Chapter I: "Easter Sunday Evening, 1869

"DEAR MR. BARING-GOULD.

"I venture, from the slight acquaintance I am happy to have with
you personally, and the deeper one I have with your tastes from
external sources, to enclose for your perusal a narrative of a
perfectly true event, drawn up by myself some few years ago, at the
request of some friends who doubted the truth of the circumstances
therein related. If you have ever heard anything of it, and can
help me in explaining it, I shall be grateful, as it perplexes me,
as one always is teased when something which one cannot account for
has been brought to one's notice.

"Mr. S---- is going in a few Sundays to preach at the very church
in York where this took place, and this bringing again before my
mind the spectacle I then saw, caused me to apply to my friends for
the account I gave them, and I now send it to you. I could, if you
are interested, supply some minor details, but better by word of
mouth, if ever we meet again. The only correction I should make is
this: You will find that I relate a sequence of events, and I am
not quite satisfied in my own mind that I have given the order of
the incidents exactly as they occurred, and it is possible that I
may have inverted them. At the time I was so startled that I was
more intent on observing the figures than noting what was the
succession in the scenes, if I may use the expression. Indeed, each
reappearance was a surprise; and when I tried to recall each
incident in the order in which it occurred, I found that though I
could recall the appearance distinctly before my mind's eye, yet I
could not swear to which scene preceded the other.

"This was the only occasion of my visiting the church. I confess
the impression left on my nerves was not pleasant, and I do not
think I should like to risk the effect of a repetition of it.
Apologising for thus troubling you with my experiences,

"I remain, yours very truly,

"A. B.

"P.S.--The Incumbent, Mr. W----, has left, and another, Mr. M----,
has now the living of Holy Trinity, Micklegate."

The following account, dated 1866, was enclosed in the letter:--

"While staying in York at this time last year (1865), or perhaps a
little earlier, I first heard of the apparitions or ghosts supposed
to be seen in Trinity Church, Micklegate. I felt curious to see a
ghost, I confess, if such a thing is to be seen without the usual
concomitants of a dark night and a lone house. Accordingly I went
to the church for morning service on a blazing hot Sunday morning
in August last, with a girl about thirteen years old and her little
brother.

"The east window of the church, I must explain, is of stained
glass, rather tawdry, and of no particular design, except that the
colouring is much richer in the centre than at the sides, and that
at the extreme edge there is one pane of unstained glass which runs
all round the window.

"The peculiarity of the apparition is, that it is seen on the
window itself, rather less than half-way from the bottom (as I saw
it from the gallery), and has much the same effect as that of a
slide drawn through a magic lantern when seen on the exhibiting
sheet. The form seen--I am told invariably--is that of a figure
dressed in white walking across the window, and gives the idea of
some one passing in the churchyard in a surplice. I say a figure,
for the number is generally limited to one, and I was told that
only on Trinity Sunday did more than one appear, and that then
there were three.

"But I can vouch for the larger number appearing on other
occasions, as on the day I was there, which was one of the Sundays
after Trinity, there were rarely fewer than three visible.

"The figures began to move across the window long before the
commencement of the service, when in fact there was no one present
but ourselves. They did so again before the service began, as well
as during the 'Venite,' and subsequently as many as twenty or
thirty times, I should suppose, till the conclusion of the sermon.

"Of the three figures two were evidently those of women, and the
third was a little child. The two women were very distinct in
appearance. One was tall and very graceful, and the other
middle-sized; we called the second one the nursemaid, from her
evident care of the child during the absence of the mother, which
relationship we attributed to the tall one, from the passionate
affection she exhibited towards the child, her caressing it, and
the wringing of her hands over it.

"I may add that each figure is perfectly distinct from the others,
and after they had been seen once or twice are at once
recognisable.

"The order of their proceedings, with slight variation, was this:
The mother came alone from the north side of the window, and having
gone about half-way across, stopped, turned round, and waved her
arm towards the quarter whence she had come. This signal was
answered by the entry of the nurse with the child. Both figures
then bent over the child, and seemed to bemoan its fate; but the
taller one was always the most endearing in her gestures. The
mother then moved towards the other side of the window taking the
child with her, leaving the nurse in the centre of the window, from
which she gradually retired towards the north corner, whence she
had come, waving her hand, as though making signs of farewell, as
she retreated.

"After some little time she again appeared, bending forward, and
evidently anticipating the return of the other two, who never
failed to reappear from the south side of the window where they had
disappeared.

"The same gestures of despair and distress were repeated, and then
all three retired together to the north side of the window.

"Usually they appeared during the musical portions of the service,
and especially during one long eight-line hymn, when--for the only
occasion without the child--the two women rushed on (in stage
phrase), and remained during the whole hymn, making the most
frantic gestures of despair. Indeed, the louder the music in that
hymn, the more carried away with their grief did they seem to be.

"Nothing could be more emphatic than the individuality of the
several figures; the manner of each had its own peculiarity. I do
not doubt that if the stained glass were removed, a much plainer
view would be obtained. I think so, because the nearer the centre
of the window, where the stained glass was thickest, there the less
distinct were the forms. It was like catching glimpses of them
through leaves. But nearer the edge of the window, where the
colours were less bright, they were _perfectly_ distinct; and still
more so on the pane of unstained glass at the edge. There they
seemed most clear, and gave one the impression of being real
persons, not shadows.

"Indeed, by far the most remarkable and perplexing incident in the
whole spectacle was this, that on one occasion, when the mother and
child had taken their departure, the medium figure--the
nurse--waved her hands, and after walking slowly to the _very edge_
of the window, turned round _whilst on the pane of unstained
glass_, and waved her arm towards the other two with what one would
call a stage gesture, and then I most distinctly saw, and I
emphatically declare I did see the arm bare nearly to the shoulder,
with beautiful folds of white drapery hanging from it like a
picture on a Greek vase. Nothing could be plainer than the drag of
the robes on the ground after the figures as they retired at the
edge of the window where the clear glass was, previous to going
out. The impression produced was that one saw real persons in the
churchyard; for though the figures were seen on the window, yet
they gave one the impression of walking past the window outside,
and not moving upon the glass.

"No one in the church seemed to be in the smallest degree attracted
or discomposed by all this, or, indeed, to observe it.

"I talked a great deal on the subject with Miss C----, daughter of
the late Dr. C----, of York, and she told me that Mr. W----, the
Incumbent of Trinity Church, would give anything to get rid of it,
or discover the imposture, if imposture there be. She told me that
he and his family had watched day and night without being able to
find any clue to the mystery. Their house is in the churchyard and
opposite the east window, and therefore very favourably placed for
such an investigation. I am not inclined to think that the trees
outside the church at the east end can originate the appearance by
any optical illusions produced by waving branches. I could see
their leaves rustling in the air, and their movement was evidently
unconnected with the appearance and movement of the figures.

"A. B."

This curious communication led to my making inquiries, and I speedily heard of several persons who had seen the "ghosts" at a later date. Friends to whom I applied have sent me the following letters, written independently of one another. They naturally shrink from having their names published, but I can testify to these accounts being perfectly _bona fide_:--