Experts probe Welsh
Riddle of the Ghost Boy.
Investigation by Jan Brierley.
Scientists have been called in to investigate reports of a mysterious apparition “seen” in a Welsh shop. Workers at the store claim a poltergeist is haunting the building. One part-time member of staff says he has seen what appears to be the ghostly image of a young boy roaming around. He described what he saw as “a 1940s schoolboy, wearing a Cub cap, dark short-trousers, a jacket and big black boots.”
The man, who didn’t want to be identified, said: “It was frightening. The first time I saw him he was just standing in the door, waving to me. I couldn’t see a face or hands. I would never have believed it possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Now the Society for Psychical Research and experts in spirit phenomena from Brazil and Portugal have visited the shop in the Cathays area of Cardiff to examine the building. A spokeswoman for the London-based organisation, which studies psychic phenomena worldwide, said one of its investigators was compiling a dossier on the apparition.
The expert had himself witnessed the poltergeist’s actions first hand while staking out the shop. Staff claim the “boy” has: Smashed dishes and then pieced them together; Started a lawnmower; Written gobbledegook on the word processor in offices above the shop, and; Started a small fire in the workshop.
Believers in the spirit world regard poltergeists as mischievous spirits, usually of dead children. Cardiff historian has studied the area’s history in an attempt to discover the identity of the poltergeist but has so far drawn a blank. The shop was originally part of a row of terraced houses built in 1882 which became shops in 1900. It was the home of the Frayling family but there is no evidence of the sudden death of a schoolboy.
Mr Dart said the site used to be common land, not ancient hallowed ground as is often thought. But he said the town gallows was sited nearby where two Roman Catholic priests were hung in 1679.
The shop’s owner, John Matthews, 56, started a lawnmower business in a workshop behind the shop 11 years ago. Stones were frequently thrown at the shop’s windows and he put it down to local vandals. Then four years ago, when the property was renovated, events turned bizarre. “It all started with the poltergeist throwing things about,” says Mr Matthews. “He was just throwing everything around in the shop. We looked at each other and couldn’t believe it.”
Wales on Sunday, 7th July 1991.
Friendly ghost even boiled kettle.
The friendly phantom of Cathays is to star in a television documentary. Lawnmower repairerr John Matthews says he came into contact with the friendly poltergeist called Pete in 1980. It had moved into his workshop in Crwys Road, Cathays, Cardiff. He said things began to move around the workshop, keys would be hidden. John and his wife Pat were convinced the workshop was home to a poltergeist. They claim family, customers, sales representatives, insurance assessors and even a Baptist minister witnessed Pete’s antics.
“He even pulled my hair and pinched my bottom,” said Pat. “And he started to prepare our morning coffee when we arrived for work. The cups were put out and the kettle boiled.”
Pete and his antics will be featured in Michael Aspel’s television series on the unexplained Strange But True? on Friday (HTV, 8.30p.m.). “Pete was with us for several years and was never malicious – more playful and mischievous,” said Pat.
The Matthews have since retired and moved out of the shop which is now a kebab house. “I know it sounds strange but I suppose I miss him in a way,” said Pat. “And we still can’t explain what happened.”
South Wales Echo, 28th October 1994.
Pounds, shivers and suspence!
Pete the poltergeist conjures up pennies from Heaven.
Poltergeist Pete is a nightmare turned into a dream – he actually produces money from thin air. The ghost with the Midas touch has spooked Welsh couple Fred and Gerry Cook for several years. And while he hasn’t turned them into millionaires overnight, he has left them quids in.
Pete became a family friend after haunting Fred’s place of work in Cardiff. But after settling in the family home he has vanished into thin air. Retired plumber Fred and wife Gerry, whose Cardiff home Pete had moved in to three years ago, is baffled. “He left about two months ago,” said Fred. “Since then we’ve had no money thrown at us and no oranges pinched – they became his trade marks when he moved in here. It was a couple of months ago when I was doing the washing-up: I’d just done the last item and there was a splash in the washing-up bowl. I put my hand in and there was an orange. That was the last we saw of him.”
The police, of course, have not been called. The only time they were was to investigate a break-in at the engineering firm on Crwys Road, Cardiff, where Pete first started haunting – throwing stones and pinning carburettor floats to the ceiling back in 1988. “He pelted the police with stones,” said Fred. “But they had heard of him and knew what to expect. The men who came to replace the broken window weren’t too happy though. He pelted them too and they rushed the job and left in a hurry.”
It was at the engineering shop that Fred first met Pete. “The boys who worked there used to say to him ‘give me a penny’, and he’d make a penny appear out of thin air and fall at their feet. Then he started giving me pounds and even notes – fivers and tenners stuck to my car in the rain.”
Obviously Pete had a soft spot for Fred and, in time, revealed himself to him. “I’d never been frightened until the first time I saw him,” said Fred. “I was on my own in the workshop and I looked up and there he was, sitting on a shelf. He was a young boy, wearing short trousers and a peaked cap but his head, hands and legs were just outlines, there was nothing there. After that I saw him about five or six times.”
When the business in Crwys Road moved to new premises in Splott, Pete moved in to Fred and Gerry’s home in Llandaff. “He even moved house with us when we moved into a smaller place a couple of years ago,” said Fred. “My grandson Craig saw him here once when I was away. He said ‘He’s sitting in Grampa’s chair’ and the description was of exactly the boy I’d seen. He became part of our life for a few years and we enjoyed his company. You always knew when he was around. I’d feel a very cold draught and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand on end. He’d pull our hair or put pound coins on my shoulder. We did quite well out of him – he must have left us a few hundred pounds in the time he was here – it was like having a lodger. It has been a wonderful experience and I feel quite privileged and honoured to have had him around. But we want to get back to our normal life, so in a way, I’m glad he’s gone now. As long as he’s all right.”
The story of Pete and other poltergeists is told in a new book The Poltergeist Phenomenon by John and Anne Spencer, published by Headline books on May 15, priced £6.99.
Wales on Sunday, 11th May 1997.