Unidentified Church, Near Chapel Street

The following account was published in ‘Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders’ by William Henderson. ‘Mrs. Hunt also told me of an experience she and a friend once had in a Liverpool church. I could not persuade her to name the church, she would only say it was near Chapel Street. She and her friend were visiting it one morning when they received something in the nature of a shock. Staring down at them from the pulpit was a clergyman. He was in a half-standing, half-sitting posture, his elbows on the front of the pulpit and his chin in his cupped hands. There was something so unearthly in his very white face and glittering dark eyes that they were horribly thrilled, but could not remove their gaze, being spellbound. The verger calling out to someone broke the spell, and they turned their heads in his direction; when, obeying an irresistible impulse, they looked again at the pulpit, the white-faced clergyman was no longer there. He had disappeared altogether. On leaving the church Mrs. Hunt inquired of the verger who the very peculiar-looking parson was. They described him, and the verger, looking very relieved, said: “If you promise not to say a word I will tell you something. Believe me or believe me not, what you saw was no living man but a ghost. Up to now I thought I was the only person who had seen it, and that made me wonder if I was dreaming, or if there was something wrong with my brain. Since, however, you have both seen it too, I know I am all right. It frequently appears at this particular hour, on this particular day of the week, always in the pulpit, in the attitude you describe. As it resembles no parson I have seen, and I have been here many years, I can only conclude it is either the ghost of someone formerly connected with this church or a very evil spirit, and from its expression I rather incline to the latter theory.”