by Thomas Bray
Seeing that it’s Hallowe’en (‘tis the season to be spooky, etc), I have written this extract of a ghost story regarding Bethesda Chapel. It concerns a ghostly funeral in 1879, not seen but heard. Here is a description from a witness, a certain gentleman of the name of Wilkins:
My wife was ill, and her sister and myself were sitting with her. We had left her in bed for a little while, and had gone downstairs, and were sitting by the fireside. It was midnight. The house was one of a long row. Not a hundred yards from our was an old chapel with a graveyard in the rear, and access to the yard was by means of an iron gate leading from the road. Well, we were sitting by the fire, I was resting my head in my hand, when all at once there came a sound of distant singing, as at a funeral. At first it was faint, but gradually it increased in volume, and the steps of a great number of persons could be distinctly heard, with the rustle such as you would hear when many are passing.
I looked at my sister-in-law, and she as intently as me, and we both arose,
went to the door, opened it, and looked out upon the street. Still we heard the singing and the rustle of a large crowd, but not a soul to be seen. The moonlight shone upon the street. The tramp continued up to the gate of the chapel of Bethesda, and then it ceased. That night my wife died, and a few days after that the funeral procession passed from the house to the graveyard of Bethesda.
It is here that I bid you all a very good night. Oh, and happy Hallowe’en!
