We’re scared, say ‘haunted’ family.
By Jean Parry.
Mysterious happenings at a Rhydyfelin council house have left the family who live there “afraid of what might happen next.” The happenings – which began on Christmas Day – have so disturbed the Griffiths family of 53 Oak Street, that they have called in a clergyman and a local spiritualist in an effort to exorcise whatever it is which has come into their home.
Odd incidents have occurred in almost every room of the three bedroomed semi-detached house, but the seat of the goings-on are centred on a small bedroom occupied by the Griffiths’ four-year-old daughter Amanda.
“The window is repeatedly opened, even though we know we have shut it,” says Mr Derek Griffiths. “Money has turned up where it shouldn’t be; lights are left on when we know no one has touched them, and clothes have been strewn around.” When the inexplicable started to happen, Derek Griffiths and his wife Brenda sat down and looked for logical explanations – but found none.
“We asked the children – Amanda and Craig – if they had moved things about, but it’s obvious now that they haven’t,” says Mr Griffiths. “We have all been downstairs when things have happened upstairs.”
Every member of the family has been so spooked by the happenings that they now only go upstairs in pairs, and little Amanda has forsaken her bedroom, and moved into her parents’ room.
Money, keys and clothes appear to be the most frequently “mobile” items at number 53 Oak Street. One pound coins disappear from sideboards and have been discovered under the stair carpet. “They were so far under the carpet that I had to take the whole thing up to get at them,” says Mr Griffiths. “I cannot see how anyone could have placed them there.”
While most of the money which disappears ultimately turns up at unexpected places, two £20 notes belonging to him have still to materialise. “I called the police first of all, thinking we had had burglars, but there is no way anyone could have come in. We even checked in the attic in case that was a way in,” adds Mr Griffiths.
A dressing gown belonging to his wife has featured prominently in matters. It has mysteriously moved from room to room, and the collar has somehow become ripped since the happenings.
Mrs Eleanor Griffiths, the mother of Mr Griffiths, also lives at number 53, and admits to being frightened by what is going on. In her room, the wardrobe key – kept high up in a fairly inaccessible recess – somehow found its way into the keyhole, and the door was left gaping open. The same room, a bag of clothes was removed from a cupboard and strewn all over the bed.
In an attempt to stop windows being opened, Mr Griffiths has now wired up many of them.
On Sunday, as the family sat in their living room, surrounded by the residues of the festive period – their Christmas tree, their cards, presents – they reflected that this year’s celebrations had been ruined by the strange things going on in their home. “Some people have been laughing about all of this, but it’s no laughing matter,” say the Griffiths family. “We pray every night now. We have always been believers but since the happenings we are all praying this will stop.”
Mr Griffiths explained that when the spiritualist came to their home and went into Amanda’s bedroom, the woman said she sensed “a little boy lost.”
“As far as I know – and we have lived here since April, 1982 – nothing unusual has happened in this house,” he says.
Meanwhile, the clammy unease which events have inflicted on the family, have served to endow previously innocuous ornaments with hidden meanings. They have come to look askance at a three-foot-high Pierrot doll with a haunting china face which is kept on the wall in Amanda’s bedroom. They now feel chilled by its “evil” eyes, although they have had the doll for two years. “It may sound strange, but seen in a certain light, the doll almost seems to have tears running down its cheeks,” says Mr Griffiths. “Sometimes over the past few days I’ve felt like crying,” says burly Mr Griffiths, who works at the Ford factory in Bridgend. “We just don’t know what is going on here.”
Pontypridd Observer, 2nd January 1986.
Poltergeist Peace.
The Rhydyfelin family “haunted” by mysterious goings-on at their council home are now praying that the disturbance has been finally laid to rest. Mr and Mrs Derek Griffiths of 53 Oak Street, said on Monday that there had been no more strange happenings since they took down their Christmas decorations, and burnt a dressing gown which has figured prominently in the inexplicable occurrences.
On Christmas Day, the family began to experience all sorts of odd things – money disappeared and re-appeared in unlikely places; windows suddenly opened; lights ‘switched themselves’ on and the dressing gown moved of its own accord.
“We have all been really frightened,” said Mr Griffiths. “We just hope now that it is all finished with.”
“Since the story appeared in the ‘Observer,’ lots of people have come on to us asking what it has been like. All I can say is it’s like having a fear, but you don’t know what you are fearing,” said Mr Griffiths, who works at Treforest’s Ford Factory.
Pontypridd Observer, 9th January 1986.