Haunted House at Lynn.
An Animated Bedstead.
The declaration that a house in Windsor Terrace, King’s Lynn, is under the disturbing influences of a visitor from the invisible world has provided the town with a small sensation. Attracted by the statements that the house had shown signs of being haunted large crowds of curious-minded folk gathered in the vicinity of the troubled habitation on Monday night, and again last night, but as could only have been expected, their vigil produced nothing of an exciting nature. The sensational manifestation has been reserved for those persons who have paid a visit to one of the bedrooms in the house, and a story of strange happenings is given.
It appears that a few days ago a Norwich family moved to Lynn and took occupation of the house in question. Their furniture followed, and the first night they slept in the house seems to have been a very unpleasant one, for during the night the occupants of the bed rushed terrified from the room, averring that a ghostly visitor had laid hold of the bedstead and given it a good shaking. Since then watch parties have been organised, and they declared that if they never believed in ghosts before they believe in them now. One individual, it is stated, was pitched neck and crop out of the room, and the bedstead has repeatedly given evidences of unearthly animation. Strange noises have also been heard, and altogether the room is credited with containing all the elements of a haunted chamber.
At all events the family have been genuinely alarmed, and have not dared to pass the night in the house since some of its members were so rudely disturbed, and a kind neighbour has provided them with sleeping accommodation. They have taken another house, but intend to leave the animated bedstead behind. In the meantime it has been determined to continue the midnight watches in the hope of “laying the ghost.”
Eastern Daily Press, 28th May 1902.
After the Lynn Ghost.
Crowds of Midnight Watchers.
The “Spirit” Missing
Now that it has become generally known in King’s Lynn that a house in Windsor Terrace is credited with having received nightly visits from the world of spirits, excitement is widespread, and all sorts of tales of a creepy nature are being discussed in all seriousness. A crowd of 300 or 400 persons gathered round the house on Tuesday night, and did not disperse until three o’clock on Wednesday morning. Apart from the incidents usually to be found in a crowd brought together under such circumstances there was little to satisfy the curiosity that had been aroused, but it appears that the attention of such a large number of people to the house had the effect of soothing the troubled feelings of the ghostly visitor, which failed to reveal itself to the party who had been invited to watch for its appearance. The party on this occasion consisted of fellow workmen of the occupier of the house, and they felt rather disappointed that the strange noises and the violent rockign of the bedstead were denied them.
This appears to be the first occasion since its original visitation that the ghost had failed to keep its nightly appointment, and this is attributed to the fact that the people outside made so much noise and were so persistent in their attempts to peer into the haunted house that nothing could be heard inside.
On Wednesday the occupier of the house in a conversation with our representative persisted in affirming that the details of the strange occurrences which appeared in yesterday’s Daily Press were perfectly true. He asserts that he has seen the bed shake and heard sounds like the rushing of the wind, and this, he says, is confirmed by several gentlemen who have visited the haunted room at night. He has not actually seen the ghost, but his son, a lad of about eighteen, on being questioned on the point, declares that in the first instance the bed in which he slept with two brothers shook violently, and the visitor from the other world revealed itself to them in a shadowy form which he cannot describe, but he positively asserts that he saw two large eyes staring at him.
In his alarm he rushed out of the room, and would only return with his father and mother. They induced him to get into bed again, and stood in the room with a light, when an apparition approached the woman, and she threw herself upon the bed terrified, and the husband, who did not feel the “strange presence” but saw the bed rock and heard the rushing sound, could not pacify her.
This is the story as told by the man and his son, who state that with the exception of Tuesday night, the strange performance has been repeated each night since at about a quarter or half-past eleven. To confirm or disprove the accuracy of the statements that have been made a party of local pressmen had arranged to spend last night in the haunted chamber, but on Wednesday afternoon the occupier, who still holds the key, and is giving up possession on Saturday, considered it advisable to withdraw his permission for the present in consequence of the great crowds that have assembled in the vicinity of the house. He thinks it best to keep the house shut up for a night or two so that the general interest in the affair may abate sufficiently to prevent large crowds assembling.
Eastern Daily Press, 29th May 1902.
A Haunted House at King’s Lynn.
“Invisible Hands and Fiery Eyes.”
The customary quiet of King’s Lynn has been rudely disturbed by some extraordinary stories of a haunted house at Windsor-terrace, occupied by a family who recently came from Norwich. Some years ago a demented girl was confined in one of the bedrooms of the house in question, and it is said that in this bedroom a man once died from terrible injuries.
For the past five years, at any rate, there was nothing unusual noticed in the room, while the house was occupied by a Great Eastern Railway guard and his family; but since the Norwich family arrived it is reported that there have been weird and wonderful manifestations.
Members of the family who have been interviewed describe how the bed was violently dragged about by invisible hands, while at the same time as an awful rushing wind came up the staircase. A youth stated that he was flung out of the bed on to the floor, and though he saw no form he discerned an awful pair of big fiery eyes.
The whole family refuse to sleep in the house at night, and are accommodated at a neighbour’s. Huge crowds nightly assemble, and parties of inquirers, who have spent nights in the bedroom, testify to strange manifestations.
Bournemouth Daily Echo, 29th May 1902.
Lynn’s Latest “Haunted House.”
Weird Tales.
Windsor Terrace in an uproar.
Lynn, if reports are to be believed, has received the flattering attentions of a disturbed gentleman, or whatever it is, from the other world. The uncanny visitor chose a house in Windsor terrace for his rendezvous. Here he took up habitation with a family who lately came into the town from Norwich, and first introduced himself on Monday night. The story is that he made the acquaintance of two boys in the back bedroom and animated their bedstead, which commenced the “sea on land” business. The animation of the bedstead could not be mistaken, for the lads plainly testify to being flung from the mattresses. Interviewed, the elder lad – a youth of some 17 years – states that he postively saw “two big fiery eyes” staring at him, while a shadowy formed accompanied the optics. The youth states that he rushed from the room, and would only return with his parents. His father and mother induced him to get into bed again, but the strange manifestations were repeated.
The father tells a tale that would vie with one of Edgar allen Poe’s tales, or the more recent contributions of Wells and “Q.” “He saw the bed rock, heard noises and felt and heard the rushing of wind up the staircase.” The wife, “who felt rather than saw a mysterious presence close to her,” became almost distracted, and flung herself on to a bed in another room.
Such is the tale of the haunted house in Windsor terrace. Crowds gathered round the house on the following nights and kept there well into the mornings, breaking up as daybreak appeared. They spent their time in discussing the all-absorbing topic; and some told in bated breath of how a man had died in the room from terrible injuries, and of how a poor demented girl was once kept in the room. Some were firm believers in the ghost; others considered it a trick worked by electricity; others that it was only the phantom conjuring of a disturbed mind. But all waited night after night – until cleared away by the police on Wednesday evening.
Parties who have visited the room testify to apparently supernatural manifestations; but on Tuesday and Wednesday nothing was seen, and on Thursday the family removed. That such weird tales as have been related concerning the supernatural character of the doings at Windsor terrace should have found credence in the twentieth century is as marvellous as the story itself.
The words in Locksley Hall are somewhat belied – … thro’ ages one increasing purpose runs, / And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.
To hear some of the people discussing the best means of “laying” the ghost carried one back to the days of grossest ignorance; and one might have thought himself anywhere than under the electric light in the streets of Lynn in the year 1902. Superstition has well been described as an indication of a weak mind, but for all that there are many persons of sound intellect in the town who by no means doubt the story. The occupier himself is of the firm conviction that he has been visited by goblins or something of that ilk, and nothing will shake him from the idea.
We have stated that the family removed from the house on Thursday. The “ghost,” however, went earlier than they, for on Tuesday night it was sought for and its place “was not.”
Lynn News and County Press, 31st May 1902.
“Ghost Laying.”
Exciting experiences at Lynn.
(Our Reporter Investigates).
“Interview the Lynn ghost” were the instructions given to me by my editor. The task, it must be admitted, on the face of it, was not a congenial one. Fancy having intercourse with a spook! Isn’t the thought enough to make one shudder? But an editor’s commands have always to be obeyed, and I forthwith made the journey to the north-west Norfolk town. The place was absolutely rocking with the “awful” details of the ghost’s doings, and night having set in, the tendency to embellish the stories could not be resisted.
By all accounts, this was not an ordinary everyday ghost. It was not content with opening doors and rapping on the walls and alarming the whole household. No! It actually laid hold of a bedstead on which calmly reposed a youth of 16, and violently shook it – not on one occasion only, but for several nights.
I made my way to the locality where the “spook” had taken up his abode. Windsor-terrace is composed of houses occupied by artisans, who rent them at £12 a year. The place is clean and respectable, and how a ghost could have the audacity to disturb so peaceful a retreat passes comprehension. I spent several hours there that night and the following morning, making enquiries, visiting the “visited”, and lastly in making an inspection of the “haunted” room.
As a result of my investigations, I am now prepared, with the sanction of my editor, to offer ghosts of the Lynn variety on most reasonable terms; special quotations will be given to persons with large families and to those taking a quantity, and I guarantee that my “spirits” will accomplish anything desired of them. Orders will be treated with punctuality and despatch, but it must be distinctly understood that should any delay occur in their execution, it will be due to my inability to cope with the enormous number of applications received.
But to continue my story. It was about 9.30 p.m. when I got to Windsor-terrace, and a crowd of several hundred men, women and children, all more or less shaking in their shoes, had gathered there. No. 6 was indicated as the “visited” cottage. The gate leading to the front door was bound with a thick iron chain and padlocked, and all efforts to obtain entrance proved futile. The occupants were a family named Webster, who went to Lynn from Norwich, the bread-winner of the family being a coach painter, employed at Messrs Morris’s motor car works in London-street. They removed thither only a few days ago, but vacate the position shortly, leaving the “ghost” behind them.
The most graphic account of the “strange disturbances” I gleaned from Mrs Webster on Thursday; the good lady giving me an audience in the haunted chamber. The furniture had been removed, save for the animated bedstead, and this had been left standing, Mrs Webster vowing she would leave it there, and have nothing more to do with it. The bedstead had been in the possession of the family for years. In fact, Mrs Webster had two almost resembling each other – and thereby hangs a tale, which I leave to a later period to tell.
The apartment itself was a very small affair – about 9 feet by 5 feet. The door leading thereto is panelled with glass, and a small window looks over the back garden. The walls are covered with a dirty yellowish-looking paper, the floral design being an impossible lily, or it may have been intended for something else. The skirting-boards had recently been repaired, and painted pale blue, which was also the prevailing colour in the other bedrooms. The apartment had been used by a previous family as a lumber room, and Mrs Webster declared that either the removal of the lumber or the reparation of skirting-boards had disturbed something, and brought about the visitation of the ghost. I have other opinions about it, but let Mrs Webster describe the “occurrences” in her own words.
“My son,” she told me, “slept here the first night we arrived. After he had been in bed a short time, somewhere about half-past eleven it might have been, he was awakened by the shaking of his bed. He did not take much notice of this, but when the performance was repeated for two or three nights, he rushed into my bedroom in a greatly frightened state, and told me of what had happened. The next night my husband watched, and the same thing occurred. The succeeding evening neighbours bore him company in his vigil, and about midnight one man, who was sitting on the bedstead, was thrown to the ground, and the whole company were so scared that they fled the house, and we went to sleep next door.”
Asked to describe the movements of the bedstead, Mrs Webster said it was like this, and she took hold of it with one hand, and drew it from against the wall, the castors making a creaking, shuffling noise on the floor.
Mr Webster and several neighbours who had kept vigil bore out the statement as to the noises heard. One of the latter said he heard a sound like the swish of a skirt, and another the noise as if a heavy weight had fallen.
Every night since large crowds have watched the house, expecting to see the “spook” make its appearance, but they have been disappointed, and I am afraid that their self-imposed task will never be rewarded. The police have great difficulty in keeping men from attacking the house, everybody being anxious to put an end to the state of things which prevails there.
Several reasons have been given for the phenomena, but there is only one real cause of the disturbances, and it is this. I have said Mrs Webster had two bedsteads almost exactly alike; the only difference between them was that one was larger than the other. The one retained by the family was the smaller one. In disposing of the larger article Mrs Webster gave with it the slats or laths belonging to the smaller one in mistake, and she had, perforce, to use the larger slats in fitting the bed in her possession. These slats had become bent journeying from Norwich, and they overhung each other in such a way that the slightest shaking would make them rattle. Even walking in the room would set up vibration, and a restless sleeper would naturally cause them to shake very much, and in the darkness of the night think he was being visited by ghosts.
As to the bed being moved from the wall, the sleeper might have got too near, and in turning round forced the bedstead, which is a very light one, from its position. The sensations experienced by the watchers were due more to the imagination than anything else, for I am satisfied from certain inquiries made in other quarters that no “spook” ever visited the house, or ever will do so. People may not believe this theory, and assert that the “ghost” still walks. But that is another story. I interviewed the “ghost” as instructed, and am convinced that he will make no more visitations if the bedstead is got rid of.
The people of Lynn are very superstitious, so much so that if you stand looking at a window for a few moments, and say to a passer-by, “Did you see that?” and indicate the object of your attention, a crowd will at once collect, and forever after the place will be declared haunted. Some time ago a “ghost” was “laid” in Norfolk-street, after it had puzzled and mystified hundreds of people. The “spirit” was only seen once, and after a week or two had elapsed, some young ladies confessed that in order to create a little amusement among themselves, one of their number had placed a sheet around herself and stood at the window in the orthodox manner in which ghosts are supposed to stand.
Norwich Argus, 31st May 1902.
The King’s Lynn Ghost.
The reputed “ghost” of Windsor Terrace, King’s Lynn, has now been left in solitary occupation of the house which throughout the week has gained considerable notoriety and attention from the declaration that it had suddenly become “haunted.” Interest in the mystery has flagged somewhat, and the nightly demonstrations of credulous persons outside the house have ceased, thanks to the combined agencies of the rain and members of the police force.
The truth or otherwise of the assertion that the house was genuinely haunted has led to discussions which have been as animated as the bedstead was declared to have been, but the occupier strongly resents the insinuation that he “raised the ghost” from ulterior motives.
Eastern Daily Press, 2nd June 1902.
Lynn Ghost Captured.
The mystery of the haunted house in Windsor Terrace, King’s Lynn, has been solved, and the ghost- or rather one of them – has been captured. On paying a visit to the empty house, strange noises were again heard, and, upon a close investigation, it was found that this ghost had come down the chimney, and was fluttering about the room in its attempts to escape – possibly to pay a visit to some other abode. Like all angels of bad repute, the ghost was dark in colour, and was possessed of a strong pair of wings. After a desperate struggle the all-disturbing visitor was captured and placed in the hands of an ornithologist, who pronounced it to be a fine young starling – evidently one of a nest subsequently found in the chimney. It must have been a very strong imagination to have moved the bedstead in the manner described by those who were so frightened by the visitor.
Eastern Daily Press, 7th June 1902.
“Haunted House” mystery solved.
The haunted house mystery at King’s Lynn, which caused considerable sensation locally, has now been solved. Ghostly noises in the house caused the inmates to flee in alarm. Neighbours visiting the empty house heard a strange flapping, which has now been satisfactorily explained by the capture of a fine starling which had built its nest up a chimney in the house.
Coventry Evening Telegraph, 7th June 1902.
The Lynn “Ghost”.
Deserted by its “victims.”
The “ghost” of Windsor-terrace, Lynn, which has gained notoriety throughout the country through newspaper accounts of its manifestations, is now leading a solitary existence. The house, which is still looked askance at by the superstitious and regarded amusedly by the wise, has been deserted by the flesh-and-blood inhabitants, who have removed elsewhere. No satisfactory explanation has been given up to the present of the somewhat mysterious circumstances, but many are the theories that are set forward by street corner and public-house gossips. The “animated bedstead,” it may be added, was taken away by its owners from the now empty house. The disbelief of the day in ghosts is shown in the fact that there are applications – so it is said – for the occupancy of the dwelling.
Hunts County News, 14th June 1902.