Ghost forces family to leave home.
By Jane Croft.
A family have been driven out of their Liverpool home by what they claim is a poltergesit. Alison Santos of Madryn Street, Toxteth, and her family are living with a neighbour because they are too terrified to go back to their home.
Alison says the poltergesit has tried to smother her boyfriend in their terraced house. Alison, 26, who has two children – Tracey, 3 and Antony, 15 months – said: “We have been driven out of the house by this evil spirit. We are provisionally moving into a hostel for the homeless. The poltergeist has tried to smother my boyfriend and we once found the baby’s cot turned upside down with the baby on the floor. I am normally sceptical about ghosts, but I would tell people who doubt us – wait until it happens to you.”
Alison believes that an exorcism is their only hope. Father Tony Wright of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, High Park Street in Liverpool, said: “My experience is that there is some kind of spiritual presence there.”
Liverpool Echo, 7th November 1992.
The Ghost Trusters.
We had to help haunted family, say city officials.
By Jules Stenson.
Liverpool Council was accused of wasting money after spending up to £700 putting up a family in a hotel, because they claimed their house was haunted. Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Frank Doran immeidately called for a full investigation. “A local authority playing ghost busters… that is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I will be asking the chief executive for an inquiry into this unbelievable waste of money.”
The case came to light in the same week councillors discussed a projected overspend on this year’s budget of up to £17m. But today the council officers hit back, saying: “We believe we have acted perfectly properly.”
And Father Tony Wright, a priest who has blessed the house, said: “The family’s fear is very real. In my experience there is a spiritual presence in the house.”
Anthony and Alison Santos and their two children, Tracey, three, and Tony, 15 months, were moved into the city’s Jamaica House hotel for a week, after telling social services they were frightened of a poltergeist in their Toxteth home. An exorcism was supposed to be carried away, but was called off. Now the Santos’s are back at the Liverpool Housing Trust terraced house in Madryn Street, claiming they are still being haunted.
Mrs Santos said today that a ghost touched her last night. “It touched my leg while I was on the couch,” she said. The couple, who have lived in the house for three years, say the ghost has: Tried to smother Anthony as he slept; Hurled the boy to the floor and upturned his cot; Bounced a washing machine across the kitchen.
Father Wright, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in High Park Street, Toxteth, said he was in the house when an ashtray moved off a table and smashed. He said Cllr Doran’s comments were not helpful.
A council spokesman said: “Is there any suggestion we should not have done this? The couple have two young children. We were convinced they have been genuinely frightened.”
Liverpool Echo, 20th November 1992.
Family escapes ghost terror.
Victims of three-year ‘haunting’ to get new home.
A Liverpool family who claimed they were being haunted by a ghost are to be rehoused. Anthony and Alison Santos and their children, Tracey, three, and Tony, 16 months, said they had suffered three years of terror at their Toxteth home. They sparked a political storm when it was revealed Liverpool City Council spent up to £700 putting them up in a hotel for a week after being convinced their fear was genuine. Now Liverpool Housing Trust – the owners of their Madryn Street terraced house = has agreed to move the family. They have been offered new accommodation nearby and new tenants will be moved into their home, which has been blessed by a priest.
LHT spokesman Andy Barrett stressed that the family had been moved on the advice of social services – and NOT because of an alleged poltergeist. “We are not planning any exorcisms – we are just going to relet the house. There is nothing wrong with it – it is just an ordinary terraced house,” he said. He was worried the couple’s case will spark a flood of similar complaints from tenants who wanted to be rehoused.
The Santos’s claimed the ghost had tried to smother Anthony, hurled Tony from his cot and bounced the washing machine across the kitchen. Father Tony Wright, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in High Park Street, Toxteth, confirmed that their fears were real, saying: “There is a spiritual presence in the house.” Mrs Santos refused to comment today.
Liverpool Echo, 4th December 1992.