The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and TalesGrant, James (Archaeologist)
History
The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales
Grant, James (Archaeologist)
Occultism; Superstition; Trials (Witchcraft)
A ghost story was related for the first time about twenty years ago,
of the ghost of a murdered man appearing in the colony of New South
Wales. A farmer named Fisher, in the prime of life and unmarried,
suddenly disappeared, leaving £4000 worth of property behind him. A
neighbour called Smith reported that Fisher had gone to England, and
that he was authorized to act for him in all business matters during
his absence. The statement was received as a fact; but a strange
circumstance changed public opinion. An old man named Ben Weir, who
had a small farm near that of Fisher, was returning home one night
from Sydney, when he beheld farmer Fisher with a severe wound on the
forehead, and blood flowing from it. When Weir got within a few paces
of the figure, it disappeared. He could not rightly comprehend the
meaning of all this, and did not mention what he had seen, lest his
neighbours would say he had been drunk. A few nights afterwards he had
occasion to pass the spot where Fisher had appeared, and there again
the farmer stood before him as before. Weir could not now remain
silent. He went to a justice of the peace and told his tale. At first
the justice would not credit his informant, but subsequently he
instructed an inquiry to be made. Marks of blood were discovered at
the spot where the ghost appeared, and in a pond, a little distance
off, Fisher's dead body was found. Smith was consequently arrested,
and tried before the late Sir Francis Forbes. His guilt was
established, and he was sentenced to death. Before his execution he
confessed that he alone had murdered Fisher at the very spot where
Weir saw the murdered man's ghost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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