Foldout : John Almighty Whiteley
The haunted portrait

In 1810, John Almighty Whiteley became landlord of the Star Inn, Sowerby when he married Alice Jennings, the widow of the former owner.

In the 1950s/60s, several reported hauntings at the Star Inn, Sowerby – many involving the sounds of singing, and the opening and closing of doors and movement of the door-latches – were associated with a portrait of John Almighty Whiteley which hung in the tap room there. These events caused so much concern that the portrait was taken down and put away in the loft. Whenever a new landlord hung the painting back on the wall, the mysterious happenings would start all over again.

In the 1950s, the painting hung in the offices of Whitaker's Brewery. It was sold at auction when the Brewery closed.

When Mr Allan Kenny bought the painting and took it home, he and his wife reported unexplained events:

• The picture was hanging in their 17th century farmhouse in Keighley, which you had to enter an old arch inscribed FEAR THE LORD AND PROSPER. There was a very noticeable sudden chill as you walked through the arch, even with an AGA keeping everything very warm
• They heard door-latches flicking opened and closed in the middle of the night
• When their new-born daughter was asleep in her bedroom above the picture and the baby-listening monitor switched on to hear any disturbance, Mr and Mrs Kenny could even hear her slight murmurs, when suddenly as clear as day they both heard a soft voice singing the tune to Brahms Lullaby. As Mr Kenny tiptoed up the stairs whilst his wife remained by the monitor. On the landing, right outside the bedroom door, he could hear the lullaby as he stood outside, and his wife could also hear it still on the monitor. As he entered the room, the singing stopped immediately, with nothing in sight
• In 2006, the painting appeared on the BBC TV when Mr Kenny took it to the Antiques Roadshow which was visiting Arundel in West Sussex. Philip Mould, an art expert, looked at the painting and commented on how ugly Whiteley was. At the same moment, there was the sound of breaking glass and one of the frames containing old newspaper clippings about Whiteley smashed, startling everyone around
• Following the TV programme, a caller to the BBC – Patricia Parry whose father owned the Star Inn between 1959 and 1962 – recalled the haunting in the pub and that her father had to take the portrait down.

  She also said that, in 1960, she had a baby boy. The child subsequently died and he had a toy, a teddy bear that played Brahms Lullaby

It has recently been suggested that the painting may be by Branwell Brontë.

The frame is inscribed

• John Whiteley aged 44 years (at the top)
• The Reward of Integrity in the Discharge of Arduous Public Service (along the bottom)
• The Lynx-Eyed Thief Catcher and General Candidate for Halifax AD 1832 (down the sides)

See John Whiteley Firth

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© Malcolm Bull 2017 / [email protected]
Revised 13:09 on 5th July 2017 / ww_8 / 7