Christine Bernard (ed.) - True Ghosts

[dem bones]

Christine Bernard (ed.) - True Ghosts (Armada, 1974)

Christine Bernard - About this Book ...
Glossary

John Raynor - The Poor Musician
Lord Halifax - The Man in the Iron Cage
The Late Nelly Butler
Fred Gettings - The Helpful Monks of Glastonbury
Lord Halifax - The Encounter
Christine Bernard - The Talking Mongoose
Alasdair MacGregor - The Unbidden Guests
The Passenger with the Bag
Fred Gettings - Ghosts in Photographs
Christine Bernard - The Writing on the Wall
Lord Halifax - The Bloody Hand
The Case of the Bell Witch
Lord Halifax - President Lincoln's Dream
The Ghosts of Billingham Manor
Christine Bernard - The Jinxed Touring Car

Blurb:

Have you ever felt a ghostly 'presence' in an empty room? Or seen a strange figure standing by your bed?
Study the photograph of the Phantom Hand, read about the amazing Talking Mongoose, the despairing Man in the Iron Cage, the horror of the Bell Witch, the dreadful curse on the Emperor's motor car ....
These and many other startling tales - all chillingly true - will lead you deep into the unknown world of spirits.
Dare you enter?

"When starting to put together this collection, I planned to tell you about haunted houses and their ghosts. But after reading hundreds of histories of gabled manors, battlemented castles and red-brick villas as well, I began to realise that ghosts are a pretty unoriginal lot. By this I mean that they all seem to go in for the same type of activities .... Of course I liked some of the haunted house stories, and have included one about some noisy ghosts who haunted Billingham manor on the Isle of Wight, also the story that tells of the unhappy young man who, for a hundred years, could find no peace in the Lion d'or Hotel in Lille. But I decided that enough was enough, and began to explore other kinds of no less strange happenings."

From the editor's introduction, About this book ...

Lord Halifax - The Man in the Iron Cage: Recorded by Miss Bessie Barrington in 1786 during a disrupted stay at the Lion d'or Hotel, Lille. Ghost is that of a young heir imprisoned inside cage in the attic and left to die by grasping uncle. Haunting still going strong as late as 1887. Has the ring of truth in that haunting really isn't as interesting as it should be.

The Passenger With The Bag. Mr. Dwerringhouse, director of a railway company, is in disgrace with the board who wrongly believe him to have absconded with £70, 000. The true culprit is identified after Mr, Dwerringhouse ghost, carrying a spectral bag of phantom money, appears to a passenger on a train from Euston, and leave him his calling card.

Christine Bernard - The Jinxed Touring Car: Turns out that Archduke Frank Ferdinand and wife were but the first to fall victim to a curse attached to the green Gräf and Stift double phaeton. From June 1914 to it's supposed "destruction" in a bombing raid on the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum during WWII, the jinxed touring car is alleged to have claimed the lives of fourteen people. Legend registers off scale on the very-made-up-o-meter.

Lord Halifax - The Bloody Hand: Mary disappears on her Wedding Day never to be seen alive again. Some years later, workmen clearing a fallen oak from a waterfall, discover a skeleton concealed behind rocks, the bony hand sporting a ring with a red stone. Ellen, Mary's surviving sister, insists on keeping the hand in a glass display box. On her death, it passes to a servant who opens a public house.

One night, a muffled stranger walks into the pub. The hand recognises him as he who murdered her bones!

[dem bones]

The Ghosts of Billingham Manor: Phantom duellists, clutching hands, a thing unseen in the night groping a French maid's chest - an all-action haunting on the Isle of Wight. As experienced by Lady Leslie and family over their holiday in 1929.

Fred Gettings - The Helpful Monks of Glastonbury: When archaeologist Frederick Bligh Bond set about the restoration of the Abbey in 1907, the ghosts of several medieval brothers were keen to offer advice and assistance. Automatic handwriting, an amusing gargoyle, a prophecy fulfilled, etc.

Christine Bernard - The Writing on the Wall: "Dreams that foretell the future." How the exact location of secret treasure room in the Temple of Baal, Nippur, was revealed to Dr. Hilman Hilprecht, plus other dull-to-read-about things. Am beginning to regret editor was so quick to drop the 'Haunted Houses' project.

Alisdair MacGregor - The Unbidden Guests: (The Ghost Book: Strange Hauntings in Britain, 1955). Two brief episodes. (1). A visit to Hampton Court in 1929. The three men who see the ghost of a Seventeenth Century page boy, either fall ill or die soon afterwards. (2). A young woman claims to have first met her husband-to-be at a Devonshire home, despite his never having set foot in the place until after they're married. Thankfully this second is pretty dark.

[dem bones]

The Case of the Bell Witch: Robertson County, Tennessee. Versatile persecution of farmer John Bell and daughter Betsy by versatile, happy-slapping killer poltergeist over 1817-1921. Phantom is a chatty type, often pleasant to other family members.

Lord Halifax - President Lincoln's Dream: Lincoln's recurring dream of floating rudderless in a strange vessel invariably heralded a seismic event, so no surprise it returned on the eve of his assassination.

Fred Gettings - Ghosts in Photographs: Even Elliott O'Donnell would have struggled to sex up this gripping instalment. Snapshots of the spirit world unintentionally caught on film. One such - reproduced in the 4 page photo inset - shows Fred's daughter Tiffany, aged three, with what might pass for a ghostly hand touching her head. The more skeptical view is damp stain on wallpaper.

Lord Halifax - The Encounter: While visiting Aberdeen in 1859, Rev. Spencer Nairne sees a familiar face on Union Street. When he greets her, she blanks him and vanishes. Later when he catches up with her, she swears it was the other way around, that he snubbed her. They compare diary dates. Both had recently travelled North, but at no time had their schedules clashed. In fact, Miss Wallis arrived in Aberdeen over a month after the Reverend had returned to England. This kind of phenomena seems remarkably common - it is crucial to a friend's Haunted Bench experience (guest "personality" residue - me!). Doesn't make it any less dull to read about.

[dem bones]

"That mongoose knows too much"

John Raynor - The Poor Musician: (A Westminster Childhood, 1973). The grand Eighteenth century house at 3 Little Dean Yard is beset with ghosts. In his youth, Raynor was particularly disturbed by that of a fifteen year old boy, shunned in his day for his inability to master the Jewish Harp. Even in death, his playing continues to torture the living.

The Late Nelly Butler: Machiasport, New England, 1900. The shrill, nosy, domineering ghost of Nelly Hooper Butler commandeers the Blaisdel's cellar to address a fascinated public. Her specialties include matchmaking, organizing community hikes and informing you how long before your partner/ offspring/ loved one is going to die.

Christine Bernard - The Talking Mongoose: "I'm a ghost in the form of a weasel. I shall haunt you with weird noises and clanking chains. if you are kind to me, I will bring you good luck. If you are not kind I shall kill your poultry. But I am not evil, though I could be if I wanted. You don't know what harm I could do if I were roused. I could kill you all if I wanted. "

Avoided til last obviously (clue: the title), but it's one of the more interesting items and the author clearly had fun writing it. This purportedly well-attested case took place at Doarlish Cashen on the Isle of Wight in 1931 when, after an outbreak of mild poltergeist activity at his farmhouse, Jim Irving discovered the gobby ghost in the attic. Initially hostile, it answered to the name 'Jack,' but, once mellowed, showed a preference for Gef. Having dropped the macho posturing, he and the Irving's got along famously, though some of the neighbours were lest keen, and an electrician at the bus depot really had it in for him.

As his fame spread, Gef was interviewed by among others, reporters on the Daily M**l, Sketch and Manchester Daily Dispatch, representatives of the Society of Psychic Research, and the editor of The Listener.