The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-19
GHOST STORY FROM ENGLAND.
Strange Tale Which Should be Food
for Psychical Research.

Strange Tale Which Should be Food
for Psychical Research.
London Chronicle.
A story of strange happenings. mystic
rious and inexplicable and fitting subject
for the attention Of the Psychical Research
Society, comes from Durham colhecy
village. A place les romantic than Shot
ton Colliery would be difficult to imag-
inc. Bare. dreary, and uninviting, the
village was deserted for years subse-
quent to the stopping Of the local pit
mean little houses fen into disrepair, for
the workers had gone elsewhere, and the
village almost passed out Of existence
until the reopening Of the pit caused the
the dilapidated cottages were put into
repair and inhabited. Into one of the
renovated cottages-the last but one In
Chapel Rew--a miner named Lamb and
his family moved about sixteen months
age. Lambs cottage Is like the rest,
high-pitched roof at the front permitting
only one room beneath 1t. but at the
back the cottage rises to the dignity OF
unromantic dwelling which has been the
scene of ghostly visitations for fifteen
months-ghostly inasmuch as all amateur
Investigation and rational explanations
have failed to account for the phenom-
ena. Lamb had not lived there more than
@ month before his rest was disturbed
at night by sounds at the front door.
The disturbance was not remarkable In
itself, but its repetition night after night
gave rise to wonder and alarm. At first
the family thought the rafting OF the
Suffolk latch and the hacking and shak-
ing of the door were done by some fool.
ish practical joker, whe made himself
scarce with remarkable celebrity and Sc
curity whenever his summons drew any
one to the door.
Throughout the winter the ghostly
noises continued. In the worst OF wealth
would be shaken, the latch ratified. at
first gently, then roughly. and three or
more knocks given to the door. No sound
or voice was heard, no footsteps came OF
went. Watch was kept, but no human
disturbances. The family was In state
of nervous terror, yet for q time they
feared to speak of the annoyance 10 their
neighbors. When they did complain nc
tn ough the unknown came about mid
night or little later Even In the snow
time the house was not left in peace;
yet in the morning Lamb could find M
No hour of the night Is secure against
the interruption, from midnight tito In
the morning Is the time most affected
Five minutes after the caller" had been
was heard Another morning recently
Lamb, who leaves his house half an hour
earlier than his son q young fellow
just out of his teens). had just gone 70
The young man, ready to leave for work
was too frightened to move. He is the
only person who admits seeing anything
at ali likely to be responsible for the
disturbance.
one night, coming home late, about II
o'clock, he thought he saw a shadowy
form glide away from the back of the
cottage. He followed whatever the thing
was around the corner OF the row, and
until it crossed to the top of another
street-all the time keeping at discreet
distance. Young Lamb did not venture
to go further, and as he turned the Gre
ature he was watching turned too, for the
first time, and he saw a pair OF burning
eyes. like living Goals, glazing at him
from out of the shadowy outline OF g
face which belonged to no one In Shot-
ton, and the like of which young Lamn
had never seen before. He fed home
trembling with the tale of how he had
seen the prosecutor, whom he did not
recognize but who had alarmed him ter
ribly.
of fact, devoid of theories. No reason
able explanati of the proceedings, cit n
e- on material or supernatural grounds
has been advanced. The root of the mat
ter however. may disclose as remarkable
a ghost story as the most romantic nov
elist has ever ooncocted:
Tho obvious thing in the case of a new
ghost story Is to submit 1t to somebody
r. lined in psychic inquiry Mg T. " We tn.
Psychioal Research Society was goo ]
enough to discuss the Durham ghost
with one of our representatives. He
spoke as follows
strong one, but still, l should regard 1t
as probably worth investigation. To say
more, before making local inquiry, would
be to prejudice It, which is the last thing
~ 70 "a
sounds, even when loud, are always very
difficult to locate. The apparition is the
least evidential of all, as, though doubt
less convincing to the seer, one cannot
OF the circumstances which led up to IL.
The seer was probably already firmly
convinced that the ongoiEgs were due
to some mysterious causes. which would
suggest an apparition. Trickery within
or without the house is according to my
experience the most probable explanation.
| once made a careful note of unmts-
taxable knocks which l heard late al
night on my own front door when there
was certainly no one there, and the mat
ter might have remained obscure had
not found in the darkness thread OF
black cotton extending to the corner of
street opposite. AT Shotton the people
seem to have felt too much terror tc
make them, 1 should say, sufficiently
careful observers,
Again, the sounds being heard most
~ IN the SIlllneSS OIL tilt HlSHtt 10 SuS-
gestive of a normal cause. Possibly con-
cussions in the colliery might shake the
door or being interpreted as doing so
But it Is really quite useless to offer con-
lectures at distance. Great patience on
the spot is needed to get to the bottom
of these reports. and to separate the gen
uine psychic element which may possibly
underhe them, and which, If 1t could
prove a ghost, would be, TO my mind
the most valuable knowledge in the
world "
1t was remarked by Mr.. Westlake that
If Shotton was like some other mining
districts there was probably good deal
of UNDERMINING of thV ground with props
This might mean from time to time a
movement of the surface which would
account for the ghostly disturbances
Mr.. Westlake thought that this point
like others which would suggest them hem
ing in mind He mentioned that, of the
various ghost cases he had investigated
personally, only one could not be ex'
planned in some measure at all events
| by normal conditions. Surprising case
| to be worth looking into at all, the firs'
m foi n II there