Andrew Lloyd Webber, known for his musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” has opened up about his encounter with a “mischievous spirit” at his Eaton Square residence in London — and how he sought a priest’s help to remove the entity.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the award-winning composer revealed that while he has never seen a ghost, his former 19th century home in Eaton Square was occupied by a poltergeist that would “do things like take theatre scripts and put them in a neat pile in some obscure room.”
“In the end we had to get a priest to come and bless it, and it left,” he said.
Poltergeists, known as “noisy spirits,” are often associated with troubling activities, such as hurling objects, biting and even starting fires.
Historical accounts include the Borley Rectory in Essex, once labeled Britain’s most haunted house, where residents reported poltergeist activity before its 1944 demolition. In 1879, Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada, witnessed a poltergeist reportedly stabbing a woman.
According to The Telegraph, the theatre world is no stranger to ghostly encounters: Patrick Stewart claimed to have seen an apparition while performing with Sir Ian McKellen in “Waiting for Godot” at London’s Haymarket Theatre in 2009.
Similarly, Cameron Mackintosh, a collaborator of Lloyd Webber, felt a mysterious presence on stage during the 1989 opening night of “Miss Saigon” at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The theatre manager attributed this to the resident ghost, known as the Man in Grey.
The Telegraph notes that Eaton Square’s notable past residents include former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, actress Vivien Leigh, actor Rex Harrison, former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and socialite Diana Mitford.
A 2019 survey from analytics company YouGov found that 20% of Americans say ghosts “definitely exist” and 25% say they “probably exist.”
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say that they have personally felt the presence of a spirit or ghost. Just over one in 10 (13%) of Americans say they have communicated directly with a ghost or spirit of someone who has died.
Additionally, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 53% of Americans say they’ve had interactions with loved ones who have passed away. Of these, 46% experienced the interaction within a dream, while 31% claimed it took place in some other manner.
While some churches have largely remained silent on the topic of ghosts and supernatural experiences, V1 Church Pastor Mike Signorelli recently told CP that in today’s culture, where people seek supernatural experiences in all the wrong places, pastors are going to have to “get comfortable” with tackling the issue.
“As a result of New Age and tarot card reading, sage, and all these crazy things that people are getting involved with, unfortunately, for a lot of pastors, we’re going to have to get comfortable with engaging the supernatural aspects of the Gospel, because people are going to all the wrong places for supernatural experiences.”
Theologian John Piper also recently warned against communicating with the dead: “Don’t pursue communication with the dead, because pursuing messages from the dead is evidence that biblical truth about God is either not understood or not believed. And in either case, God is dishonored,” he said.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
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