The Ghost Next Door (Creepy History 18)

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours.  Just not ghost ones.

In Creepy History 14, we looked at Tales of Superstition, an 1803 book published anonymously for Tegg and Castleman, London.  It is a collection of ghost stories purporting to be true, although this kind of publication should of course be approached with a large pinch of salt in hand!  For the final Creepy History this October, the following is another ‘true’ story from the same collection.  Happy Halloween!

As a Mr. John Tornley was walking through King-street, Dublin, about ten o’clock on a Tuesday night, he met a lady who he perfectly knew, being his next-door neighbour; he accosted her with the usual compliments, and was answered with a smile, as was common with her: they walked to the end of the street, conversing all the way; she expressed herself very tired. Mr. Tornley asked her if she would ride, and, before he gave her time to answer, called a coach, when she got in, and he followed; and soon as he gave orders to the coachman, they began conversing on different subjects: she said that the coach made her head-ach; at which, Mr. Tornley put his head out of the coach, and told the man to stop; but great was his surprise, when, recovering his seat, the lady was gone! He jumped out of the coach, looked round him, but could see no appearance of any lady: and, what is still more remarkable, the coachman had never seen any lady get into the coach, and expressed his wonder at hearing Mr. Tornley say there was one got in; he said he had heard Mr. Tornley speak several times, but supposed it was to himself. Mr. Tornley then walked home; and to his great astonishment was told that his neighbour’s wife, the lady he had seen, was dead but a few minutes, and that before she died she wished much to see Mr. Tornley.

The above fact happened, as near as I can remember, in August, 1787.

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Thank you for reading the Creepy History series.  Normal service will be resumed for November, when I will be presenting the usual mix of journals and ‘snippets’.