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margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 80%;} -.fnanchor {vertical-align: top; font-size: 70%; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;} - -.bbox {border: solid thin; padding: .2em; max-width: 16em; - text-align: center; margin: auto; display: table;} -.bbox p {font-size: 80%; padding-top: 1em;} -ul.lsoff {list-style-type: none;} -li {font-size: 80%; margin-left: -2em; - padding-left: 0; padding-right: 1em; text-align: left;} - -.tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; - margin-top: 4em; padding: .5em 1em .5em 1em; font-size: 80%; - background-color: #eeeeee;} -.tn {text-align: center; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; - text-indent: 0;} - -@media handheld { - div.footnotes, div.sgn, p.sign - {page-break-before: avoid;} - p.add {page-break-after: avoid;} - hr.l1 {margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%} - hr.l2 {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%} - hr.l3 {width: 2%; margin-left: 48%; margin-right: 48%;} - .pagenum {display: none;} - .bbox {width: 40%; margin-right: 30%; margin-left: 30%; - display: block;} - table {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; display: block; - max-width: 60%;} - span.lowcap {font-size: 80%; text-transform: uppercase;} - div.sgn, div.figright {float: right;} -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -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) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter1"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="394" height="619" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - - -<h1>SOME HAUNTED HOUSES</h1> - -<div class="figright"> -<img src="images/logo.png" width="104" height="124" alt="Logo" /> -</div> - -<hr class="l1" /> - -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="center"> -<i>NOVELS BY<br /> -ELLIOTT O’DONNELL</i><br /> -</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/thingy.png" width="23" height="6" alt="Thingy" /> -</div> - -<ul class="lsoff"> -<li>FOR SATAN’S SAKE</li> -<li>THE UNKNOWN DEPTHS</li> -<li>JENNIE BARLOWE, ADVENTURESS</li> -<li>DINEVAH THE BEAUTIFUL</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<hr class="l1" /> - - -<p class="tp1"> -SOME<br /> -HAUNTED HOUSES<br /> -<span class="f6">OF ENGLAND & WALES</span> -</p> - -<p class="tp2"> -BY<br /> -<br /> -<span class="f12">ELLIOTT O’DONNELL</span><br /> -<span class="f7">ASSOCIATE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH</span> -</p> - -<p class="tp3"> -LONDON<br /> -<span class="f12">EVELEIGH NASH</span><br /> -<span class="f9">FAWSIDE HOUSE</span><br /> -<span class="f8">1908</span> -</p> - -<hr class="l1" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">In</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="sign">Elliott O’Donnell.</p> - -<p class="sign1">Guilsborough, Northampton.</p> - -<hr class="l1" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr> - <th> </th> - <th>PAGE</th> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">The Green Bank Hotel, Bardsley</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#THE_GREEN_BANK_HOTEL">9</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">No. — Southgate Street, Bristol</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#NO_SOUTHGATE_STREET">15</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Mulready Villa, near Basingstoke</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#MULREADY_VILLA_NEAR">26</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">No. — Park Street, Bath</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#NO_PARK_STREET_BATH">42</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">The Minery, Devon</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#THE_MINERY_DEVON">53</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Thurlow Hall, near Exeter</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#THURLOW_HALL_NEAR">59</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">The Guilsborough Ghost</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#THE_GUILSBOROUGH_GHOST">73</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Wolsey Abbey, near Gloucester</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#WOLSEY_ABBEY_NEAR">97</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">No. XYZ Euston Road, London</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#NO_XYZ_EUSTON_ROAD">106</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Panmaur Hollow, Merioneth</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#PANMAUR_HOLLOW">113</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Catchfield Hall, the Midlands</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#CATCHFIELD_HALL_THE">118</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Burle Farm, North Devon</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#BURLE_FARM_NORTH_DEVON">140</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Carne House, near Northampton</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#CARNE_HOUSE_NEAR">148</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Harley House, Portishead</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#HARLEY_HOUSE_PORTISHEAD">160</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">The Way Meadow, Somerset</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#THE_WAY_MEADOW_SOMERSET">166</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">No. — Hackham House, Swindon</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#NO_HACKHAM_TERRACE">177</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Appendix to above, The Screaming Woman of Tehiddy</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#APPENDIX_TO_NO_HACKHAM">182</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Park House, Westminster</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#PARK_HOUSE_WESTMINSTER">187</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="col2">Glossary</td> - <td class="col3"><a href="#GLOSSARY">191</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - -<hr class="l2" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p class="ttl">HAUNTED HOUSES</p> - -<h2 class="fst"><a name="THE_GREEN_BANK_HOTEL" id="THE_GREEN_BANK_HOTEL"></a>THE GREEN BANK HOTEL,<br /> -BARDSLEY<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE RACE FOR LIFE</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot1"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Phantasms of the dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Evidence of eye-witness</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">One</span> afternoon in the July of this year I took tea -with Lady <span class="nobreak">B——</span> at her club in the West End. -Lady <span class="nobreak">B——</span> 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.</p> - -<p>Now, there is nothing mean nor petty about Lady -<span class="nobreak">B——</span>; she is generosity itself: so kind, so courteous, -and withal so daintily pretty that to be near her, -even, is to be in Elysium.</p> - -<p>Remembering the interest I had always taken in -matters psychical, she had invited several friends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -especially to meet me, and it was from one of them—Miss -Charlotte Napier—that I heard the following -story:</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Outside my room—No. 56—was a long and -somewhat gloomy corridor connecting the old and -new portions of the house.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The footsteps gradually became interpretative—two -people were rushing headlong down the corridor!</p> - -<p>“From the light, flying footsteps of the foremost,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“What on earth had happened? What could -happen in a well-regulated hotel?</p> - -<p>“Fire, robbery, or murder?</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Murder!</span> Great drops of sweat broke out upon -my brow at the bare thought.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“They were awful. I read in them despair, terror, -hate, overshadowed in the background by an insatiable -craving for every imaginable vice.</p> - -<p>“Yet they were beautiful eyes—beautiful both in -formation and colour—too effeminately beautiful -for a man.</p> - -<p>“His hair, which fell in a wild profusion of ringlets -over forehead and shoulders, was of a rich -chestnut hue and most luxuriant.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -betokening the wear and tear of an arduous -campaign.</p> - -<p>“His face, always ugly, and naturally, perhaps, -sullen and forbidding, was now positively diabolical; -rage, hatred, and triumph vieing with one another -for supremacy.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The murderer had barely accomplished his -fiendish design before a deadly sickness came over -me, and I fainted.</p> - -<p>“On recovering consciousness, the room was -once again in darkness, nor could I discover in the -morning any sign whatever of the awful tragedy.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">WOMAN</span>!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="NO_SOUTHGATE_STREET" id="NO_SOUTHGATE_STREET"></a>NO. — SOUTHGATE STREET<br /> -BRISTOL<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE NOTORIOUS SERVANT WHO<br /> -ANSWERS THE DOOR</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: (1) MS. signed by three eye-witnesses; -(2) seen by author himself. Names -of people and locality alone being altered</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">In</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“Doing as she bid, I hastened to the kitchen, -where a strange spectacle met my sight.</p> - -<p>“Kneeling in front of the stove, engaged apparently -in polishing the fender, was a servant-girl with -<span class="lowcap">RED</span> hair; I started back in astonishment. ‘Who -could she be?’</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -displaying an ashen-pale face, the expression on -which literally froze me with horror.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The eldest Miss Rudd now concluded, and on my -expressing a desire to hear more, her youngest sister -very obligingly commenced:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Standing close beside—I might almost say, -leaning against her (though Jane was apparently -unaware of it)—was a strange, a <span class="lowcap">VERY STRANGE</span>, -servant-girl, with <span class="lowcap">RED HAIR</span> 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 <span class="lowcap">HORRID</span>.</p> - -<p>“‘Oh Jane!’ I cried, ‘whoever is it with you?’</p> - -<p>“Following the direction of my gaze, Jane -immediately turned round, and, without a word, -<span class="lowcap">FAINTED</span>.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Will you be so kind as to relate them?” I -inquired.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You see, mother, being delicate, went to bed early, -my sisters were at a concert, and it was Jane’s ‘night -out.’</p> - -<p>“I never, somehow, fancied the basement of the -house; it was so cold and damp, reminding me not a -little of a <span class="lowcap">MORGUE</span> or charnel-house; consequently I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">THING</span> vanished, and ‘turning tail,’ I fled -upstairs into the presence of my mother. That is all.”</p> - -<p>I was profuse in my thanks, and the third Miss -Rudd then spoke:</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“With an ejaculation of alarm I attempted to -brush it aside, and opening my eyes, encountered a -ghastly white face bending right over me.</p> - -<p>“I instantly recognised it, by the description my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -sisters had given, as the phantasm of the red-headed -girl.</p> - -<p>“The eyes were <span class="lowcap">TERRIBLE</span>! 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.”</p> - -<p>“Did your mother ever see it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Frequently,” the eldest Miss Rudd replied, “and -it was chiefly on her account we relinquished our -tenancy—her nervous system was completely prostrated.”</p> - -<p>“Other people saw the ghost besides us,” the -youngest Miss Rudd interrupted, “for not only did -the long succession of maids after Jane <span class="lowcap">ALL</span> see it, -but many of the subsequent tenants; the house was -never let for any length of time.”</p> - -<p>“Then, perhaps, it is empty now?” I soliloquised, -“in which case I shall most certainly experiment -there.”</p> - -<p>This proved to be the case; the house was tenantless, -and I easily prevailed upon the agent to loan -me the key.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A one-night’s test, however, is no test at all; there -is no reason to suppose apparitions are always to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A long and sleek cockroach disappeared leisurely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>I glanced at the narrow, tortuous staircase winding -upwards into the grim possibilities of the deserted -hall and landings—and—my courage failed.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">COULD</span> 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—<span class="lowcap">FURTHER</span>.</p> - -<p>My self-respect returning, I felt in my pocket for -pencil, notebook and revolver, and trimming my -lamp I mounted the stairs.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The landing was so cramped, so hopeless.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -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 <span class="lowcap">KNEW</span> it would ascend.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">ELEMENTAL</span>.</p> - -<p>The <span class="lowcap">THING</span> had now crossed the hall (I knew this -somehow instinctively) and was beginning to mount -the stairs.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">THING</span> drew nearer, nearer; up, up, -<span class="lowcap">UP</span> 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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">bonâ fide</i> phantasm of the -dead! And without any display of physical power—it -overcame me.</p> - -<p>Happily for me, the duration of its passage was -brief.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">RED HAIR</span> I have never -been able to ascertain.</p> - -<p>P.S.—The Ghost I am informed on very reliable -authority, is still (August 1908) to be seen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="MULREADY_VILLA_NEAR" id="MULREADY_VILLA_NEAR"></a>MULREADY VILLA, NEAR<br /> -BASINGSTOKE<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE BLACK CLOCK</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Either a phantasm -of the dead or sub-human elemental</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Eye-witness</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: A matter of surmise</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">When</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But last year I was unusually lucky, chancing to -find, a passenger on the same boat as myself, Harry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -O’Moore, one of my very best “chums,” from whom -I learned the following story:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Here I thought fit to interrupt.</p> - -<p>“A bog-oak clock!” I exclaimed. “Good gracious -me! what a funny legacy! Had you taken a fancy -to it?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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 -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad infinitum</i> sniffing pines. It intoxicates me; -hence I grew very fond of Hampshire.</p> - -<p>“Let me return to the clock. It came from -Dublin to Bristol <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -my advice, mister!’ he growled, ‘you’ll pitch the -himpish thing in some one helse’s garden rightaway.’ -(How characteristic of the charitable Briton.)</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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!!!’</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“My laughter left me and I shivered.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -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 -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i> taking notice of any one or anything save -myself.</p> - -<p>“Like all the other visitors, however, she never -passed by the clock without pausing to look at it.</p> - -<p>“‘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 -<span class="lowcap">GET RID</span> of it.’</p> - -<p>“Avice was whimsical. What, get rid of the -Ebony Clock! Impossible—the idea tickled me. I -laughed.</p> - -<p>“I laughed then—but not later, when she had -gone and all was quiet.</p> - -<p>“From the hall below I heard it strike one, two, -three—twelve!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Against my will, it made me think, and my -thoughts were none too pleasant.</p> - -<p>“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!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -bump! bump!—just as if something huge and -massive was moving across the hall floor and -ascending the stairs!</p> - -<p>“An icy fear stole all over me! What!—what -in Heaven’s name could it be?</p> - -<p>“I glanced in terror at the door—it was locked—locked -and <span class="lowcap">BOLTED</span>—the village was much frequented -by tramps, and I always went to bed -prepared.</p> - -<p>“But this noise—this series of heavy, mechanical -booms—<span class="lowcap">THIS</span> could never be attributed to any -burglar!</p> - -<p>“It reached the top of the staircase, it pounded -down the passage leading to my room; and then, -with the most terrific crash, it <span class="lowcap">FELL</span> against my -door!</p> - -<p>“I was spellbound—petrified. I dared not—I -<span class="lowcap">COULD NOT</span> move.</p> - -<p>“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—<span class="lowcap">THIS</span> was no -ordinary ticking. The thing breathed, it spoke, -it laughed—laughed in some diabolically ghoulish -manner.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -of equal duration, varied most alarmingly in -intonation.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -question whilst the disturbances continued. I must -get rid of the clock.’</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Christina, the cook, was the first victim.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -knowledge of her isolation—unluckily her room -was completely cut off from any other in the house.</p> - -<p>“Hastily putting away her writing materials, she -was preparing to make a precipitate rush for the -stairs when a peculiar thumping riveted her -attention.</p> - -<p>“Her blood congealed, her legs tottered, she could -not move an inch. What was it?</p> - -<p>“Her heart—only the pulsations of her heart.</p> - -<p>“She burst out laughing. How truly ridiculous.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“She stood and listened. Tick! tick! tick! It -was so unlike any other ticking she had ever heard, -it appalled her.</p> - -<p>“The clock, too, seemed to have become blacker -and even more gigantic.</p> - -<p>“It reared itself above her like a monstrous coffin.</p> - -<p>“She was now too terrified to think of escape, and -could only clutch hold of the bannisters in -momentary terror of some fresh phenomenon.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -replaced by a spasmodic breathing, forcibly suggestive -of something devilish and bestial.</p> - -<p>“At this juncture words cannot convey any idea -of what Christina suffered; nor had she seen the -worst.</p> - -<p>“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.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Swinging -to one side, she narrowly avoided capture and, -glancing upwards, saw something so diabolically -awful that her heart turned to ice.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Such a creature must have owed its origin to -Hell.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>“Christina reported all this to me the next morning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“‘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—<span class="lowcap">FORGET</span> it!!’—and she -shuddered.</p> - -<p>“Partly as a compensation for what she had -undergone and partly to avoid a scandal, I presented -her with a substantial cheque.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“But I did make one concession: I permitted -them to remove it to the summer-house.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“These nocturnal disturbances ceasing, I had -begun to congratulate myself upon having seen the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Nor did this report, as the sequel will show, long -remain unverified.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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?’</p> - -<p>“I glanced at him in ill-disguised terror. His -blanched cheeks and trembling hands told their own -tale—he had seen the clock.</p> - -<p>“‘Thanks awfully,’ he said, replacing the empty -glass on the table. ‘I feel better now—but, by -jove! it <span class="lowcap">DID</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘What was it, then—an anthropoid ape?’ my -Uncle John laughed.</p> - -<p>“The vicar shook his head solemnly.</p> - -<p>“‘I will describe it to you to the best of my ability,’ -he said. ‘To begin with it was naked—stark, -staring naked!’</p> - -<p>“‘How positively indecent,’ murmured Uncle -John, ‘really vicar, I don’t wonder you were -frightened.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - -<p>“‘And then,’ the vicar continued, disregarding -the interruption, ‘it was grey!—from head to foot -a uniform livid grey.’</p> - -<p>“‘A grey monstrosity! Ah! now <span class="lowcap">THAT</span> is interesting!’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I leaned back in my chair and smiled—feebly.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘I could not see its face as its back was turned -on me.</p> - -<p>“‘Urged on by an irresistible impulse (although -half dead with terror), I followed the Thing.</p> - -<p>“‘Striding noiselessly along, it left the spinney, and -crossing several fields entered your grounds by the -gate in the rear of the house.’</p> - -<p>“‘What!’ my uncle roared, banging the table with -his fist, ‘what! do you mean to tell me you allowed -it to come here!’</p> - -<p>“‘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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -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.’</p> - -<p>“‘Is that all?’ my Uncle John inquired.</p> - -<p>“‘It is,’ the vicar replied, ‘and is it not -enough?’</p> - -<p>“My Uncle John got on his feet.</p> - -<p>“‘Before returning a verdict,’ he said, ‘I must see -the clock. Let us go to the summer-house at -once.’</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“It was, however, of no avail; there was no gainsaying -Uncle John when once he had made up his -mind to do anything.</p> - -<p>“We accordingly escorted him without further -delay to the garden.</p> - -<p>“The clock was standing quite peacefully where I -had had it set.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘Come! that explains everything. The Blakes—poor -beggars—were sold up last year, and Kelly’s, -I know, were represented at the sale.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘But let us examine it more carefully to-morrow.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>“I returned the clock anonymously to Kelly’s.”<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="NO_PARK_STREET_BATH" id="NO_PARK_STREET_BATH"></a>NO. — PARK STREET, BATH<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE HORRIBLE COUGHING ON<br /> -THE STAIRS</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot1"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Reliable hearsay evidence</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Bath</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Why was this? Was their landlord a philanthropist, -a Carnegie, a madman, or what?</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -lived in a clerical atmosphere from the day she -was born.</p> - -<p>“But the Rev. Silas Wetherby puzzled her. Had -he been a deacon, a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">locum</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>“Probably she never would have found out why -he behaved in such an odd manner but for an unexpected -occurrence.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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:</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p>“‘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?’</p> - -<p>“‘Drains, I suppose!’ her husband said mournfully, -‘drains or rats!—and I do hate moving.’</p> - -<p>“‘Neither one nor the other!’ the Rev. Silas -whispered. ‘No! the house is haunted.’</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">ENIGMATICAL</span> and <span class="lowcap">FASHIONABLE</span>.</p> - -<p>“‘What’s it haunted by? Teapots?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>’ 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.’</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Hartley puckered her dainty brows into the -most alarming frown.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p>“‘Good gracious me!’ the Rev. Silas cried hastily -replacing the jug. ‘You surely don’t mean to <span class="nobreak">insinuate——’</span></p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“Mr. Wetherby looked a trifle sulky; he fought -shy of sceptics, and he no longer enjoyed his tea.</p> - -<p>“‘Now, mind I don’t ask you to believe me!’ he -began, ‘although there are plenty of people in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“‘The manner of the poisoning was quite orthodox—arsenic -in apple dumplings. There have been -many parallel cases, chiefly, I believe, in Liverpool.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘And it is his ghost that haunts the house?’ -Mrs. Hartley hazarded.</p> - -<p>“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!’</p> - -<p>“The Rev. Silas rose to go. ‘Very well then!’ he -said, bowing stiffly, ‘I could say more—but I won’t!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<p>“‘I am no metaphysician! I will not attempt to -classify <span class="lowcap">YOU</span>. I will only say, “May you never be -<span class="lowcap">AFRAID</span>.”</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p>“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?’</p> - -<p>“In all matters concerning her children Mrs. -Hartley’s instincts were always acute—one or two -of them were babies, even younger than Bobbie.</p> - -<p>“On this occasion, however, Mr. Hartley held his -own. ‘<span class="smcap">Bobbie</span>,’ 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.’</p> - -<p>“The validity of this logic was not lost upon Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -Hartley. She reflected; and then with her customary -adroitness gave a turn to the conversation.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Who could it be? Not the nurse! The nurse -wouldn’t cough in such a deep and hoarse manner!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“What she saw froze her with horror.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The worthy divine wrote as follows:</p> - -<p>“‘If you recollect, at our last meeting I gave you -to understand that I had something further to tell -you <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">re</i> the occult disturbances in your late abode.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘I cannot, of course, explain to you why a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -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.’</p> - -<p>“But Mr. Hartley was perfectly satisfied.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="THE_MINERY_DEVON" id="THE_MINERY_DEVON"></a>THE MINERY, DEVON<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE MAN WITH THE BUCKET</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Letter from the person who -saw the ghost</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - - -<p class="add"> -<span class="add1">Hotel Rietz, Vienna.</span><br /> -<span class="add2">Feb. 10, 1908.</span> -</p> - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. O’Donnell</span>,</p> - -<p class="ind1">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -was the hesitating and half nervous manner (so -unlike herself) with which Dora Maitland showed -me my room.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">DON’T</span> and we will have you -moved at once.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It was a stupid affair: mediocre music, still more -mediocre supper—and—<span class="lowcap">BRIDGE</span>!</p> - -<p>Fancy Bridge in a sleepy country Parsonage, -fancy Bridge anywhere! I hate Bridge!</p> - -<p>The guests were of the usual sort, prudish, prosy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>My bedroom door (which I felt positively certain -I had locked) slowly opened and a man peered in.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>I was frightened.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -into the alcove where I hung my dresses, in the wild -hope that they would afford me a safe hiding-place.</p> - -<p>Presently, to my unutterable relief, he disappeared, -and I heard his footsteps tiptoeing gently down the -staircase.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>On my way I heard a noise—a noise that fascinated -and kept me still—the clanging of a bucket.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -hopeless! Another yard, and the uncanny stranger -would have me in his clutches.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You see, we bought this house at a very low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And was she murdered in my room?” I -inquired.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And the murderer! what of him?” I asked, -thinking with a shudder of his eyes.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“For Heaven’s sake don’t laugh!” Dora shivered. -“They found that bucket—he had used it for transporting -her remains!”</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>Please remember me, &c., to all.</p> - -<p class="sign2"> -<span class="sign3">Ever yours sincerely,</span><br /> -<span class="sign4">Kathleen M. Dean.</span> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="THURLOW_HALL_NEAR" id="THURLOW_HALL_NEAR"></a>THURLOW HALL,<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a><br /> -NEAR EXETER<br /> - -<span class="stl">FIRE! FIRE! BRING ME FIRE!</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot1"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> following story was related to me by Miss -Constance Delaunay, and is given as near as possible -in her own words:</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“We had never been to Devon; we had heard -much of its beauty; we were disappointed.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -inferior to those of the corresponding class of -Continentals.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">RUDE</span>. The pretty simplicity and deferential -mannerism described as characteristics of these villagers -by mid-Victorian writers had become obsolete; -courtseying was now regarded as <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">infra dig</i>: 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“She is even more fastidious than I. She cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -bear anything coarse or uncouth—in comparison -a local servant would have made purgatory seem -pleasant.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Though I was sublimely unconscious of it, the -dawn of my awakening was at hand.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savants</i>.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“The predominating feature in the house was undoubtedly -the staircase.</p> - -<p>“It was the first thing one noticed on entering; -there was no escaping it. Confronting the door in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -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, <span class="lowcap">FASCINATING</span> (Marie declared -‘there was no getting away from it—that it <span class="lowcap">LIVED</span>’)—and—it -was made of <span class="lowcap">STONE</span>. 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I was in search of a book which I had laid down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -somewhere, when I crossed the hall one afternoon, -and left my mother dozing in a big armchair before -the drawing-room fire.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“I did not understand why I shuddered, unless it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I had never seen such a light—such a queer, unaccountable -light—a light that to anyone less sceptical -might have seemed an ‘<span class="lowcap">UNNATURAL</span>’ Light! Perhaps -it was an unnatural light—and I laughed. But -what—what in the name of Heaven could it be?</p> - -<p>“Drawing rapidly nearer and quickly assuming -the appearance and proportions of a <span class="lowcap">FIRE</span>, it filled -me with the most unusual, the most preposterously -unusual, doubts and fears.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The spectacle she presented was so satanically -awful that I immediately crossed myself. An indescribable -thrill of terror ran through me. I felt—I -<span class="lowcap">KNEW</span>—I was actually in the presence of an apparition; -nothing ‘earthly’ could possibly have produced -a similar or in any way equivalent effect.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I say repellent; I might with great accuracy say -‘hellish,’ for I saw in them the mirror of a sinful -soul—of a <span class="lowcap">VERY</span> sinful soul.</p> - -<p>“I could form no idea as to her dress, the blaze -effectually hid everything save her face; but from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I had no further ‘use’ for ‘Eugene Aram.’ I -returned to my mother.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">THAT</span> was -very wrong.</p> - -<p>“His mother was indignant—<span class="lowcap">FURIOUS</span>—not with -Charles, of course—but with that creature—Phyllis.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Ruin <span class="lowcap">HIM</span>—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.</p> - -<p>“They went, very naturally they went—Charles -overjoyed at the prospect of displaying the Purvis -estate to his charming wife.</p> - -<p>“His mother welcomed Phyllis effusively; she -made her feel thoroughly at home; she expressed -an ardent desire to see her in her bridal robes.</p> - -<p>“Phyllis consented—what else could she do? She -had been a Gaiety girl! she had lived for admiration.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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!’</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">OUT</span>—but her efforts -were frustrated by the fiendish fury of the flames.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -The amount of oil on her dress must have made it -blaze like a furnace.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“There they were met by Mrs. Purvis, chuckling -horribly.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Though a thorough restoration of the property -was effected, Charles would never live at the Hall.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“N.B.—I have good reason for believing the house -is still (August 1908) haunted; most probably this -will always be the case.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="THE_GUILSBOROUGH_GHOST" id="THE_GUILSBOROUGH_GHOST"></a>THE GUILSBOROUGH GHOST</h2> - -<div class="stl2"> -<p> -<span class="smcap">or a<br /> -Minute Account<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of the Appearance of<br /> -the Ghost of<br /> -<span class="f11">JOHN CROXFORD</span><br /> -Executed at Northampton, August 4, 1764</span><br /> -For the Murder of a Stranger<br /> -<span class="sp2">in the Parish of <span class="smcap">Guilsborough</span></span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="l3" /> - -<p> -Printed in the year 1764 and reprinted by<br /> -<span class="sp3">F. Cordeaux, Northampton, 1819</span><br /> -</p> -</div> - -<h3>PART I</h3> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Copied almost <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad verbum</i> -from the above MS., lent me by a resident in -Guilsborough, August 5, 1908</p> - -<p>Cause of Haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - - -<h4>PREFACE</h4> - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h4>THE GHOST</h4> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<p>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).</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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....</p> - -<p>“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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -turning into abject terror—when, glancing -with irresistible fascination at the man, I perceived -in him something indefinably but most unmistakably -Unnatural.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I must here state that although the spectre had -inspired me with so much awe, I did not associate -it with anything <span class="lowcap">EVIL</span>.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -the visible perturbation I was in, it would -proceed in the business of its errand.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“The spectre went on without apparently heeding -my action.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“At this juncture, excitement overcoming fear and -aversion, I hazarded to inquire of the phantasm its -name.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the pause that followed its last speech, more to -hear myself speak than anything else (I could not -endure the silence of <span class="lowcap">THIS THING</span>), 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.”</p> - -<p>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 -<span class="lowcap">WOMAN</span>, 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>I next asked if there was any licence in his bags -or pockets, that they might discover his name or -place of abode.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>To this the phantasm instantly responded that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -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:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>HANGED HE’LL BE WHO STEALS ME, <span class="f8">1745</span></p> -</div> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -no obligation lay upon me to take any -further concerns in the affair.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In short, firmly persuaded of the truth of what I -had heard and seen, I resolved on the morrow to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -search for the ring, and thereby clear it up beyond -all possibility of doubt.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -S.S.W. from Market Harboro’, 12 miles E. from -Rugby, and 76 miles from London.</p> - -<p>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—<span class="lowcap">GHOSTS</span>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A frightful terror laid hold of me—what—what in -the <span class="lowcap">NAME OF HEAVEN</span> could it be?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But why this haunting? Why this form of -apparition?</p> - -<p>I dived into the history of Guilsborough, and -discovered that quantities of fossils (trilobites, &c.), -together with implements of flint—<abbr>i.e.</abbr>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Hence it is not very surprising to any one at all -versed in the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">modus operandi</i> of Phantasms and -Psychic Phenomena to hear that one of the apparitions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -(at least) haunting Guilsborough appears in the -form of a sub-human or sub-animal elemental.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>PART II</h3> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>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</p> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">At</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The next witness for the prosecution, Mrs. -Seamark’s little boy of ten years of age, stated that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>On the witness refusing to comply, he was shut -in a room by himself where he remained till the -arrival of his mother.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -helping his father, he at once answered in the -affirmative.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad verbum</i>; 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> - -<p>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,</p> - -<div class="sgn"> -<p> -“John Croxford.<br /> -“Benj. Deacon.<br /> -“Richard Butlin.” -</p> -</div> - -<p class="cl">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="WOLSEY_ABBEY_NEAR" id="WOLSEY_ABBEY_NEAR"></a>WOLSEY ABBEY, NEAR<br /> -GLOUCESTER<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE DREADFUL SMELL</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Phantasms of the dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Copies almost <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad verbum</i> -from the MS. lent me by Mrs. Browne, February -1908.</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Vice and Premature Burial</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">My</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Of course it was in an extremely out-of-the-way -spot; there was no railway within six miles and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -dating back I believe to Henry VIIth’s reign—though -of this I have no positive proof.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The hand of nature had apparently been peremptorily -and mysteriously arrested in its work of -dissolution and decay.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The first days of our sojourn there passed with -the pleasant monotony of well-earned rest; we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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—<span class="lowcap">ALONE</span>.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">AFRAID</span>.</p> - -<p>But whereas my fears had been prompted by a -comparison, a comparison which, however near and -repellent, still remained a <span class="lowcap">COMPARISON</span>, theirs were -generated by something which, although scarcely -more tangible, was unmistakably <span class="lowcap">REAL</span>.</p> - -<p>They were constantly assailed by a <span class="lowcap">SMELL</span>—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.</p> - -<p>It was foul, pestilential, inexplicable; they had -never smelt anything like it before; it was nothing -recognisable; it neither emanated from drainage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -nor from dead animals behind the skirting-boards; -it was nauseous, suffocating, freezing—and—as if it -lived—it <span class="lowcap">MOVED</span>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Neither my husband nor I had encountered the -Smell, but it was not very long before the servants -did—and—one by one they <span class="lowcap">LEFT</span>, nor could we find -any that were willing to take their place, the Abbey -bearing a very evil reputation in the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -wondered why it never came to us, but always to -Mary and Eunice.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There arranged methodically in the ample bookcases -were volumes of every description; books -of ancient lore, <i class="magazine">Spectators</i>, <i class="magazine">Tatlers</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>For a second or so she stood too petrified to -move—and—then—as the <span class="lowcap">THINGS</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <span class="lowcap">SMELL</span> had explained itself.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="NO_XYZ_EUSTON_ROAD" id="NO_XYZ_EUSTON_ROAD"></a>NO. XYZ EUSTON ROAD<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE LITTLE OLD WOMAN IN THE<br /> -HELIOTROPE SKIRT</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the -dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Personal experience of author</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Of</span> 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.</p> - -<p>This unpleasant experience happened to me one -evening early in September 1895. I came into -Euston just as the 7 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">ME</span>.</p> - -<p>At last after traversing many squares and the -more respectable of the side streets, I retraced my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -steps, eventually alighting on a private and inconsequential -looking hotel in Euston Road.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 -<i class="magazine">Vanity Fair</i> until, at length, tiring of that, I picked -up a candlestick and made my way to bed.</p> - -<p>The moment I crossed the threshold of my room, -that peculiar and indefinable sensation that invariably -suggests the immediate proximity of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -superphysical came over me, I felt sure the house -was haunted. But by what? Ah! that was the -problem left for <span class="lowcap">ME</span> to solve.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>I give all these details to show that several years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -of practical investigation of haunted houses had -developed my inquiring faculties to a very high -degree, little, if anything, escaping my notice.</p> - -<p>The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Standing in front of the dressing-table, the -eccentric individual was examining herself with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -greatest curiosity in the crazy looking-glass to which -allusion has already been made.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">HORRIBLE</span> 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 <span class="lowcap">HIDEOUS</span> image of Fear.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There was scant time for speculation. The enactment -of this drama was brief as it was lurid; -uttering an appalling scream that was quickly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -converted into a gurgle of the most blood-curdling -significance, the old lady clawed the air with her -spidery fingers.</p> - -<p>The murderer was pitiless, the noose coming to -with an irresistible snap, jerked the wretched victim -off her feet.</p> - -<p>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—<span class="lowcap">THEN</span>—as she -struck the ground with a reverberating crash—all -was darkness. The ghostly tragedy for this night -at least was over.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 -<span class="lowcap">HER</span> phantasm—but please remember, it is <span class="lowcap">ONLY</span> a -surmise.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="PANMAUR_HOLLOW" id="PANMAUR_HOLLOW"></a>PANMAUR HOLLOW<br /> -MERIONETH<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE BLACK PEDLAR</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: “Ladies’ Cabinet,” 1835, -and elsewhere</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> “Ladies Cabinet” for 1835 contains an account -of a haunting in Merioneth that seems to me of -sufficient psychic interest to record.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Beckoning to me to follow, my guide mysteriously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -guide, I impatiently requested him ‘to move on,’ -and take me with the greatest expedition to the -nearest available hostelry.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -meal by a cosy fire helped, in a good measure, to -dissipate my fears and recompense me for all the -trials I had undergone.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="CATCHFIELD_HALL_THE" id="CATCHFIELD_HALL_THE"></a>CATCHFIELD HALL, THE<br /> -MIDLANDS<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE TERRIBLE HEADS THAT RISE<br /> -THROUGH THE FLOOR</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Phantoms of the -dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Accumulative hearsay evidence</p> -</div> - -<p class="add"> -No. — <span class="smcap">The Terrace, Worcester.</span><br /> -<span class="add3">March 1, 1908.</span> -</p> - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Elliott O’Donnell</span>,<br /></p> - -<p class="ind1">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.</p> - -<p class="sign2"> -<span class="sign3">Yours sincerely,</span><br /> -<span class="sign4">Evelyn D. O’Grady.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>THE STORY</h3> - -<p>My invitation to spend the Christmas holidays with -Lady Wentworth came as a delightful surprise.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>So far my lot in life had not been all <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">couleur de -rose</i>. Losing my husband shortly after our marriage, -I had been obliged to do something for a bare -living.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Depict to yourself then how indignant they were,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>When I got out at Highfield—the nearest station -to Catchfield—my lord’s brougham stood in waiting.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Is there a house-party?” I faltered, giving one -of the horses—I love horses—a gentle pat on the -head.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>I shook my head despairingly, balls were not for -such as I. I had neither a dress nor yet the money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -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 <span class="lowcap">MODERN</span> nobility, she appeared to welcome -me.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">HER</span>. -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?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>Money! I grew dispirited! I was poor! terribly -poor! I was lonely! Oh, so lonely!</p> - -<p>The room was huge, the night cold and the fire -<span class="lowcap">SMALL</span>—very small.</p> - -<p>Drawing my chair close to it I simulated ease; I -tried to feel cosy! Cosy!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> -past injuries and St. Rudolphs were forgotten; I -was at peace with all men.</p> - -<p>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—<span class="lowcap">ALL MINE</span>—and -the stillness of the room again oppressed me.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">EMPTY</span>, empty save -for the dancing moonbeams and the moving -shadows.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Those of us who have ever ridden on horseback<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">COULD NOT</span>; every atom of strength -seemed to have quitted my body—I was <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pro tempore</i> -cataleptic—<span class="lowcap">PARALYSED</span>.</p> - -<p>A faint and almost imperceptible movement suddenly -attracted my attention to a square patch of -light on the carpet immediately before me.</p> - -<p>To my horror something was coming <span class="lowcap">THROUGH</span> -the floor. Slowly, very slowly, first of all a head, a -head surmounted with long dishevelled black hair, -then a <span class="lowcap">FACE</span>! God save me from seeing the like -again—a face that might have once been beautiful, -or plain, or ugly, but was now—<span class="lowcap">NOTHING</span>—nothing—I -won’t describe—nothing but the <span class="lowcap">GRAVE</span>; 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Miladi was of course too much in request to spend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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, <span class="lowcap">THAT</span> was only imagination.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">UNEARTHLY</span> 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.</p> - -<p>She was disarmed! Could any one laugh who -was afraid of ghosts?</p> - -<p>She speedily, <span class="lowcap">VERY</span> speedily left me and once -again I underwent it <span class="lowcap">ALL</span>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> - -<p>Suspense—horror—prostration. I think I suffered -more this third night than on either of the other two.</p> - -<p>Yet, long before morning I had recovered from -the shock.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">THAT</span> room were now unquestionably -removed.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>The incandescent burners! I chuckled, what -effect would <span class="lowcap">THEY</span> have on <span class="lowcap">GHOSTS</span>. 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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Webster did indeed favour me with the information, -that neither her ladyship nor any one else, save<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -Lord Wentworth and the old charwoman (who -dusted) were ever known to enter the room, at all -events since <span class="lowcap">SHE</span> had been at the Hall, and that was -well nigh ten years; which information clearly -implied that entrance was strictly forbidden.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -it still retained an air of sadness, and an indescribable -something, that nothing, nothing short of total -annihilation, could ever eradicate or modify.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The music changed—the waltz gave place to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>In this dance that now commenced and which I -beheld for the first time, there was much of the -beautiful, the wanton, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bizarre</i>, and just a suspicion -of “something” which might have shocked -a very exacting “Grundy.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The faster the music, the quicker the feet, the -louder the clapping.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A thrill of the most intense horror accompanied -this unexpected movement, all eyes being now -transferred to the wretched youth.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The crucial moment arrived—no one breathed—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -Things from the Grave reached Walter—there -was no hesitation—they passed <span class="lowcap">RIGHT THROUGH</span> -him. I looked at the wall, I rubbed my eyes—the -spectres had vanished!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>I did not see her ladyship again—I merely -received a message of farewell, but Robert came to -say good-bye.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The Wentworths, as you may naturally suppose, -have kept the story strictly to themselves—the male -heirs alone being usually acquainted with it.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> 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, ‘<span class="lowcap">THEN</span>, 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.</p> - -<p>“Maud shared my scepticism and when she -wanted to use the room, brought forward the most -ingenious arguments to overcome my scruples.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -there was no foundation for the story of the haunting, -I reluctantly gave my consent.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The fact and the nature of the haunting is a -secret no longer—the cause none but a Wentworth -shall ever know.</p> - -<p>“I need hardly enjoin you who are one of us to -maintain silence on that point.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">VERY</span> distant -relations, and I feel no compunction in saying what -I know about it.</p> - -<p>Only—if you repeat this to Mr. Elliott O’Donnell, -please substitute fictitious names.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="BURLE_FARM_NORTH_DEVON" id="BURLE_FARM_NORTH_DEVON"></a>BURLE FARM, NORTH DEVON<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE HEADLESS DOG AND THE EVIL TREE</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot1"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Elemental</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence</p> - -<p>Cause of hauntings: Unknown</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Between</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It is to one of these visitors—Miss Medley—that -I owe the following story.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘You mustn’t blame me if the ghost should visit -you, Rosie,’ she said; ‘remember I have warned -you.’</p> - -<p>“‘There is nothing I should enjoy better than -seeing a real <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">bona-fide</i> spook, auntie dear,’ I -rejoined, smiling; but my aunt shook her head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -reprovingly, and no more was said on the subject -until the next day.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I devoutly wished I had slept in one of the other -rooms.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.)</p> - -<p>“Something instantly jumped up and, coming -round the bed, stood by my side. Wondering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The dog immediately vanished.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I did so—nor did I ever again—not even by -daylight—venture to cross its threshold.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> - -<p>“My aunt, poor dear, was very much upset at the -occurrence.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Other reasons for her incredulity in this particular -occult manifestation lay in the enigmatical nature -and purport of the phenomenon.</p> - -<p>“In what category of ghosts would one classify a -headless dog; Was it the spirit of a dog that had -been decapitated on earth?</p> - -<p>“She had never gathered from the Scriptures that -beasts had souls—what then was this phantom of a -dog?</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -life. She had settled down at Burle, after having -been divorced twice, and her weekly routine was -one incessant whirl of pleasure.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="lowcap">IT</span>.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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!’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“As it was two or three miles away, and I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -dearly fond of riding, I hired a horse and going -along at a jog-trot approached the forbidden spot -at about eight o’clock.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Heaven alone knew where she came from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“It was awful—utterly and inconceivably <span class="lowcap">AWFUL</span>—so -awful that I felt the very marrow in my bones -freeze with horror while my heart stood still.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="CARNE_HOUSE_NEAR" id="CARNE_HOUSE_NEAR"></a>CARNE HOUSE, NEAR<br /> -NORTHAMPTON<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE MAN IN THE FLOWERY DRESSING-GOWN<br /> -AND THE BLACK CAT</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Phantoms of the -dead and possibly animal: Elemental.</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Should</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Again, Northamptonshire is very rich in well preserved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The word ghost is very elastic, it may be used in -reference to many different types of spirits, and is, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -fact, only the designation for that genus of which -the departed soul of man is but a species.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Concerning the latter, Lee mentions one instance, -<abbr>i.e.</abbr>, “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, <abbr>i.e.</abbr>, Carne House, which is situated at the -utmost extremity of a village to the south-east of -Northampton.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb"><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span><span class="sp1">*</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Bathed in the moonlight—for we did not arrive -till late—it confronted us with audacious nudity;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Nor were my fears entirely groundless, for I had -hardly been in the place a month before I had a -very unpleasant experience.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -was bending over a box which he was doing his -best to conceal under a pile of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">débris</i>, and it was -undoubtedly this noise that had attracted me.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Oh! how long that room seemed and what an -interminable succession of furniture now appeared -to barricade the way.</p> - -<p>Every yard was a mile, every instant I expected -he would clutch me.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>When I related what had happened, to my mother, -she laughingly informed me I must have been dreaming,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -that there was <span class="lowcap">NO WELL</span> 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!</p> - -<p>But was I dreaming—was there no well, and had -that man been but the fancy of a childish and distorted -brain?</p> - -<p>Sometimes I answered “Yes,” and sometimes -“No.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>I say inexplicable—would that it had always -remained so!</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -a nature to enable me to draw any precise -conclusions.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="lowcap">CAT</span>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A fire, and in August—how incongruous! I -shivered.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Supposing he saw me now? There was no -escape! I was entirely at his mercy. What would -he do?</p> - -<p>I glanced from him to the cat, and from the cat -back again to him. Of my two enemies, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He no longer regarded his burden indifferently—he -scowled at it.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>The hideous cruelty of the man, the abruptness of -his action, proved my undoing. Oblivious of personal -danger, I shrieked.</p> - -<p>The effect was electrical. Dropping the poker, -with which he had been holding down the baby, the -inhuman monster swung round and saw me.</p> - -<p>The expression in his face at once became hellish, -absolutely hellish.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>What followed I cannot exactly remember, I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -dim recollections of feeling a heavy thud and of -some one or some <span class="lowcap">THING</span> 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.</p> - -<p>The next night I slept with my sister.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="HARLEY_HOUSE_PORTISHEAD" id="HARLEY_HOUSE_PORTISHEAD"></a>HARLEY HOUSE, PORTISHEAD<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE BLACK ANTENNÆ</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparitions: Poltergeists (or -Elementals)</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: First-hand evidence</p> - -<p>Cause of hauntings: Unknown</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> 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:</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“January 5. A recurrence of the disturbance—only -much louder.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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!!</p> - -<p>“February 4. The knocking very bad all night—particularly -in room No. 4.</p> - -<p>“February 5, 6, 7, ditto.</p> - -<p>“February 10. The clothes mysteriously taken off -Joan’s bed and transported to room No. 2.</p> - -<p>“February 15. Both servants undergo our experience -of February 3.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“February 17. Scufflings on the landings, and in -the passage as though caused by a troop of very -noisy children.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“March 1. About 8.30 <span class="lowcap">A.M.</span> after Martha had laid -the breakfast things she went downstairs to finish a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Terrified out of her wits Martha rushed upstairs -to our door, and nothing would induce her to enter -the breakfast room again alone.</p> - -<p>“March 3. On returning home about 10 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“We at once lit a candle—no one was there.</p> - -<p>“March 18. Knockings in both the attics. The -servants badly scared.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -exhausted condition, and it took her some minutes -to recover.</p> - -<p>“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—<abbr>i.e.</abbr>, -on the hearth-rug before the dining-room -fire.</p> - -<p>“March 31. My mother’s favourite arm-chair -found upside down in front of the fire-place in -room No. 4.</p> - -<p>“April 2, 11 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“April 10, 11 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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 <span class="smcap">P.M.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></span></p> - -<p>“April 12, 13, 14, 15; 11 <span class="lowcap">P.M.</span> The same light and -smell.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“April 30, 2.20 <span class="lowcap">A.M.</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“We spent the rest of the night on the drawing-room -chairs and sofa.</p> - -<p>“May 1. Shut up the house.”</p> - -<div class="blockquot4"> -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—An attempt to solve the mystery surrounding -these hauntings will appear in a subsequent volume.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="THE_WAY_MEADOW_SOMERSET" id="THE_WAY_MEADOW_SOMERSET"></a>THE WAY MEADOW, SOMERSET<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE INVISIBLE HORROR</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of haunting: Unknown</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Personal and other experiences</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Unknown</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">In</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -water-mill; it was a sunny village, remarkably hot -in summer, but intensely cold in winter.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -account have bathed there again—at least, not -alone.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -the district, I lost no time in setting off to visit the -pond.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p>“‘The garden!’ I exclaimed, ‘Come, it’s the first -time I have heard there’s anything amiss with the -garden.’</p> - -<p>“‘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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> -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!’</p> - -<p>“It was useless, Mr. O’Donnell, to try and persuade -the woman to remain with me after <span class="lowcap">THAT</span>, -she went and, by the bye, I have just heard she has -recently undergone an operation for tumour in -some provincial hospital.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Then she came to the point without the least -embarrassment, springing her surprise on me over -the breakfast cups.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I started guiltily. ‘A dampness! Nerves! you -astonish me,’ I stammered, ‘pray explain yourself.’ -She did so.</p> - -<p>“‘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?’</p> - -<p>“Of course I assented—what else could I do?</p> - -<p>“‘I thought so,’ she went on demurely, ‘I suppose -you do not think it necessary to tell your applicants -the place is haunted?’</p> - -<p>“I shook my head feebly and muttered: ‘Continue.’</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -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 <span class="lowcap">EVIL PRESENCE</span>. On examining -the impression under a powerful microscope I -fancied I could detect innumerable granules composed -of radiating threads with bulbous terminations.</p> - -<p>“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:</p> - -<p>“‘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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -infected barley or other cereal, the actinomyces -adhering to the tongue or jaw.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘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 -<span class="lowcap">EVIL PRESENCE</span> tried to “get at her mouth”—well -that would be in strict accordance with the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">modus -operandi</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> - -<p>“‘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 <span class="lowcap">ACTINOMYCES</span>—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.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The Evil Presence had, we felt sure, got hold -of him.</p> - -<p>“Thrust back on his haunches and snapping -viciously, his eyes protruding and his mouth foaming, -poor Spot presented such an appearance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Poor Spot eventually died, and our <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">post mortem</i> -pointed to <span class="lowcap">ACTINOMYCOSIS</span>—his body being literally -perforated with abscesses.</p> - -<p>“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.”<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="NO_HACKHAM_TERRACE" id="NO_HACKHAM_TERRACE"></a>NO. — HACKHAM TERRACE<br /> -SWINDON<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE GHASTLY SCREAMS ON<br /> -THE STAIRCASE</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of dead</p> - -<p>Cause of hauntings: Unknown</p> -</div> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Last</span> 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.</p> - -<p>We chatted together for a long time, and in the -course of our conversation touched upon the superphysical.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Neilson agreed.</p> - -<p>“I know the people who live there,” my informant, -Jarvis, continued, “and they have seen and heard -the phantasm over and over again.”</p> - -<p>“What form does it take?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“A shrieking woman’s.”</p> - -<p>“Like the ghost of Tehiddy,” I ejaculated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Arriving at the commencement of the passage -leading to the kitchen, they all saw an indefinable -black object lying on the ground.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“It has parallels in the luminous woman known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -as Proctor’s ghost, Wellington, near Newcastle, and -in a house, also new, in Portishead. Can you tell -me any further experiences there?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“She screamed, and the arm vanished.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“He particularly noticed the nails, which, though -filbert in shape, were excessively long and dirty.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“She turned round and found herself confronted -by a blue face that occupied the spot where the pot -had stood.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Though resembling a man in contour and -features, its expression was too thoroughly bestial -to belong to anything human.</p> - -<p>“The eyes, deep, sunken and lurid, leered malignantly -at her, whilst the mouth was distorted into a -diabolical grin.</p> - -<p>“The apparition had no body.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Belmont had another unpleasant experience -only this week.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Her rescuer this time was Bruce, a very -pugnacious Irish terrier.</p> - -<p>“Nothing daunted, and contrary to what one is -led to expect from the generality of psychic tales, -Bruce flew at the figure.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The phantasm immediately dissolved into a blue -vapour and vanished.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“The house, you say, was quite new,” I observed.</p> - -<p>Jarvis nodded.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="APPENDIX_TO_NO_HACKHAM" id="APPENDIX_TO_NO_HACKHAM"></a>APPENDIX TO NO. — HACKHAM -TERRACE, SWINDON</h2> - - -<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">At</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -cordially by the hand, and mounting my horse, was -soon at a considerable distance from his house.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>hoarse -scream</em>, 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> -however, were undeniable, and the remains of the -poor maniac were in consequence buried near the -place where they were found.</p> - -<p>“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. <em>Hoarse screams</em> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -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 <em>hoarse scream</em> 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.</p> - -<p>“Maddened by the sight, I clenched my hand and -drove it fiercely at the apparition.</p> - -<p>“Its lips quivered—the <em>scream</em> rang again through -the apartment. I was found next day without sense -or motion, my hand dreadfully cut, and the window -shivered to pieces.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="PARK_HOUSE_WESTMINSTER" id="PARK_HOUSE_WESTMINSTER"></a>PARK HOUSE, WESTMINSTER<br /> - -<span class="stl">THE CAVALIER’S GHOST</span></h2> - -<div class="blockquot2"> -<p>Technical form of apparition: Phantasm of the dead</p> - -<p>Source of authenticity: Miscellaneous collection of -Ghost Stories by Baxter, Wesley and Simpson</p> - -<p>Cause of haunting: Murder</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot3"> -<p>(The following story is told <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad verbum</i> in the language -of the eye-witness, the quaintness of his style being -accounted for by the period in which he lived.)</p> -</div> - - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You must know that about two years ago<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“My room was on the second storey of a house -that, I should suppose, had weathered well-nigh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -four hundred years, and was in former days an -isolated habitation.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I was completely paralysed—trembled violently -in every limb—and the perspiration fell in torrents -from my brows.</p> - -<p>“I felt for some time as if every nerve was cut -asunder and every sense benumbed.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The expression of the countenance was peculiarly -mild, and the rich dark locks falling about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -forehead and shoulders, and the mustachios of the -same hue, showed in horrid relief against the ashy, -chilling, and livid hue of the face.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -(a phenomenon which I have since learned invariably -happens to psychists at the crucial moment).</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2><a name="GLOSSARY" id="GLOSSARY"></a>GLOSSARY</h2> - - -<div class="glossary"> -<p><span class="smcap">Elemental.</span> 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 <span class="lowcap">ACTINOMYCES</span> phenomenon near Bath.</p> - -<p class="ind">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.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ghost.</span> The general name for phantasms, &c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hallucination.</span> Any supposed sensory perception that -has no objective counterpart within field of vision, -hearing, &c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance.</span> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Delusion.</span> Fancy. When one imagines one sees or -hears something and it exists <span class="lowcap">ONLY</span> in imagination. -Hallucinations are either delusive, when there is nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -to which they correspond in the objective world, or -veridical, when they correspond with events taking -place somewhere.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Illusion.</span> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Metetherical World.</span> The world beyond the ether, -synonyms—spiritual, superphysical.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Phantasm.</span> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Suggestion.</span> 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.</p> -</div> - - -<p class="end"> -Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne & Co. Limited</span><br /> -Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London<br /> -</p> - -<hr class="l1" /> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In the March number of the <cite>Psychical Research Magazine</cite> -for 1908, a well-authenticated instance is given of a Poltergeist’s -hand being seen on a pillow—“a long hand with -knotty joints.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A solution as to the nature of this type of ghost will -appear in a subsequent volume.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> All names altered by request.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> 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.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> In a subsequent volume I have attempted to give a -satisfactory solution.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> A more thorough solution to these hauntings will -appear in a subsequent volume.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> (Probably 1780.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span>)</p> -</div></div> - - -<div class="tnote"> -<p class="tn">Transcriber’s note</p> - -<p>Footnotes were moved to the end of the book. Small errors -in punctuation were corrected without note. Also the following -changes were made, on page<br /> -32 “or” changed to “for” (Nor was I mistaken, for, on putting)<br /> -34 “momentory” changed to “momentary” (in momentary terror of some -fresh phenomenon)<br /> -47 “stifly” changed to “stiffly” (he said, bowing stiffly)<br /> -89 “nighfall” changed to “nightfall” (a very wide berth after -nightfall)<br /> -94 “give” changed to “gave” (parents who gave him a liberal -education)<br /> -117 ? changed to ! (they improvised an oven in the earth and ate it!)<br /> -146 “stool” changed to “stood” (lane in which the haunted elm stood)<br /> -149 “suprising” changed to “surprising” (it is not surprising that they -are now).</p> - -<p>Otherwise the original was preserved, including inconsistencies in -spelling, hyphenation, etc.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -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-h.htm or 51568-h.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. 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