Part 10

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:--