The Rev. William Ker lived in the parsonage of St Martin’s church, Tipton.
Stone throwing and other manifestations.
By the Rev. William Ker.
Perceiving that many papers have appeared lately in your Magazine upon the above subject, I feel in a measure impelled to state what has happened in that way to myself, and in and about my own house.
About eighteen months ago my servants made frequent complaints of stones being thrown about the premises, sometimes in showers and of large size; so that whenever they went out into the yard or garden, they did so with fear and trembling. This continued from day to day for a considerable time, and though I made every possible exertion to discover the cause, all my efforts were without success; no trace of offenders could ever be found. It is to be observed, that none of the inmates of the family were injured by these missiles, but no so with the windows. These were broken on several occasions, and in a very remarkable manner. I will detail two instances only.
The first was one of the large plate-glass panes of the drawing-room window. This window looks into the garden, which is separated from a large grass field of many acres in extent, by a very thin quick-set hedge, quite insufficient to afford shelter – especially in the winter season – or concealment to the smallest dog or cat, much less to a human being. One evening, late in autumn, just as the day was closing, a large stone struck one of those large panes with great violence, and smashed it to pieces. Providentially, the shutters had just been closed, or serious injury might have been inflicted upon such members of the family as were then in the room. Search was instantly made in the garden and field, whence only the stone could have proceeded, but not a trace of any human being could be found. As this was in the twilight, it is just possible, though, in the highest degree, improbable, that some malicious person might have got into the garden, crept near enough to the window, and, having done the mischief, have managed to escape or elude pursuit. This is barely possible; though, I believe, it could not have been done.
Not so, however, in the other instance, which took place in broad daylight. I had been sitting in my study, and had just left it for a few moments, when a loud crash was heard, and some of the family called out to me that a pane was broken in my room. I was in the passage leading to the garden, into which the study looks, and we all ran out instantly, and searched everywhere in the garden and field adjoining, but not a vestige of any living thing, capable of doing the mischief, could we anywhere find, although certainly not five seconds elapsed from the crash of the broken glass till we were all in the garden, and engaged in the most diligent search for the offender.
The only habitations near this part of my premises are a row of small houses, forming a lane, which runs along by my garden, but these are separated from us by a wall more than ten feet high. The lane is also at right angles to this side of the dwelling house, and the stone must have come from directly opposite the window, for it was large and very heavy, and was thrown with such force as to pass clean through the window, and to strike the wall directly opposite, at the base of which it was found. Moreover, there is an abutment – containing the garden porch, and another small room above it, the whole crowned by a large water-tank – between the lane and the study, the window of which is in the recess formed by the said abutment, and the main wall of the house; so that a stone from the lane could not in any way or by any means be made to even touch the window, much less penetrate through it in a staright line. It must have come from the garden or field – and in that case the offender could not possibly have escaped.
What makes the circumstance more singular is, that the stone was not of a kind ever found in these parts. It was a large and very rich specimen of copper ore, similar to some I had brought home with me some years before, from a visit to Cornwall. The servants had a number of these specimens arranged in a fancy group on the front kitchen table. Suspicion, therefore, may arise, that one of them might have taken up this piece of copper ore, gone out with it into the garden, stood opposite to the study window, and then deliberately dashed it through the glass; but I reply that – even if so disposed, which I do not believe they were – taking into account the distance, the relative position of the places, the fact that no one could go into the garden without being seen from some of the windows, and the immediate search made, it was a feat which it was physically impossible for any one to have performed at that time of day without instant detection. Most assuredly, if the lump of ore was taken from the front kitchen at all, it was by invisible hands.
The annoyance continued at intervals for some time, but one day it became so intolerable that the servants declared they could not go on with their work. I went out, accompanied by an officer in the army then on a visit with me. We searched for the cause of this disturbeance in every direction, but in vain. He took his station at the far end of the garden, overlooking the lane, and below the houses, so that he could see the whole length of the short street. I took the other end, and went to the houses, speaking to and cautioning the people who came out to see what was the matter, and who one and all assured me that no missile of any kind was thrown from that direction, and were much grieved at being suspected of such an offence, as they were all well-disposed to me and mine – moreover, they well knew that I myself was a magistrate, and that strict orders had been given to the police to watch my premises constantly both day and night.
After some time thus occupied, my friend and I returned to the house and found that, during our absence, the falling of stones, bits of coal, etc. had continued just the same as before, and one was shown to us which weighed at least half a pound. Whilst we were standing together in the small flagged yard, between the garden porch and the door of the back kitchen, quite puzzled to account for so strange a phenomenon, there fell at our feet several small stones and bits of coal, which seemed to come out of the air and from a great height. I happened to be looking up on one occasion and distinctly saw the missile, as it were, become all at once visible at a considerable elevation. All this time the servants were within doors, one in the back kitchen and the other in an adjoining coal-house, engaged in their usual avocations, and were actually in our sight, so that the missiles could not have come from them.
I then observed that there was only one way left of accounting for this strange thing, and that was by attributing it to mischievous spirits, which, I remarked, was a by no means unusual occurrence, and one of which I had read many well-authenticated instances. But this suggestion was not considered satisfactory, and, hence, I kept my convictions to myself, until I saw those articles in your magazine, when it occurred to me that I was not justified in withholding my mite of information, small though it be, from the general fund. I was then of opinion that this long-continued annoyance was the work of mischievous spirits, and I am still more strongly of that opinion now, from circumstances which have very lately transpired. If you will permit me, I will now detail the reasons which have confirmed me in that opinion, and to that end I must ask leave also to make a few remarks, in passing, as to my views of spirit manifestations in general; but I will be as brief as is at all consistent with lucidity.
I was, at the time of those annoyances, engaged in investigating the alleged phenomena of Spiritualism – not, I beg to say, for my own satisfaction, as I needed not to be satisfied, having, in my life, been a firm believer in a spiritual world co-existing with this material creation – but for the satisfaction of some enquiring friends.
A short account of our proceedings I sent to you upon a former occasion, and it appeared in your magazine; but I then gave only a very small part of our experience, and the attempted explanations of such like startling phenomena which I have since seen in various publications lead me to state a few further particulars which seem to me to bear upon this interesting question.
https://archive.org/details/IAPSOP-spiritual_magazine_s1_v6_n4_apr_1865/page/176/mode/1up?q=%22mysterious+stone+throwing%22
Spiritual Magazine, April 1865.