STfiANGE THINGS 
 
 
 
 AMONG US. 
 
 H. SPICER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "OLD STYLES'S." 
 
 "Credimus, quia incredibile est." 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 WITH ADDENDA. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 1864 
 
 The Right of Translation is reserved.
 
 TO 
 
 THE COUNTESS D'USEDOM, 
 
 WITH COMPLIMENTS, 
 
 AND KIND REMEMBRANCE, 
 
 THIS LITTLE WORK 
 
 s CnscriheU 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 2038680
 
 A VERY small portion of this work has been 
 already before the public in the pages of " All 
 the Year Round." Presented in its complete 
 form, the writer's object to inquire, not dog- 
 matize to suggest, rather than demonstrate 
 will be sufficiently apparent, to render needless 
 any apology for the seeming attempt to treat of 
 matters so important, within limits so confined. 
 The book is, in fact, but a sketch a study a 
 " ballon perdu'' flung up experimentally among 
 the currents which have of late set, somewhat 
 steadily, in a direction of much promise.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Prefatory Remarks. Rules of Narrative. A Short 
 Grhost Story. Extranatural Phenomena a Legitimate 
 Study. Its Inexhaustibility. Mesmerism. Inade- 
 quacy of our Means of Investigation. Coldness of 
 Modern Professors. Table-Turning. Vitalized 
 Electricity and Magnetoid Currents. Their Re- 
 markable Phenomena. Their Application (through 
 the Magnetoscope) to Phrenology. Experiments of 
 Dr. Leger. The " Spirif'-Writings, how produced. 
 Theory as to Detached Forces, attracted and 
 governed by their Affinities. Conjectural Examples 
 
 in the cases of Colonel B and Colonel M . 
 
 The story of " Old Nell." Power of Magnetoid 
 Currents on Material Substances. Phenomena of 
 the Death-chamber. The Silver Knell. The late 
 
 Dr. M . A Summons. Other alleged Omens. 
 
 A Haunted Ambassador. Electricity Conveyed
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 without Artificial Conductors. Conjectural Ex- 
 amples. Lady S . Captain N . Hypothe- 
 ses. Extraordinary Eecent Instances. Mrs. D . 
 
 Lady C .The Brothers. Conflicting Fea- 
 tures. The Vision at T. D . The Lincolnshire 
 
 Squire. Singular Incident in the Life of Miss 
 Edgeworth. Instances of Supposed Intercommuni- 
 cation with Departing Spirits. Universality of the 
 Belief. Lord Lyttelton and M. P. Andrews. 
 
 Count d'Uglas. Lord C. A. .A Spectral 
 
 Snuff-box. A new Class of Incidents. Eecent 
 Illustrative Examples. -The Little Old Lady. 
 
 Holly Lodge. Miss M. E .The Monk of 
 
 Payerne. A Tragedy Eevealed. Trance-Vision at 
 the Hotel . . . . , Paris. A Scottish Ghost. 
 Extraordinary Occurrence in Sardinia. The Story 
 of Caterina. Modern Incantations. Identical 
 Visions by Different Persons. Captain Morgan's 
 Midnight Assailant. The Extraordinary Story 
 
 of Mr. B. Cerebral Excitement. Common 
 
 Hallucinations. A Haunted Barrister. The Broad- 
 way Merchant. Morbid Quickening of the Senses. 
 The " German Luther." Phenomena appertain- 
 ing to certain Families. The C Eagle. The 
 
 Brown Lady of the L 's. Carriage- wheels. 
 
 The Irish Keen. The last Banshee. Mr. 
 Knight's Star. Appearances pertaining to certain 
 
 Houses. The Mysteries of "W" . Curious 
 
 Prediction. The Passing-Bell. A Second-sighted
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 Judge. S. Place. The Haunted Corridor at B . 
 
 Watchers discomfited. Adventure of the Countess 
 
 P .An old House in Wilts. In Kent. In 
 
 Ireland. A Woman in White. Thoroughly 
 Haunted. An old Priory. Embracing a Ghost. 
 Dream-Vision. Dreams, Prophetic. Impulse and 
 Impression. Case of Captain Matthias. Called 
 to the Eescue. Classification of Preceding 
 Examples. Theories of Dr. Leger. Cases that 
 defy Analysis. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 
 The " Spirit " Movement. Its Unwise Treat- 
 ment. French Spiritualism. The " Perisprit." 
 Inefficiency of the pretended Attempts at Analysis. 
 A Medium. Inquiry, from motives of mere 
 Curiosity, deprecated. Seances, East and West. 
 " Spirit " Photographs, how produced. Strange 
 Material Facts among us. Ghost Tales easily set 
 afloat. The Ghost of a Doll. The Bird- Woman. 
 Conclusion.
 
 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 WHEN the evening lamps are lighted, or rather 
 just antecedent to that operation say in the little 
 interval which follows the retirement of the ladies 
 from the dining-room, and precedes the appearance 
 of the laughing sceptics below a grain of ghost- 
 talk mingles, not inharmoniously, with the gentle 
 domestic topics invoked by the subdued light and 
 confidential feeling of the hour. The treatment of 
 the subject is necessarily superficial. Twenty minutes 
 will not suffice for a dive into philosophic deeps. 
 Facts are simply adduced. Theme and proposition 
 are laid bare, and left so, for any after-manipulations 
 profounder thinkers please. Nevertheless, from the 
 pabulum (often exceedingly raw) supplied by these 
 little conversations, may be deduced a whole garden of 
 thought, worthy the attention of the most earnest sage. 
 Whatever be the cause, the fact will hardly be
 
 2 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 disputed that a taste for the supernatural has greatly 
 augmented of late among the educated classes of 
 society. It has, indeed, as might be expected, 
 abandoned its ancient form of bald credulity. We 
 neither believe in the ghost, nor shoot at him. "We 
 require to know something of his nature who walks 
 uninvited into our dwelling, and to learn what may 
 be his immediate business there, but not with 
 rudeness nor intolerance. 
 
 In a word, the indulgent spirit of the time is the 
 welcome child of progress. As every age stamps 
 itself upon the roll of time with the seal of some 
 grand discovery as every successive year reveals its 
 half- suspected wonders, the mind becomes less and 
 less inclined to impose limits upon that vast unex- 
 plored ocean, which, like the natural horizon, seems 
 to know no bound but God and man, as he grows 
 wiser, grows humbler. 
 
 Well has it been written : " We know not the 
 Alpha of creation. At the very threshold of natural 
 knowledge we stumble and fall. Every day brings 
 the conviction of some error or mistake. The more 
 we study God's works the deeper is the feeling that 
 the growth of wisdom is just the increasing knowledge 
 of our ignorance. A lifetime is too short to under- 
 stand the alpha of any single science upon earth." 
 (Protoplast.} Applying the remark to our present
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 subject, it is, no doubt, to this fruitful misgiving 
 which might in reality be termed a better discipline 
 of reason that we are indebted for many an interest- 
 ing narrative which would else have never have passed 
 the bounds of a family circle, or, in doing so, would 
 have at least been carefully denuded of such corrobo- 
 ration as name, place, and time afford. In the inci- 
 dents to be hereafter related these have been supplied 
 without scruple, and without desire for any greater 
 reticence than the writer's discretion might impose. 
 
 The circumstances of each case have been verified 
 with unusual care, because another object than 
 simple curiosity, or the making a readable book, 
 suggested the inquiry. Still, it may be proper to 
 call attention to the fact, that persons who have been, 
 or who have conceived themselves to have been, the 
 witnesses of so-called supernatural appearances, are, 
 in recalling the occurrence, never wholly free from 
 the dominion of that exalted feeling which accom- 
 panied it, and which is ill-calculated for minute and 
 accurate detail. He, therefore, who undertakes to 
 relate a ghost story at second-hand often incurs the 
 difficult 'duty of rendering incoherences in such a 
 manner as shall not, on the one hand, foster deceit, 
 on the other, bring down unjust doubt upon what is 
 more correct than clear. 
 
 To assist analysis, we must compare. To aid 
 
 B 2
 
 4 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 comparison, the least possible reserve should unite 
 with the closest possible adherence to facts, so far as 
 (after passing through the ordeal of susceptible ima- 
 ginations) facts can be fairly ascertained. Few things 
 spread such snares for the truthful as a "ghost 
 story." Owing to a certain family resemblance 
 which runs through this class of narrative, the 
 temptation to lay undue stress upon any point which 
 presents a novel feature is proportionately strong. 
 Such a point, perhaps in itself unimportant, thriving 
 by notice, expands, by imperceptible degrees, into 
 the leading incident of the tale. A new phenomenon 
 is forthwith proclaimed, and walks abroad, scattering 
 wild confusion among the ripening theories about, 
 perhaps, to add another recognized law to the myste- 
 rious code of nature. Let the narrator then beware 
 of the first dereliction from the plain truth of history ! 
 As the careless treader in Alpine wastes sets his feet 
 upon a lump of ice, and glances down down 
 sixty feet at a bound ! who knows whither ? so 
 does one error launch the best-told tale, with all its 
 stirring incidents, into the abyss of doubt for ever ! 
 Be never tempted by the half-satisfied looks of a 
 wonder-seeking circle to put into the mouth of your 
 authentic spectre one syllable the latter did not 
 deliver. On the essential subject of time be firm as 
 rock, nor suffer the confessedly superior value of a
 
 A SHORT STOKY. 5 
 
 noontide apparition to beguile you into encouraging 
 the faintest doubt whether it might not have been 
 the meridian, instead of midnight. As a general 
 rule, it is advisable to refrain from any voluntary 
 testimony to the well-strung nerves of Mr. B. (the 
 hero) . In all probability, you know nothing about 
 them; and, if you did, it remains yet a question 
 whether nerves have much to do with the subject. 
 Not, however, to pursue in a flippant tone matters 
 well deserving the most serious notice, it need only be 
 added that the observance of a few such simple rules 
 as the above would greatly promote the chances of 
 arriving at a reasonable understanding, since, as 
 already hinted, the temptation to invest such narra- 
 tives with a theatrical circumstance, not strictly their 
 due, has removed to the realm of fiction many an 
 anecdote that might have furnished honest material 
 for reflection and discussion. 
 
 Perhaps the very shortest ghost-story on record 
 was communicated to the writer, not long since, by 
 a friend now occupying a distinguished post in the 
 Federal army of America. 
 
 " My brother George, who was residing in England, 
 looked into my tent one night, in India," said 
 Colonel J , " to tell me he was dead." 
 
 And so indeed he was. Only by cross-examina- 
 tion, were elicited the concurrent facts, that the
 
 6 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 colonel had been lying broad awake in conflict 
 with musquitoes, that he had sharply questioned 
 the sentry, and adopted other means to assure him- 
 self that he was in full possession of his waking 
 faculties, and also that the vision was perceptible to 
 no eyes but his own. 
 
 " I don't know how it happened/' was the colonel's 
 brief comment, " / saw him." 
 
 This is the " how " into which we should inquire ; 
 and even were the extra -natural occurrences not 
 demonstrable to every understanding, and should 
 ultimately elude the grasp of any, there is at least 
 nothing terrible, or revolting, in the pursuit. It is, 
 for example, a simple, touching, and beautiful faith, 
 that the last earthly regards of the liberated spirit 
 should be fixed upon its best beloved. If such be 
 the work of a mocking spirit, it wears a wonderfully 
 heavenly dress, and little can be gained to the 
 kingdom of the Evil One. 
 
 I am a ghost. Tremble not. Fear not me. 
 The dead are ever good and innocent, 
 And love the living. They are cheerful creatures, 
 And quiet as the sunbeams and most like, 
 In grace, and patient love, and spotless beauty, 
 The newborn of mankind. 
 
 (The Fool's Tragedy.) 
 
 More than one Christian writer has expressed his 
 belief that there is ground for the blessed hope that
 
 THE INQUIRY LEGITIMATE. 7 
 
 the spirits of departed saints are engaged, as are 
 the angels, in offices of love and mercy, on behalf 
 of those whose weary pilgrimage is not yet ended. 
 
 Nor is it easy to understand how some excellent 
 persons object to inquiries of this nature, on the 
 ground that we might be betrayed into the investi- 
 gation of matters beyond the legitimate range of 
 human philosophy. It would rather appear that a 
 class of phenomena so frequently forced on our 
 attention through the natural senses, and yet so 
 vaguely understood, would form a peculiarly fitting 
 theme for consideration and comment, and that 
 without presumption towards Him who, while com- 
 mending to our contemplation the more material 
 wonders of His universe, has by no ordinance de- 
 creed that those of which we speak shall pass un- 
 challenged. It is difficult to conceive how such a 
 path of study can do otherwise than tend to the 
 added glory of Him by whom all things consist. 
 Whether, baffled and bewildered, we stop short in 
 the pursuit, with a confession that such wisdom is 
 indeed " too wonderful and excellent for us," or 
 whether, guided by the intelligence He gives, we are 
 enabled to trace back the questionable thing to the 
 operation of some hitherto unrecognized law of 
 nature, which is the law of God, He is alike glorified 
 in the failure, or in the success.
 
 8 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 " It is an interesting inquiry," writes a pious and 
 eloquent author, already quoted, "how far we are 
 warranted by profane and sacred history to believe 
 in the visitation of departed spirits in visible form. 
 It is very curious that, whatever may be said of the 
 credulity of the vulgar, men of great intellect have 
 almost invariably been believers in what are com- 
 monly called supernatural appearances, and I never 
 met a person of any strength of mind who set aside 
 the mass of evidence which has accumulated on the 
 subject." (Protoplast.} 
 
 The writer inclines to the opinion that super- 
 natural appearances, occurring in close relation to 
 passing events, have their origin, indeed, in the un- 
 healthy action of the brain, but are used by the 
 Omnipotent for a manifested purpose and a special 
 end. In this manner he conceives the disturbed 
 brain of the guilty Saul produced an image of 
 Samuel, God using this circumstance as a means to 
 make known the coming judgment; a more reason- 
 able explanation than that the spirit of Samuel was 
 directly sent by God, since, in the later case, he 
 would not have murmured at the mission " Why 
 hast thou disquieted me, &c. ?" 
 
 God still works wonders, but by natural means ; 
 nor need we be apprehensive that, in tracing out 
 these means, our faith in the illimitable power which
 
 THE SUBJECT INEXHAUSTIBLE. 9 
 
 created the laws by which it works will be weakened. 
 As is the sameness of elementary matter to the 
 chemist, who, while using the affinities of elementary 
 substances for each other, never can transmute 
 them, so, by whatever new and wondrous path we 
 approach the Eternal Source, the end is the same 
 a something existent, insoluble never to be de- 
 monstrated. 
 
 The keen-sighted hero who discovered that Provi- 
 dence, which conquers by many or by few, inclined, 
 nevertheless, generally, to the side of " great bat- 
 talions/' was, after all, not much in error, only 
 overlooking the predestinating hand that beckoned 
 those great battalions to the field. 
 
 Vast as is the amount of knowledge the united 
 labour of fifty centuries has gathered in, an infinite 
 harvest yet remains to reap. Has any science even 
 ventured to imagine a limit to its sphere of search ? 
 Is, for example, the animal kingdom exhausted ? 
 Combinations of matter, new to us, are constantly 
 producing new forms of life. Even with some whose 
 generations have long since been denizens of this 
 globe, we are yet imperfectly, if at all, acquainted; 
 and, if one distinguished naturalist has taken upon 
 himself to aver that Providence is incapable of 
 creating an animal with the presumed appearance 
 and habits of the sea-serpent, another, long resi-
 
 10 STBANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 dent in Central Africa, has lately assured us that, in 
 the trackless wastes and forests, stretching south and 
 east, there will unquestionably be found animals 
 hitherto unclassed by the zoologist, not excepting 
 the " fabled " unicorn. 
 
 So, in the rich abundance of the vegetable king- 
 dom, how little is revealed, compared with what lies 
 hid, of the powers and properties of those innumerable 
 structures, every one of which, we have reason to 
 believe, has its especial adaptation to the ever- 
 changing, ever-recurring needs of man ? The trea- 
 sury of nature seems no poorer for the perpetual 
 drain, and so will it probably remain, unt.l the 
 laborious pursuit of knowledge is lost in the light of 
 infinite wisdom. Yet, it is good for us to gather up 
 the " broken fragments of the feast " with which 
 creation began, and he that would restrict that 
 search by arrogant announcements that, in such and 
 such a walk, there is nothing more to find is false 
 to his fellow-workers false to nature, false to God. 
 
 (e I see outspread before me the immense sea of 
 the infinite wisdom of God. It is given me to dip 
 my vessel into it, and fill it for my use ; but I have 
 no more idea of emptying that sea, than I have of 
 emptying the waters of the ocean from their 
 depth." 
 
 With this persuasion of the restricted character of
 
 INDIFFEEENCE OF PROFESSORS. 11 
 
 our acquaintance with things of lower nature, it is 
 certainly strange that any new suggestion having 
 reference to that complex structure, man himself, 
 and seeming capable of analysis, should be almost 
 invariably received with disfavour. The discoverer 
 of a new material organ in the human frame would 
 be hailed as a sort of benefactor to his kind. How 
 much more does he deserve, who demonstrates 
 powers hitherto latent in the nobler part of man ? 
 On what principle is examination deprecated ? If 
 the influence of an assumed discovery be beneficent, 
 how much may not be lost? If noxious, the bare 
 denial of its existence is but a partial remedy. 
 
 One example may suffice. Mesmerism that sin- 
 gular art known familiarly in remote ages, revived 
 seventy years ago, has fairly outlived the worst that 
 invective and incredulity could effect, and, with its 
 clairvoyant phenomena, now compels the attention of 
 those who would fain have ignored the whole matter, 
 recognizing in it the germ of a dangerous power. 
 
 It is far from the writer's purpose to defend the 
 practice of mesmerism, since the utmost benefit to 
 be expected from it by the most sanguine, would 
 be infinitely outweighed by the evil that might arise 
 from a power thus obtained by any human creature 
 over the moral and mental being of another. Pre- 
 suming that the imponderable substance by which
 
 12 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the mesmerist is understood to act, does exist, it has 
 awakened the scruples and fears of many, not given 
 to dream, lest an agent so spiritual and preternatural 
 should be seized upon by the ever-watchful powers 
 of evil, as a medium for the assault of human souls. 
 
 All, however, at present to be urged, is that an 
 insufficient investigation is, generally speaking, worse 
 than none at all. Thus, the French commission 
 appointed to inquire into the claims of magnetism, 
 and composed of the three celebrities, Bailly, Lavoi- 
 sier, and Benjamin Franklin, together with two other 
 members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and four 
 of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris, came to the 
 decision that " all the effects produced by it could 
 be elicited where it was not even pretended to be 
 employed, that magnetism could produce no effects 
 without the aid of an excited imagination, and 
 that imagination, when excited, could effect all 
 that was attributed to magnetism. Ihey did not 
 hesitate to ascribe all the wonders they had wit- 
 nessed to the power of imagination, the tendency to 
 imitation natural to all mankind, and the animal 
 heat and friction employed by the magnetists."* 
 
 With the decision of their brethren the scientific 
 world remained satisfied. Not so the public, who 
 continued to avail themselves of the magnetic reme- 
 * " Cradle of the Twin Giants." (Christmas.)
 
 MESMERISM. 13 
 
 dies until the introduction of a new and singular 
 feature, by the Marquis de Puysegur, a pupil of 
 Mesmer viz. the magnetic sleep proved that the 
 subject had not been exhausted. It is not necessary 
 to remind the reader of the phenomena supposed to 
 attach to this condition, or how the shutting out of 
 external impressions quickened those within, until 
 (in the words of Mr. Christmas) the patients " not 
 only walked, talked, preached, advised, and pro- 
 phesied, but were even able to transfer the action 
 and power of the senses to parts not ordinarily 
 capable of exercising them." " Animal instinct 
 (according to Okcr) arose to the highest pitch 
 admissible in this world. The clairvoyant became a 
 pure animal, without any admixture of matter. His 
 operations were those of a spirit," &c. 
 
 The theory of Delcuze affirms that perception in 
 magnetic patients is carried on by means of an internal 
 circulation of the fluid, which transmits the impres- 
 sions immediately, without the intervention of nerves, 
 to the brain, an idea which subsequently gave rise 
 to the practice of magnetizing the physician, instead 
 of the patient, whereby the former obtained all 
 necessary information as to what was wrong in the 
 latter's frame ! 
 
 Recurring once more to Mr. Christmas's excellent 
 work, we find that, in 1825, a new commission of
 
 14 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 inquiry was appointed in France, who, after a period 
 of six years, published an indecisive report, in the 
 course of which, however, they admitted that, albeit 
 the effects of magnetism were often produced by 
 ennui, monotony, and the power of the imagination, 
 they were sometimes developed independently of 
 these causes, and very probably by the effect of 
 magnetism alone ! 
 
 The ninth proposition of the report declared that 
 the commission had seen two somnambulists distin- 
 guish, with closed eyes, objects placed before them. 
 They had read words, estimated the difference of 
 colours, the points on cards, &c. 
 
 Proposition the tenth mentions two other som- 
 nambulists who possessed the faculty of foreseeing 
 acts of the organism such as the day, hour, and 
 minute of an epileptic attack, the period of the cure 
 of another disorder, &c. 
 
 And the thirteenth proposition declares that mag- 
 netism, considered as an agent of physiological 
 phenomena, or of therapeutics, should find a place in 
 the circle of medical science, and, consequently, 
 should be either practised, or superintended, by a 
 physician. 
 
 Finally, the commission recommended that the 
 academy should encourage researches in animal 
 magnetism, as a curious branch of psychology and 
 natural history.
 
 MESMEEISM. 15 
 
 Opponents of the science will remember that this 
 report was published only after six years of patient 
 investigation by a commission,, which included several 
 of the most distinguished scientific names in France. 
 Defective as it was, it gave a renewed impulse to. the 
 study both in France and America. In the latter, 
 especially, the experiments made by M. Poyen, its 
 leading professor, were of the most astounding nature, 
 and characterized by a degree of exaggeration not 
 noticeable in other lands. 
 
 In 1837, arrived in England M. Dupotet, of 
 Sennevoy, whose experiments won over to his cause 
 a most conscientious and accomplished advocate, in 
 the person of the highly respected Dr. Elliotson. 
 The inquiry that subsequently took place at the 
 University College Hospital was attended by many 
 medical practitioners of the first eminence, and, as 
 some readers may remember, produced results far 
 from decisive. True, that, when experimented upon 
 by Dr. Elliotson, the patients evinced all the usual 
 phenomena ascribed to magnetism ; but, on the other 
 hand, when a similar course of experiments was 
 afterwards attempted by the late Mr. Wakley, a 
 professed non-believer, no such result followed. The 
 effects of magnetism were in fact produced when 
 that agent was not employed, and were absent when 
 it was. As, however, the will of the operator is
 
 16 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 admitted to be an important ingredient in the matter, 
 these conflicting results leave the question almost as 
 it was. The character and scope of the magnetic 
 theory remains still to be solved. 
 
 "Inferences/' as Dr. Elliotson has truly noted, 
 " are too often drawn in mesmerism, as in medicine, 
 from imperfectly investigating, and from too few 
 occurrences. The declarations of mesmerized patients, 
 thought to be clairvoyant, upon those matters, is not 
 worth a moment's consideration. I am satisfied of 
 the truth of clairvoyance of an occult power of 
 foreknowing changes in the patient's own health that 
 are not cognizable to others of knowing things 
 distant and things past, and sometimes, though rarely, 
 things to come. But I am sure that most clair- 
 voyants imagine much, speak the impressions of 
 their natural state, or of those about them, and may 
 be led to any fancy." 
 
 Commenting upon these matters, Mr. Christmas 
 has observed that "the only real difficulties with 
 regard to the acceptance of mesmerism as a whole, 
 are those which attend the clairvoyant phenomena, 
 nor are these so great as they are usually supposed 
 to be. If I may by means of one fluid light be 
 made sensible of what takes place in a room sepa- 
 rated from me by a glass-door, or, by another fluid 
 air of what takes place in a room separated from
 
 MESMERISM. 17 
 
 me by a partition of wood, why may I not attain a 
 similar knowledge through the action of a third fluid, 
 and call it neither sight nor hearing, but clairvoy- 
 ance ? The interposition of solid bodies is no neces- 
 sary impediment, as we have seen in the cases already 
 adduced. Distance is no hindrance, as we see daily 
 by the electric telegraph. However wonderful, 
 therefore, may be these cases of clairvoyance 
 denominated ' mental travelling/ there is nothing 
 which need strike us as in any high degree improb- 
 able." 
 
 The same writer one of the fairest and most 
 unbiassed who has ever essayed to deal with this 
 vexed question divides the clairvoyants into three 
 classes, first setting the impostors aside. 
 
 There are the patients whose faculties are sharp- 
 ened so that they are enabled to judge of probabili- 
 ties much more accurately than when in their 
 normal condition, and may be reasonably supposed 
 able to predict with some accuracy such events as 
 the crises of disease, &c. 
 
 Secondly, examples of persons who have heard 
 scientific subjects discussed, and not understanding 
 have forgotten them, until in the mesmeric state the 
 half-comprehended sounds have rushed back upon 
 the memory. 
 
 Thirdly, cases in which thought may be actually
 
 18 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 transmitted from mind to mind without the interven- 
 tion of speech. 
 
 "We know too little," he concludes, "of the 
 inner life and nature of man's spirit to be able to 
 theorize on a subject" so difficult as this, but the 
 tenor of experiment induces us to believe in its 
 
 possibility The opinions of those 
 
 who refer all these wonders to satanic influence 
 prove that they must surely have very unorthodox 
 views of Satan's character and purpose if they sup- 
 pose him lending himself to good men, and employ- 
 ing his power to cure disease and alleviate suffering." 
 
 Imperfect investigation is the bane of philosophy. 
 
 Less liberal than the inquirers of old, who met 
 together expressly " to tell or to hear some new 
 thing," and .while so doing caught the first beams 
 of the glorious Christian day, the savans of our age 
 evince a marked disfavour for any new thing that 
 presumes to make its appearance unfathered by any 
 recognized authority. The door of Areopagus is 
 shut to nameless men, and the stamp of learned 
 societies is necessary to render the new theory 
 admissible within the pale of discussion. Should 
 the poor bantling, born perhaps of some neglected 
 student's brain, become importunate, then (espe- 
 cially if the public evince a disposition to hear) he 
 is either floored and expected to consider himself
 
 TABLE-TURNING. 19 
 
 so by one blow of a scientific bludgeon, or hustled 
 back, with shouts of derisive laughter, into the 
 obscurity from whence he came. 
 
 Let us instance " table-turning," an experiment 
 entirely distinct from " spirit-rapping," although 
 commonly associated with that most objectionable 
 and imbecile practice, owing to an opinion that had 
 got abroad, that a table once fully impregnated with 
 a certain fluid force, radiating in streams from many 
 finger-ends, constitutes a medium or element adapt- 
 able to intercommunication with those beings that 
 hover round us, scarcely more ethereal than the agent 
 itself. 
 
 To check the growing taste for such exhibitions, 
 the honoured name of one to whose genius and 
 research science is under the deepest obligations, 
 was put forward with a view to disprove the exist- 
 ence altogether of the aforesaid fluid force, and to 
 show that the table-movements were ascribable to 
 the combined spontaneous muscular action of the 
 operators. A table was suspended in the air, so 
 accurately balanced that the very lightest pressure 
 of a finger would suffice to produce a deflection, and 
 betray the intrusion of physical force. It was 
 asserted that this table was never known to move, 
 nor was it very likely that it would, since it never 
 was pretended that, without absolute contact, the 
 
 c2
 
 20 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 force was communicable, while, as lias been said, the 
 slightest touch, nay, the very action of a strong 
 pulse, was enough to disturb the fine equilibrium of 
 the instrument. Yet it was boasted that the ex- 
 periment was exhaustive, and this table, at least, 
 effectually turned upon the table-turners. 
 
 Electricity powerful magnetoied currents can, 
 as every one is aware, be generated in the human 
 frame, and there are well-understood instances in 
 which the latter have been shown to be controllable 
 by the will. Hence, "vitalized electricity," to use 
 its scientific name, has been the subject of consider- 
 able discussion .and numerous experiments, to which 
 the work of Dr. Dubois Reymond, of the Academy 
 of Sciences, Berlin, led the way. 
 
 The fluid essence, associated with the inquiries of 
 Reichenbach, known as odyle, more subtle than even 
 electricity (itself seven hundred thousand times finer 
 than air) besides producing analogous phenomena, 
 further manifests itself in cases in which magnetism 
 gives no evidence of its presence, in many chemical 
 processes, in vitality, crystals, friction, sun and 
 moon spectra, polarized light, &c.* 
 
 To illustrate its operations, Mr. Rutter constructed 
 his magnetoscope. The experiments by the late Dr. 
 Leger, some few years since, with this simple machine 
 * -" Sights and Sounds," p. 413.
 
 THE MAGNETOSCOPE. 21 
 
 (chiefly as applied to the science of phrenology), 
 were beginning to render it familiar to the public, 
 when the premature death of the professor, leaving, 
 unfortunately, his observations and analyses incom- 
 plete, withdrew the instrument and its capacities 
 from general notice. It may not, therefore, be super- 
 fluous to mention that the magnetoscope consisted of 
 a brass rod, crowned with a brass disc, and screwed 
 upon an immovable base, such as a stone floor, 
 table, or wall. From the top of the rod, beneath the 
 disc, extended two arms, one composed of wood or 
 metal (conductors of electricity) ; the other of animal 
 matter, whalebone, or porcupine quill (non-conduc- 
 tors) . From either arm depended a thread of equal 
 length, with a pendulum of equal weight. 
 
 The operator places his finger lightly on the im- 
 movable disc which crowns the whole, when the 
 pendulum attached to the conducting arm, acquires a 
 violent movement ; that depending from the non-con- 
 ductor remaining perfectly still, thus proving beyond 
 question that the magnetic current and that alone 
 imparts the action. 
 
 Its existence established, the next extraordinary 
 feature is the manner in which this subtle agent, 
 after showing that it can govern inert matter, is itself 
 governed by the mere w ill, thus leading to the con- 
 clusion that the will of man is in itself a natural force.
 
 22 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The mental process by which these currents are 
 directed, involving a peculiar state of the nervous 
 power, is difficult to explain in a few lines. It is 
 dwelt upon at some length in Dr. Leger's interesting 
 treatise. We are dealing rather with results, and it 
 will be enough to say that the writer among others 
 had many opportunities of witnessing the exercise of 
 this will-power upon the instrument, not only by Dr. 
 Leger himself, but by those who carefully followed 
 his directions. 
 
 The doctor's own influence was indeed extraordi- 
 nary. With his finger lightly resting on the immov- 
 able machine, he caused the pendulum to vary its 
 oscillations, from rotatory to elliptical, from north to 
 south, from east to west, according to previous an- 
 nouncement, or to the chance suggestions of a 
 stander-by. 
 
 Concerning the adaptation of the magnetoscope to 
 the purposes of phrenology, it is necessary to speak 
 with more reserve. True, the doctor affirmed that to 
 every phrenological organ there was found to belong 
 one and one only of the seven different oscillations 
 of the pendulum, viz., normal rotation, inverse rota- 
 tion, elliptical (oval), N. and S., E. and W., N.E. 
 and S.W., and S.E. and N.W. By placing the left 
 middle finger on the organ to be examined, the 
 right as usual on the brass disc, the doctor observed
 
 KEMAEKABLE EXPEEIMENTS. 23 
 
 that the pendulum began invariably to move in the 
 direction belonging to that organ, the amount of 
 movement furnishing the degree of development. 
 
 According to this evidence, therefore, it becomes 
 practicable to ascertain with much accuracy a man's 
 dispositions and character, without any knowledge of 
 his previous history. Armed with this silent oracle, 
 the doctor made the round of most of the gaols and 
 lunatic asylums in the kingdom, astonishing gover- 
 nors and doctors with his precise biography of those 
 under their charge; extending, in many cases, even 
 to the very delinquencies for which the criminal por- 
 tion had been made responsible. 
 
 Within these few weeks the writer has been in- 
 debted to a friend of the deceased professor for an 
 opportunity of inspecting the reports of these exami- 
 nations, most minutely tabulated by the former, 
 and embracing no less than eight hundred and thirty- 
 three cases. It is to be hoped that the Phrenological 
 Society,* to whom the value of these interesting 
 materials must be apparent, will take measures for 
 placing them on the table of general science, so that, 
 with greater publicity, their actual intrinsic worth 
 may be more impartially weighed. 
 
 One point of difficulty will naturally present itself, 
 
 * The writer has since been informed that this society has 
 ceased to exist.
 
 2-t STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 on which, however, had the doctor's life been spared 
 to complete his work, some light might have been 
 thrown. Conceding that the magnetoid currents are 
 subject to the operator's will, in what manner, when 
 employed (for instance) in divining character, can a 
 sufficiently independent action be secured to them ? 
 
 Say that the doctor's subject for the time being 
 happened to be a gaol ruffian of repulsive physiog- 
 nomy, and strongly-developed malific organs, might 
 not the former's secret conviction that his acquaint- 
 ance was a consummate scoundrel, unconsciously 
 prejudice the will that rules the currents that govern 
 the instrument? Fine as was the adjustment of 
 thine invention, dear doctor, far finer was the ad- 
 justment of that which thou didst not invent the 
 human will. 
 
 Regarding the existence of the magnetic currents 
 as perfectly established, a few words as to their con- 
 ditions and effects will conduct us towards the point 
 at which we would arrive a solution of some of 
 the many so-called supernatural events of which our 
 social and domestic history is full. 
 
 Although these currents are, of course, manifested 
 in the healthy, as well as the morbid subject, it is 
 in the latter only that their extreme development 
 and irregular action attract attention ; and hence it 
 may be reasonably inferred that a diseased magnetic
 
 MAGNETIC PHENOMENA. 25 
 
 condition of the brain, in which this fine fluid is 
 generated, is the real parent of the phenomena. 
 
 " Just as physiology is often indebted to disease 
 for illustrating what should be the proper functions 
 of the vital organs so, also, can psychology learn 
 important lessons from perverted or diseased mental 
 action. Many truths respecting the various parts of 
 the nervous system and their separate functions have 
 been either brought to light, or finally established, 
 by means of disease, &c. Thus we find that, when the 
 nerves of motion are paralyzed, those of sensation 
 often remain entire, and vice versa; that reflex action 
 will continue unimpaired when consciousness is en- 
 tirely destroyed; that undue excitement of the nerves 
 will produce ghost-seeing, and other collateral phe- 
 nomena. .... Insanity, again, frequently throws 
 light upon the play of the mental faculties, inasmuch 
 as it gives real examples of cases in which one set 
 of functions is perverted, while others are wholly 
 unaffected Lastly, all those abnormal phe- 
 nomena which are grouped together under the 
 names, somnambulism, electro-biology, clairvoyance, 
 and mesmeric states, generally give us a remarkable 
 insight into the instinctive operations of the nervous 
 system, and the power which ideas exert over the 
 physical functions of the body. Abnormal though 
 they be, they are often highly suggestive of very
 
 26 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 important truths in connection with that dim and 
 almost unknown region which lies between the con- 
 scious and unconscious life of man." * 
 
 Those, according to Dr. S. Taylor, in whose 
 system the before-mentioned " detached vital elec- 
 tricity " is eliminated, may be reduced to this sin- 
 gular condition of losing all consciousness of any 
 of the common operations of life immediately after 
 their performance. Thus, for example, the mind 
 wills, and the hand writes in obedience to its dic- 
 tates ; but that reflex current which perpetually 
 returns to the great sensorium the consciousness of 
 the hand's act, is wanting. It passes off from the 
 person ; and the curious question has been raised, 
 whether it may not, by affinity, be attracted by, 
 and made to act upon, the morbid system of 
 another ? 
 
 The former part of the proposition, at all events, 
 is comprehensible enough, since all muscular action, 
 and all sensation seeing, feeling, &c. are voltaic, 
 or produced by the movements of electricity in the 
 system over the nerves. 
 
 Is it not possible, then, that many of the pre- 
 tended " spirit- writings " may have had their origin 
 in this morbid characteristic ? Persons, whose truth- 
 ful lives forbid the very idea of a sensible deceit, 
 * Morell's " Mental Philosophy."
 
 SPIRIT-WHITINGS, HOW PKODUCED. 27 
 
 have assured the writer that they had no conscious- 
 ness of having conceived, or conveyed to paper, the 
 remarks that lay upon the table, fresh from their 
 very hands. 
 
 Is it not an admitted fact that, in the electric 
 condition, persons are frequently unconscious of the 
 phenomena occurring in their own frames ? 
 
 " Such knowledge is by no means a necessary 
 feature, but in the same manner as the human 
 system is affected by invisible agents, such as atmo- 
 spheric changes, noxious vapours, &c. ; and as the 
 mind, though stimulated by the sphere of unseen 
 life and thought, cannot always distinctly perceive 
 the spiritual presence, or recognize agencies, so the 
 body is alike insensible to the presence of those 
 agents which act upon its physiological condition/' 
 ("Sights and Sounds.' 3 ) 
 
 With respect to the second suggestion that has 
 been offered that which refers to the possibility of 
 the detached force being attracted to the morbid 
 system of another, so as even to affect the external 
 senses of the latter, a field of consideration is opened, 
 which, fairly examined, might lead to the explana- 
 tion of a very large class of extra-natural incidents 
 such as, for example, the supposed warnings of 
 another's death. 
 
 From many illustrations, the following, as well
 
 28 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 adapted to our argument, is selected, and given in 
 
 the precise words of Colonel M. , a French officer, 
 
 in a letter to a friend : 
 
 " Left an orphan at an early age, I was brought 
 up under the care of a kind-hearted friend and 
 godmother, who could scarcely have cherished me 
 more had I been her own offspring. She resided at 
 Harfleur, and, being in easy circumstances, refused 
 me nothing that could contribute to my youthful 
 pleasure, keeping my pockets withal comfortably 
 lined with that material which rendered my frequent 
 visits .to the Sunday fetes in the neighbourhood 
 doubly agreeable. 
 
 " On one occasion I had started as usual, in com- 
 pany with a band of young vagabonds like myself, to 
 attend a fete at Quilleboeuf, on the opposite side of 
 the Seine. 
 
 " Contrary to my natural habit, I felt uneasy and 
 depressed. An inexplicable feeling of gloom hung 
 upon my mind, and neither my own efforts, nor the 
 raillery of my companions, could drive it away. I 
 had, indeed, left my good protectress confined to 
 her bed by illness; but I had no idea that she was 
 in any danger. However, the cloud upon my mind, 
 far from dispersing, momentarily increased. If I 
 joined as usual in the different sports, I was slow and 
 unskilful, and, in the war of wit that generally
 
 CASE OF COLONEL M . 29 
 
 accompanied our games, had not a word to say for 
 myself. 
 
 " We had engaged in a game of skittles. It was 
 my turn to deliver the ball, and I was standing half- 
 pensively poising it in my hand, when I distinctly 
 heard a soft voice pronounce my name. I started, 
 and turned round, hastily asking who had spoken. 
 
 " ' Nobody/ replied those around me. 
 
 " I insisted that I had heard a woman's voice say 
 <M .' 
 
 " ' Bah ! you are dreaming. Play away I' 
 
 " Hardly had the ball quitted my hand, when, a 
 second time I heard my name pronounced in a soft 
 and plaintive tone, but fainter than the former. 
 Again I inquired who called me. 
 
 " No one present had heard the sound. 
 
 " It struck me that some one of the party was 
 playing a trick upon me, in order to increase my 
 evident melancholy. Nevertheless, under the influ- 
 ence of some impression caused by the plaintive 
 summons, I refused to play any longer, and pre- 
 sently returned alone to Harfleur. 
 
 " On reaching my godmother's house, I was 
 shocked to learn that she had expired during the 
 afternoon, pronouncing my name twice, and breath- 
 ing her last sigh at the moment of the second sum- 
 mons I had heard. These facts are well known to
 
 30 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 some twelve or fifteen people at Harfleur and at 
 QuillebcEuf, most of whom are still (in 1854) living, 
 and, were / to live fifty years, the sound and the 
 impression will never depart from my memory/' 
 
 In stating, with a view to corroboration, that these 
 facts, which had of course their common source in 
 the narrator, were known to certain persons at 
 Harfleur, Colonel M simply intended to ap- 
 peal to the memory of his friends as to his unaccus- 
 tomed demeanour and actions on the day in question, 
 as to the death of his friend, and his own explana- 
 tion, given at the time of the singular occurrence 
 mentioned. For rarely indeed does that solemn 
 sound or shadow extend its influence beyond one 
 soul. As complete as it is mysterious, must be the 
 preparation by which the receptive power is ob- 
 tained. 
 
 That unaccountable feeling of gloom or uneasiness 
 so constantly referred to as having preceded such 
 visitations, merely indicates the latent process through 
 which we are being insensibly drawn towards that 
 sensitive magnetic condition which is essential to 
 such phenomena. It is not answerable for their 
 production. Infinitely more numerous are the in- 
 stances in which nothing remarkable has succeeded 
 these seasons of depression. Hence, it seems that 
 the operation of another law is necessary to render
 
 AFFINITIES OF DETACHED FORCES. 31 
 
 the phenomenon complete. The eye is ready, but 
 the light has not dawned. In language the reverse 
 of philosophic, it requires two minds to produce one 
 " ghost." There must be, on the one side, the 
 power of projection of the sound or image, through 
 the agency described, on the other, that of recep- 
 tivity. 
 
 Concerning the conditions of the latter power, 
 there is yet little besides conjecture. Unquestion- 
 ably it has been found that those most subject to 
 illusory phenomena have been persons of variable 
 health, sensitive and impressionable temperament, 
 children who, at the age from seven to ten, have out- 
 grown their strength, or individuals of riper years, 
 in whom a feeble wasted body is hurrying to pre- 
 mature decay. Many interesting cases are on record 
 (the writer himself has had personal knowledge of 
 two) in which children, in the state described, have 
 believed and declared themselves to be in daily 
 familiar intercourse with beings not of this world ; 
 giving them fancied names, and speaking of appoint- 
 ments made, and discourses maintained, with them, 
 as though they had been recognized members of 
 the household. While in no single instance have 
 these things appeared to have a painful effect on the 
 minds of the little seers, their physical health has 
 invariably suffered, until care and medical treatment,
 
 32 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 aided by the beneficent operation of nature, have 
 restored the normal tone. 
 
 Although our ghost-seers, as a rule, are, as has 
 been noted, persons of sensitive and impressionable 
 nature we have apparent instances to the contrary 
 and, among the rest, a noticeable one in the person 
 
 of the gallant Colonel M , who perished, with a 
 
 party of his men, in the lamentable burning of a 
 transport, on her way to the Crimea. 
 
 M (with whom the writer was well acquainted) 
 
 was a man of the coolest nerve, of the most imper- 
 turbable self-possession. It was his habit to sit up 
 reading in the chamber of his invalid wife, after the 
 latter had retired to bed. 
 
 One night, Mrs. M having fallen asleep, the 
 
 door opened, and her maid, Lucy, who had been 
 sent home ill, to the charge of her friends, a few 
 days before, entered the room. Perfectly con- 
 scious, as he declared, from the first, that 
 the object he beheld was no longer of this world, 
 the steady soldier fixed his eyes on the apparition, 
 careful only to catch its every movement, and impress 
 the unexpected scene with accuracy on his memory. 
 The figure moved slowly to the side of the bed, 
 gazed with a sad and wistful expression on the 
 sleeper's face and then, as though reluctantly, 
 died away into the gloom. Colonel M then
 
 CONJECTURAL EXAMPLE. 33 
 
 awoke his wife, and related what had occurred. 
 Together they noted the precise moment of the 
 vision. It proved to be that at which the poor girl 
 had breathed her last, murmuring her mistress's 
 name. 
 
 In a treatise intended to be little more than hypo- 
 thetical, it would be vain to discuss psychologically 
 every example we intend to produce, with a view 
 of reconciling conflicting features. It must suffice 
 to indicate a path of inquiry, not apparently im- 
 practicable, and to supply such minutiae as may 
 assist to clear the way. With regard to the case 
 
 just quoted, it is to be observed that Mrs. M , 
 
 a naturally nervous person, had long been in deli- 
 cate health. There subsisted a strong attachment 
 between herself and the faithful attendant who had 
 been compelled to quit her side. The absence of the 
 latter might have pressed painfully on her mistress's 
 mind, even in sleep, quickening the predisposing 
 causes, and preparing, so to speak, an atmosphere 
 for the reception of one of those mysterious pic- 
 tures, to which, however, her outward sense was 
 closed. 
 
 But then a further process would become neces- 
 sary, before a third person, in whom no such pre- 
 disposition is presumed to exist, can be witness of 
 the vision. What, then, is this process ? Is it
 
 34 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 possible to assign to the combined action of the 
 meeting currents such a power as dispensing with 
 predisposition in the case of a third party might 
 mock the latter's senses with a spectrum, while his 
 system retained its normal state, as, in chemistry, 
 two other invisible subtle agents, carburetted hydro- 
 gen and phosphorus, will produce another that is 
 visible flame ? If that were admissible, it would 
 tend to the solution of a large class of incidents 
 in which many eyes and ears have borne witness 
 to the same phenomenon. 
 
 Pursuing the plan of illustration, we will quote, 
 as an example, one of the most remarkable cases 
 on record, for which the writer is indebted to a 
 friend, the Rev. F. H , of Cheltenham : 
 
 The grandfather of this gentleman/ while resident 
 in the neighbourhood of Fort George, N. B., was 
 in the habit of employing a woman, generally known 
 as " old Helen," on market-messages and errands 
 involving the outlay of small sums, in the dis- 
 bursement of which the old dame was probity 
 itself. 
 
 On a certain occasion, however, old Helen did 
 not return. A night and a day passed, and still 
 there were no tidings of the faithful old messenger. 
 It happened that the amount entrusted to her had 
 been rather larger than common, and even some
 
 OLD NELL'S MUKDER. 35 
 
 of those familiar with her character began to be 
 sensible of certain misgivings concerning old Helen's 
 powers to resist the tempter. Others held that she 
 had fallen into dangerous company, had been robbed 
 of the money, and feared to present herself with- 
 out it. 
 
 Towards the gloaming, on the second day, Mr. 
 
 H and his lady were seated in a little trellised 
 
 bower, thickly walled with luxuriant creepers. They 
 had been discussing the disappearance of old Helen, 
 and had subsided into silence, when the subject of 
 their late discourse suddenly thrust her head through 
 the leafy shield, and looked them alternately in the 
 face ! There was a broad, deep crimson streak 
 round her neck, and, without uttering a word, but 
 with gestures that, in some mysterious manner, con- 
 veyed her entire meaning, she intimated to them 
 that her throat had been cut, and that she had been 
 buried in a certain outhouse, under a heap of stable 
 refuse. 
 
 How the details were so clearly indicated, neither 
 
 Mr. nor Mrs. H were able to explain, even to 
 
 themselves. Their minds received the impression 
 simultaneously, or nearly so, as the woman looked 
 from one to the other, and just as distinctly as 
 though by the agency of articulate words. There 
 was, indeed, no opportunity at the moment for com- 
 
 D2
 
 36 STBANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 parison of impressions, since so deeply was Mr. 
 
 H affected by the occurrence, that he fainted 
 
 on the spot, and it devolved on the lady to give the 
 alarm, and relate what had happened ; her husband, 
 on regaining self-command, confirming every syllable 
 of her report. - 
 
 The police were instantly warned, and the search 
 that was instituted resulted in the discovery of the 
 body of the unfortunate old woman, in the place, 
 and in the condition, so strangely revealed. She 
 h%d, in fact, been murdered by her own husband, 
 who was subsequently convicted and executed, con- 
 fessing his crime. 
 
 Supposing that this apparition had no producing 
 cause independent of the imagination of the seers, 
 how is it that they should have happened to attain, 
 at precisely the same instant, that most peculiar 
 mental crisis from which such a vision must 
 proceed ? 
 
 It is very possible, might the doubters say, that 
 a very ordinary external chance should have brought 
 about this effect. It was towards evening. The 
 parties were seated in the shadow of a thick arbour, 
 their thoughts full of the subject of their recent 
 conversation, already, it may be, pointing towards 
 such a solution as that about to be so singularly 
 revealed. Familiar acquaintance with the localities 
 might unconsciously suggest the very spot where the
 
 OLD NELL'S MTJEDEK. 37 
 
 corpse was found, as one likely to be selected for 
 such a crime, or for the concealment of its tokens, 
 when, in the midst of that perplexity with which 
 the mind conceives a new and painful idea, a thing 
 so slight as the yielding of a branch, the intrusion 
 of a large bird, &c., may have taken momentary 
 form in unison with the mental prepossession 
 ' ' momentary," it may be called, because .there is 
 reason to believe that the lapse of time on these 
 occasions, whatever it may appear to the confused 
 visionary, does not often exceed a few seconds 
 *. e. a period sufficient for the reasoning faculty to 
 resume its preponderance. 
 
 With such or similar comments the story of old 
 Helen's ghost might have been dismissed into the 
 category of explained events, had it not been for a 
 sequel which, if true, necessitates an entirely new 
 chain of explanation. 
 
 So strong had been the conviction that old Nell 
 had fallen a victim to some cruel outrage, that, 
 within twenty-four hours of her disappearance, 
 Inverness had been searched for her, from end to 
 
 end. Colonel G , the officer then commanding 
 
 at Fort George, had interested himself greatly in the 
 inquiry, and on the second night this gentleman 
 was in the act of stepping into bed, when he felt a 
 gentle pressure on his foot. 
 
 Stooping down to look under the bed he dis-
 
 38 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 tinctly saw the appearance of old Nell reclining at 
 full length on the floor, with her throat cut from 
 ear to ear ! The object was visible but for a 
 moment, yet within that space, and in the strange, 
 wordless manner already described, an impression 
 exactly identical with that conceived by Mr. and 
 
 Mrs. H , had stamped itself on the colonel's 
 
 mind, viz., that old Helen had been waylaid, mur- 
 dered, and concealed under stable- stuff in a certain 
 out -by re. 
 
 Considering, however, that it is not positively ascer- 
 tained whether the colonel had or had not been made 
 acquainted with the vision experienced some hours 
 
 earlier by Mr. and Mrs. H , it would be scarcely 
 
 wise to adduce this special instance as one on which 
 to base an occult theory, when it might, in fact, be 
 referable to [nothing more uncommon than an excit- 
 able fancy, influenced by a foregone conclusion. 
 
 Returning to the subject of the electric currents, 
 the power of which to move substances has been 
 abundantly shown (the old conjurors knew some- 
 thing of their value see " Les Bigarrures du 
 Seigneur des Accords"}, need we search beyond 
 their irregular action for an explanation of those 
 remarkable incidents which have been known to 
 accompany the last great change ? Strange concus- 
 sions, atmospheric movements, the ringing of bells,
 
 PHENOMENA OF THE DEATH-CHAMBEK. 39 
 
 &c., as the electric current darts along the readiest 
 conductor, the actual displacement of heavy inert 
 substances before the silent force of the gaseous 
 combinations suddenly leaping into life these, and 
 such like phenomena, occurring in the hush and 
 shadow of the chamber of death, may well have 
 acquired a character of the supernatural. 
 
 It is not in such scenes that the mind readily 
 inclines to philosophical investigations. The half- 
 revealed realities of this perishable sphere lose their 
 grandeur and interest as we stand gazing into the 
 Infinite, whither a beloved soul is hastening, while 
 the ever-prompt imagination avails itself of the 
 temporary anarchy of thought to invest that which 
 is, in truth, " such stun as dreams are made of," 
 with the importance of a real thing. Thus, while a 
 strange circumstance may be lastingly imprinted 
 on the memory, the opportunity of tracing out its 
 origin has, for obvious reasons, been permitted to 
 pass away. 
 
 A faithful servant of the writer's family, who 
 attended its two most cherished members in their 
 last illness, declared that the decease of ooth was 
 preceded by a low soft tolling, as of a distant silver 
 bell. On the second occasion it had been noticed 
 that she alone of all the attendants anticipated a 
 fatal issue, and this, it afterwards appeared, was
 
 40 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 owing to her having, as she believed, distinctly 
 heard, in her midnight watch, the silver knell. 
 
 Some circumstances of a kindred nature are 
 known to have attended the last moments of a 
 gentleman distinguished in journalism and general 
 
 literature the late Dr.- M . For some hours 
 
 preceding his decease a low incessant tapping sound 
 was heard in the chamber, as though proceeding 
 from the window, and defied all efforts to discover 
 its precise locality and origin. This, however, 
 might soon have escaped remembrance but for a 
 more inexplicable incident which immediately fol- 
 lowed the sick man's dissolution, when the sound as 
 of a heavy step was distinctly heard to quit the room 
 of death, and descend, stair by stair, passing the 
 open door of the room below, but without revealing 
 any object to the eyes of the astonished listeners. 
 
 A lady, known to the writer's sister, was, two or 
 three years since, in close attendance on her father, 
 who was suffering from an illness that almost 
 forbade the hope of recovery. As she was one 
 evening reading to the invalid, who was seated 
 in his easy chair, she was interrupted by a tap 
 at the door. Her "come in" not being followed 
 by the entrance of any one, the reading recom- 
 menced, but was again interrupted by a more 
 emphatic tapping. Still no result followed the
 
 ALLEGED OMENS. 41 
 
 request to enter. Miss W then rose and opened 
 
 the door herself. No one was to be seen ! A little 
 perplexed she returned to her seat, but had scarcely 
 resumed her book when a third time the summons 
 was repeated, and now, as it were, impatiently. 
 The sick man rose from his chair. 
 
 " That is for me," he quietly said, and, opening 
 the door, went into the passage. 
 
 The next moment his daughter saw him sink upon 
 the floor, and running to him, caught his last sigh. 
 
 An acquaintance of the writer's, while watching 
 by the death-bed (as it proved) of her sister, was 
 perpetually disturbed by a strange sweeping noise, 
 the origin of which it was impossible to detect, 
 passing round and round the chamber. 
 
 It may not be unworthy of remark, that, in 
 calling to mind the many well- authenticated in- 
 stances of these domestic disturbances, it is gene- 
 rally found that the scene is laid in some old dwell- 
 ing, often not entirely clear of ghostly imputations, 
 even before the especial event which attracts atten- 
 tion. In Germany and Switzerland, where wood is 
 largely used in the building process, creaks, thumps, 
 and concussions of every description, are, particu- 
 larly in edifices beginning to suffer from the infirmi- 
 ties incident to longevity, plentiful as wasps in 
 peach time.
 
 42 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 A curious example occurred recently at Vienna, 
 
 where the British representative, Lord , rented 
 
 a noble old mansion, the Palace L . 
 
 One fine suite of apartments had been for some 
 years wholly disused, and although his lordship had 
 been rather strenuously recommended to allow them 
 to remain so, the exigencies of a large establishment 
 compelled their re-occupation. For a short time all 
 went quietly, till, one by one, the German domestics 
 began to leave. Very soon the British also began to 
 evince signs of uneasiness, and it was then ascer- 
 tained that such extraordinary sounds were prevalent, 
 both by day and night, in the newly-opened cham- 
 bers, that a perpetual panic existed among those who 
 inhabited them, and it was with much reluctance 
 that any domestic even ventured within the doors. 
 
 Lord himself had heard unaccountable noises. 
 
 His own study was situated in the haunted suite, 
 and he very quickly satisfied himself that the ser- 
 vants had by no means exaggerated the amount of 
 disturbance. While engaged late at night in study, 
 the hush would be suddenly broken by dull dead 
 blows, such as caused the whole house to vibrate 
 from roof to cellar, struck upon the wall; noises 
 above, resembling the flinging together of ponderous 
 articles of furniture ; noises below, like the rumbling 
 of heavy wains, &c. On one occasion, so fearful a
 
 A HAUNTED AMBASSADOR. 43 
 
 crash occurred that Lord actually leaped from 
 his chair in alarm, imagining that the house was 
 coming down. It could, as he declared in relating 
 these facts to a friend of the writer's, be compared 
 to nothing but the sudden giving way of the roof 
 and walls of the apartment. Yet nothing was dis- 
 placed, nor, to all appearance, was even a grain 
 of dust disturbed. 
 
 Lord averred that he passed whole nights 
 
 moving about the mansion, pistol in hand, unable to 
 believe such very material sounds to be other than 
 the work of some designing person, and resolved, 
 if possible, to detect him. 
 
 The noises continued, with brief intervals of quiet, 
 
 during the whole period of Lord 's tenancy, 
 
 and were never traced to any definite cause. It was 
 found necessary to re-close the " haunted " suite, as 
 scarcely a servant could be induced to enter it, and 
 a comparative tranquillity succeeded. But, as a 
 haunted reputation, like the dry rot, is usually in- 
 eradicable by any means short of the destruction of 
 the building, the noble lord was not sorry when a 
 favourable opportunity occurred for effecting an 
 honourable retreat. 
 
 The L Palace is one of the oldest in Vienna, 
 
 and is very substantially built, the red pine being 
 largely used in the frame-work and interior fittings
 
 44 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 of the mansion. When it is added that the myste- 
 rious sounds almost always recurred at night, and at 
 those periods of it at which atmospheric changes are 
 most perceptibly felt, those who have dwelt in old 
 houses may perhaps remember how their own dreams 
 were now and again rudely interrupted by similar 
 alarums. 
 
 If simple variations of temperature, &c., can alone 
 produce such results, what may not be expected 
 when powerful electric streams, subject to laws and 
 conditions with which we are but imperfectly ac- 
 quainted, contribute their eccentric influence ? 
 
 Such phenomena, then, declaring themselves within 
 the narrow limit of a house or chamber, might occa- 
 sion no extreme surprise to the scientific observer. 
 The difficulty is greater when we meet with an 
 authentic example of the kind, in which space and 
 time seem to be of no account. How at an immea- 
 surable distance, can these all but immaterial agents 
 act thus strenuously upon the material? * Mind, 
 indeed, according to philosophical definition, is 
 self-moving force, but can it move anything else? 
 
 * At the moment of writing, a local journal announces : 
 "Incredible as it may seem, it is said that experiments have 
 established the fact that intelligible signals may be exchanged be- 
 tween distant stations without the intervention of any artificial 
 conductor whatsoever, and with equal success, whether the in- 
 tervening space be wholly or partially land or water."
 
 SINGULAR EXAMPLE. 45 
 
 Thought may fly to thought, as the detached vital 
 current, attracted by its affinities, shoots through 
 the void, and reveals itself almost as an actual 
 presence to one far distant, reaching the physical 
 senses through the brain ; this may be conceived, 
 but how dull inert matter can be made obedient 
 to an influence, essentially sympathetic, is a more 
 perplexing question. 
 
 Facts are the best text, and though it has been 
 truly said by Herschel, that principles and not 
 phenomena are the fitting objects of study, it is not 
 less true that the latter frequently guide the way to 
 the former. Here is an example, perfectly authen- 
 ticated, in which the organs of many members of a 
 household were influenced simultaneously by a very 
 ordinary channel indeed, that of the front-door 
 bell. 
 
 Some twenty years ago (to begin at the beginning) 
 
 the attention of Sir M and Lady S was 
 
 attracted to the friendless position of a little orphan 
 boy. So great was the interest with which he 
 inspired them both, that they took entire charge 
 of his future, giving him an excellent education, and 
 at a proper age introducing him, on his own earnest 
 request, into the navy. 
 
 Several years passed, during which the young 
 man advanced rapidly in professional and general
 
 46 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 knowledge, and was to all appearance on the outset 
 of a prosperous career, when, one rude November 
 night, about half-past twelve, the inmates of Lady 
 
 S 's country-house, at which she was then 
 
 residing, in the absence abroad of Sir M , were 
 
 aroused by a loud ringing at the bell. Lady S , 
 
 herself awakened, heard the step of her steady old 
 butler as he moved in person to ascertain who could 
 possibly be arriving at such an hour. A furious gust 
 of wind and rain seemed to burst in with the opening 
 door. A long pause succeeded, after which the 
 butler was heard reascending to his apartment. 
 
 Lady S '& curiosity was sufficiently aroused to 
 
 induce her to summon her maid, who slept in an 
 adjoining room, and send her to question the butler 
 as to the untimely visitor. The answer returned was 
 that, on opening the door, no one was to be seen. 
 The night, though rough, was not very dark, and 
 neither on the gravelled approach, nor on the broad 
 lawns, could be discovered a living thing. 
 
 Gradually the household resumed its repose, when, 
 at two o'clock, a second summons startled every- 
 body. There was no mistaking now, for the bell had 
 not ceased its impatient vibrations, when the butler, 
 with several other servants, set foot on the stairs. 
 Again the storm dashed into the house, and nothing 
 but the storm. No human shape was visible with-
 
 ME. G . 47 
 
 out, nor were any footprints to be traced on the 
 smooth gravel, sheltered by the porch. As they 
 were about to close the door for the second time, 
 
 Lady S 's maid appeared on the landing, and 
 
 beckoned, with a white, scared face, to those 
 below 
 
 " Come up, come up, somebody ! My lady has 
 seen Mr. D . I dare not stay there alone I" 
 
 It was in effect as she had said. Immediately 
 after the group of servants had descended the stairs, 
 
 Lady S had seen the figure of young D 
 
 standing at the foot of her bed. Believing at the 
 moment that it was actually himself, she had 
 accosted him : 
 
 " What, Edward, you here ?" 
 
 The figure immediately disappeared. 
 
 News shortly arrived that the young man had 
 perished at sea on that wild November night, 
 between the hours of twelve and two. 
 
 The late Mr. G , a gentleman of large property 
 
 in Norfolk, used to vouch for the following anec- 
 dote : 
 
 His father held the family livings of B and 
 
 K , and was also next heir to those estates, 
 
 of the latter of which his great-aunt, Mrs. L , 
 
 was yet in possession. The rectory grounds joined 
 those of the hall, separated only by a park paling,
 
 48 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 in which was a door never known to have been 
 opened. 
 
 One evening, as Mr. G sat at his fireside, 
 
 surrounded by his children, the narrator, then 
 grown up, being one of them, the circle was 
 startled by a sudden and terrific noise overhead, 
 difficult to describe, but such as would probably 
 be occasioned by a very heavy but soft substance 
 falling from a great height, the entire building 
 vibrating with the concussion. Some of the young 
 people rushed upstairs, but found the apartment 
 (which was unused and " packed away ") in its 
 usual state. 
 
 On the following evening, exactly at the same 
 hour, eight o'clock, while the party were assembled 
 as usual, the extraordinary sound was repeated, with 
 even increased effect, yet again without affording 
 any clue to its origin. 
 
 This strange recurrence induced a sort of expecta- 
 tion as, on the third night, the hour of eight drew 
 
 near, and Mr. G sat, watch in hand, awaiting 
 
 the moment, when, as the clock struck, a man burst 
 into the room, with a lantern in his hand, having 
 broken through the disused park-gate, to inform Mr. 
 
 G that his aged relative had a few minutes 
 
 since expired in a fit. 
 
 Without pausing to catalogue the multitude of
 
 CASE OF CAPTAIN N . 49 
 
 alleged cases of pictures falling, clocks stopping, 
 doors bursting open, &c. &c., which are believed to 
 have been the heralds of a distant death, we cannot 
 help instancing the very remarkable circumstances, 
 of an analogous kind, which are known to have 
 accompanied the death, at many hundred miles' 
 distance, of Captain N , a name rendered fa- 
 miliar to us, from its connexion with that of the 
 greatest of our naval heroes. 
 
 The apartments this gentleman occupied, when in 
 England, were, during his absence, kept in complete 
 order, and placed under the guardianship of two 
 trusty servants, who never permitted the keys to 
 pass out of their possession. 
 
 On the day of the master's death, the female 
 servant, hearing, as she imagined, a step crossing 
 the apartment, hurried up to ascertain who could 
 have obtained access. She found the doors closed, 
 as usual but, on entering, almost doubted the evi- 
 dence of her senses, when she beheld the entire 
 furniture of the room disarranged, and even scat- 
 tered in wild disorder about the floor chairs, tables, 
 pictures, carpets, curtains, china, books in short, 
 every movable object in the room seemed to have 
 taken part in the strange domestic convulsion. It 
 was as though a giant hand had passed through, 
 displacing, yet not destroying, everything within its
 
 50 STBANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 reach. No loud noises had alarmed the household. 
 It was not possible that any member of it, be- 
 sides the two custodians, could have obtained admis- 
 sion unobserved. The singularity of the occur- 
 rence created some interest in the neighbourhood, 
 which was increased by the old dame's reiterated 
 asseveration that her master would be found to have 
 died on that day in whatever part of the world he 
 might be and this proved to be the case. 
 
 It is no doubt stretching the theory to a startling 
 point, to intimate even a suggestion that, in the case 
 of a man dying in the West Indies, the magnetic 
 agent could exercise a disturbing power in his British 
 bed-chamber. Nevertheless, if there be anything at 
 all in the hypothesis, there may well be this, and 
 more. As before-mentioned, it must always be held 
 in mind, that, knowing as yet but imperfectly the 
 conditions of these fluid agents, we cannot logically 
 assign any precise limitation to their field of action. 
 We have just referred to the announced discovery 
 that electricity needs no intermediate artificial agent 
 to direct it to a distant point. 
 
 It is known that magnetoid currents can be gene- 
 rated in the system. Can be ? That they constitute, 
 in fact, one of its essential features. It is known 
 that, under certain rare conditions, they become 
 detached vitalized; and reveal themselves, almost
 
 HYPOTHESES. 51 
 
 like a second being, to a remote independent sense ; 
 while the source from which they spring remains 
 sometimes wholly unconscious, sometimes dreamily 
 sensible, of their operation. 
 
 With the approach of the last hour of mortal 
 strife, the faltering mind sinks down, as for a mo- 
 ment's rest, on some familiar scene ; " babbles " 
 of its youth's green fields; searches out hungrily 
 a beloved face ; penetrates the chaos of now worth- 
 less things, to drag forth from its grave of many 
 years some sweet remembrance. In such a moment, 
 the lines are laid for the transmission of the swift 
 and secret intelligencer. Sight that delicate sense, 
 most easily deceived, but also, sometimes, as Mac- 
 beth suspected, " worth all the rest" recognizes 
 its arrival; soul speaks to soul; the "spectre" is 
 complete. 
 
 It is utterly impossible to resist the conviction 
 that the great majority of such narratives as the 
 following are, if not literally, at least substantially 
 true. Types of a very numerous class of anecdote, 
 they have been selected rather for their close authen- 
 tication and recent occurrence, than for involving 
 any very uncommon feature. 
 
 It must be premised that the heroine of our first 
 
 illustration, Mrs. D , is a lady well known in 
 
 London society, and held in high esteem by a large 
 
 E2
 
 52 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 circle of friends. Having laid it down, herein- 
 before, as a wholesome rule, not to lay too much 
 stress upon the well-strung nervous system of our 
 heroes and heroines, it shall be simply stated, on 
 authority of many years' acquaintance, that Mrs. 
 
 D possessed a serene, cheerful temper, and a 
 
 peculiarly calm and steadfast mind. 
 
 When, five years since, this lady became a widow, 
 it pleased the brother of her husband to dispute 
 the dispositions of the latter's will a proceeding 
 the more annoying as the provision made for the 
 widow was already extremely moderate. Ultimately, 
 an appeal was made to Chancery. The suit lasted 
 three years, and caused Mrs. D the utmost vexa- 
 tion and anxiety; when, at length, the law, finding 
 those claims indisputable which should never have 
 been disputed, decided in her favour. 
 
 Some short time after this, Mrs. D was re- 
 siding in L Place, Brighton. A friend, Miss 
 
 F , usually shared her bed-room. Both were 
 
 lying awake one morning, about eight o'clock, when 
 
 Mrs. D , with some surprise, saw her friend rise 
 
 up suddenly in bed, clasp her hands, and sink 
 back on the pillow, apparently in a profound sleep. 
 Strange as seemed the movement, it was so evi- 
 dent to Mrs. D that her friend was really in a 
 
 tranquil slumber, that she made no effort to dis- 
 turb her.
 
 REMARKABLE EECENT EXAMPLES. 53 
 
 A minute had scarcely elapsed, when the door 
 quietly opened, and there seemed to enter a figure 
 which she was convinced was supernatural. She 
 describes her feelings with careful minuteness. Her 
 impressions, as she afterwards remembered them, 
 had not the slightest admixture of fear. She was 
 conscious of a reverential awe, such as might well 
 possess the witness of a revelation so far removed 
 from the accepted laws of nature united with a 
 feeling of intense curiosity as to the object of the 
 apparition. 
 
 Gliding through the subdued light, the figure had 
 all the appearance, gait, and manner of her deceased 
 husband; until, passing through the room, and sink- 
 ing down into an arm-chair that stood nearly opposite 
 her bed, turned slightly aside, the figure presented 
 
 its profile, and Mrs. D instantly recognized her 
 
 connexion, and late opponent, Mr. W. D at that 
 
 time residing in the north. No sooner had the mys- 
 terious visitor sat down, than he raised his hands 
 clasped, as if in passionate entreaty but, though the 
 spectral lips appeared to move as in harmony with 
 the gesture, no sound was audible. Three times the 
 hands were lifted in the same earnest manner ; then 
 the figure rose, and retired as slowly as it came. 
 
 Some nervous reaction followed its disappearance, 
 for Mrs. D '$, maid, appearing a minute or two
 
 54 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 later, found her mistress trembling violently, and 
 much agitated. Nevertheless, she quickly regained 
 her self-possession, and calmly related what she had 
 
 witnessed both to Miss F and the maid; the 
 
 former being unable to recall anything unusual, and 
 only knowing that she had fallen asleep again, con- 
 trary to her own intention. 
 
 The succeeding day was cold and stormy, 
 and neither of the friends quitted the house. 
 In the evening some neighbours called. As they 
 were taking leave, one of the party suddenly 
 inquired : 
 
 ' ' By-the-bye, have you had any recent news from 
 the north? A rumour has reached us, I hardly 
 
 know how, that Mr. "W. D is dangerously ill 
 
 some say dying, even but it is only report 
 dead." 
 
 " He is dead/' said Mrs. D quietly. " He 
 
 died this morning at eight o'clock." 
 
 " You have a telegram ?" 
 
 " You shall hear." 
 
 And Mrs. D related her story to her wonder- 
 ing friends. 
 
 As quickly as news could reach Brighton, she 
 
 received intimation of Mr. D 's death, at the 
 
 hour of the vision. 
 
 A singular and suggestive statement is, that the
 
 EEMAKKABLE EECENT EXAMPLES. 55 
 
 scene witnessed by Mrs. D at Brighton, was 
 
 being enacted in the death-chamber of Mr. 
 
 W. D , hundreds of miles distant. His mind 
 
 wandered somewhat, as the end drew near, but 
 perpetually returned to the subject of the unhappy 
 
 litigation. Mistaking his sister for Mrs. D , he 
 
 addressed to her the most fervent entreaties for par- 
 don, avowing his bitter regret, condemning his own 
 injustice and covetousness, and declaring that he 
 could not die in peace, without her forgiveness. Three 
 times the dying man had raised his hands in the 
 manner she had noticed, and so expired. 
 
 Coupled with this, yet differing from it in one re- 
 markable particular, is the following narrative, com- 
 municated to the writer by a friend of the heroine, 
 
 Lady C , from whose lips the former received 
 
 it: 
 
 One morning, some years since, the lady of a 
 distinguished London physician was in bed, at her 
 
 house in P Street. It was daylight, and she was 
 
 broad awake. The door opened, but Lady C , 
 
 concluding it was her maid entering, did not raise her 
 head, until a remarkable looking figure, passing be- 
 tween her bed and the window, walked up to the 
 fire-place, when, reflected in the mirror which hung 
 above, Lady C recognized the features of her 
 step- son, Dr. J. C , then attached to a foreign
 
 56 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 embassy. He wore a long night-dress, and carried 
 something on his arm. 
 
 " Good Heavens ! Is that you, J , and in that 
 
 dress ?" cried Lady C , in the first surprise. 
 
 The figure turned slowly round, and she then 
 became aware that the object he carried was a dead 
 child ; the body being swathed round and round in a 
 large Indian scarf of remarkable workmanship, which 
 
 Lady C had presented to Mrs. J. C on the 
 
 eve of her departure. 
 
 As she gazed, the outlines of the figures became 
 indistinct, invisible ; vanishing in the grey light, or 
 blending with the familiar objects in the room. 
 
 Lady C neither fainted nor shrieked, nor 
 
 even rang the bell. She lay back and thought the 
 matter over, resolving to mention it to no one until 
 the return of her husband, then absent in attendance 
 on an illustrious household. His experience would 
 decide whether her physical health offered any solu- 
 tion of the phenomenon. As for its being a dream, 
 it may be taken as an accepted fact that, though 
 nobody is conscious of the act of going to sleep, 
 everybody knows by the sudden change of scenery, 
 by the snapping of the chain of thought, &c. &c., 
 when he has been sleeping. 
 
 Very shortly after, Sir J returned home. On 
 
 hearing the story, he immediately looked at the
 
 REMARKABLE EECENT EXAMPLES. 57 
 
 tongue that related such wonders, and likewise felt 
 his lady's pulse. Both organs perfect. Of her 
 nerves he had seen proof. Touching veracity, she 
 was truth itself. All his skill could devise nothing 
 better than a recommendation to patience, and to 
 see what came of it. In the mean time, the day and 
 hour were noted down, and the next advices from 
 T awaited with more than usual interest. 
 
 At length they came. Dr. J. C - informed 
 his father that their child, an only one, had died on 
 such a day (that of the apparition), and that his 
 wife, anxious that it should be laid to rest in the 
 land of its birth, had begged that it might be for- 
 warded by the next homeward ship. In due course, 
 it arrived, embalmed, but enclosed in a coffin so 
 much larger than was required for the tiny occupant, 
 that the intervening spaces had to be filled up with 
 clothes, &c. while the Indian scarf had been wound, 
 in many folds, around the child's body. 
 
 In faithfully quoting incidents of this nature, not 
 usually provocative of merriment, the mention of 
 some absurd feature such as the appearance of Dr. 
 
 J. C in a costume which was certainly not that 
 
 in which he walked abroad, has often tended to 
 discourage serious discussion, and that close pursuit 
 of slight clues which might ultimately reveal the 
 positive action of some fixed law. It would, for
 
 58 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 example, be interesting, and pertinent to the inquiry, 
 to learn by minute comparison, whether, at the 
 precise instant of the vision, the details of appearance, 
 costume, manner, occupation, &c., were perfectly 
 identical. In the majority of reliable cases, the 
 spectrum is presented under the guise most familiar 
 to the seer the inference being that the latter's 
 brain had by far the larger share in the production 
 of the image. But in the instance last adduced, this 
 rule did not prevail ; the external aspect was not 
 familiar. A figure in a night-dress, bearing a poor 
 dead child, might indeed have moved about the 
 house at T , and no doubt did so, but by some- 
 thing more than imagination and the work of familiar 
 
 ideas, must Lady C 's mind have possessed 
 
 itself of that unlikely image. 
 
 It is as though the mind were permitted to project 
 itself for an instant into the actual scene to which it 
 points, and to come back, enriched with direct and 
 true intelligence, yet ignorant of the process by 
 which it had been obtained ; a sort of reflex action, 
 in fact, somewhat resembling that described by Sir 
 Charles Bell and others, as existing in the corporal 
 frame, in relation to the independent action of the 
 sensational and motor nerves. 
 
 The following was communicated not long since to 
 the writer, by a gentleman now residing in London,
 
 THE BROTHERS. 59 
 
 as having been related to him by his uncle, " a sen- 
 sible, healthful unbeliever in the supernatural," and 
 therefore entitled to the more credit : 
 
 It appears that, the conversation having taken a 
 psychological turn, the elder gentleman had been 
 plainly asked whether or no he believed that spirits 
 could appear. Instead of replying, as had been 
 confidently expected, with a couple of negative 
 monosyllables and a little sarcasm, he made some 
 hesitating answer, and, moreover, betrayed such 
 unwonted agitation, that the questioner hastened to 
 change the subject. He was, however, stopped. 
 
 " Nephew," said the old gentleman, earnestly, 
 "you have touched upon a theme very painful to 
 me more so than you can well understand ; still, 
 I am not altogether unwilling to converse upon it; 
 and perhaps the doing so may somewhat lessen the 
 melancholy impression I have conceived from a cir- 
 cumstance that lately befel me. Yes, I will tell it 
 you; but do not interrupt me with either doubts, 
 suggestions, or queries. All this I have already 
 done for myself. 
 
 " You know, well enough, that I am not a man 
 given to fancies. I have a dull habit of regarding 
 things as they are, not as they may possibly be. 
 I ignore probabilities, and hate hypotheses. The 
 facts of the world I have found numerous enough
 
 60 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 to deal with, let alone contingencies. I make this 
 confession, not for the sake of argument, but simply 
 to enable you the better to appreciate what I am 
 going to tell. 
 
 " You have been long aware of the estrangement 
 between my brother George and myself. It matters 
 not for the cause. Blame, I am afraid, attached to 
 both of us. It will be sufficient to remind you that 
 we parted, ten years ago, in anger; and that, up 
 to the time of his death, last year, we neither saw 
 each other, nor held intercourse of any kind. 
 
 " One night, last December, I had gone to bed, 
 as usual, about eleven o'clock, and had, I imagine, 
 fallen asleep at once; for I remembered nothing 
 after getting into bed, till I was awakened by some- 
 thing that seemed to be lying across my feet at the 
 bottom of the bed. Supposing that it was Brush, 
 my dog, who did sometimes gain surreptitious en- 
 trance into my room at night, I called to him, and 
 bade him get down. 
 
 " As my speaking produced no effect, I sat up to 
 see what it was that had disturbed me. I do not 
 know if you will understand what I mean by seeing 
 in the dark. Let me explain. 
 
 " If you go into a totally dark room, where there 
 happens to be a pure white object, you will, after 
 a time, know in what part of the room it is ; and,
 
 THE BROTHEKS. 61 
 
 if you are patient, you will soon be able to distin- 
 guish it from the other articles. Again, if you are 
 in the dark, and an object of light colour is near 
 you, however minute, it will in a few moments 
 become visible. You yourself are in darkness, yet 
 you see. The object of your vision sheds no light 
 on other bodies, however near. It is merely self- 
 illuminating. So it was with me. I could not 
 see the posts of my bed, nor the window, nor my 
 own hand; and yet I saw that a man was lying 
 across my feet, with his face turned towards me ! 
 
 " I have more than once asked myself how it was 
 I did not conclude him to be a robber. No such 
 idea crossed my mind. I was not alarmed. Still, I 
 made no effort to move, or question the intruder ; 
 and it was assuredly from no superstitious feeling, for 
 the thought of anything preternatural never occurred 
 to me until the figure raised itself up on one arm, 
 and showed me distinctly the countenance of my 
 brother George. Then, I own, I felt awe-stricken 
 as in the presence of something beyond our com- 
 prehension. I knew that the spirit of the dead was 
 before me. 
 
 " I had not, as I have said, seen. George for ten 
 years. The once familiar face was again before my 
 eyes, showing just the change that period must have 
 made. The faint halo which seemed to encircle the
 
 62 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 figure made perfectly visible the lines on his face, and 
 the hair streaked with grey. I saw him gaze earnestly 
 on me, and noticed his lips move, as though he 
 strove to speak. At the moment I fell back on my 
 pillow, and darkness shut him from my sight. 
 
 "After lying a minute or two to collect myself, 
 I rose, noted the hour, and, for greater certainty, 
 knocked at my servant's door and inquired the time. 
 I did so for the sake of securing additional evidence 
 that I had not been in a dream. 
 
 " The precaution was scarcely necessary. I awoke, 
 next morning, with a clear remembrance of all that 
 had transpired ; and my first act was to write to 
 my brother, asking him if anything had occurred to 
 him, and (filled, too late, with the love I had before 
 felt for him) asked him to forgive my part in our 
 quarrel, and come and see me. 
 
 " Alas ! he was past earthly reconciliation. He 
 had, indeed, expired on the night his spirit visited 
 me. And, nephew, at ten minutes before the time 
 I had noted down, George had lifted himself faintly 
 from the pillow, and, supporting his head on his 
 hand, asked for his ' dear brother John/ " 
 
 It may be as well to add that Mr. " Hare " (the 
 name by which the friend who supplied this incident 
 desires to be known) furnished the most sufficing 
 verifications of the fact related.
 
 CONFLICTING FEATUEES. 63 
 
 It is not to be presumed that all these cases are 
 traceable to one fixed and absolute law. It would 
 be a waste of time to attempt to reconcile the con- 
 flicting phenomena on any such hypothesis ; all that 
 we can hope to achieve is a fair classification of 
 examples, with an attempt at deduction ; therefore, 
 once more reminding the reader that the scope of 
 this treatise is rather to suggest than demonstrate, 
 we proceed to the narration of two perfectly -authen- 
 ticated instances, in which it will be perceived that 
 the mind of the seer could not, by any possibility at 
 all events, by any aid of memory have depicted the 
 vision. 
 
 A pretty cottage villa, in the quiet little village of 
 
 D , about ten miles from London, has been for 
 
 some years in the occupation of Mr. M and 
 
 family, and was, two years since, the scene of an 
 occurrence which made a profound impression on 
 those who were in a position to bear witness to its 
 truth. 
 
 It must be premised that Mrs. M , though 
 
 some time married, had never seen her husband's 
 father, who resided in a distant county ; and, being 
 somewhat aged and in indifferent health, rarely 
 quitted his own house. The circumstance of their 
 never having met, had been to both parties a source 
 of much vexation and disappointment.
 
 64 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 It was the habit of Mr. M to attend his 
 
 business in London every day, returning to dinner, 
 however, with such scrupulous regularity, that when, 
 one summer evening in 1860, the unusual hour of 
 eight had arrived without bringing the master, the 
 cook's expressed conviction that " something had 
 happened," communicated itself to her mistress, and 
 induced the latter to remain in the garden, watching 
 eagerly for the traveller's approach. 
 
 Half an hoiir more elapsed, and no Mr. M , 
 
 when the lady, chancing to turn towards the house, 
 saw at the open window of her bed-room a strange 
 face, gazing intently at her. It was that of a man 
 considerably advanced in years, with rather long 
 grey hair, and a long beard. The countenance was 
 worn and white, but, nevertheless, wore a kind and 
 benevolent expression, and no terror mixed with Mrs. 
 
 M 's astonishment, until, a servant approaching 
 
 from the house, the face disappeared. 
 
 Instead, however, of announcing the visitor, the 
 servant, in reply to her mistress's inquiries, denied 
 positively that anybody had entered the house. 
 
 Feeling that it was impossible she could have been 
 
 mistaken, Mrs. M , accompanied by her servants, 
 
 proceeded to examine every corner of the house, but 
 without discovering any trace of the intruder. 
 
 In the course of the evening, a telegram from Mr.
 
 THE VISION AT P D . 65 
 
 M , set at rest any anxieties on his behalf. He 
 
 had been summoned by express to visit his father, 
 who was stricken with fatal illness, and who had, 
 in fact, expired before his son could reach him. 
 
 Upon Mr. M 's return, a few days later, he 
 
 gave his wife an account of the old man's illness and 
 death ; adding : 
 
 " It is a remarkable thing how constantly the 
 thought of you dwelt upon my father's mind, during 
 the last days of his life. He had such an earnest 
 longing to see you !" 
 
 On the succeeding day, Mrs. M happened to 
 
 be turning over some papers, &c., her husband had 
 
 brought home. A photograph fell out. Mrs. M 
 
 started, and turned pale. 
 
 It was the face that had gazed upon her from her 
 chamber window. 
 
 As a companion -picture, we will cite the following, 
 communicated by a friend of the writer : 
 
 "The circumstance I wish to relate to you oc- 
 curred in one of the great agricultural counties in 
 which I passed my youth. 
 
 " The descendants of the ' Squire,' who is the hero 
 of the strange story, continue to occupy the enviable 
 position of an ancient county family. Less than a 
 century ago, the Squire alluded to was guilty of the 
 indiscretion of marrying a young woman in a very 
 
 p
 
 66 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 humble station of life a proceeding stigmatized by 
 his relations as an unpardonable breach of family 
 obligations. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the headstrong Squire, Mr. Bur- 
 nett, as I \vill call him, not only completed the 
 mesalliance, but determined to make, on behalf of 
 his lowly bride, a post-nuptial settlement, which 
 promised to be highly detrimental to the interests 
 of his probable successors. 
 
 " It happened that he was, one night, busily 
 engaged in examining the draft of the proposed 
 settlement. He was in his study, situated on the 
 first floor ; raising his eyes for a moment, he became 
 suddenly aware of a head, opposite to his own, 
 which he instantly recognized as that of his deceased 
 father. The first moment of awe and astonishment 
 passed awayj yet the head remained, fixed and 
 frowning on him, while a shadowy hand seemed to 
 extend itself in the direction of the papers that lay 
 on the table. 
 
 " Determined to ascertain whether or not he was 
 the victim of some strange optical delusion, Mr. 
 Burnett rose from his chair, and advanced upon the 
 spectre. It retired before him, seeming to glide 
 round the room, encircled by a kind of mist which 
 blurred the outlines, but left the phantom visible. 
 
 " After some vain attempts to reach it, Mr. B
 
 THE LINCOLNSHIEE SQUIEE. 67 
 
 abandoned the pursuit, and, descending to the lower 
 apartments, in one of which his young wife was 
 seated, he put on an appearance of indifference, and 
 requested her to run up to the study, and bring 
 down a paper he had left upon the table. He would 
 at least have the testimony of other senses besides 
 his own. 
 
 " A few moments after the young lady had departed 
 on her errand, a piercing shriek from above alarmed 
 the household. Mr. Burnett rushed upstairs, his 
 servants following. His wife was lying insensible 
 on the floor. 
 
 "On being restored to consciousness, she declared 
 that she had seen the head and shoulders of her 
 husband's father, the face wearing an angry and 
 threatening expression and the whole, as it were, 
 enveloped in a cloud. 
 
 ' ' ' How/ inquired the Squire, ' could you recognize 
 my father, whom I am sure you never saw ?' 
 
 " ' It was the exact image of his portrait in the 
 dining-room/ was the answer, ' but with a very 
 stern expression/ " 
 
 Of a similar character, but much more extraordi- 
 nary, is the incident positively stated to have been 
 related as fact by the late celebrated authoress, Miss 
 Edgeworth. Some versions of the anecdote have 
 already found their way into print. The following 
 
 F 2
 
 68 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 is derived from a lady, the daughter of Mr. B , 
 
 of L House, Wilts, who heard it from the lips 
 
 of Miss Edgeworth, while a guest at her father's 
 house. 
 
 The conversation turning, one evening, on the 
 "unreal/' the respected lady contributed to the 
 stock of anecdote the following strange incident of 
 her own experience : 
 
 While at home in Ireland, in her early youth, it 
 happened that the family were one evening seated 
 round the fire, in momentary expectation of the arri- 
 val of a gentleman of the neighbourhood, who had 
 promised to pass the evening with them. After 
 waiting some time and the weather, which had been 
 rough all day, becoming worse and worse it was 
 concluded that their visitor had been compelled to 
 abandon his intention; and the party drew round 
 their tea-table, keeping, however, one chair vacant, 
 in case he should, after all, arrive. 
 
 After the lapse of a few minutes, the conversation 
 was interrupted by a violent ringing at the bell. No 
 guest, however, appeared, and the circumstance was 
 beginning to be forgotten ; when, suddenly, the eyes 
 of all present became rivetted on the vacant chair. 
 Not vacant, for in it was seen seated the form of a 
 nephew of Mr. Edgeworth's, a midshipman in the 
 navy, who had left England, some months before, on
 
 APPARITION OF YOUNG EDGE WORTH. 69 
 
 a distant voyage. His hair was saturated, and his 
 whole appearance that of one who had been, the 
 instant before, rescued from the waves. With a voice 
 rather felt than heard, he made them understand 
 that he had been wrecked off that coast, at a certain 
 hour, and near a certain harbour ; and, aware of the 
 anxiety that would be felt by his family so soon as 
 the news should become known, he had hastened 
 thither to assure them- of his safety, adding that he 
 alone of the ship's company had been miraculously 
 preserved. 
 
 Almost before the communication was complete, 
 the ghostly presentment faded again into nothing- 
 
 The sequel removes this story altogether out of the 
 usual category. The following day brought tidings 
 of the destruction of the ship at the time and place 
 indicated by the apparition ; but the sole victim had 
 been young Edgeworth himself. 
 
 Any analysis of this last occurrence certainly one 
 of the most inexplicable on record must be pre- 
 cluded by the lapse of time, and the absence of that 
 direct testimony which might enable us to confront 
 the impressions produced on the several minds. That 
 the imagination is contagious, we have abundant 
 evidence far too abundant to warrant the conclusion 
 that, in such a case as that last quoted, every mind
 
 70 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 received the vision as a distinct and independent 
 idea. 
 
 Innumerable are the instances of that strange 
 intercommunication of the departing spirit with those 
 to whom its earthly affections were most strongly 
 bound. How is it possible to resist the multitudinous 
 testimonies that such things have been, from pre- 
 historic ages to the present, of constant occurrence ? 
 One is forcibly reminded of the words of Imlac, the 
 Sage: "There is no people, rude or unlearned, 
 among whom apparitions of the dead are not related 
 and believed. This opinion, which prevails as far as 
 human nature is diffused, could become universal 
 only by its truth/' 
 
 Sometimes the impression is distinct and denned as 
 the material being. Such was that appearance of 
 Lord Lyttelton, at which Miles Peter Andrews was 
 about to throw his slippers as at an untimely jester ; 
 a tale he was accustomed to relate, not without a 
 shudder, when a guest at the house of the writer's 
 grandfather, Sir George Prescott, of Theobald's 
 Park. 
 
 Sometimes it is a vague, uneasy, intermittent con- 
 sciousness, such as that experienced by the Count de 
 
 M , mentioned in Miss Knight's interesting 
 
 autobiography : 
 
 "The Count, when minister at Stockholm, was
 
 OTHEE INSTANCES. 71 
 
 staying at the house of the Count d'Uglas, after the 
 Countess and her young daughter, who was in a bad 
 state of health, had left him on their way to Paris. 
 One morning, he told the Count and Countess 
 d'Uglas that he had passed a very uncomfortable 
 night, for that he had continually seen a kneeling 
 figure sometimes on one, sometimes on the other 
 side of his bed and that, though the back was turned 
 to him, it perfectly resembled his daughter. The 
 impression was so strong upon his mind, that he 
 sketched the figure, which, in fact, did resemble hers. 
 On comparing dates, it afterwards appeared that his 
 daughter had died at that very time." 
 
 Miss Knight recounts this incident on the autho- 
 rity of the Countess d'Uglas herself. 
 
 A lady, within the circle of the writer's acquaint- 
 ance, was residing at a watering-place in Kent, at 
 many miles distance from the place where a near 
 relative, to whom she was warmly attached, lay 
 seriously ill. While sitting alone, one evening, there 
 was a slight tap at the door. It was repeated, when 
 the lady rose and opened the door. In the act of 
 doing so, she distinctly heard a soft, familiar voice 
 say, " It is I." At that hour, her friend had ex- 
 pired. 
 
 In the following additional example, the names of 
 those concerned have been supplied to the writer
 
 72 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 coupled only with the stipulation that nothing beyond 
 the correct initials should be made public. 
 
 The Lady J. T , sister-in-law of the Duchess 
 
 of L , was much attached to her young nephew, 
 
 Lord C. A , the duchess's second son. This lady 
 
 was sitting one evening, about six o'clock, in her 
 drawing-room, when, looking up from her work, 
 she saw Lord C. A (who was at the time a stu- 
 dent at Oxford), standing before her. 
 
 "Ah, C !" she exclaimed, astonished at his 
 
 silent entrance. " How did you come hither ?" 
 
 He made no reply, but began gradually to disap- 
 pear, and, in a few seconds, was gone. 
 
 Much disturbed, Lady T drove over, early 
 
 next morning, to visit her intimate friend, Lady 
 
 S , and related her vision; on her return, a 
 
 messenger had arrived from H Castle, requiring 
 
 her presence. Proceeding thither, she learned the 
 
 sad news of Lord C 's death, at Oxford, from the 
 
 effects of an accidental blow received from his friend, 
 the present Marquis of D- . 
 
 Readers may smile at a certain feature in our next 
 little narrative ; but we may not, on that account, 
 deviate from the stern truth of history ! 
 
 Mr. R , an agent and solicitor in large prac- 
 tice, was, two or three years since, earnestly engaged 
 in the prosecution of a matter of business of great
 
 A SPECTRAL SNUFF-BOX. 73 
 
 importance, affecting the property -interests of a 
 deceased friend, Mr. N . 
 
 In connexion with this affair, he had occasion to 
 visit a certain county-town, and, being at the hotel, 
 sat up late one night, busily writing, in company 
 with his clerk. 
 
 About one o'clock, he dismissed the latter to his 
 repose, and himself continued his labours for some 
 time longer. Happening at last to raise his eyes, he 
 
 saw his late friend, Mr. N ^sitting opposite to 
 
 him at the table, in the position lately occupied by 
 the clerk. Petrified with astonishment, R 
 gazed upon the familiar features with open eyes and 
 lips, but unable to utter even an exclamation. The 
 figure seemed to smile upon him, as though in 
 approval of the work in which he was engaged, and 
 with an air and manner peculiarly characteristic of 
 the deceased man, extended a snuff-box across the 
 
 table ! Mechanically, Mr. E put out his hand 
 
 to receive it, but, at that instant, the vision began as 
 it were to recede. The back of the chair became 
 visible. It was gone. 
 
 Mr. R rose, and calling to his clerk who slept 
 
 in an adjoining room, requested him to return for a 
 minute. On his appearance, he inquired : 
 
 ' ' Pray, Mr. H , what, when you left the room, 
 
 did you do with your chair ?"
 
 74 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 " I put it back, sir, there, by the wall." 
 
 " But are you quite sure of that ?" 
 
 " I am, sir, and for this reason. When I put back 
 the chair, there was, lying by the wall, a volume of 
 the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica/ which I took up, and 
 laid on the chair." 
 
 The chair was again at the table ! 
 
 By far the most difficult class of incidents to deal 
 with on any intelligible philosophical bases, are those 
 which introduce to the seer, persons or events of 
 which it is impossible they should have had the 
 slightest previous cognizance. 
 
 Mrs. G - resides in Devonshire, in a house 
 which has more than once been the scene of 
 mysterious events. Very lately, a gentleman, with 
 his wife and two boys, visited Mrs. G , and occu- 
 pied what had been traditionally styled the 
 "haunted" wing. About one in the morning, on 
 the first night of their sojourn, a tremendous crash, 
 as though the room were falling, aroused the parents, 
 who hastened into the adjoining room, intending to 
 calm the fears of the children, who might have been 
 alarmed likewise. 
 
 The boys, however, were sitting up in bed, laugh- 
 ing heartily, and, on being questioned, said they had 
 had " such fun." There had been a curious-looking old 
 lady, standing at the foot of the bed, laughing and
 
 THE LITTLE OLD LADY. 75 
 
 grimacing at them. In the morning, when the boys 
 went down to breakfast, a meal they were to take in 
 the housekeeper's room, they uttered a shout of sur- 
 prise, and, pointing to a picture on the wall, de- 
 clared there was the funny old lady ! It was an old 
 family portrait, which, from its rather grotesque 
 aspect, had been banished to the housekeeper's 
 room. 
 
 The last year (1861), furnishes us with an apt il- 
 lustration, in the story attaching to a small villa re- 
 sidence, not many miles from London, which it will 
 be prudent to disguise under the title of Holly 
 Lodge, tenanted, down to the year 1854, by a lady 
 named Sibbald. 
 
 At the latter period, circumstances compelling 
 
 Mrs. S to resign her occupancy, she quitted the 
 
 house with extreme reluctance, declaring to her 
 friends, in a half-jesting vein, that whenever she 
 died she should certainly return to haunt the resi- 
 dence in which she had passed her happiest hours. 
 
 Holly Lodge then passed into the temporary 
 
 possession of Mr. B , who resided there for 
 
 several years, in fact until 1861. This gentleman 
 made several alterations about both house and 
 grounds, but ' eventually became tired of it, and 
 at the beginning of the year named let it for six 
 
 months to a Mr. and Mrs. L , who had lately 
 
 returned from India.
 
 76 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 A few weeks passed, when one morning Mrs. 
 
 L 's cook presented herself in some agitation, 
 
 and announced her intention of leaving immediately. 
 She would on no consideration spend another night 
 in the house. 
 
 Much astonished, Mrs. L - demanded her 
 reasons. 
 
 " Well, ma'am," replied the cook, bursting into 
 tears, cc I've heard of spirits before, but last night 
 / saw one ! " 
 
 Her mistress hastened to suggest the conventional 
 explanations, dream, fancy, &c., but the woman 
 put them quietly apart as insufficient. She had not 
 slept at all, nor felt the approach of such an inclina- 
 tion. 
 
 She proceeded to describe with great minuteness 
 the appearance she had witnessed, which had the 
 aspect of an old lady " very nicely dressed, quite 
 like the lady" seated in a chair in the very 
 middle of the room. She wore a very peculiar 
 cap, had on spectacles, and seemed to be reading 
 a book which rested on her lap, and was apparently 
 a Bible. 
 
 While the cook still gazed, a dark cloud or mist 
 seemed to intervene and shut out the vision. 
 
 Disbelieving the strange story, Mrs. L sent 
 
 for the housemaid, and inquired if she were willing
 
 HOLLY LODGE. 77 
 
 to exchange rooms with the cook. The girl, being 
 naturally of a fearless turn, and, moreover, partaking 
 her mistress's incredulity as to the supposed vision, 
 at once acceded. The cook, notwithstanding, left the 
 house as she had proposed. 
 
 The next morning the adventurous maid appeared 
 before her lady with an air considerably subdued, and 
 declared that she also had seen the mysterious old 
 woman, exactly as described by her fellow-servant. 
 
 Some time after Mrs. L related the circum- 
 stance to a gentleman who had lived many years in 
 the neighbourhood. He asked her to describe as 
 nearly as might be the outward appearance, features, 
 dress, &c., of the ghostly visitant. When she had 
 finished 
 
 "That," he remarked, "is, in every particular, 
 the precise description of Mrs. Sibbald, long resident 
 in this very house, and with whom I was well 
 acquainted." 
 
 It subsequently appeared that this lady died about 
 the period of the vision. 
 
 Of a similar character is the following incident, 
 likewise of recent occurrence, and as completely 
 authenticated as the former : 
 
 Miss M. F , while on a visit to some 
 
 friends at a country house, was one morning in 
 her dressing-room, when her sister came to her
 
 78 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 with a request to lend her a locket. She had to 
 .fetch it from a room at some distance along the 
 passage, and in returning observed a woman walking 
 before her, who presently turned into a small 
 
 chamber adjoining that of Miss M. F . Partly 
 
 because of some peculiarity in the dress or bearing of 
 the woman, and partly because she had happened to 
 observe that the little room was unoccupied, the 
 young lady on returning with the locket mentioned 
 the circumstance to her sister, who said that she 
 herself had heard the door open and reclose, as 
 though some one had entered. The two girls there- 
 upon looked into the little room, but found it 
 unten anted. 
 
 Certain that whoever of mortal mould had gone 
 into the apartment could not have quitted it again in 
 
 that brief interval unnoticed, Miss M. F was 
 
 induced by the strangeness of the circumstance to 
 
 mention it to Dr. H , a physician, then staying 
 
 in the house, who pronounced it to have been an 
 optical illusion. 
 
 That evening, as the young lady sat by the fire in 
 her dressing-room, expectant of the summons to 
 dinner, she happened to turn her head, and beheld 
 standing in the open doorway the mysterious figure 
 of the morning. 
 
 The expression of the woman's face was that of
 
 ANOTHER INSTANCE. 79 
 
 one about or endeavouring to speak, but no sound 
 
 became audible. Miss M. F , on her part, 
 
 strove with all her power to accost the intruder, but 
 found herself incapable of uttering an articulate 
 sound. She had risen from her chair on catching 
 sight of the woman, and advanced a step or two 
 in the direction of the door, but now, stricken with 
 an instinctive feeling of awe, drew back, and re- 
 sumed her seat. When she looked up again the 
 figure had withdrawn. A few minutes later Miss 
 
 M. F descended the stairs, when, at nearly the 
 
 lowest step, the figure a third time presented itself, 
 brushing past her so closely that she felt, or fancied 
 she could feel, its touch. 
 
 Some time after this, as Miss M. F was re- 
 lating the story to a circle of friends, one of them 
 
 inquired whether the place was not called Court, 
 
 or Lodge, and begged the young lady to describe, as 
 minutely as she could, the appearance of the figure. 
 Having done so, she was informed by her friend 
 that the house had formerly been the property and 
 residence of two sisters, known to the speaker, one of 
 whom, whose appearance answered in every par- 
 ticular to the description given, had died abroad at 
 the period of the vision; " and," it was added, " if 
 ever a woman's heart was wrapped up in a beloved 
 home, thus it was with hers."
 
 80 STKANGE THINGS AMONG ITS. 
 
 Our next example was furnished to the writer's 
 sister by one of the heroines of the tale : 
 
 The latter, with her parents and a sister, resides in a 
 large old mansion near Payerne, on the road from 
 Lausanne to Berne. Payerne, as many travellers 
 are aware, was' the residence of Queen Bertha of 
 Burgundy, whose remains yet rest in the vaults of 
 the church she founded, and this little town is knoAvn 
 to have played a not undistinguished part in the old 
 Catholic times. A large convent, likewise founded 
 by zealous Queen Bertha, is at this time a venerable 
 church. But to the story : 
 
 The two young ladies, daughters of the proprietor, 
 
 Mons. S , were accustomed to occupy together a 
 
 very large chamber, their beds being placed at either 
 end. On a certain night in 1861, both being awake 
 and engaged in conversation, the room also being 
 very light from the moon, the elder sister suddenly 
 beheld a figure gliding through the apartment. It 
 was apparently that of a monk, with the cowl thrown 
 back, exposing one of the most fearful countenances 
 imagination can conceive. It absolutely froze the 
 girl's blood with horror. She lay thus, with her lips 
 apart, but unable to utter a cry, while her gaze, as 
 though fascinated, followed the motions of the 
 terrible visitor, as he seemed to stride in the direction 
 of her sister's bed.
 
 THE MONK OF PAYERNE. 81 
 
 The latter, appearing to become suddenly con- 
 scious of the spectral presence, rose on her elbow, 
 then, uttering a loud shriek, threw herself back, and 
 gathered the bedclothes over her head. The phan- 
 tom seemed to spring upon the bed, and, in that act, 
 disappeared. 
 
 The spell of his presence being broken, the elder 
 sister jumped from her bed, and running to her com- 
 panion, clasped her in her arms, sinking on her 
 knees at the bedside. It may seem singular, 
 but such was the degree of horror experienced by 
 both girls, that they remained in this attitude for 
 more than four hours, without daring to trust their 
 tongues with what they had witnessed ! Shivering 
 
 and sobbing, Miss S continued to kneel and 
 
 grasp the other's trembling hand, till the slow day- 
 light crept into the chamber, when she forced her 
 lips at last to form the interrogation : 
 
 " Why did you scream ? >} 
 
 " Did you see him ?" was the rejoinder ; and the 
 younger went on to relate that she had closed her 
 eyes for an instant, when, opening them, she beheld 
 a figure in a monk's frock, with a countenance too 
 dreadful to describe (she used a German phrase 
 denoting that it could belong only to the Father of 
 Evil) ; and thereupon shrunk back shuddering into the 
 bed.
 
 82 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The apartment has not since been occupied by the 
 family, and it has been found necessary to abandon 
 a smaller chamber, adjoining, in consequence (as all 
 affirmed who slept there) of noises that were perpe- 
 tually recurring in what has been since called the 
 " Monk's Room." 
 
 There was a tradition afloat, that a diabolical mur- 
 der, committed by a monk, had at one period affixed 
 a stigma upon the mansion, which time had nearly 
 washed away. But, as a general rule, traditions 
 which succeed phenomena, should be accepted with at 
 least as much reserve as phenomena which follow 
 closely on the heels of traditions. One thing is cer- 
 tain, that the circumstance just narrated occurred, in 
 all points, as described, and could not, by any 
 possibility, be referable to any mischievous device 
 practised on the inmates of the mansion. 
 
 Our next noteworthy illustration is supplied by a 
 lady now resident in London, whose family have for 
 many years had connexions with Canada ; the scene 
 of the following incident : 
 
 Her aunt was one of a family of ten children, who 
 
 resided at M , in Canada, where their parents 
 
 owned a large country mansion. 
 
 This aunt, the subject of our story, was at that 
 time about fifteen years of age, a handsome, healthy 
 girl, by no means of a dreamy or imaginative turn,
 
 A TEAGEDY REVEALED. 83 
 
 but possessed of a remarkably clear intelligence, and 
 (we are pledged to state all the facts) an uncommonly 
 robust appetite, inasmuch as it has been left on 
 record in the family that this fortunate young lady 
 could eat eight or nine eggs for breakfast, " quite 
 comfortably." A highly interesting circumstance, 
 and in some sort material to our argument, as proving 
 that, in Miss Caroline's system, no undue preponder- 
 ance existed on the spiritual side ! 
 
 The mansion, tenanted by her father, Colonel St. 
 
 C , had been originally built by a Dutch or 
 
 French settler, and was a quaint old place, nearly 
 covered with lichens and creepers of all descriptions. 
 It was surrounded by a large, old-fashioned garden, 
 at the end of which was an orchard, well stocked 
 with apple, peach, and cherry-trees, and separated 
 from the garden only by a low wall. The fence on 
 the other three sides of the orchard, consisted of 
 an oak-paling, here and there falling into decay. 
 Beyond this, frowned the old forest, yet untouched 
 by the arm of man. 
 
 Close to one point of the paling we have mentioned, 
 or, as it were, growing against it, stood a very 
 large old cherry-tree, loaded in the season with 
 luscious fruit, and, consequently, a favourite resort of 
 the younger branches of the establishment, especially 
 Miss Caroline, who adopted the spot as her study,
 
 84 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 and passed many hours, working or reading, upon 
 the soft fine grass which cushioned a little mound at 
 the very foot of the tree. 
 
 One summer morning of 1800, while the children 
 were playing about as usual, Caroline, as the 
 staid elder sister, lying on her favourite bank, deep in 
 the pages of (the times were not fastidious) " Roderick 
 Random," a strange, sudden impulse, such as she 
 had never experienced before or since, caused the 
 reader to look up, as if at a sudden call. There had 
 been, however, no audible sound. All was perfectly 
 still, the very voices of the playing children having 
 died away into the woodland. 
 
 It should be mentioned that the oak-paling that 
 ran beneath the tree, averaged some six feet in 
 height, but, at fifty yards off, had sunk to the height 
 of little more than one foot, when it again sloped 
 upward, till, just beneath the tree, it regained the 
 usual level. 
 
 Looking along the line of paling, Caroline ob- 
 served, with some surprise, a young lady, apparently 
 about seventeen or eighteen, and singularly attired, 
 step suddenly upon the paling, and trip along that 
 narrow bridge towards her. As this, however, was 
 a feat daily practised by the sisters and their play- 
 mates, Caroline's predominating feeling was rather 
 one of curiosity as to who the stranger might be,
 
 A TEAGEDY REVEALED. 85 
 
 than any more stirring emotion. The dress of the 
 young lady puzzled her a good deal ; she was in white, 
 wearing what was formerly in fashion as a " neglige," 
 and had, over her shoulders, a long blue scarf. She 
 had light, wavy hair, falling back from her face, 
 which was fair and pretty ; and as she held her dress 
 up slightly, in stepping along, Caroline was able to 
 note that her tiny feet were encased in high-heeled 
 red-morocco slippers. 
 
 She walked lightly and steadily, gazing straight 
 before her, and never once casting down her eyes, as 
 to secure her footing. Having reached the cherry- 
 tree, and being then close to Miss St. C , she 
 
 stopped, and looked up among the branches that 
 overhung her ; then, calmly unwinding the blue scarf 
 from her neck, she flung one end over an arm of the 
 tree, secured it there, made a loop at the other end, 
 and slipping the latter over her head, leaped from the 
 paling. 
 
 Caroline uttered a piercing shriek, and fainted. 
 Her cry, however, had brought children and servants 
 to her assistance, and these soon restored her to con- 
 sciousness, when her first eager question was for the 
 poor girl who had attempted to commit suicide beside 
 her. The hearers looked at her in amazement. She 
 related minutely all that she had witnessed ; but it 
 was, of course, attributed to a dream or illusion.
 
 86 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 There was no sign of girl or scarf, and probably not 
 a minute had elapsed from the time she had alarmed 
 them by her shriek until assistance came. 
 
 Inquiries were made among the country people of 
 the vicinity, but no clue to the mystery could be 
 obtained ; no person in the least degree resembling 
 the figure described had ever met their eyes. 
 
 Many weeks afterwards, the story happening to be 
 related at a neighbouring mansion in the presence of 
 an old negress, the latter, who, though upwards 
 of ninety years of age had all her faculties about her, 
 evinced an extraordinary interest in the narration, 
 and dropped so many mysterious hints in reference 
 to the subject in question, that they finally reached 
 the ears of Colonel St. C . 
 
 Determined to sift the matter fully, the Colonel 
 called upon the family with whom the old woman 
 lived, and, with the assistance of her master and mis- 
 tress, extracted from the " good old chronicle/' who 
 had seen three generations in the house, the follow- 
 ing curious explanation : 
 
 The old mansion tenanted by Colonel St. C , 
 
 had, seventy years before, belonged to a German 
 landholder, one Waldstein. This man had several 
 children, and among them one very lovely daughter, 
 a fair and delicate girl, with beautiful light hair. She 
 was besides noted for the perfection of her little feet.
 
 A TEAGEDY REVEALED. 87 
 
 A young French officer, who came on a visit to her 
 father, seemed much struck with the beauty and the 
 winning ways of the innocent girl, and finally offered 
 marriage, but added that it would be necessary, ac- 
 cording to the requirements of the French law, that 
 he should obtain the formal consent of his parents, 
 who, unfavourably for the hopes of the lovers, be- 
 longed to a noble and haughty line, and were not 
 unlikely to refuse it. 
 
 On this errand the young soldier hastened back to 
 France, assuring his beloved that he would never rest 
 until every obstacle to their union was fairly over- 
 come. 
 
 What he did, or did not do, was never accurately 
 learned. He never communicated directly, again, 
 with her to whom he had vowed his life, but an un- 
 happy rumour was conveyed to her, under circum- 
 stances which commanded belief, that he had married 
 the young daughter of a house as noble as his 
 
 own. 
 
 
 
 When the last corroborative testimony reached 
 her, extinguishing her lingering trust in the promise- 
 breaker for ever the girl spoke not a word. She 
 walked with a frightful calmness into the garden; 
 none followed her, for they believed their darling had 
 gone, as other proud mourners have done, to weep 
 alone. But that light quiet step passed through the
 
 88 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 familiar garden, into the orchard, to the very tree 
 under whose shade she had so often sat with her 
 faithless lover. Upon its branches she hanged her- 
 self with the blue scarf she wore, and on that spot 
 beneath the tree, where the grass grows soft and fine, 
 the old negress averred she saw her buried in the 
 dress in which she died. 
 
 One circumstance remains to be mentioned, one 
 that adds not a little to the painful interest of the 
 
 story. The young seer, Caroline St. C , herself, 
 
 died within two years of the vision, under very 
 mournful circumstances, and, save in the act of self- 
 destruction, not dissimilar from those above narrated. 
 Could the vision have been intended as a warning ? 
 thought her friends, in recalling this strange incident 
 of her life. Truly, the features of the mystery on 
 this occasion set at nought the boldest philosophical 
 speculations. It is impossible to imagine that the 
 scene of despair was perpetually re-enacting, or that 
 but one individual in a period of seventy years, 
 should have derived, from natural causes, the capacity 
 of witnessing it.* If, on the other hand, we treat 
 
 * This story, however, forcibly recals a singular incident 
 which, some years ago, created much interest in Paris, and ob- 
 tained the greater notoriety in consequence of the association 
 witli it of the name of the amiable Archbishop of Paris, 
 Mouseigneur Sibour, subsequently assassinated by a half-mad 
 priest.
 
 TEANCE-VISTON. 89 
 
 it as a special interposition, and remember that there 
 is on record no wholly fruitless miracle, how should 
 the warning vision have been suffered to prove in- 
 effectual ? 
 
 A young German lady (still living) had arrived with a party of 
 friends at one of the most renowned hotels in Paris, and oc- 
 cupied, for her part, an apartment on the first floor, furnished 
 with unusual magnificence. Here she lay awake, long after the 
 hotel was wrapt in slumber, contemplating, by the. faint glimmer 
 of her night-lamp, the costly objects in the room, until, suddenly, 
 the folding-doors, opposite her bed, which she had secured, flew 
 open, and the chamber was filled with a bright light, as of day. 
 In the midst of this, there entered a handsome young man, in the 
 undress uniform of the French Navy, having his hair dressed in 
 the peculiar mode a la Titus. 
 
 Taking a chair from the bedside, he placed it in the middle of 
 the room, sat down, took from his pocket a pistol with a remark- 
 able red butt and lock, put it to his forehead, and, firing, fell 
 back apparently dead ! Simultaneously with the explosion, the 
 room became dark and still, but a low soft voice uttered^ these 
 words : " Say an ave Maria for his soul." 
 
 The young lady had fallen back, not insensible, but in a far 
 more painful state a kind of cataleptic trance, and thus re- 
 mained fully conscious of all she imagined to have occurred, but 
 unable to move tongue or hand, until seven o'clock on the follow- 
 ing morning, at which hour her maid, in obedience to orders, 
 knocked at the door. 
 
 Finding that no reply was given, the maid went away, and, re- 
 turning at eight, in company with another domestic, repeated her 
 summons. Still no answer and again, after a little consultation, 
 the poor young lady was delivered over for another hour to 
 her agonized thoughts. At nine, the doors were forced and, 
 at the same moment, the power of speech and movement re- 
 turned. She shrieked out to the attendants that a man had shot 
 himself there some hours before, and still lay upon the floor.
 
 90 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. . 
 
 Here is a somewhat similar, but far more recent 
 instance, furnished by a lady, Miss B . 
 
 " On Saturday, the 21st of June, , being on 
 
 a visit at K , Scotland/' (at the house of a friend 
 
 of the author) , " I retired to bed rather earlier than 
 usual, about ten o'clock. My maid had hurried on 
 before me to light my candles. In passing through 
 the lobby, which was rather dark, I noticed a figure 
 which I concluded to be that of one of the other 
 servants, and accordingly thought nothing more of 
 it, until, having entered my bedroom, I saw the 
 
 Observing nothing unusual, they concluded it was the excitement 
 consequent upon some terrible dream. She was therefore placed 
 in another apartment, and with great difficulty persuaded that 
 the scene she so minutely described had no foundation in reality. 
 Half an hour later, the hotel-proprietor desired an interview with 
 a gentleman of the party, and declared that the scene so 
 strangely re-enacted had actually occurred three nights before. 
 A young French officer had ordered the best room in the hoi el 
 and there terminated his life using, for the purpose, a pistol an- 
 swering the description mentioned. The body, and the weapon, 
 still lay at the Morgue, for identification, and the gentleman, 
 proceeding thither, saw both ; the head of the unfortunate man 
 exhibiting the " Titus " crop and the wound in the forehead, as 
 in the vision. 
 
 The Archbishop of Paris, struck with the extraordinary nature 
 of the story, shortly after called upon the young lady, and, 
 directing her attention to the expression used by the mysterious 
 voice, urged upon her, with much fervour, the advisability of 
 embracing that faith to whose teaching it appeared to point. In 
 this, however, the good prelate was not successful.
 
 A SCOTTISH GHOST. 91 
 
 figure again through the half-open door. It was 
 standing still, and I was struck by the peculiar dress, 
 unlike that of a servant. It was black, and profusely 
 covered with something of a deep glowing red, the 
 form and material of which I could not distinguish. 
 She was tall and gaunt, and wore a large white mob 
 cap. The face was constantly averted. 
 
 " Who is that woman in the lobby ?" I asked, of 
 my maid. 
 
 " Mrs. M 's maid," was the answer. 
 
 " But what a singular dress ! Why does she wear 
 that immense cap ?" 
 
 "Cap, ma'am?" said Harriet, looking surprised. 
 '' She never wears caps." 
 
 " Then who is that very tall woman, in black and 
 red, and a large white cap, whom I saw, not a 
 moment since, in the lobby ?" 
 
 Harriet turned very pale, and began crying and 
 wringing her hands. After a few moments, she 
 collected herself enough to tell me that it was not 
 
 Mrs. M 's maid, who was short and slight, 
 
 but 
 
 " Oh ma'am," she exclaimed, " you've seen some- 
 thing, for that's exactly as the ghost looks !" 
 
 " I had had no previous intimation of any ' ghost/ 
 and was curious to know to what the girl alluded ; 
 but, as I was expecting a good-night visit from my
 
 92 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 hostess, I restrained myself and dismissed the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 " On my friend appearing, I immediately related 
 what I had seen, when, looking rather grave, she 
 informed me that it was true that certain parts of the 
 mansion had had the reputation of being ' haunted/ 
 owing to a woman, who was a servant in the family, 
 having, many years since, committed suicide there. 
 The dress I had noticed was, including the mob 
 cap generally worn by servants at that period, pre- 
 cisely that which she was accustomed to wear. 
 
 " My friend, Mrs. S , added that she had had 
 
 much trouble among her servants, in consequence of 
 the unaccountable sounds that were frequently heard 
 in the neighbourhood of the apartment where the 
 unfortunate woman had expired. The sounds of 
 footsteps were often heard within the room itself, 
 sometimes, also, as if proceeding along the passages. 
 They pass generally from end to end, but now and 
 then seem to halt at a particular door. My friend 
 mentioned three persons by name, who had been 
 ear- witnesses of these singular noises, but very rarely 
 had anything inexplicable been revealed to sight. " 
 
 A near connexion of the writer's, resident in the Isle 
 of Sardinia, a few weeks since communicated in one 
 of her letters an incident which may well find a place 
 among those yet to be adduced, as one of the most
 
 THE STOEY OF CATEEINA. 93 
 
 extraordinary, as well as authentic, cases ever offered 
 to a reader. 
 
 After referring to some private matters, the letter 
 continues : - 
 
 " I have now something of a different kind to 
 introduce to your notice : no less (do not laugh) than 
 a most undeniable ghost ; You must prepare for a 
 rather long history, but I think you will admit that 
 it is worth the time and trouble, since it is rarely 
 indeed, that an affair of this nature, at once so strange, 
 and so strongly accredited, conies fairly under one's 
 notice. The particulars are extracted from somewhat 
 reluctant sources, but are so unquestionable, that I 
 do not hesitate to place the whole before you as a 
 substantive fact, as far removed from the sphere of 
 fraud or fancy, as the most accepted tale on record. 
 
 " You must know, then, that, in the autumn, it is 
 customary to remove the sheep from our colder 
 regions, to the temperate pastures of the south. In 
 accordance with this custom, in the last days of the 
 autumn of 1860, two young men, whose names (the 
 real ones) were Giovannico and Battista Ligas, being 
 about to quit the snowy mountains of Aritza, the 
 Switzerland of Sardinia, for the still verdant valleys 
 of Morongia, paid (each without the knowledge of the 
 other) a farewell visit to the house of a neighbouring 
 farmer. This man had a beautiful daughter, with
 
 94 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 whom both these youths had fallen passionately in 
 love. You. have heard something of the exaggerated 
 form this sentiment attains, in the breasts of our fiery 
 islanders, and may judge of the complications that 
 were likely to arise from this unfortunate clashing of 
 inclinations. 
 
 " It so happened that the girl, though liking both, 
 had no especial preference for either, and, in conse- 
 quence, the two lovers having no indications to guide 
 them, each made his separate proposal. Both were 
 refused. The young beauty did not need much 
 solicitation to make known to them the grounds of 
 her negative. They were reputed to be members of 
 a sort of society, of which you may have heard as 
 existing in these parts, a body of persons who believe 
 that they possess the power of direct communication 
 with the Prince of Darkness, for the purpose of 
 obtaining from him, on conditions I need not parti- 
 cularize, any useful information he is in a position to 
 afford, relative to the material mammon which is 
 supposed to lie buried in the vicinity of the ancient 
 burned and plundered cities of the island. 
 
 " To no man upon whose character rested this evil 
 stain would the proud, beautiful Caterina yield her 
 hand, and thus debarred from selecting either of the 
 only two her heart could own as master, she deter- 
 mined to retire at once from the world, and actually
 
 THE STOEY OF CATEEINA. 95 
 
 did so, entering the Capuchin convent of Santa 
 Rosalia as a professed nun. 
 
 "It seems that the brothers made mutual confidence 
 of their disappointment, and, compelled to own the 
 truth of Caterina's accusation, with heavy hearts 
 took their departure for the south. 
 
 " Five months now went by without any communi- 
 cation between the absentees and their village, 
 Aritza, and the time was approaching when it was 
 usual to return to the mountain districts for pasture. 
 The necessary preparations were accordingly made, 
 and it fell to the lot of Giovannico Ligas to precede 
 his brother by a few hours on the road, in order to 
 select convenient spots for the repose and watering of 
 the flocks. 
 
 " Fatigued with his first day's walk, Giovannico 
 halted and threw himself down on the brink of a 
 spring called ( La Mizza Velada ' (the Hidden 
 Fountain), since become our property through an 
 exchange of land. 
 
 " Having slaked his thirst with the sparkling water, 
 Giovannico fell into a train of sombre, and, it must 
 be added, remorseful thought. That kind of myste- 
 rious awe which sometimes visits us in woodland soli- 
 tudes, more perhaps than in any other kind of scenery, 
 crept slowly over him, bringing in its train feelings 
 to which he had been for many years a stranger.
 
 96 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 But, overshadowing all, came the remembrance that 
 he had perhaps bartered for visionary wealth a life 
 of love and peace seldom meted out to the pilgrims 
 of this uncertain world. Caterina was lost to him. 
 Nor was that the only sacrifice. His souPs ' imme- 
 diate jewel/ not his own to deal with, he had been 
 ready to pawn in unholy traffic for that wealth that 
 cannot save, and even that wretched reward had 
 evaded his grasp. Giovannico put his face to the 
 ground, and wept. 
 
 " How long he remained in that position he could 
 never tell, but when he again looked up the sun was 
 sinking, and there, to his utter amazement, within a 
 few feet of him, stood Caterina the nun ! 
 
 " For a minute he remained absolutely motionless 
 with surprise, then, rousing himself, he rose, and 
 throwing himself at her feet, besought her to listen 
 to his suit. 
 
 " She made no reply in words, but, smiling kindly, 
 raised her finger towards Heaven. At that instant 
 there was a crashing through the underwood, and 
 Battista, bursting into the open space, his eyes 
 blazing with fury, and a knife in his hand, flung 
 himself upon his brother. The latter leapt to his 
 feet in time to avoid the deadly blow, and, closing 
 with his assailant, caught and mastered the uplifted 
 hand.
 
 THE STORY OF CATERINA. 97 
 
 " A desperate struggle ensued for the possession of 
 the knife, in the course of which the unfortunate 
 Battista wounded his own person so severely with 
 the fatal instrument that he sank at length to the 
 ground, his blood flowing in torrents. Giovaimico 
 hastily bound up the wounds, and having thus 
 averted immediate danger, turned to look for 
 Caterina. The girl was no longer visible. 
 
 1 ' Battista was conveyed with all care to the nearest 
 village, but survived the unhappy occurrence only a 
 few days. Before breathing his last, he called his 
 brother, and faltered forth the following explana- 
 tion : 
 
 "He declared that about an hour after Giovan- 
 nico's departure he suddenly saw standing before him 
 the appearance of Caterina. She was silent and 
 motionless. Overwhelmed with surprise, and utterly 
 at a loss to comprehend how or whence she had 
 come, Battista' s voice and limbs refused their office. 
 At length the spell was broken by Caterina moving 
 slowly away in the direction of the wood, which 
 lay close at hand. Battista followed. She led him 
 through the windings of the forest for some little 
 distance, always preserving a space of about twenty 
 yards between them, in spite of the varying pace by 
 which Battista endeavoured to approach her. At 
 length she suddenly disappeared altogether.
 
 98 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 " Notwithstanding this, Battista had continued his 
 bewildered way, deserting flocks and everything, until 
 near sunset, when, just as he was on the point of 
 retracing his steps, the sound of his brother's voice 
 in earnest supplication, struck his ear. Directed 
 by the .sound, he plunged through the thick under- 
 wood, drawing his knife as he ran, and, frantic with 
 jealousy and disappointment, threw himself, without 
 a moment's thought, upon his brother, whom he 
 found, as he expected, at Caterina's feet ! 
 
 " After the funeral of Battista, Giovannico collected 
 his flocks, and set forth for Aritza, in the secret 
 hope that Caterina might yet become his bride. 
 Arrived at the hamlet, he was not long in repairing 
 to her cottage, where he found, seated in the porch, 
 her father and mother. Their mourning garments 
 and sorrow-stricken faces affected him so much, 
 that it was with difficulty he forced his lips to 
 pronounce the name of Caterina. 
 
 " ' Morta,' was the fatal reply. 
 
 " It was too true; Caterina had died nearly a month 
 before in the convent to which she had retired. 
 Overcome with wonder and horror, the young man 
 sunk down in a sort of fit, and was carried into the 
 house, whither medical aid was immediately sum- 
 moned. His doom was, however, sealed ; death was 
 rapidly approaching. He lived long enough to
 
 MODEEN INCANTATIONS. 99 
 
 impart to his confessor a minute relation of the 
 above facts ; and likewise to verify before a judge 
 certain other circumstances by means of which the 
 authorities were enabled to seize, and convict before 
 a tribunal, the promoters of the secret society to 
 which I have alluded. 
 
 " These, consisting of a monk, a priest, and a lay- 
 man, were engaged one night, in the vicinity of 
 Cagliari, in their unhallowed occupation. A circle 
 had been drawn, incantations made, and, previous 
 to commencing their digging, a last invocation had 
 been addressed to the Father of Evil, when a stern 
 voice responded ' Son qui ' (I am here), and a gen- 
 darme, sword in hand, and followed by four familiar 
 spirits of a like order, leaped into the magic circle and 
 captured the whole party, with all (to use the words 
 of the report) their ' attrizzi infernali' (diabolical 
 apparatus.) 
 
 Other members of the fraternity escaped to the 
 mountains, but the three captured gentlemen are at 
 this moment working out a fifteen years' penalty for 
 their infraction of a law which has, I believe, no 
 precise parallel in England, and which I must 
 translate ' Church scandal.' "* 
 
 * It must be understood that the supernatural features of this 
 singular case were communicated to the priest, by the dying man, 
 
 H2
 
 100 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 We have cited, some pages back, an instance of an 
 especial apparition presenting itself to two different 
 persons at different times, but in the same locality, 
 and with the same accompanying details. Another 
 occurs to the writer, which was related to him some 
 time since by a literary friend, as follows : 
 
 " Captain Morgan, a gentleman of the highest 
 honour and veracity, and who certainly was not 
 over-gifted with ideality, arrived in London, one 
 evening in 18 , in company with a friend, and took 
 up his lodgings in a large old-fashioned house, of the 
 last century, to which chance had directed them. 
 Captain Morgan was shown into a large bed- 
 chamber, with a huge four-poster bed, heavy hang- 
 ings, and altogether that substantial appearance of 
 good, solid respectability and comfort which as- 
 sociated itself with our ideas of the wealthy burghers 
 and merchants of the times of Queen Anne and the 
 first George, when so many strange crimes of ro- 
 mantic daring, or of deep treachery, stained the 
 annals of the day, and the accursed thirst for gold 
 the bane of every age appeared to exercise its most 
 terrific influence. 
 
 " Captain Morgan retired to bed, and slept, but was 
 
 not under the seal of confession, but with the express desire of 
 their publicity. The writer's relative received them from the 
 priest himself.
 
 A MIDNIGHT ASSAILANT. 101 
 
 very soon awakened by a great napping of wings 
 close beside him, and a cold weird-like sensation, 
 such as he had never before experienced, spread 
 through his frame. He started, and sat upright in 
 bed, when an extraordinary appearance declared 
 itself, in the shape of an immense black bird, with 
 outstretched wings, and red eyes flashing as it were 
 with fire. 
 
 " It was right before him, and peeked furiously at 
 his face and eyes, so incessantly, that it seemed to 
 him a wonder that he was enabled, with his arms 
 and the pillow, to ward off the creature's determined 
 assaults. During the battle, it occurred to him that 
 some large pet bird belonging to the family, had 
 effected its escape, and been accidentally shut up in 
 the apartment. 
 
 " Again and again the creature made at him with 
 a malignant ferocity perfectly indescribable, but, 
 though he invariably managed to baffle the attack, 
 he noticed that he never once succeeded in touching 
 his assailant. This strange combat having lasted 
 several minutes, the gallant officer, little accustomed 
 to stand so long simply on the defensive, grew 
 irritated, and, leaping out of bed, dashed at his 
 enemy. The bird retreated before him. The 
 Captain followed in close pursuit, driving his sable 
 foe, fluttering and fighting, towards a sofa which
 
 102 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 stood in a corner of the room. The moonlight 
 shone full into the chamber, and Morgan distinctly 
 saw the creature settle down, as if in terror, upon the 
 embroidered seat of the sofa. 
 
 " Feeling now certain of his prey, he paused for a 
 second or two, then flung himself suddenly upon the 
 black object, from which he had never removed his 
 gaze. To his utter amazement, it seemed to fade 
 and dissolve under his very fingers ! He was 
 clutching the air ! In vain he searched, with lighted 
 lamp, every nook and corner of the apartment un- 
 willing to believe that his senses could be the victims 
 of so gross a delusion no bird was to be found. 
 After a long scrutiny, the baffled officer once more 
 retired to rest, and met with no further disturb- 
 ance. 
 
 "While dressing, in the morning, he resolved to 
 make no allusion to what he had seen, but to induce 
 his friend, on some pretext, to change rooms with 
 him. That unsuspecting individual readily complied, 
 and the next day reported, with much disgust, that 
 he had had to contend for possession of the chamber 
 with the most extraordinary and perplexing object 
 he had ever encountered to all appearance, a huge 
 black bird which constantly eluded his grasp, and 
 ultimately disappeared, leaving no clue to its mode of 
 exit/
 
 EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF MR. B . 103 
 
 The example we have next to adduce is one 
 certainly not to be surpassed in the annals of domes- 
 tic history, either for the demands it unquestionably 
 makes upon a reader's faith, or for the accumulated 
 testimony by which that faith has been often 
 won. 
 
 The immediate authority upon which we give the 
 following correct version of the extraordinary tale, 
 will be better understood, if explained at its con- 
 clusion. 
 
 Mr. B , a gentleman of German descent, was 
 
 possessed of considerable property, both real and 
 personal, in this country ; but nevertheless resided, 
 for the most part, in one of our West Indian 
 colonies. At the period of the strange occurrence 
 about to be narrated, this gentleman had formed an 
 intimate personal acquaintance with certain of the 
 officers belonging to the regiment which composed 
 the garrison. Among these were Colonel Hutchinson 
 and Captain Stewart. 
 
 It happened, one morning, that the two last- 
 named gentlemen were sitting in their mess-room, 
 in conversation, when without any previous an- 
 nouncement Mr. B walked suddenly into the 
 
 room, and approached them as if to speak. 
 
 Observing that, as he advanced, his eyes were 
 fixed on Colonel Hutchinson alone, Captain Stewart
 
 104 STBANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 instinctively rose and withdrew a few steps apart, 
 leaving them to converse. Whenever his eyes 
 chanced to rest upon the talkers, Stewart could not 
 help noticing the singular expression of the coloneFs 
 face. It was as though he were vainly endeavouring 
 to comprehend some startling or mysterious piece of 
 
 intelligence which B was seeking to communicate. 
 
 After several minutes, during which by far the greater 
 part of the conversation seemed to be borne by the 
 latter, the visitor turned away, and quitted the room, 
 without taking the slightest notice of Captain 
 Stewart. 
 
 This unusual bearing on the part of his friend com- 
 pleted Stewart's surprise. He walked up to the 
 
 colonel who was standing where B had left him, 
 
 the puzzled expression still on his face and inquired 
 
 if that was not their friend B who had just 
 
 quitted the apartment. 
 
 " To be sure it is ! " replied the colonel. " How 
 can you ask ? But it's the most extraordinary thing ! 
 Surely, the man must be mad ; for he evidently had 
 not been drinking. He spoke collectedly enough, 
 and there were business details. But what do you 
 think were his first words? Just these: 'I come, 
 Hutchinson, to tell you that I am dead.' Fancy a 
 fellow telling you he's dead ! Then he went on ' I 
 wish you to go to my house, and examine a bureau in
 
 EXTEAOEDINAEY STOEY OF ME. B . 105 
 
 my bedchamber. In one of the drawers, you will 
 find a bundle of papers tied up with red tape. They 
 are deeds, &c., relating to some disputed property in 
 England; which, without them, will be lost to my 
 family. You will take them, and take also my son ; 
 and, as soon as you can go to England, deliver him 
 and them to such a person my agent, and guardian 
 of my boy.' Now what upon earth can he 
 mean ? " 
 
 The two officers could arrive at no other conclusion 
 than either that their friend had gone suddenly mad, 
 or that he had thought fit to test their credulity by a 
 well-acted bit of masquerade ; but resolving to make 
 
 sure, despatched a messenger to B 's house, who 
 
 presently hastened back, bringing the astounding 
 
 intelligence that Mr. B had, in very truth, 
 
 breathed his last that morning. 
 
 Search was made in the bureau, and the papers, 
 as indicated by the apparition, were duly found. 
 
 In pursuance of the instructions so strangely im- 
 parted, Hutchinson, as soon as he could obtain 
 leave of absence, started for England, in company 
 
 with B 's orphan boy, found the person described 
 
 as the agent, and handed over the papers ; by means 
 of which the youth's title to a property of great value 
 was subsequently established. 
 
 The boy took up his residence with an old lady
 
 106 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 his nearest living relative and was for some time 
 the object of much interest, chiefly on account of the 
 above singular tale, which was widely bruited about, 
 and, authenticated as it was by two gentlemen of 
 unquestioned honour, could hardly fail to command 
 belief. 
 
 It was related to George III., upon whom, and his 
 Queen, the occurrence made so strong an impression, 
 that they desired to see the lad, evinced much kindly 
 interest in him, and caused him to be sent to Eton, 
 and educated with the Prince of Wales. 
 
 Young B subsequently took orders, and en- 
 joyed an incumbency in Westminster. He was 
 possessed of many accomplishments, and was a first- 
 rate performer on the violoncello. This last acquire- 
 ment was less fortunate ; for, on an intimation being 
 conveyed to the King that the reverend gentleman 
 was a humble candidate for a vacant mitre, that 
 conscientious monarch is said to have replied that, 
 to his taste, " a fiddling parson was bad enough, but 
 a fiddling bishop intolerable ! " 
 
 And now for the authority. The Rev. Mr. B 
 
 married an aunt of General Powney, who related 
 the story to the writer's friend and informant ; the 
 latter (a lady still living) having herself, forty years 
 ago, been personally acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. 
 B .
 
 A HAUNTED BARRISTER. 107 
 
 A broad distinction, of course, lies between cases 
 of mere cerebral excitement, and such as we have 
 hitherto treated of. Hallucinations are as fully re- 
 cognized, if not quite so common, as colds in the 
 head. 
 
 Few of those who must have noticed the twitch 
 or toss of the head peculiar to the late eminent 
 counsel, Mr. B , were aware that it was engen- 
 dered by a perpetual vision of a raven on his left 
 shoulder. But this ornithological specimen, unlike 
 Captain Morgan's eagle, was revealed to no senses 
 but his own. 
 
 A gentleman now residing in Broadway, New 
 York, transacts business daily under the immediate 
 supervision of his deceased great-uncle, who, in a 
 laced coat and ruffles, occupies a large arm-chair, 
 placed expressly to receive the honoured vision, with- 
 out whose company, Mr. R declares, he could 
 
 not now accomplish his day's work in comfort. 
 
 Intense application has frequently produced delu- 
 sions of this kind, and when no relaxation has been 
 afforded to the over- taxed brain, they have become 
 permanent. 
 
 Similar results have attended extreme grief, or 
 long-continued anxiety. Often, if a sense is not 
 subjected to positive delusion, it is quickened almost 
 to a preternatural degree. In times of imminent
 
 108 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 danger, or apparently hopeless distress, the sights 
 and sounds of rescue have revealed themselves, to 
 the minutest particular, long before according to 
 the ordinary operation of natural laws they should 
 have afforded any token of their approach. 
 
 Not many days since, the writer heard a lady 
 relating, in a mixed circle, a curious experience of 
 her own, which bears upon this question. She 
 stated that she had, one day, attended afternoon 
 service at a little country church, in the neighbour- 
 hood of the house at which she was visiting. 
 
 Owing to some private sorrow which had for some 
 time oppressed her mind, she found unusual diffi- 
 culty in following steadily the sacred ritual. In 
 spite of herself, the rebel thoughts would perpetually 
 revert to worldly cares and crosses, and the heart 
 swell with its daily grief, when, happening to raise 
 her eyes, she saw, clearly and sharply written on 
 the white panels of the singers' gallery, which but 
 a moment since were blank, the well-known text 
 " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be 
 comforted." 
 
 While yet gazing on the reassuring words, which 
 came so like an answer to her thoughts, they began 
 to fade away, and presently became completely in- 
 visible. 
 
 Pondering on this strange occurrence, and unwill-
 
 MOEBID QUICKENING OF THE SENSES. 109 
 
 ing to doubt the evidence of her eyes, she repaired 
 to the church on the following day, and, placing 
 herself in the same position as before, fixed her eyes 
 intently on the gallery. Nothing was to be seen ! 
 She then ascended to the gallery itself, and, leaning 
 over, examined the panel closely. Presently she was 
 enabled to distinguish the forms of certain letters, 
 which had at some previous time composed a text, 
 since painted over. The closest scrutiny could not 
 have established a continuous meaning, had not the 
 impression of the day before guided the reader to 
 the conclusion that the text she had so distinctly 
 seen, had actually at one time been painted on the 
 face of the gallery ! 
 
 The following singular story, belonging, perhaps, 
 more strictly to the realm of dreams than visions, 
 and, though embracing some remarkable coinci- 
 dences, referable, no doubt, to the same causes as 
 those last quoted, was related to the writer, a short 
 time since, by the lady of a distinguished German 
 diplomatist. 
 
 A friend of the latter ^ had herself a beloved and 
 attached friend, who died after a brief but severe 
 interval of suffering. A short time after, the spirit 
 of the departed stood, in a dream, by the bedside 
 of her friend, Madame L , and, with a counte- 
 nance distorted with indescribable agony, implored
 
 110 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the latter to interest in her behalf some "great, 
 strong soul/' that might wrestle for her in prayer, 
 and emancipate the afflicted spirit, if it might be, 
 from its present intolerable, and yet not hopeless, 
 condition. This condition she depicted as one of 
 eager longing to repent, but of perpetual contention 
 with some terrible hindrance, only removable through 
 the means suggested. 
 
 Much troubled in mind, Madame L , after 
 
 some deliberation, resolved to appeal to the strongest 
 and most ardent soul within the range of her ac- 
 quaintance, in the person of - , sometimes 
 called the " German Luther." To him, accordingly, 
 she preferred her request. The good man consented, 
 and redeemed his promise with characteristic promp- 
 titude and fervour. 
 
 Soon after, the apparition again stood beside the 
 
 sleeping couch of Madame L ; this time with 
 
 aspect more composed, but still marked with the 
 traces of suffering and anxiety, and warmly thanking 
 her friend for what had been already done, adjured 
 her in the most touching language (repeated by the 
 narrator with wonderful power and pathos) , to pre- 
 vail upon the zealous intercessor to engage once 
 more but once again in prayer on her behalf. 
 
 Madame L , deeply moved, did as she was 
 
 requested, and wrote at once to , who happened
 
 THE "GERMAN LUTHER." Ill 
 
 at this time to be absent, at the distance of two days' 
 journey. 
 
 On the third night, the spirit appeared to stand, for 
 the third time, by her friend's side, and surrounded 
 with angelic radiance, declared that all was now well. 
 
 Two days more, and burst into Madame 
 
 L 's presence, pale, and greatly agitated. 
 
 ' ' Woman ! woman \" he exclaimed, " what have 
 you done ? On no consideration that could be pro- 
 posed to me, would I encounter such another season 
 of conflict and agony, as that which my compliance 
 with your request has occasioned me." 
 
 He then proceeded to relate that having though 
 with some reluctance renewed his earnest interces- 
 sions, as he had been desired he felt as though at 
 once environed by all the powers of evil. Neverthe- 
 less, with reeling brain and bursting heart, and all 
 but overcome, he steeled himself to the very utmost, 
 and, struggling on through unutterable mental tor- 
 ture, at length regained his calm. But never more, 
 for him, such fearful championship. 
 
 Without entering more deeply into discussion of 
 this last example, it may be enough to hint that the 
 readiest solution might probably be found in the col- 
 lision of two ardent and impressible natures, devoted, 
 for the moment, with intense eagerness, to a common 
 object.
 
 112 STKANGE THINGS AMCflNG US. 
 
 That conservative spirit which so honourably dis- 
 tinguishes the great landed gentry of England, 
 extends even to the vindication of extra-natural pri- 
 vileges. The honour of being haunted, through suc- 
 cessive generations, is no slight matter. If earl or 
 squire be not insensible to the credit of a ghost in 
 the western wing, or laurel avenue, much more 
 keenly is it appreciated among his- dependants. Many 
 an ancient custodian would resent infidelity in the 
 matter of his headless " woman in white/' as sharply 
 as an imputation upon the honour of the master 
 himself. Therein, perhaps, lies the secret of the 
 longevity of many of these immaterial appanages. 
 
 Of such, peradventure, is the great white bird 
 (not classed by the naturalist), which, ever since the 
 ploughman -prophet Nixon affirmed that 
 
 " An eagle shall sit upon Vale-Royal house," 
 
 has never failed to perch upon the battlements, 
 whenever a descendant of that house is about to pass 
 away. 
 
 Of such, it may be, is the brown lady whose 
 appearance heralds death or misfortune to the noble 
 
 house of L . Many such appearances are said to 
 
 be noted in the annals of the family. It is but six 
 or seven years since, that a young married daughter 
 of the house ran, pale and agitated, to her husband,
 
 CAREIAGE-WHEELS. 113 
 
 in his study, declaring that she had encountered the 
 brown woman in the corridor. Comforted with 
 difficulty, she set out on the morrow, with her hus- 
 band, on a journey previously arranged, but arrived 
 at their destination somewhat indisposed, and on the 
 succeeding day expired ! 
 
 Of such is perhaps the noise of wheels whirling 
 up to the chief portal of any mansion wherein a 
 member of another great county family may chance 
 to be an inmate, when the head of that house is 
 stricken with death. This especial phenomenon is 
 claimed by more than one family, and has been, 
 in more than one in stance, strongly authenticated. 
 Not long since, the following was communicated to 
 the writer, by a friend who was well acquainted with 
 the heroine of the tale : 
 
 Mrs. (a lady now living) was staying, some 
 
 little time ago, with her daughter-in-law. One 
 day, while dressing for dinner, her maid remarked, 
 " Madame, voita une arrivce !" Both had, in fact, 
 distinctly heard the sound of a carriage driving up 
 the avenue, and stopping at the door. 
 
 Finding no new visitor in the drawing-room, Mrs. 
 asked her daughter-in-law who had arrived ? 
 
 " No one. We are not expecting anybody," was 
 the reply. 
 
 "That is strange," resumed Mrs. . "Both
 
 114 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 my maid and myself heard a carriage drive to the 
 door." 
 
 " Are you sure of that ?" asked her young con- 
 nexion, with great earnestness. 
 
 " Certain." 
 
 " Then there has been a death in our family. That 
 sound of a carriage is always the forerunner of such 
 an event." 
 
 On the following morning, a telegram announced 
 the sudden death of the mother of the young lady. 
 
 Of the same description is the wild keen that still 
 heralds the decease of the members of an old Irish 
 line ; and the softer wail that belongs to a noble house 
 in Scotland, heard and marvelled at by persons now 
 living : 
 
 The strain was like the thrush's note 
 
 Heard in sequestered Sgail, 
 Or like the blackbird's chorus sweet, 
 
 In Letter-legh's lone vale. 
 
 It was a song of sorrow ; 
 
 The lay of a broken heart, 
 Murmured to weeping music 
 
 Artless and void of art. 
 
 Murmured to weeping music, 
 
 And blent with tears and sighs ; 
 Murmured to weeping music 
 That drowns in grief the eyes. 
 
 Of the regular "banshee" we hear but little now.
 
 A BANSHEE. 115 
 
 Whether the old royal Irish lines have become, by 
 process of time, so tainted with inferior blood that the 
 wailing messenger cannot decide in whose veins the 
 princely drop still lingers, or whether the utilitarian 
 shriek of the railway-whistle has fairly drowned her 
 own, the banshee is all but dumb. Notwithstanding, 
 her warning cry has been heard in the living gene- 
 ration, and by one whose name it is allowable to 
 mention Dr. Kenealy in truth, the representative 
 of one of those ancient lines. 
 
 The death of this gentleman's only brother oc- 
 curred when he the doctor was yet a boy, and 
 that event, as well as the warning that preceded it, 
 left a lasting impression on his mind. Bis brother's 
 bedroom opened on a large and far-extending tract 
 bounded by green hills. In this apartment most of 
 the members of the family the doctor among them 
 were sitting about noon, the sun streaming beauti- 
 fully through the thin transparent air, when suddenly 
 a strain of melody more divinely sweet than any 
 earthly music they had ever heard, rose near at hand. 
 It was the melancholy wail of a woman's voice, in 
 accents betokening a depth of woe not to be described 
 in words. It lasted several minutes, then appeared 
 to melt away like the ripple of a wave now heard, 
 now lost in whispers till " nothing lives 'twixt it and 
 silence."
 
 116 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 As the song commenced, the dying boy fell into 
 the last agony, but such was the effect of the circum- 
 stance upon those who stood around that their atten- 
 tion was almost distracted from the solemn scene, 
 and one of them (the nurse) exclaimed involunta- 
 rily:- 
 
 " What a voice she has ! That is the Banshee." 
 
 As the last note became inaudible, the child's 
 spirit passed away. 
 
 Dr. K refers to this never-to-be-forgotten cir- 
 cumstance in a recently-published work : 
 
 " Here the Banshee, that phantom bright who weeps 
 Over the dying of her own loved line, 
 Floated in moonlight ; in her streaming locks 
 Gleamed star-shine ; when she looked on me, she knew 
 And smiled." 
 
 Again : 
 
 " The wish has but 
 
 Escaped my lips and lo ! once more it streams 
 In liquid lapse upon the fairy winds, 
 That guard each slightest note with jealous care, 
 And bring them hither, even as angels might 
 To the beloved to whom they minister."* 
 
 There are occasionally phenomena which, with 
 every appearance of being ascribable to natural 
 causes, defy the most careful scientific scrutiny. 
 
 " Gothe." A new Pantomime. A work of marvellous, but 
 undisciplined power; tender and daring, exquisite and lamentable.
 
 ME. KNIGHT'S STAE. 117 
 
 Such was the little ray or speck of light, which 
 haunted for many years the mansion in which the 
 late Thomas Andrew Knight, the correspondent and 
 associate of Sir Humphrey Davy, was born. The 
 appearance of this lustrous little visitor greatly dis- 
 turbed the inmates of the house, who were not 
 reassured by witnessing the repeated discomfiture of 
 Mr. Knight's attempts to discover its origin. He 
 himself becoming piqued in the pursuit, hunted 
 down the mystery with all the perseverance of a true 
 philosopher. All, however, was in vain. 
 
 It seems that this domesticated ignis fatuus was 
 accustomed to appear in a bedchamber on the second 
 floor, and danced about the apartment or remained 
 motionless, Avithout being apparently influenced by 
 anything the spectators might do. In many different 
 positions Mr. Knight surveyed it accurately, without 
 being able to detect any angle by which light could 
 possibly be conveyed to that point. Few men were 
 better qualified than Mr. Knight to investigate na- 
 tural phenomena, and especially that class which 
 ought to have included the luminous visitor we have 
 described. 
 
 We come to a class of phenomena, which, belong- 
 ing rather to houses than to families, attain propor- 
 tions too great to admit of our assigning them to 
 the operation of any natural law, to which conjecture
 
 118 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 has yet pointed its unstable finger. If they be true, 
 the solution lies within a realm among whose multi- 
 plied mysteries it behoves to search with reserve and 
 deep humility, lest we transgress unadvisedly the 
 limit apparently indicated, in certain directions, to 
 human curiosity. 
 
 If they be true ! The privilege of weighing testi- 
 mony is at least accorded to all and they are many 
 who interest themselves in these solemn questions. 
 It is even in some sort a duty, in the interests 
 of others, to analyse that which comes before us in a 
 questionable shape, and reduce it, if possible, to the 
 level of stubborn fact. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to observe, that if a 
 perfectly spotless reputation in the matter of legend- 
 ary ghosts be required, the haunted mansions of 
 England and its dependencies may be counted by the 
 score. Very many of these have already figured in 
 the graphic pages of Mrs. Crowe, Mr. Owen, and 
 others, and conclusions, with which it is not our 
 desire or province to meddle, have been drawn from 
 these stirring narratives. Very many more have been 
 left wisely to their own local fame, as not supplied with 
 the credentials needful for their admission within the 
 pale of printed history. Of the residue, we have 
 gathered one or two, possessed of those desirable 
 characteristics which are mentioned in our prefatory
 
 THE MYSTERIES OF W . 119 
 
 remarks, viz. recent occurrence/ and direct authen- 
 tication. 
 
 The lady to whom the writer is indebted for the 
 first of these examples, embodying an experience of 
 her own, belongs to an old and distinguished family 
 a name were it permissible to mention it probably 
 familiar to most of the readers of this work. The 
 narrative will be given almost literally in her own 
 words. 
 
 " On the fourteenth of May, 18, I was at W 
 near Wey mouth. The house is a very old one, and 
 has peculiarities of construction, some of which, in 
 order to make my story clear, I must endeavour to 
 explain. 
 
 The great drawing-room upstairs, is a singularly 
 shaped apartment, having the door in one corner, 
 and opposite to a large window opening on the 
 balcony. 
 
 On the left-hand side of the door is one opening 
 into a very small room, so small as almost to be 
 termed a closet, having a window divided in the 
 centre by a stone mullion, and a small place where 
 there has once stood an altar, with a recess for holy 
 water, proving that the little chamber had been 
 formerly used as an oratory. The window looks down, 
 at a great elevation, upon a flagged courtyard, and 
 is over what was, in former days, the chapel, now
 
 120 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 used as a pantry. From this oratory there are no 
 means of exit, save through the drawing-room. 
 
 The door of the drawing-room opens on to a small 
 landing, having the old winding stone-staircase on 
 the right ; and facing the door, is a wide corridor, on 
 to which open all the bedrooms. 
 
 My daughter-in-law, being rather an invalid, had 
 been reclining all day on the sofa in the drawing-room. 
 Towards dusk, I was in the bedroom with the 
 children, and, leaving it to prepare for tea, met 
 my daughter-in-law coming from the drawing-room. 
 Standing on the landing, she asked me the 
 way to the morning-room, and I had just pointed 
 down the winding stairs, when I caught sight of a 
 man, tall, and with grey hair, passing across the 
 drawing-room, from the fire towards the wall by the 
 oratory. He passed between me and the lamp, which 
 stood on the table near the window, and brightly lit 
 up the whole room. I inquired who was the stranger 
 that had been with her in the drawing-room. My 
 daughter, with some surprise, denied that any one 
 had come in; and presently left me. Conceiving, 
 however, that she must have been mistaken, I re- 
 mained where I was, every moment expecting that 
 the man, whoever he might be, would come out, and, 
 when I found he did not do so, wondering whither he 
 could have betaken himself, since he appeared to me
 
 THE MYSTEEIES OF W . 121 
 
 to walk straight up to the wall, and (though the 
 oratory door remained closed) there disappear. My 
 first idea was that he was a robber, who proposed to 
 conceal himself somewhere about the rooms, and I 
 consequently determined to watch him. 
 
 Observing no place of concealment in the drawing- 
 room, I went at once to the oratory, and, cautiously 
 unclosing the door, looked in, half expecting to find 
 myself grasped by the discovered marauder. No one 
 was there ! Having searched every corner, and ascer- 
 tained that no human being could have escaped by the 
 window, I returned to the drawing-room, and, going 
 out on the landing, still watching the door, I called 
 to one of the young ladies of the house, and asked 
 her laughingly if she had ever seen a ghost in the 
 house. 
 
 " Never," was her reply, " but you know that there 
 isonel" 
 
 I had never heard so, but I now declared that I 
 had certainly seen it, and that not many minutes 
 since. 
 
 My friend laughed, and said : 
 
 " You don't mean to say you have seen the old 
 man?" 
 
 "What old man?" 
 
 " Our ghost \" 
 
 I described his appearance, and the manner in
 
 122 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 which he had so strangely vanished. Miss M 
 
 appeared much struck, and proposed a closer search, 
 whereupon we lit our candles, and examined system- 
 atically every corner of the drawing-room, the oratory, 
 and the balcony, but without success. 
 
 I am not what is called a believer in ghosts. I 
 never before saw anything I could not account for, 
 nor can I perceive any use or purpose in what I saw 
 that evening. I only know I did see it, and 
 that, standing in a dusky corridor, and looking 
 straight into a well-lighted room, I cannot conceive 
 that I was the subject of any optical illusion. As the 
 face of the figure was averted, I cannot give a more 
 minute description of it, but the apparition was so 
 natural and palpable, that the last thing that occurred 
 to me was that it might be " a dream of the feverish 
 brain." 
 
 We had just concluded our scrutiny, when the 
 gentlemen, who had been smoking on the lawn, came 
 upstairs, and were informed of what had occurred. 
 One of the party immediately declared that it was 
 
 the ghost of W , and, on my pressing for further 
 
 information, related that most extraordinary story, 
 given, as I have been told, in an earlier edition of 
 " Hutchins' History of Dorset," an exceedingly rare 
 book, the greater part of the impression having been 
 destroyed by fire, at the publisher's.
 
 THE MYSTERIES OF W . 123 
 
 W , in 1660, was iu the possession of Mr. 
 
 Rickard. This gentleman was lying on what was 
 expected to be his death-bed, when, one day, address- 
 ing his wife, who sat at his bedside, he begged her 
 to leave him alone for a few minutes with the reve- 
 rend rector of the parish, Mr. Bound, who was like- 
 wise in the room. 
 
 As soon as she had quitted them, Mr. R 
 
 directed his friend's attention towards the foot of the 
 bed, asking, at the same time, in a mysterious 
 tone : 
 
 " Do you hear what that old man is say- 
 ing ? " 
 
 Unable to comprehend him, Mr. Bound looked 
 with amazement at the speaker, when the latter 
 calmly requested him to bring pen, ink, and paper, 
 and commit to writing what he was about to 
 hear. 
 
 The reverend minister obeyed, when Mr. Rickard, 
 with the manner of one following the dictation of 
 another sitting at the foot of the bed, pronounced the 
 following prophecy : 
 
 " In the year 1665, more than ninety thousand 
 persons will perish in London of one disease. 
 
 " In the succeeding year, there will occur such 
 a fire in London, that the lead on the roof of Paul's 
 will pour down like rain.
 
 124 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 " On the llth of June, 1685, a person will land 
 west of Weymouth, who shall be the cause of great 
 calamity and bloodshed, and involve many leading 
 families of the west in trouble and ruin." (Mon- 
 mouth's rebellion.) 
 
 " In 1688, events will come to pass that shall 
 entirely change the constitution of this land. 
 
 " And that you may know that what I tell you is 
 true, though you are to-day supposed to be in a dy- 
 ing state, and unable to leave your bed, you will to- 
 morrow be well enough to rise, and walk out upon 
 your terraces. "While there, you will receive three 
 unlooked-for visits, one from a gentleman from Ire- 
 land, one from a person from Jersey, and one from 
 your own son, whom you believe to be far distant 
 abroad, and whom you had not hoped again to 
 see." 
 
 Thus ran this extraordinary communication; and, 
 accordingly, on the following morning, the invalid 
 really found himself so much better, that he was able 
 to walk upon his terrace. While doing so, an old 
 friend arrived, who had just come across from Ire- 
 land ; another visitor appeared, who had landed at 
 Weymouth from a Jersey vessel ; and, finally, young 
 Rickard, the unexpected, drove hastily to the 
 door. 
 
 This wonderful statement was signed by Mr.
 
 THE MYSTERIES OF W . 125 
 
 Rickard, and the reverend Mr. Bound, and verified 
 before two magistrates of the county, one of whom 
 was Mr. J. Strangwayes, an ancestor of the Earl 
 of Ilchester. The name of the other I cannot 
 recollect.* 
 
 * As the family tradition differs, in some slight degree, from 
 that contained in one of the editions of " Hutchins' History of 
 Dorset," we append the latter. In this version, the hero is 
 
 described as Mr. " Sadler." It seems that the estates of W 
 
 had passed into the hands of this family during the Common- 
 wealth, but that the Restoration re-conveyed a portion of them 
 to the former owners, or their assigns a circumstance which 
 preyed upon Mr. Sadler's mind, and induced the mental trouble 
 about to be referred to : 
 
 " This gentleman (Mr. Sadler) being, the year after the Kesto- 
 tion, under some distemper of mind, kept his chamber, and had 
 his servant, one Thomas Grey, of the same place (W ), to at- 
 tend him there. Then I, Cuthbert Bound, minister of the 
 parish, coming to visit him, found him sitting up in his bed, his 
 wife and servant being with him. He caused his wife presently 
 to depart, and the door to be shut, and made his man to come to 
 one side of the bed, and myself on the other, and looking stead- 
 fastly towards the other end of the room, asked whether we saw 
 nobody, or heard any voice. We answered him that we neither 
 heard nor saw anybody, but persuaded him to lie down and take 
 his rest. 
 
 " He bid us be quiet, for there was a man who had great 
 things to tell him, and spoke so loud that he did wonder we did 
 not hear him ; and presently ordered his man to fetch his pen, 
 ink, and paper, and, looking towards the place where the man 
 stood, he began to write, and so wrote on as if the man did still 
 dictate to him, and, every now and then, would be asking whether 
 it were so, or not. And, after he had ended the matter, he read 
 the paper distinctly twice over, and at the end asked whether he
 
 126 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 Not very long since, another inexplicable circum- 
 stance occurred at this same W , the witnesses 
 
 had written true, and then caused us to set our hands to the 
 paper, saying he (the man) would not be gone till he saw that 
 done ; and when we had done it, said, ' Now he is gone.' 
 
 " What he related to us was as followeth : That there would 
 die in the city of London so many thousand (mentioning the 
 number, which I have forgotten) ; that the city should be burned 
 down, a great part of it ; and that he saw St. Paul's tumbled 
 down, as if beaten down with great guns. That we should have 
 three sea-fights with the Dutch, and that there would appear 
 three blazing stars, and that the last would be terrible to behold. 
 That, afterwards, there would come three small ships to land, to 
 the westward of Weymouth, that would put all England into an 
 uproar, but it would come to nothing. That, in the year 1688, 
 there would come to pass such a thing in the kingdom that all 
 the world would take notice of. That, after this, there would 
 come good times, and that I, Cuthbert Bound, should live to see 
 all these things come to pass, but he and his man should die. 
 And farther, that some wonderful thing would come to pass 
 afterwards, which he was forbidden to make known. Lastly, 
 that he should be able to go abroad the next day, and there 
 would come three men to see him one from Ireland, one from 
 Jersey, and one (his brother, Bingham), from abroad. Who did 
 certainly come, as he had told us. And I saw him walking, 
 early in the morning the next day, in his grounds. 
 
 " Upon the report of this, his man, Thomas Grey, and myself, 
 were sent for before the deputy-lieutenant of the county, and 
 made affidavit of the truth of this, before Colonel Giles Strang- 
 wayes, Colonel Coker, and many others yet alive, within three 
 or four days after he told it me." 
 
 This narrative was communicated by the Rev. Bingham, of 
 R , from a friend who has a copy of it, which has been care- 
 fully preserved in the family, signed by the above-named Cuth- 
 bert Bound.
 
 THE PASSING-BELL. 127 
 
 being the young lady to whom I had called, on see- 
 ing my ghost, and her governess. 
 
 They were about retiring to rest, one night in the 
 summer of 18 , and, before doing so, stood for a 
 few moments at the open window, admiring the night's 
 still beauty, and the moonlight glinting upon the 
 little church, which, as is often the case in the West 
 of England, stands but a short distance from the 
 manor-house. On a sudden, the passing-bell began 
 to toll. Surprised at this, since, in their little 
 village, the fact of any one being in mortal sickness 
 would almost, as a matter of course, have become 
 known to them, the young ladies withdrew to bed, 
 still wondering upon which of their poor neighbours 
 the hand of death had been so suddenly laid. Early 
 next morning, an express arrived, announcing the 
 unexpected death of the younger lady's grandfather, 
 who resided in the same county, but at some distance. 
 He had expired over-night, at nine o'clock. This was 
 the hour at which the passing-bell had tolled. The 
 two circumstances were, however, in nowise asso- 
 ciated together in the minds of the family, and, in 
 the course of the day, inquiries were made by them, 
 as to who had died in the little village on the previous 
 day. 
 
 The clerk returned for answer that there had been 
 no death in the parish, and that no bell had tolled .
 
 128 STKANGE THINGS AMONG TTS. 
 
 A second message was sent, demanding who had 
 obtained access to the church over-night, as mem- 
 bers of the family had listened for some moments 
 to the unmistakable knell ; to which the clerk replied 
 most positively that no one had visited the church, 
 nor had the keys been out of his possession. 
 
 The mysteries of W are not even yet ex- 
 hausted. There is still living the aged daughter 
 
 of a former tenant of the T family, who for 
 
 some time rented the manor-house. She remem- 
 bers, on leaving school, in 1796, having the 
 " haunted " room allotted to her for a bedchamber. 
 It had then been nailed up for many years, and 
 the circumstance of its being once more tenanted by 
 beings of mortal mould created no small excitement 
 and speculation in the neighbourhood, many persons 
 soliciting permission to attend the ceremony of open- 
 ing the door. The young lady's rest was never 
 disturbed by any unusual occurrence. 
 
 The Rev. E. B . however, a gentleman long 
 
 resident in the neighbourhood, relates a singular 
 anecdote current in the annals of the old family : 
 
 The Mr., or Sir C. T , of a former period, had 
 
 given a dinner in honour of two judges of the assize, 
 one of whom enjoyed the hospitalities of his host 
 with all zest and freedom, while the other, unable, as 
 it seemed, to eat or converse, sat wrapped in gloomy
 
 A SECOND-SIGHTED JUDGE. 129 
 
 abstraction, broken only by moments of such evident 
 uneasiness, that his colleague contrived to bring the 
 banquet to an early termination ; soon after which, 
 ordering their horses, the two learned brethren 
 departed in company for the assize-town, D . 
 
 Scarcely were they alone, when the melancholy 
 judge informed his friend that during the whole 
 period of the repast he had seen the exact present- 
 ment, double, or personification, of Lady T , 
 
 their hostess, standing behind that lady's own chair, 
 imitating her every action ! That it was no optical 
 delusion, arising from some natural cause, was 
 evidenced by its not applying to any other person 
 or object in the room, and the idea that it might 
 betoken some fatal misfortune to their amiable 
 entertainer, had dwelt so powerfully upon his mind, 
 as to produce the unconquerable depression his 
 friend had noticed. 
 
 He was yet speaking when they were overtaken 
 by a servant of the house, who was proceeding at 
 full gallop in search of medical aid, though without 
 much hope that it would prove effectual, the unfor- 
 tunate lady having, immediately on the departure of 
 the guests, retired to her own apartment, and hung 
 herself. 
 
 Pursuing, not without some sense of intrusion, 
 our perquisitions in and about the haunted mansions
 
 130 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 of England, we come to S Place, in the village 
 
 of D , Sussex. 
 
 S Place is the name of a fine old mansion of 
 
 the time of Elizabeth, which is reported to have been 
 at one period nearly double its present size, and was 
 
 the property of an old family named D , two of 
 
 the last surviving members of which lie buried in 
 the vaults of the small but pretty church, and to 
 whose memory beautiful monuments were erected 
 by the love and piety of their sister. This lady was 
 the last of her house, and where she was gathered to 
 her rest has never been ascertained. 
 
 The D 's were "great-hearted gentlemen," 
 
 determined royalists, and fought gallantly for 
 their king in the wars preceding the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 After the final discomfiture of the king's party, 
 
 the last of the D 's fled on horseback from the 
 
 fatal field. He was, however, pursued so closely 
 by some of CromwelFs troopers, that the latter 
 
 had him actually in view as he spurred into D , 
 
 and, without drawing bridle, dashed through his 
 own opened door into the hall. A few moments 
 more, and the old mansion was echoing, from garret 
 to cellar, with the tumult of iron-clad men, bursting 
 into every place of refuge, furious at the escape of 
 the fugitive, who seemed already in their hands. All
 
 S PLACE. 131 
 
 their efforts were fruitless. Neither the cavalier nor 
 his horse were ever more seen. Hence, perhaps, 
 arose the tradition that his ghost still haunted the 
 home of his fathers. 
 
 A later occupant of S Place discovered in the 
 
 kitchen a secret door, opening into a sort of chamber, 
 from whence issued a subterranean passage, and 
 
 through this outlet D had no doubt escaped, 
 
 made his way to the coast, and embarked for 
 France. 
 
 That there are most extraordinary noises in the 
 house is indisputable, and few that have visited it 
 have left again entirely unimpressed by the mystery 
 that haunts the dwelling. 
 
 A lady who had been a guest there informed the 
 writer that she had once been greatly alarmed. 
 Before retiring to rest she had locked her door. To 
 her great astonishment and consternation, before 
 she had been many minutes in bed, and having yet 
 felt no inclination to sleep, she distinctly heard 
 the door open, and a step walk deliberately towards 
 the dressing-table, which stood near the middle of 
 the room. 
 
 Imagining that she had not completely fastened 
 the door, and that a servant had entered in search of 
 something, she spoke to the intruder, but received no 
 answer ! She heard and saw nothing more, for 
 
 K2
 
 132 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 being, by her own confession, no heroine in point of 
 courage, her head was quickly enveloped in the bed- 
 clothes, and, in the morning, she found the door as 
 well secured as she had left it overnight. 
 
 On another occasion, two persons saw a figure, re- 
 sembling a large white animal, glide quickly along 
 by the wall from one end to the other of the saloon, 
 and such positive testimony did their sense of sight 
 bear to the presence of some such creature in the 
 room, that the doors, which had been already closed, 
 were locked and bolted, and a search instituted, 
 which however resulted in no discovery. 
 
 Among the servants at S Place, it had been 
 
 for years an article of faith that a tall cavalier, 
 wearing his hat, was frequently seen walking about 
 the apartments ; but, as one of them remarked, they 
 " did not care about it now they were accustomed 
 to it." 
 
 We arrive now at one of those inexplicable occur- 
 rences which, examined to their source, afford us no 
 alternative but to believe either that gentlemen of high 
 character and honourable position have united in the 
 invention and dissemination of a gross falsehood, or 
 that something that may fairly be called preter- 
 natural has really and truly been presented to 
 our generation.
 
 THE HAUNTED COREIDOE AT B . 133 
 
 For several years past, singular rumours have got 
 abroad, from time to time, relative to an old family- 
 seat near F , Somersetshire, which, however, de- 
 spite its reputation, has never, up to the present 
 moment, been without occupants. The circumstance 
 most frequently associated with the rumours aforesaid, 
 was that, on almost every night, at twelve o'clock, 
 something that was invisible entered a certain corri- 
 dor at one end, and passed out at the other. It 
 mattered not to the mysterious intruder who might 
 be witnesses of the midnight progress. Almost as 
 regularly as night succeeded day, the strange sound 
 recurred, and was precisely that which would have 
 been occasioned by a lady, wearing the high-heeled C/~ A 
 shoes of a former period, and a full silk dress, sweep- 
 ing through the corridor. Nothing was ever seen, 
 and the impression produced by hearing the approach, 
 the passing, and withdrawal of the visitor with 
 perfect distinctness, while the companion-sense was 
 shut, was described as most extraordinary. 
 
 It was but a day or two since, that the brother of 
 the writer chanced to meet at dinner one of the more 
 recent ear-witnesses of this certainly most re.mark- 
 able phenomenon, and, with the sanction of the 
 latter, the adventure shall be given nearly in his own 
 words.
 
 134 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 ' c I was visiting, about two years ago, at a friend's 
 
 house, a few miles from F , when my attention 
 
 was attracted, one day at dinner, to a conversation 
 that was going on, having reference to the haunted 
 
 character of B House, near F . The subject 
 
 seemed to interest the speakers so much, that I 
 begged to be informed of the details, and learned 
 that a particular corridor of the mansion in question 
 was, every night, at twelve o } clock, the scene of an 
 occurrence that had hitherto defied all explanation. 
 One of the party had himself been a visitor at B 
 House, and, being sceptical and devoid of fear, 
 requested permission to keep vigil in the haunted 
 gallery. He did so, witnessed the phenomenon, and 
 ' nothing on earth/ he frankly owned, ' would 
 induce me to repeat the experiment/ He then 
 recounted to me certain circumstances, which agreed 
 so nearly with what I myself subsequently witnessed, 
 that it will be better to narrate them from the direct 
 evidence of my own astonished senses. 
 
 " My curiosity being greatly increased by the 
 manifest belief accorded by those present to this 
 gentleman's story, I obtained an introduction to 
 
 the family of B House, and received from them 
 
 a ready permission to pass a night, or more, if neces- 
 sary, in the haunted corridor. I was at full liberty,
 
 THE HAUNTED COEKIDOR AT B . 135 
 
 moreover, to select any companion I chose, for the 
 adventure, and I accordingly invited an old friend, 
 
 Mr. W. K , who happened to be shooting in the 
 
 neighbourhood, to accompany me. 
 
 " K , like myself, was disposed to incredulity 
 
 in such matters ; he had never seen anything of the 
 sort before, and was positively assured either that 
 nothing unusual would occur on the night when two 
 such sentries were on duty, or that we should have 
 no great difficulty in tracing the phenomenon to 
 a fleshly source. 
 
 " The family at B happened at this period to be 
 
 from home, but authority having been given us 
 
 to make any arrangements we pleased, K and I 
 
 proceeded to the mansion, intending, at all events, to 
 devote two nights to the experiment. It will be seen 
 that this part of the plan was not strictly carried 
 out! 
 
 " We dined early, at five o'clock, and in order to 
 make certain of the clearness of our heads, drank 
 nothing but a little table-beer. We had then six 
 hours before us ; but, resolved to lose no chance, we 
 took up our position at once in the haunted corridor. 
 It was of considerable length, with a door at each 
 extremity, and one or two at the side. My friend 
 K is a good picquet player, and as our watch
 
 136 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 was to be a prolonged one, and it was extremely 
 desirable to keep ourselves well on the alert, it was 
 agreed to take some cards with us. 
 
 " Combining business with pleasure, we placed our 
 card-table so as completely to barricade the passage ; 
 our two chairs exactly filling up the space that 
 remained, so that it would be impossible for any 
 mortal creature to press through without disturbing 
 us. In addition to this, we placed two lighted 
 candles on the ground near the wall, at two or three 
 feet from the table, on the side from which the 
 mysterious footsteps always came. Finally, we 
 placed two revolvers and two life-preservers on the 
 table. 
 
 " These precautions taken, we commenced our 
 game, and played with varying success till about eleven 
 o'clock. At that time, growing a little tired of 
 picquet, we changed the game to ecarte, and played 
 until the house-clock sounded midnight. Mechani- 
 cally we dropped our cards, and looked along the dim 
 corridor. No sounds, however, followed, and after 
 pausing a minute or two, we resumed the game, 
 which chanced to be near its conclusion. 
 
 " ' I say, it's nonsense sitting up/ yawned K , 
 
 'this thing never comes, you know, after twelve. 
 What do you say ? After this game ?' 
 
 "I looked at my watch, which I had taken the
 
 WATCHEES DISCOMFITED. 137 
 
 precaution to set by the church clock, as we entered 
 the village. By this it appeared that the house-clock 
 was fast. It wanted yet three minutes of the hour. 
 
 Pointing out the mistake to K , I proposed 
 
 that we should, by all means, wait another ten 
 minutes. 
 
 " The words were not fairly out of my mouth, 
 when the door at the end seemed to open and reclose. 
 This time the cards literally dropped from our hands, 
 for, though nothing could be seen, the conviction 
 was growing, on both our minds, that something had 
 entered. We were soon more fully convinced of it. 
 The silence was broken by a tapping sound, such as 
 would be caused by a light person, wearing high- > 
 heeled shoes, quietly coming towards us up the gal- 
 lery, each step, as it approached, sounding more 
 distinct than the last ; exactly, in fact, as would be 
 the case under ordinary circumstances. It was a 
 firm and regular tread light, yet determined and 
 it was accompanied by a sound between a sweep, a 
 rustle, and a whistle, not comparable to anything but 
 the brushing of a stiff silken dress against the 
 walls ! 
 
 <c How K and I looked as the sounds advanced 
 
 as it were to storm us, I will not pretend to say. I 
 confess I was, for the moment, petrified with amaze- 
 ment, and neither of us, I believe, moved hand or
 
 138 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 foot. On on on came the tap and rustle; they 
 reached the lighted candles on the floor, passed 
 them, not even disturbing the flame, then the tapping 
 ceased, but the invisible silken robe seemed to brush 
 the wall on both sides, on a level with our heads, 
 then the tapping re-commenced on the other side the 
 table, and so, receding, made its exit at the other 
 door ! ! 
 
 " As for making any use of our revolvers or life- 
 preservers, the idea never once occurred to either of 
 us. There was not even a shadow at which to strike ; 
 it was sound alone. 
 
 " I feel that any attempt to explain this strange 
 phenomenon at once to my own satisfaction and that 
 of others, would be perfectly futile. I must of 
 necessity content myself with simply narrating the 
 fact as it occurred, and as it had been, and probably 
 may yet be, witnessed by many others, as little pre- 
 disposed as my friend K and I to be made the 
 
 dupe of any human artifice. 
 
 " I may mention that, on one occasion, .it chanced 
 that a nurse in the family had to pass through the 
 corridor about the hour of twelve, carrying, or 
 rather leading, a little girl who was deaf and dumb. 
 As the sounds passed, the child appeared to shrink 
 back in the utmost alarm, struggling and moaning to 
 get away, nor could she ever be induced to enter the
 
 ADVENTURE OF LADY P . 139 
 
 corridor again, without evincing the same violent 
 terror."* 
 
 It would not be difficult to present a considerable 
 catalogue of these local phenomena, if the names 
 of parties and places were not insisted on as an 
 essential guarantee. Confining ourselves to those 
 which possess that necessary feature, here is a sin- 
 gular experience furnished by a lady, the Countess 
 
 of P , who merely stipulates, and that for 
 
 obvious reasons, that the name of the place at 
 which the circumstance occurred, should not be re- 
 cognizable. 
 
 Lady P , in her youth, was visiting with her 
 
 mother at an old moated mansion not many miles 
 distant from Warwick. Not being as yet promoted 
 to the honours of the late dinner-table, the Countess 
 
 (then Miss B ) was one evening awaiting in a 
 
 large room above the drawing-room, in company with 
 three other young ladies, the accustomed summons 
 to dessert. The fire having become low, she took 
 up the shovel, and proceeded towards a closet near 
 the other end of the room, where the coals were 
 kept. 
 
 * The mansion in which this extraordinary scene was, and per- 
 haps still is, nightly enacted, remains in the occupation of the 
 same family but will, in a few" months, be wholly or partially 
 demolished, in order to effect certain modern improvements.
 
 140 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 She had made but a few paces in that direction, 
 when, to her utter astonishment, the figure of a 
 tall man suddenly stood before her. The young 
 lady uttered a cry, which- brought her companions 
 to her side, when they likewise saw the figure. All 
 remained for an instant fixed to the spot. There 
 was something in the appearance of the intruder 
 that convinced them he was not of flesh and blood ; 
 nevertheless, Miss B , who was a child of re- 
 markable spirit and courage, made a step forward, 
 and actually offered to strike at him with the shovel 
 she held in her hand. The apparition seemed to 
 nod gravely in answer to the menace, but never 
 moved from its place. Thus, for at least a minute, 
 the parties stood gazing on each other, until, to the 
 inexpressible relief of the juvenile allies, assistance 
 arrived in the person of the footman, who knocked 
 at the door, and announced dessert. 
 
 A general scream invited John to enter, since the 
 phantom foe still stood his ground, and it was im- 
 possible to reach the door without passing him. 
 John accordingly entered upon the field, and, thus 
 taken in flank, the enemy disappeared. 
 
 The young ladies eagerly related what they had 
 seen, when the man evinced no surprise, merely 
 telling them they were in what had always been 
 called the " haunted room.-"
 
 ADVENTURE OF LADY P . 141 
 
 Of course, the circumstance was quickly made 
 known in the drawing-room, when the host and 
 hostess expressed much regret that they had been 
 introduced to the room in question, which had been 
 rarely used, in consequence of its painful associa- 
 tions ; the steward of a family, who formerly occu- 
 pied the mansion, having shot a housemaid there, 
 and concealed the body of his victim in the coal- 
 closet. It is an odd circumstance that the pistol 
 which had effected the murderous deed had ever 
 since been kept hanging over the mantel-piece in 
 the room. 
 
 As a proof of a certain distinct impression left on 
 
 Miss B 's mind, by the features of the shadowy 
 
 visitor, it happened that, many years after, at a ball 
 in Paris, she saw, in the brilliant crowd, a coun- 
 tenance so closely resembling that of the spectre, 
 that the whole scene returned upon her in full 
 force. 
 
 Hastily seeking her mother, she begged her to 
 ascertain the name of the individual who had caused 
 her such emotion. It was not difficult to do so. 
 But the resemblance was fortuitous. It was the 
 Count Pozzo di Borgo ! 
 
 There is occasionally a curious intermingling of 
 the mysterious and familiar, as in the case of 
 another old house near B , Wilts ; visited, not
 
 142 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 long since, by the gentleman who supplies the fol- 
 lowing details. These are, it must be owned, neither 
 picturesque nor terrible, their sole interesting feature 
 being that which is common to all such stories 
 inscrutability. 
 
 The dwelling in question is neither large nor 
 gloomy, owns neither dungeon nor corridor, and 
 against its ancient reputation tradition has not a 
 syllable to allege. Nevertheless, as will be seen, 
 no modern tenant is permitted to inhabit its cheer- 
 ful chambers in tranquillity. 
 
 Mr. D , who had recently returned from Aus- 
 tralia, had been invited to pass a few days with the 
 present occupant of the mansion ; and arriving for 
 that purpose, early one afternoon, was informed that 
 his host had not yet returned from riding. Wish- 
 ing to make some alteration in his dress, the visitor 
 desired to be shown to his bed-room, and whilst 
 there the door being not quite closed heard 
 the step of his old friend hastily ascending the 
 stairs. Calling to him as he passed, he received 
 no answer the steps continuing their way to the 
 
 chamber above, where D distinctly heard his 
 
 friend pull off his heavy riding-boots, one after the 
 other, and toss them to a distance on the floor. So 
 plainly audible was the whole process, that Mr. 
 D could even distinguish the very creaking
 
 AN OLD HOUSE IN WILTS. 143 
 
 of the bed- frame against which his friend had 
 leaned. 
 
 Great then was his surprise to learn, on descend- 
 ing to the drawing-room, that Mr. W had not 
 
 come back. It was nearly an hour before he did 
 
 appear ; and then D , after the usual greetings, 
 
 mentioned the mistake he had been led to make, by 
 
 hearing some one, whose step resembled W 's, 
 
 marching upstairs to the room above. 
 
 " What, you have heard him already ? " was his 
 
 host's rejoinder. Then, seeing D J s curiosity 
 
 awakened, he told him that, for several years past, 
 the sound as of some one, who certainly formed no 
 part of the recognized establishment, walking about 
 the house, had been the cause of frequent alarms. 
 
 " At first," continued Mr. W , " I took great 
 
 pains to trace out the cause, 'confident, in my own 
 mind, that one or more of the domestics were 
 concerned in it, but when whole sets of servants 
 had left me, owning themselves too terrified to 
 remain, I became convinced I was wrong. For 
 myself, I have grown indifferent to the sounds, 
 puzzling as they are. They do me no harm. There 
 is little beyond the sound of footsteps, although, 
 now and then, our mysterious visitor varies his 
 proceedings, as to-day, by imitating some familial* 
 act of the household."
 
 144 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 Such was Mr. W 's explanation, and his 
 
 friend, during his visit, was not again destined to 
 hear anything unusual. 
 
 Not many months after, the disturbances occurred 
 on an evening when many witnesses happened to he 
 assembled. It was on the first evening of the 
 month, when a friendly little circle, dating from 
 the days of the Pickwick Club, and calling them- 
 selves still by that honoured name, were accustomed 
 to assemble, in order to read in company the best 
 serial papers of the month. As the liberal constitu- 
 tion of this body tolerated the presence of ladies, 
 the readings not unfrequently concluded with polkas 
 an amusement which was, one evening, at its 
 height, when the man-servant looking in, with 
 a somewhat agitated face, beckoned his master to 
 the door. The cause of his terror was soon made 
 known. Whether partaking in the mirthful excite- 
 ment of the time, or with the malicious purpose 
 of spoiling it, the steps were to be heard hurrying 
 about in all directions, above, below, along the 
 passage, out at the door, &c., and all who possessed 
 the requisite courage, were allowed abundant op- 
 portunity of listening to the gambols of Mr. W 's 
 
 " brownie." 
 
 A member of the English bar met with a mys- 
 terious adventure, at an old family mansion, W ,
 
 A WOMAN IN WHITE. 145 
 
 in Kent, which formerly belonged to Alderman 
 L , a city magnate of fifty years ago. 
 
 Mr. A had gone down on a visit to his uncle, 
 
 who at that time rented the mansion. In the 
 middle of the night, he was aroused by a sound 
 of weeping, varied with a sort of cry, plaintive and 
 melancholy, such as he had never before heard. 
 Sitting up in bed, he saw the figure of a beautiful 
 female, dressed in white, crouching, as it were, 
 among the curtains at the foot of the bed, and 
 weeping violently. Receiving no answer to his 
 question as to who and what she was, Mr. A 
 concluded it to be a trick played upon him by one 
 of the household, and, without further ceremony, 
 launched his pillow at the intruder. To his utter 
 amazement, that missile passed right through the 
 object as though it had been a stream of moonlight, 
 but the figure, directly after, became invisible, 
 and the sound of weeping ceased. Mr. A 
 changed his room on the following night, and, in 
 consequence of his vision, that apartment was for 
 a long period disused. 
 
 At a subsequent time, however, another visitor 
 arrived, when almost every other apartment hap- 
 pened to be already occupied, and consequently took 
 up his quarters in the deserted room, but without 
 any knowledge of what had occurred there. About 
 
 L
 
 146 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 midnight, all who slept were awakened by a loud 
 scream which echoed through the entire mansion. 
 For some reason never assigned, no one rose to 
 ascertain the cause of the alarm, and the cry was 
 not repeated. But on the following morning, the 
 tenant of the haunted room appeared at breakfast 
 with a pale and harassed face. He took little or 
 no part in the conversation, and as he evinced a 
 dislike to any questioning, it was impossible to 
 trace the exact cause of his depression, nor did he 
 ever reveal it, but, at length, starting up suddenly, 
 he declared that it was impossible to remain, and 
 quitted the house without another word. 
 
 Attached to this old mansion, is a large field, 
 which has given its name to a once popular novel, 
 the ' Field of Forty Footsteps/ No matter how 
 luxuriant may be the herbage, or grain, for the field 
 is in constant cultivation, the trace of forty steps 
 is invariably marked out by that number of barren 
 patches, of the shape and size of a man's foot. 
 
 We change the scene to Ireland. Not many 
 
 years since, Mr. R , a gentleman who had 
 
 realized a very handsome fortune in India, returned 
 home with a large family, chiefly of sons, and, 
 purchasing an extensive farm in the sister-country, 
 took up his residence in a house attached to the 
 property. This edifice stood in a very lonely
 
 THOEOTJGHLY HAUNTED. 147 
 
 situation, the nearest town being fully seven miles 
 distant. 
 
 The family had been established in their new 
 
 home but a few days, when Mr. II , who had 
 
 just retired to bed, happening to change his position, 
 was startled by the appearance of the figure of a 
 man standing in the room, in a rather peculiar 
 attitude, having one hand resting on his hip, the 
 other at the back of his head. 
 
 Springing from the bed, Mr. R approached 
 
 the intruder, when the latter became suddenly 
 invisible, nor could the search that was immediately 
 instituted throw any light on the mysterious cir- 
 cumstance. 
 
 A day or two after, a medical gentleman who 
 occasionally visited the neighbourhood, called upon 
 the new comers, and, in the course of his visit, 
 mention being made of the supposed apparition, 
 the doctor displayed some agitation. Being pressed 
 to account for it, he at length exclaimed : 
 
 " You have seen your predecessor, Captain B . 
 
 That is the attitude in which he was always ac- 
 customed to stand." 
 
 He added some particulars, which shaped them- 
 selves into the following story : 
 
 About seven years before Mr. R became 
 
 possessed of the estate, it had been rented by Captain 
 
 L 2
 
 148 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 B , a man of (as was openly alleged) the most 
 
 infamous character and antecedents. His first care 
 had been to add to the natural seclusion of the 
 dwelling by every means in his power, but, notwith- 
 standing these precautions, rumour was quickly busy 
 with insinuations of crimes committed there, too 
 horrible to dwell upon. The accusations, however, 
 which assumed the most distinct form, and were held 
 by all the neighbouring peasantry as perfectly well- 
 founded, had relation to the murder, by B , of 
 
 two of his own daughters. 
 
 It was alleged that these two young ladies, 
 debarred from all intercourse with persons of their 
 own station in life, had formed mesalliances with two 
 young farmers of the neighbourhood. One of 
 the girls effected her escape, and was residing with 
 her husband, w r hen she received a letter from her 
 father, offering pardon and reconciliation, on con- 
 dition that the young people would at once return, 
 and take up their abode with him. They agreed to 
 do so, and in pursuance of that arrangement, were 
 in the act of entering the approaches to the house, 
 when the miscreant father, who had placed himself 
 in ambush, shot them both dead. 
 
 The second unfortunate girl he was believed to 
 have drowned in a well, and, the murder having been 
 committed under the eye of a young man who acted
 
 THOROUGHLY HAUNTED. 149 
 
 as gamekeeper, the latter was poisoned by his 
 master by means of some deadly agent mixed in his 
 beer. 
 
 It was positively affirmed that this man, B , 
 
 had had born to him not less than seventeen 
 children, the great majority of whom died very young, 
 and all under circumstances of suspicion. It was 
 even said that he had been heard to boast of the 
 possession of a " good recipe for short life." His 
 own end, which took place while resident in that 
 house, was stated to have been a scene of surpassing 
 horror. 
 
 Such was the substance of the doctor's narrative, 
 and, as might be supposed, it did not make the new 
 occupants more in love with their dwelling. They, 
 however, disposed themselves to make the best of it, 
 and did so, in defiance of frequent annoyances, 
 which, under ordinary circumstances, would have 
 been destructive of all domestic comfort. Not only 
 was the former apparition frequently seen, but a 
 second became so constant a visitor, as at length to 
 create but little excitement in the house. This was 
 the figure of a tall fine-looking youth, having large 
 black whiskers. He was dressed as a gamekeeper 
 and was accompanied by a black dog. His first 
 appearance was in the kitchen. The two elder sons 
 had gone into that apartment, late
 
 150 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 one night, to see that all was safe, when they beheld 
 the figure standing by the fire. 
 
 On approaching it, the man's figure disappeared, 
 that of the dog remaining visible, and wearing an 
 aspect so material, that the young men at first 
 mistook it for a dog of their own, and were only 
 convinced of their error, when, endeavouring to touch 
 it, that likewise disappeared. 
 
 This figure repeatedly presented itself in the 
 sleeping apartments. At first, the younger boys 
 suspected the elder of playing tricks to frighten 
 them, by personating the keeper, and calling in the 
 aid of the spaniel, " Dash," until one memorable 
 evening, when the whole assembled family at once 
 witnessed the apparition. 
 
 "We will close our peepings into the haunted homes 
 of the empire, with a visit to an old priory, not far 
 
 from E , in the north of Scotland, a few years 
 
 since in the occupation of a gentleman highly 
 esteemed by an extensive circle of friends, and 
 distinguished in literature as the author of one of 
 the most attractive books that ever issued from the 
 pen of sportsman and naturalist combined. Struck 
 down by paralysis, in the very prime of manhood, 
 while in the actual prosecution of his favourite sport, 
 
 Mr. was conveyed home, and there watched 
 
 and tended with untiring assiduity, by a friend who
 
 AN OLD PRIOEY. 151 
 
 had shared with him many a glorious raid, in field 
 and forest, and would not quit him in his hour of 
 trial. 
 
 One day, the sufferer beckoned his friend to his 
 side. 
 
 " I am going/' he said, " to tell you something 
 that you will consider very strange, and which, seeing 
 me as you do, in this enfeebled state, you might be 
 easily pardoned for pronouncing a mere sick man's 
 fancy. But I assure you that my senses are perfectly 
 clear, the illusion (if it be one) extending to nothing 
 else ; and my reason, so far as I can judge, entirely 
 uninfluenced by my bodily suffering. 
 
 " After this preface, I have to tell you that there is, 
 almost at all times in this room (I see it now] the 
 figure of a woman in a long white flowing dress, and 
 with very long black hair. Sometimes she sits at my 
 bedside when you yourself occupy the other chair. 
 Sometimes she bends over me as I lie, but most fre- 
 quently stands or sits by the fire." 
 
 Now when it is mentioned that a figure, in some 
 degree resembling that which the invalid described, 
 had been reputed for many years to haunt certain 
 rooms in the priory, the readiest conclusion would be 
 that some previous knowledge of this rumour sug- 
 gested the phantom, Mr. 's brain, though seem- 
 ingly preserving its functions unimpaired, being
 
 152 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 unquestionably influenced by that terrible disease 
 which had laid him prostrate. But, if the brain be 
 in fault, whence the calm consistency with which, in 
 this and similar cases, men have been enabled to 
 describe and dilate upon the delusive image ? In plain 
 terms, can a brain sufficiently disorganized to pro- 
 duce spectra, still retain its perceptive analytic faculty 
 in a condition to reason upon them ? If it be so it is 
 scarcely possible to call that a state of disease, which 
 is more analogous to those peculiar physical con- 
 ditions in which unknown and even unsuspected 
 capacities are occasionally drawn forth. 
 
 The guise in which this phantasm presented itself 
 
 to Mr. was one of which, in health, he had no 
 
 recollection. It is possible that the shock of disease 
 revealed one of those latent powers whereby an idea 
 once formed, a faculty once acquired, may exist 
 either in or out of consciousness. 
 
 " Persons in fever or delirium have been known to 
 speak languages which they had long forgotten ; old 
 people, whose memory of recent events is almost ob- 
 literated, experience a perfect revival of the scenes of 
 their youth, &c. . : . . Cases of such kind are 
 almost of daily occurrence, and form a part of the 
 obscure and well-established phenomena of the human 
 mind." (MorelPs " Outlines of Mental Philosophy.") 
 
 The instance of Mr. , if excluded from the
 
 EMBRACING A GHOST. 153 
 
 catalogue of extra-natural occurrences, leaves us in 
 possession of a phenomenon scarcely less extraordi- 
 nary that of the perceptive faculty being quickened, 
 not dulled, by actual disease. 
 
 A gentleman holding an important diplomatic post 
 related, a short time since, the following singular 
 adventure of his youth : 
 
 While residing on his father's estate, in Lanca- 
 shire, he had been paying secret addresses to a young 
 lady in the neighbourhood, with whom he had occa- 
 sional "meetings by moonlight;" at all events, by 
 twilight, the trysting-place being a grove approached 
 by a small bridge. 
 
 One evening, the young lover having already waited 
 more than an hour watching the bridge, happened to 
 glance across some fields which stretched in the op- 
 posite direction, and there, to his astonishment, 
 beheld, as he thought, the figure of his tardy mistress 
 hastily approaching the rendezvous. As she neared 
 the grove he stepped forth, and had actually cast his 
 arms around her, when the form sunk away, melting 
 as it were into the very earth and he was alone ! 
 
 For a few moments he stood as if transformed to 
 stone; then, struck with horror, turned and fled 
 homeward at his utmost speed. Still, however, as he 
 ran, he could distinctly hear steps preceding him 
 along the road, across the bridge, and through a gate,
 
 154. STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 which latter was flung hack as though by an invisible 
 hand, and checked his course. 
 
 On the following morning he called on the young 
 lady not without serious misgivings concerning her 
 but found her well and cheerful. She accounted for 
 not having kept her appointment by the unexpected 
 arrival of some relatives. The young man thereupon 
 
 recounted his strange adventure, when Miss 
 
 grew suddenly pale, and, with some emotion, said 
 
 ( ' Then, F , you have seen the ghost the coun- 
 try people talk of; but in which I never could have 
 else believed." 
 
 The trysting-place was promptly changed. 
 
 " Now," said Mr. C , in conclusion, " I never 
 
 invent or exaggerate. You may believe in the literal 
 truth of what I have related. I repeat that I saw 
 and encircled with my arms a form which, of what- 
 soever element it may have consisted, dissolved away 
 as soon as touched. I was, in those days, neither 
 weak in body nor in mind, nor am I a coward now, 
 but such was my sense of horror at having embraced 
 an actual ghost, that the chill I felt at that moment I 
 can recall for ever." 
 
 Although the theory of dreams, pure and simple, 
 does not properly come within the scope of this work, 
 that of impressions in the nature of second-sight, 
 produced in sleep, may well be included in a treatise
 
 DKEAM-VISION. 155 
 
 which professes to touch generally upon the stranger 
 things among us. 
 
 The wife of Mr. N , a gentleman now living 
 
 (who himself related the following circumstance to a 
 literary friend of the writer's), had at intervals 
 throughout her life displayed remarkable indications 
 of a second-sighted intelligence, conveyed through 
 the medium of dreams. Although, generally speak- 
 ing, these previsions referred to matters of slight 
 importance, such as the visits of friends, the arrival 
 of letters, &c., they occasionally extended to greater 
 things, and the confirmation which almost invariably 
 
 followed, at length induced Mr. N , as well as 
 
 other members of the family, to regard these pro- 
 phetic impressions with a degree of respect scarcely 
 inferior to that entertained for them by the dreamer 
 herself. 
 
 It followed that when, one night, the latter awoke 
 her husband with the intelligence that she had 
 had a dream of terrible omen as regarded their eldest 
 son then a midshipman on board a line-of- battle 
 ship, at a distant station he had the greatest diffi- 
 culty in reassuring her. This was, however, in some 
 degree effected, and she calmed herself to sleep. On 
 
 the succeeding night, Mrs. M awoke, still more 
 
 agitated than on the first occasion, and declared that 
 " George" had seemed to stand at her bedside pale,
 
 156 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 disordered, dripping ; having, in fact, the appearance 
 of one just drowned. And such, she was now assured, 
 had been the poor boy's fate. Again, the stronger 
 mind strove to impart the hope and comfort it 
 scarcely dared to feel ; but the recurrence, on the 
 third night, of the ominous dream, convinced the 
 poor mother that she had indeed been deprived of 
 her child. 
 
 In the morning, as Mr. N was standing, 
 
 before breakfast, at his garden-gate, a neighbour 
 accosted him, inquiring, with a somewhat anxious 
 face, if he had heard the news that had just arrived. 
 It appeared that a sudden and terrific hurricane had 
 
 burst upon the coasts of . All the vessels lying 
 
 in the roads of B made the most strenuous 
 
 efforts to get to sea, and such as succeeded in doing 
 so, weathered the storm in safety ; but, unhappily, 
 three English vessels of war had been forced on 
 shore, and totally lost. 
 
 Mr. N eagerly inquired their names. 
 
 His friend mentioned them. 
 
 " God be thanked ! " exclaimed the father, 
 " George is indeed on that station, as you know, 
 but he is in the L ." 
 
 "And it is expressly mentioned that she got well 
 to sea," was the rejoinder. 
 
 Hurrying in with a mind much relieved, Mr. N
 
 DEE AM FULFILLED. 157 
 
 related to his wife what had passed, trusting that her 
 gloomy forebodings would now be dissipated. On 
 the contrary, they seemed only to be the more 
 confirmed. Not for an instant did she question the 
 fatal meaning of the vision. The image of her 
 drowned boy was ever present to her eyes ; and, in 
 truth, the presage was too sadly fulfilled. 
 
 When the complete details of that disaster reached 
 England, it was known that the captain of George 
 
 N 's ship had gone to dine on board another 
 
 vessel, taking the boy with him. The suddenness 
 with which the storm burst upon them, precluded 
 even an attempt to regain their own ship. They had 
 to remain, perforce, and were unhappily lost, with 
 those they came to visit. 
 
 This was a modern example of the dream-vision, 
 the second of those five classes into which Macrobius 
 divides dreams ; and the not unnatural offspring of 
 that condition which Sir Thomas Browne, in his 
 ' Religio Medici/ attributes to the soul in sleep ; 
 that period, namely, " when, during the slumber of 
 the senses, the reason is awake the most ; not that 
 faculty of comparison and conclusion which we gene- 
 rally designate as reason, but that instinct of the 
 soul, whereby it concludes without comparing, and 
 knows without syllogising, by an instantaneous 
 operation of its own innate faculties."
 
 158 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The invariable characteristic of this rare phenome- 
 non is the clear, indelible impression it at once 
 stamps upon the mind ; the only one that survives, 
 totally unchanged, the transition from sleep to waking. 
 In this lies one of its distinctions from the common 
 dream, that the resumed intelligence does not reject 
 it as a figment of the pure reason, but adopts it as a 
 fact already argued out. "I know that such and 
 such a thing has happened," is the dreamer's ex- 
 pression ; but, though the belief never wavers, its 
 actual ground defies analysis, and may almost be 
 compared with that intuition which, before the fall of 
 man, occupied the place of acquired knowledge. The 
 repetition of these dream-visions adds not an atom to 
 the conviction at first imparted. It is a familiar 
 feature of the insomnium, or ordinary dream, to 
 return again and again, following an identical chain 
 of events, until the sleeping fancy, becoming in a 
 manner educated to the history, moves forward with 
 a prophetic certainty of the step that shall 
 succeed. 
 
 Although a little beside the purpose, it is impos- 
 sible not to notice for a moment the singular manner 
 in which these reiterated dreams sometimes find 
 accomplishment in fact. A man will dream a score 
 of times between youth and middle age say of 
 riding into a village situated in a wild and savage
 
 DEEAMS PEOPHETIC. 159 
 
 landscape, of meeting at a turn of the little street a 
 bridal procession, the bride at its head, having a 
 garland of red and white roses, a purple jacket 
 edged with fur, a crimson petticoat, and one eye ! 
 Years pass he is journeying in Bohemia, and 
 coming to a spot he is sure he has seen before, 
 suddenly draws bridle. In a moment, the village 
 to which he has made so many dreaming visits, 
 reveals itself, feature for feature, to his astonished 
 eyes. Not a living creature is to be seen, but 
 he knows the reason, and tells his companions 
 that the rustic community are assembled at a 
 wedding, the procession of which they will meet 
 at that approaching turn. He even foretells the 
 bride's attire. A few hundred 1 yards more, and 
 here she is indeed, precisely as dream-foretold, alas, 
 even to an eye ! 
 
 True, some picture, seen and forgotten in youth, 
 might have suggested both landscape and procession, 
 but how account for those minute and unexpected 
 touches which remove these things beyond the pale 
 of accidental similarity ? 
 
 The recurring dream becomes stamped, at length, 
 with a sort of prophetic character. ( ' Such and such 
 a thing must happen to me before I die, I have 
 dreamed it through so often," was the language of 
 one who subsequently experienced the fulfilment of a
 
 160 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 dream, to all appearances as remote as chance could 
 make it, from the path of his life. Few cannot bear 
 testimony to some such instance within their cog- 
 nizance. The writer himself had a dream of this 
 nature which, occurring for the first time in boyhood, 
 was repeated at irregular intervals, sometimes of a 
 few days, sometimes of several years, fourteen or 
 fifteen times, yet always, to the most minute par- 
 ticular, attended by the same circumstances, in the 
 same order, and accompanied by the same strange 
 feeling of familiarity with the situation. It was that of 
 being in a beleaguered town, on the occasion of a 
 sudden night-alarm. The distant solitary bugle, 
 echoed and re-echoed by others at the nearer posts, 
 then the single drum beating the " assembly," then a 
 chorus of drums, the tramp of troops hurrying to the 
 different rendezvous, the doubt and mystery as to the 
 point of danger, the consultation of dark figures in a 
 mounted circle at the city-gate, the moving forth of 
 black masses surmounted with a faint glitter of steel, 
 and the commencement of a battle, at which point, 
 the dream, with much discretion, ended. Such was 
 the programme, which had become as familiar as a 
 " stock-piece " at the theatre, only without any di- 
 minution of interest, when it at length received an 
 unexpected fulfilment. While in Italy, in 1860, the 
 writer, during some weeks, shared the quarters of an
 
 DEEAMS PEOPHET1C. 161 
 
 old friend then serving on the staff of Garibaldi, 
 whose head-quarters were at Santa Maria, about a 
 league from Capua. The latter city was at this time 
 held in considerable strength by the Bourbon army, 
 who harassed the Garibaldians with frequent sorties. 
 On one especially dark night, an alarm of this nature 
 happened to occur, and so strikingly recalled both 
 the circumstances and impressions of the dream, that 
 it was, for the moment, difficult to decide what was 
 dream, and what reality. 
 
 "Oct. 17th. To-night, an alarm. About 9.20 a 
 distant bugle sounded the assembly, repeated ; then a 
 drum ; a roar of drums. Hurried on our clothes, and 
 grouped our way towards the Capua gate, through the 
 darkest night I ever remember. The transition from 
 the most profound quiet to universal bustle was 
 striking enough to the uninitiated. The troops were 
 already under arms, artillery-horses out and har- 
 nessed, standing by the guns. At the gate every- 
 body was on the alert, listening and forming conjec- 
 tures. Presently, a general, whose face we could not 
 recognize in the gloom, galloped up, with aides and 
 orderlies. A consultation. An officer reported that 
 a patrol of ours had seen a large body of the enemy 
 moving in the wood, and heard bugles of the 
 (Bourbon) bersaglieri, which looked like earnest. A
 
 162 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 little firing, but it presently ceased. Waited an hour. 
 All remaining quiet, the troops were dismissed." 
 DIARY. 
 
 Two or three years ago, a lady known to the 
 writer, was on a visit in Hampshire, and was to 
 attend the marriage of a young relation, whose 
 family resided at a few miles distance from the 
 
 house at which Mrs. M was staying. She had 
 
 requested her maid to call her at an earlier hour than 
 usual, in order to allow time for the toilette and 
 journey, and this direction the girl obeyed, but, 
 notwithstanding, performed her usual duties with 
 such deliberation, amounting to reluctance, that her 
 mistress, out of patience, asked her sharply what was 
 the matter. The girl quietly replied that there was 
 no need to hurry, she was indeed only anxious that 
 her lady should save herself the trouble of dressing, 
 as there would be no wedding that day! Being 
 further questioned, she stated that she had dreamed 
 of going to the house in question, and, at the turn of 
 the carriage-sweep, encountered a funeral, whose she 
 could not say, but that there would be no wedding 
 was a fact as much implanted in her mind, as though 
 the tidings, which she knew were on the way, had 
 
 actually arrived. Of course, Mrs. M paid 
 
 little attention to the augury, and set out on her
 
 FOREWARNED, FOREARMED. 163 
 
 way; but, in half an hour, was met by a mes- 
 senger from her friend, who announced the death 
 of a near relation of the bridegroom, and the 
 postponement, for three weeks, of the marriage 
 ceremony. 
 
 A friend of the writer's, now holding an import- 
 ant government situation at Malta, dreamed, in 
 boyhood, with singularly vivid and minute detail, 
 that he was residing in that island while subject 
 to so rigorous a blockade, that rats and mice attained 
 the rank of delicacies, and an entire dog was 
 a thing on which to ground a banquet of unusual 
 magnificence. Having no interest in or connexion 
 with Malta, more than any other point of British 
 dominion, and being moreover intended for the 
 Church, there seemed little or no prospect of Sir 
 V H 's dream becoming realized. Circum- 
 stances, however, induced him to embrace a diplo- 
 matic career, in place of that which had been origi- 
 nally proposed, and he now holds, as has been 
 mentioned, an appointment in the above dependency, 
 where, over and above the zealous discharge of 
 his general public duties, he is observed to evince 
 a peculiar, almost personal, interest, in the condition 
 of the provision stores of that important garri- 
 son ! 
 
 M 2
 
 164 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The waking- dream, impulse, or strong impression, 
 is more to our present purpose ; inasmuch as, how- 
 ever oppressed by this temporary influence, the 
 understanding retains the free exercise of its faculties ; 
 while, in the condition of sleep, this is suspended, 
 and what has been termed the ' ' pure reason " sup- 
 plies its place. The habits of thought, &c., of 
 the present age are certainly not favourable to 
 the development of this phenomenon, nevertheless, 
 occasional instances do occur. 
 
 It is but a few months since, that the commercial 
 and seafaring community of Newport, Monmouth- 
 shire, witnessed, with indignant surprise, the re- 
 turn of one of their stout little ships, which after 
 having, with much danger and difficulty, doubled 
 Cape Horn, put about, and returned to port, cargo 
 and all, precisely as she had started, three months 
 before. It may be remembered, for the singularity 
 of the circumstance obtained for it a wide publicity, 
 that the captain alleged that he had been seized with 
 an irresistible impulse to return. It was currently 
 reported that he had " seen a vision" but this 
 he positively denied, declaring that the impulse had 
 been in no sort communicated through the medium 
 of his outward senses, but was a feeling that 
 spoke within him, with all the distinctness and
 
 IMPULSE AND IMPEESSION. 165 
 
 authority of an actual voice, urging him to put 
 about and return home, on pain of the complete de- 
 struction of both ship and crew. 
 
 According to his statement, he "remonstrated" 
 most earnestly, (he always, in the narration, 
 used phrases implying the dealing with another 
 individuality), but the voice persisted, and 
 promised, in the event of obedience, a certain 
 sign, i. e. fair breezes from the moment of alter- 
 ing the vessel's course, which accordingly came to 
 
 Of course, an act " so unprecedented in the annals 
 of our mercantile marine," and so prejudicial to the 
 interests of shipowners, should the example of this 
 impulse be extensively followed, could not be passed 
 over, and the captain, having submitted himself to 
 a formal court of inquiry, and reiterated his story, 
 was duly deprived of his certificate. 
 
 Justice being thus done, and the good ship, 
 Esk, sent forth once more, under new command, the 
 case admits of being looked at in a more dispassion- 
 ate light, and presents a feature or two worth 
 study. 
 
 There was a calmness and consistency about the 
 man, that, even in the midst of the storm of 
 reprobation he had raised, seems to have commanded
 
 166 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 respect. It is, generally speaking, no very diffi- 
 cult task to discern when a man believes he is telling 
 you the truth. This captain was no drunkard; 
 he was a teetotaller. He had never exhibited 
 the slightest taint of aberration. His crew, when 
 appealed to by the mate, on such a plea, to de- 
 prive him of the command, unanimously refused, 
 and, though dissatisfied with his proceedings, pro- 
 nounced him the coolest and most skilful man among 
 them. He was a man of strong religious feelings, 
 and had led, it is believed, a life in accordance 
 with his professions. There was no conceivable 
 motive for the course he had adopted. Such worldly 
 interests as he possessed, were entirely associated 
 with the successful prosecution of his voyage, and he 
 moreover owed a debt of gratitude to the principal 
 owner, who had assisted him liberally in a time 
 of need. The dangerous part of the voyage was ac- 
 complished. To return was a heavy loss to his 
 employers ; to himself, disgrace and ruin. He could 
 not even expect to occupy, for a brief space, the 
 position of a " hero/' as the man that saw the vision, 
 for he had witnessed nothing, wherewith to satisfy 
 the curious inquirer. His address before the board 
 of inquiry was a model of manly, straightforward 
 eloquence, and he acquiesced in the withdrawal of
 
 CASE OF CAPTAIN MATTHIAS. 167 
 
 his certificate, as a duty to be expected from those to 
 whom he could offer no evidence, beyond his own 
 bare word, concerning the experience he had de- 
 scribed. 
 
 It has been worth while to notice these things, 
 because, in reality, a case like that of Captain 
 Matthias, does not present itself twice in a century, 
 and it is well to consider what would be the probable 
 conduct of nineteen persons in twenty, subjected 
 to such a test. We know that impulses of this 
 nature have been the parent of deeds of heroic 
 daring j and, perhaps, had that of which we have been 
 speaking suggested an act of boldness, leading to 
 profit, instead of one of prudence, entailing an 
 apparent loss, the theory of impressions might have 
 been viewed with less disfavour at Newport, and the 
 certificate spared. A person placed in the position of 
 Captain Matthias, labours under this difficulty, that 
 it is not within the power of ordinary language 
 to describe the irresistible mind-pressure exercised 
 by this rare mysterious prompting. Before it, duty, 
 interest, inclination, alike give way. The dread 
 of danger, the love of life, are words without signifi- 
 cance, lost in the echo of the inner voice that persist- 
 ently requires obedience. If it possess not the 
 character, it has almost, if not altogether, the force,
 
 168 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 of actual inspiration. Unable to trace it to any 
 intelligible source, lie who experiences it refers the 
 mysterious secret to the source of all intelligence, 
 the soul to Him who made the soul. It is not 
 strange that the impulse should be obeyed, nor is it 
 very creditable to, though perfectly consistent with, 
 human judgment, to recognize in these rare examples 
 no element of justification. 
 
 Captain Matthias, of Newport, is not the only 
 individual who within these last years furnished an 
 instance of the singular mental phenomenon to 
 which we have been adverting. The salient features 
 of the following narrative have formed, the writer 
 believes, the basis of a " sensation " story in a 
 popular serial, but nevertheless in the latter differ 
 so materially from the actual facts, that nothing but 
 the sequence of circumstances suggests the identity 
 of the two histories. This, then, divested of 
 embellishments, is believed to represent the 
 matter : 
 
 A young undergraduate of Cambridge, Mr. 
 
 D , had been reading, during the long vacation, 
 
 at the quiet little town of Exmouth, at which place, 
 as many readers are aware, the river Exe is crossed 
 by a ferry, communicating with the Starcross station 
 on the Great Western Railway. For this purpose
 
 CALLED TO THE RESCUE. 169 
 
 a boat remains in constant attendance from dawn 
 till dusk. 
 
 One night, between twelve and one o'clock, the 
 young man suddenly awoke, with the impression of 
 having been addressed by an imperative voice, 
 saying, with such distinctness that the last word 
 still rung upon his ear 
 
 " Go down to the ferry f" 
 
 Thinking it an ordinary dream, he composed 
 himself again to sleep, when a second time the 
 command was repeated, with this addition 
 
 " The boatman waits !" 
 
 There was something in this second voice which it 
 seemed to the young man's mind impossible to dis- 
 regard. He did, however, combat the inclination, 
 and sat up in bed for some minutes, wide-awake, 
 reasoning with himself on what he tried to consider 
 the absurdity of rising in the dead of night, at the 
 bidding of an imaginary voice, to go to a ferry where 
 no boat would be found (for the ferryman resided at 
 Starcross) , upon an errand of which he knew nothing. 
 His efforts to dismiss the idea were, however, unsuc- 
 cessful. He felt, at all events, that sleep was impos- 
 sible. Then, at the worst, it was but a walk to the 
 ferry and back, and none but himself need be aware 
 of that little excursion. Finally, he sprang from the
 
 170 STEANGE THINGS AMONG ITS. 
 
 bed, dressed rapidly, not to leave time for more 
 useless self-argument, and set forth. 
 
 He had not reached the ferry when, to his 
 astonishment, the boatman's hoarse voice was 
 heard through the darkness hailing him im- 
 patiently 
 
 "Well, you've kept me waiting long enough 
 to-night, I think. I've stopped nigh an hour for 
 you." 
 
 The ferryman had, it appeared, received his 
 summons also, but did not attribute it to any 
 unusual source. Finding no passenger waiting on 
 his own side of the river, he probably concluded 
 that he had been hailed by a passing boat, and 
 directed to go over. 
 
 By the time Mr. D had arrived on the 
 
 Starcross side, a further idea or impulse, which 
 seemed to have its origin in the former, had gained 
 possession of his mind. 
 
 "Exeter!" "Exeter!" "Exeter!" was the word 
 that kept continually reverberating, as it were, in 
 his mental ear, like a summoning bell. His im- 
 pression now was that at Exeter would be fulfilled 
 the purpose, whatever it might prove to be, of this 
 strange nocturnal expedition. To Exeter he accord- 
 ingly proceeded by the first opportunity, and, it
 
 CALLED TO THE RESCUE. 171 
 
 being only eight or ten miles, reached that good 
 city about dawn. 
 
 Now, for the first time, he felt at a loss. All 
 impulse or impression had departed. Wandering 
 aimlessly about the streets, he blamed himself 
 severely for the readiness with which he had yielded 
 to what he now regarded as an idle fancy, and only 
 comforted himself with the idea that at that early 
 hour none of his acquaintance were likely to be 
 abroad to question him as to his untimely visit. 
 
 Mr. D resolved to return home by the next 
 
 train ; but, meanwhile, the shops and houses began 
 to open, and passing an hotel the young gentleman 
 thought he could scarcely do better than while away 
 the hour that must necessarily intervene by ordering 
 some breakfast. 
 
 The waiter was very slow in bringing the repast, 
 but when at length he did so, apologized for the 
 delay on the plea that the assizes, then proceeding, 
 had filled the house to overflowing. 
 
 Mr. D had heard nothing of the assizes, and 
 
 took but little interest in the subject. Seeing, how- 
 ever, that the waiter regarded it as an event of con- 
 siderable importance, he good -hum ouredly encou- 
 raged him to continue the theme, and was rewarded 
 with a very amusing history of such cases as had
 
 172 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 been already disposed of, as well as with the waiters 
 own views concerning those yet remaining to be 
 tried. Upon the whole, the man's entertaining 
 
 volubility ended by inspiring young D with a 
 
 portion of his own interest in the matter, and, 
 accordingly, instead of returning to Exmouth 
 by the next train, he strolled about until the 
 court opened, and then took his place among the 
 spectators. 
 
 The case just commencing seemed to create 
 unusual excitement. The prisoner at the bar, who 
 was in the dress of a carpenter, was arraigned on a 
 capital charge. The chain of evidence against him, 
 though circumstantial, was complete, and a convic- 
 tion seemed inevitable. There was, in fact, no 
 opening for a defence, unless the prisoner were 
 in a position to prove the witnesses, one and 
 all, mistaken in his identity, and establish an 
 alibi. 
 
 When asked what he had to say, he quietly 
 replied : 
 
 " It is impossible that I could have committed 
 this crime, because, on the day and at the hour 
 it took place, I was sent for to mend the sash- 
 line of a window at Mr. G 's house, at M . 
 
 There is one gentleman," he added, after a pause,
 
 CALLED TO THE RESCUE. 173 
 
 " who could prove that I was there, but I don't 
 know who he is, nor where to have him looked 
 for. Yes, I know he could prove my innocence, 
 for a particular reason, that would remind him 
 of me ; but, there, I can't help it, the Lord's will 
 be done," and the poor fellow, with a sigh, appeared 
 to resign himself to his fate. 
 
 All this time Mr. D had been listening with 
 
 profound attention to the progress of the trial, 
 and when the prisoner concluded his sad and 
 hopeless address, he started, and looked earnestly 
 at him. As his eyes still dwelt upon the gloomy, 
 toil-worn face one by one, link by link a chain of 
 circumstances, trivial enough at the time, but now 
 important as bearing upon the liberty, if not the 
 very life, of a fellow-creature, came back to his 
 remembrance. 
 
 He had gone, some months before, to pay an early 
 
 visit to a friend at M . The latter was from 
 
 home, but, wishing particularly to see him, D had 
 
 decided to await his return, and, for that purpose, had 
 gone up to his friend's library, meaning to beguile 
 the interval with a book. Here, however, he found 
 a carpenter, making some repairs about the window, 
 and, in place of reading, he stood for some minutes 
 watching the man, and conversing with him about
 
 174 STEANGE THINGS AMONG TJS. 
 
 his work. While doing so, something was said that 
 he was desirous of noting down, and he took out his 
 memorandum-book for the purpose, but found that he 
 had lost his pencil, when the carpenter, observing 
 his difficulty, handed him his own (a short, brown, 
 stumpy article, with square sides), saying that "if 
 
 he might make so bold, Mr. D was welcome 
 
 to it." 
 
 All this came back to the young man's mind, as 
 clearly as if it had occurred but the day before. 
 Hastily turning to his pocket-book, he there 
 found the very entry he had made, date included, 
 written in the thick but faint lines produced by 
 the carpenter's pencil. He instantly made known 
 to the 'court his wish to be examined on the 
 man's behalf, and, being sworn, deposed to the 
 above facts, clearly identifying the prisoner, as 
 well as the pencil, which the man produced from 
 his pocket. The jury were satisfied, and returned 
 a verdict of acquittal. 
 
 It is difficult to meet a sufficiently authenticated 
 case of this description, otherwise than with the sim- 
 ple confession that God's ways are not as our ways, 
 and that it may be His pleasure, as unquestionably 
 it is within His power, to suffer his ministering angels 
 to speak in this mysterious tongue to the souls of
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF EXAMPLES. 175 
 
 those whom He has selected as the earthly instru- 
 ments of His divine will. 
 
 Having thus touched upon, and provided the best 
 authenticated instances of almost every popular form 
 of apparition narrative, we may be permitted a few 
 words of recapitulation and inference. 
 
 At once we put aside all pretence of covering with 
 one expansive theory any large proportion of these 
 examples. Sift them as we will, divest them of all 
 the exaggerations they may have received through 
 the distorting media of surprise, terror, superstition, 
 &c. there is still a residue of undeniable fact, 
 teeming with features that cannot be brought under 
 the operation of any one recognizable law ; yet, as 
 a whole, in connexion with the philosophy of the 
 human mind, well deserving the attention of the 
 thoughtful. 
 
 This thing is then, at the outset, sure, that the 
 matter contains within its many extraneous folds, 
 that principle of truth which the sceptics, from 
 Lucian downwards, irritated and baffled by the 
 falsehoods and absurdities of credulous narrators 
 and still more credulous hearers, flung away, 
 without analysis, with the lumber in which it was 
 enveloped. 
 
 It is not necessary that we should be restricted to
 
 176 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 a single theory. Let us glance briefly at one or two 
 that have found acceptance. 
 
 The doctrine of Meyer, that ideas were material,, 
 and, being locked up in the memory, might, by some 
 unknown process, affect the nerves upon which sen- 
 sations depend, and thus produce hallucinations, 
 may be discarded as fantastic, abounding in assump- 
 tion, and opposed to riper science. 
 
 That of Dr. Hibbert, demonstrating the power 
 which the imagination possesses, under particular 
 circumstances, of reacting upon the organs of sense 
 with an intensity so great as to endue, with seeming 
 reality, objects which are but impressions renovated 
 this suggestion is far more rational and acceptable, 
 supported as it is by abundant proof that, when 
 mental feelings of any kind attain a certain degree 
 of vividness, muscular motions obey the impulse of 
 the will,* which is no less influenced by the reno- 
 vating power of imagination, than by any of the or- 
 dinary passions, in a word, that apparitions are but 
 recollected objects, or images of the mind, recalled 
 with a vivid positiveness equivalent to actual impres- 
 sion. This, implying a foregone conception, might 
 be adaptable to a large class of cases, chiefly such 
 
 * Line of retreat for detected table-turners.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF EXAMPLES. 177 
 
 as we have described as " common hallucinations " 
 (see ante, a Haunted Barrister ; the Broadway Mer- 
 chant ; the " German Luther/' &c.) inasmuch as, in 
 these instances, a certain idea had already existed, 
 and whether ' ' material " or otherwise, might be re- 
 summoned, invested by the morbidly-awakened 
 imagination with all the vivid tints of reality. 
 
 In further confirmation of this opinion, may be 
 mentioned the fact remarked by Sir David Brewster, 
 that when the eye is not exposed to the impression 
 of external objects, or is insensible to those objects 
 in consequence of being engrossed with its own opera- 
 tions any object of mental contemplation which has 
 either been called up by the memory, or created by 
 the imagination, will be seen as distinctly as if it had 
 been formed from the vision of a real object. The 
 philosopher found that these mental impressions fol- 
 lowed the motions of the eye-ball exactly like the 
 spectral impressions of luminous objects, and hence 
 he inferred that the objects of mental contemplation 
 might be seen as distinctly as external objects, and 
 would occupy the same local position in the axis of 
 vision, as if they had been formed by the agency of 
 light. 
 
 In a morbid condition of the mind, the inward 
 contemplation becomes intense in proportion as the 
 
 N
 
 178 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 attention is abstracted from external objects. As the 
 real image fades, that which is but false creation or 
 reproduction, brightens into an equal if not superior 
 life, and, probably, in the chance yet manifold combi- 
 nations of the fading and growing images, the false 
 and the true, may be found the germ of that species 
 of phantasm we have been noticing. 
 
 In this category may perhaps be included such 
 
 cases as those of Mrs. D (p. 51), Lady C 
 
 (p. 55), and others, which exhibit a simple repro- 
 duction of familiar objects with the fidelity of life, 
 no new image being created. Granted, the sugges- 
 tion cannot be followed into details without a certain 
 difficulty. It is easier to account for the presence of 
 the spectra, than for their seemingly independent 
 action. To meet this difficulty, we have to suppose 
 a mind unconscious of its own suggestions, the intel- 
 ligence accepting, for example, the renovated image 
 of a departed friend, involuntarily following out the 
 portraiture, superadding familiar movements, habits, 
 &c., all the while leading, though imagining itself the 
 
 led. Thus, in the case of Mrs. D , the seer's 
 
 mind having, by an unconscious process, conjured up 
 the presentment of one who had been for some time 
 painfully familiar to her thoughts, first accepted the 
 image as real, then proceeded to account for it in the
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF EXAMPLES. 179 
 
 ordinary manner viz., that the individual repre- 
 sented had died, and that here was his " angel/' 
 
 lastly, suggested what was to follow. "W is 
 
 dead. This is his immaterial part. Why is it re- 
 vealed to me ? Did he perhaps repent of his un- 
 kindness ? Did he die at peace with me ?" And, 
 following the line of unconscious thought, the phan- 
 tom sits, turns towards her, makes gestures of sup- 
 plication, &c. ; and, finally, the prompting ceasing, 
 vanishes, or is reconducted from the scene, according 
 to the bent and strength of the imagination which 
 evoked it. 
 
 It has been well remarked that, although illusions 
 generated in this manner, are necessarily co-existent 
 with the state of morbid excitement in which they 
 have their origin (or, in other words, cease to be 
 active when the spectral phenomena vanish) , it does 
 not follow that the mind, though restored to its ordi- 
 nary condition, at once detects the delusion of which 
 it has been the victim, or regains the power of dis- 
 tinguishing between the perceptions of sense, and the 
 phantasms of imagination ; but, on the contrary, 
 both theory and experience demonstrate that the con- 
 viction of reality usually outlasts the impressions 
 which produced it. 
 
 Hence the tenacity with which, in defiance of 
 
 N2
 
 180 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 argument and reason, ghost-seers stand by their per- 
 suasions, and hence the impossibility of eradicating 
 the popular belief that apparitions own an exist- 
 ence wholly independent of our mental and physical 
 being. 
 
 Allowing these phenomena to be producible in the 
 manner described, there would still remain one 
 feature unaccounted for, that of coincidence of time. 
 
 Reverting once more to the case of Mrs. D as a 
 
 type of this class of incident, how is it that the crisis 
 of imagination on the part of the seer coincides, so 
 frequently and so precisely, with the moment of dis- 
 solution of the seen ? To those who have satisfied 
 themselves of the actual occurrence of these events 
 among us, such coincidence has ceased to appear 
 accidental. We believe them to be, like all the 
 other works of the Creator's hand, subject to some 
 harmonious law. Where shall we seek it? how 
 demonstrate it when found? Rejecting, as of 
 course, the absurd materialistic doctrine, that "in- 
 telligence" cannot exist, simply because it baffles 
 material analysis, we find, in its existence, that of an 
 "immaterial principle," which influences matter, 
 and are thus compelled (says Dr. Leger) to acknow- 
 ledge, as a first consequence, that there exists, at 
 least, one elementary principle different from those
 
 THEOEIES OF DE. LEGEE. 181 
 
 that material analysis points out ; and, as a second 
 consequence, that there is in immateriality a positive 
 power. 
 
 If it were possible to follow the earnest philo- 
 sopher closely through his argument, in reference 
 to the immaterial elementary principles, their mag- 
 netoid conditions and various combinations, a clue 
 might be obtained to the very heart of much that 
 is now mysterious. To do so, however, would be 
 to re-write an essay which, all too brief as it is, still 
 affords abundant food for study and reflection. It 
 must suffice us to indicate the path, and to an- 
 nounce, in doing so, a belief that in this direction 
 will ultimately be found the hitherto undetected 
 links between " immateriality " and matter. 
 
 " The principles or infinite agents, misunder- 
 stood or unknown as yet, that the Deity employs 
 in the formation of beings, have an extent 
 of division, action, and reaction, in comparison 
 of which our scientific means and appliances are 
 but vanity," may be regarded as the text of the 
 philosopher. 
 
 " In the harmonious whole of the entire world," 
 he continues, " everything is composed of elemen- 
 tary principles. It is, then, with the study of those 
 principles that our researches must begin. This
 
 182 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 investigation embraces all the facts that compose 
 human knowledge 
 
 " For chemical examination, we never can isolate 
 the elementary principles from each other, on 
 account of the common, reciprocal, and indestruct- 
 ible dependence that binds them together a tie 
 from which results universal harmony. 
 
 " It would, however, be an error to infer from this 
 that there exists an insuperable barrier, which pre- 
 vents us from ascertaining their nature and their 
 laws. 
 
 " Material analysis is an excellent source of solid 
 information. It is on account of the superiority of 
 its means of analysis that chemistry has become the 
 first science of our age, but the scanty resources of 
 our laboratory compel us to stop at certain limits. 
 Yet to take such limits for those of nature itself 
 would be an egregious blunder. 
 
 " In every principle, without any exception what- 
 ever, we acknowledge a real, positive, and natural 
 existence, actually to be found in space, in the same 
 manner as light, heat, electricity, sound, odour, and 
 savour. All our motives of action possess that exist- 
 ence. Their essence is the same; they proceed 
 from the same source ; all aim at the same end ; 
 they have the same characteristics ; they resume all
 
 MAGNETIC THEOEIES. 183 
 
 the forces which cause motion and life ; and, 
 although c immaterial/ on account of their origin, 
 they obey, nevertheless, in the most explicit manner, 
 the eternal rule of Harmony, to which science has 
 emphatically given the name of 'physical laws.' 
 
 Tfcey may be considered as composing 
 
 a formidable army, whose members are yet uncal- 
 culated. Under the rigorous and eternal laws of 
 the admirable discipline imposed upon it by the 
 Creator, this army attacks ' matter ' in a thousand 
 different ways ; takes hold of, models, modifies, 
 moves, transforms, and animates it, giving birth 
 to numberless natural productions, with their va- 
 rious characteristics and stupendous metamorphoses. 
 Under their impulse, man himself becomes a creator. 
 Thus it is that, a vassal of the heavens, he becomes 
 a king of the earth. Thus it is that, rival of nature, 
 he takes hold of the elements, combines them at 
 his will, and directs over all the f intelligent power ' 
 which animates himself." (Leger.} 
 
 The principles thus referred to are essentially 
 magnetoid; that is to say, they exhibit necessarily 
 two contrary modes of manifestation, each of which 
 possesses an attractive and a repulsive force, with a 
 tendency to equilibrium. The professor considers 
 that if the dualism of the forces characteristic of
 
 184 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the magnet had been sufficiently studied, this fact 
 would have been acknowledged; and that philo- 
 sophers, after having noticed that our globe is 
 nothing but an immense magnet, would have con- 
 cluded, also, that it must possess in like manner 
 all the properties of natural or artificial magnets; 
 and since the smallest particle of a magnet pos- 
 sesses all the magnetic characteristics, all elemen- 
 tary principles must necessarily possess them ; if 
 not exactly in the same manner, on account of 
 their different nature, at least in a degree of simili- 
 tude sufficient to authorize us to call them properly 
 " magnetoid." 
 
 It is, as has been already hinted, almost im- 
 possible to follow up the argument so fully and 
 closely as to make intelligible to the general reader 
 the exact road by which we hope to arrive at a 
 satisfactory conclusion. In a summary manner, the 
 author describes the most important phenomena 
 produced by the mode of contact between elemen- 
 tary principles and matter a contact which some- 
 times takes place in consequence of the peaceable, 
 moderate, and regular attraction of the magnetoid 
 influences ; sometimes by friction ; sometimes as the 
 consequence of the violent, irresistible, and instan- 
 taneous attraction and repulsion which characterize
 
 MAGNETIC THEOEIES. 185 
 
 electricity ; the results showing the extreme force 
 called into play in their production, and occasionally 
 forming those sublime but terrible scenes, where 
 horror and admiration are blended together. 
 
 The law of harmony does not allow of perturba- 
 tion, except in extreme cases. Electric shocks, for 
 example, become unavoidable only in case of ex- 
 cessive resistance from the part of the inferior poles 
 of elements, in order to maintain the supremacy 
 of the superior poles. Thus, tempests, floods, 
 conflagrations, volcanic eruptions, deformities and 
 diseases of the body, excesses of passion, revolutions, 
 and moral monstrosities, imply no contradiction of 
 the laws of universal harmony ; such extremes 
 being the necessary opposites of superior poles, 
 which owe their extreme excellence and attraction 
 to that very repulsion. 
 
 "At a period more or less remote," concludes 
 the essayist, " Science will ascertain that every 
 substance, however simple or composed, is cor- 
 responding to and significative of actual elementary 
 immaterial principles, existing in nature in the 
 manner of the so-called subtle fluids, let them be 
 moral or otherwise." 
 
 Let us endeavour to sum up the theory in as 
 few words as will convey a distinct idea.
 
 186 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The magnetoid condition of the constitution of 
 man is established. We have two eyes, two ears, 
 two nostrils, a tongue, larynx, and pharynx, each 
 symmetrically disposed halves, a duality in the bony 
 system, and in the apparatus of voluntary muscles, 
 in the brain, and its connexion with the spinal chord, 
 the nerves of sensation and volition. 
 
 "Wherever an harmonious whole or merely a 
 symmetrical part appears, there dwell magnetoid 
 forces. 
 
 Identity of elementary principles in organized 
 and in inorganized matter, implies necessarily identity 
 in the forces manifested. 
 
 Since then, magnetism, electricity, and analogous 
 influences, are exhibited in inorganized matter, the 
 like must be found in living bodies, with the in- 
 creased energy that life imparts to all the elements 
 that it seizes and unites. And, since there is no 
 being whose composition offers so complete, so 
 symmetrical, and so harmonious an assemblage of 
 elementary principles as the human system, it is not 
 surprising that there should be nowhere a more 
 abundant focus of magnetoid forces. 
 
 To reveal and to illustrate these, Dr. Leger, as 
 has been heretofore remarked, made extensive use 
 of the magnetoscope, " an instrument as true and
 
 MAGNETIC THEORIES. 187 
 
 as inexorably correct in the portraiture of our im- 
 material being, as the photographic apparatus in 
 regard to our material likeness " and, although his 
 premature death confined the discoveries effected 
 by these means chiefly to the sciences of phre- 
 nology and mesmerism, there is little doubt that 
 a diligent prosecution of an investigation so well 
 begun, and already so richly rewarded, would 
 have unfolded wonders respecting that union of 
 intelligence and power which constitute our 
 " consciousness " or " soul," to which the results 
 already attained were as nothing. 
 
 For the soul, in itself a real principle, must pos- 
 sess its two different manifestations, its two poles 
 superior and inferior with their tendency towards 
 equilibrium the neutral line and, in a word, 
 all the conditions of polarity; the intelligence, 
 which reaches the remotest parts of the universe, 
 and extends to the conception of God himself, 
 being the superior the power trammelled by its 
 material limits the inferior, pole of the soul ; 
 the will, the neutral line, and necessary link 
 between. 
 
 It is therefore no unwarrantable supposition 
 that, in some of the innumerable vicissitudes to 
 which the complicated constitution of man is
 
 188 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 subject, the disturbed magnetic equilibrium may 
 be productive of results hitherto unsuspected by 
 the student, or rejected as either false or inexpli- 
 cable, and, as the observer, even in the retire- 
 ment of his study, is made aware of what occurs 
 in the northern regions by the disordered motions 
 of the magnetic needle, so the sympathetic action 
 of these mysterious forces may, through the ner- 
 vous organs, influence external sense to a degree 
 sufficient to give birth to the phenomena on which 
 we have been dilating. 
 
 Beyond this sketch of the yet untrodden way, 
 this mere intimation of what is to be reasonably 
 expected, rather than what is revealed, the limits 
 of the present work forbid us to proceed. Perfectly 
 conscious of the injustice done to so great a theme, 
 by the attempt to crowd its rationale into a few 
 pages, we must, for the present, abandon it, not 
 without a hope that some able and earnest worker 
 in the paths of experimental philosophy, such as 
 was he whose unperfected labours have suggested 
 these ideas, will quickly resume the suspended 
 investigation. 
 
 Considering that the respective theories of 
 renovated images, mental hallucinations, and 
 (if accepted) magnetic influence, embrace among
 
 CASES THAT DEFY ANALYSIS. 189 
 
 them the greater portion of the phantom world, 
 there remains still to be classified, one description 
 of phantom to which neither can by any possibility 
 apply, viz. that which has to all appearance a local 
 habitation; and is absolutely, past all question, 
 associated with that spot, by means of events 
 which have never come to the knowledge of the 
 seer. Such was the distinctive feature of the 
 
 Canadian story, (page 82), the mysteries of "VY , 
 
 (page 119), the adventure of the Countess of P 
 (page 139), and, perhaps the most remarkable of 
 all, the haunted corridor at B (page 133) . 
 
 To this class of incident, none of the former 
 theories apply. The phenomena were not recollected 
 images, for nothing in the remotest degree connected 
 with them had come within the cognizance of the 
 seer. 
 
 They were not chance creations of the brain, 
 inasmuch as they held undeniable relation with events 
 which proved to have actually occurred ; nor were 
 they objects to be reached by the most speculative 
 magnetic theory, since the operation of such agents 
 survives not an instant the dissolution of the union 
 between soul and body. 
 
 What mean these stories, then? "False?" 
 That is the easy solution of the sceptic and the ig-
 
 190 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 norant for all that seems inexplicable. There is 
 something harassing, both to sage and fool, in an un- 
 satisfied doubt an unguessed riddle. The difference 
 is only in their mode of dealing with it. Denial is 
 easier than analysis. " There came in a wise man, 
 and a fool/' says an old writer ; " the wise man heard, 
 considered, decided. The fool decided/' 
 
 But let any one who has heard from the lips of an 
 honest and veracious man, the simple, unspeculative 
 narrative of such an experience, say if there was not 
 something in the manner of relation which, coupled 
 with the known character of the speaker, defied dis- 
 belief something compared with which the truth- 
 like fables of Defoe lose all their attractive verisimili- 
 tude. The characters of our especial seers can only 
 be vouched for their tongues can only speak 
 through these pages. All that can be done is to 
 reiterate the assurance that they are persons of un- 
 blemished honour, of clear understanding, subject 
 to all the restraining influences of the educated mind, 
 and as reluctant to leave questions of this nature, so 
 directly presented to them, unsolved, as intellects of 
 a lower grade are often anxious to enshroud them 
 within a still deeper veil of mystery. 
 
 To those, then, who believe and know that such in- 
 cidents do occur among us, the remainder of these
 
 GENEEAL BELIEF IN APPARITIONS. 191 
 
 observations are addressed, and narrow themselves 
 down to a very close limit. 
 
 The imputation of " superstitious credulity " is one 
 so easily incurred by earnest truth-seekers, that it is 
 not wonderful that the latter are somewhat diffident 
 in putting forward opinions in support of which direct 
 and positive evidence cannot be adduced. He would 
 be a bold man, who, in these days, proclaimed a 
 " miracle," and although, without such, our faith 
 might never have existed, he would probably be a 
 right-judging man, also, since they have fulfilled 
 their assigned purpose in, once for all, declaring the 
 supreme attributes of the Creator 
 
 God thus asserted, man is to believe 
 Beyond what sense and reason can conceive ; 
 And for mysterious things of faith rely 
 On the proponent Heaven's authority. 
 
 It is enough, there are no commissioned wonder- 
 workers now, and even that daily miracle, the con- 
 version of the fleshly heart to God, is wrought in 
 silence and secrecy ; but, is it just to conclude that, 
 because the Almighty ruler has seen fit to close that 
 channel of connexion (that of direct miracles) be- 
 tween Himself and the material world, He has 
 abolished also that intercourse which there seems 
 reason to believe existed in the elder time, between
 
 192 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the world of spirits and of men ? As revelations of 
 this description had not the same object as the 
 Christian miracles, that of bearing evidence to the 
 illimitable power of the God of justice and of mercy, 
 (Abraham, in the parable of Dives, seems to hold 
 their testimony less efficacious than that of living 
 teachers) their discontinuance was not essential to 
 the unity of the new dispensation. 
 
 One thing is clear, that the subject engaged much 
 attention among the early Fathers of the Christian 
 Church, who agreed in nothing respecting it, except 
 in not attributing the apparition to any purely natural 
 cause. It is further abundantly evident that the 
 great majority strenuously opposed the placing re- 
 liance upon visions or phantasms of any kind, that 
 did not possess the unequivocal sanction of the Deity, 
 our Saviour, or the angels. It was probably 
 imagined that this might be used as another form of 
 snare and temptation, by the powers of evil. 
 
 It was the opinion of Athanasius and others that 
 souls, once delivered from the burden of the flesh, 
 held no further communion with mortality ; and the 
 remark of Saint Augustine is worthy the attention of 
 "spirit-rappers" that if souls ever revisited the 
 haunts and the friends of their mortal being, he was 
 assured that his mother, Monica, who had followed
 
 OPINIONS OF THE FATHEES. 193 
 
 him by land and sea, would have revealed her- 
 self to him, in order to inform him of what 
 she had learned in another state, and advise him 
 in his present conflict. 
 
 On the other hand, it was a widely-accepted 
 tenet of ghostly faith that the immaterial part was 
 frequently seen hovering near the spot where the 
 "gross or crustaceous" body lies, waiting either 
 until the latter should be accorded the rites of 
 sepulture, or until some crimes should be revealed 
 and expiated. Among the supporters of this opinion 
 was Origen, who considered that the disembodied 
 spirit might be permitted to wander within cer- 
 tain prescribed limits, until some especial purpose 
 were fulfilled. 
 
 It must be confessed that, except by inclining 
 toward this view, or by supposing that the spirits 
 of evil were permitted to personate the departed, 
 it would be difficult to suggest any rational expla- 
 nation of a phenomenon which has been familiar 
 to the thoughts of every successive generation 
 since man's history was written. There is a cer- 
 tain consistency in the idea which commends it to 
 the inquirer, and renders the incontrovertible evi- 
 dence which establishes the occurrence of these 
 phenomena, the more valuable. 
 
 o
 
 194 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 In almost every instance the object, or purpose, 
 is apparent. In the case at Holly Lodge (p. 75), 
 the longing desire of the parting spirit was realized. 
 In that Canadian Orchard (p. 82) a fearful and 
 solemn warning was conveyed in the revelation of 
 a tragedy that none could recount but she who 
 was its victim. In other cases, such as that of Lady 
 
 P , the mysteries of W (p. 119), the case 
 
 in Ireland (p. 146), &c., the restless spirit seems 
 to have been fettered, as with a ghostly chain, to 
 the scene of certain terrible crimes committed in 
 the flesh, but without indicating other purpose than 
 the intimation of that fearful retributory penalty. 
 
 This, however, is a subject on which we are com- 
 pelled to stop short at conjecture, and, being with- 
 out direct light from the Source of all light, it is 
 perhaps well not even to press conjecture itself too far, 
 while we are careful not too arrogantly to proclaim 
 a thing incredible, acknowledging, in the language 
 of one already quoted, that God's works are not 
 to be brought to the tribunal of His natural laws, 
 and that physical impossibilities have often been 
 spiritual certainties. 
 
 The foregoing brief remarks conduct us not in- 
 directly to the consideration of what may certainly 
 be classed among the singular problems of the day
 
 THE "SPIRIT" MOVEMENT. 195 
 
 the alleged, denied, condemned, vindicated, crushed 
 to death and oblivion, and yet broadly-surviving 
 " spirit" manifestations. 
 
 When, some ten or twelve years since, America 
 transmitted to us the first instalment of this sha- 
 dowy merchandize, with the necessary media, the 
 whole was received with irony and ridicule. The 
 press raised an almost unanimous shout of reproba- 
 tion, seasoned with choice satire, in the face of 
 which it was hardly to be expected that the small 
 section of the public who attended the seances would 
 have courage to bear independent witness to what 
 was really curious in the things they did see, or 
 would have got a fair hearing if they had. The 
 circumstance that money was taken at these "en- 
 tertainments" was of itself damnatory of their 
 reputation. The conclusion was at once arrived at 
 that the whole affair was a matter of gain; its 
 speculations purely monetary; it was, in fact, a 
 mere swindling apparatus, aimed especially at the 
 feeble and fanciful mind, and owning no character- 
 istic more extraordinary than might be developed 
 by the tricksy fingers and ventriloquial gifts of 
 the professors. Not much was said or written 
 with respect to the injurious influence such a su- 
 perstition, once established, might exercise upon the 
 
 o2
 
 196 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 minds and consciences of men. The system was 
 abused simply because to produce a pecking noise 
 somewhere about the legs of the table, and call it 
 a voice from the unseen world, when it wasn't, was a 
 cheat, and everybody who paid his five shillings, and 
 sat to hear it so called, was a victim to the amount 
 mentioned. 
 
 And never yet was anything so easily joked to 
 shivers. The greatest booby might for once chuckle 
 safely over a joke of his own begetting ; and num- 
 bers of the species improved the opportunity. The 
 experiments were perpetually breaking down ; the 
 machinery stopping ; the phenomena collapsing at the 
 most promising crisis, like a balloon bursting at its 
 greatest altitude ; the media confessing that, in such 
 an unfaithful circle, nothing important could be 
 effected ; or worse, being detected in prestidigitation, 
 endeavouring to supplement by natural means Avhat 
 was wanting in the spiritual. All this of course was 
 very wrong, and the outcry proportionately loud and 
 general. 
 
 How, then, was it that the pains taken to put an 
 end at once to this popular delusion, met with such 
 signal ill-success? The "spirit" manifestations 
 throve upon their repeated exposures, incurred a 
 deeper and deeper debt of gratitude to their opponents
 
 ITS UNWISE TREATMENT. 197 
 
 to this day live and flourish, and invade every 
 circle of educated society. The truth is, that the 
 sentiment to which they directly appealed lies at the 
 very root of human sympathy. Mere ridicule is no 
 match for that forceful feeling, and, consequently, 
 when it became apparent that the satirists had not 
 been searchers, the great majority ceased to attach 
 much importance to their dicta, and preferred post- 
 poning their decision till they had themselves inves- 
 tigated the matter. 
 
 The premature judgment passed upon the Ameri- 
 can " humbug," thus tended to its preservation, for 
 the monotonous conventional character of the pheno- 
 mena, and the utter absence of any substantive re- 
 sults, would, in all probability, have wearied the 
 public of the whole matter, had it not been for the 
 crude attempts at explanation, which, failing one 
 after another to reach the question, demonstrated 
 the existence of an unsolved mystery, and piqued 
 curiosity. The great error on the part of the shrewd 
 and intelligent men who attended the seances for the 
 purpose of denouncing them through the press, was 
 in deciding that there was no element of truth in the 
 -whole concern. It was an easy task for these gentle- 
 men, sitting at the table in smiling disbelief, to dis- 
 encumber the phenomena of a large over-crust of
 
 198 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 collusion or mechanical fraud ; but, unfortunately, in 
 the too careless performance X)f this duty, there was 
 permitted to escape that little grain of truth which 
 was to give permanent vitality to the whole 
 affair 
 
 Richard of England, you have slain Jack Straw; 
 But you have left unquenched the vital spark 
 That set Jack Straw on fire. 
 
 The inquiry was one that, if it were intended to be 
 exhaustive, imperatively demanded patience, and 
 even indulgence. The notorious fact that many emi- 
 nent men in America had admitted the matter into 
 earnest counsel, would have justified a closer exami- 
 nation before pronouncing the thing a hoax. The 
 American public have not usually beenfound more gul- 
 lible than the British, nor less tenacious on the import- 
 ant subject of money's worth. The key-note, however, 
 was struck. Ridicule and barren denial, choice 
 weapons from the fooFs armoury, were the instru- 
 ments selected for the demolition of the " spirit " 
 theories, the consequence, easily foretold, being that 
 they exist unravelled to this hour. 
 
 Any who have taken the trouble to peruse the 
 works of Allan Kardec (" Le Livre des Esprits," and 
 its sequel, " Le Livre des Mediums"}, on this singular 
 subject, will acknowledge that there are ways of put-
 
 FEENCH SPIKITUALISM. 199 
 
 ting a matter which, if they do not convince, at 
 least command a certain degree of respect, and 
 can scarcely be met except with a regular controversy. 
 The views of the French spiritualist, moreover, 
 often approximate very closely to those of orthodox 
 professors, and his inferential conjectures are not 
 wilder than many which, in science, now form the 
 established bases of many a stately column of 
 truth. 
 
 From all who believe in the existence of the soul 
 deprived of its mortal garment, Kardec claims the 
 belief in spirits also. He then complains that the 
 idea formed of the latter is far too abstract, vague, 
 and indefinite. Taking him as the best exponent of 
 modern spiritisme, we will lay before the reader, in 
 the most concise form, the theory of this school in 
 regard to the manifestations. 
 
 In the union of body and spirit, the spirit is 
 undoubtedly superior, inasmuch as it is the thinking 
 and surviving essence. The body is a mere case or 
 garment, to be cast aside when done with. 
 
 Besides this covering, the spirit possesses a second, 
 semi-material, uniting it with the former, and to 
 this (which is retained, when at death the body is 
 dismissed) has been given the name of ff perisprit." 
 It is assimilated to the human form, a fluid
 
 200 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 vaporous substance, and, though invisible in its 
 normal state, possesses some of the properties of 
 matter. Thus, it is argued, spirit is an actual limited 
 existence, needing only to be visible and palpable, to 
 resemble a human being. Is it objected that, by 
 reason of its fluid form, it cannot act on matter ? 
 How, then, happens it that man selects from among 
 the most subtle fluids, such as electricity, his most 
 powerful motor agents ? Does not light exercise a 
 chemical action upon ponderable substances? The 
 precise nature of the "perisprit" has yet to be 
 learned ; but, assuming it to be electric matter, or 
 something as subtle, why should its properties be 
 changed, when directed by a will ? 
 
 Concluding that he who believes in God, believes 
 in his own soul ; and, further, that that soul exists 
 after death ; the next question to solve is, can the 
 disembodied spirit communicate with flesh? Why 
 not ? says M. Kardec. What is man but an im- 
 prisoned soul ? Shall not the free spirit talk with 
 the captive, as a free man with a prisoner ? Since 
 it is admitted that the soul survives, is it rational to 
 conclude that the affections die? Since the souls 
 are everywhere, is it not natural that the soul that 
 loved us should desire to be near ? Since, in life, it 
 directed its own corporal movements, can it not, in
 
 THE "PEBISPEIT." 201 
 
 harmony with another soul, still united with the 
 body, borrow from this living frame the power to 
 render its thoughts intelligible ? 
 
 Finally, the philosopher considers his opponents 
 as forced upon the horns, one or all, of this 
 dilemma : 
 
 1. That the being (etre) which thinks within us 
 during life, cannot think after death. 
 
 2. That, if it does, it thinks no more of those it 
 loved. 
 
 3. That, if it thinks of them, it does not desire 
 communication. 
 
 4. That, though it be everywhere, it cannot be 
 beside us. 
 
 5. That, if it be beside us, it cannot communicate 
 its presence. 
 
 6. That, owing to its fluid form, it cannot act upon 
 inert substances. 
 
 7. That, if it can act upon inert substances, it 
 cannot act upon an intelligent being. 
 
 8. That, if it can act upon such, it cannot guide 
 his hand to write. 
 
 9. That, doing this, it cannot answer questions, 
 nor communicate ideas. 
 
 " The adversaries of spiritualism," concludes the 
 professor, " will doubtless tell us that it is for us
 
 202 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 to prove the reality of the manifestations. "We 
 prove it, hoth by fact and by argument. If, then, 
 they admit neither the one nor the other, if they 
 deny even what their eyes behold, it is for them 
 to show that our reasoning is illogical, and our 
 facts impossible." 
 
 There is at all events sense and truth in this 
 last observation.* Armed with it, we return to 
 the shores of Britain. 
 
 In spite of that love of fair-play said to be 
 peculiarly English, it is often impossible to de- 
 mand a hearing for an unpopular person or 
 thing, without being at once identified with the 
 faults imputed to the latter. This is simply 
 absurd. It is often in the best interests of jus- 
 
 * A work, (" Sights and Sounds"} published by the writer 
 some years ago, provoked some criticism on the ground 
 that it was the apologist and advocate of the " spirit-rappers." 
 In no one passage of the book will there be found a de- 
 fence, either open or implied, of the spirit-theories, far less 
 of the scenes of folly and profanity to which they gave 
 rise. The author's remarks were confined to pointing out 
 the insufficiency of the modes of explanation already sug- 
 gested. The real offence was probably his preferring to 
 leave the disproof of spirit agency to those who are pre- 
 pared to lay down limits to the power, or sufferance, of 
 the Creator.
 
 INSUFFICIENT INVESTIGATION. 203 
 
 tice, as it unquestionably is in those of humanity 
 and truth, to let the accused be heard. 
 
 Had the spirit-rappers generally received this 
 measure of justice, it is more than possible, more 
 than probable, it is, in short, quite within rational 
 belief, that, in all those persons (setting apart 
 the fraudulent imitators) styled media, there would 
 have been found to reside an occult sympathetic 
 power or influence, fully sufficient to account 
 for the ordinary class of these phenomena; that 
 it would be found in every degree of develop- 
 ment, sometimes voluntary, sometimes the reverse, 
 always, however, capricious and irregular in its 
 action and results. Hence, perhaps, the impres- 
 sion upon the mind of the so-called " medium/' 
 that the origin of this singular power, of which 
 he found himself in possession without being 
 always able to control its operations, rested with 
 an intelligence apart. This idea once conceived, 
 he attributed that which was, in fact, the action 
 of his own will-power over the mind of another, 
 to an inspiration which, having no traceable 
 source, could, to him, seem nothing less than 
 supernatural. That the "media" should so readily 
 have accepted this conclusion, will seem less ex- 
 traordinary when we call to mind the admitted
 
 204 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 fact that the peculiar gift, or condition, of which 
 we are speaking, has seldom been found asso- 
 ciated with high-class reasoning intellect. 
 
 Generally speaking, the media were persons 
 belonging to the middle and lower ranks of life, 
 more accessible to the desire of gain, and less 
 governed by finer scruples, than their social superiors. 
 These two characteristics had two consequences, 
 that they (the media) felt no hesitation in turning 
 their gift into money, nor, when its uncertain 
 operation supplied no phenomena, in eking out 
 the same by any natural means that might sug- 
 gest themselves. Detection in these supplemen- 
 tary practices cast a well-deserved suspicion over 
 the whole, and herein lay the difficulty of dealing 
 fairly with the case. 
 
 Conceding that a perfect disinterestedness would 
 be at all times the most satisfactory guarantee 
 of a medium's sincerity, it must be borne in 
 mind that many, who were believed to possess 
 this power, did not use it for a mercenary end. 
 Further, is it fair to condemn a whole system, 
 because it includes some pretenders ? 
 
 "De ce qu'il y a des charlatans qui debitent 
 des drogues sur les places publiques, de ce qu'il 
 y a meme des medecins qui, sans aller sur la
 
 INSUFFICIENT INVESTIGATION. 205 
 
 place publique, trompent la confiance, s'ensuit-il, 
 que tons les medecins sont des charlatans, et le 
 corps medical en est-il atteint dans sa considera- 
 tion ? De ce qu'il y a des gens qui vendent 
 de la teinture pour du vin, s'ensuit-il que tous 
 les marchands de vin sont des frelateurs, et qu'il 
 n'y a point de vin pur? On abuse de tout 
 meme des choses les plus respectables, et Pon 
 peut dire que la fraude a aussi son genie. 
 Mais la fraude a toujours un but, un interet 
 material quelconque; Ik ou il n'y a rien a gagner, 
 il n'y a nul interet a tromper." (" Spiritisme Ex- 
 perimental^ par A. Kardec.) 
 
 Take for granted an " honest " medium, and note 
 the impediments that lay before him. If he proposed 
 to utilize his power, as men do other natural endow- 
 ment, taking money in recompense for the sacrifice 
 of time and health, a prejudice was at once established 
 against him. If he persevered, it was necessary to 
 forewarn his audience that striking results might not 
 follow. The inference was, that he must have a 
 credulous circle or nothing could be done. 
 
 The process or condition of mind essential to the 
 experiments (as, granting that it exists at all, may 
 surely be imagined) is as easily disturbed by opposing 
 outer influences, as a feather floating in the summer
 
 206 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 wind is by the changing currents that, with every 
 second, divert its way. Jesting, laughter, inuendo, 
 openly-declared scepticism, are the promising aids, in 
 company with which, the experimentalist finds 
 himself called upon to deal with the most subtle 
 and delicate agents imagination can conceive. " C'est 
 magnifique mais ce n'est pas la guerre." It may be 
 very entertaining, but it is not inquiry. As well 
 lecture on political economy to a circle of ba- 
 boons. 
 
 Messrs. Home, Hayden, Foster, and other " pro- 
 fessors," have rendered the process too familiar to 
 need any general description here. Let us take the 
 last-named of these gentlemen, and simply set down 
 as a fair type of the whole, what occurred, at a seance 
 at his own house, some fifteen months since. 
 
 The writer had received a note from a literary 
 friend in America, in which the latter, without 
 making himself responsible for the manners, morals, 
 
 or general character of Mr. F , avowed his belief 
 
 that he was possessed, in a remarkable degree, of the 
 clairvoyant power, and recommended his experiments 
 as worthy of scrutiny. The following is a transcript 
 of the writer's notes of the interview : 
 
 " I took an opportunity of calling upon Mr. Foster, 
 and was shown into his parlour, a large apartment,
 
 A MEDIUM ME. FOSTEK. 207 
 
 almost devoid of furniture, where that gentleman 
 presently joined me. His manner was frank and 
 unembarrassed, and rather prepossessing. After a 
 little indifferent conversation, he asked me if I were 
 inclined to witness some of his experiments, and on 
 my replying ' yes/ requested me to place myself at 
 the table, which stood at the wall between the 
 windows; some sheets of letter paper and a pencil or two 
 lay upon it. Mr. Foster then said he was about to 
 leave the room, and desired me, when left alone, to 
 tear off some ten or twelve slips of paper, write upon 
 each of them the name of some deceased friend, roll 
 each slip up so tightly as to be a mere shapeless lump 
 of paper, then roll up as many more as I pleased, 
 in the same manner, but blank, and mix the whole 
 together in a heap on the table. Having given these 
 instructions, he left the room, closing the door, and 
 went upstairs. 
 
 " Determined to satisfy myself, if possible, once 
 for all, what amount of humbug there might be in 
 the matter, I neglected no precaution that occurred 
 to me, and began by inspecting the room and its 
 scanty furniture. There was no concealed object 
 nor any perceptible means by which my proceedings 
 might be overlooked. 
 
 " To guard, however, against the remotest possi-
 
 208 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 bility of the latter circumstance, on reseating myself 
 at the table to write the slips, I covered the latter 
 with one hand in such a manner as would have 
 effectually concealed them from every eye but 
 my own, had any one been present. I then 
 wrote down the names of six or seven deceased friends 
 or acquaintances, purposely including one or two 
 with whom the lapse of years had made my thoughts 
 of late but little familiar ; rolled up the strips with 
 at least thirty others (blank) and flung the whole in 
 a confused heap on the table, so as to be completely 
 indistinguishable, even to myself. 
 
 " Mr. F , presently returning, handed me the 
 
 pencil and alphabet, and, after a little 'spirit' 
 jargon, the written slips were selected from the rest, 
 and the names they bore spelled out, with unfailing 
 precision. 
 
 " Having heard that, from constant habit of 
 observation, a e medium ' can sometimes detect the 
 almost imperceptible pause made by an inquirer when 
 his pencil reaches the required letter, I endeavoured 
 to guard against this by affecting to dwell for half a 
 second upon some especial letter. This, however, 
 invariably failed to mislead the supposed clairvoyant. 
 Any such hints were uniformly rejected. In reality 
 I myself was not aware of the name contained in the 
 slip under consideration until spelled out.
 
 MK. FOSTEE. 209 
 
 ' ' Mr. F afterwards varied his experiments 
 
 by exhibiting the several names written in large rosy 
 characters, as though scratched with a bramble, on 
 his arm, but these may be set aside, as easily 
 producible by chemical means ; and, indeed, I have 
 heard of an accomplished young lady who has 
 declared that they can, with a little practice, be 
 produced at pleasure upon any arm, and who proved 
 it by writing them on her own. 
 
 " Mr. F 'a remarks upon the spiritual agency 
 
 were of the usual character, and not worth recording. 
 But to revert, for a moment, to the only point really 
 deserving attention, the clairvoyant reading, I 
 confess I am at a loss to suggest any explanation of 
 this complete and clever mystery, or mystification, 
 excepting that it is clairvoyance. Was my writing 
 overlooked ? I have shown that it was impossible. 
 Was the paper prepared, with chemicals, so as to let 
 the characters show through? A gentleman well- 
 known in London society (no spiritualist) took 
 paper from his own study, and the same results 
 followed. Is the inquirer's manner, in pointing to 
 the successive letters, relied upon as a guide ? I 
 have mentioned that I endeavoured, without effect, to 
 mislead the experimentalist." 
 
 Now it may be urged that professed conjurors, 
 
 p
 
 210 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 (at all events, Robert Houdin) will perform the 
 same "trick/' Possibly they will, but does that 
 bring us nearer to a solution ? It has never been 
 pretended that this secret is, like most other magical 
 mysteries, purchasable. There is nothing strained 
 in the conjecture that these professors may them- 
 selves be endowed, in a greater or less degree, with 
 the singular mental characteristic that is the parent 
 of clairvoyant phenomena, and, further, that the 
 sense of this unusual gift may have suggested to its 
 possessors the idea of a conjuror's career, while its 
 uncertain operation would render necessary a 
 superstructure of pure mechanical skill and ingenuity, 
 in order that an audience should never fail of the 
 entertainment they expected. It is, at all events, 
 certain that no one has hitherto volunteered a better 
 explanation. 
 
 Within a short time of the above-mentioned 
 interview, Mr. Foster had risen into high repute as a 
 medium, and, at one period, had upon his list nearly 
 three hundred appointments. What occasioned the 
 sudden ebb in this tide of success, the writer, who 
 was for many months absent from England, never 
 understood, but, on his return, the medium and his 
 familiars had vanished, leaving behind them, morally 
 speaking, an effect very dissimilar to that bequeathed
 
 RIDICULE NOT DISPROOF. 211 
 
 by the disappearing spectre chronicled by old Aubrey, 
 viz. " an aroraatis savour, and a melodious twang." 
 
 Without any especial personal reference to Mr. 
 Foster, it may be remarked that, in matters of this 
 peculiar nature, in which a man openly lays claim 
 to a power which the vast majority deny, an 
 unblemished character is one of those essential 
 qualifications for the obtaining a fair hearing, which 
 cannot (as in the case of art-professors and other 
 public-appellants generally) be dispensed with. It 
 is almost in vain for any man who is not conscious 
 of being " armed so strong in honesty" as to defy 
 every form of ridicule and invective, to put forward 
 such a claim, in the expectation that it will be 
 weighed with that very honesty in which he himself 
 is lacking. So ready is the irreproachable British 
 public to gobble up every charlatan that does not 
 tickle its palate sufficiently, that it not only occa- 
 sionally extinguishes a legitimate performer, but, 
 what is almost as bad, awes back into silence and 
 obscurity those who have really something to show 
 and to teach, but who shrink before a tribunal of such 
 bias, much as a whig-prisoner, in the days of the 
 Red Assize, before the drunken leer of the 
 ferocious Jeffreys. As the loudest bawlers for " fair 
 piny" among the peoples of Europe, it would not be 
 
 p 2
 
 212 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 amiss now and then to dispense a little of that article 
 among ourselves. None so ready as Englishmen to 
 condemn the brutal prejudices of their forefathers. 
 Why, then 
 
 On past ages cry out ' Shame !' 
 Then go their way, and do the very same ? 
 
 The revenge usually taken upon all who advocate 
 a more impartial inquiry into the American mani- 
 festations, is to denounce them at once as " spirit " 
 seekers themselves a capital hit, entitling, as it 
 does, those courageous persons to their full share 
 in the cloud of missiles hurled from all directions, 
 and sometimes by very skilful and distinguished 
 hands indeed against the party named. Let, 
 therefore, one who has always promoted such an 
 inquiry, declare his conviction that all who attend 
 these seances, believing in the spiritual agency 
 (whether of a good or evil nature), or even with 
 a suspicion on their minds that such may be the 
 case, are guilty of otnn ? izn*a " claresh el hare- 
 phim" in the Greek, summed up in its many 
 aspects, as ffrap/jiaKeia or witchcraft seeking to the 
 spirits of the dead, or to devils assuming that cha- 
 racter ; the reiterated scriptural denunciations of 
 which " veneficium " soul-poisoning crime need
 
 IDLE INQUIEIES DEPRECATED. 213 
 
 scarcely be recalled to the recollection of any 
 reader. 
 
 Guilty are such seekers of a crime not less gra- 
 tuitous than hurtful, inasmuch as there ought not 
 to be a moment's question whether these agencies, 
 if found at all, are spirits of the dead, or " seducing 
 spirits "of darkness. Good they cannot be, since, 
 by their invariable assumption of the former cha- 
 racter, falsehood at once invests them with the 
 livery of their master. And falsehood it must be, 
 because of the irresistible proofs that the Almighty 
 jealously reserves within his own prerogative the 
 right to send messengers across that " great gulf 
 fixed " between the living and the departed. 
 
 Surely the lips of the grave are sealed. In the 
 cases of those re-summoned to their mortal being 
 by the Lord of life, and his commissioned servants, 
 nothing was revealed concerning the intermediate 
 state. The words that Paul was caught up to the 
 third heaven to hear were " unspeakable ;" and 
 even to have listened to them, so tried his human 
 nature as (it is conjectured) to have occasioned that 
 " thorn in the flesh " it needed so much grace to 
 endure. A sense of this wordless mystery seems 
 to have inspired the old Greek poet, in bringing 
 back his Alcestis from Hades veiled and dumb.
 
 214 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 If, therefore, there be supernatural agency in the 
 matter, all reason and probability press us towards 
 the conclusion that it is of evil. Now there is 
 good authority for believing that those who wil- 
 lingly court temptation will be abandoned to the 
 snare. When all that warning and exhortation can 
 effect has failed, Ephraim must be surrendered to 
 his idols, and " let alone." Thenceforward, nothing 
 shall be too false, too fearful, too devilish, for that 
 debased, disabled soul. " Taken captive by him 
 (the power of evil) at his will" is a lamentable 
 picture of that slavish dotage which is the ultimate 
 condition and reward of the persistent treaders in 
 these forbidden ways. 
 
 On the other hand, supposing that these pre- 
 sumed intelligencers were indeed, as they profess, 
 the souls of friends departed, what conceivable 
 element of rational comfort could be deduced from 
 such a renewal of intercourse ? To believe that the 
 "desire of our eyes/' taken from our tender love 
 and care, should be summonable from its hallowed 
 rest to put half-a-crown into a showman's pocket; 
 to receive and answer questions filtered through 
 coarse and vulgar minds, perhaps (if the result be 
 not satisfactory) to be dismissed with scorn and 
 ridicule, is an insult to the Deity, and revolting
 
 IDLE INQUIEIES DEPEECATED. 215 
 
 to humanity. Far better than the trite phrase and 
 dubious answer familiar to spirit- seekers, is the 
 comfort of believing that the departed, having, 
 indeed, no longer a portion for ever in anything 
 that is done under the sun, are forbidden to witness 
 the struggle and the strife the folly and the guilt 
 the temptation and the snare the warring 
 passions the disappointment the despair of this 
 bitter, bitter world. Let us rather bless from our 
 inmost hearts the God of peace, who, in breath- 
 ing into the parting spirit the life divine, hath 
 released it, for eternity, from the troubled dream 
 of this. 
 
 The old aphorism, that familiarity breeds con- 
 tempt, has never been more thoroughly exemplified 
 than in the practice of our spirituals. When future 
 generations shall have overcome their astonish- 
 ment that the educated children of the present 
 should, on the one hand, have cast aside the sub- 
 ject as not worth inquiry; on the other, have 
 yielded themselves to the grossest imbecility; they 
 will (in the latter case) have the further task of 
 conceiving how any persons, persuaded that they 
 were holding communion with disembodied souls, 
 could be content to treat them with a disrespect 
 they would not show to the lowest of human
 
 2 16 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 mould. There are few things more repugnant to 
 taste and feeling than an attempt to unite the 
 grotesque with the terrible ; how much more, then, 
 Avith that which professes to be sublime ! In wit- 
 nessing the vagaries of a madman, pity will pre- 
 sently overgrow the sense of pain. In watching 
 the agony of a Rigoletto, the fool's trappings drop 
 out of sight. But with the " spirit "-cicerone, the 
 element of absurdity is obtrusive and clamorous, 
 and refuses to be extinguished. 
 
 Imagine (it is a positive fact) a seance at a house 
 situated in a London thoroughfare, in which a 
 considerable mortal traffic necessarily went on, com- 
 mencing thus : 
 
 " Sperrits will be good enough to speak up, 'cos of 
 the 'busses." 
 
 Because, likewise of the five shillings per head, 
 which the circle had disbursed, and which entirely 
 justified this stipulation. 
 
 The meeting in question was rendered further 
 memorable by an extremely interesting manifes- 
 tation, which took the following form, and was 
 doubly valuable, as proving that equivoque is either 
 unknown or unpractised in spheres beyond our 
 own: 
 
 A spirit, whose replies had been at once so pointed
 
 SEANCES, EAST AND WEST. 217 
 
 and so grammatical as to elicit murmurs of surprise 
 and congratulation, was on the point of making his 
 bow, when a member of the circle begged permission 
 to ask one more question viz., what he (the 
 spirit) subsisted upon in his present state of 
 being. 
 
 " Same as I did on dearth/' was the guarded 
 reply. 
 
 " And what was that ?" persisted some still 
 unsatisfied person. 
 
 " Hair." 
 
 Now it is no less true than remarkable that the 
 supposed respondent had indeed been, while in 
 the flesh, eminent as a forensic wig-maker, and 
 the only further question that suggested itself was, 
 in what possible manner, under the altered circum- 
 stances, his peculiar talent could be called into 
 requisition. 
 
 This question was shaped and put with the utmost 
 delicacy, but, nevertheless, elicited a most indignant 
 volley of raps from the spirit, who demanded the 
 alphabet, and, with some heat (no longer confiding 
 in the medium's pronunciation), himself spelled out 
 the word : 
 
 " Air." 
 
 It would appear that a member of the company,
 
 218 ' STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 who had enjoyed opportunities of observing the 
 deceased gentleman's mortal habits, expressed some 
 incredulity as to his having restricted himself, on all 
 occasions, to the above meagre diet, for a further 
 appeal was judged necessary, and was met by the 
 following exhaustive declaration : 
 
 " All folks lives upon air leastways, can't without 
 it." 
 
 The lady who performed the part of medium on 
 this interesting occasion attends at many houses 
 at the West End, for the small charge of one- 
 pound-one. Notwithstanding these eligible con- 
 nections, we might be accused of striking too low a 
 social key in the foregoing report, and therefore shift 
 the scene to the unimpeachable neighbourhood of 
 Hyde Park Square, where, in a certain magnificent 
 drawing-room, a similar seance was recently held. 
 
 On this occasion, be it understood, there was 
 no paid medium. The spiriting was done by the 
 amateurs themselves, and there being two or three 
 highly magnetic, and not a few remarkably silly 
 persons present, the "happiest results" (as state 
 papers express it) were of course to be expected. 
 Probably, all our readers are not aware, that there 
 is a conventional, technical tone among spiritualists, 
 involving certain set phrases, hardly intelligible to
 
 SEANCES, EAST AND WEST. 219 
 
 the uninitiated, just as the distinctive expressions 
 current among a club of " Odd Fellows " or 
 " Harmonious Owls/' are confounding to the 
 stranger guest. 
 
 Generally speaking, the ordinary courtesies of 
 society are for the time superseded. There are 
 no greetings or recognitions, unassociated with the 
 mysterious influence of the hour. 
 
 Two young ladies enter, unannounced. The 
 hostess merely glances in that direction. Words 
 of welcome would be far too common-place. The 
 new arrivals look curiously, even anxiously, round, 
 as though they had been suddenly enveloped in a 
 fog, and were in danger of losing their way. 
 Perhaps they were. At length 
 
 " How do you find the atmosphere, dear ?" says 
 Miss A to Miss B , in a semi-confidential tone. 
 
 " Purple-ish," is the reply, in a solemn whisper. 
 
 ' ' I find it rose ! " rejoins Miss A , uneasily. 
 
 " We have been very variable to-night," remarks 
 the hostess, striking in, "but the prevailing tints 
 have certainly been yellow and blue." 
 
 (Perhaps it did not occur to the speaker that 
 a combination of these latter colours would have 
 produced an " atmosphere " precisely adapted to the 
 occasion.)
 
 220 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The conversation now becomes more general. 
 
 " Anything noteworthy of late ?" inquires Miss 
 
 B , a strong-minded young lady, who looks as if 
 
 she had written books, and printed them herself. 
 " What on Friday ?" 
 
 "Writings. Uncle M'Tavish's Scotch mull 
 emptied under the table. Accordion (inside the 
 fender) played < Polly put the kettle on;' after- 
 wards, with persuasion, ' Home, sweet home/ By- 
 the-bye, Home's in Paris. The Emp 
 
 " I beg your pardon," interrupts Miss B . 
 
 somewhat sternly. " To our point. What beside ?" 
 
 " Literally no more. But, on Wednesday week, 
 we had hands." 
 
 " Good hands ?" 
 
 "Excellent." 
 
 " Hah !" (thoughtfully.) 
 
 " The best hands these six weeks. Bessy Power 
 was with us, however." 
 
 " Cela suffit. Gloved the hands ?" 
 
 " Both gloved and bare ! One had a fine cinque- 
 cent ring. Sir Cusack Dozey, who was in the 
 circle, thought it was his aunt's, Lady Longstretch, 
 who died in 1793." 
 
 " These are telling facts," rejoins the strong-- 
 minded, taking out a grim brown note-book. " How 
 do you spell ' Cusack ?' "
 
 SEANCES, EAST AND WEST. 221 
 
 " Oh, Charlotte, Charlotte !" cries an animated 
 young person, rushing from the inner drawing- 
 room. " Have yon heard about Mildred's 
 cockatoo ?" 
 
 " Mildred's what ?" 
 
 " Cockatoo. But here she is herself." 
 
 Enter Mildred, a tall, noble girl, with the step 
 and aspect of a queen. Mildred has bowed many 
 and many a spirit to her will, but these had not yet 
 shuffled off the mortal coil. 
 
 With a slight curl on her beautiful lip, she tells 
 the story of the cockatoo. 
 
 At a seance held last week, in the boudoir of Mrs. 
 Bow Peepe, Mildred was in such high favour with 
 the invisible agencies, that they invited her to hang 
 her laced handkerchief over the edge of the table. 
 Having done so, and presently withdrawn it again, 
 lo ! at one corner appeared the shaped and knotted 
 similitude of a lovely cockatoo ! 
 
 The unwonted form of this manifestation naturally 
 caused considerable excitement in spiritualist circles, 
 and, it is distressing to add, no small amount of 
 envy, insomuch that it needed all Mildred's popu- 
 larity to make head against the feeling engendered 
 by the spirits' partiality, and the more so, as neither 
 prayers, nor tears, nor even menaces, had availed to 
 produce a repetition of the " sign."
 
 222 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 On the present occasion, immense efforts are 
 made, in the hope that Mildred's presence might 
 soften the obdurate agencies. The excitable young 
 lady works herself into a perfect agony of suppli- 
 cation. 
 
 " Oh, spirits, dear spirits, kind spirits ! give me 
 a cockatoo like Mildred's. You see my handker- 
 chief, spirits? O do, do. A cockatoo-oo-oo \" 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Another young lady, with more system and fore- 
 sight, has come provided with no less than six 
 pocket-handkerchiefs, and these she disposes at 
 equal distances round the table, pulling them up 
 at intervals, like night-lines, to see if anything 
 has been caught. There is no cockatoo. On that 
 point, the spirits are inflexible, but one of the hand- 
 kerchiefs, at which the party had noticed, with a 
 thrill of expectation, an unmistakable nibble, ulti- 
 mately exhibits a very satisfactory double knot, 
 and therewith the seance (which, like the former, 
 is fact, and not caricature) comes to an end. 
 
 Scenes like these require no comment. To report 
 them literally is the severest penalty to which, in 
 the absence of any express legal enactment, they 
 are at present amenable. Let us hope that the 
 knowledge that they are really occurring, and likely
 
 "SPIKIT"-PHOTOGKAPHS. 223 
 
 to occur among us, may suggest to the intelligent 
 mind the necessity of so winnowing the subject, 
 that its chaff and corn at length may fly asunder, 
 and the homes of England be no longer desecrated 
 by the scandal, folly, and ignorance, which are now 
 its principal concomitants.* 
 
 It remains only to close this little work, as it was 
 begun, with a reiterated caution to marvel-hunters 
 
 * Mr. W. Howitt, in his interesting work on the " Super- 
 natural," has (Vol. II., p. 234) the following note : 
 
 " Whilst this is going through the press, a phenomenon of a 
 most extraordinary kind has shown itself in America. Mr. 
 Mawler, a photographer of Boston, and a medium, was astonished, 
 on taking a photograph of himself, to find also by his side the 
 figure of a young girl, which he immediately recognized as 
 that of a deceased relative. The circumstance made a great 
 excitement. Numbers of persons rushed to his rooms, and 
 many have found deceased friends photographed with them- 
 selves. 
 
 " The matter has been tested in all possible ways, but without 
 detection of any imposture." 
 
 That Mr. W. Howitt honestly believes whatever he asserts, 
 no one who is acquainted with that gentleman's private cha- 
 racter will for an instant doubt. What remains to be stated 
 merely shows how easily deceit may be practised. 
 
 After reading the above note, the writer and a friend, who 
 is an amateur photographer, strolled up Regent Street, and, 
 entering the first studio, mentioned their wish to have a "spirit " 
 photograph. 
 
 " Two gentlemen spirit-photograph," said the matter-of-fact 
 artist to his assistant. And, in a few minutes, a very interesting
 
 224 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 in general. That there are incidents of the most 
 extraordinary nature perpetually interweaving them- 
 selves with our daily social life, is as true as that 
 there are many whose mysterious or terrific features 
 dissolve away at the first touch of reason. Why, 
 then, should we be disinclined to press inquiry home ? 
 The more unsound narratives we are enabled to 
 lop away from the general theme, the more will 
 those that remain commend themselves to our 
 study. 
 
 Finally, as examples of the ease with which the 
 strangest story will gain a certain amount of 
 credence, we will lighten the concluding pages with 
 the following: 
 
 Has any one ever yet heard of the ghost of a 
 doll? Such an alleged phenomenon was the cause 
 of much excitement and uneasiness in a- fashionable 
 German watering-place, only a few months 
 
 carte de visite was produced, the writer, as spirit, extending a 
 shadowy arm over his astonished friend, the portly representa- 
 tive of matter. 
 
 The process is simplicity itself. Upon one side of the plate, 
 highly sensitized in the usual manner, the " spirit " (be it person 
 or picture) is first taken in an indistinct manner, the object 
 sitting only half the accustomed time. The developing agents 
 not being applied until the "material" party has been added, 
 the latter's picture and the spirit's appear together !
 
 STEANGE MATEKIAL FACTS. 225 
 
 since ; and these were the singular circum- 
 stances. 
 
 A pretty little girl (daughter of one of the 
 residents) well known in the neighbourhood from 
 being constantly seen playing in the public gardens 
 
 at W , died last year, after a few weeks' illness, 
 
 having been much soothed and solaced during that 
 painful interval by the companionship of a favourite 
 doll. The latter, who had received the name of 
 ' Flore/ was scarcely less familiar to the juvenile 
 community than her poor little mistress. It seemed 
 painful to separate the two. At all events, it is a 
 feeling perfectly intelligible that induced the friends 
 of the deceased child to place the doll in the coffin, 
 in the position it had been used to occupy on the 
 bosom of the little sleeper, and thus they were in- 
 terred in the neighbouring cemetery of B . 
 
 Some weeks elapsed, and then a strange mysteri- 
 ous whisper went abroad that Eulalie (the little girl) 
 and Flore had reappeared in the public walks and 
 gardens. The rumour quickly narrowed down to the 
 apparition of Flore alone ; but here it made so deter- 
 mined a stand, as to awaken the attention of the 
 older and wiser members of the community. Not a 
 day passed without one or other of the juvenile play- 
 mates bringing home an eager story of Flore' s having 
 
 Q
 
 226 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 been distinctly seen, sometimes sitting under a rose- 
 bush, sometimes reclining at full length on a garden - 
 seat, sometimes carried in the arms of a certain 
 dark -looking child, whose demeanour had discouraged 
 any close advances, who disdained skipping-rope, and 
 had proved impervious to the seductive influence of 
 hoop. 
 
 With some difficulty, the story was traced back to 
 this circumstance, that, about three weeks after the 
 funeral, an intimate playfellow of Eulalie was walk- 
 ing in the gardens, when her attention was attracted 
 by two other children quarrelling. With the curio- 
 sity of her years, the little girl hurried up to ascer- 
 tain the cause of the dispute. It was a doll. No 
 sooner had her eyes lit upon it, than she uttered a 
 scream, flew back to her nurse, and, pulling her 
 towards the spot, bade her look at the ghost 
 of 'Flore/ who had been buried with Eu- 
 lalie. 
 
 The nurse complied, but, less familiar with Flore's 
 specialities than her charge, declined to offer any 
 decided opinion on the subject, excepting that it was 
 certainly no ghost, and had a different cap and 
 bonnet from that in which Flore made her last ter- 
 restrial appearance. 
 
 The little girl, however, positively maintained that
 
 THE GHOST OF A DOLL. 227 
 
 it was Flore, and no other ; or, if not Flore, then her 
 ghost, and this opinion she repeated to every 
 acquaintance they encountered during the remainder 
 of the walk. It became, in fact, the child's fixed 
 idea, and as the alleged frequent sight of the mys- 
 terious doll began seriously to affect her health and 
 spirits, the parents, as the readiest means of tran- 
 quillizing her, resolved to make a complete inquiry 
 into the matter. 
 
 As they knew something of the family (that of a 
 gentleman from the Cape of Good Hope) , with whom 
 the doll was associated, there was not much difficulty 
 in getting the toy in question handed over to their 
 scrutiny. It appeared that the little girl was able to 
 mention some certain peculiarities either in the dress 
 or structure of the doll, which were not visible with- 
 out close examination. These were found to corre- 
 spond minutely with her description. There was no 
 longer room for question. It was Flore herself. 
 
 The ghost was thus laid. But it became necessary 
 to ascertain the cause of the singular resuscitation of 
 Flore's body, and it presently appeared that the 
 doll had been purchased at a toy shop frequently 
 supplied by a travelling dealer whose habitat was un- 
 known. The authorities at B were next applied 
 
 to, and an order obtained to examine the coffin of 
 the deceased child. It was found empty ! 
 
 Q2
 
 228 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 The investigation that followed resulted in the de- 
 tection of a miscreant who had more than once used 
 his means of access at all hours to the cemetery for 
 the purpose of stripping the hodies of the recently 
 dead, and even, it was darkly hinted, sometimes 
 devoting them to the nutriment of the tenants of his 
 sty. The wretch was condemned to the light penalty 
 of a year's imprisonment. 
 
 From circumstances less remarkable than these 
 have arisen ghost stories, which have obtained and 
 kept their hold on public credulity long after the 
 means of sifting them thoroughly have passed away. 
 
 The second example, somewhat less painful in its 
 details, is grotesque enough, and, though it actually 
 occurred in England but a short while since, would 
 scarcely be out of place in a book of German dreams 
 and fancies. 
 
 The narrator, a girl of the servant class, but of 
 rather superior education and manners, had called on 
 the writer's sister on the subject of a place to which 
 she had been recommended, and in the course of 
 conversation, related the following as a recent ex- 
 perience. 
 
 The advertisement in which she had set forth her 
 willingness to take charge of an invalid, infirm, or 
 lunatic person, or to assume any office demanding
 
 THE BIKD-WOMAN. 229 
 
 unusual steadiness of nerve, was replied to by a lady 
 whose letter was dated from a certain locality on the 
 outskirts of a large commercial city, and who re- 
 quested her attendance there at an appointed time. 
 
 The house proved to be a dingy, deserted-looking 
 mansion, and was not rendered more cheerful by the 
 fact that the adjoining tenements on either side were 
 unoccupied. It wore altogether a haunted and sinis- 
 ter aspect, and the girl, as she rang the bell, was 
 sensible of a kind of misgiving for which she could 
 not account. A timid person might have hesitated. 
 This girl possessed unusual firmness and courage, 
 and, in spite of the presentiment we have mentioned, 
 she determined, at all events, to see what she would 
 be called on to encounter. 
 
 A lady-like person, the mistress herself, opened 
 the door, and, conducting the applicant into an 
 adjacent apartment, informed her in a few words that 
 the service that would be required of her was of a 
 very peculiar nature, imperatively demanding those 
 precise qualities she conceived her to possess. It was 
 right, she added, to mention that the family lived in 
 great seclusion, partly from choice, partly from neces- 
 sity, an impression having gone abroad that there 
 existed something strange and evil in connexion 
 with the residence, which was, in reality, known in
 
 230 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the vicinity by the title of the " haunted house. 
 
 With these preliminary warnings, the lady suggested 
 that the applicant might wish to reconsider her pur- 
 pose. The latter, however, having little fear of 
 anything human, and none at all of apparitions, at 
 once agreed to the terms proposed, stipulating only 
 that the cause of the strange reports affecting the 
 mansion should be a little more clearly explained, 
 and her own particular duties denned. 
 
 The mistress readily assented to both conditions, 
 and, leading the way to a ground floor apartment at 
 the back, unlocked the door and turned the handle 
 as about to enter, but, checking herself suddenly, 
 warned her companion, without sinking her voice 
 below its ordinary tone, that she was about to be 
 brought face to face with a spectacle that might well 
 try the strongest nerves; nevertheless, there was 
 nothing to fear so long as she retained her self- 
 command. With this not very reassuring preface, 
 they entered the room. 
 
 It was rather dark, for the lower half of the win- 
 dows were boarded up ; but in one corner, on the 
 floor, was plainly distinguishable what looked like a 
 heap of clothes flung together in disorder. It ap- 
 peared to be in motion, however, and the mistress of 
 the house once more turning to her follower had just 
 time to utter the mvsterious words
 
 THE BIED-WOMAN. 231 
 
 " Don't be frightened. If she likes you, she'll 
 hoot ; if she doesn't, she'll scream 
 
 When from the apex of the seeming heap of clothes 
 there rose a head that made the stranger's blood run 
 chill. It was human indeed, in general structure, but 
 exhibited, in place of nose, a huge beak curved and 
 pointed like that of an owl. Two large staring yellow 
 eyes increased the bizarre resemblance, while nume- 
 rous tufts of some feathery substance, sprouting from 
 a skin hard and black as a parrot's tongue, completed 
 this horrible intermingling of bird and woman. 
 
 As they approached, the unhappy being rose 
 and sunk with the measured motion of a bird 
 upon a perch, and presently, opening its mouth, 
 gave utterance to a hideous and prolonged " tu- 
 whoo !" 
 
 "All right," said the lady, quietly, "she likes 
 you !" 
 
 They were now standing as it were over the unfor- 
 tunate freak of nature. 
 
 " Have you courage to lift her ?" inquired the 
 lady. "Try." 
 
 The girl, though recoiling instinctively from the 
 contact, nerved herself to the utmost, and, putting 
 her arms beneath those of the still hooting creature, 
 strove to raise her up. In doing so, the hands
 
 232 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 became disengaged from the clothes. They were 
 black, and armed with long curved talons, like those 
 of a bird of prey. 
 
 Even this new discovery might not have made the 
 girl's courage quail, had she not, in raising the 
 creature, observed that she was not, as had seemed 
 to be the case, crouched on the ground, but balanced 
 on an actual perch, or rail, round which her feet 
 closed and clung, by means of talons similar to those 
 which adorned her hands. 
 
 So irrepressible was the feeling of horror that now 
 overcame the visitor, that, after one desperate effort 
 of self control, she was forced to let go of the thing 
 she held. A wild, unearthly scream that rang 
 through the house marked the creature's change of 
 mood. The baleful eyes shot yellow fire, and scream 
 after scream pursued her as she fairly fled from the 
 apartment, followed at a steadier pace, by the 
 lady. 
 
 The latter took her into another room, did all in 
 her power to soothe her agitation, and expressed no 
 surprise when the girl declared that ten times the 
 liberal amount already offered, would not tempt her 
 to undertake such a charge. 
 
 Such then are specimens of the " Strange things" 
 unknown, mis-related, or disbelieved, yet constantly
 
 CONCLUSION. 233 
 
 occurring among us ; and if, in grouping them to- 
 gether, in this slight and superficial manner, the 
 attention of abler minds should be attracted to 
 the analysis of one or more of the points alluded to 
 in the earlier portion of this work, such as may seem 
 most prophetic of useful result, the writer's purpose is 
 attained. 
 
 Lastly, let it never be forgotten that, as science 
 progresses, as the means of working the mine of 
 knowledge augment in our hands, we must be pre- 
 pared for new and greater discoveries than those 
 which, in the arrogance of science pronounced im- 
 possible, are now the familiar playthings of a child. 
 No fear that we shall arrive too soon at the summit 
 of human knowledge. There is fear that we may 
 mistake a lower elevation for that exalted rest. 
 
 Does the road wind up hill all the way ? 
 
 Yes, to the very end! 
 Will the day's journey take the whole long day ? 
 
 From mom till eve, my friend! 
 
 THE END.
 
 ADDENDA.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Remarks. The Difficulties of Authentication increased 
 by Critical Commentaries. The "Spiritualists." A 
 " Spirit " story. Appearances of the dying. Chi- 
 panti and the ex- Queen of Etruria. Apraxin and 
 Prince Dolgorouki. Case of Mr. U -. Of Cap- 
 tain Henry J .The " Wyndham " ghost The 
 
 scene of a murder indicated. Case at Baling. 
 Apparitions, &c. associated with certain Houses. 
 
 General H . The missing Governess. The 
 
 Brown Lady of E . The Headless Woman of 
 
 P Hall. A House in Somersetshire. " Lord 
 
 C 's Chamber" at S Hall. Too deaf ta 
 
 hear a ghost. The Phantom at "Wiesbaden. At 
 Baden-Baden. An Italian Ghost. Warning Im- 
 pression. A misfortune averted. Apparition of a 
 living person. Concluding observations.
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 THE publication of the first edition of this work has 
 had the effect of placing in the writer's hands so 
 much fresh material bearing upon the subjects treated 
 of, that he gladly embraces the opportunity offered 
 of submitting to the reader a few more examples > 
 chosen, in accordance with the rule that has hitherto 
 guided the selection, for the double characteristic of 
 authentication and recent occurrence. 
 
 If to these cannot be added one or two narratives 
 which, equally guaranteed, surpass in interest and 
 singularity anything hereinbefore related, the fault 
 is not with the witnesses, nor is it with the general 
 reader, nor the writer of this and similar books, 
 but with the critical commentator, to whose cal- 
 low judgment but ripened satiric power no man 
 would willingly submit a matter which has, for him, 
 a real and a solemn interest. It is regrettable, but 
 not strange, that those most sensibly impressed with
 
 240 STKA.NGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the actuality of these phenomena, should be most un- 
 willing to make their experience known. It is no 
 " false " shame that causes a truthful man to shrink, 
 from the almost certain imputation of falsehood, 
 from exposing his opinions, perhaps his name, to 
 such unworthy handling as is meted out by certain 
 publications notably the Athenaeum, to every writer 
 who has the courage to deal with extra-natural sub- 
 jects otherwise than in a spirit of absolute infidelity. 
 
 Without supposing that the paper just mentioned, 
 in its habitual transgression of the laws of gentle- 
 manly courtesy with regard to works it is intended to 
 depreciate, can greatly influence its readers in mat- 
 ters of intrinsic interest, it can no doubt, for the 
 reason above mentioned, exclude much useful testi- 
 mony. It should therefore be remembered that all 
 which passes safely through the ordeal of abuse and 
 satire acquires a double value, and that they who, 
 from terror of a jesting pen, withhold from the com- 
 mon treasury of information that which tends to the 
 enlightenment of all, though true to their own self- 
 love, are faithless stewards of the gift confided to 
 their care. 
 
 Considerable outcry has been made concerning the 
 inutility of initials, stars, and dashes, in authenti- 
 cating "ghost-stories" and undoubtedly it would
 
 SCEPTICISM ON THE SUBJECT. 241 
 
 read better if B. C , of C Hall, Esq., would 
 
 allow it to be frankly told that he was Mr. Benjamin 
 Cleaver, of Cleaver Hall ; but it is extremely ques- 
 tionable whether the announcement would stifle all 
 scepticism on the part of the public, or induce the 
 critic to suspend his attack until he had communi- 
 cated with the good squire on the subject of his 
 aunt's spectrum. Shall Mr. Cleaver command greater 
 credence than the compiler of his testimony ? And 
 if he is not to be believed, better that he preserve 
 that coat of darkness, often a garment of such value 
 to the critic himself. 
 
 To all whose faces are turned from these inquiries, 
 narratives authenticated by names such as those of 
 Lord Lyttelton, Lord Tyrone, Blomberg, Dolgorouki, 
 and a host of others carry no greater conviction than 
 those which rest upon the authority of mere initials. 
 In fact, the demand for this species of verification is 
 little better than a pretext for opposing, in limine, 
 matter its opponents are not prepared to encounter 
 in fair and full discussion. 
 
 One passing word with the spiritualists, to whom this 
 work appears to have given umbrage, as to repeat 
 the (mis-) quotation of one of their organs " dark- 
 ening counsel with words without knowledge." 
 The accusation of being without knowledge on this
 
 242 STEANGE THINGS AMONG TJS. 
 
 much- vexed question is strictly just. It was in the 
 hope of repairing that deficiency from which his 
 assailants are not wholly free that the writer invited 
 the counsel it is so difficult to obtain. If the spiri- 
 tualists would leave scolding and squabbling, and 
 come to business, we should probably soon arrive at 
 a more satisfactory result. The writer's former 
 work, entitled " Sights and Sounds/' published so 
 long ago as 1849, was, although systematically 
 ignored by the spiritualists on account of its too 
 reasonable tone, the first to call attention in England 
 to the phenomena in question; and it will be to such 
 moderate appeals, far less than to their own rabid 
 and inordinate demands upon credulity and common 
 reason, that they, will ultimately be indebted for 
 notice of their theories. 
 
 The position of hearing both sides, often an un- 
 comfortable one, is rendered more so in the present 
 instance by the circumstance of the disputants form- 
 ing but two great bands those who believe too much, 
 and those who do not believe at all. The first believe 
 anything, on any authority; the last (see the article 
 in the Cornhill Magazine) avowedly reject the evi- 
 dence of their own senses! 
 
 The proposed limits of this work prohibit our enter- 
 ing fully into such a controversy. It must therefore
 
 CONCLUSIVE TESTIMONY. 243 
 
 suffice to say, that neither taunt nor ridicule will 
 induce the writer to declare his belief in less or 
 more than has been proved to actual demonstration. 
 
 On a subject of such illimitable pretensions, no 
 rational man would rest satisfied with anything short 
 of the most conclusive testimony. 
 
 Are persons lifted bodily from their seats, and 
 wafted about the room, by invisible hands? Do 
 tables, standing alone in the middle of the room, float 
 suddenly upward to the ceiling ? Are one's secret 
 thoughts replied to by raps upon the table ? Can 
 accordions, unapproached by mortal fingers, really 
 play " Comin' through the rye"? All these things 
 have been positively affirmed to have taken place, but 
 never yet, either in America or in Europe, has the 
 writer been fortunate enough to witness them. Can 
 the spiritualists wonder that men withhold belief in a 
 thing opposed to the experience of a hundred gene- 
 rations, until they have at least the evidence of their 
 own eyes ? Upon the other hand, it would be arrogant 
 and indiscreet to deny the possibility of these things, 
 simply because we have not ourselves seen them, 
 resting as they do upon the positive assurance of men 
 of such a character, that to discredit them would be 
 literally to abjure one's faith in any human testi- 
 mony whatsoever. Men who have consistently op-
 
 244 STBANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 posed the " spirit " theories from the beginning, have 
 frankly admitted that a case has been at length made 
 out deserving of philosophical inquiry, and, since 
 the spiritualists do not shrink from suggesting the 
 laws and conditions by which the phenomena are 
 brought about, there ought surely to be no great 
 difficulty in applying the needful tests. The real 
 obstacles do not reside in the question itself, but in 
 the mood and temper with which it is usually ap- 
 proached. Over-zeal and rash assumption on the one 
 side, intolerant scepticism on the other, have hitherto 
 defeated every attempt to obtain for this matter a 
 patient, temperate hearing. 
 
 As one out of many well-attested facts which illus- 
 trate the difficulty of explaining by any known rules 
 the so-called spiritual phenomena, the writer appends 
 a remarkable story related to him, a few months 
 since, by Mrs. M , lady of the American Consul- 
 general at F . 
 
 Although, of course, aware of the doctrine and pre- 
 tensions of spiritualism, Mrs. M , while resident 
 
 in the United States, had had but few opportunities 
 of witnessing the phenomena, and indeed, to say 
 truth, had given the subject very lax attention her 
 impression, such as it was, decidedly inclining to 
 disbelief.
 
 A REMARKABLE STORY. 245 
 
 About five years since, while in the States, she had 
 the misfortune to lose a fine little boy of the age of 
 six or seven, from water on the brain, produced by a 
 fall while at play. The circumstance preyed much 
 upon her mind, and, her general health becoming 
 affected, she was urgently recommended to try an 
 entire change of climate and of scene. In conse- 
 quence, she accepted the invitation of some distant 
 relatives, who resided near Toronto, to pass some 
 months at the irsomewhat retired dwelling ; and soon 
 found herself among them. Although connected, 
 
 as has been mentioned, by blood, Mrs. M was, 
 
 personally, almost a stranger to her hosts : so much 
 so that, beyond the fact of her having lately lost a 
 child, they knew nothing whatever of the state and 
 history of her family. This circumstance has to be 
 borne in mind. 
 
 It happened to be the custom of the house to hold 
 occasional " spirit" circles, when the ordinary phe- 
 nomena were educed; but nothing occurred to rouse 
 the serious attention of the sceptical guest, until one 
 evening, when one of the presumed presences, ap- 
 pealing to her in the name of " Dot," desired to 
 make a communication. None present recognised 
 
 the name, or epithet, excepting Mrs. M . To 
 
 her it imparted a strange feeling of mingled pain
 
 246 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 and comfort, for it was her boy's nursery name, 
 and, accompanying this feeling, came an irresistible 
 desire to hear what the supposed spirit would say. 
 
 The communication proved to be some accustomed 
 phrases of consolation, a request not to yield too 
 much to sorrow, &c.; but the spirit presently an- 
 nounced a desire to make a further communication, 
 
 and, to the utter astonishment of Mrs. M and 
 
 the whole circle, declared as follows : 
 
 "That the circumstances of his (Dot's) death 
 were not what his mother had believed them to be. 
 His injury had not been occasioned by a fall, but 
 by a blow on the temple from a stone thrown by 
 one of his companions at play. He had told this 
 to the maidservant, who carried him into the house 
 and laid him on the dresser in the kitchen, where 
 he soon became insensible, and died the following 
 day. The servant informed the doctor of the fact 
 as it had occurred; but, as the latter perceived 
 that his patient was beyond human aid, it was 
 agreed to give that version to the accident, which 
 had been hitherto accepted in the family." 
 
 Such was " Dot's" narrative, to which his mother 
 listened with unfeigned surprise. Immediately on 
 
 her return home, Mrs. M questioned the maid 
 
 on the subject, and elicited from her a complete
 
 THE EX-QUEEN OF ETEUEIA. 247 
 
 confirmation of the story, which was subsequently 
 corroborated by the doctor himself; both having, up 
 to that period, fully believed that the secret was con- 
 fined to them. 
 
 We pass from spiritualism to the class of incident 
 exemplified at p. 51 et seq. (those relating to the 
 supposed appearance of the dying person, at or about 
 the period of dissolution), in order to add to our 
 list of examples those which follow. 
 
 For the first of these, the writer is indebted to 
 the Rev. Hamilton Grey, to whom it had been com- 
 municated by a relative of the unfortunate heroine, 
 the ex- Queen of Etruria. 
 
 Students of modern history will not need to be 
 reminded that on this princess and her son, the First 
 Napoleon settled the kingdom of Etruria, or Tus- 
 cany, but that, in furtherance of subsequently-con- 
 ceived plans of empire, the imperial king-maker 
 again dispossessed her, in order to transfer those 
 dominions to her brother Ferdinand, king of Spain, 
 as an indemnification to that weak, unhappy prince 
 for the cession' of his own inheritance to France. 
 Buonaparte, however, obtained that cession without 
 the contemplated compensation, but, nevertheless, 
 retained possession of Etruria, holding the ex-queen 
 in a sort of honourable captivity, as hostage.
 
 248 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 This lady appears to have been far superior in 
 kingly spirit, as well as in intellect, to the rest of her 
 feeble house, and to have been, in consequence, an 
 object of especial jealousy to the astute Napoleon. 
 For a certain period, she was permitted to reside 
 with her parents at Compiegne ; but subsequently, 
 under the pretence of conducting her to Parma, 
 she was conveyed to Nice, and placed under the 
 strictest surveillance of the police. It was some 
 time before she fully realized her position; but, 
 when she did so, the alarmed princess set earnestly 
 to work with the view of extricating herself from 
 this painful thraldom ; and, conceiving that England 
 offered the most favourable refuge, despatched two 
 faithful members of her suite to Holland, for the 
 purpose of arranging preliminaries for her flight to 
 the former country. 
 
 They had been some time absent on this mission, 
 when, on the night of the 15th April, 1811, the ex- 
 queen, lying broad awake in a large, gloomy bed- 
 chamber at Nice, saw the door slowly open, and 
 Chipanti, the most trusted of her two absent agents, 
 enter the apartment. He halted within a pace or 
 two of the bed, and the queen noticed that he was 
 pale as death. For a full minute the dead and the 
 living gazed upon each other ; then, as the queen
 
 LITTLE CLOTILDE'S VISION. 249 
 
 forced her lips to pronounce his name, the image 
 faded. She was alone. In this instance, the unreal 
 character of the visitation was at once impressed 
 upon the seer's mind. The unhappy queen knew 
 that her faithful servant was no more. The un- 
 earthly sadness that dwelt in the wistful gaze he 
 had cast upon her, was not necessary to assure her 
 of that. 
 
 Her little daughter, Clotilde, (the boy having been 
 left sick at Compiegne), slept in a smaller chamber 
 within. At breakfast, on the ] 6th, the child appeared 
 ill and out of spirits. With difficulty her mother 
 prevailed upon her to explain the cause, when, with 
 a burst of tears, she declared that Chipanti had 
 kept her awake the whole night, by perpetually 
 putting his head into the room, and that, from his 
 strange wild look and pale face, she was certain, if 
 it were he, that he must be ill, or mad. 
 
 Scarcely had the unfortunate lady had time to 
 reflect upon this strange corroboration of her fears, 
 when fatal intimation of the discovery of her project 
 was afforded by the forcible entrance of a party of 
 police and gendarmes, who seized her person and 
 papers, detained her in strict custody for two months, 
 and finally communicated to her a sentence con- 
 demning her to rigid seclusion in a Roman monas-
 
 250 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 tery, to which she was ordered to repair within 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 On that fatal morning, the 16th of April, her two 
 agents who had been previously arrested, conveyed 
 to Paris, and condemned by a military commission 
 were led forth to the plain of Grenelle, to die. The 
 unfortunate Chipanti was shot, in accordance with 
 his sentence. His companion was reprieved at the 
 last moment a bootless clemency; for his mental 
 agony had touched the sources of life, and he expired 
 a few days after, in the place of his confinement. 
 
 A second illustration of this species of incident is 
 furnished by a circumstance referring to the cele- 
 brated Russian statesman, Apraxin. The writer is 
 not aware that it has ever been in print. At all 
 events, as the lady by whom it was communicated 
 knew, in her youth, the Russian officer who was an 
 astonished eyewitness of the second vision, it is 
 permissible to relate the anecdote. 
 
 Apraxin and the Prince Dolgorouki were, through 
 life, on terms of the most intimate friendship. It 
 is said that, at some period of their lives (which 
 were far from ascetic), an agreement had been made 
 that he who died first should, if permitted, appear, 
 and warn his friend of that fact, as also, in due 
 time, of his own approaching end.
 
 APRAXIN AND DOLGOROUKI. 251 
 
 As Apraxin, one morning, lay awake in bed, he 
 suddenly became aware of the clink of a sabre and 
 spur, and, drawing back the curtain, beheld his 
 friend Dolgorouki standing near the bed. Before 
 he could frame a word of inquiry, the latter gave 
 him to understand that he had died, had come to 
 fulfil their compact, and would repeat his visit 
 whenever Apraxin's end drew near. He then disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Some years elapsed before the latter portion of 
 his promise was fulfilled. At length Apraxin, still 
 not much past the prime of life, was stricken with 
 fatal disease. A young aide-de-camp, who slept on 
 a couch in the minister's chamber, was aroused by 
 a soldier-step in the passage. The door opened, 
 and the figure of Prince Dolgorouki appeared. As 
 he approached his friend, the latter rose feebly on 
 his arm, and saluted him by name. The Prince 
 then seemed to stoop down beside his friend, and 
 a long conversation succeeded ; but the purport was 
 inaudible. Dolgorouki then quitted the room as he 
 came. The minister expired at the same hour on 
 the ensuing day. 
 
 A third example occurred not very long since. Mr. 
 
 U 3 a gentleman now living in Berkshire, one 
 
 morning awoke his lady, telling her, with some agi-
 
 252 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 tation, that a Mr. D , a person with whom he 
 
 had but a slight acquaintance, had suddenly made 
 his appearance between the bed and the window, 
 and, approaching the bedside, seemed to place before 
 him a parchment having the appearance of a will. 
 The figure pointed to certain lines in the document, 
 
 and Mr. U read : " I hereby appoint C. U , 
 
 of &c., Esq., sole trustee and guardian of my children, 
 and executor of this my will.'" The figure then 
 became invisible. 
 
 Steam and railroad had not visited that immediate 
 neighbourhood ; but, as quickly as information could 
 
 arrive, Mr. U learned that his acquaintance had 
 
 really expired at the moment of the vision having 
 just previously executed a will to the effect above 
 related. 
 
 A fourth example is remarkable. While the 
 Twenty- Third Welsh Fusiliers were quartered at 
 Brecon, some years ago, one of the officers, Captain 
 
 Henry J , suddenly quitted the regiment, owing, 
 
 as was supposed, to financial difficulties in which he 
 had become involved. He was a native of Chester, 
 and had made several intimate friends in the regi- 
 ment, amongst whom was the adjutant, Mr. Enoch. 
 He was also much liked in the ranks. 
 
 One day, Mr. Enoch was passing down a streetin
 
 SINGULAR INCIDENT AT BEECON. 253 
 
 Brecon, when he was accosted by one of the sergeants, 
 who, saluting him, said : 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir, but Captain J has 
 
 not long passed me here in the street. He seemed 
 on his way to the barracks, and I thought you would 
 like to know it." 
 
 " Thank you," said Mr. Enoch, " I will go after 
 him directly." 
 
 " I was very sorry, sir," resumed the sergeant, as 
 they walked along, ' ' to see him looking so ill ; and, 
 indeed, his dress was so shabby, I thought that was, 
 perhaps, one reason why he passed me without speak- 
 ing. He did not wish to be known." 
 
 Mr. Enoch assented, and hastened forward, fully 
 
 expecting to find J at his quarters, and that he 
 
 had come to consult with him in his difficulties. 
 
 Arrived at the barracks, Enoch inquired of the sentry 
 if he had seen Captain Henry J pass the gate. 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the reply ; " he passed across to 
 the officers' quarters." 
 
 When the adjutant reached his rooms, however, 
 he found no one there ; nor could he discover any 
 token of a visitor having called. He visited every 
 part of the barracks without hearing of his friend ; 
 
 no one had seen Captain J , or heard of his 
 
 arrival.
 
 254 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 Mr. Enoch then returned to the sentry , and, send- 
 ing for the sergeant, questioned both closely. Both 
 positively declared their readiness to aver, on oath 
 if necessary, that they had distinctly recognized 
 
 Captain J , that he looked extremely pale, that 
 
 his clothes were not only shabby but patched, and, 
 in fact, scarcely better than those of a common beg- 
 gar ; that he was walking fast, with his eyes fixed on 
 the ground, and was apparently in much trouble. 
 He did not return the sentry's salute, nor take any 
 notice of him, but hastily pursued his way towards 
 the officers' quarters. 
 
 Mr. Enoch spent almost the whole day trying to 
 discover if his friend had concealed himself and 
 where. He visited all his old haunts, and questioned 
 nearly -every one in the town concerning him ; but 
 no one had recognized him excepting the sergeant 
 and the sentry. Tired at last of the fruitless inves- 
 tigation,' Mr. Enoch endeavoured to dismiss the 
 matter from his mind. On the second morning, 
 however, he received a letter from a man in humble 
 circumstances, dated " Chester," announcing that 
 
 Captain J had died on the preceding day in such 
 
 poverty, that he had been actually indebted to the 
 writer for a bed to die on. The only payment he 
 -could promise was to request him, as soon as
 
 THE "WYNDHAM" GHOST. 255 
 
 he (J ) was dead, to write to Mr. Enoch, who, 
 
 for old friendship's sake, might advance the money 
 for his funeral expenses, and indemnify the writer 
 for what he had done for him. This sad executor- 
 ship (it is needless to add) Mr. Enoch faithfully and 
 liberally performed. 
 
 We have, lastly, to add to this familiar class of 
 incident, an example that occurred but a few months 
 since, in London, and was known in private circles 
 as the "Wyndham" ghost, from the circumstance 
 of the witness being a member of the club bearing 
 that name. 
 
 This gentleman, while either lying awake in the 
 morning, or else in the act of dressing, at his. apart- 
 ments in Jermyn Street, chancing to turn his head, 
 saw his friend, Mr. , standing erect and motion- 
 less in the corner of the room. An exclamation 
 of surprise had hardly passed his lips, when the figure 
 became invisible ; but so distinct and life-like had the 
 apparition been, that the impression conveyed could 
 not have been more vivid and complete had it re- 
 mained an hour. Mr. 's mind at once accepted 
 
 the idea that something serious had occurred in 
 reference to his friend, and, resolved to satisfy him- 
 self, immediately after breakfast threw himself into 
 a cab and proceeded to the former's private residence^.
 
 256 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 ill the Regent's Park. His misgiving was sadly 
 
 verified ; Mr. had not returned home as usual 
 
 on the previous night, but/ early that morning, a 
 letter had been received from him, stating that, 
 before it was delivered, he should be no more. His 
 own hand had too faithfully fulfilled the prophecy. 
 
 Our next illustration resembles that description of 
 phantasm of which an example is recorded at p. 82. 
 
 At the village of Baling, near London, not many 
 years ago, there lived a very beautiful girl, the 
 daughter of a farmer. She had been betrothed to a 
 young man of the neighbourhood,' a farmer also, 
 but, shortly before the time proposed for their mar- 
 riage, retracted the pledge she felt she had too rashly 
 given. Very soon after, she suddenly disappeared, 
 nor did all the anxious inquiries of her friends avail 
 to discover any trace of her whereabout. 
 
 Two or three years elapsed, when, one night, a 
 gentlemen named M (uncle of the writer's in- 
 formant) , who was at that time resident at Ealing, and 
 had been well acquainted with the missing girl, was 
 proceeding home from a party. Approaching a place 
 where a country road crossed the greater highway, 
 he observed a young woman walking before him. 
 Quickening his pace, she followed his example; 
 slackening it, so did she, until, piqued by the appa-
 
 PHANTASM AT BALING. 257 
 
 rent coquettishness, he hastened forward, overtook, 
 accosted her, and offered to put his arm round her 
 waist. She turned to him ; it was the beautiful face 
 of the missing girl ; but, to his utter amazement, his 
 arm came back to him empty ! She seemed to have 
 faded into nothing at his touch. Horror-stricken, 
 
 Mr. M hastened homeward, and related to his 
 
 friends what had just occurred. 
 
 A little while after this adventure, certain suspi- 
 cious began to attach to the young farmer before 
 mentioned. He was accused of the murder of his 
 fickle mistress ; and, search having been made for 
 her body, it was ultimately discovered, buried close 
 to the crossroad before described. 
 
 The following recent and authentic examples belong 
 to the class of incident, noticed at p. 118 et seq., as 
 associated with certain houses. The names are at 
 the service, as a private communication, of any reader 
 whose interest in the subject is sufficient to suggest 
 the inquiry. 
 
 W House, Hants, was formerly the residence 
 
 of General H , a name known in English history 
 
 in connexion with the Rebellion of 1746, as that of a 
 gallant and loyal but not very successful leader. It 
 is still inhabited by those of his house and name. 
 Not long since a lady, a friend of the family
 
 258 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 happened to arrive on a visit, just as they had re- 
 turned from a journey, and, in the somewhat con- 
 fused state of the household, found herself established 
 in a bedchamber which, for some reason or other, 
 had been rarely used. 
 
 On the following morning, her hosts conducted 
 her through the old mansion, and, among other 
 apartments, introduced her to the picture gallery. 
 Stopping suddenly before one of the portraits, she 
 inquired with much earnestness whose it was. Her 
 friends replied that it was that of their ancestor, 
 
 General H , and asked why it had seemed to 
 
 affect her more than his plumed and booted brothers 
 of the war. 
 
 " That man," she answered, " was in my room 
 last night !" 
 
 She went on to relate that, soon after retiring to 
 her chamber, she was sitting in an armchair, and 
 looking abstractedly at a dark old wardrobe that 
 covered a large portion of one wall, when it appeared 
 suddenly to open, and the man she had recognized 
 in the picture issued forth. A singular feeling, that 
 had in it neither surprise nor alarm, seemed to take 
 possession of her; and when he made signs, as 
 though inviting her to follow, she did so without 
 hesitation.
 
 EXTRAORDINARY APPARITIONS. 259 
 
 Passing, as it seemed, through the wardrobe, there 
 appeared a small door at the back, through which 
 they entered upon a staircase leading down into a 
 narrow room, with a stone floor. Here the figure 
 
 paused, and pointed downwards. Mrs. 's eyes 
 
 naturally followed the direction of his finger, but, on 
 looking up again, he was gone. 
 
 Mrs. was perfectly willing to regard the whole 
 
 as a species of dream, and, as such, would probably 
 have banished it from her mind, had it not been so 
 forcibly recalled by the picture. The family, how- 
 ever, were much struck by the occurrence ; for, as 
 they now informed their guest, there did really exist 
 a door behind the wardrobe, leading to a staircase 
 which communicated with a small room, at present 
 disused, which had a stone floor, and was formerly a 
 butler's pantry. 
 
 It was in this house that, some years since, another 
 extraordinary incident occurred. 
 
 The governess ofthe family, at tbat time, residing 
 
 at W , one morning received a letter from her 
 
 father, containing a pressing summons to meet him 
 at a certain town, not far distant. This man bore 
 a very indifferent character, and lived principally 
 upon his daughter's earnings it being his custom 
 to appropriate as much of these as he could possibly
 
 260 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 extort from her. On the present occasion, the young 
 lady, anticipating some unusual demand,, drew the 
 whole of what was at the time due to her, and set 
 out on her journey. She was never heard of more. 
 
 The inquiry concerning her had ceased it being 
 concluded that she had accompanied her father 
 abroad when, one evening, the assembled family 
 were startled by the entrance of one of the house- 
 maids (a girl lately arrived), who, in great alarm, 
 related that she had gone into an apartment near at 
 hand, and seldom used (it was the old schoolroom) , 
 in order to write a letter to her friends, when she 
 suddenly "felt" that there was someone else in the 
 room. Looking up, she saw, standing, almost at her 
 side, a lady dressed in a scarlet petticoat and a 
 black jacket. She could not have entered by the 
 door, nor, indeed, was there any such person in 
 the house. The girl screamed, and ran from the 
 room. 
 
 She was quieted with some difficulty, and the 
 matter was passing from remembrance, when it one 
 day became necessary to unpack and examine certain 
 boxes which had been placed aside for some time. 
 One of these proved to be the box of the poor 
 governess, containing all her little property, and, 
 among other articles of dress, the scarlet petticoat
 
 PHANTOM OF LADY DOEOTHY. 261 
 
 and black jacket in which the vision seen by the 
 housemaid was habited. The writer's informant was 
 a connexion of the family, and a visitor in the house 
 at the time of the discovery and recognition of these 
 articles. 
 
 The Brown Lady of M Hall is so well known 
 
 to the numerous friends and connexions of the noble 
 family whom she occasionally distinguishes with her 
 unwelcome presence, that, to some of our readers, an 
 introduction may be unnecessary. To others, it may 
 be proper to mention that this curious and authen- 
 ticated apparition is supposed to be that of the beau- 
 tiful Lady Dorothy "W , whose savage husband, 
 
 in a paroxysm of ill-founded jealousy, deprived her 
 of eyesight, in order that those luminous orbs should 
 "betray no more men." Clad in a loose brown 
 silken robe, and with her disfigured face half-averted, 
 the phantom of the unhappy lady revisits the scene 
 of her earthly sufferings, always the herald of death 
 to one or other of the family. Within these few 
 years several such visitations have been recorded, 
 followed in each case by the decease of some mem- 
 ber of the family. 
 
 On one of these occasions, two young men had 
 
 come over from Cambridge on a visit to M Hall. 
 
 Passing up the chief staircase, before dinner, they
 
 262 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 encountered and made way for a lady in a rustling 
 brown silk dress, who came rather hastily down. 
 They caught hut a partial glimpse of her face, which 
 she seemed anxious to conceal; but what they did 
 see, as well as a something singular and unusual in 
 her whole manner and appearance, induced the young 
 men to pause and look after her, until she turned a 
 corner in the hall, and passed out of sight. On the 
 following morning, the visitors accompanied their 
 
 hostess, Lady T , through some of the apartments 
 
 of the old mansion, and at length arrived at one used 
 by her ladyship as her boudoir. As they entered, 
 the eye of one of the Cantabs fell upon a full-length 
 picture over the mantelpiece. 
 
 "Why, there," he exclaimed, "is the strange- 
 looking person we met on the stairs, as we went up 
 to dress !" 
 
 Lady T merely answered, hastily, that it was 
 
 the picture of an ancestor, Lady Dorothy W. Her 
 visible annoyance, however, induced the young men 
 to question a friend of the family on the subject, 
 when the latter made them acquainted with the 
 popular tradition, all mention of which in the family 
 was carefully avoided. A few days later occurred 
 
 the death of a relative of the T 's, who resided 
 
 in a distant county.
 
 THE BROWN LADY. 263 
 
 Another of the Brown Lady's visits was related to 
 
 a friend of the writer, by an eyewitness, Mr. E . 
 
 This gentleman, while staying, with his wife, at 
 M Hall, having occasion one evening to go up- 
 stairs, caught sight of a singular brown figure leaning, 
 as it seemed, against the bannisters on the top land- 
 ing. The idea instantly occurred to him that some 
 one of the party had resolved to personate the Brown 
 Lady, and had stationed herself above, hoping to 
 startle him as he passed. In order to defeat this 
 purpose, Mr. E , who knew the mansion tho- 
 roughly, hurried on to a part where a staircase, rarely 
 used, conducted by a backway to the upper apart- 
 ments. To his amazement, the same brown figure 
 appeared at the top of this staircase also, in the same 
 attitude of expectation ! "Without a moment's pause 
 he sprang upstairs, but. quicker than his own move- 
 ment, the figure had disappeared. 
 
 Mr. E and his lady (who was a cousin of the 
 
 family) had returned to their own country residence, 
 when his wife aroused him one morning, complain- 
 ing of illness. After taking some restoratives, she 
 slept again, but once more awoke, declaring that she 
 was becoming seriously ill, and had moreover been 
 distressed by constant dreams of the Brown Lady 
 of M . A neighbouring physician was instantly
 
 264 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 summoned, but, before lie could arrive, Mrs. E 
 
 had expired. 
 
 Our next example, one deserving of especial atten- 
 tion, shall be given in the words of the eyewitness : 
 
 ' ' I would have sent you an account of my first 
 night at P Hall, before this, had I not been pre- 
 vented. Remember, I do not say I saw a ghost, but 
 certainly there was a most extraordinary coincidence 
 between what I saw and what, if ghosts are, I ought 
 to have seen. 
 
 "The facts are these : We arrived late in the 
 
 evening at P Hall, on the 3rd of November, 
 
 1857 ; and as there was a large party staying in the 
 house, we declined dressing and appearing in the 
 drawing-room, but had tea in the library with Mrs. 
 
 L . About half- past ten we retired to bed. Our 
 
 room was a very large one, and contained an old- 
 fashioned bed with tapestry curtains. 
 
 " I awoke in the night, and saw the figure of a 
 lady standing at the foot of the bed. She appeared 
 to be stooping down, so that I saw nothing above a 
 ruff which she wore. Apparently, she had something 
 under her arm. 
 
 " I concluded that the vibration of the long railway 
 journey had affected my nerves, or that perhaps the
 
 A SINGULAR VISION. 265 
 
 singular vision might be the precursor of an illness ; 
 and, with that comfortable idea, closed my eyes, and 
 tried tosleep. Not succeeding in this, I presently looked 
 again. There was the same figure sitting on the foot 
 of the bed. I stretched out my leg, but there was 
 no resistance. I then looked at my watch by the 
 night-light; it was twenty minutes past two. At 
 this moment it came to my recollection that the 
 spectral illusions mentioned by Abercrombie passed 
 away when persistently contemplated. I determined, 
 therefore, to gaze at my visitor until she departed, 
 which after a time, by imperceptible degrees, she 
 did. 
 
 " At breakfast, I asked Mrs. L if the house 
 
 was haunted, when she told me that the bed in the 
 room I had occupied belonged to the old house, and 
 that a man had murdered his wife in it by cutting off 
 her head. Tradition stated that she was allowed to 
 appear once a year with her head under her arm. 
 
 " I then told her that I had seen a lady sitting on 
 my bed for at least twenty minutes, whose head I 
 could not distinguish. 
 
 " This is the story. Again I say, I do not claim 
 to have seen a ghost. The coincidence is the singular 
 feature, and for that I can offer no solution." 
 
 A somewhat similar instance occurred in the winter
 
 266 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 of 1861, at an old mansion in Somersetshire. No 
 story of the kind has been more completely authen- 
 ticated; still, as so frequently happens, the permission 
 to make the circumstance known is coupled with a 
 stipulation to withhold the actual names. 
 
 The house which was the scene of the following 
 inciflents stands on the border of a village not many 
 miles from Bristol, in a mining district. It is the 
 property of an old county family, buthasbeen let 
 to different tenants, and, at the period above men- 
 tioned, had been for five years in the occupation of 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. G . 
 
 Just before Christmas in that year, a friend of 
 Mrs. G came to pass a few days with them. 
 On the morning after her arrival the visitor requested 
 that the housekeeper might be allowed to sleep in 
 her room. The proposal created a little surprise in 
 her hostess' mind, as she was aware that her friend 
 was by no means of a nervous temperament ; but the 
 arrangement was of course acceded to. As evening 
 drew 6n, however, the visitor appeared still more 
 uneasy in her mind, and at length requested Mrs. 
 
 G to permit her to exchange rooms with any one 
 
 of the family who might be so inclined. 
 
 Upon this Mrs. G pressed for an explanation, 
 
 and, with some reluctance, her friend related that,
 
 A NIGHTLY VISITANT. 2G7 
 
 on the previous night, some time after she had retired 
 to rest, she beheld a figure in white walk out of the 
 little dressing-room (out of which there was no egress 
 save through the chamber) straight into a large 
 hanging wardrobe. Imagining it to be a maid- 
 servant walking in her sleep, Mrs. got out of 
 
 bed, and opened the wardrobe door. To her horror, 
 no one was to be seen ! Not being, as has been inti- 
 mated, of a nervous turn, she returned quietly to 
 bed, resolving to say nothing to the family of what 
 she had seen, should it be possible to effect a change 
 of rooms without it. This, however, her friend's 
 eager questioning rendered impossible. 
 
 The next inhabitants of the room happened to be 
 
 two children, on a visit to the young G s. On 
 
 returning to their home, and being questioned as to 
 how they had enjoyed their visit, &c., they replied, 
 
 " Very much ; Jbut that Lizzy G would come 
 
 every night, and frighten them by standing, dressed 
 in white, at the bedside. They had always concealed 
 their heads beneath the bed-clothes, and on looking 
 up again, she was generally gone." 
 
 By this time the story of the ghost had become a 
 common topic in the family, and reached the ears of 
 
 Mr. H , a son-in-law of Mr. G , who laughed 
 
 the matter to scorn, and declared his intention of
 
 268 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 coming to lay the ghost, on the first opportunity. 
 This soon occurred, and the bold champion withdrew 
 to the disturbed room, openly declaring that, should 
 he witness anything strange, he should refer it at 
 once to his own excited imagination. 
 
 For two or three nights nothing unusual happened. 
 At length, one night, he awoke suddenly, and dis- 
 tinctly saw a figure come from the dressing-room 
 and stand at the foot of the bed. True to his ima- 
 ginative theory, he laid his finger on his pulse, and 
 counted eighty. Still the figure retained its posi- 
 tion. Mr. H then accosted the intruder, desiring 
 
 it to leave the chamber. It then became invisible. 
 
 Mr. H immediately leaped from the bed, and, 
 
 rushing to the spot where the vision had seemed to 
 stand, stamped upon the floor, in the hope of dis- 
 covering some clue to what he now believed to be a 
 trick. He also narrowly examined the dressing- 
 room, the cupboards, &c., but nothing suspicious was 
 to be found. 
 
 On the following day he made two drawings of the 
 figure he had seen, which he described as that of an 
 old but handsome man in the costume of the time 
 of George III. the long laced waistcoat reaching 
 nearly to the knees, &c. The countenance wore 
 a peculiarly sad and almost imploring expression.
 
 TEADITION OF S HALL. 269 
 
 On first approaching the bed, the figure had raised 
 its hands, clasped together, in a beseeching manner. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. G next took possession of the 
 
 haunted room, but saw nothing. It was subse- 
 quently tenanted by several other parties, almost all 
 of whom are stated to have seen the figure before 
 described. 
 
 No tradition is afloat in the neighbourhood con- 
 cerning the house, beyond a vague story, having 
 reference to two headless skeletons, said but not 
 proved to have been uncovered in rebuilding the 
 porch. 
 
 A remarkable instance, which may be classed with 
 
 these, occurred some time back in relation to S 
 
 Hall, the country seat of the Lords C , but now 
 
 the property of the Marquess of H . A certain 
 
 apartment which always retained the name of 
 
 " Lord C 's room" had been for several years 
 
 abandoned, and nailed up, on account of everyone 
 who attempted to occupy it having been annoyed by 
 a sound of incessant sighing and weeping, as of one 
 in the profoundest grief. On the Hall coming into 
 
 the possession of Lord H , this room was opened 
 
 and refurnished, and the place itself was subsequently 
 
 let to Colonel D . 
 
 His family had been but a short time in possession,
 
 270 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 when complaints began to be made in reference to 
 
 " Lord C 's room." More than one guest had 
 
 occupied the apartment as a sleeping-room, and each 
 in turn affirmed that he had been annoyed by sounds 
 similar to those before described so loudly and 
 incessantly repeated, as to preclude all idea of quiet 
 rest. The colonel and his lady themselves took 
 possession of the room, and were compelled to ac- 
 knowledge the truth of what had been alleged. 
 There was a painful tradition associated with the 
 
 Lord C from whom this room derived its name. 
 
 He was a man of the worst character, addicted to 
 every species of debauchery, and utterly unscrupulous 
 in the mode of attaining any vicious end. His 
 
 mother, who continued to reside with him at S , 
 
 on his succeeding to the title and property, had 
 adopted a very beautiful orphan girl, who was her 
 inseparable companion. This girl one day went out 
 with the purpose of taking a short walk in the 
 neighbouring wood-paths. She was never seen again. 
 The magnificent rewards offered by her protectress 
 produced no result not the slightest trace of the 
 poor girl was ever obtained. But there were not 
 wanting rumours that connected her disappearance 
 with some evil dealing of the young lord. It was, 
 in fact, openly suggested that he had waylaid the un-
 
 HOEEIBLE DISCOVEEY. 271 
 
 happy creature in the forest, outraged and murdered 
 her, and concealed the body in the neighbourhood of 
 the mansion. 
 
 Colonel D did not hesitate to report to Lord 
 
 H the singular circumstance which threatened 
 
 to render one of his apartments uninhabitable, and 
 invited his lordship to come and judge for himself. 
 Whether this proposal was accepted is not certain. 
 
 It is known, however, that Lord H directed that 
 
 the room be subjected to a rigid examination in ac- 
 cordance with which, the panels were removed and 
 the floor taken up when, beneath the latter, was 
 found an adult female skeleton. The inquiry which 
 followed threw no new light upon the matter. The 
 remains were interred in the village graveyard, and 
 thenceforward no complaints were made of dis- 
 turbances in " Lord C 's room," in explanation 
 
 of which latter circumstance, it has been not unrea- 
 sonably suggested that the transmission of currents 
 of air through the boards old, shrunken, and inar- 
 tistically replaced might possibly have been the 
 origin of the mysterious sounds. 
 
 Such tales do not attach exclusively to the dwell- 
 ings of the rich. A friend of the writer's while in 
 Devonshire, a short time since, was conversing with a 
 girl of the farmer class, whom she had known
 
 272 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 from childhood, and who related the following 
 story. 
 
 The girl's grandfather had resided upon a small en- 
 tailed estate, which had descended from father to son 
 for several generations. Upon the old man's death, 
 it had devolved upon his eldest son, who, however, 
 holding some office or appointment at Plymouth, con- 
 tinued to reside at the latter place, giving up the 
 paternal mansion as a home for his mother and 
 her second son, John. The latter soon after died, 
 and the old lady, thus left alone, received a com- 
 panion in the person of her granddaughter a child 
 of the eldest son who relates the story. 
 
 For several nights after her arrival at the farm, the 
 girl had been awakened by people " clumping" up 
 the stairs, as if in heavy farm-boots, at all hours of 
 the night a singular circumstance being that, though 
 many seemed to go up, none came down again. Not 
 being at first well acquainted with the establishment, 
 the girl forbore to make any remark until, observ- 
 ing that but two or three persons slept in the house, 
 and these in a different part from whence the sounds 
 emanated, she asked her grandmother one morning 
 what became of all the people she had heard stump- 
 ing up to bed during the past night. 
 
 The old lady, who was exceedingly deaf, seemed to
 
 "UNCLE JOHN." 273 
 
 have some difficulty in comprehending the question, 
 but on the girl's repeating it, aided by pantomimic 
 gestures of walking upstairs in heavy boots, promptly 
 replied : 
 
 " Lord bless you, my dear, 'tis nothing but your 
 uncle John ! He's always walking up to his room, 
 poor dear ! I used to hear his step every night 
 clump, clump just as when he was alive. But bless 
 you ! I've got so deaf lately, that I can't hear'n no 
 longer !" 
 
 Upon this reassuring explanation, the younger 
 lady decided upon shortening her visit, and lost no 
 time in reporting the matter to her father. The 
 latter then brought his wife and family to the farm, 
 when, strange as it may seem, the steps of " uncle 
 John" proved so annoying, and so utterly unaccount- 
 able, that the farm was ultimately abandoned at 
 least as a dwelling. 
 
 The circumstance about to be related occurred a 
 short time since. For once it is not necessary to re- 
 strict ourselves to initials. Mr. and Mrs. Moran were 
 travelling in Germany, in company with some 
 friends Admiral Sir B. and Lady Macnamara and, 
 arriving at Wiesbaden, established themselves in a 
 suite of rooms at No. , Wilhelmstrasse, the cham- 
 bers of the two married couples being separated by
 
 274 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 the salon. Between four and five o'clock one morn- 
 ing, Mrs. M., who was usually a heavy sleeper, 
 was suddenly aroused by some noise in the adjoining 
 apartment the salon the door of which had been 
 left slightly ajar. To her utter astonishment, her 
 eye fell upon the motionless figure of an old lady 
 seated upon a chair about midway between the door 
 and the bed. She was sitting upon the edge of the 
 chair so that some of Mr. M/s clothes, which 
 hung upon the back, were fully visible and was 
 gazing out through the half-open door, a position 
 from which she never moved. Her arms, which were 
 folded on her bosom, were half bare, brown and 
 withered, as of one in extreme age; the face, so 
 much as could be seen, was much wrinkled, and wore 
 a sad expression. The dress was peculiar, and some- 
 what antiquated. The writer will not attempt its 
 analysis, but " she wore a large cape, and a little 
 cape," said Mrs. Moran, and, after other details, 
 added " The whole figure, dress and all, imprinted 
 itself on my memory as faithfully as a photograph. 
 I could sit down this moment and sketch the com- 
 plete picture." 
 
 Although fully persuaded that she was looking 
 upon no material being, Mrs. M. retained the most 
 tranquil self-possession a circumstance which may
 
 CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE AT BADEN. 275 
 
 account for the minute impressions she was able to 
 retain ; and, without arousing her husband, continued 
 for some minutes to contemplate the mysterious 
 visitant, until a ray of sunshine, bursting through 
 the window, and streaming directly upon the phan- 
 tom, seemed to absorb the latter in its radiance. In 
 a few seconds it was gone. 
 
 At breakfast, Lady M complained of the 
 
 noises in the sitting-room, very early that morning, 
 and expressed the surprise she had felt at finding, 
 after all, that the door remained fastened within, as 
 they had left it the preceding night. Upon this, 
 Mrs. M. related her singular vision, and a con- 
 sultation followed as to the propriety of instituting 
 some inquiry concerning the house, its inmates and 
 antecedents. Ultimately, however, the discreeter 
 course was adopted, of changing their lodgings. 
 
 At another favourite German watering-place 
 Baden-Badenthere stands, in one of the smaller 
 streets, an old house that, many years since, formed 
 part of a monastery. It is occupied every season by 
 the summer and autumn visitors, and has had many 
 English tenants. From two families of the latter, 
 the following curious circumstance has been de- 
 rived. 
 
 A year or two ago, Mr. and Mrs. N , while
 
 276 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 residing in the house, noticed that their children 
 made frequent allusion to a certain somebody who 
 was in the habit of paying constant visits to their 
 play -room, and seemed to take much interest in what 
 went on there. On being questioned, they described 
 the individual as a little old man in a brown coat, 
 without a hat, and with bare feet. He had never 
 spoken to them, but always stood, with folded hands, 
 looking silently on. They had no fear of his presence, 
 but, at the same time, experienced a sort of reluc- 
 tance to make his closer acquaintance ! No one of 
 the servants, though they had long been familiar 
 with the children's story, had ever seen the person 
 they described. 
 
 The following year, while in London, Mrs. N 
 
 chanced to meet a family of her acquaintance who 
 had passed some years abroad. In the course of the 
 
 conversation, Mrs. N alluded to Baden-Baden, 
 
 and also mentioned the house she had occupied. Her 
 friend smiled. 
 
 " We had that very house," she said, " in 18. I 
 shall never forget it. It was there the children saw 
 their little monk \" 
 
 She went on to explain that an individual, in every 
 respect answering to the description of the figure 
 seen by the little N s, had been a constant
 
 THE OLD MONK. 277 
 
 attendant at her children's play-room, never coming 
 if any other members of the household were present. 
 Struck by the positive assertions of the children, she 
 had at last questioned the proprietor of the house on 
 the subject, when, to her utter amazement, he nei- 
 ther doubted nor denied the circumstance coolly 
 observing 
 
 "O if you mean the old monk, madam, you 
 need not mind him. He never hurts or frightens 
 anybody. Bless you, he's been dead hundreds of 
 years ! This house was part of his convent once 
 that's all." 
 
 For the following communication, the writer is in- 
 debted to a friend and correspondent in Sardinia. 
 The narrative will be best given in his own words : 
 
 " What I have to relate to you occurred in a house 
 by no means adapted to the presumed taste of 
 restless spirits. It was no feudal castle no dilapi- 
 dated, many-chambered baronial hall nor was any 
 bloody tragedy to my knowledge interwoven with its 
 history. It was, in fact, quite a new house, not long 
 completed when I entered into possession. 
 
 " There were three rooms to the front which I 
 will designate the north (my bedroom), the middle, 
 and the east room and two others to the back the
 
 278 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 west and south room (the housekeeper's room) ; the 
 space between the last being occupied by the pantry 
 and stair, and a passage leading to the south room. 
 The ground-floor was divided into stores, and there 
 was a room and kitchen above. Each door in the 
 dwelling apartment, beside the usual lock, had a bolt 
 at top and bottom, of which I was always careful to 
 avail myself. 
 
 " I had not long occupied the house, when I dis- 
 covered that there were ' strange things among us. J 
 During the night footsteps were heard in the rooms, 
 doors opened and shut, and so on. At first, the old 
 housekeeper, the only other inmate, would remark 
 in the mornings 
 
 " ' Signor padrone, lei era forse infacendato jeri 
 notto, si e caricato tardi !' (Master, you were work- 
 ing hard last night, to have gone to bed so late !) 
 
 " At length, however, it became a familiar house- 
 hold affair, and little notice was taken of it, except 
 on occasion of some particular performance. Two of 
 these instances I will mention. 
 
 " One night, after retiring to my bedroom, and 
 whilst reading my ' Galignani/ I was surprised by 
 an authoritative rap-tap-tap at the door opening into 
 the middle room. After recovering from my surprise, 
 I asked
 
 NOCTURNAL DISTURBANCES. 279 
 
 " ( CUe?> (Who is there?) 
 
 For answer, there was a repetition of the sum- 
 mons ; but, not feeling quite at ease on the subject, 
 I said : 
 
 " ( O rispondi, o non apro.' (Reply, or don't come 
 in.) 
 
 " A footstep was now distinctly heard, crossing the 
 middle room ; the door to the east room opened and 
 closed again ; and the same thing occurred with re- 
 spect to the door opening into the housekeeper's 
 room, and to that leading from it into the passage 
 conducting to the stores, the door of one of which 
 opened and reclosed, when the noises ceased. 
 
 " Convinced that robbers had entered the house, I 
 gave notice to the corpo di guardia, which was only 
 a few paces from the west room; and, men being 
 placed at the front and back doors, I rushed to the 
 latter from the west room, to give access to the sol- 
 diers, some of whom went down to watch the store 
 door, while others proceeded with me to examine the 
 dwelling-rooms . 
 
 " At the top of the stair we met the old house- 
 keeper, armed with a large carving-knife. She had 
 heard the doors of her room open, the footstep cross 
 it, and proceed along the passage, and, subsequently, 
 an unusual noise of the voices and movements of
 
 280 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 people in the house ; and, true to her previous train- 
 ing (for the old dame had sailed with her husband in 
 a privateer), she had hiirried to lend assistance. 
 
 "All the doors of the dwelling apartments were 
 found precisely as I had left them. The store door 
 was also found locked, and all right. It was opened, 
 however, the stores searched, and the bags pricked 
 with the bayonets, but nothing was found. 
 
 " A young military officer commanding the detach- 
 ment at the place, having had the misfortune to lose 
 his wife soon after his arrival, I lent him the east 
 room of my house. One morning he remarked to 
 me : 
 
 " ( You must have been very busy last night.' 
 
 " I inquired his meaning, when he explained that, 
 soon after retiring to bed, he had heard me, as he 
 thought, occupied in arranging papers, the rustle 
 of which was so distinct as, to a certain extent, to pre- 
 vent his sleeping. He had likewise heard steps moving 
 to and from the table, as though to procure papers 
 from other parts of the room. I told him I had 
 retired to bed immediately, when he replied : 
 
 '"Forse mia povera moylie venuta a visitarmi.' 
 (Perhaps my poor wife came to visit me.) 
 
 " The old housekeeper had sometimes remarked to 
 us that these disturbances were occasioned by the
 
 A WAEMNG CONVEYED. 281 
 
 house not having received the customary benediction. 
 To remedy this, she took occasion in my absence to 
 have the aforesaid ceremony performed ; and it is at 
 least a fact that we had no more trouble with our 
 ghost. 
 
 " The old woman, in addition to her little piratical 
 excursions (for I doubt the privateer was little else), 
 had taken part in the Janana revolution, in which the 
 celebrated Ali Pacha lost his life. She had been 
 schooled in firmness and resolution, and was certainly 
 no bigot. The intervention of the priest was, I have 
 reason to believe, suggested by her simply as a means 
 of getting rid of our nocturnal annoyances." 
 
 An instance of the warning impression referred to 
 
 at p. 164 et seq., has been treasured in the B 
 
 family. Let not the simplicity of this little "tale 
 of a grandmother" induce the reader to overlook the 
 fact that the yielding to the impression thus unac- 
 countably imparted, in all probability preserved a 
 life. The apparently trivial nature of incidents like 
 these should not blind us to their value as part of a 
 vast accumulation of evidence, testifying to the ope- 
 ration among us of a yet unfathomed power, or law. 
 So that the testimony be true, it matters little for the 
 medium. Age, and youth the most restricted rea- 
 son, and the widest grasping human philosophy can,
 
 282 STEANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 in this particular render equal service, and are en- 
 titled to equal notice. 
 
 The grandmother or great-aunt of the present 
 
 head of the family of B , was sitting alone in 
 
 her room, reading by the light of a candle placed in 
 rather dangerous proximity to her head. This was at 
 a period when ladies' caps were high and complex 
 structures. 
 
 Suddenly her studies were interrupted by a voice 
 distinctly saying : 
 
 " Take the pins out of your cap." 
 
 She looked up with a start, but no one was in the 
 room, and she presently resumed her studies, when 
 the same voice repeated, with greater emphasis : 
 
 " Take the pins out of your cap \" 
 
 Mechanically, the hearer obeyed ; and well it was 
 she did so, for the next moment her cap burst out 
 into flame. The pins being fortunately withdrawn, 
 she was enabled to snatch off the burning fabric, 
 without sustaining the least injury. 
 
 Among the appearances not assignable to any 
 especial class, and for which no satisfactory explana- 
 tion can be offered, are such as the following in 
 which the phantom of a lady (at this moment living 
 and in perfect health) was twice distinctly seen.
 
 PHANTOM AT A GLASS. 283 
 
 When Mrs. A was a girl of eighteen, some 
 
 slight indisposition had induced her[to avail herself of 
 the attendance of the nurse an old servant of the 
 family who accordingly shared her chamber. Both 
 being one night in bed, the nurse suddenly awoke 
 her by the eager question : 
 
 "What are you doing at the glass, miss? Do, 
 pray, go back to bed. You will certainly take cold!" 
 
 " What do you mean, nurse ?" inquired the young 
 lady, from her bed. 
 
 The nurse sat up, staring through the half-light 
 for it was just dawn in the direction of the dressing- 
 table, and repeated, 
 
 " Whatare you about, miss, with your hair all down?" 
 
 Miss now drew aside the curtain, and con 
 
 vinced the nurse that she was really in her bed, when 
 her attendant declared that she had plainly seen her 
 standing before the toilette-table, combing out her 
 hair. 
 
 Possibly, nurse's story would have caused but little 
 astonishment, were it not for the curious but un- 
 doubted fact that the young lady's mother, a short 
 time after, witnessed precisely the same appearance. 
 
 With regard to the two anecdotes which conclude 
 the former portion of this work the " Ghost of a 
 doll," and the " Bird-Woman," and to which r\-
 
 284 STRANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 ception has been taken, on the ground that they have 
 no legitimate place in a work professing to treat of 
 the immaterial the reader has only to be reminded 
 that these " strange things among us" were adduced 
 as warning examples of the facility with which 
 events, common and natural enough when analysed, 
 become invested with a supernatural character thus 
 diverting the superficial student into false channels 
 of inquiry. In their aspect of the marvellous and 
 inusite, there is a certain resemblance between these 
 weeds and flowers, which renders it inexpedient that 
 they should be allowed to grow together. The more 
 such stories can be traced out and eliminated from 
 the general subject, the more attention can be con- 
 centrated towards the actual theme. 
 
 Furthermore, as touching the " Bird- Woman/' 
 the writer cannot help expressing his surprise at the 
 incredulity with which, in more quarters than one, 
 this curious though certainly painful incident has 
 been received. It is, in the first place, perfectly 
 authentic, the names alone having (in deference to 
 feelings that even an "Athenaeum" critic must 
 respect) been suppressed. Nor, shocking as they 
 are, do its distressing features transcend those of 
 many another example of our fallen and degraded 
 humanity, recorded in the annals of medical science.
 
 FREAKS OP NATTJEE. 285 
 
 We know that the merciless policy of ancient 
 times notably in Rome and Sparta not only de- 
 creed the immediate immolation of monstrous births, 
 but even the slightly deformed, the weak and unpro- 
 mising (" Portentosos foetus extinguimus ; liberos 
 quoque, si debiles monstrosique editi sunt, mergi- 
 mus. Cic. De Leg.} ; but among these fierce, life- 
 despising nations, softer feelings were almost dead. 
 A mother's hands unreluctantly wove the basket in 
 which the newborn must be presently abandoned to 
 death or, perhaps more mercifully, committed it at 
 once to that dark and fearful abyss at the foot of 
 Mount Tagetus, paved with the festering remains of 
 the worst criminals of the republic. Christianity's 
 milder lessons have taught us that what God has 
 deemed worthy of nativity, is worthy of permitted 
 life ; and though the distorted organisation in most 
 cases mercifully brings with it the seeds of early re- 
 lease, not a few of these poor mistakes (with fearful 
 facetiousness styled frolics) of nature are at this 
 moment, in a fit seclusion, the objects of a pitying, 
 self-sacrificing care. The "pig-faced" lady herself 
 was no figment of the imagination, albeit the exag- 
 geration which commonly attends all half-compre- 
 hended mysteries may have added certain burlesque 
 touches to her sad deformity. Any who have travelled
 
 286 STKANGE THINGS AMONG US. 
 
 in the East or even in those parts of Italy where 
 the debased condition of the people has stifled all 
 considerations of delicacy must have encountered, 
 among the miserable mendicants, some who, from 
 natural deformity, or the operation of disease, can 
 scarcely be classed among mankind. 
 
 Because in Humanity's strange book many a 
 terrible line is hidden from the careless observer, let 
 us not ignore, as dreams, that to which other eyes 
 and hearts bear sad, reluctant testimony. Of the 
 " strange things among us," the very strangest are, 
 in the allwise dispensations of Providence, vouch- 
 safed to the fewest witnesses. But the conditions of 
 human faith are hard to meet. No philosophical 
 difficulty in accepting the most startling and marvel- 
 lous propositions so long as these harmonize with 
 our hope, or natter our pride ! On such points there 
 is little questioning of the Creator's power small 
 disposition to criticise His dealings or modes of 
 action. It is only when the insignificance of our 
 being the limited sphere of our actual vision are 
 likely to be made too clearly manifest, that man 
 remembers he has a microscopic eye, and no instru- 
 ment of sufficient power to satisfy it. 
 
 ' 
 
 THE END.