Haunted houses are going out of fashion even in periodicals brought out especially for Christmas – a period of the years when stories of the kind used to be far more plentiful than they are at present. If, however, we are to believe a story printed by a French contemporary, which is very circumstantial, Paris can boast of a haunted house, not situated in some deserted, out-lying suburb, but in the busy and much-frequented Boulevard Voltaire.
The tenants of the house in question have, it appears, for a long time past been more astonished than frightened by mysterious knocking at the walls of the apartments during the night time – and occasionally, also, during the day.
A shoemaker and a dressmaker have especially suffered from a series of what they describe as sounding like repeated blows dealt close to their ears. The police have even been called in, adn th ehouse has been carefully visited, from cellarto garret, without any satisfactory result, the consequence being that the rumour has gone forth that it must be haunted.
The police agents have, it is stated, themselves heard the unaccountable knocking and tapping which disturb the peace of mind of the tenants, and, in their perplexity, an architect has examined the premises. His efforts to find a clue to the mystery are equally vain; and so, for the present, the matter rests. It being, however, impossible to admit that spirits or ghosts are at work, probably, before long, a natural explanatino of the noises heard will be forthcoming.
London Evening Standard, 8th May 1891.