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Speaker 1: Glam's Castle by Elliott O'Donnell. Of all the hauntings in Scotland,

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none has gained such widespread notoriety as the hauntings of

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Glam's Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore and

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Kinghorn in Forfordshire. Part of the castle, that part which

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is the more frequently haunted, is of ancient, though uncertain date,

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and if there is any truth in the tradition that

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Duncan was murdered there by Macbeth must at any rate

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have been in existence at the commencement of the eleventh century.

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Of course, extra buildings have from time to time been

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added and renovations made, but the original structure remains pretty

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nearly the same as it always has been, and is

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included in a square tower that occupies a central position

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and commands a complete view of the entire castle. Within

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this tower, the walls of which are fifteen feet thick,

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there is a room hidden in some unsuspected quarter that

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contains a secret the key note to one at least

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of the hauntings, which is known only to the Earl

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his heir on the attainment of his twenty first birthday

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in the factor of the estate. In all probability. The

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mystery attached to this room would challenge but little attention

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were it not for the fact that unearthly noises, which

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at the time were supposed to proceed from this chamber,

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have been heard by various visitors sleeping in the square tower.

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The following experience is said to have happened to a

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lady named Bond. I appended, more or less in her

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own words, it is a good many years since I

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stared at GLAMs. I was, in fact but little more

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than a child, and had only just gone through my

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first season in town. But though young, I was neither

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nervous nor imaginative, I was inclined to be what is

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termed stolid, that is to say, extremely my matter of

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fact and practical. Indeed, when my friends exclaimed, you don't

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mean to say you're going to stay at Clams, don't

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you know what's haunted? I burst out laughing. Haunted, I said,

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how ridiculous. There are no such things as ghosts. One

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might as well believe in fairies. Of course, I did

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not go to GLAMs alone. My mother and sister were

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with me. But whereas they slept in the more modern

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part of the castle, I was, at my own request

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apportioned a room in the Square Tower. I cannot say

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that my choice had anything to do with the secret chamber.

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That and the alleged mystery had been dinned into my

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ears so often that I had grown thoroughly sick of

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the whole thing. No, I wanted to sleep in the

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Square Tower for quite a different reason, a reason of

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my own I kept in aviary. The tower was old,

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and I naturally hoped its walls would be covered with

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ivy and teeming with birds, nests of which I might

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be able to reach. And I am ashamed to say,

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plunder from my window. Alas for my expectations, although the

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Square Tower was so ancient that in some places it

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was actually crumbling away. Not the sign of a leaf,

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not the vestige of a bird's nest, could I see anywhere.

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The walls were abominably brutally bare. However, it was not

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long before my disappointment gave way to delight, For the

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air that blew in through the open window was so sweet,

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so richly scented with heather and honeysuckle, and the view

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of the broad, sweeping, thickly wooded grounds so indescribably charming

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that despite my inartistic and unpoetical nature, I was entranced,

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entranced as I had never been before and never have

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been since. Ghosts. I said to myself, Ghosts, how absurd,

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how preposterously absurd, Such an adorable spot as this can

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only harbor sunshine and flowers. I well remember, too, for

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as I have already said, I was not poetical, how

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much I enjoyed my first dinner at Clams. The long

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journey and keen mountain air had made me hungry, and

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I thought I had never tasted such delicious food, such

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ideal salmon from the esk, and such heavenly fruit. But

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I must tell you that although I ate heartily as

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a healthy girl should, by the time I went to bed,

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I had thoroughly digested my mail, and was in fact

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quite ready to partake of a few oatmeal biscuits I

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found in my dressing case and remembered having bought at Perth.

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It was about eleven o'clock when my maid left me,

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and I sat for some minutes, wrapped in my dressing

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gown before the open window. The night was very still, and,

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save for an occasional rustle of the wind, in the

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distant tree tops, the hooting of an owl, the melancholy

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cry of a pea wit, and the hoarse barking of

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a dog. The silence was undisturbed. The interior of my

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room was in nearly every particular modern. The furniture was

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not old. There were no grim carvings, no grotesquely fashioned

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tapestries on the walls, no dark cupboards, no gloomy corners.

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All was cozy and cheerful, And when I got into bed,

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no thought of bogul or mystery entered my mind. In

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a few minutes I was asleep, and for some time

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there was nothing but a blank, a blank in which

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all identity was annihilated. Then suddenly I found myself in

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an oddly shaped room, with a lofty ceiling and a

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window situated at so great a distance from the black

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oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble

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gleams of phosphorent light made their way through the narrow

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panes and served to render distinct the more prominent objects around,

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But my eyes struggled in vain to reach the remoter

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angles of the wall, one of which inspired me with

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terror such as I had never felt before. The walls

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were covered with heavy draperies that were sufficient in themselves

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to preclude the possibility of any save the loudest of sounds,

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penetrating without the furniture, if such one could call it,

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puzzled me. It seemed more fitted for the cell of

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a prison or lunatic asylum, or even for a kennel,

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than for an ordinary dwelling room. I could see no chair,

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only a coarse deal table, a straw mattress, and a

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kind of trough. An air of irredeemable gloom and horror

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hung over and pervaded everything. As I stood there, I

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felt I was waiting for something, something that was concealed

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in the corner of the room I dreaded. I tried

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to reason with myself, to assure myself that there was

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nothing there that could hurt me, nothing that could even

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terrify me. But my efforts were in vain. My fears grew.

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Had I had some definite knowledge as to the cause

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of my alarm, I should not have suffered so much.

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But it was my ignorance of what was there, of

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what I feared, that made my terror so poignant. Each

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second saw the agony of my suspense increase I dared

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not move, I hardly dare breathe, and I dreaded lest

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the violent pulsation of my heart should attract the attention

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of the unknown presence and precipitate its coming out. Yet,

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despite the perturbation of my mind, I caught myself analyzing

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my feelings. It was not danger I abhorred so much

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as its absolute effect fright. I shuddered at the bare

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thought of what result the most trivial incident, the creaking

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of a board, ticking of a beetle, or hooting of

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an owl, might have on the intolerable agitation of my soul.

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In this unnerved and pitiable condition, I felt that the

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period was bound to come sooner or later when I

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should have to abandon life and reason together in the

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most desperate of struggles with fear. At length, something moved.

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An icy chill ran through my frame, and the horror

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of my anticipations immediately reached its culminating point. The presence

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was about to reveal itself, the gentle rubbing of a

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soft body on the floor, the crack of a bony joint,

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breathing another crack. And then was it my own excited

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imagination or the disturbing influence of the atmosphere, or the

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uncertain twilight of the chamber that produced before me, in

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the stygian darkness of the recess, the facilitating and indistinct

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outline of something luminous and horrid. I would gladly have

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risked futurity to have looked elsewhere. I could not. My

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eyes were fixed. I was compelled to gaze steadily in

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front of me, slowly, very slowly, The thing, whatever it was,

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took shape, legs crooked, misshapen human legs, a body tawny, hunched,

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arms long and spidery, with crooked, knotted fingers. A head

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large and bestial, and covered with a tangled mass of

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gray hair that hung around its protruding forehead, and pointed

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ears in ghastly mockery of curls. A face and hearing

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was the realization of all my direst expectations. A face

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white and staring, piglike in formation, malevolent in expression, a

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hellish combination of all things foul in animal, and yet

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withal not without a touch of pathos. As I stared

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at it aghast, it reared itself on its haunches after

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the manner of an ape and laered piteously at me,

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then shuffling forward, it rolled over and lay sprawled out

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like some ungainedly turtle, and wallowed as for warmth in

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the cold gray beams of early dawn. At this juncture

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the handle of the chamber door turned, some one entered.

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There was a loud cry, and I awoke, awoke to

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find the whole tower, walls and rafters, ringing with the

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most appalling screams I have ever heard, screams of something

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or of some one, for there was in them a

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strong element of what was human as well as animal,

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in the great distress. Wondering what it meant, and more

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than ever terrified, I sat up in bed and listened, listened,

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whilst a conviction, the result of intuition, suggestion, or what

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you will, were a conviction all the same forced me

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to associate the sounds with the thing in my dream,

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and I associate them still. It was, I think, in

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the same year, in the year that the foregoing account

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was narrated to me, that I heard another story of

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the hauntings at Clams, a story in connection with a

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lady whom I will call miss mc guiney. I appened

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her experience as nearly as possible, as she has stated

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to have told it. I seldom talk about my adventure,

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Miss mc guiney announced, because so many people ricule the

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superphysical and laugh at the mere mention of ghosts. I

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own I did the same myself till I stayed at GLAMs.

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But a week there quite cured me of skepticism, and

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I came away a confirmed believer. The incident occurred nearly

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twenty years ago, shortly after my return from India, where

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my father was then stationed. It was years since I

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had been to Scotland. Indeed, I had only once crossed

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the border, and that when I was a babe. Consequently,

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I was delight to receive an invitation to spend a

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few weeks in the land of my Berth. I went

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to Edinburgh first, I was born in Drumshay Gardens, and

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thence to GLAMs. It was late in the autumn, The

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weather was intensely cold, and I arrived at the castle

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in a blizzard. Indeed, I do not recollect ever having

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been out in such a frightful storm. It was as

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much as the horses could do to make headway, and

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when we reached the castle we found a crowd of

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anxious faces eagerly awaiting us in the hall. Chilled. I

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was chilled to the bone, and I thought I never

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should saw with the huge fires and bright and cozy

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atmosphere of the rooms, for the interior of Glands was

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modernized throughout soon set me right, and by tea time

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I felt nicely warm and comfortable. My bedroom was in

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the oldest part of the castle, this square tower. But

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although I had been warned by some of the guests

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that it might be haunted, I can assure you that

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when I went to bed, no subject was farther from

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my thoughts than the subject of ghosts. I returned to

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my room at about half past eleven. The storm was

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then at its height. All was babel and confusion, impenetrable

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darkness mingled with the wildest roaring and shrieking, And when

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I peeped through my casement window, I could see nothing.

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Panes were shrouded in snow, snow which was incessantly dashed

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against them with cyclonic fury. I fixed a comb in

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the window frame so as not to be kept awake

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by the constant jarring, and with the caution characteristic of

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my sex, looked into the wardrobe and under the bed

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for burglars, though Heaven knows what I should have done

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had I found one. There placed a candlestick and match

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box on the table by my bedside, lest the roof

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or window should be blown in during the night, or

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any other catastrophe happened. And after all these preparations got

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into bed. At this period of my life, I was

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a sounds and, being somewhat unusually tired after my journey,

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I was soon in a dreamless slumber. What awoke me

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I cannot say, but I came to myself with a

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violent start, such as might have been occasioned by a

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loud noise. Indeed, that was at first my impression, and

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I strained my ears to try and ascertain the cause

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of it. All was, however, silent. The storm had abated,

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and the castle and grounds were wrapped in an almost

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preternatural hush. The sky had cleared, and the room was

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partially illuminated by a broad stream of silvery light that

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filtered softly in through the white and tightly drawn blinds.

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A feeling that there was something unnatural in the air,

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that the stillness was but the prelude to some strange

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and startling event gradually came over me. I strove to

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reason with myself, to argue that the feeling was wholly

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due to the novelty of my surroundings, But my efforts

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were fruitless, and soon there stole upon me a sensation

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to which I had been hitherto an utter stranger. I

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became afraid. An irrepressible tremor pervaded my frame. My teeth chattered,

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my blood froze. Obeying an impulse, an impulse I could

237
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,639
not resist, I lifted myself up from the pillows, and,

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peering fearfully into the shadowy glows, and lay directly in

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00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,399
front of me listened. Why I listened, I do not know,

240
00:15:29,879 --> 00:15:34,080
saving that an instinctive spirit prompted me. At first I

241
00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,799
could hear nothing, and then from a direction I could

242
00:15:36,879 --> 00:15:43,759
not define, there came a noise, lo distinct, uninterpretive. It

243
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,120
was repeated in rapid succession, and speedily construed itself into

244
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,720
the sound of mailed footsteps racing up the long flight

245
00:15:51,759 --> 00:15:54,279
of stairs at the end of the corridor leading to

246
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,840
my room. Dreading to think what it might be, and

247
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,480
seized with a wild sentiment of self preservation, I made

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00:16:01,519 --> 00:16:04,799
frantic endeavors to get out of bed and barricade my door.

249
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My limbs, however, refused to move. I was paralyzed. Nearer

250
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,039
and nearer drew the sounds, and I could at length

251
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,120
distinguish with a clearness that petrified my very soul, the

252
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,559
banging and clanging of sword scabbards, and the panting and

253
00:16:21,639 --> 00:16:25,559
gasping of men sore pressed in a wild and desperate race.

254
00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,559
And then the meaning of it all came to me

255
00:16:28,799 --> 00:16:33,440
with hideous abruptness. It was a case of pursued and pursuing.

256
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:39,399
The race was for life outside my door. The fugitive halted,

257
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:41,840
and from the noise he made, and trying to draw

258
00:16:41,879 --> 00:16:46,639
his breath, I knew he was dead beat. His antagonist, however,

259
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,279
gave him but scant time for recovery. Bounding at him

260
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,679
with prodigious leaps, he struck him a blow that sent

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00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:56,679
him rooling with such tremendous force against the door that

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00:16:56,759 --> 00:17:00,960
the panels, although composed of the stoutest oak, quivered and

263
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:06,559
strained like flimsy matchboard. The blow was repeated, the cry

264
00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:10,039
that rose in the victim's throat was converted into an abortive,

265
00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:14,160
gurgling groan, and I heard the ponderous battle axe carve

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00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,960
its way through helmet, bone and brain. A moment later

267
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,680
came the sound of slithering armor, and the corpse, slipping

268
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:28,200
sideways toppled to the ground with a sonorous clang. A

269
00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:32,480
silence too awful for words. Now ensued. Having finished his

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00:17:32,599 --> 00:17:37,119
hideous handiwork, the murderer was quietly deliberating what to do next.

271
00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,039
Whatcht My dread of attracting his attention was so great

272
00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:44,160
that I scarcely dere breath. This intolerable state of things

273
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,599
had already lasted for what seemed to me a lifetime.

274
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,279
When glancing involuntarily at the floor, I saw a stream

275
00:17:52,319 --> 00:17:56,200
of dark looking fluid, lazily lapping its way to me

276
00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,319
from the direction of the door. Another moment and it

277
00:18:00,319 --> 00:18:04,680
would reach my shoes. In my dismay, I shrieked aloud.

278
00:18:05,039 --> 00:18:09,000
There was a sudden stir without a significant clatter of steel,

279
00:18:09,519 --> 00:18:12,279
and the next moment, despite the fact that it was locked,

280
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the door slowly opened. The limits of my endurance had

281
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,680
now happily been reached. The overtaxed valves of my heart

282
00:18:20,759 --> 00:18:25,880
could stand no more. I fainted. On my awakening to consciousness,

283
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,240
it was morning, and the welcome sun rays revealed no

284
00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,279
evidences of the distressing drama I own. I had a

285
00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:35,799
hard tussle before I could make up my mind to

286
00:18:35,799 --> 00:18:38,920
spend another night in that room, and my feelings as

287
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,720
I shut the door or my retreating maid and prepared

288
00:18:41,759 --> 00:18:45,119
to get into bed were nut the most en maable.

289
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,799
But nothing happened, nor did I again experience anything of

290
00:18:49,839 --> 00:18:53,279
the sort till the evening. Before I left. I had

291
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:56,920
lain down all the afternoon, for I was tired after

292
00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,160
a long morning's tramp on the moors, a thing I

293
00:19:00,279 --> 00:19:03,000
dearly love, and I was thinking it was about time

294
00:19:03,039 --> 00:19:06,440
to get up, when a dark shadow suddenly fell across

295
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:11,039
my face. I looked up hastily, and there, standing by

296
00:19:11,079 --> 00:19:14,920
my bedside and bending over me, was a gigantic figure

297
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:19,559
in bright armor. Its visor was up, and what I

298
00:19:19,599 --> 00:19:23,079
saw within the cask is stamped forever on my memory.

299
00:19:23,799 --> 00:19:27,119
It was the face of the dead, the long since dead,

300
00:19:27,599 --> 00:19:32,160
with the expression the sutly hellish expression of the living.

301
00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:36,359
As I gazed helplessly at it, it bent lower. I

302
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,839
threw up my hands to ward it off. There was

303
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,200
a loud rap at the door, and as my maid

304
00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:44,640
softly entered to tell me tea was ready. It vanished.

305
00:19:46,599 --> 00:19:49,200
The third account of the Glamis hauntings was told me

306
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,759
as long ago as the summer of eighteen ninety three.

307
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,519
I was traveling by rail from Perth to Glasgow, and

308
00:19:55,559 --> 00:19:59,359
the only other occupant of my compartment was an elderly gentleman, who,

309
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,599
from his general air and appearance, might have been a

310
00:20:02,799 --> 00:20:06,799
dominie or member of some other learned profession. I can

311
00:20:06,839 --> 00:20:09,480
see him in my mind's eye now, a tall, thin

312
00:20:09,599 --> 00:20:12,759
man with a premature stoop. He had white hair which

313
00:20:12,839 --> 00:20:15,160
was brushed forward down either side of his head in

314
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:20,160
such a manner as suggested awike, bushy eyebrows, dark piercing eyes,

315
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,519
and a stern, though somewhat sad mouth. His features were

316
00:20:24,559 --> 00:20:28,119
fine and scholarly. He was clean shaven. There was something

317
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,359
about him, something that marked him from the general horde,

318
00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:34,559
something that attracted me, and I began chatting with him

319
00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:37,920
soon after we left Perth. In the course of a

320
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,519
conversation that was at all events interesting to me, I

321
00:20:42,559 --> 00:20:46,599
adroitly managed to introduce the subject of ghosts. Then, as

322
00:20:46,599 --> 00:20:52,200
ever uppermost in my thoughts, well, he said, I can

323
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,720
tell you of something rather extraordinary that my mother used

324
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,920
to say happened to a friend of hers at GLAMs.

325
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:01,839
I have no doubt you are well acquainted with the

326
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,720
hackneyed stories in connection with the hauntings of the castle,

327
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,799
for example Earl Beardey playing cards with the Devil and

328
00:21:08,839 --> 00:21:12,000
the weeping Woman without hands or tongue. You can read

329
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,640
about them in scores of books and magazines. But what

330
00:21:14,799 --> 00:21:18,599
befell my mother's friend, whom I will call Missus Gibbons,

331
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,000
for I have forgotten her proper name, was apparently of

332
00:21:22,039 --> 00:21:26,640
a novel nature. The affair happened shortly before Missus Gibbons died,

333
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,359
and I always thought that what took place might have

334
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,799
been in some way connected with her death. She had

335
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,440
driven over to the castle one day during the absence

336
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,559
of the owner, to see her cousin, who was in

337
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:42,160
the employ of the Earl in Countess. Never having been

338
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,240
at GLAMs before, but having heard so much about it,

339
00:21:45,599 --> 00:21:48,079
Missus Gibbons was not a little curious to see that

340
00:21:48,319 --> 00:21:51,640
part of the building called the Square Tower, that bore

341
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:56,319
the reputation of being haunted. Tactfully biding an opportunity, she

342
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,680
sounded her relative on the subject and was laughingly informed

343
00:21:59,799 --> 00:22:02,839
that she might go anywhere about the place she pleased,

344
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:08,400
saving to one spot, namely Bluebeard's chamber, and there she

345
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,759
could certainly never succeed in poking her nose, as its

346
00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:15,119
locality was known only to three people, all of whom

347
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,759
were pledged never to reveal it. At the commencement of

348
00:22:18,799 --> 00:22:22,599
her tour of inspection, Missus Gibbons was disappointed. She was

349
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,200
disappointed in the tower. She had expected to see a gaunt,

350
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,279
grim place, crumbling to pieces with age, full of blood

351
00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:36,680
curdling spiral staircases and deep, dark dungeons, whereas everything was

352
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,920
the reverse. The walls were an excellent state of preservation,

353
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:44,240
absolutely intact, the rooms bright and cheerful and equipped in

354
00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:48,000
the most modern style. There were no dungeons, at least

355
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,480
none on view, and the passages and staircases were suggestive

356
00:22:51,519 --> 00:22:55,480
of nothing more alarming than bats. She was accompanied for

357
00:22:55,519 --> 00:22:58,440
some time by her relative, but on the latter being

358
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,319
called away, Missus Gibbons's continued her rambles alone. She had

359
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,960
explored the lower premises and was leisurely examining a handsomely

360
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,640
furnished apartment on the top floor, when in crossing from

361
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:11,960
one side of the room to the other she ran

362
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,480
into something. She looked down nothing was to be seen.

363
00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:20,599
Amazed beyond description, she thrust out her hands and they

364
00:23:20,599 --> 00:23:25,119
alighted on an object which she had little difficulty in identifying.

365
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,079
It was an enormous cask or barrel lying in a

366
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,160
horizontal position. She bent down close to where she felt it,

367
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,759
but she could see nothing, nothing but the well polished

368
00:23:36,759 --> 00:23:39,359
boards of the floor. To make sure again that the

369
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:41,920
barrel was there, she gave a little kick and drew

370
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,640
back her foot with a cry of pain. She was

371
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,839
not afraid. The sunshine in the room forbade fear, only exasperated.

372
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,799
She was certain a barrel was there, that it was objective,

373
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,880
and she was angry with herself for not seeing it.

374
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,359
She wondered if she were going blind, but the fact

375
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:02,599
that other objects in the room were plainly visible to

376
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:08,000
her discountenanced such an idea. For some minutes, she poked

377
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,440
and jabbed at the thing, and then seized with sudden

378
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,359
and uncontrollable panic. She turned round and fled, and as

379
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,480
she tore out of the room, along the passage and

380
00:24:17,519 --> 00:24:21,319
down the seemingly interminable flight of stairs, she heard the

381
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:27,599
barrel behind her in close pursuit. Bump bump bump. At

382
00:24:27,599 --> 00:24:29,920
the foot of the staircase, Missus Gibbons met her cousin,

383
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,960
and as she clutched the latter for support, the barrel

384
00:24:33,039 --> 00:24:38,039
shot past her, still continuing its descent bump bump, bump,

385
00:24:38,519 --> 00:24:41,240
though the steps as far as she could see, had ended,

386
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,920
till the sounds gradually dwindled away in the far distance.

387
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,000
Whilst the manifestations lasted. Neither Missus Gibbons nor her cousin spoke,

388
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,920
but the latter, as soon as the sounds had ceased,

389
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,960
dragged Missus Gibbons away, and, in a voice shaking with terror, cried, quick, quick,

390
00:24:58,319 --> 00:25:01,799
don't for heaven's sake, look rend and worse as yet

391
00:25:01,799 --> 00:25:05,599
to come. And pulling Missus Gibbons along in breathless haste,

392
00:25:05,839 --> 00:25:11,319
she unceremoniously hustled her out of the tower. That was

393
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:15,359
no barrel. Missus Gibbons's cousin subsequently remarked, by way of explanation,

394
00:25:16,559 --> 00:25:19,480
I saw it, I have seen it before. Don't ask

395
00:25:19,559 --> 00:25:22,400
me to describe it. I dare not, I dare not

396
00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:26,599
even think of it. Whenever it appears, a certain thing happens.

397
00:25:26,599 --> 00:25:30,880
Shortly afterwards, don't don't on any account say a word

398
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,559
about it to any one here. And missus Gibbons, my

399
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,880
mother told me, came away from GLAMs a thousand times

400
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:42,400
more curious than she was when she went. The last

401
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,160
story I have to relate is one I heard many

402
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,200
years ago when I was staying near bull Morrow, and

403
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:52,680
gentlemen named Vance, with strong antiquarian tastes, was staying at

404
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,799
an inn near the Strathmore estate and roaming abroad. One afternoon,

405
00:25:57,079 --> 00:26:01,279
in a fit of absent mindedness, entered the castles. It

406
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,720
so happened, fortunately for him, that the family were away,

407
00:26:05,079 --> 00:26:08,319
and he encountered no one more formidable than a man

408
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,480
he took to be a gardener, an uncouth looking fellow

409
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,799
with a huge head covered with a mass of red hair,

410
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:20,880
hawklike features, and high cheek bones, high even for a Scot.

411
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,680
Struck with the appearance of the individual, mister Vans spoke, and,

412
00:26:24,839 --> 00:26:28,960
finding him wonderfully civil, asked whether by any chance he

413
00:26:29,039 --> 00:26:32,720
ever came across any fossils when digging in the gardens.

414
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,359
Add Inn Aken the meaning of fossils, the man replied,

415
00:26:36,839 --> 00:26:40,160
what are they? Mister Vance explained, and a look of

416
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:45,519
cunning gradually pervaded the fellow's features. No, he said, I've

417
00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:49,160
never found any of those things. But if you'll give

418
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,519
me your word to say nothing about it, I'll show

419
00:26:51,559 --> 00:26:53,839
you something I once dug up over yonder by the

420
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,240
square tower. Do you mean the Haunted Tower, the tower

421
00:26:57,279 --> 00:27:00,559
that is supposed to contain the secret room? Mister Van's exclaimed.

422
00:27:01,599 --> 00:27:05,720
An extraordinary expression, an expression such as mister Vans found

423
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,519
it impossible to analyze, came into the man's eyes. Yes,

424
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,480
that's it, he nodded, what people call and rightly call

425
00:27:13,759 --> 00:27:17,000
the Haunted Tower. I got it from there, But don't

426
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:22,640
you say nought about it. Mister Vance, whose curiosity was roused, promised,

427
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,640
and the man, politely requesting him to follow, led the

428
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,079
way to a cottage that stood near by in the

429
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:31,880
heart of a gloomy wood. To mister Vance's astonishment, the

430
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,880
treasure proved to be the skeleton of a hand, a

431
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,079
hand with abnormally large knuckles and the first joint of

432
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,279
both fingers and thumb much shorter than the others. It

433
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,799
was the most extraordinarily shaped hand mister Vance had ever seen,

434
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,839
and he did not know in the least how to

435
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,039
classify it. It repelled yet interested him, and he eventually

436
00:27:53,079 --> 00:27:55,119
offered the man a good sum to allow him to

437
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,079
keep it. To his astonishment, the money was refused. You

438
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:02,440
may have the thing and welcome, the fellow said, only

439
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:04,240
I advise you not to look at it late at

440
00:28:04,319 --> 00:28:07,599
night or just before getting into bed. If you do,

441
00:28:08,039 --> 00:28:11,680
you may have bad dreams. I will take my chance

442
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,599
of that, mister Vans laughed, you say, being a hard

443
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,920
headed Cockney, I am not superstitious. It is only you

444
00:28:18,039 --> 00:28:21,920
highlanders and your first cousins, the Irish, who believed nowadays

445
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,839
in boguls omens and such like. When packing the hand

446
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,039
carefully in his knapsack, mister Vans bid the strange looking

447
00:28:29,039 --> 00:28:32,720
creature good morning and went on his way. For the

448
00:28:32,759 --> 00:28:35,000
rest of the day, the hand was uppermost in his thoughts.

449
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,960
Nothing had ever fascinated him so much. He sat pondering

450
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,960
over it the whole evening, and the bedtime found him

451
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,839
still examining it. Examining it upstairs in his room by candlelight,

452
00:28:47,799 --> 00:28:51,039
he had a hazy recollection that some clock had struck twelve,

453
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,359
and he was beginning to feel that it was about

454
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,319
time to retire, when in the mirror opposite him he

455
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:02,119
caught sight of the door. It was over By jove,

456
00:29:02,279 --> 00:29:05,720
that's odd, he said to himself. I could have sworn

457
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,079
a shut and bolted it. To make sure. He turned round.

458
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,799
The door was closed. An optical delusion, he murmured. I'll

459
00:29:13,799 --> 00:29:17,759
try again. He looked into the mirror. The door reflected

460
00:29:17,799 --> 00:29:21,200
and it was open. Utterly at a loss to know

461
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,240
how to explain the phenomenon, he leaned forward in his

462
00:29:24,319 --> 00:29:27,440
seat to examine the glass more carefully, and as he

463
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,880
did so, he gave a start. On the threshold of

464
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,799
the doorway was a shadow, black and bulbous. A cold

465
00:29:33,839 --> 00:29:36,960
shiver ran down mister Vans's spine, and just for a

466
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:42,000
moment he felt afraid, terribly afraid, But he quickly composed himself.

467
00:29:42,279 --> 00:29:45,319
It was nothing but an illusion. There was no shadow

468
00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:48,240
there in reality. He had only to turn round and

469
00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:53,079
the thing would be gone. It was amusing, entertaining. He

470
00:29:53,119 --> 00:29:57,680
would wait and see what happened. The shadow moved, It

471
00:29:57,759 --> 00:30:00,880
moved slowly through the air, like some huge spider or

472
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,640
odd shaped bird. He would not acknowledge that there was

473
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:10,880
anything sinister about it, only something droll, excruciatingly droll. Yet

474
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:13,599
it did not make him laugh. When it had drawn

475
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,359
a little nearer, he tried to diagnose it, to discover

476
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,440
its material counterpart in one of the objects around him,

477
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,799
But he was obliged to acknowledge his attempts were failures.

478
00:30:23,359 --> 00:30:25,839
There was nothing in the room in the least degree

479
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,559
like it. A vague feeling of uneasiness gradually crept over him.

480
00:30:30,839 --> 00:30:33,720
Was the thing, the shadow of something with which he

481
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,839
was familiar but couldn't just then recall to mind. Something

482
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,359
he feared, something that was sinister. He struggled against the idea.

483
00:30:43,799 --> 00:30:48,119
He dismissed it as absurd, but it returned, returned, and

484
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,880
took deeper route. As the shadow drew nearer, he wished

485
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,400
the house was not quite so silent, that he could

486
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:59,119
hear some indication of life, anything, anything for companionship, and

487
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,240
to rid him of oppressive, the very oppressive sense of

488
00:31:03,279 --> 00:31:08,839
loneliness and isolation. Again, a thrill of terror ran through him.

489
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,559
Look here, he exclaimed aloud, glad to hear the sound

490
00:31:12,599 --> 00:31:14,720
of his own voice. Look here. If this goes on

491
00:31:14,799 --> 00:31:17,279
much longer, I shall begin to think I am going mad.

492
00:31:17,799 --> 00:31:20,400
I have had enough and more than enough of magic

493
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,920
mirrors for one night. It's high time I got into bed.

494
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,359
He strove to rise from his chair to move. He

495
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,960
was unable to do either. Some strange, tyrannical force held

496
00:31:33,039 --> 00:31:36,400
him a prisoner. A change now took place in the shadow.

497
00:31:36,599 --> 00:31:41,000
The blur dissipated, and the clearly defined outlines of an object,

498
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,599
an object that made mister Vans perfectly sick with apprehension,

499
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:51,799
slowly disclosed themselves. His suspicions were verified. It was the hand,

500
00:31:52,839 --> 00:31:58,000
the hand, no longer skeleton but covered with green, moldering flesh,

501
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,480
feeling its way slyly and stealthily towards him, towards the

502
00:32:02,519 --> 00:32:05,839
back of his chair. He noted the murderous twitching of

503
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,920
its short, flat finger tips, the monstrous muscles of its

504
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,279
hideous thumb, and the great clumsy hollows of its clammy pan.

505
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,640
It closed in upon him. Its cold, slimy, detestable skin

506
00:32:19,799 --> 00:32:25,119
touched his coat, his shoulder, his neck, his head. It

507
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,880
pressed him down, squashed, suffocated him. He saw it all

508
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,119
in the glass, and then an extraordinary thing happened. Mister

509
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,720
Vance certainly became animated. He got up and peeped furtively

510
00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:45,079
round chairs, bed wardrobe had all disappeared, so had the bedroom,

511
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,759
and he found himself in a small, bare, comfortless, queerly

512
00:32:49,799 --> 00:32:53,319
constructed apartment without a door, and with only a narrow

513
00:32:53,359 --> 00:32:57,880
slit of a window somewhere near the ceiling. He had

514
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,839
in one of his hands a knife with a long,

515
00:33:00,039 --> 00:33:03,119
keen blade, and his whole mind was bent on murder.

516
00:33:03,319 --> 00:33:06,400
Creeping stealthily forward, he approached a corner of the room

517
00:33:06,759 --> 00:33:09,839
where he now saw for the first time a mattress,

518
00:33:10,519 --> 00:33:13,480
a mattress on which lay a huddled up form. What

519
00:33:13,599 --> 00:33:17,680
the thing was, whether human or animal, mister Vance did

520
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,039
not know, did not care. All he felt was that

521
00:33:21,119 --> 00:33:23,880
it was there for him to kill. That he loathed

522
00:33:24,079 --> 00:33:27,519
and hated it, hated it with a hatred such as

523
00:33:27,559 --> 00:33:31,480
nothing else could have produced. Tiptoeing gently out to it,

524
00:33:31,759 --> 00:33:35,200
he bent down, and, lifting his knife high above his head,

525
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,079
plunged it into the thing's body with all the force

526
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,319
he could command. He recrossed the room and found himself

527
00:33:42,359 --> 00:33:45,519
once more in his apartment. At the inn, he looked

528
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:48,279
for the skeleton hand. It was not where he had

529
00:33:48,359 --> 00:33:52,279
left it. It had vanished. Then he glanced at the mirror,

530
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,519
and on its brilliantly polished surface, saw not his own face,

531
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,720
but the face of the gardener, the man who had

532
00:33:59,759 --> 00:34:05,519
given him the hand, features, color, hair, all all were identical,

533
00:34:06,039 --> 00:34:10,000
wonderfully hideously identical, and as the eyes met his they

534
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:15,119
smiled devilishly. Early the next day mister Vans set out

535
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:17,920
for the spinning and cottage. They were not to be found.

536
00:34:18,559 --> 00:34:21,840
Nobody had ever heard of them. He continued his travels,

537
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,840
and some months later, at a lone collection of pictures

538
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,760
in a gallery in Edinburgh, he came to an abrupt,

539
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:31,480
a very abrupt halt, before the portrait of a gentleman

540
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:36,559
in ancient costume. The face seemed strangely familiar. The huge

541
00:34:36,559 --> 00:34:40,679
head with thick red hair, the hawk like features, the

542
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:45,199
thin and tightly compressed lips. Then in a trice, it

543
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,199
all came back to him. The face he looked at

544
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,760
was that of the uncouth gardener, the man who had

545
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,840
given him the hand. And to clinch the matter, the

546
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:00,880
eyes leered end of Glam's Castle,