Spook Alley (or Memory Lane!)
New entries are added at the top, blog-style. Memories & anecdotes about the Luminous Spooks are always welcome - please send to: retromat 'at' btinternet 'dot' com.
Title courtesy of Stewart Reid.
Steve L
Almost as soon as I'd speculated about the Spooky Story (see post below), I was delighted to receive the following from Steve:
Matt, I've been reading your "pure speculation" ....and it woke up a couple of half memories. I give you my word, i have not been influenced by what you have suggested, but it is indeed spooky that you've suggested "strike twelve" and "witching hour". To the very best of my memory:
..."As (George) struck twelve. Midnight. The witching hour when mortals are asleep and spirits start their games".
Not quite so exciting:
"There was a sudden rush (or gust?) of wind as through the window swept (Winnie?) followed by (Whitie?)"
The window was the clue to Winnie, and i remember Mum or Dad suggesting she might have been followed by Whitie because ,of course, cats often sit on witches broomsticks. Try as i might, i cannot remember a single word relating to Tilly, Algernon or Sidney. Nothing. I would LOVE to see that story in full again. Somebody must have one of those boxes! I'm still as sure as i can be about Bertie fluttering through the woods, and Steve Moores recollection of Alf appearing from who knows where, the spooks revelling, and disappearing as the cock crowed are word perfect, i'd put money on it.
Wonderful recollection Steve - now added to the Spooky Story section here (you will need to scroll down). Nicely atmospheric - and the Spooks were mostly about atmosphere IMHO!
Matt
*** PURE SPECULATION ALERT! ***
In the absence of any other details, perhaps the rest of the Spooky Story went something like this?
...
Inside the old building, at midnight precisely, although not wound for more than 100 years, (2) began to strike twelve.
(3) flew past, cackling with delight that the witching hour had finally arrived.
(4) stirred stiffly from his slumbers, his clanks and creaks reverberating around the great hall.
Startled, (5) woke suddenly and arched her back and hissed and spat in alarm.
(6)'s teeth chattered and his bones rattled as he laughed at the scene before him.
And as the last stroke of midnight gently faded away, (7) glided silently through a long-locked door to a secret assignation she had been keeping every night these past 4 centuries.
Last to arrive was ...
*** PURE SPECULATION ALERT! END***
Mark Oliver
(I) have just seen your excellent site devoted to these- I found it by Googling various combinations of relevant words. I remember these and had a few (3/4/5?), including, definitely, Tilly Tudor...I was the type of kid who did hang on to a lot of stuff and had them for years, but somehow they got lost. They're something which pops into my head from time to time and I think 'whatever happened to them?'
John Cotton
I remember this series of spooky characters fondly, during the mid sixties, when I was a young lad.
I convinced my mother to make several purchases, of the haunted manor sugar puffs cereal, so that I was able to make a really good three dimensional model, out of the several packets of the haunted manor, plus with a little paint at the back of the windows and other various cut out sections that were left with a grey package from the reverse of the packaging.
The only problem that occurred, was that every packet of cereal that I got, only contained the haunted clock, and as I did not like the sugar puffs cereal, and did not eat it, my mother was left with a fair quantity of unwanted cereal, and refused to purchase anymore sugar puffs. I can only assume, that when the items were packed in the cartons of cereal, rather than being indiscriminate with models, one particular model was packed in bulk, and distributed to shops in batches , were all the inserts would have been the same ?
One thing that has puzzled me, that knowing that this particular product of the haunted manor seems to have quite a bit of a fan following, that there has never been a reproduction set manufactured. Luminous plastics, such as stars and other astral, as well as Halloween products are so more readily available, than when I was a lad in the mid sixties, and I know that reproduction packaging is produced for collectors of various products. I am sure that if there was a demand, that a reproduction set could be made ?
Alan Smith
(in response to an item I put on the now defunct 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I had six of them. One thing I do recall is when their glow faded you had to hold them as close to the lightbulb (When it was on)for about a minute to `replenish` them.
Paul
I've just come across your Luminous Spooks site, I can't believe that people are still talking about them, I thought I was alone. I had the clock for many years until it was stolen, I really miss it. I have long thought about making some out of Fimo but haven't had enough info. Do you know if any of your followers make moulds from their collection? It would be a real boon to us bereft fans. Anyway, thanks for your site, at least I can now see them again.
Pagan
(in response to an item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
Talk about bringing back memories! I was 9 at the time had just received my Blue Peter badge, My big sister gave me an official Man from Uncle I.D. Badge my bike was covered with “silly stickers” and then to top off this excellent year: Luminous Spooks! Never did get the bat couldn’t eat enough cereal before the promotion was up and no one would trade these things! Just put the name in a search engine for fun didn’t expect to find anything…Thanks for this.
Sandy
(in response to an item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I was prompted to do an internet search for this – amazed to find it so easily – by a poll on another website about The Rolling Stones. I can remember hiding in “The Cupboard Under The Stairs” to see my glow-in-the-dark spook while “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” was playing on the radio. That buzz guitar riff at the beginning now reminds me of the spooks! I was 6. Complete nostalgia, eh!
Gerry O'Hare
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I cannot BELIEVE you posted this item! I was 5 when these were introduced and they’ve stuck in my mind ever since. I’m amazed that anyone remembers them. My wife always seems astonished by my memory for trivia but I’ve even surprised myself this time! My favourite was the grandfather clock. Well done for keeping this memory alive.
Philip Watson
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I remember only two by name: Tilly Tudor (quite a common one to find, as I recall – several of my friends ended up with her, as I did) and Alf the Apparition (very much rarer). Tilly ended up down the joint between two wooden bits of our sofa, and was not recoverable.
T. Groves
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
Hey, I’ve just been recounting the tale of a holiday we had when I was very small when we found a luminous spook in our cereal box at breakfast time on holiday. I thought it was Cornflakes but hey, we got the ghost one in there. It’s really the only memory I have of that holiday, but it left a lasting impression even in 2012! So thanks for giving me a timeline on that! I’ll print your page off for my sister to see if she remembers it too. Thank you.
Stewart Reid
The Cat and the Canary: I got the Cat in one of the first packets but then lost it - mysteriously. Thanks to a genuine kid who sold me another one on behalf of his young brother I got the one I now have but ages later the penny dropped: my obsessive classmate, previously referred to regarding the Bat, had stolen the first one. No doubt of it. And the canary ? Years later I read a report in the local press that he had been arrested in London for trying to buy drugs for fellow university students. No good was ever going to come of anyone who stole a Spook. He got a reduced sentence as he had given the police the names of his accomplices. Singing like a canary, get it?
Re: 'Spooky' Steve's cat: Weird coincidences or was there just a lot of thieving in 65 ?
Stewart adds: recently-released court transcripts reveal that the Spooks played a significant part in dealing with this miscreant. It appears that the judge was minded to go lightly with the drugs thing, young, first offence, easily influenced, that sort of thinking, until the lawyer piped up:
M'lud, my client would like other offences to be taken into consideration.
Other offences?
Yes, M'lud. (Long hesitant pause.) It appears that he..... stole a Luminous Spook.
A gasp went round the court. Somewhere in the distance outside, a dog barked. Someone muttered, "He stole a Spook." And the rest we know - The Cat and the Canary.
:-)
'Spooky' Steve
Well I can't believe it a website devoted to luminous spooks! ... Reading your brilliant website rolled back the years. To cut to the chase i have 9 spooks which i have kept all this time but no whitie! i did have the full set once but a so called friend at primary school stole him never to be seen again!
...
I do remember the competition to win a luminous watch though. As Steve Moore has said there was a short story on the side of the box which was complete except that the names of the spooks were just numbers in brackets. All you had to do was to put the right spooks name to the right number and post it off. I didnt win and dont know of anyone who did. As someone has said some of the names were obvious though not all. I think i can remember the start of the story....It was a dark eerie night. The wind howled round the towers of the old manor. (1) fluttered by his haunting cry echoing through the woods.........(1) of course was Bertie. Steve Moore is spot on with Alf appearing.....from who knows where.........and also the spooks ......revelling......that much i do remember.Im sure the rest of his recollections are accurate too.I remember having to ask mum what eerie and revelling meant. I was 9. The only revell i knew were makers of aircraft kits. Another passion by the way then and now. The reproduction on the site of the haunted manor is superb.I never thought id see that again its exactly as i remember it.
...
I was trying to remember what the front of the box was like at the time of the spooks promotion. I remembered a pretty lifelike jeremy bear albeit driving a train! And blow me there it was on your website although promoting the toy theatre from a few years earlier. Im absolutely certain this was the identical basic artwork in use when the spooks were being promoted although of course with spooks advertising. All i seem to remember was....Free inside! Luminous spook!...with 2 pupils in the 2 ohs of spook to look like eyes.
...
Anyway box memories. Yes im certain the basic artwork was the same as the peephole theatre with Jeremy driving the train. Same colours and everything except of course no peephole theatre banner. I seem to remember a black panel, full width at the bottom of the front of the box, extending up to about the bottom of the funnel on the train, looking again at the image on the site.The words LUMINOUS SPOOK with no exclamation mark afterwards, in white , filled most of this black panel. The style,or font, of these 2 words were very similar if not identical to the same 2 words in the TV21 comic advert. The outline of each letter was heavily dotted to make it look hazy, again like the comic advert , again in white. The words FREE INSIDE! to the best of my memory were well over to the left and above. Im afraid i cant remember the style of these words, quite simple i think , but i do remember they were much smaller than LUMINOUS SPOOK which is interesting because in the comic advert FREE is the biggest word. The back of the box was of course dominated by the haunted house scene, full width and depth with no border but not full height. Im very sorry to say i cant remember the panel above. It sounds like a cop out but i can only imagine it was similar to the front. What i am pretty sure of is that the instructions for making the house were on the side of the box.This would have left that back panel uncluttered which is what leads me to think that it was decorated like the front. I hope this will jog some more memories.
Kurt
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
Amazing! I don’t know why it came to mind to search these things out but I am glad I did. I recall clearly collecting and building the setting from the box. Did anyone else share the disappointment of rummaging through the cereal only to pull out the “Grandfather Clock” – the unspookiest of the spooks. Whoever designed the bat clearly had no idea what a bat actually looked like. We kids did as we were all batman fans at the time and the luminous bat was just wrong! I remember the suit of armour was called “Algernon” so I assume the others also had names but I don’t recall what they were. Someone, somewhere must still have these little bits of glowing plastic. Lucky them!
Tom Cross
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I was 9 at the time and loved these. Once I had a packet withiout one in and with my parents’ help I wrote to Quaker and they sent me some in the post. I still have 4 of them and it is part of our Christmas ritual to hang them from our tree!
Steve Wade
(in response to the item I put on the 'Popular Nostalgia' website)
I’m amazed that anybody remembers these things. But when I was 10, they were the centre of my Universe for several weeks. I still have a couple of these stashed away in a drawer somewhere. There were a similar series of luminous ‘deep sea’ fish that came before the spooks, but I never owned any of these.
James
(in response to my Spooks pictures on flickr)
Hi-I also remember these spooks-all were named as 'Winnie the Witch'/'Bertie the bat'/Tilly Tudor/Sidney the skull & crossbones/George the grandfather clock/Algernon the suit of armour/Whitie the cat & Alf the appartion.They varied greatly in the luminosity-my Tilly Tudor & Whitie faded very quickly,whilst the others lasted for hours....sadly,I don't have them any more...Cheers,James
Peter Watson
I have the original illustration cut out from the back packet which depicts all the luminous spooks in the somewhat ramshackle haunted house. It measures approx 7 and three quarter inch square.
I have placed this picture alongside the back of a box of Kellogg's Bran Flakes (500g) and the picture is slightly wider than the box. This leads me to think that the illustration of the spooks covered the whole width of the Sugar Puffs box. Looking at the picture of the advert in Plastic Warrior leads me to assume that above the haunted manor illustration were the words, "Free in Sugar Puffs - Luminous Spooks". Therefore it is clear that the illustration took up most of the space on the back of the box.
The spooks are in exactly the right positions as on the picture produced in the Plastic Warrior magazine which initially drew my attention to it. But there is what looks like a wooden chest against the wall to the left of Tilly Tudor and above Winnie the Witch and Bertie the Bat there appears to be what looks like a hanging wall bracket* covered in cobwebs.Some of the wood panelling seems to be falling apart, especially to the left of Alf the Apparition. This I thought was books on a shelf but I don't think it is meant to be.
What you would not know is that the carpet lining the stairway is actually coloured red with some black shadows appearing across it. I am not sure whether the artist was trying to convey the impression that it was threadbare or not.
I always thought that the illustration was meant to depict the spooks in a suitable spooky setting, I don't recall that it was intended as a 3D setting, so I have learnt something there.
Incidentally, the spooks in the picture seem to be glowing round the edges which only adds to the desire to collect them.
I have placed my spooks on top of each of the respective illustrations from the box scene and the scale is correct, except that the wings of Bertie the Bat are partially hidden by the edge of the window due to the fact that he is outside the window.
*Now recognized as a skull and antlers!
.....
I have all the luminous spooks except George the grandfather clock. I'm glad I kept them.
I am very pleased that there are other people like myself who remember and are still interested in the luminous spooks. (I thought I was the only one who had any - none have ever appeared on ebay to my knowledge).
Your website is correct in every detail as far as I can recall. I do remember that they were not available in Sugar Puffs for very long. I'm surprised that anyone ever managed to get the whole set. I was lucky because although I only managed to get Alf the Apparition to start with, I managed to get the others (except George the Grandfather Clock) by asking friends if they had any spares or any that they did not want.
This is pure nostalgia, no mistake!
....
Tilly Tudor .... easily the best of the spooks in my opinion because it glowed the brightest.
On your excellent website I discovered that the spooks were available from August 1965 until November, or thereabouts. I do recall it was around October 1965 when I opened a box and got Alf the Apparition so quite how I failed to realise that they were in cereal packets from August I really don't know.
I did become rather obsessed with them as a matter of fact, but never thought that anyone was interested in them as the years went by because there was never any information to be found anywhere relating to them. Needless to say, a website is just what was needed and you need to take full credit for that. The amount of information on it is a testimony to the hard work and research which has been undertaken.
....
I do however have a damaged Sidney which I forgot to mention earlier due to the excitement of discovering the website with all its information. It is without three of the crossbones, but the rest of it is fine, as are the remaining six spooks in my collection. It is entirely my fault. About thirty five years ago I had it on a key ring and of course it got knocked about somewhat, resulting in three of the crossbones breaking off. It is something I would not dream of doing today and I don't really know why I attached it to a key ring in the first place, knowing how much I valued them.
Andrew Baker
A wonderful site. So much detail. We all loved the ad more than the spooks - going round saying "Luminous spooks - spooks that glow in the dark"*
I only ever had the grandfather clock. You can't get through that many packets of sugar puffs can you? My mum would never buy extra packets. People were hard up in those days!
*Yes - it was a quote. Believe me it was a cultural highlight of 1965! I was delighted by your thorough research - especially the credits and links with Gerry Anderson!
Steve Moore of Ramsgate
HOOKED AND SPOOKED
Congratulations on gathering so much information on the luminous spooks. I have a few snippets below which may be of interest.
The smell of Sugar Puffs still brings back the excitement of tearing open the box and rummaging through the contents to find a luminous spook in its little paper packet. I recall being astonished that the spooks were made of plastic (not paper) and so detailed. They were without doubt my favourite toy.
As suggested on your site, the 3D haunted manor was created by cutting the cereal packet along the top of the manor's balusters and folding the upper floor part back so that it sat behind the top of the staircase (nearer the back of the packet). I remember the instructions included that you should "suspend your witch/bat/apparition", from the window/door recesses which I recall were to be cut out. The layout of the manor and the positioning of the spooks shown in the advert is spot on, but I seem to remember that the interior of the manor as featured on the packet had a little more detail including ball-topped newel posts and delightful brown panelling. The spooks were superimposed in glowing white on the picture of the manor so you knew which went where. The simple picture of the spooks belied the fine detail of the plastic spooks themselves.
As I recall the competition was to win a luminous watch. Competition entrants were required to name the right spooks in the right place in a short piece of text printed on the packet. As hinted on your site the text began by setting the spooky scene at the manor as midnight approached. The spooks then appeared in succession with a space in the text for their names to be added. The competition was not difficult; (only Winnie would ride a broomstick, and only George would chime midnight!) The one bit of text I can remember just about word for word (in quotes) was at the end were the other spooks were joined last by Alf Apparition
"..... (Alf Apparition) who appeared from who-knows-where. All night long they revelled there, but when the cock crowed the first light of dawn, they were all gone."
The text was charming, ghostly fun with the spooks obviously enjoying themselves.
In Ramsgate, Kent where I still live certain spooks turned up in abundance, but others seemed impossible to track down. My first spook was Winnie the Witch. I collected several Winnies, Sids, Algernons, Georges and Tillys. Some specimens glowed really brightly (seeming more opaque in daylight) while others less so. My attempts to obtain Whitie, Bertie and Alf through my weekly consumption of Sugar Puffs were in vain, and in desperation my mother wrote to the cereal supplier (enclosing several packet tops as proof of purchase). The supplier was kind enough to oblige and I still have my set of all 8 spooks "spirited away".
STILL GLOWING STRONG
When I recently took my spooks from their dark hiding place into daylight I was delighted to note how splendidly they glow even in faint daylight. A few comments on each of the pictured spooks.
Winnie the Witch was my first spook and for me best evokes recollections of the excitement of opening the Sugar Puff packets.
Bertie Bat was one of the last spooks I received and I was surprised to see he had curled wing digits (hidden behind the windows on the packet picture). Unfortunately I was not happy at his irregular shape and trimmed part of one of his wings. One of my other mistakes was to trim the suspension hooks off most of my spooks.
Tilly Tudor was one of my favourites; perhaps the most credible ghost of the lot.
Sidney Skull and Crossbones was probably the least in demand locally and I was asked to trade him for a duplicate Winnie. Unfortunately the specimen offered appeared to have had the bones chewed! (Strange habits kids have!)
George Grandfather Clock. My grandfather clock at home is known as George. No coincidence! Both my wife and I remember the Spooks and agreed on this affectionate name. I'm in great awe of the fellow who made his own version of George. The detail is stunning.
Algernon Suit of Armour was another of my favourites. Of all my spooks he has the highest glow power.
Whitie the Black Cat was a hard spook to track down, and has low glow-power. Whitie looks a rather grubby specimen, and this is because I used sticky-tape to fix this spook at the bottom of the Manor's stairs.
Alf Apparition is, I think, the most delightfully fun spook. I recall that a friend also had a faulty Alf with wide, uneven eyes. (Perhaps that door at the bottom of the stairs led to the wine cellar!)
Nick of Ongar
How great remembering back to happy times in 1965 when I was ten and 'manic’ about collecting the whole set of Luminous Spooks from Sugar Puffs, it was without doubt simply the most exciting period of my childhood regarding toys.
Do you remember the text on the side of the box, which with great imagination and atmosphere, used words like 'The wind howled round the old house as the light started to fade' - something on those lines, but it certainly filled me with great excitement, all for a few pieces of glowing plastic and a cardboard cut out!
I vividly remember my local village shop had run out of Sugar Puffs, but I was so committed to making my collection complete (only needing the Knight!), I would complete a 9 mile cycle trip to a small grocers shop in the middle of nowhere, next to an old spooky house which made it even more exciting, especially on overcast and windy days. I could hardly wait to get home before delving deeply into the sticky cereal, often with great disappointment, another cat - my least favourite! Finally I got the full set through a close friend and these were kept lovingly in my grandmother's old tea caddy. How I wish I could come across that old tin again, open it and release a time of pleasurable innocence and contentment.
I do remember the printed images of the interior of the old house having fairly detailed artwork of oak panelled walls, which gave it that archetypal 'Haunted House' feel. If you have any other info on these items, then please contact me.
Very well done on this website, which I will be watching avidly. Luminous Spooks were better than Action Man. (You could use more imagination without guns!)
....
My father desperately wants me to sort his loft out. It is probably a very, very long shot but who knows, I may just stumble across that old tea caddy, in fact this is prompting me to oblige my father's wishes.
Funnily enough Matt, only yesterday when on our way to Harlow I pointed out to my wife what used to be the little shop that I cycled 9 miles to, the shop is now a private house!
Matt Boult
I remember asking my Mother to buy some Sugar Puffs with 'Limons' Spooks inside, having first heard about them from a friend at school.
I'm almost certain I had Alf (twice) and Tilly, probably the cat and possibly the clock as well. These look familiar to me now. Not so the other 4. These cereals with 'free gifts' were a special treat, so I could only make a collection slowly. I do remember being terribly disappointed to find out, after what seemed just a short time, that they were no longer being made.
The thrill of seeing them glow in the dark is one of the enduring memories of my childhood. Just occasionally I'll get a fleeting memory of exactly how it felt at the time. Pure magic!
For a while I had the Haunted Manor plus Spooks in my bedroom.
There was a writing competition organized by the local library, or a bookshop perhaps. My entry was entitled 'The Most Luminous Spooks Ever'. It appeared in a printed booklet along with the other entries and I had a copy of that.
At some point, I imagine the Manor become just a tatty box and so was binned. The Spooks were probably consigned to a drawer for a few years and thrown out when they just became bits of plastic to my eyes. What a mistake!
Sadly, my masterpiece of fiction may also be lost to posterity now as the booklet we had, with my story inside, has gone the same way.
In the 40+ years since then, I remembered that there were 8 of them and what they were, although I knew names of only 2 (Tilly and Winnie). I had a reasonable recollection of the Haunted Manor, although I'd remembered the Spooks being in slightly different positions, possibly reflecting where I had put them, rather than where they were supposed to be.
No other cereal promotion before or after made such an impression on me! In fact, the Spooks were one of the highlights of my childhood.
C.D.
Yes, I remember these spooks well. I never had a full set - in fact, I believe I only had the suit of armour, the Tudor lady and the witch - but they are indelibly etched on my memory. There was something indefinably special about them - perhaps because they were the first glow-in-the-dark items I'd ever come across.
It's fantastic to see the advert on your site. It brought back lots of memories, and the haunted house is just as I remembered it.
Kim Stevens
I've been searching for years in the hope of finding these. Had them all as a child, but they were confiscated by a teacher; when I asked for them back after class, the teacher told me they'd been thrown in the bin. By the time I got anyone to listen to me, the bin had been emptied, and that was the last I saw of them :-(
Stewart Reid
At the time I managed to get all the figures except the grandfather clock (called George, I recall). No-one I knew ever had that one, so I have not seen it for real. There was often one item from any cereal set that no-one could get, even with our special supplier in those days; this was certainly the case with a lot of Kelloggs sets and of course it was part of the whole reason for such giveaways.
However not to be outdone and for the sake of having something to display on that haunted house, I actually went to the length of scratch-making a clock from the same type of translucent sheet, but not luminous of course, based on the box illustration, and it looked pretty good but I would still like to see how well it resembled the real thing.
That 'special supplier' I mentioned was a classmate who had a great advantage over the rest of us when a new set came out: his dad worked in the canteen at nearby ......... and of course several boxes of cereal were opened every day.
Our friend was always very generous with his acquisitions and if he had preserved all those figures he could have made a fortune on eBay I am sure. He also told tall tales and swore that he had so many Spooks that he could read by them in the dark. What an age of innocence we lived in, didn't we ?
....
Actually in 65 the luminous feature was never seen as that important, just a gimmick to attract kids. ( ! ) We serious collectors were only interested in the figures although there was speculation about whether the clock's hands would be distinguishable when it glowed, but we had no way to know.
...
A classmate called D... was mad about Spooks to the point of obsession. After the summer holidays in 65 it was all he talked about; but for that, I might not have paid attention to them, as I had not collected cereal sets for ages. My lack of interest in the previous year's Luminous Fish was consistent with that; the Spooks were a one-off resurgence.
D... had the usual problem trying to get all the figures and was constantly asking which ones I had. Some days he would be at me in the morning and again the same afternoon, as if I might have, to use your great word, wolfed down sufficient "Puffs" for lunch to have had to open another box since he has last seen me. I mean, even allowing for the enthusiasm that we still recall, this was almost a derangement.
Proving the vagaries of collecting, the first Spook I got, the Cat, was the one he most wanted. Instead, I offered him Alf, one of the Spooks of which I had "doubles", in exchange for the Bat. Talk about delicate negotiations.
When the Bat duly appeared, D... pointed out the holes in the wings. Had he not done so, I doubt if I would have noticed. With the prevailing scarcity, a Spook was a Spook.
So these holes, he told me, had been made by his older brother. I did not bother to ask why, as the involvement of this brother was explanation enough.
Every time I had ever seen him, he seemed to be "roughing up" his little brother in that tedious way that minor thugs like to behave. He made me thankful that I did not have an older brother, or certainly not one like him.
So it was in character that he had damaged the Bat, but yet it never rang true because the holes did not have sharp edges.
I think that D... expected me to refuse the swap if the Bat was flawed, as I probably WAS picky, and he decided that this way I would be less likely to quibble, out of sympathy I suppose. And why not take advantage of having a sibling who was such a pain ?