How Essex celebrated Halloween over the past century

An exorcism, a hooded monk, bells mysteriously ringing inside a manor house, and of course, a very haunted rectory... They all happened right here in Essex and with Halloween lurking around the corner, thoughts will turn to the ghosts and ghouls that are said to creep around our county.

Essex is certainly rich in material when it comes to ghost sightings and reports of unexplained phenomena, not to mention the haunting history of the poor women (and men) who suffered because of the witch trials in the 16th and 17th centuries- (in fact more trials and executions for witchcraft took place in Essex than in any other county in the UK).

But there are plenty of scary stories that have gone under the radar. Halloween with its thrills and chills as the one night of the year we become obsessed with trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving, is, of course, a relatively new phenomenon. In fact, if you go back in time and scour newspapers from Essex past, you’ll find little mention of October 31 as the much-hyped annual event we know today.

David Fox, aged 7 and David Hill, 10, both from Southend pictured in 1971 after winning a Halloween fancy dress competition (Image: Newsquest) Interestingly, what you will see if you go back to Edwardian times is plenty written about ‘Malloween’ - a beauty cream that women of the age turned to keep their complexions clear and wrinkles at bay. Nothing scary about that, except perhaps the fact you could order it in the mail for just a few pence and nobody really knew what was in this ‘miracle’ skin cream!

Back then little was written about All Hallows Eve, except in the capacity of what it originally was - a religious celebration to remember the dead. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some frightening reports of hauntings making the rounds.

In November of 1888, for example, Seymour House in Alexandra Road, Southend, was plagued by the sound of the servant house bells ringing constantly - yet nobody was apparently touching them.

Mr W Goddard from Rochford pictured in 1929 with a 36lb pumpkin he grew himself (Image: Newsquest) The bells - the kind of which you’d see on an episode of Downton Abbey - were operated by pulls and levers and were rung by the master or mistress of the house when a servant was required. But in this case, the cause of the hellish sounds of the bells just couldn’t be found.

Major Buller, who lived at the home with his family, became so fed up with the ominous ringing he tore up the floorboards and began investigating the mechanics of the bells himself - but still he couldn’t find out why the clanging wouldn’t cease.

The terrorising tintinnabulation went on for days and not surprisingly drove everyone mad. Eventually a policeman and an engineer were called out and they investigated the disturbance themselves, but they too were baffled. Two clergymen were finally sent for and after yet more investigation it was discovered there was no ghost in the wires.

Witch 'Wendy' won the fancy dress contest at a Halloween party organised by the Runwell Residents Association in Runwell, Wickford, in 1971. (Image: Newsquest) The culprit was actually a mischievous 14-year-old servant girl who eventually owned up to pulling the bell levers with a stick. Her name was Julie Lazell and she was promptly removed to her father’s home in Thundersley as a punishment She never admitted why she did it - presumably she thought it was an amusing diversion to her mundane job.

A few years later, in 1910, the ghost of a woman in white kept being seen in Leigh-on-Sea. The phantom was witnessed by many residents, always late at night.

One spooked resident described the encounter as she walked along Eastwood Road: 'I was returning home when I saw something all in white. It was every inch a ghost. It was making its way towards the door one of the houses on the road. I followed, but when got within a few yards the figure it vanished.'

Many theories cropped up about the Leigh phantom, ranging from it being a genuine ghost, to suspicions it was a local woman who was in the habit of visiting her husband’s grave at night - with a white sheet draped over her head for some unknown reason!

Courtney Finn...Wat Tyler Park, Pitsea...Haunted house for families. .. (Image: Newsquest) By the 1960s and 1970s Halloween had become more of a ‘thing’ and as celebrations cranked up, more hauntings were reported. In 1964 a hooded monk was said to be terrifying workers in Basildon. The case even made the national press.

Female night cleaners who worked at the Ford factory were getting too scared to go to work. They claimed to have seen the ghost more than a dozen times as they cycled home at 4am past Holy Cross Church in Basildon.

The monk was said to shuffle across Church Road before vanishing into the churchyard. The cleaners got to the point where they only travelled home together.

One witness, 21-year-old Rita Tobin of Basildon, said: 'The second time I saw the monk I cycled right through him. The air was cold and clammy. I went numb all over and could not speak.'

Haunted church: St Mary's Church in Lawford (Image: Newsquest) Another church said to have its own ghost is St Mary's Church, in Lawford where rumour has it a ‘spectral bride’ has been spotted running from the church door through the churchyard. It is believed she found out her fiancé had been killed on their wedding day and so she ran to her father's grave where she cried herself to death.

Keeping with the dark and mysterious, in October 1970 a ‘Halloween exorcism’ was performed in Chapel Street, Billericay, in a bid to oust the spirit of a hymn-singing child ghost.

The Southend Standard newspaper reported how a 'pretty Billericay girl' had sought advice from a ‘practising witch’ in a bid to try to exercise a ghost she believed was haunting the garden of her home.

Wicked costume - this photo was taken in 1973 at the Lee Chapel North Guides Halloween party held at the Janet Duke school. Behind the mask is 11-year -old Kim Walker of Basildon, who was voted the best dressed witch (Image: Newsquest) The teenager and her mother had seen the ghost of a child in their garden. The eerie entity seemed to come from a tree in the middle of the lawn and was accompanied by the sound of a child’s voice singing the hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’. The family dog, a pet poodle, was also said to be aware of the spirit, and refused to go into the garden at night

The 17-year-old told the newspaper how she intended to conduct her own exorcism on Halloween at exactly midnight. Among the rituals, she was intending to carry out included building a pentacle over the haunted spot in her backyard.

She told the newspaper: 'The ritual of exorcism is said to be very dangerous; I have been warned several times about it. I have advice and absent help from a practising witch. I chose Halloween because it’s better then.'

Borley Rectory, Borley, Essex (Image: Wikipedia) Essex was once also home to Borley Rectory, described as ‘the most haunted house in England’ by famous psychic Harry Price. Built in 1862 on the site of a former monastery the gothic house was home to the rector of the parish of Borley and his family and over the years was said to be possessed by a myriad of tortured spirits- including a creepy nun.

The house was badly damaged by fire in 1939 and demolished in 1944. Thanks to its petrifying reputation the Borley Rectory has been the topic of many TV dramas and horror films over the decades.