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mysteries |
A Baby's Death |
Other Information |
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| 'Sally Rawlinson' had been seven months in her new house and was extremely pleased that she had completed its much needed refurbishment following a period of some decay. Even at the time of purchasing it she had been surprised at its low price and the length of time that it had been on the market. One night she had been sleeping in her newly decorated bedroom when she awoke with, at first, no particular cause apparent. She lay in bed listening and could hear voices; she became concerned as she realised they were coming from very close to where she was lying, though she could see no one. The voices sounded like a conversation between a couple. Furthermore Sally could hear the footsteps of a man and creaking floorboards despite the fact that the whole house was now thickly carpeted. Sally was able to listen to them disappearing across the bedroom and on to the landing and she could hear what seemed to be a man bringing a baby into the bedroom in which she was lying. Suddenly she heard what sounded like someone falling down the stairs, and the screaming cries of the child. Then silence. Afraid, Sally ran from her bed to the kitchen and sat there drinking tea to calm herself down. Unable to return to her bedroom she spent the rest of the night in the lounge on the couch. The next night she forced herself to stay in her bedroom and slept soundly, without interruption. Although she was beginning to convince herself it was only a dream it took a couple of weeks before she was comfortable about sleeping in the bedroom. It was some time later, after a night out with some friends, that she returned home exhausted, and fell instantly asleep in her bed. Just a few hours later she woke up and listened to the replay of the whole dreadful incident that she had heard before: the voices of the man and the woman, the argument, the heavy footsteps and the creaking floorboards, the thumping and the crashing, the screeching of the tiny baby and then the silence. Once again Sally was back in her kitchen drinking tea and feeling terrified. One interesting point occurred to her: on both occasions the noises had troubled her on a Thursday night. Sally asked the local priest to bless the house, hoping that it would allay the haunting. While willing to do so, the priest was not particularly optimistic about the outcome. Both he and his predecessor had apparently attempted to allay this haunting in the same house several times over the years and had never succeeded. On one visit he had gone through the ceremony while listening to the screaming child and had realised that the ceremony was not working. Nonetheless the priest performed an exorcism for Sally and for a month afterwards there was peace. On the night when it recurred, this time a Friday night in August, Sally had a guest staying with her, a friend named Carol. Sally woke in the early hours and listened to the blood-chilling replay of the sounds and the screaming and, as often before, she ran from the bedroom and sought refuge in the kitchen. It was Carol who came out screaming, 'My God! Whatever was that?' Sally was relieved that Carol had heard it too, reinforcing her belief in its reality and she explained as much as she could to her. Research by the Institute for Psychical Research examined the previous twenty years of the house's history, involving some fourteen previous owners. This alone indicates the short period of time that some of the owners had stayed there. Eventually, the research led to a woman (referred to by the Institute for Psychical Research only as 'Mrs T.') who had a sad explanation to offer. Some twenty years earlier Mrs T., her second husband and her two children had been living in the house. At the time when they had moved in Mrs T. was eight months pregnant. Shortly afterwards their son was born and turned out to be a baby whose nights were frequently very disturbed. Brian became stressed, as a result of often being late for work after having to get up six or seven times during the night. The child was extremely demanding, requiring attention every couple of hours. Mrs T. had to introduce bottle-feeding as well as breast-feeding so that her husband could assist and also in order to supply the baby with the necessary nutrients. One night, when the baby was ten weeks old, both Brian and Mrs T. awoke for about the third time that night and Brian volunteered to make another bottle of feed so that Mrs T. could get some extra sleep. Brian apparently fed the baby but the child threw back the feed, and then needed cleaning and changing. Brian carried the baby to the top of the stairs in order to take him down to clean and change him, but in his tiredness slipped and crashed down the stain. Brian had to tell his wife that although he had called for an ambulance their son was already dead. Perhaps even more sadly, Brian was never able to cure his own remorse over what had happened and something like a year later took his own life. In order to put the memories behind her Mrs T. and her family moved away. This case is strongly suggestive of the 'recording' theory as it appears that Sally heard the conversation between Mrs T. and Brian; Mrs T. was still alive at the time. |
Place: Northern England Date: 20th Century Source: Prof. Colin Gardner. |