CHAPTER XV.. Intercourse With Departed Spirits.

INTERCOURSE WITH DEPARTED SPIRITS.

Spirits, ghosts, and spectres seen in all ages.--Account of the magic crystals, or divining glasses.--Seeing spirits in Egypt.-- Lady Blessington's crystal in England.--Spirit of Lord Nelson described.--The Latin language commonly used by spirits.--An account of spirits that live in the SUN.--Spirits conversing with human beings.--Mode of communication by letters of fire, or large printed capitals.--Interview with the spirit of Pharaoh.--His present dwelling in the planet Jupiter.-- Information gleaned in conversation with him.--Swedenborg's account of Sir John Franklin.--Describes his situation, blocked up by ice.--Spirits do not understand about latitude and longitude.--Description of the spirit of Socrates, his dress, &c.--Account of the emperor Alexander in the spirit world.-- Dickens's account of fashionable dupes in England.--The sciences of astrology and magic.--Practices of high titled ladies in London.--Account of famous conjurers, or fortune tellers.-- Account of the "rappers," or "knocking spirits."--Children frightened by their noises.--Snapping of fingers, and clapping of hands, imitated by the spirits.--Mrs. Fox asks questions of a spirit.--Answers given by a succession of raps.--Account of a ghost that appeared in Waltham, Massachusetts.--Conversation with the ghost by a gentleman.--Said he had been murdered, and told by whom.--Tones of the ghost, (unearthly,) its mode of walking, &c. --Great excitement on account of the ghost.--Mode of communication with the rapping spirits.--Tables and chairs moved, sounds heard, &c.--Band of music, beating of the bass drum, and roar of artillery. --Guitar played by unseen hands.--Ladies' hair taken down and braided by spirits.--People touched by unseen hands.--How spirits produce the sounds of music.--How they make the rapping noises. --Account of an interview with the spirit of Dr. Franklin.-- Sounds heard like trying the batteries in the telegraph office.-- Occupation of Franklin in the spirit world.--Getting up a line of communication between the two worlds.--Dr. Franklin predicts great changes in the nineteenth century.--Connection of magnetism with the spiritual rappings.--Clairvoyant interpreters between men and spirits.--Spiritual postmasters, letter paper, and envelopes. --Letters received from the spiritual worlds.--The Spirit Journal, in Auburn, New York.--Its pages edited, controlled, and superintended by spirits.--The prophets and apostles its conductors, acting under the LORD SUPREME.--Blunders and errors of the rapping spirits. --Ignorant spirits.--Mischief produced by them.--Swedenborg's account of their stupidity.--How to distinguish the sounds made by an ignorant or an intelligent spirit.--Wonderful precocity of infant spirits.--Progression of spirits, both upwards and downwards.-- The spirit of Dr. Channing deteriorated in the other world.-- Theological teachings of the rapping spirits.--Prophecy of Swedenborg concerning the year 1852.--Noises of the rappers indicative of the approach of his prediction.--Are to be considered as omens of a new advent.--Compared with the Miller prophecy of 1843.--Miracles, both of the rappers and the Millerites.--A sick man and his bed taken up by spirits.--The body of a Mr. Gordon taken up by spiritual hands.--Miracles wrought in favor of Millerism.--Miracles wrought in favor of witchcraft.-- Millerites taken up by spiritual hands.--Strange noises made by spirits among the Adventists.--Houses shaken, mirrors shattered to pieces, furniture broken.--Four women carried through the air on a pole.--Testimony under oath respecting it.--Account of a bewitched ventriloquist.--Witches in 1850. --What the editor of a Boston journal says of them.--Witches, ghosts, spooks, and hobgoblins, in all ages of the world.-- Account of a haunted house in Boston.--Every window illuminated at midnight.--A young man frightened by the scene.--Singular notion of the Greenlanders respecting the cause of thunder, and of the Aurora Borealis.--Notion of the ancients concerning the foundation of the earth.--Of the mathematician Kepler.-- Performance of Signor Blitz.--Effects produced by ventriloquism. --Singular vibrations of the guitar.--Spirit rappings considered as a new science.--Noises heard by the Wesley family, in 1716. --Noises heard by Martin Luther.--Empty barrels and hogsheads tumbling down stairs.--Information of past, present, and future events.--The fortune tellers in comparison with the spirit rappers. --Spirits unwilling or unable to spell their own names.--Spiritual communications on the decline.--Contrast between the doings of ancient and modern spirits.--Swedenborg's information concerning the spirit of Melancthon.--A clairvoyant interview with Tom Paine. --Account of an interview with Mr. Sunderland.--Dialogue with a young lady.--Interview with a clairvoyant medium in Lowell.--Facts respecting mesmeric operations.--People deceived by "sympathetic spirits."--Judson J. Hutchinson made insane.--Exposure of the deception practised upon him.--Davis's account of Benjamin Franklin.--Dr. Phelps concerning the "spirit rappers."--Singular developments at his house.--How tables, chairs, &c., are moved by spirits.--Exhibitions of "chin music" in London.--Singular transactions in England, as related by Dr. Thomas Dick.--Tricks performed by Joe Collins of Oxford.--Spirits seen by the votaries of St. Vitus, and the Shakers of later times. 118