The Rector’s Ghost

The Rector’s Ghost By Jessie Middleton © 2008 by http://www.HorrorMasters.com

At a rectory in the Midlands an apparition in the guise of a former clergyman visits the house on a certain night every year. The family who lived there were cognisant of this appearance, and always arranged to be absent from home on that night. However, one year the rector’s wife was seriously ill, with a trained hospital nurse in attendance, and as the date of the yearly visitation approached it became evident that the patient would not be in a fit state to leave home. It was decided, however, that the family and the rector and all the servants save one should spend the night elsewhere, and that the hospital nurse should be told nothing of the expected apparition, nor had she any idea that there was anything abnormal about the house. She slept in the same room as her patient, and was aroused about 11 P.M. by someone knocking and opening the door; and she saw, in the dim light of a night-light, a clergyman dressed in cassock, surplice, and stole, walk into the room. Although feeling a certain sense of fear, she soon realised that what she saw was an apparition and not a human being, and was able to control herself, and so watch events. The clergyman immediately proceeded to open a cupboard made in a recess in the wall, and after vainly searching therein proceeded to open the various other wardrobes, chest of drawers, etc., which the room contained. Finally he returned to the wall cupboard for a further search. He then left the room, closing the door behind him. Whether he continued the search in other parts of the house is not known. He is supposed to be looking for a bundle of documents, and he visits his old rectory every year, on the anniversary of the night he died, to search. The room occupied by the patient was once his own.