Letters to the Editor.
The Strange Things Which Happened in Clayton St.
Sir, – I was very interested in Geoffrey Mattock’s account of local ghosts, and I would like to give the readers of the “Leader” an account of some strange supernormal happenings which took place a few years ago in a Nelson house.
The first I heard of it was from a girl with whom I worked. She told me she was very worried about strange things which were taking place at her home in Clayton Street, where she lived with her parents – a highly respected church-going family. Two large framed pictures had fallen from the wall during the night without the cords breaking. She woke up feeling someone was in her bedroom, and when she tried to switch on her reading lamp she found the table had been moved to the other end of the room and the plug had been removed from the socket. Things were disappearing all over the house; her father had bought a wash leather which he hung on a hook in the scullery, and a few seconds later it vanished without a trace, never to return.
The lady next door (a policeman’s wife) had called to see her and complained that queer things were happening in her house too. She woke up suddenly one night and was in time to see the heavy curtains being pulled backwards and forwards from her window by invisible hands. She was terrified, as her husband was on night patrol. The next day as she was walking into the scullery she became aware of a silvery-grey spiral which moved along besides her. It disappeared when she looked for it. That night as she bathed her small son, he said: “There’s something behind you, mum!” and he had described it as a “wavy grey smoky thing.”
My friend saw it herself a few days later flitting down the staircase in front of her and she described it as a silvery grey spiral and it appeared to tread on every step. It disappeared through the wall into the house next door at the bottom of the stairs.
I suspected at once that the two houses in Clayton Street were suffering from the antics of a poltergeist. It is very unusual for the victims to see the “elemental spirit” reseponsible, but the spiral is a shape that it sometimes takes.
During the following weeks my friend reported it was becoming quite a nuisance. It set up its headquarters in the coal shed and many incidents took place there. When she went to get some coal a heavy coal-rake left the shelf and just missed her head. Her father was not so fortunate. The poltergeist made a dead set at him and injured his right hand with a flying piece of coal, so he had to use his left hand when drinking at meals. The poltergeist objected to this and moved his full cup of tea from his left hand side to his right without spilling a drop or being detected in the process several times.
Then, as he was holding the shed key preparatory to locking it up for the night, it was snatched from his hand and flew up in the air. In spite of an exhaustive search of house and yard not a trace of it could be found. Next day the key was found under the kitchen carpet right in the centre.
One night the family found all their attempts to light up the front room were frustrated. The ceiling light, two reading lamps, and a hand torch, refused to provide illumination. A candle would not light and matches were useless. The other lights in the house were not affected. Whilst they were puzzling over this, the window sash weight fell with a crash that brought out quite a few neighbours into the street.
The last trick the poltergeist played on this harassed family was to set their chimney on fire on a day when only a small fire had been left in the grate. My friend entered the room just in time to hear a sound like a rushing wind as something shot up the chimney with a swoosh. Smoke poured out of the front door and burning soot was scattered everywhere. Outside, neighbours debated wether to send for the fire brigade! After this spectacular farewell, nothing of a supernatural nature has occurred at the haunted house in Clayton Street.
Yours, etc., “One Step Beyond.”
Nelson Leader, 23rd November 1962.