The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-26 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Thus, in such another house there is a haunted
door, that never will keep open ; or another door that
never will keep shut; or a haunted sound of a
spinning-wheel, or a hammer, or a footstep, or a cry,
or a sigh, or a horse's tramp, or the rattling of a chain.
Or else, there is a turret-clock, which, at the
midnight hour, strikes thirteen when the head
of the family is going to die ; or a shadowy,
immovable black carriage which at such a time
is always seen by somebody, waiting near the great
gates in the stable-yard. Or thus, it came to pass
how Lady Mary went to pay a visit to a large wild
house in the Scottish Highlands, and, being fatigued
with her long journey, retired to bed early, and inno-
cently said the next morning, at the breakfast-table,
" How odd, to have so late a party last night, in this
remote place, and not to tell me of it before I went
to bed !" Then, every one asked Lady Mary what
she meant ? Then, Lady Mary replied, " Why,
all night long, the carriages were driving round and
round the terrace underneath my window !" Then,
the owner of the house turned pale, and so did
his lady, and Charles Macdoodle of Macdoodle signed
to Lady Mary to say no more, and every one was
silent. After breakfast, Charles Macdoodle told
Lady Mary that it was a tradition in the family that
those rumbling carriages on the terrace betokened
death. And so it proved, for, two months after-
wards, the Lady of the mansion died. And Lady
Mary, vs ho was a Maid of Honour at Court, often told
this story to the old Queen Charlotte ; by this token
that the old King always said, " Eh, eh ? What,
what? Ghosts, ghosts? No such thing, no such thing!"
And never left off saying so, until he went to bed.
Or, a friend of somebody's, whom most of us know,
when he was a young man at college, had a particu-
lar friend, with whom he made the compact that,
if it were possible for the Spirit to return to this earth
after its separation from the body, he of the twain
who first died should re-appear to the other. In course
of time this compact was forgotten by our friend ;
the two young men having progressed in life, and
taken diverging psths that were wide asunder. But
one night, ninny years afterwards, our friend being
in the north of England, and staying for the night in
an inn, on the Yorkshire Moors, happened to look out
of bed ; and there, in the moonlight, leaning on a
bureau in the window, steadfastly regarding him, saw
his old college friend ! Tne appearance being
solemnly addressed, replied, in a kind of whisper, but
very audibly, "Do not come near me. lam dead.
lam here to redeem my promise. I come from an-
other world, but may not disclose its secrets!" Then,
the whole form becoming paler, melted, as it were,
into the moonlight, and faded away. Or, the uncle
of my brother's wife was riding home on horseback,
one mellow evening at sunse, when, in a green lane
close to his own house, be saw a man standing before
him, in the very centre of the narrow way. " Why
does that man in the cloak stand there !" he thought.
" Does he want me to ride over him ?" But the
figure never moved. He felt a strange sensation at
seeing it so still, but slackened his trot, and rode for-
ward. When he was so close to it as almost to touch
it with his stirrup, his horse shied, and the figure
glided up the bank, in a curious, unearthly manner—
backwards, and without seeming to use its feet—and
was gone. The uncle of my brother's wife, exclaim-
ing, "Good Heaven ! It's my cousin Harry, from
Bombay F' put spurs to his horse, which was sud-
denly in a profuse sweat, and wondering at such
strange behaviour, dashed round to the front of his
house. There he saw the same figure, just passing in
at the long French window of the drawing-room,
opening on the ground. He threw his bridle to a
servant, and hastened in after it. His sister was sit-
ting there, alone. "Alice, where's my cousin Harry ?"
" Your cousin Harry, John ?" " Yes. From Bom-
bay. I met him in the lane just now, and saw him
enter here this instant." Not a creature had been
seen by any one ; and in that hour and minute, as it
afterwards appeared, this cousin died in India.—
Christmas Number of " Household Words."