Askerswell. A local ghost scare.
Remarkable Occurrences.
The little village of Askerswell is just now in a very perturbed state consequent upon some strange rumours of the doings of a supposed ghostly visitor at the house of a carter, leaving at Eype [sic]. The first occasion, according to statements made on which anything unusual happened was on Monday. The wife of the carter was cooking something over the fire, when suddenly she turned to her daughter and suddenly exclaimed “There’s an old woman under the table.” But the daughter saw nothing, and this so unnerved her mother that she had to be put to bed.
But more strange occurrences were in store. Whilst the mother was in bed the daughter and several others were sitting in the room downstairs talking over matters, when a candle – so the story goes – “floated” downstairs, only to be followed by a flower pot, which smashed at the bottom of the stairs.
A neighbour rushed to the room above, and there found fragments of pottery by the side of the bed, but no human agency to account for the mystery was visible. Later in the evening the globe of a lamp was smashed, and then came another “surprise” in the shape of a large stone crashing through the window. A search outside failed to account for the occurrence. The mystery thickened when just after a large stone tumbled into the door, apparently propelled by supernatural force. The occupants of the kitchen were naturally startled, but before the evening closed, so it is alleged by those present, the daughter of the woman – who had been sitting on a chair apparently unmoved by these “ghostly” performances – was suddenly lifted, chair as well, and carried by “unseen hands” across the room.
Locally, the girl is supposed to have some connection with all that has happened. She had previously been in domestic service at Coombe Dairy, Litton, at which there was a fire. The origin of the outbreak was a mystery, but the dairyman is said to have remarked to some acquaintances that whilst he and his family and the girl were temporarily occupying a cottage the table and chairs were seen to dance about the room. At the time the story was discredited, but now, in the face of subsequent “events,” some faith is put in the statements.
The girl, herself, on Monday left home without the knowledge of her parents, and is now said to be in Dorchester, but so far as can be ascertained her supposed ghostly associates have not made themselves apparent in the country town.
In a small and out of the way village like Askerswell, naturally superstition and witchcraft dies hard. The actual truth of the “supernatural manifestations” is difficult to ascertain, but the most probable explanation of the “phenomena” is that the story is either the direct or indirect result of the distorted imagination of some highly superstitious individual or individuals who are gifted with more than ordinary powers of making much out of little.
Western Gazette, 1st November, 1901.
Askerswell.
Extraordinary Ghost Story.
“Witchcraft” and Superstition.
A Village Mystery.
Some curious rumours have been afloat in the neighbourhood regarding some extraordinary things that have been happening in a house situated in a locality in this village. The house is occupied by a carter working at Eype, his wife, and family. A certain amount of superstition has implanted itself in every little country village, and in more than one rural locality in this county within recent years a good old ghost story has been lighted upon. There are very few places in the kingdom that do not boast of a “haunted house,” or at any rate some locality where supernatural agents are believed to hold high festival.
Superstition and belief in the “unseen” have grown by leaps and bounds in the village of Askersell within the past week or two, and there have been whisperings that “Ghosts are about.” The astounding belief among some is that a young servant girl has been brought under some unearthly influences. Where she is there are extraordinary antics on the part of household articles, such as chairs moving along the floor of their own accord, candles flying about, and stones coming down the chimney.
Just over a week a ago a remarkable story came from Coombe Dairy, near Litton. It will be remembered that a fire occurred there a short time ago and resulted in the complete demolition of the dairy house and other outbuildings standing near. How the fire originated is as much shrouded in mystery as the remarkable statement that the dairyman made to the bystanders on the night of the fire. He rushed out of the cottage that he and his family were temporarily occupying saying the table and chairs were dancing about the room. In the house at the time was the servant in question. It is needless to say that the Terpsichorean performances of the table and chairs were not generally credited, and the affair was attributed to the man’s imagination, notwithstanding, it is stated, that there were three witnesses prepared to corroborate the story. The inmates of the house concluded that the unfortunate domestic was somehow at the bottom of it, and she received a summary conge.
The girl went to Askerswell, and since then up to Monday has been living with her father and mother. from statements made by the villagers in this place, who, it appears have a firm belief in what they saw, it would seem that the “strange coincidences” accompanied the girl to her home. When she arrived there in this sudden manner on the Sunday following the fire the remark was made by several who saw her that she appeared strange in herself. For some years the girl has been said to be subject to fits, and it was thought that she must have had an attack whilst at Coombe.
Some astonishing revelations have now been made regarding a series of “strange occurrences” that are said to have taken place in the house on the night of Monday, the 28th inst., and which were witnessed, according to several narrators of the remarkable story, by half a dozen or more people. According to the statement made by one inhabitant of the village who lives close by the house and who was an eye witness of some of the “evenes,” it appears that early in the evening the mother of the girl was cooking something at the fire. Turning round suddenly she exclaimed to her daughter, who was sitting on a chair, “There’s an old woman underneath the table.” The girl replied that she could see nothing but the mother immediately went off into a fit of hysterics, and was put to bed. Meanwhile several people arrived in the house on hearing of the mother’s unusual behaviour. After this there occurred the curious succession of “strange doings” which have been described by several eye-witnesses.
The girl’s mother was upstairs in her bed, too frightened to move, whilst her daughter and several more people were in the sitting room below, the girl appearing quite her usual self. In the midst of the conversation a candle suddenly came downstairs. On someone going upstairs it was found that one of the candles which before stood lighted on a tin box was missing. The mother was still in the bed in a state of semi-collapse, and no other occupant was found in the rooms above the stairs. The daughter, who had her back to the stairs did not appear to take the slightest notice of the sudden appearance of the candle. This was mystery No. 1.
Some time after a flower-pot crashed downstairs and was samshed at the foot. A neighbour again rushed up, a second or two after the pot had fallen, with the remark – “Well, the devil must be up there!” On entering the mother’s bedroom that good lady was found still in bed apparently oblivious of everything going on around her, whilst by the side of the bed fragments of a broken flower pot were lying. A search was again made, but no one was found above the stairs.
Later in the evening a globe of a table lamp was smashed in a mysterious manner, and though several persons were in the room at the time, no one could account for it. There was a noise underneath the table (as an eyewitness put it), and one of the family found the globe smashed to atoms. Not long after a big stone came through the window, breaking two or three panes of glass. Those that were in the room immediately went outside, but nobody was in sight.
A few minutes later the mystery was intensified by another stone coming in through the door, as though it had been just truckled in. Just after ten o’clock the strangest incident of the evening occurred. The people in the sitting room were sitting discussing the previous “events,” when without the slightest warning (as the evidence of one of the company gave it) the girl and the chair she was sitting upon were “pitched across the room.” The occupants were considerably startled, as no one seemed to be sitting near the girl. When picked up off the floor she appeared quite sensible, and in reply to the questions put to her in rapid succession she said she felt as if someone had put their boot under her chair and kicked her across the room, and the chair after her.
These experiences are given here as they have been related by those who were in the kitchen all through the evening, and who are prepared to vouch for their truth. Naturally they have excited the talk of the neighbourhood and whilst there are plenty who refuse to place any credence in the story and put it down as pure imagination, there are as many others who superstitiously believe that “unseen agents” are at work, and connect the strange incidents with the unfortunate servant girl.
The house in which the family live has for some years had the reputation of being “haunted.” Some years ago the girl underwent an operation for her eyes, and formerly she was believed to be non compos mentis.She left her home on Monday, it seems, without the knowledge of her parents, and is now said to be in Dorchester.
Southern Times and Dorset County Herald, 2nd November 1901.
To The Editor Of The Times.
Sir, – The “mystery” house at Swanton Novers is my old home, which I well remember being built nearly 60 years ago. Similar phenomena occurred in this parish, but with this difference, that the showers were not of oil, but of stones, and they came not in the day but in the night. People came from a distance to witness these mysteries, attributed to supernatural forces, immense pieces of rock being hurled from one room to another, and all supposed to come from the ceiling. They ceased altogether, however, when an hysterical girl left the house for another, which was soon found to be on fire.
Your obedient servant,
H.P. BRYAN.
Askerswell Rectory, Dorchester, Sept. 3.
The Times, September 6th, 1919.