A ghostly visitant at Ynyshir.
Extraordinary story.
An Ynyshir correspondent writes: – The inhabitants of Ynyshir in general, and of 12, Whitting street, in particular, have been very much perturbed of late by the ghostly visits of a former inhabitant of this house. It appears that about two years ago a man died at this house of small-pox, and it is his mysterious re-appearance that excites the neighbourhood. The ghost makes its appearance known by unaccountable footsteps, sounds of chopping up wood, and other noises.
Several parties of men have at different times stayed in the house at night to try to find out the reason of the noises, and all have the same tale of mysterious footsteps in different rooms. On Sunday morning last about 1.30 the climax was reached, when, it is said, his ghostship was distinctly seen seated at the head of the stairs with a blue trousers on, similar to that he wore in life.
The house is used only in the daytime, as the present tenants seem to think it desirable to let the ghost have all to himself at night.
Western Mail, 5th October 1893.
A ghost in the Rhondda Fach.
Extraordinary manifestations at Ynyshir.
The village in a state of ferment.
“Morien” writes: – Ynyshir, a short distance above Porth, in the Rhondda Vach Valley, is (as reported in Wednesday’s “Western Mail”) in a ferment, it being stated that at least one visitor from behind the veil dividing the natural from the spiritual has fixed upon No. 12, Whitting-street, for the performance of nocturnal pranks. I have just visited the scene. The said street is one of several running from the road leading up through the valley to the Rhondda Vach River.
The tenants of the house are Mr and Mrs Walter Gould, the first-named being employed by that patriarch of the Rhondda coal trade, Mr James Thomas. I found Mrs Gould, a neat young Englishwoman, at home. Having mentioned to Mrs Gould the purpose of my visit, she went on to relate her own experience and that of others in relation to the visits of the supernatural. It appears that, like most of the first-class cottages of the district, two families have genearlly occupied this one, paying the rent between them. But for some time pasts, owing to nightly disturbances and the fright they cause, the present tenant is unable to get any other family to join in their tenancy. Mrs Gould, with a serious countenance, stated that the noises heard o’ nights take the form of knockings, repeated regularly every five minutes – as regularly as if they were timed by the clock.
The noises were only heard at night, and almost always on the left hand side of the stairs on ascending them. The said stairs, which are reached by a passage, are directly opposite the front door entrance. Mrs Gould stated that two nights ago little Annie, her sister, felt something touching her smartly while she was passing the foot of the stairs. She looked to see who had done this, when she saw somebody wearing a white lower garment seated on the third step; she went into the room close by to fetch a candle, and when she returned, in a few seconds, there was nobody to be seen.
She did not think of the ghost at the time, but thought it was a neighbour who had come in. The present tenants have resided at No. 12 seven months, and the disturbances have been heard occasionally during the whole of that time, and the people who preceded them left in consequence of the strange noises they heard in all parts of the house. Mrs Mills, 2, Whitting-street, the mother of Mrs Gould, stated in her own house with an air of great awe, that she was certain that the house of her daughter was haunted. One night, when she and others were sitting around the fire in the back room, a strange noise passed over the window inside, and the next moment the sounds of footsteps were heard by them upstairs, followed by the sound of the footsteps coming downstairs, with the noise of something trailing after them. But nothing could be seen. Presently the window received a violent blow from an invisible hand. Mrs Mills stated that the noise was like the sound of blows struck by a “muffled hammer.”
One night there was a tremendous row, as if from a picture falling from one of the walls, but nothing had fallen. Last Saturday night two constables went there from Porth with a view to apprehend the ghost, one it appears, not being deemed sufficient for the task. They went upstairs, and after hearing what they did there they came down again, looking like ghosts themselves, and they speedily went away.
Some of the local ministers of the Gospel have visited the house, but others said to be “somewhat nervous,” have neglected to do so after promising. One man during the knocking called out to the ghost in very tragic tones, “In the name of the Lord, what do you want, O ghost?” There was no response, and the ghost went on tapping regularly as before.
A Mrs William Davies, formerly of Penygraig, and who until lately lodged at No. 12 with her husband, stated that she and her husband, while in bed, often heard strange noises. Her husband heard one night someone walking heavily along the passage leading from the front door, and then ascending the stairs. He sprang out of bed and went to the top of the stairs to see who it was. The sound ceased, but no one appeared. He rushed back to bed and covered his head. Meanwhile his wife has heard most distinctly the sounds which had attracted her husband’s attention.
I discovered that everyone in the enighbourhood appeared to fully believe “there is something in it.” The following touching incident was mentioned. A few years ago a Mrs Clee died at No. 12, leaving a son. A few nights ago that son, who is grown up, called at No. 12, and with tears in his eyes said, “I have been thinking that it might be the spirit of my dear mother, who died here, and that she wishes to speak to me.” All that night the poor young fellow listened to the tapping, occasionally asking, “Dear mother, is it you?” There was no response from beyond the veil of time.
Groups gather in the nights before the house, and when they are invited to walk in they bolt with extraordinary speed. It was stated that a short time ago a family, consisting of husband, wife, and two children, took rooms at No.12. Owing to the difficulty of the Goulds to obtain people willing to occupy the house jointly with them, they did not mention to the strangers the nightly noises heard about the house. Early that night, the mother of the two children placed them in the same bed for the night. Presently their mother heard one of them screaming as if in terror. She hurried up, and brought that child downstairs, crying very much. Presently the other little one, which was the elder child, began to cry as if in great alarm. The mother again ran upstairs, and the child said to her that a “big man” had thrown him (a boy) out of bed on the floor of the room, and the mother saw that the bed-clothes were rolled in a peculiar way.
The fact of the Goulds’ troubles was then mentioned to the mother. The family instantly left the house, and the following morning came for their goods and chattels. Ellen Mills, a young woman of about twenty years of age, stated with great earnestness of manner that one night while in one of the bedrooms an invisible hand had caught her hair behind her head most violently. It appeared, judging appearances, by that her hair had been in a state of rebellion ever since.
I called to see the wife of a former joint-tenant of the house, now occupying apartments several blocks from Whittington street. She was thoroughly convinced that No. 12 was a haunted house. The general opinion is that the ghost is that of a man named Phillips, who some time ago died there from an attack of small-pox. It is stated that his wife was so much afraid of the contagion that she would not visit his sick chamber, and that others attended him, but at rare intervals. One day Phillips was found dead on his knees behind one of the bedroom doors, and it is generally stated his limbs had to be broken, owing to their rigidity, before he could be placed in his coffin.
Western Mail, 6th October 1893.