5566. There came toward me one who appeared like a black cloud about which were shooting stars. When shooting stars appear in the other life they signify falsities; but fixed stars signify truths. I perceived that it was a spirit who wished to approach. When he came near he struck me with fear; this certain spirits can do, especially robbers, and therefore I was able to conclude that he had been a robber. When he was near me, he made every effort to infest me by magic arts, but in vain. He stretched out his hand that he might exert his imaginary power, but with no effect whatever. The kind of face he had was afterward shown. It was no face, but something very black in place of one; and in it appeared a mouth gaping so dreadfully and ferociously that it was a very maw in which teeth were set in rows. In a word, it was like a mad dog with distended jaws, so that it was a wide open mouth, not a face.
