d by influences of some sort
from the minds of the dead. Mr. Podmore, if we understand him holds
that some living person has had some empty hallucination, in a
house, and that this is 'telepathically' handed on, perhaps to the
next tenant, who may know nothing about either the person or the
vision. Thus, a Miss Morris, much vexed by ghostly experiences,
left a certain house in December, 1886. Nearly a year later, in
November, 1887, a Mrs. G. came in. Mrs. G. did not know Miss
Morris, nor had she heard of the disturbances. However sobs, and
moans, and heavy thumps, and noises of weighty objects thrown about,
and white faces, presently drove Mrs. G. to seek police protection.
This only roused the ghost's ambition, and he 'came' as a man with
freckles, also he walked about, shook beds, and exhibited lights. A
figure in black, with a white face, now displayed itself:
barristers and clergymen investigated, but to no purpose. They saw
figures, heard crashes, and the divine did a little Anglican
exorcism. The only story about the house showed that a woman had
hanged herself with a skipping rope in the 'top back bedroom,' in
1879. Here are plenty of phenomena, apparitions male and female.
But Miss Morris, in addition to hearing noises, only saw a pale
woman in black.

Mr. Podmore's theory comes in thus: 'the later experiences may have
been started by thought transference from Miss Morris, whose
thoughts, no doubt, occasionally turned to the house in which she
had suffered so much agitation and alarm'. Moreover 'real noises'
may have 'suggested' the visual hallucinations to Miss Morris. {147}
Mr. Podmore certainly cannot be accused of ordinary superstition.
There is a house, and there is a tenant. She hears footsteps
pounding up- and down-stairs, and all through her room, she says
nothing and gets used to it. Let it be granted that these noises
are caused by rats. After conquering her dislike to the sounds,
three weeks after her entry to the house, Miss Morris meets a total
stranger, deadly pale, in deep black, who vanishes. This phantasm
has gathered round the nucleus which the rats provided by stamping
up- and down-stairs, and through Miss Morris's room. It is natural
that a person who hears rats, or wind, or waterpipes, and makes up
her mind not to mind it, should then see a phantasm of a pale woman
in black; also should hear loud knocks at the door of her chamber.
Miss Morris goes away, a year later comes M