PHANTOM SOUNDS
The deceptiveness of sound in olden times was very little understood,
and hence originated, in most countries, a host of traditionary tales
descriptive of sundry mysterious noises which were generally attributed
to supernatural agencies. Hence, it is impossible to say how many a
ghost story would long ago have found a satisfactory solution if only
attention had been paid to the properties of sound. But by disregarding
the laws which regulate the conditions upon which sound is oftentimes
more or less audible, the imagination has frequently conjured up
the most fantastic reasons for some mysterious rumbling which has
suddenly trespassed on the silence of the night. Thus, Dr. Tyndall
has proved how the atmosphere is occasionally in an unusual degree
more transparent or opaque to sound as well as to light, and supported
this theory by referring to the audibility of fog-signals, which
vary according to the state of the weather. Facts of this kind are of
the utmost importance in accounting, it may be, for some apparently
inexplicable sound. It is sometimes forgotten, too, that sounds are
far more audible at night time than during the day, and what would
fail to attract notice, even if heard during the hours of sunlight,
would probably be treated in a different aspect when once the darkness
of evening had set in. There is perhaps no superstition so deeply
rooted in the popular mind as the belief in what are generally termed
'death-warnings'; the common opinion being that death announces its
approach by certain mysterious noises, a powerful illustration of which
occurs in 'Macbeth' (Act ii. sc. 3), where Lennox graphically describes
how, on the awful night in which Duncan is murdered--
Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death:
And prophesying, with accents terrible,
Of dire combustion, and confused events,
New hatch'd to the woeful time.
Modern folk-lore holds either that a knocking or rumbling in the floor
is an omen of death about to happen, or that dying persons themselves
announce their dissolution to their friends in such strange sounds.[341]
In recent years one of the most interesting instances of a phantom
voice occurred in connection with the death of Mr. George Smith,
the well-known Assyriologist. This eminent scholar died at Aleppo,
on August 19, 1876, at about six o'clock in the afternoon. On the
same day, and at about the same time, as Dr. Delitzsch--a friend and
fellow-worker of Mr. Smith--was passing within a stone's throw of the
house in which he had lived when in London, he suddenly heard his own
name uttered aloud 'in a most piercing cry,' which a contemporary
record of the time said 'thrilled him to the marrow.' The fact
impressed Dr. Delitzsch so much that he looked at his watch, made a
note of the hour, and recorded the fact in his note-book, this being
one of those straightforward and unimpeachable coincidences which, even
to an opponent, is difficult to explain.
There can be no doubt that many of the unearthly noises heard near and
in lonely houses on the coast were produced by an illicit class of
spirits, that is, through the agency of smugglers, 'in order to alarm
and drive all others but their accomplices from their haunts.' Thus, in
a house at Rottingdean, Sussex, all kinds of strange noises were heard
night after night, when suddenly they ceased. Soon afterwards one of
a gang of smugglers confessed to their having made a secret passage
from the beach close by the house, and that, wishing to induce the
occupiers to abandon it, they had rolled at the dead of night tub after
tub of spirits up the passage, and so had caused it to be reported that
the place was haunted.[342] George Cruikshank tells how, in the wine
cellar of a house somewhere near Blackheath, there were sometimes heard
strange noises in the evening and at night-time, such as knocking,
groaning, footsteps, &c. The master of the house at last determined 'to
lay the ghost' if possible, and one evening, when these noises had been
heard, went with his servants to the cellar, where they discovered an
under-gardener in a drunken state. It seems that he had tunnelled a
hole from the tool-house through the wall into the cellar.
In numerous cases, too, there can be no doubt that strange noises heard
in the silent hours of the night have been due to some cleverly-devised
trick for the purpose, in many cases, of keeping the house uninhabited,
and thereby benefiting, it may be, some impecunious care-taker. A story
is told of a ghost--which turned out to be the trick of a Franciscan
friar--that answered questions by knocking in the Catholic church of
Orleans, and demanded the removal of the provost's Lutheran wife, who
had been buried there.[343] But one of the most eccentric instances
of spiritual antics was the noises said to have been heard at Epworth
Parsonage in the time of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, these sounds having
consisted of 'knockings' and 'groanings,' of 'footsteps,' and 'rustling
of silk trailing along,' 'clattering of the iron casement,' and
'clattering of the warming pan,' and all sorts of frightful noises,
which frightened even a big dog, a large mastiff, who used, at first,
when he heard the noises, 'to bark, and leap, and snap on one side
and the other, and that frequently before anyone in the room heard
the noises at all; but after two or three days he used to creep away
before the noise began, and by this the family knew it was at hand.'
Mr. Wesley at one time thought it was rats, and sent for a horn to
blow them away. But this made matters worse, for after the horn was
blown the noise came in the daytime as well. Some of the Wesley family
believed it to be supernatural hauntings, and explained the cause of
it thus: at morning and evening prayers, 'when the Rev. Samuel Wesley
commenced prayer for the king, a knocking began all round the room, and
a thundering knock attended the _Amen_.' Mr. Wesley observed that his
wife did not say '_Amen_' to the prayer for the king, but Mrs. Wesley
added she could not, for she did not believe that the Prince of Orange
was king.[344] Ewshott House, Hampshire, was disturbed by equally
strange sounds, and Glamis Castle, with its secret room, has long been
famous for the mysterious noises, knocking, and hammering heard at
night-time, which a lady once remarked reminded her of the erection of
a scaffold.
The miscreant ghosts of wicked people are supposed to make all kinds of
unearthly noises, for as they cannot enjoy peace in their graves, they
delight in annoying the occupants of their mortal haunts. Lowther Hall,
the residence of the 'bad Lord Lonsdale,' was disturbed by such uncanny
sounds that neither men nor animals were permitted to rest, and many of
the ghost stories told of our old country houses describe the peculiar
noises made by their ghostly tenants. The mother of the premier, George
Canning, used to tell her experiences of a haunted house in Plymouth,
where she stayed during a theatrical engagement. Having learnt from a
Mr. Bernard, who was connected with the theatre, that he could obtain
comfortable apartments for her at a moderate price, she accepted his
offer. 'There is,' said he, 'a house belonging to our carpenter that
is reported to be haunted, and nobody will live in it. If you like to
have it you may, and for nothing, I believe, for he is so anxious to
get a tenant; only you must not let it be known that you do not pay any
rent for it.' It turned out as Mr. Bernard had informed her, for night
after night she heard all such noises as are wont to proceed from a
workshop, although, on examining every part of the house herself, she
found nothing to account for this extraordinary series of noises.
Occasionally, it is said, before the perpetration of any dreadful
crime, as murder, a supernatural sound is heard. A murder was
committed, for instance, at Cottertown, of Auchanasie, near Keith,
on January 11, 1797, in connection with which the following facts
have been recorded: 'On the day on which the deed was done, two men,
strangers to the district, called at a farmhouse about three miles
from the house in which lived the old folk that were murdered. Shortly
before the tragic act was committed, a sound was heard passing along
the road the two men were seen to take, in the direction of the place
at which the murder was perpetrated. So loud and extraordinary was the
noise that the people left their houses to see what it was that was
passing. To the amazement of every one, nothing was to be seen, though
it was moonlight, and moonlight so bright that it aroused attention.
All believed something dreadful was to happen, and some proposed to
follow the sound. About the time this discussion was going on, a
blaze of fire arose on the hill of Auchanasie. The foul deed had been
accomplished, and the cottage set on fire. By next day all knew of what
the mysterious sound had been the forerunner.'[345] At Wheal Vor Mine
an unaccountable noise has been generally supposed to be a warning.
On Barry Island, near Cardiff, it is said that certain ghostly noises
were formerly heard in it--sounds resembling the clanking of chains,
hammering of iron, and blowing of bellows, and which were supposed to
be made by the fiends whom Merlin had set to work to frame the wall of
crags to surround Carmarthen.
The following extract from Lockhart's 'Life of Sir Walter Scott'
records a strange noise which was heard while the new house at
Abbotsford was being built, the novelist living in an older part,
close adjoining: 'Walter Scott to Daniel Terry, April 30, 1818.... The
exposed state of my house has led to a mysterious disturbance. The
night before last we were awakened by a violent noise, like drawing
heavy boards along the new part of the house. I fancied something had
fallen, and thought no more about it; this was about _two_ in the
morning. Last night, at the same witching hour, the very same noise
occurred. Mrs. S., as you know, is rather timbersome, so up I got, with
Beardie's broad sword under my arm--
Bolt upright,
And ready to fight.
But nothing was out of order, neither can I discover what occasioned
the disturbance.' Mr. Lockhart adds: 'On the morning that Mr. Terry
received the foregoing letter in London, Mr. William Erskine was
breakfasting with him, and the chief subject of their conversation
was the sudden death of George Bullock, which had occurred on the
same night, and nearly as they could ascertain at the very hour when
Scott was aroused from his sleep by the "mysterious disturbance" here
described. This coincidence, when Scott received Erskine's minute
detail of what had happened in Tenterdon Street (that is, the death of
Bullock, who had the charge of furnishing the new rooms at Abbotsford),
made a much stronger impression on his mind than might be gathered
from the tone of an ensuing communication.' It seems that Bullock had
been at Abbotsford, and made himself a great favourite with old and
young. Sir Walter Scott, a week or two afterwards, wrote thus to Terry:
'Were you not struck with the fantastical coincidence of our nocturnal
disturbances at Abbotsford, with the melancholy event that followed? I
protest to you the noise resembled half a dozen men at work, putting
up boards and furniture, and nothing can be more certain than that
there was nobody on the premises at the time. With a few additional
touches, the story would figure in Glanville or Aubrey's collection. In
the meantime you may set it down, with poor Dubisson's warnings, as a
remarkable coincidence coming under your own observation.'
In a paper by Mrs. Edwards, in 'Macmillan's Magazine,' entitled 'The
Mystery of Pezazi,' an account is given of constant disturbing sounds
of nocturnal tree-felling heard near a bungalow in Ceylon, where
examination proved that no trees had been felled. Mrs. Edwards, her
husband, and their servants were on several occasions disturbed by
these sounds, which were unmistakable and distinct. The Singhalese
attribute these noises to a Pezazi, or spirit. A description of
precisely the same disturbances occurs, writes Mr. Andrew Lang,[346]
in Sahagun's account of the superstitions of the Aztecs, and it seems
that the Galapagos Islands, 'suthard of the line,' were haunted by the
midnight axe. 'De Quincey,' adds Mr. Lang, 'who certainly had not heard
the Ceylon story, and who probably would have mentioned Sahagun's had
he known it, describes the effect produced by the midnight axe on the
nerves of his brother, Pink: "So it was, and attested by generations
of sea-vagabonds, that every night, duly as the sun went down and the
twilight began to prevail, a sound arose--audible to other islands,
and to every ship lying quietly at anchor in that neighbourhood--of
a woodcutter's axe.... The close of the story was that after, I
suppose, ten or twelve minutes of hacking and hewing, a horrid crash
was heard, announcing that the tree, if tree it were, that never yet
was made visible to daylight search, had yielded to the old woodman's
persecution.... The woodcutter's axe began to intermit about the
earliest approach of dawn, and as light strengthened it ceased
entirely, after poor Pink's ghostly panic grew insupportable."'
Among the American Indians all the sounds that issued from caverns
were thought to be produced by their spiritual inhabitants. The
Sonora Indians say that departed souls dwell among the caves and
nooks of their cliffs, and that echoes often heard there are their
voices. Similarly, when explosions were heard, caused by the
sulphurous gas from the rocks around the head-waters of Lake Ontario,
the superstitious Indians attributed them to the breathing of the
Manitous.[347] The modern Dayaks, Siamese, and Singhalese agree with
the Esths as to noises being caused by spirits. European folk-lore has
long ascribed most of the unexplained noises to the agency of spirits,
and to this day Franconian damsels go to a tree on St. Thomas's Day,
knock three times, and listen for the indwelling spirit to inform them
from raps within what kind of husbands they are to have. Hence the
night is known as 'Little Knocker's Night.' There is the Poltergeist of
the German, a mischievous spirit, who wanders about the house at night
making all kinds of strange noises.
FOOTNOTES:
[341] Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, i. p. 145.
[342] Mrs. Latham's 'West Sussex Superstitions,' _Folk-lore Record_, i.
p. 21.
[343] See Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, i. p. 146.
[344] See Southey's _Life of Wesley_.
[345] Walter Gregor: _Folk-lore of North-East of Scotland_, pp. 205,
206.
[346] _Nineteenth Century_, vol. xvii. p. 627.
[347] Dorman's _Primitive Superstitions_, p. 302.
INDEX
Abbot, ghost of, in Abbey of Clare, 326
Abbotsford, 434-436
Abipones, superstitions of, 89, 336, 340
Accidents, ghosts appear at scene of, 168
African beliefs, 30, 90-91, 182, 346
Agnes', St., Fast, 385
Alaska belief, 10
Albans, St., Duchess of, 100
Aleutian islanders, 341
Algonquin Indians, 40, 309, 339
Allanbank, ghost at, 312
Allhallow Eve, 118
Althorp, apparition seen at, 319
American Indian beliefs, 6, 23, 37, 89, 143, 217, 343, 414, 438
Ancestor worship, 102
Andaman islanders, 110
Andrew's Eve, St., 388
Angel of death, 273
Angola, belief in, 182
Animal ghosts, 102-126
Arabian belief, 360
Ash-ridlin, 386
Ashley Hall, Cheshire, 326
Assiniboins, belief of, 66
Astwood Castle, 319
Australian beliefs, 21, 33, 45, 67, 165, 340, 343, 360, 395
Awd Nance, ghost so called, 326
Aztec legend of Creation, 36
---- belief, 90, 437
Bad Lord Lonsdale, 311, 432
Bagley House, 318
Bahrgeist, 114
Balcarres, Lord, 372
Banshee, 221, 271-283, 305, 383
Barguest, 114
Barton Hall, haunted, 312
Basutos, belief of, 3
Baxter, R., story told by, 250
Bean-geese, 120
Bear, soul as, 111
Beckington Castle, 333
Bees, soul in form of, 161
Bell, passing, 15
Bells, legends of, 420
---- phantom, 420
---- tolling of, 227
Belludo, Spanish ghost, 147
Benedictine nun, ghost of, 219
Benjie Gear, ghost so called, 195
Ben Jonson, 372
Benshee, 273
Bergmönch, spectre so called, 269
Berkeley Square, mystery of, 317-318
Berry Pomeroy Castle, 318
Bertha of Rosenberg, 228
Beswick, Madame, ghost of, 131, 399
Bible in ghost laying, 192, 197
Biddick Hall, South, 327
Bilocation, or double personality, 367
Birchen Tower, Hollinwood, 398
Bird near sick-room, 97
Birds as soul bearers, 96
---- phantom, 85-101
---- singed, souls as, 96
---- the way of, 96
Birkbeck ghost, 372-373
Birraark, 165-166
Birth, superstitions relating to, 97
Black dog, spectral, 107-108
---- friar, ghost of, 221, 308
---- Heddon, Northumberland, 398
Bleeding nun, ghost of, 44
Blenkinsopp Castle, 326, 400
Bloodstains, indelible, 146
Bloody hand, spectre of, 220
Bluecap, 264
---- lights, 390
Bodach au Dun, 220
---- Glas, 220
Bodacher Garlin, 221
Boggan, 114
Boggart, at Clegg Hall, 199
Boguest, 114
Bohemian belief, 86, 160, 183, 211, 228, 336, 339
Boleyn, Lady Ann, 147
Bolivia, Yuricares of, 37
Bolles pit, 203
Bolotu, 28
Bones of dead preserved, 36-37
Booty's ghost, 241-244
Borneo, Dayaks of, 18, 438
Bothwell, Lady, ghost of, 74, 308
Bottle imps, 185
Bottreaux, bells of, 421
Brandenburg, Elector of, 229
Brazil, Indians of, 33, 41, 45, 90, 359, 393
Brides, ghosts of, 61
Bridge End House, 327
Brocken, spectre of, 352
Brougham, Lord, 245
Brownies, 313, 404
Brown lady at Rainham, 312
Bulgarian belief, 80, 160, 189
Bull, ghost as a, 104
Burial-grounds, haunted, 343
Burma, 359
Burton Agnes Hall, 326
Butterflies, phantom, 156-162
Byron, Lord, 210, 221
---- Sir John, the Little, 313
Caistor Hall, ghost at, 150
Calabar superstition, 336
Californian beliefs, 15, 35, 90
Candles in ghost laying, 190
---- snuff of, taken for ghost laying, 362
---- spectral, 139
Canning, George, 432
Capelthwaite, 114
Cassowary, 111
Castle, sunken, 348
Cedar room at Ashley Hall, 326
Chappie, ghost so called, 306
Chartley Park, 224
Chasse Macabee, 125
Checks against ghosts, 354-362
Chevalier de Saxe, 171
Chiancungi, fortune-tellers, 173
Chibchas, 184
Chinese belief, 6, 19, 33, 53, 55, 62, 65, 66, 72, 195, 211, 292,
339, 358
Choctaw belief, 29, 37
Chough, King Arthur in form of, 94
Christmastide, ghosts at, 302-303
Church ghosts, 330-331
---- lamb, 126
---- porch, 332-333, 387
---- yard spectres, 69
Churton Hall, 321
Clegg Hall boggart, 199, 322
Clock superstition, 227
Cloud, soul as white, 4
Cobal, ghost so called, 270
Cock-crow, 354-356
Cocks' feathers hinder exit of soul, 12
Cold lad, 313
Colt, ghost as a, 103
Combermere Abbey, 322
Compacts between living and dead, 245-256
Copeland, lady of, 133
Corby Castle, ghost at, 311
Cornish beliefs, 103, 108, 120, 128, 201, 207, 208, 262, 294, 300,
421
---- legend of King Arthur, 94
Cornwolf, 396
Corpse candle, 139-140
Cortachy Castle haunted, 311, 417
Courting a ghost, 384
Coved saloon at Combermere Abbey, 322
Cows, ghosts in form of, 109
Craighouse, 325
Creslow Manor House, 313
Criminals, ghosts of, 69
Crook Hall haunted, 327
Cross, check against evil spirits, 358, 361
Cross-roads, ghosts at, 61, 383
Cruikshank, George, 429
Cullaby Castle, 320
Cumberland, 76, 78, 266, 366
Cumnor Hall, 77, 320
Cutty Soams, 264
Cwn y Wybe, 118
Cyprus, 183
Dandy dogs, 118, 120, 121
Danish superstitions, 8, 48, 61, 88, 97, 126, 183, 215, 289, 361,
385, 416
Dead, mutilation of, 359-360
---- unburied, 43-49
---- worship of, 63
Death bell, 413
---- birds presage of, 97-98
---- warnings, 12, 13, 219, 232, 427
Delitzsch, Dr., 428
Demon, soul as, 62
Denis, St., 145
Denton Hall, 326
Departed, Bay of the, 206
Derwentwater, Lady, 321
Desert, water of, 352
Devil, compact with Lord Soulis, 323
---- powerless at cock-crow, 355
---- tries to seize soul at death, 14
Devonshire beliefs, 97, 98, 376
Diedrick of Bern, 125
Dishonesty in life causes soul to wander, 51
Doe, White, of Rylstone, 108
Dogs of hell, 122
---- spectral, 105-106
---- the sky, 122
Donart's Castle, St., 76
Doors unfastened at death, 6
Dorcas, ghost so called, 267
Dorchester, Lord, 380
Dorsetshire, 149
Doves in ghost-lore, 94, 98
Doyle, Bishop, death of, 100
Dreams, proof of soul's existence, 17, 18
Dress, phantom, 303-309
Drowned, ghosts of, 206-213
Drummer, mysterious, 311
---- of Tedworth, 317
Duck, soul as, 87
Durham, 151
Dutch belief, 8-9
Dyterbjernat, 125
Eagle, 94, 96
Easterton ghost, the, 329
Ebb of tide, death at, 15-16
Edge Hill, strange phenomenon at, 351
Edgewell oak, 222
Edgeworth, Maria, 372
Effigy, burial in, 49
Elixir of life, 175
Elizabeth, Queen, and her fetch, 364
Elymas, the sorcerer, 164
Epworth Parsonage haunted, 328, 430
Eskimo belief, 6, 111, 143, 359
Essex, 111
Ewshott House haunted, 318, 431
Exorcism, 88, 166
Eye, soul in the, 3, 4
Fairy music, 413
Fata Morgana, 352
Feathers, game, hinder exit of soul, 11-12
Female fairy, 273
Fetches, 363-364
Fiddler, the indefatigable, 416
Fijian beliefs, 19, 23, 27-28, 182, 217, 309, 339
Finland, custom in, 336
Fire, check against ghosts, 358
Fish animated by souls, 111
Flame, soul in, 137
Flax-seed, charm against ghosts, 362
Flies, souls as, 161
Flying Dutchman, 286, 293
Foot of the Fawn, 99
Foote, Samuel, 424
Foundation sacrifices, 30
French beliefs, 5, 109, 125, 133, 231, 270, 289, 291
Furious host, 136
Fye, or wraith, 369
Gabriel hounds, 117, 136
---- Ratchets, 118-119
Galicia, belief in, 37
Game feathers hinder exit of soul, 11-12
German beliefs, 5, 6, 8, 9, 56, 86, 97, 99, 123, 135-136, 155, 183,
212, 227, 260, 338, 341, 348, 360, 388, 391, 396
Ghosts and hidden treasures, 397-410
---- checks against, 354-362
---- different classes of, 41
---- headless, 33, 53, 69, 144-158, 306, 383
---- times of appearing, 382-390
---- why they wander, 50-63
Ghost laying, 104, 179-205
---- of the Hill, 220
---- raising, 163-178
---- seers, 214-218
Glamis Castle haunted, 313, 431
Gnat, soul as, 161
Goblin friar, 313
Golden mountain, 146
Gould, Madame, 98
Grass-wolf, 396
Grave-sow, 126
Graves, haunted, 341
---- treading on, 345
Gray sow, 126
Greece, beliefs in, 25, 183, 394
Greenland, beliefs in, 23, 29, 339
Grief causes soul to wander, 61
Gunpowder and ghosts, 360-361
Gurlinbeg, family of, 221
Hackwood House haunted, 32
Hairy left hand, girl with, 221
Hallow Eve, 388
Hamilton, Lady, of Bothwellhaugh, 74
Hanged, ghosts of, 53
Hare, ghost as, 103, 271
Harlequin, 125
Haunted houses, 310-334
---- localities, 335-353
Headless ghosts, 33, 53, 60, 144-158, 306, 383
Heart, seat of soul, 2, 3
Hell Hole, 423
Henequin, 125
Herburt family, 94
Hermitage Castle, 322, 403
Herring piece, 93
---- spear, 93
Hidden treasures and ghosts, 397-410
Hilton Castle, 313
Hindu beliefs, 339
---- dirge, 11
Hinton Ampner Manor House, 312
Hoby, Lady, 321
Holland House, 145, 314
Holly and ghost laying, 188
---- charm against evil spirits, 358
Holt Castle, 319
Hooper of Sennen Cove, 300
Horse, spectre as, 125
---- shoe, 361
Hottentot customs at death, 336, 339
Hound, ghost as, 105
House-fire put out at death, 359
Houses, haunted, 310-334
Howard, Lady, ghost of, 104
Hugh Capet, 125
Hulme Castle, treasures at, 397
Hungary, belief in, 61
Hunt, spectral, 124-125
Huntsman, wild, 125
Hurons of America, belief of, 67
Hyssington Church, ghost at, 104
Ignes Fatui, ghost as, 50-51
Incantations against ghosts, 164
Inchcape Bell, 422-423
India, beliefs in, 12, 62, 67, 96, 99, 109, 110, 340, 343, 346,
357, 393, 395, 412, 414
Insect life, 102
Irish superstitions, 11, 94, 137, 146, 153, 156-157, 226, 274-275,
344, 350, 370, 377, 383, 405, 413
Iroquois of North America, beliefs of, 44, 347, 393
Italian belief, 358
---- burial custom, 339
Jackals, ghosts as, 9
Japanese ghost story, 72
---- mode of raising ghost, 166
Jeffrey, Lady, ghost of, 187
Jemmy Lowther, 311
Juniper, spirit-haunted tree, 395
Kaffir beliefs, 2, 336
Kaneka superstition, 230-231
Karens, beliefs of, 45, 67, 160, 309
Kendal, Duchess of, 100
Kilncote church porch, 332
Kinchardines, 220
Kirk-grim, 125
Knauff-Kriegen, 270
Knockers, 262
Lady of Copeland, 133
---- of Death, 273
---- of the Golden Casket, 129
---- of the Lantern, 128
---- Winter's walk, 156
Lamb buried under altar, 126
---- church, 126
Lambton, Madame, 327
Lancashire, 4-5, 14, 74-75, 91-92, 112, 198, 214, 376
Lavington, East, parsonage, 329
Lightfoot, Lady, 77
Lights, phantom, 127-143
Lily, soul as, 391-392
Lincolnshire, 129
Lion, 226
Little Knocker's Night, 438
Lledrith, 370
Locks unfastened at death, 5, 7
Lowther Hall haunted, 432
Ly-erg, 220
Lyttelton, Lord, 100
Madagascar, beliefs in, 23, 346
Madge Figg's chair, 129
Madness causes soul to wander, 61
Magic circle, 167
Malay belief, 3
Malevolent spirits, 70
Manes worship, 63
Manx fishermen, 93
Maori belief, 336
Mark's, St., Eve, 332, 386
Martyrs, ghosts of, 86
Mary Way, spectre so called, 152
Mauthe Doog, 116-117, 311
May Moulach, 221
Mazarin, Duchess of, 254
Mermaid, 415
Mexican belief, 89
Midsummer Eve, 387
Milky-way, the, 96
Miners' ghosts, 257-272, 370-371
Mines, ghosts in, 108, 262-263
Mirage, 352
Mohun, Lord, 372
Money hidden by ghosts, 400-409
Monkey, soul as, 110
Mountain, abode of spirits, 348
Mourning customs, 340
Mouse, soul as, 110
Mouth, escape of soul from, 2-5
Murder discovered through ghost, 81-84
---- preceded by supernatural sounds, 433-434
Murdered, ghosts of, 33, 64-84
Murderers, ghosts of, 52-53, 54, 360
Music, phantom, 411-425
---- at sea, 413
Necromancy, 165
Netherby Hall, 327
Newstead Abbey, 313
New Zealanders, beliefs of, 3, 35, 182
Nix, river spirit, 202
Norfolk, 112, 148, 149, 208, 423
Northamptonshire, 383-384, 409-410
Northumberland, 150, 398
Norwegian beliefs, 68, 76, 360
Nostrils, exit of soul through, 3
Nun, bleeding, 44
---- of Walton, spectre so called, 154
Nymph of air, 273
Oak, holes in, 395
Obrick's colt, 103
Ojibway, beliefs in, 30, 162, 184, 185, 217, 291, 336, 339, 347
Old Barbery, ghost so called, 326-327
---- Hummums, 316
Orleans, Catholic church of, 430
Ottawas, beliefs of, 45, 68
Oulton House, Suffolk, 322
Ouse, river, 225
Owls and Arundel of Wardour, 99, 222
---- as souls, 94-95
Oxenham family, death-omen of, 98
Padfoot, 113
Papuans of New Guinea, belief of, 110
Parsonages, haunted, 328-329
Passing bell, 15
Pawcorance, small bird, 95
Pearlin, Jean, 305
Peel Castle haunted, 116-117, 311
Peg O'Nell, ghost so called, 200, 327
Percy, Sir Joceline, 150
Personality, double, 367
Peruvian beliefs, 36, 257, 387
Pezazi, mystery of, 436-437
Phantom bells, 420-421
---- birds, 85-101
---- butterflies, 159-162
---- dress, 303-309
---- lights, 127-143
---- music, 411-425
---- sounds, 426-438
Philosopher's stone, 175
Pig, ghost as, 125
Pigeon feathers hinder exit of soul, 11-12
---- ghost as a, 86
Pigott, Madame, 197
Pileck family, 94
Pirate wrecker, 294
Polish legend, 94
Poltergeist, a spectre in Germany, 438
Polynesian belief, 45
Pomerania, belief in, 183
Porter, Anna Maria, 373
Potawatomis, 184
Powis Castle, 320
Prophecy at death, 13-14
Pysling, form of ghost, 70
Rabbit, 271
Radiant boy, 129, 311
Rainham, story Marquis of Townshend, 312
Ramhurst Manor House, 312
Ravens as ghosts of the murdered, 48, 88
---- omens of death, 100
Red Sea, ghosts laid in, 201, 203-204
Redwing, noise caused by, 93
Rich, Lady Diana, 366
Robin redbreast, 100-101
Robsart, Amy, 77, 202, 320
Roof, hole made in for exit of soul, 6
Rose, white, soul as, 392
Roslin Chapel, 141
Rothiemurcus, 220
Roumenian legend, 31
Rufus, William, fetch of, 34
Russia, Catharine of, 369
Russian beliefs, 2, 12, 32, 137, 159, 161, 338, 349, 358
Rustling lady, the, 327
Sacrifices, foundation, 30
---- to souls of departed, 62
Samlesbury Hall, 322
Sampford Peverell ghost, 322
Sandwich Islanders, 340
Scotch beliefs, 6, 7, 11, 61, 73, 125, 129, 169, 180, 194, 230,
239, 258, 265, 312, 359, 369, 370, 401-402
Scott, Sir Walter, 434-435
Seals, spectral, 106
Sea-phantoms, 284-302
Seaton Delaval Castle, 321
Second sight, 22, 233-244
Seminoles of Florida, 4, 336
Serpent comes out of mouth, 109
Servian belief, 160
Seven whistlers, 91
Sexhow, ghost at, 399
Shadow sight, 233
---- soul as, 29-32
Sheep, ghosts as, 109
Shelley and his wraith, 365
Shell fire, 137
Shrieking woman, the, 71
Shropshire, 55, 61, 103-104, 151-153, 181-187, 190
Shuck's Lane, 112
Siamese superstitions, 67, 212, 339-438
Siberian belief, 358
Silky, name of a ghost, 130, 305, 321, 327, 398
Silky's bridge, 131
Simon Magus, 164
Singed birds, souls as, 96
Singhalese superstitions, 408, 437-438
Skipsea Castle, 326
Skull at Agnes Burton Hall, 326
Smellie, W., 252
Smith, George, the Assyriologist, 428
Smoke, soul as, 2
Smugglers, 429
Snakes, ghosts in form of, 62-109
Sneezing, explanation of, 22
Soul-bringer, 97
Soul, appearance of, 40-41
---- bringing back of, 19
---- destination of, 348
---- duplex nature of, 27
---- existence of depends on manner of death, 33-35
---- exit of, 1-16
---- materiality of, 24-27
---- nature of, 24-42
---- temporary exit of, 17-23, 338
---- voice of, 39-40
---- weight of, 38-39
Souldern Rectory, 328
Souter, or Soutra, Fell, 351
Spanish beliefs, 5, 360
Spectral child, 321
---- dogs, 111
---- hunt, 124-5
---- ships, 288-9, 294
Spells against ghosts, 354-362
Spirit of air, 273
Staffordshire rhyme, 51
Steam, soul as, 3
Stichios, a kind of spectre, 394
Storks, 95, 97
Stradling, Lady, 76
Strand varsler, 48
Striker, 112
Sturgeon, death omen, 222
Suffolk belief, 149, 184-198
Suicides, ghosts of, 53
Sunday children, 215
Sunken towns, 348
Sunrise, ghosts disappear at, 390
Sussex beliefs, 11, 37, 150, 429
Swallow, ghost as, 86
Swan, soul in form of, 88
Swarth or fetch, 366
Swedish beliefs, 88, 125, 135, 229, 289, 356, 384-395
Swinsty Hall, 398
Switzerland, 161
Sykes Lumb Farm, 400-401
Tahiti beliefs, 3, 182
Talking dog, 311
Tasks, or wraiths, 370
Tasmanian belief, 340
Tears hinder exit of soul, 8-11
Tedworth, drummer of, 418
Thomas's Day, St., 438
Thuringia, Duke Louis of, sign of his death, 99
Tibetan belief, 339
Tide, life goes out with, 15-16
Tipperahs of Chittagong, 181
Tongan belief, 29
Tower of London haunted, 314-315
Trash, spectre dog so called, 112
Treasures and ghosts, 397-410
---- guarded by evil spirits, 257-258
Trees, spirit-haunted, 391-396
Trevelyan, seat of, haunted, 321
Trinity Church, York, ghost at, 330
Tulloch Gorms, 221
Tyrolese superstitions, 4
Unbaptized, souls of, 136
Valentine's Eve, St., 386
Vampires, 189
Vapour, soul as, 3
Vingoes, death token of, 221
Violets spring from graves, 393
Waddow Hall, 327
Waff, or fetch, 366
Wallow Crag, ghost laid under, 312
Walton Abbey, 306, 322
Warwickshire, 263
Water, relation of ghosts to, 181-182
Weasel, soul as, 110
Wells, haunted, 348
Welsh superstitions, 53, 116, 122, 140, 185, 189, 260-261, 404-405,
417
Wheal Vor, mine haunted at, 260, 434
Whistlers, the seven, 91
Whistling, voice of souls, 40
Whitby Abbey, 420
White-breasted bird, 97, 223
White Doe of Rylstone, 108
---- lady, 98, 227-229, 305, 326-327
---- ---- of Skipsea, 306
---- ---- of Sorrow, 273
Wicked priest, 321
Willington Mill, 306, 327
Willow tree, anecdote connected with, 223
Wimbell Pond haunted, 401
Wisk hounds, 118
Witchcraft, 7, 106
Woman of peace, 273
Worcestershire, 62, 100, 156, 192, 200, 226
Wraith-seeing, 363-381
Wren, superstition connected with, 93
Wyecoller Hall, 312
Yellow Sand, Isle of, 407
Yesk hounds, 118
Yeth hounds, 118-119
Yorkshire, 12, 91, 108, 129-130, 150, 154, 159, 215, 366
Zambesi superstition, 341
Zulus, beliefs of, 30, 40, 109
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Transcriber's note:
A table of contents was missing from the original and has been added.
Footnotes were renumbered and gathered at the end of the chapter to
which they belong.
Errors in punctuation, capitalisation, and missing letters and
footnote numbers have been corrected without note. If necessary for
the placement of quotation marks or the footnote number, the source
of some quotations was verified on Internet Archive.
The following corrections were made, on page
89 "ledy" changed to "lady" (The lady in earth by her lord lay)
91 "Brazials" changed to "Brazilians" (The Brazilians imagined that
the souls of the bad)
257 2nd "to" removed (a belief to which Falstaff alludes in)
320 "Ann" changed to "Amy" (the supposed scene of the murder of
Lady Amy Bobsart)
369 "ninty-ninth" changed to "ninety-ninth" (when in the
ninety-ninth year of her age)
439 "Becklington" changed to "Beckington" (Beckington Castle, 333)
439 "Bergmouch" changed to "Bergmönch" (Bergmönch, spectre so
called, 269)
440 "Bodach Gartin" changed to "Bodacher, Garlin" (Bodacher Garlin,
221) and the word order changed
440 "Cassioway" changed to "Cassowary" (Cassowary, 111)
440 "Chibehas" changed to "Chibchas" (Chibchas, 184)
442 "Gurlinheg" changed to "Gurlinbeg" (Gurlinbeg, family of, 221)
444 "Lledwith" changed to "Lledrith" (Lledrith, 370)
444 "Wray" changed to "Way" (Mary Way, spectre so called, 152)
444 "Mazarine" changed to "Mazarin" (Mazarin, Duchess of, 254)
444 "Mohin" changed to "Mohun" (Mohun, Lord, 372)
445 "460-469" changed to "400-409" (Money hidden by ghosts, 400-409)
445 "Padfoit" changed to "Padfooit" (Padfooit, 113)
445 "Padfoot" added (Padfoot, 113)
445 "Josceline" changed to "Joceline" (Percy, Sir Joceline, 150)
445 "Potawatomies" changed to "Potawatomis" (Potawatomis, 184)
445 "Peverel" changed to "Peverell" (Sampford Peverell ghost, 322)
447 "Waddon" changed to "Waddow" (Waddow Hall, 327)
and in footnote 101: 2 words exchanged between lines, "Indo-" and
"1872" (_Folk-lore_, 1872 p. 243; Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_,
i. p. 289. See Kelly's _Indo-European Folk-lore_).
Otherwise the original was preserved, including unusual, archaic and
inconsistent spelling and hyphenation.
Additional: "Vanna Levou" in the quote on page 26 should probably be
"Vanua Levu" also known as "Sandelwood Island", Fuji.