Monkey Tricks at a Hall.
Unwelcome Intruder at South Reston.
South Reston Hall, between Louth and Alford, has had an unwelcome visitor during the last few days. A monkey, believed to have escaped from an organ-grider who passed through the village, has since made itself at home in the false roof of the hall, an ancient building of the farmhouse type, occupied by Mr and Mrs B Gowshall, their son Sidney, his wife and her sister, Miss Horn.
Once the monkey paid a visit to the pantry and carried off two loaves of bread and a couple of dozen eggs. A bag of straw from one of the chimneys was deposited in a bedroom and when it was replaced in the chimney was again put back in the bedroom.
All efforts to get rid of the intruder by trapping or by smoking out have so far failed. Yesterday bricklayers were called in to remove tiles from the roof and amateur chimney-sweeps also got to work, but the monkey is still at large.
Lincolnshire Echo, 26th July 1934.
Mystery of Old Farmhouse: Ghost or Monkey?
From our own correspondent. Louth, Thursday.
Strange things have occurred during the week at South Reston Hall, a 400-year-old farmhouse near Louth (Lincolnshire) and villagers do not accept the theory of an escaped monkey being responsible.
Since Saturday something has taken up residence in the house and has thrown rooms into confusion consistently, even after every possible entry had been secured, and chimney places barricaded; food has been stolen from the pantry, soot thrown down chimneys, holes made through the ceiling large enough to admit a man, and the bed has been slept in. Attempts have also been made to force a way through the walls.
Armed men kept nightly vigil, but the intruder has not been seen, except by a young woman who caught sight of “it” twice and fainted. She describes it as an animal having a pointed nose and bushy tail.
Whatever it is, it is believed to be hiding in the false roof, but a most exhaustive search failed to locate it. The Master of the East Lincolnshire Otter Hounds took a terrier into the roof. The terrier nosed every corner and hole and apparently scented something, for it barked furiously at one spot, but nothing was found.
Tiles were stripped from the roof without result, and fires were started in every chimney in the hope of smoking out the strange creatures, but the only result was to bolt a terrified cat from one fireplace.
One theory is that a monkey, escaped from some hurd-gurd man, has found its way into the house, but this explanation does not convince villagers, many of whom are satisfied that the “something” is supernatural.
One surprising feature is the apparent strength of the intruder, for in one bedroom a heavily-filled sack, which had blocked the chimney for 50 years, had been thrown down to give the intruder admission to the room.
No traces of the visitant have been seen since yesterday, and the occupants of the Hall are beginning to hope that it has vanished. Hundreds of people have visited the Hall, until the occupants, Mr and Mrs Gowshall, have been compelled to bar the doors against them.
Leeds Mercury, 27th July 1934.
Baffling Mystery in Lincolnshire Village.
Eerie happenings in 400 year old farm house.
Hounds and armed men wait in vain- for what?
In all the four hundred years which the fine old Hall farm at South Reston has been in existence, it can never have been the centre of a more bewildering or eerie mystery than the one which has baffled the whole neighbourhood this week, and which is still unsolved.
The house is in a state of turmoil and the new residents there, who came at Lady Day [25th March, the old New Year], Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Gowshall, formerly of Theddlethorpe, have reached the stage when they wish they had never come into it, so harassing a time they have spent since last Saturday. The Hall, which until Lady Day, was for so many years the well-known home of the Hay family, has never had a ghost within living memory, but now it is the retreat of the most peculiar kind of visitant. It causes strange and seemingly supernatural havoc in rooms where there is no entrance and no exit, and shows a human weakness by gaining admittance to the pantry and stealing quantities of food.
With the whole neighbourhood puzzling their brains to find some explanation of the visitation and failing in every instance, a “Standard” representative visited the quiet dignified old house in the fields yesterday (Thursday) to learn the true facts of the mysterious story, various rumours of which were stirring the accustomed monotony of Louth.
Mrs. Gowshall, whom we encountered in the dairy, was very reluctant to allow “anyone else” to enter her house. All the week she and her family have been consenting to conduct numerous curious and thoughtless visitors over the house to view the upheaval in every room. Their careless, light-hearted enjoyment of it all has proved distressing to the residents. They are heartily tired of relating the story over and over again, and we gathered that no more visitors could possibly be welcomed.
With big-hearted country patience, however, Mrs. Gowshall eventually permitted us to enter the Hall, and spent an hour telling us everything that had happened since last Saturday.
On Saturday one of the family went into the drawing-room – which is kept closed and is not yet furnished – and found dirty, sooty marks all over the white enamel paint, of which there is much in the room. Something had evidently come down the chimney, and the natural conclusion that was reached was that it was probably a bird.
The dirty marks were washed and the chimney closed; but within a few minutes after the room had been left the same thing happened, and the room was again full of dirty smudges.
Nothing very serious was anticipated until the larder was visited on the Sunday morning, and a pancheon of bread, which might have contained, perhaps, ten loaves, had been tampered with and every loaf but one had been broken and a large quantity of bread had disappeared. Numerous eggs had been broken in the egg basket, and then the purloiner had evidently been satisfied, because two big vessels of cream standing on the cool floor had not been touched. The wall was scratched; but there was no sign of any living thing.
Adjoining the larder is a cellar divided from it by a low concrete wall and by wooden laths. Soon after the theft in the larder, it was discovered that the concrete had been torn up from the wall in the cellar and several of the wooden laths had been loosened, as if someone or something had again tried to force an entrance. The cement was replaced by Mrs. Gowshall, and the place left in order; but within a short space of time one of the family returned and found it had been torn up again, as well as several bricks from a pantry shelf. There was not a rat-hole nor an evident means of escape in the entire cellar.
The household, by this time, was thoroughly troubled, and fires were lit in the chimneys; doors and windows were closed and a careful watch set up, with no result.
Miss L. Hay, whose family still owns the Hall, telephoned to Mr. J. Wightman (Master of the East Lincs. Otter Hounds) on Monday, and he came speedily with traps and his Otter Hounds, because it was suggested that a badger might have climbed up the ivy into the house after favourite honey which has been made in large quantities at the Hall recently. Mr. and Mrs. Gowshall and Mr. H. H. White, assisted by several others, set up a thorough search.
Traps were placed in every chimney and in the false roof, and three men with guns watched in three different places for developments, while Mr. Gowshall remained outside the house to keep everyone away and the house quiet. Mr. Wightman took one of his terriers (one of the cleverest workers of its kind in the country) into every hole and corner, and into the large false roof, the door to which Mr. and Mrs. Gowshall found nailed. After two hours, however, the searchers gave up their attempts, realising that while human beings were about nothing would appear.
On Wednesday, Miss Hay sent for the bricklayer, and Mr. Wightman’s huntsman, Mr. Knaggs, again brought the dogs and traps, and another organised search took place. Mr. White told us that he himself took the terrier into the false roof, and the dog, which was “a most remarkable animal,” Mr. White remarked, nosed into every hole and corner. Mr. White took a flashlight and every inch of the place was searched.
The bricklayer removed tiles from the rof, so that the marauder might escape, and men waited in view of the chimneys to see whether anything might emerge.
In one place the terrier became very excited, barking furiously, and a slight noise was heard in the chimney. The tiles overhead were removed but, again, nothing was discovered.
Another very mysterious occurrence came to light later this week. In every chimney in the house except two, straw has been set ablaze each day, in the hope of smoking out the intruder, but in one of them the only result of attempting to light a fire was to send smoke pouring back into the room. It was discovered that the chimney was completely blocked, and this, evidently, was the work of the marauder, for the fireplace had been used up to the time of the Hay family leaving the farm, and the chimney had always “drawn” satisfactorily. The obstruction proved to be loose bricks which had been dislodged from the inside of the chimney, and Mr. White, who has spent practically the whole of the week trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and to discover the intruder, is convinced that this is yet another depredation caused by the elusive visitant.
In practically ever room we went into we saw sheaves of straw ready for further attempts to smoke out whatever it was that was hiding in the roof, but we were told that the only thing that these fires had smoked out so far was a neighbour’s cat, which came down the drawing-room chimney one day, covered with soot and its whiskers singed, and darted out through the open window. The commotion in the chimney before puss emerged aroused hopes in the minds of the people in the room that at last they were to learn the solution of the mystery, and their disappointment was only to be measured by the terror of the cat.
All the week, each day has brought its own new developments in this curious mystery. The marauder has done some amazing things. It has made two holes in the false roof, making an entry into two different bedrooms, and the holes are both big enough for men to get through. It has sent showers of soot down the chimneys and forced away heavy blockages which have been placed in the chimneys. In one bedroom it pushed away a heavily-filled sack which had been in the chimney fifty years.
The most baffling thing of all, it has found its way into rooms in which every window and door had been fastened and the fireplaces securely barricaded. It left no sign of its possible entrance or exit. It has visited nearly every room in the house, leaving behind it a horrible mess. It has even taken a sleep in one of the beds, and it is making itself so much at home that it even turned down the sheets and blankets in order to rest in greater comfort on the pillow. It left the counterpane, however, in a very dirty condition.
It has scratched and chipped ledges of the archways in the passages, but only one person has caught sight of anything at all. This is Mrs. Gowshall’s married daughter who lives at the hall, who states that she saw it once in her bedroom, whence it made a hurried departure into the false roof. The second time she speaks of having seen it in one of the out-buildings adjoining the Hall, and on both occasions she promptly fainted, and was able to give only a vague description of it. She said it seemed to have a pointed nose and a bushy tail.
The most popular supposition is that the visitor is a monkey, which is supposed to have visited the village last week in charge of a man with a “hurdy-gurdy.” However, we could not ascertain that anybody had definitely seen a monkey in the village, although everyone remembers seeing the “hurdy-gurdy” man.
The police, who were naturally as baffled as anybody else, reminded Mrs. Gowshall of the old trick of fruit in the jar, which is a well-known trap for monkeys. the animals put in their paws and clasp the fruit and cannot then withdraw their hands, but will not let the fruit go.
Near the false roof is a chamber used for hanging bacon, but there is no evidence of the visitor having entered it. One of the most inspired ruses for catching the ravager came from Mr. Stubbs, of Gayton, who brought his “Celestina” musical box, and vainly played it in different parts of the house in teh hope of attracting the “ghost” should it be a monkey.
Men, armed with guns, have sat up all night waiting for the marauder, but not a sign nor a sound has rewarded them. The visitor is of very quiet habits and has scarcely been heard all the week, although in its peculiar silent way it has cause damage amounting to several pounds. The only noises that can definitely be stated as having been heard were the sounds of falling plaster from the ceiling below the false roof. As soon as these were heard, people in the house rushed to the spot, but then nothing could be seen except the gaping hole in the ceiling and the debris on the floor. The Hay family are generously undertaking the cost of putting the house in order.
Mr. White who has visited the Hall every day and done much to try to solve the mystery, speaks of it as the most baffling state of affairs that he has ever known. “In fact,” he says, “I am not a superstitious man, and I reckon I dare go anywhere; but I think this must be the devil himself.”
After the first two-hour search with Mr. Wightman’s dogs, the baffled explorers retired to the lawn to discuss the matter. Then, Mr. White told us, he heard a noise in the house as if someone were going up the stairs, and they hurried to see what it might be. They found nothing but a quantity of water, smelling very horribly. This “water” has been one of the nastiest aspects of the affair and has been dripping from ceilings and found in large pools.
The last trace of the visitor was in the dining-room early on Wednesday, when a quantity of water was discovered on a couch and in a recessed bookcase. It was a room in which every possible way of entrance had been barred; and which, except for this sign, was in exactly the same condition, when it was discovered that something had visited it.
Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian, 28th July 1934.
Terror and mystery in haunted hall
Indoor rain: holes made in ceiling.
Weird and terrifying experiences have befallen a farmer and his family at the Hall, South Reston, miway between Louth and Mablethorpe, in Lincolnshire. The hall is occupied by Mr and Mrs B Gowshall, their son and daughter-in law, and Mrs Gowshall’s sister, and their nerves have been so affected that removing has been considered.
In the early morning they have been awakened by strange noises in the false roof, scratchings on the walls, falls of plaster – with no cause.
One morning a hole large enough to admit a man appeared in one of the bedroom ceilings. Loaves disappeared from the larder, together with eggs. A hole was made in another bedroom, and pools of water were found in different parts of the house. Dogs were again let loose, and part of the roof was ttaken off, but nothing was traced.
Huge fires were then made and lighted simultaneously in all the fireplaces in the house, and farm workers and residents were posted round the house. The windows were also opened to allow any supposed animal to escape. Three hours later pools of water were again found in different rooms and other damage was done.
Mr Gowshall said: “I left my chair to go to see the stock, and returned within a few minutes for my pipe. The cushion on which I had sat a few minutes previously was soaked with water.”
On two occasions, Mr Gowshall’s daughter-in-law, says she has seen something, but each time she was so terrified that she fainted, and could give no description.
Birmingham Daily Gazette, 28th July 1934.
basically as above but also
Huge fires were then made and lighted simultaneously in all the fireplaces, and farm workers and residents were posted round the house. Windows were opened to allow any animal to escape. Some minutes after smoke and flames had been seen issuing from the chimneys a cat came out, ran down the roof and escaped through the cordon of watchers!
As this was thought to be the trouble everyone concerned felt much relieved. Three hours later pools of water were again found in different rooms and other damage was done.
also
Traps baited with meat have been placed all over the house but these have been left untouched.
Some people have suggested that an escaped monkey might be the cause. Fruit has been laid in convenient places and it still remains where it was put and those who have visted the house do not agree that a monkey could do the damage.
Daily Mirror, 28th July 1934.
Farm “ghost” laid?
The uncanny happening in the 400-year-old Lincolnshire farmhouse known as South Reston Hall, where some strange animal or being has terrorised the inhabitants for a whole week by committing depradations of many kinds still remains something of a mystery.
On Thursday morning a cat was caught in the act of purloining butter from the larder. It presented a strange appearance, for it looked wild and lean, all its fur had been singed off, as though it had been in a chimney, and when it was approached it went completely mad and disappeared up the nearest chimney.
It was destroyed as soon as it could be located, and many people in the village are convinced that it has been responsible for all the trouble – not as an ordinary cat but as a visitation of the devil in feline guise.
In any event, at the moment all is quiet on the Reston front.
Boston Guardian, 4th August, 1934.