The “Spirit Rapping” at Parsons-town Cemetery.
Many of our readers will probably remember the quasi-sensational stories that were bruited about some couple of years since, when the smashing of a dozen panes of glass in the windows of the cemetery keeper’s house set the town by the ears. Shrewd thinkers have long ago credited the feats to any other than super-natural agencies, but an incident curiously similar in many respects, reported from Canada, may start the theory again that human hands were not engaged in the work of demolition.
The circumstances as related in the Kingston (Canada) News are as follows: –
It appears that there is a house of some pretensions situated on the corner of King and Earl streets, to which a conservatory is attached. Commencing on Wednesday last, and up to a late period on Saturday, the house has been the subject of an unusual bombardment. It was attacked by volleys of stones from all directions; front and back, top and bottom, conservatory and cellar were alike made the subject of a fusilade which must have reminded the inhabitants of the celebrated feu d’enfer, to which the Russians were treated at Sebastopol, or in accordance with their most recent experiences before Plevna.
However, the missiles came fast and furious, projected from unseen hands, but coming in remarkable quantities and with extraordinary force. Window glass was smashed in all directions, and it at last became questionable if a single pane in the house would be left whole. The inmates preserved a heroic calmness during the flinty assault. But what could they do? If they showed themselves at the door they were in danger of being hit by the stones, of having a nose broken, or an eye put out, so they wisely kept in the corners, and – sent for the police!
The majestic force of Kingston was on the alert, and was on this occasion represented by Sergeant McAuley – a “detective” by the way – who went up to the premises and called out “Stop that row!” No one heeded the injunction; and the rocks continued to fall in a style that bothered him exceedingly. Then other members of the police force went up, and stationed themselves on points of advantage, from which they hoped to gain some clue as to the origin of the pelting storm of Kingston rocks.
They were doomed to disappointment. The rocks continued to be pitched. Detective McAuley was at his wits’ ends to account for a spree of this nature here in the midst of the city of Kingston. A species of attack had been resorted to which, while it baulked the wisdom of the police, placed the detectives at fault, in fact baffled all explanation.
Some people got up a joke to the effect that the rocks were shied in by the “Man in the Moon,” but that frivolous reference to so estimable a personage was at once hooted. Then another theory, that it was the “spirits” that were materializing, and having some fun at the expense of the residents and to the profit of the local glaziers. This, too, was scouted, for how could invisible beings handle and hurl visible and ponderous stones. Still, if they did not come from the good old soul in the Moon, and the “sperits” had nothing to do with them, where did they come from? That is the question to this time.
At last accounts the stone-throwing continued with unabated fury, and it was seriously discussed whether a profitable contract might not be made for a supply of stones to be sold by the cord by the proprietor as a set off for the price of the broken glass. However, the entire police force and citizens of Kingston have been baffled. No one can say where the stones come from, nor who pitches them. We merely state the facts, that a stormy bombardment of stones has been kept up against a particular house in Kingston during four successive days – that the house has been surrounded by “the police,” who have reconnoitered during the best part of a week, and that still the sharp-pointed rocks come on without let or hindrance.
Leinster Reporter, 11th July 1878.