Couple say: ‘We’ve been driven from home’.
Ghost – or just a grudge?
A young Dordon couple claim they have been driven out of their home by an unfriendly ghost. Mr Tony Sweet and his wife, Margaret, say they have experienced:-
A bedroom lampshade swinging violently on a completely still day.
A door rattling backwards and forwards on its hinges late at night.
Seeing the figure of a woman dressed in brown, wearing a straw hat watching Mrs Sweet do the housework from the corner of a room.
A bowl being hurled through the air.
A violent sensation which almost flung their four-month-old baby, Lee, out of Mrs Sweet’s arms.
They say this has all happened within a few frightening months at their rented flat, 35 Long Street. They are now staying with relatives. They even called in the local vicar, the Rev. Don Wrapson, for an exorcism. Another clergyman from Tanworth-in-Arden, performed a ritual to try and rid the house of its ‘presence,’ claim the couple.
But landlord Mr Phil Walton is sceptical about the couple’s claims. He says Mr Sweet bears a grudge because he (Mr Walton) employed him in his business as a general handyman and then had to sack him after two weeks because he did no work. Mr Sweet, he says, was also claiming that he was owed a £50 bond on leaving the furnished flat. But, said Mr Walton, this had been cancelled out by two rent-free weeks he allowed the couple for decoration purposes. “Personally I do believe such things as they describe can happen,” said Mr Walton. “But in this case, I am 99 per cent certain that they bear a grudge and are also using this as an opportunity to get a council flat quickly.” He knew the family of old, he said.
Mr Sweet confirmed that the couple were putting their names down for a council house. But he said he did not bear grudges against the landlord. He had left the job on a friendly basis, he said. And Mr Sweet re-affirmed his story about happenings in the flat. Less than a month after they had moved there a year ago, things started happening, he said. The couple had both smelt chocolate and perfume smells – a well known feature of ‘presences’ and they complained of a cold and, sometimes ‘heavy,’ atmosphere in the terraced cottage. They had been particularly terrified, said Mr Sweet, when the door started moving backwards and forwards rhythmically late one night. “It started doing it again when we got to bed. The dog was so frightened, it wouldn’t leave us and had to stay in the bedroom,” said Mr Sweet.
Mr Walton, who says that none of his previous tenants had complained about the flat being haunted, suggests that Mr Sweet has got it wrong and it was the dog that made the door rattle, by sitting down next to it and scratching himself. The lampshade incident could have been caused by a through-draught, “helped along” by Mrs Sweet to make a point, he said. As for the bowl which ‘flew through the air,’ he says the room where this was claimed to have happened was a new part of the house and he was under the impression that ghosts did not frequent new buildings.
Mr Sweet, unsatisfied with the exorcism at which he says the vicar read from the Bible, chanted and blessed them, he called in a local medium. The medium, he said, had agreed there was a ghost in the house – the ghost of a woman who had died in the bedroom years ago. “He went into the bedroom alone for quite a time and when he came out, said he had talked to the woman,” said Mr Sweet. “She was lonely and wanted us to love her – she also wanted to love our baby,” he said. The medium had then told the ghost to go away, he said. But, he said, when the medium had gone, they heard “low moaning noises” and days later they got the feeling that the ghost had been incensed and retaliated by hitting the baby, making it cry out. “I felt a cold sensation across my shoulder blades and then felt a ‘push’ towards the baby,” said Mrs Sweet. “If I hadn’t been holding him tightly, he would have been thrown across the floor.”
Mrs Sweet said she had experienced previous sensations of ghosts at her old home in Kettlebrook. Mr Walton said he thought Mrs Sweet was under stress after a car accident and also the recent birth of her baby. “I have bent over backwards to help this couple, both with the flat and the job,” he said.
The Rev. Wrapson would not comment on the case.
Coleshill Chronicle, 26th September 1980.
‘No grudge – just ghosts’.
Dear Sir, With reference to the report printed in Friday’s “Herald”, ‘Ghost or just a grudge’, there were certain statements made that were not true, or were misinterpreted.
1. Mr Walton did not sack me when I worked for him. I left by mutual agreement.
2. The kitchen which he said was a new part of the house is not. Only the bathroom has been put on, not the kitchen.
3. The accident he chose to bring up about my wife was three years ago and I can assure you she is not under any stress from that or the birth of our baby.
4. Mr Walton also insists on saying that we have done this to get a council house sooner than normal. Does he think we enjoy moving around the family to keep a roof over our heads?
5. He also says he knows my ‘family from old.’ He does know us well, but not by reputation.
6. A bond was mentioned in the story. Mr Walton claims he gave us a fortnights free rent for decoration and because of this we have to forfeit the bond. There was no free rent. A bond of £50 was paid and a week’s rent – £12 – when Mr Walton gave us the keys.
Mr and Mrs A Sweet, c/o 119, Long Street, Dordon, Tamworth.
Coleshill Chronicle, 3rd October 1980.