GHOSTLY ENCOUNTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1927, Page 4

GHOSTLY ENCOUNTER

AN ARCHDEACON’S STORY.

Ghost lore is to the fore again in England. The two latest stories concern St. Thomas a Beckett, who was supposedly seen in St. Thomas Church. Portsmouth, and an aristocratic “lady in grey” at East Barnet The first report of the appearance of Thomas a Beckett was given by Archdeacon Lovett, of Portsmouth, in monthly parish magazine. According to Archdeacon Lovett’s story, a friend of his was praying in the church in the dusk of evening, when suddenly he was disturbed by a maimed figure wearing the gown of a monk. The garment was slashed and stained with blood, and the head of the apparition had a wound in it. Terrified, the onlooker covered his face with his hands, and remained silent while the tall monk offered a prayer in Norman French for the welfare of the church. The verger then arrived, and the ghost vanished; the good citizen, whose prayers were disturbed, ran to the door, and fled down the street in terror. This is not the first time that Thomas a Beckett has “appeared,” for once before his is supposed to have been seen on the anniversary of his death, in an other town, that time in Kent. Following his confessional duties, the priest of the church concerned was preparing to leave, according to the story. The priest was about to close the door, which had blown open, when he heard someone behind the confessional screen trying to make a confession, but speaking in old French uttering, “The King! The King!” The priest went behind the screen to see who was there, but the apparition vanished before he could get a good look at it. “The lady in grey,” of East Barnet, however, has joined forces with the town’s favourite ghost, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex more than eight centuries ago. According to the legend of the country, Geoffrey did not die of natural causes, as historians would have it believed, but drowned himself in a manor moat near his former home. Several years ago the moat was excavated by the owner, and the resting place of Geoffrey’s bones was so sorely disturbed that his spirit began wandering about the country, seeking to wreak vengeance upon the evildoers. Like Geoffrey, the lady in grey once had her spirit disturbed by unthinking mortals. The people of East Barnet believe she has vowed to help her fellow aristocrat in bringing the disturbers of their peace to justice. Many people declare they have seen her, dressed in a long grey cloak, wandering about the now demolished “clockhouse” ruins. She is always smiling, waiting, the community believes, for the ghostly wedding bells to ring. England’s favourite and best-known ghost is that of Queen Elizabeth, who is believed by some people to be in residence again at Windsor Castle. She was supposedly first seen in 1897, who have witnessed the queenly ghost’s appearances during the last 30 years have figured out that her visits coincide with staff changes at the castle. Many young Royal princes, and princesses, including the Prince of Wales, have staged ghost hunts in the old castle, but Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, is the only member of the Royal family who has seen the apparition wandering about the cold, gloomy corridors or haunting the great chambers where many of England’s rulers have died. Meanwhile, eye-witnesses claim, up and down the majestic, wide stairways of Kensington Palace, pass, occasionally—always restlessly—the spirits of Queen Mary IT., wife of William of Orange, and Queen Caroline of Brunswick. Located in the heart of London’s fashionable West End district, this palace is famous, among other things, as the birthplace of the present Queen Mary, and of Queen Victoria, of Spain.