The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

by Haining, Peter

  Germany Declares Psychic Research a Science

  Source and date: Occult Review, March 1937

  The German Government has declared that it is prepared to give its blessing to a Department of Parapsychology at Bonn University. After discussions between the German Home Office, Board of Education, the Foreign Office and Ministry of Propaganda, the Third Reich has “authorized the establishment of a Forschungstelle fur Psychologische Grenzwisswen schaften – Department for Abnormal Psychology and Parapsychology – to investigate the incidence of supernatural phenomena within Germany and among Germanic peoples.” This is of great historical importance as the Third Reich is the first Government officially to place its cachet on psychical research and is the more striking as spiritualism has been suppressed in Germany.

  Photographing a Ghost Dog

  Source and date: Daily Mirror, 13 May 1937

  In the column “Reader’s Parliament”, Edward Lloyd of Swinford, Rugby writes, “Four years ago when visiting the beautiful Welsh village of Beddgelert, I went to see the grave of Gellert, Llewellyn’s faithful dog. I took a photograph of the grave, under the tree, whilst my companion stood nearby. We were the only living persons in the field where the grave is found. After the photo was developed, we discovered a third figure on the left of my friend. It was a large dog sitting on its haunches.”

  The Ghost Club Arises!

  Source and date: Daily Express 15 March 1938

  The Ghost Club, which was founded in 1862 to investigate cases of psychic phenomena and was revived again in 1881, has been given another new lease of life thanks to the efforts of the well-known ghost hunter, Harry Price. The Club will aim to encourage scientific research into ghosts and other supernatural phenomena through public meetings, lectures and organised ghost hunts. The speaker at the inaugural meeting last night was Mr S G Soul of London University who gave a talk on “Snags in ESP”.

  Ghost-Ridden Rectory Razed

  Source and date: Daily Mail, 28 February 1939

  Borley Rectory, described as the most haunted house in England, has been razed by a mysterious fire. Its new owner, Captain Gregson, was unpacking books in the hallway when he saw an oil lamp crash to the ground of its own free will. According to eyewitnesses, a woman and a man emerged from the flames. Then they disappeared. When Sudbury Fire Brigade arrived they found the front ground-floor rooms and the bedrooms above ablaze, and before they could obtain control, a portion of the roof fell in. The house had been built on the ruins of a convent and legend has it that in the thirteenth century a monk had been caught trying to elope with a young novice. He was hanged and she was walled up alive, condemned to haunt the spot forever.

  Roman Ghost on the March

  Source and date: London Evening News, 24 July 1939

  Except for a few psychic research enthusiasts, the East Mersea road from Mersea will be deserted tonight. None of the local folk will use it. Doors and windows will be fastened – because the armour-clad Roman warrior is walking again. Fields near Barrow Hill, a centuries-old mound on Mersea Island, are stated by experts to have been burial grounds of the Roman period. From these fields, say the local folk, the Roman warrior rises by night. Clad in armour, he patrols the Strood, the Roman road leading to East Mersea. Twice during the last few days – after a lapse of many years – the Roman ghost is said to have been seen marching sorrowfully along the road.

  1940–49

  Revenge of the Veiled Figure

  Source and date: Daily Mirror, 22 November 1940

  A few days ago news spread through the south of Greece that Greek soldiers on a lonely parade on the Athenian front encountered a veiled figure in the darkness who, when challenged, threw aside her veil revealing the face of the Blessed Virgin. To the awe-struck soldiers, the virgin declared, “It is I! I will not forget to revenge myself through my Greek soldiers on my own day.” This report is believed to explain the Greek advance against the Italian forces although the vision is regarded in British military circles to be as true as any other vision of angels that has ever been seen. In England, there have been a number of accounts of “Phantom Armies”, notably the report by a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in Devon who, while out walking with his dog, saw a misty group of figures marching in the direction of Dartmouth who he was convinced were a troop of soldiers kitted out for embarkation.

  Poltergeists and Nazis

  Source and date: Guardian 25 July 1941

  In an article on the Supernatural at War, David Parson is quoted: “There are extraordinarily significant points of resemblance between the records of Poltergeist hauntings and the Nazi movement. Both are manifested in a subconscious uprush of desire for power. Both suck like vampires the energies of adolescents; both issue in noise, destruction, fire and terror. Hitler speaks best in a state of semi-trance. Whether the uprush of unconscious energy generated through him and sucking into itself the psychophysical forces of German youth is merely the outcome of an unformulated group-desire for power, or whether, like some of the Poltergeist hauntings, it would seem to have another source, is an open question.” Mr Sacheverell Sitwell says something similar in his recently published book, Poltergeists: “Adolf Hitler is the perfect type of medium if ever there was one. We could readily believe that this remarkable person, did he feel so inclined, could displace objects and move them about in oblique or curving flight; could rap out equivocal answers; or cause lighted matches to drop down from the ceiling.”

  Slaughter in the Mountains

  Source and date: Scotsman, 14 October 1941

  The celebrated mountaineer, Frank S Smythe, has described a strange encounter while he was travelling across the Highland hills from Morvich to Loch Duich. Although it was a bright, sunlit day, he experienced a sensation of “something sinister” as he entered the defile which led down to Glen Glomach. “A score or more of ragged people, men, women and children, were struggling through the defile,” he says. “They appeared very weary, as though they had come a long way. The pitiful procession was in the midst of the defile when all of a sudden from either side concealed men leapt to their feet and, brandishing spears, axes and clubs, rushed down with wild yells on the unfortunates beneath. There was a short fierce struggle, then a horrible massacre. Not one man, woman or child was left alive; the defile was choked with corpses. Moments later everything had vanished. I am not a superstitious person, but it seemed to me that I had been vouchsafed a backward glance into a bloodstained page of Scottish history.”

  Frendlins Make War on Gremlins!

  Source and date: New York Sun, 14 July 1943

  American squadrons plagued by the misfortunes brought about by Gremlins now have help at hand. Counter-magic is being used in the shape of the Frendlin – created by Walter Frisch – a typical American kid with a big grin, standing on a horseshoe, a lucky wishbone holding up his suspenders, and a four-leaf clover in his hand. Made of brightly coloured papier mâché, the Frendlin has become the mascot of Gremlin-plagued US squadrons wherever they go. They have also gotten around further. The Frendlin now perches on the desks of a score of generals and he goes wherever they go. He is also the official mascot of United Airlines. [A certain RAF Flight-Lieutenant, Roald Dahl, wrote a short book about these phenomena, The Gremlins (1943) which was bought for filming by Walt Disney and put him on the road to international fame as an author of horror stories and children’s books.]

  Poltergeist Upsets Land Girls

  Source and date: South Wales Echo, 2 August 1943

  This summer there has been a great commotion in the hostel of the Women’s Land Army at Gill House, Aspatria, Cumberland. There have been weird noises, ghastly smells and strange figures, all of which have disappeared at daybreak. Several of the girls have vowed they have seen a phantom shape “walking through doors” and one girl was awakened “with the feeling that she was being strangled and pulled through the bed”. A local clergyman believes that a poltergeist is responsible for the interferences and was asked to exorcize the hostel.
But when he and his wife slept there they heard “rappings travelling to and fro along one of the walls” and felt there was something “unearthly” about the place. Two Women’s Land Army officers decided to spend a night in the haunted dormitory, but before dawn “left the room pale and haggard”.

  Ghost Wrecked a Room

  Source and date: Evening Standard, 8 December 1943

  When Madame Aucher and her daughter, Genevieve, aged 16, went to sleep in a house at Frontenay-Rohan near Poitiers, France, they yearned for a little rest during troubled times. During the night, the girl was suddenly lifted up by what is said to be a “supernatural agency” and thrown to the foot of the bed. The bedclothes were raised up to the roof and suspended in mid-air. Plates and ornaments were thrown violently across the room. When the terrified Madame and her daughter tried another room and sat down on some chairs, these were whisked away from under them and then overturned. A priest was called in to exorcize the house and a policeman sent to investigate. According to a sworn statement made later, an oaken dresser moved away from the wall and crashed to the floor, a table nearly crushed Gendarme Pillon, and the marble top of a table was cracked by a violent unseen blow. As neither prayers nor police have been able to stop the phenomenon, the mother and daughter have left the district.

  Journalist’s Eyewitness to Ghost

  Source and date: Halifax Mail-Star, 10 January 1944

  A Mail-Star reporter and photographer have witnessed the activities of a dangerous ghost that began attacking the Halifax home of Mrs Ethel Hilchie on Christmas Eve. The first sign that anything was amiss was a series of knockings which continued over the New Year until, in desperation, Mrs Hilchie informed the police and this newspaper. Our reporter was actually interviewing her when an outhouse door locked itself and a metal hoop came sailing through the air from an unknown source. As Mrs Hilchie continued her story, a pair of scissors on a shelf opened and closed and a kettle of boiling water upset itself on the stove. During our reporter’s visit he also saw a bowl of soup spilled into the lap of one of Mrs Hilchie’s children, a soap box fly down a flight of stairs and an alarm clock take flight from a dresser. The Mail-Star photographer who visited the Hilchie home in the hope of getting some pictures of the poltergeist was also attacked. He said that nothing happened until he was just about to leave, “when a flash bulb jumped out of my bag and smashed itself on the floor”.

  “Old Mary” Hates Spirits

  Source and date: American Weekly, 20 February 1944

  When night falls over the little town of Boyle in Eire, the folk who live there make sure their houses are secure from possible attack by “Old Mary”, a ghost who hates drinkers and bar rooms. For more than fifty years, each February, this teetotal spirit has returned to haunt the place where she was once the wife of a well-known temperance leader, and died in 1919 vowing to “come back and check out Boyle every single winter”. One local resident, Mrs Martha Ann Wylder, said she has seen “Old Mary” on at least twenty-two different occasions. Mrs Wylder, a seamstress and church worker, had known Mrs Kelly well, so she could not be mistaken. “She always comes in from the south, brandishing a big, ugly shillelagh, and makes straight for the places that sell liquor.” Two Boyle bartenders, Frank L Kennedy and Hobson Moore, insist they have been confronted by “Old Mary” on two different occasions. Kennedy stated that the ghost “came into my place late in the evening last year, or at least I saw a shillelagh sailing through the door because it was closed. I lost two of my last bottles of imported bourbon.” Mr Moore added that on the same night and at almost the identical time, “I felt a cold breeze and all of a sudden a good half-dozen quarts of Irish whiskey toppled to the floor!”

  Schoolhouse “Bewitched”

  Source and date: Toronto Globe & Mail, 14 April 1944

  On 28 March, R L Swenson, Stark County Superintendent of Schools, called the Marshall’s Office to report “strange happenings” at the Wild Plum schoolhouse, twenty miles south of Ri-chardton, which local people believe is “bewitched”. State Fire Marshall Charles Schwartz said his investigation disclosed “a remarkable story beyond belief” pieced together from the sworn testimony of officials, pupils and the teacher, Mrs Pauline Rebel. Mrs Rebel and her eight pupils had been amazed when a pail of lignite coal near the stove had begun to stir restlessly without any apparent cause. Lumps of coal started popping out of the pail like Mexican jumping beans, striking the wall and bounding back. Jack Steiner, a pupil, was hit on the head and slightly injured. The coal pail tipped over and the lumps of lignite ignited. Window blinds on all nine windows started smouldering and a bookcase also burst into flames. Marshall Schwartz said the school officials testified that when they arrived the coal was still “reacting to a mysterious force” and pieces actually trembled in their hands. Analysis by the State chemist failed to reveal any chemical which might have caused such action. “We plan to send the pail and a sample of the coal to the F B I in Washington,” added Schwartz. School officials have closed the school pending an investigation.

  “Angel” Seen in Peckham Raid

  Source and date: South London Times, 8 September 1944

  Stories of the appearance of an angel in the sky – similar to the “Angel of Mons” in the last war – have been reported by a number of people in Peckham, who state that the vision, which took place during a flying-bomb raid on Southern England, lasted for twenty minutes. It happened at 6 a.m. and the apparition was described by Mrs E Halsey, 67 Hornby Road, as an inspiring and impressive sight. “I have never seen anything so wonderful,” she told a reporter. “I believe it was the Angel of Peace. It appeared quite plainly in the sky. The figure was perfect, with large outstretched wings, as if guarding something. The arms were held out and the face looking down. It stayed in the sky for about twenty minutes. There was no question it could be a cloud, because clouds were rushing over it.” Mrs Halsey was asleep when her husband, who was “spotting”, called her to see the figure. “I was rather annoyed at being awakened at 6 a.m. for I had had very little sleep,” she remarked. “Afterwards I was glad I did not miss it. It shook us all up and made us think.” Mr D L Phillips, 80 Hornby Road, was also “spotting” and saw the figure. “It was early in the morning so no one could say I was not sober. There was a large cloud of dust rising where a bomb had fallen and the figure seemed to turn its head and look in that direction.” Other people also say they are sure it was the figure of an angel. [In response to an article, “They Saw Angels” in the Daily Telegraph 7 August 1988, a reader, KWG Williamson of Middlesbrough, wrote, “I can claim to have heard an angel singing – once in a Tiger Moth whilst training in South Africa and again while flying a Spitfire over North Africa. I am sure there are other pilots who can testify to having heard these melodious voices.”]

  The Witch Walks at Scrapfaggot Green

  Source and date: Sunday Pictorial, 8 October 1944

  Queer things are happening in the remote Essex village of Great Leighs – strange things that seem to defy any normal explanation. Among its straggling lanes and among its scattered cottages, the villagers will tell you great stones are moved mysteriously, straw ricks are overturned on windless nights, sheep stray through unbroken hedges and the church bells ring at odd times. At the eerie centre of it all is Scrapfaggot Green where two hundred years ago a witch was burned at the stake. She was buried under the ashes of the fire that burned her and a great stone was placed over her breast to hold her down. For 200 years there she lay, untroubled and un-troubling. But when the war swept through the village, the narrow, winding lanes would not take military traffic so a bulldozer widened them and brushed aside the witch’s stone. From that moment, strange happenings began in the village and now there is hardly a man or woman who has not a story to tell of things that don’t fit in with ordinary common. Harry Price, head of the London University Council for Psychical Investigation, has been told the story and has a theory. The troubles at Scrapfaggot Green, he thinks, may be caused by a noisy, mischievous s
pirit. “I have heard several stories of poltergeists which have been put down to the influence of witches,” he says. “The spirit usually confines itself to one building, but here a whole village has been affected. It is extraordinary.”

  Evil Apparition in Hampstead

  Source and date: Daily Telegraph, 3 September 1947

  A ghost has finally driven Mr Brian Harvey, the manager of The Gatehouse public house in Hampstead Lane out of his premises. Last month ago he was taken to hospital suffering from shock after claiming to have seen a ghost. He later returned to the pub but was forced to leave on the advice of his doctor. A London medium Trixie Allingham has visited The Gatehouse and found the gallery “a cold, evil place”. She told the owners that during her visit she clearly saw the ghost of a white-haired smuggler who was said to have been murdered on the premises after an argument over money.