APPARITIONS.

The common belief in East Anglia, certainly in Norfolk, is that those who are born in Chime Hours are gifted with the power of seeing things such as Ghosts or Spirits. Most people, I find, are rather vague about Chime Hours, even those who claim to be born in them. Chime Hours according to A. R. Wright's English Folklore, are 12, 4, 8, and 12 or 3, 6, 9, and 12.

Every parish in the land appears to have its Ghost or Ghosts but many of these apparitions are capable of explanation and therefore can be ruled out. The Ghost for instance at Denton's Lodge, Feltwell, is obviously a Smugglers' Ghost and can be dismissed at once as a forgery. Capt. Denton, of the Merchant Service and a great smuggler, owned and occupied the Lodge in the days of George IV; and the house and grounds were used extensively for smuggling purposes. To scare people and keep them away, nothing could be more effective than a Ghost, and so the place was said to be haunted; it was one of the regular tricks of the smugglers' trade. According to the story told there was a haunted room at the Lodge, with an iron-bound door, and the room was kept securely locked as the Ghost was dangerous, at times even fatal. Where the iron bound door led to is not part of the Ghost Story, but the strong presumption is that it led to the cellars, which are exceptionally large, and were used for the storage of smuggled goods, especially smuggled brandy from King's Lynn.

Like many Norfolk parishes Feltwell has the traditional Coach and Horses which drives down Lodge Road, through the parish and along High Street, at the dead of night; the horses have the reputation of being headless, but it is tradition only and as such calls for no further consideration.

There is, however, at Feltwell, an Apparition which claims a certain amount of attention; it is that of an oldish woman who is said to appear at night in the Borough; she is tall, is dressed in dark clothing, wears a Shawl and is, or was, known as Mary B-. There was a Mary Ann B-, a married woman, who lived in Short Beck and died there about three-quarters of a century ago at the age of 67 years; she was in the habit of wearing a shawl and is remembered chiefly as an oddity. Some people are up in arms at the mere mention of the word Ghost and there is no denying that imagination plays a large part in many of the stories told about Ghosts. But the recently published accounts of that much haunted house in Suffolk, Borley Rectory, show that all Ghost Stories are not necessarily devoid of truth. And the appearance of this woman in the Borough, for whatever reason, is too well attested to be put lightly aside as mere imagination.

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