about an hour after midnight
That night she retired early to rest , and her maid Susan shared her chamber -- an arrangement highly satisfactory to the abigail , who was glad of company in a house where ghosts were in the habit of perambulating during the night . Neither mistress nor maid closed an eye in slumber -- but midnight came , and they had not seen nor heard anything of a ghostly nature . Yet strange events were taking place in the house , -- events which will throw light upon the fearful mysteries of the place . It was about an hour after midnight , when a large stone among those of which the foundation of the house was built , turned slowly upon pivots , revealing an aperture in the wall , and at the same instant the glare of a lantern shone into the cellar . From the aperture emerged two persons of frightful appearance , one of whom carried the lantern ; they were both dressed in tight-fitting garments of black cloth , upon which was daubed in white paint the figure of a skeleton ; and each of their faces had been blacked , and then drawn over with the representation of a skull . Seen by an imperfect light , they exactly resembled two skeletons . ` By Jesus ! '