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CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT, 1931.
The Phantom Coach
O spectres that are said to haunt many
of our ancient homes there are not a few who rarely fail to make their appear- to look on, ne dorbt, ance at Yuletide with envious eyes at the feasting and rẻ- vels of their successors in the fle.....
For many a century Hilton Castle was said to be haunted at Yuletide by the "Cauld Lad" an old-time scullion, who amused himself by breaking crockery and flinging pewter dishes in all directions.
Spectres Who "Keep Christmas."
by Hubert Clayton
of the district do not venture out of their cottages.
When the wind howls its loudest the ahorseman can be heard dashing up the road at full speed, and after crossing the narrow bridge he stops at the door of Wyecoller Hall He dismounts and makes his way up. the broad oaken stairs into one of the rooms of the house. Dreadful screams are heard, which soon subside into groans. The ghost- ly horseman then makes his appearance at the door, remounts his steed, and gallops off up the road by which he came.
Strange- and terrifying tales are toid of the ghosts that gather in Glamis Castie, that grim Forfarshire home of the Earls of
of at Christmas-time Strathmore, bearded man who flits about at night and hovers over the beds of sleepers; of pale faces that peer through the windows and vanish to an accompaniment of shrieks; of And these are by sounds of hammering "as if somebody was putting up a scaffold." no means the greatest of the castle's terrors. A lady guest at the castle awoke one Christmas night to hear the moving of a
One Christmas Eve a scullery-maid stay- soft body over the floor of her bedroom, and / o
She ex-
ed up late in order to taste surreptitiously the plum-puddings in the larder. tracted a plum here, and chipped off a tasty morsel there. Suddenly the hall clock struck the midnight hour, and a little figure, in scarlet cloak and green hood, appeared.
"Ye taste," it cried, "and ye taste; but ye never gi'e the Cauld Lad a taste!"
In the days of the flesh this impish ghost had been Roger Skelton, a Castle ser- vant, who was brutally murdered by his -master in a mood of rage; and it is eloquent of his forgiving nature that his revenge has taken such a harmless form as playing antics with the crockery.
Tamworth Castle is the possessor of two ghosts who, it is said, never fail to ap- pear at Christmas - a "White Lady," who promenades the terrace, arrayed in glisten-- ing robes which shimmer in the moonlight: und a “Black-robed Lady," whose haunt is
the ancient staircase leading from the royal
bedchamber to the tower.
J
At Haddington Court you may see garden avenue, known as "Lady Wintour's Walk," along which, at Yuletide, the ghost of Lady Wintour, wife of one of the Gun- powder Plot. conspirators, is said to pro- menade. It was while walking in this avenne during her lifetime that she heard the news of her husband's capture.
For three centuries the spirit of Lady Bothwell has visited Woodhouselea, the home from which she was driven on Christmas -night. 1568, by the brutal Regent Moray, to wander, half-clad, with her infant in her And arms, until death brought release. the ghost of Lady Jane Grey is said to drive round the grounds of Bradgate House, in Leicestershire, every Yuletide, in a phantom carriage drawn by four spectral grey horses.
HOUSEKEEPING 100 YEARS AGO.
CCORDING to a departmental head of
L
the crack of a bony joint, and then to see the outline of something "luminous and horrid":
At his old terrestrial home, Lowther Hall, the "bad Lord Lonsdale, a terror to the neighbourhood when living, has been a terror since his death, especially at Yale- "Slowly," she said, "the thing, what- tide. "When placed in his grave his lord- ever it was took shape. A body, tawny and ship's power of alarm," a chronicler says. hunched, arms long and spidery, a large and "was not interred with his bones. At night he was constantly seen racing through the There terrible head covered with a tangled mass of grey hair, a face white and staring, pig-country in his phantom coach, drawn by six like in formation, malevolent in expression. furiously-galloping spectral horses.
were constant disturbances in the Hall and animal was suffered to rest. The Hall be- noises in the stables, and neither man nor came almost uninhabitable on account of the for a long time almost equally dreaded, as dead man's pranks; and out of doors he was even there, there was a constant danger of encountering the miscreant ghost.".
"As I stared at it aghast it reared it self on its haunches and leered hideously at me. Then, shuffling forward, it rolled over and lay sprawled out like some ungainly turtle. At this juncture the hands of the door turned, someone entered, there was a loud cry, and the whole tower, walls and rafters, rang with the most appalling -Newstead Abbey, the ancient home of screams I have ever heard." the Byrons, is credited with a galaxy of appear at Christmas-time. ghosts, who Among them are the sister of the fifth Lord
Byron, who has been seen again and again taking spectral rides with, her brother on dark and stormy nights, vainly imploring him to forgive her; and the "Goblin Friar,' who takes his nightly walks in the cloisters and halls.
A remarkable ghost story is that of the Spectre Horseman of Wyecoller Hall.
The apparition is supposed to be the ghost of one of the Cunliffes who, in years gone by, is said to have murdered his wife. Once a year, at Christmas-time, he re-visits the scene of the tragedy.
He is attired in the costume of the early Stuart period, and the trappings of his horse are of a most uncouth description. On the evening of his visit the weather is always wild and tempestuous. There is no moon to light the lonely roads, and residents
Of the ghost which was said to haunt Four Oaks Hall the following extraordinary story is told. Elizabeth Pudsey, of Langley Hall, married the owner of Four Oaks and died about 1742. But attached to her death
of
is a mystery of mysteries, inasmuch as nei- ther the date of her death nor the place o may be presumed that it was the ghost of her interment has ever been discovered. It this lady that haunted the Hall, which view was strengthened when the building was demolished and the workmen employed dis- covered a portion of what they took to be the remains of a human being bricked up in what appears to have been a closed window This was regarded in the servants'. hall. disappearance and a satisfactory explana- at the time as a possible solution of the lady's Alas! however, for tion of the haunting. romance, the 'remains were those not of a human being but of a calf. Thus, not only created. How came the calf to be bricked was one mystéry unsolved, but another was up in such an unusual situation?
New Year's Day," | pudding. the old dining-hall on writes a correspondent of the Woman's Page who belongs to the family, and has treasured the old recipes.
"Plum pudding, mince pies, apple pies
"Pour in, tie tightly, allow space to swell, but not too much, or it will break. Boil (better steamed) six hours. Hang in airy place
till
ACCORD Our largest stores there is a great with cheese and cake followed roast beef, hours. Serve wwanted, then steam two
revival this year of home-made Christmas puddings and mincemeat. This is indicated by the orders for fruits, almonds, and also for the basins which, by the way, are often of a decorative character.
The flat-dwellers are among the chief ready-to-serve puddings supporters of the and mincemeats, for Christmas cookery re- quires a fair-sized kitchen.
New Year's Day Revels.
The vogue of home-made festive fare has led to a demand for old-time recipes. Some of the best come from English coun- try houses, where the same, formula has been used for generations.
:
goose, and
boiled legs of mutton. The ing brandy over."
some weeks before pudding was prepared wanted, as follows:
Mincemeat That Keeps.
The mincemeat recipe is as follows: 1lb minced cooked undercut of sirloin
of two
"1lb. fine breadcrumbs, llb. best flour, 2lb. kidney (beef) suet, 2lb. currants, 2lb. fine of beef (this of later years is generally left raisins, weighed after being stoned, lb cut), 2lb best stoned raisins, 2lb beef kidney mixed candied peel, two good sprigs of suet 21lb currants, two good firm apples,
cut in ginger
fine 215lb sugar, lb mixed candied peel,
rinds the grated preserved Jamaica shreds, 2oz. sweet almonds, 1 doz. bitter chopped finely, almonds, scalded, skinned, and chopped lemons, and two lemons boiled and chopped fairly fine, the grated rinds of two lemons, and pips removed, two small nutmegs one nutmeg grated, half-dessertspoonful of grated, a dessertspoonful of salt, large ог five crushed powdered ginger, four mixed clove and mace, one heaped teaspoon-teaspoonful of ground mace, rather more of macaroons, 2oz sweet and half dozen bitter ful of salt. 1lb best brown sugar, 16 eggs,
wine-glasses brandy.
almonds, blanched and chopped finely,
"Mix all dry ingredients well together, The two following recipes, for instance,
beat in eggs, and lastly the brandy. Cover twenty-four come from an old Manor House near North-
in bowl
to stand and allow allerton, Yorks, where they were in use in
hours. Then in strong cloth, scalded and 1835 and possibly at a much earlier date.
"Tenantry and villagers had dinner in floured, spread over bowl the right size of
Mix all very well, than pour over a cup- ful of sherry and a cupful of brandy. Stir well, leave some hours to soak, and press
into jars. Cover closely.
twas
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