CHASED BY A GHOST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 52, 19 July 1912, Page 5

CHASED BY A GHOST.

UNCANNY FIGURE AND STRANGE NOISES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, July 17. "We're afraid to go home in the dark," the girls said tearfully. Apparently they have god cause to be nervous, for there is some person, according to stories told by girls, and there appears to be no reason to discredit them, who is making it his foolish business to dress himself in a sheet and frighten a number of residents at Kingsland. He had been seen two or three times during the last day or two, certainly twice-wonce on Sunday night, and once early on Monday evening. The girls in question, who have been brought to the verge of nervous breakdown, live in the vicinity of Commercial Road, Kingsland. They are business girls of more than average intelligence, and there i.s very little likelihood of romance in their experiences. Moreover, reports have been abroad that this person has been seen in another part of Auckland within the past week. When asked for their version of the episodes, one of the girls spoke of what happened on Sunday night. "I must- have been in bed for some time," she said, "when I was .suddenly awakened by a noise, and I found a bright light shining on my face. The blind was up, and the light came from outside. I at once thought of fire, and I jumped out of bed to see where the flames were. When I looked through the window, however, I saw that the light came from some sort of a lamp, and it moved backwards as I looked. Then I saw something white moving backwards too. Of course, 1' was terrified, and I jumped under the clothes as quickly as I could, and lay quivering." "No," she added, '"I didn't tell anyone. I was afraid they would laught at me, and say I had been dreaming. I was as wide awake then as I am now."

It was oil Monday evening that the ghost—giving him a name which is per-* haps too respectable under the circumstances—succeeded in properly terrifying two other girls, both resident in School road, Kingsland. Both had left their business places shortly before 0 o'clock, and were walking home'along Third Avenue, when they received their fright.

"It was about a quarter-past six," they told a Herald representative. "We were walking down Third Avenue towards School road, and were about to ascend a dark hill when both of ua stopped petrified. A horrible-looking figure in white moved towards us down the hill. It walked in the centre of the road and made strange gurgling noises. Oh, the fright we got. It was so uncanny and we could scarcely move for fear. Both of us must have thought of the same idea for we turned and fled into the house of a friend near by. The thing ins white chased us, but as" it approached the lamp it turned aside into a dark gully, evidently not cariijg to show itself. It was the horrible noises it made which frightened us more than anything."

Relatives of the two girls confirmed the story by the fact that they reached home in a very nervous and agitated state.

In view of the unpleasant experiences related by the girls another episode reported from Kingsland last evening seems to have some bearing on their story. About 9.30 p.m. two residents of the district were standing in the vicinity of Kingsland Avenue. Suddenly they were alarmed to hear two or three terrified shrieks, evidently emanating from a woman. They proceeded along the avenue with the idea of making investigations, but they could neither discover a woman nor the cause of the screams. It seems fairly reasonable to assume that the "ghost" again made its appearance, and the woman probably then ■ ran away terrified.

The police at Kingsland were informed early yesterday of. the reports of the ghost's" doings, and last evening Constable Wainhouse made some investigations. A person such as this is always hard to track, however, aud no clue could be found.