Family flee home after ghost terror.
By Phil Norris.
A family of five have fled their home in the Forest of Dean after being plagued by phantom noises and ghostly apparitions. The Davies family, who even called in a priest to bless their council-owned house in Westfield Road, Cinderford, are now staying temporarily in a one-bedroom bungalow and want to be rehoused. But the Forest of Dean District Council does not accept haunting as a cause of homelessness.
Mother-of-three Sheila Davies, 47, who has lived in the house for eight years, said: “When this started I thought I was going mad. But we kept hearing knocking noises throughout the house – loud, rapping noises. Then one time, I was sitting in the living room and I saw this black shadow floating just above the carpet – it froze me to the spot. I do not want to think of anyone else having to live here.”
Her son Melvin, 29, saw an apparition when he was going upstairs at night. He said: “The knocking was really loud as I went up the stairs. I then saw what looked like a black jelly thing float above my head. It was terrifying.” Daughter Sheilanne, whose one-year-old son Nathan also lived in the house, said: “It is too frightening to live there.”
The Forest of Dean priest who was called to bless the house asked to bless the house asked not to be identified, but said he believed the family were genuinely frightened. He said: “There was great agitation among the family when I saw them and I have no doubt they believe what they say. I am taking this seriously and investigating what the next stage is – the diocese has ways of dealing with this kind of thing.”
Housing services manager at Forest of Dean District Council, Matt Cooney, said Ms Davies had reported knocking sounds. Mr Cooney said: “It is difficult to establish whether there is any substance to such claims. All we can do is inspect the house and ensure there is no logical explanation for the knocking, such as air in the central heating system. But we do not accept haunting as a reason for rehousing a family.”
Ms Davies, who also has an 18-year-old daughter Sharon, has ruled out heating or wind as causing the knocking. “I do not believe in ghosts, but there is something here,” she said.
Gloucester Citizen, 22nd November 1999.
Call for church to exorcise ‘ghost’.
The family who fled their haunted Forest of Dean home are being offered help by a medium who believes she knows what made things go bump in the night. Author, artist and medium Dena Bryant said the Davies family were haunted by a malevolent spirit called an “elemental” at their home on Westfield Road, Cinderford. And, while Mrs Bryant reassured the family they were not in physical danger, she has appealed for the church to perform an exorcism at the house.
As first reported in The Citizen, Sheila Davies and her family were tormented by knocking noises and ghostly apparitions at their home. Ms Davies, her three children and her grandson, have now moved into her mother’s one-bedroom bungalow.
But Mrs Bryant, who has written books on her own ghostly experiences, has offered to go around to the family’s home to confirm what is there. Mrs Bryant, from Westbury-on-Severn, said she recognised the behaviour of an elemental from The Citizen‘s report. “Elementals are rather evil spirits – not very nice things to know – which can be released by people using ouija boards,” said Mrs Bryant. “They like knocking and can assume different shapes and forms. I can understand why this family was terrified. It is not like a haunting by a ghost, which are normally harmless little souls, because elementals are from the devil. They will not cause physical harm, but they have to be got rid of – the church will have to do an exorcism.”
Gloucester diocesan spokesman the Reverend Geoff Crago, said the church treated such matters in private. He said: “This situation is covered by pastoral confidentiality so it is not possible to comment further. But, the Church of England has experts available to deal with this kind of phenomenon.”
The Davies family were unavailable for comment this morning.
Gloucester Citizen, 24th November 1999.
‘Spirits were friendly’.
The interest in a supposedly-haunted Cinderford house has continued with another medium entering the debate. Margaret Coles, 59, of Southwood Close, Cinderford, said the so-called ‘elementals’ as identified in Tuesday’s Citizen by Westbury-on-Severn medium Dena Bryant, were benevolent spirits and not from the Devil after all. Mrs Coles was responding to reports about the Davies family fleeing their Westfield Road home in Cinderford after reporting strange apparitions. She said: “Elementals are nature spirits, from fairies, elves and dwarves. They can be mischievous, but they rarely get involved in haunting houses. I have studied elementals and seen them – they are not from the Devil.” Mrs Coles said she was not sure what made the Davies family flee. Mrs Bryant previously said the apparitions and knockings were the calling cards of evil elementals.
Gloucester Citizen, 26th November 1999.
Blessing worsens ‘haunting’.
A priest has performed a blessing ceremony at a “haunted” Forest of Dean home. The Church of England priest said prayers and sprinkled Holy Water around the Davies family home at Westfield Road, Cinderford. The family called in the church after being scared by loud knocks and ghostly apparitions, but Shiela Davies said the blessing failed and the situation is worse. Ms Davies said: “The priest came and did everything, but by the evening, the banging and knocking was worse.”
Gloucester Citizen, 3rd December 1999.
Telling off for spirit.
The ‘evil spirit’ haunting a Cinderford home has been told to go into the light by healer Dena Bryant, from Westbury-on-Severn. Mrs Bryant went to the home in Westfield Road to purge it of an ‘elemental’ spirit that had been terrifying the Davies family. This followed hot on the heels of a Church of England priest who performed a blessing ceremony on th ehouse. Mrs Bryant said: “I could sense a presence in the small presence in the small bedroom and I invoked it to go into the light. I held up my cross and told the unhappy spirit to stop troubling the family.” Mrs Bryant said she felt a “sense of release” but added it was too early to tell if the evil presence had gone. The family has moved into another council home in Cinderford.
Gloucester Citizen, 9th December 1999.