The Ghost Wants To Stay, So A Family Asks For Move.
An uninvited guest is forcing a Hartlepool family of seven to sleep in two rooms. And despite all their efforts the Bradys of Erskine Road have been unable to get the visitor to move. The occupant of their “guest” room is a ghost and even an exorcism by a priest has failed to remove the presence, according to the family. That was two years ago and now Mr John Brady (47) says the family is desperate to move to another house even though the strange happenings have been dying down recently.
He explained: “Both myself and the rest of the family are now edgy because of what has happened. It has got to the stage where nobody wants to be upstairs on their own at night and the younger children have to be escorted to the toilet.” The room was formerly occupied by 12-year-old twins Brian and Sheila, but rustling noises quickly drove them into the back bedroom with brother Peter (14). That was two years ago and though Mr Brady frequently heard the noises nothing was seen. Then at 9.30 one night Brian told his father the rustling noise had started.
“I went to the bedroom and put my ear to the door,” Mr Brady said. “I heard the rustling and then there was a peculiar sort of howl which really had me scared. I went downstairs to fetch the poker, but as I was just going upstairs a black shape moved across the landing. The whole family saw it and our reaction was all the same – we fled outside. We didn’t know what to do so we went around to the church and got the priest out of bed to come and exorcise the house. This worked for a month, but then the noises – just like a telephone book being flicked through – came back.”
In order to ease his family’s worries Mr Brady has taken the handle off the door and the room is now just used as a store-room. “Nobody stops in there long,” Mr Brady said. The noises have also driven the whole family to move in with a relation in a two-bedroom house, but this lasted only a fortnight because of the shortage of space. Now Janet (24) and Susan (16) sleep in the same bedroom as their parents while the three younger children sleep together in a double bed.
Mr Brady has asked the Housing Department for a move and Coun. Bryan Hanson, the chairman of the housing Committee, said he knew of the family’s problem and promised a sympathetic hearing.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 24th March 1975.