Family flees after things went bump in the night.
A frightened Newtownabbey family have fled their home after ‘things went bump in the night.’ Moving furniture and glowing presences were just two of the bizarre incidents that led the young Monkstown mother to call in exorcists. Local clergymen rallied to the distress call made by 21-year-old Cathy McAllister after she felt the bed she was lying in move across the floor and an invisible presence clutch her neck and throat.
This week the occupant of the Tynan Close home – now dubbed “the haunted house” by local residents – vowed never to put a foot over the door again. “I still can’t sleep at nights because of what I witnessed last week,” she said. “I’m terrified.”
And local minister Pastor David Glass of Rathcoole Pentecostal Church, told Sunday Life he believes the startling claims made about the spooky happenings. “To this young girl it was all very real. I believe it was quite genuine,” he said. “I also know that similar experiences were reported by the previous occupant of the house.”
Pastor Glass and an elder from his church visited the home last weekend and prayed in it. The pair also spoke “in tongues.” “We don’t want to be looked upon as some type of ‘ghost busters.’ We went along to this home with an open mind as ministers of the gospel,” he added. “Although we did not actually see or experience any of the things this young girl said had happened, that doesn’t make her claims any less believable.”
No-one knows of any history attached to the house, although rumours circulating in the estate are that years ago a child died there and someone else took an overdose in it. However, the Housing Executive say they have no record of any suicides or mysterious deaths in the property since it was built in 1968. A spokeswoman added: “While we are currently considering Miss McAllister’s reports, it would be our intention to re-let the house to an applicant from our waiting list.” In the meantime, Executive workmen have boarded up the three-bedroom house.
A scared Cathy McAllister and her children flee their ‘haunted house’ which has now been boarded up. Inset: the room where the bizarre incidents happened.
Sunday Life, 17th January 1993.
Family want transfer from ‘haunted house’.
A family of five living in a ‘haunted house’ in Monkstown are looking for a transfer – just six weeks after moving into the property. The two storey house at Tynan Close was the subject of a story in the Newtownabbey Times in January of 1993 when a young mother of two fled the house, claiming it was ‘possessed.’ At that time 21-year-old Cathy McAllister described having had dreams of black shapes hovering over her baby’s cot and also feeling as if someone was trying to push her out of bed when she was lying in it. She also said she felt uneasy, as if someone was watching her. Several ministers prayed in the house but the terrified single mother fled the house.
At the beginning of July Mr and Mrs Gordon Trussler and their three children were allocated the Housing Executive house, having moved from their previous accommodation at Greenisland. They had barely stepped across the threshold when several neighbours came to warn them that the house was ‘haunted’ and giving different versions of gruesome events that were supposed to have happened there. The three children, twin girls aged 10 and a boy of 13 were also told these stories by other local children and Mrs Trussler said they were terrified to go upstairs at night. At present, the whole family sleep downstairs in the front living room while the three bedrooms upstairs remain unoccupied. Although the family say they have not experienced anything since they moved into the house, they do not feel completely at ease in their new home. Mrs Trussler said matters were not improved by one of their new neighbours, who has since left the house, banging on the walls in the middle of the night, trying to frighten them.
Mr Trussler said they decided to take the house because they did not believe in ghosts and it was convenient for the children going to nearby schools. Now, however, he says they think the house is a bit ‘eerie’ and are keen to move as quickly as possible. They have already written to the Executive, explaining their position and requesting a transfer.
A spokeswoman for the Housing Executive said they had just recieved the application for transfer. However, as the tenants did not fulfill the two year residency requirement and circumstances did not attract priority status, they were unable to accede to their request for transfer at present. She added that the previous tenancy at this property was held for over two years, until the tenant recently moved to another district.
Newtownabbey Times and East Antrim Times, 17th August 1995.