Another kind of cases which may be called veracious, occurs when theghost seer, after seeing the ghost, recognises it in a portrait notpreviously beheld. Of course, allowance must be made for fancy, andfor conscious or unconscious hoaxing. You see a spook in CastleDangerous. You then recognise the portrait in the hall, or elsewhere.The temptation to recognise the spook rather more clearly than youreally do, is considerable, just as one is tempted to recognise thefeatures of the Stuarts in the royal family, of the parents in a baby,or in any similar case.Nothing is more common in literary ghost stories than for somebody tosee a spectre and afterwards recognise him or her in a portrait notbefore seen. There is an early example in Sir Walter Scott'sTapestried Chamber, which was told to him by Miss Anna Seward.Another such tale is by Theophile Gautier. In an essay on Illusionsby Mr. James Sully, a case is given. A lady (who corroborated thestory to the present author) was vexed all night by a spectre inarmour. Next morning she saw, what she had not previously observed, aportrait of the spectre in the room. Mr. Sully explains that she hadseen the portrait _unconsciously_, and dreamed of it. He adds thecurious circumstance that other people have had the same experience inthe same room, which his explanation does not cover. The followingstory is published by the Society for Psychical Research, attested bythe seer and her husband, whose real names are known, but notpublished. {76}
