, and,
seeking refuge in the town, I whiled away the hours till morning with a
fragrant cigar and novel. Directly I had breakfasted, I took the mummy
back to Thebes and left it there. No, thank you, Mr O'Donnell, I collect
many kinds of curios, but--no more mummies!"

CHAPTER IV

OCCULT HOOLIGANS

Deducing from my own and other people's experiences, there exists a
distinct type of occult phenomenon whose sole occupation is in
boisterous orgies and in making manifestations purely for the sake of
causing annoyance. To this phantasm the Germans have given the name
POLTERGEIST, whilst in former of my works I have classified it as a
Vagrarian Order of ELEMENTAL. It is this form of the superphysical,
perhaps, that up to the present time has gained the greatest
credence--it has been known in all ages and in all countries. Who, for
example, has not heard of the famous Stockwell ghost that caused such a
sensation in 1772, and of which Mrs Crowe gives a detailed account in
her _Night Side of Nature_; or again, of "The Black Lion Lane, Bayswater
Ghost," referred to many years ago in _The Morning Post_; or, of the
"Epworth Ghost," that so unceasingly tormented the Wesley family; or, of
the "Demon of Tedworth" that gave John Mompesson and his family no
peace, and of countless other well-authenticated and recorded instances
of this same type of occult phenomenon? The poltergeists in the
above-mentioned cases were never seen, only felt and heard; but in what
a disagreeable and often painful manner! The Demon of Tedworth, for
example, awoke everyone at night by thumping on doors and imitating the
beatings of a drum. It rattled bedsteads, scratched on the floor and
wall as if possessing iron talons, groaned, and uttered loud cries of "A
witch! A witch!" Nor was it content with these auditory demonstrations,
for it resorted to far more energetic methods of physical violence.
Furniture was moved out of its place and upset; the children's shoes
were taken off their feet and thrown over their heads; their hair was
tweaked and their clothes pulled; one little boy was even hit on a sore
place on his heel; the servants were lifted bodily out of their beds and
let fall; whilst several members of the household were stripped of all
they had on, forcibly held down, and pelted with shoes. Nor were the
proceedings at Stockwell, Black Lion Lane, and Epworth, though rather
more bizarre, any less violent.

To quote another instance of this