"_April 4th, Sunday._--I heard footsteps overhead last evening
while at dinner. Sleeping in No. 1. To bed about 11 P.M. To
sleep in about half-an-hour. Meanwhile I heard sounds as of
reading aloud in No. 8. Woke at 6.20. Heard voices in No. 8
again."
_April 5th, Monday._--Mr. T---- said at breakfast that he had
heard sounds as of some one reading in Miss Langton's room, No.
8, between 11.0 and 11.30 P.M., and again the sound of voices
from the same room in the morning. Miss Langton was alone, nor,
as we have proved--(see under date March 2nd)--could any sound
of reading or speaking have been heard, had any really existed.
_April 6th, Tuesday._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--
"To my room last night about 11 P.M. Loud thuds on the floor
above me, and a heavy thud against the door dividing my room
(No. 1) from the dressing-room beyond (No. 2). I went out and
listened at the servants' staircase. They were talking, but not
moving about. [I learnt on inquiry that they were all in bed by
10.30.--A.G.F.] I went to sleep immediately after I got to bed,
but woke up later with a violent start, as if by a loud noise,
though I heard nothing. I waited a few minutes and then looked
at my watch. It was 12.30. I heard voices talking pretty loud. I
was awake over three-quarters of an hour, then slept till
5.30."
Mr. B. S---- was out fishing with Mr. T---- in the morning, and
came in to lunch and again to dinner. In the evening I had a
good deal of talk with him.
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This afternoon Mrs. ----, a lady well acquainted with the
neighbourhood, came to tea. She asked me about the hauntings,
and said they were matter of common talk in the district. She
also told me that in the late Mr. S----'s time it had been
alleged that the disturbances were intentional annoyances,
though she agreed it was rather a sustained effort.
I also called to say "good-bye" to Mrs. S.----, to whom I
remarked that, though I could not doubt the existence of
phenomena at B----, we had been most comfortable, and had
greatly liked the place.
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Early this morning (I am still sleeping in No. 5) I heard the
familiar crash under the dome. It was about 2.30. Mr. T---- said
at breakfast that he had heard it too.
_Wednesday 7th._--Mr. T---- writes under this date:--
"To bed about eleven. To sleep at once. Awakened at 2.30 by a
terrific crash, and the sound of voices. A little later I heard
light raps at the foot of my door, as if a dog had wagged his
tail against it. Looked out, saw nothing; very disturbed night."
_April 8th, Thursday._--Mr. T---- writes, "Woke last night at
12.30. Heard nothing, but slept very badly. I may mention that I
am, as a rule, a very sound sleeper, and as I had taken a lot of
exercise every day--fishing, shooting, cycling, and walking,
from breakfast-time to dark--there was no reason why I should
not sleep."
Mr. T---- had been out the whole of this day with the keepers--heather
burning--and was obviously "dead tired" when he went to bed. It is
curious that even when not disturbed, he should have slept so badly,
but sleepless and nameless discomfort has assailed most persons in No.
1, though the room is large and airy.
_April 8th, Thursday._--We had planned to leave yesterday, but
it was borne in upon me that to-day being the anniversary of the
Major's death, it would be a pity--on the hypothesis of there
being anything supernormal in these phenomena--that the house
should not be under observation to-night.
In the morning the Land-steward called, having heard from Mrs.
S---- that we had heard footsteps about the house at night, and
that I had several times observed a disreputable-looking man
about the place, whom I knew not to be one of the farm-servants.
The admissions hitherto made by him, and by ---- and ----, as to
some of the phenomena, carry the evidence back for over twenty
years.
I don't know whether we have been specially on the _qui vive_
to-day, but we seem to have heard bangs and crashes and
footsteps overhead all day, though all the rooms, except Nos. 1,
5, and 8 are locked up--Mr. T---- occupies No. 1, Miss Langton
No. 8, I No. 5.
Acting upon the hints given us by ---- and ----, I thought the
downstairs smoking-room ought to be specially under observation
to-day. I was suffering from acute headache, and was obliged to
lie down in my own room from lunch-time to dinner, and this
smoking-room, which is known as "the Major's room," was the only
sitting-room in use. A few minutes before dinner, I went down
and busied myself in putting my camera to rights. It was a
delicate piece of work, and when I saw a black dog, which I
supposed for the moment to be "Spooks" (my Pomeranian), run
across the room towards my left, I stopped, fearing that she
would shake the little table on which the camera stood. I
immediately saw another dog, really Spooks this time, run
towards it from my right, with her ears pricked. Miss Langton
also observed this, and said, "What is Spooks after?" or
something of that sort. A piece of furniture prevented my seeing
their meeting, and Spooks came back directly, wagging her tail.
The other dog was larger than Spooks, though it also had long
black hair, and might have been a small spaniel.
[It was not till after we had left B---- that we learned that
the Major's favourite dog was a black spaniel.]
After dinner we returned to this room. I had intended to try
Ouija and the crystal, but was in too much pain to make this
possible, and Miss Langton felt she could not do it alone; it
was as much as I could do to sit up at all, but, by a strong
effort of will, I was able to remain downstairs till after
midnight. [I was still occasionally suffering from the results
of my accident.] We sat in front of the fire, playing a round
game. About nine we all three heard footsteps coming from the
south-west corner and going towards the door; I held up my hand
for silence, but I could see, from the direction of their eyes,
that they heard the sounds as I did--even the dog looked up and
watched. The steps were those of a rather heavy person in
heelless shoes, who walked to the door, and came back again,
passed close behind Mr. T----'s chair, crossed the hearth-rug
just in front of me, and stopped at or about the north-east
corner, but--it seemed--remained in the room, behind Miss
Langton's chair. We heard them again about 10.30; we also heard
sounds several times during the evening of the talking of a man
and woman. Three times over Miss Langton and Mr. T---- went out
to listen, but the house was perfectly quiet, and though we were
on the same floor with the servants, there had been, the whole
time, three closed doors between us and their quarters in the
wing, which also was in the direction opposite that from which
the sounds came (the present billiard-room). About 10.45, Miss
Langton and I went up to the dining-room in search of
refreshment; everything upstairs seemed perfectly still, and the
servants had long before gone to bed. Mr. T---- followed us up,
and as we went back to the smoking-room, the voices seemed to be
in high argument just inside. We could distinguish no words,
though the _timbre_ of the voices is perfectly clear in my
memory. About 12.20 we went to bed. I had intended to sit up in
No. 8, but found I was not equal to it, and Miss Langton would
not accept my offer of sleeping there with her. She was
therefore there alone, I in No. 5, and Mr. T---- in No. 1. I had
not been many minutes in my room when I heard the familiar loud
crash as of something falling into the hall, under the dome, and
rushed out immediately--the house was perfectly still. We had
left a small lamp burning in the corridor. Mr. T---- said, next
morning, that he had also came out at the sound, but must have
been later than I, as he was just in time to see my door shut.
About twenty minutes after, I heard the shuffling footsteps come
up the stairs, and pause near my door; I opened it, and saw
nothing, but was so definitely conscious of the presence of a
personality, that I addressed it in terms which need not be set
down here, but of which I may say that they were intended to be
of the utmost seriousness, while helpful and encouraging. I may
add, that I knew from experience of the acoustic qualities of
the house, that I should not be audible to those in Nos. 1 or 8.
Absolutely, while I was speaking, the voices we had heard
downstairs became audible again, this time it seemed to me
outside the door of No. 8; they were certainly the same voices,
but seemed to be consciously lowered. (Miss Langton's account
will show that she heard voices and footsteps outside her door
at about this time.) I was asleep before the clock struck two,
but was awakened again about 3.30, and was kept awake for more
than an hour by various sounds in the house. Roughly speaking,
these were of two kinds: one, those of distant clangs and
crashes which we have heard many times in varying intensity,
loudest of all on our first night and on this. The other (more
human in association), knocks at the door, thuds on the lower
panels within, say, two feet of the ground; footsteps, not as
before, but rapid and as of many feet, and again the same
voices. The night was perfectly still, and I could clearly
differentiate the cries of the owl (of two kinds, I think), the
kestrel hawk, and even of the rabbits on the lawn. I went to the
windows and looked out, but the night was quite dark, and the
dawn was grey and misty.
About 5.45 I fell asleep, and did not wake till my tea came up
at 7.30, when I asked the maid if she had been disturbed, and
she replied that the servants had been extra busy the day
before, had gone to bed early, and had slept soundly.
Miss Langton and Mr. T---- attest the above as a correct account
of our experience, so far as they were concerned.