Grange Moor.
A Phantom Woman’s Antics.
Village gossippers have been diligently circulating a story about a ghost, which is said to have made its appearance at the house of a young married couple at Grange Moor. As the tale goes, it is the wife only who is able to see the unearthly visitor, who assumes the form of a woman with a bandaged jaw, and is visible to her at noon, midnight, and seven o’clock in the morning.
After retiring to rest, so violent have been the manifestations that the inmates have been thrown out of bed on to the floor. According to the information to hand, the husband, not caring for a farther repetition of such treatment, has left his spouse to contend alone with the unwelcome disturber. On two or three occasions, whilst no one was in the house, the ghost behaved in a most mischievous manner, upsetting articles of furniture, and doing a considerable amount of damage.
Neighbours have been called in, and attempts have been made to get at the bottom of the mystery, but, so far, the phantom has had the best of it. A fortune teller is said to have been consulted, and he recommended a course to be pursued, by which the above ghost could be induced to cease from troubling, but the conditions were such as the principal victim could not see her way to comply with.
Absurd as is the whole story, there are plenty of people who believe it to be true, and relate it to their friends in all seriousness.
Batley Reporter and Guardian, 4th February 1888.
also in this edition:
Grange Moor.
Reported appearance of a ghost.
Between Upper Whitley and Grange Moor, on Sunday evening last, more than one hundred people went out late at night in search of some mysterious supposed ghost, in the form of a female, of course. Some trembled lest she should appear; others, with more nerve power, were in for “a lark,” and had the ghost turned up it is very likely it would have been handled (that is, supposing they could have grasped the mysterious visitor) rather roughly.
The matter has caused a good deal of excitement and talk in the district for some days, and some of the nervous ones believe the strange story, and really think there is, after all, something in it. It is high time people began to read and think for themselves, but in this case we hope the ghost will be caught, and gently dealt with.
Batley Reporter and Guardian, 4th February 1888.