“M. Meurice hears the same sounds on his bedroom door. There are three doors to M. Meurice’s bedroom: one leads into a dressing-room, one into a clothes-room, the third into a study; it is at this third door that the above-mentioned phenomena occur.
“Sometimes M. Meurice hears the window of his own bedroom, as well as that of the room upstairs, open and shut. He has got up repeatedly, and gone upstairs to see what was happening, but has always found the door closed, which he fancied he had heard being opened. Whenever, on returning to his bedroom, he left the door of the room upstairs open, the noise of footsteps would begin again as soon as he had left, but without the sound of the opening and shutting of the bedroom door.
“3. Noises as of furniture being moved about. The medium hears the chairs and tables of the room above him move about; his faculties of observation are well developed, and he believes he recognises:—
- “(a) Accompanying the noise of the displacement of chairs and tables, Chappe’s footstep.
- “(b) H. B.’s footsteps, on the contrary, are accompanied by the noise a heavy person might make when sitting on a bed. The medium hears the mattress creaking.
- “(c) Lastly, he hears a noise similar to what would be produced by a person lying back in an armchair.
“4. Noises of material objects other than furniture: these noises are like:—
- “(a) A bag of corn or nuts emptied on to the floor of the bedroom upstairs.
- “(b) Something hard striking the floor: these sounds are given rhythmically upon request.
- “(c) Wings beating the air. M. Meurice compares these sounds to the flapping of the wings of a turkey.
- “(d) The rubbing of paper.
“5. Diverse human noises:—
- “(a) Sighs.
- “(b) Heavy breathing.
“Are these sonorous phenomena subjective? I have never been in the house at the hour, when these sounds are said to be heard; and the noises I have heard from time to time are not sufficiently pronounced for me to be able to form any conclusion. I have assured myself that no water-pipes exist in the upper stories of the house; the latter is isolated, but any loud noises made in a neighbouring house can be heard in M. Meurice’s house.
“No one sleeps in the second story. A domestic, who occupies a room on the same floor as M. Meurice, has heard the noise of footsteps, and has often got up out of bed and gone upstairs to see who was moving about. Never finding any one, the domestic attributes these sounds to rats: an insufficient explanation. Moreover, a close examination of the house, repeated on several occasions, has revealed to me no signs of rats.