The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-12-20
WALSHAM CIR A N G E
A Real Ghost story.

Real Ghost Story.
Walsham Grange-I have been requested
to alter all the names-stood about six
miles from the sea. A lonely, desolate old
manor-house, with bad name among the
d ,ople round. Some horrible murder lad
been committed there in days gone by, and
rno-house was haunted. Mudltigh was the
nearest village, three miles off, and queer
tales were told by belated trav lers of fear
full shrieks, and strange lights fitting from
room to room. It was, in fact, regular
haunted house of the old school. Well,
my great-uncle married and wanted TO
settle down somewhere IN the country.
sLook here, Terriers, said his friend
Brufton. there's the very thing for you.
Take Walsham Grange off my hands. My
wife hates country life, or | would live
there myself. Il seems pity to let the
old place 90 to wreck and ruin for want of
a tenant, But no one will stay because of
the nonsense about the ghosts. But you
are sensible man, and you shall have the
nlace. grounds and all, for mere song.
And / tell you what, my boy, give regular
good Christmas party, fill the house with
friends. invite us down, and we'll find out
all about the ghosts, and you can see how
the place suits you.'
Ferriers was delighted at the notion, and
thew determined to go down together first
to see if they could discover anything be-
fore their wives and the guests arrived.
They agreed to say nothing about the
Ghosts to anyone, especially the servants,
who were to follow them as soon as pos
sible. So off they started by the Exeter
coach. having sent word to the. care takers
TO prepare for them. Evening was just
setting in when they reached Walsham
Grange. They were delighted to find
CAPITAL repast ready for thena, and were a
good deal amused at the condnct of the
old care taker and his wife, who lived in
cottage hard by, and evidently dreaded
Shaving SO late in the great house, and
were thankful when the time came to say
ssGood night" After the constant rumble
of the coaches the old house seemed pain
fully quiet. However, they chat away mer-
rily, when
ssBangl" goes door close by. They
seize candles and rush out, pistol in hand.
Yes, the drawing room door is shut. There
is no draught What on earth can have
closed 1t? Oh what's that? The door
at the other end of the room is suddenly
flung open. Terriers runs up, sees some
thing dark and fires.
to laugh, ssdon't do too much of that. It's
bad for the furniture. That was your
shadow.
Nothing more happened. so they per-
sua5ed themselves that it must have been
the wind. And so, after smoke and a
glass of grog, they went to led.
Next morning they thoroughly explored
the whole place, but found nothing. In
due course their families and guests ar
rived. Not a word was said about the
ghosts but after dinner, when they were
all in the drawing-room, doors were sud-
denly heard slamming violently. Our
friends eyed each other askance. And,
bark What's that? A low wal, COM
mencing far away at first; but gradually
coming nearer and nearer, and eliminating
in one awful shrek What is it The
ladies begin to screa II and faint, and all
the servants come rushing in, scared out of
their wits This helps to restore the scat
tered courage of the gentlemen and the
last unearthly yell having died away, Fer
riers proposes that the men should at once
institute search for "the miscreant, sir,
who is trying to brighten u.s." All the
servants are there /; and their unmistakable
alarm shows plainly enough that they
know nothing of the mystery.
f'We must 60 at once" says Terriers,
/" and discover the rascal Ghosts Pooh
Nonsense IL Ssf. ktsf 9e
But for all that, the ladies would not
be left alone. So it ended in the whole
party going over the east wing. where the
screams seemed to originate. The gentle
men were continually Selling each other in
the gloom ; and quite struggle took place
between two old gentlemen before either
found odt his mistake. However, this
served to raise The company's spirits and
as nothing could be seen or heard, they
readily accepted the suggestion of foot
man, ''Perhaps it's cats, sir" And so,
feeling infinitely relieved, they all went
merrily to bed An hour or so passed away
in silence when suddenly g yell of agony
ran through the house. Shrek follows
shrek in close succession. The ladies in
their rooms are screaming, and adding to
the general uproar /; then one last frightful
yell, and all is still once more The rest
of the night passes quietly enough and at
dawn the household gets little sleep. The
servants, however, give warning first thing.
Every one looks scared and shaky at break
fast; and one guest Mrs. Ross, is quite
hysterical, sends at once for a chaise, and
declares size shall die if she sleeps another
night in the house. And so goes away,
taking the only three unmarried ladies
with her.
She said she was just doing off to sleep
when strange creaking noise aroused her
At first she thought it must be the wood
fire. which was still smoulderipg on the
hearth, when, to her awfnl horror she saw
a panel of the high wainscot slowly sliding
down, and behind it the most frightful
couple she had ever seen-a masked man
and an old woman. The former softly
stepped into the room. Then she saw what
she had not before observed. Bending
lovingly over cradle just before the fire
was beautiful girl. She was singing a
quaint little lullaby as she gently rocked
the baby to sleep. Suddenly she looked
round, md shri sked with terror as she saw
the hideous form behind her, with one
hand extended toward the cradle. A mo-
ment more and they were struggling to-
gether, anything to protect the child from
the man. Then he drew his dagger but
the poor girl, in her endeavor to keep him
from reaching the cradle, had pushed it
nearer to the open wainscot. In an in
slant the old bag threw herself forward
and clutched the still sleeping child, utter
ing as she did SO a loud yell of triumph
Shrek after shrek rang from the wretched
girl. Thenthe man struck her down with
his dagger, and leaped through the panel,
which was closed directly after him
Mrs. Ross rushed to the door in an agony
OF terror; but, stumbling over chair, fell
senseless to the ground. When she recoy-
cred, daylight was streaming into the room !;
but there was no trace of girl or cradle,
nor any sign that struggle had taken
place. After Mrs. Ross had gone, q COM
plete search was madein her room but no
sliding panel could be found However,
that night the gentlemen sat up, deter
mined to discover the mystery. Well, just
about a quarter to twelve up gets Mr..
Woodbury., and says !" Look here, Ferri-
ers you're a sensible man and you know
you don't believe in ghosts and I don't
think it's right for JUS to lend ourselves to
such absurd folly and. in fact, as father
of a family, shall not consent to watch
for ghost. So goodnight And off he
ones Tn he'd After this first ono and than