MORE GHOST STORIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20705, 1 May 1929, Page 6

MORE GHOST STORIES.

“ UP-TO-DATE “ SPECTRES, A PHANTOM MOTOR CAR. GLIDING THROUGH SOLID WALLS. A realjy “ up-to-date ’’ ghost, it is asserted, has appeared in Ireland, where a phantom motor ear is said to he playing hayoQ with the nerves of the super, s.tmoua pear Roscommon, The ghopt gay (soys a writer in an DugHPh newspaper) seems to be a versatile phantom- . Not only does it travel at amasipg speeds along the roads, but it is reported to be able to glide through solid walla, Jt is doubtful, however, if even the ghost ear is the last word in spectres. An airman friend of the writer once told him how, while flying at a high altitude, be suddenly saw an aeroplane, the enact counterpart of his own, swooping down upon him. For a second ho thought that he was the victim of some madman’s homicidal mania-then he felt himself enveloped in intensely cold air, and the plana had vanished. By the time the airman. returned to earth ho had dismissed the incident as a K ° rfc of ‘mirage”—a trick of the atmosphere. The cold air, he concluded, was mere coincidence, He also says that it may be coincidence that the next time hh went up he crashed badly ’and narrowly escaped with his life. But ho does pot speak quite so sceptically about ghost stories now, Uhosts, as any student of their nature and habits will affirm, are of all sorts and may be met in all sorts of places. There are ghost stories connected with two London theatres. Some time ago it is alleged a mysterious figure was seen seated in one of, the stalls of the Royalty Theatre, at a time when the place was ■ empty. When approached, the figure disappeared* It is; said to have been seen on other occasions—always in the same stall, and always when, apart from the supposed ‘spectre” and the person seeing it, the theatre was empty. Then, a pole and melancholy looking jady is said to have been seen hv a member of the night staff of St, ’ Martin’s Theatre. In this case there is a theory that, in dnyk when this neighbourhood, now as safe and as respectable as any in London, had a very different reputation, a woman was murdered on the spot where the theatro has since been built. Not so very far from the theatre district, one of our most famous places has—unknown to the general public—its own particular ghost- This is Westminster Abbey. The ghost supposed to haunt it is that of Atterbury. Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster in the diu's of George I. He was a Jacobite, nnd_ deeply involved in Jacobite plots until he was arrested and sent into exile. The arrest took place in the library of the deanery, and he was taken from the room by a secret stairway. Legend has it that his step may still be heard down this secret stairway, and then along the long passage between the deanery and Westminster Abbey. Certainly a sound like that of dragging footsteps may sometimes bo heard going along this passage at night. Wlint is perhaps the most terrible ghost in the world base been seen at times in an Irish country house. This spectre is called “It,” and its appearance is weird and repulsive in the extreme. “It” usually appears at the elbow of the person who sees it, and Jays a clammy hand on his—or her —arm, . One of the most remarkable of all ghost stories came from Newmarket about two years ago. It was reported that a friend of Fred Archer, the famous jockey saw his ghost riding along a lonely lane near the great training centre. There has been one “sporting” ghost for centuries, in the person of Herne the Hunter, but the phantom jockey is a comparative newcomer.