When I first read of this, I was inclined to think ‘ah well, doctors have explained it.’ But when you think more clearly, their explanations sound rather desperate. It’s a fact that many features of the case as reported match typical poltergeist phenomena.
A young boy seems to be producing very loud knocking sounds when he’s asleep. They’re so loud that they ‘come from the floorboards’ and the vibration shakes the boy and the bed, but the boy himself doesn’t appear to move in any way. The doctors want to put it down to some weird physiology. But interestingly, a previous tenant of the house reports there were ‘nocturnal disturbances’ when they lived there, and while the boy is away his mother still reports knockings. Also interestingly, the knocks seem to correspond in number to taps that other people (the doctor) give, although people swear the boy is asleep and not at all responsible. Another interesting feature is the mention of an electrical pulse in the boy’s legs.
I can see no discussion of the case on the internet. It’s conceivable that Frank Atkinson Junior could yet be alive.
Lonely Farm Mystery.
The mystery of nocturnal rappings at Waterside Farm, a lonely house near Hawkshead, in the Lake District, has not been solved in spite of an attempt last night to find the cause. Yesterday it was stated that mysterious knockings occurred near any bedroom in which the seven-year-old son of Mr. Frank Atkinson, the tenant, was sleeping, and that sounds began after the boy had gone to sleep.
Mr. Atkinson said: “We removed my son last night to sleep at Hannakin Farm, the residence of Mr. John Airey. There was no repetition of the knocking in our house, while Mr. Airey states that both himself and the boy slept soundly with no disturbance. These knockings have been heard for two or three years, but have become persistent only recently. The sounds were so loud that we could hear them coming from the floorboards, and vibration could be felt. My boy complained of the knocking, though it occurred when he was asleep and stopped after he awakened.”
Waterside Farm is between 200 and 300 years old, and the immediate district is reputed to be haunted by a phantom which takes various shapes.
Nottingham Evening Post, 25th November 1935.
Sounds Mystery
Partially solved on farm.
The mystery of nocturnal sounds at Waterside Farm, a lonely place near Hawkshead, in the Lake district, has been partially solved. On Saturday it was stated that mysterious knockings occurred near a bedroom in which the seven-year-old son of Mr Frank Atkinson, the tenant, was sleeping, and that the sounds began after the boy had gone to sleep.
Mrs Pridham, a neighbour, stayed up all night and when the knocking began she replied by rapping on the wall. She knocked 23 times and obtained 20 knocks in reply. “I think it must be something earthly,” she said, “otherwise its arithmetic would be better.” Mrs Pridham states that she is not a Spiritualist, but believes in ghosts.
Sheffield Independent, 25th November 1935.
The mystery of the “ghostly rappings” in the lonely Waterside Farm on the shores of Esthwaite Water near Hawkshead has been solved. They are the result of a remarkable reaction to sound. The village doctor, accompanied by a police sergeant and several villagers, went to the farm early yesterday morning, and as a result of their investigations the doctor stated that the tappings came directly from the boy, who had a nervous reaction to sound. The doctor expressed the opinion that an impulse conveyed to the brain by auditory nerves and then transmitted to the intestines set up a kind of spasm which resulted in the peculiar noise resembling knocking. He had never heard of similar symptoms.
Lancashire Evening Post, 27th November 1935.
Nocturnal and disturbing tappings in a lonely farmhouse at Hawkshead, in the heart of the Lake District, have been traced by a local doctor to an unusual source – the stomach of the farmer’s son. Supernatural powers were suspected when noises were heard inside the farmhouse during the night. Dr. W.E.L. Allen, of Hawkshead, examined seven-year-old Frank Atkinson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson, the tenants, and the mystery was solved.
Young Frank was found to possess an abnormal nervous re-action which “re-echoed” a noise anywhere near him while he slept. The boy will probably be taken to hospital for observation if Dr. Allen gains his parents’ consent. Dr. Allen conducted a series of experiments with the sleeping boy yesterday. He put the results before a prominent brain specialist, and both men are baffled as to the source of this abnormal power.
“Young Frank is a normal healthy boy, and while he was asleep I conducted several little experiments today,” Dr. Allen told a “Journal” reporter. “When anyone taps on the wall, there is a sound from Frank’s abdomen. I do not know whether the noise comes from the stomach or the intestines. The number of noises produced always corresponded with the knocks on the wall. It is really uncanny. I found that there was no reaction if I held part of the boy’s body. I tapped four times near him while holding his hand. I released the hand and tapped another four times. Frank produced eight noises. When he makes the noises, his whole body and the bed he is lying upon shake with vibration.”
Nottingham Journal, 27th November 1935.
‘Human Echo’ Boy. Visit to Manchester Hospital Suggested.
From our own correspondent. Kendal, Thursday.
It has been suggested that Frank Atkinson (7), the “human echo boy,” who is the son of Mr and Mrs Frank Atkinson, of Waterside Farm, Hawkshead, should go to a Manchester hospital for observations by brain and nerve specialists, but his parents have not yet decided to let him go. Frank has become known as the “human echo boy” because of his uncanny powers to emit knockings while asleep.
Manchester Evening News, 28th November 1935.
Scientists to study boy echo.
Knocks that are not ghostly.
Hospital tests.
From our own correspondent.
Windemere, Wednesday.
Science has answered the knocking of Frank Atkinson, the seven-year-old “human echo,” whose peculiarity was revealed at his farmhouse home here yesterday. Dr W J Allen, who has been investigating the case, plans to have the mystery cleared up in the interests of medical science. Rapping noises in the farmhouse bedroom, for long attributed to a “ghost,” have been found to have been produced inside the child’s body. If Frank’s parents consent the lad will be put under the observation of a distinguished Manchester specialist who has a reputation for elucidating physiological phenomena of this kind.
“The boy would have to be under medical supervision for some time,” explained Dr Allen to me today. “I am already in touch with a specialist who has taken an interest in the case.” Discussing the experiments which he made in the presence of the police officers, Dr Allen said: “In my opinion the case is unique. There is nothing psychic about the knocking sounds. It is a physiological peculiarity, a very strange one to me. If the boy goes into the Manchester Royal Hospital for observation I have no doubt the case will be solved. The lad was asleep when the sounds came from him in reaction to my knocks on the floor. The sounds appeared to come from his stomach. I have an idea that they may be of a ventriloquial nature. The boy, when away, is active, happy and healthy. He knew nothing about making these responses. He does not make them at all when he is awake.”
Daily News (London), 28th November 1935.
A Mystery.
The mystery of the so-called haunted boy at Hawkshead, in the Lake District, appears to be unique. People at first explained the strange echoes of knocking in the little boy’s bedroom as due to a poltergeist. We know those poltergeists. They usually turn out to be some hsysterical girl or mischievous bumpkin, eager to bring excitement to a deadly quiet corner of the earth.
It is clear from investigation by a doctor at Hawkshead that the little boy is himself a phenomenon, one who produces the echoes when he is fast asleep without any accomplice or extraneous aid. When we have said the boy is a phenomenon we are very little nearer a solution of the mystery than those who used the blessed word poltergeist. What strange conformation of Frank’s inside can produce the echoes, and only when the lad is asleep? How is it they do not sound when a doctor holds his head?
While there have been suggestions of extreme nervous sensitiveness, spasms of noise and unconscious ventriloquialism, we are told that medical opinion in London is baffled by the case. When doctors are baffled by the behaviour of the stomach, to which so much of their merciful work is devoted, how can we laymen hope to explain this echo from a world we do not know?
Leeds Mercury, 29th November 1935.
Great interest throughout Lakeland is still centred on the boy living at a lonely farm at Hawkshead, near Windermere, who produces vibrations and ghostly knocking when either asleep or lying still, awake. The suggestions that he does it deliberately is dismissed as nonsense by villagers. They have stayed up all night to observe him.
“That idea is bunkum,” says a well-known resident who has stayed some nights with the boy to watch him while asleep.
This remarkable boy is seven years old Frank Atkinson, son of Frank Atkinson, of Waterside Farm. Mr. Atkinson said last night: “It is absolutely wrong to suggest that the boy does it deliberately, because for most of the time he is asleep. I sleep with him, and I can feel a sort of electric shock when I get into bed. It generally starts in his legs from which can be felt a very strong pulse. We are not going to send him to Manchester for observation. He is quieter when we are with him.”
The boy is to be taken away to a neighbouring farm for two or three nights, so that a relative can stay with him for further observations.
Nottingham Evening Post, 30th November 1935.
I hear that the Psychical Research Society are probably going to take up the case of Master Frank Atkinson, of Hawkshead, in the Lake District. For those mysterious raps and vibrations continue to come from somewhere inside his body when he is asleep, and so far no natural explanation for them has been found.
The assumption is that it is our old friend the poltergeist – the “noisy spirit” – at work again. He has been held responsible for a lot of things in the past; he has moved furniture about, thrown stones, administered mysterious slaps and pinches, and even transported people from one place to another. But this, as far as I can make out, is an entirely new manifestation of his powers.
Of course, there are probably any number of people who will scoff at the idea of such mischievous spirits from another world. And they may be right. A good many “poltergeists” have been tracked down to someone’s misguided sense of humour. But there is a good deal of evidence which has not been so satisfactorily explained away. Only a few months ago the International Institute for Psychical Research collected all the known cases, and they included over 250 in the last 100 years – six of which were reported during the first half of this year alone. And children were concerned in most of them.
Mischievous children? Well, perhaps so.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 30th November 1935.
Dr. W.E.L. Allen, of Hawkshead, who has been making observations on Frank Atkinson (7) of Waterside Farm, who makes a knocking sound while asleep or lying still in bed, has received a letter from a Salisbury woman giving her experience of a similar case of a seven-year-old girl 46 years ago.
Last night Frank was again taken to a neighbouring farm. He was accompanied by a district nurse. He had not knocked before when sleeping away from home, but last night broke his record by tapping while asleep up to 50 time without any visible movement.
Leeds Mercury, 3rd December 1935.
It seems the story travelled far and wide, as a German woman felt obliged to put her fairly bizarre 17th century style two-pennorth in:
German Woman Blames Witches’ Spells
From our own correspondent. Lancaster. Friday.
A German woman, in a letter to the family, attributes to witches’ and gipsies’ “spells” the knocking sounds reproduced with his body while fast asleep by seven-years-old Frank Atkinson. In consequence of these knockings, which have excited the interest of doctors and psychologists, Frank has become known as the “human echo” boy. The German woman – Frau Babette Tchwarze, of Finsterwalde, Brandenburg, Prussia – writes that she has had like experiences, and that witches tormented her in bed by tickling her back. She recommends that the boy’s bed be taken to pieces and conveyed into the open air. She gives a recipe for an opiate to be eaten in the form of pills. Mr and Mrs Atkinson have received several offers to attempt to solve the mystery. Mr. Atkinson states that in the New Year he will take further medical advice before treatment is given.
Western Morning News, 28th December 1935.
Knocking where boy sleeps.
Lakeland mystery.
Doctors are to be called in to observe a boy living at a lonely farm at Hawkshead, who is believed to possess remarkable powers. When he goes to sleep his body vibrates and produces knocking sounds which for weeks have alarmed the family, who thought there was a ghost in the house.
He is the 7-year-old Frank Antkinson, son of Mr. Frank Atkinson, of Waterside Farm on the shores of Esthwaite in a locality reputed haunted by a phantom which takes various shapes.
A villager stated this morning that he stayed up with the boy last night. “I am satisfied the knocking comes from the boy because I felt him vibrate,” he said. “If you knock four times four knocks come in reply. There may be some psychic connection between the house and the boy, because when he sleeps at a neighbouring farm he is all right.”
The boy himself complains of being disturbed by the knocking although it never occurs until he has gone to sleep and stops before he awakens.
Lancashire Evening Post, 25th November 1935.
Boy the cause of ‘ghostly’ knockings.
Noises relayed by stomach.
Uncanny, says doctor.
Nocturnal and disturbing tappings in a lonely farmhouse at Hawkshead, in the heart of the Lake District, have been traced by a local doctor to an unusual source – the stomach of the farmer’s son.
Supernatural powers were suspected when noises were heard inside the farmhouse during the night. Dr. W.E.L. Allen, of Hawkshead, examined seven-year-old Frank Atkinson, son of Mr and Mrs Atkinson, the tenants, and the mystery was solved.
Young Frank was found to possess an abnormal nervous reaction which “re-echoed” a noise anywhere near him while he slept. The boy will probably be taken to hospital for observation if Dr Allen gains the parents’ consent.
Dr Allen conducted a series of experiments with the sleeping boy yesterday. He put the results before a prominent brain specialist, and both men are baffled as to the source of this abnormal power.
“Young Frank is a normal, healthy boy, and while he was asleep I conducted several little experiments to-day,” Dr Allen told a reporter last night. “When anyone taps on the wall there is a sound from Frank’s abdomen. I do not know whether the noise comes from the stomach or the intestines. The number of noises produced always corresponded with the knocks on the wall. It is really uncanny. I found that there was no reaction if I held part of the boy’s body. I tapped four times near him while holding his hand. I released the hand and tapped another four times. Frank produced eight noises. While he makes the noises his whole body and the bed he is lying upon shake with vibration.”
Dundee Courier, 27th November 1935.
“Knocking Sounds” in Sleep
Strange case of English boy.
A seven-years-old boy of the Lakes District of England, from whom emanate strange knocking sounds while he is asleep, is to be observed by doctors, as he is believed to possess phenomenal psychic qualities. The boy, Frank Atkinson, lives at Waterside Farm, Hawkshead, on the shores of Esthwaite Lake. When asleep he appears to produce knocking sounds and vibrations. These have greatly alarmed his family, as they believed the house was haunted. Tests have shown that if anyone knocks four times the boy replies with the same number of raps.
The location of the farm is reputed to be haunted by a phantom which takes various shapes.
Derry Journal, 27th November 1935.
Witches blamed for knockings of “Human Echo” boy.
A German woman in a letter to the family, attributes to witches and gipsies “spells”, the knocking sounds with his body while fast asleep by seven-year-old Frank Atkinson, son of Mr and Mrs Frank Atkinson, of Waterside Farm, Hawkshead, Lancashire.
In consequence of these knockings which have excited the interest of doctors and psychologists, Frank has become known as the “Human Echo” boy.
The German woman (Fran Babette Tchwarze of Finsterwalde, Branbenburg, Prussia), writes that she has had like experience, and that witches tormented her in bed by tickling her back. She recommends that the boy’s bed should be taken to pieces and conveyed into the open air. She gives a recipe for an opiate to be eaten in the form of pills.
Mr and Mrs Atkinson have received several offers to attempt to solve the mystery, some from associations, medical men, and herbalists, together with formulas for diet.
An offer from a film company has not been accepted.
Mr Atkinson states that in the New Year he will take further medical advice before treatment is given.
Western Daily Press, 28th December 1935.
“Human Echo”
Knocks Go On During Boy’s Absence. (From our own correspondent).
Recurrence of unexplained noises at a Hawkshead (Lancs) farm suggests that a seven-years-old boy whose body when he was asleep was believed to cause the sound of knocks by some unknown physiological process may not be connected with the mystery.
Frank Atkinson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Atkinson of Waterside Farm, became known as the “human echo,” and was examined by a doctor, who, having heard the knocking, confessed himself baffled.
Frank was sent to Manchester for observation, and is now with an aunt at Liverpool, but since he has been away the noises have occurred in his bedroom at Hawkshead. Nothing abnormal has been discovered about Frank during this time. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have had several disturbed nights recently through the rapping.
Mrs. Atkinson told me today that last night she counted ten distinct knocks.
It is recalled that a former tenant said there had been nocturnal disturbances. Visitors also complained last year about hammering noises during the night.
Western Morning News, 9th March 1936.
Spirit ‘rappings’ at farm continue after suspected boy leaves home.
Unexplained noises at Waterside Farm, at Hawkshead, North Lancashire, thought to be due to psychological cause connected with Frank Atkinson, aged seven, may not now have anything to do with him, for they continued even after he had gone to Liverpool, where he is now living.
Waterside Farm became famous some months ago when a theory that noises heard at the house came from the boy’s body and were caused by some unusual physical condition were advanced. The boy was taken to a Manchester hospital, kept under observation for weeks without a recurrence of the knockings, and then he went to his aunt’s home near Liverpool. After his departure from Hawkshead, Mr and Mrs Atkinson thought the trouble was at an end. Mrs Atkinson, however, has noticed faint noises during the night recently. “I counted ten distinct knocks,” she told a reporter. “The noises were faint at first, but last night they were quite clear.”
The doctor who attended Frank could not explain the further outbreak. “From the evidence I had before me I did not believe the noises were ghostly in origin,” he added; “it seemed quite clear that they came from the child’s body.”
A former tenant of Waterside Farm complained that during the night doors apparently opened themselves and mysterious sounds were heard. Last year visitors at the farm thought that the noises they heard were caused by the farmer hammering in the night.
Haverhill Echo, 14th March 1936.
“Echo” Boy Echoes No More.
Eight-year-old Frank Atkinson, Lakeland’s “human echo,” whose parents live at Waterside Farm on the shores of Esthwaite Water, has returned home after treatment in Manchester. The mysterious knocking sounds which used to begin in his body when he fell asleep have ceased. An explanation of the phenomenon was given by a Manchester specialist, who said, “I found that the noises were caused by movements of the diaphragm, the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen. When a person goes to sleep the nerve tensions change, and, in the case of this boy, the changes set up spasms in the diaphragm. These exerted pressure on the upper part of the abdomen, making movements of air. It was this which caused the noises. The reason for the changing nerve tension having that effect on the diaphragm was due to something constitutional in the boy, and we treated him for that. I would not say that he is altogether cured. The noises may recur or the phenomenon may show itself in some other form, but if it does it is certainly nothing to be alarmed about. It was a most interesting case and most unusual.”
The sounds were described as resembling someone knocking on a wooden door. During the manifestations, which began a few years ago, but became more pronounced late last year, neighbours used to sit up in the farm house during the night listening to the boy’s body.
Penrith Observer, 17th November 1936.
Hawkshead used to be in Lancashire, but now it’s in Cumbria. I’m assuming the Waterside Farm building is now the B+B called Waterside House.