A Real Ghost Story.
A deal of excitement has been caused in Plattsburg by the rumour that a certain house in Devon street was haunted. On Monday night a large number of people assembled in front of the house to listen to the strange noises that were made from time to time, the constable being also on the spot, thinking that some trick was being placed.
After waiting some time a noise like a stone or ball rolling along the house for a short distance was heard, then stopped with a hollow thud, accompanied with a hissing noise. The constable ran round the house, thinking to catch the trickster, but there was nothing there. “By Jove,” he says, “I don’t believe in ghosts, hobgoblins, or fairies, but that’s a queer noise!” One of the females in the house, with more courage than the rest, spoke up and said, “Be you ghost or devil, speak, that we may know what you are.” Afterwards a slight knocking was heard like a rat-tat-tat; then a distinct knock. this ghost is unlike the general run of ghosts – it makes itself heard in the daytime as well as midnight.
The house in which this disturber of the peace is located is built of weather board, and lined inside with pine, and the proprietor intends to pull that part of the house down where the noise is principally heard, to dislodge, if possible, this spiritual visitant. The peculiar noise that is heard has been noticeable for some time. About two months ago a young man died there. Two hours after he died the same rat-tat noise was heard that is discernable now.
Writing again on Wednesday, our contemporary adds:- “The owner of the house alluded to, thinking there is something supernatural about this extraordinary affair, has pulled down several weatherboards to find out the cause, but he could find nothing except one little mouse hole, cobwebs being thickly interlaced between the studs of the house, showing that nothing earthly had been there.” – Newcastle Herald.
The Ballarat Courier, 29th August 1877.