Aged Couple’s Night Horror.
Is it a Ghost, or a Heartless Hoax?
Wild bellringing from bedroom window.
Stones moved, doors slashed and blazing paraffin.
An up-to-date ghost equipped with knife, safety razor, paraffin rags, and considerable strength is creating terror in the peaceful vicinity of Fox’s Lowe at Holbeach, where it has perpetrated, and is perpetrating a number of spiteful and heartless pranks upon two aged residents. The disturbances have occurred at the cottage of Mr and Mrs Charles Brown, of the Red House, where heavy stones have been removed from the cistern and placed against the door, where blazing paraffin rags have been discovered upon the hearth-rug and in a hut, where a safety razor has been used to wrench the top from a paraffin stove, and where the door has been deeply scarred by knives. All these atrocities are in addition to the mysterious disappearance of keys from a locked house, continuous and alarming rattlings and rappings at doors and wall and other phenomena of an equally startling nature.
The eerie visitations have had such an effect upon the occupiers of the house that, on Tuesday night, when they rose to an unusual pitch, the whole neighbourhood was startled by the frenzied ringing of a bell, and discovered that Mrs Brown, who is 84 years of age, and whose nerves have naturally been affected by her uncanny experiences, had, from the bedroom window, used that means of summoning the help, which always preceded the departure of the troublesome alarms.
Our representative visited the scene on Wednesday, and writes as follows:
A Reign Of Terror.
Considerable alarm has been caused in the peaceful vicinity of Fox’s Lowe at Holbeach, where the house of Mr and Mrs Charles Brown is experiencing a reign of terror. Mysterious rattlings and rappings at night, the removal of heavy objects, the appearance of blazing paraffin rags and other startling occurrences have all combined to shatter the nerves of the aged and worthy occupants of the house. Mr and Mrs Charles Brown, who have inhabited the cottage for some thirteen years, and who are 74 and 84 years of age respectively, are the victims of the phenomena, which is rendered all the more terrible by the fact that Mr Brown is confined to his bed with a stroke, which has rendered lifeless the whole of his right side. Such are the people whom, the now-called Holbeach Ghost, has chosen for his heartless and spiteful pranks.
He commenced his tricks last Thursday evening, somewhere about seven, when Mrs Brown, who was sitting in the kitchen, was terrified by a furious banging and slashing and rubbing at the door, which was situated a few feet from her. As was natural, at her advanced age, she was far too alarmed to investigate the cause of the uncanny uproar, and when it had ceased, and her nerves had sufficiently recovered, she discovered that the door had been slashed and cut as by a knife. Investigations were immediately instituted to discover the perpetrator of the outrage without result, and the mysterious visitor continued in a similar vein on Friday and Saturday, on one occasion wrenching cabbages from the garden and indulging in similar tricks.
By Saturday the nerves of the whole household, including those of the servant, Miss Doris Herd, had been reduced to a jumpy state, so that the reappearance of the disturbances on Sunday occasioned considerable trepidation. On that occasion they came in the daytime, when Mrs Brown and the servant were proceeding with preparations for dinner. Both had stepped upstairs to see Mr Brown, and Miss Herd, on returning to the kitchen, was terrified to see that something on the hearthrug was blazing fiercely. Mrs Brown was immediately summoned, and the alarm given to the neighbours, and Mr Pratt arriving, the blazing material was stamped out, and gave the impression that it had been a paraffin-soaked rag. Hardly was this alarm over, than another small fire was discovered in the adjacent wooden hut, where it seemed that an old sack had been damped with paraffin and ignited. This also was exterminated and inquiries made, but nothing was forthcoming, and all the time Mr Brown was lying helpless above, an attempt to rise being found impossible.
After this unnerving experience Mrs Brown and the servant locked the doors and concealed the keys in a workbox. Judge of their astonishment when they discovered on returning to the room that the keys had mysteriously vanished. A hurried search was made, and no trace was found, and instructions were immediately given for new locks to be fixed at once.
The household then proceeded to its usual duties, but another puzzler was soon forthcoming. When Mrs Brown left the house to enter the coalplace, which was filled with a miscellany of articles, she discovered that a paraffin stove had been lifted from a low shelf and placed on an extremely high one, while the cap had been wrenched off. She was also surprised to discover that the Ghost had left behind a cheap type of safety razor, which had evidently been used in wrenching away the cap. This was very mysterious, for bona-fide ghosts, it is generally considered, have never known the necessity for so material an object as a safety razor. Further alarming knocks were also heard.
On Monday the ghost took a holiday. This may partly be due to the fact that Mr and Mrs Brown had visitors, but on Tuesday it returned with renewed vigour and malignity, and futher terrified the aged couple. First it rattled and banged at the door and walls for about ten minutes, and then shifted round to the front of the house, where it created a terrifying din on the window and door. The heavy stones surrounding the cistern were lifted by some sinister and unseen agency and placed against the door, and so continuous was the alarm during the evening that Mrs Brown, whose nerves were considerably shaken, seized a handbell, and, opening the bedroom window, sent a clarion call into the night. Still Mr Brown was unable to rise. The clanging of the bell soon brought assistance in the form of Mrs Parker and Mrs Cundy, who reside nearby, and the latter of whom has been helping with Mr Brown during his illness. When Mrs Parker entered the house, she heard two uncanny knocks proceeding from a cupboard, after which the exhibition ceased.
The whole neighbourhood was roused by the ringing of the bell, and many rumours were afoot. Further rattlings and tapping of walls took place on Wednesday.
The occupants of the house and the neighbours do not know what to make of the uncanny occurrences. Watches have been kept on the house, and nothing has been seen, even though it is said that some of the noises took place during the watching, but the onlookers were keeping vigil from some little distance. The suggestion that the disturbance is attributable to boys is not largely believed to be true, for the neighbours say that anyone with such intentions would be seen and nobody has been seen.
We visited Mr and Mrs Brown at their home in Fox’s Lowe on Wednesday, and found them not a little upset by reason of their experiences. Mr Brown, of course, was confined to his bed, but consented to be interviewed. The knockings, he stated, had been carrying on throughout the day, and had only stopped upon our arrival. They had been coming from the inside of the very room in which we were interviewing him, but they did not return while we were there. Both he and Mrs Brown showed signs of the nerve-racking period through which they had gone, and willingly gave us particulars of the incidents recorded above. The noise, said Mr Brown, was “something terrible,” and they did not know what to make of it. They had lived in the house for thirteen years without anything of the kind happening before.
“I had a stroke a few weeks ago,” said Mr Brown, “and I have no life in the whole of my left side. You see I can hardly move it. I tried to get up yesterday and to-day, but it was impossible.” “We both have good nerves,” he continued, “but it is rather difficult to keep them under these circumstances. It sometimes comes from the wall on the inside. We don’t know what it is, but it is here.” He did not think there was anyone in the town “who owed them the slightest harm,” he said, in response to our question, if it might not be due to some malignantly-disposed person.
Mrs Brown gave us a graphic description of her experiences, and demonstrated how she had found that the stove had been moved, explaining afterwards how she rang the bell out of the window when the disturbance was at its height.
The third occupant of the haunted abode is Miss Dora Herd, a young lady who acts as a servant to Mr and Mrs Brown. She has been greatly disturbed by the incidents, and gave a graphic version of finding the rug on fire. “I came downstairs,” she said, “and noticed a light flickering across the room. When I got in the room I saw the hearthrug was blazing. I thought the house was on fire, but it was soon put out.” Doris said she was terrified by the things which were happening, and she threatened to leave the house, sooner than stay in such surroundings. She had in fact packed a small attache case, and stated that she was preparing to leave.
In the course of a chat with Mr Pratt, a near neighbour, we found that he was thoroughly mystified by the happenings. “I cannot understand it at all,” he said. “I know the fires were real enough, because I helped to put them out, but what caused them I could not say.”
Mrs Parker, who lives almost opposite, has also heard knocking in the house. On Tuesday night, she and Mrs Cundy heard a peculiar noise, and were alarmed by the frenzied ringing of a bell. Together they hurried along to what is now known as the haunted house, and found that Mrs Brown, in a state of considerable distress, was ringing the bell to draw the attention of neighbours. Mrs Brown had obviously become too terrified to investigate, and summoned help by ringing the bell from the bedroom window. “I went into th ehouse,” said Mrs Parker, “but Mrs Cundy went home because she had left her door undone. When I got inside, I heard two distinct knockings in a cupboard. They followed one another, and were a kind of muffled knock. It certainly caused a weird sensation.” Mrs Parker said she had helped Mrs Brown to do her work, and had not noticed anything peculiar about the house until just lately. She had heard the noises recently, and knew the house was being watched. However, when the watches were on, the ghost refrained from attending. The suggestion that it was the prank of several boys was negatived by this person, for she was sure if they were boys’ pranks some of them would have been seen.
Mr John Harrap, who lives next door, and is the owner of the 65 years old house, scouted the idea of ghostly visitation. It certainly cannot be a ghost, for ghosts are no respecters of persons, and do not go off duty when under observation. Neither do they use safety razors. It remains to be discovered who is playing heartless pranks on an aged and lonely couple, and it is hoped that they will soon be brought to book.
Above we reproduce a photograph of the Red House in Fox’s Lowe, where the mysterious happenings have occurred. The side door was the one scarred by a knife, while the hut behind the house was the one in which the sacks were ignited. A picture of the stove, which moved, and safety razor, which mysteriously appeared, will be seen on the [left].
Spalding Guardian, 12th March 1927.
The distinctive shape windows allow identification of the house, I think (“The Cottage” on Foxes Lowe Road).