7. The dogs. These were much more often heard than seen, the sounds
being those of their pattering footsteps, sometimes as of their
bounding about in play, and sometimes of their throwing themselves
against the lower part of doors. It seemed, however, that they were
visible to Miss Freer's living dog at times when they were not visible
to her, and indeed the abject terror which the Pomeranian displayed in
No. 8 was so distressing, that she changed her room from No. 8 to No.
5 in consequence.
A dog was, moreover, seen by Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the
smoking-room on April 8th; Miss Freer and Miss Moore have described
more than one occasion when they felt themselves pushed as by a dog;
and on the night of May 4th, Miss Freer saw the two forepaws only, of
another and larger black dog resting on the edge of a table in No. 8.
Other apparitions seen in the house by former occupants were described
to members of Colonel Taylor's party as well as to earlier tenants,
but here, as elsewhere, we have refrained from all quotation from the
relatives of the present proprietor.
It is interesting to remark that one apparition which was constantly
expected during Colonel Taylor's tenancy was expected in vain. This
was that of the little old gentleman with stooping form and limping
gait mentioned by earlier witnesses. His peculiar step was heard very
frequently, and by a great number and variety of witnesses, alone and
collectively; and his appearance, naturally enough, was constantly
looked for, but it never occurred.
In the same way there was one expected sound which never occurred,
though frequent in the experience of earlier witnesses--that of the
rustling of a silk dress, suggesting to the mind of the hearer the
idea of some one who, either in fact or in thought, had worn such a
garment.
_Tactile._ The most important of these were the experiences of Miss
"N." on the night of March 3rd, and of Miss "Duff" on the night of
March 22nd, both in No. 3; and of a maid, Lizzie, on the night of
March 23rd, in the room above No. 3, on the attic storey, who all
testified to the sensation of the moving of the bed, or the handling
of the bed-clothes. These were the only occasions during Colonel
Taylor's tenancy, but the phenomenon is one often testified to by
earlier witnesses, both during the H----s' tenancy and that of the
family of the late Mr. S----.
It presents a peculiar difficulty in the way of the theory that all
the phenomena at B---- were subjective hallucinations, and this is
especially the case with regard to the evidence of a witness who has
not been brought forward in the preceding pages, but whose account of
a similar experience is reported by two first-hand witnesses. On one
occasion he had the whole of the upper bed-clothes lifted from off him
and thrown upon the floor, while a pile of wearing apparel, which was
laid on a chair beside the bed, was thrown in his face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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