Bealings Bells.
An account of the mysterious ringing of bells, at Great Bealings, Suffolk, in 1834; and in other parts of England: with relations of father unaccountable occurrences, in various places;
by Major Edward Moor, F.R.S. &c.
Woodbridge: Printed and sold by John Loder, for the benefit of the new church. 1841.
To Mrs Shawe, of Kesgrave Hall, Near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
This volume compiled and printed at her suggestion , is most respectfully inscribed by her affectionate friend and neighbour, E.M. Great Bealings, August 1841.
Preface.
Conversing with a lady in this neighbourhood – to whom this little book is inscribed – and to whose influence, the cause is more indebted than to any one – on the means of augmenting the scanty funds for building the intended Church at Woodbridge, she suggested that I should cause to be printed, an account of the Mysterious Bell-Ringing, at Bealings, to be sold at the intended Bazaar, in September. To this I assented – and the little book in your hand, kind Reader, is the result.
As such ringings have not occurred in my house only; but have, within my own knowledge, extended to others, I proceeded to make enquiry into occurrences elsewhere: and, in addition to several accounts already, then, in my possession, I have been favored with many others, which I have added, in extension of the bulk of my volume; and in augmentation, as I hope and believe, of the interest and entertainment, that it may excite and afford.
In making such collection of facts, I have been furnished with relations of circumstances, not exactly coming within the description of Bell-Ringing: still wearing similar preternatural aspects, that I have not hesitated to add them, in view to the effect indicated in the conclusion of the preceding paragraph. Some of them, as will be seen, still more extraordinary than what I have witnessed – and equally authentic.
If, within the limited extent of my knowledge and enquiry, so many instances of such things have been heard of; it is not to be doubted but in a wider circle, – say all England – very many others have occurred, not hitherto brought to public notice. Some, possibly, still more extraordinary, and, perhaps, so varying in their phenomena, as might, if collected, throw light on such unaccountable occurrences; and, haply, lend a clue to the discovery of their cause.
Nor is it likely that such mysterious appearances have been confined to England.
Assuming the cause to be preternatural, it is surely sufficiently curious, to warrant scientific enquiry into the origin of such extraordinary phenomena. Such enquiry is beyond my power to carry out.
Had the mysterious ringing been confined to that of my own house, my conviction of the cause assumed, would have been sufficiently strong. But, strengthened as it is, by still more extraordinary events of a like nature, as related in the following pages, I confidently expect that a like conviction will be wrought in the minds of a great majority of those who may read this little volume. It contains, probably, the greatest number of authenticated instances of preternatural appearances, that have hitherto been offered to public notice.
The author, or compiler, has, in the currency of this work, indulged in some occasional remarks; which may tend to lessen the necessity of any lengthened introductory matter. Some of the communications may have a tendency to throw over the whole an air of incredulity; or even of ridicule. If it be so, the author cares not. – He has no hypothesis to uphold. He has honestly related what he has seen, and heard. He has invented nothing: nor withheld any thing, likely to throw light on the obscurity of his subject.
I need scarcely add, that I shall hear, with much interest, of any attempt, by competent persons, to unravel the mysteries herein made known. And that I shall thankfully receive any authenticated relation of similar occurrences, not in my possession. In the event of a re-print of my book, I shall gladly introduce them.
If, indeed, the whole of what is here related be a trick, as some, not having seen, may be disposed to think – and, in truth, I can scarcely blame any such, for so thinking – if, I say, it is trickery – the performers, be they who they may, possess a knowledge, a power, hitherto, I believe, unattained by science.
When the following pages were nearly all printed, I mentioned their subject to my old friend and kind neighbour Bernard Barton; of whose poetical effusions, his county-men are so justly proud: hinting my hope of something introductory, from his ready pen. My sheets were sent – and speedily acknowledged and returned with the following note: –
Dear Major, – They pacquet is duly received, and is now in Lucy’s hands; this evening I hope to read it myself; and, after having done so, to write, or, it may be, rhyme, thereon;
But how the subject theme may gang, / Let time and chance determine; / Perhaps it may turn out a sang, / Perhaps turn out a sermon.
So sang Robin Burns, and so say I, for I can at present form no conjecture what aspect the theme may wear on laying down thy leaves; only I know I should like to have “a finger in the pie.” But do not look for any thing very clear: the case is full of ambiguity and mystery. Poetry seldom clears up such: – rather tends to make them more mysterious, by its veil of gossamer. Besides, the crying folly of this utilitarian age, is to have every thing made clear: it is harmony with its superficial impertinence to decry all mystery: to want to have every thing proved by demonstration, and clearly accounted for, on philosophical principles. I have small sympathy with such shallow philosophy, and am always glad when any thing, however trivial, occurs, which makes such would-be knowing ones at fault. If I knew how thy bells were rung, methinks I would not tell every one: though I should like to be able to gratify thy own rational curiosity. However, I am well content it should still remain a mystery. It is far more poetical, than if it were cleared up. Then the odds are, there would be little in it. Now there is somewhat, though not much perhaps beyond its being incomprehensible; and that is something, now-a-days.
What I may write, be it introductory or valedictory, or both, I will put my name to, with thy leave; that I may not compromise thee, or any one else, by any view I may take of the subject. And now farewell. B.B.
Woodbridge, 6 mo. 22, 1841. Noon.
P.S. Evening. Since writing the above I have indited six “Introductory,” and seven “Valedictory,” stanzas: which I place at thy disposal. Do not take fright at the opening stanzas of the Introductory ditty, but read on, in the faith that thy Poet is not one of the Praters – whose words he has put in inverted commas, to denote that they are not his own. My own favorite, of the two Pieces, is the “Valedictory” one, because it gave me an opportunity of saying my say, as far as time, space, and subject allowed, on the cold, calculating, sceptical philosophy of this utilitarian age. We are getting as hard as the nether mill-stone – as dry as “the remainder biscuit after a voyage:” like old Cutting of Playford, who used to boast he believed nothing that he heard, and only half of what he saw. I hold not with the Cutting-onian Philosophy, but am always willing to take marvels on trust, when reported by a lover of truth like thyself. B.B.
These stanzas – in our Poet’s usual beautiful style of versification, I most gladly give, in their appropriate places: – having, now, more confidence in the fair reception of a book, which begins and ends so well.
Bespeaking the indulgent Reader’s unprejudiced consideration – a perusal of the following pages is respectfully invited.
Edward Moor. Great Bealings, Near Woodbridge, Suffolk, 15th August, 1841.
A Book about those Bealings Bells! / What can be more absurd? / The thing – whate’er the Major tells, / Was trickery, on my word!
Twas but a quiz; a clever hoax. / Play’d by some lad, or lass;/ Or both, perhaps; and wiser folks / As such, had let it pass.
Thus, peradventure, some may prate: – / Reader; with courteous grace, / Ere thou shalt give thy judgement, wait/ Till thou has read the case.
A plain straight-forward tale it tells; / And proves, from various sources, / Not These alone, but Other Bells / Have run their random courses.
Who rang them; or the reason why / They rung at all – believe / We have no favourite theory, / Whose fall can make us grieve.
Facts – simple facts alone, we state; / We’ve studied them in vain; / And having stated them, we wait, / Till you their cause explain.
Bernard Barton.
No. 1.
To the Editor of the Ipswich Journal.
Sir, – A circumstance of an unaccountable nature has recently occurred in my house, and I shall be obliged by your giving insertion to this, my account of it. It commenced on Sunday, the 2nd inst.; and on the Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday following, I drew up an account of it, intended for your paper; but my account was so long that I could scarcely expect, curious as I deemed it, that you could spare room. But having had many enquiries into the circumstances, and having seen in a newspaper an imperfect and erroneous statement, I am induced to send you an abridged account, from my minutes made at this time.
On Sunday, the 2nd inst. returning from afternoon service, I was told that the dining-room bell had been rung three times, at intervals, between two and five o’clock. At this, the servants left in the house, a man and woman, were surprised; no person or cause being perceptible, though sought. This passed; and had nothing more happened, would probably have been soon forgotten.
The next day, Monday, the same bell rang three or four times in the afternoon – the last time within my hearing, shortly before five P.M. This too might have passed; for I fancied I could discern a cause sufficient for such an effect, although the room was not in use, and certainly no one was within reach of the bell-pull: but the proceedings of yesterday (Tuesday, the 4th) have, I confess, completely baffled me.
I left home early, and returned before five in the afternoon. I was immediately told that “all the bells in the kitchen had been ringing violently.” A peal at that moment sounded in my ears. I proceeded thither, and learned from the cook, that “the five bells on the right” had, since about three o’clock, been frequently so affected. There are nine bells in a row, about a foot apart, 10 feet from the floor, and 12 from the fire; not over it. While I was intently looking at the bells, and listening to the relation that the ringings had occurred at intervals of about a quarter of an hour ,the same five bells rang violently; so violent was it that I should not have been surprised if they had been shaken from their fastenings.
My son was beside me, also watching: he had witnessed one peal before, and had heard more than one. The cook and another servant were then in the kitchen. Although expecting a ringing, the suddenness and violence of the effect, with the agitation of the bells, rather startled me. My son said he had been startled at his first-witnessed peal; so had the cook, but she had heard and seen so many that she was now unmoved. After about 10 minutes, I intently watching the while, another similar phenomenon was witnessed; but we thought not quite so loud as that preceding, and we were in some doubt if more than four bells actually rung.
With an accession of observers, we continued watching during about another quarter of an hour, when a third peal, by the five, occurred; very like those preceding, but some of us thought less loud. [In my original letter to you here followed an account of how the bells are hung, the origin, conducting, and termination, of the wires; but it is long, and I omit it; although in an investigation of the cause of what I am describing I should deem such particulars necessary.] The five bells, whose pealing I have mentioned, are those of the dining-room, drawing-room over it, an adjacent bed-room – neither of these rooms in use – and two attics over the drawing-room.
We are arrived at the time of before 6, of Tuesday, the 4th. Dinner was then taken into the “breakfast-room” (some call it the “library”); when sitting down, the bell of that room rang singly, as if it had been pulled; no one was near the pull; it having rung after we sat down to dinner. During dinner the same five bells rang, perhaps every 10, 12, or 15 minutes – on recollection, I think oftener, say four times – and continued to do so, with nearly uniform violence, while the servants, six in number, were at dinner in the kitchen; and, with longer intervals, till quarter before eight, when the last peal of Tuesday sounded. During our dinner we thought one peal did not sound so clear as the other clangings, and in notes differing from their usual tone: such, it was remarked, as are sometimes heard from a dull copper sheep-bell.
I afterwards learned that the dull peal was noticed in the kitchen, and proceeded from the three bells on the left of the nine. These three pealed but that once; they are of the room where we dined, of a bed-room near it, and a bed-room adjoining the last; all in use. Here ended the Tuesday ringing, except one gentle sounding of a bell, about an hour after the last peal, hung by itself on the side of the kitchen, opposite the nine; to that bell the wire leads from an attic.
The nine bells have been hung 28 years, and so well hung that they have never, I think, required any repair, save that of the breakfast-room; the wire of which broke, and was repaired a month or six weeks ago by a tradesman of Woodbridge, who assisted at the original hanging. All the bells in the house – 12 in number – except one, have thus rung, without apparent cause. The one is the front door bell, which hangs between the five pealers and the three. It is the largest and loudest, and has hitherto preserved its gravity and taciturnity.
Now, Sir, is this not a strange relation? At the first gentle, single, tinkling, I was disposed to think that I could account for it. [I omit my theory, as the former omission of the currency of the wires would render it unintelligible.] But the boisterous clang and agitation of my first witnessed peal of five, at once showed its fallacy. You and your readers may be assured that there is no hoax in the matter. I do not mean by me, but by any one. I am thoroughly convinced that the ringing is by no human agency. How then is it? I cannot say. A satisfactory solution is beyond the reach of my philosophy.
[The preceding was written at the time when my curiosity was on the stretch, and my feeling excited to a high pitch of amusement. A lapse of several weeks and due reflection do not induce me to weaken the force of the expression.]
At this moment, 11 A.M., Wednesday, the 5th, comes a peal. I, my son, and grandson, in the breakfast-room; enter a reporter – it was of the original peal of five, of usual violence – three or four persons in the kitchen – at this instant, an interval of three minutes, comes another peal, like the last. I go to the kitchen. I return and note that three minutes after, I intently looking, the five rung very violently; again, in 4 minutes, more violently than ever. One actually struck against the ceiling: that is, the spiral flexible iron on which it is hung, so struck. This was the right hand bell, of the best bed-room. In 2 minutes more, another peal of the 5, less violent than the last. At this peal the cook started, and exclaimed, Oh! 4 or 5 persons were now in the kitchen; one, a tradesman’s servant from Woodbridge, who declared “he was never so stamm’d in all his life.” In 3 minutes anothe rpeal of the average sort.
I continued watching another quarter of an hour, but nothing further occurred. I now sent a servant round to ring all the bells singly, I noticing the effect. They sounded as usual, uninjured by their unusual treatment; their motion, when thus rung by hand, and that of their spiral flexible support, was comparatively slow and perceptible – not so at the peals – it was then too rapid to be seen distinctly. [I now went to examine some of the wires, but omit particulars, for reasons given in former parentheses.]
Returning to the kitchen, I learned that the single bell, opposite the 9, had, since the last noticed peal, rung gently and frequently; it rung, in my sight, half a minute after. The wire to this is from a bed-room. The twelfth, hitherto un-noticed, bell is in an attic, rung from a bed-room; this has run frequently, but not violently.
I repeat that I am baffled as to a sufficient cause of what I have thus seen, and heard, and described. The weather has been calm – nothing particular in atmospheric phenomena – barometer nearly stationary at 29 deg. – thermometers within their usual range; three are daily noticed. The known laws of the electric theory seem inadequate in their ordinary operation – as are those of the expansion of metals by change of temperature.
I am now, near noon of Wednesday, the 5th, called to Woodbridge. – 5 P.M., I now return. The peals of five are reported to me to have continued after I left. The first, half an hour after; and four others succeeded with nearly like intervals – the last about half-past 2. The single bell opposite tinkled two or three times, and was observed to shake as often, without ringing. The bell in the attic also rang several times, gently.
Thursday, 10 A.M. Nothing farther has occurred in the ringing way since the afternoon, as mentioned, of yesterday. We expect no more. If any thing further should occur, I may trouble you again, briefly.
I think, Sir, this strange relation will amuse you and your readers. And if you or any of them can give a satisfactory explanation of it, I farther think it will be instructive to many – and among them to your very obedient Servant, Edward Moor. Bealings, 25th Feb. 1834.
P.S. I had on the above date an opportunity of reading the above proceedings up to that time, to six or eight very intelligent gentlemen at Woodbridge – and add, as my answer to some of their queries – that I keep no monkey – that my house is not infested by rats – that the wires of the five, and of the three, pealers, are visible in their whole course, from their pull to the bells, save where they go through walls, in which the holes seem no bigger than is necessary. The wires of the two single bells are also visible, except where they go through floors or walls.
One or two of my friends, said it was “all a trick.” It is possible. I have for many years of my life passed over large arcs of the earth’s surface, and have seen divers tricks of distant people. If this be one, it surpasses all that I have seen. I have heard of things something alike – that is of strange ringing of bells – formerly and recently, in Woodbridge, and in your good town of Ipswich: but not the particulars. I mean to try some experiments, if I can, on metallic expansion – the atmosphere is beyond my reach. The preceding is, except when otherwise indicated, merely a transcription from my longer letter of the 5th. I am now – the 27th – able to add that nothing particular has since occurred. I have read this account to persons who heard and saw, most of what I heard and saw; and some proceedings that I did not. They concur in the opinion that it is a fair and unembellished statement of the facts.
Bealings, 27th February, 1834.
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