ting their immaterial from
their material bodies, as cats and dogs. I knew a Virginian lady who had
a piebald horse that frequently appeared simultaneously in two places.
She lived in an old country house near Winchfield, and one morning when
she went into the breakfast-room, she was surprised to see the piebald
horse standing on the gravel path, outside the window, looking in at
her. When she called it by name, it immediately melted into fine air.
Going round to the stables she found the horse in its stall, and on
enquiry was informed that it had been there all the time.
The same thing frequently occurred, other members of the household
besides herself witnessing it, and so like, in all its details, was the
immaterial horse to the material, that they were often at a loss to tell
which was which. The phenomenon sometimes occurring when the real horse
was awake, and sometimes when it was asleep, proves that the animal
possessed the faculty of projecting its spiritual ego--astral body, or
whatever you like to call it--both consciously and unconsciously. I know
of many similar instances.
_Horses and the Psychic Faculty of Scent_
Horses, in a rather less degree than cats, and in much the same degree
as dogs, possess the property of scenting the advent and presence of
spirits. On more than one occasion, when I have been riding after dusk,
my horse has suddenly come to an abrupt halt and shown unmistakable
signs of terror. I have not been able to see anything to account for its
conduct, but on subsequent enquiry have learned, either that a tragedy
was actually known to have taken place there, or that the spot had long
borne a reputation for being haunted. And my experiences are the
experiences of countless other people.
Before a death a horse will often neigh repeatedly outside the house of
the doomed person, and not infrequently show evidences of terror in
passing close to it, from which I deduce the horse can at all events
scent the proximity of the phantom of death. Like the dog, however, I
think it only possesses this peculiar psychic property in a limited
degree. It can, for example, readily detect the whereabouts of phantasms
haunting localities, but not so easily those haunting people.
It shows little or no discrimination on sight, between cruel and brutal
people and those who are kind, giving the same amount of passing space
to the one as it does to the other. Yet, on the other hand, I have
watched horses
|