‘Haunted’ rocking horse for sale

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

A “haunted” rocking horse said to move itself from room to room is up for sale.

The early 20th Century wooden toy is being sold by the great-granddaughter of renowned medium Dick Godden who used it to help summon spirits.

Owner Kelly, who does not want to be fully named, said she cannot sell the rocking horse without warning potential buyers about its paranormal past.

She says the grey-dappled pony has been passed down through generations, but her 10-year-old daughter isn’t keen to ride it.

The mom recalled her great-grandmother telling stories of leaving the house with the rocking horse on the landing and returning to find it in another room, though no one else was in the property.

Spiritualism ran in the family, and Kelly's mom brought her to her first séance at just 15 years old.

However, Kelly, now a holistic therapist in Ashford, England, has since renounced spiritualism and found Christianity – her new faith has prompted her to remove the spooky pony from her home.

She said the horse has not moved from her landing, but she often hears banging noises upstairs while she is working.

Ghost hunter Mr. Godden held séances at his home and believed a little girl called Angela was playing on the toy horse after he reportedly raised her spirit and she admitted to rocking on it.

Recounting her supernatural upbringing, Kelly said: “One day my great-grandma Irene came home to an empty house and the horse had been moved into the middle of the living room.

“She assumed one of my cousins had been playing on it as they used to let themselves in to have a shower after being at the beach, as they often did, but no wet towels were hanging in the usual place.

"After a quick call at the local phone box, it turned out that they hadn’t been near the house.

“I remember going from our home in Hampshire to visit my great-grandparents when I was about seven.

"It was a three-story house and the top bedrooms always felt quite eerie. I remember feeling uneasy going up and down the steep narrow staircase on my own to the top floor where the horse was kept.

“We have had the horse since my daughter was a baby, it’s why my grandad (Dick’s son) gave it to me, but she has never been drawn to it or interested in playing on it.

“I’ve never seen the rocking horse move rooms. However, the horse lived on the landing and there would often be the sound of someone walking around upstairs.

"On more than one occasion I would hear a huge bang from one of the rooms upstairs. Thinking it was something falling off a window sill I would rush up there and absolutely nothing would be out of place. It did make me wonder.”

Kelly is keen to flag the horse’s past to potential buyers.

She said: “I really feel that whoever bids on it should know, even though I realize that might put some people off.

“I remember playing on it as a child and it never bothered me – but she’s just never been drawn to it, which is surprising.

“It’s often quite loud as if someone is walking around, but there’s no one up there.

“I’m sure some people will think I’m crazy but I just feel uneasy having it about the place, especially as my daughter isn’t interested in it.”

Angela the rocking-horse-loving ghost would reportedly hide the family's knitted toilet roll holder too, once on a shelf well above where an adult could reach.

Mr. Godden was a well-known paranormal investigator in Folkestone, and during the early 1970s, he investigated a frequently-sighted apparition in the Electric Cinema, Grace Hill.

A boy was believed to have been killed in the cinema by an extractor fan falling from the roof, in 1945.

Mr. Godden's Kent investigation features in Phantom Ladies, an alphabetized compendium of supernatural stories across Britain that was written by Andrew Green, who pioneered the application of scientific methods to ghost hunting.

The so-called “Spectre Inspector" recorded that Mr. Godden's years on the case paid off when the cinema’s temperature dropped, a row of seats slammed down by themselves and he saw a woman gazing into the stalls, occasionally touching her right eye.

Kelly's grandad matched the phantom he allegedly saw with a picture of the boy's mother, who he learned had a bad right eye that she frequently rubbed.

The photo was reportedly handed to him by the late boy's living sister.

Mr. Godden’s mates are said to have turned up on the scene and witnessed a "black shapeless mass" too.

The spiritualist’s horse, produced by one of Victorian England’s largest rocking horse makers Lines, is expected to fetch around £300 ($385 USD) at auction on July 30.

Along with the dimensions and cursory description, Canterbury Auction Galleries’ lot summary reads: “Note: The vendor's [great] grandfather was a trance medium/ghost hunter in the 1940s, and the horse was used for seances.”

A spokesperson for the auctioneers said: "The supernatural element of this item has not determined the estimates put on it."