CHAPTER XXIII .sx APPARITIONS OF COACHES AND HORSES - PHANTOM BIRDS .sx - SPECTRAL DOGS AND ANIMALS - SPECTRAL PACKS OF HOUNDS - THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE - THE GREAT .sx DOG THAT SCARED A REGIMENT .sx STORIES of spectral coaches and horses that suddenly drive up to the doors of country houses , or are seen on the road and mysteriously disappear , are of frequent occurrence in ghost-lore .sx Sometimes the team and the driver are said to have no heads , such as related of the apparition of Anne Boleyn , who is said to be seen driving down the avenue of Blickling Park once a year , carrying her ` bloody head' in her lap .sx Her coach is drawn by four headless horses , and her coachman and footmen are also minus that part of their anatomy .sx Her father , Sir Thomas Boleyn , is likewise said to possess a restless spirit that disports itself in a similar manner , for he also is said to have been seen driving about in a coach and four with headless horses , while he carries his own head under his arm .sx At Great Melton , on the old Norwich road , is a large field , which is divided from the Yare by a plantation .sx Close to the edge , where the road is said to have formerly run , is a deep pit of water which is reputed locally to be fathomless .sx According to tradition , at midnight , a carriage and four horses driven by a headless coachman and attended by a headless footman , is sometimes to be seen .sx Inside , are seated four headless ladies , all dressed in white .sx The equipage rises silently and dripping wet from the pond , glides quietly and slowly round the field , then sinks again into the water and disappears from sight .sx This strange apparition is said to be that of a bridal party , who when being driven along the old Norwich Road after a wedding , the carriage and horses together with the passengers were accidentally upset into the deep pond , where they sank and were never seen again .sx Similar stories and traditions are connected with various ponds in other parts of the country , all of which are associated with tragedies .sx Headless ghosts also play a part in many stories and among others well-known , is the apparition of Sir Joceline Percy of Beverley , who is said to have been seen driving four headless horses in the air on moonlight nights .sx Among the large number of cases of phantom carriages and horses investigated by the Society for Psychical Research , is one which Mr. Gurney who investigated it , regarded as being especially baffling .sx This apparition was seen at the house of Major W- near Conon Bridge , Ross-shire , on August 23rd , 1878 .sx " It was rather a dark night and very still , " says the narrator , " it had struck midnight , when before retiring for the night , I went as is often my custom , to the front door to look at the weather .sx When standing for a .sx moment on the step , I saw coming round a turn in the drive , a large closed carriage and a pair of horses with two men on the box .sx It passed the front of the house and was going at a rapid rate towards a path which leads to a stream , running at that point between rather steep banks .sx " There is no carriage road on that side of the house and I shouted to the driver to stop , as if he went on , he must undoubtedly come to grief .sx The carriage stopped abruptly when it came to the running water , turned and in doing so drove over the lawn .sx " I got up to it , and by this time my son had joined me with a lantern .sx " Neither of the men on the box had spoken and there was no sound from the inside of the carriage .sx " My son looked in and all he could discern was a stiff-looking figure inside ; sitting up in a corner and draped apparently from head to foot in white .sx The absolute silence of the men outside was mysterious and the white figure inside , apparently of a female , not being alarmed or showing any sign of life was strange .sx " Men , carriage and horses were unknown to me , although I know the country so well .sx " The carriage continued its way across the lawn , turning up a road which led past the stables and so into the drive again and away .sx We could see no traces of it the next morning , and no mark of wheels or horses' feet on the soft grass or gravel road .sx " My wife and daughter also saw the carriage , being attracted to the window by my shout .sx " Mr. Podmore , who visited the house on behalf of the Society in September , 1878 , states in his report :sx " Major W- is practically satisfied that what he and his family saw was not a real carriage .sx He showed me the whole scene of its appearance .sx He spoke to the man but without receiving a reply .sx He made many inquiries but could not find that anyone had seen the carriage at all .sx " The locality is very lonely , there being no villages or hamlets and but few private residences .sx Major W- has had one other purely subjective hallucination .sx " " The disappearance of the figures , " says Mrs. Henry Sidgwick , in commenting on the story , " on sudden speech or movement , is a feature which occurs both in subjective and telepathic phantasms , and there could not be a clearer indication of the hallucinatory character of the latter .sx " A curious alternation in the colour of the carriage , horses and figures , is noteworthy in another story .sx In this case , the coachman and footmen on the box are described as having black faces , while inside were four ladies all dressed completely in black .sx This apparition is said to have been seen from a window , and passed the house without producing any sound on the gravel drive .sx The tradition that the soul after death , sometimes takes the form of a bird and flies to heaven , is one of considerable antiquity , and is common in many parts of the world .sx In Egyptian hieroglyphics , a bird signifies the soul of man , and the North American Indians maintain that the souls of their chiefs take the form of small wood- .sx birds .sx In Mexico , there was an early belief that the souls of nobles after death , entered into certain singing birds , while doves , pigeons , crows , owls , storks and eagles , have been supposed to be the temporary abodes of human spirits .sx There is a story of this description associated with Joan of Arc , and in some parts of Russia , the peasantry are said to believe that such spirits , especially those of children , revisit their old homes and to entice them , place bread-crumbs on a piece of white linen on the window sills for them to eat .sx Spectral animals play a part in many ghost stories , and dogs in particular , are associated with the souls of wicked persons .sx At a hamlet near Tring , in Hertfordshire , an old woman suspected of witchcraft was drowned in 1751 .sx A sweep who was declared to be responsible for the deed , was tried and hanged near the place where the murder was committed .sx While the gibbet was standing and long after it had disappeared , the spot was said to be haunted by a great black dog which was supposed to be the visible embodiment of the sweep .sx Many years ago , the village schoolmaster driving home late one night alleged that he had actually seen this monster and gave the .sx following account of his experience :sx " I was returning home late at night in a gig with the person driving , and when we came to the spot where the gibbet had stood , we saw on the bank of the roadside a flame of fire as large as a man's hat .sx " ` What's that ?sx ' I exclaimed .sx " ` Hush !sx ' said my companion , and suddenly pulling in his horse , came to a stop .sx " I then saw an immense black dog just in front of the horse , the strangest looking creature I ever beheld .sx He was as big as a Newfoundland , but very gaunt , shaggy with long ears and tail , eyes like balls of fire and large long teeth , for he opened his mouth and seemed to grin at us .sx " In a few minutes the dog disappeared and vanished like a shadow or sank into the earth .sx " Spectral dogs are generally described as being " black , large , and shaggy with long ears and tails " , although white dogs are not unknown among the stories of animal phantoms .sx The Welsh have their traditionary Gwyllgi or dog of darkness , a terrible animal described as being like a mastiff with blazing eyes , while the Manx have the Mauthe dog , a kind of shaggy spaniel , a specimen of which is said to haunt Peel Castle in the Isle of Man .sx The Mauthe dog was a sociable kind of animal , for according to tradition , he would enter the guard-room of the Castle and lie down by the fireside .sx There are several legends of spectral packs of hounds which have been seen careering over the fields in different parts of the country .sx In the north , they are known as ` Gabriel's hounds ' , while in Cornwall they are called ` the Devil and his Dandy dogs ' .sx The latter are described as " monstrous human-headed dogs , black , with fiery eyes and teeth sprinkled all over with blood " .sx They are heard yelping through the air where they are .sx supposed to be hunting the souls of wicked men the moment they quit their bodies .sx There is an old tradition associated with Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire , which states that the lady-founder visits the ruins of the building in the shape of a white doe .sx Wordsworth embodies the story in his poem , " The White Doe of Rylstone " .sx " Which , though seemingly doomed in its breast to sustain .sx A softened remembrance of sorrow and pain , .sx Is spotless and holy , and gentle and bright , .sx And glides o'er the earth like an angel of light .sx " A curious story is related of a battalion of French soldiers , who during the toils and dangers of a campaign in Northern Africa , were making a forced march to relieve a certain post , on a very oppressive day .sx Their strength was 800 men , all hardy and seasoned to the climate and noted for their courage and bravery .sx One night they halted , and were forced to occupy a narrow , low building at Tropoea which had barely accommodation for 300 men .sx Nevertheless they crowded inside and exhausted , fell asleep .sx At midnight , they were all aroused by terrible screams , which seemed to issue from all quarters of the building , and to their amazement , saw what appeared to be a gigantic dog which bounded in through the open windows and rushed with extraordinary speed over the breasts of the prostrate men .sx Jumping to their feet , the soldiers rushed from the building in terror .sx The next night on the persuasion of their colonel and the surgeon , they again took possession of the same building .sx " We saw , " says the narrator , " that they slept .sx We watched the arrival of the hour of the panic of the preceding night , and twelve o'clock had scarcely struck , when for the second time all the soldiers jumped to their feet .sx Again they heard the screams and again the visionary hound bestrode them to suffocation .sx The colonel and myself heard or saw nothing .sx " CHAPTER XXIV .sx THE GARMENTS OF APPARITIONS - THE KENSINGTON GHOST IN A TAFFETA GOWN - A GHOST IN A ` TOP HAT ' - THE VOICES OF GHOSTS - CORPSE-CANDLES AND MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS - APPOINTMENTS WITH GHOSTS .sx AN examination of some hundreds of ghost stories shows that in the majority of cases , apparitions are described as being clothed in long white garments and sometimes in robes of ` dazzling white ' .sx Next to white , grey or brown seem to be the favourite colours with ghostly visitants and we have ` grey ladies ' and ' brown-clad monks ' innumerable .sx In practically all records of apparitions , however ancient , their clothing is described , but why ghosts should need clothes unless they have corporeal bodies it is difficult to understand .sx George Cruickshank pertinently remarks :sx " It is clearly impossible for spirits to wear dresses made of materials of the earth .sx I should like to know if there are spiritual outfitting shops for the clothing of ghosts which pay visits to earth ?sx " 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