Page 58 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

38 Ghosts and Phantoms

As if in answer to Wesley’s challenge, a ing their playtime hours as well as being an
knock sounded on the door of his study with amusing nighttime nuisance. Several witnesses
such force that the cleric thought the boards reported seeing a bed levitate itself to a consid-
must surely have been shattered. erable height while a number of the Wesley
Wesley decided to secure reinforcements children squealed gaily from the floating mat-
in the fight against the “deaf and dumb tress. The only thing that bothered the chil-
devil” which had invaded his rectory. He dren was the creepy sound, like that of a trail-
sent for Mr. Hoole, the Vicar of Hoxley, and ing robe, Old Jeffery had begun to make. One
told him the whole story. The Vicar said that of the girls declared that she had seen the ghost
he would lead devotions that night and see if of a man in a long, white robe that dragged on
the thing would dare to manifest itself in his the floor. Other children claimed to have seen
presence. an animal similar in appearance to a badger,
scurrying out from under their beds. The ser-
vants swore that they had seen the head of a
rodent-like creature peering out at them from a
crack near the kitchen fireplace.
EPWORTH Rectory is the most famous cases
Then, just as the Wesleys were getting
in the annals of noisy hauntings. accustomed to their weird visitor, the distur-
bances ended as abruptly as they had begun.
Old Jeffery never returned to plague Epworth

The “thing” was not the least bit awed by Rectory with its phenomena, but the memory
the Vicar of Hoxley. In fact, it put on such a of its occupancy has remained to bewilder
good show that night that the clergyman fled scholars of more than two centuries.
in terror, leaving Wesley to combat the demon
M Delving Deeper
as best he could. Edsall, F. S. The World of Psychic Phenomena. New
The children had overcome their initial York: David McKay, 1958.
fear of the invisible being and had come to Price, Harry. Poltergeist Over England. London: Coun-
accept its antics as a welcome relief from the try Life, 1945.
boredom of village life. “Old Jeffery,” as they Sitwell, Sacheverell. Poltergeists. New York: Universi-
had begun to call their strange guest, had ty Books, 1959.
almost achieved the status of a pet, and it was Stevens, William Oliver. Unbidden Guests. New York:
soon observed that it was quite sensitive. If Dodd, Mead & Co., 1957.
any visitor slighted Old Jeffery by claiming
that the rappings were due to natural causes,
General Wayne Inn
such as rats, birds, or wind, the haunting phe-
nomena were quickly intensified so that the Located on the old Lancaster roadway between
doubter stood instantly corrected. Philadelphia and Radner, the General Wayne
Inn has been in continuous operation since
The disturbances maintained their sched-
1704 when Robert Jones, a Quaker, decided to
uled arrival time of about ten o’clock in the
serve travelers with a restaurant and a place of
evening until the day that Mrs. Wesley
lodging. The land was purchased from fellow
remembered the ancient remedy for ridding a
Quaker William Penn and was originally
house of evil spirits. They would get a large
called the Wayside Inn. Because of the inn’s
trumpet and blow it mightily throughout
location near Merion, the site of numerous
every room in the house. The sounds of a loud
battles during the Revolutionary War
horn were said to be unpleasing to evil spirits.
(1775–83), it was renamed the General Wayne
The ear-splitting experiment in exorcism Inn in 1793 in honor of a local hero, General
was not only a complete failure, but now the Anthony Wayne (1745–1796). During the
spirit began to manifest itself in the daylight as colonies’ war of independence, the inn played
well. The children seemed almost to welcome host to General George Washington and the
the fact that Old Jeffery would be available dur- Marquis de la Fayette, as well as a number of

The Gale Enc y clopedia of the Unusu al and Unexplained