The Girl In Pink

Categories: Haunted Houses
Scary Books: The Book Of Dreams And Ghosts
: Andrew Lang

The following anecdote was told to myself, a few months after the

curious event, by the three witnesses in the case. They were

connections of my own, the father was a clergyman of the Anglican

Church; he, his wife and their daughter, a girl of twenty, were the

"percipients". All are cheerful, sagacious people, and all, though

they absolutely agreed as to the facts in their experience, professed

an utter disbelief in ghosts," which the occurrence has not affected

in any way. They usually reside in a foreign city, where there is a

good deal of English society. One day they left the town to lunch

with a young fellow-countryman who lived in a villa in the

neighbourhood. There he was attempting to farm a small estate, with

what measure of success the story does not say. His house was kept by

his sister, who was present, of course, at the little luncheon party.

During the meal some question was asked, or some remark was made, to

which the clerical guest replied in English by a reference to "the

maid-servant in pink".



"There is no maid in pink," said the host, and he asked both his other

guests to corroborate him.



Both ladies, mother and daughter, were obliged to say that unless

their eyes deceived them, they certainly _had_ seen a girl in pink

attending on them, or, at least, moving about in the room. To this

their entertainers earnestly replied that no such person was in their

establishment, that they had no woman servant but the elderly cook and

housekeeper, then present, who was neither a girl nor in pink. After

luncheon the guests were taken all over the house, to convince them of

the absence of the young woman whom they had seen, and assuredly there

was no trace of her.



On returning to the town where they reside, they casually mentioned

the circumstance as a curious illusion. The person to whom they spoke

said, with some interest, "Don't you know that a girl is said to have

been murdered in that house before your friends took it, and that she

is reported to be occasionally seen, dressed in pink?"



They had heard of no such matter, but the story seemed to be pretty

generally known, though naturally disliked by the occupant of the

house. As for the percipients, they each and all remain firm in the

belief that, till convinced of the impossibility of her presence, they

were certain they had seen a girl in pink, and rather a pretty girl,

whose appearance suggested nothing out of the common. An obvious

hypothesis is discounted, of course, by the presence of the sister of

the young gentleman who farmed the estate and occupied the house.



Here is another case, mild but pertinacious.