A FEW years ago, when I was studying for my degree in a university
college, my friends and I had a strange experience. The women's
hostel in which we lived, had formerly been a gentleman's house, and
it was rumoured that at times this country squire, who was now dead,
used to revisit his old home. Most of us laughed at this as a “ghost
tale,” but the following incident made even the most sceptical wonder.
One night, my friend and I, who shared a room, went to bed as usual.
After putting out the light, we pulled up the blind. This was a
regular habit of ours, so that we should wake up easily in the
morning. About 2 a.m. I awoke, and found, to my astonishment, the
electric light switched on, and the blind down. I awakened my friend,
and asked her if she was responsible, but she had been asleep the
whole time. Neither of us had ever walked in our sleep, so, feeling
that something uncanny had happened, we got up to investigate.
Listening intently, we heard weird noises on the floor below, a sort
of rattling and scraping. This continued for some time, and then
gradually grew fainter and died away. Feeling very nervous, we sat
waiting for the sounds to return, but nothing more happened, and we
were glad when morning came.
At breakfast, we reported the night’s happenings. When we had
finished, a “fresher” spoke up—one who knew nothing of the hostel
legend. She said that during the night, a gentleman had stood by her
bed and smiled kindly at her. We eagerly questioned her, and she was
able to tell us exactly what he was wearing. When she had finished,
our Warden exclaimed: “Why, that was old Mr. C., the late owner of
this house; the last time I saw him he was dressed like that!”
Was the same old gentleman responsible for turning on our light, and
for the other strange happenings of that night?