"8 mo., 6th.--On the night of the third, just after the
previous memorandum was written, about 10.30 P.M., the servants
having all retired to bed, J. and E. P. heard a noise like a
clothes horse being thrown down in the kitchen. Soon the noises
became louder and appeared as though some persons had burst
into the house on the ground floor and were clashing the doors
and throwing things down. Eventually J. P. got one of the
servants to go downstairs with him, when all was found right,
no one there, and apparently nothing moved. The noises now
began on the third storey, and the servants were so much
alarmed that it was difficult to get them to go to bed at all
that night.
* * * * *
"8 mo., 6th to 12th.--My brother-in-law, George Carr, was with
us. He heard steppings and loud rumblings in the middle of the
night, and other noises."
A curious feature in this case was the number of apparitions seen. Thus
we have clear testimony of the presence of a lady in a lavender silk
dress, of an old bald-headed man in a flowing robe like a surplice, of a
lady in grey, and of a horrid eyeless spectre who glared fixedly at the
world through empty eyeholes. Added to these there were animals of all
sorts and descriptions, cats, monkeys, rabbits and sheep.
"On one occasion, during the period that Thomas was courting
Mary, he was standing at the window outside (no followers being
allowed inside, lest fabulous reports were sent abroad). He had
given the usual signal. The night was clear, and the stars
beamed forth their light from a cloudless sky. Suddenly
something appeared which arrested my father's attention.
Looking towards the mill, which was divided from the house by
an open space, he beheld what he supposed was a whitish cat. It
came walking along in close proximity to his feet. Thinking
Miss Puss very cheeky he gave her a kick; but his foot felt
nothing and the cat quietly continued its march, followed by my
father, until it suddenly disappeared from his gaze. Still the
ghost was not thought of by him. Returning to the window and
looking in the same direction, he again beheld it suddenly come
into existence. This time it came hopping like a rabbit, coming
quite as close to his feet as before. He determined to have a
good rap at it, and took deliberate aim; but, as before, his
foot went through it and felt nothing. Again he followed it,
and it disappeared at the same spot as its predecessor. The
third time he went to the window, and in a few moments it made
its third appearance, not like unto a cat or a rabbit, but
fully as large as a sheep, and quite luminous. On it came and
my father was fixed to the spot. All muscular power seemed for
the moment paralysed. It moved on, disappearing at the same
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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