Haunts*

M. Flammarion Provides Eerie but Fascinating Enjoyment

The Book. Haunted Houses falls into three main divisions: death haunts; personal haunts; house haunts. Scientifically, each haunt is inexplicable unless the psychic influence of mediums, conscious or unconscious of their power, is taken into undefined account. The death haunts are all connected with mysterious happenings--the fall of a picture, the rumblings of a clock or the sudden functioning of a rusty and unused clock. In each instance, at the precise time of the mystery, a death occurs. The explanation is purely psychic; no cosmic clues can be discovered.

Some of the stories are intensely interesting.

Villa of Comeada: " At the beginning of October, 1919, Homem Christo had rented at Comeda a house. . . . Eight days afterward, one of his friends, Gomez Paredes, came and asked for a night's hospitality. . . . After they had passed the evening together, each retired to his bedroom about 1 a. m. . . . Hardly had he put out his candle, when Mr. Paredes heard knocks on his window panes. He got up and opened his window, but saw nobody. He lay down again. He heard steps quite close to him and doors opening and closing all over the building. He lighted up again and searched everywhere. . . . Nothing, nobody. He put out the light and the noises recommenced. He lighted up and they stopped. He suffered the situation all night long. . . .

"Another night, while there was a light, nothing abnormal occurred; but as soon as it was extinguished, big blows were heard on the ground-floor door in the garden. Mr. Christo quickly descended the stairs and stationed himself by the door. The blows started afresh. He opened suddenly, and saw nobody. He went out. . . . Hardly was he out when the door banged behind him and was locked. Outside he saw nobody. Mr. Christo, much interested, was convinced that somebody had played a practical joke. He took up his revolver.

"The doors went on being shaken.... All this passed in complete dark ness. . . . Hardly had a match which he held in his fingers gone out when he heard, close to his face, a loud burst of laughter which echoed over the whole house. He saw a white cloud in front of him, and two wisps of whitish light issuing from his nostrils. It was too much! The observer felt his courage giving way.

"Next day Mr. Christo, who did not know or admit the possibility of psychic phenomena, resolved to call in the aid of a policeman. ... An officer and two constables were placed at his disposal. . . . After searching and inspecting every corner of the house, the lights were extinguished. Knocks on the front door were immediately heard downstairs. 'Do you hear that?' said Mr. Christo to the constables. 'Perfectly,' they said.

"Suddenly, in the guest room there was a terrible noise, like a fierce struggle. Everybody rushed in, thinking the constable had caught the offender. Disappointment! There was only an infuriated constable hitting out with his sword right and left, running from all the crowd which rushed in, back into a little boudoir where there was a wardrobe with a mirror, which he broke in his fury. After that, Mr. Christo took up his place again on the landing, and received on his left cheek a formidable blow which made him scream, for it seemed to him that fangs hooked his flesh to tear it out. Lights were struck, and everybody could see four finger-marks on Mr. Homem Christo's left cheek, which was red, while his right cheek was ashen. . . .

"Mr. Homem Christo sublet the house, but after two days the new tenant went away, declaring that the house was uninhabitable."

Significance. Camille Flammarion self-admittedly lives more in the heavens than on the earth. Henri Poincare, rather of ex-Premier Poincare, the greatest French mathematician since Pascal, once said that Flammarion was a poet whose gifts enabled him " to describe the sky so as to make people who did not know it love it." Perhaps it was this combination of poet and astronomer that made M. Flammarion write Haunted Houses. The appeal of astral bodies is, after all, only faintly removed from that of the psychic world. The book is disappointing from a scientific point of view; but from that of the layman it provides eeries but fascinating enjoyment.

The Author. Camille Flammarion, born in 1842, has since the age of 16 devoted himself entirely to astronomy. He founded a monthly review, L'Astronomie, the Observatory at Juvisy and the Astronomical Society of France. Among his works: Marvels of the Heavens, The Atmosphere, Urania, Omega, The Last Days of the World, Astronomy for Amateurs. For 58 years, he has never taken a penny of author's right for his work, Annuaire Astronomique, published annually. Out of sheer admiration for his selfless devotion to his studies, one M. Meret provided him with a country estate, "La Cour de France," upon which M. Flammarion erected the Observatory of Juvisy, and where he to this day is fascinated by the study of the planets-- in particular Mars.

*HAUNTED HOUSES--Camilla Flammarion-Appleton ($2.50).