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The University of Cambridge¡¯s Combination Rooms do seem to be fertile grounds for ghost-hunters (¡°Schools that have ghouls¡±, Features, 30 October).

The psychologist Sir Frederic Bartlett reported that after the death in 1922 of his colleague W. H. R. Rivers, the anthropologist and psychiatrist, he encountered him a fortnight later in the Combination Room of St John¡¯s College. Rivers entered ¡°alert and quick as usual¡±. Bartlett tried to say: ¡°Rivers! It¡¯s Dr Rivers!¡± Then Bartlett woke and found himself in bed at home emerging from a dream. Even then he was absolutely sure that Rivers was ¡°there, in the deep darkness¡±.

Imagination can deceive us all.

R. E. Rawles, honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London