Post by blantyr on Sept 14, 2013 7:40:22 GMT -5
Subject: Paul Revere Rides Again!
From: wendy@feyfan.org
To: swordsman@feyfan.org, picard@arisia.org, realmage@mit.edu, galadriel@feyfan.org
Just talked to Lady Jasmine. She was at Government Center this afternoon and thinks the Paul Revere thing was a real incident! Woohoo! Details next meeting!
Wendy
***
Subject: Paul Revere's Ride II
From: jasmine@feyfan.org
To: bruce.bancroft@police.boston.ma
Sergeant Bancroft
I was near Government Center when Paul Revere rode through. It seemed to be a genuine occult incident, and unusual even if one accepts such things. Ghosts do not ride through well populated areas under full light of day, at least not that I've heard of. They might be seen by a few in the dark of night, but…
I gave pursuit on my bicycle. Not to worry. It was a vain pursuit. I never got close enough to attempt anything stupid. I did get a considerably long look at the rear end of the horse. You will likely get reports of a horse that appeared near Dewey Square, then vanished. Same horse. I managed to keep close enough to confirm that.
It also seemed to be a double apparition. The first was quite visible, horse and rider, and included Paul's cries of "the British are coming," but one could not hear hooves hitting the road. The second horse was more ephemeral. One could hear the horse's hoof beats, smell his sweat, feel the wind of his passage, but no warnings about the British and nothing was visible.
The two apparitions together would have been very convincing. That the invisible Paul was maybe 30 seconds behind the visible Paul is confusing. Mind you, I am something of an illusionist myself. I could project something like an illusion of a horse and rider. I, however, could not do sound, scent, or the passage of wind. I have been told such things are possible, that this is a fairly common skill among the elders of my people, and that as I grow in my abilities I might be able to create a complete phantasm rather than a mere illusion. However it is apt to take quite some time before I acquire the skill. If the horse was projected by a Sidhe, it would be a reasonably senior Sidhe.
But a Sidhe wouldn't have trouble keeping the visible projection in sync with the sound and scent projection. A Sidhe glamor would be essentially real, having a physical presence which would naturally be sensed by nose and ear. I do not think a Sidhe would have difficulties 'keeping their act together'. No thirty second gap.
I understand that anything a Sidhe can do, a wizard might do as well… though with a lot more time, effort, equipment and mumbo jumbo. To keep something elaborate up as in this case, a reasonably fancy ritual, or perhaps two such rituals, might be required. If there were two rituals, this might explain why the horse and the sounds of the horse got out of step. There might have been two practitioners, each attempting different aspects of the same illusion, but they got their timing wrong.
Or at least that is my best attempt to explain what was observed. I doubt this was a ghost reliving something that was important to him in life. This was more likely multiple intelligent spell casters seeking to achieve an effect. Their purpose escapes me, unless someone is attempting to give the tourist industry a boost. I don't know. I suspect it might be something less benign.
Jazz
From: wendy@feyfan.org
To: swordsman@feyfan.org, picard@arisia.org, realmage@mit.edu, galadriel@feyfan.org
Just talked to Lady Jasmine. She was at Government Center this afternoon and thinks the Paul Revere thing was a real incident! Woohoo! Details next meeting!
Wendy
***
Subject: Paul Revere's Ride II
From: jasmine@feyfan.org
To: bruce.bancroft@police.boston.ma
Sergeant Bancroft
I was near Government Center when Paul Revere rode through. It seemed to be a genuine occult incident, and unusual even if one accepts such things. Ghosts do not ride through well populated areas under full light of day, at least not that I've heard of. They might be seen by a few in the dark of night, but…
I gave pursuit on my bicycle. Not to worry. It was a vain pursuit. I never got close enough to attempt anything stupid. I did get a considerably long look at the rear end of the horse. You will likely get reports of a horse that appeared near Dewey Square, then vanished. Same horse. I managed to keep close enough to confirm that.
It also seemed to be a double apparition. The first was quite visible, horse and rider, and included Paul's cries of "the British are coming," but one could not hear hooves hitting the road. The second horse was more ephemeral. One could hear the horse's hoof beats, smell his sweat, feel the wind of his passage, but no warnings about the British and nothing was visible.
The two apparitions together would have been very convincing. That the invisible Paul was maybe 30 seconds behind the visible Paul is confusing. Mind you, I am something of an illusionist myself. I could project something like an illusion of a horse and rider. I, however, could not do sound, scent, or the passage of wind. I have been told such things are possible, that this is a fairly common skill among the elders of my people, and that as I grow in my abilities I might be able to create a complete phantasm rather than a mere illusion. However it is apt to take quite some time before I acquire the skill. If the horse was projected by a Sidhe, it would be a reasonably senior Sidhe.
But a Sidhe wouldn't have trouble keeping the visible projection in sync with the sound and scent projection. A Sidhe glamor would be essentially real, having a physical presence which would naturally be sensed by nose and ear. I do not think a Sidhe would have difficulties 'keeping their act together'. No thirty second gap.
I understand that anything a Sidhe can do, a wizard might do as well… though with a lot more time, effort, equipment and mumbo jumbo. To keep something elaborate up as in this case, a reasonably fancy ritual, or perhaps two such rituals, might be required. If there were two rituals, this might explain why the horse and the sounds of the horse got out of step. There might have been two practitioners, each attempting different aspects of the same illusion, but they got their timing wrong.
Or at least that is my best attempt to explain what was observed. I doubt this was a ghost reliving something that was important to him in life. This was more likely multiple intelligent spell casters seeking to achieve an effect. Their purpose escapes me, unless someone is attempting to give the tourist industry a boost. I don't know. I suspect it might be something less benign.
Jazz