New bid to lay ghost of Tedbury Close.
A church minister will to-night visit a three-storey block of flats in Kirkby to exorcise a ghost which has been frightening families there. The residents in Tedbury Close, Southdene, claim that for years their lives have been made miserable by unexplained incidents. Recently they called in a Catholic priest to see if he could exorcise ghost-like figures which pass through their rooms and roam the landings. “We are at our wits’ end,” said Mrs Pat Nugent, who lives in Flat No. 6. “It has got to the stage where everyone is frightened to stay in a room on their own. We have all started visiting each other during the day and night to make sure no one is left alone.”
Among the incidents which have terrified the residents are: furniture being moved about different rooms without being touched; low moanings and wailings late at night; sounds of people walking in and out of rooms; and doors opening and closing without anyone touching them.
Mrs Irene Mells, of No. 8b, said: “Only three days ago we were sitting in the living room of Mrs Nugent’s flat when the record player suddenly switched on. Nobody went near it, but it started operating. Just recently, things have got worse. We all have little children. On two occasions they have seen some kind of misty figure floating in the room. They have no idea what is happening. My son, John,aged 22 months, tried to talk to the ghost. I could hear footsteps and when I turned round there was nothing there. Then there was the sound of moaning and that was enough for me, I went inside.”
No one seems to know the reason for the haunting of the flats – just six in the three storey block are involved. A spokesman for Liverpool Corporation housing department siad they had promised to send a representative to investigate the claims.
Liverpool Echo, 13th August 1971.
Families in Kirkby terrorised by ghosts. By John Toker.
Six families in Tedbury Close, Southdene, Kirkby, claim that they are living in fear because their homes are haunted. They say that for the past two years their lives have been made miserable by unexplained incidents, day and night. Recently, they called in a Catholic priest to see if he could exorcise ghost-like figures which pass through their rooms and roam the landings in the three storey block of flats. “We are at our wits end,” said Mrs Pat Nugent, who lives in Flat No. 6. “It has got to the stage where everyone is frightened to stay in a room on their own. We have all started visiting each other during the day and night to make sure no one is left alone.”
Among the incidents which have terrified the residents are: furniture being moved about different rooms without being touched; low moanings and wailings late at night; sounds of people walking in and out of rooms; doors opening and closing without anyone touching them.
“Only three days ago we were sitting in the living room of Mrs Nugent’s flat when the record player suddenly switched on. Nobody went near it, but it suddenly started operating,” said Mrs Irene Melia who lives at No. 8B. “Just recently, things have got worse. We all have little children and on two occasions they have seen some kind of misty figure floating in the room. They have no idea what is happening. My son John, aged 22 months, tried to talk to the ghost,” said Mrs Melia.
Another neighbour, Mr Michael Beckett, of 8A said he had been followed up to his flat by the ghost. “I could hear footsteps but when I turned round there was nothing there. Then there was the sound of moaning and that was enough for me. I went inside.”
No one seems to k now the reason for the haunting of the flats – just six in the three storey block are involved. A spokesman for Liverpool Corporation Housing Department said they had promised to send a representative to investigate the claims.
Liverpool Daily Post, 13th August 1971.
The Kirkby ghost still walks.
The ghost of Tedbury Close in Kirkby is still free to haunt six families – after a church minister refused to exorcise it. Residents were hoping that the minister, who refused to have his name revealed, would visit the flats in Southdene, last night. But early in the evening the minister told them he would not be coming. “He did not want to turn the exorcism into a publicity stunt,” said one resident. So now the ghost will carry on haunting the families until they find another method to remove him.
“We are quite serious – it is no joke,” said Mrs Pat Nugent, of no. 6. “The women folk are terribly frightened. We are living on our nerves.”
The six families claim that the ghost is responsible for unusual incidents which have occurred in their homes during the past two years. Things like furniture moving without being touched; doors opening and closing with no-one near; moaning and wailing late at night; and strange apparitions. Next step in the ghost hunt is likely to be a visit to the flats by a medium. “We think the medium might be able to talk the ghost away and leave us in peace,” said Mrs Nugent.
Liverpool Echo, 14th August 1971.
Kirkby folk alarmed by warnings from ghost.
Residents of a block of flats in Tedbury Close, Kirkby, have become alarmed by a warning of a possible tragedy in the building in the near future. The warning is said to have come from a ghost which has been haunting the flats for two years. Mr Bob Cooper, a medium and member of the Waterloo Spiritualists who visited the flats claims to have had a conversation with the ghost, and believes it to be that of a Daniel Mason, who was the victim of a brutal murder about 100 years ago. “Mason was murdered in a farmhouse which once stood on the site of the flats. He was killed during an attack by someone using an axe” said Mrs Pat Nugent, one of the frightened residents. “Because he was murdered, his spirit is earth-bound and he has been forced to haunt the flats,” she added.
Another medium, Mr Bill Angus, says he has made contact with a “spirit guide” who has prophesied a possible tragedy in the block in the near future. The “spirit guide” spoke through Mr Angus and warned there may be a fire or similar acccident in the building. The ‘spirit guide’ is an 18th century minister who knew of the tragic history of the site where the flats have been built, said Mr Angus.
Mrs Nugent said last night: “What the mediums have said has made us even more worried. We are determined to get out of the flats now – at least until the housing officials check the building.”
Families in the flats have complained of seeing weird ghost-like figures moving from room to room and have also heard wailing and moaning late at night.
Liverpool Echo, 19th August 1971.
The ghost who just wants a helping hand.
By John Toker.
By the law of averages I should last night have seen the ghost of a man who was murdered 200 years ago. In past weeks, the late Mr Daniel Mason is believed to have made his presence felt in a block of flats in Tedbury Close, Southdene, Kirkby. Members of six families in the block claim to have seen his ghost. The apparition has appeared more frequently recently and this being my fifth visit to the flats I was convinced I would see it.
According to mediums who have visited the flats, Daniel Mason was a farm labourer who was brutally murdered some 200 years ago. His “earth-bound” soul has now become restless about his prolonged stay in Kirkby. Mediums say his “visits” to the flats have been efforts to get help from the residents. To make matters worse, Daniel was said to be a good family man and he is forced to bring along his wife and young child whenever he appears at the flats.
For my nine-hour vigil I chose the home of Mr and Mrs John Melia, at number 8b. One room in the flat seems to be favoured by the ghosts and it was there I settled down. I took a friend to act as a witness, a tape recorder and a notebook. They all turned out to be unnecessary, which was lucky in a way because, as in another story, the friend “grew tired of watching and fell asleep.” Daniel Mason and his family must also have been tired after their recent exertions because they, too, settled down for the night without even a quiet moan, movement of furniture or opening of a door.
Dawn came and with some relief I awakened my colleague and told him that we had seen nothing. He was glad. Housing officials were due to meet today to discuss whether to rehouse the families while a check of the building is made.
Liverpool Echo, 20th August 1971.
Ghost flat tenants seek move.
Liverpool Corporation housing department is considering an appeal by families in the “ghost flats” on Tedbury Close, Kirkby, to be rehoused. The families have written to the Director of Housing claiming they are physically and mentally exhausted by having to live in flats which they say are haunted. They add that the womenfolk may suffer permanently from the shock of living in the flats.
Today a housing department spokesman said: “We have received letters from the residents asking to be rehoused and their applications are being considered.”
One woman and her two children have already been given alternative accommodation.
Liverpool Echo, 31st August 1971.
Kirkby ghost ‘threw man down stair’.
A man living in the Kirkby “ghost flats” at Tedbury Close, Southdene, claims that he has been thrown down a flight of stairs by an unseen force. Mr John Melia, who lives on the top floor of the block, said he saw a figure on the stairs. “I thought it was someone playing a joke so I picked up an axe and went out to frighten him away.”
“But the axe was torn out of my hands and some powerful force threw me down a flight of stairs,” said Mr Melia. This is the latest in a series of incidents which residents claim are making their lives a misery. They are now demanding that they be rehoused while investigations of the block are carried out. Liverpool Corporation are considering their applications.
“We must get out now. We can’t stand the fear any longer,” said Mrs Pat Nugent, another resident in the block.
Liverpool Echo, 2nd September 1971.
Ghost flat rent strike.
Residents in Tedbury Close, Southdene, Kirkby, are continuing their four-week rent strike because they have not yet been moved from the so-called ghost flat. Five families claim their homes have been haunted by a ghost for the past two years. They have not been paying their rents and to-day a spokesman for them said: “We are determined not to pay until we are moved out and an investigation is made.”
A spokesman for Liverpool Corporation housing department said the matter was still to be considered by officials.
Liverpool Echo, 9th September 1971.
A ghost of a chance of chasing Mr Mason.
By John Toker.
Did Daniel Mason the “Ghost” of Tedbury Close, in Kirkby ever really exist? That is the question residents who live in what they claim are “haunted” flats must now be asking themselves. For a thorough search of the records of Kirkby – only a small village at the time of the alleged murder of Mr Mason – has revealed no trace of the man living in the area. There is no mention in the records of St Chad’s Parish Church or local history books during the past 100 years involving a farm labourer. And a look further back at the records of Walton Parish, which once covered Kirkby, is also unrewarding.
A search through maps at the time, some 200 years ago, show there was never a farmhouse built on the land at Tedbury Close. A spokesman for the Kirkby Liberal Historic Society said: “We have been interested in this alleged murder but have found no trace despite a search through all the records.”
What do the residents think of this mystery? “One of the first mediums to visit told us we were being haunted by this Daniel Mason, who had been murdered on the site of the flats,” said Mrs Pat Nugent, who lives on the ground floor. “But it does not matter who the ghost is, the main point is that we have been haunted. All we want now is to get out of the flats,” she added.
No matter what facts emerge from the hauntings at Tedbury Close, one thing is certain, Mr Daniel Mason cannot possibly be responsible because he never lived in Kirkby.
Liverpool Echo, 22nd September 1971.
Kirkby, Merseyside.
A block of new town flats at Tedbury Close, Southdene, housed six families; in August 1971 one family was rehoused and the other five refused to pay their rents because, they said, they were terrified by ghostly manifestations. One of the residents, twenty-eight year old Mrs Elsie Gill, found life so insufferable that she and her eight-year-old daughter, Elaine, and six-year-old twins moved to another house across the road. Mrs Gill said at the time that the trouble began eight months earlier when the temperature throughout the whole flat suddenly dropped alarmingly; even the cat started to howl. Mrs Gill said she looked towards the fireplace and saw the figures of two small children standing there looking at her and a tall adult standing by the door. She screamed and they all vanished. After that experience she and each of her three children saw one or another of these figures regularly. The children were so frightened that they all insisted on sleeping in one room with their mother.
One morning, at about two o’clock, Mrs Gill heard the sound of laughing and joking coming from the direction of the back bedroom and when she cautiously opened the door of that room she saw the figure of one of the children she had seen before, jumping up and down on the bed.
One of the top flats was occupied by a family who stayed less than a weekend; they were replaced by Mr and Mrs Melia and their two-year-old son. Irene Melia was expecting another child at the time the family moved in so the neighbours decided not to mention the ghosts but on the very day of the move Mrs Melia’s brother stayed overnight and suddenly found himself awake in the middle of the night and he saw a figure of a man in the room clutching a hatchet! Within a few days the Melia’s little boy appeared to be playing with a phantom baby and several times they heard the sound of a baby crying when no real baby was anywhere in the area.
This ‘phantom baby’ was also heard by Mrs Pat Nugent, her husband and three children who lived on the ground floor of the same block. Mr and Mrs Michael Becket and their four children lived on the first floor and they reported having seen a greyish figure outside the doorway which they could not explain.
The occupants of a top flat, Mrs Ethel Conchie, her brother and four children, said they had seen the ghost of a boy wearing an Eton-style collar, and one of the younger sisters, nineteen-year-old Irene, stated that she saw a ghost in the flat no less than six times and on four of those times she fainted with the shock.
A ground-floor flat occupant, Mr Chris Hamill, said at the time, “It’s been going on for about two years and for a long time people who saw things were frightened to speak about it in case everyone else thought they were imagining things, but eventually it all came out and nearly everyone had some ghostly experience to relate.” Later there were reports of furniture being moved; moaning and wailing noises being heard at night; footsteps; doors opening and closing, and various other curious and apparently inexplicable happenings.
A local Roman Catholic priest blessed the flats; a spiritualist medium said he thought the appearances were a warning of some future tragedy and the responsible authority at that time, Liverpool Corporation, said they would seek the advice of people knowledgeable in such matters and try to do the best they could for the people concerned.
In answer to my enquiry as to how the matter ended the City of Liverpool Housing Department informed me in March 1977 that with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 responsibility for housing in the Kirkby area passed to the newly established Knowsley Borough Council and members of the Housing Department staff and records also passed to the new council. My enquiries in that direction resulted in a most helpful letter from Mr Alex Grant, Chairman of the Kirkby Local History Society, who visited Tedbury Close and found the ‘haunted’ premises occupied. He tells me that ‘the original tenants did withhold their rents and various priests and other people visited the place but the occupants were in such fear that the families were rehoused.”
On my behalf Alex Grant spoke to a local electrician, Frank Morriss, who remembers the affair with some amusement since he was sent along to repair the lighting that had failed on the dark stairway. When he arrived a group of hysterical women were gathered around the entrance to the flats, and they begged him not to enter; one lady swore that her husband had been thrown down the stairs only the night before by ‘something’ that was tremendously strong and, according to him, had only one eye. Frank grinned and went up the stairs with confidence, for as a young boy he used to stoke up the boilers at night on his own in Liverpool’s St Nicholas Church. To reach those boilers he had to pass through the crypt surrounded by the remains of corpses from long ago. Frank fixed the lights at Tedbury Close without difficulty and came down again without encountering any ghost, but it was a wild and blustery night and to some extent he could understand the women’s fears.
Alex Grant also spoke to some old residents of Kirkby who remember when the area was really rural and completely isolated from Liverpool. Certainly some of the very old folk would not veenture anywhere near the Southdene area after dark on account of a ghost that was said to lurk often around the hedge of the old farm, where it was reputed an old farmer had thrown himself down a well at his farm. That farm occupies the site of the present Tedbury Close.
Ghosts of North-West England, by Peter Underwood (1978).