The farm is also marked as ‘Burton Rakes’ on the current map.
Ghostly Visitors at Bishop Burton?
Mysterious Occurrence. Continual vigilance fails to detect the origin.
The residents of the vicinity of Bishop Burton have lately been indulging in some speculation as to the origin of a most mysterious occurrence at one of the neighbouring farm houses and in which nothing more or less uncanny than a ghostly visitor is alleged by many to be concerned.
A representative of the Recorder recently heard the details related by Mr Webster, who is the hind at Raikes Farm, Bishop Burton, the property of Mr Robert Fisher. It is an amazing story, and one that is almost incredible in these days of englightenment and research. Difficult as it is to believe the story is vouched for by Mr Webster, who with his wife has been mystified by a most remarkable occurrence, or rather series of the incidents that have occurred for some considerable time. The natives of the district have been confronted with a problem, the solution of which, although it has been eagerly and even anxiously looked for, is apparently as far distant as ever, despite the fact, if rumour is correct, the assistance of a spiritualistic medium from Hull has even been invoked.
From the detailed description of the occurrence heard by our own representative, it appears that whenever there was a batch of bread baked by Mrs Webster, it was found on the following morning that some of the loaves had undergone mutilation during the night. The crust of the loaf is said to have been broken at just one side, so that the soft interior might be extracted. This in each instance was removed, so that the loaf was nothing more or less than a “shell”. This state of affairs was repeated for some days and as a portion of a loaf mysteriously disappeared regularly after each baking, Mrs Webster and her husband naturally came to the conclusion that some trick was being played upon them by the farm hands, or by some of those residing near at hand. Inquiries failed to detect the offender, however, and the more the occurrence was looked into the greater became the mystery.
An effort was made to put a stop to the incident, which was causing both annoyance and expense to the victims of what looked like a senseless practical joke. No one could be found to confess to having participated in the disappearance of the bread, and under these circumstances, surmising that a spirit of mischief was causing a repetition of the joke, a watch was kept, but all in vain.
A quantity of bread is said to have been placed in an earthenware pancheon, and then to have been covered with a cloth and sealed down. The vessel was then put on the table and left for the night. In the morning the pancheon was opened, but to the surprise and consternation of everyone it was found that the bread had been treated in a manner exactly similar to what had happened to it before. It looked exactly as if the interior of the loaf had been devoured by a bird, but that of course was impossible in view of the fact that it had been under seal the whole of the night and had been kept under strict observation.
It was impossible too that rats could have had access to the bread, and what is even more remarkable is that whatever it is that has been responsible for the disappearance of the bread manufactured by Mrs Webster, it has shown a preference for the loaves, as pork pies and sweet breads have been left untouched. Curiously enough too whenever the bread has disappeared there have been no crumbs, or anything of that kind left behind. A specially constructed chest, which was lined with metal, proved ineffectual to safeguard the bread, and as yet no explanation is forthcoming, despite an interview with a spiritualist expert from Hull, who is said to attribute the occurrence to a ghostly visitor, who is alleged to have formerly resided at or near the house.
Beverley Echo, 1st July 1903.
More About The Bishop Burton Mystery.
The bread still disappearing.
The amazing story which we put before our readers in last week’s issue has been the subject of much speculation during the past few days. We related last week how Mrs Webster baked the bread, and how it was covered over with a cloth and on examination later was found to be gradually wasting away. We have now to add the mystery still continues, and Mrs Webster is wondering whether she will ever be able to taste genuine home-made bread again.
“Yes,” she said to a Recorder representative on Friday, “it still goes on. There’s no need to watch it at night, it vanishes during the day time just the same. It gradually wastes away and that’s all I know. How it goes is a mystery, but it goes all the same.”
And how long has this been going on? queried our representative. “This is the eighteenth week from when it first began to disappear.” Well how do you manage, then? “Oh, we get bought bread, but we have to eat it as soon as we get it. It wastes away too.” It’s not the fault of the oven, you think, or the way it is baked? This was a rather audacious query, but was answered by Mrs Webster promptly: “Oh no, it’s baked just the same as other bread.”
Our representative was then shown a loaf which had been baked on Monday last. The top crust and two of the sides were entirely gone, whilst the loaf had greatly diminished from its original size. “In time it will all go,” continued Mrs Webster, “There’s no keeping it. Pastry and pies remain all right, and that’s where the mystery lies.” And what about the ghostly visitor? “Oh, I don’t believe anything in that.” Still you can’t account for it. “No, it wastes away and that’s all I know. How it goes I cannot tell.”
As for the alleged practical joking by the servants, Mrs Webster said it was entirely false. On some occasions the loaves had been put in places where it was impossible for the alleged “jokers” to get at them. Extraordinary precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of the bread, but all have so far proved unavailing. Poison has been put on a part of a loaf, mice and rat traps set, and still the loaves diminish.
Mrs Webster has of course suffered much loss in consequence. A close observation shows that there are no finger-marks on the loaves, and as we have said before no crumbs are to be found. A loaf had even been watched throughout the day, and yet when examined part of the bottom had vanished. Loaves purchased from Beverley and the surrounding district waste away in the same unnatural manner described above.
We can say no more at present. Our story last week was perfectly accurate, and we have already told of the painstaking efforts made by Mr and Mrs Webster to solve the mystery. Naturally there have been many visitors to Raikes Farm since the story was first circulated through the medium of the Recorder, and both Mr and Mrs Webster have no doubt been kept busy re-telling the particulars. But the more one thinks about it the greater seems the mystery.
In the meantime we should like to hear the opinions of our readers, one of whom suggests it must be one of Carl Mysto’s satellites left behind. As yet, however, no explanation is forthcoming, and we can only repeat that the cause of the disappearance of the bread still remains a mystery. Any further developments will be reported in these columns from time to time.
Beverley Echo, 8th July 1903.
A Hungry Ghost.
Extraordinary Occurrences at an East Riding Farm.
In the midst of the Yorkshire Wolds, two miles away from the picturesque village of Bishop Burton, is a little cluster of buildings known as Raikes Farm. It is quite an ordinary-looking little farm, with its modest dwelling house, and out-buildings, nothing picturesque about it beyond its air of quaint homeliness. Yet during the last four or five months, the peaceful life, formerly led by the occupants, has been disturbed by a series of most extraordinary and unaccountable occurrences. For a time they kept the facts to themselves, but as the mysterious proceedings have continued without a break, the matter leaked out and now the strange happenings at Raikes Farm are the talk of the countryside.
The singularity of the occurrences is that there is absolutely nothing to account for them. The occupants of the house are Mr and Mrs Webster, who control the little farmstead for Mr J Fisher, of Leconfield, and the mystery which they have to contend with is the presence of an agency – whether spiritual or physical it is hard to say – which has an extreme partiality for bread loaves. Nothing else in the house in the eatable line has been touched, but the loaves have vanished with a celerity both extremely mysterious and amazing, and the writer with the object of satisfying himself as to the truth of the rumours with which the countryside has been ringing went to Raikes Farm to learn for himself the true facts of the case.
Judiciously avoiding the fact that he was a pressman, he got into conversation with Mr and Mrs Webster as to the mystery. From what he gleaned it appears that Mr and Mrs Webster first noticed the diminuition of the loaves about seventeen or eighteen weeks ago. They then noticed that the tops and portions of the inside of the loaves had been removed, but put it down to rats and mice. Traps were set in the hope of catching the thieving rodents, but this was of no avail, none were caught, but the loaves continued to visibly diminish even faster than before.
In the hope of preventing any further losses, Mr and Mrs Webster decided to place some loaves in an earthenware pancheon in the cellar. The loaves were put at the bottom of the receptacle, and several cakes placed on the top, which was also tied down with a cloth. Not only that but the three doors giving access to the cellar were locked and the keys removed, and then the occupants went to bed satisfied that they had effectually coped with the marauder or marauders. On the following morning, however, to their great consternation and surprise they found that several loaves had undergone mutilation during the night. There was absolutely no indication of how it had been done, the pancheon being just as they left it to all intents and purposes.
The next night a loaf was placed in an out-building and locked up. The next morning part of the loaf was gone! The funny thing of it is, the bread disappears in the daytime as well as at night. Last Tuesday week, Mrs Webster placed a loaf of bread on the table in a tin, close to where she was ironing, and where it was constantly in view. When examined, part of it was gone off the bottom. Loaves have been marked and watched, but it is just the same. The part marked is left intact, but some other part of the loaf goes. Poison has even been put on part of a loaf that was left, but this did not appreciably diminish.
One night loaves were placed in a box, the lid of which was nailed on and locked up. The result was just the same in the morning. The flour was next suspected and then the yeast, but loaves from Beverley shared the same fate; in fact, the bought loaves disappeared more quickly than the home-made ones.
“We have suspended loaves in a bag from the ceiling of the cellar,” stated Mrs Webster, “have locked them up in cupboards all over the house, and the results have been the same. If rats or mice got to them there would be crumbs scattered about, but here not a crumb is to be found. If you could stay and see any loaves taken out of the oven and placed on the table and watch them for ten minutes you would see they had diminished in size – pieces gone clean off. We are greatly troubled about it as it is such a waste. We must have lost stones of bread and are utterly at a loss to account for it. There are no teeth or finger marks on the loaves. Strange to say, cakes and other baked things are not disturbed.
The occcupants are now, however, getting quite used to the depradations of the invisible thief, and at each meal partake of the same loaves on which their ghostly visitor has supped or dined.
Of course the farm has obtained great notoriety as a result of the proceedings, and is visited by many inquisitive sight seers. Last Sunday the number of visitors was exceptionally large, and the solution of the strange occurrence will be awaited with deep interest.
There seems to be a general conviction that the occurrences are the result of some spiritual agency, but why any ghostly visitant should physically appease his hunger with bread loaves does not appear to be quite clear.
It is, however, a curious fact that some old resident in the district can recall a similar occurrence at this same farm house.
East Riding Telegraph, 11th July 1903.
Mystic Loaves. Ghostly story from Yorkshire.
Bishop Norton, one of those charming villages that are hidden away in the Yorkshire wolds not far from the minster town of Beverley, has, all to itself, a ghostly mystery, so weird and puzzling as to deserve attention at the hands of the Psychical Research Society. Mr and Mrs Webster, of Raikes Farm, have for three months been perturbed by a strange fate which has befallen their supply of bread. Morning after morning they came down to find the loaves they left in the breadpan, some diminished in size, others with crusts taken off, some more with holes through them, and yet no sign of crumbs or of mice or of human handling.
“One night,” said Mr Webster to a “Daily Express” representative, “I placed some loaves in an earthenware pan, tied a cloth over the top, and placed several spice cakes on the lid. Morning arrived. The external things were undisturbed. The loaves inside had been mutilated. The next night we secreted a loaf in an outbuilding. In the morning part of it had gone. One day a perfect loaf stood by Mrs Webster in a tin on a table at which she was ironing clothes. When it was removed a piece had been torn from it. We have put a poisoned loaf among others. That was left intact. The others had been tampered with. Loaves have been suspended in bags from the ceiling and locked up in cupboards, and all with the same result. Cakes and other cooked things are never touched.”
Bread has been brought from all parts of the district, but it has been treated like loaves of Mrs Webster’s own baking, and there are some who declare that they have seen a loaf decrease in size even as they watched it. A remarkable sworn statement has been made by Police-constable Berridge, who was employed to watch the premises. He took with him two loaves of bread which he purchased at Beverley, and placed them in the dairy. At that time there was other bread in another part of the house, “wasting away.”
“On the following day,” proceeds the officer, “I cut the top off one of my loaves, and, to my surprise, found a great hole inside. The other loaf had also wasted. Two days later I placed five new loaves of bread in a breadpan, and they appeared all right until the following day. At 10a.m., when I examined the bread, it was all right, but at noon the top had disappeared from one loaf entirely, and the other loaves were wasting. I have locked bread up under a lock of my own, and I have placed bread in secret places known only to myself, and although there has never been a crumb in the pan the bread has always wasted.”
Northern Daily Telegraph, 24th August 1903.
(as above, then)
A representative of the “Express” has called at the farm this week. “Step into this room,” said the wife of the occupier, “and you shall see what’s happened since Saturday night when I baked.” Shew went towards the dairy, and returned with a bread-pan full of bread loaves of various sizes – and in various stages of demolition. This certainly presented a curious sight. One was a quartern loaf which had never been touched by the knife. The portion which had been inside the tin when it was baked was smooth and untouched as when it left the tin, but four-fifths of the upper crust had disappeared. Half of one of the other loaves had been cut off for food. The crusty part of the remaining half had undergone some curious wasting process, and all the other pieces of bread brought from the dairy had faired similarly. Asked if any explanation had suggested itself to his mind, Mr Webster said:
“I’ve got no theories. We’ve given up having theories. All we know is that it keeps going on, and nobody who’s been here yet has been able to suggest anything sensible. It may be a spirit or it may be something in the air, but of this I am perfectly sure, it’s no human being and it’s no animal. It has been said that we are doing it ourselves for the sake of making an exhibition. If we charged people for coming to see it or if we sold any of it, as we might, then there might be some reason for suspecting that we had a hand in it. Instead of gaining anything out of the business we are the losers. Here I am, paid so much a year for looking after a lot of men and providing them with food. In a short time there will be thirty men feeding here (while the harvest is going on), and you may be sure that thirty men will get through a good deal of bread. It isn’t likely that we should play tricks with bread when we have all these to find for. Besides, we’ve seven children of our own to feed.
“Half the bread that comes into this house is wasted. We can’t put such bread as you are looking at now before people. This has been going on since March. We have been on this farm twelve years, and until last March nothing of the kind has happened, but since then almost every loaf of bread that has been in the place has been interfered with.”
“We have had bread brought in from all round,” remarked Mrs Webster, “and except in one or two cases, it has all been served in the same way. I have baked with flour from all sorts of places, and the bread ‘wastes’ just the same. One of the neighbouring farmers brought a loaf of bread here and left it, and took a loaf of my baking, to see if any change would come over it in his house. The next morning when he came, the loaf he took away was quite sound, but a good deal of that which he left me was gone. We might have made some money out of the bread but we’ve refused to sell any of it. Why, only last night three gentlemen were here trying hard to buy a piece and one offered me a sovereign, which I refused.”
Totnes Weekly Times, 29th August 1903.
The Bread Mystery.
To the Editor of the “Daily Mail.”
Sir, – In to-night’s “Mail” I read with amusement Mr West’s so-called solution of the bread mystery, vis., “The Water,” and I desire to ask Mr West if he knows that the bread which disappears is not all made at Raikes Farm. If not, then I beg to state that it matters not from what district bread is taken, for still it disappears like that made on the farm premises. If he knows, let me ask him if the same water is used in bread made in Beverley, etc., as that used in Raikes Farm? To this I expect his answer is “No,” for Beverley water is not brought from Raikes Farm. Therefore, how can the “so-called” solution be correct?
Then again, if the water is the cause, can he explain why the bread does not keep wasting away after removal from the farm, for when it is removed right away it wastes not, but remains in the exact state it was when it left the farm (unless altered by human hands).
If he is so sure water is the cause, let him make a loaf, and send it under seal to the farm, and I doubt not that they will only be too pleased to prove his version wrong, but allowing it to stay for a time there, and then when opened I am sure he will see that he has been “too clever.” Now, I am not in any way connected with Raikes Farm nor its tenants, but have been there, and am confident Mr West’s version is wrong.
I may say a friend of mine possesses a piece of some bread that commenced to “go” there, but it has not gone since it went away with him, and this without permission. No, my friend, the mystery lies in a far different way to what you explain. I am, Sir, etc., “LANTERN.” Driffield, August 31st, 1903.
A Suggestion and a Response.
In the London Express of Monday last, Mr West, of 21, Algrave-road, Earlsfield, near Wimbledon, who has been a baker for 60 years, says there are three cases within his knowledge similar to the Raikes Farm mystery. He suggests that an abnormally dry or wet season will completely change the character of the water from a well or spring; that it absorbs impurities usually foreign to it; and that the poisonous qualities of these impurities are fully developed during the fermentation of the bread consequent on the use of yeast.
He explains the disappearance of the upper crust in the Raikes Farm bread by stating that the impurities do their insidious work in an upward direction, and that whichever way the loaf was turned the uppermost crust would in a short time vanish.
Briefly, Mr West’s solution of the mystery is that the water used in making the bread at the Raikes Farm is from a well or spring adjoining the farm, and that if a change of water were tried the housewife would find that the bread would turn out from the oven in a perfect normal state.
A Driffield correspondent, however, does not agree with Mr West, and asks that gentleman if he is aware that the disappearing bread is not all made at Raikes Farm. Also if he is sure that water is the cause. If he was let him make a loaf, send it to the farm, and await results. No doubt he would then find that he was in the wrong. The correspondent adds that he is in no way connected with Raikes Farm or its tenants, but that he has visited the farm out of curiosity.
Beverley and East Riding Recorder, 5th September 1903.
The Wasting Bread at Bishop Burton.
A Plymouth man’s experiences.
A Plymouth correspondent of the Western Daily Mercury writes as follows: –
Raikes Farm, a lonely farmhouse in East Yorkshire, a few miles from the village of Bishop Burton, is attracting widespread attention on account of its mysterious wasting bread. Happening to be staying in that part of Yorkshire a friend and myself paid a visit to this out-of-the-way farm in order to satisfy ourselves as to the truth of the reports current in the Press.
Leaving Bishop Burton village which, by the way, is one of the prettiest in the county, the road to Raikes Farm rises steadily, passing through large cornfields, and the house, which is a somewhat low white building, is almost hidden by large barns, and stands solitary, surrounded by fields and backed by a line of dark trees. Mrs Webster courteously received us, and brought some of the loaves for our inspection.
The largest loaf, which was made in the house, had lost its entire crust, not a particle remaining, and seemed to have been removed by some unknown force very evenly and without the bread being otherwise torn or disfigured. One wondered in looking at it if anyone could possibly take off the hard crust of a round loaf in such a manner. The other loaf which was a bought one, had lost a large portion from each side.
“These,” said Mrs Webster, “are Friday’s bread (and it was then Monday) and have been kept locked up in an iron box. It makes no difference where the bread is obtained or where we put it. We have tried keeping it in all sorts of places, wrapped up in a number of newspapers, and then in cloths, and it goes just the same. At first, thinking it might be mice or animals of some sort, we surrounded the bread with flour, expecting to find traces, but there were none, nor any crumbs; yet the loaves had diminished in the same way. One remarkable fact is that cakes and spiced bread are untouched. We employed a constable to watch it, but it apparently wasted before his eyes.”
Mrs Webster further informed us that the strange phenomenon began last March, and had been going on ever since, although at first, strangely enough, more quickly than at present. “We have taken a batch of bread from the oven,” she said, “and in a short time every loaf would have some portion gone, and even while it was still hot.”
Questioned as to whether the house was “haunted,” Mrs Webster said that of late they had heard unaccountable noises and singing at night, but never before, although they had lived there twelve years.
Altogether the phenomenon appears to have baffled everyone, and those who are the most intimate with the facts seem to think that something other than natural causes is concerned in these mysterious proceedings. For our own part, we came away from the solitary dwelling and its uncanny “happenings” with a sense of relief and a deepened conviction that there are “more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”
Beverley and East Riding Recorder, 19th September 1903.
Haunted Loaves.
A Yorkshire Farm House Mystery.
An Irishman’s Queer Experience.
The mysterious disappearance of bread at an isolated farmhouse near Beverley, in Yorkshire, still continues, the latest development being that Mr. Webster, who has lived at the house for the past twelve years, has decided to remove. The extraordinary phenomenon commenced in March last, and has baffled all attempts at solution.
A Press representative visited the farmhouse yesterday, and was shown several loaves, all of which were in various stages of demolition. Mrs Webster stated that although she had baked on the previous day, she had not a sound loaf left in the house.
Recently she placed a newly-baked loaf near the open window, and within two hours the crust was partially stripped off, while another loaf placed in a safe vanished entirely. An Irish harvester working on the farm took a supply of bread with him and stored it in the house, but as the loaves rapidly diminished in size he hurriedly removed his commissariat to less uncanny quarters.
A novel test is now being made by a Hull tradesman with a view to ascertaining whether atmospheric influences are responsible for the phenomenon. A loaf has been hermetically sealed in a leaden casket and placed near the “haunted” bread in the dairy. If this dwindles away as others have done, it will certainly support the local theory that supernatural influences are at work.
Bradford Daily Telegraph, 8th October 1903.
The Haunted Loaves.
Farmhouse mystery still unsolved.
The haunted bread of Beverley, despite a host of “explanations” both fanciful and scientific, still remains a mystery. Test after test has been applied, experiment after experiment has been made, but the phenomena continue; and the Websters, who have lived on their farm for twelve years, are leaving at Martinmas (November 11) in sheer despair, driven away by a weird problem of which no one can find a satisfactory solution.
A novel test made by a Hull tradesman with a view to ascertaining whether atmospheric influences are responsible for the extraordinary dwindling and disappearance of the loaves, has just been completed. A small loaf was hermetically sealed in a leaden casket and conveyed to the farm and placed on the dairy shelf. Beside it were placed an exposed loaf and a cheese-cake. The bread and pastry were allowed to remain a week, when it was found that while the exposed loaf had “decayed” or dwindled away the encased loaf and the cheesecake remained intact. During the time the experiment was being made, Webster’s bread, which is kept in a covered pan, completely vanished in the same way as before, not even a crumb being left. Neither brown bread nor pastry has been in any way affected by this mysterious agency at any time during these peculiar disappearances.
A party of shrewd farmers took a loaf with them to the farm for the purpose of making an experiment. They placed it on a table, and did not leave the room, but when they examined the loaf they found that a small portion had disappeared. The Websters have expressed their willingness to allow any test to be made in order that the mystery may be solved.
Bradford Daily Telegraph, 13th October 1903.
Vanishing Bread.
The “St. James’s Gazette” says:-
It is not surprising to hear that the Webster family have been driven from their home at Raikes Farm, Beverley, but the reasons for their flight are of the kind at which imagination boggles. The story of the vanishing loaves in the “Express” literally beggars description. Briefly it comes to this, that all the bread baked in the house disappeared by magic. It crumbles away while the eyes of detection, as set in the head of the very village constable, are fixed upon it. It is not rats, it is not mice, it is not thieves, it is not fancy.
Every device from threads of cotton to double locks have been used to solve the mystery. The bread simply fades away like any well conducted boojum, as you look at it. The devil is obviously in it, unless the parrot is responsible for it. Anyhow it is certain that the Websters food is costing them a great deal more. So they are leaving this haunted neighbourhood firmly convinced that Hamlet’s opinion as to the limitations of Horatio’s philosophy was correct. Mercifully we need not despair of a clearing up of the mystery. Was anything under the circumstances ever more opportune than the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes?
Dublin Evening Mail, 15th October 1903.
Raikes Farm Bread Mystery.
The Subtle Enzyme.
Science Finds a Solution.
A Natural Chemical Causes Disappearance.
(Special for the “Daily Mail.”)
“Ghosts are out of the question. Spirits are not to be considered. The theory is ridiculous; and so is the theory of microbes. You will have to go further down in the scale of operating agencies than microbes.” So said an analytical chemist and bacteriologist to a representative of the Hull “Daily Mail” on Saturday, on the way to Raikes Farm, two miles up the hill side from Bishop Burton.
“What is your theory then?” asked the writer of the bacteriologist. “You won’t for a moment allow the ‘supernatural’ suggestion a chance?”
“Not a chance,” said the man of science.
“Then how are you yourself going to suggest a solution of the mystery of the disappearing bread?”
The bacteriologist smiled. “It is without doubt one of two things – it is either Bunkum, or Enzymes,” he said.
“Enzymes,” cried the writer. “That is something entirely new – quite a fresh contribution to the discussion.”
“Yes,” said the scientist, “but suppose it should be all bunkum.”
“No,” said the writer, “we will not suppose it is all bunkum. We will suppose it is all genuine. I, myself, have seen too much of this bread, and have satisfied myself so well as to the genuineness of many of the tests, that you may take it for granted there is no bunkum about it. Answer me this question: Supposing for the sake of argument that the bread does disappear in the way described, has science an explanation?”
“Oh, I grant you that, and a very simple explanation it is when you come to examine it.”
“And it is…”
“What I said before – Enzymes.”
“And what are enzymes? Are they the same as microbes, bacteria, baccili, as people are in the habit of calling them?”
“No. An enzyme is something far more subtle and elusive than the animalcule you find in water. I see that a number of chemists have been trying to solve the mystery of this Raikes Farm bread with the aid of microscopes. They failed. They were always likely to fail. They would not have found bacteria in that bread with a microscope, unless there had been visible ‘mould’ on the bread, and from all I can learn there have been no signs of mould. To begin with, suppose this interference with the bread were bacterial, an effort would have to be made to isolate the bacteria by transferring small particles of the bread to certain nurseries as they are called, finding out what kind of food they thrive upon best, giving them the ‘delicacies of the season’ in fact. When you had got a thriving colony of them you could begin to investigate them. That is why the chemists from Beverley and Hull found nothing in the bread to account for its disappearance.”
“And where do the enzymes come in?”
“I will try to explain, by telling you what a German scientist, Professor Buchner, did with regard to yeast. He discovered that beyond and beneath the generally accepted theory of the raising power of yeast in bread there was something at work which was at the bottom of the fermenting process. He set to work to grind yeast cells up with very fine sand so as effectually to disintegrate them. The sand and yeast he subjected to immense hydraulic pressure, and the result was a fluid. This fluid he passed through the most searching filter he could get, thus arresting everything that was of a living nature, and then he found that with the filtered fluid he could make bread ‘rise’ in all respects like the bread made with yeast. What had done the work? The enzyme in the yeast. The result is that there is a new yeast put on the market called ‘enduring yeast,’ which is really a solution of enzyme out of yeast.”
“That is simply put,” said the writer, “and now how are we going to apply your enzyme theory to Mr Webster’s Raikes Farm bread?”
“My case is this,” said the scientist. “There are good and bad enzymes.Why do they have analytical chemists in breweries? To watch the process of germination and fermentation, to see that the right agency is at work. The reason so much was heard of ‘bad brews’ in the old days when people brewed their own beer was, that the bad enzymes had been operating instead of the good ones. This merely by way of illustration. My explanation of the vanishing bread at Raikes Farm is this, that sometime or other there has been received into Raikes Farm yeast or other matter containing some minute living matter which secretes a destructive enzyme. This living matter (according to my theory), would find a congenial atmosphere in which to thrive.”
“Would it remain there?”
“Providing it found favourable conditions it would take hold at once, and spread and multiply at a fabulous rate. Indeed the rate of multiplication is beyond all belief, and for anything anyone knows the whole house and farmstead may be now reeking with the insidious and invisible enemy.”
“What is the particular viciousness of this enemy?”
“The enemy is probably what is known to science as a ‘mould’. This mould, on finding a suitable medium for growth, would multiply, and during the process it would be secreting its enzyme, with all its capacity for destruction.”
“And as regards Raikes Farm you suggest–“
“That the mould, infesting the air, has found a resting place on the bread, and has secreted its enzyme.”
“And what would happen then?”
“Simply this, that from the very nature of the enzymic operation the bread would evanesce, vanish, disappear. Visible material (bread) would change into invisible gas. When bacteria was first discovered, there were many sceptics, and it took people a long time to place unquestioning belief in them, but it is now generally admitted that M. Duclaux, the great French scientist, was absolutely right when he claimed that, ‘whenever and wherever there is decomposition of organic matter, whether in the case of a weed or an oak, of a worm or a whale, the work is exclusively performed by infinitely small organisms. They are the important, almost the only, agents of universal hygiene. But we might go a step further than this now, and say that there is something deeper down in the scientific box of secrets than organisms. An organism has life, but your Enzyme has no life – is indeed a chemical substance made by Nature herself, the like of which no chemist has yet been able to produce. I may tell you that the enzyme possesses immense chemical activity. A small portion will do an immense amount of work. In comparison with anything a chemical laboratory can produce the Enzyme leaves everything far behind. Hence, the mould finding itself in clover, makes the best of its power to secrete its Enzyme, and then – carbonic acid gas!”
So much for conversation by the way. The scientist was shown a loaf of bread which the occupant of the farm declared had diminished in size during the previous twenty-four hours, and he came to the conclusion that the Enzyme theory was the right one.
Hull Daily Mail, 19th October 1903.
Raikes Farm Bread Mystery.
To the Editor of the “Daily Mail.”
“Science finds a Solution” – “The Subtle Enzyme.” – Vide Monday night’s “Daily Mail.”
Sir, – I was immensely amused by the conversation of the analytical chemist, the bacteriologist, and the representative of the Hull “Daily Mail,” as they trod their way from Bishop Burton on the Raikes road on Saturday last.
What asses! What fools! three times confounded!!! The good Raikes bread devoured by “Enzymes” Ha! Ha! Ha! What next? The flour in the farm flour bin! Then good stacks of corn in Mr Robert Fisher’s staggart!!
But the answer I want from these three walkers is: What will become of the poor Enzyme when Mr and Mrs Webster and their daughter leave the farm next month. – I am, Sir, etc., One Who Knows. October 20th 1903.
Sir, – I have read with much satisfaction the very interesting letter published in the “Daily Mail,” October 14th, signed “Miller,” treating the “Bread Mystery” scientifically, also expressing sympathy with Mr and Mrs Webster. I have always thought that the cause was either chemical or atmospheric, but since the encased loaf was found intact, it seems more likely to be the latter. I spoke to a friend some time since about the bread, and he thought the wasting might be caused by the yeast. As he is capable of judging such things, I quote his opinion after reading the letter referred to.
“I have hardly followed the facts sufficiently to enable me to form a conclusion, but it would enlighten one if the following points were made clear: Does the bread gradually diminish as soon as made, and if removed straight from the oven to another locality? Does it diminish gradually and leave nothing behind; or, does it leave dust of some kind? These points want first going into, then the elucidation ought not to be difficult. Chemical change might arise from the yeast or impure atmosphere in the house, and then you would want to trace the yeast and also the source of the impure atmosphere.”
For the benefit of the present and future occupants of the house, I hope some interested person or persons will proceed to investigate the matter and bring it to a satisfactory end. – I am, Sir, etc., E.J.N. Bridlington, October 16th, 1903.
Hull Daily Mail, 20th October, 1903.
The Vanishing Loaf.
A Solution of the Mystery.
How the Big Loaf Disappears from the Poor Man’s Shelf.
There has been a good deal in the papers lately about the mysterious dwindling and disappearance of loaves from a “haunted” farm at Beverley. Rats have been suggested, but not detected. In Germany the Little Folk would be held responsible, and the sketch above illustrates what would probably be their method of operation. (Mr F C Gould, in the “Westminster Gazette.”)
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette , 20th October 1903.
Raikes Farm Bread Mystery.
A £25 Challenge.
To the Editor of the “Daily Mail.”
Sir, The concluding words of the representative of the “Westminster Gazette” as reported in last night’s “Mail”, are much to the point. In speaking of your pet “Enzyme Theory” as the explanation of the so-called Raikes bread mystery, he says: “But before I would believe this to be the work of the enzyme, I would like to know more about the dwindling loaves; I would like to know HOW they were watched, and HOW and by HOW MUCH they dwindled away, and HOW QUICKLY?” (The capitals are mine).
Here are the words of a man of sense: – The extraordinary thing is that outside Raikes Farm no one is in a position to answer these questions. Yet they want answering, for unanswered they make the position of those who believe in the Raikes mystery supremely ridiculous, especially of those who, from their position, should know better.
What is the present situation? A report is circulated and widely accepted among a certain class, that Raikes Farm at Bishop Burton is haunted; scores of people, without credible evidence of any kind, assert that the bread loaves of the farm dwindle or disappear by the agency either of “Spook!” “Ghost!” “It!” “Them!” “Microbes!” “Bacilli!” “Enzyme!” (At the present time they are uncertain which). Some even unmistakably hint at an act of Divine Providence, or rather vengeance.
And yet there is no evidence before the public than any responsible person has hitherto investigated even the most elementary facts of the case.
I pass over the case of the ex-police officer who SLEPT at the farm and afterwards made a report! The situation is extraordinary, and without parallel for absurdity.
I hold that there can be no reasonable doubt as to the way the bread disappears. I undertake to pay £25 to the funds of the Hull Infirmary if Raikes Farm bread can be produced in my presence and that of another witness, in the act of disappearing. The second witness to be chosen by me or by the Editor of the “Mail” if he will.
It appears not to be generally known that responsible persons, who are in a position to judge, deride the whole affair. They are confident that bread which has been effectively “watched” has never “dwindled.” I may lose my £25, but I think not. It is quite understood I will accept no hearsay evidence or alleged dwindling behind my back. The bread must be seen actually dwindling with my own eyes.
I am, Sir, etc., ANTI-HUMBUG. October 22nd, 1903.
Hull Daily Mail, 23rd October 1903.
(£25 in 1903 is about £3000 today).
Occult Notes.
Bread Dematerialised.
The following curious story which appeared lately in the ‘Daily Express’ may be of interest to readers of Occult Notes:-
“Like the ancient Egyptians, the Websters, of Raikes Farm, Beverley, have a skeleton at every feast – the haunted bread which by some mysterious agency dwindles almost to nothingness even while it is being watched. The problem seems to be unfathomable. An “Express” representative who visited the farm, and made a keen investigation into the whole story of these manifestations, has not been able so far to find any tangible explanation of the phenomena. The good faith of the Websters is beyond doubt, and test of so stringent a character have been applied that trickery of any kind seems to be out of the question.
Raikes Farm is a house of mystery, and in the subdued, almost terrified, bearing of its inmates it is easy to read how deeply the manifestations have affected them. Mr Webster’s household includes his wife and seven children, his wife’s mother, and ten farm hands. No domestics are kept, Mrs Webster being assisted in her household duties by her mother and her eldest daughter.
Her story of the mystic loaves dates from the first week of March, when the bread baked overnight, which was placed on a stone floor to cool, was found in the morning to bear the appearance of having been gnawed by rats or mice. No doubt was entertained that this was what had happened, and the loaves were then placed on a high shelf in the dairy, inaccessible to rats or mice. But the crumbling still continued.
They were put in a pan. The sequel was the same. Another kind of flour was used. The loaves still dwindled. The water was suspected and changed, but the phenomena continued. Mr Webster suspected a practical joke, and keeping his own counsel, took steps to discover its author. He placed some fresh bread in a closed pan, set a rat-trap inside with it, another on top of the lid, sprinkled flour over the dairy floor, and not only locked the door but stretched two lengths of cotton across it. In the morning he found the threads intact, the flour unmarked, and the rat-traps undisturbed. But of the loaves he placed there one had utterly disappeared, not even a crumb being left, and the other had dwindled to half its original size.
For nearly three months the Websters kept the mystery to themselves, trying all the while to fathom it; but in whatever part of the house, upstairs or down, under cover or exposed, the ultimate results were the same. Some loaves crumbled away quicker than others, and Mrs Webster asserts that she has seen the end of a loaf waste to nothingness on the kitchen table within an hour. The situation became desperate, for, apart from the uncanny feeling which the phenomena awakened in the household, there was the incessant drain upon flour-bin and purse to be considered, and now the family have resolved to find a home elsewhere.
“It is not that I am superstitious or frightened,” observed Mr Webster, “but I don’t like this thing. Some people think it is nothing more than a joke on our part, but do you think we should be fools enough to joke ourselves out of house and home?” Then, seizing the remains of a loaf which was slowly shrinking on the table, and pointing to its wasting sides and crusts, he asked almost fiercely, “Do you mean to say that human hands could do that?”
To allay any suspicion of practical joking, Webster called in the services of ex-Police-constable Berridge, of Bishop Burton, and gave him sole charge of the dairy for several days. Berridge frankly confessed to the “Express” representative that the phenomena were beyond his understanding. He went to the farm on a recent Tuesday with two loaves purchased in Beverley, and placed them in the dairy, putting a lock of his own on the door, in addition to the lock already there. The next day the loaves appeared to be all right, but on the Thursday he cut the top off one, and was amazed to find a good-sized hole running from top to bottom of the loaf. At first he was inclined to attribute the cavity to faulty baking, but as it gradually grew wider and wider, and as the second loaf began to rapidly decay before his eyes, he simply accepted the situation.
Yet another surprise was in store for him. On the Wednesday he had placed in a pan five new loaves, baked in the house. At ten o’clock on Thursday he examined them and found them externally sound. At noon on the same day the top of one loaf had totally disappeared, and all the others showed signs of wasting. Thinking that despite his precautions someone might, unknown to him, have gained entrance to the dairy, Berridge secreted pieces of bread in other places about the house, but in every instance they wasted to nothing. Ten leading chemists of Beverley and Hull who have visited the farm and made analyses of the bread are no less puzzled. The microscope has revealed the presence of no microbe or fungus, and the bread has been pronounced absolutely pure.
Another curious circumstance has come to light. To avoid the lamentable waste of bread, Mrs Webster resorted to the expedient of baking cakes for the household, and was relieved to find that, though they lay side by side with the blighted bread on the dairy shelf, they showed no sign of harmful contact. But this was only for a time. When the last crumb of bread disappeared the goblin of the loaf attacked the cakes, and now Mrs Webster has to employ the strange device of baking occasional loaves to satisfy the voracious craving of the bread fiend in order that her cakes may be preserved to her.
The whole of the East Riding is ringing with the story of the haunted bread; and the circumstance that the Websters enjoy a reputation for respectability and honesty second to none in the district does not lessen public interest in the mystery.”
The following additional particulars appeared later in the ‘Express’: –
“The mystery of Raikes Farm, Beverley, grows deeper with investigation. It has hitherto been believed that the manifestations were confined to the dwindling away and ultimate vanishing of loaves, but startling though these phenomena are, they do not comprise the whole of this weird Yorkshire story.
Strange noises are heard about the house after nightfall – noises loud enough to wake the children, and to cause the Websters to believe at first that either a practical joker or a sleepwalker was responsible for them. “Many times,” said Mr Webster to an “Express” representative yesterday, “I have come downstairs in the middle of the night to find the cause of these uncanny sounds, but however stealthily I went I have always been baffled.”
Footsteps have been heard upon the stairs by both Mr Webster and his wife. Listening to them as they approached, Mr Webster has opened the bedroom door suddenly and shown a light. The sounds have sometimes ceased at this interruption, and sometimes continued; but though they have been heard quite close at hand no human agency has ever been found to account for them. “I am not a Spiritualist,” said Mr Webster, “but I am driven against my will to the belief that superhuman agencies are at work to cause these strange things.”
Sometimes the noises have been so loud that Mr and Mrs Webster have been convinced that someone was making free with the chairs and fireirons in the room beneath them. One night, while ex-Police-constable Berridge stayed in the house in charge of the dairy, he heard a footstep, which he took to be Webster’s, outside his door, and was astounded next morning when Webster told him he had never left his room.
But even these phenomena do not exhaust the mysteries of the Haunted Farm. One night, when Webster had heard strange noises, he went to Berridge’s room, and together they searched the house. Everything, however, was as they had left it on going to bed. At breakfast next day Webster’s fourteen-year-old son remarked that someone had been singing during the night. His father, anxious for the peace of mind of his family, told him he had been dreaming, and was not to say another word about it.
Others, however, had heard this midnight music. Mrs Webster’s mother was so terrified by it at first that she buried her head in the bedclothes. Now she listens for it with pleasure. “It’s the sweetest music I’ve ever heard,” she is said to have told a neighbour. “It is just like a choir singing,”; and, apart from the Webster family, the heavy slumbers of one of the farm hands have been interrupted by these minstrel voices.
Mr Webster woke up one morning and found that his clothes were missing. A search discovered them scattered through other rooms of the farm.
Spiritualists from Hull and elsewhere have assured him that the phenomena are to be attributed to beings of another world. Unbelievers in occult manifestations look for the explanation elsewhere, and suggest that the singing and the removal of the clothes are the work of a sleepwalker.
But what about the dwindling bread? Even a sleepwalker with a mania for clawing and consuming cannot pass beyond locked doors without a key. Moreover, the wasting is as continuous by day as by night. On the other hand, it has been well established that the decay of a loaf is immediately arrested once it is removed from the precincts of the farmhouse, and it has been whispered about that something of the same kind of thing occurred at Raikes Farm forty or fifty years ago. The oldest inhabitant of Bishop Burton, however, can tell no definite story on this subject, and at present the theory of supernatural agency is the only one that finds general acceptance.”
American Register, 14th November 1903.
District News. Bishop Burton.
The Disappearing Bread.
In a special article on this subject the “Hull Daily News” says:
Widespread interest continues to be taken in the extraordinary occurrence, and many tests have been made. Determined to ascertain whether or not the loaves were handled, Mr A Barnett, farmer, Bishop Burton, hit upon an ingenious test. He placed a loaf in a wooden box, which was not quite air-tight, and then nailed and corded the lid on. Each nail and knot were sealed, and then the box was taken to the farm and allowed to remain in the dairy four days. At the end of the fourth day the seals were minutely examined, and found to have been untouched.
But what of the loaf? The crust had been entirely stripped off. The box, which remains corded and sealed, was shown to our representative yesterday. By holding it up to the light and looking through the joints one can clearly see that the loaf had dwindled. Mr Barnett confessed that he was rather sceptical at first, but his test has demonstrated to him beyond doubt that human hands are not responsible for the disappearance. And, furthermore, he said no one who had seen th ebox differed from that opinion.
Asked what his theory was, Mr Barnett said he was completely mystified, but of this he was perfectly satisfied, that no member of the Webster family was responsible. Curiosity is now aroused as to whether the disappearance will continue after the new bailiffs have taken up residence at the farm.
Beverley Independent, 21st November 1903.
Enchanted Bread.
Will the Loaves of Mr Walker Dwindle Like Those of Mr Webster?
The mystery of the Yorkshire “haunted bread” – described in our columns when it was the talk of the countryside – has reached another stage by the removal this week from Raikes Farm, near Beverley, of the tenant whose family underwent the strange experiences.
Superstitious people in the vicinity declared that the seemingly supernatural “decaying” of loaves was a visitation not on the house, but on the family; and a new tenant having taken possession of the farm, an “Evening News” representative called on him to learn if his loaves were being “haunted” like his predecessor’s.
Mr Walker (the new occupier) is, like Mr Webster (the former occupier), employed by Mr R Fisher, well-known in the neighbourhood as a breeder of Leconfield rams. Mr Walker had been instructed, it seems, to refer all inquiries to Mr Fisher; and Mr Fisher, to whom our representative accordingly went, said that he knew the cause of the mischief five months ago, and that it was “his own business,” which he was not inclined to divulge.
An interview with the Websters proved that the superstitious had been wrong in thinking the “mystery” would follow them everywhere. At Raikes Farm, as lately as Monday last, one of their loaves had considerably dwindled; in their new home, their bread had retained its normal condition.
Everybody in the district is all agog for any further developments of the mystery that may happen under the farm’s new occupancy.
Evening News (London), 27th November 1903.
The Vanishing Loaves.
A Change of Tenancy and a policy of silence.
(Special for the “Daily Mail.”)
Not unnaturally every effort is being made to hush up the mystery of the vanishing bread at Raikes Farm, but whether the attempts will be successful remains to be seen. The Webster family have left the farm after a residence of 12 years there, giving as their sole reason for removal that they could not keep their bread, and have gone to Walkington, where Mr Webster assists his brother in farming. Raikes Farm at Bishop Burton is now in charge of Mr and Mrs Charles Walker, who belong to the neighbourhood, they having been put there by the tenant – Mr R Fisher, the well-known Leconfield ram breeder.
With a view to ascertaining how the loaves had acted since Mr Walker had been at Raikes, a “Daily Mail” reporter yesterday visited the farm. On nearing the door he was met by Mr Walker, who shook his head, and said instructions had been given that he was to say nothing to any inquirer. He, however, was to inform anyone asking as to the loaves to see Mr Fisher.
As persuasive powers were of no avail, the Pressman went over to Leaconfield, and succeeded in interviewing Mr Fisher in one of his fields. The reception was pretty much the same as at Raikes, for Mr Fisher point blank refused to say anything as to whether or not the bread was still dwindling. He ridiculed the theories and experiments made, and professed that he knew the cause of the whole trouble five months ago, but after lengthy questioning refused to divulge the secret.
“May I take it from this,” asked our representative, “that, as you know the cause, the whole matter has been settled up with the occupation of the farm by the new bailiff?” To this Mr Fisher at once replied, “You may surmise nothing,” adding that he was not going to make the public any the wiser.
The superstitious held to the belief that the “spirits” would follow the Websters wherever they went. But if “spirits” are in the question they are giving the family peace and quietude at Walkington, for Mrs Webster, seen later, remarked that their bread had been intact since leaving Raikes. This was very pleasant, having regard to the rapidity with which the loaves dwindled during the latter part of their stay at Bishop Burton. Singular as it may seem, the nearer they were to departing, the greater parts of loaves went mysteriously away.
Some were inclined to the opinion that the farm hands had something to do with the mystery, whilst others fixed it on Mr Webster’s daughter. Interrogated on this, Mrs Webster at once threw over any likelihood of it being her daughter, giving an illustration. When they were packing up on Monday last, she said part of a loaf “decayed,” and she pointed it out to Mrs Walker, who had arrived. At the time her daughter was at Walkington, so she could have had nothing to do with the matter.
And here the mystery stands – with a determined attempt to keep it in the dark. Whether the bread at Raikes Farm can be kept sound or not by Mr Walker we are unable to say, but a most striking fact is the marvellous way in which it went during the last days the Websters were in occupation – even the very same day that the Walkers put in an appearance.
Hull Daily Mail, 27th November 1903.
The Raikes Farm Bread.
Death of the Microbe Theory.
(From a Correspondent).
The Webster family have left Raikes, and the Walkers have come. The bread no longer “wastes” at the farm house. The “microbe” theory, as the cause of the mischief, is dead. “Martimas” has proved what sensible people expected it would prove, that the poor dear microbes were not the cause of “the disappearing bread.”
How one roared with laughter at the letter in last week’s “E.M.N.” – a learned letter – sponsored by an editorial leaderette championing the microbe theory!
People who write about the Raikes mystery should first know the facts and all the facts. But I am grateful to this writer. He amused me. His letter reminded me of that delightful passage in J. Fennimore Cooper’s “Prairie,” chapter 6, where Dr Battrus, the enthusiastic naturalist, thinking he has discovered some new species, but deceived by the gloom at night, and his own fears, records on his tablets the following description of an animal that eventually turns out to be his own favourite ass – “Asinus domesticus.” Mem. Quadruped; seen by starlight, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp. Genus, unknown; therefore named after the discoverer, and from the happy coincidence of having been seen in the evening, Vespertilio horribilis Americanus. Dimensions (By estimation): greatest length, eleven feet; height, six feet; head, erect; nostrils, expansive; eyes, expressive and fierce; teeth, serrated and abundant; tail, horizontal, waving, and slightly feline; feet, large and hairy; talons, long, curvated, dangerous; ears, inconspicuous; horns, elongated, diverging, and formidable; colour, p;lumbeous-ashy, with fiery spots; voice, sonorous, martial, and appalling.
The following points in the Raikes bread case should be sufficient to kill the microbe theory. If the microbes were the cause of the bread dwindling, then it was the microbes too who sang at nights so as to drive people from their beds. As everyone knows – who is really up in the case – a ghostly mysterious SWEET singing – a female bacillus surely – was an essential part of the story the British public were asked to believe. If people will accept and propound the theory of a “Bacillus Cantans,” a microbe that sings as well as eats, all I can say is, Jupiter help them.
Extraordinary microbes! They not only sang at Raikes’s but ate, and ate the more – bread only please – as the time drew near for the departure of the Webster family.
Your correspondent volunteered the statement that the way the bread went at the last was something extraordinary. I suppose he did not see the bread go? No, I thought not. But that is another question. Poor dear microbes! They must be ill now of dyspepsia or sulking badly. For now the Walkers are in possession of the house they will neither sing at night nor look at crust or crumb.
If the bread dwindled so remarkably at the last, why, Mr Editor, were you not informed? Did not “Anti-Humbug” promise, in the “Daily Mail,” through you, to give £25 to the funds of the Hull Infirmary if Raikes bread was shown, before the eyes of credible witnesses, in the act of disappearing? But I remember “Anti-Humbug” said at the time he thought his money safe.
But there is still one gleam of hope for those who love a thing of this sort and do not mind being at the wrong side of the fence at the finish. Let a new theory of the mystery be started. It will be sure to find some backers. Say it was the spirits – not Scotch or Irish – but the good old sort. The mystery may not be dead yet! But I trust it is. It would be best for all concerned if it were so.
Mr Robert Fisher, who is a sensible man, gives a good lead. Your correspondent says Mr Fisher has given orders to his new hind at Raikes to answer no questions on the subject. I do not blame Mr Fisher. From five to fifty people have been hanging about the farm daily for weeks past. Raikes is a place of business. Mr Fisher is a successful ram breeder, and must spend £500 a year there in wages. He knows how the bread went, and he is quite within his rights to say or not to say, as he chooses, what he knows. Further, under the circumstances, he is fully justified in giving orders to his hind – no admittance to this farm except on business. But no effort is being made to hush up this so-called mystery. There is no mystery at Raikes NOW. A new family have been in a week, and nothing out of the common has happened since the house welcomed them.
It is evident that the microbe theory as to the cause of the ALLEGED dwindling of bread is dea, and that it has been killed by
MARTIMAS.
—
Sir, I have from time to time read with great interest the different opinions of the readers of your paper in reference to the disappearance of the bread from Raikes Farm. In fact, so interested did I get as a spiritualist of this city, that myself, in company of two other ladies, visited the above farm for investigation, and after what we saw and heard I am quite prepared to face any scientific man or Mr Fisher either, and say it is spirit agency that is the cause of the trouble.
According to your paper last Friday night, Mr Fisher states he has known the cause of the trouble this last five months. Well, I doubt it. I have met the said gentleman, although he does not know it. But if he is going to control the present occupants of the farm to hush it up, I shall make further searchh for the Websters’ sake, who I am sure are quite innocent as to the mystery. My knowledge can be proved, and I say the bread does still disappear though the Websters have left.
INVESTIGATOR. Hull, December 1st, 1903.
Hull Daily Mail, 2nd December 1903.
The Hull “Daily Mail,” which first called attention to the vanishing bread mystery, Raikes Farm, is now able to state that “mystery” exists no longer.
Raikes Farm Mystery. The “Vanishing” Bread Vanishes! (“Mail” special).
Since the new tenant began his occupation of Raikes Farm, the public, or that portion of it, which has taken any interest in the story of the “vanishing” loaves, has been anxious to know whether they still continue to disappear. Unfortunately all enquiries on the point have been met by silence. We are now, however, in a position to say that since Mr Webster and his family have left the farmstead, absolutely nothing has disappeared.
It was stated some time ago that Mr Fisher, the non-resident tenant of the farm, had solved the mystery, and that, we understand, was a fact. On a certain date, so far back as July last, Mr Fisher and three other gentlemen satisfied themselves that the disappearance was the work of somebody on the farm, and in this view Mr Webster, who was present when the loaves used in the experiment were placed in the receptacle, appears to concur. A similar conclusion was arrived at by separate investigations, conducted by the representative of a London newspaper, with assistance, but the most convincing testimony of the truth of the theory is that since the change of tenancy no disappearance of bread has taken place at the farm.
Hull Daily Mail, 4th December 1903.
Since the new tenant entered Raikes Farm, near Hull, which was famous for its “haunted” loaves, the spooks have disappeared.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 5th December 1903.