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Disputed

Mr. Procter's house at Willington Mill

WhereThis has no location, and never had one.
DoorSomewhere You Can Go
Our judgementObscurity 2 of 6

At Joseph Procter's house by Willington Mill, glasses rose off the table with no visible cause, and a Dr. Drury who sat up there fainted at the sight of a female apparition.

William Howitt sets the scene at Willington, a hamlet between Newcastle-on-Tyne and North Shields. Messrs. Unthank and Procter owned a steam flour-mill there, and Mr. Joseph Procter lived in the house beside it. Howitt was told that noises were heard there at times, and that glasses and other things on the table would rise and settle again with nothing visible moving them.

Howitt also heard that Dr. Drury of North Shields had offered to sit up in the house to test the stories. Drury did so with a friend and saw a female apparition. He was so badly frightened that he fainted, and he was very ill for a long time afterwards.

Catherine Crowe adds what a friend of hers found when she went over the house with Mr. Procter. The Procter family were moving out, and he meant to split the house into small homes for his workers. The disturbances had not stopped, though they came less often. He told the friend the female figure usually appeared in a shroud, and that one of the family had seen her a few days earlier. When a gentleman visiting Procter hoped some natural cause might turn up, Procter said fifteen years in the house had convinced him there was none.

From the primary source
"To the above information, furnished by Mr. Howitt, I have to subjoin that the family of Mr. Procter are now quitting the house, which he intends to divide into small tenements for the work-people. A friend of mine who lately visited Willington, and who went over the house with Mr. Procter, assures me that the annoyances still continue, though less frequent than formerly. Mr. Procter informed her that the female figure generally appeared in a shroud, and that it had been seen in that guise by one of the family only a few days before. A wish being expressed by a gentleman visiting Mr. Procter that some natural explanation of these perplexing circumstances might be discovered, the latter declared his entire conviction, founded on an experience of fifteen years, that no such elucidation was possible."
Catherine Crowe (1848), Project Gutenberg ebook #54532, The Night-Side of NatureRead the source →
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Claimed sightingSomeone reported seeing it. The entry records the report and takes no side.
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