When "phantasms of the dead" constantly appear in one house, and there only, that house is said to be "haunted"…
- Date of account
- Early twentieth century
- Source
- True Ghost Stories
- Reference
- True Ghost Stories · selected passage 104
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
When "phantasms of the dead" constantly appear in one house, and there only, that house is said to be "haunted" and, in such a case, the phantasms seem to be attracted to the locality more than to the individuals living in it
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyWhen "phantasms of the dead" constantly appear in one house, and there only, that house is said to be "haunted" and, in such a case, the phantasms seem to be attracted to the _locality_ more than to the individuals living in it. This is usually the case in so-called haunted houses; no matter _who_ lives within them, they one and all see the spectral forms; but this is not invariably so. In the case of the "Great Amherst Mystery," for example--given below--the haunting seemed to be associated with the _person_ more than the _house_, so that we might be said to have here a case of a Haunted Man (or Woman). But this is the exception, not the rule.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThe passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.
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