diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/51568-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51568-0.txt | 5821 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 5821 deletions
diff --git a/old/51568-0.txt b/old/51568-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5402bc5..0000000 --- a/old/51568-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5821 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Haunted Houses of England & Wales., by -Elliott O'Donnell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Some Haunted Houses of England & Wales. - -Author: Elliott O'Donnell - -Release Date: March 26, 2016 [EBook #51568] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME HAUNTED HOUSES *** - - - - -Produced by eagkw and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -SOME HAUNTED HOUSES - - -[Illustration] - - - - - _NOVELS BY - ELLIOTT O’DONNELL_ - - [Illustration] - - FOR SATAN’S SAKE - THE UNKNOWN DEPTHS - JENNIE BARLOWE, ADVENTURESS - DINEVAH THE BEAUTIFUL - - - - - SOME - HAUNTED HOUSES - OF ENGLAND & WALES - - BY - - ELLIOTT O’DONNELL - ASSOCIATE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH - - - LONDON - EVELEIGH NASH - FAWSIDE HOUSE - 1908 - - - - -PREFACE - - -In selecting a series of ghost stories for this volume I have taken -the greatest care to make use of those only which are thoroughly well -authenticated. - -The result of this discrimination has been that the majority of -these accounts of psychic phenomena have been taken from the lips of -eye-witnesses and transferred to manuscript in as nearly as possible -the narrator’s own language. - -First-hand narratives of unfamiliar hauntings, albeit they refer to -the meaner class of houses, will, I think, be more welcome to the -reader than the mere repetition of such hackneyed stories as those -appertaining to Glamis Castle, the Tower of London, &c. - -In one other point, too, this work may be said to differ from others -dealing with the same subject--viz., it is compiled and written by a -very keen psychic--one who has not only investigated (and lectured on) -haunted houses, but has himself seen many occult manifestations. - -As there have been several libel cases quite recently in connection -with the alleged haunting of houses, I have been obliged (save where it -is stated to the contrary) to give fictitious names to both people and -localities. - - ELLIOTT O’DONNELL. - - GUILSBOROUGH, NORTHAMPTON. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - THE GREEN BANK HOTEL, BARDSLEY 9 - NO. -- SOUTHGATE STREET, BRISTOL 15 - MULREADY VILLA, NEAR BASINGSTOKE 26 - NO. -- PARK STREET, BATH 42 - THE MINERY, DEVON 53 - THURLOW HALL, NEAR EXETER 59 - THE GUILSBOROUGH GHOST 73 - WOLSEY ABBEY, NEAR GLOUCESTER 97 - NO. XYZ EUSTON ROAD, LONDON 106 - PANMAUR HOLLOW, MERIONETH 113 - CATCHFIELD HALL, THE MIDLANDS 118 - BURLE FARM, NORTH DEVON 140 - CARNE HOUSE, NEAR NORTHAMPTON 148 - HARLEY HOUSE, PORTISHEAD 160 - THE WAY MEADOW, SOMERSET 166 - NO. -- HACKHAM HOUSE, SWINDON 177 - APPENDIX TO ABOVE, THE SCREAMING WOMAN OF TEHIDDY 182 - PARK HOUSE, WESTMINSTER 187 - GLOSSARY 191 - - - - -HAUNTED HOUSES - - - - -THE GREEN BANK HOTEL, BARDSLEY - -THE RACE FOR LIFE - - Technical form of apparitions: Phantasms of the dead - - Source of authenticity: Evidence of eye-witness - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - -One afternoon in the July of this year I took tea with Lady B---- at -her club in the West End. Lady B---- is a very old friend of mine, -our friendship dating back to the days when I wore Eton collars and -a preparatory school cap. She was in unusually high spirits at the -thought of a cruise in the Baltic, whilst I was equally exuberant -at being once again in London after a very trying sojourn in a -particularly remote and isolated town--a town renowned for pilchards, -pasties and Painters. - -Now, there is nothing mean nor petty about Lady B----; she is generosity -itself: so kind, so courteous, and withal so daintily pretty that to be -near her, even, is to be in Elysium. - -Remembering the interest I had always taken in matters psychical, she -had invited several friends especially to meet me, and it was from one -of them--Miss Charlotte Napier--that I heard the following story: - -“Chancing to be stranded late one night at Bardsley,” she began, “owing -to a slight miscalculation of the time-table, I had no other resource -than to put up at the Green Bank Hotel in Russell Street. - -“It was a very ordinary hotel; ordinary both in accommodation and -appearance. One part of it--that in which I slept--possibly dated back -to the Elizabethan period, but the rest--most hideously renovated--was -quite modern. - -“Outside my room--No. 56--was a long and somewhat gloomy corridor -connecting the old and new portions of the house. - -“I retired to rest about eleven--closing time--and had been asleep -barely an hour before I awoke with a start to find the room flooded -with a pale, phosphorescent light. - -“The moon shone through my window-panes: it gleamed with an unearthly -whiteness across the bed, and thence across the room, glancing upon the -panels of the door in such a manner that I was constrained to follow -its course and to fix my gaze wherever it shone. - -“The door was a mass of light: I could see each crack and scar upon it, -even the finger-prints on the white handle, with painful distinctness. -A sudden sensation of horror overcame me; I would have given anything -to have been able to look elsewhere. I could not. - -“All my senses were centred upon the door; it enchained, it drew me, -and as I gazed at it in helpless awe the sound of footsteps from -without suddenly broke upon my ears. Instantly all my faculties were on -the alert, and I became the victim of a curious sensation unlike any I -had hitherto experienced, but which I have since learned is the usual -effect of psychic manifestation. I felt the proximity of the unnatural. -An icy coldness stole down my back, my teeth chattered, my hair seemed -to rise on end, and the violent palpitation of my heart made me sick -and dizzy. My faculties had indeed become abnormally acute, but my body -seemed no longer alive, and I knew that whatever happened I should be -absolutely incapable of action. My powerlessness was soon to be put to -the test. Sitting bolt upright in bed, in obedience to an irresistible -impulse, I listened, listened with all my might. What were those -sounds? They were certainly unlike any I had ever heard before, and the -kind of terror they imparted was hitherto unknown to me. Perhaps the -nearest semblance to the kind of fear I then felt is the fear inspired -by the sight of a lunatic. I could not stir, I could only wait and -listen. The unnatural nature of the footsteps was emphasised by the -brilliancy of the moonlight--quite an abnormal feature in itself--and -the intense hush, which, stealing surreptitiously upon the house, -obliterated every other sound. - -“The footsteps gradually became interpretative--two people were rushing -headlong down the corridor! - -“From the light, flying footsteps of the foremost, and the heavier -tread and ever-increasing pace of the hindermost, I concluded it was a -race entailing vital consequences, and that the fugitive would soon be -caught. Caught! but not, pray Heaven! at my door. - -“What on earth had happened? What could happen in a well-regulated -hotel? - -“Fire, robbery, or murder? - -“MURDER! Great drops of sweat broke out upon my brow at the bare -thought. - -“The moon shone in, whiter and more coldly than ever, whilst the steps -drew nearer and nearer--so near, in fact, that I fancied I could detect -the sound of breathing. Short, sharp-drawn gasps of agony accompanied -by easier and more strenuous inhalations. - -“Who were the actors in this invisible drama? Were they both men? I -imagined not! Indeed, a thousand horrible ideas suggested themselves to -my mind--to be interrupted by a terrific crash on the upper panels of -the door that made me all but die with terror. Never had I suffered as -at that moment. I strove to scream--it was in vain; my tongue clave to -the roof of my mouth; I could utter no sound. - -“The door (which I had taken the precaution to lock) was -unceremoniously burst open, and into the room rushed a very young and -fragile looking man clad in the costume of a Cavalier of the time of -Naseby, whilst close at his heels there followed a gigantic Roundhead -armed with all the terrible paraphernalia of war. - -“The tableau was so totally different from anything I had anticipated, -and withal horribly real--so real that had it been in my power I must -inevitably have raised a hand to interpose. - -“Indeed, the wretched fugitive made straight for my bed, and, falling -on his knees beside it, clutched the counterpane convulsively in his -fingers. His ashy face was so near mine that I not only saw every -feature in it with damning clearness, but I read the many varied -expressions in his eyes. - -“They were awful. I read in them despair, terror, hate, overshadowed in -the background by an insatiable craving for every imaginable vice. - -“Yet they were beautiful eyes--beautiful both in formation and -colour--too effeminately beautiful for a man. - -“His hair, which fell in a wild profusion of ringlets over forehead and -shoulders, was of a rich chestnut hue and most luxuriant. - -“He wore neither beard nor moustaches; he was absolutely clean shaven, -and his skin shone with all the milky whiteness of that of a young -woman. - -“His features were neatly moulded and extremely delicate; his hands -well shaped and narrow, whilst his fingers, long and tapering, were -crowned with pellucid filbert nails. - -“Attired in the most costly and elegant manner, a manner that suggested -the court fop rather than the soldier, he formed in every way a marked -contrast to his puritan pursuer. The Roundhead was a huge, brawny -fellow, dressed in a leathern jerkin and heavy riding-boots--his soiled -and muddy clothes betokening the wear and tear of an arduous campaign. - -“His face, always ugly, and naturally, perhaps, sullen and forbidding, -was now positively diabolical; rage, hatred, and triumph vieing with -one another for supremacy. - -“Catching hold of the Cavalier by his silken tresses, and pulling back -his head by brute force, the Cromwellian slowly and deliberately drew -the keen blade of his knife across the doomed man’s throat. - -“The horrid deed--transacted amid the most preternatural silence--was -perpetrated so close to me that I was obliged to witness every -revolting detail, and although I felt sure the victim was bad and -vicious, I did not think the vileness of his character in any way -justified the atrocity of his assassin. - -“The murderer had barely accomplished his fiendish design before a -deadly sickness came over me, and I fainted. - -“On recovering consciousness, the room was once again in darkness, nor -could I discover in the morning any sign whatever of the awful tragedy. - -“On making inquiries in the town, I learned that the inn was well known -to be haunted, other people, as well as I, having witnessed the same -phenomenon, and that during the recent renovations a skeleton had been -unearthed at the foot of the main staircase. - -“I saw it in the local museum, and instantly identified the costume it -wore as the one I had seen on the hapless fugitive. But--the skeleton -was that of a WOMAN!” - - - - -NO. -- SOUTHGATE STREET BRISTOL - -THE NOTORIOUS SERVANT WHO ANSWERS THE DOOR - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead - - Source of authenticity: (1) MS. signed by three eye-witnesses; - (2) seen by author himself. Names of people and locality alone - being altered - - -In the spring of 1899, being then a member of a certain Psychical -Research Society, and hearing that a ghost had been seen at No. -- -Southgate Street, Bristol, I set off to interview the ladies who were -reported to have seen it. I found them (the Misses Rudd) at home, and -on their very graciously consenting to relate to me their psychical -experiences, I sat and listened to the following story (told as nearly -as possible in the eldest lady’s own words): “It is now,” she began, -“some ten years since we were the tenants of the house you mention, but -I recollect what I saw there as vividly as if it were yesterday. - -“The house, I must tell you, is very small (only eight or so rooms), -dingy, and in a chronic state of dilapidation; it stands in the middle -of a terrace with no front garden to speak of, save a few yards of -moss-covered tiles, slate-coloured and broken, whilst its back windows -overlooked a dreary expanse of deep and silent water. Nothing more -dismal could be imagined. - -“Still, when we took it, the idea of it being haunted never for one -instant entered our minds, and our first intimation that such was the -case came upon us like a thunderbolt. - -“We only kept one maid, Jane (a girl with dark hair and pleasant -manners), my sisters and I doing all the cooking and helping with the -light work. The morning on which incident No. 1 happened, knowing Jane -to be upstairs occupied in dusting the rooms, and my sisters being out, -my mother asked me to go into the kitchen and see if the stove was all -right as ‘there was a smell of burning.’ - -“Doing as she bid, I hastened to the kitchen, where a strange spectacle -met my sight. - -“Kneeling in front of the stove, engaged apparently in polishing -the fender, was a servant-girl with RED hair; I started back in -astonishment. ‘Who could she be?’ - -“Too intent at first to notice my advent, she kept on at her work, -giving me time to observe that she was wearing a very dirty dress, and -that her ‘rag’ of a cap was quite askew. Satisfied she was not ‘Jane,’ -and wondering whether some one else’s maid had mistaken our kitchen for -her own--the houses in the terrace being all alike--I called out, ‘Who -are you? what do you want?’--whereupon, dropping the fire-irons with a -clatter, she quickly turned round, displaying an ashen-pale face, the -expression on which literally froze me with horror. - -“Never! never had I seen such an awful look of hopeless, of desperate, -of diabolical abandonment in any one’s eyes as in those of hers when -their glance met mine. - -“For some seconds we glared at one another without moving, and then, -still regarding me with a furtive look from out of the corner of her -horrible eyes, she slowly rose from the hearth, and gliding stealthily -forward, disappeared in the diminutive scullery opposite. - -“Curiosity now overcoming fear, I at once followed. She was nowhere to -be seen; nor was there any other mode of exit by which she could have -made her departure than a tiny window, some four feet or so from the -floor and directly overlooking the deep waters of the pond to which I -have already alluded. - -“Here, then, was a mystery! What had I seen? Had I actually encountered -a phantasm, or was I but the victim of an exceedingly unpleasant and -falsidical hallucination? I preferred to think the former. - -“Not wishing to frighten my mother, I intended keeping the incident to -myself, writing, however, a complete account of it in my diary for the -current year, but, a further incident occurring to my youngest sister -within the next few days, I determined to reveal what I had seen and -compare notes.” - -The eldest Miss Rudd now concluded, and on my expressing a desire to -hear more, her youngest sister very obligingly commenced: - -“I had been out shopping in the Triangle one morning,” she said, “and -having omitted to take the latchkey, I was obliged to ring. Jane -answered the summons. There was nothing, of course, unusual in this, as -it was her duty to do so, but there was something extremely singular in -what appeared at her elbow. - -“Standing close beside--I might almost say, leaning against her (though -Jane was apparently unaware of it)--was a strange, a VERY STRANGE, -servant-girl, with RED HAIR and the most uncanny eyes; she had on a -bedraggled print dress and a cap all askew; but it was her expression -that most attracted my attention--it was HORRID. - -“‘Oh Jane!’ I cried, ‘whoever is it with you?’ - -“Following the direction of my gaze, Jane immediately turned round, -and, without a word, FAINTED. - -“That is all. The apparition, or whatever you may please to call it, -vanished, and the next time I saw it was under different circumstances.” - -“Will you be so kind as to relate them?” I inquired. - -Miss Rudd proceeded: “Oh! it is nothing very much!” she exclaimed, -“only it was very unpleasant at the time--especially as I was all alone. - -“You see, mother, being delicate, went to bed early, my sisters were at -a concert, and it was Jane’s ‘night out.’ - -“I never, somehow, fancied the basement of the house; it was so cold -and damp, reminding me not a little of a MORGUE or charnel-house; -consequently I never stayed there a moment longer than was absolutely -necessary, and on this night in question I was in the act of scurrying -back to the drawing-room when a gentle tap! tap! at the scullery-window -made me defer my departure. Entering the back kitchen, somewhat timidly -I admit, I saw a face peering in at me through the tiny window. - -“Though the night was dark and there was no artificial lighting at -this side of the house, every feature of that face was revealed to me -as clearly as if it had been day. The little, untidy cap, all awry, -surmounting the shock-head of red hair now half-down and dripping with -water, the ghastly white cheeks, the widely open mouth, and the eyes, -their pupils abnormally dilated and full of lurid light, were more -appallingly horrible than ever. - -“I stood and gazed at it, my heart sick with terror, nor do I know what -would have happened to me had not the loud rap of the postman acted -like magic; the THING vanished, and ‘turning tail,’ I fled upstairs -into the presence of my mother. That is all.” - -I was profuse in my thanks, and the third Miss Rudd then spoke: - -“My bedroom,” she began, “was on the top landing--the window -over-looking the water. I slept alone some months after the anecdotes -just related, and was awakened one night by feeling some disgusting, -wet object lying on my forehead. - -“With an ejaculation of alarm I attempted to brush it aside, and -opening my eyes, encountered a ghastly white face bending right over me. - -“I instantly recognised it, by the description my sisters had given, -as the phantasm of the red-headed girl. - -“The eyes were TERRIBLE! Shifting its slimy hand from my forehead, and -brandishing it aloft like some murderous weapon, it was about to clutch -my throat, when human nature would stand it no longer--and--I fainted. -On recovering, I found both my sisters in the room, and after that I -never slept by myself.” - -“Did your mother ever see it?” I asked. - -“Frequently,” the eldest Miss Rudd replied, “and it was chiefly on her -account we relinquished our tenancy--her nervous system was completely -prostrated.” - -“Other people saw the ghost besides us,” the youngest Miss Rudd -interrupted, “for not only did the long succession of maids after Jane -ALL see it, but many of the subsequent tenants; the house was never let -for any length of time.” - -“Then, perhaps, it is empty now?” I soliloquised, “in which case I -shall most certainly experiment there.” - -This proved to be the case; the house was tenantless, and I easily -prevailed upon the agent to loan me the key. - -But the venture was fruitless. Three of us and a dog undertook it. We -sat at the foot of the gloomy staircase; twelve o’clock struck, no -ghost appeared, the dog became a nuisance--and--we came away disgusted. - -A one-night’s test, however, is no test at all; there is no reason -to suppose apparitions are always to be seen by man; as yet we know -absolutely nothing of the powers or conditions regulating their -appearances, and it is surely feasible that the unknown controlling -elements of one night may have been completely altered, may even have -ceased to exist by the next. At all events, that was my opinion. I was -by no means daunted at a single failure. But it was impossible to get -any one to accompany me. The sceptic is so boastfully eager by day. -“Ghosts,” he sneers, “what are ghosts? Indigestion and imagination! -I’ll challenge you to show me the house I wouldn’t sleep in alone! -Ghosts indeed! Give me a poker or a shovel and I will scare away the -lot of them.” And when you do show him the house he always has a prior -engagement, or else the weather is too cold, or he has too much work -to do next day, or it isn’t really worth the trouble, or--well! he is -sure to have some very plausible excuse; at least, that has been my -invariable experience. - -There is no greater coward than the sceptic, and so, unable to procure -a friend for the occasion, I did without one; neither did I have the -key of the house, but--taking French leave--gained admittance through a -window. - -It was horribly dark and lonely, and although on the former occasion I -did not feel the presence of the superphysical, I did so now, the very -moment I crossed the threshold. Striking a light, I looked around me: I -was in the damp and mouldy den that served as a kitchen; outside I saw -the moon reflected on the black and silent water. - -A long and sleek cockroach disappeared leisurely in a hole in the -skirting as I flashed my light in its direction, and I thought I -detected the movement of a rat or some large animal in the cupboard at -the foot of the stairs. I forthwith commenced a search--the cupboard was -empty. I must have been mistaken. For some minutes I stood in no little -perplexity as to my next move. Where should I go? Where ought I to go -if my adventure were to prove successful? - -I glanced at the narrow, tortuous staircase winding upwards into the -grim possibilities of the deserted hall and landings--and--my courage -failed. - -Here, at least, I was safe! Should the Unknown approach me, I could -escape by the same window through which I had entered. I felt I dare -not! I really COULD not go any further. Seized with a sudden panic at -nothing more substantial than my own thoughts, I was groping my way -backwards to the window when a revulsion of feeling made me pause. -If all men were poltroons, how much would humanity ever know of the -Occult? We should leave off where we began, and it had ever been my -ambition to go--FURTHER. - -My self-respect returning, I felt in my pocket for pencil, notebook and -revolver, and trimming my lamp I mounted the stairs. - -A house of such minute dimensions did not take long to explore; what -rooms there were, were Lilliputian--mere boxes; the walls from which -hung the tattered remnants of the most offensively inartistic papers -were too obviously Jerry built; the wainscoting was scarred, the -beading broken, not a door fitted, not a window that was not either -loose or sashless--the entire house was rotten, paltry, mean; I would -not have had it as a gift. But where could I wait to see the ghost? -Disgust at my surroundings had, for a time, made me forget my fears; -these now returned reinforced: I thought of Miss Rudd’s comparison -with a morgue--and shuddered. The rooms looked ghastly! Selecting the -landing at the foot of the upper storey, I sat down, my back against -the wall--and--waited. - -Confronting me was the staircase leading up and down, equally dark, -equally ghostly; on my right was what might once have been the -drawing-room, but was now a grim conglomeration of bare boards and -moonlight, and on my left was an open window directly overtopping the -broad expanse of colourless, motionless water. Twelve o’clock struck, -the friendly footsteps of a pedestrian died away in the distance; I -was now beyond the pale of assistance, alone and deserted--deserted by -all save the slimy, creeping insects below--and the shadows. Yes! the -shadows; and as I watched them sporting phantastically at my feet, I -glanced into the darkness beyond--and shivered. - -All was now intensely suggestive and still, the road alone attractive; -and despite my spartonic resolutions I would have given much to be out -in the open. - -The landing was so cramped, so hopeless. - -A fresh shadow, the shadow of a leaf that had hitherto escaped my -notice, now attracted and appalled me; the scratching of an insect made -my heart stand still; my sight and hearing were painfully acute; a -familiar and sickly sensation gradually crept over me, the throbbing of -my heart increased, the most inconceivable and desperate terror laid -hold of me: the house was no longer empty--the supernatural had come! -Something, I knew not, I dare not think what, was below, and I KNEW it -would ascend. - -All the ideas I had previously entertained of addressing the ghost and -taking notes were entirely annihilated by my fear--fear mingled with a -horrible wonder as to what form the apparition would take, and I found -myself praying Heaven it might not be that of an ELEMENTAL. - -The THING had now crossed the hall (I knew this somehow instinctively) -and was beginning to mount the stairs. - -I could not cry out, I could not stir, I could not close my eyes: I -could only sit there staring at the staircase in the most awful of -dumb, apprehensive agonies. The THING drew nearer, nearer; up, up, -UP it came until I could see it at last--see the shock-head of red -hair, the white cheeks, the pale, staring eyes, all rendered hideously -ghastly by the halo of luminous light that played around it. This was a -ghost--an apparition--a _bonâ fide_ phantasm of the dead! And without -any display of physical power--it overcame me. - -Happily for me, the duration of its passage was brief. - -It came within a yard of me, the water dripping from its clinging -clothes, yet leaving no marks on the flooring. It thrust its face -forward; I thought it was going to touch me, and tried to shrink -away from it, but could not. Yet it did nothing but stare at me, and -its eyes were all the more horrible because they were blank; not -diabolical, as Miss Rudd had described them, but simply Blank!--Blank -with the glassiness of the Dead. - -Gliding past with a slightly swaying motion, it climbed upstairs, the -night air blowing through the bedraggled dress in a horribly natural -manner; I watched it till it was out of sight with bated breath--for a -second or so it stopped irresolutely beside an open window; there was -a slight movement as of some one mounting the sill: a mad, hilarious -chuckle, a loud splash--and then--silence, after which I went home. - -I subsequently discovered that early in the seventies a servant-girl, -who was in service at that house, had committed suicide in the manner I -have just described, but whether or not she had RED HAIR I have never -been able to ascertain. - -P.S.--The Ghost I am informed on very reliable authority, is still -(August 1908) to be seen. - - - - -MULREADY VILLA, NEAR BASINGSTOKE - -THE BLACK CLOCK - - Technical form of apparition: Either a phantasm of the dead or - sub-human elemental - - Source of authenticity: Eye-witness - - Cause of haunting: A matter of surmise - - -When I was reading for the Royal Irish Constabulary at that excellent -and ever-popular Queen’s Service Academy in Dublin, I made many friends -among my fellow students, certain of whom it has been my good fortune -to meet in after life. - -Quite recently, for example, whilst on a visit of enjoyment to London, -I ran up against T. at Daly’s Theatre. T, one of the best-hearted -fellows who ever trod in Ely Square, passed in second for the Royal -Irish Constabulary, and is now a District Inspector in some outlandish -village in Connemara. - -And again, a summer or two ago, when I was on the pier at Bournemouth, -I “plumped” myself down on a seat near to “G,” who, although never a -very great friend of mine, I was uncommonly glad to meet under the -circumstances. - -But last year I was unusually lucky, chancing to find, a passenger on -the same boat as myself, Harry O’Moore, one of my very best “chums,” -from whom I learned the following story: - -“You must know,” he began, as we sat on deck watching the lofty -outlines of St. David’s Head slowly fade in the distance, “you must -know, O’Donnell, that after leaving Crawley’s I inherited a nice little -sum of money from my aunt, Lady Maughan of Blackrock, who, dying quite -unexpectedly, left the bulk of her property to my family. My brother -Bob had her estate in Roscommon; Charley, the house near Dublin; -whilst I--lucky beggar that I am--(for I was head over heels in debt at -the time) suddenly found myself the happy possessor of £20,000 and--a -bog-oak grandfather clock.” - -Here I thought fit to interrupt. - -“A bog-oak clock!” I exclaimed. “Good gracious me! what a funny legacy! -Had you taken a fancy to it?” - -“I had never even seen it!” O’Moore laughed--then, looking suddenly -serious: “My aunt, O’Donnell, as I daresay you recollect, was -rather dry and satirical. The clock has not been exactly a pleasant -acquisition to my establishment; so I fancy she may have bequeathed it -to me as a sort of antidote to the exhilarating effect of £20,000. A -sort of ‘bitter with the sweet,’ don’t you know! You appear astonished! -You would like to hear more about the clock? And you are quite right, -too; the history of a really antique piece of furniture is a million -times more interesting a subject to discuss than a ton of gold. To -begin with, it was almost as new to my aunt as to me; she had only had -it a week before she died, and during that brief interval she had made -up her mind to leave it to me. Odd, was it not? I thought so, too, at -her funeral! Now it seems quite natural; I was her metaphysician, I -knew her and understood her idiosyncrasies better than most people. She -bought the clock for a mere song from a second-hand furniture dealer in -Grafton Street. I was living at the time near Basingstoke in a small -house--one of those horrible anachronisms, an up-to-date villa in an -old-world village. - -“It’s a charming neighbourhood--suited me down to the ground: flat -country (hills tire me to death), excellent roads (I am fond of -riding), trout streams, pretty meadows, crowds of honeysuckle and that -sort of thing, and, to crown all else, Pines!!! Now, if there is one -scent for which I have a special weakness, it is that of the pine. I -could sit out of doors _ad infinitum_ sniffing pines. It intoxicates -me; hence I grew very fond of Hampshire. - -“Let me return to the clock. It came from Dublin to Bristol _viâ_ the -good old Argo (what Bristolian is there, I should like to know, who -doesn’t love the Argo!) and thence by rail to Basingstoke, arriving at -my house after dusk. You see, I am talking of it almost as if it were -some live person! But then, you see, it was a bog-oak grandfather’s -clock--no common grinder I can assure you; and I was prepared to pay it -every homage the moment it was landed in the hall. - -“The carter, however, was by no means so enamoured of it; he was a -rough, churlish fellow (what British workmen is not?). ‘If you take my -advice, mister!’ he growled, ‘you’ll pitch the himpish thing in some -one helse’s garden rightaway.’ (How characteristic of the charitable -Briton.) - -“I gently rebuked the irate man. Of course, he could afford to be more -prodigal with his belongings than I. With evident haste, and still -muttering angrily, he went--and I--I called to my housekeeper (Mrs. -Partridge), and we examined the heirloom together. - -“It certainly was a most imposing piece of furniture. Standing at least -eight feet high, with a face large in proportion, it towered above me -like a giant negro--black--I can’t describe to you how black--black as -ebony and shining. - -“I asked Mrs. Partridge how she liked it; for, to tell you the truth, -there was something so indefinably queer about it that I began to -wonder if the carter had spoken the truth. - -“‘It is truly magnificent!’ she said, running her hand over its -polished surface, ‘I have never seen so fine a piece of workmanship! It -will be the making of this hall--but--it reminds me of a hearse!!!’ - -“We laughed--the analogy was simply ludicrous. A grandfather’s clock and -a hearse! But then--it told the Time! and Time is sometimes represented -in the guise of Death! Father Death with the sickle! - -“My laughter left me and I shivered. - -“We placed the clock in the right-hand corner of the hall, opposite -the front door, so that every one coming to the house could see it; -and, as we anticipated, it was much admired--so much admired, in fact, -that I became quite jealous--jealous, and of a clock! How very singular. -But then I recollected I was ‘engaged,’ and, of course, I resented my -_fiancée_ taking notice of any one or anything save myself. - -“Like all the other visitors, however, she never passed by the clock -without pausing to look at it. - -“‘I can’t help it,’ she whispered. ‘It’s its size! it’s stupendous! -It quite fills the house! there is hardly any room to breathe! It’s a -monstrous clock! It fascinates me! It’s more than a clock. You must GET -RID of it.’ - -“Avice was whimsical. What, get rid of the Ebony Clock! Impossible--the -idea tickled me. I laughed. - -“I laughed then--but not later, when she had gone and all was quiet. - -“From the hall below I heard it strike one, two, three--twelve! - -“Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull and ponderous clang, and -the sound that came from its brazen lungs, though loud and deep and -musical, was far too thrilling. - -“Against my will, it made me think, and my thoughts were none too -pleasant. - -“Hardly had its vibrations ceased before I sat up in bed and listened! -At first I attributed the noise I had heard to the pulsations of my -heart--bump! bump! bump!--but as I crouched there, waiting, I was soon -undeceived; the sounds not only increased in intensity, but drew -nearer--bump! bump! bump!--just as if something huge and massive was -moving across the hall floor and ascending the stairs! - -“An icy fear stole all over me! What!--what in Heaven’s name could it -be? - -“I glanced in terror at the door--it was locked--locked and BOLTED--the -village was much frequented by tramps, and I always went to bed -prepared. - -“But this noise--this series of heavy, mechanical booms--THIS could -never be attributed to any burglar! - -“It reached the top of the staircase, it pounded down the passage -leading to my room; and then, with the most terrific crash, it FELL -against my door! - -“I was spellbound--petrified. I dared not--I COULD NOT move. - -“It was the clock! the gigantic, monstrous clock!--the funereal, hideous -clock! I heard it ticking! The suspicions that I entertained all along -with regard to it were now confirmed--it lived!!! That was no ordinary -striking--THIS was no ordinary ticking. The thing breathed, it spoke, it -laughed--laughed in some diabolically ghoulish manner. - -“I would have sacrificed my house and fortune to have been able -to reach the bell. I could not. I could do nothing but sit there -listening--listening to its mocking voice. The minutes passed by -slowly--never had I had the leisure to count them with such painful -accuracy; for the tickings, though of equal duration, varied most -alarmingly in intonation. - -“This horrible farce lasted without cessation till one, when, -apparently convinced of its inability to gain admittance, it gave an -extra loud and emphatic clang and took its departure. - -“In the morning it was standing as usual in its corner in the hall, nor -could I detect the slightest evidences of animation, neither in its -glassy face nor in its sepulchral tone. - -“Happening to pass by at that instant, Mrs. Partridge surprised me -in my act of examination, and from her ashy cheeks and frightened -glances I concluded she, too, had heard the noises and had rightly -guessed their origin. Nor was I mistaken, for, on putting a few leading -questions to her, she reluctantly admitted she had heard everything. -‘But,’ she whispered, ‘I have kept it from the maids, for if once they -get hold of the idea the house is haunted they will leave to-morrow.’ - -“Unfortunately, her circumspection proved of no avail; night after -night the clock repeated its vagaries, bumping on the staircases and -passages to such a degree that the noise not only awakened the entire -household, but aroused general suspicion. - -“Nor were its attentions any longer restricted to me; it gradually -extended the length of its wanderings till every part of the house had -been explored and every door visited. - -“The maids now complained to me. ‘They could not do their work,’ they -argued, ‘if they were deprived of sleep, and sleep was out of the -question whilst the disturbances continued. I must get rid of the -clock.’ - -“To this proposition, however, I was by no means agreeable. I certainly -had no reason to like the clock--indeed I loathed and hated it--but in -some indefinable manner it fascinated me. I could not, I dare not part -with it. ‘I have no doubt,’ I protested, ‘the annoyances will cease -as soon as the clock has become at home with its surroundings. Have -patience and all will be well.’ - -“They agreed to wait a little longer before giving me notice, and I -fully hoped that my prophecy would be fulfilled. But the clock was -far more persistent than I had anticipated. Adopting fresh tactics, -it began a series of persecutions that speedily brought matters to a -crisis. - -“Christina, the cook, was the first victim. - -“Not being a very fluent scribe, her letters caused her endless labour, -and she often sat up writing long after the other servants had gone to -bed. - -“On the night in question she was plodding on wearily when the intense -stillness of the house made her suddenly think of the time; it must be -very late! Dare she venture in the hall? - -“Christina was not a nervous woman; she had hitherto discredited all -ghost-stories, and was quite the last person in the house to accept -the theory that the present disturbances were due to any superphysical -agency. She now, however, recollected all that had been said on -the subject, and the close proximity of the clock filled her with -dread; her fears being further augmented by the knowledge of her -isolation--unluckily her room was completely cut off from any other in -the house. - -“Hastily putting away her writing materials, she was preparing to make -a precipitate rush for the stairs when a peculiar thumping riveted her -attention. - -“Her blood congealed, her legs tottered, she could not move an inch. -What was it? - -“Her heart--only the pulsations of her heart. - -“She burst out laughing. How truly ridiculous. - -“Catching her breath and casting fearful looks of apprehension on all -sides, she advanced towards the stairs and ‘tiptoeing’ stealthily -across the hall, tried in vain to keep her eyes from the clock. But its -sonorous ticking brought her to a peremptory halt. - -“She stood and listened. Tick! tick! tick! It was so unlike any other -ticking she had ever heard, it appalled her. - -“The clock, too, seemed to have become blacker and even more gigantic. - -“It reared itself above her like a monstrous coffin. - -“She was now too terrified to think of escape, and could only clutch -hold of the bannisters in momentary terror of some fresh phenomenon. - -“In this helpless condition she watched the clock slowly increase in -stature till its grotesquely carved summit all but swept the ceiling, -whilst a pair of huge, toeless, grey feet protruded from beneath its -base. - -“Nor were these the only changes, for during their accomplishment -others of an equally alarming nature had taken place, and the ticking, -after having passed through many transitional stages, was now replaced -by a spasmodic breathing, forcibly suggestive of something devilish and -bestial. - -“At this juncture words cannot convey any idea of what Christina -suffered; nor had she seen the worst. - -“Midnight at length came. In dumb agony she watched the minute-hand -slowly make its last circuit; there were twelve frantic clangs, the -door concealing the pendulum flew open, and an enormous hand, ashy -grey, with long, mal-shaped fingers, made a convulsive grab at her.[1] -Swinging to one side, she narrowly avoided capture and, glancing -upwards, saw something so diabolically awful that her heart turned to -ice. - - [1] In the March number of the _Psychical Research Magazine_ - for 1908, a well-authenticated instance is given of a - Poltergeist’s hand being seen on a pillow--“a long hand with - knotty joints.” - -“The face of the clock had disappeared, and in its place Christina -saw a frightful head--grey and evil. It was very large and round, half -human, half animal, and wholly beastly, with abnormally long, lidless -eyes of pale blue that leered at the affrighted girl in the most -sinister manner. - -“Such a creature must have owed its origin to Hell. - -“For some seconds she stared at it, too enthralled with horror even to -breathe; and, then a sudden movement on its part breaking the spell, -she regained control over her limbs and fled for her life. - - * * * * * - -“Christina reported all this to me the next morning. She had narrowly -escaped capture by darting through the front door which some one, -fortunately for her, had forgotten to bolt. She had not returned to the -house, but had, instead, passed the rest of the night in a neighbouring -cottage. - -“‘I won’t, under any circumstances, sir,’ she added, ‘sleep here again. -Indeed, I could not, because I can’t abide the presence of that clock. -I shan’t feel easy until I am miles away from it--in some big town, -where the bustle and noise of life may help me to forget it--FORGET -it!!’--and she shuddered. - -“Partly as a compensation for what she had undergone and partly to -avoid a scandal, I presented her with a substantial cheque. - -“Despite Mrs. Partridge’s pleadings, I kept the clock. I could not--I -dare not--part with it. It was my aunt’s bequest--it fascinated me! Do -you understand, O’Donnell?--it fascinated me. - -“But I did make one concession: I permitted them to remove it to the -summer-house. - -“My first care now was to see that all the doors were locked, and -windows bolted before retiring to bed; a precaution that was speedily -justified. - -“For the next few nights after the removal of the clock I was awakened -about twelve by a violent ringing of the front door bell, whilst -a heavy crunching of the gravel beneath my window informed me our -persecutor was trying to gain admittance. - -“These nocturnal disturbances ceasing, I had begun to congratulate -myself upon having seen the last of the hauntings, when a rumour -reached me that the clock had actually begun to infest the more lonely -of the lanes and by-roads. - -“Nor did this report, as the sequel will show, long remain unverified. - -“My uncle John, a rare old ‘sport,’ came to stay with me. He arrived -about ten, and we had not yet gone to bed when the vicar of the parish -burst into our presence in the greatest state of agitation. - -“‘I must apologise for this late visit,’ he gasped, sinking into -an easy chair, ‘I couldn’t get here before. Indeed, I did not -intend calling this evening, and would not have done so but for an -extraordinary incident that has just happened. Would you think it very -unclerical if I were to ask you for a glass of neat brandy?’ - -“I glanced at him in ill-disguised terror. His blanched cheeks and -trembling hands told their own tale--he had seen the clock. - -“‘Thanks awfully,’ he said, replacing the empty glass on the table. ‘I -feel better now--but, by jove! it DID unnerve me. Let me tell you from -the beginning. I had been calling at Gillet’s Farm, which, as you know, -is two or more miles from here, and the night being fine, I decided to -go home by the fields. Well! all was right till I got to the little -spinney lying at the foot of Dickson’s Hollow. - -“‘Even in broad daylight I always feel a trifle apprehensive before -entering it, as it is often frequented by tramps and other doubtful -characters: in fact, there isn’t a more murderous looking spot in the -county. - -“‘All was so still, so unusually still I thought, and the shadows so -incomprehensible that I had half a mind to retrace my steps, but, -disliking to appear cowardly, and remembering, I must confess, that I -had ordered a roast duck for supper, I climbed the wooden fence and -plunged into the copse. - -“‘At every step the silence increased, the cracking of twigs under my -feet sounding like the report of firearms, whilst it grew so dark that -I had in certain places literally to feel my way. When about halfway -through the wood the shrubs that line the path on either side abruptly -terminate, bringing into view a circle of sward, partially covered with -ferns and bracken, and having in its midst a stunted willow that has -always struck me as being peculiarly out of place there. - -“‘Indeed, I was pondering over this incongruity when a tall figure -stalked out from behind the tree, and, gliding swiftly forward, took to -the path ahead of me. - -“‘I rubbed my eyes and stared in amazement, and no doubt you will think -me mad when I tell you the figure was nothing human.’ - -“‘What was it, then--an anthropoid ape?’ my Uncle John laughed. - -“The vicar shook his head solemnly. - -“‘I will describe it to you to the best of my ability,’ he said. ‘To -begin with it was naked--stark, staring naked!’ - -“‘How positively indecent,’ murmured Uncle John, ‘really vicar, I don’t -wonder you were frightened.’ - -“‘And then,’ the vicar continued, disregarding the interruption, ‘it -was grey!--from head to foot a uniform livid grey.’ - -“‘A grey monstrosity! Ah! now THAT is interesting!’ - -“I looked at my uncle quizzically--was he still joking? But no! he was -in sober earnest: could it be possible he knew anything about the clock. - -“I leaned back in my chair and smiled--feebly. - -“‘In height,’ the vicar went on, ‘it could not have been far from seven -feet, it had an enormous round head crowned with a black mass of shock -hair, no ears, huge spider-like hands and toeless feet. - -“‘I could not see its face as its back was turned on me. - -“‘Urged on by an irresistible impulse (although half dead with terror), -I followed the Thing. - -“‘Striding noiselessly along, it left the spinney, and crossing several -fields entered your grounds by the gate in the rear of the house.’ - -“‘What!’ my uncle roared, banging the table with his fist, ‘what! do -you mean to tell me you allowed it to come here!’ - -“‘I couldn’t stop it,’ the vicar said apologetically, stretching -forward to help himself to some more brandy. ‘It led me to your -summer-house, vanishing through the doorway. Resolved on seeing the -last, and hoping thereby to discover some clue to the mystery, I -cautiously approached the window, and, peering through the glass, saw -the creature walk stealthily across the floor and disappear into a -gigantic clock. I verily believe I was as much scared by the sight of -that clock as I had been by the appearance of the spectre--they were -both satanically awful.’ - -“‘Is that all?’ my Uncle John inquired. - -“‘It is,’ the vicar replied, ‘and is it not enough?’ - -“My Uncle John got on his feet. - -“‘Before returning a verdict,’ he said, ‘I must see the clock. Let us -go to the summer-house at once.’ - -“The vicar and I were loud in our protests--‘We were sure my uncle must -be tired; better put off the investigation to the morrow.’ - -“It was, however, of no avail; there was no gainsaying Uncle John when -once he had made up his mind to do anything. - -“We accordingly escorted him without further delay to the garden. - -“The clock was standing quite peacefully where I had had it set. - -“As soon as my uncle saw it he caught hold of my arm. ‘Where on earth -did you get it from, Harry?’ he cried, bubbling over with excitement. -‘The last time I saw that clock was in Kleogh Castle, the home of the -Blakes. It had been in their possession for centuries, and was made -from what is supposed to be the oldest bog-oak in Ireland. Ah! the -old lady left it you, did she? and you say she got it from Kelly’s in -Grafton Street. - -“‘Come! that explains everything. The Blakes--poor beggars--were sold up -last year, and Kelly’s, I know, were represented at the sale. - -“‘But now comes the extraordinary part of the affair. The grey figure -our friend the vicar has just described to us tallies exactly with the -phantasm that used to haunt Kleogh, and which the Blakes have always -regarded in the light of a family ghost. - -“‘Now it would appear that they are entirely wrong--that it is with the -clock and not Kleogh this apparition is connected--a fact that is not -at all surprising when we come to consider its origin and the vast -antiquity of its frame. - -“‘But let us examine it more carefully to-morrow.’ - -“We did so, and discovered that the frontal pillars on either side of -the face of the clock consisted of two highly polished femur-bones -which, although blackened through countless ages of immersion in the -bog, and abnormally long (as is inevitably the case with Paleolithic -man), were very unmistakably human. - - * * * * * - -“I returned the clock anonymously to Kelly’s.”[2] - - [2] A solution as to the nature of this type of ghost will - appear in a subsequent volume. - - - - -NO. -- PARK STREET, BATH - -THE HORRIBLE COUGHING ON THE STAIRS - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - Source of authenticity: Reliable hearsay evidence - - -Bath is a veritable cockpit of Ghostdom; its grey and venerable -mansions abound in ghosts; it is for its size the most psychic town in -England. - -I say this because I have at my elbow no less than twenty-five well -authenticated stories of haunted houses in this city: a collection that -is numerically superior to that of any other town in England, saving -London, and to the ghosts of London there is, as I stated at my recent -lecture in Chandos Street, no end--positively no end. - -One evening last January I read a paper on “My Superphysical -Experiences” before an extremely intelligent, and, I venture to say, -appreciative audience of Theosophists, at their headquarters, Argyll -Street, Bath. - -Among the number was a gentleman--quite a stranger I believe--who gave -me his card and asked me to call on him next day. I did so, and in the -course of a very entertaining chat he narrated to me the following -story: - -“Some years ago some friends of mine, named Hartley, took a house in -Park Street, which, as you may know, is built on the side of a hill. - -“The house suited them; it was warm, dry, and in a very tolerable state -of repair; it was also in a quiet and thoroughly respectable part of -the town, and the rent was low--ridiculously low--so low, indeed, that -they began to wonder why it was so low. - -“Anxious to find out if their neighbours were equally fortunate in the -matter of rent, they made enquiries, and learned to their astonishment -that every other house in the row was let at more than double the price -of theirs. - -“Why was this? Was their landlord a philanthropist, a Carnegie, a -madman, or what? - -“Or did the house contain some subtle flaw they were yet to discover to -their disadvantage? Perhaps, very much to their disadvantage; for they -were sufficiently worldly to discredit sentiment in business! - -“Getting on the track of former tenants, they plied them with cautious -questions; it was of no avail, the bait did not take; they could -ascertain nothing. Then they gave up--and the truth at last leaked out. - -“One dreary afternoon in a particularly dreary November, I believe -it was the fourth of November, the Rev. Silas Wetherby, vicar of an -adjoining Parish, called on them. - -“They were delighted to see him; Mrs. Hartley was fond of the clergy; -her father and uncles and brothers were all in the Church; she had -lived in a clerical atmosphere from the day she was born. - -“But the Rev. Silas Wetherby puzzled her. Had he been a deacon, a -_locum_, or a newly ordained curate, she would have passed him over -as excusably shy; but he was too old a stager for that. Why did he -puzzle her, then? He was orthodox, urbane, and--she would stake her -handkerchief--no small tatler of ecclesiastical gossip, but yet there -was something amiss with him, something that made him pause, something -that made him fidget. - -“Probably she never would have found out why he behaved in such an odd -manner but for an unexpected occurrence. - -“Without even as much as a rap, Bobby, their youngest boy, who is, as -a rule, very shy before visitors, suddenly burst into the room. He was -pale with excitement. - -“‘Oh, do come, mummy,’ he cried, ‘there is such a queer old man in such -a quaint dress on the staircase. He is coughing horribly. I fancy he -must be very sick. Do come, mummy--please.’ - -“Mr. Wetherby’s behaviour was now odd in the extreme. Half rising from -his seat and trembling all over, he pointed his finger violently at the -door. - -“‘Run away, little man,’ he said, ‘run away! No one is coughing now. -Your invalid has recovered, he is gone. Go directly, and shut the door -behind you. Mind--shut the door, and keep clear of the staircase,’ and -Bobby, completely at a loss what to make of this despotic stranger, -beat a hasty retreat. - -“Mrs. Hartley, disregarding the pleading look from her husband, -was about to expostulate; like the majority of modern mothers, her -tender--might I add unsound--sensibilities could not bear to see her -offspring treated in any but the most deferential manner. - -“The Rev. Silas, however, forestalled her. With a wave of his hand that -was as eloquent as it was peremptory he completely took the wind out of -her sails, and before she had time to recover from her surprise he had -commenced: - -“‘For Heaven’s sake, Mrs. Hartley!’ he said in a semi-whisper, leaning -forward in such a manner as emphasised the mysterious air he had -suddenly assumed, ‘for Heaven’s sake! leave this house as quickly as -you can!’ - -“‘There now, Arthur!’ Mrs. Hartley exclaimed, the angry expression in -her eyes being replaced by a mixture of triumph and curiosity--‘There -now! didn’t I tell you all along something was wrong with the place?’ - -“‘Drains, I suppose!’ her husband said mournfully, ‘drains or rats!--and -I do hate moving.’ - -“‘Neither one nor the other!’ the Rev. Silas whispered. ‘No! the house -is haunted.’ - -“At this announcement Mrs. Hartley gave a slight ejaculation of -terror--an ejaculation which, reduced to its constituent parts, might be -found to consist of affectation, fear, and no small amount of pleasure, -the latter engendered by the glamour of something both ENIGMATICAL and -FASHIONABLE. - -“‘What’s it haunted by? Teapots?’ Mr. Hartley muttered with a -contemptuous movement of his mouth. ‘If it’s not haunted by teapots -now, it will be some day, for that new maid of yours, my dear, is -always breaking them. She has smashed two since yesterday, and if you -examine this one closely you will observe that the spout is already -chipped.’ - -“Mrs. Hartley puckered her dainty brows into the most alarming frown. - -“‘Really, Arthur! how mundane you are,’ she remarked loftily; then, -turning to Mr. Wetherby, ‘My husband is, as you see, one of those solid -individuals who believes in nothing till he sees it.’ - -“‘And not always then,’ Arthur murmured, gazing intently at the parson -as the latter was about to pour the contents of the cream-jug into his -cup. ‘Everything that appears to the eye white and sticky is not cream! -Some animals have brains, even pigs--and some dairymen are frauds--most -of them!’ - -“‘Good gracious me!’ the Rev. Silas cried hastily replacing the jug. -‘You surely don’t mean to insinuate----’ - -“‘He doesn’t mean anything!’ Mrs. Hartley interrupted with considerable -impatience, ‘he is unusually silly this afternoon--so pray excuse -him!’ and--with the regular six-months-in-Paris accent--‘revenons à nos -moutons, s’il vous plait. I am anxious to hear about the ghost.’ - -“Mr. Wetherby looked a trifle sulky; he fought shy of sceptics, and he -no longer enjoyed his tea. - -“‘Now, mind I don’t ask you to believe me!’ he began, ‘although there -are plenty of people in this parish who will confirm what I say; but -eighty, or a hundred or so years ago, a son poisoned his father in this -very house. - -“‘The manner of the poisoning was quite orthodox--arsenic in apple -dumplings. There have been many parallel cases, chiefly, I believe, in -Liverpool. - -“‘Arsenic being an irritant, causes considerable vomiting, hence the -old man must have had several attacks of sickness prior to the one that -terminated his existence as he was travelling downstairs to fetch a -doctor. He died, it is said, in excruciating agony on the landing at -the top of the first flight of stairs.’ - -“‘And it is his ghost that haunts the house?’ Mrs. Hartley hazarded. - -“The Rev. gentleman nodded. ‘Just so,’ he said, ‘and it was this -apparition, undoubtedly, that your little boy saw just now. It always -appears on November 4, the anniversary of the murder, and--’ Mr. -Wetherby was going to add something that, judging from the increased -solemnity of his voice, would have been very impressive, when Mr. -Hartley cut in: ‘Then at all events we shall have a reprieve, a year’s -undisputed possession, subject to no interference on the part of the -spook--Mr. Whatever’s his name.’ He laughed irreverently, ‘You certainly -won’t catch me giving up this lease for any so immaterial a reason. -No, thank you! I cannot get as good a bargain as this every day in the -week!’ - -“The Rev. Silas rose to go. ‘Very well then!’ he said, bowing stiffly, -‘I could say more--but I won’t! I am sorry I have said as much. -Some sceptics are never convinced! Some sceptics do not wish to be -convinced! Some sceptics may be convinced, but prefer to appear -unconvinced! - -“‘I am no metaphysician! I will not attempt to classify YOU. I will -only say, “May you never be AFRAID.” - -“‘I trust Mrs. Hartley, at all events, is not a sceptic: I hope she is -not a psychic! especially not a psychic in this house. I wish you good -day!’ - -“‘He did not wish us good luck!’ Mr. Hartley explained as the door -banged. ‘By Jove! I have no patience to listen to such stuff! Haunted, -indeed!’ - -“But his wife shook her head. ‘Scepticism is one thing, and what Bobbie -saw is another!’ she argued. ‘You can’t get over that, Arthur! Now, are -we doing the right thing for the children in remaining here?’ - -“In all matters concerning her children Mrs. Hartley’s instincts were -always acute--one or two of them were babies, even younger than Bobbie. - -“On this occasion, however, Mr. Hartley held his own. ‘BOBBIE,’ -he reasoned, ‘must have had the daymare, and even if he did see -anything, no harm has come of it. You must recollect, my dear,’ he -observed, ‘that I have not been doing over-well on the Stock Exchange -lately; moving is a costly thing, and if I spend money in one way, -I must recoup in another, which means no new dress for you and no -Weston-super-Mare for the children.’ - -“The validity of this logic was not lost upon Mrs. Hartley. She -reflected; and then with her customary adroitness gave a turn to the -conversation. - - * * * * * - -“It was once again November, the fourth of November, and the staircase -incident of a year ago now seemed remote and improbable. It was, -however, uppermost in the minds of both Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, though -they both pretended to have forgotten it. - -“They had neither seen Mr. Wetherby again, nor had they mentioned -the appearance of the ghost to anyone. It was really of so little -consequence. - -“It was a wet afternoon--wet and chilly, and as neither Mr. or Mrs. -Hartley had any particular inducement to face the elements, they -decided to stay indoors, Mrs. Hartley reclining in an easy chair before -the drawing-room fire whilst her husband seated himself in like manner -before a blazing hearth in the dining-room. - -“They tried to read--they could not; they tried to sleep--they could -not: and somehow they felt that they ought to go and look at the -children--but they would not; and so they whiled away the hours in this -half-hearted and wholly unsatisfactory manner. - -“It seems the sudden opening of the nursery door first disturbed -Mrs. Hartley, and fancying she heard someone steal gently across the -landing, she called out; there was no reply, so, thinking it was fancy, -she was about to settle down again when the sound of some one coughing -made her heart beat quickly. - -“Who could it be? Not the nurse! The nurse wouldn’t cough in such a -deep and hoarse manner! nor yet Arthur; she would recognise his cough -anywhere. Hark! there it was again--cough! cough! cough! just as if some -one was being sick. Someone being sick! Ah! who could that someone be? -who indeed? but--and fearing lest one of the children might be on the -stairs, she overcame a momentary weakness and sallied forth. - -“What she saw froze her with horror. - -“At the top of the hall staircase was the figure of a man clad in the -costume of the eighteenth century, viz., long maroon tail-coat with -vest to match, knee breeches, and coarse yellow stockings. Mrs. Hartley -couldn’t see his face, as he was in a recumbent position and vomiting -horribly. Looking up at him from below, her eyes big with pity and -wonder--not fear--was Kitty, the Hartley’s youngest child. - -“Catching sight of her mother, Kitty cried, ‘Oh! mummy, do tum down! -the poor man is awful ill. Do help him! I’ll tum too,’ and suiting the -action to her words the little mite prepared to ascend. No sooner, -however, had she set a foot on the staircase than the old man slipped, -and, falling sideways, plunged through the air. - -“Making sure Kitty would be hurt, and regardless of the fact that she -was merely clutching at a phantom, Mrs. Hartley appears to have made -frantic efforts to stay the disaster. Whether in her agitation she -tried to go down the stairs too quickly, or whether in her anxiety -to save her child she lost her head and simply leaped forward, it -is impossible to say; she herself always declares that the stairs -‘collapsed’ under her. Anyhow, she fell, and crashing into Kitty, -literally crushed the life out of her. Mr. Hartley found mother and -child lying together at the foot of the stairs, and although he saw no -sign of any apparition, he is no longer a sceptic. - -“His wife recovered--at least, she is alive--though I am told some -internal complaint--the result of the catastrophe--makes her long for -death. - -“Some months after Kitty’s burial, when time had to a certain extent -mollified the poignancy of suffering caused by her death, Mr. Hartley -received a letter of condolence from the Rev. Silas Wetherby. - -“The greater portion of the epistle was simply a formal declaration -of sympathy, but the concluding lines, inasmuch as they bear on the -haunting, are worth repeating. - -“The worthy divine wrote as follows: - -“‘If you recollect, at our last meeting I gave you to understand that I -had something further to tell you _re_ the occult disturbances in your -late abode. - -“‘You will probably treat my statement with contempt, badly concealed -under cover of a pretty pasquinade, but I am prepared to run the -gauntlet of your scepticism in order to relieve my conscience. - -“‘What I would have told you had I not been silenced (culpably I own) -by your ridicule, is this: the appearance of the sick man had always -been followed by some dire calamity, whenever any attempt has been -made to set even as much as one foot on the staircase during the -manifestations--hence my warning to Bobbie. - -“‘I cannot, of course, explain to you why a phenomenon of this sort -should entail physical disaster any more than I can elucidate the -mystery of the Ghost Candles of Wales, or the Banshees of Ireland, -between which manifestations and the phenomena in question there is -a strong analogy. But should you feel sufficiently interested in the -subject to ask for further information, or even be sufficiently dubious -to demand testimony, I will with pleasure provide you with an abundance -of creditable corroborations both documentary and oral.’ - -“But Mr. Hartley was perfectly satisfied.” - - - - -THE MINERY, DEVON - -THE MAN WITH THE BUCKET - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead - - Source of authenticity: Letter from the person who saw the ghost - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - - HOTEL RIETZ, VIENNA. - _Feb. 10, 1908._ - - DEAR MR. O’DONNELL, - -In reply to your inquiry as to that psychic experience I had in Devon, -I will do my best to make the affair explicit, although, as you know -very well, I do not pose as a scribe. - -Well! it took place three years ago--June 15th, 1905--shall I ever -forget the date! My friends, the Maitlands had only just taken “The -Minery,” a pretty yellow stone villa, modern in every respect. It stood -some few yards away from the road and was fronted by a lawn, bordered -with honeysuckle, sweet-peas and Devon roses. - -I tell you this to impress upon you the fact that there was positively -nothing suggestive of ghosts either in the grounds or building, the -latter being as unlike the orthodox haunted house as one can well -imagine. If anything should have warned me it was the hesitating and -half nervous manner (so unlike herself) with which Dora Maitland showed -me my room. - -“I do hope you will like it and be comfortable, dear!” she said as she -stood for a moment on the threshold, a strangely perplexing expression -in her eyes, and one which I couldn’t then interpret. “Be sure to tell -us if you DON’T and we will have you moved at once.” - -“Why shouldn’t I?” I asked in unfeigned astonishment. “It is -delightfully snug and sunny--a south aspect--a charming view and--oh! -the most delightful of dainty furniture. Why, Dora! I should indeed -be an ungrateful Sybarite if I didn’t revel in it.” And Dora forced a -smile. - -The hot summer days drove us into the open: we got up early and went -to bed late. Being a man, and fond of cricket and fishing, you would -hardly appreciate the life we led. We are women of the old school, -and consequently spent all our time at home on the lawn, plying our -needles, possibly at the same time chewing chocolates or discussing our -favourite books; motoring and golf we left to others. - -The 15th of June was warm and sultry; we had been invited to spend the -evening at the adjoining vicarage; Dora had a headache, her mother was -a chronic invalid, and so--willy-nilly--I went alone. - -It was a stupid affair: mediocre music, still more mediocre -supper--and--BRIDGE! - -Fancy Bridge in a sleepy country Parsonage, fancy Bridge anywhere! I -hate Bridge! - -The guests were of the usual sort, prudish, prosy and plain; a widow -and twins, the Miss Somebodies of Somewhere; a curate, a doctor -and a lawyer! What (with the exception of the last) could be more -respectable, what more dull--deadly dull? - -They were all (the men, I mean) very anxious I should play cards, but -for once in a way I made myself positively disagreeable--and sat--alone! - -Eleven o’clock came. It was time to go! I rose with alacrity, omitting, -I believe, in the intensity of joy, the formal expressions of regret. - -The vicar accompanied me as far as the gates; bidding me a bland -good-night, he retraced his steps with a sigh of relief. Mrs. Maitland -had left a light burning in the hall. I turned it out, and taking up -my candle proceeded to my bedroom and was beginning to undress when a -strange thing happened. - -My bedroom door (which I felt positively certain I had locked) slowly -opened and a man peered in. - -I can see him now--strong, regular features with piercing dark and -somewhat sinister eyes that were in marked contrast to the iron-grey -brows and wavy, neatly parted hair. The chin was square, the head well -shaped; he was a handsome man, yet he did not please me! - -I was frightened. - -For some seconds he glanced furtively round the room, his eyes finally -resting on the bedstead, which he regarded in a manner that made my -flesh creep! Who could he be? what on earth did he want? - -Terrified lest he should see me--though why it was he hadn’t done so -I couldn’t for the life of me imagine--I kept shrinking backwards, -backwards into the alcove where I hung my dresses, in the wild hope -that they would afford me a safe hiding-place. - -Presently, to my unutterable relief, he disappeared, and I heard his -footsteps tiptoeing gently down the staircase. - -Here then was my chance of escape! Hardly daring to breathe, I rushed -frantically to the door (Heaven preserve me!--it was locked again!) and -tearing it open, I made directly for the passage leading to Dora’s room. - -On my way I heard a noise--a noise that fascinated and kept me -still--the clanging of a bucket. - -What could a man be doing with a bucket at this time of night--a -bucket!--and on that staircase so daintily furnished with velvet pile? - -Breathlessly I watched him ascend, his step light and springing, his -head bent low, and the bucket clanging each time he mounted--clang! -clang! clang! - -The agony I suffered--for I could now only conclude he was either a -madman or burglar--was indescribable; I dreaded above all things the act -of being seen--of encountering a glance from those evil eyes. - -Nearer and nearer he came! One more step, and he stood on the little -lobby outside my bedroom door. What was he going to do--to enter my room -or follow me? - -My heart stood still; a cold sweat burst out all over me; I essayed -to shriek and implore the aid of Dora; my throat dried up, my tongue -stuck to the palate of my mouth--I was speechless! helpless! hopeless! -Another yard, and the uncanny stranger would have me in his clutches. - -At the crucial moment Heaven heard my silent prayer; he halted, I was -saved! With one hand on the handle, he slowly--very slowly--opened the -door, and crouching down on his hands and feet, crept quietly in, -muffling the sound of the bucket. - -Incongruous sight!--a man, a madman, or a burglar with a common, an -every-day bucket, and in the ecstasies of salvation I gave a weak, -hysterical laugh!--a madman with a bucket! and what a bucket! - -After this little display of emotion, and being now in the full -possession of all my motive faculties, I promptly fled, not pausing for -the fraction of a second till I had reached the bedside of Dora and -had shaken her to wakefulness. She listened to my story with blanched -cheeks, beseeching me with terror in her eyes to make sure the door was -locked and that her Bible was well in evidence. - -Her fears adding to my own, for I now concluded that there was some -horrible mystery attached to what I had just witnessed, I hastily -scrambled into bed, and, drawing the clothes well over our heads, -begged her to confide in me the secret. - -“I hardly know how to explain it, Kate,” she whispered, “you will be -so shocked! and I’m afraid you will blame us horribly for putting you -in that room; but, to tell you the truth, we had nowhere else--at least -nowhere suitable, as the ceilings and walls are sadly out of repair. - -“You see, we bought this house at a very low price; it had stood empty -for a good many months, was in a sad state of dilapidation, and the -owner was only too glad to get rid of it. - -“After we had settled in, he coolly informed us that it was reputed to -be haunted; that the remains of a woman had been found under the cement -of the back-kitchen floor (it is now nicely tiled), and that on the -anniversary of its committal the tragedy was reported to be re-enacted -in all its grim details.” - -“And was she murdered in my room?” I inquired. - -“It is supposed so,” Dora murmured. “There is a tell-tale stain (which -nothing will efface) under the carpet--and--former tenants are reported -to have seen all you have witnessed, and rather more.” - -“And the murderer! what of him?” I asked, thinking with a shudder of -his eyes. - -“No one knows anything!” Dora whispered, edging closer to me as we -heard a distant clang. “It is only surmised he was her husband--she was -quite a stranger here--and--he was never caught.” - -“But the bucket, what could he want with such an absurd thing as a -bucket?” and as I heard it clanging from below I gave a ghastly chuckle. - -“For Heaven’s sake don’t laugh!” Dora shivered. “They found that -bucket--he had used it for transporting her remains!” - - * * * * * - -Please remember me, &c., to all. - - Ever yours sincerely, - KATHLEEN M. DEAN. - - - - -THURLOW HALL,[3] NEAR EXETER - -FIRE! FIRE! BRING ME FIRE! - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead - - Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence - - [3] All names altered by request. - - -The following story was related to me by Miss Constance Delaunay, and -is given as near as possible in her own words: - -“The early spring of 1898 was, I daresay you remember, exceptionally -fine--so fine, indeed, that my mother, a chronic sufferer from -rheumatism, determined to remain in England instead of going, as was -her custom, to the Riviera. - -“We did not want, however, to stay in town, an unusually gay Christmas -having given us an appetite for the country; so we sub-let our flat and -took Thurlow Hall, furnished, on a three months’ lease. - -“We had never been to Devon; we had heard much of its beauty; we were -disappointed. - -“Possibly, being of foreign extraction, I am prejudiced, but in my -opinion the scenery of Devon is almost, if not quite, as inferior to -that of Belgium and Switzerland as the manners of its peasants are -inferior to those of the corresponding class of Continentals. - -“The West Country rustics did not impress us favourably; on our arrival -they welcomed us with gapes and stares and boorish grunts; not a few of -them giggled, whilst others, slouching up to our boxes, read the labels -and muttered disparaging things about foreigners. - -“We were told it was the spirit of independence, a spirit presumably -fostered by the democratic teaching of the board school which--if it -had accomplished nothing else--had effectually taught the children to -be RUDE. The pretty simplicity and deferential mannerism described as -characteristics of these villagers by mid-Victorian writers had become -obsolete; courtseying was now regarded as _infra dig_: no one touched -their hats to or moved aside for ladies, and the colloquial ‘sir’ and -‘mam’ had long since given place to a familiar and condescending ‘Mr.’ -or ‘Mrs.’ as the case might be. - -“In Cornwall, we were informed, the manners of the people are even -worse, and if that is a fact, one can hardly believe it possible, I am -quite certain we shall never cross the Tamar. - -“Fortunately we had taken two of our favourite servants with us, -namely, Marie and Eugenie--the latter my mother’s own maid, a capable -person who could turn her hand to anything, the former a clever little -cook we had imported from our own country. But for this foresight on my -part, I do not know how my mother could have managed to exist. - -“She is even more fastidious than I. She cannot bear anything coarse -or uncouth--in comparison a local servant would have made purgatory seem -pleasant. - -“I am afraid you will conclude we are rather hard to please: perhaps -we are somewhat exacting, but we cannot help it; we are women of the -old school, may I add, of gentle birth, who claim to the full all the -privileges of our sex and station; besides we offered a good sum for -the house: we expected to be treated fairly. - -“According to the advertisement, ‘The Hall’ was furnished: it was, in -reality, nothing of the sort. Can any house in which there is neither -bookcase nor bathroom be said to be furnished? Though standing alone -on a fairly large piece of ground--I cannot truthfully say a garden--it -might well have been called semi-detached, for we searched in it in -vain to find a whole piece of furniture. - -“Marie and Eugenie are smart young women: they pride themselves on -being slim and elegant. Imagine then their disgust when the kitchen -chairs actually collapsed under them. - -“I, too, had a grievance. Without conceit I may say that it is not in -my nature to be clumsy. How was it then that I broke three cups, a -saucer, and a cream-jug within the short space of half an hour? The -reason was obvious enough! The cups were all cracked, the saucers -damaged, and the jugs should have been labelled ‘beware of the handle.’ -Even moderately disfigured china is my mother’s pet aversion. How she -suffered under these circumstances I will not attempt to describe. - -“But the plate! I have heard of gold plate, silver plate, copper -plate, brass plate, and electro plate, but with none of these could I -associate this mongrel species, these odds and ends we were called upon -to use. It was, indeed, an enigma, and I hate enigmas, especially when -they are not worth the trouble of solving. Luckily, substitutes were -easily obtainable. I wired for a complete supply of plate from home, -after which the motley crew of hirelings were no longer in evidence. - -“And the carpets! I have always thought such luxuries, even the most -costly, a doubtful blessing; these were undoubtedly an unmixed evil. -Fortunately, we were able to dispense with them. The floors underneath -were of polished oak, and with these we were greatly taken. True, we -were somewhat puzzled to account for certain irregularities in the -boards, but, on the whole, I think we should have been more astonished -had we found them intact. - -“Could we, by any means, make the place tenantable? Marie and Eugenie -are brave and forgiving girls! In spite of their recent adventure--they -had never been so insulted in their lives--they thought it possible; -mother and I were doubtful. - -“We hired all the furniture there was to be hired from the village, -we engaged by the day the only prepossessing and respectable woman it -contained, and we tried to settle down and pretend we enjoyed it. From -the beginning it was a fiasco--we were miserable! and to add to our -distress, or rather, to fill to overflowing our cup of misfortune, the -weather became miserable, too; it began to rain. - -“What was there to hope for now? Nothing! What was there to do now? -Nothing! Nothing but sit at the window and gaze at the dreary lawn, -shut off from the road by a hideous wall, or to flit about from room to -room wringing one’s hands like a distracted phantom. - -“A phantom! I did not believe in phantoms when I came to Thurlow; -I treated the Unknown with the blind levity of a Voltaire; I was -inconsequently sceptical; I had been born psychic. - -“Though I was sublimely unconscious of it, the dawn of my awakening was -at hand. - -“Though the house was undesirable in so many ways--cold, bare, -comfortless, dilapidated--it was not without interest. It was old--old -with the antiquity of two or more centuries--and age is always -interesting. - -“There were rooms in it, narrow, rectangular rooms darkened by -Virginian creeper that dropped their crimson foliage over diamond -panes, rooms the very air of which seemed charged with the shades of -old-world wits and _savants_. - -“In my imagination the house had once been a school: the severity of -the walls, the coldness of their neat yellow stones suggested it; -I even went so far as to fancy I could discern ink-stains on the -skirting-boards; and who but schoolboys ever desecrate a floor with -ink-stains? - -“The predominating feature in the house was undoubtedly the staircase. - -“It was the first thing one noticed on entering; there was no escaping -it. Confronting the door in the very middle of the hall, it stood -there like some grey and massive sentinel--and barred the way. One -wondered how it had ever got there, it was so disproportionately -large for the house. It was masterful, aggressive, FASCINATING (Marie -declared ‘there was no getting away from it--that it LIVED’)--and--it -was made of STONE. There was no doubt about it now ‘The Hall’ had -indeed been a school; would any one but a pedagogue have a stone -staircase? Eugh! my mother felt a twinge of rheumatism the moment she -set eyes on it. - -“It was curiously wanting in proportion; consisting of barely a dozen -steps, it was most uncomfortably steep and of a most unnecessary width. -I compared it with some strange, squatting animal--a comparison that -grew on me the longer I remained in the house. - -“At the top of the staircase was a gallery, protected by high rails, -which I discovered connected the used and disused portions of the -house. In the latter there were some rooms we did not care to inhabit; -there were a few we were even unable to explore--they were locked. - -“I felt no curiosity about them; they were certain to be both -commonplace, prosaic and dusty: every time I passed them I smelt -dust--and I cannot endure a particle of dust. If I had believed any of -them to be a library, I might have been tempted to pick the lock; I -am passionately fond of books--that is to say, of some books--when I am -exiled in the country and it is always raining. - -“I was in search of a book which I had laid down somewhere, when I -crossed the hall one afternoon, and left my mother dozing in a big -armchair before the drawing-room fire. - -“Marie said she had seen it on the oak settle; most likely, for I -often took my book and lounged on it. You see I had grown fond of the -oak settle naturally, for it was the only piece of furniture in that -monster house that stirred in me any friendly feeling whatever. But -Marie must have been dreaming, it was certainly not there. I would have -called to Marie to come and help me search for it, had I not remembered -that she and Eugenie had gone into the village to do a little shopping -on their own account. They laugh in their grandest manner at those -‘silly little shops,’ but with a true woman’s instinct they cannot -resist ‘buying.’ - -“I felt indignant, provoked, angry! never had I wanted to read so much -and never had I been at such a loss to find a book. - -“Oh! I recollected there was one upstairs--an ancient and musty edition -of ‘Eugene Aram’--(proof positive, this, that the place was once a -school; would any one save a schoolmaster read ‘Eugene Aram’)? I had -seen it lying on the floor of a disused cupboard--alone and forsaken: a -solitary relic of the Academical bookshelf. - -“Were I in a library, ‘Eugene Aram’ would probably be the last book I -would choose to read; Lytton’s tales are horrible; I abominate horrors. -I thought of the staircase, I glanced at it; it was really very dark. I -shuddered! - -“I did not understand why I shuddered, unless it was on account of -a draught! Of course, a draught. The house was full of draughts. The -hour was late, the afternoon was cold, it was March, and undoubtedly -a door was open somewhere; the book was not worth the trouble, I was -over-tired, I would return to my mother. This I was actually preparing -to do when the sudden appearance of a light made me pause--it came from -the disused wing overhead. - -“I can assure you I wanted very much to go to my mother; I would have -given all I possessed to have gone to my mother; I could not: I could -not stir; that light enthralled me. - -“I had never seen such a light--such a queer, unaccountable light--a -light that to anyone less sceptical might have seemed an ‘UNNATURAL’ -Light! Perhaps it was an unnatural light--and I laughed. But what--what -in the name of Heaven could it be? - -“Drawing rapidly nearer and quickly assuming the appearance and -proportions of a FIRE, it filled me with the most unusual, the most -preposterously unusual, doubts and fears. - -“And now for the first time I detected it was accompanied by -incongruous though perfectly intelligible sound--the sound of someone -tapping with all their might, tapping with a pair of high-heeled shoes. - -“Aghast at this discovery, my perplexities increased, and I was vainly -endeavouring to extricate myself from a chaotic quagmire of unpleasant -thoughts, when a scream, the very intensity of which made me tremble, -echoed and re-echoed throughout the house. - -“‘Fire! Fire! Bring me Fire!’ These words, apparently so strangely -paradoxical, were repeated with renewed vigour and anguish, the voice -after each effort dying away into the most appalling and piteous wail. - -“The screams were coming nearer, but before I had time to realise the -tumult was so close at hand, or to fortify myself against the tableau I -now had every reason to anticipate, a girl, her hair and dress a mass -of lurid flames, came rushing frantically into the gallery. - -“The spectacle she presented was so satanically awful that I -immediately crossed myself. An indescribable thrill of terror ran -through me. I felt--I KNEW--I was actually in the presence of an -apparition; nothing ‘earthly’ could possibly have produced a similar or -in any way equivalent effect. - -“Staring at me through the yellow inferno of flames was a woman’s -face that, despite its horribly contorted features, was amazingly and -uniquely beautiful, the perfect regularity of the Jewish lineaments -being strikingly enhanced by the whiteness of the teeth, the blueness -of the eyes. - -“The latter came upon me as a further shock. Though very lovely both -in their excessive length and hue, they did not match that style of -face; to have done so they should have been black or brown--and their -expression was repellent. - -“I say repellent; I might with great accuracy say ‘hellish,’ for I saw -in them the mirror of a sinful soul--of a VERY sinful soul. - -“I could form no idea as to her dress, the blaze effectually hid -everything save her face; but from the partial glimpse I caught of -a pair of satin shoes, I surmised she was in some sort of ball-room -costume. The duration of her transit, though to me an eternity, could -not, I fancy, have occupied more than a very few seconds. - -“Still gazing at me and beating the air with its hands, the phantom -rushed shrieking onwards, disappearing with the impetus of a tornado in -the inhabited portion of the house. - -“I had no further ‘use’ for ‘Eugene Aram.’ I returned to my mother. - -“The same phenomena was witnessed by Marie and Eugenie respectively -within the next three days--on the fourth we left. Had we remained, -there might have been a fatality; we were all genuinely frightened--and -mother is an invalid--a very nervous invalid. - -“Perhaps you feel inclined to say it was all a matter of nerves. What -more likely! We were an isolated quartet of over-imaginative women! Or -you might say that some story we had heard in connection with the house -suggested these occult demonstrations. - -“Do not be premature! We only heard a few weeks ago that ‘The Hall’ -had a reputation for being haunted, and it is now several months since -we left Thurlow. Our informant, a former tenant, was, we have every -reason to believe, a person of indisputable veracity and common sense, -in short, a person quite incapable of inventing any such story as the -following which he kindly narrated for our satisfaction. - -“It appears from what he told us (his MS. is still in my bureau) that -Thurlow Hall once belonged to Mrs. Purvis, an old lady with one child, -Charles. - -“Charles was, of course, the apple of her eye; Charles ruled the house; -every one must obey Mr. Charles; Mr. Charles could do nothing wrong. -Nothing wrong until, in the heyday of his youth, in the season of wild -oats, he unexpectedly fell in love with a Gaiety girl--Phyllis (no one -remembered her other name)--and married her--and THAT was very wrong. - -“His mother was indignant--FURIOUS--not with Charles, of course--but -with that creature--Phyllis. - -“Phyllis had inveigled him into marrying her; Phyllis would bring -eternal disgrace on the family; Phyllis would run away with another man -and ruin him. - -“Ruin HIM--ruin Charles--and the fond mother grew despondent, very -despondent, so despondent indeed that unkind neighbours said she was -mad. They were wrong; the despondency was only a reaction, she suddenly -cheered up, all was apparently forgiven and forgotten. Charles and -Phyllis were invited to spend Christmas at Thurlow. - -“They went, very naturally they went--Charles overjoyed at the prospect -of displaying the Purvis estate to his charming wife. - -“His mother welcomed Phyllis effusively; she made her feel thoroughly -at home; she expressed an ardent desire to see her in her bridal robes. - -“Phyllis consented--what else could she do? She had been a Gaiety girl! -she had lived for admiration. - -“Arrayed in her wedding garments she entered Mrs. Purvis’s room, -surprising the old lady in the act of lighting an oil lamp--a rather -‘shaky’ old lamp filled to the brim with oil. - -“Phyllis was radiant; her sole thought was of the sensation she would -create at the coming Christmas festivities. Had she been less absorbed -she might have noticed how the hand trembled that raised the lamp; she -might even have been on her guard. - -“But vanity as well as love is blind. Phyllis accepted Mrs. Purvis’s -profuse expressions of admiration and delight in good faith; they were, -of course, both genuine and natural; they were, moreover, her due. The -bride was intent on examining herself in the mirror; her mother-in-law -approached her from behind, and, bending suddenly forward, deliberately -hurled the lamp on to the train of her dress. There was a loud crash--an -explosion--and the wedding dress was on fire. - -“No one was at hand to render assistance, Charles and the servants -having been slyly inveigled out of the house, and the only response -to her screams were loud peals of laughter from her now wholly insane -mother-in-law. - -“It was small wonder that the poor girl lost her head, and, craving -water, cried in her agony, ‘Bring me fire, oh! bring me fire!’ - -“In that mad rush from the room along the disused corridors her one -endeavour would appear to have been to reach her bedroom--perhaps she -had forgotten that Charles had gone OUT--but her efforts were frustrated -by the fiendish fury of the flames. The amount of oil on her dress -must have made it blaze like a furnace. - -“She had barely crossed the gallery into the opposite wing of the house -before her scorched and smouldering limbs gave way, and falling to the -ground she was speedily burned to ashes; her supreme and final agony -being summed up in a despairing cry, so loud and piercing that it was -even heard outside by Charles. - -“Not daring to approach the house alone, Charles summoned some -villagers, and keeping well in their rear, gingerly accompanied them -across the lawn to the front entrance. - -“There they were met by Mrs. Purvis, chuckling horribly. - -“Corridors, gallery and staircase were in flames, and had it not been -for the opportune arrival of the vicar the whole place would have been -consumed; thanks, however, to his vigour and level-headedness the -fire was eventually extinguished, and although the damage done was -considerable, the bulk of the property remained unscathed. - -“No trace of the unfortunate Mrs. Charles Purvis being found, the -precise manner of her death for many years remained a mystery. But -the erratic babblings of her mother-in-law supplied material for -certain conjectures, which were afterwards confirmed by the lucid and -exhaustive confession of the old lady, who regained her reason on her -deathbed. - -“Though a thorough restoration of the property was effected, Charles -would never live at the Hall. A long series of unsatisfactory -tenancies succeeded the events I have just related, and the story of a -ghost has at length come to stay. - -“N.B.--I have good reason for believing the house is still (August 1908) -haunted; most probably this will always be the case.” - - - - -THE GUILSBOROUGH GHOST - - OR A - MINUTE ACCOUNT[4] OF THE APPEARANCE OF - THE GHOST OF - JOHN CROXFORD - EXECUTED AT NORTHAMPTON, AUGUST 4, 1764 - For the Murder of a Stranger - in the Parish of GUILSBOROUGH - - Printed in the year 1764 and reprinted by - F. Cordeaux, Northampton, 1819 - - [4] The different styles of writing in the following are due to - certain alterations I have been obliged to make, the English - of the original being so involved in places as to be nearly - unintelligible. - - -PART I - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead - - Source of authenticity: Copied almost _ad verbum_ from the above - MS., lent me by a resident in Guilsborough, August 5, 1908 - - Cause of Haunting: Murder - - -PREFACE - -The publication from which the following extracts are taken was printed -at Northampton (where the original may still be seen, August 1908) in -the year 1764. - -It appears that the author, who was officiating there as temporary -chaplain to the jail, was a man of indisputable and well-known -integrity, and a very popular preacher throughout the county. - -In order to render his work useful and instructive, innumerable -references are made to the Scriptures, but his quotations are of too -great a length for the following abridged tract, which is copied from -the original and contains only the account of the interview the author -had with Croxford’s Ghost. - - -THE GHOST - -It appears from the account given in a pamphlet reprinted and sold -by G. Henson, Letterpress and Copper-plate Printer, Bridge Street, -Northampton, 1848, that on Saturday, August 4, 1764, John Croxford, -together with three others of the names of Seamark, Deacon and Butlin -were tried at the Assizes of Northampton and convicted of murder. - -It came out at the trial that the unfortunate victim was a native of -Scotland, travelling with goods, and that by chance he called at the -house of Seamark, a shepherd’s hut in the parish of Guilsborough, -Northamptonshire, where Croxford and his companions used to meet, -where they robbed and afterwards cruelly murdered him, and in order to -prevent a discovery consumed his body in an oven; which was proved on -the evidence of one of Seamark’s children, who was an eye-witness to -the transaction, by looking through the crevices of the floor from the -room above. - -They were all found guilty and executed on August 4, 1764, and -Croxford’s body hung in chains on Hollowell Heath, in the parish of -Guilsborough, near the spot where the horrid deed was perpetrated--(and -no spot more suggestive of such a tragedy could be imagined). - -The author of the work--at that time (1764) holding the appointment of -chaplain to the Northampton Jail--after quoting passages from various -writers to prove the reality of the subject, proceeds to give an -account of the appearance of Croxford’s Ghost, as follows: - -“I shall now proceed without further lett or impediment to a plain and -conscientious account of the ghost or apparition which was the occasion -of my troubling the world with this narrative; unless I first observe -that the behaviour of the prisoners, one of whom is the subject of -these pages, lately tried, condemned and executed at Northampton, for -the murder of a person unknown, upon the evidence of Ann Seamark and -her son, about nine or ten years old, was such as astonished every -beholder.... - -“Clear and conclusive as the evidence was against them, no arguments, -even after condemnation, though delivered and enforced with the utmost -energy, precision and perspicuity by a learned and worthy divine, -were able to reach their hardened hearts and prevail for an open and -unreserved confession of their guilt. Even at the gallows, in their -last addresses to the people, they insisted on their innocence in the -strongest terms imaginable; wishing the heaviest penalties an offended -God could inflict might be their portion in the next world, if they -were guilty of the murder that was laid to their charge and for which -they were about to suffer. - -“Thus did they divide the sentiments of the crowd that many were -brought over to a full persuasion of their innocence, while others -were left halting between two opinions and severely agitated with -conflicting doubts. But mark the event. - -“After having instructed my people as a teacher in the knowledge of the -Scriptures, I used to spend the superfluous hours of the Lord’s Day in -perusing some part or other of the Old and New Testament. - -“Accordingly, on August 12, 1764, being the Sabbath, I returned as -usual into my study, the door of which is secured by a lock with a -spring-bolt, and sat down to my accustomed evening devotion; the -business of this day by rotation laying in the New Testament, and -in that part of it where St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians -proposes, maintains and proves the resurrection of the body. Struck -with the sublimity of his thoughts, boldness of his figures, and -energy of his diction, and convinced by the number and weight of -his arguments, and looking with a pleasing foretaste of happiness -into futurity, I was on a sudden surprised with the perfect form and -appearance of a man, who stood erect at a small distance from my right -side. - -“Conscious that the door was locked and that there was no other -means by which my visitor could have entered, I was considerably -surprised--surprise turning into abject terror--when, glancing with -irresistible fascination at the man, I perceived in him something -indefinably but most unmistakably Unnatural. - -“Feeling sure that I was in the actual presence of an apparition, -I contrived, by an almost superhuman effort, I admit, to sum up -sufficient courage to speak--my voice seeming dry and unrecognisable. - -“I addressed it in the power and spirit of the Gospel; inquiring on -what errand it was sent; what was intended by such an application, and -what services could be expected from a person of so little note and -mean abilities as myself. - -“I must here state that although the spectre had inspired me with so -much awe, I did not associate it with anything EVIL. - -“Every second tended to strengthen my composure, and when it spoke in -a voice rather more hollow and intense, perhaps, than that of a human -being, my fears were instantly dissipated. I was now able to take a -close stock of it, and observed that in features, general appearance, -and clothes it closely resembled any ordinary labouring man; it was in -expression and colouring, only it differed--its eyes were lurid, its -cheeks livid. - -“Raising one extremely white and emaciated hand, it desired me to -compose myself, saying that as it was now strictly limited by a -Superior Power, and could do no one act but by the permission of God, I -had no reason to be afraid, abrupt as was its appearance, and that if -I would endeavour to overcome the visible perturbation I was in, it -would proceed in the business of its errand. - -“At this announcement my heart fluttered with an excitement I found -difficult to control. Was the wonderful mystery that had hitherto -enshrouded the existence and composition of the Unknown about to -be revealed to me--was I going to be initiated into those secrets -heretofore denied to man? Eagerly promising to compose myself, and lost -to all else save the fascinating presence of my guest, I settled down -to listen to anything the phantasm might have to say. - -“The room, I must here state, was lighted by a single, though rather -powerful, double-wick oil lamp, which I had always deemed sufficient -to illuminate the whole apartment, but which now--and I could not help -noticing the phenomenon--did not extend its rays beyond the cadaverous -face of my intruder, upon which the full force of its light seemed -concentrated. - -“Commencing in clear and solemn tones, the phantasm stated that it was -one of the unhappy prisoners executed at Northampton on the 4th of -August, 1764. - -“A cold chill ran down my back at this announcement, which was -intensified when I recognised for the first time that the figure -confronting me bore a startling likeness to one of the prisoners it had -been my unhappy lot to address prior to his execution: there was the -same hair, brows and beard--black and stubby; the protruding forehead -and retreating chin that had so repelled me, the malshaped head and -the broken, unsavoury-looking teeth; it was indeed the ghost of one of -those diabolical miscreants that stood before me, and, despite the fact -that I was brought up in the strict Protestant faith, I inadvertently -crossed myself. - -“The spectre went on without apparently heeding my action. - -“‘It had been,’ so it proclaimed, ‘the principal and ringleader of -the gang, most of whom it had corrupted, debauched and seduced to -that deplorable method of life, and it was particularly appointed by -Providence to undeceive the world and remove those doubts which the -solemn protestations of their innocence to the very hour of death had -raised in the minds of all who heard them.’ - -“At this juncture, excitement overcoming fear and aversion, I hazarded -to inquire of the phantasm its name. - -“Its reply, delivered in the same slow, measured, almost mechanical -tones (as if it were only the mouth-organ of some other and unseen -agency) was to the effect that its name was John Croxford; that it -had express directions to come to me--directions it could not disobey; -it furthermore explained the reason the murderers had so persistently -insisted on their innocence, lay in the fact, that, while the blood -of their victim was still warm, they entered into a sacramental -obligation, which they sealed by dipping their fingers in the blood of -the deceased and licking the same, by which they bound themselves under -the penalty of eternal damnation never to betray the fact themselves -nor to confess, if condemned to die for it on the evidence of others, -and that they were further encouraged to such measures, since, as -Seamark himself was a confederate in the murder, they concluded the -evidence of his wife would not be admitted; that as the child was so -young, they presumed no judge or jury would pay the least regard to his -depositions; that as Butlin had but lately entered into a confederacy -with them, and no robberies could be readily proved against him, they -thought it would appear impossible for one of his age to begin a career -of wickedness with murder (it being observed in a proverb that no man -is abandoned all at once); that if they could invalidate the evidence -on behalf of Butlin it must be of equal advantage to them all; that -though disappointed of this view in court and condemned to die upon the -above evidence, they were still infatuated with the same notion even -at the gallows, and expected a reprieve for Butlin when the halter was -about his neck, and consequently, if such a reprieve had been granted, -as the evidence was as full and decisive against Butlin as against -them, the sentence for the murder must have been withdrawn from all, -their execution deferred, and perhaps transportation only their final -punishment.” - -Though listening to every word with abnormal attention, I became at the -same time aware of a strange and uncanny feeling that the identity of -the phantasm was but partly revealed to me in the corpse-like figure -opposite; what its true and entire nature might be I dared not even -hazard a conjecture. - -In the pause that followed its last speech, more to hear myself speak -than anything else (I could not endure the silence of THIS THING), I -asked if the evidence of the woman and child was clear, punctual and -particular; to which it replied, “It was as circumstantial, distinct -and methodical as possible; varying not in the least from truth in any -one particular of consequence, unless in the omission of their horrid -sacrament which she might possibly neither observe nor know.” - -I then asked why they had behaved with such impropriety, impudence and -clamour upon their trial; to which it replied, “that they had been -somewhat elevated with liquor, privately conveyed to them, and that by -effrontery and a seemingly undaunted behaviour they hoped to intimidate -the WOMAN, throw her into confusion, perplex her depositions, thereby -rendering the evidence precarious and inconclusive, or at least give -the court some favourable presumptions of their innocence.” - -I next inquired whether they knew the name of the person murdered, -whence he came, and what reasons they had for committing so horrid a -barbarity. - -To which the phantasm answered, “that the man was a perfect stranger to -them all, that the murder was committed more out of wantonness and the -force of long-contracted habits of wickedness than necessity, as they -were at that time in no want of money; that they first found occasion -to quarrel with the pedlar through a strange propensity to mischief for -which it could not account but from God’s withdrawing His grace, and -leaving them to all the extravagance and irregularities of a corrupted -heart, long hardened in the ways of sin; that the man, being stout and -undaunted, resented their ill-usage, and in his own defence proceeded -to blows; that two only--Deacon and Croxford--were at first concerned, -but finding him resolute, they had called up Seamark and Butlin, who -were at a distance behind the hedge; that they then all seized the -pedlar, notwithstanding which he struggled with great violence to the -very last against their united efforts; nor did they think it safe to -trifle any longer with a man who gave such proofs of uncommon strength; -that with much difficulty they dragged him down to Seamark’s yard and -there committed the murder as represented in court.” - -I next asked if there was any licence in his bags or pockets, that they -might discover his name or place of abode. - -It replied, “No! that the paper left behind in its (Croxford’s) -writing was of a piece with the rest of their conduct in this affair, -a hardened untruth, abounding with reflections as false, as scandalous -and wicked, suggested by the Father of Lies, who had gradually brought -them from one step of iniquity to another, beginning first in the -violation of morality, to the place of purgatory in which they now -were.” - -It further declared (a statement that interested me greatly), “That -though their bodies were unaffected with pain, their souls were in -darkness, under all the dreadful apprehensions of remaining there for -eternity, far beyond what the liveliest imagination while influenced -by the weight and grossness of matter, can conceive; that their doom -had been not a little aggravated by their final impenitence, impiety -and profaneness in adjuring God by the most horrid imprecations -to attest the truth of a palpable and notorious falsehood, and by -wishing that their own portion in Eternity might be determined in -consequence thereof. Language,” the apparition said, “was too weak to -describe and mortality incapable of conceiving a ten-thousandth part -of their anguish and despair even at present, and happy would it be -for succeeding ages if Posterity could be induced to profit by their -misfortunes and be influenced by this account to avoid the punishment -of the Earthbound.” - -All this the phantasm delivered with such increased distinction and -perspicuity, with such an emphasis and tone of voice, as plainly -evinced the truth of what it spoke and claimed my closest attention and -regard; and as it seemed to hint that I was singled out to acquaint the -world with these particulars I told it that the present age was one of -incredulity and agnosticism, that few gave credit to fables of this -kind, that the world would conclude me either a madman or impostor or -brand me with the odious imputations of superstition and enthusiasm, -that, therefore, true credentials would be necessary, not only to -preserve my own character, but also to procure respect and credit to my -relations. - -To this the phantasm instantly responded that what I observed was -perfectly right and requisite to authenticate the truth of this affair, -and that unless some proper attestations were given to accounts of this -nature, they would be considered by the rational part of mankind as -mere tales, invented only to amuse the credulous or frighten children -on a winter’s evening into temper and obedience; in short, that they -would have no weight, and disappoint the ends of Providence, who -intends them for the good and benefit of the world; that, therefore, -in order to encourage my perseverance in supporting the truth of this -appearance and embolden me to publish a minute detail of it, it would -direct me to such a criterion as would put the reality of it beyond all -dispute; and it accordingly told me that in such a spot, describing it -as minutely as possible, in the parish of Guilsborough, was deposited a -gold ring which belonged to the pedlar whom they murdered, and moreover -in the inside was engraved this singular motto: - - HANGED HE’LL BE WHO STEALS ME, 1745 - -“That on perusing it,” the apparition continued, “it (Croxford) had -been smitten with grave apprehensions, and, thinking the words ominous, -had buried the ring, hoping thus to elude the sentence denounced at -random against the unlawful possessor of it, and even escape the -vindictive justice of Heaven itself by such a precaution; that if I -found not every particular in regard to this ring exactly as it related -it to me, then I might conclude there was not a single syllable of -truth in the whole, and consequently no obligation lay upon me to take -any further concerns in the affair.” - -Engaged in this interesting and all-absorbing conversation, I suddenly -became aware it was very late--the silence throughout the house for the -first time appalled me, and I was about to make a movement towards -the door to make sure all was safe without, when the light from the -lamp once again became normal. With a startled glance I looked for the -phantasm--it was gone; nor was there any other means by which it could -have taken its departure save by dematerialisation. - -Bitterly disappointed, my fears being now entirely removed, at so -abrupt a disappearance, I sat down very calmly, and in the coolest -manner canvassed over the whole matter to myself, reflected seriously -on every particular, and was induced to conclude from the coherence and -punctuality of the account that it was impossible it should be fiction -or imposture. I laid particular stress upon the circumstance of the -ring, the singularity of its motto, and the minute description of the -spot where it was deposited. - -I considered, moreover, from the tests I had made by shutting my eyes -and pressing the balls with my forefinger, that I had been perfectly -awake, had had the full use both of my senses and reason, and was as -capable of knowing the figure and voice of a man as the size and print -of the book I was reading at the time the ghost made its appearance. - -In short, firmly persuaded of the truth of what I had heard and seen, I -resolved on the morrow to search for the ring, and thereby clear it up -beyond all possibility of doubt. - -Accordingly on Monday morning early, between four and five o’clock, I -set out alone, making directly to the spot the phantasm had described; -found the ring without the least difficulty or delay; examined the -motto and date of it, which corresponded exactly with his account of -it, and fully convinced me of my obligation to communicate to the world -the particulars of the whole. - -With this resolution, immediately on my return I sat down and drew up -the whole conversation as near as I could recollect, neither omitting -nor adding any circumstance of consequence in the manner you now see -it, and trusting it will prove of use to the public for whose benefit -it seems intended. - -The original manuscript, to which the author appends his name, -concludes with a very fervid exhortation to piety, coupled with an -equally strong warning against indulgence in vice and crime. - -The story of the ghost, judging by the interest that is even now (1908) -taken in it, must have created a considerable sensation at the time--so -much so that I think a brief history of the crime--gruesome though it -be--will bear repeating. - -Prior to doing so, however, I should like to relate a ghostly -experience that happened to me, Elliott O’Donnell, in the same -neighbourhood, August 1904. - -The village of Guilsborough is on an eminence 10 miles N.W. by N. of -Northampton, 4 miles from the source of the Avon at Naseby, 10 miles -N.E. from Daventry, 11 miles from Lutterworth, 10 miles S.S.W. from -Market Harboro’, 12 miles E. from Rugby, and 76 miles from London. - -The adjacent country, consisting of large stretches of smiling meadows, -dales, and table-lands, is very fair for the eye to dwell upon, and it -is only at night, when the shadows from the many spinneys are cast upon -the gleaming roads and silent tarns, or when the wind, rustling through -the elms and oaks, sound like the breaking and falling of surf on the -seashore--it is only then that the place presents an entirely different -aspect to the psychic mind and one conjures up--GHOSTS. - -During the period of my early visits to Guilsborough, the history of -the village was unknown to me, nor did I for one moment associate it -with superphysical manifestations till I was staying at the hamlet of -Creaton, some three miles distant, and had to tramp home late at night. - -I must confess, then, that I was unquestionably glad to leave the -crossroads at the top of Crow Hill and the lonely turnpike behind and -find myself snugly ensconced within the very material precincts of the -Cricketers’ Arms. - -The route I took, led me past the long-disused burial-ground of some -Nonconformist Fraternity, a spot one never seemed to notice by day, but -which struck me as singularly eerie at night. - -On this particular night in question, I did not leave my friend’s house -in Guilsborough till close on twelve, an hour when all village folk -are in bed and the place is wrapped in the most profound silence. The -sound of my footsteps, as I briskly pounded down the road, echoed -and re-echoed through the village. I welcomed the sound; it was nice -to have even that for a companion. I am not as a rule nervous, I have -been too much by myself in life to be an abject coward, yet I must -confess I never anticipated the walk from Guilsborough along the lonely -turnpike-road after nightfall without an uncomfortable itching in my -back. - -I was just beginning to get that sensation when I arrived at the -rusty gates of the cemetery, and was confounded beyond measure on -seeing a curious, grotesque sort of creature climb over the iron bars -and confront me. The moonlight was so powerful that it left nothing -uncovered or concealed. - -A frightful terror laid hold of me--what--what in the NAME OF HEAVEN -could it be? - -Gazing at it with a fascination as hideous as the thing itself, I took -in every feature--the long, loose limbs, the thin body, the huge hands -and feet, the little repulsive head, the white fulsome, pig-like face, -and the protruding, sapphire eyes. - -For some seconds--to me an eternity--we watched one another in -breathless silence--the Elemental (for as such I at length recognised -it) being the first to take the initiative. The unfathomable stare -in its eyes gradually deepened into a horrible and very unmistakable -expression of malignant joy in which all the most undesirable of -human vices seemed blended: its monstrous hands rose like wings on -either side of its head, the fingers twitching convulsively in greedy -anticipation of clutching me; its legs slowly crouched as if about to -spring--and then--just as the crucial moment arrived and the acme of -my terrors was reached--the spell was broken--the leaden weights fell -from off my feet--my limbs became endowed with a thousandfold their -natural elasticity--and--turning round--I fled. - -So ended my first and only experience with a Guilsborough ghost. I have -taken very good care since then to give that burial-ground a very wide -berth after nightfall. But now comes the most extraordinary part of -it. I had heard off-and-on that a certain house in the village (since -pulled down) was supposed to be haunted; that one bedroom in particular -had struck those occupying it as containing an invisible “presence” -both inimical and horrible. - -I never, however, associated this mysterious something with the -Elemental I had seen, till, in the course of a conversation with an -old and highly respected inhabitant of the village a few days since -(August 10, 1908), I learned that he had had a psychical adventure of a -somewhat extraordinary nature in his boyhood. - -Upon pressing him, he told me that he had lived in the haunted house as -a child, and on running upstairs to his bedroom one morning had seen -a long, thin human form with a tiny head and animal’s face crouching -on the bed and staring at him. Terrified out of his wits by this -unexpected and startling spectacle, he had remained glued to the spot -for some seconds, until a slight movement on the part of the Elemental -broke the spell, and he was able to “bolt” precipitately from the -apartment: this was the only time he saw it. - -Here then surely was the key to the nature of the haunting--an Elemental -or Poltergeist, assuredly the same that had appeared to me some fifty -years later at the gate of the old burial-ground. - -My informant, by the way, had not heard of my experience; I had told -it to no one: hence this visual occult manifestation of mine in -Guilsborough stands corroborated. - -But why this haunting? Why this form of apparition? - -I dived into the history of Guilsborough, and discovered that -quantities of fossils (trilobites, &c.), together with implements of -flint--_i.e._, arrow-heads, javelins, celts (the latter popularly known -as “thunderbolts”) have been and are still found in various parts of -the village and in the gravel-pits of the adjoining hamlets of Nortorft -and Hollowell; that tumuli yet remain in Guilsborough Park and in -several of the neighbouring fields, and that numbers of very ancient -bones have been from time to time dug out of the soil in all parts of -the village. - -All this is conclusive evidence that Guilsborough is far older than its -average inhabitant of to-day imagines, that it has been alternately the -site of Palaeolithic and Neolithic settlements, and that all sorts of -barbaric rites and ceremonies have been conducted on the very ground -where houses and cottages now stand. - -Hence it is not very surprising to any one at all versed in the _modus -operandi_ of Phantasms and Psychic Phenomena to hear that one of the -apparitions (at least) haunting Guilsborough appears in the form of a -sub-human or sub-animal elemental. - -Superphysical manifestations of this kind--let me explain for the -benefit of the inexperienced--usually occur on the sites of or near -ancient and unconsecrated or long-disused burial-places--the whys and -the wherefores of which I hope to dwell upon in detail in a subsequent -volume. - - -PART II - - I now append the account of the Croxford Trial copied (with as - few alterations as possible) from the pamphlet reprinted by - Mr. Henson of Northampton in 1848 - -At the Assizes held at Northampton on Thursday, August 2, 1764, came on -before the Right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron Varker the trials of -Benjamin Deacon, John Croxford, and Richard Butlin for the murder of a -travelling pedlar--known only as Scottie--at a house of ill-fame called -“Catslo”--in the Parish of Guilsborough, kept by one Thomas Seamark -(who was executed at Northampton on April 23 last for a robbery on the -highway) and had been a receptacle of thieves and highwaymen for some -time. - -The chief evidence against them was that of Anne Seamark, widow of the -above Thomas Seamark. She deposed that sometime between Michaelmas and -Christmas last the said pedlar (supposed to be one Thomas Corey) came -to the said house where were at that time the said Seamark, Deacon, -Croxford, and Butlin to whom he offered stockings, &c., for sale, but -not agreeing as to the price, they proposed to murder him and directly -Seamark knocked him down, Butlin fell upon his legs, Deacon upon his -face to prevent him crying out and Croxford, pulling out a knife, cut -his throat in such a manner that the head was almost off, but the body -stirring a little, Croxford stabbed him in the head which put an end to -his life. - -They then stripped him and carried the clothes upstairs where Seamark’s -three children were in bed; after which a hole was dug by Seamark -in the close adjoining to the house where they buried the body; but -thinking themselves not safe, they dug up the body again and cut it -into several pieces. - -These latter they put into an oven and were three days and nights -trying to consume them; in the end succeeding only with the flesh and -having to bury the bones which were now produced in court and held as -testimony against them. - -Being asked by the judge why she did not reveal the same before, Mrs. -Seamark answered that her husband threatened to murder her if she -mentioned it to anyone, whilst Croxford holding a knife to her throat -with one hand and having a book in the other, swore he would instantly -kill her if she did not take an oath to conceal all knowledge of the -matter. - -The next witness for the prosecution, Mrs. Seamark’s little boy of -ten years of age, stated that on being kicked one day at school by -a playmate, he had in a passion cried out that he would serve him as -his daddy served “Scottie,” which statement being overheard by the -schoolmaster, the latter called him into his presence and demanded an -explanation. - -On the witness refusing to comply, he was shut in a room by himself -where he remained till the arrival of his mother. - -In the meantime the Schoolmaster, who like everyone else in -Guilsborough, had only known the Pedlar by the name of “Scottie,” and -like other folk had wondered at his long absence from the village, -seeing that many people owed him money and others were in want of -goods, began to put two and two together and had arrived at the -conclusion that the boy knew more than he dare tell, when Mrs. Seamark -entered the house in a state of breathless alarm to know why her son -had not “turned up” for his dinner. Whereupon the Schoolmaster had -boldly taxed her with a knowledge of Scottie’s fate which after no -little hesitation and a great many tears she had admitted. - -This had led to the present witness confessing, that chancing to peep -through the cracks of the chamber floor one afternoon, he had seen -his father and some other men trying to burn some hands and feet in -an oven, near to which were a light grey coat and a cane which he -recognised as belonging to “Scottie” who had been to their house the -day before. On being asked by the Judge if he could identify the -prisoners with the men he had seen helping his father, he at once -answered in the affirmative. - -This concluded his testimony after which several other witnesses (whose -evidence I cannot record here through lack of space) were then called; -Croxford, Deacon and Butlin protesting their innocence of the crime -laid against them, declaring that the whole case had been maliciously -trumped up by Mrs. Seamark and her son. - -After the evidence on both sides had been thoroughly examined, the -judge summed up, and the jury after a quarter of an hour’s absence -returned with a verdict of wilful murder; a demonstration being made by -the prisoners against Ann Seamark as she left the Court. - -On Saturday August 4th, the prisoners were carried from the jail to -the place of execution, guarded by a party of Sir Charles Howard’s -Dragoons with fixed bayonets and muskets loaded with powder and ball, -where they joined fervently in the prayers with the minister, Croxford -delivering a paper to one of the attendant gaolers, which he desired -might be published for the satisfaction of the world. This document is -too long to quote _ad verbum_; a brief summary will suffice. In it John -Croxford says that he is about twenty-three years of age and by trade -a tailor, that he was born at Brixworth of creditable parents who gave -him a liberal education, and that his character and behaviour were very -good until about January 1760, when he got into bad company, which had -proved his ruin--this much he confessed, but denied that he had been -guilty of murder. - -Benjamin Deacon writes that he was born at Spratton, is about -twenty-five years of age, and by trade a sawyer; that he bore a -tolerably good character until about Christmas last, when he committed -various crimes, but not murder. - -Richard Butlin testifies that he was born of respectable parents at -Guilsborough, had a good education, is about twenty years of age, and -by trade a glover and breeches maker, that he has always borne a good -character and is innocent of murder. - -The manuscript goes on to say that they--the said John Croxford, Benj. -Deacon and Richard Butlin--were to die the next day, being condemned on -the false oath of Ann Seamark, the vilest wretch that ever appeared -in a Court of Justice, and that there was not one word of truth in -her evidence and that of her boy, it being a hellish and malicious -contrivance of their’s to take away their lives, that Croxford was -never with Butlin until Guilsborough Feast, which was about the 25th of -October, and never was in the Close with Butlin and Deacon but once, -and that about the 15th of November, and never in the house with them; -and that in their opinion no murder had been committed. - -That they did not doubt but the whole affair would be brought to light, -though too late to be of any service to them; and that they hoped Ann -Seamark would be rewarded according to her deserts, that they would die -in peace with her and with all the world, bearing her no malice, only -hoping the great God would make known their innocence. - -The document winds up with these words: “Done in Northampton Gaol, the -night before the execution, as a caution to all good people. We, the -poor unhappy sufferers, do severally set our hands to this, it being -nothing but Truth, - - “JOHN CROXFORD. - “BENJ. DEACON. - “RICHARD BUTLIN.” - - -At the place of execution they behaved with great fortitude, still -denying their knowledge of the murder, but confessing themselves guilty -of many irregularities. They gave much attention to the Divine Service, -and departed, advising all the spectators to beware of keeping bad -company and declaring that they died in peace with the world. - -After their execution the body of Croxford was carried to Hollowell -Heath, in the parish of Guilsborough, where it was hanged in chains -on a gibbet erected for that purpose, the bodies of Deacon and Butlin -being delivered to a surgeon to be dissected. - -This concludes the history of the Guilsborough murder, posterity -concurring with the verdict of the jury and agreeing that there were -sensible and useful grounds for the appearance of the Phantasm of the -perjured Croxford to the Chaplain of the Northampton Jail. - - - - -WOLSEY ABBEY, NEAR GLOUCESTER - -THE DREADFUL SMELL - - Technical form of apparitions: Phantasms of the dead - - Source of authenticity: Copies almost _ad verbum_ from the MS. - lent me by Mrs. Browne, February 1908. - - Cause of haunting: Vice and Premature Burial - - -My name is Elizabeth Rita Browne; I am a native of Birmingham and -my husband, John Alexander is the rector of a small parish near -Wolverhampton. - -In the summer of 1900 my husband, who had long been ailing, never -having properly recovered from an attack of typhoid, was obliged to -take a holiday, engaging a locum to do his work. - -Like the majority of clergymen, his stipend was not very large and -we could not, consequently, afford to go to any expensive place. An -advertisement in a well-known fashion gazette attracting our attention, -we at once made inquiries, with the result that Wolsey Abbey became -ours for three months at a practically nominal rent. - -Of course it was in an extremely out-of-the-way spot; there was no -railway within six miles and the neighbourhood was dull, flat and -uninteresting; still we might have marvelled at getting it so absurdly -cheap, had we not heard that money was of no object to the owner, who -was a semi-millionaire. - -We arrived early one evening in July; the sun was yet visible in the -sky and its dying efforts would have enhanced the meanest rural beauty. - -I cannot say we were comfortably impressed with the building; it was of -course simply colossal compared with our own little home, but so grim -and grey, so forlorn and forbidding, and withal so inhospitable, that -a momentary fear seized me lest its leaden hued and crumbling walls -should prove our winding-sheets. - -The grounds, overgrown with every imaginable kind of weed that here -attained Brobdingnagian dimensions, gently shelved down to the house, -which lay in a minute valley, dank, damp and dismal; the funereal -aspect being further augmented by clumps of giant pines and elms, the -shadows from which were already beginning to wave phantastically on -both walls and gables. - -To our right, almost hidden by the thick foliage of the trees and -luxuriant herbage, we espied the twinkling surface of a sheet of water -which we subsequently learned was a tarn or lake of almost unfathomable -depth and darkness. - -The principal feature of the mansion seemed to be that of antiquity, of -excessive antiquity, more particularly the Gothic monastic dome which, -resting on Norman columns, formed the termination of the left wing, the -right and central portion of the house dating back I believe to Henry -VIIth’s reign--though of this I have no positive proof. - -The lapse of ages had wrought much discolouration, added to which was -the disfigurement caused by lichens and minute fungi that, spreading -over the whole exterior, hung in a fine tangled web-work from the -eaves. But apart from this there were no very great dilapidations, the -masonry remaining intact, whilst the woodwork, save for a few deep -rents and indentures, seemed to be in an extraordinarily good state of -repair. - -The hand of nature had apparently been peremptorily and mysteriously -arrested in its work of dissolution and decay. - -The inside of the house, though not belying the mournful expectations -we had formed from the exterior, drew from us all exclamations of -wonder and admiration--never had we seen such magnificent oak panelling, -nor such exquisitely carved ceilings, nor such vast stretches of -tapestry (worn and faded though it was), whilst the ebon blackness of -the floors, and the size and massiveness of the furniture, were what we -had hitherto only associated with the grandeur of a palace or castle. - -My daughters Mary and Eunice were charmed and impressed, and both my -husband and I felt our misgivings rapidly diminish when a few minutes -later we were enjoying a dainty and well-cooked supper in one of the -large and stately reception rooms. - -The first days of our sojourn there passed with the pleasant monotony -of well-earned rest; we rambled through the long and straggling and -seemingly interminable corridors of the house, and about the grounds -and gardens, finding much to marvel at, much to envy. - -In the day time the sun struggling feebly through the trellised panes -of glass filled the rooms and passages with a crimson glow--a glow both -warming and enriching, but at various times and in certain places -startlingly and horribly suggestive of blood; the analogy struck me the -more forcibly each day I observed it, so much so that I grew afraid to -ascend the staircases--ALONE. - -Mary and Eunice laughed at my misgivings; to them the house and -surroundings were the quintessence of mediæval splendour and romance; -they revelled in the grandeur of the interior trappings, in the freedom -of the vast park and gardens; it was only after the third week that -they, too, suddenly grew AFRAID. - -But whereas my fears had been prompted by a comparison, a comparison -which, however near and repellent, still remained a COMPARISON, theirs -were generated by something which, although scarcely more tangible, was -unmistakably REAL. - -They were constantly assailed by a SMELL--a cold, icy cold, pungent, -beastly smell, that would on some occasions approach them along a -corridor or staircase, and at others steal surreptitiously behind them -from some obscure nook or cranny. - -It was foul, pestilential, inexplicable; they had never smelt anything -like it before; it was nothing recognisable; it neither emanated from -drainage nor from dead animals behind the skirting-boards; it was -nauseous, suffocating, freezing--and--as if it lived--it MOVED. - -From the moment they first became aware of its presence, their pleasure -in the house ceased; all their time was now spent in the garden, but -in that part of the garden only whence no view of the tarn could be -obtained and where there were no trees. - -Neither my husband nor I had encountered the Smell, but it was not -very long before the servants did--and--one by one they LEFT, nor could -we find any that were willing to take their place, the Abbey bearing a -very evil reputation in the neighbourhood. - -The question of our daughters’ health began to cause us some anxiety; -were we doing right in remaining in the house and exposing them to the -danger of some serious malady? for although the origin of the Smell was -a mystery, the effect of so horrible a stench could not prove otherwise -than injurious. - -We decided, therefore, to give up our tenancy at the expiration of -another week, the idea of quitting such palatial quarters and retiring -to the meanness of some petty villa or four-room cottage not disturbing -us half so much as our inability to arrive at the cause of that Smell. - -In the silence of the night, when no other sounds were to be heard, -save the gentle beating of the branches against our window and the -occasional hooting of an owl, we lay awake and wondered, wondered why -it never came to us, but always to Mary and Eunice. - -The house, I have said, was liberally furnished; both rooms and -passages were covered with soft if somewhat faded carpets; there was -no lack of tables, couches, chairs, &c., whilst the walls were adorned -with pictures which, though darkened by dust and blistered by the sun, -revealed the art of old and well-known masters; but it was the library -that attracted and pleased us most. - -There arranged methodically in the ample bookcases were volumes of -every description; books of ancient lore, _Spectators_, _Tatlers_, -Richardson’s “Pamela,” Defoe’s “Moll of Flanders,” Tyndale’s Bible, -Dryden’s and Gifford’s Translations from the Classics, the Mysticisms -of Swedenborg, Behmen and Plotinus and countless others, many, even -of greater rarity and value, bound uniformly in those covers of rich -Moroccan leather so characteristic of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries. - -One among all others had riveted our attention from the very first. I -have already alluded to the peculiar and ghastly phenomenon produced -by the sun’s rays penetrating the coloured glass in the corridors -and on the staircases; here it was even more pronounced though only -very locally, the full force of the rays being focussed in the most -startling manner on the metal clasp of a volume of stupendous size -and apparently vast antiquity; the result being that whereas the -entire book was bathed in a bloody halo, the others were left in a -comparatively clear and normal light. - -Appalled yet fascinated by this unaccountable anomaly, we had several -times attempted to remove the volume in order to pry into its contents -but we were unable to do so, owing, we imagined, to its having stuck or -being fastened in some peculiar manner to the shelf--and we were afraid -to use any great force for fear of damaging the cover; consequently our -curiosity had to remain unsatisfied. - -The night, however, preceding our departure from the Abbey (August -11) my husband had already left by a mid-day train, I was whiling -away the few remaining hours in the study--Mary and Eunice being as I -thought, engaged in packing--when--suddenly--I heard some one approach -the door as if on tiptoe. The next moment there came a loud knock and -the sonorous sound of the grandfather clock in the alcove beside me -commencing to strike seven, the two noises were almost simultaneous. - -Wondering who my visitor could be--our only servant, a woman from the -nearest village, having left an hour ago--I smoothed my gown and walking -hastily to the door threw it open. - -As I did so a current of cold air, tainted with the most disgusting -and detestable stench conceivable, sent me half staggering, half -choking backwards, and I perceived standing on the threshold, not ten -paces from me two figures of hellish horror. Featureless, fleshless, -foul, clad in the tattered, rotted garments of a monk and nun, they -confronted me motionless, silent, and then the voice of my Eunice -attracting their attention, they slowly wheeled round and glided -ghoulishly along the passage. - -I gave one shriek of warning to Eunice as she hove in sight, carrying -in her arms a tray of odds and ends for me to sort. - -For a second or so she stood too petrified to move--and--then--as -the THINGS appeared on the verge of touching her with their long, -outstretched arms, she dropped the tray and, uttering a kind of -terrified gasp, fled precipitately. - -They did not pursue her, but gliding onward with the same mechanical -movements, suddenly vanished on reaching the wall at the end of the -corridor; nor did we, I am thankful to say see them again. - -The SMELL had explained itself. - -Anxious to get to Eunice and fearsome lest she should have fainted, I -was about to quit the study, when my eyes were attracted to an object -on the floor. It was the mysterious volume which, loosened from the -shelf in some miraculous fashion, had fallen to the ground, and now lay -open, its ponderous, gilded clasps undone and limp. - -The fading sunlight concentrating its rays on the pages of the -book in a final and prodigiously bloody effort, enabled me to read -the following extract: “and for this great and unpardonable sin of -the Abbess Hilda and the Monk Nicholas, we--the Saintly and Beloved -Abbot Matthew, the learned Franciscan brother Raymond, the laymen and -labourers, Barber and Brooks together with I, Sir John Hickson Leigh, -Knight did entomb them alive, clasped in each other’s arms, cursing man -and blaspheming heaven, on the eve of the 11th day of August, 1521. -And of the exact spot in the Abbey of Wolsey wherein they be buried, -no man--save we who placed them there--knoweth, nor shall any discover -the same until the day cometh when the secrets of all flesh shall be -revealed.” - -This much I read and no more for the light proving too strong for me, I -was compelled to remove my gaze and when I opened my eyes and saw again -the volume it had gone, and lo! to my intense and unfeigned amazement -it was back again in its customary place on the shelf, nor could the -united efforts of myself and daughters remove it from that spot. - -Regarding this extraordinary incident, as the only feasible explanation -of the phenomena Eunice and I had seen, we could arrive at no other -conclusion than that the house (once Wolsey Abbey) was haunted by the -phantasms of the Abbess Hilda and the Monk Nicholas; and with such an -explanation we have had to be content. - - - - -NO. XYZ EUSTON ROAD - -THE LITTLE OLD WOMAN IN THE HELIOTROPE SKIRT - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead - - Source of authenticity: Personal experience of author - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - -Of all the most annoying things in this world few are more so than -missing one’s train, especially when it happens to be the last in the -day. - -This unpleasant experience happened to me one evening early -in September 1895. I came into Euston just as the 7 P.M. for -Northampton--the last train connected with Brixworth--was steaming out -of the station--and so, willy-nilly, I had to remain in town all night. - -“Where to put up,” now became the absorbing question. I wanted to be -close to the station in order to catch the earliest morning train, but, -although there were plenty of rich men’s hotels, there seemed a sore -dearth of “go-betweens;” it was either five shillings the night or -sixpence; Purgatory or Hell: I could see no place that suited ME. - -At last after traversing many squares and the more respectable of the -side streets, I retraced my steps, eventually alighting on a private -and inconsequential looking hotel in Euston Road. - -The interior of the establishment was in keeping with the -exterior--gloomy and forbidding, and the damp, earthy smell that seemed -to rise from the basement made me gravely apprehensive of rheumatism; -still the tariff was in strict accordance with my means, and feeling -too tired to wander further, I decided to remain. - -The room in which I had a very sparse supper was like the majority -of dining-rooms in middle-class hotels: overcrowded with unwieldy -furniture, frowsy, ill-ventilated; imagine that the table had been -laid once and for all (it had undoubtedly presented the same spectacle -for months), and that the cloth, never very white, was removed, only, -when it grew too begrimed even for the blunted susceptibilities of the -proprietress. I afterwards found that the beef did not belie its looks, -that the bread was in excellent accord, and that the water might well -have been the receptacle of innumerable generations of bacilli. - -There were other visitors besides myself, either Germans or commercial -travellers, probably both; but as their conversation carried on -over plates of half raw meat, was neither particularly edifying nor -interesting, I preferred an antique number of _Vanity Fair_ until, at -length, tiring of that, I picked up a candlestick and made my way to -bed. - -The moment I crossed the threshold of my room, that peculiar and -indefinable sensation that invariably suggests the immediate proximity -of the superphysical came over me, I felt sure the house was haunted. -But by what? Ah! that was the problem left for ME to solve. - -The furniture of the room was of the orthodox lodging-house -type--inartistic, scant and seedy; a gaunt four-poster propped against -the middle of the wall running at right angles to the door was -adorned with exceedingly dirty valances of a nondescript pink and -white pattern; facing this was a fireplace the register of which was -of course down; to the left of this was a hanging wardrobe that I at -once examined and found to contain nothing more formidable than a -score or two of black-beetles that scuttled unceremoniously away into -holes at the sight of my candle; whilst on the opposite side of the -room, facing the window, was a rickety dressing-table surmounted by -a still more rickety looking-glass. In one corner of the room stood -a washing-stand from which the white paint had peeled in a hundred -places, and in the other corner a dismantled bureau that resembled some -vessel after a great storm. These, I believe, apart from a couple of -cane-bottomed chairs, constituted the entire furniture, nor can I say -this scantiness, taking into consideration the poorness of the quality, -was any matter of regret. - -The carpet, undoubtedly the best feature of the room, and either an -Axminster or a Brussels--not being an expert on such a point I cannot -tell which--hid all the boarding save where the margins were stained -with a preparation of potash. - -I give all these details to show that several years of practical -investigation of haunted houses had developed my inquiring faculties to -a very high degree, little, if anything, escaping my notice. - -The _raison d’être_ of ghosts often lies where it is least expected; in -some article of furniture, not infrequently a cupboard near at hand, in -the panelling, the skirting, or, not infrequently again, on or under -the boards. - -When I am in a haunted room, my first instinct, therefore, is to take a -very careful stock of my surroundings; the bare appearance or touch of -a piece of furniture often supplying me with the necessary clue. - -On this occasion, however, nothing arousing my suspicions and feeling -abnormally sleepy, I bolted my door and lay on the bed; I say “on,” -not “in,” as a cursory glance at the pillow made me draw deductions as -to the sheets. Within a few minutes I went to sleep, falling into a -heavy, dreamless slumber from which I was suddenly and most alarmingly -awakened by the feeling I was no longer alone in the room. - -Opening my eyes, I perceived the apartment flooded with a bright -unnatural light that apparently emanated from, or at all events -accompanied, the figure of a little old woman with yellow hair and a -heliotrope skirt. I noticed these idiosyncrasies of person and dress -directly, the nature of the light accentuating them, and my senses -being, as they always are in the presence of superphysical phenomena, -wonderfully and painfully acute. - -Standing in front of the dressing-table, the eccentric individual -was examining herself with the greatest curiosity in the crazy -looking-glass to which allusion has already been made. - -Her profile was angular, her lack of colour ghastly, whilst from her -ears hung that style of drop-earring worn by ladies in the days of the -crinoline; otherwise her costume might have belonged to the latter -seventies or early eighties. There was nothing actually HORRIBLE about -her, save her reflection, and as my eyes turned with irresistible -fascination towards the looking-glass, my blood turned to ice. The -surface of the mirror, made preternaturally bright, flashed back the -most hideous, the most incomparably HIDEOUS image of Fear. - -Never! never in all my life had I seen depicted in aught but Wiertz’s -pictures such inconceivably awful terror as that which confronted me -there--and now as I gazed at it, a sickly curiosity seized me as to what -could be the origin of such Hellish Fear. Was it Fear of Death; of the -Unknown metetherical Abysses; of Eternal Damnation; of what? - -Then--as I followed the direction of the dilating pupils--I saw--God -help me--the Cause! Descending from a few inches above her head were -the snake-like coils of a rope. Had I been able to turn my head, maybe -I should have seen whence they came; but I could not move a muscle, -and could only feel the keynote to some great and hitherto unsolvable -mystery was at hand but purposely hidden from me. - -There was scant time for speculation. The enactment of this drama was -brief as it was lurid; uttering an appalling scream that was quickly -converted into a gurgle of the most blood-curdling significance, the -old lady clawed the air with her spidery fingers. - -The murderer was pitiless, the noose coming to with an irresistible -snap, jerked the wretched victim off her feet. - -For one instant--the most harrowing of all--I watched her falling -backwards; watched the changing of her deadly pallor into a deep -and vivid purple, watched the rolling of her starting eyeballs, the -foam-flakes on her lips, and the frenzied movements of her stiffening -arms and then--THEN--as she struck the ground with a reverberating -crash--all was darkness. The ghostly tragedy for this night at least was -over. - -This I realised, but my nerves being too completely unstrung by what I -had witnessed to allow me to sleep, I crept under the counterpane and -lay there shivering till the welcome rays of early dawn converted the -room into another place. My first movement was to examine the scene of -the ghostly murder, and upon turning up the carpet, I discovered not a -bloodstain, but a comparatively new piece of boarding! - -With that, drawing my own conclusions, I had to rest content--there was -nothing else in the room that could in any way have been transmuted -into evidence. - -The moment the clock struck six I picked up my valise, and gobbling -down a lukewarm breakfast with little relish, quitted the house, -determining to pay it another visit before very long. - -In this, however, I was doomed to disappointment. Some months elapsed -before I could again visit the neighbourhood of Euston, and when I did -so, I found the hotel had vanished nor have I to this day been able to -identify the house wherein I slept. - -I have but lately been informed that a good many years ago (when we -middle-aged fogies were mere children) a singularly repulsive murder -was committed at a house in or near Euston Road, the victim being -a somewhat extraordinary old lady. Further details I do not know, -therefore I can only surmise that what I saw may possibly have been HER -phantasm--but please remember, it is ONLY a surmise. - - - - -PANMAUR HOLLOW MERIONETH - -THE BLACK PEDLAR - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead - - Source of authenticity: “Ladies’ Cabinet,” 1835, and elsewhere - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - -The “Ladies Cabinet” for 1835 contains an account of a haunting in -Merioneth that seems to me of sufficient psychic interest to record. - -Hence I append it; but since the original text is a trifle too -intricate in places, I have taken the liberty to tell the story more or -less in my own words: - -“In the summer of 1832 I was on a walking tour in Wales; in selecting, -as the principal scene of my operations, Merioneth, and chancing one -evening to be overtaken by a storm, when midway between Dolgelly and -Bala, I was speedily placed in the most unpleasant of predicaments. To -go on I was afraid, to turn back was impossible; what could I do? The -night was dark, the rain almost tropical, and the roadway so broken up -with furrows that I could only grope along with the utmost difficulty; -whilst the frequent windings, steep ascents, and sharp declivities not -only added to my embarrassment, but greatly increased my weariness. At -every few yards I either plunged into a miniature morass or, stumbling -over a boulder, found myself smarting in the centre of a gorse bush. - -“At length I grew desperate--human nature could stand it no longer--and -resolving to perish with the cold rather than flounder on under such -pitiable conditions, I threw myself down on a rock and prepared to lie -there till daybreak. - -“It is possible I had remained in this position for ten or so minutes, -when I was roused to a sense of deliverance by the bright glow of a -lamp, and starting up to my feet, I discovered I was no longer alone. -Confronting me was the figure of a short man, wrapped in a shaggy -great-coat, and wearing a slouched hat. He was holding a lantern in -his hand. By a series of pantomimic gestures he assured me that his -intentions were amicable, and that he was anxious to guide me to some -place of shelter where I should have a more comfortable pallet than a -bare rock. - -“I accepted his offer, though not without some misgivings, as I could -not remember ever having met with any one quite so uncouth or bizarre. - -“Turning abruptly to the right he struck across a wide moor covered -with gorse and innumerable boulders, and so studded with pools of water -that I seemed to be in a perpetual state of wading. Emerging from this, -we wended our way along the side of a precipice, at the bottom of which -roared one of those mountain torrents so characteristic of all parts of -Wales. - -“Beckoning to me to follow, my guide mysteriously disappeared, and -peering over the edge of the chasm, I perceived him, to my amazement, -making his descent by an almost invisible and perpendicular pathway. -For a second or so I hesitated, and then, making up my mind to brave -anything rather than remain by myself in such an unfamiliar and -dangerous neighbourhood, I gingerly lowered myself over the brink, and, -after a few tumbles, succeeded in overtaking him just as he arrived at -the bottom. - -“We now found ourselves in a valley of stygian darkness, and of such -restricted dimensions that the spray from the river bathed me from head -to foot. My companion pressed resolutely on, and, maintaining the same -extraordinary and uncanny silence, conducted me to a recess in the -hillside where the outlines of a bare, dismantled house gradually arose -to greet us. It was merely a pile of ruins, old, yet naked, without -any of those evidences of vegetation one usually associates with the -antique. I particularly noticed this deficiency; it impressed and -perplexed me. If moss and lichens grew elsewhere--why not here? - -“The situation of the house was strikingly romantic and weird--indeed, -one could not well imagine a more dismal spot. A giant mass of black -rock reared itself in the background like a Brobdingnagian bat. In the -foreground, and at so close a distance that the spray blowing madly -over my face and clothes drenched me to the skin, rushed a seething -mass of sable water, whilst to accentuate all this Avernian horror, -the wind whistled demoniacally, and the rain fell with ever-increasing -fury. Turning to my guide, I impatiently requested him ‘to move on,’ -and take me with the greatest expedition to the nearest available -hostelry. - -“In reply he took off his hat, and, thrusting his monstrous head -forward, revealed to my horror-stricken gaze a shapeless, sodden mass -of black flesh! - -“The cause of his silence was now obvious--he couldn’t speak because he -had no mouth; but neither had he eyes, ears, or nose; nothing but that -awful, unmeaning, rotund protuberance. - -“I stood aghast, too terrified to stir, almost too terrified to -breathe, with the hideous Thing looming there before me, and the -booming of the river behind. It was a ghastly situation. - -“The creature advanced an inch--my blood turned to ice; it raised its -arms--my soul sickened within me; it lunged suddenly forward--and--fell -right through me. As it did so I heard a fiendish chuckle, which, dying -slowly out, gave way to a succession of blood-curdling groans that -seemed to proceed from the interior of the ruins. The figure, however, -was nowhere to be seen; it must have dematerialised on the spot. - -“Very much relieved at this, though still considerably frightened, -I was now able to use my limbs, and turning my back on the ghostly -building, I felt my way along the bank of the river. I dare not glance -at the boiling foam, the very sound of it made my flesh creep; nor did -I feel in any degree safe till a winding of the footpath brought me -to a bridge, on the opposite side of which I saw the twinkling lights -of many houses. I was now, once again, in the land of the living, -and a substantial meal by a cosy fire helped, in a good measure, to -dissipate my fears and recompense me for all the trials I had undergone. - -“Prior to leaving the inn next day I learned from my host that the -hollow was known to be haunted, and, on that account, was universally -shunned after sunset. Half a century ago the ruins--then a neat grey -cottage--had been inhabited by the Evanses, a bad, thriftless ‘lot.’ - -“At the instigation of her husband, and with the motive of robbery, -Mrs. Evans, a buxom woman--handsome in a bad bold style--had flirted -openly with a pedlar, known locally as ‘Black Dave.’ - -“This man was easily induced to put up at their house, and his -suspicions being lulled to rest by the amorous overtures of the woman, -he was surprised in his sleep and butchered. - -“Fearing, however, either to commit the body to the river or bury it in -their garden lest it should be found, and being at the time very hard -pressed for food--they improvised an oven in the earth and ate it! - -“The vengeance of Heaven was, however, close on their track; the -cottage, paid for out of their ill-gotten gains, caught fire during -a drunken carousal, and Mrs. Evans was burned to death, whilst her -husband only lingered long enough to make a full confession of the -crime. - -“The house was never rebuilt; the phantasm of Dave, in the disgusting -guise in which he appeared to me, still haunts the precincts, and, -delighting to gull unsuspecting wayfarers, leads them out of their -proper courses, guiding them with a fiendish skill to the black -ruin--the scene of his ghastly murder.” - - - - -CATCHFIELD HALL, THE MIDLANDS - -THE TERRIBLE HEADS THAT RISE THROUGH THE FLOOR - - Technical form of apparitions: Phantoms of the dead - - Source of authenticity: Accumulative hearsay evidence - - - No. -- THE TERRACE, WORCESTER. - _March 1, 1908._ - - DEAR MR. ELLIOTT O’DONNELL, - -I thought you would be interested to hear I met Mrs. Blake last -night at the Stowes, where I got out of her with no small amount -of pumping an account of “what she saw” at that notorious ball -at Catchfield some years ago. It is very horrible, too horrible, -perhaps even for such a “spook gourmand” as you. Of course all the -names I have given you are fictitious. You know there have been -several libel cases lately, in connection with haunted houses so -that one cannot be too careful. &c. &c. &c. - - Yours sincerely, - EVELYN D. O’GRADY. - - -THE STORY - -My invitation to spend the Christmas holidays with Lady Wentworth came -as a delightful surprise. - -Imagine me a poor, insignificant little schoolmistress in St. Rudolphs, -suddenly blossoming out into a much envied guest at Catchfield. Who can -blame me if I indulged in a momentary outburst of pride? - -So far my lot in life had not been all _couleur de rose_. Losing my -husband shortly after our marriage, I had been obliged to do something -for a bare living. - -My education though fair had fallen short of Girton or a degree, and I -was barely qualified to teach any but very small children. Had I but -foreseen the future, I might no doubt have done better. As it was my -position was only that of a kindergarten schoolmistress in St. Rudolphs. - -I do not think you can truly estimate a person’s disposition till -you see how they behave to those who have the misfortune to be in -subordinate positions, nor can you always tell a shoddy lady from a -real one until you have discovered how she treats her governess and -servants. Until I taught in St. Rudolphs I had no idea how thoroughly -common were the majority of its so-called aristocracy, but one term -was quite sufficient to show me that dealing with such hopelessly and -innately vulgar people would be almost more than I could bear. - -It was therefore scarcely a matter of wonder--that when Christmas drew -nigh--the Christmas after my first sojourn in St. Rudolphs--I was almost -beside myself with joy on receiving a pressing invitation to stay at -Catchfield Hall. Nothing soothes the sensitive nature of a snob more -than to call other people snobbish. The parents of my children were -of the middle class--middlish--snobs with a very big S, and should any -one need a proof of the correctness of this assertion let me point -to him the fact that whenever a moneyed person came to reside within -any get-at-able distance whatever, the people I have designated as -“snobs” made all haste to call on them; even the bishop whose object in -coming to St. Rudolphs was obviously only “to confirm,” was inundated -with invitations to dinner, and the rival claims to eligibility of -those invited to meet him, were openly discussed at afternoon tea and -bridge parties. Let me also add that their club, ludicrously labelled -“select,” boycotted one of its members for some trivial remark, true -enough, but like so many other homely truths better left unsaid, and -that these very people who had sat in judgment, themselves indulged in -the most scathingly rude remarks to those who for certain reasons were -obliged to “grin and bear it.” - -Therefore I repeat again, the parents of my children were snobs, -and being snobs would not allow any one in the humble position of a -schoolmistress to say any thing that might in any way be construed into -snobbishness. - -Depict to yourself then how indignant they were, and how I laughed up -my sleeve when I let slip, quite by mischance you understand, the fact -that I was going to spend Christmas with my near, my very near kinsman -Lord Robert Wentworth. - -A schoolmistress related to a peer! How preposterous! how absurd! how -snobbish! and they laughed at first scornfully, then incredulously--then -pityingly, and I--I humbly bowed them out of the house, and running -upstairs continued my packing. Vale St. Rudolphs! Welcome Catchfield! - -Under these circumstances you can imagine why I tell you all this--it is -to show you how more than overjoyed I was at the thought of eating my -Christmas pudding among gentlefolk. - -When I got out at Highfield--the nearest station to Catchfield--my -lord’s brougham stood in waiting. - -“They are very full up at the Hall, madam,” the coachman said, touching -his hat respectfully, “otherwise miladi would have sent one of the -motors, but they have both had to go out longish distances.” - -“Is there a house-party?” I faltered, giving one of the horses--I love -horses--a gentle pat on the head. - -“What! didn’t you know? I beg your pardon, madam,” the fellow added -suddenly, recollecting himself, “but it is the Coming of Age party of -the Hon. Walter early next week that has fetched well-nigh half the -county; you see he is the eldest son--and--well, madam, there is to be a -very big ball. I made sure madam knew all about it.” - -I shook my head despairingly, balls were not for such as I. I had -neither a dress nor yet the money wherewith to buy one. Most decidedly -I ought not to have come! I glanced at the man to see if he understood -my misgivings, apparently he did not; perhaps he would not; his manner -at all events was in no degree less deferential, and as he shut the -carriage door with the courtly air of an old gallant, I compared him -with the parents at St. Rudolphs--the comparison of course being all in -his favour. - -I will not attempt to describe the exterior of Catchfield, it has been -done so often and so well in historical romances, in biographies, and -in County Directories that any additional effort of mine would be at -once superfluous and poor. - -I arrived there late--too late for dinner--and partook of a dainty -supper laid expressly for me in the ball-room presumptive. Fancy supper -by myself in a ball-room! But there was apparently a doubt as to -which of the rooms would be used for the occasion, his lordship being -somewhat reluctant at present to allow this handsomely, I might almost -say sombrely, furnished apartment to be used for such a frivolous -purpose. - -Remembering Robert’s sanctimonious bringing up I was not in the least -surprised at his qualms, my only wonder being that he countenanced a -ball at all, but of course that was miladi’s doings. I much wished -to inquire why a solitary meal for such as I should be served in a -room of such splendid dimensions, and one that in most households -would undoubtedly have been used as a drawing-room, but I refrained, -not desiring to appear inquisitive in the eyes of the servants. Her -ladyship arrived as I was finishing my second cup of fragrant coffee, -and despite a certain languid hauteur characteristic of the nobility, -especially of the MODERN nobility, she appeared to welcome me. - -I felt this, and yet somehow I was puzzled--puzzled at an indescribable -something in her manner that was quite apart from pride--something that -left me with the decidedly unpleasant impression she was surely acting -a part, and--yet--why should she? Why should her ladyship be anything -but frank with the poor and inoffensive cousin of her husband? - -But what was it that made her eyes fall as they encountered mine, and -wander furtively round the room; and why that sudden look of fear that -crept into them as they alighted on the fireplace. - -“You wont mind sitting here till bedtime, will you?” she observed, “I -will tell Webster, my maid, to bring you your candle at eleven o’clock. -If there is anything you want, you have only to tell HER. All our -guests play bridge, and I concluded from what Robert told me you didn’t -approve of gambling, so I thought you would be happier here. We are -expecting other anti-gamblers in a few days, so your banishment will -only be temporary! You will excuse us for a time, wont you?” - -What other reply could I give but “O yes! most certainly! It is indeed -kind of you to allow me the use of such a lovely room, &c.,” and Lady -Wentworth departed from my presence with a gracious--a most patronising -and highly gracious smile. I was of course charmed and flattered, -as any poor connection by marriage should be, but I wished all the -same that Robert had also come to welcome me, I should have felt more -at ease with Robert! I liked Robert, and--well, I did not like his -beautiful and accomplished wife. Had he come only for two minutes I -should not have minded, but I was tired, I felt neglected, and I longed -for kindness. Kindness after St. Rudolphs. It was not like Robert, -we had been such friends in our youth; children together, playmates, -chums! Had money and position changed his nature? - -Money! I grew dispirited! I was poor! terribly poor! I was lonely! Oh, -so lonely! - -The room was huge, the night cold and the fire SMALL--very small. - -Drawing my chair close to it I simulated ease; I tried to feel cosy! -Cosy! - -What a barrier, an insurmountable barrier, was poverty to pleasure! -Would Robert’s wife have banished a countess? Fancy a countess -experiencing a reception such as this! A countess in a vast room empty -save for draughts and a Liliputian fire! A countess! I laughed! I was -growing common like the mediocre parents of St. Rudolphs. Vulgarity is -catching! It is both epidemic and endemic. - -Had Robert told her I disapproved of playing cards for money? Of course -not, that was a society taradiddle! He couldn’t know my scruples or he -would never have asked me to meet his wife. She, she had guessed my -poverty by my profession--all schoolmistresses are poor; every one that -teaches is poor--education must be gratis. A cold blast of air from the -chimney made me shiver. The room was indeed draughty! and how still! I -did not altogether like such stillness, it got on my nerves. And how -dark! Why were not all the gas jets lighted--why only this one? Because -I was poor; the poor should learn to be economical, and example is -better than precept! Hence this feeble flicker: a flicker that failing -to reach the further extremities of the chamber, left the corners -enveloped in shrouds of darkness--of a black impenetrable darkness I -could neither fathom nor comprehend. The furniture was superb, but it -was of too funereal a texture and colour to be pleasing to me just -then, I would have preferred something of a brighter tone. - -The floor was covered by a carpet that must assuredly have been made -expressly for that room since it stretched right up to the skirting, -concealing every particle of bare board. - -I could not see the pattern, I could only devise by the soft tread of -the carpet that it was either of Persian or Turkish manufacture. In -some places, where kissed by the moonlight, it was almost white, whilst -in other parts it was rendered black by a hotch-potch of countless -shadows lying thick upon it. - -Through the great bay windows opposite me, a magnificent panorama of -lawn, meadows and rivers, beyond which I fancied I could detect the -needle-like front of a steeple, spread itself before my eyes. All this -natural beauty lay enhanced by a thin covering of gleaming snow. It -was Christmas! The glamour of the hour and season enchanted me; past -injuries and St. Rudolphs were forgotten; I was at peace with all men. - -At peace! What wouldn’t I give if I could always be so; if these broad -acres, this noble mansion, this stately apartment were mine--mine--ALL -MINE--and the stillness of the room again oppressed me. - -Where were the many guests miladi had mentioned? Where were the sounds -of revelry? The high-pitched voices of women, the hoarser tones of men, -the indistinct murmuring of conversation such as I had sat and listened -to in days of yore; how it had hummed and buzzed around me when plunged -in pleasant reverie, it then had no more effect on my hearing than -the lapping of the gentlest waves on the seashore. There were no such -sounds now; these massive walls were a sure, impenetrable barrier to -whatever might be going on outside--this room--far from being filled -with giddy babblers--was empty, distractedly, painfully EMPTY, empty -save for the dancing moonbeams and the moving shadows. - -But was it empty? My heart gave a violent, sickly throb as I -recollected the look of disquietude, of grave, of indisputably grave -apprehension in miladi’s eyes as she peered around! Of what had she -been afraid--of the approaching twilight, of the shadows, of the gloom; -and as I cast a terrified glance ahead of me I fancied--foolish fancy! -that those palls of darkness I have already mentioned had come out -further from the nooks and crannies and were fast approaching me. - -Those of us who have ever ridden on horseback by night across some -dreary wilderness, or along a lonely road have doubtless had occasion -to observe a strange alteration in the behaviour of our beast; its -psychic propensities have been suddenly and mysteriously awakened; it -fights shy of some particular tree, or stone, or gap in the hedge; its -ears twitch, its flanks quiver, it is all on the tremble, the slightest -sound would now make it take the bit between its teeth and bolt; it is -afraid not necessarily of what it has seen, but what it fears may be -there! And--to an anomalous species of terror I found myself a bounden -slave. - -I dreaded to think of the effect even the most trivial sound or -incident might now produce on my agitated mind. Had I been able, I -would have risked the displeasure of my hostess and left the room, but -I COULD NOT; every atom of strength seemed to have quitted my body--I -was _pro tempore_ cataleptic--PARALYSED. - -A faint and almost imperceptible movement suddenly attracted my -attention to a square patch of light on the carpet immediately before -me. - -To my horror something was coming THROUGH the floor. Slowly, very -slowly, first of all a head, a head surmounted with long dishevelled -black hair, then a FACE! God save me from seeing the like again--a -face that might have once been beautiful, or plain, or ugly, but was -now--NOTHING--nothing--I won’t describe--nothing but the GRAVE; then -shoulders, bust, what was once a body, legs. Held in its arms in close -embrace--was the figure of a baby--in a like state of nudity and decay. - -For a moment, only for a moment, they stood swaying silently to and fro -in the moonlight, and then with a snakelike movement of her body the -phantom of the woman glided across the room, vanishing in the recess -containing the large bay window. - -After the subsidation of intense terror at this hideous spectacle I -had been compelled to witness, the pulsating of my heart once again -becoming normal, I was able to reflect with comparative calmness on -what I had seen. - -I say with comparative calmness, for a strong suspicion now entered -my mind that Lady Wentworth may have anticipated all along what would -happen, and that I had been put in that room as a mere experiment to -see whether it were still haunted. The bare idea of such perfidy filled -me with so great an indignation that I seriously thought of trumping up -some excuse and returning home; my resolutions being shattered only by -the opportune arrival of Cousin Robert, whose cordial welcome acting -like a stimulant made me decide to remain. - -With a thoughtfulness that had singled him out from among his -companions as a boy, he noticed my weariness, and putting it down to -the fatigue of my journey went in search of his wife’s maid. - -Need I say that I was thankful to get to bed and there, despite my -ghostly adventures, I slept very soundly till the gong went for -breakfast, at which free and easy meal I made the acquaintance of some -very charming guests. - -Miladi was of course too much in request to spend more than a few -minutes with poor, insignificant me; she expressed an earnest hope -that I had not been too dull for words and that I had found the room -warm and comfortable. “At all events,” she added, “you can sit and -read there without fear of interruption. I know how fond of books you -‘clever’ people are--you must go into the library and choose some. You -were not disturbed last night were you?” - -Though this question was put in the most artless manner possible and -with all apparent ingenuousness I detected a half frightened, half -inquiring expression in her eyes that she vainly tried to stifle, an -expression which converted the suspicion I had entertained into a -conviction, a conviction that this woman was isolating me to serve some -deep and subtle purpose. - -I tried to get out of the lady’s-maid what this purpose might be, -but if Webster knew she most certainly showed no signs of it, being -doubtless as accomplished an actress as her mistress. - -As one may readily conclude I looked forward to the evening with little -equanimity, offering up fervent prayers for any incident that might add -to the duration of dinner. - -Now I hate grand dinners as a rule; their regality unnerves me; I am -appalled at the number of people; at the dazzling display of plate, at -the multiplicity of the courses (many of the dishes being unknown to -me), at the ceaseless flow of conversation, at the clatter of glasses, -at the wine, at everything; but on this occasion I simply revelled in -it; the greatest formalities appealed to me as pleasantly distracting; -I was poor, my companions wealthy scions of the aristocracy. I had -nothing to do but eat--eat and be silent; be silent and listen; listen -and look, and I saw all that one would have wanted to see in the -atelier of the very best costumière in Paris or the West End. - -My own dress was shabby but what of that! No one seemed aware of it, -no one noticed me; I was a nonentity, mute, a consuming machine; in no -one’s way because each of my neighbours was far too engrossed in eating -to care about carrying on a conversation. - -Once I thought a lady cast a half enviable glance at my hands; they -are my best point, particularly so, when nicely manicured--and once I -imagined, dear Robert, but there, THAT was only imagination. - -Well the dinner, like all good things, came to an end at last. I -enjoyed the dessert most; the bonbons were heavenly; every one ate them -as if they were hungry; I caught myself actually pitying our hostess. -At a signal from miladi, we all got up; I left the other ladies in the -hall; they trooped away to fetch their purses, whilst I, feeling very -much like some poor whipped schoolgirl, slunk off to the ball-room. - -It was not until the door closed behind me, I understood the full -horror of the situation; I was alone! for the second time within -twenty-four hours--in that chamber--Alone! Alone save for those foul -pollutions that might rise at any instant from beneath the floor. I -believe, even then, I would have flown had not the stubbornness and -pride innate in all my family restrained me. Come what would, her -ladyship should never call me a coward. - -So--I stuck to my post with heroic resolutions. Much as I suffered the -previous day, my sufferings then in comparison with now were small, nor -did the dreadful anticipations that tortured me without cessation as I -sat there, waiting for the boards to part asunder, in any way surpass -the awful realisation. Step by step, detail by detail the psychic drama -was repeated in all its damnable horror; my recovery after witnessing -it being slower on this occasion, accompanied by relapses into a state -of terror too painful even to recall. - -Yet I survived and succeeded in so far pulling myself together, that -I met the kindly greeting of her ladyship at breakfast next morning -with a calm and unembarrassed air. She did not suspect me. Once again -the ordeal came and miladi, with a refinement of cruelty worthy of -her steel-blue eyes and thin lips, herself conducted me to the fatal -ball-room. - -“To-morrow, you will have company,” she murmured, her face shining -white amid that semi-gloom, “I must apologise for not giving you more -light, but--for some UNEARTHLY reason or other--only one of those gas -jets will ever burn. Odd is it not?” And as her eyes met mine, I walked -to the fire and burst out laughing. - -She was disarmed! Could any one laugh who was afraid of ghosts? - -She speedily, VERY speedily left me and once again I underwent it ALL. - -Suspense--horror--prostration. I think I suffered more this third night -than on either of the other two. - -Yet, long before morning I had recovered from the shock. - -I saw a look of genuine relief rush into her ladyship’s face as she -encountered my smiling countenance: whatever apprehensions she might -have had with regard to THAT room were now unquestionably removed. - -“It must be cleared out without further delay!” I heard her remark -to Robert, “the floor will take some time polishing--and--remember the -incandescent burners!” - -The incandescent burners! I chuckled, what effect would THEY have on -GHOSTS. I half expected she would now tell me why she had been anxious -I should remain in the room: she was assured it was no longer haunted, -why trouble about the past? - -But a moment’s reflection made me think that after all it might be -“the past” she was most anxious to conceal; hauntings, especially -of so gruesome a nature as this, usually point to some blot on the -escutcheon, to a disreputable something in the history of the house--and -that is why so many people object to seeing their family ghosts appear -in print. - -Accordingly, miladi, having the honour of the Wentworths at heart, -would take very good care she did not give me as much as a hint as to -what she herself, quite possibly, attributed to legends. - -Webster did indeed favour me with the information, that neither her -ladyship nor any one else, save Lord Wentworth and the old charwoman -(who dusted) were ever known to enter the room, at all events since -SHE had been at the Hall, and that was well nigh ten years; which -information clearly implied that entrance was strictly forbidden. - -It was interesting to speculate what course miladi would have adopted, -had I told her what I had seen! She was proud, domineering and -tactful; would she have “pooh-poohed!” the whole thing; commanded me -to be silent; resorted to bribery, or what? I couldn’t imagine her -pleading--and yet--the Honour of the Old Aristocracy is very dear to -them; they sometimes value it more than--life. - - * * * * * - -The next few days passed agreeably and all too quickly for me. The -non-card playing element, though rather stiff and prudish, were kindly -disposed towards me, no doubt on account of my shy disposition and -impecunious widowhood. - -Of Robert I saw very little; the host and hostess in a big house never -have a moment to spare. To prepare the ball-room an extra staff of -servants was employed incessantly for three days, at the end of which -time it was pronounced ready for the occasion. - -I can find no words to convey to others the singular way in which the -altered room impressed me. Though stripped of all its massive, gloomy -furniture, brilliantly illuminated with many jets of incandescent -gas (Robert had a strange aversion to electricity) and adorned with -festoons of Oriental flowers, banners, and the gayest coloured -bunting, it still retained an air of sadness, and an indescribable -something, that nothing, nothing short of total annihilation, could -ever eradicate or modify. - -Her ladyship clad in a snowy dress of the most costly material trimmed -with the rarest lace, her fair arms and bosom glittering with the -Wentworth diamonds, looked like a fairy queen standing on the threshold -of an enchanted castle. - -I looked closely at her but could see no remnant of apprehension either -in her eyes or gestures, she was perfectly at ease and sublimely -unconscious of aught but the enjoyment of those around her and the -importance attached to herself, the well-dressed handsome hostess. - -With Robert it was otherwise; in spite of his smiles, his bows, his -many pretty actions of old-world gallantry, I could see that the wan, -grey spirit of unrest stalking at his elbow never left him. He would -have staked his soul to glance occasionally at the spot before the -fireplace, but fear lest some one might see him effectually held him -back. This continual mental struggle, unsuspected even by his wife, -was only too obviously apparent to me, and I seemed to hear a sigh -of relief--of deep and earnest relief--issue from his lips when the -orchestra began. - -And now all was symphony and movement. There was much glare and glitter -and piquancy; snake-like evolutions, spasmodic convergences, dexterous -extrications, all performed and repeated with mathematical precision -and untiring repetition. - -The music changed--the waltz gave place to a novel and somewhat wildly -executed fandango. It was her ladyship’s whim to include in her -programme exotic dances; a resuscitation of long-forgotten Terpsichore, -they were undoubtedly the distinguishing and characteristic features of -her entertainments, raising them far above the commonplace, and gaining -for miladi a world-wide and much-coveted reputation. She hated anything -merely popular and vulgar. - -In this dance that now commenced and which I beheld for the first time, -there was much of the beautiful, the wanton, the _bizarre_, and just -a suspicion of “something” which might have shocked a very exacting -“Grundy.” - -As the greater number of the guests, like myself, were unacquainted -with it, the floor was left comparatively free for the performers, the -onlookers lining the walls, the doorway, and the big bay window. - -Never had I witnessed such enthusiasm; the dancers, throwing their very -heart and soul into their antics, gyrated and pirouetted in such lively -fashion as evoked spontaneous outbursts of applause from the delighted, -albeit bewildered and somewhat puzzled spectators. - -The faster the music, the quicker the feet, the louder the clapping. - -And now, at a moment when the revelry had reached its height and the -attention of all was riveted on the dancers, a sudden commotion in -their midst made everybody wonder. What was it? What had happened? - -I glanced at the clock, Robert glanced too; our eyes met, and I read in -his a deadly fear; it was the hour for the dead to rise. - -The space in front of the fireplace was now deserted, and the dancers, -grouped around on either side, were eagerly peering forward to -ascertain the cause of their alarm. - -Curiosity, repulsion, and horror--horror wild and undiluted--were now -depicted on every countenance as the gently heaving boards, slipping -noiselessly asunder, revealed two hideous heads, rising as it were from -the bowels of the earth. - -Slowly, very slowly, with a gradation suggestive of machinery, the -phantoms I knew so well at length came into full view. But stupendous -as was the sensation this unlooked-for tableau produced, not a sound -was uttered--and, as if to accentuate the silence, the music broke off -abruptly, dancers, audience, and orchestra being similarly affected. - -For a few seconds the female phantom, clutching in one arm its -loathsome burden, paused irresolutely beside its tomb--and then, shaking -a hand in the direction of the Honourable Walter, it made a sudden dart -at the spot where he stood. - -A thrill of the most intense horror accompanied this unexpected -movement, all eyes being now transferred to the wretched youth. - -I gave one glance at my cousin Robert--I dare not look again--his -expression was frightful--he could do nothing to help his son--his -position was that of the damned. - -The crucial moment arrived--no one breathed--the Things from the Grave -reached Walter--there was no hesitation--they passed RIGHT THROUGH him. -I looked at the wall, I rubbed my eyes--the spectres had vanished! - -A convulsive throb now ran through the assemblage, the revellers -exchanged frightened and embarrassed glances, there was a general -movement to the door, the room emptied, the dance was over. - - * * * * * - -I did not see her ladyship again--I merely received a message of -farewell, but Robert came to say good-bye. - -“I wonder,” he said, gazing at me with his pensive harrowed eyes, “I -wonder very much if the ghosts appeared to you when alone in that -room? If so you have indeed been brave, and to keep it secret served -us right. The story of the hauntings,” he continued, “has up to the -present been revealed only to the male members of our family, but to -you I feel that an explanation is due. At any rate, you are a Wentworth -and have given me ample proof that you may with safety be entrusted -with a secret. - -“It seems years ago that one of my ancestors got entangled in some -way or another with a beautiful gipsy. She begged him to marry her; -he refused; and fearful lest the affair should leak out and so bring -discredit upon the family, he murdered her, burying her body, together -with that of her child, underneath the ballroom floor. At least so the -MS. states, and no one, as far as I am aware, has ever disproved it. - -“Tortured with remorse and a victim to the orthodox fears of a -murderer, my unhappy forefather took poison, commanding in his will -‘that the ballroom should never again be used for a frivolous purpose,’ -an injunction which, until last night, has been faithfully obeyed. - -“The Wentworths, as you may naturally suppose, have kept the story -strictly to themselves--the male heirs alone being usually acquainted -with it. - -“I did not altogether credit the story of the haunting though my father -swore he had seen the cursed apparitions. Moreover he told me that they -appeared periodically--every night at 11 P.M. from the 20th to the 31st -of December. He also warned me, and here I am much to blame, on no -account to permit any outsider to be in the room, ‘for if you do,’ he -added, ‘THEN, something terrible will happen.’ I own I was sceptical -and bitterly I regret it now. I had never seen an apparition, and what -my father told me he had seen, I attributed to Suggestion, the natural -consequence of dwelling too much on the horrible details of the story. - -“Maud shared my scepticism and when she wanted to use the room, brought -forward the most ingenious arguments to overcome my scruples. - -“I declared it was impossible--it would be sheer sacrilege. I was -accused of inconsistency. I disbelieved! how then could there be any -danger!--the injunction in the will was unreasonable and absurd. In -short, I had no peace, I had to yield, so making the stipulation that -we should first find out some means by which we could prove that there -was no foundation for the story of the haunting, I reluctantly gave my -consent. - -“Somewhat to my astonishment, Maud had already formed a plan for -testing the room. She had heard me speak of you, you were a Wentworth; -if you discovered anything we could rely on you to keep it secret--and -so my wife suggested that you should be put in the room, ‘just to -sample it.’ I hesitated, I did not speak. I suppose my silence gave -consent: the rest you know. I won’t press you to tell me if you saw -those beastly things, if you did the sequel only serves us right. -Anyhow nothing can excuse my having sanctioned disobedience to that -injunction in the will. - -“The fact and the nature of the haunting is a secret no longer--the -cause none but a Wentworth shall ever know. - -“I need hardly enjoin you who are one of us to maintain silence on that -point. - -“We shall shut up the house for a time, until, in fact, the worst of -the affair has blown over--and--when we meet again, let us hope it will -be under happier circumstances.” - -We never met again; within six months of my departure, both Robert and -his son were dead--killed in a motor accident abroad. The property is -now in the hands of distant, of VERY distant relations, and I feel no -compunction in saying what I know about it. - -Only--if you repeat this to Mr. Elliott O’Donnell, please substitute -fictitious names. - - - - -BURLE FARM, NORTH DEVON - -THE HEADLESS DOG AND THE EVIL TREE - - Technical form of apparitions: Elemental - - Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence - - Cause of hauntings: Unknown - - -Between my exit from the stage in 1900 up till quite recently I had the -great, the very great misfortune to be a teacher in a small town in the -north of England. - -I say misfortune because I found the contrasts between exciting -stageland and the monotonous schoolroom, between the generous and -jovial theatrical fraternity and the mean and petty local parents, too -decidedly pronounced to be other than excessively unpleasant. - -I had small patience with the mediocre abilities of very mediocre -children, and still less with the continual and unwarrantable -interference of their ill-mannered and doting mothers. No lot in life -could have been more thoroughly uncongenial than mine; indeed, it would -have soon become unbearable had it not been for the constant influx of -strangers whose presence in the town made an oasis in the desert. - -It is to one of these visitors--Miss Medley--that I owe the following -story. - -“Some years ago,” she began, “I received an invitation to spend August -with a very crochety old aunt of mine residing at Burle Farm, North -Devon. - -“There was nothing at all extraordinary in the appearance of the house; -it belonged to a type common in all parts of England. It was a low, -rambling building of yellow stone with a good, substantial, thatched -roof and ample stabling. The rooms, sweet with the scent of jasmine -and honeysuckle, compared more than favourably with the stuffy dens in -which I had been obliged to live in London; whilst the diamond-shaped -window-panes and massive oak beams serving as supports to the ceilings, -struck me as being quite delightfully quaint. - -“My aunt, too--a rosy-faced old lady in a mob-cap--appeared quite in -harmony with her surroundings. She was kindness itself--indeed, no one -could have made me feel more thoroughly at home. - -“‘Folks do say the house is haunted,’ she laughed, ‘particularly one -room--but there! I have never seen anything, and I don’t suppose you -will.’ - -“‘A ghost!’ I cried, ‘how awfully exciting! oh! do let me sleep in the -haunted room,’ and I continued to plead till the kind-hearted old lady -reluctantly consented. - -“‘You mustn’t blame me if the ghost should visit you, Rosie,’ she said; -‘remember I have warned you.’ - -“‘There is nothing I should enjoy better than seeing a real _bona-fide_ -spook, auntie dear,’ I rejoined, smiling; but my aunt shook her head -reprovingly, and no more was said on the subject until the next day. - -“I awoke that night as the clock struck two--indeed, I fancied my -awakening was due to that striking, it seemed so unusually loud and -emphatic. - -“It was a fine--indeed, I might say glorious--night, for although there -was no moon, the heavens were so brilliantly illuminated with myriads -of scintillating stars, that I could see every object around me almost -as clearly as if it had been day. - -“A sudden movement near the foot of the bed made me recollect my -aunt’s admonition. I listened, experiencing none of those pleasant -anticipations of which I had spoken so boastfully. - -“I knew no one could have entered the room, as I had taken the -precaution to lock the door, having first of all looked under the bed -and made a thorough examination of the hanging wardrobe. Consequently -my visitor, unless a mouse or a rat, could be nothing material. - -“I devoutly wished I had slept in one of the other rooms. - -“A faint and sickly odour now became perceptible whilst the noise -hitherto uninterpretable developed into a series of unequal knocks just -as if some big animal were lying on the floor ‘scratching’ itself. - -“Determined not to appear frightened I put my hand out of bed and -called ‘Trot! Trot! is that you?’ (Trot being the name of my auntie’s -retriever.) - -“Something instantly jumped up and, coming round the bed, stood by -my side. Wondering whether it could be Trot, though at a loss to -understand how he could have got into the room without being seen, -I stretched out my fingers and to my intense relief touched a furry -coat--the stench at the same time becoming so truly awful that I -retched. - -“I could, of course have satisfied myself as to the identity of my -visitor by merely looking, but this, I am ashamed to say, I was too -great a coward to do; a strange feeling telling me that I was in the -presence of something unnatural. - -“Running my hand fearfully along the shaggy skin of the animal, I felt -for its head, discovering to my intense horror that it had none, the -neck terminating in a wet mass of something soft and spongy. - -“Unable to restrain myself any longer, I now looked, perceiving to my -infinite terror a huge shock-haired spaniel, headless, and in the most -abominable state of decomposition. - -“I gazed at it for some seconds too appalled either to stir or utter a -sound--this paralytic condition continuing till an abortive effort of -the phantasm to jump on the bed loosened my tongue and I shrieked for -help. - -“The dog immediately vanished. - -“My feelings had been, however, so outraged by what I had witnessed -that nothing would have induced me to pass the remainder of the night -in that room--my own idea was to get out of it with the utmost celerity. - -“I did so--nor did I ever again--not even by daylight--venture to cross -its threshold. - -“My aunt, poor dear, was very much upset at the occurrence. - -“She could not imagine how it was other people could see the ghost -while she could not. And her scepticism was but natural; she was unable -to grasp the idea that the psychic faculty is a gift, only granted to -the few, and as rare as that either of music or painting. - -“Other reasons for her incredulity in this particular occult -manifestation lay in the enigmatical nature and purport of the -phenomenon. - -“In what category of ghosts would one classify a headless dog; Was it -the spirit of a dog that had been decapitated on earth? - -“She had never gathered from the Scriptures that beasts had souls--what -then was this phantom of a dog? - -“I suggested it might be a Poltergeist or Elemental, one of those -purely bestial creations that for various reasons which you explained -at your recent lecture--always haunt certain localities?” - -“Yes!” I said, interrupting Miss Medley, “the sub-animal type of -elemental is fairly common--if you refer to the June number 1908 of the -magazine published by the Society for Psychical Research you will see -an extremely well authenticated case of the haunting of a village by -a white pig with an abnormally long snout and I could enumerate many -other similar instances. But continue!” - -“My aunt,” Miss Medley went on, “informed me that the house had -once been occupied by a lady who had lived a very selfish--not to -say sensual life. She had settled down at Burle, after having been -divorced twice, and her weekly routine was one incessant whirl of -pleasure. - -“She died without the consolation of the Church, surrounded by a crowd -of fawning money-hunters and over-gorged poodles, so that for this, -as well as other reasons I think there may be an alternative solution -to the haunting. Is it not possible that what I saw was actually -the spirit of this worldly woman, which thoroughly brutalised by -long indulgence in sensuality had gradually adapted that shape most -befitting IT.” - -“And the moral of that, Miss Medley,” I observed, “is--if you do not -wish to become a beast do not live like one! Yes! there is much to be -learned from a study of the different types of phantasms--more I believe -than from any pulpit discourses. Is that your only psychic experience?” - -Miss Medley shook her head. “No!” she said, “I had another very -gruesome one at Burle. After the dog episode my aunt thought fit to -warn me not to pass along a certain road after dusk. ‘There is an elm -standing close to it,’ she said, ‘which the people about here declare -to be haunted; as you have seen one ghost you may see another--so please -be careful!’ - -“Now you might think that after such a disagreeable experience I would -have followed my aunt’s advice, but curiosity getting the better of -discretion I disobeyed her and, selecting a fine evening for the -enterprise, set out to the tree. - -“As it was two or three miles away, and I was dearly fond of riding, -I hired a horse and going along at a jog-trot approached the forbidden -spot at about eight o’clock. - -“The lane in which the haunted elm stood was narrow, trees of all sorts -and sizes lined it on either side, and the shadows, intensified by the -thickness of the foliage overhead, almost obliterated the roadway. - -“All was dark and silent. I no longer wondered at the villagers -fighting shy of such a place; it looked a positive cock-pit of spookdom. - -“At about twenty or so yards from the notorious elm my horse showed -unmistakable signs of uneasiness, laying back its ears and shivering -to such an extent that it was only by dint of alternate threats and -caresses that I succeeded in urging it forward. Arriving at a spot -level with the tree the animal shied, and had I not been a pretty good -horse-woman I might have met with a nasty accident, but I stuck to my -seat like a leech, and using my whip smartly drew in the reins. My -horse fell back on its haunches; reared--plunged headlong forward--took -the bit between its teeth and--we were off like the wind. - -“Fortunately I was prepared; leaning back in my saddle I enjoyed rather -than otherwise so mad a career. But my pleasure received a sudden check -when I perceived, to my horror, the figure of a tall woman dressed in -black striding along by the side of us and keeping pace with us without -any apparent effort. - -“Heaven alone knew where she came from unless from the tree; I fancied -I had heard something drop from the branches at the moment my horse -shied. As the woman was wearing a cloak drawn over her head, I could -not see her face but from the grotesque outlines of her limbs and body, -I concluded it must be unpleasantly bizarre. - -“We kept together in this extraordinary fashion until we came in sight -of Burle, when she quickened her steps, and tearing off the hood thrust -her face upwards into mine. - -“It was awful--utterly and inconceivably AWFUL--so awful that I felt the -very marrow in my bones freeze with horror while my heart stood still. - -“She had no hair; her head was round and shiny, whilst her face, yellow -and swollen, was covered all over with circular black spots causing it -to bear a striking resemblance to one of those old-fashioned carriage -dogs!!! Her eyes were black and sinister; she had no nose, whilst her -mouth was--horrid--the most horrid thing about her. - -“With a diabolical grin she grabbed at my jacket and would, I believe, -have torn me from my seat had we not at this moment, in the very nick -of time, arrived within sight of the gates of Burle Farm. - -“My aunt, with several other people, was awaiting me, and as with a -desperate spurt I galloped up to them, the infernal hag let go her hold -of my jacket, slackened her pace and vanished.” - - - - -CARNE HOUSE, NEAR NORTHAMPTON - -THE MAN IN THE FLOWERY DRESSING-GOWN AND THE BLACK CAT - - Technical form of apparitions: Phantoms of the dead and possibly - animal: Elemental. - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence - - -Should any one wonder why I continually select Northamptonshire and -Gloucestershire as the scenes of my ghost stories, let me hasten to -explain that my reason is obvious enough--with both these counties I -have had a lifelong intimacy and naturally have had more facilities and -opportunities for collecting suitable material from them than from any -other. - -I have not the slightest doubt other counties can show equally long -lists of haunted houses, only I have not found them so easy of access, -moreover the genial nature of the inhabitants of Northamptonshire -(especially) has attracted as well as aided me in my research, and -although the burly Midland yeoman is inclined to scoff at things -superphysical, his satire is not so objectionable as is that of the -supercilious middle-class Londoner. - -Again, Northamptonshire is very rich in well preserved old country -mansions--I know of no other county where there are so many--and as -most of these houses have at one time or another witnessed some grim -tragedy, it is not surprising that they are now the scenes of occult -manifestations. - -Doubtless one would find similar phenomena in smaller habitations were -the latter of the same early date, for crime was then just as prevalent -among the poor as among the rich, but the inferior material with which -cottages have been built causes their comparatively speaking early -dissolution, and we rarely find a cottage now standing which was built -more than a century ago. - -From this it must not be deduced that hauntings are confined to old -buildings nor that past crime alone begat ghosts; nothing of the sort, -modern villas are frequently subjected to psychic phenomena whilst -the phantoms of present-day suicides and murderers are decidedly as -numerous as of yore. - -But whereas in olden times, crime was fairly common in villages, it -is now chiefly confined to towns, and the houses that have witnessed -murders, &c., are not infrequently entirely demolished or made to -undergo some very radical alterations--hence the ghosts disappear with -their surroundings. - -This more so, perhaps, in the provinces than in London, as there are -too many crimes in the latter for any particular one to be remembered -for any length of time, not long enough in fact to permanently damn the -letting of a house. - -The word ghost is very elastic, it may be used in reference to many -different types of spirits, and is, in fact, only the designation for -that genus of which the departed soul of man is but a species. - -Now Northamptonshire is very rich in species; species of all -kinds; spirits of men, of beasts, of vegetables! and species of -elementals--elemental being in itself, a genus which includes many -various types, too numerous indeed, for any attempt at classification -in this work. - -It is no uncommon thing to meet with some locality (usually barren) or -village (generally on the site of barrows or Druidical remains as, for -example, Guilsborough) where the nature of the hauntings is dual; a -complexity that is, fortunately, of rarer occurrence in houses. - -Concerning the latter, Lee mentions one instance, _i.e._, “The Gybe -Farm,” in his book, “More Glimpses of the Unseen World” whilst I will -take this opportunity to quote another case of dual haunting, _i.e._, -Carne House, which is situated at the utmost extremity of a village to -the south-east of Northampton. - -My informant, Mrs. Norton, frequently resided in the house in her -childhood and youth, and it was from her lips that I heard the -following story which I recollect only too well. - - * * * * * - -My first impression of Carne House was one of extreme aversion; I can -see it now as I saw it then--vast, sleek, and white, like some monstrous -toadstool, or slimy fungus. - -Bathed in the moonlight--for we did not arrive till late--it confronted -us with audacious nudity; not a plant or shrub being trained to hide -its naked sides. There was something unspeakably loathsome in the -boldness of its carriage--something that made me glance with fear at its -wide and gaping windows and glance again as I crossed the threshold -into the dark and lofty hall. - -The passages of the house, both in number and sinuosity, resembled a -maze; they recalled to my youthful mind the story of Dædalus, and I -half expected to see the figure of the Minotaur suddenly arise from -some gloomy corner and pursue me through the labyrinth. - -Nor were my fears entirely groundless, for I had hardly been in the -place a month before I had a very unpleasant experience. - -Chancing one morning to go on an errand for my mother to a room that -had in all probability once served as a laundry, but which was now -restricted to lumber, I was startled at hearing something move either -in or on the copper. Thinking it must be some stray animal, or, may be, -a rat, I threaded my way through a sea of packing cases, and standing -on tip-toe, peeped very cautiously into the copper. - -To my intense surprise I found myself looking into a very deep and -sepulchral well, at the bottom of which was a man. I could see him -distinctly, owing to a queer kind of light that seemed to emanate from -every part of his body. He was draped in a phantastic costume that -might have been a kimono or one of those flowery dressing-gowns worn -by our great-great-grandfathers. He was bending over a box which he -was doing his best to conceal under a pile of _débris_, and it was -undoubtedly this noise that had attracted me. - -Too intent on his work, he was apparently unaware of my close -proximity, until, satisfied that the box was well hidden, he -straightened his back and looked up. - -His face frightened me; not that it was anything out of the normal -either in feature or complexion, but it was the expression--the look of -evil joy that suffused every lineament before he saw me, changing to -one of the most diabolical fury as our eyes met. I was at first too -transfixed with terror to do more than stare, and it was only when, -crouching down, he took a sudden and deliberate spring at the wall -and began to climb it like a spider, that I regained possession of my -limbs, and turning round, fled for my life. - -Oh! how long that room seemed and what an interminable succession of -furniture now appeared to barricade the way. - -Every yard was a mile, every instant I expected he would clutch me. - -I reached the door only just in time--happily for me it was open--I -darted out, and as I did so the outlines of a hand--large and -ill-shapen--shot fruitlessly past me. - -The next moment I was in the kitchen--the servants were there--I was -saved--saved from a fate that would assuredly have sent me mad. - -When I related what had happened, to my mother, she laughingly informed -me I must have been dreaming, that there was NO WELL there, nor was -there any man in the house save my father and the servants; yet I -fancied I could detect beneath those smiling assurances a faint and -scarcely perceptible horror--and she never let me visit that room -again--alone! - -But was I dreaming--was there no well, and had that man been but the -fancy of a childish and distorted brain? - -Sometimes I answered “Yes,” and sometimes “No.” - -After this little incident, a manifest, though of necessity, subtle -change took place in our household; the servants became infected -with a general spirit of uneasiness, which although only shown in my -presence by their looks, convinced and alarmed me far more than any -fears, even the most terrible, would have done had they been outspoken. -I was positive they lived in daily anticipation of something very -dreadful--something that lay concealed in those dark and tortuous -corridors or in that grim and ghostly room. - -My dreams at night were horrible, nor did I again feel that in this -respect I was singular as I overheard some one remark that no one ever -passed the night without awakening with a sudden and inexplicable start. - -I say inexplicable--would that it had always remained so! - -It was August when my next definite adventure occurred. I use the word -definite as I had had several other experiences, but of too brief and -uncertain a nature to enable me to draw any precise conclusions. - -Once, as I had been walking along one of the passages, I had heard the -noise of something clanking, and had been put to instant flight by the -sound of heavy footsteps echoing suddenly in my rear, and again--but -this isn’t really worth recording; let me proceed with that night in -August. - -Well, I slept in a room at the end of a corridor, my nearest neighbour, -Miss Dovecot our governess, occupying a chamber some dozen yards -away. I do not think I need describe any article of furniture the -room contained; every piece was strictly modern, and had been brought -with us from a newly furnished house in Sevenoaks. The fireplace and -cupboard are, however, deserving of comment; the former was one of -those old-fashioned ingles Burns delights in describing, and which are -now so seldom to be seen; an inn at Dundry, near Bristol, containing, -I believe, the finest specimen in the kingdom; whilst the latter, -which I always kept securely locked at night, was of such far-reaching -dimensions that it might well be termed in modern phraseology a linen -room. - -On the night in question, I had gone to bed at my usual time--eight--and -I had speedily fallen to sleep, as I was in the habit of doing; but my -slumber was by no means normal. - -I was tortured with a series of disturbing dreams, from which I awoke -with a start to hear some clock outside sonorously strike twelve. -As an additional proof of my wakefulness, I might add (pardon my -explicitness) I was sensibly affected by a constant irritation of the -skin, due, I believe, to a disordered state of the liver, which in -itself was a sufficient preventive to further sleep. - -It must have been half-past twelve when I heard, to my intense horror, -the cupboard door--which I distinctly recollect locking--slowly, very -slowly, open. - -My first impulse was to make a precipitate rush for the door, but, -alas! I soon became aware that I was powerless to act; a kind of -catalepsy, coming on suddenly, held my body as in a vice, whilst my -senses, on the other hand, had grown abnormally acute. - -In this odious condition I was now compelled to listen to the -Thing--whatever it might be--slowly crossing the floor in the direction -of my bed. - -The climax at length came, and my cup of horrors overflowed, when, -with an abruptness that was quite unexpected (in spite of the direst -apprehension), the Thing leaped on the bed, and I discovered it to be -an enormous CAT. - -I can unhesitatingly add the epithet--Black--for the room, which a -moment before was shrouded in darkness, had now become a blaze of -light, enabling me to perceive the colour as well as the outline with -the most unpleasant perspicuity. - -It was not only in intensity of colour (the blackest ebony could not -have been blacker) that the cat was abnormal, but in every other -respect; its dimensions were not far removed from those of a large -bull-dog, and its expression--the eyes and mouth of the beast were more -than bestial--was truly Satanic. Stalking over my legs, its tail almost -perpendicular and swaying slightly like the nodding plumes of a hearse, -it squatted down between the bedposts opposite, transfixing me with a -stare full of malevolent meaning. - -I was so fully occupied in watching it and trying to solve the enigma I -saw so plainly written in its every gesture, that I did not realise I -had other visitors, till a sudden uncertain twitching in the light made -me look round. I then perceived with a start a fire was burning in the -grate. - -A fire, and in August--how incongruous! I shivered. - -But it was no delusion; the flames soared aloft, adopting a hundred -fantastic yet natural shapes; the coals burned hollow, and in their -crimson and innermost recesses I read the future. - -But not for long. My cogitations were unceremoniously interrupted -by the appearance of the man-in-the-well, whom I was startled to -perceive seated in the chimney-corner in the most nonchalant attitude -possible--nursing a baby! - -Anomalous and mirth-provoking as is such a sight in the usual way, the -existing circumstances were grim enough to excite my horror and raise -anew my worst forebodings. - -Supposing he saw me now? There was no escape! I was entirely at his -mercy. What would he do? - -I glanced from him to the cat, and from the cat back again to him. Of -my two enemies, which was most to be feared? The slightest movement on -my part would inevitably arouse them both, and bring about my immediate -destruction. The situation did not even warrant my breathing. - -The minutes sped by with the most tantalising slowness. The clock -struck one, and neither of my visitors had budged an inch--the man in -the flowery dressing-gown still nursing the baby, and the black cat -still staring at me. Mine was indeed a most unenviable position, and I -was despairing of its ever being otherwise, when a sudden transmutation -in the man sent a flow of icy blood to my heart. - -He no longer regarded his burden indifferently--he scowled at it. - -The scowl deepened, the utmost fury pervaded his features, converting -them into those of a demon. He got up, gnashed his teeth, stamped on -the ground, and lifting up the child, dropped it head first into the -fire. I saw it fall. I heard it burn! - -The hideous cruelty of the man, the abruptness of his action, proved my -undoing. Oblivious of personal danger, I shrieked. - -The effect was electrical. Dropping the poker, with which he had been -holding down the baby, the inhuman monster swung round and saw me. - -The expression in his face at once became hellish, absolutely hellish. - -My only chance of salvation now lay in making the greatest noise -possible, and I had commenced to shout for help lustily, when at a -signal from the man, the enormous black cat crouched and sprang. - -What followed I cannot exactly remember, I have dim recollections of -feeling a heavy thud and of some one or some THING trying to tear away -the clothes from my head, after which there came a very complete blank, -and when I recovered consciousness, the anxious countenances of my -parents and governess were bending over me. - -The next night I slept with my sister. - -My health had been so impaired by these encounters, that my parents -decided to move elsewhere; the furniture was once again packed, and -within a month of the above incident we had taken up our abode in -Clifton, Bristol. - -The history of the hauntings was subsequently revealed to me by the -owner of the house. It had once been inhabited by a man of the name of -Darby, who seems to have been a sort of wholesale butcher. - -His elder brother dying, the family estate passed to the latter’s -eldest son, a child of two, and Darby determining to succeed to the -property, invited the widow to stay with him. She did so--she was a -weakly creature--and he got rid of her by putting her to sleep in a damp -bed. The children were next disposed of, the younger by being burnt -(as I had witnessed) and the elder, aged two, by being smothered to -death by a black cat. Darby is said to have deliberately made the cat -sit upon the infant’s mouth as it lay asleep. But these rapid deaths, -as might have been expected, aroused suspicions. The nurse, who had -been an unwilling party to the burning of the baby, turned King’s -Evidence, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. As is often the -case, however, the officers of the law were a bit too late. When they -arrived at the house, the quarry had flown, nor could his whereabouts -be discovered for many years; not, indeed, till fifty years after the -crimes, when his skeleton was found at the bottom of a disused well he -had himself sunk in one of the back kitchens. Under the skeleton lay -an iron box containing many valuables, rings, &c., which he had been -doubtless striving to hide when death in some unaccountable form or -another overtook him. What became of the cat, history does not say. - -The place had always borne a reputation for being haunted--it was on -that account my parents had got it at so low a rental--and the ghosts -seen there (undoubtedly those of Darby and his cat) corresponded in -every detail with the phenomena that had so terrified me. - -I am aware that many deny the existence of souls in animals--let them do -so--but do not let them be too dogmatical, for where Life ends all is -mystery. - -Still there is an alternative theory to account for the appearance -of animal phantoms, which is, I think, quite within the realms of -possibility: the black cat I saw, if not the spirit of the one made -such hideous use of by the old man, was undoubtedly an elemental--a -spirit representative of a popular crime, a vice--Darby’s evil -genius--that ever hovered at his heels in his lifetime and is more loth -than ever to leave him now that his physical body is dead and his soul -earthbound. - - - - -HARLEY HOUSE, PORTISHEAD - -THE BLACK ANTENNÆ - - Technical form of apparitions: Poltergeists (or Elementals) - - Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence - - Cause of hauntings: Unknown - - -The following account of a haunted house is taken from the diary of a -gentleman--since deceased. The narrator was the owner of the house, and, -being a professional man, asked me to give fictitious names, lest the -publication of the story should be detrimental both to his practice and -to the letting of the place: - -“Before I commence my story,” he writes, “I think it expedient to state -that both my parents are dead, my father having died many years ago and -my mother quite recently. The latter had lived to the very ripe age of -ninety, had possessed an unusually strong will, was a most devout Roman -Catholic, and took the deepest interest in everything that concerned -our welfare. She had two peculiarities: (1) A strange aversion to -children; (2) a positive loathing and dread of blackbeetles. The house -stands alone, some thirty yards or so from the road, and is well -concealed from view by a high brick wall and numerous trees. - -“There are four bedrooms upstairs, two on either side of the -landing--which for clearness I will number--viz., No. 1 occupied by -my wife and I; No. 2 my sister Mary’s room; No. 3 my sister Joan’s -room; No. 4 the spare bedroom in which my mother died. The top storey -consists of two attics inhabited by the servants. - -“January 1, 1906, we first became aware of the disturbances--violent -knockings being heard about midnight on the walls and floor of room No. -4. On hurriedly entering it, we could discover nothing. But on leaving -the room the noises were repeated and kept up till two or three in the -morning. - -“January 5. A recurrence of the disturbance--only much louder. - -“January 6. Have in a carpenter who makes a thorough examination of the -wainscoting and reports ‘no traces of rats, mice nor any other animals.’ - -“January 10. Tremendous knockings again in room No. 4, the door of -which is swinging to and fro violently. A loud clatter on landing as -though half a dozen children were engaged in the roughest horse-play. -The uproar terminates in a terrific crash on the panel of No. 3 door. -Joan rushes out of her bedroom thinking the house is on fire and sees -a strange, green light some six by two feet long moving across the -landing. It disappears in room No. 4. - -“January 15. We are all awakened by a loud crash and on reaching the -landing find a big, black oak chest from the coach-house, lying there -on its back. Every one much alarmed. - -“February 1. My sister Mary awakened at midnight by feeling something -tickle her cheeks. She puts out her hand to brush it away and -encounters something cold and scaly. Her shrieks of terror bring us all -into her bedroom--there is nothing there. - -“February 3. My wife and I are aroused by feeling our bed gently lifted -up and down, and on my getting out for a light, I tread on something -indescribably disgusting. It feels like a monstrous insect!! - -“February 4. The knocking very bad all night--particularly in room -No. 4. - -“February 5, 6, 7, ditto. - -“February 10. The clothes mysteriously taken off Joan’s bed and -transported to room No. 2. - -“February 15. Both servants undergo our experience of February 3. - -“February 16. The knockings still continued and distant sounds heard -as of some one coming upstairs and turning the handles of all the room -doors. - -“February 17. Scufflings on the landings, and in the passage as though -caused by a troop of very noisy children. - -“February 19. Knockings in room No. 2. The washstand and a heavy -mahogany wardrobe moved some feet out of their places. Mary, who was -awake at the time, saw the shunting of the furniture, but could detect -no sign of any agent. - -“March 1. About 8.30 A.M. after Martha had laid the breakfast things -she went downstairs to finish a cup of tea. On her return to the -breakfast room she found it in the wildest state of disorder; chairs -over-turned, ashpan and front of grate removed to furthest extremity of -room, all the pictures taken down from the walls and laid face upwards -on the floor, and the cups, saucers, plates, knives and forks piled -in one heap in centre of table; all this had been done without either -breakage or noise. - -“Terrified out of her wits Martha rushed upstairs to our door, and -nothing would induce her to enter the breakfast room again alone. - -“March 3. On returning home about 10 P.M. from a neighbouring town, -we found the servants sitting huddled together, half dead with fright -in the kitchen. They had heard knockings and the most appalling thuds -ever since we had gone out; and on entering our room (No. 1) we found -it in an absolute turmoil: the bed-clothes in a promiscuous pile on the -floor, the duchess table turned round with its face to the wall, the -pictures ditto--but--nothing broken. - -“March 15. Awakened in middle of night by three loud crashes in room -No. 3, after which we distinctly heard our door open and some one crawl -stealthily under our bed. - -“We at once lit a candle--no one was there. - -“March 18. Knockings in both the attics. The servants badly scared. - -“March 21. As Joan was running downstairs about mid-day, she received -a violent bang on her back as if some one had hit her with the palm of -their hand. She came to my study in a very exhausted condition, and it -took her some minutes to recover. - -“March 24. Found my mother’s shoes, which we were certain had been -locked up in a bureau, placed where she had always placed them in her -lifetime--_i.e._, on the hearth-rug before the dining-room fire. - -“March 31. My mother’s favourite arm-chair found upside down in front -of the fire-place in room No. 4. - -“April 2, 11 P.M. As Mary was stooping to look under the bed for fear -of burglars, she was suddenly pushed down and the mattresses and -bedclothes were thrown on the top of her. Her frantic struggles and -muffled screams being, fortunately, overheard by my wife (I was in -London at the time), she was immediately extricated. No injury, only -bad shock. - -“April 3, midnight. The contents of a large chest of drawers in room -No. 3 suddenly emptied on to the floor. Loud crashes in all parts of -the house. - -“April 10, 11 P.M. On going up to bed, we find room No. 4 aglow with -a pale green light and filled with a faint sickly odour, which we at -once recognised as identical with that smelt there at the time of my -mother’s decease and which we considered was peculiar to her disease. - -“I must mention that after her death, the room had been thoroughly -renovated, the old flooring replaced by new, the walls repapered and -everywhere well disinfected with the strongest carbolic. My mother had -died at 11 P.M. - -“April 12, 13, 14, 15; 11 P.M. The same light and smell. - -“April 20. Joan fell over some large obstacle in the hall, hurting -herself badly. She could see nothing, but was half suffocated with a -stench similar to the one already described. - -“April 30, 2.20 A.M. Both my wife and I distinctly felt something brush -across our faces. We lit a candle and perceived to our horror two long -black antennæ (like the antennæ of a monstrous beetle) waving to and -fro on our pillow. - -“We spent the rest of the night on the drawing-room chairs and sofa. - -“May 1. Shut up the house.” - - - NOTE.--An attempt to solve the mystery surrounding these hauntings - will appear in a subsequent volume. - - - - -THE WAY MEADOW, SOMERSET - -THE INVISIBLE HORROR - - Technical form of haunting: Unknown - - Source of authenticity: Personal and other experiences - - Cause of haunting: Unknown - - -In my boyhood days I was very fond of making long excursions on foot, -my peregrinations taking me many miles from Bristol, which was at that -time my home. On one of these occasions I took a route that led me past -Bath, and eventually arrived at a village that particularly fascinated -me. - -Lying in a hollow by the side of a sluggish river, or stream, it -presented an exceedingly attractive appearance to my somewhat romantic -eyes. I especially liked the whitewashed cottages, with their thatched -roofs, diamond-fashioned window-panes, walls and trellised arches -covered with jasmine and Virginian creepers; their tiny gardens -crowded with foxgloves and roses, and their quaint, their very quaint -chimney-pots, from which arose spiral columns of fleecy-looking smoke. - -It was a pretty village, a pre-eminently peaceful village; a village -that was rendered almost fantastic by the close proximity of a queerly -constructed water-mill; it was a sunny village, remarkably hot in -summer, but intensely cold in winter. - -The stream to which I have alluded ran its tortuous course through a -succession of open meadows. In the corner of one was a pond, a deep -and silent piece of water that was supposed to be connected in some -way with the miniature river. It struck me as a very proper place for -a bathe, the weeping willows that fringed its margins affording an -effectual screen to the prying eyes of children; whilst the gently -sloping banks of spongy grass were softer to the tread than any towel. - -To add to my inducements the sun was unusually hot, which made the -thought of a bath very tempting after my long tramp over dry monotonous -roads. - -Plunging in, I was, however, immeasurably surprised to find that, -despite the abnormal heat, the water was icy cold, and that the -scalding rays from above did not appear to have the slightest effect on -the temperature. - -Taking a few rapid strokes, I found myself nearing the opposite bank, -and was preparing to turn about when a sudden panic seized me, and, -fancying I was being pursued, I scrambled ashore. - -Seeing nothing, and consequently assured that my fears were due to -the trickeries of imagination, I once again entered the water and was -well on my return voyage when I experienced the same sensation. I -seemed to feel the presence of some extremely hostile and repulsive -body--something that lived in the pool and bitterly resented intrusion. -So strong was this feeling that I would not on any account have bathed -there again--at least, not alone. - -In response to my inquiries in the village, I learned that the meadow, -which went by the name of “The Way,” bore a very evil reputation, -being carefully avoided by the local people after nightfall. Though -nothing had been actually seen there, those who had attempted to cross -the field in the dusk emphatically declared they were assailed by an -“invisible something” that was indescribably cold and horrid, and that -they only escaped from it after the most strenuous exertions. - -Nothing short of force would induce a dog or a horse to enter the -meadow, and farmers fought shy of letting their cattle graze there; -indeed, should any farmer be so foolish as to do so his beasts -invariably died. - -I suppose I looked a trifle sceptical at this, as the blacksmith -remarked: “Don’t smile, sir; if you saw Way Field, and especially the -pool, after twilight, you would form a very different idea of it to -what you do now. In the day-time it is, as you see, all sunlight and -daisies, an ideal spot for tea in the hay; but in the evening the -aspect undergoes a complete change. The temperature is invariably lower -there than it is in any of the other meadows, whilst the shadows that -crowd upon the grass are not in the least representative of any trees! -Curious, sir, is it not?” - -I readily agreed it was curious, and I was so deeply impressed by -all that had occurred that, years afterwards, when chance once again -brought me in the district, I lost no time in setting off to visit the -pond. - -To my astonishment it was gone, and its site was now occupied by the -kitchen garden of a large house, evidently the abode of some person of -means. - -I made inquiries and had but little difficulty in obtaining an -introduction to the owner who was not only acquainted with what I -already knew, but was able and willing to give me further information, -with the stipulation, however, that on no account must I mention either -his name or that of the locality. He wanted, he explained, to sell the -place and he could not hope to get a fair price for it, if the story of -the hauntings appeared in print. - -“I have been here three years!” he began, “during which time I have -had no less than eight housekeepers and twenty-five servants (my usual -staff consists of four); that signifies a good few changes. Eh?” - -“Yes, it has been a confounded nuisance!” he went on, “none of them -would stay on account of the ghost! I pooh-poohed the thing at first, -although I honestly felt there was something very queer about the -place, but when one after another came to me with the same yarns, I was -obliged to admit there might be something in it. - -“Their complaints, though differing slightly in small -technicalities--due, perhaps, to their unequal descriptive powers--were -on the whole co-incidental; frightful dreams, sudden awakenings -without any apparent cause, strange creakings on the staircases, the -foot-falls of something soft and indefinable, the rattling and turning -of door handles, and over and above everything else the most pronounced -feeling of insecurity. - -“‘I won’t on any account remain downstairs after the rest have gone to -bed,’ one of my housekeepers observed on my asking her to sit up for -me, ‘the very first night I stayed here--before I had heard any rumour -of the place being haunted--I underwent the most unpleasant sensations -on being left alone. I instinctively felt some uncanny creature had -begun to walk the house as soon as the lights were out. No, sir. I am -ready and anxious to fulfil all my other duties, save this, and if it -is really indispensable, why I fear, sir, you must get someone else in -my place.’ - -“This I promptly did, but all to no effect. The newcomer had not been -with me a week before she approached me with a very woe-begone face. - -“‘I am sorry, sir,’ she said, ‘I must give notice. I am by no means -nervous, indeed I have always laughed at ghosts, but there is something -unmistakably the matter with this place, especially the garden!’ - -“‘The garden!’ I exclaimed, ‘Come, it’s the first time I have heard -there’s anything amiss with the garden.’ - -“‘But not the last, I’ll warrant you,’ she remarked caustically. ‘Why -sir, unless I am very much mistaken, the origin of the disturbances -lies in that garden, over there,’ and she shot a bony forefinger (why -should housekeepers invariably have bony fingers?) in the direction of -the filled-in pond. ‘As I was gathering some lettuce there last night -I felt (I could see nothing) some horribly cold and sticky thing clasp -me in its arms. It must have been hiding among the raspberry canes. -Struggling with all my might I managed to free myself just as a mass of -fetid jelly was closing over my throat and mouth. Oh! how desperately -I struggled, and what a blessed relief it was to be free from that -loathsome presence. I can assure you, sir, I ran across the garden as -fast as any girl, nor did I pause for one second, till Johnson and -one of the maids came to my assistance. They did not ask me what had -happened, bless you sir, they knew! Nor was a word said about it at -supper, no one dare even as much as mention the thing by gaslight!’ - -“It was useless, Mr. O’Donnell, to try and persuade the woman to remain -with me after THAT, she went and, by the bye, I have just heard she has -recently undergone an operation for tumour in some provincial hospital. - -“With my next housekeeper I was rather more fortunate. She stayed with -me for more than six months before showing any of the usual signs of -restlessness. - -“Then she came to the point without the least embarrassment, springing -her surprise on me over the breakfast cups. - -“‘I must leave!’ she said demurely, proceeding at the same time to pour -out the coffee, ‘there is a certain dampness here that is very trying -to one subject to rheumatism, as well as to one’s nerves.’ - -“I started guiltily. ‘A dampness! Nerves! you astonish me,’ I -stammered, ‘pray explain yourself.’ She did so. - -“‘What I mean is,’ she observed, ‘that I can never enter the lower part -of the kitchen garden without being persistently followed by a “mist”--I -should have put it down to mere imagination, had I not accidentally -heard some one speak about the ghost, and I at once concluded that the -mist must in some way be connected with it--am I not right?’ - -“Of course I assented--what else could I do? - -“‘I thought so,’ she went on demurely, ‘I suppose you do not think it -necessary to tell your applicants the place is haunted?’ - -“I shook my head feebly and muttered: ‘Continue.’ - -“‘Last night,’ she said, ‘the mist was more pertinacious than ever--it -not only pursued me in the garden, but came to my window after I had -gone to bed. I was looking at the moon when the temperature of the room -suddenly fell to zero, the moonlight blurred, and to my amazement I saw -the mist clinging to the window-pane. Mr. ----, I am not a nervous woman -as a rule, but I wouldn’t stay in this house another month under any -conditions.’ - -“She went--and once again I had to go through all the bother of -advertising. The wretched thing now began to haunt more vigorously -than ever. It attacked Emily, the cook, on the kitchen staircase, and -Mark, my general factotum, in the stables, both leaving in consequence, -and both being afterwards taken very ill. Indeed it was the report -of their illness that prompted me to wage war against the ghost--if -I had to leave the house, it should not be till I had ascertained -something more definite about my enemy. I would try and discover its -identity--what it actually was! With this end in view I laid every -trap imaginable, my ingenuity being at length rewarded by finding a -faint and barely perceptible impression on the surface of a very large -tray full of a carefully prepared mixture of gelatine and wax. I had -placed the tray in one of the passages usually frequented by the EVIL -PRESENCE. On examining the impression under a powerful microscope I -fancied I could detect innumerable granules composed of radiating -threads with bulbous terminations. - -“Elated at my success and wondering very much what it represented, I -took a photograph of the impression and sent it to a medical friend--a -bacteriologist--in London, whom I knew to be interested in psychical -research. In the course of a few days he came to see me, and, pointing -to the wax tablet, remarked: - -“‘I showed the photograph you sent me to some of my colleagues, and we -came to the conclusion that the impression bore a distinct likeness to -a number of actinomyces, which, as you may know, are a kind of fungi -inimically disposed to every kind of animal--cattle in particular. -Indeed they are in the main responsible for one of the most common and -deadly bovine diseases which is called actinomycosis, and is acquired -by cattle eating infected barley or other cereal, the actinomyces -adhering to the tongue or jaw. - -“‘In man the disease is very similar in its clinical character and may -be caused by a number of organisms belonging to the streptothrix group -(I fear this is rather too technical for you) forming colonies in the -tissues and obtaining access to the body from a carious tooth or not -infrequently from the tonsil. - -“‘The disease is sometimes wrongfully diagnosed as tuberculosis; it -usually occurs in farmers, millers, and others who are brought in -contact with grain; it has a tendency to spread locally, and although -not dangerous in itself, may become so by attacking important organs or -by becoming generalised, thereby giving rise to pyæmic abscesses in all -parts of the body. - -“‘In the description of the assault on your housekeeper, to which you -gave special prominence (and rightly so) in your letter, you mentioned -that the EVIL PRESENCE tried to “get at her mouth”--well that would be -in strict accordance with the _modus operandi_ of actinomyces, the -primary endeavour of which is to obtain a passage through the lips. -Furthermore, you gathered from local gossip that the unfortunate woman -had undergone an operation in some provincial hospital for tumours; -now tumours are usually one of the sure indications of the nature and -progress of the disease. - -“‘Lastly, you referred to fatality in any cattle allowed to graze in -the haunted meadow. Now you know from what I have already told you that -cattle are the favourite victims of the fungi. - -“‘From these deductions then, one must inevitably arrive at the -conclusion--that the haunting here is due to nothing more or less than -the phantasm of a giant mass of ACTINOMYCES--and as this type of spirit -would undoubtedly be proof against exorcism my only advice to you is to -shut up the house and go.’ - -“Afterwards, with a view to corroborate my friend’s theory, partly -for his satisfaction, partly for my own, I am afraid, Mr. O’Donnell, -I agreed to rather a cruel thing--the proposal being that we should -experiment on one of our dogs--Spot. Turning him loose in the lower -extremity of the garden, we took up a position in the loft of a -neighbouring barn, where we clearly saw each act in the grim but -exciting drama. - -“To begin with, Spot did not at all appreciate being left alone. -From the very first he manifested distinct signs of uneasiness, his -preliminary barks of disapproval speedily changing to those of fear and -culminating in howls of positive terror, as tucking his tail between -his legs, he careered madly round the enclosure. - -“He did not, however, keep up this pace for long, but soon showed -unmistakable signs of flagging, coming to an abrupt halt sooner than we -had expected. - -“The Evil Presence had, we felt sure, got hold of him. - -“Thrust back on his haunches and snapping viciously, his eyes -protruding and his mouth foaming, poor Spot presented such an -appearance of impotence and terror that I rose to interfere and would -doubtless have done so, had I not been persuaded to the contrary by my -medical friend, whose professional interests he either could not or -would not sacrifice for the sake of sentiment. - -“Poor Spot eventually died, and our _post mortem_ pointed to -ACTINOMYCOSIS--his body being literally perforated with abscesses. - -“Thus you see, Mr. O’Donnell, in discovering the identity of the -phantasm I accomplished--in part at all events--my purpose; the cause of -the haunting must, I am afraid, remain a mystery.”[5] - - [5] In a subsequent volume I have attempted to give a - satisfactory solution. - - - - -NO. -- HACKHAM TERRACE SWINDON - -THE GHASTLY SCREAMS ON THE STAIRCASE - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead - - Cause of hauntings: Unknown - - -Last December I journeyed up from Cornwall, as usual, to the annual -concert given by my old school, Clifton College, and at the subsequent -House Supper I made the acquaintance of several O. C.s who were -considerably my juniors in point of age. - -We chatted together for a long time, and in the course of our -conversation touched upon the superphysical. - -“You couldn’t have a better authenticated instance of a haunted house,” -one of my young friends remarked, “than that of No. --, Hackham Terrace, -Swindon. Isn’t that so, Neilson? You come from Swindon.” - -Neilson agreed. - -“I know the people who live there,” my informant, Jarvis, continued, -“and they have seen and heard the phantasm over and over again.” - -“What form does it take?” I asked. - -“A shrieking woman’s.” - -“Like the ghost of Tehiddy,” I ejaculated. - -“I have never heard of the ghost of Tehiddy,” Jarvis rejoined, “but -I cannot conceive anything more gruesome than the Hackham Terrace -apparition. Let me tell you some of Mrs. Belmont’s experiences. - -“You must know the house is quite new, the Belmont’s being the first -tenants, and that nothing has been discovered, so far, that can in any -way account for the hauntings. - -“To proceed, about a month after they had taken the house, every one -was aroused in the middle of the night by a succession of the most -unearthly screams, coming, so it seemed, from the basement of the house. - -“For some seconds no one ventured out of their rooms, and then, Mrs. -Belmont very pluckily taking the lead, other members of the family -followed her down-stairs. - -“Arriving at the commencement of the passage leading to the kitchen, -they all saw an indefinable black object lying on the ground. - -“Frozen to the spot with horror, the Belmonts watched the thing slowly -rise, developing as it did so until it assumed the appearance and -dimensions of a gigantic naked woman. But what was so inconceivably -horrid about her was the face: she had no eyes, their places being -filled by ordinary flesh. - -“Confronting them for some moments in silence, she suddenly and -without the least warning assumed a horizontal position in mid-air, -dematerialised, and passed through the wall in the guise of a -rectangular mass of pale blue light. Could anything be more ghastly?” - -“It has parallels in the luminous woman known as Proctor’s ghost, -Wellington, near Newcastle, and in a house, also new, in Portishead. -Can you tell me any further experiences there?” - -“Yes,” Jarvis rejoined; “one of the servants was breaking coal in -the cellar one evening, when the hammer was unceremoniously snatched -from her hand, the candle blown out, and a blue, tatooed arm thrust -so roughly against her face that one of her front teeth was actually -loosened. - -“She screamed, and the arm vanished. - -“Still another incident: One of the Belmont boys, Percy, was preparing -to get into bed one night, when something caught him sharply by the -foot, and looking down, he saw to his surprise a large hairy hand -encircling his ankle. - -“He particularly noticed the nails, which, though filbert in shape, -were excessively long and dirty. - -“Mumbling a prayer, the first that came into his mind, he emphasised -it by a violent kick. He could not say which produced the desired -effect--the prayer or the kick--but the hand let go its hold, and the -next moment a shapeless mass of blue something rising from the bed, and -hovering for the briefest duration of time on a level with his eyes, -disappeared through the ceiling. - -“On another occasion, when Mrs. Belmont was in the conservatory -watering flowers, one of the pots behind her suddenly fell to the -ground with a crash. - -“She turned round and found herself confronted by a blue face that -occupied the spot where the pot had stood. - -“Too dismayed and startled even to think of escape, she stood rooted to -the spot, gazing at the evil thing in open-mouthed horror. What was it? - -“Though resembling a man in contour and features, its expression was -too thoroughly bestial to belong to anything human. - -“The eyes, deep, sunken and lurid, leered malignantly at her, whilst -the mouth was distorted into a diabolical grin. - -“The apparition had no body. - -“Mrs. Belmont is of the opinion she might have stayed there till -doomsday had not the unexpected arrival of the gardener scared the -thing away--it disappeared as he entered the greenhouse door and its -place was once again taken by the flower-pot! - -“Mrs. Belmont had another unpleasant experience only this week. - -“As she was crossing the landing to her bedroom one morning, some one -seized her by her shoulders, and, pulling her violently backwards, -threw her on the floor. - -“She was then gripped by the throat (so firmly that the impressions of -the fingers could be seen next day), and on looking up she encountered -the same awful face she had seen in the conservatory. - -“The hateful thing was now in full possession of a body which, blue and -hairy, accorded well with the strangely animal expression in its eyes. - -“Mrs. Belmont was too fascinated and horror-stricken to struggle, and -she thinks she would undoubtedly have been strangled had not succour -once again arrived at the most opportune moment. - -“Her rescuer this time was Bruce, a very pugnacious Irish terrier. - -“Nothing daunted, and contrary to what one is led to expect from the -generality of psychic tales, Bruce flew at the figure. - -“The phantasm immediately dissolved into a blue vapour and vanished. - -“I could enumerate many other occasions on which similar occult -phenomena occurred in the house; sometimes the eyeless woman would be -seen gliding down the staircase or heard screaming in the passages; at -other times the blue man would pounce upon his unsuspecting victims -out of some dark sequestered corner, or frighten them to the verge -of a fit, by simply peering at them through a door or window--the -manifestations always terminating in a bluish vapour.” - -“The house, you say, was quite new,” I observed. - -Jarvis nodded. - -“Then the history of the hauntings,” I replied, “must either be in -some piece of furniture or in the ground itself. The blue man with the -bestial expression in his face and tatoo-marks on his arms suggests to -me the probability that he is a phantasm of an ancient Celt. - -“Possibly he was a suicide or murderer; possibly he was neither, but is -merely tied to this earth by his animal propensities--in either case, he -would hover round the place of his burial, and his naturally ferocious -spirit would be rendered doubly ferocious at being disturbed. - -“The woman, of course, may have been some one associated with him in -this life--the lack of eyes the sign of some dreadful depravity in her -nature.”[6] - - [6] A more thorough solution to these hauntings will appear in - a subsequent volume. - - - - -APPENDIX TO NO. -- HACKHAM TERRACE, SWINDON - - -At Jarvis’s request, I related to him the story of “The Screaming Woman -of Tehiddy,” taken from a collection of remarkable narratives on the -certainty of supernatural visitations from the dead to the living, -impartially compiled from the works of Baxter, Wesley, Simpson, &c. - -I chose this tale as the least hackneyed and best authenticated of the -many accounts I had heard of similar occult phenomena. It is given in -the original text, the extracts being taken from the letter of one -“S. W.” to his friend “Charles.” - -“I had occasion one day,” he writes, “to visit the hamlet of Barnley, -some miles distant from Tehiddy, where I was staying with some -relations. My stay was unexpectedly prolonged till a late hour, and -having promised to be at home before night, I was compelled to set -out on my return much after the period at which it ought to have been -commenced. Part of my road lay through a thick and lonely forest, and I -confess that the task of traversing it would have been more agreeable -at an earlier opportunity. - -“My spirits were affected from some indefinable cause, and the chill, -dark journey I was preparing to take did not tend to raise them. I -swallowed a hasty cup of coffee with my friend, shook him cordially by -the hand, and mounting my horse, was soon at a considerable distance -from his house. - -“I was approaching the verge of the forest, and had just entered a -narrow outlet from it, when I heard the roll of distant thunder and -felt the wet and heavy droppings of a copious rain. Having scarcely a -league farther to travel before I reached home, I determined to urge -my horse to the utmost, and escape, if possible, by his speed, from -the impending storm. He broke at once into a gallop, when I struck -him with the spur, but had scarcely gone a hundred paces before I was -thrown from the saddle by his abrupt stopping, and pitched with the -greatest violence to the ground. I lay stunned for a few moments by the -fall; the first thing that brought me to a sense of my situation was a -_hoarse scream_, uttered by some person who breathed close to my ear. -The rein, which I had continued to grasp in falling, was at that moment -torn violently out of my hand--I heard the noise of my courser’s hoofs -as he started back--the scream was repeated, and something rushed past -me that clanked as it went like a horseman’s heavy iron-cased sabre. -I sprang up from the earth and threw out my arms to ascertain if any -individual were actually passing; but the avenue was so narrow that I -touched the hedges on each side of it, and felt instantly convinced -that nothing human could have gone by. A recollection now flashed upon -me that there was a tale of extreme horror connected with this part of -the forest, and in spite of the principles which I summoned to my aid, -it was in a mood of mingled desperation and amazement that I reflected -on the circumstances with which my memory supplied me. - -“The infirmary of Tehiddy, about twenty years ago, contained a female -patient who was known by the name of Martha, and had been admitted to -that asylum at the instance of a stranger. He stated himself to be -her husband, and assured the director of the institution, with the -appearance of the deepest sorrow, that she laboured under a lunacy of -the most stubborn sort, which nothing but the most severe discipline -attributed to his house was likely to abate. - -“He advanced a large sum for the maintenance of this unhappy creature, -saw her lodged in one of the strongest cells of the establishment, and, -having recommended an unsparing use of the scourge, thought proper to -depart. His meaning was not misunderstood. The shrieks of poor Martha -were heard day and night in the vicinity of her dungeon, and suspicions -soon prevailed that she was being sacrificed to the cruelty of her -merciless keepers. An investigation of the case was proposed by some -humane and spirited people, but a calamity of the most awful kind put a -stop to their endeavours. Martha was found dead on the borders of the -forest, at the very spot I have described to you, a piece of ragged -iron being clenched in her grasp, with which she had torn and gashed -her throat in a dreadful manner. The escape of this wretched being was -never well explained, and hints were dropped that she had not left the -prison alive. Her bloody and mangled remains excited a strong sensation -among those who inspected them. Marks of the chain and the whip were -conspicuous on every part of her body, and long tufts of her thin grey -hair were glued together by the stream that had issued from a deep -fracture in her head. The tokens of suicide, however, were undeniable, -and the remains of the poor maniac were in consequence buried near the -place where they were found. - -“This occurrence had scarcely ceased to be the subject of conversation, -when the whole town of Tehiddy was agitated by events of a yet more -appalling character. _Hoarse screams_ were heard in the still dark -hours of night, and a pale bloodless face was seen pressing against -several of the chamber windows. Fraud or delusion were naturally -suspected in a business of this nature, and the most scrutinising -inquiries were made into the evidence on which it rested. No detection -took place, and the screams soon became so frequent that not a person -continued to question their existence. - -“It was midnight when I reached home, exhausted by anxiety and fatigue, -and, being provided with a key to my apartments, the people of the -house had not waited up to receive me. I drew off my boots and upper -coat as a preliminary to the act of undressing, and seated myself in a -large antique chair, from which, when divested of my clothes, I usually -stepped into bed. Here I fell asleep owing to excessive weariness, and -may the next slumber that is likely to end in so horrible a way be -never broken. - -“A dream was upon me full of blood and death; the shrieking maniac -flitted through my brain in a thousand forms, and seemed, at one time, -to stand over me brandishing a sword of fire. - -“The next moment, I lay benumbed, as it were, in my seat, while the -maniac advanced from a dark corner of the room, bearing in her right -hand a human skull replete with some poisonous sort of drink. This -horrible potion was lifted to my lips, which seemed to shut in vain -against it, the long, bony fingers of the phantom being thrust into my -mouth, so as to force a passage for her accursed mixture. It trickled -down to my very heart in slow, cold drops, and when lodged there -seemed, by a sudden transition, to burn and glow like flames of Etna; -spellbound as I was, such extreme agony passed my powers of endurance. -I uttered a frantic cry and sprang up from the chair, darting towards -the hag by whom my torment was inflicted. The glare of her red eyes -grew stronger as I advanced, and a lean, sallow arm was put out to -repel me. Fearing the detested touch, I hastily drew back; some article -of furniture intercepted me; I fell, and was plunged from the fall into -a chasm, which opened through the floor. The shock of this awoke me, -and the first proof I obtained of my actual perception was the sound of -that _hoarse scream_ which a few hours before had been uttered in the -forest. This scream was repeated--it seemed to issue from the windows. -I heard the casement flap, as if a strong wind were shaking it; and -though my sinews shrank and withered at the noise, yet I staggered to -this window as fast as my feet would carry me. A ray of light flashed -in as I reached it, and there, pressed close against the glass, I saw -the same pale, bloodless visage that has been already figured to you. - -“Maddened by the sight, I clenched my hand and drove it fiercely at the -apparition. - -“Its lips quivered--the _scream_ rang again through the apartment. I was -found next day without sense or motion, my hand dreadfully cut, and the -window shivered to pieces.” - - - - -PARK HOUSE, WESTMINSTER - -THE CAVALIER’S GHOST - - Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead - - Source of authenticity: Miscellaneous collection of Ghost Stories - by Baxter, Wesley and Simpson - - Cause of haunting: Murder - - - (The following story is told _ad verbum_ in the language of the - eye-witness, the quaintness of his style being accounted for - by the period in which he lived.) - - -“I was always a very strong-minded man, and, until the time about which -I am going to speak, always ridiculed the idea of ghosts. - -“You must know that about two years ago[7] I went to lodge at an -ancient house in Westminster, where nothing remarkable happened to me -for about three months; and then, on a night in November (too well do I -remember it), I saw such an appalling sight as I never before beheld. - - [7] (Probably 1780.--ED.) - -“Even were I starving to-morrow, I would not again enter that room--no, -not for a thousand pounds! I had been to the theatre, and on my way -home had drunk a single pint of porter, so that no doubt of my sobriety -can exist for a moment. - -“My room was on the second storey of a house that, I should suppose, -had weathered well-nigh four hundred years, and was in former days an -isolated habitation. - -“The room, surrounded by a wainscoting of oak to the height of five -feet, was very lofty, and even in the lightest days, owing to the -narrowness of the windows, was extremely gloomy. As I said before, -I returned from the theatre, and the snuff of the candle, which I -had extinguished on getting into bed, had not ceased to emit its -disagreeable effluvia when I beheld--my blood freezes when I think of -it--a young man, dressed in the habit of days gone by, gliding through -the wainscoting on the opposite side of the apartment to where I lay. - -“I was completely paralysed--trembled violently in every limb--and the -perspiration fell in torrents from my brows. - -“I felt for some time as if every nerve was cut asunder and every sense -benumbed. - -“I exerted myself to speak, but in vain; my tongue cleaved to the roof -of my mouth, and I was obliged to remain a horror-stricken and inactive -spectator of the scene before me. - -“The apparition remained for nearly ten minutes, which was ample time -for me to convince myself that it was no idle chimera of a diseased -imagination that stood before me. Yet although it remained so long a -time, I could not command sufficient resolution to challenge it or -summon any one to my aid--for I felt as though deprived of all energy, -and, in fact, I was so during the whole time of its visit, though my -sense of perception and consciousness were painfully acute. - -“The expression of the countenance was peculiarly mild, and the -rich dark locks falling about the forehead and shoulders, and the -mustachios of the same hue, showed in horrid relief against the ashy, -chilling, and livid hue of the face. - -“He wore a doublet of a kind of chocolate colour, richly embroidered -with gold lace, full loose breeches of a yellow leather, ornamented -uniformly with the doublet, and from each was suspended a bunch of -ribbon, adorned with a metal tag, reaching down nearly to the broad and -drooping tops of his light russet boots. - -“A large travelling-cloak of dark blue cloth reached from the shoulders -down to the heels, hanging in full folds over the left arm, which was -extended towards the fireplace of my apartment. - -“While I was gazing on him in stupid astonishment and terror, he raised -his right hand, and lifting from his head his broad, sable-feathered -hat, discovered to my agonising sight a deep and bloody wound in the -centre of the forehead. - -“This action he then followed up with sighs and gesticulations which, -although I could not clearly understand, were apparently intended to -warn me of some impending danger. - -“Harrowing as the sight was to my feelings, it was a mere nothing -to what I suffered when I beheld him advance, slowly and almost -imperceptibly, towards the spot where I lay, and fixing his dark, -piercing gaze upon me for nearly a minute, hold me in a more painful -and horrid inactivity than that in which the basilisk is said to hold -its victim. - -“Although I knew from the expression in his eyes he wished me to -speak, and much as I desired to hear from him some of the mysteries -attached to the superphysical world, I could not articulate a sound (a -phenomenon which I have since learned invariably happens to psychists -at the crucial moment). - -“At length he retired towards the wainscot, and raising both his -hands in the attitude of prayer, remained apparently wrapped in -deep contemplation for nearly three minutes, and then suddenly -disappeared--sinking into the floor at the bottom of the wainscotting. -As you may well suppose, I did not close my eyes again that night, but -as soon as it was light I proceeded to my landlord’s room, roused him, -and demanded to settle my account, for I determined in my own mind -never to re-enter the house which was visited in so superhuman a manner. - -“With astonishment in his countenance, he received the amount of my -rent, at the same time inquiring what had caused this sudden aversion -to my apartment. - -“I answered evasively, and as I left him I thought I observed a kind -of lurking consciousness of something wrong in his countenance, which -led me to surmise he was fully aware of the mysterious visits of the -apparition; and so it proved in the end, for, happening to meet him one -day in the park, I inveigled him into confessing that it was reported -in the neighbourhood that the house, and particularly the room in which -I slept, was haunted by the troubled spirit of a young cavalier of King -Charles the Second’s days, said to have been murdered there. ‘And,’ he -added, ‘during the time he had kept the house, no less than nine people -had left the apartment on account of the disturbances. He had concealed -this from me,’ he concluded, ‘fearing I might add one more to the list -of lodgers scared away by the supernatural vision.’” - - - - -GLOSSARY - - - ELEMENTAL. Otherwise known as Poltergeist. There are too many species - of this genus of spirit for me to attempt a classification in this - work. Broadly defined, an Elemental is a phantasm that has never - inhabited any kind of earthly body whether animal or vegetable. It - may be sub-human, as in the case of the Clock-ghost of Mulready; - sub-animal, as in the case of the Guilsborough apparition; or - sub-vegetable, as in the case of the ACTINOMYCES phenomenon near - Bath. - - It is generally, but not always inimically disposed towards man. - One type of it, viz., the gnome, pixie, &c., avoid humanity as - much as possible; other types are merely mischievous, delighting - to frighten children by visiting their nurseries or pouncing out - upon them when at play in some deserted building or lonely by-road; - whilst other species are wholly evil, generating bacilli of foul - diseases or urging man to the commission of vicious acts and crime. - Their origin I reserve for another volume. - - GHOST. The general name for phantasms, &c. - - HALLUCINATION. Any supposed sensory perception that has no objective - counterpart within field of vision, hearing, &c. - - CLAIRVOYANCE. The faculty or art of perceiving some distant scene - as though an actual eye-witness. A clairvoyant is often able to - describe (unconsciously) what he is witnessing. - - DELUSION. Fancy. When one imagines one sees or hears something and - it exists ONLY in imagination. Hallucinations are either delusive, - when there is nothing to which they correspond in the objective - world, or veridical, when they correspond with events taking place - somewhere. - - ILLUSION. Misinterpretation of some object actually present to the - sight, as, for example, when a cloak hanging on a peg is mistaken - for a man, or a ringing in the ears for sounds of bells. - - METETHERICAL WORLD. The world beyond the ether, synonyms--spiritual, - superphysical. - - PHANTASM. A ghost. Any occult phenomenon that is either visual or - auditory as distinct from a phantom which is only visual: or, - indeed, any superphysical presence that conveys the impression of - touch, smell, &c. - - SUGGESTION. Process of impressing upon a person’s intelligence or - mind the thoughts and wishes of another intelligence or mind; - or ideas engendered by the appearance of certain localities, - furniture, &c., or simply by the atmosphere. - - - Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED - Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London - - - - -Transcriber’s note - -Text in italics was surrounded with _underscores_, and text in small -capitals was changed to all capitals. Footnotes were placed after -the paragraph they refer to. - -Small errors in punctuation were corrected without note. Also the -following changes were made, on page - - 32 “or” changed to “for” (Nor was I mistaken, for, on putting) - 34 “momentory” changed to “momentary” (in momentary terror of some - fresh phenomenon) - 47 “stifly” changed to “stiffly” (he said, bowing stiffly) - 89 “nighfall” changed to “nightfall” (a very wide berth after - nightfall) - 94 “give” changed to “gave” (parents who gave him a liberal - education) - 117 ? changed to ! (they improvised an oven in the earth and ate it!) - 146 “stool” changed to “stood” (lane in which the haunted elm stood) - 149 “suprising” changed to “surprising” (it is not surprising that - they are now). - -Otherwise the original was preserved, including inconsistencies in -spelling, hyphenation, etc. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Haunted Houses of England & Wales., by -Elliott O'Donnell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME HAUNTED HOUSES *** - -***** This file should be named 51568-0.txt or 51568-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/5/6/51568/ - -Produced by eagkw and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |