Strange Ghost Story from Gt. Baddow.
Parson, Policeman, Parish Councillor.
Great Baddow is agog with excitement over a spook story. This, however, is by no means a new experience for the villagers, for on more than one occasion persons more or less imaginative have been seen, or claimed to have seen, mysterious things, or what they have described as “things,” haunting lonely and secluded spots at dead of night. But the supposed ghost on this occasion was entirely different from its predecessors. Unlike the ordinary variety of spook, “it” worked by the light of the sun instead of appearing at or near the witching hour. True, it was never seen or heard, but its presence was certainly felt. Its doings were not, however, of a particularly hair-raising character – there are no blood-curdling incidents connected with the story – but, on the other hand, it appeared to be more daring than the average ghostly visitant.
A cottage in The Chase, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. John Wallace, an elderly couple, was the scene of its operations, which were for the most part confined to the bedroom. In fact, it is remarkable what a great partiality this “ghost” had for beds – not that it slept in them like mortals, but it played havoc with the bed-clothing. Mrs. Wallace, an industrious housewife, diligently made the beds, and as soon as she had left the room the “ghost” with equal diligence threw the clothes about in all directions.
These tricks commenced in the early part of last week, but Mrs. Wallace, not suspecting the presence of a supernatural visitor, contented herself with putting the clothes again in order. But when the same thing happened thrice in one day it dawned upon her, and also upon her husband, that an evil spirit was at work.
Hastily the Vicar, the Rev. A. N. Colley, was summoned, and the rev. gentleman to some extent calmed the terrors of the good people by offering prayer – either with a view to “laying” the restless spirit or providing consolation for the worried occupants of the house. This he did at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, but, whatever his object, prayer was unavailing, for the strange visitor behaved in precisely similar fashion the following day.
The representative of the law was then called in. Great Baddow’s astute guardian of the peace, P.c. Wright, was sceptical. He immediately dismissed the ghost theory, and, “from information received,” came to the conclusion that the work was that of hands of flesh and blood. In common with other spooks, however, this one had no terror for the law, and its bedroom antics continued.
More alarming still, it actually removed the ornaments from the kitchen mantelpiece and placed them on the hearthrug, and littered the floor with books from a heap on the dresser. Nor was it afraid of such an important functionary as a Parish Councillor, for it kept merrily at its game in spite of an attempt to solve the mystery on the part of Mr. L.J. Sparrow, the village blacksmith.
These strange happenings stopped as suddenly as they began. As the story commenced to circulate sympathetic friends and neighbours flocked to the house anxious to give Mr. and Mrs. Wallace the benefit of their services and advice, and the braver spirits volunteered to keep watch. One individual from Chelmsford volunteered to “sit out” the night with another person in order to corner the “ghost.” At any rate, this courageous person could not induce the other individual to accompany him, and he determinedly refused to risk an encounter with the unknown alone.
Like a respectable ghost, the unwelcome visitor observed Sunday as a day of rest and left the beds alone; and, in fact, has not shown any signs of its presence or been heard of since.
Barking, East Ham and Ilford Advertiser, Upon Park and Dagenham Gazette, 19th May 1906.
Great Baddow Mystery.
Moving Bed-clothes and Vanishing Shadow.
“As ghosts are not everyday visitors of the Chelmsford district,” writes one of our reporters, “when I heard whispers of a ‘ghost story’ from Great Baddow, I went to the village to investigate the circumstances. A few inquiries soon resulted in my finding the so-called ‘haunted house,’ and amid warnings from light-hearted schoolboys to beware of the ‘ghost,’ I courageously presented myself at the door.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, the old couple who live at the cottage with their little grand daughter, received me most courteously, and from them I heard the whole tale of recent happenings. ‘Yes,’ said the old lady, ‘our trouble began nearly a week ago, it was on the Tuesday night. Between eight and nine o’clock my husband went upstairs meaning to go to bed. When he got into the bedroom, however, he saw that the feather mattress and all the clothes were on the floor. I was downstairs busy washing, when he called to me. Of course I was much surprised when I saw for myself, but I made the bed, and came down again.
‘A little later I went several times into the back garden to speak to the neighbours, and on my return each time I found things in the front room had been interfered with. Twice the books from the top of the chest of drawers were strewn about the floor, and once the crockery from the mantelpiece lay on the hearthrug. At this, I was greatly alarmed, and could not imagine what was the matter. After that, all went well till Wednesday morning, when after breakfast we found the bed-clothes were again on the floor. Then I said I was sure something was wrong, and I let the coverings keep where they were till night. Every day after was the same, but to-day, as far as I know, nothing extraordinary has happened. Several nights we have sat here, in the front-room, because I dared not go to bed. Friends have been in, but they have not seen anything. We ourselves have not heard any strange sounds – only the things move. I firmly believe it’s witchcraft at work. There used to be such things, and that’s what I believe this is.’
‘I haven’t known what to make of it,’ remarked old Mr Wallace, ‘I was never so ‘done’ in my life.’ Continuing, Mrs. Wallace related that a near neighbour had been frightened a few nights before. Something ‘went’ for him, and he was so startled that his hair fairly stood on end. A shadow went through the room, and flew up his chimney like lightning.’
Having heard the full details, I was invited by the old gentleman to go and see the room of which we had been talking. He leading the way with the candle, I climbed the dark steep stairs, and looked half-expectantly round the room. No ghost, however, greeted us, and the neatly made beds were undisturbed. Expressing the hope that the mystery was over, I wished the old folks ‘good-night’ and left.”
Essex Newsman, 19th May 1906.
Spooks.
Pranks in a country cottage.
Bed upset and forks cleared off.
The inhabitants of Great Baddow, a peaceful village near Chelmsford, are living in a state of terror owing to a series of weird happenings in a cottage in The Chase, a lane leading to the churchyard, occupied by Mr and Mrs John Wallace, an elderly couple. Few of the villagers care to walk in the vicinity after nightfall, for “things” have been seen there, uncanny “things,” which no one has been able to explain.
The story of the spook was told to a “Morning Leader” representative yesterday by Mrs Wallace, while her husband sat by the fire reading the large family Bible. For over a week, Mrs Wallace said, the “spook” has tormented them. It began its tricks by overturning the bed as soon as she had left the room. Not only have the bedclothes been flung on the floor in a disordered heap, but the mattress has been bundled upon the top of the pile.
The first day this happened once, but the next day the persevering old lady made the bed four times altogether. “And then,” she added, looking nervous at the mere recital of the incident, “when my husband took the candle and went up to bed, he called out, ‘They’re all off again!” This was too much for the terrified couple, and they sat up all night in the kitchen, listening intently for every sound. For four or five nights they were afraid to go up to the haunted bedroom; and although neighbours came in and made the bed each day in fear and trembling, as soon as they had gone and the bedroom door was shut the same thing happened.
The mysterious power next began to play pranks in the living-room. The china dogs on the mantelpiece were thrown into the fender when Mrs Wallace’s back was turned, books on a little table were scattered on the floor, the ornaments on an old-fashioned bureau were jumbled topsy-turvy, and the geraniums in pots in the cottage window were upset and disarranged in the most unaccountable manner. Knives and forks disappeared off the table while the couple were at meals, and at last the thing became unbearable, so the couple sought the aid of the vicar, the Rev. A.N. Colley.
“Parson,” continued the good lady, “said there had been an earthquake somewhere, but I said that couldn’t have upset our little home. Anyway, parson went up to the bedroom, and then he said some prayers. He prayed we might find out all about what was disturbing us.” But the prayers did not “lay” the spook, for its pranks continued, and so the local constable was called in, but he could find nothing to arrest. One man offered to sit in the haunted chamber all night, provided some other volunteer would keep him company, but nobody has mustered courage to share his proposed vigil. The Great Baddow ghost therefore still “gangs its ain gait.”
Northern Daily Telegraph, 19th May 1906.
Ipswich, Monday, May 21, 1906.
The peace of a very Sleepy Hollow in Essex – Great Baddow, to wit – has been shaken by reports of a “spook,” whose alleged freaks have been exploited by the local penny-a-liners for the delectation of people who must have their ha’porth of sensation every day irrespective of its degree of truth. According to these circumstantial stories the cottage wherein the ghost is lodged is occupied by a Mr and Mrs John Wallace, and recently, after making her bed, Mrs Wallace, on returning to the room, found the bedclothes on the floor, and the mattress overturned. She restored order, but subsequently chaos again reigned, as it also did in the living-room, where the ornaments on the mantelpiece, articles on the dresser, knives and forks, and so forth, either disappeared, or were scattered in confusion.
Believing that it was a case of witchcraft, the couple took counsel of the vicar, who visited the cottage on several occasions, and finally offered up prayer for the old people’s deliverance from the supposed evil spirit.
We have the authority of a trusted correspondent at Chelmsford for saying that the whole affair is more spoof than spook, and when the cause of the “manifestations” is stated, it will readily be understood why the vicar’s intercession was not effectual, though that of the police had the happy result of “laying the ghost.” It appears that the old couple are possessed of rather highly-strung nervous systems, and their infirmity is said to have been taken advantage of by a young grandchild, whose pranks have been attributed to witches and spooks, and such agencies as are only real to warped imaginations. Those who remember the Bramford sensation will recollect that the ghost was laid in similar fashion.
Evening Star, 21st May 1906.
Joking Ghost.
Disappointment for a Spiritualist.
The Great Baddow ghost is resting. Life has therefore been bearable for a day or two in the little cottage occupied by Mr and Mrs Wallace in The Chase.
Mr C R Goss, a Chelmsford electric engineer, who is deeply interested in spiritualism, is disappointed because Mrs Wallace will not allow him to “form a circle” in the cottage. He had satisfied himself that the extraordinary events recently recorded are not the work of a practical joker, and he says he could get into communication with the impish spirit. Mrs Wallace’s idea is that it is better to “let the thing alone,” as “it” has not been juggling with the bed lately, nor playing skittles with the ornaments and geranium pots. She is afraid of stirring it up to fresh efforts.
She has, however, promised to let Mr Goss attend to the matter if the spook plays any of its old pranks again. Seen by a “Morning Leader” representative, the occult expert said he believed the manifestations were made by a departed spirit. If he is permitted to “form a circle” in the haunted bedroom, Mr Goss will assemble his friends round a table with a slate in the centre. “After a while,” he added, “the slate will become luminous and we shall see the room in the operation of being disordered – the bedclothes thrown about, and so forth. A message will perhaps appear on the luminous slate, and it is quite possible that the spirit will materialise sufficiently to enable me to converse with it.”
But the good lady in the cottage, who has been so sorely tried of late thinks this sort of entertainment can be very well dispensed with, if only the ghost will continue to “lie low and say nuffin’.”
Preston Herald, 26th May 1906.
Cottage Ghost.
Smashes the crockery and upsets the bed.
Inhabitants of Great Baddow, a village near Chelmsford, are being scared nearly out of their wits by most mysterious demonstrations of what appears to be supernatural power. A cottage in a lane leading to the churchyard is the centre of the disturbances. In its bedroom, bedding has been piled on the floor in the most extraordinary fashion, and none can explain what force has done it. Knives and forks have disappeared from the table under the eyes of people at their meals. Crockery has been thrown down and smashed. So terrified have the old couple living in the cottage become that they have called in the clergyman, who offered up prayers in the haunted rooms, but this has failed to have any effect. Villagers say they have seen mysterious, indefinable shapes near the cottage, and not one of them will go near it at night.
Mrs. Wallace, who lives with her husband in the cottage, gives an eerie account of the ghostly doings. She says they commenced a week ago, when directly after she had made the bed and left the bedroom all the bedclothes were thrown down on the floor, with the mattress on top of them. On the second day this happened four times. Mrs. Wallace, who is not easily frightened, remade her bed on this day, but each time she did so the things were thrown off again. Three times this happened, and then when her husband went up to bed he found their mysterious visitor had again thrown the bedclothes on the floor.
The elderly couple were terribly frightened. Afraid to sleep in this room, they passed a night of terror downstairs, listening intently for every sound and imagining unspeakable horrors. They are now still afraid to sleep in this room, for although neighbours have come in each day and made the bed, it has been tumbled in disorder on the floor as soon as the door is closed.
The ghostly visitant has not confined its attention to the bedroom. China has been thrown from the mantelpiece into the fender as soon as Mrs Wallace’s back is turned. books have been scattered on the floor, and knives and forks have mysteriously disappeared as the couple were sitting at their table.
When the clergyman, the Rev. A. N. Colley, was first appealed to, he suggested that there had been an earthquake, but later happenings have demonstrated that this would not explain the mystery. A village constable has been called in, but as there is nothing to be seen he was obviously unable to be of any assistance. The village is anxiously awaiting further developments.
Weekly Dispatch (London), 27th May 1906.