Here is a seasonable item: –
The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury have presented the vicarage of Sopley, near Bournemouth, to the Rev. J. F. Vallings, at present curate of Hythe, Kent.
I hear that this gentleman has been driven to resign his present living by the persistent attentions of a ghost! Not that he personally has suffered from its visits, for in former times it had been so far exorcised by a priest that it is now unable to appear to any one bearing the priestly garb. But both friends, family, and servants at Hythe have been perpetually annoyed by its pranks. I await confirmation of these rumours.
Pall Mall Gazette, 11th January 1888.
Ghosts and the Clergy.
Rev. J.F. Vallings, who has been presented to the vicarage of Sopley, is said to have been driven from his former living at Hythe, Kent, owing to the presence of a ghost, which, while it could not appear to any one in a priestly garb, greatly annoyed his family by its pranks. A curate at Wendover, Bucks, some time since, had to leave a house which his family declared was haunted.
Christian World, 12th January 1888.