A strange “Story!”
There is a haunted house at Barton, an eccentric ghost having taken up its residence therein and made “night hideous” by executing its pranks at once fantastic and incomprehensible. Under its influence, slow chairs and steady tables have executed Saint Vitus’ dance frantically; dull crockery has been rendered tuneful; snug blankets and comfortable quilts have been violently dragged from beds; and warm hangings have been shaken as though they were agitated by a strong wind.
When the report reached the ears of hard-believers, they laughed and said it bore the stamp of folly and imposture; but when the elongated ears of a large party of enthusiasts reached the report they met at the haunted house, and went through the solemn farce of praying the ghost to rest, whilst the crowd assembled outside angrily disputed whether the ghost would beat the exorcisers or the exorcisers would beat the ghost!
Stamford Mercury, 5th December 1856.
Barton – The Ghost again!
There is no mistake about the existence of a ghost at Barton : it or rather she has been seen! Last week one of the inmates of the haunted house was engaged in the domestic occupation of cleaning up the fireside, and happening to turn her head, she saw the ghost smiling at her! This occurred in broad daylight, and on the principle that “seeing is believing,” there is not only a legitimate ghost, but a rare creature in the town who has actually seen one.
In bygone days, to know a person who had seen a poet raised a man above his fellows, but now-a days poets are so plentiful that they have ceased to be curiosities; ghosts, however, continue scarce, and the acquaintance of the individual who has seen one is something to boast about. So at least think the able-bodied young men who flock to the haunted house to hear the “story;” so think the crowd of women who flow in one long stream to explore the mystery; so think the loud religionists who assemble in an evening, and pray for the repose of the unearthly visitor whom they unpolitely designate a “she devil;” but so don’t think the people who encourage and propagate this folly would stay at home and employ themselves in cleaning up their own firesides they would see the ghost smiling benignly at them too!
Stamford Mercury, 12th December 1856.
Barton.
A year ago, the superstitious were greatly alarmed by certain demonstrations on Ferriby-road, which, however, gradually subsided. The scene of action is now removed to Newport-street, the population of which is sorely perplexed by what are considered supernatural noises. It appears that a mechanic and his wife, together with a lodger, took a house, which has for two or three generations past had the reputation of being haunted. They state that they had not been settled long before they were frequently disturbed by hideous and frightful noises, as theough from one suffering an agonising death. They also affirm they were repeated so often and with such vehemence, that they have been compelled to leave the house on Monday last. We have been favoured with “the full and true particulars,” but we will not inflict them upo nour readers, lest we expose the weakness of the newcomers.
Lincolnshire Chronicle, 4th February 1859.