The Ludgvan Ghost.
We last week noticed some strange vagaries lately played by a supposed invisible agent, at Ludgvan, near Penzance, by which the whole neighbourhood was kept in a state of alarm, and the arrest of a servant-girl who was supposed to know more of the matter than she chose to admit.
The house which was the scene of these impish pranks is occupied by a respectable farmer named James Hosking and his wife, who are advanced in life.
The following is a summary of the statement made before the Magistrates for the West Division of the Hundred of Powder, by whom the charge against the girl – who is named Temperance Williams, and is only 15 years of age – was heard at the Guildhall, Penzance, on the 2d inst.
The place was excessively crowded, and a dense mass of people who could not obtain admittance surrounded the entrance. The hearing occupied seven hours. Mr and Mrs Hosking, the master and mistress of the girl; their son and daughter, who do not live with them, and a number of witnesses were examined.
It appeared that the alarming appearances commenced on the 18th of March, on which day some clothing was found to be on fire in one of the rooms, the girl said the cat had ran up stairs with a coal of fire on its back; the cat was caught; the hair on the back was found to be singed, and the bewitched animal was drowned.
The next day other clothes were found to be on fire in the same way; they were wet and the fire smoldered but did not blaze out. A great coat belonging to Mr. Hosking was amongst the burning articles; it was steeped in water for some hours, and then hung to dry, but the fire again appeared.
Some respite was now give; but after a week, a feather bed was found to be on fire; on the same day, and in the absence of the girl, Mrs. H. discovered a bundle of rags in a dark room, partly burned; a disagreeable smell was always experienced when the fire took place. – During the examination a mixture of vitrolic acid and aquafortis was poured on some linen, when Mrs. H. said the smell and appearances produced by its action on the linen exactly resembled what she had observed on the occasions stated.
– The girl said she was bewitched, and was sent home for a few days: during her absence the annoyances ceased. On her return the evil spirit again commenced its gambols; different articles of clothing were found to be on fire in five or six parts of the house at the same time; the numerous visitants whom curiosity drew to the place, smelt burning brimstone, &c, the cloths of Mrs. Hosking once caught fire behind, but they did not blaze and the fire was extinguished. It was remarkable that none of the girl’s clothes had taken fire.
Different articles – the fire irons; tea kettle; earthenware &c. were thrown about the house; a nine-gallon beer cask rolled about the yard after the girl, without her appearing to touch it; but when she was not present the barrel, &c. remained at rest. At other times eggs which were in a basin were observed to “dance”.
We have not space to detail the whole of the statement sent us; the instances given shew the nature of the case.
Several persons swore that the girl was not near the things that appeared to move voluntarily, at the time they did so, and that she could not then touch them. However, it was stated by Mr and Mrs Hosking that since the girl had left, these “very alarming” appearances had ceased. Richard Hosking, son of the girl’s master stated, that having gone to his father’s house in consequence of the alarm created there; he desired the girl to go into the pantry in order to see if the things in it would move on her appearing ; that she walked round the place, and that on her coming out, he saw her move her right hand very quickly, when a saucepan fell from a shelf near her hand; that witness charged the girl with having thrown it down, but that she made no reply.
That when in consequence of the suspicions at length excited, the girl was taken before a magistrate, witness examined her hand and found it appeared as if it had been glazed; the skin being stained of a light yellow colour, as if by handling a chemical preparation.
Mrs Blight, daughter of Mr and Mrs Hosking, came to her father’s house in consequence of the alarm excited by the strange appearances witnessed there. About ten o’clock in the morning, the girl went to the coal hole with a shovel to get coal; witness watched her closely and saw her lift a stone kept there for the purpose of breaking large coals on, and then let it fall, when she started back exclaiming, “what is that!” – Mrs Blight charged her with attempting to play a trick on them, when she made no reply.
She afterwards saw the girl standing near a bucket; her arms were folded on her breast, when Mrs. B. observed her move one of her hands very quickly, then start forward in apparent agitation, when the bucket fell.
Notwithstanding that several persons expressed their firm belief of the girl being unconnected with the appearances they had witnessed at Mr Hosking’s house, the Magistrates sentenced her to be imprisoned in the County bridewell, and kept at hard labour for three months, under the 4th of Geo. IV. ch. 34 – Mr [?] John conducted the case for the prosecution and Mr [P?] that for the defence.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the “ghost” has been effectually laid by this [?].
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 21st April 1830.
Ludgvan Ghost Revived.
It will be recollected by our readers, that a few months since a girl named Temperance Williams excited a considerable feeling of alarm in the parish of Ludgvan, near Penzance, by playing a variety of tricks in the house of an aged couple with whom she lived as a servant, with the purpose of inducing them to believe that these gambols were produced by supernatural agency, and that after a full and patient hearing before a bench of magistrates of Penzance, the girl was committed to the County Bridewell, for having destroyed the property of her master.
A short time since she was released from durance and returned to her native place, where she was taken into the service of a person to whom she is related. She had not been long in this situation when she commenced operations in the old mode, though with some variations.
On the former occasion she operated on jugs, teapots, glasses, fire-irons, a beer barrel, &c. now she amazed the wondering inmates and the astonished visitants by operating on articles of food: a duck prepared for the spit, to the terror of the beholders, appeared to resume its vitality by bounding from the table to the floor and from one apartment to another; but in all cases, the girl was in the room where it commenced its movements.
Pieces of salted pork and rolls of butter were also flung about, as if by magic, and stones were tossed in teh air so as to fall amongst some persons who were at work in a field adjoining the house where the girl lived. Setting fire to articles of clothing was one of the mischievous pranks played in the former instance, in the present case only one piece of cloth was burned.
The late master and mistress of the girl had been subjected to a good deal of obloquy, in consequence of having prosecuted her, as their ignorant neighbours could not be persuaded the “evil one” was not the immediate actor inthese gambols, and consequently they were and are firmly convinced that the girl had nothing to do with the matter, except as a sufferer by the freaks of the mischievously merry demon.
Warned by the censures so unsparingly heaped on the former proscutors of this damsel, her employers, who, as we stated, are related to her, have been satisfied with sending her about her business. On her departure the disturbances ceased. The above particulars have been transmitted to us by a respectable correspondent. – West Briton.
Star (London), 25th November 1830.
The Ludgvan Ghost.
(By Now-and-Then.)
The recent debate at Penzance on ghosts induces me, in the absence of other pressing topics, to give a few interesting heads on rappings, scratchings, slappings, and suchlike ghostly sounds, which, as heir-looms, have been handed down in the family for some considerable time.
My first acknowledgement dates from Ludgvan, and occurred in the early part of the present century. There may be some persons still living who can remember the circumstance, with exact time, and other attendant particulars. It caused a great stir in the Peninsula, and the spot was visited by thousands. My father, amongst others, left Alverne-lane, one Saturday morning, and the following are his experiences: –
The rendezvous was at a farm near the church. It was one of those old-fashioned houses that are still seen scattered here and there in our midst. The dwelling thrown back with a capacious walled garden or yard in front. Why a devilish ghost should have hit, or lit, upon such a quiet, well-ordered, and respectable habitation as this was very difficult to explain; therefore, must be put down to the occult dispensations, or grooves, that ghosts of all shades do mostly delight to revel in.
The Churchtown presented all the appearance of a fair; Lowerquarter was full to overflowing: doctors, divines, beadles, bailiffs were, with the instincts of a John Chinaman peeping here and poking there, in the evident pursuit of unearthing the devil with most devilish intent.
Whilst father was looking on in the courtyard a fishwoman of Market-jew, sidled up to him and said: “My dear Mr S., cust thee see that barl there?” It was a flour barrel, or a hutch. “Yess, Jinny,” said the listener. “Well my dear sar, if thee’st believe me, for a living sinner, I saw with my own two very eyes that barl come a daancing out like aw theng possest. Down aw com’d through the hale, hoppen ovar the door-step, down the couance jumping and twesten and twerlen like a theng alive yow! When aw com’d theer, axactly where ee es now, and I was standen there, I clapt my two hands upon un like that, (going up to the hutch and imitating the stroke) and said ‘Stop! thou devil! Stop!’ And surelie, aw ded stop, theer and then, and nevar budged an ench afterwards, as ef aw was clidged to the floor. Aw! aw! my deer, et was a dezmal sight! Now what can ee maake of et?” said the storyteller.
My father was serious in his ways, and could only shake his head. He remarked a wide confusion about. In and out everything movable was in a transport of uncertainty, resembling something between a fire, removal, or action for debt.
Perhaps our antiquarian friends may look up Dr Borlase on the matter. It happened about his time, and he was a man full of notes.
Anyhow, in returning through Lower-quarter, they found the inn completely cleared out. There wasn’t a sup of anything to be had – for love or money. A clamouring crowd, and not a drop of liquor anywhere! Poor prospects for ghost-hunters, I should say.
Cornishman, 3rd December 1896.