Street with a history of haunting happenings.
Ghostly goings-on have been sending shivers down the spines of residents of one Luton street over the last 60 years. The Luton News recently reported how Eddie Herbert and Sam O’Reilly believe their Crawley Road roost is ruled by an unruly poltergeist.
Following that story we were contacted by Mrs Eileen Lewis, of Essex Close, who remembers 58 years ago an old haunted house, now demolished, at the end of Crawley Road. Mrs Lewis, now 70, was out playing with friends who dared her to go to the top of an empty house and look out from the window. The former Crawley Road resident said: “I remember it in exact detail. I went into the room, then all of a sudden stones were flying around me. I don’t know where from, they just came out of everywhere. I was so scared I ran down the stairs while the stones were all around me but I was not hit by them.”
Mrs Lewis understands that her story might be difficult to believe. But she said: “I will swear on a stack of bibles that what I’m saying is true.”
Rosemarie Williams, of The Link, Houghton Regis, witnessed poltergeist activity in Luton Road, Dunstable, during 1967/68. She was looking after a pregnant girl who had been rejected by her family. One night she saw the girl’s coat float down the hallway and bow at her.
She wrote: “A few minutes later the girl screamed and she said this cold hand tried to strangle her and the room had a cold chill about it.”
Part-time Ghostbuster, Frank Bradshaw, who is studying at the University of Luton, is an amateur psychical researcher. He has offered to investigate the claims made by Eddie Herbert and Sam O’Reilly. The ghostly goings-on have also attracted the attention of the Poltergeist Research Institute near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Dr Barrie Colvin faxed an urgent message to the Luton News saying: “As an organisation, we specialise in the scientific investigation of poltergeist activity and are able to bring the very latest technology into our research.”
Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 6th April 1994.