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Reactive Programming with JavaScript
Table of Contents
Reactive Programming with JavaScript
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more
Why subscribe?
Free access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the example code
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Introduction and Installation
A 10,000-foot overview
An easier way to handle user interface programming
Programming paradigms
Installing the tools required
Installing Google Chrome
Installing Node.js
Installing the Starter Kit for ReactJS
Summary
2. Core JavaScript
The strict mode
Variables and assignment
Comments
Flow control
A note on values and NaN
Functions
 Comments
Loops
Taking a look at ECMAScript 6
Summary
3. Reactive Programming – The Basic Theory
Declarative programming
The war on Heisenbugs
The Flux Architecture
From the pit of despair to the pit of success
Complete UI teardown and rebuild
JavaScript as a Domain-specific Language
The Big-Coffee Notation
Summary
4. Demonstrating Nonfunctional Reactive Programming – A Live Example
The history of a game with multiple ports
The HTML for the web page
Using a content distribution network wherever we can
Some simple styling
A fairly minimal page body
The JavaScript that animates that page
A brief syntax note – Immediately Invoked Function Expression
Variable declaration and initialization
The function used to start or restart the game
The function that creates game levels
Getting our hands dirty with ReactJS classes
Tick-tock, tick-tock – the game's clock ticks
GAME OVER
Summary
5. Learning Functional Programming – The Basics
Custom sort functions – the first example of functional JavaScript and first-
class functions
This leads us to array.filter()
Illusionism, map, reduce, and filter
Fool's gold – extending Array.prototype
Avoiding global pollution
The map, reduce, and filter toolbox – map
The reduce function
The last core tool – filter
An overview of information hiding in JavaScript
 Information hiding with JavaScript closures
Summary
6. Functional Reactive Programming – The Basics
A trip down computer folklore's memory lane
Advanced prerequisites for Hello, World!
Distinguishing the features of functional reactive programming
If you learn just one thing...
Learn what you can!
JavaScript as the new bare metal
Summary
7. Not Reinventing the Wheel – Tools for Functional Reactive Programming
ClojureScript
Om
Bacon.js
Brython – a Python browser implementation
Immutable.js – permanent protection from change
Jest – BDD unit testing from Facebook
Implementing the Flux Architecture using Fluxxor
Summary
8. Demonstrating Functional Reactive Programming in JavaScript – A Live
Example, Part I
What we will be attempting in this chapter
This project's first complete component
The render() method
Triggering the actual display for what we have created
Summary
9. Demonstrating Functional Reactive Programming in JavaScript with a Live
Example Part II – A To-do List
Adding a to-do list to our application
Including ReactJS add-ons in our project
Setting the appropriate initial state
Making text editable
Heavy lifting with render()
Inner functions used to render
Building the result table
Rendering our result
Differentiating columns visually
Summary
10. Demonstrating Functional Reactive Programming in JavaScript: A Live
Example Part III – A Calendar
Play it again Sam – an interesting challenge
Classical Hijaxing works well
Built with usability in mind, but there's still room to grow
Plain old JavaScript objects are all you need
Progressive disclosure that starts simply
A render() method can easily delegate
Boring code is better than interesting code!
A simple UI for simply non-recurring entries...
The user can still opt-in for more
Avoiding being clever
Anonymous helper functions may lack pixie dust
How far in the future should we show?
Different stripes for different entry types
Now we're ready to display!
Let's be nice and sort each day in order
Let them use Markdown!
One thing at a time!
The holidays that inspired this calendar
Summary
11. Demonstrating Functional Reactive Programming in JavaScript with a Live
Example Part IV – Adding a Scratchpad and Putting It All Together
Adding a WYSIWYG scratchpad, courtesy CKeditor
Bringing all things together into one web page
This book is about ReactJS, so why use CKeditor?
CKeditor – small free offerings, and small is beautiful
Including CKeditor in our page
Integrating all four subcomponents into one page
Persistence
One detail – persisting the CKeditor state
Summary
12. How It All Fits Together
A review of the terrain covered
Could the Mythical Man-Month have been avoided?
ReactJS is just a view, but what a view!
Programming is fun again!
Summary
The next steps from here
A. A Node.js Kick start
 Node.js and INTERCAL
Warning – Node.js and its ecosystem are hot, and hot enough to burn you
badly!
A sample project – a server for our Pragmatometer
Client-side preparations
The server side
Summary
Index
Reactive Programming with JavaScript
Reactive Programming with JavaScript
Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the
case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
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First published: August 2015

Production reference: 1260815

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78355-855-1

www.packtpub.com
Credits
Author

Jonathan Hayward

Reviewers

Antal Orcsik

Sven A Robbestad

Hibai Unzueta

Commissioning Editor

Kunal Parikh

Acquisition Editor

Manish Nainani

Content Development Editor

Aparna Mitra

Technical Editor

Mohita Vyas

Copy Editors

Vikrant Phadke

Alpha Singh

Ameesha Smith-Green

Project Coordinator

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Mary Alex

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

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Graphics

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Production Coordinator

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Cover Work

Aparna Bhagat
About the Author
Jonathan Hayward is a polymath with advanced degrees bridging mathematics,
computers (UIUC), theology, and philosophy. He obtained his theology and
philosophy degrees from Cambridge University. He has worked in many areas of
web development, with a site (http://cjsh.name/) for "after hours" titles, and he is
also interested in the human side of computing, including usability/UI/UX. His
most popular work is a piece of poetry at https://cjshayward.com/doxology/. The
faster route to get there is by typing cjsh.name/doxology, and it gets there.
Jonathan has studied many languages, including French, Spanish, Latin, and
Greek. He is currently learning Russian. He has worked on various other books
as well (refer to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-
alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22CJS+Hayward%22 to find out more).

I would like to thank my parents, John and Linda; my brothers, Matthew, Joe,
and Kirk; my sisters-in-law, Kristin and Adrien; and my nephews, Jack and
James. I would also like to thank all of the Packt Publishing editorial team,
including a great many who I do not know, but I would like to single out Usha,
Akshay, Neetu, Mohita, and Aparna. They are the editors who left me wishing
we lived next door. Finally, I'd like to thank all those at Facebook for releasing
ReactJS as a framework that is free for the rest of the world.
About the Reviewers
Antal Orcsik is a full-stack web developer from Hungary. He works at Prezi
(https://prezi.com/) as a payment engineer. In the last decade, he worked for
Hungary's biggest real estate catalog site and one of the biggest local weather
portals. Then he joined the fantastic team that created a revolutionary
presentation tool called Prezi to change the way the world shares ideas. During
this time, he gained experience in Scala, Python, and PHP backend environments
as well as JavaScript frontend technologies, while experimenting with various
other fields of the full-stack web development spectrum. Antal is a big fan of
cats, games, science fiction, and hamburgers.

I would like to thank my lovely girlfriend for her support and patience while I
played my part in creating this book.

Sven A Robbestad is a Norwegian open source developer and frequent

conference speaker with more than 20 years of experience of working on the
Web. He is passionate about mobile development and is always ready to talk
about code. Sven is currently employed at TeliaSonera
(http://www.teliasonera.com/) as a technologist.

Hibai Unzueta is a multifaceted builder who was programming and designing

complex systems much before he applied for his first job.

He believes that technology is nothing without technique and technique in turn

needs a solid vision-based foundation. He enjoys territories where different
knowledge areas overlap. Lately, he has been involved in projects of data
visualization and user experience design.

For the past 2 years, he has been researching travel search paradigms and
technology with the intention of launching a new project that is expected to
rethink the way we do travel planning. As a result, he has worn many hats, but
never all of them at once.
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Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
the drawing-room, which opened into a balcony overhanging the
sea, she saw a lady dressed in white pass along before the windows,
which were all closed. Concluding it was one of her daughters, who
had been accidentally shut out, she arose and opened the window,
to allow her to enter; but on looking out, to her amazement there
was nobody there, although there was no possible escape from the
balcony unless by jumping into the sea! On mentioning this
circumstance to somebody in the neighborhood, they were told that
“that was the reason they had the house so cheap: nobody liked to
live in it.”
I have heard of several houses, even in populous cities, to which
some strange circumstance of this sort is attached—some in London
even, and some in this city and neighborhood; and, what is more,
unaccountable things actually do happen to those who inhabit them.
Doors are strangely opened and shut, a rustling of silk, and
sometimes a whispering, and frequently footsteps, are heard. There
is a house in Ayrshire to which this sort of thing has been attached
for years, insomuch that it was finally abandoned to an old man and
woman, who said that they were so used to it that they did not mind
it. A distinguished authoress told me that some time ago she passed
a night at the house of an acquaintance, in one of the midland
counties of England. She and her sister occupied the same room,
and in the night they heard some one ascending the stairs. The foot
came distinctly to the door, then turned away, ascended the next
flight, and they heard it overhead. In the morning, on being asked if
they had slept well, they mentioned this circumstance. “That is what
everybody hears who sleeps in that room,” said the lady of the
house. “Many a time I have, when sleeping there, drawn up the
night-bolt, persuaded that the nurse was bringing the baby to me;
but there was nobody to be seen. We have taken every pains to
ascertain what it is, but in vain; and are now so used to it, that we
have ceased to care about the matter.”
I know of two or three other houses in this city, and one in the
neighborhood, in which circumstances of this nature are transpiring,
or have transpired very lately; but people hush them up, from the
fear of being laughed at, and also from an apprehension of injuring
the character of a house; on which account, I do not dwell on the
particulars. But there was, some time since, a fama of this kind
attached to a house in St. J⁠—— street, some of the details of which
became very public. It had stood empty a long time, in consequence
of the annoyances to which the inhabitants had been subjected.
There was one room, particularly, which nobody could occupy
without disturbance. On one occasion, a youth who had been abroad
a considerable time, either in the army or navy, was put there to
sleep on his arrival, since, knowing nothing of these reports, it was
hoped his rest might not be interrupted. In the morning, however,
he complained of the dreadful time he had had, with people looking
in at him between the curtains of his bed all night—avowing his
resolution to terminate his visit that same day, as he would not sleep
there any more. After this period, the house stood empty again for a
considerable time, but was at length taken and workmen sent in to
repair it. One day, when the men were away at dinner, the master
tradesman took the key and went to inspect progress, and, having
examined the lower rooms, he was ascending the stairs, when he
heard a man’s foot behind him. He looked round, but there was
nobody there, and he moved on again; still there was somebody
following, and he stopped and looked over the rails; but there was
no one to be seen. So, although feeling rather queer, he advanced
into the drawing-room, where a fire had been lighted; and, wishing
to combat the uncomfortable sensation that was creeping over him,
he took hold of a chair, and drawing it resolutely along the floor, he
slammed it down upon the hearth with some force and seated
himself in it; when, to his amazement, the action, in all its
particulars of sound, was immediately repeated by his unseen
companion, who seemed to seat himself beside him on a chair as
invisible as himself. Horror-struck, the worthy builder started up and
rushed out of the house.
There is a house in S⁠—— street, in London, which, having stood
empty a good while, was at length taken by Lord B⁠——. The family
were annoyed by several unpleasant occurrences, and by the sound
of footsteps, which were often audible, especially in Lady B⁠——’s
bed-room—who, though she could not see the form, was
occasionally conscious of its immediate proximity.
Some time since, a gentleman having established himself in a
lodging in London, felt, the first night he slept there, that the clothes
were being dragged off his bed. He fancied he had done it himself in
his sleep, and pulled them on again;—but it happens repeatedly: he
gets out of bed each time—can find nobody, no string, no possible
explanation—nor can obtain any from the people of the house, who
only seem distressed and annoyed. On mentioning it to some one in
the neighborhood, he is informed that the same thing has occurred
to several preceding occupants of the lodging, which, of course, he
left.
The circumstances that happened at New House, in Hampshire—
as detailed by Mr. Barham in the third volume of the “Ingoldsby
Legends”—are known to be perfectly authentic; as are the following,
the account of which I have received from a highly respectable
servant, residing in a family with whom I am well acquainted: she
informs me that she was, not very long since, living with a Colonel
and Mrs. W⁠——, who, being at Carlisle, engaged a furnished house,
which they obtained at an exceedingly cheap rate, because nobody
liked to live in it. This family, however, met with no annoyance, and
attached no importance to the rumor which had kept the house
empty. There were, however, two rooms in it wholly unfurnished;
and as the house was large, they were dispensed with till the
recurrence of the race week, when, expecting company, these two
rooms were temporarily fitted up for the use of the nurses and
children. There were heavy Venetian blinds to the windows; and, in
the middle of the night, the person who related the circumstance to
me, was awakened by the distinct sound of these blinds being pulled
up and down with violence, perhaps as many as twenty times. The
fire had fallen low, and she could not see whether they were actually
moved or not, but lay trembling in indescribable terror. Presently feet
were heard in the room, and a stamping as if several men were
moving about without stockings. While lying in this state of agony,
she was comforted by hearing the voice of a nurse, who slept in
another bed in the same chamber, exclaiming: “The Lord have mercy
upon us!” This second woman then asked the first if she had
courage to get out of bed and stir up the fire, so that they might be
able to see; which by a great effort she did, the chimney being near
her bed. There was, however, nothing to be discovered, everything
being precisely as when they went to bed. On another occasion,
when they were sitting in the evening at work, they distinctly heard
some one counting money, and the chink of the pieces as they were
laid down. The sound proceeded from the inner room of the two, but
there was nobody there. This family left the house, and though a
large and commodious one, she understood it remained unoccupied,
as before.
A respectable citizen of Edinburgh, not long ago, went to America
to visit his son, who had married and settled there. The morning
after his arrival, he declared his determination to return immediately
to Philadelphia, from which the house was at a considerable
distance; and, on being interrogated as to the cause of this sudden
departure, he said that in the previous night he had heard a man
walking about his room, who had approached the bed, drawn back
the curtains, and bent over him. Thinking it was somebody who had
concealed himself there with ill intentions, he had struck out
violently at the figure, when, to his horror, his arm passed
unimpeded through it.
Other extraordinary things happened in that house, which had
the reputation of being haunted, although the son had not believed
it, and had therefore not mentioned the report to the father. One
day the children said they had been running after “such a queer
thing in the cellar; it was like a goat, and not like a goat; but it
seemed to be like a shadow.”
A few years ago, some friends of mine were taking a house in
this city, when the servants of the people who were leaving advised
them not to have anything to do with it, for that there was a ghost
in it that screamed dreadfully, and that they never could keep a
stitch of clothes on them at night—the bed-coverings were always
pulled off. My friends laughed heartily and took the house; but the
cries and groans all over it were so frequent, that they at length got
quite used to them. It is to be observed that the house was a flat, or
floor, shut in; so that there could be no draughts of air nor access
for tricks. Besides, it was a woman’s voice, sometimes close to their
ears, sometimes in a closet, sometimes behind their beds—in short,
in all directions. Everybody heard it that went to the house.
The tenant that succeeded them, however, has never been
troubled with it.
The story of the Brown Lady at the Marquis of T⁠——’s, in Norfolk,
is known to many. The Hon. H. W⁠—— told me that a friend of his,
while staying there, had often seen her, and had one day inquired of
his host, “Who was the lady in brown that he had met frequently on
the stairs?” Two gentlemen, whose names were mentioned to me,
resolved to watch for her and intercept her. They at length saw her
but she eluded them by turning down a staircase, and when they
looked over she had disappeared. Many persons have seen her.
There is a Scotch family of distinction, who, I am told, are
accompanied by an unseen attendant, whom they call “Spinning
Jenny.” She is heard spinning in their house in the country, and when
they come into town she spins here; servants and all hear the sound
of her wheel. I believe she accompanies them no further than to
their own residences, not to those of other people. Jenny is
supposed to be a former housemaid of the family, who was a great
spinner, and they are so accustomed to her presence as to feel it no
annoyance.
The following very singular circumstance was related to me by
the daughter of the celebrated Mrs. S⁠——: Mrs. S⁠—— and her
husband were travelling into Wales, and had occasion to stop on
their way, some days, at Oswestry. There they established
themselves in a lodging, to reach the door of which they had to go
down a sort of close, or passage. The only inhabitants of the house
were the mistress, a very handsome woman, and two maids. Mr. and
Mrs. S⁠——, however, very soon had occasion to complain of the
neglected state of the rooms, which were apparently never cleaned
or dusted; though, strange to say, to judge by their own ears, the
servants were doing nothing else all night, their sleep being
constantly disturbed by the noise of rubbing, sweeping, and the
moving of furniture. When they complained to these servants of the
noise in the night, and the dirt of the rooms, they answered that the
noise was not made by them, and that it was impossible for them to
do their work, exhausted as they were by sitting up all night with
their mistress, who could not bear to be alone when she was in bed.
Mr. and Mrs. S⁠—— afterward discovered that she had her room
lighted up every night; and one day, as they were returning from a
walk, and she happened to be going down the close before them,
they heard her saying, as she turned her head sharply from side to
side, “Are you there again? What, the devil! Go away, I tell you!” &c.,
&c. On applying to the neighbors for an explanation of these
mysteries, the good people only shook their heads, and gave
mysterious answers. Mr. and Mrs. S⁠—— afterward learned that she
was believed to have murdered a girl who formerly lived in her
service.
There is nothing in the conduct of this unhappy woman which
may not be perfectly well accounted for, by the supposition of a
guilty conscience; but the noises heard by Mr. and Mrs. S⁠—— at
night, are curiously in accordance with a variety of similar stories,
wherein this strange visionary repetition of the trivial actions of daily
life, or of some particular incident, has been observed. The affair of
Lord St. Vincent’s was of this nature; and there is somewhere
extant, an account of the ghost of Peter the Great, of Russia, having
appeared to Doctor Doppelio, complaining to him of the sufferings
he endured from having to act over again his former cruelties; a
circumstance which exhibits a remarkable coincidence with the
Glasgow dream, mentioned in a preceding chapter. We must, of
course, attach a symbolical meaning to these phenomena, and
conclude that these reactings are somewhat of the nature of our
dreams. Certainly, there would need no stronger motive to induce us
to spend the period allotted to us on earth, in those pure and
innocent pleasures and occupations, which never weary or sicken
the soul, than the belief that such a future awaits us!
A family in one of the English counties, was a few years ago
terribly troubled by an unseen inmate who chiefly seemed to inhabit
a large cellar, into which there was no entrance except the door
which was kept locked. Here there would be a loud knocking—
sometimes a voice crying—heavy feet walking, &c., &c. At first, the
old trustworthy butler would summon his accolytes, and descend,
armed with sword and blunderbuss; but no one was to be seen.
They could often hear the feet following them up stairs from this
cellar; and once, when the family had determined to watch, they
found themselves accompanied up stairs not only by the sound of
the feet, but by a visible shadowy companion! They rushed up, flew
to their chamber, and shut the door, when instantly they felt and saw
the handle turned in their hand by a hand outside. Windows and
doors were opened in spite of locks and keys; but notwithstanding
the most persevering investigations, the only clew to the mystery
was the appearance of that spectral figure.
The knockings and sounds of people at work, asserted to be
heard in mines, is a fact maintained by many very sensible men,
overseers, and superintendents, &c., as well as by the workmen
themselves; and there is a strong persuasion, I know, among the
miners of Cornwall, and those of Mendip, that these visionary
workmen are sometimes heard among them; on which occasions the
horses evince their apprehensions by trembling and sweating; but as
I have no means of verifying these reports, I do not dwell upon
them further.
When the mother of George Canning, then Mrs. Hunn, was an
actress in the provinces, she went, among other places, to
Plymouth, having previously requested her friend, Mr. Bernard, of
the theatre, to procure her a lodging. On her arrival Mr. B. told her
that if she was not afraid of a ghost, she might have a comfortable
residence at a very low rate, “For there is,” said he, “a house
belonging to our carpenter, that is reported to be haunted, and
nobody will live in it. If you like to have it, you may, and for nothing,
I believe, for he is so anxious to get a tenant; only you must not let
it be known that you do not pay rent for it.”
Mrs. Hunn, alluding to the theatrical apparitions, said it would not
be the first time she had had to do with a ghost, and that she was
very willing to encounter this one; so she had her luggage taken to
the house in question, and the bed prepared. At her usual hour, she
sent her maid and her children to bed, and, curious to see if there
was any foundation for the rumor she had heard, she seated herself,
with a couple of candles and a book, to watch the event. Beneath
the room she occupied was the carpenter’s workshop, which had
two doors. The one which opened into the street was barred and
bolted within; the other, a smaller one, opening into the passage,
was only on the latch; and the house was, of course, closed for the
night. She had read something more than half an hour, when she
perceived a noise issuing from this lower apartment, which sounded
very much like the sawing of wood. Presently other such noises as
usually proceed from a carpenter’s workshop were added, till by-
and-by, there was a regular concert of knocking and hammering,
and sawing and planing, &c.; the whole sounding like half a dozen
busy men in full employment. Being a woman of considerable
courage, Mrs. Hunn resolved, if possible, to penetrate the mystery;
so taking off her shoes, that her approach might not be heard, with
her candle in her hand, she very softly opened her door and
descended the stairs, the noise continuing as loud as ever, and
evidently proceeding from the workshop, till she opened the door,
when instantly all was silent—all was still—not a mouse was stirring;
and the tools and the wood, and everything else, lay as they had
been left by the workmen when they went away. Having examined
every part of the place, and satisfied herself that there was nobody
there, and that nobody could get into it, Mrs. Hunn ascended to her
room again, beginning almost to doubt her own senses, and
question with herself whether she had really heard the noise or not,
when it recommenced and continued, without intermission, for about
half an hour. She however went to bed, and the next day told
nobody what had occurred, having determined to watch another
night before mentioning the affair to any one. As, however, this
strange scene was acted over again, without her being able to
discover the cause of it, she now mentioned the circumstance to the
owner of the house and to her friend Bernard; and the former, who
would not believe it, agreed to watch with her, which he did. The
noise began as before, and he was so horror-struck that, instead of
entering the workshop as she wished him to do, he rushed into the
street. Mrs. Hunn continued to inhabit the house the whole summer;
and, when referring afterward to the adventure, she observed that
use was second nature, and that she was sure if any night these
ghostly carpenters had not pursued their visionary labors, she should
have been quite frightened, lest they should pay her a visit up stairs.
From many recorded cases, I find the vulgar belief, that buried
money is frequently the cause of these disturbances, is strongly
borne out by facts. This certainly does seem to us very strange, and
can only be explained by the hypothesis suggested, that the soul
awakes in the other world in exactly the same state in which it
quitted this.
In the abovementioned instances, of what are called haunted
houses, there is generally nothing seen; but those are equally
abundant where the ghostly visiter is visible.
Two young ladies were passing the night in a house in the north,
when the youngest, then a child, awoke and saw an old man, in a
Kilmarnock nightcap, walking about their bed-room. She said, when
telling the story in after-life, that she was not the least frightened—
she was only surprised! but she found that her sister, who was
several years older than herself, was in a state of great terror. He
continued some time moving about, and at last went to a chest of
drawers, where there lay a parcel of buttons, belonging to a
travelling tailor who had been at work in the house. Whether the old
man threw them down or not, she could not say; but, just then, they
all fell rattling off the drawers to the floor, whereupon he
disappeared. The next morning, when they mentioned the
circumstance, she observed that the family looked at each other in a
significant manner; but it was not till she was older she learned that
the house was said to be haunted by this old man. “It never
occurred to me,” she said, “that it was a ghost. Who could have
thought of a ghost in a Kilmarnock nightcap!”
At the Leipsic fair, lodgings are often very scarce, and on one
occasion a stranger, who had arrived late in the evening, had some
difficulty in finding a bed. At length he found a vacant chamber in
the house of a citizen. It was one they made no use of, but they said
he was welcome to it; and, weary and sleepy, he gladly accepted the
offer. Fatigued as he was, however, he was disturbed by some
unaccountable noises, of which he complained to his hosts in the
morning. They pacified him by some excuses; but the next night, not
long after he had gone to bed, he came down stairs in great haste,
with his portmanteau on his shoulder, declaring he would not stay
there another hour for the world; for that a lady, in a strange old-
fashioned dress, had come into the room with a dagger in her hand,
and made threatening gestures at him. He accordingly went away,
and the room was shut up again; but some time afterward, a
servant-girl in the family of this citizen, being taken ill, they were
obliged to put her into that room, in order to separate her from the
rest of the family. Here she recovered her health rapidly; and as she
had never complained of any annoyance, she was asked, when she
was quite well, whether anything particular had happened while she
inhabited that chamber. “Oh, yes,” she answered; “every night there
came a strange lady into the room, who sat herself on the bed and
stroked me with her hand, and I believe it is to her I owe my speedy
recovery; but I could never get her to speak to me—she only sighs
and weeps.”
Not very long since, a gentleman set out, one fine midsummer’s
evening, when it is light all night in Scotland, to walk from Montrose
to Brechin. As he approached a place called Dunn, he observed a
lady walking on before, which, from the lateness of the hour,
somewhat surprised him. Sometime afterward, he was found by the
early laborers lying on the ground, near the churchyard, in a state of
insensibility. All he could tell them was, that he had followed this
lady till she had turned her head and looked round at him, when,
seized with horror, he had fainted. “Oh,” said they, “you have seen
the lady of Dunn.” What is the legend attached to this lady of Dunn,
I do not know.
Monsieur De S. had been violently in love with Hippolyte Clairon,
the celebrated French actress, but she rejected his suit, in so
peremptory a manner, that even when he was at the point of death,
she refused his earnest entreaties, that she would visit him.
Indignant at her cruelty, he declared that he would haunt her, and
he certainly kept his word. I believe she never saw his ghost, but he
appears to have been always near her; at least, on several occasions
when other people doubted the fact, he signalized his presence at
her bidding, by various sounds, and this, wherever she happened to
be at the moment. Sometimes it was a cry, at others, a shot, and at
others, a clapping of hands or music. She seems to have been slow
to believe in the extra-natural character of these noises; and even
when she was ultimately convinced, to have been divided between
horror on the one hand, and diversion, at the oddness of the
circumstance, on the other. The sounds were heard by everybody in
her vicinity; and I am informed by Mr. Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe,
that the margrave of Anspach, who was subsequently her lover, and
Mr. Keppel Craven, were perfectly well acquainted with the
circumstances of this haunting, and entertained no doubt of the
facts above alluded to.
The ghost known by the designation of “the White Lady,” which is
frequently seen in different castles or palaces belonging to the royal
family of Prussia, has been mentioned in another publication, I think.
She was long supposed to be a Countess Agnes, of Orlamunde; but
a picture of a princess called Bertha, or Perchta von Rosenberg,
discovered some time since, was thought so exceedingly to resemble
the apparition, that it is now a disputed point which of the two ladies
it is, or whether it is or is not the same apparition that is seen at
different places. Neither of these ladies appears to have been very
happy in their lives: but the opinion of its being the Princess Bertha,
who lived in the fifteenth century, was somewhat countenanced by
the circumstance, that at a period when, in consequence of the war,
an annual benefit which she had bequeathed to the poor was
neglected, the apparition seemed to be unusually disturbed, and was
seen more frequently. She is often observed before a death; and one
of the Fredericks said, shortly before his decease, that he should
“not live long, for he had met the White Lady.” She wears a widow’s
band and veil, but it is sufficiently transparent to show her features,
which do not express happiness, but placidity. She has only been
twice heard to speak. In December, 1628, she appeared in the
palace at Berlin, and was heard to say, “Veni, judica vivos et
mortuos! Judicium mihi adhuc superest.”—“Come, judge the quick
and the dead! I wait for judgment.” On the other occasion, which is
more recent, one of the princesses at the castle of Neuhaus, in
Bohemia, was standing before a mirror, trying on a new head-dress,
when, on asking her waiting-maid what the hour was, the white lady
suddenly stepped from behind a screen and said: “Zehn uhr ist es ihr
liebden!”—“It is ten o’clock, your love!” which is the mode in which
the sovereign princes address each other, instead of “your highness.”
The princess was much alarmed, soon fell sick, and died in a few
weeks. She has frequently evinced displeasure at the exhibition of
impiety or vice; and there are many records of her different
appearances to be found in the works of Balbinus and of Erasmus
Francisci; and in a publication called “The Iris,” published in
Frankfort in 1819, the editor, George Doring, who is said to have
been a man of great integrity, gives the following account of one of
her later appearances, which he declares he received just as he
gives it, from the lips of his own mother, on whose word and
judgment he could perfectly rely; and shortly before his death, an
inquiry being addressed to him with regard to the correctness of the
narration, he vouched for its authenticity.
It seems that the elder sister of his mother was companion to
one of the ladies of the court, and that the younger ones were in the
habit of visiting her frequently. Two of these (Doring’s mother and
another), aged fourteen and fifteen, were once spending a week
with her, when she being out and they alone with their needlework,
chattering about the court diversions, they suddenly heard the
sound of a stringed instrument, like a harp, which seemed to
proceed from behind a large stove that occupied one corner of the
room. Half in fear and half in fun, one of the girls took a yard
measure that lay beside them, and struck the spot, whereupon the
music ceased, but the stick was wrested from her hand. She became
alarmed; but the other, named Christina, laughed and said she must
have fancied it, adding that the music doubtless proceeded from the
street, though they could not descry any musicians. To get over her
fright, of which she was half ashamed, the former now ran out of
the room to visit a neighbor for a few minutes; but when she
returned, she found Christina lying on the floor in a swoon, who, on
being revived with the aid of the attendants who had heard a
scream, related, that no sooner had her sister left her than the
sound was repeated, close to the stove, and a white figure had
appeared and advanced toward her, whereupon she had screamed
and fainted.
The lady who owned the apartments flattered herself that this
apparition betokened that a treasure was hidden under the stove,
and, imposing silence on the girls, she sent for a carpenter and had
the planks lifted. The floor was found to be double, and below was a
vault, from which issued a very unwholesome vapor, but no treasure
was found, nor anything but a quantity of quicklime. The
circumstance being now made known to the king, he expressed no
surprise; he said that the apparition was doubtless that of a
countess of Orlamunde, who had been buried alive in that vault. She
was the mistress of a margrave of Brandenburg, by whom she had
two sons. When the prince became a widower, she expected he
would marry her; but he urged as an objection that he feared, in
that case, her sons might hereafter dispute the succession with the
lawful heirs. In order to remove this obstacle out of her way, she
poisoned the children; and the margrave, disgusted and alarmed,
had her walled up in that vault for her pains. He added that she was
usually seen every seven years, and was preceded by the sound of a
harp, on which instrument she had been a proficient; and also that
she more frequently appeared to children than to adults,—as if the
love she had denied her own offspring in life was now her torment,
and that she sought a reconciliation with childhood in general. I
know from the best authority that the fact of these appearances is
not doubted by those who have the fullest opportunities of inquiry
and investigation; and I remember seeing in the English papers, a
few years since, a paragraph copied from the foreign journals, to the
effect that the White Lady had been seen again, I think at Berlin.
The following very curious relation I have received from the
gentleman to whom the circumstance occurred, who is a
professional man residing in London:—

“I was brought up by a grandfather and four aunts, all ghost-

seers and believers in supernatural appearances. The former had
been a sailor, and was one of the crew that sailed round the world
with Lord Anson. I remember, when I was about eight years old,
that I was awakened by the screams of one of these ladies, with
whom I was sleeping, which summoned all the family about her to
inquire the cause of the disturbance. She said that she had ‘seen
Nancy by the side of the bed, and that she was slipping into it.’ We
had scarcely got down stairs in the morning, before intelligence
arrived that that lady had died, precisely at the moment my aunt
said she saw her. Nancy was her brother’s wife. Another of my
aunts, who was married and had a large family, foretold my
grandfather’s death, at a time that we had no reason to apprehend
it. He, also, had appeared at her bedside; he was then alive and
well, but he died a fortnight afterward. But it would be tedious were
I to enumerate half the instances I could recall of a similar
description; and I will therefore proceed to the relation of what
happened to myself.
“I was, some few years since, invited to pass a day and night at
the house of a friend in Hertfordshire, with whom I was intimately
acquainted. His name was B⁠——, and he had formerly been in
business as a saddler, in Oxford street, where he realized a
handsome fortune, and had now retired to enjoy his otium cum
dignitate, in the rural and beautiful village of Sarratt.
“It was a gloomy Sunday, in the month of November, when I
mounted my horse for the journey, and there was so much
appearance of rain, that I should certainly have selected some other
mode of conveyance, had I not been desirous of leaving the animal
in Mr. E⁠——’s straw-yard for the winter. Before I got as far as St.
John’s wood, the threatening clouds broke, and by the time I
reached Watford I was completely soaked. However, I proceeded,
and arrived at Sarratt before my friend and his wife had returned
from church. The moment they did so, they furnished me with dry
clothes, and I was informed that we were to dine at the house of Mr.
D⁠——, a very agreeable neighbor. I felt some little hesitation about
presenting myself in such a costume, for I was decked out in a full
suit of Mr. B⁠——’s, who was a stout man, of six feet in height, while I
am rather of the diminutive order; but my objections were
overruled; we went, and my appearance added not a little to the
hilarity of the party. At ten o’clock we separated, and I returned with
Mr. and Mrs. B⁠—— to their house, where I was shortly afterward
conducted to a very comfortable bed-room.
“Fatigued with my day’s ride, I was soon in bed, and soon asleep,
but I do not think I could have slept long before I was awakened by
the violent barking of dogs. I found that the noise had disturbed
others as well as myself, for I heard Mr. B⁠——, who was lodged in
the adjoining room, open his window and call to them to be quiet.
They were obedient to his voice, and as soon as quietness ensued I
dropped asleep again; but I was again awakened by an
extraordinary pressure upon my feet; that I was perfectly awake, I
declare; the light that stood in the chimney-corner shone strongly
across the foot of the bed, and I saw the figure of a well-dressed
man in the act of stooping, and supporting himself in so doing by
the bed-clothes. He had on a blue coat, with bright gilt buttons, but
I saw no head; the curtains at the foot of the bed, which were partly
looped back, just hung so as to conceal that part of his person. At
first I thought it was my host, and as I had dropped my clothes, as
is my habit, on the floor at the foot of the bed, I supposed he was
come to look after them, which rather surprised me: but, just as I
had raised myself upright in bed, and was about to inquire into the
occasion of his visit, the figure passed on. I then recollected that I
had locked the door; and, becoming somewhat puzzled, I jumped
out of bed; but I could see nobody; and on examining the room I
found no means of ingress but the door through which I had
entered, and one other; both of which were locked on the inside.
Amazed and puzzled I got into bed again, and sat some time
ruminating on the extraordinary circumstance, when it occurred to
me that I had not looked under the bed; so I got out again, fully
expecting to find my visiter, whoever he was, there; but I was
disappointed. So, after looking at my watch, and ascertaining that it
was ten minutes past two, I stepped into bed again, hoping now to
get some rest. But, alas! sleep was banished for that night; and after
turning from side to side, and making vain endeavors at
forgetfulness, I gave up the point, and lay till the clocks struck
seven, perplexing my brain with the question of who my midnight
visiter could be, and also how he had got in and how he had got out
of my room. About eight o’clock I met my host and his wife at the
breakfast-table, when, in answer to their hospitable inquiries of how
I had passed the night, I mentioned, first, that I had been awaked
by the barking of some dogs, and that I had heard Mr. B⁠—— open
his window and call to them. He answered that two strange dogs
had got into the yard and had disturbed the others. I then
mentioned my midnight visiter, expecting that they would either
explain the circumstance, or else laugh at me and declare I must
have dreamed it. But, to my surprise, my story was listened to with
grave attention, and they related to me the tradition with which this
spectre, for such I found they deemed it to be, was supposed to be
connected. This was to the effect, that many years ago a gentleman
so attired had been murdered there, under some frightful
circumstances, and that his head had been cut off. On perceiving
that I was very unwilling to accept this explanation of the mystery,
for, in spite of my family peculiarity, I had always been an entire
disbeliever in supernatural appearances, they begged me to prolong
my visit for a day or two, when they would introduce me to the
rector of the parish, who could furnish me with such evidence with
regard to circumstances of a similar nature, as would leave no doubt
on my mind as to the possibility of their occurrence. But I had made
an engagement to dine at Watford, on my way back, and I confess,
moreover, that after what I had heard I did not feel disposed to
encounter the chance of another visit from the mysterious stranger;
so I declined the proffered hospitality, and took my leave.
“Some time after this, I happened to be dining at C⁠—— street, in
company with some ladies resident in the same county, when,
chancing to allude to my visit to Sarratt, I added, that I had met
with a very extraordinary adventure there, which I had never been
able to account for, when one of these ladies immediately said that
she hoped I had not had a visit from the headless gentleman, in a
blue coat and gilt buttons, who was said to have been seen by many
people in that house.
 “Such is the conclusion of this marvellous tale as regards myself;
and I can only assure you that I have related facts as they occurred,
and that I had never heard a word about this apparition in my life,
till Mr. B⁠—— related to me the tradition above alluded to. Still, as I
am no believer, in supernatural appearances, I am constrained to
suppose that the whole affair was the product of my imagination.
“I must add, that Mr. B⁠—— mentioned some strange
circumstances connected with another house in the county,
inhabited by a Mr. M⁠——, which were corroborated by the ladies
above alluded to. Both parties agreed that, from the unaccountable
noises, &c., &c., which were heard there, that gentleman had the
greatest difficulty in persuading any servants to remain with him.
“A⁠—— W⁠—— M⁠——.
“C⁠—— street, 5th September, 1846.”

This is one of those curious instances of determined skepticism

that fully justify the patriarch’s prediction.
The following interesting letter, written by a member of a very
distinguished English family, will furnish its own explanation:—
“As you express a wish to know what degree of credit is to be
attached to a garbled tale which has been sent forth, after a lapse of
between thirty and forty years, as an ‘accredited ghost-story,’ I will
state the facts as they were recalled to my mind last year by a
daughter of Sir William A. C⁠——, who sent the book to me,
requesting me to tell her if there was any foundation for the story,
which she could scarcely believe, since she had never heard my
mother allude to it. I read the narrative with surprise, it being
evidently not furnished by any of the family, nor indeed by any one
who was with us at the time! yet, though full of mistakes in names,
&c., &c., some particulars come so near the truth as to puzzle me.
The facts are as follows:—
“Sir James, my mother, with myself and my brother Charles, went
abroad toward the end of the year 1786. After trying several
different places, we determined to settle at Lille, where we found the
masters particularly good, and where we had also letters of
introduction to several of the best French families. There Sir James
left us, and, after passing a few days in an uncomfortable lodging,
we engaged a nice, large family house, which we liked very much,
and which we obtained at a very low rent, even for that part of the
world.
“About three weeks after we were established in our new
residence, I walked one day with my mother to the bankers, for the
purpose of delivering our letter of credit from Sir Robert Herries, and
drawing some money, which, being paid in heavy five-franc pieces,
we found we could not carry, and therefore requested the banker to
send, saying, ‘We live in the Place du Lion D’or.’ Whereupon he
looked surprised, and observed that he knew of no house there fit
for us, ‘except, indeed,’ he added, ‘the one that has been long
uninhabited, on account of the revenant that walks about it.’ He said
this quite seriously, and in a natural tone of voice, in spite of which
we laughed, and were quite entertained at the idea of a ghost; but
at the same time we begged him not to mention the thing to our
servants, lest they should take any fancies into their heads; and my
mother and I resolved to say nothing about the matter to any one. ‘I
suppose it is the ghost,’ said my mother, laughing, ‘that wakes us so
often by walking over our heads.’ We had, in fact, been awakened
several nights by a heavy foot, which we supposed to be that of one
of the men-servants, of whom we had three English and four
French; of women-servants we had five English, and all the rest
were French. The English ones, men and women, every one of
them, returned ultimately to England with us.
“A night or two afterward, being again awakened by the step, my
mother asked Creswell, ‘Who slept in the room above us?’ ‘No one,
my lady,’ she replied—‘it is a large, empty garret.’
“About a week or ten days after this, Creswell came to my
mother, one morning, and told her that all the French servants
talked of going away, because there was a revenant in the house;
adding that there seemed to be a strange story attached to the
place, which was said, together with some other property, to have
belonged to a young man, whose guardian, who was also his uncle,
had treated him cruelly and confined him in an iron cage; and as he
had subsequently disappeared, it was conjectured he had been
murdered. This uncle, after inheriting the property, had suddenly
quitted the house and sold it to the father of the man of whom we
had hired it. Since that period, though it had been several times let,
nobody had ever stayed in it above a week or two, and for a
considerable time past it had had no tenant at all.
“ ‘And do you really believe all this nonsense, Creswell?’ said my
mother.
“ ‘Well, I don’t know, my lady,’ answered she; ‘but there’s the iron
cage in the garret over your bed-room, where you may see it, if you
please.’
“Of course we rose to go; and as just at that moment an old
officer, with his Croix de St. Louis, called on us, we invited him to
accompany us and we ascended together. We found, as Creswell had
said, a large empty garret with bare brick walls; and in the further
corner of it stood an iron cage, such as wild beasts are kept in, only
higher; it was about four feet square, and eight in height, and there
was an iron ring in the wall at the back, to which was attached an
old rusty chain with a collar fixed to the end of it. I confess it made
my blood creep when I thought of the possibility of any human
being having inhabited it! And our old friend expressed as much
horror as ourselves, assuring us that it must certainly have been
constructed for some such dreadful purpose. As, however, we were
no believers in ghosts, we all agreed that the noises must proceed
from somebody who had an interest in keeping the house empty;
and since it was very disagreeable to imagine that there were secret
means of entering it at night, we resolved, as soon as possible, to
look out for another residence, and in the meantime to say nothing
about the matter to anybody. About ten days after this
determination, my mother, observing one morning that Creswell,
when she came to dress her, looked exceedingly pale and ill,
inquired if anything was the matter with her. ‘Indeed, my lady,’ she
answered, ‘we have been frightened to death, and neither I nor Mrs.
Marsh can sleep again in the room we are now in.’
“ ‘Well,’ returned my mother, ‘you shall both come and sleep in
the little spare room next us; but what has alarmed you?’
 “ ‘Some one, my lady, went through our room in the night; we
both saw the figure, but we covered our heads with the bed-clothes,
and lay in a dreadful fright till morning.’
“On hearing this, I could not help laughing, upon which Creswell
burst into tears; and seeing how nervous she was, we comforted her
by saying we had heard of a good house, and that we should very
soon abandon our present habitation.
“A few nights afterward, my mother requested me and Charles to
go to her bed-room and fetch her frame, that she might prepare her
work for the next day. It was after supper, and we were ascending
the stairs by the light of a lamp which was always kept burning,
when we saw going up before us a tall, thin figure, with hair flowing
down his back, and wearing a loose powdering gown. We both at
once concluded it was my sister Hannah, and called out: ‘It won’t
do, Hannah—you can not frighten us!’ Upon which the figure turned
into a recess in the wall; but, as there was nobody there when we
passed, we concluded that Hannah had contrived, somehow or
other, to slip away and make her escape by the back stairs. On
telling this to my mother, she said: ‘It is very odd, for Hannah went
to bed with a headache before you came in from your walk;’ and
sure enough, on going to her room, there we found her fast asleep;
and Alice, who was at work there, assured us that she had been so
for more than an hour. On mentioning this circumstance to Creswell,
she turned quite pale and exclaimed that that was precisely the
figure she and Marsh had seen in their bed-room.
“About this time, my brother Harry came to spend a few days
with us, and we gave him a room up another pair of stairs, at the
opposite end of the house. A morning or two after his arrival, when
he came down to breakfast, he asked my mother angrily whether
she thought he went to bed drunk and could not put out his own
candle, that she sent those French rascals to watch him. My mother
assured him that she never thought of doing such a thing; but he
persisted in the accusation, adding: ‘Last night I jumped up and
opened the door, and, by the light of the moon through the skylight,
I saw the fellow in his loose gown at the bottom of the stairs. If I
had not been in my shirt, I would have gone after him and made
him remember coming to watch me.’
“We were now preparing to quit the house, having secured
another, belonging to a gentleman who was going to spend some
time in Italy; but, a few days before our removal, it happened that
Mr. and Mrs. Atkyns, some English friends of ours, called, to whom
we mentioned these circumstances, observing how extremely
unpleasant it was to live in a house that somebody found means of
getting into, though how they contrived it we could not discover, nor
what their motive could be except it was to frighten us; adding, that
nobody could sleep in the room Marsh and Creswell had been
obliged to give up. Upon this Mrs. Atkyns laughed heartily, and said
she should like, of all things, to sleep there, if my mother would
allow her, adding, that with her little terrier she should not be afraid
of any ghost that ever appeared. As my mother had, of course, no
objection to this fancy of hers, she requested Mrs. Atkyns to ride
home with the groom, in order that the latter might bring her night-
things before the gates of the town would be shut, as they were
then residing a little way in the country. Mr. Atkyns smiled and said
she was very bold; but he made no difficulties, and sent the things,
—and his wife retired with her dog to her room when we retired to
ours, apparently without the least apprehension.
“When she came down in the morning, we were immediately
struck at seeing her look very ill; and on inquiring if she too had
been frightened, she said she had been awakened in the night by
something moving in her room, and that, by the light of the night-
lamp, she saw most distinctly a figure, and that the dog, which was
spirited and flew at everything, never stirred, although she had
endeavored to make him. We saw clearly that she had been very
much alarmed; and when Mr. Atkyns came, and endeavored to
dissipate the feeling by persuading her that she might have dreamed
it, she got quite angry. We could not help thinking that she had
actually seen something; and my mother said, after she was gone,
that though she could not bring herself to believe it was really a
ghost, still she earnestly hoped that she might get out of the house
without seeing this figure, which frightened people so much.
 “We were now within three days of the one fixed for our removal.
I had been taking a long ride, and, being tired, had fallen asleep the
moment I lay down; but, in the middle of the night, I was suddenly
awakened—I can not tell by what, for the steps over our heads we
had become so used to that it no longer disturbed us. Well, I awoke.
I had been lying with my face toward my mother, who was asleep
beside me, and, as one usually does on awaking, I turned to the
other side, where, the weather being warm, the curtain of the bed
was undrawn, as it was, also, at the foot; and I saw standing by a
chest of drawers, which were betwixt me and the window, a thin, tall
figure, in a loose powdering gown, one arm resting on the drawers,
and the face turned toward me. I saw it quite distinctly by the night-
light, which burned clearly. It was a long, thin, pale, young face,
with, oh, such a melancholy expression as can never be effaced from
my memory! I was, certainly, very much frightened; but my great
horror was, lest my mother should awake and see the figure. I
turned my head gently toward her, and heard her breathing high in a
sound sleep. Just then the clock on the stairs struck four. I dare say
it was nearly an hour before I ventured to look again, and when I
did take courage to turn my eyes toward the drawers, there was
nothing; yet I had not heard the slightest sound, though I had been
listening with the greatest intensity.
“As you may suppose, I never closed my eyes again; and glad I
was when Creswell knocked at the door, as she did every morning,
for we always locked it, and it was my business to get out of bed
and let her in; but on this occasion, instead of doing so, I called out,
‘Come in; the door is not fastened;’ upon which she answered that it
was, and I was obliged to get out of bed and admit her as usual.
“When I told my mother what had happened, she was very
grateful to me for not waking her, and commended me much for my
resolution; but as she was always my first object, that was not to be
wondered at. She however resolved not to risk another night in the
house; and we got out of it that very day, after instituting, with the
aid of the servants, a thorough search, with a view to ascertain if
there was any possible means of getting into the rooms except by
the usual modes of ingress; but our search was vain—none could be
discovered.
“I think, from the errors in the names, &c., that the publisher of
the ‘Accredited Ghost-Stories’ must have obtained his account from
the inhabitants of Lille.”
Considering the number of people that were in the house, the
fearlessness of the family, and their disinclination to believe in what
is called the supernatural, together with the great interest the owner
of this large and handsome residence must have had in discovering
the trick, if there had been one, I think it is difficult to find any other
explanation of this strange story, than that the sad and disappointed
spirit of this poor, injured, and probably murdered boy, had never
been disengaged from its earthly relations, to which regret for its
frustrated hopes and violated rights still held it attached.
There is a story told by Pliny the younger, of a house at Athens,
in which nobody could live, from its being haunted. At length the
philosopher Athenadorus took it; and the first night he was there, he
seems to have comported himself very much as the courageous Mrs.
Canning did, on a similar occasion, at Plymouth. He sent his servants
to bed, and set himself seriously to work with his writing materials,
determined that fancy should not be left free to play him false. For
some time all was still, and his mind was wholly engaged in his
labors, when he heard a sound like the rattling of chains—which was
the sound that had frightened everybody out of the house; but
Athenadorus closed his ears, kept his thoughts collected, and wrote
on, without lifting up his eyes. The noise, however, increased; it
approached the door; it entered the room; then he looked round,
and beheld the figure of an old man, lean, haggard, and dirty, with
dishevelled hair, and a long beard, who held up his finger and
beckoned him. Athenadorus made a gesture with his own hand in
return, signifying that he should wait, and went on with his writing.
Then the figure advanced and shook his chains over the
philosopher’s head, who, on looking up, saw him beckoning as
before; whereupon he arose and followed him. The apparition
walked slowly, as if obstructed by his chains; and having conducted
him to a certain spot in the court, which separated the two divisions
of an ancient Greek house, he suddenly disappeared. Athenadorus
gathered together some grass and leaves, in order to mark the
place; and the next day he recommended the authorities to dig
there, which they did, and found the skeleton of a human being
encircled with chains. It being taken up, and the rights of sepulture
duly performed, the house was no longer disturbed.
This was, probably, some poor prisoner also; and in his desire to
direct notice to his body, we see the prejudices of his age and
country surviving dissolution. Grose, the antiquary, who is, as I have
before observed, very facetious on the subject of ghosts, remarks
that “Dragging chains is not the custom of English ghosts, chains
and black vestments being chiefly the accoutrements of foreign
spectres, seen in arbitrary governments.” Now, this is a very striking
observation. Grose’s studies had, doubtless, introduced him to many
histories of this description; and the different characteristics of these
apparitions, under different governments, is a circumstance in
remarkable conformity with the views of those who have been led to
take a much more serious view of the subject. They appear as they
lived, and as they conceive of themselves; and when rapport or
receptivity enable them to see, and to render themselves visible to
those yet living in the flesh, it is by so appearing that they tell their
story, and ask for sympathy and assistance. I say enable them to
see, because there seem many reasons for concluding that they do
not, under ordinary circumstances, see us, any more than we see
them. Whether it be rapport with certain inhabitants, or whether the
phenomenon be dependent on certain periods, or any other
condition, we can not tell; but I have met with several accounts of
houses in which an annoyance of this sort has recurred more than
once, at different intervals, sometimes at a distance of seven or ten
years, the intermediate time being quite free from it.
One of the most melancholy and impressive circumstances of this
sort I have met with, occurred to Mrs. L⁠——, a lady with whose
family I am acquainted; Mrs. L⁠—— herself having been kind enough
to furnish me with the particulars: A few years since, she took a
furnished house in Stevenson street, North Shields, and she had
been in it but a very few hours before she was perplexed by hearing
feet in the passage, though, whenever she opened the door, she
could see nobody. She went to the kitchen, and asked the servant if
she had not heard the same sound. She said she had not, but that
there seemed to be strange noises in the house. When Mrs. L⁠——
went to bed, she could not go to sleep for the noise of a child’s
rattle, which seemed to be inside her curtains. It rattled round her
head, first on one side, then on the other; then there were sounds
of feet, and of a child crying, and a woman sobbing; and, in short,
so many strange noises that the servant became frightened and
went away. The next girl Mrs. L⁠—— engaged came from Leith, and
was a stranger to the place; but she had only passed a night in the
house, when she said to her mistress, “This is a troubled house
you’ve got into, ma’am;” and she described, among the rest, that
she had repeatedly heard her own name called by a voice near her,
though she could see nobody.
One night Mrs. L⁠—— heard a voice, like nothing human, close to
her, cry, “Weep! weep! weep!” Then there was a sound like some
one struggling for breath, and again “Weep! weep! weep!” Then the
gasping, and a third time, “Weep! weep! weep!” She stood still, and
looked steadfastly on the spot whence the voice proceeded, but
could see nothing; and her little boy, who held her hand, kept
saying, “What is that, mamma? What is that?” She describes the
sound as most frightful. All the noises seemed to suggest the idea of
childhood, and of a woman in trouble. One night, when it was crying
round her bed, Mrs. L⁠—— took courage and adjured it; upon which
the noise ceased, for that time, but there was no answer. Mr. L⁠——
was at sea when she took the house, and when he came home he
laughed at the story at first, but soon became so convinced the
account she gave was correct, that he wanted to have the boards
taken up, because, from the noises seeming to hover much about
one spot, he thought perhaps some explanation of the mystery
might be found. But Mrs. L⁠—— objected that if anything of a painful
nature were discovered she should not be able to continue in the
house, and as she must pay the year’s rent, she wished, if possible,
to make out the time.
 She never saw anything but twice; once, the appearance of a
child seemed to fall from the ceiling, close to her, and then
disappear; and another time she saw a child run into a closet in a
room at the top of the house; and it was most remarkable that a
small door in that room, which was used for going out on to the
roof, always stood open. However often they shut it, it was opened
again immediately by an unseen hand, even before they got out of
the room; and this continued the whole time they were in the house;
while, night and day, some one in creaking shoes was heard pacing
backward and forward in the room over Mr. and Mrs. L⁠——’s heads.
At length the year expired; and to their great relief they quitted
the house; but five or six years afterward, a person who had bought
it having taken up the floor of that upper room to repair it, there
was found, close to the small door above alluded to, the skeleton of
a child. It was then remembered that some years before a
gentleman of somewhat dissolute habits had resided there, and that
he was supposed to have been on very intimate terms with a young
woman-servant who lived with him, but there had been no suspicion
of anything more criminal.
About six years ago, Mr. C⁠——, a gentleman engaged in business
in London, heard of a good country-house in the neighborhood of
the metropolis, which was to be had at a low rent. It was rather an
old-fashioned place, and was surrounded by a garden and pleasure-
ground; and having taken a lease of it for seven years, furnished as
it was, his family removed thither, and he joined them once or twice
a week, as his business permitted.
They had been some considerable time in the house without the
occurrence of anything remarkable, when one evening, toward dusk,
Mrs. C⁠——, on going into what was called the oak bed-room, saw a
female figure near one of the windows. It was apparently a young
woman with dark hair hanging over her shoulders, a silk petticoat,
and a short, white robe, and she appeared to be looking eagerly
through the window, as if expecting somebody. Mrs. C⁠—— clapped
her hand upon her eyes, “as thinking she had seen something she
ought not to have seen,” and when she looked again the figure had
disappeared.
 Shortly after this, a young girl who filled the situation of under
nursery-maid, came to her in great agitation, saying that she had
had a terrible fright, from seeing a very ugly old woman looking in
upon her as she passed the window in the lobby. The girl was
trembling violently, and almost crying, so that Mrs. C⁠—— entertained
no doubts of the reality of her alarm. She, however, thought it
advisable to laugh her out of her fear, and went with her to the
window, which looked into a closed court, but there was no one
there, neither had any of the other servants seen such a person.
Soon after this, the family began to find themselves disturbed with
strange, and frequently very loud, noises during the night. Among
the rest, there was something like the beating of a crow-bar upon
the pump in the abovementioned court; but, search as they would,
they could discover no cause for the sound. One day, when Mr. C⁠——
had brought a friend from London to stay the night with him, Mrs.
C⁠—— thought proper to go up to the oak bed-room, where the
stranger was to sleep, for the purpose of inspecting the
arrangements for his comfort, when, to her great surprise, some one
seemed to follow her up to the fireplace, though, on turning round,
there was nobody to be seen. She said nothing about it, however,
and returned below, where her husband and the stranger were
sitting. Presently, one of the servants (not the one mentioned above)
tapped at the door and requested to speak with her, and Mrs. C⁠——
going out, she told her, in great agitation, that in going up stairs to
the visiter’s room, a footstep had followed her all the way to the
fireplace, although she could see nobody. Mrs. C⁠—— said something
soothing, and that matter passed, she, herself, being a good deal
puzzled, but still unwilling to admit the idea that there was anything
extra-natural in these occurrences. Repeatedly, after this, these
footsteps were heard in different parts of the house, when nobody
was to be seen; and often, while she was lying in bed, she heard
them distinctly approach her door, when, being a very courageous
woman, she would start out with a loaded pistol in her hand, but
there was never any one to be seen. At length it was impossible to
conceal from herself and her servants that these occurrences were
of an extraordinary nature, and the latter, as may be supposed, felt
very uncomfortable. Among other unpleasant things, while sitting all
together in the kitchen, they used to see the latch lifted and the
door open, though no one came in that they could see; and when
Mr. C⁠—— himself watched for these events, although they took
place, and he was quite on the alert, he altogether failed in
detecting any visible agent.
One night, the same servant who had heard the footsteps
following her to the bed-room fireplace, happening to be asleep in
Mrs. C⁠——’s chamber, she became much disturbed, and was heard
to murmur, “Wake me! wake me!” as if in great mental anguish.
Being aroused, she told her mistress a dream she had had, which
seemed to throw some light upon these mysteries. She thought she
was in the oak bed-room, and at one end of it she saw a young
female in an old-fashioned dress, with long dark hair, while in
another part of the room was a very ugly old woman, also in old-
fashioned attire. The latter addressing the former said, “What have
you done with the child, Emily? What have you done with the child?”
To which the younger figure answered, “Oh, I did not kill it. He was
preserved, and grew up, and joined the —— regiment, and went to
India.” Then addressing the sleeper, the young lady continued, “I
have never spoken to mortal before; but I will tell you all. My name
is Miss Black; and this old woman is Nurse Black. Black is not her
name, but we call her so because she has been so long in the
family.” Here the old woman interrupted the speaker by coming up
and laying her hand on the dreaming girl’s shoulder, while she said
something; but she could not remember what, for, feeling
excruciating pain from the touch, she had been so far aroused as to
be sensible she was asleep, and to beg to be wholly awakened.
As the old woman seemed to resemble the figure that one of the
other servants had seen looking into the window, and the young one
resembled that she had herself seen in the oak chamber, Mrs. C⁠——
naturally concluded that there was something extraordinary about
this dream, and she consequently took an early opportunity of
inquiring in the neighborhood what was known as to the names or
circumstances of the former inhabitants of this house; and, after
much investigation, she learned that, about seventy or eighty years
before, it had been in the possession of a Mrs. Ravenhall, who had a
niece, named Miss Black, living with her. This niece Mrs. C⁠——
supposed might be the younger of the two persons who was seen.
Subsequently, she saw her again in the same room, wringing her
hands, and looking with a mournful significance to one corner. They
had the boards taken up on that spot, but nothing was found.
One of the most curious incidents, connected with this story,
remains to be told. After occupying the house three years, they were
preparing to quit it—not on account of its being haunted, but for
other reasons—when on awaking one morning, a short time before
their departure, Mrs. C⁠—— saw, standing at the foot of her bed, a
dark-complexioned man, in a working dress, a fustian jacket, and
red comforter round his neck—who, however, suddenly disappeared.
Mr. C⁠—— was lying beside her at the time, but asleep. This was the
last apparition seen. But the strange thing is, that a few days after
this, it being necessary to order in a small quantity of coals to serve
till their removal, Mr. C⁠—— undertook to perform the commission on
his way to London. Accordingly, the next day, she mentioned to him
that the coals had arrived; which he said was very fortunate, since
he had entirely forgotten to order them. Wondering whence they
had come, Mrs. C⁠—— hereupon inquired of the servants, who none
of them knew anything about the matter; but on interrogating a
person in the village, by whom they had frequently been provided
with this article, he answered that they had been ordered by a dark
man, in a fustian jacket and red comfort, who had called for the
purpose.
After this last event, Mr. and Mrs. C⁠—— quitted the house; but I
have heard that its subsequent tenants encountered some similar
annoyances, although I have no means of ascertaining the
particulars.
But perhaps one of the most remarkable cases of haunting in
modern times, is that of Willington, near Newcastle, in my account
of which, however, I find myself anticipated by Mr. Howitt; and as he
has had the advantage of visiting the place, which I have not, I shall
take the liberty of borrowing his description of it, prefacing the
account with the following letter from Mr. Proctor, the owner of the