Page 35 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 15

the ground decades ago, a Phantom Horseman unsolved at the present stage of parapsycho-
who patrols the grounds of an old battlefield. logical research.
Phantoms comprise that category of ghosts
that have been seen again and again by count- Paranormally restored battle scenes offer
less men and women over many years and excellent examples of what seem to be phan-
have literally begun to assume independent toms caused by the collective emotions and
existences of their own, becoming, in a sense, memories of large groups of people. Perhaps
“psychic marionettes,” responding to the fears the most well-known, most extensively docu-
and expectations of their human percipients. mented, and most substantially witnessed was
In some dramatic instances, an entire section the Phantom Battle of Edge Hill which was
of landscape seems to be haunted. In most “refought” on several consecutive weekends
cases of this particular type of haunting, a during the Christmas season of 1642. The
tragic scene from the past is recreated in pre- actual battle was waged near the village of
cise detail, as some cosmic photographer had Keinton, England, on October 23 between the
committed the panorama to ethereal film Royalist Army of King Charles and the Parlia-
footage. Battles are waged, trains are wrecked, mentary Army under the Earl of Essex.
ships are sunk, the screams of earthquake vic- It was on Christmas Eve that several coun-
tims echo through the night—all as it actually tryfolk were awakened by the noises of violent
took place months, years, or centuries before. battle. Fearing that it could only be another
Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931), the elec- clash between soldiers that had come to dese-
trical wizard, theorized that energy, like matter, crate the sanctity of the holy evening and the
is indestructible. He became intrigued by the peace of their countryside, the villagers fled
idea of developing a radio that would be sensi- from their homes to confront two armies of
tive enough to pick up the sounds of times phantoms. One side bore the king’s colors; the
past—sounds which were no longer audible to other, Parliament’s banners. Until three o’clock
any ears but those of the psychically sensitive. in the morning, the phantom soldiers restaged
Edison hypothesized that the vibrations of the terrible fighting of two months before.
every word ever uttered still echoed in the
ether. If this theory ever should be established,
it would explain such phenomena as the
restoration of scenes from the past. Just as the ALMOST every city, town, or village in the
emotions of certain individuals permeate a cer-
tain room and cause a ghost to be seen by those world has a bit of folklore about a phantom.
possessing similar telepathic affinity, so might it
be that emotionally charged scenes of the past
may become imprinted upon the psychic ether The actual battle had resulted in defeat for
of an entire landscape. An alternate theory King Charles, and the monarch grew greatly
maintains that surviving minds, emotionally disturbed when he heard that two armies of
held to the area, may telepathically invade the ghosts were determined to remind the popu-
mind of sensitive individuals and enable them lace that the Parliamentary forces had tri-
to see the scene as they, the original partici- umphed at Edge Hill. The king suspected that
pants, once saw the events occurring. certain Parliamentary sympathizers had fabri-
Whatever the reasons may be, it cannot be cated the tale to cause him embarrassment.
denied that some locales definitely have built The king sent three of his most trusted officers
up their own “atmospheres” over the years and to squelch the matter. When the emissaries
that such auras often give sensitive people returned to court, they swore oaths that they
feelings of uneasiness—and often sensations themselves had witnessed the clash of the
of fear and discomfort. Whether this may be phantom armies. On two consecutive nights,
caused by surviving minds, a psychic residue, they had watched the ghostly reconstruction
or an impression of the actual event in the and had even recognized several of their com-
psychic ether is a question that remains rades who had fallen that day.

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