Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

Some ghosts hang around in ancient castles, clanking chains, walking through walls, and generally spooking the hell out of everyone.  Other ghosts hang out in libraries and play with the typewriter.  The “Leicester Evening Mail,” July 1, 1955:

Is there any explanation for the nocturnal tappings which sometimes can be heard in Coalville branch library? 

The noises, which were first heard by the cleaner, Mrs. D. Latimer, about three months ago, sound like someone using the typewriter in the small partitioned office to the rear of the library. The clicking sound is only heard at night after the library is closed to the public.

But perhaps the strangest phenomenon is that the keys only type out their message when the cover is left off the machine.

Mrs. Latimer, of 5 Avenue-road, Coalville, is baffled by the noises.

When she first heard them, she thought perhaps a cat had slipped unseen into the premises and had jumped on the typewriter keys.

Recently she heard it once more.  Quietly tip-toeing into the office she heard the tapping quite plainly, and strongly maintains that she actually saw the keys moving up and down.

The librarian, Mr. L.J. Mitchell, has also heard the tapping, but can offer no satisfactory explanation.

On July 4, the “Guardian Journal” carried a sequel:

In an attempt to solve the mystery of the “ghostly typist,” a typewriter loaded with a blank sheet of paper was left in an office at Coalville Public Library during the week-end. 

The typewriter was ready to record a message from a spirit which is said to tap the keys when the office is deserted. 

The tapping was first heard by a woman cleaner working in the library alone at night. She told the librarian, Mr. Leonard Mitchell: “I heard the noise of a typewriter and when I went to look who was in the office I am sure I saw the keys moving. But there was no one there.” 

The story was not taken seriously until Mr Mitchell and then one of his assistants also heard the tapping and found the office deserted. 

Premises adjoining the library in Hotel-street, Coalville, were searched with the assistance of the owners, but nothing was found to explain the tapping.

“I don’t believe in ghosts, but we have failed to find any logical explanation for the noise,” said Mr. Mitchell yesterday. “It is a standard typewriter, but the noise is only heard when it is left uncovered.  Apparently the spirit cannot remove the dustcover".

The following day, the “Journal” reported that the sheet of paper they left overnight was still blank.  Mitchell said he hadn’t decided whether to repeat the experiment.

And that, as far as I know, was the last published word about the Ghost Typist of Coalville.