Remarkable ghost story from Failsworth.
During the past few days considerable excitement has been caused by what is said to be the appearance of a ghost in a cottage in close proximity to Firs Hall, Oldham-road, Failsworth. A week or two ago a man and his wife, who are said to have come from Birmingham way, took the house and bought furniture on the weekly payment system. They paid about three calls on account of the furniture, and then for some reason not yet explained they hurriedly disappeared without troubling to remove anything. Their haste was apparently great, for they left the lamp on the table and the teapot full of tea in the oven. As to when they went, how they went, or where they have gone the neighbours are ignorant; indeed they seem to have known very little at all about the couple.
The cottage had not been empty long when a young man, who has a wife and one child, inquired of the landlord about it, and agreed to take both house and furniture. The man had just commenced working at Messrs. Ferranti’s, Hollinwood. On the second night of their tenancy (a Tuesday), according to the story of the man and his wife, they were very much alarmed by mysterious apparitions. The husband says someone entered the bedroom, went round the bed, and then stood close to the door. He thought someone had broken into the house, and jumping out of bed approached the figure and tried to get hold of it, only to find that he could not grasp it. The thing then disappeared. The man got a light and saw that all the doors were securely fastened. He afterwards retired to bed wondering what the strange sight must have been.
On the Wednesday morning whilst the woman was nursing the baby she states that she heard an unexpected sound in the stairs as if someone was descending the steps, and saw a figure come down and stand at the foot of the staircase. She became terrified. The figure was that of a tall, thinly built woman, wearing a dark skirt and a small shawl over her head, and having her hand clutched under her throat. Woman No. 1 fainted at the spectacle, and remembered nothing more until her husband came home to his dinner, when he found her in an unconscious state in the kitchen. From that time she was afraid to be left in the house alone. The ‘ghost’ has repeatedly appeared since then, almost daily, she says.
On Sunday morning after, the husband went downstairs he heard a noise as if someone was coming down the stairs with a heavy burden. He says he saw the figure already described walk round the room, and then he heard some strange noise as if knocking was going on under the boards of the floor. This was enough to frighten the man, who related these strange things to one of his workmates, a big, tall fellow who, by the way, appeared in the police court the other day for having pulled a dagger out of his pocket to one of the pickets. This individual said he would go and see for himself. He was not afraid of ghosts, in fact, he did not believe in them, and if one should come whilst he was there he thought he could soon clear it out. Accordingly on Monday evening he paid a visit to the house, and after sitting chatting with his friend and his wife in a quiet way he and others heard the noise and saw the same figure again come downstairs and go out at the front door.
Asked by our reporter how they went on the woman said they did nothing, they were all so afraid. The family left the house on Tuesday evening and have got lodgings elsewhere. The wife declares that the figure can be better seen in daytime than at night. It is something like a shadow, but is distinctly the form of a tall woman such as she describes, and although she was never superstitious before she declares that nobody could persuade her that she has not seen a ghost.
The man and his wife seem to be intelligent young people, and positively affirm the truth of the uncanny visits, but the owner of the house says that he has never heard any complaints of anything of the sort before, and he does not believe the story in the least. The whole business seems to be shrouded in mystery.
Oldham Chronicle, 2nd October 1897.