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  • Wolstanton, Ghost Assault and Real Battery October 10, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback

    wolstanton

    A nice folklore/ghostlore story from the English Midlands.

    The peaceable village of Wolstanton, near Newcastle [Lyme], vulgarly called ‘Hoositon,’ has, the last four or five weeks, been disturbed by a very ill-behaved ghost, which, (it is confidently said), has been knocking, scratching, &,c. at a most tremendous rate; and not driven away in the mean time its presence will doubtless throw a gloom over the anticipated ‘merry Christmas’ of the good folks of Hoositon. The nocturnal visitor (like other great folks) has not been satisfied with one house, but has been playing his pranks at two habitations, and, as is customary with ‘his order,’ has assumed as many shapes as Proteus. The exploits of this unearthly agent have of course been noised abroad, and multitudes have gone ‘at the witching time of night,’ anxious to gratify their curiosity, and prove for themselves the truth of the reports which drew them to the spot.

    What is interesting here is a series of legally recorded impressions of the ghost. What Beach would have paid to have seen the yokel drum on M’ilord’s table.

    Our readers may learn from the following declarations which were actually made the other day before the magistrates, (when some parties from Wolstanton appeared before them on an assault case growing out the ghost affair [see further below]) in what light has been viewed the village. One individual, premising that he was of sound mind and strong intellect, and not easy to be imposed upon, said, he believed that some supernatural monster came night after night to disturb the peaceable inhabitants of ‘Hoositon.’ He added, that though he had never seen the ghost, he had witnessed its foot marks! A second person declared he had heard the ghost scratching for some time before it made its horrid appearance! Being asked whether the scratching was like that of rat or cat, he replied ‘it was in this manner, the tester of the bed.’ Knocking at, the same time on the magistrates’ table with his elbows, and hands like pair of drum-sticks: this mechanism he kept in motion for a good while, to the great amusement of all the persons present. A third supporter of the marvellous, a female, calling herself ‘Lady Maria Henrietta’ affirmed that she had both seen the ghost and felt it, therefore she could not be mistaken! It first appeared like a man’s arm, afterwards it changed to a horse’s head, &c. &c. [damn those etc]! This witness politely invited the magistrates to go and see the ghost themselves, at which invitation, as well as at the ridiculous statements which had been made before, they laughed most heartily.

    Beach is also on the look out for the supernatural in legal matters: drbeachcombing AT yahoo Dot com. There is also the comi-tragic aside of the assault.

    With respect to the assault case, we are informed it arose out of the following occurrence: The head of the constabulary force considering it his duty to lay the ghost in the Red Sea [common British folklore topos], went with ‘a trusty brother of the trade,’ properly armed, and full of courage, vowing vengeance on the poor ghost for his strange vagaries. Forward they went with uplifted truncheons; and whether their eyes were full stars we know not, but the truth is that they mistook for the monster whom they sought for ‘a little potter,’ who, like many others, had been led there by curiosity, and was groping about to see the ghost. The little man was seized ‘sans ceremonie,’ manacled, and in order to complete the capture, a good number of sound blows were dealt upon what was thought to be, the head of the foul fiend, to prevent his again troubling the peace of Hoositon. The mistake was shortly discovered, and that which the constables had assumed to be a ghostly appearance turning out to have a real substance. The potter applied to the magistrates for a redress his wrongs, he having received ‘grievous bodily harm.’ As the assault was not with malicious intent, but merely error in judgment, the matter was made up to the mutual satisfaction of the parties. Staffordshire Advertiser – Saturday 25 December 1830, 3