The Popham Poltergeist.
He even locks ladies in the bathroom!
By Pat Bush.
The Popham family think they have upset a poltergeist that inhabits their home in Upper Vicarage Road, Kennington, which they moved into last April. They think their formerly friendly but unseen lodger is angry about the alterations they have done to the house. Now, cupboard doors open by themselves and the contents crash out, the TV changes channels and lights go on and off. Mr Terry Popham is a plumber and has knocked out a chimney breast and put in a window and built a kitchen on the back.
Mrs Fay Popham said: “I was preparing the tea when the two cupboard doors by the sink suddenly flew open, the shelf tipped up and out shot all the Christmas drinks. The bottles smashed on the floor. I can’t understand it. The doors can’t possibly open by themselves.”
Mr Popham didn’t go much on ghost stories before he moved in. Now he is convinced that spirits do exist. He said: “Sometimes we think we are going mad. I was upset about the drinks cupboard. It broke my bottle of rum.” The Popham’s four children, Kim 18, Mandy 15, Darren 12, and Dale, eight, have all experienced the ghostly goings on, which include lights going on and off, doors opening and closing and things disappearing.
Mrs Popham is still recovering from the day a poltergeist locked her in the bathroom. She said: “One morning I was getting ready to go out and my face flannel was missing. I went to look for it, but the bathroom door wouldn’t open. I tugged and tugged at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Then the plug-chain on the bath started rattling and swishing about on its own. I was absolutely petrified. But as soon as the chain stopped rattling I could open the bathroom door easily.” Mrs Popham is convinced that the unseen but often heard visitor was friendly enough when they moved in.
But the poltergeist is not going to make the Pophams leave. Mrs Popham said: “We waited ages to get this house and I’m not moving.”
Further up the road another family is having their own ghostly happenings. Mr and Mrs Robert Bonner and their six children also have to put up with the phenomenon of lights turning themselves on and off. Mrs Rosemary Bonner said the ghostly being has been in the house ever since they moved in about eight years ago.
Kentish Express, 27th January 1978.