Spooked!
Ghostly goings-on force terrified family to flee house.
Story: Steve Dixon. Pictures: Robert Prosser.
A mother and her two children have been driven from their home by a bizarre and frightening psychic phenomenon. Kathryn Meredith fled her home in a taxi after a series of bone-chilling incidents which has left the family dog Rambo frothing at the mouth and Nicola, 11, and Alex, 10, afraid to step through the front door. The family is now living with Kathryn’s mother Phyllis Meredith at nearby Blaenrhondda Road.
The Reverend Christopher Reaney was called in to bless the house at Penpych Close and say Holy Communion. Kathryn had requested the house be exorcised, but the Bishop of Llandaff instructed a simple blessing of the property.
A psychic investigator has been called in as well, but as yet, the mystery remains unexplained. Kathryn is now awaiting a response to a letter to the Institute of Psychical Research.
The extraordinary list of incidents reads like the goings on from the film Poltergeist. Kathryn was cut in the face when a cup suddenly exploded in the kitchen. A vision of a person dressed in red and black appearing on Nicola’s bed. Electricity switching on without reason. An attic hatch rising three feet into the air.
Since the incidents began, Kathryn has questioned herself and her children about the cause. “My daughter used to hear people talking to her, but I did not really take much notice of it. Things got worse and the dog would not come into the house.” The night she stepped into Nicola’s room and saw things moving of their own accord was the final straw. “I am not frightened of anything easily, but I was taken that night from there by a taxi because I was hysterical,” said Kathryn. “I do not know what went through my mind, I just wanted to get out – it was a hell of a night.”
The family claim they have no wish to leave their home, but the situation has already led to thinking of applying to the council for a transfer.
The history of the house is something of a mystery. Kathryn knows the site once held an old farm, which is a story in itself. “My daughter got up in the night and told my mother to come and look at the pigs and sheep outside. There were voices talking to her, calling her by name, asking her to play.” Nicola admitted to being scared about the incidents. “I was upstairs doing my work and I turned around and there was someone on the bed,” she said. “I went to the door and it was locked – he kept on looking at me.”
Rhondda Leader, 17th September 1992.
Family Spooked By Ghost.
Ghostly happenings have finally driven a family from their home. Terrified Kathryn Meredith says she and her children were frightened by: A ghost on a bed; Farm animals in the garden; Lights and electrical appliances switching on and off by themselves; An exploding cup which injured Kathryn.
The Rev Christopher Reaney had blessed the terraced council house in Penpych Street, Treherbert, Mid Glamorgan, but the incidents continued. Now Kathryn, aged 34, has taken daughter Nicola, aged 11, and 10-year-old son Alex and moved in with her parents.
Sandwell Evening Mail, 19th September 1992.
A similar snippet in the Irish Independent (same date) mentions ‘a ghost dressed in red and black sitting on a bed’ and that she had written for help to the ‘Institute of Psychical Research in London’.