MIDNIGHT SCENE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

MIDNIGHT SCENE.

LONELY HOUSE DRAMA

A story of an eerie scene at midnight, in which a mysterious axe appeared, was told at the inquest at Colwyn Bay, iJenbighshire, on Elizabeth Leyland, aged 72, of Atherton Road, Prescot, Lancashire. She had been spending a holiday with her brother, Mr. John Leyland, at Colwyn Bay, and her body was found at the l'oot of the cliffs. Robert Edward Stephen, who lives in a lonely house near the cliffs, said that he wemt to bed, leaving the front door unlatched for his family, who were out. Shortly before midnight he heard the door

open, and as liis two dogs did not bark he went downstairs with a candle. Ab he was about to shut the front door an axe appeared from the darkness outside. He dropped the candle and grasped the axe, flinging it behind him. He saw the shadowy outline of a woman retreating and her say in a loud voice as if she saw a vision, "There is my brother over there." _ He was unable to follow in his bare feet, but as soon as he dressed he set out with his dogs, but could find no trace of the woman. Miss Leyland's umbrella was found in the kitchen. It was stated that the body was fully clothed. Miss Leyland may have been walking round the cliff and been trapped by the tide. An open verdict was returned.