HAUNTED HOUSES

Evening Star, Issue 20129, 20 March 1929, Page 7

HAUNTED HOUSES

- TERRORS OF THE NIGHT Some people believe in ghosts and some do not, a fid refuse besides to realise that houses arc full of atmosphere and retain “ influences ’’ lei t by uast owners who have lived in thorn through the centuries. So writes Mrs Claire Caution in the Newcastle ‘ Weekly Chronicle.’ She writes as follows;

1 once had a horrible experience in a house in Kensington which my husband and I rented. The exterior was ordinary enough, for it was a typical "London house of five or six stories. The only sinister effect was its aporoach, as it was in a cul-dc-sae overhung with gloomy-loqking trees. The sun was shining on the day 1 first went over the house, and as the owners had not removed their furniture the place had a cheery, inhabited aspect. From the moment we took possession, however, everything went wrong. My babv fell ill and nearly died, and my husband suffered business losses. Even the domestic machinery did not run smoothly, for the nurse .1 had engaged turned out to be a thiei, and stole a. lot of my things. Our dining room was a particularly dark, sunless room, and my little boy of two years would never go into it alone. He always insisted on my carrying him in and' letting him sit upon my lap. It I attempted to put him down on the floor he screamed with fright. At that period my psychic powers had not developed, and I was very worried at this attitude of his, hut no amount of coaxing would indue® him to behave differently.

Secretly I sympathised with ray child, since I myself mas undergoing a very eerie experience. Every morning at 3 o’clock T would awaken with a horrible sensation of clicking and breathlessness !

One night at this particular hour I awoke, feeling as if minds were gripping ray throat. Half-suffocated, 1 managed to get out of bed and switch, ou the electric light. Flinging open the door, T said as loudly ns ,1 could: “Leave me! In the name of Christ, 1 command you to go!” And I made the sign of the cross in tli© air, and concentrated all ray will power to evict the ovi! presence. The next morning I told my husband 1 could not remain in the house. I was naturally curious to know what it was in the house that was so evij, so I wrote to a friend of mine who is a clairvoyant, and without telling her anything about ray experience asked her to come and see me. I instructed my maid to show her into the dining room, as this was the room where I felt the sinister influence most strongly, and which so strangely affected ray small son. After waiting for five minutes I went into ray friend, who immediately greeted me with the words : “ Why have you taken this .house? It is a horrible place: a man was strangled in this room!” J related my experiences, and she advised me to get out of it as soon as possible. We moved the following week. LOOMS 01? DARK MEMORY. The vicinity of Marble Arch and Edgcware road is associated with the Tyburn tree. Some of the old houses around there have an extraordinary sinister atmosphere. Some friends of mine were especially cognisant of this when living in one of them. Afterwards it transpired that the room on the ground floor had been used in former years to entertain guests at breakfast parties held prior to the hanging of some unfortunate wretch on Tyburn tree. Some other friends of mine had apartments in another house near the same vicinity. They could not understand why they never sat in their sitting room without feeling the most deadly depression and the sensation of the presence of some evil spirit. They combated it, as I had by the sign of ihe cross. At length, however, they questioned their landlady, and discovered that prior to their arrival, two men had occupied the room at different ne-iorls. The first was a drug fiend and a drunkard. The landlady was obliged iw yive him notice. He left and committed suicide shortly afterwards. The second lodger was a medical student. Ho had passed his examinations brilliantly, was engaged to a charming girl, and had plenty of money. In fact, he appeared to have no worries. One day he went away, took a room at a nearby hotel, and committed suicide by flinging himself from the window. When my friends heard this story they decided to leave. One wonders what the experiences of others will ho who stay in that particular house? This particular incident reminds me of a story I heard some time ago, and which comes from a. reliable source. A lady, Mrs X., who was passing through London, finding that she had some time to spare, decided to go along and sec Kensington Palace, Arrived there, she wandered into one of the galleries open to the public, but which happened at the moment to 'be empty. Crossing over to the window, she stood there admiring the sight of the beautiful gardens below. Presently the visitor heard the deep tones of a. man’s voice speaking behind her, and turning round, saw. to her amazement, a strikingly handsome man, dad in garments of the Stuart period. His long hair was crowned with a hat surmounted with curling feathers, which ho swept off with a graceful gesture. Bowing low, ho passed some remark about the view to be glimpsed from the window. At first Airs X. imagined he was an attendant, dressed to suit the period of the palace. But as he stood there talking to her, she became aware of the presence of a number of other people similarly attired These were all gathered around a man. who from his general attire and his" mud-spattered hoots and spurs appeared to have ridden in haste. He was relating a story of a battle. Airs X found her arm taken by her cavalier companion, and herself led to a sofa at the end of the long apartment. She thought him most attractive as he talked to her, and admired his dark eyes and deep speaking voice, and the flash of his white teeth when he laughed. Alter conversing for some minutes he said to her: •• Prithee, fair madanie, wilt thou not join me at my Lady Castloniaines across the way? She keepeth very merry company!” With the. words ho rose," and before she could reply, a party of • tourists entered, and the vision vanished. Mrs X. declared afterwards that she never doubted the “cavalier” was flesh and blood. His voice was so natural sounding, and his touch that of a living being. When the whole scene vanished, she realised that she had had a psychic experience, and that her “ghost” had been Charles the Second.

The vmter concludes: “It would be a terrible thought to think that the spirit of Charles the Second, and his companions, could still, after such a lapse of time—re-enact the same scenes they did in earth life. One hopes that (hoy bare long since passed on lo new fields of enterprise, and endeavour. Undoubtedly, though, their i bought forms still persist, and are visible to