Superstition in the district.
A rather curious affair has occurred this week in Brick-kiln-street, Brierley hill, and has been productive of a considerable amount of interest, curiosity, credulity, gullibility, and even superstition amongst some of the more weakminded of local humanity. What the identical thing is which has caused this commotion it is at present impossible to say. It is distinctly averred with all due gravity and solemnity that supernatural noises are heard in a cottage situate in a garden towards the upper end of the street, and for the past few nights many are the people who have been there in the hope of solving the enigma, or unearthing the “mysterious visitant” or of doing something or other to clear up the matter. The number of people showing an interest in this bit of sensationalism has been so great that an intolerable nuisance to the neighbours has resulted, and loud and bitter have been the complaints against these over-curious people in consequences.
The inmates of the house, unable to rest, are said to have slept away from home on Thursday night. Last night a police-officer was in the house for some considerable time, and a good many persons were outside watching, waiting, and listening. The noises heard are said to resemble the clucking of a hen when calling her chickens, and appear to come from different parts of the cottage almost at one and the same instant. Whatever is the cause of the noises it does not confine the time for making its presence known to “the witching hour of night,” for it is sometimes heard at an early hour in the evening.
Most diversified and curious are the speculations indulged in with regard to the origin of the affair, and the majority attribute it to nothing more or less than a “piece of witchcraft,” but as to who the alleged witch is, nobody seems to have settled his or her mind conclusively on that point. Some say a spell is put on the inmates, others on the house, but all own themselves at fault as to the reason why. The most absurd conjectures are made about the matter and are gulped down with a credulity which, to say the least, is surprising.
Up to last night the matter remained unsolved, but it will probably turn out to be an extremely simple thing which is the cause of it. School Boards and the Education Act have evidently much to do yet in sweeping away the superstition which exists in this locality.
County Advertiser and Herald for Staffordshire and Worcestershire, 6th May 1882.