diff options
Diffstat (limited to '18233-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 18233-8.txt | 7478 |
1 files changed, 7478 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/18233-8.txt b/18233-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d332c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/18233-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7478 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Animal Ghosts, by Elliott O'Donnell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Animal Ghosts + Or, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter + +Author: Elliott O'Donnell + +Release Date: April 23, 2006 [EBook #18233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAL GHOSTS *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Graeme Mackreth and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +ANIMAL GHOSTS + +OR, + +ANIMAL HAUNTINGS AND THE HEREAFTER + +BY ELLIOTT O'DONNELL + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE SORCERY CLUB," "WERWOLVES," "BYWAYS OF GHOSTLAND," "SCOTTISH +GHOSTS," "HAUNTED HOUSES OF LONDON," "HAUNTED HOUSES OF ENGLAND AND +WALES," "DREAMS AND THEIR MEANINGS," "FOR SATAN'S SAKE," "THE UNKNOWN +DEPTHS," "DINEVAH THE BEAUTIFUL," "JENNIE BARLOWE," "GHOSTLY PHENOMENA," +"MRS. E.M. WARD'S REMINISCENCES," ETC. ETC. + +LONDON + +WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LTD. +CATHEDRAL HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. +1913 + +_First Published November, 1913._ + + + + +PREFACE + +If human beings, with all their vices, have a future life, assuredly +animals, who in character so often equal, nay, excel human beings, have +a future life also. + +Those who in the Scriptures find a key to all things, can find nothing +in them to confute this argument. There is no saying of Christ that +justifies one in supposing that man is the only being, whose existence +extends beyond the grave. + +Granted, however, merely for the sake of argument, that we have some +ground for the denial of a future existence for animals, consider the +injustice such a denial would involve. Take, for example, the case of +the horse. Harming no one, and without thought of reward, it toils for +man all its life, and when too old to work it is put to death without +even the compensation of a well-earned rest. But if compensation be +God's law,--as I, for one, believe it to be--and also the _raison +d'être_ of a hereafter, then surely the Creator, whose chief claim to +our respect and veneration lies in the fact that He is just and +merciful, will take good care that the horse--the gentle, patient, +never-complaining horse--is well compensated--compensated in a golden +hereafter. + +Consider again, the case of another of our four-footed friends--the dog; +the faithful, affectionate, obedient and forgiving dog, the dog who is +so often called upon to stand all sorts of rough treatment, and is shot +or poisoned, if, provoked beyond endurance, he at last rounds on his +persecutors, and bites. And the cat--the timid, peaceful cat who is +mauled, and all but pulled in two by cruel children, and beaten to a +jelly when in sheer agony and fright it scratches. Reflect again, on the +cow and the sheep, fed only to supply our wants; shouted at and kicked, +if, when nearly scared out of their senses, they wander off the track; +and pole-axed, or done to death in some equally atrocious manner when +the sickening demand for flesh food is at its height. + +And yet, you say, these innocent, unoffending--and, I say, +martyred--animals are to have no future, no compensation. Monstrous! +Absurd! It is an effrontery to common sense, philosophy--anything, +everything. It is a damned lie, damned bigotry, damned nonsense. The +whole animal world will live again; and it will be man--spoilt, +presumptuous, degenerate man--who will not participate in another life, +unless he very much improves. + +Think well over this,--you who preach the gospel of man's +pre-eminence;--you who prate of God and know nothing whatsoever about +Him! The horse, dog, cat,--even the wild animals, whose vices, +perchance, pale beside your own, may go to Heaven before you. The +Supreme Architect is neither a Nero, nor a Stuart, nor a clown. He will +recompense all who deserve recompense, be they great or small--biped or +quadruped. + +It is to testify to a future existence for animals and to create a wider +interest in it that I have undertaken to compile this book; and my +object, I think, can best be achieved in my own way, the way of the +investigator of haunted places. The mere fact that there are +manifestations of "dead" people (pardon the paradox) proves some kind of +life after death for human beings; and happily the same proof is +available with regard a future life for animals; indeed there are as +many animal phantasms as human--perhaps more; hence, if the human being +lives again, so do his dumb friends. + +Be comforted then, you who love your pets, and have been kind to them. +You will see them all again, on the soft undying pasture lands of your +Elysium and theirs. + +Be warned, you--you who have despised animals, and have been cruel to +them. Who knows but that, in your future life, you may be as they are +now--in subjection? + + * * * * * + +My task in writing this book has been considerably lightened by the +extreme courtesy and kindness of Mr. Shirley, Mr. Eveleigh Nash, and the +Proprietors of the _Review of Reviews_, in allowing me to make use of +extracts and quotations from their most valuable works. + +ELLIOTT O'DONNELL. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + +CHAPTER I + +CATS + +PAGE + +The Black Cat of the Old Manor House, Oxenby--Correspondence _re_ Cat +Phantasms--The Headless Cat of No. ----, Lower Seedley Road, Seedley, +Manchester--The Cat on the Post--Mystic Properties of Cats 3 + + +CHAPTER II + +DOGS + +The Case of James Durham--The Grey Dog of ---- House, Birmingham--The +Dog in the Cupboard--How the Ghost of a Dog saved Life--A Precentor's +Adventure--Phantom Dog seen on Souter Fell--The Jumping Ghost--Dogs seen +before a Death--A Dog scared by a Canine Ghost--The Phantom Dachshund of +W---- Street, London, W.--An ALL Hallow Eve Ghost--The Strange +Disappearance of Mr. Jeremiah Dance--Phantasms of Living Dogs--The +Yellow Dog of K---- University--National Ghosts in the form of Dogs--The +Mauthe Doog--Spectral Hounds 57 + + +CHAPTER III + +HORSES AND THE UNKNOWN + +A Phantom Cavalcade--The Miller on the Grey Horse--A Phantom Horse +and Rider--The White Horse of Eastover--The Afrikander's Story--Heralds +of Death--Phantom Coach in U.S.A.--A Story from Marseilles--Summary of +Horses--Phantasms of Living Horses--Horses and the Psychic Faculty of +Scent--Phantom Policeman and Horse--Phantom Huntsmen and Horses 139 + + +CHAPTER IV + +BULLS, COWS, PIGS, ETC. + +The Kirk-grim--Phantasm of a Goat--Phantom Hogs of the Moat +Grange--Sheep--Spectre Flock of Sheep in Germany 212 + + +PART II + + +CHAPTER V + +WILD ANIMALS AND THE UNKNOWN + +Animal Phantasms and the Moon--The Case of Martin Tristram--Phantasms of +Cat and Ape--Hauntings by a White Rabbit--John Wesley's Ghost--Psychic +Faculty in Hares and Rabbits 223 + + +CHAPTER VI + +INHABITANTS OF THE JUNGLE + +Elephants, Lions, Tigers, etc.--The White Tiger--Jungle Animals and +Psychic Faculties 254 + + +PART III + + +CHAPTER VII + +BIRDS AND THE UNKNOWN + + +Case from _Occult Review_--Bird Hauntings in Russia--Hauntings in +the Country Church--Capt. Morgan's Experiences--Addenda--Old Authorities +on Bird Omens 273 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BRIEF RETROSPECT 300 + + +PART I + +DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE UNKNOWN + + + + +ANIMAL GHOSTS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CATS + + +In opening this volume on Animals and their associations with the +unknown, I will commence with a case of hauntings in the Old Manor +House, at Oxenby. + +My informant was a Mrs. Hartnoll, whom I can see in my mind's eye, as +distinctly as if I were looking at her now. Hers was a personality that +no lapse of time, nothing could efface; a personality that made itself +felt on boys of all temperaments, most of all, of course, on those +who--like myself--were highly strung and sensitive. + +She was classical mistress at L.'s, the then well-known dame school in +Clifton, where for three years--prior to migrating to a Public School--I +was well grounded in all the mysticisms of Kennedy's Latin Primer and +Smith's First Greek Principia. + +I doubt if she got anything more than a very small salary--governesses +in those days were shockingly remunerated--and I know,--poor soul, she +had to work monstrously hard. Drumming Latin and Greek into heads as +thick as ours was no easy task. + +But there were times, when the excessive tension on the nerves proving +too much, Mrs. Hartnoll stole a little relaxation; when she allowed +herself to chat with us, and even to smile--Heavens! those smiles! And +when--I can feel the tingling of my pulses at the bare mention of +it--she spoke about herself, stated she had once been young--a +declaration so astounding, so utterly beyond our comprehension, that we +were rendered quite speechless--and told us anecdotes. + +Of many of her narratives I have no recollection, but one or two, which +interested me more than the rest, are almost as fresh in my mind as when +recounted. The one that appealed to me most, and which I have every +reason to believe is absolutely true,[1] is as follows:--I give it as +nearly as I can in her own somewhat stilted style:-- + +"Up to the age of nineteen, I resided with my parents in the Manor +House, Oxenby. It was an old building, dating back, I believe, to the +reign of Edward VI, and had originally served as the residence of noble +families. Built, or, rather, faced with split flints, and edged and +buttressed with cut grey stone, it had a majestic though very gloomy +appearance, and seen from afar resembled nothing so much as a huge and +grotesquely decorated sarcophagus. In the centre of its frowning and +menacing front was the device of a cat, constructed out of black +shingles, and having white shingles for the eyes; the effect being +curiously realistic, especially on moonlight nights, when anything more +lifelike and sinister could scarcely have been conceived. The artist, +whoever he was, had a more than human knowledge of cats--he portrayed +not merely their bodies but their souls. + +[Footnote 1: I have subsequently met several people who experienced the +same phenomena in the house, which was standing a short time ago.] + +"In style the front of the house was somewhat castellated. Two +semicircular bows, or half towers, placed at a suitable distance from +each other, rose from the base to the summit of the edifice, to the +height of four or five stairs; and were pierced, at every floor, with +rows of stone-mullioned windows. The flat wall between had larger +windows, lighting the great hall, gallery, and upper apartments. These +windows were wholly composed of stained glass, engraved with every +imaginable fantastic design--imps, satyrs, dragons, witches, +queer-shaped trees, hands, eyes, circles, triangles and cats. + +"The towers, half included in the building, were completely circular +within, and contained the winding stairs of the mansion; and whoever +ascended them when a storm was raging seemed rising by a whirlwind to +the clouds. + +"In the upper rooms even the wildest screams of the hurricane were +drowned in the rattling clamour of the assaulted casements. When a gale +of wind took the building in front, it rocked it to the foundations, +and, at such times, threatened its instant demolition. + +"Midway between the towers there stood forth a heavy stone porch with a +Gothic gateway, surmounted by a battlemented parapet, made gable +fashion, the apex of which was garnished by a pair of dolphins, rampant +and antagonistic, whose corkscrew tails seemed contorted--especially at +night--by the last agonies of rage convulsed. The porch doors stood +open, except in tremendous weather; the inner ones were regularly shut +and barred after all who entered. They led into a wide vaulted and lofty +hall, the walls of which were decorated with faded tapestry, that rose, +and fell, and rustled in the most mysterious fashion every time there +was the suspicion--and often barely the suspicion--of a breeze. + +"Interspersed with the tapestry--and in great contrast to its +antiquity--were quite modern and very ordinary portraits of my family. +The general fittings and furniture, both of the hall and house, were +sombre and handsome--truss-beams, corbels, girders and panels were of +the blackest oak; and the general effect of all this, augmented, if +anything, by the windows, which were too high and narrow to admit of +much light, was much the same as that produced by the interior of a +subterranean chapel or charnel house. + +"From the hall proceeded doorways and passages, more than my memory can +now particularize. Of these portals, one at each end conducted to the +tower stairs, others to reception rooms and domestic offices. + +"The whole of the house being too large for us, only one wing--the right +and newer of the two--was occupied, the other was unfurnished, and +generally shut up. I say generally because there were times when either +my mother or father--the servants never ventured there--forgot to lock +the doors, and the handles yielding to my daring fingers, I +surreptitiously crept in. + +"Everywhere--even in daylight, even on the sunniest of mornings--were +dark shadows that hung around the ingles and recesses of the rooms, the +deep cupboards, the passages, and silent, winding staircases. + +"There was one corridor--long, low, vaulted--where these shadows +assembled in particular. I can see them now, as I saw them then, as they +have come to me many times in my dreams, grouped about the doorways, +flitting to and fro on the bare, dismal boards, and congregated in +menacing clusters at the head of the sepulchral staircase leading to the +cellars. Generally, and excepting at times when the weather was +particularly violent, the silence here was so emphatic that I could +never feel it was altogether natural, but rather that it was assumed +especially for my benefit--to intimidate me. If I moved, if I coughed, +almost if I breathed, the whole passage was filled with hoarse +reverberating echoes, that, in my affrighted ears, appeared to terminate +in a series of mirthless, malevolent chuckles. Once, when fascinated +beyond control, I stole on tiptoe along the passage, momentarily +expecting a door to fly open and something grim and horrible to pounce +out on me, I was brought to a standstill by a loud, clanging noise, as +if a pail or some such utensil were set down very roughly on a stone +floor. Then there was the sound of rushing footsteps and of someone +hastily ascending the cellar staircase. In fearful anticipation as to +what I should see--for there was something in the sounds that told me +they were not made by anything human--I stood in the middle of the +passage and stared. Up, up, up they came, until I saw the dark, +indefinite shape of something very horrid, but which I could not--I dare +not--define. It was accompanied by the clanging of a pail. I tried to +scream, but my tongue cleaving to the roof of my mouth prevented my +uttering a syllable, and when I essayed to move, I found I was +temporarily paralysed. The thing came rushing down on me. I grew icy +cold all over, and when it was within a few feet of me, my horror was so +great, I fainted. + +"On recovering consciousness, it was some minutes before I summoned up +courage to open my eyes, but when I did so, they alighted on nothing but +the empty passage--the thing had disappeared. + +"On another occasion, when I was clandestinely paying a visit to the +unused wing, and was in the act of mounting one of the staircases +leading from the corridor, I have just described, to the first floor, +there was the sound of a furious scuffle overhead, and something dashed +down the stairs past me. I instinctively looked up, and there, glaring +down at me from over the balustrade, was a very white face. It was that +of a man, but very badly proportioned--the forehead being low and +receding, and the rest of the face too long and narrow. The crown rose +to a kind of peak, the ears were pointed and set very low down and far +back. The mouth was very cruel and thin-lipped; the teeth were yellow +and uneven. There was no hair on the face, but that on the head was red +and matted. The eyes were obliquely set, pale blue, and full of an +expression so absolutely malignant that every atom of blood in my veins +seemed to congeal as I met their gaze. I could not clearly see the body +of the thing, as it was hazy and indistinct, but the impression I got of +it was that it was clad in some sort of tight-fitting, fantastic +garment. As the landing was in semi-darkness, and the face at all events +was most startlingly visible, I concluded it brought with it a light of +its own, though there was none of that lurid glow attached to it, which +I subsequently learned is almost inseparable from spirit phenomena seen +under similar conditions. + +"For some seconds, I was too overcome with terror to move, but my +faculties at length reasserting themselves, I turned round and flew to +the other wing of the house with the utmost precipitation. + +"One would have thought that after these experiences nothing would have +induced me to have run the risk of another such encounter, yet only a +few days after the incident of the head, I was again impelled by a +fascination I could not withstand to visit the same quarters. In sickly +anticipation of what my eyes would alight on, I stole to the foot of the +staircase and peeped cautiously up. To my infinite joy there was nothing +there but a bright patch of sunshine, that, in the most unusual fashion, +had forced its way through from one of the slits of windows near at +hand. + +"After gazing at it long enough to assure myself it was only sunshine, I +quitted the spot, and proceeded on my way down the vaulted corridor. +Just as I was passing one of the doors, it opened. I stopped--terrified. +What could it be? Bit by bit, inch by inch, I watched the gap slowly +widen. At last, just as I felt I must either go mad or die, something +appeared--and, to my utter astonishment, it was a big, black cat! +Limping painfully, it came towards me with a curious, gliding motion, +and I perceived with a thrill of horror that it had been very cruelly +maltreated. One of its eyes looked as if it had been gouged out--its +ears were lacerated, whilst the paw of one of its hind-legs had either +been torn or hacked off. As I drew back from it, it made a feeble and +pathetic effort to reach me and rub itself against my legs, as is the +way with cats, but in so doing it fell down, and uttering a half purr, +half gurgle, vanished--seeming to sink through the hard oak boards. + +"That evening my youngest brother met with an accident in the barn at +the back of the house, and died. Though I did not then associate his +death with the apparition of the cat, the latter shocked me much, for I +was extremely fond of animals. I did not dare venture in the wing again +for nearly two years. + +"When next I did so, it was early one June morning--between five and +six, and none of the family, saving my father, who was out in the fields +looking after his men, were as yet up. I explored the dreaded corridor +and staircase, and was crossing the floor of one of the rooms I had +hitherto regarded as immune from ghostly influences, when there was an +icy rush of wind, the door behind me slammed to violently, and a heavy +object struck me with great force in the hollow of my back. With a cry +of surprise and agony I turned sharply round, and there, lying on the +floor, stretched out in the last convulsions of death, was the big black +cat, maimed and bleeding as it had been on the previous occasion. How I +got out of the room I don't recollect. I was too horror-stricken to know +exactly what I was doing, but I distinctly remember that, as I tugged +the door open, there was a low, gleeful chuckle, and something slipped +by me and disappeared in the direction of the corridor. At noon that day +my mother had a seizure of apoplexy, and died at midnight. + +"Again there was a lapse of years--this time nearly four--when, sent on +an errand for my father, I turned the key of one of the doors leading +into the empty wing, and once again found myself within the haunted +precincts. All was just as it had been on the occasion of my last +visit--gloom, stillness and cobwebs reigned everywhere, whilst +permeating the atmosphere was a feeling of intense sadness and +depression. + +"I did what was required of me as quickly as possible, and was crossing +one of the rooms to make my exit, when a dark shadow fell athwart the +threshold of the door, and I saw the cat. + + * * * * * + +"That evening my father dropped dead as he was hastening home through +the fields. He had long suffered from heart disease. + +"After his death we--that is to say, my brother, sisters and self--were +obliged to leave the house and go out into the world to earn our living. +We never went there again, and never heard if any of the subsequent +tenants experienced similar manifestations." + +This is as nearly as I can recollect Mrs. Hartnoll's story. But as it is +a good many years since I heard it, there is just a possibility of some +of the details--the smaller ones at all events--having escaped my +memory. + +When I was grown up, I stayed for a few weeks near Oxenby, and met, at a +garden party, a Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, the then occupants of the Manor +House. + +I asked if they believed in ghosts, and told them I had always heard +their house was haunted. + +"Well," they said, "we never believed in ghosts till we came to Oxenby, +but we have seen and heard such strange things since we have been in the +Manor House that we are now prepared to believe anything." + +They then went on to tell me that they--and many of their visitors and +servants--had seen the phantasms of a very hideous and malignant old +man, clad in tight-fitting hosiery of mediæval days, and a maimed and +bleeding big, black cat, that seemed sometimes to drop from the ceiling, +and sometimes to be thrown at them. In one of the passages all sorts of +queer sounds, such as whinings, meanings, screeches, clangings of pails +and rattlings of chains, were heard, whilst something, no one could ever +see distinctly, but which they all felt to be indescribably nasty, +rushed up the cellar steps and flew past, as if engaged in a desperate +chase. Indeed, the disturbances were of so constant and harrowing a +nature, that the wing had to be vacated and was eventually locked up. + +The Wheelers excavated in different parts of the haunted wing and found, +in the cellar, at a depth of some eight or nine feet, the skeletons of +three men and two women; whilst in the wainscoting of the passage they +discovered the bones of a boy, all of which remains they had properly +interred in the churchyard. According to local tradition, handed down +through many centuries by word of mouth, the house originally belonged +to a knight, who, with his wife, was killed out hunting. He had only one +child, a boy of about ten, who became a ward in chancery. The man +appointed by the Crown as guardian to this child proved an inhuman +monster, and after ill-treating the lad in every conceivable manner, +eventually murdered him and tried to substitute a bastard boy of his own +in his place. For a time the fraud succeeded, but on its being +eventually found out, the murderer and his offspring were both brought +to trial and hanged. + +During his occupation of the house, many people were seen to enter the +premises, but never leave them, and the place got the most sinister +reputation. Among other deeds credited to the murderer and his +offspring was the mutilation and boiling of a cat--the particular pet of +the young heir, who was compelled to witness the whole revolting +process. Years later, a subsequent owner of the property had a monument +erected in the churchyard to the memory of this poor, abused child, and +on the front of the house constructed the device of the cat. + +Though it is impossible to determine what amount of truth there may be +in this tradition, it certainly seems to accord with the hauntings, and +to supply some sort of explanation to them. The ghostly head on the +banisters might well be that of the low and brutal guardian, whose +spirit would be the exact counterpart of his mind. The figure seen, and +noises heard in the passage, point to the re-enaction of some tragedy, +possibly the murder of the heir, or the slaughter of his cat, in either +of which a bucket might easily have played a grimly significant part. +And if human murderers and their victims have phantasms, why should not +animals have phantasms too? Why should not the phenomenon of the cat +seen by Mrs. Hartnoll and the Wheelers have been the actual phantasm of +an earthbound cat? + +No amount of reasoning--religious or otherwise--has as yet annihilated +the possibility of all forms of earthly life possessing spirits. + +LETTER FROM MY WIFE + +I heard the foregoing account from my husband when first I met him years +ago, and I know it to be true. I have seen the rooms, etc. in the Old +Manor House, Oxenby, where the incidents Mrs. Hartnoll mentions took +place. + + ADA B. O'DONNELL. + +_July_ 2, 1913. + +To further substantiate my views with regard to a future existence for +animals, I reproduce (by permission of the Editor) the following letters +and articles that have appeared from time to time in the _Occult +Review_:-- + + +Letter 1 + +_That other Cat_ + +One evening about four years ago I was in my drawing-room with two +friends; we were all standing up on the point of going to bed, and only +waiting till the old cook had succeeded in inducing the grey Persian cat +to come in for the night. This was sometimes difficult, and then cook +came up as on this occasion and called him from the balcony, and the +French window was wide open, when a cat rushed in at the window and +through the door. + +"What was that?" we said, looking at one another. It was not Kitty, the +grey Persian, but darker, and was it really a cat, or what? My friend +"Rügen" has written the account of what she saw before seeing what I +have said. "Iona" confirms our description. What I saw seemed dark and +shadowy and yet unmistakably a cat. It seemed to me like the predecessor +of Kitty, which was a black Persian; he had the same habit of coming in +at night by this window, and he constantly rushed through the room, and +downstairs, being in a hurry for his supper. A moment or two afterwards +the grey cat walked slowly in, and though we searched the house, we +could find no other. + + "THANET." + + +Letter 2 + + +_Fräulein Mullet's Story_ + +Three or four years ago, Iona and I were sitting in the drawing-room on +a Sunday evening, when cook came in to ask for Kitty (a silver-grey +Persian cat) to settle him in the kitchen for the night. Kitty was still +in the garden, and cook went to the balcony calling him. + +Suddenly I saw a black cat flying in and disappearing behind or under a +seat. First, I did not take much notice of this. But when a minute after +Kitty slowly and solemnly stepped in, followed by cook, it struck me +that the dark something could not have been Kitty, and Thanet and Iona +made the remark simultaneously. Now we began to look for the dark one +all over the place without any result. Cook had not seen any cat passing +her on the balcony, but Kitty the grey one. Thanet had had a black +Persian cat, which died before Kitty came. + + "RÜGEN." + + +Letter 3 + + +I can entirely corroborate the accounts written by "Thanet" and "Rügen." + +I remember that I saw something like a dark shadow move very quickly and +disappear in front of a cottage piano. I exclaimed simultaneously with +my friends "What was that?" and shared their surprise when no black cat +was found, and the grey Persian walked in unconcernedly through the open +window. + + "IONA." + + +Letter 4 + + +_What Kitty saw_ + +Cook said, "I wish you would come downstairs and see how strangely Kitty +behaves as soon as I open the cupboard. There is nothing in it but the +wood; I turned it all out to see what might be the reason--not even a +mousehole can I find." Some days previously cook had told me that +nothing could induce Kitty to sleep in his basket, and one day he would +not eat any food in the kitchen, and his meals had to be given him +outside. So I went down to please cook. Kitty was picked up, and while +cook petted and stroked him, she knelt down and opened the cupboard. +Kitty, stretching his neck and looking with big, frightened eyes into +the cupboard's corner, suddenly turned round; struggling out of cook's +hold and rushing over her shoulder, he flew out of the kitchen. Getting +up, Cook said: "That's always what he does, just as if he was seeing +something horrible!" + +Next day I encouraged cook to talk of Ruff, the former black cat, which +had been a great favourite of hers, and which she had been nursing when +he was dying. "Oh, poor thing, when he was ill, he would creep into dark +corners, so I put him in his basket into the cupboard, making it very +comfortable for him, and there he died"--pointing to the very corner +which caused such horror to Kitty. + + + "RÜGEN." + + +Letter 5 + + +_Captain Humphries's Story--A Materialized Cat_ + +My son had the following experience at the age of four years in our +Worcestershire home. + +He was an only child and spent much of his time in the company of a cat +who shared his tastes and pursuits even to the extent of fishing in the +River Weir with him, the cat being far more proficient at the sport than +the boy. When the cat died we none of us dared to break the news to the +child, and were much surprised when he asked us to say why his cat only +came to play with him at nights nowadays. When we questioned him about +it, he stoutly maintained that his cat was there in bodily form every +night after he went to bed, looking much the same but a little thinner. + +At about the same age, one evening after being in bed one hour, I heard +him cry out, and going upstairs (his maid also heard and ran up) and +asking him what was the matter, he said that an old gentleman with a +long grey beard like his grandfather came into his room, and stood at +the front of his bed. At the very moment, the former had a seizure in +his carriage while driving through the streets of Birmingham, from which +he died without regaining consciousness; later on he recognized a +photograph of his grandfather as being the person he saw at the foot of +his bed. My wife, the maid, and myself can vouch for the accuracy of +these statements, also friends to whom we have related these facts. + + "MUNSTER." + + +Letter 6 + + +_Mrs. E.J. Ellis's Story--"The Old Woman's Cat"_ + +My wife, writes Mr. Ellis, who was brought up in Germany, and who is not +sufficiently confident about her English to attempt to put down anything +for publication in that language, tells me the following story for the +_Occult Review_:-- + +"When I was a little girl living with my family near Michelstadt in the +Odenwald, I remember an old woman like an old witch, whose name was +Louise, and who was called 'Pfeiffe Louise,' because she exhibited pipes +for sale in her cottage window, along with the cheap dress-stuffs, +needles and threads, and simple toys for children which were her +stock-in-trade. She had a favourite cat which was devoted to her, but +its attachment doesn't seem to have been enough to make her happy, for +she married a young sergeant named Lautenschlager, who might have been +her son--or indeed her grandson--and who, as everyone said, courted her +for her money. She died as long ago as 1869, and during her last illness +the devoted cat was always with her. It kept watch beside the body when +she was dead, and refused to be driven away. In a fit of exasperation +Lautenschlager seized it, carried it off, and drowned it in the little +River Mumling, at a place where the road from Michelstadt to the +neighbouring village Steinbach runs near the water's edge. It was +bordered with poplars then, but chestnut trees shade it now. + +"Soon after his first wife was buried Lautenschlager married again, and +opened an eating-house in Steinbach, where he established his second +wife. He had a sister whom he placed in the cottage of poor 'Pfeiffe +Louise.' She carried on the business, and every day Lautenschlager used +to walk over from Steinbach to see how she was getting on, returning in +the evening to his wife, who used to relate to my mother that he +frequently came home terrified and bathed in perspiration, for as he +passed the place where he had drowned the cat, its ghost used to come +out of the river and run beside him along the dark road, sometimes +terrifying him still more by jumping in front of him. + +"After a few years of married life the second wife died, and +Lautenschlager married a third. The little cottage business had +prospered, and in its place he now had a considerable draper's shop in +Michelstadt. He continued to walk over from Steinbach, where now the +third wife lived in the eating-house, and the ghost of the cat continued +to frighten him by appearing at nightfall as he walked beside the river. + +"I can remember hearing his third wife describe his dread of it, and my +mother has told me how both the sister and the second wife used to say +the same thing, though I was too young then for them to tell me about +it. Lautenschlager used also to complain to the country people who came +to dine at his eating-house. He considered himself an ill-used man, and +felt that the supernatural powers were treating him very hardly, and +subjecting him to a real persecution. I have only the conversation of +his wife and the gossip of the village to vouch for his sincerity, and +the genuineness of the apparition is supported only by Lautenschlager's +word, but his evident anger and agitation were accepted as genuine, and +no one dreamed of doubting his word. He was not at all a dreamy or +imaginative man, and did not drink. His passion was merely momentary. He +was not only a draper and caterer but a usurer, and realized something +of a fortune by lending money on good security to peasants and farmers +who, it was said, did not consider how they bound themselves when they +signed the papers he put before them. + +"Lautenschlager continued to be haunted by the cat-ghost at irregular +intervals for more than twenty years, and it made a marked change in his +character. He became serious, and during the latter part of his life +would only talk about religion and read sacred literature. He died about +ten years ago." + + "FELINE." + + +Letter 7 + + +_A Spectral Fox-terrier_ + +Two or three years ago I visited a medium (Mrs. Davies of 44 Laburnum +Grove, Portsmouth). I had been seated only a few minutes when a little +pug-dog of hers looked up in the direction of my knees and down towards +my feet, growling and howling in a most strange manner. + +"What on earth is he looking at?" I exclaimed. + +"Oh," said the medium, "there is a little fox-terrier lying across your +feet; one half of his face is quite dark and the other half white, but +he has such a peculiar black patch over the eye that one would almost +think it was a black bruise." Now, sir, I had such a little dog in +India, but this lady did not know of him, and would never have known had +he not, as I afterwards found, died out there. This is not only a case +of the appearance of an animal after death, but also a case in which it +was seen by another animal, as also by the medium. I am also told that +the pug-dog who had this vision of my dog was once seen to pounce upon +what seemed to the medium to be several cats, near the copper in the +scullery of the same house. The medium asked a neighbour if the previous +occupants had had any cats. "Oh, yes," replied the neighbour, "and badly +the poor things were served, for they were cruelly thrown into the +copper, which was full of boiling water." + + "SIMLA" (M. Conder). + + +Letter 8 + + +_Killed by a Street Car, but walks in at the Front Door_ + +Some five years ago we had a little puppy about six months old. I used +to train him to always go round the back way to come into the house. One +day he got hurt and run over, being instantly killed by a street car. A +day or two after the accident I was going in my front door and I saw the +dog go up the steps in front of me, as plain as I ever saw him in my +life. It seemed he knew that I had taught him he must not go in the +front way, because he would go a few steps and then turn round and look +at me, as though he wanted to see how I was taking it, and I positively +saw him go to the full length of the hall into the house, a distance of +about twenty feet, before he disappeared. I saw him do this at least +three times in two months that we stayed in that flat. I told at least a +half-dozen people of the incident at the time it happened, and I can +vouch for its authenticity. + + I remain, yours truly, + + "MAJILTON" + (Chas. A. Thompson, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.). + + +Letter 9 + + +_Mrs. Vincent Taylor's Experience. A Spirit Purr_ + +One evening in February, 1906, my son and I were quietly reading, in +full gaslight, our small grey cat lying on the sofa a short distance +from where I sat. Suddenly I saw on my knee a large red and white cat +which belonged to us in India, which was a very dear family friend and +as fond of us as a child. + +On leaving India we were obliged to give him to a friend, and in the end +he shared the usual fate of pets in that country, making a meal for some +wild animal. + +"Rufie-Oofie," in his spirit shape, purred vigorously, rubbing his head +against me and giving every sign of delight at seeing us again. I did +not speak, but in a few minutes my son looked up and said, "Mother, +Rufie-Oofie is on your knee," when the spirit cat jumped down and went +to him to be petted. Then he returned to me, and walked along the sofa +to where our present cat, "Kim," was asleep. The spirit cat, with a look +of almost human fun, patted Kim's head, the latter awaking with a start. +Rufie-Oofie continued to make playful dabs at Kim's ears, Kim following +each movement with glaring eyes, distinctly seeing and realizing that +another cat was invading his sofa, but not in the least angry with him +and quite ready to play. After a few minutes the spirit cat came back to +my knee, whereupon the earth cat displayed jealousy which Rufie-Oofie +resented, but before they came to actual "words" the spirit cat retired +behind the veil. + + "ARJÜNA." + + +Letter 10 + + +SIR, + +The following notes of psychological experiences with animals may be of +interest:-- + +I had a collie who lived to a good old age. She was deaf and infirm, and +one hind-leg was paralysed, so that it dragged as she walked. I was +taken ill, not seriously, nor so as in any way to affect my brain, but +as my poor old dog would insist on coming and lying in my room the +doctor insisted on her being destroyed. I felt that her life was no +pleasure to her, and she was killed with chloroform. Three days +afterwards in the afternoon I heard her come upstairs with her dragging +hind-leg. I heard her steps come along the long passage which had my +room at the end, and lost them about half-way up. On the third day I +called her and spoke to her, putting out my hand as if she would come +and put her head under it, and told her all was right. I never heard her +any more. + +I believe that on one occasion she told me by thought transference that +she had no water in her pan. The pan was always filled, and I knew that +she wanted something, but thought of all other wants but water. She made +her eyes protrude, and looked at me intently, and "water" flashed into +my mind. I looked and found the pan empty. It is, of course, possible +that the suggestion came from my own subconscious mind. I never saw the +aura of a human being, but I once had a kind of vision of this dog, +which experts have told me was her aura. I was sitting by the fire, +somewhat somnolent, and he was lying on the hearthrug. All at once his +golden brown coat disappeared, and I saw a mass of reddish brown or +perhaps I should say brownish red, and on one side of it was an +irregular patch of fleecy white, bordered with sapphire blue. I was told +that the brownish red represented the dog's animal instincts, the pearly +white his animal innocence, and the sapphire blue his devotional +instinct, in his case directed to me as his deity. Whether any of your +readers have had similar experiences and explain them similarly, I do +not know. + +I had to go abroad one summer and my dog was ill with eczema, and as I +did not very much trust the maid I was leaving in charge, I sent him to +the vet's to be treated. As soon as I reached my destination I wrote to +a friend to go and inquire how he was. She replied that the dog was +perfectly miserable, and that he had an enormous wound on his back, that +he had eaten nothing for a week, that he was too weak to stand, and that +if he were hers, she would have him put out of his misery at once. I +wrote at once to the vet, telling him to telegraph "Curable" or +"Hopeless," and to act accordingly. Meanwhile, I sat that afternoon in +the Bürgerpark by myself and imagined the dog upon my lap, and myself +stroking and healing him. After this I found myself fully believing that +he would get better. The telegram I received was "Curable," and my +friend wrote a second letter and said it was a miracle, for the dog was +quite convalescent. He recovered perfectly. Here, again, however, it may +have been that he was breaking his heart for a friend, and that my +friend's visit cheered him. Or may not both causes have had their +effect? + + "AMBROSE ZAIL MARTYN." + +Here is another case in the veracity of which I have every confidence. I +will call it + + +_The Headless Cat of No. ---- Lower Seedley Road, Seedley, Manchester_ + +It was related to me by Mr. Robert Dane, who was at one time a tenant of +No. ---- Lower Seedley Road, Seedley. I quote it as nearly as possible +in his words, thus:-- + +"When we--my wife and I--took No. ---- Lower Seedley Road, no +possibility of the place being haunted crossed our minds. Indeed ghosts +were the very last things we reckoned on, as neither of us had the +slightest belief in them. Like the generality of solicitors, I am stodgy +and unimaginative, whilst my wife is the most practical and +matter-of-fact little woman you would meet in a day's march. Nor was +there anything about the house that in any way suggested the +superphysical. It was airy and light--no dark corners nor sinister +staircases--and equipped throughout with all modern conveniences. We +began our lease in June--the hottest June I remember--and nothing +occurred to disturb us till October. + +"It happened then in this wise. I will quote from my diary:-- + +"_Monday, October 11th_.--Dick--that is my brother-in-law--and I, at 11 +p.m., were sitting smoking and chatting together in the study. All the +rest of the household had gone to bed. We had no light in the room--as +Dick had a headache--save the fire, and that had burned so low that its +feeble glimmering scarcely enabled us to see each other's face. After a +space of sudden and thoughtful silence, Dick took the stump of a cigar +from his lips and threw it in the grate, where for a few moments it lay +glowing in the gloom. + +"'Jack,' he said, 'you will think me mad, but there is something deuced +queer about this room to-night--something in the atmosphere I cannot +define, but which I have never felt here--or indeed anywhere--before. +Look at that cigar-end--look!' + +"I did so, and received a shock. What I saw was certainly not the stump +Dick had had in his mouth, but an eye--a large, red and lurid eye--that +looked up at us with an expression of the utmost hate. + +"Dick raised the shovel and struck at it, but without effect--it still +glared at us. A great horror then seized us, and unable to remove our +gaze from the hellish thing, we sat glued to our chairs staring at it. +This state of affairs lasted till the clock in the hall outside struck +twelve, when the eye suddenly vanished, and we both felt as if some +intensely evil influence had been suddenly removed. + +"Dick did not like the idea of sleeping alone, and asked if he might +keep the electric light on in his room all night. Tremendous +extravagance, but under the circumstances excusable. I confess I +devoutly wished it was morning. + +"_Tuesday, October 12th._--I was awakened at 11.30 p.m. by Delia saying +to me, 'Oh, Edward, there have been such dreadful noises on the landing, +just as if a cat were being worried to death by dogs. Hark! there it is +again.' And as she spoke, from apparently just outside the door, came a +series of loud screeches, accompanied by savage growls and snarls. + +"Not knowing what to make of it, as we had no animals of our own in the +house, but concluding that a door or window having been left open, a dog +and cat had got in from outside, I lit a candle, and opened the bedroom +door. Instantly the sounds ceased and there was dead silence, and +although I searched everywhere, not a vestige of any animal was to be +seen. Moreover all the doors leading into the garden were shut and +locked, and the windows closed. Not wishing to frighten Delia, I +laughingly assured her the cat--a black Tom--was all right, that it was +sitting on the roof of the summer-house, looking none the worse for its +treatment, and that I had sent the dog--a terrier--flying out of the +gate with a well-deserved kick. I explained it was my fault about the +front door being left open--my brain had been a bit overstrained through +excessive work--and asked her on no account to blame the servants. I +grow alarmed at times when I realize how easy lawyering makes lying. + +"_Friday, October 21st._--On my way to bed last night I encountered a +rush of icy cold air at the first bend of the staircase. The candle +flared up, a bright blue flame, and went out. Something--an animal of +sorts--came tearing down the stairs past me, and on peering over the +banisters, I saw, looking up at me from the well of darkness beneath, +two big red eyes, the counterparts of the one Dick and I had seen on +October 11th. I threw a matchbox at them, but without effect. It was +only when I switched on the electric light that they disappeared. I +searched the house most carefully, but there were no signs of any +animal. Joined Delia, feeling nervous and henpecky. + +"_Monday, November 7th._--Tom and Mable came running into Delia's room +in a great state of excitement after tea to-day. 'Mother!' they cried, +'Mother! Do come! Some horrid dog has got a cat in the spare room and is +tearing it to pieces.' Delia, who was mending my socks at the time, +flung them anywhere, and springing to her feet, flew to the spare room. +The door was shut, but proceeding from within was the most appalling +pandemonium of screeches and snarls, just as if some dog had got hold of +a cat by the neck and was shaking it to death. Delia swung open the door +and rushed in. The room was empty--not a trace of a cat or dog +anywhere--and the sounds ceased! On my return home Delia met me in the +garden. 'Jack!' she said, 'I have probed the mystery at last. The house +is haunted! We must leave.' + +"_Saturday, November 12th._--Sublet house to James Barstow, retired oil +merchant, to-day. He comes in on the 30th. Hope he'll like it! + +"_Tuesday, November 15th._--Cook left to-day. 'I've no fault to find +with you, mum,' she condescendingly explained to Delia. 'It's not you, +nor the children, nor the food. It's the noises at night--screeches +outside my door, which sound like a cat, but which I know can't be a +cat, as there is no cat in the house. This morning, mum, shortly after +the clock struck two, things came to a climax. Hearing something in the +corner and wondering if it was a mouse--I ain't a bit afraid of mice, +mum--I sat up in bed and was getting ready to strike a light--the +matchbox was in my hand--when something heavy sprang right on the top of +me and gave a loud growl in my ear. That finished me, mum--I fainted. +When I came to myself, I was too frightened to stir, but lay with my +head under the blankets till it was time to get up. I then searched +everywhere, but there was no sign of any dog, and as the door was locked +there was no possibility of any dog having got in during the night. Mum, +I wouldn't go through what I suffered again for fifty pounds; I've got +palpitations even now; and I would rather go without my month's wages +than sleep in that room another night.' Delia paid her up to date, and +she went directly after tea. + +"_Friday, November 18th._--As I was coming out of the bathroom at 11 +p.m. something fell into the bath with a loud splash. I turned to see +what it was--there was nothing there. I ran up the stairs to bed, three +steps at a time! + +"_Sunday, November 20th._--Went to church in the morning and heard the +usual Oxford drawl. On the way back I was pondering over the sermon and +wishing I could contort the Law as successfully as parsons contort the +Scriptures, when Dot--she is six to-day--came running up to me with a +very scared expression in her eyes. 'Father,' she cried, plucking me by +the sleeve, 'do hurry up. Mother is very ill.' Full of dreadful +anticipations, I tore home, and on arriving found Delia lying on the +sofa in a violent fit of hysterics. It was fully an hour before she +recovered sufficiently to tell me what had happened. Her account runs +thus:-- + +"'After you went to church,' she began, 'I made the custard pudding, +jelly and blancmange for dinner, heard the children their collects, and +had just sat down with the intention of writing a letter to mother, when +I heard a very pathetic mew coming, so I thought, from under the sofa. +Thinking it was some stray cat that had got in through one of the +windows, I tried to entice it out, by calling "Puss, puss," and making +the usual silly noise people do on such occasions. No cat coming out and +the mewing still continuing, I knelt down and peered under the sofa. +There was no cat there. Had it been night I should have been very much +afraid, but I could scarcely reconcile myself to the idea of ghosts +with the room filled with sunshine. Resuming my seat I went on with my +writing, but not for long. The mewing grew nearer. I distinctly heard +something crawl out from under the sofa; there was then a pause, during +which you could have heard the proverbial pin fall, and then something +sprang upon me and dug its claws in my knees. I looked down, and to my +horror and distress, perceived, standing on its hind-legs, pawing my +clothes, a large, tabby cat, without a head--the neck terminating in a +mangled stump. The sight so appalled me that I don't know what happened, +but nurse and the children came in and found me lying on the floor in +hysterics. Can't we leave the house at once?' + +"_Wednesday, November 30th._--Left No. ---- Lower Seedley Road at 2 p.m. +Had an awful scurry to get things packed in time, and dread opening +certain of the packing-cases lest we shall find all the crockery +smashed. Just as we were starting Delia cried out that she had left her +reticule behind, and I was despatched in search of it. I searched +everywhere--till I was worn out, for I know what Delia is--and was +leaving the premises in full anticipation of being sent back again, when +there was a loud commotion in the hall, just as if a dog had suddenly +pounced on a cat, and the next moment a large tabby, with the head hewn +away as Delia had described, rushed up to me and tried to spring on to +my shoulders. At this juncture one of the servants cautiously opened the +hall door from without, and informed me I was wanted. The cat instantly +vanished, and, on my reaching the carriage in a state of breathless +haste and trepidation, Delia told me she had found her reticule--she had +been sitting on it all the time!" + +In a subsequent note in his diary a year or so later Mr. Dane says: +"After innumerable enquiries _re_ the history of No. ---- Lower Seedley +Road prior to our inhabiting it, I have at length elicited the fact that +twelve years ago a Mr. and Mrs. Barlowe lived there. They had one son, +Arthur, whom they spoilt in the most outrageous fashion, even to the +extent of encouraging him in acts of cruelty. To afford him amusement +they used to buy rats for his dog--a fox-terrier--to worry, and on one +occasion procured a stray cat, which the servants afterwards declared +was mangled in the most shocking manner before being finally destroyed +by Arthur. Here, then, in my opinion, is a very feasible explanation for +the hauntings--the phenomenon seen was the phantasm of the poor, +tortured cat. For if human tragedies are re-enacted by ghosts, why not +animal tragedies too? It is absurd to suppose man has the monopoly of +soul or spirit." + + +_The Cat on the Post_ + +In her _Ghosts and Family Legends_ Mrs. Crowe narrates the following +case of a haunting by the phantom of a cat:-- + +"After the doctor's story, I fear mine will appear too trifling," said +Mrs. M., "but as it is the only circumstance of the kind that ever +happened to myself, I prefer giving it you to any of the many stories I +have heard. + +"About fifteen years ago I was staying with some friends at a +magnificent old seat in Yorkshire, and our host being very much crippled +with the gout, was in the habit of driving about the park and +neighbourhood in a low pony phaeton, on which occasions I often +accompanied him. One of our favourite excursions was to the ruins of an +old abbey just beyond the park, and we generally returned by a +remarkably pretty rural lane leading to the village, or rather small +town, of C----. + +"One fine summer's evening we had just entered this lane when, seeing +the hedges full of wild flowers, I asked my friend to let me alight and +gather some. I walked before the carriage picking honeysuckles and roses +as I went along, till I came to a gate that led into a field. It was a +common country gate with a post on each side, and on one of these posts +sat a large white cat, the finest animal of the kind I had ever seen; +and as I have a weakness for cats I stopped to admire this sleek, fat +puss, looking so wonderfully comfortable in a very uncomfortable +position, the top of the post, on which it was sitting with its feet +doubled up under it, being out of all proportion to its body, for no +Angola ever rivalled it in size. + +"'Come on gently,' I called to my friend; 'here's such a magnificent +cat!' for I feared the approach of the phaeton would startle it away +before he had seen it. + +"'Where?' said he, pulling up his horse opposite the gate. + +"'There,' said I, pointing to the post. 'Isn't he a beauty? I wonder if +it would let me stroke it?' + +"'I see no cat,' said he. + +"'There on the post,' said I, but he declared he saw nothing, though +puss sat there in perfect composure during this colloquy. + +"'Don't you see the cat, James?' said I in great perplexity to the +groom. + +"'Yes, ma'am; a large white cat on that post.' + +"I thought my friend must be joking, or losing his eyesight, and I +approached the cat, intending to take it in my arms and carry it to the +carriage; but as I drew near she jumped off the post, which was natural +enough, but to my surprise she jumped into nothing--as she jumped she +disappeared! No cat in the field--none in the lane--none in the ditch! + +"'Where did she go, James?' + +"'I don't know, ma'am. I can't see her,' said the groom, standing up in +his seat and looking all round. + +"I was quite bewildered; but still I had no glimmering of the truth; and +when I got into the carriage again my friend said he thought I and James +were dreaming, and I retorted that I thought he must be going blind. + +"I had a commission to execute as we passed through the town, and I +alighted for that purpose at the little haberdasher's; and while they +were serving me I mentioned that I had seen a remarkably beautiful cat +sitting on a gate in the lane, and asked if they could tell me who it +belonged to, adding it was the largest cat I ever saw. + +"The owners of the shop, and two women who were making purchases, +suspended their proceedings, looked at each other and then looked at me, +evidently very much surprised. + +"'Was it a white cat, ma'am?' said the mistress. + +"'Yes, a white cat; a beautiful creature and----' + +"'Bless me!' cried two or three, 'the lady's seen the white cat of +C----. It hasn't been seen these twenty years.' + +"'Master wishes to know if you'll soon be done, ma'am. The pony is +getting restless,' said James. + +"Of course I hurried out, and got into the carriage, telling my friend +that the cat was well known to the people at C----, and that it was +twenty years old. + +"In those days, I believe, I never thought of ghosts, and least of all +should have thought of the ghost of a cat; but two evenings afterwards, +as we were driving down the lane, I again saw the cat in the same +position and again my companion could not see it, though the groom did. +I alighted immediately, and went up to it. As I approached it turned its +head and looked full towards me with its soft mild eyes, and a friendly +expression, like that of a loving dog; and then, without moving from the +post, it began to fade gradually away, as if it were a vapour, till it +had quite disappeared. All this the groom saw as well as myself; and now +there could be no mistake as to what it was. A third time I saw it in +broad daylight, and my curiosity greatly awakened, I resolved to make +further enquiries amongst the inhabitants of C----, but before I had an +opportunity of doing so, I was summoned away by the death of my eldest +child, and I have never been in that part of the world since. + +"However, I once mentioned the circumstance to a lady who was acquainted +with that neighbourhood, and she said she had heard of the white cat of +C----, but had never seen it." + +This is Mrs. M.'s account as related by Mrs. Crowe, and after perusing +the authoress's preface to the work, I am inclined to give it full +credence. + + +_The Mystic Properties of Cats_ + +The most common forms of animal phenomena seen in haunted houses are +undoubtedly those of cats. The number of places reported to me as being +haunted by cats is almost incredible--in one street in Whitechapel there +are no less than four. This state of affairs may possibly be accounted +for by the fact that cats, more than any other animals that live in +houses, meet with sudden and unnatural ends, especially in the poorer +districts, where the doctrine of kindness to animals has not as yet made +itself thoroughly felt. Now I am touching on the subject of cat ghosts, +it may not be out of place to reproduce the following article of mine, +entitled "Cats and the Unknown," which appeared in the _Occult Review_ +for December, 1912:-- + +"Since, from all ages, the cat has been closely associated with the +supernatural, it is not surprising to learn that images and symbols of +that animal figured in the temples of the sun and moon, respectively, in +ancient Egypt. According to Horapollo, the cat was worshipped in the +Temple of Heliopolis, sacred to the sun, because the size of the pupil +of the cat's eye is regulated by the height of the sun above the +horizon. + +"Other authorities suggest a rather more subtle--and, in my opinion, +more probable--reason, namely, that the link between the sun and the cat +is not merely physical but superphysical, that the cat is attracted to +the sun not only because it loves warmth, but because the sun keeps off +terrifying and antagonistic occult forces, to the influences of which +the cat, above all other animals, is specially susceptible; a fact fully +recognized by the Egyptians, who, to show their understanding and +appreciation of this feline attachment, took care that whenever a temple +was dedicated to the sun an image or symbol of the cat was placed +somewhere, well in evidence, within the precincts. + +"To make this theory all the more probable, images and symbols of the +cat were dedicated to the moon, the moon being universally regarded as +the quintessence of everything supernatural, the very cockpit, in fact, +of mystery and spookism. The nocturnal habits of the cat, its love of +prowling about during moonlight hours, and the spectacle of its two +round, gleaming eyes, may, of course, as Plutarch seems to have thought, +have suggested to the Egyptians human influence and analogy, and thus +the presence of its effigy in temples to Isis would be partially, at all +events, accounted for; though, as before, I am inclined to think there +is another and rather more subtle reason. + +"From endless experiments made in haunted houses, I have proved to my +own satisfaction, at least, that the cat acts as a thoroughly reliable +psychic barometer. + +"The dog is sometimes unaware of the proximity of the Unknown. When the +ghost materializes or in some other way demonstrates its advent, the +dog, occasionally, is wholly undisturbed--the cat never. I have never +yet had a cat with me that has not shown the most obvious signs of +terror and uneasiness both before and during a superphysical +manifestation. + +"Now, although I won't go so far as to say that ghostly demonstrations +are actually dependent on the moon--that they occur only on nights when +the moon is visible--experience has led me to believe that the moon most +certainly does influence them--that moonlight nights are much more +favourable to ghostly appearances than other nights. Hence--there is +this much in common between the moon and cats--the one influences and +the other is influenced by psychic phenomena--a fact that could scarcely +have failed to be recognized by so keen observers of the occult as the +Ancient Egyptians. + +"The presence of the cat's effigy in the temples of Isis might thus be +explained. Over and over again we come across the cat in the land of the +Pharaohs. It seems to be inseparable from the esoteric side of Egyptian +life. The goddess Bast is depicted with a cat's head, holding the +sistrum, i.e. the symbol of the world's harmony, in her hand. + +"One of the most ancient symbols of the cat is to be found in the +Necropolis of Thebes, which contains the tomb of Hana (who probably +belonged to the Eleventh Dynasty). There, Hana is depicted standing +erect, proud and kingly, with his favourite cat Borehaki--Borehaki, the +picture of all things strange and psychic, and from whom one cannot help +supposing he may have chosen his occult inspiration--at his feet. So +sure were the Egyptians that the cat possessed a soul that they deemed +it worthy of the same funeral rites they bestowed on man. Cats were +embalmed, and innumerable cat mummies have been discovered in wooden +coffins at Bubastis, Speos, Artemidos and Thebes. When a cat died the +Egyptians shaved their eyebrows, not only to show grief at the loss of +their loved one, but to avert subsequent misfortune. + +"So long as a cat was in his house the Egyptian felt safe from inimical +supernatural influences, but if there was no cat in the house at night, +then any undesirable from the occult world might visit him. Indeed, in +such high esteem did the Egyptians hold the cat, that they voluntarily +incurred the gravest risks when its life was in peril. No one of them +appreciated the cat and set a higher value on its mystic properties than +the Sultan El-Daher-Beybas, who reigned in A.D. 1260, and has been +compared with William of Tripoli for his courage, and with Nero for his +cruelty. El-Daher-Beybas kept his palace swarming with cats, and--if we +may give credence to tradition--was seldom to be seen unaccompanied by +one of these animals. When he died, he left the proceeds from the +product of a garden to support his feline friends--an example that found +many subsequent imitators. Indeed, until comparatively recently in +Cairo, cats were regularly fed, between noon and sunset, in the outer +court of the Mehkemeh. + +"In Geneva, Rome and Constantinople, though cats were generally deemed +to have souls and to possess psychic properties, they were thought to +derive them from evil sources, and so strong was the prejudice against +these unfortunate animals on this account, that all through the Middle +Ages we find them suffering such barbaric torture as only the perverted +minds of a fanatical, priest-ridden people could devise (which +treatment, no doubt, partly, at all events, accounts for the many +palaces, houses, etc., in those particular countries, stated to have +been haunted by the spirits of cats). + +"The devil was popularly supposed to appear in the shape of a black Tom +in preference to assuming any other guise, and the bare fact of an old +woman being seen, once or twice, with a black cat by her side was quite +sufficient to earn for her the reputation of a witch. It would be idle, +of course, to expect people in these unmeditative times to believe there +was ever the remotest truth underlying these so-called phantastic +suppositions of the past; yet, according to reliable testimony, there +are, at the present moment, many houses in England haunted by phantasms +in the form of black cats, of so sinister and hostile an appearance, +that one can only assume that unless they are the actual spirits of +cats, earthbound through cruel and vicious propensities, they must be +vice-elementals, i.e. spirits that have never inhabited any material +body, and which have either been generated by vicious thoughts, or else +have been attracted elsewhere to a spot by some crime or vicious act +once perpetrated there. Vice-elemental is merely the modern name for +fiend or demon. + +"Apart from his luciferan qualities, the cat was awarded all sorts of +other qualities, not the least important of which was its prophetic +capability. If a cat washed its face, rainy weather was regarded as +inevitable; if a cat frolicked on the deck of a ship, it was a sure sign +of a storm; whilst if a live ember fell on a cat, an earthquake shock +would speedily be felt. Cats, too, were reputed the harbingers of good +and bad fortune. Not a person in Normandy but believed, at one time, +that the spectacle of a tortoiseshell cat, climbing a tree, foretold +death from accident, and that a black cat crossing one's path, in the +moonlight, presaged death from an epidemic. Two black cats viewed in the +open between 4 and 7 a.m. were generally believed to predict a death; +whereas a strange white cat, heard mewing on a doorstep, was loudly +welcomed as the indication of an approaching marriage. According to +tradition, one learns that cats were occasionally made use of in +medicine; to cure peasants of skin diseases, French sorcerers sprinkling +the afflicted parts with three drops of blood drawn from the vein under +a cat's tail; whilst blindness was treated by blowing into the +patient's eyes, three times a day, the dust made from ashes of the head +of a black cat that had been burned alive. + +"Talking of burning cats reminds me of a horrible practice that was +prevalent in the Hebrides as late as 1750. It was firmly believed there +that cats were extraordinarily psychic, and that a sure means of getting +in close touch with occult powers, and of obtaining from them the +faculty of second sight--such as the cat possessed--was to offer up as +sacrifices innumerable black cats. The process was very simple. A black +cat was fastened to a spit before a slow fire, and as soon as the +wretched animal was well roasted, another took its place; victims being +supplied without intermission, until their vociferous screams brought to +the scene a number of ghostly cats who joined in the chorus. The desired +climax was reached, when an enormous phantom cat suddenly appeared, and +informed the operator that it was willing to grant him any one request +if he would only refrain from his cruel persecution. The operator at +once demanded the faculty of second sight--a power more highly prized in +the Hebrides than any other--and the moment it was bestowed on him, set +free the remaining cats. Had all races been as barbarously disposed as +these occult-hungering Westerners, cats would soon have become extinct; +but it is comforting to think that in some parts of the world a very +different value was set on their psychic properties. + +"In various parts of Europe (some districts of England included) white +cats were thought to attract benevolently disposed fairies, and a +peasant would as soon have thought of cutting off his fingers, or +otherwise maltreating himself, as being unkind to an animal of this +species. In the fairy lore of half Europe we have instances of +luck-bringing cats--each country producing its own version of Puss in +Boots, Dame Mitchell and her cat, the White Cat, Dick Whittington and +his cat, etc. It is the same in Asia, too; for nowhere are such stories +more prolific than in China and Persia. + +"To sum up--in all climes and in all periods of past history, the cat +was credited with many propensities that brought it into affinity and +sympathy with the supernatural--or to quote the up-to-date +term--superphysical world. Let us review the cat to-day, and see to what +extent this past regard of it is justified. + +"Firstly, with respect to it as the harbinger of fortune. Has a cat +insight into the future? Can it presage wealth or death? I am inclined +to believe that certain cats can at all events foresee the advent of the +latter; and that they do this in the same manner as the shark, crow, +owl, jackal, hyena, etc., viz. by their abnormally developed sense of +smell. My own and other people's experience has led me to believe that +when a person is about to die, some kind of phantom, maybe, a spirit +whose special function it is to be present on such occasions, is in +close proximity to the sick or injured one, waiting to escort his or her +soul into the world of shadows--and that certain cats scent its +approach. + +"Therein then--in this wonderful property of smell--lies one of the +secrets to the cat's mysterious powers, it has the psychic faculty of +scent--of scenting ghosts. Some people, too, have this faculty. In a +recent murder case, in the North of England, a rustic witness gave it in +her evidence that she was sure a tragedy was about to happen because she +"smelt death in the house," and it made her very uneasy. Cats possessing +this peculiarity are affected in a similar manner--they are uneasy. + +"Before a death in a house I have watched a cat show gradually +increasing signs of uneasiness. It has moved from place to place, unable +to settle in any one spot for any length of time, had frequent fits of +shivering, gone to the door, sniffed the atmosphere, thrown back its +head and mewed in a low, plaintive key, and shown the greatest +reluctance to being alone in the dark. + +"This faculty--possessed by certain cats--may in some measure explain +certain of the superstitions respecting them. Take, for example, that of +cats crossing one's path predicting death. + +"The cat is drawn to the spot because it scents the phantom of death, +and cannot resist its magnetic attraction. + +"From this, it does not follow that the person who sees the cat is going +to die, but that death is overtaking someone associated with that +person; and it is in connection with the latter that the spirit of the +grave is present, employing, as a medium of prognostication, the cat, +which has been given the psychic faculty of smell that it might be so +used. + +"But although I regard this theory as very feasible, I do not attribute +to cats, with the same degree of certainty, the power to presage good +fortune, simply because I have had no experience of it myself. Yet, +adopting the same lines of argument, I see no reason why cats should not +prognosticate good as well as evil. + +"There may be phantoms representative of prosperity, in just the same +manner as there are those representative of death; they, too, may also +have some distinguishing scent (flowers have various odours, so why not +spirits?) and certain cats, i.e. white cats in particular, may be +attracted by it. + +"This becomes all the more probable when one considers how very +impressionable the cat is--how very sensitive to kindness. There are +some strangers with whom the cat will at once make friends, and others +whom it will studiously avoid. Why? The explanation, I fancy, lies once +more in the occult--in the cat's psychic faculty of smell. Kind people +attract benevolently disposed phantoms, which bring with them an +agreeably scented atmosphere, that, in turn, attracts cats. The cat +comes to one person because it knows by the smell of the atmosphere +surrounding him, or her, that it has nothing to fear--that the person is +essentially gentle and benignant. On the contrary, cruel people attract +malevolent phantoms, distinguishable also to the cat by their smell, a +smell typical of cruelty--often of homicidal lunacy (I have particularly +noticed how cats have shrunk from people who have afterwards become +dangerously insane). Is this sense of smell, then, the keynote to the +halo of mystery that has for all times surrounded the cat--that has led +to its bitter persecution--that has made it the hero of fairy lore, the +pet of old maids? I believe it is--I believe that in this psychic +faculty of smell lies, in degree, the solution to the oft-asked +riddle--why is the cat uncanny? Having then satisfied oneself on this +point, namely, that cats are in the possession of rare psychic +properties, is it likely that the Unknown Powers which have so endowed +them, should withhold from them either souls or spirits? Is it not +contrary to reason, instinct, and observation to suppose that the many +thoroughly material and grossly minded people--people whose whole beings +are steeped in money worship--we see around us every day should have +spirits, and that pretty, refined and artistic-looking cats, whose +occult powers place them in the very closest connection with the +superphysical, should not? Monstrous--the bare conception of such +incongruity in the one case, and such an omission in the other, is +inconceivable, wholly irreconcilable with the notion of any other than a +mummer of a creator--a mere court fool of a God." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +APPARITIONS OF DOGS + + +One of the most extraordinary cases of hauntings by the phantasms of +dogs is related in an old Christmas number of the _Review of Reviews_, +edited by the late Mr. W.T. Stead, and entitled "Real Ghost Stories." + +"The most remarkable," writes Mr. Stead, "of all the stories which I +have heard concerning ghosts which touch is one that reaches me from +Darlington. I owe this, as I owe so many of the other narratives in this +collection, to the Rev. Harry Kendall, of Darlington, whose painstaking +perseverance in the collection of all matters of this kind cannot be too +highly praised. Mr. Kendall is a Congregational minister of old +standing. He was my pastor when I was editing the _Northern Echo_, and +he is the author of a remarkable book, entitled _All the World's Akin_. +The following narrative is quite unique in its way, and fortunately he +was able to get it at first hand from the only living person present. +Here we have a ghost which not only strikes the first blow, hitting a +man fair in the eye, but afterwards sets a ghostly dog upon his victim +and then disappears. The narrative was signed by Mr. James Durham as +lately as December 5th, 1890." Mr. Stead then proceeds to quote the +account which he had from Mr. Kendall, and which I append _ad verbum_ +from the _Review of Reviews_. It is as follows: "I was night watchman at +the old Darlington and Stockton Station at the town of Darlington, a few +yards from the first station that ever existed. I was there fifteen +years. I used to go on duty about 8 p.m. and come off at 6 a.m. I had +been there a little while--perhaps two or three years--and about forty +years ago. One night during winter at about 12 o'clock or 12.30 I was +feeling rather cold with standing here and there; I said to myself, 'I +will away down and get something to eat.' There was a porter's cellar +where a fire was kept on and a coal-house was connected with it. So I +went down the steps, took off my overcoat, and had just sat down on the +bench opposite the fire and turned up the gas when a strange man came +out of the coal-house, followed by a big black retriever. As soon as he +entered my eye was upon him, and his eye upon me, and we were intently +watching each other as he moved on to the front of the fire. There he +stood looking at me, and a curious smile came over his countenance. He +had a stand-up collar and a cut-away coat with gilt buttons and a Scotch +cap. All at once he struck at me, and I had the impression that he hit +me. I up with my fist and struck back at him. My fist seemed to go +through him and struck against the stone above the fireplace, and +knocked the skin off my knuckles. The man seemed to be struck back into +the fire, and uttered a strange, unearthly squeak. Immediately the dog +gripped me by the calf of my leg, and seemed to cause me pain. The man +recovered his position, called off the dog with a sort of click of the +tongue, then went back into the coal-house, followed by the dog. I +lighted my dark lantern and looked into the coal-house, but there was +neither dog nor man, and no outlet for them except the one by which they +had entered. + +"I was satisfied that what I had seen was ghostly, and it accounted for +the fact that when the man had first come into the place where he sat I +had not challenged him with any enquiry. Next day, and for several +weeks, my account caused quite a commotion, and a host of people spoke +to me about it; among the rest old Edward Pease, father of railways, and +his three sons, John, Joseph, and Henry. Old Edward sent for me to his +house and asked me all particulars. He and others put this question to +me: "Are you sure you were not asleep and had the nightmare?" My answer +was quite sure, for I had not been a minute in the cellar, and was just +going to get something to eat. I was certainly not under the influence +of strong drink, for I was then, as I have been for forty-nine years, a +teetotaler. My mind at the time was perfectly free from trouble. What +increased the excitement was the fact that a man a number of years +before, who was employed in the office of the station, had committed +suicide, and his body had been carried into this very cellar. I knew +nothing of this circumstance, nor of the body of the man, but Mr. Pease +and others who had known him, told me my description exactly +corresponded to his appearance and the way he dressed, and also that he +had a black retriever just like the one which gripped me. I should add +that no mark or effect remained on the spot where I seemed to be seized. + + "(Signed) JAMES DURHAM. +"_Dec. 9th, 1890._" + +Following the above statement Mr. Stead appends Mr. Kendall's reasons +for believing that what James Durham experienced was objective psychic +phenomena, and neither produced during sleep nor by hallucination. + +The arguments used strike me as being so concise and sensible that I +think it will not be out of place to reproduce them. + +"First," Mr. Kendall says, "he (James Durham) was accustomed as watchman +to be up all night, and therefore not likely from that cause to feel +sleepy. Secondly, he had scarcely been a minute in the cellar, and, +feeling hungry, was just going to get something to eat. Thirdly, if he +was asleep at the beginning of the vision, he must have been awake +enough during the latter part of it when he had knocked the skin off his +knuckles. Fourthly, there was his own confident testimony. I strongly +incline to the opinion that there was an objective cause for the vision, +and that it was genuinely apparitional." + +So interested was Mr. Kendall in the case that he visited the spot some +short time later. He was taken into the cellar where the manifestations +took place, and his guide, an old official of the North Road Station, +informed him he well remembered the clerk--a man of the name of +Winter--who committed suicide there, and showed him the exact spot where +he had shot himself with a pistol. In dress and appearance Mr. Winter +corresponded minutely with the phenomenon described by James Durham, and +he had had a black retriever. + +Mr. Kendal came away more convinced than ever of the veracity of James +Durham's story, though he admits it was not evidential after the high +standard of the S.P.R. I do not know whether the S.P.R. published the +case, and I certainly do not think Mr. Kendall need have minded if they +did not--for after all there is no reason to suppose the judgment of the +S.P.R. is always infallible. + +Mr. Stead does not comment on the apparition of the dog, which leads one +to suppose cases of animal phantasms were by no means uncommon to him. + + +_The Grey Dog of ---- House, Birmingham_ + +According to a story current in the Midlands, a house in Birmingham, +near the Roman Catholic Cathedral, was once very badly haunted. A family +who took up their abode in it in the 'eighties complained of hearing all +sorts of uncanny sounds--such as screams and sighs--coming from a room +behind the kitchen. On one occasion the tenant's wife, on entering the +sitting-room, was almost startled out of her senses at seeing, standing +before the fireplace, the figure of a tall, stout man with a large, grey +dog by his side. What was so alarming about the man was his face--it was +apparently a mere blob of flesh without any features in it. The lady +screamed out, whereupon there was a terrific crash, as if all the +crockery in the house had been suddenly clashed on the stone floor; and +a friend of the lady's, attracted to the spot by the noise, saw two +clouds of vapour, one resembling a man and the other a dog, which, after +hovering over the hearth for several seconds, finally dispersed +altogether. + +A gasfitter, when working in the house, saw the same figures no less +than nine times, and so distinctly that he was able to give a detailed +description of both the man and dog. + +The house seems to have been well known in Birmingham, and was certainly +standing as recently as 1885. Many theories were advanced as to its +history, the one gaining most credence being that it was occupied, in +1829, by a man who supplied the medical students with human bodies. + +It was noticed at the time that many people who were seen to enter the +house in the company of the owner were never seen to leave it, which +accords well with the theory of resurrection men. + +No suggestion has been offered to account for the animal, which may very +easily have been the phantom of the murderer's dog, or, what is rather +less likely, the dog of one of his numerous victims. + +Anyhow, explanation or no explanation, the fact remains the house was +haunted in the manner described, and F. Grey, a Warwickshire Chief +Constable, in his _Recollections_, published 1821, alludes to it. + + +_The Dog in the Cupboard_ + +Miss Prettyman, whom I met some years ago in Cornwall, told me she once +lived in a house in Westmorland that was haunted by the apparition of a +large dog, enveloped in a blueish glow, which apparently emanated from +within it. The dog, whilst appearing in all parts of the house, +invariably vanished in a big cupboard at the back of the hall staircase. +Miss Prettyman, her family, several of their visitors, and the servants +all saw the same phantasm, and were, perhaps, more frightened by the +suddenness of its advent than by its actual appearance. + +The theory was that it was the ghost of some dog that had been cruelly +done to death--possibly by starvation--in the cupboard. + + +_How the Ghost of a Dog saved Life_ + +When I was a boy, an elderly friend of mine, Miss Lefanu, narrated to me +an anecdote which impressed me much. It was to this effect. + +Miss Lefanu was walking one day along a very lonely country lane, when +she suddenly observed an enormous Newfoundland dog following in her wake +a few yards behind. Being very fond of dogs, she called out to it in a +caressing voice and endeavoured to stroke it. To her disappointment, +however, it dodged aside, and repeated the manoeuvre every time she +tried to touch it. At length, losing patience, she desisted, and resumed +her walk, the dog still following her. In this fashion they went on, +until they came to a particularly dark part of the road, where the +branches of the trees almost met overhead, and there was a pool of +stagnant, slimy water, suggestive of great depth. On the one side the +hedge was high, but on the other there was a slight gap leading into a +thick spinney. Miss Lefanu never visited the spot alone after dusk, and +had been warned against it even in the daytime. As she drew near to it, +everything that she had ever heard about it flashed across her mind, and +she was more than once on the verge of turning back, when the sight of +the big, friendly-looking dog plodding behind, reassuring her, she +pressed on. Just as she came to the gap, there was a loud snapping of +twigs, and, to her horror, two tramps, with singularly sinister faces, +sprang out, and were about to strike her with their bludgeons, when the +dog, uttering a low, ominous growl, dashed at them. In an instant the +expression of murderous joy in their eyes died out, one of abject terror +took its place, and, dropping their weapons, they fled, as if the very +salvation of their souls depended on it. As may be imagined, Miss Lefanu +lost no time in getting home, and the first thing she did on arriving +there was to go into the kitchen and order the cook to prepare, at once, +a thoroughly good meal for her gallant rescuer--the Newfoundland dog, +which she had shut up securely in the back yard, with the laughing +remark, "There--you can't escape me now." Judge of her astonishment, +however, when, on her return, the dog had gone. As the walls of the back +yard were twelve feet high, and the doors had been shut all the +while--no one having passed through them--it was impossible for the +animal to have escaped, and the only interpretation that could possibly +be put on the matter was that the dog was superphysical--a conclusion +that was subsequently confirmed by the experiences of various other +people. As the result of exhaustive enquiries Miss Lefanu eventually +learned that many years before, on the very spot where the tramps had +leaped out on her, a pedlar and his Newfoundland dog had been discovered +murdered. + +This story being true, then, there is one more link in the chain of +evidence to show that dogs, as well as men, have spirits, and spirits +that can, on occasion, at least, perform deeds of practical service. + + +_A Precentor's Story_ + +The late Mr. W.T. Stead, in his volume of _Real Ghost Stories_, narrates +the following, which by reason of its being witnessed by three people +simultaneously, may be regarded as highly evidential. + +In reply to Mr. Stead's request to hear the anecdote the precentor says +(I quote him _ad verbum_): + +"I was walking, about nine years ago, one night in August, about ten +o'clock, and about half a mile from the house where we are now sitting. +I was going along the public road between the hamlets of Mill of Haldane +and Ballock. I had with me two young women, and we were leisurely +walking along, when suddenly we were startled by seeing a woman, a child +about seven years old, and a Newfoundland dog jump over the stone wall +which was on one side of the road, and walk on rapidly in front of us. I +was not in the least frightened, but my two companions were very much +startled. What bothered me was that the woman, the child, and the dog, +instead of coming over the wall naturally one after the other, as would +have been necessary for them to do, had come over with a bound, +simultaneously leaping the wall, lighting on the road, and then hurrying +on without a word. Leaving my two companions, who were too frightened to +move, I walked rapidly after the trio. They walked on so quickly that it +was with difficulty that I got up to them. I spoke to the woman, she +never answered. I walked beside her for some little distance, and then +suddenly the woman, the child, and the Newfoundland dog disappeared. I +did not see them go anywhere, they simply were no longer there. I +examined the road minutely, at the spot where they had disappeared, to +see if it was possible for them to have gone through a hole in the wall +on either side; but it was quite impossible for a woman and a child to +get over a high dyke on either side. They had disappeared, and I only +regret that I did not try to pass my stick right through their bodies, +to see whether or not they had any resistance. Finding they had gone, I +returned to my lady friends, who were quite unnerved, and who, with +difficulty, were induced to go on to the end of their journey." + +One of his companions, Mr. Stead goes on to explain, who heard him tell +the story at the time, corroborated the fact that it had made a great +impression on those who had seen it. Nothing was ever ascertained as to +any woman, child, or Newfoundland dog that had ever been in the district +before. When they got to Ballock they enquired of the keeper of the +bridge whether a woman, a child, and a dog had passed that way, but he +had seen nothing. The apparition had disappeared as suddenly as it had +appeared. Mr. Stead's article ends here. Of course, one can only surmise +as to the nature of the phenomena. No member of the Psychical Research +Society could do more--and in the absence of any authentic history of +the spot where the manifestations occurred, such a surmise can be of +little value. Since the phenomena were seen by three people at the same +time, it is quite safe to assume they were objective, but it is +impossible to lay down the law as to whether they were actual phantasms +of the dead--of a woman, child, and Newfoundland dog who had all three +met with some violent end--or phantasms of three living beings, who, +happening to think of that locality at the same time, had projected +their immaterial bodies there simultaneously. But whichever of these +alternatives be true, the same thing holds good in either case, viz. +that the Newfoundland dog had a spirit--and what applies to one dog +should assuredly apply to the generality, if not, indeed, to all. + + +_Phantom Dog seen on Souter Fell_ + +Miss Harriet Martineau, in her _English Lakes_, refers to certain +strange phenomena seen from time to time on Souter Fell. + +In 1745, for example, a Mr. Wren and his servant saw, simultaneously, a +man and dog pursuing some horses along a razor-like ridge of rocks, on +which it was obviously impossible for any ordinary being to gain a bare +foothold, let alone walk. They watched the figures until the latter +suddenly vanished, when Mr. Wren and his servant, thinking, perhaps, the +man, dog, and horses had really fallen over the cliff, went to look for +them. They searched elsewhere, but despite their vigilance, nothing was +to be found, and convinced at last that what they had seen was something +superphysical, they came away mystified, and no doubt somewhat +frightened. + +There is no suggestion to make here other than the manifestations may +have been the phantasms of a man, dog, and horses that at some former +date had been killed, either accidentally or purposely, in or near that +spot. + + +_The Jumping Ghost_ + +Mr. George Sinclair, in his work _Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, +gives a detailed account of hauntings in a house in Mary King's Close, +Edinburgh. + +The house, at the time Mr. Sinclair writes, was occupied by Mr. Thomas +Coltheart, a law agent. Seated one afternoon at home reading, Mrs. +Coltheart was immeasurably startled at seeing, suspended in mid-air +gazing at her, the head of an old man. She uttered some sort of +exclamation, most probably a cry, and the apparition at once vanished. +Some nights later, when in bed, both she and her husband saw the same +head, which was presently joined by the head of a child, and a long, +naked arm, which tried to catch hold of them. + +On another occasion, a member of the Coltheart family was greatly +alarmed by the sudden appearance of a large dog, which leaped on the +chair by her side, and as suddenly disappeared. + +Every effort was made to lay the ghosts. Ministers--and one knows how +pious Scotch clergymen are--were called in, but their exhortations, +instead of dispelling or even minimizing the phenomena, only increased +them. It was a case of more prayers, more spooks; which state of +affairs, however complimentary to the ministers' powers of address, was +scarcely as comforting to the Colthearts, who, unable to bear the +strange sights and noises any longer, evacuated the premises. As no +other tenants could be found, the house was eventually pulled down, and +a row of fine modern buildings now occupy the site. As the history of +the place could never be traced with any degree of authenticity, one can +do no more than speculate as to the cause of the disturbances, which, I +am inclined to think, were due to the phantoms of people and animals +that had once actually lived and died there. + + +_Dogs seen before a Death_ + +Mrs. Crowe, in her _Night Side of Nature_, mentions the case of a young +lady named P----, who saw a big black dog twice suddenly appear and +disappear by her side, immediately before the death of her mother. + +In _The Unseen World_ a story is also told of the phantasm of a big +black dog appearing on the bed of a Cornish child, doomed to die shortly +afterwards, the same dog invariably manifesting itself before the death +of any member of the child's family. + +There are so many cases of a similar kind--one hears of them nearly +everywhere one goes--that one is led to believe some of them, at least, +must be true. There is no more reason to believe all ghost-story tellers +are liars, than there is to believe all parsons are liars--and this +being so, additional proof is afforded of the continuation of the dog's +life after death; for these family canine ghosts are more than probably +the phantasms of dogs that once belonged to families--maybe centuries +ago--and met their fate in some cruel and unnatural manner. + + +_A Dog scared by a Canine Ghost_ + +A friend of mine, Edward Morgan, had a terrier that was found one +morning, poisoned in a big stone kennel. Soon afterwards this friend +came to me and said, "I have got a new dog--a spaniel--but nothing will +induce it to enter the kennel in which poor Zack was poisoned. Come and +see!" + +I did so, and what he said was true. Mack (Morgan gave all his dogs +names that rhymed--Zack, Mack, Jack, Tack, and even Whack and Smack), +when carried to the entrance of the kennel, resolutely refused to cross +the threshold, barking, whining, and exhibiting unmistakable symptoms of +fear. I knelt down, and peering into the kennel saw two luminous eyes +and the distinct outlines of a dog's head. + +"Morgan!" I exclaimed, "the mystery is easily solved; there's a dog in +here." + +"Nonsense!" Morgan cried, speaking very excitedly. + +"But there is," I retorted, "see for yourself." + +Morgan immediately bent down and poked his head into the kennel. + +"What rot," he said. "You're having me on, there's nothing here." + +"What!" I cried, "do you mean to say you can see no dog?" + +"No!" he replied, "there is none!" + +"Let me look again!" I said, and kneeling down, I peeped in. + +"Do you mean to say you can't see a dog's face and eyes looking straight +at us?" I asked. + +"No," he answered, "I can see nothing." And to prove to me the truth of +what he said, he fetched a pole and raked about the kennel vigorously +with it. We both, then, tried to make Mack enter, and Morgan at last +caught hold of him and placed him forcibly inside. Mack's terror knew no +limit. He gave one loud howl, and flying out of the kennel with his ears +hanging back, tore past into the front garden, where we left him in +peace. Morgan was still sceptical as to there being anything wrong with +the kennel, but two days later wrote to me as follows:-- + +"I must apologize for doubting you the other day. I have just had, what +you declared you saw, corroborated. A friend of my wife's was calling +here this afternoon, and, on hearing of Mack's refusal to sleep in the +kennel, at once said, 'I know what's the matter. It's the smell. Mack +scents the poison which was used to destroy Zack. Have the kennel +thoroughly fumigated, and you'll have no more trouble.' At my wife's +request she went into the yard to have a look at it, and the moment she +bent down, she cried out like you did, 'Why, there's a dog inside--a +terrier!' My wife and I both looked and could see nothing. The lady, +however, persisted, and, on my handing her a stick, struck at the figure +she saw. To her amazement the stick went right through it. Then, and not +till then, did we tell her of your experience. 'Well!' she exclaimed, +'I have never believed in ghosts, but I do so now. I am quite certain +that what I see is the phantom of Zack! How glad I am, because I am at +last assured animals have spirits and can come back to us.'" + +In concluding the accounts of phantasms of dead dogs, let me quote two +cases taken from my work entitled _The Haunted Houses of London_, +published by Mr. Eveleigh Nash, of Fawside House, King Street, Covent +Garden, London, W.C., in 1909. The cases are these:-- + + +_The Phantom Dachshund of W---- St., London, W._ + +In letter No. 1 my correspondent writes:-- + +"Though I am by no means over-indulgent to dogs, the latter generally +greet me very effusively, and it would seem that there is something in +my individuality that is peculiarly attractive to them. This being so, I +was not greatly surprised one day, when in the immediate neighbourhood +of X---- Street, to find myself persistently followed by a rough-haired +dachshund wearing a gaudy yellow collar. I tried to scare it away by +shaking my sunshade at it, but all to no purpose--it came resolutely on; +and I was beginning to despair of getting rid of it, when I came to +X---- Street, where my husband once practised as an oculist. There it +suddenly altered its tactics, and instead of keeping at my heels, +became my conductor, forging slowly ahead with a gliding motion that +both puzzled and fascinated me. I furthermore observed that +notwithstanding the temperature--it was not a whit less than ninety +degrees in the shade--the legs and stomach of the dachshund were covered +with mud and dripping with water. When it came to No. 90 it halted, and +veering swiftly round, eyed me in the strangest manner, just as if it +had some secret it was bursting to disclose. It remained in this +attitude until I was within two or three feet of it--certainly not +more--when, to my unlimited amazement, it absolutely vanished--melted +away into thin air. + +"The iron gate leading to the area was closed, so that there was nowhere +for it to have hidden, and, besides, I was almost bending over it at the +time, as I wanted to read the name on its collar. There being no one +near at hand, I could not obtain a second opinion, and so came away +wondering whether what I had seen was actually a phantasm or a mere +hallucination. No. 90, I might add, judging by the brass plate on the +door, was inhabited by a doctor with an unpronounceable foreign name," +etc. etc. + +I think one cannot help attaching a great deal of importance to what +this lady says, as her language is strictly moderate throughout, and +because she does not seem to have been biassed by any special views on +the subject of animal futurity. + +Correspondent No. 2 (who, by the way, is a total stranger to the writer +whose letter I have just quoted) is candidly devoted to dogs, regarding +them as in every way on a par with, if not actually superior to, most +human beings. Still, notwithstanding this partiality, and consequent +profusion of terms of endearment, which will doubtless prove somewhat +nauseating to many, her letter is, in my opinion, valuable, because it +not only refers to the phenomenon I have mentioned, but to a certain +extent furnishes a reason for its occurrence. The lady writes as +follows:-- + +"I once had a rough-haired dachshund, Robert, whom I loved devotedly. We +were living at the time near H---- Street, which always had a peculiar +attraction for dear Robert, who, I am now obliged to confess, had rather +too much liberty--more, indeed, than eventually proved good for him. The +servants complained that Robert ruled the house, and I believe what they +said was true, for my sister and I idolized him, giving him the very +best of everything and never having the heart to refuse him anything he +wanted. You will probably scarcely credit it, but I have sat up all +night nursing him when he had a cold and was otherwise indisposed. Can +you therefore imagine my feelings when my darling was absent one day +from dinner? Such a thing had never happened before, for, fond of +morning 'constitutionals' as poor Robert was, he was always the soul of +punctuality at meal times. + +"Neither my sister nor I would hear of eating anything. Whilst he was +missing, not a morsel did we touch, but slipping on our hats, and +bidding the servants do the same, we scoured the neighbourhood instead. +The afternoon passed without any sign of Robert, and when bedtime came +(he always slept in our room) and still no signs of our pet, I thought +we should both have gone mad. Of course, we advertised, selecting the +most popular and, accordingly, the most likely papers, and we resorted +to other mediums, too, but, alas! it was hopeless. Our darling little +Robert was irrevocably, irredeemably lost. For days we were utterly +inconsolable, doing nothing but mope morning, noon, and night. I cannot +tell you how forlorn we felt, nor how long we should have remained in +that state but for an incident which, although revealing the terrible +manner of his death, gave us every reason to feel sure we were not +parted from him for all time, but would meet again in the great +hereafter. It happened in this wise: I was walking along W---- Street +one evening when, to my intense joy and surprise, I suddenly saw my +darling standing on the pavement a few feet ahead of me, regarding me +intently from out of his pathetic brown eyes. A sensation of extreme +coldness now stole over me, and I noticed with something akin to a shock +that, in spite of the hot, dry weather, Robert looked as if he had been +in the rain for hours. He wore the bright yellow collar I had bought him +shortly before his disappearance, so that had there been any doubt as to +his identity that would have removed it instantly. On my calling to him, +he turned quickly round and, with a slight gesture of the head as if +bidding me to follow, he glided forward. My natural impulse was to run +after him, pick him up and smother him with kisses; but try as hard as I +could, I could not diminish the distance between us, although he never +appeared to alter his pace. I was quite out of breath by the time we +reached H---- Street, where, to my surprise, he stopped at No. 90 and, +turning round again, gazed at me in the most beseeching manner. I can't +describe that look; suffice it to say that no human eyes could have been +more expressive, but of what beyond the most profound love and sorrow I +cannot, I dare not, attempt to state. I have pondered upon it through +the whole of a mid-summer night, but not even the severest of my mental +efforts have enabled me to solve it to my satisfaction. Could I but do +that, I feel I should have fathomed the greatest of all mysteries--the +mystery of life and death. + +"I do not know for how long we stood there looking at one another, it +may have been minutes or hours, or, again, but a few paltry seconds. He +took the initiative from me, for, as I leaped forward to raise him in my +arms, he glided through the stone steps into the area. + +"Convinced now that what I beheld was Robert's apparition, I determined +to see the strange affair through to the bitter end, and entering the +gate, I also went down into the area. The phantom had come to an abrupt +halt by the side of a low wooden box, and as I foolishly made an +abortive attempt to reach it with my hand, it vanished instantaneously. +I searched the area thoroughly, and was assured that there was no +outlet, save by the steps I had just descended, and no hole, nor nook, +nor cranny where anything the size of Robert could be completely hidden +from sight. What did it all mean? Ah! I knew Robert had always had a +weakness for exploring areas, especially in H---- Street, and in the box +where his wraith disappeared I espied a piece of raw meat! + +"Now there are ways in which a piece of raw meat may lie without +arousing suspicion, but the position of this morsel strangely suggested +that it had been placed there carefully, and for assuredly no other +purpose than to entice stray animals. Resolving to interrogate the owner +of the house on the subject, I rapped at the front door, but was +informed by the manservant, obviously a German, that his master never +saw anyone without an appointment. I then did a very unwise thing--I +explained the purpose of my visit to this man, who not only denied any +knowledge of my dog, but declared the meat must have been thrown into +the area by some passer-by. + +"'No one in dis house trow away gut meat like dat,' he explained, 'we +eat all we can git here, we have nutting for de animals. Please go away +at once, or de master will be very angry. He stand no nonsense from +anyone.' + +"And as I had no alternative--for, after all, who would regard a ghost +in the light of evidence?--I had to obey. I found out, however, from a +medical friend that No. 90 was tenanted by Mr. K----, an Anglo-German +who was deemed a very clever fellow at a certain London hospital, where +he was often occupied in vivisection. + +"'I dare say,' my friend went on to remark, 'K---- does a little +vivisecting in his private surgery, by way of practice, and--well, you +see, these foreign chaps are not so squeamish in some respects as we +are.' + +"'But can't he be stopped?' I asked. 'It is horrible, monstrous that he +should be allowed to murder our pets.' + +"'You don't know for certain that he has,' was the reply, 'you only +suppose so from what you say you saw, and evidence of that immaterial +nature is no evidence at all. No, you can do nothing except to be extra +careful in future, and if you have another dog make him steer clear of +No. 90 H---- Street.' + +"I was sensible enough to see that he was right, and the matter dropped. +I soon noticed one thing, however, namely, that there were no more +pieces of meat temptingly displayed in the box, so it is just possible +K---- got wind of my enquiries, and thought it policy to desist from his +nefarious practices. + +"Poor Robert! To think of him suffering such a cruel and ignominious +death, and my being powerless to avenge it. Surely if vivisection is +really necessary, and the welfare of mankind cannot be advanced by any +less barbarous system, why not operate on creatures less deserving of +our love and pity than dogs? On creatures which whilst being nearer +allied to man in physiology and anatomy, are at the same time far below +the level of brute creation in character and disposition. + +"For example, why not experiment on wife-beaters and cowardly street +ruffians, and, one might reasonably add, on all those +pseudo-humanitarians who, by their constant petitions to Parliament for +the abolition of the lash, encourage every form of blackguardism and +bestiality?" + +This concludes the letter of correspondent No. 2, and with the sentiment +in the closing paragraphs I must say I heartily agree--only I should +like to add a few more people to the list. + +One other case of haunting of this type is taken from my same work. + +"One All Hallow E'en," wrote a Mrs. Sebuim, "I was staying with some +friends in Hampstead, and we amused ourselves by working spells, to +commemorate the night. There is one spell in which one walks alone down +a path sowing hempseed, and repeating some fantastic words; when one is +supposed to see those that are destined to come into one's life in the +near future. Eager to put this spell to the test, I went into the garden +by myself and, walking boldly along a path, bordered on each side by +evergreens, sprinkled hempseed lavishly. + +"Nothing happening, I was about to desist, when suddenly I heard a +pattering on the gravel, and turning round I beheld an ugly little +black-and-tan mongrel running towards me, wagging its stumpy tail. Not +at all prepossessed with the creature, for my own dogs are pure-bred, +and thinking it must have strayed into the grounds, I was about to +drive it out, and had put down my hand to prevent it jumping on my +dress, when, to my astonishment, it had vanished. It literally melted +away into fine air beneath my very eyes. Not knowing what to make of the +incident, but feeling inclined to attribute it to a trick of the +imagination, I rejoined my friends. I did not tell them what had +happened, although I made a memorandum of it in one of my innumerable +notebooks. Within six months of this incident I was greatly astonished +to find a dog, corresponding with the one I have just described, running +about on the lawn of my house in Bath. How the animal got there was a +complete mystery, and, what is stranger still, it seemed to recognize +me, for it rushed towards me, frantically wagging its diminutive tail. I +had not the heart to turn it away, as it seemed quite homeless, and so +the forlorn little mongrel was permitted to make its home in my +house--and a very happy home it proved to be. For three years all went +well, and then the end came swiftly and unexpectedly. I was in +Blackheath at the time, and the mongrel was in Bath. It was All Hallow +E'en, but there was no hempseed sowing, for no one in the house but +myself took the slightest interest in anything appertaining to the +superphysical or mystic. Eleven o'clock came, and I retired to rest; my +bed being one of those antique four-posters, hung with curtains that +shine crimson in the ruddy glow of a cheerful fire. All my preparations +complete, I had pulled back the hangings, and was about to slip in +between the sheets, when, to my unbounded amazement, what should I see +sitting on the counterpane but the black-and-tan mongrel. It was he +right enough, there could not be another such ugly dog, though, unlike +his usual self, he evinced no demonstrations of joy. On the contrary, he +appeared downright miserable. His ears hung, his mouth dropped, and his +bleared little eyes were watery and sad. + +"Greatly perplexed, if not alarmed, at so extraordinary a phenomenon, I +nevertheless felt constrained to put out my hand to comfort him--when, +as I had half anticipated, he immediately vanished. Two days later I +received a letter from Bath, and in a postscript I read that 'the +mongrel' (we never called it by any other name) 'had been run over and +killed by a motor, the accident occurring on All Hallow E'en, about +eleven o'clock.' 'Of course,' my sister wrote, 'you won't mind very +much--it was so extremely ugly, and--well--we were only too glad it was +none of the other dogs.' But my sister was wrong, for notwithstanding +its unsightly appearance and hopeless lack of breed, I had grown to like +that little black-and-tan more than any of my rare and choice pets." + +The following account, which concludes my notes on hauntings by dog +phantasms, was sent me many years ago by a gentleman then living in +Virginia, U.S.A. It runs thus:-- + + +_The Strange Disappearance of Mr. Jeremiah Dance_ + +"Twenty pounds a year for a twelve-roomed house with large front lawn, +good stabling and big kitchen gardens. That sounds all right," I +commented. "But why so cheap?" + +"Well," the advertiser--Mr. Baldwin by name, a short, stout gentleman, +with keen, glittering eyes--replied, "Well, you see, it's a bit of a +distance from the town, and--er--most people prefer being nearer--like +neighbours and all that sort of thing." + +"Like neighbours!" I exclaimed. "I don't. I've just seen about enough of +them. Drains all right?" + +"Oh, yes! Perfect." + +"Water?" + +"Excellent." + +"Everything in good condition?" + +"First rate." + +"Loneliness the only thing people object to?" + +"That is so." + +"Then I'll oblige you to send someone to show me over the house, for I +think it is just the sort of place we want. You see, after being bottled +up in a theatre all the afternoon and evening, one likes to get away +somewhere where it is quiet--somewhere where one can lie in bed in the +morning inhaling pure air and undisturbed by street traffic." + +"I understand," Mr. Baldwin responded, "but--er--it is rather late now; +wouldn't you prefer to see over it in the morning? Everything looks at +its worst--its very worst--in the twilight." + +"Oh, I'll make allowances for the dusk," I said. "You haven't got any +ghosts stowed away there, have you?" And he went off into a roar of +laughter. + +"No, the house is not haunted," Mr. Baldwin replied. "Not that it would +much matter to you if it were, for I can see you don't believe in +spooks." + +"Believe in spooks!" I cried. "Not much. I would as soon believe in +patent hair restorers. Let me see over it at once." + +"Very well, sir. I'll take you there myself," Mr. Baldwin replied, +somewhat reluctantly. "Here, Tim--fetch the keys of the Crow's Nest and +tell Higgins to bring the trap round." + +The boy he addressed flew, and in a few minutes the sound of wheels and +the jingling of harness announced the vehicle was at the door. + +Ten minutes later and I and my escort were bowling merrily over the +ground in the direction of the Crow's Nest. It was early autumn, and the +cool evening air, fragrant with the mellowness of the luscious Virginian +pippin, was tinged also with the sadness inseparable from the demise of +a long and glorious summer. Evidences of decay and death were +everywhere--in the brown fallen leaves of the oaks and elms; in the bare +and denuded ditches. Here a giant mill-wheel, half immersed in a dark, +still pool, stood idle and silent; there a hovel, but recently inhabited +by hop-pickers, was now tenantless, its glassless windows boarded over, +and a wealth of dead and rotting vegetable matter in thick profusion +over the tiny path and the single stone doorstep. + +"Is it always as quiet and deserted as this?" I asked of my companion, +who continually cracked his whip as if he liked to hear the +reverberations of its echoes. + +"Always," was the reply, "and sometimes more so. You ain't used to the +country?" + +"Not very. I want to try it by way of a change. Are you well versed in +the cry of birds? What was that?" + +We were fast approaching an exceedingly gloomy bit of the road where +there were plantations on each side, and the trees united their +fantastically forked branches overhead. I thought I had never seen so +dismal-looking a spot, and a sudden lowering of the temperature made me +draw my overcoat tighter round me. + +"That--oh, a night bird of some sort," Mr. Baldwin replied. "An ugly +sound, wasn't it? Beastly things, I can't imagine why they were created. +Whoa--steady there, steady." + +The horse reared as he spoke, and taking a violent plunge forward, set +off at a wild gallop. A moment later, and I uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. Keeping pace with us, although apparently not moving at +more than an ordinary walking pace, was a man of medium height, dressed +in a panama hat and albert coat. He had a thin, aquiline nose, a rather +pronounced chin, was clean-shaven, and had a startlingly white +complexion. By the side of him trotted two poodles, whose close-cropped +skins showed out with remarkable perspicuity. + +"Who the deuce is he?" I asked, raising my voice to a shout on account +of the loud clatter made by the horse's hoofs and the wheels. + +"Who? what?" Mr. Baldwin shouted in return. + +"Why, the man walking along with us!" + +"Man! I can see no man!" Mr. Baldwin growled. + +I looked at him curiously. It may, of course, have been due to the +terrific speed we were going, to the difficulty of holding in the horse, +but his cheeks were ashy pale, and his teeth chattered. + +"Do you mean to say," I cried, "that you can see no figure walking on my +side of the horse and actually keeping pace with it?" + +"Of course I can't," Mr. Baldwin snapped. "No more can you. It's an +hallucination caused by the moonlight through the branches overhead. +I've experienced it more than once." + +"Then why don't you have it now?" I queried. + +"Don't ask so many questions, please," Mr. Baldwin shouted. "Don't you +see it is as much as I can do to hold the brute in? Heaven preserve us, +we were nearly over that time." + +The trap rose high in the air as he spoke, and then dropped with such a +jolt that I was nearly thrown off, and only saved myself by the skin of +my teeth. A few yards more the spinney ceased, and we were away out in +the open country, plunging and galloping as if our very souls depended +on it. From all sides queer and fantastic shadows of objects, which +certainly had no material counterparts in the moon-kissed sward of the +rich, ripe meadows, rose to greet us, and filled the lane with their +black-and-white wavering, ethereal forms. The evening was one of +wonders for which I had no name--wonders associated with an iciness that +was far from agreeable. I was not at all sure which I liked best--the +black, Stygian, tree-lined part of the road we had just left, or the +wide ocean of brilliant moonbeams and streaked suggestions. + +The figures of the man and the dogs were equally vivid in each. Though I +could no longer doubt they were nothing mortal, they were altogether +unlike what I had imagined ghosts. Like the generality of people who are +psychic and who have never had an experience of the superphysical, my +conception of a phantasm was a "thing" in white that made ridiculous +groanings and still more ridiculous clankings of chains. But here was +something different, something that looked--save, perhaps, for the +excessive pallor of its cheeks--just like an ordinary man. I knew it was +not a man, partly on account of its extraordinary performance--no man, +even if running at full speed, could keep up with us like that; partly +on account of the unusual nature of the atmosphere--which was altogether +indefinable--it brought with it; and also because of my own +sensations--my intense horror which could not, I felt certain, have been +generated by anything physical. + +I cogitated all this in my mind as I gazed at the figure, and in order +to make sure it was no hallucination, I shut first one eye and then the +other, covering them alternately with the palm of my hand. The figure, +however, was still there, still pacing along at our side with the +regular swing, swing of the born walker. We kept on in this fashion till +we arrived at a rusty iron gate leading, by means of a weed-covered +path, to a low, two-storied white house. Here the figures left us, and +as it seemed to me vanished at the foot of the garden wall. + +"This is the house," Mr. Baldwin panted, pulling up with the greatest +difficulty, the horse evincing obvious antipathy to the iron gate. "And +these are the keys. I'm afraid you must go in alone, as I dare not leave +the animal even for a minute." + +"Oh, all right," I said. "I don't mind, now that the ghost, or whatever +you like to call it, has gone; I'm myself again." + +I jumped down, and threading my way along the bramble-entangled path, +reached the front door. On opening it, I hesitated. The big, +old-fashioned hall, with the great, frowning staircase leading to the +gallery overhead, the many open doors showing nought but bare, deserted +boards within, the grim passages, all moonlit and peopled only with +queer flickering shadows, suggested much that was terrifying. I fancied +I heard noises, noises like stealthy footsteps moving from room to +room, and tiptoeing along the passages and down the staircase. Once my +heart almost stopped beating as I saw what, at first, I took to be a +white face peering at me from a far recess, but which I eventually +discovered was only a daub of whitewash; and, once again, my hair all +but rose on end, when one of the doors at which I was looking swung open +and something came forth. Oh, the horror of that moment, as long as I +live I shall never forget it. The something was a cat, just a rather +lean but otherwise material, black Tom; yet, in the state my nerves were +then, it created almost as much horror as if it had been a ghost. Of +course, it was the figure of the walking man that was the cause of all +this nervousness; had it not appeared to me I should doubtless have +entered the house with the utmost sang-froid, my mind set on nothing but +the condition of the walls, drains, etc. As it was, I held back, and it +was only after a severe mental struggle I summoned up the courage to +leave the doorway and explore. Cautiously, very cautiously, with my +heart in my mouth, I moved from room to room, halting every now and then +in dreadful suspense as the wind, soughing through across the open land +behind the house, blew down the chimneys and set the window-frames +jarring. At the commencement of one of the passages I was immeasurably +startled to see a dark shape poke forward, and then spring hurriedly +back, and was so frightened that I dared not advance to see what it was. +Moment after moment sped by, and I still stood there, the cold sweat +oozing out all over me, and my eyes fixed in hideous expectation on the +blank wall. What was it? What was hiding there? Would it spring out on +me if I went to see? At last, urged on by a fascination I found +impossible to resist, I crept down the passage, my heart throbbing +painfully and my whole being overcome with the most sickly +anticipations. As I drew nearer to the spot, it was as much as I could +do to breathe, and my respiration came in quick jerks and gasps. Six, +five, four, two feet and I was at the dreaded angle. Another step--taken +after the most prodigious battle--and--NOTHING sprang out on me. I was +confronted only with a large piece of paper that had come loose from the +wall, and flapped backwards and forwards each time the breeze from +without rustled past it. The reaction after such an agony of suspense +was so great, that I leaned against the wall, and laughed till I cried. +A noise, from somewhere away in the basement, calling me to myself, I +went downstairs and investigated. Again a shock--this time more sudden, +more acute. Pressed against the window-pane of one of the front +reception-rooms was the face of a man--with corpse-like cheeks and pale, +malevolent eyes. I was petrified--every drop of my blood was congealed. +My tongue glued to my mouth, my arms hung helpless. I stood in the +doorway and stared at it. This went on for what seemed to me an +eternity. Then came a revelation. The face was not that of a ghost but +of Mr. Baldwin, who, getting alarmed at my long absence, had come to +look for me. + +We left the premises together. All the way back to the town I +thought--should I, or should I not, take the house? Seen as I had seen +it, it was a ghoulish-looking place--as weird as a Paris catacomb--but +then daylight makes all the difference. Viewed in the sunshine, it would +be just like any other house--plain bricks and mortar. I liked the +situation; it was just far enough away from a town to enable me to +escape all the smoke and traffic, and near enough to make shopping easy. +The only obstacles were the shadows--the strange, enigmatical shadows I +had seen in the hall and passages, and the figure of the walker. Dare I +take a house that knew such visitors? At first I said no, and then yes. +Something, I could not tell what, urged me to say yes. I felt that a +very grave issue was at stake--that a great wrong connected in some +manner with the mysterious figure awaited righting, and that the hand +of Fate pointed at me as the one and only person who could do it. + +"Are you sure the house isn't haunted?" I demanded, as we slowly rolled +away from the iron gate, and I leaned back in my seat to light my pipe. + +"Haunted!" Mr. Baldwin scoffed, "why, I thought you didn't believe in +ghosts--laughed at them." + +"No more I do believe in them," I retorted, "but I have children, and we +know how imaginative children are." + +"I can't undertake to stop their imaginations." + +"No, but you can tell me whether anyone else has imagined anything +there. Imagination is sometimes very infectious." + +"As far as I know, then, no; leastways, I have not heard tell of it." + +"Who was the last tenant?" + +"Mr. Jeremiah Dance." + +"Why did he leave?" + +"How do I know? Got tired of being there, I suppose." + +"How long was he there?" + +"Nearly three years." + +"Where is he now?" + +"That's more than I can say. Why do you wish to know?" + +"Why!" I repeated. "Because it is more satisfactory to me to hear about +the house from someone who has lived in it. Has he left no address?" + +"Not that I know of, and it's more than two years since he was here." + +"What! The house has been empty all that time?" + +"Two years is not very long. Houses--even town houses--are frequently +unoccupied for longer than that. I think you'll like it." + +I did not speak again till the drive was over, and we drew up outside +the landlord's house. I then said, "Let me have an agreement. I've made +up my mind to take it. Three years and the option to stay on." + +That was just like me. Whatever I did, I did on the spur of the moment, +a mode of procedure that often led me into difficulties. + +A month later and my wife, children, servants, and I were all ensconced +in the Crow's Nest. + +That was in the beginning of October. Well, the month passed by, and +November was fairly in before anything remarkable happened. It then came +about in this fashion. + +Jennie, my eldest child, a self-willed and rather bad-tempered girl of +about twelve, evading the vigilance of her mother, who had forbidden her +to go out as she had a cold, ran to the gate one evening to see if I was +anywhere in sight. Though barely five o'clock, the moon was high in the +sky, and the shadows of the big trees had already commenced their +gambols along the roadside. + +Jennie clambered up the gate as children do, and peering over, suddenly +espied what she took to be me, striding towards the house, at a swinging +pace, and followed by two poodles. + +"Poppa," she cried, "how cute of you! Only to think of you bringing home +two doggies! Oh, Poppa, naughty Poppa, what will mum say?" and climbing +over into the lane at imminent danger to life and limb, she tore +frantically towards the figure. To her dismay, however, it was not me, +but a stranger with a horribly white face and big glassy eyes which he +turned down at her and stared. She was so frightened that she fainted, +and some ten minutes later I found her lying out there on the road. From +the description she gave me of the man and dogs, I felt quite certain +they were the figures I had seen; though I pretended the man was a +tramp, and assured her she would never see him again. A week passed, and +I was beginning to hope nothing would happen, when one of the servants +gave notice to leave. + +At first she would not say why she did not like the house, but when +pressed made the following statement:-- + +"It's haunted, Mrs. B----. I can put up with mice and beetles, but not +with ghosts. I've had a queer sensation, as if water was falling down my +spine, ever since I've been here, but never saw anything till last +night. I was then in the kitchen getting ready to go to bed. Jane and +Emma had already gone up, and I was preparing to follow them, when, all +of a sudden, I heard footsteps, quick and heavy, cross the gravel and +approach the window. + +"'The boss,' says I to myself; 'maybe he's forgot the key and can't get +in at the front door.' + +"Well, I went to the window and was about to throw it open, when I got +an awful shock. Pressed against the glass, looking in at me, was a +face--not the boss's face, not the face of anyone living, but a horrid +white thing with a drooping mouth and wide-open, glassy eyes, that had +no more expression in them than a pig. As sure as I'm standing here, +Mrs. B----, it was the face of a corpse--the face of a man that had died +no natural death. And by its side, standing on their hind-legs, and +staring in at me too were two dogs, both poodles--also no living things, +but dead, horribly dead. Well, they stared at me, all three of them, for +perhaps a minute, certainly not less, and then vanished. That's why I'm +leaving, Mrs. B----. My heart was never overstrong. I always suffered +with palpitations, and if I saw those heads again, it would kill me." + +After this my wife spoke to me seriously. + +"Jack," she said, "are you sure there's nothing in it? I don't think +Mary would leave us without a good cause, and the description of what +she saw tallies exactly with the figure that frightened Jennie. Jennie +assures me she never said a word about it to the servants. They can't +both have imagined it." + +I did not know what to say. My conscience pricked me. Without a doubt I +ought to have told my wife of my own experience in the lane, and have +consulted her before taking the house. Supposing she, or any of the +children, should die of fright, it would be my fault. I should never +forgive myself. + +"You've something on your mind! What is it?" my wife demanded. + +I hesitated a moment or two and then told her. The next quarter of an +hour was one I do not care to recollect, but when it was over, and she +had had her say, it was decided I should make enquiries and see if there +was any possible way of getting rid of the ghosts. With this end in +view, I drove to the town, and after several fruitless efforts was at +length introduced to a Mr. Marsden, clerk of one of the banks, who, in +reply to my questions, said: + +"Well, Mr. B----, it's just this way. I do know something, only--in a +small place like this--one has to be so extra careful what one says. +Some years ago a Mr. Jeremiah Dance occupied the Crow's Nest. He came +here apparently a total stranger, and though often in the town, was only +seen in the company of one person--his landlord, Mr. Baldwin, with +whom--if local gossip is to be relied on--he appeared to be on terms of +the greatest familiarity. Indeed, they were seldom apart, walked about +the lanes arm-in-arm, visited each other's houses on alternate evenings, +called each other "Teddy" and "Leslie." This state of things continued +for nearly three years, and then people suddenly began to comment on the +fact that Mr. Dance had gone, or at least was no longer visible. An +errand-boy, returning back to town, late one evening, swore to being +passed on the way by a trap containing Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Dance, who +were speaking in very loud voices--just as if they were having a violent +altercation. On reaching that part of the road where the trees are +thickest overhead, the lad overtook them, or rather Mr. Baldwin, +preparing to mount into the trap. Mr. Dance was nowhere to be seen. And +from that day to this nothing has ever been heard of him. As none of his +friends or relations came forward to raise enquiries, and all his bills +were paid--several of them by Mr. Baldwin--no one took the matter up. +Mr. Baldwin pooh-poohed the errand-boy's story, and declared that, on +the night in question, he had been alone in an altogether different part +of the county, and knew nothing whatever of Mr. Dance's movements, +further than that he had recently announced his intention of leaving the +Crow's Nest before the expiration of the three years' lease. He had not +the remotest idea where he was. He claimed the furniture in payment of +the rent due to him." + +"Did the matter end there?" I asked. + +"In one sense of the word, yes--in another, no. Within a few weeks of +Dance's disappearance rumours got afloat that his ghost had been seen on +the road, just where, you may say, you saw it. As a matter of fact, I've +seen it myself--and so have crowds of other people." + +"Has anyone ever spoken to it?" + +"Yes--and it has vanished at once. I went there one night with the +purpose of laying it, but, on its appearing suddenly, I confess I was so +startled, that I not only forgot what I had rehearsed to say, but ran +home, without uttering as much as a word." + +"And what are your deductions of the case?" + +"The same as everyone else's," Mr. Marsden whispered, "only, like +everyone else, I dare not say." + +"Had Mr. Dance any dogs?" + +"Yes--two poodles, of which, much to Mr. Baldwin's annoyance (everyone +noticed this), he used to make the most ridiculous fuss." + +"Humph!" I observed. "That settles it! Ghosts! And to think I never +believed in them before! Well, I am going to try." + +"Try what?" Mr. Marsden said, a note of alarm in his voice. + +"Try laying it. I have an idea I may succeed." + +"I wish you luck, then. May I come with you?" + +"Thanks, no!" I rejoined. "I would rather go there alone." + +I said this in a well-lighted room, with the hum of a crowded +thoroughfare in my ears. Twenty minutes later, when I had left all that +behind, and was fast approaching the darkest part of an exceptionally +dark road, I wished I had not. At the very spot, where I had previously +seen the figures, I saw them now. They suddenly appeared by my side, and +though I was going at a great rate--for the horse took fright--they kept +easy pace with me. Twice I essayed to speak to them, but could not +ejaculate a syllable through sheer horror, and it was only by nerving +myself to the utmost, and forcing my eyes away from them, that I was +able to stick to my seat and hold on to the reins. On and on we dashed, +until trees, road, sky, universe were obliterated in one blinding +whirlwind that got up my nostrils, choked my ears, and deadened me to +everything, save the all-terrorizing, instinctive knowledge, that the +figures by my side, were still there, stalking along as quietly and +leisurely as if the horse had been going at a snail's pace. + +At last, to my intense relief--for never had the ride seemed longer--I +reached the Crow's Nest, and as I hurriedly dismounted from the trap, +the figures shot past me and vanished. Once inside the house, and in the +bosom of my family, where all was light and laughter, courage returned, +and I upbraided myself bitterly for this cowardice. + +I confessed to my wife, and she insisted on accompanying me the +following afternoon, at twilight, to the spot where the ghost appeared +to originate. To our intense dismay, we had not been there more than +three or four minutes, before Dora, our youngest girl, a pretty, +sweet-tempered child of eight, came running up to us with a telegram, +which one of the servants had asked her to give us. My wife, snatching +it from her, and reading it, was about to scold her severely, when she +suddenly paused, and clutching hold of the child with one hand, pointed +hysterically at something on one side of her with the other. I looked, +and Dora looked, and we both saw, standing erect and staring at us, the +spare figure of a man, with a ghastly white face and dull, lifeless +eyes, clad in a panama hat, albert coat, and small, patent-leather +boots; beside him were two glossy--abnormally glossy--poodles. + +I tried to speak, but, as before, was too frightened to articulate a +sound, and my wife was in the same plight. With Dora, however, it was +otherwise, and she electrified us by going up to the figure, and +exclaiming: + +"Who are you? You must feel very ill to look so white. Tell me your +name." + +The figure made no reply, but gliding slowly forward, moved up to a +large, isolated oak, and pointing with the index finger of its left hand +at the trunk of the tree, seemingly sank into the earth and vanished +from view. + +For some seconds everyone was silent, and then my wife exclaimed: + +"Jack, I shouldn't wonder if Dora hasn't been the means of solving the +mystery. Examine the tree closely." + +I did so. The tree was hollow, and inside it were three skeletons! + + * * * * * + +Here followed an extract from a local paper: + + +"_Sensational Discovery in a Wood near Marytown_ + +"Whilst exploring in a wood, near Marytown, the other evening, a party +of the name of B---- discovered three skeletons--a human being and two +dogs--in the trunk of an oak. From the remnant of clothes still +adhering to the human remains, the latter were proved to be those of an +individual known as Mr. Jeremiah Dance, whose strange disappearance from +the Crow's Nest--the house he rented in the neighbourhood--some two +years ago, was the occasion of much comment. On closer examination, +extraordinary to relate, the remains have been proved to be those of a +WOMAN; and from certain abrasions on the skull, there is little doubt +she met with a violent end." + +A second extract taken from the same paper runs thus:-- + + +"_Suicide at Marytown_ + +"Late last night Percy Baldwin, the man who is under arrest on suspicion +of having caused the death of the unknown woman, whose skeleton was +found on Monday in the trunk of a tree, committed suicide by hanging +himself with his suspenders to the ceiling of his cell. Pinned on his +coat was a slip of paper bearing these words: 'She was my wife--I loved +her. She took to drink--I parted from her. She became a dog-worshipper. +I killed her--and her dogs.'" + + +_Phantasms of Living Dogs_ + +I could quote innumerable cases of people who have either seen or heard +the spirits of dead dogs. However, as space does not permit of this, I +proceed to the oft-raised question, "Do animals as well as people +project themselves?" My reply is--yes; according to my experience they +do. + +Some friends of mine have a big tabby that has frequently been seen in +two places at the same time; for example, it has been observed by +several people to be sitting on a chair in the dining-room, and, at the +same moment, it has been seen by two or more other persons extended at +full length before the kitchen fire--the latter figure proving to be its +immaterial, or what some designate its astral body, which vanishes the +instant an attempt is made to touch it. The only explanation of this +phenomenon seems to me to lie in projection--the cat possessing the +faculty of separating--in this instance, unconsciously--its spiritual +from its physical body--the former travelling anywhere, regardless of +space, time and material obstacles. I have often had experiences similar +to this with a friend's dog. I have been seated in a room, either +reading or writing, and on looking up have distinctly seen the dog lying +on the carpet in front of me. A few minutes later a scraping at the door +or window--both of which have been shut all the while--and on my rising +to see what was there, I have discovered the dog outside! Had I not been +so positive I had seen the dog on the ground in front of me, I might +have thought it was an hallucination; but hallucinations are never so +vivid nor so lasting--moreover, other people have had similar +experiences with the same dog. And why not? Dogs, on the whole, are +every whit as reasoning and reflective as the bulk of human beings! And +how much nobler! Compare, for a moment, the dogs you know--no matter +whether mastiffs, retrievers, dachshunds, poodles, or even Pekinese, +with your acquaintances--with the people you see everywhere around +you--false, greedy, spiteful, scandal-loving women, money-grubbing +attorneys, lying, swindling tradesmen, vulgar parvenus, finicky curates, +brutal roughs, spoilt, cruel children, hypocrites of both sexes--compare +them carefully--and the comparison is entirely in favour of the dog! +And if the creating Power (or Powers) has favoured these wholly selfish +and degenerate human beings with spirits, and has conferred on certain +of them the faculty of projecting those spirits, can one imagine, for +one moment, that similar gifts have been denied to dogs--their superiors +in every respect? Pshaw! Out upon it! To think so would mean to think +the unthinkable, to attribute to God qualities of partiality, injustice +and whimsicality, which would render Him little, if anything, better +than a James the Second of England, or a Louis the Fifteenth of France. + +Besides, from my own experience, and the experiences of those with whom +I have been brought in contact, I can safely affirm that there are +phantasms (and therefore spirits) of both living and dead dogs in just +the same proportion as there are phantasms (and therefore spirits) of +both living and dead human beings. + + +_Psychic Properties of Dogs_ + +Some, not all, dogs--like cats--possess the psychic property of scenting +the advent of death, and they indicate their fear of it by the most +dismal howling. In my opinion there is very little doubt that dogs +actually see some kind of phantasm that, knowing when death is about to +take place, visits the house of the doomed and stands beside his, or +her, couch. I have had this phantasm described to me, by those who +declare they have seen it, as a very tall, hooded figure, clad in a +dark, loose, flowing costume--its face never discernible. It would, of +course, be foolish to say that a dog howling in a house is invariably +the sign of death; there are many other and obvious causes which produce +something of a similar effect; but I think one may be pretty well +assured that, when the howling is accompanied by unmistakable signs of +terror, then someone, either in the house at the time, or connected +with someone in the house, will shortly die. + + +_Dogs in Haunted Houses_ + +When I investigate a haunted house, I generally take a dog with me, +because experience has taught me that a dog seldom fails to give notice, +in some way or another--either by whining, or growling, or crouching +shivering at one's feet, or springing on one's lap and trying to bury +its head in one's coat--of the proximity of a ghost. I had a dog with +me, when ghost-hunting, not so very long ago, in a well-known haunted +house in Gloucestershire. The dog--my only companion--and I sat on the +staircase leading from the hall to the first floor. Just about two +o'clock the dog gave a loud growl. I put my hand out and found it was +shivering from head to foot. Almost directly afterwards I heard the loud +clatter of fire-irons from somewhere away in the basement, a door +banged, and then something, or someone, began to ascend the stairs. Up, +up, up came the footsteps, until I could see--first of all a bluish +light, then the top of a head, then a face, white and luminous, staring +up at me. A few more steps, and the whole thing was disclosed to view. +It was the figure of a girl of about sixteen, with a shock head of red +hair, on which was stuck, all awry, a dirty little, old-fashioned +servant's cap. She was clad in a cotton dress, soiled and bedraggled, +and had on her feet a pair of elastic-sided boots, that looked as if +they would fall to pieces each step she took. But it was her face that +riveted my attention most. It was startlingly white and full of an +expression of the most hopeless misery. The eyes, wide open and glassy, +were turned direct on mine. I was too appalled either to stir or utter a +sound. The phantasm came right up to where I stood, paused for a second, +and then slowly went on; up, up, up, until a sudden bend in the +staircase hid it from view. For some seconds there was a continuation of +the footsteps, then there came a loud splash from somewhere outside and +below--and then silence--sepulchral and omnipotent. + +I did not wait to see if anything further would happen. I fled, and +Dick, my dog friend, who was apparently even more frightened than I, +fled with me. We arrived home--panic-stricken. + +Over and over again, on similar occasions, I have had a dog with me, and +the same thing has occurred--the dog has made some noise indicative of +great fear, remaining in a state of stupor during the actual presence of +the apparition. + + +_Psychic Propensities of Dogs compared with those of Cats_ + +Though dogs are, perhaps, rather more alarmed at the Unknown than cats, +I do not think they have a keener sense of its proximity. Still, for the +very reason that they show greater--more unmistakable--indications of +fear, they make surer psychic barometers. The psychic faculty of scent +in dogs would seem to be more limited than that in cats; for, whereas +cats can not only detect the advent and presence of pleasant and +unpleasant phantoms by their smells, few dogs can do more than detect +the approach of death. Dogs make friends nearly, if not quite, as +readily with cruel and brutal people as with kind ones, simply because +they cannot, so easily as cats, distinguish by their scent the +unpleasant types of spirits cruel and brutal people attract; in all +probability, they are not even aware of the presence of such spirits. + +It would seem, on the face of it, that since dogs are, on the whole, of +a gentler disposition than cats, that is to say, not quite so cruel and +savage, the phantasms of dogs would be less likely to be earth-bound +than those of cats; but, then, one must take into consideration the +other qualities of the two animals, and when these are put in the +balance, one may find little to choose--morally--between the cat and +the dog. Anyhow, after making allowance for the fact that many more cats +die unnatural deaths than dogs, there would seem to be small numerical +difference in their hauntings--cases of dog ghosts appearing to be just +as common as cases of cat ghosts. + +Apropos of phantom dogs, my friend Dr. G. West writes to me thus:-- + +"Of the older English Universities many stories are told of bizarre +happenings,--of duels, raggings, suicides and such-like--in olden times; +but of K., venerable, illustrious K. of Ireland, few and far between are +the accounts of similar occurrences. This is one, however, and it deals +with the phantom of a dog:-- + +"One evening, towards the end of the eighteenth century, John Kelly, a +Dean of the College (extremely unpopular on account of his supposed +harsh treatment of some of the undergraduates), was about to commence +his supper, when he heard a low whine, and looking down, saw a large +yellow dog cross the floor in front of him, and disappear immediately +under the full-length portrait that hung over the antique chimney-piece. +Something prompting him, he glanced at the picture. The eyes that looked +into his blinked. + +"'It must be the result of an overtaxed brain,' he said to himself. +'Those rascally undergraduates have got on my nerves.' + +"He shut his eyes; and re-opening them, stared hard at the portrait. It +was not a delusion. The eyes that gazed back at him were alive--alive +with the spirit of mockery; they smiled, laughed, jeered; and, as they +did so, the knowledge of his surroundings was brought forcibly home to +him. The room in which he was seated was situated at the end of a long, +cheerless, stone passage in the western wing of the College. Away from +all the other rooms of the building, it was absolutely isolated; and had +long borne the reputation of being haunted by a dog, which was said to +appear only before some catastrophe. The Dean had hitherto committed the +story to the category of fables. But now,--now, as he sat all alone in +that big silent room, lit only with the reddish rays of a fast-setting +August sun, and stared into the gleaming eyes before him--he was obliged +to admit the extreme probability of spookdom. Never before had the +College seemed so quiet. Not a sound--not even the creaking of a board +or the far-away laugh of a student, common enough noises on most +nights--fell on his ears. The hush was omnipotent, depressing, +unnerving; he could only associate it with the supernatural. Though he +was too fascinated to remove his gaze from the thing before him, he +could feel the room fill with shadows, and feel them steal through the +half-open windows, and, uniting with those already in the corners, glide +noiselessly and surreptitiously towards him. He felt, too, that he was +under the surveillance of countless invisible visages, all scanning him +curiously, and delighted beyond measure at the sight of his terror. + +"The moments passed in a breathless state of tension. He stared at the +eyes, and the eyes stared back at him. Once he endeavoured to rise, but +a dead weight seemed to fall on his shoulders and hold him back; and +twice, when he tried to speak--to make some sound, no matter what, to +break the appalling silence--his throat closed as if under the pressure +of cruel, relentless fingers. + +"But the _Ultima Thule_ of his emotions had yet to come. There was a +slight stir behind the canvas, a thud, a hollow groan that echoed and +re-echoed throughout the room like the muffled clap of distant thunder, +and the eyes suddenly underwent a metamorphosis--they grew glazed and +glassy like the eyes of a dead person. A cold shudder ran through the +Dean, his hair stood on end, his blood turned to ice. Again he essayed +to move, to summon help; again he failed. The strain on his nerves +proved more than he could bear. A sudden sensation of nausea surged +through him; his eyes swam; his brain reeled; there was a loud buzzing +in his ears; he knew no more. Some moments later one of the College +servants arrived at the door with a bundle of letters, and on receiving +no reply to his raps, entered. + +"'Good heavens! What's the matter?' he cried, gazing at the figure of +the Dean, lolling head downward on the table. 'Merciful Prudence, the +gentleman is dead! No, he ain't--some of the young gents will be sorry +enough for that--he's fainted.' + +"The good fellow poured out some water in a tumbler, and was proceeding +to sprinkle the Dean's face with it, when, a noise attracting his +attention, he peered round at the picture. It was bulging from the wall; +it was falling! And, Good God, what was that that was falling with +it--that huge black object? A coffin? No, not a coffin, but a corpse! +The servant ran to the door shrieking, and, in less than a minute, +passage and room were filled to overflowing with a scared crowd of +enquiring officials and undergraduates. + +"'What has happened? What's the matter with the Dean? Has he had a fit, +or what? And the picture? And--Anderson? Anderson lying on the floor! +Hurt? No, not hurt, dead! Murdered!' + +"In an instant there was silence, and the white-faced throng closed in +on one another as if for protection. In front of them, beside the fallen +picture, lay the body of the most gay and popular student in the +College--Bob Anderson--Bob Anderson with a stream of blood running from +a deep incision in his back made with some sharp instrument, that had +been driven home with tremendous force. He had, without doubt, been +murdered. But by whom? Then one of the undergraduates, a bright, boyish, +fair-haired giant, named O'Farroll, immensely popular both on account of +his prowess in sport and an untold number of the most audacious +escapades, spoke out: + +"'I saw Anderson, about an hour ago, crossing the quadrangle. I asked +him where he was going, and he replied, "To old Kelly. I intend paying +him out for 'gating' me last week." I enquired how, and he replied: +"I've a glorious plan. You know that portrait stuck over his +mantel-shelf? Well! In poking about the room the other day, when the old +man was out, I had a great find. Directly behind the picture is the door +of a secret room, so neatly covered by the designs on the wall that it +is not discernible. It was only by the merest fluke I discovered it. I +was taking down the picture with the idea of "touching up" the face, +when my knuckles bumped against the panels of the wall, touched a +spring, and the door flew open, revealing an apartment about six by +eight feet large. I at once explored it, and found it could be entered +by the chimney. An idea then struck me--I would play a trick upon the +Dean by hiding in this secret chamber one evening while he was feeding, +cutting out the eyes of the portrait, and peering through the cavities +at him. And this,' O'Farroll continued, pointing at the fallen picture, +'is what he evidently did after I left him. You can see the eyes of the +portrait have been removed.' + +"'That is so, shure,' one of the other undergraduates, Mick Maguire--six +feet two in his socks, every inch--exclaimed. 'And, what is more, I knew +all about it. Anderson told me yesterday what he was going to do, and I +wanted to join him, but he said I would never get up the chimney, I +would stick there. And, bedad, I think he was right.' + +"At this remark, despite the grimness of the moment, several of those +present laughed. + +"'Come, come, gentlemen!' one of the officials cried, 'this is no time +for levity. Mr. Anderson has been murdered, and the question is--by +whom?' + +"'Then, if that's the only thing that is troubling you,' O'Farroll put +in, 'I fancy the solution is right here at hand,' and he looked +significantly at the Dean. + +"An ominous silence followed, during which all eyes were fixed on John +Kelly, some anxiously, some merely enquiringly, but not a few angrily, +for Kelly, as I have said before, had made himself particularly +obnoxious just then by his behaviour to the rowdier students; and, as +has ever been the case at K., these formed no small portion of the +community. + +"The Dean hardly seemed to realize the situation. The dignity of office +blinded him to danger. + +"'What do you mean?' he spluttered. 'I know nothing of what happened to +Mr. Anderson! Really, really, O'Farroll, your presumption is +preposterous.' + +"'There was no one else in here but you and he, Mr. Kelly,' O'Farroll +retorted coolly. 'It's only natural we should think you know something +of what happened!' + +"On the arrival of the police who had been sent for somewhat +reluctantly--for the prestige of the College at that date was very dear +to all--the premises were thoroughly searched, and, no other culprit +being found, first of all Dean Kelly was apprehended, and then, to make +a good job of it, his accuser, Denis O'Farroll. + +"All the College was agog with excitement. No one could believe the Dean +was a murderer; and it was just as inconceivable to think O'Farroll had +committed the deed. And yet if neither of them had killed Anderson, who +in God's name had killed him? + +"The night succeeding the affair, whilst the Dean and O'Farroll were +still in jail awaiting the inquest, a party of undergraduates were +discussing the situation in Maguire's rooms, when the door burst open, +and into their midst, almost breathless with excitement, came a measly, +bespectacled youth named Brady--Patrick Brady. + +"'I'm awfully sorry to disturb you fellows,' he stammered, 'but there +have been odd noises just outside my room all the evening, and I've just +seen a queer kind of dog, that vanished, God knows how. I--I--well, you +will call me an ass, of course, but I'm afraid to stay there alone, and +that's the long and short of it.' + +"'Begorra!' Maguire exclaimed, 'it can't be poor Bob's ghost already! +What sort of noises were they?' + +"'Noises like laughter!' Brady said. 'Loud peals of horrid laughter.' + +"'Someone trying to frighten you,' one of the undergrads observed, 'and +faith, he succeeded. You are twice as white as any sheet.' + +"'It's ill-timed mirth, anyhow,' someone else put in, 'with Anderson's +dead body upstairs. I'm for making an example of the blackguard.' + +"'And I,'--'And I,' the others echoed. + +"A general movement followed, and headed by Brady the procession moved +to the north wing of the College. At that time, be it remembered, a +large proportion of K. undergrads were in residence--now it is +otherwise. On reaching Brady's rooms the crowd halted outside and +listened. For some time there was silence; and then a laugh--low, +monotonous, unmirthful, metallic--coming as it were from some adjacent +chamber, and so unnatural, so abhorring, that it held everyone +spell-bound. It died away in the reverberations of the stone corridor, +its echoes seeming to awake a chorus of other laughs hardly less +dreadful. Again there was silence, no one daring to express his +thoughts. Then, as if by common consent, all turned precipitately into +Brady's room and slammed the door. + +"'That is what I heard,' Brady said. 'What does it mean?' + +"'Is it the meaning of it you're wanting to know?' Maguire observed. +'Sure 'tis the devil, for no one but him could make such a noise. I've +never heard the like of it before. Who has the rooms on either side of +you?' + +"'These?' Brady replied, pointing to the right. 'No one. They were +vacated at Easter, and are being repainted and decorated. These on the +left--Dobson, who is, I happen to know, at the present moment in Co. +Mayo. He won't be back till next week.' + +"'Then we can search them,' a student called Hartnoll intervened. + +"'To be sure we can,' Brady replied, 'but I doubt if you'll find +anyone.' + +"A search was made, and Brady proved to be correct. Not a vestige of +anyone was discovered. + +"Much mystified, Maguire's party was preparing to depart, when Hartnoll, +who had taken the keenest interest in the proceedings, suddenly said, +'Who has the rooms over yours, Brady? Sound, as you know, plays curious +tricks, and it is just as likely as not that laugh came from above.' + +"'Oh, I don't think so,' Brady answered. 'The man overhead is Belton, a +very decent sort. He is going in for his finals shortly, and is sweating +fearfully hard at present. We might certainly ask him if he heard the +noise.' + +"The students agreeing, Brady led the way upstairs, and in response to +their summons Belton hastily opened the door. He was a typical +book-worm--thin, pale and rather emaciated, but with a pleasant +expression in his eyes and mouth, that all felt was assuring. + +"'Hulloa!' he exclaimed, 'it isn't often I'm favoured with a surprise +party of this sort. Come in'; and he pressed them so hard that they felt +constrained to accept his hospitality, and before long were all seated +round the fire, quaffing whisky and puffing cigars as if they meant to +make a night of it. At two o'clock someone suggested that it was high +time they thought of bed, and Belton rose with them. + +"'Before we turn in, let's have another search,' he said. 'It's strange +you should all hear that noise except me--unless, of course, it came +from below.' + +"'But there's nothing under me,' Brady remarked, 'except the Dining +Hall.' + +"'Then let's search that,' Belton went on. 'We ought to make a thorough +job of it now we've once begun. Besides, I don't relish being in this +lonely place with that laugh "knocking" around, any more than you do.' + +"He went with them, and they completely overhauled the ground +floor--hall, dining-room, studies, passages, vestibules, everywhere that +was not barred to them; but they were no wiser at the end of their +search than at the beginning; there was not the slightest clue as to the +author of the laugh. + + * * * * * + +"On the morrow there was a fresh shock. One of the College servants, on +entering Mr. Maguire's rooms to call him, found that gentleman half +dressed and lying on the floor. + +"Terrified beyond measure, the servant bent over him and discovered he +was dead, obviously stabbed with the same weapon that had put an end to +Bob Anderson. + +"The factotum at once gave the alarm. Everyone in the College came +trooping to the room, and for the second time within three days a +general hue and cry was raised. All, again, to no purpose--the murderer +had left no traces as to his identity. However, one thing at least was +established, and that was the innocence of Dean Kelly and Denis +O'Farroll. They were both liberated. + +"Then Hartnoll, who seems to have been a regular Sherlock Holmes, got to +work in grim earnest. On the floor in Maguire's room he picked up a +diminutive silver-topped pencil, which had rolled under the fender and +had so escaped observation. He asked several of Maguire's most intimate +friends if they remembered seeing the pencil-case in Maguire's +possession, but they shook their heads. He enquired in other quarters, +too, but with no better result, and finally resolved to ask Brady, who +belonged to quite a different set from himself. With that object in view +he set off to Brady's room shortly after supper. As there was no +response to his raps, he at length opened Brady's door. In front of the +hearth in a big easy chair sat a figure. + +"'Brady, by all that's holy,' Hartnoll exclaimed. 'By Jupiter, the +beggar's asleep. That's what comes of swotting too hard! Brady!' + +"Approaching the chair he called again, 'Brady!' and getting no reply, +patted the figure gently on the back. + +"'Be jabbers, you sleep soundly, old fellow!' he said. 'How about that!' +and he shook him heartily by the shoulder. The instant he let go the +figure collapsed. In order to get a closer view Hartnoll then struck a +light with the tinder box. + +"The flickering of the candle flame fell on Brady's face. It was +white--ghastly white; there was no animation in it; the jaw dropped. + +"With a cry of horror Hartnoll sprang back, and as he did so a great +yellow dog dashed across the hearth in front of him, whilst from +somewhere close at hand came a laugh--long, low and satirical. A cold +terror gripped Hartnoll, and for a moment or so he was on the verge of +fainting. However, hearing voices in the quadrangle, he pulled himself +together, approached the window on tiptoe, and, peering through the +glass, perceived to his utmost joy two of his friends directly beneath +him. 'I say, you fellows,' he called in low tones, 'come up here +quickly--Brady's rooms. I've seen the phantom dog. There's been another +tragedy, and the murderer is close at hand. Come quietly and we may +catch him!' + +"He then retraced his steps to the centre of the room and listened. +Again there came the laugh--subtle, protracted, hellish--and it seemed +to him as if it must originate in the room overhead. + +"A noise in the direction of the hearth made him look round. Some loose +plaster had fallen, and whilst he still gazed, more fell. The truth of +the whole thing then dawned on him. The murderer was in the chimney. + +"Hartnoll was a creature of impulse. In the excitement of the moment he +forgot danger, and the dastardly nature of the crimes gave him more than +his usual amount of courage. He rushed at the chimney, and, regardless +of soot and darkness, began an impromptu ascent. + +"Half-way up something struck him--once, twice, thrice,--sharply, and +there was a soft, malevolent chuckle. + +"At this juncture the two undergraduates arrived in Brady's room. No one +was there--nothing save a hunched-up figure on a chair. + +"'Hartnoll!' they whispered. 'Hartnoll!' No reply. They called +again--still no reply. Again and again they called, until at length, +through sheer fatigue, they desisted, and seized with a sudden panic +fled precipitately downstairs and out into the quadrangle. + +"Once more the alarm was given, and once again the whole College, wild +with excitement, hastened to the scene of the outrage. + +"This time there was a double mystery. Brady had been murdered--Hartnoll +had disappeared. The police were summoned and the whole building +ransacked; but no one thought of the chimney till the search was nearly +over, and half the throng--overcome with fatigue--had retired. O'Farroll +was the discoverer. Happening to glance at the hearth he saw something +drop. + +"'For Heaven's sake, you fellows!' he shouted. 'Look! Blood! You may +take it from me there's a corpse in the chimney.' + +"A dozen candles invaded the hearth, and a herculean policeman undertook +the ascent. In breathless silence the crowd below waited, and, after a +few seconds of intense suspense, two helpless legs appeared on the hob. +Bit by bit, the rest of the body followed, until, at length, the whole +figure of Hartnoll, black, bleeding, bloodstained, was disclosed to +view. + +"At first it was thought that he was dead; but the surgeon who had +hurried to the scene pronouncing him still alive, there arose a +tremendous cheer. The murderer had at all events been foiled this time. + +"'Begorrah!' cried O'Farroll, 'Hartnoll was after the murderer when he +was struck, and shure I'll be after him the same way myself.' And before +anyone could prevent him O'Farroll was up the chimney. Up, up, up, until +he found himself going down, down, down; and then--bedad--he stepped +right out on to the floor of Belton's room. + +"'Hulloa!' the latter exclaimed, looking not a bit disconcerted, 'that's +a curious mode of making your entrance into my domain! Why didn't you +come by the door?' + +"'Because,' O'Farroll replied, pointing to a patch of soot near the +washstand, 'I followed you. Own up, Dicky Belton. You're the +culprit--you did for them all.' And Belton laughed. + + * * * * * + +"Yes, it was true; overwork had turned Belton's brain, and he was +subsequently sent to a Criminal Lunatic Asylum for the rest of his life. +But there were moments when he was comparatively sane, and in these +interims he confessed everything. Anderson had told him that he was +going to hoax the Dean, and filled with indignation at the idea of such +a trick being played on a College official--for he, Belton, was a great +favourite with the 'Beaks'--he had accompanied Anderson on the plea of +helping him, intending, in reality, to frustrate him. It was not till he +was in the chimney, crouching behind Anderson, that the thought of +killing his fellow-students had entered his mind. The heat of his +hiding-place, acting on an already overworked brain, hastened on the +madness; and his fingers closing on a clasped knife in one of his +pockets, inspired him with a desire to kill. + +"The work once begun, he had argued with himself, would have to be +continued, and he had then and there decided that all unruly +undergraduates should be exterminated. + +"With what measure of success this determination was carried out need +not be recapitulated here; but with regard to the phantom dog a few +words may be added. Since it appeared immediately before the committal +of each of the three murders I have just recorded (it was seen by Mr. +Kelly before the death of Bob Anderson; by Brady, before the murder of +Maguire; and by Hartnoll, before Brady was murdered), I think there can +neither be doubts as to its existence nor as to the purport of its +visits. + +"Moreover, its latest appearance in the University, reported to me quite +recently, preceded a serious outbreak of fire." + + +_National Ghosts in the form of Dogs_ + +One of the most notorious dog ghosts is the Gwyllgi in Wales. This +apparition, which is of a particularly terrifying appearance, chiefly +haunts the lane leading from Mousiad to Lisworney Crossways. + +Belief in a spectral dog, however, is common all over the British Isles. +The apparition does not belong to any one breed, but appears equally +often as a hound, setter, terrier, shepherd dog, Newfoundland and +retriever. In Lancashire it is called the "Trash" or "Striker"; Trash, +because the sound of its tread is thought to resemble a person walking +along a miry, sloppy road, with heavy shoes; Striker, because it is said +to utter a curious screech which may be taken as a warning of the +approaching death of some relative or friend. When followed the phantom +retreats, glaring at its pursuer, and either sinks into the ground with +a harrowing shriek, or disappears in some equally mysterious manner. + +In Norfolk and Cambridgeshire this spectre is named the "Shuck," the +local name for Shag--and is reported to haunt churchyards and other +dreary spots. + +In the parish of Overstrand, there used to be a lane called "Shuck's +Lane," named after this phantasm. + +Round about Leeds the spectre dog is called "Padfoot," and is about the +size of a donkey, with shaggy hair and large eyes like saucers. My +friend Mr. Barker tells me there was, at one time, a ghost in the +Hebrides called the Lamper, which was like a very big, white dog with no +tail. It ran sometimes straight ahead, but usually in circles, and to +see it was a prognostication of death. Mr. Barker, going home by the +sea-coast, saw the Lamper in the hedge. He struck at it, and his stick +passed right through it. The Lamper rushed away, whining and howling +alternately, and disappeared. Mr. Barker was so scared that he ran all +the way home. On the morrow, he learned of his father's death. + +In Northumberland, Durham, and various parts of Yorkshire, the +ghost-dog, which is firmly believed in, is styled Barguest, Bahrgeist, +or Boguest; whilst in Lancashire it is termed the Boggart. Its most +common form in these counties is a large, black dog with flaming eyes; +and its appearance is a certain prognostication of death. + +According to tradition there was once a "Barguest" in a glen between +Darlington and Houghton, near Throstlenest. Another haunted a piece of +waste land above a spring called the Oxwells, between Wreghorn and +Headingley Hill, near Leeds. On the death of any person of local +importance in the neighbourhood the creature would come forth, followed +by all the other dogs, barking and howling. (Henderson refers to these +hauntings in his _Folk-lore of Northern Counties_.) + +Another form of this animal spectre is the Capelthwaite, which, +according to common report, had the power of appearing in the form of +any quadruped, but usually chose that of a large, black dog. + + +"_The Mauthe Doog_" + +One of the most famous canine apparitions is that of the "Mauthe Doog," +once said--and, I believe, still said--to haunt Peel Castle, Isle of +Man. + +Its favourite place, so I am told, was the guard-chamber, where it used +to crouch by the fireside. The sentry, so the story runs, got so +accustomed to seeing it, that they ceased to be afraid; but, as they +believed it to be of evil origin, waiting for an opportunity to seize +them, they were very particular what they said or did, and refrained +from swearing in its presence. The Mauthe Doog used to come out and +return by the passage through the church, by which the sentry on duty +had to go to deliver the keys every night to the captain. These men, +however, were far too nervous to go alone, and were invariably +accompanied by one of the retainers. On one occasion, however, one of +the sentinels, in a fit of drunken bravado, swore he was afraid of +nothing, and insisted on going alone. His comrades tried to dissuade +him, upon which he became abusive, cursed the Mauthe Doog, and said he +would d----d well strike it. An hour later, he returned absolutely mad +with horror, and speechless; nor could he even make signs, whereby his +friends could understand what had happened to him. He died soon +after--his features distorted--in violent agony. After this the +apparition was never seen again. + +As to what class of spirits the spectre dog belongs, that is impossible +to say. At the most we can only surmise, and I should think the chances +of its being the actual phantasm of some dead dog or an elemental are +about equal. It is probably sometimes the one and sometimes the other; +and its origin is very possibly like that of the Banshee. + + +_Spectral Hounds_ + +As with the spectre dog, so with packs of hounds, stories of them come +from all parts of the country. + +Gervase of Tilbury states that as long ago as the thirteenth century a +pack of spectral hounds was frequently witnessed, on nights when the +moon was full, scampering across forest and downs. In the twelfth +century the pack was known as "the Herlething" and haunted, chiefly, the +banks of the Wye. + +Roby, in his _Traditions of Lancashire_; Hardwick, in his _Traditions, +Superstitions, and Folk-lore_; Homerton, in his _Isles of Loch Awe_; +Wirt Sykes, in his _British Goblins_; Sir Walter Scott, and others, all +refer to them. In the North of England they are known as "Gabriel's +Hounds"; in Devon as the "Wisk," "Yesk," "Yeth," or "Heath Hounds"; in +Wales as the "Cwn Annwn" or "Cyn y Wybr"; in Cornwall as the "Devil and +his Dandy-Dogs"; and in the neighbourhood of Leeds as the "Gabble +Retchets." They are common all over the Continent. In appearance they +are usually described as monstrous, human-headed dogs, black, with fiery +eyes and teeth, and sprinkled all over with blood. They make a great +howling noise, which is very shrill and mournful, and appear to be in +hot pursuit of some unseen quarry. When they approach a house, it may be +taken as a certain sign someone in that house will die very shortly. + +According to Mr. Roby, a spectre huntsman known by the name Gabriel +Ratchets, accompanied by a pack of phantom hounds, is said to hunt a +milk-white doe round the Eagle's Crag in the Vale of Todmorden every All +Hallows Eve. + +These hounds were also seen in Norfolk. A famous ecclesiast, when on his +way to the coast, was forced to spend the night in the King's Lynn Inn, +owing to a violent snowstorm. Retiring to bed directly after supper, he +tried to forget his disappointment in reading a volume of sermons he had +bought at a second-hand shop in Bury St. Edmunds. + +"I think I can use this one," he said to himself. "It will do nicely for +the people of Aylesham. They are so steeped in hypocrisy that nothing +short of violent denunciation will bring it home to them. This I think, +however, will pierce even their skins." + +A sudden noise made him spring up. + +"Hounds!" he exclaimed. "And at this time of night! Good heavens!" + +He flew to the window, and there, careering through the yard, baying as +they ran, were, at least, fifty luminous, white hounds. Instead of +leaping the stone wall, they passed right through it, and the bishop +then realized that they were Gabriel Hounds. The following evening he +received tidings of his son's--his only son's--death. + +I have heard that the "Yeth Hounds" were seen, not so long ago, in a +parish in Yorkshire by an old poacher called Barnes. Barnes was walking +in the fields one night, when he suddenly heard the baying of the +hounds, and the hoarse shouts of the huntsman. The next moment the whole +pack hove in view and tore past him so close that he received a cut from +"the whip" on his leg. To his surprise, however, it did not hurt him, it +only felt icy cold. He then knew that he had seen the "Yeth Hounds." + + +_A Spectral Pack of Hounds in Russia_ + +A gentleman of the name of Rappaport whom I once met in Southampton told +me of an experience he had once had with a spectral pack of hounds on +the slope of the Urals. "It was about half-past eleven one winter's +night," he said, "and I was driving through a thick forest, when my +coachman suddenly leaned back in his seat and called out, 'Do you hear +that?' I listened, and from afar came a plaintive, whining sound. 'It's +not Volki, is it?' I asked. 'I'm afraid so, master,' the coachman +replied, 'they're coming on after us.' + +"'But they are some way off still!' I said. + +"'That is so,' he responded, 'but wolves run quick, and our horses are +tired. If we can reach the lake first we shall be all right, but should +they overtake us before we get there--' and he shrugged his great +shoulders suggestively. 'Not another word,' I cried. 'Drive--drive as if +'twere the devil himself. I have my rifle ready, and will shoot the +first wolf that shows itself.' + +"'Very good, master,' he answered. 'I will do everything that can be +done to save your skin and mine.' He cracked his whip, and away flew the +horses at a breakneck speed. But fast as they went, they could not +outstrip the sound of the howling, which gradually drew nearer and +nearer, until around the curve we had just passed shot into view a huge +gaunt wolf. I raised my rifle and fired. The beast fell, but another +instantly took its place, and then another and another, till the whole +pack came into sight, and close behind us was an ocean of white, +tossing, foam-flecked jaws and red gleaming eyes. + +"I emptied my rifle into them as fast as I could pull the trigger, but +it only checked them momentarily. A few snaps, and of their wounded +brethren there was nothing left but a pile of glistening bones. Then, +hie away, and they were once again in red-hot pursuit. At last our pace +slackened, and still I could see no signs of the lake. A great grey +shape, followed by others, then rushed by us and tried to reach the +horses' flanks with their sharp, gleaming teeth. A few more seconds, +and I knew we should be both fighting, back to back, the last great +fight for existence. Indeed I had ceased firing, and was already +beginning to strike out furiously with the butt end of my rifle, when a +new sound arrested my attention. The baying of dogs! 'Dogs!' I screamed, +'Dogs, Ivan!' (that was the coachman's name) 'Dogs!' and, in my mad joy, +I brained two wolves in as many blows. The next moment a large pack of +enormous white hounds came racing down on us. The wolves did not wait to +dispute the field; they all turned tail and, with loud howls of terror, +rushed off in the direction they had come. On came the hounds--more +beautiful dogs I had never seen; as they swept by, more than one brushed +against my knees, though I could feel nothing save intense cold. When +they were about twenty yards ahead of us, they slowed down, and +maintained that distance in front of us till we arrived on the shores of +the lake. There they halted, and throwing back their heads, bayed as if +in farewell, and suddenly vanished. We knew then that they were no +earthly hounds, but spirit ones, sent by a merciful Providence to save +us from a cruel death." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HORSES AND THE UNKNOWN + + +As in my chapters on cats and dogs, I will preface this chapter on +horses with instances of alleged haunted localities. + +I take my first case from Mr. W.T. Stead's _Real Ghost Stories_, +published in 1891. It is called "A Weird Story from the Indian Hills," +and Mr. Stead preludes it thus: The "tale is told by General Barter, +C.B., of Careystown, Whitegate, Co. Cork. At the time he witnessed the +spectral cavalcade he was living on the hills in India, and when one +evening he was returning home he caught sight of a rider and attendants +coming towards him. The rest of the story, given in the General's own +words, is as follows:-- + +"At this time the two dogs came, and, crouching at my side, gave low, +frightened whimpers. The moon was at the full--a tropical moon--so +bright that you could see to read a newspaper by its light, and--I saw +the party before me advance as plainly as it were noon day. They were +above me some eight or ten feet on the bridle-road, the earth thrown +down from which sloped to within a pace or two of my feet. On the party +came, until almost in front of me, and now I had better describe them. +The rider was in full dinner dress, with white waistcoat, and wearing a +tall chimney-pot hat, and he sat a powerful hill pony (dark brown, with +mane and tail) in a listless sort of way, the reins hanging loosely from +both hands. A Syce led the pony on each side, but their faces I could +not see, the one next to me having his back to me and the one farthest +off being hidden by the pony's head. Each held the bridle close by the +bit, the man next me with his right and the other with his left hand, +and the hands were on the thighs of the rider, as if to steady him in +his seat. As they approached, I knowing they could not get to any place +other than my own, called out in Hindustani, 'Quon hai?' (Who is it?). +There was no answer, and on they came until right in front of me, when I +said, in English, 'Hullo, what the d----l do you want here?' Instantly +the group came to a halt, the rider gathering the bridle reins up in +both hands, turned his face, which had hitherto been looking away from +me, towards me, and looked down upon me. The group was still as in a +tableau, with the bright moon shining upon it, and I at once recognized +the rider as Lieutenant B., whom I had formerly known. The face, +however, was different from what it used to be; in the place of being +clean-shaven, as when I used to know it, it was now surrounded by a +fringe (what used to be known as a Newgate fringe), and it was the face +of a dead man, the ghastly waxen pallor of it brought out more +distinctly in the moonlight by the dark fringe of hair by which it was +encircled; the body, too, was much stouter than when I had known it in +life. + +"I marked this in a moment; and then resolved to lay hold of the thing, +whatever it might be. I dashed up the bank, and the earth which had been +thrown on the side giving under my feet, I fell forward up the bank on +my hands, recovering myself instantly. I gained the road, and stood in +the exact spot where the group had been, but which was now vacant, there +was not the trace of anything; it was impossible for them to go on, the +road stopped at a precipice about twenty yards further on, and it was +impossible to turn and go back in a second. All this flashed through my +mind, and I then ran along the road for about 100 yards, along which +they had come, until I had to stop for want of breath, but there was no +trace of anything, and not a sound to be heard. I then returned home, +where I found my dogs, who, on all other occasions my most faithful +companions, had not come with me along the road. + +"Next morning I went up to D., who belonged to the same regiment as B., +and gradually induced him to talk of him. I said, 'How very stout he had +become lately, and what possessed him to allow his beard to grow with +that horrid fringe?' D. replied, 'Yes, he became very bloated before his +death. You know he led a very fast life, and while on the sick list he +allowed the fringe to grow, in spite of all that we could say to him, +and I believe he was buried with it.' I asked him where he got the pony +I had seen, describing it minutely. 'Why,' said D., 'how do you know +anything about all this? You hadn't seen B. for two or three years, and +the pony you never saw. He bought him at Peshawur, and killed him one +day riding in his reckless fashion down the hill to Trete.' I then told +him what I had seen the night before. + +"Once, when the galloping sound was very distinct, I rushed to the door +of my house. There I found my Hindoo bearer, standing with a tattie in +his hand. I asked him what he was there for. He said that there came a +sound of riding down the hill, and 'passed him like a typhoon,' and went +round the corner of the house, and he was determined to waylay it, +whatever it was." + +In commenting on the case, Mr. Stead remarks, "That such a story as +this, gravely told by a British General in the present day, helps us to +understand how our ancestors came to believe in the wonderful story of +Herne the Hunter." I do not know about Herne the Hunter, but it is at +all events good testimony that horses as well as men have spirits, for +one of the ghosts the General saw was, undoubtedly, that of the pony +murdered by B. Why it was still ridden by the phantom of its former +master is another question. + +The next case I narrate is also taken from Mr. Stead's same work. It was +sent him by one of the leading townsmen of Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, +and runs thus:-- + +"On a fine evening in April, 1859, the writer was riding with a friend +on a country road. Twilight was closing down on us, when, after a +silence of some minutes, my friend suddenly exclaimed: + +"'No man knows me better than you do, J. Do you think I am a nervous, +easily frightened sort of man?' + +"'Far from it,' said I, 'among all the men I know in the wild country I +have lived and worked in, I know none more fearless or of more +unhesitating nerve.' + +"'Well,' said he, 'I think I am that, too, and though I have travelled +these roads all sorts of hours, summer and winter, for twenty years, I +never met anything to startle me, or that I could not account for, until +last Monday evening. About this time it was. Riding old Fan' (a chestnut +mare) 'here on this cross-' (a four-way cross) 'road, on my near side +was a man on a grey horse, coming from this left-hand road. I had to +pull my off-rein to give myself room to pass ahead of him; he was coming +at a right angle to me. As I passed the head of the horse I called out +"Good night." Hearing no reply, I turned in my saddle to the off-side, +to see whether he appeared to be asleep as he rode, but to my surprise I +saw neither man nor horse. So sure was I that I had seen such, that I +wheeled old Fan round, and rode back to the middle of the cross, and on +neither of the four roads could I see a man or horse, though there was +light enough to see two hundred or three hundred yards, as we can now. +Well, I then rode over that gate' (a gate at one corner opening into a +grass field), 'thinking he might have gone that way; looking down by +each hedge, I could see nothing of my man and horse; and then--and not +until then--I felt myself thrill and start with a shuddering sense that +I had seen something uncanny, and, Jove! I put the mare down this hill +we are on now at her very best pace. But the strangest part of my story +is to come,' said he, continuing. + +"'After I had done my business at the farmhouse here, at foot of this +hill, I told the old farmer and his wife what I had seen, as I have now +told you. The old man said: + +"'"For many years I have known thee, M----, on this road, and have you +never seen the like before on that cross?" + +"'"Seen what before?" I said. + +"'"Why, a man in light-coloured clothes on a grey horse," said he. + +"'"No, never," said I, "but I swear I have this evening." + +"'The farmer asked, "Had I never heard of what happened to the Miller of +L---- Mills about forty years ago?" + +"'"No, never a word," I told him. + +"'"Well," he said, "about forty years ago this miller, returning from +market, was waylaid and murdered on that cross-road, pockets rifled of +money and watch. The horse ran home, about a mile away. Two serving-men +set out with lanterns and found their master dead. He was dressed, as +millers often do in this part of the country, in light-coloured clothes, +and the horse was a grey horse. The murderers were never found. These +are facts," continued the farmer. "I took this farm soon after it all +happened, and, though I have known all this, and have passed over that +cross several thousands of times, I never knew anything unusual there +myself, but there have been a number of people who tell the same story +you have told mother and me, M----, and describe the appearance as you +have done to us to-night."'" + +Mr. Stead goes on to add: "Four evenings after all this occurred my +friend related it to me as we were riding along the same road. He +continued to pass there many times every year for ten years, but never a +day saw anything of that sort." + +My next case, a reproduction of a letter in the _Occult Review_ of +September, 1906, reads thus:-- + + +"_A Phantom Horse and Rider--Mrs. Gaskin Anderston's Story_ + +"The following story is, I think, very remarkable, and I give it exactly +as it was told to me, and written down at the time. + +"A number of members of a gentleman's club were talking and discussing, +amongst other subjects, the possibility of there being a future state +for animals. One of the members said: + +"'I firmly believe there is. In my early youth I had a practice as a +medical man in one of the Midland Counties. One of my patients was a +very wealthy man, who owned large tracts of land and had a stud +composed entirely of bay horses with black points--this was a hobby of +his, and he would never have any others. One day a messenger came +summoning me to Mr. L----, as he had just met with a very bad accident, +and was on the point of death. I mounted my horse and started off +without delay. As I was riding through the front gates to the house, I +heard a shot, and to my amazement the very man I was going to visit rode +past at a furious pace, riding a wretched-looking chestnut with one +white forefoot and a white star on its forehead. Arrived at the house +the butler said: + +"'"He has gone, sir; they had to shoot the horse--you would hear the +shot--and at the same moment my master died." + +"'He had had this horse sent on approval; whilst riding it, it backed +over a precipice, injuring Mr. L---- fatally, and on being taken to the +stables it was found necessary to shoot it.'--Alpha." + +The next case I append (I published it in a weekly journal some years +ago) was related to me by a Captain Beauclerk. + + +_The White Horse of Eastover_ + +When I came down to breakfast one morning I found amongst several +letters awaiting me one from Colonel Onslow, the Commanding Officer of +my regiment when I first joined. He had always been rather partial to +me, and the friendship between us continued after his retirement. I +heard from him regularly at more or less prolonged intervals, and either +at Christmas or Easter invariably received an invitation to spend a few +days with him. On this occasion he was most anxious that I should +accept. + +"Do come to us for Easter," he wrote. "I am sure this place will +interest you--it is haunted." + +The cunning fellow! He knew I was very keen on Psychical Research work, +and would go almost anywhere on the bare chance of seeing a ghost. + +At that time I was quite open-minded, I had arrived at no definite +conclusion as to the existence or non-existence of ghosts. But to tell +the truth, I doubted very much if the Colonel's word, in these +circumstances, could be relied upon. I had grave suspicions that this +"haunting" was but an invention for the purpose of getting me to +Eastover. However, as it was just possible that I might be +mistaken--that there really was a ghost, and as I had not seen Colonel +Onslow for a long time, and indulged in feelings of the warmest regard +both for him and his wife, I resolved to go. + +Accordingly I set out early in the afternoon of the Good Friday. The +weather, which had been muggy in London, grew colder and colder the +further we advanced along the line, and by the time we reached Eastover +there was every prospect of a storm. + +As I expected, a closed carriage had been sent to meet me; for the +Colonel, carrying conservatism--with more conservatism than sense, +perhaps--to a fine point, cherished a deep-rooted aversion to +innovations of any sort, and consequently abhorred motors. His house, +Eastover Hall, is three miles from the station, and lies at the foot of +a steep spine of the Chilterns. + +The grounds of Eastover Hall were extensive; but, in the ordinary sense, +far from beautiful. To me, however, they were more than beautiful; there +was a grandeur in them--a grandeur that appealed to me far more than +mere beauty--the grandeur of desolation, the grandeur of the Unknown. As +we passed through the massive iron gates of the lodge, I looked upon +countless acres of withered, undulating grass; upon a few rank sedges; +upon a score or so of decayed trees; upon a house--huge, bare, grey and +massive; upon bleak walls; upon vacant, eye-like windows; upon crude, +scenic inhospitality, the very magnitude of which overpowered me. I have +said it was cold; but there hung over the estate of Eastover an iciness +that brought with it a quickening, a sickening of the heart, and a +dreariness that, whilst being depressing in the extreme, was, withal, +sublime. Sublime and mysterious; mysterious and insoluble. A thousand +fancies swarmed through my mind; yet I could grapple with none; and I +was loth to acknowledge that, although there are combinations of very +simple material objects which might have had the power of affecting me +thus, yet any attempt to analyse that power was beyond--far beyond--my +mental capability. + +The house, though old--and its black oak panellings, silent staircases, +dark corridors, and general air of gloom were certainly suggestive of +ghosts--did not affect me in the same degree. The fear it inspired was +the ordinary fear inspired by the ordinary superphysical, but the fear I +felt in the grounds was a fear created by something out of the +way--something far more bizarre than a mere phantom of the dead. + +The Colonel asked me if I had experienced any unusual sensations the +moment I entered the house, and I told him, "Yes." + +"Nearly everyone does," he replied, "and yet, so far as I know, no one +has ever seen anything. The noises we hear all round the house have +lately been more frequent. I won't describe them; I want to learn your +unbiassed opinion of them first." + +We then had tea, and whilst the rest--there was a large +house-party--indulged in music and cards, the Colonel and I had a +delightful chat about old times. I went to bed in the firm resolution of +keeping awake till at least two; but I was very tired, and the excessive +cold had made me extremely sleepy; consequently, despite my heroic +efforts, I gradually dozed off, and knew no more till it was broad +daylight and the butler entered my room with a cup of tea. When I came +down to breakfast I found everyone in the best of spirits. The Onslows +are "great hands" at original entertainments, and the announcement that +there would be a masked ball that evening was received with tremendous +enthusiasm. + +"To-night we dance, to-morrow we feed on Easter eggs and fancy cakes," +one of the guests laughingly whispered. "What a nicely ordered +programme! I hear, too, we are to have a real old-fashioned Easter +Day--heaving and lifting, and stool-ball. Egad! The Colonel deserves +knighthood!" + +Soon after breakfast there was a general stampede to Seeton and +Dinstable to buy gifts; for in that respect again the Onslows stuck to +old customs, and there was a general interchange of presents on Easter +morning. My purchases made, I joined one or two of the house-party at +lunch in Seeton, cycled back alone to Eastover in time for tea; and, at +five o'clock, commenced my first explorations of the grounds. The sky +having become clouded my progress was somewhat slow. I did the Park +first, and I had not gone very far before I detected the same presence I +had so acutely felt the previous afternoon. Like the scent of a wild +beast, it had a certain defined track which I followed astutely, +eventually coming to a full stop in front of a wall of rock. I then +perceived by the aid of a few fitful rays of suppressed light, which at +intervals struggled successfully through a black bank of clouds, the +yawning mouth of a big cavern, from the roof of which hung innumerable +stalactites. I now suddenly realized that I was in a very lonely, +isolated spot, and became immeasurably perturbed. The Unknown Something +in the atmosphere which had inspired me with so much fear was here +conglomerated--it was no longer the mere essence--it was the whole +Thing. The whole Thing, but what was that Thing? A hideous fascination +made me keep my gaze riveted on the gaping hole opposite me. At first I +could make out nothing--nothing but jagged walls and roof, and empty +darkness; then there suddenly appeared in the very innermost recesses of +the cave a faint glow of crimson light which grew and grew, until with +startling abruptness it resolved itself into two huge eyes, red and +menacing. The sight was so unexpected, and, by reason of its intense +malignity, so appalling, that I was simply dumbfounded. I could do +nothing but stare at the Thing--paralysed and speechless. I made a +desperate effort to get back my self-possession; I strove with all my +might to reason with myself, to assure myself that this was the supreme +moment of my life, the moment I had so long and earnestly desired. But +it was in vain; I was terrified--helplessly, hopelessly terrified. The +eyes moved, they drew nearer and nearer to me, and as they did so they +became more and more hostile. I opened my mouth to shout for help, I +could feel my lungs bursting under the tension; not a sound came; and +then--then, as the eyes closed on me, and I could feel the cold, clammy +weight pressing me down, there rang out, loud and clear, in the keen and +cutting air of the spring evening, a whole choir of voices--the village +choral society. + +I am not particularly fond of music--certainly not of village music, +however well trained it may be; but I can honestly affirm that, at that +moment, no sounds could have been more welcome to me than those old +folk-songs piped by the rustics, for the instant they commenced the +spell that so closely held me prisoner was broken, my faculties +returned, and reeling back out of the clutches of the hateful Thing, I +joyfully turned and fled. + +I related my adventure to the Colonel, and he told me that the cave was +generally deemed to be the most haunted spot in the grounds, that no one +cared to venture there alone after dark. + +"I have myself many times visited the cave at night--in the company of +others," he said, "and we have invariably experienced sensations of the +utmost horror and repulsion, though we have seen nothing. It must be a +devil." + +I thought so, too, and exclaimed with some vehemence that the proper +course for him to pursue was to have the cave filled in or blasted. That +night I awoke at about one o'clock with the feeling very strong on me +that something was prowling about under my window. For some time I +fought against the impulse to get out of bed and look, but at last I +yielded. It was bright moonlight--every obstacle in the grounds stood +out with wonderful clearness--and directly beneath the window, peering +up at me, were the eyes--red, lurid, satanical. A dog barked, and they +vanished. I did not sleep again that night, not until the daylight +broke, when I had barely shut my eyes before I was aroused by decidedly +material bangings on the doors and hyper-boisterous Easter greetings. + +After breakfast a few of the party went to church, a few into the +nursery to romp with the children, whilst the rest dispersed in +different directions. At luncheon all met again, and there was much +merry-making over the tansy cakes--very foolish, no doubt, but to me at +least very delightful, and perhaps a wise practice, at times, even for +the most prosaic. In the afternoon the Colonel took me for a drive to a +charmingly picturesque village in the Chilterns, whence we did not set +out on our way back till it was twilight. + +The Colonel was a good whip, and the horse, though young and rather +high-spirited, was, he said, very dependable on the whole, and had never +caused him any trouble. We spun along at a brisk trot--the last village +separating us from the Hall was past, and we were on a high eminence, +almost within sight of home, when a startling change in the atmosphere +suddenly became apparent--it turned icy cold. I made some sort of +comment to the Colonel, and as I did so the horse shied. + +"Hulloa!" I exclaimed. "Does she often do this?" + +"No, not often, only when we are on this road about this time," was the +grim rejoinder. "Keep your eyes open and sit tight." + +We were now amid scenery of the same desolate type that had so impressed +me the day of my arrival. Gaunt, barren hills, wild, uncultivated +levels, sombre valleys, inhabited only by grotesque enigmatical shadows +that came from Heaven knows where, and hemmed us in on all sides. + +A large quarry, half full of water and partly overgrown with brambles, +riveted my attention, and as I gazed fixedly at it I saw, or fancied I +saw, the shape of something large and white--vividly white--rise from +the bottom. + +The glimpse I caught of it was, however, only momentary, for we were +moving along at a great pace, and I had hardly seen the last of it +before the quarry was left behind and we were descending a long and +gradual declivity. There was but little wind, but the cold was +benumbing; neither of us spoke, and the silence was unbroken save by the +monotonous patter, patter of the horse's hoofs on the hard road. + +We were, I should say, about half-way down the hill, when away in our +rear, from the direction of the quarry, came a loud protracted neigh. I +at once looked round, and saw standing on the crest of the eminence we +had just quitted, and most vividly outlined against the enveloping +darkness, a gigantic horse, white and luminous. + +At that moment our own mare took fright; we were abruptly swung forward, +and, had I not--mindful of the Colonel's warning--been "sitting tight," +I should undoubtedly have been thrown out. We dashed downhill at a +terrific rate, our mare mad with terror, and on peering over my shoulder +I saw, to my horror, the white steed tearing along not fifty yards +behind us. I was now able to get a vivid impression of the monstrous +beast. Although the night was dark, a strong, lurid glow, which seemed +to emanate from all over it, enabled me to see distinctly its broad, +muscular breast; its panting, steaming flanks; its long, graceful legs +with their hairy fetlocks and shoeless, shining hoofs; its powerful but +arched back; its lofty, colossal head with waving forelock and broad, +massive forehead; its snorting nostrils; its distended, foaming jaws; +its huge, glistening teeth; and its lips, wreathed in a savage grin. On +and on it raced, its strides prodigious, its mighty mane rising and +falling, and blowing all around it in unrestrained confusion. + +A slip--a single slip, and we should be entirely at its mercy. + +Our own horse was now out of control. A series of violent plunges, which +nearly succeeded in unseating me, had enabled her to get the check of +the bit between her teeth so as to render it utterly useless; and she +had then started off at a speed I can only liken to flying. Fortunately +we were now on a more or less level ground, and the road, every inch of +which our horse knew, was smooth and broad. + +I glanced at the Colonel convulsively clutching the reins; he was +clinging to his seat for dear life, his hat gone. I wanted to speak, but +I knew it was useless--the shrieking of the air as it roared past us +deadened all sounds. Once or twice I glanced over the side of the trap. +The rapidity with which we were moving caused a hideous delusion--the +ground appeared to be gliding from beneath us; and I experienced the +sensation of resting on nothing. Despite our danger, however, from +natural causes--a danger which, I knew, could not have been more +acute--my fears were wholly of the superphysical. It was not the horror +of being dashed to pieces I dreaded--it was the horror of the phantom +horse--of its sinister, hostile appearance--of its unknown powers. What +would it do if it overtook us? With each successive breath I drew I +felt sure the fateful event--the long-anticipated crisis--had come. + +At last my expectations were realized. The teeth of the gigantic steed +closed down on me, its nostrils hissed resistance out of me--I swerved, +tottered, fell; and as I sank on the ground my senses left me. + +On coming to I found myself in a propped-up position on the floor of a +tiny room with someone pouring brandy down my throat. Happily, beyond a +severe shock, I had sustained no injury--a sufficiently miraculous +circumstance, as the trap had come to grief in failing to clear the +lodge gates, the horse had skinned its knees, and the Colonel had +fractured his shoulder. Of the phantom horse not a glimpse had been +seen. Even the Colonel, strange to relate, though he had managed to peep +round, had not seen it. He had heard and felt a Presence, that was all; +and after listening to my experience, he owned he was truly thankful he +was only clair-audient. + +"A gift like yours," he said, with more candour than kindness, "is a +curse, not a blessing. And now I have your corroboration, I might as +well tell you that we have long suspected the ghost to be a horse, and +have attributed its hauntings to the fact that, some time ago, when +exploring in the cave, several prehistoric remains of horses were +found, one of which we kept, whilst we presented the others to a +neighbouring museum. I dare say there are heaps more." + +"Undoubtedly there are," I said, "but take my advice and leave them +alone--re-inter the remains you have already unearthed--and thus put a +stop to the hauntings. If you go on excavating and keep the bones you +find, the disturbances will, in all probability, increase, and the +hauntings will become not only many but multiform." + +Needless to say the Colonel carried out my injunctions to the letter. +Far from continuing his work of excavation he lost no time in restoring +the bones he had kept to their original resting-place; after which, as I +predicted, the hauntings ceased. + +This case, to me, is very satisfactory, as it testifies to what was +unquestionably an actual phantasm of the dead--of a dead horse--albeit +that horse was prehistoric; and such horses are all the more likely to +be earth-bound on account of their wild, untamed natures. + +Here is another account of a phantom horse taken from Mr. Stead's _Real +Ghost Stories_. It is written by an Afrikander who, in a letter to Mr. +Stead, says: + +"I am not a believer in ghosts, nor never was; but seeing you wanted a +census of them, I can't help giving you a remarkable experience of +mine. It was some three summers back, and I was out with a party of Boer +hunters. We had crossed the Northern boundary of the Transvaal, and were +camped on the ridges of the Sembombo. I had been out from sunrise, and +was returning about dusk with the skin of a fine black ostrich thrown +across the saddle in front of me, in the best of spirits at my good +luck. Making straight for the camp, I had hardly entered a thick bush +when I thought that I heard somebody behind me. Looking behind, I saw a +man mounted on a white horse. You can imagine my surprise, for my horse +was the only one in camp, and we were the only party in the country. +Without considering I quickened my pace into a canter, and on doing so +my follower appeared to do the same. At this I lost all confidence, and +made a run for it, with my follower in hot pursuit, as it appeared to my +imagination; and I did race for it (the skin went flying in about two +minutes, and my rifle would have done the same had it not been strapped +over my shoulders). This I kept up until I rode into camp right among +the pals cooking the evening meal. The Boers about the camp were quick +in their enquiries as to my distressed condition, and regaining +confidence, I was putting them off as best I could, when the old boss +(an old Boer of some sixty-eight or seventy years), looking up from the +fire, said: + +"'The white horse! The Englishman has seen the white horse.' + +"This I denied, but to no purpose. And that night round the camp fire I +took the trouble to make enquiries as to the antecedents of the white +horse. And the old Boer, after he had commanded silence, began. He said: + +"'The English are not brave, but foolish. We beat them at Majuba, some +twenty-five seasons back. There was an Englishman here like you; he had +brought a horse with him, against our advice, to be killed with the fly, +the same as yours will be in a day or two. And he, like you, would go +where he was told not to go; and one day he went into a bush (that very +bush you rode through to-night), and he shot seven elephants, and the +next day he went in to fetch the ivory, and about night his horse came +into camp riderless, and was dead from the fly before the sun went down. +The Englishman is in that bush now; anyway, he never came back. And now +anybody who ventures into that bush is chased by the white horse. I +wouldn't go into that bush for all the ivory in the land. The English +are not brave, but foolish; we beat them at Majuba.' + +"Here he ran into a torrent of abuse of all Englishmen in general, and +in particular. And I took the opportunity of rolling myself up in my +blankets for the night, sleeping all the better for my adventure. + +"Now, Mr. Stead, I don't believe in ghosts, but I was firmly convinced +during that run of mine, and can vouch for the accuracy of it, not +having heard a word of the Englishman or his white horse before my +headlong return to the camp that night. I shortly hope to be near that +bush again, but, like the old Boer, I can say I wouldn't go into that +bush again for all the ivory in the land. + +"P.S.--A few days after we dropped across a troop of elephants without +entering the fatal bush, and managed to bag seven, photographs of which +I took, and shall be pleased to send for your inspection, if desired." + +There can be very little doubt that the phantom the Afrikander saw was +the actual spirit of a dead horse. + +Another experience of haunting by the same animal was told me by a +Chelsea artist who assured me it was absolutely true. I append it as +nearly as possible in his own words. + + +_Heralds of Death_ + +"It is many years ago," he began, "since I came into my property, +Heatherleigh Hall, near Carlisle, Cumberland. It was left me by my +great-uncle, General Wimpole, whom I had never seen, but who had made me +his heir in preference to his other nephews, owing to my reputed +likeness to an aunt, to whom he was greatly attached. Of course I was +much envied, and I dare say a good many unkind things were said about +me, but I did not care--Heatherleigh Hall was mine, and I had as much +right to it as anyone else. I came there all alone--my two brothers, +Dick and Hal, the one a soldier and the other a sailor, were both away +on foreign service, whilst Beryl, my one and only sister, was staying +with her fiancé's family in Bath. Never shall I forget my first +impressions. Depict the day--an October afternoon. The air mellow, the +leaves yellow, and the sun a golden red. Not a trace of clouds or wind +anywhere. Everything serene and still. A broad highway; a wood; a lodge +in the midst of the wood; large iron gates; a broad carriage drive, +planted on either side with lofty pines and elms, whose gnarled and +forked branches threw grotesque and not altogether pleasing shadows on +the pale gravel. + +"At the end of the avenue, at least a quarter of a mile long, wide +expanses of soft, velvety grass, interspersed at regular intervals with +plots of flowers--dahlias, michaelmas daisies--no longer in their first +bloom--chrysanthemums, etc. Beyond the lawn, the house, and beyond that +again, and on either side, big, old-fashioned gardens full of +fruit--fruit of all kinds, some, such as grapes and peaches, in monster +green-houses, and others--luscious pears, blenheim oranges, golden +pippins, etc.--in rich profusion in the open, the whole encompassed by a +high and solid brick wall, topped with a bed of mortar and broken glass. +The house, which was built, or, rather, faced with split flints, and +edged and buttressed with cut grey stone, had a majestic but gloomy +appearance. Its front, lofty and handsome, was somewhat castellated in +style, two semicircular bows, or half-moons, placed at a suitable +distance from each other, rising from the base to the summit of the +edifice; these were pierced, at every floor, with rows of +stone-mullioned windows, rising to the height of four or five stories. +The flat wall between had larger windows, lighting the great hall, +gallery, and upper apartments. These windows were abundantly ornamented +with stained glass, representing the arms, honours, and alms-deeds of +the Wimpole family. + +"The towers, half included in the building, were completely circular +within, and contained the winding stair of the mansion; and whoso +ascended them, when the winter wind was blowing, seemed rising by a +tornado to the clouds. Midway between the towers was a heavy stone +porch, with a Gothic gateway, surmounted by a battlemented parapet, made +gable fashion, the apex of which was garnished by a pair of dolphins, +rampant and antagonistic, whose corkscrew tails seemed contorted by the +last agonies of rage convulsed. + +"The porch doors thrown open to receive me, led into a hall, wide, +vaulted and lofty, and decorated here and there with remnants of +tapestry and grim portraits of the Wimpoles. One picture in particular +riveted my attention. Hung in an obscure corner, where the light rarely +penetrated, it represented the head and shoulders of a young man with a +strikingly beautiful face--the features small and regular like those of +a woman--the hair yellow and curly. It was the eyes that struck me +most--they followed me everywhere I went with a persistency that was +positively alarming. There was something in them I had never seen in +canvas eyes before, something deeper and infinitely more intricate than +could be produced by mere paint--something human and yet not human, +friendly and yet not friendly; something baffling, enigmatical, +haunting. I enquired of my deceased relative's aged housekeeper, Mrs. +Grimstone--whom I had retained--whose portrait it was, and she replied +with a scared look, 'Horace, youngest son of Sir Algernon Wimpole, who +died here in 1745.' + +"'The face fascinates me,' I said. 'Is there any history attached to +it?' + +"'Why, yes, sir!' she responded, her eyes fixed on the floor, 'but the +late master never liked referring to it.' + +"'Is it as bad as that?' I said, laughing. 'Tell me!' + +"'Well, sir,' she began, 'they do say as how Sir Algernon, who was a +thorough country squire--very fond of hunting and shooting and all sorts +of manly exercises--never liked Mr. Horace, who was delicate and +dandified--what the folk in those days used to style a macaroni. The +climax came when Mr. Horace took up with the Jacobites. Sir Algernon +would have nothing more to do with him then and turned him adrift. One +day there was a great commotion in the neighbourhood, the Government +troops were hunting the place in search of rebels, and who should come +galloping up the avenue with a couple of troopers in hot pursuit but Mr. +Horace. The noise brought out Sir Algernon, and he was so infuriated to +think that his son was the cause of the disturbance, a "disgraceful +young cub," he called him, that despite Mr. Horace's entreaties for +protection, he ran him through with his sword. It was a dreadful thing +for a father to do, and Sir Algernon bitterly repented it. His wife, +who had been devoted to Mr. Horace, left him, and at last, in a fit of +despondency, he hanged himself--out there, on one of the elms lining the +avenue. It is still standing. Ever since then they do say that the wood +is haunted, and that before the death of any member of the family Mr. +Horace is seen galloping along the old carriage drive.' + +"'Pleasant,' I grunted. 'And how about the house--is it haunted too?' + +"'I daresn't say,' she murmured. 'Some will tell you it is, and some +will tell you it isn't.' + +"'In which category are you included?' I asked. + +"'Well!' she said 'I have lived here happy and comfortable forty-five +years the day after to-morrow, and that speaks for itself, don't it?' +And with that she hobbled off and showed me the way to the dining-room. + +"What a house it was! From the hall proceeded doorways and passages, +more than the ordinary memory could retain. Of these portals, one at +each end conducted to the tower stairs, others, to the reception-rooms +and domestic offices. In the right wing, besides bedrooms galore, was a +lofty and spacious picture gallery; in the left--a chapel; for the +Wimpoles were, formerly, Roman Catholics. The general fittings and +furniture, both of the hall and house in general, were substantial, +venerable and strongly corroborative of what Mrs. Grimstone hinted +at--they suggested ghosts. + +"The walls, lined with black oak panels, or dark hangings that fluttered +mysteriously each time the wind blew, were funereal indeed; and so high +and narrow were the windows, that little was to be discerned through +them but cross-barred portions of the sky. One spot in particular +appealed to my nerves--and that, a long, vaulted stone passage leading +from a morning room to the foot of the back staircase. Here the voice +and even the footsteps echoed with a hollow, low response, and often +when I have been hurrying along it--I never dared walk slowly--I have +fancied--and maybe it was more than fancy--I have been pursued. + +"Time passed, and from being merely used to my new environments, I grew +to take a pride in them, to love them. I made the acquaintance of +several of my neighbours, those I deemed the most desirable, and on +returning from wintering abroad, brought home a bride, a young Polish +girl, who added lustre to the surroundings, and in no small degree +helped to dissipate the gloom. Indeed, had it not been for the picture +in the hall, and for the twilight shadows and twilight footsteps in the +stone passage, I should soon have ceased to think of ghosts. Ghosts, +forsooth! When all around me vibrated with the sounds of girlish +laughter, and the summer sunshine, sparkling on the golden curls of my +child-wife, saw itself reflected a millionfold in the alluring depths of +her azure eyes. In halcyon days like these who thinks of ghosts and +death? + +"And yet! It is in just such times as these that hell is nearest. There +came a night in August when the air was so hot and sultry that I could +scarcely breathe, and unable to bear the atmosphere of the house and +gardens any longer, I sought the coolness of the wood. Olga--my +wife--did not accompany me, as she was suffering from a slight--thank +God, it was only slight--sunstroke. It was close on midnight, and there +was a dead stillness abroad that seemed as if it must be universal--as +if it enveloped the whole of nature. I tried to realize London--to +depict the Strand and Piccadilly, aglow with artificial light and +reverberating with the roll of countless traffic and the tread of +millions of feet. + +"I failed. The incongruity of such imaginings here--here amidst +omnipotent silence--rendered such thoughts impossible. A leaf rustled, +and its rustling sounded to my ears like the gentle closing of some +giant door. A twig fell, and I turned sharply round, convinced I should +see a pile of broken debris. I love all trees, but I love them best by +day--to me it seems that night utterly metamorphizes them--brings out in +them a subtler, darker side one would little suspect. Here, in this oak, +for instance, was an example. In the morning one sees in it nought but +quiet dignity, venerable old age, benevolence, and, by reason of the +ample protection its branches afford from the sun, charity and +philanthropy. Its leaves are bright, dainty, pretty; its trunk suggests +nothing but a cosy and soothing retreat for students and lovers. But +now--see how different! These great spreading, gnarled branches are +hands, claws--monstrous and menacing; those leaves no longer bright +remind me of a hearse's plumes; their rustling--of the rustling and +switching of a pall or winding-sheet. The trunk, black, sinuous, +towering, is assuredly no piece of timber, but something pulpy, +something intangible, something antagonistic, mystic, devilish. I turn +from it and shudder. Then my mind reverts to the elm--the elm on which +Sir Algernon hanged himself. I remember it is not more than twenty yards +from where I stand. I stare down at the soil, at the clumps of crested +dog's-tail and stray blades of succulent darnel; I force my attention on +a toadstool, whose soft and lowly head gleams sickly white in the +moonbeams. I glance from it to a sleeping close-capped dandelion, from +it to a thistle, from it again to a late bush vetch, and then, +willy-nilly, to the accursed elm. My God! What a change. It wasn't like +that when I passed it at noon. It was just an ordinary tree then, but +now, now--and what is that--that sinister bundle--suspended from one +of its curling branches? A cold sweat bursts out on me, my knees +tremble, my hair begins to rise on end. Swinging round, I am about to +rush away--blindly rush away--hither, thither, anywhere--anywhere out of +sight of that tree and of all the hideous possibilities it promises to +materialize for me. I have not taken five strides, however, before I am +pulled sharply up by the sounds of horse's hoofs--of hoofs on the hard +gravel, away in the distance. They speedily grow nearer. A horse is +galloping, galloping towards me along the broad carriage drive. Nearer, +nearer and nearer it comes! Who is it? WHAT is it? A deadly nausea +seizes me, I swerve, totter, reel, and am only prevented from falling by +the timely interference of a pine. The concussion with its leviathan +trunk clears my senses. All my faculties become wonderfully and +painfully alert. I would give my very soul if it were not so--if I could +but fall asleep or faint. The sound of the hoofs is very much nearer +now, so near indeed that I may see the man--Heaven grant it may be only +a man after all--any moment. Ah! my heart gives a great sickly jerk. +Something has shot into view. There, not fifty yards from me, where the +road curves, and the break in the foliage overhead admits a great flood +of moonlight. I recognize the "thing" at once; it's not a man, it's +nothing human, it's the picture I know so well and dread so much, the +portrait of Horace Wimpole, that hangs in the main hall--and it's +mounted on a coal-black horse with wildly flying mane and foaming mouth. +On and on they come, thud, thud, thud! The man is not dressed as a +rider, but is wearing the costume in the picture--i.e. that of a +macaroni! A nut! More fit for a lady's seminary than a fine, old English +mansion. + +"Something beside me rustles--rustles angrily, and I know, I can feel, +it is the bundle on the branch--the ghastly, groaning, creaking, +croaking caricature of Sir Algernon. The horseman comes up to me--our +eyes meet--I am looking in those of a dead--of a long since dead man--my +blood freezes. + +"He flashes past me--thud, thud, thud! A bend in the road, and he +vanishes from sight. But I can still hear him, still hear the mad patter +of his horse's hoofs as they bear him onward, lifeless, fleshless, +weightless, to his ancient home. God pity the souls that know no rest. + +"How I got back to the house I hardly know. I believe it was with my +eyes shut, and I am certain I ran all the way. + +"About four o'clock the following afternoon I received a cablegram from +Malta. Intuition warned me to prepare for the worst. Its contents were +unpleasantly short and pithy--'Hal drowned at two o'clock this +morning.--Dick.' + +"Two years passed--again an August night, hot and oppressive as before, +and again--though surely against my will, my better judgment, if you +like--I visited the wood. Horse's hoofs just the same as before. The +same galloping, the same figure, the same EYES! the same mad, +panic-stricken flight home, and, early in the succeeding afternoon, a +similar cablegram--this time from Sicily. 'Dick died at midnight. +Dysentery.--Andrews.' + +"Jack Andrews was Dick's pal--his bosom friend. So once again the +phantom rider had brought its grisly message--played its ghoulish rôle. +My brothers were both dead now, and only Beryl remained. Another year +sped by and the last night in October--a Monday--saw me, impelled by a +fascination I could not resist, once again in the wood. Up to a point +everything happened as before. As the monotonous church clock struck +twelve, from afar came the sound of hoofs. Nearer, nearer, nearer, and +then with startling abruptness the rider shot into view. And now, mixed +with the awful, indescribable terror the figure always conveyed with it, +came a feeling of intense rage and indignation. Should Beryl--Beryl whom +I loved next best to my wife--be torn from me even as Dick and Hal had +been? No! Ten thousand times no! Sooner than that I would risk anything. +A sudden inspiration, coming maybe from the whispering leaves, or from +the elm, or from the mysterious flickering moonbeams, flashed through +me. Could I not intercept the figures, drive them back? By doing so +something told me Beryl might be saved. A terrible struggle at once took +place within me, and it was only after the most desperate efforts that I +at length succeeded in fighting back my terror and flung myself out into +the middle of the drive. No words of mine can describe all I went +through as I stood there anticipating the arrival of the phantoms. At +length they came, right up to me; and as, with frantic resolution, I +screwed up courage to plant myself directly in their path, and stared up +into the rider's eyes, the huge steed halted, gave one shrill neigh, and +turning round, galloped back again, disappearing whither it had +emerged. + +"Two days afterwards I received a letter from my brother-in-law. + +"'I have been having an awful time,' he wrote. 'My darling Beryl has +been frightfully ill. On Monday night we gave up all hope of her +recovery, but at twelve o'clock, when the doctor bid us prepare for the +end, the most extraordinary thing happened. Turning over in bed, she +distinctly called out your name, and rallied. And now, thank God, she is +completely out of danger. The doctor says it is the most astonishing +recovery he has ever known.' + + * * * * * + +"That is twenty years ago, and I've not seen the phantom rider since. +Nor do I fancy he will appear again, for when I look into the eyes of +the picture in the hall, they are no longer wandering, but at rest." + + * * * * * + +Perhaps, one of the most interesting accounts of the phantasm of a horse +in my possession is that recorded by C.E. G----, a friend of my boyhood. +Writing to me from the United States some months ago, he says: + +"Knowing how interested you are in all cases of hauntings, and in those +relating to animal ghosts especially, I am sending you an account of an +'experience' that happened to my uncle, Mr. John Dale, about six months +ago. He was returning to his home in Bishopstone, near Helena, Montana, +shortly after dark, and had arrived at a particularly lonely part of the +road where the trees almost meet overhead, when his horse showed signs +of restlessness. It slackened down, halted, shivered, whinnied, and kept +up such a series of antics, that my uncle descended from the trap to see +if anything was wrong with it. He thought that, perhaps, it was going to +have some kind of fit, or an attack of ague, which is not an uncommon +complaint among animals in his part of the country, and he was preparing +to give it a dose of quinine, when suddenly it reared up violently, and +before he could stop it, was careering along the road at lightning +speed. My uncle was now in a pretty mess. He was stranded in a forest +without a lantern, ten miles, at least, from home. Feeling too depressed +to do anything, he sat down by the roadside, and seriously thought of +remaining there till daybreak. A twinge of rheumatism, however, reminded +him the ground was little warmer than ice, and made him realize that +lying on it would be courting death. Consequently, he got up, and +setting his lips grimly, struck out in the direction of Bishopstone. At +every step he took the track grew darker. Shadows of trees and +countless other things, for which he could see no counterpart, crept out +and rendered it almost impossible for him to tell where to tread. A +peculiar, indefinable dread also began to make itself felt, and the +darkness seemed to him to assume an entirely new character. He plodded +on, breaking into a jog-trot every now and then, and whistling by way of +companionship. The stillness was sepulchral--he strained his ears, but +could not even catch the sound of those tiny animals that are usually +heard in the thickets and furze-bushes at night; and all his movements +were exaggerated, until their echoes seemed to reverberate through the +whole forest. A turn of the road brought him into view of something that +made his heart throb with delight. Standing by the wayside was an +enormous coach with four huge horses pawing the ground impatiently. My +uncle rushed up to the driver, who was so enveloped in wraps, he could +not see his face, and in a voice trembling with emotion begged for the +favour of a lift--if not to Helena itself, as far in that direction as +the coach was going. The driver made no reply, but with his hand +motioned my uncle to get in. The latter did not need a second bidding, +and the moment he was seated, the vehicle started off. It was a large, +roomy conveyance, but had a stifling atmosphere about it that struck my +uncle as most unpleasant; and although he could see no one, he +intuitively felt he was not alone, and that more than one pair of eyes +were watching him. + +"The coach did not go as fast as my uncle expected, but moved with a +curious gliding motion, and the wheels made no noise whatever. This +added to my uncle's apprehensions, and he almost made up his mind to +open the carriage door and jump out. Something, however, which he could +not account for restrained him, and he maintained his seat. Outside, all +was still profoundly dark. The trees were scarcely distinguishable as +deeper masses of shadow, and were recognizable only by the resinous +odour, that, from time to time, sluggishly flowed in at the open window +as the coach rolled on. + +"At length they overtook some other vehicle, and for the first time for +some hours my uncle heard the sound of solid wheels, which were as +welcome to him as any joy bells. Just as they were passing the +conveyance--a small wagonette drawn by a pair of horses, the latter took +fright; there were loud shouts and a great stampede, and my uncle, who +leaned out of the coach window, caught a glimpse of the vehicle dashing +along ahead of them at a frightful speed. The driver of the coach, +apparently totally unconcerned, continued his journey at the same +regular, mechanical pace. + +"Presently my uncle heard the sound of rushing water, and knew they must +be nearing the Usk, a tributary of the Battle, which was only five miles +from his house. + +"The forest now ceased, and they crossed the road over the bridge in a +brilliant burst of moonlight. About a mile or so further on the coach +halted, and, to my uncle's surprise, he found himself in front of a +house he had no recollection of seeing before. He got out, and to his +horror saw that instead of riding in a coach he had been riding in a +hearse, and that the horses had on their heads gigantic sable plumes. + +"While he was standing gazing at the extraordinary equipage, the door of +the house slowly opened, and two figures came out carrying a small +coffin, which they placed inside the vehicle. He then heard loud peals +of mad, hilarious laughter, and coach and horses immediately vanished. +My uncle arrived home safely, but the shock of what he had experienced +kept him in bed for some days. He learned that a phantom coach similar +to the one he had ridden in had been seen in the forest twenty years +previously, and that it was supposed to be a prognostication of some +great misfortune, which supposition, in my uncle's case at least, proved +true, as his wife died of apoplexy a few days after this adventure." + +Yet another case of haunting by the phantasms of a horse comes to me +from a gentleman in Marseilles, who told it me thus:-- + +"It was 9 p.m. when I left my friend Maitland's hotel in Châteauborne, +and, facing north, set out on my way to Liffre, where my headquarters +had been for the past fortnight. Liffre is in the hills, and the road +which separated it from Châteauborne, wild and lonely enough in daylight +and when the weather is fair, is almost untraversable in winter. The +night in question was Christmas Eve; the snow had fallen heavily during +the day, and with the wind blowing in icy draughts from the north-east, +there was every prospect of another downfall. Maitland pressed me to +stay in his hotel. 'It is sheer folly,' he said, 'for you to attempt to +get home in weather like this. It is pitch dark, you are not familiar +with the route, and if you don't wander off the track and tumble over a +precipice, you will walk into a snowdrift. Be sensible--sleep here!' + +"Much, however, as I should have liked to follow his counsel, I did not +feel justified in doing so, as I had a lot of correspondence to attend +to, and I realized it was most necessary for me to get back to Liffre +without any further delay. + +"It was true the night was inky black; but, with the aid of a lamp, I +hadn't the slightest doubt I could find my way. Maitland bartered for a +candle lantern with his host, and armed with this, a flagon of brandy +and water and a thick stick, I said good-bye to Châteauborne. + +"A couple of hundred yards saw me beyond the outskirts of the town, +wherein I was the sole pedestrian, and silence reigned supreme. On and +on I plodded, the feeble, yellow light of my lantern just preventing +me--but only just--from wandering from the track. The road, which for +the first mile or so was tolerably level, gradually began to rise, and, +as it did so, I noticed for the first time indistinct images of +gigantic, naked trees that becoming more and more numerous, and closer +and closer together, at length united their long and grotesquely shaped +branches overhead, and I found myself in the depths of a vast forest. +The snow, which had up to the present held off, now recommenced to fall, +and presently the wind, which had for some time been slowly acquiring +strength, came howling through the trees with the utmost fury, the first +blast swishing the lantern out of my hands and hurling me with +considerable force into an undergrowth of thorns and brambles, out of +which I extricated myself with no little difficulty. + +"I was now in the sorriest of plights--enveloped on all sides in Stygian +darkness I was unable to discover my lantern, and was thus totally at +the mercy of the ruthless elements. There were only two courses before +me--either I must remain where I was and be frozen to death, or, making +a guess at the route, I must push on ahead and run the risk of ending my +life at the bottom of a ravine. I chose the latter. Groping about with +my feet, until I at length discovered what I thought must be the right +track, I pushed ahead, and, staggering and stumbling forward, managed to +make some sort of progress, terribly slow though it was. The blinding +darkness of the snowy night, the intense silence and utter solitude of +the place, combined with the knowledge that on all sides of me lay holes +and chasms, dampened my spirits and raised strange phantoms in my +imagination. The wind now rose, and the dismal sighing of the trees +speedily grew into a series of the most perturbing screeches, as the +branches and trunks swayed to and fro like reeds before the violence of +the hurricane. + +"At this juncture I gave myself up for lost, and, coming to a standstill +up to my knees in snow, was preparing to lie down and die, when, to my +great joy, a light suddenly appeared ahead of me, and the next moment a +man, mounted on a big white horse, rode noiselessly up to me. He was +wrapped in a shaggy great-coat, and a slouch hat worn low over his eyes +completely hid his face from me. In his disengaged hand he carried a +lantern. + +"'By Jove!' I exclaimed, 'I am glad to see you, for I've lost the track +to Liffre. Can you tell me, or, better still, show me, the way to some +house where I can put up for the remainder of the night?' + +"The stranger made no reply, but bidding me follow with a wave of his +hand, rode silently in front of me, and although I tried to keep up with +him, I could not; and the odd thing was, that without apparently +increasing his pace, he always maintained his distance. After proceeding +in this manner for possibly ten minutes, we suddenly turned to the left, +and I found myself in a big clearing in the wood, with a long, low-built +house opposite me. + +"My guide then paused, and indicating the front door of the house with +an emphatic gesture of his hand, seemed suddenly to melt away into thin +air, for although I peered about me on all sides to try to find some +indications of him, neither he nor his horse was anywhere to be seen. +Thinking this was rather queer, but quite ready to attribute it to +natural causes, I approached the building, and, making use of my +knuckles in lieu of a knocker, beat a loud tattoo on the woodwork. There +was no response. Again I rapped, and the door slowly opening revealed a +pair of gleaming, dark eyes. 'What do you want?' enquired a harsh voice +in barbarous accents. 'A night's lodging,' I replied; 'and I'm willing +to pay a good price for it, for I'm more than half frozen.' + +"At this the door opened wider, and I found myself confronted by a woman +with a candle. She had not the most prepossessing of expressions, though +her hair, eyes and features were decidedly good. She was dressed with +tawdry smartness--earrings, necklace, and rings, and very high-heeled +buckle shoes. Indeed, her costume was so out of keeping with the +rusticity of her surroundings as to be quite extraordinary. This fact +struck me at once, as did her fingers, which, though spatulate and ugly, +had been manicured, and of course very much over-manicured, for effect. +Had this not been the case, I probably should not have noticed them. But +the unnatural gloss on them, exaggerated by the candlelight, made me +look, and I was at once impressed with the criminal formation of the +fingers--the club-shaped ends denoted something very bad--something +homicidal--and as my eyes wandered from the hands to the face, I saw +with a thrill of horror that the ears were set low down and far back on +the head, and that the eyes gleamed with the sinister glitter of the +wolf. + +"Still, I must take my chance--the woman or the wood--it had to be one +of the two. 'If you'll step inside, monsieur,' she said, 'I'll see what +can be done for you. We have only recently come here, and the house is +anyhow at present. Still, if you don't mind roughing it a little, we can +let you have a bed, and you can rely upon me that it is clean and +well-aired.' I followed her eagerly, and she led me down a narrow +passage into a big room with a low ceiling, traversed with a ponderous +oak beam, blackened with the smoke of endless peat fires. + +"Before the blazing faggots on the hearth sat a burly-looking individual +in a blue blouse. On our arrival he arose, and as his huge form towered +above me, I thought I had never seen anyone quite so hideous, nor so +utterly unlike the orthodox Frenchman. Obeying his injunction--for I can +scarcely call it an invitation--to sit down, I took a seat by the fire, +and warming my half-frozen limbs, waited impatiently whilst the woman +made up my bed and prepared supper. + +"The storm had now reached cyclonic dimensions, and under its stupendous +fury the whole house--stoutly built though it was--swayed on its +foundations. The howling of the wind in the rude, old-fashioned chimney +and along the passage, and the frenzied beating of the snow against the +diamond window-panes, deadened all other noises, and rendered any +attempt at conversation absolutely abortive. So I ate my meal in +silence, pretending not to notice the subtle interchange of glances that +constantly took place between the strangely assorted pair. Whether they +were husband and wife, what the man did for a living, were questions +that continually occurred to me, and I found my eyes incessantly +wandering to the numerous packing-cases, piles of carpets, casks and +other articles, which corroborated the woman's statement that they had +but recently 'moved in.' Once I attempted to empty the coffee (which was +black and peculiarly bitter) under the table, but had to desist, as I +saw the man's devilish eyes fixed searchingly on me. I then pushed aside +the cup, and on the woman asking if it was not to my liking, I shouted +out that I was not in the least thirsty. After this incident the covert +looks became more numerous, and my suspicions increased accordingly. + +"At the first opportunity I got up, and signalling my intention to go to +bed, was preparing to leave my seat, when my host, walking to a +cupboard, fetched out a bottle of cognac, and pouring out a tumbler, +handed it me with a mien that I dare not refuse. + +"The woman then led me up a flight of rickety, wooden steps and into a +sepulchral-looking chamber with no other furniture in it save a long, +narrow, iron bedstead, a dilapidated washstand, a very unsteady, common +deal table, on which was a looking-glass and a collar stud, and a +rush-bottomed chair. Setting the candlestick on the dressing-table, and +assuring me again that the bed was well aired, my hostess withdrew, +observing as she left the room that she would get me a nice breakfast +and call me at seven. At seven! How I wished it was seven now! As I +stood in the midst of the floor shivering--for the room was icy cold, I +suddenly saw a dark shadow emerge from a remote corner of the room and +slide surreptitiously towards the door, where it halted. My eyes then +fell on the lock, and I perceived that there was no key. No key! And +that evil-looking pair below! I must barricade the door somehow. Yet +with what? There was nothing of any weight in the room! Nothing! I began +to feel horribly tired and sleepy--so sleepy that it was only with +supreme effort I could prevent my eyelids closing. Ah! I had it--a +wedge! I had a knife. Of wood there was plenty--a piece off the +washstand, table, or chair. Anything would suffice. I essayed to +struggle to the chair, my limbs tottered, my eyelids closed. Then the +shadow from the doorway moved towards and THROUGH me, and with the +coldness of its passage I revived! With desperate energy I cut a couple +of chunks off the washstand, and paring them down, eventually succeeded +in slipping them in the crack of the door, and rendering it impossible +to open from the outside. That done, I staggered to the bed, and +falling, dressed as I was, on the counterpane, sank into a deep sleep. +How long I slept I cannot say. I suddenly heard the loud neighing of a +horse which seemed to come from just under my window, and, as in a +vision, saw by my side in the bed a something which gradually developed +into the figure of a man, the counterpart of the mysterious being in the +shaggy coat who had guided me to the house. He was fully dressed, sound +asleep and breathing heavily. As I was looking a dark shadow fell across +the sleeper's face, and on glancing up I perceived, to my horror, a +black something crawling on the floor. Nearer and nearer it came, until +it reached the side of the bed, when I immediately recognized the evil, +smirking face of my hostess. In one hand she held a lamp and in the +other a horn-handled knife. Setting the lamp on the floor, she coolly +undid the collar of the sleeping man, and I saw a stud, the counterpart +of the one on the dressing-table, fall on the bare boards with a sharp +tap, and disappear in the surrounding darkness. Then the woman felt the +edge of the knife with her repulsive thumb, and calmly cut the helpless +man's throat. I screamed--and the murderess and her victim instantly +vanished--and I realized I was alone in the room and very much awake. +Whether all that had occurred was a dream, I cannot say with certainty, +though I am inclined to think not. + +"For some minutes my heart pulsated painfully, and then as the sound of +its throbbing grew fainter and fainter, I heard a curious noise outside +my room--someone was ascending the stairs. I endeavoured to rise, but +could not--fear, an awful, ungovernable fear, held me spellbound. The +steps paused outside the door, the handle of which was gently turned. +Then there was a suggestive silence, then whispering, then another +turning of the handle, and then--my state of coma abruptly ended, and I +stepped noiselessly out of bed and crept to the window. I was heard. +'Stop him,' the woman cried out, 'he's trying to escape. Use the gun.' +She hurled herself against the door as she spoke, whilst the man tore +downstairs. + +"It was now a matter of seconds, the slightest accident, a hesitation, +and I was lost. Swinging open the window, I scrambled on the ledge, and +without the slightest idea of the distance--dropped! There was a brief +rushing through air and I alighted--safe and sound--on the snow. +Blessed snow! Had it not been for the snow I should in all probability +have hurt myself! I alighted not an instant too soon, for hardly had I +touched the ground before my gigantic host came tearing round the angle +of the wall with a lantern in one hand and gun in the other. I +immediately dashed away, and, thanks to the intense darkness of the +morning--for it must have been two o'clock--had no difficulty in evading +my pursuer, who fired twice in rapid succession. + +"On and on I went, sometimes falling up to my armpits in the snowdrift, +and sometimes stunning myself against a low-hanging branch of a tree. +With the first rays of sunlight, however, my troubles came to an end. +The snow had ceased falling, and I quickly alighted on a track, which +brought me to a village, whence I obtained a conveyance into Liffre. + +"I reported the affair to the local police, and a party of gendarmes at +once set off to arrest the miscreants. But, alas, they had fled. The +house was pulled down, and, on the soil being excavated, a dozen or more +skeletons of men and women--all showing unmistakable signs of foul +play--together with the remains of a horse, were found in various parts +of the premises. The place was a veritable Golgotha. I suppose the +phantom horse and rider had appeared to me with the sole purpose of +making their fate known. If so, they at all events partly achieved their +end, though the mystery surrounding their identity was never solved. All +the remains, both human and animal, were removed elsewhere, and accorded +a decent burial. The site of their original interment, however, is, I +believe, still haunted, and maybe will remain so till the miscreants are +brought to book." + + +_Brief Summary_ + +After a little consideration I am inclined to think there are quite as +many authentic cases of hauntings by the phantasms of horses as by the +phantasms of cats and dogs. Innumerable horses die unnatural deaths. +Apart from those killed in war, many,--more particularly, it is true, in +the olden times,--have been murdered in the highways along with their +masters; whilst all but the comparative few, when no longer of use to +their owners, are butchered in the slaughter-house, and subsequently +despatched to the Zoological Gardens, to be eaten by lions and tigers. +So much for Christianity, and for man's gratitude. How much better would +the promoters of the White Slave Traffic Act be employed, if,--instead +of trying to pass a bill which obviously cannot cure the evil it aims +at, but can only, by diverting the course of that evil, drive from +pillar to post thousands of defenceless, albeit erring women,--they were +to labour to secure a peaceful ending for our four-footed toilers, who +work for us all their lives, never strike, never think of a pension for +old age, and never even dream of a vote. Alas! If only our poor horses +could vote, what a different attitude would our pharisaical politicians +at once adopt towards them! + + +_Phantasms of Living Horses_ + +From what I have experienced and have been told, I am of the opinion +that horses possess the same faculty of separating their immaterial from +their material bodies, as cats and dogs. I knew a Virginian lady who had +a piebald horse that frequently appeared simultaneously in two places. +She lived in an old country house near Winchfield, and one morning when +she went into the breakfast-room, she was surprised to see the piebald +horse standing on the gravel path, outside the window, looking in at +her. When she called it by name, it immediately melted into fine air. +Going round to the stables she found the horse in its stall, and on +enquiry was informed that it had been there all the time. + +The same thing frequently occurred, other members of the household +besides herself witnessing it, and so like, in all its details, was the +immaterial horse to the material, that they were often at a loss to tell +which was which. The phenomenon sometimes occurring when the real horse +was awake, and sometimes when it was asleep, proves that the animal +possessed the faculty of projecting its spiritual ego--astral body, or +whatever you like to call it--both consciously and unconsciously. I know +of many similar instances. + + +_Horses and the Psychic Faculty of Scent_ + +Horses, in a rather less degree than cats, and in much the same degree +as dogs, possess the property of scenting the advent and presence of +spirits. On more than one occasion, when I have been riding after dusk, +my horse has suddenly come to an abrupt halt and shown unmistakable +signs of terror. I have not been able to see anything to account for its +conduct, but on subsequent enquiry have learned, either that a tragedy +was actually known to have taken place there, or that the spot had long +borne a reputation for being haunted. And my experiences are the +experiences of countless other people. + +Before a death a horse will often neigh repeatedly outside the house of +the doomed person, and not infrequently show evidences of terror in +passing close to it, from which I deduce the horse can at all events +scent the proximity of the phantom of death. Like the dog, however, I +think it only possesses this peculiar psychic property in a limited +degree. It can, for example, readily detect the whereabouts of phantasms +haunting localities, but not so easily those haunting people. + +It shows little or no discrimination on sight, between cruel and brutal +people and those who are kind, giving the same amount of passing space +to the one as it does to the other. Yet, on the other hand, I have +watched horses at night, standing in the fields, their heads thrown +back, a transfixed, far-off expression in their eyes, sniffing the +atmosphere--and snuffling it in a manner that strongly suggested to me +they were carrying on, by means of some silent, secret code, a +conversation with some superphysical presence, which they either saw or +scented, very likely both. + +Scent, I am convinced, is the medium of conversation, not only between +superphysical animals, but between material animals, and if we ever wish +to converse with spirits we must employ cats, dogs, and horses to teach +us. + + +_Phantom Coaches_ + +There are few parts of the British Isles--few countries in Europe--which +have not their phantom coaches. Perhaps the most famous are those that +haunt a road near Newport, South Wales, and an old highway in Devon. + + +_A Spectre Coach and Horses in Pembrokeshire_ + +Miss Mary L. Lewes, in an article called "Some More Welsh Ghosts," that +appeared in the _Occult Review_ for December, 1907, writes thus:-- + +"In common with several other districts in Great Britain and Ireland, +Pembrokeshire possesses a good 'phantom coach' legend, localized in the +southern part of the county, at a place where four roads meet, called +Sampson Cross. In old days the belated farmer driving home in his gig +from market was apt to cast a nervous glance over his shoulder as his +pony slowly climbed the last pitch leading up to the Cross. For +tradition says that every night a certain Lady Z. (who lived in the +seventeenth century, and whose monument is in the church close by) +drives over from Tenby, ten miles distant, in a coach drawn by headless +horses, guided by a headless coachman. She also has no head, and +arriving by midnight at Sampson Cross, the whole equipage is said to +disappear in a flame of fire, with a loud noise of explosion." + +Miss Mary L. Lewes goes on to add:-- + +"A clergyman living in the immediate neighbourhood, who told the writer +the story, said that some people believed the ghostly traveller had been +safely 'laid' many years ago in the waters of the lake not far off. He +added, however that might be, it was an odd fact that his sedate and +elderly cob, when driven home past the Cross after nightfall, would +invariably start as if frightened there, a thing which never happened by +daylight." + +What these kinds of spectral horses are no one can say. At the +most--despite what theosophists and occultists may declare to the +contrary--one can only theorize--and the speculations of one person, be +he who he may, seem to me to be of no more consequence than those of +another. + +For my own part I am inclined to think that whereas, in some cases, the +ghostly coach horses are the phantoms of horses that were killed on the +highways, in others they are either Vice-Elementals, or Elementals whose +particular function it is to prognosticate death,--either the death of +those who see them, or the death of someone connected with those who see +them. + + +_A Phantom Horse and Policeman_ + +According to one of my correspondents, Mr. T---- P----, a comparatively +modern phantom rider has been seen in Canada. Writing to me from C----, +where he lives, he says: "It is stated that this town is periodically +haunted by the phantom of a tall, fair policeman mounted on a white +horse and clothed in the uniform of the 'forties--namely, tail coat, +tight trousers, and tall hat. His 'phantom' beat extends from a gateway +at the commencement of Cod Hill, along the Park side of Pablo Street to +Sutton Street, and Adam Street, down Dane Street, and back, through +Pablo Street, to the gateway on Cod Hill." + +A gentleman well known in the art world, who, in order to avoid +publicity, wishes to be designated Mr. Bates, gave me his experience of +the phenomena as follows:-- + +"Yes, I have seen the ghostly policeman and his milk-white horse. I was +walking along Pablo Street on the Park side, one grey afternoon in +November, with the express intention of meeting a friend at my Club in +Royal Street, when to my surprise, just as I was about a hundred yards +from the gateway on Cod Hill, I was overtaken by a tall, fair-haired +man, riding a white horse. He was so dressed that I stared in +astonishment. He was wearing the costume of seventy or eighty years ago, +and reminded me of the policemen in Cruikshank's illustrations of +Dickens. I was not frightened, because I thought he must be someone +masquerading; and, in my curiosity to see his face, I hastened my steps +to overtake him. I failed; for although he appeared to be riding slowly, +hardly moving at all, I could not draw an inch nearer to him. This made +me think, and I examined him more critically. Then I noticed several +things about him, that, at first, had escaped my notice. They were +these: (one) that although he was mounted he was wearing walking +clothes--he had on long trousers and thick, clumsy boots; (two) that his +ears and neck were perfectly colourless, of an unnatural and startling +white; (three) that despite the incongruity of his attire, no one but +myself seemed to see him. On he rode, neither looking to the left nor to +the right, until he came to Sutton Street, when, without paying the +slightest attention to the traffic, he began to cross over. There were +crowds of vehicles passing at the time, and one of them rushed right on +him. Making sure he would be killed, I uttered an ejaculation of +horror. Judge, then, of my amazement, when, instead of seeing him lying +on the ground, crushed out of all shape, I saw him still riding on, as +leisurely and unconcernedly as if he had been on a country road. THE +VEHICLE HAD PASSED RIGHT THROUGH HIM. Though I had hitherto scoffed at +ghosts, I was now certain I had seen one, and suddenly becoming +conscious how very cold it was, I tore on, not feeling at all +comfortable till I had reached the warm, cheery, and thoroughly material +quarters of my Club." + +To corroborate the evidence of "Mr. Bates," I append a narrative given +me verbally by Miss Hartly, who, like Mr. Bates, had, up to the time of +her experience, posed as a pronounced and somewhat bitter sceptic. She +was an emphatic freethinker, and had then no belief whatsoever in a +future life. Now she believes "a sight" more than most people. + +"One afternoon, in February, 1911," she stated, "just as twilight was +commencing, I left the Park, where I had been exercising my dog, and +turning into Pablo Street, made for Bright Street. At the corner of Wolf +Street I saw something so strange that I involuntarily halted. Riding +slowly along on a big white horse, a few paces ahead of me, was an +enormous policeman in the quaint attire of the 'forties--top hat, tail +coat, tight trousers, just as I had so often seen portrayed in old +books. He was riding stiffly, as if unaccustomed to the saddle, and kept +looking rigidly in front of him. Thinking it was someone doing it either +for a joke or a wager, I was greatly tickled, and kept saying to myself, +'Well, you are a sport, an A1 sport.' I tried to catch him up, to see +how he made up his face, but could not, for although the horse never +seemed to quicken its pace--a mere crawl--and I ran, it nevertheless +maintained precisely the same distance in front of me. When we had +progressed in this fashion some hundred or so yards, I perceived a City +policeman advancing towards us. + +"'Come, now,' I said to myself, 'we shall see some fun--the 1911 copper +meeting the peeler of 1840. I wonder what he will think of him.' + +"To my intense astonishment, however, neither even as much as gave the +other a fleeting glance, but passed by unmoved, and, to all appearance, +wholly unconscious of each other. + +"A few yards further, I espied a negro looking intently in a store +window. Just as the strange policeman came up to him, he gave a violent +start, turned round and stared at him, gasped, his cheeks ashy pale, his +eyes bulging, made some exclamation I could not catch, and, dashing past +me, fled. Then, and not till then, did I begin to feel funny. Further +on still we came to a crossing. A carriage and pair with a coronet on +the panels of the door was standing waiting. Directly the policeman +approached, both the horses reared so violently, they all but threw the +coachman off the box. One of the men cried out, 'Heavens, Bill, what's +that?' But the other and older of the two, who was clinging to the reins +with all his might, merely swore. + +"Convinced now that I was on the trail of something not human--something +in all probability superphysical, and, impelled by a fascination I could +not resist, I followed. + +"At the top of Wolf Street the policeman paused, then crossing slowly +over, turned into Dane Street, down which he continued to ride with the +same mechanical and automatic tread. At length, when within a few feet +of a certain shop, over which is a flat that has long borne a reputation +for being haunted, the horse came to a dead halt, and horse and rider, +veering slowly round, looked at me. What I saw I shall never forget. I +saw the faces of the DEAD--the LONG SINCE dead. For some moments they +confronted me, and then--vanished, vanished where they stood. I saw them +again, under precisely the same conditions, two days later, and I have +seen them once since. I am not an imaginative or highly-strung person, +but am, on the contrary, exceedingly practical and matter-of-fact, no +better proof of which I can give than this fact--I am engaged to be +married to a Quebec solicitor!" + + +_An Irish Haunting_ + +Mr. Reginald B. Span, in a most interesting article called "Some +Glimpses of the Unseen," that appeared in the _Occult Review_ for +February, 1906, writes as follows:-- + +"Another strange incident, which also occurred in Ireland, was told me +by a coachman in my cousin's employ at Kilpeacon, near Limerick. This +man had previously been a park-keeper to Lord Doneraile in Co. Cork. One +bright moonlight night, he was coming across Lord Doneraile's park, +having been round to see that the gates were shut, when his attention +was drawn to the distant baying of hounds, and he stopped to listen, as +the sounds seemed to proceed from within the park walls, and he knew +there were no hounds kept on the estate. His young son was with him, and +also heard the noise, which was getting louder and clearer, and was +evidently moving rapidly in their direction. His first idea was that a +pack of hounds which were kept in the hunting kennels a few miles away, +had escaped and had somehow got into the park, although he had seen that +the gates were closed, and there was really no way by which they could +have entered. The baying of hounds, as if in 'full cry,' sounded closer +and closer, and suddenly, out of the shadow of some trees, a number of +foxhounds, running at full speed, appeared in the clear light of the +moon. They raced past the amazed spectators (a whole pack of them), +followed closely by an elderly man on a large horse. Although they came +very near, no sound could be heard but the baying of one or two of the +hounds. The galloping of the horse was not heard at all. They swung +across the grass at a tremendous pace, and were lost to view round the +end of a plantation. The park-keeper knew that all the gates were shut, +and that it would be impossible for a pack of hounds to pass out, and he +thought the mystery might be solved the next day. However, it never was +explained--by any natural cause. No hounds or horseman had been in the +park. The mansion was closed, Lord Doneraile being away, and no one had +the right of entering the grounds within the park walls. He heard later +that there was a story in the neighbourhood about 'the ghost' of a +former Lord Doneraile 'haunting' the park--and possibly the spectral +horseman was he. I questioned the man and his son closely about it, and +am convinced they were not deceived by hallucination, and that their +account is perfectly true." + +To this account Mr. Span adds this note:-- + +"The apparition of hounds and huntsman was witnessed on an estate +belonging to Lord Doneraile, in the South of Ireland (Doneraile Park); +the man who told me the incident was coachman in the service of my +cousin, near Limerick. His young son confirmed his father's account, as +he also saw it. + + "Yours faithfully, + + "REGINALD B. SPAN." + +To throw additional light on the matter Mr. Ralph Shirley, editor of the +_Occult Review_, published the following letter, written to him by Lord +Doneraile:-- + +"DEAR SHIRLEY, + +"It is rather a curious thing that neither Lady Castletown nor Lady +Doneraile has ever heard of the story of the moonlight vision of Lord +Doneraile and the pack of hounds. However, there is a man at Doneraile +called Jones, a chemist, who is a most enthusiastic antiquarian and a +dabbler in the occult sciences, and he takes the greatest interest in +all that concerns the St. Legers. Lady Castletown wrote to him, and the +reply comes from his brother (I suppose he is away), and that I send +you. + +"Lady Doneraile says it must refer to the third Lord Doneraile of the +first creation, who was killed in a duel afterwards; and there appear to +be a lot of stories which Jones has ferreted out or been told. Of +course, I don't know how far you could say Jones was authentic. All I +can say is that he believes the things himself. + + "Yours sincerely, + + "DONERAILE." + +"_Dec. 27, 1905._" + +"I should explain," adds Mr. Shirley, "that Lady Castletown is daughter +to the late Lord Doneraile, and present owner of Doneraile House. Here +follows the enclosure, i.e. the extract made by Walter A. Jones, +Doneraile, from his MS. notes on the Legends of Peasantry in connection +with Doneraile branch of the St. Leger family. Dated December 21, 1905. + +"I have heard," so it runs, "the following story respecting the Lord +Doneraile, who pursues the chase from Ballydineen through Gloun-na-goth +Wilkinson's Lawn, through Byblox, across the ford of Shanagh aha +Keel-ahboobleen into Waskin's Glen into the old Deer Park at Old Court, +thence into the Horse Close, and from thence into the park. He appears +to take particular delight in Wilkinson's Lawn according to tradition, +for it was there that the noble stag was lost sight of, and of course it +was there he was most searched for. It was only last autumn that two +gentlemen were going to a fair, as I heard, and leading a very fine +horse behind the trap. The night being fine and moonlight, they stopped +at the iron gate there to light their pipes, when a gentleman dressed in +old style, with buckskin leggings, walked through the iron gate, though +closed, and patted the led horse on the neck. They both agreed that he +was most like to gentlemen of the St. Leger family whom they had known. +The Radiant Boy also appears here, and for years in the early part of +last century no one would pass there after nightfall. The Lord +Doneraile, who is believed by the peasantry to stand under Lord +Doneraile's Oak, it has been told me positively, was third Viscount. + +"There is an old man called Reardon here now who saw a gentleman riding +a powerful black horse along Lord Doneraile's route in the middle of the +day, and his sister who was with him failed to see the horseman, though +her brother had to pull her out of his way. + +"I went up to Saffron Hill last winter to see the ostrich-like ghost +which is there, and I heard a great sweep as of hounds and horses going +past me. Paddy Shea, late herd to Lord Doneraile, also would swear he +saw the phantom Lord Doneraile pursuing the chase often. I have heard +that James Mullaine also saw him in Wilkinson's Lawn, but have not any +further proof. + +"It is very few people will admit having seen these things. George +Buckley, present keeper of the Doneraile Park, got a great fright one +night which might have been from the same cause." + +In this case it seems more than likely the huntsman, horse and hounds +were all _bona fide_ phantasms of the dead. + + +_Wild Darrell_ + +Littlecote, as everyone knows, is haunted by the spirits of the +notorious "Wild Will Darrell" and the horse he invariably rode, and +which eventually broke his neck. + +But there are many Wild Darrells; all Europe is overrun by them. They +nightly tear, on their phantom horses, over the German and Norwegian +forests and moor-lands that echo and re-echo with their hoarse shouts +and the mournful baying of their grisly hounds. + +Many travellers in Russia and Germany journeying through the forests at +night have caught the sound of wails,--of moans that, starting from the +far distance, have gradually come nearer and nearer. Then they have +heard the winding of a horn, the shouting and cursing of the huntsman, +and in a biting cold wind have seen the whole cavalcade sweep by. + +According to various authorities on the subject this spectral chase goes +by different names. In Thuringia and elsewhere, it is "Hakelnberg" or +"Hackelnbarend,"--the story being that Hakelnberg, a German knight, who +had devoted his whole life to the chase, on his death-bed had told the +officiating priest that he cared not a jot for heaven, but only for +hunting; the priest losing patience and exclaiming, "Then hunt till +Doomsday." + +So, in all weathers, in snow and ice, Hakelnberg, his horse and hounds, +are seen careering after imaginary game. + +There are similar stories current in the Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, +and practically all over Europe, and not only Europe, but in many of the +states and departments of the New World. This being so, I think there +must be a substantial substratum of truth underlying the beliefs, +phantastic as they may appear, and yet, are no more phantastic than many +of the stories we are asked to give absolute credence to in the Bible. + +In Old Castile the spirit of a Moorish leader who won many victories +over the Spaniards, and was drowned by reason of his heavy armour in a +swamp of the River Duero, still haunts his burial-place, a piece of +marshy ground, near Burgos. There, weird noises, such as the winding of +a huntsman's horn and the neighing of a horse, are heard, and the +phantasm of the dead Moor is seen mounted on a white horse followed by +twelve huge, black hounds. + +In Sweden many of the peasants say, when a noise like that of a coach +and horses is heard rumbling past in the dead of night, "It is the White +Rider," whilst in Norway they say of the same sounds, "It is the hunt of +the Devil and his four horses." In Saxony the rider is believed to be +Barbarossa, the celebrated hero of olden days. Near Fontainebleau, Hugh +Capet is stated to ride a gigantic sable horse to the palace, where he +hunted before the assassination of Henry IV; and in the Landes the rider +is thought to be Judas Iscariot. In other parts of France the wild +huntsman is known as Harlequin or Henequin, and in some parts of +Brittany he is "Herod in pursuit of the Holy Innocents." (Alas, that no +such Herod visits London! How welcome would he be, were he only to flout +a few of the brawling brats who, allowed to go anywhere they please, +make an inferno of every road they choose to play in.) + +Here my notes on horses end; and although the evidence I have offered +may have failed to convince many, I myself am fully satisfied that these +noble and indispensable animals do not terminate their existence in this +world, but pass on to another, and, let us all sincerely hope, far +happier, plane. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BULLS, COWS, PIGS, ETC. + + +From the Hebrides there comes to me a case of the phantasm of a black +bull, that, on certain nights in the year, is heard bellowing inside the +shed where it was killed. + +There are many accounts of ghostly cows heard "mooing" in the moors and +bog-lands of Scotland and Ireland respectively, and not a few cases of +whole herds of phantom cattle seen, gliding along, one behind the other, +with silent, noiseless tread. Though I have never had the opportunity of +experimenting with cows to see if they are sensitive to the +superphysical, I see no reason why they should not be, and I feel quite +certain they will participate in "the future life." + +Apropos of pigs, Mr. Dyer, in his _Ghost World_, says, "Another form of +spectre animal is the kirk-grim, which is believed to haunt many +churches. Sometimes it is a pig, sometimes a horse, the haunting spectre +being the spirit of an animal buried alive in the churchyard for the +purpose of scaring away the sacrilegious." + +Mr. Dyer goes on to say that it was the custom of the old Christian +churches to bury a lamb under the altar; and that if anyone entered a +church out of service time and happened to see a little lamb spring +across the choir and vanish, it was a sure prognostication of the death +of some child; and if this apparition was seen by the grave-digger the +death would take place immediately. Mr. Dyer also tells us that the +Danish kirk-grim was thought to hide itself in the tower of a church in +preference to any other place, and that it was thought to protect the +sacred buildings. According to the same writer, in the streets of +Kroskjoberg, a grave sow, or, as it was called, a "gray-sow," was +frequently seen, and it was said to be the apparition of a sow formerly +buried alive; its appearance foretelling death or calamity. + + +_Phantasm of a Goat_ + +Mrs. Crowe, in her _Night Side of Nature_, relates one case of a house +near Philadelphia, U.S.A., that was haunted by a variety of phenomena, +among others that of a spectre resembling a goat. + +"Other extraordinary things happened in the house," she writes, "which +had the reputation of being haunted, although the son had not believed +it, and had thereupon not mentioned the report to the father. + +"One day the children said they had been running after 'such a queer +thing in the cellar; it was like a goat, and not like a goat, but it +seemed to be like a shadow.'" + +This explanation does not appear to be very satisfactory, but as I have +heard of one or two other cases of premises being haunted by what, +undoubtedly, were the phantasms of goats, I think it highly probable it +was the ghost of a goat in this instance, too. + + +_The Phantom Pigs of the Chiltern Hills_ + +A good many years ago there was a story current of an extraordinary +haunting by a herd of pigs. The chief authority on the subject was a +farmer, who was an eye-witness of the phenomena. I will call him Mr. B. + +Mr. B., as a boy, lived in a small house called the Moat Grange, which +was situated in a very lonely spot near four cross-roads, connecting +four towns. + +The house, deriving its name from the fact that a moat surrounded it, +stood near the meeting point of the four roads, which was the site of a +gibbet, the bodies of the criminals being buried in the moat. + +Well, the B----s had not been living long on the farm, before they were +awakened one night by hearing the most dreadful noises, partly human and +partly animal, seemingly proceeding from a neighbouring spinney, and on +going to a long front window overlooking the cross-roads, they saw a +number of spotted creatures like pigs, screaming, fighting and tearing +up the soil on the site of the criminals' cemetery. + +The sight was so unexpected and alarming that the B----s were appalled, +and Mr. B. was about to strike a light on the tinder-box, when the most +diabolical white face was pressed against the outside of the window-pane +and stared in at them. + +This was the climax, the children shrieked with terror, and Mrs. B., +falling on her knees, began to pray, whereupon the face at the window +vanished, and the herd of pigs, ceasing their disturbance, tore +frantically down one of the high roads, and disappeared from view. + +Similar phenomena were seen and heard so frequently afterwards, that the +B----s eventually had to leave the farm, and subsequent enquiries led +to their learning that the place had long borne the reputation of being +haunted, the ghosts being supposed to be the earth-bound spirits of the +executed criminals. Whether this was so or not must, of course, be a +matter of conjecture--the herd of hogs may well have been the phantasms +of actual earth-bound pigs--attracted to the spot by a sort of +fellow-feeling for the criminals, whose gross and carnal natures would +no doubt appeal to them. + +A lane in Hertfordshire was--and, perhaps, still is--haunted by the +phantasm of a big white sow which had accidentally been run over and +killed. It was occasionally heard grunting, and had the unpleasant knack +of approaching one noiselessly from the rear, and of making the most +unearthly noise just behind one's back. + + +_Sheep_ + +Lambs and sheep, possessing finer natures than goats and pigs, would +appear to be less earth-bound, and, in all probability, only temporarily +haunt the spots that witnessed their usually barbarous ends. + +Most slaughter-houses are haunted by them--as, indeed, by many other +animals. A Scottish moor long bore the reputation for being haunted by a +phantom flock of sheep, which were always heard "baaing" plaintively +before a big storm. + +It was supposed they were the ghosts of a flock that had perished in +the memorable severe weather of Christmas, 1880. Here is a case that may +be regarded as typical of hauntings by sheep, presumably the earth-bound +spirits of sheep, overwhelmed in some great storm or unexpected +catastrophe. + + +"_The Spectre Flock of Sheep in Germany_" + +"During the seven years' war in Germany," writes Mrs. Crowe, in her +_Night Side of Nature_, "a drover lost his life in a drunken squabble on +the high road. + +"For some time there was a sort of rude tombstone, with a cross on it, +to mark the spot where his body was interred, but this has long fallen, +and a milestone now fills its place. Nevertheless, it continues to be +commonly asserted by the country people, and also by various travellers, +that they have been deluded on that spot by seeing, as they imagine, +herds of beasts, which on investigation prove to be merely visionary. Of +course, many people look upon this as a superstition; but a very regular +confirmation of the story occurred in the year 1826, when two gentlemen +and two ladies were passing the spot in a post-carriage. One of these +was a clergyman, and none of them had ever heard of the phenomenon said +to be attached to the place. They had been discussing the prospects of +the minister, who was on his way to a vicarage, to which he had just +been appointed, when they saw a large flock of sheep, which stretched +quite across the road, and was accompanied by a shepherd and a +long-haired black dog. As to meet cattle on that road was nothing +uncommon, and indeed they had met several droves in the course of one +day, no remark was made at the moment, till suddenly each looked at the +other, and said, 'What's become of the sheep?' Quite perplexed at their +sudden disappearance, they called to the postilion to stop, and all got +out, in order to mount the little elevation and look around, but still +unable to discover them, they now bethought themselves of asking the +postilion where they were; when, to their infinite surprise, they +learned that he had not seen them. Upon this, they bade him quicken his +pace, that they might overtake a carriage that had passed them shortly +before, and enquire if that party had seen the sheep; but they had not. + +"Four years later a postmaster, named J., was on the same road, driving +a carriage, in which were a clergyman and his wife, when he saw a large +flock of sheep near the same spot. Seeing they were very fine wethers, +and supposing them to have been bought at a sheep-fair that was then +taking place a few miles off, J. drew up his reins and stopped his +horses, turning at the same time to the clergyman to say that he wanted +to enquire the price of the sheep, as he intended going next day to the +fair himself. Whilst the minister was asking him what sheep he meant, J. +got down and found himself in the midst of the animals, the size and +beauty of which astonished him. They passed him at an unusual rate, +whilst he made his way through them to find the shepherd; when, on +getting to the end of the flock, they suddenly disappeared. He then +first learnt that his fellow-travellers had not seen them at all." + +So writes Mrs. Crowe, and I quote the case in support of my argument +that sheep, like horses, cats, dogs and all other kinds of animals, +possess spirits, and consequently have a future state of existence. + +I have not yet experimented with sheep, goats, or pigs, but I do not +doubt but that they are more or less sensitive to superphysical +influences, and possess the psychic faculty of scenting the +Unknown--though not, perhaps, in so great a degree as any of the other +animals I have enumerated. + + + + +PART II + +WILD ANIMALS AND THE UNKNOWN + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WILD ANIMALS AND THE UNKNOWN + + +_Apes_ + +The following case of animal hauntings was recorded in automatic +writing:-- + +"I sank wearily into my easy chair before the fire, which burned with a +fitful and sullen glow in the tiny grate of my one room--bare and +desolate as only the room of an unsuccessful author can be. + +"My condition was pitiable. For the past twelve months I had not earned +a cent, and of my small capital there now remained but two pounds to +ward the hound of starvation from my door. In the moonlight I could +perceive all the bareness of the apartment. Would to God Fancy would +ride to me on this moonbeam and give me inspiration! 'Twas indeed +weird--this silver ethereal path connecting the moon with the earth, and +the more I gazed along it, the more I wished to leave my body and escape +to the star-lighted vaults. Certainly, from a conversation I had once +had with a member of the New Occult Society, I believed it possible by +concentrating all the mental activities in one channel, so to overcome +the barriers which prevent the soul visiting scenes of the ethereal +world, as to pass materialized to the spot upon which the ideas are +fixed. But although I had essayed--how many times I do not like to +confess--to gain that amount of concentration necessary for the +separation of the soul from the body, up to the present all my attempts +had been fruitless. Doubtless there had been a something--too minute +even for definition--that had interrupted my self-abstraction--a +something that had wrecked my venture, just when I felt it to be on the +verge of completion. And was it likely that now, when my ideas were +misty and vague, I should be more successful? I wanted to quit the cruel +bonds of nature and be free--free to roam and ramble. But where? + +"At length, as I gazed into the moonlight, I lost all cognizance of the +objects around me, and my eyes became fixed on the mountains of the +moon, which I discovered, with a start, were no longer specks. I found, +to my amazement, I had left my body and was careering swiftly through +space--infinite space. The range opened up in front of me, spreading out +far and wide, winding, black and awful--their solemn grandeur lost in +that terrible desolation which makes the moon appear like a hideous +nightmare. I could see with amazing clearness the sides of the +mountains; there were enormous black fissures, some of them hundreds of +feet in width--and the more I gazed the more impressed I grew with the +silence. There was no life. There were no seas, no lakes, no trees, no +grass, no sighing nor moaning of the wind, nothing to remind me of the +earth I now found to my terror I had actually quitted. Everything around +me was black--the sky, the mountains, the vast pits, the dried-up mouths +of which gaped dismally. + +"With the movements of a man in a fit, I essayed to hinder the finis of +my mad plunge. I waved my limbs violently, kicking out and shrieking in +the agonies of fear. I cursed and prayed, wept and laughed alternately, +did everything, yet nothing, that could save me from contact with the +lone desert so horribly close. Nearer and nearer I approached, until at +last my feet rested on the hard caked soil. For the first few minutes +after my arrival I was too overwhelmed with fear to do other than remain +stationary. The ground beneath my feet swarmed with myriads of foul and +long-legged insects, things with unwieldy pincers and protruding eyes; +things covered with scaly armour; hybrids of beetles and scorpions. I +have a distinct recollection of one huge-jointed centipede making a +vicious grab at my leg; he failed to make his teeth meet in anything +tangible, and emitting a venomous hiss disappeared in a circular pit. + +"Whilst I was the victim of this insect's ferocity the horizon had +become darkened by the shadowy outline of an enormous apish form. I +wanted to run away, but could not, and was compelled, sorely against my +will, to witness its approach. Never shall I forget the agonies of doubt +I endured during its advance. No man in a tiger's den, nor deer tied to +a tree awaiting its destroyer, could have suffered more than I did then, +and my terror increased tenfold when I recognized in the +monster--Neppon--a young gorilla that had been under my charge and had +given me no end of trouble when I was head keeper in the Zoological +Gardens at Berne. + +"I never hated anything so much as I had hated that baboon. At my hands +it had undergone a thousand subtle torments. I had pinched it, poked it, +pulled its hair, frightened it by putting on masks and making all sorts +of queer noises, and finally I had secretly poisoned it. And now we +stood face to face without any bars between us. Never shall I forget the +look of intense satisfaction in its hideous eyes, as its gaze +encountered mine. + +"In that strange forlorn world we faced each other; I, the tyrant once, +now the quarry. In the wildness of its glee it capered about like a mad +thing, executing the most exaggerated antics that augmented my terror. +Every second I anticipated an assault, and the knowledge of my fears +lent additional fierceness to its gambols. A sudden change in my +attitude at length made it cease. The use had returned to my limbs; my +muscles were quivering, and before it could stop me I had fled! The +wildest of chases then ensued. I ran with a speed that would have shamed +a record-beater on earth. With extraordinary nimbleness I vaulted over +titanic boulders of rocks; jumped across dykes of infinite depth, +scurried like lightning over tracts of rough, lacerating ground, and +never for one instant felt like flagging. + +"Suddenly, to my horror, I came to an abrupt standstill, and the cry of +some hunted animal burst from my lips. Unwittingly I had run against a +huge wall of granite, and escape was now impossible. Again and again I +clawed the hard rock, until the skin hung in shreds from my fingers, and +the blood pattered on the dark soil, that in all probability had never +tasted moisture before. All this amused my pursuer vastly; it watched +with the leisure of one who knows its fish will be landed in safety, and +there suddenly came to me, through my olfactory nerves, a knowledge that +it was speaking to me in the language of scents--the language I never +understood till now was the language of all animals. + +"'Reach, a little higher,' it said; 'there are niches up there, and you +must stretch your limbs. Ha! ha! Do you remember how you used to make me +stretch mine? You do! Well, you needn't shiver. Explain to me how it is +I find you here.' + +"'I cannot comprehend,' I gasped with a gesticulation that was +grotesque. + +"The great beast laughed in my face. 'How so?' it queried. 'You used to +quibble me upon my dull wits; must I now return the compliment? Ha! +There's blood on your hands. Blood! I will lick it up.' And with a +mocking grin it advanced. + +"'Keep off! Keep off!' I shouted. 'My God, will this dream never cease?' + +"'The dream, as you call it,' the gorilla jeered, 'has only just begun; +the climax of your horrors has yet to come. If you cannot tell me the +purport of your visit I will tell you mine. Can your lordship spare the +time to listen?' + +"I gave no answer. I clutched the wall and uttered incoherent cries like +some frightened madman. + +"The gorilla felt the muscles in its hairy fingers, and showed its huge +teeth. I looked eagerly at my enemy. + +"'Come, you haven't yet guessed my riddle; you are dull to-night,' it +said lightly. 'That old wine of yours made you sleep too soundly. Don't +let me disturb you. I will explain. This moon is now my home--I share it +with the spirits of all the animals and insects that were once on your +earth. And now that we are free from such as you--free to wander +anywhere we like without fear of being shot, or caught and caged--we are +happy. And what makes us still happier is the knowledge that the +majority of men and women will never have a joyous after-state like +ours. They will be earth-bound in that miserable world of theirs, and +compelled to keep to their old haunts, scaring to death with their ugly +faces all who have the misfortune to see them. There is another fate in +store for you, however. Do you know what it is?' + +"It paused. No sound other than that occasioned by his bumping on the +soil broke the impressive hush. + +"'Do you know?' it said again. 'Well, I will tell you. I'm going to kill +you right away, so that your spirit--it's all nonsense to talk about +souls, such as you have no soul--will be earth-bound here--here for +ever--and will be a perpetual source of amusement to all of us animal +ghosts.' + +"It then began to jabber ferociously, and, crouching down, prepared to +spring. + +"'For Heaven's sake,' I shrieked, 'for Heaven's sake.' + +"But I might as well have appealed to the wind. It had no sense of +mercy. + +"'He, he!' it screamed. 'What a joke--what a splendid joke. Your wit +never seems to degenerate, Hugesson! I'm wondering if you will be as +funny when you're a ghost. Get ready. I'm coming, coming,' and as the +sky deepened to an awe-inspiring black, and the stars grew larger, +brighter, fiercer; and the great lone deserts appealed to me with a +force unequalled before, it sprang through the air. + +"A singing in my ears and a great bloody mist rose before my eyes. The +wailing and screeching of a million souls was borne in loud protracted +echoings through the drum of my ears. Men and women with evil faces rose +up from crag and boulder to spit and tear at me. I saw creatures of such +damning ugliness that my soul screamed aloud with terror. And then from +the mountain tops the bolt of heaven was let loose. Every spirit was +swept away like chaff before the burst of wind that, hurling and +shrieking, bore down upon me. I gave myself up for lost. I felt all the +agonies of suffocation, my lungs were torn from my palpitating body; my +legs wrenched round in their sockets; my feet whirled upwards in that +gust of devilish air. All--excruciating, damning pain--and _pro +tempore_--I knew no more." + + * * * * * + +N.B.--It was subsequently ascertained, by my friend the late Mr. Supton, +that a man named Hugesson, who had been for a short time head keeper at +the Zoological Gardens, had been found dead, in bed, by his landlady, +with a look on his face so awful that she had fled shrieking from the +room. The death was, of course, attributed to syncope, but my +friend--who, by the way, had never heard of Hugesson before he received +the foregoing account through the medium of planchette--told me, and I +agreed with him, that from similar cases that had come within his +experience, it was most probable that Hugesson had in reality projected +himself, and had perished in the manner described. + +No more improbable than the above story is that sent me by my old school +friend Martin Tristram, who died last year. + +I style it "The Case of Martin Tristram." It is reproduced from a +magazine published some three years ago. + +After Martin Tristram once took up spiritualism his visits to me became +most erratic, and I not only never knew when to expect him, but I was +not always sure, when he did come, that it was he. + +This sounds extraordinary--to see a man is assuredly to recognize him! +Not always--by no means always! + +There are circumstances in which a man loses his identity, when his +"ego" is supplanted by another ego, when he ceases to be himself, and +assumes an individuality which is entirely different from himself. + +This is undoubtedly the case in madness, imbecility, epilepsy, so-called +total loss of memory through cerebral injury, hypnotism, sometimes in +projection when the astral body gets detained, and also not infrequently +in investigating peculiar instances of psychic phenomena. + +But if the astral body has been evicted from its carnal home, whither +has it gone? and what is the nature of the thing that has taken its +place? + +Ah! These are indeed puzzles--puzzles I am devoting a lifetime to solve. + +There have been moments when unseen hands have gradually begun to pull +aside the obscuring veil, when the identity of the usurping spirit has +seemed on the verge of being disclosed to me, and I have been about to +be initiated into the greatest and most zealously guarded of all +secrets. + +There have been times, I say, when my occult researches have actually +brought me to this climax; but up to the present I have invariably been +disappointed--the curtain has suddenly fallen, the esoteric ego has +shrunk into its shell, and the mystery surrounding it has remained +impenetrable. + +This is but one, albeit perhaps the most striking, of the many methods +through which the superphysical endeavours to get in immediate contact +with the physical. + +I was unpleasantly reminded of it when Martin Tristram's carnal body +came to visit me one night several years ago. I was aware that it was +not Tristram. His mannerisms were the same, his voice had not altered; +but there was an expression in his eyes that told of a very different +spirit from Martin's dwelling within that body. + +The night being cold, he closed the door carefully, and crossing the +room to where I sat by the fire, threw himself in an easy chair, and +gazed meditatively at me. + +My rooms in Bloomsbury were not lonely. They had more than their share +of "brawling brats" on either side; there were no gloomy recesses or +ghost-suggestive cupboards, and I never once experienced in them the +slightest apprehension of sudden superphysical manifestations, yet I +cannot help saying that as I met that glance from the pseudo-Tristram's +eyes I felt my flesh begin to creep. + +He sat for so long in silence that I began to wonder if he ever meant to +speak. + +"The secret of success in seeing certain classes of apparitions," he +said at length, "to a very great extent lies in sympathy. Sympathy! And +now for my story. I will tell it to you in the 'third person.'" + +I looked at Tristram's face in dismay. "The third person!" + +"Yes, the third person," he gravely rejoined, "and under the +circumstances the only person. You see it is now close on midnight." + +I looked at the clock. Great heavens! What he said was correct. A whole +evening had slipped by without my knowledge. He would, of course, have +to stay the night. I suggested it to him. + +"My dear fellow," he replied, with an odd smile, "don't worry about me. +I am not dependent on any trains. I shall be home by two o'clock." + +I shivered--a draught of cold air had in all probability stolen through +the cracks of the ill-fitting window-frames. + +"You have on one of your queer moods, Martin," I expostulated. "To be +home by two o'clock you must fly! But proceed--at all costs, the story." + +Tristram raised an eyebrow, a true sign that something of special +interest would follow. + +"You know Bruges?" he began. + +I nodded. + +"Very well, then," he went on. "Exactly a week ago Martin Tristram +arrived there from Antwerp. The hour was late, the weather boisterous, +Tristram was tired, and any lodging was better than none. + +"Hailing a four-wheeler, he asked the Jehu to drive him to some decent +hostel where the sheets were clean and the tariff moderate; and the +fellow, gathering up the reins, took him at a snail's pace to a +mediæval-looking tavern in La Rue Croissante. You remember that street? +Perhaps not! It is quite a back street, extremely narrow, very tortuous, +and miserably lighted with a few gas-lamps of the usual antique Belgian +order. + +"Tristram was too tired, however, to be fastidious; he felt he could lie +down and go to sleep anywhere, and what scruples he might have had were +entirely dissipated by the appearance of the charming girl who answered +the door. + +"It is not expedient to dwell upon her--she plays a very minor part, if, +indeed, any, in the story. Martin Tristram merely thought her pretty, +and that, as I have said, fully reconciled him to taking up his quarters +in the house. + +"He has, as you are doubtless aware, a weakness for vivid colouring, and +her bright yellow hair, carmine lips, and scarlet stockings struck him +impressively as she led the way to his bed-chamber, where she somewhat +reluctantly parted from him with a subtly attractive smile. + +"Left to himself, Martin sleepily examined his surroundings. The room, +oak-panelled throughout, was long, low, and gloomy; an enormous, +old-fashioned, empty fireplace occupied the centre of one of the walls; +on the one side of it was an oak settee, on the other an equally +ponderous black oak chest. + +"Heavy oaken beams traversed the ceiling, and the sombre, funereal +character of the room was further increased by a colossal and antique +four-poster which, placed in the exact middle of the chamber, faced a +gigantic mirror attached to grotesquely carved and excessively lofty +sable supports. + +"Viewed in the feeble, fluctuating candlelight, the latter seemed +endowed with some peculiar and emphatically weird life--their +glistening, polished surfaces threw a dozen and one fantastic but oddly +human shadows on the boards, as at the same time they appeared in +bewildering alternation to increase and diminish in stature. + +"Tristram hastily undressed, and stretching himself between the +blankets, prepared to go to sleep. Like yourself, and for a similar +reason, he never sleeps on his left side. Accordingly he occupied the +right portion only of the enormous bed. + +"Why he did not fall asleep at once he could not explain; he fancied +that it might be because he was overtired. This undoubtedly had +something to do with it, as also had the remarkable noises--footfalls, +creaks, and sighs--that came from every corner of the apartment the +moment the light was out. + +"He listened to these inexplicable sounds with increasing alarm until +the sonorous clock from somewhere outside boomed 'one,' when, quite +unaccountably, he fell asleep, awaking on the stroke of two from a +dreadful nightmare. + +"To his intense astonishment and consternation he was no longer alone in +the bed--someone, or something, was lying by his side on the left-hand +side of the bed. + +"At first his thoughts reverted to the young lady with the scarlet +stockings; then, a sensation of icy coldness, whilst speedily reassuring +him with regard to her, struck him with the utmost terror. Who or what +could it be? + +"For some seconds he lay in breathless silence, too frightened even to +stir, and panic-stricken lest the violent beating of his heart should +arouse the mysterious visitor. But at length, impelled by an +irresistible impulse, he sat up in bed and opened his eyes. The room +was aglow with a phosphorescent light, and in the depths of the +glittering mirror he saw a startling reproduction of the phantasmagoric +four-poster. + +"He instinctively felt that there was some extraordinary change in the +supports, and that the suspicions he had at first entertained as to +their semi-human properties had become verified; but, mercifully for his +sanity, he found it impossible to look. His attention was immediately +riveted on the object by his side, which he recognized with a thrill of +surprise was a bronzed and bearded man of rather more than middle age, +who appeared to be buried in the most profound sleep. + +"The picture was so vividly portrayed in the glass that Tristram could +see the gentle heaving of the bedclothes each time the sleeper breathed. + +"Fascinated beyond measure at such an unlooked-for spectacle, and +desirous of a closer inspection, Tristram, with a supreme effort, +managed to tear away his eyes from the mirror and to glance at the bed, +where, to his unmitigated astonishment, he saw no one. + +"Quite unable to know what to make of the phenomenon, he again directed +his gaze to the glass, and there right enough lay the sleeper. + +"A cold shudder now ran through Tristram--he could no longer disguise +from himself what he had in reality thought all along, that the room was +haunted! + +"The usual symptoms accompanying occult manifestations rapidly made +themselves known. Tristram was constrained to stare at the luminous +glitter before him in helpless expectation; to save his soul he could +neither have stirred nor uttered the faintest ejaculation. He saw in the +mirror the door of the bedroom slowly open, and a hideous, apish face +peep stealthily in, not at him, but at the sleeper. + +"Next he watched a figure, brown, hairy and lurid--the figure of some +huge monkey--come crawling into the room on all-fours, and followed each +of its tell-tale movements as, sidling up to its sleeping victim, it +suddenly hurled itself at him, choking him to death with its long +fingers. + +"This was the climax--Tristram saw no more. The phosphorescent light +died out, the mirror darkened, and on sinking back on his pillow, he +realized with the wildest delight he was once again alone--his bedfellow +had gone! + +"Tristram was so unnerved by all that had happened that he made up his +mind to leave the house at daybreak, a decision which, however, was +altered on the appearance of the sun and the charming little girl in +the red stockings. + +"After breakfasting, Tristram strolled about the town, chancing to meet +an old school-fellow, named Heriot, in the Rue de Mermadotte. + +"Heriot had only recently come to Bruges; he was dissatisfied with his +lodgings, and readily fell in with Tristram's suggestion that they +should 'dig' together. + +"The maid with the yellow hair was more pleasing than ever, Heriot fell +desperately in love with her, and it was close on midnight before he +could be persuaded to bid her good night and accompany Tristram to the +bed-chamber. + +"'I wonder why she told me not to sleep on the left side of the bed?' he +said to Martin, as they began to undress. + +"Tristram glanced guiltily at the mirror. For reasons of his own he +hadn't as much as hinted to Heriot what he had seen there the previous +night, and he was not at all sure now that it might not have been a +nightmare or an hallucination; anyhow, he would like to put it to the +test before mentioning it to anyone, and Heriot, whom he knew to be a +sceptic with regard to ghosts, was so strong and hale a man physically +that, happen what might, he had no apprehensions whatever concerning +him. + +"Regretting that he was obliged to disobey the wishes of a lady, Heriot +declared his preference for the left side of the bed, adding that if the +maiden was so highly enamoured of him, she must put herself to the +inconvenience of a few extra yards. 'Infatuation like hers,' he +maintained, 'should surely overcome all obstacles.' + +"Nothing loth, Tristram gave in to him, and before many minutes had +elapsed both men had fallen into a deep sleep. + +"On the stroke of two Tristram awoke, perspiring horribly. The room was +once again aglow with a phosphorescent light, and he felt the presence +next to him of something cold and clammy. + +"Unable to look elsewhere, he was again compelled to gaze in the mirror, +where he saw, to his consternation and horror, no Heriot, but in his +place the man with the bronzed face and bushy beard. + +"He had hardly recovered from the shock occasioned by this discovery +when the door surreptitiously opened, and the figure of the ape glided +noiselessly in. + +"Again he was temporarily paralysed, his limbs losing all their power of +action and his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth. + +"The movements of the phantasm were entirely repetitionary of the +previous night. Approaching the bed on 'all-fours,' it leapt on its +victim, the tragedy being accompanied this time by the most realistic +chokings and gurgles, to all of which Tristram was obliged to listen in +an agony of doubt and terror. The drama ended, Tristram was overcome by +a sudden fit of drowsiness, and sinking back on to his pillow, slept +till broad daylight. + +"Anxious to question Heriot as to whether he, too, had been a witness of +the ghostly transaction he touched him lightly on the shoulder. There +was no reply. He touched him again, and still no answer. He touched him +yet a third time, and as there was still no response, he leaned over his +shoulder and peered into his face. + +"Heriot was dead!" + + * * * * * + +"'This is the fourth death in that bed within the last twelve months +that I can swear to,' the English doctor remarked to Tristram, as they +walked down the street together, 'and always from the same cause, +failure of the heart due to a sudden shock. If you take my advice, +you'll clear out of the place at once.' + +"Tristram thought so too, but before he went he had a talk with the +girl in the red stockings. + +"'I can't tell you all I know,' she said to him, as he kissed her; 'but +I wouldn't sleep a night in that room for a fortune, though I believe +it's quite safe if you keep on the right side of the bed. I wish your +friend had done so, he was so handsome,' and Tristram, not a little +hurt, let go her hand, and made arrangements for the funeral." + + * * * * * + +"And is that all?" I asked, as Tristram's material body paused. + +"It may be," was the reply, "but that is why I've come to you. Don't be +gulled by Tristram into any investigations in that house. Enthusiasm for +his research work makes him unconsciously callous, and if he once got +you there he might, even against your better judgment, persuade you to +sleep on the left side! Good night!" + +I shook hands with him and he departed. The following evening I heard it +all again from Tristram himself--the real Tristram. + +Needless to say, his concluding remarks differed essentially. With +unbounded cordiality he urged me to accompany him back again to Bruges, +and I--declined! + + * * * * * + +He wrote to me afterwards to say that he had discovered the history of +the house--a man, a music-hall artist, answering to the description of +the figure in the bed--had once lived there with a performing ape, an +orang-outang, and happening to annoy the animal one day, the latter had +killed him. The brute was eventually shot! + +"This experience of mine," Tristram added, "is of the greatest value, +for it has thoroughly convinced me of one thing at least--and that--that +apes have spirits! And if that be so, so must all other kinds of +animals. Of course they must." + + +_Phantasms of Cat and Baboon_ + +A sister of a well-known author tells me there used to be a house called +"The Swallows," standing in two acres of land, close to a village near +Basingstoke. + +In 1840 a Mr. Bishop of Tring bought the house, which had long stood +empty, and went to live there in 1841. After being there a fortnight two +servants gave notice to leave, stating that the place was haunted by a +large cat and a big baboon, which they constantly saw stealing down the +staircases and passages. They also testified to hearing sounds as of +somebody being strangled, proceeding from an empty attic near where +they slept, and of the screams and groans of a number of people being +horribly tortured in the cellars just underneath the dairy. On going to +see what was the cause of the disturbances, nothing was ever visible. By +and by other members of the household began to be harassed by similar +manifestations. The news spread through the village, and crowds of +people came to the house with lights and sticks, to see if they could +witness anything. + +One night, at about twelve o'clock, when several of the watchers were +stationed on guard in the empty courtyard, they all saw the forms of a +huge cat and a baboon rise from the closed grating of the large cellar +under the old dairy, rush past them, and disappear in a dark angle of +the walls. The same figures were repeatedly seen afterwards by many +other persons. Early in December, 1841, Mr. Bishop, hearing fearful +screams, accompanied by deep and hoarse jabberings, apparently coming +from the top of the house, rushed upstairs, whereupon all was instantly +silent, and he could discover nothing. After that, Mr. Bishop set to +work to get rid of the house, and was fortunate enough to find as a +purchaser a retired colonel, who was soon, however, scared out of it. +This was in 1842; it was soon after pulled down. The ground was used +for the erection of cottages; but the hauntings being transferred to +them, they were speedily vacated, and no one ever daring to inhabit +them, they were eventually demolished, the site on which they stood +being converted into allotments. + +There were many theories as to the history of "The Swallows"; one being +that a highwayman, known as Steeplechase Jock, the son of a Scottish +chieftain, had once plied his trade there and murdered many people, +whose bodies were supposed to be buried somewhere on or near the +premises. He was said to have had a terrible though decidedly unorthodox +ending--falling into a vat of boiling tar, a raving madman. But what +were the phantasms of the ape and cat? Were they the earth-bound spirits +of the highwayman and his horse, or simply the spirits of two animals? +Though either theory is possible, I am inclined to favour the former. + + +_Psychic Bears_ + +Edmund Lenthal Swifte, appointed in 1814 Keeper of the Crown Jewels in +the Tower of London, refers in an article in _Notes and Queries_, 1860, +to various unaccountable phenomena happening in the Tower during his +residence there. He says that one night in the Jewel Office, one of the +sentries was alarmed by a figure like a huge bear issuing from +underneath the Jewel Room door. He thrust at it with his bayonet, which, +going right through it, stuck in the doorway, whereupon he dropped in a +fit, and was carried senseless to the guard-room. When on the morrow Mr. +Swifte saw the soldier in the guard-room, his fellow-sentinel was also +there, and the latter testified to having seen his comrade, before the +alarm, quiet and active, and in full possession of his faculties. He was +now, so Mr. Swifte added, changed almost beyond recognition, and died +the following day. + +Mr. George Offer, in referring to this incident, alludes to queer noises +having been heard at the time the figure appeared. Presuming that the +sentinel was not the victim of an hallucination, the question arises as +to the kind of spirit that he saw. The bear, judging by cases that have +been told me, is by no means an uncommon occult phenomenon. The +difficulty is how to classify it, since, upon no question appertaining +to the psychic, can one dogmatize. To quote from a clever poem that +appeared in the January number of the _Occult Review_, to pretend one +knows anything definite about the immaterial world is all "swank". At +the most we--Parsons, Priests, Theosophists, Christian Scientists, +Psychical Research Professors,--at the most can only speculate. +Nothing--nothing whatsoever, beyond the bare fact that there are +phenomena, unaccountable by physical laws, has as yet been discovered. +All the time and energy and space that have been devoted by scientists +to the investigation of spiritualism and to making tests in automatic +writing are, in my opinion--and, I believe, I speak for the man in the +street--hopelessly futile. No one, who has ever really experienced +spontaneous ghostly manifestations, could for one moment believe in the +genuineness of the phenomena produced at séances. They have never +deceived me, and I am of the opinion spirits cannot be convoked to +order, either through a so-called medium falling into a so-called +trance, through table-turning, automatic writing, or anything else. If a +spirit comes, it will come either voluntarily, or in obedience to some +Unknown Power--and certainly neither to satisfy the curiosity of a crowd +of sensation-loving men and women, nor to be analysed by some cold, +calculating, presumptuous Professor of Physics whose proper sphere is +the laboratory. + +But to proceed. The phenomenon of the big bear, provided again it was +really objective, may have been the phantasm of some prehistoric +creature whose bones lie interred beneath the Tower; for we know the +Valley of the Thames was infested with giant reptiles and quadrupeds of +all kinds (I incline to this theory); or it may have been a +Vice-Elemental, or--the phantasm of a human being who lived a purely +animal life, and whose spirit would naturally take the form most closely +resembling it. + + * * * * * + +Judging by the number of experiences related to me, hauntings by phantom +hares and rabbits would appear to be far from uncommon. There is this +difference, however, between the hauntings by the two species of +animal--phantom hares usually portend death or some grave catastrophe, +either to the witness himself, or to someone immediately associated with +him; whereas phantom rabbits are seldom prophetic, and may generally be +looked upon merely as the earth-bound spirits of some poor rabbits that +have met with untimely ends. + + +_Hauntings by a White Rabbit_ + +Mr. W.T. Stead, in his _Real Ghost Stories_, gives an account of the +hauntings by a phantom rabbit in a house in ---- Road. He does not, +however, mention any locality. After describing several of the phenomena +which disturbed various occupants of the place, he goes on to say, in +the language of Mrs. A., who narrates the incident:-- + +"A dog which lay on the rug also heard the sounds, for he pricked up his +ears and barked. Without a moment's delay she flew to the door, calling +the dog to follow her, intending as she did so to open the hall door and +call for assistance, but the dog, though an excellent house dog, +crouched at her feet and whined, but would not follow her up the stairs, +so she carried him up in her arms, and reaching the door, called for +assistance; when, however, the dining-room doors were opened, the rooms +were in perfect quiet and destitute of any signs of life." + +The behaviour of the dog here accords exactly with the behaviour of dogs +I have had in haunted houses, and substantiates my theory that dogs are +excellent psychic barometers. + +"After the family had been in the house a few weeks, a white rabbit made +its appearance. This uncanny animal would suddenly appear in a room in +which members of the family were seated, and after gliding round and +slipping under chairs and tables, would disappear through a brick wall +as easily as through an open door." + +This is the invariable trick of ghosts; they seldom, however, open +doors. Mrs. A. adds:-- + +"Some years have now elapsed since the incident I have now related took +place, and again, in response to orders given by the enterprising +landlord of the property, long-closed doors and windows have been thrown +open, and painters and paperhangers have brought their skill to bear +upon gruesome rooms and halls; the house is once more inhabited, this +time by a widow lady and some grown-up sons. These tenants come from a +distance, and are entirely strangers both to the neighbourhood and the +former history of the house, but, to use her own words, the mistress +'cannot understand what ails the house,' her sons insist on sleeping +together in one room, and the quiet of the house is constantly being +broken by the erratic appearances of a large white rabbit, which the +inmates are frequently engaged chasing, but are never able to find." + +Mr. Stead offers no explanation. I can see no other conclusion, however, +than that this ghost was the actual phantasm of some rabbit that had +been done to death in the house, probably by the boy whose apparition +was among the other manifestations seen there. + + +_John Wesley's Ghost_ + +In his article "More Glimpses of the Unseen" (_Occult Review_, October, +1906), Mr. Reginald B. Span writes:-- + +"During the extraordinary manifestations which occurred in the house of +John Wesley at Epworth, the phantom forms of two animals appeared, one +being a large white rabbit, and the other an animal like a badger, which +used to appear in the bedrooms and run about and then disappear, whilst +the various bangings and rappings were at their loudest." + +This is the only case I have ever come across of the ghost of a badger. +I think it must be unique. Mr. Span adds: "Many strange and inexplicable +things occurred in that house which were not due to any natural cause or +reason. I remember that loud rappings used to sound round my room at +nights, even when I had a light burning. I was often awakened by +rappings on the floor of my bedroom, which would then sound on the walls +and furniture, and were heard by others occupying rooms some distance +off." This, again, is most interesting, as ghosts seldom visit lighted +rooms. Mr. Span continues:-- + +"It was in the afternoon in broad daylight when my brother saw this +mysterious animal. + +"He was in the drawing-room alone, and as he was standing at one side of +the room looking at a picture on the walls, he heard a noise behind him, +and found, on looking round, that a sofa which generally lay against +one of the walls had been lifted by some unknown power into the middle +of the room, at the same time he saw an animal like a rabbit run from +under the sofa across the room and disappear into the wall. He searched +everywhere for the animal, which could not have escaped from the room, +as the doors and window were closed, but was unable to find any sign of +one or any hole whereby one might have passed out." + + +_The Psychic Faculty in Hares and Rabbits_ + +Hares and rabbits are very susceptible to the superphysical, the +presence of which they scent in the same manner as do horses and dogs. + +I have known them to evince the greatest symptoms of terror when brought +into a haunted house. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +INHABITANTS OF THE JUNGLE + + +_Elephants, Lions, Tigers, etc._ + +Elephants undoubtedly possess the faculty of scenting spirits in a very +marked degree. It is most difficult to get an elephant to pass a spot +where any phantasm is known to appear. The big beast at once comes to a +halt, trembles, trumpets, and turning round, can only be urged forward +by the gentlest coaxing. + +Jungles are full of the ghosts of slain men and animals, and afford more +variety in hauntings than any other localities. The spirits of such +cruel creatures as lions, tigers, leopards, are very much earth-bound, +and may be seen or heard night after night haunting the sites of their +former depredations. + +The following case of a tiger ghost was narrated to me years ago by a +gentleman whom I will style Mr. De Silva, P.W.D. I published his account +in a popular weekly journal, as follows:-- + + +_The White Tiger_ + +"Tap! tap! tap. Someone was coming behind me. I halted, and in the +brilliant moonlight saw a figure hobbling along--first one thin leg, +then the other, always with the same measured stride--accompanied with +the same tapping of the stick. I had no wish for his company, though the +road was lonely, and I feared the presence of tigers, so I hurried on, +and the faster I went, the nearer he seemed to come. Tap! tap! tap! The +man was blind and a leper, and so repulsively ugly that the niggers on +the settlement regarded him with superstitious awe. I had a horror of +tigers, but of lepers even greater. And I loved my wife with no ordinary +love. So I hurried on, and he followed quickly after me. + +"The night was brilliant, even more so, I thought, than was ordinary, +and the very brilliancy made me fear, for my shadow, the shadow of the +trees, shadows for which I had no name, flickered across the road, were +lost to sight to return again, and the jungle was getting nearer. The +open country on either side ceased, one by one tall blades of jungle +grass shook their heads in the gentle breeze, and the silence of the +darkness beyond began to make itself felt. A night bird whizzed past me, +croaking out a dismal incantation from its black throat; something at +which I did not care to look clattered from under a stone I loosened +with my foot, and sped into the shade, and I hastened on. + +"Tap! tap! tap! Faster and faster, and faster came the blind man. I +could smell the oil on his body, hear his breathing. + +"'Whoever you are, sahib, stop!' + +"There was fear in his voice as he whined out these words, a fear which +increased my own; but I pretended not to hear, and pressed on faster. + +"The darkness grew; high over my head at either side of the road waved +the grass, rustling to and fro, and singing to sleep the insects +nestling on its green stalks with its old-time song of the jungle. + +"The grass ahead of me slowly parted; my heart beat quicker, the tapping +behind me ceased--it was only some small animal. What was it? A small +hyaena? No. A jackal, a lame jackal, and it looked at me from out of +eyes that for some reason or other made me shiver. I did not know what +there was about the jackal that was different from what I had seen in +any other jackal, but there was a something. And as I looked at it in +awe, it vanished--melted into thin air. + +"The moment after a second jackal appeared just where the other one had +been standing, but there was nothing remarkable about this one, and on +my bending down, pretending to look for a stone to throw at it, it slunk +back silently and stealthily whence it had come, and I hurried on +faster than ever, knowing a tiger was near at hand. + +"Tap! tap! tap! I blessed the presence of the blind man. + +"'For God's sake, sahib, stop! For the love of Allah, sahib, stop!' (You +know how they talk, O'Donnell.) 'The jackals, did you see them? I knew +them by their smell, the smell of the living and of the dead. Walk with +me, sahib, for Allah's sake.' + +"Presently, O'Donnell, I heard a heavier rustling in the grass than the +wind makes; a rustling that kept pace with me and went along by my side, +never halting, but faster and faster, and faster. + +"A short distance ahead of me was a patch of bright light, where the +cross-roads met. A few yards more and the jungle grass would end. + +"I thought of this, O'Donnell--the beggar might not know the road so +well as I. He had no wife, no child; he was a leper, only a leper--and +my teeth chattered. + +"Here the Colonel paused and wiped his forehead. + +"I slackened my speed, the rustling by my side slowing down, and the +tapping grew faster. I was close to the whitened road. + +"'Sahib, the blessing of Allah be on you for stopping. Sahib, let me +walk by your side.' + +"(To the end of my days, O'Donnell, I shall never forgive myself, and +yet I want you to understand it was for my wife--and child.) I slunk +into the shade. Two steps more and the tapping would pass me. The stick +struck the ground within one inch of my foot; my heart almost ceased to +beat; I gazed in fascination at the spot in the jungle opposite. The +heavy rustling had stopped; only the gentle sighing of the wind went on. +The two steps were taken, the blind man paused on the cross-roads. He +was ghastly in the moonlight. I shuddered. His eyes peered enquiringly +round on all sides; he was looking for me; he had lost his way; he +feared the tiger. + +"Suddenly something huge shot like an arrow from the darkness opposite +me. I bowed my head, O'Donnell, and muttered a prayer, for I thought my +end had come. + +"A terrible scream rang out in the clear night air. I was saved. + +"'Allah curse you and yours, sahib.' + +"I opened my eyes; an enormous tiger was bending over the leper, +searching for the most convenient spot in his body to afford a tight +grip. + +"The man's sightless eyes were turned towards the moon, his teeth shone +white and even; with the striped horror purring in his face, he thought +of vengeance on me. + +"I dared not move. I could not pass, O'Donnell. I had no gun. The big +brute found a nice place to catch hold. It opened its mouth so that I +could see its glistening teeth. It looked down at its paws, where the +cruel claws glittered, and they seemed to afford it keen +satisfaction--it was a tigress and vain--then it lowered its head, and +the leper shrieked. I watched it pick him up as if he were one of its +cubs; saw the blood trickle down its soft white throat into the dusty +road, and then it trotted gracefully away, and was lost in the darkness +of the jungle. There was a deathlike silence after this. I waited a few +minutes, and then I got up. + +"I had only a short distance to go, and I no longer feared the presence +of man-eaters--there was not likely to be another. Hours afterwards, +O'Donnell, when I lay in my hammock as safe as a fortress, I fancied I +heard the dead man's cry, fancied I heard his curse. No one was more +devoted to a wife than I was to mine. Ours had been purely a love match, +and it was against my wish that she had accompanied me to such an +out-of-the-way place as Seconee. I told her about my adventure, +suppressing the leper's curse; and I was glad I did so, as she was +greatly distressed. + +"'Thank goodness you escaped, Charlie,' she said. 'I am so sorry for the +poor leper. I suppose you couldn't have helped him.' + +"'I might have fetched my rifle,' I replied, 'and tried to rescue him, +of course. But I fear it wouldn't have been of much avail, as he would +have been badly mauled by then.' + +"My wife sighed. 'Ah, well,' she said, 'love is selfish! It makes one +forget others. Still, I wouldn't have it otherwise.' + +"'I wish this railway job here was over,' I murmured, sitting with my +elbows on my knees and looking over the flat ground, sun-baked and +barren, away towards the dark jungles and the still darker mountains +towering above them; and as I gazed a shadow seemed to blur my vision +and a voice to whisper in my ears, 'Beware of my curse.' + +"I took Cushai, one of the native servants, into confidence. + +"'Now, Cushai,' I said, 'you know all the superstitions of the +country--the evil eye and the rest of them. Tell me, what can the dying +curse of a leper do?' + +"Cushai turned pale under his skin. + +"'Not of Nahra!' he stuttered, swinging the knife with which he had been +cutting maize in his hand, 'not of Nahra, the leper of Futtebah. Sahib, +if you were cursed by him, beware. He was learned in the black arts; he +could heal ulcers by repeating a prayer, he could bring on fever.' + +"At this, O'Donnell, I turned cold. I had lived long in India. I had +seen their so-called juggling, had experienced also strange cases of +telepathy, and knew quite sufficient of their intimacy with the +supernatural elements to be afraid. + +"'You must keep the young sahib safe,' Cushai said, 'and the white lady. +I wish it hadn't been Nahra.' + +"I took his advice. My boy, Eric, was more closely supervised than ever, +and as to my wife, I begged and entreated her not to move from the house +until the tiger was dead, and I searched for it everywhere. + +"The dry season passed, the wet came, and my work still kept me in +Seconee. At times there came to us rumours of the man-eater--of another +victim--but it never visited our bungalow, where the bright rifle leaned +against the wall waiting for it. + +"I certainly did meet with slight misfortunes, which the more timid +might have put down to the working of the curse. + +"My little finger was squashed in the laying down of a rail, and Eric +had several bouts of sickness. + +"It was nearly a year after the leper's death that alarming rumours of a +man-eater having been at work again were spread about us. Several +niggers were carried off or badly bitten, and the wounded showed +symptoms of the loathsome disease so well known and feared by us +all--leprosy. + +"I knew from that it must be the same tiger. + +"'The tiger is near,' someone would cry out, and a stampede among the +native workmen would ensue. + +"'Why the white tiger?' I asked Cushai. + +"'Because, sahib,' he replied, 'the leprosy has made it so! Tigers, like +men, and all other animals, go white even to their hair. I have not told +them the story, sahib; they only know it must have caught the leprosy. +To them Nahra is still living.' + +"Then, O'Donnell, when I thought of what was at stake, and of all the +hideous possibilities the presence of this brute created, I took my +rifle and went out to search for it. In the evenings, when the dark +clouds from the mountains descended and the wind hissed through the +jungle grass, I plodded along with no other companion than my Winchester +repeater--searching, always searching for the damned tiger. I found it, +O'Donnell, came upon it just as it was in the midst of a meal--dining +off a native--and I shot it twice before it recovered from its +astonishment at seeing me. The second shot took effect--I can swear to +that, for I took particular note of the red splash of blood on its +forehead where the bullet entered, and I went right up to it to make +sure. As God is above us, no animal was more dead. + +"'The curse won't come now, Cushai,' I said, laughing. 'I've killed the +white tiger.' + +"'Killed the white tiger, sahib! Allah bless you for that!' Cushai +replied. + +"'But don't laugh too soon. Nahra was a clever man, wonderfully clever; +he did not speak empty words,' and as his eyes wandered to the dark +hills again I fancied a shadow darted along the sky, and the curse came +back to my ears. + +"I was superintending the line one afternoon; the backs of the niggers +were bending double under the burden of the great iron rods when I heard +a terrible cry. + +"'The white tiger! the white tiger!' Rods fell with a crash, spades +followed suit, a chorus of shrieks filled the air, and legs scampered +off in all directions. I was fifty yards from my rifle, and a huge +creature was slowly approaching between it and me. + +"I could hardly believe my eyes--the white tiger, the tiger I knew I had +killed! Here it was! Here before me! The same in every detail, and yet +in some strange, indefinable manner not the same. On it came, a huge +patch of luminous white, noiselessly, stealthily--the mark of the bullet +plainly visible on its big, flat forehead. Step by step it approached +me, its paws no longer with the colouring of health, but dull and worn. +And as it came, the cold shadow of desolation seemed to fall around it. +Nothing stirred; there was no noise whatever, not even the sound of its +feet crushing the loosened soil. On, on, on nearer, nearer and nearer. + +"Shunned by all, avoided by its fellow-creatures of the jungle, a blight +to all and everything, it drew in a line with me. Not once did its eyes +meet mine, O'Donnell; not once did it glare at the natives who were +hiding on the banks of the cutting; but it stole silently on its way +with a something in its movements that left no doubt but that it was +engaged in no casual venture. I remembered, O'Donnell, that my wife had +promised to come with Eric to meet me along the cutting, as she was sure +no tiger would be there. I ran as fast as I could, and yet somehow my +feet seemed weighted down. I cursed my folly for not forbidding my wife +to come. + +"It was uphill till I got to the bend, and it might have been a +mountain, it seemed so steep. I knew if the thing I had seen met them a +little farther on, they would be cornered, as the cutting narrowed very +much, leaving not more than twenty yards, and that was a generous +estimate. At last, after what seemed an eternity, I reached the summit +of the slope; the tiger was a mere speck along the line. I rushed after +it as fast as I could go, stumbling, half falling, pulling myself +together, and tearing on, and the faster I went the quicker moved the +great white figure. A feeling of despair seized me; all my fondness for +my wife became intensified tenfold, and was revealed to me then in its +true nature; she was the one great tie that made life dear to me. Even +my love for Eric paled away before the blinding affection I bore her. I +tore madly on, shouting at the same time, anything to make the white +tiger aware of my presence, to keep it from seeing her. Another bend in +the road hid it from view. The same hideous fears gripped me hard and +fast, as I strained every muscle in the mad pursuit. At last I ran round +the curve, and saw before me the tableau I had dreaded. The tiger was +crouching, ready to spring on the group of three--Eva, Eric and the +ayah. They were paralysed with fear, and stood on the rails staring at +it, unable to move or utter a sound. I well understood their feelings, +and knew they were labouring in their minds as to whether the thing that +confronted them was a creature of flesh and blood, or what it was. They +could not take their eyes off it, and, as a consequence, did not see me. +The white tiger now went through a series of actions, so lifelike that I +could not but believe it was real, and that I had been deceived in +thinking I had killed it. Its haunches quivered, it got ready to spring, +and my rifle flew to my shoulder. I saw it mark Eric, and read the +increased agony in my wife's eyes. The critical moment came. Another +second, and the thing, be it material or supernatural, would jump. I +must fire at all costs. If mortal, I must kill it, if ghostly, the noise +of my rifle might dematerialize it. And, as God is my judge, O'Donnell, +at that moment I had not the least idea which of it was--tiger or +phantom. It sprang--my brain reeled--my fingers grew numb, and as my +wife suddenly bounded forward, the shadowy form of Nahra seemed to rise +from the ground and mock me. With a supreme effort I jerked my finger +back and fired. Bang! The sound of the explosion acted like a +safety-valve to the pent-up feelings of all, and there was a chorus of +shrieks. I rushed forward--the ayah lay on the ground, face downward and +motionless. My wife had hold of Eric, who was shaking all over. Of the +tiger there were no signs. It had completely vanished. + +"'Thank God,' I exclaimed, kissing my wife feverishly. 'Thank God! It +was only a ghost! but it was very alarming, wasn't it?' + +"'Alarming!' my wife gasped, 'it was awful! I quite thought it was real! +so did Eric, and so did ---- '--then her eyes fell on the ayah, and she +gave a great start. 'Charlie!' she cried, 'for mercy's sake look at her! +I dare not! Is she all right?' + +"I turned the ayah over--she was dead! Fright had killed her! + +"I then told my wife of the curse of Nahra, and of the phantom I thought +I had seen of him, when the white tiger was springing. When I had +finished, my wife hid her face in my shoulder. + +"'Charlie!' she said, 'I did something awful. I saw what I then took to +be the real white tiger single out Eric, and in my anxiety to save him +from the brute, I pushed the ayah in front of him. And the thing sprang +on her instead. It was nothing short of murder! And yet--well, there +were extenuating circumstances, weren't there?' + +"'Of course there were,' I said--for I verily believed, O'Donnell, fear +had, for the time being, turned her brain. + +"On our way home she suddenly called my attention to Eric. + +"'Charlie,' she cried, 'what's that mark on his cheek? He's hurt!' + +"I looked--and my heart turned sick within me. On the boy's cheek was a +faint red scratch, just as might have been caused by a slight, very +slight contact with some animal's claw. + +"'Sahib!' Cushai whispered to me, when he saw it and heard of our +adventure. 'Sahib! Beware! Nahra was a clever man. He must have used the +spirit of the white tiger as his tool. Let the medicine man examine the +scar.' + +"I did so. I took Eric to a Dr. Nicholson, who lived close by. + +"He looked at the wound curiously for a few moments, and then said to +me--he was renowned for his plain speaking--'Mr. De Silva, there's no +use beating about the bush, and prolonging the agony unnecessarily for +you and your wife. The boy's got leprosy--God alone knows how! At the +most he may live six weeks.' + +"The shock, of course, was terrible. Eric had to be isolated from +everyone--even from those who loved him best--and died within a month. + +"'Sahib, I knew!' Cushai said to me the day of the funeral, 'I knew some +disaster would befall you. Nahra was a wonderful man, and his curse had +to be fulfilled. You may rest assured, however, nothing further will +befall you, for I saw Nahra in a vision this morning, and he told me +both his and the white tiger's spirit were now on friendly terms, and +would trouble you no more.' + +"My wife and I left the place at once, and for a long time I lived in a +hell of suspense lest she should develop the infernal disease. By a +merciful providence, however, she did no such thing, but, on the +contrary, picked up in health in the most marvellous fashion; indeed, +she only told me yesterday, she felt better than she had done for years. +I've told you the story, O'Donnell--and it is true in every +detail--because it goes a long way to substantiate your theory that +animals, as well as human beings, have a future life." + +"I am absolutely sure they have!" I replied. + + +_Jungle Animals and Psychic Faculties_ + +It is, of course, impossible to say whether animals of the jungle +possess psychic faculties, without putting them to the test, and this, +for obvious reasons, is extremely difficult. But since I have found that +such properties are possessed--in varying degree--by all animals I have +tested, it seems only too probable that bears and tigers, and all beasts +of prey, are similarly endowed. + +It would be interesting to experiment with a beast of prey in a haunted +locality; to observe to what extent it would be aware of the advent of +the Unknown, and to note its behaviour in the actual presence of the +phenomena. + + + + +PART III + +BIRDS AND THE UNKNOWN + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BIRDS AND THE UNKNOWN + + +As Edgar Allan Poe has suggested in his immortal poem of "The Raven," +there is a strong link between certain species of birds and the Unknown. + +We all know that vultures, kites and crows scent dead bodies from a +great way off, but we don't all know that these and other kinds of birds +possess, in addition, the psychic property of scenting the advent not +only of the phantom of death, but of many, if not, indeed, all other +spirits. Within my knowledge there have been cases when, before a death +in the house, ravens, jackdaws, canaries, magpies, and even parrots, +have shown unmistakable signs of uneasiness and distress. The raven has +croaked in a high-pitched, abnormal key; the jackdaw and canary have +become silent and dejected, from time to time shivering; the magpie even +has feigned death; the parrot has shrieked incessantly. Owls, too, are +sure predictors of death, and may be heard hooting in the most doleful +manner outside the house of anyone doomed to die shortly. + +In an article entitled "Psychic Records," the editor of the _Occult +Review_ (in the August number, 1905) supplies the following anecdotes of +ghosts of birds furnished him by his correspondents. + +"In the autumn of 1877 my husband was lying seriously ill with rheumatic +fever, and I had sat up several nights. At last the doctors insisted on +my going to bed; and very unwillingly I retired to a spare room. While +undressing I was surprised to see a very large white bird come from the +fireplace, make a hovering circle round me, and finally go to the top of +a large double chest of drawers. I was too tired to trouble about it, +and thought I would let it remain until morning. The next morning I said +to the housemaid: + +"'There was a large bird in the spare room last night, which flew to the +top of the drawers. See that it is put out.' + +"The nurse, who was present, said: + +"'Oh, dear, ma'am, I am afraid that is an omen, and means the master +won't live,' and she was confirmed in her opinion by the maid saying she +had searched, and there was no trace of any bird. + +"I was quite angry, as my husband was decidedly better, had slept +through the night, and we thought the crisis had passed. I went to his +bedside and found him quietly sleeping, but he never woke, and in about +an hour passed quietly away. + +"I thought no more of the bird, fancying I must have been mistaken from +being overtired. + +"Some months after my husband's death my youngest little one was born; +he lived for twelve months, and then had an attack of bronchitis. He +slept in a cot in my room, and I was undressing one night, when this +same large white bird came from his cot, floated round me, and +disappeared in the fireplace. At the time I did not for a moment think +of it as anything but a strange coincidence, and in no way connected it +with baby's illness. + +"The next morning I was sitting by the drawing-room fire with baby on my +lap. The doctor came in, looked at him, sounded his chest, and +pronounced him much better. As he was a friend of the family, he sat +down on the other side of the fireplace and was chatting in an ordinary +way, when he suddenly jumped up with an exclamation, 'Why, what does +this mean?' and took the child from my arms quite dead! + +"For two years we saw nothing more of the white bird, and we had moved +to another place. + +"One day I was in my room, and my two little girls, aged six and eight, +were standing at the window watching a kitten in the garden, when +suddenly the youngest cried out: + +"'Oh, mamma! Look at that great white bird,' putting her hands as if to +catch it, exactly in the way it flies round one. + +"I saw nothing, and the elder child said, 'Don't be silly, Jessie; there +is no bird.' + +"'But there is,' said the child. 'Don't you see? There, look! There it +is!' + +"I looked at my watch. It was twenty minutes past three. + +"Two days after we received the news that a niece of mine had died at +twenty minutes past three. The children had never known anything of the +former appearances, as we had never talked about it before them. We have +seen nothing since of the bird, but have for some years had no death in +the family." + +So runs the article in the _Occult Review_, and I can corroborate it +with similar experiences that have happened to my friends and to me. + +Some years ago, for instance, a great friend of my wife's died, and on +the day of the funeral a large bird tried to fly in at the window of the +room where the corpse lay; while, shortly afterwards, an exactly similar +bird visited the window of my wife's and my room in a house, several +hundreds of miles away. If it was only a coincidence, it was a very +extraordinary one. + +Then again, this spring, just before the death of one of my wife's +relatives, a large bird flew violently against the window-pane behind +which my wife was sitting--an incident that had never happened to her in +that house before. + +Undoubtedly, spirits in the guise of birds--most probably they are the +phantasms of birds that have actually once lived on the material +plane--are the messengers of death. + + +_A Case of Bird haunting in East Russia_ + +Some years ago the neighbourhood of Orskaia, in East Russia, was roused +by an affair of a very remarkable nature. The body of a handsome young +peasant woman, called Marthe Popenkoff, was found in a lonely part of +the road, between Orskaia and Orenburg, with the skin of her face and +body shockingly torn and lacerated, but without there being any wounds +deep enough to cause her death, which the doctor attributed to syncope. + +The people of Orskaia, not satisfied with this verdict, declared Marthe +had been murdered, and made such a loud clamour that the editor of the +local paper at last voiced their sentiments in the _East Russia +Chronicle_. It was then that M. Durant, a smart young French engineer, +temporarily residing in those parts, became interested in the case, and +decided to investigate it thoroughly. With this end in view he wrote to +his friend M. Hersant--a keen student of the Occult--in Saratova, to +join him, and three days after the despatch of his letter met the latter +at the Orskaia railway station. M. Durant retailed the case as they +drove to his house. + +"It is a remarkable affair, in every way," he said. "The woman was +leading a perfectly respectable married life; she was hard-working and +industrious, and beyond the fact that she was over-indulgent to her +children, does not seem to have had any serious faults. As far as I can +ascertain she had no enemies." + +"Nor secret lovers?" M. Hersant asked. + +"No; she was quite straight." + +"And you feel sure she was murdered?" + +"I do. Public opinion so strongly favours that view." + +"Did you see the marks on the woman?" + +"I did, and could make nothing of them. After supper I will take you to +see her, in the morgue." + +"What--she is still unburied?" + +"Yes--but there is nothing unusual about that. In these parts bodies +are often kept for ten days--sometimes even longer." + +M. Durant was as good as his word; after they had partaken of a somewhat +hasty meal, they set out to the morgue, where they made a careful +inspection of the poor woman's remains. + +M. Hersant examined the marks on the woman's body very closely with his +magnifying-glass. + +"Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed, bending down and almost touching the corpse +with his nose, "Ah!" + +"Have you made a discovery?" M. Durant enquired. + +"I prefer not to say at present," M. Hersant replied. "I should like to +see the spot where this body was found--now." + +"We will go there at once," M. Durant rejoined. + +The scene of the tragedy was the Orenburg road, at the foot of two +little hills; and on either side were the sloping fields, yellow with +the nodding corn. + +"That is the exact place where she lay," M. Durant said, indicating with +his finger a dark patch on a little wooden bridge spanning a stream, +within a stone's throw of a tumbledown mill-house, all overgrown with +ivy and lichens. M. Hersant looked round and sniffed the air with his +nostrils. + +"There is an air of loneliness about this spot," he remarked, "that in +itself suggests crime. If this were an ordinary murder, one could well +imagine the assassin was aided in his diabolical work by the +configuration of the land which, shelving as it does, slips down into +the narrow valley, so as to preclude any possibility of escape on the +part of the victim. The place seems especially designed by Providence as +a death-trap. Let us have a look at the interior of this building." + +"The police have searched it thoroughly," M. Durant said. + +"I've no doubt," M. Hersant replied drily. "No one knows better than I +what the thoroughness of the police means." + +They entered the premises cautiously, since the roof was in a rickety +condition, and any slight concussion might dislodge an avalanche of +stones and plaster. While M. Durant stood glancing round him rather +impatiently, M. Hersant made a careful scrutiny of the walls. + +"Humph," he said at last. "As you so rightly observed, Henri, this is a +remarkable case. I have finished my investigation for to-night. Let us +be going home. To-morrow I should like to visit Marthe's home." + +This conversation took place shortly before midnight; some six hours +later all Orskaia was ringing with the news that Marthe Popenkoff's +three children had all been found dead in their beds, their faces and +bodies lacerated in exactly the same manner as their mother's. There +seemed to be no doubt now that Marthe had been murdered, and the +populace cried shame on the police; for the assassin was still at large. +They agreed that the murderer could be no other than Peter Popenkoff, +and the editor of the local paper repeating these statements, Peter +Popenkoff was duly charged with the crimes, and arrested. He was +pronounced guilty by all excepting M. Hersant; and of course M. Hersant +thought him guilty, too; only he liked to think differently from anyone +else. + +"I don't want to commit myself," was all they could get out of him. "I +may have something to say later on." + +M. Durant laughed and shrugged his shoulders. + +"It, undoubtedly, is Peter Popenkoff," he observed. "I had an idea that +he was the culprit all along." + +But a day or two later, Peter Popenkoff was found dead in prison with +the skin on his face and hands all torn to shreds. + +"There! Didn't we say so?" cried the inconsequent mob. "Peter Popenkoff +was innocent. One of the police themselves is the murderer." + +"Come, you must acknowledge that we are on the right track now--it is +one of the police," M. Durant said to his friend. + +But M. Hersant only shook his head. + +"I acknowledge nothing of the sort," he said. "Come with me to the +mill-house to-night, and I will then tell you what I think." + +To this proposition M. Durant willingly agreed, and, accompanied by his +friend and the village priest, set off. On their arrival, M. Hersant +produced a big compass, and on the earth floor of the mill-house drew a +large circle, in which he made with white chalk various signs and +symbols. He then sat in the middle of it, and bade his two companions +stand in the doorway and watch. The night grew darker and darker, and +presently into the air stole a something that all three men at once +realized was supernatural. M. Hersant coughed nervously, the priest +crossed himself, and M. Durant called out, "This is getting ridiculous. +These mediæval proceedings are too absurd. Let us go home." The next +moment, from the far distance, a church clock began to strike. It was +midnight, and an impressive silence fell on the trio. Then there came a +noise like the flutterings of wings, a loud, blood-curdling scream, half +human and half animal, and a huge black owl, whirling down from the roof +of the building, perched in the circle directly in front of M. Hersant. + +"Pray, Father! Pray quickly," M. Hersant whispered. "Pray for the dead, +and sprinkle the circle with holy water." + +The priest, as well as his trembling limbs would allow, obeyed; +whereupon the bird instantly vanished. + +"For Heaven's sake," M. Durant gasped, "tell us what it all means." + +"Only this," M. Hersant said solemnly, "the phantasm we saw caused the +death of the Popenkoff family. It is the spirit of an owl that the +children, encouraged by their parents, killed in a most cruel manner. As +soon as I examined Marthe's body, I perceived the mutilations were due +to a bird; and when I visited this mill on the eve of my arrival, I knew +that a bird had once lived here; that it had been captured with lime and +murdered, and that it haunted the place." + +"How could you know that?" the priest exclaimed in astonishment. + +"I am clairvoyant. I saw the bird's ghost as it appeared to us just now. +Afterwards I enquired of the Popenkoffs' neighbours, and the information +I gathered fully confirmed my suspicions--that the unfortunate bird had +been put to death in a most barbarous manner. The deaths of the three +children laid to rest any doubt I may have had with regard to the +superphysical playing a part in the death of Marthe. Then when her +better-half had been served likewise, I was certain that all five +pseudo-murders were wholly and solely acts of retribution, and that they +were perpetrated--I am inclined to think involuntarily--by the spirit of +the owl itself. Accordingly, I decided to hold a séance here--here in +its old haunt, and if possible to put an end to the earth-bound +condition and wanderings of the soul of the unhappy bird. Thanks to +Father Mickledoff we have done so, and there will be no more so-called +murders near Orskaia." + + +_Hauntings by the Phantasms of Birds_ + +One of the most curious cases of hauntings by the phantasms of birds +happened towards the end of the eighteenth century in a church not +twenty miles from London. The sexton started the rumours, declaring that +he had heard strange noises, apparently proceeding from certain vaults +containing the tombs of two old and distinguished families. The noises, +which generally occurred on Friday nights, most often took the form of +mockings, suggesting to some of the listeners--the enaction of a murder, +and to others merely the flapping of wings. + +The case soon attracted considerable attention, people flocking to the +church from all over the country-side, and it was not long before +certain persons came forward and declared they had ascertained the cause +of the disturbance. The churchwarden, sexton, and his wife and others +all swore to seeing a huge crow pecking and clawing at the coffins in +the vaults, and flying about the chancel of the church, and perching on +the communion rails. When they tried to seize it, it immediately +vanished. + +An old lady, who came of a family of well-to-do yeomen, and who lived +near the church about that time, said that the people in the town had +for many years been convinced the church there was haunted by the +phantom of a bird, which they believed to be the earth-bound soul of a +murderer, who, owing to his wealth, was interred in the churchyard, +instead of being buried at the cross-roads with the customary wooden +stake driven through the middle of his body. This belief of the yokels +received some corroboration from a neighbouring squire, who said he had +seen the phantasm, and was quite positive it was the earth-bound soul of +a criminal whose family history was known to him, and whose remains lay +in the churchyard. + +This is all the information that I have been able to gather on the +subject, but it is enough to, at least, suggest the church was, at one +time, haunted by the phantom of a bird, but whether the earth-bound soul +of a murderer taking that guise, or the spirit of an actual dead bird, +it is impossible to say. + + +_The Ghost of an Evil Bird_ + +Henry Spicer, in his _Strange Things Amongst Us_, tells the story of a +Captain Morgan, an honourable and vivacious gentleman, who, arriving in +London in 18--, puts up for the night in a large, old-fashioned hotel. +The room in which he slept was full of heavy, antique furniture, +reminiscent of the days of King George I, one of the worst periods in +modern English history for crime. Despite, however, his grimly +suggestive surroundings, Captain Morgan quickly got into bed and was +soon asleep. He was abruptly awakened by the sound of flapping, and, on +looking up, he saw a huge black bird with outstretched wings and fiery +red eyes perched on the rail at the foot of the four-poster bed. + +The creature flew at him and endeavoured to peck his eyes. Captain +Morgan resisted, and after a desperate struggle succeeded in driving it +to a sofa in the corner of the room, where it settled down and regarded +him with great fear in its eyes. Determined to destroy it, he flung +himself on the top of it, when, to his surprise and terror, it +immediately crumbled into nothingness. He left the house early next +morning, convinced that what he had seen was a ghost, but Mr. Spicer +offers no explanation as to how one should classify the phenomenon. + +It may have been the earth-bound spirit of the criminal or viciously +inclined person who had once lived there, or it may have been the +phantom of an actual bird. Either alternative is feasible. + +I have heard there is an old house near Poole, in Dorset, and another in +Essex, which were formerly haunted by spectral birds, and that as late +as 1860 the phantasm of a bird, many times the size of a raven, was so +frequently seen by the inmates of a house in Dean Street, Soho, that +they eventually grew quite accustomed to it. But bird hauntings are not +confined to houses, and are far more often to be met with out of doors; +indeed there are very few woods, and moors, and commons that are not +subjected to them. I have constantly seen the spirits of all manner of +birds in the parks in Dublin and London. Greenwich Park, in particular, +is full of them. + + +_Addendum to Birds and the Unknown_ + +Though their unlovely aspect and solitary mode of life may in some +measure account for the prejudice and suspicion with which the owl, +crow, raven, and one or two other birds have always been regarded, there +are undoubtedly other and more subtle reasons for their unpopularity. + +The ancients without exception credited these birds with psychic +properties. + +"Ignarres bubo dirum mortalibus omen," said Ovid; whilst speaking of the +fatal prognostications of the crow Virgil wrote: + + "Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix." + +A number of crows are stated to have fluttered about Cicero's head on +the day he was murdered. + +Pliny says, "These birds, crows and rooks, all of them keep much +prattling, and are full of chat, which most men take for an unlucky sign +and presage of ill-fortune." + +Ramesay, in his work _Elminthologia_ (1688), writes: + +"If a crow fly over the house and croak thrice, how do they fear they, +or someone else in the family, shall die." + +The bittern is also a bird of ill omen. Alluding to this bird, Bishop +Hall once said: + +"If a bittern flies over this man's head by night, he will make his +will"; whilst Sir Humphry Davy wrote: + +"I know a man of very high dignity who was exceedingly moved by omens, +and who never went out shooting without a bittern's claw fastened to his +button-hole by a riband, which he thought ensured him 'good luck.'" + +Ravens and swallows both, at times, prognosticate death. In Lloyd's +_Stratagems of Jerusalem_ (1602) he says: + +"By swallows lighting upon Pirrhus' tents, and lighting upon the mast of +Mar. Antonius' ship, sailing after Cleopatra to Egypt, the soothsayers +did prognosticate that Pirrhus should be slaine at Argos in Greece, and +Mar. Antonius in Egypt." + +He alludes to swallows following Cyrus from Persia to Scythia, from +which the "wise men" foretold his death. Ravens followed Alexander the +Great from India to Babylon, which was regarded by all who saw them as a +fatal sign. + +"'Tis not for nought that the raven sings now on my left and, croaking, +has once scraped the earth with his feet," wrote Plautus. + +Other references to the same bird are as follows: + + "The raven himself is hoarse + That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan + Under my battlements."--(_Macbeth._) + + "It comes o'er my memory + As doth the raven o'er the infected house, + Boding to all."--(_Othello._) + + "That tolls + The sick man's passport in her hollow beak, + And in the shadow of the silent night + Doth shake contagion from her sable wings." + (_Jew of Malta._) + + "Is it not ominous in all countries where crows + and ravens croak upon trees?"--(_Hudibras._) + + "The boding raven on her cottage sat, + And with hoarse croakings warned us of our fate." + (_The Dirge._) + +"In Cornwall," writes Mr. Hunt, in his work on popular beliefs, etc., of +the West of England, "it is believed that the croaking of a raven over +the house bodes evil to some of the family. The following incident, +given to me by a really intelligent man, illustrates the feeling: + +"'One day our family were much annoyed by the continual croaking of a +raven over the house. Some of us believed it to be a token; others +derided the idea. But one good lady, our next-door neighbour, said: + +"'"Just mark the day, and see if something does not come of it." + +"'The day and hour were carefully noted. Months passed away, and +unbelievers were loud in their boastings and enquiries after the token. +The fifth month arrived, and with it a black-edged letter from +Australia, announcing the death of one of the members of the family in +that country. On comparing the dates of the death and the raven's croak, +they were found to have occurred on the same day.'" + +In an old number of _Notes and Queries_ a correspondent relates that in +Somersetshire the appearance of a single jackdaw is regarded as a sure +prognostication of evil. He goes on to add that the men employed in the +quarries in the Avon Gorge, Clifton, Bristol, had more than once noticed +a jackdaw perched on the chain that spanned the river, prior to some +catastrophe among them. + +Dead magpies were once hung over the doorways of haunted houses to keep +away ghosts; it being almost universally believed that all phantasms +shared the same dread of this bird. Ghosts of magpies themselves are, +however, far from uncommon; on Dartmoor and Exmoor, for example, I have +seen several of them, generally in the immediate vicinity of bogs or +deep holes. + +Witches were much attached to this bird, and were said to often assume +its shape after death. + +"Magpies," says Mr. William Jones, in his _Credulities, Past and +Present_, "are mysterious everywhere. A lady living near Carlstad, in +Sweden, grievously offended a farm woman who came into the court of her +house asking for food. The woman was told 'to take that magpie hanging +upon the wall and eat it.' She took the bird and disappeared, with an +evil glance at the lady, who had been so ill-advised as to insult a +Finn, whose magical powers, it is well known, far exceed those of the +gipsies." (Other authorities corroborate this statement; and I have +heard it said that the Finns can surpass even the famous tricks of the +Indians.) Mr. Jones, in the same story, says: "Presently the number +increased, and the lady, who at first had been amused, became troubled, +and tried to drive them away by various devices. All was to no purpose. +She could not move without a large company of magpies; and they became +at length so daring as to hop on her shoulder." (This reads like +hallucination. However, as I have heard of similar cases, in which there +has been no doubt as to the objectivity of the phenomena, I see no +reason why these magpies should not have been objective too.) "Then she +took to her bed in a room with closed shutters, although even this was +not an effectual protection, for the magpies kept tapping at the +shutters day and night." Mr. Jones adds: "The lady's death is not +recorded; but it is fully expected that, die when she may, all the +magpies of Wermland will be present at her funeral." + +There is a house in Great Russell Street, W.C., where the hauntings take +the form of a magpie that taps at one of the windows every morning +between two and three, and then appears inside the room, perched on what +looks like a huge alpine stick, suspended horizontally in the air, about +seven feet from the floor. The moment a sound is made the apparition +vanishes. It is thought to be the spirit of a magpie that was done to +death in a very cruel manner in that room many years ago. There is a +story current to the effect that a lady, when visiting the British +Museum one day, happened to pass some slighting remark about one of the +Egyptian mummy cases (not the notorious one), and that on quitting the +building she felt a sharp peck on her neck. She put up her hand to the +injured part, and felt the distinct impression of a bird's claw on it. +She could see nothing, however. That night--and for every succeeding +night for six weeks--she was awakened at two o'clock by the phantom of +an enormous magpie that fluttered over the bed, and was clearly visible +to herself and her sister. The phenomenon worried her so that she became +ill, and was eventually ordered abroad. She went to Cairo and enjoyed a +brief respite; the hauntings, however, began again, and this time became +so persistent that she at last lost her reason, and had to be brought +home and confined in a private asylum, where she shortly afterwards +died. Though I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, I do think it +is somewhat risky to make fun of certain of the Egyptian relics in the +Museum. They may be haunted by something infinitely more alarming than +the ghosts of magpies. There are many sayings respecting the magpie as a +harbinger of ill luck. In Lancashire, for example, there is this rhyme: + + "One for anger, two for mirth, + Three for a wedding, four for a birth, + Five for rich, six for poor, + Seven for a witch, I dare tell you no more." + +From further north comes this couplet: + + "Magpie, magpie, chatter and flee, + Turn up thy tail, and good luck fall me." + +Rooks, again, are very psychic birds; they always leave their haunts +near an old house shortly before a death takes place in it, because +their highly developed psychic faculty of scent enables them to detect +the advent of the phantom of death, of which they have the greatest +horror. A rook is of great service, when investigating haunted houses, +as it nearly always gives warning of the appearance of the Unknown by +violent flappings of the wings, loud croaking, and other unmistakable +symptoms of terror. + +Owls, though no less sensitive to superphysical influence, are not +scared by it; they and bats, alone among the many kinds of animals I +have tested, take up their abode in haunted localities, and with the +utmost sang-froid appear to enjoy the presence of the Unknown, even in +its most terrifying form. + +The owl has been associated with the darker side of the Unknown longer +than any other bird. + +"Solaque, culminibus ferali carmine bubo. Saepe queri et longas in +fletum ducere voces," writes Virgil. + +Pliny, in describing this bird, says, "bubo funebris et maxime +abominatus"; whilst Chaucer writes: "The owl eke that of death the bode +ybringeth." + +In the Arundel family a white owl is said to be a sure indication of +death. + +That Shakespeare attached no little importance to the fatal crying of +the bird may be gathered from the scene in _Macbeth_, when the murderer +asks: + +"Didst thou not hear a noise?" and Lady Macbeth answers: + +"I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry"; and the scene in _Richard +III_, where Richard interrupts a messenger of evil news with the words: + +"Out on ye, owls! Nothing but songs of death?" + +Gray speaks of "moping" owls; Chatterton exclaims, "Harke! the dethe +owle loude dothe synge"; whilst Hogarth introduces the same bird in the +murder scene of his _Four Stages of Cruelty_. + +Nor is the belief in the sinister prophetic properties of the owl +confined to the white races; we find it everywhere--among the Red +Indians. West Africans, Siamese, and Aborigines of Australia. + +In Cornwall, and in other corners of the country, the crowing of a cock +at midnight was formerly regarded as indicating the passage of death +over the house; also if a cock crew at a certain hour for two or three +nights in succession, it was thought to be a sure sign of early death to +some member of the household. In _Notes and Queries_ a correspondent +remarks that crowing hens are not uncommon, that their crow is very +similar to the crow of a very young cock, and must be taken as a certain +presagement of some dire calamity. + +It was generally held that in all haunted localities the ghosts would at +once vanish--not to appear again till the following night--at the first +crowing of the cock after midnight. I believe there is a certain amount +of truth in this--at all events cocks, as I myself have proved, are +invariably sensitive to the presence of the superphysical. + +The whistler is also a very psychic bird. Spenser, in his _Faerie +Queene_ (Book II, canto xii, st. 31), alludes to it thus:-- + + "The whistler shrill, that whoso hears doth die"; + +whilst Sir Walter Scott refers to it in a similar sense in his _Lady of +the Lake_. + +The yellow-hammer was formerly the object of much persecution, since it +was believed that it received three drops of the devil's blood on its +feather every May morning, and never appeared without presaging ill +luck. Parrots do not appear to be very susceptible to the influence of +the Unknown, and indicate little or no dread of superphysical +demonstrations. + +Doves, wrens, and robins are birds of good omen, and the many +superstitions regarding them are all associated with good luck. Doves, I +have found in particular, are very safe psychic barometers in haunted +houses. + +It is almost universally held to be unlucky to kill a robin. A +correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (Fourth Series, vol. viii, p. 505) +remarks: + +"I took the following down from the mouth of a young miner: + +"'My father killed a robin and had terrible bad luck after it. He had at +that time a pig which was ready for pipping; she had a litter of seven, +and they all died. When the pig was killed the two hams went bad; +presently three of the family had a fever, and my father himself died of +it. The neighbours said it was all through killing the robin.'" + +George Smith, in his _Six Pastorals_ (1770), says: + + "I found a robin's nest within our shed, + And in the barn a wren has young ones bred; + I never take away their nest, nor try + To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die. + Dick took a wren's nest from the cottage side, + And ere a twelvemonth pass'd his mother dy'd!" + +In Yorkshire it was once firmly believed that if a robin were killed, +the cows belonging to the family of the destroyer of the bird would, +for some time, only give bloody milk. At one time--and, perhaps, even +now--the robin and wren, out of sheer pity, used to cover the bodies of +those that died in the woods with leaves. + +Webster, in his _Tragedy of Vittoria Corombona_ (1612), refers to this +touching habit of these birds thus: + + "Call for the robin redbreast and the wren, + Since o'er the shady groves they hover, + And with leaves and flowers do cover + The friendless bodies of unburied men." + +Not so harmless is the stormy petrel, whose advent is looked upon by +sailors as a sure sign of an impending storm, accompanied by much loss +of life. + +The vulture and eagle, obviously on account of their ferocious +dispositions, often remain earth-bound after death, and usually select +as their haunts, spots little frequented by man. From what I have heard +they are by far the most malignant of all bird ghosts, and have even +been known to inflict physical injury on those who have had the +misfortune to pass the night within their allotted precincts. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BRIEF RETROSPECT + + +If I have failed to convince my readers as to the reality of a future +existence for all species of mammalia, I trust I have at least suggested +to them the idea of probability in such a theory; for did the belief +that all animals possess imperishable spirits similar to mankind only +become general, I feel quite sure that a marked improvement in our +treatment of all the so-called "brute" creation--and God alone knows how +much such an improvement is needed--would speedily result. It is still +only the comparative few who are kind to animals--the majority are +either wholly indifferent or absolutely cruel. But if children were made +to realize that even insects have spirits, they, at least, let us hope, +would cease to take delight in pulling off the wings and legs of flies. + +Man has hitherto entertained the ridiculously unjustifiable idea that +all the animal and insect world has been created solely for his benefit, +to be killed or to be kept alive entirely at his discretion. Such an +absurd and presumptuous belief ought to be exploded once and for all. +The animal world, so all sane people must agree, was undoubtedly created +to lead the same, free, untrammelled life as does man himself. Man--save +in cunning--is nothing superior either to the dog, horse, or other +mammalia; indeed, he is not infrequently so inferior that one cannot +help thinking that possibly the higher spiritual planes are not for him +at all, but for those who--misnamed the lower creation--have surpassed +man in spirituality. Let those who doubt this study the superphysical +all around them. Let them carefully watch animals, and observe their +propensities, their psychic faculties of scent, sight, and hearing. They +can easily test them in any house or locality which has a +well-established reputation for being haunted. They will then see how +close a relationship there really is between the animal and +superphysical worlds. And if they want further proof,--proof of a more +material nature,--let them search around for some spot stated to be +haunted by a ghostly phenomenon in the form of a dog, horse, cat, or +other animal,--and investigate there themselves. + +Such investigations have convinced me, and surely, by using these same +methods with patience and perseverance, other people might also be +convinced. At all events, let them try. For, a conviction like mine--a +conviction that an eternity exists for our canine pets and dumb +friends--is certainly worth a lot of striving after. At least so I +think. + + + +PRINTED BY + +WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. + +PLYMOUTH + + + + +STRANGER THAN FICTION + +Being Tales from the Byways of Ghost and Folk-lore + +By MARY L. LEWES + +Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 234 pp., 3s. 6d. net. + +"There is much curious matter in the volume well narrated."--_The +Times._ + +"Has a thrill on every page."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"Everybody ... likes a good ghost story, and in the volume before us the +author has many an entertaining one to tell."--_The Globe._ + +"An interesting collection ... quite worth adding to one's library of +the marvellous and mysterious."--_T.P.S. Book Notes._ + +"We have not, for a very long time, come across a book that interested +us so much as this did."--_Sheffield Daily Telegraph._ + + +SHADOWS CAST BEFORE + +An Anthology of Prophecies and Presentiments + +Collected and Edited by CLAUD FIELD + +Author of "A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations," "Tales of the Caliphs." + +Crown 8vo, xii + 223 pp., cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net. + +The present collection of anticipations fulfilled seems by its +cumulative weight to supply a strong _prima facie_ case for the view +that in some men, at any rate, there is a sixth sense to which on +occasions the future is revealed. + +"Stories which range from Cicero to Mlle Louisette the tight-rope +dancer. If you like to read about wonderful and uncanny warnings, +'Shadows Cast Before' is full of them."--_The Tatler._ + + +RE-INCARNATION: A Study of Forgotten Truth + +By E.D. WALKER + +Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net. + +CONTENTS.--Introduction--What is Re-incarnation?--Western Evidences of +Re-incarnation--Western Poets upon Re-incarnation--Re-incarnation among +the Ancients--Re-incarnation in the Bible--Re-incarnation in the East +To-day--Eastern Poetry of Re-incarnation--Esoteric Oriental +Re-incarnation--Transmigration through Animals--Death, Heaven, +and Hell: What then of?--Karma, the Companion Truth of +Re-incarnation--Conclusion--Appendix--Bibliography of Re-incarnation. + +"Metempsychosis is the only anti-materialistic theory that philosophy +can hearken to."--DAVID HUME. + +"Scarcely less interesting as an anthology of prose and verse extracts +about Re-incarnation from ancient and modern writers, than as a detailed +exposition of the theory itself."--_Athenæum._ + + +WILLIAM RIDER AND SON, LTD. + +8-11 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Animal Ghosts, by Elliott O'Donnell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAL GHOSTS *** + +***** This file should be named 18233-8.txt or 18233-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/3/18233/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Graeme Mackreth and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + |