im hallucinations.
Once at 8 p.m. in summer as he stood on a balcony, he saw a curious
reflet blanc, 'a shining shadow' like that in The Strange Story. It
resembled the reflection of the sun from a window, 'but there was
neither sun, nor moon, nor lighted lamps'. This white shadow was
the partial failure of Berthe, the nurse, 'to show herself to me on
the balcony'. In precisely the same way, lights in haunted houses
are partial failures of ghosts to appear in form As for the knocks,
Dr. Binns, in his Anatomy of Sleep, mentions a gentleman who could
push a door at a distance,--if he could push, he could knock.
Perhaps a rather larger collection of such instances is desirable,
still, these cases illustrate our theory. That theory certainly
does drive the cold calm psychical researcher back upon the
primitive explanation: 'A ghaist's a ghaist for a' that!' We must
come to this, we must relapse into savage and superstitious
psychology, if once we admit a 'phantasmogenetic agency.' But
science is in quest of Truth, regardless of consequences.

COCK LANE AND COMMON-SENSE

Cock Lane Ghost discredited. Popular Theory of Imposture. Dr.
Johnson. Story of the Ghost. The Deceased Wife's Sister.
Beginning of the Phenomena. Death of Fanny. Recurrence of
Phenomena. Scratchings. Parallel Cases. Ignorance and Malevolence
of the Ghost. Possible Literary Sources. Investigation. Imitative
Scratchings: a Failure. Trial of the Parsonses. Professor
Barrett's Irish parallel. Cause undetected. The Theories of
Common-sense. The St. Maur Affair. The Amiens Case. The Sportive
Highland Fox. The Brightling Case.

If one phantom is more discredited than another, it is the Cock Lane
ghost.

The ghost has been a proverb for impudent trickery, and stern
exposure, yet its history remains a puzzle, and is a good, if vulgar
type, of all similar marvels. The very people who 'exposed' the
ghost, were well aware that their explanation was worthless, and
frankly admitted the fact. Yet they, no more than we, were prepared
to believe that the phenomena were produced by the spiritual part of
Miss Fanny L.--known after her decease, as 'Scratching Fanny'. We
still wander in Cock Lane, with a sense of amused antiquarian
curiosity, and the same feeling accompanies us in all our
explorations of this branch of mythology. It may be easy for some
people of common-sense to believe that all London was turned upside
down, that