Animal Ghosts

l poem of "The Raven," there is a strong link b

r spirits. Within my knowledge there have been cases when, before a death in the house, ravens, jackdaws, canaries, magpies, and even parrots, have shown unmistakable signs of uneasiness and distress. The raven has croaked in a high-pitched, abnormal key; the jackdaw and canary

ult Review (in the August number, 1905) supplies the following

willingly I retired to a spare room. While undressing I was surprised to see a very large white bird come from the fireplace, make a hovering circle round me, and finally go

oom last night, which flew to the top o

who was pr

aster won't live,' and she was confirmed in her opinion by the

ight, and we thought the crisis had passed. I went to his bedside and found him

d, fancying I must have been

in a cot in my room, and I was undressing one night, when this same large white bird came from his cot, floated round me, and disappeared in the

nd pronounced him much better. As he was a friend of the family, he sat down on the other side of the fireplace and was chatting in a

more of the white bird, and

six and eight, were standing at the window watching a k

rd,' putting her hands as if to catch it

r child said, 'Don't be sill

child. 'Don't you see? T

tch. It was twenty

e children had never known anything of the former appearances, as we had never talked about it befo

I can corroborate it with similar experience

t the window of the room where the corpse lay; while, shortly afterwards, an exactly similar bird visited the window of my w

s, a large bird flew violently against the window-pane behind which my wife

they are the phantasms of birds that have actually once

rd haunting

g peasant woman, called Marthe Popenkoff, was found in a lonely part of the road, between Orskaia and Orenburg, with the skin of her face and

. It was then that M. Durant, a smart young French engineer, temporarily residing in those parts, became interested in the case, and decided to investigate it thoroughly. With this end in view he wrote to his friend

ried life; she was hard-working and industrious, and beyond the fact that she was over-indulgent to he

lovers?" M.

was quite

l sure she w

nion so strongly

the marks o

f them. After supper I will take

is still

that. In these parts bodies are often

of a somewhat hasty meal, they set out to the morgue, where

on the woman's body very clo

nding down and almost touching

discovery?" M.

ersant replied. "I should like to see

re at once," M.

the foot of two little hills; and on either side we

on a little wooden bridge spanning a stream, within a stone's throw of a tumbledown mill-house, a

n was aided in his diabolical work by the configuration of the land which, shelving as it does, slips down into the narrow valley, so as to preclude any possibil

arched it thoroughl

ily. "No one knows better than I what

slight concussion might dislodge an avalanche of stones and plaster. While M. Durant stoo

s a remarkable case. I have finished my investigation for to-night.

heir mother's. There seemed to be no doubt now that Marthe had been murdered, and the populace cried shame on the police; for the assassin was still at large. They agreed that the murderer could be no other than Peter Popenkoff, and the editor of the loca

s all they could get out of him. "I

ed and shrugged

ff," he observed. "I had an idea t

was found dead in prison with the skin o

quent mob. "Peter Popenkoff was innocent. On

on the right track now-it is one of th

ant only sh

id. "Come with me to the mill-house to-nig

and in the doorway and watch. The night grew darker and darker, and presently into the air stole a something that all three men at once realized was supernatural. M. Hersant coughed nervously, the priest crossed himself, and M. Durant called out, "This is getting ridiculous. These medi?val proceedings are too absurd. Let us go home." The next moment

ant whispered. "Pray for the dead, an

ng limbs would allow, obeyed; wher

. Durant gasped, "tell

ed by their parents, killed in a most cruel manner. As soon as I examined Marthe's body, I perceived the mutilations were due to a bird; and when I visited

hat?" the priest excl

any doubt I may have had with regard to the superphysical playing a part in the death of Marthe. Then when her better-half had been served likewise, I was certain that all five pseudo-murders were wholly and solely acts of retribution, and that they were perpetrated-I am inclined to think involuntarily-by

y the Phant

d the rumours, declaring that he had heard strange noises, apparently proceeding from certain vaults containing the tombs of two old and distinguished families. The noises, which

and declared they had ascertained the cause of the disturbance. The churchwarden, sexton, and his wife and others all swore to seeing a huge crow pecking and clawin

eved to be the earth-bound soul of a murderer, who, owing to his wealth, was interred in the churchyard, instead of being buried at the cross-roads with the customary wooden stake driven through the middle of his body. This belief of the yo

ast, suggest the church was, at one time, haunted by the phantom of a bird, but whether the earth-boun

t of an

he slept was full of heavy, antique furniture, reminiscent of the days of King George I, one of the worst periods in modern English history for crime. Despite, however, his grimly suggestive surroundings, Captain Morgan quickly

it settled down and regarded him with great fear in its eyes. Determined to destroy it, he flung himself on the top of it, when, to his surprise and terror, it immediately crumbled i

usly inclined person who had once lived there, or it may have be

quently seen by the inmates of a house in Dean Street, Soho, that they eventually grew quite accustomed to it. But bird hauntings are not confined to houses, and are far more often to be met with out of doors; indeed t

Birds and

rejudice and suspicion with which the owl, crow, raven, and one or two other birds have alwa

ption credited these bird

aid Ovid; whilst speaking of the fatal p

cava praedixit a

have fluttered about Cicero's

keep much prattling, and are full of chat, which most m

work Elmintholog

ak thrice, how do they fear they, or

f ill omen. Alluding to this

head by night, he will make his wi

and who never went out shooting without a bittern's claw fastened to

prognosticate death. In Lloyd's St

tonius' ship, sailing after Cleopatra to Egypt, the soothsayers did prognosticat

the "wise men" foretold his death. Ravens followed Alexander the Great fro

ow on my left and, croaking, has once scrap

to the same bir

n himself

he fatal entr

ttlements."

s o'er m

ven o'er the i

o all."-

at

passport in h

hadow of the

tagion from he

of Ma

ous in all coun

oak upon tree

raven on her

croakings warned

Dir

, "it is believed that the croaking of a raven over the house bodes evil to some of the fami

a raven over the house. Some of us believed it to be a token; others

and see if something

oken. The fifth month arrived, and with it a black-edged letter from Australia, announcing the death of one of the members of the f

rded as a sure prognostication of evil. He goes on to add that the men employed in the quarries in the Avon Gorge, Clifton, Br

that all phantasms shared the same dread of this bird. Ghosts of magpies themselves are, however, far from uncommon; on

his bird, and were said to ofte

authorities corroborate this statement; and I have heard it said that the Finns can surpass even the famous tricks of the Indians.) Mr. Jones, in the same story, says: "Presently the number increased, and the lady, who at first had been amused, became troubled, and tried to drive them away by various devices. All was to no purpose. She could not move without a large company of magpies; and they became at length so daring as to hop on her shoulder." (This reads like hallucination. However, as I ha

pass some slighting remark about one of the Egyptian mummy cases (not the notorious one), and that on quitting the building she felt a sharp peck on her neck. She put up her hand to the injured part, and felt the distinct impression of a bird's claw on it. She could see nothing, however. That night-and for every succeeding night for six weeks-she was awakened at two o'clock by the phantom of an enormous magpie that fluttered over the bed, and was clearly visible to herself and her sister. The phenomenon worried her so that she became ill, and was eventually ordered abroad. She went

nger, two

wedding, fou

rich, six

tch, I dare te

north comes

gpie, chatt

ail, and good

faculty of scent enables them to detect the advent of the phantom of death, of which they have the greatest horror. A rook is of great service, when investigating haunt

e among the many kinds of animals I have tested, take up their abode in haunted localities, and with

th the darker side of the Unkn

e bubo. Saepe queri et longas in f

bris et maxime abominatus"; whilst Chaucer write

hite owl is said to be a

o the fatal crying of the bird may be gathered f

ar a noise?" and L

and the scene in Richard III, where Richard int

s! Nothing but

e dethe owle loude dothe synge"; whilst Hogarth introduces th

l confined to the white races; we find it everywhere-among the R

w at a certain hour for two or three nights in succession, it was thought to be a sure sign of early death to some member of the household. In Notes and Queries a corresponden

following night-at the first crowing of the cock after midnight. I believe there is a certain amount of truth in

. Spenser, in his Faerie Queene (Book II

rill, that whoso

fers to it in a similar se

e devil's blood on its feather every May morning, and never appeared without presaging ill luck. Parrots do not appear

tions regarding them are all associated with good luck. Doves, I have

kill a robin. A correspondent of Notes and Quer

ng down from the mo

g; she had a litter of seven, and they all died. When the pig was killed the two hams went bad; presently three of

his Six Pastora

bin's nest wi

n a wren has y

away their

ones, lest a fr

n's nest from t

emonth pass'd h

the destroyer of the bird would, for some time, only give bloody milk. At one time-and, perhaps, even now-

a Corombona (1612), refers to this

robin redbreas

e shady grove

ves and flow

s bodies of u

t is looked upon by sailors as a sure sign of an

as their haunts, spots little frequented by man. From what I have heard they are by far the most malignant of all bird ghosts, and h