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Title: The Alleged Haunting of B---- House
Author: Various
Editor: A. Goodrich-Freer and John, Marquess of Bute
Release Date: August 17, 2005 [EBook #16538]
Language: English
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[Transcriber's Note: The Author uses lines of spaced periods to mark
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THE ALLEGED HAUNTING
OF B---- HOUSE
[Illustration: ATTICS]
[Illustration: SECOND FLOOR]
[Illustration: GROUND FLOOR L. Lift. A. Iron gate in Area.]
[Illustration: BASEMENT]
THE ALLEGED HAUNTING
OF
B---- HOUSE
INCLUDING
A JOURNAL KEPT DURING THE TENANCY OF
COLONEL LEMESURIER TAYLOR
EDITED BY
A. GOODRICH-FREER (MISS X)
AND
JOHN, MARQUESS OF BUTE, K.T.
LONDON
GEORGE REDWAY
1899
"I visited B---- representing that Society [S.P.R.], ... and
decided that there was no such evidence as could justify us in
giving the results of the inquiry a place in our
_Proceedings_."--_The Times_, June 10, 1897.
FREDERIC W.H. MYERS,
_Hon. Sec. of the Society for Psychical Research_.
_Compare pages 189 et seq._
* * * * *
THE ALLEGED HAUNTING OF B---- HOUSE
It was in 1892 that Lord Bute first heard of the matter. It was not,
as stated by _The Times_ correspondent in that journal for June 8,
1897, in or from London, but at Falkland, in Fifeshire, and in the
following manner:--
There is no public chapel at Falkland, and the private chapel in the
house is attended by a variety of priests, who usually come only from
Saturday to Monday. Lord Bute's diary for the second week in August
1892 contains the following entries:--
"_Saturday, August 6th._--Father H----, S.J., came.
"_Sunday, August 7th._--In afternoon with Father H---- and John [Lord
Dumfries] to Palace, and then with him to the Gruoch's Den. He gives
us a long account of the psychical disturbances at B----; noises
between his bed and the ceiling, like continuous explosion of petards,
so that he could not hear himself speak, &c. &c.
"[Mr. Huggins afterwards recommended the use of a phonograph for these
noises, in order to ascertain absolutely whether they are objective or
subjective, and I wrote so to S---- of B----.]
"_Monday, August 8th._--Father H---- went away.
"_Tuesday, August 9th._--Mr. Huggins [now Sir William Huggins],
outgoing President of the British Association, and Mrs. Huggins came.
"_Saturday, August 13th._--Father H---- came.
"_Sunday, August 14th._--In afternoon with the children, &c., to the
Palace, leaving Mr. Huggins as much as possible alone with Father
H---- (both being with us), in order to interrogate him about the
psychical noises he heard recently at B----, when there, to give a
Retreat to some nuns.
"_Monday, August 15th._--Father H---- went away after luncheon."
Lord Bute recalls that Father H---- told him that he had been at B----
for the purpose of giving a Retreat [a series of sermons and
meditations] to some nuns, who were charitably allowed by Mr. S---- to
take a sort of holiday, at a house called B---- Cottage, which had
been originally built and occupied by the late Major S----, when he
first took up his residence at B----, which at the time was let.
Father H---- told Lord Bute that in consequence of the disturbance his
room had been several times changed, and he expressed surprise that
the sounds did not appear to be heard by anybody except himself. He
also said that he had spoken of the matter to Mr. S----, who expressed
an idea that the disturbances might be caused by his uncle, the late
Major S----, who was trying to attract attention in order that prayers
might be offered for the repose of his soul. The sounds occurred
during full daylight, and in a clear open space between his bed and
the ceiling. He did not know to what to compare them, but as he said
they were explosive in sound, Lord Bute suggested that they might be
compared to the sounds made by petards, which are commonly used in
Italy for firing _feux de joie_. Father H---- answered, "Yes perhaps,
if they were continuous enough." He said that the sound which alarmed
him more than any other was as of a large animal throwing itself
violently against the bottom of his door, outside. A third noise which
he had heard was of ordinary raps, of the kind called "spirit-raps."
He mentioned a fourth sound, the nature of which Lord Bute does not
remember with the same certainty as the others, but believes it was a
shriek or scream. Such a sound is described by other witnesses during
the subsequent occupation of the house by the H---- family. The fact
that the sounds appear to have been inaudible to every one except
Father H---- is a strong argument in favour of their subjective, or
hallucinatory, character. It will be found that this was very often
the case with the peculiar sounds recorded at B----, and even when
they were heard by several persons at the same time, there does not
appear to be any ground for refusing to recognise them as collective
hallucinations.
Lord Bute's diary and recollections have been here quoted, not as
differing from, but only as being antecedent to, the following
account, which has been furnished by Father H---- himself:--
"I went to B---- on Thursday, July 14th, 1892, and I left it on
Saturday, July 23rd. So I slept at B---- for nine nights, or rather
one night, because I was disturbed by very queer and extraordinary
noises every night except the last, which I spent in Mr. S----'s
dressing-room. At first I occupied the room to the extreme right of
the landing [No. 8],[A] then my things were removed to another room
[No. 3] (it seems to me at this distance of time that _this_ room
faced the principal staircase, or was a little to the left of it). In
both these rooms I heard the loud and inexplicable noises every night,
but on two or three nights, in addition to these, another noise
affrighted me--a sound of somebody or something falling against the
door outside. It seemed, at the time, as if a calf or big dog would
make such a noise. Why those particular animals came into my head I
cannot tell. But in attempting to describe these indescribable
phenomena, I notice now I always do say it was like a calf or big dog
falling against the door. Why did I not hear the noises on the ninth
night? Were there none where I was? These are questions the answers to
which are not apparent. It may be there _were_ noises, but I slept too
soundly to hear them. One of the oddest things in my case, in
connection with the house, is that it appeared to me somehow that (1)
Somebody was relieved by my departure; (2) that nothing could induce
me to pass another night there, at all events alone, and in other
respects I do not think I am a coward."
For the benefit of those who are not aware of the fact, it may be as
well to state that the class of people known as spiritualists, hold
that when raps are heard, it is the best thing for the hearer to say
aloud, "If you are intelligent, will you please to rap three times?"
and if this is done, to ask the intelligence to rap three times for
_yes_, once for _no_, and twice for _doubtful_. It is obvious that
considerable conversation can be carried on by such a code, and where
it is inadequate, as, for instance, in obtaining proper names, it is
usual to propose to repeat the alphabet slowly, asking the
intelligence to rap once when the proper letter is reached. This
simple method was entirely unknown to Father H----. He had done
nothing but throw holy water about his rooms, and repeat the prayer
_Visita quæsumus_, which invokes the Divine protection of a house and
its inhabitants against all the snares of the Enemy, and which,
therefore, in no way concerned any person or thing which is not
associated with the powers of darkness. It was natural that no result
should be produced.
Sir W. Huggins told Lord Bute, as the result of his examination of
Father H----, that he felt absolutely certain that what the latter had
experienced was not the outcome of morbid hallucination, but that it
was possible that the sounds themselves might be hallucinatory or
subjective. To ascertain whether this were so, or whether they had any
physical cause, he suggested the use of a phonograph, as this would at
least show whether the sounds were accompanied by atmospheric waves.
Lord Bute happened to know Mr. S---- slightly, having met him
accidentally while travelling abroad. He accordingly wrote to him, and
communicated Sir William Huggins's suggestion. Mr. S----, after a
delay of some days, refused absolutely to allow any scientific
investigation to be made, a refusal remarkably coincident with the
recent refusal of his son, the present proprietor, to allow any
similar investigation with seismographical instruments. It would seem
a legitimate conclusion that neither father nor son doubted that the
sounds are of a psychical character. As regards the present
proprietor, such a conclusion renders it obvious that we must
understand in some peculiar sense the letter published in _The Times_,
dated June 10, 1897, in which he says, "As to the stories contained in
the article [_i.e._ of the anonymous _Times_ correspondent], they are
without foundation." These words must, however, be, in any case,
accepted in a special sense, considering the part taken by members of
his own family, as well as by tenants and agents, in attesting the
stories in question.
Lord Bute states that Father H---- did not, upon the occasion of his
visit to Falkland, say anything as to having seen the brown wooden
crucifix (see pp. 132, 142, 154), but after this apparition had been
seen by two other persons separately, Lord Bute wrote to Father H----
to inquire whether he could remember anything of the sort. His reply
was as follows:--
"When you mention the brown wooden crucifix, you awaken a new memory
in me. I now seem to live some of those hours over again, and I
recollect that between waking and sleeping there appeared before my
eyes--somewhere on the wall--a crucifix, some eighteen inches, I
should say, long, and, _I think_, of _brown_ wood.
"My own crucifix is of black metal, and just the length of this page
(seven inches); and though I usually have it with me in my bag, I
cannot for certain say that it was in my bag at B----."
The following further communication from Father H---- carries the
record further back:--
"In August 1893 it was that I met, quite by accident, a person who
knew something about B---- House and its strange noises.
"Though, on my leaving his house, Mr. S---- begged me not 'to give the
house a bad name,' I did not understand by this that, as a point of
honour, I should refrain from ever mentioning the subject. I respected
his request to the extent of not alluding indiscriminately to the
noises that disturbed my nights there. But I did speak to several
people about them, and they had so impatiently and incredulously heard
my statements, that I at last refused to repeat them, even when
pressingly requested to do so. It was, therefore, quite a surprise to
find myself talking about B---- House, or rather, listening with rapt
attention to another talking about the place.
"Miss Y----, I think her name was, kept house for a priest at----. One
evening, while on a visit there, I found her knitting as I passed the
kitchen door, and bidding her the time of day, I discovered from a
remark she made that she had in former days filled more important
posts. She soon settled down when she found me an attentive listener
to a somewhat detailed account of by no means a short life.
"'Had she been in Scotland?' 'Yes, sir; and in a very beautiful part
of Scotland, in P----shire.' 'Indeed!' In short she told me that she
had been, twelve years ago, governess in the S---- family at B----
House. (I need not say that I was now intensely interested.) 'Why did
she leave?' 'Well, sir, so many people complained of queer noises in
the house, that I got alarmed and left.' I asked her had she seen
anything? She said No, and the noises were only heard in certain
rooms, and the servants inhabited quite a different part of the house.
When I closely questioned her she located the queer noises precisely
in the two rooms I had successively occupied. She did not learn from
me that I had ever been there. Pressed for a concrete case of fright
and abrupt leavetaking (I _think_), she told me two military officers
had 'left next morning.'
"In conclusion, as against all the above, my own, and this good
woman's account, I must set it down that, before I left the house, two
young ladies, relatives of the family, occupied the rooms in
question, and certainly, to my surprise, did not seem at breakfast as
if they had spent an unquiet night."
Inquiry shows that Miss Y----'s residence at B---- must have been
about the years 1878-80.
The earliest witnesses in chronological sequence would be the S----
family themselves; but though much information has been contributed by
them to various persons interested in B---- House during the tenancy
both of Mr. H---- and Colonel Taylor, the present Editors are
unwilling to make use of it without permission.
A statement in _The Times_ article, of the character of which the
reader can here judge for himself, elicited the following letter from
Mrs. S----, which is to be found in the issue of that journal for June
18, 1897:--
"May I ask of your courtesy to insert this in the next issue of your
paper. Seeing myself dragged into publicity in _The Times_ of June 8,
as 'having made admissions under pressure of cross-examination,' I beg
to state that I as well as the rest of my family had not the remotest
idea that our home was let to other than ordinary tenants. In my
intercourse with them I spoke as one lady to another, never imagining
that my private conversations were going to be used for purposes
carefully concealed from me--a deceit which I deeply resent."
It will be observed that Mrs. S---- here leaves no doubt as to the
nature of the information with which she was so good as to favour Miss
Freer, but, notwithstanding this fact, and the language which Mrs.
S---- has considered it right to use--or, at least, to sign--with
regard to Miss Freer, Miss Freer prefers to continue to treat Mrs.
S----'s statements as confidential, and blanks will accordingly be
found in the Journal under the dates on which such conversations
occurred. Miss Freer extends the same regard for a privacy, which the
S---- family have themselves violated, to communications made by other
members. There have, however, been several witnesses unconnected with
them, some of whom are referred to in the Journal. Not only the
villagers and persons in the immediate neighbourhood, but many
accidentally met with in visits to show-places and in excursions for
twenty miles round B----, were ready to pour out traditions and
experiences which are not here quoted, as, though often suggestive,
not always evidential.
The Rev. P. H----, already referred to, quotes a witness who testifies
to processions of monks or nuns having been seen by Mr. S---- from a
window, and of a married couple who, "relating the events of the
night, declared they could not hear each other's voices for the noise
overhead between them and the ceiling," which was especially
interesting to him, as corroborative of his own experience.
A former servant at B---- has voluntarily related, at great length,
the story of the alleged hauntings, which shows that they have
occurred at intervals during the past twenty years. He is of opinion
that as the earlier hauntings were ascribed to the late Major S----,
so their revival may be referred to the late proprietor; but his
reasons, as well as his narrative, are of a nature which might cause
annoyance to the S---- family, and are therefore withheld.
Dr. Menzies, a correspondent of _The Times_, June 10th, who speaks of
himself as an old friend of Major S----, refers to a still earlier
haunting--a tradition current at the time of the Major's succession in
1844.
* * * * *
In August 1896, B---- House, with the shooting attached, was let by
Captain S----, the present proprietor, for a year to a wealthy family
of Spanish origin. Their experience was of such a nature that they
abandoned the house at the end of seven weeks, thus forfeiting the
greater part of their rent, which had been paid in advance. The
evidence of Mr. H---- himself, of his butler, and of several guests,
will be found in due chronological sequence.
* * * * *
When Colonel Taylor, one of the fundamental members of the London
Spiritualist Alliance, a distinguished member of the S.P.R., whose
name is associated both in this country and in America with the
investigation of haunted houses, offered to take a lease of B----
House, after the lease had been resigned by Mr. H----, the proprietor
made no objection whatever. Indeed, the only allusion made to the
haunting was the expression of a hope on the part of Captain S----'s
agents in Edinburgh, that Colonel Taylor would not make it a subject
of complaint, as had been done by Mr. H----, in reply to which they
were informed that Colonel Taylor was thoroughly well aware of what
had happened during Mr. H----'s tenancy, and would undertake to make
no complaint on the subject. Captain S---- having thus thrown the
house into the open market, and let it to the well-known expert, with
no reference whatever to the subject of haunting, except that it
should not be made a ground of complaint, it is obvious that he
deprived himself of any right to complain as to observations upon the
subject of local hallucination, any more than of observation upon the
habits of squirrels or other local features. Nor had he any more right
to complain upon this ground, as vendor of the lease, than any other
vendor of articles exposed for public sale, such as a hatter, who
after selling a hat to Lord Salisbury, might complain that he had been
induced to provide headgear for a Conservative. At the same time, both
Colonel Taylor and his friends were well aware, from a vexatious
experience, that phenomena of the kind found at B---- are very often
associated with private matters, which the members of a family
concerned might object to see published, just as they might object to
the publication of the results of an examination of some object--say,
old medicine-bottles--found in the house let by them to a strange
tenant.
Acting upon this knowledge, it has been the general rule of the
Society for Psychical Research to publish the cases investigated by it
under avowedly false names, as private cases are published in medical
and other scientific journals. Out of a courteous anxiety that nothing
should occur which could in any way annoy any member of the S----
family, no one was admitted to the house for the purpose of observing
the phenomena, except on the definite understanding that they were to
regard everything as confidential, and it was always intended that any
publication on the subject was to be made with all names and
geographical indications avowedly fictitious.
As certain points of Gaelic orthography were found to be involved, it
was decided to mention the house as standing in a bi-lingual district
upon the borders of Wales, and Lord Bute arranged with Sir William
Lewis to have these linguistic points represented by Welsh instead of
Gaelic.
The affairs of the inquiry, and of any phenomena which might occur,
were thus protected, it was believed, by a confidence even more
absolute than that usually observed in such affairs of a household as
to which honour dictates that a guest should be silent.
The appreciation with which the S---- family responded to this
courteous and careful consideration for their possible feelings, was
made manifest to the world by the tone which they adopted when,
immediately on the appearance of the anonymous article in _The Times_,
they rushed into the newspapers, and published everything concerning
themselves, their family property, predecessors, and tenants, with all
the proper names at full length. After that outburst it has, of
course, been rendered impossible to keep the identity of the place and
people any longer secret.
Out of deference to other members of the family who did not take part
in this, the matter in the present volume remains in as private a form
as the newspaper correspondence now leaves possible.
The names given in full are those mostly very indirectly concerned;
other names, including that of the house, are given under the real
initials, with the exception of a few of the less prominent, when the
real initials would create confusion; and in these latter cases they
are taken from letters of the alphabet not already used, and are
placed in inverted commas; _e.g._ the real initial of a Mr. S---- is
changed, in order to avoid confusion with the name of the S---- family
themselves, the proprietors of B----.
The contents of the book are, except in one respect, arranged upon the
simple chronological system. They commence with a short sketch of the
history of the S---- family, based in its earlier part upon Douglas's
"Baronage of Scotland"; and all information which the writers possess
as to the phenomena which have occurred since the death of Major S----
in 1876, except that supplied by the S---- family, is set forth in
succession.
The family of S---- date from the earlier part of the middle of the
fifteenth century, and were settled upon the river T---- within that
century, while they have possessed B---- at least since the earlier
half of the century following.
A stone, carved with their arms, belonging to the old mansion-house,
is built into the wall, and dated 1579. The present house is modern,
and does not even occupy the site of the older one.
The particular proprietor whose arms are so represented, Patrick
S----, married Elizabeth B----, who survived him and married a second
time. James S----, his son, in 1586, married Mary C----, and after her
death, in 1597, Elizabeth R----.
Robert S----, his son by his first marriage, married Margaret C----.
John S----, son of Robert, was killed by the Cromwellians, leaving no
issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Patrick S----, who married
Elizabeth L----.
It is not obvious when they adopted the principles of the Reformation,
but it is to be remarked that this Patrick stood high in the favour of
James II. (and VII.).
Charles S----, son of the foregoing, married Anne D----, and was
succeeded by his third son, another Charles, who married Grizell
M----, and died in 1764.
Robert S----, his son, married Isabel H----. Charles S----, his eldest
son, died unmarried in 1783.
H---- S----, second son of R---- S----, married Louisa M----, died in
1834, and had issue--Robert, two other sons, and six daughters.
Robert S----, born January 1806, in 1825 entered the military service
of the East India Company, from which he retired with the rank of
Major in 1850, _i.e._ sixteen years after succeeding to the property.
He died in April 1876. His two brothers both died unmarried, and of
his six sisters, three married, and a fourth, Isabella, entered a
nunnery. She there professed under the name of "Frances Helen" in
1850, the year of her brother's return from India, and died February
23, 1880, aged sixty-six.
Major S----, by his will dated June 8, 1853, bequeathed B---- to the
representatives of his married sister Mary, and on his death was
accordingly succeeded by her second (but eldest surviving) son, John,
who on succeeding assumed the name of S----.
Major S---- was a Protestant, but this John was a Roman Catholic, like
his aunt Isabella. His eldest brother died without issue in 1867, but
he had a younger brother, married, with issue, and two sisters, Louisa
and Mary, whom Major S----, by a codicil of December 14, 1868,
carefully excluded from all benefit under his will.
The register of the parish of L----, in which B---- House is situated,
mentions under the date July 14, 1873, the death of Sarah N----,
housekeeper of B---- House (single), aged twenty-seven years, daughter
of John N----, farmer, and Helen R----. (In Scottish legal documents
married women are described by their maiden name.) It is said that her
last illness was very short, lasting only three days. Mrs. S---- had
the great charity to attend her on her deathbed. It is mentioned in
the register, that the official intimation of Sarah N----'s death was
given, not by her parents nor by Major S----, but by her uncle, Neil
N----.
Major S---- seems to have been somewhat eccentric, and was very fond
of dogs, of which he kept a considerable number. He had very strong
views upon psychical subjects. He was a believer in spirit-return, and
many witnesses have attested that he frequently spoke of his own
return after death. Among these psychic beliefs were two relating to
animals; and as they are of a kind not very commonly discussed even
among spiritualists, and enter, to some extent, into the following
narrative, it is convenient here to state them at length. It is very
commonly held that the soul or living personality of man, which will
survive the change called by us "death," is capable of entering living
bodies and making use of their organs. The form in which this belief
is most commonly met with, is that of the alleged inspiration of
trance mediums by the souls of the dead. Such a case is that of Mrs.
Piper, said to have been animated by the soul of Dr. Phinuit and other
personalities now disincarnated. It has naturally been argued that if
it is possible for the disembodied spirit to occupy and animate the
body of a human being, it would, _a fortiori_, be easy for it to do
the same with the body of a beast, where the resistance of will would
presumably be less.
This idea, coupled with the belief that the soul can be separated from
the body during life, so producing a kind of temporary death, while
leaving the body in such a state that it is capable of being again
inhabited and animated, lies at the bottom of the numerous statements
as to sorcerers and sorceresses changing themselves into hares,
wolves, or cats, which are to be found in the records of witch trials.
That this was possible, at least after death, was evidently a strong
belief upon the part of Major S----. We are informed that he
frequently intimated his intention of entering the body of a
particular black spaniel which he possessed, and so strong a belief
was attached to his words, that after his death all his dogs,
including the spaniel in question, were shot, apparently in order to
render impossible any such action upon his part. The policy of the
measure adopted was short-sighted. If the Major had thoroughly
succeeded in animating the body of the living spaniel, the physical
resources at his disposal would have been too limited to have enabled
him to give much trouble. As it is, a series of witnesses attest
apparitions of this spaniel, and of at least one other dog, which may
naturally be regarded as much more disturbing.
The second point is possibly the same as the last, but it appears to
be more probably based upon the belief held by Major S----, in common
with a large number of those who have made a serious study of
apparitions--and certainly a large number of the members of the
S.P.R.--that such apparitions are really hallucinations or false
impressions upon the senses, created, so far as originated by any
external cause, by other minds either in the body or out of the body,
which are themselves invisible in the ordinary and physical sense of
the term, and really acting through some means at present very
imperfectly known. Such an opinion of course reserves the question of
the possible action of unseen forces upon what is commonly called
matter involved in 'spirit'-photography, materialisation, levitation,
the passage of matter through matter, and other forms of _apport_,
although such a distinction, if logically carried out, becomes
somewhat tenuous in face of the generally accepted fact that all
mental processes are accompanied by physical processes in the brain.
In the following pages will be found instances of the phenomenon of
the apparent removal of bed-clothing, which raise a question as to the
propriety of regarding as exhaustive an explanation based solely upon
the hypothesis of subjective hallucination which otherwise would
appear to be generally applicable. It would stand to reason that if
such an intelligence can produce an hallucination of the appearance of
the human figure, it would be at least equally easy for it to produce
an hallucination of the appearance of a beast. A belief to this effect
seems to be the explanation of the fact mentioned in a letter to _The
Times_ of June 10, 1897, by Dr. Menzies, who refers to Major S---- as
"an old and dear friend." He writes, "I have no doubt that he created
much scandal by saying to his gardener that he had better take care to
keep up the garden properly, for when he was gone his soul would go
into a mole and haunt the garden and him too."
This theory of the possibility of producing by mental force the
hallucination audible or visual of a beast, may also be the
explanation, not only of the apparition of the large dog which has
been seen, as well as that of a spaniel, but also of the phenomenon,
attested by several witnesses, of their having heard the sound as of a
large dog throwing itself from the outside against the lower part of
their doors.
Major S---- died, as already stated, in 1876, and was buried beside
Sarah N---- and, it is said, an old Indian manservant. The grave is in
the middle of the parish churchyard. No monument marks their
resting-place, but a high enclosure, which surrounds it, is a
prominent object. The whole of his dogs, fourteen in number, including
the spaniel already mentioned, were killed after his death.
* * * * *
The S.P.R. some years ago published a census of hallucinations based
upon the interrogation of seventeen thousand persons, who were not
only taken casually, but from whom those were excluded whose replies
were foreseen. From the analysis of these statistics, it appears that
the great majority of these phantasms are figures of people who were
living and continue to live, although research seems to point to the
fact that their bodies are either always, or very often, in a state of
apparent unconsciousness at the moment of the phenomenon. Among the
minority, _i.e._ of apparitions of the dead, the frequency seems to be
in inverse proportion to the time which has elapsed since death. Those
which appear at the moment of death are very frequent, whereas, on the
other hand, those of persons who have been very long dead are almost
unknown; _e.g._ the apparition seen by Lady Galway a few years ago at
Rufford Abbey, where the form represented a person who must have been
dead for about three hundred years, belongs to a class of which
examples are very few.
A haunted house (or any other locality) is merely a place where
experience shows that hallucinations are more or less localised, and
the only especially interesting question about it is, why the
hallucinations should be localised at a particular place, and what
causes them there.
Such Phantasms of the Living have been discussed in the monumental
work of Mr. Myers and the late Mr. E. Gurney. They need be no further
remarked upon here, than to observe that the following pages contain
at least one example, viz. that of the apparition of the Rev. P.
H----. (See p. 119.)
It is very difficult to judge of the forces which may act in the
conditions of what we are accustomed to call "another world," but a
plausible explanation might be found in the Divine Word, "Where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also." The thoughts and
affections appear to dwell for a time where they have been already
fixed during life, but changes here, including the gradual reunion on
the other side, of all those who are loved with those who love them,
the advancing dissociation of the mind with things here, and, no
doubt, the evolution of a different life under different conditions,
seem gradually to efface the ties of earthly memory, connecting the
feelings with particular spots on earth.
Such thoughts not infrequently include repentance, a desire for the
remedy of acts of injustice, and an eagerness for the compassion and
sympathetic prayers of those whom we call the living.
It is natural, therefore, to suppose that haunting, such as that met
with at B----, would be connected with persons who had died within
some such period as a century at the outside. Now the number of the
members of the S---- family and others, whose thoughts, memories,
feelings, and affections may presumably have dwelt largely at B----,
and who have died within the last hundred years, is very considerable;
but--saving the tradition referred to by Dr. Menzies (see p. 22), only
to be dismissed--there seems to have been no idea of the place being
haunted before the deaths of Sarah N---- and of Major S----, whereas
since that time the peculiar phenomena have been constantly attested.
John S----, his successor, was, as stated, the second son of Major
S----'s sister Mary, and assumed the name of S---- upon succeeding to
the property. He was a Roman Catholic; he was married, and had several
children, of whom the eldest son is the present proprietor. One of the
younger sons is a Jesuit, but not yet a priest.
In January 1895 Mr. S---- went to London on family business, and was
there killed by being run over by a cab in the street. It was stated
on the authority of three persons, not counting members of his own
family, that on the morning on which he left B---- for the last time,
while he was talking to the agent in his business-room, there were
raps so violent as to interfere with conversation. The earliest
written notice of this circumstance, so far as can be discovered, is
the following entry in Lord Bute's journal for January 17, 1896:--
"I hear that the morning the late S---- of B---- left home for the
last time, spirits came and rapped to him in his room--doubtless to
warn him--so that his death was really owing to the cruel superstition
which had prevented him allowing them to be communicated with."
Lord Bute's informant appears to have been the Rev. Sir David Hunter
Blair, as the journal mentions his arrival at Falkland on that day,
and none of the other guests in the house were people who were likely
to have heard anything about it.
Mr. S---- was succeeded by his eldest son, Captain S----, who showed
no hesitation in throwing the house into the public market, with its
4400 acres of shooting. The alleged haunting was not mentioned
beforehand to the first tenant, as it afterwards was to Colonel
Taylor.
This tenant was Mr. J.R. H---- of K---- Court, C----, in G----shire,
and the following is the account of experiences during his visit, as
given by his butler:--
ON THE TRAIL OF A GHOST
_To the Editor of "The Times"_
"SIR,--In your issue of the 8th, under the above heading, 'A
Correspondent' tries at some length to describe what he calls a most
impudent imposture. I having lived at B---- for three months in the
autumn of last year as butler to the house, I thought perhaps my
experience of the ghost of B---- might be of interest to many of your
readers, and as the story has now become public property, I shall not
be doing any one an injury by telling what I know of the mystery.
"On July 15, 1896, I was sent by Mr. H----, with two maidservants, to
take charge of B---- from Mr. S----'s agents. I was there three days
before the arrival of any one of the family, and during that time I
heard nothing to disturb me in any way; but on the morning after the
arrival of two of the family, Master and Miss H----, they came down
with long faces, giving accounts of ghostly noises they had heard
during the night, but I tried to dissuade them from such nonsense, as
I then considered it to be; but on the following two or three nights
the same kind of noises were heard by them, and also by the
maidservants, who slept in the rooms above, and they all became
positively frightened. I heard nothing whatever, though the noises, as
they described them, would have been enough to wake any one much
farther away than where I slept, for the noises they heard were made
immediately over my room. I suggested the hot-water pipes or the twigs
of ivy knocking against the windows, but no--nothing would persuade
them but that the house was haunted; but as the noises continued to be
heard nightly, I suggested that I should sit up alone, and without a
light, outside their bedroom doors, where the footsteps and other
rustling noises were heard. I think one other member of the family, or
two young gentlemen, had arrived at this time, and they had also heard
the noises. I told them of my intention to sit up alone, for as one
of them had a revolver I did not want to run the risk of being shot
for a ghost. However, I took my post on the landing at 11.30 and kept
watch, I am certain, until half-past one; then I must have fallen
asleep, for about two o'clock Master H----, hearing the knocking as
usual, came out of his room to hear if I had seen or heard anything,
but found me fast asleep on the floor, which gave him a greater fright
than the knocking, for he supposed for the moment that I had been
slain by the ghost.
"This kind of thing went on nightly, and for three weeks I heard
nothing, although nearly every one in the house heard these noises
except myself; but my turn had yet to come, although I firmly held the
opinion during that time that it was the hot-water pipes, and I only
laughed at the others for their absurd nonsense, as I then considered
it to be; but my first experience was that of being awakened three
successive nights, or rather mornings, at about 3.30. I heard nothing,
but seemed to be wide awake in an instant, as though some one had
touched me. I would stay awake for some little time and then go to
sleep again; but on the fourth night, on being awakened as before, and
lying awake for perhaps two minutes, I heard tremendous thumping just
outside my door. I jumped out of bed quickly, and opened my door, and
called out in a loud voice, 'Who is there?' but got no answer. I
ascended the stairs and listened for a few minutes, but heard no
further knocking. I then went back to my room, but did not sleep again
that morning.
"I may mention that my room was the one described by 'A Correspondent'
as the butler's room under No. 3, the room where most noises were
heard, and the staircase was the service one, and as there is a door
at the top, if any one had come there to make the noise I should
certainly have heard them beating a retreat.
"The same thing happened with variations almost nightly for the
succeeding two months that I was there, and every visitor that came to
the house was disturbed in the same manner. One gentleman (a colonel)
told me he was awakened on several occasions with the feeling that
some one was pulling the bedclothes off him; sometimes heavy
footsteps were heard, at others like the rustling of a lady's dress;
and sometimes groans were heard, but nearly always accompanied with
heavy knocking; sometimes the whole house would be aroused. One night
I remember five gentlemen meeting at the top of the stairs in their
night-suits, some with sticks or pokers, one had a revolver, vowing
vengeance on the disturbers of their sleep. During the two months
after I first heard the noises I kept watch altogether about twelve
times in various parts of the house, mostly unknown to others (at the
time), and have heard the noises in the wing as well as other parts.
"When watching I always experienced a peculiar sensation a few minutes
before hearing any noise. I can only describe it as like suddenly
entering an ice-house, and a feeling that some one was present and
about to speak to me. On three different nights I was awakened by my
bedclothes being pulled off my feet. But the worst night I had at
B---- was one night about the second week in September, and I shall
never forget it as long as I live. I had been keeping watch with two
gentlemen--one a visitor, the other one of the house. We were sitting
in room No. 2, and heard the noises that I have described about
half-past two. Both gentlemen were very much alarmed; but we searched
everywhere, but could not find any trace of the ghost or cause of the
noises, although they came this time from an unoccupied room. (I may
mention that the noises were never heard in the daytime, as stated by
'A Correspondent,' but always between twelve, midnight, and four in
the morning, generally between two and four o'clock.) After a thorough
search the two gentlemen went to bed sadder, but not wiser men, for we
had discovered nothing. I then went to my room, but not to bed, for I
was not satisfied, and decided to continue the watch alone. So I
seated myself on the service stairs, close to where the water-pipes
passed up the wall, so as to decide once and for all if the sounds
came in any way from the water-pipes.
"I had not long to wait (about twenty minutes) when the knocking
recommenced from the same direction as before, but much louder than
before, followed, after a very short interval, by two distinct
groans, which certainly made me feel very uncomfortable, for it
sounded like some one being stabbed and then falling to the floor.
That was enough for me. I went and asked the two gentlemen who had
just gone to bed if they had heard anything. One said he had heard
five knocks and two groans, the same as I had; while the other (whose
room was much nearer to where the sounds came from) said he had heard
nothing. I then retired to my bed, but not to sleep, for I had not
been in bed three minutes before I experienced the sensation as
before, but instead of being followed by knocking, my bedclothes were
lifted up and let fall again--first at the foot of my bed, but
gradually coming towards my head. I held the clothes around my neck
with my hands, but they were gently lifted in spite of my efforts to
hold them. I then reached around me with my hand, but could feel
nothing. This was immediately followed by my being fanned as though
some bird was flying around my head, and I could distinctly hear and
feel something breathing on me. I then tried to reach some matches
that were on a chair by my bedside, but my hand was held back as if
by some invisible power. Then the thing seemed to retire to the foot
of my bed. Then I suddenly found the foot of my bed lifted up and
carried around towards the window for about three or four feet, then
replaced to its former position. All this did not take, I should
think, more than two or three minutes, although at the time it seemed
hours to me. Just then the clock struck four, and, being tired out
with my long night's watching, I fell asleep. This, Mr. Editor, is
some of my experiences while at B----.
"As to 'A Correspondent's' interviews with local people:--
"As to the old caretaker, she is an old woman, very deaf, and she
always occupied a room on the ground floor, where, during the three
months that I was there, nothing whatever was heard, as my two footmen
slept there, and they did not hear any noises. As to the intelligent
gardener, if it is the same one that was there when I was there, he,
surely, has not forgotten the night he spent with me in my room; he
was nearly frightened out of his wits, and declared he would not
spend another night in my room for any money--a fact that the factor
or steward and others well know.
"There are many other incidents in my experience with the mystery of
B----, but I hope this is sufficient for the purpose I intend
it--namely, for the truth to be known, for I have no other motive in
writing this letter; for I have left the service of the house some
months now. But as to your correspondent's statement that some of the
house were doing it, it is simply absurd; for in turn they were all
away from B---- for a week or fortnight, and still these noises were
heard. Another thing; is it possible for any one to keep up a joke
like that for three months? or, if any one had been doing it, I should
certainly have caught them; and I can assure you that the house were
very much annoyed with it, not only for themselves, but for their
visitors, for I have sat up all night with some of them, who were
afraid to go to their beds: and I think that if 'A Correspondent' had
stayed as long in B---- as I did, and had had some of my experiences,
he would have a very different tale to tell, although up to my going
to B---- I would laugh at any one who told me there were such things
as ghosts; and even now I am not quite convinced; but of one thing I
am certain--that is, that there is something supernatural in the
noises and things that I heard and experienced at B----. Thanking you,
dear sir, in anticipation of your inserting this letter, I remain your
obedient servant,
"HAROLD SANDERS.
"CHIDCOCK, NEAR BRIDPORT, DORSET."
The passage in _The Times_ article is as follows:--
"An intelligent gardener whom I questioned told me that he had kept
watch in the house on two separate occasions, abstaining from sleep
until daylight appeared at seven o'clock, but without hearing a sound.
A caretaker, who had spent months in the house, and who had to keep a
stove alight all night, never heard a sound, probably because there
was no one to make any."
The gardener's evidence on this point will be found on p. 218.
Without admitting, for one moment, the theory that a servant's
evidence may not be of equal value with that of the so-called educated
classes, it was thought desirable, before admitting that of Sanders,
to make some inquiries as to his character, intelligence, and capacity
for observation. His employer spoke well of him, and Colonel Taylor
had the advantage of a personal interview with him, which he thus
describes:--
"_July 18th, 1897._--I went to Coventry yesterday, and saw Sanders the
butler. He is a slight, dark young man, and, as far as I could judge,
quite honest and serious over the B---- affair. He assured me that he
had written the letter to _The Times_ without any advice or
assistance, and that all he wrote was absolutely true. I gathered from
him, indirectly, that before his B---- experience he knew nothing of
ghosts, spiritualism, or any occult matter, and does not now. He was
much astonished when I told him that the feeling which he describes as
like walking into an ice-house was a common one under the
circumstances. He said he omitted in his letter many small personal
matters, such as the following:-- During the manifestation in his
room, when his bed was shifted, and when he felt as if some one was
making 'passes' over him, and breathing in his face, he made the sign
of the Cross, on which the 'influence' receded from him, but
approached again almost at once. After repeating this a few times with
the same result, he crossed his arms over his chest, and holding the
bedclothes close up to his chin, went to sleep. He was at no time
afraid. He said things were more active during the stay of Father 'I.'
than at any other time, and that one of the young H----s had seen a
veiled lady pass through his room."
The following paragraph in the letter of _The Times_ correspondent
called forth the subjoined letter from Mr. H---- himself, the tenant
of B----:--
"The only mystery in the matter seems to be the mode in which a
prosaic and ordinary dwelling was endowed with so evil a reputation. I
was assured in London that it had had this reputation for twenty or
thirty years. The family lawyer in P---- asserted most positively
that there had never been a whisper of such a thing until the house
was let for last year's shooting season to a family, whom I may call
the H----s. I was told the same thing in equally positive terms by
the minister of the parish, a level-headed man from B----shire, who
has lived in the place for twenty years. He told me that some of the
younger members of the H---- family had indulged in practical jokes,
and boasted of them. One of their pranks was to drop or throw a weight
upon the floor, and to draw it back by means of a string. Another
seems to have been to thump on bedroom doors with a boot-heel, the
unmistakable marks of which remain to this day, and were pointed out
to me by our hostess. If there are really any noises not referable to
ordinary domestic causes, it is not improbable that these practical
jokers made a confidant of some one about the estate, who amuses
himself by occasionally--it is only occasionally that the more
remarkable noises are said to be heard--repeating their tricks. The
steward or factor on the estate concurs with the lawyer and the
minister in denying that the house had any reputation for being
haunted before the advent of the H---- family. Yet he is a Highlander,
and not without superstition; for he gave it as his opinion that _if_
there was anything in these noises, they must be due to Black Art.
Asked what Black Art might be, he said he could not tell, but he had
often heard about it, and had been told that when once set going it
would go on without the assistance of its authors. He was quite clear,
however that if there is Black Art, it came in with the H---- family."
Mr. H----'s rejoinder, which appeared in _The Times_, was dated June
10th:--
_To the Editor of "The Times"_
"SIR,--I must ask you to be good enough to publish, on behalf of the
tenant of B----, a few remarks on the article that appeared in your
paper of the 8th inst. with the heading 'On the Trail of a Ghost.' The
writer of that article finds a very easy solution to the mystery by
attacking a private family who happened to be tenants of B---- for a
short time, and making them a 'scapegoat' for his argument. I do not
quite understand if your correspondent pretends to assert that the
place had not the reputation of being haunted previous to my tenancy
for three months last year; probably he does not charge me with
originating such reports, as he mentions a story of the visit of a
Catholic Archbishop to the house to exorcise the ghost. This must have
happened some time ago, and proves that the house was then supposed to
be haunted. What your correspondent does state as a fact is, that the
younger members of my family played practical jokes, which have given
rise to Lord Bute's investigations. My object in writing to you is to
deny most emphatically this statement. The principal proof that is
brought forward to corroborate this slander is, that the doors are
marked by the blows struck to produce the noises heard. Surely no one
could be frightened after the cause and reason of the noises were once
ascertained by the boot-marks! But there were no such marks on the
doors when we left B----. Some of our guests were with us until very
shortly before my family left, and can testify to this, for the good
reason that in the endeavour to localise the extraordinary noises, all
doors and other parts of the house were constantly examined up to the
very last. When I went to B---- at the beginning of August, my family
had already been there a few days, and at once they told me they had
found out the house was supposed to be haunted, and that they had
heard most unaccountable noises. I had the greatest difficulty to
persuade all my people to stay in the place, and after all, we left
Scotland about the end of September, two months earlier than usual. I
personally did not give any importance to the rumours that B---- House
is haunted, and attributed the very remarkable noises heard to the
hot-water pipes and the peculiar way in which the house is built. In
fact, I have to confess I cannot believe in ghosts, and, consequently,
I did my best to persuade everybody that B---- was not haunted, but I
am afraid I was not always successful. I hope you will forgive me for
taking up so much valuable space in your paper, but I had to do so in
self-defence against a false accusation.--Yours faithfully, H----."
It is believed that, in consequence of this letter, Mr. H---- was
threatened with legal proceedings, which, however, have not yet been
initiated.
The following is the account given of the same period by Miss "B.," a
lady of some position in the literary world:--
"... We arrived there on Wednesday the 25th August, the house being
then tenanted by Mr. J.R. H---- of K---- Court, C----, G----shire. The
household consisted of Mr. and Mrs. H----, three sons, Miss H----, my
sister and I, and two other guests, Colonel A---- and Major B----.
"We had rooms in the wing on the ground floor of the house, opening
off the main hall, divided from the rest of the house by a long
passage, and shut off by a swing-door. Our rooms opened off each
other, and the inner room opened off a little sitting-room, which had
a door with glass panels leading into the passage. The only other
person who slept in that wing of the house was Mr. Willie H----, whose
room was exactly opposite the door of our room.
"We heard a great deal of discussion about the 'ghost' when we
arrived, and so that night my sister made me sleep in the inner room
with her. We heard nothing that night. The next night I slept in the
outer room, and neither of us heard anything. The third night, my
sister being still a little nervous, I slept in the inner room with
her. The door of the outer room was locked, the door between the rooms
was locked, and there was a wardrobe placed against the door leading
into the sitting-room. We both, having taken these precautions, fell
sound asleep.
"I wakened suddenly in the middle of the night, and noticed how quiet
the house was. Then I heard the clock strike two, and a few minutes
later there came a crashing, _vibrating_ batter against the door of
the outer room. My sister was sleeping very soundly, but she started
up in a moment at the noise, wide awake.
"'Some one must have done that,' she said; 'such a noise could never
have been made by a ghost!'
"But neither of us had the courage to go out into the passage! The
noise lasted, I should say, for only two or three _seconds_, and
ceased as suddenly as it had begun. We lay awake till the light came
in, but the house was quite quiet. I may mention, as against the
'supernatural' origin of the sound, that it came against the outer
door, did not pass in to the inner one, and avoided the glass-panelled
door of the sitting-room, which would certainly have been shivered by
the application of force sufficient to produce such noise. Another
very curious thing was, that on the nights when it came to our door
(_we_ only heard it once, but other visitors heard it often) Willie
H---- heard nothing; whereas on the nights when he was disturbed, we
heard nothing, yet the rooms were close together.
"The following night my sister and Miss H---- and two of her brothers
sat up all night in the morning-room, which opened off the main hall.
We sat with the door open and in the dark, but neither heard or saw
anything; the house was absolutely still.
"The next night my sister and I stayed in Miss H----'s room, watching
with her. It was on the third storey of the house, and on a line with
the specially haunted room, then occupied by Colonel A----. Two of the
men sat up downstairs.
"After 2.30 Mr. Eustace H---- came and told his sister we need not sit
up later, as everything was so quiet, and the noises seldom came after
that hour. He went to his room then, but his door was scarcely closed
when we all heard a loud knocking at Colonel A----'s door. We ran out,
without waiting a moment, into the passage, where the lamps were still
burning brightly, but it was absolutely empty and quiet. We heard it
several times that night in distant parts of the house, and once we
heard a scream, which seemed to come from overhead. We stayed six days
in the house after this, but heard nothing more ourselves, though
every one else in the house was disturbed nightly."
The Major B---- mentioned in the above statement has been good enough
to furnish the following note as to his personal impressions:--
"On 22nd August 1896 I arrived at B----, and remained there until the
2nd September. During this period I slept in the room on the first
floor, which is at the end of a short corridor running from the top of
the back stairs to my room [No. 1].
"Colonel A---- occupied the room next to me [No. 3]. It was a double
room, connected by a door, and was situated just at the top of the
back stair.
"August 24th, about 3.30 A.M., I heard very loud knocking, apparently
on Colonel A----'s door, about nine raps in all--three raps quickly,
one after the other, then three more the same, and three more the
same. It was as if some one was hitting the door with his fist as hard
as he could hit. I left my room at once, but could find nothing to
account for the noise. It was broad daylight at the time. I heard the
same noises on the 28th and 30th August at about the same hour, viz.
between 3 and 4 A.M."
The following, which adds somewhat to the above, was contained in a
private letter written in January 1897 from Major B---- to the Hon.
E---- F----:--
"Between two and four in the morning there used to be noises on the
door (of Colonel A----'s room), as if a very strong man were hitting
the panels as hard as ever he could hit, three times in quick
succession--a pause, and then three times again in quick succession,
and perhaps another go. It was so loud that I thought it was on the
door of his dressing-room, but he said he thought it was on his
bedroom door. One theory is, that it was the hot water in the pipes
getting cold, which, I am told, would make a loud throbbing noise. I
tripped out pretty quick the first time I heard it, but could see
nothing. Of course it is broad daylight in Scotland then.
"The same banging was, I believe, heard on one of the bedroom doors
down the passage, in the wing on the ground floor, and on
investigation I found there were hot-water pipes just outside that
door as well. There were yarns innumerable while I was there about
shrieks and footsteps heard, and bedclothes torn off. But I did not
experience these.... I don't think the noises were done by a
practical joker, as there were too many people on the alert...."
The Hon. E---- F---- wrote to Miss Freer on March 4th:--
"... [Major] B---- is now in London, and I have seen him twice. He
says (1) the hot-water pipe theory is not his own, but was suggested
by an engineer friend. He should not himself have thought that
hot-water pipes could make so big a noise. Besides, Colonel A----
described the noise as a banging either against the door itself, or
against the door of the wardrobe inside the room.... (2) He, B----,
heard the noise himself several times and bolted out into the passage
at once, but saw nothing. The noise sounded like a very loud banging
at A----'s door.... (3) He confirms the story about A---- being unable
to sleep, and says he used to go to sleep on the moor in consequence."
During Colonel Taylor's tenancy similar noises were heard, both when
the water was totally cut off and when, from some defect in the
apparatus, it never reached a high temperature.
The Colonel A---- referred to, corroborates this account, as follows,
in a letter to Major B----:
"MY DEAR B----, You write asking me about B---- House and its spook.
Well, I never _saw_ anything, and what I heard was what you heard, a
terrific banging at one's bedroom door, generally about from 2 to 3
A.M., about two nights out of three. Of course there were other yarns
of things heard, &c., but I personally never heard or experienced
anything else than this banging at the door, which I never could
account for...."
Before passing from the subject of Colonel A----, it is as well to
mention that after leaving B---- he went to stay at another country
house, and the butler there spoke to him of the haunting of B----,
where he himself was a servant some years before. This butler was
asked for further information, but sent only the following reply:--
"Your note to hand regarding B----. I am afraid what I saw or heard
would be of little value to your book, therefore I would rather say
nothing."
It will be observed that, so far from denying the facts, he admits
that he saw and heard certain things, which he refuses to describe;
but as this evidence is circumstantial rather than direct, it is
inserted here rather than in the place to which, chronologically, it
would, if fuller, properly have belonged.
Mr. and Mrs. "G." were also guests at B---- during the occupation of
the H----s. Mrs. "G." published an account of her experiences in a
magazine article, of course with fictitious names; but she affirms
that she has in no sense "written up" the story, which, indeed, is
entirely corroborated by other evidence:--
"_October 9th, 1896._--Some friends of mine took the place this year
for the shooting, and, relying on the glowing description they had
received, took it on trust, and in July last took possession of it
without having previously seen it. For a few days all went well; the
family established themselves in the old part of the house, leaving a
new wing for their guests. The haunted room (for so I may justly call
it) was inhabited by two or three persons in succession, who were so
alarmed and disturbed by the violent knockings, shrieks, and groans
which they heard every night, and which were also heard by many others
along the same corridor, that they refused to sleep there after the
first few nights. Those who serve under her Majesty's colours are
proverbially brave; they will gladly die for their country, with sword
in hand and face to the foe. For this reason a distinguished officer
[Colonel A----, above quoted] was the next occupant of the haunted
chamber, and was told nothing of its antecedents. The morning after
his arrival he came down refreshed, and keen for the day's sport. I
may here mention, no one is ever disturbed the first night of their
stay. During the succeeding nights, however, he was continually roused
from his slumbers by the most terrific noises, and want of sleep would
cause him to become drowsy when out shooting on the moor, and would
tempt him to make a bed of the purple heather and fragrant myrtle.
"A friend of mine, a man of great nerve and courage, next inhabited
the room, and went through the same experiences. He took every
possible means to discover the cause of the sounds, and failed in
accounting for them in any way. He said the blows on the door were so
violent he often looked, expecting to see it shattered to atoms. Since
he left no one has been put into this room, but the noises continue,
and are heard throughout the house. Even the dogs cannot be coaxed
into this room, and if forced into it, they crouch with marked signs
of fear.
"The disturbances take place between 12 and 4.30, and never at any
other time. A young lady, of by no means timid disposition, and
possessed of great presence of mind, has often heard the swing-door
pushed open and footsteps coming along the corridor, pausing at the
door. She has frequently looked out and seen nothing. The footsteps
she has also heard in her room, and going round her bed. Many persons
have had the same experiences, and many have heard the wild unearthly
shriek which has rung through the house in the stillness of the night.
"I will now give my own experience. I arrived with my husband and
daughter on September 17, having been duly warned by my friends of the
nocturnal disturbances. We were put in rooms adjoining, at the end of
the new wing. I kept a light in my room, but the first night all was
still. Next night, about 2 A.M., a succession of thundering knocks
came from the end of our passage, re-echoing through the house, where
it was heard by many others. About half-an-hour afterwards my husband
heard a piercing shriek; then all was still, save for the hooting of
the owls in the neighbouring trees. When the grey dawn stole in it was
welcome; so was the cheery sound of the bagpipes, as the kilted piper
took his daily round in the early morning. The next night and
succeeding ones we heard loud single knocks at different doors along
our passage. The last night but one before we left I was roused from
sleep by hearing the clock strike one, and immediately it had ceased
six violent blows shook our own door on its hinges, and came with
frightful rapidity, followed by deep groans. After this sleep was
impossible. The next night, our last in Scotland, my husband and
others watched in our passage all night, and though the sounds were
again heard in different directions, nothing was to be seen. As I
write, at the commencement of October, the house on the lonely
hillside is deserted; the tenants have gone southwards; an old
caretaker (too deaf to hear the weird sounds which nightly awaken the
echoes) is the sole occupant. Even she closes up all before dusk, and
retires into her quarters below; though she hears not, her sight is
unimpaired, and she perhaps dreads to meet the hunchback figure which
is said to glide up the stairs, or the shadowy form of a grey lady who
paces with noiseless footfall the lonely corridor, and has been seen
to pass through the door of one of the rooms. Within the last two
months a man with bronzed complexion and bent figure has been seen by
two gentlemen, friends of mine. They both describe him as having come
through the door and passed through the room in which they were about
three in the morning. I have tried to give a faithful and accurate
account of these strange events. I leave it to each and all to form
their own opinion on the matter."
Some passages in private letters to Miss Freer and Lord Bute written
by Mrs. "G.," should be quoted as bearing upon some points in the
above:--
"_February 9th._--I am going to ask you if you do go there [B----
House] if you would let me know if you see or hear anything. I am
immensely interested in it, as we stayed there in the autumn with some
friends who took it, and anything more horribly haunted could not be.
I never should have believed it if I had not been there."
After the appearance of _The Times_ correspondent's accusation against
the H---- family, Mrs. "G." wrote as follows to Lord Bute:--
"_June 10th._--If the noises complained of by nearly all who have
stayed at B---- were the result of practical jokes perpetrated by the
H----s, how is it that not only were they heard by guests who stayed
there years ago, but are admitted by members of the S---- family to
have been heard by themselves? Miss Freer also has told me, that the
same noises were heard at all hours day and night by herself and her
guests for months after the H---- family and their servants had left
Scotland. This so completely exonerates them from the absurd charge,
that I should hardly have mentioned it, had not Miss Freer seemed
quite under the impression that practical jokes had been played during
the tenancy of the H----s; and as a proof of this, she told me that
the doors, especially of two of the rooms, were marked with nailed
boots, and the panels even split through, and this damage was
attributed by her to the younger members of the H---- family. I am
happy to say I was able to disabuse her mind of this idea, as we were
staying at B---- within a few days of their leaving Scotland, and I
had most carefully examined the doors especially of the two rooms
specified, one of which was our own room. There was not a scratch, nor
the smallest mark or indentation; others can also vouch for this fact.
The H----s had all left B---- for good at that time, except the
eldest son, and Miss Freer agreed with me that whatever damage was
done to the doors, must therefore have been done after the H----s
left, and before her party came in.... The hot-water pipe theory
revived by the writer of the article in _The Times_ is disproved by
Miss Freer, who told me that the hot-water apparatus was not used for
some time, and that the disturbances continued just the same.... The
stories told in connection with B---- were not circulated or started
by the H---- family. They were told _to_ them by persons living around
B----."
In a letter to Miss Freer, dated June 12th, Mrs. "G." writes, in
reference to the charge of practical joking:--
"They are the most unlikely family to do such a thing; and besides, if
further proof were wanted, the young men of the family were away from
B---- when we stayed there ten days, and there was only one night when
we did not hear the noises."
Miss Freer of course entirely accepts Mrs. "G.'s" statement, and that
of Mr. H---- as published in _The Times_. She had been led to her
earlier conclusions as to the marks of a boot-heel on the upper panels
of the doors by the statements of interested persons.
A suggestive point in this connection is the fact, to which Miss "G."
has herself testified, that while Mr. and Mrs. "G." were disturbed to
the utmost degree, their daughter, who slept in a room communicating
with that of her mother, heard nothing whatever; from which it would
appear that the noises heard by them were subjective, and that the
alleged evidence of the boot-heel, even were it credible, would be, in
fact, irrelevant.
The mention of the hallucinatory nature of such phenomena suggests
attention to the intellectual acumen displayed by _The Times_
correspondent in saying that "Lord Bute ought to have employed a
couple of intelligent detectives" for the purpose of catching
subjective hallucinations. On the same principle, he ought to offer to
his learned friend, Sir James Crichton-Browne, well known as an
alienist, some advice as to the best mode of securing morbid
hallucinations in strait-waistcoats. Is he prepared to propose to take
photographs of a dream, to put thoughts under lock and key, or to
advocate the supply of hot and cold water on every floor of a castle
in the air?
One of the guests at B---- during Colonel Taylor's tenancy wrote after
his return to London to Miss Freer as follows:--
"_March 24th._--I went to call the other day on the 'G.'s' who chanced
to be still in town.... I begin chronologically, and give you what I
was told in all seriousness.... The H----s knew nothing about any
stories of haunting when they took the place, and Miss H---- and one
of the sons went up, most innocently, to prepare for the arrival of
the others. As soon as they entered it the son said to his sister that
he couldn't explain why, but he had a conviction that the house was
haunted. That night, however, nothing happened. But the second night
the bangings began. An old Spanish nurse was in the haunted room, and
was greatly disturbed by the noise upon her door, which seemed as if
it were going to be burst open. She didn't seem to be alarmed in the
least however, and later took steps to secure its remaining shut by
stuffing a towel under the chink (why this should secure it I rather
fail to see, still that was her view). Apparently the ghost resented
this, and one night did actually burst the door open, with such
violence that the towel was precipitated into the middle of the room.
The longer they stayed in the house, the worse things got. The noises
were all over the house more or less, and were by no means confined to
bangings. Miss H---- slept in room No. 8, where the ghost limped round
her bed. She was so alarmed that she fetched her brother in, and he
slept on the sofa. The limping began again, and she asked him if he
heard anything, and he at once agreed that somebody was walking round
the bed. In his own room--I forget which--he twice _saw_ the ghost,
once in the shape of an indeterminate mist, once in the shape of a
man, who came in by the door and vanished in the wall. Mrs. 'G.'[B]
now appears on the scene, and slept in No. 1 (I _think_). She heard
only the bangings, which she declares were indescribably loud. They
were mostly at the door of the haunted room. Traps were laid to catch
unwary jesters; the door, or the surrounding floor, I forget which,
was covered with flour, and wires were stretched across the door; and
if I had the proper mind of a ghost-story narrator, I should say that
the bangings were as bad as ever, and the flour and the wires were
found undisturbed.
"But as a matter of fact she didn't say that, though doubtless she
intended to, but jumped on to something else. Mr. "G.," who was there
some weeks after his wife, was put down in the wing--I don't know
which room--and had visitations. He heard steps approach down the
passage, followed by a heavy body flinging itself against his door. He
also heard screams, which seemed to him to recede as though the
screamer was passing through the walls. (I couldn't quite understand
this effect, but that was how he described it.) Their chaplain, who
was put into the haunted room, was also greatly worried, and both he
and the Spanish nurse and Colonel A---- all had the sensation that
their bedclothes were being pulled off, and they had to hold on to
them to prevent their departure. The most interesting part of the
story is that Mrs. S---- later admitted to Mrs. "G." that it was quite
true the house was supposed to be haunted, that she had lived there
for twenty years, and at various times there had been outbreaks of
this kind of thing of greater or less duration, but that the outbreaks
had not been often enough for them to think it worth while mentioning
the fact to incoming tenants. It appears also that the story of the
bangings on the table in the daylight on the occasion of the last
interview between the late Mr. S---- and the land-steward, came from
one of the young S----s. It was also said that one of the young S----s
used to sleep in the dressing-room between No. 1 and the haunted room,
and used to complain that somebody kept pulling his bedclothes off.
"I may add that it is quite clear that the people about the
place--some of whom, on my leaving, I vainly tried to draw--have been
threatened not to talk about the ghost. There was no mystery about it
whatever last year, the station officials being exceedingly loquacious
and full of information...."
The above are the circumstances which _The Times_ correspondent thus
describes:--
"Lord Bute's confidence has been grossly abused by some one. It was
represented to him by some one that he was taking the 'most haunted
house in Scotland,' a house with an old and established reputation for
mysterious if not supernatural disturbances. What he has got is a
house with no reputation whatever of that kind, with no history, with
nothing germane to his purpose beyond a cloud of baseless rumours
produced during the last twelve-month. Who is responsible for the
imposture it is not my business to know or to inquire, but that it is
an imposture of the most shallow and impudent kind there can be no
manner of doubt. I interviewed in P---- a man who has the district at
his finger-tips, and was ready to enumerate in order all the shooting
properties in the valley. He had never heard until the moment I spoke
to him of B---- possessing any reputation, ancient or modern, for
being haunted, although he is familiar with the estate, and has slept
in the house. It has no local reputation of the kind even now beyond
the parish it stands in. The whole thing has been fudged up in London
upon the basis of some distorted account of the practical jokes of the
H----s."
As the writer in question obtained his admission to the house as a
guest by Sir James Crichton-Browne's solicitation through Sir William
Huggins and Lord Bute, it might naturally have been supposed that the
real facts were known to him, at least so far as they were concerned.
It appears, however, that he cherished a voluntary ignorance upon the
subject, to judge from the phrase, "it is not my business to know or
to inquire." Of such a writer, and of such statements, the reader will
now form his own opinion; but that the correspondent in question
should continue to cling to his journalistic anonymity, is little to
be wondered at.
Colonel Taylor served in the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was afterwards
Professor of Tactics at Sandhurst, and retired in 1894. Possessed of
means, leisure, and intelligence, he chose to make the study of
psychic subjects his particular occupation. He is one of the seven
fundamental members who, in 1895, signed the Articles of Association
of the London Spiritualist Alliance, holds office in the Society for
Psychical Research, and has rendered very valuable services in
investigation of various kinds. Having made the investigation of
houses alleged to be haunted his special province, he may be fairly
considered to be somewhat of an expert in this matter. It may, or may
not, be regarded as a drawback to his usefulness in this direction,
that he is so peculiarly insensitive to subjective impressions, that a
man who is colour-blind would be almost as useful a witness as to
shades of colour as Colonel Taylor upon hallucinations, local or
otherwise; but, as will be seen, he is fertile in expedients,
experienced in research, and careful and observant of the phenomena
experienced by others.
Lord Bute, who takes some interest in scientific matters, has been
accustomed not infrequently to defray the cost of scientific work
which he is unable to undertake himself, and he offered to meet the
expense of the lease of B---- if Colonel Taylor would take the house,
a proposal which he accepted.
This is what _The Times_ correspondent of June 8, 1897, thought proper
to describe in the words, "for reasons which are differently stated in
London and in Perth, where the agent for the proprietor is to be
found, Lord Bute did not take the house in his own name, but in that
of Colonel Taylor."
It would have been equally true to say of the Coptic texts, published
at Lord Bute's expense by Mr. Budge of the British Museum, that Lord
Bute wrote and published these books under the name of Budge.
Had Colonel Taylor been prevented by circumstances from becoming
tenant of B---- House, Sir William Crookes, the present President of
the British Association and of the Society for Psychical Research, or
Mr. Arthur Smith, Treasurer of the S.P.R., was willing to take the
lease.
Having thus agreed to Lord Bute's proposal, Colonel Taylor at once
proceeded to make himself acquainted with the history of B---- House.
He naturally placed himself in communication with the late tenant,
assuming that that gentleman would be willing to assist in
investigating the phenomena by which his family and guests had been
annoyed. But the only information which Mr. H---- seemed disposed to
give was an admission that some members of his family had heard
noises, and that the house was locally reported to be haunted.
However, other sources of information as to the experiences of the
H---- establishment were fortunately available.
Captain S----'s agents made no scruple about letting the house to the
well-known expert. The Edinburgh agents, Messrs. Speedy, indeed
mentioned the haunting, and expressed the hope that Colonel Taylor
would not make it the subject of complaint, as had been done by the
H---- family, and they received the assurance that this was not a
score upon which he would give trouble. In regard to the letters of
Messrs. R.H. Moncrieff & Co., dated June 12, 1897, which appeared in
_The Times_, it can only be said that the impression which they were
likely to convey was, that Colonel Taylor was an imaginary being like
John Doe or Richard Roe. Their scepticism must have been of recent
origin, since none was manifested on receiving his rent. Their
position is in any case unfortunate, since, even if unclouded by doubt
as to the Colonel's personality, they appear to wish the public to
believe that they seriously thought that one well known as a
Spiritualist in England and America, a retired Professor of Military
Tactics, with a comfortable house at Cheltenham, a member of the
Junior United Service Club in London, a man who neither shoots nor
fishes, had been suddenly seized in his mature years with a desire to
hire an isolated country house in Perthshire, in the depths of winter,
for the purpose of trying his 'prentice hand upon rabbit-shooting on a
small scale.
Colonel Taylor, who is a widower without a daughter, was at this time
much occupied by the illness and death of a near relative, and was
unable for the moment to take up residence at B---- House. Lord Bute
accordingly expressed a hope that Miss Freer would undertake to
conduct the investigation. Mr. Myers also wrote urgently to her,
saying, "If you don't get phenomena, probably no one will." She was
abroad at the time, but at considerable personal inconvenience
consented to return, and on December 26th she wrote to Lord Bute,
stating that she could reach Ballechin on February 2nd, and adding--
"I have been reflecting further on the question of the personality of
investigators. I think the names you suggest, and some others which
occur to me, divide naturally into three classes (assuming, and I
think you agree with me, that it does not follow that every one can
discover a ghost because it is there, nor that their failure to
discover it is any proof that it is not there). (1) Those who have
personal experience of phenomena, and may be expected to be
susceptible to psychic influences; (2) those who have no personal
powers in that line, but are open-minded and sympathetic; and (3)
those who are passively open to conviction. A fourth class, those who
come to look for evidence against the phenomena, but will accept none
for it, should, I think, be left until we have some demonstrable
evidence to show.... Mr. Myers proposes himself for April 14-21.... I
should suggest the keeping of a diary, in which every one willing to
do so should make entries, negative or affirmative."
The _Times_ Correspondent further criticised the method of inquiry
employed at B----.
"Lord Bute's original idea was a good one, but it was never properly
carried out. Observing that the S.P.R. had made many investigations in
a perfunctory and absurd manner by sending somebody to a haunted house
for a couple of nights and then writing an utterly worthless report,
he desired in this case a continuous investigation extending over a
considerable period. He ought, therefore, to have employed a couple of
intelligent detectives for the whole term, and thus secured real
continuity. As things are, the only continuity is to be found in the
presence--itself not entirely continuous--of the lady just mentioned.
But simply because she is a lady, and because she had her duties as
hostess to attend to, she is unfit to carry out the actual work of
investigating the phenomena in question. Some of her assistants sat up
all night, with loaded guns, in a condition of abject fright; others,
there is reason to suspect, manufactured phenomena for themselves; and
nearly all seem to have begun by assuming supernatural interference,
instead of leaving it for the final explanation of whatever might be
clearly proved to be otherwise inexplicable."
It is hardly necessary to repudiate such a condition of mind on the
part of the guests at B----, but it may be well to remark that the
writer of this sapient paragraph seems to be under the impression that
every result of certain forces at present imperfectly understood is
supernatural. The assertion that any one who was in the house during
Colonel Taylor's tenancy believed in the possibility of the existence
of anything supernatural is, so far as the present editors are aware,
a pure fabrication, having no foundation whatever. In their own belief
all things which exist, or can exist, are, _ipso facto_, natural,
although their nature may not belong to the plane of being in which we
are normally accustomed to move.
In this connection may be usefully quoted the following passages from
Miss Freer's article in _The Nineteenth Century_, August 1897:--
"Some of my friends asked me how I proposed to organise a haunted
house research, to which I could only reply that I didn't propose to
do anything of the sort. It seemed to me that among several things to
be avoided was self-consciousness of any kind, that the natural thing
to do was to settle down to a country-house life, make it as pleasant
as possible, and await events.... The subject of the 'haunting' was
never accentuated, and we always tried to prevent talking it over with
new-comers.... As to the guests, for the most part they came on no
special principle of selection.... Several of our visitors had more or
less special interest in the inquiry, but others merely came for a
country-house visit or for sport, and some knew nothing whatever till
after their arrival of any special interest alleged to attach to the
house.... Analysing our list of guests, I find that there were eleven
ladies, twenty-one gentlemen, and _The Times_ Correspondent. Of the
gentlemen, three were soldiers, three lawyers, two were men of
letters, one an artist, two were in business, four were clergy, one a
physician, ... and five, men of leisure."
It would be unnecessary to quote all the preliminary correspondence;
but the following passages from Lord Bute's letters to Miss Freer help
to explain the situation, and the relation of those concerned:--
"_December 20th.--_ ... I am afraid I shall encroach even further upon
your kindness. Myers has all the papers, but I fancy you would rather
know as little as possible, so as not to be influenced by expectation.
It is no case of roughing it. B---- House is, I believe, a luxurious
country house, ample, though not too large, in a beautiful
neighbourhood...."
A letter of December 22nd refers to a suggestion that the phenomena
were produced by trickery, a fact which is mentioned to show that the
possibility was kept in view from the first.
On January 23rd, "Not a day should be lost in beginning the
observation, which ought to be continuous. Such a chance has never
occurred before, and may never occur again. Orders have been given to
get the house ready for immediate occupation."
Miss Freer, accompanied by her friend Miss Constance Moore (a daughter
of the late Rev. Daniel Moore, Prebendary of St. Paul's and Chaplain,
to the Queen), arrived at B---- House on February 3, 1897.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Here and in all references to rooms by their numbers, see
Frontispiece.
[B] See her own account, p. 64. The account here given, as will be
seen, is not quite accurate as to the precise rooms. Mrs. "G." slept
in the wing.
JOURNAL KEPT DURING A VISIT TO B---- HOUSE
JOURNAL KEPT DURING A VISIT TO B---- HOUSE
_February 3rd, Wednesday._--Constance Moore and I arrived from
Edinburgh, with Mac., the maid, a little after 10 P.M., having
sent on beforehand the following servants:--Robinson and Mrs.
Robinson, butler and cook; Carter and Hannah, two housemaids.
I had engaged them on behalf of Colonel Taylor in Edinburgh last
evening. They had all good characters, and were well
recommended. We told them nothing, of course, of the reputation
of the house, and were careful to choose persons of mature age,
and not excitable girls.
I had seen no plans nor photographs of the house, and merely
desired that any rooms should be prepared for us that were near
together--_i.e._ bedroom, dressing-room, and maid's room. Mr.
C---- [who met us in Edinburgh, and is a lawyer, mentioned
hereafter], who had seen plans, asked what orders we had given,
and remarked that, as far as he knew, we should secure one quiet
night, as the "haunted" part contained, apparently, no
dressing-rooms.
The house looked very gloomy. It was not cold out of doors,
though thick snow lay on the ground. Inside it felt like a
vault, having been empty for months. None of the stores ordered
had arrived. We had no linen, knives, plate, wine, food, and
very little fuel or oil. Candles and bread and milk and a tin of
meat had been got for us in the village. We ate and went to bed.
The room was so cold that we had to cover our faces, and we had
no bed-linen. We had been very busy all day in Edinburgh, and
soon fell asleep.
_February 4th, Thursday._--I awoke suddenly, just before 3 A.M.
Miss Moore, who had been lying awake over two hours, said, "I
want you to stay awake and listen." Almost immediately I was
startled by a loud clanging sound, which seemed to resound
through the house. The mental image it brought to my mind was as
of a long metal bar, such as I have seen near iron-foundries,
being struck at intervals with a wooden mallet. The noise was
distinctly as of metal struck with wood; it seemed to come
diagonally across the house. It sounded so loud, though distant,
that the idea that any inmate of the house should not hear it
seems ludicrous. It was repeated with varying degrees of
intensity at frequent intervals during the next two hours,
sometimes in single blows, sometimes double, sometimes treble,
latterly continuous. We did not get up, though not alarmed. We
had been very seriously cautioned as to the possibilities of
practical joking; and as we were alone on that floor in a large
house, of which we did not even know the geography, we thought
it wiser to await developments. We knew the servants' staircase
was distant, though not exactly where.
About 4.30 we heard voices, apparently in the maid's room,
undoubtedly on the same floor. We had for some time heard the
housemaids overhead coughing, occasionally speaking, and we
thought they had got up and had come down to her room.
After five o'clock the noises seemed to have ceased, and Miss
Moore fell asleep. About 5.30 I heard them again, apparently
more distant. I continued awake, but heard no more.
About 8 A.M. the maid brought us some tea. She said she had
slept very badly, had worried over our apparent restlessness, as
she had heard voices and footsteps and the sound of things
dragged about, but that the maids had not been downstairs. We
had never risen, and had spoken seldom, and in low tones, and an
empty room (the dressing-room) intervened between Mac.'s room
and ours.
In order, as we supposed, to follow up the noises we, later, in
the day moved our rooms to the other side of the house,
especially choosing those from which the sounds seemed to
proceed--Nos. 6 and 7--leaving Mac., the maid, in No. 3.
The whole day has been occupied with exploring the house,
sending for food and supplies, trying to thaw the rooms, moving
furniture to make things homelike, and trying to arrive at a
little comfort.
The house will soon be very pleasant, and only needs living in,
but it feels like a vault. It is very roomy and very light.
Nothing less like the conventional "haunted" house could be
conceived. The main body of the house was built in 1806, the
wing about 1883, with the apparent object of providing the
children of the family with rooms outside the "haunted" area. It
is cheerful, sunny, convenient, healthy, and built on a very
simple plan, which admits of no dark corners or mysteries of any
kind. A pleasanter house to live in I would not desire, but it
is constructed for summer rather than for winter use. It has
been added to at least twice, and there is much waste space. The
original mansion, which was, I understand, upon a different
site, was dated 1579; the new wing was built about fourteen
years ago, and consists of four rooms and offices, adapted for
schoolroom or nursery use. But the older walls are of great
thickness.
After dusk we sat down to rest, and for the first time read the
papers relating to the house,[C] breaking open the envelope in
which Mr. Myers had given them to me. I had done this for my own
satisfaction, as I wanted, if only for a few hours, to have as
unprejudiced a presentation of the place as was possible under
the circumstances. Miss Moore had heard some of the rumours
about the house in Edinburgh from Mr. MacP---- and Mr. C----,
but I had avoided all information as far as I could.
We now learnt, to our chagrin, that we had done the wrong thing,
and had left rooms alleged to be haunted, and taken two
apparently innocent. We, however, consoled ourselves by the
reflection that we can offer the others to our guests, and that
we are at all events _next_ to No. 8, which has an evil
reputation.
It is the room in which Sarah N---- died, and in which Miss H----
heard the limping footsteps walking round her bed.
As we had been told that the avenue is shunned by the whole
neighbourhood after dark, we went out for a stroll up and down
about six o'clock. We saw nothing, but our dog Scamp growled at
the fir plantation beside the road.
Mr. L. F---- [eminent as an electrical engineer], arrived about
10 P.M. We thought it polite to give him a quiet night after so
long a journey, and he is sleeping in No. 5.
_February 5th, Friday._--Miss Moore and I slept well. We were
both desperately tired.
Mr. L. F---- awoke suddenly at 2.30. No phenomena. He has an
excellent little apparatus, an electric flashlight, which he is
able to keep under his pillow and turn on at a second's notice,
very convenient for "ghost" hunting--no delay, and no
possibility of blowing it out.
The maids tell mine that they heard the sounds below them of
continuous speaking or reading, and "supposed the young ladies
were reading to one another."
This is the first occasion on which there has been mention of the
sound of continuous reading aloud, which afterwards became extremely
familiar. The sound was always that well known to Roman Catholics as
that of a priest "saying his office." It may be as well to remind the
reader that Clerks in Holy Orders of that Church are, like those of
the Anglican, strictly bound to read through the whole of the Daily
Service every day, and it is not permitted to do this merely by the
eye, the lips must utter the words. In practice some are accustomed
to move the lips with hardly any sound, and such, we have ascertained,
is the custom of the Rev. P---- H----; others read it absolutely
aloud, and will retire to their own rooms or other places, where they
may be alone for the purpose. This, we heard, was the invariable
practice of the Rev. Mr. "I.," the chaplain of Mr. and Mrs. "G."
As a matter of fact, we were sleeping on the other side of the
house, and the rooms under the maids' rooms were empty.... In
the evening, about six o'clock, we strolled down the avenue
again, and Scamp, who never does bark except under strong
excitement, again barked and growled at the copse.
The Hon. E. F----, a fellow-member of an S.P.R. committee,
arrives to-night. Hospitality constrains us to put him in No. 4,
which is "not haunted."
I asked after the success of the new kitchenmaid, a local
importation, who arrived yesterday. I was told she had already
gone. The cook told me "she talked all sorts of nonsense about
the house, and the things that had happened in it, and had been
seen in it, all day; and then at night refused to sleep here,
and the butler had to walk home with her at eleven o'clock."
The Factor [_anglicé_: bailiff] came this morning, and I fancied
a special intention in his manner. He was much annoyed about the
kitchenmaid, said such talk was "all havers" [_anglicé_:
"drivel"], begged me not to employ her again, and undertook to
get another, lending me a girl in his own service meanwhile.
I went with him into the wing to get him to see to things there.
We have been too busy in getting the rest of the house into
order to look after it yet; but I find the pipes are out of
order, the cisterns frozen, and the "set-basins" in the three
bedrooms and bath-room out of working order. He promised
attention, but discouraged the use of the wing. "Had we not room
enough without?" and so on. I suggested that, any way, for the
sake of the rest of the house it must be aired and thawed, and
he insisted that the kitchen fire below did that sufficiently.
I cannot help remembering that this is the scene of the
phenomena recorded by Miss "B----," as Duncan R----, the factor,
is well aware. Also, he was persistent about "keeping out the
natives," and their chatter, if I wanted to keep the servants,
but did not specify the nature of the chatter, and I asked no
questions.
_February 6th, Saturday._--No phenomena last night. The house
perfectly still.
During Colonel Taylor's tenancy a good many experiments of different
kinds were made in hypnotism, crystal gazing, and automatic writing.
These, however, belong to a class of matter quite different from that
of spontaneous phenomena, and are therefore not referred to, with the
exception of a single instance of crystal gazing, which, though
relating to B----, was made elsewhere, and one or two occasions of
automatic writing. This latter method of inquiry displayed all the
weakness to which it is usually, and apparently, inherently liable,
and is only mentioned here as explaining other matters. Its chief
interest was that it supplied a name marked by a certain peculiarity
which afterwards became familiar, and that it led to a hypothesis as
to at least one of the personalities by whom certain phenomena were
professedly caused.
In the afternoon an experiment was made with the apparatus known as a
_Ouija_ board, and this, as is very often the case, resolved itself,
after a time, into automatic writing. There is in the library a
portrait of a very handsome woman, to which no name is attached, but
which shows the costume of the last century. Her name was asked, and
the word _Ishbel_ was given several times. It is not certain whether
this word was meant as an answer to the question, or whether, as often
happens in such cases, it was intended merely as an announcement of
the name of the informant supposed to communicate.
The word, as given, possesses the following peculiarity. In the
Gaelic language the vowels _e_ and _i_ have the effect of aspirating
an _s_ immediately preceding them, in the same way in which they
effect the _c_ in Italian, or the _g_ in Spanish, so that, as in
Italian _ce_ and _ci_ are pronounced _chay_ and _chee_, so in Gaelic
_se_ and _si_ are pronounced _shay_ and _shee_. The name Isabel is
written in Gaelic _Iseabal_, but the _e_ is absorbed in its effect
upon the _s_ (like the _i_ in the Italian _cìo_) and the first _a_ is
so slurred as to be almost inaudible, so that the word is pronounced
"Ish-bel."
It was obvious, therefore, that the intelligence from which the
writing proceeded (if such existed) could write in English, and was
familiar with the colloquial Gaelic pronunciation of the name, but was
unacquainted with the Gaelic orthography. On this occasion also the
name "Margaret" was given in its Gaelic form of Marghearad (somewhat
similarly misspelt as _Marget_), without any special connection either
with the questions asked, or, so far as could be discovered, with
anything in the mind of any present, none of whom had interested
themselves at that time in the S---- ancestry.
In reply to questions as to what could be done that was of use or
interest, the writers were told to go at dusk, and in silence, to the
glen in the avenue, and this, rightly or wrongly, some of those
present identified with what had been called Scamp's Copse. They were,
however, perplexed by being told to go "up by the burn," for though
Miss Freer and Miss Moore had twice explored the spot, they had not
observed the presence of water. The journal continues--
We decided to walk in the avenue, and to explore "Scamp's Copse"
before dinner, in spite of the fact that we were expecting Mr.
MacP---- [a barrister], Mr. C---- [a solicitor], and Mr. W----
[an accountant] just about the time that we should be absent.
Miss Moore took the dog off in the opposite direction, and we
walked in silence to the plantation, Mr. L. F----, Mr. F----,
and I. It was quite dark, but the snow gleamed so white, that we
could see our way to the plantation. We went up among the trees,
young firs; the snow was deep and untrodden; and when we got
well off the road, we found that a burn comes down the brae
side. It is frozen hard, and we found it out only by the shining
of the ice.
We walked on in silence to the left of the burn, up the little
valley, along a small opening between the trees and the railing
which encloses them, Mr. L. F---- first, then I, then Mr.
F----.
In a few minutes I saw what made me stop. The men stopped too,
and we all stood leaning over the railings, and looking in
silence across the burn to the steep bank opposite. This was
white with snow, except to the left, where the boughs of a large
oak-tree had protected the ground.
Against the snow I saw a slight black figure, a woman, moving
slowly up the glen. She stopped, and turned and looked at me.
She was dressed as a nun. Her face looked pale. I saw her hand
in the folds of her habit. Then she moved on, as it seemed, on a
slope too steep for walking. When she came under the tree she
disappeared--perhaps because there was no snow to show her
outline. Beyond the tree she reappeared for a moment, where
there was again a white background, close by the burn. Then I
saw no more. I waited, and then, still in silence, we returned
to the avenue.
I described what I had seen. The others saw nothing. (This did
not surprise me, for though both have been for many years
concerned in psychical investigation, and have had unusual
opportunities, neither has ever had any "experience," so that
one may conclude that they are not by temperament likely to
experience either subjective phenomena or even
thought-transference.) It was proposed that we should ascend the
glen in her track on the other side of the burn. It was very
difficult walking, the snow very deep, and after two or three
efforts to descend the side of the bank we gave it up, and
followed to nearly her point of disappearance, keeping above the
tree, not below as she had done. We saw no more, and returned to
the house, agreeing not to describe what had occurred, merely to
say that as the factor (who looks about eighteen stone) is said
not to like the avenue at dark, we had been setting him and
others a good example.
In a letter to Lord Bute under date February 25th, Miss Freer
describes this figure with some detail:--
"As you know, these figures do not appear before 6.30 at earliest,
therefore there is little light upon their surface. Like other
phantasms seen at dark, they show 'by their own light,' _i.e._ they
appear to be outlined by a thread of light. It is therefore only when
the face appears in profile that one can describe the features, and
this is somewhat prevented by the nun's veil. 'Ishbel' appears to me
to be slight, and of fair height. I am unable, of course, to see the
colour of her hair, but I should describe her as dark. There is an
intensity in her gaze which is rare in light-coloured eyes. The face,
as I see it, is in mental pain, so that it is perhaps hardly fair to
say that it seems lacking in that repose and gentleness that one looks
for in the religious life. Her dress presents no peculiarities. The
habit is black, with the usual white about the face, and I have
thought that when walking she showed a lighter under-dress. She speaks
upon rather a high note, with a quality of youth in her voice. Her
weeping seemed to me passionate and unrestrained."
The appearance of a nun was entirely unexpected, as the name "Ishbel"
had been associated rather with the portrait of the beautiful woman in
an eighteenth-century dress in the library, and it was she whom the
witnesses, had they expected anything at all, would have expected to
see. Miss Freer, moreover, the first witness, had regarded the
statements of "Ouija" with her habitual scepticism as to induced
phenomena, more particularly those of automatic writing, in which, as
in dreams, it is almost always difficult to disentangle the operations
of the normal from those of the subconscious personality.
If the name "Ishbel" were really intended to apply to the nun, it
becomes a very curious question who is the person meant. A Robert
S---- of B---- married, as has been already mentioned, Isabella H----,
who died in 1784, but we know of no reason for supposing that she
ever became a nun.
The portrait may possibly have represented her, but it shows a much
older woman than the phantom so often seen; on the other hand, the
dates are not inconsistent, and a considerable distance of time is
suggested by certain phrases which occurred in the automatic writing.
The person to whom the mind more naturally reverts is Miss Isabella
S----, the sister, and apparently the favourite sister, of Major
S----. As already mentioned, she professed as a nun under the name of
Frances Helen in 1850, and died in 1880, aged sixty-six. She did not,
therefore, enter her convent till the age of thirty-five, an age much
greater than that shown by the phantom.
It is, moreover, interesting to note that this lady's name was
Isabella _Margaret_, so that both names, as given automatically, may
have really referred to her. In the seventh edition of "Burke's Landed
Gentry," 1886, there appears for the first time this entry--
"_IV. Isabella Margaret, a nun, regular Canoness of the Order of the
Holy Sepulchre, d. 23 Feb. 1880._"
The editors have obtained from the Nunnery, where she lived and died,
a photograph, representing the dress of the Community, and a
description of herself, which is as follows:--
"She died 23rd February 1880, quickly, of an attack of pneumonia or
acute bronchitis. She died a most edifying death, in perfect
consciousness, assisted by the Confessor ... and the Community around
her, and having received the last Sacraments only a few hours before
she expired. As to her appearance, she was short, rather fair, not at
all stout, but not extraordinarily thin.
"She entered the Community in April 1848, was clothed in May 1849, and
professed May 1850. We do not know whether she could speak Gaelic. She
was very fond of Scotland, and very particular about the pronunciation
of Scotch names. She was a most entertaining companion, being full of
natural wit."
The dress, which is dignified, is very peculiar and striking, and not
the least like the very ordinary nun's attire in which the phantom
appeared, while it would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast
than that between the merry old lady of the description and the
weeping girl so often seen.
There was, however, at least one very peculiar reason, which will be
noticed presently, for supposing that this phantom was really intended
to represent the late Rev. Mother Frances Helen, and that its
inaccuracy was owing to the stupid, and rather melodramatic
misconception in the mind which originally imagined it and transferred
it to the witnesses at B----.
This is our arrangement for to-night:--
Room 1 (where we heard noises). Mr. F----.
" 2. Dressing-room communicating with Nos. 1 and 3; doors
opened between.
" 3. Mr. L. F---- (specially "haunted").
" 4. Mr. MacP----.
" 5. Mr. W----.
" 6. Dressing-room, Miss Moore.
" 7. Myself.
" 8. Mr. C----. (Sounds alleged, see evidence.)
_N.B._--Nothing is alleged against 4 and 5.
_February 7th, Sunday._--Miss Moore was awakened this morning
soon after one o'clock by a loud reverberating bang, which
seemed close to her bed. She lay awake for a long time
afterwards, but the sound was not repeated. The men heard
nothing. They report that they went to bed soon after eleven,
and very quietly.
My maid, who has had to give up her room, slept downstairs last
night. She was kept awake nearly all night by noises and
footsteps. The wing is not yet fit for use, as all the pipes are
frozen, and the only downstairs bedroom was insufficiently
aired; so I told her to use that for dressing, and make herself
up a bed on one of the sitting-room sofas, and she slept (or
rather, lay awake) in the drawing-room. She was not frightened,
as she thought all the noises were made by the gentlemen; but
they declare they made no noise.
I asked her as to the other servants. She says the maids are
still very nervous. I spoke to them for the first time about the
noises to-day. The butler's wife has heard sounds, but her
husband only scoffs. The upper housemaid thinks ghosts the
proper thing, and tolerates them along with the high families to
which she is accustomed. The under housemaid is very shy, is
Highland, and knows little English, and won't talk, but owns to
discomfort, and is scoffed at by the other servants, who think
it all part of her having been only a "general" till she came
here. The kitchenmaid goes home to sleep, but I believe some one
fetches her.
I have had a girl out of the village to make up the linen, and
she, we notice, is careful to go home before dark.
This morning we all went to churches of various sorts. When the
men came in to tea they reported that they had had a
conversation with an outdoor servant, who proved to have been
in the service of [Mr. F----'s father] Lord D----, and was
consequently the more communicative. I know him, and have found
him extremely intelligent.
He says that having heard from the H----s' butler (who slept on
the dining-room floor, in the room my maid is to occupy
to-night) that it was impossible to sleep in a room so noisy, he
induced him to allow him to share his room, that they heard
much, but they dared not show a light for fear of his admission
being discovered (the H----s being much on the alert), and they
saw nothing [_cf._ p. 40 for evidence of the H----s' butler].
We did not like to send for him on a Sunday, but decided to have
him in on Monday, and test him as to the intensity of the noise.
In the evening, while we were all chatting in the drawing-room,
Miss Moore came out into the hall, where she had been looking
after the dog. In spite of the noise we were all making, she
distinctly heard the clang noise upstairs. She had said the same
thing, though with less certainty, once before, and we agreed
that one night some one must sit up in the hall. (This was
afterwards done without result.)
_February 8th, Monday._--Last night my maid heard footsteps and
the sound of hands fumbling on her door; this she told us when
she came in with our early tea.
Miss Moore in the early morning, between one and two, heard
again the sharp, reverberating bang as before. We speculated at
breakfast as to whether the sound could have been made by the
men after we had gone upstairs, though they were all sure of
having been quite still before midnight. We made them rehearse
every sound they had in fact made, but nothing was in the least
like it, either in quality or quantity.
I had been disturbed about 5.30 A.M. by the sound (which we had
not heard hitherto) described by former witnesses as
"explosive." I know of nothing quite like it. I have heard the
Portsmouth guns when at a place eight miles away; the sound was
like that, but did not convey the same impression of distance. I
heard it, at intervals, during half-an-hour. Miss Moore is a
very light sleeper, but she did not awake. At six I got up and
went through my room to the dressing-room door (No. 6), after a
sound that seemed especially near. It was so near, that though I
thought it quite unlikely under the circumstances, I wanted to
satisfy myself that no one was playing jokes on Mr. C----, whose
room was close by. The house was deadly still. I could hear the
clocks ticking on the stairs. As I stood, the sound came again.
It might have been caused by a very heavy fall of snow from a
high roof--not sliding, but percussive. Miss Moore had wakened
up and heard it too.
(_N.B._--We afterwards found that, as the roof is flat, the snow
is cleared away daily.)
Mr. W----, an utter sceptic, he declares, left early; then we
all went for a walk. We spent the whole afternoon making
experiments. Miss Moore or my maid or I, as having heard the
noises, shut ourselves up in the room whence they were heard, or
stood in the right places on hall or staircase.
The experimental noises made were as follows:--
1. Banging with poker or shovel as hard as possible on every
part of the big iron stove in the hall; kicking it, hitting it
with sticks (as Miss Moore and I persisted that the first noise
was as of metal on wood, or _vice versâ_).
2. Trampling and banging in every part of the house, obvious and
obscure, in cupboards and cistern holes.
3. (On the hypothesis of tricks from outside.) Beating on
outside doors with shovels and pokers and wooden things, on the
walls and windows accessible; banging and clattering in outside
coal-cellars and in the sunk area round the house.
(_N.B._--Beating on the front door handle with a wooden racket,
was right in kind, but not nearly enough in degree.)
Miss Moore, who was familiar with the noise, did it rather well
by going into a coal-cellar (always locked at night, however)
outside and throwing big lumps of coal, from a distance, into a
big pail, but _it wasn't nearly loud enough_.
4. Finally the men climbed on to the roof, outside, while Miss
Moore and I shut ourselves into the proper places. They
clattered and walked and stamped and kicked and struck the
slates, but _they couldn't make noise enough_.
Then we had in the gardener they saw yesterday, and put him in
the butler's room, and the four men made hideous rows as before.
He was grateful and respectful, but contemptuous. _They couldn't
make noise enough._
We went out at dusk, having sent Mr. MacP---- and Mr. C---- to
pay a visit (as they had not been told of the brook scene),
intending that the same trio as before should go to the copse.
Mr. L---- F---- couldn't come, and as Mr. F---- and I went on
alone, we met Mr. MacP---- and Mr. C---- returning before they
were expected. On the spur of the moment I asked Mr. C---- to
come with me, leaving Mr. F---- and Mr. MacP---- in the avenue.
The snow had gone, and I saw less distinctly; but I saw the nun
again, and an older woman in grey, who talked earnestly with
her, she answering at intervals. I could hear no words; the ice
was giving, and the burn had begun to murmur. (I tried to
persuade myself that the murmur accounted for the voices, but
the sounds were entirely distinct, and different in quality and
amount.)
This older woman in grey afterwards became familiar. The name "Marget"
was given to her at first half in fun and simply because this was one
of the two names given by Ouija (_cf._ p. 98). She is apparently the
grey woman referred to in the paper published by Mrs. G---- (_cf._ p.
64).
The fact of voices being heard by two persons, while one alone saw the
figures, seems a clear proof that the figures were hallucinatory. It
seems probable that the sounds also were hallucinatory, but were what
is called in the vocabulary of the S.P.R. the "collective"
hallucination of two persons. This seems to render it highly probable
that in the case of each the hallucination had a cause external to
both, although common to both; moreover, hallucinations are often
contagious. _The Times_ correspondent states, that "the lady admitted
that the apparition was purely subjective, but in regard to other
matters was not willing to suppose that she might be the victim of
hallucinations of hearing as well as of sight." On the contrary, as
all readers of Miss Freer's published works are aware, she is entirely
of opinion that such sights and sounds are pure sense-hallucinations,
whatever may be their ultimate origin.
We rejoined the others in silence. Then Mr. MacP---- said to Mr.
C----, "Did you see anything?" "Nothing; I only heard voices."
"What sort of voices?" "Two women. The older voice talked most,
almost continuously. I heard a younger voice, a higher one, now
and then."
_Note by Mr. MacP----._
"I knew previously, though Mr. C---- did not, that Miss Freer
had seen something up the burn; and when waiting for her and Mr.
C----, Mr. F---- told me the whole story."
_February 9th, Tuesday._--Last night we--Miss Moore and I--heard
the "explosive" noises about 11.30 P.M., and speculated as to
the possibility of their being caused by the wind in the
chimney. There was a little wind last night--very little. It is
worth mentioning, that ever since we have been here the air has
been phenomenally still. One can go outside, as we do
frequently, to feed the birds and squirrels without hats and not
feel a hair stirred. Even when the snow was on the ground we
never felt the cold, owing to the absence of wind, and the thaw
has been imperceptible. Snow is still on the hills. I have
several times thrown open my bedroom window about dawn for an
hour to familiarise myself with the outside noises. There is
nothing human within a quarter of a mile. (_N.B._--The others,
who are much more likely to be accurate as to distance than I,
say the lodges are farther off.) The servants' houses are in a
group of buildings on the hill above the house, but are, I
believe, all empty. We found, and adopted, a deserted cat, whose
condition certainly testified to the nakedness of the land.
There are two inhabited lodges far out of hearing. A gardener
comes round to the houses about 10 or 10.30 P.M., but we have
watched him, and know exactly what sounds he creates.
_February 10th, Wednesday._--Mrs. W---- arrived this morning
from London; also Miss Langton, who is "sensitive," but wholly
inexperienced. In the evening, at 6 P.M., Colonel Taylor
arrived. He is in No. 8.
Miss Moore and I moved back into No. 1, and moved Mr. F---- into
No. 3, the room reported (by the H----s) as specially haunted,
where Colonel A---- and Major B---- had slept, and in our time
Mr. L---- F----, who left last night.
The wing is now ready for habitation, except that the pipes are
out of order, and the "set-basins" useless, also the bath.
(_N.B._--The fact that the pipes are all out of working order,
and not a drop of hot water is to be had except in the kitchen,
does away with a theory, which has been rather emphatically put
forward, that "it is all the hot-water pipes.")
We are anxious to test the wing. Only one story, Miss "B----'s,"
is connected with it, and if there has been any practical joking
anywhere, I personally incline to think that was the occasion.
The wing is new, built, they say, in 1883, and the "ghost"
showed human intelligence in selection of doors and victims.
(After my return to London I had a conversation with Mrs. G----,
which convinced me that I was mistaken in supposing that tricks
had been played upon Miss "B----." See p. 71.)
An old woman in the village asked Miss Moore to-day with
interest, "Hoo'll ye be liking B----?" She spoke of the
hauntings, and her husband insisted (the Highlander always
begins that way) that there were not any, and so on, and the old
woman explained that it was just the young gentlemen last year
that was having a lark. Later she admitted, "There's nae ghaists
at B----, but the old Major" (who died about twenty years ago);
"he'd just be saying to Gracie if she didn't do as she was told,
that he'd be coming back and belay the decks" (_cf._ p. 136).
_P.S._--_Monday 15th._--In the kirkyard to-day at L---- we were
shown the Major's grave. It is one of three, inclosed by a rough
stone wall. They have no headstones, and seem quite uncared for.
One is, we are informed, that of his housekeeper, Sarah N----.
The other is said to be that of a black man-servant.
Last night we slept as follows:--
Room 1 and 2. Myself and Miss Moore.
" 3. Mr. F----.
" 4. Miss Langton.
" 5. Mrs. W----.
" 6 and 7. Empty.
" 8. Colonel Taylor.
Miss Moore lay awake nearly the whole night. She heard, though
in less degree, the old noises; and in the early morning
(compare our first night) heard the sound of women's voices
talking. When I awoke, about 6 A.M., she told me she had been
disturbed, and said she feared that the others had also, as she
had heard Mrs. W---- talking in Miss Langton's room.
At breakfast Mrs. W---- reported that she had been awakened by
knockings, but had never moved. Miss Langton had heard nothing.
The Colonel reported that about, or just before, six he had
heard footsteps over his head. There is no room over No. 8,
which is mostly a built-out bow, and the servants had not moved
before 6.30. (If they moved then, it was contrary to their
habits!) We heard later that Hannah had gone, about 6.30, "in
her stocking-feet, only without her stockings," to ask the time
at the cook's door.
The Colonel (before our inquiries) had imitated the noise by
stamping heavily with striding steps across the library.
_February 11th, Thursday._--The Colonel moved down into "Miss
B----'s room" in the wing, and Mr. F---- into the room next to
him.
_February 12th, Friday._--No phenomena. The great business
to-day, which we had specially reserved for the Colonel's
arrival, was the making of sketches and measurements for the
plan of the house. We found no mysteries. The walls are
immensely thick, but all the space is accounted for.
_February 13th, Saturday._--Miss Moore slept very badly again
last night. She heard the noises at intervals between three and
five; she was awake before and after. They were loudest and most
frequent after four. At 5.30 I was awakened by a loud crash as
of something falling very heavily on the floor above. The maids
sleep there, but can give no account of any fall. Miss Moore, of
course, heard it as, and when, I did.
Mrs. W---- reports having heard loud raps. She thinks the noise
may have wakened her, but after she was awake enough to get a
light and look at her watch (3.40) she heard what she describes
as "a double knock."
_February 14th, Sunday._--Our first wet day. The weather so far
has been perfect. We all got very wet coming from church.
In the evening we did various experiments--thought-transference,
crystal gazing, &c.--but nothing came of it in regard to the
house.
_February 15th, Monday._--Mr. F---- left early.
We all walked to the Parish Church, and had some talk with the
sexton, and I had to listen to long yarns about the Major (see
under date February 9th). I was tired, and could not go to the
copse.
In the evening we played games, and were very lively. Miss
Langton came into my room for a few minutes, and was certainly
not in any nervous condition, nor did we speak of the hauntings.
But this morning (Tuesday) at breakfast she reported having
heard a loud crash almost directly after getting to her room. We
considered possible causes, but could not discover that any one
was moving in the house. The servants had gone to bed some time
earlier, and we had put out the lights ourselves in the hall and
on the stairs.
_February 16th, Tuesday._--I had an experience this morning
which may have been purely subjective, but which should be
recorded. About 10 A.M. I was writing in the library, face to
light, back to fire. Mrs. W---- was in the room, and addressed
me once or twice; but I was aware of not being responsive, as I
was much occupied. I wrote on, and presently felt a distinct,
but gentle, push against my chair. I thought it was the dog and
looked down, but he was not there. I went on writing, and in a
few minutes felt a push, firm and decided, against myself which
moved me on my chair. I thought it was Mrs. W----, who, having
spoken and obtained no answer, was reminding me of her presence.
I looked backward with an exclamation--the room was empty. She
came in directly, and called my attention to the dog, who was
gazing intently from the hearthrug at the place where I had
expected (before) to see him.
As the day began with the above, and I had had a quiet rest, I
went to the copse at dusk. The moon was bright, and the twilight
lingered. We waited about in the avenue to let it get darker,
but it was still far from dark when we made our way up the
glen--Miss Moore, Miss Langton, and myself.
I saw "Ishbel" and "Marget" in the old spot across the burn.
"Ishbel" was on her knees in the attitude of weeping, "Marget"
apparently reasoning with her in a low voice, to which "Ishbel"
replied very occasionally. I could not hear what was said for
the noise of the burn. We waited for perhaps ten or fifteen
minutes. They had appeared when I had been there perhaps three
or four.
When we regained the avenue (in silence) Miss Moore asked Miss
Langton, "What did you see?" (She had been told nothing, except
that the Colonel, who did not know details then, had said in
her presence something about "a couple of nuns".) She said, "I
saw nothing, but I heard a low talking." Questioned further, she
said it seemed close behind. The glen is so narrow, that this
might be quite consistent with what I saw and heard. Miss Moore
heard a murmuring voice, and is quite certain it was not the
burn. She is less suggestible than almost any one I know.
The dog ran up while we were there, pointed, and ran straight
for the two women. He afterwards left us, and we found him
barking in the glen. He is a dog who hardly ever barks. We went
up among the trees where he was, and could find no cause.
Miss Moore and I moved into No. 8 (dressing-room No. 6). It is a
"suspect" room, which I had not tried, and Miss Moore had
scarcely slept all the week in No. 1, and was looking so worn
out, that I decided to move.
_February 17th, Wednesday._--A most glorious day, still, bright,
and sunny.
Nothing happened till evening. The Colonel, Mrs. W----, Miss
Langton, Miss Moore, and I were in the drawing-room after
dinner. Some of us, certainly the last four, heard footsteps
overhead in No. 1, which is just now disused. I was lying on the
sofa, and could not get up quickly: but Mrs. W---- and Miss
Langton ran up at once, and found it empty and dark, and no one
about.
Later, about 10.30, we all five heard the clang noise with which
some of us are so familiar. The servants had gone to bed--or so
we presumed, as all lights were out, except on the upper floor.
It occurred four times. It is of course conceivable they may
have made it, but we do not hear it when we know them to be
about, and we do hear it when we know them not to be about.
The following quotation is from Miss Langton's private diary:--
"On the night of Wednesday, February 17th, I had a curious dream
or vision. I seemed to be standing outside the door of No. 4,
looking up the corridor to No. 2, when suddenly I saw a figure
with his back to the door of No. 2, and quite close to the door
which leads to No. 3. His face was quite distinct, and what
struck me most was the curious way in which his hair grew on his
temples. His eyes were very dark, keen, and deep-set; his face
was pale, and with a drawn, haggard expression. He looked about
thirty-nine years of age. His hair was dark and thick, and waved
back from his forehead, where it was slightly grey. It was a
most interesting and clever face, and one that would always, I
should think, attract attention. He was dressed in a long black
gown like a cassock, only with a short cape, barely reaching to
the elbows."
A further reference to this vision, which at the time seemed
irrelevant, will be found on page 225.
_February 18th, Thursday._--This morning's phenomenon is the
most incomprehensible I have yet known. I heard the banging
sounds after we were in bed last night. Early this morning,
about 5.30, I was awakened by them. They continued for nearly an
hour. Then another sound began _in_ the room. It might have been
made by a very lively kitten jumping and pouncing, or even by a
very large bird; there was a fluttering noise too. It was close,
exactly opposite the bed. Miss Moore woke up, and we heard it
going on till nearly eight o'clock. I drew up the blinds and
opened the window wide. I sought all over the room, looking
into cupboards and under furniture. We cannot guess at any
possible explanation.
Further experience of these curious hallucinatory sounds, combined
with visual hallucination in the same room, taking also into
consideration the interest which our own dogs always displayed in
these phenomena, led us to the conclusion that our first deductions
had been wrong, and that the sounds were those of a dog gambolling.
(The Rev.) Mr. "Q." (an English vicar), arrived. In the evening,
at 6.30, Miss Langton and I took him down to the glen. It was a
very light evening. I saw the figure of Ishbel, not very
distinctly, in conversation with the second figure, which was
barely defined. We remained in perfect silence as usual. On
regaining the avenue Miss L---- said she had heard voices, and
thought she had seen what might be the white parts of the nun's
dress. Mr. "Q." said he had seen a light under the big tree. The
figures were nearer the tree than usual. Miss Langton went up a
second time with the Colonel, and again heard voices.
It is worth remarking that Mr. "Q." has, doubtless from some
idiosyncrasy, since developed a faculty of seeing lights where other
people see phantasms.
_February 19th, Friday._--No phenomena last night. We have spent
the day in A----, the neighbouring town, where I had a fall and
hurt my foot, so that I was obliged to drive home, and could not
go to the glen. Miss Langton and Mr. "Q." went down about seven
o'clock. Mr. "Q." saw the outline of a figure of which he has
written the description. Miss Langton heard the usual voices on
the other side of the burn; they seemed to her to be interrupted
by a third voice, in deeper tones; and she also heard the
footsteps of a man passing behind her, a heavy tread, "not like
a gentleman."
The following, the account referred to, was contained in a private
letter from Mr. "Q." to Lord Bute. The description of Ishbel in the
Journal of February 26th, was, it will be observed, of later date,
although before Miss Freer had seen the following:--
"_February 19th and 20th, 1897._--I had heard only that Miss Freer had
seen two figures by the burn, one of which was that of a nun, the
other a woman, before whom, on one occasion, the nun appeared to be
kneeling. I had always pictured the nun as standing or kneeling with
her back to the spectator.
"On February 19th, at about 6.45 P.M., I visited the burn with Miss
Langton (_and not Miss Freer_). After looking a little I saw (_a_);
the white was very plain, and the head clearly outlined, but the
vision was for the fraction of a second. I was conscious of it
indistinctly for a few minutes, and there seemed a good deal of
movement. Suddenly I was again conscious of the figure as shown in
(_b_), full-face, as though gazing at me; again the white part was
very distinct, but I could distinguish no features."
[Illustration: a]
[Illustration: b]
_February 20th, Saturday._--This morning we went down to ---- and
had a little talk with the old servant who told us stories the
other day about the Major, and she repeated the story of his
threatened return. The same story was repeated independently this
afternoon by [a local tradesman], who opened conversation by
inquiring whether we had "seen the Major yet."
Miss Moore and I again this morning heard noises in No. 8, more
especially those of the pattering footsteps, just after
daylight, and a violent jump and scramble, which we thought was
our dog, until we found that he was sleeping peacefully as usual
on his rug at our feet.
In a letter to Lord Bute, dated February 21, 1897, Mr "Q." gives the
following account:--
"On February 20th, at about 6.45 P.M., I visited the burn with Miss
Freer and Miss Langton. I was very briefly conscious of the figure
(_a_) on the bank of the burn, but saw no more till Miss Freer pointed
to the hollow of a large tree, when I again saw (_b_). On each
occasion of seeing (_b_) a curious sensation was noticeable, and I
felt I was being looked at. On speaking afterwards to Miss Freer, I
found her vision of the nun _under the tree_ to be the same as mine at
(_b_), _i.e._ full face, as indeed Miss Freer had seen it on previous
occasions. This is the second sketch I have drawn of the full face
(_b_). The first I showed to Miss Freer, remarking to her, 'I have
made the figure _too broad_' (being unaccustomed to drawing). 'Yes,'
said Miss Freer, 'for the nun is very slight.'"
It was seen at the same moment also by Miss Freer and Miss Langton.
_February 21st, Sunday._--Again this morning we heard noises of
pattering in No. 8, and Scamp got up and sat apparently watching
something invisible to us, turning his head slowly as if
following the movements of some person or thing across the room
from west to east. During the night Miss Moore had heard
footsteps crossing the room, as of an old or invalid man
shuffling in slippers. We both heard a bang at the side of the
room about 6.20, some time before any sounds of moving were
heard from the servants above. The noise was muffled in quality,
and had no resonance, and seemed to come from behind a small
wardrobe on the east wall. The room (No. 7) on that side was
unoccupied. [This bang was heard at other times in the same
spot. Experiment showed that no noise made in No. 7 was audible
in No. 8, not even hammering with a poker on the wall, which is
curved at this point.]
This morning, on coming out of church, I received a letter from
Mr. F----, in which was the following passage:--
"... Miss H----, who slept, I believe, in the room occupied by
you when I left, heard sounds of footsteps going round her room,
footsteps with the most unmistakable limp in them. Shortly after
she heard stories connected with the former owner, who used to
go by the name of B----, an aged man [the Major]. She asked if
he could be described. 'No,' said her informant; 'the only thing
he could remember about him was that he had a most peculiar
limp,' and he forthwith gave an exhibition, which tallied
exactly with the limp around the bed."
In discussing this, Miss Moore and I agreed that, had Miss H----
slept in No. 8 instead of in No. 1, as Mr. F---- supposed, we
should have considered these limping sounds as probably
identical with those we ourselves had heard. After I had closed
my reply to Mr. F----, Miss Moore discovered Miss "B----'s" plan
of the house (in the packet of evidence of the H----s' tenancy,
see p. 96), which showed that in fact No. 8 _was_ the room
referred to. Hence it appears that the room in which Miss H----
heard the footsteps was the same as that in which _we_ heard
them. We had been misled by Mr. F---- speaking of "the room you
occupied when I left," a mistake on his part, as, though the
change had been spoken of, we had not left No. 1.
This afternoon Miss Langton experimented with Ouija at Mr.
"Q.'s" request.
Lord Bute had suggested various test-questions in relation to the
phantasm of the nun, to be asked the next time the Ouija board was in
operation, and answers to these were attempted at various times, with
the usual result of showing the influence, conscious or sub-conscious,
of the sitters, almost all statements as to matters not actually known
to them being worthless. On this occasion, however, in reply to the
question, "How old was Ishbel when she died?" answers were spelt out
to the effect that she was still living, and that her age was
fifty-nine.
This may perhaps be taken as throwing light upon the intended
personality of Ishbel, and supplying a possible clue to the identity
of the mind of which she seems to be an imaginary creation.
Fifty-nine was the age of the late Rev. Mother Frances Helen in the
year 1873, when Sarah N---- died. They are not people who are at all
likely to have met each other upon "the other side" any more than upon
this.
It is a generally recognised fact that the conditions which we call
"time and space" exist on in the world beyond in a form so very
different from those in which they are conceived of by us, that from
our point of view they can hardly be said to exist at all. It is
natural, therefore, to seek the utterer of this remarkable statement
in some person connected with B---- who did not know the late Mother
Frances Helen (supposing her to be the person for whom Ishbel was
intended), but had heard of her.
_February 22nd, Monday._--Mr. "Z----" _came_.
The whole matter of the inquiry had been made known to Mr. "Z----,"
the proprietor of a prominent Scottish newspaper, of course in the
strictest confidence, which was carefully made a condition of the
admission of any one to the house, a confidence which he most
honourably observed. It was arranged that if anything occurred within
the observation of himself or his son, the scientific value of which
rendered it, in their judgment, desirable to publish a notice of it in
_The ----_, the notice should be published under avowedly false names
and geographical indications. Mr. "Z----" was unable to come himself,
but his son arrived this day.
Mr. "Endell" (a Member of the S.P.R.) arrived while we were out,
and made a tour of inspection alone of the outside of the house
and the ground-floor rooms. He intuitively fixed on the window
of No. 3 as that of a "haunted" room, and has since, equally by
intuition, diagnosed the drawing-room and library as "creepy,"
and the dining-room as definitely cheerful. (This coincides with
our experience.)
My own experiences to-day were confined to ejection from a high
waggonette, while waiting at the station for Mr. "Z----," the
horse having bolted at the appearance of the train.
No phenomena. We are putting Mr. "Z----", at his own request, in
No. 3, the "ghost-room."
_February 23rd, Tuesday._--Pouring wet. No phenomena. Visit to
glen impossible.
Mr. and Mrs. R---- (local residents) came to lunch. Though in
great pain I was able to see them for a few minutes, and both
inquired whether we had had any experience of the reported
hauntings, of which, however, they could give us no details.
_February 24th, Wednesday._--Mr. "Z----" left early. (_N.B._--No
phenomena reported by any one during his visit; he himself slept
soundly in the "haunted" room, but does it the justice to
acknowledge that he "could sleep through an earthquake.")
Miss "N." (the daughter of a landowner of the district) arrived.
Mr. Garford (an old friend and excellent observer) came from
London. We sleep to-night as follows:--
In the wing, in the two rooms alleged by guests of the H----s
to be haunted, the Colonel and Mr. "Endell."
No. 1. Mr. Garford.
" 3. Mr. "Q." ("ghost-room"; he has just asked to be
removed from his former room in the wing).
" 4. Miss Langton.
" 5. Mrs. W----.
" 7. Miss "N."
" 8. Miss Moore, myself, and dog.
_February 25th, Thursday._--Mr. "Endell" reported this morning
having heard a sound he could in no way account for, which seems
to us to correspond with the "clanging" noise. We asked how he
would imitate it as to volume and quality, and he said that a
large iron kettle, about the size of the dinner-table (we are
dining eight), boiling violently, so that the lid was constantly
"wobbling," might produce it.
(_N.B._--Mr. "Endell's" opinion later is that a pavior's crowbar
heavily dropped, so as to produce a prolonged reverberation, is
a better illustration.)
Mr. Garford, who was not told that any sounds might be expected
in No. 1, says he was awakened by a violent banging at the door
of communication between Nos. 1 and 2 (No. 2 is empty). Mr.
"Endell," Mr. "Q.," and Miss Moore went up later in the day to
experiment on the door, and found that it would _open_ with the
slightest push. Mr. Garford had closed it on going to bed, and
found it closed in the morning. He had not been alarmed, and had
almost called out to his supposed visitors, before he remembered
supernormal possibilities. He described the sound as a muffled
bang, and in order to reproduce it to his satisfaction one of
the party held a thick rug on the inner side while another
hammered on the panels without.
Mr. "Q.'s" experiences in No. 3 will be reported by himself. The
groans which he heard coming from No. 2 some of our party
suggested might have been made in sleep by the occupant of No.
1, but on trying experiments it was found that no sounds of the
kind which he could make in his room were audible in No. 3.
Mr. "Q." left.
Miss Langton went up the glen with Mr. Garford, and was
perplexed by seeing the grey figure when looking for the nun;
she saw it but dimly, but later in the evening recovered it in
the crystal, more clearly and in greater detail.
The following is Mr. "Q.'s" account of his experience, written on
February 24th and March 4th, in private letters to Lord Bute, but, in
order to avoid the possibility of suggestion to others, not
contributed at the time to this journal. The Editors have been
permitted also to read another account written by Mr. "Q." of this and
of his subsequent experience, written immediately after the occasion,
which agrees with his letters to Lord Bute in every particular.
"_February 24th, 1897._--I slept in room No. 3. I knew it had a 'bad'
reputation, also I had heard through Ouija of probable appearances and
noises at 3 A.M. and 4.30 A.M. I noted the time of retiring in passing
the clock on the staircase, _i.e._ 12.10.
"Before going to bed I sat in a chair with my back to a small mahogany
cupboard, placed against the wall of the dressing-room, into which my
room (No. 3) opens. About 1 A.M. I was much startled at hearing behind
me very distinctly a loud groan, coming, apparently, from the
dressing-room, in the direction of the mahogany cupboard. The sound
was very distinct, and but for the fact of there being no one visible,
I should have estimated its origin as _in_ the room, its distinctness
being such that, coming from the next room, with the door closed, it
would have sounded slightly muffled. So distinct was it that I heard
what I can only describe as the throat vibration in the tone.
"I tried to ascribe it to the bubbling of the hot-water pipe of a
washing basin fixed in the dressing-room, as I supposed, against the
wall of the bedroom, but saw next day that the basin in question was
fixed against the opposite wall of the dressing-room.
[Illustration: A, Cupboard. B, Chair. C, Washing-stand (fixed).]
"The sound was a greatly magnified and humanised edition of what I
have several times heard in the drawing-room below the dressing-room,
and which has been heard by several of the party together."
And in a letter dated March 4.--"I went upstairs at 12.10. On shutting
the door of my room I experienced a curiously cold sensation. I stood
by the fire, which was burning brightly, and shivered to an extent
that was quite phenomenal; the fire did not in the least remove the
cold shudderings which ran from head to feet.
"I threw the feeling off as best I could, but not entirely. I read a
little and then prayed. I read the office of compline and my private
prayers, and praying according to my custom for all faithful departed,
and especially for those who had previously lived in the house or been
connected with it. After this I looked at my watch; it was just upon
one o'clock, and I sat for a few minutes in the chair by the fire,
when I heard the noise described, behind me.
"I changed my position and placed the chair with its back to a table
and facing the door, the candle on the table, and took a book and
read; my shuddering sensations had been worse than ever. Suddenly I
looked up, and above the bed, _apparently_ on the wall, I got just a
glimpse (like a flash) of a brown wood crucifix: the wall was quite
bare, not a picture, nothing to make it explainable by imperfect light
or reflection. From that time the sensation of cold and shuddering
went away: I don't say immediately, but I was quite conscious of being
reassured.
"About half-an-hour afterwards all feeling of distress of any sort had
gone. I went to bed and to sleep. My own idea now is, that the sound I
heard was an inarticulate cry for help, probably by means of prayer.
The influence I feel was _bad_, but something overcame it."
It is desirable to add, as a question of evidence, for comparison of
the dates of this and Miss Freer's subsequent account of the same
phenomenon, that a letter from Mr. "Q." in Lord Bute's possession,
dated March 16th, begins, "I have no objection to Miss Freer seeing my
letter on the subject of the crucifix...."
Mr. "Q." also states that his delay in writing to Lord Bute about the
crucifix was, that he thought it might be a mental reproduction of one
which he sometimes sees in his own home, but that he found on
examining the latter that it has a white figure, whereas that of the
apparition has the figure of the same brown wood as the cross. In the
private account above referred to Mr. "Q" writes, "I found that the
crucifix at home _in no way_ resembles what I saw at B----". It will
be remarked that this peculiar apparition was seen in the same room by
the Rev. P. H---- in August 1892 (see p. 17), and it was again seen on
March 6th by Miss Freer, who had not heard at all of his experiences,
and only a bare mention, without detail or description, of that of Mr.
"Q." A fourth vision in this connection--that of Miss Langton, who had
heard of none of the other three, is described under date March 19.
_February 26th, Friday._--Nothing happened till I was in the
drawing-room in the evening, when I was, as usual since my
accident, taking my meal alone. A screen stood between my sofa
and the door, so that it was impossible to see who entered. I
saw the shadow of a woman on the wall, and supposed it to be a
maid come to see after the fire. Next, the figure of an old
woman emerged from behind the screen; she was of average height,
and stout; she wore a woollen cap, and her dress was that of a
superior servant indoors. Supposing her to be some servant's
visitor come to have a look at the drawing-room while the party
were at dinner, I moved to attract her attention, with no
result. She walked a few steps towards the middle of the room,
then disappeared. Her countenance was not pleasing, but
expressed no personal malevolence; her face may have been
coarsely handsome. Her dress was dark, and made in the fashion
which was worn in my childhood. When the dog came in later he
seemed to sight something from behind the screen and followed it
across the room, when he lay down under my couch, instead of on
the hearth as usual. He had done the same thing yesterday
morning, looking much frightened, and had then taken refuge
under Miss Langton's chair.
In connection with this it will be seen elsewhere that footsteps were
constantly heard in the drawing-room, both at night and in daylight.
Mr. Garford, in No. 1, heard last night what seemed like the
detonating noise, which he describes as like a wheelbarrow on a
hard road, "a sharp, rapidly repeated knocking," at a distance.
_February 27th, Saturday._--Colonel C---- and Mr. MacP----
arrived.
To-night we sleep as follows:--
No. 1. Mr. Garford.
No. 2. Miss Langton.
No. 3. Colonel C---- (I had planned for him to go in the
wing, but the butler, an old soldier with two medals,
seemed to think it due to such a distinguished
officer to put him in the haunted room).
No. 4. Mr. MacP----.
Nos. 5, 7, and 8 as before.
The Colonel and Mr. "Endell" unchanged.
The glen was visited by Colonel C---- and Mr. MacP----, escorted
by Miss Langton.
_February 28th, Sunday._--All slept well. I assisted Miss
Langton with some Ouija experiments in the presence of, first,
Mr. "Endell," then Mr. MacP----, then of Colonel C---- and Miss
"N."
_March 1st, Monday._--Mr. MacP---- reported at breakfast that he
had awakened at 5.45, and almost immediately heard a loud
clanging sound in the north-west corner of his room; he was
fully awake, struck a light, saw nothing, and looked at his
watch. We tried later to reproduce this noise, which he
described as resembling a loud blow upon a washhand basin. I
shut myself into No. 1, and found this a fair, but too faint,
imitation of the sounds Miss Moore and I had heard there.
Colonel C---- and Mr. MacP---- left.
Miss M---- and the Colonel have to-day had some talk with ----
[who had an intimate knowledge of the S---- family. See under
dates Feb. 9th and 20th]. She repeated her former story of the
Major's promised "return," especially a statement made to an old
woman who worked in the garden, who had told him that at least
"he'd no get in there, she'd keep the gate locked," that he
"would come in below the deck" (_cf._ p. 114). He was described
as a short, broad man, with white hair and beard, "a'ful fond o'
dogs (of which he had many), and so noisy with them in the
morning, that when he and his housekeeper-body let them out, his
voice could be heard on the hill." She also said that on Major
S----'s return from India to assume the property he found a
tenant in possession, and had built himself a small house beyond
the grounds, which he afterwards let with the shooting. In the
late Mr. S----'s time this house was used as a retreat during
the summer for nuns (a statement which interests us greatly, as
affording a possible clue to the apparition).
The Major was greatly attached to the place, and had a great
dislike to the presence of strangers in it, or to its going out
of the old name. The estate, we hear, was much encumbered when
he succeeded to it, but he cleared off all debts in a few years,
and appears to have lived a somewhat eccentric and recluse life,
in the society of his dogs and dependants.
This is the first mention of the fact that nuns had ever lived at
B----. Miss Freer had not been aware that the object of the Rev. P.
H----'s visit in 1892 had been to give what is called a Spiritual
Retreat to those who had been occupying the cottage. It is only fair
to suggest that the phantasmal nun, to whom the name Ishbel had been
given, may really have been the phantasm of one of these visitors, and
that the dress of at least some of them was identical with or closely
resembled hers, while it was totally unlike that worn by the community
to which the late Mother Frances Helen belonged. At the same time,
Ishbel's dress was of a kind so very common among nuns, that it would
have been that with which she would, most naturally, have been clothed
by the imagination of any one unacquainted with the very rare Order
to which Mother Frances Helen belonged. To make further investigation
into the history of all the Sisters who ever stayed at B---- through
the kindness of the late Mr. S---- would have been a task impossible
for its vastness, and almost certainly futile through the natural
reticence of their communities with regard to any matters likely to
occasion haunting.
_March 1st (continued), Monday._--I went up the burn for the
first time since my accident on Saturday, February 20th. We had
had a promise from Ouija on Sunday that if Mr. "Endell" were to
visit the copse with me after 6.30 he would be touched on the
left shoulder. He was told to go to the farther side of the
burn, and to stand under the sapling, which is at some little
distance from the spot where the phantasm usually appears. This
we accordingly did. I was barely able in the dusk to distinguish
the figure from my post on the west bank, but the phantasm
appeared very near him, as I could distinguish the white
pocket-handkerchief in his breast pocket. I saw her hand
approach this, but could not positively say that it touched him.
Mr. "Endell" saw nothing, and could not positively say that he
felt a touch, though conscious of a sense of sudden chill, and
agreed with me that had he certainly felt one, he would probably
have considered it the effect of expectation. We stood there for
perhaps ten minutes, and he was for a short time conscious of
the subjective sensations which he commonly feels in the
presence of phenomena. We returned simultaneously to the avenue,
where we discussed the occurrence and the possibilities of
making it evidential. The only thing we could think of was to
send for Miss Langton, and without telling her anything of what
we had seen or expected, ascertain whether she saw the phantasm
in its usual position (high up on the bank), or a good deal
farther to the left, and nearer the burn, as I had done. By the
time she arrived it was much darker, but she saw the figure
under the tree by the brook, and described it as "kneeling." She
has better sight than I, and believed it to be behind Mr.
"Endell." I should have judged her to be crouching or stooping
in front of him, but judging from comparison of our normal
sight, she is much more likely to be accurate than I.
Mr. "Endell's" separately recorded account, dated March 5, exactly
agrees with this, but adds some additional touches to the latter part.
"At Miss Freer's suggestion, I fetched Miss Langton, telling her
nothing of what had occurred, but merely that we were trying an
experiment, and she was to report what she saw.
"I stood again under the sapling. This time I began to shudder almost
immediately. It was so dark they told me that they could only see my
collar though I was only ten yards from them.
"Miss Langton said that thirty seconds after I had taken up my
position, the figure appeared behind me a little to my left, and
seemed to raise its arm. Miss Freer said it was waiting for me, and
touched me as before.
"I felt no touch throughout, only shiverings that seemed to coincide
with appearances."
To-night Miss "N." wishes to sleep in No. 3, and Miss Langton
will remain in No. 2; the door of communication can be opened
between them.
_March 2nd, Tuesday._--This morning I was reading in bed by
candlelight from 5.30 to 6 o'clock, and again heard the
pattering sound which has become familiar to us in No. 8. Miss
Moore was asleep, but happened to awake while the sound was
specially distinct, and without speaking signified that she was
giving it her attention. Shortly after six we heard the sound of
a violent fall about the middle of the west wall, between the
fireplace and window. Our first thought was that one of the
maids upstairs must have fallen, till we remembered that there
was no room above us. We have since inquired, and find that none
of them moved till nearly seven o'clock, nor was anything heard
either by them or by Mr. Garford, whose room (No. 1) joins our
west wall.[D]
Miss "N." passed a very disturbed night. She went to bed about
twelve o'clock; she is habitually an exceptionally good sleeper,
and, moreover, has slept in many rooms alleged to be haunted
without the slightest inconvenience, and has never had an
"experience" of any sort. She lay awake in discomfort till 3
A.M., and then sought refuge with Miss Langton.
Miss "N." left. The following is the record of her
impressions:--
"_March 4th._--You ask me to write exactly what I felt in No. 3
when I slept there on March 1st. Well, it is rather difficult to
describe! I never felt frightened out of my wits at nothing
before, if it _was_ nothing. I certainly saw no shadows or
figures, and the only noise I heard was the thud twice, which
sounded as if it came from the storey below. If I shut my eyes
for a minute I felt as if I was struggling with something
invisible (not indigestion, as I never have it!). I was so
paralysed that I _dare_ not call out to Miss Langton, and lay
awake from twelve to three without moving! In the morning, of
course, I felt I had been a fool to be so silly, and I would go
and sleep there again to-night if I had the chance."
Mrs. B. C---- came. She is an Associate S.P.R., is a Highlander,
has been all her life interested in psychical matters, but has
had no "experience."
Mr. "Endell," Miss Moore, and I sat up in No. 3 till about 2.30
in the dark, except for the firelight, and in silence, except
when any one wished to draw the attention of the rest to sounds
or sensations. There were no sounds for which, on reflection, we
found it impossible to account. Mr. "Endell" suffered, as on
previous occasions, from the sensation known as "cold-air," and
very visibly shivered, though clearly not in the least nervous.
He is keenly interested in psychical inquiry, but has never had
any "experience" other than subjective sympathy with the psychic
impressions of others, or a consciousness, such as he described
on his arrival here, of an atmosphere other than normal. (This
last has been of frequent occurrence, and seems to have been
always veridical.)
The sole experience of any kind on this occasion was my own. Mr.
"Endell," by way of reproducing the conditions of former
occupants of the room, threw himself on the bed about twenty
minutes to 2 A.M. Soon after he was seized by audible and
visible shivers. We did not speak till he uttered some forcible
ejaculation of complaint, when, looking towards him, I saw a
hand holding a brown (probably wooden) crucifix, as by a person
standing at the foot of the bed. He immediately said, "Now I'm
better," or words to that effect.
We persisted in silence till perhaps 2.30, when we agreed to
separate, and while we were having some refreshment over the
fire, I told Miss Moore and Mr. "Endell" what I had seen. (_Cf._
under date February 25, p. 132.)
_March 3rd, Wednesday._--Mrs. W---- left.
This afternoon we had a call from Mrs. S---- and her daughter.
The Colonel, Miss Moore, and I were in the room.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
_March 4th, Thursday._--Mr. "Endell" left.
Heavy snowstorm.
_March 5th, Friday._--Last night I was in bed and asleep before
Miss Moore came in from her dressing-room. She did not light the
candle for fear of waking me, but, while sitting by the fire
reading, she heard the pattering noise just behind her, in the
same place where we have heard it and the fall before, though
never till then at night. It only lasted a few minutes, but
there was apparently nothing to account for it, though of course
she took every possible means to discover its cause.
Mrs. B. C---- left to-day. Miss Moore happened to mention at
breakfast that the upper housemaid had told her that the maids
had twice again on the last two nights heard the sound of
monotonous reading, once as late as 2 A.M.
The theoretical hour for Mattins is midnight, which, however, is only
observed in practice in certain very rigid monasteries; in others it
begins at two. But it is easily conceivable that a priest, if wakeful
at that time, would select it in preference to another.
Mrs. B. C---- at once said that she also had heard precisely
that sound each night, and had spoken of it to her maid, and,
like the servants, had concluded that Miss Moore was reading to
me, although it was as late as twelve o'clock. She had also
heard a bang on a door close to her own, but had supposed it was
a late comer, possibly one of the gentlemen from the
smoking-room, and had not been disturbed. She had been sleeping
in No. 1, her maid in No. 2, and none of the gentlemen are on
the same floor. Mr. Garford, who is now in the wing, remarked
that he too had heard voices as of speaking or reading several
times when sleeping in No. 1, but had assumed that they were
normal. As a matter of fact, Miss Moore goes straight to her
dressing-room on going upstairs, and I am always too tired to
read or speak. No two persons sleep in any other room.
We tested this by getting Colonel Taylor to shut himself into
No. 1 while I, in No. 8, read aloud at the top of my voice, Miss
Langton remaining in the room with me. The Colonel could hear no
sound less than direct banging on the wall with a poker.
The cook has been talking to-day of the various noises heard at
night; she is not nervous, nor are the maids, but all speak of
voices and bangs for which they cannot account; except the
butler, who has heard nothing, but is obviously impressed with
his wife's experience last night. Her story is that, not feeling
well, she went up to bed early, before the servants' supper, the
rest of the household being as usual in the drawing-room. While
in bed, before ten o'clock, she distinctly heard the sound of
voices talking, apparently below, but not far distant (her room
is over No. 7, at present empty). She "wondered if it could be
the servants in the servants' hall at supper"--an obvious
impossibility, as their room is _not_ underneath, is two storeys
away, and has no connection with the upper part of the house.
She also heard bangs on the wall, behind her bed and to the
side; there was no furniture there to crack, and it was mostly
on the _outside_ wall, so she finally became uncomfortable, and
buried her head in the clothes to deaden the sound. She "doesn't
believe in ghosts," but thinks the house "very queer," and says
that far and wide in the country round it is spoken of as
"haunted," though no one seems to know of any story, as to the
cause, except that, very improbable, about the murder of a
priest by the wife of a former proprietor. It appears that a
maid engaged in the village refused to sleep in the house,
because when in service here once before she had been frightened
by bangs at the door of her bedroom (in a room over No. 1); she
had also heard the sounds of a rustling silk dress on the
back-stairs, and had seen the bedroom door pushed open and a
lady come in.... A maid, who came after this one had left, told
the cook that she believed there was a story of a "priest
murdered somewhere at the Reformation"; she had once been told
it by Mrs. S---- in explanation of the noises, but had not heard
whether the said murder was in the house or the grounds, and
thought Mrs. S---- particularly did not wish the spot known.
This maid has only been an occasional help in the house, but has
lived for years in the district, and knows the place well by
reputation.
To-day as we passed through the churchyard, [a resident in the
neighbourhood] pointed out the desolate grave of the Major, with
the remark that one could hardly be surprised at a man being
said to "walk" who was expected to rest in such a place as that.
He said that there had been a great deal of talk all over the
neighbourhood as to the excitement during the H----s' stay at
B----, and seemed to believe that practical joking might account
in part for what had occurred. He did not, however, deny that
stories had been told long before their coming to the place.
This resident is the one as to whom the _Times_ correspondent
dogmatically stated, that having lived in the place for twenty years
he asserted that there had never been a whisper of the haunting of
B---- until the tenancy of the H----s.
_March 6th, Saturday_.--Mr. Garford left.
The Colonel is to sleep to-night in No. 3, which has not been
occupied since Miss "N." left.
Mr. C---- arrived. He sleeps, by his own choice, in No. 2. He
has had a conversation with the butler, whom he had been
instrumental in engaging for us, which began by his asking how
he liked his situation? He expressed himself satisfied with
everything, but added, "But there's something very queer about
the house," and then proceeded to tell his wife's experience.
_March 7th, Sunday_.--Mr. C---- has written an account of his
experiences last night.
Robinson has this morning told him of his first experience! He
was awakened by the noise of a heavy body falling in the middle
of the room; he awoke his wife, struck a match, and looked at
his watch--it was 3.30; no one else had been disturbed. Mr.
C----'s account follows:--
"_March 7th, 1897._--It was arranged that Colonel Taylor should
occupy No. 3, and that I should sleep in No. 2. I went to bed
about twelve, but did not go to sleep at once.
"I awoke suddenly with the distinct impression that there was
some one in the room. I lay still, and tried to realise what was
in the room, but could not do so. There was no idea of movement
in my mind, but still I felt convinced that some one was there.
The impression seemed gradually to fade out of my mind after
about seven or ten minutes, and then I got up and looked at my
watch--the time was 4.40 A.M.
"I then went back to bed, but did not go to sleep. I heard the
clock in the hall strike five.
"Shortly after I thought I heard some one moving about in No. 1,
which I knew to be unoccupied. I listened, and it seemed to me
that some one was moving round three sides of the room and then
coming back. The movement went on for about three or four
minutes and then stopped, but after a pause of some minutes it
began again. I tried to make out footsteps, but could not do so.
The movement was that of a heavy body going round the room, and
the floor seemed to shake slightly, after the way of old
flooring when a heavy man moves about. After going on for some
time the movement stopped, and again, after a pause, began
again. The movement, whatever it was, occurred four times, with
three pauses in between. The durations of the movement and
pauses were irregular. After the noise ceased I got up and lit
the candle. The time was 5.25, and I read for twenty-five
minutes, when I felt sleepy and blew out the candle. I did not,
however, go to sleep, and I heard six strike. The day was
dawning. The rooks I first heard about 5.35, when I was reading.
"About ten minutes after the clock struck six I heard a noise
like a light-footed person running downstairs, which seemed to
adjoin No. 3, where the Colonel was sleeping, and almost
immediately after I heard a loud rapping at the door of No. 1.
After a short pause this occurred again, and I jumped out of
bed. As I opened the door of my room leading into the passage
the rapping sounds occurred again, but less loudly. There was
no one in the passage, and I went back to bed, not having quite
shut my door. No sooner had I done so than there was a knock at
my door, which I thought must be the Colonel coming to speak to
me about the rapping at No. 1. I called out 'Come in,' but there
was no answer, and I accordingly again went to the door, only to
find no one.
"I heard the servants begin to move about at 6.30 above me, and
as seven struck I heard them going through the house.
"The Colonel did not hear anything.
"There are no stairs coming down to the bedroom storey where I
thought I heard footsteps.
"The rapping was not in any way an alarming noise.
"On Saturday night 'Ouija' had said that I was not to be
disturbed that night, so I was 'not expecting.' It also stated
that Nos. 3 and 8 were the rooms that 'the Major' occupied."
* * * * *
_March 8th, Monday._--Mr. C---- left early. He has promised to
write of any experience last night, as he was gone before we
were up. Colonel Taylor is still in No. 3; he has heard nothing,
but this is perhaps the less evidential, that, although a
frequent visitor to haunted houses, he has never had any
experience.
We are still in No. 8, in which we have had a sufficient number
of experiences to make us anxious to distribute responsibility
by handing it over to another sensitive at the earliest
possibility. Miss Langton has hitherto slept in No. 4, in which
she was put on her first arrival, except for the three nights
she was in No. 2, with companionship in the adjacent rooms.
There seems to be no object in the Colonel remaining in No. 3,
as he is unlikely to see or hear anything, and as soon as that
side of the house is quite emptied she proposes to go into No.
1, as we are anxious to discover whether her experience will
corroborate that of Miss Moore, myself, Mrs. B. C----, Mr.
Garford, and the maids, as to the sound of voices.
_March 9th, Tuesday._--Mr. C---- writes this morning in regard
to Sunday night: "_March 8th._--... Last night I was not so much
disturbed, but I awoke at 3.10, and did not sleep after that. I
had exactly the same sensation as on the previous night, that
whenever I was going to sleep something woke me. At 5.20 I heard
three noises very close together, but they were very distant,
and sounded from the direction of your room" (No. 8).
_March 10th, Wednesday._--I awoke about 5.30, and lay awake
reading. I had drawn the blinds up, but kept the candle in as
long as it was required. At intervals between twenty minutes to
six o'clock and ten minutes past I heard the sounds
characteristic of No. 8., viz., footsteps of a man, and
pattering of a dog. Miss Moore awoke, and heard the later
sounds. About 6.10 we both heard the thud, which seems to occur
generally beyond the wardrobe nearer the door.
In the afternoon Miss Moore and I called on Mrs. S----.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
_March 11th, Thursday._--Very wet day, no phenomena.
_March 12th, Friday._--Another wet day. I had had a headache all
day, and was unable to join the others in a walk when the rain
cleared off, but I went out, alone, about 6.30 to the copse.
Standing in my usual place, I saw the nun coming over the hill
towards the burn; she stood nearly opposite to me, looking down
to the water for a few minutes, and then moved away towards the
avenue. I followed as quickly as possible, but when I got to the
drive she was still a few yards ahead of me, and I failed to
catch her up, though I pursued her down to the lodge, about two
hundred yards; she then, passing through the gates, turned to
the left, and I lost her in the obscurity of the road, which is
there darkened by heavy trees. When I returned to the house I
was still in so much pain that I took a sedative draught and
went to bed, and to sleep at once.
With regard to the above it may be remarked that the way she came led
from B---- Cottage, where by the kindness of Mr. S---- some nuns had
formerly spent their annual holiday, and the road on which she
disappeared was a way which would have led back to it.
_March 13th, Saturday._--At ten o'clock last night Miss Moore
woke me to take some food. I was still under the influence of
the opiate, and did not really rouse, even when she came to bed
half-an-hour later. We did not speak till I was aroused by a
loud banging noise, when, in answer to my startled exclamation,
Miss Moore suggested that it was probably the servants shutting
up downstairs, as we were early, and they had very likely not
yet gone to bed. I was much annoyed, as I knew they had been
cautioned to keep quiet, and even the maid had not been allowed
to enter my room. This morning, when Miss Moore went to see the
housekeeper, the butler came in and asked if we had heard any
noises last night, about a quarter to eleven o'clock, he
thought, after every one had gone up to bed; adding, "It was two
bangs like a fist on a door, and I said, 'If that isn't Miss
Moore or Miss Langton, I'll believe in the noises they all talk
about,'--it's just like what the gentlemen told me."
His wife had also heard the bangs, but had waited for him to
speak to her of them, and the maids on the other side of the
house had been roused to come to their door and listen.
The footman, who sleeps in the basement, and the Colonel, who
was in the smoking-room in the wing till 11.30, heard nothing;
but Miss Langton, in No. 4, to whom Miss Moore mentioned the
servants' story, had heard noises "between 10.30 and 10.45," but
had not been disturbed, thinking, as we had done, that they were
probably made by the servants.
On inquiry we found that the cook had gone to bed directly after
the servants' supper, the two under maids were up by ten o'clock
(Miss Moore heard their voices when she came to my room at ten
o'clock), and the upper housemaid had gone up a few minutes
after the hall clock struck, following Miss Moore up the stairs.
The butler had come up directly after, only waiting to put out
the hall lamp, and all were in bed before 10.30. We ourselves
noticed the striking of the hall clock _after_ we heard the
noise--it had gone wrong, and only struck nine instead of eleven
o'clock--so there seems little doubt that we all heard the same
sound, and all describe it as coming from below.
In discussing the occurrence with the butler and his wife, Miss
Moore learned that they had lately heard a story [from a local
resident] which was new to us. A maid of Mrs. S----, who, though
married to the butler, still lived in the house, and performed
her duties as usual, was one night coming up the back-stairs
with a tray for Mrs. S----, when, on reaching the top, by the
door of No. 3, she met the figure of a nun, which so frightened
her that she dropped the tray and broke all the plates on it.
Mrs. S---- explained it away by saying it was "only ----" (they
could not remember her name) "come to pray with her." It was
Sunday night, but they knew there was no one there who could in
the least account for the appearance. The only explanation
offered by the narrator of the story was that "there had been a
Miss S----, a nun, who had died."
_March 14th, Sunday._--I called on Mrs. S----, and had a long
talk with her.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
_March 15th, Monday._--Miss Moore and I, both awake at the time,
heard a loud, vibrating noise about a quarter to six. Miss
Langton in No. 4 heard it also. The Colonel, who sleeps
downstairs, heard it as from the hall, and said he also felt the
vibration. Except for about three nights he has always slept in
the wing, where, during our tenancy, there have been no
phenomena.
_March 16th, Tuesday._--Miss Moore, Miss Langton, the Colonel,
and I, left B----. Miss Moore, Miss Langton, and I returning on
March 20th.
After leaving B---- Colonel Taylor wrote as follows to Lord
Bute:--
_March 19th, 1897._--"I arrived in London yesterday, after
having spent five weeks at B---- very pleasantly. I feel sure
that there _is_ a ghostly influence pervading the house, but I
am a little disappointed at the way in which it manifests
itself, for, up to the time I left, the nature of the
manifestations was such that, though it is satisfactory to me,
it would not be so, I think, to those who do not look at such
things from so favourable a position as I do.
"I hope a change may yet come, and things take place which one
might think would justify people in evacuating and forfeiting
their money as the H----s did; certainly nothing of this sort
happened while I was there.
"It is very interesting to note Miss Freer's experiences, but in
regard to those of others who have something to relate, it is
perhaps difficult to determine how much these statements should
be discounted for error of observation and self-suggestion. I
heard many noises in the night during my stay at B----, but they
were of much the same sort I have been accustomed to hear at a
similar time in other houses. I think that some of our witnesses
may have given them undue prominence, under the influence of
their own expectancy. The clairvoyant visions of 'Ishbel' in the
grounds are not of great evidential value for the scientific
world in general, and I think that any amount of 'voices' could
be read into the noises of the running stream, near where she is
seen, by those who 'wished to hear.' Still, there are some
objective noises which cannot be easily accounted for in an
ordinary way, and the three almost independent visions of the
brown cross are important.
"I hope things will improve; in any case, you will have added
considerably to psychical research when all has been
recorded...."
It is difficult perhaps to see why Colonel Taylor should regard the
independent visions of the crucifix as of more value than the equally
independent and far more numerous hallucinations, audible and visual,
of "Ishbel." We have the statements of the failure of several persons
who "wished to hear" voices in the sounds of the burn, which was,
moreover, frozen and silent when the voices were heard by the first
two non-expectant and quite independent witnesses.
_March 19th._--A passage in Miss Langton's private journal under
this date is as follows:--
"_St. Andrews, March 19th._--I looked into a water-bottle
to-night to see if I could see anything of what was happening at
B----. I distinctly saw room No. 3, and gradually a figure came
into view between the two doors (_i.e._ near the foot of the
bed), the figure of a tall woman, dressed in a long clinging
robe of grey, and who seemed to be holding something in her
hand, against the wall at the foot of the bed. This became more
distinct, and I saw that it was a cross of dark brown wood, some
12 inches long (I should say). The figure did not appear to
move. I seemed to be standing at the door of No. 3, which opens
on to the landing" (_cf._ pp. 17, 132, 142).
For the information of those not accustomed to the phenomena of
crystal-gazing, it may be as well to remark that it is quite possible
that the image had been subconsciously seen by Miss Langton when
sleeping in No. 3, as deferred impressions are often externalised for
the first time in the crystal. She may equally have received the
impression by thought-transference from others. Certainly she had not
been informed of earlier experiences.
_March 20th, Saturday._--Miss Langton, Miss Moore, and I
returned to B---- house. Four guests arrived in time for dinner.
Rooms for to-night:--
1. Miss Moore and I.
2. Miss Langton.
3. Miss "Duff," a lady whose name is familiar to readers of
recent records of crystal-gazing and other students of
the literature of the Psychical Research Society.
4. Mr. MacP----.
5. Mr. W----.
8. Colonel C----.
_March 21st, Sunday._--Last night, about 11.15, after Miss Moore
and I were in bed in No. 1, we heard a loud sound from the
left-hand side of the fireplace (south-west corner). It might be
imitated by the "giving" of a large tin box (_cf._ pp. 173,
179). There was nothing but a footstool and a draped
dressing-table there. We called out to Miss Langton, whom we
could hear still moving about. She said she had heard the noise,
but had made none herself.
Her account is as follows:--
"Last night (Sunday, March 21st) we retired to bed early, as
Miss Moore was leaving by an early train next morning, and I was
going to get up in order to see her off. It was certainly not
later than 10.45, when I went to my room, having gone to No. 1
to say good-night to Miss Freer and Miss Moore, who were
sleeping that night in that room. Miss 'Duff' was in No. 3, and
I was occupying No. 2. I am not at all nervous, and certainly I
was not expecting to see anything, as No. 2 is always supposed
to be a 'quiet' room. I was some time getting to bed, but I put
out my candle at twelve o'clock, and, after noticing that the
moon was shining brightly, I got into bed. Contrary to my usual
custom I did not fall asleep for some time, and I felt that the
room was, in some inexplicable way, not as usual. At last I fell
asleep, but not comfortably. I kept waking, and for some time
after each awakening I could not get to sleep again. I put this
down, however, to the fact that I wanted to waken early the next
morning, and was restless in consequence. At last I really fell
asleep, but at 4.30 I suddenly awakened with the feeling that I
was not alone in the room. I looked round; the room was quite
dark; the moon was not shining, but between the bed and the
wardrobe there was a figure standing. At first it was very
indistinct and misty, but gradually it formed itself into the
figure of a woman--a slight, tall woman, with a pale face. She
was dressed in long robes, but the upper part was the only part
I could see clearly. Round her face and head was a white band,
like that worn by a nun, and over her head was what might have
been a black hood or small shawl, but in the darkness it was
very difficult to distinguish. I could not see what her features
were like, but she looked as if she were in trouble, and
entreating some one to help her. She stood for some few moments
at the foot of my bed looking towards me, and then she made a
movement towards the door, but before she reached it she had
vanished. I was not at all frightened, as there was nothing at
all alarming in her appearance. I cannot write a better
description of her, as the vision was so short. The figure was
the same as that I had seen at the burn, only very much
clearer."
Miss "Duff" writes under this date March 21st:--"On my arrival
yesterday I was shown to my room (No. 3), which I had selected,
with Miss Freer's permission, as one said to have an evil
reputation. Perhaps it was natural that a feeling 'as if I were
not alone' should come over me, and needless to say there was no
_apparent_ cause for this!
"As a rule I am a very sound sleeper, nothing ever disturbs me;
but last night I was suddenly wide awake, as if roused by
something unusual. I sat up quickly in bed, but suddenly
remembering where I was, I waited expectantly. Nothing occurred,
although I did not get to sleep again for about two hours."
_March 22nd, Monday._--Mr. MacP---- was awakened between four
and five by heavy footsteps overhead. We made many experiments
to account for it, and of course made inquiries among the
servants, but could find no cause. We are the more interested
that hitherto nothing has been heard by our party in his room,
No. 4, though there is a tradition of earlier disturbances
there.
Mr. MacP---- has furnished the following account of his experience:--
"As usual I went to bed about 12 P.M. I had no desire to be disturbed,
and so my room was still No. 4, which I had originally selected as
being reputed innocuous, and which, save in one slight instance, I had
hitherto found to deserve its reputation. My repeated visits had
eliminated any expectancy which may at first have, perhaps, existed.
"My bed was alongside the south wall of my room, and parallel to the
corridor or passage, my head towards No. 5, and my feet towards No. 3.
"As often happened at B----, I awoke from a sound slumber, not by
degrees, but in a moment. There was no transition--no half-awakening,
but full and complete consciousness all at once. I struck a light,
looked at my watch, found it was 4.30, and went to sleep again
immediately. I then wakened slowly and gradually, hearing more and
more clearly a noise which appeared to me to be the cause of my
awakening. The noise was the kind of sound which is produced by a
person walking rapidly with one foot longer than the other--_i.e._,
it was a succession of beats in rapid sequence, each alternate beat
being louder than the one immediately before it.
"It appeared to me (1) to be produced outside my room; (2) to be on a
higher level; and (3) to be moving in the direction of my bed--_i.e._,
going as from No. 5 past No. 4, in which I was, towards No. 3. I at
once jumped out of bed, opened my door and looked out. I saw nothing,
and the noise stopped. I then struck a light, and found that it was
only 4.45. I lay awake till I heard the servants obviously moving
about, and then went to sleep again. At breakfast I asked, 'Has
anybody ever heard this kind of noise?' reproducing it as well as I
could by a series of thumps on the table. 'Oh yes,' was the answer,
'that is what we call the 'limping' or 'scuttering' noise. Of course I
had heard the phrases used, but thought they referred to two separate
noises. I had also formed quite distinct ideas as to the kind of
noises these epithets were intended to describe--both entirely
different from the kind of noise I had heard--and I showed what I
meant. 'Oh no,' said Miss Freer, 'what you heard is what we have been
calling indiscriminately the _limping_ or _scuttering_ noise, and we
have not heard the kinds of noise these words suggested to you.' I
emphasise this as showing clearly that I cannot have been expecting to
hear the particular noise in question.
"The next thing was to account for the noise, if possible, and we
spent some time experimenting. First of all the servants were
interrogated as to whether any of them had been moving about at 4.45.
Answer, 'No.' Next we asked who got up first. This was a maid who
slept in X, and went into Y to call the kitchenmaid, who slept there.
To do so she had, of course, to go through the narrow room which was
over part of my bedroom.
"This, she said, was a good bit later than 4.45. But we thought it
well to make her go from X to Y while I lay down on my bed and
listened. We made her walk backwards and forwards, both with her
slippers on and also in her stocking soles. I and some of the others
who came into my room heard her quite distinctly. But (1) the noise of
her steps was in a different place--near my window, and exactly in
the line of her progress; (2) it was an entirely different kind of
noise. She walked now fast, and now slowly, but both footsteps seemed
always of the same weight; and (3), and this, to my mind, was most
important, we heard her quite distinctly going from X to Y, and back
again from Y to X and could tell in which direction she was moving.
Now, the noise which I had heard only went in the one direction,
_i.e._, parallel to the maid's outward progress. I did not hear
anything going in the other direction. I was entirely wakened by the
noise which I had heard, and, as I have said, I continued to listen
intently for some considerable time, and yet I heard nothing.
"In short, alike from its apparent _locus_, from its quality, and from
the direction of its movements, I am convinced that the noise which I
heard was not caused by any of the servants moving about upstairs.
"Anybody who knows the house will understand that where the noise
seemed to me to be was in the neighbourhood of the dome. For all I
know, the dome, as somebody suggested, may be a regular
sounding-board; but even so, that does not help much towards an
explanation. Wherever the noise may have been produced, the question
still remains, 'What produced it?' and that we have entirely failed to
answer."
* * * * *
The gist of this account was communicated by Mr. MacP---- to the Hon.
E---- F----, who replied as follows on April 19, 1897: "Do you
appreciate the fact that your ghost, with the footsteps of alternate
lowness and softness, is absolutely correct, and corresponds with Miss
H----'s ghost, as I heard it from Mrs. G---- lately in town. Miss
H---- slept, I _think_, in No. 4 [this is wrong; _cf._ p. 124], and
was wakened by the sound of walking round her bed with a peculiar
limp. Much alarmed, she went and called her brother, who came and
slept on the sofa (is there a sofa in No. 4?), and shortly afterwards
they both heard the same noise again."
Mr. MacP----, as already mentioned, did not know that this noise had
been heard by any one.
Miss "Duff" thus describes her next night: "Having heard nothing
unusual all day, I went to bed quite disappointed. However, I
was to be again awakened, and this time by a loud _crash_ at my
door, which resounded for some time. I lit a candle, but nothing
had fallen in my room to account for the sound.
"I began to think I might be mistaken as to the direction of the
noise, and that it might have been caused by a large piece of
coal falling in the fender. I went to look, but there was no
coal at all, only the dying embers in the fire. I soon fell
asleep again, only to be again awakened by a similar crash
(although not so loud), and this time between the washstand and
the window. I kept awake till morning, and heard nothing more."
[We had carefully concealed from Miss "Duff" the nature of the
usual phenomena of this room.]
_March 23rd, Tuesday._--Mr. L---- and his friend Captain B----
arrived.
The proof of this portion of the Journal was submitted to Mr. L----,
who returned it with, _inter alia_, the following note:--
"I do not wish to suppress the fact of my visit to B----, but object
to the publication of any details about me or any of my writings." In
deference to Mr. L----'s wish, therefore, his contributions to the
Journal have been withdrawn, and all further references to him
deleted.
Captain B---- had no experiences, and by his desire some interesting
suggestions made by him as to possible normal causes have been
omitted.
We are now sleeping as follows:--
1. Captain B----.
2. Miss Langton.
3. Miss "Duff."
4. Mr. MacP----.
5. Myself.
6. Mr. L----.
7. Colonel C----.
Miss "Duff" writes under this date:--
"Last night I sat late by my fire _expecting_, but as nothing
seemed to be going to happen I went to bed, and soon to sleep.
However, I was to have my most startling experience! I was
awakened as if by some one violently shaking my bed (I must
mention there was a great wind blowing outside), and at the same
time I felt something press heavily upon me. _I struck out!_
rather frightened, but remembering again where I was, refrained
from striking a light, in order to see the next development of
this weird experience. To my disappointment nothing happened,
although sleep was successfully banished till daylight."
* * * * *
[On March 28th Miss "Duff" wrote to me: "Mr. ---- suggested that
I should describe to you more accurately the shaking of my bed,
as it was not at all such a vibration as might be caused by a
high wind or any ordinary movement occurring in other parts of
the House.
"The bed seemed to heave in the centre, as if there were some
force under it, which raised it in the centre and rocked it
violently for a moment and then let it sink again. I should also
have added, that on other nights quite as windy this phenomenon
did not occur; in fact, no movement I have ever felt has given
me quite the same sensation. The highest point on the
'Switchback' is the nearest to it in my experience. I was wide
awake at the time, so it was no nightmare."]
* * * * *
Miss "Duff" thus continues her account of Tuesday, March 23rd:--
"This morning, as I sat in the drawing-room, I heard the low,
monotonous voice of some one reading aloud. Knowing that Miss
Freer and Miss Langton were writing in the next room, I
concluded that Miss Freer must be dictating while Miss Langton
wrote for her, although I must say I did not recognise Miss
Freer's voice. This went on for about an hour. Soon after Miss
Langton came into the drawing-room, and I said, 'Well, you
_have_ been busy; I suppose Miss Freer has been dictating to
you?' She looked surprised and said, 'No, indeed she hasn't; we
have both been writing, and if Miss Freer spoke at all, it was
only a few words now and again.'" This low monotonous sound of a
human voice I afterwards heard once or twice in Room 3.
_March 24th, Wednesday._--Last night I heard a crash as of
something falling from the dome into the hall, about twenty
minutes to twelve.
At breakfast Colonel C---- said he had heard a loud thump on his
door at an early hour--before six, when wide awake.
Mr. W---- also had had an experience. He heard sounds outside
his room, and went to investigate. On returning he found the
kitten in his room, but, sceptic as he is, he acknowledged
freely that the kitten, a wee thing, could not have produced the
sounds he heard.
_Copy of letter from_ Mr. W---- _to_ Mr. MacP----.
"_March 24th, 1897._-- ... In case it may interest Miss Freer to
know what I thought of the noises I heard in No. 1 prior to the
kitten incident, the following states my recollections shortly:
The first noise was about half-past four, and resembled two
small explosions, such as a fire sometimes makes. They followed
one another closely, and came from the direction of the
fireplace or the south-west corner of the room. I got up and
looked at the fire, and it was all but out; but I would not like
to swear that the noises did not come from it.
"As to the other noise, it occurred about a quarter to six, and
was quite loud. It sounded as if one of the large, deer heads on
the staircase wall had fallen down and rolled a step or two. I
cannot understand how some of the others did not hear the noise,
but I heard and saw nothing when I went out of my room to see
what it was.
"I should add, that in this case, as well as in the former one,
I was awake when the noise occurred. If I had heard these noises
in any other house I would not have thought of noticing them,
but it might be curious to see if they are the same that have
been heard in that room already."
After breakfast I heard of a great excitement among the
servants, and taking Miss Langton with me, to serve as witness
and to take notes, I interviewed separately the three concerned,
as well as the cook, to whom they had told the story also. It is
worth while to mention that I have several times heard the
kitchenmaid complained of as lacking in respect for her
betters--in scoffing at their reports of phenomena. Only
yesterday Mrs. Robinson told me she had not mentioned several
things (bell-ringing, a knock at her door, &c.) because it upset
her authority in the kitchen to exhibit interest in such things.
All the stories were consistent, and no cross-questioning upset
the evidence. They were distinctly in earnest.
The three maids and a temporary servant, M----, belonging to the
district, went up to their rooms about 10.30. The two housemaids
sleep together [in Z], Lizzie, the kitchenmaid, separately, in a
room adjoining [in Y]. Directly after getting into bed all heard
knockings, and they called out between the rooms to each other.
Lizzie stayed awake, and looking up towards the ceiling had what
sounds like a hypna-gogic hallucination, of a cloud which
changed rapidly in colour, shape, and size, and alarmed her
greatly. Then she felt her clothes pulled off, but thought this
might be accidental, and tucked them in. Then she was sure they
were pulled off again, and screamed to the other maids. Neither
dared go to her, her screams were so terrifying; but they
finally opened the door of communication between the rooms, and
Carter went to fetch the temporary assistant from the other end
of the corridor, "because she was such a good-living girl"
(particular about fasting in Lent, I gather). The three then
returned for the kitchenmaid, and all spent the night in the
housemaid's room.
The upper housemaid went to Miss Langton's room this morning, I
hear, much upset and crying, and there can be no doubt of the
conviction of all the maids.
For the future they wish to occupy one room.
The cook, sleeping on the ground floor below No. 3, heard
footsteps and knockings, and awoke her husband, but he heard
nothing. She diagnosed it as being "about the door of Miss
'Duff's' room (No. 3 above). She thought it was outside of her
door, but was not sure. It was just after midnight.
Miss "Duff" writes on the same day:--
"Last night I had just got into bed, when I heard footsteps, so,
always on the alert for phenomena, I listened and was relieved
(? disappointed would be better!) to hear Mr. ---- cough, so I
settled down to sleep. A quarter of an hour or twenty minutes
later (about twelve o'clock) I again heard steps, but this time
they came from the back-stair and shuffled past my room, and
then I heard a loud fall against what seemed to me the door of
room No. 1, which is practically next door to mine.[E]
"I went to listen, but not a sound was to be heard, and I saw no
one. It could not have been the gentleman who was occupying that
room [Mr. W----], as I heard him (with others) come up a quarter
of an hour later and go into his room. Although the fall seemed
_against_ the door of No. 1, I must add that the depth and
quality of the noise was as if a large body had fallen far away,
of which we only, as it were, heard the echo, but that _quite
distinctly on_ the door of No. 1."
[Miss Langton testifies to being disturbed by the same sounds in
No. 2, the dressing-room between Miss "Duff's" room and Mr.
W----'s.]
Miss "Duff" continues:--
"_March 25th._--Last night I felt my bed shake, as if some one
had taken it in both hands, but as there was a high wind, I did
not take much notice of this. I have had my bed shaken
violently in that room once before, however, when there was no
wind at all."
Mr. MacP---- and Captain B---- left. The only phenomenon to be
noted under this date is the following record by Miss Langton:--
"I heard a loud thump at the door of communication between Nos.
1 and 2 when dressing for dinner, but on going into No. 1 found
it quite empty. A curious point about these noises is that the
knocks on the door between Nos. 1 and 2 have been audible in
this room, No. 2 (in my experience) only when No. 1 is empty,
and in No. 1 only when No. 2 is empty."
_March 26th, Friday._
. . . . . . . .
Miss "Duff" writes on the same day:--
"As I was talking to Miss Langton at the door of her room (No.
2) on my way to dress for dinner, a double bang on the door came
from the inside of room No. 1, which was the one Captain B----
had occupied, and where he had heard nothing. At the same moment
Miss Langton called out that there had been a bang on the door
between her room and No. 1. For a moment I hesitated to go in,
but a housemaid came down the corridor at that moment to see
what the noise was she had heard, and we investigated together,
but to no purpose."
Miss Langton writes further under this date:--
"I heard three distinct bangs at the lower part of the door of
my room leading into the corridor. I described it to myself as a
person coming along the corridor towards No. 2, walking in an
unsteady way, and as if he could not see where he was going, and
then walking straight against the door of my room and banging
his foot against it. Miss 'Duff' this morning acted at our
request as I have just described, and the noise she made was an
exact reproduction of what I heard last night. The bang occurred
at three intervals--at 11.35, 11.45, and 11.50."
_March 27th, Saturday._--Mr. ---- and Miss "Duff" left. Miss
Langton and I are now alone.
Miss "Duff" was undisturbed last night.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
There was very little wind last night, as I happen to know in
the following connection. Carter twice over, about 11.30 and
again after midnight, heard the sounds of reading, which she
imitated to me this morning--like the monotoning of a psalm. She
called out to two other maids to listen, and all three heard it.
She felt sure it was not the wind or the pipes. Both the
gardener and the gamekeeper say it was a very quiet night.
_March 28th, Sunday._--As it had been suggested that practical
joking or malicious mischief were in question, we were a good
deal on the _qui vive_ to-night, being alone. I watched from
behind the curtain at an open window from 10.30 P.M. till after
midnight, and again from 4.30 A.M. to 6 A.M. The night was windy
and there was a good deal of noise, but very different in kind
from any of our usual phenomena. We found that there were people
moving about till after midnight, but we did not attach much
importance to this, as the gardeners may have been to the stoves
(the night was frosty), and there is a right-of-way through the
grounds.
No phenomena.
The servants, we find, are alive to the fact that some one
prowls about at night. The footman, who sleeps downstairs, says
they have tried to frighten him, and things have been thrown at
the kitchen windows. I found it out by the fact that I was
seized by the butler and footman when I went out "prowling" on
Sunday night, fancying I had heard footsteps. They were on the
same errand, and caught me in the dark!
_March 29th, Monday._--To-day Miss Langton and I have been very
busy writing in the library, both silent and occupied. Again and
again have we heard footsteps overhead in No. 8, at intervals
between ten A.M. and one, and again in the evening between six
and seven. No rooms are in use on that side of the house--6, 7,
and 8 are all empty. The rooms below are locked up and
shuttered. At 11.30 we both heard some one moving about outside
on the gravel, but it was too dark a night to see any one.
[_Friday, April 2nd_--An unpleasant light has (possibly) been
thrown on these movements. We find to-day that some one has
killed a sheep in the garden, in a retired spot, taking away the
skin and the meat.]
_March 30th, Tuesday._--No phenomena, except the sound of steps
overhead above the library. For this reason, Miss Langton is
going to sleep in No. 8, where the steps occur.
Mr. and Mrs. M---- came.
[We were particularly glad to welcome Mrs. M---- for other
reasons than the pleasure of her society. She is of Spanish
origin, and a Roman Catholic, and according to previous
evidence, so were other persons upon whom specially interesting
phenomena had been bestowed.]
Mr. B. S---- and Miss V. S----, brother and sister of the owner,
dined with us.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
_March 31st, Wednesday._--Mr. and Mrs M---- were put into No. 1.
Both complain of a very sleepless night.
Miss Langton in No. 8 heard sounds after daylight--footsteps
shuffling round the bed, and a knock near the wardrobe. No one
is overhead nor in No. 7, the next room.
Mrs. M---- spent two hours alone in the drawing-room. She asked
me just before lunch what guns those were she had heard. I
suggested "The keeper?" and she said, "No, it is like the gun
you hear at Edinburgh at one o'clock _a long way off_," which is
a good description of the familiar detonating sound (_cf._ under
date, February 8).
Her own account of the day is as follows:--
"B---- HOUSE.
"I arrived here last evening, Tuesday, 30th of March, about six
o'clock. It was a nice bright evening, but cold. I was received
by Miss Freer, who gave me some tea, and then I was taken to my
bedroom by Miss Langton, of whom I asked if my room was haunted.
She said it had 'a reputation', but somehow or another it did
not seem to impress me much. That night Miss S---- and her
brother dined here; they were very pleasant, and talked away
hard, and we played card games, such as 'Old Maid' and
'Muggins.' We went to bed feeling quite happy, saying we had
never been in such an unghostly house before. The bed was quite
comfortable, and we lay talking quite happily, but could not
sleep, and were not in the least bit restless. About two o'clock
we dozed off, and a few minutes to four A.M. we were both
suddenly awoke by a terrific noise, which sounded to me like the
lid of the coal-scuttle having caught in a woman's gown. We then
lay awake until about 6.30, and in that interval we heard a few
noises, what I cannot exactly describe, as they were very
ordinary sounds one might hear in any not very solidly built
house. We came down to breakfast feeling we had passed a
sleepless night, but otherwise quite happy. After breakfast I
went into the smoking-room in the new wing, where my husband was
writing letters. I sat there a good time, and he was in and out
of the room. All the time I heard tramping up above as if the
housemaid was doing the room. Not knowing the geography of the
house I took it for No. 8. and thought what very noisy servants
these were. I then went into the drawing-room to write my own
letters, and Miss Freer came and spoke to me there. While she
was with me there, I heard a distant cannon, exactly like the
one o'clock gun in Edinburgh, and the whole morning a ceaseless
chatter, which I put down to Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the
room next door (_cf._ under date, March 23rd).
_April 1st, Thursday._--This is Mrs. M----'s account of last
night. "Last evening we were late for dinner, as Mr. M---- and I
had been out to see the nun by the burn, but had seen nothing.
The whole evening I had a sort of half consciously disagreeable
feeling, and when I went to my room it was some time before I
could make up my mind to get into bed. The servants very much
annoyed me; they were making such a needless amount of noise in
running about the room overhead. [The room overhead was empty.
Since their adventure of March 23rd, the servants had slept on
the other side of the house.] At last I got into bed, and I may
say I hardly slept a wink the whole night. I simply lay in
terror, of what I cannot say, but I had the feeling of some very
disagreeable sensation in the air, but we did not hear a sound
all night from the time we got into bed until we got up next
morning at 8.30.
"I spent the whole of the morning in the drawing-room writing
letters and reading, and from time to time I went up to No. 1 to
get books and different things, and each time was a little
surprised to find the room empty, as there had been a ceaseless
noise of housemaids, and very noisy ones too. I also heard what
I had described before as the cannon. After luncheon Miss Freer
and Miss Langton and I went out walking, and just as we were
coming in to tea we all three heard the cannon, and then I said
that is the noise I heard every morning, and sometimes in the
evening, in the drawing-room."
This afternoon we were having tea in the drawing-room at 4.30,
Mrs. M----, Miss Langton, and myself. We heard some one walking
overhead in No. 1, a sound we have heard often before, when we
knew the room to be empty above. Mrs. M---- remarked that it was
just the sound she had heard, again and again, when sitting
alone in the drawing-room.
It was so exactly the heavy, heelless steps we had heard before,
that Miss L---- ran upstairs softly to see if any one was there,
but found no one about. Next we heard a loud bang--not of a
door--in the hall, and she went out again to ascertain the
cause, and met the butler on the same errand. We could find
nothing to account for it. It was like the noise before
described, of something dropped heavily into the hall from the
gallery above.
There had been so much trouble of ascertaining whether the
noises were caused by doors banging, that since the warmer
weather set in, ever since our return on March 20th, in fact, we
have had every passage-door opening into the hall and into the
gallery upstairs fixed open with wedges.
We had scarcely settled to our tea again before we again heard
the footsteps overhead, and again Miss Langton went up and found
the room empty. She walked across the room, and we heard her do
so, but the sound was quite different. She did it noisily on
purpose, but though she is very big and tall, she didn't sound
heavy enough.
Mrs. M---- remarks, on hearing this read over, that the sound
was different in character as well as in volume--that the
footsteps she (and we) heard were "between a run and a walk." My
phrase was, and has always been, "as of the quick, heavy steps
of a person whose foot-gear didn't match." We called it, when we
first heard it in No. 8, a "shuffling step."
After she came down the servants' tea-bell rang, and we at once
said, "Now we shall know where they all are." The hall is under
the wing, at the other end of the house, and we knew that the
room underneath us was empty, and the shutters up, and that all
who were in the house were either in the drawing-room or the
servants' hall.
In a few minutes we again heard the pacing footsteps, up and
down, up and down; we heard them at intervals during
half-an-hour. We also heard voices as of a man and woman
talking. I went to the foot of the stairs, just below the door
of No. 1, and heard them plain. Mrs. M---- is not quick of
hearing, but she heard them distinctly several times. At 5.20 we
heard the maids go up the stone staircase, coming away from
their tea, and though we listened till after six, the other
sounds did not occur again.
_April 2nd, Friday._
[Mr. M---- left early, Mrs. M---- remaining till a later train.]
At 11.15 Miss Langton and I were in the library at two different
tables writing. The room was silent. Suddenly we heard a heavy
blow struck on a third table, ten feet at least away from either
of us. I instantly fetched Mrs. M----, and in her hearing Miss
Langton imitated the sound on the same table, by hitting with
her fist as heavily as possible. There is a drawer in the table,
empty, which added to the vibration, and also pendent brass
handles. I tried, but could not make noise enough. We kept watch
in the room till lunch, Mrs. M---- keeping guard when we were
obliged to leave, but nothing happened till, when we were
sitting at luncheon (there is only a single door and a curtain
between the two rooms), we heard it again as above described.
One of the informants, who described the scene which occurred
the day the late Mr. S---- left this house for the last time,
said "a very heavy blow like a man's fist came on the table
between them." This is the same room.
The same sound occurred again while we were at lunch in the
dining-room just now. The first time Miss Langton rushed to the
library and found a housemaid there at the stove, so we agreed
it should not count. It occurred again in about five minutes,
and again she went into the room (which is next the dining-room)
and found it empty and no one in the hall.
Mrs. M----, whom I asked to locate the sound, pointed to just
that part of the wall by the table upon which the knock had
struck.
Signed (as correct) by Mrs. M---- and Miss Langton.
(I have since asked the housemaid if she heard anything, and she
says no, she was making too much noise herself. We all heard it
distinctly, above the clatter of the fire-irons.)
On April 9th Mr. M---- sent me the following account of his
impressions:--
"... You ask me to describe the noises I heard while staying
with you at B----. I should say, in the first place, that I am a
good, but light, sleeper; I seldom lie awake, am generally
asleep five minutes after going to bed, but wake easily, and
awake at once to full consciousness. I am not the least nervous,
and have often slept in so-called 'haunted' rooms [Mr. M---- has
had very exceptional opportunities in this direction]; and while
I certainly cannot say that I altogether disbelieve in what are
commonly called 'ghosts,' I do believe that in nine cases out of
ten, noises, and even appearances, may, if investigated, be
traced to perfectly normal causes.
"We spent three nights at B----: March 30th and 31st, and April
1st. The first two nights room No. 1 was our bedroom, and the
third night room No. 8. Room No. 2 was my dressing-room.
"When talking to you and Miss Langton at the top of the stairs,
just before going to bed, we all of us heard
noises--rappings--coming apparently from No. 2. The noises were
very undoubted, but as we were talking at the time I cannot
define them more accurately.
"When first going to bed, both nights in No. 1, we heard
footsteps and voices apparently in conversation above us. The
sounds seemed to come from a room which was over the bed, but
did not extend as far as the fireplace in No. 1, and also from
the room which would be above the room next to ours behind the
bed."
The rooms overhead were empty. _Cf._ under date April 1st.
"These noises I attributed at the time, and still attribute, to
the maids going to bed. I am bound to say, however, that they
were heard both by Mrs. M---- and her maid, who was in No. 1
with her, during the daytime, at an hour when it was said no
servants were upstairs. These voices and footsteps did not go on
for long into the night. For (I should say) some hours during
the night of the 30th, I frequently heard a sound which seemed
to come from near the fireplace, and which I can best describe
as a gentle tap on a drum--like some one tuning the kettle-drum
in an orchestra. I do not think Mrs. M---- heard this noise, for
though she slept very badly, she was dozing a good deal during
the first half of the night. At 3.55 A.M. I was in a state of
semi-consciousness, when both I and Mrs. M---- were fully
roused by a noise so loud that I wonder it did not wake people
sleeping in other parts of the house. It seemed to come either
from the door between No. 1 and 2, or from between that door and
the fireplace. To me it sounded like a kind of treble rap on a
hollow panel, but far louder than any one could rap with their
knuckles. My wife described it as the sound of some one whose
gown had caught the lid of a heavy coal-scuttle and let it fall.
This noise was not repeated, and by a treble rap I mean the
sound was like an arpeggio chord. I feel certain it was not
against the false window outside, indeed it had the sound of
being in the room. The kettle-drum sounds might easily have been
a trick of the wind, though the night was still, but the only
natural explanation of this noise that I can give is practical
joking, as the noise _might_ have come from my dressing-room.
The coal-scuttle was standing between the fireplace and
door-post, just where the sound seemed to come from. The second
night I moved the scuttle right away to between the head of the
bed and the window, and the noise was not repeated. The second
night the talking and footsteps were both heard when first we
went up; and once, shortly after all was still, early in the
night. Nevertheless we again both of us slept very badly
indeed--I may say that except from about 6 to 8 A.M. I slept
very little either night. I should say that all through both
nights I frequently heard the owls hooting--both the tawny owl
and another, which I think was the little owl; the former on one
occasion was very close to the window, and any one with a vivid
imagination or unacquainted with the cry of the owl (and,
strange as it may seem, a country-bred girl, staying at L----
the other day, did _not_ know the owls' cry when she heard it),
might well take it for shrieks."
_N.B._--No one ever heard shrieks during Colonel Taylor's tenancy at
B----.
"The third night, as I have said, we were in No. 8, and both of
us slept like tops, and heard or saw nothing.
"One morning, in the smoking-room in the east wing, I heard
voices which _seemed_ to come from above, but which I am
convinced were from the kitchen beneath.
"As you know, 'Ishbel' was not kind enough to show herself to
me....
"_P.S._--I wrote the above without reading over my wife's
account. I have only to add that I had none of the uncomfortable
sensations she talks of. Bodily and mentally I was comfortable
all night. Nor was I in the least restless--only wakeful. But
for the noises, B---- certainly strikes one as a very unghostly
house."
_April 3rd, Saturday._--Miss Langton and I heard footsteps
walking up and down overhead at dinner-time last night, in No.
7, a room which is not in use. We looked at each other, but did
not at first say anything, on account of the presence of the
servants. After it had gone on for at least ten minutes, I asked
the butler if he had heard them. He at once said, "Yes, and
might he go and see if any one were about?" We heard him go
upstairs and open the door of the room, and walk across it, but
his step was quite different from the sound we had heard. He
came back saying, "The housemaid had been in to draw the blind
down since we had been at dinner." I have questioned her since,
and she says she simply went in and out again--was not there
half a minute.
About four o'clock this afternoon, Miss Langton ran in from the
garden where we were gathering fir-cones, to fetch a basket out
of the library, and heard so much noise going on in the
drawing-room that she went in to investigate. It was empty and
silent. The noise was a violent hammering on the door between
the two rooms on the drawing-room side.
The two rooms below the library and drawing-room were empty, and
shuttered (the smoking-room and billiard-room), No. 1 was
disused (over the drawing-room), and Miss Langton found no one
in No. 8 (over the library). She came back and told me at once.
I have now had the following rooms locked up and the keys taken
away by the butler:--
Ground floor: All the wing and drawing-room.
Above: 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. (I am sleeping in No. 5, Miss Langton
in No. 8.)
Basement: Smoking and billiard rooms.
Mr. T---- arrived in the afternoon. We were all out till
dinner-time. While at dinner, we all three, as well as the
butler, heard steps walking overhead in No. 7, as we did last
night.
_April 4th, Sunday._--I was wakened early this morning by the
sound of a crash. As it was mixed with my dreams I did not think
it worth while to get up and investigate, but looked at my
watch. It was twenty minutes to six. Five minutes later I heard
another crash under the dome--of the kind so often
described--and looked out, but the house was perfectly still. I
heard the servants come down about seven o'clock.
Miss Langton, sleeping in No. 8, describes the same sounds at
the same moment.
Mr. B. S---- and Miss S----, brother and sister of the
proprietor, called.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
Mr. T---- writes under this date:--
"_April 4th, Sunday._--I heard footsteps overhead last evening
while at dinner. Sleeping in No. 1. To bed about 11 P.M. To
sleep in about half-an-hour. Meanwhile I heard sounds as of
reading aloud in No. 8. Woke at 6.20. Heard voices in No. 8
again."
_April 5th, Monday._--Mr. T---- said at breakfast that he had
heard sounds as of some one reading in Miss Langton's room, No.
8, between 11.0 and 11.30 P.M., and again the sound of voices
from the same room in the morning. Miss Langton was alone, nor,
as we have proved--(see under date March 2nd)--could any sound
of reading or speaking have been heard, had any really existed.
_April 6th, Tuesday._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--
"To my room last night about 11 P.M. Loud thuds on the floor
above me, and a heavy thud against the door dividing my room
(No. 1) from the dressing-room beyond (No. 2). I went out and
listened at the servants' staircase. They were talking, but not
moving about. [I learnt on inquiry that they were all in bed by
10.30.--A.G.F.] I went to sleep immediately after I got to bed,
but woke up later with a violent start, as if by a loud noise,
though I heard nothing. I waited a few minutes and then looked
at my watch. It was 12.30. I heard voices talking pretty loud. I
was awake over three-quarters of an hour, then slept till
5.30."
Mr. B. S---- was out fishing with Mr. T---- in the morning, and
came in to lunch and again to dinner. In the evening I had a
good deal of talk with him.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
This afternoon Mrs. ----, a lady well acquainted with the
neighbourhood, came to tea. She asked me about the hauntings,
and said they were matter of common talk in the district. She
also told me that in the late Mr. S----'s time it had been
alleged that the disturbances were intentional annoyances,
though she agreed it was rather a sustained effort.
I also called to say "good-bye" to Mrs. S.----, to whom I
remarked that, though I could not doubt the existence of
phenomena at B----, we had been most comfortable, and had
greatly liked the place.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
Early this morning (I am still sleeping in No. 5) I heard the
familiar crash under the dome. It was about 2.30. Mr. T---- said
at breakfast that he had heard it too.
_Wednesday 7th._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--
"To bed about eleven. To sleep at once. Awakened at 2.30 by a
terrific crash, and the sound of voices. A little later I heard
light raps at the foot of my door, as if a dog had wagged his
tail against it. Looked out, saw nothing; very disturbed night."
_April 8th, Thursday._--Mr. T---- writes, "Woke last night at
12.30. Heard nothing, but slept very badly. I may mention that I
am, as a rule, a very sound sleeper, and as I had taken a lot of
exercise every day--fishing, shooting, cycling, and walking,
from breakfast-time to dark--there was no reason why I should
not sleep."
Mr. T---- had been out the whole of this day with the keepers--heather
burning--and was obviously "dead tired" when he went to bed. It is
curious that even when not disturbed, he should have slept so badly,
but sleepless and nameless discomfort has assailed most persons in No.
1, though the room is large and airy.
_April 8th, Thursday._--We had planned to leave yesterday, but
it was borne in upon me that to-day being the anniversary of the
Major's death, it would be a pity--on the hypothesis of there
being anything supernormal in these phenomena--that the house
should not be under observation to-night.
In the morning the Land-steward called, having heard from Mrs.
S---- that we had heard footsteps about the house at night, and
that I had several times observed a disreputable-looking man
about the place, whom I knew not to be one of the farm-servants.
The admissions hitherto made by him, and by ---- and ----, as to
some of the phenomena, carry the evidence back for over twenty
years.
I don't know whether we have been specially on the _qui vive_
to-day, but we seem to have heard bangs and crashes and
footsteps overhead all day, though all the rooms, except Nos. 1,
5, and 8 are locked up--Mr. T---- occupies No. 1, Miss Langton
No. 8, I No. 5.
Acting upon the hints given us by ---- and ----, I thought the
downstairs smoking-room ought to be specially under observation
to-day. I was suffering from acute headache, and was obliged to
lie down in my own room from lunch-time to dinner, and this
smoking-room, which is known as "the Major's room," was the only
sitting-room in use. A few minutes before dinner, I went down
and busied myself in putting my camera to rights. It was a
delicate piece of work, and when I saw a black dog, which I
supposed for the moment to be "Spooks" (my Pomeranian), run
across the room towards my left, I stopped, fearing that she
would shake the little table on which the camera stood. I
immediately saw another dog, really Spooks this time, run
towards it from my right, with her ears pricked. Miss Langton
also observed this, and said, "What is Spooks after?" or
something of that sort. A piece of furniture prevented my seeing
their meeting, and Spooks came back directly, wagging her tail.
The other dog was larger than Spooks, though it also had long
black hair, and might have been a small spaniel.
[It was not till after we had left B---- that we learned that
the Major's favourite dog was a black spaniel.]
After dinner we returned to this room. I had intended to try
Ouija and the crystal, but was in too much pain to make this
possible, and Miss Langton felt she could not do it alone; it
was as much as I could do to sit up at all, but, by a strong
effort of will, I was able to remain downstairs till after
midnight. [I was still occasionally suffering from the results
of my accident.] We sat in front of the fire, playing a round
game. About nine we all three heard footsteps coming from the
south-west corner and going towards the door; I held up my hand
for silence, but I could see, from the direction of their eyes,
that they heard the sounds as I did--even the dog looked up and
watched. The steps were those of a rather heavy person in
heelless shoes, who walked to the door, and came back again,
passed close behind Mr. T----'s chair, crossed the hearth-rug
just in front of me, and stopped at or about the north-east
corner, but--it seemed--remained in the room, behind Miss
Langton's chair. We heard them again about 10.30; we also heard
sounds several times during the evening of the talking of a man
and woman. Three times over Miss Langton and Mr. T---- went out
to listen, but the house was perfectly quiet, and though we were
on the same floor with the servants, there had been, the whole
time, three closed doors between us and their quarters in the
wing, which also was in the direction opposite that from which
the sounds came (the present billiard-room). About 10.45, Miss
Langton and I went up to the dining-room in search of
refreshment; everything upstairs seemed perfectly still, and the
servants had long before gone to bed. Mr. T---- followed us up,
and as we went back to the smoking-room, the voices seemed to be
in high argument just inside. We could distinguish no words,
though the _timbre_ of the voices is perfectly clear in my
memory. About 12.20 we went to bed. I had intended to sit up in
No. 8, but found I was not equal to it, and Miss Langton would
not accept my offer of sleeping there with her. She was
therefore there alone, I in No. 5, and Mr. T---- in No. 1. I had
not been many minutes in my room when I heard the familiar loud
crash as of something falling into the hall, under the dome, and
rushed out immediately--the house was perfectly still. We had
left a small lamp burning in the corridor. Mr. T---- said, next
morning, that he had also came out at the sound, but must have
been later than I, as he was just in time to see my door shut.
About twenty minutes after, I heard the shuffling footsteps come
up the stairs, and pause near my door; I opened it, and saw
nothing, but was so definitely conscious of the presence of a
personality, that I addressed it in terms which need not be set
down here, but of which I may say that they were intended to be
of the utmost seriousness, while helpful and encouraging. I may
add, that I knew from experience of the acoustic qualities of
the house, that I should not be audible to those in Nos. 1 or 8.
Absolutely, while I was speaking, the voices we had heard
downstairs became audible again, this time it seemed to me
outside the door of No. 8; they were certainly the same voices,
but seemed to be consciously lowered. (Miss Langton's account
will show that she heard voices and footsteps outside her door
at about this time.) I was asleep before the clock struck two,
but was awakened again about 3.30, and was kept awake for more
than an hour by various sounds in the house. Roughly speaking,
these were of two kinds: one, those of distant clangs and
crashes which we have heard many times in varying intensity,
loudest of all on our first night and on this. The other (more
human in association), knocks at the door, thuds on the lower
panels within, say, two feet of the ground; footsteps, not as
before, but rapid and as of many feet, and again the same
voices. The night was perfectly still, and I could clearly
differentiate the cries of the owl (of two kinds, I think), the
kestrel hawk, and even of the rabbits on the lawn. I went to the
windows and looked out, but the night was quite dark, and the
dawn was grey and misty.
About 5.45 I fell asleep, and did not wake till my tea came up
at 7.30, when I asked the maid if she had been disturbed, and
she replied that the servants had been extra busy the day
before, had gone to bed early, and had slept soundly.
Miss Langton and Mr. T---- attest the above as a correct account
of our experience, so far as they were concerned.
The following is from Miss Langton's private diary:--
"Miss Freer, Mr. T----, and I all agreed that, as it was the
anniversary of the old Major's death, we would sit to-night in
his own sitting-room, which we always call 'the downstairs
smoking-room.' Just before dinner, Miss Freer, who was sitting
between the writing-table and fireplace, suddenly called out,
'What is Spooks running after?' and then she said that there
were _two_ black dogs in the room, and that the other dog was
larger than Spooks she said, 'like a spaniel.'
"After dinner we three sat round the fire and played games;
suddenly one of us called out, 'Listen to those footsteps,' and
then we _distinctly_ heard a heavy man walking round the room,
coming apparently from the direction of the safe, in the wall
adjoining the billiard room, and then walking towards the door,
passing between us and the fireplace in front of which we were
sitting. It was a very curious sensation, for the steps came so
very close, and yet we saw nothing. Footsteps died away, and we
resumed our game. Three times over we distinctly heard outside
the door the voices of a man and woman, apparently in anger, for
their voices were loud and rough. Each time we jumped up at once
and opened the door quietly--there was nothing to be seen; the
passage was in total darkness, all the servants having gone to
bed (the last time was nearly eleven o'clock). We certified this
fact by making an expedition into the kitchen regions. We then
returned to the smoking-room, and not long after the footsteps
again began in exactly the same direction. This time they lasted
a longer time.
"I slept in No. 8, and was so tired I slept pretty well, but
before going to sleep, just before one o'clock, I heard the
sound of a heavy man in slippers come down the corridor and stop
near my door, and then the sound as of a long argument in
subdued voices, a man and a woman."
On April 9th Miss Freer and Miss Langton left B---- in order to pass
Easter elsewhere, and Mr. T---- left with them.
During Miss Freer's absence the house was occupied for some days by
the eminent classical scholar Mr. F.W.H. Myers, late Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and
Hon. Sec. to the S.P.R.
It is well known that the S.P.R. is very greatly indebted to Mr. Myers
for his most valuable services for many years as Hon. Sec., and for
his many important contributions to its literature. He has, however,
of late years somewhat alienated the sympathies of many of its
members, by the extent to which he has introduced into its
_Proceedings_ the reports of spiritualist phenomena, and the
lucubrations of mediums. The original rules of the society would
appear to exclude the employment of hired mediums, and it is difficult
to distinguish Mrs. Piper, and certain other subjects of experiment,
from this class. The differences, however, between Mr. Myers and some
of the members do not stop at this point, for his preference for the
experiences of female mediums, whether hired or gratuitous, would
appear to amount to an indifference to spontaneous phenomena, an
indifference that is distinctly and rapidly progressive.
Mr. Myers, however, appeared to take considerable interest in the
phenomena of B----, and on March 13, 1897, after reading the journal
for the first five weeks, the only part of the evidence which has
been submitted to him, or indeed to any member of the Council of the
S.P.R., he wrote to Miss Freer:--
"It is plain that the B---- case is of _great_ interest. I hope we may
have a discussion of it at S.P.R. general meeting, May 28th, 8.30, and
perhaps July 2nd, 4 P.M., also. Till then, I would suggest, we will
not put forth our experiences to the public, unless you have any other
view....
"I should particularly like to get Mr. ['Q.'] to go again in Easter
week [_i.e._ during the Myers' tenancy]. I saw him last night, and
heard his account, and next to yourself he seems the most sensitive of
the group. I am very glad that you secured him.... I will send back
the two note-books after showing them to the Sidgwicks. I am so very
glad that you and others have been so well repaid for your trouble....
You seem to have worked natural causes well."
On April 12th Mr. Myers arrived at B----, and remained until the 22nd.
He was preceded a day or two earlier by Dr. Oliver Lodge, Professor of
Physics at Victoria College, Liverpool, Mrs. Lodge, and a Mr.
Campbell of Trinity College, Cambridge. The party also included a
"medium," the only person to whom this term could be applied, in the
ordinary sense, who visited B---- during Col. Taylor's tenancy. This
person was a Miss C----, but in order to avoid confusion with other
persons, she is here called Miss "K." Miss "K." is not a professional
medium, in the same sense in which a gentleman rider is not a jockey.
She is the proprietress of a small nursing establishment in London,
and at the time of her visit to B---- was described as in weak health
and partially paralysed. She was accompanied by an attendant who was a
Roman Catholic, a circumstance which is interesting in view of the
strongly sectarian character of the ensuing revelations.
Mr. Myers recorded regularly, and transmitted to Lord Bute, the
account of the phenomena which occurred during his visit, and which
were testified to by four members of his party. He declines, however,
to allow any use to be made of his notes of what occurred during this
episode.
The regret with which his wish is deferred to is the less, because the
chief value of the notes in question seems to be that of a warning
against the methods employed; a fact of which Mr. Myers seems later to
have himself become aware, as in regard to his journal letters to Lord
Bute he wrote on March 15, 1898, _a year later_, "I am afraid that I
must ask that my B---- letters be in no way used. I greatly doubt
whether there was anything supernormal."
However, while actually staying at B----, Mr. Myers wrote to Miss
Freer on April 15th, in much the same terms as on March 11th:--
"What is your idea (I am asking Lord Bute also) _re_ speaking about
B---- at S.P.R? If this is _not_ desirable on May 28th, should you
have second-sight material ready then? If it is desirable, could we
meet sometime, ... and discuss what is to be said? As many witnesses
as possible. Noises have gone on. I am writing bulletins to Lord Bute,
which I dare say he will send on to you.... I am moving into No. 5 to
be nearer to the noise. I have heard nothing. Lodge hears mainly
knocks."
On April 21st he wrote again to Miss Freer:--
"If you come to S.P.R. meeting, we could talk in a quiet corner after
it. I dine with S.P.R. council at seven o'clock, so there would
scarcely be time [_i.e._ to call on you] between, but I would call
at---- at 9.30 Saturday morning, if that were more convenient to you
than going to the meeting."
The interview took place, and July 2nd was finally arranged as the
date upon which the evidence was to be presented at a general meeting
of the S.P.R.
In the meantime, however, the article of the anonymous _Times_
correspondent appeared in that journal on June 8th--an article which
was practically an attack on certain methods of the S.P.R., after
which Mr. Myers published the following letter:--
ON THE TRAIL OF A GHOST.
_To the Editor of "The Times."_
"SIR,--A letter entitled 'On the Trail of a Ghost,' which you
publish to-day, appears to suggest throughout that some statement
has been made on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research with
regard to the house which your correspondent visited. This,
however, is not the case; and as a misleading impression may be
created, I must ask you to allow me space to state that I visited
B----, representing that society, before your correspondent's
visit, and decided that there was no such evidence as could
justify us in giving the results of the inquiry a place in our
_Proceedings_. I had already communicated this judgment to Lord
Bute, to the council of the society, and to Professor Sidgwick,
the editor of our _Proceedings_, and it had been agreed to act
upon it.--I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
"FREDERICK W.H. MYERS,
_Hon. Sec. of the Society for Psychical Research._
"LECKHAMPTON HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE, _June 8_."
One may gather from a comparison of this letter with the foregoing
records that the standard of evidence is a somewhat variable quantity
in the Society for Psychical Research. In attempting to explain the
matter, Mr. Myers wrote to Lord Bute, June 11, 1897:--
"As to haunted houses recorded at length in _Proceedings_, there have
been several minor ones, and one especially, 'Records of a Haunted
House,' where I was instrumental in getting the account written. The
great point there was the amount of coincidence of visions seen
independently.... In the B---- case there is _some_ coincidence of
vision, but so far as I know, not nearly so much as in the Records of
a Haunted House, which did appear in _Proceedings_. We want to keep
our level approximately the same throughout."
Another point of view in relation to the same matter, is that taken by
Miss Freer in an article in the _Nineteenth Century_, August 1897:--
"That the S.P.R. recognised that haunted houses were among the alleged
facts of general interest, was proved by their early appointment of a
Committee of Inquiry, on the management of which it is too late to
reflect. At the end of a few months only, they practically dismissed a
subject which, if considered at all, required years of patient
research. They had come across the surprising number of twenty-eight
cases which they considered worth inquiry; but these were presented to
the public on the evidence of only forty witnesses--that is to say, an
average of less than one and a half to each! The appearance of figures
is recorded in twenty-four of these stories, whilst four record noises
only. Ten years later the _Proceedings_ take up the subject again, and
give us at some length an elaborate story on the evidence of two or
three ladies, two servants, a charwoman, and a little boy. ['Records
of a Haunted House.'] No proper journal was kept, and the Society for
Psychical Research came upon the scene when all was practically over."
In relation to the period of the visit of the Myers party to B----
House, Lord Bute received several journal letters from Professor
Lodge, as well as from Mr. Myers, which, as he has made no request to
the contrary, might be quoted here _in extenso_, were it not that
they relate in considerable part to the proceedings of the medium, as
to which the present editors agree with Mr. Myers, that "they greatly
doubt if there was anything supernormal."
Professor Lodge was from the first much interested in the B----
inquiry, and wrote to Lord Bute on April 14th, two days after arrival:
"I have not found anything here as yet at all suitable for physical
experiments. I have heard a noise or two, and intelligent raps.
Nothing whatever can be normally seen so far."
And on April 17th: "The noises and disturbances have been much quieter
of late, in fact have almost ceased _pro tem_.... We have not heard
the loud bang as yet. Knocks on the wall, a sawing noise, and a
droning and a wailing are all we have heard. The droning and the
wailing, some whistling, and apparent attempts at a whisper, all up in
the attic, may have been due either to the wind or birds. They were
not distinct enough to be evidential, though they were just audible to
all of us. The sawing noise was more distinct. I think I will go to
the attic about 3 A.M. to-night to see if anything more can be heard.
Most of the noises occur then, or else at 6 A.M. Mr. Campbell has
heard a dragging along the floor in his bedroom, No. 3. I have heard,
like many others, the knocking on the wall, but for the last two
nights things have been quiet.
"_April 20th._--There has been nothing here for me to do as a
physicist, and I return home tomorrow, but nevertheless the phenomena,
taken as a whole, have been most interesting.... I know that you are
hearing from Mr. Myers the details of our sittings.... There is
certainly an interregnum of noises, the last three nights having been
undisturbed. [After describing recent séances with Miss 'K----.'] I
write just as if what we have been told were true.[F] The cessation of
the noises may of course be merely a temporary lull as before, and
they may break out again...."
On April 22nd, he wrote to Miss Freer "The sounds are not very strong,
and latterly there has been one of your interregna in the noises, but
still we heard some of them; only knocks, however, except once a low
droning, a sawing noise, and a whistling whisper. Some of the raps
seemed intelligent, but there was nothing to investigate on the
physical side...."
And in another note, undated:--
"There has been nothing capable of being photographed. The sounds are
objective though not impressive.... I have seen nothing to suggest
electricity or magnetism, or any of the ordinary physical agents in
connection with the disturbances; but the noises are so momentary and
infrequent, that they give no real scope for continued examination."
Professor Lodge left on April 21st, and Mr. Myers on April 22nd; but
Miss "K----," with Mr. Campbell, remained alone till the morning of
Monday 26th, and on the afternoon of the same day Lord and Lady Bute
arrived, and stayed till Wednesday 28th. Mr. MacP----, who came with
them, was obliged by previous engagements to leave next morning.
They slept in the wing, and nothing occurred during their visit so far
as they were concerned.
Lord Bute records, however, that he twice read aloud the whole of the
Office for the dead in its five sections (vespers, nocturns, and
lauds) in different places, but neither he nor any one with him saw or
heard anything, unless it were a sound of women talking and laughing
while he was reading the Office about 10.30 P.M. in No. 8, and this he
supposed was simply the maids going to bed, though in fact the room
overhead was unoccupied. He had, however, a most disagreeable
impression, not in the places where he expected it, which were the
glen, No. 3, and No. 8, but in No. 1. The sensation was that of
persons being present, and on the second occasion that of violent
hatred and hostility. He recorded "Went to No. 1 a third time, and
again experienced the sensation of persons being present, but on this
last occasion as though they were only morosely unfriendly."
It is remarkable that this sensation of unseen presences is one which
many other persons experienced in this room, and in this room only;
but it is also remarkable that this was the first indication of the
hostile or irreligious tone which was thenceforth apparent. Until the
sojourn of the party of members of the S.P.R. the tone had been
plaintive and religious.
Mr. MacP----, who is a Presbyterian, made a remark which struck Lord
Bute as interesting, to the effect that the whole of the Office for
the dead, with the frequent occurrence of the words _Requiam eternam_,
&c., might be as irritating to Intelligences which desired to
communicate, as would be the effect of saying merely "keep still," or
"be quiet," to persons who wished to set forth their wrongs. But this
curious hypothesis would be insufficient to account for a sensation of
absolute enmity.
A private letter, written by Lord Bute on April 29th to a
distinguished ecclesiastic, repeats these statements, and adds one or
two additional touches which it is desirable to quote:--
"We returned yesterday after spending forty-eight hours at B----,
where we heard and saw nothing, but as my proceedings were mainly
ecclesiastical, your Grace may like to know what happened.
"On the way I was shown the inclosure in the churchyard wherein lie,
in unmarked graves, the late Major S----, his 'housekeeper,' and his
old Indian servant. I would have gone and prayed there, but the place
seemed to me too public.... B---- is a remarkably beautiful place, and
the day was splendid; were it not for the grandeur of the scenery, I
should have called the landscape laughing, or at least smiling. The
house is remarkably bright and cheerful, and indeed luxurious. There
is a really nice set of family pictures from about the time of Charles
II.... The place is a perfect aviary, and the sight of the innumerable
birds, evidently encouraged by long kindness, building their nests was
very pleasant, and has some psychological interest, since animals
sometimes see these things when we do not, and there was evidently
nothing to scare the birds, rabbits, or squirrels.... As her ladyship
and I did not wish to be troubled at night, we took rooms in the wing,
which the late Mr. S---- is said to have built in order to save his
children from the haunting, and which has been but little troubled;
and we slept there quite comfortably. Soon after 6 P.M. I went to the
place near the burn where apparitions have so often appeared, and
which was, I think, first indicated by Ouija. I read aloud the vespers
for the dead, but no phenomenon appeared, nor had I any sensation.
About 7.30 I went to a room which I will call A [No. 1] ... and read
aloud the first Nocturn of the dirge; there was nothing to be seen or
heard, but I felt some physical inconvenience in beginning, like an
impediment in speech, and I had a very strong sensation that there
were persons listening....[G] Soon after 10 P.M. I went and read aloud
the two next Nocturns in room B [8]. As I finished the second, Mr.
MacP---- and I heard two women speaking merrily outside the door, and
I doubt not they were the maids going to bed. During the night,
although we slept well, my servant [who slept in No. 4, next to Mr.
MacP---- in No. 5], like other people in haunted rooms, could not
sleep after five, and he tells me one of the maids saw the bust of a
woman with short hair, as though sitting at the foot of her bed.
"In the morning I said Lauds in room C [Library]. No phenomena or
sensation. Soon after 5 P.M. said _Placebo_ again in room B [8].
Nothing. Then visited the haunted burn again for some time. Nothing.
About 7.30 read the first two Nocturns again in room D [No. 3].
Nothing. Soon after ten read the third Nocturn in A [1]. Made slips of
pronunciation, and felt the presence of others very strongly, and that
it was hostile or evil, as though they were kept at arm's-length; a
disagreeable sensation continued until I threw some holy water on my
bed before getting into it, when it suddenly disappeared. Next morning
I said Lauds in A [1]. I had no difficulty in utterance; the sense of
other presences was not strong, and I had no feeling of hostility [on
their part], but rather of their having to put up with a slight
nuisance which would soon be over. These subjective feelings are in no
way evidential, nor would I mention them were they not confined to one
place out of five, and occurred whenever I went there, at three most
varying hours.... My servant, the second night, could not sleep
between 4.30 and 6."
* * * * *
Miss Freer returned alone to B---- on April 28th. The Journal is now
resumed.
_April 28th._--I returned to B----, arriving at 7 P.M. Slept in
No. 8. Quiet night.
This morning I inquired of the servants as to what occurred in
my absence. They have very definite views as to the nature and
causes of the phenomena during the visit of Mr. Myers's party
... including much table-tilting at meals, and so on. When
questioned as to any experiences of their own, all answered to
the same effect, that they shouldn't have taken notice of
anything that happened at that time, but that something had
occurred after the last two members of the party had left on the
day of his Lordship's arrival, "and that," said the cook, "was
quite another matter."
The experience was Carter's, the upper housemaid, and she told
it in a manner that it would be difficult to distrust. She was
not anxious to talk about it, and seemed annoyed that it had
been mentioned at all. I wrote down her story verbatim.
"It was about four o'clock, or may be a little later, but it was
just getting light; there is no blind to the skylight in my
room, and I woke up suddenly and I thought some one had come
into the room, and I called out, 'Is that you, Mrs. Robinson?'
and when she didn't answer I called out 'Hannah,' but no one
spoke, and then I looked up, and at the foot of my bed there was
a woman. She was rather old, and dressed in something dark, and
she had a little shawl on, and her hair short. It was hanging,
but it didn't reach nearly to her shoulders. I was awful
frightened, and put my head down again. I couldn't look any
more."
I asked about the height of the woman, wondering if it were like
the figure seen in the drawing-room, and Carter said, "I didn't
notice, only the top part of her." I said, "Do you mean she had
no legs?" and she said, "I didn't take notice of any." She was
genuinely concerned and alarmed.
This is probably the incident thus described by _The Times_
correspondent. "One of the maidservants described a sort of dull
knocking which, according to her, goes on between two and six in the
morning, in the lath and plaster partition by the side of her bed,
which shuts off the angular space just inside the eaves of the house.
She likened it to the noise of gardeners nailing up ivy outside. She
seemed honest, but as she had seen the ghost of half a woman sitting
on her fellow-servant's bed, one takes her evidence with a grain or
two of salt. Any noises she has really heard may be due to the cooling
of the hot-water pipes which pass along behind the partition just
mentioned to the cistern." The hot-water pipe theory has been already
discussed.
Before proceeding, it had better be again mentioned that, owing to the
fact that several of the persons interested in B---- were Roman
Catholics, and the Rev. P---- H---- having been one of the principal
witnesses, as well as having himself appeared phantasmally in the
house, it was considered desirable to obtain the assistance of some
clergy of that communion. Miss Freer accordingly secured the services
of three members of a famous society; one of those was the Rev. P----
H---- himself, one a well-known Oxford man who takes much interest in
such questions, and the third a man of great experience at a place
where miracles are said to be frequent. However, their Superior
refused to allow them to come, and she then applied to a well-known
monastery, but was again refused help. Lastly, she turned to the
secular clergy, and obtained the assistance of two priests and a
bishop. The priests are here designated MacD---- and MacL----. All
three were previously well known to her, and she had especial reason
to consider them not only worthy of her esteem and confidence, but,
moreover, as taking an instructed and intelligent interest in the
subject.
_April 29th, Friday._--Rooms for to-night:--
No. 3. Rev. A. MacD----.
" 4. Rev. A. MacL----.
" 8. Myself.
The priests arrived late in the evening. I put them in No. 3 and
4, though I like to give No. 1 to new-comers. However, I had
promised that to Madame Boisseaux, whom we are expecting from
Paris, with the dressing-room for her maid.
_April 30th._--The priests both look very weary. They were not
frightened, but the sounds have kept them awake all night.
Young S---- called to-day; he is going to help me to get up a
dance for the servants. His mother is away at S----.
_May 1st._--I shall have to move the priests. They persist that
they are not frightened, but they are both looking shockingly
ill and worn, and the Rev. MacD---- is not in a state of health
to take liberties with. The Rev. MacL---- seems in the same
mental state as was Mr. P----. He sees nothing, but is
supernormally sensitive, and without any hint from me, declared
that he felt the drawing-room, wing, and No. 7 to be "innocent."
Poor little "Spooks" is the chief sufferer. She sleeps on my bed
now, but even so, wakes in the night growling and shivering, and
she refuses her food, and is in a dreadfully nervous state.
Perhaps I ought not to keep her in No. 8, where we have so often
heard the patterings of dogs' feet, and where Miss Moore was
once pushed as by a dog, in broad daylight.
_May 2nd._--Nothing occurred. We perhaps all slept the sounder
last night, having been kept up till two o'clock waiting for
Madame Boisseaux, who never turned up. She and the M----s and
Mrs. "F." arrived to-day.
Madame Boisseaux arrived, and was put into No. 1.
Her maid " " 2.
Father MacD---- " " 3.
Father MacL---- " " 4.
Mrs. "F." " " 5.
Mr. and Mrs. M---- " " 6 and 7.
Myself " " 8.
_May 3rd._--The general tone of things is disquieting, and new
in our experience. Hitherto, in our first occupation, the
phenomena affected one as melancholy, depressing, and
perplexing, but now all, quite independently, say the same
thing, that the influence is evil and horrible--even poor little
Spooks, who was never terrified before, as she has been since
our return here. The worn faces at breakfast were really a
dismal sight.
In spite of her long journey, Madame Boisseaux could not sleep.
She was so tired, she dropped to sleep at once on going to bed,
but was awoke by the sound of a droning voice as if from No. 3,
and, at intervals, more distant voices in high argument. She
said she dared not go to sleep; she felt as if some
evil-disposed persons were in the room, and it would not be safe
to lose consciousness. But she saw nothing. She looks so ill
that her maid, a very faithful old servant, has been to beg me,
"_pour l'amour de Dieu_," to give Madame another room. So
to-night I will put her in No. 5.
Mrs. "F." who was in No. 5, was disturbed by knocks at her door
(_cf._ Mrs. W----'s experience in the same room), and to-night
is to sleep in my room, No. 8, which last night was also
somewhat noisy, but she will not be alone. The Rev. MacD----
looks so ill from two nights' sleeplessness that the priests are
to go into the wing to-night. They were unwilling to move, and
made no complaints, and now do not say they have seen anything,
merely that the evil influence about them was painful and
disturbing.
Mrs. M----, who, it will be remembered, was much disturbed
during her last visit, begged that she might be quiet, and we
gave her No. 7. She is the only person who has had a really good
night, except Mr. M----, who had a fancy to sleep in the
smoking-room, in the hope of a visit from the Major, but nothing
happened. As he had been mountaineering all day, he probably
would have slept well under any conditions.
_May 4th._--I am thankful to say the priests slept well in the
wing. Madame Boisseaux, in No. 5, was disturbed by knocks at her
door, but as she wisely remarked, they had the advantage of
being outside. Mr. M---- had moved into No. 1, and slept fairly
well, but said he felt as before, "not alone," but as he _had_
felt that before, expectation may count for something.
Mrs. "F" slept with me; I was awoke early by my dog crying, and
I saw two black paws resting on the table beside the bed. It
gave me a sickening sensation, and I longed to wake Mrs. "F" to
see if she would see them, but I remembered her bad night of
yesterday, and left her in peace.
The priests spend much time in devotions, and are very decided
in their views as to the malignity of the influence. The bishop
comes to-day, and we hope he will have Mass said in the house.
We shall then have ten Roman Catholics in the household--two
visitors, three clergy, two visitors' maids, and three of our
own servants. That should have an effect upon the Major! Miss
Moore and Scamp arrived.
_May 5th._--The bishop is in No. 1. He arrived to lunch to-day.
Last night all was quiet after bedtime, but sitting in the
drawing-room about five o'clock, having just come in from a
drive, five of us heard the detonating noise, as it were in the
empty room overhead. Madame B----, Mrs. "F," Mrs. M----, the
Rev. MacL----, and myself. Mrs. "F" left this morning.
The priests went with me to the copse. They saw nothing, but
were in too anxious a state to be receptive. I saw Ishbel for
one moment. She looked _agonised_, as never before.
Mr. B. S---- dined with us, and the servants, indoor and out,
danced in the hall in the evening. We had pipers, and some
supper for them in the billiard-room. The gardener and the
butler and cook say there was a great crash in the room just
when the parish minister was saying grace, and that many of the
people from outside noticed it, and "they just looked at each
other." I was myself in the room, but as we had just had a very
physical and commonplace disturbance--the arrival of an
uninvited and intoxicated guest, of which the other people did
not know as I did--I was preoccupied at the moment.
Mass this morning in the drawing-room.
_May 6th._--Madame Boisseaux has had to go suddenly; there has
been terrible news for her of this Paris fire. She came into my
room very early with her telegram (arrived too late for delivery
last night). I did not like to worry her with questions,
overwhelmed as she was, but she said her room "resounded with
knocks."
There was Mass said in the ground-floor sitting-room this
morning, and as I knelt facing the window I saw Ishbel with the
grey woman, nearer the house than ever before. She looked
pensive, but, as compared with last time, much relieved.
This is the last time the figures were seen. The following details are
quoted from a letter written by Miss Freer to Lord Bute on this day:
"Mass was said this morning in the downstairs room, the altar arranged
in front of the window, so that, as we knelt, we faced the garden.
Poor Madame Boisseaux was dressed for travelling, and in much
agitation. As the carriage which was to take her to the station was
expected at any moment, I suggested that she and I should remain
upstairs, but she said she should like to be there, if only for a few
minutes, the more that the 'intention' was to be partly for those who
had suffered in the fire, and for their sorrowing friends. She and I,
therefore, knelt close to the door, keeping it slightly ajar, so as to
be able to obey a summons at any moment.
"Suddenly she touched my arm, and directed my attention to the window.
There I saw a figure standing outside, which--so slow-sighted am I--I
took for the moment for Madame's maid, and thought she had come to
call our attention through the window--a long 'French' one, opening
out on to the lawn--as less likely to disturb the service. I was
starting up when I perceived that the figure was 'Ishbel'--the black
gown, like that worn by the maid, had misled me for the moment.
'Marget' seemed to hover in the background, but she was much less
distinct than the other. A minute later we were called away.
"The room had been selected by the priests themselves, but it is the
one I should myself, for obvious reasons, have chosen for the
purpose."
When the bustle of Madame's hasty departure was over, and we had
breakfasted, the bishop blessed the house from top to bottom,
and especially visited rooms Nos. 1, 3, and 8, and also the
library. He sprinkled the rooms with holy water, and especially
the doorway leading to the drawing-room, where noises have so
often been heard. He and the priests had hardly gone when there
was a loud bang upon a little table that stands there. It is an
old work-table, a box on tall, slender legs, and the sound could
easily be imitated by lifting the lid and letting it fall
smartly, but I saw no movement--not that I was watching it at
the moment. The bishop and priests returned, and the ceremony
was repeated, after which the bang again occurred, but much more
faintly.
The three clergy left this afternoon. Miss Moore and I are now
alone.
This bang was the last phenomenon of an abnormal kind during this
tenancy. Miss Moore and Miss Freer stayed in the house another week
without anything further occurring either to themselves, their guests,
or the servants.
During that time, they received six more guests: Miss C----, Miss
"Etienne," with her brother, a lawyer, and three other visitors, with
whom Miss Freer had no previous acquaintance, but who received an
invitation under the following special conditions, not being, as were
other guests, personal friends, or, in one or two instances,
accompanying personal friends by whom they were introduced, and at
whose request they were invited.
Sir William Huggins had some time before written to Lord Bute to beg
him to obtain admission to the house for Sir James Crichton Browne,
who is, of course, well known as a physician of great eminence, and in
especial as an expert in psychology, and whom Sir William stated to be
deeply interested in phenomena such as those observed at B----.
Lord Bute accordingly wrote to Miss Freer, who wrote to Sir James. He
did not immediately reply, which surprised her, after so earnest a
request, and because admission to the house for the purpose of such
observations was a mark of confidence, which as a hostess she was very
chary of giving, and which would never have been extended to him,
notwithstanding his scientific eminence, had it not been for the
intercession of Sir William Huggins and Lord Bute, through whom he had
sought it.
He wrote to her after some time, apologising for the delay on the
score of illness, begging to know if it were still possible for him
to be admitted, and whether he might bring with him a scientific
friend. Miss Freer consented, and he then wrote announcing his arrival
and that of a nephew, a student at Oxford, interested in science. He
then asked, by telegram, whether a third guest could be admitted, to
which she also consented, and his two friends, one of whom is believed
to have been the anonymous _Times_ correspondent, accordingly came,
four days after the phenomena had, as has been stated, apparently
ceased. The way in which this hospitality was repaid is a matter of
common knowledge. Their hostess knew of no intention to make copy of
their visit, with full names, geographical indications, and repetition
of private conversations, until the publication of the _Times'_
article of June 8th. They remained from Saturday evening till Monday
morning, and, like others, saw and heard nothing; and much time was
spent in repeating the already often repeated experiments as to
possible sources of the sights and sounds observed at B----. Their
observations appeared to be able to penetrate no further than the mark
of the shoe which Miss Freer pointed out on the door in the wing,
made subsequently to the flight of the H---- family, a passage under
the roof, with which the household had long been as familiar as with
the hall-door, and the suggestion that a certain stream might run
under the house, the which stream runs nowhere near the house at all,
as Miss Freer was already well aware, a fact which she demonstrated
for their benefit on a map of the estate.
This is perhaps a suitable point at which to add a letter from the
head-gardener who has been referred to more than once, more especially
as an important witness to the phenomena of the H----s' tenancy.
He writes to Miss Freer in reference to a statement by _The Times_
correspondent:--
"_July 8th, '97._-- ... I might also mention to you, while writing,
that 'the intelligent gardener' that was made mention of in _The
Times_ was a journeyman, and not myself, as many have supposed. I
thought it proper to tell you, madam, because I told you and several
others that I was in the house and had heard something."
_The Times_ correspondent's statement is as follows:--
"An intelligent gardener whom I questioned told me that he had kept
watch in the house on two separate occasions, abstaining from sleep
until daylight appeared at seven o'clock, but without hearing a
sound."
The under gardener's experience of two nights is as exhaustive of the
subject as that of _The Times_ correspondent and his friends, who also
remained two nights, but do not allege that they "abstained from
sleep."
Mr. "Etienne" was the last guest at B----, and arrived the evening
before the house was vacated. He afterwards told Lord Bute that he had
brought, without the knowledge of any one in the house, two seismic
instruments, but that they recorded nothing, and that during the night
he heard a sound as of a gun being fired outside the house. This he
attributed to some poacher unknown, an explanation which seems hardly
probable, as at this time of year there is nothing to shoot except
rabbits. One never hears of a poacher shooting rabbits, and in any
case, he would hardly do so in the immediate neighbourhood of an
inhabited house, and discharging his gun once only.
Mr. "Etienne's" experiments are the more interesting because that
among many suggestions made by Sir J. Crichton Browne, the only one
which had not been already considered, was the use of seismic
instruments. This--the house being within the seismic area--seemed so
reasonable, that Miss Freer at once entered into correspondence with
the well-known Professor Milne, with a view to experiment in this
direction. The following is from his reply:--
"_May 15th, 1897._--I was much interested in your note of the 13th,
and fancy that the sounds with which you have to deal may be of
seismic origin. Such sounds I have often heard, and the air waves, if
not the earth waves, can be mechanically recorded. What you require to
make the records is a seismograph with large but exceeding light
indices, or a Perry tromometer.... The reason I think that the sounds
are seismic is, first, on account of their character, and secondly,
because you are in one of the most unstable parts of Great Britain,
where between 1852 and 1890, 465 shocks (many with sounds) were
recorded. Lady Moncrieff, when living at Comrie House in 1844, often
heard rumblings and moanings, and such sounds, possibly akin to the
'barisal guns'[H] of Eastern England, often occur without a shake. The
mechanism of this production may be due to slight movements on a fault
face, and they may be heard, especially in rocky districts, in very
many countries...."
Miss Freer's reply was an urgent request that machinery and an
operator might be at once sent up to B----. Professor Milne replied
that delicate instruments, such as he himself employed, could only be
used by one other person, but suggested that she should hire from a
well-known London firm what are known as "Ewing's-type" seismometers,
adding, "I doubt whether these will record anything but movements to
which you are sensible."
Miss Freer's designs, however, were frustrated, for on applying for an
extension of tenancy for this purpose, Captain S----, the proprietor,
peremptorily forbade the continuance of scientific observation--a
remarkable parallel to his father's refusal to permit the use of the
phonograph when suggested by Sir William Huggins.
In relation to his experiments at B---- Mr. "Etienne" writes:--
"Lord Bute has asked me to describe a seismographic instrument which I
used during my short visit to B----. The instrument consisted of a
light wooden frame or platform which rested on three billiard-balls.
The balls in their turn rested on a horizontal plate of plate-glass.
Through two wire rings in the centre of the platform already mentioned
a needle stood perpendicularly, resting on its point on the plate of
glass. The centre of the plate of glass (and the area round it and
within in the triangle describable with the balls at its angles) was
smoked. You will see that the parts of such an instrument are held
together by gravitation, and a very little friction, and that a tremor
communicated to the plate will not simultaneously affect the platform.
The needle-point describes on the smoked surface which it moves across
the converse of any movement of the plate which is not simultaneously
a movement of the platform, and the error between this and the
description of the tremor drawn by an absolutely fixed point--say the
earth itself--has been calculated on a replica of this instrument as
equal to the error of a pendulum thirty feet long."
It will be noticed that the phenomena began, so far as Miss Freer was
concerned, upon the night of her arrival in the house, February 3rd,
and ceased (if we except the sound heard by Mr. Etienne), after the
service performed by the Bishop on the morning of May 6th. This period
comprises ninety-two days, but from these must be subtracted the
seventeen days between Miss Freer's leaving B---- on the morning of
April 9th, and that of the departure of Mr. Myers's medium, Miss "K.,"
on the morning of April 26th.
Of the remaining seventy-five days, Miss Freer was absent from the
house for four days, from March 16th to March 20th, and for two nights
after Miss "K.'s" leaving; during this latter interval, however, Lord
Bute was himself on the spot. On the other hand, she remained in the
house for eight days after the service performed by the Bishop, during
which time no phenomena occurred.
Of the sixty-nine days of which a record is kept in the journal, viz.,
from February 3rd to May 14th, exclusive of twenty-three days for the
reasons already indicated, daytime phenomena occurred upon eighteen
days, and night phenomena upon thirty-five nights.
To these must be added the night of April 27th, the occasion of the
vision seen by Carter the housemaid during Lord Bute's visit.
Thirty-four nights, or almost exactly half the period, were entirely
without record of any phenomena whatever. This is without counting the
seven nights of the last week, during which there were observers for
longer or shorter periods in the house, none of whom recorded any
sight or sound of a supernormal kind, unless it were the percussive or
detonating noise heard by Mr. "Etienne."
The term "night" is here understood to cover the period between the
hour of going to rest at night, to that of leaving one's room next
morning, even if the phenomena occurred in the daylight hours of the
early morning. The term "day" is used to cover the hours of active,
waking life, from breakfast to bedtime.
To sum up the character of the phenomena, it may be well to begin with
those that are _visual_.
1. The phantasm of the Rev. P. H----. This was seen once only, and by
Miss Langton, on the night of February 17th. Of the identity no doubt
can be felt, since Miss Moore and Miss Freer afterwards recognised the
accuracy of the description on meeting the Rev. P. H---- for the first
time, in a crowded railway station on May 25th. This is the only one
of the apparitions which is undoubtedly that of a living person, and
like many such apparitions, it occurred at an hour when it is probable
that he was asleep. B---- is a place to which Father H----'s thoughts
were naturally and disagreeably drawn, and to which his attention had
been called anew. On awaking, he would probably have no recollection
of the circumstances, or at the utmost would have an impression of
having dreamt that he was there.
2. The woman once seen by Miss Freer in the drawing-room. She was
older than Sarah N----, who died at the age of twenty-seven, but of
whose haunting of B---- there is some tradition, but assisted by the
parish register of marriages and births it is not difficult to form a
guess at the identity of the phantasm. As there is some uncertainty as
to whether the person in question is still living, though it is
probable that she is dead, the vision is mentioned here before those
as to which there is no reason to doubt that they represent the dead.
There is reason to believe that the same apparition has been seen by
former occupants of the house, and it is alleged to be that of a
member of the S---- family.
3. The phantasm seen by Carter the housemaid, on the night of April
27th, who was described as "rather old," may possibly have been
identical with the above.
4. The nun to whom was given the name of "Ishbel." This subject has
been already discussed, and the suggestion thrown out that the
phantasm was an erroneous mental picture of the late Rev. Mother
Frances Helen, evolved from the imagination of a half-educated person
who had never seen the lady in question, and knew little about her.
This figure was seen many times by Miss Freer and Miss Langton, twice
by the Rev. Mr. "Q.," and probably by Madame Boisseaux, who unhappily
died suddenly before the editors had an opportunity of asking her for
exact information. There were also earlier witnesses. She was never
seen elsewhere than in the glen, except once by Miss Langton, and on
the one occasion when a Bishop was saying Mass in the house, and Miss
Freer saw her outside the window just after the elevation of the
chalice. It was stated, however, by two separate witnesses, that a
figure, probably the same, had been seen inside the house on at least
one occasion, when, some years before Colonel Taylor's tenancy, Mrs.
S---- was keeping her room, and a maid who was bringing up a tray met
the figure on the stairs, and experienced such a start that she
dropped the tray.
5. The lay-woman dressed in grey to whom was given the name of
"Marget," and who was sometimes seen in the company of "Ishbel,"
usually as though upbraiding or reproving her. She was seen by Miss
Freer and Miss Langton, and her voice in conversation with "Ishbel"
was heard not only by them, but by Mr. C---- and Miss Moore, Mr. "Q."
and Miss "Duff" (_cf._ Mrs. G.'s evidence, p. 68).
6. The appearance of the wooden crucifix seen in No. 3. It was about
eighteen inches long, and the figure was of the same wood as the
cross. Its earliest appearance is to the Rev. P. H----. It afterwards
appeared to the Rev. Mr. "Q.," and lastly to Miss Freer, none of the
witnesses knowing anything in detail of the experience of the others.
It was also seen in the crystal by Miss Langton--possibly by thought
transference from others.
When the Rev. P. H---- saw it he was always drowsy, but when it
appeared to Mr. "Q." its appearance was immediately preceded by a
sensation of acute chill on his part, and its appearance to Miss Freer
by a similar sensation on the part of "Endell." It is perhaps worth
while to remark, that we are told that among spiritualists the
sensation of cold is supposed to be an unfavourable indication as to
the character of the spirits who are present, and that in the cases of
both Mr. "Q." and Mr. "Endell" the appearance of the crucifix seemed
to put an end to the chill.
7. The dogs. These were much more often heard than seen, the sounds
being those of their pattering footsteps, sometimes as of their
bounding about in play, and sometimes of their throwing themselves
against the lower part of doors. It seemed, however, that they were
visible to Miss Freer's living dog at times when they were not visible
to her, and indeed the abject terror which the Pomeranian displayed in
No. 8 was so distressing, that she changed her room from No. 8 to No.
5 in consequence.
A dog was, moreover, seen by Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the
smoking-room on April 8th; Miss Freer and Miss Moore have described
more than one occasion when they felt themselves pushed as by a dog;
and on the night of May 4th, Miss Freer saw the two forepaws only, of
another and larger black dog resting on the edge of a table in No. 8.
Other apparitions seen in the house by former occupants were described
to members of Colonel Taylor's party as well as to earlier tenants,
but here, as elsewhere, we have refrained from all quotation from the
relatives of the present proprietor.
It is interesting to remark that one apparition which was constantly
expected during Colonel Taylor's tenancy was expected in vain. This
was that of the little old gentleman with stooping form and limping
gait mentioned by earlier witnesses. His peculiar step was heard very
frequently, and by a great number and variety of witnesses, alone and
collectively; and his appearance, naturally enough, was constantly
looked for, but it never occurred.
In the same way there was one expected sound which never occurred,
though frequent in the experience of earlier witnesses--that of the
rustling of a silk dress, suggesting to the mind of the hearer the
idea of some one who, either in fact or in thought, had worn such a
garment.
_Tactile._ The most important of these were the experiences of Miss
"N." on the night of March 3rd, and of Miss "Duff" on the night of
March 22nd, both in No. 3; and of a maid, Lizzie, on the night of
March 23rd, in the room above No. 3, on the attic storey, who all
testified to the sensation of the moving of the bed, or the handling
of the bed-clothes. These were the only occasions during Colonel
Taylor's tenancy, but the phenomenon is one often testified to by
earlier witnesses, both during the H----s' tenancy and that of the
family of the late Mr. S----.
It presents a peculiar difficulty in the way of the theory that all
the phenomena at B---- were subjective hallucinations, and this is
especially the case with regard to the evidence of a witness who has
not been brought forward in the preceding pages, but whose account of
a similar experience is reported by two first-hand witnesses. On one
occasion he had the whole of the upper bed-clothes lifted from off him
and thrown upon the floor, while a pile of wearing apparel, which was
laid on a chair beside the bed, was thrown in his face.
It is of course conceivable that the whole of these experiences,
including the last, were the result of an hallucination; but on the
other hand, it would be very unwise, in the present state of our
ignorance on the subject, to dogmatise as to the possible action of
unseen forces upon what is commonly called matter. It is interesting
to note that this senseless and childish trick coincides with what was
said by Miss A---- as to the presence of mischievous elementals, and
also what she says as to _apports_.[I]
1. The sensation of the movement of the bed itself, whether as being
rocked, as in the experience of Miss "Duff" on March 22nd, and of Miss
Langton on several occasions, and by guests of the H---- family, or of
being lifted up, as in that of the maid Lizzie, is a phenomenon by no
means uncommon, and if objective is of the nature of levitation; but
we have unfortunately no evidence from a second person observing the
phenomenon from outside. Whether it were actually moved it is
impossible to say, but the sensation seems to have been more than
subjective.
2. The sensation of struggling with something unseen, described by
Miss "Duff," March 22nd, and of the sensation of an incumbent weight,
as described by Miss "Duff" (same date) and Miss "N." on March 2nd.
This coincides with the arrest of his hand experienced by Harold
Sanders. These phenomena adapt themselves to the theory of
subjectivity more easily than the foregoing, because they more closely
resemble those of nightmare (familiar to most persons), although they
occurred while the witnesses were awake.
3. The sensation of being pushed by a dog was experienced in two
different rooms by Miss Freer and Miss Moore respectively. If Mr.
"Endell" were touched by Ishbel on the evening of March 1st, as
appeared to Miss Freer to be the case, he had no independent
consciousness of the fact that might not have been referred to
expectation, so that this cannot be regarded as evidential.
For lack of other classification, we mention under this heading of
"tactile" the sensation of chill experienced by Mr. "Endell" and Mr.
Q---- in No. 3, and which appears to be the same as that described by
Harold Sanders as the sensation of "entering an ice-house."
The _audile_ phenomena were so frequent and so various, that a
conspectus of them is given in an appendix. Some of them appeared to
be human in origin, such as voices, reading or speaking, footsteps,
and, according to earlier witnesses, screams and moans. Others might
have been caused by dogs, such as pattering footsteps, jumping and
pouncing as in play, the wagging of a dog's tail against the door, and
the sound as of a dog throwing itself against the lower panels. Other
sounds have been differentiated, as the _detonating_ or explosive
noise; the _clang_ sound, as of the striking of metal upon wood; the
_thud_ or heavy fall without resonance; and the _crash_, which was
never better described than as if one of the beasts' heads on the
staircase wall had fallen into the hall below. It very often, or
almost always, seemed to occur under the glass dome which lighted the
body of the house, and the falling object seemed to strike others in
its descent, so that it was not ineffectively imitated by rolling a
bowl along the stone floor of the hall, and allowing it to strike
against the doors or pillars, when the peculiar echoing quality was
fairly reproduced by the hollow domed roof and surrounding galleries.
The editors offer no conclusions. This volume has been put together,
as the house at B---- was taken, not for the establishment of
theories, but for the record of facts.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] They consisted of a small part of the evidence already quoted.
[D] We have since ascertained by experiment that no sound short of
beating with a hammer on the wall itself is audible between the two
rooms; also, that the upsetting of a metal candlestick on the bare
boards in the nearer servants' room (over No. 1) cannot be heard in
No. 8.
[E] _Cf._ Mrs. Robinson's account _ante_.
[F] These remarkable disclosures included, among other details, the
murder of a Roman Catholic family chaplain, at a period when the S----s
were and had long been Presbyterian, the suicide of one of the
family who is still living, and the throwing, by persons in mediæval
costume, of the corpse of an infant, over a bridge, which is quite
new, into a stream which until lately ran underground.
Professor Lodge had not had the same opportunity of acquiring a
critical standpoint as to such statements, as those whose knowledge of
the place was more intimate.
[G] The words, in uttering which Lord Bute was thus affected, were,
"Regem cui omnia vivunt venite adoremus," an invitation in which he
meant to include all intelligent beings.
Miss Freer, Miss Langton, and a third guest, chatting one night about
10.30 in this room, were startled by one of the familiar crashes
outside. Miss Freer treated the matter lightly, fearing lest the lady
in question, by no means a nervous person, however, should be alarmed;
and receiving no reply turned to look at her, and observed that her
lower jaw was convulsed, and that she was painfully struggling to
recover speech.
[H] See Appendix II.
[I] See Appendix I.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX I
A lady, known to readers of _Proceedings S.P.R._ as Miss A----, who is
an habitual automatic writer, but whose social position removes her
from the temptations and tendencies of the ordinary so-called medium,
was good enough on March 10, 1897, to contribute the following
automatic script in reply to a request from Lord Bute:--
"I do not much care for the influence of this house; it is most
decidedly haunted, but not by any particularly good spirits, the
haunting being carried on by mischievous elementals, and as far as I
can make out there is some one who lives there through all the
changes, who supplies a great deal of force, and who is not aware of
the power. I think that a great deal more is added to what really
takes place, as the hauntings appear to me to consist of disturbing
noises, with now and then a case of apport, for the elementary forces
are not sufficient to produce forms unless a great deal of outside
force is given.
"The forms that would appear would always be different, as each
mediumistic person would supply his own surroundings. The only one I
am not sure about is the shadowy figure of an old man whom I have
twice seen in rather a dark passage, and from his surrounding light I
should say he may often be there.
"I think the noises would stop of themselves, at least the more
disturbing part, if a less attentive attitude were taken towards
them."
These statements present certain interesting points as coming from one
who had never seen the house, and knew nothing of its phenomena. "The
shadowy figure of an old man in a dark passage" seems to point to the
figure, possibly, of the Major, seen by earlier witnesses in the dark
lobby--the only dark corner in the house--outside the door of the
downstairs smoking-room, and whose voice was heard there by Miss
Freer, Miss Langton, and Mr. T---- during the tenancy of Colonel
Taylor.
An occasion upon which the phenomena might be described as those of
"mischievous elementals," and also of _apports_, is referred to in the
summing up of tactile phenomena, though it did not occur during the
tenancy of Colonel Taylor.
On the other hand, the phenomena were often more active when least
looked for, and some of those most expected never occurred. As there
was not even a servant, nor even a dumb animal, common to the
occupation of the S---- family and the tenancy of the H----s or
Colonel Taylor, we are at a loss to know who the person can be who
lives at B---- through all the changes, and supplies force during the
past twenty years.
APPENDIX II
BARISAL GUNS. (_See page 221._)
Readers not acquainted with this phenomenon may be referred to an
interesting correspondence in the pages of _Nature_ (Oct. 1895, and
_Seq._), opened by Professor G.H. Darwin--
"In the delta of the Ganges," he says, "dull sounds, more or less
resembling distant artillery, are often heard. These are called
Barisal guns, but I do not know the meaning of the term."
The same sounds have been recorded by M. Rutot of the Geological
Survey along the Belgian coast, and are alleged to be pretty common in
the North of France. M. van der Broeck, Conservator of the Museum of
Natural History of Belgium, says--
"I have constantly noticed these sounds in the plain of Limburg since
1880;--more than ten of my personal acquaintances have observed the
fact. The detonations are dull and distant, and are repeated a dozen
times or more at irregular intervals. They are usually heard in the
daytime, when the sky is clear, and especially towards evening after a
very hot day. The noise does not at all resemble artillery, blasting
in mines, or the growling of distant thunder."
M. van der Broeck elsewhere refers to "similar noises heard on
Dartmoor, and in some parts of Scotland." Readers of Blackmore's story
of "Lorna Doone" will remember, among other valuable observations of
out-door life, his accounts of "the hollow moaning sound" during the
intense cold of the winter, of which he gives so graphic an account.
It was "ever present in the air, morning, noon, and night time, and
especially at night, whether any wind was stirring or whether it were
a perfect calm" (Chap. xlvi.).
Another correspondent in _Nature_ refers to remarkable noises among
the hills of Cheshire: "When the wind is easterly, and nearly calm on
the flats, a hollow moaning sound is heard, popularly termed the
Soughing of the Wind, which Sir Walter Scott, in his glossary to 'Guy
Mannering,' interprets as a hollow blast or whisper."
Another writer quotes experiences in East Anglia, tending to show that
such sounds may be reports arising from the process of "faulting"
going on, on a small scale, at a great depth, and not of sufficient
intensity to produce a perceptible vibration at the earth's surface.
It would seem that in districts such as Comrie in Perthshire, East
Hadden in Connecticut, Pignerol in Piedmont, Meleda in the Adriatic,
&c., sounds without shocks are common during intervals, which may last
for several years. Remarkable sounds, not apparently accounted for,
are reported to proceed from Lough Neagh in Ireland.
See _Nature_, Oct. 1895, and following numbers; articles by M. van der
Broeck in _Ciel et Terre_ (Belgium), Dec. 1, 1895, and following
numbers, also _Geol. Mag._, vol. ix. 1892, pp. 208-18.
CONSPECTUS OF AUDILE PHENOMENA AT B---- HOUSE RECORDED IN JOURNAL
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Recorded |Heard in Room.| Witness. | Description of Sound. |
under | | | |
Date. | | | |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Feb. 4 | No. I. |{ Miss Freer |{ Loud clanging sound, as of |
| |{ Miss Moore |{ metal struck with wood |
| | |{ Voices in conversation |
| | | |
| No. III. | "Mac," the maid |{ Voices, footsteps, things |
| | |{ dragged about |
| | | |
" 5 | Attics | Two housemaids | Continuous reading |
| | | |
" 7 | No. VII. | Miss Moore |{ Reverberating bang close to |
| | |{ bed |
| | | |
|Drawing-room | Mac | Noises and footsteps |
| | | |
| Hall | Miss Moore | Clanging sound upstairs |
| | | |
" 8 | "Butler's | | |
| room" | Mac | Footsteps and sounds on door |
| | | |
| No. VII. | Miss Moore | Reverberating bang |
| | Miss Moore }| Noises percussive |
| | Miss Freer }| or explosive |
| | | |
| The Glen |{ Miss Freer }| |
| |{ Mr. C---- }| Voices in conversation |
| | | |
" 9 | No. VII. |{ Miss Moore }| Noises percussive |
| |{ Miss Freer }| or explosive |
| | | |
" 10 | No. I. | Miss Moore |{ Clangs. Voices in |
| | |{ conversation |
| | | |
| No. V. | Mr. W---- | Knockings. |
| | | |
| No. VIII. | Colonel Taylor | Footsteps overhead |
| | | |
" 13 | No. I. | Miss Moore | Clanging noise |
| | Miss Moore }| |
| | Miss Freer }| Crash |
| | | |
| No. V. | Mrs. W---- | Knockings |
| | | |
" 15 | No. IV. | Miss Langton | A loud crash |
| | | |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
" 16 | The Glen |{ Miss Freer }| |
| |{ Miss Moore }| Voices in conversation |
| | | |
| |{ Mrs. W---- }| |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
" 17 | Drawing-room |{ Miss Moore }| Footsteps overhead in disused |
| |{ Miss Freer }| room |
| | | |
| |{ Col. Taylor }| |
| Drawing-room |{ Mrs. W---- }| Clanging noise, four times |
| |{ Miss Langton }| repeated |
| |{ Miss Moore }| |
| |{ Miss Freer }| |
| | | |
" 18 | No. VIII. | Miss Freer | Banging sounds |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Recorded |Heard in Room.| Witness. | Description of Sound. |
under | | | |
Date. | | | |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
| | |{ Sounds as of an animal's |
Feb. 18 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Moore |{ movements in the room in |
| |{ Miss Freer |{ daylight |
| | | |
| The Glen |{ Miss Langton }| Voices in conversation |
| |{ Miss Freer }| |
| | | |
| The Glen |{ Miss Langton }| Voices in conversation |
| |{ (later) }| |
| | | |
" 19 | The Glen | Miss Langton |{ Voices in conversation and |
| | |{ footsteps |
| | | |
" 20 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Moore }| Sounds of active movement of |
| |{ Miss Freer }| an animal in the room |
| | | |
" 21 | No. VIII. | Miss Moore |{ Footsteps of an old man |
| | | shuffling in slippers |
| | | |
| | Miss Moore }| |
| | Miss Freer }| Movements of animal |
| | Dog }| |
| | | |
| | Miss Moore }| |
| | Miss Freer }| Bang on wall near No VII. |
| | | |
" 25 | Wing | Mr. "Endell" |{ Clang noise "like a pavior's |
| | |{ hammer dropped" |
| | | |
| No. I. | Mr. Garford |{ Violent banging on door of |
| | | Nos. I. and II. |
| | | |
| | |{ Groans; "a greatly magnified |
| No. III. | Mr. "Q." |{ edition of sounds I have |
| | |{ several times heard in the |
| | |{ drawing-room" |
| | | |
| | |{ Detonating or percussive |
" 26 | No. I. | Mr. Garford |{ noise like "a wheel-barrow |
| | |{ on a hard road" |
| | | |
March 1 | No. IV. | Mr. MacP---- |{ Loud clanging sound in the |
| | | room |
| | | |
" 2 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Freer }|{ Movements of animal in the |
| |{ Miss Moore }|{ room |
| | | |
| | Miss Freer }| Heavy fall |
| | Miss Moore }| |
| | | |
| No. III. | Miss "N." | Thud, sounding from below |
| | | |
" 5 | No. VIII. | Miss Moore |{ Movements of animal in the |
| | |{ room |
| | | |
| Attics | Two maids | Monotonous reading |
| | | |
| | |{ Monotonous reading (also |
| No. I. | Mrs. B.C. |{ mentioned by Mr. Garford as |
| | |{ occurring in No. I.) |
| | | |
| | Mrs. B.C. | Bang on door of room |
| | | |
| Attics |{ Mrs. Robinson |{ Voices in conversation |
| |{ (cook) |{ Bangs on the wall of room |
| | | |
" 7 | Attics | Robinson |{ Heavy body falling in the |
| | (butler) | room |
| | | |
| | |{ Movements of heavy body in |
| | |{ the room |
| No. II. | Mr. C---- |{ Footsteps as if descending |
| | |{ stairs |
| | |{ Loud rapping on doors of |
| | |{ Nos. I. and II. |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Recorded |Heard in Room.| Witness. | Description of Sound. |
under | | | |
Date. | | | |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
March 8 | No. II. | Mr. C---- | Noises in No. I. (empty room) |
| | | |
" 10 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Moore | Animal moving in the room |
| |{ Miss Freer | Heavy fall |
| | | |
" 13 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Moore }| Loud bangs |
| |{ Miss Freer }| |
| | | |
| |{ Robinson, }| |
| Attics |{ and Mrs. }| Loud bangs |
| |{ Robinson }| |
| | | |
| No. IV. | Miss Langton | Loud bangs |
| | | |
" 15 | No. VIII. |{ Miss Moore }| Vibrating bang |
| |{ Miss Freer }| |
| | | |
| No. IV. | Miss Langton | Vibrating bang |
| | | |
| Wing | Colonel Taylor | Vibrating bang |
| | | |
[Miss Freer was absent for four nights, and no Journal was kept.] |
| | | |
| |{ Miss Moore |{ Metallic sound in room "like |
" 20 | No. I. |{ Miss Freer | the 'giving' of a large |
| |{ Miss Langton | tin box" |
| | | |
" 22 | No. IV. | Mr. MacP---- | Heavy footsteps overhead |
| | | |
| No. III. | Miss "Duff" |{ Resounding crash at door |
| | |{ Resounding crash in room |
| | | |
| | |{ Monotonous reading (also |
" 23 | Drawing-room | Miss "Duff" |{ mentioned as occurring in |
| | |{ No. III.) |
| | | |
" 24 | No. V. | Miss Freer |{ Crash of something falling |
| | |{ under dome |
| | | |
| No. VIII. | Colonel C---- | Loud thump on door of room |
| | | |
| | |{ Explosive noises |
| No. I. | Mr. W---- |{ Crash of something falling |
| | |{ under dome |
| | | |
| |{ Two housemaids}| |
| Attics |{ and }| Loud knockings |
| |{ kitchen-maid }| |
| | | |
| Butler's room|} Mrs. Robinson |{ Footsteps and knocking on |
| on ground |} |{ door of No. III. |
| floor |} | |
| | | |
| No. III. | Miss "Duff" |{ Shuffling foot steps |
| | |{ outside room |
| | | |
| No. II. |{ Miss "Duff" }| Fall against door of No. I. |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
| | | |
" 25 | No. II. | Miss Langton |{ Loud thump on door between |
| | |{ I. and II. |
| | | |
| |{ Carter }| |
| |{ (housemaid) }| |
" 27 | Attics |{ Under- }| Monotonous reading |
| |{ housemaid }| |
| |{ Kitchen-maid }| |
| | | |
" 29 | Library |{ Miss Freer }|{ Footsteps in locked-up |
| |{ Miss Langton }|{ room overhead |
| | | |
" 30 | Library |{ Miss Freer }|{ Footsteps in locked-up |
| |{ Miss Langton }|{ room overhead |
| | | |
| |{ Mr. and Mrs. }| |
| Corridor |{ M---- }| Rappings in No. II. (empty). |
| |{ Miss Langton }| (See Mr. M----'s account) |
| |{ Miss Freer }| |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Recorded |Heard in Room.| Witness. | Description of Sound. |
under | | | |
Date. | | | |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
March 31 | No. VIII. | Miss Langton |{ Shuffling footsteps in the |
| | |{ room |
| | |{ Knock near the wardrobe |
| | | |
| | |{ Metallic clangs in the room |
| | |{ like "tuning a kettle-drum";|
| |{ Mrs. M---- |{ later, "terrific noise," |
| No. I. |{ Mr. M---- |{ "like treble rap on a |
| | |{ hollow panel,"--like "the |
| | |{ lid of a heavy coal-scuttle |
| | |{ let fall" |
| | | |
| | |{ Voices in library |
| Drawing-room | Mrs. M---- |{ Detonating noise (like a |
| | |{ distant cannon) |
| | | |
April 1 | No. VIII. |{ Mr. M---- }| Voices and footsteps in |
| |{ Mrs. M---- }| room overhead (empty) |
| | | |
| Drawing-room | Mrs. M---- | Voices and footsteps |
| | | overhead |
| | | |
| |{ Mrs. M---- }| |
| In the garden|{ Miss Freer }| Detonating noise |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
| | | |
| |{ Mrs. M---- }| Limping footsteps overhead |
| Drawing-room |{ Miss Freer }| Voices of a man and woman |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
| | | |
" 2 | Library |{ Miss Freer }| Heavy blow on table |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
| | | |
| | Mrs. M---- | Heavy blow on table (heard |
| | Miss Freer | in dining-room) |
| | Miss Langton | |
| | | |
| |{ Miss Freer }| Footsteps overhead in |
| Dining-room |{ Miss Langton }| empty room |
| |{ Robinson }| |
| |{ (butler) }| |
| | | |
" 3 | Library | Miss Langton |{ Violent hammering on door |
| | |{ in daylight |
| | | |
| |{ Miss Freer }| Footsteps overhead in |
| |{ Miss Langton }| empty room |
| Dining-room |{ Mr. T---- }| |
| |{ Robinson }| |
| |{ (butler) }| |
| | | |
" 4 | No. V. |{ Miss Freer }| Crash under dome |
| |{ Miss Langton }| |
| | | |
" 5 | No. I. | Mr. T---- | Monotonous reading |
| | | |
" 6 | No. I. | Mr. T---- |{ Thuds on floor above, and |
| | |{ on door of room |
| | |{ Voices in conversation |
| | | |
" 7 | No. V. | Miss Freer | Crash under dome |
| | | |
| No. I. | Mr. T---- |{ Crash under dome |
| | |{ Voices in conversation |
| | |{ Raps at foot of door |
| | | |
" 8 | Various parts| Household |{ Crashes and bangs and |
| of the house| generally |{ footsteps heard during |
| | |{ the day |
| | | |
| Smoking-room |{ Miss Freer }| Shuffling footsteps in the |
| |{ Miss Langton }| room |
| |{ Mr. T---- }| Voices outside door |
| |{ Dog }| |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
Recorded |Heard in Room.| Witness. | Description of Sound. |
under | | | |
Date. | | | |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
April 8 | No. IV. | Miss Freer | Crash under dome |
| | | |
| No. VIII. | Miss Langton | Shuffling footsteps |
| | | |
| No. I. | Mr. T---- | Voices |
| | | |
| | |{ Thuds on lowest panels of |
| | |{ door |
| No. IV. | Miss Freer |{ Footsteps of many persons |
| | | |
[No Journal kept between April 8 and April 29. During this period |
Professor Lodge's notes testify to "knocks on the wall, a sawing noise, |
a droning and a wailing, ... some whistling, and apparent attempts at a |
whisper, all up in the attic.] |
| | | |
| | |{ Monotonous voice from |
May 3 | No. I. | Mme. Boisseaux |{ No. III. |
| | |{ Voices in argument |
| | | |
| No. V. | Mrs. "F." | Knocks at door |
| | | |
" 4 | No. V. | Mme. Boisseaux | Knocks at door |
| | | |
| |{ Mme. | |
| | Boisseaux }| |
| |{ Mrs. "F." }|{ Detonating noise in empty |
" 5 | Drawing-room |{ Mrs. M---- }|{ room overhead (No. I.) in |
| |{ Miss Freer }|{ daylight |
| |{ Rev. MacL---- }| |
| | | |
| Billiard-room| Gardener, }| |
| | butler, cook} | Crash in the room |
| | and others } | |
| | | |
" 6 | No. V. | Mme. Boisseaux |{ "Room resounded with |
| | |{ knocks" |
| | | |
| Library |{ Miss Freer }| Bangs on table |
| |{ Miss Moore }| |
| | | |
" 13 | No. I. | Mr. "Etienne" | [?] Detonating noise |
---------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------------------+
NOTES
[Compare Plan of House.]
1. The rooms spoken of in the text as "the library," and the
"upstairs," or "wing" smoking-room, are those marked in the Plan as
the "morning-room," and the bedroom to the extreme east in the wing.
2. Most of the maid-servants slept in rooms Y and Z, over 1 and 2,
until the alarm of March 25, when they moved to the rooms on the other
side the house (X and W), thus leaving those over Nos. 1 and 2 empty.
3. Robinson and Mrs. Robinson (butler and cook) occupied room W till
March 13, when both moved into the butler's room off the hall, which
during the first month had been occupied by Mac the maid, who became
ill and returned south.
4. Opinions regarding the noises, and experiments as to their origin,
will be found on the under-mentioned pages of the Journal.
_Opinions_, pp. 92, 111, 113, 120, 124, 128, 133, 143, 144, 147, 153,
154, 159, 162, 166, 168, 173, 179, 187, 198, 201, 207, 215, 219, 234,
242.
_Experiments_, pp. 109, 129, 140, 160, 175, 180, 218, 220.
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
Edinburgh & London
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