Eerie Happenings in Central Hull.
Occupants Flee the House.
Constables’ Experience.
Some Startling Details.
(Special for the “Daily Mail.”)
The alleged supernatural has been frightening some Hull people almost out of their wits, and the police who were called have been investigating, but have not been able to solve the extraordinary manifestations that are corroborated by witnesses. The “Mail” has also been investigating, and the story gathered is one of the most remarkable that has appeared in print. The details are given as they were related.
The house at which the manifestations are stated to have occurred is No. 12 Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes-street, Hull, and is tenanted by James Gilson and his wife; but since the occurrences no one has dared to sleep in the house and the furniture has been taken, preparatory to moving somewhere else. When a “Mail” representative arrived the interior was naturally in a state of some disorder, and the neighbourhood was still excitingly discussing the details of pots and glasses flying across rooms without any visible motive power, and the tit-bit, of a constable’s helmet just being missed by a flying blacking-box. The story is a circumstantial one.
Mrs Gilson who swooned and fell on the floor during the occurrence, was still in a state of nervous tension, and very much upset when a “Mail” representative saw her this morning. With a neighbour she had dared to enter the house again but all the time she was telling her story she was filled with apprehensive fear, and the least noise would cause her to stop and listen.
The conversation took place in the kitchen, where the various inanimate things were said to become animate. “My brother James,” said the frightened woman, “had been ill with consumption, and lay during his illness on a little bed beneath that window,” and she pointed to the inner room on the ground floor leading from the kitchen. “He died – we knew he was dying – and we buried him on Friday. He died very happy, and was very fond of me,” broke in the frightened woman diisjointedly, “and I know the spirit would not come for me.”
“It must be a haunted house,” interrupted the neighbours reassuringly.
Mrs Gilson proceeded: “After the funeral, several of us sat up in the inner room, where my bed had been, for I had been watching by my brother’s bedside during his illness. My husband and my brother Patrick were upstairs having gone to bed; but there was in the inner room with me Mrs Grady, who had been stopping with us. We sat up talking about the funeral.
“Suddenly we heard a repeated knocking at the door, and we got up startled. Next, there was a loud noise as if something had fallen on to the floor in the adjoining kitchen.” The husband and brother had also heard it, for they with the others ran into the kitchen, and discovered that a comb had fallen out of a comb box on the wall, and fallen with a clatter into a pancheon. “It was a steel comb,” explained Mrs Gilson, who could not account for it falling when it was fixed in a kind of slot. They were alarmed, but when the hair brush flew out of the box in their very presence, they were terrified, the noise as it fell seemed to them louder than should have been produced by a light article falling.
“What is the matter,” screamed Mrs Gilson, and in her own words, “a stone came through the back kitchen door, which was fastened. It fell just where you are standing,” she said to the “Mail” representative, “and seemed to come through the door.”
The newspaper man examined the door, but there was no mark or hole, Mrs Gilson remarking that the stone was like a pebble, and not one that could be seen ordinarily in the street.
Meanwhile P.C. Hynes, of the Worship-street Division, arrived, and entered to investigate. He walked across the kitchen, and was entering the inner room when, he says, a tin of blacking whizzed past his helmet, just missing it, and falling at the further end of the room. The constable at once ran into the kitchen, but he could discover no one there, and was as much mystified as the rest as to how the tin came at him. The next manifestation, according to Mrs Gilson, was the “breaking loose” of some china on the kitchen table. A couple of cups and two glasses, asserted Mrs Gilson, flew off the table, and fell into the inner room, where they splintered with a startling crash.
The shock of these alleged eerie happenings was too much for Mrs Gilson, for she swooned and fell in a faint on the floor. The turmoil aroused the neighbourhood and the terrified woman was carried into the house of a neighbour, Mrs Carney, where she was brought round. The house was thoroughly searched upstairs and down, but without any satisfactory result, and P.C. Hynes, who seemed to be impressed with [the] manifestation, according to the neighbours, could only attempt to pacify the occupants. But they would not go back into the house, and were lodged in the houses of neighbours for the night.
A little later other officers arrived, including P.C. O’Kelly, the heavyweight wrestling champion, of Olympic Games fame. Report has it that he remarked that he wished he had arrived earlier; but the neighbours did not put much faith in his ability to wrestle with the unknown.
Con O’Kelly at the 1908 Olympics, where he won a gold medal. Image via Wikipedia.
This morning the incidents were the sole topic of conversation in the neighbourhood; and Mrs Gilson, who certainly looked scared yet, remarked, “It has about killed me.” The “Mail” man was talking to her and a neighbour in the house, when there was a sudden tapping outside. “What’s that?” they asked, startled; but a glance out of the kitchen window showed that a young woman sweeping the front was knocking the wall with a brush.
Mrs Gilson since the alleged manifestations has not dared to go near the house at night, and in the daytime she will not go inside unless accompanied by someone. Practically all the furniture has been moved out, and a look out was being kept for another house. “Someone says that the spirit wants this house,” said Mrs Gilson, and the “Mail” representative rejoined, “Perhaps you had better let him have it.” The neighbours all more or less corroborated that part of the story dealing with the frightened occupants, and as showing how seriously one took it, she mildly rebuked the “Mail” man, who unthinkingly for a moment found some amusement in the lighter side of the affair.
The “Mail” representative was closely questioned as to what he thought about it, but could not relieve the inquirer’s anxiety. Mrs Gilson recalled how her brother was leaning his head against a door in the house, when there were knockings by his head. She seems to associate the affair with the sad death of her brother James. One early morning, she said, when she was lying on the couch with a red blouse on, in order to be near him, she suddenly woke up and saw him resting on one arm staring at her. He called her by name, and she answered him, and he murmured: “I thought it was a man there.” He had thought it was a man with a red shirt on, lying on the couch. The dead brother was much attached to the sister, who cared for him in his dying days, and she thinks it is his spirit at work.
Here is another story related by the sisters. On Tuesday week she went to the grocer’s shop close by and purchased some groceries and a custard, thinking her brother would fancy the latter. She put it, she said, with the rest of the things in her apron, but when she got home the custard was gone. Thinking that she had forgotten to bring it, she went back, and when told she had taken it nearly accused a woman who was in the shop of stealing it. She returned again, going in again by the front door. A little while later she went to the back door and there found the custard in a corner of the door. She was mystified, but Mrs Gilson attaches importance to the fact that a week that day her brother died, and that on the day of the occurrence he remarked, “I think I am worse.” Mrs Gilson also recalled that when her father died in March a picture had fallen off the kitchen wall and smashed the glass.
The Constable’s Story. Not a “Fairy” Tale.
P.C. Hynes told a “Mail” representative this afternoon what he thought about it. “I don’t believe in fairy tales,” he said; “but I am satisfied there was something we could not see through.” Questioned as to the blacking box incident, the officer was convinced that no one present threw it, and added, “I believe something supernatural was at work.” He admitted that he felt somewhat queer when the manifestations were made in his presence, and especially, as, when he was departing, a cup fell on the floor and smashed, there being no apparent reason why it should fall.
Hynes, who is a smart young officer attached to the Central Fire Station, told an equally startling story. It was nearly five o’clock on Saturday morning, he said, when , as he was walking along Sykes-street, he met Gilson and Grady hurrying along. “For goodness sake,” they exclaimed, “Go to Richardson’s-buildings and try to pacify the women.” They added that they were going to fetch the police and the doctor, as they thought Mrs Gilson was dying. When P.C. Hynes arrived the place was in a turmoil. There was a good deal of screaming going on, and the women had fainted with fright. Both the men returned, and the officer learned that the mysterious knocking had been going on intermittently since 3 o’clock. At first those in the upstairs rooms thought it was the others, and vice versa, but at length they could stand it no longer, all getting up. Then the things commenced to fly about, as stated.
The officer searched the kitchen thoroughly. He looked into cupboards, and out into the small yard, but could see nothing living. Somewhat sceptical Hynes came into the kitchen again, where everything seemed all right. “But I had hardly crossed the kitchen,” he said, “when the tin of blacking flew past my helmet, just missing it, and hit a man in front of me in the back of the neck. He was startled, and jumped and ran out of the front door (which leads from this front, or inner room), exclaiming ‘Did you see that.'” P.C.Haynes did not see the box fly by, but he feels positive no one threw it, for he looked around immediately.
“I suspect it made you feel a bit queer,” commented the “Mail” representative: “Yes,” rejoined P.C. Hynes. “It was a bit mysterious.” Wondering what his next experience would be, the constable went upstairs, and although he searched in every nook and cranny he could gain no enlightenment. He brought down the baby, which had slept through it all. Some of those concerned are Roman Catholics, and about 5.30 a priest arrived. There was still another manifestation, for just as he was leaving, a cup slipped off the table and smashed, this striking terror once more into the neighbours who gathered round. Eventually they were pacified.
As far as can be gathered, there have been no manifestations since, and the neighbours are feeling reassured. P.C. Hynes paid another visit on Sunday night when on night duty, and though there are reports of further tappings, these late ones may possibly exist in the minds of over strained imaginations.
The Richardson’s-buildings affair recalls the strange occurrence in Linnaeus-street some years ago, when windows were smashed and coal was alleged to have flown across the floors. The police on that occasion watched outside the house for a night or two.
Hull Daily Mail, 7th September 1908.
Pelted by a Ghost.
Uncanny story from Hull.
Eerie happenings in a small house.
Occupants panic-stricken.
Constable’s extraordinary story.
Another “haunted” house story comes from Hull. A small house, No. 12, Richardson’s Buildings, Sykes Street, occupied by relatives named Mr and Mrs Gilson and Mr and Mrs O’Grady, and a baby, has, it is stated, been the scene of mysterious occurrences, the inhabitants declaring that they have been visited by “a ghost.”
No one appears to have seen the uncanny visitor, but there are proofs offered of the “visitation” in the shape of strange rumbling noises, falling bric-a-brac, flying missiles, and pots coming off teir hooks. All this is said to have taken place in the small hours of Sunday morning, and naturally the occupants were greatly alarmed, especially as Mrs Gilson, the wife of the tenant, had only buried a brother the previous day. He had died of consumption in the same house.
At the time of the “visitation” the male members of the household were sleeping in the upper room, and the women below. The men say they were aroused about 3a.m. by noises which they thought were cuased by someone tapping on the walls. Believing their wives were playing a practical joke upon them, they proceeded downstairs to remonstrate, but found their wives greatly alarmed by the noises. While explanations were being entered upon, ornaments and other articles fell off the chimney-piece, and were broken. Pots dropped from the racks with a clatter and were likewise smashed. Unable to stand the strain any longer the women rushed hysterically into the street, and the men followed. Soon the whole terrace was more animated than at any other period of the day. The scared appearance of the Gilsons and the O’Gradys induced the neighbours to give credence to their extraordinary story. Mrs Gilson was persuaded to go back into the house to rescue her baby. Some pans began to fall off a shelf, and she was struck by small stones.
Police-constable Hinds at length arrived on the scene, and hearing the story he went into the house to find the baby. “Women were screaming,” he says, “and manhy were only half dressed. I at once entered the house, and I also heard some queer noises, but soon everything became quiet. The baby seemed to have slept all through the disturbance, and it was sleeping when I carried it out. I then inspected the rooms, but could find nothing. On coming downstairs, however, something flew past me and struck a man who was accompanying me. The missile turned out to be a black-lead tin. I was just coming out of the house when I saw a pot hanging on a nail fall in two, the lower half smashing on the floor, while the other half remained hanging on the nail. I never saw anything like it before. There was no one near it.”
Asked what he though to the affair, the policeman said: “I have never believed in anything of the kind before, and I have always put such things down as fairy tales, and ridiculed them, but I am satisfied there was something yonder. We can’t see through it yet.” Police-constable Hind is an officer of considerable experience, and his story has excited much genuine curiosity.
The family, who are Roman Catholics, sent for a priest to pacify them; which, upon his arrival, he seemed able to accomplish. The parties returned to the house during the day, but Mrs Gilson declares that further noises were heard yesterday morning. The family are still inclined to believe that there is something supernatural about the affair, and believe that the explanation lies in a family disagreement in which the deceased brother and his mother were concerned. The story is altogether a remarkable one.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 8th September 1908.
Ghost panic.
Constables on watch at a “haunted” house.
Women ill of fright.
No little excitement has been created in Hull by reports of uncanny happenings at a house in Sykes-street, the responsibility for which has been readily placed by residents in the district, and less readily by the police, on occupants of the spirit world. The place, an old house in Richardson’s Buildings, Sykes-street, is tenanted by a working man named James Gilson and his wife, but yesterday they removed their furniture in a state of panic, which has the sympathy of the neighbourhood.
Even Police-constable Kelly, of the local force, who at the Olympic Games in the White Citygained the championship among heavy weight wrestlers, told a “Daily Chronicle” correspondent that when he went to the scene there was something that he could not wrestle with.
It appears that on Friday last Mrs Gilson’s brother James, a man of 38, was buried, and in the early hours of Saturday morning a series of persistent tappings roused the sleeping inmates of the house. First of all Gilson and his brother-in-law, named O’Grady, were awakened about 4 o’clock by a low tapping. They believed that the sound came from their wives sleeping in a lower room, but on investigation they found the women sitting on the bed in a state of great alarm. “Then,” says Mr O’Grady, “pots and pans flew across the room, and the end of it was that we all ran into the street.”
Soon the whole neighbourhood was aroused by the screams of the women, whose fears could not be pacified by their husbands, and when the police arrived great excitement prevailed. One of the women fainted, and when she recovered consciousness cried for her baby, left in the “haunted house.” Accompanied by the husband a constable entered the house, and made a thorough inspection. “I found nothing at all to cause alarm,” said the officer, “but on coming downstairs something flew past me and hit the husband, who was in front. It turned out to be a blacking tin. The man shouted out to me, ‘Did you see that?’ and ran. I am positive nobody threw that tin. I turned round sharply, but there was nobody there. I was forced to believe something supernatural was at work – and I tell you I felt queer.” The constable is a smart young fellow named Hynes.
Mrs Gilson was, during the latter events, removed to the house of a neighbour. A priest – the Gilsons are Roman Catholics – looked in, but was likewise baffled, and, as if in mockery of the puzzled men, a teacup was sent careering off the table without any visible force behind it, as they turned to go. Mrs Gilson, who was in a serious state of nervous prostration yesterday, directly associates her trouble with the death of her brother. Both women, in fact, are ill. “Mrs Grady and myself,” she explains, “were talking about the funeral, when we heard repeated knocking somewhere in the place. Next came a loud noise, as of something falling. We went into the next room, but saw nothing to account for the noise. The only thing disturbed was a comb, left in a box, but which now lay on the floor. Whilst we looked at it the hair-brush fell out of the box, and two cups and two glasses fell on to the floor.” “Then,” concluded the woman,” I swooned. It has about killed me!”
Other witnesses declared that ornaments have fallen from the mantelpiece, bric-a-brac has dropped off the wall, and pots have come away from the hooks. A huge pebble, produced for inspection, was alleged to have come flying apparently through the back door, without leaving any mark of its passage.
The police are keeping a watch on the place, naturally suspicious of any theory of the supernatural. “But,” says the young constable, Hynes, “I know a pot fell to the floor and broke, and I did not see it fall. Its mark is on the wall. I cannot account for that thing whizzing past my head. I have always treated such stories as fairy tales, and ridiculed them – but there was something yonder which I cannot explain. I believe it was supernatural.”
Some practical explanation as the result of their watch is expected by the police. Police-constable Kelly, the champion wrestler, is on duty there – and no further “manifestations” have occurred.
London Daily Chronicle, 8th September 1908.
A Case for the Psychical Research Society.
Stone-throwing ghosts are happily a rare species, though we remember to have met (in print) one or two whose tactics resemble those reported this morning from Hull. It is not surprising that the manifestations there converted (even at second-hand) a constable hitherto staunchly materialistic. No slight thing is needed to make a woman rush from the house forgetting that she has left her baby there. It is regarded as strange that the baby slept calmly through the noise and violence that cleared the house of the adults. But it is really quite usual, according to the literature of the subject, for a spirit to appear to the person it wishes to impress without any sign of its presence being noted by others. Evidently there were no chairs that turned somersaults, no stones, no flying black-lead tins, so far as this baby was concerned. We hope the ghost will not be so sparing when the Psychical Research Society sends an investigator.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 8th September 1908.
Weird Hull Ghost.
What the Women Saw.
Strange Stone Story.
(From Our Own Reporter.)
That Hull “ghost” which behaved so remarkably in the early hours of the other morning has not got many friends and believers in its immediate neighbourhood. It was not a wise ghost. It made such a poor choice of a district in which to appear. Nor is there much to be said for the time it selected for its nocturnal ructions. In an Irish home on the night of a funeral! Only a very young and inexperienced ghost could be guilty of such folly.
If it had only had the wisdom to appear in a well-to-do part of the town it might have become famous, and have provided a sensation with at least a week’s life in it. But the foolish creature (if a ghost may be called a “creature”) went and wasted itself on a miserable court, and on people of absolutely no importance. It might have known that the testimony of such folk would be doubted.
It is true the ghost secured the corroboration of the policeman who says a blacklead pot, or something of that kind, nearly struck his helmet – but what is a plain, ordinary constable for an occasion of this sort? At least a sergeant, and if possible an inspector, ought to have been on the spot. An Inspector on flying blacklead pots would have been worth considering. But a mere constable! It was the most provokingly thoughtless of ghosts. However real it was (and when you have heard the full, complete, graphic story of the heroine of the adventure you may think it was very real) the moral effect has been trifling, and will quickly pass away.
I am not going to say the ghost has not created a stir. It has. What perplexes me is why it didn’t create a bigger stir. After taking so much apparent trouble to make its presence felt by people in the flesh, and making itself so unpleasant to all around it, the pity is that it didn’t appear at the house of some cool, collected scientist who would have sat still amid the flying furniture, making careful observations and elaborate notes of everything that happened. Then the world might have believed – shall I say, would have believed? But these simple folk in this poverty-stricken court, what did they do? As soon as the ghost got noisy and lively, and began throwing things about, they bolted like a lot of silly sheep. The women screamed and the men ran for a constable; and now they can give a perfectly accurate and detailed account of all that the ghost did!
I will say this for the ghost, however. Ghosts are very often so tantalising. In a house full of people they usually appear to just one poor timid mortal – generally a nervous little creature of a girl. But in this instance the ghost was wonderfully bold. Nobody actually saw it – of course not – but everybody in the house either heard it, or saw what it was up to – at least, they all say they did. That, of course, is a great point gained, and makes it all the more regrettable that the apparition did not operate, say at the house of the Mayor.
I had little expectation of seeing the ghost yesterday when I went over to Hull to investigate. I didn’t really expect to find it at home. But as soon as I saw the mean little court in which it had appeared I knew there was no hope. The place was full of women – the loud, noisy-looking women who never seem to have anything to do but to stand at street corners and talk scandal – who never appear to have time even to wash themselves. That was certainly the case with these women who stood about at the end of the court, and nearly filled it. They were enough to frighten any ghost away. That is where I think the ghost was so thoughtless. If only it had gone to a superior part of the town it would not have been so disturbed by women.
If it had been lingering in that house yesterday, and had heard the sort of thing these women were saying – women who have enjoyed all the benefits of Board Schools and marriage – I am pretty confident there would have been a manifestation of some sort. A brick or two would have come out of the chimney, or a few tiles off the roof. For it would have been just as easy for the ghost to drop bricks on the heads of these silly women as for it to make blacklead pots fly at the helmet of an inoffensive policeman.
These women, I was told, had been crowding round the house since about eight o’clock in the morning. The night before many of them were there until the early hours of the morning. There they stood watching the house, making fun of ghosts, and all the time firmly believing all the details of the story told by the former occupants. For, about the only thing the ghost has done, is to drive out the man and his wife who lived there. “Never again,” says the wife. “Never more will I sleep there.”
So, a few bits at a time, they have been running off with the furniture, and now the house stands deserted at the end of the court with the windows shuttered and the doors locked. It was elsewhere that I found the wife, and listened to her amazing story. She is a young Irish woman, probably about 28 years of age. “Old enough to know better,” a neighbour said; but I am not expected to express opinions of that kind.
“Somebody come to see you about the ghost!” said the woman who opened the door, showing me into a little room. The heroine of the story raised her eyes wearily. She looked like a young woman who had not been enjoying very good nights of late.
“What was that?” she exclaimed, starting up with a little shudder. It was my umbrella which had slipped from its insecure lodging by the chair, and had fallen to the floor. I could see that noises – especially such strange noises as those made by the falling of unseen umbrellas – were trying to her nerves. I did my best to re-assure her; and then she told me her story.
First she told me of her dead brother James. They had not been living in Sykes Street long, and her brother James was ill of consumption all the time. They buried him last Friday, and had a very nice funeral. She was sure her brother James , who was very fond of her, and for whom she did all that a sister could do, would not come back to trouble her. There was no reason, so far as she was concerned, why his spirit should not rest peacefully in the grave!
The funeral was last Friday; and when the funeral was over, said Mrs. Gilson, and her husband and his brother had gone to bed, and she and her sister were sitting in the room downstairs in which her brother died, something happened. It must have been well on in the morning.
“We were talking about the funeral,” said Mrs Gilson, “when all at once I heard a noise.” The memory of it made Mrs. Gilson drop her voice, and look round involuntarily, as though she thought the ghost had accompanied her. “There was a loud knocking at the door,” she went on. “As it was so late we were rather frightened. Then something fell with a crash in the little room at the back. My husband and brother heard this, and were startled, and came down to see what was the matter. They found that a metal comb had fallen out of a rack into a tin bowl underneath. There was no reason why it should have fallen. As they stood there the brush also jumped out of the rack and came down into the bowl, making a terrific noise.”
This seems to have scattered the wits of everybody. But when Mrs. Gilson saw a stone come through the door, without making a hole in the door, or leaving a mark of any kind behind, she knew she was in the presence of a supernatural power. She had screamed before. They now all shouted together; and the men raced off to fetch a policeman, while the women got out into the court as quickly as they could. In a court such a to-do could not occur without the neighbours being disturbed, and soon there were plenty of sympathisers out in their scanty night attire.
Then the policeman came. Mrs. Gilson could not remember clearly all that happened. She was too upset. But I gathered from neighbours a picture of the arrival of the man in the blue. “What!” he seemed to say, as he strolled down the court with all the unconcern in the world. “A ghost! Nonsense. Let me come.” And in he walked, looking all round everywhere for the ghost. He walked boldly across the room in which Mrs. Gilson was sitting when the noises began, and was going forward into the little room beyond when something whizzed past his helmet.
“Here, stop that!” he seemed to say, as he turned to see whence it came. But there was nobody who could have thrown it. The blacklead tin had either sprung at him of its own accord, or the ghost had been having a shy at his helmet. After that the cups and saucers began to tumble about; and then Mrs. Gilson fainted, and was carried away into a neighbour’s house; after which the ghost seems to have quietly retired from the scene.
I am not prepared to offer any explanation. There is the story. Each person can explain it according to his fancy. But that stone through the door is quite a new idea in ghost stories. I didn’t see the stone; but I did see there was no hole in the door!
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9th September 1908.
Huanted House.
The inhabitants of Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes Street, Hull, are excited over the ghostly events which, it is reported, have taken place at the house occupied by Mr and Mrs Gilson. The latter buried her brother a week ago, and Mr and Mrs O’Grady and baby, their relatives, have been staying in the house. The men were disturbed whilst in bed by sounds of tapping on the wall. At first they thought it was their wives having a practical joke. As the noise continued the two went downstairs. To their surprise they found the two women out of bed, and gazing alarmed into the darkness.
Ornaments and bric-a-brac were now falling. The floor was strewn with broken pieces. Crockery clattered from racks and was smashed. The men and hysterical women rushed into the street. They tried to re-enter the house, but pans flew about, and Mrs Gilson was struck by a stone. They again retreated to the street, Mrs Gilson in a fainting condition.
Police-constable Hynes found the road full of excited people, some only half-dressed. He went in the house with one of the men. Blacklead tins flew past him, it is stated. Downstairs Hynes saw a pot break from the hook and smash on the floor. Asked what he thought of it, Hynes said he had always laughed at such things, but he believed that this was supernatural. The neighbourhood is very excited, and a Roman Catholic priest has been sent for to pacify the people.
Torquay Times and South Devon Advertiser, 11th September 1908.
Hull Ghost Story.
Cups and Glasses that Flew About.
The police are investigating extraordinary incidents said to have occurred at a house in Sykes-street, Hull, occupied by Mr James Gilson. Mrs Gilson’s brother was buried from there on Friday, and in the small hours of Saturday morning, says the Standard, the family were up, when unusual noises were heard. Mrs Gilson says that a comb flew out of a comb-box and fell into a bowl with a loud noise. Her husband picked it up, when the brush flew out in the same way. The occupants were more terrified when, according to Mrs Gilson, a pebble came through the kitchen door, which was closed. A policeman declares that as he passed through the kitchen into the inner room a box of blacking flew past his helmet. Cups and glasses also flew from the table and were smashed. The house was thoroughly searched, but no one was found, and, as no solution was forthcoming, the occupants passed the night in a neighbour’s house. Later other policemen arrived, but there were no more manifestations.
The Hull Ghost Story. House in Sykes Street, Hull, in which a ghost is said to have thrown household utensils abut after a funeral a few nights ago. Photo, shows the crowd which stands outside th house all day.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9th September 1908.
Haunted House at Hull.
No little excitement has been created among the inhabitants of Hull by reports of uncanny happenings at a house in Sykes street, the responsibility for which has been readily placed by residents in the district on the occupants of the spirit world. The house in question, No. 12 Richardson’s Buildings, is at present tenanted by a working-man named James Gilson and his wife, who on Monday removed their furniture, lest the disagreeable manifestations referred to, which for the moment have ceased, should begin afresh.
The most extraordinary happening so far recorded seems to have been an attempt by someone or something to assault a policeman with a tin of blacking, and it is significant that the cessation of such pranks coincides with the arrival on the scene of Police Constable Kelly, w ho, at the Olympic Games, gained the Championship among heavy-weight wrestlers.
A reporter who called at the house heard the full story from the lips of the occupants. Mrs Gilson appeared to be in a state of extreme nervous tension, and paused in her narrative at the least sound. It appears that on Friday last, Mrs Gilson’s brother, James, who had died from consumption, was buried, and in the early hours of Saturday morning a series of persistent tappings roused the sleeping inmates of the house. Suddenly the tappings culminated in a loud crash, apparently in the kitchen. Mr and Mrs Gilson, with Mr and Mrs O’Grady, relatives of the latter, went to see what had happened, but a comb lying on the floor beneath a brush and comb box on the wall did not seem to furnish a satisfactory explanation. Whilst they still looked, however, according to Mrs Gilson, the brush flew out of the box after the comb, coming to the floor with an abnormally loud thud, and before the woman had finished screaming a huge pebble, produced for the reporter’s inspection, came through a closed backdoor without leaving any mark of its passage. After this the terrified watchers were quite prepared to see two cups and two glasses leap gaily from the kitchen table into space, and steer for the font room, where they arrived with a clatter.
Police Constable Hynes, a smart young constable, with an avowed contempt for fairy tales, hurried to the house as soon as he heard of what was going on, and found Mrs Gilson in a swoon on the floor, and the neighbourhood in a state of turmoil. It was at this moment that the incident before referred to occurred. “I was walking across the floor to commence my investigations,” said the constable to the reporter, “when a tin of blacking whizzed past my head, and hit a man who was in an inner room in the back of the neck. He shouted out to me, ‘Did you see that?’ and ran. I am positive nobody threw that tin. I turned round sharply, but there was nobody in the kitchen. I believe something supernatural was at work, and I tell you I felt queer.”
Mrs Gilson was in the meantime removed to the house of a neighbour, whither the other occupants of No. 12 soon followed her. Other policemen, too, arrived in hot haste, and assisted Hynes in searching the place. Nothing was found, however, to throw any light on the mystery. A priest – the Gilsons are Roman Catholics – looked in, and was likewise baffled. As if in mockery of the puzzled men in blue, the daring spooks, as Constable Hynes was leaving, sent another cup careering off the table.
The redoubtable Kelly on his arrival found nothing to wrestle with, but, as stated, there have been no further tappings or attempts at aviation on the part of the crockery since he put in an appearance. The police, who are not all as convinced of the supernatural origin of the trouble as Hynes, are still keeping a watch on the place.
Weekly Irish Times, 12th September 1908.
The Hull “Spirits.”
Much Curiosity Aroused.
Father Wannyn’s Story.
Was it a Joker?
The alleged supernatural manifestations at the house in Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes-street, Hull, formed almost the sole topic of conversation in Hull last evening, but there was no solution forthcoming. People, of course, were not ready to believe in such things as ghostly visitations, but at the same time the story as related by witnesses in the “Mail” was read with much interest, given as it was told, and corroborated in part from an independent source by an intelligent young officer, P.C. Haynes, of the Worship-street Division. The officer was questioned closely on the subject, but was inclined to the belief that no human hand threw the tin of blacking. His comrades naturally have questioned him, and there has been some good-humoured chaff at his expense, by Hynes was not to be shaken as to what he saw.
The neighbourhood of Richardson’s buildings last night was alive with curious people, and Inspector Sewell and several of the police, used their persuasive powers to keep the people moving. But the curious kept coming and going, and some extraordinary conjectures were heard.
In these enlightened days the belief in the supernatural has fortunately died out, but whatever it was startled the occupants of Richardson’s-buildings in the early hours of Saturday morning, there is no doubt that Mrs Gilson, when telling a “Mail” representative yesterday, was still trembling with fear, and started at the least noise.
Father Wannyn was the priest, who was called to the house at five o’clock from No. 12, Jarratt-street. The message he received, he told a “Daily Mail” representative who called on him this morning, was that someone was dying, and he went.
Arriving in Richardson’s-buildings he went to the house and there saw Mrs Gilson seated in a chair outside a neighbour’s house. In the words of Father Wannyn, “she looked like a ghost herself as she sat erect in the chair, for her face was as white as a marble statue.”
The priest smiled as he recalled the affair; but he did not see any manifestations, and would not believe that anything supernatural had been at work. He would not believe the story, but he certainly saw the affrighted people, and from what one knows of the Roman Catholic community they appear to tell the priest the truth as they know it. The Father added that he went into the house, and the neighbours follow ed him in; but he saw or heard nothing to be alarmed at. He questioned the occupants, and endeavoured to pacify them. Some questions were also asked as to whether there had been any drinking, and the answers, it is understood, were satisfactory. Father Wannyn, as he let the “Mail” representative out, expressed the opinion that it would not surprise him to hear a practical joker had been at work.
This led the newspaper man to make further investigations to that end; but it was not much use inquiring in the neighbourhood, which was quite aroused. From one source it was alleged that a certain young woman had been responsible for the throwing; but she was so quick and cunning that she was not likely to be caught.
A “knocker-up” named Payne, of Scott-street, also had a story to tell, and the “Mail” representative had heard of his connection with it yesterday, but had withheld his experience. Payne is well known in the neighbourhood as a respectable workingman, and our representative called upon him just as he had come home for dinner. Payne was even anxious to say all he knew, so that his neighbours could judge for themselves. “When I arrived there I found them standing against the door, and I said, ‘Hullo, you are up.’ They explained how the noises had aroused them, and as he was stood against the door something fell inside with a crash on the floor, and there was a scream. I went inside, but I could see nothing, and left to go about my business. I went into Sykes-street, but returned to the house and went inside. I saw a cup jump off the table. It is the truth. I did see that.”
Payne’s wife said she only laughed at her husband, and reminded him that he had told her not to believe silly stories. “I said I wouldn’t mind sleeping in the house for a sovereign.” Payne spoke as to the fright Mrs Gilson had sustained.
Mrs Gilson was seen again by a “Mail” representative this morning, and was still much frightened. She said that a neighbour named Ryan in a spirit of bravado went into the house on Monday night, but after a couple of hours or so she ran out, stating that a basin had fallen off the table. Patrick Grady, the brother, has received such a shock that he was quite ill, having been in a delicate state previously. Her husband would not dare go into the house.
A playful Hull correspondent writes this morning: “Begorra an’ did yez hear of the haunted house, where they say the spirits were throwing the cups and glasses about the place; and even the bould policeman says there was something very quare about the job? But its myself that has me own opinions.”
A one time resident of Grimsby, now living in Hull, recalled to-day to a “Mail” representative a similar story of “wall tapping” in the Fishing Port, although he naturally withheld the address. In this case it was asserted that every night there was a noise as if the walls were being rubbed with something, and no satisfactory explanation was forthcoming.
Hull Daily Mail, Tuesday 8th September 1908.
The Hull “Spirits”.
The Spiritualists are now interesting themselves in the singular “haunted house” story at Hull, and communications have been received from Spiritualists out of Hull. Two ladies paid a visit yesterday, and also some men interested in Spiritualism, but Mrs Gilson was not about, although they waited at the house, 12, Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes-street, some time for her return.
Patrick Grady and his wife, who were in the house when the alleged “manifestations” took place, live off Charlotte-street. Thinking that some solution might be forthcoming in this direction, a “Mail” representative called upon them to-day. Patrick is the brother of James, who died in Richardson’s-buildings and declared that he would not enter the house again for £1,000 – although no one appears likely to offer the ammount. Singularly enough, when the “Mail” man arrived, the pair, with Grady’s mother, were arguing the affair, and, stranger still, while Patrick was such a believer, his wife would not believe that there were “supernatural” agencies at work. Man and wife spoke very straight about it. The “Mail” representative pointed out to Mrs Grady that what everyone wanted to learn was the solution, and he induced her to give her version. She attributed the knockings and throwing of crockery to a young woman, whose name she gave. She went on to explain how certain things had occurred, according to her view. The husband, however, did not take the same view, and said he should only believe what he saw. The version also differs from the constable’s.
The mother, an elderly person, was not present during the occurrences, but she said she believed what her daughter said. She had been to the funeral on the Friday, but left with her other two sons. “But no spirits followed me,” she declared. All in the room asserted emphatically that everyone present was sober on the eventful night and early morning.
Mrs Grady failed lamentably to make her husband believe that there had not been supernatural happenings. But Mrs Grady asserted it would be quite easy for a young woman to pick up these things and throw them as she made them believe that a red hot coal had flown out of the fire. Patrick Grady could hardly restrain his patience to listen. “No man breathing could come and tell me she could throw things and I should not see them.” He went on to give a circumstantial account, as has already been related by others to a “Mail” representative.
Hull Daily Mail, Wednesday 9th September 1908.
The Ghost Story from Hull.
Typical of the popular attitude towards the uncanny happenings at Hull is the following question from a playful correspondent: “Begorra, an’ did yez hear of the haunted house, where they say the spirits were throwing the cups and glasses about the place; and even the bould policeman says there was something quare about the job? But its myself that has me own opinions.”
At present it seems that three persons are firmly convinced of the supernatural character of the doings at the so-called haunted house. One is a young policeman; the others are the householder and his wife. They tell of a brush and comb and a tin of blacking hurtling through the air apparently of their own accord.
Most towns have a respectable stock of such stories, and some of them would greatly divert the reader were the law of libel lenient enough to permit newspapers to print them. As things are, a journalist has to tread delicately in these matters. I could name several Sheffield people who tell of ghostly happenings quite as difficult to explain as the Hull case. There is no question of the probability in favour of a different interpretation from that which the sceptic of the mock-Irish type quoted above would suggest.
In face of the researches and conclusions of Myers, Sidgwick, Lodge, and Flammarion, an attitude of contemptuous scepticism is no longer possible. those who disagree with this may be recommended to study Myers’ “Human Personality and its Survival after Death.”
Sheffield Independent, 9th September 1908.
Watching Hull’s Haunted House.
Amusing Deductions.
Strange Letter from Birmingham.
A “Mail” representative spent an hour last evening with two persons, who mentioned their names and stated that they were Spiritualists, and the tenant, James Gilson, in the house in Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes-street, anxious to encounter the supposed spirits from another world. The newspaper man sat in the dark front room, with a clear view through the open door into the kitchen where the eccentric china was, but after listening for that period to a good deal of weird conversation, and learning something about Spiritualism, he departed, having seen no manifestation. He left the party behind. The visit was interesting, if only in learning what some Spiritualists believe. The man’s deductions were most confident. He actually claimed to have been aware by a manifestion of himself, of what was taking place in Richardson-buildings, and had made up his mind to pay the house a visit. This was certainly something to swallow, especially as he was a stranger to the parties concerned. By a rather roundabout method he arrived at his deductions, despite the scepticism shown by the “Mail” representative. The conclusion he arrived at was that the brother, James Grady, who was buried on Friday, had been threatened whilst he lay powerless to help himself.
By a somewhat slow progress he endeavoured to describe a couple of men, and eventually got on to the description of one. First he started at five feet in height, and was getting along nicely increasing the height, and with the description, when the “Mail” man began to feel apprehensive. Fortunately the description worked out altogether different to himself, though one doubts if the details were sufficient to identify anyone. The “Mail” representative was anxious to know if there was likely to be any more supposed manifestations, but got the comforting answer that it was hardly likely. Not that the spirit was at rest. Oh no; it would make its presence felt to the offender, but not in a way anyone else would know.
Gilson, the tenant, at this looked much relieved, and the spiritualist had a look around the kitchen, but gave no report as to his investigations. Returning he was handed part of a broken basin said to have “flown” since the early Saturday morning, and after inspection came to the conclusion – though in more impressive language – that it had not been thrown by a human hand.
The woman spiritualist did not speak so much to the point, although womanlike, she endeavoured to pacify the Gilson family. She devoted herself more to spiritualism in general, and table turning, which had nothing to do with the case, and the “Mail” representative was inclined to be amused. Suddenly she exclaimed that if there were any manifestations she should lock the door and allow no one to leave till she had solved the mystery. “Not even you,” she added impressively, pointing to the “Mail” man.
The tenant, James Gilson, has received a letter from a spiritualist in Birmingham, signed “A. Marlow.” In this the writer expresses sorrow at the shock the faily have been caused, and the hope that they have got over it. The writer also expresses a desire to see the house. “I am sure,” it runs, “that the Almighty will never leave you or forsake you, but when you are alone you really are not alone. May you have peace, and you will see that these things will pass away. I have seen so much of this after so-called death myself, and I would like you to know what ‘haunted’ means. You will realise when you understand. I wish I could tell you as I understand. You may find guidance in the Bible. You will find it in Corinthians, in the 12th chapter. The police,” the writer concludes, do not know, or they would have told you,” and finishes up in a religious vein.
Hull Daily Mail, Thursday 10th September 1908.
Hull “Spirits”.
Is the Mystery Solved?
Two Letters.
Patrick Grady, a young married man, who was one of those in the house in Richardson’s-buildings, Sykes-street, Hull, at the time of the alleged manifestations, was admitted into the Hull Infirmary on Thursday. He was ill with some affection of the neck when he received the scare. He is a brother of the young man who was buried on the previous Friday. Patrick, when seen by a “Mail” representative before he was admitted to the Infirmary, expressed a firm belief in what has already appeared, and gave a circumstantial account; but his wife equally as confidently expressed disbelief in it.
The “Mail” has received this afternoon a letter from Mrs Mary Gilson, the wife of the tenant of the house, who at first gave the details of the affair to a “Mail” representative:-
Richardson’s-buildings.
Sir, – With reference to the so-called haunted house, I wish to say that the statement made by a spiritualist in last night’s “Mail” to the effect that a threat was made to the dying man is totally false. He was well-cared for both in life and death. He died happy, and at peace with the whole world, and his spirit has returned to God who gave it. I have discovered that a certain person was responsible for the whole affair, and I am sincerely sorry that it has happened and caused annoyance to the neighbourhood. Thanking you in anticipation. — Yours truly, Mary Gilson.
The “Mail” has received a most interesting letter signed by R.W. Fearn, T. Duffy, and G.W. Thornton:
Sir, – We think we can give you an explanation of the “mysterious occurrences.” On seeing the announcement in Tuesday’s morning’s paper, we asked Mrs Gilson if we could stay there that night. She said we could, and gave us the key so that we could see the “ghost” for ourselves. We went there at 11 o’clock, and stayed there all night, but we neither saw nor heard anything. However, in the morning before we left, we discovered what was undoubtedly the cause of the “mysterious occurrences.” Lying in a slanting position, with one end resting on the sideboard and the other on a bag of flour , was a stick which pointed towards the window. The pane of glass immediately next to the end of the stick was broken, thus showing that someone from outside had introduced his hand through the window, and with the stick had thrown the crockery off the table. On going outside, we found that the shutters had no fastenings whatsoever, and could be opened with ease. Afraid of being caught, he had dropped the stick, and disappeared round the corner.
– We are, Sir, yours, etc.
R.W. Fearn
T. Duffy
G.W. Thornton.
Hull Daily Mail, Friday 11th September 1908.
End of the Hull Spook.
Mrs Gilson, the resident in Richardson’s Buildings, Sykes Street, Hull, who was so terrified a week ago by what she took to be spiritual manifestations in her house, would appear to be tiring of the notoriety which she has brought upon herself, for on Saturday she called at one of the newspaper offices in Hull, and made a statement which ought at least to quiet the neighbours. It is stated that Mrs Gilson said that a girl whom she knew had been playing a practical joke upon them, and she gave the name of the girl. She did not, however, state in what part of the house the girl had been hiding at the time when the box of blacking was flung at the head of Police-Constable Hynes, and so alarmed that gallant officer. After Mrs Gilson’s statement the excitement will of course subside and the neighbourhood resume its wonted calm.
Northern Whig, 14th September 1908.
Apropos of the recent happenings in Syke-street, I notice in the “Mail” of the 11th inst. a letter from Mrs Gilson, in which she states “she now knows the cause of the recent disturbances.” If such be the case, I think, Sir, the people of Hull should be acquainted with the facts, as Spiritualists in general have been held up to some ridicule through what has been published, also from the letters, etc., that have appeared from so-called Spiritualists.
I also noticed a letter signed by three persons, viz., Mr R.W. Fearn, T. Duffy, and G.W. Thornton, in which they suggest that a stick has been used by someone through a broken window-pane to cause the disturbance. Well, Mr Editor, the “manifestations” may be the result of a hoax; perhaps they are, but it will require a better explanation than that given to account for them. It is absurd to contemplate that four or five persons, besides a policeman, could be so easily imposed upon that they could not perceive someone standing behind a broken window, poking a stick through to knock utensils off the wall and table. Such a weak explanation only implies failure on the part of the three investigators to solve the problem. — I am, Sir, etc.,
SPIRITUALIST.
Hull, September 19th, 1908.
Sir, – In this evening’s “Mail” “Spiritualist” asks why, if I am so ignorant of Spiritualism, that I write about i? My answer is that I am as ignorant on the subject as he himself and others who profess to know all there is to know about it. The more they say they know the more ignorant they prove themselves, and the bigger frauds. I remember being in a room in Hull (in a private house) where a certain well-known gentleman was fleeced, by spirit-rapping, of a sum of money running into hundreds of pounds, simply by using a small table and working on the said gentleman’s feelings to such an extent that he didn’t know what he was doing till it was too late. What I contend is, that it is only proper and fitting that this game should be exposed, and that people with a leaning tendency towards these frauds should be warned in time.
“Spiritualist” does well to remark on the Sykes-street affair, what a terrible “let in” for them all, how they preached to that poor woman about it, and even stooped so low as to write her and try to make her believe that it was her brother’s spirit haunting her because she had ill-treated him before he died. It equals the letter-writing referred to in the sad Luard’s case, and was just as despicable, and, to finish it off, “Spiritualist” practically calls Mrs Gilson a liar, simply because the Spiritualist community were upset by the sequel. What a capture she would have been for some of them if it had not been discovered, poor thing; she would have believed all they told her after that. Does it not prove that Spiritualism is of the Devil? We have one consolation, and it is a big one, and that is, that these Spiritualists take so much of “his” time and attention that “he ” has less opportunity to meddle with people who strive to lead a pure Christian life. The strange thing to me is that Spiritualism was not discovered till 1843, practically a recent date, and yet the poor “spirits” or imitations are getting snap-shotted now. Can anyone please explain to a
NON-BELIEVER.
Hull, September 21st, 1908.
Hull Daily Mail, 24th September 1908.