509. Spirit Voices
• 1 min. read • grade level: 10
This is probably an allusion to the notion which was common to the ancient heathen, as well as to the Hebrews, that the souls of the dead had a weak, stridulous sound, entirely different from the voices of living men. The necromancers, who were chiefly women, spoke in a shrill, feigned voice, and may have practiced ventriloquism; in which case the voice would seem to come from the ground, where it was popularly supposed the disembodied spirits were. See also Isaiah 8:1919And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? (Isaiah 8:19).