Research source

I am still near, Watching the smiles I prized on earth, Your converse mild, your blameless mirth.[64

Date of account: Late nineteenth-century compilation
Source: The Ghost World
Reference: The Ghost World · selected passage 174
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

French mines are haunted, and many tales are told of a spectral hare which at times is seen

Published source text

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Source passage

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French mines are haunted, and many tales are told of a spectral hare which at times is seen. One story tells how 'a miner was frightened one day by seeing a white object run and conceal itself in an iron pipe. He went forward, and stopped up the two ends of the tube, and called one of his fellow men to examine the pipe with him. They did so, but found nothing within, the hare spirit had vanished.'[236] 'Similarly at Wheal Vor,' says Mr. Hunt,[237] 'it has always been and is now believed that a fatal accident in the mine is presaged by the appearance of a hare, or white rabbit, in one of the engine houses. The men solemnly declare that they have chased these appearances till they were hemmed in apparently, without being able to catch them; and they tell how the white rabbit on one occasion was run into a "windbore" lying on the ground, and though stopped in, escaped.' With this belief may be compared one which was common in Sussex a few years ago, closely resembling the French superstition of the Fétiches, animals of a dazzling whiteness which appear only in the night-time, and vanish as soon as anyone attempts to touch them.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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