Will the ghost rest in peace?
John Baker and Andy Ham investigate the supernatural goings-on that have been terrorising the Dyke family of Cannock.
Ghosts are seen and not heard – poltergeists are heard and not seen. “Cyril,” who is now being exorcised at the scene of his hauntings in Laburnum Avenue, Cannock, appears to be a unique manifestation combining the two. Not only does he behave like a normal poltergeist hurling things about the rooms, banging doors and setting up mischievous attacks; he also appears as a scruffy ghost in baggy trousers, with slicked back hair and wearing a jacket without a shirt. His stalking time is between midnight and two a.m.
So far three exorcisms have failed to get him back to his astral plane, but the Rev. Reg Woodhall, a Cannock vicar, is persisting. His exorcism, he said, is to encourage the ghost to “go back to the grave, as it were, and bring peace and comfort to the Dyke family and the house.” Films such as The Exorcist have given people without their own experience of the supernatural, notions of horrendous happenings, with a house trembling and shaking as priests try to suppress an evil presence. It isn’t like that at all. “A priest has to try to be stronger than the actual spirit,” said Mr Woodhall, explaining that exorcism was a serious and to some extent, a risky business.
“In praying, I extemporise, calling on the spirit to leave the home and find rest.” He sets no particular standard or exorcism ritual. This is a very personal thing, between the people and the spirit. Having listened to the information about the happenings and sampled the atmosphere, I’m convinced there is an influence which is not good.” There were reports that a man had hanged himself in the area some time ago, but this seems to be a vague association of events, with no direct bearing on the house.
First member of the Dyke family to be affected was the elder daughter, Yvonne, who claims to have seen the ghost walking across her bedroom and looking at her. Trouble started when the family redecorated the room and Yvonne’s bed was moved into the path he walked. “Cyril” wouldn’t put up with that disturbance. “He started turning nasty,” said Yvonne. “He shook me out of bed.”
Her father, Donald, now divorced, spent a night at the top of the stairs and claims that he saw the ghost staring at him before throwing him down the stairs.
When Yvonne joined the women’s army, the ghost turned its attention to the younger sister, Annette. “The ghost was sapping my strength,” said Annette. “I became a nervous wreck and I couldn’t sleep till daylight came.”
The Dykes decided they could not take much more of it and called in the Rev. Tim Townsend, then vicar of Cannock. He exorcised the house and for a while, all was well. Annette left home. Two years later the spirit returned and began terrorising the younger daughter, Denise. Yvonne said: “We used to call him Cyril and we could laugh about it. But not now he has turned nasty again. We have been told by neighbours that he was in the house before and seances were held here.”
Mrs Flo Dyke said: “We didn’t believe in ghosts before, but we do now. We can feel him pulling us down the stairs. I have to say the Lord’s Prayer before going up and down the stairs. It has been a great strain over the years, worst of all in the last six months. All the family have been under a strain. I have had to go to a doctor. We are afraid to talk to people in case they laugh.”
Denise, 17, described the way the ghost manifests himself: “He always looks a bit scruffy, with baggy trousers and slicked back hair and a jacket, but never a shirt. I wake for no reason, in a coold sweat and shaking with fear. I can’t normally see him but there is a terrorising feeling. I can hardly breathe and I get hysterical. I feel he is enjoying my suffering. The more scared I get, the more he seems pleased.
Her mother said: “My nerves can’t stand it. I can’t sleep at home and miss my own bed. I haven’t been able to sleep at home for a week. I got so upset th elast time I saw him, I swore at him. My heart goes into my mouth. We have had clocks thrown around and I have seen a lamp come off the table and then go back on to it.”
Mr Woodhall, team vicar for Chadsmoor, said that when he prayed in the house the atmosphere became warmer. “Apparently there is some kind of influence which can be mitigated by prayer. Prayer is a kind of communication with something outside ourselves.” Although he did not see any apparition, he heard of a door opening on its own and of a music box lid opening. A priest, he said, has to believe in the authenticity of information given to him.
The chill of the night.
Andy Ham spent an anxious night in pursuit of the Cannock ghost.
The house a vicar says is haunted contains a chilling presence at night. As the night draws on, even with a fire in the grate, there are occasions when the living room becomes deathly cold. To test the claims made by Mrs Flo Dyke, her 17-year-old daughter Denise and the Rev. Reg Woodall you have to spend a night alone in the house in Laburnum Avenue, Cannock. And it is very frightening.
But the ghost, which has in turn plagued Mrs Dyke’s three daughters did not manifest iteself. Nor did it throw lamps and clocks around the house as it is said to have done before. The family believes that was because Denise, the ghost’s latest target, was not in the house. As they have every night for over a week Mrs Dyke and Denise slept round the corner in Longford Road with relatives. The Rev. Reg Woodall, team vicar of Chadsmoor, Mosswood and Bridgtown has told them not to sleep in the house.
The family reluctantly left the house at 11.30 pm, so that we could carry out the test. Mrs Dyke was upset that only one person was staying. They made two tours of the house to see that all was well, but Mrs Dyke’s bedroom was undeniably colder than the rest of the house.
The most frequent hours for attacks by the ghost are between midnight and 2 am., say the Dykes. Shortly before midnight I began to wonder whose stupid idea it was that we carried out the test. Then I remembered. It was mine.
The most frightening time was after 1 am, when television programmes finished. The house seemed deathly still, and the ticking of the clock very loud. Shortly before then the room had gone very cold for about ten minutes. I was glad of the crucifix I had been lent by another local vicar – although he had advised against the test.
For that short period it was impossible to tell if the feeling of fear was self-suggested or real. But I could feel the hair standing up on the back of my neck. The most frightening experience ended on a lighter note. Just after 2 am, the back door, which I had firmly shut, swung open. I grabbed the crucifix, but it was unnecessary. The door has a loose catch and the family cat had come in to get warm.
Three times during the night I toured the house. The ghost has been seen all over it, but most frequently on the stairs and in the upstairs bedrooms. Nothing appeared, but it was an effort to go up the stairs. At least it relieved the boredom. Sleep was out of the question.
As it got light I went for a walk and later returned to the house for three hours sleep, very grateful that nothing had happened. It was not a night I would choose to repeat.
Later that morning, as Mrs Dyke and Denise prepared to go home, they spoke again of their fears. But they said the problem had probably been helped by the prayers Mr Woodall had said in the house the previous night. After a previous exorcism attempt by the Rev Tim Townshend the ghost had gone quiet for some time.
Wolverhampton Express and Star, 11th June 1979.