e of the remark just
made, for in the loose manner in which the words are ordinarily used
they may stand for almost any inhabitant of the astral plane. Of
course psychically developed people are constantly seeing such things,
but for an ordinary person to "see a ghost," as the common expression
runs, one of two things must happen: either that ghost must
materialize, or that person must have a temporary flash of psychic
perception. But for the fact that neither of these events is a common
one, ghosts would be met with in our streets as frequently as living
people.

[Sidenote: Churchyard Ghosts.]

If the ghost is seen hovering about a grave it is probably the etheric
shell of a newly-buried person, though it _may_ be the astral body of
a living man haunting in sleep the tomb of a friend; or again, it may
be a materialized thought-form--that is, an artificial elemental
created by the energy with which a man thinks of himself as present at
that particular spot. These varieties would be easily distinguishable
one from the other by any one accustomed to use astral vision, but an
unpractised person would be quite likely to call them all vaguely
"ghosts".

[Sidenote: Apparitions of the Dying.]

Apparitions at the time of death are by no means uncommon, and are
very often really visits paid by the astral form of the dying man just
before what we elect to call the moment of dissolution; though here
again they are quite likely to be thought-forms called into being by
his earnest wish to see some friend once more before he passes into an
unfamiliar condition.

[Sidenote: Haunted Localities.]

Apparitions at the spot where some crime was committed are usually
thought-forms projected by the criminal, who, whether living or dead,
but most especially when dead, is perpetually thinking over again and
again the circumstances of his action; and since these thoughts are
naturally specially vivid in his mind on the anniversary of the
original crime, it is often only on that occasion that the artificial
elementals he creates are strong enough to materialize themselves to
ordinary sight--a fact which accounts for the periodicity of some
manifestations of this class. Another point in reference to such
phenomena is, that wherever any tremendous mental disturbance has
taken place, wherever overwhelming terror, pain, sorrow, hatred, or
indeed any kind of intense passion has been felt, an impression of so
very marked a character has been