Remarkable Apparitions and Ghost=stories, Or Authentic Histories of Communications (real Or ...
^-Cjl 10 fc»b.<\o,U , APR ,6 1920 H Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, By WILSON AND COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York. STERKOTYPED BY REDFIELD k. SAVAGE, 13 Chambers Street, N. Y. p^v f- 1 «rf >' \%m A Vi •$n\ 7 *T V underta- king my gentle reader, there -e two things for which I feel most thankful : — ic first is, that I never saw a ghost my&elf, and the second , that other people have. The world does not al- ways consider the debt of gratitude it is under to those who have vision for the invisible* T do not envy the feelings of any man who can while away the long winter evenings, by his own fireside, without occasionally introducing a ghost-story, as seat to the conversa- tion. I have little sympathy with peo- ple whose talk, when they hitch iheir chairs closer together about a well-heaped 4 INTRODUCTION BT THE EDITOR. hearth, does not instinctively turn on haunted houses, nightmares, and warnings before death. If any one doubts that telling ghost-stories is the proper em- ployment for a winter's night, let him open his window and look out. Can anything be more spectral 1 There is not a hill or a hol- low in sight but has put on a shroud, and stares at him with a still, white face, the phantom of itself. The trees stand like giant skele- tons, lifting their bleached arms toward the trooping clouds that hurry across the sky, like witches . flocking to their sabbath. What is all that but a ghost-story in dumb-show, told by the earth to the stars ? If the doubter can go on doubting, in the face of an example like this, nothing that I could urge, in the way of precept, would be likely to decide him : I give him up, and can only hope it may not be my fate to have him for a reader. What has he to do with my book of ghostly horrors ? He is a horror himself, more horrible than any that can be conjured up, for whatever fireside he sits at. With these views of the propriety of narrating ghost-stories, I present my little volume to the public, with the perfect conviction that it can not offend, and with the hope that it will be received with favor, as a source of fireside amusements for winter evenings. The public's humble servant, The Editor. REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, &c. Strange Fulfilment of a Dream. The following account of a most remarkable dream of Mrs. Griffiths, which was not only repeated, but was repeated a certain number of times, is related in a letter to the editor of Blackwood's Magazine, in the year 1826 : — Being in company the other day, when the conversation turned upon dreams, I related one which, as it happened to my own father, I can answer for the perfect truth of it. About the year 1731, my father, Joseph D'Acre, Esq., or Kirklinton, in the county of Cumberland, came to Edinburgh to at- tend the classes, having the advantage of an uncle in the regiment then in the castle, and remained under the protection of his uncle and aunt, Major and Mrs. Griffiths, during the winter. When spring arrived, Mr. D'Acre and three or four young gentlemen from England (his intimates) made par- ties to visit all the neighboring places about Edinburgh — Roslin, Arthur's Seat, Craigmillar, &c, &c. Coming home one evening from some of those places, Mr. D'Acre said, " We have made a party to go a-fishing to Inch- keith to-morrow, if the morning is fine, and have bespoke our boat ; we shall be off at six." No objection being made, they separated for the night. Mrs. Griffiths had not been long asleep till she screamed out in the most violent, agitated manner, " The boat is sinking ; save, oh save them !" The major awakened her, and said, " Were you uneasy about the fishing-party ?" — " Oh no," she said, " I had not once thought of it." She then composed herself, and soon fell asleep again. In about another hour she cried out, in a dreadful fright, " I see the boat is going down !" The major again awoke her, and she said, " It has been owing to the other dream I had ; for I feel no uneasiness about it." After some conversation they both fell sound asleep ; but no rest could be obtained for her. In the most extreme agony she again screamed, " They are gone ; the boat is sunk !" When the major awakened her, she said, " Now I can not rest ; Mr. D'Acre must not go ; for I feel, 6 REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, should he go, I would be miserable till his return : the thoughts of it would almost kill me." She instantly arose, threw on her wrapping-gown, went to his bedside — for his room was next their own — and with great difficulty she got his prom- ise to remain at home. " But what am I to say to my young friends, whom I was to meet at Leith at six o'clock ?" — " With great truth you may say your aunt is ill, for I am so at present. Consider, you are an only son, un- der our protection ; and should anything happen to you, it would be my death." Mr. D'Acre immediately wrote a note to his friends, saying he was prevented joining them, and sent his servant with it to Leith. The morning came in most beautifully, and continued so till three o'clock, when a violent storm arose, and in an instant the boat and all that were in it went to the bottom, and were never more heard of, nor was any part of it ever seen. I often heard the story from my father, who always added, " It has not made me superstitions ; but with awful gratitude I never can forget that my life, by Providence, was saved by a dream." There is nothing unaccountable in this lady's having the same dream three times. If we allow that any circumstance which takes a strong hold upon the mind is likely to present itself, though frequently not in a distinct shape, in our sleep, why should it not do so more than once ? and if twice, why not thrice ? The Assassination of Mr, Perceval, the English Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, foretold by a Man who had never seen him. The following very remarkable dream is related in the London Times newspaper of 16th August, 1828 : — "In the night of the 11th of May, 1812, Mr. Williams, of Scorrier-house, near Redruth, in Cornwall, awoke his wife, and, exceedingly agitated, told her that he dreamed that he was in the lobby of the house ol commons, and saw a man shoot with a pistol a gentleman who had just entered the lobby, who was said to be the chancellor : to which Mrs. Williams naturally re- plied that it was only a dream, and recommended him to be composed, and ?o to sleep as soon as he could. He did so, but shortly after again awoke er, and said that he had the second time had the same dream ; whereupon she observed that he had been so much agitated with his former dream, that she supposed it had dwelt on his mind, and begged of him to try to compose himself and go to sleep, which he did. A third time the same vision was repeated ; on which, notwithstanding her entreaties that he would be quiet, and endeavor to forget it, he arose, it being then between one and two o'clock, and dressed himself. At breakfast, the dreams were the sole subject of conversation ; and in the forenoon Mr. Williams went to Falmouth, where he related the particulars of them to all of his acquaintance that he met. On the following day, Mr. Tucker, of Trematon castle, accompanied by his wife, a daughter of Mr. Williams, went to Scorrier-house about dusk. Immedi- ately after their first salutations, on their entering the parlor — where were Mr., Mrs., and Miss Williams — Mr. Williams began to relate to Mr. Tucker the circumstances of his dream ; and Mrs. Williams observed to her daugh- ter, Mrs. Tucker, laughingly, that her father would not even suffer Mr. Tucker to be seated before he told him of his nocturnal visitation : on the statement of which, Mr. Tucker observed that it would do very well for a dream to have the chancellor in the lobby of the house of commons, but that he would not be found there in reality ; and Mr. Tucker then asked what sort of a man he appeared to be, when Mr. Williams minutely described AND GHOST-STORIES. him ; to which Mr. Tucker replied, ' Your description is not at all that of the chancellor, but is certainly very exactly that of Mr. Perceval, the chan- cellor of the exchequer ; and although he has been to me the greatest enemy I ever met with through life, for a supposed cause, which had no foundation and was told that he never had seen him, nor had ever even written to him, either on public or private business ; in short, that he never had had any- thing to do with him, nor had he ever been in the lobby of the house of commons in his life. At this moment, while Mr. Williams and Mr. Tucker were still standing, they heard a horse gallop to the door of the house, and immediately after, Mr. Michael Williams, of Treviner (son of Mr. Williams, of Scorrier), entered the room, and said that he had galloped out from Truro (from which Scorrier is distant seven miles), having seen a gentleman there who had come by that evening's mail from London, who said that he was in the lobby of the house of commons on the evening of the 11th, when a man named Bellingham had shot Mr. Perceval ; and that, as it might occa- sion some great ministerial changes, and might affect Mr. Tucker's political friends, he had come out as fast as he could, to make him acquainted with it, having heard at Truro that he had passed through that place in the after- noon, on his way to Scorrier. After the astonishment which this intelli- gence had created had a little subsided, Mr. Williams described most par- ticularly the appearance and dress of the man that he saw in his dream fire the pistol, as he had before done of Mr. Perceval. About six weeks after, Mr. Williams, having business in town, went, accompanied by a friend, to the house of commons, where, as has been already observed, he had never before been. Immediately that he came to the steps at the entrance of the lobby, he said, ' This place is as distinctly within my recollection, in my dream, as any room in my house ;' and he made the same observation when he entered the lobby. He then pointed out the exact spot where Bellingham stood when he fired, and which Mr. Apparition of a sickly Young Man seen in the night-time by Lady Pen- nyman and Mrs. Atkins. At the commencement of the French revolution, Lady Pennyman and her two daughters retired to Lisle, where they hired a large and handsome house at a very trifling rent. During their residence in this abode, the lady received from her husband, Sir John Pennyman, a draft for a considerable sum, which she carried to the banker of the town, and requested to have cashed. The man, as is much the custom on the continent, gave her a large portion of silver in exchange. A» Lady Pennyman was proceeding to pay some visits, she requested that the banker would send the money to her house, of which she described the situation. The parcel was instantly committed to the care of a porter ; and on the lady's inquiring of him whether he understood, from ner directions, the place to which his charge was to be conveyed, the man replied that he was perfectly aware of the place desig- nated, and that it was called the " Haunted House." The latter part of 8 REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, this answer was addressed to the banker in a low tone of voice, but was overheard by Lady Pennyman : she paid, however, no attention to the words, and naturally supposed that the report was one of those which are raised by the imagination of the ignorant respecting every dwelling which is long untenanted, or remarkable for its antiquity. A few weeks afterward, the words were recalled to her recollection in a manner that surprised her : the housekeeper, with many apologies for being obliged to mention anything that might appear so idle and absurd, came to the apartment in which her mistress was sitting, and said that two of the servants who had accompanied her ladyship from England, had that morn- ing given warning, and expressed a determination of quitting her ladyship's service, on account of the mysterious noises by which they nad been, night after night, disturbed and terrified. " I trust, Carter," replied Lady Penny- man, " that you have too much good sense to be alarmed on your own account by any of these superstitious and visionary fears ; and pray exert yourself in endeavoring to tranquillize the apprehension of others, and per- suading them to continue in their places." The persuasion of Carter was ineffectual ; the servants insisted that the noises which had alarmed them were not the operation of any earthly beings, and persevered in their reso- lution of returning to their native country. The room from which the sounds were supposed to have proceeded was at a distance from Lady Pennyman's apartments, and immediately over those which were occupied by the two female-servants, who had themselves been terrified by them, and whose report had spread a general panic through the rest of the family. To quiet the alarm, Lady Pennyman resolved on leaving her own chamber for a time, and establishing herself in the one which had been lately occupied by the domestics. The room above was a long, spacious apartment, which appeared to have been for a length of time deserted. In the centre of the chamber was a large iron cage. It was an extraordinary piece of furniture to find in any mansion; but the legend which the servants had collected respecting it appeared to be still more extraordinary : it was said that a late proprietor ot the house, a young man of enormous property, had in his minority been confined in that apartment by his uncle and guardian, and there hastened to a premature death by the privations and cruelties to which he was exposed : those cruelties had been practised under the pretence of necessary correc- tion. It was alleged that " he was idle, stubborn, inattentive, and of an untoward disposition, which nothing but severity could improve." In his boyhood, frequent chastisements, continued application, and the refusal of every interval of relaxation, were in vain essayed to urge and goad him to the grave, and to place his uncle in possession of the inheritance ; his con- stitution struggled with the tyranny of his unnatural relation, and, wasted as it was by the unmitigated oppression, still resisted, with admirable vital- ity, the efforts which were ingeniously aimed against his existence. As he drew nearer the age in which he would have been legally delivered from the dangers and impositions of his uncle, his life was subjected to more vio- lent and repeated severities ; every, even the slightest offence, was suc- ceeded by the most rigorous inflictions. The iron cage was threatened, was ordered, was erected in the upper chamber. At first, for a few weeks, it remained as an object of terror only : it was menaced that the next trans- gression of his guardian's wishes would be punished by a day's imprison- ment in that narrow circle, without the possibility of rest, or the permission of refreshment. Twice the cage was threatened, and remitted, from an affected show of mercy, and the better to cover and to palliate the premedi- tated enormities : the youth, who was about sixteen, from the dread of this terrible infliction, applied himself with sleepless diligence to labors difficult to be accomplished, and extended, purposely extended, beyond the capacity vriS^s^/^ tuwc/wr APPARITION OF A MELANCHOLY YOUNG MAN. AND GHOST-STORIES. 9 of the student: his lessons were exacted, not in proportion to his abilities, but his endeavors and performance. The taskmaster eventually conquered : then followed the imprisonment, and the day without food. Again the imposition was set ; again executed with painful exertion ; again lengthened ; again discovered to be impracti- cable ; and again visited with the iron cage, and the denial of necessary subsistence. The savage purpose of thus murdering the boy, under the pretence of a strict attention to his interest or his improvement, was at last successful : the lad was declared to be incorrigible ; there was a feigned necessity of more severe correction ; he was sentenced to two days' captivity and privation. So long an abstinence from food and rest was more than his enfeebled frame and his broken spirits could endure ; and, on his uncle's arriving, with the show of a hypocritical leniency, an hour previous to the appointed time, to deliver him from the residue of his punishment, it was found that death had anticipated the false mercy, and had for ever emanci- pated the innocent sufferer from the hands of the oppressor. The wealth was won ; but it was an unprofitable acquisition to him who had so dearly purchased it. "What profit is it," demands the voice of revelation, " if a man should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?" His conscience haunted him : the form of the dead and inoffensive boy was constantly before him. His dreams represented to his view the playful and beautiful looks that won all eves toward him, while his parents were yet alive to cheer and to delight him ; and then the vision 01 his sleep would change ; and he would see his calm suffering, and his silent tears, and his patient endurance, and his indefatigable exertions in attempting the accom- plishment of difficult exactions, and his pale cheek, and his wasted limbs, and his spiritless countenance ; and then, at last, there were the rigid, bony, and distorted form ; the glazed, open eye ; the mouth violently compressed ; and the clenched hands — on which his view had rested for a moment, when all his wicked hopes had attained their most sanguine consummation, as he surveyed the corpse of his murdered relative. These recollections banished him from his home ; the mansion was left tenantless ; and, till Lady Pen- nyman had ignorantly engaged it, all had dreaded to become the inmates of a dwelling which had been fatal to one possessor, and shunned as destruc- tive to the tranquillity of his heir. On the first night or two of Lady Pennyman's being established in her new apartment, she met with no interruption ; nor was her sleep in the least disturbed by any of those mysterious noises in the " cage-chamber" (for so it was commonly called in the family) which she had been induced to expect by the representations of the departed servants. This quiet, how- ever, was of very short duration : one night she was awakened from her sleep by the sound of a slow and measured step, that appeared to be pacing the chamber overhead ; it continued to move backward and forward, with nearly the same constant and regular motion, for rather more than an hour — perhaps Lady Pennyman's agitation may have deceived her, and induced ner to think the time longer than it really was. It at length ceased : morn- ing dawned upon her. The lady naturally felt distressed T>y the occurrence ot the night ; it was, in every point of view, alarming : if she doubted its being the effect of any preternatural communication, there was only another alternative, which was almost equally distressing — to suppose that there were means of entering the house, which were known to strangers, though concealed from the inhabitants. She went down to breakfast, after forming a resolution not to mention the event. Lady Pennyman and her daughters had nearly completed their breakfast before her son, a young man who had lately returned from sea, descended from his apartment. " My dear Charles," said his mother, " I wonder you are not ashamed of your indolence and your want of gallantry, to suffer your 10 REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, sisters and myself to finish breakfast before you are ready to join as." " Indeed, madam," he replied, "it is not my fault if I am late: I hare not had any sleep all night. There have been people knocking at my door and peeping into my room every half-hour since I went up-stairs to bed : I presume they wanted to see if my candle was extinguished. If this be the case, it is really very distressing, as I never gave you any occasion to sus- pect I should be careless in taking so necessary a precaution ; and it is not Sleasant to be represented in such a light to the domestics." — " Indeed, my ear, the interruption has taken place entirely without my knowledge. I assure you it is not by any order of mine that your room has been looked into : I can not think what could induce any servant of mine to be guilty of such a liberty. Are you certain that you have not mistaken the nature and origin of the sound by which your sleep has been disturbed ?" — '« Oh, no ; there could have been no mistake : I was perfectly awake when the inter- ruption first took place, and afterward it was so frequently repeated as to prevent the possibility of my sleeping." More complaints from the housekeeper : no servant would remain ; every individual of the family had his tale of terror to increase the apprehensions of the rest. Lady Pennyman began to be herself alarmed. Mrs. Atkins, a dear and approved friend, came on a visit to her. She communicated the subject which had so recently disturbed the family, and requested her advice. Mrs. Atkins, a woman devoid of every kind of superstitious fear, and of tried courage, understanding, and resolution, determined at once to silence all the stories that had been fabricated respecting the cage-room, and to allay their terror by adopting that apartment for her own bedchamber, during the re- mainder of her residence at Lisle. It was in vain to oppose her purpose : she declared that no half-measure could be equally effectual — that if any of the family were to sleep there, though their rest should be perfectly undisturbed, it would have no efficacy in tranquillizing the agitation of the family ; since the servants would naturally accuse either Lady Pennyman or her son of being interested witnesses, and doubt of the fact of their having reposed in the centre of the ghost's dominions, without undergoing any punishment for the temerity of their invading them. A bed was accordingly placed in the apartment. The cage-room was rendered as comfortable as possible on so short a notice ; and Mrs. Atkins retired to rest, attended by her favorite spaniel, saying, as she bade them all " Good-night," " I and my dog, I flatter myself, are equal to compete with a myriad of ghosts ; so let me entreat you to be under no apprehension for the safety of Rose and myself." Mrs. Atkins examined her chamber in every imaginable direction ; she sounded every panel of the wainscot, to prove that there was no hollow- ness, which might argue a concealed passage ; and, having bolted the door of the cage-room, retired to rest, confident that she was secure against every material visiter, and totally incredulous of the airy encroachments of all spiritual beings. Her assurance was doomed to be shortlived : she had only been a few minutes asleep when her dog, which lay by the bedside, leaped, howling and terrified, upon the bed ; the door of the chamber slowly opened, and a pale, thin, sickly youth came in, cast his eyes mildly toward her, walked up to the iron cage in the middle of the room, and then leaned in the melancholy attitude of one revolving in his mind the sorrows of a cheerless and unblest existence. After a while he again withdrew, and retired by the way he entered. Mrs. Atkins, on witnessing his departure, felt the return of her resolution ; she was reassured in her original belief in the impossibility of all spiritual visitations ; she persuaded herself to believe the figure the work of some skilful impostor, and she determined on following its footsteps : she took up her chamber-lamp, and hastened to put her design in execution. On reach- ing the door, to her infinite surprise, she discovered it to be fastened, as she AND GHOST-STORIES. 11 had herself left it, on retiring to her bed. On withdrawing the bolt and opening the door, she saw the back of the youth descending the staircase : she followed, till, on reaching the foot of the stairs, the form appeared to sink, into the earth. It was in vain to attempt concealing the occurrences of the night : her voice, her manner, the impossibility of sleeping a second time in the ill-omened chamber, would necessarily betray that something of a painful and mysterious nature had occurred. The event was related to Lady Pennyman : she determined to remain no longer in her present habitation. The man of whom the house had been engaged was spoken to on the subject : he became extremely violent — said it was no time for the English to indulge their imaginations — insinuated something of the guillotine — and bade her, at her peril, drop a single ex- pression to the injury of his property. While she remained in France no word was uttered on the subject ; she framed an excuse for her abrupt de- parture. Another residence was offered in the vicinity of Lisle, which she engaged on the pretext of its being better calculated to the size of her family : and at once relinquished her habitation, and with it every preter- natural occasion of anxiety. The above, like the Beresford story, has evidently been amplified by the fictions of some novel-writer ; but they are both founded on facts, and accred- ited by the families of the individuals to whom the events respectively occurred ; and, since the " plain unvarnished tales" can no longer be ob- tained, the editor has thought it right to give the purest versions of them which he had the power of obtaining. Apparition of the Radiant Boy to the Marquis of Londonderry. It is now more than twenty years since the late Lord Londonderry was, for the first time, on a visit to a gentleman in the north of Ireland. The mansion was such a one as spectres are fabled to inhabit : it was associated with many recollections of historic times ; and the sombre character of its architecture and the wildness of its surrounding scenery were calculated to impress the soul with that tone of melancholy and elevation which, if it be not considered as a predisposition to welcome the visitation of those un- earthly substances that are impalpable to our sight in moments of less hal- lowed sentiment, is indisputably the state of mind in which the imagina- tion is most readily excited, and the understanding most favorably inclined to grant a credulous reception to its visions. The apartment, also, which was appropriated to Lord Londonderry, was calculated to foster such a tone of feeling, from its antique appointments ; from the dark and richly-carved panels of its wainscot ; from its yawning width and height of chimney, looking like the open entrance to a tomb, of which the surrounding ornaments appeared to form the sculptures and en- tablature ; from the portraits of grim men and severe-eyed women, arrayed in orderly procession along the walls, and scowling a contemptuous enmity against the degenerate invader of their gloomy bowers and venerable halls ; and from the vast dusky, ponderous, and complicated draperies that con- cealed the windows, and hung with the gloomy grandeur of funereal trap- pings about the hearse-like piece of furniture that was destined for his bed. Cord Londonderry, on entering his apartment, might have received some painful depressions and misgivings of the mind ; surrounded by such a world of melancholy images, he might perhaps feel himself more than usu- ally inclined to submit to the influences of superstition. It is not possible that these sentiments should have been allied to any feelings of apprehen- sion. Fear is acknowledged to be a most mighty master over the visions 12 REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, of the imagination: it can "call spirits from the vasty deep," and they do come when it does call for them: it trembles at the anticipation of ap- proaching evil, and then encounters in every passing shadow the substance of the dream it trembles at. But such could not have been the origin of the form that addressed itself to Lord Londonderry : fear is a quality that was never known to mingle in the character of a Stewart. Lord Londonderry examined his chamber ; he made himself acquainted with the forms and faces of the ancient possessors of the mansion, as they sat upright in their ebony frames to receive his salutation ; and then, after dismissing his valet, he retired to bed. His candles had not been long ex- tinguished when he perceived a light gleaming on the draperies of the lofty canopy over his head. Conscious that there was no fire in the grate — that tie curtains were closed — that the chamber had been in total darkness but a few moments before — he supposed that some intruder must have acci- dentally entered his apartment ; and, turning hastily round to the side from which the light proceeded, saw, to his infinite astonishment, not the form of any human visiter, but the figure of a fair boy, who seemed to be gar- mented in rays of mild and tempered glory, which beamed palely from his slender form, like the faint light of tne declining moon, and rendered the objects which were nearest to him dimly and mdistinctly visible. The spirit stood at some short distance from the side of the bed. Certain that his own faculties were not deceiving him, but suspecting he might be im- posed on by the ingenuity of some of the numerous guests who were then visiting in the same house, Lord Londonderry proceeded toward the figure : — it retreated before him: — as he slowly advanced, the form with equal paces slowly retired : — it entered the gloomy arch of the capacious chimney, and then sunk into the earth. Lord Londonderry returned to his bed, but not to rest : his mind was harassed by the consideration of the extraordi- nary event which had occurred to him. Was it real ? — Was it the work of the imagination ? — Was it the result of imposture ? . It was incomprehensible. He resolved in the morning not to mention the appearance till he should have well observed the manners and countenances of the family : he was conscious that, if any deception had been practised, its authors would be too delighted with their success to conceal the vanity of their triumph. When the guests assembled at the breakfast-table, the eye of Lord Londonderry searched in vain for those latent smiles — those conscious looks — that silent communication between the parties, by which the authors and abettors of such domestic conspiracies are generally betrayed. Everything apparently proceeded in its ordinary course: the conversation flowed rapidly along from the subjects afforded at the moment, without any of the constraint which marks a party intent upon some secret and more interesting argu- ment, and endeavoring to afford an opportunity for its introduction. At last the hero of the tale found himself compelled to mention the occurrence of the night. It was most extraordinary : — he feared that he should not be credited: — and then, after all due preparation, the story was related. Those among his auditors who, like himself, were strangers and visiters in the house, were certain that some delusion must have been practised : the family alone seemed perfectly composed and calm. At last, tne gentleman whom Lord Londonderry was visiting interrupted their various surmises on the subject, by saying : " The circumstance which you have just recounted must naturally appear most extraordinary to those who have not long been inmates of my dwelling, and not conversant with the legends connected with my family ; to those who are, the event which has happened will only serve as the corroboration of an old tradition that long has Deen related of the apartment in which you slept. You have seen the Radiant Boy — be content — it is an omen of prosperous fortunes. I would rather that this subject should no more be mentioned." AND GHOST-STORIES. 13 A Murder discovered after Twenty-two Years 1 Concealment. The following is a singular history of a murder, found out twenty-two years after it was perpetrated, in the town of Chelmsford, England, and dis- covered by Mr. Joseph Strutt, author of the Dictionary of Engravings, &c. : — Some years ago, having occasion to be at Chelmsford, a very strange adventure happened to me. I arrived late in the evening, on my journey from Colchester, and, after having inquired for the best inn, was recom- mended to the White Horse, which was at the other end of the town, facing the market, and adjoining to the churchyard. In the morning I was desi- rous of seeing the church — a long, large, and stately edifice, and then just finished. After I had surveyed the building I walked among the tombs in the churchyard, and the sexton was then digging a grave for a burial, which was to be made of a townsman that evening. I stood awhile to observe the man, who, without the least compunction or reflection, cast out from the earth the remains of his fellow-mortals, and whistled with indifference. Among a variety of bones thrown out of the pit, was a skull which ap- peared whiter than ordinary ; this induced me to take it up, and turning it about, I heard something rattle within it ; upon examination, I found a large nail, covered with rust, full four inches long. It surprised me to find a nail in such a situation, and on turning the skull about, I found on the forehead a perforation encrusted with the rust of the iron, and in which a part of the nail yet remained ; this led me to suspect that the owner of the skull had been murdered ; but without mentioning anything to my grave companion, I inquired if he knew to whom the bones which he was then throwing out of the earth belonged. " Yes, sir," said he, " and well, too ; he was as hearty a cock as ever broke bread, and was the master of the White Horse two-and-twenty years ago." " How came he by his death ?" " Oh, very suddenly ! Alas ! master, we are here to-day, and there to-mor- row : death, when ne comes, will not be said nay. Would you believe it, I drank with him the night before, and he seemed as well in health as I ; but in the morning he was dead, and I buried him with my own hands in this grave." " He died suddenly, you say ?" " He was dead, I tell you, the next morning." " Was any cause assigned ?" " He died in a fit." " And do you think this was his skull ?" " I'd not deceive you, sir, I am sure of it." " See, then," said I, " the cause of his dying suddenly," showing him the nail rusted in the skull, and the remainder corroded and loose in the cavity. He seemed astonished. " Had he no family?" "No; he left a widow — the woman who at present keeps the inn ; and before two months 14 REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, were past from the death of her husband, she married the hostler — he is at present the master." Without further questioning the sexton, I inquired for the residence of the justice, and taking the skull m my hand, I wrapped the end of my mantle about it, and went to him. I was readily admitted ; and after apologizing for my intrusion, told him the cause of my coming, and then showed him the skull. He was struck in the same manner that I had been, that the owner of this skull had been murdered, and sent for the sexton, who con- firmed what he said to me, and declared he was ready to make oath to the identity of the skull. The magistrate then sent for the woman by a mere verbal message, that no alarm might be given ; she instantly attended. She seemed surprised at seeing me there. I smiled, and bid her good-morrow — said I had rested well, and had walked out for amusement ; when, after some little extraneous conversation, the magistrate gave it a different turn, and without any more of previous introduction, began to question her concern- ing her first husband. She then affected to weep, and praised him for a paragon of kindness and virtue. " But still I hope you have no reason to complain of your present good man." " Certainly not, your worship," said she, " not upon the whole ; but he has not the learning and breeding of my dear, dear Gregory !" " You married him, I understand, very soon after your dear Gregory's death ?" " Why, la ! your worship, what could a poor woman do, left alone, as you may say, in a large inn, and all men-folk about her ? Indeed, I wept for Gregory, but I was obliged to think for myself." " He died suddenly, I heard ?" "Ah, your worship, I was happy enough in the evening, and in the morning, your honor, I was a poor, miserable, lone woman ! Indeed, it is true, your honor !" " Did you know the cause of his death?" " Oh, he was taken in a fit of apoplexy, and fell back on his chair, and spoke jio more ! We put him to bed, chafed and rubbed him, but all to no purpose." " What help did you call in ? did you send for the doc- tor ?" " Oh, your worship, it was to no purpose, he was stone dead." " But bleeding is sometimes efficacious. Then you did not call in the doc- tor ?" " No, your honor, I was too much affrightened to think on't." " You said, we put him to bed ; who was it that assisted you V 9 " Robert, the hostler, for I could not lift him by myself. But forsooth, your worship, we called in the gossips ; they saw my dear husband's corpse, and helped to lay it out, too, therefore there was no no need of the coroner's inquest ; and he was buried, your honor, as a man (St. The justice caused her to be removed into an inner room, and sent for the husband, who was at home, but he excused himself on account of his wife AND GHOST-STORIES. 15 being absent and customers being in the house ; but the constable told him the business was of consequence ; he put on his hat and went with him. When he entered, the justice said, " Pray, Mr. Robert, excuse my sending for you in so peremptory a manner, but there is a question between this gentleman and me which you can readily answer." " Your worship knowsyou may com- mand anything which is in my power," replied Robert. " Well, then, tell me, without disguise, how long can a man live after a long nail has been driven into his skull ?" On the sudden statement of this question, his cour- age forsook him, his knees knocked each other, and his teeth chattered, and he exclaimed, " Why — why — why — your wor — ship — how should — I — I — kn — o — w ?" " What is the matter with thee, Robert ?" said the justice ; " what is it that frightens thee ? surely it is not the ghost of Gregory, thy master, which has occasioned this astonishment !" " Oh, then," cried he out, "I see that my she-devil has betrayed me ! but it was all her do- ings." " What," cried the justice, " what was her doings ?" " Ay," cried he, a little recollecting himself, " I want to know why your worship asks such strange questions. I am sure as how I do not know how to answer them : but your honor must know how I have got some horses from Thax- ted fair coming home this morning, and I dare say they are home bjr now. I hope your honor will excuse me at present. If your worship is in this merry mood in the afternoon, I'll come and answer any of your honor's questions with all my heart." " Stop, my friend," said the justice, "we can not part at present quite so easily : shut the door there ; and for the horses, your hostler, good master Robert, must look after them. But you must know, that you stand charged with murder : your wife has confessed the same, and it appears from her confession, you are the murderer." " I — I — your honor?" "Yes, of your master." "Did she confess?" "1 tell you she did, and accuses you of doing the deed." " Oh ! 'tis false ! she wants to get rid of me as she did of Gregory. She persuaded me, but I never did any such thing !" " Look here, Robert," said the magistrate, " see this skull ; it was thy master's — yes, 'tis Gregory's skull ! see this nail found within it, corroded by age ; see where the head remains still in the bone, and recollect at once your handy work." The sudden exposure of the skull, ana the address, so worked upon the mind of the unfortunate culprit, that, aided by the terrors of a guilty con- science, it led him to a full confession. He and his wife were consequently committed to the prison. I was obliged to appear as an evidence at the yearly assizes held for the county, where various circumstances were ad- duced in proof of the murder ; and they, being justly condemned, suffered the punishment of death by hanging. How two Murderers were pointed out by the Ghost of their Victim. The following narrative is contained in a letter of Doctor Ezekias Burton to Doctor Henry More : — About ten years ago, one Mr. Bower, a gentleman living at Guildford, in Surrey, was found upon the highway, not far from that place, shockingly murdered, having one great cut across his throat, and another down his breast. Two men were seized upon suspicion, and put into jail at Guild- ford. That night one of the prisoners confined in the jail with these men, was awakened about one of the clock, and greatly terrified by an old man, who had a great gash across his throat, almost from ear to ear, and a wound down his breast. He also came in stooping, and holding his hand to his back ; he said, " See what these cruel wretches have done to me — see how barbarously they have murdered me !" The prisoner, to whom these words 1G REMARKABLE APPARITIONS, were addressed, called to his two companions and asked what it all meant ; they grumbled at him, but made no answer. In the morning he had retained so lively an impression of what he had seen, that he spoke to them to the same purpose again, and they told him it was nothing but his fantasy. But he was so fully persuaded of the reality of the apparition, that he told two others of it, and it came to the ears of Mr. Reading, justice of the peace in Surrey, and cousin to the gentleman that was murdered. 