Haunted Houses (1924) - Page 9

CHAPTER

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY . . . . . . . . 1

Spiritualism and Materialism

Spiritualism: In this context, the belief that the human spirit exists independently of the body; Materialism: The belief that nothing exists except matter and its movements.

A Reply to Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a famous French composer and friend of the author who held skeptical, materialist views on the afterlife.

I. EXPERIMENTAL PROOFS OF SURVIVAL . . . 20
survival: The continuation of human consciousness or the soul after the death of the physical body.

Preliminary Reply to Certain Criticisms

Establishing the Facts

Blind and Prejudiced Denials

Laplace and the Calculus of Probabilities

Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) was a French mathematician. Flammarion uses Laplace's mathematical "calculus of probabilities" to argue that the high volume of consistent testimony for hauntings makes them scientifically probable.

The Selection of Precise Observations

II. HAUNTED HOUSES: A FIRST SURVEY OF THE SUBJECT . . . . . . . 70

Truth and Falsehood

Proven Realities

Ancient and Modern Observations

Legal Recognition of Haunted Houses

Broken Leases

Flammarion refers to historical and contemporary legal cases where courts allowed tenants to break their rental contracts because a house was proven to be "haunted."

The Certainty of Haunting Phenomena

III. STRANGE PHENOMENA IN A CASTLE IN CALVADOS . . . . . . . 112
Calvados: A department in the Normandy region of northwestern France.

IV. THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF LA CONSTANTINIE (CORRÈZE) . . . . . 134
Corrèze: A department in south-central France.

CONTENTS