The Frightened Carrier

Scary Books: Apparitions; Or, The Mystery Of Ghosts, Hobgoblins, And Haunted Houses

In October 1813, a little before midnight, as one of the carriers

between Nottingham and Loughborough, was passing near the village of

Rempstone, he was extremely surprised at meeting what he thought was a

funeral procession, marching in a most solemn and steady order in the

centre of the road. The carrier, with a becoming propriety and decorum,

drew his cart to the side of the road, that the mournful cavalcade might

p ss without any interruption. Very active inquiry was immediately

afterwards made in the neighbourhood, but not the least knowledge could

be obtained as to where this solemn group had come from, or whither it

was going; it was therefore concluded, that some ghostly apparition or

other had thought proper to be then exercising its nocturnal avocation.

Some days afterwards it was found out, that a person, who lived in the

neighbouring village, had been endeavouring to construct a carriage upon

such a principle as to go without horses; and, wishing to make his

experiment as secret as possible, had chosen that dead hour of the

night, for trying his apparatus on the turnpike road; but unluckily

meeting with the carrier, he became alarmed for fear of an exposure, and

therefore threw a large sheet over the machinery, and passed the cart as

silently as possible, to avoid being detected.