Selby “Ghost” Story.
Weird Sounds in a Labourer’s Cottage.
Strange death-chamber scene.
Mysterious rappings in a labourer’s cottage at Selby have set the whole town agog with excitement, and the house in South Parade has become the object of intense local interest. The rappings, it is alleged, were first heard last Sunday night, and have continued ever since, despite the endeavours of the Roman Catholic priest and the Selby police to ascertain their origin and put a stop to them.
A few months ago the tenant of the house, whose name is Clark, lost his wife, and only a short time afterwards his eldest daughter, who was sixteen years of age, also died.
Clark was away at his work when a representative of “The Yorkshire Evening Post” called at the house to-day, but a strange story was told by the children and the neighbours. As Mrs. Clark was dying, they said, peculiar noises – flutterings and knockings – were heard at the back of the chimney. They made a great impression on those who were present, which was reduced but little when, after an investigation, a live pigeon, which had evidently come down the chimney, was discovered.
What is imagined then to have taken place has upset the nerves of the occupants of the cottage. The knockings, which have been heard every night this week, with the exception of last night, when the whole family were driven by terror to spend the night in the house of a friend, are said to be loud taps, continued at intervals for a long time up to a late hour, but never going on after midnight has been struck by the clock of the old Abbey near by.
They are not confined to any particular spot, though they appear to have a preference for the chimney.
Working on the minds of superstitious people, they have present what appears to them an inscrutable mystery, especially when considered in conjunction with the sad events which have so lately taken place in the house. The father is almost distraught, and the children, although they seemed brave enough in the daylight to-day, will never stay in the house another night until the “ghost,” or whatever it is, has been finally and effectively laid.
The local Roman Catholic priest has tried ineffectually to elucidate the mystery, and the police, without discovering anything definite, have kept careful watch in the endeavour to catch anybody who might be playing tricks upon the family. With a truly official scepticism they decline to believe that the mysterious affair has anything but a prose, matter-of-fact explanation.
“There’s nothing in it,” declared one woman who lives a few doors away, to the “Yorkshire Evening Post” representative, while her tone and appearance belied her words. “It’s only the next door neighbours poking their fire, or taking off their boots.”
Another woman pretended to be equally sure that the noises were nothing but the pawing of the horses in a stable across the street, while another thought that there must be some loose bricks in the chimney which rattled when the wind blew down it.
But an incident which occurred during the conversation showed to what extent the affair has strained the nerves of the people in the district. Over the wall which separates the street from the stable-yard came the sudden sound of a child’s crying. Every person in the group started as if a pistol had been fired in their ears, and while one ran hurriedly to see what was the matter, the others whispered together in dismay. “It can’t be anything,” said one. “Ghosts don’t come in the day-time!”
Yorkshire Evening Post, 10th January 1913.
Selby Mystery.
Priest and police fail to “lay” ghostly visitant.
A sensation has been created among the inhabitants of houses in South Parade, at Selby, by nightly rappings which are reported to have been heard in a cottage occupied by a bricklayer’s labourer. The weird noise is said to have been first heard on Sunday night when the Roman Catholic priest is said to have been called in to endeavour to solve the mysterious rappings which have, however, continued throughout the week.
On Wednesday night the police were called in, and made a thorough investigation into the matter. The knockings are stated to be very clear and distinct, and are heard up to a late hour each night.
The occupant of the house, it appears, has lost his wife and a daughter, and those who remain in the house are much alarmed at the strange happenings, which cannot be explained.
It was suggested that someone might be playing pranks, but this seems impossible, as the place is well watched. The situation is anything but agreeable to those living in the vicinity,and while every effort has been made to elucidate the mystery, no success has been achieved.
Halifax Evening Courier, 10th January 1913.
Alleged mysterious rappings.
The neighbours in the vicinity of South-parade have during the past week, it is reported, been greatly perturbed by nightly rappings, which are alleged to have been going on in a cottage there, occupied by a well-known bricklayer’s labourer. The strange and weird noise is said to have been first heard on Sunday night last, and friends were called in to assist in unravelling the mystery. The knockings have continued during the week, and the police were on Wednesday night seen on the matter, and made investigation without any solution of the trouble which is having a disturbing influence particularly upon the occupants of the house. Some are sceptical on the matter – others suggest “pranks,” but there is the fact that the uncalled for interference with the usual calmness of the house is being heard up to a late hour each night without any cause being detected.
Selby Times, 10th January 1913.
A prosaic solution of a Selby scare.
A report of a spirit-rapping mystery has been circulated in the Selby district, but inquiries into the affair show that it has a very simple explanation. The children at a house in South Parade, according to the story, were terrified on hearing a noise of rapping in the daytime, and would not stop in the house at night until the “ghost” had been finally laid.
Investigations show that the rappings came from an aged man, who lives in an upper room immediately adjoining the house in question. The walls of the houses are very thin, and when disturbed by the noise of children below, the man from time to time rapped with his stick on the floor. This is the prosaic solution of an affair which, as the talk of it spread, occasioned so much alarm among credulous people that the police visited the house and satisfied themselves as to the cause.
Staffordshire Sentinel, 11th January 1913.
No Light on Mysterious Affair at Selby.
While the recent mysterious rappings at a cottage in South-parade, at Selby, has caused the greatest interest in the town, a solution of the trouble seems as far off as ever. The neighbours though some are alarmed, have their suspicions that it is due to some effort to frighten the occupants of the house. But neither priest nor police have as yet solved the mystery, and both have kept unwearying vigil at the premises, whose chief occupant is a widower with a family, who are held in high regard all around. It must be confessed that no great credence is given to the idea of spiritualism, whose patrons in the town may be counted by the fingers of one hand.
Bolton Evening News, 11th January 1913.
Ejected by “Ghost.”
Mysterious happenings in a Selby house.
A Selby family have been ejected from their dwelling place by a “ghost,” or, to put the matter in rather less startling colours, they have been so distracted by a series of mysterious rappings as to feel unequal to the strain of spendindg another night under the same roof.
The Roman Catholic priest and the Selby police have interested themselves in the strange affair, but their investigations so far have been fruitless. It appears that a few months ago the tenant of the house, whose name is Clark, lost his wife, and only a short time afterwards his eldest daughter, who was sixteen years of age, also died. As Mrs Clark was dying, it is said, peculiar noises – flutterings and knockings – were heard at the back of the chimney. They made a great impression on those who were present, which was reduced but little when a live pigeon, which had evidently come down the chimney, was discovered.
The knockings, which have been heard every night this week, with the exception of Thursday night, when the whole family were driven by terror to spend the night in the house of a friend, are said to be loud taps, continued at intervals for a long time up to a late hour, but never going on after midnight has been struck by the clock of the old Abbey near by. They are not confined to any particular spot, though they appear to have a prefrence for the chimney.
The father is almost distraught, and the children will never stay in the house another night until the “ghost,” or whatever it is, has been finally and effectively laid. The local Roman Catholic priest has tried ineffectually to elucidate the mystery, and the police, without discovering anything definite, have kept careful watch in the endeavour to catch anybody who might be playing tricks upon the family. With a truly official scepticism they decline to believe that the mysterious affair has anything but a prose, matter-of-fact explanation.
Sheffield Independent, 11th January 1913.
The Mysterious Knockings at a Selby Cottage.
Again during the past week the strange knockings at the South-parade cottage have been in full operation, and the situation has become one of increasing perplexity to those who have from time to time been called in, to endeavour – thus far unavailingly – to solve the strange and apparently indescribable mystery. Though a good deal of scepticism has been expressed by a few people upon the whole affair, those who are more directly concerned in the weird nocturnal happenings are in no doubt whatever as to the unusual noises, and there are others whose good offices have been summoned who bear prompt evidence of the unique and altogether mysterious disturbances.
Some of the principal of these have been interviewed by our representative, who yesterday was informed that they had heard the strange knockings during the week, and had in their visit to the premises been unable to dispose of the mystery. One of these – a professional gentleman, says they are quite distinct knocks, and most illusive in the world to locate. They, however, appeared to be mostly where there was a recess, and they were manifest in the centre of a wall – one brick thick between the rooms. They were irregular, and sometimes frightfully distant and soft. Though there had been a break of a fortnight they had been nightly heard during the past week. When people were downstairs they seemed to hear the rappings about the cupboard or near the recess, but never absolutely could they tell where. All attempts thus far to solve the mystery have been futile.
Selby Times, 31st January 1913.