entered accordingly,
with a determination to suffer no deception. The little girl, on being
asked whether she saw the ghost, replied, "No; but she felt it on her back
like a mouse." She was then required to put her hands out of bed, and they
being held by some of the ladies, the spirit was summoned in the usual
manner to answer, if it were in the room. The question was several times
put with great solemnity; but the customary knock was not heard in reply
in the walls, neither was there any scratching. The ghost was then asked
to render itself visible, but it did not choose to grant the request. It
was next solicited to give some token of its presence by a sound of any
sort, or by touching the hand or cheek of any lady or gentleman in the
room; but even with this request the ghost would not comply.

There was now a considerable pause, and one of the clergymen went down
stairs to interrogate the father of the girl, who was waiting the result
of the experiment. He positively denied that there was any deception, and
even went so far as to say that he himself, upon one occasion, had seen
and conversed with the awful ghost. This having been communicated to the
company, it was unanimously resolved to give the ghost another trial; and
the clergyman called out in a loud voice to the supposed spirit, that the
gentleman to whom it had promised to appear in the vault was about to
repair to that place, where he claimed the fulfilment of its promise. At
one hour after midnight they all proceeded to the church, and the
gentleman in question, with another, entered the vault alone, and took up
their position alongside of the coffin of poor Fanny. The ghost was then
summoned to appear, but it appeared not; it was summoned to knock, but it
knocked not; it was summoned to scratch, but it scratched not; and the two
retired from the vault, with a firm belief that the whole business was a
deception practised by Parsons and his daughter. There were others,
however, who did not wish to jump so hastily to a conclusion, and who
suggested that they were perhaps trifling with this awful and supernatural
being, which, being offended with them for their presumption, would not
condescend to answer them. Again, after serious consultation, it was
agreed on all hands that if the ghost answered any body at all, it would
answer Mr. Kent, the supposed murderer; and he was accordingly requested
to go down into the vault. He went with several others, and summon