‘Get us out of our home’.
‘Haunted’ wife’s desperate plea to local council.
A young housewife terrified of being alone in her home because she fears it is haunted has appealed to the council to rehouse her. Only ten weeks after moving into her Acton home at 12 Barrow Hill, 20-year-old Mrs Jackie Clapham is desperate to get out. After a successful three way exchange from Haverhill, she and her husband Philip felt ready to settle into country life with baby Paul. But strange things started to happen just after they moved in on April 3 and now both Jackie and 17-month-old Paul are suffering from the strain.
Jackie has experienced doors opening on their own, handles turning when no-one else is there, and the inexplicable sound of footsteps. She described the atmosphere in the baby’s room as “evil” and neither she nor baby Paul feel comfortable there any longer. “Things started happening and at first I didn’t make it click. I thought it was the wind opening the doors. But the actual thing that convinced me happened two weeks ago. For some time Paul had been sleeping all right. Then he started to wake up screaming three times although we had given him medicine to help him sleep. I came downstairs and while I was here I heard footsteps behind me. But it wasn’t my husband because he was still upstairs looking after Paul. The following day I was here with Paul watching television when the door handle started going and the top of the door started moving inwards as though someone was pushing it. After that I just had to get out. I told my husband there was definitely something here. It has got to the point where the baby is terrified to go into his bedroom. It is not the fact that it is doing anything harmful. It is just that it is so frightening when things happen. It is disrupting our lives because I cannot be here on my own or spend time doing normal things around the house.”
Since bringing the problem into the open she has discovered that some of the previous tenants in the house had similar experiences. Neighbour Mrs Barbara Cook, who now lives at 14 Barrow Hill, confirmed that she also felt the house was haunted when she lived there for four years from 1974.
Mr R. W. Rendell, principal housing officer for Babergh Council said this week that the case was being treated seriously and the council was quite prepared to consider the family for a move.
Suffolk and Essex Free Press, 24th June 1982.
Haunted family is rehoused.
A young housewife who feared her home was haunted has been rehoused after desperate pleas to Babergh District Council. This week Mrs Jackie Clapham, her husband Philip, and 17-month baby Paul, were relieved to find themselves back to normal family life in a new home at Queensway, Acton, after nightmare three months at Barrow Hill. After returning to the area in a three-way exchange from Haverhill, Mrs Clapham had experienced doors opening on their own at her Barrow Hill house, and the inexplicable sound of footsteps when nobody else was there.
Baby Paul had also been affected by the strange happenings, but he was sleeping properly again since the weekend move to a new home, said Mrs Clapham.
Babergh Council had been asked to help and the transfer had, also involved consultation with a doctor and Suffolk social services. The family’s plight was highlighted exclusively in last week’s Free Press.
Suffolk and Essex Free Press, 1st July 1982.
A ghost ‘evicts’ family.
A family have been driven out of their home – because they reckon it was haunted. Philip and Jackie Clapham, and their 17-month-old son Paul were given a new home after only months in their council house at Barrow Hill, Acton, Suffolk. Mrs Clapham, 20, said yesterday: “It was a nightmare. Doors opened for no reason and I heard footsteps when no one was there.”
Babergh council’s Chief Housing Officer, Mr Ron Rendell, said: “I am convinced their fears were genuine.”
Sunday Mirror, 4th July 1982.