The Epworth Poltergeist: 4 – The Third Week
After a fortnight of keeping Mr Wesley in the dark about the poltergeist haunting, things could no longer be hidden – they began to happen both night and day. This step change occurred after Mrs Wesley’s attempt to rid the phenomena, which she believed to be caused by rats, by the blowing of a horn throughout the house. The horn blowing had been effective at ridding an infestation in another residence across the street, so it makes sense that Susanna would try this. It would have likely arrived at the beginning of the third week of the incidents. However, rather than remove the phenomena, it served only to increase them to both night and day.
Having been told of the issue, Mr Wesley was initially sceptical, believing it to be the children playing pranks, or even the older girls up to no good with the local young men. Emily was so indignant at the suggestion, she wishes for more phenomena, to prove to him beyond doubt that lovers are not the cause.
Mrs Wesley’s requests the poltergeist to left alone for her Bible devotions each day between 5pm to 6pm, and this is strangely honoured.
The Horn is Blown
| Date | Week Commencing 15th December, 1716 |
| Sun Data | Rise: 08:19 Set: 15:47 – 15:54 |
| Moon Data | Set: 05:09 – 10:09 Rise: 14:15 – 21:26 Phase: Waxing Gibbous to Full (18th) to Waning Gibbous |
| Phenomena | Audible: Noises – increased to daytime as well as night. |
| Letter References | LXI, M2J |
| Text Entries “However, the horn was blown in the garrets; and the effect was that whereas before the noises were always in the night, from this time they were heard at all hours, day and night.” – Mrs Wesley, M2J “I laughed to think how wisely they were employed, who were striving half a day to fright away Jeffery, for that name I gave it, with a horn.” – Emily, LXI | |
| Comments It is at this point, the horn is blown – half a day’s effort to try and remove the rats. Some have commented that the horn sound came from Old Jeffery himself, who played it invisibly and at “deafening decibels” [2]! This is most definitely not in the original source material and is a later embellishment of the Wesley poltergeist story. | |
Mr Wesley is Told
| Date | Thursday 20th December, 1716 |
| Sun Data | Rise: 08:19 Set: 15:52 |
| Moon Data | Rise: 20:09 Set: 10:09 Phase: Waning Gibbous (95% Full) |
| Phenomena | Audible: Noises – increased to daytime as well as night. |
| Letter References | LI, LXI |
| Text Entries “But when it began to be so troublesome, both day and night, that few or none of the family durst be alone, I resolved to tell him of it, being minded he should speak to it. At first he would not believe but somebody did it to alarm us” – Mrs Wesley, LI “but soon after we did [tell father of it]. He smiled and gave no answer, but was more careful than usual, from that time, to see us in bed, imagining it to be some of us young women, that sat up late, and made a noise. His incredulity, and especially his imputing it to us, or our lovers, made me, I own, desirous of its continuance till he was convinced… But whatever it was, I perceived it could be made angry. For from that time it was so outrageous, there was no quiet for us after ten at night.” – Emily, LXI | |
| Comments Due to the increased noise levels, Mr Wesley is now told, but thinks it’s pranksters. For a man of the cloth who is supposedly fairly superstitious about things like folklore knocking omens, he is fairly level headed in the first instance. | |
Mr Wesley’s Visitation
| Date | Friday 21st to Saturday 22nd December, 1716 |
| Sun Data | Rise: 08:19 Set: 15:53 |
| Moon Data | Rise: 21:26 Set: 10:35 Phase: Waning Gibbous (89% Full) |
| Phenomena | Audible: Nine loud knocks, three sets of three – Master Chamber |
| Locations | Master Chamber |
| Witnesses | Mr and Mrs Wesley |
| Letter References | LI, LIV, FJ |
| Text Entries “but the night after, as soon as he was in bed, it knocked loudly nine times, just by his bedside. He rose, and went to see if he could find out what it was, but could see nothing. Afterwards he heard it a the rest.” – Mrs Wesley, LI “at last we heard several loud knocks in our own chamber, on my side of the bed; but till, I think, the 21st at night I heard nothing of it. That night I was waked a little before one, by nine distinct very loud knocks, which seemed to be in the next room to ours, with a sort of a pause at every third stroke. I thought it might be somebody without the house, and having got a stout mastiff, hoped he would soon rid me of it.” – Mr Wesley FJ “Friday, December 21. Knocking I heard first, I think this night; to which disturbances, I hope, God will in his good time put an end.” – Mr Wesley, FJ (Addenda) “one or two nights after [error in memory recall?], when we were just got to bed, I heard nine strokes, three by three, on the other side of the bed, as if one had struck violently on a chest with a large stick. Mr. Wesley leapt up, called Hetty, who alone was up in the house, and searched every room in the house, but to no purpose. It continued from this time to knock and groan frequently at all hours, day and night; only I earnestly desired it might not disturb me between five and six in the evening, and there never was any noise in my room after during that time.” – Mrs Wesley, M2J | |
| Comments Finally, Mr Wesley begins to hear the knocks for himself! His scepticism is beginning to wane after investigating it, and he and the dog finding nothing untoward. Interestingly, Mrs W. converses with it, requesting it not to disturb her for her daily one hour’s devotions, which it obeys. This evidence leads some to believe that a spirit belonging to a Jacobite was behind the haunting (Mrs Wesley was sympathetic to the Jacobite cause, causing her Royalist husband to leave the family for a year fourteen years prior) [3]. | |
The intended removal of the pest infestation caused the phenomena to increase, against expectations. Perhaps, if it was rats, they were dispersed throughout the house more by the sound, rather than concentrated in one spot. Having had a mouse or two in one of our previous homes, it was successfully moved on through the judicious use of several ultrasonic pest horns, so sound can be used for pest control. However, this wouldn’t account for the smashed / not really smashed bottles that Emily says she heard the previous week, nor rattling of door latches / general knocking and thumping sounds.
At this point, it’s reasonable to consider whether Emily may have contributed to the haunting by furnishing extra, naturally sourced, phenomena. She wished the phenomena to increase, making comment on how funny she thought it was to think that Old Jeffrey (which we learn is the name she gave it) would be frightened by it. Sometimes in poltergeist hauntings which start off quietly and build up, things tail off for a little while. When nothing happens, it can be embarrassing to those who have brought in friends or even investigators and want to prove they’re not making their experiences up by adding in some home-made phenomena. Alternatively, family members may want to prolong the excitement and so create their own phenomena, whether telling it as a story, or making things happen themselves. Any investigation into poltergeist phenomena should be aware of trickery, intentional, or unintentional even if it’s to “help” investigators experience a taste of what it’s been like for the afflicted.
Mrs Wesley’s account of striking a bargain with the spirit is intriguing. Evening family prayers were at six (HER), yet Mrs Wesley doesn’t request for that part of the day to also be left alone by the entity. There’s an interesting dynamic at play between the parents of the household. As said above, Mr Wesley was a strong royalist, believing William of Orange was legitimately king; Mrs Wesley was a Jacobite sympathiser. John relates the tension between the two in HER, vowing that if she didn’t say Amen in prayers for him, he wouldn’t cohabit with her. This took place 14 years previously, for a whole year before he came back to his family. This would have had an impact on the then six children of the household, aged between 0 and 11 at the time! John suggests that maybe the source of this haunting is a curse from God for his father breaking that vow. So it seems Mrs Wesley was still not saying Amen at this point.
Those who hold to the theory that poltergeist phenomena are associated with stresses in households are certainly able to find evidence in the Wesley residence.
Next Time – Week four of the Wesley poltergeist is the most active of the whole case – so much so, we have split it into two parts for ease of reading. The younger children begin to play with Old Jeffery and the dog gets scared. One particular acoustic phenomena makes investigator Jack ask a question which would not be out of place with those carrying out a paranormal investigation today.
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Bibliography
Crain, M. B. (2009), Haunted Christmas: Yuletide Ghosts and Other Spooky Holiday Happenings, Globe Pequot
Southey, R. (1820), The Life of Wesley; and the Rise and Progress of Methodism, Volume 1, London: Longman, Rees, Orme and Brown.
Yates, K. D. (2015), Jeffrey The Jacobite Poltergeist: The Politics Of The Ghost That Haunted The Epworth Rectory In 1716-17, Wesleyan Theological Journal, 50/2 (Fall 2015), pp. 68-79.
Footnotes
[1] Moon Phase information for Epworth on the dates shown has been taken from Moonpage.com; Moonrise / set taken from TimeAndDate.com (moon); Sunrise / set taken from TimeAndDate.com (sun).
[2] Crain, 114
[3] Yates, 73
