Page 55 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 35

desk. Once he tried nailing his windows
closed. He returned to find the windows wide
open, and by way of punishment, the couch
cushions were balanced precariously on the
outside windowsill. Such pranks the abbe Haunted Hotels
could bear with much more patience than the
time the invisible invader dumped every one in the US
of his books on the floor. Only the Holy Scrip-
tures remained on the shelves.
The most vicious attack on the clergyman
occurred once when he knelt at his fireplace • The Old Stagecoach Inn, Waterbury, Vermont
stirring the coals, preparatory to placing new • St. James Hotel, Cimarron, New Mexico
kindling on the andirons. Without warning, a • Kennebunk Inn, Kennebunkport, Maine
huge deluge of water rushed down the chim- • The Dorrington Hotel, Dorrington, California
ney, extinguishing the fire, blinding the abbe • Hotel Monte Vista, Flagstaff, Arizona
with flying sparks, and covering him with • The Brookdale Lodge, near Boulder Creek,
ashes. The tutor woefully concluded that such California
actions could only be the work of his satanic • The Horton Grand Hotel, San Diego, California
majesty, the devil.
• The Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, California
The only other person who actually suf-
Sources:
fered physical pain dealt out by the haunting
Blackman, W. Haden. The Field Guide to North American
phenomena was Mme. de X., who was in the
Hauntings. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998.
act of unlocking a door when the key suddenly
Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places. Reprint. New York:
disengaged itself from her grip and struck her Penguin USA, 1996.
across the back of her left hand with such force Mead, Robin, and Pamela Wright, illus. Haunted Hotels: A Guide
that she bore a large bruise for several days. to American and Canadian Inns and Their Ghosts.
One night the invisible creature roamed Nashville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 1995.
Murray, Earl. Ghosts of the Old West. New York: Tor Books, 1994.
the corridors as if it were a lonely wayfarer
seeking admittance to the rooms of each of
the members of the household. It knocked
once or twice on the doors of several bed-
rooms, then, true to pattern, it paused to deal X. recorded an eerie bellowing, like that of a
40 consecutive blows to the abbe’s door before bull, which bothered everyone during the
it returned to thump about in the green room. master’s absence. A weird drumming sound
The weary household had its only respite was also introduced and a noise much like
during the long siege when the reverend someone striking the stairs with a stick.
father H. L., a Premonstrant Canon, was sent Upon the master’s return to Calvados, the
there by the bishop. From the moment the ghost became more violent than it had ever
Reverend Father entered the castle until the been before. It stormed into the rooms of
moment he left, there was not the slightest Auguste the gardener and Emile the coach-
sound from the noisy nuisance. But after the man and turned their beds over. It whirled
clergyman had made his departure there was a into the master’s study and heaped books,
sound as if a body had fallen in the first-floor maps, and papers on the floor. The midnight
passage, followed by what seemed to be a screams increased in shrillness and urgency
rolling ball delivering a violent blow on the and were joined by the roaring of a bull and
door of the green room—and the haunting the furious cries of animals. A rhythmic tap-
had once again begun its devilment in earnest. ping paraded up and down the corridors as if a
On January 20, 1876, M. de X. left for a small drum and bugle corps were conducting
two-day visit to his brother, leaving his wife to manuevers. For the first time, the rappings
keep up the journal of the haunting. Mme. de seemed to direct themselves to the door of

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