September 11th. -- We have heard a good deal of spirit matters of late, especially of wonderful incidents that attended Mr. Hume's visit to Florence, two or three years ago. Mrs. Powers told a very marvellous thing; how that when Mr. Hume was holding a seance in her house, and several persons present, a great scratching was heard in a neighbouring closet. She addressed the spirit, and requested it not to disturb the company then, as they were busy with other affairs, promising to converse with it on a future occasion. On a subsequent night, accordingly, the scratching was renewed, with the utmost violence; and in reply to Mrs. Powers' questions, the spirit assured her that it was not one, but legion, being the ghosts of twenty-seven monks, who were miserable and without hope! The house now occupied by Powers was formerly a convent, and I suppose these were the spirits of all the wicked monks that had ever inhabited it; at least, I hope that there were not such a number of damnable sinners extant at any one time. These ghostly fathers must have been very improper persons in their lifetime, judging by the indecorousness of their behaviour even after death, and in such dreadful circumstances; for they pulled Mrs. Powers' skirts so hard as to break the gathers . . . It was not ascertained that they desired to have anything done for their eternal welfare, or that their situation was capable of amendment anyhow; but, being exhorted to refrain from further disturbance, they took their departure, after making the sign of the cross on the breast of each person present. This was very singular in such reprobates, who, by their own confession, had forfeited all claim to be benefited by that holy symbol; it curiously suggests that the forms of religion may still be kept up in purgatory and hell itself. The sign was made in a way that conveyed the sense of something devilish and spiteful; the perpendicular line of the cross being drawn gently enough, but the transverse one sharply and violently, so as to leave a painful impression. Perhaps the monks meant this to express their contempt and hatred for heretics; and how queer, that this antipathy should survive their own damnation! But I cannot help hoping that the case of these poor devils may not be so desperate as they think. They cannot be wholly lost, because their desire for communication with mortals shows that they need sympathy, therefore are not altogether hardened, therefore, with loving treatment, may be restored.
A great many other wonders took place within the knowledge and experience of Mrs. P----. She saw, not one pair of hands only, but many. The head of one of her dead children, a little boy, was laid in her lap, not in ghastly fashion, as a head out of the coffin and the grave, but just as the living child might have laid it on his mother's knees. It was invisible, by the-bye, and she recognised it by the features and the character of the hair, through the sense of touch. Little hands grasped hers. In short these soberly attested incredibilities are so numerous that I forget nine-tenths of them, and judge the others too cheap to be written down. Christ spoke the truth surely, in saying that men would not believe, "though one rose from the dead" In my own case, the fact makes absolutely no impression. I regret such confirmation of truth as this.
Within a mile of our villa stands the Villa Columbaria, a large house, built round a square court. Like Mr. Powers' residence, it was formerly a convent. It is inhabited by Major Gregorie, an old soldier of Waterloo, and various other fights, and his family consists of Mrs. ----, the widow of one of the major's friends, and her two daughters. We have become acquainted with the family, and Mrs. ---- , the married daughter, has lent us a written statement of her experiences with a ghost, who has haunted the Villa Columbaria for many years back. He had made Mrs. ---- aware of his presence in her room by a sensation of extreme cold, as if a wintry breeze were blowing over her; also by a rustling of the bedcurtains; and, at such times, she had a certain consciousness, as she says, that she .was not ALONE. Through Mr. Hume's agency, the ghost was enabled to explain himself, and declared that he was a monk, named Giannana, who died a very long time ago in Mrs. ----'s present bed-chamber. He was a murderer, and had been in a restless and miserable state ever since his death, wandering up and down the house, but especially haunting his own death-chamber and a staircase that communicated with the chapel of the villa. All the interviews with this lost spirit were attended with a sensation of severe cold, which was felt by every one present. He made his communications by means of table-rapping, and by the movements of chairs and other articles, which often assumed an angry character. The poor old fellow does not seem to have known exactly what he wanted with Mrs. ----, but promised to refrain from disturbing her any more, on condition that she would pray that he might find some repose. He had previously declined having any masses said for his soul. Rest, rest, rest, appears to be the continual craving of unhappy spirits; they do not venture to ask for positive bliss; perhaps, in their utter weariness, would rather forego the trouble of active enjoyment, but pray only for rest. The cold atmosphere around this monk suggests new ideas as to the climate of Hades. If all -the aforementioned twenty-seven monks had a similar one, the combined temperature must have been that of a polar winter.
Mrs. ---- saw, at one time, the fingers of her monk; long, yellow, and skinny; these fingers grasped the hands of individuals of the party, with a cold, clammy, and horrible touch.
After the departure of this ghost other seances were held in her bed-chamber, at which good and holy spirits manifested themselves, and behaved in a very comfortable and encouraging way. It was their benevolent purpose, apparently, to purify her apartments from all traces of the evil spirit, and to reconcile her to what had been so long the haunt of this miserable monk, by filling it with happy and sacred associations, in which, as Mrs. ---- intimates, they entirely succeeded.
These stories remind me of an incident that took place at the old manse, in the first summer of our marriage.
A great many other wonders took place within the knowledge and experience of Mrs. P----. She saw, not one pair of hands only, but many. The head of one of her dead children, a little boy, was laid in her lap, not in ghastly fashion, as a head out of the coffin and the grave, but just as the living child might have laid it on his mother's knees. It was invisible, by the-bye, and she recognised it by the features and the character of the hair, through the sense of touch. Little hands grasped hers. In short these soberly attested incredibilities are so numerous that I forget nine-tenths of them, and judge the others too cheap to be written down. Christ spoke the truth surely, in saying that men would not believe, "though one rose from the dead" In my own case, the fact makes absolutely no impression. I regret such confirmation of truth as this.
Within a mile of our villa stands the Villa Columbaria, a large house, built round a square court. Like Mr. Powers' residence, it was formerly a convent. It is inhabited by Major Gregorie, an old soldier of Waterloo, and various other fights, and his family consists of Mrs. ----, the widow of one of the major's friends, and her two daughters. We have become acquainted with the family, and Mrs. ---- , the married daughter, has lent us a written statement of her experiences with a ghost, who has haunted the Villa Columbaria for many years back. He had made Mrs. ---- aware of his presence in her room by a sensation of extreme cold, as if a wintry breeze were blowing over her; also by a rustling of the bedcurtains; and, at such times, she had a certain consciousness, as she says, that she .was not ALONE. Through Mr. Hume's agency, the ghost was enabled to explain himself, and declared that he was a monk, named Giannana, who died a very long time ago in Mrs. ----'s present bed-chamber. He was a murderer, and had been in a restless and miserable state ever since his death, wandering up and down the house, but especially haunting his own death-chamber and a staircase that communicated with the chapel of the villa. All the interviews with this lost spirit were attended with a sensation of severe cold, which was felt by every one present. He made his communications by means of table-rapping, and by the movements of chairs and other articles, which often assumed an angry character. The poor old fellow does not seem to have known exactly what he wanted with Mrs. ----, but promised to refrain from disturbing her any more, on condition that she would pray that he might find some repose. He had previously declined having any masses said for his soul. Rest, rest, rest, appears to be the continual craving of unhappy spirits; they do not venture to ask for positive bliss; perhaps, in their utter weariness, would rather forego the trouble of active enjoyment, but pray only for rest. The cold atmosphere around this monk suggests new ideas as to the climate of Hades. If all -the aforementioned twenty-seven monks had a similar one, the combined temperature must have been that of a polar winter.
Mrs. ---- saw, at one time, the fingers of her monk; long, yellow, and skinny; these fingers grasped the hands of individuals of the party, with a cold, clammy, and horrible touch.
After the departure of this ghost other seances were held in her bed-chamber, at which good and holy spirits manifested themselves, and behaved in a very comfortable and encouraging way. It was their benevolent purpose, apparently, to purify her apartments from all traces of the evil spirit, and to reconcile her to what had been so long the haunt of this miserable monk, by filling it with happy and sacred associations, in which, as Mrs. ---- intimates, they entirely succeeded.
These stories remind me of an incident that took place at the old manse, in the first summer of our marriage.
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