Daily Letter from East Hull.
Note: “Observer” will be pleased to receive invitations to services, concerts, meetings, etc.; also items of interest from his readers.
The days of ghost stories, I thought, were over, but from what I hear from one of the streets off the Holderness-road this does not seem to be the case. A good story has been told me of not only a family but their neighbours being alarmed by uncanny sounds of a night, and of police officers being called in to investigate.
A little girl, about 13 years of age, on Sunday night had been put to bed, and had not been there long when she became alarmed. She ran downstairs, screaming out that she had seen a white form, and on the father and mother going upstairs they heard distinct rappings, very loud, and three or four raps at a time, coming, apparently, from behind a chest of drawers.
The parents naturally became excited, and informed their neighbours, who took part in the investigations. The noise of the rappings then appeared to come from underneath the staircase. Though a vigilant watch was kept, no cause could be discovered for the mysterious rappings which is stated to have continued for about three hours on and off. It is said that the noise could be plainly heard by people walking past in the street.
This was the second time that the family had been disturbed by the mysterious rappings. About a fortnight ago there were sounds which caused consternation in the family, when an inspector and a sergeant of police were called in. The police officers made an inspection, but they were unable to discover the cause of the rappings.
Hull Daily Mail, 24th July 1912.
I am hearing uncanny stories which make me wonder whether I am living on the Holderness-road or where! A street just now is becoming famous because of one of those mysterious manifestations of a night such as makes one’s flesh creep. A few weeks ago I told of the state of excitement into which a family in a street off the Holderness-road, about mid-way, was thrown, and how the family could not go to bed comfortably owing to mysterious rappings.
I am told that there has been a most unwelcome repetition of the noises and of the mysterious movements of articles of furniture. Police officers have been called in, but no explanation is forthcoming.
On Sunday night the husband, the wife, and the daughter could not make their mind up to go to bed until it was beginning to get light in the morning, because they say drawers in a table and bowls in the scullery were being moved, and there were numerous other curious and mysterious noises.
I thought the days of ghosts were over. I am far from being a believer in spirits, but if I were in the house I should say “good-bye” to it, though I might be sorry to leave it.
Hull Daily Mail, 7th August 1912.
A Haunted House.
Weird Sounds Cause Consternation.
Fruitless Watching.
In a house in East Hull it is stated there have of late been knockings and weird sounds, which have greatly perturbed the inhabitants, who declare that the dwelling is in the possession of “spooks.” Up to the present they have been unable to locate the “ghostly” intruders. So terrified are the inmates of the house that they have called in friends to assist in the elucidation of the mystery, but although they have sat up for several nights and have heard the knockings repeatedly, they have hitherto been unable to make any discovery that would throw any light on the affair.
The occupants of the house state that it is six weeks ago since these uncanny happenings were first noticed. The tenant’s wife declines to believe in anything like a supernatural visitation, and she states that all that has hitherto been heard has been tappings very much like the sound of knuckles on a door. She states, however, that it is decidedly unpleasant to hear those sounds, and not be able to discover how they come to be heard night after night.
If other occupants of the house are to be believed, there is really more than mere knockings on a door, for they state that drawers have been removed from their proper places and placed in the middle of the floor, and as no one has yet been seen to remove them the matter is certainly puzzling. The removal of a basin from the washstand is not the least mysterious of these remarkable happenings.
The house is being visited regularly by neighbours, but none of them have been able to elucidate the mystery, and policemen have, it is said, been called in, abut all in vain.
Leeds Mercury, 28th August 1912.
An East Hull “Ghost” Story.
A report that ghostly manifestations were disturbing a family in a house off the Holderness Road, Hull, tenanted by “a respectable workingman and a chapel attender,” induced the Rev. Maurice Turner, curate-in-charge of St Bartholomew’s, to make a personal investigation. He is, as he puts it, “a believer in the spiritual world, but not in spiritualism,” and while he sat with the tenant and his wife of Tuesday night listening to their stories of mysterious knocks, of furniture and crockery being moved out of their places, and of strange “rustlings” and “touches in the dark,” he heard a noise upstairs. The children screamed: “It’s begun again!” “What’s the matter, Hilda?” asked the father. “Somebody has put our candle out and left us in the dark.”
The father and the curate rushed upstairs and found Hilda and another little girl in a terrified condition. “What did you see?” asked the curate. He was told that “something seemed to go with a rush and blow the candle out.” The candle was lighted again and the curate and the father waited for happenings. Nothing occurred, so they left the room, but they were no sooner downstairs than they heard a crack like a squib, and a cry from the children that the candle had gone out again.
Mr Turner says he thought they were the victims of a hoax, and that some one had been in the bedroom. A search was made, but nobody could be found. The children declared that they had not been letting off fireworks. All they said was that “a stream of sparks came out of the candlestick.” “The husband was trembling,” said Mr Turner, “and I was in a creepy condition.” The children were taken downstairs, and after waiting for “manifestations,” the curate left, asking to be sent for if anything occurred. He had not got far down the street when he was called back, and told the “tapping had begun.” He returned, but it had ceased when he entered the house, and again he was disappointed. It appears that these “visitations” have occurred on alternate Sundays for some weeks past.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 29th August 1912.
“At Home” To Ghosts.
Tremors last night.
To-day’s inquiries.
(Special for the “Daily Mail.”)
Such a disappointing time as last night should have been an ideal one for “ghostly visitations” – if there are such things. Rain was falling sharply, and it was otherwise chilly and cheerless when many people assembled in the street of Holderness-road, where the superhuman manifestations are alleged to have been made. A large number of children evidently in these days having no terror of ghosts, were generally enjoying themselves and marching up and down mocking the supposed ghost, and trying to frighten one another with their antics.
The house, with its drawn blinds, looked exactly like the other houses, and although it appeared gloomy without any lights, it was difficult for the crowd to imagine that there really were spirits at work. The interested spectators were now mostly sceptical, and so were the neighbours, many of whom were at their doors. The alleged mysterious rapping and furniture-moving had been common knowledge with them for several weeks past, for the tenants naturally had spoken freely of it, anxious to find a solution.
Amongst those who waited in the streets were many well-known residents in the district, and the Rev Maurice Turner, after finishing his ministerial duties, paid a visit to the scene. As the curate in the parish, he is most desirous of rendering what help he can in solving the mysterious affair. Whilst he does not believe it is a hoax he does not believe in the so-called Spiritualism. When, he remarked, a man has gone over to Spiritualism, he remains firmly “convinced.” Spiritualism originated with Mrs Fox in America. Here they had the tapping, and got into communication with spirits. He has told the tenants to beware of Spiritualists because they are more likely to encourage the spirits than get rid of them. Yet Mr Turner is a believer in the spiritual world, and stated that this is not the first where spiritual beings are alleged to have been manifested. The cases can be multiplied by scores.
There were no really startling developments last night. The landlord naturally does not welcome the attention directed to his property, and the tenants of the house have now adopted a policy of reticence. Seen this morning Mrs –, the occupant, stated that last night there was such a crowd of boys and youths round the house in a very excitable state, that she was afraid “all the windows would be smashed.” There were many curious visitors last night, including one or two gentlemen who were stated to be spiritualists. The Rev Maurice Turner paid another visit to the house this morning, his entry being observed by a number of curious neighbours. A brother-in-law of the lady occupant is said to have had some slight manifestations last night. He was holding a candle-stick with a lighted candle in his hand, when he felt a tremor, which was followed by a slight explosion. There were also, it is averred, one or two small explosions from the fireplace. One of the next door neighbours avers that they have frequently commented on the noises heard next door, and states they have heard someone walking up and down stairs.
Hull Daily Mail, 29th August 1912.
Noisy Spook.
Strange Doings in a House at Hull.
Fireworks and Rappings.
Strange noises in a house at Hull have led to the belief that it is haunted. Investigation is being made by the Rev. Maurice Turner, of St Bartholomew’s Church
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Landlord’s ‘Solution’.
Getting the “Ghost” in a corner.
Interview with owner of house. How a Withernsea mystery was cleared up.
(Special for the ‘Daily Mail’).
The owner of the East Hull house alleged to be haunted has discussed the matter with a “Mail” representative, and given his “solution.” The property belongs to Mr David Swales, who has lived in East Hull for 30 years, and is the owner of certain house properties. He is a sidesman at St Andrew’s Church, East Hull, and is well known in the district. He frankly discussed the affair which has caused such a stir, and gave his explanation.
He stated that there was a passage running between the house in question and the adjoining one. Above this passage was a portion of the bedrooms, including that in which the knockings were alleged to have been heard. It would be quite easy for anyone so disposed to get a stick and tap at the roof of the passage, and so cause the noise said to have been heard in the back room, where the little girl slept. The house and adjoining property is 14 years old.
From his long experience with house property, Mr Swales said the noises could most probably come from the water pipes and gas pipes. There were two main pipes running down the side of the house from the mains, and these branched off in the usual way into the house. It was a common practice for the supplies to be reduced on Sunday nights, and when the pressure was reduced in pipes, a peculiar noise would be created. These sounds might easily appear to come from the cupboard, or from beneath the stairs.
Mr Swales described the tenant as a good one, and said he had been in the house ten years. Talking further of noises in houses, Mr Swales said gaspipes beneath boards were often laid very loose, and when the full force of gas had been sent through them, they had been “straightened” and touched the flooring boards, and made what is described as a rustling sound. He added that in a tidal city like Hull water had been known to rise, and, touching a cement floor, caused a strange, apparently inexplicable noise.
Peculiar sounds had also been traced to birds making their nests in hollow or “stooled” walls, by mice in a nest, or even by rats. All these so-called problems had been found capable of such solution. Mr Swales took what to the average ordinary man appeared to be a common-sense view, and is firmly convinced the noises are due to pressure being lessened or increased in the pipes. Loose lths in a gable end had also been known to cause tappings, he said, and he further expressed the belief that the noises said to have been heard in the East Hull house had been exaggerated.
Asked what he thought about the candle going off like a squib, Mr Swales smiled broadly, and declared that it was quite possible a firework kind of candle, of the explosive cigarette type, had found its way into the candle stick. It might be possible someon was having a joke, if, as stated, it had occurred. A sharp loo-out it may be taken for granted will be kept for practical jokers.
In support of the tapping in the passage theory the “Mail” was shown a plan, which showed that this was quite feasible.
The “Mail” was told to-day a striking story of how the mystery of two “haunted”houses at Withernsea some years ago was cleared up. These were each ten-roomed houses and all sorts of stories got abroad about them. It was firmly stated that voices were singing in them all night, angels appeared on the walls, and that David was playing on his harp to Saul. The two houses were bought cheap and the purchaser investigated. He told the “Mail” that sure enough there was a tuneful whistling like a flute in each room. Investigation proved that it was due to peculiarly constructed flues, with the effect that the wind played a different tune through each fire-grate. The purchaser had all the flues opened and reconstructed, and this melody was stopped.
The angels on the walls proved to be reflections from the dancing boughs of trees outside the windows, and the effect on the walls was caused by the gleam from the lighthouse. The purchaser removed the angels by cutting down the boughs, and he disposed of the rapping by getting a joiner to attend to some loose board in the roof. So the mystery was cleared up.
The owner will not have any spiritualists in the house off the Holderness-road.
Hull Daily Mail, 29th August 1912.
“Ghosts” in East Hull.
To the editor of the “Daily Mail.”
Sir, – On reading the report in your last night’s edition of the Rev Maurice Turner’s attempt to investigate the occurrences in an East Hull house, one cannot help wondering what objects that gentleman has in view, what methods he intends to adopt to achieve those objects, and what qualifications he possesses as an investigator into such phenomena.
It has, of course, yet to be decided that the noises, etc., taking place in the house in question are of a so-called supernatural origin. The rev. gentleman has decided, however, that they are not caused by any excarnate human being. As one having some little experience in investigating similar happenings, I should like to know what part of the evidence has caused him to arrive at such a decision. One is quite aware that, on Mr Turner’s theological theories, the bad cannot come back, and the good do not want, but where is the licence issued from that allows that other class of spirits, to whom he refers, to come and manifest, as he infers they do.
Is it possible that we have at last got back to the pristine condition of Christianity, when its exponents were empowered to cast out evil spirits, and that we are to be witnesses of the Church’s regained power, as evidenced through Mr Turner. Admiration for Mr Turner’s sympathy and desire to help the family in their dilemma cannot be extended to his ability as an investigator into psychic phenomena, when we read that “He felt a tremor, etc., when the child exclaimed ‘It has started again.'” What would have happened, we wonder, to the rev gentleman had he seen the cause, and that cause been a spirit.
Now, unless Mr Turner has had previous experience in similar cases, and has formed some well-defined plan on which to proceed when the phenomena occur in his presence, his offer to assist is of no more value than that of the morbid curiosity mongers who gather round the house at night, and his advice to the family not to allow the Spiritualists in savours too much of priest-craft to be misunderstood by anyone taking an intelligent view of the matter.
There are only two explanations. One is that the noises are caused by something of a perfectly normal character, which can be easily discovered when subjected to orderly examination. The other that they are the result of some supernatural power (the word is not a good one, as everything is natural if we only understand the law governing it), which can too be discovered when investigated by competant and critical experts. That Mr Turner is expert in this direction we have yet to learn. Spiritualists, we do know, profess to understand the laws by which these manifestations take place, and psychic researchers, while professing no leaning to any preconceived theory, are accustomed to study and investigate such phenomena.
If Mr Turner will read the account of the happenings at Epworth, as related by the Wesley family in their letters, he will find that Mr Wesley had some very decided opinions as to who the spirit visitors were, and that he professed, along with other members of his family, to know them personally, that they were, indeed, his own friends who had passed out of the [body?].
My object is not to enter into a discussion with Mr Turner, but to plead for a sane investigation of this matter, if investigation there is to be. One devoid of preconceived opinions, and a bias in favour of those opinions, so strong as to prevent any other being arrived at. If the rev gentleman is willing to take part in such an investigation, I should be pleased to assist him, and would suggest that, provided the consent of the tenants can be obtained, he choose two on his side, and I two on mine, that along with your reporter we meet in the house, and use such methods as may be mutually agreed upon to investigate the noises, etc., should any take place in our presence. My friends and myself would be Spiritualists, not of the morbid or sensational kind, but hard-headed business men, accustomed to such investigation.
I enclose my card, and the same may be passed on to Mr Turner, from whom I shall be pleased to hear, if he agrees to my suggestion, either through your columns or privately.
I am, Sir, etc.,
INVESTIGATOR.
August 29th, 1912
STATEMENT BY MR TURNER.
To the Editor of the “Daily Mail.”
Sir – With reference to my experience of last Tuesday night respecting the alleged spiritualistic manifestations, I should like to state that, after further investigations, the mystery has been cleared up to my satisfaction. There is no ghost.
I am, Sir, etc.,
J. MAURICE TURNER.
Holderness-road, August 29th, 1912
Hull Daily Mail, 30th August 1912.
East Hull Mystery.
The Mysterious Happenings.
To the Editor of the “Daily Mail.”
Sir, – Perhaps a few hints from one who was brought up in the Anglican fold, and has had close on 12 years’ experience in psychic matters may be helpful. I have been in several haunted houses in Hull where rappings, thumps, destructiveness, etc., have been the characteristics. The only way, in my experience, to get to know what underlies these manifestations is to get a medium, who has good, powerful guides, and place the matter in his or her hands. The cause of the manifestations would easily be got at.
In cases where these manifestations occur, to call in the average parson is synonymous to calling in a layman when a doctor is required. One is as sensible as the other. – I am, Sir, etc. PSYCHIC. August 28th, 1912.
Hull Daily Mail, 29th August 1912.
Easily Explained.
Sir, – With reference to “Haunted Houses,” may I say that many of the noises heard are due to faulty building. For instance, I well remember living in a house where – ’twas said – some previous tenant had fallen down the stairs with fatal results, and every night after the spirit could be plainly heard going up the stairs. Now, just to prove how one may be seriously alarmed, the above was afterwards found to be no spirit, but just a little repair to the stairs was needed. The wedges holding the stairs together were rather loose, and any weight on the stairs forced down the treats; when the weight was relieved the treads worked back into position, causing a sound like someone going up the stairs; after the wedges were thoroughly tightened never another noise was heard. Hence no more spirits going to bed. – I am, Sir, etc., GEO. H. KNELL. London, August 18th, 1912.
Hull Daily Mail, 29th August 1912.
Hull’s “haunted” house is now attracting an amount of attention which is regarded by the occupants as much more of a nuisance than the pranks of the most enterprising and daring ghost or spirit could possibly be. Instead of the tappings and squib like reports, which are stated to have been the character of the ghostly manifestations, there is now the pandemonium of hundreds of children’s voices. Hull children, far from being afraid of ghosts or spirits, are apparently quite eager to make closer acquaintance with them.
While the elder folk who had gathered in the street last evening kept at a distance from the house, the youngsters swarmed round the door, tried to look through the drawn blind at the window, and by their words and demeanour challenged any ghost or spirit to show itself. The occupants of the house have become dumb on the subject of the supposed manifestations, and the sight of the crowd of noisy children round the door makes one not at all surprised at the silence. All efforts to clear the children away proved of no avail. For a long time the head of the house addressed the young crowd from the doorway of the house last night, but threats and sarcasm were equally futile.
“What do you expect to see?” shouted the head of the house. “It is all over now. We know what it was, and if you wait till Christmas, you won’t see or hear anything.” “What about the cracks?” piped eager, childish voices. “Oh, the children had fireworks,” retorted the occupant. “They had them in their bedroom, and let them off.” Here, to support his statement, he drew from his waistcoat pocket a tiny little Chinese cracker. The children refused to believe that there was nothing in it, however, and they still crowded round the door. “This is your education!” shouted the man, scornfully. “Have you had lessons on it at school? Have your teachers told you about it? It isn’t a Punch and Judy Show!”
Still the children crowded round, their excitement and interest not a whit abated. The man’s wife left the house and told the children that she was going for three or four policemen. They either thought this was bluff, or they did not much mind such diversion as the interference of the policement would create. The audience was determined not to be baulked of their entertainment. They talked of ghosts, some made hoods of their jackets and pretended to be ghosts; while scores of pairs of eyes continued to gaze intently at the front of the house, determined not to miss anything that might occur.
The occupant good-temperedly lectured them a little while longer, and then, in despair, he went indoors to read his paper telling them again, as a parting shot, that they could wait till Christmas for what he cared. Asked during his stay at the door whether anything further had happened since the Tuesday, the man said they were going to say nothing more about it. “I have lived here for ten years,” he said, “and I have never heard anything.”
The president of the Hull Spiritualist Alliance and other spiritualists have taken an interest in the “manifestations,” and the former has suggested that a few psychic investigators should meet at the house and endeavour to find out the meaning of the rappings. He says he has no doubt that someone who has passed into the spirit life is endeavouring to make his presence known. The occupant will allow none of them to enter the house, however.
The curate of the parish, who has displayed a keen interest in the matter, and who believes in evil spirits, but not in the “human” spirits of spiritualism, has not been able to find any solution. He has stayed in the house, but he has never heard any noises himself. He does not believe it is a hoax, and says that when he was in the house on the Tuesday evening the man and woman were genuinely frightened. The owner of the property is not a believer in spirits, and suggests as possible sources of any noises which might have been heard a passage which runs under the bedroom or the gas and water pipes.
Leeds Mercury, 30th August 1912.
Owner of Haunted House Explains.
Mystery of “Moving” Furniture.
Mr David Swales, the owner of the house in Hull where “mysterious” pistol shots, explosions of fireworks, and rappings are being investigated by the Rev. Maurice Turner, yesterday gave a very prosaic theory to account for the “mystery.”
Mr Swales, who is a well-known property owner, drew attention to the fact that there is a passage running between this house and its neighbour beneath the bedroom in which “mysterious noises” have been heard. Mr Swales suggests that it would be an easy matter for any person so disposed to tap the passage roof with a stick and thus produce such noises as were heard.
Further, he mentioned that there were water and gas pipes running down the side of the house, and some of the noises might have been caused by changes in the pressure of the water and gas passing through these pipes. The fact of a candle going off like a squib Mr Swales couples with the possibility of a kind of firework candle similar to the explosive cigarette of the practical joker having found its way into the house.
A number of Hull’s Spiritualists have asked permission to spend a night in the house, but all these requests have been refused. The Rev. Maurice Turner has arranged to remain in the house again on Sunday night.
The present story has led to the recall of the story of two “haunted” houses at Withernsea. A few years ago it was asserted that voices sang at night in these houses, that angels appeared on the walls, and that there were continuous rappings. The houses were bought cheap, and the buyer yesterday recalled the discoveries then made.
True enough, whistling sounds, something like the notes of a flute, were to be heard in each room. These were found to owe their origin to the wind passing down the peculiarly-constructed flues, and the reconstruction of the flues put an end to the voices that sang. The angelic appearances on the walls were round to be the shadows of swaying tree branches cast by the light of a neighbouring lighthouse, and the use of a saw on the trees removed the angels. Similarly the removal of some loose laths in the gable end put an end to the rappings.
Dundee Courier, 30th August 1912.
No Ghost.
The fools of East Hull have been seeing and hearing ghosts. The thing is now over, as the ghost turns out to be a little girl of twelve who fired squibs, did the necessary knocking, and pretended to be terrified at the ghostly manifestations of which she was the originator. There is a future before that ghost on the stage.
Cambrian News, 6th September 1912.
We take off our hats to –
Noises suggesting “spirits” were thought to be signs of the “haunting” of a Hull house. Mr. Turner was amongst those investigating. The tenant’s little daughter has since confessed to being the “ghost”.
The Sketch, 4th September 1012.
Little Girl Plays Ghost.
The scepticism with which most people regarded the story of the haunted house at Hull has been justified by the discovery that the author of the mysterious rappings and explosions was a twelve-year-old girl.
The daughter of the tenant of the house which was the centre of the excitement confessed that she had been responsible for the noises, and that the explosions were caused by small crackers which she lighted at the candle in her bedroom.
It amused her to see the alarm which her doings created in the household and to have the street crowded every night. Being afraid she would be detected, she ran away, but was brought back, and then told her parents of the pranks she had been playing.
Buckingham Express, 7th September 1912.