Ghostly Derry – Things that go bump in the night.
… In 1988, [a married couple in a house in the Belmont area of the city] decided to have the house renovated prior to moving in. Early each morning the husband would go to the house to await the arrival of workmen. It was on a number of occasions, before any workmen had arrived, that curious incidents occurred. He would frequently notice a light on in a room even though he had switched it off only minutes earlier; he would find doors, which he previously closed shut, suddenly opened; and, strangest of all, for no apparent reason, the kettle in the kitchen would start boiling. Not long after, and with the renovations complete, the couple moved into the house.
Within a matter of weeks, however, the husband began to experience a strange recurring phenomenon. Regularly, he would be awakened at around 6 am by a loud noise emanating from the loft. It sounded as though a heavy object was being dragged to and fro across the attic floor. He checked the loft during the day but could find nothing to account for the unusual sounds. Not wanting to worry his wife, the man kept the incidents to himself. After a year, the couple celebrated the birth of their first child. It was during one of the baby’s early morning feeds that the wife first heard the strange noises coming from the loft. After discussing the matter, and concluding that it was causing no actual harm, they decided to leave well enough alone.
Soon afterwards, however, in the middle of each night, the quiet house echoed to the eerie sound of bare feet shuffling just outside the couple’s bedroom door, then quickly descending the stairs and entering the living room. On one particular morning the couple arrived downstairs to find that pictures had been removed from the living room wall. On another occasion the husband went upstairs to get ready for bed while his wife remained downstairs to do some last minute tidying-up. Hearing a spine-tingling scream, he rushed downstairs to find his wife standing in the kitchen, visibly shaken. She told him how minutes earlier, while standing by the kitchen sink, she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Believing it to be her husband, she turned to find no-one there. Instantly she felt the room turn distinctly cold and automatically screamed in sheer terror.
Next day, at work, the husband mentioned the matter to a friend who produced a blessed medal, advising him to keep it somewhere safe int he house at all times. Arriving home from work he placed the medal on a shelf on a wall unit in the sitting room. Later that evening, while the couple watched television, they heard a strange rattling noise by the wall unit. They looked up in time to see the medal ricochet violently off the back of the unit, as if someone had picked it up and thrown it forcefully against it. Shaken and unnerved, the couple decided that something had to be done to end their nightmare.
A few days later, at the couple’s request, a priest called to the house to perform a blessing. He began reciting prayers as he walked through the house, blessing and praying in each room. Afterwards, he refused to say whether or not he had actually felt a “presence” in the house but assured the couple their nightmare was finally at an end. The couple were never troubled again and in early 1991 moved to another part of the city.
(This name-free excerpt may be from Peter McCartney’s ‘Parade of Phantoms’).
Derry Journal, 3rd May 1996.