The Camblesforth Boggard.
During the last week the peaceable village of Camblesforth, near Selby, has been kept in a state of the greatest excitement by the alarms created in a most unaccountable manner, in the farm-house and premises of Mr Thomas Duckles, whose age, as well as that of his wife, is said to be upwards of 80.
The most circumstantial accounts are given by the inmates, as to the jumpings about of the massive kitchen fender (of some five or six stones weight), from one room to another; of the dancings of fire irons in some such form as we see them depicted in Punch, as though they had life, and were keeping time to a jig at an Irish wedding; of the iron hatchet in an outhouse, boldly splitting one of the doors for admission to the orgies, uninvited and unwelcome, till the further occupancy of the premises has become almost impossible.
Several of the neighbours have visited the scene of disturbance, and many a valiant man bears testimony to the ill-usage he has received whilst on the premises. A pot of lamp-black sprung from the mantelpiece, and blinded the eyes of one worthy man whilst at prayers; and a big hamper extinguished another as he descended the stairs from a chamber excursion of discovery.
These stories are so numerous that columns might be filled with them; and the spot has been visited by thousands coming in all directions from Selby, Snaith, Rawcliffe, Carlton, and the adjoining towns and villages to an incredible distance – the adventure being considered so perilous as to have induced many to provide themselves with double-barrelled guns, revolvers, pikes, and warlike weapons indescribable.
The district wiseman has been consulted, the police force put in requisition, and the most active measures taken for four or five nights in succession, to discover the hidden cause of all these outrages. Witchcraft has been seriously charged and circulated by the old women of the neighbourhood against an innocent Hibernian handmaiden; and a thousand and one other influences are attributed to the living and the dead of byegone ages; but whether the cause of all this uproar be a natural one, or a result of magic or the black art, has not yet been satisfactorily determined.
The ingenuity of the rustics, parochial authorities, and of the civil force, being entirely at fault, an assembly of the neighbouring clergy was observed on Monday night, discussing in solemn conclave the mysteries of Camblesforth Grange; adn when our correspondent left they seemed likely to be as much benighted in the matter as the rest of the wondering enquirers around them.
The last bulletin is to the effect that the steward of the gallant Colonel Thompson, the Landlord of Mr Duckles, ultimately organised a force of the clergy and laymen of the district, numbering from 20 to 30, who got the inmates all locked up together in one room, and watched the remainder of the premises all night, but no unnatural manifestations were exhibited from without, and the imprisoned denizens declared they had not seen or heard anything; so that the mystery still remains. – Correspondent.
Huddersfield Chronicle, 25th February 1860.