Coal from the sky.
Weird happenings in the Hope Hall district.
Black diamonds roll mysteriously downstairs.
Is it a spook?
Spiritualists on the scene.
Weird and strange happenings, causing considerable consternation amongst not a few of the residents in the Hope Hall locality, are reported; the house in and around which most interest centres being that of an extremely well known tradesman of this town, while the mystery is that pieces of coal of varying sizes have apparently been produced from nowhere.
The story, incredulous as it may appear to many persons, is certainly worth relating. The tradesman already referred to about ten days ago had occasion to secure a servant for his household, and a week ago, to be precise last Saturday week, a young girl, about 15 years of age, hailing from Barnsley, took up residence at the house. A week elapsed and nothing of an untoward character happened, but since Sunday last the house and the happenings therein have been the subject of conversation by all the neighbours, for upon that day, it is stated, pieces of coal, some the size of marbles, others as large as potatoes, went rolling down the stair steps.
The coal rolling down the steps would, of course, be no mystery if there was a child at the top throwing it down, but when it is pointed out the Mrs —-, together with the servant, were seated in the parlour, that no person was upstairs at all, and that no coal had been taken off the ground floor, there is certainly some call for comment.
There is no mistaking the fact that coal has actually been somewhere in the vicinity of the stairsteps, for a “Courier” representative this afternoon saw pieces strewn about the foot of the steps, and, moreover, marks were upon the wallpaper apparently caused by the pieces of coal falling down the steps. This “manufacture” of coal has for the most part occurred inside this “house of mystery,” but upon one occasion small pieces, it is asserted, fell in the street from the clouds just as rain does.
It is owing to this latter incident that the neighbours have become particularly interested. Had the mystery been confined within the precincts of the walls of the one house they would have pooh-poohed the statement, but as one lady asked this afternoon, “What are you to think or say when you actually see with your own eyes this coal coming from nowhere.”
Indeed the writer was informed this afternoon that on Sunday night every resident within twenty yards of the particular house was out in the street until midnight, while more than one industrious woman confessed that the incident had so worked upon their imaginations that for the last day or two they have been unable to do any work at all. This at any rate could be believed without the slightest hesitation, for at three o’clock this afternoon the neighbours were congregated together in twos and threes, some taking the matter lightly, dismissing it with an air and laughter, while others were talking the subject over with great seriousness, but none hazarded a guess as to the cause, or advanced a theory plausible enough to account for the appearance of coal not from the ground, from a mine, but from the sky.
The mystery centres around the house, as already stated, but the servant girl is also not immune, for it is urged that similar happenings occurred at the place at which she stayed in Barnsley. And yet it is impossible to charge her with anything definite. She has certainly had no orders to take coal upstairs, the occupier of the house has certainly not done so, and still coal at irregular intervals, it is stated, persists in finding its way downstairs and disturbing the quietude of the house when the residents are studiously engaged reading a book, or talking over the events of the day.
A spiritualist medium visited the house this afternoon, and a meeting was conducted, but whether or no a solution was forthcoming as a result thereof it is impossible for us to state.
The words of the occupier may be quoted in conclusion. he said that if anyone else had told him such a ridiculous story he would have told them they were strangers to the truth, but when he inquired: “When such a thing happens in your own house what can you do?” there only seems to be one answer, three words uttered by the Prime Minister, and now known throughout the length and breadth of the country, “Wait and see!”
Halifax Evening Courier, 11th June 1912.
Freakish Spooks
Showers of hot coal fall in house.
The Hope Hall district of Halifax has had a visitation from “spooks.” A night or two agao several residents of the district saw, they declare, pieces of coal hurtling about in the air, evidently emanating from the vicinity of a particular house. Men scaled the roof in search of a supposed assailant. A crowd collected, and still the singular phenomenon persisted. Two constables were pressed into service, and flashed their bull’s eyes about, but all to no purpose. The coal continued to fall – in the words of one eye witness – like an avalanche until midnight.
Inside the house itself, it is stated, the playful spirits began to shower coal down the stairs and into the drawing room, leaving marks on the paper and paint. Some of the pieces of coal when picked up were found to be warm.
That the spooks were connected in some mysterious way with a servant girl was strongly asseverated. As proof of this, when she went into a neighbour’s, a further quantity of fuel tumbled down from an unknown source. To a Press representative who interviewed her the girl admitted that she was frightened at the manifestations, as some of the coals had struck her on the head. She knew nothing of Spiritualism, she said, but her sister was a Spiritualist medium, and at her own house cinders, hatpins, safety pins, and other missiles had flown about without any apparent impelling force.
A group of interested people and a recognised medium held a seance in the dining room of the house, but no tangible clue to the mystery is forthcoming.
Ripon Observer, 20th June 1912.
Bewitched Maidservant.
While I was in Halifax I had to record many more or less mysterious happenings, and I may just mention one concerning a domestic servant who seemed to me to be rather a handy sort of person to have around, especially during a strike of colliers. This is how the fun began. The occupants of the house, who at the time referred to had this treasure in an earthen vessel, heard a tapping at one of their windows on the ground floor, and on the cause being searched for, a considerable quantity of coal was observed to be falling. To some extent the coal appeared to fall from the sky, but a good deal seemed to com efrom the roof of one of the houses. An investigation of the roof, however, failed to reveal any clue to the source.
Toward midnight the shower ceased, but instead of the coals falling from the roof they began to fall inside the house, and all Monday and Tuesday, at irregular periods, coals fell in various rooms. Sometimes pieces of coal fell singly, and sometimes a large number of pieces would come together as though someone were emptying the contents of a scuttle through a hole in the ceiling.
It was noticed that a great quantity came down the stairs, and, when the door at the foot of the stairs was closed, ti was bombarded with fragments which struck against it with sufficient force to make permanent marks on the woodwork. It was observed that the mysterious showers only occurred when the servant maid – who had only just been engaged – was in the house, and, on being questioned she confessed that similar occurrences had taken place at her home, where not only coal but hatpins, hairpins, buttons, and the like often fell apparently from nowhere.
The bewitched maidservant soon left, and after her departure the extraordinary showers ceased. I interviewed neighbours and other independent and disinterested witnesses, and they assured me of the literal accuracy of the haunted householders’ version.
I could fill my column with similar experiences, but, this being the special month for such stories, I will not further anticipate what other “Examiner” contributors may have to write on the seasonable theme.
St. Helens Examiner, 13th December 1913.