A ghost in a haunted house is seldom observed with anything likescientific precision. The spectre in the following narrative couldnot be photographed, attempts being usually made in a light whichrequired prolonged exposure. Efforts to touch it were failures, nordid it speak. On the other hand, it did lend itself, perhapsunconsciously, to one scientific experiment. The story is unromantic;the names are fictitious. {198b}Bognor House, an eligible family residence near a large town, wasbuilt in 1860, and occupied, till his death in 1876, by Mr. S. He wastwice married, and was not of temperate ways. His second wife adoptedhis habits, left him shortly before his death, and died at Clifton in1878. The pair used to quarrel about some jewels which Mr. S.concealed in the flooring of a room where the ghost was never seen.A Mr L. now took the house, but died six months later. Bognor Housestood empty for four years, during which there was vague talk ofhauntings. In April, 1882, the house was taken by Captain Morton.This was in April; in June Miss Rose Morton, a lady of nineteenstudying medicine (and wearing spectacles), saw the first appearance.Miss Morton did not mention her experiences to her family, her motherbeing an invalid, and her brothers and sisters very young, but shetransmitted accounts to a friend, a lady, in a kind of diary letters.These are extant, and are quoted.Phenomena of this kind usually begin with noises, and go on toapparitions. Miss Morton one night, while preparing to go to bed,heard a noise outside, thought it was her mother, opened the door, sawa tall lady in black holding a handkerchief to her face, and followedthe figure till her candle burned out. A widow's white cuff wasvisible on each wrist, the whole of the face was never seen. In 1882-84, Miss Morton saw the figure about six times; it was thrice seen,once through the window from outside, by other persons, who took itfor a living being. Two boys playing in the garden ran in to ask whowas the weeping lady in black.On 29th January, 1884, Miss Morton spoke to her inmate, as the lady inblack stood beside a sofa. "She only gave a slight gasp and movedtowards the door. Just by the door I spoke to her again, but sheseemed as if she were quite unable to speak." {199} In May and JuneMiss Morton fastened strings at different heights from the stairrailings to the wall, where she attached them with glue, but she twicesaw the lady pass through the cords, leaving them untouched. WhenMiss Morton cornered the figure and tried to touch her, or pounce onher, she dodged, or disappeared. But by a curious contradiction hersteps were often heard by several of the family, and when she heardthe steps, Miss Morton used to go out and follow the figure. There isreally no more to tell. Miss Morton's father never saw the lady, evenwhen she sat on a sofa for half an hour, Miss Morton watching her.Other people saw her in the garden crying, and sent messages to askwhat was the matter, and who was the lady in distress. Many membersof the family, boys, girls, married ladies, servants and others oftensaw the lady in black. In 1885 loud noises, bumps and turning of doorhandles were common, and though the servants were told that the ladywas quite harmless, they did not always stay. The whole establishmentof servants was gradually changed, but the lady still walked. Sheappeared more seldom in 1887-1889, and by 1892 even the lightfootsteps ceased. Two dogs, a retriever and a Skye terrier, showedmuch alarm. "Twice," says Miss Morton, "I saw the terrier suddenlyrun up to the mat at the foot of the stairs in the hall, wagging itstail, and moving its back in the way dogs do when they expect to becaressed. It jumped up, fawning as it would do if a person had beenstanding there, but suddenly slunk away with its tail between itslegs, and retreated, trembling, under a sofa." Miss Morton's ownemotion, at first, was "a feeling of awe at something unknown, mixedwith a strong desire to know more about it". {200}This is a pretty tame case of haunting, as was conjectured, by anunhappy revenant, the returned spirit of the second Mrs. S. Here itmay be remarked that apparitions in haunted houses are very seldomrecognised as those of dead persons, and, when recognised, therecognition is usually dubious. Thus, in February, 1897, LieutenantCarr Glyn, of the Grenadiers, while reading in the outer room of theQueen's Library in Windsor, saw a lady in black in a kind of mantillaof black lace pass from the inner room into a corner where she waslost to view. He supposed that she had gone out by a door there, andasked an attendant later who she was. There was no door round thecorner, and, in the opinion of some, the lady was Queen Elizabeth!She has a traditional habit, it seems, of haunting the Library. Butsurely, of all people, in dress and aspect Queen Elizabeth is mosteasily recognised. The seer did not recognise her, and she wasprobably a mere casual hallucination. In old houses such traditionsare common, but vague. In this connection Glamis is usuallymentioned. Every one has heard of the Secret Chamber, with itsmystery, and the story was known to Scott, who introduces it in TheBetrothed. But we know when the Secret Chamber was built (under theRestoration), who built it, what he paid the masons, and where it is:under the Charter Room. {201} These cold facts rather take the"weird" effect off the Glamis legend.The usual process is, given an old house, first a noise, then ahallucination, actual or pretended, then a myth to account for thehallucination. There is a castle on the border which has at leastseven or eight distinct ghosts. One is the famous Radiant Boy. Hehas been evicted by turning his tapestried chamber into the smoking-room. For many years not one ghost has been seen except the lady withthe candle, viewed by myself, but, being ignorant of the story, Ithought she was one of the maids. Perhaps she was, but she went intoan empty set of rooms, and did not come out again. Footsteps are aptto approach the doors of these rooms in mirk midnight, the door handleturns, and that is all.So much for supposed hauntings by spirits of the dead.At the opposite pole are hauntings by agencies whom nobody supposes tobe ghosts of inmates of the house. The following is an extremeexample, as the haunter proceeded to arson. This is not so veryunusual, and, if managed by an impostor, shows insane malevolence.
