FAMOUS GHOSTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 24 February 1923, Page 19

FAMOUS GHOSTS.

(By OLIVER E. CARRUTII.I The Banshee Seen by tarty Famhawe. Ghosts of many species and various sizes, shapes, and colours swarm in Ireland, if Irish ghost stories are to be credited. Of all Irish ghosts the banshee is the best known, and it is said there are some folks who have never been in Ireland who believe the banshee is almost as common in the Emerald Isle as shamrocks and blue eyes. The banshee is a "ghostess," as the humorous have dubbed a female ghost, and she foretells death by wailing and wringing her hands. In ancient times the banshee foretold the carnage of battle by washing human heads and limbs or blood-stained clothing until the water was dyed with blood. Different descriptions of the banshee are given. Sometimes she is young and beautiful, and other times she is old and of terrifying aspect. Often she has red hair. One of the oldest and best known banshee stories was told In the "Memoirs" of Lady Fanshawe, wife of Sir Richard FaaKhawe, English diplomatist and author. In 1642 Lady Fanshawe and her husband visited a friend, who lived in an ancient Irish castle, surrounded by a deep moat. Awakened at midnight by a blood-curdling supernatural scream, Lady Fanshawe sawhovering in the moonlight before her window a female face and part of the body. The face was that of a young and rather good-looking woman, with reddish hair, loose and flying in every direction, c dress was that of the ancient Irish. The apparition finally vanished with two unearthly and hair-raising shrieks.

In the morning Lady Fanshawe told her host of her experience, and he gave an explanation of the apparition. "A near relation of my family," he said, "died last night in this castle. We disguised our certain expectation of the event from you lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful reception which was your due Now, before such an event happens in this family or castle, the female spectre whom you have Been ig a , wayg vigfb]e believed to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors aemded bimselt hy mag ,\zr:zz afterwards, to expiate the dishonour done he caused to be drowned in the

The Gho.t which Appeared in «„ Army Camp, Richard Braham, who wrote "iDgoidsbjLegend." „ authority for the story of an of pp a ar L"u n :t appeared bef ° re th€ Revolution and pave directions for the finding of valuable papers in England ThIhort whleh is saw to have been of a Major Blomberg, was seen almost the "act moment when that officer was killed in a skirmish with American soldiers Major Blomberg was the eon of a foster-brother of King George IV. As a group of Major Blomberg's brotherofficers were awaiting his return to camp from a foraging expedition, they suddenly heard what sounded like his footsteps approaching the tent. In a minute or two the major was at the entrance of the tent, and addressing one of the officers by name asked him to return to England and call at a house in a street in Westminster, where he would find in one of the rooms, which he described in detail, a tin box contalnln? papers of great importance to his (thi major's) son, who would soon be fatherless.

The officers were amazed at the ma]or"3 words and were apparently too confused to ask him to explain or attempt to detain him when he turned about and walked away. When they recovered a measure of their composure they called a sentry ami asked him if he had seen the major. The sentry said he had seen no one at the tent and that no one had passed him. Within fifteen mlnntes news was brought to the came that the foraging party had been euprlsed and thnt Major Elomberg had been killed. Was the appearance the spirit of Major Blomberg, or had he had a premonition of death and returned to camp to give Instructions for the finding of the papers before going on with his men? No one knows. On the return of the regiment to England a call was made at the house In Westminster and the box was found as directed. It contained papers relating to valuable property In Yorkshire. Queen Charlotte took an Interest In Major Blomberg'e semi and had him brought up in the Royal palace. Later he became Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral and chaplain to George IV. ■ The Cock lane "Ghost." The noted Cock Lane "ghost" was no ghost at all, a London jury declared in 1762, yet there are circumstances which suggest that perhaps the "ghost" was not an imposture. Certainly all the mysteries of the affair were not cleared up. Elizabeth, eleven-year-old daughter ot Richard Parsons, of Cock Lane, was tlie Cock Lane "ghost," in the opinion of educated London. In 1759, one William Kent and his dead wife's sister, Fanny Lynes, were boarding with Tarsons. One night when the little girl slept with Fanny they heard extraordinary noises whicn Fanny thought were a warning of her ovra death. The noises continued until Kent and bis sister-in-law moved to Clerkenwell, where Fanny died.

Iα January. 1762, shortly after Kent successfully suerl Tarsons for the recovery of a debt, the Tarsons household was slarmert hy strange noises which came from the bedstead of Elizabeth, and which sounded like the scratching of a cat on a cane chair. Parsons declared the noises were made by a ghost, which he questioned, the "ghost~ answering by "yes and no" knocks. Iα this way the "ghost" asserted it was the spirit of Fanny, who, it said, had been poisoned by Kent.

The story was widely circulated, and for • months thousands of persons crowded to Cock Lane to hear the "ghost." Dr. Samuel Johnson visited the house, and was attacked for his credulity by Churchill in a long poem. So excited was London that a party went to the Vault of St. John"s Church, where the body of Fanny had been temporarily deposited, to hear the

"ghost" rap on the woman's coffin lid. The investigators heard nothing.

Suspicion was first cast on the genuineness of the spirit by the discovery that Fanny had not been poisoned, but had died of smallpox. Elizabeth was subjected to searching tests, and it was found one night that the scratchings came from a piece of wood she had hidden In her clothing. Parsons, his wife, and another woman were convicted of conspiracy and Parsons was sentenced to the pillory and given a gaol sentence. The others escaped with lighter punishments. A weak point in the exposure of the •'ghost" was that witnesses declared noises made by the girl with the piece of wood were not the same as had been heart! before. Other nights when the noises were heard a committee of women wli" thoroughly examined her could firi'l nothing. Also, if the girl was merely tricky, why did her family pretend that the ghost was the spirit of that fiend woman who hail heard the same sounds j with her own ears when alive}