A Modern Ghost.
During the last few days the doings of a certain mysterious ghost have caused considerable alarm among the good people of Storrs, a hamlet on the borders of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire moors. About 50 years ago the hall, a romantic old place, had the reputation of being haunted, but by some means the ghost was laid, and, until Christmas week, nothing was heard of it.
Then mysterious rappings were heard, doors were thrown open, windows were broken, and strange noises were heard. The householders were terrified. Servants armed with hayforks and anything that came nearest issued forth immediately the knocks were heard, but they never discovered anything, and on no solitary occasion did the ghost condescend to show itself. Mrs Ibbetson threatened to leave the hall unless a guard of police were procured. The officers came, and on Saturday a sergeant succeeded in unravelling the mystery.
A servant girl, 14 years of age, was the ghostly visitor. She first frightened one of the farm-servants by rapping at the door of the barn in which he was milking, and the success of her trick encouraged her to proceed. So coolly and warily had she committed the mischief that no one suspected her, and she would very probably not have been discovered if she had not made a confession. – Daily Chronicle.
Nottinghamshire Guardian, 11th January 1878.
(reprinted word for word in a million papers)