Miss "Duff" writes under this date:—

"Last night I sat late by my fire expecting, but as nothing seemed to be going to happen I went to bed, and soon to sleep. However, I was to have my most startling experience! I was awakened as if by some one violently shaking my bed (I must mention there was a great wind blowing outside), and at the same time I felt something press heavily upon me. I struck out! rather frightened, but remembering again where I was, refrained from striking a light, in order to see the next development of this weird experience. To my disappointment nothing happened, although sleep was successfully banished till daylight."

* * * * *

[On March 28th Miss "Duff" wrote to me: "Mr. —— suggested that I should describe to you more accurately the shaking of my bed, as it was not at all such a vibration as might be caused by a high wind or any ordinary movement occurring in other parts of the House.

"The bed seemed to heave in the centre, as if there were some force under it, which raised it in the centre and rocked it violently for a moment and then let it sink again. I should also have added, that on other nights quite as windy this phenomenon did not occur; in fact, no movement I have ever felt has given me quite the same sensation. The highest point on the 'Switchback' is the nearest to it in my experience. I was wide awake at the time, so it was no nightmare."]

* * * * *

Miss "Duff" thus continues her account of Tuesday, March 23rd:—

"This morning, as I sat in the drawing-room, I heard the low, monotonous voice of some one reading aloud. Knowing that Miss Freer and Miss Langton were writing in the next room, I concluded that Miss Freer must be dictating while Miss Langton wrote for her, although I must say I did not recognise Miss Freer's voice. This went on for about an hour. Soon after Miss Langton came into the drawing-room, and I said, 'Well, you have been busy; I suppose Miss Freer has been dictating to you?' She looked surprised and said, 'No, indeed she hasn't; we have both been writing, and if Miss Freer spoke at all, it was only a few words now and again.'" This low monotonous sound of a human voice I afterwards heard once or twice in Room 3.

March 24th, Wednesday.—Last night I heard a crash as of something falling from the dome into the hall, about twenty minutes to twelve.

At breakfast Colonel C—— said he had heard a loud thump on his door at an early hour—before six, when wide awake.

Mr. W—— also had had an experience. He heard sounds outside his room, and went to investigate. On returning he found the kitten in his room, but, sceptic as he is, he acknowledged freely that the kitten, a wee thing, could not have produced the sounds he heard.

Copy of letter from Mr. W—— to Mr. MacP——.

"March 24th, 1897.— ... In case it may interest Miss Freer to know what I thought of the noises I heard in No. 1 prior to the kitten incident, the following states my recollections shortly: The first noise was about half-past four, and resembled two small explosions, such as a fire sometimes makes. They followed one another closely, and came from the direction of the fireplace or the south-west corner of the room. I got up and looked at the fire, and it was all but out; but I would not like to swear that the noises did not come from it.

"As to the other noise, it occurred about a quarter to six, and was quite loud. It sounded as if one of the large, deer heads on the staircase wall had fallen down and rolled a step or two. I cannot understand how some of the others did not hear the noise, but I heard and saw nothing when I went out of my room to see what it was.

"I should add, that in this case, as well as in the former one, I was awake when the noise occurred. If I had heard these noises in any other house I would not have thought of noticing them, but it might be curious to see if they are the same that have been heard in that room already."

After breakfast I heard of a great excitement among the servants, and taking Miss Langton with me, to serve as witness and to take notes, I interviewed separately the three concerned, as well as the cook, to whom they had told the story also. It is worth while to mention that I have several times heard the kitchenmaid complained of as lacking in respect for her betters—in scoffing at their reports of phenomena. Only yesterday Mrs. Robinson told me she had not mentioned several things (bell-ringing, a knock at her door, &c.) because it upset her authority in the kitchen to exhibit interest in such things.

All the stories were consistent, and no cross-questioning upset the evidence. They were distinctly in earnest.

The three maids and a temporary servant, M——, belonging to the district, went up to their rooms about 10.30. The two housemaids sleep together [in Z], Lizzie, the kitchenmaid, separately, in a room adjoining [in Y]. Directly after getting into bed all heard knockings, and they called out between the rooms to each other. Lizzie stayed awake, and looking up towards the ceiling had what sounds like a hypna-gogic hallucination, of a cloud which changed rapidly in colour, shape, and size, and alarmed her greatly. Then she felt her clothes pulled off, but thought this might be accidental, and tucked them in. Then she was sure they were pulled off again, and screamed to the other maids. Neither dared go to her, her screams were so terrifying; but they finally opened the door of communication between the rooms, and Carter went to fetch the temporary assistant from the other end of the corridor, "because she was such a good-living girl" (particular about fasting in Lent, I gather). The three then returned for the kitchenmaid, and all spent the night in the housemaid's room.

The upper housemaid went to Miss Langton's room this morning, I hear, much upset and crying, and there can be no doubt of the conviction of all the maids.

For the future they wish to occupy one room.

The cook, sleeping on the ground floor below No. 3, heard footsteps and knockings, and awoke her husband, but he heard nothing. She diagnosed it as being "about the door of Miss 'Duff's' room (No. 3 above). She thought it was outside of her door, but was not sure. It was just after midnight.

Miss "Duff" writes on the same day:—

"Last night I had just got into bed, when I heard footsteps, so, always on the alert for phenomena, I listened and was relieved (? disappointed would be better!) to hear Mr. —— cough, so I settled down to sleep. A quarter of an hour or twenty minutes later (about twelve o'clock) I again heard steps, but this time they came from the back-stair and shuffled past my room, and then I heard a loud fall against what seemed to me the door of room No. 1, which is practically next door to mine.[E]

"I went to listen, but not a sound was to be heard, and I saw no one. It could not have been the gentleman who was occupying that room [Mr. W——], as I heard him (with others) come up a quarter of an hour later and go into his room. Although the fall seemed against the door of No. 1, I must add that the depth and quality of the noise was as if a large body had fallen far away, of which we only, as it were, heard the echo, but that quite distinctly on the door of No. 1."

[Miss Langton testifies to being disturbed by the same sounds in No. 2, the dressing-room between Miss "Duff's" room and Mr. W——'s.]

Miss "Duff" continues:—

"March 25th.—Last night I felt my bed shake, as if some one had taken it in both hands, but as there was a high wind, I did not take much notice of this. I have had my bed shaken violently in that room once before, however, when there was no wind at all."

Mr. MacP—— and Captain B—— left. The only phenomenon to be noted under this date is the following record by Miss Langton:—

"I heard a loud thump at the door of communication between Nos. 1 and 2 when dressing for dinner, but on going into No. 1 found it quite empty. A curious point about these noises is that the knocks on the door between Nos. 1 and 2 have been audible in this room, No. 2 (in my experience) only when No. 1 is empty, and in No. 1 only when No. 2 is empty."

March 26th, Friday.

. . . . . . . .

Miss "Duff" writes on the same day:—

"As I was talking to Miss Langton at the door of her room (No. 2) on my way to dress for dinner, a double bang on the door came from the inside of room No. 1, which was the one Captain B—— had occupied, and where he had heard nothing. At the same moment Miss Langton called out that there had been a bang on the door between her room and No. 1. For a moment I hesitated to go in, but a housemaid came down the corridor at that moment to see what the noise was she had heard, and we investigated together, but to no purpose."

Miss Langton writes further under this date:—

"I heard three distinct bangs at the lower part of the door of my room leading into the corridor. I described it to myself as a person coming along the corridor towards No. 2, walking in an unsteady way, and as if he could not see where he was going, and then walking straight against the door of my room and banging his foot against it. Miss 'Duff' this morning acted at our request as I have just described, and the noise she made was an exact reproduction of what I heard last night. The bang occurred at three intervals—at 11.35, 11.45, and 11.50."

March 27th, Saturday.—Mr. —— and Miss "Duff" left. Miss Langton and I are now alone.

Miss "Duff" was undisturbed last night.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 seances 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.

"It was about four o'clock, or may be a little later, but it was just getting light; there is no blind to the skylight in my room, and I woke up suddenly and I thought some one had come into the room, and I called out, 'Is that you, Mrs. Robinson?' and when she didn't answer I called out 'Hannah,' but no one spoke, and then I looked up, and at the foot of my bed there was a woman. She was rather old, and dressed in something dark, and she had a little shawl on, and her hair short. It was hanging, but it didn't reach nearly to her shoulders. I was awful frightened, and put my head down again. I couldn't look any more."

I asked about the height of the woman, wondering if it were like the figure seen in the drawing-room, and Carter said, "I didn't notice, only the top part of her." I said, "Do you mean she had no legs?" and she said, "I didn't take notice of any." She was genuinely concerned and alarmed.

This is probably the incident thus described by The Times correspondent. "One of the maidservants described a sort of dull knocking which, according to her, goes on between two and six in the morning, in the lath and plaster partition by the side of her bed, which shuts off the angular space just inside the eaves of the house. She likened it to the noise of gardeners nailing up ivy outside. She seemed honest, but as she had seen the ghost of half a woman sitting on her fellow-servant's bed, one takes her evidence with a grain or two of salt. Any noises she has really heard may be due to the cooling of the hot-water pipes which pass along behind the partition just mentioned to the cistern." The hot-water pipe theory has been already discussed.

Before proceeding, it had better be again mentioned that, owing to the fact that several of the persons interested in B—— were Roman Catholics, and the Rev. P—— H—— having been one of the principal witnesses, as well as having himself appeared phantasmally in the house, it was considered desirable to obtain the assistance of some clergy of that communion. Miss Freer accordingly secured the services of three members of a famous society; one of those was the Rev. P—— H—— himself, one a well-known Oxford man who takes much interest in such questions, and the third a man of great experience at a place where miracles are said to be frequent. However, their Superior refused to allow them to come, and she then applied to a well-known monastery, but was again refused help. Lastly, she turned to the secular clergy, and obtained the assistance of two priests and a bishop. The priests are here designated MacD—— and MacL——. All three were previously well known to her, and she had especial reason to consider them not only worthy of her esteem and confidence, but, moreover, as taking an instructed and intelligent interest in the subject.

April 29th, Friday.—Rooms for to-night:—

No. 3. Rev. A. MacD——. " 4. Rev. A. MacL——. " 8. Myself.

The priests arrived late in the evening. I put them in No. 3 and 4, though I like to give No. 1 to new-comers. However, I had promised that to Madame Boisseaux, whom we are expecting from Paris, with the dressing-room for her maid.

April 30th.—The priests both look very weary. They were not frightened, but the sounds have kept them awake all night.

Young S—— called to-day; he is going to help me to get up a dance for the servants. His mother is away at S——.

May 1st.—I shall have to move the priests. They persist that they are not frightened, but they are both looking shockingly ill and worn, and the Rev. MacD—— is not in a state of health to take liberties with. The Rev. MacL—— seems in the same mental state as was Mr. P——. He sees nothing, but is supernormally sensitive, and without any hint from me, declared that he felt the drawing-room, wing, and No. 7 to be "innocent."

Poor little "Spooks" is the chief sufferer. She sleeps on my bed now, but even so, wakes in the night growling and shivering, and she refuses her food, and is in a dreadfully nervous state. Perhaps I ought not to keep her in No. 8, where we have so often heard the patterings of dogs' feet, and where Miss Moore was once pushed as by a dog, in broad daylight.

May 2nd.—Nothing occurred. We perhaps all slept the sounder last night, having been kept up till two o'clock waiting for Madame Boisseaux, who never turned up. She and the M——s and Mrs. "F." arrived to-day.

Madame Boisseaux arrived, and was put into No. 1. Her maid " " 2. Father MacD—— " " 3. Father MacL—— " " 4. Mrs. "F." " " 5. Mr. and Mrs. M—— " " 6 and 7. Myself " " 8.

May 3rd.—The general tone of things is disquieting, and new in our experience. Hitherto, in our first occupation, the phenomena affected one as melancholy, depressing, and perplexing, but now all, quite independently, say the same thing, that the influence is evil and horrible—even poor little Spooks, who was never terrified before, as she has been since our return here. The worn faces at breakfast were really a dismal sight.

In spite of her long journey, Madame Boisseaux could not sleep. She was so tired, she dropped to sleep at once on going to bed, but was awoke by the sound of a droning voice as if from No. 3, and, at intervals, more distant voices in high argument. She said she dared not go to sleep; she felt as if some evil-disposed persons were in the room, and it would not be safe to lose consciousness. But she saw nothing. She looks so ill that her maid, a very faithful old servant, has been to beg me, "pour l'amour de Dieu," to give Madame another room. So to-night I will put her in No. 5.

Mrs. "F." who was in No. 5, was disturbed by knocks at her door (cf. Mrs. W——'s experience in the same room), and to-night is to sleep in my room, No. 8, which last night was also somewhat noisy, but she will not be alone. The Rev. MacD—— looks so ill from two nights' sleeplessness that the priests are to go into the wing to-night. They were unwilling to move, and made no complaints, and now do not say they have seen anything, merely that the evil influence about them was painful and disturbing.

Mrs. M——, who, it will be remembered, was much disturbed during her last visit, begged that she might be quiet, and we gave her No. 7. She is the only person who has had a really good night, except Mr. M——, who had a fancy to sleep in the smoking-room, in the hope of a visit from the Major, but nothing happened. As he had been mountaineering all day, he probably would have slept well under any conditions.

May 4th.—I am thankful to say the priests slept well in the wing. Madame Boisseaux, in No. 5, was disturbed by knocks at her door, but as she wisely remarked, they had the advantage of being outside. Mr. M—— had moved into No. 1, and slept fairly well, but said he felt as before, "not alone," but as he had felt that before, expectation may count for something.

Mrs. "F" slept with me; I was awoke early by my dog crying, and I saw two black paws resting on the table beside the bed. It gave me a sickening sensation, and I longed to wake Mrs. "F" to see if she would see them, but I remembered her bad night of yesterday, and left her in peace.

The priests spend much time in devotions, and are very decided in their views as to the malignity of the influence. The bishop comes to-day, and we hope he will have Mass said in the house. We shall then have ten Roman Catholics in the household—two visitors, three clergy, two visitors' maids, and three of our own servants. That should have an effect upon the Major! Miss Moore and Scamp arrived.

May 5th.—The bishop is in No. 1. He arrived to lunch to-day. Last night all was quiet after bedtime, but sitting in the drawing-room about five o'clock, having just come in from a drive, five of us heard the detonating noise, as it were in the empty room overhead. Madame B——, Mrs. "F," Mrs. M——, the Rev. MacL——, and myself. Mrs. "F" left this morning.

The priests went with me to the copse. They saw nothing, but were in too anxious a state to be receptive. I saw Ishbel for one moment. She looked agonised, as never before.

Mr. B. S—— dined with us, and the servants, indoor and out, danced in the hall in the evening. We had pipers, and some supper for them in the billiard-room. The gardener and the butler and cook say there was a great crash in the room just when the parish minister was saying grace, and that many of the people from outside noticed it, and "they just looked at each other." I was myself in the room, but as we had just had a very physical and commonplace disturbance—the arrival of an uninvited and intoxicated guest, of which the other people did not know as I did—I was preoccupied at the moment.

Mass this morning in the drawing-room.

May 6th.—Madame Boisseaux has had to go suddenly; there has been terrible news for her of this Paris fire. She came into my room very early with her telegram (arrived too late for delivery last night). I did not like to worry her with questions, overwhelmed as she was, but she said her room "resounded with knocks."

There was Mass said in the ground-floor sitting-room this morning, and as I knelt facing the window I saw Ishbel with the grey woman, nearer the house than ever before. She looked pensive, but, as compared with last time, much relieved.

This is the last time the figures were seen. The following details are quoted from a letter written by Miss Freer to Lord Bute on this day: "Mass was said this morning in the downstairs room, the altar arranged in front of the window, so that, as we knelt, we faced the garden. Poor Madame Boisseaux was dressed for travelling, and in much agitation. As the carriage which was to take her to the station was expected at any moment, I suggested that she and I should remain upstairs, but she said she should like to be there, if only for a few minutes, the more that the 'intention' was to be partly for those who had suffered in the fire, and for their sorrowing friends. She and I, therefore, knelt close to the door, keeping it slightly ajar, so as to be able to obey a summons at any moment.

"Suddenly she touched my arm, and directed my attention to the window. There I saw a figure standing outside, which—so slow-sighted am I—I took for the moment for Madame's maid, and thought she had come to call our attention through the window—a long 'French' one, opening out on to the lawn—as less likely to disturb the service. I was starting up when I perceived that the figure was 'Ishbel'—the black gown, like that worn by the maid, had misled me for the moment. 'Marget' seemed to hover in the background, but she was much less distinct than the other. A minute later we were called away.

"The room had been selected by the priests themselves, but it is the one I should myself, for obvious reasons, have chosen for the purpose."

When the bustle of Madame's hasty departure was over, and we had breakfasted, the bishop blessed the house from top to bottom, and especially visited rooms Nos. 1, 3, and 8, and also the library. He sprinkled the rooms with holy water, and especially the doorway leading to the drawing-room, where noises have so often been heard. He and the priests had hardly gone when there was a loud bang upon a little table that stands there. It is an old work-table, a box on tall, slender legs, and the sound could easily be imitated by lifting the lid and letting it fall smartly, but I saw no movement—not that I was watching it at the moment. The bishop and priests returned, and the ceremony was repeated, after which the bang again occurred, but much more faintly.

The three clergy left this afternoon. Miss Moore and I are now alone.

This bang was the last phenomenon of an abnormal kind during this tenancy. Miss Moore and Miss Freer stayed in the house another week without anything further occurring either to themselves, their guests, or the servants.

During that time, they received six more guests: Miss C——, Miss "Etienne," with her brother, a lawyer, and three other visitors, with whom Miss Freer had no previous acquaintance, but who received an invitation under the following special conditions, not being, as were other guests, personal friends, or, in one or two instances, accompanying personal friends by whom they were introduced, and at whose request they were invited.

Sir William Huggins had some time before written to Lord Bute to beg him to obtain admission to the house for Sir James Crichton Browne, who is, of course, well known as a physician of great eminence, and in especial as an expert in psychology, and whom Sir William stated to be deeply interested in phenomena such as those observed at B——.

Lord Bute accordingly wrote to Miss Freer, who wrote to Sir James. He did not immediately reply, which surprised her, after so earnest a request, and because admission to the house for the purpose of such observations was a mark of confidence, which as a hostess she was very chary of giving, and which would never have been extended to him, notwithstanding his scientific eminence, had it not been for the intercession of Sir William Huggins and Lord Bute, through whom he had sought it.

He wrote to her after some time, apologising for the delay on the score of illness, begging to know if it were still possible for him to be admitted, and whether he might bring with him a scientific friend. Miss Freer consented, and he then wrote announcing his arrival and that of a nephew, a student at Oxford, interested in science. He then asked, by telegram, whether a third guest could be admitted, to which she also consented, and his two friends, one of whom is believed to have been the anonymous Times correspondent, accordingly came, four days after the phenomena had, as has been stated, apparently ceased. The way in which this hospitality was repaid is a matter of common knowledge. Their hostess knew of no intention to make copy of their visit, with full names, geographical indications, and repetition of private conversations, until the publication of the Times' article of June 8th. They remained from Saturday evening till Monday morning, and, like others, saw and heard nothing; and much time was spent in repeating the already often repeated experiments as to possible sources of the sights and sounds observed at B——. Their observations appeared to be able to penetrate no further than the mark of the shoe which Miss Freer pointed out on the door in the wing, made subsequently to the flight of the H—— family, a passage under the roof, with which the household had long been as familiar as with the hall-door, and the suggestion that a certain stream might run under the house, the which stream runs nowhere near the house at all, as Miss Freer was already well aware, a fact which she demonstrated for their benefit on a map of the estate.

This is perhaps a suitable point at which to add a letter from the head-gardener who has been referred to more than once, more especially as an important witness to the phenomena of the H——s' tenancy.

He writes to Miss Freer in reference to a statement by The Times correspondent:—

"July 8th, '97.— ... I might also mention to you, while writing, that 'the intelligent gardener' that was made mention of in The Times was a journeyman, and not myself, as many have supposed. I thought it proper to tell you, madam, because I told you and several others that I was in the house and had heard something."

The Times correspondent's statement is as follows:—

"An intelligent gardener whom I questioned told me that he had kept watch in the house on two separate occasions, abstaining from sleep until daylight appeared at seven o'clock, but without hearing a sound."

The under gardener's experience of two nights is as exhaustive of the subject as that of The Times correspondent and his friends, who also remained two nights, but do not allege that they "abstained from sleep."

Mr. "Etienne" was the last guest at B——, and arrived the evening before the house was vacated. He afterwards told Lord Bute that he had brought, without the knowledge of any one in the house, two seismic instruments, but that they recorded nothing, and that during the night he heard a sound as of a gun being fired outside the house. This he attributed to some poacher unknown, an explanation which seems hardly probable, as at this time of year there is nothing to shoot except rabbits. One never hears of a poacher shooting rabbits, and in any case, he would hardly do so in the immediate neighbourhood of an inhabited house, and discharging his gun once only.

Mr. "Etienne's" experiments are the more interesting because that among many suggestions made by Sir J. Crichton Browne, the only one which had not been already considered, was the use of seismic instruments. This—the house being within the seismic area—seemed so reasonable, that Miss Freer at once entered into correspondence with the well-known Professor Milne, with a view to experiment in this direction. The following is from his reply:—

"May 15th, 1897.—I was much interested in your note of the 13th, and fancy that the sounds with which you have to deal may be of seismic origin. Such sounds I have often heard, and the air waves, if not the earth waves, can be mechanically recorded. What you require to make the records is a seismograph with large but exceeding light indices, or a Perry tromometer.... The reason I think that the sounds are seismic is, first, on account of their character, and secondly, because you are in one of the most unstable parts of Great Britain, where between 1852 and 1890, 465 shocks (many with sounds) were recorded. Lady Moncrieff, when living at Comrie House in 1844, often heard rumblings and moanings, and such sounds, possibly akin to the 'barisal guns'[H] of Eastern England, often occur without a shake. The mechanism of this production may be due to slight movements on a fault face, and they may be heard, especially in rocky districts, in very many countries...."

Miss Freer's reply was an urgent request that machinery and an operator might be at once sent up to B——. Professor Milne replied that delicate instruments, such as he himself employed, could only be used by one other person, but suggested that she should hire from a well-known London firm what are known as "Ewing's-type" seismometers, adding, "I doubt whether these will record anything but movements to which you are sensible."

Miss Freer's designs, however, were frustrated, for on applying for an extension of tenancy for this purpose, Captain S——, the proprietor, peremptorily forbade the continuance of scientific observation—a remarkable parallel to his father's refusal to permit the use of the phonograph when suggested by Sir William Huggins.

In relation to his experiments at B—— Mr. "Etienne" writes:—

"Lord Bute has asked me to describe a seismographic instrument which I used during my short visit to B——. The instrument consisted of a light wooden frame or platform which rested on three billiard-balls. The balls in their turn rested on a horizontal plate of plate-glass. Through two wire rings in the centre of the platform already mentioned a needle stood perpendicularly, resting on its point on the plate of glass. The centre of the plate of glass (and the area round it and within in the triangle describable with the balls at its angles) was smoked. You will see that the parts of such an instrument are held together by gravitation, and a very little friction, and that a tremor communicated to the plate will not simultaneously affect the platform. The needle-point describes on the smoked surface which it moves across the converse of any movement of the plate which is not simultaneously a movement of the platform, and the error between this and the description of the tremor drawn by an absolutely fixed point—say the earth itself—has been calculated on a replica of this instrument as equal to the error of a pendulum thirty feet long."

It will be noticed that the phenomena began, so far as Miss Freer was concerned, upon the night of her arrival in the house, February 3rd, and ceased (if we except the sound heard by Mr. Etienne), after the service performed by the Bishop on the morning of May 6th. This period comprises ninety-two days, but from these must be subtracted the seventeen days between Miss Freer's leaving B—— on the morning of April 9th, and that of the departure of Mr. Myers's medium, Miss "K.," on the morning of April 26th.

Of the remaining seventy-five days, Miss Freer was absent from the house for four days, from March 16th to March 20th, and for two nights after Miss "K.'s" leaving; during this latter interval, however, Lord Bute was himself on the spot. On the other hand, she remained in the house for eight days after the service performed by the Bishop, during which time no phenomena occurred.

Of the sixty-nine days of which a record is kept in the journal, viz., from February 3rd to May 14th, exclusive of twenty-three days for the reasons already indicated, daytime phenomena occurred upon eighteen days, and night phenomena upon thirty-five nights.

To these must be added the night of April 27th, the occasion of the vision seen by Carter the housemaid during Lord Bute's visit. Thirty-four nights, or almost exactly half the period, were entirely without record of any phenomena whatever. This is without counting the seven nights of the last week, during which there were observers for longer or shorter periods in the house, none of whom recorded any sight or sound of a supernormal kind, unless it were the percussive or detonating noise heard by Mr. "Etienne."

The term "night" is here understood to cover the period between the hour of going to rest at night, to that of leaving one's room next morning, even if the phenomena occurred in the daylight hours of the early morning. The term "day" is used to cover the hours of active, waking life, from breakfast to bedtime.

To sum up the character of the phenomena, it may be well to begin with those that are visual.

1. The phantasm of the Rev. P. H——. This was seen once only, and by Miss Langton, on the night of February 17th. Of the identity no doubt can be felt, since Miss Moore and Miss Freer afterwards recognised the accuracy of the description on meeting the Rev. P. H—— for the first time, in a crowded railway station on May 25th. This is the only one of the apparitions which is undoubtedly that of a living person, and like many such apparitions, it occurred at an hour when it is probable that he was asleep. B—— is a place to which Father H——'s thoughts were naturally and disagreeably drawn, and to which his attention had been called anew. On awaking, he would probably have no recollection of the circumstances, or at the utmost would have an impression of having dreamt that he was there.

2. The woman once seen by Miss Freer in the drawing-room. She was older than Sarah N——, who died at the age of twenty-seven, but of whose haunting of B—— there is some tradition, but assisted by the parish register of marriages and births it is not difficult to form a guess at the identity of the phantasm. As there is some uncertainty as to whether the person in question is still living, though it is probable that she is dead, the vision is mentioned here before those as to which there is no reason to doubt that they represent the dead. There is reason to believe that the same apparition has been seen by former occupants of the house, and it is alleged to be that of a member of the S—— family.

3. The phantasm seen by Carter the housemaid, on the night of April 27th, who was described as "rather old," may possibly have been identical with the above.

4. The nun to whom was given the name of "Ishbel." This subject has been already discussed, and the suggestion thrown out that the phantasm was an erroneous mental picture of the late Rev. Mother Frances Helen, evolved from the imagination of a half-educated person who had never seen the lady in question, and knew little about her. This figure was seen many times by Miss Freer and Miss Langton, twice by the Rev. Mr. "Q.," and probably by Madame Boisseaux, who unhappily died suddenly before the editors had an opportunity of asking her for exact information. There were also earlier witnesses. She was never seen elsewhere than in the glen, except once by Miss Langton, and on the one occasion when a Bishop was saying Mass in the house, and Miss Freer saw her outside the window just after the elevation of the chalice. It was stated, however, by two separate witnesses, that a figure, probably the same, had been seen inside the house on at least one occasion, when, some years before Colonel Taylor's tenancy, Mrs. S—— was keeping her room, and a maid who was bringing up a tray met the figure on the stairs, and experienced such a start that she dropped the tray.

5. The lay-woman dressed in grey to whom was given the name of "Marget," and who was sometimes seen in the company of "Ishbel," usually as though upbraiding or reproving her. She was seen by Miss Freer and Miss Langton, and her voice in conversation with "Ishbel" was heard not only by them, but by Mr. C—— and Miss Moore, Mr. "Q." and Miss "Duff" (cf. Mrs. G.'s evidence, p. 68).

6. The appearance of the wooden crucifix seen in No. 3. It was about eighteen inches long, and the figure was of the same wood as the cross. Its earliest appearance is to the Rev. P. H——. It afterwards appeared to the Rev. Mr. "Q.," and lastly to Miss Freer, none of the witnesses knowing anything in detail of the experience of the others. It was also seen in the crystal by Miss Langton—possibly by thought transference from others.

When the Rev. P. H—— saw it he was always drowsy, but when it appeared to Mr. "Q." its appearance was immediately preceded by a sensation of acute chill on his part, and its appearance to Miss Freer by a similar sensation on the part of "Endell." It is perhaps worth while to remark, that we are told that among spiritualists the sensation of cold is supposed to be an unfavourable indication as to the character of the spirits who are present, and that in the cases of both Mr. "Q." and Mr. "Endell" the appearance of the crucifix seemed to put an end to the chill.

7. The dogs. These were much more often heard than seen, the sounds being those of their pattering footsteps, sometimes as of their bounding about in play, and sometimes of their throwing themselves against the lower part of doors. It seemed, however, that they were visible to Miss Freer's living dog at times when they were not visible to her, and indeed the abject terror which the Pomeranian displayed in No. 8 was so distressing, that she changed her room from No. 8 to No. 5 in consequence.

A dog was, moreover, seen by Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the smoking-room on April 8th; Miss Freer and Miss Moore have described more than one occasion when they felt themselves pushed as by a dog; and on the night of May 4th, Miss Freer saw the two forepaws only, of another and larger black dog resting on the edge of a table in No. 8.

Other apparitions seen in the house by former occupants were described to members of Colonel Taylor's party as well as to earlier tenants, but here, as elsewhere, we have refrained from all quotation from the relatives of the present proprietor.

It is interesting to remark that one apparition which was constantly expected during Colonel Taylor's tenancy was expected in vain. This was that of the little old gentleman with stooping form and limping gait mentioned by earlier witnesses. His peculiar step was heard very frequently, and by a great number and variety of witnesses, alone and collectively; and his appearance, naturally enough, was constantly looked for, but it never occurred.

In the same way there was one expected sound which never occurred, though frequent in the experience of earlier witnesses—that of the rustling of a silk dress, suggesting to the mind of the hearer the idea of some one who, either in fact or in thought, had worn such a garment.

Tactile. The most important of these were the experiences of Miss "N." on the night of March 3rd, and of Miss "Duff" on the night of March 22nd, both in No. 3; and of a maid, Lizzie, on the night of March 23rd, in the room above No. 3, on the attic storey, who all testified to the sensation of the moving of the bed, or the handling of the bed-clothes. These were the only occasions during Colonel Taylor's tenancy, but the phenomenon is one often testified to by earlier witnesses, both during the H——s' tenancy and that of the family of the late Mr. S——.

It presents a peculiar difficulty in the way of the theory that all the phenomena at B—— were subjective hallucinations, and this is especially the case with regard to the evidence of a witness who has not been brought forward in the preceding pages, but whose account of a similar experience is reported by two first-hand witnesses. On one occasion he had the whole of the upper bed-clothes lifted from off him and thrown upon the floor, while a pile of wearing apparel, which was laid on a chair beside the bed, was thrown in his face.

It is of course conceivable that the whole of these experiences, including the last, were the result of an hallucination; but on the other hand, it would be very unwise, in the present state of our ignorance on the subject, to dogmatise as to the possible action of unseen forces upon what is commonly called matter. It is interesting to note that this senseless and childish trick coincides with what was said by Miss A—— as to the presence of mischievous elementals, and also what she says as to apports.[I]

1. The sensation of the movement of the bed itself, whether as being rocked, as in the experience of Miss "Duff" on March 22nd, and of Miss Langton on several occasions, and by guests of the H—— family, or of being lifted up, as in that of the maid Lizzie, is a phenomenon by no means uncommon, and if objective is of the nature of levitation; but we have unfortunately no evidence from a second person observing the phenomenon from outside. Whether it were actually moved it is impossible to say, but the sensation seems to have been more than subjective.

2. The sensation of struggling with something unseen, described by Miss "Duff," March 22nd, and of the sensation of an incumbent weight, as described by Miss "Duff" (same date) and Miss "N." on March 2nd. This coincides with the arrest of his hand experienced by Harold Sanders. These phenomena adapt themselves to the theory of subjectivity more easily than the foregoing, because they more closely resemble those of nightmare (familiar to most persons), although they occurred while the witnesses were awake.

3. The sensation of being pushed by a dog was experienced in two different rooms by Miss Freer and Miss Moore respectively. If Mr. "Endell" were touched by Ishbel on the evening of March 1st, as appeared to Miss Freer to be the case, he had no independent consciousness of the fact that might not have been referred to expectation, so that this cannot be regarded as evidential.

For lack of other classification, we mention under this heading of "tactile" the sensation of chill experienced by Mr. "Endell" and Mr. Q—— in No. 3, and which appears to be the same as that described by Harold Sanders as the sensation of "entering an ice-house."

The audile phenomena were so frequent and so various, that a conspectus of them is given in an appendix. Some of them appeared to be human in origin, such as voices, reading or speaking, footsteps, and, according to earlier witnesses, screams and moans. Others might have been caused by dogs, such as pattering footsteps, jumping and pouncing as in play, the wagging of a dog's tail against the door, and the sound as of a dog throwing itself against the lower panels. Other sounds have been differentiated, as the detonating or explosive noise; the clang sound, as of the striking of metal upon wood; the thud or heavy fall without resonance; and the crash, which was never better described than as if one of the beasts' heads on the staircase wall had fallen into the hall below. It very often, or almost always, seemed to occur under the glass dome which lighted the body of the house, and the falling object seemed to strike others in its descent, so that it was not ineffectively imitated by rolling a bowl along the stone floor of the hall, and allowing it to strike against the doors or pillars, when the peculiar echoing quality was fairly reproduced by the hollow domed roof and surrounding galleries.

The editors offer no conclusions. This volume has been put together, as the house at B—— was taken, not for the establishment of theories, but for the record of facts.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] They consisted of a small part of the evidence already quoted.

[D] We have since ascertained by experiment that no sound short of beating with a hammer on the wall itself is audible between the two rooms; also, that the upsetting of a metal candlestick on the bare boards in the nearer servants' room (over No. 1) cannot be heard in No. 8.

[E] Cf. Mrs. Robinson's account ante.

[F] These remarkable disclosures included, among other details, the murder of a Roman Catholic family chaplain, at a period when the S——s were and had long been Presbyterian, the suicide of one of the family who is still living, and the throwing, by persons in mediaeval costume, of the corpse of an infant, over a bridge, which is quite new, into a stream which until lately ran underground.