By John G. Sutton
Foulridge with Lake Burwain
By John G. Sutton
Foulridge with Lake Burwain
As a child I often used to visit my grandparents home on Cromwell Street in the tiny Lancashire village of Foulridge. The stone cottage they lived in dated back to the 17th century and it was, they said, haunted by a number of spirits. One particular ghost they called Sammy Tuppy. According to my grandmother Sammy was the spirit of a previous occupant of their cottage and he used to play little tricks on the family. Things would go missing for days then suddenly turn up somewhere where they could not really have been. There were other signs that Sammy was about, whistling sounds and breezes blowing in closed empty rooms.
There was also the family ghost; this was the spirit of my grandfather's brother killed during the First World War. His name was Walter Walsh and often he would appear in the main room of the house, seated in a chair dressed in his army uniform. My mother saw this spirit for many years and she believes to this day that Walter Walsh is the family ghost.
I myself have seen a ghost dressed in military uniform. I was stationed with the British Army at Sennelager, near Paderborn in Germany and woke one night to see a soldier standing at the foot of my bed. This was nothing unusual as soldiers often did drop in to other people's rooms to play silly pranks. However this soldier was dressed in an outdated Infantry battle kit and half his head was missing. I tried to scream as I was deadly frightened, but no sound would come from my mouth. In absolute fear I pulled the covers over my head and waited until this vision vanished. Too many German beers one might think. But I was not alone in seeing this ghostly soldier; the huge Welshman in the bunk opposite mine had seen him too. 'Who was that at the foot of your bed last night?' he asked. I decided against trying to explain that it was most probably my family ghost, I didn't think Taffy was ready for that story.
Since the death of my father in 1973 I have seen his spirit many times. The first such sighting was late one weekday afternoon when I entered my home direct from work. As I walked into the lounge I saw him sitting in a chair looking as alive as he did in life. For a split second I was confused, how could this be? Then I said 'What are you doing here Dad?' no sooner had I spoken than he disappeared into thin air. My wife Mary was in the kitchen cooking the evening meal and she came out to see whom I was talking to. 'You look as if you've seen a ghost' she said looking at my ashen face. She was quite right, I had.
As a writer on matters supernatural I often meet mediums and psychics. And like many other people I do receive messages from these gifted individuals. Often the messages contain a description of the spirit messenger. Now my father always wore a particular kind of hat that was by no means usual. The amazing thing is that many mediums have 'seen' his spirit and described his mode of dress as verification. I think of Fleetwood medium Margaret Eccles, Blackpool's Mysterious Marguerite and Liverpool's Derek Acorah. Quite clearly my father's spirit is watching over me, he is now my family ghost and I do see him now and again. These days I am no longer afraid, I understand that as my father he is simply continuing to try and help me in my material life.
Family ghosts exist throughout the world and even the Royal family is said to have one. Balmoral castle in Scotland is reputedly haunted by the spirit of Queen Victoria's trusted friend John Brown. His ghost has supposedly been seen by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II herself, he was apparently wearing full Scottish Highland dress. Who knows, perhaps he was looking for the late Queen Victoria; they were said to have been lovers.
I recently interviewed a family in New Jersey; U.S.A. who told me the whole family could 'see' or hear a ghost. Late at night a disembodied voice was calling out to members of this American family. In my next book 'Do You Believe In Ghosts?' to be published in March 1999 by Element Books, I tell this and many other true stories of hauntings and ghostly visitations.
There are, of course, always jokers who invent spooky tales to impress or scare others. I think of famous hoaxes like 'The Amityville Horror' a glorious load of old nonsense invented by the hard up owners of this definitely ghost free house. The pity is that such spoofs discredit the many true stories. I recently watched the TV morning talk show 'Kilroy' debating ghosts and hauntings. The case of the phoney Amityville Horror was quoted as evidence that ghosts and spirits do not exist beyond our imagination. Try telling that to my late father!
Perhaps you too have a family ghost that watches over your house and the people who live there? I am sure we all do have guardian angels but how many of us have seen theirs? If you have a family ghost and would like to tell me about it I would be pleased to hear from you, my address is at the end of this column.
As for my late grandparent's ghost Sammy Tuppy of Cromwell Street, Foulridge: I checked this story out. In the local library I found a history of the village and in this, on page 57, I found reference to local nicknames. One such was given as Sam-a-Tummy and his address was Cromwell Street. Could this have been the ghost my family shared their home with? I guess we will never know.
Do write and tell Psychic World your tales of hauntings. Only the other morning I was shaving peered in the mirror and saw a ghost. It looked just like me but much older with a white beard. Was this the ghost of Christmas future?