A Ghost! A Ghost!!
In this year of grace 1869 the usually quiet little town of St Just was disturbed from its wonted equanimity, a few days since – by a rumour to the effect that a house at the top of Cape Cornwall-street, in the occupation of Capt. Henry Boyns, was – haunted! What information for tourists!
The excitement caused would have appeared to have reached its culminating point on Sunday evening last, up to 11 o’clock, when hundreds of people, some say a thousand and upwards, had assembled to see His or Her Ghostship, or anything else that should turn up to throw any light on the affair. These curious people, however, must have been sadly disappointed, for their Mighty Highnesses did not deign to put in an appearance and by so doing expose themselves to the vulgar gaze.
The spirit, or spirits, it appears are not even yet laid, notwithstanding the good offices of prayer-leaders, pillars of the Methodist church, gasmen, and almost all other sorts and conditions of men, have been called into requisition. It is said that some unseen power wilfully persists in “making night (and day) hideous” by repeated and loud knocks, which reverberate through the house, and are heard from the house adjoining!
What can these things mean? The surmises of the crowds, by which the house is nightly surrounded, baffle description.
The Cornish Telegraph, 25th August 1869.
There is a ghost sensation at St. Just. A house occupied by Mr Henry Boyns, at the top of Cape Cornwall, has achieved the reputation of being haunted. The cry is “stop that knocking!” but the spirits heed not the mortal commands, so the house is kept in commotion by constant noise.
Royal Cornwall Gazette, 28th August 1869.