MYSTERIOUS APPARITION.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9375, 18 February 1909, Page 7

MYSTERIOUS APPARITION.

Three persons at East Rndham -Vicarage, Norfolk, declare they have seen the “ghost” of the vicar of the pariah, who is at present at Algiers (says the Daily Mail of January 2hct). The vision appeared to the housekeeper, a maid servant, and the V Acting vicar, the Rev! R. Brock, - The vicar,' the Rev. Dr. Astley, the "living ghost,” suffered injury in a recent railway accident in Algeria, and as a consequence he is now in the British hospital at Algiers. The housekeeper, Mrs Huntley, ; seen by a representative of the Daily -Mail, said that late on Boxing Day -afternoon she went to close the shutters In the study when she saw the vicar, Dr, Astley, come across the lawu to the window “Ha had no hat on and was smiling, ” she said,. “He held a piece of paper in his hand. I thought he had come home unexpectedly, and opened the, French windows for him to come in. He beckoned to me with the paper, and then wept into a little recess outside the window I could not make out why he di not come in. ” She then called a servant and asked j her if she saw anybody. “Why,” «aid the girl, “it’s Dr. Astley!” She then called Mr Brock. The acting vicar is an elderly man, who has seen Dr. Astley only once. “When I was called into the study,” he said, “I clearly saw the figure, which I recognised as that of Dr. Astley. He seemed to be sitting in a chair, with some books before him. I noticed his Onddesdon collar, And his way of wearing his watch 'Chain straight across his waistooast high up. The figure had the appearance of a reflection in a mirror. The time was about 4.40. With light in rfctn room, I could see the figure quite vdearly. It gradually vanished.” A curious fact is that if Dr. Astley 'had been sitting in his usual place in his study with a light iu the room a reflection would have appeared in the window, making him appear exactly as Mr’Brock describes. Dr. Astley with Mrs Astley left England on December lOfeh, intending to take up the chaplaincy at Biskra lor the winter months. The > train in which he was travelling on 16th December from Algiers came into collision with a goods train, and the oar on which Dr. and Mrs Astley were seated was thrown over .an embankment. Dr. Astley was / severely bruised and Mys Astley had ' .a leg broken and an injury to her vfaco. The Daily Mail’s Algiers corres--pondeut telegraphs that at 4.40 on Boxing afternoon Dr. Astley was Jviug m bed talking with the Rev. /Her ben; O. Muriel, English chaplain ac Algiers, who was seated on a -chair near him. The talk was about various subjects, but nothing having a connection with the vision at the vicarage.