Mysterious Noises.
Haunted Cottage Story.
The pretty little Hampshire village of Yateley, situated some three miles over the Surrey border from the scene of the Camberley murder, has a mystery. Mr Gough, a middle-aged, weather-beaten man, occupies a small cottage on the outskirts of Yateley. For many years past he has held the position of gardener to Mr. Mills, of Hawley Hill, a retired Army doctor, and lives with his wife and a little grandchild, named Nellie Benham.
Three weeks ago they were disturbed by mysterious noises in the dead of night, but little notice was taken of them. On Thursday night, however, the little family were startled by pictures suddenly falling from the walls and ornaments being flung on the floor without any apparent cause.
“I have lived in this cottage for 22 years,” said Mr. Gough, “and have never heard the slightest disturbance. Now our home is a complete wreck. I cannot understand it. Wherever my grand-daughter goes this knocking follows her. She is only eight years old, and she is perfectly terrified. We can hear nothing when we are with her, but as soon as she is left alone these noises commence.”
Last night the girl Benham went home to her parents at Sandhurst. The whole village is curious as to whether the noises will now be repeated.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 14th July 1906.
Another Sensation for Camberley Residents
A Child’s Influence.
The Camberley neighbourhood has hardly recovered from the sensation caused by the murder of Miss Hogg, before it is face to face with another mystery. In a four-roomed cottage at Yateley, a Hampshire village, live a Mr and Mrs Gough, with a grandchild, aged eight years. Mr Gough is gardener for a local doctor, and has lived in the same house for over twenty years. Until recently nothing unusual was noticed, but since the grandchild has been living with them Mr and Mrs Gough have been alarmed by pictures falling one after another, until the house was practically denuded of pictures. This occurred at night after the child had gone to bed, and, unable to understand the phenomenon, the old people were afraid to retire to bed.
Meanwhile, the child was awakened by the noise of falling pictures, and subsequently told her grand-parents that she had heard knocks on the wall of her room. The rappings were followed by the fall of ornaments from the mantelpiece, and the upsetting of chairs. It was only when the child was alone in a room that the rappings were heard.
Mr Gough is quite mystified by the occurence, and up to now all efforts to elucidate the mystery have ended in failure. It will be interesting to know whether the rapping will continue, now that the child has been taken away from Yateley by her father.
Western Times, 17th July 1906.
The Yateley Ghost.
A picture-smashing spook which remains invisible.
By our Special Correspondent.
The worthy inhabitants of Yateley have been thrown into a state bordering on the greatest exitement by the most extraordinary rappings which have been heard in a small, rustic, four-roomed, one-storeyed cottage, situated on the outskirts of the village, and some fifty yards or so away from the Drill Hall.
The house is occupied by a Mr and Mrs gough and their grandchild, Nellie Benham. Mr Gough, who is one of the most respected inhabitants of the neighbourhood, has lived in the cottage for a period extending over twenty-two years, and holds the position of gardener to Dr. Mills, of Holly Hill, a retired Army doctor. Their grandchild, Nellie Benham, whose parents reside at Sandhurst, has lived with Mr and Mrs Gough for some years, and is greatly attached to her grandparents.
For some three weeks or so Mr Gough has heard sounds about the house, but he put down the occurrence of these noises to the presence of rats. On Thursday night in last week, however, a very different complexion was put on the affair. Pictures suddenly fell from their nails on the walls, smashing the glasses in the frames to atoms, while several vases and other household treasures were thrown from their positions on the mantelshelves. nellie Benham was disturbed from her rest by a picture falling on to her feet, and experienced a sensation as if the bed were rising up under her. A chair was also overturned.
Our reporter visited the scene of these strange happenings on Friday afternoon. At the time of his arrival, various articles of a breakable nature which had not already been destroyed, were being removed from the house into adjoining dwellings. The interior of the cottage presented a picture of something approaching wreck – the work of some unseen, invisible, and altogether mysterious agent. One might well have believed that it had been visited by earthquake tremors, such was the extent of the destruction accomplished. The household was in a state of considerable alarm. Mr and Mrs Gough were suffering from great excitement, which was, perhaps, perfectly natural under the circumstances, while the child, a pretty, bright-eyed, rosy cheeked, intelligent little girl, repeatedly burst into tears which it was easy to see resulted from pure fright.
In a conversation with our representative, Mr Gough said: – “I am entirely at a loss to account for it. It is a most mysterious thing altogether. For some time I have heard slight noises, but I put it down to the presence of rats. i have lived in this cottage for twenty-two years, but have never before been disturbed in this strange manner. We were sitting here last night (Thursday) when the pictures suddenly began to fall from the walls, and the glasses int he frames were smashed to pieces. Vases have also fallen from the mantel-shelves, while a chair in one of the bedrooms was overturned. Then there are the rappings too! They are as plain as if someone was outside hitting the wall with a hammer. Perhaps the most mysterious thing about the whole affair is that these knockings are only heard when my grandchild is in a room alone. Then they commence. It does not matter what room she goes into – they seem to follow her about everywhere.”
Later at the request of Mr Gough, little Nellie Benham after some persuasion went into one of the bedrooms, in order that our reporter should be afforded a practical demonstration of the mysterious rappings. The door was closed to, but not latched. The pretty little child had not been inside the room more than three seconds before what our representative was assured would happen did happen. Taking his stand immediately outside the door, in company with a well-known Yorktown tradesman whose word on the matter can be regarded as absolutely beyond the slightest question or shadow of dispute, they were somewhat startled to hear two distinct penetrating resounding knocks – as unmistakable as they were unaccountable.
The child burst into tears, and running to the door implored to be released from the apartment which contained the mysterious knockings. There was no mistaking the reality of her fright – she was bordering on an hysterical state, and flinging herself into her grandmother’s arms cried passionately for some minutes. In company with the Yorktown tradesman our reporter rushed into the room just vacated by the child, but there was nothing to see beyond what one would expect to see in the bedroom of a typical homely country cottage.
Subsequently an inspection was made of the exterior of the house. But here, too, nothing strange or unusual met the gaze. Ivy grew in profusion around the walls, there was the usual outhouse containing tools and sundry other articles used by Mr Gough when engaged in the work of attending to a remarkably well-kept garden which surrounded the cottage.
Nellie Benham was removed by her father to their home at Sandhurst on Friday afternoon, and seen there on Sunday, the child, who was visibly upset by the experiences of the last few days, said: “- I heard knocks and rappings, and as I was alone in the bedroom I was frightened and I couldn’t sleep, and the next night Granny slept with me, because she knew how frightened I was. The knocks always came when I was alone. I was more frightened than I can say. I have not heard any noise here since I have been at home. At Granny’s we thought at first it must have been rats, because we have heard them often. The pictures fell down on the floor and smashed. Three vases came down from the mantelshelf, and always, when I was alone, the knockings began again. It was quite different from ordinary knocking, and it terrified me.”
During Saturday and Sunday several prominent spiritualists from London and elsewhere visited the cottage at Yateley, and after an interested inspection of the place they pronounced it as their opinion that spirits had made themselves felt. Nightly people remain in the cottage in the endeavour to solve the astounding mystery, but no further knockings have been detected.
It was intended that Nellie Benham should return to Yateley on Sunday night, in order to see whether the rappings would again make themselves heard in her presence, but acting on medical advice the parents have decided that she shall not revisit the cottage for fully a week, until she has recovered from the effects of her previous uncomfortable experience.
Aldershot Military Gazette, 20th July 1906.
Yateley.
Curious story of a haunted cottage.
A singular story comes from Yateley, where there have been strange noises and happenings in a rustic cottage, inhabited for twenty-two years past by Mr and Mrs Gough. Mr Gough is gardener to Dr Mills, of Hawley Hill, a retired Army doctor, and with him and his wife has lived a little girl of eight, Nellie Benham, their grandchild, whose parents reside at Sandhurst. During the past two or three weeks the occupants have been alarmed more or less by hearing peculiar noises during the night. These they attributed to the presence of rats, but recently they became so bad that several neighbours were called in, and, hearing the noises, they expressed the opinion that they were not due to rats.
On Thursday night events took a startling turn. The little girl had been put to bed, and the other occupants were sitting in one of the downstairs rooms when suddenly pictures flew off the walls in all directions, the glass being smashed to bits, vases and ornaments were overturned, and a large clock hurled off the mantelshelf. In the midst of all this the child was heard crying out that she was being thrown out of bed, and, hurriedly lighting a small lamp, Mr Gough rushed upstairs and found his granddaughter terrified. She told him she had been awakened by feeling the bed rise up. Hardly had she said this before pictures commenced to fall, five in succession striking her on the legs, which were much bruised. Then vases and ornaments and chairs overturned, and a mysterious rapping was heard.
The raps were loud and unmistakeable, and appeared to come from all parts of the room, as though someone were hammering outside. The climax was reached when the lamp which Mr Gough was carrying was blown out, and whirled away out of his hands up to the ceiling. The terrified occupants fled from the room, but everywhere they went the knocking continued until at last they left the house it, and, late as it was, walked to Sandhurst and stayed the remainder of the night with their daughter and son-in-law.
On the following day, when they returned, they found the house in a sorry condition; it looked as if it had been visited by an earthquake. Immediately the little girl entered the house the noises continued, and followed her as she ran from room to room. Pictures appeared to be lifted by an unseen hand and flung from the walls, many falling perilously near the girl, and a large clock was hurled from the mantelpiece on to the floor. As quickly as possible the undamaged articles were removed from the house into a publichouse close by. In the afternoon several prominent villagers, including Dr Mills and the landlord of the house, visited the place, and, after hearing the noises, were confident that they were caused by some unearthly agency.
The little girl was sent home to her parents during the afternoon. Mr Gough sat up all night, but no noise of any kind was heard, and nothing occurred to disturb him.
A correspondent of “The Tribune” who visited the cottage, says: “The child, Nellie Benham, went into one of the bedrooms alone, the door being closed after her. I stood immediately outside, and barely three seconds later I heard five loud knocks, which appeared to be struck against the wall of the room as if from outside. They were deep and resounding. The little girl screamed aloud at the sound, and, crying hysterically, begged to be released from the apartment. I afterwards spent half-an-hour in the same room with the child, but the knocks were not repeated.”
The grandfather of the child said he was at a complete loss to understand the extraordinary affair. “If I were not a God-fearing man,” he said,”I should be inclined to agree with some superstitious villagers, who declare that this cottage is visited by some evil spirit, but I cannot think that. The strange part about it is that the sounds are only heard when the child was in a room alone. They followed her everywhere. She was perfectly terrified.”
The affair has cause a great sensation throughout the district. Nellie Benham has returned to her parents at Sandhurst. Several prominent spiritualists visited Yateley on Saturday and Sunday to investigate the mysterious rappings in the cottage, and they were of the opinion that spirits were responsible for the noises.
Hants and Berks Gazette and Middlesex and Surrey Journal, 21st July 1906.
The Haunted Cottage.
The inhabitants of the Hampshire village of Yateley continue to be greatly excited about the mysterious rapping at the cottage of Mr Gough. Mr Gough’s granddaughter, Nellie Benham, who is followed by the noises wherever she goes, went to her parents’ home at Sandhurst on the 13th inst., and during the night Mr Gough sat up at the cottage, but the sounds were not repeated. Mrs Benham, the mother of the little girl, told a representative of the “Daily Mail” on the 14th inst. that she had not heard any rappings during the night, and that her daughter slept very deeply. She thinks that a fatal accident three years ago to her brother, who was devoted to the child, might have some connection with the mystery. The little girl will probably be taken back to the cottage in a day or two to see if the manifestations again appear.
Belfast News-Letter, 17th July 1906.
Child and Spooks.
Weird Experiences in a Hampshire Cottage.
A little eight-year-old girl, Nellie Benham, who has been living with her grandparents, Mr and Mrs Gough, in a cottage in Yately, Hampshire, seems to exert an overpowering attraction over spooks. The other night Mr and Mrs Gough heard noises in the child’s bedroom. They found that pictures had fallen from the walls, vases had toppled off the mantelshelf, and a heavy clock was out of position. The child was awakened by one of the pictures falling on her feet.
The sounds are only heard when the child is in a room alone. A Press representative, who made experiments in the cottage, says:-
“The child went into one of the bedrooms alone, the door being closed after her. I stood immediately outside, and barely three seconds later I heard five loud knocks, which appeared to be struck against the wall of the room as if from outside. I afterwards spent half an hour in the same room with the child, but the knocks were not repeated.”
Possibly, the spooks feared that the Pressman might try to interview them. Nellie has gone home to her parents at Sandhurst.
Western Gazette, 20th July 1906.
Haunted Cottage.
Remarkable story from a Hampshire village.
A weird story comes from the Camberley neighbourhood, the scene of Miss Hogg’s murder.
In a rustic, one-storeyed, four-roomed cottage at Yateley, a little Hampshire village three miles from the Surrey border, live Mr and Mrs Gough, with their grandchild, Nellie Benham, a girl of eight. Mr Gough, who is gardener to Dr Mills, of HAwley Hill, has lived in this same cottage for 22 years. On Thursday night they were greatly alarmed by the pictures suddenly falling from the walls. The glasses in the frames were shattered to bits. Picture followed picture, until the interior of the house bore the appearance of having been visited by an earthquake. Too terrified to retire to rest, they remained in the living room. Meanwhile their grandchild, who was sleeping in one of the bedrooms, was awakened by a picture falling on her foot and a mysterious sound of rappings.
They were distinct and unmistakable, and were followed by the falling of vases from a mantelshelf, the overturning of a chair in the bedroom, and later by a heavy clock being hurled down from its position. Further disaster followed on Friday morning until practically all the articles in the house of a breakable nature were smashed to atoms. Those that escaped destruction were hurriedly removed into adjoining cottages. “It is absolutely beyond my understanding,” said Mr Gould to a Morning Leader representative on Friday afternoon; “and were I not a God-fearing man I should be inclined to think with these superstitious villagers, who declare the noises are caused by an evil spirit. But I cannot believe that, although I am entirely at a loss to understand the meaning of it.
“The rappings are only heard when the child is alone. They follow her everywhere. She is absolutely terrified. I have lived in this cottage for 22 years, but have never heard anything of this sort before. Some three weeks ago I heard slight scratchings, but I put it down to the presence of rats.” There was no questioning the truth of Mr Gough’s statement. His demeanor bespoke plainly the agitation he was suffering. Moreover, I was afforded (the reporter continues) a practical and undeniable proof of the presence of these mysterious rappings. At the request of her grandfather, Nellie Benham, a bright-eyed, intelligent little girl, went into one of the bedrooms alone. The door was closed, and I stood with my ear against the panel. I had but a few seconds to wait. I heard five distinct, unmistakable knocks on the wall of the room which, judging by the sound, seemed to come from without. The little girl ran to the door, and, crying hysterically, implored to be released. I afterwards spent some minutes in the room with her, but the knocks were not repeated.
An All-night Vigil.
Many other people living in and around Yateley can vouch positively for the rappings, and the cottage was visited by crowds of people on Friday. On the same evening some well-known residents remained in the cottage throughout the night in the endeavour to solve this extraordinary mystery, and Mr Gough emphatically declares that should there be a repetition of the knockings he and his wife will immediately leave the cottage. Nellie Benham, the child in whose presence the rappings are alone heard, was taken away by her father on Friday afternoon to his house at Sandhurst.
The Salisbury Times, 20th July 1906.
The Haunted Cottage.
Child tells the story of the mysterious rappings.
Nellie Benham, a little girl of eight years, has had some extraordinary expeirences in a little rustic cottage at Yateley, a small Hampshire village just over the Surrey border, and not far from Camberley. It may be attributed to spiritual means – or not. In any case, pictures have fallen from the walls, and the glasses in the frames were shattered to pieces.
The little girl, an extremely pretty little girl, was seen at her mother’s home at Sandhurst, where she had been removed. “I’m afraid the child is upset by the occurrences of the last few days,” said her mother, “but certainly neither her father nor I would allow her to go back to Yateley at present.”
The visitor drew the little girl to her, and endeavoured to get at the bottom of the story. “I – heard knocks and rappings, and as I was alone in the bedroom – I – was frightened, and I couldn’t sleep, and the next night granny slept with me, because she knew how frightened I was.” “And the knocks?” “Oh! they always came when I was alone in the bedroom. I was more frightened than I can say.” “Have you heard any noise here, since you have been at home?” “No. Not any noises of that kind at all. You see, we thought at first at granny’s that it might be rats, because we have heard them often. But, when I was alone, and trying to get to sleep – Oh! it was terrible.”
“The pictures,” she continued, “fell down on the floor and smashed. Three vases came down from the mantelshelf, and always, when I was alone, the knockings began again. It was different from ordinary knocking, and it terrified me.”
“The child is over-wrought,” said her mother, “but she will soon get over the effects now that she is at home. Any reason for the rappings? We lost a relative some years ago at my mother’s home, but I don’t think – at least, what is one to think? But she has heard no knockings since she has been at home.”
South Wales Weekly Argus and Monmouthshire Advertiser, 21st July 1906.
A handless arm.
Grim mystery of a haunted house.
(From our own correspondent. Camberley. Saturday).
Nellie Benham, the little girl supposed to be followed about by a mischievous spirit which raps the wall and hurls pictures to the ground, has returned to the haunted house at Yateley, Hants, after a week’s absence.
In connection with the affair an extraordinary story is told me by Mr White, landlord of the Royal Oak Inn, situated some dozen yards from the cottage.
“On the Thursday night when the pictures began to fall,” he said, “Mr Gough, the child’s grandfather, ran to me and asked me to go in. I did so with another man. Nellie Benham was then in bed. In these old-fashioned cottages there is some width between the hinges and the doors. We looked through the aperture into the room in which the child was lying. Presently my companion saw a chair overturned, and at the same time I saw a yellow, dull light over the little girl’s head. In the middle of this light appeared a fleshy arm, bare from the elbow down. There was no hand attached to the arm. It seemed to disappear through the wall.” Mr White concluded the recital of his experience with a shudder.
The extraordinary part of the business is that three years ago Mr Gough’s only son – Nellie Benham’s uncle – had his hand blown away by a gun accident, and died in hospital after having had the arm amputated.
Star, 21st July 1906.
[largely as above] “My companion saw a chair overturned by some unseen means, and at the same time I noticed a dull yellow light come over the child’s head. In the middle of the light appeared a fleshy arm, bare from the elbow down to the wrist. There was no hand attached to the arm. After a moment or two it seemed to gradually fade away, and at last disappeared through the wall.” The earnestness with which Mr White related this unnerving experience prove the sincerity of his words.
Now comes the most astounding part of the business. Some three years ago the only son of Mr and Mrs Gough, who was very popular in the village, and who was passionately attached to Nellie Benham, met with a serious gun accident. He was in the act of getting into a trap, when the gun which he carried suddenly exploded, the charge lodging in his hand. He was conveyed without loss of time to the Berkshire Hospital at Reading, where it was found necessary to amputate the hand, and he shortly afterwards died.
The extraordinary experience of Mr White has caused the greatest amazement amongst the Yateley people, who, like the occupiers of the cottage, than whom it would be hard to find a more homely or God-fearing couple are at a complete loss to satisfactorily account for the mysterious rappings.
Aldershot Military Gazette, 27th July 1906.
1901 census
George Gough (57) and Elizabeth Gough (62) with Nellie S Benham (4) living on Blackwater road, Yateley in 1901.
The accident story about the son appears to be true:
Fatal Gun Accident At Sandhurst.
On Thursday in last week a melancholy gun accident which unhappily has terminated fatally, occurred at Sandhurst to Mr George Gough, greengrocer, about 30 years of age. It appears that on alighting from his cart he lifted a gun by the muzzle, and the hammer must have caught in some sacking in the cart, which caused the gun to discharge the contents into his left arm. He was conveyed to the Hospital at Reading, and seemed for a few days to be progressing favourably, but grave complications set in, and the unfortunate young man died from lock-jaw on Thursday.
The inquest was held at the Hospital yesterday (Friday) afternoon, before the Coroner (Mr. W. Weedon). George Gough said that his son was 30 years of age and a greengrocer at Sandhurst. George S. Benham, a salesman employed by deceased, said they were driving home to breakfast and stopped to get some wood. As witness was tying up the horse he heard the report of a gun, and looking round saw deceased walking away from the cart. Deceased said he had shot himself. The gun was in the cart, and probably, as deceased was lifting it up the trigger caught in a sack and the gun went off. The gun was a muzzle-loader, and deceased said as he was being conveyed to the Hospital, “One can’t be too careful.” Mr W. E. Duncan, house physician, said death was due to tetanus arising from the gunshot wound, and a verdict was returned accordingly.
Reading Mercury, 23rd May 1903.
Of course the inn keeper would have known this all too well. And it certainly accounts for stress in the household.
Of ghoulies and ghosties…
June Sparey reports.
Next Wednesday it will be Hallowe’en, the time when ghosts are supposed to wander abroad. There have been reports of a phantom coach floating at the gallop along the Portsmouth Road in Frimley, and more hoofbeats are said to emanate from the wraiths of former gentlemen of the road in the vicinity of Snow’s Ride at Windlesham. But earlier this century a cottage at Yateley was the vocus of a quite spectacular haunting.
Oak Cottage in Reading Road once had such a sinister reputation that people flocked in cars and carriages, on bikes and on foot, to see it. An article in the Camberley “News” published as the cottage was being demolished in July, 1936 – it had been condemned under the Town Planning Act – recalled some of the events which led to Oak Cottage’s reputation.
“Older residents of the village remember a time when spirits, ghosts and supernatural phenomena were the main, if not the only, topic of conversation for many days, and the arrival of strangers to gape at the cottage in a long queue was sufficient to make a lasting impression on the minds of the villagers,” it begins.
“It is nearly 30 years ago that people named Gough, living in the cottage, were startled by the sudden movements of tables and chairs, pictures falling off the walls and ornaments toppling off the mantelshelf. Accompanying these occurrences were strange tapping noises, sometimes on the floor, sometimes on the walls. Whatever the source of these things, their occurrence was sufficient to make the old people leave the cottage on the same night and in a remarkably short time the rumour that the cottage was ‘haunted’ or ‘possessed’ spread. A number of villagers tested the truth of the rumour, and finding that Mr and Mrs Gough’s story could be substantiated, assisted in spreading the story of the phenomena.
“The story brought people from far and near to the cottage – people who were scientifically interested in the theory of ghosts and others who came merely out of idle curiosity. Their influx, apparently, was sufficient to drive the ‘ghost’ away, for the rappings and movements have not been heard of or seen since those days.
“‘Heard of’ is not, perhaps, quite correct, as the ‘ghost’ has been a frequent topic of conversation all this week. The incidents are still quite clear in the minds of several Yateley residents and the demolition of the cottage has brought their recollections readily to the surface. Mr Ernest White, who lives a few yards away from the cottage, told a Camberley News representative that he actually saw a clock fall off the mantelpiece. “Even now,” he said, “after nearly 30 years, I am quite unable to fathom what caused the furniture to move and what made the noises.” “Most people at that time really believed,” Mr White said, “that some supernatural agency was at work. It was possible that rats might have been responsible for it, or that a dog in pursuit of rodents might have got trapped under the floorboards – it was an old house – and in his struggles to escape made weird noises.”
The Camberley News reporter spoke to a Mr and Mrs Goddard who lived in Oak Cottage for 22 years – but without any interference from ghoulies, ghosties or weird beasties. The article continued: “Incidentally, Mr and Mrs Goddard are well qualified to judge the difference between a noise natural to an old building and a noise due to some external agency, for before they went to Oak Cottage they lived at Yew Tree Cottage, Darby Green (once the Yew Tree Inn). There, Mr and Mrs Goddard told me, they were much more troubled than they were at Oak Cottage. In the middle of the night lights flashed on the walls of the room and tappings were frequently heard at the windows. They were glad to move from it and they found Oak Cottage a restful place.”
The article goes on to speculate whether the unfortunate Gough family were the victims of a poltergeist. “While the possibility of trickery must never be entirely absent from one’s mind, there are many distinguished people who have accepted such things as happened at Oak Cottage as definite manifestations of a supernatural agency,” it reminds sceptic readers.
Farnborough News, 26th October 1990.
The Drill Hall was at about SU823608 and I wonder if the cottage was on the opposite side of the road c. SU823607 (this is purely a guess though, but it is the nearest house on the 1900s map, and about 60 yards away). It also makes sense that the nearby pub (still there) is called the Royal Oak, and the cottage was called Oak Cottage.