We commence this group with stories in which the phenomena connected with the respective deaths were not perceived as representations of the human form.  In the first only sounds were heard.  It is sent as a personal experience by the Archdeacon of Limerick, Very Rev. J. A. Haydn, LL.D.  “In the year 1879 there lived in the picturesque village of Adare, at a distance of about eight or nine miles from my residence, a District Inspector named ——­, with whom I enjoyed a friendship of the most intimate and fraternal kind.  At the time I write of, Mrs. ——­ was expecting the arrival of their third child.  She was a particularly tiny and fragile woman, and much anxiety was felt as to the result of the impending event.  He and she had very frequently spent pleasant days at my house, with all the apartments of which they were thoroughly acquainted—­a fact of importance in this narrative.

“On Wednesday, October 17, 1879, I had a very jubilant letter from my friend, announcing that the expected event had successfully happened on the previous day, and that all was progressing satisfactorily.  On the night of the following Wednesday, October 22, I retired to bed at about ten o’clock.  My wife, the children, and two maid-servants were all sleeping upstairs, and I had a small bed in my study, which was on the ground floor.  The house was shrouded in darkness, and the only sound that broke the silence was the ticking of the hall-clock.

“I was quietly preparing to go to sleep, when I was much surprised at hearing, with the most unquestionable distinctness, the sound of light, hurried footsteps, exactly suggestive of those of an active, restless young female, coming in from the hall door and traversing the hall.  They then, apparently with some hesitation, followed the passage leading to the study door, on arriving at which they stopped.  I then heard the sound of a light, agitated hand apparently searching for the handle of the door.  By this time, being quite sure that my wife had come down and wanted to speak to me, I sat up in bed, and called to her by name, asking what was the matter.  As there was no reply, and the sounds had ceased, I struck a match, lighted a candle, and opened the door.  No one was visible or audible.  I went upstairs, found all the doors shut and everyone asleep.  Greatly puzzled, I returned to the study and went to bed, leaving the candle alight.  Immediately the whole performance was circumstantially repeated, but this time the handle of the door was grasped by the invisible hand, and partly turned, then relinquished.  I started out of bed and renewed my previous search, with equally futile results.  The clock struck eleven, and from that time all disturbances ceased.