“Only this,” M. Hersant said solemnly, “the phantasm we saw caused the death of the Popenkoff family.  It is the spirit of an owl that the children, encouraged by their parents, killed in a most cruel manner.  As soon as I examined Marthe’s body, I perceived the mutilations were due to a bird; and when I visited this mill on the eve of my arrival, I knew that a bird had once lived here; that it had been captured with lime and murdered, and that it haunted the place.”

“How could you know that?” the priest exclaimed in astonishment.

“I am clairvoyant.  I saw the bird’s ghost as it appeared to us just now.  Afterwards I enquired of the Popenkoffs’ neighbours, and the information I gathered fully confirmed my suspicions—­that the unfortunate bird had been put to death in a most barbarous manner.  The deaths of the three children laid to rest any doubt I may have had with regard to the superphysical playing a part in the death of Marthe.  Then when her better-half had been served likewise, I was certain that all five pseudo-murders were wholly and solely acts of retribution, and that they were perpetrated—­I am inclined to think involuntarily—­by the spirit of the owl itself.  Accordingly, I decided to hold a seance here—­here in its old haunt, and if possible to put an end to the earth-bound condition and wanderings of the soul of the unhappy bird.  Thanks to Father Mickledoff we have done so, and there will be no more so-called murders near Orskaia.”

Hauntings by the Phantasms of Birds

One of the most curious cases of hauntings by the phantasms of birds happened towards the end of the eighteenth century in a church not twenty miles from London.  The sexton started the rumours, declaring that he had heard strange noises, apparently proceeding from certain vaults containing the tombs of two old and distinguished families.  The noises, which generally occurred on Friday nights, most often took the form of mockings, suggesting to some of the listeners—­the enaction of a murder, and to others merely the flapping of wings.

The case soon attracted considerable attention, people flocking to the church from all over the country-side, and it was not long before certain persons came forward and declared they had ascertained the cause of the disturbance.  The churchwarden, sexton, and his wife and others all swore to seeing a huge crow pecking and clawing at the coffins in the vaults, and flying about the chancel of the church, and perching on the communion rails.  When they tried to seize it, it immediately vanished.

An old lady, who came of a family of well-to-do yeomen, and who lived near the church about that time, said that the people in the town had for many years been convinced the church there was haunted by the phantom of a bird, which they believed to be the earth-bound soul of a murderer, who, owing to his wealth, was interred in the churchyard, instead of being buried at the cross-roads with the customary wooden stake driven through the middle of his body.  This belief of the yokels received some corroboration from a neighbouring squire, who said he had seen the phantasm, and was quite positive it was the earth-bound soul of a criminal whose family history was known to him, and whose remains lay in the churchyard.