RAPPINGS IN A GRAVE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 81, 1 May 1909, Page 3

RAPPINGS IN A GRAVE.

BODY EXHUMED IX A VILLAGE CIICUCHVARD.

An extraordinary narrative of a. graveyard incident comes irom the village of Leigh, near Ultoxeter, North Stafford shire.

Mr. Charles Blood, of Bents Farm, Leigh, who was sixty-five years of age, was buried in the village churchyard, the cause of death being certified as heart trouble: After the funeral service was concluded and. the mourners had dispersed, the gravediggcr was engaged ia filling-in the grave, when, he states, he was startled to hear a distinct knocking on the coffin below.

"I called the attention of my brother Harry," said the sexton, Edward Alcock.

'•After hearing the peculiar tap, tap, lie said, 'This is a strange thing; I do not know what to make of it.'

"He suggested' that we should fetch the undertaker, who, fortunately, happened to be near by. The undertaker came, and expressed the opinion that the man was not dead. As the tapping continued, we decided to get the coffin up and examine th e body. The coffin was recovered with tire greatest difficulty, owing to the nvoiglit of the deceased. 'The coffin must come open.' said the undertaker. Suiting the action to the word, he unscrewed the lid. Several of the more timid onlookers stepped back as the undertaker hastily prized the lid open and exposed the body." Henry Alcock, the sexton's brother, also said lie heard strange sounds, proceeding apparently from the coffin! He denied that there were marks on the man's forehead, where, it had been rumored in the village, the man in bis struggles had bumped his head against the coffin-lid. It there was any blood on the face, as had been stated, he did not sec ii.

Samuel Holling, the undertaker, said: "When I took the lid off I found things were as when I screwed th e lid down. Fortunately, Dr. Smith's assistant, -of Twin, was motoring through the village. He turned back and made a thorough examination of the body in the church. He said there were no signs of life, and expressed the opinion that life was extinct when the body was placed in the coffin. The curious part about the whole affair was that after we had got the coffin back into the grave the sounds were repeated."