RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS


THE GROANING TREE OF BADDESLEY, HAMPSHIRE.

(_For the Mirror_.)


Gilpin, in his "Remarks on Forest Scenery," says, A cottager, who lived
near the centre of the village, heard frequently a strange noise behind
his house, like that of a person in extreme agony. Soon after, it caught
the attention of his wife who was then confined to her bed. She was a
timorous woman, and being greatly alarmed, her husband endeavoured to
persuade her that the noise she heard was only the bellowing of the stags
in the forest. By degrees, however, the neighbours on all sides heard it,
and the circumstance began to be much talked of. It was by this time
plainly discovered that the groaning noise proceeded from an _Elm_, which
grew at the bottom of the garden. It was a young, vigorous tree, and, to
all appearance, perfectly sound. In a few weeks the fame of the groaning
tree was spread far and wide; and people from all parts flocked to hear it.
Among others it attracted the curiosity of the late Prince and Princess of
Wales, who resided at that time, for the advantage of a sea-bath, at
Pilewell, within a quarter of a mile of the groaning tree.

Though the country people assigned many superstitious causes for this
strange phenomenon, the naturalist could assign no physical one, that was
in any degree satisfactory. Some thought it was owing to the twisting and
friction of the roots: others thought that it proceeded from water, which