Ghosts I Have Seen (1919) & Cock Lane and Common Sense (1894)

[Yithian]

Below are links to Ghosts I have seen: and other psychic experiences (New York: F.A. Stokes Co., 1919) by Violet Tweedale, who was a member of the famous Chambers publishing family, a humanitarian, an associate of the Balfours, Robert Browning and Frederic Leighton as well as being a Golden Dawn member and a well-know Theosophist. She got around socially, played a lot of golf and claimed to have been psychic from a young age. I'll bet all these turn of the century dilettantish-types make your own life look just as pedestrian as mine!

Text available in a nice online-readable format here:
http://archive.org/stream/ghostsihavese ... 5/mode/2up
Or to download here:
http://archive.org/details/ghostsihaveseeno00twee

I was just browsing through over coffee and thought others may be interested.

 

[solsticebelle]

Thank you for the link - I just finished reading it and found it fascinating. Full of all kinds of weird stuff, and beautifully written.

 

[Violets]

Thank you for sharing the link. That is one of the most beautifully written wee set of stories that I have read in a long time, I have really enjoyed reading them.

 

[Sogna]

Thanks a lot for this, I'm looking forward to reading the stories

 

[Spudrick68]

I downloaded it a couple of months ago but haven't got round to reading it.

 

[escargot]

I'm up to Madame Blavatsky, ooer!

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

Below are links to Ghosts I have seen: and other psychic experiences (New York: F.A. Stokes Co., 1919) by Violet Tweedale, who was a member of the famous Chambers publishing family, a humanitarian, an associate of the Balfours, Robert Browning and Frederic Leighton as well as being a Golden Dawn member and a well-know Theosophist. She got around socially, played a lot of golf and claimed to have been psychic from a young age. I'll bet all these turn of the century dilettantish-types make your own life look just as pedestrian as mine!

Text available in a nice online-readable format here:
http://archive.org/stream/ghostsihavese ... 5/mode/2up
Or to download here:
http://archive.org/details/ghostsihaveseeno00twee

I was just browsing through over coffee and thought others may be interested.

What a thoroughly excellent book; I love the style in which it is written and it has drawn me in from the very first page. (I'm currently reading with avid interest, and have reached page 66).

I also love the way in which the pages of the book 'turn' as one moves through them.

Well worth a read, thanks for posting these links (and I'm glad they're still available )

 

[IbisNibs]

One reason why I believe this is an age of marvels is the way we can access out-of-print books with a couple clicks on a phone, computer or mouse.
Thanks for the link!!!

 

[Yithian]

Given that this old thread was exhumed lately, I'll add another from the archive. This is a very famous book in the history of psychical research, named after the famous case/scandal/scam of 1762 that captivated London (and Dr Samuel Johnson). The author is best known today for his highly collectible 'Fairy Books', but in the Victorian era he was a public intellectual, a prominent journalist and a household name.

See Here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cock_Lane_ghost

Cock Lane and Common Sense by Andrew Lang [1844-1912](London: Longhams, 1894)​

Book Here:
https://archive.org/details/cocklanecommonse00languoft

Written by folklorist Andrew Lang (1844-1912), this 1894 publication examines the ambivalent relationship the living have attempted to forge with the dead throughout history. Nicknamed 'the Wizard of St Andrews', this prolific polymath also worked as an anthropologist, classicist, historian, poet, mythologist, essayist and journalist, producing over a hundred publications in his lifetime. Largely ignored by scholarship, this book suggests expanding the study of folklore to include contemporary narratives of supernatural events. Taking its title from the legends of the notorious Cock Lane ghost, the work considers the survival of ancient beliefs such as hauntings, clairvoyance, and other phenomena believed to transcend the laws of nature, and how such beliefs have persisted through great social upheaval and change. It includes chapters on savage and ancient spiritualism, comparative psychical research, haunted houses, second sight, crystal gazing, and Presbyterian ghost hunters, among others.

 

[IbisNibs]

It includes chapters on savage and ancient spiritualism,

How ambiguous—did the writer mean "savage as well as ancient," "savage as opposed to ancient," "savage because it was ancient," "savage in partnership with ancient," . . . ?

I loved the fairy books, I'll check out this folklore book in addition to the fairy books . . . .

the work considers the survival of ancient beliefs such as hauntings, clairvoyance, and other phenomena believed to transcend the laws of nature, and how such beliefs have persisted through great social upheaval and change.

That is an interesting point to consider!

 

[Yithian]

Two separate types of 'spiritualism': ancient and savage (in non-civilised cultures). He doesn't mean the modern institutionalised 'churchy' type of spiritualism, but rather a broad belief in the existence, agency and mechanics of non-embodied spirits walking the earth. I don't think he puts the two types in strict contrast, he just notes points of similarity and difference.

Sorry if I'm a bit hazy; I read it eighteen years ago!

 

[IbisNibs]

I'm a bit hazy now!

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[IbisNibs]

Below are links to Ghosts I have seen: and other psychic experiences (New York: F.A. Stokes Co., 1919) by Violet Tweedale, who was a member of the famous Chambers publishing family, a humanitarian, an associate of the Balfours, Robert Browning and Frederic Leighton as well as being a Golden Dawn member and a well-know Theosophist.

This is so much fun to read, thank you so much for posting about it! Along with the fabulous ghost stories (more fabulism than history?), there are obscure and entertaining historical details (some men offered women cigars!).
I also find the format really intriguing: alternating chapters of juicy paranormal gossip with chapters of abstract and moralistic fluff-wads. I assume it was the "best-seller" formula of its day. I used to read a lot of archaic stuff like that when I was a teenager. I credit that with having built up my vocabulary!