Monkton Heathfield Ghost (1923)

The following article entitled ‘Lively Christmas “Ghost”’ was published in the Dundee Courier on Monday 24 December 1923. ‘Occupants Driven From Their New Home. Owner Struck On The Neck With Orange. The Christmas festivities of Monkton Heathfield, a village near Taunton, are being enlivened by the doings of a “ghost”, who, ivy-clad castles, seems to have ensconced itself in a newly built house.

The residence in question was erected for his own occupation by Mr Gardiner, a jobbing builder, and during the last few days articles of furniture have been moved about the house without apparent human agency. So uncanny has the situation become that Mr Gardiner and his son no longer sleep there.

The trouble began a week ago, when an extraordinary noise was heard and Mr Gardiner was struck on the back of the neck by an orange which a moment beforehand been reposing on a plate on the dresser. Other inexplicable occurrences are related by neighbours, who were interviewed yesterday by press representatives. A chair jumped from the floor on to the table and a watch-box which was on the table in the kitchen suddenly rose several feet into the air and fell to the ground.

A pair of boots emerged backwards from the cupboard, and two prayer books and a large postcard album flew from a bookshelf to the opposite side of the room. The climax was reached when amazed witnesses saw a lamp rise from the table and gracefully volplane to the kitchen floor.

These things have happened not only at night but during the mid-day meals, when knives moved from one end of the table to the other, and the pepper-box has taken to walking. No explanation has been found for the phenomena, which has all occurred when the owner has been present.’

Please note that the map below shows Monkton Heathfield, not the exact location of the above reported haunting.