OCR: English ‘Ghost’ Turns Out To Be Only A Goat

BOREHAM WOOD, England (AP) Residents of this Hertfordshire village lost a ghost Saturday but gained peace of mind after the spookiest summer any of them can remember.

On the whole they figure it was a poor trade, however.

It all began with reports that a ghost was stalking nightly through All Saints churchyard.

First accounts were laughed down but the testimony kept rolling in. Some residents, breathless and with eyes popping, rushed into the Green Man pub and told of seeing the spook dancing between tombstones.

A few said they heard it make a moaning sound. All agreed it was a deathly white.

“It’s ‘orrible as you can imagine,” one man said as he reached for a pint.

Said The Rev. J.W. Larter, the vicar:

“Stuff and nonsense. This church is only 50 years old. That’s not nearly old enough for it to have a ghost. It’s just not done.

Thus challenged, a watching party from the pub went ghost stalking. It found the answer early today. The ghost was a goat.

“T’was disappointing to learn the truth,” one old timer said. “Mind you, we can all sleep better now. But it makes a village more interesting to have its own ghost.”.

Source: Rapid City (SD) Journal, Aug 21, 1960.