A Chamber of Horrors

From an account in an English magazine, of a trip to a Swiss village called St. Gingo, we extract the following description of “A Chamber of Horrors:”

“Not long after I took the chateau, an old servant who had lived there with its former tenant, a German count, directed my attention to a wall of great thickness, extending from the end of a small bedroom, about forty from the ground. According to him, the German nobleman had always slept in that chamber, which he allowed no one to enter, save in his presence. On himself it appeared to produce a strange effect, since, according to the servants, he always shuddered on passing the doorway, while his countenance assumed a sadder expression than ordinary. Whether, had the opportunity been offered him, he would, before his death, have lifted the veil from the chamber’s mystery, the old domestic could not say, for he died suddenly of apoplexy, without leaving behind him, in writing, any clue to what had so long perplexed his dependents. When viewed from the court below, the ancient wall in a level with the chamber seemed to be built of large, loose stones, between the interstices of which swallows passed in and out. My curiosity being strongly excited, I went for a couple of workmen, and ordered them to make a perforation in the wall from the bed-chamber; but on taking down the painted canvas with which it was covered, this proved to be altogether unnecessary, since behind it there was a small door, which, on being pushed, swung back on its hinges.

Before proceeding any further, I dismissed the workmen, and ordering a candle to be brought, for the chamber was pitch dark, entered alone. The air, close and heavy, was impregnated, as I thought, with the odor of deceased animal substances, which immediately proved to be the case. Before me, on an antiquated bed, lay the body of a woman, shriveled to a mummy, dressed in the forgotten… Read More