Mary Bell house ‘is haunted’.
A terrified family have asked for a move from their council house, the former home of child killer Mary Bell. They claim that the house is haunted. The Calvert family of Whitehouse Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, say: They can hear the sound of a baby crying; Windows break by themselves; Doors swing open without reason; And all the gas taps in the house were once turned on as the family slept.
Four years ago Mary Bell, then aged eleven, killed two small boys near her home. She was sentenced to life detention for manslaughter.
Mrs Edith Calvert said that on the night the gas taps were turned on the family were saved by her daughter Lorna, 10, going downstairs.
A spokesman for Newcastle Corporation said: “When we receive the Calverts’ application for a move we will give them sympathetic consideration.”
Sunday Mirror, 28th May 1972.
Family in fear want to move.
A family broke their silence yesterday after four years of terror in the former home of child-killer Mary Bell. Now, because of “mysterious happenings,” the Calvert family want to move from their three-bedroomed council house in Whitehouse Road in the Scotswood area of Newcastle.
Father of five, Mr Arthur Calvert, a labourer, said last night: “I am not a superstitious man but we have got to get out of this house.” After the trial of Mary Bell in 1968 the house became vacant. Mary, then 11, was convicted of the manslaughter of two little boys and ordered to be detained for life. Mr Calvert, aged 42, said: “Before we moved here we were a happy family – living in a two-roomed slum. Now the three eldest children have been driven out by the happenings – and we are not a family any more. The wife is a nervous wreck.”
Mr Calvert described unexplained incidents – doors that opened and shut by themselves, broken windows, a moaning sound – and gas taps found turned on. He said one night he heard a moan like a baby in pain coming from the passageway. He had a look round, but there was nothing there. “I can tell you I was frightened. I didn’t go to bed that night.” Mr Calvert added that Margaret, his 18-year-old daughter was terrified of being left alone in the house. She had left to get married and his two eldest boys used the excuse that they wanted their independence before moving.
“I was the happiest man in the world when I heard that we had got the keys to a three-bedroom council house,” said Mr Calvert. “But now I am prepared to give up my job and move away from this house for the sake of the wife and kids.”
Newcastle Journal, 29th May 1972.