And then he related how he had proceeded to the rhubarb bed, had gathered one stick, and was about to pluck another, when he suddenly became aware of the white figure of an old woman standing before him in the midst of the rhubarb, looking at him intently.
“She waved her apron at me,” said he, “and then I heard her say, ‘Ish, ish, ish.’”
While he looked the boggart vanished, and then the man took to his heels.
Another lady, who resided at the house in the last years of the nineteenth century, has also some queer tales to tell of the appearance of the boggart. Says she:
“I would not live in that house again if its owner would give it to me, and the land it stands on. The place is uncanny, and the boggart is always there. I saw it more than once. I remember going into the orchard one evening with my sister. We went to pick some apples, and having got as many as we wanted, were returning to the house. At the gate, which leads into the meadow, we saw the boggart—in the form of an old lady, with a withered face. She stood there waving her apron, and saying ‘Ish, ish, ish.’”
“We dropped the apples, and fled.”
Other persons still alive assert that they have seen this boggart, and it is firmly believed by many that the ghost of the old woman will continue to haunt the house until her sins are expiated, or until some minister or holy man “lays the boggart,” by using the forms laid down by law in the olden time, for exorcising evil spirits.
Author’s Note.
To the two other ghost stories relating to the township of Godley—namely, the stories of “The Haunted Farm” and “The Spectre Hound”—I have thought it necessary to append a note of explanation. I now adopt the same course with regard to the story of “The Boggart of Godley Green.” I wish to repeat in this instance that nothing in the story must be credited to the imagination of the writer. All the details have been given to me by persons still living (May, 1906), who have resided in the house at one time or another, and who solemnly assert that they have seen the boggart, under the circumstances related in the above account. Their statements were given to me in the presence of witnesses, and it is impossible to doubt the earnestness and honesty of my informants.