“Uncanny.”
Remarkable Antics of an Old Tin.
“Escapes” from Cupboard and Outhouse.
Strange Story from Marlborough.
The uncanny movements of an old tobacco tin are forming an amazing story in South Devon. The tin is quite ordinary, with the exception that its outside label has been torn off, being a pound tin of the type which can be bought at any grocer’s shop. The story is told by an inhabitant of the village of Marlborough, and, while it is termed “queer,” no one seems disposed to state the story is untrue or coud not happen.
The owner of the tin (Mr F. H. Bridle) told his story in a serious tone, and any levity would have been an insult. He said: “I have had this tin for a long time, but it has never misbehaved itself before. I have used it to keep my tobacco in, and, last Monday, after taking out some tobacco, I placed the tin back on the kitchen table. As I turned my back I heard a crash and saw the tin was on the floor. I asked my wife and little girl what had happened, but as neither had been near they could not say.
“I put the tin back on the table, and on the inside of other articles, and it deliberately jumped over them and on to the floor. I replaced it, and it came off again. This rather scared me and I looked inside, but there was only tobacco there. I then placed the tin in another and larger tin, and put them on another table. I had hardly turned my back when I heard a crash and saw the large tin on the floor, and the smaller tin rolling out of it. The large tin could not have fallen off the table as it was placed in the centre.
“Now thoroughly upset, I decided to place the tin in the cupboard and fasten the door. I did so, but the door burst open and the tin came out. I put the tin in a drawer, which I closed tightly. The drawer was forced open, and out came the tin. What could I do? The thing was uncanny and terrible. I took the tin to an outhouse some yards away from th ehouse and securely fastened the door. I thought that would end matters.
“After I had been back a while we heard a noise at the door and my little girl went to see who it was. As she opened the door, in came the tin like a flash, turned right to get into the kitchen, and came straight across the floor to me.”
Mr Bridle’s story is not without corroboration, for Mrs Bridle was with him at the time, and had an uncanny experience of her own, for when her husband had gone to work the tin followed her upstairs into the bedroom and back again. Neither offers any suggestion as to what is wrong with the tin, but Mr Bridle had to take it away with him to his work the next morning. He placed the tin on the hedge near where he was working, but although it was closely watched by him and his workmates, it did not make a single movement.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 2nd March 1934.