Chapter 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ON THE TRAIL OF A GHOST.

_To the Editor of "The Times."_

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

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

"LECKHAMPTON HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE, _June 8_."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And in another note, undated:--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

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

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

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

"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.