The Haunted Millgirl.
By J. Hewat McKenzie.
In the beginning of May of this year Sir Arthur Conan Doyle brought to my notice a letter which had reached him from the manager of a woollen mill in Yorkshire, relative to a girl employee, who seemed to be afflicted with what has been long named a poltergeist, i.e., a playful or mischievous ghost or spirit. Things were so bad with her that she was in danger not only of losing her situation and of being thrown out of lodgings which she shared with her mother, but of losing her reason, because of the threatenings of various doctors to send her to a lunatic asylum.
I cannot do better than give readers the clear and concise report of the early happenings by Mr Bell, the mill manager. We are indebted to him for this and to the principals of his firm for the kindly treatment of the girl whom we will call Miss Gwynne or G. It was their prompt action in bringing the case before Sir Arthur, and through him to the College, that gave us an opportunity to make an interesting study and also to help the girl to regain normality.
A Report on Incidents Connected with Miss Gwynne, being a suspected case of Poltergy.
Previous to Miss Gwynne being employed at P— Mills she was with Messrs. R— C—‘s, and they inform us that, in August, 1924, for a period of two to three days, batches of consecutive ends broke down on different machines in the room in which she was working. Beyond this they can say no more, nothing further having occurred between that time and the time she left.
G. entered our employ on October 21, 1925, but it was not until November 4 that anything peculiar was noticed. It was reported to the manager that batches of consecutive ends were breaking down frequently on three spinning frames in the room in which the girl was employed. Investigation was made by our mechanics with a view to ascertaining a supposed mechanical cause of the fault. Nothing appeared to be wrong, and further investigations did not prove satisfactory. We had occasion to send G. into another department, and it was noticed that the spinning became normal once more. This suggested that the girl was the cause of the trouble.
Immediately the girl was brought back it was found that the ends were breaking down on the machine to which she had been sent. The matter was reported to the Research Association, woollen and worsted, and a representative was sent over. He made certain tests relative to the humidity of the atmosphere. It was clearly demonstrated to this gentleman that the ends only broke down when the girl was in the vicinity of the machine. I personally saw twenty-four ends break down when the girl was in a particular position. I had, on the previous day, also seen three similar breakages. As suggested by the Research Association, we earthed the girl and the frame, but this produced no beneficial result. The following day this propensity for breaking down ends was demonstrated to Mr H., the principal of the firm. The girl was brought back into the room and asked to walk down a “gate” with her hands in her pockets; after an interval of a few minutes a number of ends broke down. This was repeated on different machines, spinning different counts, and also on a different class of spinning machinery, and in every case ends were found to break down.
The next day the girl was sent into another department in the new mill, and, on her way there, passed one of the machines, and a number of ends broke down here. This class of machine is again different from the ones with which the girl had previously come into contact. This concludes the definite evidence of the girl being able to perform acts contrary to normal experience.
It should be stated here that a small experiment was carried out with G. Two unexposed negatives, supplied in separate sealed packets by a local chemist, were obtained. G. placed her left hand on one of the packets, and looked intently at the other which was reared in front of her. The time was two minutes. The negativeswere then sent down to the chemist with the seals intact, and developed. The prints showed indefinite formations, the one from the left hand being rather more strongly marked.
Early in the following week certain occurrences were brought to our notice by G. and one of her friends. It would appear that on returning home one evening, about 8 o’clock, from a shopping expedition, during the previous week when the disturbances were taking place at the mill, on entering the room, a photograph of her father fell from the wall over the mantelpiece. This was replaced, but fell a second time. While G. was sitting by the fire some few feet away one or two ornaments also fell off the mantelpiece. Somewhat later in the evening she was blackleading the fireplace, when a small clock jumped off and hit her on the head. Nothing more was apparently observed that evening – G. going to bed.
The next evening a table, which was covered with washed china, moved and upset the tea things on to the floor – all of them being broken. The table is stated to be about 4 feet by 3 feet. The girl was seated in a chair some 2 feet away; this was witnessed by her mother, who stated that the girl had not touched the table. Later on in the evening the windows rattled, knocks were heard on the door, and on investigation nobody was to be found there. The cellar door flew open a number of times, and the ornaments in the room were broken. The local doctor was called in, and he attributed the whole thing to hysteria. Later on the same evening, on going to bed, the curtain rod on the staircase fell down, and a mirror in her mother’s bedroom fell out of its frame and broke. The landlord told the girl that she would have to find alternative accommodation for the next few days, as they could not have these occurrences taking place.
The day following G. went to stay with a Mrs B., one of our spinners. During teatime the table oscillated; G thereupon had her tea upon a small stool beside the fire. A number of small ornaments fell over and were broken. Beyond this nothing of any moment took place.
The next day, Sunday, G. who by this time was becoming very much upset, had what she describes as a fainting fit, during which we understand she became unconscious, and talked a lot – chiefly about a man who was coming. In the evening she called on another doctor (Dr. H.); he ridiculed her statement. Fortunately, however, another of our employes, Mr W. by name, was able to corroborate her statement. While he was speaking to the doctor, G., along with two other ladies, was in the waiting room. A scream was heard, and it would appear that the table in the waiting room had upset the papers, and at this point G. again went into an unconscious state – making exclamations, such as “He’s coming! He’s coming!” Dr. H. recommended her to see her panel doctor. She went to see him, and he, taking the case to be one purely of hysteria, told her that if she did not give over being such a fool she would find herself in a lunatic asylum. This statement apparently preyed on the girl’s mind, and on the following Monday morning, after one or two demonstrations of ends breaking down, it was seen that the girl was in such a state that it was considered advisable to send her for a few days’ rest to some institution or other. She was taken in the afternoon to a Nursing Home, where she remained for approximately a fortnight. During that time she only had one faint, during which she still continued to make similar statements.
She was seen by Mr. J. Arthur Hill, the well-known writer on psychic matters, who questioned her, and during this questioning she informed us that she felt considerably better, and that a certain sensation had gone from her, so that she felt herself to be quite normal again. It was decided by the principal of the mill to send the girl and her mother to Morecambe in order that she might recover her normal state of health if possible. G. came back on December 27, and returned to the mill on Monday, the 29th.
She had not been long in the spinning before the ends again commenced to break down, and it was reported by the overlooker that she felt much better and also felt that she could mind the frames without anything taking place, and she was put on the frame work again and nothing occurred. From this time until March 3 G. did not cause a great number of ends to break down, but at intervals she would have a number of so-called fainting fits, which took the form of a cataleptic trance, during which she would become perfectly rigid and fall to the ground. These attacks would have a duration of three to five minutes, and would sometimes recur very frequently during the day. These, however, would only take place for two to three days at a time. On March 3, after having had several of these attacks, she was removed to the General Infirmary, where she was placed under the care of Dr. M.T., who previously, in January and February, had seen G. on two or three occasions. On April 14 she returned to her employment, the report being that it was thought she might be an epileptic. As she had an attack on the 16th of fainting, she was sent to work in the canteen, it being believed that there would be less chance of anything occurring. Instead, they increased, and the following incidents occurred:
Monday, April 27, 1925.
1. An enamel quart jug and basin, also a scrubbing brush on the sink jumped on to the floor. Mrs M. saw this occur. G. was going out of the door and would be about 4 feet away.
2. A 10-gallon copper tea urn lid jumped out and struck the cook, who was working with G. some 3 feet away, both having their backs to the urn. The cook turned round, and immediately the urn and contents jumped off the hot plate on to the floor, rocked about and then upset. Also witnessed by Mrs M.
3. Small table overturned (dimensions 4 feet by 2 feet) and slid along the floor towards the door, where it jammed itself. This occurred as G. was again going out of the door into the canteen, and was seen by Mrs M. and Mrs H.
4. An 18 inch basin jumped off table on to the floor as G. was working at the sink some 2 feet away. This was seen by Mr C. as well as by the kitchen staff. The above incidents occurred before lunch.
5. About 2 o’clock the large cutting-up table lifted several times about 3 inches from the floor; this was seen by Mrs H. and Mrs M., G. being about 3 feet away.
6. An iron stewpan (4-gallon size), slid some 3 feet on to the floor, towards the door. Mrs M. and G. were washing up at the sink some 3 feet away.
7. Sink boat stood up on end in the sink. Seen by Mrs H. and Mrs M., G. being some 4 to 5 feet away.
8. Oval stewing pan lid flew off on to the floor, and the pan gave two jumps across the room of about 6 feet each. G. was busy on her knees some 4 feet away, cleaning some metal rings. This was seen by Mrs H. and Mrs M.
9. Some four or five plates slid slowly out of the oven. These were caught by Mrs H., and also seen by Mr J.S.; G. was 4 feet away.
10. A wooden buffet slid along the floor and jumped against Mrs M.; G. was going out of the door, and would be about 3 feet away. This was seen by Mr J.S.
11. The baking board, leaning against the wall, walked away and then fell over. This was seen by Mrs M. and Mrs H., G. being 3 feet away; also witnessed by Mr J.S.
12. A 1-gallon cast-iron saucepan jumped off the table on to the floor as G. was walking past the table at a distance of about 3 feet; seen by Mrs H.
13. A cup of tea, standing on the table, jumped up 6 or 8 inches into the air and crashed with a loud bang on to the floor, indicating considerable force behind the fall. G. would be 2 feet away with her back to the cup. This was seen by Mrs H., Mrs M., and Mr B.
14. G. was going out of the kitchen followed by Mrs M. when a pudding some 5 feet away, jumped out of the basin and followed Mrs M.; at the same time a jug of tea nearby slid off the table on to the floor. At various times during the day a large heavy chocolate case moved about the counter, although nobody was in the vicinity.
Tuesday, April 28, 1925.
1. The cutting-up board and spoon commenced to slide off the table as G. was going out of the door. Mrs H. was able to catch this in time.
2. Breakfast table moved six or seven times as G. and Mrs H. were having their breakfast. This was seen by Mr F.M. and A.P.
3. G. was placing some dirty pots on the sink when a large basin behind her jumped off violently and moved towards the door. G. would be about 3 feet away. This was seen by Mrs H, Mr A.W.W. and Mr F.M.
4. Mr F.M. saw the serving table move some 3 to 4 inches from the wall, G. being some 4 to 5 feet away.
It was decided to remove G. to the new mill, and put her to some work cleaning machine parts, but before this change, about 1.45 p.m., the factory doctor (Dr. C.) who had called to pass some hands, was asked into the canteen, as he had previously expressed a wish to see anything of this nature. While in the kitchen he saw a long table at which the staff were having dinner, rise and fall, and move about several times, but, being rather sceptical, he thought it was caused by the girl pushing the table with her leg. A few minutes later, while seated in the canteen, he saw one heavy service table, which suddenly jumped out and turned over very violently. G. at this time was in the corner, by the sink, some 3 to 4 feet away. Dr C., who saw this, attempted to turn the table over in a similar manner, but was unable to do so, partly on account of its weight and partly because of the position in which it stands. This was also seen by a number of gentlemen who were in the canteen at the time, and also by Mrs P. who was passing at the time – her foot being trapped by the table.
Wednesday, April 29, 1925.
1. 9.10 a.m. Two enamel jugs jumped off the sink, a distance of 4 feet, on to the floor, G being about 3 feet away. This was witnessed by Mrs H. and Mrs M.
2. Service table overturned while being washed by G., and was only with difficulty lifted and restored to its usual position. This was seen by Mrs H. and Mrs M.
3. Various chairs jumped and slid on the floor as G. was washing tables nearby. This was seen by Mrs H. and Mrs M.
4. While in the kitchen a few saucers commenced to slide out of the cupboard, but were prevented by Mrs H.
5. A wastepaper basket rose slowly into the air about 4 feet, and floated over a table and some chairs, turned slowly on its side and commenced to shake the contents on to the floor, finally righting itself as it gradually fell to the floor. This was seen by Mr H. and Mrs M.; and G. would be some 10 feet away. It should be noted that the basket is very light, and the contents were not heavy.
At this time G. was sent out of the mill and told to go for a long walk, as it would probably be better both for her and for the kitchen staff, who were becoming very much upset.
(Signed) L.C. Bell. April 29, 1925.
==
I made it my business to look into this matter at once after receiving this valuable report, and on Wednesday morning, May 6, called at P— M—, in Yorkshire, and interviewed Mr Bell, Mr C. and Mr H., who were interested in the case, and saw Miss G. In the presence of Mr Bell I made a few hypnotic passes over her, to which she immediately responded, and fell into the first stage of hypnosis, from which she was easily awakened by demagnetizing. A short sitting of about half an hour was held in the store room of the canteen, where the girl had been working. There were present Mr Bell, Miss A. (my secretary) and myself. The white-washed room was slightly darkened by placing paper against the window light. The table used was an oblong kitchen table, heavy, about 4 feet by 2 feet. A slight swinging movement was felt, and the table was pushed a little sideways. After sitting a little time the table was levitated at the top end, on G.’s right, with a very decided movement, showing considerable power. This occurred again, and after the sitting was concluded the same movement again happened, while the sitters were sitting round the table talking. On the first occasions the hands of all the sitters were placed on top of the table. Nothing further of an abnormal nature occurred on this day. I invited her on a visit to the College, and with her mother’s permission and her employer’s encouragement, this was accepted, and we left almost immediately, motoring to London on March 17. Nothing occurred on the journey.
It was considered wise to give her regular employment on the house staff, and she was received kindly by the other maids. Fortunately the housekeeper had been with us as a housemaid during the disturbances occurring with the Austrial girl, Hannie, under observation at the College in 1922-23, suffering from similar attacks, and whom we were able to rid of the disturbing elements. (Reports of this case can be found in ‘Psychic Science’, January 1923.) The other maids were told a little about the case and asked to give the girl their sympathy.
Disturbances began almost immediately, and a large number of these are reported in chronological order. I had to rely largely for these reports on the observations made by the other maids with whom she worked. These were collected daily by Mrs McKenzie, the Hon. Secretary, and often verified on the spot. The maids were asked particularly to note where G. was when any disturbance took place. As many of the occurrences occasioned them considerable additional work they were particularly alert regarding this. Direct observation, as in so many other similar cases seemed to foil its own end, but enough was actually seen by Mrs McKenzie, myself, my daughter and secretary, and some students staying in the house, as well as the constant view of damage to crockery and furniture, to leave us without a shadow of doubt as to the girl being the focal centre of some unexplained force. In G.’s case, as noticed by Mr Bell in his report, the heaviest articles proved no hindrance, whereas in the previous “Hannie” case, dealt with at the College, the articles moved were of the slightest – hats, keys, bread, pens, etc.
G. is a girl of twenty years, stoutly built, dark and lethargic in temperament. She has good physical strength, and seemed happy in her work. Occasional fits of depression obsessed her in the early weeks of her visit, and the other maids were encouraged to rally her out of these, as the greatest violence was observable during such times. A curious look in her eyes, which all in the house learned to recognise, accompanied these attacks. G. is of average intelligence for a working girl. Her father and mother were apparently of better education than herself, but on the whole she was uncommunicative regarding her own affairs, even when she made friends with anyone. We gathered that an unhappy love affair in 1924 had something to do with the oncoming of the poltergeist disturbances, and it is surmised, if this be correct, that the depression and depletion which followed this gave the opportunity for interference of an undesirable nature, such as has often been noticed in other cases of psychic obsession. Her mother has known something of Spiritualism for years, but G. seems to have taken little notice of it.
Record of Disturbances at the College.
May 8th. A sitting was held in the evening. Sitters: Mr and Mrs Hewat McKenzie, Mr M., Mrs K., Miss A. and Miss G. A very heavy table, weighing from 30 to 40 lbs., was used. After fifteen minutes, in a good red light, it moved towards G. twice, for a few inches, and then lifted on her side several times for 2 or 3 inches. Great coldness was noticed by several sitters. A smaller table was then used – no result. It was reported by the housekeeper that when G. went downstairs for supper after the sitting the meal table moved towards her and then tilted slightly.
May 9th. The housekeeper (M.) reported that when G. was helping the housemaid (A.) in the lecture room, three movements of chairs were noticed independent of G. G., on her kneees, was wiping the linoleum, and the housemaid dusting. A large and heavy carved armchair turned round and went quietly on its side on the floor, about 4 feet from G. A few minutes later M. the housekeeper saw another armchair (slightly lighter) turn round and do the same; G., still on her knees, 5 feet away. A slight movement of a chair noticed when working at other end of room, but only a sliding motion.
May 10th and 11th. Conditions fairly quiet, except at meal times in the kitchen, when slight movement and tilting of the table was noticed. On the afternoon of the 10th, M. and G. came in from the garden, passing along a corridor to the kitchen. A gas stove, which was awaiting removal, stood in the corridor, with 1/2 cwt. of heavy stove fittings and trays securely placed on top. The girls had just passed this when the whole of these fittings fell on the floor. On a long side table, used for laundry work in the kitchen (9 feet by 4 1/2 feet, and probably weighing 1 cwt.) was laid a bundle of bath towels, about a dozen, ready to fold. The bundle was lifted by poltergeist, and the towels spread out in a row on the floor in front of the table in an amusing way. They were picked up and replaced on the table in a heap. A few minutes after the same thing happened in the same way. The housekeeper, annoyed at seeing her damp towels spread out “like a row of soldiers,” as she expressed it, put them away in a cupboard. G., at this time, was using the electric iron at one end of the table, and it was noticed repeatedly that as soon as she attempted to iron, trouble began. The table would be pushed out from the wall towards her, or would be tilted up at one end and throw things off at the other, and generally hinder her working altogether. A little while afterward she went into the kitchen corridor and a heavy butler’s tray on an iron support standing opposite the gas stove mentioned above fell on to the ground. This happened many times on later occasions as she passed by.
May 12th. At 8 p.m., a sitting was held with her, but only vague movements of the table took place. About 9.30 p.m. she went to the kitchen for her supper, and immediately fell on to the floor unconscious and rigid, but recovered in a few minutes. M.,A. and G. began supper, and the table moved sideways towards G. for about 3 feet – pushing her away. They finished supper and M. was at cupboard when the breadboard with white and brown bread on it was thrown from the table towards her. G. was several feet away in another direction. M. replaced it upon the table, and a few minutes afterwards the same thing happened. On this occasion G. was standing at the cupboard with M. when the breadboard fell at their feet. The meal table was tilted, and a vegetable dish fell on the floor and broke. Chairs seemed to move in a sliding fashion but did not lift. G. was under observation by both M. and A.
10pm. A very substantial office desk, which stood near the window in the kitchen and close to the door leading into the scullery, past which G. had to go many times in the day, was the object of constant and unpleasant attention. It consisted of four drawers and a detachable desk with a sloping lid. The desk part slipped off on to the ground with a great noise, scattering the various oddments on top, and throwing out the books and papers which it contained. An indoor telephone hangs on the wall close to this desk, and G. had just answered a call on this. M and a maid were in the kitchen a few feet away.
Levitation of a Table.
10.15 p.m. M took G. to her own room on the basement floor to get an alarm clock before accompanying her to the top floor where she had a room to herself adjoining other bedrooms. G. sat down in a chair while M. wound up the clock; suddenly a square, four-legged wicker table, weighing 10 to 12 lbs., which stood in the centre of the room, and to which M. had her back while G. sat sideways some feet away, rose up to the electric lights fixed close to the ceiling. G. saw it first and exclaimed that she hoped it would not break the bulbs. As they both watched it, it came slowly down, falling on the ground on two legs and pushing away a chair as it did so, but not upsetting it. M took G. to the latter’s room at the top of the house, and as soon as they entered it a basin and ewer were thrown off the washstand, the ewer breaking. This was the first disturbance in the girl’s own room. They lifted a marble slab off the washstand and placed it on the floor, and then the frame of the washstand, a solid mahogany one, fell over with a crash. The bed – a strong trestle one with moveable legs – fell down in a heap, as if lifted at one end. M. and G. returned downstairs feeling rather afraid; and in the entrance hall a heavy silver flower pot fell off a table breaking a china pot containing a plant. The girls had passed near it a few seconds previously on the way to the basement. Returning they met Mr McKenzie in the hall and he accompanied them upstairs – a table falling down on the first landing just after they had all passed.
A student in the College, Mrs B. occupied the bedroom next to G. She heard the disturbance, and kindly proposed that G.’s bed be moved into her room for the night. This was done, and everything breakable was placed on the floor or taken outside. As M. and G. were arranging the bed, a square wicker table behind M. and 5 feet from G., moved out from the wall about 1 foot. Mrs McKenzie, on the other side of the room, caught this movement with the corner of her eye, and, looking fully round, saw the distance it had moved. In this case the housekeeper was much nearer the article than G; she was probably in the area of force, having been with the girl all day. When M. went down to her own room again in the basement she reported that an upper cover and under quilt of her bed that stood lengthwise against the wall were turned back from the wall about a foot, instead of being tucked in. The other maids had gone to bed, and no one else was in that part of the house. (Those who read the Hannie report will remember how often bedclothes were disturbed with this same M. who shared her room, but who knows very little of the subject herself.)
May 13th. 9.30 a.m. A. (the housemaid) and G. were working in a small bedroom on the second floor. A table at the window, laden with books and heavy magazines on the top, and on the under shelf, fell over – only a violent push could have accomplished this. G. and A. were making the bed 5 feet away. Brushes and a box fell from the dressing table, one brush striking G. on the breast when she was 3 feet away from it. An oak chair was lifted up and set down again with a loud bang. Mrs McKenzie came to see what the noise was. While she was picking up the books and G. was on the floor lifting the others, a utensil rolled about under the bed (this was often noticed in the Hannie case). A. and G. went to Mrs McKenzie’s room next door, and were dusting when an enormous oak armchair fell over on its side. The chair is so solid that one person can scarcely lift one side of it more than a few inches from the ground. The girls were about 3 feet away – G. with her back to it. The noise was heard all over the house. A small table at the window fell over with such force that two hinges on the flaps were broken and the screws thrown out and splinters of wood carried with them. A glass tray was lifted from the dressing table on to the floor unbroken, and a small round table with books at the bedside was thrown over. Mrs McKenzie came in on hearing the noise made by the chair and, according to A., who was considerably frightened, all the articles mentioned had been moved one after the other with great rapidity.
G. was sent down to the kitchen as likely to cause less damage. She and the two maids (A. and D.) went into a maid’s bedroom on the basement floor, and they reported that one of the iron bedsteads jumped a few inches at one end. G. then helped in the scullery for some time, and several small articles were reported as moving from one place to another. The breakfast room is next door to the kitchen, and A. took G. to show her where some silver might be taken to clean. They both stood in front of a sideboard with a long drawer. A. was on the point of opening it when the drawer shot out towards them and fell on the floor upsetting some of its contents.
The Flying Sausages.
Resuming work in the scullery prior to lunch, G. was at the side table and M. had turned her back to the gas-stove, on which she had some sausages frying. Hearing a noise, she turned round and saw the frying pan just settling on the floor the right way up, and the sausages lying about as if they had been thrown out first. This would compare with Mr Bell’s report of the pudding jumping out of the basin in the canteen.
1.30 p.m. Table movements as usual during the staff meal hour and a good deal of hilarity. The maids are half interested, half afraid, but M. (the housekeeper) keeps very collected, and is only really annoyed when things are broken. The table at which they sit usually tilts towards G. It is a solid table capable of seating eight persons. There are no underneath bars, and the movements happen when G. is eating. G. and the housekeeper go out in the afternoon, returning at 5 p.m. G goes to photographic room to try for a psychic photograph with two other people in the house. As the three leave dark room and re-enter studio a chair falls with a clatter near the door of the studio and some distance away from anyone. All three see it falling.
5.45 p.m. G. goes to the kitchen and begins to use the electric iron at the long side table. It is pushed out violently against her from the wall at the end at which she is standing. An enamelled tray, standing on the table and resting against the wall, is pitched over her head as if lifted. The housekeeper comes in on hearing the noise and replaces the table and tray, but has hardly finished when a large pitcher of milk, laid for a moment at the other end of the same table, seems to be lifted off the table and falls on the floor several feet away – breaking and spilling contents. It has been noticed that things are carried some way by the force before dropping. M. and G. were still at one end of the long table when this happened, and M. says she noticed no movements of the table at the moment when the jug went down.
To break the condition, and to get some milk, G. was sent out, and stated on her return that while she was waiting in the dairy, a great milk urn on the floor near her fell over. The woman serving asked her how she did it, and she had to say she caught her foot in it. This of course was not corroborated in any way; but, if correct, shows how the force accompanies the person of the girl and is not located in a place. On her return an earthen jar, with flowers, standing on a large table in the kitchen window, was lifted and flung 8 feet. G. was standing, at this time, in the doorway between kitchen and scullery 6 feet from the jar, and a maid was in the kitchen.
The desk spoken of before was again thrown on to the floor after G. had passed. Mrs McKenzie went into the kitchen and saw the broken jug, the milk and the desk, as they had been left; and told G. to sit quietly for a little in a corner where there seemed nothing breakable except a chair. She had no sooner returned to the ground floor than a tremendous noise sent her back, when she found the heavy table which stood in the kitchen window, and from which the jar had been previously thrown, turned completely over, and lying with its legs in the air, between the window and the centre meal table. The chair where G. was seated was several feet away and she had not moved. The table, from its weight, would have required time and some manipulation to turn normally.
Mrs McKenzie left the kitchen again, and a further noise occurring, my secretary and my daughter went down to the kitchen and found a chair thrown over, and the top of the desk sliding off. They pushed it back into position and wedged it against the wall; turning their backs to it, it immediately fell with a great clatter to the floor, where it was left to repose for some time as poltergeist seemed to enjoy handling it so much that it was likely to be smashed to pieces. G. was sent into the garden for an hour, and peace reigned. Later she went to the cinema with MRs McKenzie and everything seemed normal. She said that she had been in hospital last year after a nervous breakdown following the love affair, and that even there the lockers would move when she was near. The nurses reported it to the matron, but when she came to look nothing happened. This we can well understand from our own experiences of observation.
10.30 p.m. G. went to bed, but only a lifting movement of the bed was noticed by Mrs B., and a moving out from the wall.
May 14th. G. was helping in the study on the ground floor. The housemaid coming downstairs from the first floor, saw G. coming out of the study door, and both heard a tremendous crash. Going into the study they found a great leather-covered sofa turned completely over. It stands against a large pedestal, and to turn it over as A. described it to Mrs McKenzie, meant that someone had to move this weighty pedestal and get right behind the middle of the back of the sofa. The two girls went into the lecture room opposite to work, and A. reported that three mahogany chairs, standing in a row, fell sideways on each other as if they had been pushed. G. was with her some distance away.
10.30 a.m. G. returned to the kitchen and things became lively. A chair which stood by the fireplace jumped seemingly over the table, for a cup was knocked off the table and broken, and the chair was found 7 feet away from its usual position. M. saw this just settle, but to catch sight of anything in transit is seldom if ever possible. The top of the desk was again lifted or slid on to the floor, and the drawers shaken so roughly that the three top ones were shot out on to the floor also. The bottom drawer, a deep one, remained in its place. An empty inkwell on top of the desk was flung to the other end of the kitchen before the desk fell. G. was in the scullery when this happened, adn the other maids about the kitchen. In the washhouse off the scullery, three zinc baths were lifted off a shelf and banged on the floor, the lid was lifted off the copper and fell on to the floor. G., washing her hands in the scullery, was drying them on a roller towel a few feet away, when the enamelled basin she had used, jumped out of the sink, a depth of 4 or 5 inches, and was deposited on the floor nearby. A frying pan, hanging on the wall by the gas stove, fell down, and a dish cover was reported to have fallen off the wall.
Mr. McKenzie gave G. a treatment by suggestion, and left her quietly in a room on the second floor. Returning later, he found her very sleepy, a small table overturned, and a fire shovel lying near the door as if it had been thrown.
11 a.m. G. returned to the basement, and a second time, after washing her hands in scullery, the bowl with water in it jumped out of the sink, and upset at the feet of one of the other maids. A pastry board, with which the housekeeper had just finished, was thrown from the table, and various small articles moved. G. went into the kitchen, and A. began wiping up the spilt water. Mrs McKenzie stood by, and another clatter was heard. She turned her head in time to see a small enamel plate still trembling on the floor behind A. No one knew where it came from, but it usually stood on the rack above the sink in the scullery, 5 feet away. G. was at the time in the kitchen behind Mrs. McKenzie and quite 10 feet away.
11.30 a.m. Some sewing was given to G., with a reel, needle and thimble, and she went to sit in the garden to do this. Quietness prevailed till nearly lunch time, when someone went to speak to her in the garden. She had finished her sewing, but her needle and reel had disappeared. She said “I have still my thimble,” and held up her finger with it on. The next minute it was gone, and although three keen pairs of eyes hunted for the article everywhere on very short grass no trace of it was found, and they gave it up. Mrs. McKenzie went out a few minutes later and found the thimble on the grass exactly where G. had been sitting. G. stated that she had never known articles to disappear altogether, although they might be removed for some time. A few minutes later one of the maids, going to call her to lunch, picked up the reel close to her, and the needle was found stuck lightly into her dress and bent. There is not much evidence for the above, but it is interesting in view of the smallness of the articles as against the heavy furniture moved indoors, and as nothing else was within reach of the force to expend itself on.
1.30 p.m. Many tiltings of the kitchen table reported. One very violent one, sending a glass dish containing the junket the staff were just going to eat on to the floor and breaking it to pieces. Mrs McKenzie, going in, found all four girls standing round the table with their plates and spoons in their hands, as the moment they sat down the tiltings became continuous. The butler’s tray, in the kitchen corridor, again upset, and a dish with fruit was thrown to the floor and broken. To avoid such unpleasant attention the tray was laid on the floor.
2.30 p.m. G. went into the garden and did some digging in a small way. At 3.30 she came into the kitchen to wash her hands, and again the bowl, for the third time that day, jumped out of the sink as she turned away. As she passed along the corridor to return to the garden the fittings of the gas stove, standing there, fell with a clatter to the ground. The remainder of the day was quiet, and the evening, which she spent with some friends, was undisturbed.
11 p.m. G. went to kitchen before retiring, and some saucers on a dresser moved as she came near. M. saw her catch them with her hand, but a few minutes later, as G. stood in the middle of the room, the same saucers moved off the dresser and were broken. A bowl containing water and some pats of butter also fell on floor, and the contents were spilled. M. accompanied G. to her room on top floor, and as they passed through front hall the silver flower pot mentioned before fell from table to floor. They reached the top landing without further mishap. At the entrance to G.’s bedroom stood a coatstand (7 feet high) with a strip of mirror in front. This fell forward, swaying out towards them, it was caught by G. and set back in its place. They entered G.’s room, and a washbasin fell off washstand and broke; this may have happened through washstand moving as on previous occasion, but it was not specially noticed. As they viewed this damage inside the room, the coatstand outside in hall fell forward on floor – breaking the mirror. Hearing the noise, Mrs McKenzie went upstairs and waited while G. got into bed in Mrs. B.’s room next door, who came in a few minutes later. As G. went towares her bed, and Mrs. B. moved about the room, a heavy settee moved out for about a foot from the bottom of Mrs. B.’s bed and a small wicker table fell over in sight of both. The washstand and crockery were removed outside, but no further disturbance took place.
The Disappearing Bananas.
May 15th, 1925. 7.30 a.m. G. went downstairs to kitchen and immediately trouble began. The housekeeper, preparing some grapefruit for breakfast, found that a half lying beside her had disappeared, and could be found neither in kitchen nor scullery. She got two bananas to take its place and laid them on the table near her, when the missing grapefruit whizzed past her ear and fell before her and the bananas vanished. Some ten minutes later they were found on the scullery table. G. was close by M. in the kitchen, while all this took place. The staff breakfasat table was very lively, several cups and saucers fell off the table and broke, and chairs seemed to slide about. G. had to be asked to go into the garden again to give the maids a rest from the constant clearing up of breakages and movement of articles, not that G. was not perfectly willing to do this herself, but when this force was in play her continued presence only made matters worse. Readers will realize that English servants to-day do not take such additional labours lightly, and were on the alert to see that G. was not causing any of the trouble directly. During the whole time of her stay I did not hear one suggestion of this sort from any of the maids who had all been in my employment for a considerable time.
10 a.m. I took G. for the day to a country cottage a little way out of town, and gave her some work in the garden. My secretary (Miss A.) reported the loss of a large pruning shears which G. had been using. The girl said she had laid it down and when next requiring to use it found it had disappeared. A knife was given her in its place, and Miss A. jokingly said, as she left her and saw the glint of the steel in her hand, “Be sure and not lose that, G.” She answered, “Why, it has gone!” and it had; diligent search was at once made, but it has never been found. The shears were found next day in some long grass near which G. had been working when they vanished.
8 p.m. Returning to town in early evening, a sitting was held with her, but nothing happened. She spoke often of seeing red, and the suggestion was made that when this happened she should visualise herself among the green grass and under the blue sky as she had been that day. There was no further trouble that evening.
May 16th. Quietness all morning, but G. inclined to stand about in a dreamy manner. Helping the housemaid in one of the rooms, she said that she felt something in one of her shoes, and, stooping down, took out half-a-crown. In the room in which they had been working a few minutes before, a half-crown piece which had been on the mantelpiece was missing. There is no evidence for this except G.’s own statement, but there was never any question as to her honesty while in the house. Nothing else was reported that day.
May 17th. 1 p.m. A. reported that two chairs, near each other in the kitchen, suddenly fell over. G. was standing several feet away. She seemed very moody, but some friends took her out and this passed.
May 18th. No disturbance.
May 19th. 7.15 p.m. During the dinner hour a crash was heard in kitchen next door. A. reported that two chairs had fallen over in kitchen while G. was in scullery. Three minutes later a prolonged noise and a heavy fall were heard in the kitchen. I went to investigate the cause and found the centre meal table, so often merely tilted, thrown completely over with legs in air. Four chairs which stood around it were pushed aside, two being thrown over. G. was in full view of two other maids near the window when this took place. The others described hearing the chairs pushed and, looking in direction of table, saw it settling on floor upside down. G. went to sit in garden and quietness reigned. It must not be thought that she liked this. We never found her slacking in work and she enjoyed being with the others.
8 p.m. A sitting was held with Mrs. Barkel, the trance medium, at the College. Only G. and myself present. G. was put into a passive condition by suggestion and left alone in Mrs. McKenzie’s office while the case was discussed with “White Hawk,” Mrs. Barkel’s Indian “control.” Suddenly a great clatter was heard in the office and, returning to G., we found a very heavy stationery cabinet from the table near her had been thrown on the floor, upsetting two bottles of ink and breaking one. G. seemed still to be in a passive state, and could give no explanation of the happening.
Behaviour of a Dog.
A Sealyham terrier in the house – which was in the kitchen a good deal – showed a great dislike of the disturbed conditions, and retreated on every occasion, finally refusing to stay there at all. He did not, however, refuse to be with G. in the garden, so it may only have been the noise and fear of being hit that forced her to avoid the kitchen. The mention of the cat in Mr. Bell’s report induces me to mention this.
May 18th to 20th. Quietness.
May 21st. A quiet day, but while at dinner in the evening a crash was heard in the kitchen. It was found that two chairs had fallen over together while G. was in scullery. Five minutes afterwards a tremendous and prolonged noise was heard. I went to investigate and found that the centre meal table was completely reversed with its legs in the air, and that four chairs were pushed away or had fallen as had happened before. This table has had most unwelcome attention. G. was standing near the window end of the kitchen, 7 feet from the table, and two other maids came in from the scullery to see the final shaking of the table as it settled down. G. was sent to the garden for quietness.
May 22nd to 24th. Quietness again, but the housekeeper reported that occasionally a slight unexpected movement of a chair or dish would be noticed.
May 25th. This was a very bad day. Disturbances began in the afternoon. A 7 lb. earthenware jar on the window table in the kitchen containing a plant, was thrown violently on the floor, upsetting and rolling to the other end of the kitchen. G. and A. were standing in the centre of the kitchen when this happened. The jar was picked up unbroken, and replaced empty on the table at the window, and a few minutes later the same action was repeated.
A bottle, used for sprinkling clothes, standing on the side laundry table, was also thrown down. Replaced on the table, G. and two maids stood near the fireplace exactly opposite this laundry table to see what would happen, and the same bottle fell on the hearthstone and broke close to one maid. None of the three, although talking of the bottle and presumably looking in that direction, saw it move. The butler’s tray in the corridor, with a good deal of silver on it, crashed on the floor. G. had passed it a few seconds previously coming in from the garden. For about half-an-hour there was quietness, but whenever G. went to the laundry table in an attempt to iron or fold clothes it jumped out from the wall. It seemed like a violent jerk more than a gentle push. As this happened so frequently we wondered whether the handling of the electric iron had anything to do with it or whether the operations of folding and ironing produced a passivity in G. which released the force.
7.30 p.m. A great bang was heard from the kitchen while at dinner, Mrs. McKenzie went to see what had happened. M. (the housekeeper) reported that the centre meal table seemed to shuffle, turn completely over, and crash down, partly resting on two chairs standing at side and end. The drawer of the table was jammed in tightly by the shock, and when removed was found to be broken, and the end of the table by the drawer splintered. G. was again several feet away, and the other maids about. It is interesting to note in this case the preliminary shuffle noticed by M. before the upheaval.
7.45 p.m. The heavy table in the kitchen window was thrown over, not falling as if pushed but as if lifted and thrown, lying with its legs in the air; a caster has gone from this table owing to the repeated shocks it has had. G. and M. in the kitchen at the time at some distance. An enamelled dish fell off a high shelf in the scullery. During the evening the housekeeper reported a continual movement of small objects. The laundry table was again pushed out.
10 p.m. Mrs McKenzie spoke to M. on the indoor telephone, and was informed that a minute before the laundry table had apparently been lifted up from one end and turned completely over. Going to the kitchen she found the table lying on the floor as if it had been heaved over. It seems it had first rested partly on the end of the centre table and had knocked a chair over. A cup and saucer and bowl were broken and all the laundry lay on the floor. As Mrs. McKenzie approached the kitchen she heard a fall and found the centre table against which the other had rested had fallen over on its side and dropped the long one to the floor. The kitchen looked as if there had been an earthquake. Mr. and Mrs. Barkel, who were in the house, came into the kitchen and saw the position of the tables. G. was with M. and D. in the scullery when they heard the noise, and came in time to see the long table fall on the other, and as they stood there the centre table went over. They all seemed scared at such tremendous movements. G. had a curious strained look on her face and in her eyes – noticed before when disturbances took place.
Mrs Barkel magnetized her head and quietened her, and Mrs McKenzie suggested she should go to bed, saying “Nothing happens when you get into bed.” She immediately proceeded upstairs, and Mrs. McKenzie followed – a flight behind. On the second floor landing a small table crashed over, and a metal vase which had fallen off still rolled on the floor, and was seen by Mrs. McKenzie as she approached. G. was on the stairs above and came running down to pick pu the table and vase. The landing stairs were well lighted, and the table stood 6 feet from the place G. would turn on the stairs. Mrs. M. saw her into her room, from which we thought everything breakable had been taken. G. herself removed a small mirror from the mantelpiece and put it on the floor under her bed. Mrs M. came downstairs, hoping for quietness, but a few minutes later two students in the photographic room near heard a great noise in G.’s room of banging and tearing. Mrs. M. went to the room again and found G. in bed, but the room looked as if a tornado had swept over it. Everything that could be thrown down lay on the floor. G. stated that the moment she got into bed the legs went – letting her down on the floor, and the mattress seemed to rise up. She saw the heavy marble top of the washstand move, as there was a good light from outside and a new moon. She got up and ‘phoned for M. to help her remake her bed. M. told me that she found the mattress curved in a curious way, as if pushed from one end. G. said she got into bed again, and the frame of the washstand went over, a mahogany armchair was thrown down violently, and the arm support was splintered; another chair also thrown over had a piece broken off the back by its fall, and a small wicker table lay on floor.
All the girl’s clothes and trinkets lay on the floor also in a wild heap. A curtain behind the door and the curtain pole were dragged down, the mirror placed below the bed was thrown out. An ebony elephant was thrown from the mantelpiece and some of the asbestos tubes in the gas fire were broken – perhaps by the fall of the chair. One light settee against the wall alone held its ground. Mrs Barkel and Mrs. B. viewed the wreckage, for which there was no witness but the girl herself, but, considering the previous violence in the kitchen, quite possible. It almost seems as if Mrs. McKenzie’s “Nothing happens when you get into bed” was taken as a challenge. G. was again magnetized and everything seemed quiet. But she reported that after being left the settee fell over and that all night she felt disturbed – an unusual thing with her as she sleeps heavily.
May 26th. Chairs fell in the kitchen as soon as G. came down in the morning. I decided to take her to the country again to give the other maids a rest, as they were getting a little too much of it and could not get on with their regular work. She seemed happy enough; the garden shears were given her again for some purpose. They were laid on a chair near her after lunch and disappeared. She seemed tired and went to sleep in a chair. The shears have never been found.
6.30 p.m. G. returned to Holland Park, and immediately the disturbances began in the kitchen. The laundry table was pushed from the wall, and a hot water can under the table kept up a continual movement. I went into the kitchen and smoked and chatted with the housekeeper and one maid, while not directly placing my attention on G., who was moving in and out between the kitchen and scullery. Each time she did so articles were thrown after her from the kitchen. A salad spoon and fork and a teapot stand and an earthenware tile followed her in this way. The latter struck the floor quite softly as if it had been made of wood – almost as if it were supported and carried. I remained in the kitchen while the maids had their meal, but nothing happened when I endeavoured to make direct observation. No disturbances for the remainder of the evening.
May 27th. 9.30 a.m. While dusting a room on the third floor with A. a tumbler fell an dbroke unexpectedly. No other disturbances.
May 28th. A sitting in the evening with Mrs. Barkel, who described conditions clearer round G., and gave her some excellent clairvoyance, which G. recognised.
There was quietness during the whole of the Whitsuntide holidays; and a photograph of G. taken at this time shows a happy, normal girl – very different from the heavy depressed, almost ugly looking, picture taken three weeks before.
June 4th. 9.30 a.m. G. and A. dusting a private sitting room on second floor. A very large and well-laden bookcase (9 feet by 8 feet), with four shelves and glass doors, and resting on cupboards, stands in the middle of a wall at the end of the room. A. suddenly noticed that the shelved part above the cupboards had moved out at one end about 3 inches. She called for the housekeeper, and with great difficulty they got it into position again. A small carved stand with a shallow bowl upon it, which stood on a ledge of the bookcase, was pushed forward and hung in a curious way without falling. Just before A. noticed this there was a crash, and a heavy crystal match holder which lay on a side table was thrown with violence across the room into the fireplace, smashing an earthenware bowl which was standing there. A heavy dent was made on the silver rim of the holder. A picture on the wall was moved askew.
From this time until the 21st June things were reported as quiet. The maids noticed that a letter from home with disquieting news would bring a depressed condition round G. again, but they rallied her out of this, and by taking her about with them changed the current of her thoughts.
June 21st. New moon.
June 22nd. 7.30 p.m. During dinner time things began moving in the kitchen. The laundry table was pushed out and some crockery broken. The centre meal table was thrown over with violence. The girl seemed heavy and moody.
11 p.m. G. went to bed and pandemonium reigned again. M. took her upstairs. The hallstand outside her bedroom door swayed forward and fell as they passed into the room. The washstand slab was laid on the floor by M. and G., and the mahogany stand jumped up and down like a live thing. A small cupboard was thrown over, smashing a glass and scattering all G.’s belongings. She got into bed, and Mrs. McKenzie stayed beside her suggesting quietness and sleep. A light was left on and the door open. Mrs. B., next door, heard thumping begin again – it seemed to have been occasioned by the small cupboard being moved about. Quietness again, and then thumping and then quietness. Mrs. B. put out G.’s light, and there were no further disturbances.
June 23rd. 9.30 a.m. A. (the housemaid) asked Mrs. M. to come to the private sitting room to look at the oak bookcase which had again moved out for a few inches on the same side as reported on June 4th. She and G. were in the room dusting. Their attention had again been distracted by a small brass ash holder being thrown from the mantelpiece to the hearth; on turning round they at once noticed the position of the bookcase. Mrs. M. noticed it at once on entering the room, and the stand and bowl suspended on the ledge in the same curious way as previously reported. Neither of the girls heard any noises, but it looks as if their attention had been on both occasions diverted by the throwing of the small article. The bookcase was replaced with difficulty. Later in the day Mrs. M. asked a man visitor to move it out in the same position as it was found, but after trying for several minutes he found it impossible.
Mrs. McKenzie asked G. to work in another room, and she went to my daughter’s bedroom next door. After helping to make the bed the housemaid left her to finish dusting; a few minutes later, Mrs. B., coming down from the top floor, heard a noise of something being bumped about, and found G. at the door of this bedroom looking very much frightened. Asked what the matter was, G. said that things were moving about inside. Mrs. B. went into the room with G. and saw the bed stripped and the wire mattress of the single bed vibrating as if after a good shaking, and the wool mattress, sheets, blankets and pillows lying as they had been made on the floor beyond the bed – as if shot off without disturbing a pillow or cover. G.’s story is that the bed lifted up and bumped down several times, and that the mattress and bedclothes fell off. The head of the bed had moved from wall 2 1/2 feet. Mrs. B. helped her remake the bed, remarking “Nothing happens when I am about.” Mrs. B. reported that, after remaking, a blanket which she had tucked in firmly quickly turned itself back at one corner. A small oak bookcase, standing on the floor, moved out from the wall about 1 foot.
A. rejoined them, and G.’s back was to the door while she stood facing Mrs. B. and discussing the happenings. About 4 feet behind her stood a small table at the head of the bed. With a crash everything came off the table while it remained stationary. A reading lamp, a framed photograph and half a dozen books were thrown 4 feet away in a heap, as if someone had switched the small tablecloth and carried the articles with it with one jerk to a position almost level with table. Mrs. B. and A. saw the thing happen while G. faced them. Nothing was broken. Various other movements in the kitchen during the day, but nothing violent.
May 24th. 9 a.m. G. and A. were dusting in lecture room. Books, lying on a side table, were twice thrown on to the floor in a heap. A. sent G. to the kitchen, and the greatest breakages of crockery took place that day. It seemed, according to reports, as if something happened every minute. Whether G. tried to move about or sit still seemed immaterial. Plates and glasses seemed to fall off dresser and racks as if someone had hit them with a catapult. A crack would be heard and another plate had fallen. This happened while G. was at the other end of the room – a distance of 18 feet – about the furthest distance that has been noticed from any occurrence. Mrs. McKenzie asked M. to get G. some sewing, and sent her to the garden. M. went to her room for this purpose and G. followed her. A plant pot fell from a small table and broke, and M.’s fountain pen was thrown from the table and broken.
12.30 p.m. Rain began to fall, and G. had to come in from the garden. She sat near the kitchen window and the door leading to the scullery, and things became lively again. The centre meal table, already heavily damaged, was thrown down twice most violently and split up the centre. The laundry table was again thrown down and a pile of clean clothes pitched on the floor. Mrs. M., coming in at this juncture, found G. sitting as described. While facing G. she heard a crack behind her, and, turning, saw a plate had fallen from the dresser rack and broken. She also noticed the vigorous shaking of a clothes rope, which was quite out of G.’s reach, and could only be got at by standing on a chair. It was fixed just above the place where G. was sitting, and had its other end near the top of the dresser. This happening brought the statement from M. that she had noticed the rope shaking violently earlier in the morning when breakages on the dresser took place. A thorough search was made but nothing could be found which could have hit the plate. Another crack was heard on the mantelpiece, but nothing was broken. Lying in the hearth was a reel which had disappeared from G.’s lap a moment before.
Mrs. M. saw the laundry table put straight, and left the kitchen for a few minutes. There was a great noise and she returned, to find the heavy table in the window near which G. sat thrown over, as so often before, with its legs in the air, and the maids looking very frightened in the doorway. According to their report, and it is always the same, the table rears up and then turns over, and only occasionally has any preliminary movement been noticed. On several occasions G. herself has noticed small things start to move, and called M.’s attention to them; but as a rule no one notices the initial move, and the action seems instantaneous. In the afternoon there was comparative quietness, though an occasional cup falling or the lid of a vegetable dish going showed that the force was still at work. The happenings seemed further from G.’s physical reach than on any previous occasion.
6.30 p.m. Happenings became fierce again, and the housekeeper cleared the dresser of crockery and put it away in a cupboard. G. was sent out for a walk and returned about 9.30. Several other things broke while she had supper, but there was no disturbance after that.
June 25th. Mrs. McKenzie told G. in the morning that if disturbances began, she must go to the country for the day, as the other maids could not stand more of it, but the whole day passed quietly.
July 1st. No happenings since June 25th; but on July 1st M. reported that G. had a kind of fit. She seemed quite happy at teatime, and suddenly fell off her chair with her hands clenched. They laid her on a bed, and she fell into another fit. She gripped her own throat powerfully. When she recovered she said she saw her father looking at her in a very stern way. She had a third attack, but slighter than previously. M. reported that about a fortnight previously she had had three – one after the other – which had not been reported. Mrs. McKenzie gave some suggestion treatment, and she went to sleep and got up later feeling quite well.
10 p.m. She had three other attacks following each other, but did not become so rigid. M. helped her to bed, and she reported a quiet night. From that time until she left the College for home on August 8th she had no further attacks, nor did any disturbances of even the slightest kind take place.
She seemed to improve in many ways – taking an interest in herself and in her work, and seemed contented and happy. We had agreed that she must stay at least three months in the College if we were to attempt any help for her; and it was by her own desire at the end of that period, feeling so much better and wishing to see her mother, that she went home. She was given the option of returning, should the attacks recommence, or should work be difficult to find as the woollen strike was then on, and we did not wish depression to visit her again through lack of employment.
Letters received from her since this date indicate that she is well and free from annoyance.
***
Times of Poltergeist Disturbances Compared With New and Full Moon Dates.
Dates of disturbances:
April 27-29. New Moon, April 23.
May 8-19. Full Moon, May 8.
May 25-June 4. New Moon, May 22. Full Moon, June 6.
June 21-25 and July 1. New Moon, June 21. Full Moon, July 6.
The Haunted Millgirl, by J. Hewat McKenzie.
In the Quarterly Transactions of the British College of Psychic Science. Vol. IV, no.3 (October 1925.
Electric Girl.
Eerie Happenings at a Mill.
There is much talk at Keighley concerning a girl who until recently was employed at a local worsted mill, and who is said to have the faculty of storing in her system such an amount of electricity that when she approaches a spinning frame a breakage of the threads is caused.
The girl, who is strongly built, but apparently is of a highly strung temperament, became employed at the mill in question about three months ago. It was noticed that when she worked at a particular gate between the frames, there was an immediate peculiar disturbance of the spinning process, which became quite normal again as soon as she left the vicinity.
Unfortunately the unusual happenings at the mill have attracted some unpleasant attention to the girl, who, in consequence, has broken down in health, and is now under medical care.
Leeds Mercury, 2nd December 1924.
Keighley Mill Girl’s Electrical Energy.
A remarkable story.
Worsted thread said to break at her approach.
An extraordinary story has gained currency at Keighley concerning a girl who until recently was employed at a local worsted mill. It is stated that she has the faculty of storing in her system such an amount of electricity that when she approaches a spinning frame a breakage of the threads is caused.
The girl, who is strongly built, but apparently is of a highly strung temperament, became employed at the mill in question about three months ago. After she had been there a short time it was noticed that when she worked at a particular gate between the frames, there was an immediate peculiar disturbance of the spinning process, which became quite normal again as soon as she left the vicinity.
It is well known that by the rapid motion of the spindles in spinning machinery a certain amount of electricity is generated, and that it varies with the state of the atmosphere. The thoery is advanced that the girl has the faculty of attracting to her body a charge of the electric current so generated, adn that this is the cause of a “bad spin” when she is near the machinery.
It is generally agreed that the girl’s physical condition, and its relation to the incidents which are said to have occurred should be the subject of investigation, and it is probable that full inquiry will be made. Unfortunately the unusual happenings at the mill have attracted some unpleasant attention to the girl, who, in consequence, has broken down in health, and is now under medical care. Her recovery is, of course, a necessary preliminary to the matter being elucidated.
It has been surmised that the fact that the girl’s body absorbs an abnormal quantity of electrical energy may be the explanation not only of the breaking of threads at the mill when she was in close proximity to the spinning frames, but of pictures and a clock having fallen in similar circumstances at her lodgings. Inquiries in various quarters show that strange disturbances are reported to have been caused by people who have abnormal physical, or – as is claimed in some cases – are possessed of occult powers. An industrial research expert expressed the opinion yesterday that the phenomenon observed in the Keighley mill girl may be due to hysteria. He said it was not possible to arrive at any conclusion without a test under controlled conditions, but at the outset steps would be taken to ascertain whether anything peculiar had been noted at a mill at which the girl was previously employed.
Professor Barker, of the Textile Department of the Leeds University, interviewed yesterday, suggested that the proper course would be to have an investigation of the case by scientists – a good physicist and a good physiologist. He could not say whether the University would take part in such an inquiry, but if it was ascertained that machinery had been subjected to disturbance under the conditions stated he had no doubt the University would tackle the problem from a mechanical point of view.
Dr. A. Roberts, of Leeds, informed a representative of “The Yorkshire Post” that cases similar to that reported at Keighley had been discussed in “Light,” the Spiritualist organ, by Dr. Crawford, of Belfast, who had endeavoured to make instruments which would record the amount of electricity which emanated from the human body. “Personally, I have never seen a phenomenon of this kind,” he added, “and I would suggest that the matter should be investigated by a committee consisting of medical men, an expert electrician, and an expert in textile machinery. The facts require careful sifting, as a great many manifestations such as that described come through the agency of hysterical women.”
Another Leeds medical practitioner remarked that the first essential was to establish the facts by proper investigation. Several years ago he heard of a man whose hair “sparked” when brushed. He believed that such cases existed, although he had first-hand knowledge of none. Numerous references had been made to them in Spiritualist literature. In his opinion, every case should be thoroughly inquired into before conclusions were drawn.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 2nd December 1924.
Keighley Mill Mystery.
Magnetic girl and broken threads.
Sceptical inquirers.
(From our special correspondent).
A curious, but at present rather sceptical, interest is manifested at the story of the Keighley mill girl whose storage of electrical energy, or magnetic attraction, is said to have been responsible for the persistent breaking of worsted threads at the spinning frame. Such breakages have admittedly occurred, but whether the explanation tentatively advanced is the real one is a matter for scientific investigators to explain – possibly after the observation of the girl at her work. In the meantime suggestions of abnormality in the individual are received with [?].
Unstrung, apparently, by her experiences at the factory, the girl became so ill that a doctor was called to see her and for more than a week she has been in a nursing home at Bradford. This is not the first mill where she has been employed at the spinning [?] and up to a few weeks ago there was nothing to her history that differentiated her from the average mill worker, except that she has a high-strung temperament. Not even her own mother suspected her of electrical endowments of the character suggested.
Nothing unusual had been [?ed] in her. “If she possessed the [?] faculty – an unconscious possession [?] controlled by the will – it is strange,” said a local physician, “that she did not manifest it before.” There may be a much simpler explanation of the breakage of the threads.
This afternoon I saw one of the proprietors of a large mill where she was formerly employed, and he informed me that during the whole period that she worked at the frame there was nothing to distinguish her from the other employees, and that the only occasion when there was a serious break of threads other machines besides her own were involved. Whilst the rapid motion of the spindles][?] in spinning machinery generates a certain amount of electricity, varying with the state of the atmosphere, he did not know of an instance where a worker had shattered the threads by electrical emanation or conductivity. It had never come within his personal experience, he remarked, and he was “sceptical of the whole affair.”
The girl is nineteen years of age, tall, well-built, with long, dark hair, and she lives with her mother and an older sister (who is an invalid), the father being dead seven years. The mother, a quiet, well-spoken woman, in a conversation which I had with her to-day, seemed to think that her daughter possessed some exceptional faculty in the manner described: but she admitted that no phenomena of a like nature had occurred previously. She remarked that her daughter’s health had much improved since she had gone to Bradford, and she was expecting her home in a few days.
Medical observation discounts the idea of any abnormality in the girl, or of the possession of any occult power that would isolate her as a phenomenon among factory workers. “In the production of electrical energy,” said an expert, “a good deal depends upon the state of the atmosphere; and people of calm, phlegmatic disposition do not present a favourable medium for phenomenal disturbances.”
The manager of the mill states that the girl will resume her employment with them when she is better, and if she will consent to help, efforts will be made by proper scientific observation to determine the nature of the disturbance set up in the spinning process.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 3rd December 1924
“Electrical Emanations”.
Mill girl whose presence agitates crockery.
A Keighley mill girl has been placed under medical observation under peculiar circumstances. Pictures have a habit of falling when she is at home, and last week, it is stated, ten shillings’ worth of china was damaged. When she went to see a doctor, the surgery clock fell off the mantelpiece. She is said to be highly-strung, but otherwise normal, and the strange happenings are attributed to electrical emanations. She has been placed in a nursing home under observation.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 10th December 1924.
“Electric” Girl Cured.
Returns to work at Keighley.
From our London Correspondent.
“Mercury” Office, Fleet Street, Monday.
The curious case of the Keighley mill girl who was the victim of what the psychic experts call “poltergeist disturbances,” has now been thoroughly investigated in London by the British College of Psychic Science. I have just seen the report made upon the case by Mr. J. Hewat McKenzie, the Principal.
While the girl was employed in a woollen mill some months ago, “batches of consecutive ends broke down on different machines in the room in which she was working,” through no physical agency of hers, although these breakages only occurred in her presence.
Sir A. Conan Doyle interested himself in the case, and brought it to the notice of the College of Psychic Science, where the girl has been under observation and treatment for three months. She has now returned home having apparently regained normality, but the case is of such outstanding interest that the College Principal has just published in “Psychic Science” a long report upon it. In this report Mr. McKenzie describes the violent psychic disturbances that took place for a time after the girl’s admission to the College, heavy tables being thrown about, chairs lifted into the air, and crockery smashed through no visible act of the girl. He declares that there is “not a shadow of doubt as to her being the focal centre of some unexplained force.”
During her fits of depression these mysterious disturbances reached their greatest violence. “So heavy at times were the disturbances,” says the report, “that looking on dispassionately one wondered how the girl at the centre of it all stood it.” Some kind of “depletion of the nerve forces is generally the forerunner of such manifestations,” it stated. Some treatment by suggestion and in other ways has been employed at the Psychic College.
The report adds that the girl is now considered “free from disturbances, and has resumed her daily work in Yorkshire.”
A “poltergeist” is a mischievous or playful ghost or spirit.
Leeds Mercury, 6th October 1925.
Not haunted now.
Mill girl relieved of a spirit-companion.
Unseen hand banished.
After three months’ treatment at the British College of Psychic Science, the Keighley mill girl of 20, who was afflicted by what is called a poltergeist – a playful or malicious spirit influence – has returned to her home “feeling much better.” The girl’s former complaint was that frequently articles near her at home and in the mill moved about. It was not a mere hallucination. Other people saw chairs, tables, and other pieces of furniture move without any act on the girl’s part. Three spinning frames in her room at the mill often broke batches of consecutive ends when she was at work. Sir A. Conan Doyle drew attention to the young woman’s plight, and she was admitted to the British College of Psychic Science, where, after further “manifestations,” she is stated to have enjoyed five weeks’ freedom from them.
Mr J. Hewart McKenzie, principal of the college, makes a report on the girl’s condition while at that institution. Disturbances began almost immediately after her arrival, he writes. Large tables moved about, one being lifted high in the air, chairs rose and fell, dishes of various kinds were broken, and at one time her room “looked as if a tornado had swept over it.” Everyone was on the alert to see that the girl did not directly cause any of the trouble, and during her whole stay none of the observers ever saw any act of hers that could possibly account for those happenings, which always occurred in her presence, but often at some distance from her in the same room.
The girl worked at the college as a maid, and the other domestics were encouraged to rally her out of occasional fits of depression. It was noticed that during such times the greatest violence occurred. “Direct observation, as in so many other similar cases seemed to foil its own end,” the report mentions, “but enough was actually seen by Mrs McKenzie, myself, my daughter and secretary, and some students staying in the house, as well as the constant view of damage to crockery and furniture, to leave us without a shadow of doubt as to the girl being the focal centre of some unexplained force. In her case the heaviest articles proved no hindrance, whereas in other cases, previously dealt with at the college, the articles moved were of the slightest.”
After a time the attacks diminished, and for more than five weeks before she left the college “no disturbance of even the slightest kind took place. She seemed to improve in many ways, taking an interest in herself and her work, and being contented and happy. We had agreed,” Mr McKenzie concludes, “that she must stay at least three months at the college if we were to attempt any help for her, and it was by her own desire, at the end of that period, feeling so much better and wishing to see her mother, that she went home. She was given the option of returning should the attacks recommence.”
The comment is added that in the bulk of such poltergeist cases, “the human source of the trouble has been traced to quite young persons, sometimes mere children, sometimes boys and girls at the age of puberty or in their teens.”
The girl in the present case doubtless feels greatly relieved, for she had not only been in danger of losing her employment, but had been greatly afraid that she would be sent to a lunatic asylum.
Hull Daily Mail, 6th October 1925.
[A member of the household said…] “It was the breaking of crockery and other things, and the unaccountable movement of furniture that were the most alarming symptoms of her trouble. You will scarcely believe the strange things that happened. I frankly admit I would not have believed them had I not seen with my own eyes. We were in the kitchen one day when the table had been laid for dinner. There were four plates, one at each side, and suddenly two legs of the table were raised into the air and the plates were all shot on to the floor and broken.
“G– was standing about two yards or so away from the table, and there is no question about it whatever that she did not touch the table or consciously make any effort to lift it. She was dreadfully upset, because it was all as mysterious to her as to us. When I told my husband what had happened with the table and pots, he could not believe me, but the following day he himself saw similar strange happenings. Ornaments and a clock were swept off the mantelpiece as if by an unseen hand, and ornaments were also upset and broken in her bedroom.
“G– will not talk either to us or anyone else about her stay at the College. Indeed she hates any sort of reference now to her illness, and wants to forget about the whole business. She had no special treatment in the College, but they were very good to her, did their utmost to brighten her up and forget her trouble, and it has done her a world of good.”
Yorkshire Evening Post, 6th October 1925.
[…] During the early part of her stay at the college the most devastating incidents happened. Mr. McKenzie’s report, now published in the October issue of “Psychic Science” states that even the heaviest pieces of furniture, which it ordinarily took two or three persons to move, were knocked about the room, quite independently of any act of the girl’s, and generally at a distance of four or five feet from where she was sitting or standing.
In the scullery, where the girl was at work, an observer saw a frying pan dash off the gas stove, sending the frying sausages flying about. While she was in Yorkshire a similar incident had happened at a canteen, where a pudding jumped out of a basin. In the kitchen of the college, one day, things became particularly lively. A chair which stood by the fireplace jumped seemingly over the table, for a cup was knocked off and broken, and the chair was found seven feet away from its usual position. At another time, when the housekeeper was preparing grape fruit for breakfast, a portion disappeared and could not be found. She got two bananas to take its place, and laid them on the table, when suddenly the missing grape fruit whizzed past her ear, and the bananas vanished. When the girl had gone to bed one night great noises of banging and tearing were heard, and on going into her room Mrs McKenzie found the girl in bed, “but the room looked as if a tornado had swept over it. Everything that could be thrown down lay on the floor. The girl stated that the moment she got into bed the legs went, letting her down on the floor, and the mattress seemed to rise up. When she got into bed again the frame of the washstand went over, a mahogany armchair was thrown down violently and the arm support was splintered. Another chair, also thrown over, had a piece broken off the back by its fall, and a small wicker table lay on the floor. All the girl’s clothes and trinkets lay on the floor, also in a wild heap.”
It was not only at the college, but at other places visited by the girl, that these mysterious things happened. Once, when the girl went into a dairy for milk, a great milk churn on the floor near her fell over, this showing (as the report states) “how the force accompanies the person of the girl, and is not located in one place.” In his observations on the case, Mr McKenzie says:
“Direct observation, as in so many similar cases, seemed to foil its own end, but enough was actually seen by Mrs McKenzie, myself, my daughter and secretary, and some students staying at the house, as well as the constant view of damage to crockery and furniture, to leave us without a shadow of doubt as to the girl being the focal centre of some unexplained force.”
“In the case of this Yorkshire girl,” Mr McKenzie adds, “it was noticed that things fell with great force after she had moved beyond them, as if the energy were drawn from her back and limbs, and was much greater than anything required for tipping a table over in the ordinary way. An ordinary fall will not break a solid table or chair. They need to be thrown with vigour and intention for this to happen. I tried to find if the girl felt anything while the heavy articles were thrown about. Only once, during a particularly bad disturbance, did she say that she felt a peculiar drawing in the limbs, which would suggest the extension of the psychic body, well known in cases of physical phenomena. On this sole occasion, before the question had been put to the girl, Mrs McKenzie, going into the kitchen during the disturbance, and standing where the girl had been a moment before, became aware that she stood in the centre of force of some sort, a kind of electrical discharge affecting her limbs, such as is sometimes noticed ina psychic group.”[sic]
In conclusion the principle states that his report is “a continuous record, made from day to day by people competent to judge such cases, neither afraid of the forces operating nor making light of the seriousness of the matter for the girl who was involved. There is nothing exaggerated. The wish of all observers was to report correctly and to secure relief for the victim as speedily as possible. […] I hope the cure will remain effective. At the end of September, she was reported still free from disturbances, and has resumed her daily work at the mill.”
Yorkshire Evening Post, 6th October 1925.
“That’s Not Me.”
Electric girl now laughs when things fall.
The cure of a Keighley mill girl who had previously been the centre of strange happenings in her home and in the mill was reported in yesterdays “Mercury.”
From inquiries made at Keighley yesterday, there seems to be no doubt that the Keighley mill girl, who was the victim of what the psychic experts call “poltergeist disturbances,” is now quite normal again. When a representative of “The Leeds Mercury” visited the home of the girl he found that she was at her work at the mill.
“She is undoubtedly cured now” said a member of the household, “of whatever was wrong with her ten months ago. She is bright and happy, and is so much better that she can now laugh and joke at her former troubles. If any object should happen to fall in the room she will laugh and say “Well that’s no me anyway.”
“We prefer to think that her trouble was due to some electrical phenomenon or magnetic influence rather than to psychic disturbances. We have never taken up spiritualism at all and know little or nothing about it. But whatever was wrong with the girl she is better now I am thankful to say. At the College of Psychic Science, where she has been for three months, everything seems to have been done to make her bright and happy.”
The girl, whose name and address are omitted at the request of her friends, is twenty years of age, well built, and of a highly-strung temperament. The family have lived in Keighley for eight years, and never before has there been any manifestation of any abnormal faculty on the part of the girl. All she asks now is to be allowed to settle down quietly at her work and at home like any other normal and sensible girl.
Leeds Mercury, 7th October 1925.
[…] The strange happenings, both at the mill and at home, appeared to begin quite suddenly. In addition to the breakage of the threads in teh spinning frame, there were, it is said, extraordinary happenings in the home. On one occasion the plates on the dinner table all fell to the floor, the girl at the time being some distance away from the table. On another occasion vases and a clock fell from the mantelpiece, while at other times tables and chairs were overturned, windows shook violently in their frames, and doors blew open, without any apparent reason.
The girl became so troubled by the influence that she was unconsciously exercising, and by the gossip and questions of all who knew her, that she became ill. […]
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 7th October 1925.
Exploits of a Haunted Mill Girl.
A haunted mill girl, who has just returned to her home “cured” of her amazing influence upon inanimate objects, presents one of the most remarkable human-scientific problems of recent times. Roughly speaking, opinion is divided between “spooks” and “sparks”; in other words between psychical and electrical explanation of the phenomena associated with this girl. Whether Gwynneth Morley, aged nineteen, who lives with her widowed mother in Keighley, Yorks, and has been working in the cotton mills of Messrs. Hay and Wright, was merely the centre of some inexplicable electrical disturbance or whether she was indeed haunted by some mischievous spirit of the type which spiritualists have classified as “poltergeists,” must remain a matter for conjecture and argument.
What actually happened is vouched for by many witnesses. The disturbances began rather more than a year ago, and they centred in this girl whether she were in her own home or working in the mill. For no apparent reason the threads on three spinning frames in the room in which Gwynneth was employed were constantly breaking. Directly she was out of the room the accidents ceased. In her own home pictures fell from the wall, and furniture moved in an alarming manner when she approached. The girl consulted a local doctor, but he attributed the whole thing to hysteria. Her employers sent her off for a rest.
In April this year she returned to work, but was employed in the canteen, it being believed that there would be less chance of anything occurring there. Instead the incidents increased. Plates slid out of the oven when the girl was four feet away, a saucepan jumped off the table as she was walking past. On another occasion as the girl was going out of the kitchen followed by another woman, a pudding some five feet away jumped out of a basin and followed the other woman.
One of the doctors who examined the girl placed an earthed wire close to her, and he declared that enough sparks came from the girl’s body to light a cigarette. It was at this point that the matter was reported to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sir Arthur informed Mr. Hewart McKenzie, of the British College of Psychic Science, about the case, and he said he would like to investigate it. The result was that Gwynneth agreed to spend three months at the College for treatment and rest. Things had reached such a pitch with her at that time that she was in danger of losing not only her situation, but even her reason.
In his report in “Psychic Science” on the girl’s condition while at College, Mr. McKenzie states that similar disturbances began almost immediately after her arrival. Large tables moved about, one being lifted high in the air, chairs rose and fell, dishes of various kinds were broken, and at one time her room “looked as if a tornado had swept over it.”
After a time these attacks diminished, and for more than five weeks before she left the College no disturbance of even the slightest kind took place. Now Gwynneth Morley has returned to her home and to her work, and is living quite happily with no trace of her previous troubles. Either “the spooks” or “the sparks” have apparently been counteracted.
The People, 11th October 1925.
Exorcised.
No further “disturbances” for Keighley girl.
Rumours have been current within the last few days that the Keighley mill girl who was the victim of what psychic experts called “poltergeist disturbances” has again been troubled by manifestations. Inquiry shows, however, that these rumours are baseless. The girl has been away from work for about a week with a severe cold.
A “Yorkshire Post” representative saw the girl herself, and she appeared to be cheerful and happy. She spoke of her recent stay at the British College of Psychic Science,and said how greatly she had benefited. When asked if she herself was interested in spiritualism she replied, “I cannot say I am, though they are hoping that I may become a medium.”
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 19th October 1925.