When I was a child we lived in a maisonette flat in a victorian terraced house in west London. The house was very typical of the area and our flat occupied what would have been the basement or servants quarters (we know this because when our old floor boards were treated for wood worm a system of summoning 'bells' were found under the floors and in the walls), and the old ground floor ( front door, entrance way, reception room,front room, kitchen). The further upper two floors were converted into a separate flat which was occupied by further members of my extended family.
Our flat had a horrible feeling to it (an atmosphere not shared by the upper flat). A gloominess that could not be simply attributed to it being situated in the basement. Throughout our childhood, my sister (who is 5 years older) and I experienced frequent and terrifying events.
The two main areas where events occurred were the staircase from the ground floor to the basement and the front bedroom of the house. The basement itself generally had an uneasy feeling and my sister and I would avoid playing or being alone down there as much as we could.
Firstly, there was a permanent feeling of being watched on the staircase. It was almost as if you could feel that someone was constantly behind you, watching you. The same sort of feeling as when you don't hear, but can feel someone creep up on you. My sister and I always used to run up the stairs in fear. When you got to about the 3rd or 4th stair up if felt as if someone was trying to grab you, or that you were being touched on the back, it was the same sort of feeling as when someone pulls you by the shirt. similarly when descending from the top of the stairs we often felt as if we were being touched or followed.
Less commonly we also felt a cold gust go past, as if someone was running past you. We also both frequently caught glimpses out of the corner of our eyes of a dark shape following us up and down the stairs. Whatever the presence was, it was definitely malevolent and wanted to make it's existence known. My parents also sometimes felt as if they were being watched or followed but not as intensely as my sister or I.
One night when I was about 6, I was found screaming by my mother, lying at bottom of the stairs with a sprained ankle. At the time I remember feeling as if I had been "dropped"- I think I was on the stairs before my mother found me but I have no recollection of how I got there. I admit I could have been sleepwalking and fallen, but I had no past or subsequent history of this.
The presence on the stairs however was nothing compare to what we experienced in the front bedroom. When I was very small, my parents occupied this bedroom and I had a little bed in the same room. I distinctly remember being woken up one night by singing. I remember opening my eyes and seeing 3 children dresses in white dancing around in a circle, sort of ring-a-roses like. Although the presence did not feel nasty it was enough to scare me.
I closed my eyes tightly and the singing stopped. When I opened them again, I clearly saw the figure of a little boy, probably of about 5 or 6 with sandy blond hair, wearing what looked like a choir boy gown (but could equally have been a victorian style nightgown) standing at the end of my bed, watching me. He watched me for what felt like a couple of minutes before disappearing. I was only about 3 or 4 myself when this happened but I remember the events so vividly and am 100% sure that it was not a dream.
When we were older my sister took residence in the same room. One night as she was listening to music something caught her eye, she said she looked up and saw the horrifying figure of a wizened old man walking passed her doorway. She said he was quite short, with a horrible face and white hair. He stopped, glared at her menacingly and the disappeared. I remember the night it happened as my poor sister came running up the stairs screaming and didn't calm down for several days.
Some time later in the same room whilst getting dressed, she said that she felt an oppressive feeling of being watched. As she looked around her room to see if anyone was there, she caught sight of a blond girl (my sister is very dark haired) glaring at her from the mirror. The girl's face was apparently quite contorted and appeared very angry. Once again my sister fled in fear. The room generally had the same feeling as the staircase, one of being watched or followed. It was also always freezing no matter how high the heating was turned up or the time of year.
Some very strange things happened in that flat. All of us heard singing and snatches of whispered conversations. The radio, tv, washing machine turning themselves off and on. It was not uncommon to come home and find all of these things switched on, when no one at all had been into or had access to the flat. Because it happened so frequently my mother made a point of never leaving anything on standby so that it could not be attributed to faulty electrics. We thankfully moved out of there when I was a young teenager.
The family who moved in after us were so convinced by what we had experienced that they got their priest to come and give the house a full blessing before they moved in. They subsequently have not shared any of our experiences.
I know all of the things I have reported seem extraordinary. But I felt compelled to share them after reading other people's accounts of experiences they have had. I would like to point out that in adulthood I am training to be a cognitive psychologist and am fully aware of all the 'scientific explanations' that could be used for what my sister and I experienced. I am however convinced that what we experienced was very real and supernatural.
More Ghost Stories:
London's Most Haunted Pubs - The Grenadier
The Jamiaca Inn
The Mermaid Inn
The Ostrich Inn |
Related Websites |
