[ Punch / "A Ghost Story for Girls and Boys"]


Punch was a weekly magazine published in London throughout the second half of the 19th Century. Noted for its satirical and humorous pieces and its extensive use of illustration, the conservative-leaning Punch achieved considerable popularity in the later decades of the Victorian period. Begun in 1841, Punch survived until 1992.


This story, published in the Dec. 15, 1860 issue, does not, I'm afraid, reflect well on Newfoundland dogs — and uses language that was considered acceptable in its time, however inappropriate it may be today.


How sceptical soever we may be on the subject of ghosts, yet when a story of an apparition is authenticated by evidence taken before a Magistrate, we must not allow our preconceived ideas about things of that sort to prevent us from allowing such testimony its due weight, no matter to what conclusion it may point. Now, really, there seems no just reason for doubting the truth of the subjoined statement, openly made the other day at the Thames Police Court, in the presence of Mr. YARDLEY, by Captain JOSEPH HOSSACK, master of the ship Cyclops, trading between London and Hong Kong. It should be premised that an entry had been made in the ship's log book of the disappearance of PETER PETERSON, the dead steward below alluded to, who was lost in a gale of wind, and believed to have fallen overboard and perished in the waves. Eighteen days after this the second mate, who was in the cabin, stumbled over an obstruction, which felt in the dark like a man's feet; and upon obtaining a light he discovered under the table a human form resembling that of the departed steward. It may be as well to mention that PETERSON was a black man, a circumstance which may be supposed likely to render his identification under the conditions stated, difficult if not impossible; but subsequent events leave no room for question as to this particular. These are Captain HOSSACK'S words: —

"The mate called out to the man at the helm, saying, 'BILL, here's the dead steward!' BILL came to look, and was so terrified that he rushed back, and though one of the strongest men in the ship, he went into a fit, and was ill for four days afterwards."


So far, to be sure, the facts of the case might be admitted, and ascribed, as usual, to imagination. But let us proceed:

"He thought he had seen the steward's ghost. A Newfoundland dog, which came down at the same time with BILL, was struck with terror, ran back howling, and jumped overboard and was drowned."


How is this manifestation of terror on the part of the Newfoundland dog to be accounted for? Indisposition might be a cause sufficient to produce the appearance which presented itself to the mate; a figure which he naturally took for that of the defunct steward. Mental contagion, operating through a nervous system, which, although that of one of the strongest men of the crew, may probably enough have been under the influence of grog, and affecting a mind perhaps as weak and superstitious as the frame which it actuated was powerful and robust, would afford a possible, if not a satisfactory explanation of the transference of the mate's hallucination to BILL, and the consequent terror, fit, and illness pf that seaman. Had the mate and BILL, or to give him what most likely was his proper name, WILLIAM, been the only witnesses of the apparition under the table, the mere evidence of their senses would be inconclusive. But what frightened the Newfoundland dog? Was the poor animal nervous, or superstitious, or drunk, that, "struck with terror," it "ran back howling and jumped overboard and was drowned?" What has incredulity the most determined to say to that?
Proceeding in the examination of the Police Report, we find that —

"It turned out that the steward had been all the time in the bread-locker, where he had lived concealed, but he had gone out at night and procured food for himself."


So, then, the Newfoundland dog jumped overboard to no purpose, except that of proving himself to have been a very dull dog to mistake a skulker for a ghost. This foolish act of his must tend to cast great discredit on the evidence of other Newfoundland dogs; indeed, on the whole accumulated testimony of the canine species to the objective reality of spectres. In connection with ghost-stories, this Newfoundland dog seems to have thrown all dogs overboard together with himself. All that can be said for the sagacity of Nero — if that was the name of the unhappy dog — is, that the faithful creature perhaps lost himself in astonishment at the steward's deceit. The most incredible part of the story remains to be told. MR. PETER PETERSON, after having played the crafty trick above described, and been, at the unanimous demand of the ship's crew, put in irons for the same, had the audacity to summon Captain HOSSACK to the Thames Police Coart for the amount of his wages at £5 a month — £24! He had thrice before been guilty of playing a similar trick in other vessels. He had made a pigstye of the bread-locker, wherein he had secreted himself. It is needless to say that the Magistrate dismissed the summons of this nigger. Dogs are supposed to have an intuitive perception of character; and it is possible that when the Newfoundland dog caught sight of MR. PETERSON under the table, he was immediately frightened out of his wits at seeing such a monster of impudence, and threw himself overboard in a paroxysm of canine madness. (249)





[ blank this frame ]

.ghost story for girls and boys