A Felixstowe House of Mystery.
Eerie Knocking and a Strange Voice.
A Felixstowe family is trying to find the solution to an experience as mysterious as it was terrifying. The scene of the happening is a house of curious and rambling shape. Unlike the eerie houses of tradition, it is modern and in a busy part of the town. According to rumour, however, it is built upon or near the spot, where many years ago, a girl met her death in tragic and mysterious circumstances. The occupants speak of the strange yet almost indefinable influence which seems to pervade the house – tell stories of the things that happen. Noises are heard in the night – vague, disconcerting noises that are never accounted for. Doors that were securely latched come open without apparent reason. Sometimes they open with a click and a rush, though there is no draught; sometimes they are just found open. An impression of sombre mystery grips every stranger who enters the house.
The household consists of a gentleman and his wife, their grown-up son and daughter, a young man visitor and a servant. A few minutes before ten, one evening recently, the lady and her daughter were in the bathroom, on the first floor. The husband, son and servant were in their rooms, the husband opposite the bathroom, the son and servant in adjoining rooms on the floor above. The visitor had not returned, but he was at that moment approaching the house.
There was a gentle knock on the bathroom door. the women stopped their conversation but made no move. The knock was repeated. “Who’s that?” called the mother. There was no reply, but the knock came again. “Who’s that?” called the mother loudly that time. Then a small, high-pitched voice answered “Me.” Some seconds elapsed and then, the mother opened the door, which had not been locked.
There was no one outside. An inquiry was made. None of the other three people in the house had stirred from their rooms. The two women went back to the landing, and it was at that moment that the visitor let himself in at the front door with a latchkey. He immediately made a search, and established the following facts: – Nobody was concealed in the house; the two doors, front and back were securely fastened, the back one, opening on to a covered yard, and the three doors giving access to the yard being bolted on the inside, and the front door fastened with a lock of Yale pattern; all the windows were fastened; that the mother, before going upstairs, had inspected all the doors and windows; that the husband had not left his room; that the son and servant denied having left theirs; that the son said he would have heard the servant leave her room because he always kept his door open, and because he had not gone to sleep or even dozed; that none of the others had heard the knocks or any strange sounds; that the stories of mother and daughter corresponded exactly, except in the matter of time; that a number of seconds, probably about thirty, elapsed between the mother called “Who’s that?” to the time she opened the door; that the authenticity of both women’s story was beyond question.
From these facts, the following inferences could be drawn: That if the knocks had been made by an intruder, that person must have been in the house before locking-up time, unless he or she had a latchkey, for entry by the back doors was impossible; that the intruder must have left by the front door, since the back doors were found bolted on the inside; that whoever knocked must have been, or thought themselves to have been, familiar with the two women, if not the household, as the answer to the question “Who’s there?” was “Me.”
When the laws of psychological probability were applied, it seemed apparent that nobody would have any reason for intruding, and that, if they had, they would not draw attention to their presence by knocking and speaking. There were, in fact, only two explanations – that the sounds were made by a person in the house or that they were made by some supernatural agency.
The former alternative is the only one that can be arrived at by applying the laws of logic. That law makes somebody in the house guilty of an untruth. The law of psychological possibility makes the investigator ask “Why should anyone have cause to deny an action like knocking at a door and saying ‘Me’?”
Out of that simple action there has arisen a problem for spiritualists, psychologists and detectives. Can any of them give an explanation?
Felixstowe Times, 11th April 1931.
Felixstowe House of Mystery.
To the Editor.
Sir. – The curious knockings and disconcerting noises at a Felixstowe residence, described in your paper, present a problem which appears, on the face of it, to be very similar to countless others which are to be found in the literature of psychic research. If this should prove to be the case, it is unlikely that either detectives or psychologists will be able to supply a satisfactory explanation of the matter, or cause the nuisance to cease.
The explanation offered by spiritualist investigators is one which is frequently discredited by those who have had no experience of supernatural happenings, but it is the only one which fits all the known facts, and, moreover, what is very important to those who are troubled by these disturbances is the fact that where the spiritualist’s advice has been followed, the reason for the knockings has been ascertained, and their cessation has resulted.
To put the matter very briefly, it has generally been found that a discarnate spirit, labouring under some great emotional stress, is trying to attract attention to impart information necessary to his or her peace of mind, and the presence of someone who consciously or unconsciously is possessed of mediumistic powers, provides the opportunity for the manifestations.
The history of modern spiritualism dates from an occurrence very similar in some aspects to that reported in your columns. I feel sure that the Ipswich Psychic Society would gladly advise the Felixstowe family on this matter, or I should be pleased to do so myself.
A.G. Aldous. 303, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich.
Felixstowe Times, 18th April 1931.
The House of Mystery.
Spiritualist Explains Knockings and Voice.
Spiritualists from all parts of Suffolk have offered to investigate the mysterious knockings and voice in a Felixstowe house, referred to in the “Felixstowe Times” last week. Several have suggested that the noises were made by a spirit trying to impart information to the occupants of the house. The theory was explained by a psychic investigator to our correspondent.
“We are only just beginning to understand this sort of thing,” he said, “but our discoveries are going to prove that the laws of science admit of a number of apparent phenomena relating to the marvellous and indefinable thing called the soul. Everyone knows that there is a tendency of the mind, during life, to form an association with some house or place. generally it is a happy association, brought about by pleasing things. It is no uncommon thing to find people – old people especially – who are so much part and parcel of a place that they pine away if removed from it. If, as Christians, we believe in the continuance of the soul after the death of the body, we must admit the possibility of a continuance of the emotions experienced by the soul during life. That is exactly what the researches of spiritualists and psychologists have proved.
“There is no more common form of manifestation than that arising from an ‘association.’ It will always be found that the spirit frequents the place that was familiar to it during life. In cases where the association has been a happy one there will probably not be any disconcerting manifestations. If, however, there has been some unhappy occurrence, the spirit will probably be troubled and uneasy, just as it would be in life. It will nearly always be found that the manifestations are caused by the spirit trying to convey a message for help. If that message could be understood and acted upon, the happenings would almost certainly stop, because the spirit’s peace of mind – if I may use the expression – would have been restored.”
Felixstowe Times, 18th April 1931.
Science and Superstition.
it was Solomon who said that there was nothing new under the sun. Times change, but Man, it would seem, is unchangeable. In the midst of so-called civilisation he clings to the beliefs of his forefathers. Never has the mysterious and the occult been so widely exploited as at the present time; never has superstition had such a hold upon the people. Yet, all the time, the workings of science are tending to prove that superstition, as it is now known, is not the mere blind and instinctive belief of the ignorant. The findings of clever and patient men are even yet only partly complete, and they have given average human beings only a glimpse of the mighty universe that may one day be opened up and made comprehensible.
Even at this stage, however, we have learned enough to teach us that to scoff at what we might at one time have been inclined to regard as “ghostly” and “impossible,” is to display ignorance and intolerance. At the same time, proof that modern people have retained, in full, the instincts of their remote ancestors, is afforded by a Felixstowe instance.
In last week’s issue of the “Felixstowe Times,” an account was given of some inexplicable knockings on a door in a local house. While it was stated that there had been some mysterious and indefinable happenings in the house, it was not suggested that the knockings were due to any supernatural agency. “Detectives,” “psychologists,” and spiritualists were invited to explanations of the happenings. It is significant that the only explanations forthcoming, and they have been numerous, have been from spiritualists, many of whom have stated that the knockings were by a disembodied spirit. The words “haunted,” “ghost,” and “spirit” were immediately used, and there has never been any suggestion that the occurrence had a human origin.
It may be that the spiritualists are right. Certainly no one should divide their beliefs, which, every day, are given greater credence by scientific discovery – that magic word which turns superstition into fact. Whatever the explanation may be, it should be stated here that the details of the happening were correct in every detail, and authentic beyond question.
Felixstowe Times, 18th April 1931.