The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-05-02
AFRICAN GHOST STORY.
ApparitiOns Reported to Have Been
Seen in the General Post Office
at Cape Town.

l have just arrived in England from
Cape Town, and during my stay there
l heard curious ghost story, which
was, and still is, causing considerable
sensation in the place, says a CORE
spondent of the London Graphic. The
| general post office, fine four-storied
building in Alderly street, the princi-
pal thoroughfare, is haunted by a
genuine spook. Most people would
consider that South Africa is too
modern and go-ahead a locality for
such old-fashioned visitations, but
the following is the story, told by
one of the telephone operators, a
member of the Cape service:
One night, about the end of Octo-
Der last, he was sitting in front of his
switchboard-the time was near mid.
night, and very few calls were being
made at that hour-when he was sud-
denly aroused by knock. Receiving
no answer to his inquiry of who's
there?' he looked around, and, to his
establishment, saw a strang figure
bobbing up and down on the other
side of the glass partition which sep
arated his room from another. AT
first he fancied he was dreaming, but
on rubbing his eyes and looking again
he perceived that the figure pos
sesssed the head and body of man,
but the lower limbs were lost in a
sort of most. The eyes were ter
| rihln 10 hnbn11 apI 10
with red and green fire.
At first the clerk was natr lily
very much alarmed, but he soon
screwed up enough courage to accost
| the specter with the first words that
came into his head, which happened
to be: what, ho!" The ghost did
not deign to reply, but glided
through the locked partition, adj
vanced toward the terrified man and
then halted. In sepulchral tones it
now addressed him with these words:
Il want " (mentioning the name
of one of the clerks in the depart.
menD. The man was speechless,
whereupon the apparition, seeming
| ly displeased at his silence, glided
nearer and glared angrily at him. A
| few minutes later the night watch
| man, going his round below, met a
| shIvering individual with his hair lit
orally on end with fright, and with
difficulty recognized him as B., the
| telephone clerk. BIS story was
entirely disbelieved by the Waterman,
but to reassure him, and out of pity
for his fearful state of mind, he went
| up with him to search for the specter.
Nothing, however, was to be seen.
The next night the same thing hap.
pened, and this time the clerk fled in
terror from the building. On the
third night he refused to go on duty
without a companion. This was
granted him, and the two went to-
gether. Again the specter appeared,
| repeating the former request. One
of the clerks thereupon seized ruler
and made frontal attack upon the
supernatural visitor, but it imme-
diately melted away through the glass
partition and disappeared.
A week later, about nine o'clock in
| the evening, a watehman on the first
floor saw a headless man walking
about. He gave chase, but it vanished
as the other had done. On another
occasion at midnight watchman de.
clares that he distinctly saw a man
dressed in khaki sitting at one of the
office tables. He spoke to him and
asked what he was doing there. The
man thereupon faded away as mystic
rionsly as the others. A great many
queer noises and rappings are contn-
ually being heard, causing men to
fight shy of night duty In the post
office, even at the risk of losing their
appointments.
A member of the Psychical Re-
search society was taken through the
building. He heard the, noises, and
said he would interview the spirits.
He changed his mind, however, the
reason he gave being that it was a
very angry and dangerous spirit,
which he would not care to meet. His
opinion did not succeed in consoling
the night staff, who declare 1t is the
ghost of man who was killed dur
ing the construction of the telephone
department. On the day 1 left Cape
Town thorough examination of the
post Office was contemplated.