Girl and Ghost.
Spook chats to pretty land girl in Morse.
Dorothy White is a young land girl, the story of whose nightly talks with a ghostly visitor, who raps out messages in the Morse code, has provided Hertfordshire with its latest sensation.
Dorothy’s family consists of her father, mother, brother, and herself, and they live in a red brick and slate-roofed cottage abutting on a lonely lane some two or three miles out of Hertford. Here for the past three and a half years Mr. and Mrs. White have managed a poultry farm and Dorothy helps them. Her story is as follows:-
“About three weeks ago,” she said, “I began to hear strange noises, as of someone knocking on my bedroom wall. Once I heard it outside when I was tending the chickens. It seemed then to be on the hen-house roof, and I thought perhaps dad was playing a joke on me. So I ran round the hen house, but no one was there. Then my brother Norman heard the rappings and called out: ‘Come in old fellow!’ but no one appeared. Later we found that we could interpret the noises by means of the Morse code, which Norman understands as he was signaller with the artillery in France, and taught me the code.
“I feel sure that the spirit is friendly and will not do me any harm. I hold nightly conversations with him. He speaks to me as I lie in bed, and I can call out the letters to my brother, who writes them down. If I make a mistake the spirit ‘rings off,’ and then repeats the letter.
“Sometimes, but not often, he comes in the day time. When I asked him why he did not answer me in the day, he replied that he was out or asleep. I know he is real, for I have seen him,” continued Dorothy, and went on to tell how one afternoon, when in the kitchen, she heard a rustle, and looking through the window, saw a shadowy form pass slowly across it. The features, she says, were indistinct, and wrapped around the figure was a long robe like a shroud.
The ‘spook’ is said to be at times vulgar in his language; at other times he is facetious. To the question “Are you happy in your present state?” he is said to have replied, “Not arf.” One night the investigators were dismissed with “Good night, ta ta.”
The ghost, it may be said, dislikes visitors, and although many, including Lady Pearson, have visited the Whites in the hope of hearing the knockings, there is “nothing doing” except in the presence of the family alone.
Liverpool Echo, 26th January 1920.
(largely as above)
Dorothy readily acquiesced in my suggestion that she should endeavour, there and then, to call up her spirit friend. Opening the door of the parlour in which we were seated, she advanced to the foot of the stairs, and in a sweet, clear voice asked: “Are you there?”
No answer was vouchsafed, and a second call was equally disappointing in its result.
Councillor Wren, of Hertford, took Dorothy’s place at the foot of the stairs, and in a voice of entreaty called out, “Gentle spirit, are you there?” But the “spirit” answered not, and Dorothy observed, sadly, “I expect he is asleep.”
[…]
“Has the spirit told you who or what he is?” I inquired.
“I asked him what his name was,” Dorothy replied, “but he said I must wait awhile. All he will do so far is to repeat the initials ‘B.M.'”
Daily Mirror, 26th January 1920.
Mysterious Knockings
“Spirit” who talks in Morse code.
Hertford people are puzzled by the latest spirit manifestations reported from a house on the Brickendonbury estate. The house, which is situated in an isolated spot, is part of a poultry farm, and is occupied by four persons, a Mr White, his wife, and son and daughter. Nothing unusual had been noticed till January 4, when what appeared to be a knock at the door was heard. The door was opened to the supposed visitors, but no one was to be seen. The knockings however, continued, and eventually seemed to be traceable to the floor or walls.
The son, who had practised the Morse code in France, soon discovered something in the nature of coherency in the sounds. Presently he became aware that the mysterious noises were spelling out some intelligible message in the Morse code. A test soon demonstrated this to be the case, and questions put by members of the household were replied to by Morse rappings.
The supposed spirit has tapped out a message to a girl giving the initials of “B.M.” and stating that he first met her in the hospital where she had had an operation. He also predicted that she would have to undergo a further operation. Inquiries at the hospital, however, fail to establish the identity of anyone bearing the above initials who has been at the institution, lately at any rate.
Since then there has been considerable conversations through the Morse code between the “spirit” and many influential people.
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 26th January 1920.
Morse Code Spook sees “Daily Mirror.”
Amazing dot and dash talk in country cottage.
“A lover of music.”
Spirit’s mad dance to “Swanee River” – Land girl medium.
From our Special Correspondent, Hertford, Thursday.
Hammerlike blows, muffled but distinct, come from the lath and plaster partition wall of a simply furnished bedroom in a wayside cottage in the heart of Hertfordshire.
N-o-t- a-r-f, spelled out a young girl of pallid countenance and lustrous eyes, who lay, a rigid figure, on a single bed several feet away from the wall from which the mysterious rappings, corresponding to the Morse code, proceeded. On the threshold are the girl’s father, mother and brother, and a number of visitors bent on investigating the weird phenomena which have set the whole countryside agog with excitement and speculation.
Dorothy White, who assists her parents in the management of a poultry farm at Brickendon, has suddenly risen to fame as a spirit medium. Recently, hearing a flutter in the chicken house, she ran out, she says, and saw a spirit form vanish through one of the windows of the cottage.
The visitors, among whom was The Daily Mirror representative, before Dorothy retired for the night made a thorough examination of the room, in a vain effort to discover any suggestion of trickery. Then the company retired to their posts, and scarcely were they settled before loud rappings were heard.
“He wants Mr. Wren,” called out Dorothy. Councillor Wren, of Hertford, is a particular favourite with the “spook,” and, advancing a little way into the room, carried on an animated conversation with “him.”
Then The Daily Mirror had a try. “Where did you learn the Morse code?” was asked. “Um tiddly um tum, tum tum,” came the rapid reply. “Will you send a message to mortals through The Daily Mirror? “- “Tell them they are fools.” “Is Dorothy your only medium?” – “Yes.” “Do you object to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle coming to talk to you?”- “No”. “He says he thinks he could persuade you to go away.” – “He cannot.” (Very loud).
Other questions of a more complex character either angered or perplexed the spirit, who countered them by ringing off. “He” was obviously baffled, too, by Mr. Searles, another Hertford councillor. “Can you see me?” inquired the councillor, standing behind the bedroom door. – “Yes.” “What have I got in my hand?” – “A pen sil” (sic). “But I have something else.” An impatient ring-off followed. The councillor had his watch in the palm of his right hand.
“Perhaps our friend would like to give us a dance before you go,” it was suggested. “Oh, please ask him,” exclaimed Mrs. White. “I’m sure he would, he’s so fond of music.” The “spook” being willing, one of the investigators strung out the strains of “Swanee River” on a mandoline. Immediately there came the sound of heavy hammering in rhythm with the music. Faster and faster went the tune; faster and faster clattered the “feet” of the mysterious dancer, and the mad jig went on until both player and “spook” stopped exhausted.
Daily Mirror, 30th January 1920.
Dorothy’s Distress.
Morse Code Secret Now Solved.
The mystery of the Morse code “ghost” seems to have been revealed at last. For some nights spirit rappings in that code have been heard in a bedroom at a poultry farm at Brickendon, and outside interest led to an investigation by the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, rector of Hedingford, Bury, who is a member of the Psychical Research Society, and Councillors Searles and Wren.
The inquiry was held at the house last night, and a large crowd awaited the result. As time went on, and no rappings were heard, the crowd became somewhat restive, but trouble was avoided by the appearance of the Rev. M.A. Bayfield, who, in a tactful speech, assured the assembly “there is non ghost, and there is no fraud.”
According to his statement, Dorothy White, who occupied the bedroom in which the rappings had been heard, had learned the Morse code from her brother, who recently left the Army. The rev. gentleman explained that the events of the last few days were due largely to the indifferent health of Dorothy White, who, he said, was shortly to undergo an operation, and he appealed to the crowd not to give expression to any feeling of annoyance or resentment.
After a few questions, the enlightened villagers dispersed.
An earlier message states that on Sunday night, in beautiful moonlight, a large number of visitors congregated outside the house. Just after Dorothy retired to bed Morse code tappings were distinctly heard by the people outside. They lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and the manifestations ended with a clog dance, which could be distinctly heard outside. Meanwhile the cellar of the house was thoroughly searched.
One question put to the spirit by Councillor Wren was, “How many people are outside?” and the reply was “Forty,” which proved to be correct.
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 3rd February 1920.
“Ghost” raps in Morse code.
Girl spoofs a village.
Strange rappings at night on a bedroom wall have caused many of the people of Brickendon, a Hertfordshire village, to believe in the presence of a ghost. Sceptics said that someone was working “a fraud.” The rappings continued during many nights, and so much interest and discussion were excited, that the Psychical Research Society sent an investigator. He was accompanied by two local councillors, and a huge crowd assembled outside the house, which is on a poultry farm.
No rappings, however, were heard, and the disappointed crowd became restive. Presently, to satisfy them, the investigator called: “There is no ghost, there is no fraud; the position is caused by a girl’s bad state of health, which might happen to anyone.”
It appears that a girl in the house had been taught the Morse signal code by her brother, when he came home from the Army. She had caused the rappings every night on her bedroom wall.
To a Press representative the investigator said the case was parallel to a number of other cases well known to doctors, and hundreds of which were never heard of. The girl might not have been conscious of making the rappings. He declined to say how she made them.
Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 7th February 1920.
(largely as above)
Seen by a Press representative, the same gentleman said: “It is parallel to a number of other cases which, as pathological cases, are well know to doctors, and there are hundreds of them we hear nothing about. The girl caused the rappings, but might not be conscious of doing it.”
Asked if he could explain how the girl caused the rappings, he replied: “That is exactly what I am not going to tell anyone. It is not a fraud on the part of any of these people. I think they are perfectly honest.”
Pall Mall Gazette, 3rd February 1920.