A GHOSTLY DEATH

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 155, 29 December 1936, Page 13

A GHOSTLY DEATH

IN ZUSTADT CASTLE

HAUNTED CHAMBER AFFAIR

MYSTERY MARKINGS

In the art of murder—and the ghastly business does at times come under such a classification—the Latin, the Teuton, and the Slav are far more fantastic and bizarre than the more unimaginative Anglo-Saxon, writes Lester Crawley in the "Winnipeg Free Press." It is amidst the Old World capitals that are to be found the curious, odd, strange, and monstrous in murder. Scientists and psychic specialists from all over Europe were summoned not so long ago as medico-legal experts by the Assize Court of Upper Silesia to help to solve one of the weirdest death mysteries in the annals of German crime—a man "killed by a ghost." The case was that of Anton Holberg, a debonair young squire of a large estate, who was found dead in his bed in the haunted chamber of the oldworld castle of Zustadt. Circling his neck were the distinctive markings of a thin cord suggesting strangulation. Yet there was no evidence of the presence of a second person in the room. The door was locked with the key in the inside and the bolt shot, while the windows were fastened from the inside.

For centuries this stronghold of the medieval barons had been associated with a ghost, supposed to haunt one chamber only. Challenged to put his, scepticism to the test by sleeping alone in the chamber, which had not been occupied for many years, the young squire accepted, and Retired to.the room shortly before midnight. All the household were- asleep when, in the early hours of the morning, precisely, at the time when the ghost is supposed to start its wanderings, a cry was heard in the haunted chamber.

FOUND HIM DEAD. , When the aroused family rushed to the spot and forced the door, the cicupant was discovered there dead, with a mark around the throat closely resembling that which tradition associates with the visitations of the hooded monk.

Following an autopsy, performed by the pathologist of the police laboratory of Silesia, aided by a distinguished medico-legalist of Berlin, the medical man announced that death was not brought about by any sudden stroke of either heart or brain. They were willing, however, to accept the theory of death from a sudden paroxysm of dread terror, but for the fact of the clear outline of strangulation marks around the neck.

And then there was the cry of terror in the small hours (»f the morning!

Though the police held firmly to the theory that Holberg was the victim of a cunning murderer- who, for all the bolted doors and windows, knew some way of getting into the haunted chamber, the court held that, in view of conditions within the room, such an explanation was not reasonable. Some of the psychic specialists testified that, in their opinion, the young squire had come to his death through a "ghostly agency." They contended that the power for good or evil of the ghost was real and that it had once more manifested its power by visiting with death the man who scoffed the legend. Some medico-legal experts appearing in the case explained .the tragedy as simply due to a mind which, keyed up to the highest point, of: excitement when left alone in the room, had imagined the arrival of the ghost. IMAGINED A GHOST. The cry of agony they put down to the fact that in, his nervous .and excitable state the, man had t perhaps come out of a none-tbo-peaceful slumber and imagined he saw the ghost bending over him. ,' , Though the Coroner's Court has accepted a tentative verdict of "death from. an , indefinably . cause," .the Silesiah police ate adamant in their belief that Holberg was the victim of a cunningly-planned murder. Through having dinned into his ears, a whole series of weird and terrifying^ stories concerning the evil machiriatibns of the hqoded monk of Zustadt, .the young German was literally frightened to death.As the.police have pieced^the strange story, tqgether,,.. the p youthful Silesian squire Vent into the haunted room in a trembling and overwrought state: He was taunted with the significant intimation that, if he failed.to make good his boast about sleeping in the illomened chamber, he might be branded as a coward by his friends and neighbours. The clear-cut markings of a thin piece of cord pulled taut around the neck of the victim were, so the police declare, made by one of those present at the dinner on the night of the tragedy. It was during the coffee and liqueurs session, while the discussion about the- ghost was at its height, that the strangulation demonstration was made on Holberg with a piece of cord taken from a window shade. So violent was the demonstration that it left a visible "rope burn" weal around Holberg's neck. It was immediately after this that the youth retired to "the haunted sleeping chamber. REJECTED BY COURT. Since those present at the dinner denied that any • demonstration of strangulation featured their ghostly discussion, the Coroner's Court informed the police that he could not entertain their version of the death, adding, however, that he would keep the case open, pending further inquiries. Murder by fright, or murder by suggestion—that's the theory upon which the police of Silesia are working to clear up the mysterious death of Anton Holberg.

The police say that they have discovered a most likely motive for the crime, which they will reveal at the proper time.