may have played a part in the disturbances.
According to records the servants were the first to hear strange groaning and the sounds of stamping feet even though no one was present, on 1 December 1716. The children were the next to hear unusual knocking, footsteps, chains clanking and door latches being rattled. Finally the knocks sounded in the bedroom of Rev and Mrs Wesley.
A routine began to develop, with the raps and knockings and strange noises starting at around 9.45 every night. Sometimes the house itself would shake or there would be the sounds of bottles smashing; on inspection nothing would be out of place.
At first Mrs Wesley thought that rats were the cause and she requested a horn be sounded through the house to scare them. After that the noises, almost as an act of revenge for the horn, sounded during the day as well as the night. Other manifestations included a bed levitating with one of the children in it and the spectres of what looked like a rabbit and a badger.
The children called the spirit by the nickname ‘old Jeffrey’ and it was suggested that either witchcraft or the spirit of someone who had died in the house was to blame. Attempts to establish contact with the spirit failed and it was particularly active during prayers - although curiously if the prayers omitted mention of the King it remained silent. Although Wesley was advised to leave the rectory by his friends, he refused to be intimidated by what he called ‘the devil’. Then mysteriously, at the end of January the disturbances stopped.
The most likely explanation for this case is psychokinetic energy unleashed by a member of the Wesley family. Mrs Wesley harboured deep resentment against her husband because of his desertion of her and his family. It’s also possible that one of the children was the prime agent of the activity. One daughter, Hetty, was around the age of 15 at the time and according to reports she intensely disliked Epworth Rectory and the surrounding villages. She was also probably deeply hurt by the tension that existed between her parents.
EQUINOX
Term used to refer to the two days each year, one in spring (usually around 20 to 23 March) and one in autumn (usually around 20 to 23 September) in which day and night are of equal length. At the moment of the Equinox the Sun crosses the celestial equator - the projection of the earth’s equator into space.
In the Golden Dawn magical system the equinoxes are two of the most important days of the year because it is thought that on these days the spiritual energies of the Sun come to Earth directly. Rituals are held to draw on these energies. Equinoxes are also significant in the pagan calendar of the year as festival days called Sabbats. The spring celebration is called Ostara and the autumn celebration Mabon.
ESOTERIC
From the Greek esoteros meaning ‘inner’, esoteric is a term usually applied to mysterious or occult teachings. It is used to describe ideas and concepts that are to be understood only by a select few with specialized training and/or knowledge.
ESP [EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION]
Term used to describe the ability of some people to perceive things beyond which their five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste can tell them. ESP is often described as a sixth sense, but it does not function like a sense and is not dependent on the other senses, age, location, time or intelligence. It seems to originate in an alternate reality and to bring people information about the past, present and future that they couldn’t be aware of under normal circumstances.
Information that comes through ESP is not always significant or accurate, possibly because it is affected by the thoughts of the waking consciousness, but in some cases it is. For example, in one case recorded by the Society for Psychical Research, a woman driving on the M62 motorway near Irlam in Lancashire claimed to hear an inner voice crying ‘Get out!’ She swerved dangerously into the fast lane and at exactly the same moment avoided a collision with a lorry. Another case was that of Maureen Blyth, wife of yachtsman Chay Blyth, who was suddenly overcome with unexplained nausea in restaurant. Later she found out that at the exact moment of her nausea her husband’s yacht had overturned in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean; he was trapped underneath for hours before being rescued.
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