For my own part I am inclined to think that whereas, in some cases, the
ghostly coach horses are the phantoms of horses that were killed on the
highways, in others they are either Vice-Elementals, or Elementals whose
particular function it is to prognosticate death,--either the death of
those who see them, or the death of someone connected with those who see
them. _A Phantom Horse and Policeman_

According to one of my correspondents, Mr. T---- P----, a comparatively
modern phantom rider has been seen in Canada. Writing to me from C----,
where he lives, he says: "It is stated that this town is periodically
haunted by the phantom of a tall, fair policeman mounted on a white
horse and clothed in the uniform of the 'forties--namely, tail coat,
tight trousers, and tall hat. His 'phantom' beat extends from a gateway
at the commencement of Cod Hill, along the Park side of Pablo Street to
Sutton Street, and Adam Street, down Dane Street, and back, through
Pablo Street, to the gateway on Cod Hill." A gentleman well known in the art world, who, in order to avoid
publicity, wishes to be designated Mr. Bates, gave me his experience of
the phenomena as follows:--

"Yes, I have seen the ghostly policeman and his milk-white horse. I was
walking along Pablo Street on the Park side, one grey afternoon in
November, with the express intention of meeting a friend at my Club in
Royal Street, when to my surprise, just as I was about a hundred yards
from the gateway on Cod Hill, I was overtaken by a tall, fair-haired
man, riding a white horse. He was so dressed that I stared in
astonishment. He was wearing the costume of seventy or eighty years ago,
and reminded me of the policemen in Cruikshank's illustrations of
Dickens. I was not frightened, because I thought he must be someone
masquerading; and, in my curiosity to see his face, I hastened my steps
to overtake him. I failed; for although he appeared to be riding slowly,
hardly moving at all, I could not draw an inch nearer to him. This made
me think, and I examined him more critically. Then I noticed several
things about him, that, at first, had escaped my notice. They were
these: (one) that although he was mounted he was wearing walking
clothes--he had on long trousers and thick, clumsy boots; (two) that his
ears and neck were perfectly colourless, of an unnatural and startling
white; (three) that despite the incongruity of his attire, no one but
myself seemed to see him. On he rode, neither looking to the left nor to
the right, until he came to Sutton Street, when, without paying the
slightest attention to the traffic, he began to cross over. There were
crowds of vehicles passing at the time, and one of them rushed right on
him. Making sure he would be killed, I uttered an ejaculation of
horror. Judge, then, of my amazement, when, instead of seeing him lying
on the ground, crushed out of all shape, I saw him still riding on, as
leisurely and unconcernedly as if he had been on a country road. THE
VEHICLE HAD PASSED RIGHT THROUGH HIM. Though I had hitherto scoffed at
ghosts, I was now certain I had seen one, and suddenly becoming
conscious how very cold it was, I tore on, not feeling at all
comfortable till I had reached the warm, cheery, and thoroughly material
quarters of my Club." To corroborate the evidence of "Mr. Bates," I append a narrative given
me verbally by Miss Hartly, who, like Mr. Bates, had, up to the time of
her experience, posed as a pronounced and somewhat bitter sceptic. She
was an emphatic freethinker, and had then no belief whatsoever in a
future life. Now she believes "a sight" more than most people. "One afternoon, in February, 1911," she stated, "just as twilight was
commencing, I left the Park, where I had been exercising my dog, and
turning into Pablo Street, made for Bright Street. At the corner of Wolf
Street I saw something so strange that I involuntarily halted. Riding
slowly along on a big white horse, a few paces ahead of me, was an
enormous policeman in the quaint attire of the 'forties--top hat, tail
coat, tight trousers, just as I had so often seen portrayed in old
books. He was riding stiffly, as if unaccustomed to the saddle, and kept
looking rigidly in front of him. Thinking it was someone doing it either
for a joke or a wager, I was greatly tickled, and kept saying to myself,
'Well, you are a sport, an A1 sport.' I tried to catch him up, to see
how he made up his face, but could not, for although the horse never
seemed to quicken its pace--a mere crawl--and I ran, it nevertheless
maintained precisely the same distance in front of me. When we had
progressed in this fashion some hundred or so yards, I perceived a City
policeman advancing towards us. "'Come, now,' I said to myself, 'we shall see some fun--the 1911 copper
meeting the peeler of 1840. I wonder what he will think of him.' "To my intense astonishment, however, neither even as much as gave the
other a fleeting glance, but passed by unmoved, and, to all appearance,
wholly unconscious of each other. "A few yards further, I espied a negro looking intently in a store
window. Just as the strange policeman came up to him, he gave a violent
start, turned round and stared at him, gasped, his cheeks ashy pale, his
eyes bulging, made some exclamation I could not catch, and, dashing past
me, fled. Then, and not till then, did I begin to feel funny. Further
on still we came to a crossing. A carriage and pair with a coronet on
the panels of the door was standing waiting. Directly the policeman
approached, both the horses reared so violently, they all but threw the
coachman off the box. One of the men cried out, 'Heavens, Bill, what's
that?' But the other and older of the two, who was clinging to the reins
with all his might, merely swore. "Convinced now that I was on the trail of something not human--something
in all probability superphysical, and, impelled by a fascination I could
not resist, I followed. "At the top of Wolf Street the policeman paused, then crossing slowly
over, turned into Dane Street, down which he continued to ride with the
same mechanical and automatic tread. At length, when within a few feet
of a certain shop, over which is a flat that has long borne a reputation
for being haunted, the horse came to a dead halt, and horse and rider,
veering slowly round, looked at me. What I saw I shall never forget. I
saw the faces of the DEAD--the LONG SINCE dead. For some moments they
confronted me, and then--vanished, vanished where they stood. I saw them
again, under precisely the same conditions, two days later, and I have
seen them once since. I am not an imaginative or highly-strung person,
but am, on the contrary, exceedingly practical and matter-of-fact, no
better proof of which I can give than this fact--I am engaged to be
married to a Quebec solicitor!"