Hot cinders from —?
A Manselton Spook.
Mysterious happenings in a house.
A very mysterious affair, which has during the past few days attracted considerable numbers of people to the neighbourhood of Manselton, is the subject of much discussion, not only amongst those who are interested in “ghost” stories, mysterious rappings, and so forth, but amongst the general public.
It appears that on Friday evening last, and on other occasions since then, peculiar noises have been made by unseen forces at a house in the district. They are not the ordinary “spirit” rappings so-called, there are no movements of tables; no “knocks” in the ceiling, such as were heard and seen in connection with the recent Kidwelly mystery.
Against the wall by the side of the fireplace in the kitchen is usually placed the blower, which is used when necessary to make a fire draw brightly. From behind that blower and between it and the wall, come movements which cause the blower to rattle, and sometimes, when a look is taken behind the blower, some hot cinders are seen upon the floor. Where they have come from no one can tell.
In one instance, when several people were present with the family, three pieces of cinder suddenly flew over the heads or before the faces of the persons in the room, one piece alighting in the cradle. When the first piece was picked up, the gentleman who took hold of it found that it was decidedly hot. Someone else took hold of another lump of cinder, that was only warm. The pice that was picked out of the cradle was, however, cold. By way of variety, it was a hot piece of charcoal that jumped across the room.
On another occasion when a neighbour and his wife were sitting in the house with the residents, a clothes peg suddenly and mysteriously made its appearance on the floor, wriggling its way in an extraordinary fashion from the room door towards the fire place. The passage door was closed at the time; the room door was closed; and so the peg could not have been thrown in or brought in. There was no one about the house who would be able to play any trick of the kind.
Another instance of the cinder part of the story that may be mentioned is the undoubted fact that when the pantry door was closed and the small window leading from the pantry into the back was also closed, there came into the adjoining room a tremendous rattle as if some articles had been thrown at the pantry door from the inner side, and when the door was opened some hot cinders were found on the pantry floor. Where they came from no one could say.
Clothes pegs have been known to jump through the air, voluntarily and unaided, and they are not clothes pegs that usually belong to the house. These are some of the mysterious signs which up to the present no one can in any way explain. They were heard and seen on Friday evening and on Saturday, and there were two slight indications of similar manifestations on Sunday, but since then the ghostly (if such they be) rattlings and movements appear to have ceased.
It is said that quite a number of well-known residents and some local special constables have witnessed what has taken place, and it need scarcely be said that the family has been distressed by the noises and by the incursion of crowds of people, some of them insistent curiosity-mongers who flock to the house every day.
The Cambria Daily Leader, 30th April, 1918.
“Moonshine.”
Diverting story from Manselton.
Manselton and Brynhyfryd were diverted this week with the rumour of there being a haunted house in Compass-street. The story goes that hot cinders were dropping on the inhabitants from nowhere apparently, and no marks could be found anywhere, and bumps and knocks were supposed to have been heard all over the house. The fact that the people are about moving greatly enhanced the people’s belief in the absurd rumour.
The local police regard it as all “moonshine” and the result of some childish prattle. Nevertheless, hundreds of people continue to congregate outside the house.
The occupant of the house, Mr Rees, told a “Daily Post” representative that all the stories were absurd.
South Wales Weekly Post, 4th May 1918.
The Manselton “spook” story, as it appeared in the “Leader,” is absolutely confirmed by the people who were principally concerned. They called at the office to-day to say so.
The Cambria Daily Leader, 4th May 1918.
The visit to this office of a participant in the ghostly experiences at Manselton, who brought the actual peg which “moved in” so mysteriously last Sunday, recalls the story of Mark Evans about the consuming capacity of a baby. He ended his story with the observation that if we doubted his story, he could produce the child!
The Cambria Daily Leader, 6th May 1918.