A Haunted House.
For the past week a house in Clive (Hawke’s Bay), has been “haunted” in a mysterious fashion. This house (says the Herald) is about half-a-mile from the police station, and loud knocks continually repeated alarmed the family. Every endeavour was made to discover the source of the disturbance but without avail. As the noise was repeated every night, the police were communicated with, and on Tuesday night, Constable Davy, with three or four friends, kept watch.
The house is raised on piles, and anyone could be seen approaching for some distance round. The rapping commenced, but the watchers could not discover how it was caused. A crowd collected, and a cordon was formed round the building; but, though the knocking continued without intermission, no sign of trickery could be found, a thorough search being made until 1 a.m. The knocking ceased at midnight. Other methods are being adopted to get to the bottom of this “ghostly” visitation.
Wairarapa Daily Times, 4th March 1901.
A “Haunted” House.
The haunted house mystery at Clive has reached another stage (says the “Hawke’s Bay Herald”). The weird knockings continuing, the police made another inspection at night, and were rewarded with a repetition of the eerie sounds. Constable Davy daringly approached the house, and, looking through the keyhole of the children’s bedroom, saw them vigorously pounding the wall. Immediately he entered, however, the cherubs were wrapt in slumber.
It is stated that the house has been vacated by the family.
Constable Davy with a Clive resident, later on found a wooden mallet under a bed in the room where the knocking was heard. Its appearance suggests that a substantial spirit has been at work.
One Clive resident courageously offered to investigate affairs, but he got no further than the threshold, and precipitately retired, declaring that the “knockings” were under him and all around him.
Lyttelton Times, 18th March 1901.
To use the words of the cableman, ‘during the silent watches of the night’ the public of Clive, down Hastings way, have been worried by a ghost. No one believed it to be a real spiritual transparency, and so the local bold spirits nightly approached the haunted house to lay out the ubiquitous goblin. One ghost-layer crawled under the house from one side, and another shadow hunter, unaware of this, approached from the other side. They met! Their’s is the honour. Each tries to kill his ghost, and the stronger drags the weaker out to the moonlight and discovers in the mangled form a fellow citizen. The language used on the occasion has not been published, and inquirers as to its quality must approach the principles.
Observer, 23rd March 1901.