THE DEATH OF A GHOST-by Rafa Elejabeitita

The Death of a Ghost:

For many years people in the village of Moretonhampstead thought that Endley farm, owned by two brothers, Jim and Jack Cox, was haunted. Although they only employed a few farm hands, nobody was willing to work there for a long time since they used to tell weird stories of what had happened to them while working. Such things were, for instance, hay had been stabbed overnight, cowsheds had been cleaned and the eggs had been collected. One ex-worker claimed to have seen a figure cutting corn in the moonlight and as a result people began speculating about the brothers employing a conscientious ghost who did all their work for them.

To their astonishment the villagers woke up one morning to find out that the Ghost of Endley had died. Everyone went to the funeral because of, whom they thought was a ghost, was actually it was a third brother called Peter who had supposedly died as a young man. Following the funeral Jim and Jack revealed the secret which had been kept for over forty years.

Peter had been the eldest son of the family that had been obliged to join the army during the First World  War. Due to the fact that he hated army life, he managed to desert his regiment and when he heard that they would execute him if caught. He returned to the farm and hid there, not only for the period of War but afterwards as well. His father told everybody that Peter had been killed in combat. The only people who knew about his death were Jim, Jack and their father. The fact that he had been sleeping during the day and working at night had made him the Ghost of Endley without him realizing it. However, on his death, the brothers found it impossible to keep the secret any longer.