The Unknown Guest | Page 9

which does not yet exist to that which exists no longer. Let us
take an instance in the first volume of the Proceedings: M, X. Z., who
was known to most of the members of the Committee on Haunted
Houses, and whose evidence was above suspicion, went to reside in a
large old house, part of which was occupied by his friend Mr. G--. Mr.
X. Z. knew nothing of the history of the place except that two servants
of Mr. G--'s had given him notice on account of strange noises which
they had heard. One night--it was the 22nd of September--Mr. X. Z., on
his way up to his bedroom in the dark, saw the whole passage filled
with a dazzling and uncanny light, and in this strange light he saw the
figure of an old man in a flowered dressing-gown. As he looked, both
figure and light vanished and he was left in pitch darkness. The next
day, remembering the tales told by the two servants, he made enquiries
in the village. At first he could find out nothing, but finally an old
lawyer told him that he had heard that the grandfather of the present
owner of the house had strangled his wife and then cut his own throat
on the very spot where Mr. X. Z. had seen the apparition. He was
unable to give the exact date of this double event; but Mr. X. Z.
consulted the parish register and found that it had taken place on a 22nd
of September.
On the 22nd of September of the following year, a friend of Mr. G--'s
arrived to make a short stay. The morning after his arrival, he came
down, pale and tired, and announced his intention of leaving
immediately. On being questioned, he confessed that he was afraid, that
he had been kept awake all night by the sound of groans, blasphemous
oaths and cries of despair, that his bedroom door had been opened, and
so forth.

Three years afterwards, Mr. X. Z. had occasion to call on the landlord
of the house, who lived in London, and saw over the mantelpiece a
picture which bore a striking resemblance to the figure which he had
seen in the passage. He pointed it out to his friend Mr. G--, saying:
"That is the man whom I saw."
The landlord, in reply to their questions, said that the painting was a
portrait of his grandfather, adding that he had been "no credit to the
family."
Evidently, this does not in any way prove the existence of ghosts or the
survival of man. It is quite possible that, in spite of Mr. X. Z.'s
undoubted good faith, imagination played a subtle but powerful part in
these marvels. Perhaps it was set going by the stories of the two
servants, insignificant gossip to which no attention was paid at the time,
but which probably found its way down into the weird and fertile
depths of the subconsciousness. The image was next transmitted by
suggestion to the visitor frightened by a sleepless night. As for the
recognition of the portrait, this is either the weakest or the most
impressive part of the story, according to the theory that is being
defended.
It is none the less certain that there is some unfairness in suggesting
this explanation for every incident of the kind. It means stretching to
the uttermost and perhaps stretching too far the elastic powers of that
amiable maid-of-all-work, telepathy. For that matter, there are cases in
which the telepathic interpretation is even more uncertain, as in that
described by Miss R. C. Morton in vol. viii. of the Proceedings.
The story is too long and complicated to be reproduced here. It is
unnecessary to observe that, in view of the character of Miss Morton, a
lady of scientific training, and of the quality of the corroborative
testimony, the facts themselves seem incontestable.
The case is that of a house built in 1860, whose first occupier was an
Anglo-Indian, the next tenant being an old man and the house then
remaining unlet for four years. In 1882, when Captain Morton and big
family moved in, there had never, so far as they knew, been any
question of its being haunted. Three months afterwards, Miss Morton
was in her room and on the point of getting into bed, when she heard
some one at the door and went to it, thinking that it might be her
mother. On opening the door, she found no one there, but, going a few

steps along the passage, she saw a tall lady, dressed in black, standing
at the head of the stair. She did not wish to make the others uneasy and
mentioned the occurrence to no one except a friend, who did not live