Mysterious events in house.
Story of nightly apparition and a loud thump at Crewe.
Mysterious knocks and a loud thump, followed by the appearance of a ghost at the head of the stairs. These are the strange happenings reported to be seen and heard nightly in a Crewe house. Occupants of the house are alarmed and a Spiritualist medium is puzzled by the visitations. The house – the situation of which is at present a closely-guarded secret – is a modern one. Some little time ago the last occupier died. And now it is said that his ghost is seen at the head of the stairs at midnight and 6a.m. daily.
So disturbed are the present occupants about the mysterious happenings that a Spiritualist medium has been called in to investigate, and this is what is reported to happen every night: – Mysterious knocks are heard, followed by a loud thump. Then the bathroom door opens and closes without human agency and the ghost – that of a man dressed in ordinary clothes – appears at the head of the stairs. At 6 a.m. the sound of falling crockery is heard.
If these are mere fancies they are shared by level-headed witnesses who have sat in the house at night, waiting to see and hear. One of them told a “Sentinel” representative that when the ghost appears a black cat belonging to the house rushes up the stairs and down again as if demented.
The Spiritualist medium terms the apparition a spirit form – not a ghost. She is trying to solve the mystery, and her theory is that money is hidden in the house.
On one recent occasion, it is stated, the gramophone in the house started to play during the day without being touched by any human hand.
Staffordshire Sentinel, 9th January 1936.
The Crewe Apparition Won’t Materialise – for the benefit of the “Sentinel” Reporter.
(From our Crewe Representative).
‘Tis midnight in the Crewe haunted house. All lights have been extinguished, and those who have gathered to see the ghost stand in various rooms, are enveloped in darkness. We are all very careful not to make a noise. We have waited for a quarter of an hour, unable to see each other or to draw from each other the confidence that conversation gives. At the foot of the stairs stands the Crewe woman medium who is seeking to solve the mystery of the haunted house and the troubled spirit who is reported to have appeared almost nightly at the head of the stairs. So far the only noises have een the howling of the wind, tearing round the house with gale force, and the staccato patter of rain on the windows.
The voice of the medium breaks the silence. “Come through to me, friend,” she says. “Come through to me.” Thud…thud. There are distinctly noises. Is it a prank of the howling gale, or is it more of the mysterious knocks which have puzzled and alarmed this household for so long. Then comes the voice of the medium again: “I am satisfied. I am satisfied.”
The medium afterwards stated that she had seen distinctly the form of a tall man, wearing plus-fours. The form came, she said, from the front bedroom to the head of the stairs, and held up its arms. Although I saw nothing, a young married daughter of the tenant confirmed the experience of the medium. She also said that she saw the form.
The tenants of the house talked of many queer things which have happened there. In one bedroom, they say, can be heard the slow tick of a grandfather clock. There is no such clock in the room, or anywhere near it. And I heard the ticking distinctly.
A baby’s cradle rocks steadily at times without visible cause; Doors open and close without human agencies; A gramophone plays without being touched; and at 6 a.m. comes the sound of falling crockery. Then too, there is the strange behaviour of a black cat in the house. On nights when people claim to have seen some of these things it dashes upstairs with its back arched. Last night the cat was restless, and it finally went upstairs. The medium holds the view that money may be hidden there in the house.
Staffordshire Sentinel, 10th January 1936.
Death in Crewe “Mystery” House.
Baby dead in mother’s arms
Clock ticking stopped.
On awakening this morning, Mrs Rose Walters, daughter of the tenant of the house at Crewe where an apparition was stated to have appeared recently, found her four-months-old child, Marshall Walters, dead in her arms.
Mysteirous happenings reported at the house, where the child’s death has occurred, were the subject of investigations by a spiritualist medium. It is stated that at about 11.45 p.m. yesterday, Mrs Dunn, wife of the tenant, heard a distinct knock on her bedroom door. No-one living in the house was moving about at the time, all being in bed. Following the death of the child, the sound like that of a ticking of a grandfather clock, reported to have been heard in the house, was silenced, and has not been heard since.
Sceptics have sought to explain the mysterious happenings at the house. They have suggested that the sound of the grandfather clock ticking – a sound which can be heard in one of the bedrooms – comes from a clock in a neighbouring house. They have suggested that the mysterious rappings and the sound of crockery falling – heard in the house at midnight and at six a.m. – have been occasioned by joiners working in an adjoining garage.
These theories are firmly rejected by the occupants of the house, and by the spiritualist medium who was called in by the tenants to make investigations. The medium asserted that the visitations meant either that a death would take place in the house or that money was hidden on the premises.
It will be recalled that a “Sentinel” representative who visited the house a week ago did not see any apparition but heard certain noises. His visit was during the great gale.
Staffordshire Sentinel, 14th January 1936.
Child Dies After Ghostly “Warning”
Climax to series of uncanny happenings.
Forebodings of death in a “haunted house” in Nantwich-road, Crewe, were realised on Tuesday, when Marshall Walters, aged four months, the grandchild of Mr and Mrs Dunn, the occupiers, died following an illness.
The house has been the scene of strange manifestations for some time, and last week a medium spent a night in the house in an effort to solve the mystery. The medium stated that the manifestations were either a warning of an impending death or an indication that money was hidden in the house.
The occupants themselves are convinced that the uncanny happenings in the house which have aroused widespread interest in the district, are the result of supernatural agency.
Mrs Dunn, the child’s grandmother, states that on the night preceding his death she heard a loud rap on the bedroom door, and another member of the family testifies to having heard a curious “rattling” sound.
Other mysterious noises heard in the house during the past few weeks are: the loud ticking of a grandfather clock in a bedroom, although there is no clock in the room, the playing of a gramophone although no human hands have been near, sounds like the rocking of a cradle, and tappings in various parts of the house.
A tall ghostly form is also said to have been seen at the head of the staircase.
Western Mail, 15th January 1936.