At the foot of the Alps, near Locarno, was an old castle, belonging to a
marquess, the ruins of which are still visible to the traveller, as he
comes from St. Gothard--a castle with lofty and roomy apartments, high
towers, and narrow windows. In one of these rooms, an old sick woman was
deposited upon some straw, which had been shaken down for her by the
housekeeper of the marquess, who had found her begging before the gate.
The marquess, who was accustomed to go into this room on his return from
hunting, to lay aside his gun, ordered the poor wretch to get up
immediately out of her corner, and begone.
The creature arose, but slipping with her crutch upon the smooth floor,
she fell, and injured her back so much, that it was with great difficulty
she got up, and, moving across the room as she had been desired, groaning
and crying sadly, sank down behind the chimney. Several years afterwards,
when the circumstances of the marquess had been much reduced by war and
the failure of his crops, a Florentine gentleman visited the castle, with
the intention of purchasing it, in consequence of the beauty of the
situation. The marquess, who was very anxious to have the bargain
concluded, gave his wife directions to lodge the stranger in the same
upper room in which the old woman had died, it having, in the meantime,
been very handsomely fitted up; but, to their consternation, in the middle
of the night, the stranger entered their room, pale and agitated,
protesting loudly that the chamber was haunted by some invisible being;
for that he had heard something rise up in the corner, as if it had been
lying among straw, move over the chamber with slow and tottering steps,
and sink down, groaning and crying, near the chimney.
The marquess, terrified, though he scarcely knew why, endeavoured to put a
fair face upon the matter, and to laugh off the fears of his visiter,
telling him he would rise himself, and spend the rest of the night with
him in his room; but the stranger begged that he would rather allow him to
occupy a couch in the adjoining room; and as soon as morning broke, he
saddled his horse, took his leave, and departed. This occurrence, which
occasioned much notice, made so unpleasant an impression upon intending
purchasers, that not another inquiry was made; and at last, even the
servants in the house becoming possessed with the notion that there was
something dreadful in the room, the marquess, with the view of setting the
report to rest, determined to investigate the matter himself next night.
Accordingly, in the twilight, he caused his bed to be brought to the
apartment, and waited, without sleeping, the approach of midnight. But
what was his consternation, when, on the stroke of midnight, he actually
heard some inconceivable noise in the apartment, as if some person had
risen up from among straw, which rustled beneath them, walked slowly over
the floor, and sank, sighing and groaning, behind the chimney. When he
came down the next morning, the marchesa asked him how the investigation
had gone on; and he, after gazing about him with wondering glances, and
bolting the door, told her the story of the chamber's being haunted was
true. She was terrified out of her senses; but begged him, before making
any public disclosure, once more to make the experiment coolly in her
company. Accompanied by a trusty servant, they accordingly repeated their
visit next night, and again heard, as the marquess had done before, the
same ghostly and inconceivable noise; and nothing but the anxious wish to
get rid of the castle, cost what it would, enabled them to suppress their
terrors in presence of the servant, and to ascribe the sound to some
accidental cause. On the evening of the third day, when both, determined
to probe the matter to the bottom, were ascending with beating hearts the
stair leading to the stranger's apartment, it chanced that the house dog,
who had been let loose from the chain, was lying directly before the door
of the room; and, willing perhaps to have the company of any other living
thing in the mysterious apartment, they took the dog into the room along
with them. The husband and wife seated themselves on the couch--the
marquess with his sword and pistols beside him; and while they
endeavoured, the best way they could, to amuse themselves with
conversation, the dog, cowering down on the floor at their feet, fell
asleep. Again, with the stroke of midnight, the noise was
renewed;--something, though what they could not discover, raised itself us
if with crutches in the corner; the straw rustled as before. At
the sound of the first foot-fall, the dog awoke, roused itself, pricked up
its ears, and growling and barking as if some person were advancing
towards him, retreated in the direction of the chimney. At this sight, the
marchioness rushed out of the room, her hair standing on end; and while
the marquess seized his sword, exclaimed "Who is there?" and receiving no
answer, thrust like a madman in all directions, she hastily packed up a
few articles of dress, and made the best of her way towards the town.
Scarcely, however, had she proceeded a few steps, when she discovered that
the castle was on fire. The marquess had, in his distraction, overturned
the tapers, and the room was instantly in flames. Every effort was made to
save the unhappy nobleman, but in vain: he perished in the utmost
tortures, and his bones, as the traveller may be aware, still lie where
they were collected by the neighbouring peasants--in the corner of the
apartment from which he had expelled the beggar woman of
Locarno.--_Edinburgh Literary Journal and Gazette._
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