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The Fading Ghost by Willis nap Jones. The stranger entered my office and dropped

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wearily into a chair, covering his
face with his hands. I'm dead,

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doctor, he groaned. I agreed
that it was quite a climb from the

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street to my office, But soon, a month or so, I expect

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to move to a ground floor.
That will be too late. It won't

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do me any good. Then,
no, but your trouble, he stared

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straight at me as he answer,
trouble. I have none. Dead people

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have no troubles, and I've been
dead half an hour. I committed suicide.

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I looked at him, startled.
He was rather pale, I noticed,

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and the brilliant red necktie he was
wearing gave the impression of a deep

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and bleeding wound. He seemed very
nervous, his hands continually stroking the creased

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trousers of the light gray suit he
was wearing. I committed suicide, he

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repeated, I've shot myself through the
heart. He indicated the spot with a

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long, slender finger on one knuckle, of which I saw just such a

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stain as dried blood makes. I
thought he meant for me to examine him,

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so I arose and took a step
toward him. He motioned me back.

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Don't touch me, he commanded.
It's no use, you can't feel

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me. I wonder whether you can
even see me plainly. I'm getting more

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ethereal all the time. I what
was I saying? That I couldn't see

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you, but I can plainly?
Oh, my clothes, perhaps my coat,

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my necktie. Yes, that red
necktie was very much in evidence,

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I agreed, wondering whether he were
insane. He seemed to read my mind.

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You think I'm crazy, don't you, doc I'm not. My nerves

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are frazzled, and I thought I
would go insane when Polly turned me down.

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But I didn't. I know,
I didn't. I had my knee

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tapped and have had all sorts of
tests. Finally I couldn't stand the agony

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and made an end of myself this
afternoon. He looked at the clock.

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Just twenty eight minutes ago my soul
left my body. I studied him carefully.

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His eyes had none of the stare
peculiar to the insane. I was

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near enough to be sure that he
was not intoxicated. Yet I could not

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determine just what ailed him. Perhaps
if he talked longer he would help me

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to diagnose his condition. Tell me
about it, I urged. I knew

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you'd be interested. The day I
read your book, The Dead Survive,

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I said to myself, I wonder
whether he ever saw a ghost. Then,

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just before I snatched up my revolver, I looked up your office in

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the telephone book, so that if
I did live after death, I could

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come to call on you and tell
you how correct your assumptions were. So

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after the shot, and I felt
myself grow more aerial and ghost like,

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I left my body lying dead on
the floor and hurried here to speak to

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you before I became entirely invisible.
Your book, page one hundred forty seven

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speaks of the process you call it
fading. If you will remember, I

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was becoming more and more confused.
He sounded far from rational. I knew

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that I was not dreaming, and
that this could not be a practical joke.

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I had never seen the Fellow before, yet there was no apparent solution

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as hackwork. I had written a
book on spiritualism, voicing my belief that

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death was not the end of everything. But I had never expected to have

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a ghost come to my counseling room. In the middle of the afternoon to

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prove it to me. You are
sure you were dead? I asked inamely.

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I had to repeat my question before
he came out of the sort of

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stupor into which he had fallen.
Then he jerked himself together. Absolutely sure,

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I stood before a mirror like that
one. He pointed to the full

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length mirror beside my instrument. Captain, Oh, those knives are so glittering.

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Do you think I made a mistake
in using a revolver? Would poison

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have been easier? Well, I'm
not an authority on suicide, I had

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to confess. Still, the shot
did not hurt. I didn't feel any

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pain at all, just the exp
and the momentary vibration. Where was I

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standing before a mirror? I prompted, Yes. I've been having worries love,

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you know, couldn't sleep at night
and all. When the thought of

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suicide came, I took my revolver
from the bureau drawer, grasped it close

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to my heart, and without waiting
a second, pulled the trigger and fell

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dead on the floor. Then I
left myself lying there and came here.

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Nobody seemed to notice me along the
street. Perhaps they can't see me,

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can't you? I nodded, But
you said you were lying on the floor.

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Yes, I looked back to make
sure just before I closed the door,

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remembering your warning on page three hundred
and forty three against retention of psychic

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visions. I tested myself carefully,
but I know my body is there.

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This is my astral self. It
was a terrifying sight. Blood trickling from

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the wound. He suddenly became conscious
of the stain on his knuckle. He

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raised his right hand as if to
wipe the mark away, thought better of

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it and dropped his hand. Terrifying
sight, he repeated, It must have

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been. You're the first astral body
i've seen. Is there anything unusual about

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your earthly body? I didn't stop
to see. But would you care to

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go and look? Yes, indeed
I had hoped you would. He gave

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me the address, but he refused
to accompany me. I'll stay here,

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he promised. I may not last
till you get back. I'm fading fast,

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but if I'm entirely a ghost when
you return, I'll move that paper

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he pointed to a temperature agraph hanging
partly over the edge of my desk.

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But hurry, I'll be back in
an hour, I promised. I was

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better than my word. Forty minutes
later, I puffed up the stairs.

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He was still there, lost in
thought. Did you find me, he

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asked immediately, Yes, just as
you said, lying beside the bureau with

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a bullet in your heart. But
I don't understand one thing how I came

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here. That was because I was
materialized embodied. Chapter seven of your book

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is entirely right with its assertions.
No, that's not it. I am

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interested in that, of course,
and i'd appreciate it if you would take

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off your shirt and let me see
whether materialized ghosts have the wounds of the

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original body. I'll confess I'm confused. I just realized something that completely upsets

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my theory. He had been about
to remove his coat, but he stopped.

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What is that, doctor, He
asked, the fact that although you

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are wearing a red necktie, your
earthly body exactly like you in every other

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respect. Where's a modest black one. He gave a shriek of agony and

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jumped up, horror depicted on his
countenance. Oh, doctor, don't tell

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me that the body was wearing black. Yes, indeed, same colored gray

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suit and shirt, but a black
necktie. He sank his face in his

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hands, and I heard a heartbroken
moan. Oh, I see it all.

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What a villain I am. It's
all the fault of this nervous trouble

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I've been having. I'm not a
suicide, then I'm a fratricide. I

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lived with my twin brother, and
we were dressed exactly alike, except that

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he did not share my love of
pretty ties. I've shot my brother instead

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of myself. The End of the
Fading Ghosts by Willis Nap Jones