Pre-eminent among the
ghost-layers was Parson Richards of Cambourne.
On one occasion two
miners who had been working the "first core by
night" (6-10PM), were going home by a path which
lay through the churchyard.
It was close to
midnight when they reached this spot, and accordingly
they were much astonished to see the parson himself
standing in the porch, a prayer book in one hand, a
candle in the other, and a horsewhip hanging over his
shoulder.
Their curiosity
arouse, they went forward to speak to him, when, to
their amazement, he suddenly turned upon them,
exclaiming in a fury: "What ded 'ee want for to
go and break the spell like that? Two minutes more
and I should have had 'un fast in hell. Now no one
knows when I shall catch 'un again."
With these scarcely
Christian statements on his lips, he siezed his
horsewhip and rushed toward the men, driving them
before him as far as their homes at Treswihian.
