Beneath the Sheets; A Brother Betrayed - Enchanted Edition - Ghostly Lights

The year is 1893, in the reign of the great Queen Victoria. In York, a city most haunted, notorious ghost hunter Professor Matthias Jeremiah Braithwaite has gone missing. His diary, documenting his exploration of the city in search of paranormal activity, has been discovered. Could this explain the mystery of his disappearance?

"The Reverend Arthur T. Bright, a clergyman of condescending air and sanctimonious smile, author of “A Joyous Fulfilment” concerning the plight of the Immortal Soul, hosted a tedious and lengthy seminar within the magnificent St William’s College. This Tudor building was a wondrous place, the construction and style a marvel to behold, albeit in a regrettable state of repair.

The strictures to preserve one’s immortal soul described in Bright’s seminar made the thought of eternity intolerable. During one of his dreary monologues concerning the satanic effects of the imbibing of alcohol, I decided I must remove myself post haste and commit sin. Making a dash for the rear of the room I disappeared into the shadows where I was delighted to find a low doorway leading into a maze of corridors. I marvelled at this ancient building, whilst feeling simultaneously bemused by its state of disrepair.

Here I found the custodian of the buildings, Mr Albert Crabtree, a frail-looking individual who, with a mischievous glint in his eye, asked if I had escaped from Bright’s Lecture. Attempting to show dismay in my voice I replied “I am merely trying to retrace my steps as I appear to have lost my way, sir”. Crabtree gave a lopsided smile and replied “The man’s a hypocrite. Any funds he gets from the collection at the end will be going down his neck in The Board Tavern tonight. Miss May is always having to turf him out for getting his hands on the serving wenches”.

I spent a good hour talking to Crabtree about plans to raise funds to renovate the old building and he described its previous uses since its construction in the mid 1400s. In the 1600s the rooms were used as lodgings for those not quite sunken to the depths of the nearby slum area of Bedern. I enquired what ghosts might frequent this ancient building and he told me of two long-forgotten brothers who had once shared one of the cramped squalid rooms and whom he referred to as “the Brown brothers”.  He described how they would sit and watch the wealthy priests processing to and from the Minster bedecked in their finery. They had taken a particular interest in one portly priest of pompous demeanour who carried a rather grotesque ornately jewelled cross in his beringed hands and wore a golden necklace, visible beneath his flaccid chins. Coveting these riches, the elder brother devised a plan to rob the priest. Unfortunately his plan took a terrible turn for the worse and robbery turned into murder most foul, leaving the priest on the ground, stabbed to death by the elder’s hand.  The younger brother had been reluctant to become involved in the scheme and, stricken with guilt, hid in their lodgings with his share of the loot, terrified of discovery. 

Having agreed a pact of silence, the elder sibling feared his brother was wavering and would confess to the crime, deciding to pre-empt this outcome by reporting him to the authorities as the perpetrator. The younger brother was arrested, tried and hanged for the heinous crime, never disclosing his kinsman’s involvement and ignorant of the fact that it was this same brother who had revealed his identity. The elder brother’s relief soon turned to guilt and, wracked over his crime and subsequent betrayal, took to endlessly pacing backwards and forwards in his lodgings in the college buildings. His health declined and, slipping into illness, he died.

Crabtree said that, to this day, people hear the pacing of feet going back and forth within the rooms and corridors above. A brother betrayed by his own kin is a terrible crime, to say nothing of the murder that precipitated it. I surmised that the brothers would not have to spend eternity with the ponderous Rev Bright but, according to Crabtree, perhaps they would."

Prof Matthias. J. Braithwaite

The image is available in four formats:

Monochrome - a black & white print in a black mount

Colour - a colour print in a black mount

Enchanted Edition - a larger mounted print where the ghostly images glow under black light

Enchanted Limited Edition - a larger mounted print where the ghosts and many other background details illuminate under black light. The mount is hand signed by the artist and numbered from an edition of 1893 - the year of the Professor's disappearance!

The UV details are hand painted onto the print - each image will be slightly different. A black light torch/ lamp is required to view the ghostly glow - a regular torch will not work.

In his diary, the Professor recorded the discovery of the ghostly glow with his magic lamp. The diary entry, printed on parchment effect paper, is included with each artwork.

"What Devilry is this? My sketches and impressions of these unworldly beings have been enchanted by some form of witchcraft. It seems a ghoulish hand has been at work mimicking my own and changing the very nature of my picture. Viewed using a strange light purchased on my adventures in the Far East, an unnatural glow emanates from the very soul of the spirit I have drawn. It is my belief that this light will let me see into this world of spirits beyond our own - it will require much further study and experimentation.”

 Would you like your picture framing? Our favourite frame choices for this picture are Small Linear Black and Wide Distressed Black. The prints are framed on demand in the gallery's workshop - if the print is in stock, we can frame it! Do contact the gallery if you need help with framing, as we stock many other frames.

© The Artist