Lincolnshire Farm “Bewitched.”
Remarkable Stories Told.
(From our own correspondent).
The village of Binbrook, on the Lincolnshire Wolds, has been disturbed of late by the reported strange happenings at Walk Farm, in the tenancy of Mr W. Drakes, of Tealby, one of Lincolnshire’s most noted ram breeders. The farmhouse is occupied by his foreman, named White and wife, and they have eerie tales to relate of the occurrences which have taken place there, and the neighbours are firmly convinced that the house is “bewitched.”
Among the many stories one is that a dead rabbit was hung on a hook outside the house, that it detached itself, ran round the house, and went on the hook again!
It is surprising that such a story should be credited, but there are those who believe it to be the work of a witch! Even the plant pots have been affected, as it is stated that whilst a visitor was sitting in the house he saw the plant pots on the window sill tilt to one side, and then resume their former position. On another occasion as the family were sitting down to dinner, it is said that several brooms came dancing across the middle of the floor.
The other day the clothes of the servant started to burn in the middle of the back, and she affirms that she was nowhere near a fire at the time. She was rather badly burned, and had to receive medical attention.
The “witch” must be vindictive, as she commenced her visitations by breaking the legs of a number of fowls at different times.
Hull Daily Mail, 18th January 1905.
“Bewitched” house at Binbrook.
The most marvellous rabbit on record.
A correspondent writes that the village of Binbrook, near Louth, has been disturbed of late by the reported strange happenings at a farmhouse on its outskirts, know as the Walk Farm, in the tenancy of Mr William Drakes, of Tealby. The farmhouse is occupied by his foreman, named White, and wife, who have strange tales to relate. The neighbours are firmly convinced that the house is bewitched.
Among the many stories which have gained currency in the village is one that a dead rabbit left hanging on a hook outside the house, detached itself, ran round the house, and went on to the hook again. It is surprising that such a ridiculous story should be credited, but there are not wanting those who believe the reported incident to be the work of a witch.
Even the harmless plant pots are said to have been affected. It is stated that while a visitor was sitting in the house he distinctly saw the plant pots on the window sill tilt considerably over to one side, and then resume their former position; while on another occasion, as the family were sitting to dinner, several brooms came dancing across the middle of the floor.
Numerous similar incidents are recorded, but the strangest of all is the story that the other day the clothes of the servant girl started to burn in the middle of the back, and she positively affirms that she was nowhere near a fire at the time. She was rather badly burned, and had to receive medical attention.
The “witch” must be very vindictive, as she commenced her visitations by breaking the legs of a number of fowls at different times. Needless to add Mr White is anxious that the “witch” should be laid, and if only she can be caught red-handed, there will be a warm time in store for her.
Boston Guardian, 21st January 1905.
Binbrook Mystery.
Promised Elucidation by Grimsby Spiritualists.
An interesting interview.
(“Telegraph” Special.)
Among the offers made to Mr White, the occupant of Walk Farm, Binbrook, to elucidate the mystery which has recently surrounded his quiet country life, that of a local gentleman who has had previous experience in bringing about quiet to an otherwise disturbed household, has been accepted. Arrangements have therefore been made for the stranger to visit the scene of the mysterious occurrences, and the initial investigation will be made on Sunday next.
One of our staff who had been out to Binbrook, and had heard from the lips of Mr. and Mrs. White an account of the lively doings of harmless utensils, and of the strange antics performed before their eyes, had an interview yesterday with the person who believes in his powers to restore order in the seemingly bewitched house.
In response to his inquiries as to the cause of the phenomena, the word “spiritualism” was given as the cause of, and possible remedy for, the movements. The gentleman spoke of was firm in his belief that he and his spiritualistic friends could bring about order out of chaos, and gave his reasons for such belief.
His arrangement was, to say the least, plausible, though of course only a test can prove whether his theories contain anything more substantial than suggestions and beliefs. He took it for granted, in the first place, that the occurrences related by Mr. White to the “Telegraph” man were authentic, and were not exaggerated for the purpose of drawing public attention to his particular farm.
In his own experiences similar strange phenomena had happened, and all that was related was quite possible of being enacted. He believed nothing but spiritualism could stay a recurrence of the proceedings, and in the interest of his doctrine he was willing to use his influence to set the troubled spirit at rest.
Possibly, said our spiritualistic friend, the unfortunate girl who now lies in Louth Hospital suffering from burns, was the unconscious physical medium, through whose body the departed spirits manifested their presence, but of course he could not say that for certain at present. It was an established fact among the members of his creed that such mediums were used, and in order to combat the evil influences, another physical medium would have to enter into communication with the spirits whose workings were having such a disastrous effect on Mr. White’s household. His belief was unshakeable that after leaving the human frame the spirits exerted their influences over friends, and that these influences were either for good or bad, and in this case the influence was evidently of the bad order, as instanced by the deaths of so many fowls.
The only thing for them to do was to get into touch with these spirits, remonstrate with them, and point out how disastrous were their workings on an innocent family, and then in the better appreciation and the adaptability of the spirits to the higher order of their spirit life they would leave the house in peace. The friends that would accompany him to Binbrook were ardent spiritualists, like himself, and one of them being a physical medium, he did not doubt that he could enter into communion with the spirits that were exerting their influences, and bring them to a reasonable submission. It had been done in more disastrous instances, and his faith made him sanguine of success in the Binbrook affair.
The case referred to was at a place near Wakefield, where in life an old lady had a propensity for throwing things at her husband. Her temper was such that anything that came to hand was pitched at him. When she passed into the spirit world she continued her old habit, and though new tenants occupied the house where she had lived, it was through her agency, said our spiritualistic informant, that articles were violently thrown at the tenants, who were naturally alarmed at the doings of the unseen hand. The spiritualists communicated with the departed woman, and, after the interview, there was no further disturbances in the house.
It remains to be seen yet whether the spiritualists will be as successful in the Binbrook case, and if they are, we have no doubt Mr. White will be deeply grateful.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 25th January 1905.
The “Haunted House” Mystery.
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Sir, – I am very glad to see that in your article on the Binbrook “haunted house” you do not express yourself convinced by the nonsense. That in this age of boasted enlightenment we should be asked to believe in such antiquated superstitions as ghosts and spirits is absurd. The explanation of these “mysterious happenings” is probably the caprice of rats, to which is added a deal of exaggeration. We have in the town an enthusiastic number of men who profess a belief in spiritualism. I suppose they will be gloating over this “manifestation from the unseen world,” and I hope they will make an attempt to prove something supernatural in this pot-dancing story. That Grimsby may remain sensible is the hope of, Yours truly, “Sceptic.”
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 25th January 1905.
Binbrook’s Haunted House.
Astounding Manifestations.
Household Goods Imbued With Life.
Fowls mysteriously slain though watched day and night.
A dead rabbit’s taste for beer!!
(Special “Telegraph” Interview.)
We went into the country, where men wear smocks, where the winter still retains its grip, where the roads were glacier-like, covered with ice. We went to Binbrook, to glean further particulars of the mystery which is regarded by sceptical townsfolk as a huge joke, but by the country folk, with their knowledge of witchcraft, as an awful and mysterious warning.
The short day was drawing to a close when we started, the fog hastened the darkness, the icy slipperyness delayed us, we were on a strange road, and, consequently before we reached the place everything was in inky blackness. We stopped at a house to ask the way.
“It’s not far off,” said a young lady, holding by the collar a villainous dog who wanted to sample me. “They have had some strange goings on up there. A dead rabbit went from its nail, and ‘scarred’ the life out of the folks. This house was bewitched once too.”
I began to feel even more interested than a young fellow usually becomes when a pretty girl is talking to him. “Yes,” she said, “and my father has never been well since. He was working by himself in the granary, and suddenly he was lifted bodily up in the air, banged through the window at the other end of the room, and fell in a heap on the road below. He was bad for weeks, and it was a wonder he was not killed.” While she she was excitedly telling me this her rosy lips had parted and her eyes became rounded in awe of the mysterious. “Then you believe it was a witch?” I ventured to cut short an unpleasant pause.
“Believe!” she cried, astonished. “You can’t do no other. There was no one else in the granary, and he was thrown to the road. You can’t get away from facts like this. I hope they lay the spirits up at Walk Farm pretty quick. Good night.” She shut the door. She would have nothing more to do with me after I breathed a word of doubt. I walked regretfully back to my companion freezing in the trap, and we crawled along in silence.
Soon we were in difficulties again, and I knocked at another door. “White’s Farm? Ha ha ha, he he he,” roared the native to whom I addressed an enquiry. “Going to lay the spirits?” he queried. I felt rather hurt, for it is only when I tell funny stories that I like people to laugh at me. I met him on his own ground. “Be careful,” I said, slowly, softly and severely,”you should never laugh talking about spirits, or they may visit you.” His hilarity left him. He seemed frightened and full of wonder. Without a word he took me to the cross roads, pointed the way, touched his forelock, and watched us out of sight.
At last we came to the farm of fears. It is owned by Mr. W. Drakes, the famous breeder, and the occupant is Mr. White. It was too dark to see much of the surroundings, but it was in a hollow, a mile or so from any other dwellings, near some trees groaning and sighing under the breeze. Mr White, who opened the door, is a regular countryman. His round face was weather-beaten, his shoulders broad and slouching, his arms, bare to the elbow, hairy and strong. “Aye. We have some strange goings-on and no mistake. You’d best come in,” he said. We went in and saw a homely picture. Mrs. White, a typical brawny farmwife, busy with her work, the farmer’s mother seated before a wood fire nursing an infant grandchild, and half a dozen healthy youngsters of various ages, staring shyly but curiously at these muffled up strangers.
“It is mysterious,” said the farmer, with an inflection on the verb and a Lincolnshire accent that is beyond my power to reproduce in pen and ink. “We have lived in this house for seven years and never had nothing wrong, and now we are always wondering what will happen next. The first thing I knew about it was when I came home from dinner the wife told me a big earthenware pan had toppled over several times during the morning. She was a bit frightened, you know, but I laughed at her. You see I thought it was ridiculous because the floor and walls are all stone, there are no rats there, and the window is very small and at the other end of the pantry from where the pan stood. I went into the pantry and the pan was lying on its side, and the stick which stands inside it was lying by the side. I put it up and started to wash my hands. While I was wiping them on the towel behind the door there I happened to look round. That pan was upside down, and the stick was laid upon the top of it. I wasn’t ‘scarred,’ ” he hastily added, “but I couldn’t stop and see that sort of thing.”
He took us to the pantry which was, as he had said, solidly built with stone floor, not built as a leasehold house for [88?] years, but built for centuries. “There’s the very same pot,” he said, pointing out a pan in which a stick had been stuck like a spoon in a teacup, “and that’s the very same stick.”
“Is that the same milk?” suggested one of the visitors – I may as well own up, it was I. The farmer looked to see if I was trying to take a rise out of him, but I was innocence itself, and so he explained that they could not very well have scraped the spilt milk from the floor and put it back. “Then we missed a dead rabbit from a nail, and found it in another store under a beer barrel. Some of the newspapers said the rabbit hung itself on the nail again, but that’s wrong.”
“Yes,” echoed the wife, who had followed us in with a second candle. “I hope you won’t put nothing in that isn’t right. It’s mocking the spirits, you know, and it shouldn’t be done.” We promised that nothing but what they told us should appear in print, and they proceeded. “That’s the very same nail the rabbit was hung on,” said the farmer, and we were interested. He led us to the cellar where under a beer barrel the rabbit had been found. “That’s the very same beer barrel,” he said, and we were more interested, and it was rather reluctantly that we went back to the pantry to hear of other things. The dead rabbit knew something.
“Then there were some strings of sausages hung on these cords here,” continued the farmer, pointing to a cobweblike arrangement of string. “They fell down three times, and then my missus wound them round the strings so that they couldn’t be untangled within five minutes. When she was shutting the door, however, she saw that while she was crossing the room the sausages had fallen to the floor in pieces.”
“We made sure of them after that,” chimed in the wife, “we eat them that day.” But she did not even smile. It was too risky a thing to make fun of spirits with such marvellous powers. “Were the sausages fresh?” asked my companion, thinking of the walking sausages in pantomimes, but he received a look from the two folk that made him speechless and abashed. They pitied us for our ignorance and marvelled at our doubts. “You see them plates,” said the housewife, pointing to a pile of dinner plates on a five foot high shelf. We nodded assent, for we were too full for words. “Well them very same plates were just where they are now, and that pan of milk there was just in the very place it is now. Well, at tea-time, we noticed a stream of milk coming from the pantry door. Me and mother ran in together, and that pan was overflowing. We put in a stick and there was them plates. The spurrits had taken them from the shelf, taken them across the room, and put them in the milk. Isn’t that mysterious?”
We then came into the kitchen again, and into a small room on the other side. “My wife, mother, and a youngster came into the kitchen in the morning, and heard a noise in here,” said Mr. White. “My wife opened the door and saw one of those saucepans on that high shelf fall crash to the ground. Then another fell, and the three rushed to the corner at the other end of the kitchen, and huddled there they saw those saucepans fall one by one to the ground. When all the saucepans had fallen, the bottles fell one by one, ‘scarring’ the women nearly out of their wits. It was mysterious. When that shelf and the lower one had been cleared they heard the things on the other side falling one by one, but they dared not go near enough to see them. There was a stink when I came in, for the bottles were full of liniments, disinfectants, paraffin and oils, and this was all over the floor. I wasn’t ‘scarred,’ but when I saw the frightened folk huddled in the corner and they told me, I didn’t much like going in. But I went and the place was upside down. It was mysterious,” he concluded with a convincing accent on the “was.”
“Another time we were having dinner, and from the store room there came a rush of water that covered the floor of the kitchen. I finished my dinner, and then went in. A large flat-bottomed tub was turned upside down. There was not much water in it when we left it, not half so much as came over the floor, and where the rest of the water came from I can’t imagine.”
After this a recital of how a long row of flower pots fell during the absence of the household seemed quite tame. “But the worst is to come,” exclaimed the wife. “Aye, it is,” assented the farmer, raising his hands in dismay. “Our servant girl, whom we had taken from the Workhouse, and who has neither kin nor friend in the world that she knows on, was sweeping the kitchen. There was a very small fire in the grate, there was the guard there so that no one can come within two feet or more of the fire, and she was at the other end of the room, and had not been near. I suddenly came into the kitchen and there she was sweeping away while the back of her dress was on fire. She looked around as I shouted, and seeing the flames, rushed out through the door. She tripped, and I smothered the fire out with wet sacks. But she had been badly burned, poor girl, and she is at the Louth Hospital now, in terrible pain.” “I can stand the pots jumping,” sighed Mrs. White, “but fire is too awful. And we are so near the granary.”
“You have had some fowls killed?” suggested my companion, anxious to avoid those impressive silences. “Aye, we have. We have only 24 left now out of 250 fowls. It’s a mighty serious loss. And they have all been killed the same mysterious way. The skin around the neck from the head to the breast has been pulled off, and the windpipe drawn from its place and snapped. We have got learned people to hunt through any amount of natural history books and suchlike, and there isn’t an animal living of any sort that kills fowls that way. It is mysterious. None of the fowls have been carried away, and none of the bodies have been gnawed or injured except at their necks. How it’s done I don’t know. We have had a policeman here, and watched the fowlhouse night and day all round. Then when we look inside there are four or five killed. It is mysterious.”
“You have no idea why it’s done or how it’s done?” queried my companion. “No,” volunteered the wife. “But we are going to have some wise men here who understand these things and they will stop it all. There’s one at Hull and another at Grimsby, and they will put an end to all these things.”
We bade our hosts good-night, and returned to the town where dead rabbits run not, and where pots behave rationally. QUAG.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 24th January 1905.
Village Witchcraft.
Mysterious Happenings In Lincolnshire.
A series of mysterious happenings at a lonely farmhouse in the Lincolnshire Wolds have brought about in the neighbourhood a firm belief in the resuscitation of witchcraft. The Yarn Walk at Binbrooke, in the occupation of Mr White, is the scene of the manifestation.
A few mornings ago, while Mrs White’s maid was at work in the farmhouse kitchen she felt that her back was being burned between the shoulder blades. She was not near the fire, and there was no possibility of a spark or live coal reaching her. The girl, who firmly believes that a witch did it, was considerably burnt, and had to be surgically treated.
The first suspicion of something uncanny came one morning last week, when several fowls were found in the fowlhouse with their legs broken. A watch was set that night, but, though no one came near the fowlhouse, more hens were found with broken legs next morning. The next day, when Mr White and his family and a neighbour were at dinner a flowerpot on the window-sill was seen to be wildly whirring round. Mr White ran to the window, but there was no one near, and no wind, and yet the pot was still moving about.
Pans jump up and down on shelves, chairs move jerkily across the floor in broad daylight, when no one is near them, brooms dance, and household utensils move while being watched. Such are the stories current in the village, and Mr White, who was interviewed, does not deny them. The villagers, who say the house is bewitched, will not approach by night. Mr White is not superstitious, but he is very anxious to obtain an explanation and a remedy.
More remarkable statements.
Rabbit hangs itself on a hook.
Interesting letter.
The following letter was written by a schoolmistress at Binbrook, on the Lincolnshire Wolds, to her brother in Liverpool. It shows very well the state of mind to which the people in the district have been reduced by the occurrences mentioned on page 3: –
Binbrook, Sunday Afternoon. Dear George, – I was surprised to get a line from you. You have had a narrow squeak. You may thank Providence and a good nurse. Now, about the witch, it is a caution. I wanted to tell you all of her before now, but I dare not take the Liberty, for fear she should turn her attentions on my little house, and I am all alone. My neighbour went to Grimsby after Christmas, and has not returned. I know the White family quite well. The children come to school. The eldest daughter is married, and lives in this lane. I have often been to the farm. I also know all the labouring men who live at the farm.
George Harness says he has several times seen the sweeping-brush hop round the kitchen (since Christmas), dishes hung or balanced over the clothes-line, when they ought to be on the shelf, the flower-pots all upside down, and that rabbit stopped to cross its legs before it jumped up and hung itself on the hook.
I know the man who said, “Let us cook and eat it, or it may run away next time,” and he cut it up and ate it. Over 200 hens have been killed in various ways in all parts of the farm. One chicken lay dead in the yard for three days, and then while they were looking at it, got up and ran away.
About 8 lb. of sausages was hanging up in the pantry. All the meat fell out in a heap on the floor, while the skins remained hung, inflated, and twisted in length of sausage. A blanket was found burning in a room with no fire-place, but the most strange thing is that the servant girl was found by Mr White all in flames. She did not know she was on fire. There was no fire in the room, and when the doctor and Mr Custance told her she was dying, she still said, “I don’t know how the fire came to me. I did not know I was on fire.” Dr. Stedman said she could not live, but she is not dead yet. Now you know something of the Walk Farm witch.
Oh! the traction-engine man was threshing there, and he borrowed a bucket, and as he carried it, it curled up just like a sheet of tissue paper would do if squeezed into a ball. Now I will leave off, for I feel creepy here all alone. I only tell you what I hear. Several of our men are determined to bottom the thing. Mr White says if his dinner plate dares to run away he will smash it to atoms with the poker.
Now, this is a fact. One of my school children said to me last Friday: “Do you know Mrs White?” “Yes, she lives near to you.” “Well, this morning, she went down the garden to an outhouse, and the outhouse came half-way up the garden to meet her.”
Liverpool Echo, 25th January 1905.
The Binbrook Mystery.
The special article which we published yesterday, describing an interview which a representative of the “Telegraph” had with the tenants of the farmhouse at Binbrook where strange happenings are said to have taken place, and which have been attributed by the credulous to “spirits,” was read with no small degree of interest. Townspeople have no great faith in witchery and spirit rapping, and much scepticism has been expressed as to the occurrences being attributable to the inhabitants of the unseen world. We publish today a letter from a reader who is plainly no believer in “haunted” houses and such like superstition. We also give an account of an interview which a “Telegraph” man had with the Grimsby gentleman, who, with other friends, has offered assistance in allaying the turbulent feelings of the spirits.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 25th January 1905.
The “Bewitched” Farm.
Walk Farm, Binbrook, the “bewitched” Lincolnshire farmhouse, has, it is satisfactory to learn, recently free from manifestations.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 25th January 1905.
The Bewitched Farm.
Binbrook Farm, Lincolnshire, the residence of Mr. White, continues to be the scene of eerie happenings, and the local opinion that witches are at work is unshaken. The village constable, a man of unimpeachable probity, was sceptical, and consequently kept watch and ward in the kitchen. He solemnly declares he saw flowerpots on the window-sill executing mysterious gyrations of their own or some intangible volition.
Mr. White has lost many fowls, which were found dead in the fowlhouse on successive mornings. A fighting cock was suspected, and promptly executed, but the unaccountable morbidity continues. The dead fowls show no marks of violence, and are not diseased.
Torquay Times, and South Devon Advertiser, 27th January 1905.
Binbrook’s “Haunted House.” A reply to “Sceptic.”
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Dear Sir, – I was extremely pleased to read the letter by “Sceptic,” re the Binbrook Mystery and the Grimsby Spiritualists. I must say he is altogether at sea when he says that the explanation of it all is the caprice of rats, when he must or should know that fowls are never attacked by rats in the fashion to which these have been subjected. He says that the Spiritualists of Grimsby will be gloating over this affair. I will assure him that it is far off the mark. For spiritualists never gloat over another’s downfall. There is no doubt in my mind that there are individuals in Grimsby who are qualified to bring this so-called mystery to light.
He (“Sceptic”) hopes Grimsby may remain sensible. I would like to ask him if it is sensible to decry something that he appears to know so very little about. No greater sceptic lived than I at one time, but that spirits return, good and bad, has been proved to me times without number, and if there had been an opportunity for me to accompany the gentlemen appointed to go to Binbrook I would have been only too pleased to have gone.
Yours most respectfully, “Spiritualist.”
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 27th January 1905.
The Grimsby Spiritualists intend to take the bewitched farm at Binbrook in hand. They are convinced that the weird phenomena which have occurred there are the work of the spirits, and that the servant girl who was so mysteriously set on fire, and who is still in the hospital, was the medium. They will hold a seance at the Farm next week, and will endeavour to restrain the tricksy spirits.
Burnley Gazette, 28th January 1905.
Extraordinary occurrences are reported to be taking place on a Lincolnshire farm. Over 200 hens have been killed by some mysterious agency, and bottles, &c., are thrown down and smashed without anyone being in their proximity.
Driffield Times, 28th January 1905.
The “Bewitched” House.
Servant Girl’s Experience.
The strange events reported to have occurred at Binbrook, where a house was stated to be “bewitched,” have been somewhat discounted by the story of the servant girl, Mabel Sheldrick, who was said to be the victim of one of the evildoer’s most vindictive deeds.
It was originally reported that the clothes of this girl were suddenly set in flames when she was far from any fire. It is true that by some means she sustained such serious burns on January 14 as to necessitate her removal to Louth Hospital, and she was only sufficiently recovered on Thursday night to tell her story.
She was she says, sweeping the kitchen floor at Mr. White’s house, at Binbrook, where she was employed, when, as she was a short distance from the fire, her clothes became ignited, presumably from a spark or live coal shooting out. She was found later in a fainting condition by Mr. White. She had received extensive injuries, the flesh of the lower part of her back and legs being badly burned.
The girl asserts that all the reports of strange happenings on the farm are untrue, and that nothing of an uncanny nature has occurred.
An old man at Louth speaks of a “witch” in the form of a cat exercising its influence over the same house in the days of his boyhood. It was eventually disposed of by a shot from a gun loaded with quicksilver.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28th January 1905.
Binbrook’s Bewitched Farm.
More Weird Tales.
Mr. White, occupant of the “bewitched” farm at Binbrook, gave a Press correspondent an account of the most recent extraordinary occurrences. His story was corroborated by his wife, children, mother, and servants.
When Mrs. White saw bottles toppling over one by one and falling from a shelf to break on the tiled floor, she called her husband and the servants, and they also watched the completion of the astonishing spectacle. Two dozen bottles leisurely went to destruction in this way. Some of them contained paraffin and the others oil.
A dead rabbit hung in the dairy mysteriously transported itself to another room, where it was found lying beside a beer barrel.
In the dairy three strings of home-made sausages were hung on a line, but refused to remain there, and after being hung for the third time they fell and broke in small pieces.
A dozen large dinner-plates moved from a high shelf and were deposited unbroken in a large earthenware dish. Another dish of milk set for cream overturned, and a large pot of cream ready for the churn performed a similar feat.
When the family were having tea, water poured into the kitchen from under the storehouse door, until the floor was completely flooded. Investigations showed that a large flat-bottomed tub had emptied itself. “The tub had only been half full of water,” said Mr. White, “but more water came into the kitchen than would have filled it. Where it all came from we cannot tell. I am not superstitious, but I am puzzled about these happenings. If I had not seen some of them I would not believe they occurred. I saw three large biscuit-tins which were on a shelf fall to the floor, together with a chine of bacon and three hams which had been thoroughly dried.”
Up to date Mr. White has had 200 fowls killed in a most remarkable manner. Their necks from the head to the breast were skinned, and the windpipe pulled out. This slaughter has been going on continuously, though the fowl-house has been watched night and day. Mr. White has now only two dozen fowls on the farm. Offers to “lay the witch” have been received from all over the country, and Mr. White has accepted that of Mr. John Dunn, of Grimsby.
Retford and Worksop Herald and North Notts Advertiser, 31st January 1905.
The Binbrook Manifestations.
Challenge to “Sceptic.”
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Dear Sir, – Please allow me to express my thanks to your representative for the correctness of his report in connection with the conversation held on the Pontoon re the Walk Farm Mystery, Binbrook. It is extremely important that all reports upon these mysterious occurrences should be as truthful as possibly can be, seeing that the public generally do not understand the methods of Spiritual phenomena, and in trying to give an explanation they generally collect their illustrative objects from the lower conditions of life, a method of explanation which only results in failure, and causes the blind to still be more blinded. I noted one “Sceptic” made an attempt to show his wonderful (supposed) knowledge by giving his view of the cause of the manifestations. I wonder if he is the bold, daring driver who was so affrighted at the dummy in his horse’s stable? However this may be, I should give my friend a little advice. If he wishes to display his wisdom he will do it best by stating what he knows, and not what he thinks. If he knows the work at Binbrook to be nonsense, let us hear those proofs that make it nonsense.
How does he know that the antiquated ghosts and spirits is absurd? How does he know there are a number of Spiritualists who profess a belief in Spiritualism, and especially be found to gloat over their achievements? Does he believe in any supernatural events? How does he know that Grimsby is sensible when matters of this kind are to be dealt with and they leave them alone? I wish, Mr Editor, to state that phenomenal facts have occurred at Binbrook which the rat and supernatural theory of “Sceptic” cannot explain; that my friend openly shows his own ignorance in the probable explanation he would advance; that Grimsby people are not wise in closing their eyes against these facts; and that Spiritualists have more sense than to gloat over any person’s loss or the valued service they may render. If “Sceptic” will uphold his position, I shall only be too pleased to meet him in public on any suitable occasion for an hour’s each discussion of the matter. I would not confine this offer to “Sceptic” alone, but will willingly meet any man in public debate on the validity of Spiritualism.
I remain, yours truly, John Dunn.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 4th February 1905.
Binbrook Mystery.
To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.” – Sir, – I read the effusion of Mr. J. Dunn’s, and was much amused at his expositoin of Spiritualism, also his challenge. I have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Dunn, and also witnessed his failure to impress a certain Debating “Society” with his views, which were anything but clear and intelligent. How then does he expect to impress a town? Will Mr. Dunn answer fairly the two following questions? (1) If spirits of dead bodies who have passed beyond, have the power of communicating with us here, how is it that so many murders have gone undetected, and why have not the “Spirits” of the murdered ones communicated the names of their murderers? (2) If spirits have power, etc., how is it none have communicated to us here anything of the “hidden mysteries” such as if there is a God, or devil, heaven or hell, and thus settle a great (today) debatable point? If Mr Dunn by spiritualistic manifestations can answer these, he may convince a whole town and also “Another Sceptic.”
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 9th February 1905.
Letters to the Editor.
Binbrook Farm Mystery.
Spiritualists and the recent manifestations.
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Sir, – Seeing the heading of “Spiritualism” several times of late, and letters appearing from various writers, I should like to know how the Binbrook business can be connected with spirits, and why spiritualists are the people to unravel anything that appears mysterious to the ordinary being. Perhaps it would be as well to enlighten those who do not know what a spiritualist really believes and teaches. Spiritualism, as its exponents allege, means the belief that in addition to our material bodies, we possess what is called a spirit that lives after we are called dead, and has the power, which it frequently exercises, of manifesting itself to those who still inhabit the earth. Now, the first thing to consider is What is a spirit? I have frequently asked this question, but have never received a satisfactory answer. And yet it is indispensable that we should know what the term really means, for upon our possessing that knowledge will depend our ability to judge of the truth or falsehood of spiritualism.
The New Testament says “A spirit hath not flesh and bones” (Luke xxiv. 39), but how such an existence can possess mobility and intelligence, science and philosophy have failed to demonstrate. Spirit has also been described as “An intangible, invisible, intelligent power, capable of acting on, and influencing organisms.” Such a definition is a manifest absurdity for how that which is intangible and invisible can be seen, felt, and conversed with, is beyond ordinary comprehension.
Now, all physical science is based upon verified facts, which is the basis of all scientific experiments; it has nothing to do with conjectures of what is said to exist, apart from the natural. Science does not teach us that we are dual in this life, and monistic in some other. If man has a continued existence after death, in which he manifests the capacity to think, and to make his thoughts known, he must, judging from our knowledge of the requirements of mentality, be subject to the same laws of thought then as he is now. Hence to assume as spiritualists do, that man, when he has lost his material perceptive faculties, can retain the power of recognition, of thought, and of speech, is not science, but conjecture.
We are told that spiritualism means “communing with excarnate intelligence.” But what is that? Does it differ from carnate intelligence? If yes, in what particular? If no, is it reasonable to believe that intelligence, as at present understood, can be manifested, when the conditions indispensable to such manifestations no longer exist? Moreover, is it scientific to allege that intelligent communications can be made when the organs necessary for such communications are destroyed? Besides, as we know intelligence, it is always associated with conscious beings, whose consciousness depends upon functional activity which is called life, which I regard as the result of the combination of different parts of matter. I define matter as being that which can be recognised by the senses. Now, as life is necessary to intelligence, and organisation is requisite to life, it is legitimate to conclude that when life and organisation are gone, intelligence will cease.
So I fail to see that which is called spirit by the spiritualists can possess intelligence and physical power to cause such annoyances as the Binbrook farmer is subject to. I shall be pleased to hear a spiritualist’s explanation as to what a spirit really is, what it is composed of, and what it can do when fully desired and required? – Yours, Canis Lupus.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 11th February 1905.
A letter from Mr. Dunn.
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Dear Sir, – I have read the two letters by “Adsum” and “Another Sceptic,” and note their remarks, and wish briefly to give them a reply. “Adsum,” I believe, is a very appropriate nom de plume, and gives me the idea of the smallness of his intellectual capacity, when one visit to a Spiritualistic meeting filled the measure of his wonderful capacity. He ought to have paid one visit to the Walk Farm, and had a conversation with Mr. White, who, by the way, is a thorough Wesleyan, and all his household. This would have been far the best course for him, seeing he was so much interested.
I should have been very pleased to have read his proofs to negative the Spirit friends described at the particular service he attended. If “Adsum” has been favoured with some knowledge positive on this negation side, I shall be very pleased to “Adsum” of this knowledge to my little sock. In reference to the special point he wishes to bring forth, I would advise him also to obtain the issue following the cutting he is in possession of, and he will find all he requires in reply to the same science. It is evident to me that his knowledge of spiritual law and its manifestations is very limited, and his belief in Spiritualism having lost its foundation, he will find ill-founded if he will pay a visit into that district. I challenge him to prove that spirit return is not a fact, also that materialisations are not the experience of the privileged few today as myself.
In reference to “Another Sceptic,” his remarks re the Debating Society are quite untrue as several of the friends in proof of my assertions related how by spirit agency good work had been done in their life, and as regards the density of the matter, no ordinary child of ten years could fail to see and understand the line of argument, as they were plainly stated to effect a revolution in our hospitals, asylums, homes, and general life, for beyond all the religiosity of the present day.
In proving spirit return to be a fact in human life, it comprehends in its area all the matters of which my friend wishes me to answer in his two questions. I shall not endeavour to convince “Sceptic” or anyone else through the Press of the validity of Spiritualism and its great blessing to mankind. As before stated, I am willing to meet any opponent in public debate on these matters, under any ordinary arrangement, and will concede all benefits after expenses are paid to local charities. I am at present lecturing on the subjects, and I would advise my friends to avail themselves of the opportunity thus presented them. I append a few subjects which should be very profitable to have discussed before the public mind. Subjects: – “Is Spiritualism true?” “Is Christianity a failure?” “Is Jesus man, myth, or God?” “Spiritualism or Christianity: Which is the better system for kind?” or any other topic as may be desired, coming from the theological creed of the present religious system.
Thanking you, Mr. Editor, for your kind insertion of the above in your next issue. I remain, yours in truth, John Dunn.
P.S. – I should be very pleased if our critics would come out from their hiding (nom de plume), and show their colours. If their work be of God there is no need to be ashamed. I very much reminds me of the quotation, “Men love darkness and will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved.” It is rather unpleasant to be fighting an enemy biding himself behind the kopjes all the time. Come out of hiding and fight your cause in open field.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 11th February 1905.
The Binbrook “Bewitched” Farm.
A correspondent writes that the vagaries of the supposed “witch” on the farm at Binbrook, near Louth, continue, but it is now stated to have left the house and commenced its practices upon the farm hands and the utensils.
Recently a labourer on the farm yoked a pair of horses to a waggon which was standing in a shed, with the intention of hauling it out for work on the farm. The waggon, however, it is alleged, remained rooted firmly to the spot by some invisible agency, and the addition of two, and afterwards four, powerful horses to the first pair proved insufficient to move the vehicle.
Several of the farm hands soon collected on the spot, and they declare that while the struggle with the recalcitrant waggon was in progress the farm foreman, sitting in a wheelbarrow, was suddenly wheeled along at a great speed by some unseen hands. The sight proved too much for the already over-wrought nerves of the poor labourers, who, so the story goes, fled in a body, leaving the foreman and wheelbarrow, the horses and waggon, to their own devices, or rather to the devices of the “spirits”.
Boston Guardian, 11th February 1905. (Echoes of UFOs stopping cars?)
Tales from Binbrook.
Some First-class “Hair Raisers.”
(“Sheffield Telegraph” Special.)
There has been a good deal of fun made of the eerie stories circulated of late relating to occurrences on the Binbrook farm which, in popular phraseology, is supposed to be “bewitched”; but there are plenty of people who believe that the redeeming grain of truth is not altogether absent.
Undoubtedly, however, the Binbrook “witch” is not up-to-date. She has not learnt the art of self-advertisement; for, to somewhat strain the imagination and suppose her existence, she has hit upon one of the most outlandish spots in the county of Lincoln wherein to revive the broomstick-thunderstorm superstition of the Middle Ages. To journey from Louth to Binbrook, as a correspondent did the other day, over some of the most exposed parts of the Lincolnshire wolds, and in the face of a bitterly cold wind, is certainly calculated to give one the impression that a spirit of evil – and a vindictive one at that – wields an influence over the locality. It is a sparsely populated district; wild and storm-swept in winter.
The “bewitched” farm is situated in one of the innumerable hollows in the Wold country, and about three miles from Binbrook, on the Louth side. It has already attained to picture postcard notoriety, which distinction, however, the good man and woman of the house view with considerable disfavour. “A man came from Caistor the other day, and asked if he might take a photograph of the house,” said the good wife. “I said yes, but if I’d known he wouldn’t.” This was when a certain asperity at the commencement had worn off. The lady objects to journalists too. In fact, she expressed the benevolent intention of getting somebody six months. “They’ve forged his name,” she said, meaning that someone had adopted the American method of interviewing Mr. White. The latter had not this feminine asperity; he was more ponderous. But when he described how he had intended to treat the next Press-man who called one heartily congratulated oneself on having got on sufficiently good terms with him to have one of his glasses near at hand.
“There’s been nothing here since the last two days of the Old Year,” said Mrs. White, and progress thence to details was easy. The first mysterious event, it appears, which occurred in the house was when a line of plants and pots standing on the windowsill laid themselves down on an adjoining table without any of the soil in the pots being disturbed. Then bottles took to falling off shelves without human agency, and while those in the house stood and looked at them. Tins on the wall have also demonstrated a singular force of gravity or the agency of a mysterious power.
One of the most singular events, however, was the burning of the servant girl. At the time this occurred the girl was standing fully sixteen feet away from the fire, between which and her there was a table. There was a dull fire in the grate, so that the matter of fact supposition that a spark flew out and ignited her clothing is put out of court. At one moment the girl was standing promising to Mrs. White to look after the child in the cot, the next Mrs. White was on the stairs, and Mr. White appeared in the doorway of the kitchen to find the girl enveloped in a mass of flames, and ere the fire could be extinguished she was so badly burned that she is still in Louth hospital, where she has been for nearly a month. She is, however, making satisfactory progress, and is soon expected to be out again.
Another extraordinary story related by Mrs. White concerns fowls. As long as these are kept in confinement they are all right, but as soon as they are let out they are said to take to jumping up in the farmyard with their throttles torn clean out without any indication by what means this has been done. Over 100 this year’s fowls have it is said, been lost in this way since last September, and Mrs. White says she has seen birds standing on the doorstep suddenly killed in this way.
The breaking of chickens’ legs, which was reported, Mrs. White attributes to human agency; that kind of thing had been going on for a long time she said. With all these doings to be amazed at, we learn, almost with surprise, that Mrs. White is still firm in her opinion that there is no witch. “If there was,” she argued, “we should have seen something.” This is to some extent reassuring, and one is further relieved to hear that the latest yarn of the foreman of the farm being wheeled in a wheelbarrow by the mysterious power, and of the waggon, rooted in the ground, resisting the efforts of six horses to move it, is an invention, though many people have written to Mr. White, asking whether it was true.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 14th February 1905.
Letters to the Editor.
Spiritualistic Fallacies.
(To the Editor of the “Grimsby Daily Telegraph.”)
Sir, – In Monday’s issue there appears what is intended, I suppose, to be a reply to my letter on Saturday evening. I leave the public to decide what class of reply it is to my question. I take the opening part of his letter for what it is really worth, and pass it over. Now, I define the term “matter” as that which can be recognised by the senses, and which, I think is sufficient for our purpose. For further information upon “Matter” I refer Mr Dunn to “Modern Science and Modern Thought,” by Laing, chapter iii., to be had from the R. P. A. That will fully answer all there is to know of it.
So now, please, what is spirit? I cannot see anything in the reply to instruct or elevate one on this subject under discussion, viz. “Spiritualism.” But yes there is and it is this. “Nothing has taken place since the girl has been in Louth Hospital,” and I do not believe one quarter of the things did happen that has been reported. Well, this is the clue to the whole so-called mystery, and I think if the girl remains in the Louth Hospital it will not occur again. Tell me, does anything mysterious happen now she is in hospital? I have not heard of such. Up to the present, I have not said anything in reference to local spiritualists, and do not intend to, unless in defence, but do be reasonable, and remember that ridicule and sarcasm are not arguments.
I cannot gather any direct reply to my questions, so I must come to the conclusion there is none – that being so, I cannot get any further on these lines. So I intend to give a little more of what I think proper, under the existing conditions. The fallacy of spiritualism is further shown in the contradictory conjectures of its adherents as to what takes place in the much-talked-of spirit world. If spirits really communicate with the inhabitants of this planet, it is fair to suppose that some actual knowledge should be obtained as to the customs observed in this spirit world. But such is not the case, for spiritualists are not agreed among themselves as to the habits of the departed ones. Some of them assure us that in the spirit sphere the lower animals exist; that clothes are manufactured, that food is eaten, and that the sexual relations are continued. But other spiritualists deny all these allegations, and assert that spirits of human beings only are to be found in the future state, and that none of the above mundane operations go on. Then again, the absurdity of the spiritual theory appears evident when we consider the vain promises made by persons during their lives to the effect that, if spiritualism be true, their friends should be assured beyond a doubt that it is so. According to my experience, no such promises have been kept; on the contrary, an unbroken silence has been preserved, although for years I complied with all the required conditions which were said to be necessary to obtain the information.
To say that spirits do appear to those who do believe in them does not remove the difficulty, because such appearances cannot afford any evidence of the truth of spiritualism to those who do not witness them. As Mr. Dunn quotes Dr. Johnson, I will quote the late Dr. Carpenter, in “Modern Evolution.” “It has been my business lately to inquire into the mental condition of some of the individuals who have reported the most remarkable occurrences. I cannot – it would not be fair – say all I could with regard to that mental condition, but I can only say this, that it all fits in perfectly well with the results of my previous studies on the subject, viz., that there is nothing too strange to be believed by those who have once surrendered their judgment to the extent of accepting as credible, things which common sense tells us are entirely incredible.”
So in my opinion nothing but the most morbid appetite for the supernatural, combined with the most absolute ignorance of the laws of evidence, could induce sane people to believe that, if a corner of that mysterious and awful veil were lifted which separates the living from the dead, we should discover what? – spirits whose vocation it is to turn tables and talk twaddle. In vain medium after medium is detected, and the machinery by which ghosts are manufactured exposed in the police courts; in vain, the manifestations of so-called spirits are repeated by professional conjurors like Maskelyne and Cook, who disclaim any assistance from the unseen world. People are still found to believe the unbelievable, because it gratifies their taste for the marvellous, and enables them to fancy themselves the favoured recipients of supernatural communications.
Yours truly, Herbert Pearson, Cleethorpes. Or “Canis Lupus,” of Saturday.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 16th February 1905.
Grasby.
Have you seen the Witch?
The uncanny doings of the Binbrook witch have attracted many visitors to the farm, some with a view of “discovering” the mysterious visitor, others to attempt to “lay” the witch. Amongst the former was a party from this neighbourhood, who (if rumour be correct) had an unpleasant experience, furnishing conclusive proof that it is somewhat dangersou to raise the ire of such visitors as witches, particularly on a Sunday.
Engaging a waggonette and pair, the party set out in high spirits on their journey of 15 or 16 miles. The thaw having set in, made it extremely heavy going. However, after a struggle, they arrived near their destination. Here the courage of the majority seems to have failed, for only two of the ten volunteered to reconnoitre. Arriving at the “ghost farm” they made inquiries, when the farmer’s wife having ascertained from whence they came, quietly advised them to return as quickly as possible.
This advice was acted upon, but lo! and behold! they had not proceeded far on the return journey, when, to their amazement, both horses and waggonette were “bewitched!” The wheels became clogged, and refused to go round, whilst the horses appeared dead beaten. Oil was procured at several houses and the wheels thoroughly lubricated; but all in vain, they refused to turn.
There was nothing for it except walking, and this the forlorn party did almost half the way home, where (after “putting up” on the way), they arrived safely, and, although late, wiser men. Their sad experience has had the effect of arousing considerable superstition, and now one hears at every turn (especially after dark) the question asked, “Have you seen the witch?”
Hull Daily Mail, 27th February 1905.
In the following case, the phenomena appear to be of an even more dubious nature [than the Upholland case]. This case also was widely reported in the papers, and the information was sent to us about it by the Rev. A.C. Custance, of Binbrook Rectory, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, who kindly gave much assistance in the enquiry. He wrote to us as follows on January 28th, 1905:
… The farm house is occupied by a foreman and his wife and two or three children; some young men and a servant girl also live in the house. Leading out of the “big kitchen” are two back kitchens, and it is in these that the various things have occurred, e.g.:
(1) Some sausages hung on a string were twice found lying on the ground (and) on being tied even more securely were found on the floor and separate from the string.
(2) A number of empty bottles stacked behind the door suddenly fell and smashed.
(3) A dozen plates off the shelf were found in a milk pan which was full of milk.
(4) A great can of cream with a stick in it was foud topsy-turvy and the stick laid on the top.
(5) A large piece of bacon was suddenly seen to fall from where it was, and shortly after (6) Two large biscuit tins also fell.
(7) One day, when they were all at dinner in the “big kitchen,” the floor was deluged with dirty water; on going into one of the back kitchens, a bucket of dirty water standing near the door had been noiselessly upset.
(8) On another occasion the foreman went into this very kitchen to wash his hands and noticed some pig-meat, of which he is very fond. He came to the other end to wipe his hands, and, on turning to go out, saw the bucket was upset and the pig-meat on the ground.
(9) This act was repeated in the presence of another man.
(10) A dead rabbit hanging on a nail in the second back place was found thrown behind a beer barrel twice.
(11) On the window-sill of kitchen were about a dozen geranium plants in pots. One morning they were found lying in a row on the dresser. The wife showed me how they were, but said there was more earth fallen from the one which she had laid down than from all (the others together) when she found them laid.
(12) The last thing is the most tragic. On Saturday morning at 9 a.m., some of the children’s clothes were hanging on the guard before a not very good or big fire. Three times some of them caught fire and the servant girl called to her mistress and they were put out, but not before they were badly burned.
(13) About 10 a.m. the foreman started for the village, but found that he had forgotten something he wanted. He ran back to the house and found the girl near the door, sweeping the floor. To his astonishment she herself was on fire behind, but did not know it. He put out the flames as well as he could, but not before she was badly burned behind. She is now in the hospital at Louth.
I saw the girl almost daily; she declared that she did not know she was on fire or how she got on fire. I have no reason to think that the people are otherwise than truthful, and I certainly cannot account for these phenomena unless it is possible that the girl herself or some one else in the house is an “unconscious medium.” The people are very anxious that the matter should be sifted, and I advised them to wait till the girl returns from the hospital, to see if anything happens in her absence. One feature is that, with the exception of the biscuit tins and the bottles, the various things were done without any noise. … A.C. Custance.”
From a second letter of January 31st, 1905, we make the following extracts:
“I am sorry to say that the people at the farm have called in the aid of spiritualists who have already had a seance there, and, I believe, with some kind of result. … I hear that nothing has happened since the girl left. I wrote to the matron about the latter and had a long letter from the doctor in charge of the case; he seemed to think that there was nothing uncommon about the girl. .. As far as I know, all the phenomena occurred in about a month’s time. … I am not sure that the people would like any investigation other than that made by the spiritualists. The servant will not be out of hospital for two or three months. Mr. — of Grimsby is the spiritualist who has been interesting himself in the matter.”
Colonel Taylor, who undertook to enquire into the case, reported as follows. His report includes a plan of the premises (not reproduced here) showing the large front kitchen with the scullery and small back kitchen, both opening out of it on the same side, and the dairy beyond the back kitchen and opening into it.
“March 8th, 1905. On Monday, February 27th, 1905, I went to Great Grimsby, and on the day following drove over to White’s Farm to enquire into the matter of the Binbrook Poltergeist. Taking as a basis the 13 incidents mentioned by the Rev. A.C. Custance in his letter dated January 28th, I questioned Mrs White about the affair. I have no doubt that she is quite honest in her statements, but she did not impress me as a very good witness. Taking the various happenings mentioned by Mr. Custance in the order he gives them (which is, however, not quite the order in which they followed one another, as I understood from Mrs. White) I made the following notes:
(1) Mrs. White showed me where these sausages were hung across a string which stretched from side to side of the dairy. I made out that it was the (servant girl M.) who found them on the ground each time, and it was always quite possible for her to have thrown them down herself and then either at once or after a time pretend to have found them on the floor.
(2) I make no other remark about this than that the place where the bottles were was occupied by some shelves which, when I saw them, had various things on them in such a way that I should not think a smash improbable at any time.
(3 and 4) In these cases M. was again the finder and reporter of the phenomenon, and it was as in No. 1 quite possible for the girl, who was constantly about the kitchen, the two back rooms and the dairy, to have done the mischief and then discovered it.
(5 and 6) It is not clear to me that the bacon was seen to fall, though Mrs. White’s mother was sitting in the kitchen at the time and the girl was about. Mrs. White’s mother is no longer at the farm, and MRs. White herself was at the time in bed, not having yet completely recovered after giving birth to her 4th or 5th child. As to the biscuit tins, they fell when Mrs. White’s mother was upstairs and the girl alone below and supposed to be engaged in the scullery.
(7) No one can say when this bucket was upset, and it is quite possible that the kitchen “floor was (observed to be) deluged with dirty water” some appreciable time after the last person who left the scullery was at table.
(8 and 9) I did not clearly make out where the girl was when this took place, but I believe she was about her work in this part of the house. Mr. White had his back turned to the place when the bucket was first upset, and Gibson, the man Mr. White called in to look, also had his back turned when the bucket was upset for the second time. (See letter from Mr. Custance appended.)
(10) About this I heard nothing.
(11) It was in the window of the front kitchen that these geraniums were; no one knows when or by what means they were turned down.
(12) Mrs. White assured me that there was very little fire in the range.
(13) Mrs. White said she was in the kitchen with the girl, who was sweeping the floor, a few minutes before her husband discovered her to be on fire. She was 6 feet from the fire at the time Mrs. White saw her last, and had only gone two yards further off when the alarm was given. I was given to understand that the girl’s dress caught fire at the waist behind and not below; but it became clear to me, after having seen the doctor now in charge of the girl’s case in hospital, that her petticoats caught fire in the usual way from below.
Mrs. White told me that the first thing which compelled attention was the milk pan being overturned on the last Friday in December, 1904, and that the other things have happened at irregular intervals up to the time of the girl’s departure, since which time they have ceased.
There was some mystery about the death of some fowls during January – (a) Fowls which were about the farm-yard during the day were sometimes found dead with their throats torn. I should account for this by supposing a stoat, a weasel, or rat to have been the agent.
(b) Fowls found dead or maimed in the fowl-house in the morning. Mr. — the spiritualist, who has interested himself in this case, told me that when this sort of damage was done, the padlock of the fowl-house door was always first removed. Three times was this done, fresh padlocks having been provided: the third time the padlock was found near the fowl-house door and the other two subsequently in the farm-yard pond close by.
I could see more human-like procedure in this than ghostly. I suppose a Poltergeist could get into the fowl-house without the trouble of breaking the lock, and I heard from Mr. Custance something about a discharged farm hand a possible agent in the matter.
About Mr. White’s boys I found out nothing; I did not see them nor were they mentioned by any one I spoke to on the subject of the disturbances; neither did I see Mr. White, who was out shooting at the time I called.
After quitting the farm I called on Mr. Custance, who confirmed by word of mouth all that he had stated in his letters, but I got nothing new from him except that there had been trouble about the fowls and one of the men on the farm had been lately discharged. On my return to Grimsby I saw Mr. — who had taken a “sensitive” to the farm and was quite convinced of the abnormal character of the disturbances on account of what his “medium” told him, in addition to what he heard from the farm people.
On Wednesday morning I went to Louth and saw Dr. G—, who is attending M. He told me that he had found hysterical symptoms in his patient, and that from the nature of the injury she had sustained he agreed with me that the fire must have originated at the at the bottom of her dress and petticoats.
From the Doctor’s house I went to the hospital and saw the girl herself; she was now nearly recovered. I do not think she always told me the truth in answer to my questions, but (she) agreed that the fire began at the bottom of her dress and, as she said, “a spark from the fire, I suppose,” originated it.
To sum up. All the phenomena were noiseless, except in two instances; hence no one knew when they took place, and of the two exceptions one might easily have been an accident, and the other occurred just when M. had the bets of opportunities for causing it.
In nearly all the cases the girl seems to have been the first to discover them. This suggests a previous knowledge on her part.
The doctor reports the girl hysterical.
I do not think we have any right to attribute these disturbances to other than human agency, but if there remains anything which cannot be thus accounted for, the evidence value of it is so weak that I don’t believe that the case will be of any value to the Society for Psychical Research as an instance of abnormal manifestation. Le M. Taylor.
The following is an extract from the letter from Mr. Custance to Colonel Taylor, referred to in the latter’s report:
March 4th, 1905. I went up to White’s Farm this afternoon. I saw both husband and wife. I was right as regards the bucket, but wrong as regards the biscuit tins. The latter only fell once, when Mrs. White was upstairs and the girl M. in the back scullery. (Query, Did she move them?) The bucket in that scullery turned over first when White was in there. His wife put it right with the pig’s meat in it, and refilled it with water, while White had gone to fetch a man named Gibson: while, however, the latter was in the scullery, and had turned to come out, it went over again!
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. XII, October 1905.
Walk Farm, Binbrook, known locally as Witch Farm or Bewitched Farm, was the heart of a 576-acre estate, and was farmed for 40 years by the Drakes of Manor Farm, Tealby.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 7th March 1991.
Beware of witches in wheelbarrows!
“If you go out to that shed today, Be sure of a big surprise, Out of it on a wheelbarrow, A witch is sure to fly…”
This little ditty, probably sung throughout many school playgrounds in the Market rasen area, may sound a little unusual to anyone well conversed in the travel arrangements of witches. Witches in wheelbarrows! Surely in the good old days they had broomsticks, even today’s most forward thinking, feminist, new age witch would only ride a vacuum cleaner. But it is surprisingly at the turn of this century where we actually find the roots to the song.
The place is Binbrook and the date is 1905, there are no stories of haunted houses or spiritual stones here. But spectral activity of a more rural sort, yes, supernatural sheds and weird wheelbarrows, bizarre enough to headline the national newspapers. The centre for this supernatural activity, a place called Walk Farm, but known more sinisterly as Bewitched Farm. Reports include items floating mysteriously around the farmhouse and horses being unable to pull empty waggons out of the sheds. A barrow was also reported to be seen running away from a foreman resting on it. This may not seem a strange occurrence when you consider barrows weren’t fitted with the extensive brake systems of today’s cars – but this barrow was actually seen heading uphill of its own accord!
It was reported at the time that these unearthly actions were undertaken by a tormented young girl murdered at the farm, who continued to haunt the place, her eerie actions giving her the reputation of a witch.
We shall leave it up to Muriel Shores, the present occupant, to bring us back down to earth with a not so ghostly bump. She told supernatural sleuths at the Mail: “I have lived here 49 years and I’ve never seen a thing. Everybody said when we came that if we went outside at midnight the old witch would give us a ride around the yard in her wheelbarrow, but she never has.”
Market Rasen Weekly Mail, 22nd January 1997.