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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76798-9 — Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750–1920 Shane McCorristine Frontmatter More Information

Spectres of the Self

Spectres of the Self is a fascinating study of the rich cultures surrounding the experience of seeing ghosts in England from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. Shane McCorristine examines a vast range of primary and secondary sources, showing how ghosts, apparitions and hallucinations were imagined, experienced and debated from the pages of fiction to the case reports of the Society for Psychical Research. By analysing a broad range of themes from telepathy and ghost-hunting to the notion of dreaming while awake and the question of why ghosts wore clothes, Dr McCorristine reveals the sheer variety of ideas of ghost-seeing in English society and culture. He shows how the issue of ghosts remained dynamic despite the advance of science and secu- larism, and argues that the ghost ultimately represented a spectre of the self, a symbol of the psychological hauntedness of modern experience.

shane mccorristine is a postdoctoral fellow at Ludwig- Maximilians-Universita¨t Mu¨nchen and a visiting research fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76798-9 — Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750–1920 Shane McCorristine Frontmatter More Information

Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750–1920

Shane McCorristine

University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314-321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi - 110025, India 103 Penang Road, #05-06/07, Visioncrest Commercial, Singapore 238467

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521767989 © Shane McCorristine 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data McCorristine, Shane, 1983– Spectres of the self : thinking about ghosts and ghost-seeing in England, 1750–1920 / Shane McCorristine. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-521-76798-9 (Hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-74796-7 (pbk.) 1. Ghosts–England–History. 2. Parapsychology. I. Title. BF1472.G7M385 2010 133.10942–dc22 2010020689 ISBN 978-0-521-76798-9 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-74796-7 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

List of illustrations page vii Acknowledgements viii List of abbreviations x

Introduction 1

I. The dreams of the ghost-seers 25 1. The haunted mind, 1750–1850 27 Ghosts reformed 27 The phantasmagoric dislocation 31 The case of Nicolai 40 The spectral illusions model 43 Hallucinations and illusions in French psychiatry 52 A Christmas Carol and ‘The Haunted Mind’ 61 2. Seeing is believing: hallucinations and ghost-seeing 66 The dreams of the Geistersehers: Kant and Schopenhauer on ghost-seeing 66 Hallucinations, spiritualism and pathology 75 The clothes of ghosts 90

II. A science of the soul 101 3. Ghost-hunting in the Society for Psychical Research 103 The Society for Psychical Research 103 Ghost-hunting in the Society for Psychical Research 114 The sociology of the psychical ghost story 127 4. Phantasms of the living and the dead 139 Phantasms of the living 139 Criticisms of Phantasms of the Living 162 Phantasms of the dead 172 A science of the soul? 182

vi Contents

5. The concept of hallucination in late Victorian psychology 192 The concept of hallucination in the Society for Psychical Research 192 The ‘Report on the Census of Hallucinations’ 194 Dreaming while awake 202 Some conclusions 210

Epilogue: towards 1920 218 Appendix 229

Bibliography 244 Index 271

Illustrations

1. The Ghost Illusion. Source: Jean-Euge`ne-Robert Houdin, The Secrets of Stage Conjuring, ed. and trans. Professor Hoffmann [Angelo John Lewis] (London, 1881). Courtesy of the University Library, Cambridge. page 34 2. Francisco Jose´ de Goya y Lucientes, El Suen˜o de la Razon Produce Monstruos (1799). Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. 38 3. Robert W. Buss, Dickens’ Dream (1875). Courtesy of the Charles Dickens Museum. 64 4. George Cruikshank, Alas, Poor Ghost! Source: George Raymond, The Life and Enterprises of Robert William Elliston, Comedian (London, 1857). In author’s collection. 94 5. Spirit photographs of deceased family members alongside Georgiana Houghton. Source: Miss [Georgiana] Houghton, Chronicles of the Photographs of Spiritual Beings and Phenomena Invisible to the Material Eye: Interblended with Personal Narrative (London, 1882). Courtesy of the University Library, Cambridge. 225 6. Mrs Shaw and Mrs Coates’ Daughter, Agnes Tweedale Simpson. Source: James Coates, Photographing the Invisible: Practical Studies in Spirit Photography, Spirit Portraiture, and Other Rare but Allied Phenomena (London and Chicago, 1911). # the British Library Board. Shelfmark 08637.i.38. 226

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Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the support and funding I received from the Humanities Institute of Ireland: as an HII doctoral scholar, researching the PhD thesis from which this book came functioned as merely one element in a broader academic and social environment that was always stimulating and a pleasure to be a part of. I would therefore like to extend my thanks to Dr Marc Caball, Professor Anne Fuchs and Valerie Norton. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr David Kerr, my internal supervisor Dr Judith Devlin, and my external supervisor Professor Roger Luckhurst for offering interesting angles, problems and perspectives which influenced my research. The support of the staff in the School of History and Archives during my postgraduate years has always been appreciated: I would like especially to thank Kate Breslin, Professor Howard Clarke, Dr Declan Downey, Dr Elva Johnston, Dr Sue Schulze and Eiriol Townsend. For assistance in attending conferences in 2006, I wish to acknowledge the travel grant provided by the School of History and Archives and the graduate student travel grant provided by the College of Arts and Celtic Studies. The staff and curators at the libraries I attended over the years have been very helpful. I would like to thank the staff of: the British Library, London; the National Library of Ireland, Dublin; the Society for Psychical Research, London; the College of Psychic Studies, London; the Harry Price Library at Senate House, London; the Wellcome Institute, London; the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge; the University Library, Cambridge; Trinity College, Dublin (especially the staff at the Early Printed Books Department); the James Joyce Library, University College Dublin (especially Avril Patterson at the inter-library loan desk who went out of her way to source some of the more unusual books I requested). I wish to thank the anonymous readers at Cambridge University Press for offering such fruitful criticism of my original manu- script. Thanks are also due to Michael Watson, Helen Waterhouse and Joanna Garbutt at the Press, and Rebecca du Plessis, for expertly guiding me through the editing process.

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Acknowledgements ix

Part of chapter 2 appeared in an earlier version in the Paranormal Review 44 (October 2007) and is reprinted with the permission of the editor. I also wish to acknowledge the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for permission to quote from the Society for Psychical Research Archive, and the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge for permission to quote from the Henry Sidgwick Papers and the C.D. Broad Papers.

To my all friends and colleagues, I extend my appreciation for the years of laughs and the truly inter-disciplinary process we have shared: Joanne Banks, Rebecca Boyd, Fiachra Byrne, Corinna Connolly, Clara Cullen, Elizabeth Dawson, David Doyle, Mark Empey, Emily Mark FitzGerald, Vincent Gallagher, Tziovanis Georgakis, Fintan Hoey, Rania Kosmidou, Bill Mallon, Una Newell, Clare Nı´ Cholma´in, Niamh Nı´ Shiadhail, Diane Sabenacio Nititham, Laura O’Brien, Ross O’Connell, Jonathan O’Malley, Linda Shortt, Chiara Tedaldi, Karl Whitney and Ross Woods. Finally, this study would not have been possible were it not for the fantastic support of my relatives and family. To my parents Anne and Larry and my siblings Manus, Art and Anna Maria I extend a special word of gratitude.

Abbreviations

Light Light: A Journal Devoted to the Highest Interests of Humanity, Both Here and Hereafter (1881–1883); Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research (1883–) JSPR Journal of the Society for Psychical Research PSPR Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research SPR Society for Psychical Research Zoist The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology and Mesmerism, and Their Application to Human Welfare