A ‘Voice’ From Beyond…?
Ghostly knocking noises in a front bedroom have caused a Walsall family to wonder whether their home is haunted by a poltergeist. Recently the police have made an unsuccessful effort to track down the “thing that goes bump in the night” at 77, Bloxwich-lane, Walsall – the council house home of Mr and Mrs Alfred William Bonham. Tomorrow, Mrs Bonham will leave the house with her two children, John (9) and Susan (10). They will spend the night at the home of a relative while Mr Bonham and housing officials try to solve the mystery of the weird bumps.
Said Mrs Edith Bonham today: “We have lived here eight years, but the banging noises only started about three weeks ago. The bumps come from the little front bedroom where my son sleeps. It sounds rather like a road drill and is so loud that the whole house seems to shake. Neighbours can hear it all along the block. It frightens me, but not the boy. He pays no attention. The noises only start at night when he is in bed, and they stop as soon as he goes to sleep. It is definitely not my son who is making them. They are far too loud to be caused by a child.
“We had a spiritualist in two nights ago and the knocking noises seemed to be answering him,” she added. “It has made me think that something may be trying to get in touch with us through the boy.”
A senior police officer told the Express and Star that policemen had visited the house and heard the noises but were unable to trace the source. A Walsall housing official said they were anxious to see whether the knocking persisted when the house was unoccupied.
Wolverhampton Express and Star, 28th February 1962.
Bangs in Night May Be ‘Ghost at Work’.
Officials of Walsall Corporation Housing Department will go to a house in Bloxwich Lane, Walsall, to-night to solve the mystery of “banging noises” which have been disturbing the Bonham family’s sleep.
“I have never believed in spiritualism but this is beginning to give me other ideas,” Mrs Edith Bonham said last night. A dead relative was probably trying to communicate with the family through her son John, she thought. Mrs Bonham explained: “In addition to the police and housing officials, we have had a metaphysical investigator visiting the house. He told us that he believes a poltergeist is at work.”
Mrs Bonham, who has two children, John, aged nine, and Susan, aged ten, said: “The noises started three weeks ago. They are so loud that they sound like a pneumatic drill and can be heard by people living along the block of houses.”
There was no reply when callers knocked at the house last night. Neighbours said that Mr Alfred Bonham had departed with his family for a good night’s sleep at a relative’s home.
Birmingham Daily Post, 1st March 1962.
Department has no ghost hunters.
Rumours that officials of Walsall corporation housing department were going to spend the night at 77, Bloxwich Lane, Walsall, in the hope that they would be able to solve the mystery of the “banging noises” were denied by the Housing Manager (Mr A.E. Bywater) yesterday (Thursday).
Mr Bywater said that this suggestion had never been considered. “My officers have already examined the whole of the house and they found nothing in the structure of it which would explain the noises from this unknown quantity,” he said. “As far as tracking down this ghost, if ghost it be, is concerned, we at the housing department have no qualifications to do so,” said Mr Bywater.
The “Observer” understands that the tenant of the house, Mr Alfred William Bonham, arranged to spend last night in his home accompanied by a neighbour, who is an employee of the corporation. “This is probably how the misunderstanding came about,” commented Mr Bywater. “If this man is prepared to stay with Mr Bonham that is up to him – but it is entirely unofficial.”
While Mr Bonham and neighbour were tackling the mystery of the weird bumps, Mrs Edith Bonham and her two children, John, aged nine, and Susan, aged 10, were staying at the home of a relative. Earlier in the week ghostly knocking noises, apparently coming from the front bedroom were heard, and this caused visits by the police, housing officials, and a metaphysical investigator. “He told us that he believed a poltergeist was at work,” said Mrs Bonham. A dead relative was probably trying to communicate with the family through her son, John, she thought.
Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle, 2nd March 1962.
Volunteer will investigate noise mystery.
Walsall’s Housing Manager, Mr A.E. Bywater will to-day receive a report from an employee who last night volunteered to continue the investigations into the loud bumps being heard in a house in Bloxwich Lane, Walsall. The noises, clearly heard by neighbours at night and described as sounding like a pneumatic drill, started in the council house home of Mr and Mrs A. Bonham about three weeks ago. One theory is that old mine workings which are known to exist in the Bentley area might cause the noises which have led Mr and Mrs Bonham to seek a transfer to another district.
Birmingham Daily Post, 2nd March 1962.
‘Ghostman’s Knock’ Case At Walsall is ‘Closed’.
Following a special report on the ghostly road drill noises in a Walsall council house, the borough housing department said today: “The matter is now closed.” An employee of the public works department, who lives nearby, stayed to listen at 77, Bloxwich lane, last night but heard nothing. Only Mr Alfred Bonham remained in the house with the investigator because his wife, son John and daughter Susan spent the evening with a relative.
Housing manager, Mr A.E. Bywater, told the “Express and Star”: “No noises occurred last night, and unless there is any further manifestation we can do nothing more. We are quite satisfied that what has been happening is in no way connected with the structure of the building – if it was, we should have to do something. We have satisfied ourselves on that point, and we are no layers of ghosts.”
Three weeks ago, Mr and Mrs Bonham began to hear the noises – they went brrr…brrr, just like a road drill, but neither police nor a spiritualist managed to find the answer. Corporation officials have tested the house for air-locks in the water system, but nothing was found. So the mystery remains unsolved.
Wolverhampton Express and Star, 2nd March 1962.
Noises heard in the night at the house of Mr A.W. Bonham in Bloxwich Lane, Walsall, may have been due to something in the structure of the house, the Housing Manager, Mr A.E. Bywater said yesterday. “So far as the Housing Department is concerned, the matter is now closed.” No noises were heard when a Corporation workman stayed in the house.
Birmingham Daily Post, 3rd March 1962.
Bishop calls for report on Mystery Noises.
The Bishop of Lichfield (Dr A. S. Reeve) is taking an interest in the mystery noises which have been troubling the occupants of 77, Bloxwich Road, Walsall. The ghostly sounds have already led to investigations by local police, Walsall Corporation housing officials, and a metaphysicist.
The Vicar of Bloxwich (the Rev. R. Cheadle) told the “Observer” yesterday (Thursday): “The Bishop rang me up and asked me to find out what it was all about. I have not visited the house. All I have discovered is that the Medical Officer of Health (Dr. T. Ross) is preparing a report,” he added. Mr Cheadle said that there was little else he could do, because the house was outside his parish. The Bishop had not realised this.
The house is occupied by William Bonham, his wife Edith, and their two young children. They were told by the metaphysicist that a poltergeist was probably responsible for the noises.
Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle, 23rd March 1962.