An Archetypal Approach to Death Dreams and Ghosts
Immanuel Kant’s Theory Concerning the World of Spirits
It is a remarkable fact that apparitions of departed spirits
are reported more frequently immediately after death than
after a period of time has elapsed. It seems as if the souls of
the deceased were “nearer” to this world in the beginning.
This is in line with some traditional religious ideas of the
East. The Tibetan Book of the Dead assumes that the soul of the
deceased is still “near” immediately after death. The soul
does not know what has happened and asks: “Am I dead or
am I not dead?”94 The text continues: “It cannot determine.
It seeth its relations and connections as it had been used to
seeing them before. It even heareth the wailings.” The soul
94. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Oxford, London 1927, p. 98.
162 The Ghosts
must be informed of its death by the Guru, its spiritual
leader.
Some of our letters also stress this apparent “nearness” of
the departed spirit shortly after death. The feeling of his
presence is evoked when something takes place that is
closely connected with the habits of the deceased. It seems
as though he is still in the actual vicinity of the living, as
though he is attempting to carry on life regardless of his
death. Here are some examples.
A woman writes:
My mother died some years ago. During her lifetime she had
been my alarm-dock, because I always had to catch a train
which took me to work. I slept on the top floor of the house.
It sometimes happened that I used to wake up before I
heard her regular step coming upstairs, and saw her in the
doorway calling me to get up.
It was about three weeks after my mother’s death. Suddenly
I woke up hearing her footsteps just as I had so often before.
From the doorway I clearly heard her quavering voice call
twice: “Get up! Your train! ” – and I definitely felt a breath
of wind blow past my face. I was frightened, put on the light
and looked at the alarm-clock which I had been obliged to
buy. It was five minutes before it was due to go off.
A recollection from another writer:
When I was young I worked at a farm, and every time the
farmer’s father-in-law came to see us he used to throw a
stone through the open kitchen window. He loved giving us
a good fright, for it always fell straight into the pig-bucket,
causing its contents to splash high into the air, which of
course startled us very much. After a while, he would come
into the kitchen roaring with laughter at the success of his
joke.
Then it happened that we had not seen him for some time;
as we all loved his jolly ways we were looking forward to his
next visit. One evening when we were all sitting round the
table there was a sudden noise, and the contents of the pigbucket
splashed high into the air. Our master thought it was
his father-in-law and ran to the door, calling out some joking
The ”Nearness” of Departed Spirits 163
words. But nobody answered. We watched eagerly, wondering
whether he was going to play a trick on us by coming in
by the other door. But nothing happened. We waited ten
minutes and were amazed that nobody came in.
Then the telephone bell rang. We were told that he had
died of heart failure just a few minutes before.
A man reports:
Our faithful Sebi was my late father’s farmhand for seven
summers. We owned an alpine pasture and had to look after
the cattle sent up by other farmers; and in addition we had
a number of other jobs as well. We all had to toil the whole
day long, from cock-crow till late at night. And Sebi was a
good and faithful man who loved work; nothing was ever too
much for him. He never uttered a cross word, and when we
nine children worked with him he was always full of good
advice. And how entertaining he was! He taught us to yodel,
and told us a lot of good stories, ghost stories too, and about
poor souls. Sebi knew how to handle us, we loved him and
were happy to do what he said. It was lucky for us that we had
him, for during this seventh summer our mother lay dangerously
ill in bed for three months, and father got a septic
finger, and was unable to work for a long time. Sebi looked
after us children and saw to everything, through that difficult
time. He always came in to meals by the back door, his
arms full of firewood from the woodpile and stumped up the
stairs with his typical tread. He often opened father’s door
on his way and told him what was going on.
Well, round about All Saints’ Day Sebi was due to leave us for
the winter. Father had recovered by then and thanked him
most gratefully for all he had done, making him promise to
come to us again the next summer.
The following winter was very severe, and where we lived, at
an altitude of 4000 feet, the snow was at least three feet
deep. We had just finished our evening prayer in the livingroom
when mother said: “Listen! Who’s that coming? It
sounds like Sebi.” We were surprised to hear the thumpthump
of his wooden clogs up the stairs. The door opened,
and father called: “Come along in Sebi!” But there was
nobody there. Yet the back door, always closed in winter, was
half open. Nor could we see any tracks in the fresh snow! “Is
anything wrong with Sebi, I wonder?” father asked. We said
164 The Ghosts
the Lord’s Prayer for him, and went to bed silent and
anxious.
Two days later we heard that Se bi had died of pneumonia at
exactly that time.
The following example is another childhood recollection:
It happened in the year 1894, my last year at school in W. A
boy called Hans sat on my left in class. He worked as a farm
hand in the parish ofF.
Every morning he had to go from the farm to a cheese-dairy
where he had to deliver the milk and then return to the farm
to have his breakfast. This made it impossible for him to be
at school in time. He was always twenty minutes late. This
matter was discussed again and again by the school administration
and the upshot was that Hans was told he could no
longer attend our school but would have to go to the school
in F. This upset Hans so terribly that he put an end to his
life. He jumped from an over-hanging rock into the river
Saane.
The following Monday at exactly twenty past seven the
school door suddenly opened and closed again. This happened
the whole week. The teacher was desperate but could
not do anytl~ing about it, then it stopped as suddenly as it
had begun. ~Aniela Jaffe, An Archetypal Approach to Death Dreams and Ghosts, Page 162-164
