George and the Haunted Brighton Flat

George moved into his new flat, only to find he was sharing it with an uninvited presence - or two or more...

From Paranormal Brighton & Hove
by Janet Cameron

As told to Janet Cameron by a Brighton resident and guaranteed by her to be an authentic account of a haunting.   

George is convinced his Brighton flat is haunted. When he bought the flat from an old lady twenty-five years ago, things "started to go bump in the night." The old lady, we'll call her Miss R. was about to go into a nursing home. She told George that the flat would be no good for him and was most unwelcoming. The flat was in a poor state of repair, and Miss R. said that a builder should buy it. She emphasised it would be a big mistake if George bought it. She was an unfriendly person.

Odd Things Start to Happen

When George eventually moved into the flat and started to do repairs and redecorations, things started to happen. He moved into the bedroom and experienced loud knocking on the wall in the corner of the room. This knocking started at 10pm and continued all night until next morning, preventing George from getting a good night's sleep. He contacted the Council to see if they could assist and also the neighbours, but without success. It's well-known that ghosts do not like alterations to "their" homes. Friends came to visit and they, too, heard the knocking. It was obviously not pipes or a washing machine, as no washing machine would operate all night, every night.

This went on for about two years and then stopped. One day, a friend who was psychic, came to stay, and he was alarmed, saying he could hear deep breathing. The flat felt as if there was a curse on it, as so many things went wrong and George incurred heavy expenses. There were also cold spots in the flat despite central heating and hot weather.

A Sister Plays Mischievous Tricks

In October 1999, his sister, to whom he was close, died suddenly. This caused him much distress, and more strange things happened. Jewellery and a pair of gloves he'd bought in Venice that Christmas disappeared. He hunted throughout the flat and made enquiries from friends, with no luck. At night, he felt a cool breeze on his cheek as if he had left a window open, but he realised he hadn't. He felt it was the spirit of his sister to reassure him that there was an afterlife. A friend phoned and he told her about the loss of his jewellery. She said it was probably his sister, as she'd heard of several people who had put down items in their usual place and then went to pick them up, only to discover they had disappeared. She told him to call out to his sister. "Kate, have you taken my jewellery?"

As this was on a Saturday, about mid-day, George did what his friend suggested and then finished the call. He went to Waitrose to do his shopping, and returned at two o'clock to receive another phone call from a friend, Steve, who asked why he had phoned him. He said there was a message that was difficult to hear on his answerphone. It sounded faint, as if it was from abroad. George explained he hadn't phoned Steve as he'd been out at the time. Steve insisted he had, as the phone number was recorded on his own machine. Around the same time, George's nephew also had strange messages on his answerphone from a female. One of his friends had phoned him, and a woman's voice said he was not at home. Could this, thought George, be his sister getting up to mishcievous tricks, this time targeting the nephew?

On George's birthday in July the following year, he was going out to celebdrate with Steve, when for some reason he felt an urge to look in the meter cupboard by his front door. And there were his gloves!  Yet over the previous year, he'd been to the meter cupboard and the gloves were not there. Unfortunately, he has still not recovered his jewellery.

Objects Rattle and Move Around

A few years later, George and a friend went to see a medium who was appearing in Eastbourne. They thought it was a most interesting evening. When George got home and sat down to watch television, suddenly his collection of fob watches started to rattle in the display cabinet. At first, he thought he had imagined it, but it happened twice more. This had never occurred before. He thought it must be his sister, Kate, trying to contact him again, and he felt reassured.

Recently, other weird things have happened. George had a pasta jar that was on shelving on the kitchen wall. One day he tipped out the remains of the spaghetti, intending to buy more from the supermarket, and then he placed the empty jar back on the shelf. Next time he went to get the jar to fill it, it wasn't there. He knew he hadn't broken it, and it was too big to accidentally throw into the rubbish bin. Two weeks passed, and he resented having to buy a new one, but eventually found another in a charity shop. Then, some days later, he found the original jar. It was on the other side of the kitchen in a cupboard rarely used.

"I definitely didn't put it there," he says. "It always went on that top shelf on the other side of the kitchen."

George's sister had always been quite a lively and mischievous person, and he believes his sister is playing tricks on him just to let him know she is still around. He says he finds it very comforting that there is "another life" in his flat. He feels close to her children, and he believes it is his duty to be there for them. He has a friend who lives in Cambridge Road, who also had a brother who died. This brother had been a difficult character in his life, "burning the candle at both ends."  Ever since his death, there has been poltergeist activity in his flat. George's friend just calls out to his brother to stop it.

The friend's deceased brother has a daughter, so perhaps the spirit is worried about her wellbeing and wants to ensure that her uncle is looking after her.

Source:

• Verbal account from "George" of Brighton and Hove, who prefers not to be formally identified.

Gay Entertainment in Brighton in the Nineteen Sixties

The Fortune of War, Great Brighton Entertainment.
Photo Copyright Janet Cameron

During the sixties, gay men became bold, and it was not uncommon to see two gay guys holding hands in public. Lesbianism, however, was not "in the closet" in the same way, and this was because it was actually unrecognised. 

This caused lesbians specific problems related to a sense of invisibility. While they escaped some of the abuse hurled at gay men and were able to co-habit in pairs without interference just as pairs of heterosexual female friends might co-habit for mutual benefit, they were not able to find assistance when needed, for example, as victims of domestic violence.

A film about this phenomenon was released across the country, although many versions were "cut." Brighton, however, was more tolerant than other towns.

The Killing of Sister George - a Lesbian Movie

Hove audiences were treated to the uncut version of The Killing of Sister George. This included a bedroom scene between two of the actors. The main protagonists in the film were Beryl Reid, puffing away at her cigar and knocking back a glass of gin, Susannah York, young, innocent and childlike, and Patricia Medina, a prostitute.

According to the The Argus, several members of the Legal and Parliamentary Committee attended a showing of the film in Brighton the previous month and were in full agreement that the show could be shown in Hove unabridgd, although it received an X-Certificate.

The Brighton and Hove Herald's Mary Richards said it took a strong stomach to take it. "The lesbian side of the story, even the controverisal love scene, is handled with what I suppose could be called good taste," she said cautiously.

Dusty Springfield, Brighton's Gay Icon

Stunning gay icon Dusty Sprngfield (1939-1999) lived in Wilbury Road in Hove, East Sussex. The husky-voiced singer was distinctive with her huge, blonde bouffant hairstyle and thick, sooty eyelashes and eyeshadow. She formed her group, The Springfields, in Wilbury Road.

She appeared at the Brighton Hippodrome at 52-58 Middle Street with Eden Kane in August, 1964 and was adored by the gay community.

In a BBC News report on 7 February 2006, a councillor, Mr. Bill Randall, proposed introducing a "pink plque" scheme to Brighton to commemorate the contribution made by members of the LGBT community to the city. Mr. Randall said he would like to create a gay and lesbian heritage trail, and he specifically mentioned Dusty Springfield as one person who should be remembered in this way.

Sources:

• The Argus, Staff Reporter, 21 October, 1969.
• Richards, Mary, "Film Review," The Brighton and Hove Herald, 21 November, 1969.
• Adapted from: Cameron, Janet, LGBT Brighton and Hove, Amberley Publishing, 2010.

Gluck (or Hannah Gluckstein) Steyning's Famous Painter. Feminist and Most Original Thinker

Gluck got furious if her name wasn't pronounced to rhyme with "duck."

Gluck, born Hannah Gluckstein, (1895-1978) was the daughter of an opera singer.

She was an unusual, free-thinking person. Her biography, by Diana Souhami, recounts how Gluck always dressed in men's clothes, opened doors for ladies and pulled wine corks like a man.

One of Gluck's most famous works of art is a profile-portrait of herself with her lover at that time, Nesta Obermer. This appeared on a Virago publication of the famous lesbian autobiographical novel The Well of Loneliness by Marguerite Radclyffe Hall published in 1928.

Following Whistler's Example - Feminist Gluck Eschews Gender

Gluck received a private income which permitted her to indulge her energy in her work. Acclaimed for her floral paintings as well as her portraits, she had a strong sense of self. Gluck (rhyming with duck) hated it if anyone prefixed her name with "Miss." In her view, the paintings were important, not the gender of the painter. Diana Souhami describes what happened when Gluck was set to be included on an art society's letterhead: "A graphic designer... stuck in an ameliorating "Miss" and so Gluck instantly resigned, insisting that her name was "inked out."

On another occasion, she tried to sue a publisher who produced a novel with a protagonist called "Gluck." There was nothing self-effacing about this gifted painter.

Gluck and Nesta Obermer - YOUWE

Gluck moved to Steyning, a village not far from Brighton, in 1944 where she lived with Edith Shackleton Heald and her sister, Nora, at the Chantry House. But there was a problem. Edith's disapproving sister, Nora, made life difficult for the lovers and they were an awkward threesome.

A further complication was that Gluck was still in love with Nesta Obermer, the former lover whose picture appeared with Gluck on the Marguerite Radclyffe Hall novel. Gluck had met Nesta in 1936 while at Mozart's opera Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne and afterwards Gluck referred to this part of her life as YOUWE.

Gluck had always regarded Nesta as her "wife" although her lover was actually married to a considerably older man, an American called Seymour Obermer. Obermer helped to finance Nesta's lavish lifestyle. According to Nesta, she was madly in love with Gluck, but she was not prepared for the scandal, social annihilation and the reduction in income which would be precipitated by a split from Seymour. This might seem cold and calculating, but divorce in the 1930s was far different from how it is today.

Gluck never fully recovered from this intense but unsatisfactory love affair.

Nora is Scandalised by Gluck and Edith

Gluck had been longing for a real home, and when Edith and Nora invited her to live with them, she agreed immediately. Edith had been a special correspondence for theLondon Evening Standard and she also worked for the Express, Sunday Express and Daily Sketch. Previously Edith had a love affair with the poet William Butler Yeats, who had stayed at the Chantry House. Yeats had been dead for five years when Gluck moved in with the two sisters.

Nora was scandalised by the relationship between her sister and Gluck and so friction ensued. There were nasty, petty arguments, insults, jealousy and tears. Nora's friends supported her against Gluck, but Edith refused to give up her lover. As a result, Nora always retired to bed immediately after supper and refused to rise until lunchtime. She visited friends just to get out of the house. Gluck and Edith carried on just as before, visiting the theatre to see the latest plays, for example Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. Edith had a special affectionate name for her lover, "Darling Grub."

Disgusted by Gluck and Edith, Nora Moves Out

Nora said the two women were "disgusting people," and eventually she moved out when Gluck paid her off with half the value of the house from her own "Trust." Nora took up residence at Wykeham Terrace in Steyning. Moving day was 14 February, 1948 and at that time, Nora was sixty-five years old. Later, Gluck expressed her sorrow that Nora felt she had to leave her own home. Nora was a journalist and editor and she worked for the magazine The Lady until she retired in 1954.

Gluck's final work was called "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (after the Dylan Thomas poem) and consisted of a decomposing fish head lying on a beach.

Edith died on 4 November, 1976 and Gluck's death followed fourteen months later on 10 January, 1978, aged eighty-two. But Nesta had the last laugh. She outlived Gluck and was asked if she wanted anything of Gluck's for a keepsake.

"Oh, a few of her fine-haired brushes," she said airily.

Sources:

• Souhami, Diana, Gluck, her Biography, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000.
• Adapted from: Cameron, Janet, LGBT Brighton & Hove, Amberley Publishing, 2010.

Horrid horrid Hove! No place for a feminist writer!

Horrid horrid Hove - Copyright Janet Cameron

Ivy Compton-Burnett was born in Pinner in Middlesex in 1884, the daughter of a doctor. Young Ivy had twelve brothers and sisters, and in 1891, their father decided to move his large family to Hove, because he'd been told that the Brighton air was good for the children. Their first address was 30 First Avenue, a road that runs from the main Western Road down to the seafront, but in 1897, there was another move to the slightly more prestigious address of 20, The Drive.

Horrid, Horrid Hove!

The early life of the young Ivy Compton-Burnett was traumatic; first of all, her brother became ill and died, and then another brother met his death in the First World War. Two tragic younger sisters committed suicide together. The death of four loved siblings naturally had an appalling effect on Compton-Burnett.

Perhaps the tragedy in her life prejudiced Compton-Burnett against Hove. She was unimpressed by neighbouring Brighton too. In the biography she wrote about the writer, Hilary Spurling says: "Ivy detested Hove to the end of her life and steadfastly refused to visit friends who lived in Brighton." Compton-Burnett always insisted, "It's a horrid,horrid place!"

Ivy Meets her Soulmate

In 1914, Ivy Compton-Burnett moved to London and five years later, the now middle-aged writer met another writer, Margaret Jourdain. Hilary Spurling describes Margaret as belonging to: "the genre of New Woman... a small but growing band of unattached, self-assured, purposeful spinsters accustomed to make their own way in the world." Margaret Jourdain wrote what Ivy liked to describe as "serious books." Spurling's biography gives an account offered by a new acquaintance, James Lee-Milne in 1942. "Margaret Jourdain is patently jealous of Ivy Compton-Burnett," he said, "whom she keeps unapproachable, except through herself, and even when approached, guards with anxious care."

The two women remained together until Margaret's death in 1951.

Novels with a Homosexual Theme

The accusations of amorality were due to the twenty novels written by Compton-Burnett, some of which contained an underlying homosexual theme. It's claimed in Spurling's Appendix Two, that the author drew heavily on characters from real life. She didn't bother to disguise them, but simply transferred them from fact to fiction.

In 1955, Compton-Burnett received the James Tait black Memorial Prize for her novel,Mother and Son, awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh, and she became a Companion of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the DBE in 1967.

Other notable novels written by Compton-Burnett were Pastors and Masters, 1925, andManservant and Maidservant, 1947.

Sources:

·      Ivy, The Life of I. Compton-Burnett , Hilary Spurling, Richard Cohen Books, 1995.

·      Local Knowledge.

·      Adapted from LGBT Brighton and Hove, Janet Cameron, Amberley Publishing, 2010.

Shocking Hallowe'en Dance of the Brighton and Hove Witches

by Janet Cameron

Lucky Stones may Protect Against the Trials of Hallowe'en

The ancient magic of witchcraft is celebrated at Hallowe'en, reaffirming the life force and ensuring the old powers will never be lost. 

One dark night at Hallowe'en, a gathering of thirty witches, all members of a coven known as the Order of Artemis and led by the High Priest of Hove, prepared themselves to perform naked in special Hallowe'en rites. Artemis, for whom the coven is named, is one of the most venerated of ancient Greek Goddesses and the equivalent to the Roman Diana. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and sister of Apollo and her special role is Goddess of the Hunt.

The purpose of the ceremony held by the Order of Artemis was to communicate with the dead and to invite them to return to earth with special messages for friends and relatives.

Herne, the High Priest, Explains the Power of the Coven

"One might be my father or grandfather - unless they have been reincarnated, of course," said Herne, the High Priest, who was, at that time, a fifty-three year old businessman and a father-of-two. Herne declined to reveal his real name because there is still a lot of prejudice against witches. "My neighbours don't know I am one. We shall be raising power by means which will include dancing and sex."

Herne was anxious to convince anyone who would listen that, although the ceremony included sex, it would be "properly controlled."

"It's always used at the Great Sabbath to summon up power, but it's a small part of the ceremony and not a wild orgy. Witches always work naked," said Herne. However, it should be pointed out that while this may have been true for Herne's coven, in general, adherents of the Wicca do not include nudity and sexual activity within their rites and celebrations.

The Coven Members - Pillars of the Community

The coven consisted of policemen, housewives and civil servants, all of whom regarded the secret Hallowe'en ceremony as a reaffirmation of the life force. They had faith in spells, and sometimes they created specific spells to help others, for example, sick or unhappy people. They would find jobs for the unemployed and reconcile married couples about to get a divorce. Herne said the people they helped did not know about the spells and that no spell was ever cast to the advantage of the coven.

The High Priest preferred to describe his craft not as witchcraft, but "wisecraft" or "The Wicca" and stressed it was nothing to do with black magic or Satanism. He said, "We are a nature religion and worship the old gods." The Order of Artemis had twenty-six members including a chef, an author, lawyers and a computer scientist. That Hallowe'en night they were joined by four people from another coven, including Herne's wife Athene, making a grand total of thirty.

Farmers Seeking Witches

Rites were normally held outdoors. The coven preferred traditional sacred places, stone circles, especially those at the junctions of ley lines and other places that carry mystic power. Farmers actively pursued the coven to perform on their land because it increased fertility. One farmer's lamb yield rose from nine to sixty after the coven had performed their secret rites on his farm, while another travelled thirty-five miles to persuade the witches to use his land.

Wiccan Gods and Goddesses Worshipped Since Medieval Times

Today, many Wiccans, as followers of the religion "Wicca" are called, worship both a Horned God, associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality and hunting, and a Triple Goddess who embodies maiden, mother and crone. The God is sometimes symbolised as the sun and the Goddess as the moon. The God is also sometimes depicted as The Green Man. Some covens focus only on the Goddess, whom they see as complete in herself.

The Horned God and the Great Mother Goddess have been worshipped in the British Isles since early medieval times.

Adapted from Paranormal Brighton & Hove, Janet Cameron, Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire, 2009.

The Brighton and Hove Gazette, 31.10.1980.

It's Hallowe'en - so Beware of Apparitions in Brighton's Spooky Twittens!

Copyright Janet Cameron

When the lights goes out and all is quiet - don't linger in these little back lanes of Brighton - for there may be something else lurking - something sinister and very strange.

The layout of the lanes in Brighton's Old Town still survive in their original format from the eleventh century. Originally, they were the site of the little fishing settlement of Brighthelmstone. They were burned down by the French in 1514, but once was enough for all those who loved Brighton. 

So, when the French tried it again in 1545, the alarm was raised and plucky Englishmen from all surrounding areas descended on the lanes and fought off the foolhardy French. Today the lanes are an enchanting labyrinth of delightful shops, pubs and inns, bustling with Bohemian activity, and many with a spooky story to tell.

The Medieval Monk

A medieval monk is said to drift along Black Lion Lane, one of the Old Town's most interesting twittens, and disappear through an old arched stone wall. Some people believe the monk was bricked up inside as a punishment for having an affair with a young girl. It's also been said that this is unlikely because the wall is only 200 years old, so the medieval monk couldn't be bricked up in there. All the same, ghosts walk through walls and doors and appear to climb stairs that aren't there, so maybe he was bricked up in an even older wall that no longer exists, but was replaced some time later.

Dying for Love

Another account claims the ghost of a nun haunts the area. It's said that in the twelfth century, a priory stood here, St. Bartholomew's, and soldiers were ordered to guard the building to protect the nuns from the local ruffians. A nun and a soldier, who had been assigned to guard duty, fell in love and began an affair, and they decided to run away together. Unfortunately for them, they were captured by the young man's fellow soldiers and the soldier was executed.

The nun was bricked up alive in the wall and abandoned to starve to death, and it can be assumed this was carried out by holy orders. It was a usual practice to brick people up to avoid bloodshed which was against religious convictions. It's hard to imagine how it's less sinful to leave someone bricked up alive to suffocate slowly to death than to arrange a quick execution. It must have been little consolation to the poor, young woman that, as she suffered, the other nuns were praying for her soul.

The nun's ghost is also said to walk through the 200 year-old-wall in the photo, but again, as before, the wall may have replaced another wall considerably older, or it could have been a different wall in a different place and the route followed by the ghost has some other explanation.

 

A Very Keen Brighton Sewing Machine Rep circa 1878

The following tale appeared in the Cliftonville and Hove Mercury of 13 September 1878, as though it were just an ordinary newspaper report. It seems clear though, that the anonymous author, the paper’s ‘Brighton Representative’ was having a little Victorian fun, but the irony only masks a real social problem.

It concerns the death of a sewing machine canvasser through persecuting a gentleman to buy a machine. ‘Jones,’ states the Brighton Representative rather pompously, ‘told us himself so he must answer to the truth.’

It seemed that some time previously, Jones was persecuted almost to death by a sewing machine agent who wouldn’t give up trying to sell him a machine. In desperation, Jones built himself a diving bell and went out to sea for 400 miles, then descended 200 miles into the ocean to try to get some peace. But no such luck. The moment his feet hit the ocean floor, he saw the sewing machine man coming down in his diver’s equipment and carrying with him a sewing machine shuttle feed and sixty testimonials about the excellence of his sewing machines.

Immediately, Jones rose to the surface and prepared to sail home, but as the ship’s anchor was hauled over the side, it dropped and upset the cook’s caboose and scattered live coals into the powder machine which caused an horrific explosion. This blew Jones 200 miles up in the air. As he began to descend, he again encountered the sewing machine man, this time in a balloon, with ‘six bucketsful of samples of the lockstitch and a model of the reversible hammer.’

Eventually Jones sailed home but as he approached the dock, again he saw the sewing machine man on the landing stage. Jones persuaded the captain to tell the man he’d died of yellow fever on the voyage. This news so saddened the agent that he seized a pistol and threatened to blow out his own brains. ‘The melancholy event,’ says the paper, ‘executed great admiration amongst all who witnessed it’, but Jones said, ‘’Pon honour, I will never encourage a sewing machine man again.’

After reading such an amusing yet heartfelt send-up, one can’t help drawing analogies with modern-day sales techniques. Perhaps the author should be commended for seeing the humorous side of high-pressure salesmanship. Today, of course, we try to combat such coercion by the implementation of a ‘cooling off’ period.