This is the strange tale of a woman who bought a sweet shop in Lilley, near Hitchin. There were rumours in the village of strange happenings in the sweet shop and one night, whilst in bed, Fanny Ebbs encountered the source of this mystery. Through the opposite wall, appeared the ghost of a man; it appeared not to notice her. She followed it down the stairs, where the ghost removed the hearth bricks from the fireplace to reveal a hiding place. It pulled out a large black kettle and removed the lid. The kettle was full of gold sovereigns and the ghost proceeded to count them on to the hearth before counting them back in again. He then took out another black pot, which was again full of sovereigns. He counted them out and back again as before and then replaced both the pots.
The following morning, thinking it was a dream, Fanny lifted the hearth bricks and to her surprise she found the treasure. Removing all the coins, she replaced the pots as she had found them. The next time the ghost appeared it went through the bedroom wall, down the stairs and to the fireplace. Finding that his hidden treasure had been found he vanished never to return. Instead of living a life of luxury on her find, Fanny Ebbs continued to run her sweet shop often giving children more sweet than they had asked for or more money in change than the value of the goods. When she died she left the remainder of her fortune to the village – a truly charitable lady!