A Ghost’s Joke.
A weird occurrence which happened recently at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, is related by F. W. Fitz-Simmons, of the Natal Government Museum. “One evening a few months ago,” he says, “the door of one of the rooms in my house was closed and locked in a most mysterious manner. This door had never before been locked, as there never was any occasion to do so, and the key was always in the outside of the door lock. On examining it I found the key had been removed and inserted into the other side of the lock, the door was locked, and the key still remained in the lock. Suspecting a practical joke, I went round to the window, but found it shut and barred. I called witnesses to examine and see for themselves, but they could offer no explanation other than that if it was done by human agency, the person who did it must of necessity be inside the room. we agreed to break the window, which I did, and inserting my arm, unfastened the catch and entered, fully expecting to find someone inside, but no one was there, and no one could possibly have slipped out unawares, for there were guards at the window.
The following evening at a seance held in the same house, we were informed that a spirit was present, who desired to write a message. I signified my willingness, and the medium’s hand automatically wrote with lightning rapidity the following: “I see you are sorely puzzled to account for what occurred last evening. I hope you will forgive me, for it was I who did it. Don’t you remember how I used to declare before I passed over that I would return, and if at all possible I would give you some convincing test? You know how keen I was on psychical phenomena and tests when I was with you, etc. (Signed) Frederick Brown.”
“Mr Brown,” adds Mr Fitzsimmons, “was an intimate friend of mine, who for a couple of years had been one of my colleagues in the practical investigation of the proofs of spirit return and spirit identity. He died about six months before the above occurrence.”
Yorkshire Factory Times, 29th July 1906.