Ghostly Havoc.
Scenes of destruction in haunted house.
The epidemic of ghostly incidents which are stated to have occurred recently has resulted in the narration of some interesting experiences by Mr E.W. Oaten, editor of “The Two Worlds.”
“I was called,” he said, “to a house in Manchester about two years ago, at which a good deal of discomfort had been caused by phenomena, the origin and cause of which were never discovered. It was a strange case in which unexplained phenomena of a very violent type persisted for some months. Gas fittings were broken, water pipes were burst, the ball valve from the tank in the bathroom was being continually removed, the water streaming down the house as a result. A wringing machine of considerable weight was thrown over, the wheel being broken.
“A strange aspect of the phenomena was that they seldom occurred when anyone was in the room. Some £70 to £80 worth of damage was done in the house. On one occasion when I visited a house there were only three of us present, and I had been to the bathroom to look at the tank where the ball valve had been recently refixed and fastened with copper wire. A pair of steps was placed against the bathroom wall, and I was the last to leave the room. The tenant, his wife, and I were talking in the kitchen a little time later when we heard a tremendous clatter, and the steps slid down the stairs into the passage.
“Quite recently I was called to a house in Cheshire, where some uncanny things had taken place, and had little difficulty in discovering that the haunting was caused by the spirit of a former tenant who died some 17 years ago. He was troubled in his mind over several things, and his mind being set at rest, the hauntings ceased. I have never yet found a case where I could not stop the hauntings, but I have known many where the cause seemed to be untraceable.”
Sunday Sun (Newcastle), 6th March 1927.