HAUNTED WIRRAL: Tom Slemen explores 'The Abomination of Park Road South'

In this latest tale, Tom explores the mystery behind ‘The Abomination of Park Road South'...

The terrifying incident took place at a semi-detached and rather gothic residence on Park Road South, which, as its name implies, lies just to the south of Birkenhead Park.

The house in question was owned by an elderly man named Mr Bryant, and he had divided the four-storey dwelling into flats which were mostly occupied by students.

The house lay in shade all the year round because of a grove of towering sycamores in front of it, and there was a noticeable gloomy atmosphere in some rooms of the building which many tenants had commented on over the years.

In May 1977, a 21-year-old Claughton woman named Judy Teare left her husband Paul after she discovered he was having an affair.

Paul was a violent man, and had once threatened to shoot Judy if she ever tried to leave him.

She had finally had enough of his philandering and plucked up the courage to leave Paul at their home in Liverpool, and now she had returned to her old neck of the woods with a school friend from Tranmere named Claire Jones, who had also recently split with her boyfriend.

The two friends now lodged in a large room on the third floor of the house on Park Road South, and on the Wednesday night of May 25, 1977 the two young ladies were watching ‘Dawson and Friends’ – an hour-long comedy sketch show starring Les Dawson – on a little black and white portable telly Claire had bought using her Giro money.

She was in-between jobs and forever writing letters to prospective employers.

At 9pm the comedy show ended, and the TV and single tungsten filament bulb in the room went off.

The sun had only recently set and there was pale dying daylight filtering through the net curtains.

Mr Bryant the landlord came up the stairs and shouted, "The fuses have blown! I’ve sent for an electrician! Sorry about this!" 

A man in the flat below the girls was moaning because he’d been watching Liverpool versus Borussia Moenchengladbach in the European Champions’ Cup Final on BBC1.

Claire found candles in the cupboard under the sink, left there by the previous tenant, and she lit them and placed them around the room.

The subject turned to the supernatural, and Claire suggested having a go at the Ouija board.

Judy wasn’t keen on the idea, but Claire cut out little squares and wrote the letters of the alphabet and the numerals 0 to 9 on each of them.

The letters were arranged in a circle and a little whiskey glass was upturned and placed in the middle of the circle.

The girls asked any spirits if they’d find a lover soon.

The glass slid about as Claire and Judy rested their index fingertips on the top of the inverted glass.

The word “HAIR” was spelt out.

Each girl accused the other of pushing the glass.

Another question was posed to the spirit world by Judy: "Who will Paul marry?" – and this referred to Judy’s partner over in Liverpool.

The glass darted about back and forth, and spelt out the word “CLAIRE” twice – and then once again the word “HAIR”.

"Stop messing about, Claire," said Judy, "as if Paul would go with you. He said you’re plain."

There was a loud rap at the door and the girls screamed.

It was Mr Bryant, and he came into the room with a torch, and when he saw the upturned glass and the circle of lettered and numbered squares, he said, "Oh no, don’t ever mess with that bloody thing! We had trouble in here with that once." 

The lights then went back on and the TV set boomed out at full volume. Claire turned the TV down.

Mr Bryant rambled on about the dangers of the Ouija, and then left.

Soon afterwards, Claire did a cruel impersonation of the old landlord, making herself cross-eyed (as Bryant had strabismus), and putting on his Lancashire accent as she said, "Don’t mess with the Ouija." 

The girls retired to their beds, positioned at opposing ends of the room, at around 1am.

The next morning, Judy awoke at 8am, and discovered that her fringe had been cut.

She accused a grinning Claire of cutting her hair, but Claire swore on her mum’s life that she had not clipped off her fringe, and was only laughing because she thought Judy looked funny with her exposed forehead.

On the following morning, Claire awoke and found locks of hair missing from her head.

She blamed Judy, and said: "You did it to get back at me because you think I cut your fringe!" 

Judy shook her head, and then she reminded Claire about the messages from the Ouija board – it had spelt out the word HAIR twice.

On the following morning around 3.40am, Claire had a vivid dream she was being French-kissed by her former boyfriend, but when she awoke, she realised that something was on top of her.

It was a black mass of what looked like billowing smoke, and two bright lights – like eyes – gazed at her.

From this shapeless black mass, thin spindly limbs protruded and they were pinning Claire down, and some type of tubular protuberance from this sinister entity was being thrust down her throat.

Claire realised she was paralysed, and she felt something snipping off her hair.

She somehow managed to move, and she threw herself out the bed.

The black vaporous thing flew across the room and went into the disused fireplace.

When the light was switched on, Claire saw locks of her hair on her pillow.

She and Judy left the house that morning in terror.

A month after this, Claire discovered she was pregnant, and admitted that the father was Paul – Judy’s partner...

The gaseous abomination of Park Road South is still occasionally seen at the house, but what it is, I do not know.

Over the forthcoming weeks Tom will tell you more tales of the mysterious and the uncanny in the Globe.

Haunted Liverpool 28 is another dazzling collection of supernatural fact by Tom Slemen, England’s greatest writer on the paranormal.