GHOST LAID LOW BY RECTOR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1879, 13 October 1913, Page 8

GHOST LAID LOW BY RECTOR

STRANGE "SPOOK" STORY. The story of an obstreperous ghost that played pranks upon tho residents at Asfordsby Rectory, Leicestershire, for over thirty years, and has at last been laid low by the rector, the Rev. l'\ A. Gage Hall, came from Leicester to the London "Daily News" in August. Mr. Hall, after many fruitless attempts to rid the rectory of its uninvited, long-staying, and non-paying guest, at last resorted to tho expedient of a solemn exorcism. Putting on cassock and surplico, ho went to the affected parts of tho house, and with stern mien commanded the spirit to depart "in the liamo of the Father, tho Son, and tho Holy Ghost." "I beliove," said tho rector in an interview, "that my action has been successful, for we have since seen or heard nothing of tho ghost." A Strong Dislike to Bedolethos. The rectory is a very old and rambling building. It has been the residenco of many well-known people, and it is alleged to havo been tho scene of many, grim and daring deeds. Honce it possesses ideal and unrivalled attractions for any enterprising and Househunting spook. But the particular ghost upon whose eviction tho rector of Asfordsby is being widely congratulated was not merely a creature of moans and groans, and creepy, manners and appearanco. He was a ghost of vigorous physique, and, moreovor, an apparition with strongly developed likes and dislikes. His pet aversion, seemingly, was bedclothes, and as an unmistakable indication of his displeasure, ho was in tho rudo habit of ripping the blankets and other clothing from harmless sleepers in tho dead of night. A Vicar's Experience. Thus the Rov. C. H. Strudwick, vicar of Whetstone, a neighbouring Leicestershire parish, recently slept for several nights in a haunted room, and ho relates that on the very first night ho was alarmed by a violent tugging at bis bedclothes. Ho held on as tightly as he was able, but in vain. Tho ghost won tho tug-of-war, ssji stripptfl the vicar of his covering. "All I could see," said the vicar afterwards, "was a heap of disordered bedclothes on tho floor. There was nothing else to indicate that anything unusual had ocowred. I searched the room thoroughly, and everything was m order. Tho door was locked on the insido, and no one could havo entered. But when the same thing happened the very next night I was glad to change my room." A sister-in-law of ±he rector subsequently slept in the same room, and had the samo alarming experience to narrate to a small knot of scared folk in the middle of the night. Nightly Tramps and Noises. The Re\'. Gage Hill declares that such occurrences havo been troubling the housohold ever since ho can remomber; "The family," ho said, "have heard the ghost tramping round tho corridors of the house at night, and the servants have been scared by strange happenings and noises." Since tho exorcism, however, the ghost has ceased his pranks, and it is generally hoped that he has gone away for good. There are some who mpy suggest that the spook has merely gone away on his summer vacation. But tho inhabitants of the rectory do not' treat tho matter in a frivolous spirit.