A GHOST OR A FOOL

Temuka Leader, Issue 1823, 1 December 1888, Page 3

A GHOST OR A FOOL

Mrs McAteer, who was accidentally shot in the hand not long ago, is progressing favorably, but the ball, which is lodged between the two bones in the forearm close to the wrist, has not yet been extracted, and Dr Hayes has decided on allowing it to remain where it is. She finds it no inconvenience, and when the wound heals up it is expected it will not fio her the efightest barpj. , The circumstances surrounding this matter art really

most extraordinary. In our previous notice of the affair it was stated that noises were frequently heard about the house. We have now made enquiries respecting this, and find that more than ordinary noises have been heard, and that what has taken place there cannot easily be explained away. For over eighteen months, at just about the time when the family is retiring to rest, something, or somebody, has been in the habit of rapping at the window, This has not occurred every night. Sometimes the rap would come for several nights in succession; sometimes nothing would be heard for a week, for a fortnight, for a month —and during the harvest season last year the family was allowed to rest in peace and quietness for about three months. In the fact of the absence of this nocturnal nuisance during the harvest season, together with footprints having been left near the house on one rainy bight, there is evidence to show that the rapping has been produced by a human agent. Sti 1 the proofs to the contrary are equally cogent. Every means of detecting the intruder have been taken. Men have remained outside, hidden in several places, in the hope of catching him at his work, but no one has ever seen anything. Mrs McAteer herself believes she heard a noise made 1 amongst the trees one wintry night, when the ground was covered with snow, and immediately after she came in she heard a rap came on her bedroom window. This was the only occasion on which Mrs Me Ateer’s bedroom window had been rapped at. On all other occasions the rapping has been on a window in a small room j in which her sister—-a young girl I about fourteen years of age—sleeps.' On this occasion footprints were seen in the snow. The habits of the rappist are peculiar, too. He comes to the window and raps gently at first, and if taken no notice of raps louder and louder until he finds his presence is recognised. As a general rule this satisfies him, and be departs in peace. Mr McAteer has asked him to rap louder, and he has done so; then he has saidthathehas not rappedloud enough, and then the rap comes strong enough apparently to break the window, but it has never been broken. On several occasions Mr McAteer has gone out and fired shots in several dhections, but no sooner had he returned into the bouse than the rappist was at his work again. One would think that any man would be afraid to venture back under these circumstances. On one occasion, when two or three men were staying in the house, they went out several times and fired several shots, but on each occasion the rapist returned the moment they had reentered the house; and it was only when they decided that they would not go out anymore that it ceased. The window has been rapped on the wettest, the coldest, and the stormiest nights in the year; it has been rapped on fine, moonlight nights and on dark nights —and, in fact, on every kind of night. The accident to Mrs McAteer has not frightened him. He has been there since as busy as ever, and of all others he selected the stormy, wet night we had last week. Mr McAteer, his father-in-law, his brother, and some of the neighbors have heard him, and have exhausted their ingenuity in trying to catch him, but all to no purpose. He has always eluded pursuit. This certainly is most extraordinary, and no one would believe it only for the accident which brought it into prominence. That the rapping has been beard is beyond a question of doubt, but who or what raps no one knows. There,is nothing to indicate that the rappist has any malicious intentions; he has not done the slighest harm to anyone, and it is hard;to think that anyone could be so foolish as to carry on practical joking so long, and at such risk to his own life. If the rappist was a practical joker he would not be likely to single out one house only for his operations. He would distribute his attentions over a wider area. Not far off there lives irritable old people, whose belief in the supernatural would be awakened very readily, and out of whom he would get more fun. If he wanted to play the ghost it is needless to say that he would not overlook these people. But the rapping has not been heard anywhere else, and thus the mystery is intensified. We do not believe in ghosts, or in supernatural agencies, but at the same time we cannot help calling to mind the story of how what is known as spiritualism was first discovered. In 1847 Michael Weekman had to leave a house he occupied in a village called Hydesville, in America, owing to rappings on his door. As a coincidence we may say that Mr McAteer’s name is Michael, and that it was in 1887 the rappings were first heard. Shortly afterwards the house was taken by John D. Fox, and the rappings became terrible. Mr Fox had two daughters, and one of them, aged 11 years, hit upon a plan of talking with the spirits. She first told them to count up to 5, then to 10, and so on. Raps equal to the number named were heard. This led to further investigation, until the whole thing was discovered. Now, herp is a chance for our spiritualists. Let them try the experiment at Mr McAteer’s house, Who knows but it is some 1 spirit that is there, and that it has something extraordinary to communicate P 'J he whole thing is most mysterious, and it is really impossible at present to explain it away.

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