True Ghost Stories BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON Author of "The 'Physical 'Phenomena of Spiritualism,' * "The Coming Science, " "Death: its Causes and 'Phenomena, " "Death Deferred, " etc. m NEW YORK THE J.& OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY 57 ROSE STREET *£ Copyright, 1915, by J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANT DEC I 1915 >CI.A416636 A* ut from under her head, and landed in the center of the floor. It was replaced, but again flew out, hitting Mr. Teed in the face. Three deafening reports then shook the house; after which all manifestations ceased for the night. The next night, these manifestations were re- peated; the bed-clothes flew off, in view of all; and in the midst of this, the sound of scratching became audible, as of a metallic object scraping plaster. "All looked at the wall whence the sound of writing came, when, to their great as- tonishment, there could be plainly read these words: 'Esther Cox, you are mine to kill.' Every person in the room could see the writing plainly, and yet but a moment before nothing was to be seen but the plain kalsomined wall ! . . TRUE GHOST STORIES 179 These things continued day after day, and were seen by many persons. Articles would be thrown about the house; Dr. Carrittee, the family physician, saw "a bucket of cold water become agitated, and, to all appearances, boil while standing on the kitchen table. " A voice was heard, in the atmosphere of the house, talk- ing to Esther ; and telling her all manner of hor- rible things. Soon after this, to the consterna- tion of all present, "all saw a lighted match fall from the ceiling to the bed, having come out of the air, which would certainly have set the bed- clothing on fire, had not Jennie put it out in- stantly. During the next two minutes, eight or ten lighted matches fell on the bed and about the room, out of the air, but were all extin- guished before anything could be set fire by them. . . . " This fire-raising continued for several days. The family would smell smoke, and, on running up into the bedroom, they would find a bundle of clothes placed in the center of the floor, blaz- ing. Or they would descend to the cellar; and there find a pile of shavings alight and blazing merrily. They lived in constant danger of hav- ing the house burned over their heads. Soon after this, things got so bad that Esther Cox had to leave home, and went to visit a friend 180 TRUE GHOST STORIES by the name of White, in the hope that the manifestations would cease, when she was re- moved from her own home. For four weeks things went well ; then they began again just as ever. Knocks and raps were heard all over the house, which answered questions asked them; and told the amount of money people had in their pockets, etc. Articles of furniture were thrown about ; voices sounded ; and, worst of all, Esther now began to see the ghost; and de- scribed it to those about her. Among other ter- rifying phenomena, which took place at Mr. Whites' house, the following should be men- tioned — " . . . A clasp-knife belonging to little Fred- eric White was taken from his hand, while he was whittling something, by the devilish ghost, who instantly stabbed Esther in the back with it, leaving the knife sticking in the wound, which was bleeding profusely. Frederic pulled the bloody knife from the wound, wiped it, closed it and put it in his pocket, which he had no sooner done than the ghost obtained posses- sion of it again and, quick as a flash of light- ning, stuck it into the same wound. . . . " Some person tried the experiment of placing three or four large iron spikes on Esther's lap while she was seated in the dining-saloon. To TRUE GHOST STORIES 181 the unutterable astonishment of Mr. White, Erederic and other persons present, the spikes were not instantly removed, as it was expected they would be, but, instead, remained on her lap until they became too hot to be handled with comfort, when they were thrown by the ghost to the far end of the saloon — a distance of twenty feet. This fact was fully corroborated. It was at this stage of the proceedings that the spot was visited by Walter Hubbell, an actor, who remained some time in Amherst, studying the case, and who has written a whole book about it — "The Great Amherst Mystery." On the night of his arrival, they all sat round a ta- ble, in full light, to see what they could see, and knocks and raps resounded immediately. "We could all hear even the scratching sound of in- visible human finger nails, and the dull sounds produced by the hands, as they rubbed the ta- ble, and struck it with invisible, clenched fists, in knocking in response to questions." The next day, Mr. Hubbell records the follow- ing facts, among others : "I had been seated about five minutes when, to my great astonish- ment, my umbrella was thrown a distance of six- teen feet, passing over my head in its strange flight, and almost at the same instant a large carving knife came whizzing through the air, 182 TEUE GHOST STORIES passing over Esther's head, who was just then coming out of the pantry with a large dish in both hands, and fell in front of her, near me — having come from behind her out of the pantry. I naturally went to the door and looked in, but no person was there. "After dinner I lay down on the sofa in the parlor ; Esther was in the room seated near the center in a rocking chair. . I did not sleep, but lay with my eyes only partially closed so that I could see her. While lynig there a large glass paper-weight, weighing fully a pound, came whizzing through the air from a corner of the room, where I had previously noticed it on an ornamental shelf, a distance of some twelve or fifteen feet from the sofa. Had it struck my head, I should surely have been killed, so great was the force with which it was thrown. . . . "On Monday, June 23, they commenced again with great violence. At breakfast, the lid of the sugar bowl was heard to fall on the floor. Mrs. Teed, Esther and myself searched for it for fully five minutes, and had abandoned our search as useless, when all three saw it fall from the ceil- ing. I saw it, just before it fell, and it was at the moment suspended in the air about one foot from the ceiling. No one was within five feet of it at the time. The table knives were then TRUE GHOST STORIES 183 thrown upon the floor, the chairs pitched over, and after breakfast the dining-table fell over on its side, rugs upon the floor were slid about, and the whole room literally turned into a pan- demonium, so filled with dust that I went into the parlor. Just as I got inside the parlor door a large flower pot, containing a plant in full bloom, was taken from among Jennie's flowers on the stand near the window; and in a second, a tin pail, with a handle, was brought half -filled with water from the kitchen and placed beside the plant on the floor, both in the center of the parlor, and put there by a ghost. Just think of such a thing happening while the sun was shin- ing, and only a few minutes before I had seen this same tin pail from the dining-room hanging on a nail in the kitchen, empty ! And yet people say, and thousands believe, that there are no haunted houses! What a great mistake they make in so asserting ; but then they never lived in a gneuine one, where there was an invisible power that had full and complete sway. By all the demons ! When I read the accounts now in my ' Journal/ from which my experience is cop- ied, I am almost speechless with wonder that I ever lived to behold such sights. . . . "On this same day, Esther's face was slapped by the ghosts, so that the marks of fingers could 184 TRUE GHOST STORIES be plainly seen — just exactly as if a human hand had slapped her face; these slaps could be plainly heard by all present. I heard them dis- tinctly, time and again. . . . "On Thursday, June 26, Jennie and Esther told me that the night before Bob, the demon, had been in their room again. They stated he had stuck them with pins and marked them from head to foot with crosses. I saw some of the crosses, which were bloody marks, scratched upon their hands, necks and arms. It was a sad sight. During the entire day, I was busy pull- ing pins out of Esther ; they came out of the air from all quarters, and were stuck into all the exposed portions of her person, even the h^ad, and inside of her ears. Maggie, the ghost, took quite an interest in me, and came to my room at night, while the lamp was burning, and knocked on the headboard of my bed and on the wall near the bed, which was not next to the room oc- cupied by the girls, but on an outside wall fac- ing the stable. I carried on a most interesting conversation with her, asking a great many questions which were answered by knocks. . . . "A trumpet was heard in the house all day. The sound came from within the atmosphere — I can give no other description of its effect on our sense of hearing. ... I wish to state, most TKUE GHOST STOKIES 185 emphatically, that I could tell the difference in the knocks made by each ghost just as well as if they had spoken. The knocks made by Maggie were delicate and soft, as if made by a woman's hand, while those made by Bob Mckle were loud and strong, denoting great strength and evi- dently large hands. When he knocked with those terrible sledge-hammer blows, he certainly must have used a large rock or some other heavy object, for such loud knocks were not produced with hard knuckles. . . . " In July the phenomena became so bad that the landlord came and told the Teed family that either Esther would have to go, or they would all have to leave the house. It was decided that Esther should go, which she did, visiting some friends by the name of Van Amburgh. From the time she left her home the second time, she was never afterwards troubled with the ghosts. Some years later, she married and went to live in another town — where she was interviewed by the present writer in 1907. This account was sworn to by Mr. Hubbell be- fore a notary public, and he asserts under oath that every word of the account is true. He has also produced the written confirmatory testi- mony of a score of still-living witnesses of the phenomena in Amherst. 186 TKUE GHOST STOKIES A very similar case occurred in Tennessee, in 1818, and is recorded in full by M. V. Ingram, in his book, "The Bell Witch." Many other cases of a like nature are to be found in the "History of the Supernatural." For ghosts of the dead Through Infinite ages Have wandered and lurked In earth's atmosphere; Watchful and eager For victims to torture To follow and Mil, Or make tremble with fear. Yes, ghosts of the dead Revengeful and evil, Still come in hordes From the Stygian shore; Entering houses To torment our maidens Burning and wrecking Our homes evermore. BROOK HOUSE The following case is given in full by Mr. W. T. Stead in his Real Ghost Stories, and I extract from his narrative some of the most TEUE GHOST ST DRIES 187 striking and interesting passages. It is a truly remarkable narrative, well worthy of careful perusal. Mr. Ralph Hastings, of Broadmeadow, Teign* mouth, wrote in October, 1891, enclosing the fol- lowing extracts from his diary, which he had kept in the haunted house : "I was spending some months of the summer of '73 at a favorite watering place in the S.E. coast. One afternoon I went to visit some old friends who lived in an old house which stood in a quadrangle, and was approached from the church by a narrow lane. Brook House was a commodious, red-brick structure of three stories, faced by a Court, with its ground-floor windows, unseen from the outside by reason of the lofty wall which encircled them. "On the day in question, as I approached the house from the Church side, I happened ta glance at the window to the right on the second floor. There I saw, to my astonishment, the apparent figure of Miss B., standing partially dressed, arranging her hair and looking in- tently at me. On entering the house, I was at once shown into the drawing-room, and I found Miss B. reading. In reply to my question, she told me she had been there an hour! "My curiosity was now fully aroused, and I 188 TRUE GHOST STORIES went to the house the next day, July 4, accom- panied by a lady, a mutual friend. We went up into the room in which I had seen the figure, threw the window open — it being very hot — looking on to the garden, and then went down- stairs into the drawing-room, where we had some music. We went up again in about half an hour's time. The window was shut. . . . We went back into the garden, and looked up at the window. Presently, to our horror, a figure ap- peared resembling Miss B., yet most unlike her — its fearful eyes were gazing at me without movement and totally expressionless. What, then, caused the arresting of the heart's pulsa- tion (as it felt) and blood — that the moment be- fore had burnt as it coursed madly through the veins — to be chilled to ice? This — one was face to face with a spirit, and withered by the con- tact. Those eyes — I can see them — I can feel them — after a lapse of nearly twenty years. Miss B. had incontinently fainted when she saw the shoulders (as she described it) of the figure. I continued gazing spellbound; like the 'Wed- ding Guest' I was held by the spirit's eye, and I could not choose but look. The dreadful hands were lifted automatically; they rested on the window sash. It came partly down, stayed a moment, then noiselessly closed, and I saw a TEUE GHOST STORIES 189 hand rise and clasp it. I gazed steadfastly throughout. What impressed me strangely wa& this peculiarity, that as soon as the sash had passed the face the latter vanished, the hands remained ; the unreality of the actual movement of the window, as it descended, also seemed to contradict me: it suggested (for want of a bet- ter comparison) the mechanical passage of stage scenery, and some sorts of toys that are pulled by wires; it made no noise whatever. Now I distinctly recognized the shape as that of Rhoda, Miss B.'s elder sister, who had been dead some twelve years. . . . We looked again, and saw the backs of two hands on the outside of the window, but they did not move it. "We then went in, coming out again almost directly, and saw the window nearly closed; then went upstairs into the room; and again I flung the window as wide open as it would go, and before leaving set the door open, with a heavy chair against it; but previous to this (I omitted to mention) as we were looking up at the window after the appearance of the hands, we saw a horrible object come from the right (the apparition invariably did) ; it resembled a large, white bundle, called by Miss B., who had before seen it, 'The Headless Woman'; it came in front of the window and then began walking 190 TEUE GHOST STORIES backwards and forwards. After a lapse of half an hour, we went upstairs again, and found the chair by the window, and the door closed ; where- upon I wrote 'It' a letter to this effect: 'Miss B. and Mr. H. present their compliments to the "Lady Headless" and request her acceptance of this fruit from their garden; they hope it will please, as she has often been seen admiring it. A reply will oblige, but the bearer does not wait for the answer.' We put the chair once more against the window, placing the fruit and note on it ; two or three times we went up, but noth- ing had changed. "We then went and stood outside the summer house, whence a clear view of the window could be obtained; presently there came forward the headless figure; and distinctly bowed two or three times, then immediately afterwards a deaf- ening slam of the door. The apex of this figure, which was rotund, i.e., headless, once or twice dilated, and we feared seeing something, we knew not what ; it then vanished, and we saw a beautiful arm come from the curtain and wave to us. Upstairs again, the door was shut; on entering we saw the chair overturned in the mid- dle of the room, the fruit scattered in all direc- tions, and, to our horror, the note, which I had folded crosswise, was charred at each corner. TRUE GHOST STORIES 191 I took it up ; but lacked the courage to open, and perhaps find a possible reply. Placing it in a plate I burnt it. The process was a very slow one ; and it distilled a dark mucus. "The whimsical idea now possesed me to ar- range the room like a theatre, the armchair and others I placed facing the stand ; on them I laid antimacassars, and books for programmes. We then went down to the end of the garden which commanded a view of the room, and looked: blank space, nothing more — stay! A curious filmy vapor begins to float in the air, which slowly cohered, evolved vague phantasms; they unite, and gradually assume a definite shape. The headless woman fronts us at the window, she vanishes, and an immense sheet is waved twice or thrice from the right side of the win- dow, something is flung out; we walk quickly up the garden and there, under the window, lies one of the books. What had hastened our steps was the frantic gesticulating of the servant. She was frightened out of her senses by the pe- culiar sounds proceeding from the room; but she could not describe them, saying that they seemed to be a terrible hurrying to and fro, ac- companied by strange noises. . . . We took the Bible and entered the room, which was in disorder : the flower-stand was thrown down, the 192 TRUE GHOST STORIES two chairs widely apart, one of the antimacas- sars was tightly folded up under the recumbent towel horse, the other with the towel was airing itself on the gigantic tree some seven feet from the window. . . . "The next day we went into the room, and discovered an impression in the bed, as though some 'thing' had lain in it. On closer inspec- tion, we distinctly saw the coverlet gently mov- ing, resembling the very gentle respiration of a body beneath. We returned to the garden, hav- ing thrown open the window. After waiting for a long time, we saw what looked like a hand ap- pear on the center of the window sill, then from the curtain came the white figure. "It disappeared and after a moment or two the hand also ; but there must have been a some- thing besides crouching under the window, for it heaved upwards and seemed to fill the window for an instant. It then sank, the hand van- ished, and we saw no more. We waited a long time, till I spoke of going. I had noticed as a curious thing that almost always, when I had wearied of looking, seeing nothing and about to leave, something was sure to happen. . . . "This ends my personal experiences. My health became impaired, and for upwards of two years I was invalided, but as time wore on TEUE GHOST STORIES 193 and the impressions waned, I gradually recov- ered. I often wander back in imagination to the many mysteries that in the long ago held sway at Brook House." 194 TRUE GHOST STORIES CHAPTER V GHOST STORIES OF A MORE DRAMATIC NATURE In the cases which are adduced in the present chapter, the standard of evidence cannot be con- sidered so high; many of them have been re- corded in good faith as actual experiences, but they will probably fail to carry conviction to the same etxent as those which have gone before. Still, many of these narratives are singularly striking and interesting ; and for this reason de- serve to be included in this volume. The reader may therefore place any construction he may choose upon these cases; as they are presented not as evidence but as entertainment. I shall l)egin with some personal experiences of a Scotch seer, who, according to his own accounts, has experienced some of the most dramatic and re- markable manifestations conceivable. DISEASE-PHANTOMS Mr. Elliott O'Donnell — a man about whom it has been said that "the gates of his soul are TRUE GHOST STORIES 195 open on the Hell side/' has had many strange experiences with spirits, mostly evil and horri- ble, and has recorded these in his books "Ghostly Phenomena," "Byways of Ghostland," etc. From his voluminous writings on his own per- sonal experiences, I cite a few cases, to show the character of the phenomena : "I have, from time to time, witnessed many manifestations which I believe to be super-phys- ical, both from the peculiarity of their proper- ties, and from the effect their presence inva- riably produce on me — an effect I cannot asso- ciate with anything physical. One of the first occult phenomena I remember, appeared to me when I was about five years of age. I was then living in a town in the West of England, and had, according to the usual custom, been put to bed at six o'clock. I had spent a very happy day, playing with my favorite toys — soldiers — and, not being in the least degree tired, was amusing myself with planning a fresh campaign for the following morning, when I noticed sud- denly that the bedroom door (which I distinctly remember my nurse carefully latching) was slowly opening. Thinking this was very cu- rious, but without the slightest suspicion of 'ghosts,' I sat up in bed and watched. "The door continued to open, and at last I 196 TKTJE GHOST STOEIES caught sight of something so extraordinary that my guilty conscience at once associated it with the Devil — with regard to whom I distinctly rec- ollected to have spoken that afternoon in a sceptical, and I frankly admit, very disrespect- ful manner. But far from feeling the proximity of that heat which all those who profess author- ity on Satanic matters ascribe to Satan, I felt decidedly cold — so cold, indeed, that my hands grew numb and my teeth chattered. At first I only saw two light glittering eyes that fixed themselves upon me with an expression of dia- bolical glee, but I was soon able to perceive that they were set in a huge, flat face, covered with fulsome-looking yellow spots about the size of a threepenny bit. I do not remember noticing any of the other features, save the mouth, which was large and gaping. The body to which the head was attached was quite nude, and covered all over with spots similar to those on the face. ] cannot recall any arms, though I have vivid recollections of two thick and, to all appear- ances, jointless legs, by the use of which it left the doorway, and gliding noiselessly over the carpet, approached the empty bed, placed in a parallel position to my own. There it halted, and thrusting its mis-shapen head forward, it fixed its malevolent eyes on me with a penetrat- TKUE GHOST STOEIES 197 ing stare. On this occasion, I was far less f right- than on any of my subsequent experiences with the occult. Why, I cannot say, as the manifes- tation was certainly one of the most hideous I have ever seen. My curiosity, however, was far greater than my fear, and I kept asking myself what the thing was, and why it was there? "It did not seem to be composed of ordinary flesh and blood, but rather of some luminous matter that resembles the light emanating from a glow-worm. "After remaining in the same attitude for what seemed to me an incalculably long time, it gradually receded, and assuming all of a sudden a horizontal attitude, passed head first through the wall opposite to where I sat. Next day, I made a sketch of the apparition, and showed it to my relatives, who, of course, told me I had been dreaming. About two weeks later I was ill in bed with a painful, if not actually danger- ous, disease. I was giving an account of this manifestation at a lecture I delivered two or three years ago in B., and when I had finished speaking, I was called aside by one of the au- dience who very shyly told me that he too had had a similar experience. Prior to being at- tacked by diphtheria, he had seen a queer-look- ing apparition which had approached his bedside 198 TKUE GHOST STOKIES and leaned over him. He assured me that he had been fully awake at the time, and had ap- plied tests to prove that the phantom was en- tirely objective. "A number of other cases, too, have been re- ported to me, in which various species of phan- tasms have been seen before various illnesses. Hence I believe that certain spirits are symbol- ical of certain diseases, if not the actual creat- ors of the bacilli from which these diseases arise. To these pantasms I have given the name of Morbas. . . . " THE TALE OF THE MUMMY "During one of my sojourns in Paris/' says Mr. Elliott O'Donnell, in his "Byways of Ghost Land," "I met a Frenchman who, he informed me, had just returned from the East. I asked him if he had brought back any curios such as vases, funeral urns, weapons or amulets. 'Yes, lots/ he replied, 'two cases full. But no mum- mies! Mon Dieu! No mummies. You ask me why? Ah! Thereby hangs a tale. If you will have patience, I will tell it you.' "The following is the gist of his narrative: " 'Some seasons ago I traveled up the Nile as far as Assiut, and when there, managed to pay TRUE GHOST STORIES 199 a visit to the grand ruins of Thebes. Among the various treasures I brought away with me was a mummy. I found it lying in an enormous lid- less sarcophagus, close to a mutilated statue of Anubis. On my return to Assiut, I had the mummy placed in my tent, and thought no more of it till something awoke me with startling sud- denness in the night. Then, obeying a peculiar impulse, I turned over on my side and looked in the direction of my treasure. " 'The nights in the Soudan at this time of year are brilliant, one can even see to read, and every object in the desert is almost as clearly visible as by day. But I was quite startled by the whiteness of the glow which rested on the mummy, the face of which was immediately op- posite mine. The remains — those of Met-Om- Karema, lady of the College of the god Amen-ra — were swathed in bandages, some of which had worn away in parts or become loose; and the figure, plainly discernible, was that of a shapely woman with elegant bust, well-formed limbs, rounded arms and small hands. The thumbs were slender, and the fingers, each of which was separately bandaged, long and tapering. The neck was full, the cranium rather long, the nose aquiline, the chin firm. Imitation eyes, brows, and lips were painted on the wrappings, and the 20Q TRUE GHOST STORIES ^effect thus produced and in the phosphorescent glare of the moonbeams, was very weird. I was quite alone in the tent, the only European who accompanied me to Assiut, having stayed in the town by preference, and my servants being en- camped at one hundred or so yards from me on the ground. " 'Sound travels far in the desert, but the si- lence now was absolute, and, though I listened attentively, I could not detect the slightest noise — man, beast and insect were abnormally still. There was something in the air, too, which struck me as unusual; an odd, clammy coldness that reminded me at once of the catacombs in Paris. I had hardly, however, conceived the re- semblance, when a sob — low, gentle, but very distinct — sent a thrill of horror through me. It w^as ridiculous, absurd. It could not be, and I fought against the idea as to whence the sound had proceeded, as something too utterly fantas- tic, too utterly impossible. I tried to occupy my mind with other thoughts — the frivolities of CJairo, the casinos of Mce; but all to no pur- pose ; and soon, on my eager, throbbing ear there again fell that sound, that low and gentle sob. My hair stood on end; this time there was no doubt, no possible manner of doubt — the mum- my lived ! I looked at it aghast. I strained my TEUE GHOST STOEIES 201 vision to detect any movement in its limbs, but none was perceptible. Yet the noise had come from it, it had breathed — breathed — and even as I hissed the word unconsciously through my clenched lips, the bosom of the mummy rose and fell. " 'A frightful terror seized me. I tried to shriek to my servants; I could not ejaculate a syllable. I tried to close my eye-lids, but they were held open as in a vice. Again there came a sob that was immediately succeeded by a sigh ; and a tremor ran through the figure from head to foot. One of its hands then began to move, the fingers clutched the air convulsively, then grew rigid, then curled slowly into the palms, then suddenly straightened. The bandages con- cealing them from view then fell off, and to my agonized sight were disclosed objects that struck me as strangely familiar. There is something about fingers, a marked individuality, I never forget. No two persons' hands are alike. And in these fingers, in their excessive whiteness, round knuckles, and blue veins, I read a like- ness whose prototype, struggle how I would, I could not recall. Gradually the hand moved up- wards, and, reaching the throat, the fingers set to work at once to remove the wrappings. My terror was now sublime. I dare not imagine, I 202 TKTJE GHOST STORIES dare not for one instant think, what I should see. And there was no getting away from it ; I could not stir an inch, and the ghastly revela- tion would take place within a yard of my face ! " 'One by one the bandages came off. A glim- mer of skin, pale as marble ; the beginning of the nOse, the whole nose ; the upper lip, exquisitely, delicately cut; the teeth, white and even on the whole, but here and there a shining gold filling ; the under lip, soft and gentle ; a mouth I knew, but — God, where? In my dreams, in the wild fantasies that had oft-times visited by pillow at night — in delirium, in reality, where? Mon Dieu! WHERE? " 'The uncasing continued. The chin next, a chin that was purely feminine, purely classical ; then the upper part of the head — the hair long, black, luxuriant — the forehead low and white — the brows black, firmly pencilled; and last of all, the eyes ! — and as they met my frenzied gaze, smiled, smiled right down into the depths of my living soul, I recognized them — they were the eyes of my mother, my mother who had died in my boyhood ! Seized with a madness that knew no bounds, I sprang to my feet. The figure rose and confronted me. I flung open my arms to embrace her, the woman of all women in the world I loved best, the only woman I had ever TRUE GHOST STORIES 203 loved. Shrinking from my touch, she cowered against the side of the tent. I fell on my knees before her and kissed — what? Not the feet of my mother, but those of the long-buried dead. Sick with repulsion and fear I looked up, and there bending over and peering into my eyes was the face, the fleshless, mouldering face of the foul and barely recognizable corpse! With a shriek of horror I rolled backwards, and, springing to my feet, prepared to fly. I glanced at the mummy. It was lying on the ground, stiff and still, every bandage in its place ; whilst standing over it, a look of fiendish glee in its light, doglike eyes, was the figure of Anubis, lu- rid and menacing. " 'The voices of my servants, assuring me they were coming, broke the silence, and in an in- stant the apparition vanished. " 'I had had enough of the tent, however, at least for that night, and, seeking refuge in the town, I whiled away the hours till morning with a fragrant cigar and a novel. Directly I had breakfasted, I took the mummy back to Thebes, and left it there. No thank you, Mr. O'Donnell, I collect many kinds of curios, but — no more mummies V " 204 TRUE GHOST STORIES FACE SLAPPED BY A GHOST The following remarkable event occurred to a friend of mine — an elderly, married lady, whom I have known for some time. She is now making her home in Brooklyn, but at the time of her gruesome experience was residing in Eng- land. It is some years since this occurred, but the incident, she assured me, lives just as vividly in her mind as though it all happened yesterday. This is her story, just as she told it to me : "I was staying with some friends in the coun- try. They had an old, rambling house, with long, draughty halls and corridors all over it. As the house was already full of guests, I had to sleep in a large room, at the end of the long passage, on the ground floor. The room in it- self was comfortable enough — large and warm. Yet there was an atmosphere about that apart- ment which I did not quite like; in fact, the whole house made me feel "creepy," for no rea- son that I can give. "Bed-time came all too soon; and I took my candle and was shown my room. My hostess saw that I had everything I needed; and then, saying good-night, went upstairs to bed. "I had half undressed when I saw the door of my room gently and quietly opened, as though TRUE GHOST STORIES 205 a stealthy hand were softly pressing it open. I gazed transfixed, until, when wide open, I could see that no one was, in reality, on the other side of the door. At that I drew a breath of relief. 'A draught,' I thought, 'coming down the hall- way. It is nothing.' And I chided myself on my fears; shut the door, and proceeded to un- dress. "I had not gone far, however, when to my amazement the door opened again; just as quietly and stealthily as before. Again I closed the door, and proceeded with my undressing. I had by this time finished, and had donned my night-gown preparatory to getting into bed. "At that moment I was horrified to see my door open for the third time, just as it did be- fore — slowly, slowly, until it rested on its hinges, wide open to the hall. I now deter- mined to investigate ; so, taking my candle in my hand, I stepped out into the hall and proceeded down towards the front door. "I had not taken more than three or four steps, however, when the candle in my hands was extinguished — as though a breath of wind, coming from nowhere, had blown it out. I did not much relish this, as the matches were in my room. But I determined to keep on, in the dark, and see what the cause of this could be. So I 206 TKTJE GHOST STORIES kept on and on, down the dark hall — my left hand holding the extinguished candle ; my right extended so that I conld feel the solid masonry all the way down the corridor. "I had proceeded, perhaps, half way, when a strange thing occurred. I suddenly felt myself slapped on the left cheek by something cold and moist and clammy. I put my hand up to my face, and felt it was wet. For an instant I hes- itated; then I proceeded, down the hall, until I came to the front door. That I found closed and locked. Having thus explored the whole length of the hall and found nothing, I turned back to regain my room. Still holding the candle in my left hand, and still feeling the wall with my out- stretched right hand, I crept cautiously along, not knowing what to expect. "Again, I had proceeded about half way down the hall when I felt the same cold, quick slap in the face (this time on the right cheek) and again I found it was wet. "Thoroughly frightened now, I fled to my room as fast as my legs could carry me. Once within, I closed and secured the door by placing a chair against it. Next, finding my box of matches, I relighted my candle. Then I sur- veyed myself in the mirror, to see what could be upon my face. TRUE GHOST STORIES 207 "Imagine my horror when, on looking in the glass, I discovered two long streaks of blood, one upon either cheek! I was so terror-struck that I gazed at myself for a few moments unable to move or speak. Then I screamed, and after that I have no very clear recollection of what hap- pened. I have a hazy recollection of anxious faces bending over me ; of a low hum of voices ; then oblivion. "It took me many weeks to recover from the shock of that night." ALONE WITH A GHOST IN A CHURCH The following case is sent me by a corre- spondent : I once knew a young man by the name of Charles D. Bradlaugh, who took a delight in ridiculing ghost stories and, whenever possible, in proving them to be due to fraud, trickery or hallucination. He stated he was "afraid of nothing." I said to him one day in conversa- tion : "If you are as fearless as you say, would you be willing to spend a night alone, locked up in a Church with a corpse freshly placed in its coffin ?" He replied that he would do it any time; so the test was shortly arranged. One of the par- ishioners had just died, and had been placed in 208 TRUE GHOST STORIES the crypt of the church, with the lid of the cof- fin removed. The lights were all extinguished; we locked the door after us, and went away, leaving Bradlaugh and the spirits to fight it out between them. What occurred during the night must be told in Bradlaugh's own words, as nearly as I can recall them: "When I heard the key turn in the door, that night, I confess that a strange feeling came over me for the first time in my life. I wanted to get out; but of course I knew it was useless; and in the next place my pride forbade my leav- ing. Shaking off the superstitious fear that had settled upon me, I turned away; and proceeded to explore, as best I could, the whole of the church. "A bright moonlight fell in through the win- dows, casting queer shadows in various direc- tions; and across the long rows of pews and the altar at the far end of the church. I walked about, looking at everything curiously, as it had been long since I found myself inside a church. Then I proceeded to the crypt, and, walking boldly up to the coffin, I gazed long and earn- estly at the corpse lying within it, as though to familiarize myself with it. I went on the prin- ciple that 'familiary breeds contempt/ When I TRUE GHOST STORIES 209 had done this, I went back to the nave of the church, and, finding a comfortable place, I lay down, and was soon in a state bordering on sleep. I should have been asleep, probably, very soon ; but, just as I was dropping off, I heard a faint sound coming from the direction of the crypt. It was like a deep sigh, and this was followed by other sounds which I find it hard to describe. All I know is that, in the quiet and stillness of that awful place, those sounds, slight as they were> were truly appalling, and chilled the very blood in my veins. Their very indis- tinctness added to their terror. I could not con- ceive what could make such uncanny noises. I sat up, and strained my eyes in the darkness, trying to penetrate the gloom. Then I heard the first faint footsteps coming up the stairs from the crypt! At first, these were faint, but they became louder and louder ; until finally I could hear them plainly. Undoubtedly they were foot-falls, as though a human being were mounting the steps from the crypt where the corpse had been laid! "I rose from my seat, my hair standing on end, while queer, cold shivers ran up and down my back. I advanced one or two paces toward the door, hardly knowing what to expect. Then, as I looked, I saw step into the bright moonlight, 210 TRUE GHOST STORIES the corpse that a few moments before I had seen lying in the coffin downstairs! "Frantic with fear, I rushed at the corpse, still shrouded, as it was, in the white wrappings which, torn and dishevelled, still enveloped the body. I raised one hand as though to strike the ghost, and thrust the hateful thing from me; when I felt a stunning blow on the point of my jaw, and a moment later I had lost sensibility. When I awoke, you were all round me. You know the rest." To make a long story short, it turned out that the supposed "corpse" was not really dead at all, but in a sort of trance ; and had been buried prematurely. He had revived in the night ; and was advancing into the church when he encoun- tered Bradlaugh in the doorway. Thinking him a robber or an assassin, he had struck first; and, being a powerful man and a good boxer, he had knocked out Bradlaugh by a blow on the jaw. When we arrived in the morning, we found Bradlaugh senseless, and the "corpse," now stripped of Ms grave clothes, bending over him, dashing cold water in his face ! A HAUNTED HOUSE IN FRANCE The following case, said to be authentic, is quoted here because of the incident of the TKUE GHOST STORIES 211 "shouts and laughter" which were heard, and which serve to throw an interesting sidelight on the case which follows it. The Rev. F. G. Lee, in his book, Sights and Shadows, gives the following account, sent to him, of a haunted house in France : "In the spring of the year 1891, great excite- ment was occasioned by a disembodied spirit in a haunted house in LePort, at Mce. This is situated in a terrace close to the quarries, where, after the reports concerning it, as many as two thousand persons were often gathered round it. The spirits haunting it — never visible, however — would beat the inmates so unmerci- fully that the blows would leave bruises. Hun- dreds of persons saw the result, and testified to the undoubted facts. The local police, on being appealed to, and having heard the evidence of numerous eye-witnesses, and of those persons who were inconvenienced, formed a body of or- ganized inquirers, who, shrewd enough in mun- dane matters, utterly failed to discover anything or anybody. "On one occasion, thirteen men sat up in three rooms which had been well lighted, and some of them played cards for several hours to while away the time. During the whole of this occur- rence, the strangest noises were heard in various 212 TRUE GHOST STORIES parts of the building. It seemed, at one time, as if a whole regiment of soldiers were tramping up the chief staircase. Pictures swung to and fro upon the walls, without any visible motive effect.* Then heavy blows were heard on the walls, and it appeared that the closed doors and the shutters were being violently struck and thumped, as if with a large hammer wrapped in cloth. On two occasions, a room on the ground floor was found to be in the densest darkness, though outside the house the sun was shining. On an- other occasion, just before midnight, when cer- tain persons were specially present to note any supernatural occurrences, all the lamps in the house were suddenly put out; while shouts and laughter were heard in every part of the place, more particularly from the empty rooms. At the same time, heavy blows were experienced by those present, who were very severely bruised, and a large bottle of ink was thrown by invisible hands from the top of the staircase. "Every attempt was made to discover the source of these extraordinary disorders, but without avail. They were reported to have ceased for several months, but to have com- menced again at a later period. A local com- *This is a common feature of haunted houses.- H.C. TRUE GHOST STORIES 213 munication says that they still 'occur at inter- vals/ " A HAUNTED HOUSE IN GEORGIA The following account is taken from the re- port of the San Francisco Examiner, and is cer- tainly one of the most striking cases of the char- acter on record. It is not put forward as strictly "evidential," but its interesting nature certainly warrants its insertion in this volume. "Soon after the Walsinghams took up their abode in their new home, they began to be dis- turbed by strange sounds and odd phenomena. These disturbances generally took the form of noises in the house after the family had retired and the lights had been extinguished — continual banging of the doors, things overturned, the doorbell rang, and the annoying of the house dog, a large and intelligent mastiff. "One day Don Caesar, the mastiff, was found in the hallway barking furiously and bristling with rage, while his eyes seemed directed to the wall just before him. At last he made a spring forward with a hoarse yelp of ungovernable fury, only to fall back as if flung down by some powerful and cruel hand. Upon examination it was found that his neck had been broken. 214 TRUE GHOST STORIES "The house cat, on the contrary, seemed rather to enjoy the favor of the ghost, and would often enter a door as if escorting some visitor, whose hand was stroking her back. She would also climb about a chair, rubbing herself and purring as if well pleased at the presence of some one in the seat. She and Don Caesar invariably mani- fested this eccentric conduct at the same time, as though the mysterious being were visible to both of them. "The annoying visitant finally took to arous- ing the family at all hours of the night by mak- ing such a row as to render any rest impossible. "This noise, which consisted of shouts, groans, hideous laughter, and a peculiar, most distress- ing wail, would sometimes proceed, apparently, from under the house, sometimes from the ceil- ing and at other times in the very room in which the family was seated. One night Miss Amelia Walsingham, the young lady daughter, was en- gaged at her toilet, when she felt a hand softly laid on her shoulder. Thinking it her mother or sister, she glanced at the glass before her, only to be thunderstruck at seeing the mirror reflect no form but her own, though she could plainly see a man's broad hand lying on her arm. "She brought the family to her by her screams, but when they reached her all sign of the mys- TRUE GHOST STORIES 215 terious hand had gone. Mr. Walsingham him- self saw footsteps form beside his own while walking through the garden after a light rain. "The marks were those of a man's naked feet, and fell beside his own, as if the person walked at his side. "Matters grew so serious that the Walsing- hams became frightened, and talked of leaving the house, when an event took place which con- firmed them in this determination. The family was seated at the supper table with several guests who were spending the evening when a loud groan was heard in the room overhead. "This was, however, nothing unusual, and very little notice was taken of it until one of the visitors pointed out a stain of what looked like blood on the white table cloth, and it was seen that some liquid was slowly dripping on the table from the ceiling overhead. This liquid was so much like freshly-shed blood that it horrified those who watched its slow dropping. Mr. Wal- singham, with several of his guests, ran hastily upstairs and into the room directly over the one in which the blood was dripping. "A carpet covered the floor, and nothing ap- peared to explain the source of the ghastly rain ; but, anxious to satisfy themselves thoroughly, the carpet was immediately ripped up, and the 216 TRUE GHOST STORIES boarding found to be perfectly dry, and even covered with, a thin layer of dust, and all the while the floor was being examined the persons below could swear the blood never ceased to drop. A stain the size of a dinner-plate was formed before the drops ceased to fall. This stain was examined the next day under the mi- croscope, and was pronounced by competent chemists to be human blood. "The Walsinghams left the house next day, and since then the place has been apparently given over to spooks and evil spirits, which, make the night hideous with the noise of revel, shouts and furious yells. Hundreds from all over this county and adjacent ones have visited the place, but few have had the courage to pass the night in the haunted house. One daring spirit, how- ever, Horace Gunn, of Savannah, accepted a wager that he could not spend twenty-four hours in it, and did so, though he declares that there is not enough money in the country to make him pass another night there. He was found the morning after by his friends with whom he made the wager in a swoon. He has never recovered from the shock of his horrible experience, and is still confined to his bed suffering from nervous prostration. "His story is that shortly after nightfall he TEUE GHOST STORIES 217 endeavored to kindle a fire in one of the rooms, and to light the lamp with which he had pro- vided himself, but to his surprise and conster- nation, found it impossible to do either. An icy- breath, which seemed to proceed from some in- visible person at his side, extinguished each match as he lighted it. At this peculiarly terri- fying turn of affairs Mr. Gunn would have left the house and forfeited the amount of his wager, a considerable one, but he was restrained by the fear of ridicule. He steadied himself in the dark with what calmness he could, and waited devel- opments. "For some time nothing occurred, and the young man was half-dozing, when, after an hour or two, he was brought to his feet by a sudden yell of pain or rage that seemed to come from under the house. This appeared to be the sig- nal for an outbreak of hideous noises all over the house. The sound of running feet could be heard scurrying up and clown the s+airs, hasten- ing from one room to another, as if one person fled from the pursuit of a second. This kept up for nearly an hour, but at last ceased altogether, and for some time Mr. Gunn sat in darkness and quiet, and had about concluded that the per- formance was over for the night. At last, how- ever, his attention was attracted by a white 218 TRUE GHOST STORIES spot that gradually appeared on the opposite wall. "The spot continued to brighten, until it seemed a disc of white fire, when the horrified spectator saw that the light emanated from and surrounded a human head, which, without a body, or any visible means of support, was mov- ing slowly along the wall, about the height of a man from the floor. This ghastly head appeared to be that of an aged person, though whether male or female it was difficult to determine. The hair was long and gray, and matted to- gether with dark clots of blood, which also is- sued from a deep jagged wound in one temple. The cheeks were fallen in and the whole face indicated suffering and unspeakable misery. The eyes were wide open, and gleamed with an unearthly fire, while the glassy eyes seemed to follow the terror-stricken Gunn, who was too thoroughly paralyzed by what he saw to move or cry out. Finally, the head disappeared and the room was once more left in darkness, but the young man could hear what seemed to be half a dozen persons moving about him, while the whole house shook as if rocked by some vio- lent earthquake. "The groaning and the wailing that broke forth from every direction was something ter- TRUE GHOST STORIES 219 rific, and an unearthly rattle and banging as of china or tin pans being flung to the ground floor from the upper story added to the deafening noise. Gunn at last roused himself sufficiently to try and leave the haunted house. Feeling his way along the wall, in order to avoid the be- ings, whatever they were, that filled the room, the young man had nearly succeeded in reach- ing the door when he found himself seized by the ankle and was violently thrown to the floor. He was grasped by icy hands, which sought to grip him about the throat. He struggled with his unseen foe, but was soon overpowered and choked into insensibility. When found by his friends, his throat was black with the marks of long, thin fingers, armed with cruel, curved nails. "The only explanation which can be found for these mysterious manifestations is that about three months before, a number of bones were discovered on the Walsingham place, which some declared even then to be those of a human being. Mr. Walsingham pronounced them, how- ever, to be an animal's, and they were hastily thrown into an adjacent limekiln. It is sup- posed to be the outraged spirit of a person to whom they belonged in life which is now creat- ing such consternation." 220 TKUE GHOST STORIES SHAKEN BY A GHOST The following narrative is vouched for by Mrs. H. S. Iredell, of Tunbridge Wells, England, a relative of the Rev. Dr. Lee, who gives the case in his Sights and Shadows : "The haunted house in question is near Wandsworth common. The late occupants of it were a man, his wife and their child. They had to leave it, for they could get no rest in it at night for the fearful noises which went on in- cessantly, like sounds as of a sledge-hammer wrapped in flannel struck against the walls. The sister-in-law of the late occupants, who told me of it, had spent some days at the house, so I heard all the story first-hand. One night she likewise felt as if someone had taken her by the shoulders and she was being roughly shaken from side to side. Her husband, who was with her, saw her at the time she was being shaken by an invisible power, stretched out his hand to take hold of her ; but he felt right up his arm to his shoulder a shock, as it were of electricity, which made him instantly draw back and cry out. Nothing was ever seen, but in the special sleeping-room which seemed to be haunted, the clothes used to be pulled off the bed at night and thrown on the floor, and then they used to TRUE GHOST STORIES 221 raise or rear themselves up again on the bed. . . "Since the above was written, it is reported that no less than five families have respectively occupied the house as tenants, who one and all have left it as soon as possible. It is now said to be permanently untenanted." This case is given because of the incident of the "electric shock" which the percipient re- ceived, when attempting to interfere with the "spirit" ; and serves as an interesting modern and apparently well-authenticated instance of what occurred in Lytton's story, which follows. THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN Bulwer Lytton's story, "The House and the Brain," is, perhaps, the most remarkable ghost story of this character on record, and is consid- ered, by many, the best ever written. The phe- nomena occur in a house which is reputed to be haunted; no one will live in it. At last one brave soul determines to pass the night within its walls ; he and his servant take up their abode in it, and, after various startling adventures of a minor character, the "grand climax" of the night is reached. As the author sat reading by the fire, the following occurred, which is told in his own words: 222 TRUE GHOST STORIES "I now became aware that something inter- posed between the page and the light — the page was over-shadowed ; I looked up, and I saw what I shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe. "It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very undefined outline. I cannot say it was a human form, and yet it had more re- semblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to anything else. As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and light around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touching the ceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An iceberg could not more have chilled me; nor could the cold of an iceberg have been more purely phys- ical. I feel convinced that it was not the cold caused by fear. As I continued to gaze, I thought — but this I cannot say with precision — that I distinguished two eyes looking on me from the height. One moment I fancied that I distinguished them clearly ; the next they seemed gone; but still two rays of pale blue light fre- quently shot through the darkness, as from the height on which, I half believed, half doubted, that I had encountered the eyes. "I strove to speak — my voice utterly failed me; I could only think to myself, Is this fear? TKTJE GHOST STORIES 223 It is not fear! I strove to rise; in vain; I felt weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, my impression was that of an immense and over- whelming Power opposed to my volition; that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond man's, which one may feel physically in a storm at sea, in a conflagration, or when con- fronting some terrible wild beast — or rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt morally. Opposed to my will was another will, as far su- perior to its strength as storm, fire and shark are superior in material force to the force of man. "And now — as this impression grew on me — now came, at last, horror — horror of a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained pride, if not courage; and in my own mind I said : 'This is horror, but it is not fear ; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason rejects this thing; it is an illusion — I do not fear.' With a violent effort I succeeded at last in stretching out my hand towards the weapon on the table; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange shock, and my arm fell to my side pow- erless. And now, to add to my horror, the light began slowly to wane from the candles — they were not, as it were, extinguished, but their flame seemed very gradually withdrawn — it was 224 TRUE GHOST STORIES the same with the fire; the light was extin- guished from the fuel; in a few minutes the room was in utter darkness. The dread that came over me, to be thus in the dark with that Thing, whose power was so intensely felt, brought on a reaction of nerve. In fact, terror had reached that climax, that either my senses must have deserted me, or I must have burst through the spell. I did burst through it. I found voice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember that I broke forth with words like these — 'I do not fear, my soul does not fear'; and at the same time I found the strength to rise. Still in that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows — tore aside the curtain — flung open the shutters ; my first thought was — LIGHT. And when I saw the moon high, clear and calm, I felt a joy that almost compensated me for my previous terror. There was the moon; there also was the light from the gas lamps in the deserted, slumberous street. I turned to look back into the room; the moon penetrated its shadow very palely and partially — but still there was light. The dark Thing, whatever it might be, was gone — except that I could yet see a dim shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade against the opposite wall. "My eye now rested on the table, and from TRUE GHOST STORIES 225 under the table (which was without cloth or cover — an old mahogany round table) there rose a hand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as much of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person — lean, wrinkled, small too — a woman's hand. That hand very softly closed on the two letters that lay on the table ; hand and letters both vanished. Then there came the same three loud, measured knocks I had heard on the bed-head before this extraordinary drama commenced. "As these sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate sensibly ; and at the far end there rose, from the floor, sparks or globules, like globules of light, many colored — green, yel- low, fire-red, azure. Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny Will o' the Wisps, the sparks moved, slow and swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as in the drawing-room be- low) was now advanced from the wall without apparent agency, and placed at the opposite side of the table. Suddenly, as forth from the air, there grew a shape, a woman's shape. It was distinct as a shape of life — ghastly as the shape of death. The face was that of youth, with a strange, mournful beauty ; the throat and shoul- ders were bare; the rest of the form in a loose robe of cloudy white. It began sleeking its 226 TKUE GHOST STORIES long, yellow hair, which, fell over its shoulders ; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to the floor; it seemed listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the shade in the background grew darker; and again I thought I saw the eyes gleaming out from the summit of the shadow — eyes fixed upon that shape. "As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another shape, equally distinct, equally ghastly — a man's shape — a young man's. It was in the dress of the last century, or rather the likeness to such dress ( for both the male and the female, though defined, were evidently un- substantial, impalpable, simulacra, phantasms), and there was something incongruous, grotesque, yet fearful in the contrast between the elabo- rate finery, the courtly precision of that old- fashioned garb, with its ruffles and lace and buckles, and the corpse-like aspect and ghost- like stillness of the flitting wearer. Just as the male shape approached the female, the dark shadow started from the wall, and all three for a moment were wrapped in darkness. When the pale light returned, the two phantasms were as if in the grasp of the shadow, that towered be- tween them, and there was a blood stain on the breast of the female ; and the phantom male was leaning on its phantom sword, and blood seemed TRUE GHOST STORIES 227 trickling fast from the ruffles, from the lace; and the darkness of the intermediate Shadow swallowed them up — they were gone. And again the bubbles of light shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing thicker and thicker and more wildly confused in their movements. "The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from the aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she held letters — the very letters over which I had seen the hand close; and behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if to listen, and then she opened her letters and seemed to read; and over her shoulder I saw a livid face, the face of a man long drowned — bloated, bleached — seaweed tangled in its dripping hair, and at her feet lay a form as of a corpse, and beside the corpse there towered a child, a miserable, squalid child, with famine in its cheeks and fear in its eyes. And as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines vanished ; and it be- came the face of youth — hard-eyed, stony, but still youth; and the Shadow darted forth and darkened over these phantoms as it had dark- ened over the last. "Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were intently fixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow — malignant, ser- 228 TRUE GHOST STORIES pent eyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in their disordered, irregular, tur- bulent maze, mingled with the wan moonlight. And now from these globules themselves, as from the shell of an egg, monstrous things burst out; the air grew filled with them; larvae so bloodless and so hideous that I can in no way describe them except to remind the reader of the swarming life which the solar microscope brings before the eyes in a drop of water — things transparent, supple, agile, chasing each other, devouring each other — forms like nought ever beheld by the naked eye. As the shapes were without symmetry, so their movements were without order. In their very vagrancies there was no sport; they came round me and round; thicker and faster and swifter, swarm- ing over my head, crawling over my right arm, which was outstretched in involuntary com- mand against all evil things. Sometimes I felt myself touched, but not by them ; invisible hands touched me. Once I felt the clutch of cold, soft fingers at my throat, I was still equally con- scious that if I gave way to fear I should be in bodily peril ; and I concentrated all my faculties in the single focus of resisting, stubborn will. And I turned my sight from the Shadow— above all, from those strange serpent eyes — eyes that TRUE GHOST STORIES 229, had now become distinctly visible. For there, though in nought else round me, I was aware that there was a WILL, and a will of intense, creative, working evil, which might crush down my own. "The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the air of some near confla- gration. The larvse grew lurid as things that live on fire. Again the room vibrated; again I heard the three measured knocks ; and again all things were swallowed up in the darkness of the dark shadow — as if out of that darkness all had come, into that darkness all had returned. "As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it had been withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the table, again into the fuel in the grate. . . . "The room came once more calmly, healthfully into sight. "Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I long to wait before the dawn broke. . . . " 230 TEUE GHOST STOEIES APPENDIX A HISTORICAL GHOSTS Koyalty and well-known personages have seen ghosts in all ages of the world's history; cer- tainly they are not exempt from the common run of humanity so far as ghostly visitations are con- cerned! Mr. Stead has compiled a number of notable cases of this character, of which the fol- lowing are probably the most noteworthy : ROYAL Henry IV. of France told D'Aubigne that, in the presence of himself, the Archbishop of Lyons, and three ladies of the Court, the Queen (Margaret of Valois) saw the apparition of a certain Cardinal afterwards found to have died at the moment. Abel the Fratricide, King of Denmark, still haunts the woods of Poole, near the city of Sleswig. Valdemar IV. haunts Gurre Wood, near El- sinore. Charles XL, of Sweden, accompanied by his TRUE GHOST STORIES 231 chamberlain and state physician, witnessed the trial of the assasin of Gartavus III., which oc- curred nearly a century later. James IV. } of Scotland, was warned by an ap- parition against his intended expedition into England. He, however, proceeded and fell at Flodden Field. Charles I., of England, was also warned by an apparition, but paying no heed, was disas- trously defeated at Naseby. Queen Elizabeth is said to have been warned of her death by the apparition of her own double. EMPERORS Trajan and Caracalla both saw apparitions, which they recorded. Theodosius and Julian the Apostate both be- held apparitions, at important crises in their lives. FAMOUS MEN Sir Robert Peel and his brother both saw Lord Byron in London when he was in reality lying dangerously ill of a fever in Patras. During the same fever, he also appeared to others. Julius Caesar, Xerxes, Drusus, Pausanius, Dio 232 TKUE GHOST STOEIES (General of Syracuse), Admiral Coligni all saw apparitions, which made a deep impression on them in every case. Napoleon, at St. Helena, saw and conversed with the apparition of Josephine, who warned him of his approaching death. Blucher, on the day of his death, was also told of it by an appa- rition. General Garfield saw and conversed with his father, latterly deceased. Lincoln had a cer- tain premonitory dream which occurred three times in relation to important battles, and the fourth on the eve of his assassination. Dante, son of the poet, was visited in a dream by his father, who conversed with him and told him (correctly) where to find the missing thir- teen cantos of the "Commedia." Goethe saw his own double riding by his side under conditions which really occurred years later. Tasso saw and conversed with beings invisible to those about him. Cellini was dissuaded from suicide by the ap- parition of a young man who frequently visited and encouraged him. Mozart was visited by a mysterious person who ordered him to compose a requiem, and came frequently to inquire after its progress, but disappeared on its completion, which oc- TKUE GHOST STORIES 233 curred just in time for its performance at Ms own funeral. Ben Johnson was visited by the apparition of Ms eldest son with the mark of a bloody cross upon his forehead at the moment of his death by the plague. Thackery wrote : "It is all very well for you who have probably never seen spirit manifesta- tions to talk as you do, but had you seen what I have witnessed you would hold a different opin- ion. " Hugh Miller, Maria Edgeworth, Captain Mar- ryat, Madame de Stael, Sir Humphrey Davy, William Harvey, Francis Bacon, Martin Luther, George Fox, Cardinal Neivman, Bishop Wilber- force, and many others have seen apparitions, or held converse with the unseen world in one form or another, as recorded by themselves. Among the famous Mstorical hauntings, we must not forget to mention the famous Cock Lane Ghost wMch occurred about 1760. Ac- cording to a brief paragraph printed in the Lon- don Ledger, 1762, we read that : "For some time a great knocking having been heard in the night, at the officiating parish clerk's of St. Sepulchre's, in Cock Lane near Smithfield, to the great terror of the family, and all means used to discover the meaning of it 234 TRUE GHOST STORIES having failed, four gentlemen sat up there last Friday night, among whom was a clergyman standing withinside the door, who asked various questions. On his asking whether anyone had been murdered, no answer was made ; but on his asking whether anyone had been poisoned, it knocked one and thirty times. The report cur- rent in the neighborhood is that a woman was some time ago poisoned, and buried in St. John's Clerkenwell, by her brother-in-law. " These knockings and phenomena occurred for a considerable time, until the whole community became interested in the manifestations. While various theories were advanced at the time — and since — to explain this ghost, no definite conclu- sion has ever been arrived at. The Drummer of Tedworth is a still older and equally famous ghost, who flourished about a hundred years before the Cock Lane Ghost, and was investigated (and the results carefully re- corded) by Sir Joseph Glanvil, F.R.S., who wrote a book about the case : "Sadducismus Tri- umphatus" which was also devoted to the gen- eral phenomena of witchcraft. Here, also, we find records of unaccountable "knockings" and similar phenomena, which lasted for a consider- able time, and which have never yet been ex- plained. TRUE GHOST STORIES 235 The ghost which invaded John Wesley's house stayed with them for several years, and mani- fested his presence in a variety of elaborate and ingenious ways. Those who are interested in this ghost and his doings should read Wesley's Journal; also the various discussions, pro and con., which have appeared in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, from time ta time. It is a most curious and suggestive rec- ord. The Devils of Loudon might also be cited as an interesting case of psychic phenomena; and here trance, automatic speech, etc., were ob- served — as well as the usual physical phenom- ena. This is perhaps one of the earliest cases which was closely observed, and in which skep- tical criticism was applied. This case will be found recorded in Mr. H. Addington Bruce's, "Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters/' 236 TETJE GHOST STOEIES APPENDIX B THE PHANTOM AEMIES SEEN IN FKANCE History abounds in cases showing the appa- rent intrusion of spiritual help in time of trou- ble, and in the annals of military history, these accounts are not lacking. On several occasions, the Crusaders thought that they saw angelic hosts fighting for them — phantom horsemen charging the enemy, when their own utter de- struction seemed imminent. Id