A TRUE GHOST STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 51

A TRUE GHOST STORY.

By Myetle Tainb. My impression, founded on observation and conviction, is that 90 per cent, of the human race are more or less tinctured with superstition and a belief in the visible manifestation of supernatural phenomena. Not a few go the length of asserting that they have Scriptural texts to justify their belief in this direction, and I am inclined to endorse this opinion. Be that, however, as it may, the incident I am going to relate did really occur. I personally knew members of the family, and am familiar with the tragic event through hearing it oft repeated by those who were living when it happened. I used to gaze on those two old maid slaters with a feeling of wonder and admiration mingled with awe and pity, for they lived alone on a bleak hillside, and were to some extent shunned by their neighbours. In my childhood's days how I longed to enter that dwelling and penetrate the supposed mysteries contained therein, quite conscious that had permission been granted me I would not for all the gold in New Zealand have availed myself of the privilege. It was the custom about 40 years ago '(perhaps it is the oastom still) in the far north of Scotland to sit up all night with the dead. This custom was peculiar to no particular religious sect, but was scrupulously observed by people of all creeds and beliefs. It would in those days have been considered an insult to the memory of the departed to have neglected this observance. Nightly vigils of this description in the place where I passed my childhood were as decorous as they were mournful and pathetic. Now for my story. A relative of the -old maids I have mentioned had departed this life. The housa in which he had lived was distant some miles from where the relatives resided. It was near midwinter, and wild, stormy weather. Only those who have lived there can understand what winter is in those northern latitudes. These two ladies had a brother, and it was his turn to sit up with the dead. I may here explain that several days often elapsed between death and burial, in order that friends at a distance might ba given time to be present, relatives in turn Bitting up with the dead. Tho sisters were naturally anxious that their brother should be well protected against the inclemency of the weather, and provided him with suitable wraps. Inky black was the darkness outside, scarcely a star being visible. A lantern could not burn, for the wind was blowing with hurricane fores ; still the voioe of duty and the ties of kindred are claims which must take precedence, and the brother opened the door to depart, One of the sisters asked him if he was not afraid to go such a distance on so dark and stormy a night. He replied with an oath that he was not afraid to meet the devil and all bis angels; and with his trusty dog as companion he departed. Scarcely had he shut tbe door behind him when an unaccountable feeling of dread and apprehension took possession of the sisters. The howling of the wind seemed to their excited imagination to proclaim some impending calamity. This feeling they accounted for in part by the profane language their brother had used, and which had greatly shocked them. An hour had passed, and they were oongratulating themselves that their brother would be near the end of his journey, when the piteous whining of their dog outside made them start with dread and alarm. The door was opened, and there, with eyes dilated with horror, stood their brother. They got him inside and asked the cause of his alarm, but his power of speech had gone — he could not articulate a single word. He died within a week, but never regained the power of speech. But for the sagaoity of bis faithful dog he would probably never have reached his own dwelling. The dog expired two hours after his master. Did he see a ghost I wonder ? I am unable to answer the question. Perhaps he saw a whole host oE them.