Footsteps riddle in ‘ghost’ farmhouse

The Rhodesia Herald, 

November 7, 1963 

STANDING on a hillside looking across a bush-filled valley not far from Umtali is a typical Rhodesian farmhouse. It is big and rambling, with passages and long verandas. But it is deserted, for locals say the house is haunted. 

An Umtali man who visited the farmhouse recently, heard footsteps and smelled smoke in the empty rooms. But he could find no sign of life. 

Talking about this later, he was told “that house is haunted. Old man Peacock walks about there, smoking his pipe”.

Lt Col EHPeacock, who fought with General Wingate’s forces in Burma in the Second World War, settled in Fern Valley in 1946. He started Fern Valley Township North and built the large dam which serves it. 

The dam burst in 1952, then was rebuilt. Lt Col Peacock died in Umtali Hospital in 1955 aged 63. 

A family who lived in the old house about a year ago, said the house was haunted and that they heard footsteps and tapping.  

One night the grandfather lost his bedclothes. When he awoke next morning he found that they had been removed and neatly folded back on the bed. 

LESSONS FOR TODAY 

 Do haunted houses like the Zimbabwe farmhouse in Mutare really exist, or it is just a myth entertained by the superstitious, sometimes to scare off children? 

 To most Christians, this might be a subject for conjecture, but to those in the know, haunted houses do exist. 

 In 1975, police had to flee a house in Parktown, Waterfalls, Harare due to the disturbing spooks in the house.  

 In 1982, residents in Warren Park were convinced that they were being haunted by stone-throwing ghosts. 

Those in the know say the reason behind such strange happenings is that the houses will be haunted. The ghosts, they say, are of individuals who die under mysterious circumstances who then return to haunt the living, seeking to avenge their death.