The Old Lady in Black

The Old Lady in Black By Jessie Middleton

The following story was told me by Miss Winifred Hall, of Cuckoo, Hanwell, W., who has no objection to my using her name in re-telling it here: “One bright frosty night, about a quarter to seven, when I was going home from London, I arrived at the station and set out to walk to my sister’s house in the village. The house has a lamp before it, and beyond it is a long narrow lane. There was not a soul about, but just as I came in sight of the lane I saw someone coming towards me, and naturally thought it was one of the parishioners; but as the figure drew nearer I realised to my horror that there were no footsteps. “The roads were as hard as iron and my own steps rang out with a clang; but the silent figure, that of a little old lady in old-fashioned dress, came straight towards me and walked close past me without the slightest sound. I looked at her, but when she reached the lamp I had passed, she disappeared. “Of course, it might have been an old lady with felt slippers on, I thought, but, whoever she was, she was most uncanny. “I was very frightened and told my sister about it, and she said at once, ‘Ask the rector about her; your description tallies exactly with that of a ghost which has been seen by the rector and his wife, and his sister-in-law, as well as by many of the villagers. I did not write to you about it because I meant to tell you.’ “Next day I went to see the rector and his wife —old friends of ours—and heard the ghost story. The little old lady haunted the village, and particularly the rectory, which is just close to my sister’s house. One day, when the rector’s wife was potting ferns in the greenhouse, she looked up and saw the ghost calmly watching her. On another occasion, when the rector was writing his sermon on Saturday afternoon he saw a shadow at the window, and there was the little old lady looking in. Thinking she was one of his parishioners trying to find the way in (this was the first time he had seen her), he got up immediately and opened the door, but there was nobody in sight. The laurel bushes were low and nobody could have hidden in the garden. “Another time the door knocker went loudly, but there was nobody at the door. “A resident in the village, who has certain occult powers, has since laid the ghost of the little old lady. He found she had been drowned in the river in a former century. What means he took to lay the ghost I do not know, but he undertook to do it, and he did it most effectually.”