Bumps in the Night

Lot of things go bump, bump, bump in the night. They howl, they growl, and bang against the house. Squirrels scamper across our tile roof. One night, something caused me to look out the bedroom window. Lo and behold a family of raccoons! I knew they’d been in the area because my neighbor saw them climbing out of the gutter at the corner. They go for water (don’t we all in CA) and chewed the neighbor’s hose.

Here are a few related quotes that caught my eye:

So says the immortal Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 1:

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.
--Marcellus.

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
~Scottish Saying

Where there is no imagination there is no horror. ~Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

 

 

Comments

[Michael A. Black]

Conan Doyle knew about things going bump in the night, all right. He became involved in spiritualism toward the end of his life. This was after he lost his son and brother in WW I. He was once giving a lecture when a strange sound echoed in the auditorium and Doyle cried out that a spirit was trying to contact him. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a malfunction of a man's hearing aid.