TWO MYSTERIES EXPLAINED

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 494, 10 August 1871, Page 2

TWO MYSTERIES EXPLAINED

[from chambers" journal] no* i. - Foe many yeai-3 ray .'family lived in one. of the. northern suburbs of London. Reduced at.last to two Members, a sister and myself, We gave up housekeeping, and for some' time- travelled ■ about England. Tired at length of wandering we returned to .our old neighbourhood, and looked about for a settled reidence. One day, while walking down a welf-remembered street, we were struck with the appearance of a large handsome corniced-house.where we recollected perfectly, only a year, or two before, had been a greengrocer's shop. We stopped a deferential crossingsweeper and asked iiow that imposing edifice had grown there, and were told that the sho) had boon burned down with every tiling in.il., and this house built on its;ruins. .'-

''■ Wo were coucerncd to hear such a melancholy account, having ..known 1%. greengrocer well, and we inquired anxiously if there had been any loss of lift1. ' Troth, my lady, and I here was,' said ■. vi glib informant—lrish of course —' fo ■ the masther wakened in the night andsni !od tlie fire ; and he roused the wife, and ;mil a young-baby, and bnde her wrap in a 1)1 <nket, and take the wee thing, and go straight down through the door, for the fire was in a room above; and lie rushed up to sn ye the other childer, and lie did it, and go L them ail safe out oiitlio roof of the next house, and so down into the street: but when he came to look for the mistress faith! she was nowhere to be found; and a boy that was standing by, a frind of my own, touldme that he saw her, from aback yard; stand at'die wjmiow, and then turn. as though to come down the stairs.— : 1 she had a sheet wrapped, round her, ten tlie baby in her arms under the sheet; but why she stopped so long, and why she looked out o' the window, and why she nivcr came at all, at all, sorra one uv us ever larnf;, for the roof fell in, and none durst go near the roaring flames; and, shure enough, next day they found her, and the bit of a baby in licr.,arms still; and whether she stnid U\ gathor up her trinkets and such-like, oj! her sinses forsook her, or the smoke :choked her, not a living crater can till, for the sowl went out of her poor body, and niver came back to tell us the rascn, and Thank ye kindly, my lady." Shocked and distressed at the ending of the poor woman, nnd anxious to escape minute details, we abruptly left the Irish sweeper, and went our way. I remembered, the poor greengrocer's wife very well, and had often; remarked that her gooseberries were tlie driest and the wholesoinest, her raspberries the least mashed, her strawberries the least sus-picious-looking of any fruiterer's in that district.

Well, in tlio end we took that verg house. It was then autumn ; and there we remained the winter, spring', summer, and autumn again ; aud then came that terribly bard winter of 1866-7. As tiie frost increased, we found the cold of our bedrooms impossible to bear.; so, my sister and I agreed to occupy one-large room with a southern aspect, aud keep a fire in it constantly. The first night (hat this arrangement was put in practice, we went upstairs at our usual time, about twelve o'clock. Our bedroom was over the draw-ing-room floor, and there were other rooms above, where the servants slept. The staircase window on the second floor was exactly opposite our door, on the curve of the upper stair, which formed a small landing. We found our fire burning brightly, and while my sister stirred and heaped it with coals, I put down what I was carrying, and went back to shut the door. Butiusteadof shutting it, I stood, holding the handle, staring into the darkness outside, speechless, moHoriless, conscious oi nothing but au untittcrablo horror;; my eyes fixed upon an object not two yards distant, whose appearance alone, without any other reasoning, witnessed that it was no inhabitant, of earth.

On tho top stair of the flight that led to the upper window stood the figuro of a woman, wrapped from head to foot in a thick white covering; rounded and bulky about the shoulders and arms, as if holding a child or bundle; tapering towards the feet, as if but slenderly clothed ; every fold, every wrinkle, every curve of the limbs as distinct as we see thorn iv: ca«-h other under a strong light. But the crowning horror was this: through iliis perfectly formed and apparently solid figure I distinctly sa,w the staircase window, the opposite wall, the faint light coming from outside—all as plainly visible as if nothing stood between them and me ; and yet there was a woman, tall, broad, enveloped in a thick covering, and placed in a position which ought to linve screened everything beyond herself from view.

She stood on the top stair; one foot covered with a stocking, but no shoo, put forward as if about to touch tho lower step j and I noticed, with a sickly shudder, that as the lire, stirred and renewed, leaped up in rampant flames, the figure became agitated; moved its foot, now up, now down; swayed a little from side to side; sometimes scorned to step backward, sometimes forward, like one uncertain which way to go; that the arms worked, as if clasping their burden tighter; and still, through ib all, came the light from the window, and the outline of the opposite wall; and still, I v stood staring iv silent terror, believing, disbelieving. How could I believe the exploded folly of spirits departed coining back to haunt the spot where they had suffered and been released? And* yet how disbelieve my own eyesight? I At length my sister, from the other end of the room, astonished at my silence and tho still open door, turned suddenly round, started at my fixed look and face of terror, and exclaimed: "Is anything the matter ? YVhat are you looking at P', The sound of her voice was an immense relief to me; it roused my paralyzed senses. Still keeping my eyes fixed on" the apparition, I said quietly: f Come here a moment; don't be frightened: there is something strange on the stairs." She came hurriedly, but, in spite of my caution, gave a cry of terror as she canght sight of the figure. "Good heavens! what can it bo P" she whispered. " Don't move," 1 said; "we must watch it. You remember what the sweeper told us about the greengrocer's wife.

Silent and shivering we stood, exchanging now and then a frightened whig, per. Had any one told mo beforehand that I should see such, a figure, and inquired how I would act under the circumstances, I should have said: "I would walk straight up to it;" but standing where I did now. I felt that the distance was not at all too great between it and me, and had no wish, whatever to lessen it.

For o, long time we watched, and the only change in the figure was one or another of the movements I have mentioned. Meantime, the fire burned low; the phantom became rather less distinct, and remained quiet. We stood with the door only partly opened, and had not courage to put it any wider. •. At last, with a Budden resolution, I shut it. .

" It is no use looking any longer," I said; "we shall only terrify ourselves to dbalh, and catch dreadful colds besides." Then we sat down by the fire, and discussed the matter. The strange appearance no long visible, my natural hardihood and disbelief in spectres returned. "1 <'on't care," I said, in answer to a remark from my sister:" though I have stood and looked at the dreadful thing •:'. .r nearly an hour, I don't believe in it. it must have a cause. Perhaps.a figure outside the window; light is so deceiving." 'But," said she, "what figure would stand so still for such a time?"

This point I could not argue, but still persisted in attributing it to natural agency. But we could not go to bed easily without looking to see if our supernatural visitor was still at her post. Wo went slowly and hesitatingly to the door, lingered a moment, and then flung it open to its full extent—the stair was unoccupied; the figure was gone! Much relieved, we closed the door quickly, and betook ourselves to rest. !"•" ext morning we were disposed to laugh. ' ■'■ ■'. ho diost.as'a creation in ouv own fancy; ii-.vortheless, we grew rather anxious as night came on. 1 was courageous enough to go up during the evening, and cast a hurried glance at the stairs before I opened, our bedroom door ; but nothing was there, and I sped down again in great glee, convinced that our eyes the previous night ]>iul beeu fog-bound. But in spite of this, when we went up late, and came to the door to take a last re-assuring glance.tliere was the thing again, in, precisely ; the same altitude, making the same movements, agitated when the fire blazed up, motionless when it burned low.

Time went on, and night after night we watched, till we almostbecame accustomed to our nocturnal visitor. Ifotwithstanding the continually renewed fear caused by the sight of it, I had an underlying conviction that it was produced by natural means. Wliat means, I could not imagine/ for we had tried every possible experiment to find out. We moved the furniture of the room, we placed the light in different positions, we stationed ourselves now at one point, now at another —Without effect; the figure stood unchanging.

All this time we kept the matter to our* selves, knowing the foolish fear of servants, and how such a report would spread like wild-fire among our friends, and scare them away from the house. It so happened that just then a cousin came to pay us a visit, and we determ'ned to let her into tho secret, partly to prevent her from seeing the figure unawares, and being frightened to death; partly lhat she might help us with her opinion and advice. So the first night of her arrival, we brought her into our room; and, having told tho facts, and warned her against a sudden fright, took her to -the dojr, and pointed out; the spectre. Though sd prepared, and utterly sceptical as to anything ghostly, h>-r terror was so great is to alarm us. Talking of ghosts aud looking at them are tyro such very different matters. I still persisted in referring the apparition to natural causes, and though this was my cousin's belief in theory, practical evidence to the contrary appeared io have shaken her croed to its very foundations. ( Shutting out the ghastly objeci, however, to a certain extent restored herself-possession, and then we all three set t» work, both by suggestion and experiment to throw some light on the subject; butto no purpose. The wretched, puzzling, intangible substance, the unreal reality stood its ground, and mocked all our efforts' '•

After a time thaw set h; the weathen became as warm as it lid before beer cold, and we dispensed wih. the fire in ouroom. That night—O winder of wonders ! —we looked and witched in vain; not a trace of the figure wjs to be seen. I was more puzzled than «rer.

As time went on, aid our spectral visitor was still invisible, vh congratulated ourselves on being rid of sjch an unwelcome intruder, and decided 1 to have been tli uf chance reflection of sone object ouk side. But snow and frost rituraed again, and again the fire in our roon was lighted ; anil, casting a glance up tie stajrs as I prepared to close the door.my eyes fell on the mysterious figure, staiding as before on the top step, moving htr foot up and down, grasping the burdenthat she held now firmly, now loosely>:in her arms; dilating and agitated when ike fire blazed, still as death when the fliines fell low. This re-appearance was mor^startling than I cared to acknowledge eren to myself. My sister and cousin grtj nervous; so did I; we could not convince either ourselves or each other that tl? phantom had a natural origin. It woultbe impossible to enumerate the efforts we; made to discover the cause of it. Even failure found our spirits a little more sjaken and our minds a little less seeptijil as to ghosts and their doings. We gre\jaccustomed to see the shadowy thing or the stairs, and no longer started at sigh of it; but the superstitious element in us became strong and active, and we were 1 sdy to bsliove anything. , . One night while taking ny usual look of mingled curiosity and tdvor, I observf i that the figure had under/one a changeone arm appeared to hanguelplessly down by her side. As I waslbout to call attention to this new pheymenon, I heard my sister say: " Why, Wo has been tearing the blind?"; L

I turlied round quick!. Our windows were furnished with roll • blinds of highly glazed white linen, ovt which were festooned heavy curtains o dark green. I saw that one side of tip blind had been torn away from the na(.s fastening it to the roller, and had fallback, leaving part of the window uncoipjed. Thought is rapid, and some intelsttual telegraph connected in my mind tlitorn blind and the armless figure on. the Hairs,

" Stand up on a chair," I said, " and fasten it as well as you can." She managed it easily; and I had tho Satisfaction of seeing that my ghost was furnished with her proper complement of arms. But to mnke assurance doubly sure, I said :" ! Taw V-.G blind up fora

moment; I will tell you why afterwards." She drew it up ; and with greater relief / and satisfaction than I can describe, I saw the figure disappear gradually ; commencing at the feet, finishing at the neck ; a shadowy head stilll remaining. I speedily : announced my discovery; and after minute j investigation, and mnch experimentalising i and proving, we at last discovered the entire nature and origin of our spectre. And this was it. From the position of the fire-grate, the entire light of the flames fell on the window opposite the door ; and when the door waa open, this light was again reflected from the dazzling surface of the white Wind on to the opposite wall, which formed the curve of the stair, and where stood the window. Every one knows that two festooned curtains will give to the space between them the form of a human neck and shoulders; here was the foundation of the figure; and the curtains nearing each other as they approached the ground, completed the illusion of a long scanty garment. The phantom foot was nothing but the space between the dark drapery terminating in a point. The immense width of the festooned part as compared with the rest, gave that appearance of bulk about the arms and shoulders; and the head was caused by the re-appearance*of the lightcoloured wall above the curtains. The wall, of course, rose square and shapeless, hence the supposition of a sheet enveloping the figure. We found too, that when the door was opened adde, the reflection vanished ; tliis,l fancy, was caused by the light being diffused, instead of concentrated through a small opening. And the strange movements ot the spectre were simple enough. .Naturally, the more the fire blazed, the more its light flickered' and danced on the window, and sent its dancing and flickering shadow outside the door. But why the reflection seemed to stop short on the landing, instead of being conveyed to the opposite wall, I have never fujjy satisfied myself. I fancied it lo be by meeting the li^hfc from the staircase window, and so throwing it back upon itself; but this is only my supposition. I leave it to those more learned in the laws of light than I am to settle the matter. Thus every particle of our ghost wns explained, even to the head, whioh remained stationary when all the rest had disappeared. The head being a reflection from the wall, of course never moved when the bliud was drawn up. Having proved our discoveries in the most satisfactory manner, we published the matter among our friends; and many came to look st tho ghost, and see it made and unmade; and I have no doubt that some who read this will be of that number, and bear witness to the truth of what I have written. I have been tempted to make this curious circumstance public, knowing on what much smaller groundshouses have gained a reputation for being haunted, to the extreme terror of the inhabitants, and great detriment of the owner. And certainly the remarkable coincidence of the former building having been destroyed by fire, in which a woman and her baby perished, and the spectral appearance of a woman holding a child being visible on the very spot where the poor thing was last seen alive, whenever that spot was illuminated by a strong blaze, was enough to convince the most i ncredulous. With this experience, therefore, before me, I strongly advise anyone who sees or hears of a ghost, to examine carefully all doors, windows, and other means of conveying light, before lie believe his eyes or ears ; and I think I may venture to predict a natural and simple solution to the most alarming and mysterions apparitioD.