Couple’s plea over ghostly home.
Move us from this haunted house…
By Jonathan Shorney.
The house where things go bump in the night.
Jobless Christopher George and his wife Jackie have had enough of their haunted council house. Things go bump in the night, the television sound turns itself on and off and their iron began to melt for no good reason. Clergy have even been called in to exorcise the spirits from the home in Newquay Road, Knowle, Bristol. Now the Georges, who only moved in a month ago, are refusing to stay there at night and are desperate to move. They have sought help from local vicars claiming objects move by themselves and weird, unexplained noises can be heard.
Previous tenant Judy Palmer, who left aged 13 in 1979, believes it is partly explained by the death there of her two-month-old brother Buddy Jean. She believed witchcraft had been practised in the house and evil spirits called up in the front room.
On Wednesday, council officials will consider the George’s plea to be moved from the three-bedroom terraced house.
Problems began shortly after Christopher, aged 21, and Jackie, 20, moved in with their children, Christopher, three, Terri, two, and six-week-old Jade. Jackie said: “First it was things like net curtains falling down, little noises, little bangings. I didn’t take much notice of that.” Then glass from a framed picture above the mantelpiece fell and smashed to pieces, cutting Christopher’s bare feet. The sound on their television repeatedly turned itself off and the hot face of their iron began to bubble and melt.
Jackie said: “I’m petrified. I stay at my mother’s or mother-in-law’s house at night and I leave the front door open for the few hours I’m here.” Christopher said: “I didn’t believe in ghosts, but now I do. It is something I used to laugh about.” They say it is not a ploy to be moved from the area. They came from bed and breakfast accommodation and would be happy to move across the road.
The Rev. Hugh Farlie, of St. Barnabas Church, Knowle, called to the house by previous tenants, and Canon George Mitchell blessed the house last week.
Ms Palmer, aged 27, of Edgecombe Close, Kingswood, near Bristol, said her brother died a cot death and it was only since the family left that problems had begun. “It is Buddy’s ghost in the bedroom, but evil spirits were called up downstairs. It needs someone to rebuke the spirit.”
Western Daily Press, 4th June 1993.