By Dr. Carl Wickland

Haunted houses are often frequented by spirits who seek revenge for wrongs suffered by them during life.

While Mrs. Wickland and I were in Wisconsin, we held a circle in the home of friends and Mrs. Wickland was controlled by the spirit of a man who said he had been murdered by the owner of a near-by stone quarry, but that he was still alive in his house at the side of the quarry.

He laughed spitefully and said: “He killed me, but I am having my revenge! I haunt him!”

Although we explained to the spirit the existence of a higher life, he stated that he was not yet ready to leave his old haunts, and refusing to progress, departed.

Our friends then told us that they had known this man in life; that ten years before, the quarry had been owned by three men, one of whom, desiring to own the quarry himself, had bought the holdings of the second man, but the third man, who lived in the house by the quarry, had refused to sell.

A few days later the third man was found dead, and, although there was no proof as to the identity of the murderer, there was a strong suspicion in the neighborhood that the first partner was the perpetrator of the crime.

As time went on the owner of the stone quarry developed a strange reluctance to work the quarry, and rumor said that he was haunted by his dead partner. It became common report that the house nearby was haunted, and when our friends had driven there a year before to pick berries they had had an unusual experience.

After placing the horse in the empty barn, they noticed some berries in the yard and returned to the barn for a basket, when the horse began to rear wildly and neighed in terror.

Stopping in amazement, our friends heard a coarse laugh and looking about saw a grinning man standing in the doorway of the deserted house. It was the man who had died several years before; they had known him in life and recognized him now.

The man laughed and vanished, and our friends rushed to the barn, took the horse out and drove away in great haste.

We had a series of letters from Mrs. G. G., who resided in a village in New York; she was a psychic and clairvoyant whose house was haunted by a band of evil spirits.

She wrote that she had been in the best of health when she had moved into this house but had soon become afflicted with a strange ailment of the arms and legs which no doctors could relieve.

Spirits who claimed to be her guides advised her to have a psychic circle every evening and “sit” for half an hour, saying they could help her in this way. They explained that she was being injured by the spirit of the woman who had built the house and that she could free herself by having a certain friend of hers attend the next circle.

This friend came and the spirit said she would leave with this woman. When the latter reached her home she was taken with the same sickness with which Mrs. G. G. had been troubled, while Mrs. G. G. recovered.

But disturbances of various kinds continued in the house; even the orchard was haunted, and spirits were heard to say that Mrs. G. G. could not live if she remained there, for they would kill any one who came into that house.

The G.’s sold the house and moved away without telling the purchasers anything of their mysterious experiences. The new owners took possession of the house and the mother, an elderly lady, went to bed the first night apparently well, but in a short time screamed that two men had come into her room threatening to kill her, and before morning she was dead.

Mrs. G. G., however, continued her circles, but was unable to rid herself of spirit influences and finally wrote to us for aid.

“There is no one I can go to or depend upon. I joined the New Thought Society to be helped; they claimed to send out vibrations but I failed to get in on the wave. No one prays more earnestly for help than I, or tries harder to do right. Tell me, if you can, how to get relief.”

We concentrated for the lady, as well as the house, and a number of spirits were brought from both.

One of the first declared that he did not know he was obsessing Mrs. G. G. Another spirit was Harry Harris, who had so brutally mistreated his wife that she had shot herself. How his life had ended we did not learn. He insisted that he was not dead, but was living in an old house with a band of outlaws (spirits) and that they would kill any one who dared to move into their house.

Another evening four spirits were brought from the haunted house; first two women, then “Pete,” who had been a dexterous pickpocket in life, and a woman named Kate, who had been killed by Pete and had “hounded” him ever since.

To conceal himself Pete was hiding with others in a house that “belonged” to them, and to no one else. “We kill any one who comes in,” he said, speaking through Mrs. Wickland.

He admitted having troubled Mrs. G. G. “I stayed with her to get my grub,” he said.

While Pete was speaking, Kate took control of another medium who was in the circle, and Pete was terror-stricken, while Kate attempted to escape from him. Each thought the other was a ghost, and neither was aware of controlling a psychic.

It was some time before they realized that both had died. Finally Pete sank on his knees and begged Kate to forgive him; a reconciliation followed and both left, promising to reform.

Later, Mrs. G. G. wrote that she had greatly improved.

In answer to an urgent appeal for help, Mrs. Wickland and I called at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C., in Pasadena, where nightly rappings and noises were keeping the family awake for hours.

Mr. C. had purchased this house from the children of an elderly lady who had died some time before. (A fact not known to us until later.) The house had been moved to Mr. C.’s lot, remodeled there, and the C.’s had then moved into it, only to be disturbed by noises of all kinds. Every night, between twelve and four, the door of a closet between two bedrooms was shaken and rattled loudly, and rappings and “crackings” kept the family
awake.

While we were seated in one of the rooms of the C. home, discussing the situation, Mrs. Wickland became unexpectedly entranced by a spirit who complained of intense rheumatism, and stormed at the C.’s for living in “her house.”

“This is my house,” she declared peremptorily, “and these people have no business in it! I will chase them out!”

The controlling spirit proved to be the former owner of the house and later inquiry bore out the statement that she had suffered severely from rheumatism.

She could not realize that she was dead but insisted that she was still living in her own house, although troubled by intruders.

“If I am dead, why am I not in Heaven?” she asked.

Many explanations at last resulted in understanding and a penitent departure, and in a letter written several months later Mr. C. stated that all noises had entirely ceased in the house.

That spirits often play a serious part in domestic disturbances and break up many homes we have had ample evidence.

A patient, Mrs. SI., who was brought to us from a Northern state, was the second wife of a Dakota farmer. After the birth of her first child, she developed a tendency to wander away at random and when brought back and questioned she could only give vague answers, but always insisted that her husband, a steady, reliable farmer, was faithless to her.

When the obsessing spirit was transferred to Mrs. Wickland we found that it was none other than the first wife, who indignantly accused her husband of being faithless to her, and said that she was determined to get rid of her “rival.”

After passing out of the physical body she had remained on the farm, but she was unaware of her death, and did not realize that her “rival” was her husband’s second wife.

The spirit, after due explanation and enlightenment, left, and Mrs. SI., restored to herself, returned to her Dakota home.

We had a similar experience with an acquaintance of ours, a gentleman whose first wife had died, leaving him to care for their small son.

Later he married again, but before long we noticed that the family life was becoming unhappy, and the culmination came one Sunday morning when the second wife angrily left the house.

The husband desolately came to our home, followed presently by the little boy, and although they had never visited us before, they remained for some hours.

In the evening the boy returned, and while Mrs. Wickland was conversing with him and a group of friends, she became controlled by the spirit of a woman who said she was the boy’s mother.

She had no knowledge of her death and craved longingly to caress her small son, saying: “I want my boy! I want my boy!”

Then she burst forth into a jealous denunciation of her successor and declared she would drive her out of the house.

“I chased her away this morning!” she exulted.

She, too, was finally made to understand the true situation, and, regretting the suffering she had caused, promised to do everything possible to make amends.

The second wife returned home again, and, during the ten years which have elapsed since this episode, no further disturbances have occurred in the family.

Miss L. was the young fiancée of a widower who had formerly, with his wife, occupied a flat in the same building in which the Young lady lived, and the two women had been intimate friends.

The wife died very suddenly and some time after her death the gentleman became engaged to the young lady. Soon after this the latter began to show mental abnormalities which continually grew worse.

In her normal condition she esteemed the man highly, but when she came to us she had a violent dislike for him, and asserted that she would rather die, or go to an insane asylum, than marry him. She had made several attempts to end her life but had each time seemed to come to herself at the last moment and called for help.

At the time the patient entered the Institute Mrs. Wickland clairvoyantly saw the spirit of a woman of the brunette type possessing the patient, who was a decided blond. This spirit was so interblended with the patient that it was difficult for Mrs. Wickland to determine, from the transfiguration, whether the patient was light or dark.

When Mrs. Wickland described this spirit the patient’s mother and fiancé both recognized her as the man’s former wife.

The patient proved very obdurate; screaming spells alternated with obstinate, stubborn moods, and she could not be left alone at any time. She declared herself insane and scoffed at being cured, and insisted that she wanted to die, for if she lived she would have to marry “that man.”

One day, during a treatment, she entered a semi-trance condition and a spirit intelligence expressed itself forcefully.

“He shall never marry her! He shall never have her! I will drive her to an insane asylum, or I will kill her, but he shall never have her!’

Immediately following this, the spirit of a child spoke defensively as if protecting a mother. The patient’s sister, who was present, recognized in the latter intelligence the deceased thirteen year old son of the dead wife.

The climax came a few days later. The patient had been unusually obstinate and unruly, and very contemptuous to her fiancé when he called. After a strong treatment was administered, the patient became quiet and slept well that night.

However, during the night Mrs. Wickland was greatly troubled by the presence of a spirit who annoyed her until four o’clock in the morning, when she became completely entranced by the spirit of the man’s former wife.

After considerable effort I induced the spirit to talk, but she was with difficulty convinced of her real situation -that she was a spirit and controlling Mrs. Wickland’s body. She strongly censured both her former husband and our patient for their treachery to her, and repeated her threats against the girl.

“I will send her to the asylum! I will kill her!” she declared.

A great deal of argument and persuasion were needed to bring the spirit to repentance, but this was at last accomplished.

Upon being asked if her son was with her she said that she had seen him at times, but that he was dead and she did not want to have anything to do with him.

The spirit was urged to leave the young woman whom she was tormenting and go with other spirit intelligences to a higher life, of which she showed herself entirely ignorant. Although repentant, she still longed to remain on the earth plane, but finally consented to leave and to cease troubling the patient; then she suddenly became weak and declared she was dying. (This sensation often occurs when spirits realize their actual situation; sometimes they again experience the physical conditions under which they passed out of their earth bodies.)

Chills and violent attacks of coughing added to the spirit’s distress and after a painful pseudo-death struggle she left. These symptoms were recognized by her husband and the patient’s mother as corresponding exactly with those manifested by the man’s wife at the time of her death from pneumonia.

After this the patient recovered rapidly. She was soon able to leave the Institute, is now well and happily married.

Excerpt from Thirty Years Among The Dead