Spoolt Stories

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19762, 18 December 1935, Page 23 (Supplement)

Spoolt Stories

bachelor, who walked with the aid of a stick and who was noted throughout the district for his hatred of children. To deal with ghosts—we are assuming that there are ghosts—one needs the temperament of the old farmer, who, kept from his home by wild weather, asked lor accommodation at a country inn and was given a room with a sinister reputation. Awakening soon after midnight he saw the opposite wall through a hooded figure that was bending over him and he eyed it for a moment. Then, making himself comfortable again, he grunted: “If you can’t sleep—l can.”

GLosfs an J C oLlins crra-sgT-

(By Charles Spencer)

and ghosts seem to be in--1 separably connected in the minds of many people. During the festivities appropriate to the season it usually happens —perhaps during a lull in the conversation around a blazing fire in an old-fashioned grate whilst the wind howls eerily in the chimney—that someone murmurs, “Speaking of ghosts . . .” Perhaps n'o one has been “speaking of ghosts” at all, or at any rate not for some time; but it is certainly noticeable that much of the talk on such occasions veers round to the subject of apparitions. Christmas, not only in this country, but in many other parts of the woi’ld, has for centuries been regarded as a peculiarly opportune time for uncanny happenings. No doubt it is because the season has appropriated many pagan beliefs and superstitions whose origin is veiled in antiquity. The belief that during 'Christmas time the dead revisit the homes they knew on earth is widespread, and in some countries it was customary on Christmas eve to spread a meal for them and to prepare beds for their comfort, whilst their usual occupants spent the night in less pleasant ( circumstances —on the floor for instance. Werwolves and vampires and other terrifying spectral visitants were also believed to be particularly active during the hours that precede the dawn of Christmas Day, and witches, riding usually, on broomsticks, were said to be abroad. Kept His Promise. It is a very old belief that to speak of other-world inhabitants is to invite their appearance. One meets it in the old saying “Speak of the Devil and he will appear”; but because of the sacredness of the season it was generally felt that ghosts could be spoken of during Yuletide with impunity; they were powerless, then, to do harm. That feeling possibly accounts for the popularity of ghost stories at Christmas. Of course no one, nowadays, believes in ghosts. They are the products of an overvivid imagination or a troubled sleep due to dyspepsia. But A young naval officer', who had the reputation of always keeping a promise, paid a visit to some friends during his shore leave, and when he was going from the house to rejoin his .ship his hostess asked him to post a letter for her. • Naturally he promised to do so, but apparently forgot and the boat in which he • was being rowed to his ship capsized. The young officer was drowned but, queerly enough, the morning after, the letter was delivered to the address on the envelope by a man who, .according to the maid answering his ring, was saturated with water. Yet it was a perfectly fine morning in summer. The letter, too, was saturated, and the whole affair was so strange that the lady to whom the letter was addressed wrote to the sender relating the circumstanes and adding the maid’s description of the strange messenger. The description, it was discovered, tallied in every respect with that of the young naval officer who had been drowned' some hours before. Why They Moved. There are so many well authenticated instances of “visitations” and “re-visitations” that those who believe in psychic happenings and bring evidence in support of their belief cannot always be refuted. It is worthy of note that it is much easier to express a disbelief in ghosts when seated in the company of friends before a blazing fire than when walking alone along a deserted lane late at night. Not so very long ago the tenants of an old but comfortable house in a better-class suburb of a northern city began to make \ hurried preparations for a removal. Neighbours—as neighbours will—won-, dered, for the family had seemed a happy' and contented one during their comparatively short occupation of the house. It became vacant and some time afterwards one of the late occupants confessed that their nerves would no longer enable them to endure the ordeal of meeting an old lady on the stairs—an old lady, who, if they did not stand aside ... passed through them. To say that a house is haunted is risky. Such a statement might easily result in an action for damages, and the fear of legal proceedings may explain the reluctance of many people who can relate queer experiences to give “chapter and verse.” Then, in addition, is the very human fear of being ridiculed. Some people, too, appear to be more “receptive” than others. A house will suddenly gain the reputation of being “haunted” and for months—perhaps years —after a death or a removal the gardens will be overgrown with weeds, the windows will grow grimy and a “To let” sign will creak depressingly in every wind. And then, one day, it will be invaded by cleaners and decorators; a boisterous, family, whose head has been tempted by the ridiculously low rent or selling price, will move in and the “haunted” house will echo to the laughter of children. Its eerie . associations forgotten it will take on a new lease of life until—perhaps years later—a new occupant will hear or see something that sends him shivering with dread in search of other accommodation. The Empty Room. •7 A labourer was killed shortly before noon one day in a quarry accident and two of his workmates, white and shaken, agreed—though fvith the greatest reluctance—to go to his cottage and break the news to his young wife. . She was hanging out clothes in the back garden and at the conclusion of their stammeringly-told story—to which she listened with an expression of stupefaction —she laughed merrily. Fearing hysteria, they waited, awkwardly, each eyeing the other uneasily until she gasped: , ~ . “You idiots! You should have come with that tale sooner. He’s just gone into the house.” But there was no one in the house. A little boy who used a disused upper room in his home as a playground during wet weather v came downstairs rather sullenly one rainy morning. His mother, noticing that something was wrong, asked what was the matter, and he replied that he did not like “the old gentleman upstairs,” because “he made an ugly face and shook Jiis stick at me with his one hand.” Knowing that, apart from the boy and herself, there was only a maid in the house, she dismissed the complaint as a childish fancy and went on with her household duties. But she experienced an unpleasant shock when she learned, months afterwards, from an acquaintance, that the house was once occupied by an elderly one-armed (Continued In previous column.)