,note3 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see https3_/_/archive4org_/details_/ghostwor ld#jj;dyer ,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,,the ,,ghost ,,world by ,t4 ,f4 ,,thiselton ,,dyer ,author of ',church ,lore ,gleanings' etc4 ,london ,ward ,downey #ab ,york ,street ,covent ,garden #ahic ,all rights reserved ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i4 ,,the ,,soul',s ,,exit #a ,,ii4 ,,temporary ,,exit ,,of ,,soul #ag ,,iii4 ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,the ,,soul #bd ,,iv4 ,,the ,,unburied ,,dead #dc ,v4 ,,why ,,ghosts ,,wander #ej ,,vi4 ,,ghosts ,,of ,,the ,,murdered #fd ,,vii4 ,,phantom ,,birds #he ,,viii4 ,,animal ,,ghosts #ajb ,,ix4 ,,phantom ,,lights #abg ,x4 ,,the ,,headless ,,ghost #add ,,xi4 ,,phantom ,,butterflies #aei ,,xii4 ,,raising ,,ghosts #afc ,,xiii4 ,,ghost ,,laying #agi ,,xiv4 ,,ghosts ,,of ,,the ,,drowned #bjf ,,xv4 ,,ghost ,,seers #bad ,,xvi4 ,,ghostly ,,death-,,warnings #bai ,,xvii4 ',,second ,,sight' #bcc ,,xviii4 ,,compacts ,,between ,,the ,,living ,,and ,,dead #bde ,,xix4 ,,minders' ,,ghosts #beg ,,xx4 ,,the ,,banshee #bgh ,,xxi4 ,,see ,,phantoms #bhd ,,xxii4 ,,phantom ,,dress #cjc ,,xxiii4 ,,haunted ,,houses #caj ,,xxiv4 ,,haunted ,,localities #cce ,,xxv4 ,,checks ,,and ,,spells ,,against ,,ghosts #ced ,,xxvi4 ,,wraith-,,seeing #cfc ,,xxvii4 ,,ghostly ,,times ,,and ,,seasons #chb ,,xxviii4 ,,spirit-,,haunted ,,trees #cia ,,xxix4 ,,ghosts ,,and ,,hidden ,,treasures #cig ,,xxx4 ,,phantom ,,music #daa ,,xxxi4 ,,phantom ,,sounds #dbf ,,index #dci ,,the ,,ghost ,,world ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,soul',s ,,exit ,in the ,iliad1#a after the spirit of ,patroclus has visited ,achilles in his dream1 it is described as taking its departure1 and entering the ground like smoke4 ,in long after years1 and among widely scattered communities1 we meet with the same imagery2 and it is recorded how the soul of ,beowulf the ,goth 'curled to the clouds1' imaging the smoke which was curling up from his pyre4 ,a similar description of the soul's exit is mentioned in one of the works of the celebrated mystic1 ,jacob ,boehme1#b who observes3 ',seeing that man is so very earthly1 therefore he hath none but earthly knowledge2 except he be regenerated in the gate of the deep4 ,he always supposeth that the soul--at the deceasing of the body--goeth only out at the mouth1 and he understandeth nothing concerning its deep essences above the elements4 ,when he seeth a blue vapour go forth out of the mouth of a dying man1 then he supposeth that is the soul4' ,the same conception is still extensively believed throughout ,europe1 and the ,russian peasant often sees ghostly smoke hovering above graves4 ,the ,kaffirs hold that at death man leaves after him a sort of smoke1 'very like the shadow which his living body will always cast before it1'#c reminding us of the hero in the ,arabian romance of ,yokdnan1 who seeks the source of life and thought1 and discovers in one of the cavities of the heart a bluish vapour--the living soul4 ,among rude races the original idea of the human soul seems to have been that of vaporous materiality1 which1 as ,dr4 ,tylor observes1#d has held so large a place in modern philosophy1 and in one shape or another crops up in ghost stories4 ,the ,basutos1 speaking of a dead man1 say that his heart has gone out1 and the ,malays affirm that the soul of a dying man escapes through the nostrils4 ,hogarth has represented the figure of ,time breathing forth his last--a puff of breath proceeding from his mouth2 and a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries'#e relates that1 according to a popular belief1 a considerable interval invariably elapses between the first semblance of death and what is considered to be the departure of the soul1 about five minutes after the time when death1 to all outward appearances1 has taken place1 'the last breath' may be seen to issue with a vapour 'or steam' out of the mouth of the departed4 ,according to some foreign tribes1 the soul was said to dwell mainly in the left eye2 and in ,new ,zealand men always ate the left eye of a conquered enemy4 ,at ,tahiti1 in the human sacrifices1 the left eye of the victim was always offered to the chief presiding over the ceremony4 ,it was further believed in ,new ,zealand that 'in eating the left eye they doubled their own soul by incorporating with it that of the conquered man4 ,it was also thought by some people in the same archipelago that a spirit used to dwell in both eyes4'#f ,the supposed escape of the soul from the mouth at death gave rise to the idea that the vital principle might be transferred from one person to another2 and1 among the ,seminoles of ,florida1 when a woman died in childbirth1 the infant was held over her face to receive her parting spirit4 ,algonquin women1 desirous of becoming mothers1 flocked to the bed of those about to die1 in the hope that they might receive the last breath as it passed from the body2 and to this day the ,tyrolese peasant still fancies a good man's soul to issue from his mouth at death like a little white cloud4#g ,we may trace the same fancy in our own country1 and it is related#h that while a well-known ,lancashire witch lay dying1 'she must needs1 before she could shuffle off this mortal coil1 transfer her familiar spirit to some trusty successor4 ,an intimate acquaintance from a neighbouring township was sent for in all haste1 and on her arrival was immediately closeted with her dying friend4 ,what passed between them has never fully transpired2 but it is asserted that at the close of the interview the associate received the witch's last breath into her mouth1 and with it her familiar spirit4 ,the powers for good or evil were thus transferred to her companion4' ,in order that the soul1 as it quits the body1 may not be checked in its onward course1 it has long been customary to unfasten locks or bolts1 and to open doors1 so that the struggle between life and death may not be prolonged--a superstition common in ,france1 ,germany1 ,spain1 and ,england4 ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' tells how for a long time he had visited a poor man who was dying1 and was daily expecting death4 ,upon calling one morning to see his poor friend1 his wife informed him that she thought he would have died during the night1 and hence she and her friends unfastened every lock in the house2 for1 as she added1 any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to1 and hinder1 the departure of the soul4#i ,we find the same belief among the ,chinese1 who make a hole in the roof to let out the departing soul2 and the ,north ,american ,indian1 fancying the soul of a dying man to go out at the wigwam roof1 would beat the sides with a stick to drive it forth4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 in ',guy ,mannering1' describes this belief as deep rooted among 'the superstitious eld of ,scotland2' and at the smuggler's death in the ,kaim of ,derncleugh1 ,meg ,merrilies unbars the door and lifts the latch1 saying-- ,open lock1 end strife1 ,come death1 and pass life4 ,a similar practice exists among the ,esquimos1 and one may often hear a ,german peasant express his dislike to slam a door1 lest he should pinch a soul in it4 ,it has been suggested that the unfastening of doors and locks at death may be explained by analogy and association4 ,thus1 according to a primitive belief1 the soul1 or the life1 was thought to be tied up1#aj so that the unloosing of any knot might help to get rid of it at death4 ,the same superstition 'prevailed in ,scotland as to marriage4 ,witches cast knots on a cord2 and in a ,perthshire parish both parties1 just before marriage1 had every knot or tie about them loosened1 though they immediately proceeded in private to tie them each up again4'#aa ,another explanation suggests that the custom is founded on the idea that1 when a person died1 the ministers of purgatorial pains took the soul as it escaped from the body1 and flattening it against some closed door--which alone would serve the purpose--crammed it into the hinges and hinge openings2 thus the soul in torment was likely to be miserably squeezed4 ,by opening the doors1 the friends of the departed were at least assured that they were not made the unconscious instruments of torturing the departed4#ab ,there is a widespread notion among the poor that the spirit will linger in the body of a child a long time when the parent refuses to part with it1 an old belief which1 under a variety of forms1 has existed from a primitive period4 ,in ,denmark one must not weep over the dying1 still less allow tears to fall on them1 for it will hinder their resting in the grave4 ,in some parts of ,holland1 when a child is at the point of death1 it is customary to shade it by the curtains from the parents' gaze1 the soul1 it is said1 being detained in the body so long as a compassionate eye is fixed upon it4 ,a ,german piece of folk-lore informs us that he who sheds tears when leaning over an expiring friend increases the difficulty of death's last struggle4 ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' alluding to this superstition in the ,north of ,england writes3 ',i said to ,mrs4 ,b----1 ,poor little ,h---- lingered a long time2 ,i thought when ,i saw him that he must have died the same day1 but he lingered on6 ,yes1 said ,mrs4 ,b----1 it was a great shame of his mother4 ,he wanted to die1 and she would not let him die2 she couldn't part with him4 ,there she stood fretting over him1 and couldn't give him up2 and so we said to her1 ',he'll never die till you give him up1' and then she gave him up1 and he died quite peacefully4'#ac ,similarly1 it is not good to weep for the dead1 as it disturbs the peace and rest of the soul4 ,in an old ,danish ballad of ,aage and ,else1 a lover's ghost says to his mistress3 ,every time thou weepest1 for each tear in that flood1 ,the coffin ,i am laid in is filled with much blood4 ,or1 as another version has it3 ,every time thou'rt joyful1 ,and in thy mind art glad1 ,then is my grave within ,hung round with roses' leaves4 ,every time thou grievest1 ,and in thy mind are sad1 ,then is within my coffin ,as if full of clotted blood4 ,a ,german song tells us how a sister wept incessantly over her brother's grave1 but at last her tears became intolerable to the deceased1 because he was detained on earth by her excessive weeping1 and suffered thereby great torment4 ,in a fit of desperation he cursed her1 and in consequence of his malediction1 she was changed into a cuckoo1 so that she might always lament for herself4#ad ,mannhardt relates a pretty tale of a young mother who wept incessantly over the loss of her only child1 and would not be comforted4 ,every night she went to the little grave and sobbed over it1 till1 on the evening preceding the ,epiphany1 she saw ,bertha pass not far from her1 followed by her troop of children4 ,the last of these was one whose little shroud was all wet1 and who seemed exhausted by the weight of a pitcher of water she carried4 ,it tried in vain to cross a fence over which ,bertha and the rest had passed2 but the fond mother1 at once recognising her child1 ran and lifted it over4 ',oh1 how warm are mother's arms6' said the little one2 'but don't cry so much1 mother1 for ,i must gather up every tear in my pitcher4 ,you have made it too full and heavy already4 ,see how it has run over and wet all my shift4' ,the mother cried again1 but soon dried her tears4 ,we may compare a similar superstition among the natives of ,alaska1 when1 if too many tears were shed by the relatives during the burial ceremonies1 it was thought that the road of the dead would be muddy1 but a few tears were supposed just to lay the dust4#ae ,the same idea is found in a ,hindu dirge3 ',the souls of the dead do not like to taste the tears let fall by their kindred2 weep not1 therefore2' and1 according to the ,edda1 every tear falls as blood upon the ice-cold bosom of the dead4 ,we may trace the belief in ,ireland1 and ,sir ,walter ,scott says#af it was generally supposed throughout ,scotland that 'the excessive lamentation over the loss of friends disturbed the repose of the dead1 and broke even the rest of the grave4' ,the presence of pigeon or game feathers is said to be another hindrance to the exit of the soul2 and1 occasionally1 in order to facilitate its departure1 the peasantry in many parts of ,england will lay a dying man on the floor4 ,a ,sussex nurse once told the wife of a clergyman that 'never did she see anyone die so hard as ,master ,short2 and at last she thought--though his daughter said there were none--that there must be game feathers in the bed4 ,so she tried to pull it from under him1 but he was a heavy man1 and she could not manage it alone1 and there was none with him but herself1 and so she got a rope and tied it round him1 and pulled him right off the bed1 and he went off in a minute quite comfortable1 just like a lamb4'#ag ,in ,lancashire1 this belief is so deep-rooted that some persons will not allow sick persons to lie on a feather-bed2 while in ,yorkshire the same is said of cocks' feathers4 ,shakespeare alludes to the practice where ,timon says#ah-- ,pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads4 ,and ,grose remarks3 ',it is impossible for a person to die whilst resting on a pillow stuffed with the feathers of a dove1 for he will struggle with death in the most exquisite torture4' ,this is also a ,hindu and ,mohammedan belief1 and in ,india 'the dying are always taken from their beds and laid on the ground1 it being held that no one can die peaceably except when laid on mother earth4'#ai ,in ,russia1 too1 there is a strong feeling against the use of pigeon feathers in beds4 ,the summons for the soul to quit its earthly tenement has been thought to be announced1 from early times1 by certain strange sounds1 a belief which ,flatman has embodied in some pretty lines3 ,my soul1 just now about to take her flight ,into the regions of eternal night1 ,methinks ,i hear some gentle spirit say1 ',be not fearful1 come away6' ,pope speaks in the same strain3 ,hark6 they whisper1 angels say1 ',sister spirit1 come away6' ,and in ',troilus and ,cressida' 7iv4 #d71 the former says3 ,hark6 you are called2 some say1 the ,genius so ,cries ',come6' to him that instantly must die4 ,as in days gone by so also at the present time1 there is1 perhaps1 no superstition more generally received than the belief in what are popularly known as 'death-warnings1'#bj reference to which we shall have occasion to make in a later chapter4 ,it has been urged again1 that at the hour of death the soul is1 as it were1 on the confines of two worlds1 and hence may possess a power which is both prospective and retrospective4 ,in ',richard ,,ii4' 7ii4 #a71 the dying ,gaunt exclaims1 alluding to his nephew1 the young and self-willed king3 ,methinks ,i am a prophet1 new inspired1 ,and thus expiring do foretell of him4 ,nerissa says of ,portia's father in ',merchant of ,venice' 7i4 #b73 ',your father was ever virtuous2 and holy men at their death have good inspirations4' ,this idea may be traced up to the time of ,homer1#ba and ,aristotle tells us that the soul1 when on the point of death1 foretells things about to happen2 the belief still lingering on in ,lancashire and other parts of ,england4 ,according to another notion1 it was generally supposed that when a man was on his death-bed1 the devil or his agents tried to seize his soul1 if it should happen that he died without receiving the ',eucharist1' or without confessing his sins4 ,in the old office books of the ,church1 these 'busy meddling fiends' are often represented with great anxiety besieging the dying man2 but on the approach of the priest and his attendants they are represented as being dismayed4 ,douce#bb quotes from a manuscript book of devotion1 of the time of ,henry ,,vi41 the following prayer to ,st4 ,george3 ',judge for me when the most hedyous and damnable dragons of helle shall be redy to take my poore soule and engloute it into theyr infernall belyes4' ,one object1 it has been urged1 of the 'passing bell' was to drive away the evil spirit that might be hovering about to seize the soul of the deceased1 such as the king speaks of in #b ,henry ,,vi4 7iii4 #c73 ,o1 beat away the busy meddling fiend1 ,that lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul1 ,and from his bosom purge this black despair4 ,we may find the same idea among the ,northern ,californians1 who affirmed that when the soul first escaped from the body an evil spirit hovered near1 ready to pounce upon it and carry it off4#bc ,it is still a common belief with our seafaring community on the east coast of ,england1 that the soul takes its departure during the falling of the tide4 ,everyone remembers the famous scene in ',david ,copperfield1' where ,barkis's life 'goes out with the tide4' ,as ,mr4 ,peggotty explained to ,david ,copperfield by poor ,barkis's bedside1 ',people can't die along the coast except when the tide's pretty nigh out4 ,he's a-going out with the tide--he's a-going out with the tide4 ,it's ebb at half arter three1 slack water half an hour4 ,if he lives till it turns he'll hold his own till past the flood1 and go out with the next tide4' ,in the parish register of ,heslidon1 near ,hartlepool1 the subjoined extract of old date alludes to the state of the tide at the time of death3 ',the xith daye of ,maye1 ,a4,d4 #aeie1 at vi of ye clocke in the morninge1 being full water1 ,mr4 ,henrye ,mitford1 of ,hoolam1 died at ,newcastel1 and was buried the xvi daie1 being ,sondaie4 ,at evening prayer1 the hired preacher made ye sermon4' ,mrs4 ,quickly in ',henry ,v4' 7ii4 #c7 speaking of ,falstaff's death says3 '',a made a finer end and went away an it had been any christom child2 'a parted even just between twelve and one1 even at the turning o' the tide4' ,in ,brittany1 death claims its victim at ebb of the tide1 and along the ,new ,england coast it is said a sick man cannot die until the ebb-tide begins to run4 ,it has been suggested that there may be some slight foundation for this belief in the change of temperature which takes place on the change of tide1 and which may act on the flickering spark of life1 extinguishing it as the ebbing sea recedes4 ,,footnotes3 #a xxiii4 #ajj2 ,keary's ,outlines of ,primitive ,belief1 p4 #bhd4 #b ,the ,three ,principles1 chap4 xix4 ',of the ,going ,forth of the ,soul4' #c ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #beb4 #d ,primitive ,culture1 #ahgc1 i4 p4 #deg4 #e #ast ,s4 ii4 p4 #ea4 #f ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #beg4 #g ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #dcc2 ,brinton's ,myths of the ,new ,world1 p4 #bec4 #h ,harland and ,wilkinson's ,lancashire ,folk-lore1 #ahfg1 p4 #baj4 #i #ast ,s4 i4 p4 #cae4 #aj ,cf4 ',nexosque resolveret artus1' ,virgil on the death of ,dido4 neid iv4 #fie4 #aa ,see ,dalyell's ,darker ,superstitions of ,scotland1 p4 #cjb1 and ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 iv4 p4 #cej4 #ab ,ibid4 i4 p4 #dfg4 #ac #ast ,s4 iii4 p4 #hd4 #ad ,kelly's ,indo-,european ,folk-lore1 pp4 #abg-abh4 #ae ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #dc4 #af ,in a note to ,redgauntlet1 ,letter xi4 #ag ,folk-lore ,record1 i4 pp4 #ei-fj4 #ah ,timon of ,athens1 iv4 #c4 #ai ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #fj-fa4 #bj ,see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #ade4 #ba ,iliad1 ii4 #heb4 #bb ,illustrations of ,shakspeare1 #ahci1 pp4 #cbd-cbf4 #bc ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #dj4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,temporary ,,exit ,,of ,,soul ,many of the conceptions of the human soul formed by savage races arose from the phenomena of everyday life4 ,according to one of the most popular dream theories prevalent among the lower races1 the sleeper's soul takes its exit during the hours of slumber1 entering into a thousand pursuits4 ,now1 as it is well known by experience 'that men's bodies do not go on these excursions1 the explanation is that every man's living self1 a soul1 is his phantom or image1 which can go out of his body and see1 and be seen itself1 in dreams4'#bd ,in the opinion of the savage1 therefore1 dreams have always afforded a convincing proof of the soul's separate existence1 and ,dr4 ,tylor considers that 'nothing but dreams and visions could ever have put into men's minds such an idea as that of souls being ethereal images of bodies4' ,thus the ,dayaks of ,borneo believe that in the hours of sleep the soul travels far away1 and the ,fijians think that the spirit of a living man during sleep can leave the body and trouble some one else4 ,but ,mr4 ,e4 im ,thurn1 in his ',indians of ,guiana' 7#cdd-cdf71 gives some very striking instances of this strange phase of superstitious belief3 ',one morning1 when it was important to me to get away from a camp on the ,essequibo ,river1 at which ,i had been detained for some days by the illness of some of my ,indian companions1 ,i found that one of the invalids1 a young ,macusi ,indian1 though better in health1 was so enraged against me that he refused to stir1 for he declared that1 with great want of consideration for his weak health1 ,i had taken him out during the night1 and had made him haul the canoe up a series of difficult cataracts4 ,nothing could persuade him that this was but a dream1 and it was some time before he was so far pacified as to throw himself sulkily into the bottom of the canoe4 ,at that time we were all suffering from a great scarcity of food1 and1 hunger having its usual effect in producing vivid dreams1 similar events frequently occurred4 ,more than once the men declared in the morning that some absent men whom they named had come during the night1 and had beaten1 or otherwise maltreated them2 and they insisted on much rubbing of the bruised parts of their bodies4'#be ,another evidence in savage culture of the soul's having its own individuality1 independently of the body1 is the fact that a person through some accident may suddenly fall into a swoon1 remaining to all outward appearance dead4 ,when such a one1 however1 revives and is restored to consciousness1 the savage is wont to exclaim that he died for a time until his soul was induced to return4 ,hence ,mr4 ,williams informs us#bf how the ,fijians believe1 when anyone dies or faints1 that the soul may sometimes be brought back by calling after it2 and in ,china1 when a child is at the point of death1 the mother will go into the garden and call its name1 thinking thereby to bring back the wandering spirit4 ,on this account divination and sorcery are extensively employed1 and certain 'wise men' profess to have a knowledge of the mystic art of invoking souls that for some reason or other may have deserted their earthly tenement4#bg ,the ,rev4 ,w4 ,w4 ,gill1 in his ',myths and ,songs from the ,south ,pacific' 7#aga-agb71 gives a curious instance of the wandering of the soul during life4 ',at ,uea1 one of the ,loyalty ,islands1 it was the custom formerly1 when a person was very ill1 to send for a man whose employment it was to restore souls to forsaken bodies4 ,the soul doctor would at once collect his friends and assistants1 to the number of twenty men1 and as many women1 and start off to the place where the family of the sick man was accustomed to bury their dead4 ,upon arriving there1 the soul doctor and his male companions commenced playing the nasal flutes with which they had come provided1 in order to entice back the spirit to its old tenement4 ,the women assisted by a low whistling1 supposed to be irresistibly attractive to exile spirits4 ,after a time the entire procession proceeded towards the dwelling of a sick person1 flutes playing and the women whistling all the time1 leading back the truant spirit4 ,to prevent its possible escape1 with their palms open1 they seemingly drove it along with gentle violence and coaxing4 ,on entering the dwelling of the patient1 the vagrant spirit was ordered in loud tones at once to enter the body of the sick man4' ,in the same way1 too1 according to a popular superstition among rude tribes1 some favoured persons are supposed to have the faculty of sending forth their own souls on distant journeys1 and of acquiring1 by this means1 information for their fellow creatures4 ,thus the ,australian doctor undergoes his initiation by such a journey1 and those who are not equally gifted by nature subject themselves to various ordeals1 so as to possess the supposed faculty of releasing their souls for a time from the body4 ,from this curious phase of superstition have arisen a host of legendary stories1 survivals of which are not confined to uncivilised communities1 but are found among the folk-tales of most countries4 ,mr4 ,baring ,gould1#bh for instance1 quotes a ,scandinavian story in which the ,norse ,chief ,ingimund shut up three ,finns in a hut for three nights so that their souls might make an expedition to ,iceland1 and bring back information of the nature of the country where he was eventually to settle4 ,accordingly their bodies soon became rigid1 they dismissed their souls on the errand1 and on awakening after three days1 they gave ,ingimund an elaborate description of the country in question4 ,we may compare this phase of belief with that which is commonly known in this country as second sight4#bi ,among the ,hervey ,islanders1 ,mr4 ,gill says3 ',the philosophy of sneezing is that the spirit having gone travelling about--perchance on a visit to the homes or burying-places of its ancestors--its return to the body is naturally attended with some difficulty and excitement1 occasionally a tingling and enlivening sensation all over the body4 ,hence the various customary remarks addressed to the returned spirit in different islands4 ,at ,rarotonga1 when a person sneezes1 the bystanders exclaim1 as though addressing a spirit1 ,ha6 you have come back4' ,then there is the widespread ,animistic belief1 in accordance with which each man has several souls2--some lower races treating the breath1 the dream ghost1 and other appearances as being separate souls4 ,this notion seems to have originated in the pulsation of the heart and arteries1 which rude tribes regard as indications of independent life4 ,thus this fancy is met with in various parts of ,america and exists also in ,madagascar4 ,it prevails in ,greenland1 and the ,fijians affirm that each man has two souls4 ,this belief1 too1 is very old1 evidences of its existence being clearly traceable among the ancient ,greeks and ,romans4#cj ,indeed1 classic literature affords ample proof of how the beliefs of modern savages are in many cases survivals of similar notions held in olden times by nations that had made considerable progress in civilisation4 ,,footnotes3 #bd ,tylor's ,anthropology1 #ahha1 p4 #cdc4 #be ,see further instances in ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 pp4 #ddj1 #dda4 #bf ,fiji and the ,fijians1 i4 p4 #bdb4 #bg ,see ,sir ,john ,lubbock's ,origin of ,civilisation and the ,primitive ,condition of ,man1 #ahgj1 p4 #ada4 #bh ,werewolves1 p4 #bi4 #bi ,see ,chapter on ,second ,sight4 #cj ,see ,tylor's ,anthropology1 p4 #cde2 and ,sir ,john ,lubbock's ,origin of ,civilisation and the ,primitive ,condition of ,man1 p4 #ada2 and ,h4 ,spencer's ,principles of ,sociology1 #ahhe1 i4 p4 #ggg4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,the ,,soul ,it has from time immemorial been a widely recognised belief among mankind that the soul after death bears the likeness of its fleshly body1 although opinions have differed largely as to its precise nature4 ,but it would seem to be generally admitted that the soul set free from its earthly tenement is at once recognised by anyone to whom it may appear1 reminding us of ,lord ,tennyson's dictum in ',in ,memoriam'3 ,eternal form shall still divide ,the eternal soul from all beside2 ,and ,i shall know him when we meet4 ,despite the fact that the disembodied spirit has been supposed to retain its familiar likeness1 we find all kinds of strange ideas existing in most parts of the world as to what sort of a thing it really is when its condition of existence is so completely changed4 ,thus1 according to a conception which has received in most ages very extensive credence1 the soul has substantiality4 ,this was the ,greek idea of ghosts1 and 'it is only1' writes ,bishop ,thirwall1 'after their strength has been repaired by the blood of a slaughtered victim1 that they recover reason and memory for a time1 can recognise their living friends1 and feel anxiety for those they have left on earth4' ,a similar notion of substantiality prevailed among the ,hebrews1 and1 as ,herbert ,spencer points out1 'the stories about ghosts accepted among ourselves in past times involved the same thought4 ,the ability to open doors1 to clank chains1 and make other noises implies considerable coherence of the ghost's substance4'#ca ,that this conception of the soul was not only received but taught1 may be gathered from ,tertullian1 who says3 ',the soul is material1 composed of a substance different to the body1 and particular4 ,it has all the qualities of matter1 but it is immortal4 ,it has a figure like the body4 ,it is born at the same time as the flesh1 and receives an individuality of character which it never loses4' ,he further describes#cb a vision or revelation of a certain ,montanist prophetess1 of the soul seen by her corporeally1 thin and lucid1 aerial in colour1 and human in form4 ,it is recorded1 too1 as an opinion of ,epicurus1 that 'they who say the soul is incorporeal talk folly1 for it could neither do nor suffer anything were it such4' ,it was the idea of materiality that caused the superstitious folk in years gone by to attribute to ghosts all kinds of weird and eccentric acts which could not otherwise be explained4 ,and yet it has always been a puzzle in ,animistic philosophy1 how a ghost could be possessed at one moment of a corporeal body1 and immediately afterwards vanish into immateriality1 escaping sight and touch4 ,but this strange ghost phenomenon is clearly depicted in sacred history1 where we find substantiality1 now insubstantiality1 and now something between the two1 described4 ,thus1 as ,herbert ,spencer remarks1#cc 'the resuscitated ,christ was described as having wounds that admitted of tactual examination1 and yet as passing unimpeded through a closed door or through walls4' ,and1 as he adds1 the supernatural beings of the ,hebrews generally1 'whether revived dead or not1 were similarly conceived3 here1 angels dining with ,abraham1 or pulling ,lot into the house1 apparently possess complete corporeity2 there1 both angels and demons are spoken of as swarming invisibly in the surrounding air1 thus being incorporeal2 while elsewhere they are said to have wings1 implying motion by mechanical action1 and are represented as rubbing against1 and wearing out1 the dresses of ,rabbis in the ,synagogue4' ,all kinds of strange theories have been suggested by perplexed metaphysicians to account for this duplex nature of the disembodied soul2 ,calmet having maintained that 'immaterial souls have their own vaporous bodies1 or occasionally have such vaporous bodies provided for them by supernatural means to enable them to appear as spectres1 or that they possess the power of condensing the circumambient air into phantom-like bodies to invest themselves in4'#cd ,in ,fiji the soul is regarded quite as a material object1 subject to the same laws as the living body1 and having to struggle hard to gain the paradisaical ,bolotu4 ,some idea1 too1 of the hardships it has to undergo in its material state may be gathered from the following passage in ,dr4 ,letourneau's ',sociology' 7p4 #bea73 ',after death the soul of the ,fijian goes first of all to the eastern extremity of ,vanna ,levou1 and during this voyage it is most important that it should hold in its hand the soul of the tooth of a spermaceti whale1 for this tooth ought to grow into a tree1 and the soul of the poor human creature climbs up to the top of this tree4 ,when it is perched up there it is obliged to await the arrival of the souls of his wives1 who have been religiously strangled to serve as escort to their master4 ,unless all these and many other precautions are taken1 the soul of the deceased ,fijian remains mournfully seated upon the fatal bough until the arrival of the good ,ravuyalo1 who kills him once and for all1 and leaves him without means of escape4' ,according to another popular and widely accepted doctrine1 the soul was supposed to be composed of a peculiar subtle substance1 a kind of vaporous materiality4 ,the ,choctaws have their ghosts or wandering spirits which can speak and are visible1 but not tangible4#ce ,the ,tongans conceived it as the aeriform part of the body1 related to it as the perfume and essence of a flower2 and the ,greenlanders speak of it as pale and soft1 without flesh and bone1 so that he who tries to grasp it feels nothing he can take hold of4 ,the ,siamese describe the soul as consisting of some strange matter1 invisible and untouchable4 ,while ,dr4 ,tylor quotes a curious passage from ,hampole1#cf in which the soul1 owing to the thinness of its substance1 suffers all the more intense suffering in purgatory3 ,the soul is more tendre and nesche 7soft7 ,than the bodi that hath bones and fleysche2 ,thanne the soul that is so tendere of kinde1 ,mote nedis hure penaunce hardere y-finde1 ,than eni bodi that evere on live was4 ,then there is the idea of the soul as a shadow1 a form of superstition which has given rise to many quaint beliefs among uncultured tribes4 ,the ,basutos1 when walking by a river1 take care not to let their shadow fall on the water1 lest a crocodile seize it1 and draw the owner in4 ,the ,zulu affirms that at death the shadow of a man in some mysterious way leaves the body1 and hence1 it is said1 a corpse cannot cast a shadow4 ,certain ,african tribes consider that 'as he dies1 man leaves a shadow behind him1 but only for a short time4 ,the shade1 or the mind1 of the deceased remains1 they think1 close to the grave where the corpse has been buried4 ,this shadow is generally evil-minded1 and they often fly away from it in changing their place of abode4'#cg ,the ,ojibways tell how one of their chiefs died1#ch but while they were watching the body on the third night1 his shadow came back into it4 ,he sat up1 and told them how he had travelled to the ,river of ,death1 but was stopped there1 and sent back to his people4 ,speaking of the human shadow in relation to foundation sacrifices1 we are reminded#ci how1 according to many ancient ,roumenian legends1 'every new church or otherwise important building became a human grave1 as it was thought indispensable to its stability to wall in a living man or woman1 whose spirit henceforward haunts the place4 ,in later times this custom underwent some modifications1 and it became usual1 in place of a living man1 to wall in his shadow4 ,this is done by measuring the shadow of a person with a long piece of cord1 or a ribbon made of strips of reed1 and interring this measure instead of the person himself1 who1 unconscious victim of the spell thrown upon him1 will pine away and die within forty days4 ,it is an indispensable condition to the success of this proceeding that the chosen victim be ignorant of the part he is playing1 therefore careless passers by near a building may often hear the cry1 warning1 ,beware1 lest they take thy shadow6 ,so deeply engrained is this superstition1 that not long ago there were professional shadow-traders1 who made it their business to provide architects with the necessary victims for securing their walls4' ',of course1 the man whose shadow is thus interred must die1' argues the ,roumenian1 'but as he is unaware of his doom1 he does not feel any pain or anxiety1 and so it is less cruel than walling in a living man4' ,at the present day in ,russia1 as elsewhere1 a shadow is a common metaphor for the soul1#dj whence it arises that there are persons there who object to having their silhouettes taken1 fearing that if they do1 they will die before the year is out4 ,in the same way1 a man's reflected image is supposed to be in communion with his inner self1 and1 therefore1 children are often forbidden to look at themselves in a glass1 lest their sleep should be disturbed at night4 ,it may be added1 too1 as ,mr4 ,clodd points out1 that in the barbaric belief of the loss of the shadow being baleful1 'we have the germ of the medival legends of shadowless men1 and of tales of which ,chamisso's ,story of ,peter ,schlemihl is a type4'#da ,hence the dead in purgatory recognised that ,dante was alive when they saw that1 unlike theirs1 his figure cast a shadow on the ground4 ,but1 as ,mr4 ,fiske observes1#db 'the theory which identifies the soul with the shadow1 and supposes the shadow to depart with the sickness and death of the body1 would seem liable to be attended with some difficulties in the way of verification1 even to the dim intelligence of the savage4' ,again1 another doctrine promulgated under various forms in ,animistic philosophy is1 that the existence and condition of the soul depend upon the manner of death4 ,the ,australian1 for instance1 not content with slaying his enemy1 cuts off the right thumb of the corpse1 so that the departed soul may be incapacitated from throwing a spear2 and even the half-civilised ,chinese prefer the punishment of crucifixion to that of decapitation1 that their souls may not wander headless about the spirit world4 ,similarly the ,indians of ,brazil 'believe that the dead arrive in the other world wounded or hacked to pieces1 in fact1 just as they left this4' ,european folk-lore has preserved1 more or less1 the same idea1 and the ghost of the murdered person often appears displaying the wounds which were the cause of the death of the body4 ,many a weird and ghastly ghost tale still current in different parts of the country gives the most blood-curdling details of such apparitions2 and although1 in certain cases1 a century or so is said to have elapsed since they first made their appearance1 they still bear the marks of violence and cruelty which were done to them by a murderous hand when in the flesh4 ,an old story tells how1 when the ,earl of ,cornwall met the fetch of ,william ,rufus carried on a very large black goat1 all black and naked1 across the ,bodmin moors1 he saw that it was wounded through the breast4 ,robert adjured the goat1 in the name of the ,holy ,trinity1 to tell what it was he carried so strangely4 ,he answered1 ',i am carrying your king to judgment2 yea1 that tyrant1 ,william ,rufus1 for ,i am an evil spirit1 and the revenger of his malice which he bore to the ,church of ,god4 ,it was ,i that did cause this slaughter4' ,having spoken1 the spectre vanished4 ,soon afterwards ,robert heard that at that very hour the king had been slain in the ,new ,forest by the arrow of ,william ,tirell4#dc ,this idea corresponds with what was believed in early times1 for ,ovid#dd tells us how ,umbra cruenta ,remi visa est assistere lecto4 ,again1 some modes of death are supposed to kill not only the body but also the soul4 ',among all primitive peoples1' writes ,mr4 ,dorman1#de 'where a belief in the renewal of life1 or the resurrection1 exists1 the peace and happiness of the spirit1 which remains in or about the body1 depend upon success in preventing the body1 or any part of it1 from being devoured or destroyed in any manner4' ,the ,new ,zealanders believed that the man who was eaten was annihilated1 both body and soul2 and one day a bushman1 who was a magician1 having put to death a woman1 dashed the head of the corpse to pieces with large stones1 buried her1 and made a large fire over the grave1 for fear1 as he explained1 lest she should rise again and trouble him4 ,the same idea1 remarks ,sir ,john ,lubbock1#df evidently influenced the ,californian1 who did not dispute the immortality of the whites1 who buried their dead1 but could not believe the same of his own people1 because they were in the habit of burning them1 maintaining that when they were burnt they became annihilated4 ,it may be added1 too1 that the belief underlying the burial customs of most ,american tribes was to preserve the bones of the dead1 the opinion being that the soul1 or a part of it1 dwelt in the bones4 ,these1 indeed1 were the seeds which1 planted in the earth1 or preserved unbroken in safe places1 would in time put on once again a garb of flesh1 and germinate into living human beings4#dg ,this ,animistic belief has been amply illustrated by mythology and superstition4 ,in an ,aztec legend1 after one of the destructions of the world1 ,zoloti descended to the realm of the dead1 and brought thence a bone of the perished race4 ,this1 sprinkled with blood1 grew on the fourth day into a youth1 the father of the present race4 ,the practice of pulverising the bones of the dead1 practised by some tribes1 and of mixing them with the food1 was defended by asserting that the souls of the dead remained in the bones1 and lived again in the living4#dh ,the ,peruvians were so careful lest any of the body should be lost1 that they preserved even the parings of the nails and clippings of the hair--expecting the mummified body to be inhabited by its soul2 while the ,choctaws maintain that the spirits of the dead will return to the bones in the bone mounds1 and flesh will knit together their loose joints4 ,even the lower animals were supposed to follow the same law4 ',hardly any of the ,american hunting-tribes1' writes ,mr4 ,brinton1 'before their original manners were vitiated by foreign influence1 permitted the bones of game slain in the chase to be broken1 or left carelessly about the encampment2 they were collected in heaps1 or thrown into the water4' ,the ,yuricares of ,bolivia carried this belief to such an inconvenient extent that they carefully put by even small fish bones1 saying that unless this was done the fish and game would disappear from the country4 ,the traveller on the western prairies often notices the buffalo skulls1 countless numbers of which bleach on those vast plains1 arranged in circles and symmetrical piles by the careful hands of the native hunters4 ,the explanation for this practice is that these osseous relics of the dead 'contain the spirits of the slain animals1 and that some time in the future they will rise from the earth1 re-clothe themselves with flesh1 and stock the prairies anew4' ,as a curious illustration of how every spiritual conception was materialised in olden times1 may be quoted the fanciful conception of the weight of the soul4 ,thus in medival literature the angel in the ,last ,judgment 'was constantly represented weighing the souls in a literal balance1 while devils clinging to the scales endeavoured to disturb the equilibrium4'#di ,but how seriously such tests of the weight of the soul have been received1 may be gathered from the cases now and then forthcoming of this materialistic notion of its nature4 ,these1 writes ,dr4 ,tylor1#ej range from the 'conception of a ,basuto diviner that the late queen had been bestriding his shoulders1 and he never felt such a weight in his wife1 to ,glanvil's story of ,david ,hunter1 the neatherd1 who lifted up the old woman's ghost1 and she felt just like a bag of feathers in his arms2 or the pathetic superstition that the dead mother's coming back in the night to suckle the baby she has left on earth1 may be known by the hollow pressed down in the bed where she lay1 and at last down to the alleged modern spiritualistic reckoning of the weight of a human soul at from three to four ounces4' ,but the heavy tread which occasionally makes the stairs creak and boards resound has been instanced as showing that1 whatever may be the real nature of the soul1 it is capable of materialising itself at certain times1 and of displaying an amount of force and energy in no way dissimilar to that which is possessed when living in the flesh4 ,just1 too1 as souls are possessed of visible forms1 so they are generally supposed to have voices4 ,according to ,dr4 ,tylor1#ea 'men who perceive evidently that souls do talk when they present themselves in dream or vision1 naturally take for granted at once the objective reality of the ghostly voice1 and of the ghostly form from which it proceeds2' and this principle1 he adds1 'is involved in the series of narratives of spiritual communications with living men1 from savagery onward to civilisation4' ,european folk-lore represents ghostly voices as resembling their material form during life1 although less audible4 ,with savage races the spirit voice is described 'as a low murmur1 chirp1 or whistle4' ,thus1 when the ghosts of the ,new ,zealanders address the living1 they speak in whistling tones4 ,the sorcerer among the ,zulus 'hears the spirits who speak by whistlings speaking to him4' ,whistling is the language of the ,caledonians1 and the ,algonquin ,indians of ,north ,america 'could hear the shadow souls of the dead chirp like crickets4' ,as far back as the time of ,homer1 the ghosts make a similar sound1 'and even as bats flit gibbering in the secret place of a wonderful cavern1 even so the souls gibbered as they fared together4'#eb ,ghosts1 when they make their appearance1 are generally supposed1 as already noticed1 to have a perfect resemblance1 in every respect1 to the deceased person4 ,their faces appear the same--except that they are usually paler than when alive--and the ordinary expression is described by writers on the subject as 'more in sorrow than in anger4' ,thus1 when the ghost of ,banquo rises and takes a seat at the table1 ,macbeth says to the apparition-- ,never shake ,thy gory locks at me4 ,and ,horatio tells ,marcellus how the ghost of ,hamlet's father was not only fully armed1 but-- ,so frown'd he once1 when in angry parle1 ,he smote the sledded ,polacks on the ice4 ,the folk-lore stories from most parts of the world coincide in this idea4 ,it was recorded of the ,indians of ,brazil by one of the early ,european visitors that 'they believe that the dead arrive in the other world1 wounded or hacked to pieces1 in fact1 just as they left this2'#ec a statement which reminds us of a ghost described by ,mrs4 ,crowe1#ed who1 on appearing after death1 was seen to have the very small-pox marks which had disfigured its countenance when in the flesh4 ,as in life1 so in death1 it would seem that there are different classes of ghosts--the princely1 the aristocratic1 the genteel1 and the common4 ,the vulgar class1 it is said1 delight to haunt 'in graveyards1 dreary lanes1 ruins1 and all sorts of dirty dark holes and corners4' ,an amusing anecdote illustrative of this belief was related by the daughter of 'the celebrated ,mrs4 ,s4' ,siddons8 who told ,mrs4 ,crowe that when her parents were travelling in ,wales they stayed some days at ,oswestry1 and lodged in a house which was in a very dirty and neglected state1 yet all night long the noise of scrubbing and moving furniture made it impossible to sleep4 ,the servants did little or no work1 for they had to sit up with their mistress to allay her fears4 ,the neighbours said that this person had killed an old servant1 hence the disturbance and her terror4 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,s---- coming in suddenly one day1 heard her cry out1 ',are you there again8 ,fiend6 go away6' ,but numerous tales similar to the above are still current in different parts of the country2 and from time to time are duly chronicled in the local press4 ,,footnotes3 #ca ,principles of ,sociology1 #ahhe1 i4 p4 #agd4 #cb ,de ,anima1 p4 #i2 see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #def4 #cc ,principles of ,sociology1 #ahhe1 i4 p4 #agd4 #cd ,see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #deg4 #ce ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bj4 #cf ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #def4 #cg ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #bec4 #ch ,see ,tylor's ,anthropology1 #ahha1 p4 #cdd4 #ci ,nineteenth ,century1 ,july #ahhe1 pp4 #adc-add1 ',transylvanian ,superstitions1' by ,madame ,emily de ,laszowska ,gerard4 #dj ,ralston's ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 p4 #aag4 #da ,myths and ,dreams1 #ahhe1 p4 #ahd4 #db ,myths and ,myth-makers1 #ahgc1 p4 #bbe4 #dc ,see ,hunt's ,popular ,romances of the ,west of ,england1 p4 #cgc4 #dd ,fasti1 v4 #deg4 #de ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #aie4 #df ,the ,origin of ,civilisation1 and the ,primitive ,condition of ,man1 #ahgj1 p4 #adj2 see ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #bfc4 #dg ,brinton's ,myths of the ,new ,world1 #ahfh1 p4 #beg4 #dh ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 #ahha1 p4 #aic4 #di ,see ,lecky's ,rationalism in ,europe1 #ahgj1 i4 p4 #cdj2 cf4 ,maury's ,lgendes ,pieuses1 p4 #abd4 #ej ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #dee4 #ea ,see ,andrew ,lang's ,myth1 ,ritual1 ,religion1 i4 p4 #ajh4 #eb ,odyssey1 xxiv4 #ec ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #dea4 #ed ,night ,side of ,nature4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,unburied ,,dead ,the ,greeks believed that such as had not received funeral rites would be excluded from ,elysium4 ,the younger ,pliny tells the tale of a haunted house at ,athens1 in which a ghost played all kinds of pranks owing to the funeral rites having been neglected4 ,it is still a deep-rooted belief that when the mortal remains of the soul have not been honoured with proper burial1 it will walk4 ,the ghosts of unburied persons not possessing the obolus or fee due to ,charon1 the ferryman of ,styx1 and ,acheron1 were unable to obtain a lodging or place of rest4 ,hence they were compelled to wander about the banks of the river for a hundred years1 when the portitor1 or 'ferryman of hell1' passed them over in form pauperis4 ,the famous tragedy of ',antigone' by ,sophocles owes much of its interest to this popular belief on the subject4 ,in most countries all kinds of strange tales are told of ghosts ceaselessly wandering about the earth1 owing to their bodies1 for some reason or another1 having been left unburied4 ,there is a well known ,german ghost1 the ,bleeding ,nun4 ,this was a nun who1 after committing many crimes and debaucheries1 was assassinated by one of her paramours and denied the rites of burial4 ,after this1 she used to haunt the castle where she was murdered1 with her bleeding wounds4 ,on one occasion1 a young lady of the castle1 willing to elope with her lover1 in order to make her flight easier1 personated the bleeding nun4 ,unfortunately the lover1 whilst expecting his lady under this disguise1 eloped with the spectre herself1 who presented herself to him and haunted him afterwards4#ee ,comparative folk-lore1 too1 shows how very widely diffused is this notion4 ,it is believed by the ,iroquois of ,north ,america1 that unless the rites of burial are performed1 the spirits of the dead hover for a time upon the earth in great unhappiness4 ,on this account every care is taken to procure the bodies of those slain in battle4 ,certain ,brazilian tribes suppose that the spirits of the dead have no rest till burial1 and among the ,ottawas1 a great famine was thought to have been produced on account of the failure of some of their tribesmen to perform the proper burial rites4 ,after having repaired their fault they were blessed with abundance of provisions4 ,the ,australians went so far as to say that the spirits of the unburied dead became dangerous and malignant demons4 ,similarly1 the ,siamese dread1 as likely to do them some harm1 the ghosts of those who have not been buried with proper rites1 and the ,karens have much the same notion4 ,according to the ,polynesians1 the spirit of a dead man could not reach the sojourn of his ancestors1 and of the gods1 unless the sacred funereal rites were performed over his body4 ,if he was buried with no ceremony1 or simply thrown into the sea1 the spirit always remained in the body4#ef ,under one form or another1 the same belief may be traced in most parts of the world1 and1 as ,dr4 ,tylor points out1#eg 'in medival ,europe the classic stories of ghosts that haunt the living till laid by rites of burial pass here and there into new legends where1 under a changed dispensation1 the doleful wanderer now asks ,christian burial in consecrated earth4' ,shakespeare alludes to this old idea1 and in ',titus ,andronicus' 7i4 #b7 ,lucius1 speaking of the unburied sons of ,titus1 says3 ,give us the proudest prisoner of the ,goths1 ,that we may hew his limbs1 and on a pile ,ad manes fratrum sacrifice his flesh1 ,before this earthly prison of their bones2 ,that so the shadows be not unappeas'd1 ,nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth4 ,hence the appearance of a spirit1 in times past1 was often regarded as an indication that some foul deed had been done1 on which account ,horatio in ',hamlet' 7i4 #a7 says to the ghost3 ,if there be any good thing to be done ,that may to thee do ease1 and grace to me1 ,speak to me4 ,in the narrative of the sufferings of ,byron and the crew of ,h4,m4 ship ',wager1' on the coast of ,south ,america1 we find a good illustration of the superstitious dread attaching to an unburied corpse4 ',the reader will remember the shameful rioting1 mutiny1 and recklessness which disgraced the crew of the ,wager1 nor will he forget the approach to cannibalism and murder on one occasion4 ,these men had just returned from a tempestuous navigation1 in which their hopes of escape had been crushed1 and now what thoughts disturbed their rest--what serious consultations were they which engaged the attention of these sea-beaten men8 ,long before ,cheap's ,bay had been left1 the body of a man had been found on a hill named ,mount ,misery4 ,he was supposed to have been murdered by some of the first gang who left the island4 ,the body had never been buried1 and to such neglect did the men now ascribe the storms which had lately afflicted them2 nor would they rest until the remains of their comrade were placed beneath the earth1 when each evidently felt as if some dreadful spell had been removed from his spirit4' ,stories of this kind are common everywhere1 and are interesting as showing how widely scattered is this piece of superstition4 ,in ,sweden the ravens1 which scream by midnight in forest swamps and wild moors1 are held to be the ghosts of murdered men1 whose bodies have been hidden in those spots by their undetected murderers1 and not had ,christian burial4#eh ,in many a ,danish legend the spirit of a strand varsler1 or coast-guard1 appears1 walking his beat as when alive4 ,such ghosts were not always friendly1 and it was formerly considered dangerous to pass along 'such unconsecrated beaches1 believed to be haunted by the spectres of unburied corpses of drowned people4'#ei ,the reason1 it is asserted1 why many of our old castles and country seats have their traditional ghost1 is owing to some unfortunate person having been secretly murdered in days past1 and to his or her body having been allowed to remain without the rites of burial4 ,so long as such a crime is unavenged1 and the bones continue unburied1 it is impossible1 we are told1 for the outraged spirit to keep quiet4 ,numerous ghost stories are still circulated throughout the country of spirits wandering on this account1 some of which1 however1 are based purely on legendary romance4 ,but when the unburied body could not be found1 and the ghost wandered1 the missing man was buried in effigy1 for1 as it has been observed1 'according to all the laws of primitive logic1 an effigy is every bit as good as its original4 ,therefore1 when a dead man is buried in effigy1 with all due formality1 that man is dead and buried beyond a doubt1 and his ghost is as harmless as it is in the nature of ghosts to be4' ,but sometimes such burial by proxy was premature1 for the man was not really dead2 and if he declined to consider himself as such1 the question arose1 was he alive1 or was he dead8 ,the solution adopted was that he might be born again and take a new lease of life4 ',and so it was1 he was put out to nurse1 he was dressed in long clothes--in short1 he went through all the stages of a second childhood4 ,but before this pleasing experience could take place1 he had to overcome the initial difficulty of entering his own house1 for the door was ghost-proof4 ,there was no other way but by the chimney1 and down the chimney he came4' ,we may laugh at such credulity1 but many of the ghost-beliefs of the present day are not less absurd4 ,,footnotes3 #ee ,yardley's ,supernatural in ,fiction1 p4 #ic4 #ef ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #beg4 #eg ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #bi2 ,douce's ,illustrations of ,shakespeare1 pp4 #dej1 #dea4 #eh ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #abf1 note4 #ei ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #aff4 ,,chapter ,v ,,why ,,ghosts ,,wander ,a variety of causes have been supposed to prevent the dead resting in the grave1 for persons 'dying with something on their mind1' to use the popular phrase1 cannot enjoy the peace of the grave2 oftentimes some trivial anxiety1 or some frustrated communication1 preventing the uneasy spirit flinging off the bonds that bind it to earth4 ,wickedness in their lifetime has been commonly thought to cause the souls of the impenitent to revisit the scenes where their evil deeds were done4 ,it has long been a widespread idea that as such ghosts are too bad for a place in either world1 they are1 therefore1 compelled to wander on the face of the earth homeless and forlorn4 ,we have shown in another chapter how1 according to a well-known superstition1 the ignes fatui1 which appear by night in swampy places1 are the souls of the dead--men who during life were guilty of fraudulent and other wicked acts4 ,thus a popular belief reminds us#fj how1 when an unjust relative has secreted the title-deeds in order to get possession of the estate himself1 he finds no rest in the other world till the title-deeds are given back1 and the estate is restored to the rightful heir4 ,come must the spirit of such an unrighteous man to the room where he concealed the title-deeds surreptitiously removed from the custody of the person to whose charge they were entrusted4 ',a dishonest milkwoman at ,shrewsbury is condemned1' writes ,miss ,jackson in her ',shropshire ,folk-lore'#fa 7p4 #abj71 'to wander up and down ,lady ,studley's ,diche in the ,raven ,meadow--now the ,smithfield--constantly repeating3 ,weight and measure sold ,i never1 ,milk and water sold ,i ever4' ,the same rhyme is current at ,burslem1 in the ,staffordshire ,potteries4 ,the story goes that ',old ,molly ,lee1' who used to sell milk there1 and had the reputation of being a witch1 was supposed to be seen after her death going about the streets with her milk-pail on her head repeating it4 ,miss ,jackson further relates how a mid-,shropshire squire of long ago was compelled to wander about in a homeless state on account of his wickedness4 ,murderers cannot rest1 and even although they may escape justice in this life1 it is supposed that their souls find no peace in the grave1 but under a curse are compelled to walk to and fro until they have1 in some degree1 done expiation for their crimes4 ,occasionally1 it is said1 their plaintive moans may be heard as they bewail the harm done by them to the innocent1 weary of being allowed no cessation from their ceaseless wandering--a belief which reminds us of the legend of the ,wandering ,jew1 and the many similar stories that have clustered round it4 ,in ',blackwood's ,magazine' for ,august #ahah this passage occurs3 ',if any author were so mad as to think of framing a tragedy upon the subject of that worthy vicar of ,warblington1 ,hants1 who was reported about a century ago to have strangled his own children1 and to have walked after his death1 he would assuredly be laughed to scorn by a ,london audience4' ,but a late rector of ,warblington informed a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' 7#dth ,s4 xi4 #ahh71 'it was quite true that his house was said to be haunted by the ghost of a former rector1 supposed to be the ,rev4 ,sebastian ,pitfield1 who held the living in #afgg4' ,a strong prejudice against hanging prevails in ,wales1 owing to troublesome spirits being let loose1 and wandering about1 to the annoyance of the living4 ,the spirits of suicides wander1 and hence cross-roads in various parts of the country are oftentimes avoided after dark1 on account of being haunted by headless and other uncanny apparitions4 ,the same belief exists abroad4 ,the ,sioux are of opinion that suicide is punished in the land of spirits by the ghosts being doomed for ever to drag the tree on which they hang themselves2 and for this reason they always suspend themselves to as small a tree as can possibly sustain their weight4 ,with the ,chinese the souls of suicides are specially obnoxious1 and they consider that the very worst penalty that can befall a soul is the sight of its former surroundings4 ,thus1 it is supposed that1 in the case of the wicked man1 'they only see their homes as if they were near them2 they see their last wishes disregarded1 everything upside down1 their substance squandered1 strangers possess the old estate2 in their misery the dead man's family curse him1 his children become corrupt1 land is gone1 the wife sees her husband tortured1 the husband sees his wife stricken down with mortal disease2 even friends forget1 but some1 perhaps1 for the sake of bygone times1 may stroke the coffin and let fall a tear1 departing with a cold smile4'#fb ,but1 as already noticed1 the same idea1 in a measure1 extends to the ,west1 for in this country it has long been a popular belief that the ghosts of the wicked are forced to periodically rehearse their sinful acts4 ,thus1 the murderer's ghost is seen in vain trying to wash out the indelible blood-stains1 and the thief is supposed to be continually counting and recounting the money which came into his possession through dishonest means4 ,the ghost is dogged and confronted with the hideousness of his iniquities1 and the young woman who slew her lover in a fit of jealous passion is seen1 in an agonised expression1 holding the fatal weapon4 ,but such unhappy spirits have1 in most cases1 been put to silence by being laid1 instances of which are given elsewhere2 and in other cases they have finally disappeared with the demolition of certain houses which for years they may have tenanted4 ,on the other hand1 the spirits of the good are said sometimes to return to earth for the purpose of either succouring the innocent1 or avenging the guilty4 ',those who come again to punish their friends' wrongs1' writes ,miss ,jackson1 in her ',shropshire ,folk-lore' 7p4 #aai71 'generally appear exactly as in life1 unchanged in form or character4 ,a certain well-to-do man who lived in the west of ,shropshire within living memory1 left his landed property to his nephew1 and a considerable fortune to his two illegitimate daughters1 the children of his housekeeper4 ,their mother1 well provided for1 was at his death turned adrift by the nephew4 ,her daughters1 however1 continued to live in their old home with their cousin4 ,a maid-servant who entered the family shortly after 7and who is our informant7 noticed an elderly man often walking in the garden in broad daylight1 dressed in old-fashioned clothes1 with breeches and white stockings4 ,he never spoke1 and never entered the house1 though he always went towards it4 ,asking who he was1 she was coolly told1 ,oh1 that is only our old father6 ,no annoyance seems to have been caused by the poor old ghost1 with one exception1 that the clothes were every night stripped off the bed of the two unnatural daughters4' ,german folk-lore tells how slain warriors rise again to help their comrades to victory1 and how a mother will visit her old home to look after her injured and forsaken children1 and elsewhere the same idea is extensively believed4 ,in ,china1 the ghosts which are animated by a sense of duty are frequently seen3 at one time they seek to serve virtue in distress1 and at another they aim to restore wrongfully-held treasure4 ,indeed1 as it has been observed1 'one of the most powerful as well as the most widely diffused of the people's ghost stories is that which treats of the persecuted child whose mother comes out of the grave to succour him4'#fc ,and there perhaps can be no more gracious privilege allotted to immortal spirits than that of beholding those beloved of them in mortal life3 ,i am still near1 ,watching the smiles ,i prized on earth1 ,your converse mild1 your blameless mirth4#fd ,as it has been observed1 no oblivious draught has been given the departed soul1 but the remembrance of its earthly doings cleaves to it1 and this is why ghosts are always glad to see the places frequented by them while on earth4 ,in ,galicia1 directly after a man's burial1 his spirit takes to wandering by nights about the old home1 and watching that no evil befalls his heirs4#fe ,occasionally the spirit returns to fulfil a promise as in compacts1 to which reference is made in another chapter4 ,the reappearance of a lover1 'in whose absence his beloved has died1 is a subject that has been made use of by the folk-poets of every country1 and nothing1' it is added1 'can be more characteristic of the nationalities to which they belong than the divergences which mark their treatment of it4'#ff ,another cause of ghosts wandering is founded upon a superstition as to the interchange of love-tokens1 an illustration of which we find in the old ballad of ',william's ,ghost'3 ,there came a ghost to ,marjorie's door1 ,wi' many a grievous maen1 ,and aye he tirl'd at the pin1 ,but answer made she nane4 ',oh1 sweet ,marjorie6 oh1 dear ,marjorie6 ,for faith and charitie1 ,give me my faith and troth again1 ,that ,i gied once to thee4' ',thy faith and troth ,i'll ne'er gie thee1 ,nor yet shall our true love twin1 ,till you tak' me to your ain ha' house1 ,and wed me wi' a ring4' ',my house is but yon lonesome grave1 ,afar out o'er yon lee1 ,and it is but my spirit1 ,marjorie1 ,that's speaking unto thee4'#fg ,she followed the spirit to the grave1 where it lay down and confessed that ,william had betrayed three maidens whom he had promised to marry1 and in consequence of this misdemeanour he could not rest in his grave until she released him of his vows to marry her4 ,on learning this1 ,marjorie at once released him4 ,then she'd taen up her white1 white hand1 ,and struck him on the breist1 ,saying1 ',have ye again your faith and troth1 ,and ,i wish your soul good rest4' ,in another ballad1 ',clerk ,sanders1' there is a further illustration of the same belief4 ,the instances1 says ,mr4 ,napier1 differ1 but 'the probability is that the ballad quoted above and ,clerk ,sanders are both founded on the same story4 ,clerk ,sanders was the son of an earl1 who courted the king's daughter1 ,lady ,margaret4 ,they loved each other even in the modern sense of loving too well4 ,margaret had seven brothers1 who suspected an intrigue1 and they came upon them together in bed and killed ,clerk ,sanders1 whose ghost soon after came to ,margaret's window4 ,the ballad1 which contains much curious folk-lore1 runs thus3#fh ',oh6 are ye sleeping1 ,margaret8' he says1 ',or are ye waking presentlie8 ,give me my faith and troth again1 ,i wot1 true love1 ,i gied to thee4 ',i canna rest1 ,margaret1' he says1 ',down in the grave where ,i must be1 ,till ye give me my faith and troth again1 ,i wot1 true love1 ,i gied to thee4' ',thy faith and troth thou shalt na get1 ,and our true love shall never twin1 ,until ye tell what comes o' women1 ,i wot1 who die in strong travailing4 ',their beds are made in the heavens high1 ,down at the foot of our ,lord's knee1 ,weel set about wi' gilliflowers1 ,i trow sweet company for to see4 ',oh1 cocks are crowing a merry midnight1 ,i wot the wild fowls are boding day2 ,the psalms of heaven will soon be sung1 ,and ,i1 ere now1 will be missed away4' ,then she has ta'en a crystall wand1 ,and she has stroken her throth thereon2 ,she has given it him out of the shot-window1 ,wi' many a sigh and heavy goan4 ',i thank ye1 ,margaret2 ,i thank ye1 ,margaret2 ,and aye1 ,i thank ye heartilie2 ,gin ever the dead come for the quick1 ,be sure1 ,margaret1 ,i'll come for thee4' ,then up and crew the milk-white cock1 ,and up and crew the gray2 ,her lover vanished in the air1 ,and she gaed weeping away4 ,madness1 again1 during life1 is said occasionally to produce restlessness after death4 ',parson ,digger1 at ,condover1' remarked an old woman to ,miss ,jackson1#fi 'he came again4 ,he wasn't right in his head1 and if you met him he couldn't speak to you sensibly4 ,but when he was up in the pulpit he'd preach1 oh6 beautiful6' ,in ,hungary1 there are the spirits of brides who die on their wedding-day before consummation of marriage4 ,they are to be seen at moonlight1 where cross-roads meet4 ,and it is a ,danish tradition that a corpse cannot have peace in the grave when it is otherwise than on its back4 ,according to a ,scotch belief1 excessive grief for a departed friend1 'combined with a want of resignation to the will of ,providence1 had the effect of keeping the spirit from rest in the other world4 ,rest could be obtained only by the spirit coming back1 and comforting the mourner by the assurance that it was in a state of blessedness4'#gj ,the ghosts of those1 again1 who had some grievance or other in life are supposed to wander4 ,the ,droitwich ,canal1 in passing through ,salwarpe1 ,worcestershire1 is said to have cut off a slice of a large old half-timbered house1 in revenge for which act of mutilation1 the ghost of a former occupier revisited his old haunts1 and affrighted the domestics4 ,once more1 according to another ,animistic conception which holds a prominent place in the religion of uncultured tribes1 the soul at death passes through some transitionary stages1 finally developing into a demon4 ,in ,china and ,india this theory is deeply rooted among the people1 and hence it is customary to offer sacrifices to the souls of the departed by way of propitiation1 as otherwise they are supposed to wander to and fro on the earth1 and to exert a malignant influence on even their dearest friends and relatives4 ,diseases1 too1 are regarded as often being caused by the wandering souls of discontented relatives1 who in some cases are said to re-appear as venomous snakes4#ga ,owing to this belief1 a system of terror prevails amongst many tribes1 which is only allayed by constantly appeasing departed souls4 ,believing in superstitions of this kind1 it is easy to understand how the uncivilised mind readily lays hold of the doctrine that the souls of the departed1 angry and enraged at having had death thrust on them1 take every opportunity of wandering about1 and annoying the living1 and of wreaking their vengeance on even those most nearly related to them4 ,in this phase of savage belief may be traced the notion of ,manes worship found under so many forms in foreign countries4 ,indeed1 once granted that the departed soul has power to affect the living1 then this power attributed to it is only one of degree4 ,with this belief1 too1 may be compared the modern one of worship of the dead2 and as ,dr4 ,tylor remarks3 ',a crowd of saints1 who were once men and women1 now form an inferior order of deities active in the affairs of men1 and receiving from them reverence and prayer1 thus coming strictly under the definition of ,manes4'#gb ,a further illustration may be adduced in the patron deities of particular trades and crafts1 and in the imposing array of saints supposed to be specially interested in the particular requirements of mankind4 ,,footnotes3 #fj ,see ,gregor's ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 p4 #fh4 #fa ,edited by ,c4 ,s4 ,burne4 #fb ,countess ,evelyn ,martinengo-,cesaresco1 #ahhf1 ,essays in the ,study of ,folk-songs1 p4 #h4 #fc ,study of ,folk-songs1 p4 #b4 #fd ,study of ,folk-songs1 p4 #h4 #fe ,ralston's ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 p4 #aba4 #ff ,study of ,folk-songs1 p4 #ba4 #fg ,folk-lore ,record1 #ahgi1 iii4 pp4 #aaa1 #aab1 #fh ,folk-lore ,record1 #ahgi1 iii4 pp4 #aaa1 #aab4 #fi ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 p4 #aai4 #gj ,gregor's ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 p4 #fi4 #ga ,sir ,john ,lubbock's ,origin of ,civilisation1 p4 #acd4 #gb ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #abj4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,ghosts ,,of ,,the ,,murdered ,it is commonly supposed that the spirits of those who have suffered a violent or untimely death are baneful and malicious beings2 for1 as ,meiners conjectures in his ',history of ,religions1' they were driven unwillingly from their bodies1 and have carried into their new existence an angry longing for revenge4 ,hence1 in most countries1 there is a dread of such harmful spirits2 and1 among the ,sioux ,indians the fear of the ghost's vengeance has been known to act as a check to murder4 ,the avenging ghost often comes back to convict the guilty1 and appears in all kinds of strange and uncanny ways4 ,thus the ghost of ,hamlet's father 7i4 #e7 says3 ,i am thy father's spirit1 ,doomed for a certain time to walk the night1 ,and for the day confined to fast in fires1 ,till the foul crimes1 done in my days of nature1 ,are burnt and purged away4 ,till the crime has been duly expiated1 not only is the spirit supposed to be kept from its desired rest1 but it flits about the haunts of the living1 that1 by its unearthly molestation1 it may compel them to make every possible reparation for the cruel wrong done4 ,any attempt to lay such a ghost is ineffectual1 and no exorcist's art can induce it to discontinue its unwelcome visits4 ,comparative folk-lore proves how universal is this belief1 for one of the most popular ghost stories in folk-tales is that which treats of the murdered person whose ghost hovers about the earth with no gratification but to terrify the living4 ,the ,chinese have a dread of the wandering spirits of persons who have come to an unfortunate end4 ,at ,canton1 in #ahag1 the wife of an officer of ,government had occasioned the death of two female domestic slaves1 from some jealous suspicion it was supposed of her husband's conduct towards the girls2 and1 in order to screen herself from the consequences1 she suspended the bodies by the neck1 with a view to its being construed into an act of suicide4 ,but the conscience of the woman tormented her to such a degree that she became insane1 and at times personated the victims of her cruelty2 or1 as the ,chinese supposed1 the spirits of the murdered girls possessed her1 and utilised her mouth to declare her own guilt4 ,in her ravings she tore her clothes1 and beat her own person with all the fury of madness2 after which she would recover her senses for a time1 when it was supposed the demons quitted her1 but only to return with greater frenzy1 which took place a short time previous to her death4#gc ,according to ,mr4 ,dennys1#gd the most common form of ,chinese ghost story is that wherein the ghost seeks to bring to justice the murderer who shuffled off its mortal coil4 ,the following tale is told of a haunted hill in the country of the ,assiniboins4 ,many summers ago a party of ,assiniboins pounced on a small band of ,crees in the neighbourhood of ,wolverine ,knoll4 ,among the victors was the former wife of one of the vanquished1 who had been previously captured by her present husband4 ,this woman directed every effort in the fight to take the life of her first husband1 but he escaped1 and concealed himself on this knoll4 ,wolverine--for this was his name--fell asleep1 and was discovered by this virago1 who killed him1 and presented his scalp to her ,assiniboin husband4 ,the knoll was afterwards called after him4 ,the ,indians assert that the ghosts of the murderess and her victim are often to be seen from a considerable distance struggling together on the very summit of the height4#ge ,the ,siamese 'fear as unkindly spirits the souls of such as died a violent death1 or were not buried with the proper rites1 and who1 desiring expiation1 invisibly terrify their descendants4'#gf ,in the same way1 the ,karens say that the ghosts of those who wander on the earth are the spirits of such as died by violence2 and in ,australia we hear of the souls of departed natives walking about because their death has not been expiated by the avenger of blood4 ,the ,hurons of ,america1 lest the spirits of the victims of their torture should remain around the huts of their murderers from a thirst of vengeance1 strike every place with a staff in order to oblige them to depart4 ,an old traveller mentions the same custom among the ,iroquois3 ',at night we heard a great noise1 as if the houses had all fallen2 but it was only the inhabitants driving away the ghosts of the murdered2' with which we may compare the belief of the ,ottawas3 ,on one occasion1 when noises of the loudest and most inharmonious kind were heard in a certain village1 it was ascertained that a battle had been lately fought between the ,ottawas and ,kickapoos1 and that the object of all this noise was to prevent the ghosts of the dead combatants from entering the village4#gg ,european folk-lore still clings to this old belief1 and1 according to the current opinion in ,norway1#gh the soul of a murdered person willingly hovers around the spot where his body is buried1 and makes its appearance for the purpose of calling forth vengeance on the murderer4 ,the idea that1 in cases of hidden murder1 the buried dead cannot rest in their graves is often spoken in our old ballad folk-lore4 ,thus1 in the ballad of the ',jew's ,daughter1' in ,motherwell's collection1 a youth was murdered1 and his body thrown into a draw-well1 and he speaks to his mother from the well3 ,she ran away to the deep draw-well1 ,and she fell down on her knee1 ,saying1 ',bonnie ,sir ,hugh1 oh1 pretty ,sir ,hugh1 ,i pray ye1 speak to me6' ',oh6 the lead it is wondrous heavy1 mother1 ,the well1 it is wondrous deep1 ,the little penknife sticks in my throat1 ,and ,i downa to ye speak4 ,but lift me out of this deep draw-well1 ,and bury me in yon churchyard2 ,put a ,bible at my head1' he says1 ',and a ,testament at my feet1 ,and pen and ink at every side1 ,and ,i will lay still and sleep4 ,and go to the back of ,maitland town1 ,bring me my winding sheet2 ,for it's at the back of ,maitland town ,that you and ,i shall meet4' ,the eye of superstition1 we are told1 sees such ghosts sometimes as white spectres in the churchyard1 where they stop horses1 terrify people1 and make a disturbance2 and occasionally as executed criminals1 who1 in the moonlight1 wander round the place of execution1 with their heads under their arms4 ,at times they are said to pinch persons while asleep both black and blue1 such spots being designated ghost-spots1 or ghost-pinches4 ,it is also supposed in some parts of ,norway that certain spirits cry like children1 and entice people to them1 such being thought to derive their origin from murdered infants4 ,a similar belief exists in ,sweden1 where the spirits of little children that have been murdered are said to wander about wailing1 within an assigned time1 so long as their lives would have lasted on earth1 had they been allowed to live4 ,as a terror for unnatural mothers who destroy their offspring1 their sad cry is said to be ',mama6 ,mama6' ,if travellers at night pass by them1 they will hang on the vehicle1 when the most spirited horses will sweat as if they were dragging too heavy a load1 and at length come to a dead stop4 ,the peasant then knows that a ghost or pysling has attached itself to his vehicle4#gi ,the nautical ghost is often a malevolent spirit1 as in ,shelley's ',revolt of ,islam'2 and ,captain ,marryat tells a sailor story of a murdered man's ghost appearing every night1 and calling hands to witness a piratical scene of murder1 formerly committed on board the ship in which he appeared4 ,a celebrated ghost is that of the ',shrieking ,woman1' long supposed to haunt the shores of ,oakum ,bay1 near ,marblehead4 ,she was a ,spanish lady murdered by pirates in the eighteenth century1 and the apparition is thus described by ,whittier in his ',legends of ,new ,england'3 ',tis said that often when the moon1 ,is struggling with the gloomy even1 ,and over moon and star is drawn ,the curtain of a clouded heaven1 ,strange sounds swell up the narrow glen1 ,as if that robber crew was there2 ,the hellish laugh1 the shouts of men ,and woman's dying prayer4 ,many ,west ,indian quays were thought to be the haunts of ghosts of murdered men2 and ,sir ,walter ,scott tells how the ,buccaneers occasionally killed a ,spaniard or a slave1 and buried him with their spirits1 under the impression that his ghost would haunt the spot1 and keep away treasure hunters4 ,he quotes another incident of a captain who killed a man in a fit of anger1 and1 on his threatening to haunt him1 he cooked his body in the stove kettle4 ,the crew believed that the murdered man took his place at the wheel1 and on the yards4 ,the captain1 troubled by his conscience and the man's ghost1 finally jumped overboard1 when1 as he sank1 he threw up his arms and exclaimed1 ',bill is with me now6' ,in most parts of the world similar tales are recorded1 and are as readily believed as when they were first told centuries ago4 ,a certain island on the ,japanese coast is traditionally haunted by the ghosts of ,japanese slain in a naval battle4 ,even 'to-day the ,chousen peasant fancies he sees the ghostly armies baling out the sea with bottomless dippers1 condemned thus to cleanse the ocean of the slain of centuries ago4'#hj ,according to an old ,chinese legend the ghost of a captain of a man-of-war junk1 who had been murdered1 reappeared and directed how the ship was to be steered to avoid a nest of pirates4#ha ,in this country1 many an old mansion has its haunted room1 in which the unhappy spirit of the murdered person is supposed1 on certain occasions1 to appear4 ,generation after generation do such troubled spirits return to the scene of their life1 and persistently wait till some one is bold enough to stay in the haunted room1 and to question them as to the cause of their making such periodical visits4 ,accordingly1 when a murder has been committed and not discovered1 often1 it is said1 has the spirit of the murdered one continued to come back and torment the neighbourhood till a confession of the crime has been made1 and justice satisfied4 ,mr4 ,walter ,gregor1#hb detailing instances in ,scotland of haunted houses1 tells how 'in one room a lady had been murdered1 and her body buried in a vault below it4 ,her spirit could find no rest till she had told who the murderer was1 and pointed out where the body lay4 ,in another1 a baby heir had its little life stifled by the hand of an assassin hired by the next heir4 ,the estate was obtained1 but the deed followed the villain beyond the grave1 and his spirit could find no peace4 ,night by night the ghost had to return at the hour of midnight to the room in which the murder was committed1 and in agony spend in it the hours till cock-crowing1 when everything of the supernatural had to disappear4' ,the ghost of ,lady ,hamilton of ,bothwellhaugh1 who always appears in white1 carrying her child in her arms1 has long been1 as ,mr4 ,ingram says1#hc 'an enduring monument of the bloodthirsty spirit of the age in which she lived4' ,whilst her husband was away from home1 a favourite of the ,regent1 ,murray seized his house1 turned his wife1 on a cold night1 naked1 into the open fields1 where1 before morning1 she was found raving mad2 her infant perishing either by cold or murder4 ,the ruins of the mansion of ,woodhouslee1 'whence ,lady ,bothwell was expelled in the brutal manner which occasioned her insanity and death1' have long been tenanted with the unfortunate lady's ghost2 'and so tenacious is this spectre of its rights1 that a part of the stones belonging to the ancient edifice having been employed in building or repairing the new ,woodhouslee1 the apparition has deemed it one of her privileges to haunt that house also4' ,samlesbury ,hall1 ,lancashire1 has its ghosts2 and it is said that 'on certain clear still evenings a lady in white can be seen passing along the gallery and the corridors1 and then from the hall into the grounds2 then she meets a handsome knight who receives her on bended knees1 and he then accompanies her along the walks4 ,on arriving at a certain spot1 most probably the lover's grave1 both the phantoms stand still1 and1 as they seem to utter lost wailings of despair1 they embrace each other1 and then melt away into the clear blue of the surrounding sky4' ,the story goes that one of the daughters of ,sir ,john ,southworth1 a former owner1 formed an attachment with the heir of a neighbouring house2 but when ,sir ,john said 'no daughter of his should ever be united to the son of a family which had deserted its ancestral faith1' an elopement was arranged4 ,the day and place were overheard by the lady's brother1 and1 on the evening agreed upon1 he rushed from his hiding-place and slew her lover4 ,but soon afterwards her mind gave way1 and she died a raving maniac4#hd ,mrs4 ,murray1 a lady born and brought up in the borders1 writes ,mr4 ,henderson1#he tells me of 'a cauld lad1' of whom she heard in her childhood during a visit to ,gilsland1 in ,cumberland4 ,he perished from cold1 at the behest of some cruel uncle or stepdame1 and ever after his ghost haunted the family1 coming shivering to their bedsides before anyone was stricken by illness1 his teeth audibly chattering2 and if it were to be fatal1 he laid his icy hand upon the part which would be the seat of the disease1 saying3 ,cauld1 cauld1 aye cauld6 ,an' ye see he cauld for evermair4 ,st4 ,donart's ,castle1 on the southern coast of ,glamorganshire1 has its favourite ghost1 that of ,lady ,stradling1 who is said to have been murdered by one of her family4 ',it appears1' writes the late ,mr4 ,wirt ,sikes1#hf 'when any mishap is about to befall a member of the house of ,stradling1 the direct line1 however1 of which is extinct4 ,she wears high-heeled shoes1 and a long trailing gown of the finest silk4' ,while she wanders1 the castle hounds refuse to rest1 but with their howling raise all the dogs in the neighbourhood4 ,the ,little ,shelsey people long preserved a tradition that the court-house in that parish was haunted by the spirit of a ,lady ,lightfoot1 who was said to have been imprisoned and murdered2#hg and ,cumnor ,hall has acquired a romantic interest from the poetic glamour flung over it by ,mickle in his ballad of ,cumnor ,hall1 and by ,sir ,walter ,scott in his ',kenilworth4' ,both refer to it as the scene of ,amy ,robsart's murder1 and although the jury agreed to accept her death as accidental1 the country folk would not forego their idea that it was the result of foul play4 ,ever since the fatal event it was asserted that ',madam ,dudley's ghost did use to walk in ,cumnor ,park1 and that it walked so obstinately1 that it took no less than nine parsons from ,oxford to lay her4' ,according to ,mickle-- ,the village maids1 with fearful glance1 ,avoid the ancient moss-grown wall2 ,nor ever lead the merry dance ,among the groves of ,cumnor ,hall4 ,about half a mile to the east of ,maxton1 a small rivulet runs across the old turnpike road1 at a spot called ,bow-brig-syke4 ,near this bridge is a triangular field1 in which for nearly a century it was averred that the forms of two ladies1 dressed in white1 might be seen pacing up and down1 walking over precisely the same spot of ground till morning light4 ,but one day1 while some workmen were repairing the road1 they took up the large flagstones upon which foot-passengers crossed the burn1 and found beneath them the skeletons of two women lying side by side4 ,after this discovery the ,bow-brig ladies1 as they were called1 were never again seen to walk in the three-corner field4 ,the story goes that these two ladies were sisters to a former laird of ,littledean1 who is said to have killed them in a fit of passion1 because they interfered to protect from ill-usage a young lady whom he had met at ,bow-brig-syke4 ,some years later he met with his own death near the same fatal spot4#hh ,mr4 ,sullivan1 in his ',cumberland and ,westmoreland1' relates how1 some years ago1 a spectre appeared to a man who lived at ,henhow ,cottage1 ,martindale4 ,starting for his work at an early hour one morning1 he had not gone two hundred yards from his house when his dog gave signs of alarm1 and1 on looking round1 he saw a woman carrying a child in her arms4 ,on being questioned as to what was troubling her1 the ghost replied that she had been seduced1 and that her seducer1 to conceal his guilt and her frailty1 had given her medicine1 the effect of which was to kill both mother and child4 ,her doom was to wander for a hundred years1 forty of which had expired4 ,the occurrence is believed to have made a lasting impression on the old man1 who1 says ,sullivan1 'was until lately a shepherd on the fells4 ,there can be no moral doubt that he both saw and spoke with the apparition2 but what share his imagination had therein1 or how it had been excited1 are mysteries1 and so they are likely to remain4' ,but as ,grose remarks1 ghosts do not go about their business like living beings4 ,in cases of murder1 'a ghost1 instead of going to the next justice of the peace and laying its information1 or to the nearest relation of the person murdered1 it appears to some poor labourer who knows none of the parties1 draws the curtains of some decrepit nurse or alms-woman1 or hovers about the place where his body is deposited4' ,the same circuitous mode1 he adds1 'is pursued with respect to redressing injured orphans or widows1 when it seems as if the shorter and more certain would be to go to the person guilty of the injustice1 and haunt him continually till he be terrified into a restitution4' ,from early days the phantoms of the murdered have occasionally appeared to the living1 and made known the guilty person or persons who committed the deed4 ,thus ,cicero relates how 'two ,arcadians came to ,megara together2 one lodged at a friend's house1 the other at an inn4 ,during the night1 the latter appeared to his fellow-traveller1 imploring his help1 as the innkeeper was plotting his death2 the sleeper sprang up in alarm1 but thinking the vision of no importance1 he went to sleep again4 ,a second time his companion appeared to him1 to entreat that1 though he had failed to help1 he would at least avenge1 for the innkeeper had killed him1 and hidden his body in a dung-cart1 wherefore he charged his fellow-traveller to be early next morning at the city gate before the cart passed out4 ,the traveller went as bidden1 and there found the cart2 the body of the murdered man was in it1 and the innkeeper was brought to justice4'#hi ,of the many curious cases recorded of a murder being discovered through the ghost of the murdered person1 may be quoted one told in ,aubrey's ',miscellanies4' ,it appears that on ,monday1 ,april #ad1 #afij1 ,william ,barwick was walking with his wife close to ,cawood ,castle1 when1 from motives not divulged at the trial1 he determined to murder her1 and finding a pond conveniently at hand1 threw her in4 ,but on the following ,tuesday1 as his brother-in-law1 ,thomas ,lofthouse1 'about half an hour after twelve of the clock in the daytime1 was watering quickwood1 as he was going for the second pail1 there appeared walking before him an apparition in the shape of a woman1 her visage being like his wife's sister's4 ,soon after1 she sat down over against the pond1 on a green hill4 ,he walked by her as he went to the pond1 and1 on his return1 he observed that she was dangling something like a white bag on her lap1 evidently suggestive of her unborn baby that was slain with her4 ,the circumstance made such an impression on him1 that he immediately suspected ,barwick1 especially as he had made false statements as to the whereabouts of his wife1 and obtained a warrant for his arrest4 ,the culprit when arrested confessed his crime1 and the body of the murdered woman being recovered1 was found dressed in clothing similar1 apparently1 to that worn by the apparition4 ,ultimately ,barwick was hanged for his crime4'#ij ,a similar case1 which occurred in the county of ,durham in #afca1 and is the subject of a critical historical inquiry in ,surtees's ',history of ,durham1' may be briefly summed up4#ia ',one ,walker1 a yeoman of good estate1 a widower1 living at ,chester-le-,street1 had in his service a young female relative named ,anne ,walker4 ,the results of an amour which took place between them caused ,walker to send away the girl under the care of one ,mark ,sharp1 a collier1 professedly that she might be taken care of as befitted her condition1 but in reality that she might no more be troublesome to her lover4 ,nothing was heard of her till1 one night in the ensuing winter1 one ,james ,graham1 coming down from the upper to the lower floor of his mill1 found a woman standing there with her hair hanging about her head1 in which were five bloody wounds4 ,according to the man's evidence1 she gave an account of her fate2 having been killed by ,sharp on the moor in their journey1 and thrown into a coal pit close by1 while the instrument of her death1 a pick1 had been hid under a bank along with his clothes1 which were stained with her blood4 ,she demanded of ,graham that he should expose her murder1 which he hesitated to do1 until she had twice reappeared to him1 the last time with a threatening aspect4 ',the body1 the pick1 and the clothes having been found as ,graham had described1 ,walter and ,sharp were tried at ,durham1 before ,judge ,davenport1 in ,august #afca4 ,the men were found guilty1 condemned1 and executed4' ,in ',ackerman's ,repository' for ,november #ahbj1 there is an account of a person being tried on the pretended evidence of a ghost4 ,a farmer1 on his return from the market at ,southam1 co4 ,warwick1 was murdered4 ,the next morning a man called upon the farmer's wife1 and related how on the previous night her husband's ghost had appeared to him1 and1 after showing him several stabs on his body1 had told him that he was murdered by a certain person1 and his corpse thrown into a marl-pit4 ,a search was instituted1 the body found in the pit1 and the wounds on the body of the deceased were exactly in the parts described by the pretended dreamer2 the person who was mentioned was committed for trial on the charge of murder1 and the trial came on at ,warwick before ,lord ,chief ,justice ,raymond4 ,the jury would have convicted the prisoner as rashly as the magistrate had committed him1 but for the interposition of the judge1 who told them he did not put any credence in the pretended ghost story1 since the prisoner was a man of unblemished reputation1 and no ill-feeling had ever existed between himself and the deceased4 ,he added that he knew of no law which admitted of the evidence of a ghost1 and1 if any did1 the ghost had not appeared4 ,the crier was then ordered to summon the ghost1 which he did three times1 and the judge then acquitted the prisoner1 and caused the accuser to be detained and his house searched1 when such strong proofs of guilt were discovered1 that the man confessed the crime1 and was executed for murder at the following assizes4 ,,footnotes3 #gc ,the ,chinese3 ,j4 ,f4 ,davis1 #ahcf1 ii4 pp4 #aci1 #adj4 #gd ,folk-lore of ,china1 p4 #gc4 #ge ,see ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #cjd4 #gf ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #bh4 #gg ,see ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 #ahhj1 pp4 #ai1 #bj4 #gh ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii1 p4 #ai4 #gi ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 pp4 #id1 #ie4 #hj ,griffis1 ,the ,mikado's ,kingdom4 #ha ,denny's ,folk-lore of ,china2 see ,bassett's ,legends and ,superstitions of the ,sea1 p4 #bif4 #hb ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 #ahha1 p4 #fh4 #hc ,haunted ,homes of ,england1 #ahha1 p4 #bhf4 #hd ,haunted ,homes of ,england1 #bnd ,s41 pp4 #bbb-bbe4 #he ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #bfg4 #hf ,british ,goblins1 pp4 #adc1 #add4 #hg ,gentleman's ,magazine1 #ahee1 part ii4 p4 #eh4 #hh ,see ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #cbd-cbe4 #hi ,quoted in ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #ddd4 #ij ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #ahhd1 pp4 #cc-cf4 #ia ,see ,book of ,days1 ii4 p4 #bhg4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,phantom ,,birds ,one of the forms which the soul is said occasionally to assume at death is that of a bird--a pretty belief which1 under one form or another1 exists all over the world4 ,an early legend tells how1 when ,st4 ,polycarp was burnt alive1 there arose from his ashes a white dove which flew towards heaven2 and a similar story is told of ,joan of ,arc4 ,the ,russian peasantry affirm that the souls of the departed haunt their old homes in the shape of birds for six weeks1 and watch the grief of the bereft1 after which time they fly away to the other world4 ,in certain districts bread-crumbs are placed on a piece of white linen at a window during those six weeks1 when the soul is believed to come and feed upon them in the form of a bird4 ,it is generally into pigeons or crows that the dead are transformed4 ,thus1 when the ,deacon ,theodore and his three schismatic brethren were burnt in the year #afhb1 writes ,mr4 ,ralston1#ib 'the souls of the martyrs appeared in the air as pigeons4' ,in ,volhynia dead children are believed to come back in the spring to their native village under the semblance of swallows and other small birds1 endeavouring1 by soft twittering or song1 to console their sorrowing parents4 ,the ,bulgarians say that after death the soul assumes the form of a bird2 and according to an old ,bohemian fancy the soul flies out of the dying in a similar shape4 ,in the ',chronicles of the ,beatified ,anthony'#ic we find described fetid and black pools 'in regione ,puteolorum in ,apulia1' whence the souls arise in the form of monstrous birds in the evening hours of the ,sabbath1 which neither eat nor let themselves be caught1 but wander till in the morning an enormous lion compels them to submerge themselves in the water4 ,it is a ,german belief that the soul of one who has died on shipboard passes into a bird1 and when seen at any time it is supposed to announce the death of another person4 ,the ghost of the murdered mother comes swimming in the form of a duck1 or the soul sits in the likeness of a bird on the grave4 ,this piece of folk-lore has been introduced into many of the popular folk-tales1 as in the well-known story of the juniper tree4 ,a little boy is killed by his step-mother1 who serves him up as a dish of meat to his father4 ,the father eats in ignorance1 and throws away the bones1 which are gathered up by the half-sister1 who puts them into a silk handkerchief and buries them under a juniper tree4 ,but presently a bird of gay plumage perches on the tree1 and whistles as it flits from branch to branch3 ,min moder de mi slach't1 ,min fader de mi att1 ,min swester de ,marleenken1 ,scht alle mine ,beeniken1 ,und bindt sie in een syden ,dodk1 ,legst unner den ,machandelboom2 ,ky witt6 ky witt6 ,ach watt en schn vogel bin ich6 --a rhyme which ,goethe puts into the mouth of ,gretchen in prison4#id ,in ,grimm's story of ',the ,white and the ,black ,bride1' the mother and sister push the true bride into the stream4 ,at the same moment a snow-white swan is discovered swimming down the stream4 ,swedish folk-lore tells us that the ravens which scream by night in forest swamps and wild moors are the ghosts of murdered men whose bodies have been hidden by their undetected murderers1 and not had ,christian burial4 ,in ,denmark the night-raven is considered an exorcised spirit1 and there is said to be a hole in its left wing caused by the stake driven into the earth4 ,where a spirit has been exorcised1 it is only through the most frightful swamps and morasses that it ascends1 first beginning under the earth with the cry of ',rok6 rok6' then ',rok op6 rok op6' and when it has thus come forth1 it flies away screaming ',hei6 hei6 he6--i6' ,when it has flown up it describes a cross1 but one must take care1 it is said1 not to look up when the bird is flying overhead1 for he who sees through the hole in its wing will become a night-raven himself1 and the night-raven will be released4 ,this ominous bird is ever flying towards the east1 in the hope of reaching the ,holy ,sepulchre1 for when it arrives there it will find rest4#ie ,then there is the romantic ,breton ballad of ',lord ,nann and the ,korrigan1' wherein it is related how-- ,it was a marvel to see1 men say1 ,the night that followed the day1 ,the lady in earth by her lord lay1 ,to see two oak trees themselves rear1 ,from the new made grave into the air2 ,and on their branches two doves white1 ,who there were hopping1 gay and light1 ,which sang when rose the morning ray1 ,and then towards heaven sped away4 ,in ,mexico it is a popular belief that after death the souls of nobles animate beautiful singing birds1 and certain ,north ,american ,indian tribes maintain that the souls of their chiefs take the form of small woodbirds4#if ,among the ,abipones of ,paraguay we are told of a peculiar kind of little ducks which fly in flocks at night-time1 uttering a mournful tone1 and which the popular imagination associates with the souls of those who have died4 ,darwin mentions a ,south ,american ,indian who would not eat land-birds because they were dead men2 and the ,californian tribes abstain from large game1 believing that the souls of past generations have passed into their bodies4 ,the ,iannas of ,brazil thought the souls of brave warriors passed into lovely birds that fed on pleasant fruits2 and the ,tapuyas think the souls of the good and the brave enter birds1 while the cowardly become reptiles4 ,indeed1 the primitive psychology of such rude tribes reminds us how the spirit freed at death-- ,fills with fresh energy another form1 ,and towers an elephant1 or glides a worm2 ,swims as an eagle in the eye of noon1 ,or wails a screech-owl to the deaf cold moon4 ,it was also a belief of the ,aztecs that all good people1 as a reward of merit1 were metamorphosed at the close of life into feathered songsters of the grove1 and in this form passed a certain term in the umbrageous bowers of ,paradise2 while certain ,african tribes think that the souls of wicked men become jackals4 ,the ,brazilians imagined that the souls of the bad animated those birds that inhabited the cavern of ,guacharo and made a mournful cry1 which birds were religiously feared4 ,tracing similar beliefs in our own country1 may be compared the ,lancashire dread of the so-called ',seven ,whistlers1' which are occasionally heard at night1 and are supposed to contain the souls of those ,jews who assisted at the ,crucifixion1 and in consequence of their wickedness were doomed to float for ever in the air4 ,numerous stories have been told1 from time to time1 of the appearance of these ',seven ,whistlers1' and of their being heard before some terrible catastrophe1 such as a colliery explosion4 ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' relates how during a thunderstorm which passed over ,kettering1 in ,yorkshire1 on the evening of ,september #f1 #ahga1 'on which occasion the lightning was very vivid1 an unusual spectacle was witnessed4 ,immense flocks of birds were flying about1 uttering doleful affrighted cries as they passed over the locality1 and for hours they kept up a continual whistling like that made by sea-birds4 ,there must have been great numbers of them1 as they were also observed at the same time in the counties of ,northampton1 ,leicester1 and ,lincoln4 ,the next day1 as my servant was driving me to a neighbouring village1 this phenomenon of the flight of birds became the subject of conversation1 and on asking him what birds he thought they were1 he told me they were what were called the ,seven ,whistlers1 and that whenever they were heard it was considered a sign of some great calamity1 and that the last time he heard them was the night before the great ,hartley ,colliery explosion4 ,he had also been told by soldiers1 that if they heard them they always expected a great slaughter would take place soon4 ,curiously enough1 on taking up the newspaper the following morning1 ,i saw headed in large letters1 ,terrible ,colliery ,explosion at ,wigan1 c4' ,wordsworth speaks of the ',seven ,whistlers' in connection with the spectral hounds of the wild huntsman3 ,he the seven birds hath seen that never part-- ,seen the seven whistlers on their nightly rounds1 ,and counted them4 ,and oftentimes will start1 ,for overhead are sweeping ,gabriel's hounds1 ,doomed1 with their impious lord1 the flying hart ,to chase for ever on rial grounds4 ,a similar tradition prevails on the ,bosphorus with reference to certain flocks of birds1 about the size of a thrush1 which fly up and down the ,channel1 and are never seen to rest on the land or water4 ,these are supposed to be the souls of the damned1 and condemned to perpetual motion4 ,among further instances of the same belief may be mentioned one current among the ,manx herring fishermen1 who1 from time immemorial1 have been afraid of going to sea without a dead wren1 for fear of disasters and storms4 ,the story goes that once upon a time 'a sea spirit hunted the herring track1 always attended by storms1 but at last assumed the form of a wren1 and flew away4' ,accordingly they believe that so long as they have a dead wren with them all is snug and safe4 ,similarly1 in the ,english ,channel a rustling1 rushing sound is occasionally heard on the dark still nights of winter1 and is called the herring spear1 or herring piece1 by the fishermen of ,dover and ,folkestone4 ,but this strange sound is really caused by the flight of the little redwings as they cross the ,channel on their way to warmer regions4 ,stories of disembodied souls appearing as birds are very numerous4 ,an old well-known ,cornish legend tells how1 in days of old1 ,king ,arthur was transformed into a chough1 'its talons and beak all red with blood1' denoting the violent end to which the celebrated chieftain came4 ,in the same way a curious legend in ,poland affirms that every member of the ,herburt family assumes the form of an eagle after death1 and that the eldest daughters of the ,pileck line take the shape of doves if they die unmarried1 of owls if they die married1 and that they give previous notice of their death to every member of their race by pecking a finger of each4 ,a wild song sung by the boatmen of the ,molo1 ,venice1 declares that the spirit of ,daniel ,manin1 the patriot1 is flying about the lagunes to this day in the shape of a beautiful white dove4#ig ,there is the ancient ,irish tradition that the first father and mother of mankind exist as eagles in the island of ,innis ,bofin1 at the mouth of ,killery ,bay1 in ,galway2 indeed1 survivals of this old belief occur under all manner of forms4 ,there is the popular legend of the owl and the baker's daughter which ,shakespeare has immortalised in ',hamlet' 7iv4 #e71 where ,ophelia exclaims1 ',they say the owl was a baker's daughter2 ,lord1 we know what we are1 but know not what we may be4'#ih ,gervase of ,tilbury tells how the stork was formerly regarded as both bird and man1 on account of which superstition it is carefully protected in ,prussia from any kind of injury4 ,the stork1 too1 is still held in superstitious dread by the ,chinese1 who1 on the twenty-first day of the period of mourning for the dead1 place three large paper birds resembling storks on high poles in front of the house of mourning4 ,the birds are supposed to carry the soul of the deceased person to ,elysium1 and during the next three days the ,buddhist prays to the ten kings of the ,buddhist ,hades1 calling on them to hasten the flight of the departed soul to the ,western ,paradise4#ii ,the ,virginian ,indians had great reverence for a small bird called ,pawcorance1 that flies in the woods1 and in its note continually sounds that name4 ,this bird flies alone1 and is heard only in twilight4 ,it is said to be the son of one of their priests1 and on this account they would not hurt it2 but there was once a profane ,indian who was hired to shoot one of them1 but report says he paid dearly for his act of presumption1 for a few days afterwards he disappeared1 and was never heard of again4#ajj ,the ,indians dwelling about the ,falls of ,st4 ,anthony supposed that the spirits of their dead warriors animated the eagles which frequented the place1 and these eagles were objects of their worship4 ,in the ',smund ,edda' it is said that in the nether world souls as singed birds fly about like swarms of flies-- ,of that is to be told ,what ,i just observed1 ,when ,i had come into the land of torment3 ,singed birds1 ,that had been souls1 ,flew as many as gnats4 ,the ,finns and the ,lithuanians speak of the ',milky ,way' as the ,bird's ,way--the way of souls4 ,according to ,kuhn1 the notion of the soul assuming the form of a bird is closely allied with the primitive tradition of birds as soul-bringers4 ,thus1 as it has been suggested1 'the soul and the bird that brought it down to earth may have been supposed to become one1 and to enter and quit the body together4' ,in the ,egyptian hieroglyphics a bird signified the soul of man2 and the ,german name for stork1 writes ,grimm1 is literally child1 or soul-bringer4 ,hence the belief that the advent of infants is presided over by this bird1 which obtains so wide a credence in ,denmark and ,germany4#aja ,the idea of the bird as a 'soul bringer' probably gave rise to the popular belief that it is unlucky when a bird hovers near the window of a sick-room1 a superstition to which ,mrs4 ,hemans has prettily alluded3 ,say not 'tis vain6 ,i tell thee some ,are warned by a meteor's light1 ,or a pale bird flitting calls them home1 ,or a voice on the winds by night4 ,there are various stories told of mysterious birds appearing at such a time in different localities4 ,in ,devonshire the appearance of a white breasted bird has long been considered a presage of death1 a notion which is said to have originated in a tragic occurrence that happened to one of the ,oxenham family4 ,a local ballad tells how on the bridal eve of ,margaret1 heiress of ,sir ,james ,oxenham1 a silver-breasted bird flew over the wedding guests just as ,sir ,james stood up to thank them for good wishes4 ,the next day she was slain by a discarded lover1 and the ballad records how-- ,round her hovering flies1 ,the phantom-bird1 for her last breath1 ,to bear it to the skies4 ,in ,yorkshire1 ,berry ,well was supposed to be haunted by a bogie in the form of a white goose1 and the ,rev4 ,s4 ,baring-,gould informs us how ,lew ,trenchard ,house is haunted by a white lady who goes by the name of ,madame ,gould1 and is supposed to be the spirit of a lady who died there1 ,april #aj1 #agie4 ',a stone is shown on the ramps of ,lew ,slate ,quarry1 where seven parsons met to lay the old madame1 and some say that the white owl1 which nightly flits to and fro in front of ,lew ,house1 is the spirit of the lady conjured by the parsons into a bird4'#ajb ,similarly1 whenever the white owls are seen perched on the family mansion of the noble family of ,arundel of ,wardour1 it is regarded as a certain indication that one of its members will shortly be summoned out of the world4 ,in ,count ,montalembert's ',vie de ,ste4 ,elizabeth' it is related how ',duke ,louis of ,thuringia1 the husband of ,ste4 ,elizabeth of ,hungary1 being on the point of expiring1 said to those around him1 ,do you see those doves more white than snow8 ,his attendants supposed him to be a prey to visions2 but a little while afterwards he said to them1 ,i must fly away with those brilliant doves4 ,having said this he fell asleep in peace4 ,then his almoner1 ,berthold1 perceived doves flying away to the east1 and followed them along with his eyes4' ,we may compare a similar story told of the most beautiful woman of the ,knistenaux1 named ',foot of the ,fawn1' who died in her childbirth1 and her babe with her4 ,soon afterwards two doves appeared1 one full grown1 and the other a little one4 ,they were the spirits of the mother and child1 and the ,indians would gather about the tree on which they were perched with reverential love1 and worship them as the spirit of the woman and child4#ajc ,there is ,lord ,lyttelton's well-known ghost story1 and the belief of the ,duchess of ,kendal that ,george ,i4 flew into her window in the shape of a raven4 ,another well-known case was that of the ,duchess of ,st4 ,albans1 who1 on her death-bed1 remarked to her step-daughter1 ,lady ,guilford1 ',i am so happy to day because your father's spirit is breathing upon me2 he has taken the shape of a little bird singing at my window4' ,kelly relates an anecdote of a credulous individual who believed that the departing soul of his brother-in-law1 in the form of a bird1 tapped at his window at the time of his death2#ajd and in ,fitz,patrick's ',life of ,bishop ,doyle' it is related1 in allusion to his death1 that1 'considering the season was midsummer1 and not winter1 the visit of two robin redbreasts to the sick-room may be noticed as interesting4 ,they remained fluttering round1 and sometimes perching on the uncurtained bed4 ,the priests1 struck by the novelty of the circumstance1 made no effort to expel the little visitors1 and the robins hung lovingly over the bishop's head until death released him4' ,a singular instance of this belief was the extraordinary whim of a ,worcester lady1 who1 imagining her daughter to exist in the shape of a singing-bird1 literally furnished her pew in the ,cathedral with cages full of the kind2 and we are told in ,lord ,oxford's letters that1 as she was rich1 and a benefactress in beautifying the church1 no objection was made to her harmless folly4 ,,footnotes3 #ib ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 p4 #aah4 #ic ,quoted by ,gubernatis1 ,zoological ,mythology1 #ahgb1 ii4 pp4 #bed1 #bee4 #id ,countess ,evelyn ,martinengo-,cesaresco1 ,study of ,folk-songs p4 #aj2 ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 i4 p4 #bhi4 #ie ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #abf2 ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #baa4 #if ,see ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 pp4 #dh1 #di4 #ig ,jones' ,credulities1 ,past and ,present1 p4 #cgf4 #ih ,see ,dasent's ,tales of the ,norse1 #ahei1 p4 #bcj4 #ii ,jones' ,credulities1 ,past and ,present1 p4 #cgc4 #ajj ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 pp4 #bee1 #bef4 #aja ,hardwick's ,traditions1 ,superstitions1 and ,folk-lore1 #ahgb p4 #bdc2 ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 i4 p4 #bhi4 ,see ,kelly's ,indo-,european ,folk-lore1 p4 #ajc4 #ajb ,see ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #cca-cce4 #ajc ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bee4 #ajd ,indo-,european ,folk-lore1 pp4 #ajd1 #aje4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,animal ,,ghosts ,it is the rule rather than the exception for ghosts to take the form of animals4 ,a striking feature of this form of animism is its universality1 an argument1 it is said1 in favour of its having originally sprung from the old theory of metempsychosis which has pertinaciously existed in successive stages of the world's culture4 ',possibly1' it has been suggested1 'the animal form of ghosts is a mark of the once-supposed divinity of the dead4 ,ancestor worship is one of the oldest of the creeds1 and in all mythologies we find that the gods could transform themselves into any shape at will1 and frequently took those of beasts and birds4'#aje ,at the same time1 one would scarcely expect to come across nowadays this fanciful belief in our own and other civilised countries1 and yet instances are of constant occurrence1 being deeply rooted in many a local tradition4 ,acts of injustice done to a person cause the soul to return in animal form by way of retribution4 ,thus1 in ,cornwall1 it is a very popular fancy that when a young woman who has loved not wisely but too well dies forsaken and broken-hearted1 she comes back to haunt her deceiver in the form of a white hare4#ajf ,this phantom pursues the false one everywhere1 being generally invisible to everyone but himself4 ,it occasionally rescues him from danger1 but invariably causes his death in the end4 ,a ,shropshire story tells#ajg how 'two or three generations back there was a lady buried in her jewels at ,fitz1 and afterwards the clerk robbed her2 and she used to walk ,cuthery ,hollow in the form of a colt4 ,they called it ,obrick's ,colt1 and one night the clerk met it1 and fell on his knees1 saying1 ,abide1 ,satan6 abide6 ,i am a righteous man1 and a psalm singer4'#ajh ,the ghost was known as ,obrick's ,colt from the name of the thief1 who1 as the peasantry were wont to say1 'had niver no pace atter2 a was sadly troubled in his yed1 and mithered4'#aji ,sometimes the spirit in animal form is that of a wicked person doomed to wear that shape for some offence4 ,a man who hanged himself at ,broomfield1 near ,shrewsbury1 'came again in the form of a large black dog2' and an amusing ,shropshire story is told of the laying of an animal ghost at ,bagbury1 which took the form of a roaring bull1 and caused no small alarm4 ,this bull1 it appears1 had been a very bad man1 but when his unexpected presence as a bull-ghost terrified the neighbourhood1 it was deemed desirable by the twelve parsons whose help had been invoked to run him to earth in ,hyssington ,church1 with candles and all the paraphernalia employed on such occasions4 ,but the bull1 becoming infuriated1 'made such a bust that he cracked the wall of the church from the top to the bottom4' ,their efforts were ultimately successful1 for they captured him1 and as he was compressible1 they shut him up in a snuff-box1 and laid him in the ,red ,sea for a thousand years4 ,lady ,howard1 a ,devonshire notable of the time of ,james ,i41 in spite of her beauty and accomplishments1 had many bad qualities1 and amongst others was not only guilty of unnatural cruelty to her only daughter1 but had a mysterious knack of getting rid of her husbands1 having been married no less than four times4 ,her misdemeanours1 however1 did not escape with impunity1 for1 on her death1 her spirit was transformed into a hound1 and compelled to run every night1 between midnight and cockcrow1 from the gateway of ,fitzford1 her former residence1 to ,oakhampton ,park1 and bring back to the place from whence she started a blade of grass in her mouth1 and this penance she is doomed to continue till every blade of grass is removed from the park1 which she will not be able to effect till the end of the world4 ,many spectral dogs1 believed to be the souls of wicked persons1 are said to haunt the sides of rivers and pools1 and the story goes that there once lived in the hamlet of ,dean ,combe1 ,devon1 a weaver of great fame and skill4 ,after a prosperous life he died1 but the next day he appeared sitting at the loom and working diligently as when he was alive4 ,his sons applied to the parson1 who1 hearing the noise of the weaver's shuttle above1 cried1 ',knowles6 come down2 this is no place for thee4' ',i will1' said the weaver1 'as soon as ,i have worked out my quill' 7the quill is the shuttle-full of wool74 ',nay1' said the vicar1 'thou hast been long enough at thy work1 come down at once6' ,so when the spirit came down1 the vicar took a handful of earth from the churchyard1 and threw it on its face1 and instantly it became a black hound4 ,then the vicar took a nutshell with a hole in it1 and led the hound to the pool below the waterfall4 ',take this shell1' he said1 'and when thou shalt have dipped out the pool with it1 thou mayest rest1 not before4'#aaj ,on the west coast of ,ireland1 fishermen have a strong prejudice against killing seals1 owing to a popular tradition that they enshrined 'the souls of them that were drowned at the flood4' ,it was also said that such seals possessed the power of casting aside their external skins1 and disporting themselves in human form on the sea-shore4 ,within the parish of ,tring1 ,hertford1 a poor old woman was drowned in #agea for suspected witchcraft4 ,a chimney-sweeper1 who was the principal perpetrator of this deed1 was hanged and gibbeted near the place where the murder was committed2 and while the gibbet stood1 and long after it had disappeared1 the spot was haunted by a black dog4 ,a correspondent of the ',book of ,days' 7ii4 #dcc7 says that he was told by the village schoolmaster1 who had been 'abroad1' that he himself had seen this diabolical dog4 ',i was returning home1' said he1 'late at night in a gig with the person who was driving4 ,when we came near the spot1 where a portion of the gibbet had lately stood1 he saw on the bank of the roadside a flame of fire as large as a man's hat4 ,what's that8 ,i exclaimed4 ,hush6 said my companion1 and suddenly pulling in his horse1 made a dead stop4 ,i then saw an immense black dog just in front of our horse1 the strangest looking creature ,i ever beheld4 ,he was as big as a ,newfoundland1 but very gaunt1 shaggy1 with long ears and tail1 eyes like balls of fire1 and large1 long teeth1 for he opened his mouth and seemed to grin at us4 ,in a few minutes the dog disappeared1 seeming to vanish like a shadow1 or to sink into the earth1 and we drove on over the spot where he had lain4' ,occasionally1 when loss of life has happened through an accident1 a spectre animal of some kind has been afterwards seen4 ,some years ago an accident happened in a ,cornish mine1 whereby several men lost their lives4 ,as soon as help could be procured1 a party descended1 but the remains of the poor fellows were discovered to be mutilated beyond recognition4 ,on being brought up to the surface1 the clothes and a mass of mangled flesh dropped from the bodies4 ,a bystander1 anxious to spare the feelings of the relatives present1 quickly cast the unsightly mass into the blazing furnace of an engine close at hand4 ,but ever since that day the engineman positively asserted that troops of little black dogs continually haunted the locality4 ,then there is the pretty legend mentioned by ,wordsworth in his poem entitled1 ',the ,white ,doe of ,rylstone1' in which is embodied a ,yorkshire tradition to the effect that the lady founder of ,bolton ,abbey revisited the ruins of the venerable structure in the form of a spotless white doe3 ,which1 though seemingly doomed in its breast to sustain ,a softened remembrance of sorrow and pain1 ,is spotless1 and holy1 and gentle1 and bright1 ,and glides o'er the earth like an angel of light4 ,so common in ,france are human ghosts in bestial form1 'that ,m4 ,d',assier has invented a ,darwinian way of accounting for the phenomena4 ,m4 ,d',assier1 a positivist1 is a believer in ghosts1 but not in the immortality of the soul4 ,he suggests that the human revenants in the guise of sheep1 cows1 and shadowy creatures may be accounted for by a kind of ,atavism1 or throwing back1 on the side of the spirit to the lower animal forms out of which humanity was developed6'#aaa ,according to a ,german piece of folk-lore1 the soul takes the form of a snake1 a notion we find shared by the ,zulus1 who revere a certain kind of serpents as the ghosts of the dead2 and the ,northern ,indians speak of a serpent coming out of the mouth of a woman at death4 ,it is further related that out of the mouth of a sleeping person a snake creeps and goes a long distance1 and that whatever it sees1 or suffers1 on its way1 the sleeper dreams of4 ,if it is prevented from returning1 the person dies4#aab ,another belief tells us that the soul occasionally escapes from the mouth in the shape of a weasel or a mouse1 a superstition to which ,goethe alludes in ',faust'3 ,ah6 in the midst of her song1 ,a red mouseskin sprang out of her mouth4 ,turning to similar beliefs current among distant nations1 we are told that the ,andaman ,islanders had a notion that at death the soul vanished from the earth in the form of various animals and fishes2 and in ,guinea1 monkeys found in the locality of a graveyard are supposed to be animated by the spirits of the dead4 ,as ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang remarks3#aac ',among savages who believe themselves to be descended from beasts1 nothing can be more natural than the hypothesis that the souls revert to bestial shapes4' ,certain of the ,north ,american ,indian tribes believe that the spirits of their dead enter into bears2 and some of the ,papuans in ,new ,guinea 'imagine they will reappear as certain of the animals in their own island4 ,the cassowary and the emu are the most remarkable animals that they know of2 they have lodged in them the shades of their ancestors1 and hence the people abstain from eating them4'#aad ,spiritualism1 we are told1 is very widely spread among the ,esquimos1 who maintain that all animals have their spirits1 and that the spirits of men can enter into the bodies of animals4#aae ,in the ,ladrone ,islands it was supposed that the spirits of the dead animated the bodies of the fish1 and 'therefore to make better use of these precious spirits1 they burnt the soft portions of the dead body1 and swallowed the cinders which they let float on the top of their cocoa-nut wine4'#aaf ,in most parts of ,england there is a popular belief in a spectral dog1 which is generally described as 'large1 shaggy1 and black1 with long ears and tail4 ,it does not belong to any species of living dogs1 but is severally said to represent a hound1 a setter1 a terrier1 or a shepherd dog1 though often larger than a ,newfoundland4'#aag ,it is commonly supposed to be a bad spirit1 haunting places where evil deeds have been done1 or where some calamity may be expected4 ,in ,lancashire1 this spectre-dog is known as ',trash' and ',striker1'#aah its former name having been applied to it from the peculiar noise made by its feet1 which is supposed to resemble that of a person walking along a miry1 sloppy road1 with heavy shoes2 and its latter appellation from its uttering a curious screech1 which is thought to warn certain persons of the approaching death of some relative or friend4 ,if followed1 it retreats with its eyes fronting its pursuer1 and either sinks into the ground with a frightful shriek1 or in some mysterious manner disappears4 ,when struck1 the weapon passes through it as if it were a mere shadow4 ,in ,norfolk and ,cambridgeshire this apparition is known to the peasantry by the name of 'shuck'--the provincial word for 'shag'--and is reported to haunt churchyards and other lonely places4 ,a dreary lane in the parish of ,overstrand is called from this spectral animal ',shuck's ,lane1' and it is said that if the spot where it has been seen be examined after its disappearance1 it will be found to be scorched1 and strongly impregnated with the smell of brimstone4 ,mrs4 ,latham tells#aai how a man of notoriously bad character1 who lived in a lonely spot at the foot of the ,south ,downs1 without any companion of either sex1 was believed to be nightly haunted by evil spirits in the form of rats4 ,persons passing by his cottage late at night heard him cursing them1 and desiring them to let him rest in peace4 ,it was supposed they were sent to do judgment on him1 and would carry him away some night4 ,but he received his death-blow in a drunken brawl4 ,in the neighbourhood of ,leeds there is the ,padfoot1 a weird apparition about the size of a small donkey1 'with shaggy hair and large eyes like saucers4' ,mr4 ,baring-,gould relates#abj how a man in ,horbury once saw 'the ,padfooit1' which 'in this neighbourhood is a white dog like a flay-craw4' ,it goes sometimes on two legs1 sometimes it runs on three1 and to see it is a prognostication of death4 ,he was going home by ,jenkin1 and he saw a white dog in the hedge4 ,he struck at it1 and the stick passed through it4 ,then the white dog looked at him1 and it had 'great saucer e'en'2 and he was so 'flayed1' that he ran home trembling and went to bed1 when he fell ill and died4 ,with this strange apparition may be compared the ,barguest1 ,bahrgeist1 or ,boguest of ,northumberland1 ,durham1 and ,yorkshire1 and the ,boggart of ,lancashire2 an uncanine creature1 which generally assumes the form of a large black dog with flaming eyes1 and is supposed to be a presage of death4 ,the word 'barguest1' according to ,sir ,walter ,scott1 is from the ,german 'bahrgeist'--spirit of the bier2 and1 as it has been pointed out1 the proverbial expression to 'war like a ,barguest1' shows how deep a hold this apparition once had on the popular mind4 ,there is a ,barguest in a glen between ,darlington and ,houghton1 near ,throstlenest1 and another haunted a piece of waste land above a spring called the ,oxwells1 between ,wreghorn and ,headingly ,hill1 near ,leeds4 ,on the death of any person of local importance in the neighbourhood the creature would come forth1 followed by all the dogs barking and howling4#aba ,another form of this animal spectre is the ,capelthwaite1 which1 according to common report1 had the power of appearing in the form of any quadruped1 but usually chose that of a large black dog4 ,it does not seem to have appeared of late years1 for tradition tells how a vicar of ,beetham went out in his ecclesiastical vestments to lay this troublesome spirit in the ,river ,bela4#abb ,in ,wales1 there is the ,gwyllgi1 or 'dog of darkness1' a terrible spectre of a mastiff which1 with a baleful breath and blazing red eyes1 has often inspired terror even amongst the strong-minded ,welsh peasantry4 ,many stories are told of its encountering unwary travellers1 who have been so overcome by its unearthly howl1 or by the glare of its fiery eyes1 that they have fallen senseless on the ground4 ,a certain lane1 leading from ,mowsiad to ,lisworney-,crossways1 is said to have been haunted by a ,gwyllgi of the most terrible aspect4 ,a farmer1 living near there1 was one night returning home from market on a young mare1 when suddenly the animal shied1 reared1 tumbled the farmer off1 and bolted for home4 ,the farm-servants1 finding the mare trembling by the barn door1 suspected she had seen the ,gwyllgi1 and going in search of their master1 they found him on his back in the mud1 who1 being questioned1 protested 'it was the ,gwyllgi1 and nothing less1 that had made all this trouble4'#abc ,it is a popular belief in ,wales that horses have the peculiar 'gift' of seeing spectres1 and carriage horses have been known to display every sign of the utmost terror when the occupants of the carriage could see no cause for alarm4 ,such an apparition is an omen of death1 and an indication that a funeral will pass before long1 bearing to the grave some person not dead at the time of the horses' fright4 ,another famous dog-fiend1 in the shape of a shaggy spaniel1 was the ',mauthe ,doog1' which was said to haunt ,peel ,castle1 ,isle of ,man4 ,its favourite place was the guard-chamber1 where it would lie down by the fireside4 ,according to ,waldron1 'the soldiers lost much of their terror by the frequency of the sight2 yet1 as they believed it to be an evil spirit waiting for an opportunity to hinder them1 the belief kept them so far in order that they refrained from swearing in its presence4 ,but1 as the ,mauthe ,doog used to come out and return by the passage through the church1 by which also somebody must go to deliver the keys every night to the captain1 they continued to go together2 he whose turn it was to do that duty being accompanied by the next in rotation4 ,on a certain night1 however1 one of the soldiers1 being the worse for liquor1 would go with the key alone1 though it really was not his turn4 ,his comrades tried to dissuade him1 but he said he wanted the ,mauthe ,doog's company1 and would try whether he was dog or devil4 ,soon afterwards a great noise alarmed the soldiers2 and when the adventurer returned1 he was struck with horror and speechless1 nor could he even make such signs as might give them to understand what had happened to him2 but he died with distorted features in violent agony4 ,after this the apparition was never seen again4' ,then there are the packs of spectral hounds1 which some folk-lorists tell us are evil spirits that have assumed this form in order to mimic the sports of men1 or to hunt their souls4 ,they are variously named in different parts of the country--being designated in the ,north1 ',gabriel's ,hounds'2 in ,devon1 the ',wisk1' ',yesk1' ',yeth1' or ',heath ,hounds'2 in ,wales1 ',cwn ,annwn' or ',cwn y ,wybr'2 and in ,cornwall1 the ',devil and his ,dandy-,dogs4' ,such spectral hounds are generally described as 'monstrous human-headed dogs1' and 'black1 with fiery eyes and teeth1 and sprinkled all over with blood4' ,they are often heard though seldom seen1 'and seem to be passing along simply in the air1 as if in hot pursuit of their prey'2 and when they appear to hang over a house1 then death or misfortune may shortly be expected4 ,in the gorge of ,cliviger the spectre huntsman1 under the name of ',gabriel ,ratchets1' with his hounds yelping through the air1 is believed to hunt a milk-white doe round the ,eagle's ,crag1 in the ,vale of ,todmorden1 on ,all ,hallows ,eve4#abd ,mr4 ,holland1 of ,sheffield1 has embodied the local belief in the subjoined sonnet1 and says3 ',i never can forget the impression made upon my mind when once arrested by the cry of these ,gabriel hounds as ,i passed the parish church of ,sheffield one densely dark and very still night4 ,the sound was exactly like the questing of a dozen beagles on the foot of a race1 but not so loud1 and highly suggestive of ideas of the supernatural4' ,oft have ,i heard my honoured mother say1 ,how she has listened to the ,gabriel hounds-- ,those strange1 unearthly1 and mysterious sounds ,which on the ear through murkiest darkness fell2 ,and how1 entranced by superstitious spell1 ,the trembling villager nor seldom heard1 ,in the quaint notes of the nocturnal bird1 ,of death premonished1 some sick neighbour's knell4 ,i1 too1 remember1 once at midnight dark1 ,how these sky-yelpers startled me1 and stirred ,my fancy so1 ,i could have then averred ,a mimic pack of beagles low did bark4 ,nor wondered ,i that rustic fear should trace ,a spectral huntsman doomed to that long moonless chase4 ,in the neighbourhood of ,leeds these hounds are known as ',gabble ,retchets1' and are supposed1 as in other places1 to be the souls of unbaptized children who flit restlessly about their parents' abode4 ,the ,yeth hounds were heard some few years ago in the parish of ,st4 ,mary ,tavy by an old man named ,roger ,burn4 ,he was walking in the fields1 when he suddenly heard the baying of the hounds1 the shouts and horn of the huntsman1 and the smacking of his whip4 ,the last point the old man quoted as at once settling the question1 ',how could ,i be mistaken8 ,why1 ,i heard the very smacking of his whip4' ,but1 as ,mr4 ,yarrell has long ago explained1 this mysterious noise is caused by bean-geese1 which1 coming southwards in large flocks on the approach of winter--partly from ,scotland and its islands1 but chiefly from ,scandinavia--choose dark nights for their migration1 and utter a loud and very peculiar cry4 ,the sound of these birds has been observed in every part of ,england1 and as far west as ,cornwall4 ,one day a man was riding alone near ,land's ,end on a still dark night1 when the yelping cry broke out above his head so suddenly1 and to appearance so near1 that he instinctively pulled up the horse as if to allow the pack to pass1 the animal trembling violently at the unexpected sounds4 ,an amusing account of the devil and his dandy-dogs is given by ,mr4 ,j4 ,q4 ,couch1 in his ',folk-lore of a ,cornish ,village1' from which it appears that 'a poor herdsman was journeying homeward across the moors one windy night1 when he heard at a distance among the ,tors the baying of hounds1 which he soon recognised as the dismal chorus of the dandy-dogs4 ,it was three or four miles to his house1 and1 very much alarmed1 he hurried onward as fast as the treacherous nature of the soil and the uncertainty of the path would allow2 but1 alas6 the melancholy yelping of the hounds1 and the dismal holloa of the hunter1 came nearer and nearer4 ,after a considerable run they had so gained upon him that on looking back--oh1 horror6 he could distinctly see hunter and dogs4 ,the former was terrible to look at1 and had the usual complement of saucer-eyes1 horns1 and tail accorded by common consent to the legendary devil4 ,he was black1 of course1 and carried in his hand a long hunting pole4 ,the dogs1 a numerous pack1 blackened the small patch of moor that was visible1 each snorting fire1 and uttering a yelp of indescribably frightful tone4 ,no cottage1 rock1 or tree was near to give the herdsman shelter1 and nothing apparently remained to him but to abandon himself to their fury1 when a happy thought suddenly flashed upon him and suggested a resource4 ,just as they were about to rush upon him1 he fell on his knees in prayer4 ,there was a strange power in the holy words he uttered1 for immediately1 as if resistance had been offered1 the hell hounds stood at bay1 howling more dismally than ever1 and the hunter shouted1 ,bo ,shrove1 which means ,the boy prays1 at which they all drew off on some other pursuit and disappeared4' ,gervase of ,tilbury informs us that in the thirteenth century the wild hunt was often seen by full moon in ,england traversing forest and down4 ,in the twelfth century it was known as the ,herlething1 the banks of the ,wye having been the scene of the most frequent chases4 ,in ,wales1 the ,cwn ,annwn1 or ,dogs of ,hell1 or1 as they are sometimes called1 ',dogs of the ,sky1' howl through the air 'with a voice frightfully disproportionate to their size1 full of a wild sort of lamentation1' but1 although terrible to hear1 they are harmless1 and have never been known to commit any mischief4 ,one curious peculiarity is that the nearer these spectral hounds are to a man1 the less loud their voices sound2 and the farther off they are1 the louder is their cry4 ,according to one popular tradition1 they are supposed to be hunting through the air the soul of the wicked man the instant it quits the body4 ,this superstition occupies1 too1 a conspicuous place in the folk-lore of ,germany and ,norway4 ,mr4 ,baring-,gould1 in his ',iceland1 its ,scenes and ,sages1' describes it as he heard it from his guide ,jon1 who related it to him under the title of the ',yule ,host4' ,he tells us how ',odin1 or ,wodin1 is the wild huntsman who nightly tears on his white horse over the ,german and ,norwegian forests and moor-sweeps1 with his legion of hell hounds4 ,some luckless woodcutter1 on a still night1 is returning through the pine-woods when suddenly his ear catches a distant wail2 a moan rolls through the interlacing branches2 nearer and nearer comes the sound4 ,there is the winding of a long horn waxing louder and louder1 the baying of hounds1 the rattle of hoofs and paws on the pine-tree tops4' ,this spectral chase goes by different names4 ,in ,thuringia and elsewhere it is ',hakelnberg' or ',hackelnbrend1' and the story goes that ,hakelnberg was a knight passionately fond of the chase1 who1 on his death-bed1 would not listen to the priest1 but said1 ',i care not for heaven1 ,i care only for the chase4' ,then 'hunt until the last day1' exclaimed the priest4 ,and now1 through storm and sunshine1 he fleets1 a faint barking or yelping in the air announcing his approach4 ,thorpe quotes a similar story as current in the ,netherlands1#abe and in ,denmark it occurs under various forms4#abf ,in ,schleswig it is ,duke ,abel1 who slew his brother in #abeb4 ,tradition says that in an expedition against the ,frieslanders1 he sank into a deep morass as he was fording the ,eyder1 where1 being encumbered with the weight of his armour1 he was slain4 ,his body was buried in the ,cathedral1 but his spirit found no rest4 ,the canons dug up the corpse1 and buried it in a morass near ,gottorp1 but in the neighbourhood of the place where he is buried all kinds of shrieks and strange sounds have been heard1 and 'many persons worthy of credit affirm that they have heard sounds so resembling a huntsman's horn1 that anyone would say that a hunter was hunting there4 ,it is1 indeed1 the general rumour that ,abel has appeared to many1 black of aspect1 riding on a small horse1 and accompanied by three hounds1 which appear to be burning like fire4'#abg ,in ,sweden1 when a noise like that of carriage and horses is heard at night1 the people say1 ',odin is passing by1' and in ,norway this spectral hunt is known as the ',chase of the inhabitants of ,asgarth4' ,in ,danzig1 the leader of the hounds is ,dyterbjernat1 i4e4 ,diedrick of ,bern4 ,near ,fontainebleau1 ,hugh ,capet is supposed to ride1 having1 it is said1 rushed over the palace with his hounds before the assassination of ,henry ,,iv42 and at ,blois1 the hunt is called the ',chasse ,macabee4' ,in some parts of ,france the wild huntsman is known as ,harlequin1 or ,henequin1 and in the ,franche ,comt he is ',herod in pursuit of the ,holy ,innocents4' ,this piece of folk-lore is widespread1 and it may be added that in ,normandy1 the ,pyrenees1 and in ,scotland1 ,king ,arthur has the reputation of making nightly rides4 ,another form of spectre animal is the kirk-grim1 which is believed to haunt many churches4 ,sometimes it is a dog1 sometimes a pig1 sometimes a horse1 the haunting spectre being the spirit of an animal buried alive in the churchyard for the purpose of scaring away the sacrilegious4 ,swedish tradition tells how it was customary for the early founders of ,christian churches to bury a lamb under the altar4 ,it is said that when anyone enters a church out of service time he may chance to see a little lamb spring across the choir and vanish4 ,this is the church lamb1 and its appearance in the churchyard1 especially to the grave-digger1 is said to betoken the death of a child4#abh ,according to a ,danish form of this superstition1 the kirk-grim dwells either in the tower or wherever it can find a place of concealment1 and is thought to protect the sacred building2 and it is said that in the streets of ,kroskjoberg1 a grave-sow1 or as it is also called1 a 'gray-sow1' has frequently been seen4 ,it is thought to be the apparition of a sow formerly buried alive1 and to forebode death and calamity4 ,,footnotes3 #aje ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 p4 #aca4 #ajf ,hunt's ,popular ,romances of the ,west of ,england1 p4 #cgg4 #ajg ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 pp4 #aje1 #ajf4 #ajh ,see ,ibid4 pp4 #ajh-aaa4 #aji ,see ,hartshorne's ,salopia ,antiqua1 p4 #ebb #aaj ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 ii4 p4 #eae4 #aaa ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahhe1 p4 #fbe4 #aab ,see ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 pp4 #bhi1 #bij4 #aac ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahhe1 p4 #fbe4 #aad ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #bej4 #aae ,ibid4 p4 #bfd4 #aaf ,ibid4 p4 #bff4 #aag ,book of ,days1 ii4 p4 #dcc4 #aah ,see ,harland and ,wilkinson's ,lancashire ,folk-lore1 p4 #ia4 #aai ',west ,sussex ,superstitions1' ,folk-lore ,record1 i4 p4 #bc4 #abj ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #bgd1 #bge4 #aba ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #bge4 #abb ,see ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #bgd-bgh4 #abc ,see ,wirt ,sikes' ,british ,goblins1 pp4 #afg-afi4 #abd ,see ,roby's ,traditions of ,lancashire2 ,homerton's ,isles of ,loch ,awe2 ,hardwick's ,traditions1 ,superstitions1 and ,folk-lore1 pp4 #aec-agf4 #abe ,northern ,mythology1 iii4 p4 #bai4 #abf ,ibid4 ii4 pp4 #aie-bjb4 #abg ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 pp4 #aih1 #aii4 #abh ,see ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 pp4 #ajb1 #aff1 #afg4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,phantom ,,lights ,stories of mysterious lights suddenly illuminating the nocturnal darkness of unfrequented spots have long been current throughout the world4 ,in the ',odyssey1' when ,athene was mystically present as ,odysseus and ,telemachus were moving the weapons out of the hall 7xix4 #ba-ej71 ,telemachus exclaims1 ',father1 surely a great marvel is this ,i behold6 ,meseemeth that the walls of the hall1 and the fair spaces between the pillars1 and the beams of pine1 and the columns that run aloft1 are bright as it were with flaming fire4 ,verily some god is within of them that hold the wide heaven4' ,odysseus answers1 ',lo1 this is the wont of the gods that possess ,olympus4' ,in ,theocritus1 when ,hera sends the snakes to attack the infant ,heracles1 a mysterious flame shines forth4 ,the same phenomenon occurs in the ,sagas of ,burut ,njas1 when ,gunnar sings within his tomb4 ,the brilliance of the light which attends the presence of the supernatural is indeed widely diffused1 and1 as ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang writes1#abi ',philosophers may dispute whether any objective fact lies at the bottom of this belief1 or whether a savage superstition has survived into ,greek epic and idyll and into modern ghost stories4' ,although science has years ago explained many such phosphoric appearances as governed by certain atmospheric laws1 superstitious fancy has not only attributed to them supernatural causes1 but associated them with all kinds of weird and romantic tales4 ,according to one popular notion1 strange lights of this kind are the spirits of persons who1 for some reason1 cannot remain quiet4 ,thus a spectre known as the ',lady and the ,lantern1' has long been said to haunt the beach at ,st4 ,ives1 ,cornwall1 in stormy weather4 ,the story goes that a lady and her child had been saved from a wreck1 but the child was swept away and drowned1 and she is supposed to be hunting for its body4 ,similar tales are told elsewhere1 but the object of search is not always the same4 ,a light1 for instance1 hovers about a stone on the ,cornish coast1 locally designated ',madge ,figg's ,chair1' which is supposed to be the ghost of a wrecked lady whom ,madge stripped of her jewels4 ,in ,scotland the appearance of a spectral 'lady of the golden casket' was attended by a phantom light1 and it is also related how the ghost of a murdered woman is seen by her lover at sea1 approaching in the shape of a bright light1 which assumes the human form as it draws nearer4 ,she finally calls him1 and he springs into her arms1 and disappears in a flash of fire4#acj ,there is the popular legend of the ',radiant ,boy'--a strange boy with a shining face1 who has been seen in certain ,lincolnshire houses and elsewhere4 ,this ghost was described to ,mr4 ,baring-,gould#aca by a ,yorkshire farmer1 who1 as he was riding one night to ,thirsk1 suddenly saw pass by him a 'radiant boy' on a white horse4 ,to quote his own words1 'there was no sound of footfall as the boy drew nigh4 ,he was first aware of the approach of the mysterious rider by seeing the shadow of himself and his horse flung before him on the high road4 ,thinking there might be a carriage with lamps1 he was not alarmed till1 by the shortening of the shadow1 he knew that the light must be near him1 and then he was surprised to hear no sound4 ,he thereupon turned in his saddle1 and at the same moment the radiant boy passed him4 ,he was a child of about eleven1 with a fresh bright face4 ,had he any clothes on8 and if so1 what were they like8 ,i asked4 ,but the old man could not tell4 ,his astonishment was so great that he took no notice of particulars4 ,the boy rode on till he came to a gate which led into a field2 he stooped as if to open the gate1 rode through1 and all was instantly dark4' ,at the commencement of the present century the little village of ,black ,heddon1 near ,stamfordham1 in ,northumberland1 was greatly disturbed by an apparition known as ',silky1' from the nature of her dress4 ,she suddenly appeared to benighted travellers1 breaking forth upon them in dazzling splendour1 in the darkest and most lonely parts of the road4 ,this spirit exercised a marvellous power over the brute creation1 and once1 it is said1 waylaid a waggon bringing coals to a farm near ,black ,heddon1 and fixed the team upon a bridge1 since called1 after her1 ',silky's ,brig4' ,do what he could1 the driver could not make the horses move a step1 and there they would have stayed all night had not another farm servant come up with some mountain ash about him4 ,it was generally supposed that ,silky1 who suddenly disappeared1 was the troubled phantom of some person who had died miserable because she owned treasure1 and was overtaken by death before she had disclosed its hiding-place4 ,an old barn situated near ,birchen ,tower1 ,hollinwood1 which was noted for the apparition of ,madame ,beswick on dark and wintry nights1 at times1 it is said1 appears to be on fire1 a red glare of glowing heat being observable through the loopholes and crevices of the building4 ,sometimes the sight is so threatening that the neighbours will raise an alarm that the barn is in flames4 ,but when the premises are searched1 everything is in order1 and nothing found wrong4#acb ,and a ,welsh romance tells how1 after ,howel ,sele slew his cousin ,glendower1 and buried him in 'a broad and blasted oak1 scorched by the lightning's vivid glare1' ,pale lights on ,cader's rocks were seen1 ,and midnight voices heard to moan4 ,such phantom lights are not confined to land1 and most of the tales of spectre ships speak of their being seen by the affrighted crews4 ,in the ',salem ,spectre ,ship' we are told how ,the night grew thick1 but a phantom light ,around her path was shed4 ,they are generally dreaded as foreboding a catastrophe1 and have given rise to a host of curious stories4 ,a light is said to hover about in ,sennen ,cove1 which is thought to be an ill-omened apparition2 and a ,welsh story speaks of a ghost1 the ',cyhyraeth1' that appears on the beach1 in a light1 with groanings and cries4#acc ,flames are reported to issue from the ,eider ,river1 and from several lakes in ,germany4 ,where ships have been wrecked1 blue lights are supposed to faintly glimmer1 occasionally accompanied by the spirits of wrecked or injured persons4 ,a notable instance is told of ,sable ,island1#acd where1 with the leaping flames1 is seen the ',lady of ,copeland' wrecked and murdered by pirates from the ,amelie transport4 ,she has one finger missing on her hand4 ,sometimes weird lights flickering in solitary places are thought to be the unhappy spirits of wicked persons who have no rest in the grave4 ,milton refers to this fancy in his ',paradise ,lost' 7ix4 #fcd73 ,a wandering fire1 ,compact of unctuous vapour1 which the night ,condenses1 and the cold environs round1 ,kindled through agitation to a flame1 ,which oft1 they say1 some evil spirit attends1 ,hovering and blazing with delusive light1 ,misleads the amazed night wanderer from his way ,to bogs and mires2 and oft through pond or pool ,there swallowed up and lost from succour far4 ,hence they were doomed to wander backwards and forwards carrying a light4 ,a tradition current in ,normandy says that a pale light occasionally seen by travellers is the unquiet spirit of some unfortunate woman who1 as a punishment for her intrigues with a minister of the ,church1 is doomed to this existence4 ,there are various versions of this story1 and one formerly current in this country tells how the hovering flame--the cause of terror to many--is the soul of a priest who has been condemned to expiate his vows of perpetual chastity by thus haunting the scenes of his disobedience4 ,brand1 quoting from an old work on ',lights that ,lead ,people out of their ,ways in the ,night1' informs us that the lights which are seen in churchyards and ,moorish places were represented by the ,popish clergy to be 'souls come out of purgatory all in flame1 to move the people to pray for their entire deliverance1 by which they gulled them of much money to say mass for them1 everyone thinking it might be the soul of his or her deceased relations4' ,according to another explanation1 it is believed on the ,continent that the ghosts of those who in their lifetime were guilty of removing their neighbours' landmarks are fated to roam hither and thither1 lantern in hand1 'sometimes impelled to replace the old boundary mark1 then to move it again1 constantly changing their course with their changing purpose4' ,a ,swedish tradition adds that such a spirit may be heard saying in a harsh1 hoarse voice1 ',it is right6 it is right6 it is right6' ,but the next moment qualms of conscience and anguish seize him1 and he then exclaims1 ',it is wrong6 it is wrong6 it is wrong6'#ace ,it is also said that these lights are the souls of land-measurers1 who1 having acted dishonestly in their business1 are trying to remedy the wrong measurements they made4 ,a ,german legend tells how1 at the partition of the land1 there arose between the villages of ,alversdorf and ,rst1 in ,south ,ditmarschen1 great disputes4 ,one man gave fraudulent measurements1 but after his death he wandered about as a fire sprite4 ,a flame1 the height of a man1 was seen dancing about till the moor dried up4 ,whenever it flared up higher than usual1 the people would cry out1 ',dat is de ,scheelvalgt'--that is the land-divider4 ,there is a tale told of a certain land-measurer near ,farsum1 in the ,netherlands1 who had in his lifetime acted dishonestly when he had a piece of land to measure4 ,he suffered himself 'to be bribed by one or other1 and then allotted to the party more than was just1 for which offence he was condemned after death to wander as a burning man with a burning measuring-staff4' ,popular fancy1 too1 has long identified phantom lights as being the souls of unbaptized children4 ,because such souls cannot enter heaven1 they make their abodes in forests1 and in dark and lonely places1 where they mourn over their hard lot4 ,if at night they chance to meet anyone1 they run up to him1 and walk on before to show him the way to some water where they may be baptized4 ,the mysterious lady1 ,frau ,bertha1 is ever attended by troops of unbaptized children1 whom she takes with her when she joins the wild huntsman4 ,one tradition relates how a ,dutch parson1 happening to return home later than usual1 was confronted with no less than three of these fiery phenomena4 ,remembering them to be the souls of unbaptized children1 he thoughtfully stretched out his hand1 and pronounced the words of baptism over them4 ,but1 much to his unexpected surprise1 in the same instant hundreds of these moving lights made their appearance1 which so frightened him that1 forgetting his good intentions1 he ran home as fast as he could4 ,in ,ireland unbaptized children have been represented as sitting blindfolded within fairy moats1 the peasantry supposing such souls 'go into nought4' ,a somewhat similar idea may be found in ,longfellow's ',evangeline1' where we have introduced among the contes of an ,arcadian village notary allusion to ,the white ,ltiche1 the ghost of a child unchristened1 ,died1 and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers of children4 ,closely allied with the notion of phantom lights are the strange phosphoric appearances said occasionally to be seen about the dying4 ,in ,russia1 the soul under certain circumstances is believed to assume the form of a flame1 and such a ghostly apparition cannot be banished till the necessary prayers have been offered up4#acf ,according to a ,sussex death-omen1 lights of a circular form seen in the air are significant1 and it is supposed that the death of sick persons is shown by the prognostic of 'shell-fire4' ,this is a sort of lambent flame1 which seems to rise from the bodies of those who are ill1 and to envelope the bed4 ,on one occasion1 considerable alarm was created in a ,sussex village by a pale light being observed to move over the bed of a sick person1 and after flickering for some time in different parts of the room1 to vanish through the window4 ,but the difficulty was eventually explained1 for the light was found to proceed from a luminous insect--the small glow-worm4#acg ,marsh#ach relates how a pale moonlight-coloured glimmer was once seen playing round the head of a dying girl about an hour and a half before her last breath4 ,the light proceeded from her head1 and was faint and tremulous like the reflection of summer lightning1 which at first those watching her mistook it to be4 ,another case1 reported by a medical man in ,ireland1 was that of a consumptive patient1 in whose cabin strange lights had been seen1 filling the neighbourhood with alarm4 ,to quote a further instance1 from the mouth of a patient in a ,london hospital1 some time since1 the nurses observed issuing a pale bluish flame1 and soon after the man died4 ,the frightened nurses were at a loss to account for this unusual sight1 but a scientific explanation of the phenomenon ascribed it to phosphoretted hydrogen1 a result of incipient decomposition4#aci ,dante ,rossetti1 in his ',blessed ,damozel1' when he describes her as looking down from heaven towards the earth that 'spins like a fretful image1' whence she awaits the coming of her lover1 depicts the souls mounting up to ,god as passing by her 'like thin flames4' ,another form of this superstitious fancy is the corpse-candle1 or 'tomb-fire1' which is invariably a death-warning4 ,it sometimes appears 'as a stately flambeau1 stalking along unsupported1 burning with a ghastly blue flame4 ,sometimes it is a plain tallow dip in the hand of a ghost2 and when the ghost is seen distinctly1 it is recognised as that of some person still living1 who will now soon die#adj--;in fact1 a wraith4' ,occasionally the light issues from the person's mouth1 or nostrils4 ,the size of the candle indicates the age of the person who is about to die1 being large when it is a full-grown person whose death is foretold1 small when it is a child1 still smaller when an infant4 ,when two candles together are seen1 one of which is large and the other small1 it is a mother and child who are to die4 ,when the flame is white the doomed person is a woman1 when red a man4 ,a ,carmarthenshire tradition relates how one evening1 when the coach which runs between ,llandilo and ,carmarthen was passing by ,golden ,grove1 the property of the ,earl of ,cawdor1 three corpse-candles were observed on the surface of the water gliding down the stream which runs near the road4 ,a few days afterwards1 just as many men were drowned there4 ,such a light1 too1 has long been thought to hover near the grave of the drowned1 reminding us of ,moore's lines-- ,where lights1 like charnel meteors1 burned the distant wave1 ,bluely as o'er some seaman's grave1 and stories of such uncanny appearances have been told of nearly every village churchyard4 ,it should be added that1 according to a popular idea1 the presence of ghosts was announced1 in bygone years1 by an alteration in the tint of the lights which happened to be burning--an item of folk-lore alluded to in ',richard ,,iii4' 7,act v4 sc4 #c71 where the tyrant exclaims as he awakens-- ,the lights burn blue4 ,it is now dead midnight1 ,cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh4 99 99 99 99 99 ,methought the souls of all that ,i had murder'd ,came to my tent4 ,so in ',julius ,csar1' 7,act iv4 sc4 #c71 ,brutus1 on seeing the ghost of ,csar1 exclaims3 ,how ill this taper burns6 ,ha6 ,who comes here8 ,phantom lights have also been associated with buildings1 as in the case of the ancient chapel of ,roslin1 founded in the year #addf by ,william ,st4 ,clair1 ,prince of ,orkney4 ,it is believed that whenever any of the founder's descendants are about to depart this life1 the chapel appears to be on fire1 a weird and terrible occurrence graphically portrayed by ,harold's song in ',the ,lay of the ,last ,minstrel'3 ,o'er ,roslin all that dreary night1 ,a wondrous blaze was seen to gleam2 ',twas broader than the watch-fire light1 ,and redder than the bright moonbeam4 ,it glared on ,roslin's castled rock1 ,it ruddied all the copse-wood glen2 ',twas seen from ,dryden's groves of oak1 ,and seen from cavern'd ,hawthornden4 ,seem'd all on fire that chapel proud1 ,where ,roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie2 ,each ,baron1 for a sable shroud1 ,sheathed in his iron panoply4 ,seem'd all on fire1 within1 around1 ,deep sacristy and altar's pale2 ,shone every pillar foliage-bound1 ,and glimmer'd all the dead men's mail4 ,blazed battlement and pinnet high1 ,blazed every rose-carved buttress fair2 ,so still they blaze when fate is nigh1 ,the lordly line of ,hugh ,st4 ,clair4 ,but notwithstanding the fact that the last ',roslin1' as he was called1 died in #aggh1 and the estates passed into the possession of the ,erskines1 ,earls of ,rosslyn1 the old tradition has not yet been extinguished4#ada ,sir ,walter ,scott also tells us that the death of the head of a ,highland family is sometimes announced by a chain of lights1 of different colours1 called ,dr'eug1 or death of the ,druid4 ,the direction which it takes is supposed to mark the place of the funeral4#adb ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' gives a curious account of a house at ,taunton which possessed 'a luminous chamber1' for1 as common report said1 'the room had a light of its own4' ,as an eye-witness observed1 ',a central window was generally illuminated4' ,all the other windows were dark1 but from this was a wan1 dreary light visible2 and as the owners had deserted the place1 and it had no occupant1 the lighted window became a puzzle4 ,with the ,north ,american tribes one form of spiritual manifestation is fire2 and among the ,hurons1 a female spirit1 who was supposed to cause much of their sickness1 appeared like a flame of fire4 ,of the ,new ,england ,indians it is related that 'they have a remarkable observation of a flame that appears before the death of an ,indian1 upon their wigwams1 in the dead of night4 ,whenever this appears1 there will be a death4'#adc ,the ,eskimos believe that the ,inue1 or powerful spirits1 'generally have the appearance of a fire or bright light1 and to see them is very dangerous1 particularly as foreshadowing the death of a relation4'#add ,,footnotes3 #abi ,the ,nineteenth ,century1 ',comparative ,study of ,ghost ,stories1' #ahhe1 xvii4 pp4 #fbi1 #fcj4 #acj ,rev4 ,w4 ,gregor1 ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 #ahha1 p4 #fi4 #aca ,yorkshire ,oddities1 ii4 p4 #aje4 #acb ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #bi1 #cj4 #acc ,see ,wirt ,sikes' ,british ,goblins1 pp4 #bai-bba4 #acd ',secrets of ,sable ,island1' ,harper's ,magazine4 #ace ,see ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 pp4 #ig1 #bjb1 #baa2 iii4 pp4 #aa1 #aeh1 #bfh4 #acf ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 #ahgb1 p4 #aaf4 #acg ,folk-lore ,record1 #ahgh1 i4 p4 #ed4 #ach ,evolution of ,light from the ,living ,subject4 #aci ,transactions ,cardiff ,natural ,society1 iv4 p4 #e4 #adj ,wirt ,sikes1 ,british ,goblins1 p4 #bci4 #ada ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #bai-bba4 #adb ,see ',essay on ,fairy ,superstitions' in the ,border ,minstrelsy4 #adc ,rink's ,tales and ,traditions of the ,eskimos1 p4 #dc4 #add ,josselyn's ,two ,voyages1 p4 #acc4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,headless ,,ghost ,localities where any fatal accident has happened1 or murder been committed1 are frequently supposed to be haunted by that uncanny apparition known as 'the headless ghost4' ,many curious tales are still told by the peasantry of this mysterious spectre1 whose weird movements have long been the subject of comment4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 it may be remembered1 speaking of the ,irish dullahan1 writes3 ',it puts me in mind of a spectre at ,drumlanrick ,castle1 of no less a person than the ,duchess of ,queensberry--,fair ,kitty1 blooming1 young1 and gay--who1 instead of setting fire to the world in mama's chariot1 amuses herself with wheeling her own head in a wheelbarrow through the great gallery4' ,but it has often puzzled the folk-lorist why ghosts should assume this form1 although the idea is by no means a modern one1 for1 as ,dr4 ,tylor has pointed out1#ade a people of wide celebrity are ,pliny's ,blemmy1 said 'to be headless1 and accordingly to have their mouths and eyes in their breasts--creatures over whom ,prester ,john reigned in ,asia1 and who dwelt far and wide in ,south ,america4' ,stories1 too1 like that of ,st4 ,denis1 who is said to have walked from ,paris1 sans tte1 to the place which bears his name1 show that the living1 as well as the dead1 occasionally managed to do without their heads--a strange peculiarity which ,kornmann1 in his ',de ,miraculis ,vivorum1' would attempt to account for philosophically4 ,princess ,marie ,lichtenstein1 in her ',history of ,holland ,house1' tells us that one room of this splendid old mansion is believed to be haunted by ,lord ,holland1 the first of his name1 and the chief builder of ,holland ,house4 ,to quote her words1 ',the gilt room is said to be tenanted by the solitary ghost of its just lord1 who1 according to tradition1 issues forth at midnight from behind a secret door1 and walks slowly through the scenes of former triumphs with his head in his hand4 ,to add to this mystery1 there is a tale of three spots of blood on one side of the recess whence he issues--three spots which can never be effaced4' ,such a strange act1 on the part of the dead1 is generally regarded as a very bad omen4 ,the time of the headless ghost's appearance is always midnight1 and in ,crofton ,croker's ',fairy ,legends of ,ireland' it is thus described3 ',tis midnight2 how gloomy and dark6 ,by ,jupiter1 there's not a star6 ',tis fearful6 'tis awful6 and hark6 ,what sound is that comes from afar8 ,a coach6 but the coach has no head2 ,and the horses are headless as it1 ,of the driver the same may be said1 ,and the passengers inside who sit4 ,according to the popular opinion1 there is no authority to prove that headless people are unable to speak2 on the contrary1 a variation of the story of ',the ,golden ,mountain1' given in a note to the ',kindermrchen1' relates how a servant without a head informed the fisherman 7who was to achieve the adventure7 of the enchantment of the king's daughter1 and of the mode of liberating her4 ,there is the ,belludo1 a ,spanish ghost mentioned by ,washington ,irving in his ',tales of the ,alhambra4' ,it issues forth in the dead of night1 and scours the avenues of the ,alhambra1 and the streets of ,granada1 in the shape of a headless horse1 pursued by six hounds1 with terrible yellings and howlings4 ,it is said to be the spirit of a ,moorish king1 who killed his six sons1 who1 in revenge1 hunt him in the shape of hounds at night-time4 ,in some cases1 as it has been humorously observed1 the headless ghosts of well-known persons have continued to set up their carriage after death4 ,thus1 for years past1 it has been firmly believed that ,lady ,anne ,boleyn rides down the avenue of ,blickling ,park once a year1 with her bloody head in her lap1 sitting in a hearse-like coach drawn by four headless horses1 and attended by coachmen and attendants1 who have1 out of compliment to their mistress1 also left their heads behind them4 ,nor1 if tradition is to be believed1 is her father more at rest than she1 for ,sir ,thomas ,boleyn is said to be obliged to cross forty bridges to avoid the torments of the furies4 ,like his daughter1 he is reported to drive about in a coach and four with headless horses1 carrying his head under his arm4#adf ,young ,lord ,dacre1 who is said to have been murdered at ,thetford1 through the contrivance of his guardian1 ,sir ,richard ,fulmerston1 in #aefi1 by the falling of a wooden horse1 purposely rendered insecure1 used to prance up and down on the ghost of a headless rocking-horse4 ,another romantic story is told#adg of a large field at ,great ,melton1 divided from the ,yare by a plantation1 along which the old ,norwich road ran4 ',close to the edge of where the road is said to have run is a deep pit or hole of water1 locally reputed to be fathomless4 ,every night at midnight1 and every day at noon1 a carriage drawn by four horses1 driven by headless coachmen and footmen1 and containing four headless ladies in white1 rises silently and dripping wet from the pool1 flits stately and silently round the field1 and sinks as silently into the pool again4' ,the story goes that long1 long ago1 a bridal party driving along the old ,norwich ,road were accidentally upset into the deep hole1 and were never seen again4 ,strangely enough the same story is told of fields near ,bury ,st4 ,edmunds1 and at ,leigh1 ,dorsetshire4#adh ,another ,norfolk story1 amusingly told by the late ,cuthbert ,bede1#adi informs us how1 'on the anniversary of the death of the gentleman whose spectre he is supposed to be1 his ghostship drives up to his old family mansion4 ,he drives through the wall1 carriage and horses and all1 and is not seen again for a twelvemonth4 ,he leaves1 however1 the traces of his visit behind him2 for1 in the morning1 the stones of the wall through which he had ridden over-night are found to be loosened and fallen2 and though the wall is constantly repaired1 yet the stones are as constantly loosened4' ,in the little village of ,acton1 ,suffolk1 it was currently reported not many years ago that on certain occasions the park gates were wont to fly open at midnight 'withouten hands1' and that a carriage drawn by four spectral horses1 and accompanied by headless grooms and outriders1 proceeded with great rapidity from the park to a spot called 'the nursery corner1' a spot where tradition affirms a very bloody engagement took place in olden times1 when the ,romans were governors of ,england4#aej ,a similar tale is related of ,caistor ,castle1 the seat of the ,falstofs1 where the headless apparition drives round the courtyard1 and carries away some unearthly visitors4 ,at ,beverley1 in ,yorkshire1 the headless ghost of ,sir ,joceline ,percy drives four headless horses at night1 above its streets1 passing over a certain house which was said to contain a chest with one hundred nails in it1 one of which dropped out every year4 ,the reason assigned for this nocturnal disturbance is attributed to the fact that ,sir ,joceline once rode on horseback into ,beverley ,minster4 ,it has long been considered dangerous to meet such spectral teams1 for fear of being carried off by them1 so violent and threatening are their movements4 ,in ',rambles in ,northumberland' we are told how1 'when the death-hearse1 drawn by headless horses1 and driven by a headless driver1 is seen about midnight proceeding rapidly1 but without noise1 towards the churchyard1 the death of some considerable personage in the parish is sure to happen at no distant period4' ,night after night1 too1 when it is sufficiently dark1 the headless coach whirls along the rough approach to ,langley ,hall1 near ,durham1 drawn by black and fiery steeds2 and many years ago a headless boggart was supposed to haunt ,preston streets and neighbouring lanes4 ,its presence was often accompanied by the rattling of chains4 ,it presently changed its form1 and whether it appeared as a woman or a black dog1 it was always headless4 ,the story went that this uncanny apparition was at length 'laid' by some magical or religious ceremony in ,walton churchyard4#aea ,many spots where suicides have been buried are supposed to be haunted by headless ghosts attired in white grave-clothes4 ,some few years ago1 as a peasant was passing in a waggon with three horses a 'four-lane-end' in ,lyneal ,lane1 ,ellesmere1 ,shropshire1 where a man was buried with a forked stake run through the body to keep it down1 a woman was seen without a head4 ,the horses took fright1 and started off1 overturning the waggon1 and pitching the man into the ,drumby ,hole1 where the waggon and shaft-horse fell upon him4 ,the other horses broke loose and galloped home1 where they arrived covered with foam1 and on a search being made1 the dead body of the waggoner was found in the hole4#aeb ,exactly twelve months afterwards1 his son1 it is said1 was killed by the same horses on the same spot4 ,as ,miss ,jackson points out1 the headless ghost in this story is of a different sex from the person whose death is supposed to cause its restlessness4 ,the same1 she adds1 is the case 'with the ghost of the ,mary ,way1 a now almost forgotten spectre of more than a hundred years ago4 ,the figure of a woman in white was supposed to haunt the spot where a murderer was buried--more probably a suicide--at the cross roads about two miles from ,wenlock1 on the ,bridgnorth road1 which is known as the ,mary ,way1 no doubt from some chapel1 or processional route1 in honour of the ,virgin4' ,another story is told of the ,baschurch neighbourhood1 where the ghost of a man who hanged himself at ,nesscliff is to be seen 'riding about in his trap at night without a head4' ,a tragic case is recorded by ,crofton ,croker1 who tells how1 many years ago1 a clergyman belonging to ,st4 ,catharine's ,church1 ,dublin1 resided at the old ,castle of ,donore1 in the vicinity of that city4 ,from melancholy1 or some other cause1 he put an end to his existence by hanging himself out of a window near the top of the castle4 ,after his death1 a coach1 sometimes driven by a coachman without a head1 and occasionally drawn by headless horses1 was observed at night driving furiously by ,roper's ,rest4 ,referring to spots where murders have taken place1 a ,shropshire tradition informs us how1 at a certain house at ,hampton's ,wood1 near ,ellesmere1 six illegitimate children were murdered by their parents1 and buried in a garden4 ,but1 soon after this unnatural event1 a ghost in the form of a man1 sometimes headless1 at other times not so1 haunted the stables1 rode the horses to water1 and talked to the waggoner4 ,once it appeared to a young lady who was passing on horseback1 and rode before her on her horse4 ,eventually1 after much difficulty1 this troublesome ghost was laid1 but 'the poor minister was so exhausted by the task that he died4'#aec ,there is a haunted room at ,walton ,abbey frequented by a spectre known as ',the ,headless ,nun of ,walton4' ,the popular belief is that this is the unquiet spirit of a transgressing nun of the twelfth century1 but some affirm it to be that of a lady brutally beheaded in the seventeenth century4#aed ,another instance is that of ,calverley ,hall1 in the same county4 ,in ',the ,yorkshireman' for ,january #e1 #ahhd1 the particulars of this strange apparition are given1 from which it appears that ,walter ,calverley1 on ,april #bc1 #afjd1 went into a fit of insane frenzy of jealousy1 or pretended to do so4 ,money-lenders were pressing him hard1 and he had become desperate4 ,rushing madly into the house1 he plunged a dagger into one and then into another of his children1 and then tried to take the life of their mother1 a crime for which he was pressed to death at ,york ,castle4 ,but his spirit could not rest1 and he was often seen galloping about the district at night on a headless horse1 being generally accompanied by a number of followers similarly mounted1 who attempted to run down any poor benighted folks whom they chanced to meet4 ,these spectral horsemen nearly always disappeared in a cave in the wood1 but this cave has now been quarried away4#aee ,it would seem that in years gone by one of the punishments assigned to evil doers guilty of a lesser crime than that of murder1 was their ceaselessly frequenting those very spots where in their lifetime they had committed their wicked acts1 carrying their heads under their arms4 ,numerous tales of this kind have been long current on the ,continent1 and at the present day are told by the simple-minded peasantry of many a ,german village with the most implicit faith4 ,it is much the same in this country1 and ,mr4 ,henderson#aef has given several amusing anecdotes4 ,at ,dalton1 near ,thirsk1 there was an old barn1 said to be haunted by a headless woman4 ,one night a tramp went into it to sleep2 at midnight he was awakened by a light1 and1 sitting up1 he saw a woman coming towards him from the end of the barn1 holding her head in her hands like a lantern1 with light streaming out of the eyes1 nostrils1 and mouth4 ,hunt1 too1 in his ',popular ,romances1' notices this superstition as existing in the ,west of ,england2 and ,mrs4 ,latham1 in her ',sussex ,superstitions1' tells us how spirits are reported to walk about without their heads2 others carry them under their arms2 and one haunting a dark lane is said to have 'a ball of fire upon its shoulders in lieu of the natural finial4' ,at ,haddington1 ,worcestershire1 there is an avenue of trees locally known as ',lady ,winter's ,walk1' where1 it is said1 the lady of ,thomas ,winter1 who was obliged to conceal himself on account of his share in the ,gunpowder ,plot1 was in the habit of awaiting her husband's further visits1 and here the headless spectre of her ladyship used to be seen occasionally pacing up and down beneath the sombre shade of the aged trees4 ,lady ,wilde#aeg has given a laughable specimen of the headless ghost as believed in by the ,irish peasantry4 ,one ,denis ,molony1 a cow-jobber1 was on his way to the great fair at ,navan when he was overtaken by night4 ,he laid down under a hedge1 but 'at that moment a loud moaning and screaming came to his ear1 and a woman rushed past him all in white1 as if a winding sheet were round her1 and her cries of despair were terrible to hear4 ,then1 after her1 a great black coach came thundering along the road1 drawn by two black horses4 ,but when ,denis looked close at them he saw that the horses had no heads1 and the coachman had no head2 and out sprang two men from the coach1 and they had no heads either2 and they seized the woman and carried her by force into the carriage and drove off4' ,it appears that the woman ,denis saw was 'an evil liver and a wicked sinner1 and no doubt the devils were carrying her off from the churchyard1 for she had been buried that morning4 ,to make sure1 they went next morning to the churchyard to examine the grave1 and there1 sure enough1 was the coffin1 but it was open1 and not a trace of the dead woman was to be seen4 ,so they knew that an evil fate had come on her1 and that her soul was gone to eternal tortures4'#aeh ,connected also with the legend of the headless ghost is the old belief that persons prior to their death occasionally appear to their friends without their heads4 ,dr4 ,ferrier1 in his ',theory of ,apparitions1' tells of an old ,northern chieftain who informed a relative of his 'that the door of the room in which they and some ladies were sitting had appeared to open1 and that a little woman without a head had entered the room2 and that the apparition indicated the sudden death of some person of his acquaintance4' ,the ',glasgow ,chronicle' 7,january1 #ahbf7 records how1 on the occasion of some silk-weavers being out of work1 mourning-coaches drawn by headless horses were seen about the town2 and some years ago a very unpleasant kind of headless ghost used to drive every ,saturday night through the town of ,doneraile1 ,ireland1 and to stop at the doors of different houses1 when1 if anyone were so foolhardy as to open the door1 a basin of blood was instantly flung in his face4 ,,footnotes3 #ade ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #cij4 #adf ,see ,the ,norfolk ,antiquarian ,miscellany1 #ahgg1 i4 pp4 #bhh1 #bhi4 #adg ,eastern ,counties ,collectanea1 p4 #c4 #adh ,see ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 xii4 p4 #dhf1 for another hole or pit story4 #adi ,the ,curate of ,cranston1 and other ,stories1 #ahfb1 ',carriage and ,four ,ghosts4' #aej ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 v4 p4 #bie4 #aea ,hardwick's ,traditions1 ,superstitions1 and ,folk-lore1 p4 #acj4 #aeb ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 p4 #aab4 #aec ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 pp4 #aac1 #aad4 #aed ,a full account will be found in a paper by ,mr4 ,f4 ,ross1 in the ,leeds ,mercury1 #ahhd1 entitled ',yorkshire ,legends and ,traditions4' #aee ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #gb-gh4 #aef ,folk-lore of the ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #cbf-cbh4 #aeg ,ancient ,cures1 ,charms1 and ,usages of ,ireland1 pp4 #afc1 #afd4 #aeh ,see notes to ,crofton ,croker's ,fairy ,legends and ,traditions of the ,south of ,ireland1 where much curious information will be found on this subject4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,phantom ,,butterflies ,departed souls1 according to a ,cornish piece of folk-lore1 are occasionally said to take the form of moths1 and in ,yorkshire1 writes a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries1' 'the country people used1 and perhaps do still1 call night-flying white moths1 especially the ,hepialus humuli1 which feeds while in the grub state on the roots of docks and other coarse plants1 souls4' ,by the ,slavonians the butterfly seems to have been universally accepted as an emblem of the soul4 ,mr4 ,ralston1 in his ',songs of the ,russian ,people' 7p4 #aag71 says that in the ,government of ,yaroslaw one of its names is dushichka1 a caressing diminutive of dusha1 the soul4 ,in that of ,kherson it is believed that if the usual alms are not distributed at a funeral1 the dead man's soul will reveal itself to its relatives in the form of a moth flying about the flame of a candle4 ,the day after receiving such a warning visit they call together the poor and distribute food among them4 ,in ,bohemia there is a popular tradition that if the first butterfly a man sees in the spring-time is a white one1 he is destined to die within the year4 ,according to a ,servian belief1 the soul of a witch often leaves her body while she is asleep1 and flies abroad in the shape of a butterfly4 ,if1 during its absence1 her body be turned round1 so that her feet are placed where her head was before1 the soul will not be able to find her mouth1 and so will be shut out from her body4 ,thereupon the witch will die4 ,the ,bulgarians believe that at death the soul assumes the form of a butterfly1 and flits about on the nearest tree till the funeral is over4 ,the ,karens of ,burma 'will run about pretending to catch a sick man's wandering soul1 or1 as they say with the ancient ,greeks1 his butterfly1 and at last drop it down upon his head4'#aei ,the idea is an old one1 and1 as ,gubernatis remarks in his ',zoological ,mythology' 7ii4 #bac71 'the butterfly was both a phallic symbol and a funereal one1 with promises of resurrection and transformation2 the souls of the departed were represented in the forms of butterflies carried towards ,elysium by the dolphin4' ,according to another belief1 the soul was supposed to take the form of a bee1 an old tradition telling us that 'the bees alone of all animals descended from ,paradise4' ,in the ,engadine1 in ,switzerland1 it is believed that the souls of men emigrate from the world and return to it in the forms of bees4 ,in this district bees are considered messengers of death4 ,when someone dies1 the bee is invoked as follows1 'almost as if requesting the soul of the departed1' says ,de ,gubernatis1 'to watch for ever over the living'3#afj ,bienchen1 unser ,herr ist todt1 ,verlass mich nicht in meiner ,noth4 ,in ,russia gnats and flies are often looked upon as equally spiritual creatures4 ',in ,little ,russia1' says ,mr4 ,ralston1#afa 'the old women of a family will often1 after returning from a funeral1 sit up all night watching a dish in which water and honey in it have been placed1 in the belief that the spirit of their dead relative will come in the form of a fly1 and sip the proffered liquid4' ,among ,north ,american tribes we are told how the ,ojibways believe that innumerable spirits appear in the varied forms of insect life1#afb while some tribes supposed that 'most souls went to a common resort near their living habitat1 but returned in the daytime in the shape of flies in order to get something to eat4'#afc ,,footnotes3 #aei ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #dcg4 #afj ,zoological ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #bah4 #afa ,folk-songs of the ,russian ,people1 p4 #aah4 #afb ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bc4 #afc ,ibid4 p4 #db4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,raising ,,ghosts ,the trade of raising spirits has probably existed at all times in which superstition has been sufficiently prevalent to make such a practice a source of power or of profit1 and nations--the most polished as well as the most barbarous--have admitted the claims of persons who professed to be able to control spirits4 ,one of the most graphic illustrations of an incantation for evoking spirits is in connection with the appearance of the shade of ,darius in the ',pers' of schylus1 which is very nobly given4 ,after receiving news of the great defeat of her son ,xerxes at ,salamis1 ,atossa has prepared the requisite offerings to the dead--milk from a white cow1 honey1 water from a pure fountain1 unadulterated wine1 olives1 and flowers--and she instructs the ancient counsellors of the deceased king to evoke his shade4 ,they who form the tragic chorus commence an incantation from which we quote the following3 ,royal lady1 ,persia's pride1 ,thine offerings in earth's chamber hide2 ,we1 meanwhile1 with hymns will sue ,the powers who guard hell's shadowy crew1 ,till they to our wish incline4 ,gods below1 ye choir divine1 ,earth1 ,hermes1 and thou ,king of night1 ,send his spirit forth to light6 ,if he knows worse ills impending1 ,he alone can teach their ending4 c41 c41 c4 ,the incantation is successful1 but ,darius assures his friends that exit from below is far from easy1 and that the subterranean gods are far more willing to take than to let go4 ,indeed1 the raising of spirits was a trick of magic much in use in ancient times1 and the scene that took place at ,endor when ,saul had recourse to a professor of the art is familiar to all4 ,the ,egyptian magicians1 ,simon ,magus1 and ,elymas the sorcerer1 all1 it is said1 exhibited such corporeal deceptions4 ,tertullian1 in his tract ',de ,anima1' inquires whether a departed soul1 either at his own will1 or in obedience to the command of another1 can return from the ',inferi'8 ,after discussing the subject1 he sums up thus3 ',if certain souls have been recalled into their bodies by the power of ,god1 as manifest proof of ,his prerogative1 that is no argument that a similar power should be conferred on audacious magicians1 fallacious dreamers1 and licentious poets4' ,among certain ,australian tribes the necromants are called ,birraark4 ,it is said that a ,birraark was supposed to be initiated by the 'mrarts' 7ghosts7 when they met him wandering in the bush4 ,it was from the ghosts that he obtained replies to questions concerning events passing at a distance1 or yet to happen1 which might be of interest or moment to his tribe4 ,an account of a spiritual sance in the bush is given in ',kamilaroi and ,kurnai' 7p4 #bed73 ',the fires were let down2 the ,birraark uttered the cry ,coo-ee at intervals4 ,at length a distant reply was heard1 and shortly afterwards the sound as of persons jumping on the ground in succession4 ,a voice was then heard in the gloom asking in a strange intonation1 ,what is wanted8 ,at the termination of the sance1 the spirit voice said1 ,we are going4 ,finally1 the ,birraark was found in the top of an almost inaccessible tree1 apparently asleep4' ,in ,japan1 ghosts can be raised in various ways4 ,one mode is to 'put into an andon' 7a paper lantern in a frame7 'a hundred rushlights1 and repeat an incantation of a hundred lines4 ,one of these rushlights is taken out at the end of each line1 and the would-be ghost-seer then goes out in the dark with one light still burning1 and blows it out1 when the ghost ought to appear4 ,girls who have lost their lovers by death often try that sorcery4'#afd ,shakespeare has several allusions to the popular belief of certain persons being able to exorcise1 or raise1 spirits1 and he represents ,ligarius1 in ',julius ,csar' 7iv4 #b7 as saying3 ,soul of ,rome6 ,brave son1 derived from honourable loins6 ,thou1 like an exorcist1 has conjured up ,my mortified spirit4 ,now bid me run1 ,and ,i will strive with things impossible2 ,yea1 get the better of them4 ,in days gone by1 it would seem1 numerous formalities were observed by the person whose object was to 'constrain' some spirit to appear before him4 ,it was necessary to fix upon a spot proper for such a purpose1 'which had to be either in a subterranean vault hung round with black1 and lighted by a magical torch1 or else in the centre of some thick wood or desert1 or upon some extensive unfrequented plain1 where several roads met1 or amidst the ruins of ancient castles1 abbeys1 monasteries1 c41 or amongst the rocks on the sea-shore1 in some private detached churchyard1 or any other solemn melancholy place1 between the hours of twelve and one in the morning1 either when the moon shone very bright1 or else when the elements were disturbed with storms of thunder1 lightning1 wind1 and rain1 for in these places1 times1 and seasons it was contended that spirits could with less difficulty manifest themselves to mortal eyes1 and continue visible with the least pain in this elemental external world4'#afe ,great importance was attached to the magic circle in the invocation of spirits1 the mode of procedure being thus3 ',a piece of ground was usually chosen1 nine feet square1 at the full extent of which parallel lines were drawn1 one within the other1 having sundry crosses and triangles described between them1 close to which was formed the first or outer circle2 then1 about half a foot within the same1 a second circle was described1 and within that another square correspondent to the first1 the centre of which was the spot where the master and associate were to be placed4 ,the vacancies formed by the various lines and angles of the figure were filled up by the holy names of ,god1 having crosses and triangles described between them4444 ,the reason assigned for the use of circles was1 that so much ground being blessed and consecrated by such holy words and ceremonies as they made use of in forming it1 had a secret force to expel all evil spirits from the bounds thereof1 and being sprinkled with pure sanctified water1 the ground was purified from all uncleanness2 besides1 the holy names of ,god being written over every part of it1 its force became so powerful that no evil spirits had ability to break through it1 or to get at the magician and his companion1 by reason of the antipathy in nature they bore to these sacred names4 ,and the reason given for the triangles was1 that if the spirit was not easily brought to speak the truth1 they might by the exorcist be conjured to enter the same1 where1 by virtue of the names of the essence and divinity of ,god1 they could speak nothing but what was true and right4'#aff ,we are further informed1 that if the ghost of a deceased person was to be raised1 the grave had to be resorted to at midnight1 when a special form of conjuration was deemed necessary2 and there was another for 'any corpse that hath hanged1 drowned1 or otherwise made away with itself4' ,and in this case1 it is added1 'the conjurations are performed over the body1 which will at last arise1 and1 standing upright1 answer with a faint and hollow voice the questions that are put to it4' ,the mode of procedure as practised in ,scotland was thus4 ,the haunted room was made ready4 ,he 'who was to do the daring deed1 about nightfall entered the room1 bearing with him a table1 a chair1 a candle1 a compass1 a crucifix if one could be got1 and a ,bible4 ,with the compass he cast a circle on the middle of the floor1 large enough to hold the chair and the table4 ,he placed within the circle the chair and the table1 and on the table he laid the ,bible and the crucifix beside the lighted candle4 ,if he had not a crucifix1 then he drew the figure of a cross on the floor within the circle4 ,when all this was done1 he seated himself on the chair1 opened the ,bible1 and waited for the coming of the spirit4 ,exactly at midnight the spirit came4 ,sometimes the door opened slowly1 and there glided in noiselessly a lady sheeted in white1 with a face of woe1 and told her story to the man on his asking her in the name of ,god what she wanted4 ,what she wanted was done in the morning1 and the spirit rested ever after4 ,sometimes the spirit rose from the floor1 and sometimes came forth from the wall4 ,one there was who burst into the room with a strong bound1 danced wildly round the circle1 and flourished a long whip round the man's head1 but never dared to step within the circle4 ,during a pause in his frantic dance he was asked1 in ,god's name1 what he wanted4 ,he ceased his dance and told his wishes4 ,his wishes were carried out1 and the spirit was in peace4'#afg ,in ,wraxall's ',memoirs of the ,courts of ,berlin1 ,dresden1 ,warsaw1 and ,vienna'#afh there is an amusing account of the raising of the ghost of the ,chevalier de ,saxe4 ,reports had been circulated that at his palace at ,dresden there was secreted a large sum of money1 and it was urged that if his spirit could be compelled to appear1 that interesting secret might be extorted from him4 ,curiosity1 combined with avarice1 accordingly prompted his principal heir1 ,prince ,charles1 to try the experiment1 and on the appointed night1 ,schrepfer was the operator in raising the apparition4 ,he commenced his proceedings by retiring into a corner of the gallery1 where1 kneeling down with many mysterious ceremonies1 he invoked the spirit to appear4 ,at length a loud clatter was heard at all the windows on the outside1 resembling more the effect produced by a number of wet fingers drawn over the edge of glasses than anything else to which it could well be compared4 ,this sound announced the arrival of the good spirits1 and was shortly followed by a yell of a frightful and unusual nature1 which indicated the presence of malignant spirits4 ,schrepfer continued his invocations1 when 'the door suddenly opened with violence1 and something that resembled a black ball or globe rolled into the room4 ,it was enveloped in smoke or cloud1 in the midst of which appeared a human face1 like the countenance of the ,chevalier de ,saxe1 from which issued a loud and angry voice1 exclaiming in ,german1 ,carl1 was wollte du mit mich8--,charles1 what would thou do with me8' ,by reiterated exorcisms ,schrepfer finally dismissed the apparition1 and the terrified spectators dispersed1 fully convinced of his magical powers4#afi ,roscoe has given an interesting account#agj of ,benvenuto ,cellini's experiences of raising spirits by incantation1 but the ,sicilian priest who acquainted him with the mysteries of his art of necromancy1 as it has been remarked1 had far greater knowledge of 'chemistry and pharmacy than he required for his thurible or incense pot4' ,his accomplices1 of course1 could see and report sights of any wonderful kind4 ,those who penetrate into 'magic circles may expect startling sights1 overpowering smells1 strange sounds1 and even demoniacal dreams4' ,instances1 it is stated1 are recorded of many who perished by raising up spirits1 particularly ',chiancungi1' the famous ,egyptian fortune-teller1 who was so famous in ,england in the seventeenth century4 ,he undertook for a wager to raise up the spirit ',bokim1' and having described the circle1 he seated his sister ,napula by him as his associate4 ',after frequently repeating the form of exorcism1 and calling upon the spirit to appear1 and nothing as yet answering his demand1 they grew impatient of the business1 and quitted the circle2 but it cost them their lives1 for they were instantaneously seized and crushed to death by that infernal spirit1 who happened not to be sufficiently constrained till that moment to manifest himself to human eyes4' ,among the many curious stories told of ghost-raising may be mentioned a somewhat whimsical one related by a correspondent of a ,bradford paper1 who tells how1 in his youthful days1 he assisted in an attempt to raise the ghost of the wicked old squire of ,calverley ,hall4 ',about a dozen scholars1' to quote his words1 'used to assemble close to the venerable church of ,calverley1 and then put their hats and caps on the ground1 in a pyramidal form4 ,then taking hold of each other's hands1 they formed a magic circle1 holding firmly together1 and making use of an old refrain3 ,old ,calverley1 old ,calverley1 ,i have thee by the ears1 ,i'll cut thee into collops1 unless thee appears4 ,whilst this incantation was going on1 crumbs of bread mixed with pins were strewn on the ground1 the lads meanwhile tramping round in the circle with a heavy tread4 ,some of the more venturesome boys had to go round to each of the church doors1 and whistle aloud through the keyholes1 repeating the magic couplet which their comrades in the circle were chanting4 ,but1 at this critical point1 a pale and ghostly figure was expected to appear1 and1 on one occasion1 some kind of apparition is said to have issued forth from the church1 the lads in their terrified haste making their escape as quickly as they could4' ,in the search after the philosopher's stone1 and elixir of life1 the most revolting ingredients were turned to use1 such as blood and dead men's bones1 but occasionally with unexpected results4 ,on one occasion1 for instance1 three alchemists obtained some earth mould from ,st4 ,innocent's ,church1 ,paris1 thinking that from it might be extracted the philosopher's stone4 ,but1 after subjecting it to distillation1 they perceived in their receivers forms of men produced which caused them to desist from their labours4 ,the ,paris ,institute took up the matter1 and the result of their inquiries appears in the ',miscellanea ,curiosa4' ,an abstract of one of these ,french documents was published by ,dr4 ,ferrier in the ',manchester ,philosophical ,transactions1' which we quote below3 ',a malefactor was executed1 of whose body a grave physician got possession for the purpose of dissection4 ,after disposing of the other parts of the body1 he ordered his assistant to pulverise a part of the cranium1 which was a remedy at that time administered in dispensaries4 ,the powder was left in a paper on the table in the museum1 where the assistant slept4 ,about midnight he was awakened by a noise in the room1 which obliged him to rise immediately4 ,the noise continued about the table without any visible agent1 and at length he traced it to the powder1 in the midst of which he now beheld1 to his unspeakable dismay1 a small head1 with large eyes1 staring at him4 ,presently two branches appeared1 which formed into arms and hands4 ,next the ribs became visible1 which were soon clothed with muscles and integuments4 ,next the lower extremities sprouted out1 and1 when they appeared perfect1 the puppet 7for his size was small7 reared himself on his feet2 instantly his clothes came upon him1 and he appeared in the very cloak he wore at his execution4 ,the affrighted spectator1 who stood hitherto mumbling his prayers with great application1 was simply awe-struck2 but still greater was his bewilderment when the apparition planted himself in his way1 and after divers fierce looks and threatening gestures1 opened the door and went out4 ,no doubt the powder was missing next day4' ,a similar strange experience is recorded by ,dr4 ,webster in his book on witchcraft1 on the authority of ,dr4 ,flud1 the facts of which were thus3 ',a certain chemical operator1 named ,la ,pierre1 received blood from the hands of a certain bishop to operate upon1 which he1 setting to work upon the ,saturday1 did continue it for a week1 with divers degrees of fire4 ,but about midnight the ,friday following1 this artificer1 lying in a chamber next to his laboratory1 betwixt sleeping and waking1 heard a horrible noise like unto the lowing of kine or the roaring of a lion2 and continuing quiet1 after the ceasing of the sound in the laboratory1 the moon being at the full1 and by shining enlightening the chamber1 suddenly1 betwixt himself and the window he saw a thick little cloud condensed into an oval form1 which after1 by little and little1 did seem completely to put on the shape of a man1 and making another and sharp clamour did suddenly vanish4 ,and not only some noble persons in the next chambers1 but also the host and his wife1 lying in a lower room of the house1 and also the neighbours dwelling on the opposite side of the street1 did distinctly hear the bellowing as well as the voice1 and some of them were awakened with the vehemence thereof4 ,but the artificer said that in this he found solace1 because the bishop from whom he had it did admonish him that if any of them from whom the blood was extracted should die in the time of its putrefaction1 his spirit was wont often to appear to the sight of the artificer with perturbation4 ,also forthwith1 upon the ,saturday following1 he took the retort from the furnace and broke it with the slight stroke of a little key1 and there1 in the remaining blood1 found the perfect representation of a human head1 agreeable in face1 eyes1 nostrils1 mouth1 and hairs1 that were somewhat thin and of a golden colour4' ,webster adds3 ',there were many ocular witnesses1 as the noble person ,lord of ,bourdalone1 the chief secretary to the ,duke of ,guise1 and he 7,flud7 had this relation from the ,lord of ,menanton1 living in that house at the same time1 from a certain doctor of physic1 from the owner of the house1 and many others4' ,in recent years the so-called spiritualism has attracted much attention1 and 'as of old1 men live now in habitual intercourse with the spirits of the dead4444 ,the spirits of the living as well as of the dead1 the souls of ,strauss and ,carl ,vogt as well as of ,augustine and ,jerome1 are summoned by mediums to distant spirit-circles4'#aga ,but for further information on this subject reports of the ,psychical ,research ,society should be consulted4#agb ,,footnotes3 #afd ,miss ,bird's ,unbeaten ,tracks in ,japan1 i4 p4 #chj4 #afe ,occult ,sciences1 #ahee1 ,elihu ,rich1 p4 #ahh4 #aff ,for works on this subject may be consulted1 ,colin de ,plancy's ,dictionnaire ,infernal2 the ,malleus ,maleficarum of the ,germans2 ,del ,rio's ,disquisitiones ,magic2 and ,occult ,sciences1 paper by ,elihu ,rich1 pp4 #ahi-aia4 #afg ,gregor1 ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 pp4 #fh1 #fi4 #afh #agii1 i4 p4 #bha4 #afi ,see ',ghosts and ,ghost-lore1' ,leisure ,hour1 #ahga1 pp4 #ccd-gff4 #agj ,life of ,benvenuto ,cellini4 #aga ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #adc4 #agb ,see also ,real ,ghost ,stories4 ,edited by ,w4 ,t4 ,stead4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,ghost ,,laying ,in his amusing account of the art of 'laying' ghosts1 published in the last century1 ,grose tells us 'a ghost may be laid for any term less than a hundred years1 and in any place or body1 full or empty2 as a solid oak1 the pommel of a sword1 a barrel of beer1 if a yeoman or simple gentleman2 or a pipe of wine1 if an esquire or a justice4' ,but this1 as ,dr4 ,tylor writes1#agc 'is one of the many good instances of articles of serious savage belief surviving as jests among civilised men4' ,however whimsical the idea of laying a ghost may seem to the prosaic mind1 an inquiry into the history of human belief shows how widely this expedient has been resorted to in times past1 although ,st4 ,chrysostom is said to have insulted some ,african conjurors of old with this quaint and humiliating observation3 ',miserable and woful creatures that we are1 we cannot so much as expel fleas1 much less devils4' ,it was not so very long ago that1 at the trial of ,laurie for the murder of ,mr4 ,rose1#agd ,sergeant ,munro1 on being asked by the ,dean of ,faculty a question as to the disappearance of the murdered man's boots1 replied that he believed they had been buried on the beach at ,corne1 below high-water mark4 ,this curious ceremony seems to have been adopted by the ,highland police1 with the intention of laying ,mr4 ,rose's ghost--an object which1 according to tradition1 might be attained by burying his boots under water4 ,the expedient resorted to by the ,highland police was founded not upon any inadequate estimate of the powers of ghosts1 but upon an intimate knowledge of their likes and dislikes4 ,they are known to entertain a strong objection to water1 an antipathy which is sufficiently strong to make them shun a spot on which water is to be found2 in fact1 as ,mr4 ,hunt writes1#age spirits are supposed to be unable to cross water4 ,a story is told of ',dary ,pit1' ,shropshire1 a dismal pool1 which was a much dreaded spot1 because it was said spirits were laid under the water1 and might1 it seems1 in spite of being so laid1 walk abroad4 ,this belief may be traced in various parts of the world1 and 'one of the most striking ways1' writes ,mr4 ,james ,g4 ,frazer1#agf 'of keeping down the dead man is to divert the course of a river1 bury him in its bed1 and then allow the river to resume its course4 ,it was thus that ,alaric was buried1 and ,commander ,cameron found the same mode of burial in vogue amongst a tribe in ,central ,africa4' ,among the ,tipperahs of ,chittagong1 if a man dies away from home1 his friends stretch a thread over all the intermediate streams1 so that the spirit of the dead man may return to his own village2 'it being supposed that1#agg without assistance1 spirits are unable to cross running water1' and hence streams are occasionally bridged over in the manner afore-said4#agh ,a somewhat similar idea prevails among the ,fijians1 and we are told how those who have reason to suspect others of plotting against them occasionally 'build themselves a small house1 and surround it with a moat1 believing that a little water will neutralise the charms which are directed' to hurt them4#agi ,the idea of water as a barrier against ghosts has given rise to many strange customs1 some of which ,mr4 ,frazer quotes in his paper on ',the ,primitive ,ghost4'#ahj ,among the ,metamba negroes1 a woman is bound hand and foot by the priest1 who flings her into the water several times over with the intention of drowning her husband's ghost1 who may be supposed to be clinging to his unfeeling spouse4 ,a similar practice exists in ,angola1 and in ,new ,zealand those who have attended a funeral plunge several times into the nearest stream4 ,in ,tahiti1 all who assisted at a burial plunged into the sea2 and in some parts of ,west ,africa1 after the corpse has been deposited in the grave1 'all the bearers rush to the waterside and undergo a thorough ablution before they are permitted to return to the town4' ,according to ,mr4 ,ralston1 the ,lusatian ,wends place water between themselves and the dead as they return from a burial1 even1 if necessary1 breaking ice for the purpose4 ,and 'in many parts of ,germany1 in modern ,greece1 and in ,cyprus1 water is poured out behind the corpse when it is carried from the house1 in the belief that if the ghost returns he will not be able to cross it4'#aha ,a ,danish tradition says1 ',if a person dies who1 it is feared1 will reappear1 as a preventive let a basinful of water be thrown after the corpse when it is carried out'#ahb and there will be no further cause of alarm4 ,in ,bohemia1 after a death1 the water-butt is turned upside down1 for if the ghost bathe in it1 and anyone should happen to drink of it afterwards1 he would be a dead man within the year4 ,in ,pomerania1 after a funeral1 no washing is done for some time1 lest the dead man should be wet in his grave4 ,drake1 in his legends of ,new ,england1 alludes to a story of a wreck at ,ipswich1 and says that1 when the storms come1 the howling of the wind is ',harry ,main'--a legend which has thus been versified by ,a4 ,morgan3 ,he blasphemed ,god1 so they put him down1 ,with his iron shovel at ,ipswich ,bar1 ,they chained him there for a thousand years1 ,and the sea rolls up1 to shovel it back4 ,so when the sea cries1 the good wives say1 ',harry ,main growls at his work to-day4' ,similarly the ,chibchas in their mythology had a great river that souls had to pass over on floats made of cobwebs4 ,on this account they never killed spiders4 ,the ,araucanian soul is borne across the ,stygian flood by a whale1 and the ,potawatomis think 'the souls of the dead cross a large stream over a log1 which rolls so that many slip off into the water4 ,one of their ancestors went to the edge of the stream1 but1 not liking to venture on the log1 he came back two days after his death4 ,he reported that he heard the sounds of the drum on the other side of the river1 to the beat of which the souls of the dead were dancing4'#ahc ,the ,ojibways speak of a similar stream1 across which lies a serpent1 over whose body the soul must cross4 ,a favourite mode of capturing a ghost in days gone by was to entice it into something small1 such as a bottle1 and as a decoy1 to doubt its power to do so--a mode of exorcism which would seem to have suggested our 'bottle-imps4' ,an amusing story of laying a ghost by this means1 and which illustrates the popular belief1 is recorded in the ',folk-lore ,record' 7ii4 #agf71 on the authority of the late ,thomas ,wright4 ',there lived in the town of ----1 in that part of ,england which lies towards the borders of ,wales1 a very curious simple kind of a man1 though all said he knew a good deal more than other people did not know4 ,there was in the same town a very old house1 one of the rooms of which was haunted by a ghost1 which prevented people making use of it4 ,the man above mentioned was reported to be very clever at dealing with ghosts1 and so the owner of the haunted house sent for him1 and asked him if he could undertake to make the ghost quit the house4 ,tommy1 for that was the name he generally went by1 agreed to do this1 on condition that three things were provided him--an empty bottle1 a bottle of brandy with a tumbler1 and a pitcher of water4 ,so ,tommy locked the door safely inside1 and sat down to pass the night drinking brandy and water4 ',just as the clock struck twelve1 he was roused by a slight noise1 and lo6 there was the ghost standing before him4 ,says the ghost1 ,well1 ,tommy1 how are ye8 ,pretty well1 thank ye1 says he1 but pray1 how do you know my name8 ,oh1 very well indeed1 said the ghost4 ,and how did you get in8 ,oh1 very easily4 ,not through the door1 ,i'm sure4 ,no1 not at all1 but through the keyhole4 ,d'ye say so8 ,none of your tricks upon me2 ,i won't believe you came through the keyhole4 ,won't ye8 but ,i did4 ,well1 then1 says ,tommy1 pointing to the empty bottle1 which he pretended to have emptied1 if you can come through the keyhole you can get into this bottle1 but ,i won't believe you can do either4 ,now the ghost began to be very angry that ,tommy should doubt his power of getting into the bottle1 so he asserted most confidently that the thing was easy to be done4 ,no1 said ,tommy1 ,i won't believe it till ,i have seen you get in4 ,here goes then1 said the ghost1 and sure enough into the bottle he went1 and ,tommy corked him up quite tight1 so that he could not get out1 and he took the bottle to the bridge where the river was wide and deep1 and he threw the bottle exactly over the keystone of the middle arch into the river1 and the ghost was never heard after4' ,this cunning mode of laying a ghost is very old1 and reminds us of the amusing story of the fisherman and the genie in the ,arabian ,nights4 ,the tale tells how1 one day1 a fisherman drew a brazen bottle out of the sea1 sealed with the magic seal of ,suleyman ,ben ,daood1 out of which there issued an enormous genie1 who threatened the fisherman with death4 ,the latter1 feeling his life was at stake1 bethought him of doubting the genie's ability to enter so small a vessel1 whereupon the affronted genie returned thither to vindicate his character1 and so placed himself in the fisherman's power4 ,in the same way a ,bulgarian sorcerer armed with a saint's picture will hunt a vampire into a bottle containing some of the food that the demon loves2 as soon as he is fairly inside1 he is corked down1 the bottle is thrown into the fire1 and the vampire disappears for ever4 ,miss ,jackson#ahd quotes a story from ,montgomeryshire1 of how the spirit of ,lady ,jeffreys1 who for some reason could not rest in peace1 and 'troubled people dreadfully1' was 'persuaded to contract her dimensions and enter a bottle4 ,she did so1 after appearing in a good many hideous forms2 but when once in the bottle it was corked down securely1 and the bottle was thrown into the pool underneath the ,short ,bridge1 over the ,severn1 in ,llanidloes2 and in the bottle she was to remain until the ivy that crept along the buttresses overgrew the sides of the bridge and reached the top of the parapet2 then when this took place she should be released from her bottle prison4' ,in the ',collectanea ,archologica' 7vol4 i4 part #a7 we are told on the authority of one ,sarah ,mason1 of ,baschurch1 that 'there was a woman hanged on a tree at ,cutberry1 and she came again so badly that nine clergymen had to be fetched to lay her4 ,so they read and read until they got her into a bottle1 and they buried it under a flat sandstone in the road4 ,we used to go past the stone every time we went to church1 and ,i've often wondered if she was still there1 and what would happen if anyone was to pull the stone up4' ,and as a further safeguard a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries1' writing from ,ecclesfield1 says it is best in laying ghosts to cheat them to consent to being laid while hollies are green1 for hollies being evergreen1 the ghost can reappear no more4 ,in ,wales1 the objectionable spectre must be conjured in the name of ,heaven to depart1 and return no more1 the strength of the exorcism being doubled by employing the ,latin language to deliver it1 which1 to be perfectly effectual1 must be done by three clergymen4 ,the exorcism is usually for a stated time1 seven years is the favourite period1 and one hundred years the limit4 ,instances are recorded where a ghost which had been laid a hundred years returned at the end of the time to its old haunts4 ,according to ,mr4 ,wirt ,sikes1#ahe 'in all cases it is necessary the ghost should agree to be exorcised2 no power can lay it if it be possessed of an evil demon4 ,in such cases the terrors of ,heaven must be rigorously invoked1 but the result is only temporary4 ,properly constituted family ghosts1 however1 will lend a reasonable ear to entreaty backed by prayer4' ,candles have generally played an important part in the ceremony of ghost laying1 one popular idea being that ghosts have no power by candlelight4 ,thus1 in many tales1 the ghost is cheated into a promise not to return till the candle is burnt out1 whereupon the crafty parson immediately blows it out1 throwing it into a pond1 or burying it in the earth4 ,the belief is an old one1 for1 in one of the ,sagas quoted by ,mr4 ,baring-,gould1#ahf the tomb-breaking hero finds an old ,viking sitting in his dragon-ship1 with his five hundred comrades motionless about him4 ,he is about to depart1 after possessing himself of the dead man's treasures1 when the taper goes out1 whereupon they all rise and attack the intruder1 who barely escapes by invoking ,st4 ,olaf's aid4 ,in all ,shropshire stories1 we are told that the great point is to keep the candles lighted in spite of the ghost's utmost efforts to blow them out2 an amusing instance being that of the ,bagbury ghost1 which appeared in the shape of a bull1 and was so troublesome that twelve parsons were required to lay it4 ,the story goes that they got him into ,hyssington ,church2 'they all had candles1 and one blind old parson1 who knowed him1 and knowed what a rush he would make1 he carried his candle in his top-boot4 ,and he made a great rush1 and all the candles went out1 all but the blind parson's1 and he said1 ,you light your candles by mine4' ,miss ,jackson also tells#ahg how ',squire ,blount's ghost' long haunted ,kinlet ,hall1 because his daughter had married a page-boy4 ,at last it was found necessary to pull down ,kinlet ,old ,hall1 and to build it again on a fresh site1 'for he would even come into the room where they were at dinner1 and drive his coach and four white horses across the dinner table4' ,but 'at last they got a number of parsons together and lighted candles1 and read and read till all the candles were burnt out but one1 and so they quieted him1 and laid him in the sea4 ,there was1 it is reported1 a little bottle under his monument in ,kinlet ,church1 and if that were broken he would come again4 ,it is a little flat bottle seven or eight inches long1 with a glass stopper in it1 which nobody could get out2 and if anyone got hold of it1 the remark was made1 ,take care as you dunna let that fall1 for if it breaks1 old ,blount will come again4' ,according to ,mr4 ,henderson#ahh there was a house in a village of ,arkingarthdale which had long been haunted by a bogle4 ,at last the owner adopted the following plan for expelling it4 ,opening the ,bible1 he placed it on a table with a lighted candle1 and said aloud to the bogle1 ',noo thoo can read or dance1 or dea as ta likes4' ,he then turned round and walked upstairs1 when the bogle1 in the form of a grey cat1 flew past and vanished in the air4 ,years passed without its being seen again1 but one day he met it on the stairs1 and he was that day killed in the mines4 ,at ,leigh1 ,worcestershire1 a spectre known as ',old ,coles' formerly appeared1 and would drive a coach and four over the great barn at ,leigh ,court1 and then cool the fiery nostrils of his steeds in the waters of the ,teme4 ,this perturbed spirit was at length laid in a neighbouring pool by twelve parsons at midnight1 by the light of an inch of candle2 and as he was not to rise again until the candle was quite burnt out1 it was thrown into the pool1 and to make all sure1 the pool was filled up1 ,and peaceful ever after slept ,old ,coles's shade4#ahi ,but sometimes1 when the candles burn out their time1 it is an indication that none of the party can lay the ghost1 as happened in the case of a certain ,dartmoor vicar's unquiet spirit described by ,mr4 ,henderson4#aij ',a jury of seven parsons was convoked to lay it1 and each sat for half an hour with a candle in his hand1 but it burned out its time with each4 ,the spirit could afford to defy them2 it was not worth his while to blow their candles out4 ,but the seventh parson was a stranger and a scholar fresh from ,oxford4 ,in his hand the light went out at once4 ,he was clearly the man to lay the ghost2 he laid it at once1 and in a beer-barrel4' ,according to another way of ejecting or laying ghosts1 there must be two or three clergymen1 and the ceremony must be performed in the ,latin language1 which1 it is said1 will strike the most audacious ghost with terror4 ,allan ,ramsay mentions1 as common in ,scotland1 the vulgar notion that a ghost cannot be laid till some priest speaks to it1 and ascertains what prevents it from resting4 ,for well we wat it is his ghaist ,wow1 wad some folk that can do't best1 ,speak tol't1 and hear what it confest4 ,to send a wand'ring saul to rest ',tis a good deed ,amang the dead4 ,and in the ',statistical ,account of ,scotland' 7xiii4 #eeg7 the writer1 speaking of the parish of ,locharron1 county of ,ross1 alludes to the same idea3 ',there is one opinion which many of them entertain1 and which1 indeed1 is not peculiar to this parish alone1 that a ,popish priest can cast out devils and cure madness1 and that the ,presbyterian clergy have no such power4 ,a person might as well advise a mob to pay no attention to a merry ,andrew1 as to desire many ignorant people to stay from the priest4' ,on a small island off ,scotland1 called ,ledge's ,holm1 writes ,mr4 ,bassett1 there is a quarry called ',the ,crier of ,claife4' ,according to a local tradition1 a ferryman was hailed on a dark night from the island1 and went over4 ,after a long absence he returned1 having witnessed many horrible sights which he refused to relate4 ,soon afterwards he became a monk4 ,after a time the same cry was heard1 and he went over and succeeded in laying the ghost where it now rests4 ,but ,bourne1 who has preserved a form for exorcising a haunted house1 ridicules the fancy that 'none can lay spirits but ,popish priests1' and says that 'our own clergy know just as much of the black art as the others do'--a statement which is amply confirmed4 ,thus1 a ghost known as ',benjie ,gear' long troubled the good people of ,okehampton to such an extent that1 'at last1' writes ,mr4 ,james ,spry1 in ',the ,western ,antiquary1' 'the aid of the archdeacon was called in1 and the clergy were assembled in order that the troubled spirit might be laid and cease to trouble them4 ,there were twenty-three of the clergy who invoked him in various classic languages1 but the insubordinate spirit refused to listen to their request4 ,at length1 one more learned than the rest addressed him in ,arabic1 to which he was forced to succumb1 saying1 ,now thou art come1 ,i must be gone6 ,he was then compelled to take the form of a colt2 a new bridle and bit1 which had never been used1 were produced1 with a rider1 to whom the ,sacrament was administered4 ,the man was directed to ride the colt to ,cranmere ,pool1 on ,dartmoor1 the following instructions being given him4 ,he was to prevent the colt from turning its head towards the town until they were out of the park1 and then make straight for the pool1 and when he got to the slope1 to slip from the colt's back1 pull the bridle off1 and let him go4 ,all this was dexterously performed1 and the impetus thus gained by the animal with the intention of throwing the rider over its head into the ,pool1 accomplished its own fate4' ,another curious account of laying a ghost is connected with ,spedlin's ,tower1 which stands on the south-west bank of the ,annan4 ,the story goes1 that one of its owners1 ,sir ,alexander ,jardine1 confined1 in the dungeon of his tower1 a miller named ,porteous1 on suspicion of having wilfully set fire to his own premises4 ,being suddenly called away to ,edinburgh1 he forgot the existence of his captive until he had died of hunger4 ,but no sooner was the man dead1 than his ghost began so persistently to disturb ,spedlin's ,tower1 that ,sir ,alexander ,jardine summoned 'a whole legion of ministers to his aid1 and by their efforts ,porteous was at length confined to the scene of his mortal agonies1 where1 at times1 he was heard screaming1 ,let me out1 let me out1 for ,i'm deein' o' hunger6' ,the spell which compelled his spirit to remain in bondage was attached to a large black-lettered ,bible used by the exorcists1 and afterwards deposited in a stone niche1 which still remains in the wall of the staircase4 ,on one occasion the ,bible1 requiring to be re-bound1 was sent to ,edinburgh1 whereupon the ghost of ,porteous recommenced its annoyances1 so that the ,bible was recalled before reaching ,edinburgh1 and was replaced in its former situation4 ,but1 it would seem1 the ghost is at last at rest1 for the ,bible is now kept at ,jardine ,hall4 ,then there is the ghost of ',madam ,pigott1' once the terror of ,chetwynd and ,edgmond4 ,twelve of the neighbouring clergy were summoned to lay her by incessantly reading psalms till they had succeeded in making her obedient to their power4 ',mr4 ,foy1 curate of ,edgmond1' says ,miss ,jackson1#aia 'has the credit of having accomplished this1 for he continued reading after all the others were exhausted4' ,but1 'ten or twelve years after his death1 some fresh alarm of ,madam ,pigott arose1 and a party went in haste to beg a neighbouring rector to come and lay the ghost2 and to this day ,chetwynd ,hall has the reputation of being haunted4' ,it is evident that 'laying a ghost' was far from an easy task4 ,a humorous anecdote is told#aib of a haunted house at ,homersfield1 in ,suffolk1 where an unquiet spirit so worried and harassed the inmates that they sent for a parson4 ,on his arrival he commenced reading a prayer1 but instantly the ghost got a line ahead of him4 ,happily one of the family hit on this device3 the next time1 as soon as the parson began his exorcism1 two pigeons were let loose2 the spirit stopped to look at them1 the priest got before him in his prayer1 and the ghost was laid4 ,clegg ,hall1 ,lancashire1 was the scene of a terrible tragedy1 for tradition tells how a wicked uncle destroyed the lawful heirs--two orphans that were left to his care--by throwing them over a balcony into the moat1 in order that he might seize on their inheritance4 ,ever afterwards the house was the reputed haunt of a troubled and angry spirit1 until means were taken for its expulsion4 ,mr4 ,william ,nuttall1 in a ballad entitled ',sir ,roland and ,clegg ,hall ,boggart1' makes ,sir ,roland murder the children in bed with a dagger4 ,remorse eventually drove him mad1 and he died raving during a violent storm4 ,the hall was ever after haunted by the children's ghosts1 and also by demons1 till ,st4 ,anthony1 with a relic from the ,virgin's shrine1 exorcised and laid the evil spirits4 ,according to ,mr4 ,nuttall there were two boggarts of ,clegg ,hall1 and it is related how the country people 'importuned a pious monk to exorcise or lay the ghost4' ,having provided himself with a variety of charms and spells1 he quickly brought the ghosts to a parley4 ,they demanded as a condition of future quiet the sacrifice of a body and a soul4 ,thereupon the cunning monk said1 ',bring me the body of a cock and the sole of a shoe4' ,this being done1 the spirits were forbidden to appear till the whole of the sacrifice was consumed1 and so ended the laying of the ,clegg ,hall boggarts4 ,but1 for some reason or other1 the plan of this wily priest did not prove successful1 and these two ghosts have continued to walk4#aic ,with this idea of sacrifice as necessary for laying ghosts may be mentioned the apparition of a servant at ,waddow ,hall1 known as ',peg o' ,nell4' ,on one occasion1 the story goes1 she had a quarrel with the lord or lady of ,waddow ,hall1 who1 in a fit of anger1 wished that she 'might fall and break her neck4' ,in some way or other ,peggy did fall and break her neck1 and to be revenged on her evil wisher she haunted the ,hall1 and made things very uncomfortable4 ,in addition to these perpetual annoyances1 'every seven years ,peg required a life1 and it is said that ,peg's night1 as the time of sacrifice at each anniversary was called1 was duly observed2 and if no living animal were ready as a septennial offering to her manes1 a human being became inexorably the victim4 ,consequently1 it grew to be the custom on ,peg's night to drown a bird1 or a cat1 or a dog in the river2 and a life being thus given1 ,peg was appeased for another seven years4'#aid ,at ,beoley1 ,worcestershire1 at the commencement of the present century1 the ghost of a reputed murderer managed to keep undisputed possession of a certain house1 until a conclave of clergymen chained him to the ,red ,sea for fifty years4 ,at the expiration of this term of imprisonment1 the released ghost reappeared1 and more than ever frightened the inmates of the said house1 slamming the doors1 and racing through the ceilings4 ,at last1 however1 they took heart and chased the restless spirit1 by stamping on the floor from one room to another1 under the impression that could they once drive him to a trap door opening in the cheese-room1 he would disappear for a season4#aie ,a curious case of laying a ghost occurs in ',an account of an apparition attested by the ,rev4 ,w4 ,ruddell1 minister at ,launceston1 in ,cornwall1' #affe1 quoted in ,gilbert's ',historical ,survey of ,cornwall4' ,a schoolboy was haunted by ,dorothy ,dingley1 and he pined4 ,he was thought to be in love1 and when1 at the wishes of his friends1 the parson questioned him1 he told him of his ghostly visitor1 and showed him the spectral ,dorothy4 ,then comes the story of the ghost-laying4 ',the next morning being ,thursday1 ,i went out very early by myself1 and walked for about an hour's space in meditation and prayer in the field adjoining to the ,quartills4 ,soon after five ,i stepped over the stile into the disturbed field1 and had not gone above thirty or forty paces when the ghost appeared at the further stile4 ,i spoke to it with a loud voice in some such sentences as the way of these dealings directed me2 thereupon it approached1 but slowly1 and when ,i came near it1 it moved not4 ,i spoke again1 and it answered again in a voice which was neither very audible nor intelligible4 ,i was not the least terrified1 therefore ,i persisted till it spoke again1 and gave me satisfaction4 ,but the work could not be finished this time1 wherefore the same evening1 an hour after sunset1 it met me again near the same place1 and after a few words on each side it quietly vanished1 and neither doth appear since1 nor ever will more to any man's disturbance4' ,local tradition still tells us that ',madam ,dudley's ghost did use to walk in ,cumnor ,park1 and that it walked so obstinately1 that it took no less than nine parsons from ,oxford to lay her4 ,that they at last laid her in a pond1 called ,madam ,dudley's ,pond1 and1 moreover1 wonderful to relate1 the water in that pond was never known to freeze afterwards4' ,heath ,old ,hall1 near ,wakefield1 is haunted by the ghost of ,lady ,bolles1 who is commonly reported to have been conjured down into a hole of the river1 locally known as ',bolles ,pit4' ,but1 as in many other cases of ghost-laying1 'the spell was not so powerful1 but that she still rises1 and makes a fuss now and then4' ,various reasons have been assigned for her 'walking1' such as the non-observance by her executors of certain clauses in her will1 whilst a story current in the neighbourhood tells us that a certain room in the ,hall which had been walled up for a certain period1 owing to large sums of money having been gambled away in it1 was opened before the stipulated time had expired4 ,others assert that her unhappy condition is on account of her father's mysterious death1 which was ascribed to demoniacal agency4#aif ,but of all places the most common1 in years gone by1 for laying ghosts was the ,red ,sea1 and hence1 in one of ,addison's plays1 we read1 ',there must be a power of spirits in that sea4' ',this is a locality1' says ,grose1 'which ghosts least like1 it being related in many instances that ghosts have most earnestly besought the exorcists not to confine them in that place4 ,it is1 nevertheless1 considered as an indisputable fact that there are an infinite number laid there1 perhaps from its being a safer prison than any other nearer at hand4' ,but when such exiled ghosts did happen to re-appear1 they were thought more audacious1 being seen by day instead of at night4 ,in an amusing poem entitled ',the ,ghost of a ,boiled ,scrag of ,mutton1' which appeared in the ',flowers of ,literature' many years ago1 the following verse occurs embodying the idea3 ,the scholar was versed in all magical lore1 ,most famous was he throughout college2 ,to the ,red ,sea full many an unquiet ghost1 ,to repose with ,king ,pharaoh and his mighty host1 ,he had sent through his proverbial knowledge4 ,addison tells us in the ',spectator1' alluding to his ,london lodgings at a good-natured widow's house one winter1 how on one occasion he entered the room unexpectedly1 where several young ladies1 visitors1 were telling stories of spirits and apparitions1 when1 on being told that it was only the gentleman1 the broken conversation was resumed1 and ',i seated myself by the candle that stood at one end of the table1 and1 pretending to read a book that ,i took out of my pocket1 heard several stories of ghosts that1 pale as ashes1 had stood at the bed's foot1 or walked over a churchyard by moonlight2 and others that had been conjured into the ,red ,sea for disturbing people's rest4' ,as it has been humorously remarked1 it is not surprising that many a strange ghost story has been told by the sea-faring community1 when we remember how many spirits have been banished to the ,red ,sea4 ,,footnotes3 #agc ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #aec4 #agd ,see ,daily ,telegraph1 ,nov4 #ag1 #ahij4 ,article on ',ghost ,laying4' ,burns's ',tam o' ,shanter' turns on this point1 and it is noticed by ,sir ,walter ,scott in ',the ,lay of the ,last ,minstrel' 7,canto ,,iii4 ,stanza #ac73 ',the running stream dissolv'd the spell4' #age ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #dgj4 #agf ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #ajg4 #agg ,lewin1 ,hill ,tracts of ,chittagong1 p4 #hd4 #agh ,see ,sir ,john ,lubbock1 ,origin of ,civilisation and ,primitive ,condition of ,man1 #ahgj1 p4 #ade4 #agi ,fiji and the ,fijians1 i4 p4 #bdh4 #ahj ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #aac4 #aha ,folk-songs of ,russia1 p4 #cbj4 #ahb ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #bge4 #ahc ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #cg4 #ahd ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 pp4 #adj1 #ada4 #ahe ,british ,goblins1 p4 #afe4 #ahf ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 pp4 #ach1 #aci4 #ahg ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 pp4 #abb1 #abc4 #ahh ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #bdg4 #ahi ,jabez ,allies1 ,worcestershire4 #aij ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #ccg4 #aia ,shropshire ,folk-lore1 p4 #abe4 #aib ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #cch4 #aic ,see ,harland and ,wilkinson's ,lancashire ,legends1 pp4 #aj-ab4 #aid ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 p4 #bfe4 #aie ,see ,gentleman's ,magazine1 #ahee1 part ii4 pp4 #eh1 #ei4 #aif ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #aee-aei4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,ghosts ,,of ,,the ,,drowned ,on the coast of ,brittany there is the ',bay of the ,departed1' where1 it is said1 in the dead hour of night the boatmen are summoned by some unseen power to launch their boats and to ferry to a sacred island the souls of men who have been drowned4 ,on such occasions the boat is so crowded with invisible passengers as to sink quite low in the water1 while the wails and cries of the shipwrecked are clearly heard as the melancholy voyage progresses4 ,on reaching the island of ,sein1 the invisible passengers are numbered by unseen hands1 after which the wondering1 awestruck sailors return to await in readiness the next supernatural summons4 ,at ,guildo1 on the same coast1 small phantom skiffs are reported to dart out from under the castle cliffs1 manned by spectral figures1 ferrying over the treacherous sands the souls of those unfortunate persons whose bodies lie engulfed in the neighbourhood4 ,so strong is the antipathy to this weird spot that1 after nightfall1 none of the seafaring community will approach near it4#aig ,similar superstitions are found elsewhere1 and in ,cornwall1 sailors dislike walking at night near those parts of the shore where there have been wrecks1 as they are supposed to be haunted by the ghosts of drowned sailors1 and the 'calling of the dead has frequently been heard4' ',i have been told1' writes ,mr4 ,hunt1#aih 'that1 under certain circumstances1 especially before the coming of storms1 but always at night1 these callings are common4 ,many a fisherman has declared he has heard the voices of dead sailors hailing their own names4' ,he further tells how a fisherman1 or a pilot1 was walking one night on the sands at ,porth-,towan1 when all was still save the monotonous fall of the light waves upon the sand4 ,suddenly1 he distinctly heard a voice from the sea exclaiming3 ',the hour is come1 but not the man4' ,this was repeated three times1 when a black figure1 like that of a man1 appeared on the top of the hill4 ,it paused for a moment1 then rushed impetuously down the steep incline1 over the sands1 and was lost in the sea4 ,in different forms the story is current all round the ,cornish shores1 and on the ,norfolk coast1 when any person is drowned1 a voice is said to be heard from the water1 ominous of a squall4 ,on the ,continent the same belief1 with certain variations1 is found4 ,lord ,teignmouth1 in his ',reminiscences of ,many ,years1' speaking of ,ullesvang1 in ,norway1 writes3 ',a very natural belief that the voice of a person drowned is heard wailing amidst the storm is1 apparently1 the only acknowledged remnant of ancient superstition still lingering along the shores of the fiords4' ,in ,germany1 it is said that whenever a man is drowned at sea1 he announces his death to his relations1 and haunts the sea-shore4 ,such ghosts are supposed to make their appearance at evening twilight1 in the clothes in which they were drowned4#aii ,according to a ,schleswig version of this belief1 the spirits of the drowned do not enter the house1 but linger about the threshold to announce their sad errand4 ,a story is told of a young lad who was forced by his father to go to sea against his will4 ,before starting1 he bid farewell to his mother1 and said1 ',as you sit on the shore by the lake think of me4' ,shortly his ghost appeared to her there1 and she only knew too well afterwards that he had perished4 ,among ,maine fishermen there are similar stories of the ghost of the drowned being seen4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,bishop1 in ',harper's ,magazine' 7,sept4 #ahhj7 tells us 'there was particularly the story of the ,hascall4 ,she broke loose from her moorings during a gale on ,george's banks1 and ran into and sank the ,andrew ,johnson1 and all on board4 ,for years afterwards the spectres of the drowned men were reported to come on board the ,hascall at midnight1 and go through the dumb show of fishing over the side1 so that no one in ,gloucester could be got to sail her1 and she would not have brought sixpence in the market4' ,a ,block ,island tradition affirms that the ghosts of certain refugees1 drowned in the surf during the revolution1 are often seen struggling to reach the shore1 and occasionally their cries are distinctly heard4#bjj ,there is the well-known anecdote which ,lord ,byron1 says ,moore1#bja used sometimes to mention1 and which ,captain ,kidd related to him on the passage4 ',this officer stated that1 being asleep one night in his berth1 he was awakened by the pressure of something heavy on his limbs1 and there being a faint light in the room1 could see1 as he thought1 distinctly the figure of his brother1 who was at that time in the same service in the ,east ,indies1 dressed in his uniform1 and stretched across the bed4 ,concluding it to be an illusion1 he shut his eyes1 and made an effort to sleep4 ,but still the same pressure continued2 and as often as he ventured to take another look1 he saw the figure lying across him in the same position4 ,to add to the wonder1 on putting his hand forth to touch this form1 he found the uniform in which he appeared dripping wet4 ,on the entrance of one of his brother officers1 to whom he called out in alarm1 the apparition vanished1 but1 in a few months afterwards1 he received the startling intelligence that on that night his brother had been drowned in the ,indian ,seas4 ,of the supernatural character of this appearance1 ,captain ,kidd himself did not appear to have the slightest doubt4' ,a strange antipathy has long existed against rescuing a drowning man1 one reason being that the person saved would at some time or other do injury to the man who rescued him4 ,in ,china1 however1 this reluctance to give help to a drowning man arises from another form of the same superstitious dread1 the idea being that the spirit of a person who has been drowned continues to flit along the surface of the water1 until it has caused by drowning the death of a fellow creature4 ,a person1 therefore1 who is bold enough to attempt to rescue another from drowning is believed to incur the hatred of the unquiet spirit1 which is supposed to be desirous1 even at the expense of a man's life1 of escaping from its unceasing wandering4 ,the ,bohemian fisherman shrinks from snatching a drowning man from the water1 fearing that the water-demons would take away his luck in fishing1 and drown him at the first opportunity4 ,this1 as ,dr4 ,tylor points out1#bjb is a lingering survival of the ancient significance of this superstition1 the explanation being that the water spirit is naturally angry at being despoiled of his victim1 and henceforth bears a special grudge against the unlucky person who has dared to frustrate him4 ,thus1 when a person is drowned in ,germany the remark is often made1 ',the river spirit claims his yearly sacrifice1' or ',the ,nix has taken him4' ,similarly the ,siamese dreads the ,pnk1 or water spirit1 that seizes unwary bathers1 and drags them underneath the water2 and the ,sioux ,indians tell how men have been drowned by ,unktahe1 the water demon4 ,speaking of the ghosts of the drowned among savage tribes1 ,herbert ,spenser says3#bjc ',an eddy in the river1 where floating sticks are whirled round and engulfed1 is not far from the place where one of the tribe was drowned and never seen again4 ,what more manifest1 then1 than that the double of this drowned man1 malicious as the unburied dead ever are1 dwells thereabouts1 and pulls these things under the surface--nay1 in revenge1 seizes and drags down persons who venture near8 ,when those who knew the drowned man are all dead1 when1 after generations1 the details of the story1 thrust aside by more recent stories1 have been lost1 there survives only the belief in a water demon haunting the place4' ,we may compare the practice of the ,kamchadals1 who1 instead of helping a man out of the water1 would drown him by force4 ,if rescued by any chance1 no one would receive such a man into his house1 or give him food1 but he was reckoned as dead4 ,,footnotes3 #aig ,jones3 ,credulities ,past and ,present1 p4 #ib4 #aih ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #cff4 #aii ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 pp4 #aj1 #aa4 #bjj ,quoted in ,bassett's ',legends of the ,sea1' from ,livermore's ,history of ,block ,island4 #bja ,life of ,byron4 #bjb ,see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #aji4 #bjc ,principles of ,sociology1 p4 #bai4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,ghost ,,seers ,according to the popular creed1 some persons have the peculiar faculty of seeing ghosts1 a privilege which1 it would seem1 is denied to others4 ,it has been urged1 however1 that under certain conditions of health there are those who are endowed with special powers of perception1 whereby they are enabled to see objects not visible at other times4 ,thus1 as ,sir ,william ,hamilton has observed1 'however astonishing1 it is now proved1 beyond all rational doubt1 that in certain abnormal states of the nervous organism1 perceptions are possible through other than the ordinary channels of the senses4' ,but1 without entering into this metaphysical question1 folk-lore holds that persons born at a particular time of the day have the power of seeing ghosts4 ,thus it is said in ,lancashire1 that children born during twilight are supposed to have this peculiarity1 and to know who of their acquaintance will next die4 ,some say that this property belongs also to those who happen to be born exactly at twelve o'clock at night1 or1 as the peasantry say in ,somersetshire1 'a child born in chime-hours will have the power to see spirits4' ,the same belief prevails in ,yorkshire1 where it is commonly supposed that children born during the hour after midnight have the privilege through life of seeing the spirits of the departed4 ,mr4 ,henderson says#bjd that 'a ,yorkshire lady informed him she was very near being thus distinguished1 but the clock had not struck twelve when she was born4 ,when a child she mentioned this circumstance to an old servant1 adding that mamma was sure her birthday was the #bcrd1 not the #bdth1 for she had inquired at the time4 ,ay1 ay1 said the old woman1 turning to the child's nurse1 mistress would be very anxious about that1 for bairns born after midnight see more things than other folk4' ,this superstition prevails on the ,continent1 and1 in ,denmark1 ,sunday children have prerogatives far from enviable4 ,thorpe#bje tells how 'in ,fyer there was a woman who was born on a ,sunday1 and1 like other ,sunday children1 had the faculty of seeing much that was hidden from others4 ,but1 because of this property1 she could not pass by the church at night without seeing a hearse or a spectre4 ,the gift became a perfect burden to her2 she therefore sought the advice of a man skilled in such matters1 who directed her1 whenever she saw a spectre1 to say1 ,go to ,heaven6 but when she met a hearse1 ,hang on6 ,happening some time after to meet a hearse1 she1 through lapse of memory1 cried out1 ,go to ,heaven6 and straightway the hearse rose in the air and vanished4 ,afterwards meeting a spectre1 she said to it1 ,hang on6 when the spectre clung round her neck1 hung on her back1 and drove her down into the earth before it4 ,for three days her shrieks were heard before the spectre would put an end to her wretched life4' ,it is a popular article of faith in ,scotland that those who are born on ,christmas ,day or ,good ,friday have the power of seeing spirits1 and even of commanding them1 a superstition to which ,sir ,walter ,scott alludes in his ',marmion' 7stanza xxii474 ,the ,spaniards imputed the haggard and downcast looks of their ,philip ,,ii4 to the disagreeable visions to which this privilege subjected him4 ,among uncultured tribes it is supposed that spirits are visible to some persons and not to others4 ,the 'natives of the ,antilles believed that the dead appeared on the roads when one went alone1 but not when many went together2 and among the ,finns the ghosts of the dead were to be seen by the ,shamans1 but not by men generally unless in dreams4'#bjf ,it is1 too1 as already noticed1#bjg a popular theory with savage races that the soul appears in dreams to visit the sleeper1 and hence it has been customary for rude tribes to drink various intoxicating substances1 under the impression that when thrown into a state of ecstasy they would have pleasing visions4 ,on this account certain tribes on the ,amazon use certain narcotic plants1 producing an intoxication lasting twenty-four hours4 ,during this period they are said to be subject to extraordinary visions1 in the course of which they acquire information on any subject they may specially require4 ,for a similar reason the inhabitants of ,north ,brazil1 when anxious to discover some guilty person1 were in the habit of administering narcotic drinks to seers1 in whose dreams the criminal made his appearance4 ,the ,californian ,indians would give children certain intoxicants1 in order to gain from the ensuing vision information about their enemies4 ,and the ,darien ,indians used the seeds of the ,datura sanguinea to produce in children prophetic delirium1 during which they revealed the whereabouts of hidden treasure4 ,in our own country various charms have been practised from time immemorial for invoking spirits1 and1 as we shall show in a succeeding chapter1 it is still a widespread belief that1 by having recourse to certain spells at special seasons in the year1 one1 if so desirous1 may be favoured with a view of the spirits of departed friends4 ,,footnotes3 #bjd ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #aa4 #bje ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #bjc4 #bjf ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #ddf4 #bjg ,chap4 ,,ii4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,ghostly ,,death-,,warnings ,the belief in death-omens peculiar to certain families has long been a fruitful source of superstition1 and has been embodied in many a strange legendary romance4 ,such family forewarnings of death are of a most varied description1 and are still said to be of frequent occurrence4 ,an ancient ,roman ,catholic family in ,yorkshire1 of the name of ,middleton1 is supposed to be apprised of the death of any one of its members by the apparition of a ,benedictine nun2 and ,sir ,walter ,scott1 in his ',peveril of the ,peak1' tells us how a certain spirit is commonly believed to attend on the ,stanley family1 warning them by uttering a loud shriek of some approaching calamity1 and especially 'weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person of distinction belonging to the family4' ,in his ',waverley1' too1 towards the end of ,fergus ,mac,ivor's history1 he alludes to the ,bodach ,glas1 or dark grey man4 ,mr4 ,henderson says1#bjh ',its appearance foretold death in the ,clan of ----1 and ,i have been informed on the most credible testimony of its appearance in our own day4 ,the ,earl of ,e----1 a nobleman alike beloved and respected in ,scotland1 was playing on the day of his decease on the links of ,st4 ,andrews at golf4 ,suddenly he stopped in the middle of the game1 saying1 ,i can play no longer1 there is the ,bodach ,glas4 ,i have seen it for the third time2 something fearful is going to befall me4 ,he died that night as he was handing a candlestick to a lady who was retiring to her room4' ,according to ,pennant1 most of the great families in ,scotland had their death-omens4 ,thus it is reported 'the family of ,grant ,rothiemurcus had the ,bodach au ,dun1 or the ,ghost of the ,hill2 and the ,kinchardines the ,lham-dearg1 or the ,spectre of the ,bloody ,hand1 of whom ,sir ,walter ,scott has given the subjoined account from ,macfarlane's ,,mss43 ,there is much talk of a spirit called ',ly-erg1' who frequents the ,glenmore4 ,he appears with a red hand1 in the habit of a soldier1 and challenges men to fight with him4 ,as lately as the year #affi he fought with three brothers1 one after another1 who immediately died therefrom4' ,the family of ,gurlinbeg was haunted by ,garlin ,bodacher1 and ,tulloch ,gorms by ,may ,moulach1 or the ,girl with the ,hairy ,left ,hand4#bji ,the ,synod gave frequent orders that inquiry should be made into the truth of this apparition1 and one or two declared that they had seen one that answered the description4 ,an ancestor of the family of ,mc,clean1 of ,lochburg1 was commonly reported1 before the death of any of his race1 to gallop along the sea-beach announcing the death by dismal lamentations2 and the ,banshee of ,loch ,nigdal used to be arrayed in a silk dress of greenish hue4 ,reference is made elsewhere to the apparition of the ,black ,friar1 the evil genius of the ,byrons1 supposed to forebode misfortune to the member of the family to whom it appeared1 and ,mr4 ,hunt has described the death-token of the ,vingoes4 ,it seems that above the deep caverns in a certain part of their estate rises a cairn4 ,on this1 it is asserted1 chains of fire were formerly seen ascending and descending1 which were frequently accompanied by loud and frightful noises4 ,but it is affirmed that these warnings have not been heard since the last male of the family came to a violent end4#baj ,whenever two owls are seen perched on the family mansion of the family of ,arundel of ,wardour1 it is said that one of its members will shortly die4 ,the strange appearance of a white-breasted bird#baa was long thought to be a warning of death to a family of the name of ,oxenham1 in ,devonshire4 ,equally strange is the omen with which the old baronet's family of ,clifton1 of ,clifton ,hall1 in ,nottinghamshire1 is forewarned when death is about to visit one of its members4 ,it seems that1 in this case1 the omen takes the form of a sturgeon1 which is seen forcing itself up the ,river ,trent1 on whose bank the mansion of the ,clifton family is situated4 ,with this curious tradition may be compared one connected with the ,edgewell ,oak1 which is commonly reported to indicate the coming death of an inmate of ,castle ,dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches4 ,burke1 in his ',anecdotes of the ,aristocracy' 7#ahdi1 i4 #abb71 says that 'opposite the dining-room at ,gordon ,castle is a large and massive willow-tree1 the history of which is somewhat singular4 ,duke ,alexander1 when four years of age1 planted this willow in a tub filled with earth2 the tub floated about in a marshy piece of land1 till the shrub1 expanding1 burst its cerements1 and struck root in the earth below2 here it grew and prospered1 till it attained the present goodly size4 ,the ,duke regarded the tree with a sort of fatherly and even superstitious regard1 half believing there was some mysterious affinity between its fortunes and his own4 ,if an accident happened to the one by storm or lightning1 some misfortune was not long in befalling the other4' ,it may be remembered1 too1 how in the ,park of ,chartley1 near ,lichfield1 has long been preserved the breed of the indigenous ,staffordshire cow1 of sand white colour4 ,in the battle of ,burton ,bridge a black calf was born1 and the year of the downfall of the ,house of ,ferrers happening about the same time1 gave rise to the tradition that the birth of a parti-coloured calf from the wild herd in ,chartley ,park is a sure omen of death within the same year to a member of the family4 ,thus1 'by a noticeable coincidence1' says the ',staffordshire ,chronicle' 7,july #ahce71 'a calf of this description has been born whenever a death has happened to the family of late years4' ,it appears that the death of the seventh ,earl ,ferrers1 and of his ,countess1 and of his son1 ,viscount ,tamworth1 and of his daughter1 ,mrs4 ,william ,joliffe1 as well as the deaths of the son and heir of the eighth ,earl and of his daughter1 ,lady ,francis ,shirley1 were each preceded by the ominous birth of the fatal-hued calf4 ,this tradition has been made the subject of a romantic story entitled ',chartley1 or the ,fatalist4' ,walsingham1 in his ',ypodigma ,neustri' 7#aegd1 p4 #aec71 informs us how1 on ,january #a1 #acii1 just before the civil wars broke out between the houses of ,york and ,lancaster1 the ,river ,ouse suddenly stood still at a place called ,harewood1 about five miles from ,bedford1 so that below this place the bed of the river was left dry for three miles together1 and above it the waters swelled to a great height4 ,the same thing is said to have happened at the same place in ,january #afdh1 which was just before the death of ,charles ,i41 and many superstitious persons 'have supposed both these stagnations of the ,ouse to be supernatural and portentous2 others suppose them to be the effect of natural causes1 though a probable natural cause has not yet been assigned4'#bab ,the following curious anecdote1 styled ',an ,irish ,water-fiend1' said to be perfectly well authenticated1 is related in ,burke's ',anecdotes of the ,aristocracy' 7i4 #cbi74 ,the hero of the tale was the ,rev4 ,james ,crawford1 rector of the parish of ,killina1 co4 ,leitrim4 ,in the autumn of #aggg1 ,mr4 ,crawford had occasion to cross the estuary called ',the ,rosses1' on the coast of ,donegal1 and on a pillion behind him sat his sister-in-law1 ,miss ,hannah ,wilson4 ,they had advanced some distance1 until the water reached the saddle-laps1 when ,miss ,wilson became so alarmed that she implored ,mr4 ,crawford to get back as fast as possible to land4 ',i do not think there can be danger1' replied ,crawford1 'for ,i see a horseman crossing the ford not twenty yards before us4' ,miss ,wilson also saw the horseman4 ',you had better hail him1' said she1 'and inquire the depth of the intervening water4' ,crawford checked his horse1 and hallooed to the other horseman to stop4 ,he did stop1 and turning round1 displayed a ghastly face grinning fiendishly at ,crawford1 who waited for no further parley1 but returned as fast as he could4 ,on reaching home he told his wife of the spectral rencontre4 ,the popular belief was that whenever any luckless person was foredoomed to be drowned in that estuary1 the fatal event was foreshown to the doomed person by some such apparition as ,crawford had seen4 ,despite this monitory warning1 ,mr4 ,crawford again attempted to cross the ford of the ,rosses upon ,september #bg1 #aggg1 and was drowned in the attempt4 ,a correspondent of the ',gentleman's ,magazine' speaks of a superstition prevalent among the peasantry in ,worcestershire1 that when storms1 heavy rains1 or other elemental strifes take place at the death of a great man1 the spirit of the storm will not be appeased till the moment of burial4 ',this superstition1' he adds1 'gained great strength on the occasion of the ,duke of ,wellington's funeral1 when1 after some weeks of heavy rain1 and one of the highest floods ever known in this country1 the skies began to clear1 and both rain and flood abated4 ,it was a common observation in this part of the country1 in the week before the interment of his ,grace1 ,oh1 the rain won't give over till the ,duke is buried4' ,in ,germany several princes have their warnings of death4 ,in some instances it is the roaring of a lion1 and in others the howling of a dog4 ,occasionally a similar announcement was made by the tolling of a bell1 or the striking of a clock at an unusual time4 ,then there is the time-honoured ,white ,lady1 whose mysterious appearance has from time immemorial been supposed to indicate some event of importance4 ,according to a popular legend1 the ,white ,lady is seen in many of the castles of ,german princes and nobles1 by night as well as by day1 especially when the death of any member of the family is imminent4 ,she is regarded as the ancestress of the race1 'shows herself always in snow white garments1 carries a bunch of keys at her side1 and sometimes rocks and watches over the children at night when their nurses sleep4' ,the earliest instance of this apparition was in the sixteenth century1 and is famous under the name of ',bertha of ,rosenberg1' in ,bohemia4 ,the white lady of other princely castles was identified with ,bertha1 and the identity was accounted for by the intermarriages of other princely houses with members of the house of ,rosenberg1#bac in whose train the ,white ,lady passed into their castles4 ,according to ,mrs4 ,crowe#bad the ,white ,lady was long supposed to be a ,countess ,agnes of ,orlamunde2 but a picture of a princess called ,bertha1 or ,perchta von ,rosenberg1 discovered some time since1 was thought so to resemble the apparition1 that it is a disputed point which of the two ladies it is1 or whether it is or is not the same apparition that is seen at different places4 ,the opinion of its being the ,princess ,bertha1 who lived in the fifteenth century1 was somewhat countenanced by the circumstance that1 at a period when1 in consequence of the war1 an annual benefit which she had bequeathed to the poor was neglected1 the apparition appeared more frequently1 and seemed to be unusually disturbed4 ,the ',archologia' 7xxxiii47 gives an extract from ,brereton's ',travels' 7i4 #cc71 which sets forth how the ,queen of ,bohemia told ,william ,brereton 'that at ,berlin--the ,elector of ,brandenburg's house--before the death of any related in blood to that house1 there appears and walks up and down that house like unto a ghost in a white sheet1 which walks during the time of their sickness and until their death4'#bae ,cardan and ,henningius ,grosius relate a similar marvel of some of the ancient families of ,italy1 the following being recorded by the latter authority3 ',jacopo ,donati1 one of the most important families in ,venice1 had a child1 the heir to the family1 very ill4 ,at night1 when in bed1 ,donati saw the door of his chamber opened and the head of a man thrust in4 ,knowing that it was not one of his servants1 he roused the house1 drew his sword1 went over the whole palace1 all the servants declaring that they had seen such a head thrust in at the doors of their several chambers at the same hour2 the fastenings were found all secure1 so that no one could have come in from without4 ,the next day the child died4' ,burton1 in his ',anatomy of ,melancholy1' says that near ,rufus ,nova1 in ,finland1 ,sweden1 'there is a lake in which1 when the governor of the castle dies1 a spectrum is seen1 in the habit of ,arion1 with a harp1 and makes excellent music1 like those clocks in ,cheshire which 7they say7 presage death to the master of the family2 or that oak in ,lanthadran ,park1 in ,cornwall1 which foreshows as much4' ,one of the most celebrated ghosts of this kind in ,britain is the ,white ,lady of ,avenel1 the creation of ,sir ,walter ,scott4 ,in the ,highlands it was long a common belief that many of the chiefs had some kind spirit to watch over the fortunes of their house4 ,popular tradition has many well-known legends about white ladies1 who generally dwell in forts and mountains as enchanted maidens waiting for deliverance4 ,they delight to appear in warm sunshine to poor shepherds1 or herd boys4 ,they are either combing their long hair or washing themselves1 drying wheat or spinning1 they also point out treasures1 c4 ,they wear snow-white or half-white black garments1 yellow or green shoes1 and a bunch of keys at their side4 ,all these and many other traits that appear in individual legends may be traced back to a goddess of ,german mythology who influences birth and death1 and presides over the ordering of the household4#baf ,an interesting instance of a death-warning among uncultured tribes is told by ,mr4 ,lang1#bag on the authority of ,mr4 ,j4 ,j4 ,atkinson1 late of ,noumea1 ,new ,caledonia1 which is curious because it offers among the ,kanekas an example of a belief current in ,breton folk-lore4 ,mr4 ,atkinson relates how one day a ,kaneka of his acquaintance paid a visit and seemed loth to go away4 ,after some hesitation he explained that he was about to die1 and would never see his ,english friend again1 as his fate was sealed4 ,he had lately met in the wood one whom he took for the ,kaneka girl of his heart1 but he became aware too late that she was no mortal woman1 but a wood-spirit in the guise of his beloved4 ,as he said1 so it happened1 for the unlucky man shortly afterwards died4 ',this is the ground-work1' adds ,mr4 ,lang1 'of the old ,breton ballad of ,le ,sieur ,nann1 who died after his intrigue with the forest spectre6' ,a version of the ballad is printed by ,de la ,villemarque1 ,barzaz-,breiz 7i4 #da71 and variants exist in ,swedish1 ,french1 and even in a ,lowland ,scotch version1 sung by children in a kind of dancing game4#bah ,another story quoted by ,mr4 ,lang tells how1 in #ahfj1 a ,maneroo black fellow died in the service of ,mr4 ,du ,ve4 ',the day before he died1 having been ill some time1 he said that in the night his father1 his father's friend1 and a female spirit he could not recognise1 had come to him1 and said that he would die next day1 and that they would wait for him4' ,mr4 ,du ,ve adds that1 'though previously the ,christian belief had been explained to this man1 it had entirely failed1 and that he had gone back to the belief of his childhood4' ,but cases of this kind1 it would appear1 are not uncommon among rude races1 and have a special value to the student of comparative folk-lore4 ,,footnotes3 #bjh ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #cdd4 #bji ,see ,sir ,walter ,scott's ,poetical ,works1 #ahec1 viii4 p4 #abf4 #baj ,popular ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #cgb4 #baa ,see ,chapter on ',phantom ,birds4' #bab ,gentleman's ,magazine1 #agfd1 p4 #ei4 #bac ,see ,moncure ,conway's ,demonology and ,devil ,lore4 #bad ,night ,side of ,nature1 #ahed1 p4 #cae4 #bae ,see ,notes and ,queries1 #eth ,s4 xi4 p4 #ccd4 #baf ,chambers's ,encyclopdia1 #ahhf1 x4 p4 #agi4 #bag ,the ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahfe1 p4 #fbh2 ,myth1 ,ritual1 and ,religion1 #ahhg1 i4 p4 #ajd4 #bah ,fison's ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #bec4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ',,second ,,sight' ,the power of seeing things invisible to others is commonly known as 'second sight1' a peculiarity which the ancient ,gaels called 'shadow sight4' ,the subject has1 for many years past1 excited popular interest1 and demanded the attention even of our learned men4 ,dr4 ,johnson was so favourably impressed with the notion of 'second sight1' that after1 in the course of his travels1 giving the subject full inquiry1 he confessed that he never could 'advance his curiosity to conviction1 but came away at last only willing to believe4' ,sir ,walter ,scott1 too1 went so far as to say that 'if force of evidence could authorise us to believe facts inconsistent with the general laws of nature1 enough might be produced in favour of the existence of second sight4' ,when we recollect how all history and tradition abound in instances of this belief1 oftentimes apparently resting on evidence beyond impeachment1 it is not surprising that it has numbered among its adherents advocates of most schools of thought4 ,although1 too1 of late years the theory of 'second sight' has not been so widely preached as formerly1 yet it must not be supposed that the stories urged in support of it are less numerous1 or that it has ceased to be regarded as great a mystery as in days gone by4 ,in defining 'second sight' as a singular faculty 'of seeing an otherwise invisible object without any previous means used by the person that beholds it for that end1' we are at once confronted with the well-known axiom that 'a man cannot be in two places at once1' a rule with which it is difficult to reconcile such statements as those recorded by ,pennant of a gentleman of the ,hebrides said to have had the gift of foreseeing visitors in time to get ready for them1 or the anecdote which tells how ,st4 ,ambrose fell into a comatose state while celebrating the mass at ,milan1 and on his recovery asserted that he had been present at ,st4 ,martin's funeral at ,tours1 where it was afterwards declared he had been seen4 ,but it must be remembered that believers in 'second sight' base their faith not so much on metaphysical definitions as on the evidence of daily experience1 it being of immaterial importance to them how impossible a certain doctrine may seem1 provided it only has the testimony of actual witnesses in its favour4 ,hence1 in spite of all arguments against the so-called 'second sight1' it is urged1 on the other hand1 that visions coinciding with real facts and events occurring at a distance--oftentimes thousands of miles away--are beheld by persons possessing this remarkable faculty4 ,thus ,collins1 in his ode on the ',popular ,superstitions of the ,highlands1' alludes to this belief3 ,to monarchs dear1 some hundred miles astray ,oft have they seen ,fate give the fatal blow4 ,the seer1 in ,sky1 shrieked as the blood did flow ,when headless ,charles warm on the scaffold lay4 ,accounts differ largely respecting the faculty of 'second sight4' ,some make it hereditary1 and according to an account communicated to ,aubrey from a gentleman at ,strathspey1 some of the seers acknowledged the possibility of teaching it4 ,a correspondent of the ',gentleman's ,magazine'#bai says 'the visions attendant on second sight are not confined to solemn or important events4 ,the future visit of a mountebank or piper1 the arrival of common travellers1 or1 if possible1 still more trifling matters than these1 are foreseen by the seers4 ,not only aged men and women have the second sight1 but also children1 horses1 and cows4 ,children endowed with that faculty manifest it by crying aloud at the very time a corpse appears to a seer4 ,that horses possess it is likewise plain1 from their violent and sudden starting when their rider1 or a seer in company with him1 sees a vision of any kind1 by night or by day4 ,it is observable of a horse1 that he will not go forwards towards the apparition but must be led round1 at some distance from the common road2 his terror is evident1 from his becoming all over in a profuse sweat1 although quite cool a moment before4 ,balaam's ass seems to have possessed this power or faculty2 and1 perhaps1 what we improperly style a startlish horse may be one who has the gift of the second sight4 ,that cows have the second sight is proved by the following circumstance4 ,if a woman1 whilst milking a cow1 happen to have a vision of that kind1 the cow runs away in a great fright at the same instant1 and cannot1 for some time1 be brought to stand quietly4' ,it is further added1 that persons who have not long been gifted with 'second sight1' after seeing a vision without doors1 on coming into a house1 and approaching the fire1 will immediately fall into a swoon4 ,all those1 too1 who have the 'second sight' do not see these appearances at the same time1 but if one having this faculty designedly touches his fellow seer at the instant that a vision appears to him1 in that case it will be seen by both4 ,goethe relates that as he was once riding along a footpath towards ,drusenheim1 he saw1 'not with the eyes of his body1 but with those of his spirit1 himself on horseback coming towards him1 in a dress that he then did not possess4 ,it was grey1 and trimmed with gold4 ,eight years afterwards he found himself1 quite accidentally1 on that spot1 on horseback1 and in precisely that attire4'#bbj ,in #afeb a ,scottish lawyer1 ,sir ,george ,mackenzie1 afterwards ,lord ,tarbat1 when driven to the ,highlands by fear of the ,government of ,cromwell1 made very extensive inquiries concerning this supposed supernatural faculty1 and wrote an elaborate account of its manifestations to the celebrated ,robert ,boyle1 published in the correspondence of ,samuel ,pepys4 ,aubrey1 too1 devoted considerable attention to the subject1 and in the year #afhc appeared the treatise of ',theophilus ,insularum1' with about one hundred cases gathered from various sources4 ,it was1 however1 in ,scotland that this belief gained a specially strong footing4 ,in the year #agii1 a traveller writing of the peasants of ,kirkcudbrightshire relates3 ',it is common among them to fancy that they see the wraiths of persons dying which will be visible to one and not to others present with him4 ,within these last twenty years it was hardly possible to meet with any person who had not seen many wraiths and ghosts in the course of his experience4' ,indeed1 we are told that many of the ,highlanders gained a lucrative livelihood by enlightening their neighbours on matters revealed to them through 'second sight2' and ,mr4 ,jamieson writes3 ',whether this belief was communicated to the ,scotch by the northern nations who so long had possession of it1 ,i shall not pretend to determine1 but traces of the same wonderful faculty may be found among the ,scandinavians4' ,one of the best illustrations of this superstition as it prevailed in the ,highlands is that given by ,dr4 ,johnson in his ',journey to the ,hebrides'3 ',a man on a journey far from home falls from a horse2 another1 who is perhaps at work about the house1 sees him bleeding on the ground1 commonly with a landscape of the place where the accident befalls him4 ,another seer1 driving home his cattle1 or wandering in idleness1 or musing in the sunshine1 is suddenly surprised by the appearance of a bridal ceremony1 or funeral procession1 and counts the mourners or attendants1 of whom1 if he knows them1 he relates the names2 if he knows them not1 he can describe the dresses4 ,things distant are seen at the instant when they happen4' ',at the ,literary ,club1' says ,boswell1 'before ,johnson came in1 we talked of his ,journey to the ,western ,islands1 and of his coming away willing to believe the 'second sight1' which seemed to excite some ridicule4 ,i was then so impressed with many of the stories which ,i had been told1 that ,i avowed my conviction1 saying1 ,he is only willing to believe--,i do believe2 the evidence is enough for me1 though not for his great mind4 ,what will not fill a quart bottle will fill a pint bottle2 ,i am filled with belief4 ,are you8 said ,george ,colman2 then cork it up4' ,it is not many years ago since a man lived at ,blackpool who was possessed1 as he pretended1 by this faculty1 and was visited by persons from all parts anxious to gain information about absent friends4 ,this belief1 it may be added1 is not confined to our own country1 curious traces of it being found among savage tribes4 ,thus ,captain ,jonathan ,carver obtained from a ,cree medicine man a correct prophesy of the arrival of a canoe with news the following day at noon2 and we are told how1 when ,mr4 ,mason ,brown was travelling with the voyageurs on the ,coppermine river1 he was met by ,indians of the very band he was seeking1 these having been despatched by their medicine-man1 who1 on being interrogated1 affirmed that 'he saw them coming1 and heard them talk on their journey4' ,again1 persons gifted with 'second sight' are said not only to know particular events at a distance precisely at the same moment as they happen1 but also to have a foreknowledge of them before they take place1 for-- ,as the sun1 ,ere it is risen1 sometimes paints its image ,in the atmosphere1 so often do the spirits ,of great events stride on before the events1 ,and in to-day already walks to-morrow4 ,dr4 ,tylor1 in his ',primitive ,culture1' relates the case of a ,shetland lady who affirmed how1 some years ago1 she and a girl leading her pony recognised the familiar figure of one ,peter ,sutherland1 whom they knew to be at the time in ,edinburgh4 ,he turned a corner1 and they saw him no more1 but next week came the news of his sudden death4 ,a curious old story illustrative of 'second sight1' of which there are several versions1 is that of ',booty's ,ghost1' an account of which occurs in ,kirby's ',wonderful and ,eccentric ,museum' 7ii4 #bdg74 ,it was an action for slander of a deceased husband brought by the widow1 and the following extract1 which contains an outline of the strange tale1 is from the journal of ,mr4 ,spinks3 ',friday1 ,may #ae1 #afhg4--,we had the observation of ,mr4 ,booty this day4 ,captain ,barrisby1 ,captain ,bristowe1 ,captain ,brown1 ,i1 and ,mr4 ,ball1 merchant1 went on shore in ,captain ,barnaby's boat to shoot rabbits upon ,stromboli2 and when we had done1 we called our men together by us1 and about half an hour and fourteen minutes after three in the afternoon1 to our great surprise1 we all of us saw two men come running towards us with such swiftness that no living man could run half so fast as they did run1 when all of us heard ,captain ,barnaby say1 ,lord1 bless me6 the foremost is old ,booty1 my next door neighbour1 but he said he did not know the other that run behind2 he was in black clothes1 and the foremost was in grey4 ,then ,captain ,barnaby desired all of us to take an account of the time1 and put it down in our pocket-books1 and when we got on board we wrote it in our journals2 for we saw them into the flames of fire1 and there was a great noise which greatly affrighted us all1 for we none of us ever saw or heard the like before4 ,captain ,barnaby said he was certain it was old ,booty1 which he saw running over ,stromboli and into the flames of hell4 ,it is stated that ,captain ,barnaby told his wife1 and she told somebody else1 and that it was afterwards told to ,mrs4 ,booty1 who arrested ,captain ,barnaby in a thousand pound action for what he had said of her husband4 ,captain ,barnaby gave bail to it1 and it came on to a trial in the ,court of ,king's ,bench1 and they had ,mr4 ,booty's wearing apparel brought into ,court1 and the sexton of the parish1 and the people that were with him when he died2 and we swore to our journals1 and it came to the same time within two minutes4 ,ten of our men swore to the buttons on his coat1 and that they were covered with the same sort of cloth his coat was made of1 and so it proved4 ,the jury asked ,mr4 ,spinks if he knew ,mr4 ,booty4 ,he answered1 ,i never saw him till he ran by me on the burning mountain4' ,the ,chief ,justice from ,april #afhg to ,february #afhi was ,sir ,robert ,wright4 ,his name is not given in the report1 but the judge said3 ',lord1 have mercy on me1 and grant that ,i may never see what you have seen4 ,one1 two1 or three may be mistaken1 but thirty can never be mistaken4' ,so the widow lost her suit4#bba ,it appears1 also1 that coming events are mostly forecasted by various symbolic omens which generally take the form of spectral exhibitions4 ,thus1 a phantom shroud seen in the morning on a living person is said to betoken his death in the course of the day2 but if seen late in the evening1 no particular time is indicated1 further than that it will take place within the year4 ,if1 too1 the shroud does not cover the whole body1 the fulfilment of the vision may be expected at some distant period4 ,but these kind of omens vary largely in different countries2 and1 on the ,continent1 where much misplaced faith is attached to them1 they are frequently the source of much needless dread4 ,,footnotes3 #bai #ahbb1 ,part ii4 pp4 #eih1 #eii4 #bbj ,quoted in ,mrs4 ,crowe's ,night ,side of ,nature1 #ahed1 p4 #aha4 #bba ,see ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 iii4 #agj4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,compacts ,,between ,,the ,,living ,,and ,,dead ,sometimes ghosts appear in consequence of an agreement made before death with some particular friend1 that he or she who first died should appear to the survivor4 ,numerous tales are told illustrative of this belief1 one of the best authenticated being that recorded by ,lord ,brougham1#bbb who1 speaking of his intimate friend at the ,university1 writes3 ',there was no divinity class1 but we frequently in our walks discussed and speculated upon many grave subjects1 among others1 on the immortality of the soul and on a future state4 ,this question and the possibility1 ,i will not say of ghosts walking1 but of the dead appearing to the living1 were subjects of much speculation2 and we actually committed the folly of drawing up an agreement written with our blood1 to the effect that whichever of us died first should appear to the other1 and thus solve any doubts we had entertained of the life after death4' ,years afterwards--on ,december #ai1 #agii--when ,lord ,brougham had almost forgotten the existence of his friend1 as he was taking a warm bath1 he appeared to him2 but1 as he adds1 ',no doubt ,i had fallen asleep1 and the appearance presented to my eyes was a dream4 ,i recollected quickly enough our old discussion1 and the bargain we had made4 ,i could not discharge from my mind the impression that my friend must have died1 and that his appearance to me was to be received by me as a proof of his future state4' ,in ,october #ahfb ,lord ,brougham made this postscript3 ',i have just been copying out from my journal the account of this strange dream--certissima mortis imago4 ,and now to finish the story begun about sixty years since4 ,soon after my return to ,edinburgh1 there arrived a letter from ,india1 announcing ,g----'s death1 and stating that he had died on the #aith of ,december4' ,a curious story is told by ,john ,darley1 ,carthusian monk1 who relates that1 as he was attending upon the death bed of ,father ,raby1 in #aecd1 he said to the expiring man1 ',good ,father ,raby1 if the dead can visit the living1 ,i beseech you to pay a visit to me by-and-by2' and ,raby answered1 ',yes2' immediately after which he drew his last breath4 ,but on the same afternoon1 about five o'clock1 as ,darley was meditating in his cell1 the departed man suddenly appeared to him in a monk's habit1 and said to him1 ',why do you not follow our father8' ,and ,i replied1 ',why8' ,he said1 ',because he is a martyr in heaven next to the angels4' ,then ,i said1 ',where are all our fathers who did like to him8' ,he answered and said1 ',they are all pretty well1 but not so well as he is4' ,and then ,i asked him how he was1 and he said ',pretty well4' ,and ,i said1 ',father1 shall ,i pray for you8' ,to which he replied1 ',i am as well as need be1 but prayer is at all times good1' and with these words he vanished4#bbc ,there is the well-known ,beresford ghost tale1 about which so many accounts have been given4 ,it appears that ,lord ,tyrone and ,miss ,blank were orphans1 educated in the same house 'in the principles of ,deism4' ,when they were about fourteen years old their preceptor died1 and their new guardian tried to persuade them to embrace revealed religion4 ,the boy and girl stuck to ,deism4 ,but they made a compact1 that he or she who died first should appear to the survivor1 'to declare what religion was most approved by the ,supreme ,being4' ,miss ,blank married ,st4 ,martin ,beresford1 and one day she appeared at breakfast with a pale face1 and a black band round her wrist4 ,on her death-bed she explained how the ghost of ,lord ,tyrone had appeared to her at the hour of his death1 and had correctly prophesied her future3 ',he struck my wrist2 his hand was as cold as marble2 in a moment the sinews shrank up1 every nerve withered4444 ,i bound a piece of black ribbon round my wrist4' ,the black ribbon was formerly in the possession of ,lady ,betty ,cobb1 who1 during her long life1 was ever ready to attest the truth of this narration1 as are1 to the present hour1 the whole of the ,tyrone and ,beresford families4#bbd ,as ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang points out in the ',nineteenth ,century1'#bbe ,lord ,tyrone merely did what many ghosts had done before in the matter of touching ,lady ,beresford's wrist4 ,thus1 as he says1 according to ,henry ,more1 'one' 7bogie7 'took a relation of ,melanchthon's by the hand1 and so scorched her that she bore the mark of it to her dying day4' ,before ,melanchthon the anecdote was improved by ,eudes de ,shirton1 in a sermon1 who tells how a certain clerk1 ,serlon1 made with a friend the covenant which ,miss ,blank made with ,lord ,tyrone4 ,the friend died1 and appeared to ,serlon 'in a parchment cloak1 covered with the finest writing in the world4' ,being asked how he fared1 he said that this cloak1 a punishment for his love of logic1 weighed heavier than lead1 and scorched like the shirt of ,nessus4 ,then he held out his hand1 and let fall a drop which burned ,serlon to the bone-- ,and evermore that master wore ,a covering on his wrist4 ,before ,eudes de ,shirton1 ,william of ,malmesbury knew this anecdote4 ,his characters are two clerks1 an ,epicurean and a ,platonist1 who made the usual compact that the first to die should appear to the survivor1 and state whether ,plato's ideas1 or ,epicurus in his atoms1 were the correct reply to the conundrum of the universe4 ,the visit was to be paid within thirty days of the death4 ,one of the philosophical pair was killed1 and appeared to the other1 but after the time arranged1 explaining that he had been unable to keep his appointment earlier1 and1 stretching out his hand1 let fall three burning drops of blood1 which branded the brow of the psychical inquirer4 ,mrs4 ,grant1 in her ',superstitions of the ,highlands1' tells how a widow1 returning home through a wood at dusk1 was met by her husband's ghost1 'who led her carefully along a difficult bridge1 but left a blue mark on her wrist which the neighbours had opportunities of seeing during the week2 she survived the adventure4' ,a similar circumstance is related by ,richard ,baxter1#bbf in connection with a lady1 soon after the ,restoration1 when ,parliament was passing ,acts which pressed sore on the dissenters4 ,while praying for the deliverance of the faithful from the evils which threatened them1 'it was suddenly given her1 that there should be a speedy deliverance1 even in a very short time4 ,she desired to know which way1 and it being set strongly on her as a revelation1 she prayed earnestly that if this were a true divine impulse and revelation1 ,god would certify her by some sign1 and she ventured to choose the sign herself1 and laid her hand on the outside of the upper part of her leg1 begging of ,god1 that if it were a true answer1 ,he would make on that place some visible mark4 ,there was presently the mark of black spots1 like as if a hand had burnt it1 which her sister witnessed1 there being no such sign before4' ,in ,scott's well-known ballad1 the phantom knight impresses an indelible mark on the lady who has been his paramour1 and in the ,tartan stories1 written by a ,frenchman1 a ghost appears to ,prince ,faruk in a dream1 and touches him on the arm4 ,the ,prince finds the mark of the burn when he awakes4#bbg ,there are numerous stories of this kind scattered here and there in the traditionary lore of this and other countries1 and such indelible marks1 left by ghosts of their visits1 have been held as a mysterious proof of their materialistic power4 ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' 7#bnd ,s4 v4 #cdc7 vouches for the authenticity of the following 'incontrovertible facts1' which1 he says1 'occurred to a friend of my own1 and to the companion of his early youth1 who1 having obtained a cadetship1 went to ,india4' ,the story runs thus4 ',the former was towards evening driving across a long barren heath4 ,suddenly1 by his side in the vehicle1 was seen the figure of his playmate4 ,happening to turn his head from him to the horse1 and on looking again1 the apparition had vanished4 ,remembering the conversation that they had held together at parting1 he doubted not but that his friend was at that moment dead1 and that in his appearing to him1 he was come in the fulfilment of their mutual promise1 in order to remove all pre-existing doubts as to the possibility of a denizen of a higher sphere appearing to its friend on earth4 ,by the next ,indian ,mail was received intelligence of his death1 showing the exact coincidence as to the time of the two events4' ,in the biography of ,william ,smellie is the history of a compact he made with his friend ,william ,greenlaw1 whereby it was mutually agreed that whoever died first should return and give the other an account of his condition after death4 ,shortly after the anniversary of his death1 the ghost of ,greenlaw is reported to have appeared to ,smellie1 and in a solemn tone informed him 'that he had experienced great difficulties in procuring permission to return to this earth1 according to their agreement2 that he was now in a much better world than the one he had left1' but added 'that the hopes and wishes of its inhabitants were by no means satisfied1 as1 like those of the lower world1 they still looked forward in the hope of eventually reaching a still happier state of existence4' ,another case of a similar kind is that of the appearance of the ,rev4 ,theodore ,alois ,buckley1 formerly one of the chaplains of ,christ ,church1 ,oxford1 to his friend ,mr4 ,kenneth ,mackenzie4 ,the story1 as narrated in ,newton ,crosland's ',theory of ,apparitions1' is1 that about the year #ahej the two friends1 when at ,oxford1 entered into a compact of the kind already described1 the signal of appearance arranged between them being the laying of a ghostly hand on the forehead of the surviving friend4 ,on ,january #cj1 #ahef1 ,mr4 ,buckley died1 and on ,february #b1 it is said1 kept the agreement1 for as ,mr4 ,mackenzie 'was lying in bed1 watching the candle expiring1 he felt placed over one eye and his forehead a cool1 damp hand1 and on looking up saw ,buckley in his ordinary apparel1 with his portfolio under his arm standing by his bedside4' ,the ,duchess of ,mazarin is said to have appeared to ,madame de ,beauclair1 in accordance with a solemn compact made in life1 that whoever died first should return1 if it were possible1 and inform the other of the existence of the future state4 ,but it was some years after her death that the ,duchess kept her promise1 and when she did1 it was to make this announcement3 ',beauclair1 between the hours of twelve and one this night you will be with me4' ,the non-appearance of her friend's spirit for so long had caused ,madame de ,beauclair to doubt the non-existence of a future life4#bbh ,but in some cases such compacts have not been kept4 ,dr4 ,chance tells us in ',notes and ,queries' 7#fth ,s4 ii4 #eja7 that in #ahdf-ahdg1 as a young man1 he made such a compact1 but when his friend died in #ahgh he did not appear1 neither has he ever done so4 ,to quote ,dr4 ,chance's words3 ',it is true my friend died about noon1 and that ,i knew of his death the same evening1 so that if he had appeared to me ,i should have learnt nothing new1 whilst in most1 if not all1 of the recorded cases the apparition has been the first to convey the intelligence of the death4 ,but this did not exonerate my friend from his promise2 and if he did not keep it1 ,i must take it that he could not come1 for nothing but inability would have kept me from fulfilling my share of the compact if ,i had been called upon to do so4' ,in ,mather's ',remarkable ,providences' the failure of a spirit to keep a promise of appearing after its separation from the body is referred to1 the author being of opinion that there is great hazard attending such covenants4 ,to quote his words3 ',it may be after men have made such agreements1 devils may appear to them pretending to be their deceased friends1 and thereby their souls may be drawn in woful snares4 ,who knoweth whether ,god will permit the persons1 who have thus confederated1 to appear in the world again after their death8 ,and if not1 then the survivor will be under great temptation unto ,atheism1 as it fell out with the late ,earl of ,rochester1 who 7as is reported in his life by ,dr4 ,burnet7 did in the year #affe enter into a formal engagement with another gentleman1 not without ceremonies of religion1 that if either of them died1 he should appear1 and give the other notice of the future state if there were any4 ,after this the other gentleman was killed1 but did never appear after his death to the ,earl of ,rochester1 which was a great snare to him during the rest of his life4 ,though1 when ,god awakened the ,earl's conscience upon his death-bed1 he could not but acknowledge that one who had so corrupted the natural principles of truth as he had done1 had no reason to expect that such an extraordinary thing should be done for his conviction4 ,or if such agreement should necessitate an apparition1 how would the world be confounded with spectres2 how many would probably be scared out of their wits2 or what curious questions would vain men be proposing about things which are 7and it is meet they should be7 hid from mortals8' ,,footnotes3 #bbb ,life and ,times of ,lord ,brougham1 written by himself1 #ahga4 #bbc ,see ,brand's ,popular ,antiquities1 #ahgj1 iii4 p4 #aag4 #bbd ,dr4 ,f4 ,g4 ,lee3 ,glimpses of the ,supernatural2 the subject has been discussed in ,notes and ,queries4 #bbe ,comparative ,study of ,ghost ,stories1 ,april #ahhe1 pp4 #fcj1 #fca4 #bbf ,certainty of a ,world of ,spirits1 p4 #aha4 #bbg ,yardley's ,supernatural in ,fiction1 p4 #id4 #bbh ,t4 ,m4 ,jarvis3 ,accredited ,ghost ,stories1 #ahbc ,,chapter ,,xix ,,miners' ,,ghosts ,mines have long been supposed to be haunted1 a fact which is no cause of wonderment1 considering the many unearthly sounds--such as 'the dripping of water down the shafts1 the tunnelling of distant passages1 the rumbling of trains from some freshly-exploded lode'--constantly to be heard there4 ,in early times it was thought that all mines of gold1 c4 were guarded by evil spirits1 a belief to which ,falstaff alludes in #b ,henry ,,iv4 7,act iv4 sc4 #c71 where he speaks of 'learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil4' ,the ,peruvian ,indians affirm that the treasures in emerald mines are guarded by evil spirits1 and ,stevenson1 speaking of the emerald mine in the neighbourhood of ,los ,esmeraldos1 writes3 ',i never visited it1 owing to the superstitious dread of the natives1 who assured me it was enchanted1 and guarded by a dragon1 which poured forth thunder and lightning on those who dared to ascend the river4' ,the spirits that haunt mines are considered to be unfriendly1 because1 as an old writer quoted by ,reginald ,scot remarks1 'they do exceedingly envy every man's benefit in the discovery of hidden treasure1 ever haunting such places where money is concealed1 and diffusing malevolent and poisonous influences to blast the lives and limbs of those that dare attempt the discovery thereof4' ,and 'modern authors1' adds ,fuller1 'avouch that malignant spirits haunt the places where precious metals are found1 as if the devil did there sit abrood to hatch them1 cunningly pretending an unwillingness to part with them2 whereas1 indeed1 he gains more by one mine minted out into money than by a thousand concealed in the earth4' ,it is supposed by the people who live in the neighbourhood of ,largo ,law1 in ,fife1 that there is a very rich mine of gold under and near the mountain1 which has never yet been properly searched for4 ,so convinced are they that this is so1 that1 whenever they see the wool of a sheep's side tinged with yellow1 they think it has acquired that colour from having lain above the gold of the mine4 ,many years ago a ghost made its appearance upon the spot1 supposed to be acquainted with the secret of the mine1 but1 as it required to be spoken to before it would condescend to speak1 the question arose as to who should accost it4 ,at length a shepherd volunteered to ask the ghost the cause of its haunting this locality1 and to his surprise it proved very affable1 promising to appear on a particular night at eight o'clock1 when1 said the spirit1 ,if ,auchindownie cock disna craw1 ,and ,balmain horn disna blaw1 ,i'll tell ye where the gowd mine is in ,largo ,law4 ,true to its promise1 the ghost came ready to divulge the secret1 when ,tammie ,norrie1 the cowherd of ,balmain1 either through obstinacy or forgetfulness1 'blew a blast both loud and dread1' at which the ghost vanished1 after exclaiming-- ,woe to the man that blew the horn ,for out of the spot he shall ne'er be borne4 ,the unfortunate horn-blower was struck dead on the spot1 and as it was found impossible to remove his body1 which seemed1 as it were1 pinned to the earth1 a cairn of stones was raised over it1 known still as ,norrie's ,law1 and which is regarded as uncanny by the peasantry4#bbi ,again1 frequent accidents in mines were thought to be a proof of the potency 'of the metallic spirits1 which so tormented the workmen in ,german mines1 and in those of other countries1 by blindness1 giddiness1 and sudden sickness1 that they were obliged frequently to abandon mines well known to be rich in metals4'#bcj ,strange noises are oftentimes a puzzle to the miner1 and suggest a supernatural agency4 ,in the mine at ,wheal ,vor1 where there appears to have been a general belief in 'tokens' and supernatural appearances1 a man one morning1 on being relieved from his turn as watcher1 reported that during the night he had heard a sound like the emptying of a cartload of rubbish in front of the account house where he was staying4 ,on going out nothing was to be seen4 ,the man1 considering the strange sound as a warning1 pined away and died within a few weeks4 ,the ,cornish miner too has long been a firm believer in the existence of a mysterious being known as the ',knocker4' ,the late ,charles ,kingsley1 in his ',yeast1' asks1 ',who are the knockers8' ,to which question ,tregarra answers3 ',they are the ghosts1 the miners hold1 of the old ,jews that crucified ,our ,lord1 and were sent for slaves by the ,roman ,emperors to work the mines4444 ,we used to break into the old shafts and adits which they had made1 and find fine old stag's horn pickaxes1 that crumbled to pieces when we brought them to grass4 ,and they say that if a man will listen on a still night about these shafts1 he may hear the ghosts of them at work1 knocking and picking1 as clear as if there was a man at work in the next level4' ,in some districts the knockers are designated 'the buccas1' and1 generally speaking1 they work upon productive lodes only4 ,an interesting illustration of these strange beings is given in ,carne's ',tales of the ,west1' wherein we read how 'the rolling of the barrows1 the sound of the pickaxes1 and the fall of the earth and stones1 are distinctly heard through the night1 often1 no doubt1 the echo of their own labours2 but sometimes continued long after the labour has ceased1 and occasionally voices seem to mingle with them4' ,in ,wales1 when a mysterious thumping1 not produced by any human being1 is heard1 and when1 in examining the spot from whence the sound proceeded1 indications of ore oftentimes are detected1 the sturdiest incredulity is shaken4#bca ,in such cases1 'science points out that the noise may be produced by the action of water upon the loose stones in fissures and pot-holes of the mountain limestone1 and does actually suggest the presence of metals4' ,furthermore1 as the late ,mr4 ,wirt ,sikes rightly suggests1 'in the days before a ,priestley had caught and bottled that demon which exists in the shape of carbonic acid gas1 when the miner was smitten dead by an invisible foe in the deep bowels of the earth1 it was natural that his awe-struck companions should ascribe the mysterious blow to a supernatural enemy4 ,when the workman was assailed suddenly by what we now call fire-damp1 which killed him and his companions upon the dark rocks1 scorching1 burning1 and killing1 those who survived were not likely to question the existence of the mine-fiend4' ,hence1 too1 originated the superstition of basilisks in mines1 which destroyed with their terrible gaze4#bcb ,in the ',colliery ,guardian' for ,may #ac1 #ahfc1 many strange superstitions are described1 in which it is stated that the pitmen in the ,midland ,counties have or had a belief unknown to the north1 in aerial whistlings warning them against the pit4 ,who or what the invisible musicians were1 nobody pretended to know1 but they generally consisted of seven1 as the ',seven ,whistlers' is the name they bear to this day4#bcc ,an instance of this superstition is given in the ',times' of ,september #ba1 #ahgd4 ,owing to certain nocturnal sounds1 a large number of the men employed at some of the ,bedworth collieries in ,north ,warwickshire refused to descend the coal-pits in which they were employed4 ,during ,sunday it was stated that these sounds had been distinctly heard in the neighbourhood of ,bedworth1 and the result was that on the following morning1 when labour should have been resumed1 the men pointedly refused to work4 ,the ,northern mines were supposed to be haunted by two goblins4 ,one was a spiteful elf1 who indicated his presence only by the mischief he perpetrated4 ,he rejoiced in the name of ',cutty ,soams1' and appears 'to have amused himself by severing the rope-traces or soams1 by which an assistant putter1 honoured by the title of the fool1 is yoked to the tub4 ,the strands of hemp1 which were left all sound in the board at kenner-time1 were found next morning severed in twain4 ',cutty ,soams' has been at work1 would the fool and his driver say1 dolefully knotting the cord4' ,the other goblin was no other than a ghostly putter1 and his name was ',bluecap4' ,sometimes the miners would perceive a light blue flame flicker through the air1 and settle on a full coal-tub1 which immediately moved towards the rolley way1 as though impelled by the sturdiest sinews in the working4 ,industrious ,bluecap was at his vocation1 but he required to be paid for his services2 therefore1 once a fortnight1 his wages were left for him in a solitary corner of the mine4 ,if they were a farthing below his due1 the indignant ,bluecap would not pocket a stiver2 if they were a farthing above his due1 ,bluecap left the surplus where he found it4 ,a hewer was asked if ,bluecap's wages were nowadays to be left for him1 whether they would be appropriated4 ,the man shrewdly answered he thought they would be taken by ,bluecap1 or somebody else4 ,but as most mines are productive1 more or less1 of the same weird echoes1 we find similar stories current in different localities of strange hammerings and knockings4 ,a story is told in ,north ,ayrshire of a miner who1 day by day1 heard the sounds of a pick on the other side of the coal into which he was digging1 which so terrified him1 that at last he sought the help of a minister to protect him 'from the machinations of the devil4' ,the good man having asked him how many 'holings'--the depth of coal displaced by one blasting--there were before the wall between him and the evil spirit could be broken through1 sent him back to work until there was only one 'holing' between them4 ,then he was to take a piece of bread1 and crumble it all down in a train to the mouth of the pit1 and again resuming his pick1 to strike through the dividing coal4 ,the moment this was done1 he was to cry ',the hole's mine6' and make for the mouth of the pit as fast as he could4 ,these directions the miner carefully followed1 but he had a narrow escape1 for he had no sooner reached his place of safety than the walls of the pit came close together with a thundering crash4 ,another story1 recorded in ',communications with the ,unseen ,world1' tells how1 for many years1 the overseer of a mine at ,whitehaven was a ,cumberland man1 but being found guilty of some unfair proceedings1 he was dismissed by the proprietors from his post1 though employed in an inferior one4 ,the new overseer was a ,northumberland man1 to whom the degraded overseer bore the strongest hatred1 and was heard to say that some day he would be his ruin4 ,one day they were both destroyed by fire-damp1 and it was believed in the mine that1 preferring revenge to life1 the ex-overseer had taken his successor1 less acquainted than himself with the localities of the mine1 into a place where he knew the fire-damp to exist1 without a safety lamp1 and had thus contrived his destruction4 ,but1 ever after1 in the place where the two men perished1 their voices might be heard high in dispute1 the ,northumbrian burr being distinctly audible1 and also the well-known pronunciation of the treacherous murderer4 ,the mysterious apparition of a woman who committed suicide was supposed to haunt ,polbreen ,mine1 ,cornwall1 locally known as ',dorcas4' ,she appeared to take a malicious delight in tormenting the miner when at work1 calling him by his name1 and enticing him from his duties4 ,this was carried on by her to such an extent that when 'a tributer' had made a poor month1 he was commonly asked if he had 'been chasing ,dorcas4' ,on one occasion only1 ,dorcas is said to have acted kindly4 ,it is stated#bcd that two miners1 who may be styled ,martin and ,jacky1 were at work in their end1 and at the time busily engaged 'beating the borer4' ,the name of ,jack was distinctly uttered between the blows4 ,he stopped and listened--all was still4 ,they proceeded with their task1 a blow on the iron rod--',jacky6' ,another blow--',jacky6' ,they pause--all is silent4 ',well1 thee wert called1 ,jacky1' said ,martin1 'go and see4' ,jacky1 however1 disregarded the sound1 work was resumed1 and ',jacky6 ,jacky6 ,jacky6' was called more vehemently and distinctly than before4 ,jacky threw down his hammer1 resolved to satisfy himself as to the person who was calling him4 ,but he had not proceeded many yards from the spot on which he had been standing at work1 when a mass of rock fell from the roof of the level weighing many tons1 which would have crushed him to death4 ,martin had been stooping1 holding the borer1 and a projecting corner of rock just above him turned off the falling mass4 ,he was securely enclosed1 but he was extricated without injury4 ,jack declared to his dying day that he owed his life to ,dorcas4 ,a similar experience is recorded by ,mr4 ,john ,lean in the ',west ,briton1' who relates how1 when he was underground hundreds of fathoms distant from any other human being at ,wheal ,jewell1 a mine in the parish of ,gwennap1 'as he was walking slowly and silently through the level1 his thoughts1 as it were1 absorbed1 examining the rich course of copper ore in the roof or back1 he was aroused as though by an audible voice1 ,you are in the winze6 ,he at once threw himself flat on his back in the bottom of the level1 and on shifting from this posture to that of a sitting one1 he discovered that his heels were on the verge of the end of a winze1 left exposed and open1 embracing all the width of the gunnis1 communicating with the next level1 ten fathoms below4 ,at the moment he received this singular warning1 his foot was lifted for the next step over the mouth of this abyss1 a step to eternity1 had it not thus been prevented4' ,on the ,continent1 similar tales of phantoms haunting mines are current4 ,in the mines about ,clausthal and ,andreasberg a spectre was formerly seen who went by the name of the ',bergmnch4' ,he was clad as a monk1 but was of gigantic stature1 and always carried in his hand a large tallow candle1 which never went out4 ,when the miners entered in the morning1 he would stand at the aperture with his light1 letting them pass under it4 ,it appears that the ,bergmnch was formerly a burgomaster or director1 who took such delight in mining that1 when at the point of death1 he prayed that instead of resting in heaven1 he might wander about till the last day1 over hill and dale1 in pits and shafts1 and superintend the mining4 ,to those towards whom he is well disposed he renders many a kind service1 and appears to them in a human form and of ordinary stature2 while to others he appears in his true form4 ,his eyes sprout forth flames1 and are like coach-wheels2 his legs are like spiders' webs4#bce ,associated1 too1 with the ,german miners' superstitious fancies is the belief in the ',cobal1' or ',kobold1' a supernatural being who is generally malicious1 and rarely heard but when mischief is near4 ,but still more to be feared were the ',knauff-kriegen1' of whom ,professor ,ramazzini of ,padua thus writes3 ',i took the story of devils haunting mines to be fabulous1 until ,i was undeceived by a skilful ,hanoverian operator in metals1 who is now employed by our duke in tracing the metallic veins in the mountainous parts of ,modena4 ,for this man told me seriously1 that in the ,hanoverian mines the diggers have frequent falls1 which they say are occasioned by their being knocked down by devils1 which they call ,knauff-kriegen1 and that after such falls they often die in the space of three or four days2 but if they outlive that time they recover4' ,french mines are haunted1 and many tales are told of a spectral hare which at times is seen4 ,one story tells how 'a miner was frightened one day by seeing a white object run and conceal itself in an iron pipe4 ,he went forward1 and stopped up the two ends of the tube1 and called one of his fellow men to examine the pipe with him4 ,they did so1 but found nothing within1 the hare spirit had vanished4'#bcf ',similarly at ,wheal ,vor1' says ,mr4 ,hunt1#bcg 'it has always been and is now believed that a fatal accident in the mine is presaged by the appearance of a hare1 or white rabbit1 in one of the engine houses4 ,the men solemnly declare that they have chased these appearances till they were hemmed in apparently1 without being able to catch them2 and they tell how the white rabbit on one occasion was run into a windbore lying on the ground1 and though stopped in1 escaped4' ,with this belief may be compared one which was common in ,sussex a few years ago1 closely resembling the ,french superstition of the ,ftiches1 animals of a dazzling whiteness which appear only in the night-time1 and vanish as soon as anyone attempts to touch them4 ,a blacksmith's wife at ,ashington1 the daughter of a small farmer1 was found one morning much depressed in mind1 and on being questioned as to the cause of it said1 ',i shall hear bad news before the day is over2 for late last night as ,i was waiting for my husband what should ,i see on looking out of the window1 lying close under it1 but a thing like a duck1 yet a great deal whiter than it ought to have been1 whiter than any snow4' ,it was suggested that it might have been a neighbour's cat1 and that it looked whiter than usual on account of the moonlight4 ',oh1 dear no6' she replied1 'it was no cat1 nor anything alive2 those white things were sent as warnings1' but no sad news came as she expected4#bch ,she nevertheless remained firmly convinced that a warning of some kind had been supernaturally sent to her4 ,,footnotes3 #bbi ,chambers's ,popular ,rhymes of ,scotland1 pp4 #bch1 #bci4 #bcj ,jones's ,credulities ,past and ,present1 p4 #abc4 #bca ,see ,hunt's ,popular ,romances of ,west of ,england4 #bcb ,wirt ,sikes3 ,british ,goblins1 p4 #bf4 #bcc ,see ,chapter ',phantom ,animals4' #bcd ,hunt's ,popular ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #ced4 #bce ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 iii4 p4 #if4 #bcf ,jones's ,credulities ,past and ,present1 p4 #ach4 #bcg ,popular ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #cej4 #bch ,folk-lore ,record1 i4 p4 #ed4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,banshee ,one of the grandest and wildest legends of ,ireland is that relating to the ,banshee--a mysterious personage1 generally supposed to be the harbinger of some approaching misfortune4 ,the name of the ,banshee 'is variously pronounced ,banshi and ,benshee1 being translated by different scholars1 the ,female ,fairy1 the ,woman of ,peace1 the ,lady of ,death1 the ,angel of ,death1 the ,white ,lady of ,sorrow1 the ,nymph of the ,air1 and the ,spirit of the ,air4' ,the many romantic incidents in which this weird figure has1 at different times1 made its appearance are treasured up among the household stories of our ,irish peasantry4 ,it must not be forgotten that in a country abounding in natural beauties such a superstition would harmonise with the surroundings of the picturesque scenery1 and so gain a firm hold on the mind of the inhabitants4 ,unlike1 also1 many of the legendary beliefs of this kind1 the popular accounts illustrative of it are related on the evidence of all sections of the community1 many an enlightened and well-informed advocate being enthusiastic in his vindication of its reality4 ,it would seem1 however1 that no family which is not of an ancient and noble stock is honoured with this visit of the ,banshee1 and hence its non-appearance has been regarded as an indication of disqualification in this respect on the part of the person about to die4 ',if ,i am rightly informed1' writes ,sir ,walter ,scott1 'the distinction of a ,banshee is only allowed to families of the pure ,milesian stock1 and is never ascribed to any descendant of the proudest ,norman or boldest ,saxon who followed the banner of ,strongbow1 much less to adventurers of later date who have obtained settlements in the ,green ,isle4' ,thus1 an amusing story is contained in an ,irish elegy to the effect that on the death of one of the ,knights of ,kerry1 when the ,banshee was heard to lament his decease at ,dingle--a seaport town1 the property of those knights--all the merchants of this place were thrown into a state of alarm lest the mournful and ominous wailing should be a forewarning of the death of one of them1 but1 as the poet humorously points out1 there was no necessity for them to be anxious on this point4 ,although1 through misfortune1 a family may be brought down from high estate to the rank of peasant tenants1 the ,banshee never leaves nor forgets it till the last member has been gathered to his fathers in the churchyard4 ,the ,mac,carthys1 ,o',flahertys1 ,magraths1 ,o',neils1 ,o',rileys1 ,o',sullivans1 ,o',reardons1 have their ,banshees1 though many representatives of these names are in abject poverty4#bci ',the ,banshee1' says ,mr4 ,mc,anally1 'is really a disembodied soul1 that of one who in life was strongly attached to the family1 or who had good reason to hate all its members4 ,thus1 in different instances1 the ,banshee's song may be inspired by different motives4 ,when the ,banshee loves those whom she calls1 the song is a low1 soft chant1 giving notice1 indeed1 of the close proximity of the angel of death1 but with a tenderness of tone that reassures the one destined to die1 and comforts the survivors2 rather a welcome than a warning1 and having in its tones a thrill of exultation1 as though the messenger spirit were bringing glad tidings to him summoned to join the waiting throng of his ancestors4' ,to a doomed member of the family of the ,o',reardons the ,banshee generally appears in the form of a beautiful woman1 'and sings a song so sweetly solemn as to reconcile him to his approaching fate4' ,but if1 during his lifetime1 the ,banshee was an enemy of the family1 the cry is the scream of a fiend1 howling with demoniac delight over the coming death agony of another of his foes4 ,hence1 in ,ireland1 a source of dread to many a family against which she has an enmity is the 'hateful ,banshee4' ',it appears1' adds ,mc,anally1#bdj 'that a noble family1 whose name is still familiar in ,mayo1 is attended by a ,banshee of this description--the spirit of a young girl1 deceived1 and afterwards murdered by a former head of the family4 ,with her dying breath she cursed her murderer1 and promised she would attend him and his for ever4 ,after many years the chieftain reformed his ways1 and his youthful crime was almost forgotten even by himself1 when one night1 as he and his family were seated by the fire1 the most terrible shrieks were suddenly heard outside the castle walls4 ,all ran out1 but saw nothing4 ,during the night the screams continued as though the castle were besieged by demons1 and the unhappy man recognised in the cry of the ,banshee the voice of the young girl he had murdered4 ,the next night he was assassinated by one of his followers1 when again the wild unearthly screams were heard exulting over his fate4 ,since that night the hateful ,banshee has1 it is said1 never failed to notify to the family1 with shrill cries of revengeful gladness1 when the time of one of their number has arrived4' ,among some of the recorded instances of the ,banshee's appearance may be mentioned one related by ,miss ,lefrau1 the niece of ,sheridan1 in the ,memoirs of her grandmother1 ,mrs4 ,frances ,sheridan4 ,from this account we gather that ,miss ,elizabeth ,sheridan was a firm believer in the ,banshee1 and firmly maintained that the one attached to the ,sheridan family was distinctly heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the news arrived from ,france of ,mrs4 ,frances ,sheridan's death at ,blois4 ,she added that a niece of ,miss ,sheridan's made her very angry by observing that as ,mrs4 ,frances ,sheridan was by birth a ,chamberlaine1 a family of ,english extraction1 she had no right to the guardianship of an ,irish fairy1 and that therefore the ,banshee must have made a mistake4 ,then there is the well-known case related by ,lady ,fanshawe1 who tells us how1 when on a visit in ,ireland1 she was awakened at midnight by a supernatural scream outside her window4 ,on looking out she saw a young and rather handsome woman1 with dishevelled hair1 who eventually vanished with two shrieks similar to that which had at first attracted her attention4 ,on communicating the circumstance in the morning1 her host replied1 ',a near relation of mine died last night in the castle1 and before such an event happens1 the female spectre whom you have seen is always visible4' ,this weird apparition is generally supposed to assume the form of a woman1 sometimes young1 but more often old4 ,she is usually attired in a loose white drapery1 and her long ragged locks hang over her thin shoulders4 ,as night time approaches she occasionally becomes visible1 and pours forth her mournful wail--a sound said to resemble the melancholy moaning of the wind3 ,who sits upon the heath forlorn1 ,with robe so free and tresses worn8 ,anon she pours a harrowing strain1 ,and then she sits all mute again6 ,now peals the wild funereal cry1 ,and now--it sinks into a sigh4 ,oftentimes she is not seen but only heard1 yet she is supposed to be always clearly discernible to the person upon whom she specially waits4 ,respecting the history of the ,banshee1 popular tradition in many instances accounts for its presence as the spirit of some mortal woman whose destinies have become linked by some accident with those of the family she follows4 ,it is related how the ,banshee of the family of the ,o',briens of ,thomond is related to have been originally a woman who had been seduced by one of the chiefs of that race--an act of indiscretion which ultimately brought upon her misfortune and death4 ',sometimes the song of the ,banshee is heard1' writes ,mr4 ,mc,anally1#bda 'at the beginning of a course of conduct1 a line of action1 that has ended fatally4' ,a story is told in ,kerry of a young girl who engaged herself to a youth1 but at the moment the promise of marriage was given1 the low sad wail was heard by both above their heads4 ,the young man deserted her1 she died of a broken heart1 and1 on the night before her death1 the ,banshee's ominous song was heard outside her mother's cottage window4 ,on another occasion1 we are told by the same authority1 one of the ,flahertys of ,galway marched out of his castle with his men on a foray1 and1 as his troops filed through the gateway1 the ,banshee was heard high above the towers of the fortress4 ,the next night she sang again1 and was heard no more for a month1 when he heard the wail under his window1 and on the following day his followers brought back his corpse4 ,one of the ,o',neils of ,shane ,castle1 ,antrim1 heard the ,banshee as he started on a journey1 but while on the same journey he was accidentally killed4 ,according to ,lady ,wilde1 'at ,lord ,o',neil's residence1 ,shane's ,castle1 there is a room appropriated to the use of the ,banshee1 and she often appears there1 sometimes shrouded and in a dark1 mist-like cloak4 ,at other times she is seen as a beautiful young girl1 with long red-gold hair1 and wearing a green kirtle and scarlet mantle1 covered with gold1 after the ,irish fashion4' ,she adds that there is no harm or fear of evil in her mere presence1 unless she is seen in the act of crying4 ,but this is a fatal sign1 and the mournful wail is a sure and certain prophecy that the angel of death is waiting for one of the family4#bdb ,mr4 ,crofton ,croker1 in his ',fairy ,legends and ,traditions of the ,south of ,ireland1' has given several entertaining stories of the ,banshee2 but adds1 that since these spirits have become amenable to vulgar laws they have lost much of their romantic character4 ,the introduction of the ,banshee in the following stanza of a 'keening'--an ,irish term for a wild song of lamentation poured forth over a dead body by certain mourners employed for the purpose--indicates the popular feeling on the subject4 ,it was composed on a young man named ,ryan1 whose mother speaks-- ',twas the ,banshee's lonely wailing1 ,well ,i knew the voice of death1 ,on the night wind slowly sailing ,o'er the bleak and gloomy heath4 ,if a member of an ,irish family dies abroad1 the ,banshee notifies his misfortune at home4 ,when the ,duke of ,wellington died1 the ,banshee was heard wailing round the house of his ancestors1 and during the ,napoleonic campaigns she often announced at home the death of ,irish officers and soldiers--an occurrence which happened on the night preceding the ,battle of the ,boyne4 ',indeed1' says ,mr4 ,mc,anally1 'the ,banshee has given notice at the family seat in ,ireland of deaths in battle fought in every part of the world2 from every point to which ,irish regiments have followed the roll of the ,british drums1 news of the prospective shedding of ,irish blood has been brought home4' ',the ,welsh have also their ,banshee1 which generally makes its appearance1' writes ,mr4 ,wirt ,sikes1#bdc 'in the most curdling form1' and is regarded as an omen of death4 ,it is supposed to come after dusk1 and to flap its leathern wings against the window where the sick person happens to be4 ,nor is this all1 for in a broken1 howling tone1 it calls on the one who is to quit mortality by his or her name several times4 ,there is an old legend of the ',ellyllon1' a prototype of the ,scotch and ,irish ,banshee1 which usually appears as an old crone with streaming hair and a coat of blue1 making its presence manifest by its ominous scream of death4 ,the ,welsh have a further form of the ,banshee in the ',cyhyraeth1' which is never seen1 although the noise it makes is such as to inspire terror in those who chance to hear it4 ,thus1 in some of the ,welsh villages it is heard passing through the empty streets and lanes by night groaning dismally1 and rattling the window-shutters as it goes along4 ,according to the local belief it is only heard 'before the death of such as are of strayed mind1 or who have been long ill2 but it always comes when an epidemic is about to visit the neighbourhood4' ,as an instance of how superstitions are remitted from one country to another1 it is told that in ,america there are tales of the ,banshee imported from ,ireland along with the sons of that soil4 ,,footnotes3 #bci ,mc,anally3 ,irish ,wonders1 p4 #aab4 #bdj ,irish ,wonders1 #ahhh1 p4 #aad4 #bda ,irish ,wonders1 p4 #aab4 #bdb ,ancient ,cures1 ,charms1 and ,usages of ,ireland1 p4 #hd4 #bdc ,british ,goblins1 pp4 #bab-baf4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,sea ,,phantoms ,the romance of the sea has always attracted interest1 and1 as ,buckle once remarked1 'the credulity of sailors is notorious1 and every literature contains evidence of the multiplicity of their superstitions1 and of the tenacity with which they cling to them4' ,this is not surprising1 for many of the weird old fancies with which the legendary lore of the sea abounds originated in certain atmospherical phenomena which were once a mystery to our seafaring community4 ,in a ',new ,catalogue of ,vulgar ,errors' 7#agfa7 the writer says3 ',i look upon sailors to care as little of what becomes of themselves as any people under the sun2 yet no people are so much terrified at the thoughts of an apparition4 ,their sea-songs are full of them2 they firmly believe in their existence1 and honest ,jack ,tar shall be more frightened at the glimmering of the moon upon the tackling of a ship1 than he would be if a ,frenchman were to place a blunderbus at his head4' ,the occasional reflections of mountains1 cities1 and ships in mirage gave rise to many strange stories of spectral lands4 ,early instances of this popular fancy occur1 and ,mrs4 ,jameson1 in her ',sacred and ,legendary ,art1' quotes an old ,venetian legend of #acci1 relating to the ring with which the ,adriatic was first wedded4 ,during a storm a fisherman was required to row three men1 whom he afterwards learns were ,st4 ,mark1 ,st4 ,george1 and ,st4 ,nicholas1 first to certain churches1 and then over to the entrance of the port4 ,but there a huge ,saracen galley was seen with frightful demons on board1 which spectral craft the three men caused to sink1 thus saving the city4 ,on leaving the boat1 the boatman is presented with a ring4 ,in the ,venetian academy is a painting by ,giorgione of this phantom ship1 with a demon crew1 who1 terrified at the presence of the three holy men1 jump overboard1 or cling to the rigging1 while the masts flame with fire1 and cast a lurid glare on the water4 ,collin de ,plancy1 in his ',sacred ,legends of the ,middle ,ages1' tells us how at ,boulogne1 in #ffc1 while the people were at prayers1 a strange ship--without guide or pilot--was observed approaching the shore1 with the ,virgin on board1 who indicated to the people a site for her chapel--delusions which may be classed in the same category as the 'phantom ship4' ,novelists and poets have made graphic use of such well-known apparitions1 variations of which occur in every maritime country4 ,but the author accounts for this philosophically1 adding that 'a great deal may be said in favour of men troubled with the scurvy1 the concomitants of which disorder are1 generally1 faintings and the hip1 and horrors without any ground for them4' ,there were few ships in days gone by that 'doubled the ,cape' but owned among the crew some who had seen the ',flying ,dutchman1' a phantom to which ,sir ,walter ,scott alludes as the harbinger of woe4 ,this ship was distinguished from earthly vessels by bearing a press of sail when all others were unable to show an inch of canvas4 ,the story goes that ',falkenburg was a noble-man who murdered his brother and his bride in a fit of passion1 and was condemned to wander towards the north4 ,on arriving at the sea-shore1 he found awaiting him a boat1 with a man in it1 who said1 ,expectamus te4 ,he entered the boat1 attended by his good and his evil spirit1 and went on board a spectral bark in the harbour4 ,there he still lingers1 while these spirits play dice for his soul4 ,for six hundred years the ship has wandered the seas1 and mariners still see her in the ,german ,ocean1 sailing northwards1 without helm or helmsman4 ,she is painted grey1 has coloured sails1 a pale flag1 and no crew4 ,flames issue from the masthead at night4'#bdd ,there are numerous versions of this popular legend1 and ,o',reilly1 in his ',songs of ,southern ,seas1' says-- ,heaven help the ship near which the demon sailor steers6 ,the doom of those is sealed to whom the phantom ship appears1 ,they'll never reach their destin'd port1 they'll see their homes no more1 ,they who see the ,flying ,dutchman never1 never reach the shore4 ,captain ,marryat made this legend the basis of his ',phantom ,ship1' and ,longfellow1 in his ',tales of a ,wayside ,inn1' powerfully tells of-- ,a ship of the dead that sails the sea1 ,and is called the ,carmilhan1 ,a ghostly ship1 with a ghostly crew4 ,in tempests she appears1 ,and before the gale1 or against the gale1 ,she sails1 without a rag of sail1 ,without a helmsman steers4 ,and ill-betide the luckless ship ,that meets the ,carmilhan6 ,over her decks the seas will leap1 ,she must go down into the deep1 ,and perish1 mouse and man4 ,there are1 also1 a host of stories of spectral ships1 some of which are still credited by sailors4 ,the ,germans have their phantom ships1 to meet which is regarded as an omen of disaster4 ,in one instance1 the crew is said to consist of ghosts of condemned sinners1 who serve one hundred years in each grade1 until each has a short tour as captain4 ,this mysterious vessel is described by ,oscar ,l4 ,b4 ,wolff in ',the ,phantom ,ship'3 ,for the ship was black1 her masts were black1 ,and her sails coal-black as death2 ,and the ,evil-,one steered at the helm1 and laughed1 ,and mocked at their failing breath4 ,swedish sailors have a vessel of this kind4 ,she is so large that it takes three weeks to go from poop to prow1 and hence orders are transmitted on horseback4 ,danish folk-lore has its spectral ship1 and a ,schleswick-,holstein tradition relates how a maiden was carried off by her lover in a spectral ship1 as one day she sat on the shore bewailing his absence4 ,in ',mlusine' for ,september #ahhd1bde it is stated that1 'in many localities in ,lower ,brittany1 stories are current of a huge ship manned by giant human forms and dogs4 ,the men are reprobates guilty of horrible crimes2 the dogs1 demons set to guard them and inflict on them a thousand tortures4 ,such a vessel wanders ceaselessly from sea to sea1 without entering port or casting anchor1 and will do so to the end of the world4 ,no vessel should allow it to fall aboard1 for its crew would suddenly disappear4 ,the orders1 in this strange craft1 are given through huge conch-shells1 and1 the noise being heard several miles off1 it is easy to avoid her4 ,besides1 there is nothing to fear1 if the ,ave ,maria is repeated1 and the ,saints appealed to1 especially ,st4 ,anne d',auray4' ,stories of phantom ships are found1 more or less1 all over the world1 and are associated with many a romantic and tragic tale4 ,bret ,harte#bdf relates how some children go on board a hulk to play1 but it breaks away from its moorings1 drifts out to sea1 and is lost4 ,yet at times there are heard3 ,the voices of children1 still at play1 ,in a phantom hulk that drifts away ,through channels whose waters never fail4 ,and ,whittier#bdg tells how the young captain of a schooner visits the ,labrador coast where1 in a certain secluded bay1 two beautiful sisters live with their mother4 ,both fall in love with him1 and1 just as the younger is about to meet her lover and fly with him1 she is imprisoned in her room by her mother1 whereupon her elder sister goes in her stead1 and is carried to sea in the vessel4 ,the disappointed lover1 on learning the deception1 returns only to find his loved one dead4 ,but the schooner1 adds ,whittier1 never returned home and3 ,even yet1 at ,seven ,isle ,bay1 ,is told the ghastly tale ,of a weird unspoken sail4 ,she flits before no earthly blast1 ,with the red sign fluttering from her mast1 ,the ghost of the ,schooner ,breeze4 ,in ,dana's ',buccaneer1' the pirate carries a lady to sea1 who jumps overboard1 and on the anniversary of her death3 ,a ship6 and all on fire6 hull1 yards1 and mast1 ,her sails are sheets of flame2 she's nearing fast6 ,occasionally a spectre ship is seen at ,cap d',espoir1 in the ,gulf of ,st4 ,lawrence1 which is commonly reported to be the ghost of the flagship of a fleet sent to reduce the ,french forts by ,queen ,anne1 and which was wrecked here1 and all hands4 ,on this phantom ship1 which is crowded with soldiers1 lights are seen1 and on the bowsprit stands an officer1 pointing to the shore with one hand1 while a woman is on the other side4 ,the lights suddenly go out1 a scream is heard1 and the ill-fated vessel sinks4 ,under one form or another1 the phantom ship has long been a world-wide piece of folk-lore1 and even in an ,ojibway tale1 when a maiden is on the eve of being sacrificed to the spirit of the falls1 a spectral canoe1 with a fairy in it1 takes her place as a sacrifice4 ,dennys1 in his ',folk-lore of ,china1' gives a novel variety of the phantom ship4 ,the story goes that a horned serpent was found in a tiger's cage near ,foochow by a party of tiger-hunters4 ,they tried to ship it to ,canton1 but during the voyage the serpent escaped1 through a flash of lightning striking the cage and splitting it4 ,thereupon the captain offered a thousand dollars to anyone who would destroy the monster1 but its noxious breath killed two sailors who attempted the task4 ,eventually the junk was abandoned1 and is still believed to cruise about the coast1 and cautious natives will not board a derelict junk4 ,one of the chief features of many of these phantom-ship stories is the idea of retribution for evil deeds1 as in the following1 told by ,irving in the ',chronicles of ,wolfert's ,roost4' ,a certain ,ramnout van ,dam had 'danced and drank until midnight--,saturday--when he entered his boat to return home4 ,he was warned that he was on the verge of ,sunday morning1 but he pulled off1 swearing that he would not land until he reached ,spiting ,devil1 if it took him a month of ,sundays4 ,he was never seen afterwards1 but may be heard plying his oars1 being the ,flying ,dutchman of the ,tappan ,sea1 doomed to ply between ,kakiot and ,spiting ,devil until the day of judgment4' ,moore in his account of the phantom ship seen in the description of ,deadman's ,island1 where wrecks were once common1 writes3 ,to ,deadman's ,isle1 on the eve of the blast1 ,to ,deadman's ,isle1 she speeds her fast1 ,by skeleton shapes1 her sails are furled1 ,and the hand that steers is not of this world4 ,turning to our own country1 similar phantom vessels have long been supposed to haunt the coast1 and ,mr4 ,hunt#bdh describes one that visited the ,cornish shores on the occasion of a storm1 and to rescue which delusive bark help was despatched3 ',away they pulled1 and the boat which had been first launched still kept ahead by dint of mechanical power and skill4 ,at length the helmsman cried1 ,stand by to board her4 ,the vessel came so close to the boat that they could see the men1 and the bow oarsman made a grasp at the bulwarks4 ,his hand found nothing solid and he fell4 ,ship and light then disappeared4 ,the next day the ,neptune of ,london was wrecked1 and all perished4 ,the captain's body was picked up after a few days1 and that of his son also4' ,among other ,cornish stories may also be mentioned those known as the ',pirate-wrecker and the ,death ,ship2' and the ',spectre ,ship of ,porthcurno4' ,occasionally off the ,lizard a phantom lugger is seen1 and ,bottrell#bdi tells how1 at times1 not only spectral ships1 but the noise of falling spars1 c41 are heard during an incoming fog4 ,scotch sailors have their stories of phantom ships4 ,thus a spectral vessel--the ghostly bark of a bridal party maliciously wrecked--is said to appear in the ,solway1 always hovering near a ship that is doomed to be wrecked2 and ,cunningham#bej has given a graphic account of two phantom pirate ships4 ,the story goes that1 for a time1 two ,danish pirates were permitted to perform wicked deeds on the deep1 but were at last condemned to perish by wreck for the evil they had caused4 ,on a certain night they were seen approaching the shore--the one crowded with people1 and the other carrying on its deck a spectral shape4 ,then four young men put off in a boat that had been sent from one ship1 to join her1 but1 on reaching the ship1 both vessels sank where they were4 ,on the anniversary of their wreck1 and before a gale1 these two vessels are supposed to approach the shore1 and to be distinctly visible4 ,a ,highland legend records how a large ship--the ',rotterdam'--which went down with all on board1 is seen at times with her ghostly crew1 a sure indication of disaster4 ,but perhaps this superstition has been most firmly riveted in the popular mind by ,coleridge's ',ancient ,mariner1' wherein an ominous sign is seen afar off prefiguring the death of himself and his comrades4 ,it is a spectre ship in which ,death and ,life-in-,death play at dice for the possession of the crew--the latter winning the mariner4 ,her lips were red1 her looks were free1 ,her locks were yellow as gold2 ,her skin was white as leprosy1 ,the night-mare ,life-in-,death was she1 ,who thicks man's blood with cold4 ,stories of ghosts having appeared at sea have been told from early days1 and have everywhere been a fruitful source of terror to sailors4 ,but this is not surprising for1 as ,scot says1#bea 'innumerable are the reports of accidents unto such as frequent the seas1 as fishermen and sailors1 who discourse of noises1 flashes1 shadows1 echoes1 and other things1 nightly seen or heard upon the waters4' ,brand1#beb for instance1 narrates an amusing tale of a sea ghost4 ,the ship's cook1 who had one of his legs shorter than the other1 died on a homeward passage and was buried at sea4 ,a few nights afterwards his ghost was seen walking before the ship1 and the crew were in a panic4 ,it was found however that the cause of this alarm was part of a maintop1 the remains of some wreck floating before them that simulated the dead man's walk4 ,on another occasion a ship's crew fancied they had not only seen but 'smelled' a ghost--a piece of folly which so enraged the captain that he ordered the boatswain's mate to give some of the sailors a dozen lashes1 which entirely cleared the ship of the ghost during the remainder of the voyage4 ,it was afterwards ascertained that the smell proceeded from a dead rat behind some beer-barrels4 ,in the same way1 many a ghost story might be explained which1 proceeding from natural causes1 has been the source of superstitious dread among the seafaring community4 ,cheever1 in his ',sea and ,sailor1' referring to the credulity of sailors1 says3 ',the sailor is a profound believer in ghosts4 ,one of these nocturnal visitants was supposed to visit our ship4 ,it was with the utmost difficulty that the crew could be made to turn in at night4 ,you might have seen the most athletic1 stout-hearted sailor on board1 when called to take his night-watch aloft1 glancing at the yards and tackling of the ship for the phantom4 ,it was a long time1 in the opinion of the crew1 before the phantom left the ship4' ,it may be remembered that ,sir ,walter ,scott#bec relates how the captain of an ,english ship was assured by the crew that the ghost of a murdered sailor1 every night1 visited the ship4 ,so convinced were the sailors of the appearance of this phantom that they refused to sail1 but the mystery was cleared up by the discovery of a somnambulist4 ,occasionally1 the ghost of a former captain is supposed to visit a vessel and to warn the crew of an approaching storm4 ,symondson in his ',two ,years abaft the ,mast' records the appearance of such an apparition1 at one time 'to prescribe a change of course1 at another1 in wet and calm weather1 quietly seated in his usual place on the poop deck4'#bed ,sometimes similar warnings have come from other sources4 ,thus a curious occurrence is told by ,mary ,howitt1 which happened in #affd to ,captain ,rogers1 ,r4,n41 who was in command of the ',society1' a vessel bound from ,england to ,virginia4 ,the story goes that 'he was heading in for the capes1 and was1 as he reckoned1 after heaving the lead1 three hundred miles from them4 ,a vision appeared to him in the night1 telling him to turn out1 and look about4 ,he did so1 found all alert1 and retired again4 ,the vision appeared again1 and told him to heave the lead4 ,he arose1 caused the lead to be cast1 and found but seven fathoms4 ,greatly frightened1 he tacked ship1 and the daylight showed him to be under the capes1 instead of two hundred miles at sea4'#bee ,with this story may be compared a mysterious story told in the ',chicago ,times' of ,march1 #ahhe4 ,it appears that1 as two men had fallen from the topmast head of a lake-vessel1 the rumour spread that the ship was an unlucky one4 ,accordingly1 writes one of the crew1 'on its arrival at ,buffalo1 the men went on shore as soon as they were paid off4 ,they said the ship had lost her luck4 ,while we were discharging at the elevator1 the story got round1 and some of the grain-trimmers refused to work on her4 ,even the mate was affected by it4 ,at last we got ready to sail for ,cleveland1 where we were to load coal4 ,the captain managed to get a crew by going to a crimp1 who ran them in1 fresh from salt water4 ,they came on board two-thirds drunk1 and the mate was steering them into the forecastle1 when one of them stopped and said1 pointing aloft1 ,what have you got a figurehead on the mast for8 ,the mate looked up and then turned pale4 ,it's ,bill1 he said1 and with that the whole lot jumped on to the dock4 ,i didn't see anything1 but the mate told the captain to look for another officer4 ,the captain was so much affected that he put me on another schooner1 and then shipped a new crew1 and sailed for ,cleveland4 ,he never got there4 ,he was sunk by a steamer off ,dunkirk4' ,another curious phantom warning to sailors seen in years gone by was the ',hooper1' or the ',hooter1' of ,sennen ,cove1 ,cornwall4 ,this was supposed to be a spirit which took the form of a band of misty vapour1 stretching across the bay1 so opaque that nothing could be seen through it4 ,according to ,mr4 ,hunt1#bef 'it was regarded as a kindly interposition of some ministering spirit1 to warn the fisherman against venturing to sea4 ,this appearance was always followed1 and often suddenly1 by a severe storm4 ,it is seldom or never now seen4 ,one profane old fisherman would not be warned by the bank of fog1 and1 as the weather was fine on the shore1 he persuaded some young men to join him4 ,they manned a boat1 and the aged leader1 having with him a threshing-flail1 declared that he would drive the spirit away1 and he vigorously beat the fog with the threshel1 as the flail is called4 ,the boat passed through the fog1 and went to sea1 but a severe storm arose1 and no one ever saw the boat or the men again1 since which time the ,hooper has been rarely seen4' ,similarly a mist over the river ,cymal1 in ,wales1 is thought to be the spirit of a traitoress1 who lost her life in the lake close by4 ,tradition says she had conspired with pirates to rob her lord of his domain1 and was defeated by an enchanter4#beg ,but sailors' yarns are so proverbially remarkable that the reader must estimate their value for himself1 not forgetting how large a factor in their production is the imagination1 worked upon by nervous credulity and superstitious fear1 a striking instance of which is recorded by a correspondent of the ',gentleman's ,magazine3' ',my friend1 ,captain ,mott1 ,r4,n41 used frequently to repeat an anecdote of a seaman under his command4 ,this individual1 who was a good sailor and a brave man1 suffered much trouble and anxiety from his superstitious fears4 ,when on the night watch1 he would see sights and hear noises in the rigging and the deep1 which kept him in a perpetual fever of alarm4 ,one day the poor fellow reported upon deck that the devil1 whom he knew by his horns and cloven foot1 stood by the side of his hammock the preceding night1 and told him that he had only three days to live4 ,his messmates endeavoured to remove his despondency by ridicule1 but without effect2 and the next morning he told the tale to ,captain ,mott1 with this addition1 that the fiend had paid him a second nocturnal visit1 announcing a repetition of the melancholy tidings4 ,the captain in vain expostulated with him on the folly of indulging such groundless apprehensions2 and the morning of the fatal day being exceedingly stormy1 the man1 with many others1 was ordered to the topmast to perform some duty among the rigging4 ,before he ascended he bade his messmates farewell1 telling them that he had received a third warning from the devil1 and that he was confident he should be dead before night4 ,he went aloft with the foreboding of evil on his mind1 and in less than five minutes he lost his hold1 fell upon the deck1 and was killed on the spot4' ,,footnotes3 #bdd ,see ,bassett's ,legends and ,superstitions of the ,sea1 pp4 #cdf1 #cdg4 #bde ,quoted in ,bassett's ,legends of the ,sea1 p4 #cea4 #bdf ,poems3 ,a ,greypoint ,legend1 #agig4 #bdg ,the ,wreck of the ,schooner ,breeze4 #bdh ,romances of ,west of ,england1 pp4 #cfb-cfd4 #bdi ,traditions and ,fireside ,stories of ,west ,cornwall4 #bej ,traditional ,tales of the ,english and ,scottish ,peasantry1 p4 #cch4 #bea ,discoverie of ,witchcraft4 #beb ,pop4 ,antiq4 iii4 p4 #he4 #bec ,letters on ,demonology and ,witchcraft4 #bed ,quoted by ,bassett in his ,legends and ,superstitions of the ,sea1 p4 #bhh4 #bee ,ibid4 p4 #bhf4 #bef ,romances of ,west of ,england1 p4 #cfg4 #beg ,wirt ,sikes3 ,british ,goblins4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,phantom ,,dress ,according to a popular ghost doctrine1 the spirits of the departed 'generally come in their habits as they lived1' and as ,george ,cruikshank once remarked1#beh 'there is no difference in this respect between the beggar and the king4' ,for they come-- ,some in rags1 and some in jags1 and some in silken gowns4 ,and he adds that all narrators agree that 'the spirits appear in similar or the same dresses which they were accustomed to wear during their lifetime1 so exactly alike that the ghost-seer could not possibly be mistaken as to the identity of the individual4' ,horatio1 describing the ghost to ,hamlet1 says-- ,a figure like your father1 ,armed at all points1 exactly cap--p4 ,and it is further stated that the ghost was armed 'from top to toe1' 'from head to foot1' that 'he wore his beaver up2' and when ,hamlet sees his father's spirit he exclaims-- ,what may this mean1 ,that thou1 dead corse1 again1 in complete steel1 ,revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon8 ,it is the familiar dress worn in lifetime that is1 in most cases1 one of the distinguishing features of the ghost1 and when ,sir ,george ,villiers wanted to give a warning to his son1 the ,duke of ,buckingham1 his spirit appeared to one of the duke's servants 'in the very clothes he used to wear4' ,mrs4 ,crowe1#bei some years ago1 gave an account of an apparition which appeared at a house in ,sarratt1 ,hertfordshire4 ,it was that of a well-dressed gentleman1 in a blue coat and bright gilt buttons1 but without a head4 ,it seems that this was reported to be the ghost of a poor man of that neighbourhood who had been murdered1 and whose head had been cut off4 ,he could1 therefore1 only be recognised by his 'blue coat and bright gilt buttons4' ,indeed1 many ghosts have been nicknamed from the kinds of dress in which they have been in the habit of appearing4 ,thus the ghost at ,allanbank was known as ',pearlin ,jean1' from a species of lace made of thread which she wore2 and the ',white ,lady' at ,ashley ,hall--like other ghosts who have borne the same name--from the white drapery in which she presented herself4 ,some lady ghosts have been styled ',silky1' from the rustling of their silken costume1 in the wearing of which they have maintained the phantom grandeur of their earthly life4 ,there was the ',silky' at ,black ,heddon who used to appear in silken attire1 oftentimes 'rattling in her silks'2 and the spirit of ,denton ,hall--also termed ',silky'--walks about in a white silk dress of antique fashion4 ,this last ',silky' 'was thought to be the ghost of a lady who was mistress to the profligate ,duke of ,argyll in the reign of ,william ,,iii41 and died suddenly1 not without suspicion of murder1 at ,chirton1 near ,shields--one of his residences4 ,the ,banshee of ,loch ,nigdal1 too1 was arrayed in a silk dress1 green in colour4 ,these traditions date from a period when silk was not in common use1 and therefore attracted notice in country places4'#bfj ,some years ago a ghost appeared at ,hampton ,court1#bfa habited in a black satin dress with white kid gloves4 ,the ',white ,lady of ,skipsea' makes her midnight serenades clothed in long white drapery4 ,lady ,bothwell1 who haunted the mansion of ,woodhouselee1 always appeared in white2 and the apparition of the mansion of ,houndwood1 in ,berwickshire--bearing the name of ',chappie'--is clad in silk attire4 ,one of the ghosts seen at the celebrated ,willington ,mill was that of a female in greyish garments4 ,sometimes she was said to be wrapped in a sort of mantle1 with her head depressed and her hands crossed on her lap4 ,walton ,abbey had its headless lady who used to haunt a certain wainscotted chamber1 dressed in blood-stained garments1 with her infant in her arms2 and1 in short1 most of the ghosts that have tenanted our country-houses have been noted for their distinctive dress4 ,daniel de ,foe1 in his ',essay on the ,history and ,reality of ,apparitions1' has given many minute details as to the dress of a ghost4 ,he tells a laughable and highly amusing story of some robbers who broke into a mansion in the country1 and1 whilst ransacking one of the rooms1 they saw1 in a chair1 'a grave1 ancient man1 with a long full-bottomed wig1 and a rich brocaded gown1' c4 ,one of the robbers threatened to tear off his 'rich brocaded gown'2 another hit at him with a firelock1 and was alarmed at seeing it pass through the air2 and then the old man 'changed into the most horrible monster that ever was seen1 with eyes like two fiery daggers red hot4' ,the same apparition encountered them in different rooms1 and at last the servants1 who were at the top of the house1 throwing some 'hand grenades' down the chimneys of these rooms1 the thieves were dispersed4 ,without adding further stories of this kind1 which may be taken for what they are worth1 it is a generally received belief in ghost lore that spirits are accustomed to appear in the dresses which they wore in their lifetime--a notion credited from the days of ,pliny the ,younger to the present day4 ,but the fact of ghosts appearing in earthly raiment has excited the ridicule of many philosophers1 who1 even admitting the possibility of a spiritual manifestation1 deny that there can be the ghost of a suit of clothes4 ,george ,cruikshank1 too1 who was no believer in ghosts1 sums up the matter thus3 ',as it is clearly impossible for spirits to wear dresses made of the materials of the earth1 we should like to know if there are spiritual outfitting shops for the clothing of ghosts who pay visits on earth4' ,whatever the objections may be to the appearance of ghosts in human attire1 they have not hitherto overthrown the belief in their being seen thus clothed1 and ,byron1 describing the ',black ,friar' who haunted the cloisters and other parts of ,newstead ,abbey1 tells us that he was always arrayed ,in cowl1 and beads1 and dusky garb4 ,indeed1 as ,dr4 ,tylor remarks1#bfb 'it is an habitual feature of the ghost stories of the civilised1 as of the savage1 world1 that the ghost comes dressed1 and even dressed in well-known clothing worn in life4' ,and he adds that the doctrine of object-souls is held by the ,algonquin tribes1 the islanders of the ,fijian group1 and the ,karens of ,burmah--it being supposed that not only men and beasts have souls1 but inorganic things4 ,thus1 ,mariner describing the ,fijian belief1 writes3 ',if a stone or any other substance is broken1 immortality is equally its reward2 nay1 artificial bodies have equal good luck with men1 and hogs1 and yams4 ,if an axe or a chisel is worn out or broken up1 away flies its soul for the service of the gods4 ,the ,fijians can further show you a sort of natural well1 or deep hole in the ground1 at one of their islands1 across the bottom of which runs a stream of water1 in which you may clearly see the souls of men and women1 beasts and plants1 stocks and stones1 canoes and horses1 and of all the broken utensils of this frail world1 swimming1 or rather tumbling along1 one over the other1 pell-mell1 into the regions of immortality4'#bfc ,as it has been observed1 animistic conceptions of this kind are no more irrational than the popular idea prevalent in civilised communities as to spirits appearing in all kinds of garments4 ,,footnotes3 #beh ,a ,discovery ,concerning ,ghosts1 p4 #c4 #bei ,night ,side of ,nature4 #bfj ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #bgj4 #bfa ,see ,all the ,year ,round1 ,june #bb1 #ahfg4 #bfb ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #dhj4 #bfc ,see ,letourneau's ,sociology1 p4 #bej2 ,sir ,john ,lubbock's ,origin of ,civilisation1 and ,primitive ,condition of ,man1 #ahgj1 p4 #bdf4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,haunted ,,houses ,a jolly place1 said he1 in days of old1 ,but something ails it now3 the spot is curst4 ,,wordsworth4 ,a variety of strange causes1 such as secret murder1 acts of treachery1 unatoned crime1 buried treasures1 and such-like incidents belonging to the seamy side of family history1 have originated1 at one time or another1 the ghostly stories connected with so many a house throughout the country4 ,robert ,browning has graphically described the mysteries of a haunted house3 ,at night1 when doors are shut1 ,and the wood-worm picks1 ,and the death-watch ticks1 ,and the bar has a flag of smut1 ,and a cat's in the water-butt-- ,and the socket floats and flares1 ,and the house-beams groan1 ,and a foot unknown ,is surmised on the garret stairs1 ,and the locks slip unawares4 ,although in some cases centuries have elapsed since a certain house became haunted1 and several generations have come and passed away1 still1 with ceaseless persistency1 the restless spirit hovers about in all kinds of uncanny ways1 reminding us of ,hood's romance of ',the ,haunted ,house4' ,for over all there hung a cloud of fear1 ,a sense of mystery the spirit daunted1 ,and said1 as plain as whisper in the ear1 ,the place is haunted6 ,corby ,castle1 ,cumberland1 was famous for its ',radiant ,boy2' ,peel ,castle had its ',mauthe ,doog2' and ,dobb ,park ,lodge was noted for 'the ,talking ,dog4' ,cortachy ,castle1 the seat of the ,earl of ,airlie1 is noted for its ',drummer2' and a noted ,westmoreland ghost was that of the 'bad ,lord ,lonsdale1' locally known as ,jemmy ,lowther1 which created much alarm at ,lowther ,hall2 but of recent years this miscreant spirit has been silent1 having1 it is said1 been laid for ever under a large rock called ,wallow ,crag4 ,strange experiences were associated with ,hinton ,ampner ,manor ,house1 ,hampshire1#bfd and when1 in #agig1 it was pulled down1 'under the floor of the lobby was found a box containing bones1 and what was said to be the skull of a monkey4 ,no regular inquiry was made into the matter1 and no professional opinion was ever sought as to the real character of the relic4' ,wyecoller ,hall1 near ,colne1 is visited once a year by a spectre horseman2 and some years ago ,hackwood ,house1 an old mansion near ,basingstoke1 purchased from ,lord ,bolton by ,lord ,westbury1 was said to have its haunted room1 the phantom assuming the appearance of a woman clothed in grey4 ,ramhurst ,manor ,house1 ,kent1 was disturbed by weird and mysterious noises1 and at ,barton ,hall1 ,bath1 in #ahfh1 a phantom is said to have appeared1 displaying a human countenance1 but devoid of eyes4 ,allanbank1 a seat of the ,stuarts--a family of ,scotch baronets1 has long been haunted by ',pearlin ,jean1' one of the most remarkable ghosts in ,scotland4 ,on one occasion1 seven ministers were called in to lay this restless spirit1 but to no purpose4 ,creslow ,manor ,house1 ,buckinghamshire1 has its ghost1 and ,glamis ,castle has its famous ',haunted ,room1' which1 it is said1 was walled up4 ,at ,hilton ,castle there was the time-honoured ',cold ,lad1' which ,surtees would lead us to suppose was one of the household spirits known as ',brownies4' ,but1 according to one local legend1 in years gone by a servant-boy was ill-treated and kept shut up in a cupboard1 and is supposed to have received the name of ',cold ,lad' from his condition when discovered4 ,sundry apparitions seem to have been connected with ,newstead ,abbey1 one being that of ',sir ,john ,byron the ,little1 with the ,great ,beard1' who was wont to promenade the state apartments at night4 ,but the most dreaded spectre was the ',goblin ,friar1' previously alluded to1 who-- appeared1 ,now in the moonlight1 and now lapsed in shade1 ,with steps that trod as heavy1 yet unheard4 ,this strange1 weird spectre has been thought to forebode evil to the member of the family to whom it appears1 and its uncanny movements have been thus pictured by the poet3 ,by the marriage-bed of their lords1 'tis said1 ,he flits on the bridal eve2 ,and 'tis held as faith1 to their bed of death ,he comes--but not to grieve4 ,when an heir is born1 he is heard to mourn1 ,and when aught is to befall ,that ancient line1 in the pale moonshine ,he walks from hall to hall4 ,his form you may trace1 but not his face1 ',tis shadowed by his cowl2 ,but his eyes may be seen from the folds between1 ,and they seem of a parted soul4 ,holland ,house has had the reputation of being haunted by the spirit of the first ,lord ,holland2 and1 in #ahfj1 there was published in ',notes and ,queries1' by the late ,edmund ,lenthal ,swifte1 ,keeper of the ,crown ,jewels1 the account of a spectral illusion witnessed by himself in the ,tower4 ,he says that in ,october1 #ahag1 he was at supper with his wife1 her sister1 and his little boy1 in the sitting-room of the jewel-house4 ,to quote his own words3 ',i had offered a glass of wine and water to my wife1 when1 on putting it to her lips1 she exclaimed1 ,good ,god6 what is that8 ,i looked up1 and saw a cylindrical figure like a glass tube1 seemingly about the thickness of my arm1 and hovering between the ceiling and the table2 its contents appeared to be a dense fluid1 white and pale azure4 ,this lasted about two minutes1 when it began to move before my sister-in-law2 then1 following the oblong side of the table1 before my son and myself1 passing behind my wife1 it paused for a moment over her right shoulder4 ,instantly crouching down1 and with both hands covering her shoulder1 she shrieked out1 ,o ,christ6 it has seized me6 ,it was ascertained1' adds ,mr4 ,swifte1 'that no optical action from the outside could have produced any manifestation within1 and hence the mystery has remained unsolved4' ,speaking of the ,tower1 we learn from the same source how 'one of the night sentries at the jewel-office was alarmed by a figure like a huge bear issuing from underneath the jewel-room door4 ,he thrust at it with his bayonet which stuck in the door4 ,he dropped in a fit and was carried senseless to the guardroom4444 ,in another day or two the brave and steady soldier died at the presence of a shadow4' ,windsor ,castle1 as report goes1 was haunted by the ghost of ,sir ,george ,villiers1 who appeared to an officer in the king's wardrobe and warned him of the approaching fate of the ,duke of ,buckingham4#bfe ,according to ,johnson1 the ',old ,hummums' was the scene of the 'best accredited ghost story' that he had ever heard1 the spirit of a ,mr4 ,ford1 said to have been the riotous parson of ,hogarth's ',midnight ,conversation1' having appeared to a waiter2 and ,boswell1 alluding to a conversation which took place at ,mr4 ,thrale's house1 ,streatham1 between himself and ,dr4 ,johnson1 thus writes3 ',a waiter at the ,hummums1 in which house ,ford died1 had been absent for some time1 and returned1 not knowing that ,ford was dead4 ,going down to the cellar1 according to the story1 he met him2 going down again1 he met him a second time4 ,when he came up he asked some of the people of the house what ,ford could be doing there4 ,they told him ,ford was dead4 ,the waiter took a fever1 and when he recovered he said he had a message from ,ford to deliver to some women1 but he was not to tell what1 or to whom4 ,he walked out1 he was followed1 but somewhere about ,st4 ,paul's they lost him4 ,he came back1 and said he had delivered the message1 and the women exclaimed1 ,then we are all undone4' ,there is the so-called ',mystery of ,berkeley ,square1' ,no4 #ej having been reputed to be haunted4 ,but a long correspondence on the subject in the pages of ',notes and ,queries' proved this to be a fallacy1 the rumour1 it would seem1 having arisen from 'its neglected condition when empty1 and the habits of the melancholy and solitary hypochondriac when occupied by him4' ,lord ,lyttelton1 however1 wrote in ',notes and ,queries' of ,november #af1 #ahgb1 thus3 ',it is quite true that there is a house in ,berkeley ,square 7,no4 #ej7 said to be haunted1 and long unoccupied on that account4 ,there are strange stories about it1 into which this deponent cannot enter4' ,what these strange stories were may be gathered from ',mayfair' of ,may #aj1 #ahgi--;an interesting illustration of how rapidly legendary stories spring up on little or no basis4 ',the house in ,berkeley ,square contains at least one room of which the atmosphere is supernaturally fatal to body and mind4 ,a girl saw1 heard1 and felt such horror in it that she went mad1 and never recovered sanity enough to tell how or why4 ,a gentleman1 a disbeliever in ghosts1 dared to sleep in it1 and was found a corpse in the middle of the floor1 after practically ringing for help in vain4 ,rumour suggests other cases of the same kind1 all ending in death1 madness1 or both1 as the result of sleeping1 or trying to sleep1 in that room4 ,the very party walls of the house1 when touched1 are found saturated with electric horror4 ,it is uninhabited1 save by an elderly man and woman who act as caretakers2 but even these have no access to the room4 ,that is kept locked1 the key being in the hands of a mysterious and seemingly nameless person1 who comes to the house once every six months1 locks up the elderly couple in the basement1 and then unlocks the room and occupies himself in it for hours4' ,berry ,pomeroy ,castle1 ,devonshire1 was long said to be haunted by the daughter of a former baron1 who bore a child to her own father1 afterwards strangling the fruit of their incestuous intercourse2 and all kinds of weird noises are heard at ,ewshott ,house1 ,hampshire4 ,bagley ,house1 near ,bridport1 is haunted by the ghost of a ,squire ,lighte1 who committed suicide2 and at ,astwood ,court1 once the seat of the ,culpepers1 was an old oak table1 removed from the side of the wainscot in #ahaf1 respecting which tradition declares that it bore the impress of the fingers of a lady ghost who1 it has been suggested1 probably tired of appearing to no purpose1 at last struck the table in a rage and vanished for ever4 ,holt ,castle was supposed1 in bygone years1 to be haunted by a mysterious lady in black who1 in the still hours of the night1 occasionally walked in a certain passage near the attics4 ,it was likewise said that the cellar had been occupied by an ill-favoured bird like a raven1 which would sometimes pounce upon any person who ventured to approach a cask for drink1 and1 having extinguished the candle with a horrid flapping of wings1 would leave its victims prostrate with fright4 ,a solution1 however1 has been given to this legend that 'would imply a little cunning selfishness on the part of the domestics who had the care of the ale and cider dept4'#bff ,at ,althorp1 the seat of ,earl ,spencer1 is said to have appeared the ghost of a favourite groom1 and ,cumnor ,hall1 the supposed scene of the murder of ,lady ,amy ,bobsart1 was haunted by her apparition4 ,according to ,mickle-- ,in that ,manor now no more ,is cheerful feast and sprightly ball2 ,for1 ever since that dreary hour1 ,have spirits haunted ,cumnor ,hall4 ,the village maids1 with fearful glance1 ,avoid the ancient moss-grown wall2 ,nor ever lead the merry dance ,among the groves of ,cumnor ,hall4 ,full many a traveller oft hath sighed ,and pensive wept the ,countess's fall1 ,as1 wandering onward1 they espied ,the haunted towers of ,cumnor ,hall4 ,powis ,castle had once its ghost1 and ,cullaby ,castle1 ,northumberland1 the seat of ,major ,a4 ,h4 ,browne1 is haunted4 ,according to a correspondent1#bfg in the older part of the castle1 which was the pele-tower of the ,claverings1 there was known to be a room walled up1 'which ,mrs4 ,browne1 during her husband's absence1 had broken into2' but the room was found to be quite empty4 ,she says1 however1 that 'she let a ghost out who is known as ,the ,wicked ,priest4 ,ever since they have been annoyed with the most unaccountable noises1 which are sometimes so loud that one would think the house was being blown down4 ,i believe the ghost has been seen--it is a priest with a shovel hat4' ,the seat of the ,trevelyans is haunted with the incessant wailing of a spectral child1 and the ruins of ,seaton ,delaval ,castle are said to be haunted4 ,churton ,hall1 at one time the seat of the ,duke of ,argyll1 'has marked ,tyneside with the ghost of the ,duke's mistress1 who is locally known as ,silky4' ',tyneside1' writes ,mr4 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 'abounded with stories of haunted castles2 but1 with the doubtful exception of ,dilston1 where ,lady ,derwentwater was said to revisit the pale glimpses of the moon to expiate the restless ambition which impelled her to drive ,lord ,derwentwater to the scaffold1 none of them were leading actors in the tragedies of old time4' ,bisham ,abbey1 report says1 is haunted by the ghost of ,lady ,hoby1 who treated her son by her first husband so unmercifully1 on account of his antipathy to study1 that he died4 ,as a punishment for her unnatural cruelty she glides through a certain chamber1 in the act of washing blood-stains from her hands4 ,one of the rooms at ,combermere ,abbey1 ,cheshire1 formerly known as the ',coved ,saloon1' is tenanted by the ghost of a little girl1 the sister of ,lord ,cotton1 who had died when fourteen years old4#bfh ,then there was the famous ',sampford ,peverell' ghost1 which created much interest at the commencement of the present century1#bfi and ,rainham1 the seat of the ,marquis ,townshend1 in ,norfolk1 has long been haunted by the ',brown ,lady4' ,at ,oulton ,house1 ,suffolk1 at midnight1 a wild huntsman with his hounds1 accompanied by a lady carrying a poisoned cup1 is said to take his ghostly walk2 and ,clegg ,hall1 ,lancashire1 long had its restless spirits1 and the laying of these ',clegg ,hall boggarts1' as they were called1 is described elsewhere4 ,at ,samlesbury ,hall1 near ,blackburn1 a lady in white attended by a handsome knight is seen at night2#bgj and a headless lady walked about ,walton ,abbey4 ,hermitage ,castle1 one of the most famous of the ,border keeps in the days of its splendour1 has for years past been haunted1 and has been described as-- ,haunted ,hermitage1 ,where long by spells mysterious bound1 ,they pace their round with lifeless smile1 ,and shake with restless foot the guilty pile4 ,till sink the mouldering towers beneath the burdened ground4 ,the story goes that ,lord ,soulis1 'the evil hero of ,hermitage1' made a compact with the devil1 who appeared to him in the shape of a spirit wearing a red cap1 which gained its hue from the blood of human victims in which it was steeped4 ,lord ,soulis sold himself to the demon1 and in return he could summon his familiar whenever he chose to rap thrice on an iron chest1 on condition that he never looked in the direction of the spirit4 ,once1 however1 he forgot or ignored this condition1 and his doom was sealed4 ,but even then ,lord ,soulis kept the letter of the compact4 ,lord ,soulis was protected by an unholy charm against any injury from rope or steel2 hence cords could not bind him1 and steel could not slay him4 ,when1 at last1 he was delivered over to his enemies it was found necessary to adopt the ingenious and effective expedient of rolling him up in a sheet of lead and boiling him to death3 ,on a circle of stones they placed the pot1 ,on a circle of stones but barely nine2 ,they heated it red and fiery hot1 ,and the burnished brass did glimmer and shine4 ,they rolled him up in a sheet of lead-- ,a sheet of lead for a funeral pall2 ,they plunged him into the cauldron red1 ,and melted him1 body1 lead1 bones and all4 ,this was the end of ,lord ,soulis's body1 but his spirit still lingers on the scene4 ,once every seven years he keeps tryst with ,red ,cap on the scene of his former devilries3 ,and still when seven years are o'er ,is heard the jarring sound1 ,when hollow opes the charmd door ,of chamber underground4#bga ,hugh ,miller1 in his ',schools and ,schoolmasters1' says that1 while working as a stonemason in a remote part of ,scotland1 he visited the ruins of ,craighouse1 a grey fantastic rag of a castle1 which the people of the neighbourhood firmly believed to be haunted by its goblin--a miserable-looking1 grey-headed1 grey-bearded old man1 who might be seen1 late in evening and early in the morning1 peering out through a narrow slit or shot-hole at the chance passenger4 ,he further adds that he met with a sunburnt herd-boy who was tending his cattle under the shadow of the old castle wall4 ,he asked the lad whose apparition he thought it was that could continue to haunt a building whose last inhabitant had long been forgotten4 ',oh1 they're saying1' was the reply1 'it's the spirit of the man who was killed on the foundation-stone1 soon after it was laid1 and then built intil the wa' by the masons that he might keep the ,castle by coming back again2 and they're saying that a' varra auld hooses i' the country had murderit men builded intil them i' that way1 and that all o' them hev their bogie6' ,among ,irish haunted houses may be noticed the castle of ,dunseverick1 in ,antrim1 which is believed to be still inhabited by the spirit of a chief1 who there atones for a horrid crime2 while the castles of ,dunluce1 of ,magrath1 and many others are similarly peopled by the wicked dead4 ,in the abbey of ,clare the ghost of a sinful abbot walks1 and will continue to do so until his sin has been atoned for by the prayers he unceasingly mutters in his tireless march up and down the aisles of the ruined nave4 ,the ',cedar ,room' at ,ashley ,hall1 ,cheshire1 was said to be tenanted by the figure of a white lady1 reminding us of similar so-called apparitions at ,skipsea and ,blenkinsopp ,castles4 ,at ,burton ,agnes ,hall1 the family seat of ,sir ,henry ,somerville ,boynton1 there is a spirit of a lady which haunts the ancient mansion1 known in the neighbourhood as ',awd ,nance4' ,the skull of this lady is preserved at the ,hall1 and so long as it is left quietly in its resting-place all goes well1 but should any attempt be made to remove it1 all kinds of unearthly noises are raised in the house1 and last until it is restored4#bgb ,denton ,hall has for many years past attracted interest from being inhabited by a spirit known by the names of ',old ,barbery' and ',silky1' and ,waddow ,hall1 ,yorkshire1 is haunted by a phantom called ',peg ,o',nell4' ,bridge ,end ,house1 ,burnley1 was said to have its ghost2 ,crook ,hall1 near ,durham1 has its ',white ,ladie2' ,south ,biddick ,hall1 its shadowy tenant1 ',madam ,lambton2' and ,netherby ,hall1 a ',rustling ,lady' who walks along a retired passage in that mansion1 her dress rustling as she moves along4#bgc ,there was the famous ,willington ,mill1 alluded to in the previous chapter1 which some years ago became notorious in the ,north of ,england1 having been haunted1 it is said1 by a priest and a grey lady who amused themselves at their victims' expense by all kinds of strange acts4#bgd ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' 7#dth ,s4 x4 #dij7 referring to the ,willington ghost says3 ',the steam flour mill1 with the house1 was in the occupation then of ,messrs4 ,proctor and ,unthank2 the house was separated from the mill by a space of a few feet1 so that no tricks could be played from the mill4 ,the partners alternately lived in the house4 ,a relation of mine asked one of those gentlemen if there was any truth as to the current rumours4 ,he remarked1 ,well1 we don't like to speak of it2 my partner certainly cannot live comfortably in the house1 from some unexplained cause1 but as to myself and family we are never disturbed4' ,several parsonages have had their ghosts4 ,southey1 in his ',life of ,wesley1' speaking of ,epworth parsonage1 which appears to have been haunted in the most strange manner1 and alluding to the mysterious disturbances that happened in it1 says3 ',an author who1 in this age1 relates such a story1 and treats it as not utterly incredible and absurd1 must expect to be ridiculed1 but the testimony upon which it rests is far too strong to be set aside because of the strangeness of the relation4' ,in the ',gentleman's ,magazine' is recorded an account of an apparition that appeared at ,souldern ,rectory1 ,oxfordshire1 to the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,shaw1 who had always ridiculed the idea of ghosts1 announcing to him that his death would be very soon1 and very sudden4 ,suffice it to say that shortly afterwards he was seized with an apoplectic fit while reading the service in church1 and died almost immediately4 ,this strange affair is noticed in the register of ,brisly ,church1 ,norfolk1 under ,december #ab1 #agjf3 ',i1 ,robert ,withers1 ,m4,a41 ,vicar of ,gately1 do insert here a story which ,i had from undoubted hands1 for ,i have all the moral certainty of the truth of it possible4' ,the old parsonage at ,market1 or ,east1 ,lavington1 near ,devizes--now pulled down--was reputed to be haunted by a lady supposed to have been murdered1 and1 it has been said1 a child came also to an untimely end in the house4 ,previous to #ahah1 a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' 7#e ,s4 i4 #bgc7 says3 ',a witness states his father occupied the house1 and writes that in that year on ,feast ,day1 being left alone in the house1 ,i went up to my room4 ,it was the one with marks of blood on the floor4 ,i distinctly saw a white figure glide into the room4 ,it went round by the washstand by the bed1 and there disappeared4' ,it may be added that part of the road leading from ,market ,lavington to ,easterton1 which skirts the grounds of ,fiddington ,house1 used to be looked upon as haunted by a lady1 who was known as the ',easterton ,ghost4' ,in #ahfi1 a wall was built round the road-side of the pond2 and1 close to the spot where the lady was seen1 two skeletons were disturbed--one of a woman1 the other of a child4 ,the bones were buried in the churchyard1 and no ghost1 it is said1 has been seen since4 ,occasionally1 churches have been haunted4 ,the famous phantom nun of ,holy ,trinity ,church1 ,micklegate1 ,york1 has excited a good deal of interest--an account of which is given by ,mr4 ,baring-,gould in his ',yorkshire ,oddities4' ,the story goes that during the suppression of religious houses before the ,reformation1 a party of soldiers came to sack the convent attached to the church4 ,but having forced an entry they were confronted by the abbess1 a lady of great courage and devotion1 who declared that they should only pass it over her body1 and that should they slay her and succeed in their errand of destruction1 her spirit would haunt the place until the time came that their sacrilegious work was expiated by the rebuilding of the holy house4 ,many accounts have been published of this apparition1 the following being from the ',ripon and ,richmond ,chronicle' 7,may #f1 #ahgf73 ',in the middle of the service1' writes a correspondent1 'my eyes1 which had hardly once moved from the left or north side of the east window1 were attracted by a bright light1 formed like a female1 robed and hooded1 passing from north to south with a rapid gliding motion outside the church1 apparently at some distance4 ,there are four divisions in the window1 all of stained glass1 but at the edge of each runs a rim of plain transparent glass1 about two inches wide1 and adjoining the stone-work4 ,through this rim especially could be seen what looked like a form transparent1 but yet thick 7if such a term can be used7 with light4 ,the robe was long and trailed4 ,about half an hour later it again passed from north to south1 and1 having remained about ten seconds only1 returned with what ,i believe to have been the figure of a young child1 and stopped at the last pane but one1 and then vanished4 ,i did not see the child again1 but a few seconds afterwards the woman reappeared1 and completed the passage behind the last pane very rapidly4' ,it is said to appear very frequently on ,trinity ,sunday1 and to bring two other figures on to the scene1 another female1 called the nurse1 and the child4 ,likewise1 on one of the windows of the ,abbey ,church1 ,whitby1 was occasionally seen-- ,the very form of ,hilda fair1 ,hovering upon the sunny air4 ,according to a correspondent of the ',gentleman's ,magazine1' a ghost appeared for several years1 but very seldom1 only in the church porch at ,kilncote1 ,leicestershire4 ,folk-lore tells us that ghosts are occasionally seen in the church porch1 and1 in years gone1 it was customary for young people to sit and watch here on ,st4 ,mark's ,eve1 from #aa at night till #a o'clock in the morning4 ,in the third year1 for the ceremony had to be gone through three times1 it was supposed the ghosts of all those about to die in the course of the ensuing year would pass into the church4 ,it is to this piece of superstition that ,james ,montgomery refers in his ',vigil of ,st4 ,mark'3 '',tis now1' replied the village belle1 ',st4 ,mark's mysterious ,eve2 ,and all that old traditions tell ,i tremblingly believe4 ',how1 when the midnight signal tolls1 ,along the churchyard green ,a mournful train of sentenced souls ,in winding sheets are seen4 ',the ghosts of all whom death shall doom ,within the coming year1 ,in pale procession walk the gloom1 ,amid the silence drear4' ,a strange illustration of this superstition is found among the ,hollis manuscripts in the ,lansdowne collection4 ,the writer1 ,gervase ,hollis1 of ,great ,grimsby1 ,lincolnshire1 was a colonel in the service of ,charles ,i41 and he professes to have received the tale from ,mr4 ,liveman ,rampaine1 minister of ,god's word at ,great ,grimsby1 ,lincolnshire1 who was household chaplain to ,sir ,thomas ,munson of ,burton1 in ,lincoln1 at the time of the incident4#bge ,a curious and somewhat unique advertisement of a haunted house appeared some years ago1 and ran thus3 ',to be sold1 an ancient ,gothic mansion1 known as ,beckington ,castle1 ten miles from ,bath1 and two from ,frome4 ,the mansion has been closed for some years1 having been the subject of proceedings in ,chancery4 ,there are legends of haunted rooms1 miles of subterranean passages1 c41 affording a fine field of research and speculation to lovers of the romantic4' ,it was no doubt true of the ghost of this1 as of most other haunted houses-- ,we meet them on the door-way1 on the stair1 ,along the passages they come and go1 ,impalpable impressions on the air1 ,a sense of something moving to and fro4 ,,footnotes3 #bfd ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #aei-ahj4 #bfe ,see ,lord ,clarendon's ,history of the ,rebellion1 and ,notes and ,queries1 ,july #ahfj4 #bff ,gentleman's ,magazine1 #ahee1 pt4 ii4 pp4 #eh1 #ei4 #bfg ,more ,ghost ,stories1 p4 #fd4 #bfh ,all the ,year ,round1 ,december #bd1 #ahgj4 #bfi ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #bbf-bcc4 #bgj ,ibid4 see p4 #bbb4 #bga ,more ,ghost ,stories1 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 #ahib1 p4 #fc4 #bgb ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #cad1 #cae4 #bgc ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #cad1 #cae4 #bgd ,see ,ibid4 p4 #cae2 ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 pp4 #bff-bgg2 ,more ,ghost ,stories1 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead4 #bge ,quoted in ,book of ,days1 i4 p4 #fdi4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,haunted ,,localities ,spirits in most countries are supposed to haunt all kinds of places1 and not to confine themselves to any one locality4 ,local traditions show how the most unlikely spots1 which can boast of little or no romance1 are supposed to be frequented by ghosts2 the wayfarer along some country road having oftentimes been confronted by an uncanny apparition4 ,indeed1 the superstitious fear of places being haunted by ghosts not only led to the abandonment but even destruction of many a dwelling-place1 a practice which1 amongst uncultured tribes1 not only 'served as a check to material prosperity1 but became an obstacle to progress4'#bgf ,but even in civilised countries the same antipathy to a haunted house is often found1 and the ghostly tenant is allowed uninterrupted possession owing to the dread his presence inspires4 ,the ,hottentots deserted the house after a decease1#bgg and the ,seminoles at once removed from the dwelling where death had occurred1 and from the neighbourhood where the body was buried4 ,among the ,south ,slavonians and ,bohemians1 the bereaved family1 returning from the grave1 pelted the ghost of their deceased relative with sticks1 stones1 and hot coals4 ,and the ,tschuwasche1 a tribe in ,finland1 opened fire on it as soon as the coffin was outside the house4 ,in ,old ,calabar1 it was usual for a son to leave his father's house for two years1 after which time it was considered safe to return4 ,if a ,kaffir or ,maori died before he could be carried out1 the house was tabooed and deserted4#bgh ,the ,ojibways pulled down the house in which anyone had died1 and chose another one to live in as far off as possible4 ,even with the death of an infant the same fear was manifested4 ,one day1 when a friend visited a neighbour whose child was sick1 he was not a little surprised to find1 on his return in the evening1 that the house had disappeared and all its inhabitants gone4 ,among the ,abipones of ,paraguay1 when anyone's life is despaired of1 the house is immediately forsaken by his fellow inmates1 and the ,new ,england tribes would never live in a wigwam in which any person had died1 but would immediately pull it down4 ,if a deceased ,creek ,indian 'has been a man of eminent character1 the family immediately remove from the house in which he is buried1 and erect a new one1 with a belief that where the bones of their dead are deposited1 the place is always attended by goblins4'#bgi ,the ,kamtchadales frequently remove from their dwelling when anyone has died1 and among the ,lepchas the house where there has been a death 'is almost always forsaken by the surviving inmates4'#bhj ,occasionally1 it would seem1 the desertion is more complete4 ,after a death1 for instance1 the ,boobies of ,fernando ,po forsake the village in which it occurred1 and of the ,bechuanas we read that 'on the death of ,mallahawan 444 the town ,lattakoo was removed1 according to the custom of the country4'#bha ,ghosts are supposed to find pleasure in revisiting the places where they have experienced joy1 or sorrow and pain1 and to wander round the spot where they died1 and hence all kinds of precautions have been adopted to prevent their returning4 ,in ,europe1 sometimes1 'steps were taken to barricade the house against him4 ,thus1 in some parts of ,russia and ,east ,prussia1 an axe or a lock is laid on the threshold1 or a knife is hung over the door1 and in ,germany as soon as the coffin is carried out of the house all the doors and windows are shut4'#bhb ,and conversely1 it is a common custom in many parts of ,england to unfasten every bolt and lock in the house that the spirit of the dying man may freely escape4 ,but1 as ,mr4 ,frazer shows in his interesting paper on the ',primitive ,ghost1' our ancestors knew how to outwit the ghost in its endeavour to find its way back to the house it left at death4 ,thus the practice of closing the eyes of the dead1 he suggests1 originated in 'blindfolding the dead that he might not see the way by which he was carried to his last home4 ,at the grave1 where he was to rest for ever1 there was no motive for concealment2 hence the ,romans1 and apparently the ,siamese1 opened the eyes of the dead man at the funeral pyre4 ,and the idea that if the eyes of the dead be not closed1 his ghost will return to fetch away another of the household1 still exists in ,germany1 ,bohemia1 and ,england4' ,with the same object the coffin was carried out of the house by a hole purposely made in the wall1 which was stopped up as soon as the body had passed through1 so that1 when the ghost strolled back from the grave1 he found there was no thoroughfare--a device shared equally by ,greenlanders1 ,hottentots1 ,bechuanas1 ,samoieds1 ,ojibways1 ,algonquins1 ,laosians1 ,hindoos1 ,tibetans1 ,siamese1 ,chinese1 and ,fijians4 ,these 'doors of the dead' are still to be seen in a village near ,amsterdam1 and they were common in some towns of ,central ,italy4 ,a trace of the same custom survives in ,thringen1 where there is a belief that the ghost of a man who has been hanged will return to the house if not taken out by a window instead of a door4 ,similarly1 for the purpose of misleading the dead1 the ,bohemians put on masks1 that the dead might not know and therefore might not follow them1 and it is a matter of conjecture whether mourning customs may not have sprung from 'the desire to disguise and therefore to protect the living from the dead4' ,among further methods in use for frustrating the return of the dead1 may be noticed the objection to utter the names of deceased persons--a superstition which ,mr4 ,frazer shows has modified whole languages4 ,thus1 'among the ,australians1 ,tasmanians1 and ,abipones1 if the name of a deceased person happened to be a common name1 e4g4 the name of an animal or plant1 this name was abolished1 and a new one substituted for it4 ,during the residence of the ,jesuit ,missionary ,dobritzhoffer amongst the ,abipones1 the name for tiger was thus changed three times4 ,amongst the ,indians of ,columbia1 near relatives of a deceased person often change their names1 under the impression that the ghost will return if he hears the familiar names4'#bhc ,the ,sandwich ,islanders say the spirit of the departed hovers about the place of its former resort1 and in the country north of the ,zambesi 'all believe that the souls of the departed still mingle among the living1 and partake in some way of the food they consume4' ,in the ,aleutian ,islands1 it is said that 'the invisible souls or shades of the departed wander about among their children4' ,but one of the most favourite haunts of departed spirits is said to be burial-grounds1 and especially their own graves1 reminding us of ,puck's words in ',a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream' 7,act v4 sc4 #b73 ,now it is the time of night1 ,that the graves all gaping wide1 ,everyone lets forth his sprite1 ,in the church-way paths to glide4 ',the belief in ghosts1' writes ,thorpe1#bhd 'was deeply impressed on the minds of the heathen ,northmen1 a belief closely connected with their ideas of the state after death4 ,the soul1 they believed1 returned to the place whence it sprang1 while the body1 and the grosser life bound to it1 passed to the abode of ,hel or ,death4 ,herewith was naturally combined the belief that the soul of the departed might1 from its heavenly home1 revisit the earth1 there at night-time to unite itself in the grave-mound with the corporeal shadow released from ,hel4 ,thus the dead could show themselves in the open grave-mounds in the same form which they had in life4' ,indeed1 it has been the current opinion for centuries that places of burial are haunted with spectres and apparitions4 ,ovid speaks of ghosts coming out of their sepulchres and wandering about1 and ,virgil1#bhe too1 quoting the popular opinion of his day1 tells us how ',moeris could call the ghosts out of their tombs4' ,in short1 the idea of the ghost remaining near the corpse is of world-wide prevalence1 and1 as ,dr4 ,tylor remarks1#bhf 'through all the changes of religious thought from first to last in the course of human history1 the hovering ghosts of the dead make the midnight burial-ground a place where man's flesh creeps with terror4' ,we may further compare ,hamlet's words 7,act iii4 sc4 #b73 ',tis now the very witching time of night1 ,when church-yards yawn4 ,and ,puck also tells how1 at the approach of ,aurora1 'ghosts1 wandering here and there1 troop home to churchyards4' ,tracing this superstition amongst uncultured tribes1 we find the soul of the ,north ,american hovering about its burial-place1 and among the ,costa ,ricans the spirits of the dead are believed to remain near their bodies for a year4 ,the ,dayak's burial-place is frequented by ghosts1 and the explorer ,swan tells us that when he was with the ,north-,western ,indians1 he was not allowed to attend a funeral for fear of his offending the spirits hovering about4 ,from the same authority we learn how at ,stony ,point1 on the north-west coast of ,america1 a burial-place of the ,indians was considered to be haunted by spirits1 and on this account no ,indian ever ventured there4#bhg ,this dread of burial-grounds still retains a persistent hold1 and is one of those survivals of primitive belief which has given rise to a host of strange superstitious practices4 ,keppel1 in his ',visit to the ,indian ,archipelago1' says that in ,northern ,australia the natives will not willingly approach graves at night1 alone1 'but when they are obliged to pass them1 they carry a firestick to keep off the spirit of darkness4' ,there is still a belief that the ghost of the last person watches round the churchyard till another is buried1 to whom he delivers his charge4 ,crofton ,croker says that in ,ireland it is the general opinion among the lower orders that 'the last buried corpse has to perform an office like that of fag in our public schools by the junior boy1 and that the attendance on his churchyard companions is duly relieved by the interment of some other person4' ,serious disturbances have resulted from this superstition1 and terrific fights have at times taken place to decide which corpse should be buried first4 ,the ancient churchyard of ,truagh1 county ,monaghan1 is said to be haunted by an evil spirit1 whose appearance generally forebodes death4 ,the legend runs1 writes ,lady ,wilde1#bhh 'that at funerals the spirit watches for the person who remains last in the graveyard4 ,if it be a young man who is there alone1 the spirit takes the form of a beautiful young girl1 inspires him with an ardent passion1 and exacts from him a promise that he will meet her that day month in the churchyard4 ,the promise is then sealed by a kiss1 which sends a fatal fire through his veins1 so that he is unable to resist her caresses1 and makes the promise required4 ,then she disappears1 and the young man proceeds homewards2 but no sooner has he passed the boundary wall of the churchyard than the whole story of the evil rushes on his mind1 and he knows that he has sold himself1 soul and body1 for a demon's kiss4 ,then terror and dismay take hold of him1 till despair becomes insanity1 and on the very day month fixed for the meeting with the demon bride1 the victim dies the death of a raving lunatic1 and is laid in the fatal graveyard of ,truagh4' ,the dead1 too1 particularly object to persons treading carelessly on their graves1 an allusion to which occurs in one of the songs of ,greek outlawry3#bhi ,all ,saturday we held carouse1 and far through ,sunday night1 ,and on the ,monday morn we found our wine expended quite4 ,to seek for more1 without delay1 the captain made me go2 ,i ne'er had seen nor known the way1 nor had a guide to show4 ,and so through solitary roads and secret paths ,i sped1 ,which to a little ivied church long time deserted led4 ,this church was full of tombs1 and all by gallant men possest2 ,one sepulchre stood all alone1 apart from all the rest4 ,i did not see it1 and ,i trod above the dead man's bones1 ,and as from out the nether world came up a sound of groans4 ',what ails thee1 sepulchre8 ,why thus so deeply groan and sigh8 ,doth the earth press1 or the black stone weigh on thee heavily8' ',neither the earth doth press me down1 nor black stone do me scath1 ,but ,i with bitter grief am wrung1 and full of shame and wrath1 ,that thou dost trample on my head1 and ,i am scorned in death4 ,perhaps ,i was not also young1 nor brave and stout in fight1 ,nor wont1 as thou1 beneath the moon1 to wander through the night4' ,according to the ,guiana ,indians1 'every place is haunted where any have died2' and in ,madagascar the ghosts of ancestors are said to hover about their tombs4 ,the ,east ,africans 'appear to imagine the souls to be always near the place of sepulture1' and on the ,gold ,coast 'the spirit is supposed to remain near the spot where the body has been buried4' ,the souls of warriors slain on the field of battle are considered by the ,mangaians to wander for a while amongst the rocks and trees of the neighbourhood in which their bodies were thrown4 ,at length 'the first slain on each battlefield would collect his brothers' ghosts1 and lead them to the summit of a mountain1 whence they leap into the blue expanse1 thus becoming the peculiar clouds of the winter4'#bij ,and the ,mayas of ,yucatan think the souls of the dead return to the earth if they choose1 and1 in order that they may not lose the way to the domestic hearth1 they mark the path from the hut to the tomb with chalk4#bia ,the primitive doctrine of souls obliges the savage1 says ,mr4 ,dorman1#bib 'to think of the spirit of the dead as close at hand4 ,most uncultured tribes1 on this account1 regard the spot where death has taken place as haunted4 ,a superstitious fear soon instigates worship1 and this worship1 beginning at the tombs and burial-places1 develops into the temple ritual of higher culture4' ,the ,iroquois believe the space between the earth and sky is full of spirits1 usually invisible1 but occasionally seen1 and the ,ojibways affirm that innumerable spirits are ever near1 and dwell in all kinds of places4 ,european folk-lore has similar beliefs1 it having been a ,scandinavian idea that the souls of the departed dwell in the interior of mountains1 a phase of superstition which frequently presents itself in the ,icelandic sagas1 and exists in ,germany at the present day4 ',of some ,german mountains1' writes ,thorpe1 'it is believed that they are the abodes of the damned4 ,one of these is the ,horselberg1 near ,eisenach1 which is the habitation of ,frau ,holle2 another is the fabulous ,venusberg1 in which the ,tannhuser sojourns1 and before which the trusty ,eckhart sits as a warning guardian4'#bic ,departed souls were also supposed to dwell in the bottom of wells and ponds1 with which may be compared the many tales current throughout ,germany and elsewhere of towns and castles that have been sunk in the water1 and are at times visible4 ,but1 as few subjects have afforded greater scope for the imagination than the hereafter of the human soul1 numerous myths and legendary stories have been invented to account for its mysterious departure in the hour of death4 ,shakespeare has alluded to the numerous destinations of the disembodied spirit1 enumerating the many ideas prevalent1 in his day1 on the subject4 ,in ',measure for ,measure' 7,act iii4 sc4 #a7 ,claudio pathetically says3 ,ay1 but to die1 and go we know not where2 ,to lie in cold obstruction1 and to rot2 ,this sensible warm motion to become ,a kneaded clod1 and the delighted spirit ,to bathe in fiery floods1 or to reside ,in thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice2 ,to be imprison'd in the viewless winds1 ,and blown with restless violence round about ,the pendent world4#bid ,indeed1 it would be a long task to enter into the mass of mystic details respecting 'the soul's dread journey by caverns and rocky paths and weary plains1 over steep and slippery mountains1 by frail bank or giddy bridge1 across gulfs or rushing rivers1' to its destined home4 ,according to the ,mazovians the soul remains with the coffin1 sitting upon the upper part of it until the burial is over1 when it flies away4 ,such traditions1 writes ,mr4 ,ralston1#bie 'vary in different localities1 but everywhere1 among all the ,slavonic people1 there seems always to have prevailed an idea that death does not finally sever the ties between the living and the dead4 ,this idea has taken various forms1 and settled into several widely differing superstitions1 lurking in the secrecy of the cottage1 and there keeping alive the cultus of the domestic spirit1 and showing itself openly in the village church1 where on a certain day it calls for a service in remembrance of the dead4 ,the spirits of those who are thus remembered1 say the peasants1 attend the service1 taking their place behind the altar4 ,but those who are left unremembered weep bitterly all through the day4' ,in some parts of ,ireland1 writes ,mr4 ,mc,anally1 'there exists a belief that the spirits of the dead are not taken from earth1 nor do they lose all their former interest in earthly affairs1 but enjoy the happiness of the saved1 or suffer the punishment imposed for their sins in the neighbourhood of the scenes among which they lived while clothed in flesh and blood4 ,at particular crises in the affairs of mortals these disenthralled spirits sometimes display joy and grief in such a manner as to attract the attention of living men and women4 ,at weddings they are frequently unseen guests2 at funerals they are always present2 and sometimes1 at both weddings and funerals1 their presence is recognised by aerial voices1 or mysterious music1 known to be of unearthly origin4 ,the spirits of the good wander with the living as guardian angels2 but the spirits of the bad are restrained in their action1 and compelled to do penance at1 or near1 the place where their crimes were committed4 ,some are chained at the bottom of lakes1 others buried underground1 others confined in mountain gorges1 some hang on the sides of precipices1 others are transfixed on the tree-tops1 while others haunt the homes of their ancestors1 all waiting till the penance has been endured and the hour of deliverance arrives4' ,harriet ,martineau1 speaking of the ,english lakes1 says that ,souter or ,soutra ,fell is the mountain on which ghosts appeared in myriads at intervals during ten years of the last century4 ',on the ,midsummer ,eve of the fearful #agde1 twenty-six persons1 expressly summoned by the family1 saw all that had been seen before1 and more4 ,carriages were now interspersed with the troops2 and everybody knew that no carriages had been1 or could be1 on the summit of ,souter ,fell4 ,the multitude was beyond imagination2 for the troops filled a space of half a mile1 and marched quickly till night hid them1 still marching4 ,there was nothing vaporous or indistinct about the appearance of these spectres4 ,so real did they seem1 that some of the people went up the next morning to look for the hoof-marks of the horses2 and awful it was to them to find not one footprint on heather or grass4' ,this spectral march was similar to that seen at ,edge ,hill1 in ,leicestershire1 in #agjg1 and corresponds with the tradition of the tramp of armies over ,helvellyn1 on the eve of the battle of ,marston ,moor4 ,with such phantoms may be compared the mock suns1 the various appearances of halos and wandering lights1 and such a phenomenon as the ',spectre of the ,brocken4' ,calmet relates a singular instance at ,milan1 where some two thousand persons saw1 as they supposed1 an angel hovering in the air3 he cites ,cardan as an eye-witness1 who says that the populace were only undeceived when it was shown1 by a sharp-sighted lawyer1 to be a reflection from one of the statues of a neighbouring church1 the image of which was caught on the surface of a cloud4 ,the mirage1 or water of the desert1 owes its appearance to similar laws of refraction4 ,mountain districts1 we know1 abound in these illusions1 and 'the splendid enchantment presented in the ,straits of ,reggio by the ,fata ,morgana' has attracted much notice4 ,at such times1 'minarets1 temples1 and palaces1 have seemed to rise out of the distant waves2' and spectral huntsmen1 soldiers in battle array1 and gay but mute cavalcades1 have appeared under similar circumstances1 pictured on the table of the clouds4 ,it was thus1 we are told1 that the ,duke of ,brunswick and ,mrs4 ,graham saw the image of their balloon distinctly exhibited on the face of a cumulous cloud1 in #ahcf2 and travellers on ,mont ,blanc have been startled by their own magnified shadows1 floating among the giant peaks4#bif ,it is difficult to say how many of the apparitions which have been supposed to haunt certain spots might be attributed to similar causes4 ,,footnotes3 #bgf ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bb4 #bgg ,see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #bf4 #bgh ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #ajh4 #bgi ,schoolcraft's ,indian ,tribes1 v4 p4 #bgj4 #bhj ,see ,herbert ,spencer's ,principles of ,sociology1 #ahhe1 i4 p4 #aii4 #bha ,ibid4 p4 #aii4 #bhb ,the ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #aji4 #bhc ,the ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #aaa4 #bhd ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #bj4 #bhe ,bucolics1 viii4 p4 #ih4 #bhf ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #cj4 #bhg ,see ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #ba4 #bhh ,ancient ,cures1 ,charms1 and ,usages of ,ireland1 p4 #hd4 #bhi ,essay in the ,study of ,folk-,songs1 pp4 #ad1 #ae4 #bij ,gill3 ,myths and ,songs from the ,south ,pacific1 pp4 #afb1 #afc4 #bia ,see ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #cc4 #bib ,ibid4 p4 #cj4 #bic ,northern ,mythology1 i4 p4 #bhf4 #bid ,cf4 ,othello1 ,act v4 sc4 #b4 #bie ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 pp4 #aae1 #aaf4 #bif ,occult ,sciences1 #ahee2 ,apparitions1 pp4 #hj1 #ha4 ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,checks ,,and ,,spells ,,against ,,ghosts ,amongst the qualities ascribed to the cock was the time-honoured belief that by its crow it dispelled all kinds of ghostly beings--a notion alluded to by the poet ,prudentius1 who flourished at the commencement of the fourth century4 ,there is1 also1 a hymn said to have been composed by ,st4 ,ambrose1 and formerly used in the ,salisbury ,missal1 in which allusion is made to this superstition4 ,in ,blair's ',grave' the apparition vanishes at the crowing of the cock1 and in ',hamlet1' on the departure of the ghost1 ,bernardo says3 ,it was about to speak when the cock crew2 to which ,horatio answers3 ,and then it started like a guilty thing ,upon a fearful summons4 ,i have heard ,the cock1 that is the trumpet to the morn1 ,doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat ,awake the god of day2 and1 at his warning1 ,whether in sea or fire1 in earth or air1 ,the extravagant and erring spirit hies ,to his confine3 and of the truth herein ,this present object made probation4 ,whereupon ,marcellus adds the well-known lines3 ,it faded on the crowing of the cock4 ,some say that ever 'gainst that season comes1 ,wherein our ,saviour's birth is celebrated1 ,the bird of dawning singeth all night long2 ,and then1 they say1 no spirit dares stir abroad2 ,the nights are wholesome2 then no planets strike1 ,no fairy takes1 nor witch hath power to charm1 ,so hallow'd and so gracious is the time4 ,even the devil is powerless at the sound of cock-crow4 ,an amusing story is told on the ,continent of how a farmer's wife tricked the devil by means of this spell4 ,it appears that her husband was mourning the loss of his barn--either by wind or fire--when a stranger addressed him1 and said3 ',that ,i can easily remedy4 ,if you will just write your name in your blood on this parchment1 your barn shall be fixed and ready to-morrow before the cock crows2 if not1 our contract is void4' ,but afterwards the farmer repented of the bargain he had made1 and1 on consulting his wife1 she ran out in the middle of the night1 and found a number of workmen employed on the barn4 ,thereupon she cried with all her might1 ',cock-a-doodle-doo6 cock-a-doodle-doo6' and was followed by all the cocks in the neighbourhood1 each of which sent forth a hearty ',cock-a-doodle-doo6' ,at the same moment all the phantom workmen disappeared1 and the barn remained unfinished4 ,in a pretty ,swedish ballad of ',little ,christina1' a lover rises from the grave to console his beloved4 ,one night ,christina hears light fingers tapping at the door2 she opens it and sees her betrothed4 ,she washes his feet with pure wine1 and for a long while they converse4 ,then the cocks begin to crow1 and the dead get them underground4 ,the young girl follows her sweetheart through the white forest1 and when they reach the graveyard1 the fair hair of the young man begins to disappear4 ',see1 maiden1' he says1 'how the moon has reddened all at once2 even so1 in a moment1 thy beloved will vanish4' ,she sits down on the tomb1 and says1 ',i shall remain here till the ,lord calls me4' ,then she hears the voice of her betrothed1 ',little ,christina1 go back to thy dwelling-place4 ,every time a tear falls from thine eyes my shroud is full of blood4 ,every time thy heart is gay1 my shroud is full of rose-leaves4' ,these folk-tales are interesting1 as embodying the superstitions of the people among whom they are current4 ,a similar idea prevails in ,india1 where the cock is with the ,hindoos1 as with the ,english peasant1 a most potent instrument in the subjugation of troublesome spirits4 ,a paragraph in the ',carnatic ,times' tells us how a ,hindoo exorcist tied his patient's hair in a knot1 and then with a nail attached it to a tree4 ,muttering some 'incantatory' lines1 he seized a live cock1 and holding it over the girl's head with one hand1 he1 with the other1 cut its throat4 ,the blood-stained knot of hair was left attached to the tree1 which was supposed to detain the demon4 ,it is further supposed that 'one or a legion thus exorcised will haunt that tree till he or they shall choose to take possession of some other unfortunate4' ,it was said that chastity was of itself a safeguard against the malignant power of bad ghosts2 a notion to which ,milton has referred3 ,some say no evil thing that walks by night1 ,in fog or fire1 by lake or moorish fen1 ,blue meagre hag1 or stubborn unlaid ghost1 ,that breaks the magic chains at curfew-time1 ,no goblin1 or swart faery of the mine1 ,hath hurtful power o'er true virginity4 ,the cross and holy water have1 too1 generally been considered sacred preservatives against devils and spirits1 illustrations of which will be found in many of our old romances4#big ,fire1 like water1#bih has been employed for the purpose of excluding or barring the ghost1 and ,mr4 ,frazer writes how 'the ,siberians seek to get rid of the ghost of the departed by leaping over a fire4 ,at ,rome1 mourners returning from a funeral stepped over fire1' a practice which still exists in ,china4 ,a survival of this custom prevails among the south ,slavonians1 who1 on their return from a funeral1 are met by an old woman carrying a vessel of live coals4 ,on these they pour water1 or else they take a live coal from the hearth and fling it over their heads4 ,the ,brahmans simply touched fire1 while in ,ruthenia 'the mourners merely look steadfastly at the stove or place their hands on it4'#bii ,it is noteworthy that in the ,highlands of ,scotland and in ,burma1 the house-fires were always extinguished when a death happened2 for fear1 no doubt1 of the ghost being accidentally burnt4 ,the ,eskimos drive away spirits by blowing their breath at them1#cjj and the ,mayas of ,yucatan had evil spirits which could be driven away by the sorcerers2 but they never came near when their fetiches were exposed4 ,they had a ceremony for expelling evil spirits from houses about to be occupied by newly married persons4#cja ,the natives of ,brazil so much dread the ghosts of the dead that it is recorded how some of them have been struck with sudden death because of an imaginary apparition of them4 ,they try to appease them by fastening offerings on stakes fixed in the ground for that purpose4#cjb ,mutilations of the dead were supposed to keep his ghost harmless1 and on this account ,greek murderers hacked off the extremities of their victims4 ,australians cut off the right thumb of a slain enemy that his ghost might not be able to draw the bow4 ,and in ,arabia1 ,germany1 and ,spain1 as the ghosts of murderers and their victims are especially restless1 everyone who passes their graves is bound to add a stone to the pile4#cjc ,in ,pekin1 six or seven feet away from the front of the doors1 small brick walls are built up4 ,these are to keep the spirits out1 which fly only in straight lines1 and therefore find a baulk in their way4 ,another mode of keeping spirits away in the case of children is to attire them as priests1 and also to dress the boys as girls1 who are supposed to be the less susceptible to the evil influence4 ,in fact1 most countries have their contrivances for counteracting1 in one way or another1 the influence of departed spirits--a piece of superstition of which ,european folk-lore affords abundant illustrations4 ,thus1 in ,norway1 bullets1 gunpowder1 and weapons have no influence on ghosts1 but at the sight of a cross1 and from exorcisms1 they must retire4 ,the same belief prevails in ,denmark1 where all kinds of checks to ghostly influence are resorted to4 ,it is said1 for instance1 to be dangerous to shoot at a spectre1 as the bullet will return on him who shot it4 ,but if the piece be loaded with a silver button1 that will infallibly take effect4 ,a ,danish tradition tells how once there was a horrible spectre which caused great fear and disquietude1 as everyone who saw it died immediately afterwards4 ,in this predicament1 a young fellow offered to encounter the apparition1 and to endeavour to drive it away4 ,for this purpose he went at midnight to the church path1 through which the spectre was in the habit of passing1 having previously provided himself with steel in various shapes4 ,when the apparition approached1 he fearlessly threw steel before its feet1 so that it was obliged instantly to turn back1 and it appeared no more4#cjd ,a common superstition1 equally popular in ,england as on the ,continent1 is that when a horseshoe is nailed over the doorway no spirit can enter4 ,it is also said that 'if anyone is afraid of spectres1 let him strew flax seed before the door2 then no spirit can cross the threshold4 ,a preventive equally efficacious is to place one's slippers by the bedside with the heels towards the bed4 ,spectres may be driven away by smoking the room with the snuff of a tallow candle2 while wax-lights attract them4' ,and at the present day various devices are adopted by our ,english peasantry for warding off from their dwellings ghosts1 and other uncanny intruders4#cje ,,footnotes3 #big ,see ,e4 ,yardley's ,supernatural in ,fiction1 pp4 #bi-ca4 #bih ,see ,chapter on ',ghost ,laying4' #bii ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #aab2 ,ralston's ,songs of the ,russian ,people1 p4 #cai4 #cjj ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bj4 #cja ,ibid4 p4 #bi4 #cjb ,ibid4 p4 #ba4 #cjc ',the ,primitive ,ghost1' ,contemporary ,review1 xlviii4 p4 #ajg4 #cjd ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #bje4 #cje ,see ,harland and ,wilkinson's ,lancashire ,folk-lore1 #ahfg1 p4 #fc4 ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,wraith-,,seeing ,closely allied to 'second sight' is the doctrine of 'wraiths' or 'fetches1' sometimes designated 'doubles'--an apparition exactly like a living person1 its appearance1 whether to that person or to another1 being considered an omen of death4 ,the ',fetch' is a well-known superstition in ,ireland1 and is supposed to be a mere shadow1 'resembling in stature1 features1 and dress1 a living person1 and often mysteriously or suddenly seen by a very particular friend4' ,spiritlike1 it flits before the sight1 seeming to walk leisurely through the fields1 often disappearing through a gap or lane4 ,the person it resembles is usually known at the time to be labouring under some mortal illness1 and unable to leave his or her bed4 ,when the 'fetch' appears agitated1 or eccentric in its motions1 a violent or painful death is indicated for the doomed prototype4 ,such a phantom1 too1 is said to make its appearance at the same time1 and in the same place1 to more than one person4#cjf ,should it be seen in the morning1 a happy longevity for the original is confidently expected2 but if it be seen in the evening1 immediate dissolution of the living prototype is anticipated4 ,it is thought1 too1 that individuals may behold their own 'fetches4' ,queen ,elizabeth is said to have been warned of her death by the apparition of her own double1 and ,miss ,strickland thus describes her last illness3 ',as her mortal illness drew towards a close1 the superstitious fears of her simple ladies were excited almost to mania1 even to conjuring up a spectral apparition of the ,queen while she was yet alive4 ,lady ,guilford1 who was then in waiting on the ,queen1 leaving her in an almost breathless sleep in her privy chamber1 went out to take a little air1 and met her ,majesty1 as she thought1 three or four chambers off4 ,alarmed at the thought of being discovered in the act of leaving the royal patient alone1 she hurried forward in some trepidation in order to excuse herself1 when the apparition vanished away4 ,she returned terrified to the chamber1 but there lay the ,queen in the same lethargic slumber in which she left her4' ,shelley1 shortly before his death1 believed he had seen his wraith4 ',on ,june #bc1' says one of his biographers1 'he was heard screaming at midnight in the saloon4 ,the ,williamses ran in and found him staring on vacancy4 ,he had had a vision of a cloaked figure which came to his bedside and beckoned him to follow4 ,he did so1 and when they had reached the sitting-room1 the figure lifted the hood of his cloak and disclosed ,shelley's own features1 and saying ,siete soddisfatto8 vanished4 ,this vision is accounted for on the ground that ,shelley had been reading a drama attributed to ,calderon1 named ',el ,embozado1 el ,encapotado1' in which a mysterious personage who had been haunting and thwarting the hero all his life1 and is at last about to give him satisfaction in a duel1 unmasks and proves to be the hero's own wraith4 ,he also asks1 ,art thou satisfied8 and the haunted man dies of horror4' ,sir ,robert ,napier is supposed to have seen his double1 and ,aubrey quaintly relates how 'the beautiful ,lady ,diana ,rich1 daughter to the ,earl of ,holland1 as she was walking in her father's garden at ,kensington to take the air before dinner1 about #aa o'clock1 being then very well1 met her own apparition1 habit and everything1 as in a looking-glass4 ,about a month after1 she died of small-pox4 ,and it is said that her sister1 the ,lady ,isabella ,thynne1 saw the like of herself also before she died4 ,this account ,i had from a person of honour4 ,a third sister1 ,mary1 was married to the ,earl of ,breadalbane1 and it has been recorded that she also1 not long after her marriage1 had some such warning of her approaching dissolution4' ,the ,irish novelist1 ,john ,banim1 has written both a novel and a ballad on this subject1 one which has also largely entered into many a tradition and folk-tale4#cjg ,in ,cumberland this apparition is known by the peasantry as a 'swarth1' and in ,yorkshire by the name of a 'waff4' ,the gift of wraith-seeing still flourishes on the ,continent1 and examples abound in ,silesia and the ,tyrol4 ',with regard to bilocation1 or double personality1' writes a ,catholic priest1#cjh 'there is a great deal of very interesting matter in ,st4 ,thomas of ,aquin1 and also in ,cardinal ,cajetan's ,commentaries of ,st4 ,thomas4 ,the substance of the principles is this3 ,bilocation1 properly so called1 is defined by the scholastics as the perfect and simultaneous existence of one and the same individual in two distinct places at the same time4 ,this never does and never can happen4 ,but bilocation1 improperly so called1 and which ,st4 ,thomas terms raptus1 does occur1 and is identical with the double1 as you call it1 in the cases of ,st4 ,gennadius1 ,st4 ,ignatius1 c4 ',st4 ,thomas quotes as illustrations or instances1 ,st4 ,paul being taken up to the ,third ,heaven4 ,ezekiel1 the prophet1 was taken by ,god and shown ,jerusalem1 whilst at the same time he was sitting in the room with the ancients of the tribe of ,judah before him 7,ezekiel viii471 c4 ,in which the soul of man is not wholly detached from the body1 being necessary for the purpose of giving life1 but is detached from the senses of the body4 ,st4 ,thomas gives three causes for this phenomenon3 7#a7 ,divine power2 7#b7 the power of the ,devil2 and 7#c71 disease of the body when very violent sometimes4' ,bardinus tells how ,marsilius ,ficinus appeared at the hour of his death on a white horse to ,michael ,mercatus1 and rode away crying1 ',o ,michael1 ,michael1 vera1 vera sunt illa1' that is1 the doctrine of a future life is true4 ,instances of this kind of phenomenon have been common in all ages of the world1 and ,lucretius suggested the strange fancy that the superficial surfaces of all bodies were continually flying off like the coats of an onion1 which accounted for the appearance of apparitions2 whilst ,jacques ,gaffarel suggested that corrupting bodies send forth vapours which1 being compressed by the cold night air1 appear visible to the eye in the forms of men4#cji ,in one of the notes to ',les ,imaginations ,extravagantes de ,monsieur ,oufle1' by the ,abb ,bordlon1 it is said that the monks and nuns1 a short time before their death1 have seen the images of themselves seated in their chairs or stalls4 ,catharine of ,russia1 after retiring to her bedroom1 was told that she had been seen just before to enter the ,state ,chamber4 ,on hearing this she went thither1 and saw the exact similitude of herself seated upon the throne4 ,she ordered her guards to fire upon it4 ,in ,scotland and the northern counties of ,england it was formerly said that the apparition of the person that was doomed to die within a short time was seen wrapped in a winding-sheet1 and the higher the winding-sheet reached up towards the head the nearer was death4 ,this apparition was seen during day1 and it might show itself to anyone1 but only to one1 who generally fell into a faint a short time afterwards4 ,if the person who saw the apparition was alone at the time1 the fainting fit did not come on till after meeting with others4 ,in the ',statistical ,account of ,scotland' 7xxi4 #adh71 the writer1 speaking of the parish of ,monquhitter1 says1 the 'fye gave due warning by certain signs of approaching mortality'2 and1 again 7#adi71 'the fye has withdrawn his warning4' ,some friends observing to an old woman1 when in the ninety-ninth year of her age1 that1 in the course of nature1 she could not long survive1 she remarked1 with pointed indignation1 ',what fye-token do you see about me8' ,in the same work 7iii4 #chj7 the minister of ,applecross1 county of ,ross1 speaking of the superstitions of that parish1 says3 ',the ghosts of the dying1 called tasks1 are said to be heard1 their cry being a repetition of the moans of the sick4 ,some assume the sagacity of distinguishing the voice of their departed friends4 ,the corpse follows the track led by the tasks to the place of interment1 and the early or late completion of the prediction is made to depend on the period of the night at which the task is heard4' ,the ,scotch wraith and ,irish fetch have their parallel in ,wales in the ,lledrith1 or spectre of a person seen before his death4 ,it never speaks1 and vanishes if spoken to4 ,it has been seen by miners previous to a fatal accident in the mine4 ,the story is told of a miner who saw himself lying dead and horribly maimed in a phantom tram-car1 led by a phantom horse1 and surrounded by phantom miners4 ,as he watched this dreadful group of spectres they passed on1 looking neither to the right nor the left1 and faded away4 ,the miner's dog was as frightened as its master1 and ran away howling4 ,the miner continued to work in the pit1 and as the days passed on and no harm came to him he grew more cheerful1 and was so bold as to laugh at the superstition4 ,but the day he did this a stone fell from the roof and broke his arm4 ,as soon as he recovered he resumed work in the pit2 but a stone crushed him1 and he was borne maimed and dead in the tram along the road where his 'lledrith' had appeared4#caj ',examining1' says ,dr4 ,tylor1#caa 'the position of the doctrine of wraiths among the higher races1 we find it specially prominent in three intellectual districts3 ,christian hagiology1 popular folk-lore1 and modern spiritualism4 ,st4 ,anthony saw the soul of ,st4 ,ammonius carried to heaven in the midst of choirs of angels1 the same day that the holy hermit died five days' journey off in the desert of ,nitria4 ,when ,st4 ,ambrose died on ,easter ,eve1 several newly-baptized children saw the holy bishop and pointed him out to their parents2 but these1 with their less pure eyes1 could not behold him4' ,numerous instances of wraith-seeing have been chronicled from time to time1 some of which are noteworthy4 ,it is related how ,ben ,jonson1 when staying at ,sir ,robert ,cotton's house1 was visited by the apparition of his eldest son1 with a mark of a bloody cross upon his forehead1 at the moment of his death by the plague4 ,lord ,balcarres1 it is said1 when in confinement in ,edinburgh ,castle under suspicion of ,jacobitism1 was one morning lying in bed when the curtains were drawn aside by his friend ,viscount ,dundee1 who looked upon him steadfastly1 and then left the room4 ,shortly afterwards the news came that he had fallen about the same hour at ,killiecrankie4 ,lord ,mohun1 who was killed in a duel in ,chelsea ,fields1 is reported to have appeared at the moment of his death1 in the year #afdb1 to a lady in ,james ,street1 ,covent ,garden1 and also to the sister of ,glanvill1 famous as the author of ',sadducismus ,triumphatus4' ,it is related how the second ,earl of ,chesterfield1 in #afeb1 saw1 when walking1 a spectre with long white robes and black face4 ,regarding it as an intimation of some illness of his wife1 then visiting her father at ,networth1 he set off early to inquire1 and met a servant from ,lady ,chesterfield1 describing the same apparition4 ,anna ,maria ,porter1 when living at ,esher1 was visited by an old gentleman1 a neighbour1 who frequently came in to tea4 ,on this occasion1 the story goes1 he left the room without speaking2 and1 fearing that something had happened1 she sent to inquire1 and found that he had died at the moment of his appearance4 ,similarly ,maria ,edgeworth1 when waiting with her family for an expected guest1 saw in a vacant chair the apparition of a sailor cousin1 who suddenly stated that his ship had been wrecked and he himself the only one saved4 ,the event proved the contrary--he alone was drowned4#cab ,one of the most striking and best authenticated cases on record is known as the ,birkbeck ,ghost1 and is thus related in the ',proceedings of the ,psychical ,research ,society'3 ',in #aghi1 ,mrs4 ,birkbeck1 wife of ,william ,birkbeck1 banker1 of ,settle1 and a member of the ,society of ,friends1 was taken ill and died at ,cockermouth while returning from a journey to ,scotland1 which she had undertaken alone--her husband and three children1 aged seven1 five1 and four years respectively1 remaining at ,settle4 ,the friends at whose house the death occurred made notes of every circumstance attending ,mrs4 ,birkbeck's last hours1 so that the accuracy of the several statements as to time as well as place was beyond the doubtfulness of man's memory1 or of any even unconscious attempt to bring them into agreement with each other4 ,one morning1 between seven and eight o'clock1 the relation to whom the care of the children had been entrusted1 and who kept a minute journal of all that concerned them1 went into their bedroom1 as usual1 and found them all sitting up in bed in great excitement and delight4 ,mamma has been here1 they cried2 and the little one said1 ,she called1 ',come1 ,esther6' ,nothing could make them doubt the fact1 and it was carefully noted down to entertain the mother when she came home4 ,that same morning1 as their mother lay on her dying bed at ,cockermouth1 she said1 ,i should be ready to go if ,i could but see my children4 ,she then closed her eyes1 to reopen them1 as they thought1 no more4 ,but after ten minutes of perfect stillness she looked up brightly1 and said1 ,i am ready now2 ,i have been with my children2 and at once passed peacefully away4 ,when the notes taken at the two places were compared1 the day1 hour1 and minutes were the same4' ,baxter1 in his ',world of ,spirits1' records a very similar case of a dying woman visiting her children in ,rochester1 and in a paper on ',ghosts and ,goblins1' which appeared in the ',cornhill' 7#ahgc1 xxvii4 #deg71 the writer relates how1 in a house in ,ireland1 a girl lay dying4 ,her mother and father were with her1 and her five sisters were praying for her in a neighbouring room4 ,this room was well lit1 but overhead was a skylight1 and the dark sky beyond4 ,one of the sisters1 looking towards this skylight1 saw there the face of her dying sister looking sorrowfully down upon them4 ,she seized another sister and pointed to the skylight2 one after another the sisters looked where she pointed4 ,they spoke no word2 and in a few moments their father and mother called them to the room where their sister had just died4 ,but when afterwards they talked together about what had happened that night1 it was found that they had all seen the vision and the sorrowful face4 ,but1 as the writer observes1 'in stories where a ghost appears for some useful purpose1 the mind does not reject the event as altogether unreasonable1 though the circumstances may be sufficiently preposterous2' but one can conceive no reason why the vision of a dying sister should look down through a skylight4 ,according to a ,lancashire belief1 the spirits of persons about to die1 especially if the persons be in distant lands1 are supposed to return to their friends1 and thus predict the event4 ,while the spirit is thus away1 the person is supposed to be in a swoon1 and unaware of what is passing4 ,but his desire to see his friends is necessary2 and he must have been thinking of them4#cac ,it is related from ,devonshire1 of the well-known ,dr4 ,hawker1 that1 when walking one night1 he observed an old woman pass by him1 to whom he was in the habit of giving a weekly charity4 ,as soon as she had passed1 he felt somebody pull his coat1 and on looking round he recognised her1 and put his hand in his pocket to seek for a sixpence1 but on turning to give it to her she was gone4 ,on his return home he heard she was dead1 but his family had forgotten to mention the circumstance4#cad ,a correspondent of ',notes and ,queries' 7#crd ,s4 vi4 #ahb7 tells how a judge of the ,staffordshire ,county ,courts1 being on one occasion in the ,north1 went with his sisters into the church of the place to inspect its monuments4 ,while there they were surprised to see a lady1 whom they knew to be in ,bath1 walk in at one door and out through another4 ,they immediately followed1 but could neither see nor hear anything further of her4 ,on writing to her friends1 it was found that she was dead1 and a second letter elicited the fact that she had died at the very same time at which she had been seen by them in the ,north4 ,patrick ,kennedy1 in his ',legendary ,fiction of the ,irish ,celt1' speaking of the ,irish fetch1 gives the following tale of ',the ,doctor's ,fetch1' based1 it is stated1 on the most authentic sources3 ',in one of our ,irish cities1 and in a room where the mild moonbeams were resting on the carpet and on a table near the window1 ,mrs4 ,b41 wife of a doctor in good practice and general esteem1 looking towards the window from her pillow1 was startled by the appearance of her husband standing near the table just mentioned1 and seeming to look with attention on the book which was lying open on it4 ,now1 the living and breathing man was by her side apparently asleep1 and1 greatly as she was surprised and affected1 she had sufficient command of herself to remain without moving1 lest she should expose him to the terror which she herself at the moment experienced4 ,after gazing on the apparition for a few seconds1 she bent her eyes upon her husband to ascertain if his looks were turned in the direction of the window1 but his eyes were closed4 ,she turned round again1 although now dreading the sight of what she believed to be her husband's fetch1 but it was no longer there4 ,she remained sleepless throughout the remainder of the night1 but still bravely refrained from disturbing her partner4 ',next morning1 ,mr4 ,b41 seeing signs of disquiet on his wife's countenance while at breakfast1 made some affectionate inquiries1 but she concealed her trouble1 and at his ordinary hour he sallied forth to make his calls4 ,meeting ,dr4 ,c4 in the street1 and falling into conversation with him1 he asked his opinion on the subject of fetches4 ,i think1 was the answer1 and so ,i am sure do you1 that they are mere illusions produced by a disturbed stomach acting upon the excited brain of a highly imaginative or superstitious person4 ,then1 said ,dr4 ,b41 ,i am highly imaginative or superstitious1 for ,i distinctly saw my own outward man last night standing at the table in the bedroom1 and clearly distinguishable in the moonlight4 ,i am afraid my wife saw it too1 but ,i have been afraid to speak to her on the subject4 ',about the same hour on the ensuing night the poor lady was again roused1 but by a more painful circumstance4 ,she felt her husband moving convulsively1 and immediately afterwards he cried to her in low1 interrupted accents1 ,ellen1 my dear1 ,i am suffocating2 send for ,dr4 ,c4 ,she sprang up1 huddled on some clothes1 and ran to his house4 ,he came with all speed1 but his efforts for his friend were useless4 ,he had burst a large blood-vessel in the lungs1 and was soon beyond human aid4 ,in her lamentations the bereaved wife frequently cried out1 ,oh6 the fetch1 the fetch6 and at a later period told the doctor of the appearance the night before her husband's death4' ,but1 whilst many stories of this kind are open to explanation1 it is a singular circumstance how even several persons may be deceived by an illusion such as the following4 ,a gentleman who had lately lost his wife1 looking out of window in the dusk of evening1 saw her sitting in a garden-chair4 ,he called one of his daughters and asked her to look out into the garden4 ',why1' she said1 'mother is sitting there4' ,another daughter was called1 and she experienced the same illusion4 ,then the gentleman went out into the garden1 and found that a garden-dress of his wife's had been placed over the seat in such a position as to produce the illusion which had deceived himself and his daughters4 ,in ',phantasms of the ,living'#cae very many strange and startling cases are recorded1 in which the mysterious 'double' has appeared1 sometimes speaking1 and sometimes without speech1 although such manifestations have not always been omens of death4 ,thus the late ,lord ,dorchester#caf is said to have seen the phantom of his daughter standing at the window1 having his attention aroused by its shadow1 which fell across the book he was reading at the time4 ,she had accompanied a fishing expedition1 was caught in a storm1 and was distressed at the thought that her father would be anxious on her account4 ,in ,fitzroy's ',cruise of the ,beagle' an anecdote is told of a young ,fuegian1 ,jemmy ,button1 and his father's ghost4 ',while at sea1 on board the ,beagle1 about the middle of the year #ahdb1 he said one morning to ,mr4 ,byno1 that in the night some man came to the side of his hammock1 and whispered in his ear that his father was dead4 ,mr4 ,byno tried to laugh him out of the idea1 but ineffectually4 ,he fully believed that such was the case1 and maintained his opinion up to the time of finding his relations in ,beagle ,channel1 when1 ,i regret to say1 he found that his father had died some months previously4' ,this story is interesting1 especially as ,mr4 ,lang says it is the only one he has encountered among savages1 of a warning conveyed to a man by a ghost as to the death of a friend4#cag ,,footnotes3 #cjf ,gentleman's ,magazine1 #ahfe1 pt4 ii4 p4 #efd4 #cjg ,see ,popular ,irish ,superstitions1 by ,w4 ,r4 ,wilde1 p4 #aji4 #cjh ,more ,ghost ,stories1 collected and edited by ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 #ahib1 p4 #bb4 #cji ,see ,mrs4 ,crowe's ,night ,side of ,nature1 #ahed1 p4 #aaa4 #caj ,wirt ,sikes1 ,british ,goblins1 p4 #bae4 #caa ,primitive ,culture1 #ahia1 i4 p4 #ddh4 #cab ,real ,ghost ,stories1 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 p4 #ajc4 #cac ,harland and ,wilkinson1 ,lancashire ,folk-lore1 p4 #aje4 #cad ,quoted by ,mrs4 ,crowe1 ,night ,side of ,nature1 p4 #bjb4 #cae ,messrs4 ,gurney1 ,myers1 and ,podmore4 #caf ,phantasms of the ,living1 ii4 p4 #eca4 #cag ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahfe1 p4 #fbi4 ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,ghostly ,,times ,,and ,,seasons ,shakespeare1 quoting from an early legend1 has reminded us that at ,christmastide 'no spirit dares stir abroad4' ,and yet1 in spite of this time-honoured belief1 ,christmas would seem to be one of the favourite seasons of the year for ghosts to make their presence felt in all kinds of odd ways4 ,many an old baronial hall1 with its romantic associations and historic legends1 is occasionally1 as ,christmastime comes round1 disturbed by certain uncanny sounds1 which timidity is only too ready to invest with the most mysterious and unaccountable associations4 ,one reason for this nervous credulity may be ascribed to the fact that1 as numerous old country seats are supposed to be haunted1 ,christmas is a fitting opportunity for the ghost to catch a glimpse of the family revelry and mirth4 ,but1 judging from the many legendary tales which have been handed down in connection with ,christmas1 it would seem that these spirit-members of the family intrude their presence on their relatives in the flesh in various ways4 ,in ,ireland1 the ill-fated ,banshee has selected this season on more than one occasion1 to warn the family of coming trouble4 ,according to one tale told from ,ireland1 one ,christmas ,eve1 when the family party were gathered round the festive board in an old castle in the ,south of ,ireland1 the prancing of horses was suddenly heard1 and the sharp cracking of the driver's whip4 ,imagining that one of the absent members of the family had arrived1 some of the young people moved to the door1 but found that it was the weird apparition of the 'headless coach and horseman4' ,many such stories might be enumerated1 which1 under one form or another1 have imparted a dramatic element to the season4 ,with some of our country peasantry1 there is a deep-rooted dread of encountering anything either bordering on1 or resembling1 the supernatural1 as sometimes spirits are supposed at ,christmastide to be unfriendly towards mankind4 ,in ,northamptonshire1 for instance1 there is a strange notion that the ghosts of unfortunate individuals buried at cross-roads have a particular license to wander about on ,christmas ,eve1 at which time they wreak their evil designs upon defenceless and unsuspecting persons4 ,but conduct of this kind seems to be the exception1 and ghosts are oftentimes invoked at ,christmastide by those anxious to have a foretaste of events in store for them4 ,thus1 the anxious maiden1 in her eager desire to know something of her matrimonial prospects1 has often subjected herself to the most trying ordeal of 'courting a ghost4' ,in many countries1 at the 'witching hour of midnight1 on ,christmas ,eve1' the candidate for marriage goes into the garden and plucks twelve sage leaves1 'under a firm conviction that she will be favoured with a glimpse of the shadowy form of her future husband as he approaches her from the opposite end of the garden4' ,but a ceremony observed in ,sweden1 in years past1 must have required a still more strong-minded person to take advantage of its prophetic powers4 ,it was customary in the morning twilight of ,christmas ,day1 to go into a wood1 without making the slightest noise1 or uttering a word2 total abstinence from eating and drinking being another necessary requirement4 ,if these rules were observed1 it was supposed that the individual as he went along the path leading to the church1 would be favoured with a sight of as many funerals as would pass that way during the ensuing year4 ,with this practice may be compared one current in ,denmark1 where1 it is said1 when a family are sitting together on ,christmas ,eve1 if anyone is desirous of knowing whether a death will occur amongst them during the ensuing year1 he must go outside1 and peep silently through the window1 and the person who appears at table sitting without a head1 will die before ,christmas comes round again4 ,the feast of ,st4 ,agnes was formerly held in high veneration by women who wished to know when and whom they should marry4 ,it was required that on this day they should not eat--which was called 'fasting ,st4 ,agnes' fast'--if they wished to have visions of delight1 a piece of superstition on which ,keats has founded his poem1 ',the ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes3' ,they told me how1 upon ,st4 ,agnes' ,eve1 ,young virgins might have visions of delight1 ,and soft adorings from their love receive1 ,upon the honey'd middle of the night1 ,if ceremonies due they did aright2 ,as supperless to bed they must retire1 ,and couch supine their beauties1 lily white1 ,nor look behind1 nor sideways1 but require ,of heaven1 with upward eyes1 for all that they desire4 ,laying down on her back that night1 with her hands under her head1 the anxious maiden was led to expect that her future spouse would appear in a dream1 and salute her with a kiss4 ,various charms have long been observed on ,st4 ,valentine's ,eve1 and ,poor ,robin's ,almanack tells us how3 ,on ,st4 ,mark's ,eve1 at twelve o'clock1 ,the fair maid will watch her smock1 ,to find her husband in the dark1 ,by praying unto good ,st4 ,mark4 ,but ,st4 ,mark's ,eve was a great day for apparitions4 ,allusion has been made in a previous chapter to watching in the church porch for the ghosts of those who are to be buried in the churchyard during the following months2 and ,jamieson tells us of a practice kept up in the northern counties1 known as 'ash-ridlin4' ,the ashes being sifted1 or riddled1 on the hearth1 if any one of the family 'be to die within the year1 the mark of the shoe1 it is supposed1 will be impressed on the ashes2 and many a mischievous wight has made some of the credulous family miserable1 by slyly coming downstairs after the rest have retired to bed1 and marking the ashes with the shoe of one of the members4' ,in ,peru it is interesting to trace a similar superstitious usage4 ,as soon as a dying man draws his last breath1 ashes are strewed on the floor of the room1 and the door is securely fastened4 ,next morning the ashes are carefully examined to ascertain whether they show any impression of footsteps1 and imagination readily traces marks1 which are alleged to have been produced by the feet of birds1 dogs1 cats1 oxen1 or llamas4 ,the destiny of the dead person is construed by the footmarks which are supposed to be discernible4 ,the soul has assumed the form of that animal whose tracks are found4#cah ,there is ,st4 ,john's1 or ,midsummer ,eve1 around which many weird and ghostly superstitions have clustered4 ,grose informs us that if anyone sit in the church porch1 he will see the spirits of those destined to die that year come and knock at the church door in the order of their decease4 ,in ,ireland there is a popular belief that on ,st4 ,john's ,eve the souls of all persons leave their bodies1 and wander to the place1 by land or sea1 where death shall finally separate them from the tenement of the clay4 ,the same notion of a temporary liberation of the soul gave rise to a host of superstitious observances at this time1 resembling those connected with ,hallow ,eve4 ,indeed1 this latter night is supposed to be the time of all others when supernatural influences prevail4 ',it is the night1' we are told1 'set apart for a universal walking abroad of spirits1 both of the visible and invisible world2 for one of the special characteristics attributed to this mystic evening is the faculty conferred on the immaterial principle in humanity to detach itself from its corporeal tenement and wander abroad through the realms of space4 ,divination is then believed to attain its highest power1 and the gift asserted by ,glendower of calling spirits from the vast deep becomes available to all who choose to avail themselves of the privileges of the occasion4'#cai ,similarly1 in ,germany on ,st4 ,andrew's ,eve1 young women try various charms in the hope of seeing the shadow of their sweethearts2 one of the rhymes used on the occasion being this3 ,st4 ,andrew's ,eve is to-day2 ,sleep all people1 ,sleep all children of men ,who are between heaven and earth1 ,except this only man1 ,who may be mine in marriage4 ,the story goes that a girl once summoned the shadow of her future husband4 ,precisely as the clock struck twelve he appeared1 drank some wine1 laid a three-edged dagger on the table and vanished4 ,the girl put the dagger into her trunk4 ,some years afterwards there came a man from a distant part to the town where the girl dwelt1 bought property there1 and married her4 ,he was1 in fact1 the identical person whose form had appeared to her4 ,some time after their marriage the husband by chance opened the trunk1 and there found the dagger1 at the sight of which he became furious4 ',thou art the girl1' said he1 'who years ago forced me to come hither from afar in the night1 and it was no dream4 ,die1 therefore6' and with these words he thrust the dagger into her heart4#cbj ,it may be added1 that by general consent night-time is the season when spirits wander abroad4 ,the appearance of morning is the signal for their dispersion4 ,the flocking shadows pale1 ,troop to the infernal jail2 ,each fettered ghost slips to his several grave1 ,and the yellow skirted fays1 ,fly after the night-steeds1 leaving their noon-loved maze4 ,the ghost of ,hamlet's father says1 ',methinks ,i scent the morning air1' and adds3 ',fare thee well at once6 ,the glow-worm shows the matins to be near4' ,according to a popular notion formerly current1 the presence of unearthly beings was announced by an alteration in the tints of the lights which happened to be burning--a superstition alluded to in ',richard ,,iii4' 7,act v4 sc4 #c7--where the tyrant exclaims as he awakens3 ',the lights burn blue4 ,it is now dead midnight1 ,cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh4 99 99 99 99 99 ,methought the souls of all that ,i had murder'd ,came to my tent4' ,so in ',julius ,csar' 7,act iv4 sc4 #c71 ,brutus1 on seeing the ghost of ,csar1 exclaims3 ',how ill this taper burns4 ,ha6 who comes here8' ,,footnotes3 #cah ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #dh4 #cai ,see ,book of ,days1 ii4 pp4 #eai-eba4 #cbj ,see ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 iii4 p4 #add4 ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,spirit-,,haunted ,,trees ,according to ,empedocles 'there are two destinies for the souls of highest virtue--to pass into trees or into the bodies of lions1' this conception of plants as the habitation of the departing soul being founded on the old idea of transmigration4 ,illustrations of the primitive belief meet us in all ages1 reminding us how ,dante passed through that leafless wood1 in the bark of every tree of which was confined a suicide2 and of ,ariel's imprisonment3 ,into a cloven pine1 within which rift ,imprison'd1 thou didst painfully remain ,a dozen years4444 444 ,where thou didst vent thy groans1 ,as fast as mill-wheels strike4 ,in ,german folk-lore the soul is supposed occasionally to take the form of a flower1 as a lily or white rose2 and1 according to a popular belief1 one of these flowers appears on the chairs of those about to die4 ,grimm#cba tells a pretty tale of a child who 'carries home a bud which the angel had given him in the wood2 when the rose blooms the child is dead4' ,similarly1 from the grave of one unjustly executed white lilies are said to spring as a token of the person's innocence1 and from that of a maiden three lilies1 which no one save her lover must gather1 a superstition which1 under one form or another1 has largely prevailed both amongst civilised and savage communities4 ,in ,iceland it is said that when innocent persons are put to death1 the sorb or mountain ash will spring over their grave1 and the ,lay of ,runzifal makes a blackthorn shoot out of the bodies of slain heathens1 and a white flower by the heads of fallen ,christians4 ,the well-known story of ',tristram and ,ysonde' tells how 'from his grave there grew an eglantine which twined about the statue1 a marvel for all men to see2 and though three times they cut it down1 it grew again1 and ever wound its arms about the image of the fair ,ysonde4' ,with which legend may be compared the old ,scottish ballad of ',fair ,margaret and ,sweet ,william'3 ,out of her breast there sprang a rose1 ,and out of his a briar2 ,they grew till they grew to the church top1 ,and there they tied in a true lover's knot4 ,it is to this time-honoured fancy that ,laertes refers when he wishes that violets may spring from the grave of ,ophelia1#cbb and ,lord ,tennyson has borrowed the same idea3 ,and from his ashes may be made1 ,the violet of his native land4#cbc ,some of the ,north-,western ,indians believed that those who died a natural death would be compelled to dwell among the branches of tall trees1 and the ,brazilians have a mythological character called ,mani#cbd--;a child who died and was buried in the house of her mother4 ,soon a plant--the ,mandioca--sprang out of the grave1 which grew1 flourished1 and bore fruit4 ,according to the ,iroquois1 the spirits of certain trees are supposed to have the forms of beautiful females2 recalling1 writes ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1#cbe 'the dryads of classic mythology1 who1 similarly conceived as human-shaped female spirits1 were sacrificed to in the same ways that human spirits in general were sacrificed to4' ',by the ,santals1' he adds1 'these spirits or ghosts are individualised4 ,at their festivals the separate families dance round the particular trees which they fancy their domestic lares chiefly haunt4' ,in modern ,greece certain trees are supposed to have their 'stichios1' a being variously described as a spectre1 a wandering soul1 a vague phantom1 occasionally invisible1 and sometimes assuming the most widely different forms4 ,when a tree is 'stichimonious1' it is generally considered dangerous for anyone 'to sleep beneath its shade1 and the woodcutters employed to cut it down will lie upon the ground and hide themselves1 motionless1 and holding their breath1 at the moment when it is about to fall1 dreading lest the stichio at whose life the blow is aimed with each blow of the axe1 should avenge itself at the precise moment when it is dislodged4'#cbf ,this idea is abundantly illustrated in ,european folk-lore1 and a ,swedish legend tells how1 when a man was on the point of cutting down a juniper tree1 a voice was heard saying1 ',friend1 hew me not4' ,but he gave another blow1 when1 to his horror and amazement1 blood gushed from the root4 ,such spirit-haunted trees have been supposed to give proof of their peculiar character by certain weird and mysterious signs4 ,thus the ,australian bush-demons whistle in the branches1 and ,mr4 ,schoolcraft mentions an ,indian tradition of a hollow tree1 from the recesses of which there issued on a calm day a sound like the voice of a spirit4 ,hence it was considered to be inhabited by some powerful spirit1 and was deemed sacred4 ,the holes in trees have been supposed to be the doors through which the spirits pass1 a belief which reappears in the ,german idea that the holes in the oak are the pathways for elves1 and that various diseases may be cured by contact with these holes4 ,it is not surprising1 too1 that the idea of spirit-haunted trees caused them to be regarded by the superstitious with feelings of awe4 ,mr4 ,dorman tells us#cbg of certain ,west ,indian tribes1 that if any person going through a wood perceived a motion in the trees which he regarded as supernatural1 frightened at the strange prodigy1 he would address himself to that tree which shook the most4 ,similarly1 when the wind blows the long grass or waving corn1 the ,german peasant is wont to say that the ',grass-wolf1' or the ',corn-wolf' is abroad4 ,under a variety of forms this animistic conception is found in different parts of the world1 and has been embodied in many a folk-tale--an ,austrian ,mrchen relating1 for instance1 how there sits in a stately fir-tree a fairy maiden waited on by a dwarf1 rewarding the innocent and plaguing the guilty2 and there is the ,german song of the maiden in the pine1 whose bark the boy split with a gold and silver horn4 ,,footnotes3 #cba ,teutonic ,mythology1 ii4 p4 #hbg4 #cbb ,hamlet1 ,act v4 sc4 #a4 #cbc ,see ,folk-lore of ,plants1 pp4 #ab1 #ac4 #cbd ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bic4 #cbe ,principles of ,sociology1 #ahhe1 pp4 #ceg-cei4 #cbf ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april1 #ahhb1 p4 #cid2 ,superstitions of ,modern ,greece1 by ,m4 ,le ,baron d',estournelles4 #cbg ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #bhh4 ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,ghosts ,,and ,,hidden ,,treasures ,the presence of troubled phantoms in certain localities has long been attributed to their being interested in the whereabouts of certain secreted treasures1 the disposal of which to the rightful owner having been frustrated through death having prematurely summoned them from their mortal existence4 ,traditions of the existence of large sums of hidden money are associated with many of our own country mansions4 ,such a legend was long connected with ,hulme ,castle1 formerly a seat of a branch of the ,prestwich family4 ,the hoard was generally supposed to have been hidden either in the hall itself or in the grounds adjoining1 and was said to be protected by spells and incantations4 ,many years ago the hall was pulled down1 but1 although considerable care was taken to search every spot1 no money was discovered4 ,secreted treasure is associated with the apparition of ,madame ,beswick1 who used to haunt ,birchen ,tower1 ,hollinwood2#cbh and an eccentric spectre known as ',silky1' which used to play all kinds of strange pranks in the village of ,black ,heddon1 ,northumberland1 was commonly supposed to be the troubled phantom of a certain lady who had died before having an opportunity of disclosing the whereabouts of some hoarded money4 ,with the discovery of the gold1 this unhappy spirit is said to have disappeared4 ,the story goes that one day1 in a house at ,black ,heddon1 a terrific noise was heard1 which caused the servant to exclaim1 ',the deevil's in the house6 the deevil's in the house6 ,he's come through the ceiling6' ,but on the room being examined where the noise occurred1 a great dog's skin was found on the floor1 filled with gold1 after which time ',silky' was neither seen nor heard4 ,equally strange is the legend related of ,swinsty ,hall1 which tells how its original founder was a poor weaver1 who travelled to ,london at a time when the plague was raging1 and finding many houses desolate and uninhabited1 took possession of the money left without an owner1 to such an extent that he loaded a waggon with the wealth thus acquired1 and1 returning to his home1 he built ,swinsty ,hall4 ,but he cannot cleanse himself from the contamination of the ill-acquired gold1 and at times1 it is said1 his unquiet spirit has been seen bending over the ,greenwell ,spring rubbing away at his ghastly spoil4 ,mr4 ,henderson#cbi gives the history of an apparition which1 with retributive justice1 once haunted a certain ,yorkshire farmer4 ,an old woman of ,sexhow1 near ,stokesley1 appeared after her death to a farmer of the place1 and informed him that beneath a certain tree in his apple orchard he would find a hoard of gold and silver which she had buried there2 the silver he was to keep for his trouble1 but the gold he was to give to a niece of hers living in great poverty4 ,the farmer went to the spot indicated1 found the money1 and kept it all to himself4 ,but from that day his conscience gave him no rest1 and every night1 at home or abroad1 old ,nanny's ghost dogged his steps4 ,at last one evening the neighbours heard him returning from ,stokesley market very late2 his horse was galloping furiously1 and as he passed a neighbour's house1 its inmates heard him screaming out1 ',i will1 ,i will1 ,i will6' and looking out they saw a little old woman in black1 with a large straw hat on her head1 clinging to him4 ,the farmer's hat was off1 his hair stood on end1 as he fled past them uttering his fearful cry1 ',i will1 ,i will1 ,i will6' ,but when the horse reached the farm all was still1 for the rider was a corpse4 ,tradition asserts that the 'white lady' who long haunted ,blenkinsopp ,castle1 is the ghost of the wife of ,bryan de ,blenkinsopp1 who quarrelled with her husband1 and in a fit of spite she concealed a chest of gold that took twelve of the strongest men to carry into the castle4 ,filled with remorse for her undutiful conduct1 the unhappy woman cannot rest in her grave1 but her spirit is doomed to wander back to the old castle1 and to mourn over the accursed wealth of which its rightful owner was defrauded4 ,an old farm1 popularly known in the neighbourhood as ',sykes' ,lumb ,farm1' from having been inhabited for many generations by a family of the name of ,sykes1 was long haunted by an old wrinkled woman who1 one night1 being interrogated by an occupier of the farm as to the cause of her wandering about1 made no reply1 but proceeding towards the stump of an old apple tree in the orchard1 pointed significantly to the ground beneath4 ,on search being made1 there was found buried deep in the earth a jar of money1 on the discovery of which the phantom vanished4 ,anecdotes of treasures concealed at the bottom of wells are of frequent occurrence1 and the 'white ladies' who dwell in the lakes1 wells1 and seas of so many countries1 are owners of vast treasures1 which they occasionally offer to mortals4 ,tradition says that in a pool known as ,wimbell ,pond at ,acton1 ,suffolk1 is concealed an iron chest of money1 and if any person approach the pond and throw a stone into the water1 it will ring against the chest--a small white figure having been heard to cry in accents of distress1 ',that's mine4'#ccj ,scotland has many such stories4 ,it is popularly believed that for many ages past a pot of gold has lain at the bottom of a pool beneath a fall of the rivulet underneath ,craufurdland ,bridge1 about three miles from ,kilmarnock4 ,many attempts have been made to recover this treasure1 but something unforeseen has always happened to prevent a successful issue4 ',the last effort made1 by the ,laird of ,craufurdland himself1' writes ,mr4 ,chambers1#cca 'was early in the last century1 at the head of a party of his domestics1 who first dammed up the water1 then emptied the pool of its contents1 and had heard their instruments clink on the kettle1 when a voice was heard saying3 ,pow1 pow6 ,craufurdland tower's a' in a low6 ,whereupon the laird left the scene1 followed by his servants1 and ran home to save what he could4 ,of course1 there was no fire in the house1 and when they came back to renew their operations1 they found the water falling over the lin in full force4 ,being now convinced that a power above that of mortals was opposed to their researches1 the laird and his people gave up the attempt4 ,such is the traditionary story1 whether1' adds ,mr4 ,chambers1 'founded on any actual occurrence1 or a mere fiction of the peasants' brain1 cannot be ascertained2 but it is curious that a later and well authenticated effort to recover the treasure was interrupted by a natural occurrence in some respects similar4' ,vast treasures are said to be concealed beneath the ruins of ,hermitage ,castle1 but1 as they are in the keeping of the ,evil ,one1 they are considered beyond redemption4 ,venturesome persons have occasionally made the attempt to dig for them1 but a storm of thunder and lightning has generally deterred the adventurers from proceeding1 otherwise1 of course1 the money would have long ago been found4 ,it is ever1 we are told1 that such supernatural obstacles come in the way of these interesting discoveries4 ,mr4 ,chambers relates how 'an honest man in ,perthshire1 named ,finlay ,robertson1 about a hundred years ago1 went with some stout-hearted companions to seek for the treasures which were supposed to be concealed in the darksome cave of a deceased ,highland robber1 but just as they had commenced operations with their mattocks1 the whole party were instantaneously struck1 as by an electric shock1 which sent them home with fear and trembling1 and they were ever after remarked as silent1 mysterious men1 very apt to take offence when allusion was made to their unsuccessful enterprise4'#ccb ,in ,scotland and the ,north of ,england1 the ,brownie was regarded as a guardian of hidden treasure1 and 'to him did the ,borderers commit their money or goods1 when1 according to the custom prevalent in wild insecure countries1 they concealed them in the earth4' ,some form of incantation was practised on the occasion1 such as the dropping upon the treasure the blood of a slaughtered animal1 or burying the slain animal with it4#ccc ,according to the ,welsh belief1 if a person die while any hoarded money--or1 indeed1 metal of any kind1 were it nothing more than old iron--is still secretly hidden1 the spirit of that person cannot rest4 ,others affirm that it is only ill-gotten treasure which creates this disturbance of the grave's repose2 but it is generally agreed that the soul's unquiet condition can only be relieved by finding a human hand to take the hidden metal1 and throw it down the stream of a river4 ,to throw it up a stream is useless4 ,the spirit 'selects a particular person as the subject of its attentions1 and haunts that person till asked what it wants4' ,a story is told of a tailor's wife at ,llantwit ,major1 a stout and jolly dame1 who was thus haunted until she was worn to the semblance of a skeleton1 'for not choosing to take a hoard honestly to the ,ogmore'--the favourite river in ,glamorganshire for this purpose4 ,to quote her own words1 ',i at last consented1 for the sake of quiet1 to take the treasure to the river1 and the spirit wafted me through the air so high that ,i saw below me the church loft and all the houses1 as if ,i had leaned out of a balloon4 ,when ,i took the treasure to throw it into the river1 in my flurry ,i flung it up stream instead of down1 and on this the spirit1 with a savage look1 tossed me into a whirlwind1 and how ever ,i got back to my home ,i know not4' ,the bell-ringers found her lying insensible in the ,church lane1 on their return from church1 late in the evening4#ccd ,no piece of folk-lore is more general in ,ireland than that gold or silver may be found under nearly all the raths1 cairns1 or old castles throughout the island4 ,it is always a difficult task to exhume such buried treasure1 for some preternatural guardian or other will be found on the alert4 ,these buried treasures are usually deposited in 'a crock1' but whenever an attempt is made to lift it1 some awful gorgon1 or monster1 appears4 ,sometimes a rushing wind sweeps over the plain1 or from the opening made1 with destructive force1 carrying away the gold-seeker's hat or spade1 or even1 in various instances1 the adventurer himself1 who is deposited with broken bones1 or a paralysed frame1 at a respectful distance from the object of his quest4 ',on the banks of a northern river1 and near a small eminence1' writes a correspondent of the ',gentleman's ,magazine1'#cce 'is a beautiful green plot1 on which two large1 moss-covered stones over six hundred feet apart are shown4 ,it is said two immense crocks of gold lie buried under these conspicuous landmarks1 and that various attempts have been made to dig round and beneath them4 ,in all those instances when a persistent effort has been made1 a monk appeared in full habit1 with a cross in his hand to warn off sacrilegious offenders4' ,similar legends are found in different parts of the world4 ',the ,isle of ,yellow ,sands1' says ,mr4 ,dorman1#ccf 'derives its chief interest from the traditions and fanciful tales which the ,indians relate concerning its mineral treasures and their supernatural guardians4 ,they pretend that its shores are covered with a heavy1 shining1 yellow sand1 which they are persuaded is gold1 but that the guardian spirit of the island will not permit any to be carried away4 ,to enforce his commands1 he has drawn together upon it myriads of eagles1 hawks1 and other birds of prey1 who1 by their cries warn him of any intrusions upon the domain1 and assist with their claws and beaks to expel the enemy4 ,he has also called from the depths of the lake1 large serpents of the most hideous forms1 who lie thickly coiled upon the golden sands1 and hiss defiance to the steps of the intruder4 ,a great many years ago1 they say1 some people driven by stress of weather upon the island1 put a large quantity of the glittering treasure in their canoes and attempted to carry it off2 but a gigantic spirit strode into the water and in a tone of thunder commanded them to bring it back'-- ,listen1 white man1 go not there6 ,unseen spirits stalk the air2 ,ravenous birds their influence lend1 ,snakes defy1 and kites defend4444 ,touch not1 then1 the guarded lands1 ,of the ,isle of ,yellow ,sands4 ,the ',ceylon ,times' records a remarkable instance of superstition among the ,tamul population employed as labourers on a coffee estate4 ',it is the belief of all ,orientals1' says the writer1 'that hidden treasures are under the guardianship of supernatural beings4 ,the ,singhalese1 however1 divide the charge between demons and cobra da capellos4 ,various charms are resorted to by those who wish to gain the treasures1 the demons requiring a sacrifice4 ,blood of a human being is the most important1 but1 as far as it is known1 the ,cappowas have hitherto confined themselves to the sacrifice of a white cock1 combining its blood with their own1 drawn by a slight puncture in the hand or foot4' ,many curious stories are on record of persons having been informed by ghosts of the whereabouts of hidden money1 and of their having been directed to the spot where the hoarded treasure has lain for years secreted in its undetected recess4 ,in the ',antiquarian ,repertory' is a singular narrative of a man named ,richard ,clarke1 a farm-labourer at ,hamington1 ,northamptonshire1 who was haunted by the ghost of a man who declared that he had been murdered near his own house #bfg years1 #i months1 and #b days ago1 and buried in an orchard4 ,he added that his wife and children1 who had lived in ,southwark1 never knew what became of him2 that he had some treasures and papers buried in the cellar of a house near ,london1 and that he 7,clarke7 must seek for it1 and that he 7the ghost7 would meet him in the cellar1 to assist him in the search4 ,the ghost added that as soon as the money and the writings were found1 and duly delivered to certain relatives of his in ,southwark1 at such an address1 removed from him in the fourth generation1 he would cease to visit him1 and would leave him in peace4 ,clarke went to town1 and on ,london ,bridge the ghost passed him1 and conducted him to the house1 where his wife had lived four generations before4 ,clarke found everything answering the description which the ghost had given him2 the money and the documents were discovered1 the writings on vellum found1 but those on paper decayed4 ,clarke divided the money1 and acted as the ghost of the murdered man directed him to do2 and the latter 'lookt chearfully upon him1 and gave him thankes1 and said now he should be at rest1 and spoke to those other persons which were of his generation1 relations1 but they had not courage to answer1 but ,clarke talkt for them4' ,,footnotes3 #cbh ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 #bnd ,s4 pp4 #bd1 #be4 #cbi ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 p4 #cbb4 #ccj ,notes and ,queries1 #ast ,s4 v4 p4 #aie4 #cca ,popular ,rhymes of ,scotland1 pp4 #bda-bdb4 #ccb ,popular ,rhymes of ,scotland1 p4 #bdj4 #ccc ,henderson's ,folk-lore of ,northern ,counties1 pp4 #bdg-bdh4 #ccd ,wirt ,sikes3 ,british ,goblins1 pp4 #aea-aeb4 #cce #ahfe1 pt4 ii4 pp4 #gjf-gjg4 #ccf ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #caj4 ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,phantom ,,music ,many of those weird melodious sounds which romance and legendary lore have connected with the enchanted strains of invisible music have originated in the moaning of the winds1 and the rhythmical flow of the waves4 ,in several of their operatic works1 our dramatic composers have skilfully introduced the music of the fairies and of other aerial conceptions of the fancy1 reminding us of those harmonious sounds which ,caliban depicts in the ',tempest' 7,act iii4 sc4 #b73 ,the isle is full of noises1 ,sounds and sweet airs1 that give delight and hurt not2 ,sometimes a thousand twangling instruments1 ,will hum about mine ears1 and sometimes voices ,that1 if ,i then had waked after long sleep1 ,will make me sleep again4 ,most countries have their stories and traditions of mysterious music which1 in many cases1 has been associated with certain supernatural properties4 ,under one form or another1 the belief in phantom music has extensively prevailed throughout ,europe1 and in many parts of ,england it is still supposed to be heard1 occasionally as a presage of death4 ,it has been generally supposed that music is the favourite recreation of the spirits that haunt mountains1 rivers1 and all kinds of lonely places4 ,the ,indians would not venture near ,manitobah ,island1 their superstitious fears being due to the weird sounds produced by the waves as they beat upon the beach at the foot of the cliffs1 near its northern extremity4 ,during the night1 when a gentle breeze was blowing from the north1 the various sounds heard on the island were quite sufficient to strike awe into their minds4 ,these sounds frequently resembled the ringing of distant bells2 so close1 indeed1 was the resemblance that travellers would awake during the night with the impression that they were listening to chimes4 ,when the breeze subsided1 and the waves played gently on the beach1 a low wailing sound would be heard three hundred yards from the cliffs4#ccg ,sometimes music is heard at sea1 and it is believed in ,ireland that when a friend or relative dies1 a warning voice is discernible4 ,the following is a rough translation of an ,irish song founded on this superstition1 which is generally sung to a singularly wild and melancholy air3 ,a low sound of song from the distance ,i hear1 ,in the silence of night1 breathing sad on my ear4 ,whence comes it8 ,i know not--unearthly the note1 ,and unearthly the tones through the air as they float2 ,yet it sounds like the lay that my mother once sung1 ,and o'er her firstborn in his cradle she hung4 ,when ships go down at sea1 it is said the death-bell is at times distinctly heard1 a superstition to which ,sir ,walter ,scott alludes3 ,and the kelpie rang1 ,and the sea-maid sang1 ,the dirge of lovely ,rosabelle4 ,at the present day1 indeed1 all kinds of phantom musical sounds are believed to float through the air--sounds which the peasantry1 in days past1 attributed to the fairies4 ,the ,american ,indians have a similar piece of legendary lore4 ,gayarre1 in his ',louisiana1' says that mysterious music floats on the waters of the river ,pascagoula1 'particularly on a calm moonlight night4 ,it seems to issue from caverns or grottoes in the bed of the river1 and sometimes oozes up through the water under the very keel of the boat which contains the traveller1 whose ear it strikes as the distant concert of a thousand olian harps4 ,on the banks of the river1 close by the spot where the music is heard1 tradition says that there existed a tribe different from the rest of the ,indians4 ,every night when the moon was visible1 they gathered round the beautifully carved figure of a mermaid1 and1 with instruments of strange shape1 worshipped the idol with such soul-stirring music as had never before blessed human ears4 ,one day a priest came among them and tried to convert them from the worship of the mermaid4 ,but on a certain night1 at midnight1 there came a rushing on the surface of the river1 and the water seemed to be seized with a convulsive fury4 ,the ,indians and the priest rushed to the bank of the river to contemplate the supernatural spectacle4 ,when she saw them1 the mermaid turned her tones into still more bewitching melody1 and kept chanting a sort of mystic song4 ,the ,indians listened with growing ecstasy1 and one of them plunged into the river to rise no more4 ,the rest--men1 women1 and children--followed in quick succession1 moved1 as it were1 with the same irresistible impulse4 ,when the last of the race disappeared1 the river returned to its bed4 ,ever since that time is heard occasionally the distant music1 which the ,indians say is caused by their musical brethren1 who still keep up their revels at the bottom of the river1 in the palace of the mermaid4' ,it was a popular belief in years gone by1 that it was dangerous to listen long to the weirdly fascinating influence of phantom music1 or1 as it was sometimes called1 'diabolic music1' as it was employed by evil-disposed spirits for the purpose of accomplishing some wicked design4 ,tradition tells how certain weird music was long since heard in an old mansion in ,schleswig ,holstein4 ,the story goes that at a wedding there was a certain young lady present1 who was the most enthusiastic dancer far and near1 and who1 in spite of having danced all the evening1 petulantly exclaimed1 ',if the devil himself were to call me out1 ,i would not refuse him4' ,suddenly the door of the ball-room flew open1 and a stranger entered and invited her to dance4 ,round and round they whirled unceasingly1 faster and faster1 until1 to the horror of all present1 she fell down dead4 ,every year afterwards1 on the same day as this tragic event happened1 exactly at midnight1 the mansion long resounded with diabolic music1 the lady haunting the scene of her fearful death4 ,there are numerous versions of this story1 and one current in ,denmark is known as ',the ,indefatigable ,fiddler4' ,it appears that on a certain ,sunday evening1 some young people were merrymaking1 when it was decided to have a little dancing4 ,in the midst of an animated discussion as to how they could procure a musician1 one of the party boastingly said1 ',now1 that leave to me4 ,i will bring you a musician1 even if it should be the devil himself4' ,thereupon he left the house1 and had not gone far when he met a poverty-looking man with a fiddle under his arm1 who1 for a certain sum1 agreed to play4 ,soon the young people1 spellbound by the fiddler's music1 were frantically dancing up and down the room unable to stop1 and in spite of their entreaties he continued playing4 ,they must have soon died of exhaustion1 had not the parish priest arrived at the farmhouse1 and expelled the fiddler by certain mystic words4 ,sometimes1 it is said1 the sound of music1 such as harp-playing1 is heard in the most sequestered spots1 and is attributed to supernatural agency4 ,the ,welsh peasantry thought it proceeded from the fairies1 who were supposed to be specially fond of this instrument2 but such music had this peculiarity--no one could ever learn the tune4 ,cortachy ,castle1 the seat of the ,earl of ,airlie1 has long had its mysterious drummer2 and whenever the sound of his drum is heard1 it betokens the speedy death of a member of the ,ogilvie family4 ,the story goes that 'either the drummer1 or some officer whose emissary he was1 had excited the jealousy of a former ,lord ,airlie1 and that in consequence he was put to death by being thrust into his own drum and flung from the window of the tower1 in which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly heard4 ,it is said that he threatened to haunt the family if his life were taken1' a promise which he has fulfilled4#cch ,with this strange warning may be compared the amusing story popularly known as ',the ,drummer of ,tedworth1' in which the ghost or evil spirit of a drummer1 or the ghost of a drum1 performed the principal part in this mysterious drama for 'two entire years4' ,the story1 as succinctly given by ,george ,cruikshank1#cci goes that in ,march #affa1 ,mr4 ,monpesson1 a magistrate1 caused a vagrant drummer to be arrested1 who had been annoying the country by noisy demands for charity1 and had ordered his drum to be taken from him1 and left in the bailiff's house4 ,about the middle of the following ,april1 when ,mr4 ,monpesson was preparing for a journey to ,london1 the bailiff sent the drum to his house4 ,but on his return home1 he was informed that noises had been heard1 and then he heard the noises himself1 which were a 'thumping and drumming1' accompanied by 'a strange noise and hollow sound4' ,the sign of it when it came was like a hurling in the air over the house1 and at its going off1 the beating of a drum1 like that of the 'breaking up of a guard4' ,after a month's disturbance outside the house1 it came into the room where the drum lay4 ,for an hour together it would beat ',roundheads and ,cockolds1' the 'tattoo1' and several other points of war as well as any drummer4 ,upon one occasion1 when many were present1 a gentleman said1 ',satan1 if the drummer set thee to work1 give three knocks1' which it did at once4 ,and for further trial1 he bid it for confirmation1 if it were the drummer1 to give five knocks and no more that night1 which it did1 and left the house quiet all the night after4 ',but1' as ,george ,cruikshank observes1 'strange as it certainly was1 is it not still more strange that educated gentlemen1 and even clergymen1 as in this case1 also should believe that the ,almighty would suffer an evil spirit to disturb and affright a whole innocent family1 because the head of that family had1 in his capacity as magistrate1 thought it his duty to take away a drum from no doubt a drunken drummer1 who1 by his noisy conduct1 had become a nuisance to the neighbourhood8' ,in many parts of the country1 phantom bells are supposed to be heard ringing their ghostly peals4 ,near ,blackpool1 about two miles out at sea1 there once stood1 tradition says1 the church and cemetery of ,kilmigrol1 long ago submerged4 ,even now1 in rough weather1 the melancholy chimes of the bells may be heard sounding over the restless waters4 ,a similar story is told of ,jersey4 ,according to a local legend1 many years ago1 'the twelve parish churches in that island possessed each a valuable peal of bells1 but during a long civil war the bells were sold to defray the expenses of the troops4 ,the bells were sent to ,france1 but on the passage the ship foundered1 and everything was lost4 ,since then1 during a storm1 these bells always ring at sea1 and to this day the fishermen of ,st4 ,ouen's ,bay1 before embarking1 go to the edge of the water to listen if they can hear the bells2 if so1 nothing will induce them to leave the shore4' ,with this story may be compared one told of ,whitby ,abbey1 which was suppressed in #aeci4 ,the bells were sold1 and placed on board to be conveyed to ,london4 ,but1 as soon as the vessel had moved out into the bay it sank1 and beneath the waters the bells may occasionally be heard1 a legend which has been thus poetically described3 ,up from the heart of the ocean ,the mellow music peals1 ,where the sunlight makes its golden path1 ,and the seamew flits and wheels4 ,for many a chequered century1 ,untired by flying time1 ,the bells no human fingers touch ,have rung their hidden chime4 ,to this day the tower of ,forrabury ,church1 ,cornwall1 or1 as it has been called by ,mr4 ,hawker1 'the silent tower of ,bottreaux1' remains without bells4 ,it appears the bells were cast and shipped for ,forrabury1 but as the ship neared the shore1 the captain swore and used profane language1 whereupon the vessel sank beneath a sudden swell of the ocean4 ,as it went down1 the bells were heard tolling with a muffled peal2 and ever since1 when storms are at hand1 their phantom sound is still audible from beneath the waves3 ,still when the storm of ,bottreaux's waves ,is waking in his weedy caves1 ,those bells that sullen surges hide1 ,peal their deep tones beneath the tide-- ',come to thy ,god in time1' ,thus saith the ocean chime2 ',storm1 whirlpool1 billow past1 ,come to thy ,god at last4' ,legends of this kind remind us of ,southey's ballad of the ',inchcape ,bell1' founded on a tragic legend4 ,the abbots of ,aberbrothock 7,arbroath7 fixed a bell on a rock1 as a kindly warning to sailors1 that obstruction having long been considered the chief difficulty in the navigation of the ,firth of ,forth4 ,the bell was so fastened as to be rung by the agitation of the waves1 but one day1 ,sir ,ralph the ,rover 'cut the bell from the ,inchcape float1' and down sank the bell with a gurgling sound4 ,afterwards1 ,sir ,ralph the ,rover sailed away1 ,he scoured the sea for many a day1 ,and now grown rich with plundered store1 ,he steers his course for ,scotland's shore4 ,but the night is dark and hazy1 and-- ,they hear no sound1 the swell is strong1 ,though the wind hath fallen they drift along1 ,till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock4 ',o ,christ6 ,it is the ,inchcape rock6' ,but it is too late--the ship is doomed3 ,sir ,ralph the ,rover tore his hair2 ,he cursed himself in his despair4 ,the waves rush in on every side2 ,the ship is sinking beneath the tide4 ,but even in his dying fear ,one dreadful sound could the rover hear1 ,a sound as if with the ,inchcape bell1 ,the devil below was ringing his knell4 ,indeed1 there are all kinds of whimsical stories current of phantom bells1 and according to a tradition at ,tunstall1 in ,norfolk1 the parson and churchwardens disputed for the possession of some bells which had become useless because the tower was burnt4 ,but1 during their altercation1 the arch-fiend quickly travelled off with the bells1 and being pursued by the parson1 who began to exorcise in ,latin1 he dived into the earth with his ponderous burden1 and the place where he disappeared is a boggy pool of water1 called ',hell ,hole4' ,notwithstanding the aversion of the powers of darkness to such sounds1 even these bells are occasionally permitted to favour their native place with a ghostly peal4 ,similarly1 at ,fisherty ,brow1 near ,lonsdale1 there is a sort of hollow where1 as the legend runs1 a church1 parson1 and congregation were swallowed up4 ,on a ,sunday morning the bells may be heard ringing a phantom peal by anyone who puts his ear to the ground4 ,occasionally1 it is said1 phantom music1 by way of warning1 is heard just before a death1 instances of which are numerous4 ,samuel ,foote1 in the year #agdj1 while visiting at his father's house in ,truro1 was kept awake by sounds of sweet music4 ,his uncle was at about the same time murdered by assassins4 ,this strange occurrence is thus told by ,mr4 ,ingram4#cdj ,foote's maternal uncles were ,sir ,john ,goodere and ,captain ,goodere1 a naval officer4 ,in #agdj the two brothers dined at a friend's house near ,bristol4 ,for a long time they had been on bad terms1 owing to certain money transactions1 but at the dinner-table a reconciliation was1 to all appearance1 arrived at between them4 ,but1 on his return home1 ,sir ,john was waylaid by some men from his brother's vessel1 acting by his brother's authority1 carried on board1 and deliberately strangled1 ,captain ,goodere not only unconcernedly looking on1 but furnishing the rope with which the crime was committed4 ,the strangest part of this terrible tale1 however1 remains to be told4 ,on the night the murder was perpetrated1 ,foote arrived at his father's house in ,truro1 and he used to relate how he was kept awake for some time by the softest and sweetest strains of music he had ever heard4 ,at first he tried to fancy it was a serenade got up by some of the family to welcome him home1 but not being able to discover any trace of the musicians1 he came to the conclusion that he was deceived by his own imagination4 ,he shortly afterwards learnt that the murder had been consummated at the same hour of the same night as he had been haunted by the mysterious sounds4 ,,footnotes3 #ccg ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #cji4 #cch ,see ,ingram's ,haunted ,homes1 p4 #ec4 #cci ,a ,discovery ,concerning ,ghosts1 #ahfd1 pp4 #ah1 #ai4 #cdj ,haunted ,homes1 p4 #bec4 ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,phantom ,,sounds ,the deceptiveness of sound in olden times was very little understood1 and hence originated1 in most countries1 a host of traditionary tales descriptive of sundry mysterious noises which were generally attributed to supernatural agencies4 ,hence1 it is impossible to say how many a ghost story would long ago have found a satisfactory solution if only attention had been paid to the properties of sound4 ,but by disregarding the laws which regulate the conditions upon which sound is oftentimes more or less audible1 the imagination has frequently conjured up the most fantastic reasons for some mysterious rumbling which has suddenly trespassed on the silence of the night4 ,thus1 ,dr4 ,tyndall has proved how the atmosphere is occasionally in an unusual degree more transparent or opaque to sound as well as to light1 and supported this theory by referring to the audibility of fog-signals1 which vary according to the state of the weather4 ,facts of this kind are of the utmost importance in accounting1 it may be1 for some apparently inexplicable sound4 ,it is sometimes forgotten1 too1 that sounds are far more audible at night time than during the day1 and what would fail to attract notice1 even if heard during the hours of sunlight1 would probably be treated in a different aspect when once the darkness of evening had set in4 ,there is perhaps no superstition so deeply rooted in the popular mind as the belief in what are generally termed 'death-warnings'2 the common opinion being that death announces its approach by certain mysterious noises1 a powerful illustration of which occurs in ',macbeth' 7,act ii4 sc4 #c71 where ,lennox graphically describes how1 on the awful night in which ,duncan is murdered-- ,our chimneys were blown down3 and1 as they say ,lamentings heard i' the air2 strange screams of death3 ,and prophesying1 with accents terrible1 ,of dire combustion1 and confused events1 ,new hatch'd to the woeful time4 ,modern folk-lore holds either that a knocking or rumbling in the floor is an omen of death about to happen1 or that dying persons themselves announce their dissolution to their friends in such strange sounds4#cda ,in recent years one of the most interesting instances of a phantom voice occurred in connection with the death of ,mr4 ,george ,smith1 the well-known ,assyriologist4 ,this eminent scholar died at ,aleppo1 on ,august #ai1 #ahgf1 at about six o'clock in the afternoon4 ,on the same day1 and at about the same time1 as ,dr4 ,delitzsch--a friend and fellow-worker of ,mr4 ,smith--was passing within a stone's throw of the house in which he had lived when in ,london1 he suddenly heard his own name uttered aloud 'in a most piercing cry1' which a contemporary record of the time said 'thrilled him to the marrow4' ,the fact impressed ,dr4 ,delitzsch so much that he looked at his watch1 made a note of the hour1 and recorded the fact in his note-book1 this being one of those straightforward and unimpeachable coincidences which1 even to an opponent1 is difficult to explain4 ,there can be no doubt that many of the unearthly noises heard near and in lonely houses on the coast were produced by an illicit class of spirits1 that is1 through the agency of smugglers1 'in order to alarm and drive all others but their accomplices from their haunts4' ,thus1 in a house at ,rottingdean1 ,sussex1 all kinds of strange noises were heard night after night1 when suddenly they ceased4 ,soon afterwards one of a gang of smugglers confessed to their having made a secret passage from the beach close by the house1 and that1 wishing to induce the occupiers to abandon it1 they had rolled at the dead of night tub after tub of spirits up the passage1 and so had caused it to be reported that the place was haunted4#cdb ,george ,cruikshank tells how1 in the wine cellar of a house somewhere near ,blackheath1 there were sometimes heard strange noises in the evening and at night-time1 such as knocking1 groaning1 footsteps1 c4 ,the master of the house at last determined 'to lay the ghost' if possible1 and one evening1 when these noises had been heard1 went with his servants to the cellar1 where they discovered an under-gardener in a drunken state4 ,it seems that he had tunnelled a hole from the tool-house through the wall into the cellar4 ,in numerous cases1 too1 there can be no doubt that strange noises heard in the silent hours of the night have been due to some cleverly-devised trick for the purpose1 in many cases1 of keeping the house uninhabited1 and thereby benefiting1 it may be1 some impecunious care-taker4 ,a story is told of a ghost--which turned out to be the trick of a ,franciscan friar--that answered questions by knocking in the ,catholic church of ,orleans1 and demanded the removal of the provost's ,lutheran wife1 who had been buried there4#cdc ,but one of the most eccentric instances of spiritual antics was the noises said to have been heard at ,epworth ,parsonage in the time of the ,rev4 ,samuel ,wesley1 these sounds having consisted of 'knockings' and 'groanings1' of 'footsteps1' and 'rustling of silk trailing along1' 'clattering of the iron casement1' and 'clattering of the warming pan1' and all sorts of frightful noises1 which frightened even a big dog1 a large mastiff1 who used1 at first1 when he heard the noises1 'to bark1 and leap1 and snap on one side and the other1 and that frequently before anyone in the room heard the noises at all2 but after two or three days he used to creep away before the noise began1 and by this the family knew it was at hand4' ,mr4 ,wesley at one time thought it was rats1 and sent for a horn to blow them away4 ,but this made matters worse1 for after the horn was blown the noise came in the daytime as well4 ,some of the ,wesley family believed it to be supernatural hauntings1 and explained the cause of it thus3 at morning and evening prayers1 'when the ,rev4 ,samuel ,wesley commenced prayer for the king1 a knocking began all round the room1 and a thundering knock attended the ,amen4' ,mr4 ,wesley observed that his wife did not say ',amen' to the prayer for the king1 but ,mrs4 ,wesley added she could not1 for she did not believe that the ,prince of ,orange was king4#cdd ,ewshott ,house1 ,hampshire1 was disturbed by equally strange sounds1 and ,glamis ,castle1 with its secret room1 has long been famous for the mysterious noises1 knocking1 and hammering heard at night-time1 which a lady once remarked reminded her of the erection of a scaffold4 ,the miscreant ghosts of wicked people are supposed to make all kinds of unearthly noises1 for as they cannot enjoy peace in their graves1 they delight in annoying the occupants of their mortal haunts4 ,lowther ,hall1 the residence of the 'bad ,lord ,lonsdale1' was disturbed by such uncanny sounds that neither men nor animals were permitted to rest1 and many of the ghost stories told of our old country houses describe the peculiar noises made by their ghostly tenants4 ,the mother of the premier1 ,george ,canning1 used to tell her experiences of a haunted house in ,plymouth1 where she stayed during a theatrical engagement4 ,having learnt from a ,mr4 ,bernard1 who was connected with the theatre1 that he could obtain comfortable apartments for her at a moderate price1 she accepted his offer4 ',there is1' said he1 'a house belonging to our carpenter that is reported to be haunted1 and nobody will live in it4 ,if you like to have it you may1 and for nothing1 ,i believe1 for he is so anxious to get a tenant2 only you must not let it be known that you do not pay any rent for it4' ,it turned out as ,mr4 ,bernard had informed her1 for night after night she heard all such noises as are wont to proceed from a workshop1 although1 on examining every part of the house herself1 she found nothing to account for this extraordinary series of noises4 ,occasionally1 it is said1 before the perpetration of any dreadful crime1 as murder1 a supernatural sound is heard4 ,a murder was committed1 for instance1 at ,cottertown1 of ,auchanasie1 near ,keith1 on ,january #aa1 #agig1 in connection with which the following facts have been recorded3 ',on the day on which the deed was done1 two men1 strangers to the district1 called at a farmhouse about three miles from the house in which lived the old folk that were murdered4 ,shortly before the tragic act was committed1 a sound was heard passing along the road the two men were seen to take1 in the direction of the place at which the murder was perpetrated4 ,so loud and extraordinary was the noise that the people left their houses to see what it was that was passing4 ,to the amazement of every one1 nothing was to be seen1 though it was moonlight1 and moonlight so bright that it aroused attention4 ,all believed something dreadful was to happen1 and some proposed to follow the sound4 ,about the time this discussion was going on1 a blaze of fire arose on the hill of ,auchanasie4 ,the foul deed had been accomplished1 and the cottage set on fire4 ,by next day all knew of what the mysterious sound had been the forerunner4'#cde ,at ,wheal ,vor ,mine an unaccountable noise has been generally supposed to be a warning4 ,on ,barry ,island1 near ,cardiff1 it is said that certain ghostly noises were formerly heard in it--sounds resembling the clanking of chains1 hammering of iron1 and blowing of bellows1 and which were supposed to be made by the fiends whom ,merlin had set to work to frame the wall of crags to surround ,carmarthen4 ,the following extract from ,lockhart's ',life of ,sir ,walter ,scott' records a strange noise which was heard while the new house at ,abbotsford was being built1 the novelist living in an older part1 close adjoining3 ',walter ,scott to ,daniel ,terry1 ,april #cj1 #ahah4444 ,the exposed state of my house has led to a mysterious disturbance4 ,the night before last we were awakened by a violent noise1 like drawing heavy boards along the new part of the house4 ,i fancied something had fallen1 and thought no more about it2 this was about two in the morning4 ,last night1 at the same witching hour1 the very same noise occurred4 ,mrs4 ,s41 as you know1 is rather timbersome1 so up ,i got1 with ,beardie's broad sword under my arm-- ,bolt upright1 ,and ready to fight4 ,but nothing was out of order1 neither can ,i discover what occasioned the disturbance4' ,mr4 ,lockhart adds3 ',on the morning that ,mr4 ,terry received the foregoing letter in ,london1 ,mr4 ,william ,erskine was breakfasting with him1 and the chief subject of their conversation was the sudden death of ,george ,bullock1 which had occurred on the same night1 and nearly as they could ascertain at the very hour when ,scott was aroused from his sleep by the mysterious disturbance here described4 ,this coincidence1 when ,scott received ,erskine's minute detail of what had happened in ,tenterdon ,street 7that is1 the death of ,bullock1 who had the charge of furnishing the new rooms at ,abbotsford71 made a much stronger impression on his mind than might be gathered from the tone of an ensuing communication4' ,it seems that ,bullock had been at ,abbotsford1 and made himself a great favourite with old and young4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 a week or two afterwards1 wrote thus to ,terry3 ',were you not struck with the fantastical coincidence of our nocturnal disturbances at ,abbotsford1 with the melancholy event that followed8 ,i protest to you the noise resembled half a dozen men at work1 putting up boards and furniture1 and nothing can be more certain than that there was nobody on the premises at the time4 ,with a few additional touches1 the story would figure in ,glanville or ,aubrey's collection4 ,in the meantime you may set it down1 with poor ,dubisson's warnings1 as a remarkable coincidence coming under your own observation4' ,in a paper by ,mrs4 ,edwards1 in ',macmillan's ,magazine1' entitled ',the ,mystery of ,pezazi1' an account is given of constant disturbing sounds of nocturnal tree-felling heard near a bungalow in ,ceylon1 where examination proved that no trees had been felled4 ,mrs4 ,edwards1 her husband1 and their servants were on several occasions disturbed by these sounds1 which were unmistakable and distinct4 ,the ,singhalese attribute these noises to a ,pezazi1 or spirit4 ,a description of precisely the same disturbances occurs1 writes ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang1#cdf in ,sahagun's account of the superstitions of the ,aztecs1 and it seems that the ,galapagos ,islands1 'suthard of the line1' were haunted by the midnight axe4 ',de ,quincey1' adds ,mr4 ,lang1 'who certainly had not heard the ,ceylon story1 and who probably would have mentioned ,sahagun's had he known it1 describes the effect produced by the midnight axe on the nerves of his brother1 ,pink3 ,so it was1 and attested by generations of sea-vagabonds1 that every night1 duly as the sun went down and the twilight began to prevail1 a sound arose--audible to other islands1 and to every ship lying quietly at anchor in that neighbourhood--of a woodcutter's axe4444 ,the close of the story was that after1 ,i suppose1 ten or twelve minutes of hacking and hewing1 a horrid crash was heard1 announcing that the tree1 if tree it were1 that never yet was made visible to daylight search1 had yielded to the old woodman's persecution4444 ,the woodcutter's axe began to intermit about the earliest approach of dawn1 and as light strengthened it ceased entirely1 after poor ,pink's ghostly panic grew insupportable4' ,among the ,american ,indians all the sounds that issued from caverns were thought to be produced by their spiritual inhabitants4 ,the ,sonora ,indians say that departed souls dwell among the caves and nooks of their cliffs1 and that echoes often heard there are their voices4 ,similarly1 when explosions were heard1 caused by the sulphurous gas from the rocks around the head-waters of ,lake ,ontario1 the superstitious ,indians attributed them to the breathing of the ,manitous4#cdg ,the modern ,dayaks1 ,siamese1 and ,singhalese agree with the ,esths as to noises being caused by spirits4 ,european folk-lore has long ascribed most of the unexplained noises to the agency of spirits1 and to this day ,franconian damsels go to a tree on ,st4 ,thomas's ,day1 knock three times1 and listen for the indwelling spirit to inform them from raps within what kind of husbands they are to have4 ,hence the night is known as ',little ,knocker's ,night4' ,there is the ,poltergeist of the ,german1 a mischievous spirit1 who wanders about the house at night making all kinds of strange noises4 ,,footnotes3 #cda ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #ade4 #cdb ,mrs4 ,latham's ',west ,sussex ,superstitions1' ,folk-lore ,record1 i4 p4 #ba4 #cdc ,see ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 i4 p4 #adf4 #cdd ,see ,southey's ,life of ,wesley4 #cde ,walter ,gregor3 ,folk-lore of ,north-,east of ,scotland1 pp4 #bje1 #bjf4 #cdf ,nineteenth ,century1 vol4 xvii4 p4 #fbg4 #cdg ,dorman's ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #cjb4 ,,index ,abbot1 ghost of1 in ,abbey of ,clare1 #cbf ,abbotsford1 #dcd-dcf ,abipones1 superstitions of1 #hi1 #ccf1 #cdj ,accidents1 ghosts appear at scene of1 #afh ,african beliefs1 #cj1 #ij-ia1 #ahb1 #cdf ,agnes'1 ,st41 ,fast1 #che ,alaska belief1 #aj ,albans1 ,st41 ,duchess of1 #ajj ,aleutian islanders1 #cda ,algonquin ,indians1 #dj1 #cji1 #cci ,allanbank1 ghost at1 #cab ,allhallow ,eve1 #aah ,althorp1 apparition seen at1 #cai ,american ,indian beliefs1 #f1 #bc1 #cg1 #hi1 #adc1 #bag1 #cdc1 #dad1 #dch ,ancestor worship1 #ajb ,andaman islanders1 #aaj ,andrew's ,eve1 ,st41 #chh ,angel of death1 #bgc ,angola1 belief in1 #ahb ,animal ghosts1 #ajb-abf ,arabian belief1 #cfj ,ash-ridlin1 #chf ,ashley ,hall1 ,cheshire1 #cbf ,assiniboins1 belief of1 #ff ,astwood ,castle1 #cai ,australian beliefs1 #ba1 #cc1 #de1 #fg1 #afe1 #cdj1 #cdc1 #cfj1 #cie ,awd ,nance1 ghost so called1 #cbf ,aztec legend of ,creation1 #cf ---- belief1 #ij1 #dcg ,bad ,lord ,lonsdale1 #caa1 #dcb ,bagley ,house1 #cah ,bahrgeist1 #aad ,balcarres1 ,lord1 #cgb ,banshee1 #bba1 #bga-bhc1 #cje1 #chc ,barguest1 #aad ,barton ,hall1 haunted1 #cab ,basutos1 belief of1 #c ,baxter1 ,r41 story told by1 #bej ,bean-geese1 #abj ,bear1 soul as1 #aaa ,beckington ,castle1 #ccc ,bees1 soul in form of1 #afa ,bell1 passing1 #ae ,bells1 legends of1 #dbj ---- phantom1 #dbj ---- tolling of1 #bbg ,belludo1 ,spanish ghost1 #adg ,benedictine nun1 ghost of1 #bai ,benjie ,gear1 ghost so called1 #aie ,ben ,jonson1 #cgb ,benshee1 #bgc ,bergmnch1 spectre so called1 #bfi ,berkeley ,square1 mystery of1 #cag-cah ,berry ,pomeroy ,castle1 #cah ,bertha of ,rosenberg1 #bbh ,beswick1 ,madame1 ghost of1 #aca1 #cii ,bible in ghost laying1 #aib1 #aig ,biddick ,hall1 ,south1 #cbg ,bilocation1 or double personality1 #cfg ,birchen ,tower1 ,hollinwood1 #cih ,bird near sick-room1 #ig ,birds as soul bearers1 #if ---- phantom1 #he-aja ---- singed1 souls as1 #if ---- the way of1 #if ,birkbeck ghost1 #cgb-cgc ,birraark1 #afe-aff ,birth1 superstitions relating to1 #ig ,black dog1 spectral1 #ajg-ajh ---- friar1 ghost of1 #bba1 #cjh ---- ,heddon1 ,northumberland1 #cih ,bleeding nun1 ghost of1 #dd ,blenkinsopp ,castle1 #cbf1 #djj ,bloodstains1 indelible1 #adf ,bloody hand1 spectre of1 #bbj ,bluecap1 #bfd ---- lights1 #cij ,bodach au ,dun1 #bbj ---- ,glas1 #bbj ,bodacher ,garlin1 #bba ,boggan1 #aad ,boggart1 at ,clegg ,hall1 #aii ,boguest1 #aad ,bohemian belief1 #hf1 #afj1 #ahc1 #baa1 #bbh1 #ccf1 #cci ,boleyn1 ,lady ,ann1 #adg ,bolivia1 ,yuricares of1 #cg ,bolles pit1 #bjc ,bolotu1 #bh ,bones of dead preserved1 #cf-cg ,booty's ghost1 #bda-bdd ,borneo1 ,dayaks of1 #ah1 #dch ,bothwell1 ,lady1 ghost of1 #gd1 #cjh ,bottle imps1 #ahe ,bottreaux1 bells of1 #dba ,brandenburg1 ,elector of1 #bbi ,brazil1 ,indians of1 #cc1 #da1 #de1 #ij1 #cei1 #cic ,brides1 ghosts of1 #fa ,bridge ,end ,house1 #cbg ,brocken1 spectre of1 #ceb ,brougham1 ,lord1 #bde ,brownies1 #cac1 #djd ,brown lady at ,rainham1 #cab ,bulgarian belief1 #hj1 #afj1 #ahi ,bull1 ghost as a1 #ajd ,burial-grounds1 haunted1 #cdc ,burma1 #cei ,burton ,agnes ,hall1 #cbf ,butterflies1 phantom1 #aef-afb ,byron1 ,lord1 #baj1 #bba ---- ,sir ,john1 the ,little1 #cac ,caistor ,hall1 ghost at1 #aej ,calabar superstition1 #ccf ,californian beliefs1 #ae1 #ce1 #ij ,candles in ghost laying1 #aij ---- snuff of1 taken for ghost laying1 #cfb ---- spectral1 #aci ,canning1 ,george1 #dcb ,capelthwaite1 #aad ,cassowary1 #aaa ,castle1 sunken1 #cdh ,cedar room at ,ashley ,hall1 #cbf ,chappie1 ghost so called1 #cjf ,chartley ,park1 #bbd ,chasse ,macabee1 #abe ,checks against ghosts1 #ced-cfb ,chevalier de ,saxe1 #aga ,chiancungi1 fortune-tellers1 #agc ,chibchas1 #ahd ,chinese belief1 #f1 #ai1 #cc1 #ec1 #ee1 #fb1 #fe1 #ff1 #gb1 #aie1 #baa1 #bib1 #cci1 #ceh ,choctaw belief1 #bi1 #cg ,chough1 ,king ,arthur in form of1 #id ,christmastide1 ghosts at1 #cjb-cjc ,church ghosts1 #ccj-cca ---- lamb1 #abf ---- porch1 #ccb-ccc1 #chg ---- yard spectres1 #fi ,churton ,hall1 #cba ,clegg ,hall boggart1 #aii1 #cbb ,clock superstition1 #bbg ,cloud1 soul as white1 #d ,cobal1 ghost so called1 #bgj ,cock-crow1 #ced-cef ,cocks' feathers hinder exit of soul1 #ab ,cold lad1 #cac ,colt1 ghost as a1 #ajc ,combermere ,abbey1 #cbb ,compacts between living and dead1 #bde-bef ,copeland1 lady of1 #acc ,corby ,castle1 ghost at1 #caa ,cornish beliefs1 #ajc1 #ajh1 #abj1 #abh1 #bja1 #bjg1 #bjh1 #bfb1 #bid1 #cjj1 #dba ---- legend of ,king ,arthur1 #id ,cornwolf1 #cif ,corpse candle1 #aci-adj ,cortachy ,castle haunted1 #caa1 #dag ,courting a ghost1 #chd ,coved saloon at ,combermere ,abbey1 #cbb ,cows1 ghosts in form of1 #aji ,craighouse1 #cbe ,creslow ,manor ,house1 #cac ,criminals1 ghosts of1 #fi ,crook ,hall haunted1 #cbg ,cross1 check against evil spirits1 #ceh1 #cfa ,cross-roads1 ghosts at1 #fa1 #chc ,cruikshank1 ,george1 #dbi ,cullaby ,castle1 #cbj ,cumberland1 #gf1 #gh1 #bff1 #cff ,cumnor ,hall1 #gg1 #cbj ,cutty ,soams1 #bfd ,cwn y ,wybe1 #aah ,cyprus1 #ahc ,dandy dogs1 #aah1 #abj1 #aba ,danish superstitions1 #h1 #dh1 #fa1 #hh1 #ig1 #abf1 #ahc1 #bae1 #bhi1 #cfa1 #che1 #daf ,dead1 mutilation of1 #cei-cfj ---- unburied1 #dc-di ---- worship of1 #fc ,death bell1 #dac ---- birds presage of1 #ig-ih ---- warnings1 #ab1 #ac1 #bai1 #bcb1 #dbg ,delitzsch1 ,dr41 #dbh ,demon1 soul as1 #fb ,denis1 ,st41 #ade ,denton ,hall1 #cbf ,departed1 ,bay of the1 #bjf ,derwentwater1 ,lady1 #cba ,desert1 water of1 #ceb ,devil1 compact with ,lord ,soulis1 #cbc ---- powerless at cock-crow1 #cee ---- tries to seize soul at death1 #ad ,devonshire beliefs1 #ig1 #ih1 #cgf ,diedrick of ,bern1 #abe ,dishonesty in life causes soul to wander1 #ea ,doe1 ,white1 of ,rylstone1 #ajh ,dogs of hell1 #abb ---- spectral1 #aje-ajf ---- the sky1 #abb ,donart's ,castle1 ,st41 #gf ,doors unfastened at death1 #f ,dorcas1 ghost so called1 #bfg ,dorchester1 ,lord1 #chj ,dorsetshire1 #adi ,doves in ghost-lore1 #id1 #ih ,doyle1 ,bishop1 death of1 #ajj ,dreams1 proof of soul's existence1 #ag1 #ah ,dress1 phantom1 #cjc-cji ,drowned1 ghosts of1 #bjf-bac ,drummer1 mysterious1 #caa ---- of ,tedworth1 #cag ,duck1 soul as1 #hg ,durham1 #aea ,dutch belief1 #h-i ,dyterbjernat1 #abe ,eagle1 #id1 #if ,easterton ghost1 the1 #cbi ,ebb of tide1 death at1 #ae-af ,edge ,hill1 strange phenomenon at1 #cea ,edgewell oak1 #bbb ,edgeworth1 ,maria1 #cgb ,effigy1 burial in1 #di ,elixir of life1 #age ,elizabeth1 ,queen1 and her fetch1 #cfd ,elymas1 the sorcerer1 #afd ,epworth ,parsonage haunted1 #cbh1 #dcj ,eskimo belief1 #f1 #aaa1 #adc1 #cei ,essex1 #aaa ,ewshott ,house haunted1 #cah1 #dca ,exorcism1 #hh1 #aff ,eye1 soul in the1 #c1 #d ,fairy music1 #dac ,fata ,morgana1 #ceb ,feathers1 game1 hinder exit of soul1 #aa-ab ,female fairy1 #bgc ,fetches1 #cfc-cfd ,fiddler1 the indefatigable1 #daf ,fijian beliefs1 #ai1 #bc1 #bg-bh1 #ahb1 #bag1 #cji1 #cci ,finland1 custom in1 #ccf ,fire1 check against ghosts1 #ceh ,fish animated by souls1 #aaa ,flame1 soul in1 #acg ,flax-seed1 charm against ghosts1 #cfb ,flies1 souls as1 #afa ,flying ,dutchman1 #bhf1 #bic ,foot of the ,fawn1 #ii ,foote1 ,samuel1 #dbd ,foundation sacrifices1 #cj ,french beliefs1 #e1 #aji1 #abe1 #acc1 #bca1 #bgj1 #bhi1 #bia ,furious host1 #acf ,fye1 or wraith1 #cfi ,gabriel hounds1 #aag1 #acf ---- ,ratchets1 #aah-aai ,galicia1 belief in1 #cg ,game feathers hinder exit of soul1 #aa-ab ,german beliefs1 #e1 #f1 #h1 #i1 #ef1 #hf1 #ig1 #ii1 #abc1 #ace-acf1 #aee1 #ahc1 #bab1 #bbg1 #bfj1 #cch1 #cda1 #cdh1 #cfj1 #chh1 #cia1 #cif ,ghosts and hidden treasures1 #cig-daj ---- checks against1 #ced-cfb ---- different classes of1 #da ---- headless1 #cc1 #ec1 #fi1 #add-aeh1 #cjf1 #chc ---- times of appearing1 #chb-cij ---- why they wander1 #ej-fc ,ghost laying1 #ajd1 #agi-bje ---- of the ,hill1 #bbj ---- raising1 #afc-agh ---- seers1 #bad-bah ,glamis ,castle haunted1 #cac1 #dca ,gnat1 soul as1 #afa ,goblin friar1 #cac ,golden mountain1 #adf ,gould1 ,madame1 #ih ,grass-wolf1 #cif ,grave-sow1 #abf ,graves1 haunted1 #cda ---- treading on1 #cde ,gray sow1 #abf ,greece1 beliefs in1 #be1 #ahc1 #cid ,greenland1 beliefs in1 #bc1 #bi1 #cci ,grief causes soul to wander1 #fa ,gunpowder and ghosts1 #cfj-cfa ,gurlinbeg1 family of1 #bba ,hackwood ,house haunted1 #cb ,hairy left hand1 girl with1 #bba ,hallow ,eve1 #chh ,hamilton1 ,lady1 of ,bothwellhaugh1 #gd ,hanged1 ghosts of1 #ec ,hare1 ghost as1 #ajc1 #bga ,harlequin1 #abe ,haunted houses1 #caj-ccd ---- localities1 #cce-cec ,headless ghosts1 #cc1 #ec1 #fj1 #add-aeh1 #cjf1 #chc ,heart1 seat of soul1 #b1 #c ,hell ,hole1 #dbc ,henequin1 #abe ,herburt family1 #id ,hermitage ,castle1 #cbb1 #djc ,herring piece1 #ic ---- spear1 #ic ,hidden treasures and ghosts1 #cig-daj ,hilton ,castle1 #cac ,hindu beliefs1 #cci ---- dirge1 #aa ,hinton ,ampner ,manor ,house1 #cab ,hoby1 ,lady1 #cba ,holland ,house1 #ade1 #cad ,holly and ghost laying1 #ahh ---- charm against evil spirits1 #ceh ,holt ,castle1 #cai ,hooper of ,sennen ,cove1 #cjj ,horse1 spectre as1 #abe ---- shoe1 #cfa ,hottentot customs at death1 #ccf1 #cci ,hound1 ghost as1 #aje ,house-fire put out at death1 #cei ,houses1 haunted1 #caj-ccd ,howard1 ,lady1 ghost of1 #ajd ,hugh ,capet1 #abe ,hulme ,castle1 treasures at1 #cig ,hungary1 belief in1 #fa ,hunt1 spectral1 #abd-abe ,huntsman1 wild1 #abe ,hurons of ,america1 belief of1 #fg ,hyssington ,church1 ghost at1 #ajd ,ignes ,fatui1 ghost as1 #ej-ea ,incantations against ghosts1 #afd ,inchcape ,bell1 #dbb-dbc ,india1 beliefs in1 #ab1 #fb1 #fg1 #if1 #ii1 #aji1 #aaj1 #cdj1 #cdc1 #cdf1 #ceg1 #cic1 #cie1 #dab1 #dad ,insect life1 #ajb ,irish superstitions1 #aa1 #id1 #acg1 #adf1 #aec1 #aef-aeg1 #bbf1 #bgd-bge1 #cdd1 #cej1 #cgj1 #cgg1 #chc1 #dje1 #dac ,iroquois of ,north ,america1 beliefs of1 #dd1 #cdg1 #cic ,italian belief1 #ceh ---- burial custom1 #cci ,jackals1 ghosts as1 #i ,japanese ghost story1 #gb ---- mode of raising ghost1 #aff ,jeffrey1 ,lady1 ghost of1 #ahg ,jemmy ,lowther1 #caa ,juniper1 spirit-haunted tree1 #cie ,kaffir beliefs1 #b1 #ccf ,kaneka superstition1 #bcj-bca ,karens1 beliefs of1 #de1 #fg1 #afj1 #cji ,kendal1 ,duchess of1 #ajj ,kilncote church porch1 #ccb ,kinchardines1 #bbj ,kirk-grim1 #abe ,knauff-,kriegen1 #bgj ,knockers1 #bfb ,lady of ,copeland1 #acc ---- of ,death1 #bgc ---- of the ,golden ,casket1 #abi ---- of the ,lantern1 #abh ---- ,winter's walk1 #aef ,lamb buried under altar1 #abf ---- church1 #abf ,lambton1 ,madame1 #cbg ,lancashire1 #d-e1 #ad1 #gd-ge1 #ia-ib1 #aab1 #aih1 #bad1 #cgf ,lavington1 ,east1 parsonage1 #cbi ,lightfoot1 ,lady1 #gg ,lights1 phantom1 #abg-adc ,lily1 soul as1 #cia-cib ,lincolnshire1 #abi ,lion1 #bbf ,little ,knocker's ,night1 #dch ,lledrith1 #cgj ,locks unfastened at death1 #e1 #g ,lowther ,hall haunted1 #dcb ,ly-erg1 #bbj ,lyttelton1 ,lord1 #ajj ,madagascar1 beliefs in1 #bc1 #cdf ,madge ,figg's chair1 #abi ,madness causes soul to wander1 #fa ,magic circle1 #afg ,malay belief1 #c ,malevolent spirits1 #gj ,manes worship1 #fc ,manx fishermen1 #ic ,maori belief1 #ccf ,mark's1 ,st41 ,eve1 #ccb1 #chf ,martyrs1 ghosts of1 #hf ,mary ,way1 spectre so called1 #aeb ,mauthe ,doog1 #aaf-aag1 #caa ,may ,moulach1 #bba ,mazarin1 ,duchess of1 #bed ,mermaid1 #dae ,mexican belief1 #hi ,midsummer ,eve1 #chg ,milky-way1 the1 #if ,miners' ghosts1 #beg-bgb1 #cgj-cga ,mines1 ghosts in1 #ajh1 #bfb-bfc ,mirage1 #ceb ,mohun1 ,lord1 #cgb ,money hidden by ghosts1 #djj-dji ,monkey1 soul as1 #aaj ,mountain1 abode of spirits1 #cdh ,mourning customs1 #cdj ,mouse1 soul as1 #aaj ,mouth1 escape of soul from1 #b-e ,murder discovered through ghost1 #ha-hd ---- preceded by supernatural sounds1 #dcc-dcd ,murdered1 ghosts of1 #cc1 #fd-hd ,murderers1 ghosts of1 #eb-ec1 #ed1 #cfj ,music1 phantom1 #daa-dbe ---- at sea1 #dac ,necromancy1 #afe ,netherby ,hall1 #cbg ,newstead ,abbey1 #cac ,new ,zealanders1 beliefs of1 #c1 #ce1 #ahb ,nix1 river spirit1 #bjb ,norfolk1 #aab1 #adh1 #adi1 #bjh1 #dbc ,northamptonshire1 #chc-chd1 #dji-daj ,northumberland1 #aej1 #cih ,norwegian beliefs1 #fh1 #gf1 #cfj ,nostrils1 exit of soul through1 #c ,nun1 bleeding1 #dd ---- of ,walton1 spectre so called1 #aed ,nymph of air1 #bgc ,oak1 holes in1 #cie ,obrick's colt1 #ajc ,ojibway1 beliefs in1 #cj1 #afb1 #ahd1 #ahe1 #bag1 #bia1 #ccf1 #cci1 #cdg ,old ,barbery1 ghost so called1 #cbf-cbg ---- ,hummums1 #caf ,orleans1 ,catholic church of1 #dcj ,ottawas1 beliefs of1 #de1 #fh ,oulton ,house1 ,suffolk1 #cbb ,ouse1 river1 #bbe ,owls and ,arundel of ,wardour1 #ii1 #bbb ---- as souls1 #id-ie ,oxenham family1 death-omen of1 #ih ,padfoot1 #aac ,papuans of ,new ,guinea1 belief of1 #aaj ,parsonages1 haunted1 #cbh-cbi ,passing bell1 #ae ,pawcorance1 small bird1 #ie ,pearlin1 ,jean1 #cje ,peel ,castle haunted1 #aaf-aag1 #caa ,peg ,o',nell1 ghost so called1 #bjj1 #cbg ,percy1 ,sir ,joceline1 #aej ,personality1 double1 #cfg ,peruvian beliefs1 #cf1 #beg1 #chg ,pezazi1 mystery of1 #dcf-dcg ,phantom bells1 #dbj-dba ---- birds1 #he-aja ---- butterflies1 #aei-afb ---- dress1 #cjc-cji ---- lights1 #abg-adc ---- music1 #daa-dbe ---- sounds1 #dbf-dch ,philosopher's stone1 #age ,pig1 ghost as1 #abe ,pigeon feathers hinder exit of soul1 #aa-ab ---- ghost as a1 #hf ,pigott1 ,madame1 #aig ,pileck family1 #id ,pirate wrecker1 #bid ,polish legend1 #id ,poltergeist1 a spectre in ,germany1 #dch ,polynesian belief1 #de ,pomerania1 belief in1 #ahc ,porter1 ,anna ,maria1 #cgc ,potawatomis1 #ahd ,powis ,castle1 #cbj ,prophecy at death1 #ac-ad ,pysling1 form of ghost1 #gj ,rabbit1 #bga ,radiant boy1 #abi1 #caa ,rainham1 story ,marquis of ,townshend1 #cab ,ramhurst ,manor ,house1 #cab ,ravens as ghosts of the murdered1 #dh1 #hh ---- omens of death1 #ajj ,red ,sea1 ghosts laid in1 #bja1 #bjc-bjd ,redwing1 noise caused by1 #ic ,rich1 ,lady ,diana1 #cff ,robin redbreast1 #ajj-aja ,robsart1 ,amy1 #gg1 #bjb1 #cbj ,roof1 hole made in for exit of soul1 #f ,rose1 white1 soul as1 #cib ,roslin ,chapel1 #ada ,rothiemurcus1 #bbj ,roumenian legend1 #ca ,rufus1 ,william1 fetch of1 #cd ,russia1 ,catharine of1 #cfi ,russian beliefs1 #b1 #ab1 #cb1 #acg1 #aei1 #afa1 #cch1 #cdi1 #ceh ,rustling lady1 the1 #cbg ,sacrifices1 foundation1 #cj ---- to souls of departed1 #fb ,samlesbury ,hall1 #cbb ,sampford ,peverell ghost1 #cbb ,sandwich ,islanders1 #cdj ,scotch beliefs1 #f1 #g1 #aa1 #fa1 #gc1 #abe1 #abi1 #afi1 #ahj1 #aid1 #bcj1 #bci1 #beh1 #bfe1 #cab1 #cei1 #cfi1 #cgj1 #dja-djb ,scott1 ,sir ,walter1 #dcd-dce ,seals1 spectral1 #ajf ,sea-phantoms1 #bhd-cjb ,seaton ,delaval ,castle1 #cba ,second sight1 #bb1 #bcc-bdd ,seminoles of ,florida1 #d1 #ccf ,serpent comes out of mouth1 #aji ,servian belief1 #afj ,seven whistlers1 #ia ,sexhow1 ghost at1 #cii ,shadow sight1 #bcc ---- soul as1 #bi-cb ,sheep1 ghosts as1 #aji ,shelley and his wraith1 #cfe ,shell fire1 #acg ,shrieking woman1 the1 #ga ,shropshire1 #ee1 #fa1 #ajc-ajd1 #aea-aec1 #aha-ahg1 #aij ,shuck's ,lane1 #aab ,siamese superstitions1 #fg1 #bab1 #cci-dch ,siberian belief1 #ceh ,silky1 name of a ghost1 #acj1 #cje1 #cba1 #cbg1 #cih ,silky's bridge1 #aca ,simon ,magus1 #afd ,singed birds1 souls as1 #if ,singhalese superstitions1 #djh1 #dcg-dch ,skipsea ,castle1 #cbf ,skull at ,agnes ,burton ,hall1 #cbf ,smellie1 ,w41 #beb ,smith1 ,george1 the ,assyriologist1 #dbh ,smoke1 soul as1 #b ,smugglers1 #dbi ,snakes1 ghosts in form of1 #fb-aji ,sneezing1 explanation of1 #bb ,soul-bringer1 #ig ,soul1 appearance of1 #dj-da ---- bringing back of1 #ai ---- destination of1 #cdh ---- duplex nature of1 #bg ---- existence of depends on manner of death1 #cc-ce ---- exit of1 #a-af ---- materiality of1 #bd-bg ---- nature of1 #bd-db ---- temporary exit of1 #ag-bc1 #cch ---- voice of1 #ci-dj ---- weight of1 #ch-ci ,souldern ,rectory1 #cbh ,souter1 or ,soutra1 ,fell1 #cea ,spanish beliefs1 #e1 #cfj ,spectral child1 #cba ---- dogs1 #aaa ---- hunt1 #abd-e ---- ships1 #bhh-i1 #bid ,spells against ghosts1 #ced-cfb ,spirit of air1 #bgc ,staffordshire rhyme1 #ea ,steam1 soul as1 #c ,stichios1 a kind of spectre1 #cid ,storks1 #ie1 #ig ,stradling1 ,lady1 #gf ,strand varsler1 #dh ,striker1 #aab ,sturgeon1 death omen1 #bbb ,suffolk belief1 #adi1 #ahd-aih ,suicides1 ghosts of1 #ec ,sunday children1 #bae ,sunken towns1 #cdh ,sunrise1 ghosts disappear at1 #cij ,sussex beliefs1 #aa1 #cg1 #aej1 #dbi ,swallow1 ghost as1 #hf ,swan1 soul in form of1 #hh ,swarth or fetch1 #cff ,swedish beliefs1 #hh1 #abe1 #ace1 #bbi1 #bhi1 #cef1 #chd-cie ,swinsty ,hall1 #cih ,switzerland1 #afa ,sykes ,lumb ,farm1 #djj-dja ,tahiti beliefs1 #c1 #ahb ,talking dog1 #caa ,tasks1 or wraiths1 #cgj ,tasmanian belief1 #cdj ,tears hinder exit of soul1 #h-aa ,tedworth1 drummer of1 #dah ,thomas's ,day1 ,st41 #dch ,thuringia1 ,duke ,louis of1 sign of his death1 #ii ,tibetan belief1 #cci ,tide1 life goes out with1 #ae-af ,tipperahs of ,chittagong1 #aha ,tongan belief1 #bi ,tower of ,london haunted1 #cad-cae ,trash1 spectre dog so called1 #aab ,treasures and ghosts1 #cig-daj ---- guarded by evil spirits1 #beg-beh ,trees1 spirit-haunted1 #cia-cif ,trevelyan1 seat of1 haunted1 #cba ,trinity ,church1 ,york1 ghost at1 #ccj ,tulloch ,gorms1 #bba ,tyrolese superstitions1 #d ,unbaptized1 souls of1 #acf ,valentine's ,eve1 ,st41 #chf ,vampires1 #ahi ,vapour1 soul as1 #c ,vingoes1 death token of1 #bba ,violets spring from graves1 #cic ,waddow ,hall1 #cbg ,waff1 or fetch1 #cff ,wallow ,crag1 ghost laid under1 #cab ,walton ,abbey1 #cjf1 #cbb ,warwickshire1 #bfc ,water1 relation of ghosts to1 #aha-ahb ,weasel1 soul as1 #aaj ,wells1 haunted1 #cdh ,welsh superstitions1 #ec1 #aaf1 #abb1 #adj1 #ahe1 #ahi1 #bfj-bfa1 #djd-dje1 #dag ,wheal ,vor1 mine haunted at1 #bfj1 #dcd ,whistlers1 the seven1 #ia ,whistling1 voice of souls1 #dj ,whitby ,abbey1 #dbj ,white-breasted bird1 #ig1 #bbc ,white ,doe of ,rylstone1 #ajh ---- lady1 #ih1 #bbg-bbi1 #cje1 #cbf-cbg ---- ---- of ,skipsea1 #cjf ---- ---- of ,sorrow1 #bgc ,wicked priest1 #cba ,willington ,mill1 #cjf1 #cbg ,willow tree1 anecdote connected with1 #bbc ,wimbell ,pond haunted1 #dja ,wisk hounds1 #aah ,witchcraft1 #g1 #ajf ,woman of peace1 #bgc ,worcestershire1 #fb1 #ajj1 #aef1 #aib1 #bjj1 #bbf ,wraith-seeing1 #cfc-cha ,wren1 superstition connected with1 #ic ,wyecoller ,hall1 #cab ,yellow ,sand1 ,isle of1 #djg ,yesk hounds1 #aah ,yeth hounds1 #aah-aai ,yorkshire1 #ab1 #ia1 #ajh1 #abi-acj1 #aej1 #aed1 #aei1 #bae1 #cff ,zambesi superstition1 #cda ,zulus1 beliefs of1 #cj1 #dj1 #aji ,,printed ,,by ,,spottiswoode ,,and ,,co41 ,,new-,,street ,,square ,,london 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note3 ,a table of contents was missing from the original and has been added4 ,footnotes were renumbered and gathered at the end of the chapter to which they belong4 ,errors in punctuation1 capitalisation1 and missing letters and footnote numbers have been corrected without note4 ,if necessary for the placement of quotation marks or the footnote number1 the source of some quotations was verified on ,internet ,archive4 ,the following corrections were made1 on page #hi ledy changed to lady 7,the lady in earth by her lord lay7 #ia ,brazials changed to ,brazilians 7,the ,brazilians imagined that the souls of the bad7 #beg #bnd to removed 7a belief to which ,falstaff alludes in7 #cbj ,ann changed to ,amy 7the supposed scene of the murder of ,lady ,amy ,bobsart7 #cfi ninty-ninth changed to ninety-ninth 7when in the ninety-ninth year of her age7 #dci ,becklington changed to ,beckington 7,beckington ,castle1 #ccc7 #dci ,bergmouch changed to ,bergmnch 7,bergmnch1 spectre so called1 #bfi7 #ddj ,bodach ,gartin changed to ,bodacher1 ,garlin 7,bodacher ,garlin1 #bba7 and the word order changed #ddj ,cassioway changed to ,cassowary 7,cassowary1 #aaa7 #ddj ,chibehas changed to ,chibchas 7,chibchas1 #ahd7 #ddb ,gurlinheg changed to ,gurlinbeg 7,gurlinbeg1 family of1 #bba7 #ddd ,lledwith changed to ,lledrith 7,lledrith1 #cgj7 #ddd ,wray changed to ,way 7,mary ,way1 spectre so called1 #aeb7 #ddd ,mazarine changed to ,mazarin 7,mazarin1 ,duchess of1 #bed7 #ddd ,mohin changed to ,mohun 7,mohun1 ,lord1 #cgb7 #dde #dfj-dfi changed to #djj-dji 7,money hidden by ghosts1 #djj-dji7 #dde ,padfoit changed to ,padfooit 7,padfooit1 #aac7 #dde ,padfoot added 7,padfoot1 #aac7 #dde ,josceline changed to ,joceline 7,percy1 ,sir ,joceline1 #aej7 #dde ,potawatomies changed to ,potawatomis 7,potawatomis1 #ahd7 #dde ,peverel changed to ,peverell 7,sampford ,peverell ghost1 #cbb7 #ddg ,waddon changed to ,waddow 7,waddow ,hall1 #cbg7 and in footnote #aja3 #b words exchanged between lines1 ,indo- and #ahgb 7,folk-lore1 #ahgb p4 #bdc2 ,thorpe's ,northern ,mythology1 i4 p4 #bhi4 ,see ,kelly's ,indo-,european ,folk-lore74 ,otherwise the original was preserved1 including unusual1 archaic and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation4 ,additional3 ,vanna ,levou in the quote on page #bf should probably be ,vanua ,levu also known as ,sandelwood ,island1 ,fuji4