The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies

11 Letter to Terry, April 30. Lockhart, vol. 309. 12 Scott to Terry, May 16.

13 Susannah Wesley to Samuel Wesley, March 27, 1717.

14 Work cited, page 193.

15 Work cited, page 194.

16 Joseph Priestley’s explanation of the Epworth disturbances is that they were a fraud committed by the servants as a prank. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on the other hand, says that "all these stories (and I could cite at least fifty cases equally well-authenticated) are—regarding the truthfulness of the narrators and the simple fact of having seen and heard such and such images or sounds—beyond all rational skepticism. They are as similar to one another as the symptoms of the same disease in different patients."

It is a pity that Coleridge did not present his fifty well-authenticated examples. The similarity of these narratives everywhere, throughout the world, is precisely what makes them interesting. Coleridge continues:

"I believe this is the only true solution: a contagious nervous disease, the peak or most intense form of which is catalepsy original: "catalepsia"; a physical condition involving muscular rigidity and fixed posture, often associated with trances" (Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 14, note by Coleridge). If a contagious nervous disease exists, it is a very remarkable illness and one worth examining. The Wesleys were not alarmed; they joked with the spirit; they wished they could put it to work; and beyond the trembling of the children when 'Jeffrey' The name the Wesley family gave to the spirit or poltergeist knocked at the door while they slept, there are no signs of morbid conditions. A neighboring clergyman, who was asked to spend the night in the house, saw and heard exactly what the others heard and saw. The hypothesis of a contagious nervous disease, in which every witness exhibits the same symptoms of delusion everywhere in the world, is a theory that requires much verification.

Where material traces of the disturbances remain, it is absurd to speak of contagious hallucinations. We must resort to the hypothesis of trickery, or we must say with Robert Southey, "These things may be supernatural, but not miraculous; they may not be in the ordinary course of nature, but they do not imply any alteration of its laws."

Any theory is more plausible than the idea that Mr. Wesley and Mr. Hoole were in a state bordering on catalepsy. Believers in hypnotism may think it possible that this, that, and the other person—if subjected to hypnotic influences—could have the same suggested hallucinations. But there is no evidence, in the Epworth case nor in the Rerrick case, of such a matter. "As far as we know so far, the sensory hallucination of several people together who are not in a hypnotic state is a rare phenomenon and, therefore, is not a probable explanation" (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, iv. 62). There is some evidence that epileptic patients suffer the same delusions: for example, the presence of a woman in a red cloak; and in delirium tremens original: "delirium tremens"; tremors and hallucinations caused by alcohol withdrawal the "horrors" are usually similar. But that every person who enters a certain house is impressed by the same material illusions—such as chairs, tables, and even beds (like that of Nancy Wesley) flying in all directions—is a theory more incredible than the hypothesis of trickery or abnormal events. When disturbances always cease upon the arrival of a competent witness, then it is not difficult to say which theory we should choose. Regarding the possibility of fraud, see the following note.

17 Memoirs of the Wesley Family, page 198.

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—it is sufficient that a few incidents of this type, whatever their cause, can originate and keep alive the belief in Brownies original: "Brownies"; legendary benevolent household spirits in folklore, and of...

"That shrewd and knavish sprite

Called Robin Goodfellow A mischievous spirit from English folklore, also known as Puck,

who

Frights the maidens of the villagery,

Skims milk, and sometimes labors in the mill."