A Spirit who believes himself a property owner.

At the home of one of the members of the Society of Paris, who holds Spiritist meetings, someone had for some time been knocking at the door, but, when they went to open it, they found no one. The rings of the bell were given with force and as if by someone who was resolved to enter. Every precaution having been taken to make sure that the fact was due neither to an accidental cause nor to malevolence, it was concluded that it must be a manifestation. On a session day the master of the house asked the invisible visitor to make himself known and to say what he desired. Here are the two communications that he gave: I.

(Paris, December 22, 1868.)

I thank you, sir, for the kind invitation to take the floor, and since you encourage me, I shall overcome my timidity to express to you frankly my desire.

First of all, I must say that I was not always rich. I was born poor and, if I succeeded, I owe it to myself alone. I shall not tell you, as so many others do, that I arrived in Paris in clogs; that is an old refrain that no longer catches on; but I had the ardor and the spirit of the speculator par excellence. As a boy, if I lent three billiard balls, they had to return four to me. I traded with everything I had and was happy to see my treasure grow little by little. It is true that unfortunate circumstances despoiled me several times; I was weak; others, stronger, seized my gains, and I had to begin everything over again. But I was persevering. Little by little I left childhood behind; my ideas grew. As a boy, I had exploited my comrades; as a young man, I exploited the companions of the workshop. I ran errands; I was a friend to everyone, but I made them pay for my labor and my friendship. “He is quite obliging, but one must not speak to him of giving.” He! he! that is how one gets on. Go, then, and look at those fine young men of today, who spend everything they have on gambling and the café! they ruin themselves and run into debt, from the top to the bottom of the ladder. I let the others run about like madmen, head over heels; I walked slowly, with prudence; that is why I reached port and acquired a considerable fortune. I was happy; I had a wife and children; she, somewhat coquettish, the others, spendthrifts. I thought that with age all this would disappear; but no. Nevertheless, I kept them for a long time on a tight rein. But one day I fell ill. They called the doctor, who, no doubt, did much harm to my purse; then… I lost consciousness…

When I recovered my reason, everything was going wonderfully well! My wife was receiving visits; my children had carriages, horses, servants, butlers, what do I know! a whole voracious army that threw itself upon my poor patrimony, so painfully acquired, in order to squander it.

Nevertheless, I soon perceived that the disorder was organized; they spent only the income, but they spent it amply. They were rich enough; they no longer needed to capitalize, like the good old man; one had to enjoy, and not to hoard… And I stood there gaping, not knowing what to say, because, if I raised my voice, I was not heard; they pretended not to see me. I am a nonentity; the servants have not yet driven me out, although my attire is not in harmony with the luxury of the apartments; but they pay no attention to me. I sit down, I get up, I bump into the visitors, I detain the servants; it seems that they feel nothing. And yet, I have vigor, I hope that you can testify to it, you who heard me knock. I believe it is on purpose; no doubt they want me to go mad, in order to rid themselves of me. Such was my situation, when I came to visit one of my houses. An old habit that I still keep, although I am no longer the owner; but I saw everything built. It was my crowns that paid for everything; and I love those houses, whose income enriches my ungrateful children.

So, here I was on a visit, when I learned that Spiritists were gathering here. This interested me. I inquired about Spiritism and learned that the Spiritists claimed to explain all things. As my situation seems to me rather unclear, I should not be displeased to receive, on the matter, the counsel of the Spirits. I am neither an unbeliever nor a curiosity-seeker; I have the wish to see and to believe, to be enlightened, and, if you restore me to the position of governing everything in my house, on the word of a property owner, I will not raise your rent as long as I live. II.

(Paris, December 29, 1868.)

You say that I am dead? But do you really think about what you are saying?… You claim that my children neither see me nor hear me; but you see me and hear me, since you enter into conversation with me? since you open the door when I knock? since you question and I answer?… Listen, I see what is going on: you are less strong than I thought, and since your Spirits can say nothing, you wish to confound me, by making me doubt my reason… Do you take me for a child? If I had died, I would be a Spirit like them and would see them; but I see none, and you have not yet put me in contact with them. There is, however, one thing that intrigues me. Tell me, then, why do you write down everything I say? Do you perhaps wish to betray me? They say that Spiritists are mad; you are thinking, perhaps, of telling my children that I occupy myself with Spiritism, thus giving them the means to have me interdicted?

But he writes, he writes!… I have scarcely finished thinking, and my ideas are already on the paper… None of this is clear!… What is certain is that I see, I speak, I breathe, I walk, I climb stairs and, thank God, I perceive clearly that it is on the fifth floor that you dwell… It is not charitable to play thus with the sufferings of others. I am suffering; I can bear no more, and they claim to make me believe that I no longer have a body?… I believe I feel my asthma well enough!… As for those who told me that it was nothing but Spiritism, well then! they are people like you, acquaintances of mine, whom I had lost sight of and have met again since my illness! Oh! but… it is singular!… Oh! for example, I no longer exist; not at all!… But, it seems to me… Oh! my memory, which is failing… yes… no… but yes… upon my word, I am mad… I spoke to people whom I believed dead and buried eight or ten years ago… By God! I attended the funerals; I did business with the heirs!… It is really strange!… And they speak! They walk… they converse!… they feel their rheumatism!… they talk of the rain and the fine weather… they take some of my tobacco and shake my hand!

But, then, I!… No, no, it is not possible! I am not dead! One does not die thus, without being aware of it… I was even at the cemetery, precisely at the end of my illness… it was a relative… my son was in mourning… my wife was not there, but she was weeping… I accompanied him, poor dear one… But who was it, then?… In truth I do not know… What a strange disturbance agitates me!… Could it have been I?… But no; for if I was accompanying the body, I could not have been in the coffin… To be there, and there at the bottom!… and yet!… how strange all this is!… what a confused labyrinth!… Tell me nothing; I want to search alone; you disturb me… Leave me; I shall return… Decidedly, it seems that I am a phantom!… Oh! what a singular thing! Observation. – This Spirit is in the same situation as the preceding one [A Spirit who believes he is dreaming], in the sense that both still believe themselves in this world; but there is this difference between them: the one believes himself in possession of his carnal body, whereas the other is conscious of his spiritual state but imagines that he is dreaming. The latter is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, nearer to the truth, and yet he will be the last to recognize his error. It is true that the former property owner was very attached to material goods, but his avarice and his habits of somewhat sordid economy prove that he did not lead a sensual life. Moreover, he is not an unbeliever by nature; he does not repel spirituality. Louis, on the contrary, fears it; what he laments is not the absence of the fortune that he spent in life, but the pleasures that such squandering procured for him. Being unable to admit that he survives his body, he believes he is dreaming; he takes pleasure in that idea, in the hope of returning to worldly life; he clings to it by all the sophisms that his imagination can suggest to him. He will remain, then, in that state, since he wills it, until the evidence comes to open his eyes. Which of the two will suffer more upon awakening? The answer is easy: the one will only be lightly surprised, while the other will be terrified.