malicious mischief were in question, we were a good
deal on the qui vive to-night, being alone.
I watched from behind the curtain at an open window
from 10.30 P.M. till after midnight, and again
from 4.30 A.M. to 6 A.M. The night was windy
and there was a good deal of noise, but very different
in kind from any of our usual phenomena. We
found that there were people moving about till
after midnight, but we did not attach much importance
to this, as the gardeners may have been to the stoves
(the night was frosty), and there is a right-of-way
through the grounds.
No phenomena.
The servants, we find, are alive to the fact that some one prowls about at night. The footman, who sleeps downstairs, says they have tried to frighten him, and things have been thrown at the kitchen windows. I found it out by the fact that I was seized by the butler and footman when I went out “prowling” on Sunday night, fancying I had heard footsteps. They were on the same errand, and caught me in the dark!
March 29th, Monday.—To-day Miss Langton and I have been very busy writing in the library, both silent and occupied. Again and again have we heard footsteps overhead in No. 8, at intervals between ten A.M. and one, and again in the evening between six and seven. No rooms are in use on that side of the house—6, 7, and 8 are all empty. The rooms below are locked up and shuttered. At 11.30 we both heard some one moving about outside on the gravel, but it was too dark a night to see any one.
[Friday, April 2nd—An unpleasant light has (possibly) been thrown on these movements. We find to-day that some one has killed a sheep in the garden, in a retired spot, taking away the skin and the meat.]
March 30th, Tuesday.—No
phenomena, except the sound of steps
overhead above the library.
For this reason, Miss Langton is
going to sleep in No. 8, where the
steps occur.
Mr. and Mrs. M—— came.
[We were particularly glad to welcome Mrs. M—— for other reasons than the pleasure of her society. She is of Spanish origin, and a Roman Catholic, and according to previous evidence, so were other persons upon whom specially interesting phenomena had been bestowed.]
Mr. B. S—— and
Miss V. S——, brother and sister of
the owner,
dined with us.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
March 31st, Wednesday.—Mr.
and Mrs M—— were put into No. 1.
Both complain of a very sleepless
night.
Miss Langton in No. 8 heard sounds
after daylight—footsteps
shuffling round the bed, and a knock
near the wardrobe. No one
is overhead nor in No. 7, the next
room.