Today's snippet comes from The Western Gazette, dated December 24th 1937......my favourite from this lot is the one titled The Fourth Passenger! Properly creepy! See what you think.....
UNCANNY STORIES OF CHRISTMAS HAUNTINGS
At the Christmas Party there is almost certain to be someone who will try to make our blood run cold with tales of hauntings. We may not believe in ghosts. But we listen intently. Perhaps we have the feeling that those who scoff at the uncanny may be the first to be "visited."
Some spectral visitors to-day are said to be modern in character, and this is attributed to the theory that ghosts remain earthbound until the scenes of their earthly habitation are destroyed.
The ghost of a famous dramatist which haunted a threatre(sic), for example, has never been seen since the building was pulled down and replaced by a "super cinema." Nevertheless, even this modernistic place is haunted each Christmas by a ghost, which has been identified as a musician, who a few years ago, up to the time of his death, played the piano there.
Apparently thus visitor has a rooted objection to anything savouring of jazz and other musical works associated with the "talkies." Each year the ghost is now seen in the corridor near the manager's office, looking not terrifying but almost worthy of sympathy, for it shudders and seems to be shocked.
And while the Ghost is seen, there is a quiet background of sound, not in keeping with the dance tunes of to-day, but reminiscent of the rollicking songs of virile cowboys in the days of not so long ago, when films were silent and the pictorial adventures of western heroes were accompanied by pianoforte renderings.
HAUNTED BY A MONEY LENDER
A peculiarity of ghosts is that they may prove to be totally different in character from the objects of their hauntings. A dismal mortal, for example, may be haunted by a cheerful spectre. On the other hand, a comedian of the music hall stage is said to be visited each Christmas by the mournful ghost of a money lender.
In the comedian's dressing room, no matter what theatre he may be working in at the time, the ghost insinuates itself. One can scarcely say that the ghost appears, for it seems to slither along the wall, and flatten itself out on the ceiling. Its visitation is accompanied by a continuous jingling of coins and an occasional voice which speaks of percentages and rates of interest.
The comedian in question declares that he is never frightened by this experience. On the contrary, he regards it as salutary, for he claims to be descended from a noble family whose exalted but penniless members, centuries ago, persecuted the Jewish money-lenders. Moreover, he is a self-confessed spendthrift and mends his ways only for a few weeks following Christmas.
FOR THE LOVE OF A LADY
There was once a happy ghost. Or, apparently it was happy, for its laughter echoed along the corridors of an ancient castle in Devonshire. It was not at the hour of midnight when the ghost's laughter was heard, but at the winter break o'day, at the time when centuries ago his beloved, the daughter of the Squire, ran away from him who was a poor Jester, with the son of a neighbouring house.
The fair-haired fickle daughter of the castle's lordly owner did not travel far with her new lover, for a snowstorm overtook them on Dartmoor, and they perished.
Upon receiving the sad tidings, her father called upon the Jester to make merry and dispel the black clouds of despair which pervaded the castle.
Heartbroken, the professional merry-maker started to sing of his lady who had gone. But before his song was fairly started he collapsed. He had, in fact, "died for the love of a lady." Many years later, it was recorded that the jester reappeared in that gloomy castle. But his ghost was never actually seen. Instead, the corridors of stone echoed with his laughter... uncannily piercing, yet not unpleasant. For although he had loved and lost, he had at least tasted of the happiness which was not for him alone.
THE FOURTH PASSENGER
This story of a phantom coach concerns a traveller who held His Majesty's commission in the army, and was not normally affected with "nerves." But on this Christmas-eve, having left his Regiment's headquarters to walk to the nearest town, where his motor-car was garaged, the lieutenant of infantry became uneasy at the loneliness and the extreme cold and dark of that country road. His legs and hands seemed to have no feeling in them, and it was with difficulty that he was able to walk. His brain was too numbed to realise that the vehicle which suddenly overtook him was a coach drawn by four chestnut horses.
Summoning his last remaining scrap of vitality, he shouted, and the coach stopped. Muffled up in a great cape, the guard descended and opened the door. The lieutenant entered, and immediately lost consciousness. After what might have been a few minutes or a few hours, he awakened, and was at once nauseated by a smell of decay. The inside of the coach was indescribably dirty and horrible. Then he noticed that there were three other inside passengers. But they showed no signs of life. Their features were marble, their eyes glassy, and their lips bloodless. Although it was unspeakably dark and dismal in that coach, each of the three other passengers appeared to be outlined by a phosphorescent glow.
Normally a man of high courage, this lieutenant of infantry felt the demon of abject terror descending upon him. He tried to shout, but no word came from his lips. Yet it seemed that his unspoken complaint was answered by one of the ghostly figures, who moaned terribly.
There appeared to be no doubt that the coach was moving at a fairly rapid pace. With a sickening jerk, however, it stopped, and the soldier found himself being propelled through the door, down and down endlessly.
Next morning, in the valley, hundreds of feet below the road, he was picked up, frozen and near to death, by a farmer, who carried the luckless soldier to his house and restored him to consciousness. That lieutenant of infantry lived to become a commander of ability and fame. But he continued always to declare that he had been the fourth passenger in that phantom coach.
A LEGLESS GHOST
Many people have claimed to have seen a headless ghost. But apparently, there has been only one which did not possess legs!
This legless apparition was seen every Christmas for some years in the corridor of an ancient north-country house. Suddenly there would be a clanging of bells and the rattling of chains. A long, mournful groan. Then the ghost would appear, slowly moving through the floor! That is to say, the ghost's waistline was on the corridor floor.
The explanation was advanced that when the house was re-built, in the middle of last century, this particular floor was raised about three feet above its original position, thus allowing alterations to be made to the rooms below. Now, the ghost being earthbound to the old corridor level, could not be expected to transfer its affections to the new floor through which it was able to walk with the greatest of ease!
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