The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-04-03
ENGLISH GHOSTS.


treat lightly the ghost of Catherine
Howard at Hampton Court. She fore
tells nobody's demise, but walks the
corridor that looks out on the lovely
fountain court, wailing and disturb
ing the comfort of the ladies who are
privileged to live in the old palace.
1t was in this corridor, almost 400
years ago, that Catherine, fifth wife
of Henry VIII, waylaid the King on
his way to his chapel to beg for her
life. Henry flung off the poor plead
ing creature and went mercilessly on
to his prayers. There used to be a
venerable guard at Hampton Court,
who would solemnly assert that he
had heard the whole interview one
night; the woman's cries for pity and
then her screams of despair when the
King spurned her with an oath and
then slammed the door in her face.
The old guards his were as ghostly
as his tale, but he used to tell it so
we'll it was hard to doubt him. The
fact, however, remains that the night
ly noises from the corridor become so
disturbing that eventually it was
thrown open to the public. The
trampling of tourists feet is usually
distressing to ghosts, and Catherine
is less noisy than formerly.
But the royal ghosts are as a drop
in the bucket to the private family
phantoms that prevail in England,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Per-
haps the most thoroughly haunted
spot in the little piece of land that
goes by the name of Great Britain, is
the Leap Castle at Roscrea, Ireland.
The ghosts of Leap are many, and
those members of the Psychical Re-
search Society, who have tried to
pluck out the heart of Leaps mystery
have retired from investigation ready
to agree that there are still some
things beyond the touch of the finger
of science. At Leap, ghosts in human
form do not appear very often, but
in broad daylight a ponderous book
will softly close or open its covers,
bells ring, though touched by no
visible hands; locked doors and win
dows fly open, and at night lights
glimmer under shut doors, or[wom-
ems voices are heard whispering, Civ
ing vent to hair-curling laughter and
sometimes sobbing dismally.
The Leap Castle is an antique stone
building and picturesque, but few
there are who envy its owners, though
Leap is jolly and peaceful old home
stead in comparison with it's Scotch
prototype. The famous, the fierce
and frowning northern stronghold OF
the Lords Strathmore is Glamis Cas-
tie pronounced Glams), and while
it may seem fiippant to say so, Glamis
has ghosts from way back, from the
time of King Duncan and bloody Mac
beth, from before the coming over
of William the Norman.
Besides them those of Leap are just
tricksome brownies. Everybody in
England takes Glamis seriously and
nobody disputes the existence of
some frightful mystery, hidden for
generations in the dungeons or the
secret tower chambers Of the brutal
looking pile Of masonry.
Even Dean Stanley acknowledged
a feeling for Glamis' ghost. The dean
had a way of digging up the royal
folk and others who sleep in West
minister Abbey, just to see if they
were all there and doing comfortably;
and he was not nervous or foolishly
credulous person. He got shock,
however, when he happened to blum
der into the tomb of that Lady Strath-
more OF whose fatal inquisitiveness a
grim Bluebeardish tale is told.
She tried to see the Glamis mystery
which was supposed to be secreted in
a portion of the castle to which only
the Earl and his heir had access. Yet
a more dreadful fate than that Blue
beard prepared for prying Fatime be-
fell this poor lady who suddenly dis
appeared Her husband announced
her death, but the gossips said he had
had her tongue cut out, her hands
cut off, and placed her in exile in a
remote town in the Italian noun
tains.
This, of course, was to prevent any
revelation as to the nature of Glamis
awful secret, and when at last the
wretched woman really did die, she
was smuggled into a tomb in West
minister Abbey. AS this tragedy took
place a hundred years ago, it sounds
like a fairy tale to modern ears; nev-
ertheless, Dean Stanley did unearth
the remains of Countess Of Strath-
more, a pathetic skeleton without
any hands.
Last winter, while a large party
was taking place at the castle and
while the guests were gathering in
the hall, nine of diamonds, card
of singular ill-omen for the Strath-
mores, futtered down from the oak
beamed ceiling to the carpeted floor
The present Lord of Glamis hastily
put his foot on the card in an attempt
to conceal il.
Eventually he was seen to toss the
card into the fire before leading the
way 20 table The guests who had
witnessed the incident discreetly
bided their time to add this as sub
stantial proof of the fact that Glamis
is still haunted-From the House
Beautiful.