Hector – our happy ghost.
“He’s such a help around the house.”
By Marc Astley.
An Earl Shilton couple have found themselves an unlikely home help in the form of a friendly ghost! The perfecct poltergesit has been nicknamed ‘The Butler’ for his five-star spooky service which includes locking doors and windows at night and even putting on the kettle for a cup of tea.
“It was quite frightening when we first moved in six months ago and discovered there was a ghost. But the house really wouldn’t be the same without him now,” said 24-year-old Sarah Newby-Smith. In fact the only real complaints she and husband Colin have about “Hector the Spectre” is that he tries a little too hard, often locking them out at night before they return to their Melton Street home.
“I once came home at three in the morning after working late and discovered that “Hector” had bolted the back door and put the latch on the front door,” said 28-year-old Colin. “But he’s generally good and i’ve even seen him switch lights off at night when we’ve left them on.”
The couple – who have a 14-month-old baby boy – named “Hector” after a helpful waiter they met on holiday in Spain recently. And although they have never seen the ghost, a family friend, 24-year-old council officer Julie Thomas, claims to have spent two disturbing nights in the house. “I stayed there a short while ago and woke at four in the morning to see a dark figure looking out of the window. It looked like a woman as she was wearing a long black dress with a ruffle collar,” she said. “The second incident occurred a few weeks later around midnight, when I woke to see a man looking at me from the bottom of my bed. It was strange but I didn’t feel afraid at all – both apparitions seemed to be quite friendly.”
Tea instead of spirits… Sarah Newby-Smith claims that ‘Hector the Spectre’ even puts the kettle on. Picture by Jim Jarvis.
Hinckley Herald and Journal, 4th August 1988.