“After this the knocking got very bad, so much so that he could not rest.  All this time he did not mention the strange occurrence to anyone.  One morning he went up through the fields between four and five o’clock.  To his surprise he found the herd out feeding the cattle.  My father asked him why he was up so early.  He replied that he could not sleep.  ‘Why?’ asked my father.  ‘You know why yourself, sir—­the knocking.’  He then found that this man had heard it all the time, though he slept at the end of a long house.  My father was advised to take no notice of it, for it would go as it came, though at this time it was continuous and very loud; and so it did.  The country people said it was the late resident who could not rest.”

“We had another curious and most eerie experience in this house.  A former rector was staying the night with us, and as the evening wore on we commenced to tell ghost-stories.  He related some remarkable experiences, and as we were talking the drawing-room door suddenly opened as wide as possible, and then slowly closed again.  It was a calm night, and at any rate it was a heavy double door which never flies open however strong the wind may be blowing.  Everyone in the house was in bed, as it was after 12 o’clock, except the three persons who witnessed this, viz. myself, my daughter, and the rector.  The effect on the latter was most marked.  He was a big, strong, jovial man and a good athlete, but when he saw the door open he quivered like an aspen leaf.”

A strange story of a haunting, in which nothing was seen, but in which the same noises were heard by different people, is sent by one of the percipients, who does not wish to have her name disclosed.  She says:  “When staying for a time in a country house in the North of Ireland some years ago I was awakened on several nights by hearing the tramp, tramp, of horses’ hoofs.  Sometimes it sounded as if they were walking on paving-stones, while at other times I had the impression that they were going round a large space, and as if someone was using a whip on them.  I heard neighing, and champing of bits, and so formed the impression that they were carriage horses.  I did not mind it much at first, as I thought the stables must be near that part of the house.  After hearing these noises several times I began to get curious, so one morning I made a tour of the place.  I found that the side of the house I occupied overlooked a neglected garden, which was mostly used for drying clothes.  I also discovered that the stables were right at the back of the house, and so it would be impossible for me to hear any noises in that quarter; at any rate there was only one farm horse left, and this was securely fastened up every night.  Also there were no cobble-stones round the yard.  I mentioned what I had heard to the people of the house, but as they would give me no satisfactory reply I passed it over.  I did not hear these noises every night.”