{"product_id":"2940013685017","title":"The Tomb of Sarah","description":"My father was the head of a celebrated firm of church restorers and\u003cbr\u003edecorators about sixty years ago. He took a keen interest in his work,\u003cbr\u003eand made an especaal study of any old legends or family histories that\u003cbr\u003ecame under his observation. He was necessarily very well read and\u003cbr\u003ethoroughly well posted in all questions of folklore and medieval legend.\u003cbr\u003eAs he kept a careful record of every case he investigated the manuscripts\u003cbr\u003ehe left at his death have a special interest. From amongst them I have\u003cbr\u003eselected the following, as being a particularly weird and extraordinary\u003cbr\u003eexperience. In presenting it to the public I feel it is superfluous to\u003cbr\u003eapologize for its supernatural character.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMY FATHER'S DIARY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1841 .--June 17th. Received a commission from my old friend Peter Grant\u003cbr\u003eto enlarge and restore the chancel of his church at Hagarstone, in the\u003cbr\u003ewilds of the West Country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJuly 5th. Went down to Hagarstone with my head man, Somers. A very long\u003cbr\u003eand tiring journey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJuly 7th. Got the work well started. Be old church is one of special\u003cbr\u003einterest to the antiquarian, and I shall endeavour while restoring it to\u003cbr\u003ealter the existing arrangements as little as possible. One large tomb,\u003cbr\u003ehowever, must be moved bodily ten feet at least to the southward.\u003cbr\u003eCuriously enough, there is a somewhat forbidding inscription upon it in\u003cbr\u003eLatin, and I am sorry that this particular tomb should have to be moved.\u003cbr\u003eIt stands amongst the graves of the Kenyons, an old family which has been\u003cbr\u003eextinct in these parts for centuries. The inscriptaon on it runs thus:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSARAH.\u003cbr\u003e1630.\u003cbr\u003eFOR THE SAKE OF THE DEAD AND THE WELFARE\u003cbr\u003eOF THE LIVING, LET THIS SEPULCHRE REMAIN\u003cbr\u003eUNTOUCHED AND ITS OCCUPANT UNDISTURBED TILL\u003cbr\u003eTHE COMING OF CHRIST.\u003cbr\u003eIN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON, AND\u003cbr\u003eTHE HOLY GHOST.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJuly 8th. Took counsel with Grant concerning the 'Sarah Tomb'. We are both\u003cbr\u003every loth to disturb it, but the ground has sunk so beneath it that the\u003cbr\u003esafety of the church is in danger; thus we have no choice. However, the\u003cbr\u003ework shall be done as reverently as possible under our own direction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrant says there is a legend in the neighbourhood that it is the tomb of\u003cbr\u003ethe last of the Kenyons, the evil Countess Sarah, who was murdered in\u003cbr\u003e1630. She lived quite alone in the old castle, whose ruins still stand\u003cbr\u003ethree miles from here on the road to Bristol. Her reputation was an evil\u003cbr\u003eone even for those days. She was a witch or were-woman, the only\u003cbr\u003ecompanion of her solitude being a familiar in the shape of a huge Asiatic\u003cbr\u003ewolf. This creature was reputed to seize upon children, or failing these,\u003cbr\u003esheep and other small animals, and convey them to the castle, where the\u003cbr\u003eCountess used to suck their blood. It was popularly supposed that she\u003cbr\u003ecould never be killed. This, however, proved a fallacy, since she was\u003cbr\u003estrangled one day by a mad peasant woman who had lost two children, she\u003cbr\u003edeclaring that they had both been seized and carried off by the\u003cbr\u003eCountess's familiar. This is a very interesting story, since it points to\u003cbr\u003ea local superstition very similar to that of the Vampire, existing in\u003cbr\u003eSlavonic and Hungarian Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tomb is built of black marble, surmounted by an enormous slab of the\u003cbr\u003esame material. On the slab is a magnificent group of figures. A young and\u003cbr\u003ehandsome woman reclines upon a couch; round her neck is a piece of rope,\u003cbr\u003ethe end of which she holds in her hand. At her side is a gigantic dog\u003cbr\u003ewith bared fangs and lolling tongue. The face of the reclining figure is\u003cbr\u003ea cruel one: the corners of the mouth are curiously lifted, showing the\u003cbr\u003esharp points of long canine or dog teeth. The whole group, though\u003cbr\u003emagnificently executed, leaves a most unpleasant sensation.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070193254640,"sku":"2940013685017","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013685017","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}