Thrilling Discovery

The following wonderful story is told by the London correspondent of the Dublin Evening Mail: – “This is the age of discoveries, and one of such a startling nature has just been made in an English county that it seems out of place in the region of sober fact, and belong purely to the atmosphere of the three-volume novel. Here are the circumstances: the names for the moment I am not at Liberty to indicate. The earl of _____ married not long ago, and brought his bride home to one of the old family mansions which members of the English aristocracy regard with an affection amounting to veneration. The lady, however, being more continental in her tastes, after a short residence in the apartments appropriated to her use, expressed a wish to have a boudoir in the vicinity of her bed room. The noble earl would gladly have complied with the request, but upon examination, it was found that rooms, as sometimes happens in antique buildings were so awkwardly distributed that by no conceivable plan or re-arrangement could the desired boudoir be fitted in. – Thereupon it became necessary to invoke professional assistance, and an eminent architect was summoned from London. He examined the house narrowly, and said there seemed to be nothing for it but to build, though at the same time he could not resist the impression that there must be another undiscovered room somewhere in that wing of the mansion. The noble earl laughed at the idea; the eldest servants and retainers of the family were questioned, and declared that they never heard even a rumor of its existence. The ordinary methods of tapping, &c., were resorted to, but without effect. Still the architect retained his conviction, and declared himself ready to stake his professional reputation on the result. The earl at last consented to let the walls be bored and when the opening had been made, not only was the room found, but a sight presented itself which almost defeats attempts at description. The apartment was [fitted] in the richest and most luxurious style of 150 years ago. A quantity of lady’s apparel lay about the room, jewels were scattered on the dressing table, and but for the faded aspect which everything wore, the chamber might have been tenanted half an hour previously. On approaching the bed the most curious sight of all was seen, and it is this which affords the only clue to the mystery. The couch held the skeleton of a female, and on the floor underneath the bed, half in and half out, lay another skeleton, that of a man presenting evident traces of violence, and proving that, before he expired in that position, he must have receive some dreadful injury. The secret connected with this tale of has been well kept, for not merely had all tradition of the scene faded away, but even the existence of the room itself was forgotten the survivors, probably walled up remained hermetically sealed up till the present day when according to the best calculation after the lapse of a century and a half, daylight had accidentally penetrated into this chamber of horrors, which to the surprise of all concerned, has been discovered in one of the noblest mansions in the country.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 2