The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, &c.
1746
The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, &c.
1746
In 1746, a Benedictine monk and biblical scholar attempted something unprecedented: a rigorous, systematic inquiry into ghosts, demons, vampires, and the dead who walk the earth. Augustin Calmet's monumental work inventories centuries of supernatural testimony across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond, treating apparitions not as mere superstition but as a phenomenon deserving serious philosophical analysis. He interrogates accounts of demonic possession, examines the emerging vampire legends of Eastern Europe, and parses scriptural references to angels and fallen spirits, all while maintaining the posture of a logician. The result is a fascinating time capsule of an intellectual moment suspended between medieval belief and Enlightenment reason, when an educated man could earnestly apply scholarly method to theghoulish. Calmet cites witnesses, cross-references authorities, and demands evidence, yet never fully dismisses the possibility of genuine supernatural visitation. This is essential reading for anyone curious about where Gothic literature learned its obsessions, and how Enlightenment minds grappled with what they could not explain.
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“A mountebank will appear to eat a sword; another will vomit coals or pebbles; one will drink wine and send it out again at his forehead; another will cut off his companion's head, and put it on again. You will think you see a chicken dragging a beam. The mountebank will swallow fire and vomit it forth, he will draw blood from fruit, he will send from his mouth strings of iron nails, he will put a sword on his stomach and press it strongly, and instead of running into him, it will bend back to the hilt; another will run a sword through his body without wounding himself; you will sometimes see a child without a head, then a head without a child, and all of them alive. That appears very wonderful; nevertheless, if it were known how all those things are done, people would only laugh, and be surprised that they could wonder at and admire such things.””
— Augustin Calmet
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Calmet, Augustin. The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, &c.. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-phantom-world-or-the-philosophy-of-spirits-apparitions-c-c-c1429921-d937-468c-8d14-9686a99268f4.Calmet, A. (1746). The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, &c.. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-phantom-world-or-the-philosophy-of-spirits-apparitions-c-c-c1429921-d937-468c-8d14-9686a99268f4Calmet, Augustin. The Phantom World; Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, &c.. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-phantom-world-or-the-philosophy-of-spirits-apparitions-c-c-c1429921-d937-468c-8d14-9686a99268f4.
