Mysterious Noises.
Haunted Cottage Story.
The pretty little Hampshire village of Yateley, situated some three miles over the Surrey border from the scene of the Camberley murder, has a mystery. Mr Gough, a middle-aged, weather-beaten man, occupies a small cottage on the outskirts of Yateley. For many years past he has held the position of gardener to Mr. Mills, of Hawley Hill, a retired Army doctor, and lives with his wife and a little grandchild, named Nellie Benham.
Three weeks ago they were disturbed by mysterious noises in the dead of night, but little notice was taken of them. On Thursday night, however, the little family were startled by pictures suddenly falling from the walls and ornaments being flung on the floor without any apparent cause.
“I have lived in this cottage for 22 years,” said Mr. Gough, “and have never heard the slightest disturbance. Now our home is a complete wreck. I cannot understand it. Wherever my grand-daughter goes this knocking follows her. She is only eight years old, and she is perfectly terrified. We can hear nothing when we are with her, but as soon as she is left alone these noises commence.”
Last night the girl Benham went home to her parents at Sandhurst. The whole village is curious as to whether the noises will now be repeated.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 14th July 1906.
Another Sensation for Camberley Residents
A Child’s Influence.
The Camberley neighbourhood has hardly recovered from the sensation caused by the murder of Miss Hogg, before it is face to face with another mystery. In a four-roomed cottage at Yateley, a Hampshire village, live a Mr and Mrs Gough, with a grandchild, aged eight years. Mr Gough is gardener for a local doctor, and has lived in the same house for over twenty years. Until recently nothing unusual was noticed, but since the grandchild has been living with them Mr and Mrs Gough have been alarmed by pictures falling one after another, until the house was practically denuded of pictures. This occurred at night after the child had gone to bed, and, unable to understand the phenomenon, the old people were afraid to retire to bed.
Meanwhile, the child was awakened by the noise of falling pictures, and subsequently told her grand-parents that she had heard knocks on the wall of her room. The rappings were followed by the fall of ornaments from the mantelpiece, and the upsetting of chairs. It was only when the child was alone in a room that the rappings were heard.
Mr Gough is quite mystified by the occurence, and up to now all efforts to elucidate the mystery have ended in failure. It will be interesting to know whether the rapping will continue, now that the child has been taken away from Yateley by her father.
Western Times, 17th July 1906.
Yateley.
Curious story of a haunted cottage.
A singular story comes from Yateley, where there have been strange noises and happenings in a rustic cottage, inhabited for twenty-two years past by Mr and Mrs Gough. Mr Gough is gardener to Dr Mills, of Hawley Hill, a retired Army doctor, and with him and his wife has lived a little girl of eight, Nellie Benham, their grandchild, whose parents reside at Sandhurst. During the past two or three weeks the occupants have been alarmed more or less by hearing peculiar noises during the night. These they attributed to the presence of rats, but recently they became so bad that several neighbours were called in, and, hearing the noises, they expressed the opinion that they were not due to rats.
On Thursday night events took a startling turn. The little girl had been put to bed, and the other occupants were sitting in one of the downstairs rooms when suddenly pictures flew off the walls in all directions, the glass being smashed to bits, vases and ornaments were overturned, and a large clock hurled off the mantelshelf. In the midst of all this the child was heard crying out that she was being thrown out of bed, and, hurriedly lighting a small lamp, Mr Gough rushed upstairs and found his granddaughter terrified. She told him she had been awakened by feeling the bed rise up. Hardly had she said this before pictures commenced to fall, five in succession striking her on the legs, which were much bruised. Then vases and ornaments and chairs overturned, and a mysterious rapping was heard.
The raps were loud and unmistakeable, and appeared to come from all parts of the room, as though someone were hammering outside. The climax was reached when the lamp which Mr Gough was carrying was blown out, and whirled away out of his hands up to the ceiling. The terrified occupants fled from the room, but everywhere they went the knocking continued until at last they left the house it, and, late as it was, walked to Sandhurst and stayed the remainder of the night with their daughter and son-in-law.
On the following day, when they returned, they found the house in a sorry condition; it looked as if it had been visited by an earthquake. Immediately the little girl entered the house the noises continued, and followed her as she ran from room to room. Pictures appeared to be lifted by an unseen hand and flung from the walls, many falling perilously near the girl, and a large clock was hurled from the mantelpiece on to the floor. As quickly as possible the undamaged articles were removed from the house into a publichouse close by. In the afternoon several prominent villagers, including Dr Mills and the landlord of the house, visited the place, and, after hearing the noises, were confident that they were caused by some unearthly agency.
The little girl was sent home to her parents during the afternoon. Mr Gough sat up all night, but no noise of any kind was heard, and nothing occurred to disturb him.
A correspondent of “The Tribune” who visited the cottage, says: “The child, Nellie Benham, went into one of the bedrooms alone, the door being closed after her. I stood immediately outside, and barely three seconds later I heard five loud knocks, which appeared to be struck against the wall of the room as if from outside. They were deep and resounding. The little girl screamed aloud at the sound, and, crying hysterically, begged to be released from the apartment. I afterwards spent half-an-hour in the same room with the child, but the knocks were not repeated.”
The grandfather of the child said he was at a complete loss to understand the extraordinary affair. “If I were not a God-fearing man,” he said,”I should be inclined to agree with some superstitious villagers, who declare that this cottage is visited by some evil spirit, but I cannot think that. The strange part about it is that the sounds are only heard when the child was in a room alone. They followed her everywhere. She was perfectly terrified.”
The affair has cause a great sensation throughout the district. Nellie Benham has returned to her parents at Sandhurst. Several prominent spiritualists visited Yateley on Saturday and Sunday to investigate the mysterious rappings in the cottage, and they were of the opinion that spirits were responsible for the noises.
Hants and Berks Gazette and Middlesex and Surrey Journal, 21st July 1906.
The Haunted Cottage.
The inhabitants of the Hampshire village of Yateley continue to be greatly excited about the mysterious rapping at the cottage of Mr Gough. Mr Gough’s granddaughter, Nellie Benham, who is followed by the noises wherever she goes, went to her parents’ home at Sandhurst on the 13th inst., and during the night Mr Gough sat up at the cottage, but the sounds were not repeated. Mrs Benham, the mother of the little girl, told a representative of the “Daily Mail” on the 14th inst. that she had not heard any rappings during the night, and that her daughter slept very deeply. She thinks that a fatal accident three years ago to her brother, who was devoted to the child, might have some connection with the mystery. The little girl will probably be taken back to the cottage in a day or two to see if the manifestations again appear.
Belfast News-Letter, 17th July 1906.
Child and Spooks.
Weird Experiences in a Hampshire Cottage.
A little eight-year-old girl, Nellie Benham, who has been living with her grandparents, Mr and Mrs Gough, in a cottage in Yately, Hampshire, seems to exert an overpowering attraction over spooks. The other night Mr and Mrs Gough heard noises in the child’s bedroom. They found that pictures had fallen from the walls, vases had toppled off the mantelshelf, and a heavy clock was out of position. The child was awakened by one of the pictures falling on her feet.
The sounds are only heard when the child is in a room alone. A Press representative, who made experiments in the cottage, says:-
“The child went into one of the bedrooms alone, the door being closed after her. I stood immediately outside, and barely three seconds later I heard five loud knocks, which appeared to be struck against the wall of the room as if from outside. I afterwards spent half an hour in the same room with the child, but the knocks were not repeated.”
Possibly, the spooks feared that the Pressman might try to interview them. Nellie has gone home to her parents at Sandhurst.
Western Gazette, 20th July 1906.
Haunted Cottage.
Remarkable story from a Hampshire village.
A weird story comes from the Camberley neighbourhood, the scene of Miss Hogg’s murder.
In a rustic, one-storeyed, four-roomed cottage at Yateley, a little Hampshire village three miles from the Surrey border, live Mr and Mrs Gough, with their grandchild, Nellie Benham, a girl of eight. Mr Gough, who is gardener to Dr Mills, of HAwley Hill, has lived in this same cottage for 22 years. On Thursday night they were greatly alarmed by the pictures suddenly falling from the walls. The glasses in the frames were shattered to bits. Picture followed picture, until the interior of the house bore the appearance of having been visited by an earthquake. Too terrified to retire to rest, they remained in the living room. Meanwhile their grandchild, who was sleeping in one of the bedrooms, was awakened by a picture falling on her foot and a mysterious sound of rappings.
They were distinct and unmistakable, and were followed by the falling of vases from a mantelshelf, the overturning of a chair in the bedroom, and later by a heavy clock being hurled down from its position. Further disaster followed on Friday morning until practically all the articles in the house of a breakable nature were smashed to atoms. Those that escaped destruction were hurriedly removed into adjoining cottages. “It is absolutely beyond my understanding,” said Mr Gould to a Morning Leader representative on Friday afternoon; “and were I not a God-fearing man I should be inclined to think with these superstitious villagers, who declare the noises are caused by an evil spirit. But I cannot believe that, although I am entirely at a loss to understand the meaning of it.
“The rappings are only heard when the child is alone. They follow her everywhere. She is absolutely terrified. I have lived in this cottage for 22 years, but have never heard anything of this sort before. Some three weeks ago I heard slight scratchings, but I put it down to the presence of rats.” There was no questioning the truth of Mr Gough’s statement. His demeanor bespoke plainly the agitation he was suffering. Moreover, I was afforded (the reporter continues) a practical and undeniable proof of the presence of these mysterious rappings. At the request of her grandfather, Nellie Benham, a bright-eyed, intelligent little girl, went into one of the bedrooms alone. The door was closed, and I stood with my ear against the panel. I had but a few seconds to wait. I heard five distinct, unmistakable knocks on the wall of the room which, judging by the sound, seemed to come from without. The little girl ran to the door, and, crying hysterically, implored to be released. I afterwards spent some minutes in the room with her, but the knocks were not repeated.
An All-night Vigil.
Many other people living in and around Yateley can vouch positively for the rappings, and the cottage was visited by crowds of people on Friday. On the same evening some well-known residents remained in the cottage throughout the night in the endeavour to solve this extraordinary mystery, and Mr Gough emphatically declares that should there be a repetition of the knockings he and his wife will immediately leave the cottage. Nellie Benham, the child in whose presence the rappings are alone heard, was taken away by her father on Friday afternoon to his house at Sandhurst.
The Salisbury Times, 20th July 1906.
1901 census
Goerge Gough (57) and Elizabeth Gough (62) with Nellie S Benham (4) living on Blackwater road, Yateley in 1901.
Of ghoulies and ghosties…
June Sparey reports.
Next Wednesday it will be Hallowe’en, the time when ghosts are supposed to wander abroad. There have been reports of a phantom coach floating at the gallop along the Portsmouth Road in Frimley, and more hoofbeats are said to emanate from the wraiths of former gentlemen of the road in the vicinity of Snow’s Ride at Windlesham. But earlier this century a cottage at Yateley was the vocus of a quite spectacular haunting.
Oak Cottage in Reading Road once had such a sinister reputation that people flocked in cars and carriages, on bikes and on foot, to see it. An article in the Camberley “News” published as the cottage was being demolished in July, 1936 – it had been condemned under the Town Planning Act – recalled some of the events which led to Oak Cottage’s reputation.
“Older residents of the village remember a time when spirits, ghosts and supernatural phenomena were the main, if not the only, topic of conversation for many days, and the arrival of strangers to gape at the cottage in a long queue was sufficient to make a lasting impression on the minds of the villagers,” it begins.
“It is nearly 30 years ago that people named Gough, living in the cottage, were startled by the sudden movements of tables and chairs, pictures falling off the walls and ornaments toppling off the mantelshelf. Accompanying these occurrences were strange tapping noises, sometimes on the floor, sometimes on the walls. Whatever the source of these things, their occurrence was sufficient to make the old people leave the cottage on the same night and in a remarkably short time the rumour that the cottage was ‘haunted’ or ‘possessed’ spread. A number of villagers tested the truth of the rumour, and finding that Mr and Mrs Gough’s story could be substantiated, assisted in spreading the story of the phenomena.
“The story brought people from far and near to the cottage – people who were scientifically interested in the theory of ghosts and others who came merely out of idle curiosity. Their influx, apparently, was sufficient to drive the ‘ghost’ away, for the rappings and movements have not been heard of or seen since those days.
“‘Heard of’ is not, perhaps, quite correct, as the ‘ghost’ has been a frequent topic of conversation all this week. The incidents are still quite clear in the minds of several Yateley residents and the demolition of the cottage has brought their recollections readily to the surface. Mr Ernest White, who lives a few yards away from the cottage, told a Camberley News representative that he actually saw a clock fall off the mantelpiece. “Even now,” he said, “after nearly 30 years, I am quite unable to fathom what caused the furniture to move and what made the noises.” “Most people at that time really believed,” Mr White said, “that some supernatural agency was at work. It was possible that rats might have been responsible for it, or that a dog in pursuit of rodents might have got trapped under the floorboards – it was an old house – and in his struggles to escape made weird noises.”
The Camberley News reporter spoke to a Mr and Mrs Goddard who lived in Oak Cottage for 22 years – but without any interference from ghoulies, ghosties or weird beasties. The article continued: “Incidentally, Mr and Mrs Goddard are well qualified to judge the difference between a noise natural to an old building and a noise due to some external agency, for before they went to Oak Cottage they lived at Yew Tree Cottage, Darby Green (once the Yew Tree Inn). There, Mr and Mrs Goddard told me, they were much more troubled than they were at Oak Cottage. In the middle of the night lights flashed on the walls of the room and tappings were frequently heard at the windows. They were glad to move from it and they found Oak Cottage a restful place.”
The article goes on to speculate whether the unfortunate Gough family were the victims of a poltergeist. “While the possibility of trickery must never be entirely absent from one’s mind, there are many distinguished people who have accepted such things as happened at Oak Cottage as definite manifestations of a supernatural agency,” it reminds sceptic readers.
Farnborough News, 26th October 1990.