The rapping case was first reported in the Sheffield Independent dated Thursday 8 December 1881 at a house on Sheffield Moor. The house was in Johnson’s Yard which was situated on Pearl Street and entered by a narrow passageway. On each side of the passageway were two single houses. It was reported that
‘the occupants of these houses had for the past week, had to endure nightly disturbances of incessant knockings. The origins of these disturbances however could not be traced and, not unnaturally, left the people concerned extremely nervous.’
As fame about this phenomena spread, more and more local people came to witness the knockings for themselves. At first it was thought that the sound originated from leaking water pipes, as the sounds originated in the lower rooms. Shortly after the noise became such a nightly nuisance, that plumbers were employed to take up the pavement outside to check the water pipes. However they could find no evidence of leaking, nor any disturbance in the pipework’s at all. The cellars of the two houses were also checked in an effort to discover the origin of these noises, but it was quickly established that no person, apart from the occupants had access to the cellars without being discovered.
As the fame of this ‘nighttime rapper’ spread, it was usual that around ten o’clock there gathered quite a crowd in Pearl Street. Inevitably, amongst them there ‘gangs of youths who prowled here and there, defying the spirit and daring the mysterious phantom to reveal itself.’ Needless to say this resulted in much hooting of the crowd, enough to keep most of the occupants of the two houses wide awake. The occupant of one of the houses was a man called Joseph Hodgkinson, whose daughter at the time was seriously ill. Her father claimed nightly that she was disturbed by the thoughtless hubbub which was happening outside their house.
The local police authorities too were becoming more disturbed at the crowds which collected on a nightly basis, all hoping to hear this phenomena. By Thursday 8 December, it was estimated that almost a thousand people had collected in Johnson’s Yard. Many took the rapping’s as a bit of a lark to be laughed at, whilst others viewed the issue more seriously. They would wait for the disturbance to begin, their faces pinched and full of concern. Suggestions were put forward that the nightly disruptions were the prediction of an earthquake. Whilst other more imaginative theories were that the rapping’s were the work of a previous tenant of one of the houses.
It was said that this unnamed soul was a man, weary of this world who decided to end his existence. As a result he had cut his own throat and it was his spirit that was haunting the place where his ancient spirit roamed. Police officers were now put on duty to watch the large crowds and on that particular night there were four of them in attendance. It was noted that some of the officers were forced to use their truncheons in order to maintain control, as some of the mob became more and more unruly. One woman fainted and many others were clearly terrified.
As news of the ‘ghost’ spread, the sound it made was likened to that of ‘a blow struck with a mallet upon some hard substance.’ This continued for a few moments and then stopped before it was then resumed at the hour of 10 o’ clock where the continued once more for some ten or fifteen minutes. On the following, Friday night the police officers would not allow the crowd to approach the passageway into Johnson’s Yard and they quickly dispersed those who collected there on Pearl Street waiting for the ‘show’ to start. These officers were kept so busy moving the crowd on until midnight, that they hardly noticed when a cold fog descended. Only then did the crowds finally disperse to their own homes.
Needless to say all the excitement generated had an affect on the onlookers, which came to a head on Saturday 10 December when a forty-five year old midwife, a woman called Mrs Coldwell mingled in with the crowd. Suddenly, and without warning, she dropped to the ground in an apoplectic fit. Mrs Coldwell was removed to another house in Pearl Street, but sadly died the following day. It was thought that anticipation and excitement had brought on the fit. Thankfully, by Friday 16 December the Pearl Street rapping phenomena had finally ceased altogether, to the crowds great disappointment.
Thankfully for the police authorities, gradually fewer and fewer people gathered on Pearl Street after it became clear that there was nothing more to hear. Yet even well afterwards, many still sought answers as to what had started the phenomena in the first place. Failing to find any other solution, it was gradually stated that the mysterious rapping must have originated with the ‘afflicted’ daughter of Joseph Hodgkinson. It seems that once she was moved from her bedroom and placed on the sofa in one of the lower rooms, the rapping’s finally ceased altogether and Johnson’s Yard and Pearl Street resumed their former nighttime silence.