Ghost Stories

Catherine Crowe, in her night side of Nature (1848-55), an early Victorian collection of ghost stories, had a remarkable anecdote recounted by Mrs Hunn the mother of George Canning, the Prime minister (he was born in 1770). After her third marriage she had an engagement at Plymouth; when she arrived she was offered lodgings at a very low rental because the house has the reputation of being haunted. She said that it would not be the first time she had had to do with a ghost and settled in peacefully with her maid and children. The house belonged to a carpenter and her bedroom was immediately above his workshop. She became conscious of an appalling row issuing from below as of several men at work, knocking, hammering, sawing, planing, etc.

'Being a woman of considerable courage, Mrs Hunn resolved, if possible, to penetrate the mystery; so taking off her shoes, that her approach might not be heard, with her candle in her hand, she very softly opened her door and desended the stairs, the noise continuing as loud as ever, and evidently proceeding from the workshop, till she opened the door, when instantly all was silent - all was still - not a mouse was stirring; and the tools and the wood, and everything else, lay as they had been left by the workmen when they went away.

Having examined every part of the place, and satisfied herself that there was nobody there, and that nobody could get into it, Mrs Hunn ascended to her room again, beginning almost to doubt her own sences, and to question with herself whether she had really heard the noise or not, when it re-commenced and continued, without intermission, for about half an hour. She however went to bed, and the next day told nobody what had occurred, having determinded to watch another night before mentioning the affair to anyone. As, however, this strange scene was acted over again, without her being able to discover the cause of it, she now mentioned the circumstance to the owner of the house and to her friend Bernard (of Plymouth Theatre who had recommended the lodging). The owner, who would believe it, agreed to eatch with her, which he did. the noise began as before, and he was so horror-struck, that instead of entering the workshop, as she wished him to do, he rushed into the street. Mrs Hunns continued to inhabit the house the whole summer, and when referring afterwards to the adventure, she observed, that use was second nature; and that she was sure if any night there ghostly carpenters had not pursued their visionary labours, she should have been quite frightened, lest they should pay her a visit up stairs.

Mr Bernard recorded this story in his book retrospections of the Stage, from which, persumably, Mrs Crowe took it.

In Celtic parts, such a phenomenon is well known and is taken to be a forsight of a coffin being made shortly. In Scotland it is called Tathaich air ciste - 'Frequenters for a chest' (J. G. cambell: Witchcraft and second sight in the Scottish highlands, 1902). While at Pont - Faen in Pembroke, a schoolmaster heard the sounds of a coffin being made in a garret over his school while he was in class. A few days later a neighbour died, and the joiners used timber stored in the garret and made the coffin on the spot. no one understood the forewarning in this case. So it is possible that this was the meaning of Mrs Hunn's odd vistation, even though she does not seem to have known of a related death.