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Chapter IX · The Book of Dreams and Ghosts

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Chapter nine of the Book of Dreams and Ghosts. This is a LibriVox recording.
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All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to
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volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by J. Thurgood. The
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Book of Dreams and Ghosts by Andrew Lang, Chapter nine. Haunted Houses,
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antiquity of haunted houses, Savage cases, ancient Egyptian cases, persistence in modern
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times, impostures, imaginary noises, nature of noises, the creaking stare ghostly
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effects produced by the living, but absent the grocer's cough, difficulty of belief,
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My Gilly's father's story, Silverton Abbey, the dream that opened the door,
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abbotsferred noises, legitimate haunting by the dead, The girl in pink,
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the dog in the Haunted Room, the lady in black, dogs alarmed,
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the dead seldom recognized. Glamis a border castle, another class of hauntings.
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A Russian case, the Dancing Devil, the Little hands. Haunted houses have
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been familiar to man ever since he has owned a roof to cover his head.
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The Australian Blacks possessed only shelters or Lean tos So in Australia, The
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spirits do their wrapping on the tree trunks. A native illustrated this by whacking
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a table with a book. The perched up houses of the dyaks are haunted
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by noisy routing agencies. We find them in monasteries, palaces, and crofter's
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cottages all through the Middle Ages. On an ancient Egyptian papyrus, we find
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the husband of the lady Onkari protesting against her habit of haunting his house and
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exclaiming, what wrong have I done? Exactly in the spirit of the hymn
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of Donald Ban, who was seer hadden down by a bodach noisy boggle after
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clodin. The husband of Ankari does not say how she disturbed him. But
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the manners of Egyptian haunters, just what they remain at present, may be
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gathered from a magical papyrus written in Greek spirits wail and groan or laugh dreadfully.
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They cause bad dreams, terror and madness. Finally, they practice stealthy
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theft and rap and knock. The theft by making objects disappear mysteriously is often
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illustrated in the following tales, as are the groaning and knocking Saint Augustine speaks
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of hauntings as familiar occurrences, and we have a chain of similar cases from
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ancient Egypt to eighteen ninety six. Several houses in that year were so disturbed
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that the inhabitants were obliged to leave them. The newspapers were full of correspondence
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on the subject. The usual annoyances are apparitions, rare flying about of objects
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not very common, noises of every kind, extremely frequent, groans, screams,
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footsteps, and fire raising. Imposture has either been proved or made very
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probable in ten out of eleven cases of volatile objects between eighteen eighty three and
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eighteen ninety five. Moreover, it is certain that the noises of haunted houses
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are not equally audible by all persons present, even when the sounds are at
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their loudest. Thus, Lord Saint Vincent the Great Admiral heard nothing during his
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stay at the house of his sister, Missus Ricketts, while that lady endured
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terrible things. After his departure, she was obliged to recall him. He
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arrived and slept peacefully. Next day, his sister told him about the disturbances,
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after which he heard them as much as his neighbors, and was as
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unsuccessful in discovering their cause. Of course, this looks as if these noises
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were unreal children of the imagination. Noises being the staple of haunted houses,
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a few words may be devoted to them. They are usually the freu frough
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or rustling sweep of a gown, footsteps, raps, thumps, groans,
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a sound as if all the heavy furniture was being knocked about, crashing of
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crockery, and jingling of money. Of course, as to footsteps, people
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may be walking about, and most of the other noises are either easily imitated
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or easily produced by rats, water pipes, cracks, and furniture, which
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the Aztecs thought ominous of death and other natural causes. The explanation is rather
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more difficult when the steps pace a gallery, passing and repassing among curious inquirers,
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or, in this instance, the creaking stair. A lady very well
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known to myself and in literary society, lived as a girl with an antiquarian
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father in an old house dear to an antiquary. It was haunted, among
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other things, by footsteps. The old oak staircase had two creaking steps numbers
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seventeen and eighteen from the top, the girl would sit on the stair,
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stretching out her arms and count the steps as they passed her one, two,
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three, and so on to seventeen and eighteen, which always creaked.
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In this case, rats and similar causes were excluded. Though we may allow
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for expectant attention, but this does not generally work. When people sit up
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on purpose to look out for the ghost, he rarely comes. In the
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case of the Lady in Black, which we give later, when purposely waited
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for, she was never seen at all. Discounting imposture, which is sometimes
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found and sometimes merely fabled, as in the Tedworth story, there remains one
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curious circumstance, specially ghostly noises are attributed to the living but absent. The
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grocer's cough. A man of letters, was born in a small Scotch town,
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where his father was the intimate friend of a tradesman, whom we shall
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call the grocer. Almost every day the grocer would come to have a chat
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with mister Mackay and the visitor alone of the natives had the habit of knocking
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at the door before entering. One day, mister Mackay said to his daughter
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there's mister mc william's knock open the door. But there was no mister mc
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william. He was just leaving his house at the other end of the street.
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From that day, mister Mackay always heard the grocer's knock a little previous,
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accompanied by the grocer's cough, which was peculiar. Then all the family
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heard it, including the son, who later became learned He, when he
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had left his village for Glasgow, reasoned himself out of the opinion that the
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grocer's knock did harold and precede the grocer. But when he went home for
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a visit, he found that he heard it just as of old. Possibly
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some local sentimental tommy watched for the grocer, played the trick and ran away.
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This explanation presents no difficulty, but the boy was never detected. Such
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anecdotes, somehow, do not commend themselves to the belief, even of people
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who can believe a good deal. But the spirits of the living, as
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the Highlanders say, have surely as good a chance to knock or appear at
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a distance as the spirits of the dead. To be sure, the living
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do not know unless they are making a scientific experiment what trouble they are giving
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on these occasions. But one can only infer, like Saint Augustine, that
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probably the dead don't know it either. Thus my gillies father's story fishing in
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Sutherland, I had a charming companion in the Gilly. He was well educated,
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a great reader, the best of salmon fisher's, and I never heard
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a man curse William, Duke of Cumberland with more enthusiasm. His father,
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still alive, was second sighted, and so to a moderate extent, and
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without theory, was my friend. Among other anecdotes confirmed in writing by the
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old gentleman was this the father had a friend who died in the house which
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they both occupied. The c of the deceased hung on pegs in the bedroom.
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One night, the father awoke and saw a stranger examining and handling the
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clothes of the defunct. Then came a letter from the dead man's brother inquiring
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about the effects. He followed later, and was the stranger seen by my
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Gilly's father. Thus, the living but absent may haunt a house, both
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noisily and by actual appearance. The learned even think for very exquisite reasons that
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Silverton Abbey is haunted noisily by a spirit of the living. Here is a
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case the dream that knocked at the door. The following is an old but
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good story. The Reverend Joseph Wilkins died an aged man in eighteen hundred.
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He left this narrative often printed. The date of the adventure is seventeen fifty
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four, when mister Wilkins, aged twenty three, was a schoolmaster in Devonshire.
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The dream was an ordinary dream and did not he not announced death or
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anything but a journey. Mister Wilkins dreamed in Devonshire that he was going to
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London. He thought he would go by Gloucestershire and see his people. So
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he started. Arrived at his father's house, found the front door locked,
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went in by the back door, went to his parents room, saw his
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father asleep in bed and his mother awake. He said, Mother, I
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am going a long journey and have come to bid you goodbye. She answered
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in a fright, Oh, dear son, thou art dead. Mister Wilkins
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wakened and thought nothing of it. As early as a letter could come,
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one arrived from his father, addressing him as if he were dead, and
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desiring him, if by accident alive or any one into whose hands the letter
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might fall to write at once. The father then gave his reasons for alarm.
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Missus Wilkins, being awake one night, heard someone try the front door
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enter by the then saw her son come into her room and say he was
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going on a long journey. With the rest of the dialogue. She then
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woke her husband, who said she had been dreaming, and who was alarmed
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enough to write a letter. No harm came of it to anybody. The
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story would be better if mister Wilkins Junior, like Laude, had kept a
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nocturnal of his dreams and published his father's letter with postmarks. The story of
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the lady who often dreamed of a house, and when by chance she found
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and rented it, was recognized as the ghost who had recently haunted it is
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good, but is an invention. A somewhat similar instance is that of the
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uproar of moving heavy objects heard by Scott in Abbotsford on the night proceeding and
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the night of the death of his furniture mister Bullock in London. The story
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is given in Lockhart's Life of Scott, and is too familiar for repetition.
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On the whole accepting one kind of story on the same level as the other
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kind. The living and absent may unconsciously produce the phenomena of haunted houses,
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just as well as the dead, to whose alleged performances we now advance.
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Actual appearances, as we have said, are not common, and just as
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all persons do not hear the sounds, so many do not see the appearance,
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even when it is visible to others in the same room. As an
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example, take a very mild and ladylike case of haunting the girl in pink.
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The following anecdote was told to myself a few months after the curious event
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by the three witnesses in the case. They were connections of my own.
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The father was a clergyman of the Anglican Church. He, his wife,
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and their daughter, a girl of twenty, were the percipients. All are
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cheerful, sagacious people, and although they absolutely agreed as to the facts in
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their experience, professed an utter disbelief in ghosts, which the occur urrence has
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not affected in any way. They usually reside in a foreign city where there
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is a good deal of English society. One day they left the town to
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lunch with a young fellow countryman who lived in a villa in the neighborhood.
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There he was attempting to farm a small estate with what measure of success.
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The story does not say. His house was kept by his sister, who
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was present, of course, at the little luncheon party. During the meal,
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some question was asked, or some remark was made, to which the
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clerical guest replied in English by a reference to the maid servant in pink.
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There is no maid in pink, said the host, and he asked both
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his other guests to corroborate him. Both ladies, mother and daughter were obliged
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to say that, unless their eyes deceived them, they certainly had seen a
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girl in pink attending on them, or at least moving about in the room.
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To this, their entertainers earnestly replied that no such person was in their
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establishment, that they had no woman servant, but the elderly cook and housekeeper
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then present, who was neither a girl nor in pink. After luncheon,
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the guests were taken all over the house to convince them of the absence of
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the young women whom they had seen, and assuredly there was no trace of
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her. On returning to the town where they reside. They casually mentioned the
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circumstance as a curious allusion. The person to whom they spoke said, with
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some interest, don't you know that a girl is said to have been murdered
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in that house before your friends took it, and that she is reported to
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be occasionally seen dressed in pink? They had heard of no such matter,
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but the story seemed to be pretty generally known, though naturally disliked by the
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occupant of the house. As for the percipients, they each and all remain
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firm in the belief that, till convinced of the impossibility of her presence,
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they were certain they had seen a girl in pink, and rather a pretty
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girl whose appearance suggested nothing out of the common. An obvious hypothesis is discounted,
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of course, by the presence of the sister of the young gentleman who
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farmed the estate and occupied the house. Here is another case, mild but
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pertinacious. The dog in the haunted room. The authour's friend, mister Rokeby,
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lives and has lived for some twenty years, in an old house at
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Hammersmith. It is surrounded by a large garden. The drawing room and dining
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room are on the right and left of the entrance from the garden on the
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ground floor. My friends had never been troubled by any phenomena before, and
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never expected to be. However, they found the house noisy. The windows
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were apt to be violently shaken at night, and steps used to be heard
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where no steps should be. Deep long sighs were audible at all times of
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day. As Missus Rokeby approached a door, the handle would turn and the
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door fly open. Sounds of stitching a hard material and of dragging a heavy
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weight occurred in Missus Rokeby's room, and her hair used to be pulled in
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a manner for which she could not account. These sorts of things went on
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for about five years. When in October eighteen seventy five, about three o'clock
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in the afternoon, I was sitting, says Missus Rokeby, with three of
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my children in the dining room, reading to them. I rang the bell
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for the parlor maid. When the door opened, and on looking up,
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I saw the figure of a woman come in and walk up to the side
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of the table, stand there a second or two, and then turn to
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go out again, But before reaching the door, she seemed to dissolve away.
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She was a gray, short looking woman, apparently dressed in gray muslin.
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I hardly saw the face, which seemed scarcely to be defined at all.
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None of the children saw her, and Missus Rokeby only mentioned the affair
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at the time to her husband. Two servants in the next next two months
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saw the same figure alike in dress, at least in other rooms, both
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by daylight and candlelight. They had not heard of Missus Rokeby's experience, were
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accustomed to the noises and were in good health. One of them was frightened
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and left her place. A brilliant light in a dark room, an icy
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wind, and a feeling of being watched were other discomforts in Missus Rokeby's lot.
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After eighteen seventy six, only occasional rappings were heard till mister Rokeby being
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absent one night in eighteen eighty three, the noises broke out, banging,
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thumping, the whole place shaking. The library was the center of these exercises,
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and the dog, a fine collie, was shut up in the library.
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Missus Rokeby left her room for her daughters while the dog whined in terror,
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and the noises increased in violence. Next day, the dog, when
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let out, rushed forth with enthusiasm, but crouched with his tail between his
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life eggs when invited to re enter. This was in eighteen eighty three,
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several years after mister Rokeby was smoking alone in the dining room early in the
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evening when the dog began to bristle up his hair and bark. Mister Rokeby
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looked up and saw the woman in gray, with about half her figure,
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passed through the slightly open door. He ran to the door, but she
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was gone, and the servants were engaged in their usual business. Our next
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ghost offered many opportunities to observers the lady in black. A ghost in a
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haunted house is seldom observed with anything like scientific precision. The specter in the
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following narrative could not be photographed, attempts being usually made in a light which
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required prolonged exposure. Efforts to touch it were failures, nor did it speak.
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On the other hand, it did lend itself, perhaps unconsciously, to
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one scientific experiment. The story is unromantic. The names are fictitious. Bognor
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House an eligible family residence near a large town was built in eighteen sixty and
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occupied till his death in eighteen seventy six by mister S. He was twice
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married and was not of temperate ways. His second wife adopted his habits,
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left him shortly before his death, and died at Clifton in eighteen seventy eight.
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The pair used to quarrel about some jewels, which mister S concealed in
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the flooring of a room where the ghost was never seen. A mister l
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now took the house, but died six months later. Bognor House stood empty
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for four years, during which there was vague talk of hauntings. In April
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eighteen eighty two the house was taken by Captain Morton. This was in April.
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In June, Miss Rose Morton, a lady of nineteen studying medicine and
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wearing spectacles, saw the first appearance. Miss Morton did not mention her experiences
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to her family, her mother being an invalid and her brothers and sisters very
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young, but she transmitted accounts to a friend a lady in a kind of
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diary letters. These are extant and are quoted. Phenomena of this kind usually
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begins with noises and go on to apparitions. Miss Morton one night, while
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preparing to go to bed, heard a noise outside, thought it was her
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mother, opened the door, saw a tall lady in black holding a handkerchief
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to her face, and followed the figure till her candle burned out. A
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widow's white cuff was visible on each wrist. The whole of the face was
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never seen. In eighteen eighty two to eighty four, Miss Morton saw the
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figure about six times. It was thrice seen once through the window from outside
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by other persons who took it for a living being. Two boys playing in
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the garden ran in to ask who was the weeping lady in black. On
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twenty ninth January eighteen eighty four, Miss Morton spoke to her inmate as the
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lady in black stood beside a sofa. She only gave a slight gasp and
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moved towards the door. Just by the door, I spoke to her again,
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but she seemed as if she were quite unable to speak. In May
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and June, Miss Morton fastened strings at different heights from the stair railings to
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the wall, where she attached them with glue. But she twice saw the
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lady pass through the cords, leaving them untouched. When Miss Morton cornered the
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figure and tried to touch her or pounce on her, she dodged or disappeared.
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But by a curious contradiction, her steps were often heard by several of
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the family, and when she heard the steps, Miss Morton used to go
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out and follow the figure. There is really no more to tell. Miss
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Morton's father never saw the lady, even when she sat on a sofa for
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half an hour miss Morton watching her. Other people saw her in the garden
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crying, and sent messages to ask what was the matter and who was the
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lady in distress. Many members of the family, boys, girls, married
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ladies, servants and others often saw the lady in black. In eighteen eighty
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five, loud noises, bumps, and turning of door handles were common,
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and though the servants were told that the lady was quite harmless, they did
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not always stay. The whole establishment of servants was gradually changed, but the
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lady still walked. She appeared more seldom in eighteen eighty seven through eighteen eighty
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nine, and by eighteen ninety two even the light footsteps ceased. Two dogs
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a retriever and a sky terrier showed much alarm. Twice, says Miss Morton,
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I saw the terrier suddenly run up to the mat at the foot of
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the stairs in the hall, wagging its tail and moving its back in the
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way dogs do when they expect to be caressed. It jumped up, fawning,
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as it would do if a person had been standing there, but suddenly
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slunk away with its tail between its legs, and retreated trembling under a sofa.
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Miss Morton's own emotion at first was a feeling of awe at something unknown,
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mixed with a strong desire to know more about it. This is a
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pretty tame case of haunting, as was conjectured by an unhappy revenant, the
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returned spirit of the second Missus s here. It may be remarked that apparitions
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and haunted houses are very seldom recognized as those of dead persons, and when
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recognized, the recognition is usually dubious. Thus, in February eighteen ninety seven,
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Lieutenant Carr Glynn of the Grenadiers, while reading in the outer room of
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the Queen's libraryan Windsor saw a lady in black in a kind of mantilla of
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black lace pass from the inner room into a corner where she was lost to
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view. He supposed that she had gone out by door there and asked an
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attendant later who she was. There was no door round the corner, and
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in the opinion of some, the lady was Queen Elizabeth. She has a
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traditional habit, it seems, of haunting the library. But surely of all
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people in dress and aspect, Queen Elizabeth is most easily recognized. The seer
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did not recognize her, and she was probably a mere casual hallucination. In
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old houses, such traditions are common, but vague. In this connection,
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Glamis is usually mentioned. Everyone has heard of the secret Chamber with its mystery,
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and the story was known to Scott, who introduces it in The Betrothed.
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But we know when the secret chamber was built under the restoration, who
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built it, what he paid the masons, and where it is under the
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charter room. These cold facts rather take the weird effect off the Glamys legend.
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The usual process is given an old house, first a noise, then
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a hallucination actual or pretended, then a myth to account for the hallucination.
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There is a castle on the border which has at least seven or eight distinct
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ghosts. One is the famous Radiant Boy. He has been evicted by turning
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his tapestried chamber into the smoking room. For many years, not one ghost
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has been seen, except the lady with the candle, viewed by myself,
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but being ignorant of the story, I thought she was one of the maids.
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Perhaps she was, but she went into an empty set of rooms and
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did not come out again. Footsteps are apt to approach the doors of these
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rooms in murk midnight, the door handle turns, and that is all so
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much for supposed hauntings by spirits of the dead. At the opposite pole are
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hauntings by agencies whom nobody supposes to be ghosts of inmates of the house.
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The following is an extreme example, as the haunter proceeded to arson. This
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is not so very unusual, and if managed by an impostor, shows insane
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malevolence. The Dancing Devil. On sixteenth November eighteen seventy, mister Shchopov,
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a Russian squire the narrator, came home from a visit to a country town,
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Iletsky, and found his family in some disarray. There lived with him
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his mother and his wife's mother, ladies of about sixty nine, his wife,
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aged twenty, and his baby daughter. The ladies had been a good
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deal disturbed. On the night of the fourteenth, the baby was fractious,
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and the cook, Maria, danced and played the harmonica to divert her.
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The baby fell asleep. The wife and mister Schopov's miller's lady were engaged in
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conversation when a shadow crossed the blind on the outside. They were about to
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go out and see who was passing when they heard a double shuffle being executed
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with energy in the loft overhead. They thought Maria the cook was making a
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night of it, but found her asleep in the kitchen. The dancing went
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on, but nobody could be found in the loft. Then raps began on
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the window panes, and so the miller and gardener patrolled outside. Nobody.
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Raps and dancing lasted through most of the night and began again at ten in
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the morning. The ladies were incommented and complained of broken sleep. Mister Schopoff,
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hearing all this, examined the miller, who admitted the facts but attributed
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them to a pigeon's nest. Which he had found under the cornice. Satisfied
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with this rather elementary hypothesis, mister Shopov sat down to read Livingstone's African Travels.
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Presently, the double shuffle sounded in the loft. Missus Schopoff was asleep
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in her bedroom, but was awakened by loud raps. The window was tapped
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at deafening thumps were dealt at the outer wall, and the whole house thrilled.
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Mister Shopov rushed out with dogs and a gun. There were no footsteps
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in the snow, the air was still. The full moon rode in a
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serene sky. Mister Shopov came back and the double shuffle was sounding merrily in
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the empty loft. Next day was no better, but the noises abated and
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ceased gradually, Alas mister Shopoff could not leave well alone. On twentieth December,
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to amuse a friend, he asked Maria to dance and play raps in
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tune began on the window panes. Next night they returned while boots, slippers,
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and other objects flew about with a hissing noise. A piece of stuff
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would fly up and fall with a heavy, hard thud, while hard bodies
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fell soundless as a feather. The performances slowly died away. On Old Year's
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night, Maria danced to please them. Raps began. People watching on either
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side of a wall heard the raps on the other side. On eighth January,
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Missus Schopoff fainted when a large luminous ball floated, increasing in size,
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from under her bed. The raps now followed her about by day, as
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in the case of John Wesley's sisters. On these occasions she felt weak and
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somnolent. Finally, mister Schopoff carried his family to his townhouse for much needed
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change of air. Science in the form of doctor Schustaff, now hinted that
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electricity or magnetic force was at the bottom of the annoyances, a great comfort
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to the household, who conceived that the devil was concerned. The doctor accompanied
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his friends to their country house for a night. Maria was invited to oblige
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with the dance, and only a few taps on windows followed. The family
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returned to town till twenty first January. No sooner was Missus Schapoff in bed
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than knives and forks came out of a closet cupboard and flew about occasionally sticking
30:06
in the walls. On twenty fourth January, the doctor abandoned the hypothesis of
30:11
electricity because the noises kept time to profane but not to sacred music. A
30:17
Tartar hymn by a Tartar servant and Islamite had no accompaniment, but the Freischutz
30:22
was warmly encurd This went beyond the most intelligent spontaneous exercises of electricity. Questions
30:30
were asked of the agencies, and to the interrogation are you a devil?
30:36
A most deafening knock replied, we all jumped backwards. Now comes a curious
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point in the Wesley and Tedworth cases. The masters of the houses, like
30:47
the Curee of Sideville eighteen fifty one, were at odds with local cunning men.
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Mister Stapov's fiend now averred that he was set on by the servant of
30:57
a neighboring miller, with whom mister Schapov had a dispute about a mill pond.
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This man had previously said, it will be worse. They will drag
31:07
you by the hair, And indeed missus Schapoff was found in tears because her
31:11
hair had been pulled. Science again intervened. A section of the Imperial Geographical
31:18
Society sent doctor Schustaff, mister Akuten, a government civil engineer, and a
31:23
literary gentleman as a committee of inquiry appointed by the governor of the province.
31:29
They made a number of experiments with Leyden jars, magnets and so forth,
31:33
with only negative results. Things flew about both from and towards Missus Schapoff.
31:40
Nothing volatile was ever seen to begin its motion, though in March eighteen eighty
31:45
three objects were seen by a policeman and six other witnesses to fly up from
31:48
a bin and out of a closed cupboard in a house at worksop. Mister
31:53
Akuten in Missus Chopoff's bedroom found the noises answer questions in French and German on
31:59
ca co temporary politics, of which the lady of the house knew nothing.
32:02
Lesal was said to be alive. Mister Chappof remarked, what nonsense, but
32:08
mister Accuten corrected him. The bogie was better informed. The success of the
32:14
French in the Great War was predicted. The family now moved to their townhouse
32:20
and the inquest continued, though the raps were only heard near the lady.
32:24
A doctor Dubinski vowed that she made them herself with her tongue than with her
32:30
pulse. The doctor assailed and finally shook the faith of mister Accuten, who
32:34
was to furnish a report. He bribed a servant boy to say that his
32:37
mistress made the sounds herself, and then pretended that he had caught her trying
32:43
to deceive us by throwing things. Finally, mister Acuten reported that the whole
32:46
affair was a hysterical imposition by missus Chapov. Doctor Dubinski attended her. Her
32:53
health and spirits improved, and the disturbances ceased, But poor mister Schopov received
33:00
even official warning not to do it again from the governor of his province.
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That way lies Siberia. Imagine, then, exclaims mister Schopov, our horror,
33:09
when on our return to the country in March, the unknown force at
33:13
once set to work again. And now even my wife's presence was not essential.
33:17
Thus one day I saw with my own eyes a heavy sofa jump off
33:22
all four legs, three or four times in fact, and this when my
33:25
aged mother was lying on it. The same thing occurred to Nancy Wesley's bed,
33:30
on which she was sitting while playing cards in seventeen seventeen. The picture
33:36
of a lady of seventy sitting tight to a bucking sofa appeals to the brave.
33:42
Then the fire raising began. A blue spark flew out of a washstand
33:45
into Missus Schopof's bedroom. Luckily she was absent, and her mother, rushing
33:50
forward with a water jug, extinguished A flaming cotton dress. Bright red globular
33:54
meteors now danced in the verandah. Mister Portnoff next takes up the tale as
34:00
follows mister Schopov, having been absent from home on the occasion described I was
34:06
sitting playing the guitar. The miller got up to leave and was followed by
34:09
Missus Chopov. Hardly had she shut the door when I heard, as though
34:15
from far off, a deep drawn wail. The voice seemed familiar to me.
34:22
Overcome with an unaccountable horror, I rushed to the door, and there
34:25
in the passage I saw a literal pillar of fire, in the middle of
34:30
which, draped in flame, stood Missus Schapoff. I rushed to put it
34:34
out of my hands, but I found it burned them badly, as if
34:37
they were sticking to burning pitch. A sort of cracking noise came from beneath
34:43
the floor, which also shook and vibrated violently. Mister Portnoff and the miller
34:47
carried off the unconscious victim. Mister Schopoff also saw a small pink hand like
34:53
a child, spring from the floor and play with Missus Chopof's coverlet and bed.
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These things were too much. The stopofs fled to a cottage and took
35:04
a new country house. They had no more disturbances. Missus Stopof died in
35:09
child bed in eighteen seventy eight. A healthy, religious, quiet, affectionate
35:15
woman. End of chapter nine