Welsh family’s story of a ghost.
By our own reporter.
A young Llanelly couple said yesterday that they have had to leave their home because of a ghost. They are Mr and Mrs Jackie Rees, of Bryn-terrace, who told a “Western Mail” reporter that immediately after seeing the apparition a fortnight ago they moved to Edgar street. They had returned to their old home only once -and had then spent a sleepless night.
The couple – Mr Rees is 29 and his wife 23 and they have a son aged seven – are not superstitious, but they have been awed by what they say appeared at their bedside at midnight on Thursday, June 2. Mr Rees was awakened by the sound of dripping water, and looking up saw the apparition some 3 ft. from the bed. It had exceptionally broad shoulders.
“I stared at it and studied it for some three minutes,” Mr Rees said. “It did not move. I jerked my head suddenly and it backed away. My wife woke up, took one look at it and screamed. It then disappeared.” Mr Rees’s wife said she first saw the ghost on the upstairs landing when she and her husband returned from stock car racing at Neath. “I screamed and ran away, but later thought I had been seeing things and put it out of my mind,” she added.
Other strange things have happened in the house. During the three years they have lived at the house there have been knockings at the door “with no one there and smashed crockery galore.”
Their spaniel dog, “Nell,” has growled during the night and taken a strong dislike to the house.
A steel erector employed at Carmarthen Bay Power Station, Mr Rees is attending spiritualist meetings with his wife to try to get to the bottom of the problem.
(Footnote: A retired sea captain, reputed to be a miser, once lived in th ehouse. It is said that he had exceptionally broad shoulders.)
Western Mail, 14th June, 1955.
Air on a ghost theme.
Three young musically-minded Italians nightly entertain the ghost that supposedly haunts No. 14, Bryn-terrace, Llanelly. Gino Pavesi, Baptista Archetti and Agosti Omibeno rented the furnished house and moved in after terror-stricken owners, Mr and Mrs Jack Rees, had moved out to live with relatives.
On piano, saxophone and piano-accordion they spend their evenings, after their day’s work at the Pemberton Tinplate Works, playing Italian airs. “We are,” said Pavesi, “very happy here, and we do not believe in ghosts. If a ghost does appear we will ask him what he wants, and he can join us. He can play the paper-and-comb or clap hands to the tunes we shall be playing.”
“We have heard no queer noises or seen any sign of a ghost, but if he cares to appear he will be welcome,” said Pavesi.
Following newspaper reports of a phantom’s appearance at No. 14, vigil was kept on four nights by Mr D Fisher, Coronation-road, Llanelly, a member of the International Federation of Spiritualists, and three Swansea students. Creaks and thuds ares aid to have been heard by some of those who keep vigil, while the students are said to have “seen a beam of light striking across the room.”
Western Mail, 8th July 1955.
Was it a ghost?
Sir, – “All interest in the Llanelly ghost story seems to have died down,” to quote a colleague living in the area. But knowing human nature, I feel that it will remain a topic of conversation for months to come.
From a psychically inclined friend I discovered that the ghostly visitant may not have been the long departed miserly captain as popularly believed. It may well have been a previous occupier still in the land of the living indulging in an astral visit. For the uninitiated let me explain. While sleeping we can disembody our astral selves and indulge in wandering abroad visiting places known to us and otherwise.
It is quite possible that, without knowing it, Mr and Mrs Jack Rees possess clairvoyant qualities and did see the wraithlike visitor.
Again it is quite possible that the present occupiers of the house, being unsympathetic, and possessing no psychic inclination, will be unaware of any unusual phenomena taking place.
In concluding, may the peace and harmony that have descended on No. 4 Bryn-terrace be never more disturbed.
(Mrs) K Phillips, Cardiff.
Western Mail, 12th July 1955.