The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

by Haining, Peter

  The Thing that Screams in the Night

  Source and date: Lancashire Evening Post, 4 September 1958

  A real spine-chiller of a ghost is the talk of Chipping today. At least three local residents have confirmed that strange things are happening in the night. The Identikit Description: Large, luminous eyes, large hands and a creature of weird noises in the night. Location: Playing fields in Longridge Road and what is known locally as the Old Hive area. Habits: Screams in the night, padding along the dark country roads in the early hours and terrifying elderly people and children. Residents of Old Hive have reported things that scream in the night and are keeping their doors and windows tightly locked. Local policeman PC Duncan McPheat has been told of the alarm felt by villagers but so far has failed to encounter any ghostly wanderings. About sixteen months ago another ghost – that of Leagram Hall, now demolished – was alarming residents of Chipping with its nightly wanderings. The area may now have two ghosts to contend with.

  Ghost Photograph at Vaucluse Gap

  Source and date: Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1959

  The Gap at Vaucluse in Sydney has long been reputed to be haunted. Another report of a ghost sighting has been made by a New Zealand tourist. The visitor claims to have seen a “transparent” figure on the edge of a 170-foot cliff. The story recalls a photograph taken on 1 May 1956 at Corroboree Rock, 100 miles west of Alice Springs, by the Reverend R S C Blance of the Tusmore Presbyterian Church, Adelaide. Mr Blance’s picture is of the site on which the Arunta Aboriginal tribe holds its final initiation ceremony, an endurance test of hunger, thirst, heat and cold. Those who survive rejoin the tribe, but many die during the ceremony. When the picture was developed it showed the ghostly figure of a man in a garment similar to a nightshirt, wearing a balaclava-like cap, and with his hands clasped beneath the chin. As if in prayer. So far, no one has been able satisfactorily to explain the phenomenon.

  1960–69

  Ghosts: a Startling Report

  Source and date: Empire News, 17 July I960

  An astonishing document, claiming supernatural communication with the spirits of the long-dead King Henry the Eighth and members of the Tudor Court, is to be published by an authoritative church council whose honorary vice-presidents include thirteen bishops. Entitled “The Tudor Story”, this secret 60,000-word manuscript reveals startling disclosures of strange psychic phenomena centring on the late Canon W S Pakenham-Walsh who died two months ago. Among the amazing claims – supported by leading figures in religious research – are: That the earthbound spirit or “ghost” of King Henry spoke at length with Canon Pakenham-Walsh, who acted as his father-confessor. That the recalled spirit of Ann Boleyn sought the help of the Church in redeeming the soul of Henry and regarded the canon as her champion. That the supernatural signature of the king who died 400 years ago was put on a document in a Chelsea garden. That evidence of survival after death within the framework of the Christian Church is clearly established in scripted reports of what took place over 30 years between spirit members of the Tudor court and the canon and his witnesses. Last night, Church of England colleagues of the late Canon told the Empire News, “We are prepared for fierce controversy over this fantastic and amazing manuscript. But we are prepared to vouch for its authenticity. As a result of its publication, the Church may have to reassess the whole question of contact between the earthly and spiritual worlds.”

  Hunt for the Ghost of No 10

  Source and date: Sunday Dispatch, 25 December 1960

  As they knocked off for Christmas, workmen demolishing the Prime Minister’s house in Downing Street were talking about “The Ghost of No 10”. For years there has been an off-the-record story that the ghost – thought to be that of a bygone Prime Minister – walks the building. It is a benevolent ghost and has never done anyone harm. It just walks round and those who claim to have seen it cannot agree whether it wears Regency, Victorian or modern dress. But no one is prepared to reject the story of the ghost – not at Christmas time anyway.

  The “Noisy Ghost” of Elkader

  Source and date: Omaha World-Herald, 29 December 1960

  A “noisy ghost” has finally succeeded in driving out the occupiers of a farm near Elkader, Iowa. After weeks of enduring strange happenings, 83-year-old William Meyer and his wife have quit their home and moved in with a daughter in Guttenberg, Iowa. The phenomena had lasted for several months and included a refrigerator being tipped over and eggs flung across the kitchen among other things. Clayton County sheriff Forrest Fischer deputized two men and told them to keep a watch on the home. At first, Fischer thought the whole thing was a hoax, but has had second thoughts after seeing a bottle jump out of a box and smash on the floor.

  The Spirit that Burns

  Source and date: L’Express, 13 April 1962

  Police and church officials in St Brieuc have joined forces to try and solve the mystery of a ghost with a curious obsession. The spirit is preoccupied with clothing – one man at Landebia was standing in the presence of others in a market place when his clothes were literally pulled off him, giving way at the seams. At Henabihen, large acid-like burns were reported to have appeared on the clothes of a family in that village – while they were wearing them. And what is believed to be the same ghost has slit all the bedsheets belonging to another family.

  The Haunted Tomb of “Black Aggie”

  Source and date: Baltimore Sun, 31 October 1962

  The ghost known as “Black Aggie” has been reported again in the Druid Ridge Cemetery at Pikeville, near Baltimore. She is said to emanate from a “haunted tombstone” that marks the grave of newspaper publisher General Felix Angus who died in the 1920s. Upon his death, the family commissioned a well-known monument sculptor to design the tombstone. He designed a stone with a curious-looking small black angel perched on top. Subsequently the monument acquired the name “Black Aggie” after it was claimed that at the stroke of midnight the angel’s eyes would glow. The legend grew that all the ghosts in the graveyard would gather around at midnight and any living person who was struck by her glowing gaze would immediately become blind. Pregnant women who passed under shadow – where no grass would grow – would have miscarriages. Earlier this year, one of “Black Aggie’s” arms went missing and shortly afterwards a young student believed to be carrying out a dare was found dead by the tombstone one morning. A medical examination determined that he had died of fright. With new reports of “glowing lights” in the cemetery and the arrival of tourists at midnight determined to brave the risk of being blinded, the family of Colonel Angus are increasingly worried about desecration to his grave and plan to seek permission for the removal of “Black Aggie”. [After several more sightings of the ghost, “Black Aggie” was finally removed in 1967 and donated to the Smithsonian Institution where she has remained in store ever since.]

  Widow Fights Ghost with Beer

  Source and date: Ilford Recorder, 7 February 1963

  Perryman’s Farm has long has the reputation of being the most haunted farm in Essex. For the past fifty years, there have been regular outbreaks of poltergeist activity in which china has been broken and pictures dropped from the wall. The present tenant, Mrs Doris Freeman, a resolute lady in her eighties, has no intention of being driven out of her home by the racket, however. She is attempting to placate the ghost. Before she goes to bed each night she always leaves a bottle of beer and a meal on the table. “It may sound odd, but there is an ancient tradition that a ghost that is fed is a contented ghost. I have not been disturbed for weeks now,” she said.

  The Glamis Castle Ghost Again

  Source and date: The Scotsman, 2 December 1963

  The “grey lady” who has been seen by generations of the Earl of Strathmore’s family in Glamis Castle has been seen again. The Earl himself has admitted seeing the grey-garbed spectre when he looked into the castle chapel one evening. The lady was in an attitude of prayer and disappeared after a few moments. Because of the tremendous pub
lic interest in Glamis – the place where the Queen Mother spent her childhood and the birthplace of Princess Margaret – the Dowager Countess Glanville, aunt to Lord Strathmore, has replied to press speculation. “I have seen the ghost,” she told journalists yesterday, “but I would rather say nothing about it. One thing leads to another. My telephone would never stop ringing.”

  George the Ghost Exposed

  Source and date: The People, 10 May 1964

  One of the world’s most publicized ghosts was unmasked last week. For eighteen months, “George” – as he was known to his fans – has haunted a stone cottage in the old-world village of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire. Stories and articles about him appeared all over the world. A TV programme was devoted to his activities. Priests were called in to advise on the best methods of dealing with him. But I can now reveal, says reporter Ken Gardner, that “George” was really fourteen-year-old David Pethrick who lives in the cottage with his parents. The truth came out two nights ago at a séance to which a team of People investigators had been invited. As “George” went through his eerie routine, I suddenly shone a torch on young David who was sitting in a corner of their living room. And I caught him doing a daring ventriloquist act behind a handkerchief. David stopped singing immediately and stuffed his handkerchief into his pocket. I took David to one side and he admitted the voice was his. “I don’t know why I do it,” he said. “Sometimes I feel that a ghost is inside me.”

  Penitent Ghost Haunts Navy Wives

  Source and date: Daily Express, 20 October 1964

  The Navy has excused a sailor from all night-duty and his two-year-old son is being given sedatives – all because of a ghost which wants to apologise for a stabbing. An officer from twenty-seven-year-old Able Seaman Dave Smith’s ship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, attended a séance in the house that two frightened naval wives say is haunted. In the beachside villa at Seaton, Devon, the ghost said through a medium, “I cannot rest until I find my mistress to apologise. I should not have killed her.” Twenty-three years ago, a Scottish maid killed her mistress with a carving knife in the house, which the Navy has converted into married quarters. The haunting began in August with heavy footsteps, doors slamming, windows opened and lights switched on and off. Apart from Able Seaman Smith and his family, the ghost has also been seen by Mrs Isa Cameron who also lived in the house with her three daughters. The spiritualists have been no more successful than the Vicar of Downderry, Rev Robert Lyle, in quietening the restless spirit.

  Clairvoyant and the Ghost at the Crown

  Source and date: East Anglian Daily Times, 25 June 1966

  The noted clairvoyant, Tom Corbett, visited the Crown Inn in Bildeston, Suffolk last night to try and lay the ghost that is said to have haunted the pub for centuries. Ghostly footsteps, unexplained hammering sounds and supernatural manifestations have been reported – and a few years ago several people complained of being touched by cold, invisible fingers. Mr Corbett, a reporter and photographer visited the Crown and though nothing unusual was seen or heard the clairvoyant said he felt there was a “psychic atmosphere” in the inn. When Mr Corbett left, the two newspapermen decided to stay in one of the Crown’s double rooms. Paul Henshall writes, “During the night we were suddenly awakened by loud, mysterious footsteps in the corridor outside. We ventured out only to find the passage empty. When we nervously returned to the room we both began shivering. There had been a dramatic and unaccountable drop in the temperature. It was very spooky indeed!”

  A Double Haunting

  Source and date: The New York Times, 2 January 1967

  The historian Carl Carmer, who lives in a unique octagonal house in Irvington, New York, near the Hudson River, says that his house has two ghosts – a previous resident and a ghost he and his wife brought with them when they moved to Irvington from Twelfth Street in New York City. According to Mr Carmer, the resident ghost was the daughter of a Frenchwoman who owned the house and met an untimely death while she was eloping with a young man from a neighbouring estate. She floats up the driveway on moonlit spring nights. The second ghost, who followed the family from the city, apparently showed up a few months later. “She is rather like a homing dog,” the historian says, “she signifies her presence by a delicate scene which is fleeting but very flowery.”

  Phantom Face on TV Screen

  Source and date: Lincolnshire Echo, 26 September 1967

  A Grimsby family have left their council house at Flottergate after a ghost appeared on closed circuit television. For weeks, Ted Barning, his wife and children had been terrified by a phantom that had been creating disturbances in several rooms of the house. Investigators from the Ghost Club visited the house and an engineer rigged up the TV apparatus, with a camera in the Barnings’ bedroom where the largest number of disturbances had occurred. After a watch of several hours, the face of “an old man of hideous appearance” appeared on the monitor screen downstairs. When one of the party of six around the monitor rushed upstairs, the face disappeared. The engineer stated that he had tried every possible test with the apparatus, but could find no possible explanation for the occurrence.

  Live Séance on TV Astonishes Viewers

  Source and date: New York Times, 18 September 1967

  Last night, the Right Reverend James A Pike, former Episcopal Bishop of California, sat in a television studio in Toronto, Canada, with Arthur Ford, a minister of the Disciples of Christ Church and one of America’s best-known spirit mediums. They were about to hold a televized séance that had been arranged by Allen Spraggett, religion editor of the Toronto Star and frequent writer on psychic subjects. Ford put on a blindfold – to protect his eyes from the strong TV lights, he said – and went into a trance. During the trance Ford’s spirit guide, “Fletcher”, delivered messages allegedly from the spirit of Bishop Pike’s son, Jim Jr, who had shot and killed himself in New York a year earlier. According to Ford, “Fletcher” was the spirit of a long-dead French Canadian who regularly transmitted messages from the spirit world. Astonished viewers across the nation heard “messages” from the “spirit” of James Pike Jr and were assured that the “communications” were genuine. Bishop Pike admitted himself “impressed” but acknowledged that much of the information might have been acquired by normal means. He added, “But I do not think Ford has done so. I am convinced that during the séance Ford was in contact with the spirit of my dead son.” [This story appeared on the front page of the New York Times – the only time a psychic event has been given such prominence in the Times.]

  The Spirit of Conan Doyle

  Source and date: Sunday Express, 5 May 1968

  An intriguing story has come to light at Windlesham Manor, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and a dedicated Spiritualist. The manor – where he wrote some of his later Holmes stories – is a rambling, thirty-bedroom mansion by Ashdown Forest and now a home for “retired gentlefolk”. Explains Mrs Doreen Hancock, the manageress, “The locals say the house is haunted by his ghost. I’ve been here for less than a year and I haven’t seen the ghost – but I do sense an extraordinary atmosphere. Late at night when I go round checking the lights, I sometimes think of this haunting story. But it wouldn’t worry me if I met Sir Arthur on the landing. I’m sure he would be a very friendly ghost.” This is not, in fact, the first time there has been talk of the ghost of Conan Doyle. Seven years ago it was blamed for playing pranks with the lift of his former London surgery in Devonshire Place. In 1961 the house was shared by seven doctors and the lift, though serviced every month, often stopped inexplicably between the second and third floors. This was next to the rooms where Sir Arthur wrote Sherlock Holmes tales while waiting for patients. Finally, the doctors advised all their patients: “Use the stairs – it’s quicker.”

  Public Survey of Hauntings

  Source and date: Daily Telegraph, 4 October 1968

  The Institute of Psychophysical Records is appealing in the press and media for first-hand accounts
of “perceiving apparitions” to cover all of the senses and not just those that are visual. The researchers are hoping to collate the material to find similarities between accounts of “ghost sightings”. Their findings will be published in a book. [Three hundred people responded to this appeal, which was followed by a second appeal in 1974, producing over 1,500 reports. From these questionnaires, the first-ever authentic table of true hauntings was released.]