Mystery of the footsteps in the night.
What was described as a true ghost story – his strange experiences during the first three years he lived at Wick Rissington Rectory, was narrated by the Rev. H.S. Cheales to Tewkesbury Rotarians last Monday. It was in 1947, after serving as an army chaplain throughout the war, that Mr Cheales, his wife, mother-in-law and two small daughters arrived at Wick Rissington Rectory. He thought it rather strange that his predecessor had remained there only nine months – but he was told that it was because his children had nightmares there! The previous Rector had lived in the Victorian part of the house and had shut the two remaining Elizabethan and Queen Anne sections. But Mr Cheales decided it would be cosier to reopen the Elizabethan section and close the Victorian part. Little did he know…
All was quiet for the first month. Then, one night, he and his wife woke simultaneously to hear footsteps coming up the stairs. “It was a heavy tread – like good hobnailed boots with an elderly character on the end of them,” he explained. This went on for five nights out of seven… the footsteps came up the stairs, walked down the landing and returned. But when the Rector dashed out to investigate, there was no one there. The footsteps, however, still went on past him.!
On investigation in the village, Mr Cheales found two old ladies who had once been in service at the Rectory. They told him that when they were very young and sleeping in a room at the Rectory, they awoke one night to find an old man with a white beard peering at them! Eventually, no one would sleep in the room – and, about 1900, it was converted into a bathroom.
Continuing his personal experiences, Mr Cheales said that when he had been there for about three months events took a more dramatic turn. From an upstairs room came a “terrific scream” which frightened him out of his wits and had the children screaming. But worse was to follow. Soon after, he and his wife were literally lifted out of their bed by a tremendous explosion from underneath. The windows rattled, plaster fell from the ceiling. “During Dunkirk I was as close to a bomb as anyone could be. But it did not frighten me half as much as this did,” he said.
Having had enough of “things that went bang in the night,” Mr Cheales went to see the Rural Dean about getting either a new house or a new parish. But the Dean, a very experienced man, told him the story of John Wesley’s father. “It seemed that poor old Wesley had the same trouble,” said Mr Cheales. “Like me, the more prayers he said, the more violent it became. Then he thought of something I had not considered. That no evil spirit could stand up to all those prayers!” He accepted the ghost as such – and it ceased to worry him.
Profiting by Wesley’s experiences, Mr Cheales went home to put them into practice. He told his children that the sounds were made by “Geoffrey,” a nice, Father Christmas-type man, who returned to the Rectory at night because he had once lived there! And from that day on, the visitations became less and less. But on the same day every year, there is a sound of a breaking window. And occasionally a black cat, to which walls and doors are no obstacle at all, is seen about the house, said Mr Cheales.
The Rev. M.O. Seacome, who presided, welcomed wives and members of the Inner Wheel to the lunch. The speaker was thanked by Mr Leonard Hone.
Tewkesbury Register, 26th December 1958.
Ghost that haunts a Cotswold rectory.
Footfalls in the night – mystery of bearded man.
A real-life ghost story was unfolded to members of the Evesham branch of the International Friendship League at their fortnightly meeting on Monday. It was told by the Rev. H. Cheals, Rector of Wick Rissington, near Bourton-on-the-Water.
Mysterious footsteps were heard at the Rectory soon after the birth of one of his daughters. Nightly at 2 a.m. heavy footfalls came up the stairs and across the landing but disappointingly nothing was seen. The speaker discovered by discreet inquiry that former servants sleeping in a particular room at the Rectory had been frightened on seeing an old man with a white beard who visited their room in the early morning.
Later, when one of his own children asked who that “someone” was on th elanding, the Rector and his wife decided that “the thing” would have to go. However, after special prayers had been said it did not go and took offence at being considered an unwelcome intruder. Consequently the activities increased.
Violent explosions throughout the house and even under their bed, startled them so much that further advice was sought and it was thought that as there seemed no evil intent and no one had been harmed, acceptance of the intruder would possibly ease the shattered calm. The noise of crashing china and glass had been frequent and on a certain date each year, the loud smashing of an attic window together with the sound of tinkling glass had been clearly audible but nothing had ever been found broken.
Some members of the family felt a cat which affectionately rubbed itself against their legs and although the speaker had not seen it, the feeling was unmistakable. Others actually saw the animal. In one room during all the seasons, the lovely scent of roses could be smelt but this together with the other strange happenings vanished with the birth of another child.
Members were most interested in the lecture which had been delivered with a delightful touch of humour by the speaker.
A member who lived in an old house near All Saints’ Church, Evesham, recounted her experiences with her own ghost whom she thought to be a monk, as the smell of incense was strong when he was about. Locked doors had been seen to open and a chair in which she was sitting was moved forward by a shove from behind. Unfortunately her ghost had gone, probably as she had laughed at him and had never been afraid.
The vice-chairman, Mr G. Dingenthal, thanked the Rector for his delightful and fascinating talk.
Evesham Standard and West Midland Observer, 27th May 1960.