The Fireside Phantom

By Rhiannon E. Griffiths.

Did you know that a ghost was exorcised in a house in Wrexham Street, Mold. , during the 1880s?

This particular ghost was never, ever seen, but made its presence known in various ways —so kind and gentle UNTIL… . but here is the story…

My great-grandparents and their young family Were ordinary folk, so much so, that they ignored the presence. It was regarded more or less as one of the family.

In the evening ‘It’ would bring a chair to the fireside whilst my great-grandmother was knitting. Having stayed for a while, the chair would be put back in its place. The door latch would be lifted and the door opened and closed. Nothing was ever seen, although sometimes a a draught would be felt when climbing the stairs.

It once saved the lives of a group of local colliers at the Oaks Pits, better remembered as ‘Broncoed Pits’. It happened this way : Coalminers in those days worked from dawn to dusk ( 6.00.a.m to 6.00.p.m ) On a winter’s morning the old people were having breakfast about 4.30.a.m. when there was knock at the back door. My great-grandmother opened it, but there was no one there. The same thing happened again. Then when the knocks were repeated for a third time my great-grandfather went to open the door taking his collier’s lamp with him. Again there was no one there. It had been snowing but there was no mark in the soft snow of man, cat or bird. On his return to the kitchen. ‘Betsan,’ he said to his wife, ‘I’m not going to work today, girl.’ As he didn’t go to the pit that day his ‘gang’, who were all on contract did not descend in the cage. That morning the site on which they would have been working fell in and they all probably would have been killed or drowned.

On Sunday my grandfather had been milking and had gone upstairs to change. Everything was normal until he entered the bedroom, when the people downstairs heard a tremendous crash – amazingly grandfather did not hear a thing! The whole family raced upstairs, but there was no disturbance of any kind. My great-grandfather was quite disturbed by this so he quickly gathered the whole family round the tea table, and being a deeply religious man read them the story in the New Testament (Matthew 8,v28; Mark 5.v1 and Luke 8.v26 ) of the casting out of evil spirits into the Gadarene swine. He then prayed in earnest for the removal of whatever was the cause of unseen things in the house.

From that day until the last tenants moved out before the house was demolished in the 1960s, nothing disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of the property.

Out of thought for any tenants the story was a family secret until the last tenants moved out.

The property was 62, Wrexham Street, Mold., alongside Marlow Terrace and opposite the English Methodist Church.


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