‘Ghost’ in Adelong P.O.
For some three or four days last week, the Postmaster at Adelong, Mr F. H. Percy was considerably disturbed by mysterious noises occurring in the dead of night, and just before daybreak at the post office. Mr Percy who sleeps on the premises, a portion of which is kept shut up and not in use, was awakened just before daybreak by a noise as if one o fthe boys in the telephone exchange was chopping wood on the bare floor of the exchange. The boy denied all knowledge of this and there were no marks on the floor.
The next morning at about the same time, the noise sounded as if the linesman had carried three telephone-post cross-arms, one after the other, and dumped them near the back verandah. But on investigating no cross arms had been put there.
The following morning, the boy in the telephone exchange asked the P.M if he had been in the office opening the safe during the night. Alarmed, the P.M. said he had not, and hurriedly examined the safe, to find it had not been interfered with.
Later on that day, another member of the staff, Mr Storrier, thought he heard some window rapping going on in the residential portion of the premises, which was shut up, and with the P.M. carried out an investigation of that portion of the house, and soon discovered the reason for the mysterious sounds. A big night owl had come down the chimney, and created the noises. A Venetian blind had been pulled up to the top of the window, and the bird flapped against this, made the wood-chopping noises and other weird sounds. It must have done a starve for about four days before being discovered.
The Uralla Times (NSW), 22nd July 1926.