Ghost a priest couldn’t conquer trucks family across city.
Flight from the house of evil.
By Larry Neild and Bob Burns.
A Liverpool mum and her daughter fled their haunted home in terror after a ghost moved in and caused havoc. Furniture and objects were flung across rooms as shocked neighbours and police officers stared in disbelief. Today things had quietened down for the family after a priest blessed the house.
The house of horrors.
The terrifying ordeal did not end when they fled their home in Conleach road, Speke… the ghost followed them to a relative’s home in Garston. The ordeal for Shirley Kane, 38, and her teenage daughter Elizabeth, started on Wednesday morning. Shirley ran screaming to neighbour Doug Holden’s house to say the house was being wrecked. Doug, 59, said: “I asked her who was wrecking the house and she said, ‘Nobody, it is the house that has gone berserk.’ She said there were cups and ornaments flying everywhere. She rang the police and I went in to the house with her. If you had asked me this before Wednesday I would have said I would never have believed it.”
“Suddenly a vase came from the kitchen and flew across the room and exploded in the corner like a fire cracker. There was nobody whatsoever in the back kitchen who could have thrown it. Then a cup of tea just lifted off a table in the back kitchen and flew across the living room at a terrific speed. It smashed through the window and landed in the front garden.
“Four police officers came and they were very sceptical and said the damage must have been caused by somebody. Suddenly, an umbrella came from around a corner in the back kitchen and was flying towards a police woman. She had to duck to miss it hitting her. It was one of those fold-up ladies umbrellas. The police woman said: ‘I’m going’. I think she was frightened and I can understand why. Other police officers came and objects continued to fly all day.
“A priest was called in to exorcise the house in the afternoon. There were a group of us, neighbours and the family stood in a circle in the back kitchen. The priest was saying prayers and sprinkling Holy water. Nothing happened and he left the room to go upstairs. As soon as he got upstairs, there was a flash in the kitchen where we were and everything in the room just shook. He came running down the stairs, gave us the Holy water and said ‘I’m off.’
“At one stage we all went in to the lobby and things still were moving round in the living room.” Mr Holden said that as the day went on large objects of furniture started to move. A china cabinet shot across the hall and a television just jumped up and fell over. He said: “At one stage a dog was taken in to the house. It growled and refused to go into one of the bedrooms. There was nobody in there.
“Shirley and her daughter went to stay with relatives in Garston and as soon as they arrived objects started to move. A large ashtray rose six feet in to the air, spun round in circles and crashed to the floor. Minutes later an expensive vase flew across the room. One member of the family grabbed a matching vase and said: ‘You are not getting this one’ and hid it away in a drawer.”
Another neighbour, John Hodgson, 41, living a few doors away from the Speke house in Conleach Road, also saw objects flying. At one time he was helping put up curtain rails which had been dragged off the wall by “an unknown force.” Suddenly the hammer he was using lifted off the floor and spun across the bedroom landing on the bed.
Senior detectives have visited the house and interviewed the family. They and churchmen believe it is the work of a poltergeist. Father Paul Montgomery, the priest who was called to the house of horrors, said today that the family were all shocked. “They are not Catholics, but I blessed the house before leaving. I did not exorcise the house. I am not allowed to. I do not know whether there was something present – one never knows about these things.”
A city council spokeswoman said that the family had not applied to be rehoused, but that such a request would be considered if received.
Doug Holden, left, with Joe Ward and John Hodgson – witnesses of the strange goings-on.
Liverpool Echo, 25th July 1986.
Ghostbusters! Help plea as family flees house with a playful spirit. By Steve Harrison.
Liverpool’s top ghostbusters have been called into action at a house in Garston to exorcise a furniture-throwing spectre. A mother and her teenage daughter fled their home at Speke when objects started flying round the room. A Catholic priest and police were called, but failed to dislodge the mysterious force. They went to stay with relatives in Garston, only to find the poltergeist had followed them. An Anglican priest held an exorcism there, which seems to have succeeded.
The haunting started about six weeks ago, when Shirley Kane and her daughter, Elizabeth, noticed small objects moving about without cause in their house at Conleach Road, Speke. By Wednesday, large items of furniture and pictures were being mysteriously hurled round the house. Eye-witness and next-door neighbour Doug Holden (59), said: “On Wednesday morning, Shirley came to ask if she could use the phone, shaking with nerves. There was a scream from her house – her daughter had seen a teacup fly out of the window. I’m not a believer in the supernatural, so I went to look for myself. I saw a hole in the window and the cup outside, and assumed someone had thrown it. Elizabeth was huddled in a corner of the kitchen, frightened out of her wits. As I watched, an ornament moved through the air from the kitchen and smashed into a wall. There was no-one who could possibly have thrown it. I also saw a hammer spin through the air upstairs.”
Doug’s mother, Alice, went into the house and saw an umbrella fly at Elizabeth. She tried to enter a second time but a can came straight at her and hit her in the chest. Two neighbours, John Hodgson and Joe Ward, also saw objects move about by themselves. “I thought it was all a joke,” Joe admitted. “I saw all sorts of things lying smashed on the floor. I stood by the door, and a little wooden pepper pot on a tray flew up and hit the wall behind the girl. It could not have been thrown. There was no-one there.”
Then a small tin on the television set lifted up and struck the cup of tea Shirley was holding. John saw an alarm clock and hammer move in an upstairs room.
A local Catholic priest, Father Paul Montgomery, from nearby St Christopher’s Church was called. Doug described what happened next. “He took us into the kitchen, asked us to say prayers, and sprinkled holy water. Nothing happened, and he started to go upstairs. Suddenly, everything in the kitchen vibrated and moved. He came running down, gave us the holy water, and left.”
The two women refused to spend another night in the property, and moved to stay with relatives in Garston – only to discover the poltergeist had followed them. A large, heavy ashtray rose into the air, and, when it was flung out of the house, simply threw itself at a window. At that point, Anglican bishop Bill Flagg, an assistant Bishop of Liverpool who advises on exorcism, was called in. He arranged for a priest who specialises in “disturbances” to conduct a service of deliverance. The Bishop refused to comment on individual cases, but said poltergeists were a fairly rare phenomenon. He had only come across two in the past five years. They could attach themselves to places, when they were relatively straightforward, or to individuals, when great care had to be taken.
“We do believe when people turn to Christ they do experience a wonderful deliverance. When that happens, we would not expect it to return, although we do ensure there is a counselling and pastoral back-up,” he said. “The notion of poltergeists is well documented. I would not treat any aspect of the occult lightly.”
Liverpool Daily Post, 26th July 1986.
Cops called to move the ghost buster kids.
By Larry Neild.
Neighbours called police to Liverpool’s haunted house after gangs of children gathered outside. At one stage up to 30 youngsters, many of them teenagers, had congregated outside the house in Conleach Road, Speke. Today all was quiet again for Shirley Kane, 38, and her daughter Elizabeth. According to neighbours there had been no more incidents since the house went ‘berserk’ in a 48 hour spell last week. Objects were hurled across rooms and even furniture moved as frightened neighbours and police officers watch.
Police had to be called at least twice because of large numbers of children outside. One neighbour said: “The kids were shouting. I think they expected the ghost to appear and wave to them or something. But we all want peace and quiet and I am sure that is what the family want as well.”
A priest had to be called to bless the house and later a leading Liverpool churchman was called in to help send the poltergeist on its way. Mrs Kane and her daughter have remained at home over the weekend with relatives staying without incident. People living in the area now hope that the ghost has gone forever.
What ghost-busting experiences have Echo readers had? Write and let us know.
Liverpool Echo, 28th July 1986.
Priest flees ghost home.
A mother and daughter were forced to quit their council home after terrifying ghostly goings-on sent a priest fleeing. Furniture was mysteriously hurled about in the air and a flying umbrella almost hit a policewoman. the priest fled in shock after he was called to exorcise the house in Speke, Liverpool. The tenant, 38-year-old Shirley Kane, and her teenage daughter Elizabeth left the house to stay with relatives. Priest Paul Montgomery said: “Whether something evil was present I just couldn’t say. But I wouldn’t like to use the word ‘poltergeist’ myself.”
Daily Mirror, 28th July 1986.
Speke ghost gives it a rest!
Life is back to normal for Shirley Kane and her teenage daughter, Elizabeth after a ghost wreaked havoc in their Speke home. In a topsy-turvy 48 hours a poltergeist was responsible for hurling furniture and ornaments around while neighbours and police officers watched in disbelief. Senior churchmen were called to a relative’s house in Garston after the poltergeist followed Shirley and Elizabeth there. But after the churchmen carried out a blessing the poltergeist seems to have vanished into thin air. The ghost that moved into the house in Speke is still a talking point among neighbours in Conleach Road. Foreign journalists even arrived on the scene wanting to tell the story around the world. One neighbour said: “We had children, dozens of them, chanting outside the house for a while. But thankfully everything is now quiet.”
Liverpool Echo, 8th August 1986.