A woman who left a toy doll holding a 'sinister' note behind a wall in her former home has explained why.
Yesterday (Sunday, September 19) The ECHO reported how primary school teacher, Jonathan Lewis, picked up the keys to his new Walton home on Friday.
The 32-year-old knew there was a space under the stairs so took a hammer to the wall and peered inside to fine two eyes staring back at him.
READ MORE: Girl, 11, pulled out of class and made to face the wall over 'tiny' earrings
After pulling back more of the plasterboard, Jonathan realised the old ragdoll was holding a note.
It read: "Dear reader/ new home owner,
"Thank you for freeing me!
"My name is Emily. My original owners lived in this house in 1961. I didn't like them so they had to go.
"All they did was sing and be merry. It was sickening. Stabbing was my choice of death for them so I hope you have knives.
"Hope you sleep well."
While his friends told him to sell his new home, Jonathan said he found the whole thing 'hilarious' and he would 'do the exact same thing'.
The article led the former owner of the home, who asked to remain anonymous, to come forward and explain why she left the surprise behind the wall.
The 48-year-old woman said: "We were in the middle of redoing our kitchen in 2015 and after having a few glasses of wine we thought it would be a really funny idea.
"One of my girls wrote the letter and we put it in the wall and just forgot about it.
"It was a case of we never expected to move on and we forgot it was there, until we saw the article.
"Maybe we watched too many horror films at the time, I can't remember."
Despite some readers calling the note 'sinister', the 48-year-old wants to reassure Jonathan it was just a practical joke.
She told The ECHO : "We didn't mean anything sinister by it at all, I'd probably just had one too many glasses of wine.
"It says on the note the person lived in the house in 1961, but it wasn't built until 1964 and the only things that have died in there (the house) are a hamster and a couple of fish.
"We wish Mr Lewis all the best in his new home. We lived there for 25 years and I brought up my kids there, we have nothing but happy memories in there."
