AT CHRISTMAS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12021, 26 December 1924, Page 10

AT CHRISTMAS

WHEN SPECTRES GET BUSY. GHOSTS - THAT-HAUNT - FAMOUfI CASTLES. • "At Christmas time," to quote an old chronicler, "ye-ghostes do love to walke abroad©." ; . - And.-certainly there • are many* of ’England's ancient homes at which spectres of the past are as inevitable-a feature of Christmas as* the turkey and the Yule log. .Not a few ■ of these Yuletide - ghosts areVsixntdv mischievous, as *for example, the.."Cauld l Lad," who for.many a centuiy' .is said to baVe visited Hilton Castle, m; the north- of England, every Christmas/ • '.The .favourite scene of his activities Kas. alwajs been the castle kitchen, where he- would'hurl the pewter in all gene rally, play, havoc.- . If, however, * he., found that the room hkd beep left in disarray he would restore everything >. to its. place with the greatest precision. Ih the days of the flesh this impish ghost' had. 4>een Roger Skelton, a castle semnt, • who -was murdered by his master in. a sudden mood of violent rage. , 'THE. RADIANT BOY." Another Yuletide ghost,* who is by ao means alarming, is thq "Radial Boy," whose appearance is thus described by a clergyman who, was & Christmas guest at Corby. Castle. "Awaking suddenly in the middle of the. night,' he eays, "I saw a glimmer in the' centre of the room which suddenly increased to a bright flame. I . looked out. thinking that something had caught fire, when, to my amazement, l beheld a beautiful boy, clothed in white, with bright locks resembling gold, by my bedside, in which gobltion. he remained some minutes xing hi 6 eyes on me with a mild and benevolent, expression. , "He then glided gently towards the side of the chimney, where there was no possible egress, and entirely disappeared." jCortachie Castle, the ancient seat of the Earls of Airlie, has for * Yuletide visitant a drummer, of whom the following grim story is told. 'Centuries ago the drummer, having angered the Lord Airlie of the time, was put to death by being thrust into his own drum and flung from the window of a hi eh tower in the castle. He vowed that he would haunt the family if his life was taken, and, true to his word, the beating of his drum ha« been heard in the castle, and has often been followed by a death in the house. • YULETIDE TEDRORISM. At Lowther Hall, the "bad Lord Lonsdale," a terror to the neighbourhood Vhen living, has been a terror since his death, especially at Yuletide. When, placed in his grave, his lordship's power to alarm (a chronicler savs) was unfortunately not interred with his bones. There were continual disturbances in the hall and noises in the stables; and neither man nor animal was suffered to rest. The hall became almost uninhabitable on Account of the dead man's pranks, and out of doors be was for a long time almost equally dreaded, as even there there was a constant danger of encountering the miscreant ghost.