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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14195-0.txt b/14195-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8502233 --- /dev/null +++ b/14195-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1109 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14195 *** + +A STRANGE STORY. + +TO WHICH IS ADDED, + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS. + +BY + +EDWARD BULWER LYTTON (_LORD LYTTON_.) + + +"To doubt and to be astonished is to recognize our ignorance. Hence it +is that the lover of wisdom is in a certain sort a lover of mythi +[Greek: phylomythos pôs], for the subject of mythi is the astonishing +and marvellous."--SIR W. HAMILTON (after Aristotle), _Lectures on +Metaphysics_, vol. i. p. 78. + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +VOL. II. + +BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1897. + + + + + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS; + + +OR, THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN. + + + + + + * * * * * + +A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said to +me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we last met +I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London." + +"Really haunted,--and by what?--ghosts?" + +"Well, I can't answer that question; all I know is this: six weeks ago +my wife and I were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing a quiet +street, we saw on the window of one of the houses a bill, 'Apartments, +Furnished.' The situation suited us; we entered the house, liked the +rooms, engaged them by the week,--and left them the third day. No +power on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer; and I +don't wonder at it." + +"What did you see?" + +"Excuse me; I have no desire to be ridiculed as a superstitious +dreamer,--nor, on the other hand, could I ask you to accept on my +affirmation what you would hold to be incredible without the evidence +of your own senses. Let me only say this, it was not so much what we +saw or heard (in which you might fairly suppose that we were the dupes +of our own excited fancy, or the victims of imposture in others) that +drove us away, as it was an undefinable terror which seized both of us +whenever we passed by the door of a certain unfurnished room, in which +we neither saw nor heard anything. And the strangest marvel of all +was, that for once in my life I agreed with my wife, silly woman +though she be,--and allowed, after the third night, that it was +impossible to stay a fourth in that house. Accordingly, on the fourth +morning I summoned the woman who kept the house and attended on us, +and told her that the rooms did not quite suit us, and we would not +stay out our week." She said dryly, "I know why; you have stayed +longer than any other lodger. Few ever stayed a second night; none +before you a third. But I take it they have been very kind to you." + +"'They,--who?' I asked, affecting to smile. + +"'Why, they who haunt the house, whoever they are. I don't mind them. +I remember them many years ago, when I lived in this house, not as a +servant; but I know they will be the death of me some day. I don't +care,--I'm old, and must die soon anyhow; and then I shall be with +them, and in this house still.' The woman spoke with so dreary a +calmness that really it was a sort of awe that prevented my conversing +with her further. I paid for my week, and too happy were my wife and I +to get off so cheaply." + +"You excite my curiosity," said I; "nothing I should like better than +to sleep in a haunted house. Pray give me the address of the one which +you left so ignominiously." + +My friend gave me the address; and when we parted, I walked straight +towards the house thus indicated. + +It is situated on the north side of Oxford Street, in a dull but +respectable thoroughfare. I found the house shut up,--no bill at the +window, and no response to my knock. As I was turning away, a +beer-boy, collecting pewter pots at the neighboring areas, said to me, +"Do you want any one at that house, sir?" + +"Yes, I heard it was to be let." + +"Let!--why, the woman who kept it is dead,--has been dead these three +weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr. J---- offered +ever so much. He offered mother, who chars for him, £1 a week just to +open and shut the windows, and she would not." + +"Would not!--and why?" + +"The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead in +her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her." + +"Pooh! You speak of Mr. J----. Is he the owner of the house?" + +"Yes." + +"Where does he live?" + +"In G---- Street, No. ----." + +"What is he? In any business?" + +"No, sir,--nothing particular; a single gentleman." + +I gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and +proceeded to Mr. J----, in G---- Street, which was close by the street +that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to find Mr. J---- +at home,--an elderly man with intelligent countenance and +prepossessing manners. + +I communicated my name and my business frankly. I said I heard the +house was considered to be haunted,--that I had a strong desire to +examine a house with so equivocal a reputation; that I should be +greatly obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though only for a +night. I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might be +inclined to ask. "Sir," said Mr. J----, with great courtesy, "the +house is at your service, for as short or as long a time as you +please. Rent is out of the question,--the obligation will be on my +side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange phenomena +which at present deprive it of all value. I cannot let it, for I +cannot even get a servant to keep it in order or answer the door. +Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use that expression, not only +by night, but by day; though at night the disturbances are of a more +unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character. The poor old +woman who died in it three weeks ago was a pauper whom I took out of a +workhouse; for in her childhood she had been known to some of my +family, and had once been in such good circumstances that she had +rented that house of my uncle. She was a woman of superior education +and strong mind, and was the only person I could ever induce to remain +in the house. Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the +coroner's inquest, which gave it a notoriety in the neighborhood, I +have so despaired of finding any person to take charge of the house, +much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent free for a year +to any one who would pay its rates and taxes." + +"How long is it since the house acquired this sinister character?" + +"That I can scarcely tell you, but very many years since. The old +woman I spoke of, said it was haunted when she rented it between +thirty and forty years ago. The fact is, that my life has been spent +in the East Indies, and in the civil service of the Company. I +returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of an uncle, +among whose possessions was the house in question. I found it shut up +and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that no one would +inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a story. I spent +some money in repairing it, added to its old-fashioned furniture a few +modern articles,--advertised it, and obtained a lodger for a year. He +was a colonel on half-pay. He came in with his family, a son and a +daughter, and four or five servants: they all left the house the next +day; and, although each of them declared that he had seen something +different from that which had scared the others, a something still was +equally terrible to all. I really could not in conscience sue, nor +even blame, the colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old +woman I have spoken of, and she was empowered to let the house in +apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three days. I +do not tell you their stories,--to no two lodgers have there been +exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that you should +judge for yourself, than enter the house with an imagination +influenced by previous narratives; only be prepared to see and to hear +something or other, and take whatever precautions you yourself +please." + +"Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that +house?" "Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight +alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is +quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot +complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid; and unless +your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually strong, I +honestly add, that I advise you _not_ to pass a night in that house." + +"My interest _is_ exceedingly keen," said I; "and though only a coward +will boast of his nerves in situations wholly unfamiliar to him, yet +my nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger that I have the +right to rely on them,--even in a haunted house." + +Mr. J---- said very little more; he took the keys of the house out of +his bureau, gave them to me,--and, thanking him cordially for his +frankness, and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried off my +prize. + +Impatient for the experiment, as soon as I reached home, I summoned my +confidential servant,--a young man of gay spirits, fearless temper, +and as free from superstitious prejudice as any one I could think of. + +"F----," said I, "you remember in Germany how disappointed we were at +not finding a ghost in that old castle, which was said to be haunted +by a headless apparition? Well, I have heard of a house in London +which, I have reason to hope, is decidedly haunted. I mean to sleep +there to-night. From what I hear, there is no doubt that something +will allow itself to be seen or to be heard,--something, perhaps, +excessively horrible. Do you think if I take you with me, I may rely +on your presence of mind, whatever may happen?" + +"Oh, sir, pray trust me," answered F----, grinning with delight. + +"Very well; then here are the keys of the house,--this is the address. +Go now,--select for me any bedroom you please; and since the house has +not been inhabited for weeks, make up a good fire, air the bed +well,--see, of course, that there are candles as well as fuel. Take +with you my revolver and my dagger,--so much for my weapons; arm +yourself equally well; and if we are not a match for a dozen ghosts, +we shall be but a sorry couple of Englishmen." + +I was engaged for the rest of the day on business so urgent that I had +not leisure to think much on the nocturnal adventure to which I had +plighted my honor. I dined alone, and very late, and while dining, +read, as is my habit. I selected one of the volumes of Macaulay's +Essays. I thought to myself that I would take the book with me; there +was so much of healthfulness in the style, and practical life in the +subjects, that it would serve as an antidote against the influences of +superstitious fancy. + +Accordingly, about half-past nine, I put the book into my pocket, and +strolled leisurely towards the haunted house. I took with me a +favorite dog: an exceedingly sharp, bold, and vigilant +bull-terrier,--a dog fond of prowling about strange, ghostly corners +and passages at night in search of rats; a dog of dogs for a ghost. + +It was a summer night but chilly, the sky somewhat gloomy and +overcast. Still there was a moon, faint and sickly but still a moon, +and if the clouds permitted, after midnight it would be brighter. + +I reached the house, knocked, and my servant opened with a cheerful +smile. + +"All right, sir, and very comfortable." + +"Oh!" said I, rather disappointed; "have you not seen nor heard +anything remarkable?" + +"Well, sir, I must own I have heard something queer." + +"What?--what?" + +"The sound of feet pattering behind me; and once or twice small noises +like whispers close at my ear,--nothing more." + +"You are not at all frightened?" + +"I! not a bit of it, sir;" and the man's bold look reassured me on one +point,--namely, that happen what might, he would not desert me. + +We were in the hall, the street-door closed, and my attention was now +drawn to my dog. He had at first run in eagerly enough, but had +sneaked back to the door, and was scratching and whining to get out. +After patting him on the head, and encouraging him gently, the dog +seemed to reconcile himself to the situation, and followed me and +F---- through the house, but keeping close at my heels instead of +hurrying inquisitively in advance, which was his usual and normal +habit in all strange places. We first visited the subterranean +apartments,--the kitchen and other offices, and especially the +cellars, in which last there were two or three bottles of wine still +left in a bin, covered with cobwebs, and evidently, by their +appearance, undisturbed for many years. It was clear that the ghosts +were not winebibbers. For the rest we discovered nothing of interest. +There was a gloomy little backyard, with very high walls. The stones +of this yard were very damp; and what with the damp, and what with the +dust and smoke-grime on the pavement, our feet left a slight +impression where we passed. And now appeared the first strange +phenomenon witnessed by myself in this strange abode. I saw, just +before me, the print of a foot suddenly form itself, as it were. I +stopped, caught hold of my servant, and pointed to it. In advance of +that footprint as suddenly dropped another. We both saw it. I advanced +quickly to the place; the footprint kept advancing before me, a small +footprint,--the foot of a child: the impression was too faint +thoroughly to distinguish the shape, but it seemed to us both that it +was the print of a naked foot. This phenomenon ceased when we arrived +at the opposite wall, nor did it repeat itself on returning. We +remounted the stairs, and entered the rooms on the ground-floor, a +dining parlor, a small back-parlor, and a still smaller third room +that had been probably appropriated to a footman,--all still as death. +We then visited the drawing-rooms, which seemed fresh and new. In the +front room I seated myself in an arm-chair. F---- placed on the table +the candlestick with which he had lighted us. I told him to shut the +door. As he turned to do so a chair opposite to me moved from the wall +quickly and noiselessly, and dropped itself about a yard from my own +chair, immediately fronting it. + +"Why, this is better than the turning-tables," said I, with a +half-laugh; and as I laughed, my dog put back his head and howled. + +F---, coming back, had not observed the movement of the chair. He +employed himself now in stilling the dog. I continued to gaze on the +chair, and fancied I saw on it a pale, blue, misty outline of a human +figure, but an outline so indistinct that I could only distrust my own +vision. The dog now was quiet. + +"Put back that chair opposite to me," said I to F---; "put it back to +the wall." + +F---- obeyed. "Was that you, sir?" said he, turning abruptly. + +"I!--what?" + +"Why, something struck me. I felt it sharply on the shoulder,--just +here." + +"No," said I. "But we have jugglers present, and though we may not +discover their tricks, we shall catch _them_ before they frighten +_us_." + +We did not stay long in the drawing-rooms,--in fact, they felt so damp +and so chilly that I was glad to get to the fire upstairs. We locked +the doors of the drawing-rooms,--a precaution which, I should observe, +we had taken with all the rooms we had searched below. The bedroom my +servant had selected for me was the best on the floor,--a large one, +with two windows fronting the street. The four-posted bed, which took +up no inconsiderable space, was opposite to the fire, which burned +clear and bright; a door in the wall to the left, between the bed and +the window, communicated with the room which my servant appropriated +to himself. This last was a small room with a sofa-bed, and had no +communication with the landing-place,--no other door but that which +conducted to the bedroom I was to occupy. On either side of my +fireplace was a cupboard without locks, flush with the wall, and +covered with the same dull-brown paper. We examined these +cupboards,--only hooks to suspend female dresses, nothing else; we +sounded the walls,--evidently solid, the outer walls of the building. +Having finished the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a few +moments, and lighted my cigar, I then, still accompanied by F----, +went forth to complete my reconnoitre. In the landing-place there was +another door; it was closed firmly. "Sir," said my servant, in +surprise, "I unlocked this door with all the others when I first came; +it cannot have got locked from the inside, for--" + +Before he had finished his sentence, the door, which neither of us +then was touching, opened quietly of itself. We looked at each other a +single instant. The same thought seized both,--some human agency might +be detected here. I rushed in first, my servant followed. A small, +blank, dreary room without furniture; a few empty boxes and hampers in +a corner; a small window; the shutters closed; not even a fireplace; +no other door but that by which we had entered; no carpet on the +floor, and the floor seemed very old, uneven, worm-eaten, mended here +and there, as was shown by the whiter patches on the wood; but no +living being, and no visible place in which a living being could have +hidden. As we stood gazing round, the door by which we had entered +closed as quietly as it had before opened; we were imprisoned. + +For the first time I felt a creep of undefinable horror. Not so my +servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir; I could break that +trumpery door with a kick of my foot." + +"Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the +vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclosed the shutters +and see what is without." + +I unbarred the shutters,--the window looked on the little backyard I +have before described; there was no ledge without,--nothing to break +the sheer descent of the wall. No man getting out of that window would +have found any footing till he had fallen on the stones below. + +F----, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now +turned round to me and asked my permission to use force. And I should +here state, in justice to the servant, that, far from evincing any +superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and even gayety amidst +circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my admiration, and made me +congratulate myself on having secured a companion in every way fitted +to the occasion. I willingly gave him the permission he required. But +though he was a remarkably strong man, his force was as idle as his +milder efforts; the door did not even shake to his stoutest kick. +Breathless and panting, he desisted. I then tried the door myself, +equally in vain. As I ceased from the effort, again that creep of +horror came over me; but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I +felt as if some strange and ghastly exhalation were rising up from the +chinks of that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a +venomous influence hostile to human life. The door now very slowly and +quietly opened as of its own accord. We precipitated ourselves into +the landing-place. We both saw a large, pale light--as large as the +human figure, but shapeless and unsubstantial--move before us, and +ascend the stairs that led from the landing into the attics. I +followed the light, and my servant followed me. It entered, to the +right of the landing, a small garret, of which the door stood open. I +entered in the same instant. The light then collapsed into a small +globule, exceedingly brilliant and vivid, rested a moment on a bed in +the corner, quivered, and vanished. We approached the bed and examined +it,--a half-tester, such as is commonly found in attics devoted to +servants. On the drawers that stood near it we perceived an old faded +silk kerchief, with the needle still left in a rent half repaired. The +kerchief was covered with dust; probably it had belonged to the old +woman who had last died in that house, and this might have been her +sleeping-room. I had sufficient curiosity to open the drawers: there +were a few odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied round +with a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took the liberty to possess +myself of the letters. We found nothing else in the room worth +noticing,--nor did the light reappear; but we distinctly heard, as we +turned to go, a pattering footfall on the floor, just before us. We +went through the other attics (in all four), the footfall still +preceding us. Nothing to be seen,--nothing but the footfall heard. I +had the letters in my hand; just as I was descending the stairs I +distinctly felt my wrist seized, and a faint, soft effort made to draw +the letters from my clasp. I only held them the more tightly, and the +effort ceased. + +We regained the bedchamber appropriated to myself, and I then remarked +that my dog had not followed us when we had left it. He was thrusting +himself close to the fire, and trembling. I was impatient to examine +the letters; and while I read them, my servant opened a little box in +which he had deposited the weapons I had ordered him to bring, took +them out, placed them on a table close at my bed-head, and then +occupied himself in soothing the dog, who, however, seemed to heed him +very little. + +The letters were short,--they were dated; the dates exactly +thirty-five years ago. They were evidently from a lover to his +mistress, or a husband to some young wife. Not only the terms of +expression, but a distinct reference to a former voyage, indicated the +writer to have been a seafarer. The spelling and handwriting were +those of a man imperfectly educated, but still the language itself was +forcible. In the expressions of endearment there was a kind of rough, +wild love; but here and there were dark unintelligible hints at some +secret not of love,--some secret that seemed of crime. "We ought to +love each other," was one of the sentences I remember, "for how every +one else would execrate us if all was known." Again: "Don't let any +one be in the same room with you at night,--you talk in your sleep." +And again: "What's done can't be undone; and I tell you there's +nothing against us unless the dead could come to life." Here there was +underlined in a better handwriting (a female's), "They do!" At the end +of the letter latest in date the same female hand had written these +words: "Lost at sea the 4th of June, the same day as--" + +I put down the letters, and began to muse over their contents. + +Fearing, however, that the train of thought into which I fell might +unsteady my nerves, I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit state +to cope with whatever of marvellous the advancing night might bring +forth. I roused myself; laid the letters on the table; stirred up the +fire, which was still bright and cheering; and opened my volume of +Macaulay. I read quietly enough till about half-past eleven. I then +threw myself dressed upon the bed, and told my servant he might retire +to his own room, but must keep himself awake. I bade him leave open +the door between the two rooms. Thus alone, I kept two candles burning +on the table by my bed-head. I placed my watch beside the weapons, and +calmly resumed my Macaulay. Opposite to me the fire burned clear; and +on the hearthrug, seemingly asleep, lay the dog. In about twenty +minutes I felt an exceedingly cold air pass by my cheek, like a sudden +draught. I fancied the door to my right, communicating with the +landing-place, must have got open; but no,--it was closed. I then +turned my glance to my left, and saw the flame of the candles +violently swayed as by a wind. At the same moment the watch beside the +revolver softly slid from the table,--softly, softly; no visible +hand,--it was gone. I sprang up, seizing the revolver with the one +hand, the dagger with the other; I was not willing that my weapons +should share the fate of the watch. Thus armed, I looked round the +floor,--no sign of the watch. Three slow, loud, distinct knocks were +now heard at the bed-head; my servant called out, "Is that you, sir?" + +"No; be on your guard." + +The dog now roused himself and sat on his haunches, his ears moving +quickly backwards and forwards. He kept his eyes fixed on me with a +look so strange that he concentred all my attention on himself. Slowly +he rose up, all his hair bristling, and stood perfectly rigid, and +with the same wild stare. I had no time, however, to examine the dog. +Presently my servant emerged from his room; and if ever I saw horror +in the human face, it was then. I should not have recognized him had +we met in the street, so altered was every lineament. He passed by me +quickly, saying, in a whisper that seemed scarcely to come from his +lips, "Run, run! it is after me!" He gained the door to the landing, +pulled it open, and rushed forth. I followed him into the landing +involuntarily, calling him to stop; but, without heeding me, he +bounded down the stairs, clinging to the balusters, and taking several +steps at a time. I heard, where I stood, the street-door open,--heard +it again clap to. I was left alone in the haunted house. + +It was but for a moment that I remained undecided whether or not to +follow my servant; pride and curiosity alike forbade so dastardly a +flight. I re-entered my room, closing the door after me, and proceeded +cautiously into the interior chamber. I encountered nothing to justify +my servant's terror. I again carefully examined the walls, to see if +there were any concealed door. I could find no trace of one,--not even +a seam in the dull-brown paper with which the room was hung. How, +then, had the THING, whatever it was, which had so scared him, +obtained ingress except through my own chamber? + +I returned to my room, shut and locked the door that opened upon the +interior one, and stood on the hearth, expectant and prepared. I now +perceived that the dog had slunk into an angle of the wall, and was +pressing himself close against it, as if literally striving to force +his way into it. I approached the animal and spoke to it; the poor +brute was evidently beside itself with terror. It showed all its +teeth, the slaver dropping from its jaws, and would certainly have +bitten me if I had touched it. It did not seem to recognize me. +Whoever has seen at the Zoological Gardens a rabbit, fascinated by a +serpent, cowering in a corner, may form some idea of the anguish which +the dog exhibited. Finding all efforts to soothe the animal in vain, +and fearing that his bite might be as venomous in that state as in the +madness of hydrophobia, I left him alone, placed my weapons on the +table beside the fire, seated myself, and recommenced my Macaulay. + +Perhaps, in order not to appear seeking credit for a courage, or +rather a coolness, which the reader may conceive I exaggerate, I may +be pardoned if I pause to indulge in one or two egotistical remarks. + +As I hold presence of mind, or what is called courage, to be precisely +proportioned to familiarity with the circumstances that lead to it, so +I should say that I had been long sufficiently familiar with all +experiments that appertain to the marvellous. I had witnessed many +very extraordinary phenomena in various parts of the world,--phenomena +that would be either totally disbelieved if I stated them, or ascribed +to supernatural agencies. Now, my theory is that the supernatural is +the impossible, and that what is called supernatural is only a +something in the laws of Nature of which we have been hitherto +ignorant. Therefore, if a ghost rise before me, I have not the right +to say, "So, then, the supernatural is possible;" but rather, "So, +then, the apparition of a ghost, is, contrary to received opinion, +within the laws of Nature,--that is, not supernatural." + +Now, in all that I had hitherto witnessed, and indeed in all the +wonders which the amateurs of mystery in our age record as facts, a +material living agency is always required. On the Continent you will +find still magicians who assert that they can raise spirits. Assume +for the moment that they assert truly, still the living material form +of the magician is present; and he is the material agency by which, +from some constitutional peculiarities, certain strange phenomena are +represented to your natural senses. + +Accept, again, as truthful, the tales of spirit-manifestation in +America,--musical or other sounds; writings on paper, produced by no +discernible hand; articles of furniture moved without apparent human +agency; or the actual sight and touch of hands, to which no bodies +seem to belong,--still there must be found the MEDIUM, or living +being, with constitutional peculiarities capable of obtaining these +signs. In fine, in all such marvels, supposing even that there is no +imposture, there must be a human being like ourselves by whom, or +through whom, the effects presented to human beings are produced. It +is so with the now familiar phenomena of mesmerism or electro-biology; +the mind of the person operated on is affected through a material +living agent. Nor, supposing it true that a mesmerized patient can +respond to the will or passes of a mesmerizer a hundred miles distant, +is the response less occasioned by a material being; it may be through +a material fluid--call it Electric, call it Odic, call it what you +will--which has the power of traversing space and passing obstacles, +that the material effect is communicated from one to the other. Hence, +all that I had hitherto witnessed, or expected to witness, in this +strange house, I believed to be occasioned through some agency or +medium as mortal as myself; and this idea necessarily prevented the +awe with which those who regard as supernatural things that are not +within the ordinary operations of Nature, might have been impressed by +the adventures of that memorable night. + +As, then, it was my conjecture that all that was presented, or would +be presented to my senses, must originate in some human being gifted +by constitution with the power so to present them, and having some +motive so to do, I felt an interest in my theory which, in its way, +was rather philosophical than superstitious. And I can sincerely say +that I was in as tranquil a temper for observation as any practical +experimentalist could be in awaiting the effects of some rare, though +perhaps perilous, chemical combination. Of course, the more I kept my +mind detached from fancy, the more the temper fitted for observation +would be obtained; and I therefore riveted eye and thought on the +strong daylight sense in the page of my Macaulay. + +I now became aware that something interposed between the page and the +light,--the page was over-shadowed. I looked up, and I saw what I +shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe. + +It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very undefined +outline. I cannot say it was of a human form, and yet it had more +resemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to anything else. +As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and the light +around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touching +the ceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An +iceberg before me could not more have chilled me; nor could the cold +of an iceberg have been more purely physical. I feel convinced that it +was not the cold caused by fear. As I continued to gaze, I +thought--but this I cannot say with precision--that I distinguished +two eyes looking down on me from the height. One moment I fancied that +I distinguished them clearly, the next they seemed gone; but still two +rays of a pale-blue light frequently shot through the darkness, as +from the height on which I half believed, half doubted, that I had +encountered the eyes. + +I strove to speak,--my voice utterly failed me; I could only think to +myself, "Is this fear? It is _not_ fear!" I strove to rise,--in vain; +I felt as if weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, my +impression was that of an immense and overwhelming Power opposed to my +volition,--that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond +man's, which one may feel _physically_ in a storm at sea, in a +conflagration, or when confronting some terrible wild beast, or +rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt _morally_. Opposed to +my will was another will, as far superior to its strength as storm, +fire, and shark are superior in material force to the force of man. + +And now, as this impression grew on me,--now came, at last, horror, +horror to a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained pride, +if not courage; and in my own mind I said, "This is horror, but it is +not fear; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason rejects this +thing; it is an illusion,--I do not fear." With a violent effort I +succeeded at last in stretching out my hand towards the weapon on the +table; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange +shock, and my arm fell to my side powerless. And now, to add to my +horror, the light began slowly to wane from the candles,--they were +not, as it were, extinguished, but their flame seemed very gradually +withdrawn; it was the same with the fire,--the light was extracted +from the fuel; in a few minutes the room was in utter darkness. The +dread that came over me, to be thus in the dark with that dark Thing, +whose power was so intensely felt, brought a reaction of nerve. In +fact, terror had reached that climax, that either my senses must have +deserted me, or I must have burst through the spell. I did burst +through it. I found voice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember +that I broke forth with words like these, "I do not fear, my soul does +not fear;" and at the same time I found strength to rise. Still in +that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows; tore aside the +curtain; flung open the shutters; my first thought was--LIGHT. And +when I saw the moon high, clear, and calm, I felt a joy that almost +compensated for the previous terror. There was the moon, there was +also the light from the gas-lamps in the deserted slumberous street. I +turned to look back into the room; the moon penetrated its shadow very +palely and partially,--but still there was light. The dark Thing, +whatever it might be, was gone,--except that I could yet see a dim +shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade, against the opposite +wall. + +My eye now rested on the table, and from under the table (which was +without cloth or cover,--an old mahogany round-table) there rose a +hand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as much +of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person, lean, +wrinkled, small too,--a woman's hand. That hand very softly closed on +the two letters that lay on the table; hand and letters both vanished. +There then came the same three loud, measured knocks I had heard at +the bedhead before this extraordinary drama had commenced. + +As those sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate sensibly; +and at the far end there rose, as from the floor, sparks or globules +like bubbles of light, many colored,--green, yellow, fire-red, azure. +Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny Will-o'-the-Wisps, +the sparks moved, slow or swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as +in the drawing-room below) was now advanced from the wall without +apparent agency, and placed at the opposite side of the table. +Suddenly, as forth from the chair, there grew a shape,--a woman's +shape. It was distinct as a shape of life,--ghastly as a shape of +death. The face was that of youth, with a strange, mournful beauty; +the throat and shoulders were bare, the rest of the form in a loose +robe of cloudy white. It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which +fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to +the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the +shade in the background grew darker; and again I thought I beheld the +eyes gleaming out from the summit of the shadow,--eyes fixed upon that +shape. + +As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another +shape, equally distinct, equally ghastly,--a man's shape, a young +man's. It was in the dress of the last century, or rather in a +likeness of such dress (for both the male shape and the female, though +defined, were evidently unsubstantial, impalpable,--simulacra, +phantasms); and there was something incongruous, grotesque, yet +fearful, in the contrast between the elaborate finery, the courtly +precision of that old-fashioned garb, with its ruffles and lace and +buckles, and the corpse-like aspect and ghost-like stillness of the +flitting wearer. Just as the male shape approached the female, the +dark Shadow started from the wall, all three for a moment wrapped in +darkness. When the pale light returned, the two phantoms were as if in +the grasp of the Shadow that towered between them; and there was a +blood-stain on the breast of the female; and the phantom male was +leaning on its phantom sword, and blood seemed trickling fast from the +ruffles, from the lace; and the darkness of the intermediate Shadow +swallowed them up,--they were gone. And again the bubbles of light +shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing thicker and thicker and more +wildly confused in their movements. + +The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from the +aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she held +letters,--the very letters over which I had seen _the_ Hand close; and +behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if to listen, and +then she opened the letters and seemed to read; and over her shoulder +I saw a livid face, the face as of a man long drowned,--bloated, +bleached, seaweed tangled in its dripping hair; and at her feet lay a +form as of a corpse; and beside the corpse there cowered a child, a +miserable, squalid child, with famine in its cheeks and fear in its +eyes. And as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines +vanished, and it became a face of youth,--hard-eyed, stony, but still +youth; and the Shadow darted forth, and darkened over these phantoms +as it had darkened over the last. + +Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were intently +fixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow,--malignant, serpent +eyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in their +disordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mingled with the wan moonlight. +And now from these globules themselves, as from the shell of an egg, +monstrous things burst out; the air grew filled with them: larvae so +bloodless and so hideous that I can in no way describe them except to +remind the reader of the swarming life which the solar microscope +brings before his eyes in a drop of water,--things transparent, +supple, agile, chasing each other, devouring each, other; forms like +nought ever beheld by the naked eye. As the shapes were without +symmetry, so their movements were without order. In their very +vagrancies there was no sport; they came round me and round, thicker +and faster and swifter, swarming over my head, crawling over my right +arm, which was outstretched in involuntary command against all evil +beings. Sometimes I felt myself touched, but not by them; invisible +hands touched me. Once I felt the clutch as of cold, soft fingers at +my throat. I was still equally conscious that if I gave way to fear I +should be in bodily peril; and I concentred all my faculties in the +single focus of resisting stubborn will. And I turned my sight from +the Shadow; above all, from those strange serpent eyes,--eyes that had +now become distinctly visible. For there, though in nought else around +me, I was aware that there was a WILL, and a will of intense, +creative, working evil, which might crush down my own. + +The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the air +of some near conflagration. The larvæ grew lurid as things that live +in fire. Again the room vibrated; again were heard the three measured +knocks; and again all things were swallowed up in the darkness of the +dark Shadow, as if out of that darkness all had come, into that +darkness all returned. + +As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it had +been withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the table, +again into the fuel in the grate. The whole room came once more +calmly, healthfully into sight. + +The two doors were still closed, the door communicating with the +servant's room still locked. In the corner of the wall, into which he +had so convulsively niched himself, lay the dog. I called to him,--no +movement; I approached,--the animal was dead: his eyes protruded; his +tongue out of his mouth; the froth gathered round his jaws. I took him +in my arms; I brought him to the fire. I felt acute grief for the loss +of my poor favorite,--acute self-reproach; I accused myself of his +death; I imagined he had died of fright. But what was my surprise on +finding that his neck was actually broken. Had this been done in the +dark? Must it not have been by a hand human as mine; must there not +have been a human agency all the while in that room? Good cause to +suspect it. I cannot tell. I cannot do more than state the fact +fairly; the reader may draw his own inference. + +Another surprising circumstance,--my watch was restored to the table +from which it had been so mysteriously withdrawn; but it had stopped +at the very moment it was so withdrawn, nor, despite all the skill of +the watchmaker, has it ever gone since,--that is, it will go in a +strange, erratic way for a few hours, and then come to a dead stop; it +is worthless. + +Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I +long to wait before the dawn broke. Nor till it was broad daylight did +I quit the haunted house. Before I did so, I revisited the little +blind room in which my servant and myself had been for a time +imprisoned. I had a strong impression--for which I could not +account--that from that room had originated the mechanism of the +phenomena, if I may use the term, which had been experienced in my +chamber. And though I entered it now in the clear day, with the sun +peering through the filmy window, I still felt, as I stood on its +floors, the creep of the horror which I had first there experienced +the night before, and which had been so aggravated by what had passed +in my own chamber. I could not, indeed, bear to stay more than half a +minute within those walls. I descended the stairs, and again I heard +the footfall before me; and when I opened the street door, I thought I +could distinguish a very low laugh. I gained my own home, expecting to +find my runaway servant there; but he had not presented himself, nor +did I hear more of him for three days, when I received a letter from +him, dated from Liverpool to this effect:-- + +"HONORED SIR,--I humbly entreat your pardon, though I can scarcely +hope that you will think that I deserve it, unless--which Heaven +forbid!--you saw what I did. I feel that it will be years before I can +recover myself; and as to being fit for service, it is out of the +question. I am therefore going to my brother-in-law at Melbourne. The +ship sails to-morrow. Perhaps the long voyage may set me up. I do +nothing now but start and tremble, and fancy IT is behind me. I humbly +beg you, honored sir, to order my clothes, and whatever wages are due +to me, to be sent to my mother's, at Walworth,--John knows her +address." + +The letter ended with additional apologies, somewhat incoherent, and +explanatory details as to effects that had been under the writer's +charge. This flight may perhaps warrant a suspicion that the man +wished to go to Australia, and had been somehow or other fraudulently +mixed up with the events of the night. I say nothing in refutation of +that conjecture; rather, I suggest it as one that would seem to many +persons the most probable solution of improbable occurrences. My +belief in my own theory remained unshaken. I returned in the evening +to the house, to bring away in a hack cab the things I had left there, +with my poor dog's body. In this task I was not disturbed, nor did any +incident worth note befall me, except that still, on ascending and +descending the stairs, I heard the same footfall in advance. On +leaving the house, I went to Mr. J----'s. He was at home. I returned +him the keys, told him that my curiosity was sufficiently gratified, +and was about to relate quickly what had passed, when he stopped me, +and said, though with much politeness, that he had no longer any +interest in a mystery which none had ever solved. + +I determined at least to tell him of the two letters I had read, as +well as of the extraordinary manner in which they had disappeared; and +I then inquired if he thought they had been addressed to the woman who +had died in the house, and if there were anything in her early history +which could possibly confirm the dark suspicions to which the letters +gave rise. Mr. J---- seemed startled, and, after musing a few moments, +answered, "I am but little acquainted with the woman's earlier +history, except as I before told you, that her family were known to +mine. But you revive some vague reminiscences to her prejudice. I will +make inquiries, and inform you of their result. Still, even if we +could admit the popular superstition that a person who had been either +the perpetrator or the victim of dark crimes in life could revisit, as +a restless spirit, the scene in which those crimes had been committed, +I should observe that the house was infested by strange sights and +sounds before the old woman died--you smile--what would you say?" + +"I would say this, that I am convinced, if we could get to the bottom +of these mysteries, we should find a living human agency." + +"What! you believe it is all an imposture? For what object?" + +"Not an imposture in the ordinary sense of the word. If suddenly I +were to sink into a deep sleep, from which you could not awake me, but +in that sleep could answer questions with an accuracy which I could +not pretend to when awake,--tell you what money you had in your +pocket, nay, describe your very thoughts,--it is not necessarily an +imposture, any more than it is necessarily supernatural. I should be, +unconsciously to myself, under a mesmeric influence, conveyed to me +from a distance by a human being who had acquired power over me by +previous _rapport_." + +"But if a mesmerizer could so affect another living being, can you +suppose that a mesmerizer could also affect inanimate objects: move +chairs,--open and shut doors?" + +"Or impress our senses with the belief in such effects,--we never +having been _en rapport_ with the person acting on us? No. What is +commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power +akin to mesmerism, and superior to it,--the power that in the old days +was called Magic. That such a power may extend to all inanimate +objects of matter, I do not say; but if so, it would not be against +Nature,--it would be only a rare power in Nature which might be given +to constitutions with certain peculiarities, and cultivated by +practice to an extraordinary degree. That such a power might extend +over the dead,--that is, over certain thoughts and memories that the +dead may still retain,--and compel, not that which ought properly to +be called the SOUL, and which is far beyond human reach, but rather a +phantom of what has been most earth-stained on earth, to make itself +apparent to our senses, is a very ancient though obsolete theory upon +which I will hazard no opinion. But I do not conceive the power would +be supernatural. Let me illustrate what I mean from an experiment +which Paracelsus describes as not difficult, and which the author of +the 'Curiosities of Literature' cites as credible: A flower perishes; +you burn it. Whatever were the elements of that flower while it lived +are gone, dispersed, you know not whither; you can never discover nor +re-collect them. But you can, by chemistry, out of the burned dust of +that flower, raise a spectrum of the flower, just as it seemed in +life. It may be the same with the human being. The soul has as much +escaped you as the essence or elements of the flower. Still you may +make a spectrum of it. And this phantom, though in the popular +superstition it is held to be the soul of the departed, must not be +confounded with the true soul; it is but the eidolon of the dead form. +Hence, like the best attested stories of ghosts or spirits, the thing +that most strikes us is the absence of what we hold to be soul,--that +is, of superior emancipated intelligence. These apparitions come for +little or no object,--they seldom speak when they do come; if they +speak, they utter no ideas above those of an ordinary person on earth. +American spirit-seers have published volumes of communications, in +prose and verse, which they assert to be given in the names of the +most illustrious dead: Shakespeare, Bacon,--Heaven knows whom. Those +communications, taking the best, are certainly not a whit of higher +order than would be communications from living persons of fair talent +and education; they are wondrously inferior to what Bacon, +Shakespeare, and Plato said and wrote when on earth. Nor, what is more +noticeable, do they ever contain an idea that was not on the earth +before. Wonderful, therefore, as such phenomena may be (granting them +to be truthful), I see much that philosophy may question, nothing that +it is incumbent on philosophy to deny,--namely, nothing supernatural. +They are but ideas conveyed somehow or other (we have not yet +discovered the means) from one mortal brain to another. Whether, in so +doing, tables walk of their own accord, or fiendlike shapes appear in +a magic circle, or bodiless hands rise and remove material objects, or +a Thing of Darkness, such as presented itself to me, freeze our +blood,--still am I persuaded that these are but agencies conveyed, as +by electric wires, to my own brain from the brain of another. In some +constitutions there is a natural chemistry, and those constitutions +may produce chemic wonders,--in others a natural fluid, call it +electricity, and these may produce electric wonders. But the wonders +differ from Normal Science in this,--they are alike objectless, +purposeless, puerile, frivolous. They lead on to no grand results; and +therefore the world does not heed, and true sages have not cultivated +them. But sure I am, that of all I saw or heard, a man, human as +myself, was the remote originator; and I believe unconsciously to +himself as to the exact effects produced, for this reason: no two +persons, you say, have ever told you that they experienced exactly the +same thing. Well, observe, no two persons ever experience exactly the +same dream. If this were an ordinary imposture, the machinery would be +arranged for results that would but little vary; if it were a +supernatural agency permitted by the Almighty, it would surely be for +some definite end. These phenomena belong to neither class; my +persuasion is, that they originate in some brain now far distant; that +that brain had no distinct volition in anything that occurred; that +what does occur reflects but its devious, motley, ever-shifting, +half-formed thoughts; in short, that it has been but the dreams of +such a brain put into action and invested with a semi-substance. That +this brain is of immense power, that it can set matter into movement, +that it is malignant and destructive, I believe; some material force +must have killed my dog; the same force might, for aught I know, have +sufficed to kill myself, had I been as subjugated by terror as the +dog,--had my intellect or my spirit given me no countervailing +resistance in my will." + +"It killed your dog,--that is fearful! Indeed it is strange that no +animal can be induced to stay in that house; not even a cat. Bats and +mice are never found in it." + +"The instincts of the brute creation detect influences deadly to their +existence. Man's reason has a sense less subtle, because it has a +resisting power more supreme. But enough; do you comprehend my +theory?" + +"Yes, though imperfectly,--and I accept any crotchet (pardon the +word), however odd, rather than embrace at once the notion of ghosts +and hobgoblins we imbibed in our nurseries. Still, to my unfortunate +house, the evil is the same. What on earth can I do with the house?" + +"I will tell you what I would do. I am convinced from my own internal +feelings that the small, unfurnished room at right angles to the door +of the bed-room which I occupied, forms a starting-point or receptacle +for the influences which haunt the house; and I strongly advise you to +have the walls opened, the floor removed,--nay, the whole room pulled +down. I observe that it is detached from the body of the house, built +over the small backyard, and could be removed without injury to the +rest of the building." + +"And you think, if I did that--" + +"You would cut off the telegraph wires. Try it. I am so persuaded that +I am right, that I will pay half the expense if you will allow me to +direct the operations." + +"Nay, I am well able to afford the cost; for the rest allow me to +write to you." + +About ten days after I received a letter from Mr. J----, telling me +that he had visited the house since I had seen him; that he had found +the two letters I had described, replaced in the drawer from which I +had taken them; that he had read them with misgivings like my own; +that he had instituted a cautious inquiry about the woman to whom I +rightly conjectured they had been written. It seemed that thirty-six +years ago (a year before the date of the letters) she had married, +against the wish of her relations, an American of very suspicious +character; in fact, he was generally believed to have been a pirate. +She herself was the daughter of very respectable tradespeople, and had +served in the capacity of a nursery governess before her marriage. She +had a brother, a widower, who was considered wealthy, and who had one +child of about six years old. A month after the marriage the body of +this brother was found in the Thames, near London Bridge; there seemed +some marks of violence about his throat, but they were not deemed +sufficient to warrant the inquest in any other verdict than that of +"found drowned." + +The American and his wife took charge of the little boy, the deceased +brother having by his will left his sister the guardian of his only +child,--and in event of the child's death the sister inherited. The +child died about six months afterwards,--it was supposed to have been +neglected and ill-treated. The neighbors deposed to have heard it +shriek at night. The surgeon who had examined it after death said that +it was emaciated as if from want of nourishment, and the body was +covered with livid bruises. It seemed that one winter night the child +had sought to escape; crept out into the backyard; tried to scale the +wall; fallen back exhausted; and been found at morning on the stones +in a dying state. But though there was some evidence of cruelty, there +was none of murder; and the aunt and her husband had sought to +palliate cruelty by alleging the exceeding stubbornness and perversity +of the child, who was declared to be half-witted. Be that as it may, +at the orphan's death the aunt inherited her brother's fortune. Before +the first wedded year was out, the American quitted England abruptly, +and never returned to it. He obtained a cruising vessel, which was +lost in the Atlantic two years afterwards. The widow was left in +affluence, but reverses of various kinds had befallen her: a bank +broke; an investment failed; she went into a small business and became +insolvent; then she entered into service, sinking lower and lower, +from housekeeper down to maid-of-all-work,--never long retaining a +place, though nothing decided against her character was ever alleged. +She was considered sober, honest, and peculiarly quiet in her ways; +still nothing prospered with her. And so she had dropped into the +workhouse, from which Mr. J---- had taken her, to be placed in charge +of the very house which she had rented as mistress in the first year +of her wedded life. + +Mr. J---- added that he had passed an hour alone in the unfurnished +room which I had urged him to destroy, and that his impressions of +dread while there were so great, though he had neither heard nor seen +anything, that he was eager to have the walls bared and the floors +removed as I had suggested. He had engaged persons for the work, and +would commence any day I would name. + +The day was accordingly fixed. I repaired to the haunted house,--we +went into the blind, dreary room, took up the skirting, and then the +floors. Under the rafters, covered with rubbish, was found a +trap-door, quite large enough to admit a man. It was closely nailed +down, with clamps and rivets of iron. On removing these we descended +into a room below, the existence of which had never been suspected. In +this room there had been a window and a flue, but they had been +bricked over, evidently for many years. By the help of candles we +examined this place; it still retained some mouldering +furniture,--three chairs, an oak settle, a table,--all of the fashion +of about eighty years ago. There was a chest of drawers against the +wall, in which we found, half-rotted away, old-fashioned articles of a +man's dress, such as might have been worn eighty or a hundred years +ago by a gentleman of some rank; costly steel buckles and buttons, +like those yet worn in court-dresses, a handsome court sword; in a +waistcoat which had once been rich with gold-lace, but which was now +blackened and foul with damp, we found five guineas, a few silver +coins, and an ivory ticket, probably for some place of entertainment +long since passed away. But our main discovery was in a kind of iron +safe fixed to the wall, the lock of which it cost us much trouble to +get picked. + +In this safe were three shelves and two small drawers. Ranged on the +shelves were several small bottles of crystal, hermetically stopped. +They contained colorless, volatile essences, of the nature of which I +shall only say that they were not poisons,--phosphor and ammonia +entered into some of them. There were also some very curious glass +tubes, and a small pointed rod of iron, with a large lump of +rock-crystal, and another of amber,--also a loadstone of great power. + +In one of the drawers we found a miniature portrait set in gold, and +retaining the freshness of its colors most remarkably, considering the +length of time it had probably been there. The portrait was that of a +man who might be somewhat advanced in middle life, perhaps forty-seven +or forty-eight. It was a remarkable face,--a most impressive face. If +you could fancy some mighty serpent transformed into man, preserving +in the human lineaments the old serpent type, you would have a better +idea of that countenance than long descriptions can convey: the width +and flatness of frontal; the tapering elegance of contour disguising +the strength of the deadly jaw; the long, large, terrible eye, +glittering and green as the emerald,--and withal a certain ruthless +calm, as if from the consciousness of an immense power. + +Mechanically I turned round the miniature to examine the back of it, +and on the back was engraved a pentacle; in the middle of the pentacle +a ladder, and the third step of the ladder was formed by the date +1765. Examining still more minutely, I detected a spring; this, on +being pressed, opened the back of the miniature as a lid. Within-side +the lid were engraved, "Marianna to thee. Be faithful in life and in +death to ----." Here follows a name that I will not mention, but it +was not unfamiliar to me. I had heard it spoken of by old men in my +childhood as the name borne by a dazzling charlatan who had made a +great sensation in London for a year or so, and had fled the country +on the charge of a double murder within his own house,--that of his +mistress and his rival. I said nothing of this to Mr. J----, to whom +reluctantly I resigned the miniature. + +We had found no difficulty in opening the first drawer within the iron +safe; we found great difficulty in opening the second: it was not +locked, but it resisted all efforts, till we inserted in the chinks +the edge of a chisel. When we had thus drawn it forth, we found a very +singular apparatus in the nicest order. Upon a small, thin book, or +rather tablet, was placed a saucer of crystal; this saucer was filled +with a clear liquid,--on that liquid floated a kind of compass, with a +needle shifting rapidly round; but instead of the usual points of a +compass were seven strange characters, not very unlike those used by +astrologers to denote the planets. A peculiar but not strong nor +displeasing odor came from this drawer, which was lined with a wood +that we afterwards discovered to be hazel. Whatever the cause of this +odor, it produced a material effect on the nerves. We all felt it, +even the two workmen who were in the room,--a creeping, tingling +sensation from the tips of the fingers to the roots of the hair. +Impatient to examine the tablet, I removed the saucer. As I did so the +needle of the compass went round and round with exceeding swiftness, +and I felt a shock that ran through my whole frame, so that I dropped +the saucer on the floor. The liquid was spilled; the saucer was +broken; the compass rolled to the end of the room, and at that instant +the walls shook to and fro, as if a giant had swayed and rocked them. + +The two workmen were so frightened that they ran up the ladder by +which we had descended from the trapdoor; but seeing that nothing more +happened, they were easily induced to return. + +Meanwhile I had opened the tablet: it was bound in plain red leather, +with a silver clasp; it contained but one sheet of thick vellum, and +on that sheet were inscribed, within a double pentacle, words in old +monkish Latin, which are literally to be translated thus: "On all that +it can reach within these walls, sentient or inanimate, living or +dead, as moves the needle, so work my will! Accursed be the house, and +restless be the dwellers therein." + +We found no more. Mr. J---- burned the tablet and its anathema. He +razed to the foundations the part of the building containing the +secret room with the chamber over it. He had then the courage to +inhabit the house himself for a month, and a quieter, +better-conditioned house could not be found in all London. +Subsequently he let it to advantage, and his tenant has made no +complaints. + + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Haunted and the Haunters, by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14195 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ed8523 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14195 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14195) diff --git a/old/14195-8.txt b/old/14195-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ab5e8b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14195-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1498 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Haunted and the Haunters, by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Haunted and the Haunters + +Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Release Date: November 28, 2004 [EBook #14195] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Ciconnetti, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +A STRANGE STORY. + +TO WHICH IS ADDED, + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS. + +BY + +EDWARD BULWER LYTTON (_LORD LYTTON_.) + + +"To doubt and to be astonished is to recognize our ignorance. Hence it +is that the lover of wisdom is in a certain sort a lover of mythi +[Greek: phylomythos pôs], for the subject of mythi is the astonishing +and marvellous."--SIR W. HAMILTON (after Aristotle), _Lectures on +Metaphysics_, vol. i. p. 78. + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +VOL. II. + +BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1897. + + + + + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS; + + +OR, THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN. + + + + + + * * * * * + +A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said to +me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we last met +I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London." + +"Really haunted,--and by what?--ghosts?" + +"Well, I can't answer that question; all I know is this: six weeks ago +my wife and I were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing a quiet +street, we saw on the window of one of the houses a bill, 'Apartments, +Furnished.' The situation suited us; we entered the house, liked the +rooms, engaged them by the week,--and left them the third day. No +power on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer; and I +don't wonder at it." + +"What did you see?" + +"Excuse me; I have no desire to be ridiculed as a superstitious +dreamer,--nor, on the other hand, could I ask you to accept on my +affirmation what you would hold to be incredible without the evidence +of your own senses. Let me only say this, it was not so much what we +saw or heard (in which you might fairly suppose that we were the dupes +of our own excited fancy, or the victims of imposture in others) that +drove us away, as it was an undefinable terror which seized both of us +whenever we passed by the door of a certain unfurnished room, in which +we neither saw nor heard anything. And the strangest marvel of all +was, that for once in my life I agreed with my wife, silly woman +though she be,--and allowed, after the third night, that it was +impossible to stay a fourth in that house. Accordingly, on the fourth +morning I summoned the woman who kept the house and attended on us, +and told her that the rooms did not quite suit us, and we would not +stay out our week." She said dryly, "I know why; you have stayed +longer than any other lodger. Few ever stayed a second night; none +before you a third. But I take it they have been very kind to you." + +"'They,--who?' I asked, affecting to smile. + +"'Why, they who haunt the house, whoever they are. I don't mind them. +I remember them many years ago, when I lived in this house, not as a +servant; but I know they will be the death of me some day. I don't +care,--I'm old, and must die soon anyhow; and then I shall be with +them, and in this house still.' The woman spoke with so dreary a +calmness that really it was a sort of awe that prevented my conversing +with her further. I paid for my week, and too happy were my wife and I +to get off so cheaply." + +"You excite my curiosity," said I; "nothing I should like better than +to sleep in a haunted house. Pray give me the address of the one which +you left so ignominiously." + +My friend gave me the address; and when we parted, I walked straight +towards the house thus indicated. + +It is situated on the north side of Oxford Street, in a dull but +respectable thoroughfare. I found the house shut up,--no bill at the +window, and no response to my knock. As I was turning away, a +beer-boy, collecting pewter pots at the neighboring areas, said to me, +"Do you want any one at that house, sir?" + +"Yes, I heard it was to be let." + +"Let!--why, the woman who kept it is dead,--has been dead these three +weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr. J---- offered +ever so much. He offered mother, who chars for him, £1 a week just to +open and shut the windows, and she would not." + +"Would not!--and why?" + +"The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead in +her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her." + +"Pooh! You speak of Mr. J----. Is he the owner of the house?" + +"Yes." + +"Where does he live?" + +"In G---- Street, No. ----." + +"What is he? In any business?" + +"No, sir,--nothing particular; a single gentleman." + +I gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and +proceeded to Mr. J----, in G---- Street, which was close by the street +that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to find Mr. J---- +at home,--an elderly man with intelligent countenance and +prepossessing manners. + +I communicated my name and my business frankly. I said I heard the +house was considered to be haunted,--that I had a strong desire to +examine a house with so equivocal a reputation; that I should be +greatly obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though only for a +night. I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might be +inclined to ask. "Sir," said Mr. J----, with great courtesy, "the +house is at your service, for as short or as long a time as you +please. Rent is out of the question,--the obligation will be on my +side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange phenomena +which at present deprive it of all value. I cannot let it, for I +cannot even get a servant to keep it in order or answer the door. +Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use that expression, not only +by night, but by day; though at night the disturbances are of a more +unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character. The poor old +woman who died in it three weeks ago was a pauper whom I took out of a +workhouse; for in her childhood she had been known to some of my +family, and had once been in such good circumstances that she had +rented that house of my uncle. She was a woman of superior education +and strong mind, and was the only person I could ever induce to remain +in the house. Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the +coroner's inquest, which gave it a notoriety in the neighborhood, I +have so despaired of finding any person to take charge of the house, +much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent free for a year +to any one who would pay its rates and taxes." + +"How long is it since the house acquired this sinister character?" + +"That I can scarcely tell you, but very many years since. The old +woman I spoke of, said it was haunted when she rented it between +thirty and forty years ago. The fact is, that my life has been spent +in the East Indies, and in the civil service of the Company. I +returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of an uncle, +among whose possessions was the house in question. I found it shut up +and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that no one would +inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a story. I spent +some money in repairing it, added to its old-fashioned furniture a few +modern articles,--advertised it, and obtained a lodger for a year. He +was a colonel on half-pay. He came in with his family, a son and a +daughter, and four or five servants: they all left the house the next +day; and, although each of them declared that he had seen something +different from that which had scared the others, a something still was +equally terrible to all. I really could not in conscience sue, nor +even blame, the colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old +woman I have spoken of, and she was empowered to let the house in +apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three days. I +do not tell you their stories,--to no two lodgers have there been +exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that you should +judge for yourself, than enter the house with an imagination +influenced by previous narratives; only be prepared to see and to hear +something or other, and take whatever precautions you yourself +please." + +"Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that +house?" "Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight +alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is +quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot +complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid; and unless +your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually strong, I +honestly add, that I advise you _not_ to pass a night in that house." + +"My interest _is_ exceedingly keen," said I; "and though only a coward +will boast of his nerves in situations wholly unfamiliar to him, yet +my nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger that I have the +right to rely on them,--even in a haunted house." + +Mr. J---- said very little more; he took the keys of the house out of +his bureau, gave them to me,--and, thanking him cordially for his +frankness, and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried off my +prize. + +Impatient for the experiment, as soon as I reached home, I summoned my +confidential servant,--a young man of gay spirits, fearless temper, +and as free from superstitious prejudice as any one I could think of. + +"F----," said I, "you remember in Germany how disappointed we were at +not finding a ghost in that old castle, which was said to be haunted +by a headless apparition? Well, I have heard of a house in London +which, I have reason to hope, is decidedly haunted. I mean to sleep +there to-night. From what I hear, there is no doubt that something +will allow itself to be seen or to be heard,--something, perhaps, +excessively horrible. Do you think if I take you with me, I may rely +on your presence of mind, whatever may happen?" + +"Oh, sir, pray trust me," answered F----, grinning with delight. + +"Very well; then here are the keys of the house,--this is the address. +Go now,--select for me any bedroom you please; and since the house has +not been inhabited for weeks, make up a good fire, air the bed +well,--see, of course, that there are candles as well as fuel. Take +with you my revolver and my dagger,--so much for my weapons; arm +yourself equally well; and if we are not a match for a dozen ghosts, +we shall be but a sorry couple of Englishmen." + +I was engaged for the rest of the day on business so urgent that I had +not leisure to think much on the nocturnal adventure to which I had +plighted my honor. I dined alone, and very late, and while dining, +read, as is my habit. I selected one of the volumes of Macaulay's +Essays. I thought to myself that I would take the book with me; there +was so much of healthfulness in the style, and practical life in the +subjects, that it would serve as an antidote against the influences of +superstitious fancy. + +Accordingly, about half-past nine, I put the book into my pocket, and +strolled leisurely towards the haunted house. I took with me a +favorite dog: an exceedingly sharp, bold, and vigilant +bull-terrier,--a dog fond of prowling about strange, ghostly corners +and passages at night in search of rats; a dog of dogs for a ghost. + +It was a summer night but chilly, the sky somewhat gloomy and +overcast. Still there was a moon, faint and sickly but still a moon, +and if the clouds permitted, after midnight it would be brighter. + +I reached the house, knocked, and my servant opened with a cheerful +smile. + +"All right, sir, and very comfortable." + +"Oh!" said I, rather disappointed; "have you not seen nor heard +anything remarkable?" + +"Well, sir, I must own I have heard something queer." + +"What?--what?" + +"The sound of feet pattering behind me; and once or twice small noises +like whispers close at my ear,--nothing more." + +"You are not at all frightened?" + +"I! not a bit of it, sir;" and the man's bold look reassured me on one +point,--namely, that happen what might, he would not desert me. + +We were in the hall, the street-door closed, and my attention was now +drawn to my dog. He had at first run in eagerly enough, but had +sneaked back to the door, and was scratching and whining to get out. +After patting him on the head, and encouraging him gently, the dog +seemed to reconcile himself to the situation, and followed me and +F---- through the house, but keeping close at my heels instead of +hurrying inquisitively in advance, which was his usual and normal +habit in all strange places. We first visited the subterranean +apartments,--the kitchen and other offices, and especially the +cellars, in which last there were two or three bottles of wine still +left in a bin, covered with cobwebs, and evidently, by their +appearance, undisturbed for many years. It was clear that the ghosts +were not winebibbers. For the rest we discovered nothing of interest. +There was a gloomy little backyard, with very high walls. The stones +of this yard were very damp; and what with the damp, and what with the +dust and smoke-grime on the pavement, our feet left a slight +impression where we passed. And now appeared the first strange +phenomenon witnessed by myself in this strange abode. I saw, just +before me, the print of a foot suddenly form itself, as it were. I +stopped, caught hold of my servant, and pointed to it. In advance of +that footprint as suddenly dropped another. We both saw it. I advanced +quickly to the place; the footprint kept advancing before me, a small +footprint,--the foot of a child: the impression was too faint +thoroughly to distinguish the shape, but it seemed to us both that it +was the print of a naked foot. This phenomenon ceased when we arrived +at the opposite wall, nor did it repeat itself on returning. We +remounted the stairs, and entered the rooms on the ground-floor, a +dining parlor, a small back-parlor, and a still smaller third room +that had been probably appropriated to a footman,--all still as death. +We then visited the drawing-rooms, which seemed fresh and new. In the +front room I seated myself in an arm-chair. F---- placed on the table +the candlestick with which he had lighted us. I told him to shut the +door. As he turned to do so a chair opposite to me moved from the wall +quickly and noiselessly, and dropped itself about a yard from my own +chair, immediately fronting it. + +"Why, this is better than the turning-tables," said I, with a +half-laugh; and as I laughed, my dog put back his head and howled. + +F---, coming back, had not observed the movement of the chair. He +employed himself now in stilling the dog. I continued to gaze on the +chair, and fancied I saw on it a pale, blue, misty outline of a human +figure, but an outline so indistinct that I could only distrust my own +vision. The dog now was quiet. + +"Put back that chair opposite to me," said I to F---; "put it back to +the wall." + +F---- obeyed. "Was that you, sir?" said he, turning abruptly. + +"I!--what?" + +"Why, something struck me. I felt it sharply on the shoulder,--just +here." + +"No," said I. "But we have jugglers present, and though we may not +discover their tricks, we shall catch _them_ before they frighten +_us_." + +We did not stay long in the drawing-rooms,--in fact, they felt so damp +and so chilly that I was glad to get to the fire upstairs. We locked +the doors of the drawing-rooms,--a precaution which, I should observe, +we had taken with all the rooms we had searched below. The bedroom my +servant had selected for me was the best on the floor,--a large one, +with two windows fronting the street. The four-posted bed, which took +up no inconsiderable space, was opposite to the fire, which burned +clear and bright; a door in the wall to the left, between the bed and +the window, communicated with the room which my servant appropriated +to himself. This last was a small room with a sofa-bed, and had no +communication with the landing-place,--no other door but that which +conducted to the bedroom I was to occupy. On either side of my +fireplace was a cupboard without locks, flush with the wall, and +covered with the same dull-brown paper. We examined these +cupboards,--only hooks to suspend female dresses, nothing else; we +sounded the walls,--evidently solid, the outer walls of the building. +Having finished the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a few +moments, and lighted my cigar, I then, still accompanied by F----, +went forth to complete my reconnoitre. In the landing-place there was +another door; it was closed firmly. "Sir," said my servant, in +surprise, "I unlocked this door with all the others when I first came; +it cannot have got locked from the inside, for--" + +Before he had finished his sentence, the door, which neither of us +then was touching, opened quietly of itself. We looked at each other a +single instant. The same thought seized both,--some human agency might +be detected here. I rushed in first, my servant followed. A small, +blank, dreary room without furniture; a few empty boxes and hampers in +a corner; a small window; the shutters closed; not even a fireplace; +no other door but that by which we had entered; no carpet on the +floor, and the floor seemed very old, uneven, worm-eaten, mended here +and there, as was shown by the whiter patches on the wood; but no +living being, and no visible place in which a living being could have +hidden. As we stood gazing round, the door by which we had entered +closed as quietly as it had before opened; we were imprisoned. + +For the first time I felt a creep of undefinable horror. Not so my +servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir; I could break that +trumpery door with a kick of my foot." + +"Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the +vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclosed the shutters +and see what is without." + +I unbarred the shutters,--the window looked on the little backyard I +have before described; there was no ledge without,--nothing to break +the sheer descent of the wall. No man getting out of that window would +have found any footing till he had fallen on the stones below. + +F----, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now +turned round to me and asked my permission to use force. And I should +here state, in justice to the servant, that, far from evincing any +superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and even gayety amidst +circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my admiration, and made me +congratulate myself on having secured a companion in every way fitted +to the occasion. I willingly gave him the permission he required. But +though he was a remarkably strong man, his force was as idle as his +milder efforts; the door did not even shake to his stoutest kick. +Breathless and panting, he desisted. I then tried the door myself, +equally in vain. As I ceased from the effort, again that creep of +horror came over me; but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I +felt as if some strange and ghastly exhalation were rising up from the +chinks of that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a +venomous influence hostile to human life. The door now very slowly and +quietly opened as of its own accord. We precipitated ourselves into +the landing-place. We both saw a large, pale light--as large as the +human figure, but shapeless and unsubstantial--move before us, and +ascend the stairs that led from the landing into the attics. I +followed the light, and my servant followed me. It entered, to the +right of the landing, a small garret, of which the door stood open. I +entered in the same instant. The light then collapsed into a small +globule, exceedingly brilliant and vivid, rested a moment on a bed in +the corner, quivered, and vanished. We approached the bed and examined +it,--a half-tester, such as is commonly found in attics devoted to +servants. On the drawers that stood near it we perceived an old faded +silk kerchief, with the needle still left in a rent half repaired. The +kerchief was covered with dust; probably it had belonged to the old +woman who had last died in that house, and this might have been her +sleeping-room. I had sufficient curiosity to open the drawers: there +were a few odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied round +with a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took the liberty to possess +myself of the letters. We found nothing else in the room worth +noticing,--nor did the light reappear; but we distinctly heard, as we +turned to go, a pattering footfall on the floor, just before us. We +went through the other attics (in all four), the footfall still +preceding us. Nothing to be seen,--nothing but the footfall heard. I +had the letters in my hand; just as I was descending the stairs I +distinctly felt my wrist seized, and a faint, soft effort made to draw +the letters from my clasp. I only held them the more tightly, and the +effort ceased. + +We regained the bedchamber appropriated to myself, and I then remarked +that my dog had not followed us when we had left it. He was thrusting +himself close to the fire, and trembling. I was impatient to examine +the letters; and while I read them, my servant opened a little box in +which he had deposited the weapons I had ordered him to bring, took +them out, placed them on a table close at my bed-head, and then +occupied himself in soothing the dog, who, however, seemed to heed him +very little. + +The letters were short,--they were dated; the dates exactly +thirty-five years ago. They were evidently from a lover to his +mistress, or a husband to some young wife. Not only the terms of +expression, but a distinct reference to a former voyage, indicated the +writer to have been a seafarer. The spelling and handwriting were +those of a man imperfectly educated, but still the language itself was +forcible. In the expressions of endearment there was a kind of rough, +wild love; but here and there were dark unintelligible hints at some +secret not of love,--some secret that seemed of crime. "We ought to +love each other," was one of the sentences I remember, "for how every +one else would execrate us if all was known." Again: "Don't let any +one be in the same room with you at night,--you talk in your sleep." +And again: "What's done can't be undone; and I tell you there's +nothing against us unless the dead could come to life." Here there was +underlined in a better handwriting (a female's), "They do!" At the end +of the letter latest in date the same female hand had written these +words: "Lost at sea the 4th of June, the same day as--" + +I put down the letters, and began to muse over their contents. + +Fearing, however, that the train of thought into which I fell might +unsteady my nerves, I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit state +to cope with whatever of marvellous the advancing night might bring +forth. I roused myself; laid the letters on the table; stirred up the +fire, which was still bright and cheering; and opened my volume of +Macaulay. I read quietly enough till about half-past eleven. I then +threw myself dressed upon the bed, and told my servant he might retire +to his own room, but must keep himself awake. I bade him leave open +the door between the two rooms. Thus alone, I kept two candles burning +on the table by my bed-head. I placed my watch beside the weapons, and +calmly resumed my Macaulay. Opposite to me the fire burned clear; and +on the hearthrug, seemingly asleep, lay the dog. In about twenty +minutes I felt an exceedingly cold air pass by my cheek, like a sudden +draught. I fancied the door to my right, communicating with the +landing-place, must have got open; but no,--it was closed. I then +turned my glance to my left, and saw the flame of the candles +violently swayed as by a wind. At the same moment the watch beside the +revolver softly slid from the table,--softly, softly; no visible +hand,--it was gone. I sprang up, seizing the revolver with the one +hand, the dagger with the other; I was not willing that my weapons +should share the fate of the watch. Thus armed, I looked round the +floor,--no sign of the watch. Three slow, loud, distinct knocks were +now heard at the bed-head; my servant called out, "Is that you, sir?" + +"No; be on your guard." + +The dog now roused himself and sat on his haunches, his ears moving +quickly backwards and forwards. He kept his eyes fixed on me with a +look so strange that he concentred all my attention on himself. Slowly +he rose up, all his hair bristling, and stood perfectly rigid, and +with the same wild stare. I had no time, however, to examine the dog. +Presently my servant emerged from his room; and if ever I saw horror +in the human face, it was then. I should not have recognized him had +we met in the street, so altered was every lineament. He passed by me +quickly, saying, in a whisper that seemed scarcely to come from his +lips, "Run, run! it is after me!" He gained the door to the landing, +pulled it open, and rushed forth. I followed him into the landing +involuntarily, calling him to stop; but, without heeding me, he +bounded down the stairs, clinging to the balusters, and taking several +steps at a time. I heard, where I stood, the street-door open,--heard +it again clap to. I was left alone in the haunted house. + +It was but for a moment that I remained undecided whether or not to +follow my servant; pride and curiosity alike forbade so dastardly a +flight. I re-entered my room, closing the door after me, and proceeded +cautiously into the interior chamber. I encountered nothing to justify +my servant's terror. I again carefully examined the walls, to see if +there were any concealed door. I could find no trace of one,--not even +a seam in the dull-brown paper with which the room was hung. How, +then, had the THING, whatever it was, which had so scared him, +obtained ingress except through my own chamber? + +I returned to my room, shut and locked the door that opened upon the +interior one, and stood on the hearth, expectant and prepared. I now +perceived that the dog had slunk into an angle of the wall, and was +pressing himself close against it, as if literally striving to force +his way into it. I approached the animal and spoke to it; the poor +brute was evidently beside itself with terror. It showed all its +teeth, the slaver dropping from its jaws, and would certainly have +bitten me if I had touched it. It did not seem to recognize me. +Whoever has seen at the Zoological Gardens a rabbit, fascinated by a +serpent, cowering in a corner, may form some idea of the anguish which +the dog exhibited. Finding all efforts to soothe the animal in vain, +and fearing that his bite might be as venomous in that state as in the +madness of hydrophobia, I left him alone, placed my weapons on the +table beside the fire, seated myself, and recommenced my Macaulay. + +Perhaps, in order not to appear seeking credit for a courage, or +rather a coolness, which the reader may conceive I exaggerate, I may +be pardoned if I pause to indulge in one or two egotistical remarks. + +As I hold presence of mind, or what is called courage, to be precisely +proportioned to familiarity with the circumstances that lead to it, so +I should say that I had been long sufficiently familiar with all +experiments that appertain to the marvellous. I had witnessed many +very extraordinary phenomena in various parts of the world,--phenomena +that would be either totally disbelieved if I stated them, or ascribed +to supernatural agencies. Now, my theory is that the supernatural is +the impossible, and that what is called supernatural is only a +something in the laws of Nature of which we have been hitherto +ignorant. Therefore, if a ghost rise before me, I have not the right +to say, "So, then, the supernatural is possible;" but rather, "So, +then, the apparition of a ghost, is, contrary to received opinion, +within the laws of Nature,--that is, not supernatural." + +Now, in all that I had hitherto witnessed, and indeed in all the +wonders which the amateurs of mystery in our age record as facts, a +material living agency is always required. On the Continent you will +find still magicians who assert that they can raise spirits. Assume +for the moment that they assert truly, still the living material form +of the magician is present; and he is the material agency by which, +from some constitutional peculiarities, certain strange phenomena are +represented to your natural senses. + +Accept, again, as truthful, the tales of spirit-manifestation in +America,--musical or other sounds; writings on paper, produced by no +discernible hand; articles of furniture moved without apparent human +agency; or the actual sight and touch of hands, to which no bodies +seem to belong,--still there must be found the MEDIUM, or living +being, with constitutional peculiarities capable of obtaining these +signs. In fine, in all such marvels, supposing even that there is no +imposture, there must be a human being like ourselves by whom, or +through whom, the effects presented to human beings are produced. It +is so with the now familiar phenomena of mesmerism or electro-biology; +the mind of the person operated on is affected through a material +living agent. Nor, supposing it true that a mesmerized patient can +respond to the will or passes of a mesmerizer a hundred miles distant, +is the response less occasioned by a material being; it may be through +a material fluid--call it Electric, call it Odic, call it what you +will--which has the power of traversing space and passing obstacles, +that the material effect is communicated from one to the other. Hence, +all that I had hitherto witnessed, or expected to witness, in this +strange house, I believed to be occasioned through some agency or +medium as mortal as myself; and this idea necessarily prevented the +awe with which those who regard as supernatural things that are not +within the ordinary operations of Nature, might have been impressed by +the adventures of that memorable night. + +As, then, it was my conjecture that all that was presented, or would +be presented to my senses, must originate in some human being gifted +by constitution with the power so to present them, and having some +motive so to do, I felt an interest in my theory which, in its way, +was rather philosophical than superstitious. And I can sincerely say +that I was in as tranquil a temper for observation as any practical +experimentalist could be in awaiting the effects of some rare, though +perhaps perilous, chemical combination. Of course, the more I kept my +mind detached from fancy, the more the temper fitted for observation +would be obtained; and I therefore riveted eye and thought on the +strong daylight sense in the page of my Macaulay. + +I now became aware that something interposed between the page and the +light,--the page was over-shadowed. I looked up, and I saw what I +shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe. + +It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very undefined +outline. I cannot say it was of a human form, and yet it had more +resemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to anything else. +As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and the light +around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touching +the ceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An +iceberg before me could not more have chilled me; nor could the cold +of an iceberg have been more purely physical. I feel convinced that it +was not the cold caused by fear. As I continued to gaze, I +thought--but this I cannot say with precision--that I distinguished +two eyes looking down on me from the height. One moment I fancied that +I distinguished them clearly, the next they seemed gone; but still two +rays of a pale-blue light frequently shot through the darkness, as +from the height on which I half believed, half doubted, that I had +encountered the eyes. + +I strove to speak,--my voice utterly failed me; I could only think to +myself, "Is this fear? It is _not_ fear!" I strove to rise,--in vain; +I felt as if weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, my +impression was that of an immense and overwhelming Power opposed to my +volition,--that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond +man's, which one may feel _physically_ in a storm at sea, in a +conflagration, or when confronting some terrible wild beast, or +rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt _morally_. Opposed to +my will was another will, as far superior to its strength as storm, +fire, and shark are superior in material force to the force of man. + +And now, as this impression grew on me,--now came, at last, horror, +horror to a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained pride, +if not courage; and in my own mind I said, "This is horror, but it is +not fear; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason rejects this +thing; it is an illusion,--I do not fear." With a violent effort I +succeeded at last in stretching out my hand towards the weapon on the +table; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange +shock, and my arm fell to my side powerless. And now, to add to my +horror, the light began slowly to wane from the candles,--they were +not, as it were, extinguished, but their flame seemed very gradually +withdrawn; it was the same with the fire,--the light was extracted +from the fuel; in a few minutes the room was in utter darkness. The +dread that came over me, to be thus in the dark with that dark Thing, +whose power was so intensely felt, brought a reaction of nerve. In +fact, terror had reached that climax, that either my senses must have +deserted me, or I must have burst through the spell. I did burst +through it. I found voice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember +that I broke forth with words like these, "I do not fear, my soul does +not fear;" and at the same time I found strength to rise. Still in +that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows; tore aside the +curtain; flung open the shutters; my first thought was--LIGHT. And +when I saw the moon high, clear, and calm, I felt a joy that almost +compensated for the previous terror. There was the moon, there was +also the light from the gas-lamps in the deserted slumberous street. I +turned to look back into the room; the moon penetrated its shadow very +palely and partially,--but still there was light. The dark Thing, +whatever it might be, was gone,--except that I could yet see a dim +shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade, against the opposite +wall. + +My eye now rested on the table, and from under the table (which was +without cloth or cover,--an old mahogany round-table) there rose a +hand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as much +of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person, lean, +wrinkled, small too,--a woman's hand. That hand very softly closed on +the two letters that lay on the table; hand and letters both vanished. +There then came the same three loud, measured knocks I had heard at +the bedhead before this extraordinary drama had commenced. + +As those sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate sensibly; +and at the far end there rose, as from the floor, sparks or globules +like bubbles of light, many colored,--green, yellow, fire-red, azure. +Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny Will-o'-the-Wisps, +the sparks moved, slow or swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as +in the drawing-room below) was now advanced from the wall without +apparent agency, and placed at the opposite side of the table. +Suddenly, as forth from the chair, there grew a shape,--a woman's +shape. It was distinct as a shape of life,--ghastly as a shape of +death. The face was that of youth, with a strange, mournful beauty; +the throat and shoulders were bare, the rest of the form in a loose +robe of cloudy white. It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which +fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to +the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the +shade in the background grew darker; and again I thought I beheld the +eyes gleaming out from the summit of the shadow,--eyes fixed upon that +shape. + +As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another +shape, equally distinct, equally ghastly,--a man's shape, a young +man's. It was in the dress of the last century, or rather in a +likeness of such dress (for both the male shape and the female, though +defined, were evidently unsubstantial, impalpable,--simulacra, +phantasms); and there was something incongruous, grotesque, yet +fearful, in the contrast between the elaborate finery, the courtly +precision of that old-fashioned garb, with its ruffles and lace and +buckles, and the corpse-like aspect and ghost-like stillness of the +flitting wearer. Just as the male shape approached the female, the +dark Shadow started from the wall, all three for a moment wrapped in +darkness. When the pale light returned, the two phantoms were as if in +the grasp of the Shadow that towered between them; and there was a +blood-stain on the breast of the female; and the phantom male was +leaning on its phantom sword, and blood seemed trickling fast from the +ruffles, from the lace; and the darkness of the intermediate Shadow +swallowed them up,--they were gone. And again the bubbles of light +shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing thicker and thicker and more +wildly confused in their movements. + +The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from the +aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she held +letters,--the very letters over which I had seen _the_ Hand close; and +behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if to listen, and +then she opened the letters and seemed to read; and over her shoulder +I saw a livid face, the face as of a man long drowned,--bloated, +bleached, seaweed tangled in its dripping hair; and at her feet lay a +form as of a corpse; and beside the corpse there cowered a child, a +miserable, squalid child, with famine in its cheeks and fear in its +eyes. And as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines +vanished, and it became a face of youth,--hard-eyed, stony, but still +youth; and the Shadow darted forth, and darkened over these phantoms +as it had darkened over the last. + +Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were intently +fixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow,--malignant, serpent +eyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in their +disordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mingled with the wan moonlight. +And now from these globules themselves, as from the shell of an egg, +monstrous things burst out; the air grew filled with them: larvae so +bloodless and so hideous that I can in no way describe them except to +remind the reader of the swarming life which the solar microscope +brings before his eyes in a drop of water,--things transparent, +supple, agile, chasing each other, devouring each, other; forms like +nought ever beheld by the naked eye. As the shapes were without +symmetry, so their movements were without order. In their very +vagrancies there was no sport; they came round me and round, thicker +and faster and swifter, swarming over my head, crawling over my right +arm, which was outstretched in involuntary command against all evil +beings. Sometimes I felt myself touched, but not by them; invisible +hands touched me. Once I felt the clutch as of cold, soft fingers at +my throat. I was still equally conscious that if I gave way to fear I +should be in bodily peril; and I concentred all my faculties in the +single focus of resisting stubborn will. And I turned my sight from +the Shadow; above all, from those strange serpent eyes,--eyes that had +now become distinctly visible. For there, though in nought else around +me, I was aware that there was a WILL, and a will of intense, +creative, working evil, which might crush down my own. + +The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the air +of some near conflagration. The larvæ grew lurid as things that live +in fire. Again the room vibrated; again were heard the three measured +knocks; and again all things were swallowed up in the darkness of the +dark Shadow, as if out of that darkness all had come, into that +darkness all returned. + +As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it had +been withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the table, +again into the fuel in the grate. The whole room came once more +calmly, healthfully into sight. + +The two doors were still closed, the door communicating with the +servant's room still locked. In the corner of the wall, into which he +had so convulsively niched himself, lay the dog. I called to him,--no +movement; I approached,--the animal was dead: his eyes protruded; his +tongue out of his mouth; the froth gathered round his jaws. I took him +in my arms; I brought him to the fire. I felt acute grief for the loss +of my poor favorite,--acute self-reproach; I accused myself of his +death; I imagined he had died of fright. But what was my surprise on +finding that his neck was actually broken. Had this been done in the +dark? Must it not have been by a hand human as mine; must there not +have been a human agency all the while in that room? Good cause to +suspect it. I cannot tell. I cannot do more than state the fact +fairly; the reader may draw his own inference. + +Another surprising circumstance,--my watch was restored to the table +from which it had been so mysteriously withdrawn; but it had stopped +at the very moment it was so withdrawn, nor, despite all the skill of +the watchmaker, has it ever gone since,--that is, it will go in a +strange, erratic way for a few hours, and then come to a dead stop; it +is worthless. + +Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I +long to wait before the dawn broke. Nor till it was broad daylight did +I quit the haunted house. Before I did so, I revisited the little +blind room in which my servant and myself had been for a time +imprisoned. I had a strong impression--for which I could not +account--that from that room had originated the mechanism of the +phenomena, if I may use the term, which had been experienced in my +chamber. And though I entered it now in the clear day, with the sun +peering through the filmy window, I still felt, as I stood on its +floors, the creep of the horror which I had first there experienced +the night before, and which had been so aggravated by what had passed +in my own chamber. I could not, indeed, bear to stay more than half a +minute within those walls. I descended the stairs, and again I heard +the footfall before me; and when I opened the street door, I thought I +could distinguish a very low laugh. I gained my own home, expecting to +find my runaway servant there; but he had not presented himself, nor +did I hear more of him for three days, when I received a letter from +him, dated from Liverpool to this effect:-- + +"HONORED SIR,--I humbly entreat your pardon, though I can scarcely +hope that you will think that I deserve it, unless--which Heaven +forbid!--you saw what I did. I feel that it will be years before I can +recover myself; and as to being fit for service, it is out of the +question. I am therefore going to my brother-in-law at Melbourne. The +ship sails to-morrow. Perhaps the long voyage may set me up. I do +nothing now but start and tremble, and fancy IT is behind me. I humbly +beg you, honored sir, to order my clothes, and whatever wages are due +to me, to be sent to my mother's, at Walworth,--John knows her +address." + +The letter ended with additional apologies, somewhat incoherent, and +explanatory details as to effects that had been under the writer's +charge. This flight may perhaps warrant a suspicion that the man +wished to go to Australia, and had been somehow or other fraudulently +mixed up with the events of the night. I say nothing in refutation of +that conjecture; rather, I suggest it as one that would seem to many +persons the most probable solution of improbable occurrences. My +belief in my own theory remained unshaken. I returned in the evening +to the house, to bring away in a hack cab the things I had left there, +with my poor dog's body. In this task I was not disturbed, nor did any +incident worth note befall me, except that still, on ascending and +descending the stairs, I heard the same footfall in advance. On +leaving the house, I went to Mr. J----'s. He was at home. I returned +him the keys, told him that my curiosity was sufficiently gratified, +and was about to relate quickly what had passed, when he stopped me, +and said, though with much politeness, that he had no longer any +interest in a mystery which none had ever solved. + +I determined at least to tell him of the two letters I had read, as +well as of the extraordinary manner in which they had disappeared; and +I then inquired if he thought they had been addressed to the woman who +had died in the house, and if there were anything in her early history +which could possibly confirm the dark suspicions to which the letters +gave rise. Mr. J---- seemed startled, and, after musing a few moments, +answered, "I am but little acquainted with the woman's earlier +history, except as I before told you, that her family were known to +mine. But you revive some vague reminiscences to her prejudice. I will +make inquiries, and inform you of their result. Still, even if we +could admit the popular superstition that a person who had been either +the perpetrator or the victim of dark crimes in life could revisit, as +a restless spirit, the scene in which those crimes had been committed, +I should observe that the house was infested by strange sights and +sounds before the old woman died--you smile--what would you say?" + +"I would say this, that I am convinced, if we could get to the bottom +of these mysteries, we should find a living human agency." + +"What! you believe it is all an imposture? For what object?" + +"Not an imposture in the ordinary sense of the word. If suddenly I +were to sink into a deep sleep, from which you could not awake me, but +in that sleep could answer questions with an accuracy which I could +not pretend to when awake,--tell you what money you had in your +pocket, nay, describe your very thoughts,--it is not necessarily an +imposture, any more than it is necessarily supernatural. I should be, +unconsciously to myself, under a mesmeric influence, conveyed to me +from a distance by a human being who had acquired power over me by +previous _rapport_." + +"But if a mesmerizer could so affect another living being, can you +suppose that a mesmerizer could also affect inanimate objects: move +chairs,--open and shut doors?" + +"Or impress our senses with the belief in such effects,--we never +having been _en rapport_ with the person acting on us? No. What is +commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power +akin to mesmerism, and superior to it,--the power that in the old days +was called Magic. That such a power may extend to all inanimate +objects of matter, I do not say; but if so, it would not be against +Nature,--it would be only a rare power in Nature which might be given +to constitutions with certain peculiarities, and cultivated by +practice to an extraordinary degree. That such a power might extend +over the dead,--that is, over certain thoughts and memories that the +dead may still retain,--and compel, not that which ought properly to +be called the SOUL, and which is far beyond human reach, but rather a +phantom of what has been most earth-stained on earth, to make itself +apparent to our senses, is a very ancient though obsolete theory upon +which I will hazard no opinion. But I do not conceive the power would +be supernatural. Let me illustrate what I mean from an experiment +which Paracelsus describes as not difficult, and which the author of +the 'Curiosities of Literature' cites as credible: A flower perishes; +you burn it. Whatever were the elements of that flower while it lived +are gone, dispersed, you know not whither; you can never discover nor +re-collect them. But you can, by chemistry, out of the burned dust of +that flower, raise a spectrum of the flower, just as it seemed in +life. It may be the same with the human being. The soul has as much +escaped you as the essence or elements of the flower. Still you may +make a spectrum of it. And this phantom, though in the popular +superstition it is held to be the soul of the departed, must not be +confounded with the true soul; it is but the eidolon of the dead form. +Hence, like the best attested stories of ghosts or spirits, the thing +that most strikes us is the absence of what we hold to be soul,--that +is, of superior emancipated intelligence. These apparitions come for +little or no object,--they seldom speak when they do come; if they +speak, they utter no ideas above those of an ordinary person on earth. +American spirit-seers have published volumes of communications, in +prose and verse, which they assert to be given in the names of the +most illustrious dead: Shakespeare, Bacon,--Heaven knows whom. Those +communications, taking the best, are certainly not a whit of higher +order than would be communications from living persons of fair talent +and education; they are wondrously inferior to what Bacon, +Shakespeare, and Plato said and wrote when on earth. Nor, what is more +noticeable, do they ever contain an idea that was not on the earth +before. Wonderful, therefore, as such phenomena may be (granting them +to be truthful), I see much that philosophy may question, nothing that +it is incumbent on philosophy to deny,--namely, nothing supernatural. +They are but ideas conveyed somehow or other (we have not yet +discovered the means) from one mortal brain to another. Whether, in so +doing, tables walk of their own accord, or fiendlike shapes appear in +a magic circle, or bodiless hands rise and remove material objects, or +a Thing of Darkness, such as presented itself to me, freeze our +blood,--still am I persuaded that these are but agencies conveyed, as +by electric wires, to my own brain from the brain of another. In some +constitutions there is a natural chemistry, and those constitutions +may produce chemic wonders,--in others a natural fluid, call it +electricity, and these may produce electric wonders. But the wonders +differ from Normal Science in this,--they are alike objectless, +purposeless, puerile, frivolous. They lead on to no grand results; and +therefore the world does not heed, and true sages have not cultivated +them. But sure I am, that of all I saw or heard, a man, human as +myself, was the remote originator; and I believe unconsciously to +himself as to the exact effects produced, for this reason: no two +persons, you say, have ever told you that they experienced exactly the +same thing. Well, observe, no two persons ever experience exactly the +same dream. If this were an ordinary imposture, the machinery would be +arranged for results that would but little vary; if it were a +supernatural agency permitted by the Almighty, it would surely be for +some definite end. These phenomena belong to neither class; my +persuasion is, that they originate in some brain now far distant; that +that brain had no distinct volition in anything that occurred; that +what does occur reflects but its devious, motley, ever-shifting, +half-formed thoughts; in short, that it has been but the dreams of +such a brain put into action and invested with a semi-substance. That +this brain is of immense power, that it can set matter into movement, +that it is malignant and destructive, I believe; some material force +must have killed my dog; the same force might, for aught I know, have +sufficed to kill myself, had I been as subjugated by terror as the +dog,--had my intellect or my spirit given me no countervailing +resistance in my will." + +"It killed your dog,--that is fearful! Indeed it is strange that no +animal can be induced to stay in that house; not even a cat. Bats and +mice are never found in it." + +"The instincts of the brute creation detect influences deadly to their +existence. Man's reason has a sense less subtle, because it has a +resisting power more supreme. But enough; do you comprehend my +theory?" + +"Yes, though imperfectly,--and I accept any crotchet (pardon the +word), however odd, rather than embrace at once the notion of ghosts +and hobgoblins we imbibed in our nurseries. Still, to my unfortunate +house, the evil is the same. What on earth can I do with the house?" + +"I will tell you what I would do. I am convinced from my own internal +feelings that the small, unfurnished room at right angles to the door +of the bed-room which I occupied, forms a starting-point or receptacle +for the influences which haunt the house; and I strongly advise you to +have the walls opened, the floor removed,--nay, the whole room pulled +down. I observe that it is detached from the body of the house, built +over the small backyard, and could be removed without injury to the +rest of the building." + +"And you think, if I did that--" + +"You would cut off the telegraph wires. Try it. I am so persuaded that +I am right, that I will pay half the expense if you will allow me to +direct the operations." + +"Nay, I am well able to afford the cost; for the rest allow me to +write to you." + +About ten days after I received a letter from Mr. J----, telling me +that he had visited the house since I had seen him; that he had found +the two letters I had described, replaced in the drawer from which I +had taken them; that he had read them with misgivings like my own; +that he had instituted a cautious inquiry about the woman to whom I +rightly conjectured they had been written. It seemed that thirty-six +years ago (a year before the date of the letters) she had married, +against the wish of her relations, an American of very suspicious +character; in fact, he was generally believed to have been a pirate. +She herself was the daughter of very respectable tradespeople, and had +served in the capacity of a nursery governess before her marriage. She +had a brother, a widower, who was considered wealthy, and who had one +child of about six years old. A month after the marriage the body of +this brother was found in the Thames, near London Bridge; there seemed +some marks of violence about his throat, but they were not deemed +sufficient to warrant the inquest in any other verdict than that of +"found drowned." + +The American and his wife took charge of the little boy, the deceased +brother having by his will left his sister the guardian of his only +child,--and in event of the child's death the sister inherited. The +child died about six months afterwards,--it was supposed to have been +neglected and ill-treated. The neighbors deposed to have heard it +shriek at night. The surgeon who had examined it after death said that +it was emaciated as if from want of nourishment, and the body was +covered with livid bruises. It seemed that one winter night the child +had sought to escape; crept out into the backyard; tried to scale the +wall; fallen back exhausted; and been found at morning on the stones +in a dying state. But though there was some evidence of cruelty, there +was none of murder; and the aunt and her husband had sought to +palliate cruelty by alleging the exceeding stubbornness and perversity +of the child, who was declared to be half-witted. Be that as it may, +at the orphan's death the aunt inherited her brother's fortune. Before +the first wedded year was out, the American quitted England abruptly, +and never returned to it. He obtained a cruising vessel, which was +lost in the Atlantic two years afterwards. The widow was left in +affluence, but reverses of various kinds had befallen her: a bank +broke; an investment failed; she went into a small business and became +insolvent; then she entered into service, sinking lower and lower, +from housekeeper down to maid-of-all-work,--never long retaining a +place, though nothing decided against her character was ever alleged. +She was considered sober, honest, and peculiarly quiet in her ways; +still nothing prospered with her. And so she had dropped into the +workhouse, from which Mr. J---- had taken her, to be placed in charge +of the very house which she had rented as mistress in the first year +of her wedded life. + +Mr. J---- added that he had passed an hour alone in the unfurnished +room which I had urged him to destroy, and that his impressions of +dread while there were so great, though he had neither heard nor seen +anything, that he was eager to have the walls bared and the floors +removed as I had suggested. He had engaged persons for the work, and +would commence any day I would name. + +The day was accordingly fixed. I repaired to the haunted house,--we +went into the blind, dreary room, took up the skirting, and then the +floors. Under the rafters, covered with rubbish, was found a +trap-door, quite large enough to admit a man. It was closely nailed +down, with clamps and rivets of iron. On removing these we descended +into a room below, the existence of which had never been suspected. In +this room there had been a window and a flue, but they had been +bricked over, evidently for many years. By the help of candles we +examined this place; it still retained some mouldering +furniture,--three chairs, an oak settle, a table,--all of the fashion +of about eighty years ago. There was a chest of drawers against the +wall, in which we found, half-rotted away, old-fashioned articles of a +man's dress, such as might have been worn eighty or a hundred years +ago by a gentleman of some rank; costly steel buckles and buttons, +like those yet worn in court-dresses, a handsome court sword; in a +waistcoat which had once been rich with gold-lace, but which was now +blackened and foul with damp, we found five guineas, a few silver +coins, and an ivory ticket, probably for some place of entertainment +long since passed away. But our main discovery was in a kind of iron +safe fixed to the wall, the lock of which it cost us much trouble to +get picked. + +In this safe were three shelves and two small drawers. Ranged on the +shelves were several small bottles of crystal, hermetically stopped. +They contained colorless, volatile essences, of the nature of which I +shall only say that they were not poisons,--phosphor and ammonia +entered into some of them. There were also some very curious glass +tubes, and a small pointed rod of iron, with a large lump of +rock-crystal, and another of amber,--also a loadstone of great power. + +In one of the drawers we found a miniature portrait set in gold, and +retaining the freshness of its colors most remarkably, considering the +length of time it had probably been there. The portrait was that of a +man who might be somewhat advanced in middle life, perhaps forty-seven +or forty-eight. It was a remarkable face,--a most impressive face. If +you could fancy some mighty serpent transformed into man, preserving +in the human lineaments the old serpent type, you would have a better +idea of that countenance than long descriptions can convey: the width +and flatness of frontal; the tapering elegance of contour disguising +the strength of the deadly jaw; the long, large, terrible eye, +glittering and green as the emerald,--and withal a certain ruthless +calm, as if from the consciousness of an immense power. + +Mechanically I turned round the miniature to examine the back of it, +and on the back was engraved a pentacle; in the middle of the pentacle +a ladder, and the third step of the ladder was formed by the date +1765. Examining still more minutely, I detected a spring; this, on +being pressed, opened the back of the miniature as a lid. Within-side +the lid were engraved, "Marianna to thee. Be faithful in life and in +death to ----." Here follows a name that I will not mention, but it +was not unfamiliar to me. I had heard it spoken of by old men in my +childhood as the name borne by a dazzling charlatan who had made a +great sensation in London for a year or so, and had fled the country +on the charge of a double murder within his own house,--that of his +mistress and his rival. I said nothing of this to Mr. J----, to whom +reluctantly I resigned the miniature. + +We had found no difficulty in opening the first drawer within the iron +safe; we found great difficulty in opening the second: it was not +locked, but it resisted all efforts, till we inserted in the chinks +the edge of a chisel. When we had thus drawn it forth, we found a very +singular apparatus in the nicest order. Upon a small, thin book, or +rather tablet, was placed a saucer of crystal; this saucer was filled +with a clear liquid,--on that liquid floated a kind of compass, with a +needle shifting rapidly round; but instead of the usual points of a +compass were seven strange characters, not very unlike those used by +astrologers to denote the planets. A peculiar but not strong nor +displeasing odor came from this drawer, which was lined with a wood +that we afterwards discovered to be hazel. Whatever the cause of this +odor, it produced a material effect on the nerves. We all felt it, +even the two workmen who were in the room,--a creeping, tingling +sensation from the tips of the fingers to the roots of the hair. +Impatient to examine the tablet, I removed the saucer. As I did so the +needle of the compass went round and round with exceeding swiftness, +and I felt a shock that ran through my whole frame, so that I dropped +the saucer on the floor. The liquid was spilled; the saucer was +broken; the compass rolled to the end of the room, and at that instant +the walls shook to and fro, as if a giant had swayed and rocked them. + +The two workmen were so frightened that they ran up the ladder by +which we had descended from the trapdoor; but seeing that nothing more +happened, they were easily induced to return. + +Meanwhile I had opened the tablet: it was bound in plain red leather, +with a silver clasp; it contained but one sheet of thick vellum, and +on that sheet were inscribed, within a double pentacle, words in old +monkish Latin, which are literally to be translated thus: "On all that +it can reach within these walls, sentient or inanimate, living or +dead, as moves the needle, so work my will! Accursed be the house, and +restless be the dwellers therein." + +We found no more. Mr. J---- burned the tablet and its anathema. He +razed to the foundations the part of the building containing the +secret room with the chamber over it. He had then the courage to +inhabit the house himself for a month, and a quieter, +better-conditioned house could not be found in all London. +Subsequently he let it to advantage, and his tenant has made no +complaints. + + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Haunted and the Haunters, by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 14195-8.txt or 14195-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/9/14195/ + +Produced by Robert Ciconnetti, Keith M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Haunted and the Haunters + +Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Release Date: November 28, 2004 [EBook #14195] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Ciconnetti, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +A STRANGE STORY. + +TO WHICH IS ADDED, + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS. + +BY + +EDWARD BULWER LYTTON (_LORD LYTTON_.) + + +"To doubt and to be astonished is to recognize our ignorance. Hence it +is that the lover of wisdom is in a certain sort a lover of mythi +[Greek: phylomythos pos], for the subject of mythi is the astonishing +and marvellous."--SIR W. HAMILTON (after Aristotle), _Lectures on +Metaphysics_, vol. i. p. 78. + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +VOL. II. + +BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1897. + + + + + +THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS; + + +OR, THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN. + + + + + + * * * * * + +A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said to +me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we last met +I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London." + +"Really haunted,--and by what?--ghosts?" + +"Well, I can't answer that question; all I know is this: six weeks ago +my wife and I were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing a quiet +street, we saw on the window of one of the houses a bill, 'Apartments, +Furnished.' The situation suited us; we entered the house, liked the +rooms, engaged them by the week,--and left them the third day. No +power on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer; and I +don't wonder at it." + +"What did you see?" + +"Excuse me; I have no desire to be ridiculed as a superstitious +dreamer,--nor, on the other hand, could I ask you to accept on my +affirmation what you would hold to be incredible without the evidence +of your own senses. Let me only say this, it was not so much what we +saw or heard (in which you might fairly suppose that we were the dupes +of our own excited fancy, or the victims of imposture in others) that +drove us away, as it was an undefinable terror which seized both of us +whenever we passed by the door of a certain unfurnished room, in which +we neither saw nor heard anything. And the strangest marvel of all +was, that for once in my life I agreed with my wife, silly woman +though she be,--and allowed, after the third night, that it was +impossible to stay a fourth in that house. Accordingly, on the fourth +morning I summoned the woman who kept the house and attended on us, +and told her that the rooms did not quite suit us, and we would not +stay out our week." She said dryly, "I know why; you have stayed +longer than any other lodger. Few ever stayed a second night; none +before you a third. But I take it they have been very kind to you." + +"'They,--who?' I asked, affecting to smile. + +"'Why, they who haunt the house, whoever they are. I don't mind them. +I remember them many years ago, when I lived in this house, not as a +servant; but I know they will be the death of me some day. I don't +care,--I'm old, and must die soon anyhow; and then I shall be with +them, and in this house still.' The woman spoke with so dreary a +calmness that really it was a sort of awe that prevented my conversing +with her further. I paid for my week, and too happy were my wife and I +to get off so cheaply." + +"You excite my curiosity," said I; "nothing I should like better than +to sleep in a haunted house. Pray give me the address of the one which +you left so ignominiously." + +My friend gave me the address; and when we parted, I walked straight +towards the house thus indicated. + +It is situated on the north side of Oxford Street, in a dull but +respectable thoroughfare. I found the house shut up,--no bill at the +window, and no response to my knock. As I was turning away, a +beer-boy, collecting pewter pots at the neighboring areas, said to me, +"Do you want any one at that house, sir?" + +"Yes, I heard it was to be let." + +"Let!--why, the woman who kept it is dead,--has been dead these three +weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr. J---- offered +ever so much. He offered mother, who chars for him, L1 a week just to +open and shut the windows, and she would not." + +"Would not!--and why?" + +"The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead in +her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her." + +"Pooh! You speak of Mr. J----. Is he the owner of the house?" + +"Yes." + +"Where does he live?" + +"In G---- Street, No. ----." + +"What is he? In any business?" + +"No, sir,--nothing particular; a single gentleman." + +I gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and +proceeded to Mr. J----, in G---- Street, which was close by the street +that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to find Mr. J---- +at home,--an elderly man with intelligent countenance and +prepossessing manners. + +I communicated my name and my business frankly. I said I heard the +house was considered to be haunted,--that I had a strong desire to +examine a house with so equivocal a reputation; that I should be +greatly obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though only for a +night. I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might be +inclined to ask. "Sir," said Mr. J----, with great courtesy, "the +house is at your service, for as short or as long a time as you +please. Rent is out of the question,--the obligation will be on my +side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange phenomena +which at present deprive it of all value. I cannot let it, for I +cannot even get a servant to keep it in order or answer the door. +Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use that expression, not only +by night, but by day; though at night the disturbances are of a more +unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character. The poor old +woman who died in it three weeks ago was a pauper whom I took out of a +workhouse; for in her childhood she had been known to some of my +family, and had once been in such good circumstances that she had +rented that house of my uncle. She was a woman of superior education +and strong mind, and was the only person I could ever induce to remain +in the house. Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the +coroner's inquest, which gave it a notoriety in the neighborhood, I +have so despaired of finding any person to take charge of the house, +much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent free for a year +to any one who would pay its rates and taxes." + +"How long is it since the house acquired this sinister character?" + +"That I can scarcely tell you, but very many years since. The old +woman I spoke of, said it was haunted when she rented it between +thirty and forty years ago. The fact is, that my life has been spent +in the East Indies, and in the civil service of the Company. I +returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of an uncle, +among whose possessions was the house in question. I found it shut up +and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that no one would +inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a story. I spent +some money in repairing it, added to its old-fashioned furniture a few +modern articles,--advertised it, and obtained a lodger for a year. He +was a colonel on half-pay. He came in with his family, a son and a +daughter, and four or five servants: they all left the house the next +day; and, although each of them declared that he had seen something +different from that which had scared the others, a something still was +equally terrible to all. I really could not in conscience sue, nor +even blame, the colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old +woman I have spoken of, and she was empowered to let the house in +apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three days. I +do not tell you their stories,--to no two lodgers have there been +exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that you should +judge for yourself, than enter the house with an imagination +influenced by previous narratives; only be prepared to see and to hear +something or other, and take whatever precautions you yourself +please." + +"Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that +house?" "Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight +alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is +quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot +complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid; and unless +your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually strong, I +honestly add, that I advise you _not_ to pass a night in that house." + +"My interest _is_ exceedingly keen," said I; "and though only a coward +will boast of his nerves in situations wholly unfamiliar to him, yet +my nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger that I have the +right to rely on them,--even in a haunted house." + +Mr. J---- said very little more; he took the keys of the house out of +his bureau, gave them to me,--and, thanking him cordially for his +frankness, and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried off my +prize. + +Impatient for the experiment, as soon as I reached home, I summoned my +confidential servant,--a young man of gay spirits, fearless temper, +and as free from superstitious prejudice as any one I could think of. + +"F----," said I, "you remember in Germany how disappointed we were at +not finding a ghost in that old castle, which was said to be haunted +by a headless apparition? Well, I have heard of a house in London +which, I have reason to hope, is decidedly haunted. I mean to sleep +there to-night. From what I hear, there is no doubt that something +will allow itself to be seen or to be heard,--something, perhaps, +excessively horrible. Do you think if I take you with me, I may rely +on your presence of mind, whatever may happen?" + +"Oh, sir, pray trust me," answered F----, grinning with delight. + +"Very well; then here are the keys of the house,--this is the address. +Go now,--select for me any bedroom you please; and since the house has +not been inhabited for weeks, make up a good fire, air the bed +well,--see, of course, that there are candles as well as fuel. Take +with you my revolver and my dagger,--so much for my weapons; arm +yourself equally well; and if we are not a match for a dozen ghosts, +we shall be but a sorry couple of Englishmen." + +I was engaged for the rest of the day on business so urgent that I had +not leisure to think much on the nocturnal adventure to which I had +plighted my honor. I dined alone, and very late, and while dining, +read, as is my habit. I selected one of the volumes of Macaulay's +Essays. I thought to myself that I would take the book with me; there +was so much of healthfulness in the style, and practical life in the +subjects, that it would serve as an antidote against the influences of +superstitious fancy. + +Accordingly, about half-past nine, I put the book into my pocket, and +strolled leisurely towards the haunted house. I took with me a +favorite dog: an exceedingly sharp, bold, and vigilant +bull-terrier,--a dog fond of prowling about strange, ghostly corners +and passages at night in search of rats; a dog of dogs for a ghost. + +It was a summer night but chilly, the sky somewhat gloomy and +overcast. Still there was a moon, faint and sickly but still a moon, +and if the clouds permitted, after midnight it would be brighter. + +I reached the house, knocked, and my servant opened with a cheerful +smile. + +"All right, sir, and very comfortable." + +"Oh!" said I, rather disappointed; "have you not seen nor heard +anything remarkable?" + +"Well, sir, I must own I have heard something queer." + +"What?--what?" + +"The sound of feet pattering behind me; and once or twice small noises +like whispers close at my ear,--nothing more." + +"You are not at all frightened?" + +"I! not a bit of it, sir;" and the man's bold look reassured me on one +point,--namely, that happen what might, he would not desert me. + +We were in the hall, the street-door closed, and my attention was now +drawn to my dog. He had at first run in eagerly enough, but had +sneaked back to the door, and was scratching and whining to get out. +After patting him on the head, and encouraging him gently, the dog +seemed to reconcile himself to the situation, and followed me and +F---- through the house, but keeping close at my heels instead of +hurrying inquisitively in advance, which was his usual and normal +habit in all strange places. We first visited the subterranean +apartments,--the kitchen and other offices, and especially the +cellars, in which last there were two or three bottles of wine still +left in a bin, covered with cobwebs, and evidently, by their +appearance, undisturbed for many years. It was clear that the ghosts +were not winebibbers. For the rest we discovered nothing of interest. +There was a gloomy little backyard, with very high walls. The stones +of this yard were very damp; and what with the damp, and what with the +dust and smoke-grime on the pavement, our feet left a slight +impression where we passed. And now appeared the first strange +phenomenon witnessed by myself in this strange abode. I saw, just +before me, the print of a foot suddenly form itself, as it were. I +stopped, caught hold of my servant, and pointed to it. In advance of +that footprint as suddenly dropped another. We both saw it. I advanced +quickly to the place; the footprint kept advancing before me, a small +footprint,--the foot of a child: the impression was too faint +thoroughly to distinguish the shape, but it seemed to us both that it +was the print of a naked foot. This phenomenon ceased when we arrived +at the opposite wall, nor did it repeat itself on returning. We +remounted the stairs, and entered the rooms on the ground-floor, a +dining parlor, a small back-parlor, and a still smaller third room +that had been probably appropriated to a footman,--all still as death. +We then visited the drawing-rooms, which seemed fresh and new. In the +front room I seated myself in an arm-chair. F---- placed on the table +the candlestick with which he had lighted us. I told him to shut the +door. As he turned to do so a chair opposite to me moved from the wall +quickly and noiselessly, and dropped itself about a yard from my own +chair, immediately fronting it. + +"Why, this is better than the turning-tables," said I, with a +half-laugh; and as I laughed, my dog put back his head and howled. + +F---, coming back, had not observed the movement of the chair. He +employed himself now in stilling the dog. I continued to gaze on the +chair, and fancied I saw on it a pale, blue, misty outline of a human +figure, but an outline so indistinct that I could only distrust my own +vision. The dog now was quiet. + +"Put back that chair opposite to me," said I to F---; "put it back to +the wall." + +F---- obeyed. "Was that you, sir?" said he, turning abruptly. + +"I!--what?" + +"Why, something struck me. I felt it sharply on the shoulder,--just +here." + +"No," said I. "But we have jugglers present, and though we may not +discover their tricks, we shall catch _them_ before they frighten +_us_." + +We did not stay long in the drawing-rooms,--in fact, they felt so damp +and so chilly that I was glad to get to the fire upstairs. We locked +the doors of the drawing-rooms,--a precaution which, I should observe, +we had taken with all the rooms we had searched below. The bedroom my +servant had selected for me was the best on the floor,--a large one, +with two windows fronting the street. The four-posted bed, which took +up no inconsiderable space, was opposite to the fire, which burned +clear and bright; a door in the wall to the left, between the bed and +the window, communicated with the room which my servant appropriated +to himself. This last was a small room with a sofa-bed, and had no +communication with the landing-place,--no other door but that which +conducted to the bedroom I was to occupy. On either side of my +fireplace was a cupboard without locks, flush with the wall, and +covered with the same dull-brown paper. We examined these +cupboards,--only hooks to suspend female dresses, nothing else; we +sounded the walls,--evidently solid, the outer walls of the building. +Having finished the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a few +moments, and lighted my cigar, I then, still accompanied by F----, +went forth to complete my reconnoitre. In the landing-place there was +another door; it was closed firmly. "Sir," said my servant, in +surprise, "I unlocked this door with all the others when I first came; +it cannot have got locked from the inside, for--" + +Before he had finished his sentence, the door, which neither of us +then was touching, opened quietly of itself. We looked at each other a +single instant. The same thought seized both,--some human agency might +be detected here. I rushed in first, my servant followed. A small, +blank, dreary room without furniture; a few empty boxes and hampers in +a corner; a small window; the shutters closed; not even a fireplace; +no other door but that by which we had entered; no carpet on the +floor, and the floor seemed very old, uneven, worm-eaten, mended here +and there, as was shown by the whiter patches on the wood; but no +living being, and no visible place in which a living being could have +hidden. As we stood gazing round, the door by which we had entered +closed as quietly as it had before opened; we were imprisoned. + +For the first time I felt a creep of undefinable horror. Not so my +servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir; I could break that +trumpery door with a kick of my foot." + +"Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the +vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclosed the shutters +and see what is without." + +I unbarred the shutters,--the window looked on the little backyard I +have before described; there was no ledge without,--nothing to break +the sheer descent of the wall. No man getting out of that window would +have found any footing till he had fallen on the stones below. + +F----, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now +turned round to me and asked my permission to use force. And I should +here state, in justice to the servant, that, far from evincing any +superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and even gayety amidst +circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my admiration, and made me +congratulate myself on having secured a companion in every way fitted +to the occasion. I willingly gave him the permission he required. But +though he was a remarkably strong man, his force was as idle as his +milder efforts; the door did not even shake to his stoutest kick. +Breathless and panting, he desisted. I then tried the door myself, +equally in vain. As I ceased from the effort, again that creep of +horror came over me; but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I +felt as if some strange and ghastly exhalation were rising up from the +chinks of that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a +venomous influence hostile to human life. The door now very slowly and +quietly opened as of its own accord. We precipitated ourselves into +the landing-place. We both saw a large, pale light--as large as the +human figure, but shapeless and unsubstantial--move before us, and +ascend the stairs that led from the landing into the attics. I +followed the light, and my servant followed me. It entered, to the +right of the landing, a small garret, of which the door stood open. I +entered in the same instant. The light then collapsed into a small +globule, exceedingly brilliant and vivid, rested a moment on a bed in +the corner, quivered, and vanished. We approached the bed and examined +it,--a half-tester, such as is commonly found in attics devoted to +servants. On the drawers that stood near it we perceived an old faded +silk kerchief, with the needle still left in a rent half repaired. The +kerchief was covered with dust; probably it had belonged to the old +woman who had last died in that house, and this might have been her +sleeping-room. I had sufficient curiosity to open the drawers: there +were a few odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied round +with a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took the liberty to possess +myself of the letters. We found nothing else in the room worth +noticing,--nor did the light reappear; but we distinctly heard, as we +turned to go, a pattering footfall on the floor, just before us. We +went through the other attics (in all four), the footfall still +preceding us. Nothing to be seen,--nothing but the footfall heard. I +had the letters in my hand; just as I was descending the stairs I +distinctly felt my wrist seized, and a faint, soft effort made to draw +the letters from my clasp. I only held them the more tightly, and the +effort ceased. + +We regained the bedchamber appropriated to myself, and I then remarked +that my dog had not followed us when we had left it. He was thrusting +himself close to the fire, and trembling. I was impatient to examine +the letters; and while I read them, my servant opened a little box in +which he had deposited the weapons I had ordered him to bring, took +them out, placed them on a table close at my bed-head, and then +occupied himself in soothing the dog, who, however, seemed to heed him +very little. + +The letters were short,--they were dated; the dates exactly +thirty-five years ago. They were evidently from a lover to his +mistress, or a husband to some young wife. Not only the terms of +expression, but a distinct reference to a former voyage, indicated the +writer to have been a seafarer. The spelling and handwriting were +those of a man imperfectly educated, but still the language itself was +forcible. In the expressions of endearment there was a kind of rough, +wild love; but here and there were dark unintelligible hints at some +secret not of love,--some secret that seemed of crime. "We ought to +love each other," was one of the sentences I remember, "for how every +one else would execrate us if all was known." Again: "Don't let any +one be in the same room with you at night,--you talk in your sleep." +And again: "What's done can't be undone; and I tell you there's +nothing against us unless the dead could come to life." Here there was +underlined in a better handwriting (a female's), "They do!" At the end +of the letter latest in date the same female hand had written these +words: "Lost at sea the 4th of June, the same day as--" + +I put down the letters, and began to muse over their contents. + +Fearing, however, that the train of thought into which I fell might +unsteady my nerves, I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit state +to cope with whatever of marvellous the advancing night might bring +forth. I roused myself; laid the letters on the table; stirred up the +fire, which was still bright and cheering; and opened my volume of +Macaulay. I read quietly enough till about half-past eleven. I then +threw myself dressed upon the bed, and told my servant he might retire +to his own room, but must keep himself awake. I bade him leave open +the door between the two rooms. Thus alone, I kept two candles burning +on the table by my bed-head. I placed my watch beside the weapons, and +calmly resumed my Macaulay. Opposite to me the fire burned clear; and +on the hearthrug, seemingly asleep, lay the dog. In about twenty +minutes I felt an exceedingly cold air pass by my cheek, like a sudden +draught. I fancied the door to my right, communicating with the +landing-place, must have got open; but no,--it was closed. I then +turned my glance to my left, and saw the flame of the candles +violently swayed as by a wind. At the same moment the watch beside the +revolver softly slid from the table,--softly, softly; no visible +hand,--it was gone. I sprang up, seizing the revolver with the one +hand, the dagger with the other; I was not willing that my weapons +should share the fate of the watch. Thus armed, I looked round the +floor,--no sign of the watch. Three slow, loud, distinct knocks were +now heard at the bed-head; my servant called out, "Is that you, sir?" + +"No; be on your guard." + +The dog now roused himself and sat on his haunches, his ears moving +quickly backwards and forwards. He kept his eyes fixed on me with a +look so strange that he concentred all my attention on himself. Slowly +he rose up, all his hair bristling, and stood perfectly rigid, and +with the same wild stare. I had no time, however, to examine the dog. +Presently my servant emerged from his room; and if ever I saw horror +in the human face, it was then. I should not have recognized him had +we met in the street, so altered was every lineament. He passed by me +quickly, saying, in a whisper that seemed scarcely to come from his +lips, "Run, run! it is after me!" He gained the door to the landing, +pulled it open, and rushed forth. I followed him into the landing +involuntarily, calling him to stop; but, without heeding me, he +bounded down the stairs, clinging to the balusters, and taking several +steps at a time. I heard, where I stood, the street-door open,--heard +it again clap to. I was left alone in the haunted house. + +It was but for a moment that I remained undecided whether or not to +follow my servant; pride and curiosity alike forbade so dastardly a +flight. I re-entered my room, closing the door after me, and proceeded +cautiously into the interior chamber. I encountered nothing to justify +my servant's terror. I again carefully examined the walls, to see if +there were any concealed door. I could find no trace of one,--not even +a seam in the dull-brown paper with which the room was hung. How, +then, had the THING, whatever it was, which had so scared him, +obtained ingress except through my own chamber? + +I returned to my room, shut and locked the door that opened upon the +interior one, and stood on the hearth, expectant and prepared. I now +perceived that the dog had slunk into an angle of the wall, and was +pressing himself close against it, as if literally striving to force +his way into it. I approached the animal and spoke to it; the poor +brute was evidently beside itself with terror. It showed all its +teeth, the slaver dropping from its jaws, and would certainly have +bitten me if I had touched it. It did not seem to recognize me. +Whoever has seen at the Zoological Gardens a rabbit, fascinated by a +serpent, cowering in a corner, may form some idea of the anguish which +the dog exhibited. Finding all efforts to soothe the animal in vain, +and fearing that his bite might be as venomous in that state as in the +madness of hydrophobia, I left him alone, placed my weapons on the +table beside the fire, seated myself, and recommenced my Macaulay. + +Perhaps, in order not to appear seeking credit for a courage, or +rather a coolness, which the reader may conceive I exaggerate, I may +be pardoned if I pause to indulge in one or two egotistical remarks. + +As I hold presence of mind, or what is called courage, to be precisely +proportioned to familiarity with the circumstances that lead to it, so +I should say that I had been long sufficiently familiar with all +experiments that appertain to the marvellous. I had witnessed many +very extraordinary phenomena in various parts of the world,--phenomena +that would be either totally disbelieved if I stated them, or ascribed +to supernatural agencies. Now, my theory is that the supernatural is +the impossible, and that what is called supernatural is only a +something in the laws of Nature of which we have been hitherto +ignorant. Therefore, if a ghost rise before me, I have not the right +to say, "So, then, the supernatural is possible;" but rather, "So, +then, the apparition of a ghost, is, contrary to received opinion, +within the laws of Nature,--that is, not supernatural." + +Now, in all that I had hitherto witnessed, and indeed in all the +wonders which the amateurs of mystery in our age record as facts, a +material living agency is always required. On the Continent you will +find still magicians who assert that they can raise spirits. Assume +for the moment that they assert truly, still the living material form +of the magician is present; and he is the material agency by which, +from some constitutional peculiarities, certain strange phenomena are +represented to your natural senses. + +Accept, again, as truthful, the tales of spirit-manifestation in +America,--musical or other sounds; writings on paper, produced by no +discernible hand; articles of furniture moved without apparent human +agency; or the actual sight and touch of hands, to which no bodies +seem to belong,--still there must be found the MEDIUM, or living +being, with constitutional peculiarities capable of obtaining these +signs. In fine, in all such marvels, supposing even that there is no +imposture, there must be a human being like ourselves by whom, or +through whom, the effects presented to human beings are produced. It +is so with the now familiar phenomena of mesmerism or electro-biology; +the mind of the person operated on is affected through a material +living agent. Nor, supposing it true that a mesmerized patient can +respond to the will or passes of a mesmerizer a hundred miles distant, +is the response less occasioned by a material being; it may be through +a material fluid--call it Electric, call it Odic, call it what you +will--which has the power of traversing space and passing obstacles, +that the material effect is communicated from one to the other. Hence, +all that I had hitherto witnessed, or expected to witness, in this +strange house, I believed to be occasioned through some agency or +medium as mortal as myself; and this idea necessarily prevented the +awe with which those who regard as supernatural things that are not +within the ordinary operations of Nature, might have been impressed by +the adventures of that memorable night. + +As, then, it was my conjecture that all that was presented, or would +be presented to my senses, must originate in some human being gifted +by constitution with the power so to present them, and having some +motive so to do, I felt an interest in my theory which, in its way, +was rather philosophical than superstitious. And I can sincerely say +that I was in as tranquil a temper for observation as any practical +experimentalist could be in awaiting the effects of some rare, though +perhaps perilous, chemical combination. Of course, the more I kept my +mind detached from fancy, the more the temper fitted for observation +would be obtained; and I therefore riveted eye and thought on the +strong daylight sense in the page of my Macaulay. + +I now became aware that something interposed between the page and the +light,--the page was over-shadowed. I looked up, and I saw what I +shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe. + +It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very undefined +outline. I cannot say it was of a human form, and yet it had more +resemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to anything else. +As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and the light +around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touching +the ceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An +iceberg before me could not more have chilled me; nor could the cold +of an iceberg have been more purely physical. I feel convinced that it +was not the cold caused by fear. As I continued to gaze, I +thought--but this I cannot say with precision--that I distinguished +two eyes looking down on me from the height. One moment I fancied that +I distinguished them clearly, the next they seemed gone; but still two +rays of a pale-blue light frequently shot through the darkness, as +from the height on which I half believed, half doubted, that I had +encountered the eyes. + +I strove to speak,--my voice utterly failed me; I could only think to +myself, "Is this fear? It is _not_ fear!" I strove to rise,--in vain; +I felt as if weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, my +impression was that of an immense and overwhelming Power opposed to my +volition,--that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond +man's, which one may feel _physically_ in a storm at sea, in a +conflagration, or when confronting some terrible wild beast, or +rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt _morally_. Opposed to +my will was another will, as far superior to its strength as storm, +fire, and shark are superior in material force to the force of man. + +And now, as this impression grew on me,--now came, at last, horror, +horror to a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained pride, +if not courage; and in my own mind I said, "This is horror, but it is +not fear; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason rejects this +thing; it is an illusion,--I do not fear." With a violent effort I +succeeded at last in stretching out my hand towards the weapon on the +table; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange +shock, and my arm fell to my side powerless. And now, to add to my +horror, the light began slowly to wane from the candles,--they were +not, as it were, extinguished, but their flame seemed very gradually +withdrawn; it was the same with the fire,--the light was extracted +from the fuel; in a few minutes the room was in utter darkness. The +dread that came over me, to be thus in the dark with that dark Thing, +whose power was so intensely felt, brought a reaction of nerve. In +fact, terror had reached that climax, that either my senses must have +deserted me, or I must have burst through the spell. I did burst +through it. I found voice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember +that I broke forth with words like these, "I do not fear, my soul does +not fear;" and at the same time I found strength to rise. Still in +that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows; tore aside the +curtain; flung open the shutters; my first thought was--LIGHT. And +when I saw the moon high, clear, and calm, I felt a joy that almost +compensated for the previous terror. There was the moon, there was +also the light from the gas-lamps in the deserted slumberous street. I +turned to look back into the room; the moon penetrated its shadow very +palely and partially,--but still there was light. The dark Thing, +whatever it might be, was gone,--except that I could yet see a dim +shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade, against the opposite +wall. + +My eye now rested on the table, and from under the table (which was +without cloth or cover,--an old mahogany round-table) there rose a +hand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as much +of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person, lean, +wrinkled, small too,--a woman's hand. That hand very softly closed on +the two letters that lay on the table; hand and letters both vanished. +There then came the same three loud, measured knocks I had heard at +the bedhead before this extraordinary drama had commenced. + +As those sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate sensibly; +and at the far end there rose, as from the floor, sparks or globules +like bubbles of light, many colored,--green, yellow, fire-red, azure. +Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny Will-o'-the-Wisps, +the sparks moved, slow or swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as +in the drawing-room below) was now advanced from the wall without +apparent agency, and placed at the opposite side of the table. +Suddenly, as forth from the chair, there grew a shape,--a woman's +shape. It was distinct as a shape of life,--ghastly as a shape of +death. The face was that of youth, with a strange, mournful beauty; +the throat and shoulders were bare, the rest of the form in a loose +robe of cloudy white. It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which +fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to +the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the +shade in the background grew darker; and again I thought I beheld the +eyes gleaming out from the summit of the shadow,--eyes fixed upon that +shape. + +As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another +shape, equally distinct, equally ghastly,--a man's shape, a young +man's. It was in the dress of the last century, or rather in a +likeness of such dress (for both the male shape and the female, though +defined, were evidently unsubstantial, impalpable,--simulacra, +phantasms); and there was something incongruous, grotesque, yet +fearful, in the contrast between the elaborate finery, the courtly +precision of that old-fashioned garb, with its ruffles and lace and +buckles, and the corpse-like aspect and ghost-like stillness of the +flitting wearer. Just as the male shape approached the female, the +dark Shadow started from the wall, all three for a moment wrapped in +darkness. When the pale light returned, the two phantoms were as if in +the grasp of the Shadow that towered between them; and there was a +blood-stain on the breast of the female; and the phantom male was +leaning on its phantom sword, and blood seemed trickling fast from the +ruffles, from the lace; and the darkness of the intermediate Shadow +swallowed them up,--they were gone. And again the bubbles of light +shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing thicker and thicker and more +wildly confused in their movements. + +The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from the +aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she held +letters,--the very letters over which I had seen _the_ Hand close; and +behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if to listen, and +then she opened the letters and seemed to read; and over her shoulder +I saw a livid face, the face as of a man long drowned,--bloated, +bleached, seaweed tangled in its dripping hair; and at her feet lay a +form as of a corpse; and beside the corpse there cowered a child, a +miserable, squalid child, with famine in its cheeks and fear in its +eyes. And as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines +vanished, and it became a face of youth,--hard-eyed, stony, but still +youth; and the Shadow darted forth, and darkened over these phantoms +as it had darkened over the last. + +Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were intently +fixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow,--malignant, serpent +eyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in their +disordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mingled with the wan moonlight. +And now from these globules themselves, as from the shell of an egg, +monstrous things burst out; the air grew filled with them: larvae so +bloodless and so hideous that I can in no way describe them except to +remind the reader of the swarming life which the solar microscope +brings before his eyes in a drop of water,--things transparent, +supple, agile, chasing each other, devouring each, other; forms like +nought ever beheld by the naked eye. As the shapes were without +symmetry, so their movements were without order. In their very +vagrancies there was no sport; they came round me and round, thicker +and faster and swifter, swarming over my head, crawling over my right +arm, which was outstretched in involuntary command against all evil +beings. Sometimes I felt myself touched, but not by them; invisible +hands touched me. Once I felt the clutch as of cold, soft fingers at +my throat. I was still equally conscious that if I gave way to fear I +should be in bodily peril; and I concentred all my faculties in the +single focus of resisting stubborn will. And I turned my sight from +the Shadow; above all, from those strange serpent eyes,--eyes that had +now become distinctly visible. For there, though in nought else around +me, I was aware that there was a WILL, and a will of intense, +creative, working evil, which might crush down my own. + +The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the air +of some near conflagration. The larvae grew lurid as things that live +in fire. Again the room vibrated; again were heard the three measured +knocks; and again all things were swallowed up in the darkness of the +dark Shadow, as if out of that darkness all had come, into that +darkness all returned. + +As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it had +been withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the table, +again into the fuel in the grate. The whole room came once more +calmly, healthfully into sight. + +The two doors were still closed, the door communicating with the +servant's room still locked. In the corner of the wall, into which he +had so convulsively niched himself, lay the dog. I called to him,--no +movement; I approached,--the animal was dead: his eyes protruded; his +tongue out of his mouth; the froth gathered round his jaws. I took him +in my arms; I brought him to the fire. I felt acute grief for the loss +of my poor favorite,--acute self-reproach; I accused myself of his +death; I imagined he had died of fright. But what was my surprise on +finding that his neck was actually broken. Had this been done in the +dark? Must it not have been by a hand human as mine; must there not +have been a human agency all the while in that room? Good cause to +suspect it. I cannot tell. I cannot do more than state the fact +fairly; the reader may draw his own inference. + +Another surprising circumstance,--my watch was restored to the table +from which it had been so mysteriously withdrawn; but it had stopped +at the very moment it was so withdrawn, nor, despite all the skill of +the watchmaker, has it ever gone since,--that is, it will go in a +strange, erratic way for a few hours, and then come to a dead stop; it +is worthless. + +Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I +long to wait before the dawn broke. Nor till it was broad daylight did +I quit the haunted house. Before I did so, I revisited the little +blind room in which my servant and myself had been for a time +imprisoned. I had a strong impression--for which I could not +account--that from that room had originated the mechanism of the +phenomena, if I may use the term, which had been experienced in my +chamber. And though I entered it now in the clear day, with the sun +peering through the filmy window, I still felt, as I stood on its +floors, the creep of the horror which I had first there experienced +the night before, and which had been so aggravated by what had passed +in my own chamber. I could not, indeed, bear to stay more than half a +minute within those walls. I descended the stairs, and again I heard +the footfall before me; and when I opened the street door, I thought I +could distinguish a very low laugh. I gained my own home, expecting to +find my runaway servant there; but he had not presented himself, nor +did I hear more of him for three days, when I received a letter from +him, dated from Liverpool to this effect:-- + +"HONORED SIR,--I humbly entreat your pardon, though I can scarcely +hope that you will think that I deserve it, unless--which Heaven +forbid!--you saw what I did. I feel that it will be years before I can +recover myself; and as to being fit for service, it is out of the +question. I am therefore going to my brother-in-law at Melbourne. The +ship sails to-morrow. Perhaps the long voyage may set me up. I do +nothing now but start and tremble, and fancy IT is behind me. I humbly +beg you, honored sir, to order my clothes, and whatever wages are due +to me, to be sent to my mother's, at Walworth,--John knows her +address." + +The letter ended with additional apologies, somewhat incoherent, and +explanatory details as to effects that had been under the writer's +charge. This flight may perhaps warrant a suspicion that the man +wished to go to Australia, and had been somehow or other fraudulently +mixed up with the events of the night. I say nothing in refutation of +that conjecture; rather, I suggest it as one that would seem to many +persons the most probable solution of improbable occurrences. My +belief in my own theory remained unshaken. I returned in the evening +to the house, to bring away in a hack cab the things I had left there, +with my poor dog's body. In this task I was not disturbed, nor did any +incident worth note befall me, except that still, on ascending and +descending the stairs, I heard the same footfall in advance. On +leaving the house, I went to Mr. J----'s. He was at home. I returned +him the keys, told him that my curiosity was sufficiently gratified, +and was about to relate quickly what had passed, when he stopped me, +and said, though with much politeness, that he had no longer any +interest in a mystery which none had ever solved. + +I determined at least to tell him of the two letters I had read, as +well as of the extraordinary manner in which they had disappeared; and +I then inquired if he thought they had been addressed to the woman who +had died in the house, and if there were anything in her early history +which could possibly confirm the dark suspicions to which the letters +gave rise. Mr. J---- seemed startled, and, after musing a few moments, +answered, "I am but little acquainted with the woman's earlier +history, except as I before told you, that her family were known to +mine. But you revive some vague reminiscences to her prejudice. I will +make inquiries, and inform you of their result. Still, even if we +could admit the popular superstition that a person who had been either +the perpetrator or the victim of dark crimes in life could revisit, as +a restless spirit, the scene in which those crimes had been committed, +I should observe that the house was infested by strange sights and +sounds before the old woman died--you smile--what would you say?" + +"I would say this, that I am convinced, if we could get to the bottom +of these mysteries, we should find a living human agency." + +"What! you believe it is all an imposture? For what object?" + +"Not an imposture in the ordinary sense of the word. If suddenly I +were to sink into a deep sleep, from which you could not awake me, but +in that sleep could answer questions with an accuracy which I could +not pretend to when awake,--tell you what money you had in your +pocket, nay, describe your very thoughts,--it is not necessarily an +imposture, any more than it is necessarily supernatural. I should be, +unconsciously to myself, under a mesmeric influence, conveyed to me +from a distance by a human being who had acquired power over me by +previous _rapport_." + +"But if a mesmerizer could so affect another living being, can you +suppose that a mesmerizer could also affect inanimate objects: move +chairs,--open and shut doors?" + +"Or impress our senses with the belief in such effects,--we never +having been _en rapport_ with the person acting on us? No. What is +commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power +akin to mesmerism, and superior to it,--the power that in the old days +was called Magic. That such a power may extend to all inanimate +objects of matter, I do not say; but if so, it would not be against +Nature,--it would be only a rare power in Nature which might be given +to constitutions with certain peculiarities, and cultivated by +practice to an extraordinary degree. That such a power might extend +over the dead,--that is, over certain thoughts and memories that the +dead may still retain,--and compel, not that which ought properly to +be called the SOUL, and which is far beyond human reach, but rather a +phantom of what has been most earth-stained on earth, to make itself +apparent to our senses, is a very ancient though obsolete theory upon +which I will hazard no opinion. But I do not conceive the power would +be supernatural. Let me illustrate what I mean from an experiment +which Paracelsus describes as not difficult, and which the author of +the 'Curiosities of Literature' cites as credible: A flower perishes; +you burn it. Whatever were the elements of that flower while it lived +are gone, dispersed, you know not whither; you can never discover nor +re-collect them. But you can, by chemistry, out of the burned dust of +that flower, raise a spectrum of the flower, just as it seemed in +life. It may be the same with the human being. The soul has as much +escaped you as the essence or elements of the flower. Still you may +make a spectrum of it. And this phantom, though in the popular +superstition it is held to be the soul of the departed, must not be +confounded with the true soul; it is but the eidolon of the dead form. +Hence, like the best attested stories of ghosts or spirits, the thing +that most strikes us is the absence of what we hold to be soul,--that +is, of superior emancipated intelligence. These apparitions come for +little or no object,--they seldom speak when they do come; if they +speak, they utter no ideas above those of an ordinary person on earth. +American spirit-seers have published volumes of communications, in +prose and verse, which they assert to be given in the names of the +most illustrious dead: Shakespeare, Bacon,--Heaven knows whom. Those +communications, taking the best, are certainly not a whit of higher +order than would be communications from living persons of fair talent +and education; they are wondrously inferior to what Bacon, +Shakespeare, and Plato said and wrote when on earth. Nor, what is more +noticeable, do they ever contain an idea that was not on the earth +before. Wonderful, therefore, as such phenomena may be (granting them +to be truthful), I see much that philosophy may question, nothing that +it is incumbent on philosophy to deny,--namely, nothing supernatural. +They are but ideas conveyed somehow or other (we have not yet +discovered the means) from one mortal brain to another. Whether, in so +doing, tables walk of their own accord, or fiendlike shapes appear in +a magic circle, or bodiless hands rise and remove material objects, or +a Thing of Darkness, such as presented itself to me, freeze our +blood,--still am I persuaded that these are but agencies conveyed, as +by electric wires, to my own brain from the brain of another. In some +constitutions there is a natural chemistry, and those constitutions +may produce chemic wonders,--in others a natural fluid, call it +electricity, and these may produce electric wonders. But the wonders +differ from Normal Science in this,--they are alike objectless, +purposeless, puerile, frivolous. They lead on to no grand results; and +therefore the world does not heed, and true sages have not cultivated +them. But sure I am, that of all I saw or heard, a man, human as +myself, was the remote originator; and I believe unconsciously to +himself as to the exact effects produced, for this reason: no two +persons, you say, have ever told you that they experienced exactly the +same thing. Well, observe, no two persons ever experience exactly the +same dream. If this were an ordinary imposture, the machinery would be +arranged for results that would but little vary; if it were a +supernatural agency permitted by the Almighty, it would surely be for +some definite end. These phenomena belong to neither class; my +persuasion is, that they originate in some brain now far distant; that +that brain had no distinct volition in anything that occurred; that +what does occur reflects but its devious, motley, ever-shifting, +half-formed thoughts; in short, that it has been but the dreams of +such a brain put into action and invested with a semi-substance. That +this brain is of immense power, that it can set matter into movement, +that it is malignant and destructive, I believe; some material force +must have killed my dog; the same force might, for aught I know, have +sufficed to kill myself, had I been as subjugated by terror as the +dog,--had my intellect or my spirit given me no countervailing +resistance in my will." + +"It killed your dog,--that is fearful! Indeed it is strange that no +animal can be induced to stay in that house; not even a cat. Bats and +mice are never found in it." + +"The instincts of the brute creation detect influences deadly to their +existence. Man's reason has a sense less subtle, because it has a +resisting power more supreme. But enough; do you comprehend my +theory?" + +"Yes, though imperfectly,--and I accept any crotchet (pardon the +word), however odd, rather than embrace at once the notion of ghosts +and hobgoblins we imbibed in our nurseries. Still, to my unfortunate +house, the evil is the same. What on earth can I do with the house?" + +"I will tell you what I would do. I am convinced from my own internal +feelings that the small, unfurnished room at right angles to the door +of the bed-room which I occupied, forms a starting-point or receptacle +for the influences which haunt the house; and I strongly advise you to +have the walls opened, the floor removed,--nay, the whole room pulled +down. I observe that it is detached from the body of the house, built +over the small backyard, and could be removed without injury to the +rest of the building." + +"And you think, if I did that--" + +"You would cut off the telegraph wires. Try it. I am so persuaded that +I am right, that I will pay half the expense if you will allow me to +direct the operations." + +"Nay, I am well able to afford the cost; for the rest allow me to +write to you." + +About ten days after I received a letter from Mr. J----, telling me +that he had visited the house since I had seen him; that he had found +the two letters I had described, replaced in the drawer from which I +had taken them; that he had read them with misgivings like my own; +that he had instituted a cautious inquiry about the woman to whom I +rightly conjectured they had been written. It seemed that thirty-six +years ago (a year before the date of the letters) she had married, +against the wish of her relations, an American of very suspicious +character; in fact, he was generally believed to have been a pirate. +She herself was the daughter of very respectable tradespeople, and had +served in the capacity of a nursery governess before her marriage. She +had a brother, a widower, who was considered wealthy, and who had one +child of about six years old. A month after the marriage the body of +this brother was found in the Thames, near London Bridge; there seemed +some marks of violence about his throat, but they were not deemed +sufficient to warrant the inquest in any other verdict than that of +"found drowned." + +The American and his wife took charge of the little boy, the deceased +brother having by his will left his sister the guardian of his only +child,--and in event of the child's death the sister inherited. The +child died about six months afterwards,--it was supposed to have been +neglected and ill-treated. The neighbors deposed to have heard it +shriek at night. The surgeon who had examined it after death said that +it was emaciated as if from want of nourishment, and the body was +covered with livid bruises. It seemed that one winter night the child +had sought to escape; crept out into the backyard; tried to scale the +wall; fallen back exhausted; and been found at morning on the stones +in a dying state. But though there was some evidence of cruelty, there +was none of murder; and the aunt and her husband had sought to +palliate cruelty by alleging the exceeding stubbornness and perversity +of the child, who was declared to be half-witted. Be that as it may, +at the orphan's death the aunt inherited her brother's fortune. Before +the first wedded year was out, the American quitted England abruptly, +and never returned to it. He obtained a cruising vessel, which was +lost in the Atlantic two years afterwards. The widow was left in +affluence, but reverses of various kinds had befallen her: a bank +broke; an investment failed; she went into a small business and became +insolvent; then she entered into service, sinking lower and lower, +from housekeeper down to maid-of-all-work,--never long retaining a +place, though nothing decided against her character was ever alleged. +She was considered sober, honest, and peculiarly quiet in her ways; +still nothing prospered with her. And so she had dropped into the +workhouse, from which Mr. J---- had taken her, to be placed in charge +of the very house which she had rented as mistress in the first year +of her wedded life. + +Mr. J---- added that he had passed an hour alone in the unfurnished +room which I had urged him to destroy, and that his impressions of +dread while there were so great, though he had neither heard nor seen +anything, that he was eager to have the walls bared and the floors +removed as I had suggested. He had engaged persons for the work, and +would commence any day I would name. + +The day was accordingly fixed. I repaired to the haunted house,--we +went into the blind, dreary room, took up the skirting, and then the +floors. Under the rafters, covered with rubbish, was found a +trap-door, quite large enough to admit a man. It was closely nailed +down, with clamps and rivets of iron. On removing these we descended +into a room below, the existence of which had never been suspected. In +this room there had been a window and a flue, but they had been +bricked over, evidently for many years. By the help of candles we +examined this place; it still retained some mouldering +furniture,--three chairs, an oak settle, a table,--all of the fashion +of about eighty years ago. There was a chest of drawers against the +wall, in which we found, half-rotted away, old-fashioned articles of a +man's dress, such as might have been worn eighty or a hundred years +ago by a gentleman of some rank; costly steel buckles and buttons, +like those yet worn in court-dresses, a handsome court sword; in a +waistcoat which had once been rich with gold-lace, but which was now +blackened and foul with damp, we found five guineas, a few silver +coins, and an ivory ticket, probably for some place of entertainment +long since passed away. But our main discovery was in a kind of iron +safe fixed to the wall, the lock of which it cost us much trouble to +get picked. + +In this safe were three shelves and two small drawers. Ranged on the +shelves were several small bottles of crystal, hermetically stopped. +They contained colorless, volatile essences, of the nature of which I +shall only say that they were not poisons,--phosphor and ammonia +entered into some of them. There were also some very curious glass +tubes, and a small pointed rod of iron, with a large lump of +rock-crystal, and another of amber,--also a loadstone of great power. + +In one of the drawers we found a miniature portrait set in gold, and +retaining the freshness of its colors most remarkably, considering the +length of time it had probably been there. The portrait was that of a +man who might be somewhat advanced in middle life, perhaps forty-seven +or forty-eight. It was a remarkable face,--a most impressive face. If +you could fancy some mighty serpent transformed into man, preserving +in the human lineaments the old serpent type, you would have a better +idea of that countenance than long descriptions can convey: the width +and flatness of frontal; the tapering elegance of contour disguising +the strength of the deadly jaw; the long, large, terrible eye, +glittering and green as the emerald,--and withal a certain ruthless +calm, as if from the consciousness of an immense power. + +Mechanically I turned round the miniature to examine the back of it, +and on the back was engraved a pentacle; in the middle of the pentacle +a ladder, and the third step of the ladder was formed by the date +1765. Examining still more minutely, I detected a spring; this, on +being pressed, opened the back of the miniature as a lid. Within-side +the lid were engraved, "Marianna to thee. Be faithful in life and in +death to ----." Here follows a name that I will not mention, but it +was not unfamiliar to me. I had heard it spoken of by old men in my +childhood as the name borne by a dazzling charlatan who had made a +great sensation in London for a year or so, and had fled the country +on the charge of a double murder within his own house,--that of his +mistress and his rival. I said nothing of this to Mr. J----, to whom +reluctantly I resigned the miniature. + +We had found no difficulty in opening the first drawer within the iron +safe; we found great difficulty in opening the second: it was not +locked, but it resisted all efforts, till we inserted in the chinks +the edge of a chisel. When we had thus drawn it forth, we found a very +singular apparatus in the nicest order. Upon a small, thin book, or +rather tablet, was placed a saucer of crystal; this saucer was filled +with a clear liquid,--on that liquid floated a kind of compass, with a +needle shifting rapidly round; but instead of the usual points of a +compass were seven strange characters, not very unlike those used by +astrologers to denote the planets. A peculiar but not strong nor +displeasing odor came from this drawer, which was lined with a wood +that we afterwards discovered to be hazel. Whatever the cause of this +odor, it produced a material effect on the nerves. We all felt it, +even the two workmen who were in the room,--a creeping, tingling +sensation from the tips of the fingers to the roots of the hair. +Impatient to examine the tablet, I removed the saucer. As I did so the +needle of the compass went round and round with exceeding swiftness, +and I felt a shock that ran through my whole frame, so that I dropped +the saucer on the floor. The liquid was spilled; the saucer was +broken; the compass rolled to the end of the room, and at that instant +the walls shook to and fro, as if a giant had swayed and rocked them. + +The two workmen were so frightened that they ran up the ladder by +which we had descended from the trapdoor; but seeing that nothing more +happened, they were easily induced to return. + +Meanwhile I had opened the tablet: it was bound in plain red leather, +with a silver clasp; it contained but one sheet of thick vellum, and +on that sheet were inscribed, within a double pentacle, words in old +monkish Latin, which are literally to be translated thus: "On all that +it can reach within these walls, sentient or inanimate, living or +dead, as moves the needle, so work my will! Accursed be the house, and +restless be the dwellers therein." + +We found no more. Mr. J---- burned the tablet and its anathema. He +razed to the foundations the part of the building containing the +secret room with the chamber over it. He had then the courage to +inhabit the house himself for a month, and a quieter, +better-conditioned house could not be found in all London. +Subsequently he let it to advantage, and his tenant has made no +complaints. + + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Haunted and the Haunters, by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 14195.txt or 14195.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/9/14195/ + +Produced by Robert Ciconnetti, Keith M. 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