Manifestations at Swansea.
A Calvinistic Methodist Minister and a Supposed Ghost.
A correspondent writes: – For several days past great excitement has prevailed among the Calvinistic Methodists of a large portion of South Wales respecting some extraordinary manifestations alleged to have been witnessed daily and nightly at the residence of the Rev. David Phillips (C.M.), Walter’s-road, Swansea. Mr Phillips is one of the keenest witted men living, and, therefore, is not likely to be easily imposed upon. It is stated that strange noises are heard about the house; doors open apparently of their own accord, and chairs fly about as if they had wings. Other strange things occur, all of which have baffled the investigations made to discover the cause. The strange manifestations still continue, and no one, it is said, is more puzzled thereat than the rev. gentleman himself.
Western Mail, 5th July 1887.
The Alleged Spiritual Manifestations At Swansea.
The report which we published on Tuesday as to the extraordinary manifestations alleged to have taken place at the residence of the Rev. D. Phillips, Calvinistic Methodist minister, in St George’s-terrace, Swansea, is confirmed by the statement of our representative at Swansea.
The matter has been kept very quiet among the connexion, and, with the exception of the ministers who recently attended the Monthly Meetings in Porth and the servants at the house, hardly a soul in Swansea was cognisant of the strange occurrences, which, however, seem now to be supported by unimpeachable testimony. The Rev. D. Phillips was not at home on Tuesday morning, but a short interview with a servant at the house, together with other testimony, points to the fact that mysterious tricks have recently been played at the house in question which have baffled all the efforts of the minister and his son to expose.
The house is quite a modern one, and as it is owned, together with the one adjoining, by the reverend gentleman, he probably knows the ins and outs of it as well as it is possible to now them, and there is no probability of any secret passages or closets which might be used to play the fantastic tricks referred to. The difficulty is to find an object for the proceedings. The “manifestations,” it appears, have been going on for a long time, but until two months ago the residents paid no attention to them. Then the audacity or the “assertiveness” of the phenomena became so pronounced that attempts were made by Mr. Phillips and his son to discover the cause.
The servant states that after she has duly “made” a bed she finds shortly afterwards the clothes thrown on to the floor and the bed disarranged in the most extraordinary way. Big pieces of furniture, such as chests of drawers, have been moved from their wonted places to others in the rooms. Doors open and shut mysteriously without apparent motive. The inhabitants hear the noises, but do not see anything done, or only see their results. No damage has been done to anything in the house up to the present, so that the ghostly visitors seem to have considerable regard for the rights of property.
The persistence of their visits, however, was calculated to try the nerves of the inhabitants to some extent, and Mrs Phillips and the family have for some time past been staying at the Wells. There have recently been a good many of these ghostly manifestations in the neighbourhood of Swansea, and one or two of the ghosts have been effectually laid, and proved to be the vilest frauds. It is to be hoped some similar solution to the present mystery may be shortly forthcoming.
Western Mail, 6th July 1887.
The Mysterious Manifestations in Swansea.
A correspondent has paid a visit to the house of the Rev. Mr Phillips, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, in Swansea, where, it is feared mysterious manifestations are causing a great sensation, writes to-day:
The minister was not at home when I called, and the family had left for the holidays. The servants, however, stated that the mysterious visitations had completely baffled all the efforts of the minister and his son to expose. The “manifestations” had been going on for some time. The chambermaid stated that having duly “made” a bed she finds shortly afterwards the clothes thrown on the floor and the bed disarranged in the most extraordinary way. Large pieces of furniture, such as chests of drawers, have been moved from their wonted places to other parts of the rooms. Doors open and shut mysteriously. The inmates hear the noises, but do not see anything done; they only see the results. No damage has been done to anything in the house, so that the ghostly visitors would appear to have some regard for the rights of property.
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 8th July 1887.
Alleged Manifestations of Spiritualism at Swansea.
The spirits disarrange household furniture, open doors, &c.
The spirits challenged.
A correspondent of a morning contemporary writes: – “For several days past great excitement has prevailed among the Calvinistic Methodists of a large portion of South Wales respecting some extraordinary manifestations alleged to have been witnessed daily and nightly at the residence of the Rev. David Phillips (C.M.), Swansea. The Rev. Mr Phillips is one of the keenest-witted men living, and, therefore, is not likely to be easily imposed upon. It is stated that strange noises are heard about his house; doors open apparently of their own accord, and chairs fly about as if they had wings. Other strange things occur, all of which have baffled the investigations made to discover the cause. The strange manifestations still continue, and no one, it is said, is more puzzled thereat than the rev. gentleman himself.”
There is, we understand, some justification for the rumours afloat, but it would be wrong and unfair to make the Rev Mr Phillips or any member of his household responsible for the same. The phenomena which has manifested itself in Mr Phillip’s is akin to that which first attracted the attention of Caroline Fox, the American founder of the cult of Spiritualism, and deserves to be studied calmly and carefully – not treated after the manner of the ghost stories of the past.
It appears that these manifestations extend over a considerable period, but that until about two months ago very little attention was given to them. They were explained away as being natural phenomena. Matters becoming worse, and the phenomena stranger and more inexplicable, Mr Phillips and his family became concerned, and attempted to discover what caused these strange occurrences. And, undoubtedly, these manifestations are very strange. For instance, the servant makes one of the beds on the morning, but when in the afternoon she has occasion to visit the bedroom, she finds the bedclothes on the floor and the bed all thrown about. Another member of the family wishes to leave the room, and, behold, as in the case of the imprisoned Peter, the door opens before him of its own accord. Day after day articles of furniture, of no inconsiderable size, such as chests of drawers, &c., have been removed from the places which they generally occupied. But this was not all. Every member of the family and several visitors heard the noise made in, though they never saw, the removal of those articles.
Every effort was made by Mr Phillips and his son, Mr Martin Luther Phillips, B.A., to discover the cause. A strict watch was maintained, and every nook and ever corner of the house was carefully searched, but nothing turned up. Nor man nor spirit could they discover. Still the beds were turned upside down, and the furniture took walks all over the place. There are some rather important facts to be remembered in connection with this case. Nothing whatever has been damaged, and whatever agency has been at work, it is a very considerate as well as skilful agency.
Having failed to account for these manifestations, Mr Phillips and his family are not in an enviable frame of mind. They have become so terribly frightened that they have lived but very little in the house for the last two months, and we believe that, although the servants are now back, they do not sleep there except when the master is at home. Mrs Phillips, however, is still away.
The matter was much talked of at the recent meetings of the South Wales Calvinistic Methodist Association at Porth. Hence, it is surmised, the paragraph in this morning’s paper, for in Swansea the affair has been kept secret.
It was at Porth where the manifestations in the Rev. Mr Phillips’ house in Swansea were first publicly mentioned, and the following are the circumstances that led to its being known. A respectable, strongly-made woman in Porth was sitting sewing, when she felt a hand touch her face. It seemed to her like the touch of a cat. She brushed it aside, but on looking found nothing to explain the matter. Again the mysterious hand touched her face, when she realised that something uncanny was in the wind. Shortly afterwards she went to make a call, when she declares she saw the spirit of a lodger, who sought forcibly to drag her away. She resisted and screamed, and thereby attracted the attention of several neighbours. Again the form of the lodger approached the woman, and so the neighbours in question solemnly declare, by some mysterious agency, the woman was carried over a wall and towards a stream, where she was found in a semi-conscious state. No one in Porth professes to understand the agency, but the statements of the woman and her neighbours are treated seriously. Why should not such phenomena be studied calmly, and without any idea of the old vulgar notion of ghosts?
[what?? And then there are various descriptions of various spooky events in various places including the Fox spiritualists, at length. and then:]
We understand that the Rev. David Phillips and his friends are somewhat annoyed at the paragraphs which have appeared in the papers referring to the hitherto unaccountable phenomena which have taken place at the rev. gentleman’s residence. But we would point out that in all probability one of Mr Phillips’s ministerial friends is responsible for the statement in our Cardiff contemporary, and that it was not until that statement appeared that we took any cognisance of the many rumours which had previously reached us.
Herald of Wales, 9th July 1887.