Police watch a house of baffling mysteries.
Crockery flies, books float on air – but who does it?
Blackpool police are keeping watch on a century-old four-roomed house in the outskirts of the town where uncanny disturbances have forced a young married couple to leave. Mr H. Barnes, Blackpool’s Chief Constable, has made an on-the-spot investigation of the presmies. It is said that crockery has been mysteriously smashed, bronze plaques have tumbled downstairs, heavy furniture has been overturned, and once the wife was knocked unconscious by a toppling wardrobe. The series of incidents, continuous during the past fortnight, follows the pattern psychic investigators credit to poltergeists.
To save the young couple from crowds of sightseers and ridicule, their full names and address are not revealed. Leslie, the husband, is a railway worker – level-headed and no easy believer in the supernatural. Audrey, his wife, an ex-shop girl, is equally practical minded. In June last year, after four years’ hard saving, they rented their first place – the last house in a terraced row a mile and a half from the centre of Blackpool.
With the help of friends they made a home to be proud of. All went well until a fortnight ago. Small things happened first. Crockery would be found dashed to the floor, cloths were ripped off tables. But this was just a beginning. Sometimes the air would grow chilly. Without warning heavy furniture would tumble with a thunderous roar. Mantelpiece ornaments, many of them wedding presents, whistled across the room. Cutlery cascaded from the solid built-in dresser. And the incidents would happen when the husband and wife, often with friends or relatives, were in the room.
Audrey’s nerves became frayed, so that she and her husband moved to her mother’s house nearby. But though the house was locked up and deserted the disturbance continued. Photographs were found smashed in the hearth. A heavy dressing table was discovered pushed over at an angle. The bookcase was up-ended.
Viewing the damage in the house one day, a friend saw a vase fly through the air – and caught it before it reached the ground. Another saw books float from a wall case. Returning to th ehouse for extra clothes, Audrey turned her back on a wardrobe. A friend, who had come to escort her, saw it falling. Audrey was knocked to the floor unconscious.
Two spiritualists who arrived to help were in the kitchen with the family and friends when the ironing-board collapsed with a crash. As they talked to the “spirit,” kitchen utensils hanging from hooks on the wall began to swing.
Police investigators have little time for supernatural explanations. They are determined to find a physical cause. But the Psychical Research Society said: “We should be very glad to be notified of the case by the owners of the house and to give it the fullest investigation if the initial report warrants it.”
The husband today decided that if police investigations drew a blank in the next few days he and his wife would accept the society’s offer.
Old people in the district say the house had a tragic past. they say two people have attempted suicde there; a woman once died suddenly on the front doorstep; and a young girl, who lived at the house many years ago, disappeared without trace.
Manchester Evening News, 8th August 1951.