Hull Packet, Friday 22nd October 1852.
The Haunted House on the Anlaby Road.
Discovery of a Ghost.
A marvellous sensation has been created in our town within the last few days, by the discovery that a ghost has taken up its quarters, evidently for the winter season, in a secluded dwelling on the Anlaby-road, where it is likely to obtain as great a notoriety as the celebrated Cock-lane ghost. Some little distance beyond the end of Walker-street and Great Thornton-street, on the left-hand side of the Anlaby-road, is a quiet lonely lane known by the name of Wellington-lane, at the bottom of which stands the “Haunted house,” a respectable-looking tenement occupied by an elderly bed-ridden dame, her son-in-law, and daughter, and a female domestic. It seems that about a month ago the inmates were startled in the stillness of the night by a sharp sudden knocking on the walls of the room from some invisible hand. At first, no notice was taken of it, but, to their great dismay, at irregular intervals the same strange noise was repeated, even upon the wall of the very apartment where they sat, and when no visible hand was raised to strike. For four successive weeks the noise was repeated, until the inmates grew seriously apprehensive that some supernatural agency was at work. Their fears were soon communicated to the neighbours, and speedily reached the public ear.
The love of the marvellous is the most powerful and easily raised passion of the mind, and on Wednesday not fewer than a thousand persons visited the spot, lingering in the neighbourhood and straining their ears to catch the sound of the modest ghost, who now and then indulges them with a solitary and muffled rap, tap, tap. For our own part, we are really apprehensive for his ghostship’s knuckles, which must suffer materially from such constant exercise.
Yesterday night, although it was dull, drizzly, and cold, crowd upon crowd besieged the spot, standing, in spite of cold and wet, 100 yards from the haunted house, anxiously discussing the nature and object of the ghost’s visit, and patiently waiting to learn from the police, or those who were fortunate enough to get near the house, “when it had knocked last.”
One or two policemen have been stationed in the house, with the view of detecting the cause; and although it is – affirmed that the strange noise is still heard at intervals, it baffles all ingenuity, even on the part of the vigilant detectives, to discover whence it proceeds. A portion of the roof, we understand, has been removed, but without affording any clue. The noise is not confined to any one place, but alternately pervades different parts of the house. Sometimes it is a dull, heavy sound, and sometimes like a sort of scratch.
Yesterday two or three thousand persons visited the spot, many of whom lingered until nearly midnight, a detachment of police being present to preserve order. It is impossible to describe the sensation which has been created by the discovery of this affair, and credulity could hardly be carried further. The police declare that many would actually remain by the door of the house the whole of the night if they would only permit them.
A friend of ours, a facetious dog, who, when we related the circumstances to him, thought he smelt a rat, which seems to be nearest the solution of the mystery, for, after all, it is more than probable one of those pertinacious creatures may be at the foundation of the Haunted House, and with a little exertion no doubt the wary ghost might be safely entrapped and brought to light.
Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette, Friday 22nd October 1852.
The Haunted House of Hull.
Poor Elizabeth Squirrell, of Shottisham notoriety, must hide her diminished head. She is, and only professes to be mortal, though performing some most extraordinary things. But we have to tell of that which, while it is to the full as extraordinary as anything as connected with Miss Squirrell, has, besides, the additional zest of being something beyond mortality.
Hull is so far honoured as to be the first place in England where “spiritual manifestations” are exhibited. We shall, if we go on as we have begun, soon be able to cope in the marvellous with our transatlantic cousins, and we may expect to be able, ere long, to consult with and derive information from our great great grandfathers some time deceased.
For “rappings,” and those, too, of a “spiritual” nature, have made themselves heard in a house in this town. That they are of a ghostly character few persons who are possessed of an ordinary share of belief will doubt, though, of course, there are individuals who will not believe, but rather make light of these and all such things. Perhaps, however, we may convert these, and, in charitable hope of so doing, we will narrate the tale as we have it.
From the Anlaby-road, a little way past Great Thornton-street, there diverges a lane leading to some gardens, known as the Wellington Gardens, and down this lane, fifty yards or more, stands a nhouse, which has been built about three years, and is now occupied by Mr. W.H. Bee. This is the scene of our tale, and this will henceforth be invested with a terrible and mysterious interest as “The Haunted House of Hull.” It stands alone, and what is more, as helping to prove the ghostliness of the affair, it stands over an old well. Who shall say what bloody deed that well has witnessed – who shall know what ill-gotten treasure it now hides. For, if we remember right, all those ghosts who used to horrify us so in childhood were either the restless spirits of some unfortunate victim of a sanguinary conspiracy, or of some foolish person who, having in life hidden his stores of gold, was unable to sleep quietly in his grave-clothes. But, to resume. Our ghost, that is the Anlaby-road ghost, is not
“Sensible to feeling or to sight,”
But discovers itself by a series of rappings upon the walls, of a tone and character calculated to overturn the mental equilibrium of any ordinary person. Nay, more, it is said that a very extra-ordinary person paid a visit to the house, resolved in his mind to pooh-pooh the whole affair; but he had no sooner taken his seat than “rap, rap” went the ghost, so loudly and clearly, as to cause our friend to rise with no little precipitation from his seat, and seek egress by the nearest door as quickly as a somewhat bulky form would allow.
But the restless spirit eschews external walls, and never raps except on the partition walls, which are composed of lath and plaster. Moreover, it is a systematic ghost. It begins its diversion usually about five in the evening, and continues it until about two in the morning, and what is all the more confirmatory of its ghostliness, seven strokes at once generally satisfies it. Now, we should have though, judging from precedent, that the best way to get rid of this unwelcome disturber, would have been to exorcise it, and lay it at once where all ordinary well-behaved ghosts retire on being bid, namely – the bottom of the Red Sea. And it seems that Mr. Bee was of our opinion, for he obtained the aid of some of those enchanters most used now a days in the casting out from among us of evil spirits – a member or two of the police-force. They came, they heard, they were astonished. Neither their presence nor their spells have had any effect. The unruly ghost positively refuses to desert its adopted abode. Nay, more, it seems to take delight in teasing its would-be layers. No sooner are they seated, than forthwith it knocks – not in a milder tone, but in the same loud and decisive manner which has all along characterised it. It mocks search, as of course ghosts can, and the would-be exorcisers have been compelled to acknowledge the ghost – a shadow, we were going to say – but they consider it no less a fact.
Of course the people throng to hear the knockings of the ghostly visitant, and create a crowd about the place. But our spirit is undismayed by numbers. It still pursues the even tenor of its way, and, by its steady warnings, denotes its presence. Who, after this, will laugh at ghost stories, and who will sneer at the idea of deceased personages re-visiting the scenes of their worldly career? He who does, deserves to have to open out and descend into the well under the “Haunted House of Hull;” for ther, depend upon it, lies the true cause of all this disturbance.
Hull Packet, Friday 29th October 1852.
The Haunted House on the Anlaby-Road.
“Didst thou not hear a noise
*** whence is that knocking.” MACBETH.
“Hold the sweet jest up
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.” MID-NIGHT’S DREAM.
“I see their knavery, this is to make an ass of me, to fright me if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can.” MID-NIGHT’S DREAM.
“Stop dat knocking.” NIGGER SONG.
The Haunted-house on the Anlaby-road has become the one absorbing topic of conversation throughout the town, and the mysterious ghost story in connection with it is now “familiar in our mouths as Household Words.” In fact the matter or rather the spirit is assuming a character of grave importance, and is daily becoming one to which we can find but a few parallels; for the visits of ghost’s, be their intents “wicked or charitable,” like those of angels, are “few and far between.”
The ghost in question is evidently determined to “make a noise” in the world, hence the mysterious knockings which have created such a strange apprehension and alarm, are continued with unceasing regularity and increased loudness, as if the appetite of the ghost, in the words of the poet, “grew what it fed on.” Seriously speaking, what Sir Lytton Bulwer said of fortune tellers, is equally true of ghost stories, that, “although few of us believe in them we all love to listen to them,” and it is, therefore, no wonder that sounds so unaccountable, greeting the ear at the solemn witching hour of night, in a lonely house, at the foot of a solitary bye way, should give rise to a sensatino, if not of dread, at least of anxiety, particularly amongst the less intelligent portion of the people, whose minds are easily appalled by superstitious fears.
We alluded to the subject last week, but for the sake of continuity will revert briefly to the origin and progress of this singular affair. Something less than half a mile on the Anlaby-road there is a lane called Wellington-lane, at the foot of which, some fifty or sixty yards from the road-side, stands “The Haunted House.” Not an old dilapidated tenement, through whose disjointed doors and flapping casements the mournful night wind sweeps with dejected moan – there are no tapestried chambres with oriel windows – no tattered banners or gloomy escutcheons, so congenial to ghostly visitants; but simply a neat modern brick edifice, two stories high, and built little more than three years ago. The house, as we stated before, being occupied by an individual holding a respectable situation int he town, his wife, and mother-in-law, the latter an elderly bedridden dame, and a female domestic.
It is now some five or six weeks since the proprietor of the house was startled on a dull September night after the other inmates had retired to rest, by a loud muffled knocking on the partition wall of the room; surprised at this novel intrusion, he sat for some time in a listening attitude, and by and by the same portentious rapping fell on his ear, waking him from an indulgent reverie. He rose and searched every nook and cranny in vain, and finding no trace of mortal presence, retired to rest, equally puzzled and amazed. So runs the story. Night after night the noise was repeated, resembling a rapid knocking with the knuckles on a heavy hollow substance, consisting each time of six or seven good smart raps, the last being much louder and more protracted than the other. Every attempt to solve the mystery proving ineffectual, the inmates naturally grew apprehensive of wrong, and their fears quickly reached the public ear. No sooner was this the case than when twilight deepened on the scene (for the noise is only heard after twilight and ceases at crowing of the cock), the haunted house was surrounded by a motley and eager crowd of people, and before night was over thousands congregated together
“Listening to catch the storied sounds,
Or mark the flittering spirit stray.”
Much injury would have been done to the house or surrounding property had not half a dozen policemen been summoned to dismiss the crowd and watch the premises. The listeners retired to the lane, where a couple of police were placed to guard its entrance, and where they have since remained each night until the present time. Out of reach of all sound from the house, every night during the past week, at the end of the lane might be seen a group of restless forms, regardless of the sullen wind or the pelting rain, beneath a cloudy or starlight sky – pacing to and fro, listening, ever and anon, with breathless attention, for the knocking of the ghost, with a patience that even “Job” himself might have envied. But the ghost might rap never so loud, and never so often, they were too remote from its reach, and the gruff “stand back” of the policemen, and “the beating of their own hearts were the only sound they heard.”
Wednesday night was as bleak and cheerless an October night as ever was seen; the rain fell in heavy intermitting showers, notwithstanding which a group of fifty or sixty actually lingered about the spot through the live-long night, some of them muffled up in great coats like watchmen. Oh tempores, oh mores – but it is not the unintelligent and plebeian class alone who are attracted by the “ghost,” nearly every member of the medical faculty, including gentlemen of high standing have visited “The Haunted House,” and after the profoundest cogitations, not surpassed even by those of Captain Cuttle, can only say that they have heard strange voices
“Which speak as plain as whispering in the ear,
The place is haunted.”
It is rumoured, too, with what amount of truth we cannot pretend to say that a notable individual, holding important rank (not in the army), having ventured to enter the mysterious abode, was startled whilst complacently enjoying the perfume of a rich Havannah by the rapid sepulchral sound of his ghostship’s knuckles, and effected his escape more abruptly than cavalier-like, from which it will be inferred that his heart was not quite so stout as his corporeal frame.
The police have used every exertion to discover the cause of the mystery – without the least success – although it has been reported (without any tangible ground, whatever) that it had been effectually solved and explained; such is certainly not the case, although it is true many solutions have been offered, each vying with the other in absurdity.
We can only say that if Lord Byron was correct in asserting that “walls have ears,” the knuckles of the “ghost” must come into very unenviable contact with those peculiarly sensitive organs belonging to the walls of the Haunted House. Pity it is that walls have not mouths as well as ears; if it had been so, one of those mural partitions might have been induced to disclose the mystery, in answer to the touching entreaty delicately breathed in its ear, “Oh whisper what thou feelest.” Since it is not so, we must wait patiently the result of time and future exertions, which we trust will not be spared in the endeavour to probe the affair. It cannot be doubted that there is a knocking – a distinct and very mysterious one, heard from the housrs of five in the evening until one or two in the morning, at irregular intervals, and in various parts of the house; but no one will doubt for a moment that these sounds are the result of mechanical ingenuity, or natural causes.
The rumour that a well exists beneath the foundation of the house is, we believe, incorrect; and, for our own part, we waive or rather reject all speculative tales about the descent of property or legal rights. In concluding our remarks, we would fain hope that no one will be foolish enough to attribut the mystery to supernatural agency, although we cannot close our eyes to the demonstrations which nightly convince us how powerfully, even in the present age, the popular mind is swayed by the marvellous or the superstitious.
Morning Chronicle, Friday 29th October 1852.
The Hull Spirit Rappings.
[From the Eastern Counties Herald].
During the past week the great topic of interest among the gossips of Hull has been an unaccountable series of noises which have been heard in a house situated in a retired lane, leading from the Anlaby-road. It appears that for some weeks past the tenant, Mr Bee, and his family, have been annoyed by a knocking heard in different parts of the house. At length the annoyance became so insupportable, that Mr. Bee was compelled to claim the assistance of the police to obtain a solution of the mystery. The best exertions of our best detectives have, however, as yet been unequal to the task, and the matter having become public the house is nightly visited by crowds of people, each anxious to form his own opinion upon so much of oral proof as can be obtained regarding these supposed supernatural noises.
From dusk till about three o’clock in the morning a succession of loud but dull knocking is heard in different parts of the tenement, the sounds being such as might be caused by the rapping of knuckles upon a hard substance. That this noise is produced by physical causes, of course, no one can doubt, and the public interest has rested solely upon the question of how the effect is produced. It had been suggested that galvanism might have been the agent; but as most minute inspection and search of the premises was made by the police, assisted by Mr. Scott, of Mason-street, a gentleman practically acquainted with galvanic phenomena, the result was a decided opinion that these noises were not occasioned by any electric influence. Mr. Sollitt, whose experience and acquirements in natural philosophy are well known, has favoured us with the following report of his opinions upon the subject:-
“The other evening, having paid a visit to the ‘haunted house,’ as it is now generally called, I take the liberty of sending you my opinions thereon. I am not one who is inclined to be led away by the marvellous, or any way desirous of attributing things of this kind to the interference of spiritual agency. I therefore endeavoured to account for the wonderful noises which we heard from natural causes, and having, in the first place, ascertained from the police and others that the knocking did not arise from the agency of any mischievous or designing individuals, I examined the manner in which the house was built or put together; and having ascertained this point, I soon came to the conclusion that there was quite sufficient in its construction to account for all the knockings on the principle of the unequal expansion of the materials. The two ends of the house consist of brick walls four-and-a-half inches thick, with inch deals running the whole length of the wall at every nine or ten courses of bricks, the insides of these walls are stoothed from top to bottom, the uprights of the stoothing being nailed to the whole of the horizontal deals in the walls.
Now, these thin walls, together with the deals between them, have had a thorough drying through the long hot and arid season, and now that the damp weather has returned the whole are swollen out, and consequently became too high for the uprights of the stoothing, which, of course, do not become elongated by the moisture, as wood is only expanded by moisture across the grain, and not in length. As the whole are firmly fastened together, this unequal expansion produces a kind of pulsation, or beating, which is greater or less in proportion to the quantity of the contrary expansions or opposing effects of the uprights to the expansion of the walls. As a proof that the whole is continually on the stretch, the effect is always the strongest after the passing of a railway train, which shakes the various parts and sets them in motion. The beating, likewise, often commences after the shutting of the front door of the house.
But, in order that I may be fully understood with respect to the pulsations or beatings arising from unequal expansion or contraction, I need only call attention to the rapidly heating or cooling of a large stove, in which the pulsations or beatings arising from unequal expansion are so loud that they may be heard all over the house. I have a stove of this kind which produces those beatings so loud, under the above circumstances, that they can be heard to some considerable distance, but I certainly never thought, for one moment, that there was a ghost in my stove.
I may further observe that the effects above named are considerably increased in the ‘haunted house,’ from the fact that the whole surface of the stoothed walls are covered with paper, and therefore perform the part of a large tambourine, in increasing the sound, and thus render it in many cases, as is stated by some parties, really fearful.
Such, sir, are my opinions of the noises which have been heard, and which I think might be prevented either by covering the ends of the house with a good coat of Roman cement, or by other houses being built on each side of the dwelling; for either plan would defend the house from the effects of moisture, and effectually keep out the dreadful intruder.”
Thousands of people have congregated nightly at the end of the lane leading to this “haunted house;” and it has been found necessary to have a considerable body of the police on the spot to preserve order. in the meantime, Mr. Bee and his family are subject to great annoyance, while the innkeepers in the neighbourhood are reaping a rich harvest.
Hull Packet, Friday 5th November 1852
The Ghost.
To the editor of the “Hull Packet.”
Sir. – Having read in all newspapers the ghost story, permit me to enquire if any of the water pipes of the town terminate near the haunted house; if so, request the plug to be taken out, and the water allowed to run away for one hour. I have known a similar noise arise by some air being lodged at the end of the pipe extending to the outskirts of a town, and more especially if a steam engine is at work for pressing the water through the pipes.
I am, Your’s, very obediently,
A GHOST FINDER.
Manchester, 30th Oct., 1852.
To the Editor of the “Hull Packet”.
Dear Sir, – I saw, yesterday, in the “St. James’s Chronicle,” a letter written by Mr. Sollitt on the subject of the singular noises which are heard in Mr. Bee’s house on the Anlaby-road. Now Mr. Sollitt, as we all know, is an intelligent man, and a scientific man. He is, moreover, a kind hearted man, and is anxious, in common with others, to see Mr. Bee and his family relieved from the annoyance to which they are subjected to by the crowds of people who nightly flock to the house, and many of whom often remain until midnight. But although Mr. Sollitt is a man to whose judgment I should, on most occasions, be disposed to pay great deference, I cannot help saying that the way in which he attempts to account for the noises in question is, to my mind, anything but satisfactory.
The manner in which he describes the construction of the outer walls is plain and simple enough; and the principle of unequal expansion, on its bearing upon the question to be solved, I quite admit. But the difficulty lies here. How is it possible for the kind of noises which was heard to be produced by the influence of moisture upon the timber? I can easily suppose something like a pulsation or beating to be the result of such influence. But the knockings in question have in them a peculiar character. The noise heard is one sui generis. It seems to speak. It indicates the direct agency of mind. If I may so express myself, it is too intellectual to be occasioned by the causes to which Mr. Sollitt would attribute it.
As to the knockings being in any way associated with the passing of trains on the railway, I am quite certain that Mr. Sollitt has been misinformed, and that there is not the slightest ground for the supposition. The railway is some hundreds of yards from the house, and the loudest knockings have taken place between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, when no train was stirring. ON this point I have made the most accurate enquiries, and am satisfied that I am correct, I have, on several occasionals, had the opportunity of hearing the noises in question, and likewise the varying and clashing opinions of who, like myself, have sought a solution of the difficulties which the case involves.
I have never felt at liberty to speak in the decisive and almost peremptory manner in which some do, but I am convinced that if any discovery is to be made which will be satisfactory to the public, and remove the popular impression that the house is “haunted,” the premises must be vacated, at least for a few days, by Mr. Bee and his family, so as to afford an opportunity for a full and fair investigation, and for the detection of any treachery or contrivance which may have occasioned the disturbance complained of. If the thing is permitted to go on without any enquiry being instituted, or any means being adopted to bring to light the real and palpable cause of the continued knockings, night after night, it is obvious that the final impression left upon the public mind will be in accordance with that love for the marvellous which seems to be inherent in our nature.
I have heard, since I commenced this letter, that since last Saturday evening, when a sort of consultation was held at Mr. Bee’s house, the knockings have ceased. I have not yet made any special enquiry on the subject; but if this should really be the case, it would almost seem as if the author of the disturbance felt that he had now gone far enough, and that to persevere would be to bring on an investigation and an exposure.
I am, dear Sir, your’s truly,
WM. KNIGHT.
Lister-street, Nov. 3rd, 1852.
Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette, Friday 5th November 1852.
The Mysterious Knockings on the Anlaby-Road.
To the Editor of the Hull Advertiser.
Sir, – Our esteemed and respected townsman, Mr. Sollitt, having made an attempt to give to the public a solution of the mystery which has cast a veil over the minds of thousands as to the real cause of the strange and oft-repeated sounds which have been heard for several weeks past on the walls of a certain house on the Anlaby-road, and which have created considerable excitement among all classes of our townspeople, perhaps you will give me space for a few remarks on that attempt, now that this strange and invisible intruder has ceased to be heard, and the house reposes in its wonted quietude, its inmates enjoying the peaceful retirement of their domestic home, the eagerly-listening throng having withdrawn from the place, and the aid of the policeman being no longer called into requisition. I ask this, sir, lest the opinion expressed by Mr. Sollitt should influence or induce others to come to a similar conclusion in accounting for the mysterious noises referred to.
Presuming that Mr. Sollitt has a practical knowledge of building, he informs us that he examined the manner in which the house was built or put together, and, having ascertained this point, he soon came to the conclusion that there was quite sufficient in its construction to account for all the knockings, on the principle of the unequal expansion of the materials. By some this may be considered a very important discovery; but, after a strict and minute examination of the house, I cannot perceive that there are any peculiarities connected with its construction that makes it differ from the ordinary class of houses. There are hundreds similarly constructed in Hull, disconnected with any other building, wherein no such sounds have been heard.
The outer walls of the house in question, and the horizontal bond timber which runs through them, are of the thickness that Mr. Sollitt describes. The stoothing of these walls in one inch thick by three inches in width, simply nailed to the horizontal bond; and, though the walls of the house may have had a thorough drying during the summer months, is it to be supposed that such is the effect produced by the damp on this slender bond timber that it causes expansion, producing sounds like those which have been heard in almost every part of the house? Such is the connection between the stoothing and the bond timber (secured only by a nail), that supposing it possible for the bond to expand, so gradual would be the process, that it would act upon the stoothing without causing the slightest pulsation: and, in the event of a contraction of the same, if any sound is produced at all, it would be a faint cracking and not a loud and unmistakable knocking.
Besides, on the principle that Mr. Sollitt has laid down, how comes it to pass that those sounds have been heard generally in the evening, after dusk, and rarely, if ever, in the day? Why heard more frequently at one time than at another? There are many railway trains passing during the day, but all is silence in the house! The house has been erected between three and four years, and yet, very strange, from Mr. Sollitt’s argument, so such sounds has been heard before. Besides, this series of mysterious knockings has not been confined to the external walls of the house; they have been as distinctly heard on the inside, or partition walls, where no timber is fixed, and where no expansion could take place.
Being extremely anxious to have this mystery solved, I have taken considerable pains to trace out the real cause of the whole affair; I have frequently heard the rapping on the external walls, and have listened as attentively to it on the internal walls; I have made every search to discover the intruder, but have failed in my object, and now must confess my ignorance as to what the noise proceeded from, nor do I here offer an opinion on the matter as to what it may be, but suffice to say that the conclusion which Mr. Sollitt has come to must, to everyone practically acquainted with the construction of buildings, appear absurd in the extreme. The foundation on which he grounds his theory is weak, and will suffer no scrutiny; it cannot be sustained by any well-grounded argument in its favour. Of course, opinions differ, and speculation is rife on this subject. Regretting that, after all the attempts of wisdom and sagacity to bring before the light of open day the real disturber of this unfortunate house, no effort has yet satisfactorily succeeded, and the mystery remains as yet unsolved.
I am, sir, yours obediently,
WILLIAM DOWSING.
Hull, November 4th, 1852.
Hull Packet, Friday 5th November 1852
Monday
Before Atd. Blyth, and W.B. Carrick, Esq.
John Simpson, Thomas Foster, Charles Broderick, and William Holberry, were charged with being disorderly near the “haunted house,” Anlaby-road, yesterday. Discharged with a caution.
Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette, Friday 5th November 1852
The Haunted House of Hull.
What the police were unable to do, a number of scientific and reverend gentlemen have accomplished. The ghost is laid. Up to Saturday night its knockings were as vigorous as ever, but, on that evening, a deputation of gentlemen visited the house, and, ever since, all has been as quiet as possible. Whether philosophy or prayer was the most powerful agent in expelling his ghostship we leave our readers to decide for themselves. But, before they pronounce their decision, we may be allowed to suggest the consideration of a third motive power. The family – or at least, part of it – left the house on Saturday for a village in the neighbourhood. Is it not possible that the ghost, having formed tender associations, resolved to accompany the said family, and thus terminated its engagement in Hull? that would be a very boggart-like thing to do??
Dumfries and Galloway Standard, Wednesday 17th November 1852.
The “Rappings” at Hull.
{The following account of the “Rappings” at Hull appears in the British Banner of Wednesday. In addition to the circumstance of its being published by our contemporary, we have reason to believe that the account was written by a gentleman of high position in the town, and not at all given to be over-credulous. We are informed that the committee spoken of comprises one Episcopalian clergyman, one Dissenting minister, two physicians, the master of the Grammar School, an ironfounder and machinist, and several other gentlemen of scientific attainments. – Ed. Patriot}
The following particulars respecting the mysterious noises were given to our informant by the lady herself, who, with her mother, husband, children, and servant, lives in the house. She is a very respectable person, obviously incapable of inventing the story. Her whole manner is at once convincing as regards her veracity, and she has evidently been a considerable sufferer from the continued alarms and want of rest she has recently experienced. Her husband holds a responsible situation in a public office, where he is highly respected. His father also holds an important public appointment. This family have tenanted the house four years, during which time they have had no annoyance till about six weeks ago.
Mrs — was sitting up for her husband, who was late at the office, when she was startled by a very loud knocking, apparently from the side of the house. There had been a carpenter’s yard there ten months ago, and at first she thought the men must have been working late, naturally remembering the noises with which she had once been familiar, and forgetting for a moment that the business had been removed. A second loud rapping soon startled her again; she was conscious of her mistake, and now felt sure that some one was shut up in a small shed outside, and was endeavouring to get out. She called her servant, and they both went outside and called aloud, asking if any one was there, and what was wanted. There was no reply.
On re-entering the house, the knocking was repeated more violently, and the children ran downstairs, crying out in terror that some one was trying to break through the wall just over their heads, as they lay in bed. Mrs — then called in a neighbour, and they both, with the servant, searched every room in the house, but could discover nothing. As they were all standing in one room, they heard the noise again from a different quarter. Mr — then arrived, and noticing the frightened looks of his wife, inquired the cause, but treated lightly what she stated, saying some one must be playing a trick. He had not been seated five minutes before the noise was again heard, and so violent was the knocking, that he was considerably startled, though by no means timid. He then searched throughout the house to ascertain the cause, but in vain.
These visitations continued two or three times a week for about a month, when they were repeated nightly, beginning often at dusk, and continuing till two in the morning, and, though rarely, in the daytime also. Mr — having thought it desirable to inform the police, and obtain their aid towards discovering the cause, the circumstance soon became notorious, and multitudes of the curious flocked to the place. One night the police surrounded the house, two being on each side of it, and one in every room, but the noises were as loud and fequent as ever. The inmates placed themselves under inspection, in order to aid in obtaining satisfaction.
A sergeant of police was sitting by the fire of the room occupied by the elder lady, her daughter being also present, when the knocking was so violent on the wall, that the policeman started to his feet in great surprise, utterly unable to account for it. Another night, one of the policemen keeping watch outside, had come into the kitchen for a few minutes, when a terrific thumping was heard at the shutters of the back sitting room, close to the kitchen door. The policemen rushed out instantly, but no one was there, and the two policemen keeping watch at the gate, said no one had been at the shutters, the knocking at which they also heard. Indeed, it was so loud, that it could be heard at a considerable distance. Another person was on the watch in the room itself, and he also thought some one had knocked on the outside.
Two Sundays ago, the family resolved to go to church in the evening, and left the house empty. On their return, a neighbour said the knockings in their absence had been frightful. Last Saturday a committee of eight scientific gentlemen were in the house till nearly midnight. There were no loud knockings, but on an interior partition wall were heard faint, but distinct taps at intervals, and these seemed to reply when one of the party said “Rap again.” These sounds, however, so resembled what a rap from the knuckle would produce, that little importance was attached to them. It is the loud and emphatic peals of knocking, startling the inmates of every room, and heard by the neighbours, which are the extraordinary features in the case. As yet there is no clue whatever to the discovery of the trick – if trick it be; and that the sounds are produced by mind, and cannot possibly result from merely physical causes, is the almost unanimous opinion of those who have heard them.
Since Saturday the sounds have almost ceased. The general opinion amongst the scientific is, that some trick is being played, not by the inmates, but by some persons from without. Nevertheless, that it should have been so long and successfully practiced, and no one can conjecture who does it, by what means, and for what reason, seems almost as wonderful as the popular and more general belief that it is a veritable ghost.
Preston Chronicle, Saturday 20th November 1852
The noises at Hull have ceased, – at one and the same time that the occupants of the house moved therefrom.
Norfolk News, Saturday 4th December 1852
The “Spirit Rappings” at Hull.
The mysterious knocking which occurred some two or three weeks since, in a house on the Anlaby road, and created a great excitement, has been resumed. After having been stopped for two or three nights, the noise was again heard this week. It is certainly a most singular affair, which the most intelligent men of Hull have failed to elucidate. Whatever may occasion these noises, the public do not now seem to take much interest in the operations of his ghostship, as no one beyond a solitary policeman now attends to his nightly disturbances – Yorkshire Gazette.
The peculiar occurrence in Linnaeus street this week reccalls to one’s mind the “haunted house” incident on the Anlaby-raod a few years ago. For several days strange sounds, as of someone “rapping” the walls were heard at the house in question. Hundreds of people visited the district in the hope of seeing the “ghost.” At last a solution of the mystery was obtained, it being found in the fact that the plumb line had been left in the wall near the window, and the lead kept bumping against the window sash.
Hull Daily Mail, 1st January 1897.