Spirit Encounter Account by Pliny the Younger

[Liberator]

Do you believe people in ancient/classical times seemed to have knowledge and knew alot about how to handle the paranormal? In this example a guy marked the spot where he saw a spirit vanish on the ground and had people to open the ground, then dig to find human remains. Haunting stopped after remains were given burial. What do you think?

The following spooky story is from Pliny the Younger, Book 7, Letter 27. Written in third person:

“There was in Athens a house, spacious and open, but with an infamous reputation, as if filled with pestilence. For in the dead of night, a noise like the clashing of iron could be heard. And if one listened carefully, it sounded like the rattling of chains. At first the noise seemed to be at a distance, but then it would approach, nearer, nearer, nearer. Suddenly a phantom would appear, an old man, pale and emaciated, with a long beard, and hair that appeared driven by the wind. The fetters on his feet and hands rattled as he moved them.

Any dwellers in the house passed sleepless nights under the most dismal terrors imaginable. The nights without rest led them to a kind of madness, and as the horrors in their minds increased, onto a path toward death. Even in the daytime–when the phantom did not appear–the memory of the nightmare was so strong that it still passed before their eyes. The terror remained when the cause of it was gone.

Damned as uninhabitable, the house was at last deserted, left to the spectral monster. But in hope that some tenant might be found who was unaware of the malevolence within it, the house was posted for rent or sale.

It happened that a philosopher named Athenodorus came to Athens at that time. Reading the posted bill, he discovered the dwelling’s price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion, yet when he heard the whole story, he was not in the least put off. Indeed, he was eager to take the place. And did so immediately.

As evening drew near, Athenodorus had a couch prepared for him in the front section of the house. He asked for a light and his writing materials, then dismissed his retainers. To keep his mind from being distracted by vain terrors of imaginary noises and apparitions, he directed all his energy toward his writing.

For a time the night was silent. Then came the rattling of fetters. Athenodorus neither lifted up his eyes, nor laid down his pen. Instead he closed his ears by concentrating on his work. But the noise increased and advanced closer till it seemed to be at the door, and at last in the very chamber. Athenodorus looked round and saw the apparition exactly as it had been described to him. It stood before him, beckoning with one finger.

Athenodorus made a sign with his hand that the visitor should wait a little, and bent over his work. The ghost, however, shook the chains over the philosopher’s head, beckoning as before. Athenodorus now took up his lamp and followed. The ghost moved slowly, as if held back by his chains. Once it reached the courtyard, it suddenly vanished.

Athenodorus, now deserted, carefully marked the spot with a handful of grass and leaves. The next day he asked the magistrate to have the spot dug up. There they found–intertwined with chains–the bones that were all that remained of a body that had long lain in the ground. Carefully, the skeletal relics were collected and given proper burial, at public expense. The tortured ancient was at rest. And the house in Athens was haunted no more.”

http://archaicwonder.tumblr.com/post/10 ... he-younger

[EternalReturn]

I don't know why but I get really excited when I read stuff like that. i believe that this has more to do with him not being afraid. He was doing his work, and if the apparition was malevolent it would attack him somehow, but if it needed his attention it would be stubborn. Rational thought solved the problem here. I cannot say that this was the case but it can be understood as my hypothesis. If he, on purpose, stayed at the haunted house he already dealt with these kinds of things. Directing energy and being able to see it and hear it without batting an eye tells me that he had some experience.

Interesting story though [thumbup] if you find any other, I would like to read it

[Liberator]

I don't know why but I get really excited when I read stuff like that. i believe that this has more to do with him not being afraid. He was doing his work, and if the apparition was malevolent it would attack him somehow, but if it needed his attention it would be stubborn. Rational thought solved the problem here. I cannot say that this was the case but it can be understood as my hypothesis. If he, on purpose, stayed at the haunted house he already dealt with these kinds of things. Directing energy and being able to see it and hear it without batting an eye tells me that he had some experience.

Interesting story though [thumbup] if you find any other, I would like to read it

I would imagine that during those times there were many more qualified specialists like him who studied to handle especially paranormal phenomenon, especially with the fact that less technology and having to do everything manually allowed people to focus more easily on their surroundings. Cause remember, at the beginning of the dark ages many classical texts such as instructions which were deemed "evil" got burnt/destroyed. Alot of knowledge was lost, they probably also used to have instruction books on how to handle that phenomenon such as somehow knowing that where a spirit's apparition tends to dissapear tends to be the spot where the remains or something are located under?

Somehow this guy did not freak out at all and communicated using hand gestures instead of trying to talk using his voice with the spirit, treating it and interacting with it like any other living being. During modern times most people doing this stuff would be creeped out or so and be unable to act rationally sometimes.

[EternalReturn]

Thanks to the pop culture we are reacting in a way that is both natural and thaught. What does a person do when they see a ghost? They fuckin' freak out, lose their minds and are never the same again. That is what horror movies told us, television shows and such. I believe that this is a modern phenomena, that people had a bit more courage before than today. Just think about this thing: we only go out after dark if there's light on the streets. Not many people would go for a walk where there is no light, especially on a cloudy night. But before electricity I don't think it bothered people much after they got over it during their childhood. Like, you have to go to the bathroom, and the only one is beneath that old hazelnut tree and it's made of planks which are overgrown with moss. In addition to that, it feels cold, has a lot of bugs and spiders there and it smells like hell. To go there to relieve yourself, you have to walk, say, 20 metres through pitch black night while accompanied by creatures of the night.

People get used to that. Also, when something makes a noise and you are the pater familias, you won't cower under the blankets because that shit that made the noise can potentially kill your family. So whatever it is it will go away or be dead. That asks for a lot of courage, and before controlled animal populations and civilization it was particularly frequent thing.

In short, we became cowards.

[Desecrated]

Oddly enough, there is a Japanese fairytale that tells a similar story.

A young monk who traveled the roads arrived late one evening to a very small village. But he could not find a place to sleep at. There was no ins, and no rooms to rent. The villagers told him that there was an old temple outside the village, but that he should not go in there because it was hunted by 3 very angry ghosts.
He told them that he would stay at the temple and if he survived, he would ring the temple bell 3 times the next morning.
He arrived at the temple after dark and decided to go to bed directly. Because there was no light he accidentally lay himself to rest inside a closet. And was fast asleep.

In the middle of the night, the 3 angry ghosts appeared in the temple. They could smell the human and searched all over. They search every room but could not find anything. They shouted and made a terrible noise.
The young monk woke up, but he knew that he would be killed if they saw him, so he kept hidden. The angry ghosts started searching the attic, ripping apart every furniture in their rage.
They searched the basement and the whole temple swayed like a branch in the wind. They even checked inside every old chest and urn. And just before they were about the check the closet; The sun had risen.
The ghost hurried back out of the temple and hid underneath a large cherry tree.

The monk ran to the temple bell and rung it 3 times. Soon all of the villagers came looking and he told them about the tree. They dug it up, and beneath the roots they found 3 large pots of gold.
The ghost had been bandits who died shortly after burying the pots and was now haunting the place to keep people away from their treasures.
The monk and the villagers shared the money. They restored the old temple and the young monk became one of the most prominent teachers of his age.

[Desecrated]

There is another story in Viregils - aeneid.

Achates had been sailing the coast and was planing to build a new city. He plans to cover the alter with leafs and therefor goes up a hill to large tree. But when he breaks of the first branch black blood starts to drip out of it. He is shocked but regains his courage and breaks of another branch. Once a gain the black blood gushes out.
When Achates for the third time broke of a branch he heard a distressed voice call from the hill. It was Polydoros, son of Priamos. Priamos had performed rituals and knew that Troy would fall soon. So he to save his own richness, he sent his son away with all his gold to the Thracian king for safekeeping.
But when Troy fell, the Trachian king saw his chance and murdered the son and stole the gold.
Polydoros was left on the ground without a grave and the arrows that was shoot into him grew into a large tree and his anger turned into black blood.