This tale of a particularly stubborn ghost appeared in the "Newport Daily Express," January 25, 1950:
BRISTOL Eng. Jan 25--If Mrs Drury’s ghost is still walking around the old Victorian house of William Baber today it won’t be the fault of the Vicar.As often happens, the exorcism seems to have merely annoyed the ghost. A sequel appeared in the "Fort-Worth Star Telegram" on February 13:The ghost--or whatever has been upsetting the Baber family--has been exorcised.
The Rev. Francis J. Maddock went through all the rooms of the old house last night performing an ancient rite that is supposed to exorcise ghosts--put them to rest or at least make them stop walking around old haunts.
The Baber family was on the verge of moving out after it complained that a spooky little old lady in black with a weird glow around her head followed it around the house, woke up the two children and generally upset earthly routines.
The Babers think it is the ghost of Mrs. Gladys Drury who used to live here and died 18 years ago.
Rev. Maddock got permission from the Church of England to perform the old special services. He studied up on ancient authorities of the subject. The main idea, he said, was that he had to assume the spirit was really there.
He wouldn’t give any details of the special service but he said he didn't use incense or sprinkle holy-water which he said is called for by the old teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
“I used such form of exorcism as is in conformity with the teachings of the Church of England,” he explained.
After that the Babers said the spirit appeared every morning at about 6 o'clock and followed them around the house.
The Babers started having trouble with the ghost six months ago after Mrs. Baber opened a closet door containing a lot of old trunks that once belonged to Mrs. Drury. It had been locked since the old lady’s death.
The Babers still aren’t sure they want to move back into the house. They’ve been living with relatives lately to get away from the apparition. And they’ve also applied to the local housing authorities for fresh accommodations “on the ground of ghostly disturbances in the present home."
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| Via Newspapers.com |
"Mrs It," the ghost of No. 13 Highworth Road is back again--with a playmate.The last word I was able to find about the story stated that the Babers had moved back into the house, resigned to sharing it with an "It."Only three weeks ago the haunt was exorcised by a Church of England vicar in a religious rite to drive away spirits taken from early Christian records.
The peace of No. 13 was short-lived.
Mr. and Mrs. William Baber, who live in the house, say the ghost now does a nightly routine up and down the stairs with an unidentified partner. Sometimes it sounds like they're dancing, sometimes like wrestling.
The Baber theory is that the original ghost--which they named "Mrs It"--is that of a woman who died in the house 18 years ago.
"Mrs It" first began prowling around the place in December. Their vicar, Rev. Francis Maddock, went through a rite of exorcism Jan 24 after a month of nightly uproar at No 13.
Sunday night the Babers called a spiritualist. All they found out is that "Mrs It" (1) speaks a foreign language--possibly Russian--or (2) is an atrocious speller.
They used a Ouija board to see if she had any message. What came out was "e e h f h m e v."
They hsould have looke din the trunks.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is comforting or not to see that sometimes journalists were as bad at their writing decades ago as now: "...in a religious rite to drive away spirits taken from early Christian records." (If the spirits were taken from early Christian records, couldn't they be put back?)
ReplyDelete