Ghost Haunts Skegness Grammar School?

By Angela Gooch on June 18th, 2009

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What began as a quirky ghost story unfolds into a story of human tragedy…

Ghost Haunts Skegness Grammar School?

A ghostly brown figure has been seen by four people on two different occasions, haunting Skegness Grammar School.

The second appearance of the figure occurred in 1977 during the rehearsals of the school play in the assembly hall.
Two prefects in the play, David Reeves and Eric Stewart, went outside the main entrance to check on the weather about 7:15pm. But as they came back into the building, by the left-hand door leading to the assembly hall, they saw a dark brown shape – the outline of a man, with no detail.

The boys saw the figure drift towards the door leading to the corridor on the left. There was no noise. David said that it went out of sight for no more than a second as they made for the hall door, and all they could see down the corridor were the doors, which usually squeaked and banged shut. It was strange because they’d heard nothing at all.

Although the boys assumed the figure was an ordinary person, they were now getting a little nervous, as all the lights were on in the entrance hall but the corridor was pitch black.
David and Eric started searching all the rooms leading off the corridor, including the girls’ cloakroom from where they could hear banging. But there was no one to be seen!

Then, as they were about to switch off the lights and give up the search, both the fire doors at the far end of the corridor opened wide towards them. But there was no one there!

The boys turned off the lights and ran.

The boys reported the incident to the teacher in charge who dismissed the incident saying it was most likely to have been the caretaker, Mr Roy Foxon. But when they asked him the next day, they discovered that he’d left the premises about an hour earlier!

David couldn’t suggest an alternative explanation for the bizarre incident but said if it were a joke, then it was a very elaborate one.

After the incident, David had learned that around 1962, a boy who was to have played the part of a monk in the school play was accidentally drowned a week before, and the shape he and Eric had seen could have been a monk’s brown habit. Coincidentally, this latest apparition appeared just SIX DAYS before the play was due to be performed!

When the boys told Mr Foxon, who had been caretaker for the previous 13 years, of the strange goings on, Mr Foxon admitted to having seen something very similar the year before (in 1976).
It seems that on that occasion Mr Foxon was with his wife and they both saw a dark shape pass across the doors leading from the assembly hall to the entrance hall. It was like a shadow, he recalled, a head and body but without a face. Neither had they heard any sounds or footsteps.

Mr Foxon said that he had told the other cleaners about the strange sighting, but had since forgotton about it until the two prefects had related their story of seeing the same thing in the same place.

The caretaker said that one of the boys was very shaken by the incident, even the following morning. “If I hadn’t seen it myself” he added, “I would have thought they were making it up.”

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Intrigued by this story, we tried to find out more about the boy who was said to have accidentally drowned around fifteen years before the incident, circa 1962.

We performed a search for all the deaths recorded in the Spilsby Registration District (the district which embraces Skegness) between 1940 and 1977 and there is only one teenage death recorded. This is for a 19 year old male, Malcolm G Waterfall (mother’s maiden name Armstrong), who died in 1966. But when we checked out the local newspapers for the death of Malcolm in 1966, we found that the young man actually committed suicide at Hogsthorpe and so must be discounted.

Update: 30th July, 2009

Ghost Trail Hots UP

Today we searched the 1962 and 1963 newspapers for the death of the Skegness Grammar School boy, and again found nothing! We discussed the problem with Dawn Bradley at Skegness Library who clearly remembered the boy and the incident, having attended the grammar school herself. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember his name. But coincidently, she encountered a fellow former pupil who DID remember the boy’s name – Phil Nicholson!

Now we have a name, consulting the Births, Marriages and Deaths records revealed an entry in the Death register for a Philip A Nicholson, aged 17, mother’s maiden name Overton, in the June quarter of 1961 in the registration district of Spilsby (which covers Skegness).

Our next step is to look in the Skegness newspapers archives for April May and June of 1961. This we have done below, expidited greatly by the help of Dawn Bradley of Skegness Library.

Bathing Pool Tragedy

Youth’s death during Sunday swim

A prefect in the Upper Sixth at Skegness Grammar School died on a Sunday afternoon in June of 1961, in Skegness Bathing Pool while crowds sunbathed around the pool and swam in the water.

The boy, Philip A Nicholson, aged 17, who had won a place at university which he was due to enter the following October, lived at St Michael’s Lane in Wainfleet.

Philip, who was described as a strong swimmer and a good all-rounder at sports, was discovered on the bottom of the pool between the 5ft and 6ft depth marks on the diving stage side, a few yards out from the edge.

Fred Beeby, a swimming pool attendant, dived into the pool fully-clothed from the opposite side as soon as the alarm was raised, and pulled him out of the water.

Artificial respiration was immediately given, but this, and the three doctors summond to the pool, failed to revive the boy.

Philip was one of four children of Mr Francis Nicholson who was a lorry-driver. A younger brother was also at Skegness Grammar School.

Philip had rode to the pool from Wainfleet on his motor cycle, and although he talked to fellow pupils once at the pool, he remained on his own, not joining any other groups.

It was around 5pm that David Smith, aged 15, of Boston, rushed to Mr Beeby with the message that someone was lying on the bottom of the pool.

The Bathing Pool Superintendent, Captain Wilfred Keyworth was distress at the news of the boy’s death, which he said was the first since he had began work at the pool 16 years ago.

Headmaster of Skegness Grammar School, Mr J E Bailey said the school was terribly distresses about the tragedy, adding that Philip was one of the finest boys he’d met in 20 years.

Coroner’s Report

The inquest on Philip Alan Nicholson’s death was held a few weeks later.
There was evidence that Philip was a good swimmer and did not injure himself in any way when he last entered the water, but inquiries had failed to determine how, when and where he did enter for the last time.
The onlt theory which appeared to fit the facts was that the half-set of dentures Philip had worn for two years could possible have become loose and slipped to the back of his mouth.
A pathologist declared that the boy could have choked on them and involuntarily swallowed water.

Philip’s father said that although his son had suffered slight injuries in a motor cycle accident the previous December, the boy had fully recovered from these and was fit and strong and in good health.

The Coroner enquired as to whether the oxygen bottle used to revive the boy was in good working order. Mr Beeby replied that is was.
It was estimated that there was about 700 people in the pool when the incident occured. Grammar School pupil, Mervyn *ight, aged 15 of Norwood Road, Skegness, said that he knew Philip and was talking to him at the pool about fifteen minutes before his death. He saw Mr Beeby dive in and immediately knew there was something wrong. As he held a bronze medal for life-saving, he dived into the pool to help Mr Beeby.
Mr Keyworth was standing outside his office at the Bathing Pool when he saw Mr Beeby dive in. As soon as he saw him bringing someone out of the water he telephoned the ambulance and doctors, then sent out the resuscitation machine. He said that while it was difficult to watch everything in the swimming pool when the pool was crowded – 2,000 people had been in it that day – there were always two men on watch besides himself at busy periods.

Boston pathologist, Mr N E Rankin, said the cause of death was drowning, but there was nothing to show why this had happened. He agreed that the boy’s dentures could have caused choking if they had become dislodged, resulting in his swallowing of water. He could not offer any other reason for the boy’s death.

The Coroner said that neither the Bathing Pool or the Council were to blame but suggested things might be “tightened up”.

This was the first fatality at the pool in 30 years.

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