College “Mystery”.
Practical jokers terrify servants.
Rawdon “Ghost” Story Explained.
(Special to the “Mercury.”)
It is a pity to spoil a rather promising “ghost” story, but (writes one of our representatives) there is no alternative in the case of the alleged “ghostly” assault upon Rawdon College. On the contrary, there is every reason for believing that a senseless practical joke has been played upon the servants, who have been living alone there since the summer vacation commenced, two months ago.
The college is a training place for Baptist ministers, and is charmingly situated in the midst of crag and wood, within about twenty minutes’ walk of Apperley and Rawdon station. It was erected just fifty years ago, taking the place of the old Horton College at Bradford, so that it is quite a modern building, with a history so tranquil that there is not the slightest excuse for a ghostly being taking quarters there.
The building has the appearance of a good sized country residence, and its turrets and chimneys, rising above the woods, are visible from the railway line in the valley. Usually there are about a score of students in residence there, and the “ghost” has shown admirable prudence in selecting vacation time for its visit.
There have been only three occupants since the vacation commenced – a middle-aged housekeeper, a lame servant-maid, and a youth of about fifteen years. Until last week everything proceeded placidly, and the three occupants were not at all alarmed to be left in charge of the college, though there are over eighty rooms in the building.
During the vacation, it should here be mentioned, a number of local workmen have been engaged in repairing and renovating the college. About three o’clock in the morning of Tuesday in last week, the three inmates were aroused from their slumbers by noises resounding through the building.
The housekeeper, a middle-aged, motherly-looking woman, describes the sounds as like the banging of a muffled hammer on the doors and walls. She summoned the youth, and told him to turn on the lights in the house.
The two big dogs on the premises, curiously enough, remained quiet while the noises proceeded, though they barked loudly enough when I visited the college last night. These dogs were brought up on to the bedroom landing, but they made no sign, though the noises continued. The noises seemed to get worse, and the housekeeper (this is her own story) fancied she heard whistling outside. As a further resort, she asked the boy to ring the large turret bell, which is used to notify students of their classes.
The housekeeper also pluckily opened the front entrance door to the building, and at about four o’clock, the knockings continuing, she sent the boy off to knock up a farmer who resides near, and also the gardener of the Woodlands Convalescent Home, which is close by.
Both the farmer and the gardener came promptly to the college, and both heard the knocking. They tried to find some internal explanation for the noises, but none was forthcoming, and at seven o’clock in the morning they left. Soon afterwards there was a tremendous bang, as if, said the housekeeper, to tell us that the intruders were going.
On Tuesday the housekeeper telephones for the police, and three officers came to spend the evening at the college. During the day no noises were heard, but on the Tuesday evening the knockings, which were of a forcible kind, quite different from the tappings of the orthodox ghosts, were resumed. The policemen walked aft, following the noises, but no discovery was made. Every one of the eighty odd rooms were searched, and the watchers were convinced that the noises came from outside.
Nothing could be discerned in the wooded grounds, however, and the knockings proceeded till dawn, when they again terminated with a bang of unusual force.
During Wednesday, however, a discovery was made which, in the minds of those intimately concerned with the affair, gives a satisfactory explanation. Getting on to the roof of the building, the policeman saw clearly the marks of heavy boots on the ledges, and also marks on the walls, where blows had evidently been aimed. A further discovery lent colour to the belief that the noises had been caused by some of the men who had been engaged in repairing and renovating the building. In the large dining hall two chairs had been overturned, and two plant-pots had been laid carefully on their sides, so that scarcely a particle of soil was spilt. Four tiny plant-pots had also been laid sideways on the table, similar care having been again observed.
No “ghost” could have exerted such care in the handling of plant pots, and it is clear that this had been done by the perpetrators of the “assault” in order to suggest a “ghostly” visitor. The plants and the chairs were set upright, and there has been no recurrence of the disarrangement.
No ghost, surely, would have been content with that single effort. Neither, since Wednesday a week ago, has there been a single knocking noise such as disturbed and terrified the inmates on the Monday and Tuesday nights. It may be mentioned as a coincidence, that the local feast was being celebrated on those two nights.
There is further evidence, which it is not necessary to divulge, that points to the workmen being responsible for the knockings. The housekeeper herself has never associated the knockings with ghosts, for whom she has not a little contempt. Neither has the boy been at all suspicious that the noises were caused by spirits. They both laugh at such a suggestion.
The lame servant girl, unfortunately, has not been able to throw of the matter so lightly. Her nervous system has been so upset that she has had to be removed to her home at Armley, and the jokers may be sorry when they reflect upon the suffering they have caused.
Two policemen continue to pass the night in the college, the students not returning till a fortnight hence. When they do return, the “ghosts” may count upon a warm welcome should they resume their pranks.
Leeds Mercury, 1st September 1909.
A weird tale comes from Rawdon Baptist College, near Leeds. It is vacation time at the college, and there are only a few persons living on the premises. During the past week the inmates have been disturbed by a series of mysterious knockings, and it is stated that the reports of the noises have been verified by outsiders. The noises are said to have been heard by day as well as by night, and it is also stated that plants have been mysteriously removed from the tables and placed carefully on the floors. A gardener armed with a gun is reported to have endeavoured to ascertain the cause of the disturbances, but was unable to discover anything to account for them. Locally the noises are, of course, attributed to “spirits.”
Salibury Times, 3rd September 1909.
A Rawdon “Ghost”.
Curious doings at the college.
Mysterious knockings.
Rawdon College has this week gained fame (notoriety would probably be the better word) quite apart and distinct altogether from the reputation which it enjoys as a training institution for Baptist ministers. Its sanctities have been invaded by a ghost – or what was alleged to be a supernatural visitor – and the story has been given an almost world-wide publication, for the doings of the “spirit” have been chronicled in most of the daily newspapers, and in the tale there are, at any rate, some of the features of the stock ghost story.
The College, it has to be confessed, is an ideal haunt for a well-bred apparition, adhering to the best traditions of this race. As most of our readers are doubtless aware, the building is situate in the midst of crag and wood, within twenty to thirty minutes walk from Apperley Bridge station on the Midland system, and secluded from other habitations of man by thick woods,and, traversed as it is by winding paths and shady avenues, the College would be an enchanting abode for the homeless apparition which should first have the luck to discover it. Moreover, this is the jubilee year of the College, and surely, after fifty years it begins to be venerable, and almost entitled to the possession of a ghost.
Usually there are about a score students in residence at the College, but as the summer vacation is now on, these, as well as the tutors, are at their respective homes, on a holiday, and since the vacation commenced there have only been three occupants, viz., the housekeeper (a middle-aged woman), a maid, and a youth of about fifteen years. It has to be conceded, therefore, that the “ghost” has chosen a very favourable opportunity for his visit. Until last week everything proceeded placidly, and the three persons named were not at all alarmed to be left in charge of the College, in which there are about eighty rooms.
The first intimation of the presence of what has been locally designated a “ghost” took place on Tuesday in last week. At the cold, weird hour of three o’clock in the morning loud knockings awakened the house keeper, servant, and youth from their slumbers. The three assembled on the stair landing in lively and most natural fear of developments. Lights were turned on, the dogs on the premises were brought up to the bedroom landing, but, curiously enough, they remained quiet, though the noises continued, and seemed to get louder.
At four o’clock the housekeeper sent the boy to knock up a neighbouring resident (Mr Dandy), and also the gardener (Mr England) at the Woodlands Convalescent Home, which adjoins the College grounds, the latter being urged to “bring his gun with him,” presumably with the object that he should have a shot at the invisible invader. Both Mr Dandy and Mr England responded to the request for their assistance, though the latter informed our representative that he did not take with him the “death-dealing” instrument asked for.
When these two gentlemen arrived upon the scene, they also heard the “noises,” which, Mr England says, were like “three distinct knocks” on a door, and as the party were at that time in the vicinity of the kitchen, and the sounds appeared to proceed from the door leading to the cellar, they made a thorough exploration of the cellarage, but without finding any clue as to the cause of the mysterious sounds.
A thorough search was also made of the corridors, halls, and rooms both upstairs and down, the spaces between the underdrawings and the roof not even being overlooked, but these minute inspections were as futile as the examination of the cellars, for nowhere was any discovery made which would throw any light upon the extraordinary occurrences.
During the day requisition was made by the housekeeper for the services of the police, and three officers came to spend the evening in and around the College; but though the knockings again occurred, the policemen were just as much baffled in their search for the “unwelcome guest” as the farmer and gardener had been. The “ghostly visitor” also left other indications of its presence. In the large dining-hall two chairs had been overturned, and plant-pots laid carefully on the floor on their sides, so carefully, indeed , that not a single leaf of the plants was injured, or scarcely a particle of soil spilt. “Spirits,” as a rule, are not of so mild a temperament as the incident just recorded indicates. No “ghost” would have troubled to exercise such care in the handling of plant-pots, and this gave rise to the suspicion that the act had been done by the perpetrators of the “assault” in order to suggest a “ghostly” visitor.
The “ghost” is, of course, a myth. The noises were no doubt the product of human agency, and the discovery of marks on the roof and gutterings very like the tread of boots gives strong confirmation of this theory. Some workmen who had been engaged in the repair and renovation of the College prior to the day of the first visitation, are suspected as being the authors of the wicked, if rather successful, practical joke. Against this theory, however, has to be set the fact that workmen as a rule do not get up at three o’clock in the morning, and statements made to our representative, which it is not necessary to divulge, rather tend to discount the allegations against the workmen, and point in other directions for the responsibility of the knockings.
Whoever the guilty person or persons, however, the joke was a wicked and senseless one, and the perpetrators may be very sorry – they ought to be, at any rate – for the alarm and sufferings they have caused.
Wharfedale and Airedale Observer, 3rd September 1909.
A Rawdon “Ghost” Story
… the gardener testifies that at seven o’clock in the morning he heard three distinct knocks, which seemed to come from behind the door leading from the kitchen into the cellar. He made an examination of the whole of the premises, including the space between the underdrawings and the roof, but nowhere could he, he says, discover any cause for them. His statement is corroborated by others. The noises occur at varying periods, both in the daytime and at night, and in various parts of the College, although mostly in the vicinity of the kitchen. Policemen have also been on the watch, but so far have failed to detect or catch any one in the act of playing pranks for the purpose of frightening the occupants of the College, and the occurences, which are having a disturbing effect upon the nerves of the residents, are so far enveloped in mystery.
… The students are expected back within the course of the next two or three weeks, and the “laying of the ghost” will, no doubt, afford them plenty of amusement in the early part of the new session.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 31st August 1909.
“Ghost” at Rawdon College.
… A servant girl engaged at the College is said to have dropped a tray and fled terrified at the sight of a ghostly face. She was so overcome by the shock that she was removed to her home at Armley, in Leeds.
Burnley Express, 4th September 1909.
“Rappings” at Rawdon.
Rawdon is in the throes of the solution of a mystery. “Rappings” have been heard in the deserted chambers of the College, and various theories are promulgated to account for the noise. Naturally, the knocking which has been heard is attributed to a “spirit”. In other days were were accustomed to fall back on “ghosts:” now, however, we turn to “spirits,” as it were. “Spirits” are so fashionable, and even so plentiful now-a-days, and they do succeed in getting in their knocks without the Excise officials having a chance of exacting something from them to add to the national income. Such spirits have a way of their own in coming in duty free. Then it has to be remembered that in this instande the “spirit,” in selecting Rawdon College for its weird tattoo, cannot be said to have been particularly happy, since the students, having no association with “spirits”, can very properly be described as having no connection with “the trade.” Besides, the “spirit” chose to leave the shades, and visit the College at a time when the students are on holiday. Some time ago a lady, who is by no means “gone on” spirits, had her slumbers tantalisingly disturbed by a nocturnal rapping. But the lady did not call in the psychologist; she sent for the plumber instead, and it was found that a rat had been responsible for the rapping. Perhaps, as a solution of the present mystery, it would not be altogether out of place to mutter the sentence, “Rats!” – at Rawdon!
Wharfedale and Airedale Observer, 3rd September 1909.
The Rawdon Rappings.
Practical Jokers at Work in the College.
Police Officer Waiting to Meet the “Spooks.”
The West Riding has recently acquired a reputation for the weird and uncanny. The intangible operator at Wetherby had ways of his own in dealing with mantelpiece ornaments. A hand-painted vase of previously reputable conduct and irreproachable morals – in spite of a briefly dressed shepherdess with red legs and a diaphanous scarf – hopped wantonly from the shelf upon the carpet, and then back again to its place assigned in the domestic Arcana. These phenomena were witnessed by persons whose inexorable veracity have made them the wonder of Wetherby from that day to this.
Then came along the Wyke manifestations, in the course of which a carpet rolled itself up with great gravity and deliberation and stood on end, to the amazement of all beholders.
An incredulous public learned last night, through the medium of “The Yorkshire Evening Post,” that the Nonconformist College at Rawdon had been invaded by spirits summoned from the wasty deep, or by uncommonly deep persons filled with spirits.
The last theory mentioned in the foregoing is the one favoured by the local police. Police-constable Daulby, of Yeadon, is said to be yearning for only one round with a Rawdon ghost at anything like even weights.
It is frankly conceded that the College is just the sort of place where a mischief-loving “spook” might choose to hide a while and make its presence known. Always supposing that respectable spirits or goblins damned are free to amble around and amuse themselves at the expense of those who, for their sins, still abide beneath “the pale glimpses of the moon.”
Last night I sauntered adown the leafy lane that leads to Rawdon College, when the moon was at the full, and all the air was filled with a splendour that paled the lustre of the stars, and the breeze from over the hills and out of the hollows whispered tales of mystery. The Housekeeper at Rawdon College was not visible at an hour so late, but an external vigil, while the dew was falling, and the leaves in the glade were softly rustling, revealed nothing to the watcher, neither clue nor trace of earthly or ethereal intruder could be seen or heard. It may have been, or it may not – I offer no pontifical opinion – that the presence of a policeman had a deterrent effect upon the demons who banged the walls, transplanted the garden produce, and made the College corridors resound with unacademic noises.
At early morning, under the guidance and control of a privileged resident, who knows every square yard of the ground, I went over the area where the ghostly visitants ought to have monoflighted or aeroplaned, had they been up-to-date shades of scientific disposition.
I heave no metaphorical stones at their supernal origin. I simply suggest that when next the spirits visit Rawdon College they should leave their hob-nailed boots – in Heaven. Garden-mould, like a young man with a camera, is apt to take impressions.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 1st September 1909.
… Until last week everything proceeded placidly, and the three occupants were not at all alarmed to be left in charge of the college, though there are over eighty rooms in the building. During the vacation, it should here be mentioned, a number of local workmen have been engaged in repairing and renovating the college. About three o’clock in the morning of Tuesday in last week, the three inmates were aroused from their slumbers by noises resounding through the building.
The housekeeper, a middle-aged, motherly-looking woman, describes the sounds as like the banging of a muffled hammer on the doors and walls. She summoned the youth, and told him to turn on the lights in the house. The two big dogs on the premises, curiously enough, remained quiet while the noises proceeded, though they barked loudly enough when I visited the college last night. These dogs were brought up on the bedroom landing, but they made no sign, though the noises continued.
The noises seemed to get worse, and the housekeeper (this is her own story) fancied she heard whistling outside. As a further resort, she asked the boy to ring the large turret bell, which is used to notify students of their classes. The housekeeper also pluckily opened the front entrance door to the building, and at about four o’clock, the knockings continuing, she sent the boy off to knock up a farmer who resides near, and also the gardener of the Woodlands Convalescent Home, whic his close by.
Both the farmer and the gardener came promptly to the college, and both heard the knocking. They tried to find some internal explanation for the noises, but none was forthcoming, and at seven o’clock in the morning they left. Soon afterwards there was a tremendous bang, as if, said the housekeeper, to tell us that the intruders were going.
On Tuesday the housekeeper telephoned for the police, and three officers came to spend the evening at the college. During the day no noises were heard, but on the Tuesday evening the knockings, which were of a forcible kind, quite different from the tappings of the orthodox ghosts, were resumed. The policeman walked aft, following the noises, but no discovery was made. Every one of the eighty odd rooms were searched, and the watchers were convinced that the noises came from outside. Nothing could be discerned in the wooded grounds, however, and the knockings proceeded till dawn, when they again terminated with a bang of unusual force.
During Wednesday, however, a discovery was made which, in the minds of those intimately concerned with the affair, gives a satisfactory explanation. Getting on to the roof of the building, the policeman saw clearly the marks of heavy boots on the ledges, and also marks on the walls, where blows had evidently been aimed. A further discovery lent colour to the belief that the noises had been caused by some of the men who had been engaged in repairing and renovating the building. In the large dining hall two chairs had been overturned, and two plant-pots had been laid carefully on their sides, so that scarcely a particle of soil was spilt. Four tiny plant-pots had also been laid sideways on the table, similar care having been again observed.
No “ghost” could have exerted such care in the handling of plant pots, and it is clear that this had been done by the perpetrators of the “assault” in order to suggest a “ghostly” visitor. The plants and the chairs were set upright, and there has been no recurrence of the disarrangement.
No ghost, surely, would have been content with that single effort. Neither, since Wednesday a week ago, has there been a single knocking noise such as disturbed and terrified the inmates on the Monday and Tuesday nights. It may be mentioned as a coincidence, that the local feast was being celebrated on those two nights.
There is further evidence, which it is not necessary to divulge, that points to the workmen being responsible for the knockings. The housekeeper herself has never associated the knockings with ghosts, for whom she has not a little contempt. Neither has the boy been at all suspicious that the noises were caused by spirits. They both laugh at such a suggestion.
The lame servant girl, unfortunately, has not been able to throw off the matter so lightly. Her nervous system has been so upset that she has had to be removed to her home at Armley, and the jokers may be sorry when they reflect upon the suffering that they have caused.
Two policemen continue to pass the night in the college, the students not returning till a fortnight hence. When they do return, the “ghosts” may count upon a warm welcome should they resume their pranks.
Leeds Mercury 1st September 1909.
Fruitless search by police at a college.
Rawdon College, the well-known institution near Leeds for the training of candidates for the Baptist ministry, has been invaded by a ghost. Ghostly rappings have been followed by a ghostly appearance, and the spectre has even cast defiance at the police.
Last night the housekeeper told a representative of the “Daily News” of the apparition. At three o’clock on Tuesday morning a banging on the wall of the college near her apartments awakened her and the maid and a youth. The three assembled on a stair-landing. The rapping continued insistent but difficult to locate. The neighbouring gardener was sent for, and with him came a young farmer. The two made a thorough search, exploring the cellarage, the long corridors, and the halls. Much was heard, but nothing seen. The strange noises did not cease till about eight in the morning.
During the day the police were summoned. Three came in the evening and remained through the night. Despite their presence the ghost resumed at 7.30 p.m. The maid of the house descending a stair with a tray heard a thud. Glancing at a window she beheld a face and fled, dropping the tray and fainting. When she reached the kitchen later a mysterious light flashed in her face. She has now left the college for medical treatment.
Up to one o’clock on Wednesday morning knocking, banging and thudding were almost continuous and always shifting as the policemen hunted high and low to come at the origin of the hubbub. From one o’clock to eight there was peace. Then the policemen left. Almost immediately there were three resounding thuds as if in ghostly farewell, for the ghost has not been heard of since, perhaps because policemen have been in the house every night. Marks very like the tread of boots such as ghostly visitors need never wear have been found on the roofs and guttering. The students are at present on holiday.
Lancashire Evening Post, 1st September 1909.
The Rawdon ghost which haunts the College is a much more peaceable spook than the one which visited Wyke a short time ago. The latter spirit threw things about most violently and had a strange antipathy to bath towels and soap, but the Rawdon ghost has so far gone no further than removing a pot plant or two from windows and tables and placing them gently on the floor. Yet it must be a somewhat daring spirit to haunt such a place. In former times, when the “bell, book, and candle” were produced no ghost could withstand the solemn injunction to be “laid,” but here we have a ghost which is not afraid to haunt the seat of learning of the Baptist ministers of the future. It has been reported that this ghost is most frequently in the vicinity of the kitchen, and “policemen have been on the watch,” no doubt pretty keenly, for “Robert” is not likely to take kindly to anyone, not even an inoffensive ghost, trespassing upon his preserves.
Bradford Daily Telegraph, 1st September 1909.
… As a matter of fact some working men engaged in the library of the college up to the day prior to the visitation are strongly suspected of a wicked if rather successful practical joke. The housekeeper thinks they may have wished to be revenged for some things she found necessary to say to them.
Principal Blomfield, who is in London, was wired to. He sent back an instruction to bring policemen into residence for the study of the phenomenon, but except for the strange evidences of their first night the officers are without data whereby the study of spirit manifestation might be added to the theological subjects of the college.
Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 1st September 1909.
Haunted College
Police called in to investigate spook story.
Careful investigations have entirely failed to throw any light whatever upon the extraordinary series of rappings and other noises which have during the past fortnight been heard by the residents during the vacation at the Rawdon Baptist College. In the meantime the inevitable story of someone seeing the supposed ghostly visitant has come to hand.
A servant girl engaged at the college is said to have dropped a tray and fled terrified at the sight of a ghostly face. She was so overcome by the shock that she was removed to her home at Armley, in Leeds.
The disarrangement of plants and chairs and their replacement – all very carefully done – have mystified the only three occupants of the college, viz., the aged housekeeper, the servant girl, who is lame, and a youth of fifteen.
Two police officers are, by the instructions of Principal Blomfield, who is in London, in residence at the college, seeking to unravel the origin of the mystery.
Bristol Times and Mirror, 3rd September 1909.
Joke that Fizzled Out
Attempt to play the “spook” which fell flat
Someone – probably workmen who have been engaged in the renovation of the rooms during the vacation – has been endeavouring to scare the housekeeper, the servant, and the boy, who constitute the staff at present inside Rawdon College, but have failed. The loud knocking caused the boy to smile, and the motherly housekeeper, instead of being scared at the “ghost” whose nearness the mysterious knockings were doubtless meant to indicate, hunted diligently for the spirit and found it not.
The college is a training place for Baptist ministers, and is charmingly situated in the midst of crag and wood, within about twenty minutes’ walk of Apperley and Rawdon station.
During the vacation a number of local workmen have been engaged in repairing and renovating the college. About three o’clock in the morning the three inmates were aroused from their slumbers by noises resounding through the building. These were continued for some time and ended with a loud bang. A search was made, but the source of the noise could not be discovered. There was a repetition on the next night, after which the originators apparently tired of their efforts and the local policman was able to devote himself to his ordinary rounds.
Empire News and the Umpire, 5th September 1909.