Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/418

380 Sir James writes: "It is not generally known that in Barbadoes there is a mysterious vault, in which no one now dares to deposit the dead. It is in a churchyard near the seaside. In 1807 the first coffin that was deposited in it was that of a Mrs. Goddard; in 1808 a Miss A. M. Chase was placed in it; and in 1812 Miss D. Chase. In the end of 1812 the vault was opened for the body of the Honourable T. Chase; but the three first coffins were found in a confused state, having been apparently tossed from their places. Again was the vault opened to receive the body of an infant, and the four coffins, all of lead, and very heavy, were much disturbed. In 1816 a Mr. Brewster's body was placed in the vault, and again great disorder was apparent in the coffins. In 1819 a Mr. Clarke was placed in the vault, and, as before, the coffins were in confusion.

"Each time that the vault was opened the coffins were replaced in their proper situations, that is, three on the ground side by side, and the others laid on them. The vault was then regularly closed; the door (and a massive stone which required six or seven men to move) was cemented by masons; and though the floor was of sand, there were no marks of footsteps or water.

"The last time the vault was opened was in 1819. Lord Combermere was then present, and the coffins were found thrown confusedly about the vault, some with the heads down and others up. What could have occasioned this phenomenon? In no other vault in the island has this ever occurred. Was it an earthquake which occasioned it, or the effects of an inundation in the vault?" (The last opening was really in 1820).

In Schomburgk's History of Barbadoes, published in 1844, there is a similar version. I have in my hands a manuscript, undated, but old, signed "J. Anderson, Rector," written on the back of a coloured sketch of the