For as long as people have believed in the supernatural, paranormal pranksters have been ready to play tricks on them. From fortune tellers who failed to see their own future, to giggling ghosts, Mike Covell takes a tour through some of Hull's spurious spooks.
The Window Smashing Ghost
Hull was in uproar back in 1858 when an "angry ghost" began smashing the windows of a house in Edgar Street. For days, locals and the police gathered to watch the glass smash outwards. Was this Hull's first poltergeist?
Sadly not. A sharp-eyed observer noticed that the same servant, Mary Ann Green, was working every time a window was smashed. She was kept under observation and seen breaking the glass. She came clean and was ordered to pay 10 shillings or face a prison stay for six weeks.
The Peeping Ghosts
Leaping forward to Christmas Eve of 1947, and the Hull Daily Mail ran a story about a group of ghosts seen in Victoria Avenue. Several witnesses described seeing a ghostly youth behind a privet hedge and another behind a wall.
Later, an unnamed gentleman was walking with his wife when both ghosts jumped out, scaring the woman so much she needed to rest for an hour. The husband went in search of the ghosts and on finding two giggling youths he gave them a dressing down so severe that it was enough to "lay the ghosts forever".
The Cellar Ghost
Burglars were more creative in the old days. Back in in 1849, young Henry Whillis - a known thief even at the tender age of 11 - broke into a Hull house and began stealing from the cellar. When a maid heard a commotion and went to investigate, Henry pretended to be a ghost and scared her so badly she fainted. The homeowner was not so easily fooled, however, and poor Henry was sent to prison for three days.
The Phantom Chimney Sweep
Not just a ghost story but a ghost street. Middle Street, where St Stephen's Shopping Centre now stands, has been lost to the passage of time. It was here on Bonfire Night in 1852 that Mary Howard was arrested by police for causing a commotion. Mary told the bobbies that she was too scared to return to her home because of a phantom chimney sweep who descended the chimney at night.
After locking her up - and reassuring her that the police station chimney was clean - officers were intrigued enough to investigate Mary's home. Alas, the phantom chimney sweep had taken his brush and disappeared.
The seer who failed to see
Spiritualism was very popular in the 19th century and then again during both world wars, when widows lost sons and husbands on the front line. In Hull, families would also consult mediums and psychics when loved ones were lost at sea. But with such a demand for their services, it is little surprise that the city has had its share of "spiritual mediums" who turned out to be con artists.
One case concerned Walter Harris, a seaman-turned-seer who in February 1897 was telling fortunes at his home at 74 Sherburn Street. Unfortunately for him, he failed to see what came next.
His next clients were four men who asked for their fortunes to be told. Unfortunately for Harris, they turned out to be four undercover coppers - including the chief constable of Hull Police!
Harris was accused of "unlawfully professing to tell fortunes to deceive and impose on certain of Her Majesty's subjects". At his trial, it turned out that none of his predictions had come true and this most inept of fortune tellers was sent to prison.
A fake fortune teller
The police went undercover again in February 1935 to catch a mother-of-six who made her living telling fortunes at No.49 Dansom Lane, east Hull.
One officer, a PC Freeman, visited the property and had his fortune told using playing cards. Smith told him he would never be promoted because he was lazy - an allegation Freeman angrily denied. The fake fortune teller then spun a tale about a relative of Freeman who had died of a stomach complaint was trying to make contact.
An undercover police matron visited to be told that she had both a fair-haired man and a dark-haired man in her life, as well as an Indian spirit guide and a dove that would often come and sit on her shoulder. At this point a crystal ball was produced, but neither could see anything in it.
Smith was charged with allowing her house to fall into disrepute and vagrancy and ordered to pay £2.
Table tipping trickster
The Victorian art of Table Tipping, a form of "spiritual communication", drew crowds of fascinated spectators in the 1860s. Unfortunately for spectators in Humber Street, the "medium", Mary Ann Summers, would steal from them as they watched. Summers claimed to have made contact with 4,553 angels and 43,667 spirits from her rented room.
The Anlaby Ghost Box Hoax
Hoaxes involving the supernatural are nothing new, but today technology has moved at such an alarming rate that people are turning to computers and mobile phones to play tricks. One of the most infamous in recent years was the "Ghost Boy" hoax, when it was announced that a builder had photographed a ghostly boy at an Anlaby Building site.
The saying "a picture tells a thousand words" has never been more accurate, not least because the background was in colour but the ghost boy in black and white. It was soon revealed that the picture had been created using a "ghost" phone app.
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