Theresa Cheung – The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World (страница 32)
Deathbed visions are significant not just because they suggest the possibility of survival after death, but because they also demonstrate that the moment of transition to death should not be feared. If reports of deathbed visions are to be believed, for the person who is dying death can be a wonderful and beautiful experience.
DEATH OMENS
In folklore a death omen is a sign of an impending death. Every culture has its own unique death omens.
Death is frequently foretold by the appearance or behaviour of certain animals, insects or birds associated with the afterlife. Black birds – crows, owls, ravens, rooks – are often thought to be death omens when they appear in a village or cluster around a house. The howling of a dog or a black cat crossing the path are also thought to be signs that portend the death of someone nearby. Spiders are often associated with death, and according to American, British and European lore the deathwatch beetle, which makes a ticking or tapping sound during the summer months as it bores into wood, is considered the harbinger of a death in the family.
Death omens can be natural occurrences, for example the way wax drips from a candle, or accidents, such as a chair falling over backwards as a person gets up, or signs of nature, such as cloud shapes or star formations. They can also be supernatural occurrences, such as candles and lights that flicker in the night –
DECATUR HOUSE
The haunted house of one of America’s most celebrated naval captains in the war of 1812, Stephen Decatur. Located in Lafayette Square, Washington, DC Decatur House is said to be haunted by the ghosts of both Stephen and his wife, Susan.
Stephen Decatur moved to Washington with his wife in 1818 after the war ended. He was admired and even considered a presidential hopeful, but unfortunately for him, in 1807 he had served on the court-martial board of his friend, Commodore James Barron. Decatur had agreed with the rest of the board that Barron should be court-martialled, starting a feud that ended in Decatur’s death at Barron’s hands during a duel 13 years later in Bladensburg, Maryland (duelling being illegal in Washington). On 14 March 1820, the morning of the duel, Decatur was mortally wounded and taken home to die. His wife was so broken-hearted she could not bring herself to look at him or to live in the house after he had died.
A year after his death his apparition was allegedly seen looking sadly from the window where he had stood on the eve of his death. The window was walled up but this did not stop the ghost returning. Later sounds of a woman weeping – said to be Susan Decatur – were also heard.
Residents of Washington still report seeing Decatur’s spirit peering out of the second-storey window or slipping out the back door of his house with a black box under his arm, just as he had done on that fateful day of the duel.
DéJà VU
An expression of familiarity that is unexpected, déjà vu is the sensation of having been to a place or experienced a situation before. The French term for ‘already seen’ can apply to feelings, thoughts, places, dreams, meetings and living in general – whenever something familiar seemingly happens for the first time. The idea was first introduced to science in 1896 by F L Arnaud.
Studies conducted on déjà vu suggest that it is a common experience, with more than half of those polled reporting instances of déjà vu. It also seems more common in children and women than men. The phenomenon is thought to be a psychological process where the unconscious mind is stimulated to recall past events of a similar nature that somehow get mixed up with the present event. Some feel that it is evidence for reincarnation, memories of past lives being pushed to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people in the present. Some say it happens when one draws on the collective memories of mankind while others believe it to be the result of out-of-body experiences during sleep, or other extra-sensory phenomena.
DEMON/DAEMON
To the ancient Greeks daemons, from the Greek word
The Christian Church labelled all such pagan spirits as evil, which is why daemons, better known to us today as demons, are traditionally associated with evil. For centuries demons have been blamed for a host of ills and misfortunes including demonic sexual molestation, where a demon masquerades as a man or woman to molest its victim. Many possession cases in the Middle Ages involved sexual molestation by demons, although this may have been more to do with repressed humans than supernatural activity. In many cultures and religions demons have been exorcied. In Catholicism cases of demonic possession – in which demons battle for a person’s soul – are dealt with by formal exorcism rites that date back to 1614.
DEMONOLOGY
The study of demons or malevolent spirits and their powers, attributes and derivations. Demons were thought to be extremely evil and extremely clever, masters in the art of persuasion. Humans had to be constantly on their guard against them. In 1580 philosopher Jean Bodin claimed that:
It is certain that the devils have a profound knowledge of all things. No theologian can interpret the Holy Scriptures better than they can; no lawyer has a more detailed knowledge of testaments, contracts and actions; no physician or philosopher can better understand the composition of the human body, and the virtues of the heavens, the stars, birds and fishes, trees and herbs, metals and stones.
The hierarchy of demons was much discussed among theological experts in the last centuries. According to Alphonse de Spina (1467) there were ten types of demon:
Fates that can change destiny.
Poltergeists that cause mischief.
Incubi and succubi – demons who stimulate lust and perversion.
Hordes – demons that bring conflict.
Familiars that assist witches.
Nightmares that disturb sleep.
Demons formed from human semen.
Disguised demons.
Demons that trouble the saintly.
Demons that instigate witchcraft.
DEPOSSESSION
Also known as spirit releasement. Depossession is practised all over the world and is the exorcism of human and non-human spirits, such as elemental spirits and demons thought to be attached to an individual and causing physical, mental and emotional distress.
American psychologist Edith Fiore used depossession in her past-life therapy, believing that in regressing patients to past lives interference from attached spirits could be observed. According to Fiore, amongst about 70,000 cases 70 per cent were unaware that they were showing signs of spirit attachment, such as mood swings, chronic pains, illnesses and addictions.
Most spirits are thought to be those of humans who have died but not left the earthly plane. They are believed to attach themselves to humans during moments of poor health and emotional weakness. Depossession is typically accomplished by persuading the spirits that they need to leave, and patients subsequently say they feel much better afterwards. Depossession was common practice at the height of the popularity of spiritualism, but the first medically trained person to approach mental illness as caused by spirit possession was the American physician and psychologist Carl Wickland.
Wickland and his wife, Anna, a medium, attributed all sorts of mental illness to confused spirits trapped in the auras of living people. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Wicklands depossessed a large number of their patients. They used a static electricity machine that transmitted low voltage electric shocks to the patient, causing the possessing spirit distress and forcing it into Anna’s body and then to leave. If the spirit resisted, Wickland called on spirit helpers to keep the spirit in a ‘dungeon’, out of the aura of Anna or the victim, until it stopped its selfish quest and departed.
DERMOGRAPHY
Skin writing. Although dermography is similar to stigmata it has one very essential difference: stigmata last for years or an entire lifetime, skin writing usually lasts only for a few minutes. Some cases appear to be genuine, such as that of Charles H Foster cited by Nandor Fodor in his
Charles H Foster, the ‘Salem Seer’, gave abundant demonstrations of the phenomenon. Before the Dialectical Society Edward Laman Blanchard told the story of how the name of his father appeared in red letters on the arm of the medium and immediately afterwards, in answer to a question, the numbers 24 on the palm of his hand, indicating the number of years since his death. The phenomenon was very rapid, the letters and numbers disappearing in the sight of those present without the arm of the medium being withdrawn. Dr Ashburner examined Foster’s skin-letters under a powerful magnifying glass. He observed clearly that they were in relief and that the colouring matter was under the skin. Foster’s biographer, George C Bartlett, describes an amusing incident. A certain Mr Adams came to consult Foster. He saw the room filled with spirits in his presence. About two o’clock the next morning he woke up, complained to Bartlett that he could not sleep as the room was still filled with the Adams family. They were writing their names all over him. To his astonishment Bartlett counted eleven distinct names, one written across Foster’s forehead, others on his arms, and several on his back.