GHOSTLY GOINGS ON AT THE CROOK COTTAGES !

The Crook Cottages stood at the top end of Aldridge High Street on the Corner of Rookery Lane. They can be seen in the picture above on the left, being the buildings with the pointed gables and bay window.

In 1946 Albert and Ethel Lote moved into the end cottage on the corner of Rookery Lane. Ethel recounts some of the eerie experiences they encountered…………..

" There was no electricity in the cottages, yet at night we could hear what sounded like switches being turned on and off.

When Albert was on night duty, he would obviously need to sleep during the daytime. He used to complain to me that I was disturbing him in an afternoon by standing by the bed when he was trying to sleep ! I only stood by the bed when I took him his cup of tea at 5 o'clock . After Albert had gone to work and I was alone, footsteps could be heard upstairs. I would often sleep downstairs with the front door open so that I could run across the road to Mrs Whitehouse if I got to scared.

The old lady next door told me that she had moved out of our cottage years before because of the ghost!

I was expecting my first child on 5^th November 1947. The weather was very bad and we had been lighting a fire in the grate in the bedroom. Mrs Lamb told us that the ghost would not let us have a fire in the bedroom. On the night of 4^th November the fire in the bedroom was burning brightly. I was pacing around while the midwife sat knitting. She looked up and saw the old lady in a mobcap, sitting on an ottoman up the corner of the room. I explained about the ghost and she wasn't bothered. Suddenly at the stroke of 12 o'clock the room became filled with smoke and the fire went out. It was a very cold night and there was no wind, but Albert could not get the fire going again.

When Chris was born in the early hours of 5^th November, there was a complication and Dr. Milne had to be called. When he walked into the bedroom he greeted us all including the Ghost! At first he would not believe us but then thought it was hilarious. When he got up to go he said goodbye to the ghost and we all saw her gradually disappear.

In 1963 when the houses were being demolished, a group of ghost hunters kept vigil for a week. Eventually they saw the ghost leave the cruck cottages and followed it up to the church where the ghost of the old lady the disappeared into the cemetery." ……