15 chapters
4 hour read
Selected Chapters
15 chapters
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
I do not know whether writing ghost stories is a mistake. Most readers will like a ghost story in which towards the end it is found that the ghost was really a cat or a dog or a mischievous boy. Such ghost stories are a source of pleasure, and are read as a pastime and are often vastly enjoyed, because though the reader is a bit afraid of what he does not know, still he likes to be assured that ghosts do not in reality exist. Such ghost stories I have often myself read and enjoyed. The last one
2 minute read
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Since the publication of the first edition my attention has been drawn to a number of very interesting and instructive articles that have been appearing in the papers from time to time. Readers who care for subjects like the present must have themselves noted these; but there is one article which, by reason of the great interest created in the German Kaiser at the present moment, I am forced to reproduce. As permission to reproduce the article was delayed the book was through the press by the ti
20 minute read
HIS DEAD WIFE'S PHOTOGRAPH.
HIS DEAD WIFE'S PHOTOGRAPH.
This story created a sensation when it was first told. It appeared in the papers and many big Physicists and Natural Philosophers were, at least so they thought, able to explain the phenomenon. I shall narrate the event and also tell the reader what explanation was given, and let him draw his own conclusions. This was what happened. A friend of mine, a clerk in the same office as myself, was an amateur photographer; let us call him Jones. Jones had a half plate Sanderson camera with a Ross lens
9 minute read
THE MAJOR'S LEASE.
THE MAJOR'S LEASE.
A curious little story was told the other day in a certain Civil Court in British India. A certain military officer, let us call him Major Brown, rented a house in one of the big Cantonment stations where he had been recently transferred with his regiment. This gentleman had just arrived from England with his wife. He was the son of a rich man at home and so he could afford to have a large house. This was the first time he had come out to India and was consequently rather unacquainted with the m
17 minute read
THE OPEN DOOR.
THE OPEN DOOR.
Here again is something that is very peculiar and not very uncommon. We, myself and three other friends of mine, were asked by another friend of ours to pass a week's holiday at the suburban residence of the last named. We took an evening train after the office hours and reached our destination at about 10-30 at night. The place was about 60 miles from Calcutta. Our host had a very large house with a number of disused wings. I do not think many of my readers have any idea of a large residential
12 minute read
WHAT UNCLE SAW.
WHAT UNCLE SAW.
This story need not have been written. It is too sad and too mysterious, but since reference has been made to it in this book, it is only right that readers should know this sad account. Uncle was a very strong and powerful man and used to boast a good deal of his strength. He was employed in a Government Office in Calcutta. He used to come to his village home during the holidays. He was a widower with one or two children, who stayed with his brother's family in the village. Uncle has had no bed
12 minute read
THE BOY WHO WAS CAUGHT.
THE BOY WHO WAS CAUGHT.
Nothing is more common in India than seeing a ghost. Every one of us has seen ghost at some period of his existence; and if we have not actually seen one, some other person has, and has given us such a vivid description that we cannot but believe to be true what we hear. This is, however, my own experience. I am told others have observed the phenomenon before. When we were boys at school we used, among other things, to discuss ghosts. Most of my fellow students asserted that they did not believe
18 minute read
THE STARVING MILLIONAIRE.
THE STARVING MILLIONAIRE.
This story was also in the papers. It created a sensation at the time, now it has been almost forgotten. The story shows that black art with all its mysteries is not a thing of the past. This was what happened. There was a certain rich European Contractor in the Central Provinces in India. Let us call him Anderson. He used to supply stone ballast to the Railway Companies and had been doing this business for over a quarter of a century. He had accumulated wealth and was a multi-millionaire and on
25 minute read
THE BRIDAL PARTY.
THE BRIDAL PARTY.
In Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus, situated in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, there is a house which is famed pretty far and wide. It is said that the house is haunted and that no human being can pass a night in that house. Once there was a large Bridal party. In India the custom is that the bridegroom goes to the house of the bride with great pomp and show with a number of friends and followers and the ceremony of "Kanya Dan" (giving away the girl) takes place at the bride's hou
18 minute read
A STRANGE INCIDENT.
A STRANGE INCIDENT.
When I was at college there happened what was a most inexplicable incident. The matter attracted some attention at that time, but has now been forgotten as it was really not so very extraordinary. The police in fact, when called in, explained the matter or at least thought they had done so, to everybody's satisfaction. I was, however, not satisfied with the explanation given by the police. This was what actually happened. The college was a very big one with a large boarding-house attached to it.
17 minute read
WHAT THE PROFESSOR SAW.
WHAT THE PROFESSOR SAW.
This story is not so painful as the one entitled " What Uncle Saw ." How we wish that uncle had seen something else, but all the same how glad we are that uncle did not see what the professor saw. The professor is an M.A. of the University of Calcutta, in Chemistry, and is a Lecturer in a big college. This, of course, I only mention to show that this is not the invention of a foolish person. I shall now tell the story as I heard it from the professor. "I was a professor of chemistry in a Calcutt
14 minute read
THE BOY POSSESSED.
THE BOY POSSESSED.
I think it was in 1906 that in one of the principle cities in India the son of a rich man became ill. He had high fever and delirium and in his insensible state he was constantly talking in a language which was some kind of English but which the relatives could not understand. This boy was reading in one of the lower classes of a school and hardly knew the English language. When the fever would not abate for 24 hours a doctor was sent for. The doctor arrived, and went in to see the patient in th
11 minute read
THE EXAMINATION PAPER.
THE EXAMINATION PAPER.
This is a story which I believe. Of course, this is not my personal experience; but it has been repeated by so many men, who should have witnessed the incident, with such wonderful accuracy that I cannot but believe it. The thing happened at the Calcutta Medical College. There was a student who had come from Dacca, the Provincial Capital of Eastern Bengal. Let us call him Jogesh. Jogesh was a handsome young fellow of about 24. He was a married man and his wife's photograph stood in a frame on hi
8 minute read
THE MESSENGER OF DEATH.
THE MESSENGER OF DEATH.
We have often been told how some of us receive in an unlooked-for manner an intimation of death some time before that incident does actually occur. The late Mr. W.T. Stead, for instance, before he sailed for America in the Titanic had made his will and given his friends clearly to understand that he would see England no more. Others have also had such occult premonitions, so to say, a few days, and sometimes weeks, before their death. We also know a number of cases in which people have received
11 minute read