Count Richard's brother, into whose hands the castle passed, never dared take up their abode within its dreary walls.
FINISHING his story, Sir Mandeville drew from his pocket a clipping of the Times of March 24, 1878, and handed it to me. It was a short article and the paper was yellow with age. To the living heir of Wrightstone it conveyed the proof of the curse of his ancient ancestors:
Manchester, March 24.—While removing stones from the ancient ruined structure known as Wrightstone Castle, near here, to be used for building purposes in this city, several workmen found the skeleton of a young woman.
The skeleton was draped in a few strands of a decayed white robe. Clutched in the bony fingers of one hand was an ancient druidical sacrificial knife. The body was turned over to Sir Ernest Greystoke, of the British Museum, who is of the opinion that the skeleton is that of a druid priestess, no doubt interred alive in the old castle walls.
Strewn around the body and grasped in one hand were found several bits of dried flesh, claimed by several physicians of this city, who examined them, to be human hearts. Dried blood was also spattered about near the body.
There has been a revival of the old superstition of the "Specter Priestess of Wrightstone" among the villagers of this vicinity, and many are of the opinion that the skeleton recently unearthed is that of the specter priestess, who murdered her victims by tearing out their hearts. Two of the Counts of Wrightstone were supposed to have met their deaths at the hands of the apparition early in the reign of James I. The present Count Wrightstone, Sir Mandeville Wright, is now residing at London.
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