Transcribed from the 1909 Rider and Co. edition by David Price,
[email protected] THE LADY OF THE SHROUD
By Bram Stoker
Author of "Dracula," "The Jewel of Seven Stars," "The Mystery of the Sea," etc.
London Rider and Co.
Printed in Great Britain
_Copyright_, _London_, 1909, _by Bram Stoker__All rights reserved_
TO MY DEAR OLD FRIEND THE COMTESSE DE GUERBEL (GENEVIEVE WARD)
FROM "THE JOURNAL OF OCCULTISM"MID-JANUARY, 1907.
A strange story comes from the Adriatic. It appears that on the night ofthe 9th, as the Italia Steamship Company's vessel "Victorine" was passinga little before midnight the point known as "the Spear of Ivan," on thecoast of the Blue Mountains, the attention of the Captain, then on thebridge, was called by the look-out man to a tiny floating light closeinshore. It is the custom of some South-going ships to run close to theSpear of Ivan in fine weather, as the water is deep, and there is nosettled current; also there are no outlying rocks. Indeed, some yearsago the local steamers had become accustomed to hug the shore here soclosely that an intimation was sent from Lloyd's that any mischance underthe circumstances would not be included in ordinary sea risks. CaptainMirolani is one of those who insist on a wholesome distance from thepromontory being kept; but on his attention having been called to thecircumstance reported, he thought it well to investigate it, as it mightbe some case of personal distress. Accordingly, he had the enginesslowed down, and edged cautiously in towards shore. He was joined on thebridge by two of his officers, Signori Falamano and Destilia, and by onepassenger on board, Mr. Peter Caulfield, whose reports of SpiritualPhenomena in remote places are well known to the readers of "The Journalof Occultism." The following account of the strange occurrence writtenby him, and attested by the signatures of Captain Mirolani and the othergentleman named, has been sent to us.
" . . . It was eleven minutes before twelve midnight on Saturday, the 9thday of January, 1907, when I saw the strange sight off the headland knownas the Spear of Ivan on the coast of the Land of the Blue Mountains. Itwas a fine night, and I stood right on the bows of the ship, where therewas nothing to obstruct my view. We were some distance from the Spear ofIvan, passing from northern to southern point of the wide bay into whichit projects. Captain Mirolani, the Master, is a very careful seaman, andgives on his journeys a wide berth to the bay which is tabooed byLloyd's. But when he saw in the moonlight, though far off, a tiny whitefigure of a woman drifting on some strange current in a small boat, onthe prow of which rested a faint light (to me it looked like acorpse-candle!), he thought it might be some person in distress, andbegan to cautiously edge towards it. Two of his officers were with himon the bridge--Signori Falamano and Destilia. All these three, as wellas myself, saw It. The rest of the crew and passengers were below. Aswe got close the true inwardness of It became apparent to me; but themariners did not seem to realize till the very last. This is, after all,not strange, for none of them had either knowledge or experience inOccult matters, whereas for over thirty years I have made a special studyof this subject, and have gone to and fro over the earth investigating tothe nth all records of Spiritual Phenomena. As I could see from theirmovements that the officers did not comprehend that which was so apparentto myself, I took care not to enlighten them, lest such should result inthe changing of the vessel's course before I should be near enough tomake accurate observation. All turned out as I wished--at least, nearlyso--as shall be seen. Being in the bow, I had, of course, a better viewthan from the bridge. Presently I made out that the boat, which had allalong seemed to be of a queer shape, was none other than a _Coffin_, andthat the woman standing up in it was clothed in a shroud. Her back wastowards us, and she had evidently not heard our approach. As we werecreeping along slowly, the engines were almost noiseless, and there washardly a ripple as our fore-foot cut the dark water. Suddenly there wasa wild cry from the bridge--Italians are certainly very excitable; hoarsecommands were given to the Quartermaster at the wheel; the engine-roombell clanged. On the instant, as it seemed, the ship's head began toswing round to starboard; full steam ahead was in action, and before onecould understand, the Apparition was fading in the distance. The lastthing I saw was the flash of a white face with dark, burning eyes as thefigure sank down into the coffin--just as mist or smoke disappears undera breeze."