Chorley.
Strange “spiritual phenomenon” at Eccelston.
Our Chorley correspondent writes: – Bank House, Eccleston, in which two respectable ladies with their niece reside, has been the scene several times during the past fortnight of a most singular phenomenon, the inmates having been subjected to some occult influence, which is at once unaccountable and annoying. Whilst sitting quietly in the house, the inmates have been frequently alarmed – sometimes two or three times a day – by the descent of showers of water, apparently from the ceiling. These showers have drenched them, flooding the floor and covering the furniture with water, rendering the house almost uninhabitable. The shower lasts for a few minutes only, and comes down in a mysterious manner.
A few days since a number of men were engaged to examine the premises, the roof was thoroughly tested, so also were the bedroom floors, but no sign of water could be discovered to account for the unwonted visitation. The ceiling remains quite dry. The showers descended after the examination of the premises just the same as before.
The unusual visitation soon got talked about and numbers of people have inspected the premises; some who expressed a desire to witness the downpour were gratified and got thoroughly drenched for their Thomasonian temerity. The water comes straight down from the ceiling, and shows not the slightest indication of its being thrown into the apartment. So singular is the affair that people have concluded that it is some spiritual influence, and is a sort of judgment upon the good ladies of the house for some dereliction, who naturally enough are much affrighted.
Preston Herald, 15th February 1873.
The “Savings Bank House” is situated about the middle of the village of Eccleston, and is, as its name denotes, the office where the little accumulations of the thrifty are received and stored against the proverbial rainy day. It was built some two or three and twenty years ago by the Rev. Thomas Marshall, then and for some time after curate of Eccleston, and was occupied by an old servant, Miss Maria Forshaw, the present tenant.
Although of modern construction, a lively imagination might readily fix upon the place as a likely one for some tale of mystery. It is a square building of four rooms, with double-headed and gothic windows; and with an ancient and weather-beaten appearance singularly at variance with the fact of its comparative youth. This arises mainly from the quality of the stone used in the erection, most of which has turned almost black, whilst the dressings, plainly from a better quarry, have preserved their original freshness and colour. Altogether there is a quaint appearance about the cottage which would strike the visitor’s attention, apart from any supernatural interest; but just now the attention is rivetted, or has been rivetted, in an unusual degree owing to circumstances of an extraordinary nature.
We have said that the occupant is Miss Maria Forshaw. This lady, a spinster of some 80 years of age, and broad in the beam as a Dutch galliot, is of independent means, and has residing with her a Mrs Tunstall, whom report sets down as over ninety years of age, and a sharp girl of fourteen years, the daughter of a niece. The little household is about as promising a scene for a spiritual visitation as could well be imagined; and between the singular character of the occurrences and Miss Forshaw’s garrulity, the village and district have had food for “special wonder” for some time back.
Until very recently the house was a well-behaved house – indulging in no strange freaks of backdraughts or smoky chimneys, damp walls or leaking roofs. Three weeks ago, however, so runs the tale, all this was changed. Whilst seated in the kitchen, which occupies about half of the ground floor, the inmates were startled by the sudden dripping, or splashing of water from the ceiled roof. The natural inference was that it proceeded from the bedroom above, and when the first feeling of surprise had been overcome an examination was made. No trace of any lodgment of water was, however, discovered; and what at the outset was merely a subject of curiosity soon became one of mysterious interest.
Daily, after its first outbreak, this dripping of water from the roof of the kitchen appears to have continued, and at times the downpour was so great as to wet the old lady and such of her visitors as chanced to be with her through the whole of the upper clothing. The source of the water was altogether inexplicable, and its traces were governed by no ordinary rule. Naturally, it would have been supposed that the incessant dropping of water from a clean, whitewashed roof would speedily have left some mark. Housewives will readily admit the fact. But in no instance was any stain or mildew left to mark the point of descent.
Then, the fall of this singular shower was not confined to one portion of the ceiling; but was distributed over the whole surface. At one time, seated on the hearthstone, the family would be subjected to a dash of water, described by one old villager, who had ocular and bodily manifestation, as being “as cold as snow and as clear as gin;” at another, the tea-table, drawn into the middle of the floor, would receive a downpour which spoiled the edibles and comestibles upon it; and, again, the fall would be experienced in remote corners.
The visitation was not confined even to the kitchen, but extended to the parlour, forming the other half of the ground floor, and divided from the kitchen by the stairs flight.
For days the inmates were subject to this unpleasant species of shower-bath, until it became necessary to sit at times on the hearth beneath the shelter of an umbrella!
The experience was by no means confined to the inmates of the cottage; but it may be said that well nigh the whole of the villagers have, at times, sat under this supernatural shower. The testimony as to the reality of the descent is in no way to be questioned; but the explanation is by no means readily reached. When the news was first spread, the house was thoroughly examined by the men in the employ of Mr Wane, joiner; but the hidden reservoir was not discovered.
The flooring of the chamber over the kitchen – in which the “manifestations” were greatest -was taken up; but the timbers and laths were found as “dry as tinder,” and this too, at the very time when the room beneath was all aflood with water from overhead. In fact, the explorers went so far as to pour water through the ceiling to witness its effect; and a very small quantity left a blotch on the under surface, now apparent.
Of course, a story so full of matter for speculation drew numbers of visitors, and with them all sorts of suggestions with a view to elucidation. In the presence, however, of the hard, matter-of-fact experience of rector and curate, of tradesmen and professional men – in fact, of everybody save and except two or three old women – the occurrence was ascribed to perfectly natural causes, though of what precise character and whence arising no one can tell. As a matter of fact, the outbreak remains as great a “mystery” as ever, and has baffled the detective skill of the village. The absurd air of the supernatural given to the circumstance can hardly be said to exist in the village, but is confined to those who have received the story through the ingenious sublimation of wonder-mongers.
In some quarters it was believed that the fall of water was the trick of the girl already referred to, but Miss Forshaw indignantly denies the assertion, and as the descent has been witnessed and felt whilst the girl was seated on the hearth, it is not possible to attach credence to the charge. Again, it was suggested that it proceeded from a leak in the cistern in the rear of the house, and fixed over the pantry. Here, too, the supposition fails, as the upper edge of this tank is some six inches below the level of the chamber floor, whence the drips or splashes proceed.
The mostly likely explanation, or suggestion – for that can hardly be called an explanation in which nothing is explained – is that the ooze proceeds from the lodgment of water in the outer wall of the kitchen; and this, running at intervals along the beams, finds vent below. But even this theory scarcely “holds water;” for some trace must have been discovered of such lodgment, and although the wall is alleged to need pointing the beams and flooring are dry and unaffected by damp or moisture.
One further fact sets at rest all spectral analysis. During the past week of dry weather the downfall has not been experienced.
The last visitation was yesterday, and for the fortnight preceding there had been a daily – almost hourly – display of these miraculous jets d’eaux. Meanwhile, the operations of discovery have been suspended; and the old ladies whose peaceable existence has thus been disturbed are left in their ordinary comfort.
The “haunted house” at Eccleston, at which the whole district has gaped in sheer amazement, drops from our notice into the category of common-places. Spirits have singular methods now-a-days of making their presence felt and known. Mr Morse, the medium who recently favoured Preston with a visit, and discoursed pure English with the tongue of the Chinese philosopher, might possibly make friends with this water-sprite to the special benefit of his followers. It is, at any rate, a change, if not an improvement on the old form of table-turning and spirit-rapping; and novelty hath its charms. We fear, however, that the whole garnish is stripped from this very promising ghost story; and that before long the spirit will have been exorcised by the trowel of the mason. – Preston Guardian.
Leicester Chronicle, 22nd February 1873.
The “spirits” – i.e. the spirits of the Spiritualists, not those of the publican – are “at it again.” This time they are playing their uncanny antics at Eccleston, a village near Chorley, where a house known as the Savings Bank House is being the scene of divers uncomfortable phenomena. “The house is,” says the local journal, “inhabited by two elderly ladies and their niece, and for several days during the past fortnight these persons have been alarmed, as they sat in the kitchen, by frequent downpours of what appeared to be rain. Although the weather was fine and frosty, the inmates were drenched two or three times a day. the ceilings appeared perfectly dry, yet the water came down in a miraculous fashion. Workmen were engaged to ascertain the cause, but failed, the rain coming down as before. The kitchen and parlour have been almost flooded for days, and every article in the room is covered with water. The ladies are much affrighted. Scores of people have visited the house, and many persons have witnessed the extraordinary occurrence, as well as feeling the unpleasant effects of the mysterious rain. The people have become impressed with the idea that the drenching downpour has its origin in some supernatural agency.” When the “supernatural agency” gets into the police dock we may probably have a little light thrown on the phenomena, and for the sake of credulous people, the sooner the better.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 24th February 1873.
The “Water Spirit” Again.
An Eccleston correspondent writing last week, says that the “strange phenomenon” at Bankn House, which attracted much curiosity a few weeks since, has been again reproduced, to the alarm of the ladies who reside there. The Water Spirit was supposed to have been exorcised for ever by the vapid out-pourings of sundry individuals who evidently prefer “spirits” to “water,” but such is not the case.
The re-appearance of the phenomenon was first notified on Thursday, and a lady who was visiting at Bank House, became a victim to the singular downpour from the ceiling of the room. The origin of the “phenomenon” is still enshrouded in mystery, for the combined mechanical and practical skill of the village have failed to discover the origin of the singular visitation.
Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, 15th March 1873.