The Ghost of Reuben's Magic Fingers

The historical photo-guide book Looking Back at Knutsford must have been sitting in our bookshelf for at least 10 years, before idly flicking through it one day, I was amazed to spot our house in it's previous guise as the Heath Side Hydro, as once owned by a kind, diminutive masseur called Reuben Pearson. The reason I hadn't spotted the photo before, was that it was taken from next doors front garden; and because our old stone house-marker dated 1848 had been covered over at that time by the fixed hydro sign.

This is the split view then of tonight sitting over the same view from the book, and dated around the time of the First World War. You can just about recognise the old sash window and the eaves cornice to the lead gutter top left. That window by-the-way is the one to the spare bedroom, where MrsB likes to sit to read and look over The Heath and watch the world go by.

It seems that next door (owned by Anne, a dear friend and neighbour for many years), and our house were 'joined-at-the-hip' in those days. Thinking about it in hindsight, this makes sense, as we can often hear one another at two points upstairs and down. This must be in the position of two bricked-up doorways. When J was younger, Anne (an old music teacher and piano player) used to listen to her practicing for her piano grades, by sitting at her side of the party wall.

Incidentely, when we dug up the old kitchen floor 20 years ago, we also discovered a 6-foot deep well under the old floor slab. I had no idea what it was, other than maybe a well. Looking back again now, this must have been some kind of spa plunge pool - The first jacuzzi in Knutsford haha!

I expect we must have ghosts living in a house that is 168 years old, but I can't say I have ever felt or seen any. When J was very young, she used to sometimes point at shadows and ask "who's that?", but we never saw anything. Maybe it was just kind old Reuben coming to say hello.

Postscript: To quote the book "Reuben Pearson was one of Knutsford's characters, still remembered for his eccentricities. His home...., shown here, became a 'health hydro' where patients found relief from pain with his skilful massage treatments".

"When Mrs Vera Rivaz wrote her 'Talking of Knutsford' memoirs she described Reuben Pearson as 'a little stout man with a merry smile and magic in his fingers'...."