“Haunted House” Mystery Terrifies Hull Children.
Hull has a “haunted” house. In it, during the past month, there have been, night after night, mysterious knockings, tappings, scratchings – and even mattress bouncing – until the family have been brought to the stage of distraction. As a last resort, the occupier came to the “Mail” to tell his troubles and ask for someone who will investigate the phenomena. He is Mr Herbert Galyer, 46, unemployed, of Kent-terrace, Kent-street, and here is the story of his wife, himself, his daughter (Doreen, aged nine) and his son (Herbert, aged six).
“It was just a month ago that the trouble started. Doreen was ill at the time; she had a cough. We had gone upstairs to bed and had only been there a little while when the knocking started. Doreen was sleeping at the foot of our bed as she was ill. The knocking seemed to come from the foot of the bed where the girl was. Then we heard a scratching noise, followed by tapping. We moved the girl to the head – and the knocking followed. Next day we brought a single bed downstairs for her, and the knocking started that night in the skirting boards of the kitchen. Sometimes the knocks would continue for four hours at a time.
“About a week after the trouble started, my wife, myself and daughter got into one bed just to see what would happen. Something happened all right – the whole spring mattress was lifted up and then dropped, with all three of us on it. We called in other people from the terrace, and they saw the mattress moving. One woman turned tail and bolted downstairs when she saw it! I took the girl out and sat her on my knee, and the movement of the bed stopped. Then I put her back on the bed again with my wife, and it started to move again.”
Mr Galyer explained that downstairs the rooms are boarded up for about half their height, and on many occasions the mysterious noises seem to come from behind these boards. He rejects the theory that there are mice or rats or even crickets behind them. Upstairs, he says, the sounds come from cupboards and the bedsteads.
“We brought a bed down for the girl and the boy, and my wife and myself have slept on the floor or the settee, and still the scratching and knocking continue from her bed, sometimes appearing to come from the pillow . On some occasions Doreen has shouted out that something is nipping her leg, while a couple of nights ago the boy said that something was pricking him – ‘It’s like spikes sticking into my back, dad,’ he said.
“Another time when we brought the girl into our bed there was an impression and feeling that someone had got hold of one of the springs in the mattress, pulled it right down, and then released it – it made the whole bed jump.
“Once when I was upstairs I thought that a sack of coals was being delivered because of the noise. I shouted down to my wife; she said that no coal had been brought – and I’d seen the next door neighbour’s coalman go past [?] minutes ago!
“Now we are getting to such a state that the children are almost frightened to death and start to cry as soon as they go to bed. One night, after Doreen had complained of being nipped, I looked at her leg and discovered a red mark in the place where she said she had been nipped; whether it was the result of the nip I can’t say. It might have been caused by the chafing of her coat.”
Mr Galyer concluded by saying that twice the household had heard ‘whistles.’ “They were as loud as a parrot could scream,” he said.
Now he wants someone to “lay the ghost.” Any offers?
Hull Daily Mail, 5th January 1939.
Hull “Spirit Rapping” Mystery Goes On.
Father and daughter to attend a seance.
The mysterious knockings, scratchings, and whistlings which have been heard in the home of Mr Herbert Galyer, in Kent-terrace, Kent-street, Hull, still persist. It would appear, however, that it is the little girl who is the victim of the visitations and not the house as such, for the rappings have been heard from her bed when she has stayed elsewhere.
A “Mail” reporter who visited the house to-day, was told that many people, including spiritualists, have offered to make investigations, and that Mr Galyer has made arrangements for his nine years old daughter Doreen (who he is convinced is definitely linked with the mystery) and himself to attend a seance to-morrow night. Mr Galyer told the “Mail” that last Thursday and Friday the knocking and scratching were as bad as ever. “On Saturday we had it twice, at tea-time and at midnight; but after that there was peace,” he said.
“When we woke yesterday, and nothing happened as Doreen got up, we thought the trouble had stopped. But when people who were investigating asked Doreen to get on the bed there were more knockings and scratchings. All yesterday afternoon and evening we were clear, but once more at midnight there were scratchings. People are flocking here at all hours of the day and night, and last night I had to go for the police to clear the terrace. We get youths and men here after the public houses close; they seem to think it funny to demonstrate and swear outside the house. They say they want to ‘see the ghost.’ There’s nothing at all to be seen, and they don’t seem to realise that we have quite enough trouble without them.”
“On Saturday I took Doreen into a friend’s house in Barnsley-street. She was asked to sit on the couch, and almost immediately scratching was heard. Then we put her at the foot of the stairs, and at intervals of about three minutes there were three terrific bangs on the door. The friend, when the first bang was heard, thought that a window frame had fallen in.”
Hull Daily Mail, 9th January 1939.
Ghost Stops Girl Sleeping.
People of different religious beliefs who have been experimenting during the week-end with nine-year-old Doreen Galyer, of Kent Terrace, Kent Street, Hull, have failed to banish the “evil spirit” which follows her whenever she sleeps day or night. Since November 12th the Galyer family of four has been able to sleep only for a few hours each night.
After 4 a.m. when Doreen falls into the sleep of exhaustion, loud knocking noises which can be heard 50 yards away start. As soon as she places her head on the pillow of her bed scratching noises are heard in the mattress. Scores of people who have visited the distracted family are unable to account for the terrifying noises. People who have gone into the house have complained of feeling extremely cold, and a correspondent says he has tested their statements and found them to be true.
Although there is a big fire burning day and night in the kitchen where the family have to sleep owing to the disturbances, many people are forced to keep on their big coats and even then they are cold until they leave the house. “I am desperate,” Mr Galyer said yesterday. “Only those who have heard these mysterious rappings would believe it. I will do anything to relieve the girl of this terrible thing.”
Mr Robert Howlett, leader of Hull spiritualists, is to carry out further experiments to-morrow when he hopes to drive the spirit away from the girl.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9th January 1939.
“Evil Spirit” Story of Child and Knocks.
By a Correspondent. Hull, Sunday.
A number of people of various religious beliefs who have been experimenting during the week-end with Doreen Galyer (9), of Kent Terrace, Kent Street, Hull, have failed to banish the “evil spirit” which follows her wherever she sleeps, day or night. Since November 12 the Galyer family of four has been able to sleep only for a few hours each night. After 4 a.m. when Doreen falls into the sleep of exhaustion, loud knocking noises can be heard.
As soon as Doreen places her head on the pillow, scratching noises are heard on the mattress. Scores of people who have visited the distracted family are unable to account for the mysterious noises.
At about 1 a.m. to-day the family were trying to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Two women asked to see Doreen who was lying on a couch trying to sleep. While the women watched her they were startled by three loud knocks. One of the women picked up the little girl and laid her gently down again. Winding her watch, she said that if she placed it on the girl’s hand it would stop. She did so and the watch stopped. Again she lifted the girl up and placed her on the couch and the rapping ceased.
“I will start them again,” she told Mr Galyer. Again she lifted the girl and put her down on the couch. The knockings continued. She repeated the movements a third time and the noises ceased. The women, who refused to divulge their names, left the house at 4 a.m. and the family slept peacefully until 9.30 this morning.
When I again called on the Galyer family at noon I asked Doreen to get into bed. The knocking noises began immediately.
A doctor who visited Doreen curtly told her to stop knocking. When he left the house, saying he refused to believe in spirits or ghosts, he could not start his car.
People who have gone into the house have complained of feeling extremely cold. Although there is a large fire burning day and night in the kitchen, where the family have to sleep owing to the disturbances, people are forced to keep on heavy coats and are still cold until they leave the house.
Mr Robert Howlett, leader of Hull spiritualists, is to carry out further experiments on the girl on Tuesday. “She is in grave danger unless we can do something,” he said.
Daily Record, 9th January 1939.
[…] Another householder in the same district, known locally as “the Christian side of the bridge,” Mr Herbert Galyer, Kent Terrace, Kent Street, has been troubled for some days by mysterious noises such as knockings, scratchings and whistlings, and also the upheaval of beds. These generally occur where the little daughter Doreen is seated or lying.
Last Saturday the father took Doreen to a friend’s house in Barnsley Street, and he declares that almost immediately after she was asked to sit on the couch scratchings were heard. Later she was placed at the foot of the staircase when, at intervals of three minutes, three heavy bangs shook the front door.
Spiritualists have interested themselves in the “demonstrations” and arrangements have been made for the father and the girl to attend a seance to-night.
Leeds Mercury, 10th January 1939.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000273/19531121/102/0005?browse=False
Longtails or… The Terrace Hauntings.
Hull has a herring-bone style of town-planning peculiar to itself. This consists of long, straight streets off the arterial roads, from which branch little courts and cul-de-sacs known as terraces. The pattern occurs in various parts of the city. One such street forming the backbone of a pattern of terraces is Kent Street, off Holderness Road. Fifteen years ago Kent Street was the scene of odd happenings. An unemployed man lived with his family in one of the terraces. Suddenly their little daughter began to be followed about the house by loud, inexplicable knockings.
Other phenomena focused upon her. Pictures jerked awry on the walls. Cups rattled and the table lifted. Whistling and scratching noises were heard. All this seems to have begun when the little girl was ill in bed with a cough. According to her father, she was sleeping at the foot of her parents’ bed when a knocking began to come from where she lay, followed by a scratching and tapping. They shifted the girl to the head of the bed, but the knocking followed.
Next night they established her in a single bed in the kitchen. That night knocking emanated from the skirting board of the kitchen and went on for four hours. They took her upstairs into her parents’ bed again. The mattress rose up in the air with the three of them on it. Neighbours came in. One woman was so terrified when she saw the moving mattress that she turned tail and bolted down the stairs.
When the man and his wife were in bed alone the movement stopped. As soon as the little girl was replaced on the bed the mattress moved again. The thing became a curse. Night after night the family was kept awake until the little girl fell into a sleep of exhaustion at four a.m.
A large fire was kept burning day and night but the house was always cold. The family tried sleeping on kitchen floor and on a couch but the knock-knock-knock went on. Lights kept on all night made no difference. The family were reduced almost to nervous wrecks. The little girl herself was weak through loss of sleep. The children dared not leave their parents after dark.
The little girl sometimes complained of something nipping her in bed, and a brother complained of something pricking him in bed – “Like spikes sticking into my back, dad,” he said. Apparently the knocking occurred only when the little girl lay down. She obligingly got into bed to invoke demonstrations for reporters, spiritualists and investigators of various breeds whom the occurrences attracted. Usually the demonstrations occurred. This ghost was not a shy one.
The little girl would come in from playing in the street and would lie down at the request of “special investigators.” Almost immediately knocking occurred. One spiritualist gave it as his verdict that the little girl’s grandmother was warning the family of the danger of the little girl’s cough.
All this went on for about a couple of months. Then it ceased as suddenly as it had begun. The knockings stopped. The haunted household had peace, and was left to recover as best it could from all these visitations. The newspapers dropped the story and the spiritualists drew off. But to this day the legend lingers in Kent Street, where drama dies hard.
The particular terrace where the events occurred is no more. It was wrecked by a land mine [sic] about 1941. But at the corner of Kent Street where the terrace used to be the hauntings are remembered – if derisively. “It was longtails,” says Kent Street, or at any rate a school of opinion in Kent Street. “The sewer was broken and they got out. When the sewer was mended there was no more knocking.” Lontails is an affectionate poetic local term for sewer rats. But that’s only one view.
Other people who remember the haunting insist that it was supernatural. The family who suffered it is now scattered. But I traced some members. A brother told me that the happenings were not to be explained by normal means. He himself saw a light, rather in the shape of a small human figure, by the side of the hearth. It was after this appearance that the knockings ceased.
At length I found the girl herself. She said she saw a dark cloud or shadow by the side of the hearth, after which the manifestations ceased. “I have never heard or seen anything since,” she told me, and I had almost forgotten all about it. I don’t want to remember it, because it was a terrible time. People used to shout ‘Where’s the ghost?’ at me in the street. They even called me The Ghost. I daren’t put my head outside the door and my nerves have been bad ever since. Nobody knows what I went through.”
“Were you afraid of the ghost?” “I was and I wasn’t. When I was descending the stairs I had a feeling of a presence following me, which stopped when I stopped and went on when I did. But I didn’t have that feeling when going up the stairs or at other times. One time, when a woman neighbour came into our house, her chair collapsed under her. It didn’t break or anything. The legs and struts just fell apart, and it was a real, strong, wooden chair. The woman was ill for a fortnight.”
The only man who could quell the trouble was a friend of the family, a man with spiritualist leanings, who used to visit the house. “My parents used to send for him at two or three o’clock in the morning, and he used to snap his fingers and say to me, ‘You can go to sleep now.’ And the knockings stopped and I did go to sleep.
“We lived in the house for a long time after the knockings stopped, and nothing more occurred.”
Yorkshire Evening Post, 21st November 1953.