“Queeky” haunts this house at Aynho.
A poltergeist investigated.
Pursuing the recent correspondence on local ghosts “Guardian” reporter J. Cashman accepted an invitation to spend a night in a house at Aynho which is reputed to be the haunt of poltergeists, the mischievous little “men” of the spirit world. He writes:
To Miss Alexa M Young, a retired governess, who lives in a little 18th century cottage opposite Aynho Village Hall, the existence of a particular poltergeist who “plagues the life out of her” is an indisputable fact. She is so familiar with his activities that she calls him “Queeky.” She is certain she has even seen him once.
She first became aware of him in 1947 when she lived in a house further down the road. In fact he became such a nuisance that she moved to her present cottage three years ago. But she found that Queeky came too.
In 1947 a young married couple resided with Miss Young and before leaving the district in 1948 they signed a document, detailing some of the deeds of Queeky from July 24th, 1947 to February 13th, 1948. It seems that Queeky is seldom happy unless he has hidden something. One night, for instance, he took a heavy modern clock from the married couple’s room and placed it on Miss Young’s writing desk. After discovering a valuable compact was missing, Miss Young did not find it until several months later, wedged underneath a heavy wardrobe.
On another occasion Queeky took away a pair of nylons and replaced them days afterwards. In his six years haunting, says Miss Young, he has hidden everything imaginable, including lipstick, books, various articles of clothing and money which was replced weeks after, but one note was never recovered, nor was a pocket book full of snaps.
On numerous occasions Miss Young recalls going into her living room in the morning and finding pennies, taken from her purse, lying in a row in front of the fireplae.
About 2.30 one morning, Miss Young lay in bed and was suddenly awakened by the sound of a door opening. Curiosity overcoming her fright, she looked in the direction of a large screen near the bedroom door. “I saw somethign about four feet tall, dressed in dark grey and wearing what appeared to be a grey cowl on its head,” she said. “It had thin arms and legs, sharp black eyes and a beaked nose. It was half-human, half-bird, having a certain resemblance to a puppet. When it glided from behind the screen I could see the projecting eyes gazing round the room and then it turned and fixed its eyes on me before finally gliding sideways out of the room.” And that, Miss Young believes, was Queeky.
Animals have been aware of the poltergeist. “Blossom,” a Pekinese dog, owned by Miss Young, is generally very reactive when Queeky is about. Miss Young also had a cat and it became terrified one night when it saw something behind her.
A team of psychic experts recently visited the cottage and conducted an investigation. They placed threads all over the premises and sprinkled powder on the floors, but Queeky did not make an appearance. He was not active for some weeks after that and Miss Young believes that he was temporarily scared away.
What exactly are the ambitions of this sub-human of the elemental worlds? It is difficult to say, but he has, according to Miss Young, developed a close attachment to the cottage and is regularly involved in his boyish-like devilment of hiding articles which are sometimes not found until weeks or months afterwards. Miss Young will not have it that this is nothing but a figment of imagination and she points to the fact that other people too have experienced his machinations.
An American airman and his wife are living at the cottage at the moment. They have not been unduly troubled by the poltergeist so far, but a few days ago the airman found that the alarm clock which he had set the previous night had been tampered with and the alarm pushed in.
Mrs O.V. Scoggins, who resides at the house formerly occupied by Miss Young, told me she had not been annoyed by Queeky, although she recently found her clock moved from the mantelshelf on to the floor.
Miss Young provded me with two ghost stories to read while I sat in the living room waiting and watching for some sign of Queeky on Saturday night. I had ample opportunity to read these, for Queeky certainly did not appear. About 3 a.m. I heard a slight scuffle and a sound resembling that of a clock ticking. There was no clock near me, but the sound may have been caused by the wind. Miss Young is happy in the thought that she may shortly have the key to the Queeky mystery when a seance is held at the cottage. But if Queeky hears of this – he is a very intelligent poltergeist – he may decide to move. Who knows?
Banbury Guardian, 12th November 1953.