Scared mum fears flat is haunted.
“It is really scary. I do not find it amusing at all. I dare not stop up there alone now.” – Joanne Bulmer.
Worried mother Joanne Bulmer fears she may have disturbed a ghost when installing a new door in her flat above a city centre night spot. At first, Mrs Bulmer (27) and her boyfriend, Paul Withill (24) were quite happy after taking over Rafferties pub in Baker Street, Hull. But within days of putting in a brand new fire door in the old flat they were plagued by strange happenings that have led them to call in the church and install a special alarm system for their little girl, Kerry (six).
Mrs Bulmer says she is now too scared to stay in her flat alone after a series of spooky events relating to the door, which opens out on to a fire escape. A TV repeatedly turned itself on – even after it was unplugged from the wall in an empty room. A knife used for decorating appeared on the far side of the new door, which had been locked all the time. The couple found the door wide open after a day-out, although it had been locked and they had the key to open it. They heard knocking on the outside of the door, and Mrs Bulmar could see that no-one was there. They heard wartime singing dating from the last world war coming from Kerry’s room, which was completely empty. Candle wax appeared from nowhere, dripping down the door, on to a shirt. Now they frequently hear footsteps and banging from the derelict middle floor of the building.
“It is really scary. I do not find it amusing at all. I dare not stop up there alone now. We have got a special alarm, so if Kerry gets scared and we are down in the pub she can get us,” said Mrs Bulmar. Mrs Bulmar called in Parish Deacon Anne Wright from Hull’s Holy Trinity Church, who investigated the disturbances by praying in the flat. Rev Tom Willis, official exorcist for the York Diocese, said the Rev Wright had contacted him about the phenomena. “It seems to me as though it is some restless soul trying to communicate, perhaps from the wartime ere,” he said. Rev Willis said the history of the house would need to be investigated to discover the cause of the haunting, but she said it could be related to installing the new door. “Sometimes when a building is altered it seems to disturb the memories of the building in some way,” he said.
Hull Daily Mail, 8th April 1992.