1
But the belief in ghosts, though it exists, as we have seen by the
above specimens, is by no means generally diffused. 'No! [260] I
don't believe such things,' is the general reply I have received when
inquiring for them. I could not, indeed, help being annoyed with the
strongmindedness of an old woman one day, who asserted her contempt
for the idea so persistently that she quite 'shut up' two others who
were inclined to be communicative of their experiences.
'I've often slept in a room where it was said the ghost of a woman
who was killed there, walked about with her head under her arm;
but I never saw her,' said I, to set the thing going.
'Oh! I wouldn't have done that for the world!' exclaimed Nos. 2 and
3 together.
'And why not?' said No. 1. 'There was nothing to be seen, of
course. There are no such things as ghosts!' [261]
'Ah! Some see them and some don't see them, and you're one of those
who don't see them. That's where it is,' said No. 2.
'Yes,' added No. 3; 'I know lots of people who have seen them,'
and she was going on to give examples, but No. 1 put her down.
'Did you ever see one yourself?' interposed I, to keep the ball
rolling.
'Well, yes ... so far that ...' she began, hesitatingly; but No. 1
broke in again with her vehement iteration that there are no ghosts.
'I know there are, though,' persisted No. 2; 'for my mother has told
me there is a house....'
'Here in Rome?' asked I.
'Yes, here in Rome, where she used to work, where there was a ghost
[262] that used to pull the bedclothes off anyone who slept in that
particular room, and leave him uncovered. As fast as you pulled them
over you, the spirit pulled them off again;' and she imitated the
movement with her hands.
2
'Oibo!' interposed No. 1. 'I'll tell you what ghosts are. Ghosts
are most often robbers, who get people to think they are ghosts,
in order to be able to rob in peace. There was a famous one,
I remember well, about the year 1830, who used to be called the
Ghost of St. John's, [263] because he used to make himself heard
in the houses about St. John Lateran. There were several robberies
in the same neighbourhood just at the same time, but no one thought
of connecting the two things, till at last one bethought him of it,
and he laid in wait, pistol in hand, till the ghost came by.
'By it came; and "pop!" went the pistol. And there, on the spot,
lay the body of one whom the police didn't see for the first time.
'That's what ghosts are!'
'That may have been,' replied Nos. 2 and 3; 'but that doesn't prove
that there are no ghosts for all that.'
3
'Ghosts! ghosts! are all in silly people's own heads!' exclaimed
No. 1. 'I can tell you of one there was in an old palace at Foligno. No
one would sleep there because of the ghosts, and the palace became
quite deserted. At last a sportsman, [264] who was a relation of mine,
said he wasn't afraid; he would go up there one night, and give an
account of it. He went there, pistol in hand. At the time for the
ghosts to appear, in through a hole over the window did come a great
thing with wings. The sportsman, nothing daunted, fired at it; and,
lo and behold, a large hawk [265] fell dead on the floor; then another,
and another, up to five of them.
'That's what ghosts are, I tell you!'
[The following is from another narrator.]
4
Some friars were going round begging for their convent, when night
overtook them in a wood.
'What shall we do if any wolves come? I don't believe there is any
habitation in these parts, and there will be no place to run to and
no one to help us. We must commend ourselves to the Madonna, and wait
the event.'
They had scarcely done so when one of them saw a light sparkling
through the trees. They thought it came from some woodman's cottage,
and followed its leading; but instead of a cottage they came to
a handsome inn. As the door stood invitingly open they went in:
a fire blazed on the hearth; a repast was spread on the table; a
number of maidens, attired in pure and shining white, flitted about
and brought all they wanted. When they had well supped, these led
them to a room where was a bed apiece, and in the morning again they
gave them breakfast.
Before they started again, the friars asked the maidens to take them
to offer their thanks to the mistress of the house, and they led them
into a room where was a most beautiful lady, who inquired kindly if
they had been well served and wished them a good journey. Moreover,
as they went she gave them a folded paper.
The friars, unused to be so entertained, were much bewildered, and
wondered what lady it could be who lived all alone with her maidens
in that wild wood; and they turned back to look at the inn that they
might know it again, but it had entirely disappeared, nor was there
a vestige of it to be found.
Then they opened the folded paper the lady had given them, and by
the shining letters within they knew it was the Madonna herself had
entertained them.
5
Another, who didn't believe there were ghosts to be seen--'she had
heard plenty of such stories, but she didn't give her mind to such
things,'--yet told me, she believed there were treasures hid in
countless places, [266] but people could seldom get at them; there
was always a hailstorm, or an earthquake, or something, which happened
to stop them; the Devil wouldn't let people get at them.
6
Another, whose belief in ghosts was doubtful, reckoned she knew
various cases to be facts, in which men hid treasures under a spell,
that could be removed if a person could devise the counterspell, by
hitting, even accidentally, on what the original spell had been. [267]
7
'If you want ghost-stories, I can tell them as well as another;
but mind I don't believe such things,' said another.
'Tell me what you've heard, then.'
'Well, I have heard say that there was a woman in the Monti, [268] and
not so long ago either, who was always finding money about the house,
and that too, in places where she knew no one could have put it. The
first thing in the morning when she got up she would find it on the
floor all about the room. Or if she got up from her work in the middle
of the day, though she knew no one had come in, there it would be.
'One day she saw three silver papetti [269] on the floor. It wasn't
that there was no silver money ever to be seen, and nothing but dirty
paper notes, and half of them false, as it is now o' days. It was in
the time of the Pope, and there was plenty of silver for those who
had money at all, but still, to see three silver papetti lying on
the floor all of a sudden was a sight for anyone.
'It looked so strange that she hesitated before she picked it up. But
at last she made up her mind and took it. No sooner had she done so
than a spirit appeared before her, and said, "Come down with me into
the cellar and I'll show you something."
'"No, thank you, sir," said the woman, not knowing what to do for fear.
'"Nonsense! come down, you shan't be hurt," said the spirit.
'"I'd rather not, sir, thank you," was all the woman could stammer out.
'"You must come! I'll give you something to make you rich for good
and all," persisted the spirit; and, somehow, she didn't know how,
she felt herself obliged to follow him.
'Down in the cellar was another spirit awaiting her, and the moment
she got down they took her, the one by the head and the other by the
feet, and laid her into a coffin [270] which stood there all ready on a
bier. [271] One at each end, they took it up, with the woman in it, and
walked round and round the cellar with it, chaunting the "Miserere,"
and she was too frightened to call out, much more to attempt to move.
'By-and-by they set the bier down, and as she heard nothing more
she concluded the spirits were gone; still she durst not move till
some few rays of daylight began to peep through; then she summoned
up courage to get out of the coffin.
'When she did so she saw it was all of solid gold, as well as the
bier. There was gold enough to have made her rich to the end of her
days, but she was so frightened that she wasn't able to enjoy it,
but died at the end of a month; for riches that are got in ways that
are not straightforward never profit anyone.
'That's the story as it's told; but I don't believe those things,
mind you.'
8
'Ah! I remember, too, when I was quite a girl and lived with my father
and mother in a house near Piazza Barberini, I remember one day my
little sister Ghisa coming running up out of the cellar crying out
there was a spirit which had stood waving its hand, and beckoning
to her.
'And when the others went down to see what it was all about, they
did find some human bones in a corner of the cellar, and no one knew
how they got there. But that didn't prove that the child had actually
seen a ghost.'
9
[The above story of the golden coffin, it will be observed, was told
as of a particular district in Rome. Another time, it was told me of
a village in the Campagna; the narrator said she knew the name well,
but could not recollect it at the moment. In other respects, there
were few differences of detail; but the countrywoman was more robust
and courageous than the town woman, and this is how she got on.]
'She was always finding half-pence about the ground where she
worked. One day she found a silver piece; as she went to pick it up she
saw "One" standing by. "Come with me!" he said; and the countrywoman,
not at all afraid, went with him. He led her by solitary ways till
he came to a lone empty cottage, when he left her. Quite undaunted,
she walked in. There was a large empty room in the midst, all lighted
up with ever so many lights.
'"Don't touch, don't touch!" screamed an anxious
voice. "Touch! touch!" shouted a more gloomy voice. At last she
did touch.'
['Touched what?' asked I; 'the lights, or the floor, or what?'
The narrator was posed by the question.
'Oh, I don't know what she touched. It must be supposed she touched
something.']
'Instantly all the lights went out, and she stood in the strange place
in the dark. Still she was not frightened. She had the courage to
strike a light. By its means she saw there was now a large coffin in
the midst of the room. She went straight up to it and opened it. It
was full of money! Waiting till daylight, she took home with her as
much as ever she could carry. But she kept her own counsel, and never
told anyone, and when she wanted money she went back there and took it.
'But if she never told anyone, how did anyone know the story?'
10
'This one now is quite true, for Sora Maria (you know who I mean)
told me of it, and she knew the woman as well as her own sister.
'This woman lived near the church of S. Spirito de Napoletani--you
know it?'
'Yes, in Via Giulia.'
'Exactly. Well, she used to take in washing to make a little for
herself more than what her husband gave her. But he didn't like her
doing it, and was very angry whenever he saw her at it. But as he
was out all day at his work, she used to manage to get through with
it in his absence pretty well.
'One day the water would not boil, all she could do. First she
got excited, then she got angry. "It isn't that I care," she said;
"but if my husband comes home and sees what I am doing he'll be so
angry! What will he say! What shall I do! I would give my soul to
the devil only to get it boiling in time!"
'Scarcely had she said the words when blu, blu, blu! the water
began to bubble up in the pot, boiling furiously all of a sudden,
and though it was now so short a time before her husband came back,
all the work was done and out of sight, and he perceived nothing.
'In the night came a paino, [272] and stood in the doorway of the
bedroom and beckoned to her; and as she looked she saw that every
now and then flames and sparks flew about, out of him.
'At last she could stand it no longer, and she woke her husband and
told him all. The husband could see nothing, and tried to quiet
her, but she kept crying out, now, "Here he is, here!" and now,
"There he is, there!" till at last he was obliged to call the friars
of S. Spirito de' Napolitani to her to exorcise the spirit; and it
was very difficult, because she had promised to give her soul to
the devil; but it had been thoughtlessly done, and in the end the
apparition was got rid of.'
[It so happens, however, that the church of S. Spirito de' Napolitani
is served by secular priests, and not friars.]
11
'Here's another thing I have heard that will do for you.
'There were two who took a peasant and carried him into the Campagna.'
'What! two ghosts?'
'No, no! two fellows who had more money than they knew what to do
with. They took him into the Campagna and made an omelette very good,
with plenty of sweet-scented herbs in it, and made him eat it.
'Then they took a barrel and measured him against it, and then another,
till they found one to fit, and killed him and filled it up with money,
and made a hole in the earth and buried it.
'And they said over it, "No one may disturb you till one comes who
makes an omelette with just the same sweet-scented herbs as we have
used, and makes it just on the top of this hole. Then, come out and
say, 'This gold is yours.'"
'And, of course, in the ordinary course of things, no one would have
thought of making an omelette with just those same herbs, just on
the top of that hole. But there was one who knew the other two, and
suspected something of what they were going to do, and he went up
and hid himself in a tree, and watched all that was done, and heard
the words.
'As soon as they were gone he came down and took some nice fresh eggs,
and just the same sweet-scented herbs the others had used, and made
an omelette just over the hole where he had seen them bury the barrel
with the money and the man in it.
'He had no sooner done so than the man came out all whole and well,
and said: "Oh, how many years have I been shut up in that dark place"
(though he hadn't been there half-an-hour) "till you came to deliver
me! Therefore all the gold is yours."
'Such things can't be true, so I don't believe them; but that's what
they tell.'
12
'And don't they tell other stories about there being treasures hid
about Rome?'
'Oh, yes; and some of them are true. It is quite certain that ----'
(and she named a very rich Roman prince) 'found all the money that
makes him so rich bricked up in a wall. They were altering a wall,
and they came upon some gold. It was all behind a great wall, as big
as the side of a room--all full, full of gold. When they came and
told him he pretended not to be at all surprised, and said: "Oh, yes;
it's some money I put away there; it's nothing; leave it alone." But
in the night he went down secretly and fetched it away, [273] and
that's how he became so rich; for his father was a money-changer,
who had a table where he changed money in the open street, and my
father knew him quite well.'
13
'Then there's the ----' (another rich family). 'They got their money
by confiscation of another [274] family, generations ago. That's why
they're so charitable. What they give away in charity to the poor
is immense; but it is because they know how the money came into the
family, and they want to make amends for their ancestors.'
[These treasure stories are common everywhere. In Tirol, especially,
they abound, and are of two kinds. First, concerning treasure hidden in
the earth, arising out of the metal mines that were formerly worked
there, and the carbuncles which are still found; and the second,
precisely like these, of money walled-up in old houses and castles. A
countryman, who saw me sketching the old ruin of Monte Rufiano,
on a height not far from the banks of Lake Thrasimene, told me a
story about it, just like a Tirolese story, of treasure hidden ever
so deep under it, and guarded by twelve spectres, who went about,
carrying torches in procession, on a Good Friday.
Senhor de Saraiva tells me there is a great variety of such stories
in Portugal, where the treasures are generally said to have been
hidden by the Moors, and are supposed to be buried under a gigantic
depth of rock. A place was once pointed out to him, where there
were said to be two enormous jars, one full of gold, and the other
of boiling pitch. If, in digging, a man came upon the right one,
he would be rich enough to buy up the whole world; but if, by ill
luck, his spade first reached the other, the pitch would overflow
and destroy everyone on the face of the earth; so that no one dared
to make the attempt. The people believe that such localities may be
revealed to them in dreams. But they must dream the same dream three
nights running, and not tell it to anyone. If they tell it, they will
find the money all turned to charcoal. Brick boxes of charcoal have
frequently been found buried under Roman boundary stones in Portugal,
and in this, he thinks, lies the origin of this latter fancy.
It is remarkable how many odds and ends of history remain laid up
in the memories of the Roman people, like the majolica vases and
point-lace in their houses. A great favourite with them is the story
of Beatrice Cenci, which they tell, under the name of 'La bella Cenci,'
with more or less exaggeration of detail.
'Do you know the story of "Sciarra Colonna?"' said an old woman,
who seemed scarcely a person likely to know much about such matters.]
1