An Unquiet Spirit.
A paragraph has been “going the rounds,” copied from the Hull Packet, entitled “spirit rappings,” from which it appears that some unquiet spirit has taken refuge in a tenement in a lonely part of the town, and has given auricular evidence of its troubles and disquietudes by frequent knockings on the walls, much to the alarm of the inmates and the curiosity of the neighbours.
This reminds us of a similar circumstance, which occurred about fifteen years ago in Bute, in a house situated on the Ascog shore. A noble Scotch family had come to reside there for the benefit of the health of a young lady, a member of the family. They were accompanied by a numerous retinue of servants, among whom was a Frenchwoman; but they had not been long on the island before signs of discontent were observable among the attendants, which were increased when it was whispered that the house was haunted.
Sounds were heard at intervals, the true cause of which could not be ascertained, and they were therefore attributed to the machinations of an evil spirit. As in the case of the Hull spirit, these sounds were described as resembling a person knocking with his fist, and were heard in all parts of the house – sometimes in the wainscoat, at other times underneath the floor. Everything was done that could be devised to discover the cause of the annoyance – when it was heard in the wainscoat, part of the partition was taken down immediately, but nothing was discovered; when heard under the floor, the planks were instantly lifted, with the same unsuccessful result.
It was then thought that the servants miht have a hand in raising the ghost, as their dislike to the family might lead them to devise this method of inducing the family to remove. The whole of the family, including the domestics, were therefore assembled in an upper chamber, and two men were stationed in the outside of the house, to see that no one approached; but in a short time the knocking was repeated.
Not satisfied with this, however, the family had each of the servants examined before the authorities of Rothesay, but still nothing was elicited. So alarmed was the young lady who was in delicate health that she would not sleep without an attendant to wait upon her during the night, with candles burning in the room. The French servant already mentinoed, who had been heard saying that the visits of the “spirit” were ominous of the young lady’s death, was suspected of being the originator of the plot, and immediately dismissed.
The annoyance still continuing, a pious lady was actually called in to exorcise the ghost, who, with the Bible in her hand, was shut up in a room alone. She afterwards stated that she began by reading a chapter, when the knocking commenced; she then commanded it to be still, and, strange as it may appear, it ceased. The lady then exhorted it to come forth, but the obdurate spirit would not yield to her power; for not all her prayers and entreaties could make it become visible.
Some persons supposed it to have been caused by rats; but the noise was far too loud to have been produced by these little vermin – in fact, so far as we know, everything connected with the affair remains to this day a mystery, and probably ever will. – Communicated.
North British Daily Mail, 6th November 1852.