Phantom Woman and Ringing Bells in “Haunted” Flat.
Occupants of a flat in the vicinity of Warrior-square, St. Leonards, are mystified by a series of extraordinary happenings that have taken place there recently, and which they can only explain by suggesting that the place is haunted.
The flat is on the second floor of the building, above a shop, and it is occupied by a woman and her daughter. The occupants say that for some time past they have heard strange noises in the house and the sound of footsteps, and have on many occasions gone to the door, thinking someone was there, and have found no sign of a visitor.
Interviewed by an “Observer” representative, the tenant of the flat described a remarkable experience she had a short time ago. “My daughter and I sleep in the same room,” she said, “and on this particular night I was awakened from sleep and saw, to my amazement and alarm, the figure of a woman leaning over my daughter as she lay in bed. The woman was dressed in old-fashioned clothes and her hair hung in dishevelled locks round her head. She seemed to be searching for something and she was holding out one hand. I roused my daughter, but by the time she awoke the figure had disappeared. The old lady seemed rather poorly clad, and her dress seemed to be that of 50 or 60 years ago.”
“Another extraordinary experience that we have had happened when my daughter and I were sitting one evening by the fire. I happened to look round at the table and to my astonishment saw a small vase lifted, as if by an invisible hand, off the table and thrown on the floor towards the door. When we picked up the vase we found that a small piece had been chipped out of the rim.”
“We have more than once heard the electric bell ring and gone to the door to find no one there. On one occasion my daughter went down the stairs to where she could look through the glass panels of the street door. The bell continued to ring – I not only heard it but saw the little hammer vibrating against the bell itself – but my daughter saw no one at the door.”
Hastings and St Leonard’s Observer, 10th December 1938.