"Miss Freer, Mr. T----, and I all agreed that, as it was the
anniversary of the old Major's death, we would sit to-night in
his own sitting-room, which we always call 'the downstairs
smoking-room.' Just before dinner, Miss Freer, who was sitting
between the writing-table and fireplace, suddenly called out,
'What is Spooks running after?' and then she said that there
were _two_ black dogs in the room, and that the other dog was
larger than Spooks she said, 'like a spaniel.'
"After dinner we three sat round the fire and played games;
suddenly one of us called out, 'Listen to those footsteps,' and
then we _distinctly_ heard a heavy man walking round the room,
coming apparently from the direction of the safe, in the wall
adjoining the billiard room, and then walking towards the door,
passing between us and the fireplace in front of which we were
sitting. It was a very curious sensation, for the steps came so
very close, and yet we saw nothing. Footsteps died away, and we
resumed our game. Three times over we distinctly heard outside
the door the voices of a man and woman, apparently in anger, for
their voices were loud and rough. Each time we jumped up at once
and opened the door quietly--there was nothing to be seen; the
passage was in total darkness, all the servants having gone to
bed (the last time was nearly eleven o'clock). We certified this
fact by making an expedition into the kitchen regions. We then
returned to the smoking-room, and not long after the footsteps
again began in exactly the same direction. This time they lasted
a longer time.
"I slept in No. 8, and was so tired I slept pretty well, but
before going to sleep, just before one o'clock, I heard the
sound of a heavy man in slippers come down the corridor and stop
near my door, and then the sound as of a long argument in
subdued voices, a man and a woman."
On April 9th Miss Freer and Miss Langton left B---- in order to pass
Easter elsewhere, and Mr. T---- left with them.
During Miss Freer's absence the house was occupied for some days by
the eminent classical scholar Mr. F.W.H. Myers, late Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and
Hon. Sec. to the S.P.R.
It is well known that the S.P.R. is very greatly indebted to Mr. Myers
for his most valuable services for many years as Hon. Sec., and for
his many important contributions to its literature. He has, however,
of late years somewhat alienated the sympathies of many of its
members, by the extent to which he has introduced into its
_Proceedings_ the reports of spiritualist phenomena, and the
lucubrations of mediums. The original rules of the society would
appear to exclude the employment of hired mediums, and it is difficult
to distinguish Mrs. Piper, and certain other subjects of experiment,
from this class. The differences, however, between Mr. Myers and some
of the members do not stop at this point, for his preference for the
experiences of female mediums, whether hired or gratuitous, would
appear to amount to an indifference to spontaneous phenomena, an
indifference that is distinctly and rapidly progressive.
Mr. Myers, however, appeared to take considerable interest in the
phenomena of B----, and on March 13, 1897, after reading the journal
for the first five weeks, the only part of the evidence which has
been submitted to him, or indeed to any member of the Council of the
S.P.R., he wrote to Miss Freer:--
"It is plain that the B---- case is of _great_ interest. I hope we may
have a discussion of it at S.P.R. general meeting, May 28th, 8.30, and
perhaps July 2nd, 4 P.M., also. Till then, I would suggest, we will
not put forth our experiences to the public, unless you have any other
view....
"I should particularly like to get Mr. ['Q.'] to go again in Easter
week [_i.e._ during the Myers' tenancy]. I saw him last night, and
heard his account, and next to yourself he seems the most sensitive of
the group. I am very glad that you secured him.... I will send back
the two note-books after showing them to the Sidgwicks. I am so very
glad that you and others have been so well repaid for your trouble....
You seem to have worked natural causes well."
On April 12th Mr. Myers arrived at B----, and remained until the 22nd.
He was preceded a day or two earlier by Dr. Oliver Lodge, Professor of
Physics at Victoria College, Liverpool, Mrs. Lodge, and a Mr.
Campbell of Trinity College, Cambridge. The party also included a
"medium," the only person to whom this term could be applied, in the
ordinary sense, who visited B---- during Col. Taylor's tenancy. This
person was a Miss C----, but in order to avoid confusion with other
persons, she is here called Miss "K." Miss "K." is not a professional
medium, in the same sense in which a gentleman rider is not a jockey.
She is the proprietress of a small nursing establishment in London,
and at the time of her visit to B---- was described as in weak health
and partially paralysed. She was accompanied by an attendant who was a
Roman Catholic, a circumstance which is interesting in view of the
strongly sectarian character of the ensuing revelations.
Mr. Myers recorded regularly, and transmitted to Lord Bute, the
account of the phenomena which occurred during his visit, and which
were testified to by four members of his party. He declines, however,
to allow any use to be made of his notes of what occurred during this
episode.
The regret with which his wish is deferred to is the less, because the
chief value of the notes in question seems to be that of a warning
against the methods employed; a fact of which Mr. Myers seems later to
have himself become aware, as in regard to his journal letters to Lord
Bute he wrote on March 15, 1898, _a year later_, "I am afraid that I
must ask that my B---- letters be in no way used. I greatly doubt
whether there was anything supernormal."
However, while actually staying at B----, Mr. Myers wrote to Miss
Freer on April 15th, in much the same terms as on March 11th:--
"What is your idea (I am asking Lord Bute also) _re_ speaking about
B---- at S.P.R? If this is _not_ desirable on May 28th, should you
have second-sight material ready then? If it is desirable, could we
meet sometime, ... and discuss what is to be said? As many witnesses
as possible. Noises have gone on. I am writing bulletins to Lord Bute,
which I dare say he will send on to you.... I am moving into No. 5 to
be nearer to the noise. I have heard nothing. Lodge hears mainly
knocks."