Misty figure, moans and footsteps in Leicester “haunted house.”
Standing in “Anne Boleyn’s Room” in her house at Southfields drive, Leicester, Mrs R.A. Smith described to the Evening Mail today the strange night-time occurrences there which have both amused and perturbed the family for four years. Mrs Smith, a well-known figure in Leicester Market, and the wife of Mr R.A. Smith, a fitter, listed among the incidents:
Doors opening when no one was nearby to touch them; Howling sounds like a wind when there was no wind; The sound of steps on the stairs when the whole family was abed; and, A “white, misty figure.”
A typical housewife, practical and wrapped up in family life, Mrs Smith, who says she is not a believer in the supernatural though admitting “there may be something in it,” explained that queer things started happening four years ago when their daughter Barbara was nearly 16. Barbara then slept in “Anne Boleyn’s Room,” as they have dubbed the bedroom, and frequently sat up at night and shouted. Time after time, Mr and Mrs Smith rushed to her.
One night, when Barbara went into her parents’ room, Mr Smith went to sleep in hers. Next morning he confessed, “There is something about that room.” Since then, Barbara has slept in another room, but although Mr and Mrs Smith had scarcely dared to mention the incidents, guests at the house have cited night-time occurrences. The most vivid was that of Sgt. Hugh Jelly, of East-street, Leicester. He slept in the room at Christmas, and told Mrs Smith he woke up to see a strange light in the room. Although scared, he peeped out and saw a shadowy white form pass through the door. Next day, his clothes were on the floor, and a runner on the dressing table was screwed up.
When Mrs Smith prepared the room for Christmas, she placed a number of camphor balls on a glass ashtray on the dressing-table. During the night they woke to hear a sound like “marbles dropping on the floor and rolling about.” The following morning the camphor balls were on the floor, although the ashtray was in its original position. “We have heard all sorts of noises,” said Mrs Smith. “We hear moans, steps on the stairs, and the sound of the door, which latches tightly, opening and grating on the linoleum. In th emornings we frequently find clothes and mats rolled up or on the floor. One night, a hand mirror was smashed.”
Being a practical family, the Smiths investigated. They examined the rafters for mice or birds and found nothing. They overhauled the chimney flue, and repaired a loose plate which might have enlarged the sound of the wind into moans, but it made no difference. Now they are resigned to the inevitable, and have removed most of the furniture from the room. They do not use the room, and several guests have “made do” on the sofa in preference to a night in the room. they have no explanation for the noises. The two previous tenants of the house made no complaints and, while the Smiths have lived there for nine years, the incidents have only occurred during the last four.
Mrs Smith’s sister has a theory. In another house, Mrs Smith’s four-year-old son, who was “rather mischievous” died.
Mrs R.A. Smith, in the “haunted” room, holding an ashtray which figured in one ghostly incident.
Leicester Evening Mail, 11th January 1946.