A Real Ghost Story
(By a Correspondent).
There is, as I have before observed, a quiet market town in Montgomeryshire, celebrated for nothing in particulars if you leave out the mud, the rain, and the dilapidated cottages. It is very seldom that anything excites even a passing interest, but the other night news reached the town that a house about a mile and a half distant, called Plas-y-frge, celebrated as the birthplace of the wife of the late Mr Richard Cobden, the famous free trader, was haunted.
The house is now occupied by Mr Edward Jones, who sent in great haste to the town for assistance to apprehend something or other which was disturbing his peace by breaking his windows. The officer was soon on the spot, and commenced a strict search, but could see nobody; and if it had not been for the crashing of the panes of glass, he would doubtless have treated the whole affair as a mistake. Having procured a lantern, he proceeded to make a more minute search, and in his anxiety not to miss anything, lost his footing and fell into the river, but escaped without having his ardour damped, though his clothes were very wet, and an application of “spirits” was necessary to keep the cold out.
He then ensconced himself under the window, but failed to discover the cause of the rapidly-breaking glass, for stone after stone camae “wizzing” through the darkness, apparently without any human agency. Having kept watch until four o’clock on Sunday morning, he suspended operations, and the large crowd which had congregated slowly dispersed. This crowd the policeman had tried to utilize by placing them around the house, but, poor creatures, they were afraid of the ghost, and followed the officer wherever he went.
During the Sunday everything was very quiet, but as soon as the evening came, the ghost came with it, bringing a large supply of stones and a few potatoes. Again a demand was made for a policeman, but no one man would venture to fetch him, but at last three of them went in company, and very soon there were about 400 people on the ground, and the excitement and the mystery grew apace.
So awful was the visitation considered that some pious people thought a prayer meeting would perhaps be more efficacious than any number of policemen, and a prayer meeting was accordingly held, and while the praying was going on the stone throwing stopped, but soon after the prayers were over, and just as they thought they had settled the unearthly visitant, a stone came crashing through the glass, and one good old superstitious man fervently exclaimed, “The Lord have mercy upon us,” and crept as far into the chimney corner as was possible.
The feeling of horror was now very oppressive, as it was rendered plain that the ghost cared no more for prayers than it did for policemen. The stones seemed to be coming from the clouds and the holders of the prayer meeting were not quite so sure that they “had done it,” as they at first had boasted to the policemen. All through Sunday and part of Monday the mystery refused to be solved, and one woman was so overcome that she fainted, and was carried away.
It was observed on the Sunday evening that a little girl had left the prayer meeting very quietly, and the officers watched her closely, and eventually she was seen to pick up a stone, and throw it, and in a short time she was apprehended. Truly the nineteenth century is a most unfortunate period in the world’s history for ghosts, and my readers will, I think, agree with me that fools – awful fools – are far more numerous than ghosts, especially in the neighbourhood of Machynlleth. If it had not been for one or two matter-of-fact policemen the girl would not have been caught, and the magistrates would not have had the opportunity of stultifying themselves by a stupid penalty of ONE SHILLING and costs. The believers in ghosts may at any rate congratulate themselves on the fact, that they are quite as wise as the magistrates, and that is not saying much for the believers in ghosts.
The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, 7th November 1873.