d the first object that greeted my vision in the hall was
the volume of Heine that had been so unceremoniously taken from me!
Assuredly this was the doings of a poltergeist! A poltergeist that up to
the present had confined its attentions to me, no one else in the house
having either heard or seen it.

In my study there is a deep recess concealed in the winter-time by heavy
curtains drawn across it; and often when I am writing something makes me
look up, and a cold horror falls upon me as I perceive the curtains
rustle, rustle as though they were laughing, laughing in conjunction
with some hidden occult monstrosity; some grey--the bulk of the
phantasms that come to me are grey--and glittering monstrosity who was
enjoying a rich jest at my expense. Occasionally, to emphasise its
presence, this poltergeist has scratched the wall, or thumped, or thrown
an invisible missile over my head, or sighed, or groaned, or gurgled,
and I have been frightened, horribly, ghastly frightened. Then something
has happened--my wife has called out, or someone has rung a bell, or the
postman has given one of his whole-hearted smashes with the knocker,
and the poltergeist has "cleared off," and I have not been disturbed by
it again for the remainder of the evening.

I am not the only person whom poltergeists visit. Judging from my
correspondence and the accounts I see in the letters of various
psychical research magazines, they patronise many people. Their _modus
operandi_, covering a wide range, is always boisterous. Undoubtedly they
have been badly brought up--their home influence and their educational
training must have been sadly lacking in discipline. Or is it the
reverse? Are their crude devices and mad, tomboyish pranks merely
reactionary, and the only means they have of finding vent for their
naturally high spirits? If so, I devoutly wish they would choose some
locality other than my study for their playground. Yet they interest me,
and although I quake horribly when they are present, I derive endless
amusement at other times, in speculating on their _raison d'etre_, and
curious--perhaps complex--constitutions. I do not believe they have ever
inhabited any earthly body, either human or animal. I think it likely
that they may be survivals of early experiments in animal and vegetable
life in this planet, prior to the selection of any definite types;
spirits that have never been anything else but spirits, and which have,
no doubt, often