Weird Thrills In Village.
Untraced footsteps – and raps and howls.
The village of Little Irchester, just outside Wellingborough, is experiencing thrills that would do credit to any novelist. Mysterious footsteps in the dark hours, rappings on doors and weird howls began over the holiday weekend, when Mr and Mrs E Rogers, lodgers at a house in Milton Road, were left alone while the occupiers were away.
At midnight came a gentle rattle on the front door, but when it was opened no one was there. Since then unaccountable experiences have followed in quick succession. Early one morning heavy footsteps were heard descending the stairs, and the front door was violently slammed. There was no clue to the noises. A watch kept during the next day revealed nothing, but at midnight the door rattling began again, and the occupants ran outside to find no one about. They returned to find wet footsteps all over the kitchen floor and silver from the cupboards scattered everywhere.
On another night the weird manifestations were repeated when a dozen persons were in the house. The villages do not know whether to attribute the matter to spiritualist manifestations or the efforts of a clever practical joker.
Leicester Evening Mail, 14th August 1929.
Mysteries of the night alarm residents at Little Irchester.
Rattling doors and wet footprints through house, but no trace of an intruder.
Inhabitants of Little Irchester, a mile outside Wellingborough, are doubly careful just now about locking their doors, securing their windows, and letting loose the dog at night. Within its acre or so, Little Irchester holds a mystery that would delight the heart of a novelist.
For over a week now, the occupants of one of the houses have heard mysterious noises at the door, footsteps which have chilled their blood, and weird cries. About a fortnight ago, Mr and Mrs Arthur Townsend, of Milton-road, Little Irchester, went away for their holidays, taking with them their three children, and leaving behind their lodgers, Mr and Mrs E Rogers, and their child. For a week, apparently, nothing unusual occurred. Then, a week ago on Sunday, Mr and Mrs Rogers had one of the most astonishing experiences of their lives.
Whilst they were in their sitting-room, close on midnight, they heard a gentle rattle at the front door. Mrs Rogers was curious. Mr Rogers assured her that it was merely the wind. Then came an interval of silence, and then the rattle was heard again, but louder this time. It was obvious that the noise, which seemed to the two to have been caused by the rattling of the knob of the door, was caused by some human agency, and they assumed that Mr and Mrs Townsend had returned unexpectedly. Mr Rogers opened the door. There was nobody there.
Mr and Mrs Rogers went to bed, but the rattling of the door-knob was renewed, and other curious noises were heard. About four o’clock in the morning there came the most alarming experience of all. A cry was heard, there was the noise of footsteps apparently descending the stairs, the front door opened violently and shut again, and the footsteps receded down the street. The houses are small and compact, and the possibility that the noises came from the house next door occurred to Mr Rogers. On the next morning he inquired, but his neighbours could throw no light on the occurrences.
On Bank Holiday, Mr and Mrs Townsend returned. A watch was kept that night, but nothing happened. On Tuesday night, however, the four were treated either to an astonishing manifestation or a thoughtless and cruel practical joke.
Nearing midnight the rattle began, this time at the back door. The door was opened but the small, enclosed back-yard was empty. The watchers went into the front parlour, and lit the gas so that the tiny front garden and a portion of the footpath and road were illuminated. Within a few minutes there was another noise, this time at the front door. Those in the house rushed to the door and window. There was nobody in sight!
The watch continued, and curious sounds were heard from time to time. Then, to the alarm of the men, and the terror of the women, a rattle at the front door was followed by footsteps in the passage. They appeared to go through the house, into the kitchen, and when the men followed they found wet footprints on the stone floor. The means of egress was either not noticed or not noticeable. Terrifying conclusions, which were not rendered less so by the discovery, behind the mangle, of a silver teapot, which had been left securely in a cupboard, were arrived at.
But whoever heard of a ghost which left footmarks, and whose footsteps were audible?
On Wednesday night, Mr and Mrs G Sturgess, of Little Irchester, relatives of Mr and Mrs Townsend, joined the watchers, so that altogether the small house contained six adults and four children, the latter all under four years of age. Noises of a similar character, though perhaps less alarming, were heard again, and efforts to discover their source were equally futile.
And there the mystery remains.
Mrs Townsend, in common with other women in the village, is highly alarmed, and she has expressed her intention of leaving the house if the noises continue. Until Sunday night, she had no sleep last week. Mrs Rogers, too, is finding the happenings a great strain.
Gossip is busy, and gossip, as usual, has its own explanation. Most people seem to be under the impression that a practical joker is at work. Others connect the affair with that of the Wollaston anonymous letter-writer, while some argue in favour of a supernatural manifestation.
Northampton Mercury, 16th August 1929.
Ghost Alarms Village.
Weird cries, rattling doors, and footmarks.
Little Irchester, near Wellingborough, has developed a ghost complex. The residents in one house in Milton Street have been so alarmed by mysterious noises in the night that they are on the look-out for a more desirable home.
One family, Mr and Mrs E Rogers, who, with their baby, lodge at the house have decided to leave. They are going to Felixstowe to be far away.
Mr and Mrs Townsend and their three children, the other occupants of the house, would leave if there was anywhere else for them to go.
They all complain of hearing footsteps on the stairs at midnight when they are all in bed, of locked doors rattling, and then flying open, and wet footmarks where nobody had walked, and of weird cries. The visitations started a fortnight ago, and the terror of the occupants of the house has spread to the whole village.
During one terrible night the unknown presence did all it could to disturb the two families. Finally the front door was burst open.
Mr Rogers thinks the invasion is probably in connection with a claim that he is making to establish his right to a considerable fortune, the origin of which dates back to Huguenot refugees who fled from France to England to escape religious persecution in the 16th century.
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 20th August 1929.