AN IRISH GHOST STORY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4358, 9 March 1875, Page 3

AN IRISH GHOST STORY

A story, of this description, lias generally .something to do with the lanslice, or death Warner, but a supernatural incident which is said to have occurred in the wilds, of Kerry the other day i,4 sufficiently thrilling, although the : apparition | .concerned had no hereditary standing. It seems that a woman residing in Grlenflesk received a call from the spirit of her husband, a "man of the ' farming \ class, dressed iu .a. shroud and white stocldngs and gloves." The farmer in white gloves stated that since his death, some months back, although he, ought to be in heaven, he was detained elsewhere on account of owing a sum of £ls to friends of his, and he begged of his wife to give him the money. The woman, in full faithj, handed him £lO, and promised to bring him the rest in a few days if he came for it. Meanwhile she went and told the priest the circumstances of the case, and this gentleman acted vei-y differently from the clerical monitor of Mickey Free, who may be remembered by the readers of " Charles O'Malley." When the ghost in complete burial costume arrived for the bank-note he was at once received by a couple of police, and proved, as ghosts do in our day, to be a mere pretender, playing a part, who willhave to answer for his misconduct before n magistrate. There was a touch of real dramatic cunning in the, fashion in which this rogue tried to impose on the simple widow. The shroud, the stockings, and the gloves, were at once. recognised by the poor woman as the most fitting garments for her husband, as they wcro the last in which Bhe had seen him. If he had presented himself in the more questionable guise of a. flannel jacket and corduroys, she might have wondered how he procured a change of working clothes. Here is a hint for spiritualists who have some difficulty in reconciling concrete flounces with ghostly phantoms. The Gleuflesk Ghost has not solved the,problem, but his rigid adherence to charnel properties ought to bo a lesson to those who represent spirits in shooting coats or walking dresses.