Ghost Of Hemingway Stalks Cuban Estate -- Witnesses

HAVANA (Reuters) - The ghost of U.S. novelist Ernest Hemingway is terrifying Cuban employees at his former estate-turned-museum outside Havana, according to witnesses who claim to have encountered the phantom.

One former employee told how the author's ghost used to emerge when there was a full moon and pursue him down a track at the Finca Vigia estate, Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported late Friday.

That witness described the ghost as ``a tall, red-faced man, walking slowly, and dressed with bermudas, a light, baggy shirt, and leather sandals.''

Another employee told how on dark nights Hemingway's ghost would whisper in his ear, while a third left the estate's main key hanging on a palm-tree and fled to his home after spotting the deceased author's image, Prensa Latina added.

Cuban authorities seem to think those ghoulish accounts will enhance the tourist appeal of the estate where the Nobel Prize-winning writer had a home from 1939 to 1960 and wrote some of his best-known works.

But the three employees who gave the clearest descriptions of the ghost have taken a less positive outlook -- and resigned.

Reuters/Variety ^REUTERS@

15:03 04-05-98