Weymouth.
Spirit Rapping.
A house in East-street, occupied by a man named Talbot, has been besieged during the last few days by an eager crowd anxious to hear the supernatural voices which are stated to proceed at irregular intervals from the interior. The strange noises, which the occupants would have us believe, consist of loud knockings, shaking of doors, the plates and glasses on the tables and shelves dancing jigs and contre-danses and several other eccentric performances. In consequence they say sleep has been denied them for several nights, and the days are spent in anxious listening.
Clergymen, we hear, of various denominations, and all classes of laymen, have repaired to the spot to assist in unveiling the mystery and showing in all its naked deformity the cause of the remarkable vagaries of this so-called invisible agency, which has excited so much terror in the residents of the house and neighbourhood.
It appears to be a sensible ghost withal, for it resolutely keeps out the way of the police, who have been endeavouring to capture it, nor will it when those peace officers are on tip-toe to both hear and see it indulge in its noisy and alarming propensities. It cannot be said at present the ghost has come in an unquestionable shape, for its outline has not yet been defined, consequently the exact colour of its visage cannot be given.
We are inclined to believe that curious sounds have been heard, which upon a rigid examination might be traced to natural causes, as for instance the air acting upon a partially displaced board. The house is of ancient construction, and are not the rappings heard indications of its fall? We have no desire to pander to morbid appetite, but when one is asked by every third person he meets in the street, “Have you seen the Ghost?” it behoves us to take a note of it.
In this the 19th century we thought that no portion of the British public could be induced to give credit to stories which frightened us into quietude and obedience, when told by our grandmothers in our infantile days. So long as portions of the inhabitants of our borough will rush to the haunted house, as it is termed, in East-street, and be inclined to believe the incredible statements about it, so long will the ghost remain an inmate of the house in question. The East-street apparition has caused as much interest to be excited in Weymouth as did the Cock-lane Ghost in London several years ago. – Dorset Chronicle.
Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 2nd February 1861.
The Haunted House in East-street.
An extraordinary report respecting a haunted house in Weymouth has within the last few days been circulated, which we record for the edification of believers in ghosts and hobgoblins, and the lovers of the marvellous. The place in which his ghostship has taken up his residence, is an old house belonging to and occupied by, Thomas Talbot, an old boatman, in East-street; and so great has been the excitement caused by the report circulated respecting the strange visitor, that the locality has been visited by thousands – the street being often impassable on account of the crowd, as late as 12 o’clock at night. All classes of society, from the Mayor to the street arab have participated in the general curiosity, and we have heard of many standing in the street as late as 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, anxious to catch a glimpse or to hear a sound of the supernatural stranger.
Of course the versions respecting the behaviour of Mr. Ghost are exceedingly numerous and varied. Some assert that he stands in an old cupboard, which has been long closed up, rattling a bag of sovereigns; others that he has been known to make noises precisely like the report of a pistol; and not a few that he shakes the house to the very foundation by knocking against the walls with a wooden mallet. We have heard it asserted by “eye-witnesses,” that at times when his ghostship is in high dudgeon or in his glory – we do not know which – he causes the cups and glasses to dance a jig on the side-board, the walls of the house to tremble as though they had the ague, while the latches of the doors are lifted up and down as if they were moved by human hands.
Many of the visitors to the house are exceedingly nervous, but one sturdy fellow, in order to display his bravery and show his courage in an encounter with a visitor from the unknown world, fired a pistol at the spot where he heard a knocking, when the ghost caught the bullet and threw it back into his antagonist’s hands! The schoolmaster has yet a great deal to do before belief in the supernatural will be eradicated from the minds of the people, and the East-street affair has set people talking about the days of their great grandmothers, when witches, ghosts, and hobgoblins were said to be as plentiful as blackberries at harvest time. It is therefore gravely asserted by some that there can be no doubt in the world that this is a real ghost.
The object of his visit, however, is the great mystery. As the house is very old and the walls are hollow and thick, it has been suggested that a large hoard of money has been hidden and that the person who secreted it, cannot rest in his “grave,” as though the “grave” contained the souls as well as the bodies of men. Others think it far more probable that the foul crime of murder has at some time or other been committed, and to add to the probability of this being the cause of the strange visitant making a sojourn here, somebody has heard somebody say that somebody had dug up a skeleton close by.
Another rumour is that a dead body had been found in a vault near the house; but the general impression among a great portion seems to be, that the ghost has been sent as a warning to the inmates on account of their sins, but whether he is a visitant from the upper or the lower regions is a question far too mysterious for them to solve.
Scientific tyros – sceptical as to the manifestation of spiritual visitants to this mundane sphere – have suggested that the mystery might probably be traced to the pranks of some mischievous wag in the possession of a galvanic batter; while the worldly wise have held it as highly probable that as many of the adjoining old houses are shortly to be pulled down for the erection of a new street, some person may have been secreted somewhere among the ruins to frighten the inmates, and thus induce the proprietor to dispose of his property at a cheaper rate than he would otherwise.
Now we do not believe in any of these numerous surmises. We have visited haunted houses where the noises were enshrouded in far greater mystery than those in East-street, and we have seen the enigma solved.
It is said that noises have been heard in this and the adjoining houses for the last two or three years, at different times, generally late at night; and that they had hitherto been attributed to the rappings of the children in other dwellings, to the great disturbance of the neighbours, but being all of them peaceably disposed, none ever thought to complain to the others about the matter. The whole of the houses here are very old, the walls are of great width and some of them hollow, and the neighbourhood is largely infested with rats, but it never occurred to one of them that any of the noises were to be attributed to these mischievous animals, or that the wind blowing through the chinks in the walls, or the flapping of the old boarding might have contributed to the strange sounds. They were heard sometimes for several nights in succession, and occasionally not for months.
But on Tuesday night week, the knocking was plainly discernable in Talbot’s house, and so loud as to prevent the inmates from sleeping, and they consequently got up. After that, whenever the old man attempted to lie down, the knockings became intolerable. It does not appear, however, that anyone said anything about it till Friday night, when Mr. John Woods, the Weymouth newsman, passing by while “Mr Ghost” was playing his pranks, proclaimed to all whom he came in contact with what he had heard.
The news flew through the town like wildfire, people flocked to the spot from all directions, many declared what wondrous things they had either seen or heard of, and the police were then called in. The Mayor sought personally to unravel the mystery, but Mr Ghost was exceedingly shy of his Worship and refused to come forward. He did not like the police much better than he did the Mayor, refusing to knock in the same room where they were stationed, unless all the lights were put out, and then but feebly.
Talbot’s daughter is in the union workhouse and wishes to come out, but the old man will not receive her. He has her daughter – grown up nearly to womanhood – and her son with him, and it is in their presence, and the spot where either one or the other of them go, – no one else being present – that the ghost is heard. It would therefore seem that it is to these two youngsters that his visits are principally made, but why he is such a coward as not to come forward when the police are present, we leave it for the believers in hobgoblins to unravel.
During the last few days the ghost has been more moderate in his performances, exhibiting only occasionally, mostly in the daytime when the street is deserted. The ghost-story has here been taken advantage of by wicked wags, who have given full license to that unruly member, the tongue, to circulate all kinds of the most absurd rumours, which are greedily devoured by the credulous. One of these tales was, that the whole of the police force mustered, and proceeded under the command of Superintendent Lidbury to the house with a view of finding out the ghost, but on arriving there, only one man had sufficient courage to go in, and he was so frightened with what he heard and saw that he was obliged to be conveyed home on a stretcher! We send out missionaries to the heathen, but it is quite evident a large number are required at home.
Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette, 5th February 1861.
The East-Street Ghost.
The grandaughter of Talbot, whose house was said to be haunted, went to service on Monday week, and the ghost went with her – no knockings were heard during her absence. On Monday last she left her place and returned to her grandfather, and the knockings recommenced as bad as ever, and are still continued at intervals daily.
The excitement however is gone, for even the most weak-minded, who were at first almost frightened to death by the supposed supernatural noise, begin to see pretty plainly through the hoax that has been played on them, and naturally feel ashamed of their former incredulity. Indeed we have heard some of them say they will never believe in ghosts and hobgoblins again.
Weymouth Telegram, 14th February 1861.