第22章 PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS(7)

Many such manifestations have appeared of recent years in various quarters of the world, each of which is treated by the press in a more or less comic vein, with a conviction apparently that the use of the word "spook" discredits the incident and brings discussion to an end.It is remarkable that each is treated as an entirely isolated phenomenon, Page 117and thus the ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength of the cumulative evidence.In this particular case of the Cheriton Dugout the facts are as follows:

Mr.Jaques, a Justice of the Peace and a man of education and intelligence, residing at Embrook House, Cheriton, near Folkestone, made a dugout just opposite to his residence as a protection against air raids.The house was, it may be remarked, of great antiquity, part of it being an old religious foundation of the 14th Century.The dugout was constructed at the base of a small bluff, and the sinking was through ordinary soft sandstone.The work was carried out by a local jobbing builder called Rolfe, assisted by a lad.Soon after the inception of his task he was annoyed by his candle being continually blown out by jets of sand, and, by similar jets hitting up against his own face.These phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous or electrical cause, but they reached such a point that his work was seriously hampered, and he complained to Mr.Jaques, who received the story with absolute incredulity.The persecution continued, Page 118however, and increased in intensity, taking the form now of actual blows from moving material, considerable objects, such as stones and bits of brick, flying past him and hitting the walls with a violent impact.Mr.Rolfe, still searching for a physical explanation, went to Mr.Hesketh, the Municipal Electrician of Folkestone, a man of high education and intelligence, who went out to the scene of the affair and saw enough to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws.A Canadian soldier who was billeted upon Mr.Rolfe, heard an account of the happenings from his host, and after announcing his conviction that the latter had "bats in his belfry" proceeded to the dugout, where his experiences were so instant and so violent that he rushed out of the place in horror.The housekeeper at the Hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks when no human hands touched them.Mr.Jaques, whose incredulity had gradually thawed before all this evidence, went down to the dugout in the absence of everyone, and was departing from it when five stones rapped up Page 119against the door from the inside.He reopened the door and saw them lying there upon the floor.Sir William Barrett had meanwhile come down, but had seen nothing.His stay was a short one.I afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to the grotto, but got nothing direct, though I saw the new brickwork all chipped about by the blows which it had received.