Extraordinary Disturbance at Cowper House, Near Orton.
(We insert the following singular communication just as it has been sent to us).
Much excitement has of late prevailed amongst the inhabitants of Orton and its vicinity, in consequence of some singular disturbances which have recently occurred at the above house. The name of the present occupier is Mr. William Gibson, jun, who about four years ago married a daughter of Mr. John Bland’s, Bybeck. A year previous to his marriage, Mr. Gibson’s uncle, Robert Gibson, occupied the same place, with whom his nephew lived; and, singular to relate, these unaccountable disturbances commenced on Tuesday, the 17th inst., being the fifth anniversary of his uncle’s death, who was found drowned near the house.
Tuesday, the 17th, loud knocks were heard in the house, various articles placed on shelves fell on the floor in rapid succession, which alarmed the inmates. Wednesday, half-past eleven o’clock a.m., two childrens stools, placed in the cradle, were thrown out, and the cradle clothes thrown under the fire grate; the chairs moved on the floor of their own accord (with the exception of one, which was lately purchased in a sale), and went over with great velocity; the churn, standing on the floor, was upset; the churn works were set into the outer porch, out of which into the house is a crooked passage; the servant girl, on going out, met the churn works coming in like the flight of a bird, and fell near the churn without being injured. The young girl’s cries on this occasion were alarming.
Tables, containing dishes, were thrown off; fenders, knives, pans, tubs, butter, and almost every other article the house contained, were in wild commotion one after another. The inmates were so alarmed that they took some provisions and proceeded to Mr. Robert Bousfield’s, a neighbouring house, and had some tea. They returned in the evening, accompanied by Mr. Bousfield, who is an upright person, and may be relied on.
Similar disturbances again commenced. Mr. Bousfield, being horrified, advised the family to go with him and stay all night, which was accordingly done. Next day (Thursday) the family, which consists of Mr. William Gibson, his wife, two children, and a servant girl, returned to the house, when nothing particular occurred until afternoon.
Mrs. Gibson’s brother, Mr. Thomas Bland, of Bybeck, paid them a visit; when about to sit down to tea, Mr. Bland placed his hat on a dining table, when it immediately took flight towards the fire place. Clothes and other articles moved about in the house; and Mr. Bland being much afrighted, though they had better all proceed to Bybeck. They did so, and there they are at present remaining.
These things were soon published, and on Saturday, the 21st, a company of young men from Orton proceeded to Cowper House to ascertain the fact. The family not being there nothing particular transpired. On Tuesday last Mr. James Ellwood, grocer, Mr. Torbuck, surgeon, Mr. Robert Wlison, jun., Mr. John Robertson, joiner, Mr. Mark Atkinson, and Mr. R. Bland, all of Orton, proceeded to Bybeck to see if the family would accompany them to Cowper House. They consented and went, in order to explore this strange occurrence. They arrived at the spot a little before the family, and searched every corner of the house in order to find out the cause, but found none.
But to their astonishment, no sooner did the family enter than loud knocks were heard, their hats moved from one place to another, a large dining table moved from its place into the midst of the floor, and, as before, one thing after another was in disorder, and moved about of its own accord.
What can be the precise meaning of this we are at present unable to determine. Some are of the opinion that something has been done which is very wrong, or it is a forewarning of some great evil. It is the worst when the children are in the house.
Westmorland Gazette, 28th April 1849.
The Orton “Dobbie.”
We have received no bulletin this week from the head quarters of this mysterious agent, but we understand that the excitement in the neighbourhood during the week has been prodigious, a complete stream of visitors having visited the scene of the ghost’s operations. On Sunday we are informed not less than 500 persons flocked to the spot. On Wednesday one or two Kendal gentlemen, keen and shrewd observers, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, paid a visit to the farm-house. The scene that presented itself was quite ludicrous. Not less than twenty-four or twenty-five persons, including the master and mistress, were seated in the sitting room of the old house, as mute as mackerel, and as solemn as undertakers at a funeral. Among them were three serious-looking persons having the distinctive marks of parsons of the voluntary persuasion.
Hardly a word was said except when our friends, who are anything but votaries of the visionary world, put a question about the “bogie,” and then the answer was invariably prefaced with a deep sigh. The chief speakers for the respondents were the mistress and a mischievous-looking servant lass, who, whenever the “missus” stopped in her narrative, was particularly ready in taking up the wondrous tale.
Among other significant features of the tale it happened that “it was vara strange, but nowt nivver happened after t’cannles was put out,” (a circumstance which speaks well for the good sense of the “bogie” and its appreciation of a good night’s repose). It was also remarked (as our Orton correspondent informed us last week), that “it was allas t’warst when t’children were in t’house,” a fact which, sceptical as our friends are on the subject of apparitions, they were fully prepared to admit.
We ought, perhaps, to mention that as they were proceeding towards the spot they met a shrewd-looking country man coming away, who told them with a knowing wink that they might as well go back again; they could see “nowt,” whatever any body else might say they did; “and (he added) if I was ye, I wadn’t tell any body where ye’d been.”
– Since the above was written, we have just heard that the Orton ghost has been laid by a policeman! We are informed that on Thursday of last Mr. Slee, a police-officer of Penrith, and another person, after visiting the spot and cross-questioning the aforesaid servant lass, elicited from her that she, with the connivance of the “missus,” had been the contriver of all the “dobbie” work, their motive being a dislike of the house, which is at present very old, and in the vernacular, “ramshackle.” Of course the stories of the internal parts of the churn, &c., flying through the air, are gross fictions, told on the authority, not of eye witnesses, but agents in the mummery.
Westmorland Gazette, 5th May 1849.
The Orton Ghost.
The strange and unaccountable rumours which spread throughout the country relative to this mysterious visitation led to various superstitious suppositions, and the active and ever laborious High Constable for Leath Ward, Mr Martindale Scott, regarding the whole story as an artifice, set out, accompanied by Mr John Rayson, assistant overseer, Penrith, and Mr Benjamin Slee, determined, if possible, to solve the mystery. The particulars of the “ghostly” doings were reported at length in our last week’s paper, therefore recapitulation would only prove tedious.
When Mr Scott and party arrived at the house, they began questioning the woman and servant girl as to where and how the “unknown” generally commenced the revolutionary uproar. Of the ghost’s labours they gave a truly formidable description, but in such a doubtful and complicated way that Mr Rayson suspected the authenticity of the tale, and archly contrived, in the course of the inquiry, to perform several of the tricks so deceptiously that the woman and girl repeatedly exclaimed, “O God, it’s there again!”. Mr Rayson, in the meantime, was narrowly watching their movements, and eventually was so thoroughly convinced that the representation was fabulous, that he desired them to accompany him to that part of the house where they represented a sound was frequently heard like the note of a deep bass drum. He led the way, and kept a strict eye upon the manoeuvres of the parties; the sound was presently heard, and he immediately accused one of the two of striking against the wall; however, they resolutely persisted in their innocence: he said denial was useless, as he saw a hand strike the wall, and he produced in their presence a similar sound, and the subsequent confusion of their countenances baffled their strongest efforts to appear composed.
Mr Rayson then proceeded to examine the material, and found it to be a thin temporary wood partition. He then, with his partners, called the girl aside, and told her that he had performed the tricks in the house without observation, and that he believed the whole was a concocted scheme; he next strongly represented to her the immorality of circulating such stories, if without foundation, and she at length confessed that the presence of supernatural agency was only an adopted tale, that she had been prevailed upon by her mistress to assist in propagating the falsehood, and that they conjointly were the sole actors. Upon this being communicated to her mistress she fled, and the cause of such singular conduct remains for exposition at some future period. It is still, however, believed by the elder inhabitants of the parish of Orton, who are credulous in witchcraft, that the phenomenon was caused by the agency of his satanic majesty, and they predict that it is the forewarner of a long famine or a bloody war.
The following is from another correspondent: – “The strange and unaccountable disturbances at Cowper’s House, near Orton, of which we gave an account last week, still continue, and are causing very great excitement. During the last three weeks, hundreds have visited the place from all parts, to satisfy their curiosity, and many are the remarkable circumstances they relate. Cowper’s House is within a very short distance of the Tebay station of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, which is a great convenience to visitors. On Sundays the place is thronged like a country fair; but as many as have been to see the doings, no one has yet been able to detect the cause.
“On Thursday week a party of constables went by order of the magistrates to examine into the matter, and the servant girl confessed to them that herself and mistress were the dobbies. It is very currently rumoured, however, that this confession was extorted from the girl, who is only 13 or 14 years of age, by threats of punishment. We have seen a gentleman who was present at the time, and he denies that any improper means were resorted to by the constables. Whether this was the fact or not does not matter much, for the dobbie has since been at work when both mistress and servant girl were out of the house; and many parties who have seen the strange performances declare that it was impossible any human hand, gifted with only human powers, could have played the tricks which they witnessed. Amongst the visitors has been a very large number of dissenting preachers, many of whom have called their holy avocation into action, and endeavoured to lay the unruly ghost. Alas! however, their efforts have been fruitless. The true cause, whatever it may be, is as yet enveloped in much mystery.”
Carlisle Journal, 11th May 1849.
The Orton “Dobbie.”
An Orton correspondent appears to think that we have not treated the ghost, which is now the wonder and glory of that parish, in a fair and impartial manner. He complains that the police-constables who visited the haunted house obtained a false and inglorious triumph over the ghost’s authenticity, by threatening to make a ghost of the servant lass unless she confessed herself to be the author of all the strange appearances and disturbances. We are unwilling to believe that any respectable police-officers would so unwarrantably outstep their duty as our correspondent is led to believe, but we give the statement as he furnishes it. As for the “dobbie” work, he vouches for having seen “an arm chair and a table move on the floor, which he could not account for;” and it will be seen from the following narrative that he takes up the pleadings on behalf of the Orton outtre-tombe in an argumentative spirit:-
“Novel way of Conjuring the Orton Dobbie.
“Thursday week a constable and overseer from Penrith, and also a police-officer from Appleby, proceeded to the old farm house called Cowper’s, in order to prevent dobbie from performing any more of his wonderful feats. this they pretended to effect by taking the servant lass to the door and away with her to the back side of the house: when near the barn door they exhibited to her a pair of handcuffs and a clasp knife containing two blades, at the same time using most threatening language to the girl, who is only 13 years of age, if she did not confess that she had something to do with this mysterious affair.
“They proceeded into the house and stated the girl had confessed, and they would hear no more of bogie. This is the novel way in which dobbie was laid by the policemen, as stated in your last week’s publication. But dobbie, though scornfully treated, is not yet intimidated; he has re-appeared, and on Saturday last performed some wonderful tricks. Whatever may be the opinion of the shrewd Kendalians, or any other persons, there is still something connected with this mysterious affair which is quite unaccountable.
“Many respectable witnesses have corroborated the fact that with their own eyes they beheld chairs, tables, and other articles move in the house without any apparent cause. If it were a hoax in order to get the house rebuilt, why did dobbie accompany the family to Bybeck, and carry on its freaks there for two successive days? Whatever this mysterious agent may be we are at present unable to determine; no doubt ere long it will be unravelled.”
We have since received a statement that the dobbie renewed its antics on Saturday last, but as they seem to have been confined to the noiseless removal of pieces of furniture, pots and pans, &c., in the temporary absence of “the family” from the room, rocking the cradle, &c., we begin to think it after all a poor-spirited ghost, and of very ignoble ambition. “The apparition left the regions of the dead to little purpose,” (as Dr. Johnson would say in his pompous way), to prop up a table-leaf with a blue-edged plate, or to set in motion the cunabular receptacle for slumbering infancy.
Westmorland Gazette, 12th May 1849.
The Orton Ghost.
Mrs Gibson’s Statement.- On Thursday four men came into the house as near to two o’clock as I can remember, when Mr Torbeck, of Kirkby Stephen, was the first to enter. They conversed together, and appeared to be acquainted. About four o’clock my husband returned from Orton Fair, and shortly afterwards Mr Scott and the others came in. Mr Scott took a chair, and drew a book from his pocket, observing that he had come, like many more, through curiosity, to ascertain the truth of what he had heard, having found such excitement prevailing both in Westmorland and Cumberland, and that he wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, and to unravel the mystery. He then said to my husband, “You must tell us what you think upon the subject?” Who replied, “What can I think, or any person else, who has witnessed any of these unaccountable movements? it is an entire mystery to me.” He threw up his head saying, scornfully, “A mystery, in deed.” He then said, “Would you be so kind as to tell me when and how it began?” My husbands said he was not at home at the time, but i could tell them: whereupon I told them all I could possibly recollect, answering every question they put to me. But Mr Scott being impatient, stopped me abruptly, saying “That’ll do.”
He then asked my name and the girl’s, and said, “Will you be so kind as to take the child from the servant-girl, and allow her to go out with me for about five minutes?” He brought the child to me and took hold of the girl’s arm, another man taking hold on the other side; when she, being frightened, screamed out, as any young girl might have done in such a case.”
William Gibson states, – “Upon hearing the girl’s screams I immediately ran out and seized hold of her, to release her from their grasp. They both let go, and I asked them what they meant by treating the girl in that rude manner, telling them it was very strange for them to come here and act in such a way, and if they wanted her to go with them, they ought to have treated her more kindly, and not attempted to take her by force. I also told the girl not to be alarmed, and wished her to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. They, then, both took hold as before, and she walked between them round the back of the house to the barn-door. When they came in again, Scott said to me, ‘We have found out the mystery now, your wife and the girl have done it.’ I said, ‘I’ll not believe you.’ He replied, ‘The girl has confessed.’ I then said to the girl, ‘Ann, did you say that you did it? She replied, ‘They made me say it.’
“Upon this, Thomas Bousfield, a friend who was present said, ‘They have frightened her to it.’ As soon as he had said this, Mr Scott told him to hold his peace, as he had nothing to do with it. Then turning to me, he said, ‘We have now got to the bottom of the matter. Your wife, and the girl as her instrument, have occasioned all the disturbances. The girl has confessed, and your wife will confess also before we leave the house.’ When he said this, Mrs G., being afraid they would seize her, went out, and went to Mr Bousfield’s (the nearest house). Mr Scott and I were disputing about the girl’s statement, and I told him that I would neither believe him nor any one of his company, as I could believe my wife and the girl before any of them. I also said that I could not resist the evidence of my senses. What I myself had seen and heard I could believe.
“I then pointed to the links attached to the crane over the fire-place, which I had seen wrenched off and thrown upon the floor, when I took them up and replaced them, tying them with a string, after which they were frequently shaken, but never came off so long as the string remained. Next, I pointed to the pan upon the fire, saying I had seen the lid, made of cast-iron, taken off the pan and thrown upon the floor. I also pointed to the heavy arm-chair in the corner (no person being near it) and thrown upon its back, where it remained until I replaced it in its usual position.
“Mr Scott remarked that a person might do that without being very near it. Upon which I said, ‘Stand there, where you now are, and bring that chair out of the corner, as I have described, and then I will believe you.’ He held his head down, and gave me no answer. I then said, ‘You are a strange set of men to come here and act as you have done, attempting to cause disturbances in the family, and to make me and my wife disagree on account of such scandalous proceedings.’ He said it was a great pity that a girl like that should be in such a family and be ruined. I think he asked the name of her father, and noted it down, saying he would send him a letter and inform him of this, that he might take her away immediately. He also said, ‘I have come here this day to deliver her from this destruction;’ and observed, that we should hear no more of these disturbances.”
Ann Lindsay (the servant-girl) says, – “Mr Scott said to me, ‘Was it not you and your mistress who caused all the disturbances in the house?’ I said, ‘No, it was not?’ He said, ‘Yes, but it was you; if you won’t say that you did it I will immediately take you to gaol.’ I said, ‘No, I could not say so.’ He then pulled out an instrument, which he told me was a knife, having two blades, and if I did not say that I and Mrs Gibson had caused the disturbances, he would, in an instant, cut my throat.’ He said, might he not go in, and tell the master that we had done it all; that Mrs Gibson had done three parts of it and I the rest, for 5s. reward? I replied, ‘You may go and tell him, if you think, but we did not do it.’ I then ran away into the house, and one of them hit me with a stick before I got in, as they followed close after me.
(Signed) “WILLIAM GIBSON. “AGNES GIBSON. “ANN LINDSAY.”
Kendal Mercury, 12th May 1849.
Domestic Intelligence.
“The Westmoreland Ghost” has been discovered by a policeman. All the alarming noises, &c. which so disturbed the family were produced by the servant girl and her mistress, the latter wishing to induce her husband to quit the house, which she dislikes because it is very old.
The Albion, 14th May 1849.
The Westmoreland Ghost.
According to the Carlisle Journal of Friday, Mr Martindale Scott, high constable, Mr John Rayson, assistant overseer, Penrith, and Mr Benjamin Slee, paid a visit the other day to the haunted house, at Orton, and being shrewd men, of course discovered that the whole affair was a piece of gross trickery and delusion. The account runs thus: –
“When Mr Scott and party arrived at the house, they began questioning the woman and servant girl as to where and how the ‘unknown’ generally commenced the revolutionary uproar. Of the ghost’s labours they gave a truly formidable description, but in such a doubtful and complicated way, that Mr Rayson suspected the authenticity of the tale, and archly contrived, in the course of the inquiry, to perform several of the tricks so deceptiously, that the woman and girl repeatedly exclaimed – ‘O, God, it’s there again!”
Mr Rayson, in the meantime, was narrowly watching their movements and eventually was so thoroughly convinced that the representation was fabulous, that he desired to them to accompany him to that part of the house where they represented a sound was frequently heard like the note of a deep bass drum. He led the way, and kept a strict eye upon the manoeuvres of the parties; the sound was presently heard, and he immediately accused one of the two of striking against the wall; however, they resolutely persisted in their innocence ; he said denial was useless, as he saw a hand strike the wall, and he produced, in their presence, a similar sound, and the subsequent confusion of their countenances baffled their strongest efforts to appear composed.
Mr Rayson then proceeded to examine the material, and found it to be a thin temporary wood partition. He then, with his partners, called the girl aside, and told her that he had performed the tricks in the house without observation, and that he believed the whole was a concocted scheme; he next strongly represented to her the immorality of circulating such stories, if without foundation, and she at length confessed that the presence of supernatural agency was only an adopted tale that she had been prevailed upon by her mistress to assist in propagating the falsehood, and that they conjointly were the sole actors. Upon this being communicated to her mistress, she fled, and the cause of such singular conduct remains for exposition at some future period.”
Many of the old folks, however, still stand up for the honour and genuineness of his ghostship. A correspondent of the same paper gives this version of the visit of inspection and its results: – “On Thursday week a party of constables went by order of the magistrates to examine into the matter, and the servant girl confessed to them that herself and mistress were the dobbies. It is very currently rumoured, however, that this confession was extorted from the girl, who is only 13 or 14 years of age, by threats of punishment.
We have seen a gentleman who was present at the time, and he denies that any improper means were resorted to by the constables. Whether this was the fact or not does not matter much, for the dobbie has since been at work when both mistress and servant girl were out of the house; and many parties who have seen the strange performances declare that it was impossible any human hand, gifted with only human powers, could have played the tricks which they witnessed.
Amongst the visitors has been a very large number of dissenting preachers, many of whom have called their holy avocation into action, and endeavoured to lay the unruly ghost. Alas! however, their efforts have been fruitless. The true cause, whatever it may be, is as yet enveloped in much mystery.”
Liverpool Mercury, 15th May 1849.
(As Westmoreland Gazette 28th April)
As a matter of course, a love for the marvellous has induced hundreds to visit the locality, and among them have been several parties residing in Preston, one of whom has furnished the Preston Guardian with an account of what he himself witnessed. This gentleman spent about an hour in the “haunted house,” on Wednesday, and was eye-witness to the rocking of a cradle and the leaping of a metal spoon from a shelf without any visible agency! This spoon is said to have formerly belonged to the Mr. Gibson who met with his death by drowning, as above stated.
A few days ago the family removed to the house of a friend in their neighbourhood, thinking by that means to get rid of their unwelcome guest; but the “ghost” followed them, and the annoyances were renewed. From this, Mrs. Gibson concludes that the disturber of the peace is “not a spirit,” a stream having to be crossed in order to reach the abode of their friend; and a spirit, it is said, “was never known to cross a stream.”
A fireman on the railway affirms that whilst he was on the premises the other day, an invisible hand removed his cap from his head, and dashed it in his face.
The occurrences following were detailed to the gentleman second hand: – The lid of a metal pot rolled in at the porch, and broke into four pieces, which retreated in the same mysterious manner. A chain was removed from a “crook” over the fire, and thrown upon the ground; the chain was replaced, and tied on, when a violet tugging at the string was perceived. Mr Gibson and his servant man placed their hats in the cradle, and they were immediately thrown out in a most unaccountable manner. Two ladies were entering the house, when they encountered in the doorway a basin of water, which, to their great astonishment, was performing great gyrations in the air. A minister called with the intention of exorcising the “ghost” by prayer, but, receiving a blow on the head from something unseen, the reverend gentleman, concluding that he was an unwelcome visitor, made good his retreat. A gentleman from Kendal sat down in a chair, which, by the same mysterious agency, forthwith began to rock to and fro with such violence, that it was with difficulty he could get to his feet again.
On the first day of these extraordinary occurrences, Mrs. Gibson was completely exhausted with continually picking up the clothes which were thrown, as if by magic, from the child’s cradle: as often as she restored them to their place they were again removed, until she was compelled to give up the task in despair. On another occasion, the malicious and untiring “ghost” hurled at Mrs. G. a loaf, which, striking her wrist, lacerated the skin.
A few days ago, a visitor put down his walking stick in a corner of the room, and took a seat on the opposite side: in a short time, the stick took to itself legs, and cleverly walked across the floor to its astonished owner. The incident most marvellous of all remains to be related. A man who, some time ago, had been caught stealing eggs from the farm premises, went the other day to see the “boggart”: he had not long sat down before an egg came whizzing through the air from an opposite shelf, and struck him on the breast!
In short, plates and dishes without number have been broken, and almost every moveable article in the house in some way disturbed. Our informant (says the Preston Guardian) brought with him several pieces of the broken pots as curiosities, and intended favouring us with a view of them: unfortunately, however, on referring to the place where they had been deposited, it was discovered that these relics were missing, and, notwithstanding a diligent search, they were nowhere to be found.
The servant girl, though youthful, is said to have a cunning, sinister appearance; and, notwithstanding her assertions to the contrary, it is believed that she is cognizant of the agency by which results of so astonishing a nature have been accomplished.
Bradford Observer, 17th May 1849.
The Orton Ghost.
The excitement caused by the “Orton ghost” continues unabated, and though, as we stated on Saturday, its exhibitions had, since the visit paid by our reporter, been on a very limited scale, it seems to have commenced its operations, during the past week, with increased vigour.
On Monday morning last, our informant relates, Mr Mattinson, of Sockbridge Hall, near Penrith, a highly respectable farmer under the Earl of Lonsdale, visited Cowper’s House in company with his brother-in-law, Mr Thomas Atkinson, of Orton. They found the family at home, and there were also in the house Mr Robt. Farrer and Mr J. Robertson, joiners, Orton, who had been there over night.
Nothing remarkable had occurred previous to their getting up; but shortly after breakfast, as Farrer was passing the cow-house, he saw the bull stirk standing outside of the building, greatly to the dismay of Mr Gibson, who, coming up shortly after, along with Robertson, declared that the bull had been tied up in the byre, and no human being could have entered and unbound it.
Mr Mattinson, his companion and Robertson, on again entering the house, saw a water-dish moved from behind them, which dropped near the feet of the former. The small oak table in the keeping-room was moved a few inches, and an umbrella was thrown down from the partition, close to which it had been placeed. The drawer in the oak dining table next moved out of its place and dropped on the floor, without scattering any of the articles which it contained.
Mr Mattinson also observed the little oak table move, with the water-dish and milk-bowl upon it, though neither of them was thrown down or broken. In the course of the morning, also, the turf flew out of the fire in different directions on the floor.
On Tuesday, Mr John Garnett Holmes, of Old Hall, Orton, paid a visit to the spot. He appears to have been the most perservering of all the visitors, for he staid on the premises from nine in the morning till seven at night. His patience, though well nigh exhausted, was at length fully rewarded. Just as he was on the point of returning home, the fender bounded upwards, striking the child in Mrs Gibson’s arms, and creating no little alarm. A large stone was also broken in two by coming against the partition, and three chairs were moved from their position and thrown upon their backs.
These statements have been handed to us, with the signatures of the parties concerned. Every thing connected with this extraordinary affair remains as much a mystery as ever, and though speculation is afloat, and an infinite variety of solutions has been suggested, not one of the visitors seems to have made any approach to the detection of the imposture, for such it undoubtedly is.
The statement which we published last week from Mr and Mrs Gibson, and the servant girl, has given rise, as we expected it would, to counter statements. The two following documents which we have received, we here subjoin, as in impartiality we are bound to do:-
To the Editor of the Kendal Mercury. Sir – We beg leave to state that we have seen, with surprise and indignation, an article in the Kendal Mercury of the 12th inst., headed “Orton Ghost,” and signed, Wm. Gibson, Agnes Gibson, and Ann Lindsay, which we declare, in substance, to be false. And in that part of the article, which reflects on the conduct of Mr Scott, the high-constable of Penrith, towards the girl, Ann Lindsay, every word of which is a gross and scandalous falsehood, not one word of which is true. Mr Scott used no threats to the girl in question; his bearing and conduct towards her were the very reverse, – it was kind and conciliatory. No knife or weapon of any kind whatever was exhibited to her; neither did he make any promise to her of reward in money, or any thing else, whereby, to draw forth the statement which she made. He particularly cautioned her to tell the truth.
The only observations he made to her were the following: – “He asked her age, and if she knew where she would go if she told a lie,” which she answered to his satisfaction. He then said to her, “Do you know what will become of you, if you speak the truth?” which question she properly answered. Mr Scott then said, “Very well, now tell us the truth, and nothing but the truth, about the tricks which have played off in the house,” when she said, “I rocked the cradle – threw down the pail – struck at the partition, and numerous other tricks.” Question, “When persons were in the house?” She answered, “Yes, when persons were in the house.” Mr Scott then asked her, if any person beside her had to do with it, when she answered, without hesitation, “Her mistress had.” She was asked, “Had anyone else beside,” when she answered, after being in deep thought for a moment, “I think – I think the master had not.” We all of us then went into the house, the girl walking quietly beside Mr Scott.
In justice to Mr Scott, we will thank you to insert the foregoing in your next publication, And, we are, Your faithful servants, Benjamin Slee, Keeper of the House of Correction, Penrith. John Bird, Superintendent of the Rural Police, (East Ward) Appleby, Westmorland.
To the Editor of the Kendal Mercury.
Sir, – We were not a little surprised at seeing an article in your last week’s paper, reflecting on the conduct of the constables who visited Cowper’s house. We will briefly say (as the subject is not interesting to any but the most ignorant) the statements made by the Gibsons is totally false, and the girl’s, on the conduct of Mr Scott, only shows what she is capable of doing. Her story, also, is a tissue of falsehood from beginning to end. John Rayson, Assistant Overseer. John Lancaster, grocer and tea-dealer.
To the Editor of the Kendal Mercury.
Sir, – On the 3d inst., being at Orton fair, I was led, like many others, to call at Cowpers House, more through curiosity (yet with a view to detect) than any belief I had in supernatural beings. I got there between 3 and 4 p.m. My party consisted of Mr Bird, the superintendent of the Rural Police, Appleby, and two other gentlemen from that neighbourhood, and one from Penrith. On arriving there, we found Mr Slee, keeper of the House of Correction, Penrith, and three more gentlemen from that town. The party had been there for upwards of an hour before us. We now amalgamated and made one party. Gibson had been to Orton and he arrived simultaneously with us.
We may now state that Cowpers House, occupied by Gibson, is a miserable-looking place, situate on the top of a high bleak hill, almost inaccessible to any but horsemen and foot. You approach the inside of the house by and through a zig zag passage. The inside of the house is miserable and gloomy-looking, and we all agreed that never was there a house better calculated to carry on tricks of legedemain with success than the one in question, if skilfully performed. We were, indeed, all surprised that greater feats of deception had not been practised, which proved to demonstration that the actors in question are but new beginners in the art of magic.
We may be allowed to state here, that the accounts which have gone forth to the public are grossly exaggerated statements – in fact, not a twentieth part are true. The tricks which have really, and, in fact, been performed by this artful girl, with the child in her arms, and which Mrs Gibson related to us, are most ridiculous, and are nothing more than what might be readily accomplished by an expert person. How, indeed, the five persons whose names first figured in the Mercury, which gave the account of the wonderful supernatural performances of the ghost should have been gulled by the artifices of a girl of 13 is most extraordinary. No other five persons in the United Kingdom (excepting those who may be found located onthe fell sides in this parish of Orton) could have been so shamefully deceived.
As one of the party of the five is the parish doctor, it is supposed that he had used chloroform to his four partners, and that, while putting them under its agency, he himself had become affected, and that whilst the whole of them were in a state of stupor, but partly recovering, the ghost (seeing his men) went to work in good earnest, and performed all the tricks like magic, and with wonderful agility. This is the only reasonable way to account for these persons having been gulled by a girl of 13 years of age.
Get enlightened, and let us hear no more of the Worton Dobbie. On our proceeding to detail to Mr Gibson, how grossly he had been deceived by the servant girl, and that she had made a voluntary confession, (not extorted from her, as stated in your paper of last week, by threats and the gift of money) that she and her mistress had done it all, he became greatly excited, and could not be pacified. Why he became so, the public shall be the judge.
Had he been otherwise, and kept himself calm and quiet, all the mysterious tricks with which his wife has furnished to the public who have been there, including the tricks done when the five wise men before mentioned were in the house, should have been then and there performed, and performed, not by hobgoblins nor by mysterious spirits from the vasty deep, but by the assistance of the servant girl, or, if you like, by the servant girl alone, while nursing the child. In fact, the tricks which have been done are legerdemain tricks badly performed.
Let visitors who may be led to Cowpers House through curiosity, keep a sharp look-out after the servant girl, the mistress, and the master, if you like; for, since he has been told the way to find out the boggle, and he will not, persons will now suspect that he also has a hand in the deception. Some of the more enlightened inhabitants of the parish have paid a visit to Cowpers House, and have detected the girl. Since I have not their authority to publish their names, I send them to you privately. Yours truly, M Scott, Penrith, May 15, 1848.
Kendal Mercury, 19th May 1849.
The Orton Ghost.
In order to lay before our readers the fullest particulars of the strange and mysterious doings of the invisible ghost at Cowper House, Orton, we append the following accounts, gleaned from the two last numbers of the Kendal Mercury. We stated in the Chronicle of the 12th inst. that the ghost had been “laid” by a Penrith policeman; but, from subsequent details in various newspapers, it appears that the statement was premature. The place has been visited by a policeman, and others, from Penrith, by whom it was afterwards stated, on the word of the servant girl (about 13 years of age), to be nothing more than a hoax, got up by the mistress of the house and herself, for the avowed purpose of inducing Mr. Gibson, the husband, to leave the premises. This statement, as will be seen below, has since been contradicted by the Gibsons and the girl herself; and we leave the matter to our readers to decide for themselves in whose declaration they will place the most reliance. The following particulars are from the Kendal Mercuryof the 12th instant:-
The excitement connected with the wonderful disturbances occurring at Cowper’s House, during the past three or four weeks, remains unabated, and our statement, last week, that the whole had been discovered to be a gross imposition, practiced by the mistress and her servant girl for some unassigned reason, was premature. No sooner had our paper been issued from the press on Saturday, than messengers came to us from Orton, stating that the ghost had again made its appearance, and the conduct of the constables had been most shameful. Our natural love of the marvellous, and our desire to ascertain for ourselves what degree of truth there was in the wonderful stories we had heard, induced us to make a personal visitation of the spot on Monday, and we herewith detail the result of our enquiry for the enlightenment of our readers.
Cowper’s House is a miserable bleak farm house, situated at Gaitsgill, on the top of a hill chiefly composed of moor and swamp, about three miles from Orton, and about a mile from Tebay Railway Station. We arrived there about seven o’clock on Monday morning, and found Mr. Gibson and his family at home, with whom our party entered into conversation respecting the marvellous occurrences that had created so much sensation far and near.
They were very communicative, and gave the readiest and most straightforward answers to every question that was put to them. The conversation, after a while, naturally turned upon the conduct of the constables, and they expressed the utmost indignation at their outrageous demeanour. Our party, we may premise, consisted of five individuals, two of them residents at Orton, men of most unimpeachable character in every point of view, one Kendalian, who had been staying several days at Orton, engaged in superintending the fitting up of some new houses in the village, ourselves, and a companion who had come with us from Kendal. In a few minutes the servant girl made her appearance, with one of the children in her arms; and on being interrogated, gave precisely the same account of the behaviour of the constables, as we heard from the master and mistress, and as she had given to other parties.
One of the Orton gentlemen here produced a written document, drawn up from statements made on the previous Saturday by the respective parties, and after reading it carefully over, asked them if they were willing to put their names to it. They consented at once, and the others present added their names as attesting witnesses. The document is subjoined.
The visit of the Penrith constables seems to have quieted the ghost for a while, but it soon plucked up courage again, and on Saturday afternoon, the flyleaf of a table was raised, the sliding foot drawn out, and a dish from a plate-rack hard by placed upon it. The plate was removed to its place by the same invisible agency, and the table restored to its original condition. All this occurred when not a soul was in the room. On Sunday evening, also, sundry mysterious knocks were heard, though they could not have been of a very alarming nature, as the wife, on being asked if the ghost had exhibited since Saturday, said it had not, and it was only when her husband reminded her, that she spoke of these sounds.This appears to have been the last performance. The inmates profess that they have no fear. We took careful stock of the premises, and could easily have detected any collusion on the part of the inmates.
Hundreds of persons have visited the spot, not only from the immediate neighbourhood, but from distant places, some even from Glasgow and Edinburgh. In the immediate neighbourhood, implicit belief prevails in the reality of the supernatural appearances. High and humble, rich and poor, gentle and low born, all are in the same mind, and seem almost to resent the slightest expression of scepticism.
April 17th, the first day of the strange appearances, was the fifth anniversary of the death, by drowning, of Gibson’s uncle, a man of some wealth, and his wraith has been often seen, not only by neighbours, but by the family themselves. It was suggested by one of our party, that the whole was an ingenious scheme to levy contributions; but so far as we can learn, the visitors do not generally think themselves bound to give money, as they cause no trouble or cost to the inmates, who are not, so far as we can learn, either needy or greedy people. Another theory is, they want to get a better farm-house; but the fact that the ghost “skifted” with them to Byebeck refutes that supposition, so that all is as dark as before.
Mr Lipsett, the superintendent of the Kendal police, also visited the spot, though not in his official capacity, on Wednesday last. His ghostship would not exhibit his tricks in his presence. He asked the inmates if they would allow him to stay two or three days there, as he would gladly remain for the purpose of gratifying his curiosity; but they declined on the plea of want of accommodation, though he declared himself willing to be satisfied with an arm-chair, and referred him to the Cross Keys, promising to summon him at the first opportunity. Such an arrangement was obviously unsatisfactory, and he was obliged to leave as wise as ourselves.
[after this the family’s statements as above, and the report and letters as above, from the Mercury].
Preston Chronicle, 26th May 1849.
To the Editor of the Westmorland Gazette.
[…] I had heard of a pilgrimage undertaken by your contemporary in person to the haunted spot […] Judge, then, of my disappointment at finding nothing [in the paper] concerning the ghost but a rigmarole repetition of the inanities already put forth on the subject, and assurances on the faith of “statements handed to us, with the signatures of parties concerned,” that a bull stirk had been mysteriously found outside the byre in which it had been fastened, although “no human being could have entered and unbound it,” that an umbrella was thrown down from a partition, and that “turf flew out of the fire in different directions on the floor!” All these prodigies being gravely vouched for.
Surely, sir, there needs no ghost come from the grave to perform such tricks as these. But as your contemporary seems greedy of marvels, I will contribute an item to his Orton Dobbie stock, in my opinion much more mysterious and quite as well authenticated as the incidents just alluded to. I am told that there is in the “ingle neak” of the haunted house an old arm chair, wherein the revenant while he was yet in the body, used to take his nap in the afternoon. At times, when no other spectator is aware of any sudden change in the number of souls present, the old dog raises himself up and looks to the chair with a wag of his tail far more significant than even Lord Burleigh’s celebrated shake of his head, and walks sniffing round the chair as though testifying doggish delight at certain unseen “pettlings” and caresses.
Now, sir, I call this a really striking “statement”. The testimony of the dog’s tail is, in my opinion, worth a hundred tales about umbrellas and walking sticks being moved about, peats flying out of the fire, or flaps of tables and pots and dishes suddenly changing their position. It proves also the comfortable and cosy character of the Orton ghost. Generally speaking, ultra-mundane visitors have the name of being grim and appalling in aspect, and there is supposed to be a “wormy circumstance” about them, a redolence of coffin mould and a sepulchral atmosphere that deters even sagacious quadrupeds from making a very close acquaintance with them:-
‘The dogs as they eyed him drew back with affright, / And the lights in the chamber burnt blue!’ But this Old Boy at Orton is clearly of a healthful kind, and I would wager, Mr. Editor, that if the dog could give his testimony to the affidavit-hunting Editor of the Mercury he would depose, in addition to “I see a form you cannot see,” &c., that the shadowy representation of a foaming tankard stood within reach of the much-loved form, and that the ghost of a yard of clay, filled with a peculiar kind of “returns,” sent up the faintest of tobacco-reeks that exhales in a cloud, looming almost invisible (“the shadow of a shade”) even to doggish perspicuity of vision. […] I am, sir, yours &c., AGRICOLA
Westmorland Gazette, 26th May 1849.
[there are several rambling letters in the Kendal Mercury – an extract from one:]
4. Your correspondent’s fourth argument betrays an ignorance of the facts of the case, of which, as he rushed into a contest on the subject, he ought not to have been guilty. He says that the Dobbie chose the companies before it performed, never coming out in the presence of any one but believers. This I beg leave to contradict. That it was not at all times in motion, I allow; but it was sometimes in motion for days together, and then for some days it was quiet, and it was during one of these intervals of quiescence that you and Mr Lipsett were at the place; so that his ingenious argument as to the Dobbie’s fears of detection, at once falls to the ground.
5. He next argues that the house is small and dark, and therefore well adapted for tricks of legerdemain. This I shall not attempt to deny. But the house at Bybeck, in which the ghost “performed” for two days, is a good-sized farm-house, and not deficient in light. There is another thing which I may, perhaps, be allowed to mention here, viz., that during part of those two days, while the disturbances were going on at Bybeck, none of Gibson’s family were there, except the children, the eldest of whom is but 3 years old. How does he reconcile this with his opinion? How is it possible that Mrs Gibson or the servant could cause the disturbances at Bybeck, while they were at Cowper House, distant more than a mile?
There is an old and homely proverb, which your correspondent has probably heard, to the effect, that “an if spoils many a good story,” and it seems to be verified in this instance. He states very confidently that “the tricks performed are of a very simple nature, such as a very ignorant person might play with success.” So far it is a “good story,” if he could only prove it, but then he spoils it with the reservation which follows, “if the parties before whom he was performing were sufficiently gullible.” Now suppose they were not “sufficiently gullible,” how then? A traveller might say that he had seen mountains of sugar and rivers of milk, and he would be believed, if the parties to whom he related it were “sufficiently gullible;” but that is no proof that there are such things, neither is your correspondent’s assertion with the proviso any proof that the disturbances at Cowper House were caused by legerdemain.
6. The ghost could not have “lost courage” entirely after the visit of the Penrith constables, for it had nearly ceased before, and it was in motion, more or less, for a day or two afterwards. It then was perfectly quiet for several days, after which it recommenced with greater violence than before.
This your correspondent seems to doubt, but I have good proof of it, as a very near relative of mine was there, and witnessed some of its movements, after it had resumed operations. […]
I may here mention that Mrs Gibson has been, and, I believe, still continues very ill, and the medical gentleman who attends her says that her illness has been brought on by fear and cold. Nor can this be wondered at, when it is known that she has frequently been obliged to go out of the house, and remain out for a considerable time, because she dared not stay in the house by herself. Does this look as if she had been the contriver of it all? […]
Kendal Mercury, 2nd June 1849.
To Correspondents.
Anti-materialist – We have no room for long-winded letters, pro and con, on the subject of the so-called Orton Ghost. The thing is exploded.
Westmorland Gazette, 9th June 1849.
NY 63094 04216 Cooper House – now gone?
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4006956
The publication in these columns of one of Mr W T Stead’s “Real Ghost” stories, and of the comments on the book itself, seems to have excited uncommon interest amongst our readers. One esteemed correspondent sends us an account of some strange occurrences which took place at a lonely Westmoreland farmhouse, about two miles from Tebay and two and a half from Glaisgill. The family living there were at one time put to considerable annoyance by the sudden pranks which the furniture and other articles began to play.
Tin cans and chairs seemed to be endowed with life, and jumped about in the most surprising manner; whilst rappings on the stairs and doors were frequent. On one occasion, says the writer, a man’s hat, which had been laid in the cradle, flew across the room. The owner said, “Come now, thou needn’t abuse my old hat, as it is the best I have,” when it jumped back into the cradle.
Prayer meetings were held and various devices resorted to with the idea of exorcising the dobby (ghost), but to no purpose, and the family left the house and went to another farm about two miles away, whereupon the strange manifestations ceased. On their return, however, the annoyance recommenced, and people used to come from all parts of the country to see the strange goings-on. Our correspondent omits to say whether the “dobby” was eventually laid, or whether he is still carrying on his mischievous pranks.
Norther Echo, 1st December 1891.
The Orton Boggle.
The Westminster Gazette has been engaged for some weeks in unveiling Isis and revealing the great Mahatma deception; but let no one suppose that the so-called manifestations from the “world of spirits” and the subsequent unmasking of them is a form of amusement peculiar to our own day. There are many “boggle” stories still current in country districts. The most important of these was that of the Willington Ghost, but there was also one nearer at hand known as the “Orton Boggle.”
In the year 1849 Cowper’s Farm, Gaisgill, near Orton, Westmorland, was reported to be the scene of strange and inexplicable disturbances. The cradle in which the infant child of Mr. Gibson, the farmer, was sleeping was upset, the chairs, tables, and other articles of furniture began to dance about the floor as if inspired with life without any human intervention, so far as could be seen; and upon one occasion the churn was pulled out of its place by the same invisible hand and set in motion. Upon another day the milk in the dairy was skimmed and dashed about “like spray of the ocean.”
It is hardly necessary to add that these extraordinary movements created the greatest excitement in the district, and one day when the uproar became more violent than usual the neighbours were called in to witness the strange doings.
Most of the people who were thus summoned attributed the occurrence to the devil, and Mr. Thomas Bland, brother-in-law of the farmer, under that belief offered up prayer and adopted other means which he thought were calculated to exorcise the evil spirit. His efforts, however, were in vain. so much so that while he was engaged in his devotions a knife was thrown at him with considerable force and it struck against his side. Thus convinced that he was not a welcome guest he left the house, and was accompanied by Mr. Gibson and the family.
What added to the perplexities of Mr. Bland was that [sic] upon a table, and after he had gone to another part of the room the hat followed him and struck against his head, no one being near him at the time who could possibly have thrown it.
A few days afterwards a party of ten men went from Orton to make investigations at Cowper’s Farm, and no sooner had they entered the house than everything was put in motion in such a mysterious way that they were completely baffled in their endeavours to discover the cause. Hundreds of people continued to flock to the house daily in order to satisfy their curiosity, and on Sundays the place was thronged like a country fair.
Many were the extraordinary tales which these investigators had to relate, but no satisfactory clue could be found to the mystery. The Orton ghost became the talk of the whole country side, and at length in the second week in May, Mr. Martindale Scott, Penrith, high constable for the Leath Ward, set out to bring some common sense to bear upon the mysterious movements at Cowper’s Farm. He was accompanied by Mr. John Rayson, assistant overseer, Penrith, and Mr. Benjamin Slee, and these three went with a full determination to fathom the mystery. They had not long to wait for the manifestations.
While the High Constable was interrogating “the woman and servant girl” a noise was heard like the note of a deep bass drum, and the girl repeatedly exclaimed, “Oh God, it’s there again!” every time that the boom of the drum was heard. Mr. Rayson, however, had kept both his eyes and ears well open, and ascending the stair to an upper chamber he found that exactly the same noise as that which he had heard could be produced by striking the hand upon a thin partition wall. The girl, who was about 13 or 14 years of age, was then taken aside, and she confessed that the mysterious sounds and movements had been caused by the mistress and herself. They had been the “bogie.”
The following verses, headed “The Worton Boggle,” and evidently written by Mr. Rayson, one of the investigators referred to, were printed at the time:-
The Worton Boggle.
Wey Davie, has te heard the news / About the Worton Boggle? It’s turn’d the clock the wrang side up / And made the house aw joggle. / What awsome sights there’s to be seen; / Our Matt was there on Sunday, / And saw the cradle wi’ the bairn/ Gan bashing through the window.
Aw things were strow’d about the house / In sic confus’d disorder, / The varra plates began to speak, / The yeck kist cried out murder; / The auld kale pot rang like a bell, / Great stones cam through the ceiling, / The barn, just like a drunken man, / Frae side to side was reeling.
The pot flew out the chimney top, / Bricks fell down wi’ a rumble, / The tables, forms, and coppy stuils / About the fluir did tumble; / Daft Bet was drawn into the clouds / Wi’ cords about her middle; / The chairs were dancing round and round; / Old Nick play’d on the fiddle.
Our wisest man o’ Worton went, / Among them Dr. Stowback – / A clever chap, though Penrith fowk / Hae chrristen’d Neddy Hawbuck; / They saw sic sects[?] and telt sic tales, / Which meade aw gape and wonder – / They heard sic weyld unearthly shouts, / As loud as any thunder.
Ye fell-side bodies [?] allow / To be yer friend, adviser; / Sic fancies soon will leave yer heads,/ When yer a little wiser. / Ye fuils o’Worton wisdom learn, / Nor be sic weak believers, / Yer neighbours at the Boggle Haw / Are nought but base deceivers.
R. Penrith.
It might have been supposed that the story having been exploded the interest in the Westmorland boggle would have ceased, but this was not so. The manifestations were continued upon a limited scale for some weeks longer. Mr. Mattinson, of Sockbridge Hall, near Penrith, a highly respectable farmer under the Earl of Lonsdale, visited the house in company with his brother-in-law and stayed there all night. The family were now at home. Nothing remarkable occurred during the night, but shortly after breakfast next morning a bull was found standing outside a cowhouse in which it had been tied up, and Mr. Gibson declared that no human being could have unbound it.
The visitors saw a water dish move from behind them and drop at the feet of one of the party; an oak table was moved a few inches, and an umbrella standing against the wall was thrown down. The drawer in an oak table moved out of its place and dropped on the floor without scattering any of its contents; the turf flew out of the fire in various directions on the floor, and there were other manifestations which could not be accounted for, except upon the supposition that they had been made by some supernatural agency.
These particulars I have culled from the reports which appeared in the Carlisle Journal at the time, and the last of them concludes with the following sentences:- “These statements have been handed to us with the signature of the parties concerned. Everything connected with this extraordinary affair remains as much a mystery as ever, and though speculation is afloat and an infinite variety of solutions has been suggested, not one of the visitors seems to have any approach to the detection of the imposture, for such it undoubtedly is. – “Crayon” in the Carlisle Journal.
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, 1st December 1894.
Letters to the Editor.
Orton Boggle.
Sir, – Noting in the “Observer” that some old stories have been revived, and that you still have readers who have a love for the marvellous, I enclose herewith one for which possibly you may find a place.
Ho, Jack, an’ did ye hear the news / About the Worton Boggle? / It turns the tables upside down / and maks the hoose aw joggle.
These were the opening lines of a doggerel ditty recited or sung by the Cumberland and Westmorland farm lads while stories of the strange freaks of the invisible but active ghostly visitant to a farm house at Orton were rife in every village in North Westmorland and Cumberland. It was the principle subject of discourse in every village public house. The usual greeting as the rustics met every evening was “What’s the latest news of the boggle’s doing at Orton?” – or as it was more generally called “Worton,” in the vernacular of the fellsides. The stories of the Strange, Ghostly, and Queer grew more and more marvellous as they were retold, inciting some of the more daring to make pilgrimages to Orton to see and hear for themselves.
In our village lived an Irishman who had married a Cumberland lass. His name was Sammy Stanfield, and his wife was a relative of the people occupying the haunted Orton farm house. Sammy resolved he would take a day off from his usual toil of digging, draining, or dykeing, make a visit to Orton and explore – and possibly explode – the mysteries of the haunted house. So starting early on a Saturday morning with a stout staff in hand he took a long day’s tramp to Orton, and spent the Sunday at the haunted house, the home of his wife’s relatives. There were gathered there such a crowd of curious visitors from a wide circuit of country that it excited wonder how they could all be fed and accommodated with lodging.
The haunted house was crowded during the day, and from Sammy’s account had ample opportunity of seeing a display of ghostly tricks and antics played with tables, chairs, dishes, cutlery, boots, clogs, pails and pattens, all of which were for the time being freed from the law of gravitation, some jumping from place to place, dancing jigs or hornpipes, or flying through the air in dangerous proximity to heads and faces.
Sammy dwelt particularly on his narrow escape from a flat-iron, which flew across the room, almost grazing his right temple. He came home satisfied that if Ireland could beat the kingdom in production of witches and spooks, this part of England was taking a lead in lively ghosts. At his home village he was as much an object of inquiring curiosity as the haunted house was at Orton. He for a time was a person of more importance than he had ever been before in all his life. All his neighbours and acquaintances were plying him with questions as to what he had heard and seen, and the more he exercised his descriptive faculties the more wonderful his stories grew – not that he would wilfully exaggerate, for no more truthful man could be found in the two counties.
Among those who came to interview him was a somewhat pompous individual, a man of local importance as a large land owner. He was a churchwarden, and held some other parish offices under the old regime. He found Sammy surrounded as usual by a little coterie of inquirers. When Mr S— rode up to the group he was on horseback, and from that elevation proceeded to question Sammy in a somewhat peremptory manner, and jeering him at the same time for his credulity and provoking him still more by insinuations that too many rests at wayside taverns on his tramp, with consequent drinks, had blunted his perceptions and excited his imagination; that boggles, ghosts, and will-o’-the-wisps were the products of disordered minds.
“Och, man, but you’re an unbelieving Tammas,” rejoined Sammy; “maybe if ye’d go and see for yerself, and git a crack on the head wid a flying rowlin pin, it ud knock some sinse into ye; then ye could come back and tell us what did it.”
Sammy was a zealous Methodist, and had little respect for churchwardens or Church dignitaries of any kind, and he keenly resented the insinuation as to his being intoxicated, as he was a strict teetotaller. He declared his belief that nothing less than a Roman Catholic priest, with bell, book, and candle, would be able to settle the ghost and stop his tricks! “Sure, wasn’t that the way they laid the spirit of old Lord Lowther, generally spoken of as Jamie Lowther’s ghost, who in his yellow coach wid four horses had been seen riding over Whinfell tree tops, or down the face of a precipitous scaur on the banks of the Eden?”
The mysterious visitant to Orton left the neighbourhood without ever revealing who he was, why he came, or where he came from. He left a large unsettled bill for broken crockery at the house where he cut up his shines, and I thought the old story of the Orton Boggle was forgotten until I saw it revived in “Northerner’s” column of the “Observer.” – Yours, &c., M.K.R.
Flesherton, Canada, February 10th, 1913.
Penrith Observer, 4th March 1913.
A Poltergeist In Westmorland.
Most of the readers who frequent the library of the British Museum are aware that, owing to the immense bulk of the printed matter which annually flows into its presses, it was found necessary some few years since to build another repository at Colindale, near Hendon, in order to house the stacks of bound newspapers of every class which tend to accumulate so rapidly. In these new premises it is possible to consult not only files of the great dailies, or literary and technical journals, etc., printed since AD 1800 in the metropolis, but also to inspect obscure provincial weeklies wherein is often preserved detailed information regarding sensations of local interest quite beneath the notice of our more dignified London editors. Some time ago my attention was drawn to a curious case of poltergeist disturbances reported in Westmorland as far back as 1849. The only account I had seen was that published by the well-known William Howitt (author of “A History of the Supernatural” and many other works), which professed to be taken from the Westmorland Gazette of that date. There were unusual features in the case, and I was anxious to see whether Mr Howitt’s statement could be corroborated by other contemporary notices from the same part of the country. I betook myself to Colindale, and there was able to search at m y leisure not only the journal named by Mr Howitt, but also two other newspapers, the Kendal Mercury and the Carlisle Journal, which suggested the prospect of some further illumination. But, first of all, it will be desirable to quote at some length the narrative I had already seen. It runs as follows:
“The Westmorland Gazette of that time relates the following extraordinary occurrences. Near the little town of Orlon (sic., a misprint for Orton) stood an old country house with its wall, gardens and fishpond, the property of Mr Robert Gibson, who would appear to have been an old bachelor, as his nephew, William Gibson, lived with him. The old man was found, to the astonishment of the whole neighbourhood, drowned either in the fishpond or in a ditch connected with it. A year after this his nephew, who inherited the property, married a daughter of Mr John Bland of Bybeck and took her to this house. The whole inhabitants of the house were the married couple, two little children, and a maid-servant; no man, besides Gibson himself, slept in it. Suddenly, on April 17, 1849, the whole neighbourhood was startled by the report that the house was haunted in a very extraordinary manner. There were knockings on the walls and doors; articles that stood on shelves and consoles flew off to the ground, one thing after another. The next day it began again half an hour before noon. Two childs’ chairs that were placed in a cradle began to move; the cradle rocked itself, the chairs flew out of it together with the baby-linen, and then flew under the fire-grate. The old-fashioned chairs of the room began to dance with incredible swiftness; one only stood stock still, and this had been lately purchased at an auction, the rest belonged of old to the house. The churn was capsized out of the door, the churn-dish and cover flew here and there to the amazement of the maid who daily used them. They flew against the door and bounced back. The maid shrieked fearfully at the sight. But then the table with dishes and plates rose up from the ground and pitched about madly. Knives, forks, spoons, the cruet stand, etc., and different vessels, rattled on the walls or shelves as if they would leap off and take part in a general witch dance. The tablecloth blew itself out as a sail. Most extraordinary was it to see the salt and pepper spring out of their receptacles and cross each other in the air, whirling about like a swarm of bees, and then return unmixed, each to their own place. The butter-slice circled round the table like the moon round the earth, till it fell all at once on the table and on the dish where it had before lain.”
Let me interrupt Mr Howitt’s narrative to say that while the Westmorland Gazette for April 28, 1849, undoubtedly does print a description of the disturbances at Orton – the house was called “Cowper’s farm” – the account is very far from agreeing textually with that just quoted. In particular, there is not a word said about the salt and the pepper or about the evolutions of the butter-slice. Mr Howitt was an honest man, and I take it that his version of the incident must have been derived from some third, unnamed, source which perhaps made reference to the Westmorland Gazette as its authority, but did not confine itself to what was there stated. The phenomena mentioned in that journal accord pretty well with the earlier part of the story, but do not include the sensational incidents which centred round the dinner table. But to continue:
“William Gibson and his wife hastened with the maid and the little children to Mr Robert Bousfield, a neighbour, to seek his advice. At first he laughed at the whole thing, but going back with them after tea, was soon satisfied of the truth; and retreating from the house in alarm, invited the inhabitants to go along with him. This they did, but on the 19th of April returning, they received a visit from Mr Bland, from Bybeck, brother of Mrs Gibson, and as they sat at tea Mr Thomas Bland’s hat was raised from the table where it stood, and flung under the fireplace. Then everything on hooks and nails on the wall began to swing to and fro. Coats and cloaks were all alive, gowns puffed themselves out in balloon-like and in the hoop-petticoat style. An old riding coat of the late Robert Gibson was agitated in an astonishing way, stretching the right and then the left arm out, and a pair of old riding boots issued from a lumber room and came walking downstairs. At this sight the young Gibson, who had so far laughed at the whole of it, became struck with fear. He rose up pale and declared that they had better go altogether to Bybeck for a while. This they did, quitting the house and leaving it to the ghost. And two weeks later, when this account appeared, they still remained there.
“On the 21st of April a number of persons from Orton went to and through the house, but all was still. On the 24th a party of gentlemen, the surgeon Torbuck, and Messrs. Elwood, Wilson, Robertson, Atkinson, and Bland of Bybeck, made a fresh examination and finding all quiet, advised the family to return. They did so , but no sooner were they in the house, than all the old commotion commenced. It was observed that when the children entered the house the disturbance was always the worst. The family were compelled to abandon the house, and the people of the neighbourhood shook their heads and whispered that the old Gibson could not have come fairly to his end.”
Howitt, “Throwing of Stones and other Substances by Spirits,” 1865, (seemingly reprinted from the Spiritual Magazine) pp. 22-24.
Whatever may have been the real source of this information, the whole story is very puzzling, and at the same time instructive. Howitt leads the reader to suppose that the facts narrated by him were vouched by the Westmorland Gazette, but anyone who studies the successive issues of that paper will discover that the first rather hesitating description of the phenomena, which appeared on April 28, 1849, at once provoked sceptical protests. The announcement which next meets us in the same journal runs as follows:
“We are informed that the ghost has been laid by a policeman, Mr Slee. The said officer from Penrith elicited from the maid that she, with the connivance of the “missus”, had been the contriver of all the “dobbie” work, their motive being a dislike to the house, which is at present very old and ramshackle. The stories of the internal parts of the churn flying through the air are, of course, gross fictions.”
There seems no doubt that the “servant maid,” who, one discovers, was a mere child, thirteen years old, did, when taken apart and interrogated by two police officers, make some sort of confession. But, so far as I can learn, the only definite act to which she pleaded guilty was that of knocking on the wall in a way which led people to suppose that the spook was doing it. The girl afterwards maintained that she was intimidated by the exhibition of a pair of handcuffs and a two-bladed jack knife. It is likely enough that she lied about it. The policemen, on their part, indignantly asserted that they had been as gentle as possible with her. But in the midst of the conflict of evidence it seems pretty cleear that the ghost alleged to have been laid by the prompt action of the police did quite definitely manifest on one or two occasions subsequently. And there were other difficulties. In a letter printed by the Westmorland Gazette on May 12th, and emanating from a resident at Orton, we are told that –
“‘Dobbie’, though scornfully treated, is not yet intimidated; he has reappeared and on Saturday last (May 5th) performed some wonderful tricks. Whatever may be the opinion of the shrewd Kendalians (the Gazette was published at Kendal) or any other persons, there is still something connected with this mysterious affair which is quite unaccountable. Many respectable witnesses have corroborated the fact that with their own eyes they beheld chairs, tables and other articles move in the house without any apparent cause. If it were a hoax to get the house rebuilt why did dobbie accompany the family to Bybeck and carry on its freaks there for two successive days?”
I do not doubt that to critics of the temper of the late Mr Frank Podmore, any admission of trickery by a child concerned in the case, will seem sufficient to render all further inquiry superfluous. Such people conclude at once that the whole proceeding from beginning to end can be nothing but a fraud. But for my part I submit that once we allow that such weird happenings as those here described may possibly be real, it is almost inevitable that any mischievous child who was in the centre of all the excitement and who had found that there was nothing to be particularly afraid of, would seize the opportunity of keeping the fun going, and would probably lie if questioned afterwards. For an adult a chair moving of itself is a serious problem inspiring a certain element of fear, but for a thoughtless little girl it is simply a lark, once she has got used to the strangeness of it.
On the other hand, the evidence adduced in behalf of poltergeist phenomena by such competent observers as Sir William Barratt, Professor Lombroso, Baron von Schrenck Notzing, Alexander Aksakow, and many others, is, in my judgment, quite irresistable. There are cases when stones are hurled from empty space, heavy tables and bedsteads are moved without human contact, and chimney ornaments fly about in eccentric paths. The doubt whether we are or are not in contact with such a genuine case is not settled by a child’s confession that she has herself slyly hammered on a wall or thrown a few pebbles when nobody was looking. Neither, may I add, is the spurious nature of the phenomena proved because we can show that there has been gross exaggeration on the part of some of the witnesses. The more really astonished and bewildered the rustic is, the more prone he is to embellish the account he subsequently gives of what he believes he saw. There cannot, I think, be any question that the excitement caused in the neighbourhood by the report of these happenings was considerable; though that perhaps proves little. The newspaper I have so far been quoting states that on Sunday, April 29th, “not less than five hundred persons visited the spot.” They do not appear to have seen much of Mr Gibson, but all the talking, we are told, was done by the mistress and a “mischievous-looking servant lass.” The fact, however, that this girl was only thirteen years old does not seem to have been disputed.
Besides the Westmorland Gazette, there was another weekly paper, the Kendal Mercury, which was likewise published at Kendal. Seeing that Orton is only fifteen miles distant, it was inevitable that the Mercury also should take an interest in the case. I have looked through the issues for April, May and June in the year we are concerned with, but I have not discovered any new facts of notable importance* (*The account printed in the Mercury for April 28th does, however, add some few particulars in the description it gives of the general racket. It tells us, for example, that the milk from the churn “was dashed about like spray”; and it mentions that on April 19th, Mr Bland, Gibson’s brother-in-law, having “offered up a prayer, a knife was thrown at him which struck against his side.”)
In the Mercury, as in the Gazette, opinions seemed to be very much divided. On May 26th, when the interest was beginning to die down, the former journal printed a long letter signed “An Unbelieving Jew,” which ridiculed the whole history. On June 2nd, however, an equally long reply from “A Believing Christian” seems to have been the final contribution admitted by the Mercury on this subject. It impresses me as a document of great good sense, and I hope to be pardoned for making two or three quotations. Taking the indictment framed by his opponent, paragraph by paragraph, we find the believer stoutly contending:
“I must also object to his next argument which is that the statements in the newspapers were made from hearsay. The statement which first appeared in your paper was authenticated by the names of five individuals who were eye-witnesses of the doings there related… Again he seems unwilling to accept of those who, as he terms it, are “tainted with hereditary superstition.” As I do not know he defines such a disease, I am unable to determine whether I am myself afflicted with it or not; but this I know, that before I had been to the place I was even more incredulous than the “Jew” himself, as I regarded all ghosts, apparitions, etc., as superstitious fancies; and it was not until I had seen things done which no human power could do that I would believe.” “A Believing Christian”, in the Kendal Mercury, June 2, 1849.
The writer, whose choice of words shows him to have been a man of education, goes on to propound a very serious difficulty to the contention of the police that the disturbances were caused by Mrs Gibson and the maid. He declares very positively – and the same statement was made elsewhere – that other phenomena occurred at Bybeck when “none of Gibson’s family were there except the children, the eldest of whom is but three years old. How is it possible,” he asks, “that Mrs Gibson or the servant could cause disturbances at Bybeck, while they were at ‘Cowper House,’ distant more than a mile?” As against the allegation that the police, by visiting the farm and putting the fear of the Lord into the maid, had laid the ghost, which thereafter “lost courage,” “A Christian Believer” replies:
“The ghost could not have “lost courage” entirely after the visit of the Penrith constables, for it had nearly ceased before, and it was in motion, more or less, for a day or two afterwards. It then was perfectly quiet for several days, after which it recommenced with greater violence than ever. This your correspondent seems to doubt, but I have good proof of it, as a very near relative of mine was there, and witnessed some of its movements after it had resumed operations.”
Finally, with regard to the maid, whom he describes as “a mere child,” he remarks:
“Now I know that, at first, she was excessively frightened and cried very much; but when she saw so many people visiting the place, numbers of whom were inclined to regard it in the light of an amusement, is it surprising that, with the natural versatility of childhood, she should begin to look upon it in the same way? I do not say that such would have been the case had there been any apparition, far from it; but as it was, there was nothing frightful about it. The tapping at the window [this was admitted by the girl] was merely done as a practical joke upon a good-natured neighbour in the house.”
It cannot, I think, be pretended that in the discussions concerning the Orton spook which then went on in Cumberland and Westmorland the sceptical side achieved any notable victory. It must be sufficient to cite one extract from the Carlise Journal, then the leading newspaper of that remote part of England, which says in the course of an editorial on the subject:
“Whether the girl was frightened into confession or not does not matter much, for the dobbie has since been at work when both mistress and servant girl were out of the house, and many parties, who have seen the strange performance, declare that it was impossible any human hand, gifted with only human powers, could have played the tricks they witnessed… The truth is yet enveloped in much mystery.”
Shortly after Mr Howitt had sent to the Spiritual Magazine the account printed at the beginning of this article, a supplementary note appeared in the same journal (July, 1865) in the following form. The writer was speaking from his recollection of an incident sixteen years old. It is not, then, surprising if, in some unimportant details, his memory was inexact. The police, for example, seem to have come from Penrith, and not from Kendal. The letter runs thus:
“Liverpool, 8th February, 1865.
Sir. — It was my intention to send you some account of the “riotous haunting” in Westmorland, had I not seen that in your last number Mr Howitt gives a fuller narrative than it was in my power to give. I may yet, however, add a few items which may be interesting. The haunted house stood on a dreary upland moor called Orton Fell (not Orlon), about two miles from Teebay Station, on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. At the time the disturbances took place – about sixteen years ago – I had frequent occasion to travel on that line, was well acquainted with the enginemen and others employed upon it, and heard a deal about the “Orton Boggart,” as it was called. At first I received the rumours as a hoax; but they became so numerous, and were given with such circumstantial minuteness, by people I knew to be entirely trustworthy, that I, along with a friend, was induced to pay a visit to the place.
But when we got to Teebay station, we were told not to go any farther, as the disturbances had ceased. We went, however, to see the house, and when there we got from the inmates a somewhat similar account to the one Mr Howitt extracts from the Westmorland paper. In addition to that, we were told that the police had come from Kendal to investigate the case, that suspicions had fallen on the servant girl, whom they had handled rather roughly and taken with them to Kendal, and that during her absence there were no manifestations. This seemed to give some colour to the suspicions of the police that the whole affair was a trick of the girl’s, and this, indeed, was the conclusion most people, without thinking, jumped to. But that a young girl of about fifteen years of age could have done the things both seen and heard, is too preposterous to bear a thought; and if they really did not take place unless when she was present, the only reasonable conclusion is that she was the necessary medium.
“We were somewhat disappointed at not seeing or hearing something direct from the Boggart itself; but the people of the house spoke so seriously about it (always alluding to it as IT), that we could have no doubt of their truthfulness; and if the effects of the noisy proceedings could add to our belief, we saw abundance of these in the shape of broken dishes.
“Some most curious incidents we got from the engineman, who with his engine was then stationed at Loup’s Fell, and whose duty it was to assist goods trains up the steep incline to Shap. He told us that one Sunday morning he and his fireman determined to visit the Boggart House. They had better than two miles to walk, and, passing a small farm-steading, the fireman robbed a hen’s nest of two or three eggs, wherewith they had rum and eggs at a public house about half way. On entering the haunted house the engineman respectfully took off his cap and sat down, but the fireman rather rudely took a seat, leaving his cap on, when immediately it was snatched off by an invisible hand and slapped in his face, and right upon the back of this an egg was thrown across the room and hit him in the breast. They had scarcely time to feel amazed at all this, when other phenomena attracted their attention.
“The child’s cradle was rocked without anyone touching it, the clothes were thrown out of it, and, when replaced, were immediately tossed out again; the chain that hangs on the crook in the chimney was violently shaken; spoons came from the plate rack, and like birds flew across the room; and more remarkable still, the lid of a pot rose on its edge, trundled across the floor, turned a corner, rolled along the passage, then rounded another corner, and lay down at the outer door.
“These incidents were told us with a degree of seriousness that made them the more amusing. We declared to the engineman that he wanted to make merry with us (strange enough, his name was Peter Merry), and tried to laugh him into confessing as much, but he stuck to his statement, and solemnly averred that every word he had told us was strictly true. His fireman did the same, and it may be worth remarking that the egg incident seemed to give his mind a serious turn. Certain it is, that he was afterwards afraid to tamper with hen’s nests that did not belong to him, lest other eyes than his own might be upon him. I forget the fireman’s name, but I knew both him and Peter Merry intimately. Yours truly, Robert Leighton.”
What lends additional weight to this statement is the fact that the writer, Robert Leighton, was a man of some literary standing who has a place in the Dictionary of National Biography. The short notice there devoted to him identifies him completely, for it lets us know that in later life he resided in Liverpool, and that for several years after 1845 he had been in the service of the London and North Western Railway, making Preston, at that time, his headquarters. Leighton, who had been born in Dundee, was chiefly famous for the verses he wrote in his native dialect and was described as “the Scottish poet.” He was known outside of England, and we are told that Emerson paid a high compliment to Leighton’s “purity and manliness of thought and the deep moral tone which dictated every verse.” Leighton’s brother William, to whom this was written, was a shipowner in Dundee.
In view of the fact that none of the sceptics seem actually to have been present at the Cowper farm when the phenomena were in progress, their objections, based fundamentally upon antipathy to all that smacked of superstition, carry no great weight. On the one occasion when the constables visited the spot, the disturbances had already been in abeyance for two or three days previously. They themselves did not claim to have witnessed any trick or attempt at imposture. Further, we must remember that in April, 1849, Spiritualism had not yet been heard of in England. Even in America the rapping manifestations had hardly begun to take hold. In these circumstances the respectful hearing which the “dobbie” of Orton managed to secure for itself constitutes in my judgment a fairly strong presumption of its genuineness. Herbert Thurston.
The Month, March 1935 (v165, issue 849).