S. Mukerji - Indian Ghost Stories
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S. Mukerji >> Indian Ghost Stories
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9 INDIAN GHOST STORIES
S. MUKERJI
_SECOND EDITION_
ALLAHABAD:
A.H. WHEELER & CO.
1917.
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 I
read was in the December (1913) Number of the _English Illustrated
Magazine_. In that story coincidence follows coincidence in such
beautiful succession that a young lady really believes that she sees a
ghost and even feels its touch, and finally it turns out that it is only
a monkey.
This is bathos that unfortunately goes too far. Still, I am sure,
English readers love a ghost story of this kind.
It, however, cannot be denied that particular incidents do sometimes
happen in such a way that they take our breath away. Here is something
to the point.
"Twenty years ago, near Honey Grove, in Texas, James Ziegland, a wealthy
young farmer won the hand of Metilda Tichnor, but jilted her a few days
before the day fixed for the marriage. The girl, a celebrated beauty,
became despondent and killed herself. Her brother, Phil, went to James
Ziegland's home and after denouncing him, fired at him. The bullet
grazed the cheek of the faithless lover and buried itself in a tree.
Young Tichnor, supposing he had killed the man, put a bullet into his
own head, dying instantly. Ziegland, subsequently married a wealthy
widow. All this was, of course 20 years ago. The other day the farmer
James Ziegland and his son cut down the tree in which Tichnor's bullet
had lodged. The tree proved too tough for splitting and so a small
charge of dynamite was used. The explosion discharged the long forgotten
bullet with great force, it pierced Ziegland's head and he fell mortally
wounded. He explained the existence of the mysterious bullet as he lay
on his deathbed."--_The Pioneer, Allahabad_, (India,) 31st January,
1913.
In India ghosts and their stories are looked upon with respect and fear.
I have heard all sorts of ghost stories from my nurse and my father's
coachman, Abdullah, who used to be my constant companion in my
childhood, (dear friend, who is no more), as well as from my friends who
are Judges and Magistrates and other responsible servants of Government,
and in two cases from Judges of Indian High Courts.
A story told by a nurse or a coachman should certainly not be reproduced
in this book. In this book, there are a few of those stories only which
are true to the best of the author's knowledge and belief.
Some of these narratives may, no doubt, savour too much of the nature of
a Cock and Bull story, but the reader must remember that "there are more
things in heaven and earth, etc." and that truth is sometimes stranger
than fiction.
The author is responsible for the arrangement of the stories in this
volume. Probably they could have been better arranged; but a little
thought will make it clear why this particular sequence has been
selected.
S.M.
_Calcutta, July 1914._
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
time it arrived. I am therefore reproducing here the article as it
appeared in "the _Occult Review_ of January 1917". My grateful thanks
are due to the proprietors and the Editor of "the _Occult Review_" but
for whose kind permission some of my readers would have been deprived of
a most interesting treat.
WILHELM II AND THE WHITE LADY OF THE HOHENZOLLERNS.
BY KATHARINE COX.[1]
A great deal has been written and said concerning the various
appearances of the famous White Lady of the Hohenzollerns. As long
ago as the fifteenth century she was seen, for the first time, in
the old Castle of Neuhaus, in Bohemia, looking out at noon day from
an upper window of an uninhabited turret of the castle, and
numerous indeed are the stories of her appearances to various
persons connected with the Royal House of Prussia, from that first
one in the turret window down to the time of the death of the late
Empress Augusta, which was, of course, of comparatively recent
date. For some time after that event, she seems to have taken a
rest; and now, if rumour is to be credited, the apparition which
displayed in the past so deep an interest in the fortunes--or
perhaps one would be more correct in saying misfortunes--of the
Hohenzollern family has been manifesting herself again!
The remarkable occurrences of which I am about to write were
related by certain French persons of sound sense and unimpeachable
veracity, who happened to be in Berlin a few weeks before the
outbreak of the European War. The Kaiser, the most superstitious
monarch who ever sat upon the Prussian throne, sternly forbade the
circulation of the report of these happenings in his own country,
but our gallant Allies across the Channel are, fortunately, not
obliged to obey the despotic commands of Wilhelm II, and these
persons, therefore, upon their return to France, related, to those
interested in such matters, the following story of the great War
Lord's three visitations from the dreaded ghost of the
Hohenzollerns.
Early in the summer of 1914 it was rumoured, in Berlin, that the
White Lady had made her re-appearance. The tale, whispered first of
all at Court, spread, gradually amongst the townspeople. The Court,
alarmed, tried to suppress it, but it refused to be suppressed, and
eventually there was scarcely a man, woman or child in the
neighbourhood who did not say--irrespective of whether they
believed it or not--that the White Lady, the shadowy spectre whose
appearance always foreboded disaster to the Imperial House, had
been recently seen, not once, but three times, and by no less a
person than Kaiser Wilhelm himself!
The first of these appearances, so rumour stated, took place one
night at the end of June. The hour was late: the Court, which was
then in residence at the palace of Potsdam, was wrapped in slumber;
all was quiet. There was an almost death-like silence in the
palace. In one wing were the apartments of the Empress, where she
lay sleeping; in the opposite wing slept one of her sons; the other
Princes were in Berlin. In an entirely different part of the royal
residence, guarded by three sentinels in a spacious antechamber,
sat the Emperor in his private study. He had been lately, greatly
engrossed in weighty matters of State, and for some time past it
had been his habit to work thus, far into the night. That same
evening the Chancellor, von Bethman-Hollweg, had had a private
audience of his Majesty, and had left the royal presence precisely
at 11-30, carrying an enormous _dossier_ under his arm. The Emperor
had accompanied him as far as the door, shaken hands with him, then
returned to his work at his writing-desk.
Midnight struck, and still the Emperor, without making the
slightest sound, sat on within the room. The guards without began
to grow slightly uneasy, for at midnight punctually--not a minute
before, not a minute after--it was the Emperor's unfailing custom,
when he was working late at night, to ring and order a light repast
to be brought to him. Sometimes it used to be a cup of thick
chocolate, with hot cakes; sometimes a few sandwiches of smoked ham
with a glass of Munich or Pilsen beer--but, as this particular
midnight hour struck the guards awaited the royal commands in vain.
The Emperor had apparently forgotten to order his midnight meal!
One o'clock in the morning came, and still the Emperor's bell had
not sounded. Within the study silence continued to reign--silence
as profound indeed as that of the grave. The uneasiness of the
three guards without increased; they glanced at each other with
anxious faces. Was their royal master taken ill? All during the day
he had seemed to be labouring under the influence of some strange,
suppressed excitement, and as he had bidden good-bye to the
Chancellor they had noticed that the expression of excitement on
his face had increased. That something of grave import was in the
air they, and indeed every one surrounding the Emperor, had long
been aware, it was just possible that the strain of State affairs
was becoming too much for him, and that he had been smitten with
sudden indisposition. And yet, after all, he had probably only
fallen asleep! Whichever it was, however, they were uncertain how
to act. If they thrust ceremony aside and entered the study, they
knew that very likely they would only expose themselves to the
royal anger. The order was strict, "When the Emperor works in his
study no one may enter it without being bidden." Should they inform
the Lord Chamberlain of the palace? But, if there was no
sufficiently serious reason for such a step, they would incur _his_
anger, almost as terrible to face as that of their royal master.
A little more time dragged by, and at last, deciding to risk the
consequences, the guards approached the study. One of them, the
most courageous of the three, lifted a heavy curtain, and slowly
and cautiously opened the door. He gave one rapid glance into the
room beyond, then, returning to his companions said in a low voice
and with a terrified gesture towards the interior of the study:
"Look!"
The two guards obeyed him, and an alarming spectacle met their
eyes. In the middle of the room, beside a big table littered with
papers and military documents, lay the Emperor, stretched full
length upon the thick velvet pile carpet, one hand, as if to hide
something dreadful from view, across his face. He was quite
unconscious, and while two of the guards endeavoured to revive him,
the other ran for the doctor. Upon the doctor's arrival they
carried him to his sleeping apartments, and after some time
succeeded in reviving him. The Emperor then, in trembling accents,
told his astounded listeners what had occurred.
Exactly at midnight, according to his custom, he had rung the bell
which was the signal that he was ready for his repast. Curiously
enough, neither of the guards, although they had been listening for
it, had heard that bell.
He had rung quite mechanically, and also mechanically, had turned
again to his writing desk directly he had done so. A few minutes
later he had heard the door open and footsteps approach him across
the soft carpet. Without raising his head from his work he had
commenced to say:
"Bring me--"
Then he had raised his head, expecting to see the butler awaiting
his orders. Instead his eyes fell upon a shadowy female figure
dressed in white, with a long, flowing black veil trailing behind
her on the ground. He rose from his chair, terrified, and cried:
"Who are you, and what do you want?"
At the same moment, instinctively, he placed his hand upon a
service revolver which lay upon the desk. The white figure,
however, did not move, and he advanced towards her. She gazed at
him, retreating slowly backwards towards the end of the room, and
finally disappeared through the door which gave access to the
antechamber without. The door, however, had not opened, and the
three guards stationed in the antechamber, as has been already
stated, had neither seen nor heard anything of the apparition. At
the moment of her disappearance the Emperor fell into a swoon,
remaining in that condition until the guards and the doctor revived
him.
Such was the story, gaining ground every day in Berlin, of the
first of the three appearances of the White Lady of the
Hohenzollerns to the Kaiser. The story of her second appearance to
him, which occurred some two or three weeks later, is equally
remarkable.
On this occasion she did not visit him at Potsdam, but at Berlin,
and instead of the witching hour of midnight, she chose the broad,
clear light of day. Indeed, during the whole of her career, the
White Lady does not seem to have kept to the time-honoured
traditions of most ghosts, and appeared to startled humanity
chiefly at night time or in dim uncertain lights. She has never
been afraid to face the honest daylight, and that, in my opinion,
has always been a great factor in establishing her claim to
genuineness. A ghost who is seen by sane people, in full daylight,
cannot surely be a mere legendary myth!
It was an afternoon of bright summer--that fateful summer whose
blue skies were so soon to be darkened by the sinister clouds of
war! The Royal Standard, intimating to the worthy citizens of
Berlin the presence of their Emperor, floated gaily over the
Imperial residence in the gentle breeze. The Emperor, wrapped in
heavy thought--there was much for the mighty War Lord to think
about during those last pregnant days before plunging Europe into
an agony of tears and blood!--was pacing, alone, up and down a long
gallery within the palace.
His walk was agitated; there was a troubled frown upon his austere
countenance. Every now and then he paused in his walk, and withdrew
from his pocket a piece of paper, which he carefully read and
re-read, and as he did so, angry, muttered words broke from him,
and his hand flew instinctively to his sword hilt. Occasionally he
raised his eyes to the walls on either side of him, upon which hung
numerous portraits of his distinguished ancestors. He studied them
gravely, from Frederick I, Burgrave of Nuremburg, to that other
Frederick, his own father, and husband of the fair English princess
against whose country he was so shortly going to wage the most
horrible warfare that has ever been waged in the whole history of
the world!
Suddenly, from the other end of the long portrait gallery he
perceived coming towards him a shadowy female figure, dressed
entirely in white, and carrying a large bunch of keys in her hand.
She was not, this time, wearing the long flowing black veil in
which she had appeared to him a few weeks previously, but the
Emperor instantly recognized her, and the blood froze in his veins.
He stood rooted to the ground, unable to advance or to retreat,
paralysed with horror, the hair rising on his head, beads of
perspiration standing on his brow.
The figure continued to advance in his direction, slowly,
noiselessly, appearing rather to glide than to walk over the floor.
There was an expression of the deepest sadness upon her
countenance, and as she drew near to the stricken man watching her,
she held out her arms towards him, as if to enfold him. The
Emperor, his horror increasing, made a violent effort to move, but
in vain. He seemed indeed paralysed; his limbs, his muscles,
refused to obey him.
Then suddenly, just as the apparition came close up to him and he
felt, as on the former occasion when he had been visited by her,
that he was going to faint, she turned abruptly and moved away in
the direction of a small side door. This she opened with her
uncanny bunch of keys and without turning her head, disappeared.
At the exact moment of her disappearance the Emperor recovered his
faculties. He was able to move, he was able to speak; his arms,
legs, tongue, obeyed his autocratic will once more. He uttered a
loud terrified cry, which resounded throughout the palace.
Officers, chamberlains, guards, servants, came running to the
gallery, white-faced, to see what had happened. They found their
royal master in a state bordering on collapse. Yet, to the anxious
questions which they put to him, he only replied incoherently and
evasively; it was as if he knew something terrible, something
dreadful, but did not wish to speak of it. Eventually he retired to
his own apartments, but it was not until several hours had passed
that he returned to his normal condition of mind.
The same doctor who had been summoned on the occasion of Wilhelm's
former encounter with the White Lady was in attendance on him, and
he looked extremely grave when informed that the Emperor had again
experienced a mysterious shock. He shut himself up alone with his
royal patient, forbidding any one else access to the private
apartments. However, in spite of all precautions, the story of what
had really occurred in the picture gallery eventually leaked
out--it is said through a maid of honour, who heard it from the
Empress.
The third appearance of the White Lady of the Hohenzollerns to the
Kaiser did not take place at either of the palaces, but strangely
enough, in a forest, though exactly where situated has not been
satisfactorily verified.
In the middle of the month of July, 1914, while the war-clouds were
darkening every hour, the Emperor's movements were very unsettled.
He was constantly travelling from place to place, and one day--so
it was afterwards said in Berlin--while on a hunting expedition, he
suddenly encountered a phantom female figure, dressed in white,
who, springing apparently from nowhere, stopped in front of his
horse, and blew a shadowy horn, frightening the animal so much that
its rider was nearly thrown to the ground. The phantom figure then
disappeared, as mysteriously as it had come--but that it was the
White Lady of the Hohenzollerns, come, perchance, to warn Wilhelm
of some terrible future fate, there was little doubt in the minds
of those who afterwards heard of the occurrence.
According to one version of the story of this third appearance, the
phantom was also seen by two officers who were riding by the
Emperor's side, but the general belief is that she manifested
herself, as on the two former occasions, to Wilhelm alone.
There are many who will not believe in the story, no doubt, and
there are also many who will. For my own part, I am inclined to
think that, if the ghost of the Hohenzollerns was able to manifest
herself so often on the eve of any tragedy befalling them in past,
it would be strange indeed if she had not manifested herself on the
eve of this greatest tragedy of all--the War!
ALLAHABAD,
_July 18th, 1917._
S.M.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] _The writer desires to acknowledge her indebtedness for much of the
information contained in this article to J.H. Lavaur's "La Dame Blanche
des Hohenzollern et Guillaume II" (Paris: 56 Rue d'Aboukir)._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
HIS DEAD WIFE'S PHOTOGRAPH 1
THE MAJOR'S LEASE 11
THE OPEN DOOR 31
WHAT UNCLE SAW 44
THE BOY WHO WAS CAUGHT 57
THE STARVING MILLIONAIRE 76
THE BRIDAL PARTY 102
A STRANGE INCIDENT 122
WHAT THE PROFESSOR SAW 141
THE BOY POSSESSED 156
THE EXAMINATION PAPER 167
THE MESSENGER OF DEATH 177
INDIAN GHOST STORIES.
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 and a Thornton
Picard behind lens shutter, with pneumatic release. The plate in
question was a Wrattens ordinary, developed with Ilford Pyro Soda
developer prepared at home. All these particulars I give for the benefit
of the more technical reader.
Mr. Smith, another clerk in our office, invited Mr. Jones to take a
likeness of his wife and sister-in-law.
This sister-in-law was the wife of Mr. Smith's elder brother, who was
also a Government servant, then on leave. The idea of the photograph was
of the sister-in-law.
Jones was a keen photographer himself. He had photographed every body in
the office including the peons and sweepers, and had even supplied every
sitter of his with copies of his handiwork. So he most willingly
consented, and anxiously waited for the Sunday on which the photograph
was to be taken.
Early on Sunday morning, Jones went to the Smiths'. The arrangement of
light in the verandah was such that a photograph could only be taken
after midday; and so he stayed there to breakfast.
At about one in the afternoon all arrangements were complete and the two
ladies, Mrs. Smiths, were made to sit in two cane chairs and after long
and careful focussing, and moving the camera about for an hour, Jones
was satisfied at last and an exposure was made. Mr. Jones was sure that
the plate was all right; and so, a second plate was not exposed
although in the usual course of things this should have been done.
He wrapped up his things and went home promising to develop the plate
the same night and bring a copy of the photograph the next day to the
office.
The next day, which was a Monday, Jones came to the office very early,
and I was the first person to meet him.
"Well, Mr. Photographer," I asked "what success?"
"I got the picture all right," said Jones, unwrapping an unmounted
picture and handing it over to me "most funny, don't you think so?" "No,
I don't ... I think it is all right, at any rate I did not expect
anything better from you ...", I said.
"No," said Jones "the funny thing is that only two ladies sat ..."
"Quite right," I said "the third stood in the middle."
"There was no third lady at all there ...", said Jones.
"Then you imagined she was there, and there we find her ..." "I tell
you, there were only two ladies there when I exposed" insisted Jones.
He was looking awfully worried.
"Do you want me to believe that there were only two persons when the
plate was exposed and three when it was developed?" I asked. "That is
exactly what has happened," said Jones.
"Then it must be the most wonderful developer you used, or was it that
this was the second exposure given to the same plate?"
"The developer is the one which I have been using for the last three
years, and the plate, the one I charged on Saturday night out of a new
box that I had purchased only on Saturday afternoon."
A number of other clerks had come up in the meantime, and were taking
great interest in the picture and in Jones' statement.
It is only right that a description of the picture be given here for the
benefit of the reader. I wish I could reproduce the original picture
too, but that for certain reasons is impossible.
When the plate was actually exposed there were only two ladies, both of
whom were sitting in cane chairs. When the plate was developed it was
found that there was in the picture a figure, that of a lady, standing
in the middle. She wore a broad-edged _dhoti_ (the reader should not
forget that all the characters are Indians), only the upper half of her
body being visible, the lower being covered up by the low backs of the
cane chairs. She was distinctly behind the chairs, and consequently
slightly out of focus. Still everything was quite clear. Even her long
necklace was visible through the little opening in the _dhoti_ near the
right shoulder. She was resting her hands on the backs of the chairs and
the fingers were nearly totally out of focus, but a ring on the right
ring-finger was clearly visible. She looked like a handsome young woman
of twenty-two, short and thin. One of the ear-rings was also clearly
visible, although the face itself was slightly out of focus. One thing,
and probably the funniest thing, that we overlooked then but observed
afterwards, was that immediately behind the three ladies was a barred
window. The two ladies, who were one on each side, covered up the bars
to a certain height from the bottom with their bodies, but the lady in
the middle was partly transparent because the bars of the window were
very faintly visible through her. This fact, however, as I have said
already, we did not observe then. We only laughed at Jones and tried to
assure him that he was either drunk or asleep. At this moment Smith of
our office walked in, removing the trouser clips from his legs.
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