1882.] 
Subjective or Objective ? 
67 
garden, whilst the north side looked into a court surrounded 
by a high wall. In the north-eastern corner was an out- 
house, accessible only from the court. My friend, who was 
then in his 15th or 16th year, occupied a bed-room at the 
eastern end of the house, looking down into the court. Very 
frequently before falling asleep he used to see alight passing 
along the wall of his chamber, but always in one constant 
direction, as if a person carrying a lantern had left the house 
by the back door and walked across the court towards the 
outhouse. Other persons occasionally observed the light 
from other windows of the mansion, but as if coming in the 
same direction. My friend, feeling his curiosity much ex- 
cited, one evening drew his bed close up to the window, so 
that by merely raising his head a little he could see if there 
was a lantern being carried in the court. At the usual hour 
the reflection appeared on his chamber-wall, and when it 
had passed through about half its course he cautiously 
peeped out. The court was dark, and the light instantly 
disappeared from the wall. Much careful examination failed 
to explain the mystery. The walls and gate of the court 
were high, and there was not in that direction any house, 
steeple, or tree overlooking the premises. Moreover, the 
light always appeared to travel along the upper part of the 
chamber walls, as if thrown upwards from below. No de- 
predations were ever committed in the house, court, out- 
houses, or garden. 
Several other phenomena of a strange character were ob- 
served by my friend and his family during their residence in 
the house in question, but none at once so easy to describe 
and so difficult to account for. 
We may, I submit, in this case, very fairly pronounce the 
occurrence as distinctly objective in its character. We may 
also dismiss the suppositions of trickery, crime, the actions 
of animals, &c. ; but the recourse to the supernatural helps 
us not the least. We can scarcely suppose a spirit, a 
“ dweller on the threshold,” or the like, occupying itself 
night after night with causing the reflection of a light to 
travel along the walls of a bed-room ! 
It is much to be regretted that scientific men are so gene- 
rally deterred by public ridicule from investigating such 
phenomena. 
