y
dog by his side. What was so alarming about the man was his face--it was
apparently a mere blob of flesh without any features in it. The lady
screamed out, whereupon there was a terrific crash, as if all the
crockery in the house had been suddenly clashed on the stone floor; and
a friend of the lady's, attracted to the spot by the noise, saw two
clouds of vapour, one resembling a man and the other a dog, which, after
hovering over the hearth for several seconds, finally dispersed
altogether.

A gasfitter, when working in the house, saw the same figures no less
than nine times, and so distinctly that he was able to give a detailed
description of both the man and dog.

The house seems to have been well known in Birmingham, and was certainly
standing as recently as 1885. Many theories were advanced as to its
history, the one gaining most credence being that it was occupied, in
1829, by a man who supplied the medical students with human bodies.

It was noticed at the time that many people who were seen to enter the
house in the company of the owner were never seen to leave it, which
accords well with the theory of resurrection men.

No suggestion has been offered to account for the animal, which may very
easily have been the phantom of the murderer's dog, or, what is rather
less likely, the dog of one of his numerous victims.

Anyhow, explanation or no explanation, the fact remains the house was
haunted in the manner described, and F. Grey, a Warwickshire Chief
Constable, in his _Recollections_, published 1821, alludes to it.

_The Dog in the Cupboard_

Miss Prettyman, whom I met some years ago in Cornwall, told me she once
lived in a house in Westmorland that was haunted by the apparition of a
large dog, enveloped in a blueish glow, which apparently emanated from
within it. The dog, whilst appearing in all parts of the house,
invariably vanished in a big cupboard at the back of the hall staircase.
Miss Prettyman, her family, several of their visitors, and the servants
all saw the same phantasm, and were, perhaps, more frightened by the
suddenness of its advent than by its actual appearance.

The theory was that it was the ghost of some dog that had been cruelly
done to death--possibly by starvation--in the cupboard.

_How the Ghost of a Dog saved Life_

When I was a boy, an elderly friend of mine, Miss Lefanu, narrated to me
an anecdote which impressed me much. It was to this effect.

Miss Lefanu was wal