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Across The Threshold · Short Ghost and Horror Stories Collection

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  Speaker 1: Across the threshold. Once upon a time I had an
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  Speaker 1: interesting experience showing how often one may be in the
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  Speaker 1: presence of the disembodied without being the least aware of
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  Speaker 1: the fact. It was a bright, cold day in October,
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  Speaker 1: with a biting wind and brilliant sunshine. About midday I
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  Speaker 1: was walking up a long avenue leading to a great house.
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  Speaker 1: On either side of me, for a mile or so
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  Speaker 1: lay flat, open grass country pasturages full of grazing cattle.
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  Speaker 1: The trees bordering the avenue stood at about thirty feet apart.
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  Speaker 1: They were gigantic beeches of considerable age. Their silvery trunks
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  Speaker 1: of wide girth, were smooth and straight and in no
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  Speaker 1: way impeded the view. On all sides. The avenue was
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  Speaker 1: wide and straight and bordered by grass, out of which
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  Speaker 1: the trees sprang. As I turned in at the large gate,
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  Speaker 1: I noticed without any particular interest a woman walking in
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  Speaker 1: front of me, But in a very few moments I
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  Speaker 1: began to pay more attention to her obvious peculiarities. She
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  Speaker 1: was about twenty five to thirty feet ahead of me,
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  Speaker 1: moving in the same direction, and the view I had
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  Speaker 1: of her back began to puzzle me. On that decidedly
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  Speaker 1: chilly morning. She wore a white muslin dress, a material
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  Speaker 1: never used out of doors even in summer in that
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  Speaker 1: northern clime. Over her shoulders floated something marve and flimsy,
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  Speaker 1: and on her head was what looked like an old
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  Speaker 1: fashioned poke uponnet. Her back looked young, and yet she
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  Speaker 1: was a creature of a bygone century. And knowing everyone
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  Speaker 1: within a twenty mile radius of where I walked, I
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  Speaker 1: speculated as to who she could possibly be. Perhaps what
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  Speaker 1: puzzled me most was how she had managed to avoid
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  Speaker 1: the attention of the village children, who would at once
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  Speaker 1: have been alive to the novelty of her whole appearance.
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  Speaker 1: I looked forward to hearing all about her at the
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  Speaker 1: Big House, and as seemed highly probable, meeting her face
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  Speaker 1: to face and obtaining an introduction to her. Then it
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  Speaker 1: suddenly occurred to me to overtake her and pass her.
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  Speaker 1: We were both walking very slowly. I at once quickened
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  Speaker 1: my steps, but somehow I never seemed to gain on her.
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  Speaker 1: Even this did not rouse in me the faintest suspicion
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  Speaker 1: of being in the presence of a disembodied soul. It
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  Speaker 1: merely sharpened my curiosity and urged me to greater efforts.
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  Speaker 1: I moved from the road to the grass, which I
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  Speaker 1: calculated would deaden the sound of my footsteps. Then I
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  Speaker 1: began to run, still no success. The lady never turned
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  Speaker 1: her head to right or left, but was clearly aware
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  Speaker 1: of my pursuit. For apparently without the least effort, she
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  Speaker 1: kept her distance from me. At the moment when I
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  Speaker 1: was feeling rather baffled and very much puzzled, I caught
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  Speaker 1: sight of my friend and in the distance coming to
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  Speaker 1: meet me. Ah, I thought, as I at once slowed
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  Speaker 1: down to draw breath, she will have to pass her,
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  Speaker 1: and she'll tell me what her face is like. I
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  Speaker 1: kept eyes and attention closely fixed on the two figures
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  Speaker 1: as they drew nearer and nearer to one another. Now
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  Speaker 1: the stranger appeared to be exactly at an equal distance
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  Speaker 1: between us. When low, she simply vanished, as utterly and
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  Speaker 1: entirely as the electric light one switches off in a room.
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  Speaker 1: One second, there she was perfectly and clearly visible. The
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  Speaker 1: next second, there she was not. I looked foolishly around,
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  Speaker 1: though I knew that neither to the right or left
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  Speaker 1: was there any hiding place. Moreover, my eyes had been
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  Speaker 1: fully upon her when she vanished flicked out, how well
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  Speaker 1: I remember in running up to me, and without any greeting,
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  Speaker 1: we both simultaneously burst out, did you see her? And
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  Speaker 1: told me that the inside of the poke bonnet was empty?
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  Speaker 1: The lady had no face. Of course, we gazed around
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  Speaker 1: and searched behind the bowls of the trees, but we
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  Speaker 1: were both aware how foolish any such proceeding was, for
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  Speaker 1: we had both been staring hard at her when she disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: There was a bygone tragedy connected with that part of
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  Speaker 1: the avenue, But on discussing the matter with the owner
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  Speaker 1: of the Great House, we all had to come reluctantly
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  Speaker 1: to the conclusion that the woman we had seen had
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  Speaker 1: no connection with that story. The former Lady Dalrymple had
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  Speaker 1: been murdered by one of her servants in the avenue
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  Speaker 1: about a hundred years previously, but the portraits of the
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  Speaker 1: deceased and the lady we had seen here bore not
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  Speaker 1: the smallest resemblance. It was said that Lady Dalrymple walked
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  Speaker 1: a tall, massive figure clad in a dark, heavy cloak
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  Speaker 1: sprinkled with snow. She had been done to death one
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  Speaker 1: January night, in a snow storm which had hidden her
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  Speaker 1: remains for several days. The apparition we had seen was
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  Speaker 1: that of a very slender girl or a young woman.
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  Speaker 1: The interesting the fact that I wish to emphasize is
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  Speaker 1: that had this young drama in Muslin turned aside, slipped
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  Speaker 1: through the light fence and struck off across the fields,
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  Speaker 1: it would never have occurred to either End or me
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  Speaker 1: that she was not physical. We would have speculated as
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  Speaker 1: to who she was, but out of common civility, we
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  Speaker 1: would not have followed her. We would have made casual
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  Speaker 1: inquiries as to who she was, simply out of curiosity
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  Speaker 1: aroused by her peculiar attire, and then the trifling incident
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  Speaker 1: would have been forgotten. That sudden vanishing has rooted the
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  Speaker 1: experience firmly in my mind, and I have long since
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  Speaker 1: become convinced that the little story I have just told
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  Speaker 1: is an extremely common one. I believe such disembodied spirits
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  Speaker 1: are constantly with us, and that many of us see
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  Speaker 1: them past them in the streets, stand beside them in crowds,
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  Speaker 1: and accept them perfectly naturally as physical entities, in no
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  Speaker 1: way different from what we are ourselves. Many people believe
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  Speaker 1: that our faculties have a limit beyond which we cannot go.
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  Speaker 1: But this is certainly not so, as it is now
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  Speaker 1: proved that some people have the X ray sight by nature,
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  Speaker 1: and can see far more than others. This faculty has
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  Speaker 1: nothing to do with keenness of sight. It is a
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  Speaker 1: question of sight which is able to respond to different
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  Speaker 1: series of vibrations. Undoubtedly, there are many entities about us
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  Speaker 1: who do not reflect rays of light that we can see,
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  Speaker 1: yet who may reflect those other rays of rates of
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  Speaker 1: vibration which can be photographed. It is extremely difficult for
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  Speaker 1: the average person to grasp the reality of that which
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  Speaker 1: we cannot see with our physical eyes, and to realize
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  Speaker 1: how very partial our sight is. Yet science continually demonstrates
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  Speaker 1: to us worlds of teeming life, of whose very existence
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  Speaker 1: we should be ignorant so far as our senses are concerned.
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  Speaker 1: What ought clearly to be grasped is the fact that
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  Speaker 1: we are not separating from the so called dead, save
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  Speaker 1: by the limitation of our consciences. We have not lost
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  Speaker 1: those gone before. We have only lost the power to
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  Speaker 1: see them, and very occasionally that power is restored to
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  Speaker 1: us by what means we know not all visible things
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  Speaker 1: are the result of invisible causes, and doubtless those denizens
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  Speaker 1: of the subtler worlds come amongst us with a distinct
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  Speaker 1: purpose in view. Sometimes that purpose can be traced to remorse, revenge,
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  Speaker 1: a quest, a strong attraction to the scene of a crime,
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  Speaker 1: but in many other cases no object can be discerned.
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  Speaker 1: The condition of the observer is constantly found to be
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  Speaker 1: absolutely normal. The mental conditions of both myself and n were,
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  Speaker 1: as far as we could tell, quite normal. Our mental
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  Speaker 1: activity was no greater, no more vivid, and no more
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  Speaker 1: accurate than usual. Yet we both saw an object that
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  Speaker 1: was beyond normal sense and rational vision. The fact that
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  Speaker 1: so often there is no connecting link between the apparition
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  Speaker 1: and his or her surroundings induces me to believe that
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  Speaker 1: we are everywhere surrounded by the denizens of the other world,
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  Speaker 1: and on rare occasions we catch a glimpse of them.
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  Speaker 1: Here is another utterly trivial story which emphasizes the above suggestion.
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  Speaker 1: I was lunching with my husband and a house built
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  Speaker 1: within the last fifty years. The only former occupants were
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  Speaker 1: known to us. We were discussing a letter I had
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  Speaker 1: that morning received, and I said I'll go and fetch
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  Speaker 1: it for you to read. I rose and left the
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  Speaker 1: dining room and pushed open the half closed door of
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  Speaker 1: the adjoining drawing room. What was my astonishment to behold
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  Speaker 1: standing in the middle of the floor a tall, dark man,
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  Speaker 1: a total stranger. He stood exactly between the door and
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  Speaker 1: a large bow window, through which poured a flood of sunshine.
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  Speaker 1: And I paused involuntarily and stared at him that there
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  Speaker 1: was anything the least peculiar about him, and indeed his
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  Speaker 1: air of great respectability instantly banished the flashing thought of burglar.
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  Speaker 1: The stranger returned my stare with perfect composure, and in
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  Speaker 1: a second or two, during which we regarded each other,
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  Speaker 1: I had time to observe his appearance. He was well dressed,
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  Speaker 1: all in black, with a modern black broadcloth frock coat
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  Speaker 1: buttoned close. He was very tall and strongly built. His
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  Speaker 1: face was sallow and heavy featured, and he wore a
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  Speaker 1: short black beard. I bowed and addressed him. I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know anyone was waiting. Do you wish to
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  Speaker 1: see me or my husband? I said politely. The man
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  Speaker 1: made no reply, but at once began to glide, not walk,
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  Speaker 1: towards the closed glass door leading to a conservatory on
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  Speaker 1: the left. His eyes never left mine. Without opening the door,
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  Speaker 1: he passed through it and vanished. Then I realized and
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  Speaker 1: darted after him, throwing opened the door and staring beyond nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing physical could have passed through a glass door without
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  Speaker 1: shattering it, and that is all there is to this story.
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  Speaker 1: The man had no connection with us, nor so far
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  Speaker 1: as we could learn, with the former occupants of the house.
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  Speaker 1: A very old friend of mine, Missus Sinclair, wife of
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  Speaker 1: the late Sir Tolomach Sinclair's second son, told me of
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  Speaker 1: an experience she and her mother once had when visiting
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  Speaker 1: a cousin, Major Featherston Dilke, of Maxstoke Castle, Warwickshire. The
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  Speaker 1: castle is ancient and surrounded by a moat, and within
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  Speaker 1: the moat lies a tennis court. In order to reach
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  Speaker 1: their rooms on the ground floor, Missus Sinclair and her
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  Speaker 1: mother had to pass through a great stone hall filled
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  Speaker 1: with fine old oak and armor. Beyond that, their way
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  Speaker 1: lay through the remains of an old chapel, which once
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  Speaker 1: had been extensively damaged by fire. One evening, after playing
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  Speaker 1: tennis till rather late Missus Sinclair and her mother hastened
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  Speaker 1: indoors to change for dinner. As they passed through the chapel,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Sinclair saw her mother suddenly shrink back against the wall.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time she exclaimed, oh, may stand aside
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  Speaker 1: and let that person pass. Missus Sinclair looked around but
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  Speaker 1: could see no one. Again, her mother cried out insistently, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: do let her pass, But no one is here, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Sinclair assured her. Then, seeing that her mother looked terrified,
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  Speaker 1: she took her by the arm and hurried her to
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  Speaker 1: their rooms. When the door was shut, Missus Sinclair tried
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  Speaker 1: to soothe her mother's agitation and asked her what she
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  Speaker 1: had seen and why she was so disturbed. Her mother replied,
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  Speaker 1: there was a young woman in the corner who was
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  Speaker 1: trying hard to escape observation, and the sight of her
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  Speaker 1: gave me the most uncomfortable feeling. She was not a
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  Speaker 1: maid servant and wore no cap. She was dressed in
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  Speaker 1: a mauve print gown with a violet sprig upon it.
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  Speaker 1: She might have been a needlewoman. Missus Sinclair calmed her
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  Speaker 1: mother as well as she could, and they went down
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  Speaker 1: to dinner together. During the meal, what was her horror
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  Speaker 1: to hear her mother say to their host, Oh, William,
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  Speaker 1: I feel sure there are ghosts in the castle. I've
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  Speaker 1: seen one to night. There was a most uncomfortable silence
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  Speaker 1: after this, and Major Featherston DILKEI looked terribly agitated. After dinner,
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  Speaker 1: when the ladies were alone in the drawing room, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Dilkey asked Missus Sinclair what they had seen, and, on
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  Speaker 1: being told, she explained that before a death in the family,
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  Speaker 1: a certain housekeeper who had been murdered always haunted the chapel,
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  Speaker 1: and in consequence of this warning always coming true, her
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  Speaker 1: husband was exceedingly nervous of this apparition. Nothing more was
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  Speaker 1: said upon the subject during Missus Sinclair's stay, but before
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  Speaker 1: the end of the year, Major Featherston Dilkey lay dead.
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  Speaker 1: Such warnings are very common and very hard to understand.
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  Speaker 1: They suggest that the apparition knows of the approaching death
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  Speaker 1: of a certain person, and that it has the power
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  Speaker 1: to make itself visible to certain persons at certain times.
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  Speaker 1: Why this warning should be given as a baffling mystery? Again,
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  Speaker 1: why did not Missus Sinclair see this ghost when her
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  Speaker 1: mother so plainly saw it. The fact is that all
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  Speaker 1: sorts of most unlikely persons see apparitions, even the rankest
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  Speaker 1: unbeliever and the most matter of fact individual, and they
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  Speaker 1: generally see them at the most unexpected moments. I remember
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: one day walking along a country road and seeing a
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  Speaker 1: dog cart in the distance coming towards me. As it
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  Speaker 1: drew nearer, I saw that it contained the late Lord Weymouths,
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  Speaker 1: and on recognizing me, he drew up and jumped down.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a confession to make to you, he said.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't tell any one else for the world. I'd
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: have the life chafed out of me. I've actually seen
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  Speaker 1: a ghost. I'm not in the least surprised. Why shouldn't
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: you see a ghost? I retorted, well, I never believed
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  Speaker 1: in them, and I didn't think I was the sort
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  Speaker 1: of man who'd ever see one. Now, if it had
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: been Arthur balf there would have been nothing in it.
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  Speaker 1: He's a member of the Psychical Society and all that
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: sort of thing. But being a member of the psychical
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  Speaker 1: Society does not predispose one to see ghosts, I expostulated,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: but Lord Wemos remained very puzzled. He told me that
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  Speaker 1: when about half a mile from his own front door
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: at Gosford, East Lothian, he saw a man walking in
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  Speaker 1: front of him in the same direction, going towards the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: house in a vague sort of way. He wondered for
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: a moment where this man had suddenly sprung from, as
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  Speaker 1: he had not noticed him before. But there was nothing
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: unusual in his appearance to rouse curiosity. He was a
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  Speaker 1: stranger and looked like a foreman in his sunday clothes.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Lord Weymus walked on, always, keeping about ten yards between
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  Speaker 1: himself and the stranger. At a certain point he fully
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: expected he would strike off by a path leading to
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the servants and tradesmen's entrance, but rather to his surprise,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the man did no such thing. He pursued an undeviating
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: course towards the main entrance, and on observing Lord Weymos
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: became more interested and looked at him more closely. Still,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: there was something remarkable to be observed, and, concluding that
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the man, being a stranger, did not know of any
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: other entrance, he quickened his steps in order to come
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  Speaker 1: up with him. In this he failed. The man kept
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  Speaker 1: his distance, and just as he reached the door, he
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: vanished from sight. I tried hard to persuade Lord Wemyss
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to tell this story to mister Balfour, who was so
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: intimate to friend, but I believe he never did so.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: The interest lies in a long time during a half
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: mile walk in which the ghost was under observation, also
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  Speaker 1: in the fact that, until the man disappeared on the doorstep,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Lord Wemyss had never suspected that the stranger was other
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: than ordinary flesh and blood. So many people have confided
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: their ghost stories to me and swore me to secrecy
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that I am convinced such experiences are very common, and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: only remain hidden, either from fear of being laughed at,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: or from being thought to suffer from hallucinations and of
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  Speaker 1: across the threshold. By Violet Twiedale