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GHOSTS ROUND LONDON,At the Mansion House on Monday the Lord Mayor said he had received a letter upon a subject of an odd nature, which had induced him to withhold it from the public for some days, in the expectation that some statement might be made through a source of indisputable authority relative to the matter on which it treated. From this letter it appeared that some individual of presumed high rank had wagered with a companion that he would net visit many of the villages round London in three different disguises, a ghost, a bear, and a devil. The wager was accepted, and the let-ssr vouched for the truth that the unmanly villain had succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses In the neighbourhood of Peckham, by appearing as a spectre. The Loid Mayor observed, that he could scarcely give credit to the tale, and could only conjecture that some fool had frightened tne writer, but as no such vision had entered the City he could not take cognisance of its iniquities : he believed thatoDe of the seven ladies who had lost their senses was bis correspondent.A Gentleman stated to his Lordship that the iservant girls about Kensington, Hammersmith, and Ealing told dreadful stories. of the ghost or devil, who tore the clothes from the backs of females.On Wednesday the Lord Mayor received several other communications, to the effect that though no lamentable accidents had artseu fro n this wicked prank, it had been played to a considerable extent—at Hornsea, Kingston, and in parts of Hertfordshire. The way in which the ghost makes its appearance is explained, that some individual drives about with a livery servant in a cab, snd throwing off*a cloak appears in one of the frightful forms alluded to in the first letter.A Barrister an 1 Magistrate writes thus “ Some weeks ago, an ota female domestic, who lived in my service many years, and now resides in respectable circumstances, as the wife of a decent tradesman at Hammersmi h, called upon me, and in the course of conversation informed me that the femalesof Hammersmith and its vicinity feared to walk abroad after night.fall, in consequence of the molestations of a ghost or monster, to which they are exposed. At first I, with your Lordship, thought this visitation in the 19 h century, so near the metropolis, and with such a well-organised police as we now have, too absurd for belief; but on further inquiry I ascertained that several young women had really been frightened into fits—dangerous fits—and some of them had been severely wounded by a sort of claws the miscreant wore on his hands. I expressed my surprise that the attention of the police had not been called to this nuisance. My informant assured me that repeatedly their vigilance had been aroused on the subject, but the fellow or fellows had been adroit enough to elude capture. I have that reliance on the witness I allude to that I have no doubt she reported facts.”Another letter from an “ Inhabitant of Stockwell” assures the Lord Mayor that the first letter he received wag not without foundation ; “ Me has frightened several persons in Stockwell, Brixton, Camberwell, and Vauxhall, and has caused the death of several ; and many instances can be proved of his frightening people into fits.’'The following communication was addressed to Mr. Hobler;—.“ There have been rumour* in St, John's Wood and its neighbourhood for the past fortnight of the appearance of the monster. The bei is, however, understood to be of an even far more grave a nature than is staled in the letter from Peckham, and, if it be true, amounts to murder. As far as the writer has been informed, the bet is that the monster shall kill six women in some given time. It is asserted that he has been seen in St.John’s Mood, clad in mail, and as a bear—Jars, 9, 1838.”Another Setter says, “ The villain mentioned as appearing in the guise of a ghost, bear, and devil, has been within the last week or two repeatedly seen in Lewisham and Blackheath. So much indeed has he frightened the inhabitants of those peaceful districts, that women and children durst not stir out of their houses after dark.”The Lord Mayor said it was evident that considerable terror had been excited by the appearance of some man or men in the outlets of the Metropolis in disguise, and that a great deal of mischief might raise from a pantomimic display at night in retired and peaceful neighbourhoods; but be thought from the first that the grossest exaggerations must have been made in fun as well as in frighten the subject, and he believed it to be quite impossible that there could be any foundation for the report that the ghost performed the feats of a devil upon earth by clawing and tearing rhe flesh and clothes of poor people. He also withheld his ere. denee from the statement thatsomany ladies had been frightened m death, although he had been given to understand, from authority which he could not question, that one of the female servants of a gentleman who resided near hia house at Forest-hill, beyond Pcckham, was a short time since terrified into fits by the sudden appearance of a figure clad in a bear's skin, which, upon being drawn aside, exhibited a human body in suit of mail, and with long horns, the emblem of the King of Hell himself.Mr. Hobler said that be believea that there were stories about the ghost all round the Metropolis, and that in all probability the matter would one day end in a good ducking. If anything serious had resulted from the tricks which were said to have been already played, the police, no doubt, would have been apprised of it. That some mischievous fellows who deserved to be well trounced, were at » ork, there existed ne doubt.The Lord Mayor hoped that the fears entertained would soon vanish altogether. He wished that a more early communication had been made to him on the subject; but he had the satisfaction to know now that he would have the assistance of a barrister and an attorney, whose names and respectability he was acquainted with, and all he could say was that if twe lawyers could not make a foolof the devil himself between them, be did not know who the devil could-
Newspaper Details
London County Herald and Weekly Advertiser
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Jan 13, 1838
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
GB 20 Nov 2024
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