Chapter V: Part 5

There was very little wind last night, as I happen to know in
the following connection. Carter twice over, about 11.30 and
again after midnight, heard the sounds of reading, which she
imitated to me this morning--like the monotoning of a psalm. She
called out to two other maids to listen, and all three heard it.
She felt sure it was not the wind or the pipes. Both the
gardener and the gamekeeper say it was a very quiet night.

_March 28th, Sunday._--As it had been suggested that practical
joking or malicious mischief were in question, we were a good
deal on the _qui vive_ to-night, being alone. I watched from
behind the curtain at an open window from 10.30 P.M. till after
midnight, and again from 4.30 A.M. to 6 A.M. The night was windy
and there was a good deal of noise, but very different in kind
from any of our usual phenomena. We found that there were people
moving about till after midnight, but we did not attach much
importance to this, as the gardeners may have been to the stoves
(the night was frosty), and there is a right-of-way through the
grounds.

No phenomena.

The servants, we find, are alive to the fact that some one
prowls about at night. The footman, who sleeps downstairs, says
they have tried to frighten him, and things have been thrown at
the kitchen windows. I found it out by the fact that I was
seized by the butler and footman when I went out "prowling" on
Sunday night, fancying I had heard footsteps. They were on the
same errand, and caught me in the dark!

_March 29th, Monday._--To-day Miss Langton and I have been very
busy writing in the library, both silent and occupied. Again and
again have we heard footsteps overhead in No. 8, at intervals
between ten A.M. and one, and again in the evening between six
and seven. No rooms are in use on that side of the house--6, 7,
and 8 are all empty. The rooms below are locked up and
shuttered. At 11.30 we both heard some one moving about outside
on the gravel, but it was too dark a night to see any one.

[_Friday, April 2nd_--An unpleasant light has (possibly) been
thrown on these movements. We find to-day that some one has
killed a sheep in the garden, in a retired spot, taking away the
skin and the meat.]

_March 30th, Tuesday._--No phenomena, except the sound of steps
overhead above the library. For this reason, Miss Langton is
going to sleep in No. 8, where the steps occur.

Mr. and Mrs. M---- came.

[We were particularly glad to welcome Mrs. M---- for other
reasons than the pleasure of her society. She is of Spanish
origin, and a Roman Catholic, and according to previous
evidence, so were other persons upon whom specially interesting
phenomena had been bestowed.]

Mr. B. S---- and Miss V. S----, brother and sister of the owner,
dined with us.

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_March 31st, Wednesday._--Mr. and Mrs M---- were put into No. 1.
Both complain of a very sleepless night.

Miss Langton in No. 8 heard sounds after daylight--footsteps
shuffling round the bed, and a knock near the wardrobe. No one
is overhead nor in No. 7, the next room.

Mrs. M---- spent two hours alone in the drawing-room. She asked
me just before lunch what guns those were she had heard. I
suggested "The keeper?" and she said, "No, it is like the gun
you hear at Edinburgh at one o'clock _a long way off_," which is
a good description of the familiar detonating sound (_cf._ under
date, February 8).

Her own account of the day is as follows:--

"B---- HOUSE.

"I arrived here last evening, Tuesday, 30th of March, about six
o'clock. It was a nice bright evening, but cold. I was received
by Miss Freer, who gave me some tea, and then I was taken to my
bedroom by Miss Langton, of whom I asked if my room was haunted.
She said it had 'a reputation', but somehow or another it did
not seem to impress me much. That night Miss S---- and her
brother dined here; they were very pleasant, and talked away
hard, and we played card games, such as 'Old Maid' and
'Muggins.' We went to bed feeling quite happy, saying we had
never been in such an unghostly house before. The bed was quite
comfortable, and we lay talking quite happily, but could not
sleep, and were not in the least bit restless. About two o'clock
we dozed off, and a few minutes to four A.M. we were both
suddenly awoke by a terrific noise, which sounded to me like the
lid of the coal-scuttle having caught in a woman's gown. We then
lay awake until about 6.30, and in that interval we heard a few
noises, what I cannot exactly describe, as they were very
ordinary sounds one might hear in any not very solidly built
house. We came down to breakfast feeling we had passed a
sleepless night, but otherwise quite happy. After breakfast I
went into the smoking-room in the new wing, where my husband was
writing letters. I sat there a good time, and he was in and out
of the room. All the time I heard tramping up above as if the
housemaid was doing the room. Not knowing the geography of the
house I took it for No. 8. and thought what very noisy servants
these were. I then went into the drawing-room to write my own
letters, and Miss Freer came and spoke to me there. While she
was with me there, I heard a distant cannon, exactly like the
one o'clock gun in Edinburgh, and the whole morning a ceaseless
chatter, which I put down to Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the
room next door (_cf._ under date, March 23rd).

_April 1st, Thursday._--This is Mrs. M----'s account of last
night. "Last evening we were late for dinner, as Mr. M---- and I
had been out to see the nun by the burn, but had seen nothing.
The whole evening I had a sort of half consciously disagreeable
feeling, and when I went to my room it was some time before I
could make up my mind to get into bed. The servants very much
annoyed me; they were making such a needless amount of noise in
running about the room overhead. [The room overhead was empty.
Since their adventure of March 23rd, the servants had slept on
the other side of the house.] At last I got into bed, and I may
say I hardly slept a wink the whole night. I simply lay in
terror, of what I cannot say, but I had the feeling of some very
disagreeable sensation in the air, but we did not hear a sound
all night from the time we got into bed until we got up next
morning at 8.30.

"I spent the whole of the morning in the drawing-room writing
letters and reading, and from time to time I went up to No. 1 to
get books and different things, and each time was a little
surprised to find the room empty, as there had been a ceaseless
noise of housemaids, and very noisy ones too. I also heard what
I had described before as the cannon. After luncheon Miss Freer
and Miss Langton and I went out walking, and just as we were
coming in to tea we all three heard the cannon, and then I said
that is the noise I heard every morning, and sometimes in the
evening, in the drawing-room."

This afternoon we were having tea in the drawing-room at 4.30,
Mrs. M----, Miss Langton, and myself. We heard some one walking
overhead in No. 1, a sound we have heard often before, when we
knew the room to be empty above. Mrs. M---- remarked that it was
just the sound she had heard, again and again, when sitting
alone in the drawing-room.

It was so exactly the heavy, heelless steps we had heard before,
that Miss L---- ran upstairs softly to see if any one was there,
but found no one about. Next we heard a loud bang--not of a
door--in the hall, and she went out again to ascertain the
cause, and met the butler on the same errand. We could find
nothing to account for it. It was like the noise before
described, of something dropped heavily into the hall from the
gallery above.

There had been so much trouble of ascertaining whether the
noises were caused by doors banging, that since the warmer
weather set in, ever since our return on March 20th, in fact, we
have had every passage-door opening into the hall and into the
gallery upstairs fixed open with wedges.

We had scarcely settled to our tea again before we again heard
the footsteps overhead, and again Miss Langton went up and found
the room empty. She walked across the room, and we heard her do
so, but the sound was quite different. She did it noisily on
purpose, but though she is very big and tall, she didn't sound
heavy enough.

Mrs. M---- remarks, on hearing this read over, that the sound
was different in character as well as in volume--that the
footsteps she (and we) heard were "between a run and a walk." My
phrase was, and has always been, "as of the quick, heavy steps
of a person whose foot-gear didn't match." We called it, when we
first heard it in No. 8, a "shuffling step."

After she came down the servants' tea-bell rang, and we at once
said, "Now we shall know where they all are." The hall is under
the wing, at the other end of the house, and we knew that the
room underneath us was empty, and the shutters up, and that all
who were in the house were either in the drawing-room or the
servants' hall.

In a few minutes we again heard the pacing footsteps, up and
down, up and down; we heard them at intervals during
half-an-hour. We also heard voices as of a man and woman
talking. I went to the foot of the stairs, just below the door
of No. 1, and heard them plain. Mrs. M---- is not quick of
hearing, but she heard them distinctly several times. At 5.20 we
heard the maids go up the stone staircase, coming away from
their tea, and though we listened till after six, the other
sounds did not occur again.

_April 2nd, Friday._

[Mr. M---- left early, Mrs. M---- remaining till a later train.]

At 11.15 Miss Langton and I were in the library at two different
tables writing. The room was silent. Suddenly we heard a heavy
blow struck on a third table, ten feet at least away from either
of us. I instantly fetched Mrs. M----, and in her hearing Miss
Langton imitated the sound on the same table, by hitting with
her fist as heavily as possible. There is a drawer in the table,
empty, which added to the vibration, and also pendent brass
handles. I tried, but could not make noise enough. We kept watch
in the room till lunch, Mrs. M---- keeping guard when we were
obliged to leave, but nothing happened till, when we were
sitting at luncheon (there is only a single door and a curtain
between the two rooms), we heard it again as above described.

One of the informants, who described the scene which occurred
the day the late Mr. S---- left this house for the last time,
said "a very heavy blow like a man's fist came on the table
between them." This is the same room.

The same sound occurred again while we were at lunch in the
dining-room just now. The first time Miss Langton rushed to the
library and found a housemaid there at the stove, so we agreed
it should not count. It occurred again in about five minutes,
and again she went into the room (which is next the dining-room)
and found it empty and no one in the hall.

Mrs. M----, whom I asked to locate the sound, pointed to just
that part of the wall by the table upon which the knock had
struck.

Signed (as correct) by Mrs. M---- and Miss Langton.

(I have since asked the housemaid if she heard anything, and she
says no, she was making too much noise herself. We all heard it
distinctly, above the clatter of the fire-irons.)

On April 9th Mr. M---- sent me the following account of his
impressions:--

"... You ask me to describe the noises I heard while staying
with you at B----. I should say, in the first place, that I am a
good, but light, sleeper; I seldom lie awake, am generally
asleep five minutes after going to bed, but wake easily, and
awake at once to full consciousness. I am not the least nervous,
and have often slept in so-called 'haunted' rooms [Mr. M---- has
had very exceptional opportunities in this direction]; and while
I certainly cannot say that I altogether disbelieve in what are
commonly called 'ghosts,' I do believe that in nine cases out of
ten, noises, and even appearances, may, if investigated, be
traced to perfectly normal causes.

"We spent three nights at B----: March 30th and 31st, and April
1st. The first two nights room No. 1 was our bedroom, and the
third night room No. 8. Room No. 2 was my dressing-room.

"When talking to you and Miss Langton at the top of the stairs,
just before going to bed, we all of us heard
noises--rappings--coming apparently from No. 2. The noises were
very undoubted, but as we were talking at the time I cannot
define them more accurately.

"When first going to bed, both nights in No. 1, we heard
footsteps and voices apparently in conversation above us. The
sounds seemed to come from a room which was over the bed, but
did not extend as far as the fireplace in No. 1, and also from
the room which would be above the room next to ours behind the
bed."

The rooms overhead were empty. _Cf._ under date April 1st.

"These noises I attributed at the time, and still attribute, to
the maids going to bed. I am bound to say, however, that they
were heard both by Mrs. M---- and her maid, who was in No. 1
with her, during the daytime, at an hour when it was said no
servants were upstairs. These voices and footsteps did not go on
for long into the night. For (I should say) some hours during
the night of the 30th, I frequently heard a sound which seemed
to come from near the fireplace, and which I can best describe
as a gentle tap on a drum--like some one tuning the kettle-drum
in an orchestra. I do not think Mrs. M---- heard this noise, for
though she slept very badly, she was dozing a good deal during
the first half of the night. At 3.55 A.M. I was in a state of
semi-consciousness, when both I and Mrs. M---- were fully
roused by a noise so loud that I wonder it did not wake people
sleeping in other parts of the house. It seemed to come either
from the door between No. 1 and 2, or from between that door and
the fireplace. To me it sounded like a kind of treble rap on a
hollow panel, but far louder than any one could rap with their
knuckles. My wife described it as the sound of some one whose
gown had caught the lid of a heavy coal-scuttle and let it fall.
This noise was not repeated, and by a treble rap I mean the
sound was like an arpeggio chord. I feel certain it was not
against the false window outside, indeed it had the sound of
being in the room. The kettle-drum sounds might easily have been
a trick of the wind, though the night was still, but the only
natural explanation of this noise that I can give is practical
joking, as the noise _might_ have come from my dressing-room.
The coal-scuttle was standing between the fireplace and
door-post, just where the sound seemed to come from. The second
night I moved the scuttle right away to between the head of the
bed and the window, and the noise was not repeated. The second
night the talking and footsteps were both heard when first we
went up; and once, shortly after all was still, early in the
night. Nevertheless we again both of us slept very badly
indeed--I may say that except from about 6 to 8 A.M. I slept
very little either night. I should say that all through both
nights I frequently heard the owls hooting--both the tawny owl
and another, which I think was the little owl; the former on one
occasion was very close to the window, and any one with a vivid
imagination or unacquainted with the cry of the owl (and,
strange as it may seem, a country-bred girl, staying at L----
the other day, did _not_ know the owls' cry when she heard it),
might well take it for shrieks."

_N.B._--No one ever heard shrieks during Colonel Taylor's tenancy at B----.

"The third night, as I have said, we were in No. 8, and both of
us slept like tops, and heard or saw nothing.

"One morning, in the smoking-room in the east wing, I heard
voices which _seemed_ to come from above, but which I am
convinced were from the kitchen beneath.

"As you know, 'Ishbel' was not kind enough to show herself to
me....

"_P.S._--I wrote the above without reading over my wife's
account. I have only to add that I had none of the uncomfortable
sensations she talks of. Bodily and mentally I was comfortable
all night. Nor was I in the least restless--only wakeful. But
for the noises, B---- certainly strikes one as a very unghostly
house."

_April 3rd, Saturday._--Miss Langton and I heard footsteps
walking up and down overhead at dinner-time last night, in No.
7, a room which is not in use. We looked at each other, but did
not at first say anything, on account of the presence of the
servants. After it had gone on for at least ten minutes, I asked
the butler if he had heard them. He at once said, "Yes, and
might he go and see if any one were about?" We heard him go
upstairs and open the door of the room, and walk across it, but
his step was quite different from the sound we had heard. He
came back saying, "The housemaid had been in to draw the blind
down since we had been at dinner." I have questioned her since,
and she says she simply went in and out again--was not there
half a minute.

About four o'clock this afternoon, Miss Langton ran in from the
garden where we were gathering fir-cones, to fetch a basket out
of the library, and heard so much noise going on in the
drawing-room that she went in to investigate. It was empty and
silent. The noise was a violent hammering on the door between
the two rooms on the drawing-room side.

The two rooms below the library and drawing-room were empty, and
shuttered (the smoking-room and billiard-room), No. 1 was
disused (over the drawing-room), and Miss Langton found no one
in No. 8 (over the library). She came back and told me at once.

I have now had the following rooms locked up and the keys taken
away by the butler:--

Ground floor: All the wing and drawing-room.

Above: 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. (I am sleeping in No. 5, Miss Langton
in No. 8.)

Basement: Smoking and billiard rooms.

Mr. T---- arrived in the afternoon. We were all out till
dinner-time. While at dinner, we all three, as well as the
butler, heard steps walking overhead in No. 7, as we did last
night.

_April 4th, Sunday._--I was wakened early this morning by the
sound of a crash. As it was mixed with my dreams I did not think
it worth while to get up and investigate, but looked at my
watch. It was twenty minutes to six. Five minutes later I heard
another crash under the dome--of the kind so often
described--and looked out, but the house was perfectly still. I
heard the servants come down about seven o'clock.

Miss Langton, sleeping in No. 8, describes the same sounds at
the same moment.

Mr. B. S---- and Miss S----, brother and sister of the
proprietor, called.

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Mr. T---- writes under this date:--

"_April 4th, Sunday._--I heard footsteps overhead last evening
while at dinner. Sleeping in No. 1. To bed about 11 P.M. To
sleep in about half-an-hour. Meanwhile I heard sounds as of
reading aloud in No. 8. Woke at 6.20. Heard voices in No. 8
again."

_April 5th, Monday._--Mr. T---- said at breakfast that he had
heard sounds as of some one reading in Miss Langton's room, No.
8, between 11.0 and 11.30 P.M., and again the sound of voices
from the same room in the morning. Miss Langton was alone, nor,
as we have proved--(see under date March 2nd)--could any sound
of reading or speaking have been heard, had any really existed.

_April 6th, Tuesday._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--

"To my room last night about 11 P.M. Loud thuds on the floor
above me, and a heavy thud against the door dividing my room
(No. 1) from the dressing-room beyond (No. 2). I went out and
listened at the servants' staircase. They were talking, but not
moving about. [I learnt on inquiry that they were all in bed by
10.30.--A.G.F.] I went to sleep immediately after I got to bed,
but woke up later with a violent start, as if by a loud noise,
though I heard nothing. I waited a few minutes and then looked
at my watch. It was 12.30. I heard voices talking pretty loud. I
was awake over three-quarters of an hour, then slept till
5.30."

Mr. B. S---- was out fishing with Mr. T---- in the morning, and
came in to lunch and again to dinner. In the evening I had a
good deal of talk with him.

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This afternoon Mrs. ----, a lady well acquainted with the
neighbourhood, came to tea. She asked me about the hauntings,
and said they were matter of common talk in the district. She
also told me that in the late Mr. S----'s time it had been
alleged that the disturbances were intentional annoyances,
though she agreed it was rather a sustained effort.

I also called to say "good-bye" to Mrs. S.----, to whom I
remarked that, though I could not doubt the existence of
phenomena at B----, we had been most comfortable, and had
greatly liked the place.

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Early this morning (I am still sleeping in No. 5) I heard the
familiar crash under the dome. It was about 2.30. Mr. T---- said
at breakfast that he had heard it too.

_Wednesday 7th._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--

"To bed about eleven. To sleep at once. Awakened at 2.30 by a
terrific crash, and the sound of voices. A little later I heard
light raps at the foot of my door, as if a dog had wagged his
tail against it. Looked out, saw nothing; very disturbed night."

_April 8th, Thursday._--Mr. T---- writes, "Woke last night at
12.30. Heard nothing, but slept very badly. I may mention that I
am, as a rule, a very sound sleeper, and as I had taken a lot of
exercise every day--fishing, shooting, cycling, and walking,
from breakfast-time to dark--there was no reason why I should
not sleep."

Mr. T---- had been out the whole of this day with the keepers--heather burning--and was obviously "dead tired" when he went to bed. It is curious that even when not disturbed, he should have slept so badly, but sleepless and nameless discomfort has assailed most persons in No. 1, though the room is large and airy.

_April 8th, Thursday._--We had planned to leave yesterday, but
it was borne in upon me that to-day being the anniversary of the
Major's death, it would be a pity--on the hypothesis of there
being anything supernormal in these phenomena--that the house
should not be under observation to-night.

In the morning the Land-steward called, having heard from Mrs.
S---- that we had heard footsteps about the house at night, and
that I had several times observed a disreputable-looking man
about the place, whom I knew not to be one of the farm-servants.

The admissions hitherto made by him, and by ---- and ----, as to
some of the phenomena, carry the evidence back for over twenty
years.

I don't know whether we have been specially on the _qui vive_
to-day, but we seem to have heard bangs and crashes and
footsteps overhead all day, though all the rooms, except Nos. 1,
5, and 8 are locked up--Mr. T---- occupies No. 1, Miss Langton
No. 8, I No. 5.

Acting upon the hints given us by ---- and ----, I thought the
downstairs smoking-room ought to be specially under observation
to-day. I was suffering from acute headache, and was obliged to
lie down in my own room from lunch-time to dinner, and this
smoking-room, which is known as "the Major's room," was the only
sitting-room in use. A few minutes before dinner, I went down
and busied myself in putting my camera to rights. It was a
delicate piece of work, and when I saw a black dog, which I
supposed for the moment to be "Spooks" (my Pomeranian), run
across the room towards my left, I stopped, fearing that she
would shake the little table on which the camera stood. I
immediately saw another dog, really Spooks this time, run
towards it from my right, with her ears pricked. Miss Langton
also observed this, and said, "What is Spooks after?" or
something of that sort. A piece of furniture prevented my seeing
their meeting, and Spooks came back directly, wagging her tail.
The other dog was larger than Spooks, though it also had long
black hair, and might have been a small spaniel.

[It was not till after we had left B---- that we learned that
the Major's favourite dog was a black spaniel.]

After dinner we returned to this room. I had intended to try
Ouija and the crystal, but was in too much pain to make this
possible, and Miss Langton felt she could not do it alone; it
was as much as I could do to sit up at all, but, by a strong
effort of will, I was able to remain downstairs till after
midnight. [I was still occasionally suffering from the results
of my accident.] We sat in front of the fire, playing a round
game. About nine we all three heard footsteps coming from the
south-west corner and going towards the door; I held up my hand
for silence, but I could see, from the direction of their eyes,
that they heard the sounds as I did--even the dog looked up and
watched. The steps were those of a rather heavy person in
heelless shoes, who walked to the door, and came back again,
passed close behind Mr. T----'s chair, crossed the hearth-rug
just in front of me, and stopped at or about the north-east
corner, but--it seemed--remained in the room, behind Miss
Langton's chair. We heard them again about 10.30; we also heard
sounds several times during the evening of the talking of a man
and woman. Three times over Miss Langton and Mr. T---- went out
to listen, but the house was perfectly quiet, and though we were
on the same floor with the servants, there had been, the whole
time, three closed doors between us and their quarters in the
wing, which also was in the direction opposite that from which
the sounds came (the present billiard-room). About 10.45, Miss
Langton and I went up to the dining-room in search of
refreshment; everything upstairs seemed perfectly still, and the
servants had long before gone to bed. Mr. T---- followed us up,
and as we went back to the smoking-room, the voices seemed to be
in high argument just inside. We could distinguish no words,
though the _timbre_ of the voices is perfectly clear in my
memory. About 12.20 we went to bed. I had intended to sit up in
No. 8, but found I was not equal to it, and Miss Langton would
not accept my offer of sleeping there with her. She was
therefore there alone, I in No. 5, and Mr. T---- in No. 1. I had
not been many minutes in my room when I heard the familiar loud
crash as of something falling into the hall, under the dome, and
rushed out immediately--the house was perfectly still. We had
left a small lamp burning in the corridor. Mr. T---- said, next
morning, that he had also came out at the sound, but must have
been later than I, as he was just in time to see my door shut.
About twenty minutes after, I heard the shuffling footsteps come
up the stairs, and pause near my door; I opened it, and saw
nothing, but was so definitely conscious of the presence of a
personality, that I addressed it in terms which need not be set
down here, but of which I may say that they were intended to be
of the utmost seriousness, while helpful and encouraging. I may
add, that I knew from experience of the acoustic qualities of
the house, that I should not be audible to those in Nos. 1 or 8.
Absolutely, while I was speaking, the voices we had heard
downstairs became audible again, this time it seemed to me
outside the door of No. 8; they were certainly the same voices,
but seemed to be consciously lowered. (Miss Langton's account
will show that she heard voices and footsteps outside her door
at about this time.) I was asleep before the clock struck two,
but was awakened again about 3.30, and was kept awake for more
than an hour by various sounds in the house. Roughly speaking,
these were of two kinds: one, those of distant clangs and
crashes which we have heard many times in varying intensity,
loudest of all on our first night and on this. The other (more
human in association), knocks at the door, thuds on the lower
panels within, say, two feet of the ground; footsteps, not as
before, but rapid and as of many feet, and again the same
voices. The night was perfectly still, and I could clearly
differentiate the cries of the owl (of two kinds, I think), the
kestrel hawk, and even of the rabbits on the lawn. I went to the
windows and looked out, but the night was quite dark, and the
dawn was grey and misty.

About 5.45 I fell asleep, and did not wake till my tea came up
at 7.30, when I asked the maid if she had been disturbed, and
she replied that the servants had been extra busy the day
before, had gone to bed early, and had slept soundly.

Miss Langton and Mr. T---- attest the above as a correct account
of our experience, so far as they were concerned.

The following is from Miss Langton's private diary:--

"Miss Freer, Mr. T----, and I all agreed that, as it was the
anniversary of the old Major's death, we would sit to-night in
his own sitting-room, which we always call 'the downstairs
smoking-room.' Just before dinner, Miss Freer, who was sitting
between the writing-table and fireplace, suddenly called out,
'What is Spooks running after?' and then she said that there
were _two_ black dogs in the room, and that the other dog was
larger than Spooks she said, 'like a spaniel.'

"After dinner we three sat round the fire and played games;
suddenly one of us called out, 'Listen to those footsteps,' and
then we _distinctly_ heard a heavy man walking round the room,
coming apparently from the direction of the safe, in the wall
adjoining the billiard room, and then walking towards the door,
passing between us and the fireplace in front of which we were
sitting. It was a very curious sensation, for the steps came so
very close, and yet we saw nothing. Footsteps died away, and we
resumed our game. Three times over we distinctly heard outside
the door the voices of a man and woman, apparently in anger, for
their voices were loud and rough. Each time we jumped up at once
and opened the door quietly--there was nothing to be seen; the
passage was in total darkness, all the servants having gone to
bed (the last time was nearly eleven o'clock). We certified this
fact by making an expedition into the kitchen regions. We then
returned to the smoking-room, and not long after the footsteps
again began in exactly the same direction. This time they lasted
a longer time.

"I slept in No. 8, and was so tired I slept pretty well, but
before going to sleep, just before one o'clock, I heard the
sound of a heavy man in slippers come down the corridor and stop
near my door, and then the sound as of a long argument in
subdued voices, a man and a woman."

On April 9th Miss Freer and Miss Langton left B---- in order to pass Easter elsewhere, and Mr. T---- left with them.

During Miss Freer's absence the house was occupied for some days by the eminent classical scholar Mr. F.W.H. Myers, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and Hon. Sec. to the S.P.R.

It is well known that the S.P.R. is very greatly indebted to Mr. Myers for his most valuable services for many years as Hon. Sec., and for his many important contributions to its literature. He has, however, of late years somewhat alienated the sympathies of many of its members, by the extent to which he has introduced into its _Proceedings_ the reports of spiritualist phenomena, and the lucubrations of mediums. The original rules of the society would appear to exclude the employment of hired mediums, and it is difficult to distinguish Mrs. Piper, and certain other subjects of experiment, from this class. The differences, however, between Mr. Myers and some of the members do not stop at this point, for his preference for the experiences of female mediums, whether hired or gratuitous, would appear to amount to an indifference to spontaneous phenomena, an indifference that is distinctly and rapidly progressive.

Mr. Myers, however, appeared to take considerable interest in the phenomena of B----, and on March 13, 1897, after reading the journal for the first five weeks, the only part of the evidence which has been submitted to him, or indeed to any member of the Council of the S.P.R., he wrote to Miss Freer:--

"It is plain that the B---- case is of _great_ interest. I hope we may have a discussion of it at S.P.R. general meeting, May 28th, 8.30, and perhaps July 2nd, 4 P.M., also. Till then, I would suggest, we will not put forth our experiences to the public, unless you have any other view....

"I should particularly like to get Mr. ['Q.'] to go again in Easter week [_i.e._ during the Myers' tenancy]. I saw him last night, and heard his account, and next to yourself he seems the most sensitive of the group. I am very glad that you secured him.... I will send back the two note-books after showing them to the Sidgwicks. I am so very glad that you and others have been so well repaid for your trouble.... You seem to have worked natural causes well."

On April 12th Mr. Myers arrived at B----, and remained until the 22nd. He was preceded a day or two earlier by Dr. Oliver Lodge, Professor of Physics at Victoria College, Liverpool, Mrs. Lodge, and a Mr. Campbell of Trinity College, Cambridge. The party also included a "medium," the only person to whom this term could be applied, in the ordinary sense, who visited B---- during Col. Taylor's tenancy. This person was a Miss C----, but in order to avoid confusion with other persons, she is here called Miss "K." Miss "K." is not a professional medium, in the same sense in which a gentleman rider is not a jockey. She is the proprietress of a small nursing establishment in London, and at the time of her visit to B---- was described as in weak health and partially paralysed. She was accompanied by an attendant who was a Roman Catholic, a circumstance which is interesting in view of the strongly sectarian character of the ensuing revelations.

Mr. Myers recorded regularly, and transmitted to Lord Bute, the account of the phenomena which occurred during his visit, and which were testified to by four members of his party. He declines, however, to allow any use to be made of his notes of what occurred during this episode.

The regret with which his wish is deferred to is the less, because the chief value of the notes in question seems to be that of a warning against the methods employed; a fact of which Mr. Myers seems later to have himself become aware, as in regard to his journal letters to Lord Bute he wrote on March 15, 1898, _a year later_, "I am afraid that I must ask that my B---- letters be in no way used. I greatly doubt whether there was anything supernormal."

However, while actually staying at B----, Mr. Myers wrote to Miss Freer on April 15th, in much the same terms as on March 11th:--

"What is your idea (I am asking Lord Bute also) _re_ speaking about B---- at S.P.R? If this is _not_ desirable on May 28th, should you have second-sight material ready then? If it is desirable, could we meet sometime, ... and discuss what is to be said? As many witnesses as possible. Noises have gone on. I am writing bulletins to Lord Bute, which I dare say he will send on to you.... I am moving into No. 5 to be nearer to the noise. I have heard nothing. Lodge hears mainly knocks."

On April 21st he wrote again to Miss Freer:--

"If you come to S.P.R. meeting, we could talk in a quiet corner after it. I dine with S.P.R. council at seven o'clock, so there would scarcely be time [_i.e._ to call on you] between, but I would call at---- at 9.30 Saturday morning, if that were more convenient to you than going to the meeting."

The interview took place, and July 2nd was finally arranged as the date upon which the evidence was to be presented at a general meeting of the S.P.R.

In the meantime, however, the article of the anonymous _Times_ correspondent appeared in that journal on June 8th--an article which was practically an attack on certain methods of the S.P.R., after which Mr. Myers published the following letter:--

ON THE TRAIL OF A GHOST.

_To the Editor of "The Times."_

"SIR,--A letter entitled 'On the Trail of a Ghost,' which you
publish to-day, appears to suggest throughout that some statement
has been made on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research with
regard to the house which your correspondent visited. This,
however, is not the case; and as a misleading impression may be
created, I must ask you to allow me space to state that I visited
B----, representing that society, before your correspondent's
visit, and decided that there was no such evidence as could
justify us in giving the results of the inquiry a place in our
_Proceedings_. I had already communicated this judgment to Lord
Bute, to the council of the society, and to Professor Sidgwick,
the editor of our _Proceedings_, and it had been agreed to act
upon it.--I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

"FREDERICK W.H. MYERS,
_Hon. Sec. of the Society for Psychical Research._

"LECKHAMPTON HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE, _June 8_."

One may gather from a comparison of this letter with the foregoing records that the standard of evidence is a somewhat variable quantity in the Society for Psychical Research. In attempting to explain the matter, Mr. Myers wrote to Lord Bute, June 11, 1897:--

"As to haunted houses recorded at length in _Proceedings_, there have been several minor ones, and one especially, 'Records of a Haunted House,' where I was instrumental in getting the account written. The great point there was the amount of coincidence of visions seen independently.... In the B---- case there is _some_ coincidence of vision, but so far as I know, not nearly so much as in the Records of a Haunted House, which did appear in _Proceedings_. We want to keep our level approximately the same throughout."

Another point of view in relation to the same matter, is that taken by Miss Freer in an article in the _Nineteenth Century_, August 1897:--

"That the S.P.R. recognised that haunted houses were among the alleged facts of general interest, was proved by their early appointment of a Committee of Inquiry, on the management of which it is too late to reflect. At the end of a few months only, they practically dismissed a subject which, if considered at all, required years of patient research. They had come across the surprising number of twenty-eight cases which they considered worth inquiry; but these were presented to the public on the evidence of only forty witnesses--that is to say, an average of less than one and a half to each! The appearance of figures is recorded in twenty-four of these stories, whilst four record noises only. Ten years later the _Proceedings_ take up the subject again, and give us at some length an elaborate story on the evidence of two or three ladies, two servants, a charwoman, and a little boy. ['Records of a Haunted House.'] No proper journal was kept, and the Society for Psychical Research came upon the scene when all was practically over."

In relation to the period of the visit of the Myers party to B---- House, Lord Bute received several journal letters from Professor Lodge, as well as from Mr. Myers, which, as he has made no request to the contrary, might be quoted here _in extenso_, were it not that they relate in considerable part to the proceedings of the medium, as to which the present editors agree with Mr. Myers, that "they greatly doubt if there was anything supernormal."

Professor Lodge was from the first much interested in the B---- inquiry, and wrote to Lord Bute on April 14th, two days after arrival: "I have not found anything here as yet at all suitable for physical experiments. I have heard a noise or two, and intelligent raps. Nothing whatever can be normally seen so far."

And on April 17th: "The noises and disturbances have been much quieter of late, in fact have almost ceased _pro tem_.... We have not heard the loud bang as yet. Knocks on the wall, a sawing noise, and a droning and a wailing are all we have heard. The droning and the wailing, some whistling, and apparent attempts at a whisper, all up in the attic, may have been due either to the wind or birds. They were not distinct enough to be evidential, though they were just audible to all of us. The sawing noise was more distinct. I think I will go to the attic about 3 A.M. to-night to see if anything more can be heard. Most of the noises occur then, or else at 6 A.M. Mr. Campbell has heard a dragging along the floor in his bedroom, No. 3. I have heard, like many others, the knocking on the wall, but for the last two nights things have been quiet.

"_April 20th._--There has been nothing here for me to do as a physicist, and I return home tomorrow, but nevertheless the phenomena, taken as a whole, have been most interesting.... I know that you are hearing from Mr. Myers the details of our sittings.... There is certainly an interregnum of noises, the last three nights having been undisturbed. [After describing recent séances with Miss 'K----.'] I write just as if what we have been told were true.[F] The cessation of the noises may of course be merely a temporary lull as before, and they may break out again...."

On April 22nd, he wrote to Miss Freer "The sounds are not very strong, and latterly there has been one of your interregna in the noises, but still we heard some of them; only knocks, however, except once a low droning, a sawing noise, and a whistling whisper. Some of the raps seemed intelligent, but there was nothing to investigate on the physical side...."

And in another note, undated:--

"There has been nothing capable of being photographed. The sounds are objective though not impressive.... I have seen nothing to suggest electricity or magnetism, or any of the ordinary physical agents in connection with the disturbances; but the noises are so momentary and infrequent, that they give no real scope for continued examination."

Professor Lodge left on April 21st, and Mr. Myers on April 22nd; but Miss "K----," with Mr. Campbell, remained alone till the morning of Monday 26th, and on the afternoon of the same day Lord and Lady Bute arrived, and stayed till Wednesday 28th. Mr. MacP----, who came with them, was obliged by previous engagements to leave next morning.

They slept in the wing, and nothing occurred during their visit so far as they were concerned.

Lord Bute records, however, that he twice read aloud the whole of the Office for the dead in its five sections (vespers, nocturns, and lauds) in different places, but neither he nor any one with him saw or heard anything, unless it were a sound of women talking and laughing while he was reading the Office about 10.30 P.M. in No. 8, and this he supposed was simply the maids going to bed, though in fact the room overhead was unoccupied. He had, however, a most disagreeable impression, not in the places where he expected it, which were the glen, No. 3, and No. 8, but in No. 1. The sensation was that of persons being present, and on the second occasion that of violent hatred and hostility. He recorded "Went to No. 1 a third time, and again experienced the sensation of persons being present, but on this last occasion as though they were only morosely unfriendly."

It is remarkable that this sensation of unseen presences is one which many other persons experienced in this room, and in this room only; but it is also remarkable that this was the first indication of the hostile or irreligious tone which was thenceforth apparent. Until the sojourn of the party of members of the S.P.R. the tone had been plaintive and religious.

Mr. MacP----, who is a Presbyterian, made a remark which struck Lord Bute as interesting, to the effect that the whole of the Office for the dead, with the frequent occurrence of the words _Requiam eternam_, &c., might be as irritating to Intelligences which desired to communicate, as would be the effect of saying merely "keep still," or "be quiet," to persons who wished to set forth their wrongs. But this curious hypothesis would be insufficient to account for a sensation of absolute enmity.

A private letter, written by Lord Bute on April 29th to a distinguished ecclesiastic, repeats these statements, and adds one or two additional touches which it is desirable to quote:--

"We returned yesterday after spending forty-eight hours at B----, where we heard and saw nothing, but as my proceedings were mainly ecclesiastical, your Grace may like to know what happened.

"On the way I was shown the inclosure in the churchyard wherein lie, in unmarked graves, the late Major S----, his 'housekeeper,' and his old Indian servant. I would have gone and prayed there, but the place seemed to me too public.... B---- is a remarkably beautiful place, and the day was splendid; were it not for the grandeur of the scenery, I should have called the landscape laughing, or at least smiling. The house is remarkably bright and cheerful, and indeed luxurious. There is a really nice set of family pictures from about the time of Charles II.... The place is a perfect aviary, and the sight of the innumerable birds, evidently encouraged by long kindness, building their nests was very pleasant, and has some psychological interest, since animals sometimes see these things when we do not, and there was evidently nothing to scare the birds, rabbits, or squirrels.... As her ladyship and I did not wish to be troubled at night, we took rooms in the wing, which the late Mr. S---- is said to have built in order to save his children from the haunting, and which has been but little troubled; and we slept there quite comfortably. Soon after 6 P.M. I went to the place near the burn where apparitions have so often appeared, and which was, I think, first indicated by Ouija. I read aloud the vespers for the dead, but no phenomenon appeared, nor had I any sensation. About 7.30 I went to a room which I will call A [No. 1] ... and read aloud the first Nocturn of the dirge; there was nothing to be seen or heard, but I felt some physical inconvenience in beginning, like an impediment in speech, and I had a very strong sensation that there were persons listening....[G] Soon after 10 P.M. I went and read aloud the two next Nocturns in room B [8]. As I finished the second, Mr. MacP---- and I heard two women speaking merrily outside the door, and I doubt not they were the maids going to bed. During the night, although we slept well, my servant [who slept in No. 4, next to Mr. MacP---- in No. 5], like other people in haunted rooms, could not sleep after five, and he tells me one of the maids saw the bust of a woman with short hair, as though sitting at the foot of her bed.

"In the morning I said Lauds in room C [Library]. No phenomena or sensation. Soon after 5 P.M. said _Placebo_ again in room B [8]. Nothing. Then visited the haunted burn again for some time. Nothing. About 7.30 read the first two Nocturns again in room D [No. 3]. Nothing. Soon after ten read the third Nocturn in A [1]. Made slips of pronunciation, and felt the presence of others very strongly, and that it was hostile or evil, as though they were kept at arm's-length; a disagreeable sensation continued until I threw some holy water on my bed before getting into it, when it suddenly disappeared. Next morning I said Lauds in A [1]. I had no difficulty in utterance; the sense of other presences was not strong, and I had no feeling of hostility [on their part], but rather of their having to put up with a slight nuisance which would soon be over. These subjective feelings are in no way evidential, nor would I mention them were they not confined to one place out of five, and occurred whenever I went there, at three most varying hours.... My servant, the second night, could not sleep between 4.30 and 6."

* * * * *

Miss Freer returned alone to B---- on April 28th. The Journal is now resumed.

_April 28th._--I returned to B----, arriving at 7 P.M. Slept in
No. 8. Quiet night.

This morning I inquired of the servants as to what occurred in
my absence. They have very definite views as to the nature and
causes of the phenomena during the visit of Mr. Myers's party
... including much table-tilting at meals, and so on. When
questioned as to any experiences of their own, all answered to
the same effect, that they shouldn't have taken notice of
anything that happened at that time, but that something had
occurred after the last two members of the party had left on the
day of his Lordship's arrival, "and that," said the cook, "was
quite another matter."

The experience was Carter's, the upper housemaid, and she told
it in a manner that it would be difficult to distrust. She was
not anxious to talk about it, and seemed annoyed that it had
been mentioned at all. I wrote down her story verbatim.