idge, driving down from Edinburgh in the public conveyance.
Shortly before our visit three men had fallen from one of the piers of
the bridge and been killed. The question was mooted as to whether or not
they would haunt the locality, and from this the conversation naturally
turned to apparitions of all kinds.
As we reached Edinburgh on our return a middle-aged passenger who had
been seated on a seat in front turned round and said, "What do you make
of this story, for the truth of which I can vouch:--A young sailor,
whose vessel at that moment was lying at Limerick Harbour, appeared to
his father, who at that time was at home with the rest of his family in
Dublin. He appeared to him in the early morning. At breakfast his father
told the rest of his family that he had seen his son, who had said to
him: 'In my locker you will find a Bible in the pocket of my coat. In
that Bible you will find a place-keeper which was given me by my
sweetheart after I left home, and on it are the words, "Remember me."'
That day at noon the young sailor, after making ready dinner for the
crew, went up aloft, missed his footing, fell, and was killed. His
effects were fastened up in his locker and sent through the Customs
House to his father. When they arrived the locker was opened, and
exactly as the apparition had described the Bible was found in the
pocket of the coat, and in the Bible a place-keeper, which none of the
family had seen, on which were the words 'Remember me.'" "But," said I
to my fellow-passenger, "how do you know that the story is true?"
"Because," he said, "the sailor was my brother, and I remember my father
telling us about the vision at the breakfast-table."
Unfortunately I did not ask for the name and address of my informant. We
were just alighting from the drag, and I contented myself with giving
him my name and address, and asking him to write out an account with
full particulars, dates, etc. with verification. This he promised to do,
but, unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten his promise, and a story
which, if fully verified, would be very valuable, can only be mentioned
as a sample of the narratives which are reported on every hand if people
show any disposition to receive them with interest, or, in fact, with
anything but scornful contempt.
Chapter II.
A Dying Double Demands its Portraits!
Perhaps the most remarkable and most authentic ghost is a ghost which
appeared at Newcastle, for the purpo
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