A. Haunted House.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7913, 20 September 1904, Page 2

A. Haunted House.

•■Mp;;Sl»^liOTjiPhilli^,--;tue;-pbßt-'iad: dramatist;)recently .leased< a detached house^in Egham. near Windsor,' and •wentj^up there ior^peace'v and quiet. JN either^ heftrior any of ; his household knew that tho. house had the'r'eputition' of being haunted They were not long, however, in finding it out for themselves. "No sooner were we installed in the place than"the' u'neahniest noises conceivable beset us,", he informed, the Express. " There were kaockings and Mappings ;• footfalls, soft and loud, hasty and sttaUhy, hurryings and scurrymgs, sounds as of a human creature being chased, caught,, and then strangled or choked. Doors banged andwereopened and closed unaccountably, as though by unseen hands. I would be sitting quietly in' my study, writing, when the door would open soundlessly.' That in itself was eerie enough, in the dead of night; to a man with his imagination aflame. It was nisceptible of explanation, .however. 'It is only a bit of a draught,'I would say to imyself, as .1 held imy breath and watched. But draughts don't turn door handles, and on my life | the handle would turn as the door opened—and tbere.was no hand visible. j This happened repeatedly. All the household heard the sounds and experienced the same sensations." His little daughter told him that she had seen a small old man creeping about tho house. But there was no such. person to be found. In the light of a story he afterwards heard this was important, for according to common report and local tradition, an old farmer strangled I a child fifty years ago in the vicinity of the house. ,Mr Phillips'has, thrown up the lease and left the house. The servants went before him, and so precipitately that they did not even take their boxes away. Mr Phillips cays he would be glad if the Physical .Research Society would endeavour to clear up the mystery. . •■• . . ...