Ghost Stories of an AntiquaryJames, M. R. (Montague Rhodes)
General
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
James, M. R. (Montague Rhodes)
Ghost stories, English; Horror tales, English; Short stories, English
The next day Mr Wraxall records that the deacon called for him soon
after his breakfast, and took him to the church and mausoleum. He
noticed that the key of the latter was hung on a nail just by the
pulpit, and it occurred to him that, as the church door seemed to be
left unlocked as a rule, it would not be difficult for him to pay a
second and more private visit to the monuments if there proved to be
more of interest among them than could be digested at first. The
building, when he entered it, he found not unimposing. The monuments,
mostly large erections of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
were dignified if luxuriant, and the epitaphs and heraldry were
copious. The central space of the domed room was occupied by three
copper sarcophagi, covered with finely-engraved ornament. Two of them
had, as is commonly the case in Denmark and Sweden, a large metal
crucifix on the lid. The third, that of Count Magnus, as it appeared,
had, instead of that, a full-length effigy engraved upon it, and round
the edge were several bands of similar ornament representing various
scenes. One was a battle, with cannon belching out smoke, and walled
towns, and troops of pikemen. Another showed an execution. In a third,
among trees, was a man running at full speed, with flying hair and
outstretched hands. After him followed a strange form; it would be hard
to say whether the artist had intended it for a man, and was unable to
give the requisite similitude, or whether it was intentionally made as
monstrous as it looked. In view of the skill with which the rest of the
drawing was done, Mr Wraxall felt inclined to adopt the latter idea.
The figure was unduly short, and was for the most part muffled in a
hooded garment which swept the ground. The only part of the form which
projected from that shelter was not shaped like any hand or arm. Mr
Wraxall compares it to the tentacle of a devil-fish, and continues: “On
seeing this, I said to myself, ‘This, then, which is evidently an
allegorical representation of some kind—a fiend pursuing a hunted
soul—may be the origin of the story of Count Magnus and his mysterious
companion. Let us see how the huntsman is pictured: doubtless it will
be a demon blowing his horn.”’ But, as it turned out, there was no such
sensational figure, only the semblance of a cloaked man on a hillock,
who stood leaning on a stick, and watching the hunt with an interest
which the engraver had tried to express in his attitude.
Mr Wraxall noted the finely-worked and massive steel padlocks—three in
number—which secured the sarcophagus. One of them, he saw, was
detached, and lay on the pavement. And then, unwilling to delay the
deacon longer or to waste his own working-time, he made his way onward
to the manor-house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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