ly impositions and
delusions, and that people, as a too general thing, like to be led into
the region of mystery. As Hudibras has it:

"Doubtless the pleasure is as great
Of being cheated as to cheat;
As lookers-on feel most delight
That least perceive a juggler's sleight;
And still the less they understand,
The more they admire his sleight of hand."

The amount or strength of man's brains have little to do with the amount
of their superstitions. The most learned and the greatest men have been
the deepest believers in ingeniously-contrived machines for running
human reason off the track. If any expositions I can make on this
subject will serve to put people on their guard against impositions of
all sorts, as well as foolish superstitions, I shall feel a pleasure in
reflecting that I have not written in vain. The heading of this chapter
enumerates the principal kinds of supernatural humbugs. These, it must
be remembered, are quite different from religious impostures.

It is astonishing to reflect how ancient is the date of this class of
superstitions (as well as of most others, in fact,) and how universally
they have prevailed. Nearly thirty-six hundred years ago, it was thought
a matter of course that Joseph, the Hebrew Prime Minister of Pharaoh,
should have a silver cup that he commonly used to do his divining with:
so that the practice must already have been an established one.

In Homer's time, about twenty-eight hundred years ago, ghosts were
believed to appear. The Witch of Endor pretended to raise the ghost of
Samuel, at about the same time.

To-day, here in the City of New York, dream books are sold by the
edition; a dozen fortune-tellers regularly advertise in the papers; a
haunted house can gather excited crowds for weeks; abundance of people
are uneasy if they spill salt, dislike to see the new moon over the
wrong shoulder, and are delighted if they can find an old horse-shoe to
nail to their door-post.

I have already told about one or two haunted houses, but must devote
part of this chapter to that division of the subject. There are hundreds
of such--that is, of those reputed to be such; and have been for
hundreds of years. In almost every city, and in many towns and country
places, they are to be found. I know of one, for instance, in New
Jersey, one or two in New York, and have heard of several in
Connecticut. There are great numbers in Europe; for as white men have
lived there so much