"SIR,--I must ask you to be good enough to publish, on behalf of the
tenant of B----, a few remarks on the article that appeared in your
paper of the 8th inst. with the heading 'On the Trail of a Ghost.' The
writer of that article finds a very easy solution to the mystery by
attacking a private family who happened to be tenants of B---- for a
short time, and making them a 'scapegoat' for his argument. I do not
quite understand if your correspondent pretends to assert that the
place had not the reputation of being haunted previous to my tenancy
for three months last year; probably he does not charge me with
originating such reports, as he mentions a story of the visit of a
Catholic Archbishop to the house to exorcise the ghost. This must have
happened some time ago, and proves that the house was then supposed to
be haunted. What your correspondent does state as a fact is, that the
younger members of my family played practical jokes, which have given
rise to Lord Bute's investigations. My object in writing to you is to
deny most emphatically this statement. The principal proof that is
brought forward to corroborate this slander is, that the doors are
marked by the blows struck to produce the noises heard. Surely no one
could be frightened after the cause and reason of the noises were once
ascertained by the boot-marks! But there were no such marks on the
doors when we left B----. Some of our guests were with us until very
shortly before my family left, and can testify to this, for the good
reason that in the endeavour to localise the extraordinary noises, all
doors and other parts of the house were constantly examined up to the
very last. When I went to B---- at the beginning of August, my family
had already been there a few days, and at once they told me they had
found out the house was supposed to be haunted, and that they had
heard most unaccountable noises. I had the greatest difficulty to
persuade all my people to stay in the place, and after all, we left
Scotland about the end of September, two months earlier than usual. I
personally did not give any importance to the rumours that B---- House
is haunted, and attributed the very remarkable noises heard to the
hot-water pipes and the peculiar way in which the house is built. In
fact, I have to confess I cannot believe in ghosts, and, consequently,
I did my best to persuade everybody that B---- was not haunted, but I
am afraid I was not always successful. I hope you will forgive me for
taking up so much valuable space in your paper, but I had to do so in
self-defence against a false accusation.--Yours faithfully, H----."
It is believed that, in consequence of this letter, Mr. H---- was
threatened with legal proceedings, which, however, have not yet been
initiated.
The following is the account given of the same period by Miss "B.," a
lady of some position in the literary world:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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