“A Mysterious Visitor”
Ellen Wood
can be found in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories
hardcover $23.07
paperback $16.99
ebook $7.99

Today’s ghost story, like yesterday’s, is concerned with the Indian Mutiny of 1857. This one is more concerned with the mutiny itself than a ghost, although there is definitely a ghost.

Ellen Wood wrote sensation novels in the 1800s. This story certainly is in that vein.

In this story, the wife of an officer is at home in England while her husband is in India. She had lost her baby in India before returning back to England for her health, along with her second infant.  To say that this woman is high-strung would be to understate things. The baby is teething, which means she has a slight temperature. To the mother, this means she’s ill and in mortal danger.  None of the servants or the neighbors can talk her out of this idea.

While the mother is sitting up, she hears footsteps on the gravel walk outside. She recognizes the tread as that of her husband. She sticks her head out and recognizes him in his full uniform.  When she calls to him, he doesn’t respond.

What follows is the woman rushing down to let him in, not finding him, and disturbing everyone to help her look. You know, of course, what is really going on if you’ve ever read a ghost story like this one.  The end of the story is a rather grisly recounting of how the officer met his death during the rebellion.

I found this one rather predictable. And I couldn’t stand the mother’s character at all. She was arrogant, stubborn, and not very likeable. On the other hand, the account of the rebellion was quite gripping.