102 P87GH0L00Y. 



immobility, I remained watcliiug him and wondering liow 

 long he would stand thus. At last I spoke ; but getting no' 

 reply, sat up in my berth, and then saw that wdiat I had 

 taken for the engineer was my own cap and coat hanging 

 on a peg beside the windoAv. The illusion was complete ; 

 the engineer was a jjeculiar-looking man ; and I saw him 

 unmistakably ; but after the illusion had vanished 1 found 

 it hard voluntarily to make the cap and coat look like him 

 at all. 



The following story, which I owe to my friend Prof, 

 Hyatt, is of a probably not uncommon class : 



" During the winter of 1858, while in Venice, I had the «omewhat 

 peculiai" illusion which you request me to relate. I remember the cir- 

 cumstances very accurately because I have often repeated the story, 

 and have made an effort to keep all the attendant circumstances clear 

 of exaggeration. I was travelling with my mother, and we had taken 

 rooms at a hotel which had been located in an old palace. The room 

 in which I went to bed was large and lofty. The moon was shining 

 brightly, and I remember standing before a draped window, thinking 

 of the romantic nature of the surroundings, remnants of old stories of 

 knights and ladies, and the possibility that even in that room itself 

 love-scenes and sanguinary tragedies might have taken place. The 

 night was so lovely that many of the people were strolling through the 

 narrow lanes or so-called streets, singing as they went, and I laid awake 

 for some time listening to these patrols of serenaders, and of course 

 finally fell asleep. I became aware that some one was leaning over me 

 closely, and that my own breathing was being interfered with; a decided 

 feeling of an unwelcome presence of some sort awakened me. As I 

 opened my eyes I saw. as distinctly as I ever saw any living person, a 

 draped head about a foot or eighteen inches to the right, and just above 

 my bed. The horror which took possession of my young fancy was 

 beyond anything 1 have ever experienced. The head was covered by a 

 long black veil which floated out into the moonlight, the face itself was 

 pale and beautiful, and the lower part swathed in the white band com- 

 monly worn by the nuns of Catholic orders. My hair seemed to rise 

 up, and a profuse perspiration attested the genuineness of the terror 

 which I felt. For a time I lay in this way, and then gradually gaining 

 more command over my superstitious terrors, concluded to try to grap- 

 ple with the apparition. It remained perfectly distinct until I reached 

 at it sharply with my hand, and then disappeared, to return again, 

 however, as soon as I sank back into the pillow. The second or third 

 grasp which I made at the head was not followed by a reappearance, 

 and I then saw that the ghost was not a real presence, but depended 

 upon the po.sition of my head. If I moved my eyes either to the left or 



