Family in fear of a “spook”.
By Tony Robinson.
A family are walking the streets at night – because they are scared of a ghost. Wayne Bickerton and his wife, Marie, take their nine-month-old daughter on midnight strolls rather than sleep at home. “That’s the time the ghost becomes active,” said 21-year-old Wayne of Basford, Nottingham. “It bangs up the stair, as if wearing heavy boots. Then it paces up and down the front bedroom.”
Wayne first called in the police because he thought a prowler was trying to break in. A police search drew a blank. So Wayne, an unemployed builder, called in a vicar to say prayers in the family home. The phantom noises stopped. But only for a week.
The couple are now hoping that a seance – to be arranged by a member of the Society for Psychical Research – will end the ghostly visits. But down-to-earth help might be at hand. Mr Arthur Oscroft, Nottingham City Council’s housing director said: “This family live in a clearance property and they will be rehoused as soon as possible.”
Sunday Mirror, 16th September 1979.