The Alleged Haunting of B---- House, - [best historical fiction books of all time TXT] 📗
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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——
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