Poltergeist puts kettle on.
Bumps in night baffle couple at Sandiacre.
A playful poltergeist is something of a problem to a young Sandiacre couple and their eight-month-old baby. Its most recent trick was to put the kettle on for tea. It happened at the terraced cottage home of draughtsman Mr Peter Clarke (27), his wife Brenda (24) and son David. Mrs Clarke went out deciding that she would prepare tea when she returned. The electric kettle was left empty and unplugged.
Three quarters of an hour she came back. The kettle, plugged in and switched on, was just coming to the boil. Later it was found to contain just sufficient water for a pot of tea. But that was later, much later. Mrs Clarke left it alone but watched warily until her husband returned from work. A safety device is fitted to the kettle – the plug blows out – and both before and since the incident this has worked perfectly. Who then filled the kettle, and switched it on?
Challenged Mr Clarke: “You explain it. Even if my wife had knocked the switch as she went out why was the kettle only just coming to the boil three-quarters of an hour later when she returned?” Things have also been known to bump in the night. Tins, after resting undisturbed for days, have fallen off shelves. There was also the time Mr Clarke had a tug-o’-war with his pantry door. Every time he pulled something held the door back. He let go and tried again and the door swung freely open. “It is not as though it is a tight fit,” he explained. “There must be a half-inch gap all the way round.”
When a friend who has a most docile dog paid them a visit the dog padded around uneasily all night.
Once, a neatly rolled pair of socks Mr Clarke had left on his dressing table plopped gently on his feet when he was right across the other side of the room. To this day he swears there was no draught to blow them.
Until the kettle incident the poltergeist had been quiet for months. But now that diplomatic relations with the kettle have been resumed the couple are not unduly alarmed. They point out that whatever it is has never done them any material harm. When a reporter paid him a visit, Mr Clarke apologised for the apparently absent poltergeist. “I am sorry, but he does not perform to order,” he said with a grin.
Footnote: Apparently the word comes from the German “polter” meaning noisy and “geist” ghost. The Concise Oxford Dictionary says it is found in folklore and spiritualism and describes it as a “noisy, mischievous spirit.”
Nottingham Guardian, 24th January 1964.