Do ghosts haunt Tonbridge School?
Sanatorium is sealed up by investigators.
Is the sanatorium at Tonbridge School haunted? Rumours that it is have been circulating in the town this week – but the headmaster, the Rev. Lawrence Waddy, refuses to confirm or deny them. A person in contact with the school told the “Courier” that furniture in two rooms of the sanitorium had been shifted, apparently without human agency.
“For several weeks it was noticed that furniture in the sanatorium was moved at night,” she said. “At first everybody assumed that it was a practical joke, possibly on the part of one of the boys. This habit became rather annoying, and it was decided to seal one of the rooms in an attempt to discover the person responsible. One morning it was found that the seals were apparently secure, but the furniture had been moved. Every possible form of investigation has been made, but responsibility cannot be attached to any human being at the school or sanitorium.”
Following this investigation, the possibility of spiritual influence was considered, and it is understood that a special service was held in the rooms concerned.
Asked for his comments on the position, Mr Waddy said: “I cannot confirm or deny the truth of this story. I can only say that a confirmation service was held recently at the school and clergymen may have been seen in robes on this occasion. Beyond that, I can make no further comment.”
The story of a ghost at the sanatorium was supported by one man who lives within a few yards of the building. He is Mr H. Rye, of 26, Dernier Road, Tonbridge, and he told the “Courier”: “I have lived in this district for most of my life and we have always recognised that the land near the sanatorium is haunted. That sounds strange, but many people have heard noises in this area and then investigated and found nothing. The school sanatorium is a comparatively modern building – but it was erected on the site of a haunted footpath. At first the story of the haunted building sounds odd, but I am prepared to believe it.”
The “Courier” also investigated a report that Tonbridge police had been consulted about the matter. “I have also heard this story and have no comment to make,” Inspector B. Scutt, of Tonbridge Police, told a reporter. “I will not say whether the police have been called in or not; that is for the school to decide.”
Kent and Sussex Courier, 29th February 1952.
‘Spirits cast out’ at public school.
News Chronicle Reporter.
After the chaplain at Tonbridge School had conducted two services to rid the sanatorium of “evil spirits” the headmaster said last night: “I hope whatever was there has gone.” Investigations began when Miss Dorothy Chard, the matron, reported strange noises and moving furniture in an empty room. A single-bedded ward was found “in chaos” -the bed disturbed, table overturned, and a chair and locker tipped over. The room was locked for a week. When the matron reopened it she found disorder again. “None of the boys could have done this,” she said.
The chaplain, the Rev. Francis Gripper, held a service of exorcism with a short form of blessing in the room. Three hours later there was more noise. “The chaplain said that as he entered the room he experienced an indescribable sense of evil,” said the headmaster, the Rev. Lawrence H. Waddy, last night. “Furniture had been simply chucked around and after that we decided to bless every bit of the building.”
So on Monday Mr Gripper held another service lasting one and a half hours. He blessed the 30 rooms and wards, the hen-houses, and outbuildings of the sanatorium. Mr Waddy, 37, Balliol Exhibitioner and ex-naval chaplain, said: “I have never come across anything like this before. It could conceivably have been the work of very clever people – but why?”
Exorcism may include these words from the ancient prayer: “I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the Name of Jesus Christ; tremble, O Satan, thou enemy of the faith, thou foe of mankind, who last brought death into the world… thou root of evil, thou source of avarice, discord and envy.”
Daily News (London), 1st March 1952.
‘Spirits exorcised’ at public school.
Express Staff Reporter.
The Rev. Francis Gripper, chaplain to 400-year-old, famed Tonbridge School, in Kent, has conducted two services “to exorcise evil spirits” in the school sanatorium. The services followed noises and disturbances of furniture reported by the matron, Miss Dorothy Chard. These occurred even in a locked room; and, said Miss Chard, they could not have been caused by boys.
The second service, held on Monday, lasted 90 minutes. The 30 rooms and wards of the separate, 42-year-old building, as well as the henhouses, garages, and outhouses attached, were blessed – bit by bit – by prayer. Since then the disturbances have ceased. Said the headmaster, the Rev. Lawrence Waddy, last night: “We are very thankful.”
Mr Waddy is a 37-year-old athletic-looking Balliol Exhibitioner who has been an assistant master at Winchester College and a naval chaplain. He said: “About a fortnight ago our very sensible matron Miss Chard, said strange noises had been going on in the sanatorium. She had found furniture upset in an unoccupied room. Then it happened again – and we decided to take action. Last Saturday our chaplain read a short form of blessing in the room affected – I prefer the word blessing to exorcism. Special prayers were said. A few hours later there was a very angry moving of furniture in another room. After that we decided to bless every vestige of the building. Since then nothing has happened. We are hoping that whatever was there has left us.”
Grey-haired, 40-year-old Miss Chard said: “I have been a nurse 20 years and I had never believed in the supernatural. But I am convinced that there was something evil here which has now been cleansed.” On February 13 Miss Chard found an unoccupied sing-bed ward at one end of a corridor on the first floor “in an uproar.” The iron bed had been pulled out from the wall; a table was overturned; a chair and locker were on their sides. On the advice of the school doctor, she tidied the room, fastened the window, locked the door, and hid the key. When she looked inside a week later, after hearing more noises, she found the furniture again in disorder – and the window still fastened.
It was then that she told the school chaplain. On Saturday afternoon he conducted his first service of exorcism. And the room was locked. Three hours later she heard another commotion. She phoned the chaplain. They unlocked the door and found all in order. But in a corresponding room in the opposite wing they found a fresh disturbance of furniture. And, last night, Mr Gripper said: “As we entered this room I was overcome by an indescribable sense of evil.” Miss Chard said, “I also had a sense of evil. It was something like an electric shock.”
So, on Monday, the chaplain, accompanied by Miss Chard sprinkled holy water and read prayers and Psalms as he walked all round and through the building. Said Mr Gripper last night: “There is no exorcising service in the Prayer-book. I selected prayers and psalms having a bearing on this matter.” One prayer was from the Order for Compline – Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this house, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy… The chaplain also read the 51st Psalm with the lines: Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness; and cleanse me from my sin.
Last night four boys in the sanatorium slept peacefully.
Matron Dorothy Chard
Daily Express, 1st March 1952.