THE WAIHI “GHOST”

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 17, 14 October 1927, Page 10

THE WAIHI “GHOST”

PERAMBULATIONS CONTINUE WOMEN LIVING IN STATE OF TERROR Dominion Special Service. , Auckland, October 13. Though the women ot Waihi are not likely to appreciate anything in the nature of humour in regard to the perambulations of the now generallyaccepted “ghost,” the latest report from the mining township may be considered as such, were it not for the serious side. The report is to the effect that those men who work on the afternoon shift, and do not return home until after midnight, now require to give a password before being admitted to their respective domiciles. To those women—and there are many—who are left, perhaps, with young children, and in some cases quite alone, the fashion almost borders on the tragic. The nightly terror which these unfortunates endure is more easily imagined than described. The latest visitation of a man, certainly without anything in the nature of”flowing white, to the house of a well-known East End resident, at 3.30 in the morning, dispenses with the theory that the whole thing is a myth, though exaggeration and nervous apprehension may have conjured up many reported “appearances.” The perambulations of this ' individual on the date in question arc corroborated by men working on the night shift at the mine, who state that the flash of an electric torch could be seen working around the east end of the town during the small hours of the morning. The risk the so-called practical joker is taking is, perhaps, more serious than he imagines, for, once caught, there will be little mercy shown him. The peculiarity of the humming and spitting noise which is associated with these appearances also identifies the visitant as being one mid the same individual, and the opinion is nowgeneral that he carries with him something in the nature of a battery. In another quarter it is alleged that the ghost is a drug victim, and a stranger to the town. At any rate, it is acknowledged that he works with a good deal of cunning and discrimination, making it most difficult for the searchers to choose the right time and locality.