The poor Dickensons. Any consenting couple who are about to engage in an activity that needs your ‘inexpressibles’ removing do not want to hear the disembodied laugh of a drunken grasshopper in the room. The mood would have been completely ruined. The brace of constables attending in later days would not have helped matters and it doesn’t surprise me that the amorous Mr and Mrs Dickenson didn’t stick around to find out what the cachinnating (a buried word in an earlier post) creature was. The article says the laugh has been heard for weeks but lately was described as more asthmatic. I wonder if their terrifying ghost is a bird stuck in the wall, slowly expiring from starvation? The noise might be gone soon but a terrible smell might linger for a while.
The Australian 24 Aug 1827 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37072838
