(Fitzwilliam Walk was demolished in the 2000s).
Haunted couple appeal for help.
Scared of being driven from home.
An elderly Castlefields couple who are too terrified to sleep at nights because they are plagued by an “evil poltergeist” called on the Church this week for help. The couple, Mr William Morgan and his wife Louisa, of 219, FitzWilliam Walk, Castlefields, have not slept since moving to their new home four weeks ago, and claim that an evil spirit which drove them from their previous home in Norris Green, Liverpool, has followed them to Runcorn.
The poltergeist, they say is present in their home each night and wanders about banging on furniture, particularly in their bedroom. On more than one occasion they say it has pinned them down on to their bed so that they have to fight for breath. The trouble began more than 12 months ago when they were troubled by phenomena in their home in Liverpool, but although the house was exorcised by the Vicar, the Rev. William Todd, they claim to have had no peace and in desperation moved to Runcorn.
Mr Morgan explained: “The first night that we stayed in our new home on Castlefields we had complete peace but the next night we both knew that it was with us again. Whenever it is around there is an exceptionally strong smell of lilies beforehand, or a rather putrid smell.”
Although the couple can sense that it is present and hear it, they say they have only ever seen anything on one occasion. “Usually we can see something hazy drift past,” said Mr Morgan, “but one night it materialised in a corner of the bedroom. It seemed to me to be a huge figure at the time, but it may have been because I was so scared.
“It was a figure of an old woman with an old fashioned dress and leg of mutton sleeves. She was wearing a poke bonnet and the out line of the figure was bright blue. It lasted for only a second,” he said.
Mrs Morgan said: “Although we are both shattered, we dare not go to sleep now. I am sure that it has come to do us harm. Every time we go to bed we can hear a heartbeat in the room and quiet breathing. If […] headboard until finally we have to get up.”
In an effort to get some peace the couple have hung holy pictures around the room and read from the Bible every night but so far without success. This week they were visited by the Rev. Peris Williams, Anglican vicar for Castlefields who is now visiting the couple regularly in an effort to help with their problem. After seeing the couple, Mr Williams told the Guardian: “The Church is well aware that such phenomena does exist and there is a body within the church who take special interest in this type of case. I personally have never experienced anything like this before but I am doing my very best to help them.”
The couple were moved from their previous home after their local doctor and vicar wrote to the Medical Officer of Health explaining their case, but now Mr Morgan is afraid that they might be driven out of a second home. “We like Runcorn very much but we are being tormented here and cannot stand this for the rest of our lives. Life is hell at the moment. During the day time it is not too bad, but we dread the night coming.”
Runcorn Guardian, 24th March 1972.
Looking back on 50 years – with a ghost!
A Castlefields couple spent one of the most unusual Golden Wedding anniversaries ever last week… at home with a ghost! The ghost did not actually put in an appearance as the couple looked back on 50 years of married life but in the words of Mrs Louisa Morgan: “It was there all the time, I could feel it.” That tingling-in-th-spine sensation when the apparition is about is a familiar one with Mrs Morgan and her husband Bill – they have been experiencing it for more than five years. In fact they fled their Liverpool home at Fairfax Road, Norris Green, to esacpe the ghost four years ago, but to no avail – the ghost followed them to Runcorn!
Now the couple have reached an uneasy truce with their unwanted lodger, although its antics still frighten them at times. From the couple’s flat at 219 Fitzwilliam Walk, Mrs Morgan said: “Only the other night I had to get up because the ghost was tormenting me. I could feel it in the room and it seemed to be pushing me. It was terrible.” Mrs Morgan cited numerous incidents of the ghost’s haunting activities including a motley assortment of “rappings”, banging and inexplicable footsteps in the night.
There has also been more tangible evidence of its presence. Like the time when a picture of Jesus in the couple’s bedroom was hurled to the floor from the wall. And another when Mrs Morgan’s shoes and hat were thrown from a wardrobe. Even a large crucifix the couple keep in their bedroom to ward off the ghost has been disturbed.
The ghost’s presence is almost always heralded by a “change in the atmosphere” and a musty smell. Glimpses of it have also been seen, but very fleeting.
Mr Morgan said that when they were in Liverpool they had a succession of clergymen visiting their home to exorcise the ghost, but in the end they had to admit defeat. On the advice of doctors, the couple moved to Runcorn. Since then manifestations have been sporadic and Mr an dMrs Morgan are convinced that the ghost still “lives” in Fairfax Street and comes to Runcorn to visit them.
“I do not understand any of it,” said Mrs Morgan, aged 72. “All I know is that we are being tormented. The ghost seems to be following us about.” Mr Morgan, also 72, said he could think of nothing in his wife’s past to explain the visitations. He said he met his wife in Liverpool, they married and have always lived a quiet life keeping very much to themselves. In fact, he said, that his Golden Wedding anniversary would have been even quieter but for the kindness of residents in nearby De Lacy row who had sent them cards and goodwill tokens.
He admitted that now he and his wife had almost learned to live with the ghost. “A vicar came to see us about two years ago, but he was not able to do much,” he said. “About two weeks after he’d gone, the ghost returned.”
Runcorn Guardian, 25th June 1976.
Poltergeist is back – with a vengeance!
The Castlefields poltergeist which terrorised an elderly couple has returned with a vengeance – despite an “exorcism” by a local vicar. Bill and Louisa Morgan, of 219 Fitzwilliam Walk, Castlefields, have been haunted by the ghost for six years – even after moving from Liverpool to the New Town. They claim that the ghost is sometimes violent, grabbing Louisa by the neck and pinching her. At other times, there is a pungent stench in the bedroom, not unlike the smell of rotting flesh, said Bill. In desperation, the couple consulted a clergyman who visited the house and blessed it with prayers and Holy water.
“It wasn’t exactly an exorcism,”explained the vicar, “It simply involved a blessing on the house. There were no magical ceremonies, nothing out of the ordinary.”
For four weeks, the couple had peace, but now the “thing” has returned and Bill has again consulted the help of the church. Now that stronger measures need to be taken, the vicar is thinking of calling in the Bishop of Chester. Meanwhile the couple have to suffer the antics of the poltergeist, which are allegedly “worse than ever.” The presence has begun digging the couple in the ribs and hitting their heads!
Runcorn Weekly News, 22nd December 1977.