Who Were They ?

Hello readers, This a story which i got from a novel which i was reading recently. The writer was from the time when there was British rule in India and all the stories are of that time. This Story is going to be little funny than creepy hope you all will like it. Lets start with the story than

A certain military officer, let us call him Major Brown, rented a house in one ofthe big Cantonment stations where he had been recently transferred with hisregiment.This gentleman had just arrived from England with his wife. He was the son of arich man at home and so he could afford to have a large house. This was the firsttime he had come out to India and was consequently rather unacquainted withthe manners and customs of this country.Rough plan of Major Brown's HouseThis is a rough plan, the original of which was probably in the Major'shandwriting.Major Brown took this house on a long lease and thought he had made a bargain.The house was large and stood in the centre of a very spacious compound. Therewas a garden which appeared to have been carefully laid out once, but as thehouse had no tenant for a long time the garden looked more like a wilderness.There were two very well kept lawn tennis courts and these were a greatattraction to the Major, who was very keen on tennis. The stablings and outhouseswere commodious and the Major, who was thinking of keeping a fewpolo ponies, found the whole thing very satisfactory. Over and above everythinghe found the landlord very obliging. He had heard on board the steamer on hisway out that Indian landlords were the worst class of human beings one couldcome across on the face of this earth (and that is very true), but this particularlandlord looked like an exception to the general rule.He consented to make at his own expense all the alterations that the Majorwanted him to do, and these alterations were carried out to Major and Mrs.Brown's entire satisfaction.On his arrival in this station Major Brown had put up at an hotel and after some lterations had been made he ordered the house to be furnished. This was donein three or four days and then he moved in.Annexed is a rough sketch of the house in question. The house was a very largeone and there was a number of rooms, but we have nothing to do with all ofthem. The spots marked "C" and "E" represent the doors.Now what happened in Court was this:After he had occupied the house for not over three weeks the Major and his wifecleared out and took shelter again in the hotel from which they had come. Thelandlord demanded rent for the entire period stipulated for in the lease and theMajor refused to pay. The matter went to Court. The presiding Judge, who wasan Indian gentleman, was one of the cleverest men in the service, and he thoughtit was a very simple case.When the case was called on the plaintiff's pleader said that he would begin byproving the lease. Major Brown, the defendant, who appeared in person, saidthat he would admit it. The Judge who was a very kind hearted gentleman askedthe defendant why he had vacated the house."I could not stay," said the Major "I had every intention of living in the house, Igot it furnished and spent two thousand rupees over it, I was laying out agarden....""But what do you mean by saying that you could not stay?""If your Honour passed a night in that house, you would understand what Imeant," said the Major."You take the oath and make a statement," said the Judge. Major Brown thenmade the following statement on oath in open Court."When I came to the station I saw the house and my wife liked it. We asked thelandlord whether he would make a few alterations and he consented. After thealterations had been carried out I executed the lease and ordered the house to befurnished. A week after the execution of the lease we moved in. The house isvery large."Here followed a description of the building; but to make matters clear and short Ihave copied out the rough pencil sketch which is still on the record of the caseand marked the doors and rooms, as the Major had done, with letters.

"I do not dine at the mess. I have an early dinner at home with my wife and retireearly. My wife and I sleep in the same bedroom (the room marked "G" in theplan), and we are generally in bed at about 11 o'clock at night. The servants allgo away to the out-houses which are at a distance of about 40 yards from themain building, only one Jamadar (porter) remains in the front verandah. ThisJamadar also keeps an eye on the whole main building, besides I have got agood, faithful watch dog which I brought out from home. He stays outside withthe Jamadar."For the first fifteen days we were quite comfortable, then the trouble began."One night before dinner my wife was reading a story, a detective story, of aparticularly interesting nature. There were only a few more pages left and so wethought that she would finish them before we put out the reading lamp. We werein the bedroom. But it took her much longer than she had expected it would, andso it was actually half an hour after midnight when we put out the big sixteencandle power reading lamp which stood on a teapoy near the head of the beds.Only a small bedroom lamp remained."But though we put out the light we did not fall asleep. We were discussing thecleverness of the detective and the folly of the thief who had left a clue behind,and it was actually two o'clock when we pulled our rugs up to our necks andclosed our eyes."At that moment we heard the footsteps of a number of persons walking alongthe corridor. The corridor runs the whole length of the house as will appear fromthe rough sketch. This corridor was well carpeted still we heard the tread of anumber of feet. We looked at the door "C." This door was closed but not boltedfrom inside. Slowly it was pushed open, and, horror of horrors, three shadowyforms walked into the room. One was distinctly the form of a white man inEuropean night attire, another the form of a white woman, also in night attire,and the third was the form of a black woman, probably an Indian nurse or ayah."We remained dumb with horror, as we could see clearly that these unwelcomevisitors were not of this world. We could not move."The three figures passed right round the beds as if searching for something.They looked into every nook and corner of the bed-room and then passed intothe dressing room. Within half a minute they returned and passed out into thecorridor in the same order in which they had come in, namely, the man first, thewhite woman next, and the black woman last of all.

"We lay as if dead. We could hear them in the corridor and in the bedroomadjoining, with the door "E", and in the dressing room attached to that bedroom.They again returned and passed into the corridor ... and then we could hear themno more."It must have taken me at least five minutes to collect my senses and to bring mylimbs under control. When I got up I found that my wife had fainted. I hurriedout of the room, rushed along the corridor, opened the front door and called theservants. The servants were all approaching the house across the land whichseparated the servants' quarters from the main building. Then I went into thedining room, and procuring some brandy, gave it to my wife. It was with somedifficulty that I could make her swallow it, but it revived her and she looked atme with a bewildered smile on her face."The servants had in the meantime arrived and were in the corridor. Theirpresence had the effect of giving us some courage. Leaving my wife in bed Iwent out and related to the servants what I had seen. The Chaukidar (the nightwatchman) who was an old resident of the compound (in fact he had been incharge of the house when it was vacant, before I rented it) gave me the history ofthe ghost, which my Jamadar interpreted to me. I have brought the Chaukidarand shall produce him as my witness."This was the statement of the Major. Then there was the statement of JokhiPassi, Chaukidar, defendant's witness.The statement of this witness as recorded was as follows:"My age is 60 years. At the time of the Indian Mutiny I was a full-grown youngman. This house was built at that time. I mean two or three years after theMutiny. I have always been in charge. After the Mutiny one Judge came to livein the house. He was called Judge Parson (probably Pearson). The Judge had totry a young Muhammadan charged with murder and he sentenced the youth todeath. The aged parents of the young man vowed vengeance against the goodJudge. On the night following the morning on which the execution took place itappeared that certain undesirable characters were prowling about the compound.I was then the watchman in charge as I am now. I woke up the Indian nurse whoslept with the Judge's baby in a bed-room adjoining the one in which the Judgehimself slept. On waking up she found that the baby was not in its cot. Sherushed out of the bed-room and informed the Judge and his wife. Then a feverishsearch began for the baby, but it was never found. The police were communicated with and they arrived at about four in the morning. The policeenquiry lasted for about half an hour and then the officers went away promisingto come again. At last the Judge, his wife, and nurse all retired to their respectivebeds where they were found lying dead later in the morning. Another policeenquiry took place, and it was found that death was due to snake-bite. Therewere two small punctures on one of the legs of each victim. How a snake got inand killed each victim in turn, especially when two slept in one room and thethird in another, and finally got out, has remained a mystery. But the Judge, hiswife, and the nurse are still seen on every Friday night looking for the missingbaby. One rainy season the servants' quarters were being re-roofed. I had then anoccasion to sleep in the corridor; and thus I saw the ghosts. At that time I was asafraid as the Major Saheb is to-day, but then I soon found out that the ghostswere quite harmless."This was the story as recorded in Court. The Judge was a very sensible man (Ihad the pleasure and honour of being introduced to him about 20 years after thisincident), and with a number of people, he decided to pass one Friday night inthe haunted house. He did so. What he saw does not appear from the record; forhe left no inspection notes and probably he never made any. He deliveredjudgment on Monday following. It is a very short judgment.After reciting the facts the judgment proceeds: "I have recorded the statements ofthe defendant and a witness produced by him. I have also made a localinspection. I find that the landlord, (the plaintiff) knew that for certain reasonsthe house was practically uninhabitable, and he concealed that fact from histenant. He, therefore, could not recover. The suit is dismissed with costs."The haunted house remained untenanted for a long time. The proprietorsubsequently made a gift of it to a charitable institution. The founders of thisinstitution, who were Hindus and firm believers in charms and exorcisms, hadsome religious ceremony performed on the premises. Afterwards the house waspulled down and on its site now stands one of the grandest buildings in thestation, that cost fully ten thousand pounds. Only this morning I received a visitfrom a gentleman who lives in the building, referred to above, but evidently hehas not even heard of the ghosts of the Judge, his wife, and his Indian ayah.

So what do you think about this story ? Wheather it was creepy or funny ? I found it rather funny ? Comment me your views on this story. Thanks for reading.

Whats Coming next ? Wait and see. it can be anything from my research collection or from my bookish world.