Another Norwich Ghost Story.
A woman in black.
With the advent of dark nights and the near approach of Christmas, it is only fitting that ghost stories should once again come to the fore, and a very interesting one is now the subject of conversation in a certain quarter of our city. We print it as we received it, merely remarking at this point that it has been robbed of much of its romance, if indeed it has not been brought absolutely to the level of ordinary mundane things by the intervention of a prosaic policeman. For obvious reasons we suppress the names of the persons concerned, and we refrain from indicating the precise locality, beyond stating that it is within a stone’s throw of the site of the wall that once surrounded our city.
Our correspondent writes:- “During the last four days people living in the vicinity of — have been much disturbed by the peculiar noises occurring in one of the houses. The occupiers, who have lived in the same house for several years, on Monday were greatly perturbed by a violent shaking of the doors, a movement of the blinds, and the peculiar behaviour of the pictures, which insisted upon moving without any apparent reason. These manifestations occurred during the evening, but ceased before the occupiers went to bed.
On Tuesday the same thing occurred again, only more forcibly, commencing at five o’clock and lasting for a few minutes only. About half-past eleven the disturbances were resumed, and were so great that a gentleman in the house went for a policeman, who in turn went for his sergeant, but neither was able to discover any reason for the annoyances.
The City Engineer was consulted, and promptly sent two of his assistants on Wednesday afternoon to examine the building, but they could only state that the manifestations were not caused by gas, sewers, foundations, or electric light: in fact, they were unable to give any explanation.
The police turned up in force on Wednesday evening, determined to lay the ‘ghost,’ but their presence was no deterrent, and the noise commenced again at about twenty minutes to twelve, and were repeated once or twice later.
A gentleman at present lodging in the house declares that on Tuesday night, or rather early on Wednesday morning, he was going upstairs to bed, thinking that the noises had ceased for the night, when at the top of the stairs he saw a lady in black, who seized him by the shoulders and pushed him down. The fact remains that he did fall downstairs, as those in the house can testify, whatever may have been the reason.
All who have been in the house during these peculiar occurrences are naturally in a state of extreme mental perturbation. Nothing of the kind has previously occurred during the tenancy of the present occupiers, and they are, of course, extremely anxious that the matter should be speedily cleared up, and that the demonstrations, however caused, should be put a stop to.”
As our correspondent states, the police have made enquiries into the matter, and they confirm the fact that at times the window frames shook, the doors rattled, the blinds swayed, and the electric light fittings oscillated, and on their first and second visit no cause could be discovered. Further investigation, however, has led them to the conclusion that the whole affair is a joke – a silly, senseless, wicked joke, if a joke at at all, for several worthy people have been seriously alarmed and greatly inconvenienced. It seems that in one of the bedrooms there is a weak and decayed joist, and if a person stands on the board above this and raises and lowers his heels quickly he produces all the manifestations that have caused the alarm.
The police tried the trick, and the occupier acknowledged that the effects were similar to those that had created all the consternation. If this theory is correct, they have a decided opinion as to the personality of the joker. This, of course, does not explain away the woman in black, but an over-lively imagination, stimulated by the previous events of the night, may well be responsible for her.
Eastern Daily Press, 13th November 1908.