Spectral Ghostbuster!

Subject: Spectral Ghostbuster! Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:12 pm

In 1965 my paternal grandmother moved in with us. She was not in the best of health and had to give up her flat until the council could find her suitable controlled accommodation. Gran had difficulty walking, so she had our back room as a bedroom while she stayed with us. This was before my uncle and his wife lived with us.

Some nights, I used to sleep with my Gran. I don't know how this came about but I believe it was due to the unsettled atmosphere of the house. Or maybe it was just for company. (Favourite grandson?) Perhaps I was her bedwarmer! lol Then perhaps it was to stop my brother and I from fighting? Read on....

Gran soon came to discover first hand what we had been putting up with. Some nights she would babysit us when mum went out - which wasn't very often. Just about everytime our mother went out, Gran was forced to climb the stairs because of the noise. It was a struggle for her as she had a displaced hip and relied heavily on a stick just for level ground.

Always - by the time she had reached the first stair, the noise stopped, but she had to climb the stairs to tell my brother and I to be quiet. We never seemed to answer when she called. We heard her once or twice, but the times we heard her, we were under the bedclothes with our pillows firmly over our heads. I used to feel the weight of the stick for making her climb the stairs. She wasn't harsh, Gran was just letting me know that she wasn't happy about being forced to climb the stairs.

The other occasions, she arrived at our bedroom to find us both asleep. After 2 - 3 months of this, Gran had me sleep with her when mum went out. (Now this makes sense to me! ) My brother had the bedroom to himself on these nights. My sister in the next bedroom has always maintained that she has heard nothing.

Guess what - the noises continued. The sounds of a scuffle outside our bedroom door. - yup - the same kind of sounds involving my uncle at a later date, but not so loud or violent. We only heard these once or twice a month, but not so much when mum was home. 2 or 3 times maybe when she came into the bedroom and woke me with a smack from a wooden shoe for waking her with our arguing!

Well - Gran said that it will stop soon enough, and I didn't doubt her. She was with us for about 6 months then she was offered a warden controlled flat not too far away. She died in October 1966, shortly before my sister was born. Gran was looking forward to seeing her new granddaughter and had provided a gift of a rocking horse for her.

Well - problems continued in the house as normal, then one evening in October 1967 I was up late with Mum, baby was asleep in her pram. It was quiet and the coal fire was throwing out a bit of heat, making us a bit drowsy. The front gate opened and closed, and we both heard an uneven clip-clop coming down the path round the side of the house to the back door. It scared me, mum looked frightened herself. It sounded exactly the way Gran used to walk. The back door opened then closed again. Not a bang but shut carefully. The house felt different within minutes.

Do you know the feeling you get at the back of your head, just after a really good thunder storm? Like the pressure has suddenly been lifted? That was how it felt. We still had the occasional bang or moved items, and weird event, but it didn't feel so oppressed there anymore.