In commenting on the case, Mr. Stead remarks, "That such a story as
this, gravely told by a British General in the present day, helps us to
understand how our ancestors came to believe in the wonderful story of
Herne the Hunter." I do not know about Herne the Hunter, but it is at
all events good testimony that horses as well as men have spirits, for
one of the ghosts the General saw was, undoubtedly, that of the pony
murdered by B. Why it was still ridden by the phantom of its former
master is another question. The next case I narrate is also taken from Mr. Stead's same work. It was
sent him by one of the leading townsmen of Cowes, in the Isle of Wight,
and runs thus:--

"On a fine evening in April, 1859, the writer was riding with a friend
on a country road. Twilight was closing down on us, when, after a
silence of some minutes, my friend suddenly exclaimed:

"'No man knows me better than you do, J. Do you think I am a nervous,
easily frightened sort of man?' "'Far from it,' said I, 'among all the men I know in the wild country I
have lived and worked in, I know none more fearless or of more
unhesitating nerve.' "'Well,' said he, 'I think I am that, too, and though I have travelled
these roads all sorts of hours, summer and winter, for twenty years, I
never met anything to startle me, or that I could not account for, until
last Monday evening. About this time it was. Riding old Fan' (a chestnut
mare) 'here on this cross-' (a four-way cross) 'road, on my near side
was a man on a grey horse, coming from this left-hand road. I had to
pull my off-rein to give myself room to pass ahead of him; he was coming
at a right angle to me. As I passed the head of the horse I called out
"Good night." Hearing no reply, I turned in my saddle to the off-side,
to see whether he appeared to be asleep as he rode, but to my surprise I
saw neither man nor horse. So sure was I that I had seen such, that I
wheeled old Fan round, and rode back to the middle of the cross, and on
neither of the four roads could I see a man or horse, though there was
light enough to see two hundred or three hundred yards, as we can now. Well, I then rode over that gate' (a gate at one corner opening into a
grass field), 'thinking he might have gone that way; looking down by
each hedge, I could see nothing of my man and horse; and then--and not
until then--I felt myself thrill and start with a shuddering sense that
I had seen something uncanny, and, Jove! I put the mare down this hill
we are on now at her very best pace. But the strangest part of my story
is to come,' said he, continuing. "'After I had done my business at the farmhouse here, at foot of this
hill, I told the old farmer and his wife what I had seen, as I have now
told you. The old man said:

"'"For many years I have known thee, M----, on this road, and have you
never seen the like before on that cross?" "'"Seen what before?" I said. "'"Why, a man in light-coloured clothes on a grey horse," said he. "'"No, never," said I, "but I swear I have this evening." "'The farmer asked, "Had I never heard of what happened to the Miller of
L---- Mills about forty years ago?" "'"No, never a word," I told him. "'"Well," he said, "about forty years ago this miller, returning from
market, was waylaid and murdered on that cross-road, pockets rifled of
money and watch. The horse ran home, about a mile away. Two serving-men
set out with lanterns and found their master dead. He was dressed, as
millers often do in this part of the country, in light-coloured clothes,
and the horse was a grey horse. The murderers were never found. These
are facts," continued the farmer. "I took this farm soon after it all
happened, and, though I have known all this, and have passed over that
cross several thousands of times, I never knew anything unusual there
myself, but there have been a number of people who tell the same story
you have told mother and me, M----, and describe the appearance as you
have done to us to-night."'" Mr. Stead goes on to add: "Four evenings after all this occurred my
friend related it to me as we were riding along the same road. He
continued to pass there many times every year for ten years, but never a
day saw anything of that sort." My next case, a reproduction of a letter in the _Occult Review_ of
September, 1906, reads thus:--


"_A Phantom Horse and Rider--Mrs. Gaskin Anderston's Story_

"The following story is, I think, very remarkable, and I give it exactly
as it was told to me, and written down at the time. "A number of members of a gentleman's club were talking and discussing,
amongst other subjects, the possibility of there being a future state
for animals. One of the members said:

"'I firmly believe there is. In my early youth I had a practice as a
medical man in one of the Midland Counties. One of my patients was a
very wealthy man, who owned large tracts of land and had a stud
composed entirely of bay horses with black points--this was a hobby of
his, and he would never have any others. One day a messenger came
summoning me to Mr. L----, as he had just met with a very bad accident,
and was on the point of death. I mounted my horse and started off
without delay. As I was riding through the front gates to the house, I
heard a shot, and to my amazement the very man I was going to visit rode
past at a furious pace, riding a wretched-looking chestnut with one
white forefoot and a white star on its forehead. Arrived at the house
the butler said:

"'"He has gone, sir; they had to shoot the horse--you would hear the
shot--and at the same moment my master died." "'He had had this horse sent on approval; whilst riding it, it backed
over a precipice, injuring Mr. L---- fatally, and on being taken to the
stables it was found necessary to shoot it.'--Alpha." The next case I append (I published it in a weekly journal some years
ago) was related to me by a Captain Beauclerk. _The White Horse of Eastover_

When I came down to breakfast one morning I found amongst several
letters awaiting me one from Colonel Onslow, the Commanding Officer of
my regiment when I first joined. He had always been rather partial to
me, and the friendship between us continued after his retirement. I
heard from him regularly at more or less prolonged intervals, and either
at Christmas or Easter invariably received an invitation to spend a few
days with him. On this occasion he was most anxious that I should
accept. "Do come to us for Easter," he wrote. "I am sure this place will
interest you--it is haunted." The cunning fellow! He knew I was very keen on Psychical Research work,
and would go almost anywhere on the bare chance of seeing a ghost. At that time I was quite open-minded, I had arrived at no definite
conclusion as to the existence or non-existence of ghosts. But to tell
the truth, I doubted very much if the Colonel's word, in these
circumstances, could be relied upon. I had grave suspicions that this
"haunting" was but an invention for the purpose of getting me to
Eastover.