"put Out The Light!"
The Rev. D. W. G. Gwynne, M.D., was a physician in holy orders. In
1853 he lived at P--- House, near Taunton, where both he and his wife
"were made uncomfortable by auditory experiences to which they could
find no clue," or, in common English, they heard mysterious noises.
"During the night," writes Dr. Gwynne, "I became aware of a draped
figure passing across the foot of the bed towards the fireplace. I
had the impression that the arm was raised, pointing with the hand
towards the mantel-piece on which a night-light was burning. Mrs.
Gwynne at the same moment seized my arm, _and the light was
extinguished_! Notwithstanding, I distinctly saw the figure returning
towards the door, and being under the impression that one of the
servants had found her way into our room, I leaped out of bed to
intercept the intruder, but found and saw nothing. I rushed to the
door and endeavoured to follow the supposed intruder, and it was not
until I found the door locked, as usual, that I was painfully
impressed. I need hardly say that Mrs. Gwynne was in a very nervous
state. She asked me what I had seen, and I told her. She had seen
the same figure," "but," writes Mrs. Gwynne, "I distinctly _saw the
hand of the figure placed over the night-light, which was at once
extinguished_". "Mrs. Gwynne also heard the rustle of the 'tall man-
like figure's' garments. In addition to the night-light there was
moonlight in the room."
"Other people had suffered many things in the same house, unknown to
Dr. and Mrs. Gwynne, who gave up the place soon afterwards."
In plenty of stories we hear of ghosts who draw curtains or open
doors, and these apparent material effects are usually called part of
the seer's delusion. But the night-light certainly went out under the
figure's hand, and was relit by Dr. Gwynne. Either the ghost was an
actual entity, not a mere hallucination of two people, or the
extinction of the light was a curious coincidence. {186}
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