The Ghost and the Diary

Strange title one may say .I would agree with you . It all happened long ago in my youth.

As children none of us would venture out after darkness fell. It was not just we children had early bed times and story told before lights out at 8pm in winters. It was something that lived in the vapors from the earth that rose like a sheet from the bed and drifted across the lawns under its own power.

That was the ghost of a woman from two hundred years before our time. For all in the village below our gates this was legend . Talked of under baited breath in dark corners over a few beers at at end of working days .

It was hard even to have postal services as few would travel from the gates to the house alone in a van . No one would walk up or across the fields to see us. .During daylight it was not as bad and in summers long days up to 9pm we could play on the grass and enjoy life as children . In fact we had a very good time as children. Uncles and Aunts made big fuss of us .

I once disgust with an aged great Aunt about our ghost. She told me it was a lady of this house who was killed by her horse in the driveway that comes back to find her horse she was thrown from .

I asked if she had ever seen this ghost when she was a child here.

She said no but one of my grandfathers footmen had and it brought on a nervous breakdown and he left for hospital and died that very night .

One evening my pet spaniel bitch got out .I was 15 I think at time and I had no choice but to take a brolly from that hall stand and search the gardens for her. She came running back rather scared and soon back inside the warm kitchens she was rubbed down. Soon food was served to her and all that may have scared her was soon forgotten .

As I grew I made that walk back to house my car at the gate . Walked back in pitch darkness .Stumbling on uneven driveway gravels and suddenly this white thing some 30 foot ahead of me looked terrifying in the darkness . It grew taller and my heart stopped as it slowly drifted toward me . Frozen to the spot it came closer .The wind in the trees each side of the dark dark black tunnel made a sudden rustling and the white ghostly moving thing bleated as it collided with my leg. My whole body crumbled in laughter at my total silly fear. It was no more than one of our sheep who must have jumped the hedge and found itself stunned .

I eventually came to my car and went back to help milk the cows .I had the bottles from home for the suckler piglets that was why I had walked down the drive in the first place.

I had finished uni and was back home waiting for results .I took history and law degrees and now sat waiting.Not one on my best modes . I decided to look through our old selves of books in the study . It took me best part of a week but among the books I hoped to find the case of this ladies death who is out ghost I came across my great grandfathers diary . I read into parties in 1890 and dates with his girl friend who became my great grandmother I found one page that dealt with theft of eggs from hen house that must have been half way down the drive in the old yard that used to be used to feed the hounds for hunt. Gone long before my birth . It said in his neat writing ‘I thus came to a thought that rather than move all I could stop invasion of no goods by inventing a ghost to haunt the drive way and woodland. A strong case of fear helps keep all away from my property. A head less rider . No .I can use that death of the rider who was thrown . No one will think back that far.So dear dairy talk with gossips and see how long it takes to spread the fear of hell in these midnight walkers up to no good .”

I say back in my armchair and howled with laughter ,handing the dairy to my sister to read and enjoy .

I can say even though we knew the story if on dark nights we had to go outside in total dark no moon it still gave us shivers .

Hope this true tale you too enjoyed.

Thank you for reading this and God be with us all.

Copyright Kevin Parr Bt 2022

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