Neither Ghosts, Nor Bogeys, Nor Heat, Nor Gloom: Postoffice Workers and the Paranormal May 18, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Beach came across this reference to postal messengers being delayed the inference being that this was because of a fear of Derbyshire bogeys: we are near the ivy-covered village of Longnor in the deep Peaks (UK 1874).
For the guidance of our friends and neighbours we learn that our post-messenger will for the future be despatched at 4 p.m., instead of half past 4. p.m., as heretofore. By whose authority this half hours short time has been set up against the business writers of the town, we are not able to comprehend, as no alteration has taken place at the head receiving office, Buxton, for earlier dispatch of mails. If this crop of half an hour’s time has arisen through the post-messenger having a dread of ‘boggarts’ because he has to plod a part of the way in the dark – the sooner he is taken the better to prevent such whimsical notions averting the rights of business men.
Lest this seem exaggerated one postman at Gastang to the north in Lancashire actually resigned because of a ghost on his route in 1881. Postmen are often out at night, they walk to lonely places, they also work with a monotony and it is tempting to compare them with another ghost-rich profession, the sentry.
However, far more impressive in its way was the following extraordinary record. The date is 1875 (just a year after the Longnor story) and the post office releases its annual report. These includes lists of total numbers of letters; reports of illegal objects in the post (including leeches, snails, six white mice, crayfish, a sparrow, two snakes, and a dog). But there is also an aside on the dangers of the supernatural, not in delivering but collecting the post. Note that this is not the report itself but a media summary.
Superstition rarely stands in the way of the extension of postal accommodation or convenience ; but a case of the kind recently occurred in the West of Ireland, Application was made for the erection of a wall letter-box, and authority had been granted for setting it up; but when arrangements came to be made for providing for the collection of letters no one could be found to undertake the duty in consequence of a general belief among the poorer people in the neighbourhood that at that particular spot a ‘ghost went out nightly on parade.’ The ghost was stated to be a large white turkey without a head.
You can perhaps detect here a common Victorian theme: ‘the sister island’ is a mire of Popish superstition: which then leads to embarrassment when the British do almost exactly the same things.
Other postal ghost stories? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
Sources: Anon, ‘Longnor: New Postal Arrangements’, Derbyshire Times (7 Nov 1874), 8; Anon, ‘The Post Office’, Morning Post (7 Sep 1875), 3; Anon, ‘A Ghost Story’, The Star (8 Sep 1881), 4.
30 May 2016: Chris from Haunted Ohio Books. She offers A Postman Witness, and from the Paranormal Database.
Skeletal Woman
Location: Garstang – Bridge and lanes around the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered on the bridge, this ghoul now extracts revenge by standing by the roadside with a hood covering her face – when approached, she reveals the white skull that is now her face. She was said to have chased a postman, only ceasing the pursuit when he ran past a churchyard and she disappear within.
