A Ghost Story.
A certain household in Runcorn has recently been disturbed by mysterious noises. For several midnights in succession they spoiled the harmony of the home, and there was some danger of broken health through the effect upon nerves. To make matters worse, the house is associated with a previous ghost story, when it was said that stair carpets were taken up and pictures on the wall reversed.
The man in the house decided to make a thorough investigation, “just to satisfy the wife,” as he generously expressed it, and when all had retired for the night he went on guard in the parlour. Probably he chose that room because the heaviest poker in the house normally rested there. Soon after one o’clock he felt uneasy. There was a noise. Like Scrooge when confronted with Marley’s ghost, the husband said that it was all “humbug” but also like Scrooge, he wished he could believe that it was.
At length the door began to move, and at the same time there was a stealthy rattle among the fireirons. “The man about the house” was now fully prepared for all eventualities, but it would have been much better had he taken the precautions he takes now. After all, the couch in the front room was not bought to provide a soft bed for the dog.
Runcorn Weekly News, 17th September 1926.