The Phantom World

by Christmas, Henry

• ISBN13: 9781108044257
• ISBN10: 1108044255
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-22
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

The Benedictine monk and biblical scholar Antoine Augustin Calmet (1672-1757) published this work in 1746; it was translated into English in 1850 by Henry Christmas (1811-68). It examines a wide selection of supernatural tales and beliefs from across Europe. Taking the stance of a scientific enquirer, Calmet sought to understand the truth behind stories of good and bad angels, vampires, witchcraft, possession by demons, and the dead who come back to life. He compiled accounts of the supernatural from official reports, newspapers, eyewitness accounts and travel writing, and this two-volume anthology of his collected data analyses the material, noting problems and inconsistencies. Volume 2 investigates tales of vampires and ghosts from many different European countries. Covering a vast repertory of legends, the work paints a vivid picture of the beliefs entertained in an ostensibly Christian era.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Preface

The appearance of good angels proved by the books of the Old Testament

The appearance of good angels proved by the books of the New Testament

Under what form have good angels appeared?

Opinions of the Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and oriental nations, concerning the apparitions of good angels

Opinion of the Greeks and Romans on the apparitions of good genii

The apparition of bad angels proved by the Holy Scriptures. Under what form they have appeared

Of magic

Objections to the reality of magic

Reply to the objections

Examination of the affair of Hocque, magician

Magic of the Egyptians and Chaldeans

Magic among the Greeks and Romans

Examples which prove the reality of magic

Effects of magic according to the poets

Of the pagan oracles

The certainty of the event predicted, not always a proof that the prediction comes from God

Reasons which lead us to believe that the greater part of the ancient oracles were only impositions of the priests and priestesses, who feigned that they were inspired by God

Of sorcerers and sorceresses, or witches

Instances of sorcerers and witches being, as they said, transported to the Sabbath

Story of Louis Gaufredi and Magdalen de la Palud, owned by themselves to be a sorcerer and sorceress

Reasons which prove the possibility of sorcerers and witches being transported to the Sabbath

Continuation of the same subject

Obsession and possession of the Devil

The truth and reality of possession and obsession by the Devil proved from Scripture

Examples of real possessions caused by the Devil

Continuation of the same subject

Objections against the obsessions and possessions of the demon. Reply to the objections

Continuation of objections against possessions, and some replies to those objections

Of familiar spirits

Some other examples of elves

Spirits that keep watch over treasure

Other instances of hidden treasures, which were guarded by good or bad spirits

Spectres which appear, and predict things unknown and to come

Other apparitions of spectres

Examination of the apparition of a pretended spectre

Of spectres which haunt houses

Other instances of spectres which haunt certain houses

Prodigious effects of imagination in those men or women who believe they hold intercourse with the demon

Return and apparitions of souls after the death of the body, proved from Scripture

Apparitions of spirits proved from history

More instances of apparitions

On the apparitions of spirits who imprint their hands on clothes or on wood

Opinions of the Jews, Greeks, and Latins, concerning the dead who are left unburied

Examination of what is required or revealed to the living by the dead who return to earth

Apparitions of men still alive, to other living men, absent, and very distant from each other

Arguments concerning apparitions

Objections against apparitions, and replies to those objections

Some other objections and replies

The secrets of physics and chemistry taken for supernatural things

Conclusion of the treatise on apparitions

Way of explaining apparitions

The difficulty of explaining the manner in which apparitions make their appearance, whatever system may be proposed on the subject

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