Gateshead Family May Call in Medium.
Ghost of Bronte Street makes four quit home.
A “poltergeist” has forced a widow and her three children to quit their home in Bronte Street, Gateshead. The Coulthard family are now living with neighbours – and are thinking of bringing in a medium to rid their council house of the unwelcome ghost.
Mrs Eva Coulthard, aged 36, entered her home for a short time today at 29, Bronte Street, to tell a reporter of what has happened in her home “since the coming of the ghost.” She explained that it all began on November 23 when the latch on the back door began rattling. But no one was there.
The latch was removed to avoid the rattle. Mrs Coulthard said: “We thought it was someone playing a practical joke.” After that the family heard knocking noises on the rear windows of the house when they could see no one there. These noises travelled to the doors at the rear of the house and have recently grown louder and spread right through their home.
Mrs Coulthard wanted to see if others could hear them. Her next door neighbour, Mrs Lillian Hayes went into the house and she also heard the thumping noises. She said today: “It’s not a joke, I was terrified. When we opened doors, there was never anyone there and it was beginning to get frightening. When the banging has been going on it has even been heard in the street.”
Mrs Coulthard said: “I came home one night recently and found one bedroom practically upside down. Everything had been strewn around. I got sick of picking up the bedside lamp from the floor and having it mended.”
Mrs Coulthard’s 14-year-old son Joseph took up the story. He said, “I was in the scullery and saw a spoon jump off a plate and clatter back down again.”
Mrs Coulthard and her children are suffering from nervous strain and she has sought the advice of the Church. The Rev. R. Race, of St James’s Church, Gateshead, said today: “I have held no service in the house. But I have visited it and said prayers with Mrs Coulthard because she was obviously deeply distressed. I said prayers as I often do with people in distress. There has been no question so far of a service of exorcism but there may well be in the near future.”
Before leaving her home once more today, Mrs Coulthard said: “I am now thinking of calling in a medium. What else can I do? I cannot go on like this because other people have heard these noises and I know something is wrong. Until something is done I will not remain in this house.”
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 9th December 1963.
Vicar to hold service in ‘Ghost House’.
A service of blessing will be held in a Gateshead house tonight to “evict” an unwelcome poltergeist. The Rev. R. Race, of St James’s Church, Gateshead, told the Evening Chronicle that he had his Bishop’s permission to hold the service in Mrs Eva Coulthard’s home in Bronte Street.
Mrs Coulthard, a 36-year-old widow with three children, refused to sleep in her house at night because of noises made by what she thinks is a ghost. Mr Race said, “I shall say prayers in every nook and cranny in the house. It will not be a service of exorcism. That would be the final resort if all else failed.”
Today Mrs Coulthard was having a meal with two of her children in the house. She has lived there more than 11 years. But she is at present being looked after by her next-door neighbours, Mr Frank Hay and his wife. Mr Hay said: “My hair sometimes stands on end when I go into Mrs Coulthard’s house.”
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 10th December 1963.
Bronte Street ‘Ghost’ Fading.
The “ghost” of Bronte Street, near Sunderland Road, Gateshead, has apparently been laid. For since Tuesday evening when the Rev. R. Race of St James’s Church, Gateshead, conducted a service of blessing in the home of Mrs Eva Coulthard, only two knocks have been heard from the poltergeist which had previously disturbed her and her family.
Knockings on doors and windows and the disturbance of furnishings in the house had earlier frayed the nerves of 36-year-old widow Mrs Coulthard and her three children. Mrs Coulthard told the Evening Chronicle today: “It seems to be all over now. Since Mr Race visited the house I have heard only two knocks. I slept in the house last night and everything seemed all right. We will just have to wait and see if everything is all right this week. It was at weekends when it was worst.”
When the Rev. Race visited the house it was not to conduct a service of exorcism. It was simply for a service of blessing for which he did not need the Bishop’s approval.
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 13th December 1963.
The ‘Ghost’ Knocks Once.
It’s getting weaker, says Mrs Coulthard.
The Coulthards, of Bronte Street, Gateshead, are listening for their poltergeist again. They have heard it twice since a clergyman blessed the house a week ago, but it has been silent for the last four days. Mrs Eva Coulthard, the widowed mother of three children who lives there, said last night: “We have heard it twice since Mr Race held the service. But it was fainter. There was only one knock instead of the usual two. We are all hoping that it has now finally gone after four days’ silence. I am trying to get used to moving around the house in the dark again, but everybody’s nerves are still on edge, especially the children’s.”
Since the service, Mrs Coulthard has received several letters with suggestions how to get rid of the “ghost.” Many have been from religious sects and from people who have had similar experiences. The most concrete offer was from someone willing to accommodate Mrs Coulthard and her family.
“If it does start again like it was before the service I won’t stay here. I shall leave this house as soon as I can,” she said.
Newcastle Journal, 16th December 1963.
Gateshead’s Poltergeist is Back Again.
The ghost of Bronte Street, Gateshead, thought to have been banished at a service of blessing in the house, made a dramatic return to first-foot its unwilling hostess. Mrs Eva Coulthard, who had not heard anything of the poltergeist since the Rev. R. Race, of St James’s Church, held a service in her council home on December 10, was entertaining neighbours on New Year’s Eve. Then on the stroke of midnight the “first-footing ghost” arrived.
Slippers shot up from the floor, knocking down Christmas decorations. Plates and cutlery crashed down and chairs moved. Mrs Eva Coulthard, who with her three children now refuses to live in the house, told the Evening Chronicle, “When the trouble first started I was frightened. Now I am terrified. Things are getting worse.”
Neighbours who once chuckled at the ghost no longer find it funny. Many of them now have had experience of the poltergeist, which is becoming more vicious with each incident. A man visiting the house to empty a television meter saw a chair move. While he was putting the meter back into the set an ornament flew off the mantleshelf, narrowly missing his head.
On another occasion a milk bottle smashed against a door, and Mrs Coulthard’s furniture is now showing many marks caused by the poltergeist. Chairs have been thrown against the sideboard and a heavy fruit bowl splintered a fireplace tile.
Said Mrs Coulthard: “I am living away from the house now. I have asked the council for another but they have told me there is nothing they can do. A lot of people have now seen what is happening but no one can explain it. It seems intent on wrecking the house and each day I throw more litter in to the dustbin. There is nothing I can do.”
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 4th January 1964.