Haunted House.
Strange solution suggested at Rushall.
Tenants’ story.
Spiritualism, not spooks, is held accountable for the strange things which have been happening in a house in Pelsall Lane, Rushall. Several versions of the occurrences, most of them suggesting in various degrees the influence of the supernatural, are in circulation. Here is the story of this “haunted” house as told to me by the occupants, Mr and Mrs Frank Yeomans (writes an “Observer” reporter).
Mr Yeomans is a miner, employed at Hamstead Colliery. He and his wife are aged about forty, and they have two girls, aged fourteen and eight respectively. They have lived in the house, which is of the council house type, ever since it was built about thirteen years ago. Nothing much out of the ordinary happened to them until quite recently.
Sceptics will no doubt scoff at the story they now have to tell. On the other hand, spiritualists will welcome it as “confirmation strong as holy writ” of what they preach and practice.
“It all began about three weeks ago,” said Mrs Yeomans, who, except for the younger girl, was alone in the house when I called. Knocking on the walls and rapping on tables started to disturb them. Incidents even more extraordinary occurred. In the presence of the children, an alarm clock was moved from the mantelpiece in the kitchen to the hearth, and a small Christmas tree standing on a side table was deposited on the floor.
“We became so terrified,” said Mrs Yeomans, “that we were afraid to go to bed. My younger daughter was ill with scarlet fever and I was almost too frightened to go upstairs to attend to her. At last I got permission to bring her downstairs, and we have all been sleeping together on the parlour floor. My husband became so upset that he has not been to work for a fortnight.”
The strange happenings began to be talked about. The interest of neighbours was aroused, and people from further afield were attracted to the house by curiosity.
Perhaps the most extraordinary “manifestation” occurred, said Mrs Yeomans, when there were three visitors, all men, in the kitchen. Spiritualism had by that time been mentioned as a possible cause. “One of the men,” said Mrs Yeomans, “spoke very strongly against it. He said he would as soon believe that it was the devil himself. All at once, the chair in which he was sitting began to shake violently and a shoe which was underneath the table by which he was seated flew across the room and knocked the Christmas tree over.”
There were spiritualists amongst those who went to the house, and they advised Mr and Mrs Yeomans what to do. “We did not act on it for some time,” Mrs Yeomans continued. “We had never taken any interest in spiritualism and did not know anything about it. At last, however, we came to the conclusion that we could not put up with the disturbance any longer, and we were prepared to try almost anything if there was a chance of having a peaceful life again.”
Last Monday night, therefore, Mr and Mrs Yeomans resolved to put spiritualism to the test. “I stood by the wall where most of the knockings have been heard,” said Mrs Yeomans, “and I said, ‘Friend, I am going to say the alphabet. When I say the right letter, give one tap; if it is the wrong letter, tap twice.’ My husband was ready with a pencil and paper, and immediately a message began to come through .It was from the “guide” of my husband’s mother, who died about a year ago and was buried at Rushall. The message referred to his ‘lovely flowers,’ and we took it to mean those he sent to the funeral.”
On Tuesday night more messages were received, and on Wednesday night the “seance” lasted for four hours. Not less remarkable was the further information vouchsafed by Mrs Yeomans. “We asked,” she said, “whether the messages could be given us more quietly so that the neighbours would not be disturbed, and now we get them in light taps on the floor of the room in which we have been sleeping. We also pointed out that my husband had been away from his work for a fortnight and as he is on a night shift, for which hhe has to leave home about 8.30 p.m., it would be more convenient if we could have the messages earlier. We got a reply that in future they will come through between seven and eight o’clock.”
Most of the communications have referred to members of Mr Yeoman’s family, but the “guide” has intimated that there is a special message for a well-known Bloxwich spiritualist and that it will be given to no one else. When I called, Mr Yeomans was out making enquiries about when it would be convenient for this gentleman to attend. He learned, however, that the prospective recipient was ill in bed, and consequently this communication is held up for the time being.
Incidentally, the elder daughter is described as being especially susceptible to psychic influences, and it has been suggested that she may develop into a very successful medium.
As I was leaving the house I met Mr Yeomans returning. I gave him an outline of what his wife had told me and asked him if he confirmed it. “Every word,” he replied, “and I could tell you a lot more. In fact, I am going to write a book about it. All that has happened has convinced me that there is life after death.”
I have only two things to add on my own account. One is that before I interviewed Mrs Yeomans I spoke to a tradesman delivering goods in the road about this so-called “haunted” house. “I have just been talking to Mrs Yeomans myself,” he said, “and she is certainly a different woman to-day from what she was a week ago. Then she was terribly worried and upset, but now she seems quite cheerful and contented.”
“I would not leave the house for anything now,” was one of the remarks which Mrs Yeomans afterwards made to me.
The other addition of my own is that I asked the neighbour living in the semi-detached house adjoining that occupied by Mr and Mrs Yeomans whether she had heard anything. “A fortnight last Tuesday,” she told me, “the noise of knocking on the wall was really terrible. It started in the afternoon and continued all the evening. My husband heard it when he came home. It was so bad that I said I should have to leave the house if it continued. We have not, however, been troubled with it since, although we have heard light taps now and then.”
Well, that is the story. As Ripley says, “Believe it or not.”
Walsall Observer, 2nd January 1943.