Do I believe in ghosts? I cannot answer that truthfully. A few things have happened in my life that I cannot explain and still happens now. But it does not disturb me any more. I think I was about 6 when I started to see things.
My brother was 3 and we used to share a room, this was back in the 1960's. He used to get night terrors and we could not understand why. Then one night I saw what he said he had been seeing; the bedroom always seemed cold, neither of us felt comfortable about getting out of bed during the night.
Strange loud clicking noises forced me to keep my eyes closed through fear. I was griping the bed covers and holding them to my face, until I felt brave enough to sit up and hug my brother and saw what looked like 2 dancing skeletons at the foot of our bed.
They were grey and shadowy and must have been visible for about 3 or 4 seconds, but felt like an eternity. This went on for a couple of years, 2 to 3 times a week. Our Mum and Dad explained it as being a light reflection from the street light coming through the trees outside of our bedroom window.
We accepted this for a while although the sound was a puzzle. After a few months, I realised that we had no trees! We had no front garden as our bedroom faced onto the street, and directly onto the houses opposite. Mum shut our curtains every night, and if it had been a reflection, why only 2 to 3 nights a week? We later moved and the area has been re-developed since.
The next house we lived in was much more active. I lived there with my family until I was 16. We experienced corner of the eye sightings, noises, objects disappearing and re-appearing. Our house had 2 reception rooms, the main room was kept locked and was opened for visitors. This was my Mum's idea to minimise on the house cleaning!
Mum and Dad had to have a private discussion one evening and used the main room away from us children. When they left the room, it was again locked. Only Mum and Dad had the key. Dad had left his car keys on the sideboard and decided he would leave them there until the morning. They were not going anywhere. Wrong!
The following morning the keys had gone. At 4am and we were all out of bed looking for these keys so that dad could get to work. Our lives were miserable for the next week as Dad thought one of us had to have taken his keys. Dad had to get a spare set from the dealer. It was the following week when dad again unlocked the room for visitors that the car keys re-appeared on the sideboard.
During all of this we had loud banging noises, doors slamming, and an occasional voice that we just couldn't quite make out what was being said. A shadowy figure darting in and out of rooms. somebody running up and down the stairs.
Mum used to swear that there was somebody else in their bedroom. She could even tell when they were coming. Around 3:10am every morning she felt a presence enter the house, and by 3:12am it was in the bedroom. Mum could even feel this presence sitting on the bed.
For a few years we had my nan living with us in the back room as she could not climb the stairs. She was concerned about the effects this house was having on us, but she too came to hear and see what was happening.
Some nights we slept together for reassurance. Items were being thrown around now. Mum was pregnant with my sister, and the atmosphere in the house had become really heavy. It became too much for my nan, and she moved into sheltered accommodation.
My Uncle and his wife then moved in. None of us liked his wife, she felt wrong and the banging became more intense, objects were being broken. Some nights a shadowy male figure could be seen in the hall of our home. This was becoming serious. I can only have been 9 or 10 years of age when I left the back room to go into the kitchen one evening, to encounter a man stood between myself and the kitchen. I screamed and dived at this figure, only to fly through cold air and collide with the kitchen door.
A few nights later, my brother and I, who still shared a room, were asleep when there were shouts and the sounds of a fight upon the stairs outside of our bedroom door. This woke us, then we heard the sound of two people falling down the stairs, a pause, then a door slammed. this was new.
The following morning at breakfast, my uncle was not his usual bright and cheerful self. He was quiet and very pale. It took some doing on my mother's part, but she needed an explanation for the noise last night, thinking that he and his wife had had a fight.
There had been a fight, but my uncle's wife was tucked up in bed, fearful of events. He had heard the sound of an argument on the stairs and had gone to investigate. There he had found two male figures arguing over a knife and had tried to intervene. They fell down the stairs and the figures disappeared. the knife had been left on the stairs, and disappeared after the figures. The door slamming had been my uncle.
To this day he still does not believe in ghosts. He and his wife moved out and things went back to the normal level of corner of the eye movement, banging, noises, moving things.
Around the time before my sister was born, my nan died. Our house was pretty active and we had a few visits from the vicar of our local parish church. Despite what went on, I was happy in this house and still consider it the most important part of my growing up. Once my sister was born, mum's night visitor became more intense. Dad was no longer around.
Mum felt she was no longer alone in bed and some nights she felt a weight on her, pinning her down. Nothing physical other than this happened.
On the anniversary of my nan's death, when I was 12, mum and I were sat in the back room in front of the fire. It was quiet, we were both working on redicut rugs, when we heard the uneven clip-clop of nan's footsteps and walking stick, coming down the path around the side of the house to the back door.
We froze and stared at each other. The back door opened, then closed heavily. Then nothing. I mean nothing. It felt like coming out of a bad winter, into the first day of a glorious spring. the spirit of the house suddenly lifted, and we had no more disturbances.
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