Truly, my lord, you have this day seen an ap-
parition of a dead man.'

"And the king marvelled at what he had
seen."

"Thus ends the curious old narrative. It will
be seen that several others saw the ghost be-
sides the king. These are called "collective



TBUE GHOST STORIES 93

caaes" by thow engaged in psychical studies ; for
the reason that several persons saw the figure
at the same time, or ^^collectively." Such cases
have never been satisfactorily explained For, if
the phantom were a mere hallucination^ as many
claim, how did several see it at once?

THB STAINS OF BLOOD

The following narrative was personally re-
lated to Robert Dale Owen, by a clergyman of
the Church of England, who was Chaplain, at
the time, to the British Legation in Florence.
It is as follows:

**In the year 1850, I was staying with my
wife and children, at a favorite watering place.
In order to attend to some alTairs of my own,
I determined to leave my family there for thrive
or four days. Accordingly, on the 8th of Aug-
ust^ I took the railway, and arrived that even-
ing an unexpected guest at the Hall — the resi-
dence of a gentleman whose acquaintance I had
recently made, and with whom my sister was
then staying.
