Chapter 4
The Ghost Club
1960s
1961
38
YEARS
THE CASE THAT NEVER WAS
“I have come across many ghosts that are not ghosts, the faked, the false and the fraudulent. For this reason I always look for a normal explanation when I visit an allegedly haunted house or locality before considering a paranormal one.”
“There was for instance what I have always called
‘the case that never was’.”
“Having received reports of ‘ghostly’ music in a house in Sussex, I made inquiries, and received a polite invitation to visit the house.”
“My first impression on meeting the owner, who lived by himself in the large house...”
“…was that he was a lonely man."
“He seemed to be completely relaxed and not at all troubled by the ‘mysterious music’ which I was told…”
“…had been heard
from all the rooms on the ground floor of the house…”
“He talked at length. I asked all sorts of questions, and was told there were no special times no legend or story associated with the house that might account for the ‘phantom music’.”
“After a while, I thought I heard the faint sound of music, somewhat distant and seeming to originate in an adjoining room…”
“I looked at my host.
He returned my gaze with the ghost of a smile on his face.
‘Yes, there it is - go and look if you like.’ ”
“I went quietly into the next room...”
“…and the music stopped.”
“He had followed me,
and we went on a tour…”
“I spent the best part of three hours at the house…”
“…when I noticed that the music was only heard when my host was sitting back in his chair.”
“I subjected him to minute scrutiny, and noticed that his left hand seemed to clutch the padded armrest of his chair
each time just before the music started.”
“Each time I let him think that
the room where the music appeared to originate
was the important thing…”
“…but in fact I was watching him very carefully…”
“Eventually, when he disappeared into the kitchen with the tray of empty coffee cups, I quickly examined his chair and discovered a series of small buttons hidden beneath the upholstery at the end of the armrest.”
“I pressed one and heard music!”
“I heard my host hurriedly returning.”
“He looked daggers at me.”
“And this time
my face bore
the ghost of a smile.”
“He knew the game was up and admitted that he was something of a gadget maniac. He had recorded muted mixed music to play under the floorboards”
“We parted amicably and I never met him again, although several years later a researcher at the SPR asked me whether I had heard about a house on the south coast where the sound of a dog barking had been heard in an empty room by psychic investigators and had actually been recorded. Then he told me the name of the occupant”
