An excerpt from the Diary of Professor Matthias Jeremiah Braithwaite; a Victorian investigator of the paranormal, on his travels around York, a city most haunted.
"Dear Diary,
"This matter troubles me deeply.
"Countless sightings and disturbing tales surround the tormented soul named Alice. Her notoriety in this city is the stuff of legend - indeed a street bears testimony to her troubled spirit. Mad Alice Lane is a narrow alley which in previous times was slum residence for some of the city’s more nefarious characters.
"Alice Smith, or Mary Alice Smith was allegedly a battered wife or lady of poor virtue who after years of abuse or perhaps illness finally lost all reason and did murder her husband in the most brutal of ways. Poison some say; a meat clever say others - rumours of her exploits abound and tales of her execution in the castle are whispered about to this day. But records do not always say what happened to the criminally insane and her true fate may never be known.
"Manifestations of Alice have me concerned not only for the safety of those who have borne witness to her appearance, but for this tormented soul herself.
"Sightings of a figure shrouded in a dirty and shredded sheet; twitching and jarring movements and a wail so terrifying it would chill you to your marrow. She has, by many accounts I have heard, the dead headed stalk of a flower embroidered on her shroud or perhaps a tear has split the head from the stem. Details are sparse as most people do not linger in her presence.
"Under the flickering lamplight in the shadows and windows she appears; eyes different to other spirits which have been encountered. Two swirling voids enchant your wits and draw you in - a siren to your doom. Methods of her murders are seen in the blink of an eye, sometimes a potion bottle with noxious fumes emitting from it or rivers of blood, splatters and a cleaver. Never the same tale, never the same sighting - a mystery so confused it is akin to being inside the broken mind of the spirit itself.
"I pray for the soul of poor Alice. My many visits to the late night streets of this city have not borne witness to her apparition as yet but a tormented howl did pierce the the night, a sound so angst ridden and sad my very soul did weep. "
M.J. Braithwaite
"Dear Diary,
"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."
The enchanted edition of the print is larger than other formats - presented in a black mount with outer dimensions 18x12." When viewed under black light, the ghostly image glows. This special effect has been hand painted and signed by the artist.
Two enchanted versions are available - The Poisoner, and The Scene of the Crime.
Black lights are readily available from many suppliers.
The diary entry, printed on parchment effect paper, is in the reverse.
Also available in smaller sizes in monochrome and colour edition.
© The Artist
