ULSTER GHOST STORIES. HADDOCK'S GHOST.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2146, 10 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

ULSTER GHOST STORIES. HADDOCK'S GHOST.

Thk ncono uf the ghott «lory is in the .naiffhbmrhood of Promore, and the cisc in 'literpstun? for sever il r % ■.him. In the hr*t place, it m.isimui •! i iu\eaty^Ueti by. Bishop Jeremy T.ului, who, according to the Hcciet<r>'i ro|/«iit, " uas satisfied that the apparition was true in 1 real. ' In the nett-ptice, a fnlf account of it (which istill pieservod) -was written by the Bishops secret iry to Dr. Henry M.nv, » learned Enplwli divine, who niM<ited it in hn edition of Gl mil's wurk on " Witdiciaft. ' \nd in the lant pi tee, the case \v tli night worthy of citition by no lews oiiiiiu'iit peraoius than Mr Richard Fii^t-r in hi-» I) M»k uitiUed "CeiUnuLj of thu World of Spitits." The following aro tho most nnpoitant alleged iaci.s connected ivitlj ihis unions instance of supu-iMvl *pintu,il itnanfest\tion. Jatues Haddock, who lived in Malone, neai Belf.wst, wheie he held .i farm under Lord Donegal], died thore about the ypar 1ti.17, leav ing a widow and one son. Sh>i tlv before his death he dad agreed with Lord Donegall's agent t«>r a renewal of the lo tits of las farm, and had also an.uiged th.it tln> name of his son shuld ht inserted along with hu own urn one of the lives in the renewed lease. For thin promised renewal Haddock paid a p.ut of th« »tipuUtcd fine, but died before the whole was paid, and consequently before the new les^e w.vs made and soiled. Not long after H.iddock'i death his widow married anothnr m»n, named David, to whom she bore a son. On the birth of his son D*vi« put his namo m«te id of the name of Haddock » »on, into ,the new Jeasw, on winch he paid the remainder of tho, «paw 4 fine which Haddock bud left unpaid. Thii wa* five years after Haddock's death. About this time a man called Franci* Taverner, a servant of L-ird Dohegall's, was riding home one night from Hillsborough, ho was accotted near Drumbridge by an apparition, which called itself James Haddock, and which proposed to Hpeak to him "about i buamejs that he had to deliver to him," Taverner declined the offered colloquy. And galloped home. But the spirit of his departed friend was not to be thus put off. He appeared again to Taverner on the following night, and then declared his business, which was to get Tavertier to go to his (Haddock'a) widow, now Mrs Davin, and tell her not to allow the name of her son by her second husband to be substituted in the lease of the fartn for the name of her son by him (Haddock). Thin message Traverner for a long time refused to deliver ; but the apparition continued its importunities, and at length, in order to escape further annoyance, Taverner actually left his own house and went to Belfast, where he sat up all night at the house of a friend. But even there the apparition followed him. It appßarod to him in his friend* house, and repeated its request, with the addition that if he did not comply the apparition would tear him in pieces. Terrified by this threat, Tavorner went on the following morning to. the house of his master, Lord Donegall, and told the foregoing circumstances to some members of his Lordship's family, amongst others to his Loidship's chaplain, Mr James South. That gentleman advised Taverner to deliver the message to Haddock's widow (now Mm Davis) as he had been desired, and even offered to accompany him to Mvlone for that purpose. On their way thoy called with Dr. Lewis Downes, then minister of Belfast, who, "on hearing the matter, doubted at first of the tiuth of it ; but being afterwards fully satisfied of it, Ins only remaining scruple was whether it might bt» lawful to go on huch «i business, not knowing whoie errand it was, since though it was a real apparition of some spirit, yet it was questionable whether it was of a good or of a bad spirit." Eventually, however, the minister, as well «s tho chaplain, weufc with Taverner to Malone, ivhere the latter doliveied to Mrs Davis the message from her first husband with which he had baen intrusted. Mrs Davis declined complying with her fit at husbind's request,' giving several roasou Itor not doing so; and when Tavcrner, at his next inter* ww with the apparition, told it of this refusal, he was then desired to convey to the executors of Haddock* will the same message wnioh he had ineffectually deliveird to Haddock's wife. This apparently Taverner did, It is at this point that Bishop Jeremy Taylor becomes 'connected wjlii the story. His Lordship, having heard of the case <is abave related, requested \\U secretary to writ© to Taverner, and desire to meet him the next day at his ecclesiastical court in Dromoie. Taverner accoidingly then waited on his Lordship, and bem^ examined by the Bishop as to this "strange scene of providence " (as his Lordship called it), the Bishop, as we are told by his secretary, " was convinced by the ace »uut given him both by Taverner and others, that the apparition was true nnd real ;" as was also his Lordship's chaplain Dr. Rust, who was then Dean of Connor, and afterwards became Bishop of Dromore. Before dismissing Taverner, Bishop Taylor advued him, the ne\t tune the spirit appeared, to ask it these questions : " Whence are you? Are you a good or a bad spirit! Where ityour abode ? What station do you bold ? How are you regimented in the other world? And what is the reason that you aie allowed to appear for the relief of your son in so small a matter, when so many widows and orphans are oppressed in the world, and none of their relations appear from thence to right them as you do ?" On the very night that Taverner got this ghost's catechism from the Bfßhop. the spirit again appeared to him, and, being told that his message had been delivered to tho executors as he de»ired, the spirit informed Taverner that he would trouble him no more about the matter, but would look to executors to right his son. Taverner then proceeded to put to the spirit the questions • with which he had been furnished by the BUhop, to which, however, the spirit we are told, " made no reply, and vanished in white, with a most melodious harmony." On the strength of what the apparition had said to Taverner, it would veem that the friends of Haddock'a son put his father's executors into the Bishop's Court, but it does not appear that this step was attended with any practical result. Tradition, however, adds that, after this failure of the suit in the Bishop's Court, the spirit again appeared to Taverner, and urged him to take the case into the secular court at the Assizer Tojtbis Taverner demurred, saying that there would be no use in his doing so, as he had no witnesses. " I will be present," replied the ghost, ''and will appear when called on." Accordingly the case was brought forward at the Ashuos. in Oarnckfergu*. During the course of the trial the counsel for the executors of Haddock's will ridiculed Taverner's story about hu interview with Haddock's disembodied spirit as incredible and absurd. But Taverner maintained the truth of what he had stated, whereupon the counsel tauntingly told him to call his witnesses. "Call James Haddock," replied Taverner. The crier did so three .separate times, and, after the third calling, a clap of thunder shook the Courthouse to its foundation, a hand was Men upon the witness-table ; and a voic« was heard asking, "Is that enough ?"' The terrified jury at once brought in a verdict against the executors, and in favour of Haddock's t>on. Shortly afterwards the ■pirit appeared for the last time to Taverner, whom it thanked for his services, and then, going off in a flame of fire, troubled him no more. W» should repeat that for this Utter part of this story tradition u the sole authority. But, with respect to the practical issue of the case, so far as altering the names in the lease was concerned, Baxter has still something more to tell us. He says thatthespinfc gave Taveruer no rest until Haddock's Lite wife had a new lease drawii, in which the name of her son by Haddock wab actually inserted, and that the lease thus altered was sent into England to Lord Donegal!, who signed and Healed it accordingly. Here we have a strange mixture of things spiiiUial and things carnal. Of the tilings spiritual, different readers may take different views ; but of the things carnal, so far as the lease was concerned, there cannot, we think, be two opinions. Baxter distinctly relates the circumstances connected with the altering of tho lease, as we have mentioned them above ; and be relates them as well known facts, for the truth of which he alleges the authority of the Countess of Donegal, who, ho says, had told him of. them. That the lease, then, was really altered in favour of Haddock's son cannot, we think, with any reason be denied. Then comes the question, What led to this alteration ? The appearance of Haddock's ghost to Francis Taverner, asya tho foregoing story, which •tory, wo are to remember, was at the time vouched for as truo by two contemporary btahops who enquired into it on tho spot, and was also accepted aud. circulated a» true by two other divines. The case is, indeed, a curious one. {To tic continued.)