There’s a ghost in our house!
Two frightened couples have been forced to flee their homes in a “haunted house from hell” on the city’s famous Hessle Road. Horrific screeching, unexplained bangs in the night, ghostly apparitions and bizarre cold spots have plagued them in their flats. Now they are forced to leave as soon as dusk falls and sleep in a car on Hessle Foreshore.
These two couples have left their “haunted” house to sleep rough in a car because they say they are too terrified to return home. Steven Harris (48) and wife Patricia (33) claim they have been subjected to horrific screeching, banging, ghostly faces and “cold spots” in their upstairs flat at Hessle Road, Kingston upon Hull, since the birth of their baby. The couple who live in the downstairs flat, Keith Wilson (35) and Helen Gilbert (27), have fled the house with them after they too experienced chilling encounters with the unknown. The four of them now stay in the house during the daytime but flee before nightfall to spend the night cramped together in a car. They decided last week not to spend another night in the house after the disturbances became more frequent.
Mr Harris said: “I’ve never been so scared in my life. We daren’t go back. The banging is getting louder. It’s like a build up to something but we don’t know what it’s going to be.” Both couples are now looking for somewhere new to live. The Harrises have left their baby with Mrs Harris’s sister while they sleep in the car.
The strange incidents started when the Harrises brought their new-born daughter, Sonia, to the house in August. Since then, both couples said they have experienced ghostly goings-on during the nights. Mr Wilson claimed something unseen even touched him in one incident. “I was stood in the living room watching TV and all my hairs stood up on end. I felt somebody grab me. I looked round and there was nobody there,” he said.
The couples say they have heard that a man who lived in the house before them died of a drugs overdose, and they believe that might explain the disturbances they have experienced. They have even discussed bringing in a paranormal expert to exorcise the house.
Mr Panicos Piccos, who has owned the flat since the early 1980s said his previous tenants had never experienced any ghostly goings-on. Mr Piccos said: “A man did collapse in the flat and he did die but I do not know if he died in the house. I have been down to the house late at night and never experienced anything myself but I know some people can be more receptive to vibes than others.”
The two couples claim that strange occurrences have been happening at their Hessle Road home since August including: Loud banging and screeching coming from somewhere in the house; A ghostly face peering through one of the house’s windows; Soot raining from the kitchen ceiling; Cold spots of static freezing air appearing in rooms; The couples’ pet cat and dog suddenly becoming inexplicably afraid; Doors apparently opening by themselves in the middle of the night; Six baby’s bottle teats disappearing from a kitchen work top when Mr Harris looked away momentarily; Baby’s bottles persistently vanishing.
Hull Daily Mail, 9th October 1997.
‘Frightened’ four to quit ghost home.
By Jonathan Davis, News Reporter.
Two couples who claim their house is plagued by spirits are set to move out. Steven Harris (48), wife Patricia (33), and friends Keith Wilson (35) and Helen Gilbert (27), thought their problem had been resolved after a priest came to lay the unruly spirits to rest. But even having the house, in the city’s Hessle Road, blessed has failed to shift the stubborn spook. The couple had spent almost a week sleeping in their car, too afraid to face the wrath of the ghostly presence. As a last resort they approached the Rev Alan Bagshawe, vicar of St Matthew’s, to bless the house in a bid to put the ghost to rest.
Mr Harris said: “The vicar came round and we all stood together and prayed. He prayed for the spirit to find rest and blessed the house.” But last night the spook returned and the family decided that enough was enough. Mr harris said: “It was all right for a while but then it started getting icy cold in some of the rooms and the atmosphere changed. “It’s definitely come back and we’re afraid it might be angry. The four of us don’t want to stay here and wait for things to get even worse, and there’s my wife’s safety and that of the baby to consider. The last thing want to do is try and stick it out and make the ghost even more angry.”
The two couples are now looking for a new flat, hopefully without a sitting tenant. Mrs Harris said: “I think the baby might be making it angry so now we’re looking for somewhere else. We just can’t go on waiting for the next noise of the next funny thing to happen. The sooner we get out the better.”
Hull Daily Mail, 10th October 1997.
Silencing those things that go bump in the night.
Two couples whose Hessle Road house has been plagued by ghostly goings on claim their home is back to normal – after they called in a ghostbuster. Andrew Brown, of Pearson Park, contacted the Mail and offered to visit the house in Hessle Road and drive out the mischievous spirit, after we highlighted the spooky shenanigans. And the Mail spent the night there to witness events as Mr Brown explained how, with positive forces at his command, he could get rid of evil spirits. He said: “I’ve done this kind of thing before. I can tune into the wavelength of the force just like tuning into a radio and then it’s just a case of replacing negative energy with positive energy.”
The occupants already knew that the downstairs flat had been the scene of a sudden and tragic death only months before the two couples had moved in. Mr Brown explained this could be the cause of the strange noises and other unexplained goings on. He said: “When someone dies suddenly or in their sleep they often don’t realise they’ve died and can’t move on.” Mr Brown described how he would link up by mobile phone with Peter Wills, who he described as “one of the most powerful men in the country.” He then began to rid the house of the spook. Mr Wills would “channel” positive energy to the house with Mr Brown acting as a focus, directing the energy through the house. Despite being hundreds of miles away in London, Mr Wills claimed to have detected a pool of stagnant and negative energy 60 ft below the house – the root of the supernatural occurrences reported by the family.
They complained of loud banging and screeching, a ghostly face peering through a window, soot raining from the kitchen ceiling and doors opening by themselves during the night. Mr Brown explained: “The negative energy is coming up through the centre of the house, through the stairwell, but it shouldn’t be difficult to move.” Mr Brown, in constant touch with his colleague by phone, attempted to drive out the negative energy plaguing the house and asked those present to concentrate and focus their minds. After three hours Mr Brown announced that the house was now free from the forces which had terrorised the two couples. He said: “There may be patches of negative energy floating around but they will eventually clear. There should be no problems from now on.”
One of the occupants Patricia said: “You can definitely feel the change in atmosphere, it’s not cold any more and it feels peaceful.” Her husband Steve thanked Mr Brown and the Mail for helping to rid them of the spirit. He said: “I feel sorry for him. I thnk he was trapped and it wasn’t really his fault, but hopefully he’s found peace now.”
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Feeling restless and in search of a spirit.
Reporter Jonathan Davis nervously spent the night alone in a room where a young man recently died.
It was dark and raining as we arrived at the house and a single light shone from an upstairs window. “I can feel the negative energy, it’s like a big dark blob,” said Mr Brown. “There’s definitely something there.” As we entered the living room it was noticeably cold, despite the electric fire, but no draught appeared to travel through the room. Steve, one of the occupants, said that the strange noises and eerie presences that they had experienced had always been accompanied by the same icy cold chill – it was an ominous sign.
The two couples, Keith and Ellen, Patricia and husband Steve, gathered together in the upstairs flat. Three hours later, just after midnight, Mr Brown left, claiming to have freed the trapped spirit. The house would be peaceful now, he said. But I needed to find out for myself and, with the agreement of the occupants, I volunteered to spend a night in the downstairs bedroom. It was in this room that a young man’s body had been found only months before, his life tragically cut short by drug abuse. It was this death, claimed the two couples, which had been the cause of the ghostly happenings as the young man’s restless spirit wandered the house, unable to find peace.
I laid out my sleeping bag. As I waited I recalled the mysterious occurrences related to me by the occupants – the loud unexplained bangs and crashes and the objects mysteriously going missing. A sudden creak made me jump, and shadows caused by passing vehicles moved around the room. But it was just shadows and the noise of an old house. If the ghost ever had been there it was gone now.
Hull Daily Mail, 18th October 1997.