Mr “Whatever-it-is.”
Ghostly visitant at Maud’s Elm.
Seances from 11pm to 3am.
Replies reserved for the ladies.
Swindon-roaders stay up to listen.
Something spooky has been happening in Swindon-road, Cheltenham. There, on Wednesday night, several hundreds of the inhabitants of a district to red-bricky for one to suppose it to harbour ghosts or silly superstitions, crowded the road outside a house in which certain uncanny knockings and scratchings have been heard during the last week or so. The house is No. 2 Maud’s Elm-terrace. It is not old, mysterious, or picturesque; merely one of the new cottages the Corporation built a year or two ago to take the place of the warren which used to exist in the locality. It faces the recreation ground of St Paul’s Training College, has a little front garden, and a canary in the window. In fact just a nice clean new cottage no musty ghost with a taste for dark corners, creepy garrets, and general mouldiness would have thought of inhabiting when ghosts were really ghosts and were held in the respect that became their station.
The Young Welsh “Medium”.
The house with the canary in the front window is occupied by Mr and Mrs Hopkins. Mr Hopkins works on the roads for the Corporation, and they have staying with them on a visit a young friend, Miss Helena Jones, from Pengam, some miles from Cardiff, where they lived before coming to Cheltenham several years ago. Up to a week or so ago the peace and quiet that suffuse Swindon-road o’nights had been enjoyed by the inmates of No. 2 Maud’s Elm-terrace. But a few days since there started the knockings and scratchings referred to.
“We at first thought it was a rat when we heard the noises,” Miss Jones told an “Echo” representative in a chat on Thursday morning. “Mrs Hopkins knocked and she heard a knock back. Then she knocked two and three, and these numbers were repeated – and so on.”
A Rowdy Sunday Night.
“The ‘Whatever-it-is’ was awful on Sunday night,” Miss Jones said. “One evening there were nearly twenty people in the house to listen to its goings-on, and they heard it too!” Generally the tapping and scratching business went on late in the evening. The family have even been kept awake until two or three in the morning. Sometimes it was heard in the daytime, but then more faintly. It was very faint on Wednesday afternoon and did not go on at all at night when the crowd were waiting for it.
It did not give one little knock or scratch as an “How d’ye?” to the “Echo” representative, whose call was at about 11 in the morning, at which time an enterprising cat was just going for the canary in the cage, and would probably have quenched its sweet song for ever, but for the kind interposition of pretty Miss Jones.
Not Among the Hymn-Singers.
By careful inquiries the “Echo” was able to gather a few quaint facts about the “Whatever-it-is.” It seems to be a creature of cheerful rather than pious disposition. It will beat out the rhythm of a song – say “Con-stan-ti-nople” with all the vim of a Boy Scout drummer; but it has no use for ymns, and if you beat out the tune of “Abide with Me” it makes no reply. It is quite willing to knock the age of anybody in the room and tells it right to a year up to any number when it is asked to perform that trick.
Naturally the Spiritualists are much interested in the rappings at the house where the cat nearly had the canary. It is stated that some of them paid it a visit to see what they could make of the mysterious manifestations, but that the “Whatever-it-is” would not tell them its name or any of the bits of gossip that a something which knows our ages, how many we are in family, and so on, might reasonably be expected to know if it would only be nice and confidential.
Gloucestershire Echo, 16th May, 1929.
Tapping and Scratching.
Supposed haunted house at Cheltenham.
Family kept awake till early morning.
Considerable commotion has been caused in the Swindon-road neighbourhood, Cheltenham by unexplained noises occurring in one of the houses in Maud’s Elm-terrace, occupied by Mr and Mrs Hopkins, who at the moment are entertaining a visitor in the person of Miss Helena Jones, from Pengam, near Cardiff.
Miss Jones, interviewed, said: “We at first thought it was a rat when we heard the noises. Mrs Hopkins knocked and she heard a knock back. Then she knocked two and three, and these numbers were repeated – and so on. One evening there were nearly twenty people in the house to listen to its goings-on, and they heard it too!
Generally the tapping and scratching business went on late in the evening. The family have even been kept awake until two or three in the morning. Sometimes it was heard in the daytime but then more faintly. It was very faint on Wednesday afternoon and did not go on at all at night when the crowd were waiting for it.
The “Whatever-it-is” will beat out the rhythm of a song – say “Con-stan-ti-nople”; but it was no use for hymns, and if you beat out the tune of “Abide with Me” it makes no reply. It is quite willing to knock the age of anybody in the room and tells it right to a year up to any number when it is asked to perform that trick.
When asked how many children Mrs Hopkins has had, the “Whatever-it-is” knocked “five.” “How many are living?” it was questioned, and it knocked “two,” which in both cases was 100 per cent. correct.
A crowd of some hundreds congregated outside the house between 10 and 12 on Thursday night, when, however, there were no manifestations to gratify their curiosity.
Gloucester Citizen, 17th May 1929.
Ghostly rappings at Cheltenham.
Legend of the Middle Ages Recalled.
Intriguing Story.
A crowd of several hundreds of people waited for hours outside one of the new Corporation houses in Swindon Road, Cheltenham, on Wednesday night, to catch the sound of certain ghostly rappings and scratchings about which that quarter of the town is agog at the present time. The house is in a nice new terrace, facing the playing field of St Paul’s Church of England Training College, and it is stated that at times the rappings have been so loud that they have been heard as far as the centre of the field – a big one.
Generally, however, they are “More like a lady knocking with her knuckles on wood.” They began about a week ago, and at first the family, that of a respectable Corporation workman, thought there were rats about, and although the house was so new they had a man in to see whether there were any rats under the floor. No sign of rats was found; and, distressed by the constant knockings, they called in a policeman, who heard the sounds, but could give the family no relief!
Something intelligent.
By and by it was found that what was at first believed to be rats or noisy neighbours was something which would intelligently respond to leading questions and took an interest in music. For instance, if the rhythm of a lively song were beaten on the floor it was rapped back by the spook(??). On the other hand, so a reporter was told by a young lady visitor from Wales, who is staying with MR and MRs Hopkins, if a hymn were rapped to it there were no raps in reply. The ages of members of the family, the number of children living and dead, and so on, were also correctly given in reply to questions.
Spiritualists are much “intrigued” over the mystery; but when, on Wednesday night, they went to listen-in, the spook did not manifest for them. Its trade union hours are from 11p.m. until 3 a.m., during which time it keeps the family awake. If, occasionally, it does a little overtime by daylight, it does so in a very languid style, quite unworthy of its night form. Nearly twenty people were in the house one night when it was going strongly, and were much mystified. The occupants suffer no harm except from the lack of sleep, which, the young lady from Wales said, they felt very much, as if it was not until the “thing” left off that they could rest.
The house attracting so much attention is close to a spot associated with a very old Cheltenham legend, that of Maude’s Elm, Maude Bowen was a village beauty who in the Middle Ages was found dead under circumstances which might have led a jury in those days to find a verdict of murder against a naughty lord of the manor, instead of which they returned a verdict of suicide. Maude was buried at the crossroads with an elm stake through her body. The stake grew to prove her innocence, and the stump of Maude’s Elm, hundreds of years old stood until about 20 years ago, when the last remains of it were removed. The house where the rappings are taking place is No. 2 of Maude’s Elm Terrace, named after the village beauty and the stake which grew.
Western Daily Press, 17th May 1929.
The Maud’s Elm “Shoot.”
To the Editor of the “Echo.”
Dear Editor, –
Yon man you sent to intevew the spuke at Mords Elm was a thick un. Wat they herd was Percy the Parot and the Tom Cat scrapping with thay Robers. My old woman told me this she follers Percy in the Echo. Hoping this find you in the best of helth, as it leeves us at preesent.
I remain,
Yours affectionately,
John Mark.
Cheltenham, May 16.
Gloucestershire Echo, 17th May 1929.
Maud’s Elm Visitants.
The Town Clerk (Mr. Owen Seacome) informs us that he has recieved a complaint from Mr. Hopkins, of 2 Maud’s Elm-terrace, who is an employee of the Corporation with regard to the “great annoyance that has been caused to him and his family by reason of the article in the ‘Echo’ a few days ago as to certain alleged noises at 2 Maud’s Elm-terrace.”
Mr Seacome says he is informed that the article caused a large crowd to collect round th ehouse, and has resulted in people passing remarks as Mrs Hopkins and Miss Jones (referred to as a Welsh medium) pass along the street. Whatever the interest or curiosity our report may have excited, we need only point out that the article was the result and not the cause of the crowds that collected outside the house, and that it was only written because of the masses of people congregating in the street on Wednesday night. We regret that the conduct of the crowd was such as to compel Mr Hopkins to leave home for the night in order to get some sleep before resuming his duties. The noises in the house have now ceased, and it is hoped that Mr and Mrs Hopkins will be spared any further annoyance. May we at the same time warn scandalmongers concerning the tales spread as to the relationship with Aber[tillery?] people of Miss Jones, who is the central figure of the story. We have the best authority for stating that they are without foundation, and that both her parents are Cheltonians.
Gloucestershire Echo, 18th May 1929.
Modest Ghost.
Answers only to raps of fair sex.
Ghostly manifestations, which are said to have started at the witching hour of midnight and to have continued for some time, have been attracting thousands of people to a house at Cheltenham. The police have had to be called to control the crowd on the road.
The scene of the mysterious knockings and scratchings is the house of Mr and Mrs Hopkins, in Maude’s Elm-terrace, Swindon-road. According to local legend, Maude was a beautiful girl who, in the Middle Ages, lived at Swindon, a hamlet which stood where Swindon-road now is. Unfortunately for her she attracted the attention of the lord of the manor. Later she was found drowned in a brook in circumstances which nowadays might be awkward for her admirer, but then the verdict was suicide.
It was at first thought that the noises which were heard were caused by rats, but when Mrs Hopkins knocked back she was answered. But Maude will have nothing to do with the male sex. She will reply to Mrs Hopkins, her daughter, and a woman friend, but to advances made by men, even spiritualists and police, she will not reply.
Weekly Dispatch (London), 19th May 1929.