GHOSTS AND VISIONS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 224, 20 April 1933, Page 3

GHOSTS AND VISIONS

TOWER SENTRY STARTLED INTO FAINT' BY HEADLESS ANN BOLEYN "HOODED MONK” AND A SCOFFER (From Our London Correspondent) BECAUSE everyone still loves a mystery, interest in the supernatural remains almost as great as in the days when witches cast itheir spells and none dared question tneir powers for eV5i - In some of the more secluded parts of this country and Europe the witch is still a greatly feared person, hut there is rib place for her in the crowded life of London. Ghosts, however, steal silently about, if we r. e to accept as gospel all the stories which appear in the newspapers, and other unusual and Bizarre things occur, too.

There was a sentry in the Tower of London a few days ago, who not only saw a ghost, but actually tried to stop its progress, towards him with his bayonet. The ghost showed an embarrassing disdain for cold steel, and did not even flinch when it was skewered as neatly as a Sunday joint. It. just moved slowly forward. The sentry trembled at the knees and collapsed. Perhaps he should be pitied, because the ghost was not exactly a pleasing spectacle. Its head was missing, and the night was dark, arid the Tower was as silent as tho inside of a walnut. Sentries are not supposed to have more imagination than is necessary, and this soldier promptly drifted off into a more peaceful sphere, where fairies and spirits gambol at their ease. The ghost walked on, regardless of the huddled figure on the cold, wet stones, and undaunted by the clatter of the falling rifle.

1.0 shield and protect? Fodov attributes it to an increasing awareness which comes in time of stress and dangei. Speech With Vision More than one newspaper has told of extraordinary occurrences in and around the centuries-old Saxon church of St. Mary the Virgin near Sudbury, Suffolk. The rector, the Rev. Clive Lugrt. the organist, Dr. Thoruber, several villagers, and tho organist’s son Francis have all seen beautiful visions of Our Lady and angels and cherubs by day and night, both inside and outside the church. The boy, according to his father, is tho only person to whom the Vision has spoken. “Our Lady still appears frequently to my son in his dreams,” he said, “and recently he has had two oilier remarkable visions. After seeing the first he gave me a graphic and detailed description of the original Norman porch over tho south door, which was destroyed many years ago. He described its battlements, carved stone sides and windows.”

Accoring to reports, the incident was the subject of an official inquiry, mid the {sentry’s explanation that bn was not enrlowecl by Nature with the mental equipment capable of repulsing the meandering trunk of Anne Boleyn is said to have been accepted.

diaeval lion carved from wood had

Some time before, a handsome mobeen unearthed in the rectory grounds and we had puzzled whore it could belong. My son’s dream had solved the mystery, and as a result of what ho has told us wo have made further searches in the grounds, and now have practically all the parts and portions of the ancient arch ready for erection.

Some of the womenfolk at the Tower refuse to treat the incident with the scorn of the more practical and calculating. They declare that it is no unusual thing for this indiscreet young woman to float around the courtyard and corridors.

The other vision he had concerned the hiding-place of documents which are of vital importance to the church, and there is little doubt that within a few weeks these papers that have been hidden since the Middle Ages will be safe among the church records. Indian Astrologer There is something uncanny about Pandit Y. Krishnaswamy, a graduate in science of Madras University, who has just arrived in London. He is 24 and claims a perfect knowledge of astrology, “by which all things are known.”

Perhaps she is seeking the last of her unhappy loves. Perhaps she is in search of her head. The Tower would make an admirable trysting place, and Henry's heart would not he broken by a 20th century frolic. A “Ghost” Train

A ghost of a different soft has been sending a cold shiver down the spine of early risers at Westcliff, a little place close to Southend. This ghost is a train, and although it is not as picturesque as the famous Ghost Train introduced in the now famous play and picture, it has caused considerable attention. The train through Westcliff leaves at 4.25 a.m., the very hour when one would expect a ghost to take the air, but before that time the train has been heard rattling along, with the engine snorting as though .1 were jnoiv than half-way from Sonfln-ad. Tim early risers have been finishing their journey to the station at a gallop, and have been cursing their watches for inaccurate “turnips.” But before Hey have reached the station the rattling and the snorting have ceased. The train never arrives. Railway officials are very practical people. They sec nothing miraculous about the noises. They say that it is simply the sounds of shunting at Shoeburyness carried along by the east wind. But people still arrive at Westcliff out of breath, and wonder where the train has gone. The Hooded Monk

He received his introduction to the higher branch of astrology, Aruda Prasnam, from one of India’s really great sages, who was more than 100 veavs old.

Krishnaswamy told Roosevelt that he would have a great victory. Ho assured Do Valera that ho would triumph, Tip predicted that the Australians would lose the Ashes and that Bradman ■would not have his usual feast of runs. He never makes a false prediction, became ho “works on sheer science.”

An obvious debate would be one between Krishnaswamy, and Julian .1. Proskauer, of tlic Society of American Magicians, who slates in a book just issued; (that fraudulent astrologers, crooked spirit mediums, formne topers and numerologists catch about 30 million people a year, and lake 25 millions pounds away from them. Spiritualists are agog with excitement because Sir Oliver Lodge, the famous scientist, has written a secret message and locked it in a safe at the office of the Psychical Research Society in London, where it will remain until he “passes over” and reveals its contents. Sir Oliver has committed the message to memory, and he wants to demonstrate that the dead can communicate with the living. Another man of mystery is Dr. Mansfield Robinson, ex-town clerk of Shoreditch, who claims to he in telepathic touch with Mars. He attended the Columbia gramophone studios at St. John’s Wood recently, and in the presence of psychic arid technical experts supervised the recording of a weird language coming from the lips of a medium. It meant nothing to the layman, but Dr. Robinstm declares that it was classical Martian.

From Upper Silesia comes a creepy story of a Hooded Monk arid a strangled young country squire. Anton Holberg, a dashing young man, owned a haunted castle that had for centuries been the stronghold of mediaeval barons. One room of the castle was never occupied. It was reputed to be in possession o! a bloodthirsty ghost known as the Hooded Monk,’ but Anton had such little respect for it that in response to a challenge from some friends he was enter tabling, he agreed to sleep in the room alone. He barred the windows, locked the door from the inside, and bolted it as well. In the middle of the night, at the very hour when the ghost was supposed to leave its hiding place, the occupants of the castle were startled to hear a loud and long cry. Filled with foreboding, they rushed to the room where Anton was, forced the door and, to their horror, found their friend dead.

His features were twisted, and on his neck was the mark of the Monk — a thin red line, apparently made by a strangling cord. The doctors made an autopsy, and would have given a verdict that death was due to a sudden seizure, but for the marks on the man’s neck and his shrill cry of terror. ! i ■'

Victim of Imagination?

Specialists and scientists advance as an explanation of the tragedy the theory that the young man was the victim of his imagination. His mind was keyed up to the highest point of excitement by his adventure. ' He fell into a light sleep, half awoke from a startling dream, and imagined that the ghost was leaning over him. The nightmare was so impressive that it had caused the traditional red mark to show on his neck. Apparitions of a more kindly type are discussed by Dr. Nandor Fedor in the Sunday Dispatch. He tells of good ghosts, explaining that, they sometimes appear to people in the last extremity, comforting and soothing them. He asks if they are the guardian angels of religion. Shackleton. he says, mentions in his book, "South,” that during Ids long gnd wracking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains and g amers of South Georgia with Worsley and Crean, an additional companion was with them. Worslcv and Crean confessed to the same belief, Crean saying: “None of us cares to speak about that experience. There are some things which can never be spoken of. Almost a hint about them comes perilously near to sacrilege.” Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley all had premonitions of their violent end. What is the explanation spirit guides, guardian angels or a benevolent universe trying