140 LIVING LIGHTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



PHANTOMS. 



PHOSPHORESCENT light plays an important part in 

 the composition of ghosts and phantoms ; and the num- 

 ber of persons who believe that certain phenomena exist 

 which cannot be explained by well-known natural laws is 

 somewhat surprising. Some years ago I was introduced to 

 a gentleman who was a firm believer in a modern Flying 

 Dutchman. His house was upon a beautiful little bay, and 

 from the piazza, he informed me that, more than once, he 

 had seen a phantom ship. Sometimes it beat up the bay, 

 the white sails showing distinctly at night. Again it was 

 seen coming in directly against the wind, now appearing in 

 one place, then in another, as fickle as the wind itself. On 

 every other subject he was sane, and of more than ordinary 

 intelligence ; but some electric phenomenon or emanations 

 from schools of fishes, together with a vivid imagination, had 

 produced the phantom ship, which in his mind was a reality. 

 Many well remember the excitement occasioned around 

 one of the New- York markets a number of years ago, by 

 the appearance of a mysterious light. A fish-dealer's assist- 

 ant, who had occasion to enter the market late one evening, 

 observed an unusual light there ; and being an ignorant, 

 superstitious fellow, he rushed out of the building and into 



