Meanwood tenant braves a “ghost.”
Not fearful in these days of house scarcity.
It has been gravely whispered that one of the new Corporation houses in Bentley Lane, Meanwood, is haunted, and the more timid of the dwellers in the concrete houses are wondering where a ghostly visitor will break in next.
Possibly the rumour started in the fact that a particular house has had several tenants in the last few months. The story go about that one tenant after another had left because of a ghost that would not let them sleep o’ nights. From one exaggeration to another the story came to be told that “after a sound of crackling in the kitchen, light footsteps were heard on the stairs, followed by the appearance of a white spectre in the bedroom.”
The talk of a ghost at first began with a joke, but it had become a reality when the last tenant left a few weeks ago. No one supposed that the house would be empty long. Nor was it. The wiseacres shook their heads portentously, however, when the new tenant took possession a fortnight ago. When he had been there a week the people who were “in the know” wondered if he had “heard anything,” and suprise was expressed when it leaked out that he had paid his first week’s rent without giving notice of his intention to leave.
Their surprise, however, was nothing to the surprise of the tenant when he learned to-day from a “Yorkshire Evening Post” inquirer that his house was supposed to be haunted. He had heard nothing, he said, and it would take something more than a ghost to shift him. He scoffed at the whole idea, as did other neighbours, who declared that the ghost story was a fabrication of some of the older inhabitants of Meanwood who were not too pleased that their native vale had come to be inhabited by a new population.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 25th January 1922.
Ghost in a Corporation House Disturbs the Tenants’ Slumbers.
Bradford, Saturday.
Bradford has a haunted house of its own, an old mansion that has remained untenanted for years, but at the Meanwood suburb of Leeds there is something much more novel, namely, a ghost-frequented but brand new house only recently built by the Corporation.
The tenancy has changed hands several times, the reported reason being that the ghost refuses to let people sleep at night. The house in question is situated in Bentley Lane, and is one of a number built of concrete, but the ghost prefers it to any baronial hall or ancient castle.
Neighbours relate with bated breath how in this modern residence the householder is awakened first by a crackling sound in the kitchen, followed by light footsteps on the stairs, and then the appearance of a white spectre in the bedroom.
The latest tenant moved in a fortnight ago, and when told of the ghostly manifestations he scoffed at the idea, declaring that it would take more than a ghost to shift him.
The next move is up to the ghost, and the residents are awaiting events.
Sunday Post, 29th January 1922.