The Book of Dreams and Ghosts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 292 pages of information about The Book of Dreams and Ghosts.

The Book of Dreams and Ghosts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 292 pages of information about The Book of Dreams and Ghosts.
clothes, evidently made by a foreign tailor.  Tall and slim, he walked with long measured strides noiselessly.  A tall white hat, covered thickly with black crape, and an eyeglass, completed the costume of this strange form.  The moonbeams falling on the corpse-like features revealed a face well known to me, that of a friend and relative.  The sole and only person in the street beyond myself and this being was the woman already alluded to.  She stopped abruptly, as if spell-bound, then rushing towards the man, she gazed intently and with horror unmistakable on his face, which was now upturned to the heavens and smiling ghastly.  She indulged in her strange contemplation but during very few seconds, then with extraordinary and unexpected speed for her weight and age she ran away with a terrific shriek and yell.  This woman never have I seen or heard of since, and but for her presence I could have explained the incident:  called it, say, subjection of the mental powers to the domination of physical reflex action, and the man’s presence could have been termed a false impression on the retina.

“A week after this event, news of this very friend’s death reached me.  It occurred on the morning in question.  From the family I learned that according to the rites of the Greek Church and the custom of the country he resided in, he was buried in his evening clothes made abroad by a foreign tailor, and strange to say, he wore goloshes over his boots, according also to the custom of the country he died in. . . . When in England, he lived in Tavistock Place, and occupied my rooms during my absence.” {95a}

THE WYNYARD WRAITH {95b}

“In the month of November (1785 or 1786), Sir John Sherbrooke and Colonel Wynyard were sitting before dinner in their barrack room at Sydney Cove, in America.  It was duskish, and a candle was placed on a table at a little distance.  A figure dressed in plain clothes and a good round hat, passed gently between the above people and the fire.  While passing, Sir J. Sherbrooke exclaimed, ’God bless my soul, who’s that?’

“Almost at the same moment Colonel W. said, ’That’s my brother John Wynyard, and I am sure he is dead’.  Colonel W. was much agitated, and cried and sobbed a great deal.  Sir John said, ’The fellow has a devilish good hat; I wish I had it’. (Hats were not to be got there and theirs were worn out.) They immediately got up (Sir John was on crutches, having broken his leg), took a candle and went into the bedroom, into which the figure had entered.  They searched the bed and every corner of the room to no effect; the windows were fastened up with mortar. . . .

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The Book of Dreams and Ghosts from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.