Ghosts were known as “buggens”, and the word remains to this day in Buggen Lane, which leads from Moorside in Parkgate towards the centre of Neston. It is said that smuggled goods were sometimes transported down this road, and clearly it gained a reputation – perhaps with the aid of the smugglers themselves. Another story says that a woman lived at Townfield, the house at the top of Buggen Lane, with two young children. One day the children sneaked down to Parkgate for a swim but were drowned. The lane is haunted by the ghost of their mother, still searching for her lost children. In the late nineteenth century, an artist named Henry Melling lived at the old Quay House near Parkgate, with a bed-ridden invalid niece, Clara Payne. An elderly lady wearing a red cloak used to sit quietly by the fire and keep her company. The girl did not find the old woman at all alarming, and when she stopped appearing, Clara missed her greatly. Who she was, no one could say, but it is thought that she was an “earthbound spirit.” Another strange visitor came to St. Winefride’s, the Catholic church in Neston, during the lifetime of Teresa Higginson. She was trusted with the keys to the church whenever the priest was away. One morning when he was absent, Teresa saw a strange priest enter the church. He indicated to her without speaking that he wanted to say Mass. She prepared the church for the service, although she had never seen him before. Afterwards, he went into the vestry, and shortly after, she followed him to find that the place was empty and there was no sign that anyone had been there for days. When she asked if anyone had seen him leave, she learnt that no one had seen him. Finally, the Bishop of Shrewsbury was consulted, and he said that the description of the strange visitor was identical to that of a previous parish priest, now dead and buried in the churchyard.