he alleged supernatural has been frighten-
ing some Hull people almost out of their wits,
and the police who were called have been in-
vestigating, but have not been able to solve the
extraordinary manifestations that are corrobo-
rated by witnesses. he “Mail” has also been
investigating, and the story gathered is one of
the most remarkable that has appeared in print.
he details are given as they were related. he
house at which the manifestations are stated to
have occurred is No. 12, Richardson’s-buildings,
Sykes-street, Hull, and is tenanted by James
Gilson and his wife; but since the occurrences
no one has dared to sleep in the house and the
furniture has been taken preparatory to moving
somewhere else. When a “Mail” representative
arrived the interior was naturally in a state
of some disorder, and the neighbourhood was
still excitingly discussing the details of pots and
glasses lying across rooms without any visible
motive power, and the tit-bit, of a constable’s
helmet just being missed by a lying black box.
he story is a circumstantial one, Mrs. Gilson,
who swooned and fell on the loor during the
occurrence, was still in a state of nervous ten-
sion, and very much upset when a “Mail” repre-
sentative saw her this morning. With a neigh-
bour she had dared to enter the house again,
but all the time she was telling her story she was
illed with apprehensive fear, and the least noise
would cause her to stop and listen.
A BROTHER DYING. he conversation took
place in the kitchen, where the various inani-
mate things were said to become animate. “My
brother James,” said the frightened woman,
“had been ill with consumption, and lay dur-
ing his illness on a little bed beneath the win-
dow,” and she pointed to the inner room on the
ground loor leading from the kitchen. “He died- we knew he was dying – and we buried him
on Friday. He died very happy, and was very
fond of me,” broke in the frightened woman
disjointedly, “and I know the spirit would not
come for me.” “It must be a haunted house,”
interrupted the neighbours reassuringly. Mrs.
Gilson proceeded: “Ater the funeral, several of
us set up in the inner room, where my bed had
been, for I had been watching by my brother’s
bed-side during his illness. My husband and
my brother Patrick were upstairs having gone
to bed; but there was in the inner room with
me, Mrs. Grady who had been stopping with us.
We set up talking about the funeral. “Suddenly
we heard a repeated knocking at the door, and
we got up startled. Next, there was a loud noise
as if something had fallen on to the loor in the
adjoining kitchen.” he husband and brother
had also heard it, for they with the others raninto the kitchen, and discovered that a comb
had fallen out of a comb box on the all, and
fallen with a clatter into a [illegible]. “It was
a steel comb,” explained Mrs. Gilson, who could
not account for it falling when it was ixed in
a kind of slot. hey were alarmed; but when
the hairbrush lew out of the box in their very
presence, they were terriied, the noise as it fell
seemed to them louder than should have been
produced by a light article falling. “What is the
matter,” screamed Mrs. Gilson, and in her own
words, “a stone came through the back kitchen
door, which was fastened. It fell just where you
are standing,” she said to the “Mail” represent-
ative, “and seemed to come through the door.”
he newspaper man examined the door, butthere was no mark or hole, Mrs. Gilson remark-
ing that the stone was like a pebble, and not one
that could be seen ordinarily in the street.
MISSILE AT THE CONSTABLE. Meanwhile
P.C. Hynes, of the Worship-street Division, ar-
rived, and entered to investigate. He walked
across the kitchen, and was entering the inner
room when, he says, a tin of blacking whizzed
past his helmet, just missing it, and falling at
the further end of the room. he constable at
once ran into the kitchen, but he could discov-
er no one there, and was as much mystiied as
the rest as to how the tin came at him. he
next manifestation, according to Mrs Gilson,
was the “breaking loose” of some china on the
kitchen table. A couple of cups and two glass-
es, asserted Mrs Gilson, lew of the table, and
fell into the inner room, where they splintered
with a startling crash. he shock of these al-
leged eerie happenings was too much for Mrs
Gilson, for she swooned and fell in a faint on the
loor. he turmoil aroused the neighbourhood,
and the terriied woman was carried into the
house of a neighbour, Mrs Carney, where she
was brought round. he house was thoroughly
searched upstairs and down, but without any
satisfactory result, and P.C. Hynes, who seemed
to be impressed with manifestation, according
to the neighbours, could only attempt to paci-
fy the occupants. But they would not go back
into the house, and were lodged in the houses of
neighbours for the night.
P.C. O’KELLY’S ARRIVAL. A little later other
oicers arrived, included P.C. O’Kelly, the heav-
yweight wrestling champion, of Olympic Games
fame. Report has it that he remarked that he
wished he had arrived earlier; but the neigh-
bours did not put much faith in his ability to
wrestle with the unknown. his morning the in-
cidents were the sole topic of conversation in the
neighbourhood; and Mrs Gilson, who certainly
looked scared yet, remarked, “It has about killed
me.” he “Mail” man was talking to her and a
neighbour in the house, where there was a sud-
den tapping outside. “What’s that?” they asked,
startled; but a glance out of the kitchen windowThe story was picked up locally, provincially, and nationally, with hundreds of reports being published on it. The most in depth report
was published locally, when The Hull Daily Mail, dated Monday September 7th 1908, featured the following lengthy report on the case;
EERIE HAPPENINGS IN CENTRAL HULL.
OCCUPANTS FLEE THE HOUSE. CONSTABLES’ EXPERIENCE,
SOME STARTLING DETAILS.
(SPECIAL FOR THE “DAILY MAIL.”)