THE GHOST OF MR SELLIS

Hello everyone, all is well with the world today.  My CD player is working again.  Nobody has touched my car since yesterday and I`m not cross!  I have a ghost story to tell, so here we go:

 

St. James`s Palace

GHOST:  Mr Sellis

PLACE:   St. James`s Palace, London, England

DATE:      Since 1810

Sellis was the valet of Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, and also the King of Hanover.  There are several accounts of Sellis` ghost haunting the rooms of St. James`s Palace.  The ghost is seen with blood pouring from a fatal wound to the throat and there have also been reports of shouting and the sounds of a struggle.

That Sellis had his throat cut is not in dispute;  however the events leading up to his demise are less clear.  The official inquest found that Sellis had committed suicide but there was a much circumstantial evidence to point him to be having been murdered by the Duke.  Firstly the razor which he had supposedly performed the act was found some distance from the bed in which he was found.  The Duke was also said to have seduced Sellis` wife or perhaps even his daughter.

The Duke told thew inquest that he was attacked as he lay asleep by an unknown assailant using a sabre. Furthermore he had the wounds to prove it.  He sais that he had called for help, and his other valet, Neale, had come to his aid and at this point his attacker ran off.   Neale called to Sellis for help and when he did not appear Neale discovered him lying in his bed with his throat cut.

  the Duke of Cumberland

There are several questions that come to mind.  If the Duke had been asleep surely the sabre attack would have been fatal?  Why did the inquest not find that the unknown attacker had also killed Sellis?  What happened to the attacker?  How did he escape from a palace full of people without anyone seeing anything?

A more rational explaination is that the Duke, probably awake, had been attacked by an outraged Sellis for seducing his daughter ( possibly raping her) and later, in an act of vengence, he had cut Sellis`s throat whilst he slept.  Despite evidence to the contrary, the official inquest returned a verdict which would reflect best on the Duke.  Maybe this had something to do with the fact that he was the son of King George IIIl !  The Duke was not a popular man, being known for his viciousness and arrogance, but after this outrage he was never able to go out in public without receiving people`s scorn.