Ghost rocks the crocks.
A ghost in a china shop is posing problems for staff at Lawley’s in the Wulfrun Centre, Wolverhampton. They are all certain their shop is haunted by the spirit of an old woman they call Mary. “I’ve felt her touch me twice,” said manageress Sue Burton. “It was like someone running their hands down my face.”
Sales assistants Jackie Foster and Agnes Watton say they have seen the spectral figure moving around the stairs. “I saw a middle-aged woman at the bottom of the stairs,” said Mrs Foster. “She looked misty – not like a normal person.” Other spine-chilling phenomena include the sound of footsteps on the stairs, the rattling of china in the basement, and a hammering on the back door when no one was around.
Outsiders have also had strange experiences – such as the painter who reported an unseen hand trying to throw him from his ladder.
“One group of my friends saw the lid of a dish rise into the air and then go down,” said Mrs Burton. Now the staff, who are scared to go in the shop alone, are considering an exorcism. On one occasion, Mrs Watton watched astonished as a shelf of china ornaments was hurled to the floor. “We’re trying to find out who Mary was, and why she is haunting us,” said Mrs Burton. “All we know is that there used to be a factory on the site, and she may be something to do with that.”
Wolverhampton Express and Star, 23rd June 1980.