Maid’s night of terror.
Another story of haunted house
“Shapeless mass”
Things flung about the bedroom.
The experiences of a Liverpool family in a supposedly “haunted” house have prompted a Liverpool woman to tell a remarkable story to the Echo of an experience which befel her a few years ago. She is Mrs C.G. Thomson, of 8, Catharine-street, Liverpool. Before her marriage she was, about nine years ago, a cook to a well-known Liverpool family living in the Sefton Park district. “I think I can claim to be a common-sense sort of person,” she said to the Echo to-day, “but although I frankly disbelieved in such things before, my brief stay in that house convinced me that there are happenings which cannot be explained in the ordinary way.”
She shared a bedroom on the top floor, she explained, with a young housemaid named Lily. They occupied single beds. A dynamo in the cellar supplied electric light for the whole house, with the exception of their own floor, and they had to rely on candles. Next to their room was another which had been used in bygone years as a “magic lantern” room for the children, and beyond that, at the end of a corridor, was a room which was never unlocked.
“The first night we saw anything peculiar was a Saturday, a few days after I had arrived,” she said. “At about 10.45, we had undressed and were sitting on our beds when we heard some very heavy footsteps ascending the stairs. They were heavier than ordinary footsteps. Nevertheless, we thought it was either the master or his wife coming to see whether we were in bed at the stipulated time, and, when there came a banging at the door, as though it were done by the flat of the hand, Lily called ‘Come in.’ Nobody came in, however, and we got into bed. A minute later Lily, whose bed was nearer to the door than mine, screamed out and cried ‘Light the candle – something has got hold of me!’ I stretched out my hand for the matches, and at the same moment they were picked up and thrown on to my pillow.”
“I felt pretty bad at that, but I managed to get the candle alight, and saw that Lily was sitting up in bed, crying hysterically. While I sat there I saw what appeared to be a shapeless mass of white between my bed and here, and at the same time several pairs of shoes belonging to Lily, which were on the floor by her bed were picked up and thrown savagely across the bed. I felt overpowered. Then hair-brushes and other articles were picked up from the dressing-table and hurled on to the floor. Neither of us dared to get out of bed, but sat there in a state of panic while the banging went on all over the room. I should say it continued for about an hour and a quarter altogether, which would bring us to midnight.
“Then it died away, and, knowing there were guests downstairs, we decided to wait till morning before telling our employers. We slept with our heads under the bedclothes until we were awakened by the alarm clock, which I had set for half-past six. Now this is in a way the most remarkable thing of all. When I put the catch on the clock to stop its ringing, I noticed that the hands were pointing to twelve o’clock – the very hour that the noises had stopped!
“Lily told the master about it the next morning, and he said they had heard the banging, but he took it that I was trying to frighten the girl. Two nights later, when we had said our prayers and got into bed, a tremendous banging started in the room, at the far end. I tried to light the candle but found it had been taken out of the candlestick and thrown on the floor. I lit a newspaper, as well as the candle. It was lucky I did, because the candle was blown out by a puff of wind, although we were nowhere near the window and it was a windless night. We rushed downstairs and told the family that we could not sleep in that room. Eventually we were allowed to sleep in another bedroom. Next morning we both left and were asked not to say anything about it.
“I went to a register-office nearby, and the people there said they were not surprised I had left, as they had had similar stories from every girl who took service there, and none of them stayed longer than a few weeks.”
Liverpool Echo, 14th April 1934.