The ghost they call Mrs It may be moving today.
Today’s number one task for Mrs Lucy Baber, Bristol housewife, is to get rid of the four old trunks in her boxroom. The ghost that has been haunting her home in Highworth-road for the last three months will, she hopes, go with them. The trunks were in the house when the Babers moved in thirteen years ago. But it is only since Mrs Baber rummaged in them last October that she has been meeting the ghost.
She told the Daily Mirror: “It is an old lady with a pallid face who looks exactly like a photograph I found in the trunks. I call her ‘Mrs It.’ I am not frightened but my daughter Heather, aged six, is staying with friends until the trunks have gone.
Daily Mirror, 16th January 1950.
Mrs It’s goodbye to 13.
Herald Reporter. Bristol, Sunday.
Four old travelling trunks, full of letters, photographs and documents, were carried from the attic of No. 13, Highworth-street, St Anne’s, today and dumped in the garden. Mrs Lucy Baber, whose family has occupied the Victorian terrace-style house for 14 years, said: “That I hope is the last we shall see of our visitor.”
The stranger, christened “Mrs It,” is, they say, the ghost of an old woman who lived and died at No. 13. The trunks belonged to her. “Mrs It” first made her presence felt six months ago when the contents of the trunks were disturbed. Heather Baber, aged six, slept in the attic. From then on she complained repeatedly that someone was in the room.
Said Mrs Baber today: “We tried to laugh it off, but she was still very frightened. Then one day I saw the old woman. She was small and dressed in black.” After that “Mrs It” gave them little peace. Unseen hands opened doors and turned keys in locks. Eventually Heather was sent away to stay with friends.
Mrs Baber added: “Now we have got the trunks in the garden we hope ‘Mrs It’ will take them away. If that doesn’t stop things happening in the house we must move. Heather is not coming back until everything is all right again.”
Daily Herald, 16th January 1950.
The locked room at No. 13.
I’ll drive out your ghost, says vicar.
Express Staff reporter.
Mrs Baber opened a door locked for 16 years. Since then, she and her family say they have been haunted by the ghost of an old lady. Tomorrow, their vicar, the Rev. Francis Maddock, will try to drive out the ghost with a service of exorcism. Mr Maddock, 35-year-old vicar of St. Anne’s Brislington, Bristol, said last night: – “I have been told that I do not have to get permission to conduct the service, but I have written to tell my bishop Dr. F.A. Cockin of my plans. The service of exorcism – the expulsion of evil spirits – involves the purification of each room in the house during the intonement of special prayers. Holy water is sprinkled. Incense is burned.
Mr Maddock plans to start the service in a 12ft by 9ft boxroom piles high with trunks and furniture once owned by Mrs Gladys Drury. Mrs Drury died at No. 13 Highworth-road, Brislington, eighteen years ago. Two years later the Babers rented the house – on condition that Mrs Drury’s property was never touched. The boxroom door stayed locked until six months ago. Then Mrs Baber opened it. And the ghost walked. According to Mrs Baber, the ghost takes the form of a woman dressed in black with a bright glow like a halo around her head. It usually walks at six o’clock in the morning, awakens the children – Shirley, aged six, and John, aged 15 – and follows Mrs Baber around the house. She said yesterday: – “I believe it is the ghost of Mrs Drury. A few days ago it appeared at 2 a.m. on the stairs when I had two friends with me. It is affecting my health and the health of my children.”
Last week she and her husband and children left the house and went to live with her sister half a mile away. Yesterday Mr William Baber was back tidying up. “We cannot live here any longer,” he said. “I have applied to Bristol Housing committee for another house. We pay 12s 6d. a week rent and are willing to exhange houses with anybody. We have written to Mrs Drury’s sister in America – she is the landlady- telling her the position. Yes I have seen the ghost. It is frightening.”
Mr R.J. Allerton, Bristol’s housing manager, said yesterday: “We’ve never had an application like this before and I just do not know whether the Housing Committee will be sympathetic or not.” Said Mr Baber: “If the vicar manages to exorcise the ghost, we shall stay on at No. 13.”
Daily Express, 23rd January 1950.
Vicar to lay ghost of Mrs It at No. 13.
She has driven out entire family.
Herald Reporter, Bristol, Saturday.
The ghost of “Mrs It” rules No. 13, Highworth road, St Anne’s, in solitary state tonight. She has driven out Mr and Mrs William Baber and their two children. But her hours may be numbered. For at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday the Rev. Francis J Maddock, 35-year-old bachelor vicar of the parish, will attempt to lay the spectre of the little old woman who died in th ehouse 18 years ago. He will spend tomorrow studying the age-old rite of exorcism, which consists mainly of “purifying” each room in the haunted house by intoning a special prayer and sprinkling holy water. Incense is usually burned as well.
Mr Maddock hoped to get the Bishop of Bristol’s consent for the service, but Dr Cockin is on holiday. today he secured the full approval of the Bishop of Malmesbury, the Right Rev. Ivor Watkins, who is also Archdeacon of Bristol. He must conduct it in the strictest privacy. “As far as I can see,” he said tonight, “only Mr Baber, a church server and myself will be present.”
“Mrs It” first appeared at No. 13 six months ago – to scare Heather Baber, age six, sleeping in the attic. All the family claim to have seen her, surrounded by a “sun-like glow”, at various times. Last Sunday four trunks full of papers, which belonged to the old woman, were carried down from the attic to the end of the garden – in the hope that the ghost would then leave the house. A few days later the family gave up the struggle and went to stay with relatives. “Mrs It” had won.
I found Mr Baber back in the house today, cooking his lunch. He looked pale and drawn. He said: “I’ve just called to tidy up, but I’m not sleeping here, you can be sure. All of us have become bundles of nerves through this affair.”
Tomorrow the City Housing Department will receive from him an application for “fresh accommodation on the ground of ghostly disturbances in present home.” Said Mr Baber: “If, in the meantime, anyone can offer me accommodation suitable for my family, he can have this house. The rent is only 12s. 6d. a week. I don’t care if I have to pay more than double that. I’m getting out.”
Daily Herald, 23rd January 1950.
Vicar aims to banish ‘ghost’ from house.
News Chronicle Reporter.
Because the ghost of a woman who died many years ago is supposed to haunt a Bristol house, the Rev. F.J. W. Maddock, of the Vicarage, St. Anne’s Park, will hold an exorcism ceremony in every room in the house tomorrow. The vicar said last night that the tenants, Mr and Mrs Baber, of Highworth Road, Brislington, had told him they were being haunted by the apparition. “It started a few weeks ago,” Mr Maddock said to me, “when the tenants unlocked a room that had not been opened for 13 years. Since then the whole atmosphere of the house is said to have changed. I shall take the rite of exorcism. I am not quite sure exactly what it is, but I am going to study it tomorrow in a book devoted to such ceremonies. The rite of exorcism is a definite church ritual that has been practised for centuries.” Mr Maddock is informing the Bishop of Bristol of the steps he proposes to take. Asked if he believed in ghosts, Mr Maddock said: “I have an open mind on the subject.”
Daily News (London), 23rd January 1950.
The vicar will tell the ghost to quit.
The ghost they call “Mrs It” is still with the Babers – so tomorrow the vicar is going to give it notice to quit. It first appeared in the Highworth-road, Bristol, after Mrs Doris Baber had cleaned out a boxroom containing four trunks left behind by a previous occupant. Last week she got rid of the trunks. “But Mrs It is still here,” she said yesterday. Now the Rev. Francis Maddock, 35, Vicar of St Anne’s, is planning to hold a service at the house “to drive out the ghost.”
He said last night: “I think it is my duty to try to rid this house of any evil spirits. It would be a pity if the Babers had to leave. I have written to my Bishop telling him I propose to hold a service in the house, but I understand that I do not need any higher authority before holding such a service.”
Daily Mirror, 23rd January 1950.
Ancient rites for ‘old lady in black.’
Behind the locked doors of a small suburban dwelling at St. Anne’s, Brislington, last night, the 35-year-old bachelor vicar of the parish, the Rev. Francis Maddock, performed ancient rites of exorcism, dating from the earliest days of Christianity. For 30 minutes a crowd of people, including many children, thronged Highworth Road, Brislington, watching the lights at Number 13 click on and off as the Vicar, wearing cassock, surplice and stole, and accompanied by his sacristan, Mr Robert Rockett, and his sub-sacristan, Mr George Compley, went from room to room performing the rites.
The house has, for the past 13 or 14 years, been tenanted by Mr and Mrs William Baber, but a few days ago Mrs Baber and her two children left to live with relatives as the presence of a “ghost of a little old lady in black” was affecting them. Mr Baber opened the front door to admit Mr Maddock and his two assistants at precisely 7.30 p.m. and then accompanied them as the rites were conducted. He later told a ‘Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror’ reporter: “I have not yet decided whether I shall bring my family back to live in the house.”
After the service Mr Maddock told reporters that he had consulted ancient authorities dating back to the earliest days of Christianity. “What I did was by the permission of the Bishop of Malmesbury (Rt. Rev. Ivor S. Watkins).” Mr Maddock added, “I did not see the ghost.”
Western Daily Press, 25th January 1950.
‘Amen’ to the ghost at No. 13.
Express Staff Reporter.
Prayers used in early Christian temples to expel restless spirits were offered by a Church of England vicar last night in five-roomed No. 13, Highworth-road, Brislington, Bristol. This 60-year-old house was said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who died there 18 years ago. Robed in cassock, surplice and stole, the Rev. Francis Maddock, 35-year-old vicar of St. Anne’s went from room to room intoning prayers selected from authorities on the ancient rite of exorcism. With him were his sacristan, Mr Robert Rockett, and his sub-sacristan, Mr George Comley.
Mr William Baber, aged 39, who with his wife Doris and their two children have lived at No. 13 for 16 years, led the procession. They began at the front door, moved through the hall to the kitchen and sitting room, then upstairs to the three bedrooms. In each prayers were intoned. For the 9ft. by 12ft. spare room at the top of the landing there was a special prayer. It was from this room that the ghost of 67-year-old Gladys Drury was said to walk after the room was opened six months ago. It had been locked for 17 years.
After each prayer Mr Baber said “Amen.” In the spare room he said a specially loud “Amen.”
Police kept back a crowd outside who watched lights switched on and off as the service moved from room to room. Afterwards the ruddy faced vicar, 5 feet tall, said: “I had to take this spirit on trust. If such a spirit did exist, then I am certain I have exorcised it.”
Last night Mrs Baber, her children, John, aged 15, and Shirley, aged six, slept at No. 13 for the first time in more than a week. Said Mr Baber: “The service was most impressive, and I feel sure that everything is going to be all right.”
Daily Express, 25th January 1950.
It was a night of gay spirits when the local vicar went ghost-laying.
The Rev. Francis Maddock, thirty-five-year-old Bristol vicar, may not have succeeded in laying the ghost in Highworth-road last night, but if ghosts are scared of noise there is a good chance that it cleared out just the same. Fifty excited teen-agers, making a night out of the occasion, created enough din to frighten any ghost. Certainly they frightened a lot of other people in the neighbourhood. Amazed householders came to their front doors to see what all the excitement was about. One of them, watching the youthful horse-play in front of No. 13 – reputedly haunted home of Mr and Mrs William Baber and their six-year-old daughter, Heather – remarked: “What a beanfeast. Surely no ghost can stand this.”
The youngsters had read of the vicar’s intention to get rid of the Baber’s ghost by holding a service in each room of the house. While the half-hour service was going on, boys leapt at each other with banshee shrieks and shouts of “Look out, I’m a ghost!” Two young couples waltzed in the road to keep warm. Others just ate chips and looked on.
The vicar said after the service: “I used no incense or holy water. If there is a spirit I am sure I have taken the necessary steps to drive it out.” “Incidentally,” he added with a smile, “I didn’t see the ghost.”
The Baber family believe that the ghost appeared after they had rummaged in some old trunks left in a boxroom by a former tenant. Mrs Baber, who calls the ghost “Mrs It,” was not at home last night. With her daughter Heather she spent the night with friends – as they have done for over a week. Today her husband will tell her whether “Mrs It” made her usual nightly appearance.
Daily Mirror, 25th January 1950.
Bristol House Ghost Has Vanished.
Mr and Mrs William Baber, tenants of the reputedly haunted house in Highworth Road, St Annes, Bristol, have declined many requests from people who want to sleep in the house. A service of exorcism was conducted there on Tuesday. Mr Baber said: “We have not seen any ghosts since we have been back.”
Belfast Telegraph, 27th January 1950.
Since the ceremony of exorcism performed by the Rev. Francis Maddock, vicar of St Anne’s, Brislington, at the home of Mrs Baber at Highworth Road, St Anne’s, she has reported no further disturbances.
Western Daily Press, 28th January 1950.
‘I saw no ghost’ says vicar.
Behind the locked doors of a small suburban dwelling at St. Anne’s, Brislington, on Tuesday, 35-year-old bachelor vicar of the parish, the Rev. Francis Maddock, performed ancient rites of exorcism, dating from the earliest days of Christianity. For 30 minutes a crowd of people, including many children, thronged Highworth Road, Brislington, watching the lights at Number 13 click on and off as the Vicar, wearing cassock, surplice and stole, and accompanied by his sacristan, Mr Robert Rockett, and his sub-sacristan, Mr George Compley, went from roo to room performing the rites.
The house has, for the past 13 or 14 years, been tenanted by Mr and Mrs William Baber, but a few days ago Mrs Baber and her two children left to live with relatives as the presence of a “ghost of a little old lady in black” was affecting them. Mr Baber opened the front door to admit Mr Maddock and his two assistants at precisely 7.30 p.m. and then accompanied them as the rites were conducted. He later told a ‘Bristol Observer’ reporter: “I have not yet decided whether I shall bring my family back to live in the house.” After the service Mr Maddock told reporters that he had consulted ancient authorities dating back to the earliest days of Christianity. “What I did was by the permission of the Bishop of Malmesbury (Rt. Rev. Ivor S. Watkins).” Mr Maddock added, “I did not see the ghost.”
Bristol Observer, 28th January 1950.
The Ghost Speaks Russian?
Bristol, Mon.
“Mrs It,” the ghost of No. 13, Highworth Road, is back again with a playmate. Only three weeks ago, the haunt was exorcised by a Church of England Vicar in a religious rite, taken from early Christian records. The peace of No. 13 was short-lived. Last night Mr and Mrs William Barber who live in the house, called in a spiritualist. All they found out is that “Mrs It”: 1) Speaks a foreign language – possibly Russian, or 2) Is an atrocious speller. They used a ouija board (table writing) to see if she had any message. What came out was “eesfnev eehfnev.” – A.P.
Malaya Tribune, 14th February 1950.