The ghostly stranger at no. 54.
Couple tell of terror which drove them out.
A terrified young Liverpool couple say they have been driven out of their new home by a ghost. When water pipes began knocking, Ronald and Marie Wall thought it was just an air lock in the system of their flat at 54 Central Avenue, Speke. But then unusual happenings began to worry them and soon the pet dog and kitten also showed distress. Their hair would stand on end and they would growl at apparently nothing.
Ornaments started to fall off the lounge table, doors would open by themselves, curtains would billow behind closed windows and there was a “funny feeling” in the air. Marie, aged 18, took up the story: “It just got worse and worse. We were sitting watching the television one night when the ornamental cat suddenly flew off the fireplace across the room. Door handles would turn and once, I saw the face of a man against the lounge wall. I could clearly see he had swept back dark hair and long sideboards. My husband has also seen him in another room.”
Ronald, aged 18, said: “We were watching a film on the television one night and heard something rattle. When we looked round the baby’s pram was just bouncing up and down, and this wakened daughter Michelle. She just screamed.”
The ghostly happenings have not just been confined to the night. For the last three weeks the Walls have moved between Ronald’s parents’ home, and his grandparents. “A priest blessed the flat, and things still got worse. When we told him of this, he just told us not to go back,” said ronald. Since they left neighbours have at least once seen the figure of a man walking about in the flat, but found no one there.
A spokesman from Liverpool Housing Department said: “We never take this sort of matter in a light-hearted way. All the facts of the Walls’ complaint will be investigated by the district housing manager at Speke.”
Ronald and Marie are pictured with their six month old daughter, Michelle.
Liverpool Echo, 28th October 1975.