Vicar banishes ‘vengeful spirit’.
Sunday Express Reporter.
A church expert on psychic research has released an “earthbound spirit” which forced a family of six to leave their home. This weekend Mr and Mrs Norman Wheeler and their four children – Colin, 19; Betty, 15; Joy, 10; and Rosalie, five – are back at their 100-year-old cottage in Wicklesham-road, Faringdon, Berkshire. Yesterday Canon Christopher Harman, 74, a patron of the Churches’ Fellowship for Psychic and Spiritual Studies, told how he persuaded the “vengeful spirit of a former lodger” at the cottage to leave the Wheelers in peace.
Mysterious banging and knockings which began before Christmas brought 44-year-old Mrs Dorothy Wheeler to the edge of a nervous breakdown. The family left the upstairs bedrooms and slept in the lounge. The girls were given sedatives.
Mr Wheeler, a 43-year-old farm worker, ripped up floorboards to try to trace the source of the noises and architects checked the walls for flaws. Nothing was found. Police investigation was also unsuccessful and the family went to live with friends. Mr Wheeler consulted a medium and was told that his family was probably being terrorised by the spirit of an old man who lodged at the cottage 17 years ago. He was troublesome and Mr Wheeler told him to go. A few hours later the lodger lay in front of a train and was killed.
Canon Harman, Faringdon’s acting vicar, said: “When I visited the cottage I was conscious of an oppressive atmosphere. There was something uncanny about the place and I agreed to carry out a service of exorcism.” In a 30-minute service he said prayers, recited Psalm 91 – Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night… – and sprinkled holy water in each of the five rooms. “I ‘spoke’ to the poltergeist directly,” he said. “I tried to persuade him to leave by saying: ‘You must go to either the realms of light or darkness. You cannot remain here.'”
The family has not been troubled since.
Sunday Express, 23rd February 1964.