Unexplained Noises.
Medium called in to solve house mystery.
Amazing incidents, said to have been proved to be beyond the power of practical jokers, are reported from a house in Parliament Street, Thatto Heath, near St. Helens, Lancashire, occupied by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and several lodgers.
In an interview, Mrs. Roberts told a story of weird happenings. “We had just gone to bed on Sunday night,” she said, “when we heard a continuous noise like a reel of cotton rolling about the floor. Then there came knockings in different parts of the room. Immediately afterwards, a box containing collars fell to the floor, and then all the clothes in a large box were scattered on the floor. We slept in another bed next night, and nothing happened.
“On Tuesday I asked six neighbours to go to the room we had occupied on Sunday. No sooner had we got settled down than knocking began, and everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round. Alternate scratchings and knockings went on until half-past three, when all became quiet.”
Mrs Roberts, who has never been associated with Spiritualism, called in a local “medium,” who visited the house, to the occupants of which she was quite a stranger. The medium declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen and lean heavily against the fireplace. She described the man, and Mrs Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother who was killed in an explosion 11 years ago.
There was nothing to fear, the medium assured Mrs Roberts as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her. A little girl who had been staying with Mrs Roberts found in the bedroom a note bearing the words, “Take care of yourself.”
Yorkshire Evening Post, 24th August 1923.
Thatto Heath now contributes a great “psychical sensation,” a haunted house wonder, where for a lurid week-end all sorts of ghostly knockings and weird movements have taken place, and the local Spiritualists have hailed the manifestations as direct proof of the “soundness” of their doctrines. The wonders have occurred at the house of Mr and Mrs Roberts of 17 Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, and appear to centre round a little Welsh girl of 13 years, who was on a visit to the Roberts’s, for aon Wednesday Mrs Roberts reported to the police that the girl had found in the bedroom where the disturbances had taken place a paper on which was written in a childish hand the words “Take care of yourself.”
Mrs Roberts states that on Sunday night, when the little girl was sleeping in the same room as she and her husband, they were startled by a noise which sounded as if a reel of cotton had rolled across the floor. After this ceased, knockings were heard. The girl was frightened and crept into Mrs Roberts’s bed, but noises like the tipping of coals out of a large bucket, shakings and knockings on the bed took place, and a box containing collars jumped in the air.
Monday evening was spent in the back room and nothing happened, but on Tuesday night, when they once more tried the front room, they had an awful night, knockings and scratchings going on until half-past three.
A big jug which had been put on the floor for safety was lifted from the ground and commenced to spin, and on Wednesday Mrs Roberts decided in the interests of the child that it was better for her to return home, and her mother telegraphed for.
The local spiritualists have since Tuesday night centred on Parliament-street, and have supplied Mrs Roberts and the family with all manner of mysterious figures and forces, one medium having even succeeded in giving a life-like description of Mrs Roberts’ brother, a man killed eleven years ago in an explosion.
However, since the departure for Wales of the “little girl of thirteen years” the ghostly knockings and movements appear to have greatly subsided.
Liverpool Echo, 24th August 1923
Jug dances by itself!
Ghost’s pranks near St Helens.
A tall spirit!
Mysterious warning in tremulous hand.
Mysterious rappings, a collar-box that throws its contents all over the floor, a jug that dances without the least provocation – such are but a few of the happenings which are exciting the small village of Chatto Heath [sic], near St Helens.
They started with the arrival of a small girl at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, in Parliament-street. Some of the weird events, however, have taken place in the presence of half a dozen people, and apparently without aid from any human agency.
The child has been sent away, but the manifestations have continued, and a spiritualist medium who has been called in went into [trance?] and described the figure of a tall man who, she said, was coming into the room. This man, according to the medium’s description, bore a marked resemblance to Mrs. Roberts’s brother, killed in an explosion some twelve years ago.
Three Raps. Antics of a Refractory Collar Box (From our own Correspondent.) St. Helens, Friday.
The extraordinary prank of a supposed poltergeistic spirit has thrown the inhabitants of the village of Chatto Heath[sic], near St. Helens, into a state of great excitement during the past week. On Sunday night last Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, who reside in a little street known as Parliament-street, off Elephant Lane, went to bed at 11 o’clock. They were accompanied by a twelve-years-old girl visitor from Wales, who occupied a separate bed, and who was put into her own bed.
The light was put out, and the occupants had scarcely settled down when a knocking noise was heard which sounded as though something were rolling about the floor. Mrs Roberts jumped up and went over to the girl’s bed to find out what game she was playing at, but the child appeared to be quite normal and quiet in her bed. Mrs Roberts, however, insisted that the girl should go into the other bed, and as they went across the room a loud knocking followed them.
They got into the bed which soon began to vibrate owing to the knocking on the wall and the chimney. At three o’clock in the morning the knocking gradually died down.
On Monday morning, Mrs Roberts decided to try and find out if there was any normal cause for the strange occurrences and went upstairs with a hammer. She tore up the linoleum and took up some loose boards to examine beneath the flooring. With her hammer she gave three sharp taps to the gas pipe and then nearly dropped the hammer in terror when clearly and distinctly came three sharp raps in answer.
She hastily ran downstairs in fright, but on gradually recovering her composure she again went upstairs, this time accompanied by the little girl visitor. The child bent down and picked up a sheet of paper from beneath the window, and upon the paper was written in tremulous-looking writing: “Take care of yourself.” This message was promptly handed over to the police.
On Monday evening the same unusual manifestations were made, and a collar box jumped off the dresser and pitched its contents all over the floor. On Tuesday evening a number of neighbours went to the house and stayed with the occupants. As on the previous night the collar-box disgorged its contents all over the floor, while a box containing the visitor’s clothes also jumped up, strewing its contents about. These happenings were witnessed by the half-dozen people assembled in the house. As time went on all were further amazed when a big jug on the floor suddenly jumped up several inches and began to spin at a very rapid rate.
On Wednesday morning Mrs. Roberts had had enough of the whole business, and although unable to find anything at all to warrant suspicion of or to iplicate the girl, she felt she would be glad if her visitor went away. Accordingly she telegraphed for the child’s mother to come and take her away, which was done.
In the ordinary course of things the story would have ended here, but the same night, after the girl had gone, Mrs Roberts brought a spiritualism medium to the house for a [?] and to see if she could throw any light upon the matter. During the evening the medium went off into a trance-like condition affected by mediums, and then described the coming of a figure into the room, saying she could see a tall man walk slowly into the room, lean upon his elbow by the fireplace, stand there for a few moments in that position and then walk away. From her description of this figure Mrs Roberts at once imagined that the figure was that of her brother, who was killed in an explosion about ten or twelve years ago.
Since Wednesday when this occurred, Manifestations have continued, and were heard again last night, though somewhat weaker. The place is visited by big crowds who are excitedly waiting, expecting further developments.
Manchester Evening News, 24th August 1923.
“A warning.”
Woman describes odd experience.
From our own correspondent. St Helens, Friday.
Mrs. Roberts, a Welshwoman, related to-day an incident which, she states, occurred at her house in Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, a village on the outskirts of St. Helens. “Last Sunday night,” said Mrs. Roberts, “my husband and I retired to bed shortly before eleven. A little girl visitor was put to bed, and, after we had turned out the light, some strange noises were heard. Something seemed to patter about the floor very distinctly, and when this ceased a distinct and continuous noise was heard. We brought the girl into our bed, in order to be sure that she was not making the noise, but it persisted. We got settled down again and then there came a crash like coal being shot in.
“We saw a collar-box jump into the air, the contents being thrown all over the floor. The disturbances ceased shortly before 4 o’clock next morning. On Monday morning I went up to the front bedroom. I took up the oilcloth, lifted a board, and tapped one of the pipes three times with a hammer, to scare any mice there might be. I was astonished to get three distinct knocks back again, and a cloud of dust came up I hurried downstairs and came back again with the little girl. She bent down and picked up a piece of paper, on which was written in very shaky writing, ‘Take care of yourself.’ This I handed over to the police.
“On Wednesday night I had a visit from a spiritualist medium, who said that she could see a figure coming into the room. She described the figure, which stood leaning for a time by the fireplace, and from that description I identified my brother, who was killed some years ago in an explosion.”
Westminster Gazette, 25th August 1923.
St Helen’s Ghost Story. Strange scenes in bedroom. “Water-jug spinning round.”
A written message of warning “from the spirit world,” a vision of a man who was killed several years ago, and a series of extraordinary knockings and rappings contributed by a spirit are the chief feature of a strange story from Thatto Heath, St. Helens.
On Sunday evening last, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, of Parliament-street, went to bed, while in the same room was a little girl visitor from Wales. When the light was extinguished all sorts of noises were heard, and a pattering on the floor as though someone were rolling an object about. Thinking that possibly the child was playing some tricks, Mrs Roberts brought the girl into her bed. The noises continued, however, and the bed actually vibrated from the force of the knocks. Until four o’clock in the morning the noises continued intermittently. Next day Mrs Roberts examined the room, and while she was tapping with a hammer she was startled to hear several taps in reply. Later she found on the floor a piece of paper on which was written in a faint hand, “Take care of yourself.” Mrs Roberts at once sent this message to the police.
Half a dozen neighbours passed the next night in the house, and Mrs Roberts yesterday described what happened. “No sooner had we got settled down,” she said, “than the knocking began, and everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round. Alternate scratchings and knockings went on until half-pasat three, when all became quiet.” When the boxes began to move, Mrs Roberts added, she went to one of them, closed it, and pushed it back in its place, but the moment she left it the box jumped up again and once more overturned.
Mrs Roberts who has never before been associated in any way with spiritualism, called in a well-known local medium, who visited the house, to the occupants of which she was quite a stranger. The medium declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen and lean heavily against the fireplace. She described the man, and Mrs Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother, who was killed in an explosion 11 years ago. There was nothing to fear, the medium assured Mrs. Roberts, as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her.
Mrs Roberts decided to send the girl visitor back to her home in Wales on Wednesday, since when the noises have subsided.
Liverpool Daily Post, 25th August 1923.
House of Mystery.
Weird Experience for Welsh Family.
Thatto Heath, a working-class district on the outskirts of St Helens, has a house of mystery. At No. 3, Parliament-street, if report is true, a ghostly visitor from the great beyond has been playing spiritualistic pranks and disturbing the peace of a God-fearing household.
“I have been investigating the strange happenings and paid a visit to the haunted house” (says a “Daily Chronicle” correspondent).
“I found it to be one of a number of small, dismal houses in a back street in a working-class neighbourhood. It is occupied by a Welsh couple, Mr and Mrs Roberts, who have four working men as lodgers. A thirteen-year-old girl from Wales was staying in the house when the manifestations occurred.
Mr Roberts is a burly man, who looks as though he would not easily be scared, but his wife told me he had been quite unnerved by the experiences of the week. “It all began last Sunday,” she explained. “At midnight, while we were in bed, there were strange knockings on the bedroom wall. We thought at first it might be the little girl playing pranks, but when we put her in bed between us the noise commenced again.
“I am certain the little girl was not responsible, for we saw strange sights with our own eyes at times when the child was under our observation. The bed was raised a foot in the air by some unseen force. The lid of a collar box flew open, and the contents were thrown out on to the floor. Two big square boxes turned round and round on a table before our very eyes. A water jug on the bedroom floor spun round and round like a top, and a picture on the wall swayed to and fro like the pendulum of a clock.
“Some spiritualists visited the house the other day. They brought with them a medium, who said she saw the spirit of my dead brother passing through the room. But I don’t believe in it. There can be no such thing as ghosts.”
“Spiritualists!” interjected Mr Roberts scornfully, breaking silence for the first time, “they’re worse than suffragettes, and they are bad enough!”
“Several neighbours came in on Monday, and we sat up all night,” went on Mrs Roberts. “Nothing happened, but on Tuesday the noises began again. It was just the same, They began at dead of night and did not stop until the cocks crowed at half-past three in the morning. One of the lodgers tried to locate the noises, and something hit him.”
“Yes, indeed!” chimed in a Welsh voice from a back room, “It hit me!”
I looked round the door and found the speaker, a working man named John Williams, discussing a substantial meal with his fellow-lodgers. “I got under the bed,” said Williams, and had just put my head on the floor to listen when something hard hit me on the earhole and a cloud of dust came up from the boards.”
“The noises always seemed to follow the little girl,” said Mrs Roberts. “Wherever we moved her the knocking began afresh. I had to send her away on Wednesday because she was becoming frightened, and since then we have been left in peace. Once, after the knocking had stopped, I found on the floor a large piece of paper, on which was written in pencil, in block letters two inches deep, the words ‘Take car of yourself.'” The ‘e’ at the end of ‘care’ was missing.
Western Mail, 29th August 1923.