The Snettisham Ghost

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W I L L I A M S & H U M B E R T L TD

B O D E O AS : J E R E Z DE LA F RO N T E RA, S PAI N

L o n d o n H o u s e : 3 5 S e e t h i n g L a n e E C S

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F o u n d e d in 19:15

I N C O R P O R A T I N G THE N O R F O L K M A G A Z I N E

E D I T O R : J. G. L. S P E N C E

A R T E D I T O R : R. J. R I C E A D V E R T I S E M E N T M A N A G E R : J. C. B O U G H T O N

Volume 17 December 1957 Number 2

C o ^ i i e t i i s

P I C T U R E S O V E R H E A D by A. L. Loishley ... ... ... ... 62

B O O K I N G by T. Ruyner ... ... ... ... ... 71

T H E M A R S H ' L A R N s ' TH E P L A N N E R S by J. Wenlwoilh Day... ... 76

The East Anglian and his Humour ... ... ... ... 82

77ie East Anglian Scene ... ... ... ... ... 85

A S U F F O L K MAN AT S E B A S T O P O L . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Letters to the Editor ... ... ... ... ... ... 95

C H R I S T O P H E R E L L I O T T ' S C O R N E R . . .. . . . . . . . 102

T H E S N E T T I SH A M G H O S T by Herbert E. Wiseman ... ... ... 106

C R A B B E M E M O R I A L P O E T R Y C O M P E T I T I O N .. . . . . . . . 108

A N E A R L Y N O R W I C H F E S T I V A L by Ernest Blaikley ... ... 110

O U T OF D O O R S IN D E C E M B E R by J. T. Fenton ... ... ... 112

E A S T A N G L I A AN D ITS R E G I M E N T S by H. N. Peyton ... ... 115

The Month's Books ... ... ... ... ... ... 119

The Eas Angian Afafjazne ispubished on the15th o each month a 6 Great Cotman Sree,Ipswch, Engand. Teephone Ipswch 5 6 2 9 1 / 2 . Theannua subscription, whichmaysart wthany issue s£ 1 6s U.SA. 8 4 . 5 0 ) incudng posage to anyaddress in heworld. Regsered athe GPO for transmsson byCanadan Magazne Pos. Advertisement rates on reques.

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T h e S n e t t i s h a m G h o s t

B y H E R B E R T E . W I S E M A N

^ O T t h e l e as t p a r t o f t h e w o r k-"-^ achieved by the Society for

Psychical Research s ince i ts foundation

in 1882 has been the collection and

thorough investigation of s tor ies of

appar i t ions s en t to them by people f r om

all par ts of the Br it ish Is les . Am ongs t

those em ana t ing f r om or connec ted in

some way with Norfolk, one of the best-

authenticated is the s tory of the

S ne t t i sham ghos t .

The s tory begins with the vis it of a

M r s . G oodeve , a Londoner , to f r i ends

living at 5 Rod ney Place, Clif ton, n ear

Br is tol. This house was repute d to be

haunted by a for m er occupant , a M r s .

Seagr im, but dur ing the two years

pr evious to Mr s . G oodev e ' s v is i t no th ing

uncanny had been exper ienced by the

tenants , Mr . and M r s . A ckland .

I t appea r s tha t M r s . G oodeve pos ses sed

psychical power , as (according to

F . W . H . M yer s w ho inves t iga ted the

case, with other members of the Society

for Psychical Research) she 'had hadsom e pr evious exper iences of appa r i

t ions, which all appeared to be ver idical,

bu t she had pa id but l i t t l e a t t en t ion to

them and had neve r sought to en

courage such vis itations in any way' .

M yers , who interviewed her on several

occasions, descr ibed her as 'a widow

lady moving in good society, with chil

dr en gr ow n- up and know n to m any

people as a cheerful, capable, active

w om an w ho had s een m uch of the w or ld

and had plenty of business of her own to

a t tend to and w as by no m eans g iven to

dw el l ing on th ings m or bid or m ys te r ious ' .

D ur ing the n ight of 8 O c tobe r 1893,

M r s G oodeve w oke suddenly and saw

leaning over her the sad and emaciated

but kindly face of a woman whose head

w as sw a thed in a shaw l . The w o m an

sa id : 'Fo l lo w m e ' , w her eupon M r s .

G oodeve , qu i te una f r a id , r ose and

followed her in to the next room , which

w as the dr aw ing- r oom . The apa r i t ion

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XX

pr oceeded to the f a r the r end of the

r oom , s a id in a deep voice : 'To- m or r ow '

and then vanished .

M r s . G oodev e , w ho had take a l igh ted

candle with her , then returned to her room

and went to s leep. The following morn

ing she told her s tory to Mr. Ackland and

subsequent ly to a ne ighbour . D r . Mar

shall . The latter declared that the

desc r ip t ion Mr s . G oodeve gave of the

appar it ion resembled the late Mrs. Sea-

gr im, for whom he had acted as trustee

and who had been in the habit of wrap

ping her head par tly in an Indian shawl

ow ing to neur a lg ia .

'T^ H E f o l low ing n igh t M r s . G oodeve w as

aga in aw akened by the appa r i t ion

w ho sa id ;

'I have come. Lis ten! '

S he then m ade a ce r ta in s ta tem ent and

asked M r s . G oodeve to do a ce r ta in th ing .What these were the latter did not dis

c lose bu t he r subsequent ac t ions pr ob

ably gave at least a par tial indication.

Mr s . G oodeve exc la im ed: 'A m I

dream ing ? O r is this true ? '

The appa r i t ion then s a id : ' I f you

doubt me, you will f ind that I was marr ied

on 26 Septem ber 1860. '

This w as , a s Mr s . G oodeve a f te r w ards

discovered f rom Dr . Marshall , the date of

Mrs. Seagr im's marr iage in India to a

Major S eagr im . Mr s . G oode ve then saw

a man s tanding by the s ide of the f ir s t

app ar it io n. He declared himself to be a

cer tain Henry Barnard and said that he

w as 'bur ied in S ne t t i sham chur chyar d ' .

H e a sked Mr s . G oodeve to go to S ne t t i s

ham and first of all verify in the church

regis ter the dates of his marr iage and

death , which he gave her . She was then

to go into the church the foll lowing

morning at 1.15 and wait in the south

west corner of the south ais le beside the

gr ave of a ce r ta in Rober t Cobb w ho had

died 15 May 1743 aged 67. He said

fur ther that the outgoing half of her rail

way ticket to Snettisham would not be

taken f rom her , that she was to send a

white rose f rom his grave to Dr . Mar

shall , that she would obtain assis tance

from 'a dark man' who would recognise

her descr iption of the speaker and f inally

that she would lodge in the house of a

woman whose child was bur ied in the

sam e chur chyar d and had been dr ow ned.

Towards the end of the conversation

Mr s . G oodeve s aw a th i r d phantom , a

man evidently in great trouble , 'his face

so full of misery that she could hardly

bear to look upo n it . ' His nam e was not

disclosed.

" ^ E X T d a y , M r s . G o o d e v e fo u n d o u t

^ ^ f rom the Post Office that Snettish am

was in Norfolk and a few days later f romher home in London set out on her in

t r igu ing jour ney . Ever y th ing happened as

foretold. Her t icket for the outward

journey was not taken away f rom her by

the collector , the por ter took her to the

house of the par ish clerk, John Bishop,

whom she recognised at once as the 'dark

man' and who also recognised her des

cr iption of the appar it ion as that of Henry

Bar na r d , the l a te ow ner of Cobb H a l l .

His wife told her the following morning

that she had a child bur ied in the church

ya r d w ho had been dr ow ned.

O n the S unday m or ning Mr s . G oodeve

attend ed the church service and af ter

wards ver if ied all the par ticulars that had

been given her by the appar it ion of Henry

Bar na r d . John Bishop tha t s am e n ight

ar ranged to let her into the church about

1 a.m. and locked her in for half an hour .

Accordin g to her s tory she waited

by the gr ave of Rober t Cobb and

there received the rest of the message.



which she promis ed to convey to Bar

na r d ' s on ly sur v iv ing daughte r . W ha t

that m essage was she never divulged.

The only def inite s tatement she ever made

was that she was to pluck an othe r white

rose f rom Barnard's grave and give i t to

his daughter at Cobb Hall , together with

the message, and then her task would be

d o n e .

All the above s tatements were carefully

ver ified, no t only by F. W. H. Myers

but by A ndr ew Lang and Lor d B ute , a s

active members of the Society for

Psychical Resea rch. Every person

conce rned was interviewed separately

and their accounts conf irmed the

t r u th of Mr s . G oodeve ' s r em ar kable

story. " ,

C R A B B E M E M O R I A L

P O E T R Y C O M P E T I T I O N

The th i r d annua l com pe t i t ion

organised by the Suffolk PoetrySociety as a memorial to GeorgeCrab be was judged by Mr. F . PrattGreen, Mr . T. Hcnn, M . A . , C . B . E . ,

and Mr. John Hadf ield. The winnerwas M r. F . H. A. Englehear t , S tok eP r ior y , S toke - by- N ayland , w ho a l sowon the competit ion las t year .His poem is pr inted on the next page.

Second pr ize has been awarded toMiss D. Murrell Simmons, 14

Tem ple Road , S tow m ar ke t and th i r d

pr ize to Miss Gill ian Edwards,P enr hos , W ate r S t r ee t , Cam br idge .Their poems will be published in thenear future.

Frances Cornford will present thecup and pr izes at a meeting of theSuffolk Poetry Society to be helda t the Cr ow n and A n chor H ote l ,Ipswich, on Sun day, 8 Dec 1957.

The rules for the 1958 compelit ionwill be announced in an ear ly issue.

108

J E W E L S

Half in the lake I pause and s tand.

1 1 m ay not m ove to l aunch aw ay

But in the shallows s tare and s tay

Between the water and the land.

Here, where the floating lily lies.

W her e gr as ses bend above the pool .

The air is lustrous with the cool

Fragili ty of dragonf lies . ,

As one by one or two by two

They hang or f l i t with fairy mien.

Green in a subtlety of green.

Blue as the pure idea of blue.

They hang and f l i t or s tud a reed

In jade or azure parallels ,

The s tralghtly bodied demoisellesTha t bend so lissomly at need,

The l ive yet lapidary things

With dip and turn and sway and lif t .

Dar ting or poised upon the swif t

Invis ibil i ty of wings.

A nd he r e I s t ay and w a tch a lone .

Alo ne? Or could they s trangely tell .

These that I know and love so well ,

They are more loved and better known ?

That, where the sun-shot alders lean.Som e jeweller angel of this place

Makes as a por trait of a face

This l ive yet lapidary scene:

A figure cut in ivory

S e t in a m oons tone , l apped w i th l igh t ;

A nd, hung on b lades of m a lachi te ,

Brooche s of lapis lazuli ?

F . H . A . E N G L E H E A R T .

The Snettisham Ghost

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