Mystery Unsolved.
Ghostly sounds again heard.
Crowd waits for hours.
No solution of the mystery of the uncanny noises heard at the cottage occupied by Mr William Eastwood, his wife and family, in Port Melbourne, has been arrived at. A constable, it is stated, removed boards from the diningroom floor last evening, as some of the sounds appeared to come from underneath the flooring of that apartment, but he did not discover anything which would help him to arrive at even a suspicioin of what was the cause of the disconcerting noises.
Mrs Eastwood, when seen today, stated that the thumpings on the wall were heard shortly after 1 a.m. today, but, as she is getting used to them, she did not get out of bed. The Eastwood family, while greatly annoyed at what is taking place, is determined to “see the thing through”. Neither Mr nor Mrs Eastwood countenances the theory that the cottage is the favourite romping ground of unworldly visitants. They are not believers in ghosts, and are inclined to think that something much more substantial than a spirit is at the bottom of a plot to instil fear into the household.
Last night, after the account of what has been taking place was published in these columns, the house was the centre of attraction, for a large number of people who assembled in the street and the adjoining paddock, and waited for hours, discussing the situation, and hoping that something would happen to give an air of reality to the many experiences which some of them professed to have had with ghosts, spirits, banshees, and other unearthly visitants. Before midnight they had sought their own homes with their curiosity unsatisfied, for it was not till the early hours of the morning that the inmates of the house were awakened by the recurrence of the mysterious sounds.
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) 9th February 1915.
A Thumping Ghost.
Armed Men Baffled.
Port Melbourne Mystified.
Melbourne, Tuesday.
Events at a house in McCormack-street, Port Melbourne, are converting residents of the shipping suburb to spiritualism. Stolid police constables are among those convinced that ghosts are nightly visitors to the building.
Three months ago a Tasmanian, his wife, and 12 sons and daughters came across the Strait and occupied the residence, the father obtaining employment as night watchman on the excursion steamer Hygeia. It was shortly after his appointment to these all-night duties that the mysterious visitors began to invade his household. The phenomena began with rattlings of the key in the front door. The family constantly rushed out, hoping to surprise and capture the intruders, but though on one occasion they saw lights and heard footsteps, they secured no cessation of these midnight noises.
They were next disturbed by flashes of light. These danced around the main sleeping room in the early hours of mornings, and were inexplicable.
The working of the key ceased when a light was left all-night by the front-door window, but the whole family was roused a fortnight ago by a violent rapping, pushing, and shaking of a side door and window. One of the boys secured the family revolver and threatened to fire, whereupon the ghost desisted. By that time three windows had been cracked.
Two constables were told off to help the family. Constable Walsh tells the following tale: – “I was instructed to remain overnight in the house, which is a large wooden structure. I settled myself in a room, and just when everything was quiet towards the early morning was startled by hearing three heavy thumps, apparently from the side of the house. I am not a nervous man, but when I went outside and suddenly felt and heard three heavy bumps at my very feet, shaking the whole house, a sort of shiver went through me. It was like a giant thumping with the palm of his his hand, and was heard by neighbours two doors away. Nothing was to be seen, and there was no footprint on the garden, which I had dug up during the evening.”
Constable Croft’s story is similar. He was startled and astounded. He fired his revolver, but nothing happened. Only the huge thumping could be heard. He dug a tunnel under the house, and found nothing. Then he organised the neighbours into a ghost-laying brigade, and a watch was kept from housetops and other points of vantage, without result. The fierce thumping came regularly between midnight and three, but nothing else happened.
As a final effort the night-watchman organised a band of armed men, seven in number, who spent a night in neighbouring sheds. When the thumping occurred they searched the neighbourhood, without results.
The whole neighbourhood is now seeking the ghost, but the thumper is not discouraged, and police reports state that the deafening noises can be heard every morning – sometimes one set of three thumps, sometimes as many as ten violent attacks.
The Sun (Sydney, NSW), 10th February 1915.
Mystery still unsolved.
No satisfactory explanation of the mysterious noises at the home of Mr W. Eastwood, Port Melbourne, has been found. Last night Constable Fleming carried out some experiments which it was believed might elucidate the mystery, but without effect.
The thumpings were heard again after midnight. The police are now inclined to wait, with a view of something developing to throw light on the origin of the sounds.
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) 11th February 1915.
Constable Lays Ghost.
Joist Expansion as cause.
After exhaustive inquiries and experiments by Constable Croft, who has taken a keen interest in elucidating the cause of unnatural sounds at a house in McCormack street, Port Melbourne, it is believed that the mystery has been solved. Two nights ago the constable decided to spend a night between the ceiling and the roof. He found that through a piece of wood supporting the roof getting out of position, a joist, by expansion caused through the cooler atmosphere at night, receives about half an inch play, and by a slight balancing motion causes a dead thud, which Croft believes to be identical with the noises heard in the rooms below.
The constable believes that under the weather conditions of contraction and expansion the noises could only be heard at such periods when the wooden joist had expanded sufficiently to allow of small play being made available by the overhanging joist. Since this flaw has been rectified the thumpings have not been heard.
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.), 15th February 1915.
A Port Melbourne Mystery.
There is a house down Port Melbourne way occupied by a family named Eastwood, which is at present attracting much attention. It has all the horrible fascination of the old-time haunted house. So far, however, no ghostly figures have been seen, but the trouble is due to mysterious knockings, which are genearlly heard in the small hours of the morning, under the floor. The local police have kept armed watch, but have failed to discover the cause, though one constable candidly confessed that the strange bumping sounds which came from under his feet seemed to chill his blood.
A party of neighbours, armed with revolvers, have also kept on duty in the house, and had to listen to the sounds, while a couple of police do duty outside, but they so far have seen no one enter or leave the premises. It is now proposed that a small tunnel should now be run under the house to the spot from whence come the sounds. Probably if that course is followed it will be found that the trouble is due either to some animal who has managed to get there, or else to some natural cause. The simpler and quicker way, of course, would be to lift the flooring, but, perhaps, it is feared the ghost might then arise. There are quite a number of people these times who would not only be glad to see any ghost arise, but also “walk”, especially about the end of the week.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate (NSW), 20th February 1915.