Considerable alarm has been felt by the younger portion of the inhabitants of Baldock, by the rumour that a real live ghost was haunting a house at the top of the High-street. A large number of persons have recently congregated in front of the haunted house, and it has given P.c. Tripp some trouble to remove them. The ghost in question is said by those who live in the house, and have seen it, to be continually throwing open doors and windows, rapping violently on the table, and occasionally it diverts its amusement by resolving itself into a “small” white animal, with eyes as large as saucers, to use the graphic expression of the occupants of the haunted house. At night, the ghost pays his nocturnal visits to all the rooms,and indulges in such sport as only ghosts can. The bedsteads are lifted bodily, whilst the “saucer”-eyes of the ghost are flying about in the darkness. This is, we are told, not an ordinary ghost, such as vanish with the light of day. This spirit is for ever uneasy, and a continual rapping is going on, and he is to be seen and heard in the day time as well as night. P.c. Tripp and the neighbours are sorry the ghost is not “laid,” for there are such a number of people in Baldock who love the ghostly, that a rather disorderly assembly is the result every evening. If we were asked to account for the ghost making his appearance just now, we should re-call the fact that Christmas has just gone by, that indigestion and biliousness frequently follows, and order a box of pills, and we believe the ghost will soon disappear. – Herts and Beds Journal.
Herts and Cambs Reporter and Royston Crow, 18th January 1878.