Phantoms.

The academy defines this word thus: “Said of the Spirits that are supposed to return from the other world.” It does not say that they return; only Spiritists can be mad enough to dare to affirm such things. Be that as it may, it can be said that the belief in phantoms is universal. It is evidently founded upon the intuition of the existence of the Spirits and upon the possibility of communication with them. On this account, every Spirit that manifests its presence, whether by the writing of a medium, or simply by rapping on a table, would be a phantom. But this almost sepulchral name is generally reserved for those that become visible and that are supposed, as the Academy rightly says, to come in more dramatic circumstances. Are these old wives' tales? The fact in itself, no; the accessories, yes. It is known that the Spirits can manifest themselves to the sight, even in tangible form – this is what is real. But what is fantastic are the accessories; fear, which exaggerates everything, ordinarily accompanies this phenomenon, in itself so simple, which is explained by a very natural law; consequently, it has nothing marvelous or diabolical about it. Why, then, is one afraid of phantoms? Precisely because of these same accessories, which the imagination delights in rendering terrifying, because it has frightened itself and perhaps believed it had seen what it did not see. In general they are represented under a lugubrious aspect, coming preferably at night, above all on the darkest nights, at fatal hours, to sinister places, clothed in extravagant shrouds. Spiritism teaches, on the contrary, that the Spirits can show themselves in all places, at any hour, by day as by night; that in general they do so under the appearance they had in life, and that only the imagination has created the phantoms; that those who appear, far from being feared, are most often relatives or friends who come to us out of affection, or unhappy Spirits whom we can assist. They are also, sometimes, jesters of the spirit world, who amuse themselves at our expense and laugh at the fear they cause. It is understood that with these the best means is to laugh as well, and to prove to them that one does not fear them. Moreover, they almost always limit themselves to making noise and rarely become visible. Unhappy is he who takes them seriously, for they redouble their pranks; it would be the same as exorcising a Paris street urchin. Even supposing that it is an evil Spirit, what harm could it do? Would a living bully not be a hundred times more fearsome than a dead man who has become a Spirit? Besides, we know that we are constantly surrounded by Spirits, who differ from those we call phantoms only in that we do not see them. The adversaries of Spiritism will not fail to accuse it of giving credit to a superstitious belief. But the fact of the visible manifestations being established, explained by theory and confirmed by countless witnesses, one cannot say that they do not exist, and all the denials will not prevent it from reproducing itself, for there are few persons who, consulting their recollections, do not remember some fact of this nature and that they cannot call into doubt. It is preferable, therefore, that we enlighten ourselves as to what there is of true or of false, of possible or of impossible in the narratives of this kind. It is by explaining a thing, by reasoning, that we guard ourselves against puerile fear. We have known many persons who had a dread of phantoms. Today, thanks to Spiritism, they know what this is, and their greatest desire is to see one. We have known others who had visions that terrified them; now that they understand them, they are no longer disquieted. The dangers of the malady of fear for weak brains are known. Now, one of the results of the knowledge of enlightened Spiritism is precisely to cure this malady, and is this not one of its lesser benefits.