"Anybody who knows the house will understand that where the noise
seemed to me to be was in the neighbourhood of the dome. For all I
know, the dome, as somebody suggested, may be a regular
sounding-board; but even so, that does not help much towards an
explanation. Wherever the noise may have been produced, the question
still remains, 'What produced it?' and that we have entirely failed to
answer."
* * * * *
The gist of this account was communicated by Mr. MacP---- to the Hon.
E---- F----, who replied as follows on April 19, 1897: "Do you
appreciate the fact that your ghost, with the footsteps of alternate
lowness and softness, is absolutely correct, and corresponds with Miss
H----'s ghost, as I heard it from Mrs. G---- lately in town. Miss
H---- slept, I _think_, in No. 4 [this is wrong; _cf._ p. 124], and
was wakened by the sound of walking round her bed with a peculiar
limp. Much alarmed, she went and called her brother, who came and
slept on the sofa (is there a sofa in No. 4?), and shortly afterwards
they both heard the same noise again."
Mr. MacP----, as already mentioned, did not know that this noise had
been heard by any one.
Miss "Duff" thus describes her next night: "Having heard nothing
unusual all day, I went to bed quite disappointed. However, I
was to be again awakened, and this time by a loud _crash_ at my
door, which resounded for some time. I lit a candle, but nothing
had fallen in my room to account for the sound.
"I began to think I might be mistaken as to the direction of the
noise, and that it might have been caused by a large piece of
coal falling in the fender. I went to look, but there was no
coal at all, only the dying embers in the fire. I soon fell
asleep again, only to be again awakened by a similar crash
(although not so loud), and this time between the washstand and
the window. I kept awake till morning, and heard nothing more."
[We had carefully concealed from Miss "Duff" the nature of the
usual phenomena of this room.]
_March 23rd, Tuesday._--Mr. L---- and his friend Captain B----
arrived.
The proof of this portion of the Journal was submitted to Mr. L----,
who returned it with, _inter alia_, the following note:--
"I do not wish to suppress the fact of my visit to B----, but object
to the publication of any details about me or any of my writings." In
deference to Mr. L----'s wish, therefore, his contributions to the
Journal have been withdrawn, and all further references to him
deleted.
Captain B---- had no experiences, and by his desire some interesting
suggestions made by him as to possible normal causes have been
omitted.
We are now sleeping as follows:--
1. Captain B----.
2. Miss Langton.
3. Miss "Duff."
4. Mr. MacP----.
5. Myself.
6. Mr. L----.
7. Colonel C----.
Miss "Duff" writes under this date:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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