Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

Peeping Toms are pretty reprehensible characters.  And being a ghost is no excuse.  The "Sydney Morning Herald," December 1, 1963:

Couples who go courting in a country lane in Kent say they are being haunted by a ghost. A local rector is tracking down a reported black magic circle that has been blamed for the "terror." The ghost is said to be of William Tournay Tournay, a rich, eccentric landowner who was buried 60 years ago on an island in the middle of a lake at Saltwood, near Hythe village, in Kent. 

Mervyn Hutchinson, 18, said he saw the ghost one black, chilly evening last week while walking his girlfriend to the village station. 

"We saw a red flash in front of us like a red ball of fire going down the hill, he said."

"Then suddenly this figure appeared. It was rather like a bat. 

"It seemed to have webbed feet and no head. It was a terrifying experience and we just ran." 

Another teenage courter, John Flaxton, was strolling with his girlfriend along the same country lane, known as Slaybrook Corner, when they saw the ghost. He said: 

"We were scared out of our wits.  I'm never going up that lane again at night unless I'm in a crowd." 

The rector of Saltwood, the Reverend E. Stanton, said: 

"Several young people in the village have come to see me saying they have seen the ghost. 'There are rumours that a black magic circle meets in a secret hideout in the village and that they are responsible. l have no proof yet that they are working in Saltwood, but I'm determined to set to the bottom of this business because it's disrupting village life."

I found a handful of other newspaper stories about this strange apparition, but aside from one suggestion that the young people had seen a UFO, there was no additional information.  I have no idea if the mystery was ever solved.