"On the night of Wednesday, February 17th, I had a curious dream
or vision. I seemed to be standing outside the door of No. 4,
looking up the corridor to No. 2, when suddenly I saw a figure
with his back to the door of No. 2, and quite close to the door
which leads to No. 3. His face was quite distinct, and what
struck me most was the curious way in which his hair grew on his
temples. His eyes were very dark, keen, and deep-set; his face
was pale, and with a drawn, haggard expression. He looked about
thirty-nine years of age. His hair was dark and thick, and waved
back from his forehead, where it was slightly grey. It was a
most interesting and clever face, and one that would always, I
should think, attract attention. He was dressed in a long black
gown like a cassock, only with a short cape, barely reaching to
the elbows."
A further reference to this vision, which at the time seemed
irrelevant, will be found on page 225.
_February 18th, Thursday._--This morning's phenomenon is the
most incomprehensible I have yet known. I heard the banging
sounds after we were in bed last night. Early this morning,
about 5.30, I was awakened by them. They continued for nearly an
hour. Then another sound began _in_ the room. It might have been
made by a very lively kitten jumping and pouncing, or even by a
very large bird; there was a fluttering noise too. It was close,
exactly opposite the bed. Miss Moore woke up, and we heard it
going on till nearly eight o'clock. I drew up the blinds and
opened the window wide. I sought all over the room, looking
into cupboards and under furniture. We cannot guess at any
possible explanation.
Further experience of these curious hallucinatory sounds, combined
with visual hallucination in the same room, taking also into
consideration the interest which our own dogs always displayed in
these phenomena, led us to the conclusion that our first deductions
had been wrong, and that the sounds were those of a dog gambolling.
(The Rev.) Mr. "Q." (an English vicar), arrived. In the evening,
at 6.30, Miss Langton and I took him down to the glen. It was a
very light evening. I saw the figure of Ishbel, not very
distinctly, in conversation with the second figure, which was
barely defined. We remained in perfect silence as usual. On
regaining the avenue Miss L---- said she had heard voices, and
thought she had seen what might be the white parts of the nun's
dress. Mr. "Q." said he had seen a light under the big tree. The
figures were nearer the tree than usual. Miss Langton went up a
second time with the Colonel, and again heard voices.
It is worth remarking that Mr. "Q." has, doubtless from some
idiosyncrasy, since developed a faculty of seeing lights where other
people see phantasms.
_February 19th, Friday._--No phenomena last night. We have spent
the day in A----, the neighbouring town, where I had a fall and
hurt my foot, so that I was obliged to drive home, and could not
go to the glen. Miss Langton and Mr. "Q." went down about seven
o'clock. Mr. "Q." saw the outline of a figure of which he has
written the description. Miss Langton heard the usual voices on
the other side of the burn; they seemed to her to be interrupted
by a third voice, in deeper tones; and she also heard the
footsteps of a man passing behind her, a heavy tread, "not like
a gentleman."
The following, the account referred to, was contained in a private
letter from Mr. "Q." to Lord Bute. The description of Ishbel in the
Journal of February 26th, was, it will be observed, of later date,
although before Miss Freer had seen the following:--
"_February 19th and 20th, 1897._--I had heard only that Miss Freer had
seen two figures by the burn, one of which was that of a nun, the
other a woman, before whom, on one occasion, the nun appeared to be
kneeling. I had always pictured the nun as standing or kneeling with
her back to the spectator.
"On February 19th, at about 6.45 P.M., I visited the burn with Miss
Langton (_and not Miss Freer_). After looking a little I saw (_a_);
the white was very plain, and the head clearly outlined, but the
vision was for the fraction of a second. I was conscious of it
indistinctly for a few minutes, and there seemed a good deal of
movement. Suddenly I was again conscious of the figure as shown in
(_b_), full-face, as though gazing at me; again the white part was
very distinct, but I could distinguish no features."
[Illustration: a]
[Illustration: b]
_February 20th, Saturday._--This morning we went down to ---- and
had a little talk with the old servant who told us stories the
other day about the Major, and she repeated the story of his
threatened return. The same story was repeated independently this
afternoon by [a local tradesman], who opened conversation by
inquiring whether we had "seen the Major yet."
Miss Moore and I again this morning heard noises in No. 8, more
especially those of the pattering footsteps, just after
daylight, and a violent jump and scramble, which we thought was
our dog, until we found that he was sleeping peacefully as usual
on his rug at our feet.
In a letter to Lord Bute, dated February 21, 1897, Mr "Q." gives the
following account:--
"On February 20th, at about 6.45 P.M., I visited the burn with Miss
Freer and Miss Langton. I was very briefly conscious of the figure
(_a_) on the bank of the burn, but saw no more till Miss Freer pointed
to the hollow of a large tree, when I again saw (_b_). On each
occasion of seeing (_b_) a curious sensation was noticeable, and I
felt I was being looked at. On speaking afterwards to Miss Freer, I
found her vision of the nun _under the tree_ to be the same as mine at
(_b_), _i.e._ full face, as indeed Miss Freer had seen it on previous
occasions. This is the second sketch I have drawn of the full face
(_b_). The first I showed to Miss Freer, remarking to her, 'I have
made the figure _too broad_' (being unaccustomed to drawing). 'Yes,'
said Miss Freer, 'for the nun is very slight.'"
It was seen at the same moment also by Miss Freer and Miss Langton.
_February 21st, Sunday._--Again this morning we heard noises of
pattering in No. 8, and Scamp got up and sat apparently watching
something invisible to us, turning his head slowly as if
following the movements of some person or thing across the room
from west to east. During the night Miss Moore had heard
footsteps crossing the room, as of an old or invalid man
shuffling in slippers. We both heard a bang at the side of the
room about 6.20, some time before any sounds of moving were
heard from the servants above. The noise was muffled in quality,
and had no resonance, and seemed to come from behind a small
wardrobe on the east wall. The room (No. 7) on that side was
unoccupied. [This bang was heard at other times in the same
spot. Experiment showed that no noise made in No. 7 was audible
in No. 8, not even hammering with a poker on the wall, which is
curved at this point.]
This morning, on coming out of church, I received a letter from
Mr. F----, in which was the following passage:--
"... Miss H----, who slept, I believe, in the room occupied by
you when I left, heard sounds of footsteps going round her room,
footsteps with the most unmistakable limp in them. Shortly after
she heard stories connected with the former owner, who used to
go by the name of B----, an aged man [the Major]. She asked if
he could be described. 'No,' said her informant; 'the only thing
he could remember about him was that he had a most peculiar
limp,' and he forthwith gave an exhibition, which tallied
exactly with the limp around the bed."
In discussing this, Miss Moore and I agreed that, had Miss H----
slept in No. 8 instead of in No. 1, as Mr. F---- supposed, we
should have considered these limping sounds as probably
identical with those we ourselves had heard. After I had closed
my reply to Mr. F----, Miss Moore discovered Miss "B----'s" plan
of the house (in the packet of evidence of the H----s' tenancy,
see p. 96), which showed that in fact No. 8 _was_ the room
referred to. Hence it appears that the room in which Miss H----
heard the footsteps was the same as that in which _we_ heard
them. We had been misled by Mr. F---- speaking of "the room you
occupied when I left," a mistake on his part, as, though the
change had been spoken of, we had not left No. 1.
This afternoon Miss Langton experimented with Ouija at Mr.
"Q.'s" request.
Lord Bute had suggested various test-questions in relation to the
phantasm of the nun, to be asked the next time the Ouija board was in
operation, and answers to these were attempted at various times, with
the usual result of showing the influence, conscious or sub-conscious,
of the sitters, almost all statements as to matters not actually known
to them being worthless. On this occasion, however, in reply to the
question, "How old was Ishbel when she died?" answers were spelt out
to the effect that she was still living, and that her age was
fifty-nine.
This may perhaps be taken as throwing light upon the intended
personality of Ishbel, and supplying a possible clue to the identity
of the mind of which she seems to be an imaginary creation.
Fifty-nine was the age of the late Rev. Mother Frances Helen in the
year 1873, when Sarah N---- died. They are not people who are at all
likely to have met each other upon "the other side" any more than upon
this.
It is a generally recognised fact that the conditions which we call
"time and space" exist on in the world beyond in a form so very
different from those in which they are conceived of by us, that from
our point of view they can hardly be said to exist at all. It is
natural, therefore, to seek the utterer of this remarkable statement
in some person connected with B---- who did not know the late Mother
Frances Helen (supposing her to be the person for whom Ishbel was
intended), but had heard of her.
_February 22nd, Monday._--Mr. "Z----" _came_.
The whole matter of the inquiry had been made known to Mr. "Z----,"
the proprietor of a prominent Scottish newspaper, of course in the
strictest confidence, which was carefully made a condition of the
admission of any one to the house, a confidence which he most
honourably observed. It was arranged that if anything occurred within
the observation of himself or his son, the scientific value of which
rendered it, in their judgment, desirable to publish a notice of it in
_The ----_, the notice should be published under avowedly false names
and geographical indications. Mr. "Z----" was unable to come himself,
but his son arrived this day.
Mr. "Endell" (a Member of the S.P.R.) arrived while we were out,
and made a tour of inspection alone of the outside of the house
and the ground-floor rooms. He intuitively fixed on the window
of No. 3 as that of a "haunted" room, and has since, equally by
intuition, diagnosed the drawing-room and library as "creepy,"
and the dining-room as definitely cheerful. (This coincides with
our experience.)
My own experiences to-day were confined to ejection from a high
waggonette, while waiting at the station for Mr. "Z----," the
horse having bolted at the appearance of the train.
No phenomena. We are putting Mr. "Z----", at his own request, in
No. 3, the "ghost-room."
_February 23rd, Tuesday._--Pouring wet. No phenomena. Visit to
glen impossible.
Mr. and Mrs. R---- (local residents) came to lunch. Though in
great pain I was able to see them for a few minutes, and both
inquired whether we had had any experience of the reported
hauntings, of which, however, they could give us no details.
_February 24th, Wednesday._--Mr. "Z----" left early. (_N.B._--No
phenomena reported by any one during his visit; he himself slept
soundly in the "haunted" room, but does it the justice to
acknowledge that he "could sleep through an earthquake.")
Miss "N." (the daughter of a landowner of the district) arrived.
Mr. Garford (an old friend and excellent observer) came from
London. We sleep to-night as follows:--
In the wing, in the two rooms alleged by guests of the H----s
to be haunted, the Colonel and Mr. "Endell."
No. 1. Mr. Garford.
" 3. Mr. "Q." ("ghost-room"; he has just asked to be
removed from his former room in the wing).
" 4. Miss Langton.
" 5. Mrs. W----.
" 7. Miss "N."
" 8. Miss Moore, myself, and dog.
_February 25th, Thursday._--Mr. "Endell" reported this morning
having heard a sound he could in no way account for, which seems
to us to correspond with the "clanging" noise. We asked how he
would imitate it as to volume and quality, and he said that a
large iron kettle, about the size of the dinner-table (we are
dining eight), boiling violently, so that the lid was constantly
"wobbling," might produce it.
(_N.B._--Mr. "Endell's" opinion later is that a pavior's crowbar
heavily dropped, so as to produce a prolonged reverberation, is
a better illustration.)
Mr. Garford, who was not told that any sounds might be expected
in No. 1, says he was awakened by a violent banging at the door
of communication between Nos. 1 and 2 (No. 2 is empty). Mr.
"Endell," Mr. "Q.," and Miss Moore went up later in the day to
experiment on the door, and found that it would _open_ with the
slightest push. Mr. Garford had closed it on going to bed, and
found it closed in the morning. He had not been alarmed, and had
almost called out to his supposed visitors, before he remembered
supernormal possibilities. He described the sound as a muffled
bang, and in order to reproduce it to his satisfaction one of
the party held a thick rug on the inner side while another
hammered on the panels without.
Mr. "Q.'s" experiences in No. 3 will be reported by himself. The
groans which he heard coming from No. 2 some of our party
suggested might have been made in sleep by the occupant of No.
1, but on trying experiments it was found that no sounds of the
kind which he could make in his room were audible in No. 3.
Mr. "Q." left.
Miss Langton went up the glen with Mr. Garford, and was
perplexed by seeing the grey figure when looking for the nun;
she saw it but dimly, but later in the evening recovered it in
the crystal, more clearly and in greater detail.
The following is Mr. "Q.'s" account of his experience, written on
February 24th and March 4th, in private letters to Lord Bute, but, in
order to avoid the possibility of suggestion to others, not
contributed at the time to this journal. The Editors have been
permitted also to read another account written by Mr. "Q." of this and
of his subsequent experience, written immediately after the occasion,
which agrees with his letters to Lord Bute in every particular.
"_February 24th, 1897._--I slept in room No. 3. I knew it had a 'bad'
reputation, also I had heard through Ouija of probable appearances and
noises at 3 A.M. and 4.30 A.M. I noted the time of retiring in passing
the clock on the staircase, _i.e._ 12.10.
"Before going to bed I sat in a chair with my back to a small mahogany
cupboard, placed against the wall of the dressing-room, into which my
room (No. 3) opens. About 1 A.M. I was much startled at hearing behind
me very distinctly a loud groan, coming, apparently, from the
dressing-room, in the direction of the mahogany cupboard. The sound
was very distinct, and but for the fact of there being no one visible,
I should have estimated its origin as _in_ the room, its distinctness
being such that, coming from the next room, with the door closed, it
would have sounded slightly muffled. So distinct was it that I heard
what I can only describe as the throat vibration in the tone.
"I tried to ascribe it to the bubbling of the hot-water pipe of a
washing basin fixed in the dressing-room, as I supposed, against the
wall of the bedroom, but saw next day that the basin in question was
fixed against the opposite wall of the dressing-room.
[Illustration: A, Cupboard. B, Chair. C, Washing-stand (fixed).]
"The sound was a greatly magnified and humanised edition of what I
have several times heard in the drawing-room below the dressing-room,
and which has been heard by several of the party together."
And in a letter dated March 4.--"I went upstairs at 12.10. On shutting
the door of my room I experienced a curiously cold sensation. I stood
by the fire, which was burning brightly, and shivered to an extent
that was quite phenomenal; the fire did not in the least remove the
cold shudderings which ran from head to feet.
"I threw the feeling off as best I could, but not entirely. I read a
little and then prayed. I read the office of compline and my private
prayers, and praying according to my custom for all faithful departed,
and especially for those who had previously lived in the house or been
connected with it. After this I looked at my watch; it was just upon
one o'clock, and I sat for a few minutes in the chair by the fire,
when I heard the noise described, behind me.
"I changed my position and placed the chair with its back to a table
and facing the door, the candle on the table, and took a book and
read; my shuddering sensations had been worse than ever. Suddenly I
looked up, and above the bed, _apparently_ on the wall, I got just a
glimpse (like a flash) of a brown wood crucifix: the wall was quite
bare, not a picture, nothing to make it explainable by imperfect light
or reflection. From that time the sensation of cold and shuddering
went away: I don't say immediately, but I was quite conscious of being
reassured.
"About half-an-hour afterwards all feeling of distress of any sort had
gone. I went to bed and to sleep. My own idea now is, that the sound I
heard was an inarticulate cry for help, probably by means of prayer.
The influence I feel was _bad_, but something overcame it."
It is desirable to add, as a question of evidence, for comparison of
the dates of this and Miss Freer's subsequent account of the same
phenomenon, that a letter from Mr. "Q." in Lord Bute's possession,
dated March 16th, begins, "I have no objection to Miss Freer seeing my
letter on the subject of the crucifix...."
Mr. "Q." also states that his delay in writing to Lord Bute about the
crucifix was, that he thought it might be a mental reproduction of one
which he sometimes sees in his own home, but that he found on
examining the latter that it has a white figure, whereas that of the
apparition has the figure of the same brown wood as the cross. In the
private account above referred to Mr. "Q" writes, "I found that the
crucifix at home _in no way_ resembles what I saw at B----". It will
be remarked that this peculiar apparition was seen in the same room by
the Rev. P. H---- in August 1892 (see p. 17), and it was again seen on
March 6th by Miss Freer, who had not heard at all of his experiences,
and only a bare mention, without detail or description, of that of Mr.
"Q." A fourth vision in this connection--that of Miss Langton, who had
heard of none of the other three, is described under date March 19.
_February 26th, Friday._--Nothing happened till I was in the
drawing-room in the evening, when I was, as usual since my
accident, taking my meal alone. A screen stood between my sofa
and the door, so that it was impossible to see who entered. I
saw the shadow of a woman on the wall, and supposed it to be a
maid come to see after the fire. Next, the figure of an old
woman emerged from behind the screen; she was of average height,
and stout; she wore a woollen cap, and her dress was that of a
superior servant indoors. Supposing her to be some servant's
visitor come to have a look at the drawing-room while the party
were at dinner, I moved to attract her attention, with no
result. She walked a few steps towards the middle of the room,
then disappeared. Her countenance was not pleasing, but
expressed no personal malevolence; her face may have been
coarsely handsome. Her dress was dark, and made in the fashion
which was worn in my childhood. When the dog came in later he
seemed to sight something from behind the screen and followed it
across the room, when he lay down under my couch, instead of on
the hearth as usual. He had done the same thing yesterday
morning, looking much frightened, and had then taken refuge
under Miss Langton's chair.
In connection with this it will be seen elsewhere that footsteps were
constantly heard in the drawing-room, both at night and in daylight.
Mr. Garford, in No. 1, heard last night what seemed like the
detonating noise, which he describes as like a wheelbarrow on a
hard road, "a sharp, rapidly repeated knocking," at a distance.
_February 27th, Saturday._--Colonel C---- and Mr. MacP----
arrived.