Spiritualists hold seance in mystery house.
Strange noises end after investigation.
First a plumber, then the police, and finally Spiritualists were called into a house in Poulton-road, Fleetwood, to investigate mysterious knocking sounds that seemed to centre around a 13-years-old girl who had been in Hull blitzes. The story, as told by some of the people who took part in it, follows.
On Christmas Eve a 13-years-old Hull girl came to Fleetwood to spend a short holiday with her aunt, Mrs Cavanagh, at the house of Mrs Alice Gibson, of 3, Poulton-road, Fleetwood, wife of Mr. Albert Gibson, who died last April. A few days after her arrival, other people sleeping in the same bedroom as the girl were awakened by a loud knocking sound. They thought Mrs Gibson, sleeping in the next bedroom, was knocking on the wall. They got up and went to her bedroom, only to find her asleep.
The knockings went on for several nights. On the theory that the hot water system was faulty, the help of a plumber was sought, but he found nothing wrong.
The police were informed. They kept watch. It was found that the knockings began as soon as the girl lay down.
Finally, two Spiritualists were called. After their visit the knockings ceased.
This is what Mrs Gibson told a “Fleetwood Chronicle” reporter. “On Christmas Eve, a 13-years-old Hull girl evacuee, whose mother died when she was born, and who had been brought up by her grandmother, came to stay at my house. She had come through all the air raids at Hull unscathed, but she was very highly strung. On January 5th she went to the Fleetwood pantomime. She came back very excited. That night the mysterious knockings began.
“We were all in bed. In the girl’s bedroom were her aunt and her two children, and Mrs Delph, who is a lodger, and her two children. They were awakened by the knockings, and came to my bedroom, next to theirs, and asked me whether anything was wrong. They said they had heard me knocking on the wall. I said I had not knocked at all, but they were quite sure someone had been knocking on the wall. We shifted a single bed from the wall, thinking that was the cause, but even then the knocking went on. It continued for several nights.
“We called in a plumber who happened to be passing, and he made a thorough examination. He searched for any dripping water from the attic and roof, examined the gutters to see if there was any looseness, and also looked over the hot and cold water system. Everything, he said, was in order.
“On the Saturday, January 9th, my daughter May fetched the police. They came at 8-30 p.m. and sat in the bedroom while the girl was in bed. A police sergeant and a policewoman came. They stayed nearly an hour, and they too heard the knockings. They, like us, were baffled.
“The knocking began as soon as the girl lay down. It continued until she went to sleep. My dog, Bonzo, showed not the slightest sign during the knockings. He never fails to bark whenever anyone knocks at the door. We shifted everything and slept downstairs in the kitchen. We put up a bed-settee in the sitting-room. But the knockings continued. Even my two lodgers, Eddie Lee and John Capes, sleeping above the girl’s bedroom, heard the knockings. Although I am not a Spiritualist, I arranged to have a seance in the house. No one could believe what took place without being there. It has converted my daughter to Spiritualism.”
Mr C.T. Batley, of 17, Chaucer-raod, president of the Fleetwood National Spiritualist Church, said to the reporter: “There is not a shadow of doubt. The knockings were made by an intelligent on the other side of life. Mrs Vollans, secretary of the Fleetwood Spiritualist Lyceum, and I were asked to go to the house. We went on Sunday evening, January 10th. Mrs Gibson explained that since a little girl had gone to stay at her house for a Christmas holiday the household had been disturbed by very loud knockings. Mrs Gibson told me that she had had the police in the previous evening, but the cause of the knocking was beyond them.
“Mrs Gibson asked us whether we could do anything for her. I asked that the little girl should undress and lie on a bed-settee in the sitting-room. She did so. In addition to Mrs Vollans and myself, Mrs Gibson, Mrs Cavanagh and a woman friend of Mrs Gibson’s were in the room. As soon as the girl relaxed the knockings began. There were knockings on the wall, the piano and the back of the bed-settee.
“It was definitely a psychic matter, and I thought my best plan was to find out whether the knockings were caused by an intelligent. I said, ‘If you can prove to us that you are an intelligent entity I will give you a code. If you mean ‘No’ knock once. If you are doubtful, knock twice. If you affirm, knock three times. Now let me see if you understand what I’ve said.’ Immediately there were three loud knocks, proving identity.
“I said: ‘You are disturbing these people with this knocking. You must have a reason for coming. Is that so?’ In reply to that I got three loud knocks. I asked: ‘Is it concerning a little girl?’ and again came three loud knocks. “
Mr Batley said that Mrs Vollans then took up the thread. “Mrs Vollans said: ‘Do you want this little girl to go back to Hull?’ and at once there was a definite knock which meant ‘No’. Mrs Vollans went on: ‘Will it be dangerous for her?’ and the reply was three loud knocks.”
Mr Batley said that Mrs Gibson then said the girl could stay on with her if she liked, and then followed a succession of loud knocks which he could only think was the intelligent expressing pleasure. “Actually, however, I cannot explain the meaning of the succession of knocks,” he said. “I said: ‘You have told us so much. Now can you give us your name?’ In reply I got three knocks. I went through the alphabet with knocks, and asked the intelligent to knock when I reached the first letter of his name. I learned that his name was Jim.”
Then, for the first time, said Mr Batley, he learned that Mrs Cavanagh’s husband, who has been reported missing in Java for more than 12 months, was called Jim
Mr Batley said that, naturally, Mrs Cavanagh was very upset. He stressed, however, that he oculd not say that the intelligent was Mrs Cavanagh’s husband. “This upset us all,”said Mr Batley, “and to restore calm we sang ‘Nearer My God to Thee.’ Throughout our singing of it the intelligent kept time by knocking. I then addressed myself to the intelligent, I said: ‘Now that you have got your message over I want you to leave these people undisturbed, and I hope that there will be no more knocking. Do your part and we will pray for you.’ I got three knocks in reply, and I understand that they were not further troubled by any knocking.”
Mr Batley said: “The seance was closed with a prayer to the Almighty, and we asked for the people of the house to be blessed, and that the spirit seeking light should be given guidance. “
The reporter read Mr Batley’s account of the seance to Mrs Vollans at her home in Gordon-road. She said it was correct.
There were no more knockings after the seance. The girl returned to Hull last Saturday.
Fleetwood Chronicle, 22nd January 1943.
Seance stopped “knocking ghost.”
Mysterious knockings at 3 Poulton Road, Fleetwood, have been investigated by police and spiritualists. They started when Enid Wilson (13), who had been through the blitzes at Hull, arrived to spend a holiday with her aunt. Every time she went to bed the knockings were heard, and a police sergeant and a police woman were called in to solve the mystery.
Mrs Alice Gibson, tenant of the house, said, “The police sat in the bedroom while Enid was in bed, and they heard the knockings and were baffled. As soon as the girl lay down the knockings started and they continued until she went to sleep.” Mrs Gibson added that they moved everything and slept downstairs in the kitchen, but the knockings went on. “Although I am not a spiritualist, I arranged to have a seance at the house.”
Mr C. T. Batley, president of the Fleetwood Spiritualist Church, and the secretary of the Lyceum held a seance, and afterwards the knockings ceased. Mr Batley told a reporter, “There is no doubt that the knockings were made by an intelligence on the other side of the line. The girl in lying down became a medium.”
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 23rd January 1943.