"In the morning I said Lauds in room C [Library]. No phenomena or
sensation. Soon after 5 P.M. said _Placebo_ again in room B [8].
Nothing. Then visited the haunted burn again for some time. Nothing.
About 7.30 read the first two Nocturns again in room D [No. 3].
Nothing. Soon after ten read the third Nocturn in A [1]. Made slips of
pronunciation, and felt the presence of others very strongly, and that
it was hostile or evil, as though they were kept at arm's-length; a
disagreeable sensation continued until I threw some holy water on my
bed before getting into it, when it suddenly disappeared. Next morning
I said Lauds in A [1]. I had no difficulty in utterance; the sense of
other presences was not strong, and I had no feeling of hostility [on
their part], but rather of their having to put up with a slight
nuisance which would soon be over. These subjective feelings are in no
way evidential, nor would I mention them were they not confined to one
place out of five, and occurred whenever I went there, at three most
varying hours.... My servant, the second night, could not sleep
between 4.30 and 6."
* * * * *
Miss Freer returned alone to B---- on April 28th. The Journal is now
resumed.
_April 28th._--I returned to B----, arriving at 7 P.M. Slept in
No. 8. Quiet night.
This morning I inquired of the servants as to what occurred in
my absence. They have very definite views as to the nature and
causes of the phenomena during the visit of Mr. Myers's party
... including much table-tilting at meals, and so on. When
questioned as to any experiences of their own, all answered to
the same effect, that they shouldn't have taken notice of
anything that happened at that time, but that something had
occurred after the last two members of the party had left on the
day of his Lordship's arrival, "and that," said the cook, "was
quite another matter."
The experience was Carter's, the upper housemaid, and she told
it in a manner that it would be difficult to distrust. She was
not anxious to talk about it, and seemed annoyed that it had
been mentioned at all. I wrote down her story verbatim.
"It was about four o'clock, or may be a little later, but it was
just getting light; there is no blind to the skylight in my
room, and I woke up suddenly and I thought some one had come
into the room, and I called out, 'Is that you, Mrs. Robinson?'
and when she didn't answer I called out 'Hannah,' but no one
spoke, and then I looked up, and at the foot of my bed there was
a woman. She was rather old, and dressed in something dark, and
she had a little shawl on, and her hair short. It was hanging,
but it didn't reach nearly to her shoulders. I was awful
frightened, and put my head down again. I couldn't look any
more."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account