SUPERSTITION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1220, 14 March 1914, Page 4

SUPERSTITION.

Are people superstitious ? Nobody, or only a few peop'e, will admit they are, yet how many, especially ladies, will voluntarily walk under a standing ladder when they can get round it with only a little more trouble ? How many people wakened suddenly in the middle of the night by some strange noise which cannot be accounted for, put it down in their minds to supernatural causes and lie in a state of dire expectancy, watching for a gleam of shimmering white and sniffing for a sulphurous “tang” in the air? Speak to any man or woman, youth or girl and each one will deny being superstitious but in their iu most mind they know that they are, and they are fearful about it too. The Carterton News points out that there many curious happenings in New Zealand which cannot be explained, and the phenomena generally are accepted with secret fear as uncanny and supernatural and mentions a definite case. There is a mysterious light high up on the cliffs at White Rock, Tower Valley, and on pitch dark, stormy nights, when the wind howls mournfully, this beacon flickers, burns steadily and goes out, comes again, and is gone. The most exhaustive searches iu daylight reveal nothing —no cover or caves iu which anyone might hide, and the cliff where the light shines is very difficult to climb. A well-known man ia the Valley watched for the light oue night and essayed to discover what it was. He was a big man, wi.h plenty of courage, and utterly uusuperstitious (or thought he was). There were several other men whh him, but having an awe of the

cauuy light uot one of them would accompany him, saying that the light was a “ghost’ lamp, and they would not go near r for a fortune. The venturesome man went alone, and half an hour later he came back iu furious haste, slammed shut the door of the wbare where the other men were, and sank white and exhausted on the floor. What be saw, he could uot (or would not, for fear of ridicule) explain ; but it is a faci, nevertheless, that he will uot pass the place now anywhere near the midnight hour on a dark and stormy night. This man still claims that he is not superstitious. Everyone must be superstitious, for, while be believe in a Hereafter, the miud must imagine what the released spirits are doing. They must wander about, and it would not be extraordinary if, on favourable occasions, they should make themselves seen or heard. Wise and deep thinking men of the day stoutly maintain that thty have held intercourse with the “spirit world.’’ Spirit mediums of some standing swear to “materialising spirits.’’ Many people are positive as to ghosts, and others have received “warnings” from departed friends to steer dear ot threatened disaster. These facts are vyellknowu and accepted, either openly or secretly, by people all over the world ; and yet, in face of them, nearly everyone will deny being superstitious ! This is just the contrariness of human nature, and it may he takeu as absolutely correct that the average human is about as superstitious as he possibly can be.