CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
From Ghosts: Being the Bxperiences of Flaxman Low by Kate O'Brien Prichard and illustrated by B. E. Minns, 1899. The caption reads, "Eyes were looking down into his own, dark eyes full of hatred and despair."
Here's the spirit of burning the midnight oil, whose mantra is perhaps "Just one more page" or "Why not finish this chapter?" From Csataképek a Magyar Szabadságharzból by Mór Jókai, 1899.
"A visitant from the grave," from The Poor Girl by Pierce Egan the Younger, 1890. (We like how the first A in the caption resembles a ghostly, upside down V. There are V's and A's in "visitant" and "grave." As above, so below.)
Here's some early evidence of the ghostly spirit spheres called "orbs," from the Pennsylvania College for Women's Pennsylvanian yearbook, 1918. (For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.) This should also be of interest:How to Believe in Your Elf.