1251. These also do not terrify as much as the robbers of that desert space, spoken of before [761], but in their fantasies they almost take the life away from those they meet. To me it felt as if they were taking away my inward vital breathing so that had I not known better I could almost have been brought to believe they could take away my life. Spirits still living these fantasies hardly believe otherwise, that is, than that they are undergoing the agony of death. 1748, 9 March.
1251. These spirits do not indeed strike such terror as do the robbers in that space or desert, concerning whom above [n. 761, but by their phantasies, they as it were take away the life of those whom they meet. I perceived this as though they were taking away the interior vital respiration of my body, so that unless I had known the fact I might almost have been persuaded that they would be able to take my life. The spirits who are still living in their phantasies scarcely suppose otherwise, and thus they are in the anguish of death. 1748, Mar. 9.
1251. Ii quoque non ita terrorem incutiunt, ut latrones istius spatii seu deserti, de quibus prius [761], sed per phantasias vitam obviis quasi adimunt, quod percepi, sicut interiorem respirationem vitalem corporis auferrent, ut nisi id scirem, paene induci potuissem [credere], quod vitam mihi adimere potuissent; spiritus, qui in phantasiis adhuc vivunt, vix aliter putant, sic enim angustia mortis {a}. 1748, 9 Martius.