Ghost still up to its tricks.
A poltergeist which has terrified a Cheshire farming community resumed its activities today – only hours after an exorcism had been carried out by an Anglican vicar. Ash trays, torches and clocks were hurled about in the mobile caravan home of 36-year-old Mr Mike Bebbington and his wife, Jean, 34. The caravan serves as the farmhouse at Fields Farm, Elton, Sandbach, where the couple live with their 15-year-old son, Brian, and Mrs Bebbington’s widowed mother, Annie, aged 66.
Since Saturday, spanners have smashed through windows, a 10-inch blade billhook has followed Mrs Bebbington as she took coffee to a farm-worker and buried itself in a door of the shippon. An egg floated out of a fridge and burst with a bang in front of young Brian.
The Rev. Richard Stephens, 39-year-old Vicar of Elworth, Sandbach, “cast out” the influence at an exorcism ceremony with the family yesterday. Later, he said: “They should have no more trouble.”
Ash trays began moving again today, but early this afternoon Mrs Bebbington told the Sentinel: “We think this terrifying activity is showing signs of stopping.”
Staffordshire Sentinel, 2nd June 1976.
Evil force is driving family out.
A terror-wracked family’s decision to quit their £4,500 mobile caravan home on eerie lowlands at Elton, Sandbach, has banished a poltergeist. For nearly 70 nightmarish hours 36-year-old Mr Mike Bebbington, his wife Jean, aged 34, their 15-year-old son Brian, and Mrs Bebbington’s mother, Mrs Annie Jackson, aged 66, had been the focus of a weird influence at Fields Farm, Elton.
Windows had smashed as ashtrays, spanners, and a torch cannoned into them. Police kept a close watch on the caravan which serves as a farmhouse where Mike Bebbington is manager of 200 acres of pasture and keeps nearly 200 head of cattle. Neighbours in the tiny hamlet panicked when a strange force stepped up a war of nerves against the family. Stones battered the van and heavy objects were lifted and hurled against the walls of the Bebbington’s home and its attendant farm buildings.
An expensive transistor radio was dashed against the floor of the milking parlour and shattered, a storage tank was mysteriously breached and 85 gallons of milk ran to waste. A telephone was torn from its alcove and smashed to the ground. And Mr Bebbington’s younger brother, Geoff, who is 34, fled the farm after events took a vicious turn. A sharp-bladed billhook buried iself in the shippon door – only inches away from where he was milking. “I never want to see that face again…” he said as he left, vowing never to return.
A service of exorcism by the 39-year-old Vicar of Elworth, the Rev. Richard Stephens, apparently failed when later heavy objects started to crash around again. Said the vicar today: “There was no doubt a presence. When I went into the shippon I found it difficult to breathe. There were vibrations. But I think the exorcism could have had some worth and that events after the service may have been a last reluctant leave-taking of the force.
Yesterday the tired family had a conference. We decided we would leave and go to my mother’s house in Halinton, three miles away. It has been empty since soon after my father died a year ago,” said Mrs Bebbington. She added: “After we had made up our minds it was a blessed relief. It was as though a weight had been lifted from our shoulders. Nothing has happened since.”
The decision may mean that Mr Bebbington will quit his £3000 a year job as farm manager. He told the Sentinel: “But that may have to be considered. After all my wife and son are very dear to me and their happiness is paramount.”
Staffordshire Sentinel, 3rd June 1976.
‘Old Devil of Elton’ link with ‘haunting’.
A poltergeist which has driven a farm manager and his family from their caravan home on eerie lowlands at Elton near Sandbach is believed to be the spirit of a Cheshire farmer who fought in the American Civil War. The link with the haunting lies beneath the white granite headstone of a grave in St Peter’s churchyard, Elworth – a village three miles away.
Buried there is Henry Scragg, soldier of fortune, traveller and master of the occult who was born at Fields Farm, Elton, where the empty caravan now stands. Legend calls Henry the “Old Devil of Elton.” And farm manager 36-year-old Mr Mike Bebbington believes it was the Old Devil’s influence from beyond the grave which caused him to leave his home and give up his job. He, his wife Jean, aged 34, son Brian, aged 15, and mother-in-law Mrs Annie Jackson, quit the caravan in terror after weird manifestations at Fields Farm. Heavy objects were thrown about with no apparent explanation, a billhook carried by ghostly hands narrowly missed a worker at the farm, stones and spanners were hurled at the van. Cheshire police were called in…
“Since we left,” said Mike this week, “older people have told us about the legend of the Old Devil which fits perfectly the terror my family went through in June.” A ghost watch team who kept a vigil at the caravan have probed the legend. They have located the Old Devil’s grandson who has asked to stay anonymous. But the strange tale he tells forges a link between the odd occurrences and his forbear. “But,” he insisted today, “my grandfather got his ‘Devil’ nickname because he was a joker not an evil man.”
Henry Scragg, born 1840, died 1924, was reputed to be able to conjure up occult forces. When he was 19 he and his brother tired of their father’s dominance. They decided to run away to America but the brother died of yellow fever during the crossing. Henry joined up and fought in the American Civil War. Then he sailed the world for another three years before going back to Elton. “He went back to conducting spirit-rapping sessions at the Old Warmingham Mill near his home and once Henry was said to have contacted his dead mother who admonished him for dabbling outside the provinces of mortals. For a time he obeyed,” said his grandson. “I saw him in his coffin. I was only a lad all those 52 years ago. He was smiling as though he had just embarrassed another mortal by one of his jokes and he still had that same aura of power he used to radiate. He was said to be able to make things move without touching them,” added his grandson.
From their home in New-street, Haslington – three miles from Elton – Mrs Jean Bebbington told the Sentinel: “He probably did these things as a joke, but people were frightened. We were terrified. Why else would my husband give up his job and our home to get away from the spot where the Old Devil was born?”
Staffordshire Sentinel, 29th July 1976.