which are commonly used in Italy for firing feux de joie.  Father H——­ answered, “Yes perhaps, if they were continuous enough.”  He said that the sound which alarmed him more than any other was as of a large animal throwing itself violently against the bottom of his door, outside.  A third noise which he had heard was of ordinary raps, of the kind called “spirit-raps.”  He mentioned a fourth sound, the nature of which Lord Bute does not remember with the same certainty as the others, but believes it was a shriek or scream.  Such a sound is described by other witnesses during the subsequent occupation of the house by the H——­ family.  The fact that the sounds appear to have been inaudible to every one except Father H——­ is a strong argument in favour of their subjective, or hallucinatory, character.  It will be found that this was very often the case with the peculiar sounds recorded at B——­, and even when they were heard by several persons at the same time, there does not appear to be any ground for refusing to recognise them as collective hallucinations.

Lord Bute’s diary and recollections have been here quoted, not as differing from, but only as being antecedent to, the following account, which has been furnished by Father H——­ himself:—­

“I went to B——­ on Thursday, July 14th, 1892, and I left it on Saturday, July 23rd.  So I slept at B——­ for nine nights, or rather one night, because I was disturbed by very queer and extraordinary noises every night except the last, which I spent in Mr. S——­’s dressing-room.  At first I occupied the room to the extreme right of the landing [No. 8],[A] then my things were removed to another room [No. 3] (it seems to me at this distance of time that this room faced the principal staircase, or was a little to the left of it).  In both these rooms I heard the loud and inexplicable noises every night, but on two or three nights, in addition to these, another noise affrighted me—­a sound of somebody or something falling against the door outside.  It seemed, at the time, as if a calf or big dog would make such a noise.  Why those particular animals came into my head I cannot tell.  But in attempting to describe these indescribable phenomena, I notice now I always do say it was like a calf or big dog falling against the door.  Why did I not hear the noises on the ninth night?  Were there none where I was?  These are questions the answers to which are not apparent.  It may be there were noises, but I slept too soundly to hear them.  One of the oddest things in my case, in connection with the house, is that it appeared to me somehow that (1) Somebody was relieved by my departure; (2) that nothing could induce me to pass another night there, at all events alone, and in other respects I do not think I am a coward.”