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