A Roman Ghost Story
The following is a 2000 year old tale told by Pliny, a consul in ancient Rome. I copied it from The Letters of Pliny the Consul, translated by William Melmoth, Esq. (printed in 1810).
There was at Athens a large and commodious house, which lay under the disrepute of being haunted. In the dead of night a noise, resembling the clashing of iron, was frequently heard, which if you listened more attentively, sounded like the rattling of chains. At first it seemed distant, but approached nearer by degrees, till a spectre appeared in the form of an old man, extremely meager and ghastly, with a long beard and disheveled hair, rattling the chains on his feet and hands.
The distressed inhabitants, in the mean while, passed their nights under the most dreadful terrors imaginable. This, as it broke their rest, ruined also their health, and brought on distempers, which, together with their constant horrors of mind, proved in the end fatal to their lives. Even in the day time, though the spirit did not then appear, yet the impression remained so strong upon their imaginations, that it still seemed before their eyes, and kept them in perpetual alarm.
By these means the house was eventually left deserted, as being deemed absolutely uninhabitable; so that it was now entirely abandoned to the ghost. However, in the hopes that some tenant might be found who was ignorant of this very alarming circumstance which attended it, a bill was put up, giving notice that it was either to be let or sold. It happened that Athenodorus, the philosopher, came to Athens at this time, and reading the bill, enquired the price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion; nevertheless, when he heard the whole story, he was so far from being discouraged, that he was more strongly inclined to hire it; and, in short, actually did so.
When it grew towards evening, he ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the fore part of the house, and after calling for a light, together with his pencil and tablets, he directed all of his people to retire. But that his mind might not, for want of employment, be open to the vain terrors of imaginary noises and spirits, he applied himself to writing with the utmost attention.
The first part of the night passed in usual silence, when at length the chains began to rattle: however, he neither lifted his eyes, nor laid down his pencil, but diverted his observation by pursuing his studies with greater earnestness. The noise increased and grew nearer, till it seemed at the door, and at last in the chamber. He looked up and saw the ghost exactly in the manner it had been described to him: it stood before him, beckoning with the finger. Athenodorus made a sign with his hand, that it should wait a little, and threw his eyes again upon his papers; but the ghost still rattling his chains in his ears, he looked up and saw him beckoning as before. Upon this he immediately arose, and, with the light in his hand, followed it. The spectre slowly stalked along, as if encumbered with its chains, and turning into the area of the house, suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, being thus deserted, made a mark with some grass and leaves where the spirit had left him.
The next day, he gave information to the magistrates, and advised them to order that spot to be dug up. This was accordingly done, and the skeleton of a man in chains was there found; for, the body having lain a considerable time in the ground, was putrified, and had mouldered away from the fetters. The bones being collected together, were publicly buried; and thus after the ghost was appeased by the proper ceremonies, the house was haunted no more.
Comments: