute with every mo- ment's bodily pang. Still more, I perceived that the ganglionic nerves which supplied the nutritive system attracted to its aid the force of the cerebro-spinal nerves, so that mark it well ! there could be little or no other sensation than that which arose from the intolerable sense of hunger and thirst; and thus it was made plain to me why poor wretches under the influence of this sharp pang are rarely moral, kind, or gentle. The ner- vous force which should be distributed through the intel- lectual and emotional regions being all absorbed by the fierce cravings of the digestive system, there can be no operation for the affections, the reason, or the morals. And yet again let me pause and remark upon another singular and noteworthy revealment of these clairvoyant wanderings. I saw the entire chain of connection between the brain and every fibre of the body; noted how conclusively motion and sensation, waste and repair, were all represented on the brain, and I marvelled why no brain metre had as yet been invented, first as a means of detecting disease in remote parts of the system, and next as a gauge by which physical conditions could determine corresponding states of the mind. In the starving miserables from whom all the nervous force was abstracted from the brain to the stomach, there were no cranial nerves in operation, save the pneumagastric, and these acting upon the surrounding fibres in the cere- bellum, necessarily prompted the appetite to revenge, destructiveness, acquisitiveness, and all the lower animal instincts. Me thought had I been destined to a continuous life, I should forevermore have felt the deepest sympathy for the poor and hungry. I pictured to myself how glad I should have been to have fed the ghastly multitudes GHOST LAND. 197 I saw, and how unreasonable it was for society to expect gentleness, piety, humility, and kindness, where the gaunt demons of want and poverty held their sway. Would that every legislator in the lands of civilization could have shared the perceptions of my wandering spirit in those dreary hours of suffering ! Surely one great change would ensue in the laws of nations, making it a crime in legislation to permit any human being in the realm to go hungry, whilst for any citizen to die of starvation should be a blot sufficient to expunge the land where it occurred from the list of civilized nationalities. I think it must have been towards the sixth or seventh day of my terrible probation that the character of my wanderings changed. I had lost count of time, and being racked by intolerable thirst, I thought I might assuage that dreadful craving, and yet not prolong much my hours of torture. I made out then, to stagger to the edge of the river, and by dipping boughs of trees into the water, and laying my burning head upon them or applying them to my lips, I found the fearful sense of thirst in some measure allayed. It was so soothing to bathe my hands thus in the cool river thai I lay down very close to it, and but for fear some one might find and recognize the poor remains floating on its surface, gladly would I have made it my winding- sheet, and thus have ended the awful struggle at once. Firm to my proposed plan, however, I contented myself with the luxury of the dripping boughs, and when I found sleep overtaking me, I crept back again to the shelter of the secluded dell. I believe there were sev- eral heavy storms of rain and hail, drenching the ground and adding racking pains to my fast stiffening limbs, but my resolve never failed, though physical tortures began to increase upon me. A time came, however, 198 GHOST LAND. when these terrible pangs became subdued, indeed at times I almost forgot them; besides, let me add, the sense of hunger I endured, unlike that which afflicted the poor, was voluntarily incurred. I bore my sufferings willingly, because I did so in the hope of release from still greater misery. The sentiments of rage, envy, indig- nation, and bitterness, which would add such additional anguish to the pains of hunger in the starving poor, were not present in my case ; on the contrary, every pang that racked me was a response to my insatiate yearning to die and be at rest. But I have said there came another change, and this it was. With the last minimum of my strength I had collected and surrounded myself with dripping boughs dragged through the cool river, and on these and my handkerchief, steeped in water and pressed to my parched lips, I laid myself down in the deepest recess of the wood I could find, to take my last, long sleep. Then it was that a sweet and restful sense of dying stole over me. Bright and wonderful visions too, gleamed before my eyes. In every department of being I saw the spirits of nature. With involuntary lucidity I gazed down into the earth beneath me, and beheld whole countries peopled with grotesque forms, half spiritual and half material, resembling in some respects the animal and human kingdom, but still they were all rudimental, embryotic, and only half formed. I saw the soul-world of earths, clays, metals, minerals, and plants. In those realms, were beings of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of intelligence, yet all were living and sentient. Everywhere gleamed the sparks of intel- ligence, the germs of soul, semi-spiritual natures, clothed with semi-material bodies corresponding to the varieties of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, with GHOST LAND. 199 all their infinite grades of being. Some of these spirits of nature were shining and beautiful, like the gems and metals; some coarse and unlovely, like the earths and roots; all were endowed with some special gift corresponding to the plane of being which they repre- sented. In moistening my hands and face with the dripping boughs I seemed to be brought into rapport with the countless myriads of watery spirits, and through- out all departments of elemental life, recognized a sort of caricature representation of the births, deaths, kindreds, families, associations, and wars that pervaded the human family. Later on in time, though how long I never knew, I saw sweet and lovely lands filled with a sweet and lovely people mirrored in the shining air and nestling amidst the flowers and grasses; in fact the air became translucent to me. I saw immense realms filling up the spaces of our gross atmosphere, which were permeated with a wonderful number of countries, each formed of finer and more sublimated vapors, gases, aromal essences and ethers than the other. In some of these realms, the flowers, bloom, and essences of earth, became spir- itual emanations, which crystallized into far rarer and more beautiful flowers, blossoms, and airs than any which earth could display. The lower strata of these aerial regions were filled with very small, sometimes grotesque, but generally beautiful people. Some of them were no taller than the daisies and buttercups of the field, some were as high as the bushes, and some towered up to the tops of the forest trees. Most of them were fragrant, flower- loving, merry beings, whose incessant habit of singing, dancing, leaping, and sporting in the sunbeams, filled me with joy. Many of these were short-lived races bubbling up with the ecstacy of a life which began and 200 GHOST LAND. ended with the power of the sunbeam; others lived long vegetable lives of many centuries, haunting the woods, groves, and forests, and seemed especially interested in all that belonged to sylvan lives and pursuits. I again repeat that all these elementary tribes were divided off into different strata of atmosphere, or inhabited different parts of earth, filling every space from the centre to the circumference, where new planetary existences commenced. All were endowed with varying degrees of intelligence, special gifts, powers, and graduated tones of life and purpose, and all appeared to me first as a spark, spear, tongue, or globe of light, pale, ruddy, blue, violet, or of different shades of the primal hues, and all at length assumed the forms of pigmies, giants, plants, annuals, or embryotic men, according to the par- ticular grade they occupied in the scale of creation, or the tribe, species, and kingdom to which they corre- sponded. I learned many, many things of the immensity and variety of being which seem either impossible to trans- late into human speech or which " are not lawful to utter." I perceived that HEAT WAS LIFE, FLAME ITS SUBSTANCE, AND LIGHT ITS MAOTFESTATIOlSr. I mused upon the contending theories of the philosophers con- cerning the sources of light and heat, and I know now, though .perchance I might never be able to prove my knowledge, that the true source of light and heat were in the life and restless motion of the living beings that pervade the universe. The thought struck me, re- flected from the teachings of conventionalism, that the sun must be the source of all the light and heat that permeates the solar system. Directly the shadows of this opinion crossed my mind, my spirit was lifted up into the spheres of responsive truth, and lo! instantly GHOST LAND. 201 the sun became revealed to me like an orb of molten gold. Oh, what a wonderful and glorious sight this world of ecstatic being presented to me! I beheld it full to repletion of swelling, glittering seas, rivers, fountains, lakes, and streams, all dancing in the radiance of many- colored illuminations from the internal element of molten light. I beheld forests, groves, hills, vales, high moun- tains, and unfathomable caves and dells, all crystallized out of living light, all imprisoning prismatic rays, not of one, but of countless shades of color. The air, though translucent beyond our conception of the most attenuated ether, was still shimmering with the billions of glittering creatures that floated in it and dis- turbed its shining waves as they moved. Vast firma- ments, spangled thick with suns and systems, swung over all, a crystal arch, in which immensity seemed to be out- spread. From these glorious galaxies of worlds, count- less meteors were being forever thrown off, sailing through space like chariots of fire. The movements of the sunny worlds on high were plainly discerned too, and instead of a silent, moveless plain of stars, like that which overarched the earth, the wheeling, whirling stars were rushing on in their several orbits, shooting, darting, speeding round and round some vast and unknown centre, on a glorious scale of heavenly pyrotechnics which dazzled the straining eyes into wondering ecstacy. In lower air were sailing cars and airy ships, carrying the rejoicing people of these sunny realms from point to point in space, whilst some were floating by their own resistless wills, upheld by a perfect knowledge of the laws of locomotion and atmosphere. Thus they swam, sank, ascended and sustained them- selves on waves of air like happy birds, and oh, what a gracious race, what a nobly-created form of life they 202 GHOST LAND. revealed to me! Tall and elastic, sunny-haired, blue- eyed, with slender, majestic forms, vast, globe-like heads, and lovely, placid faces, all attired in robes of snowy white, azure, or sun hue. Their cities were full of trees, flowers, and spire-like towers, with glittering domes and minarets crowned with metallic ornaments. These cities were divided off by white, smooth roads and shady trees, and a wealth of flowers that made the senses ache to inhale their perfume. Vast palaces of art and science were there devoted to the study of the universe, not in party but all. ,Thus these children of the sun comprehended fully music, rhythm, speech, motion, chemical, astronomical, and geological laws. In short every form of art or science was known and taught in these vast and gorgeous cities. Labor was rest and exercise; work was knowledge put in practice, and food was the simple gathering-in of rare and precious plants and herbs and fruits that grew by nature where the beings of nature might demand them. Oh, what a glory it was to live upon this happy, happy orb, to be a child of the gracious sun ! I thought by only looking on this radiant world all sorrow van- ished, and its very memory could never come again. Before the vision closed I perceived that for millions of miles in space, beyond the surface of the sun world, were glittering zones and belts of many-colored ra- diance, forming a hazy rainbow, a photosphere of spark- ling fire-mist visible to the eye of spirit alone, all crowded up with lands and worlds and spheres peopled with happy angel spirits of the sun. But ah me! I veil my presumptuous eyes as I dream again of these heavenly regions, and thoughts, thoughts like scintil- lations from the mind of Deity, fill up my throbbing soul as the memory of this wondrous world of heaven and GHOST LAND. 203 heavenly bliss recurs to me now. The awful glory vanished, and when the gorgeous panorama faded, I knew where the light of our poor, dull planet's day- beams came from. I saw that the magnetic oceans flowing from this radiant sun sphere, combining with our earthly magnetism, created by mutual saturation that freight of heat and light, motion, and all impon- derable force, the sum of which was LIFE. I saw that the light and heat and life which permeates all being, is evolved by galvanic action generated between the pho- tospheres of the parent mass, and circumferential satel- lites. Hence at those points which in the revolutions of time are turned from the central orb, no galvanic action is proceeding; the result is lack of action, lack of galvanic force, hence darkness, night. Life per se is motion, motion is light and heat. Light and heat are magnetism; and this causes the action and reaction ensuing between the negative photosphere of the earth, and the positive photosphere of the sun. This simple scheme, so like a schoolboy's lesson, pervades all the billions upon billions of marching and countermarching worlds, bodies in space, and all that in them is, in the boundless universe. Recalled at length from these blinding, wildering vis- ions, by my own near approach to the mystic gate where human life ended, and all beyond was veiled to me in shadow land, the weary, dying body put in its claim for sympathy and thought, and I was about to make a last instinctive effort to drag myself again to the river's bank, when my attention was attracted by a strange, chiming sound, such an one as had often before warned me of a spiritual presence. This time however, I fancied I heard a peal of very distant bells, such bells as ring out from some great city in majestic strains of 204 GHOST LAND. joy and gladness; very distant, and subdued by dis- tance to the sweetest tones, melting almost to echoes; still they rang in my dull and heavy ear. Then came a more distinct sound, like the rushing of mighty wings, and then, though my eyes were closed, I could see through their heavy lids, vast sheets of corruscating light, darting like gigantic fans over the entire quarter of the heavens which lay to the north. At first I thought if thought it could be called that resembled a faint light streaming over a pathway where the clouds of death were fast mustering that a great display of the splendid aurora borealis was illuminat- ing the scene; but in a moment the light became col- lected from space around, and centred on a radiant figure that stood before me, in size gigantic, in form like that of a man, in substance a fleecy mass of fiery glory. "I am Metron, the Spirit of the North," this being said, speaking in the same chiming tone as the distant joy- bells, " I am thy guardian spirit, chief of the Elemen- taries amongst whom thy soul hath roamed so long. Thou hast not dreamed nor fancied what thou hast seen. When all shall be revealed in the light of spiritual real- ity, matter shall prove to be the phantom, spirit the sub- stance of creation. The visions of the body are dim, uncertain, changeful ; those of the soul are real, although often broken and refracted through the prismatic hues of matter. Thou hast drunk at the fountain of the real, for the first time in thy life, alone and unaided by another's will. A little while, another brief season of probation ended, and thou must live and walk, learn and know, by spirit teaching alone. "I am he to whom the task of guiding thy spirit through the first stages of the universe has been in- trusted. Lean on me, beloved one; and now for a sea- GHOST LAND. 205 eon, rest and sleep be thine ! In the hours that shall be, when thou livest again and art thyself alone, call on me, thy guardian spirit, and Metron, Spirit of the North, will ever answer." Darkness, cold, death-damps, and deep, deep stillness succeeded. What do I last remember? Let me try and think. A voice, sweeter, softer, tenderer far than Metron's, whispered in my ear, "-Louis! my darling, suffering Louis ! All will soon be over now, and then thy rest will come." Did I speak? Did I answer then? I know not. If I did the words must surely have been, " O Constance, let me die and be at rest forever ! " * * Nearly the whole of the foregoing and succeeding chapters were rendered into English by the author himself, and although submitted to the Editor for correction, have been left untouched, the Editor finding it difficult to modify the author's peculiar style of constructing sentences, without marring their intention. ED. G. L. CHAPTEK XI. THE AWAKENING. OH, to awaken free from pain, from care and toil, and sordid strife for bread! To feel no grief, no cold or heat, no thirst or hunger! nevermore to weep or know^ what sorrow is; to look on all life past as an empty dream, whose gloomy shadows can nevermore return! No more bereavement, bitter separations, injustice, cru- elty, or wrong ! ~No more heart-ache, not even a sob or sigh! To feel no sense of weight or bonds to earth ; to float or wing on high in air; to speed like the lightning's flash through space, or sail like a bird on the buoyant waves of ether! To see the dull, round globe far, far below, with its canopy of clouds and its creeping myri- ads, insect-like, swarming upon its surface, all left be- hind! To look up through happy tears and melting fire-mists to the spangled heavens, so dim to earth, so gorgeously bright to you! To feel kind hands about you, tender arms enfolding you, and hear the tones of well-remembered friends, long-lost, almost forgotten, whispering sweet words of welcome in your ear; to gaze around and see a brilliant, happy circle of loved and loving friends, companions, kindred, beckoning you home, home, home forever! No more parting, no more death or sadness ! Oh, to be there! On, on through upper air! On, on, still higher, GHOST LAND. 207 beyond the night and darkness, beyond the stars ! Up higher yet! up through soft airs and sweet perfumes, up to the realms of never-setting sunlight, up above mountain heights, where glittering domes and towers and palaces are flashing in bright, prismatic, many-colored rays, and spanned by a thousand arching rainbows. To look down far, far beneath, and see white cities and long, bright roads, embowered in spicy groves and waving trees, and outstretched, flowery plains, all full of busy, happy, lovely beings, radiant with joy and life. Still to speed on, borne on in an airy car whose swift and rocking motion stirs the pulse, quickens the breath, and makes the wild heart leap for very gladness ! On, till you reach the lovely, lovely land far higher than the highest thought can measure, far off in space, forever removed from earth and night and gloom ; the land where home is, and home the spot you most desire to reach ; the place you long for, wait for, where all you love wait for you. Oh, glorious ride ! Oh, life of a thousand years pressed into one sweet hour! And such was my awakening, such my flight through space, such the rest a tired spirit and broken heart encountered. Vain would be the effort to speak of things and scenes and modes of life for which earth has no language, mortal being no parallel. Some few points alone of this better land I may describe in human speech. Let me recall them. Music ! Every motion there has its own sound, and when vast numbers of tones combine in harmony, and all is harmony there, no discord, that combina- tion forms music. Hence music is speech and sound; but when it is designed to represent ideas, recite a his- tory, tell a tale, or explain the marvels of creation, masses of symphonic music are performed; and as each tone is in itself an idea, every separate tone has a special 208 GHOST LAND. meaning, and the whole combined form a language in which the highest glories of the universe can be revealed. There is no music in heaven without a real meaning; hence the listener or performer finds in music volumes of ideas. As I listened to the sweet yet awful symphonies that greeted me when I paused, all glowing with life and joy and love at my radiant home, I heard the song of life with all its deep, inner meaning. I heard and under- stood that poor, weak, trembling mortals are never out of the hands of creative wisdom. The tones of Nature sang of her eternal Author, Finisher; an all- sustaining, all-protecting Providence ; told of his good- ness, wisdom, power; instructed us to trust and lean on him; spoke of the grand design in suffering; the beauty, symmetry, and order of creation, when the finite being begins to understand the infinite. HOME ! Can I convey by that precious word any realization, however faint, of the rest and peace of a heavenly home? I fear me not. Home was the place where my loved ones clustered, to which all their divergent wanderings tended back again. Home was the place where all my special tastes found expression, where I might stay, rest, grow, exchange glad greetings with all who sought or loved me, a place to think in until I grew ready for another advance. Every spirit has a home, a centre of love, rest, and ingathering of new powers and forces, a place where all one has loved, admired, most wished or longed for, takes shape, and becomes embodied in the soul's surroundings. Sometimes the spirit gravitates, as mine did, to some lonely, church-like hall, a stately, silent place of inner rest and contemplation, and there the past resolved itself in shadowy pictures on the walls, and came and GHOST LAND. 209 went like dissolving views, mapping out the minutest event or thought or word of my past earthly life, all which I found was fixed in the astral light, of which that temple was a Scripture page, forever. Oh, won- derful alchemy of spiritual existence ! As I read again the panorama of my life, that ineffaceable record which every soul must read and read again, the past returned with its appropriate judgment. Many events which at their time of action I had felt regret for, even remorse, I now beheld as an inevitable sequence to other acts, stepping-stones, without which my life would have been incomplete. Deeds on which I had prided myself, now showed the littleness or petty egotism from which they sprang; sorrows which had wrung my spirit, appeared as blessings; and thoughts I had lamented once, I now perceived to have been effects inevitable. I saw and knew myself to be a chemical compound, made up of what I had been, or what had been done, said, and thought. All things appeared in judgment, and, stranger yet, all that I had, all that I possessed, enjoyed, or saw, nay, the very air I breathed, was tinctured by myself, and I saw, felt, heard, and enjoyed only, as my inner nature colored my surroundings. All things were real around me, but my capacity to know and use them sprang from my inner self. O Heaven, keep our earthly record fair, or woe betide us in the immutable procedures of the land of souls ! In another scene I may not fully speak of, I learned that our souls and all their faculties are magnetic tractors, drawing to themselves only such corresponding things and persons as assimilate with them. If the faculties are all engrossed by unselfish love, loving friends will answer. If the spirit reaches out for beauty, light, or special knowledge, the answer comes in kind, and sur- 14 210 GHOST LAND. rounds the soul with beings and associations kindred with its yearnings. Base passions, vicious habits, and criminal propensities find no responding satisfaction in spirit land. They are all outgrowths of earth and earthy things, and cast the soul down to those lower depths that permeate the earth and chain it to the scene of its affections. In spirit land, ideas are all incarnate, and become realities and living things. Nothing is lost in the universe. All that ever has been, can be, shall -be, are garnered up in the ever-present laboratories of being. Glorious privilege it is to roam through the endless cor- ridors of time, and still to find an eternity beyond to grow in! THE SPHEBES! what may they mean? What mortal tongue or pen can fitly speak of them? IDEAS ABE SPHERES. There are ten thousand million spheres, all rounded into complete worlds, and all are the habi- tations of those who cherish the special idea which rules the sphere. The spheres are not permanent, but the temporary homes of those who pass through them. They are the garners into which are gathered up the sheaves of earth, there to rest and gain experience, until they become distributed and amalgamated into the bread of eternal life. There are spheres of love, where tender natures cling to one another, until they are drawn by higher, broader aspira- tions, out into broader planes of thought. There are spheres of every shade of mental light, ideality, thought, and knowledge; spheres of special grades of goodness, intellect, and wisdom. In all and each is a special meed of happiness, but also in all and each are prevailing im- pulses to branch out farther, press on, and grow, so that every soul partaking of the special characteristics of every sphere in turn, may glean and gather in at last the good of all, and thus become a perfected spirit. GHOST LAND. 211 WORLDS IK SPACE, yes, worlds, thousands, mil- lions of them; world within world, the finer perme- ating the grosser, the grosser filling up the space of the still more dense, until at last I saw no finite lines, no end to the infinitely fine, the infinitely dense. I saw the concentred scheme of the whole solar sys- tem with earth and its zones and belts of spirit spheres, countless in number, various in attribute. Myriads of rare and splendid beings sped through the spaces, pier- cing the grosser spheres invisibly to all but their own grade of being. Myriads of duller, grosser beings lived in these spheres, unconscious that they were permeated by radiant worlds, all thronged with glorious life, too fine for them to view. Each living creature was surrounded and enclosed by the atmosphere to which he belonged, and this restrained his vision to the special sphere in which he dwelt. Yet the finer realms of being could view at will the grosser; for now I found the secret of will: 'T is KNOWLEDGE PUT INTO PRAC- TICE, and the knowledge of the highest is power, and power is will. Thus is supreme will resident alone with the Unknowable, the Being who knows all. In these spheres that so lock and interlace with another, I saw that the lowest and nearest earth were dull, coarse, bar- ren spheres, dreary and unlovely, where dark and un- lovely beings wandered to and fro, seeking the rest and satisfaction earth alone could give them. ~No homes were there, no flowers, no bloom, no friendly gatherings, no songs or music; the hard, cold natures of the wretched dwellers gave off no light, no beauty, harmony, or love ; yet all felt impelled, obliged to toil. Toil was the genius of the place, yet whatever labors were performed, became instrumental in digging up the spirit, and breaking the clods of hard and wicked natures. 212 GHOST LAND. Every occupation seemed to come perforce and must be done, yet all seemed destined to help re-make the nature, open up new ideas, new sources of thought, and impel the hapless laborers to aspire after better things and higher states. I saw the flitting lamps of spirit hearts, bright missionary angels, who filled these leaden spheres with their gracious influence, and yet though often felt, were unseen by the dull-eyed inhabitants, except as stars or gleams of shimmering radiance. Ah me ! I fain would linger on the awful, grand, and wise economy of being, but the seal of mortal life is on my lips and on the minds of those I write for : who but the death-angel can break it? I hasten to the conclusion of my own brief pilgrimage. My noble father, my gentle, loving Constance, and hosts of the dead of earth, the angels of a better life, were around me. At length, in the midst of my great egotism of joy, a fearful pang shot through my mind as a dim remem- brance came of one who was not there. Stronger and stronger grew the thought, till again he filled my being, and I loathed myself because for a season I had forgot- ten him, my more than friend and adopted father; but oh! where was he now, and why not with me? Where was that dearest one of all, for whom I had given my life ? The pitying angels who thronged around me showed how their wish that I should rest and gain strength and life and light in the land of souls had inter- cepted thoughts of him before, but now the answer came, and all too soon. The spheres I had seen were not the all of earth, though countless to me in number. Myriads there were within the earth itself, where lingered bound and cap- tive, vicious spirits, the ignorant, dull, idle, and criminal, who had not done with earth and who must learn, per- GHOST LAND. 213 haps for ages, all that belonged to their human duties, ere they could pass the threshold, and enter on the life of the upper spheres; and yet beyond again, below, beneath the earth, inhered an anti-state of mortal being, vast realms where dwelt the spirits of nature. Here were millions of ascending grades of life, ranging from the vital principle of growth in the rude stone, to the shining spirits of the fire and air, who only waited to pass through the last stages of progressive life and death ere they should gravitate to earth and inherit mortal bodies and immortal souls. Crowds of aspiring spirits filled these realms, who were not men, but who looked to man in inspirational dreams and trances as to the angel which led and called them upwards. I had seen these elementary spheres through the films of earthly magnetism, and then they seemed bright, some resplendent as in the tales of fairy-land; but now, beholding them through the pure alchemy of spiritual truth, I saw that they were destitute of all the warmth and life and beauty that humanity confers. It was in the midst of the sad and barren realms of elemental spirit-life that I saw at length my beloved and impris- oned friend and adopted father. I knew it all at once and how it was. He had on earth sunk his bright intel- lect down to these elementals instead of drawing them up to him by his own aspirations for a higher life than man's. He had descended below man to seek for cau- sation instead of ascending above him; and now, oh hapless fate ! he had gravitated to where he had chained his spirit. He could not look through the radiant realms of upper air and see me, but he felt the streams of pitying love I poured out upon him, and stretched his weary arms towards my spirit home in tender sym- pathy. Spirit-life, glory, peace, and happiness ended 214: GHOST LAND. for me then. There was no more rest for me in heaven so long as I knew there was work to do for him. A strange and striking picture of life and what I could do was now unrolled before me. I saw myself on earth again, once more in the midst of suffering and pain. I saw the soul of my dearest friend clinging around me like a tender parasite. For a brief period I saw my life and his commingle like two quivering flames or uniting rain-drops. For a season the spirit of my father, thus drawn back to the earth by the magnetism of one so very, very near to him, almost himself in fact, would be released from the lower elemental spheres, and resum- ing its life functions through my mortal body would shake off the old errors, strike out into new paths of light, rise to its natural home in spirit-life, and, looking through the windows of my soul's eyes perceive the glorious truth of spiritual immortality. My spirit should be the ladder on which his soul should rise from the elementary spheres through earth again to his home in the better land. This was to be my destiny and his. I saw it all and cried, " Speed, angels, speed me back to earth again ! Haste ! help me to release the impris- oned soul of him I love so dearly! " But this was not all. I learned that I too had been robbed of my soul's manhood; that I had not lived my own life, but that of my erring friend. His spirit had usurped the rights of mine ; his will had superseded mine and left my soul a mere nonentity. I must return to live again on earth then, return for what seemed in earthly measure many long and weary years, but still I must undergo their pains and pen- alties, first for the sake of my dearest friend, and next for my own. My destiny was all laid out before me, the rugged paths my bleeding feet would tread, my GHOST LAND. 215 heart's deep love, bereavement, desolation. The cold world's slights and sneers, the keen tooth of ingratitude, the harsh sting of injustice, all, all were mapped before me like a baleful battle-scene intruding on some lovely landscape whose peace and joy it ruined. I felt an unbidden tear steal down my cheek whilst I bowed my head and murmured, " Thy will, not mine, be done." I knew that will was good. I had seen the glory, goodness, wisdom of the scheme, the perfect order in disorder, the good which sorrow brings, the triumph over evil, wrong, and death. I knew God lived and reigned. I felt his bounteous hand and all-sustaining presence upholding every crea- ture he has made, though their blind eyes cannot per- ceive his tracks. I knew that I could trust his eternal wisdom, and when the darkness should thicken round me, the thunders peal, and my blinded eyes could discover naught but ruin, he would be strong to save. The angels bade me take for my life's watchword, GOD U^DEKSTA^TDS, and I knew it was so. And now the fading light of the spiritual sun receded from my view; the joy -bells rang more faintly ; the crashing symphonies of heavenly music resounded in dim echoes ; gray mists, descending thicker, faster, deepened into night, and closed around me. The stars came out above my head, as descending still, I floated down through the murky atmosphere of earth, upborne in the arms of loving spirit friends, and cheered by their whispered promise, " Ever with thee! " At length I reached this cold, dull, lonely orb ; arrived at last on earth. They bore me to the solitary wood, the dreadful dell of mortal agony. Torches flitted through the darkness of the night, and at length, half concealed by trees and underbrush, I saw a rigid, pale, distorted form, a scarcely 216 GHOST LAND. living creature, on which some kind and tender beings lavished human cares, and gentle eyes were raining tears of pity. At first I turned from the spectacle with loathing, but even then a voice, though far and distant, reached my ear, whose appealing tones cried, w Help, Louis ! Louis, help ! " It was his unresting soul that pleaded. That cry broke forth from his imprisoned spirit and wailed through the sad night air in accents of wildest anguish. I paused no longer. I know not how, save that I acted by a mighty effort of resistless will, but in one instant I ceased to be a freed and rejoicing spirit. Minutes of dull forgetfulness succeeded, then keen pangs awoke me; the gates of life rolled back amidst my sobs and sighs, to let the spirit in, and gentle voices murmured, w He lives! Thank Heaven, he lives! and we are yet in time to save him." CHAPTER XII. EXTRACTS FKOM THE DIAEY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY, ESQ., OF SQUAHE, LONDON. [In the Introduction to this work, the editor has already explained the necessity of incorporating some portion of Mr. John C. Dudley's Diary into the "Ghost Land" papers. Without the continuous thread of narrative afforded hy Mr. Dudley's inter- esting journal,' there would be a hiatus in the record of several months, which the reader will readily perceive could not be filled up by the Chevalier de B , and yet this would leave a most important part of the history in a bald and unfinished state. Neither the Chevalier nor Mr. Dudley have been very exact in the order of chron- ological data. The editor, however, being quite familiar with the narrative, is enabled from personal knowledge to state that the extract from Mr. Dudley's diary with which the following chapter commences, refers to the period when Professor von Marx and his pupil first visited England together, and antedates by several months the catastrophe narrated in the last chapter but one. ED. GHOST LAND.] March 10, 18 . Good news for the occultists of Great Britain ! Just what we wanted, in fact, and that is, the infusion of a new element into our effete, lifeless ranks. Although not one of us has half digested the good things we have been receiving for years, we have long been on the tiptoe of expectation, waiting for some- thing new. Well, unless my expectations are strangely disappointed, we shall have just the dish of excitement our blase palates have been hungering for; for lo ! I shall have the welcome task of announcing at the Orphic cir- cle, of which I am the recording secretary, the advent of the great Professor Felix von Marx, the Cornelius Agrippa and Nostradamus of the nineteenth century, accompanied too by a peerless somnambulist, one whom the Illuminee of Germany exalt as the rarest and most gifted seer in the world. 218 GHOST LAND. I don't very well like the tone of von Marx's letter though, for he declines to accept of my hospitality, old and dear as are the ties of friendship that bind us; nor yet he adds, will he consent to parade the gifts of his Seer before the craving wonder-seekers of England. The boy he says is tired, and needs entire cessation from magnetic influences, besides they are coming to London as he assures me, chiefly to find out what we can show them; to determine what progress we have made in the black or white art, as the case may be, and learn whether the Teutons are not surpassed in magi- cal lore by the countrymen of Roger Bacon, Dee, and Kelly. Well, no matter what they come for, I for one, feel my heart leap with joy at the prospect of clasping hands once more with my dear and well-tried friend, Felix von Marx. Let me recall the circumstances of our early intimacy. At the university of "W , Marx and I were sworn chums. "We had but one heart, one purse, and one lesson between us. The heart was our joint-stock property; the purse was mine, the lesson his, for he did all my learning for me. What a bright and glorious scholar he was ! Took all the prizes, and never had any rivals ; I suppose because nobody dared to compete with him. What he ever found to take a fancy to in such a dunce as me, unless indeed it was my unbounded admiration for him, I never could under- stand; but I suppose we loved each other on the prin- ciple of positive and negative agreement; certain it is we were never apart, not even in the tremendous mys- teries in which von Marx had been initiated before I knew him, and which he, like a true friend as he was, determined I should .share with him when we became such constant associates. Heavens! what awful things we did at that K association. If but half our GHOST LAND. 219 doings had been known to the jealous German gov- ernment, our fly-by-night excursions, our Asmodeus inspections of any house or castle we chose to enter spiritually, our Polter GJieist performances, sending our spirits out to knock about the pots and kettles of old fraus and pelt their pretty frauleins with rosebuds and spiritually written billets-doux! me thinks we stu- dents of the occult, in secret session in our upper room at "W -, would have been deemed fitter subjects foi fine and imprisonment than many a political plotter 01 distinguished conspirator, hosts of whom were con- stantly under arrest, whilst we continued to cut up our capers unmolested and unsuspected. It was a hard matter for me to quit the university at "W and my dear friend Felix, when my father at length recalled me for the purpose of placing me at that dull old anti-German, anti-spiritual, anti-every- thing that is progressive, Oxford College, but when after two years of useless waste of fees to professors who could teach me nothing, and "fags" who could cram nothing into me, my father thought the time had come for me to make w the grand tour," how gladly did I remember my promise to von Marx, and at once pro- pose him to my respected sire as the tutor most fit to accompany me. In vain I argued that though von Marx was in reality a shade younger than me, he was a per- fect octogenarian in learning and experience. My father had inquired about him, found he had just been appointed to a professorship in Oriental languages, but that, taken on the whole, he was a strange, mystical sort of a fellow, and anything but a fitting mentor for me. The subject was still in petto, when a brilliant diplomatic opening occurred for me in our minister's suite to Russia. No sooner was I installed in my new dignity than I 220 GHOST LAND. discovered the immediate necessity of my having an under-secretary. Now Professor Marx was a splendid linguist, and besides the Oriental tongues, Was a complete master of the Russian language. He could give intel- ligible expression to more consonants in one word of seven syllables, in fact than any one of his generation. The result was, I proved to my father's entire satisfac- tion, that if I did not succeed in securing the services of Professor Marx as my under-secretary and instructor in the Russian language, my whole diplomatic prospects would be blighted, in fact, likely to come to a prema- ture end. My father appreciated the force of my logic. The case was stated to the professor, who, as an act of friend- ship, felt bound to sacrifice himself. His salary, fixed at double the worth of his professorship, his ragged college gown and cap exchanged for a neat suit of Kham- schatka dog, behold us smoking cheroots and plotting occult seances at our elegant quarters in the Grand Square of St. Petersburg. I had always loved the mysterious, doted on ghost stories, and though I shrank away with inexpressible terror at the idea of their realization, I ever returned to their study again, and cared for nothing so much as the wild, the weird, and the wonderful. Now, if there ever was a born Adept, with all the natural qualifications for a magnetizer, biologist, healer, astrologer, in a word, for a master of spirits and spiritual things, that Adept was Felix von Marx. As to me, my occult powers were my natural inheritance. My sainted mother, then in heaven, had been a seeress, my hon- ored sire, still on earth, was a devoted student of astrol- ogy. Coward as I was I am bound to own it in the ghost-seeing line, I never could get out of that invol- GHOST LAND. 221 untary and much dreaded accomplishment. When quite a little lad, I was regularly worried with ghosts. My father spent the autumn months generally at a fine old castle he owned in the north of England, and there these phantoms took such an extraordinary fancy to me that they walked with me, talked with me, met me in every gallery and corridor, made me come and go, fetch and carry just as if I had been a young sexton, and naturally belonged to the dead. I saw, moreover, sprites and fairies by the score; heard the mermaids sing and the tritons whistle ; in a word, there never was a boy more* admirably adapted to be a good magnetic subject, never an operator more completely au fait at putting me through the spiritual kingdom than Felix. Of course we gravitated together as naturally as the magnet and its armature, and though, now I was in office and had attained to the dignity of a diplomatist, I declined to be put to sleep like a fractious child or sent out of my body as a Polter Gheist to scare honest peasants out of their wits with throwing stones and making noises invisibly, my love for the practices of mesmerism and magic only increased with my years and the fine opportunities which association with my accomplished secretary afforded me. I found Professor von Marx had made immense strides in occult knowl- edge whilst I had been wasting my time in learning the arts of impolite dissipation at Oxford. He had visited the East, where he was born, and had there picked up so many awful scraps of magic lore that I began to be almost afraid of him. Whilst we were deep in our plans for the prosecution of occult study, however, I suddenly realized the truth of that excellent proverb, "Man proposes and God disposes," in the very awkward fact of my falling des- 222 GHOST LAND. perately in love. The object of this unexpected awak- ening, was a charming young widow, the relict of a cer- tain old German Margrave, the Prince de K , who had left his fair lady with a fair fortune, by virtue of which double accomplishments madame, the princess, became the cynosure of all eyes, and the target at which every bachelor in the land aimed his arrows. Of course I should have had little expectation of carrying off such a prize, with so many odds against me, had not the lady conceived a very agreeable plan of perfecting herself in the Russian language. She was visiting for the season at the house of some very distinguished relatives of her late husband's in St. Petersburg, and having frequently met us in the diplomatic circles, and noticed, as she courteously observed, the -immense facility with which I acquired the throat-splitting language of the country under the admirable tutelage of my secretary, she in- quired in the most insinuating manner whether my studies could not be conducted in her salon, by which arrangement she could have the advantage of participat- ing in them. I was enchanted. To me the whole thing was plain. The princess had in this delicate way, hinted at her wish to enjoy my society untrammelled by the frivolous crowd who usually surrounded us, and thus I should be able to get the start of all my rivals, and lay siege to the fair widow's heart at my leisure. The only difficulty was, to enlist that cold-hearted Mephistopheles of a secretary of mine in the scheme. I did not dare confess the real motives that prompted me, for I could by no means venture to meet the tre- mendous sneer with which I knew he would meet my avowal of being in love. At length I conquered his stubborn prejudices against "the attempt to teach a woman anything but folly," by assuring him I was so GHOST LAND. 223 situated that if I did not continue my studies in the Princess K 's private apartments I might be recalled to Europe at any moment. Von Marx could not, as he affirmed, see the force of this position ; but at length, finding his friend's heart strongly set on the matter, he complied with the best grace he could. Thus it was arranged that I and the princess should read Russian three times a week in her elegant salon, where, by aid of coffee, chocolate, German poetry, and Italian music, I managed to get through a deal of covert flirtation with the fair widow, whilst the professor, ensconced in a distant easy-chair, pored over the pages of Cornelius Agrippa or Jacob Behmen. At length the time arrived which I deemed ripe for my intended declaration. Taking advantage of my secretary's being laid up with a sore-throat, and present- ing myself one day in his stead, Russian books in hand, -volumes, by the way, of which hitherto we had not found a convenient opportunity of cutting the pages, I began to open my battery, and with a rush of enthu- siastic courage, stimulated by the absence of my sec- retary, I laid my name, fame, fortune, life, etc. etc., at the feet of the adorable princess. The result of this outbreak was a polite request on her Highness's part that I would discontinue my visits in future. I was in despair. I would instantly go mad, hang, drown, shoot, or freeze myself to death; I would cut somebody's throat, exterminate the human race? and by way of pre- liminary, I smoked ten cigars and wrote the princess a series of letters once an hour for three days. Each missive ended, like my cigars, in smoke. At length and just as I had made up my mind to confide in von Marx and urge him to plead for me, that gentleman called me into his apartment, lighted a cigar, begged me to do the same, and then, putting a letter into my hands, asked 224 GHOST LAND. me to read it and tell him what I thought of that. What I thought of that, indeed! Great Heavens ! what should that be but a deliberate offer of herself, her name, fame, fortune, etc. etc., from the Princess K to Professor Felix von Marx ! Rage and astonishment choked my utterance at firs.t, whilst prudence and self- respect urged me to keep my own counsel at last. Recovering my composure, I began to congratulate my friend on his good luck. Of course I was glad, I was delighted, I should dance at his wedding furi- ously; in a word, I was "only too happy," I said, "to see him so very happy." But as I spoke, with a sar- donic grin worthy of a demon, I could not help remark- ing that my friend appeared most particularly unhappy. With a comical mixture of discontent and perplexity, he declared he could not imagine what the deuce the woman could want him for, but the worst of it was he did n't know how he was to get out of it. "Get out of it?" I exclaimed, in high indignation. :r What! when the handsomest woman in St. Peters- burg lays her fortune at your feet? " " But I don't want the woman, nor her beauty nor her fortune either," replied the cynic. " But my dear fellow," I rejoined warming with the idea that my idol was to be slighted and insulted by being called " a woman," " you can't treat a lady of her exalted rank and character in that way. You must have her, you ought to have her, you shall have her, or I '11 know the reason why." :f Whew ! " cried my friend, with a long whistle. " Am I to be married against my will, and to a woman I don't care two straws for?" I saw I must change my tack. Professor von Marx was just then the handsomest young fellow I had ever GHOST LAND. 225 looked upon. Tall and finely formed, any Grecian sculptor would have laid violent hands upon him for a model. With what I had so often heard the ladies describe as " those lovely black, curling, waving locks," tossed carelessly over a noble brow; a pair of large, splendid dark eyes, that went right through everything, especially that frailest of all things, a woman's heart; with a classic mouth, fine teeth, and what every female authority declared to be w such a duck of a moustache, and such a love of a pair of whiskers," but above all, with a sort of indescribable, Oriental, magical kind of spell-like way about him that nobody seemed able to resist; who could compete with him? On the other hand, how could I, a slim, genteel youth, with narrow shoulders and a stoop, blue eyes and a cough, a small crop of straw-colored hair on my face and an equally slender allowance on my head, the latter of a stubborn character too, which no frizeur had ever been able to twist into curl, how could such an one enter the lists with a von Marx and hope for success? Oh, if my father had only been an Arabian sheik or my mother an East- ern sultana, there might have been a chance for me! But as it was, and with the fatal experience of the princess's choice between a poor Adonis and a rich gawky, as I in my humility deemed myself, I saw there was no chance for me in future, unless I got von Marx married right out of hand. Besides, I loved the dear fellow in one way as much as I adored the faithless fair one in another way, and the only balm my wounded spirit could receive was to see them united. This done, I would seek an early grave, and " die in peace." How I managed it I cannot tell, whether by coaxing, scolding, or fairly badgering my friend into the match, I know not. Certain it is, I did succeed; and after laying out before 15 226 GHOST LAND. Felix all the opportunities he would enjoy of following up his favorite pursuits as the husband of the rich and fashionable Princess K , I finally saw the knot tied by the chaplain of the embassy, and Professor von Marx and his illustrious bride departing for one of her charm- ing castles on the Rhine, at which spot I promised to join them as soon as I could get released from my now irksome official duties. It was three years before I was able to redeem this promise, and when I did, it was in company with the dear and lovely lady who had discernment enough to discover in the slim, genteel youth, whose many disad- vantages I had so humbly pitted against the splendid von Marx, the dear companion by whose life-long love every other female image has been displaced, always excepting the admiration I share for her, with three fair duplicates of herself, who now call me their loving father. When I and my beloved bride reached H , and I had placed her to rest in the pleasant apartments pro- vided for us, I hurried off to the castle where my servants had learned the Princess von Marx was then residing. Great was my chagrin to find neither my friend nor his lady at home. Her Highness was out at the hunt the domestics told me, and the professor,^ they did n't know, but they thought I should find him at the neighboring college. "At the college!" I repeated. ''That is odd. "What could he be doing there ? " They did n't kno w, but they believed he was there; if not, they did n't know where he would be. Hurrying away, with strange misgivings in my mind, I applied to the chief janitor of the college, and learned that von Marx was professor of the Hebrew and Arabic languages in that institution, and might be found in his own rooms in such and such a direction. GHOST LAND. 227 Professor von Marx a teacher, and occupying shabby rooms in a third-rate college, whilst his illustrious con- sort was residing in a neighboring castle and amusing herself with a hunting party ! There was " something rotten in the state of Denmark " with a vengeance, I thought. I soon reached my friend's quarters, entered without ceremony, found him in, and received such a greeting as assured me whatever else was changed, his early friendship remained. In all other respects I found him a sadly altered man. He seemed to have grown taller and thinner, though he still retained his unparal- leled grace and symmetry of proportion; his air was as commanding as ever, but it was tinctured with a deep and stern sadness which added many years of age to his manner; his face though as noble and handsomer than ever, was pale and care-worn; his brow was contracted with an habitual frown, and there was a fixidity in his expression which almost made me shrink from him. His dress, though still gentlemanlike and clean, was worn and threadbare, and the furniture of his room was beggarly compared to that which in old times we used to share together. In the corner of the room was a rude, evidently home-made cot, shaded with a pure white coverlet, on which were strewed wild flowers, and beneath which slept a beautiful child, the father of whom unmistakably stood before me. Subdued in an instant to the tone of my friend's altered circumstances and appearance, I could only take his hand and stammer out, w How is all this, Felix? Let us sit down and talk it all over like dear old times, you know." And talk it over we did, and for a few hours the dear old times seemed to come back to my friend's wounded spirit. 228 GHOST LAND. It was an old story von Marx told me, the story of a marriage which was not made in heaven, and wherein the hapless couple were yoked, not mated. The prin- cess was a gay, frivolous butterfly, utterly incapable of appreciating anything in her talented husband except his remarkably handsome person. He was a stern, de- voted student of the occult, who found neither sympa- thy nor companionship in his fashionable wife; thus before six months had worn away, both had bitterly repented, the one her infatuation, the other, the aston- ishing facility with which he had suffered himself to be " entrapped." Their lives of unceasing discord were, it is true, interrupted for a time by the birth of a lovely boy, upon whom the unhappy father lavished all that wealth of affection of which he was so capable, could any one have found and governed the secret of its source. After two years of mutual bitterness and recrimina- tion the ill-matched couple agreed to separate, and in so doing Professor von Marx retired, as he had for some time lived, entirely upon the proceeds of his writ- ings, translations, and lectures. He refused to accept the smallest portion of his wife's wealth, and finding he could not obtain possession of his idolized child by amicable arrangement with his lady, he actually carried him off by force, and held him under an unceasing watch and ward by the same means. He had gladly accepted the offer of a small professor- ship in the poor college of H , and was now linger- ing in that vicinity awaiting the tardy decision of the law in respect to his boy, whom the princess sought to reclaim. Such was the sum of a history which occupied in the relation many hours of the night, I heard it with great GHOST LAND. 229 pain, not only on my friend's account, but on that of my wife also. The princess and herself had been school- mates. Educated at the same convent in France, they had conceived a girlish affection for each other, and I knew my dear companion, with the zeal of her warm, loving nature, would be sure to take her friend's part in the impending dispute. For several weeks we lingered in the neighborhood of H , vainly endeavoring to effect a reconciliation between a couple who had nothing in common with each other to be reconciled about. With the old sophistry of appealing to their sense of religious duty, we endeavored to convince them they had taken each other " for better or for worse," and ought to endure the worse if worse it were. The princess declared the professor had no more sense of religion than a stock or a stone ; the professor swore that the princess's religion was all carried in the feathers of her church-going hat; in short, our efforts were as fruitless as nature intended them to be. At length the time arrived for the decision which was to award the little fellow, who was the only tie of mutuality between them, to one or other of the parents, and the law, by what hocus-pocus I know not, decided to bestow him on the mother. The professoi had left his pearl of price in the college building in charge of a trusty friend, but before he returned from the court to defend his rights, as he certainly would have done unto the death, by force of arms, a party of German Jagers surrounded the place of the child's con- cealment, carried him off, and placed him in his mother's castle, under the protection of half a regiment of well- armed domestics. Deep if not loud were the curses which the bereaved father uttered, when he returned to find the little cot, which he had made and adorned with 230 GHOST LAND. his own hands, empty, and his idol gone. Were those curses vented on empty air alone, or did they take effect in the realm where evil wishes -are registered by evil though unseen powers? Within twelve hours after the young boy was removed to his mother's castle, reach- ing out of a window to call piteously on what he insisted upon declaring was the form of his father in the court- yard below, he escaped from the grasp of his attendant, and screaming, "Coming, papa! Erny's coming!" he sprang through the open window, fell nearly sixty feet into the court below, and was instantly killed. Profes- sor von Marx soon after inherited, by the death of a near kinsman, a small independent fortune, and a title of nobility to which he was the next heir. The title he repudiated, the fortune he claimed, gen- erously offering to divide it with his late partner, who with equal liberality declined the proffer. This was the last communication the ill-assorted pair ever held, the professor having, as he has since assured me, never heard of or sought to inquire for his lady again. The princess is still, as I hear, a gay habitue of many an European court; the professor, one of the most cele- brated writers and lecturers on metaphysics of which the age can boast. Openly, he devotes himself to the duties of a professorship at the university of B , but privately, he has addicted himself to the incessant study and practice of occult arts, in which, throughout the secret societies of the East, Germany, France, and Continental Europe generally, he is acknowledged to be one of the "most skilful and powerful adepts that ever lived. In a correspondence with me which has never been interrupted, he has of late years made frequent allu- sions to his deep interest in a young Austrian boy of GHOST LAND. 231 noble birth, who was placed by his parents for edu- cation at the college of which von Marx is still a professor. This child, he once wrote me word, was born, the very day 011 which his own idolized Ernest, then only two years and a half old, died. ^Born one hour after the tragic event, this child," he added, w strange to say, resembles me so closely in appearance, that every mas- ter and student in the university remarks upon the like- ness. Day by day this weird resemblance increases, and if the dreams of the re-incarnationists had any foundation in truth, it might have been supposed that the spirit of my precious Ernest had passed into the form of the infant born in a far distant land at the self- same fateful hour that my Ernest died. I know these are worse than idle dreams ; still I have pleased myself at times by indulging in them, just as a weary man of the world might take up at some odd hour a fairy tale and linger over the page of fiction. which once consti- tuted his childhood's delight." * * Since the editor of these papers has become intimately acquainted with the Chevalier de B she has frequently heard discussed, the extraordi- nary resemblance between him and his adopted father, named in these writings ''Professor von Marx." A fine portrait of Professor von Marx is to be seen in a certain German collection of oil paintings, in which it is almost impossible to trace any dissimilarity between that and a portrait of the Chevalier de B at the same age, save in point of costume. This remarkable resemblance has been frequently cited to the editor and the author also, in confirmation of the re-incarnationists' theory that the soul of the dead child Ernest had passed into the new-born form of the Chev- alier, the- period between the decease and the birth being only one hour, and the parties, though originally strangers to each other, having been so singularly brought together in later years. The author has requested the editor to record here his utter disbelief in this theory, or indeed in the doc- trine of re-incarnation at all. He himself is a firm believer in the existence of special types of physique prevailing throughout all the kingdoms of nature. He conceives that he and his adopted father belonged to the same peculiar type of being, and that the resemblance first instituted in 232 GHOST LAND. Perhaps these circumstances may account for the extraordinary fancy which the stern and otherwise ascetic professor has conceived for the young Chevalier de B . I am advised that his personal adventures, marriage, and paternity have never been revealed to his protege, to whom, as he claims, he can veil or disclose his mind just as he pleases. Despite this boy's high birth, his family have it appears, consented to his adop- tion by the great and learned Professor von Marx ; and this then is the prodigy, whom the professor declares to be the finest seer and the most perfect ecstatic upon earth, and whom I hope soon to welcome as my honored guest. My dear wife and our three charming girls are not, I regret to say, in sympathy with my spiritualistic pur- suits ; in fact, they profess to be quite scandalized at the idea of their beloved husband and father being a w ma- gician," a practiser of the ^ black art," a regular Zamiel or Ashmodi. As to my two boys, they are such a rough- and-tumble pair of young profanities that I don't dare to trust them with any higher ideas on spiritualistic subjects than a mild ghost story or two about Christ- mas or New Year. Take it on the whole, however, my happy household are all agreed to disagree. My magi- cal pursuits moreover, are all conducted in other scenes than my own home, and whatever friends I do introduce there, are ever warmly welcomed by my wife and chil- dren. Professor von Marx is of course, well known to my wife, though not altogether her special favorite. With true womanly feeling she espoused the female side of the matrimonial dispute ; nevertheless she was in the architecture of Nature, was deepened to a perfect fac-simile by the formative process of magnetization during a period of many years, also by the strength of the attachment subsisting between the parties, which tended to mould even the expression of their features into similarity. GHOST LAND. 233 the habit of saying to me privately, that any woman who was bold enough to offer herself in marriage, de- served just whatever treatment she might receive; so, take it for all in all, she did n't know that the fault was wholly on the professor's side. March 29. The long-looked-for guests have arrived, and I have just returned from my first visit of welcome to them. The changes which years have wrought in my friend Felix von Marx, seem to have intensified rather than altered his marked characteristics. In form and face he is still superb, but his manners are even colder, more resolute and self-centred than in the days of yore, when I and all around him bent before his indomi- table will, His friendship for me still remains undimin- ished, but the yielding points of his nature seem to be all called forth by his protege, to whom his manner always becomes softened when he either speaks to or even looks towards him. My long and curious study of mesmeric subjects, natural somnambulists, sensi- tives, etc., has been fruitful of a rich and strange expe- rience, and inspired me with much curiosity concerning the young man for whom Professor von Marx and the German mystics generally, make such high claims. How then can I permit my pen to record my first impressions of this paragon, and own that I was dis- appointed in him? Yet such is the actual fact. Per- haps I placed my expectations of personal gratification too high; but to me, he is unapproachable; I am troubled in his presence, troubled even when I think of him, and yet I am lowered in my own estimation for being so. In external appearance he so wonder- fully resembles his adopted father, that it would be difficult for strangers to believe there were no ties of 234 GHOST LAND. relationship between them; the only perceptible differ- ences in these gentlemen are in respect to age and the fact that all the sterner features of Professor von Marx's expression are softened in his ward by an excessive sensitiveness. The professor's almost insupportable penetration of glance is subdued in this boy's magnificent dark eyes, by a dreamy, far-off look, which speaks unmistakably of the spiritual mystic. They are truly perfect types of a high magian and his subject, but that of which I complain if indeed I have any right to use such a word is the entire absence of pleasure, earthly interest or sympathy in this young man's manner. He received me as if he were hi a dream ; answered when I addressed him, as if by an effort to recall himself to my presence or remember where he was. His sweet and beauti- fully modulated voice, sounded a long way off, and his entire personel was so statuesque and unearthly, that I could have almost imagined I was a boy again, and shiv- ering under the old superstitious awe which used to pos- sess me when I deemed I was in presence of a spirit, or, in more homely phrase, thought I saw a ghost. I noticed, moreover, the wonderful, I may truly say the unspeakable, understanding that subsisted between these strangely-matched persons. Professor von Marx seldom addressed a word to his friend during the whole interview, yet the latter frequently rose, handed him a book, some papers, or other matters he required, without any other than a mental request. He evidently under- stood and obeyed the least thought in the professor's mind, and on more than one occasion turned towards him, and by silent looks replied to his unspoken thoughts. Through the same extraordinary process of soul intercourse, the professor would fix his questioning GHOST LAND. 235 eyes upon his ward, and obtain an answer without one syllable being interchanged between them. I have often seen and wondered at the remarkable rapport which existed between my own mesmerized subjects and my- self. I have seen still more positive evidences of pure, mental transfer between the Lucides of the celebrated Baron Dupotet, MM. Billot, Deleuze, and Cahagnet, also with a number of my English associates, whose hon- ored names. I withhold in view of my anonymous style of writing ; but I never beheld any system of soul inter- course so perfect as that which existed between these unrelated Teutons, nor so complete an adept in mind- reading as this young Chevalier. 1 After a short experience of the singular influence diffused by this speechless intelligence, I began to com- prehend that it was the source of the troubled feeling which possessed me, and involuntarily I began to spec- ulate upon the possibility of the young mystic's reading my mind with the same facility that he did his father's. This thought not only disturbed me, but awoke these spontaneous reflections within me: "I wonder if he knows I don't like him," and, "I wish to heaven he would leave me alone with my friend." No sooner did these mal-a-propos ideas fill my mind than the Cheva- lier arose, and with a flushed face, and for the first time during our interview, a furtive smile playing around his lips, he bent to me courteously, apologized for his indiscretion in obtruding his presence " so- long on dear friends who must be so very glad to renew their old, confidential intercourse with each other," and before I could stammer out any protest against his obvious interpretation of my secret wishes he was gone. The professor, who seemed more at home and like his old self when his sprite was gone, laughed outright at 236 GHOST LAND. my confusion, and cried cheerily, w Never mind, John ! Louis knew just as well as you did that you wished him at the deuce, so of course he retired; but don't let that worry you, old fellow. The fact is, this boy feels rather than sees or hears what is going on around him ; but now tell me candidly, what do you think of him?" Once again I began to stammer in that ridiculous way of mine, when my thoughts are a long way off and want collecting, but the professor saved me all further trouble by giving me such a complete word-picture of what I had actually thought in the Chevalier's presence that I started up fairly aghast, and cried, " Come, come, Felix, this will never do ! It is bad enough to be obliged to say many things we don't always think, but when we only think things and don't say them, and yet have them all said for us in this remorseless way, 'pon my life ! I don't know what is to become of us. Felix, I am getting to be fairly afraid of both you and that weird friend of yours." w Well," replied von Marx, coolly, w if you will ven- ture upon the enchanted isle, and place yourself at the mercy of a Prospero and Ariel, why you must take the consequences; but come now John, let us talk as of old, and somewhat more to the purpose. You have had great experience as a magnetizer since we met, conversed with many of the best and most philosophic of Mesmer's followers, both here and on the Continent, besides enjoying the opportunity of analyzing the idio- syncracies of some hundreds of < sensitives.' Tell me, then, what do you think of them as a class?" w Felix," I replied, w I will answer you in the words of Geiblitz, that fine old writer on mental philosophy, whose works you and I used to pore over so constantly at "W , and whose description of this very class I GHOST LAND. 237 was so enamoured with that I committed several pag^s to memory. Geiblitz says : r 'Now, as copper and zinc would not form a galvanic battery if the acid which consumes the metals acted on both alike, neither would the thunder roll or the light- nings flash if the two clouds that met in mid-air were equal in force and polarity, one with the other, so would there be no exhibition of soul galvanism, or mental light- nings, if the body in which they shone was all equili- brium, and the person was well composed and evenly balanced. Me thinks all history shows us that the ecstatic or seer must be an inharmonious being. Something ails him which disturbs his balance or sets the measure of equilibrium at odds, before he can admit another mind to govern him. ? Thus it was with the great fabulist, ^Esop, who was an idiot in all things but the strong point of allegorical composition which, to my mind, was pure inspiration. So also with Eobert Nixon, the Cheshire prophet, who was also foolish, yet subject to that high inspiration which prophesied through his lips. Again, with Chet- wynd, the fool of the great Saxon monarch, and many others, who, although so silly as to be marked with the fool's cap and bells, yet when the spirit spoke through them, did give utterance to prophecy and wiser things than most other men. And if the intellect be well com- posed, then must we look to find a lack of balance amongst the moral qualities; for example; Cagliostro and Kelly, both being great seers and governors of spiritual things, were yet knaves. Bohemians, Gypsies, and Zingari are all thieves and cheats, yet they know the future better than many wise men, and can see farther with their soul's eyes than most men with their telescopes.' In short, Felix," I continued, seeing that my 238 GHOST LAND. quotations were beginning to be more dangerous than apt, " you and I, at a very early period of our investiga- tions, came to the conclusion that fine sensitives or high magnetic subjects must be unevenly balanced or lack equilibrium somewhere. They must be either fools like ISTixon, and therefore good subjects for the control of others, knaves like the Bohemians, and in constant rap- port with the elementaries, or sick sensitives like St. Bridgetta, St. Catherine, and other saints of great renown, who floated in air, bore the stigmata, prophe- sied, read every mind, and and were, in a word, so highly endowed with spiritualistic gifts." "How about Jesus of Nazareth, Appolonius of Tyana, and Joan of Arc?" said the professor, dryly. "Were they fools, knaves, or sick sensitives?" ''Well," I replied, taken something aback, "Jesus was undoubtedly very sensitive, as his susceptibility to human suffering and pain demonstrated ; Appolonius was said to be an epileptic, though I can't vouch for the fact; and as to Joan of Arc, we know she was a very melancholy young person, remarkably fond of the sound of bells in her youth, besides being very pious, which I regard as a sign of a morbid temperament, to say the least of it." :? Well, well ! " interrupted von Marx, impatiently. " Set your brains no more to wool-gathering to find out similitudes. My Louis is at once the purest being in the world, and endowed with the finest and most com- prehensive intellect, but he is just as fragile in phy- sique as your argument would need to prove him. But for the constant and steady infusion of my magnetism, his soul would long since have escaped from so frail a tenement as he bears about with him. Will that sat- isfy you?" GHO&T LAND. 239 " Felix, " I said, looking steadily into my friend's troubled eyes, " tell me ; is it a normal or healthful life for one human being to live upon the magnetism of another? I know it can be done, but is it in the sweet and natural order of creation? " "^N"o, John," replied my friend, sadly, "it is not, and I have often felt it was not. But when do we enter upon any new and untried path and see the end from the beginning? . When do we determine how far we may drift before necessity or some strong impulse forces us to stop? I commenced magnetizing this adopted child of mine, first, for the sake of continuing my experiments, then because I and the Berlin Brotherhood found in him a rare and unusual combination of splendid powers. We all know that the most passive mentality, or that which in ordinary life would be mere imbecility, often supplies the best, because the most unsoiled tablet for the inscrip- tion of a foreign mental power. We have also proved that the same aromal life principle which clusters in excess about the cerebellum, and makes its subject sensual, ac- quisitive, or destructive, furnishes in many instances the potency by which the elementaries and earthy spirits can control mortals; hence we so frequently see fools and knaves endowed with those spiritual gifts which plead for the intervention of the daemons, but here we have an excep- tion to all such experiences. Here is a being of the noblest and least guileful character that ever lived, and yet so in- tellectually bright, that he acquires knowledge with magi- cal intuition. Ere he had been our subject long, I am well convinced if our society had been one of the fanatical kind that were likely to be entangled in religious absurdities, we should have exalted this boy into a new Messiah, hailed him as a tenth incarnation of Vishnu or a modern Buddha. "Delighted with my prize, and somehow always asso- 240 GHOST &AND. elating him with that little one whose cot I made with these hands, John, you remember, I gradually drew him away from all other influences than my own. I have watched the dawning of his noble manhood as an astronomer would watch for a new planet. I put my life upon him, trained the tendrils of his lonely being to cling around me with all the wealth of a passionately loving nature concentred on one object. "Many a time when the life had nearly ebbed away, and the thread which bound him to mortality became so attenuated that my earth-dimmed eyes could scarcely discover it, by a mighty wrench of will, by the throb- bing of my whole heart's love poured out upon him, and the vials of my own life drained to supply his, I have succeeded in dragging him back to me, keeping him alive, and seeing him grow into a spiritual, phys- ical, and intellectual beauty that knows no peer on earth. John, do you remember the story of the Ger- man student, Frankenstein? He made a monster, I an angel. His was the story of a myth, mine that of a scientific truth. Is there no gain to the cause of science in the success of my singular experiment? " The strange man paused, wrought up to the most intense pitch of emotion, and gazing at me with an almost imploring ex- pression, asked, "Have I not cause to love him, John?" "Ay," I replied, with equal emotion, "you cannot fail to do so ; still you have not answered my question, Is such a life as his normal, healthful, right?" "No," he answered, firmly, "and never will be whilst " "Whilst what?" I asked, eagerly. * Whilst I live," he half whispered; "but enough of this now. I know he is not a creature of earth, but he is mine, all my own, the angel side of myself, and I GHOST LAND. 241 will yet think out a bright destiny for him, or wreck myself body and soul in the attempt." I was subdued, awed, by the depth of this strong man's fierce love for the creature he had made, and whilst I was not less struck by the obvious return the young man gave in his deep and absorbing affection for his adopted father, I could not for the life of me realize the angelic excellence of which the professor boasted. To me there was some- thing wanting in this singular being's nature. He was too unsympathetic, too anti-human for an angel; too dreamy, exalted, and visionary for a man. I almost felt as if he either lacked a soul or was so much of soul that he had no business with a body. He was a problem I could not solve ; in fact, the whole visit left such an uncomfortable feeling upon my mind, that I began to half surmise my dear wife was right, and that in meddling with matters too high for us, we poor mortals are apt to get out of our depths. One thing was certain : a train of speculation in which I had been indulging prior to the advent of my friends, fell to the ground with a crash. The truth is, I had heard that the young heir of the great Professor von Marx was of noble birth, wonderfully handsome, and altogether a most eligible parti; hence, with what my eldest daughter, Sophia, called, my inveterate spirit of match-making, I had already got up a little imaginary romance between this preux chevalier and a certain fair Lady Rosa, a dazzling creature whom I strongly affected, and who had always promised to marry only just that particular person whom dear Uncle John should select. ]Sfow, this was not the only lovely creature I had destined for my interesting young foreign guest, but now, whew! before I quitted the presence of this young mystic, or could shake off the remembrance of his soul-haunting, far-away-looking dark eyes, I came to 16 242 GHOST LAND. the conclusion I might as well expect the north star or one of the Pleiades to come down and woo the Rosies and Sophies of fashionable life as this unearthly Chevalier de B . With my old habit of putting my reflections into shape I mentally exclaimed as I passed down-stairs, w I '11 wager that this young fellow has got a spirit bride somewhere off in one of the planets. Perhaps he might deign to chant a sonnet to a Sylph or serenade an Undine; but as to his falling in love with any of the pretty butterflies that call me dear papa or darling old uncle, pshaw! I'll go and put all the girls on their guard against him, or else they will be throwing away their hearts upon a streak of moonlight." "Have no fear of that, senor; your butterflies are all safe from me," said the sweet voice and soft Italian accent of the Chevalier, close to my ear. Turning round in the entrance-hall hastily to face this audacious mind-reader, I encountered nothing! Save -for the Irish porter who held the hall-door open for me, -not a creature was within sight or hearing. Quitting -the house with a little more than my ordinary precipita- tion, I hurried into the street hoping that in a strong current of east wind, I might at least be free to think or resolve never to enter that weird house again, unless indeed, I could leave my thoughts at home, or in some distant scene which the wizard's spell could not reach. That -afternoon, having retired to my library, and ac- cording to custom being about to compose myself to take half an hour's siesta 'before dressing for dinner, I was startled by the noiseless opening of the door, which, by the by, I generally locked on such occasions. Looking up in surprise, it being against the rule of that charmed scene even for my own daughters to enter without knock- ing at the door, I beheld, in a maze of astonishment GHOST LAND. 243 which kept me speechless, the young Chevalier de B . Speaking in an earnest, pleading tone, which somehow filled my eyes with an irrepressible moisture, he said, "Dear sir, there are some beings on earth who are not yet born into actual humanity. It requires for them a great change, most commonly a great sorrow, to effect that new birth in which the true union between body and soul takes place. One man may know many births and deaths in the course of a single life pilgrimage, and I am one of those who must be born again, conceived in sorrow and born tkrough great anguish, before I can be really the man my too fond father deems me. To be a man I must be endowed with the passions of one, with vices as well as virtues, and criminal as well as noble tendencies. As yet, the humanity which makes a full-grown soul is lacking in me, and I am not good, because I am not bad; not virtuous, pure, or noble, be- cause I have no opposite propensities to rise above. My poor father has not created an angel, only endowed this frail form with a spiritual essence which yet lacks parts and passions. But O dear sir ! the hour approaches when I shall be born again through a maternity of great sorrow. In that hour I shall stand in direst need of a human friend and helper: will you not be that friend? The world of spirits pleads with you for me, their child and servant." At the conclusion of this extraordinary speech, every syllable of which seems to me to have been indelibly engraven on the tablets of my memory, he extended his hand towards me. As I was about to grasp it, my eye was arrested by the sight of the word ISABELLA inscribed in finely-formed, crimson letters across the palm of his small, white hand. This was the name of my deeply-cherished and long-lamented dear mother. I had often prayed that if the soul was immor- 244 GHOST LAND. tal, could live, love, and know those they had left on earth, especially if they could minister to them, this most tender mother might be permitted to give me some sign which should convince me of the stupendous fact of her immortal being. No response had ever before been vouchsafed to my soul's deep aspiration, but even as I gazed on that familiar name, and saw the letters melt or fade slowly away in the outstretched hand before me, the thought was irresistibly borne in upon my mind that here was the proof I sought. I have since, during the modern dispensation of Spiritualism, seen many a name of the beloved ones gone before, inscribed in fleshly characters upon a medium's body. I had heard of such stigmata appearing amongst my friends the French magnetists, but never had I witnessed aught so wonder- ful, aught that took so deep a hold upon my inmost convictions of spiritual identity before. As the letters faded, I rubbed my eyes, started, rubbed them again, and with my characteristic slowness was about to seize the young man's hand, and make a speech, assuring him of my eternal friendship and devotion to him, under what- ever circumstances he might command it, when lo! he was gone. I rushed to the only door in the room, and found it locked on the inside just as I had left it. Returning to my library table I found a volume of Shakespeare unclasped; open at the play of w The Tem- pest," a leaf turned down, a liberty I never allowed with my books, and a deep pencil-mark drawn under- neath these lines of the fair Miranda's : " Believe me, sir, it carries a brave form, but 't is a spirit." And thus began our campaign with the Prospero and Ariel of the nineteenth century, Felix von Marx and his adopted son, the Chevalier de B . CHAPTEE DIARY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY, ESQ., CONTINUED. February 10, 18 . On looking over the fragmen- tary entries that my diary presents during the last few months, I am painfully conscious that the records are not of a sufficiently consecutive character to weave into the body of this narrative, at least not without more revision than I have now time or opportunity to bestow on them. During these eventful months there has been so much that has been new and marvellous to us all; even we, who have been accustomed to witness the exhi- bitions of abnormal spiritual powers through our clair- voyants and somnambulists, as well as at our magical seances, have been so startled at the extraordinary phenomena introduced amongst us by our German friends, that we seem to have commenced a new era in our experiences, and I feel the necessity of recording our testimony with more than usual care and caution. Strange rumors too are abroad that new and wonder- ful disclosures are being made to mortals amongst the matter-of-fact, commercial Americans, and by what can we suppose? Actually, it is affirmed by spirits in per- son! spirits of the dead, or rather the spirits of those the world calls dead, who, so say these floating rumors of a waking w Arabian Night's Dream," are not dead at all, but alive, and as inhabitants of a progressed world, have found a way to telegraph to the friends they have 246 GHOST LAND. left as bereaved mourners, assuring them they are all in life, in the full possession of their faculties ; see us, know us, love us still, and come into communication with us by sounds and signals that they find the means of making, through those very persons who were formerly our somnambulists, seers, and mesmeric subjects. May not this be the secret of the young Chevalier's wonderful and abnormal surroundings? He and his father claim that all we see and hear is the work of the elementaries whom they command, and planetary angels who attend upon them and signal to them through this youth's trances and the professor's magical power over spirits. We are all lost in conjecture. Whatever be the new dispensation dawning upon us, if something still more potent than magnetism, still more occult than somnam- bulism, be at hand to startle us from our dreams of earth and earthly things, then must this magical friend of mine and his strange companion be its her- alds. For my part I can not see whither we are drifting, scarcely can I discern my way amongst the scenes of mystery that are now deepening around me. Professor von Marx is very jealous of his young seer's gifts. He himself is reticent and fearfully sensitive. The won- derful powers these men possess should be at the com- mand of science, yet they are all limited to our most secret sessions, and scenes which, if reported, would scarcely obtain credit, even with those ' who best know and trust me, are permitted to pass by like the phantas- magoria of an unquiet dream with hardly a record. How true it is that the greatest gifts seldom accompany the best dispositions to use them ! These German magicians, whose impulses are as erratic as the visions that they produce, have now been GHOST LAND. 247 absent some months. They left us as suddenly as they came; their purpose was to travel through North Brit- ain, as I understood, but now I learn that after making some visits among our associates in Scotland and Wales they have disappeared altogether. February 25. Letters have been received from Professor von Marx. He is coming back to London for a few days, and sends me word he wishes to join our next meeting of the Orphic Society on Friday night. How did he know we had called a special seance for Friday night? but pshaw! why do I question? He knows everything, and what he does n't know the Chev- alier can tell him. ]STo matter, he will be dearly wel- come to us all. He leaves his son in the North, he writes me word, rusticating in a quiet village for the benefit of his health. Of course they won't stay long apart; however, I will now go to his lodgings and find out when to expect him. March 3. Professor von Marx has now been with us nearly a week. He attended one seance at the Orphic Circle on the evening of his arrival, and by desire of our guardian spirits, we are to have another session to-night. Great results are promised us, but, I scarce know why, there is a singular depression on my spirits, and one which seems in a measure to affect our whole society. Let us hope that the to-night's seance will serve to disperse the clouds. MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE ORPHIC CIRCLE HELD MARCH 3. Present tlie usual number of members and officers, the neophytes, Estelle, Sarina, and Marcus, two Brothers from Malta, and one honorary member, Professor Felix von Marx. John C. Dudley, Recording Secretary. 248 GHOST LAND. After the customary preliminaries of opening our ses- sion, and the business arrangements had been disposed of, it was announced that this was an "open meeting"; at which visitors might be introduced, whilst the pro- ceedings should be subject to general discussion, or if desirable to publication. [I may here state that our society was a private, if not absolutely a secret one, hence our sessions were only canvassed openly, or the phenomena occurring therein reported beyond our lodge- room, when we received intimation from our guardians (planetary angels) that the meetings were to be "open ones." The seance called for the 3d of March, and one which was announced to follow, were to come under this category and be open to reports of what might transpire.] Considering the high expectations with which we had come together that evening, our session was less animated than we had anticipated. Professor von Marx was unusually sad and abstracted. Amongst other subjects, we discussed reservedly, but somewhat pointedly, the reflex action likely to be pro- duced upon a magnetizer by his subject. We were led to consider this subject all the more earnestly, by the obvious depression and restlessness manifested in Pro- fessor von Marx's manner in the absence of his beloved protege, the Chevalier de B . The professor took the ground that no such reflex action could ensue if the operator was well-composed and self-centred. Lord L and Sir Peter S were in favor of the reflex hypothesis, and I cited the professor's own change of manner and deep anxiety, now that he was absent from his best subject, in contrast with his invariable compo- sure and self-possession when, as in earlier visits, his friend was present with him at our circle. Von Marx acknowledged the disturbing effect of the Chevalier's GHOST LAND. 249 absence upon his mind, but added in a tone of stern self-reproach, that it was ever a failing in the true adept to cherish human affection, and that the intense emotion which was expended on personal interests, always marred the procedures of deliberate science. Our experiments with the neophytes on this occasion were less satisfactory than usual, and they evidently felt the oppression cast by the overpowering influence of the professor's disturbed mind. We exchanged greet- ings successfully with the circle at L , and neophyte Alexander's " atmospheric spirit" visited us from M . "We had some interesting visions in the mirror, but the crystal spirits could not obtain force enough to appear. At the usual hour, when our "Rulers" were accustomed to give us some spontaneous phenomena by way of climax to our meeting, we asked, through our best ludde present, Mile. Estelle, if the Chevalier de B could not visit us. Starting hastily from his seat, and speaking in violation of our usual order, the professor exclaimed, " No, no! I would not have it so, that is -I beg pardon of all present, but -I would prefer to waive this visit." Instantly the lucide became demagnetized, the "Ru- lers" vanished from the mirrors, and the lights became quite dim, the fires, sunk in the braziers, and the whole scene bore testimony to our visitor's indiscretion. Recovering his composure in a few minutes, the pro- fessor apologized for his irregular action, and reluctantly assented to our wishes. The formulas, which I am not at liberty to describe, by which an " atmospheric spirit " or " flying soul " is summoned, being gone through, the professor produced, as if by a strong effort, a piece of a waving lock of black hair cut from his beloved pupil's head, and with still more hesitancy than usual, submitted 250 GHOST LAND. it to the fire of the brazier. As the leaping flame seized on the beautiful lock, von Marx, as if repenting such a sacrifice, drew it hastily away. A small portion of the crisped hair however, adhered to the brazier, but no sound of invocation moved the magician's lips. The lights were again sinking, and the neophytes shrank back, trembling and disturbed, when a blast of cold air rushed through the apartment, a deep-drawn sigh resounded in our ears, and the lights flashed up for a moment disclosing what seemed to be the form of the Chevalier de B extended on a visionary couch, apparently in a deep sleep. It was the first time the apparition of a slumbering "flying soul" had been amongst us, and as the Chevalier had often thus spirit- ually visited and communicated with us before, we attributed his present entrancement to the professor's failure in fulfilling the conditions of evocation. Yet we all beheld him plainly, and sympathized with the professor as he bent over his adopted son's form with apparent sentiments of rapt interest and admiration. ""Waken him!" whispered Sir Peter S . "We would speak with him." " Not for worlds ! " murmured the professor, extend- ing his arms towards the vision. " He will waken all too soon. Sleep on, my Louis, and farewell ! " In an instant a strange, distant cry seemed to resound through the apartment, and the form of the sleeper started up and seemed to cast itself into the professor's arms. Something of an indescribable character that I have never seen or realized in any other presence than that of these Germans, then seemed to cast a spell over us all, preventing us for the moment, from seeing, hear- ing, or collecting our thoughts. It has often been re- peated in the presence of the Chevalier de B , GHOST LAND. 251 and is the nearest approach to my idea of w glamour" or that which the Hindoos have a word for signifying illusion, I ever experienced. It lasts but a few seconds, and on the occasion I write of, came and went like the lightning's flash. When it was dispelled, the couch, the ff flying soul," and the professor himself were all gone. Nothing could restore composure to our lucides after this, and our circle broke up after arranging with our guides to meet again on the following night. Lord L was instructed to notify the absent members, also to invite Professor von Marx's special attendance, he having promised to be present at our next seance. How shall I record the events which immediately succeeded my last entry, or attempt to hand down to posterity statements so entirely out of ordinary human experience that I could scarcely hope to obtain credit for them did I testify to their truth on solemn oath before the world? Although at the present time modern spiritual- ism, with its array of well-attested marvels, has become a fixed fact, and at the time when these lines will meet the public eye, the details I record will have become the accepted belief of millions, still the circumstances which surround my narrative present an air of incredibility, which the matter-of-fact, commonplace methods of the Spiritualists are wholly lacking in. I write of appa- ritions, phantoms, sounds, and motions which appealed to unaccustomed witnesses ; came upon us with all the awful paraphernalia of magical surroundings, and at a period when our hearts were possessed with an over- whelming dread of revelations from the world of spirit- ual existence. The Spiritualists now meet in jolly par- ties, and hail their spiritual visitants with fun and frolic, hence the very same manifestations which custom has invested with the prestige of a fashionable amusement 252 GHOST LAND. were, in the time of which I write, surrounded with a halo of preternatural light, borrowed in part from the occult reputation of supernaturalism, but still more colored by the stupendous interests and heart-felt sym- pathies which were awakened in our spiritual seances. Bear with me, then, my readers, whilst I relate to you a scene whose weird horrors would now be received calmly and with the same meed of applause which you would bestow on a successful operatic performance, but which, at the time of its occurrence, excited such terror and deep agitation in every witness's mind that nothing that has ever occurred since has sufficed to efface its terrible memories. Let me recite the narrative from the ordinary extracts in my diary, which read as follows : March 5. Meeting in session and duly inaugurated. Present : twenty members, all our officers, and the four Lucides of the month. One hour passed away after the opening of the ses- sion, but Professor von Marx did not appear. At 10 p. M. our Lucides, without a word exchanged, and as if by a concert of action, rose and assumed their places at the four quarters of the lodge as if we were not in open but secret session. All four were deeply entranced. Soon after this movement, they sang a sweet and exqui- site improvisation, at the close of which they joined in a well-known hymn, their fine voices attuned to such a pure and rich harmony, that every heart present felt its resistless spell. It was not until the singers had ceased, that we perceived, by the dim light of the four altai lamps, Professor Marx was amongst us. He had entered noiselessly and unseen by any one ; in fact, how he had entered was a mystery, the seance being conducted with doors locked and guarded. The professor had GHOST LAND. 253 not taken his usual place amongst the members, but stationed himself in one of the seats assigned to visi- tors, although there were none admitted that evening. Before we had time to greet him or remark upon the suddenness of his appearance, he addressed us, speaking in a singular, far-off tone of voice, which affected every listener with an indescribable sense of awe. His words were, as far as I can remember, to this effect : " My time is short, my power to address you limited. My beloved one is in fearful peril. Summon him not, nor inquire Ms fate for nine days. When that time expires, I will come again and direct you what to do. I have fear- fully wronged him, and it is for you, John Dudley, to help me make reparation. I have tampered all too pre- sumptuously with the sacred forces of a human soul, and ere I can find peace or rest, I must redeem my error. Aid me ! " He paused, yet a spell was on us all so strong, that not a creature moved or a voice replied. As for me, my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth. A nameless horror possessed me, and though I looked fixedly at the speaker, and could trace distinctly, even in that dim light, every line of his pale and anxious face, my eyes seemed blighted, and I would have given much for the power to turn them away and fix on them some other object. As he paused, he bent his eyes upon me, and so pleading, wistful, and yet piercing became their expression, that I felt as if I could not endure that glance another moment, when lo ! he slowly melted out before us into thin air. As he disappeared, the room shook vio- lently, every object rocked as in an earthquake ; the lights flamed up, then sank, and seemed on the point of expir- ing; deep sighs, and one or two low moans resounded through the apartment ; the air was suffocating. " Great Heaven! what is all this?" cried one of the members. 254 GHOST LAND. ft Let me be gone ; I cannot stay in this dreadful place ! " said another. In a moment there was a general move- ment towards the entrances ; the veils were thrown aside, and the whole of the party were hurrying back and forth through the room with restless and irrepressible agita- tion. "Whilst I sat in my place staring vacantly at the spot from whence the w atmospheric spirit " as we deemed the apparition to have been had disappeared, one of our lucides, in her natural tone, said hurriedly, shaking me by the arm at the same time, " Mr. Dudley, Mr. Dudley, arouse yourself ! That was no ? flying soul,' but Profes- sor von Marx's spirit. For Heaven's sake, hasten to the professor's lodgings, though I fear me it is too late. He is dead! I feel sure he is dead, and the poor young Chevalier is abandoned." March 6. Yes, Professor von Marx is dead! Our circle broke up and dispersed immediately after the scene last recorded, and accompanied by our president, the venerable Lord V , I hastened off to the pro- fessor's lodgings, which were at a considerable distance from my residence; in /act, close down by the river side. It occupied some time before my servants could be summoned, my carriage brought round, and Lord "V and myself set down at the old mansion which my friend had selected as the retreat of himself and his adopted son. It was near midnight then, when we reached the house, but we found the domestics all up and in the utmost perplexity and consternation. The professor had desired to be called at six o'clock that evening to dress for dinner, but when his valet reached him in ful- filment of his orders, he found him cold and rigid, as if he had been dead some hours. Medical aid had been GHOST LAND. 255 . summoned in vain. The proprietor of the house had despatched messengers to me, but as I had been dining out, and was subsequently engaged at our lodge, I could not be found, and there was no means of apprising me of the fact save through the extraordinary apparition which we had so recently witnessed. " Apoplexy," "heart disease," etc. etc., these were the medical ver- dicts on a case which none could understand and no science account for. March 10. My position is becoming most embar- rassing. The people with whom Professor von Marx lodged, inform me the poor young Chevalier arrived the night after his father died, and passed up the stairs without speaking a word to any one. How long he re- mained they cannot tell, but in the morning they found he had left the house and gone no one knows whither. It is a mystery to us all to discover how he heard of his friend's decease. I had despatched special messengers to him with the sad tidings, but they could not have reached him before the very night when he appeared in London. Taking into account all the mysteries by which we are surrounded, I don't feel at all sure that the individual seen was really the Chevalier in person. How do we know but what it might have been only his "atmospheric spirit," or what the Germans call the Doppel Ganger f For my part I am so bewildered with the attempt to find my way amidst these dark and occult paths, that I become lost, and uncertain how far we are justified in lifting the awful veil which divides the realms of spirit and matter. Half my time I know not by what or whom I am surrounded, or how to discriminate between the real and the phantom people that flash before my eyes. Remembering the mysterious charge we have re- 256 GHOST LAND. ceived, I dare not seek for this poor young man before the prescribed nine days elapse, and yet I am filled with the deepest anxiety on his account, and long to tender him the consolations of friendship and sympa- thy. More difficulties yet beset me. Professor von Marx has left his entire property to his adopted son, and named me as his guardian and trustee. His will is clear and lucid, and was evidently made for the hour, suiting so well the present crisis that it would seem as if he had foreseen and provided for the very moment of his decease. March 11. ~No tidings yet of the Chevalier, and the singular emphasis with which the apparition demanded a nine days' suspension of all inquiry, paralyzes any attempt on my part to discover what has become of him, yet my business advisers urge me to seek out the young heir without loss of time, and my best friends begin to wonder why I take no steps in this direction. Urgent advice and suggestions to "act promptly" pour in upon me from all quarters, and even my servants are regarding me with furtive and suspicious glances. I suppose every one will soon begin to set me down as crazy, an opinion that I shall not, I fear, be very unde- serving of, unless something occurs to relieve my mind from the terrible anxiety that now possesses it. The hardest task I have yet had to encounter is to resist the pleadings of my dear wife and children, who con- stantly urge me to institute inquiries for the missing heir, whom, they persist in believing, has been " made away with," through the same magical arts that have (as they allege) destroyed the unfortunate professor. It would be in vain for me to attempt combating such an opinion, absurd as it appears ; equally impossible for me to explain why I am determined to commence no search until after the nine days have expired. GHOST LAND. 257 We have called two special meetings of the Orphic Circle, but alas! the visions seem to be closed. Our somnambules are themselves so much disturbed and their minds so agitated by the prevailing excitement, that they are unable to come into those conditions of passivity necessary to procure reliable visions. They all seem to concur in the opinion, however, that the Chevalier is still living, and destined, as they predict, to grow out of his present semi-earthly condition and attain to a high and noble manhood. March 15. This night completes the prescribed sea- son of inactivity, and at 10 p. M. the Orphic Circle will meet to advise with, whatever powers may be pleased to attend us, upon the necessary steps to be taken for the discovery of our unfortunate young friend. Amidst all manner of annoyances, estranged looks, covert re- proaches, and open rebukes, I have faithfully adhered to the commands of the mysterious phantom and ab- stained from all attempts to discover the Chevalier's retreat. I only know that he left his country retirement and appeared at his former residence in London. At neither place have any tidings been heard of him since ; and his unaccountable absence from the funeral of his adopted father, which we delayed until yesterday, leaves us no longer a shadow of hope that he will voluntarily appear amongst us. To-night, the ninth since the apparition of Professor von Marx at our circle, must decide how far we can look for help from the invisible world; if that fails us, to-morrow's dawn will see me surrounded with every instrumentality that human effort can afford, to make our search successful. Many days have elapsed since I made my last entry, but the events that have crowded so thickly upon me 17 258 GHOST LAND. have prevented my fulfilment of that which has now become to me a solemn, life duty, namely, to record as plainly and truthfully as language can set forth the facts of spiritual intervention in human affairs, and to draw the mysterious and awful veil which has hitherto shrouded those realms of power and influence, from which the invisible springs of human action mainly proceed. On the night of March 15 our session commenced at 9 P. M., and our lodge was opened with the usual for- malities. Our four neophytes w r ere stationed by the altars, each with the mirror and crystal appropriate to the time. The four lamps which sufficed to dispel the darkness of the lodge were lighted, the braziers duly served, and the fumigations carefully attended to. After the opening hymns had been sung and the invocations commenced, the lamps began to flicker with the usual unsteady motion which indicates responses from the spirits summoned, and in a short time they went out one after another, leaving the room only faintly illumi- nated by the colored fires from the braziers. Around the central altar we now perceived that the crystals were beginning to be covered by bright corrus- cations of sparkling light. With sensations of un- wonted awe and breathless interest, we noticed also, that small tongues of flame and globes of pale light loomed through the darkness at different parts of the hall, sailing around, and gradually disappearing near the altar. At length we observed that the whole apartment was becoming lighter and lighter. From whatever source the illumination proceeded, it completely overpowered the light of the braziers, until it gradually filled the whole place with a soft, hazy twi- light. Then it was that we discovered around the cen- GHOST LAND. 259 tral altar, a circle of crouching, dark forms, who, with veiled heads and misty robes, seemed to be supported on seats faintly outlined, and stretching away, row after row and circle after circle, until they reached from the first or inner circle, up to the remotest portion of the roof, completely filling our vast lodge-room and ascend- ing as it seemed even beyond the roof, in the form of an ancient Roman amphitheatre. This spectral com- pany, although clearly outlined in the mysterious twi- light of the room, obscured but did not conceal the other persons or material objects present, which shone through them as if they had been merely shadows. I find on comparing notes with the other members of the circle, the appearances I have thus briefly described were realized by all pretty much alike. Let it be remem- bered, however, that what I have attempted to depict in cold, matter-of-fact language, can never be thoroughly realized except by the awe-struck witnesses, nor could any word-painting, however vivid, do justice to the tremendous and harrowing impressions produced on every mind by the presence of this immense company of formless, nameless shadows. I might live for cen- turies ere the memory of that solemn and terrific scene could be obliterated; I might behold death and car- nage, the red battle-field, or mortal catastrophe in its direst form, yet nothing could ever equal the insupport- able horror of that phantom gathering. I recall it now, with sentiments of dismay which no time has served to diminish. Presently, in the midst of the awful stillness, there came a sudden movement amongst the spectral forms ; with one accord they all rose to their feet, and as they did so, a soughing, sighing sound filled the apart- ment, like the uprising of a vast multitude, accompa- nied by the rushing of a mighty wind. It was evident 260 GHOST LAND. that something or somebody had come into their midst, whom these shrouded phantoms rose to receive. Dur- ing what ensued, they all remained erect and motionless, yet still dimly visible in the peculiar and unearthly glare that illumined the lodge. Then, without perceiving any other form or realizing who spoke, except from the tone and substance of what follows, a voice, which all present recognized as that of Felix von Marx, speaking from the circle of braziers which surrounded the central altar, addressed us thus : "My Louis is dead; he lies in the wood by the side of the river on the road to which I will direct you through Estelle, and from whence you, John Dudley, must bring him to your home. Take him to your heart, and do your duty by him as a man, a friend, a father. Your course towards him will be inspired, and all ypur actions guided by those who have his soul in charge. They will give you the daily bread of wisdom so long as he tarries with you. In the life that has passed for him, for me, I have greatly wronged him, filled his soul with mine, clothed his spirit in my own, consumed, absorbed, and killed him. His spirit has fled in yearn- ing after mine, but during the dread hour of mortal death, the Father of spirits has permitted his angels to repair the mighty wrong, allowed his soul to gain another birth, struggle into a new life, attain another being; moulded anew by pain and anguish, the crushed germ of his new-born soul has been revived by pitying angels. The body sleeps now, but the spirit hovers near, upborne in the hands of ministering spirits, who weave afresh the vital cord that binds him to mortal life, and when you have rescued the suffering frame from its grassy death-bed, the reunion of the new-born soul with its earthly tenement will be effected. Rescued GHOST LAND. 261 to be a revelator in the new dispensation, spared to take his place as a builder in the temple of the new religion, his real life-work must begin under your fatherhood, John Dudley; and the Lord and Master of life, the Father of all, do so to you, and more also, as you do to him, my victim and my child. Now speed away, and hasten! hasten!" The voice ceased, or rather the last accents seemed to die off in a prolonged and singular wail, hushed by the soughing sound before described, as if the vast con- course of moving phantoms were about to resume their crouching attitudes, but no, they sank down, down, with a long, subsiding sigh, until they melted into the ground beneath our feet. The lights streamed up from the braziers; the veils of separation and banners that floated from the walls stirred and waved as if moved by a strong wind; sweet odors streamed for a moment through the room; a few distant chords of music rang through the air, then all was still, and everything re- sumed its place and aspect, as if the whole past scene had been nothing but an unquiet dream. By the time the hour of midnight had sounded from the city clocks, Estelle, our best clairvoyant, Lord Y , and myself were seated in my barouche, with four of my best horses in harness. The night was wild and threatening. Heavy banks of clouds from time to time obscured the moon and cast their murky shadows across the path which our flying horses trav- ersed. Our clairvoyant, in a deep magnetic trance, directed our path at every turn in the, road. I myself sat on the box and drove, Estelle being placed by my side, two outriders following, to render such service as we might require. We traversed Hampstead Heath, and guided ever by our admirable somnambulist, we 262 GHOST LAND. struck off several times from the direct road, until towards morning, after five hours' ride, pursued with- out pause or interruption, we reached the banks of a deep and sullen river, and began to near the outskirts of an extensive wood. So frequent had been the divergencies we made under our somnambulist's direction, that I had lost all track of the road we pursued, and the spot we had now reached was entirely strange to me. On gaining the point in question, Estelle gave me a peremptory sign to stop, and for a few moments her attitude of breathless silence induced me to fear she was losing the mysterious thread of influence that had guided us thus far. My doubts were soon dispelled however, and a new-born hope set my heart wildly throbbing, as the young girl hurriedly bade us alight and give our carriage and horses in charge of the grooms,who were to wait for further orders. Then crying, " Follow me ! " she sprang forward into the wood, moving with a pace so swift and a step so light, that it was with the utmost difficulty Lord V and myself could track her through the darkness by her white gar- ments. As we advanced, struggling painfully forward amidst the tangled underbrush and overhanging boughs of half-fallen trees, we saw a distant light sailing through the air and descending towards the ground, where it seemed to hover for a few seconds, then sunk rapidly and became extinguished. At the same moment a cry from Estelle warned us to quicken our pace, and obeying the impatient waving of her white handkerchief, we stumbled and groped our way on until we reached the edge of a ravine, at the side of which, a few steps below the path, we found Estelle, awake, in her normal state, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, kneel- ing on the ground beside the cold and lifeless form of oi GHOST LAND. 263 him we came to seek. His garments drenched with rain, whiter than snow, with staring, open eyes fixed in the awful glare of death on the silent stars, with stiff, thin hands clutching as if in agony, masses of earth and up-torn grass, there lay the piteous form of the once beautiful and highly-gifted heir of the great Professor von Marx. Speculation was idle ; pity gave place to rapid action, sympathy and grief to quick resolve. Raising the dead form, for such it appeared to be, in my arms, with Lord V 's help I carried him from the dreary wood to the carriage, and ere noon of the day which was just then dawning, I placed him beneath the shelter of my own roof. I brought back to my anxious wife and children a sad and piteous spectacle 't is true, a mere skeleton, with scarcely a shadow of the brilliant grace and beauty that had once distinguished him ; but I knew the invis- ible powers that had rescued him could restore the life they had so miraculously saved. I knew that the future called him, and the hand of waiting destiny could raise him from the very bier. I was neither surprised nor excited, therefore, when the physicians I had sum- moned, reported that the faint fluttering of the still throbbing heart, gave promise that my cares and anxie- ties would yet be rewarded, and Professor von Marx's solemn trust of fatherhood had not been bequeathed to me in vain. CHAPTEE XIV. DIARY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY, ESQ., CONTINUED. May IS, 18 . Many weeks elapsed before I had an opportunity of making another entry in my diary. Meantime spring had almost ripened into summer, and the ward in whom I had become so strangely and in- voluntarily interested, was restored to life and partial strength, and at the request of my pitying wife and daughters, became established as an inmate of my own home. These dear members of my family, although un- yielding in their prejudices against my " magical prac- tices," had always manifested a deep interest in the young Chevalier de B ; in fact, they had so won upon his reticent nature by their kind and womanly at- tentions, that he was completely familiarized amongst them, and proved an ever-welcome visitor in my wife's salon. His high intellectual culture, passionate love of music, exquisite voice, and skilful performance on sev- eral instruments of music, completed the charm with which nature had endowed him, and few persons could have supposed that there was any subject of divided opinion between the ladies of my household and their fascinating visitor. On the sad day when I brought the wasted form of their favorite to rest for a while beneath my roof, my wife insisted upon his being given up to her tender care. The time came at last, however, when this gentle nurse, GHOST LAND. 265 no less than all his other attendants, myself included, began to regard his convalescence with a mixture of equal astonishment and perplexity. We could not disguise from ourselves the startling fact, that the unfortunate Chevalier, whilst regaining his usual composure and lucidity of manner, had obviously lost sight of his own identity. That his external ap- pearance should long retain traces of the terrible suffer- ings he had undergone was naturally to be expected; but the look of mature age which overspread his hag- gard face and worn form, did not pass away with returning strength. Although little more than twenty years of age, he might have been taken for a man of forty. His voice, naturally sweet and melodious, assumed a deeper tone, and his accent, strongly marked by his mother's native Italian, now betrayed the same German intonation peculiar to his adopted father's. Day by day some fresh token of a wandering mind, fixing itself into the very self-same grooves of identity that had distinguished Professor von Marx, became more and more strikingly apparent. He would frequently perplex his kind nurses by entreat- ing them to tell him where Louis was, and wliy lie had deserted his unfortunate father now that he was so weak and helpless. At times he would startle me with the same supplication, always addressing me as his w dear old friend John," and speaking of himself as if he had been the real Felix von Marx. Sometimes he would ask whether there was no letter yet from Louis, and specu- late, with an anxiety distressing to witness, on the causes which prevented his hearing from him. I was greatly embarrassed how to answer him, but he would generally save me the trouble by running off from the subject in his wandering way, saying, "I know I 266 GHOST LAND. have been very ill, distraught I believe in my mind, but I am nearly well now and able to understand all you may have to say to me. Tell me then, about my darling. You know I left him at R , and thought to have joined him just as I was taken ill. How long is it since then? Tell me, John !" I would commonly answer him in the same strain, saying, Louis had gone on a visit to our mutual friend Lord V , and that he had only been ill a week or two. Louis would soon return, etc. etc. Sometimes these stereotyped replies would quite satisfy him, though repeated many times a week; at others he would try to think, and murmur dreamily, fr l thought it was a very long time ago and that I had been travelling through many strange countries, of which I have no distinct recollection." As time wore on, the impres&ion that he was Felix von Marx deepened upon him, but the strangest part of all was, not alone his perfect assumption of all the professor's peculiar traits of character, but his entire renunciation of all ideas and habits which had formerly distinguished him- self. The Chevalier's accomplishment in and love of music gave place to the professor's indifference, amount- ing to dislike of the art. Even the sweet voices of my daughters, which the young man had been accustomed to join, and listen to with rapt delight^ now displeased him, and he would hastily quit the room when they began to sing. He would accompany us in riding or driving as far as his feeble strength permitted, but he shrank away with dislike, almost fear, from the presence of strangers or visitors, and desired only to spend his time in solitude and deep abstraction. He frequently spoke of his intention to go and seek Louis, but he seemed unable to fix his mind upon a permanent idea, and was easily persuaded that the same week or two since GHOST LAND. 267 he had been taken ill, was all that had elapsed, and that Louis was coming home to-morrow or next day. As if to compensate me for the deep anxiety I suffered on my poor ward's account, a change arose in the feelings of my family which brought me unmitigated satisfaction. The strange tidings from America about the marvels of spirit communion, came faster and thicker, and won- derful narratives were in circulation, concerning the system of telegraphy by which the world of spirits was bringing assurance of their continued existence to the minds of their earthly friends. Although the report of these marvels formed a prominent theme of discussion at many a fashionable assemblage and amongst our numerous visitors, I never promoted or made the slightest allusion to them in my own family; perhaps I never should have done so, had I Jiot one day been timidly sounded by my youngest darling, Blanche, who after beating about the bush for a considerable time in her own pretty, insinuating way, proceeded to pour out a remarkable narrative, the sum of which was as follows: It seemed that my daughter's German maid had lately been much disturbed by unaccountable noises, which kept her awake of a night, and finally induced her to ask the housekeeper to change her sleeping apartment. On mentioning the cause of her request, the housekeeper gravely informed her she would obtain no relief from a change of rooms, as she herself as well as several of the other domestics had experienced the same strange annoyances; that the sounds in question were to be heard all over the house, in a word, accord- ing to the gouvernante's theory, the strange sounds were the new thing that had come across the ocean from America, and no one could prevent or hinder them. 268 GHOST LAND. When this piece of philosophy began to be discussed in the servants' hall, it turned out, as the housekeeper had said, that strange knockings and odd motions of furniture, had been noticed all over the house. Some of the servants attributed the trouble to the goblins that their master and Professor von Marx had been so busy in raising; others, to the work of the late pro- fessor's ghost; but all agreed that they had something to do with the poor young Chevalier, as they were most frequently heard around the apartments occupied by him and his Arab servant, and they finally agreed to refer the whole matter to Lady Emily L , my wife's sister, a staid widow lady now on a visit amongst us, and one whose strong sense constituted her a high authority in such occult difficulties. When Lady Emily heard the various statements concerning the disturb- ances now prevalent, she did not, as had been expected, deny their credibility or rebuke the narrators for their superstitious opinions, but she quietly informed the housekeeper and German maid, that her nieces as well as herself had experienced the same disturbances ; that she had lately been much occupied in reading accounts from America on similar phenomena, and cer- tain tracts on the subject had explained the method by which mortals could put themselves in safe and direct communication with these haunting spirits; she ended by advising that her nieces and herself, assisted by the worthy housekeeper and two of the most intelligent of the ladies' maids, should form a circle on the approved American fashion and see what would come of it. At first the bold investigators nearly scared them- selves into fits by their rash experiment, for no sooner had they seated themselves on the prescribed plan around their circle-table, than that hitherto well-bred GHOST LAND. 269 and inanimate article of furniture, began to leap, dance, slide, kick, and behave in such a generally frantic man- ner, that the astounded sitters retreated from it in horror, and ended by summoning a footman to carry the demo- niac piece of furniture away into parts unknown. After recovering from the first shock of this astound- ing exhibition, the pioneers returned to the charge with another table, and then another and another. At last, finding that as soon as they put themselves in position, every article they laid hands on behaved in the same unruly manner, they concluded to consult some of their acquaintances who, as report alleged, had already taken their first degrees in the mystery of spirit rappings and were known to be holding nightly circles with immense success. From this point it is unnecessary to trace the un- foldments of the great secret with which my Blanche had come charged. Her gentle mother at first strenu- ously opposed to such terrible doings had finally been initiated as one of the sisters, and become classified as an excellent impressional and seeing medium. My eldest daughter Sophie, was the writing and drawing medium of the band, and had already filled up sev- eral quires of foolscap with " communications from the seventh sphere." Blanche was a tipping, rapping, per- sonating, singing, playing, and every other sort of a medium. Lady Emily and the housekeeper were w developing mediums," and two German, one Spanish, and one French lady's maid, were rapping and seeing mediums. In short, I was informed that my entire household had become hand-and-glove with the spirit world; that circles in our own family, as well as in those of several of our acquaintances, were in full headway, and that they had at length thought it fit and proper 270 GHOST LAND. that they should ask my permission to carry on their investigations, as well as my advice as to their best modes of procedure. "Without even hinting to my fair informant that I deemed her application came a little late in the day, much less apprising her that a certain cousin Harry, an Oxford B. A., had kept me fully informed of the whole matter from first to last, I assumed a grave air, declared the thing had become serious and must be im- mediately looked into ; that it was my duty as a county magistrate and the father of a family to take the whole thing into custody and join the next seance they were to hold, which turned out to be that very night. It would be unnecessary to pursue this subject further at the present time, save to state, that I found several good test mediums in my family, as my dear little Blanche had stated; that then and for some two or three years subse- quently, my dear ones enjoyed a heaven upon earth in the bright and consoling communion of loved ones gone before, and that it colored their whole lives and tinctured their opinions with a liberal element, which has happily never failed to exert its elevating influence over them. One day, when I was more than ordinarily concerned at the increasing hallucination of the Chevalier, I deter- mined to ask our spirit friends what course they would recommend me to pursue with him. It seemed to us all, a remarkable circumstance that amongst the number and variety of spirits that had identified themselves through our mediums, Felix von Marx had never mani- fested. I had often asked for him, but without success, and what was still stranger, none of our spirit friends seemed able to give any account of him. They all con- curred in stating that they believed he was " still in the earth sphere." Pesenting my special request for advice GHOST LAND, 271 to one of our trusted spirit guides, we received the fol- lowing message: "Bring the Chevalier here." I was doubtful whether he would come ; the spirits were sure of his compliance. The matter was soon decided, for I tendered my invitation to the Chevalier, who at once, and with something of his old yielding manner, rose and followed me without a word. No sooner had he taken the place assigned him at the circle, than a letter came fluttering through the air, passing his face and falling on his hand. On opening the sheet we found written in ink not yet dry, the words, " Send for Ernes- tine you know who, for you have been writing to her this morning." The letter was unsigned, but addressed to "John C. Dudley, Esq., Square, London." Now, although I had long since given up being astonished at anything, I was considerably startled now : first, at the only direct writing I had ever received from a spiritual source ; , next, at the intelligence conveyed. The truth is, in a recent conversation with my ward, he, under the fixed impression that he was Felix von Marx, stated that in the early days of his married life he had pur- chased and presented to his wife a piece of valuable land, the lease of which would run out just about this time, and as she would be liable to lose her interest in it unless she took certain legal steps which he referred to, so he wished I would do him the favor to write and advise her of what was requisite to be done. Never was I more completely astounded than by .this address. I knew, if I knew anything, that the Chevalier was entirely ignorant that his father had ever been married, whilst the information he gave about the property was equally unknown to me. Directly after Professor Marx's decease I had inquired for the address of his widow the Princess Ernestine, and informed her of her loss, at the 272 GHOST LAND. same time mentioning the disposition her late husband had made of his property. The princess by letter, expressed her entire approval of the professor's will, and when I again wrote to her to inquire whether any such business transaction as that the Chevalier had described, really took place, she entered into a full account of the matter, described it in the same terms as those employed by the Chevalier, and announced her intention of seeing me when she came to London, which, she added, she expected to do in a few days on special business. She gave as her town address a certain hotel in Bond St., and it was a note addressed to her High- ness at that hotel that I had actually been engaged in writing in the morning. I had been interrupted before I could finish my letter, and having put it in my desk under lock and key, I had the best reason to believe no human being was cognizant of its existence, although, as I now found to my astonishment, there were other eyes than those of humanity on our most secret actions. Our seance soon closed, and this was the first and last time the Chevalier ever joined us; in fact, after he had taken his place amongst us, his entire absence of mind rendered all that passed a complete blank to him. The next day I drove to the hotel to which the Princess von Marx's letters were to be directed, and on reaching it, learned to my great surprise and gratification, that she had already arrived, although she was not prepared to receive visitors. Sending up my card, with the pressing request that she would favor me with an inter- view, I found myself admitted to the illustrious lady's presence before I had well made up my mind how to prefer the strange request I had to make to her. I found her Highness composed enough to compensate for my blundering ways, so I let her rattle on until nt GHOST LAND. 273 suddenly occurred to me I ought to have opened the interview by condoling with her on her widowed condi- tion. Before I had got half through the speech I deemed it proper to make on this point, the princess interrupted me with a grave assurance that she quite appreciated the depth of my sympathy, but for her part, her chief concern was in the idea that poor Felix must be such an unprogressed spirit, in fact, she could not rest until she had learned something of what sphere he was in. Unprogressed spirit, spheres, and all that sort of thing! What did I hear? Why, this was the spiritu- alistic dialect to which I was now becoming thoroughly accustomed, and if my ears did not deceive me, the Princess Ernestine must be a Spiritualist. A few lead- ing questions soon settled that point. The princess was a Spiritualist, an ardent one, of course, nay, she had actually made a visit to London for the sole purpose of consulting a celebrated American medium who had lately arrived in the city. Thus was my way made clear for me, and my difficult mission more than half accomplished. As delicately as I could, I explained to her the singular and tenderly intimate tie which had bound her late husband to his young protege. I then proceeded to detail the awkward dilemma in which I and my whole family were placed, by the strange hallucination of my ward, whom the princess pronounced at once to be "obsessed" by that violent and determined late spouse of hers. Interrupting me before I could explain the object of my mission, this very impulsive lady launched out into the peculiar nature of obsession, the special tendencies of that very obstinate person, Felix von Marx, and the certainty that there was but one way of exorcising him, or in other words, getting rid of him, and that was by boldly confronting him in 18 274 GHOST LAND. her own person. She naively enough assured me, if it were von Marx's spirit that possessed the victim, there was no surer way of disposing of him, than to bring him face to face with his wife; adding, she was quite satis- fied he could n't stay in her presence a single moment, but would only be too glad to relinquish his prey, after which of course he would retire to the particular sphere to which he belonged. ''You see, my dear friend," urged the lady, in a torrent of eloquence which proved how deeply she was immersed in the subject under con- sideration, "von Marx can not be anything less than the most obstinate of all spirits, just as he was the most determined of all men. ]STow, my plan is this : I '11 pre- sent myself before him, announcing my intention of remaining there for life if it be necessary. Of course he will go, he can not but choose to do so, and thus your friend will be delivered from his tormentor and I shall have my chance to retaliate; that is, of course, I don't mean that, only to aid this most unprogressed of spirits to make atonement for past offences." "When the lady had talked herself out, I at last had an opportunity of putting in a mild suggestion. I availed myself of it, by informing her my principal object in soliciting her interference was, with a view of finally testing the truth of the sad proposition as to whether the young man was or was not obsessed by the spirit of ! his adopted father. As the Chevalier was not only a stranger to the person of the princess, but had never even heard of her, it oc- curred to me, any intelligence that might be manifested by bringing him suddenly into her presence, must prove decisive of the real condition of his mind. Of course Madame had ulterior designs, to which my proposition was but subordinate. However, I mentally determined GHOST LAND. 275 to let matters shape themselves, provided I could only succeed in procuring the interview and testify its results as above suggested. As the princess was perfectly will- ing to accede to any arrangement that could favor the design which now possessed her, namely, that of help- ing her late husband "to become a progressed spirit," it was agreed that she should accompany me back to my residence that very evening, so that by taking the Chev- alier, as well as the whole of my family by surprise, we might make any test of intelligence all the more confir- matory. After an early dinner, which I partook of tete-a-tete with my old flame, but in which anxiety for my ward colored our whole conversation, the princess was good enough to take a seat in my carriage and accompany me to my house, which we reached about eight o'clock in the evening. Ushering my fair visitor into my library, which led out by French windows on to a broad stone terrace overlooking the garden, I went out in search of my wife, to whom I proposed to mention the fact of the princess's arrival. Just as I had passed on to the terrace, my wife and the Chevalier, with whom she had been walking, approached, and I immediately returned for the princess, whom I thus allowed to encounter the Chevalier without a moment's preparation on either side. The pale and haggard face, bent form, and pleading eyes of the unfortunate young man, would have com- manded pity from the least interested observer, but when the singular and almost preternatural resem- blance that existed between the professor and his protege is remembered, the start and faint cry of the princess on beholding such an apparition, might easily be understood. As to the Chevalier himself, the wild glare which lit 276 GHOST LAND. up his eyes and the look of horror which transfigured his whole expression, fixed us all in anxious expectation. The deep flush which at first mantled his worn cheek, turned to a frightful pallor as he exclaimed in accents of deep agitation, "Ernestine! Ernestine! in the name of heaven and our dead child, why have you come hither to torment me?" "Is it you, Felix?" the lady murmured, in low and trembling accents. "Is it Felix von Marx?" he asked, in those tones of bitter scorn which I had so often heard from the profes- sor, but never before from the gentle lips of his son. " Is this poor, shivering wreck the Felix whom you took on that bright, fatal summer day, O Ernestine! when I sold you my peace and liberty for a mess of pottage? " I had heard from von Marx that this very expression, wrung from him in one of his most acrimonious matri- monial disputes, had been more violently resented by his lady than any other reproach that had ever fallen from his lips. To hear it now repeated by one who was not even in existence when it had been first uttered, and who never by any possibility could have heard it applied In such a connection, was so startling to myself, my wife, and the princess, that the insult it conveyed, passed us all unnoticed; meantime the Chevalier, assuming a more dignified and less passionate tone, now addressed the lady with grave courtesy and begged her to retire with him for a few moments, then bowing to me and my wife, he motioned the lady with an air of deep respect to accompany him to the end of the terrace where he seated her, standing leaning against the stone balustrade to the end of the interview. As they retired, my wife, who was by this time thoroughly convinced my theory of obsession was correct, remarked in a frightened GHOST LAND. 277 whisper how strange it was that throughout the whole scene the young man should have spoken in the Rus- sian language. Now, we were both aware that though v r on Marx spoke this tongue with perfect facility, he had in vain tried to induce his son to learn it. Its harsh guttural tones were so distasteful to him, that he always declared he could not study it, yet he had used it in addressing the princess, and that with the fluency and correctness of a native. Madame von Marx assured us also he had maintained their protracted conversation entirely in that language. "What the substance of that interview w r as we never heard. The lady wept abundantly as it proceeded, and when at last the Chevalier, bowing to her profoundly, passed us and retired, Madame, whom we immediately rejoined, was so much affected, that it was some time before she could recover her composure. She begged us not to press her for details, but assured as "that weird stranger" had spoken to her of matters which none beside God and her late husband could have known, and that had she not previously been convinced of the truth of Spiritualism, the unmistakable presence of Felix von Martfs spirit in a human body, whilst his own was mouldering in the grave, must have converted her. "We decided that it would not be safe to subject our visitor to a renewal of these exciting scenes, hence the princess determined not to see him again; besides, the test which we had sought, was fully rendered, and now the only question that remained was what steps we should pursue to release the victim from his terrible and unnatural bondage. If my readers can apprehend the scope of my strange narrative, if they do not deem it an idle and senseless fabrication rather than a statement put on record for the 278 GHOST LAND. sake of illustrating one of the most momentous and solemn of problems in mental science, they will per- ceive with what stupendous difficulties my path was now environed. My good name had already been injuriously associated with vague and, of course, utterly unfounded rumors con- cerning the nature of the occult practices in which I was known to be interested. Despite the extreme reticence of my wife and daughters on the subject of our spiritual investigations, the tidings had gone abroad that I had succeeded in perverting them from the faith of their fathers and " inveigling them into the absurd and blas- phemous pretensions of the new sect calling themselves Spiritualists." These pernicious reports were sufficiently calculated to prejudice us in the opinion of our large circle of acquaintance and painfully affect the sensitive natures of my dear ones at home. The sudden death of the celebrated Professor von Marx had excited much injurious comment, and sufficed to cast an ill odor on all who were supposed to be engaged in the occult pursuits to which whispered rumor attributed his mysterious demise; but the most distressing of all my perplexities was the condition of my unhappy ward. Here was a young foreigner of high birth, distinguished appearance, and heir to prop- erty of which I had been left sole trustee. This gen- tleman had first disappeared and then reappeared under the most mysterious circumstances, and the deep seclu- sion in which I was now said to hold him, served to swell the tide of prejudice that was mustering against me. The faithful Arabian who attended on my ward could speak no English, but my other domestics con- verted even this circumstance into evil testimony, alleg- GHOST LAND. 279 ing that he was stricken dumb to all but his master under the influence of a spell." The strange sounds and sights that had of late pos- sessed my house, and the report that the Chevalier was obsessed by demons, were other items of public gossip against which I found it impossible to make headway. My lawyers urged an immediate settlement of Pro- fessor von Marx's estate, but my ward was in no condi- tion to assist me in doing so. Meantime my large circle of very dear friends testified by the frequency and length of their visits, the deep interest they took in my private affairs. They manifested this disposition more especially by their reiterated inquiries for my " charm- ing ward," and their pressing requests that Mrs. Dudley would bring him with her to this assembly or that soiree, nay, at times they propounded the direct question to my wife and daughters, why the Chevalier never appeared in public any more. To all these impertinences my poor girls could only plead their guest's ill health and his inconsolable grief for the loss of his friend. At length a rumor began to spread, from what source I know not, that Professor von Marx was not really dead, but that his pupil was, and a hint was even dropped upon the propriety of exhuming the body to ascertain its identity. The poor princess, shocked at the various evil reports that were in circulation, fled away to the Continent, postponing her intention of helping her late husband's spirit out of purgatory, until matters were more favor- able for the experiment. My dear wife and children bore up more bravely under our various trials than I had a right to expect; still we all realized that though the ominous words * witchcraft " and w magic " were gone out of fashion, and we could no more become obnoxious 280 GHOST LAND. to the sorcerer's doom of fire and fagots, there were yet two words of scarcely less evil import whispered against us, and these were "Spiritualism" and "infidelity," whilst the fire and fagots of public opinion might be made scarcely less scorching than the flames of the ancient auto-da-fe. I am now writing not so much for my own time or generation, as for myself and posterity. I wish to leave a record behind me which will serve as a mile-stone on the road of spiritualistic discovery which later genera- tions will assuredly traverse. I wish too, in thus recall- ing the bitter experiences I have passed through, to analyze some of the mysteries of their causation, and endeavor to profit by the lessons they have afforded me through a candid examination of their different points. Let me add then, to this page of confession, that the most insoluble problem that now beset me, I found lurk- ing within the depths of my own consciousness, that is to say, I felt entirely uncertain concerning the propri- ety, or even the righteousness of my own past course. What had my researches into these awful realms of spiritual existence, brought to me and mine? I asked. Visions of horror, scenes which make the blood curdle to remember; phantoms from realms of which I knew nothing, and association with beings whose nature was revolting to my poor, weak humanity. My friend too was dead, and in the midst of all the reveal- ments which the weird phenomena around me brought, I could learn 110 tidings of his immortal being, except such as filled me with new horror and dismay. The dreadful hallucination of the young Chevalier, that is. if hallucination it was, rather than a still more fearful reality, all this, added to my own doubts, fears, and present struggles with public opinion, formed such an GHOST LAND. 281 array of calamity that, light-hearted and trusting as I generally was, I felt as if I must soon sink beneath my burdens, unless indeed, something came to help me endure, or relieve me from them. It was in the depth of this Gethsemane that my dear girls became mediums, and furnished to their afflicted parents just the very bread of life for which they were famishing. The proofs of immortality these happy, blessed seances of ours brought us, were irresistible and conclusive. The tokens of spirit presence, guardianship, and continued protection became to our wounded spirits a perpetual strength and consolation. Wise, reasonable, just philosophy was rendered us for the difficulties by which we were surrounded. Profes- sor von Marx's excessive absorption in occult practices was represented as the cause of the great wrong he had done to his beloved protege, rendering him a mere para- site on another's life, and filling him with a foreign mag- netism which destroyed his individuality, and made him a mere fragile, helpless instrument of another's will. It was to this cause that our spirit friends attributed the Chevalier's desperate attempt at suicide and his present obsession. As to the shafts which public opinion levelled against us, we were warned that the path of the reformer and innovator ever runs in the grooves of martyrdom, and that if we would be found worthy to become participants in new revelations of truth, we must endure the fires of persecution from the disciples of the old. We were promised a speedy deliverance from all the pains and penalties that now beset us, although the way was not yet clearly mapped out; and thus when I began to compare the sufferings which ignorance and misrepre- sentation put upon us with the vast boon of knowledge, 282 GHOST LAND. consolation, and exalting communion which we enjoyed by the new revelation vouchsafed to us, I concluded the jewel we had obtained was more than worth the cost, and we who were recipients in this precious truth, whilst we felt the necessity of shielding it from vulgar comment, and reserving our pearls lest the swine of calumny and prejudice should destroy them, still united in the resolve that we would continue to bear our cross so long as we realized that Calvary was the footstool of Paradise. CHAPTER XV. DIAEY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY, ESQ., CONTINUED. i w FELIX VON MARX has, in his earth life, taken him- self out of the hands of loving spirit ministers, and sunk down to the sphere of elementary spirits, from which he can only escape by a resumption of the natural order of being, an order he has striven to reverse. He has entangled the soul and body of his adopted son in the same fatal meshes of error, and both must pay the pen- alty of new birth and resurrection, through pain and sorrow, before they can come into the order of nature, where the love of spirit friends and kindred can minis- ter unto them. w A little while longer and this beneficent change will be accomplished. In the spheres ruled by sub-mundane and super-mundane being, this great revolution has origi- nated, and from thence the restoration must also come. Human spirits can not yet intervene or aid them. We can but hover near and seize upon every favorable op- portunity to sustain and strengthen them, until their restitution is effected. The All-Father when he placed mortals on earth, wisely dropped a veil between the past and future, the higher and lower realms of being, suffi- ciently opaqae to shield the dim eyes of mortals from too much light, knowledge too high or vast for their frail natures to apprehend. The daring souls who lift that veil and penetrate into the awful realms beyond 284 GHOST LAND. are like swimmers who venture into the billowy wastes of which they have no soundings. Von Marx and Louis de B are in the midst of these fathomless abysses of sub-mundane and super-mundane knowl- edge. We cannot help them yet, but God, the Father of spirits, can. He sees, knows, and pities, and will re- deem them from the depths, and bring them into the paths he destines their feet to tread. Meantime His providence works through human means, and these you must employ to fulfil his designs. "Once more the agencies of magic must be set in motion to redeem its victims. Call together then, the Orphic Circle, and there you will receive the help you solicit, the guidance necessary for your future action, and the direction we cannot give, but the spirits who govern there can." Such was the communication rapped out to me, letter by letter, at one of our own family seances in answer to an urgent appeal on my part for guidance concerning my future course in connection with the Chevalier de B . In obedience to the suggestions of the com- municating spirit, one in whom we had all learned to repose implicit confidence, I determined to resume my place amongst the members of the Orphic Circle at then 1 next regular meeting. I had not joined my companions for nearly four months, and the announcement of my intention to do so induced them to call a special seance at an earlier period than usual. On the night in ques- tion I left my invalid guest in his own apartment, whither he had retired, declining to accompany me, as he com- plained of an unconquerable tendency to sleep; indeed, he had sunk into a profound slumber before I left him, and I heard him desire his servant not to awaken him till the following morning. GHOST LAND. 285 After our lodge had been opened with the usual for- mulae, the scene began to resemble that which trans- pired on the night of Professor von Marx's death. There was the same uncertainty and waiting expectancy in our minds; the same restlessness of feeling amongst our neophytes, clairvoyants, and members. The lamps flick- ered and became extinguished spontaneously several times, although the indescribable feeling of awe that pervaded our assembly induced the wardens to relight them, contrary to our custom. All at once, sheets of lightning flashed through the room in every direction, finally extinguishing every other light and followed by the most tremendous peals of thunder, I think, I ever heard. This awful crash announced the bursting of a long-, expected storm, which had been brooding over the city all day. For more than three hours the wildest commo- tion of the elements succeeded, indeed, for many sub- sequent years, the violence of the tempest that raged that night was not forgotten by those who witnessed it. At first we felt relieved by the opening of the storm without, deeming that the sensations of oppression we had experienced might be thus naturally accounted for, but very soon the feeling of nameless awe returned, and at length we perceived in the incessant glare of the lightning which filled our otherwise dark lodge-room with sheets of livid flame, a tall figure standing beside the central altar with one foot on the lowest step. At first we were disposed to think one of our own number had assumed this position under the efflatus of the mag- netic trance, but the repeated flashes of the electric fluid illuminating the stranger's features, at length revealed to all present the unmistakable similitude of Felix von Marx. We noticed too, that the figure was arrayed in 286 GHOST LAND. a professor's robe, whilst the college cap, which formed a portion of the costume, was distinctly visible, lying on the white cloth of the altar. Let me here remark, without any wrong done to a Society many of whose sessions and underlying principles, the members hold themselves sacredly bound to keep secret, that the appa- ritions which we had been accustomed to invoke, and those described by our seers, clairvoyants, and neo- phytes, were not the spirits of the dead, or at least not so regarded; hence this unmistakable apparition, mani- fest to all present, and so clearly identical with one whose mortal remains we had ourselves committed to the grave, made a deeper and more profound impression upon us than a thousand spectral forms of the w flying , soul " or the spirits of nature, whether in or out of the crystals and mirrors. We knew that on that night no stranger could by any possibility have entered the hall, nor had any one been present when the doors were locked and guarded, save the members and officers of the Society. Several minutes of fearful suspense elapsed, and then the truth began to flash upon us, that the apparition of von Marx was not alone. Seated on the ground were a circle of dark, shrouded figures, such as we had seen some months before, only this time there was but one cir- cle, and this seemed to enclose the altar and surround the tall stranger on every side but one, and in that opening, on the side of the altar opposite to von Marx, stood a female form veiled and enveloped in a lumi- nous white, sparkling mist, through which we could dimly discern the outlines of her form. As this beau- tiful apparition with all the other phantom surround- ings became visible, it seemed as if we, the watchers, would be turned to stone. My blood began to freeze in GHOST LAND. 287 my veins, my eyeballs to start from their sockets, and a horror such as I had never believed could possess a mortal without bereaving him of life, stole over me and threatened me with speedy dissolution. Had no relief come I am certain I should have expired ; and the sensa- tions I then felt, I was afterwards informed, were shared by most of my companions. I have seen as well as heard much of spiritual phenomena since that time; beheld what is called by mediums w materialized forms,"' that is, human souls clothed again in the panoply of substantial fleshly bodies; but all these sights paled before the spiritual actuality of this dreadful phantom band, these dead alive, through whose impalpable forms we could see the opposite wall, the glare of the light- nings, and each other; these beings, who diffused around them that aroma of horror, from which our sentient humanity shrinks back; between whom and us exists an invisible barrier, which none can pass and live. But relief came at last. A slow and solemn strain of music filled the hall, commencing at first in soft and distant echoes, then it grew stronger, firmer, and more distinct, until it came amongst us, and was evidently accompanied by the soft but regular beat of marching feet. Some- thing then passed me by; I felt the wind of moving bodies, and I saw my companions stir and turn their heads to look in the line of an invisible procession, which all could feel though none might see it. We also felt that the line of march was towards the altar. We saw by the unceasing glare of the lightning, the crouching forms look up and the tall stranger draw back to make way for the invisible host. A space was cleared in front of the altar, which pres- ently became filled up with a dense mass, and whilst a succession of rapid flashes kept the lodge in a continu- 288 GHOST LAND. ous livid light, we saw a bier covered with white dra- pery, on which seemed to lie the sleeping form of the Chevalier de B . Then the female figure extended across the bier a staff wreathed with a shining serpent. This she pointed towards the male figure, who took it from her hand, and bent his head as if acknowledging a gift. The music ceased, and we heard a voice issuing, as it seemed, from the spot on which von Marx stood, although his lips moved not, nor did he appear to npeak. The voice said, " The life transfer has been made ; man's work is ended, and God's has begun. The woof of two lives is spun anew; one regains his spiritual, the other his mortal birthright. God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Then the tone changed, and from the direction of the female form came a voice, sweeter than ever tone of music rung in mortal ears, saying, w Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible." If more was spoken, our deafened ears lost it, for peal after peal of thunder shook the hall, distracting us by its crashing vibrations. A few seconds of thick darkness prevailed, and when next the streams of electric fire filled the hall, it was empty; at least, the phantoms had vanished, although we felt their dread presence passing us by, pressing against some of us the bier they carried, and heard amidst the pauses in the heavenly artillery, the beat of the rhythmical march and the faint vibrations of distant music, swallowed up again by the peals of the rolling thunder. Muttered exclamations of horror and the flare of matches followed. Some one in mercy to the rest had relighted the lamps, enabling us to look at each GHOST LAND. 289 other's wild and haggard faces and stagger forth from that place of dread and glamour. For four weary days and nights I and my distracted family watched by the cold, rigid, and lifeless form of our unhappy guest, ^p morning of awakening life had come for him, and the physicians pronounced that the vital spark had fled; nay, they urged, with what all who loved him felt to be indecent haste, that the formulae of interment should proceed at once. My mediumistic girls insisted that life still remained, and that he would revive to thank and bless us; in fact, the grief and indignation of my wife and loving children at the con- duct of the strangers around us, was only equalled by the fear and inhumanity they displayed. The medical men shrugged their shoulders, sneered at the tender assiduity of the poor ladies, and muttered prophetic remarks about lunatic asylums. My dear wife sat hold- ing the sleeper's lifeless hand, bathing it with her tears, but, like myself, felt uncertain in what direction to yield credence. Deep as was our concern for our cherished guest, there were other points in our situation of an equally distressing character. During the entire four nights and days of our sad watch, an array of terrors beset us difficult to describe. The air, the ground, the walls, and every place and thing around us, seemed to be charged with unearthly sounds and spontaneous motion. Some- times we sat listening to the pattering of little feet, or the regular beat of a marching host. The whining tones of small animals, the rustling of silk, flapping of wings, or a succession of low knockings, greeted us every- where; strange birds flew through our halls and gal- leries, and rushed past us in our very chambers; indis- tinct forms flitted hither and thither by day as well as 290 GHOST LAND. night. At times the noises deepened to an indescribable uproar, in which the ear found no special tone to distin- guish, and then soughed away to deep sighs, or distant moans. When neither sight nor hearing was affected, the scene became still more ghastly and oppressive in appeals to the sense of touch ; some object would press against us, or so disturb the air, as to cause vibrations in all things around us. Towards evening and in the gray of the dawn, we heard on each successive night, the sound of solemn music, which would alternately advance and recede, like a band of performers who came towards the place wherever we might happen to be, passed through it, and then retreated from it. These strains were not only delightful to the ear, but wonder- fully soothing to our excited minds; they seemed to convey an element of consolation and a message of peace, very cheering to us and entirely free from the ghastly prestige of all the other manifestations. At the earnest request of my faithful associates of the Orphic Circle, who rallied around my afflicted family with true fraternal kindness, we had placed the poor Chevalier 011 a bier, surrounded with burning tapers, and a profusion of the sweet, fresh flowers in which he so passionately delighted. On several occasions the tapers would flicker and go out spontaneously, but as we never left the sleeper alone, the watchers were careful to relight the tapers at the very instant they were extinguished. Before the fourth night had set in, several of our domestics had left us in irrepressible terror. Those who remained, though they had grown old and attached in our service, expressed their deepest horror of the scenes enacting around them, but pity for our distress overcame their fears, and provided they were permitted to move about in groups, they determined not to forsake GHOST LAND. 291 us. The Arabian, who had attended the young Cheva- lier from early infancy, throughout this whole dread period remained unmoved. He never left the chamber where his beloved master lay, and if we had not brought him his daily mess of rice and other simple articles of food, he might have starved ere he would have quitted his solemn charge. The heroine of my now diminished household was my precious Blanche. This brave young girl rallied the drooping spirits of the domestics, and assembling them together at morning and evening, read them pas- sages of Scripture and made them join her own pure voice in singing solemn hymns. Each night, accompa- nied by my old and well-tried butler, she passed through every room in the dreary mansion, inspected its fasten- ings, and by her cheerful voice and noble example, stimulated the timid domestics to exert themselves in guarding the house from the possible inroad of maraud- ers. These precautions were by no means unnecessary. All sorts of wild reports had gone abroad concerning the state of our distressed household. For two days the door was beseiged with curious inquirers, who sought under any pretence to gain admission, or learn tidings of what was passing within. It would seem that the reports of those who left us were rather dis- couraging to the idly curious without, for after the first two days of our mournful watch and ward, our house was quite deserted, and even the tradesmen who pre- sented themselves with goods at the servants' entrance, handed them in and fled away, with signs of terror as marked, as if the place had been infected with some dreadful pestilence. Looking back upon this most trying period of my life, I am amazed to recall my own power of self-go v- 292 GHOST LAND. eminent and composure. Like my youngest daughter, I felt that my mission was to cheer and strengthen others, and in the effort to do this, my own fortitude and self-reliance rose to the rescue. I never before, perhaps I might own with compunction, never since, have prayed so heartily, never felt a more complete reli- ance on the great, good God, to whom I knew all sub- ordinate agencies, however powerful or wicked, were eternally subject. My faith increased with every new trial, and at last I felt able to endure whatever more might come, and only marvelled what the worst would be. I must not omit to mention that there was one phenomenon which, though calculated to inspire the most dread of all others, filled us with sentiments of hope and courage, for which we could not account, even to ourselves. This was the unmistakable sound of Felix von Marx's voice, speaking from the empty air, speaking above, about, around us, we knew not from whence, but ever sounding with a tone so clearly human, kind, and encouraging, yet firm and commanding, that all our fears vanished directly his accents met our ears. Sometimes he uttered only the one word (r John, " sometimes " Dear John," or w I am here; fear nothing." On one occasion my little Blanche startled our dreary hall with one of her bright, ringing peals of laughter, her delight was so great, as she heard the full, rich, well-remembered tone crying, " Good little Blanche, well done ! " On the fourth evening this consoling voice repeated many times in clear and cheery accents, w All 's well ! " Towards midnight, worn out as we were with a distress that knew no parallel, oppressed with long watching, the desertion of the world without, and the increasing prevalence of the awful disturbances within, I insisted GHOST LAND. 293 that my dear girls should retire with their weeping mother to rest, and that no one should watch with me that night, but the faithful Arabian, and my Orphic brother, Sir Thomas L . Before parting for the night, I dismissed my tired domestics with a short prayer and kind benediction. I then assembled my family ? including Sir Thomas and the Arabian, in my library, which adjoined the room where the bier was laid. There met together, I read to my sobbing listeners the beautiful sixty-ninth Psalm, which commences thus : " Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul." Just as I had reached the pathetic words, w I am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children," I was struck dumb by hearing the voice of von Marx crying in sharp, clear, distinct tones, " Louis, Louis, awake ! " Instantly there was a movement in the death-chamber; a deep-drawn sigh, then another and another. Other sounds followed, echoed by the beating of every throbbing heart ; then the sound of a foot- step. It advanced nearer, nearer yet. The half-closed door between the rooms was gently moved, then pushed open, and the Chevalier, dressed in his ordinary costume, as we had laid him on the bier, very pale, but moving with a firm step and erect bearing, stood in our midst. The light of reason was in his fine eyes ; the smile of recognition on his lips. Extending to my wife and myself each, a cold hand, which we warmly clasped to our hearts, he said in his own natural voice and sweet Italian accent, "My dear friends, I have had a long, long sleep. I see you thought it was to have been my last; but your wayward Louis is not dead yet you see, and will live for many years to thank and bless you for all your kindness." CHAPTER XVI. DIARY OF JOHN CAVENDISH DUDLEY, ESQ., CONTINUED. Sept. 30, 18 . Five months have elapsed since I made my last entiy, and now it is the glorious period of ripe autumn, when Nature summons all her reserved force to cast a spell of loveliness over the scene, ere she closes up her summer housekeeping; when woods and hill, forest and glen, are adorned in the richest liveries of the fading year ; when the green earth, blue sky, and the many-colored foliage of the woods, combine to clothe the scene in a wealth of harmonious beauty, unknown to any other season. I am reclining on the velvet turf which covers the side of a lofty mountain overlooking the boundless expanse of the ocean. The purple mists of an autumn sunset, crown the swelling hills of the distant landscape, and linger amidst the shady dells which checker the lovely scene. Far out at sea the white sails of many a fishing-boat gleam over the crested waves and relieve the expanse of heaving waters from the deep loneliness of an ocean view. At the mountain's foot is the broad expanse of my own domain, the park and grounds of my old ancestral home, and by my side, stretched like myself on the mossy turf, is the object of my last eight months of incessant care, the Chevalier de B . A greater change than that between my town resi- GHOST LAND. 295 dence and the sea-side home in which we now luxuriate, has come over my esteemed but singular guest. All of youth or youthful manners, thoughts or habits, have wholly disappeared in him. He speaks and acts like a man of mature life, yet he is not yet twenty-one years of age. Although he has become almost restored to his ordinary share of health and strength, the cataclysms of the past, have robbed him of that vigor and elas- ticity which should mark his time of life; and whilst regaining the singular beauty of person which formerly distinguished him, there is a weary air, and a sad, far- away expression in his fine face, which never brightens into mirth or lights up with joy. He never speaks of Professor von Marx, and whenever I chance to mention his name, he listens with a shiver, and shrinks away from the subject with such evident distress, that I have come to regard that once dear and familiar name, as tabooed between us. The passive submission which once dis- tinguished his manner, has now changed to a stately, dignified demeanor, which speaks of fixed purpose and firm will. Though kind and courteous to all, affec- tionate to myself and family, and deferential to the opinions of others, there is a wall