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Thread: Ghost stories

  1. #17
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    Here's one I just stumbled upon, it's an extract from Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson uncover the spookiest stories for your fright (and delight).

    The battle of Edgehill, the first major encounter in the Civil War, was fought on 23 October 1642. Three months later, in January 1643, a pamphlet entitled A Great Wonder in Heaven described how, on several nights around Christmas, phantom armies had been seen and heard in the sky, re-enacting the battle. It ended with the defeat of the Royalists. Those who had seen it reported it to a magistrate and a clergyman. Next night, and on several subsequent occasions, many people of all classes gathered to watch the skies, and saw the same sights. Reports of the affair having reached King Charles at Oxford, he sent six reliable officers to investigate; not only did they take sworn statements from witnesses, but they themselves saw the phantom armies, and recognised several people they knew who had died at Edgehill. All this they reported to the king.
    The pamphleteer concludes: "What this doth portend, God only knoweth, and Time will perhaps discover; but doubtlessly it is a sign of His wrath against this Land for these civil wars, which may He in His good time finish, and send a sudden peace between his Majestie and Parliament."
    Some recent writers on the supernatural say that people occasionally hear or see the battle again on 23 October, its anniversary.
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  2. #18
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    Hi Gladys - very interesting!! We once investigated a site re. 'watery stuff going on'...... though this had nothing to do with taps, I must admit!! See below:

    The West Midlands Ghost Club - Graseley Old Hall

    Regards,

    Nick
    The West Midlands Ghost Club - W.M.G.C. Home

  3. #19
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    Thank You, Nicholas,
    As with Miss Williams at Graseley Old Hall, There are all sorts of possibles but still none found to be exact. The difference is this house was built in approximately 1976 on scrubland that used to be old Farmland. The origional Farm is still just 500 metres away.Thus we continue and I will wait for the next event.

  4. #20
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    Hi Gladys,

    As I've frequently mentioned (in a variety of places before, but possibly not here) I personally believe that (so called) paranormal activity is mainly 'location based' and, I'm sure, is probably something to do with the ground on which a site is placed..... and not the site itself. (I think that the site - whatever it might be - brings something to the effects noticed, but, something in the ground is to blame for the effects being able to take place).

    Needless to say, this is an exceptionally general statement and is purely based on observations with regards to (alleged) hauntings or potential ghostly effects within a given area......

    For example, we frequently find that there will be a number of unrelated hauntings or ghostly happenings within a certain area - i.e. on a housing estate, within the same village, or whatever. If we consider that these effects / events are true (which is asking a lot, of course in a lot of instances!) then this is something of a coincidence to literally find 'pockets' of haunted sites???? There is a particular area within my home town - about a mile square - where literally all of the ghostly happenings that have come to my attention (for this town) have occurred. This is about 20 or so cases.

    Please do keep us abreast of further happenings Gladys!!

    All the best,

    Nick
    The West Midlands Ghost Club - W.M.G.C. Home

  5. #21
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    Hi Lex - with regards to conflict related ghosts, etc, I tend to think that such things are going to be 'par for the course', to be honest? If we're looking at cultural motifs within the paranormal field itself, ghosts frequently seem to be tied in with death, destruction, suffering, etc, so we'd imagine that battlefields might well be rife with ghost stories.

    With regards to the Edgehill story - I must admit that I've never given much weight to the legend. It strikes me that - as reports of the re-enactment began (or were pretty much 'only' ever reported) during the Civil War period - there was a bit of scope for some propaganda-like measures from one side or another? I've used the word 'legend' above and some stories do tend to definitely fall into this category.......

    There are other ghosts associated with the general Edgehill area, Kineton and so on, that seem to possibly be related to the battle in some way or another. Ghostly horses, a young boy with a stereotype, roundhead 'page-boy' style haircut and so on.

    Other battlefields (pretty much the world over) all have their own ghost stories, though they all generally seem much less dramatic / spectacular than the original Edgehill stories. (Re-enactment in the sky and all that). Most related stories are quite serene, to be honest - solitary sentry-like figures being spotted at Gettysburg (US)..... and one of my favourites being a cluster of Cavalier-style figures seen carefully creeping along a ditch - as if trying to evade capture - at the side of a road in Marston Moor, Yorkshire.

    Best wishes,

    Nick
    The West Midlands Ghost Club - W.M.G.C. Home

  6. #22
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    In furtherance to the above - one site that we have recently been drawn to (because of alleged ghostly happenings) is the area where the battle of Shrewsbury was fought in 1403. Please see below:

    Photo Sharing by MyPhotoAlbum.com :: The West Midlands Ghost Club :: Haunted Battlefield and Associated Churchyard - The Midlands

    Regards,

    Nick
    The West Midlands Ghost Club - W.M.G.C. Home

  7. #23
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    No Probs Lex!!

    Regards,

    Nick
    The West Midlands Ghost Club - W.M.G.C. Home

  8. #24
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    Hello All,
    I thought I'd just 'run' this by you. Since the 'tap' incident all has been quiet until now. I have a friend who is 'spooky'. Anyway, I have never told her about the things that have happened here because of that. Just to back track a little, My man decided for my Birthday he'd get our friendly 'Bob' who is a builder to build me my fantastic fishpond. Works started last Wednesday week with a dig of a hole around 4' deep. He came across a re-enforced concrete elyptical shape and had to break it up to complete my rectangular dig.(So the rest remains) There were all sorts of gaffs about graves and sheepdips etc but still the fact is we do not know what it actually used to be and it was deep. The pond then began to take shape with its brick built wall etc andd then I felt I wanted to find a 'thing' that made a waterfall effect to complement the fountain from the pump.(Not a water course) My 'spooky' friend and I went on a world wide tour- well actually most of Hampshire's Water centres and came home with nothing.Both so excited at the build of what will be my 'something' (Can't quite put it into words-but it's special to me and my fish who were babbies in a 'puddle'we put in for them when we moved here and have grown into huge magnificent serene things, I digress, anyway, on Saturday 13th, 'Spooky' and her husband came round for a coffee and to collect some things, all fine, they went home and Bob carried on building. The Tour of Hampshire happened on Tuesday. We drove, laughed,shopped etc and during the day somehow managed to bring up 'spooky' talk. She told me then of the little boy of around 7 she'd seen in my kitchen on Saturday 13th, 4 days earlier. Her Husband and I were talking, she'd looked to the kitchen door and there he was. At the time my son and his girlfriend were home from College for the weekend and the house seemed full so she, not knowing my son's girlfriend or 'the set up' thought the child was something to do with that scenario, she said she was about to say'Hello' but looked at me and her Husband. Niether of us seemed to be aware of the child and then she had her own 'spooky' feeling that she is aware she gets and she knew she was the only person who had seen him. He had at that point disappeared.We both decided time for home etc. Next day, I was still thinking about waterfalls, not spooky things and I was compelled to go to my shed. I knew there was a box in there with pond bits. I dug about and came up with the said box which weighed a ton. I had never looked inside it having been given it with several others by an old man many years earlier who knew I loved fishponds. He had had one but was leaving his old home for one smaller and more manageable.I opened the box to find a little boy astride an urn that spouts water- its perfect and I now know why I came home from my research travels around water/aquatic centres with nothing. This was meant to be and in my own mind, I believe this is what the little boy my spooky friend saw has been wanting me to do as well. (spooky friend says he looks like the child she saw) Read into it what you like. I have yet to speak to the old man who gave him to me. It just seems too good to be true. The inscription on the back of him is 'Palatme'. I think its a common repro of a story but does anyone know the story? It's Dante I believe.I'm happy, so are my fish and so is the statue.

    Just need to add that in seeing the dig and the discovery of the re-enforced concrete thingy, neighbours were saying that the area did used to have a grave yard, it was a woodland and scrubland by the sea.Subsequent discussions have yielded a possible medieval burial site somewhere.(medieval peeps didn't 'do' re-enforced as far as I know)
    Last edited by Gladys; 17-06-2009 at 10:18 PM. Reason: More for thought

  9. #25
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    Hi all, I wanted to tell you I met up with my childrens' old junior school teacher by accident on Saturday at a pub where we were all having a meal although separately and he asked what they were up to. I told him of my son's quest to become a farrier. A few more polite exchanges and off he went to rejoin his family. A little later on he found me and was looking as though a memory from days long past had spooked him. He told me that as a teacher training student in the midlands he'd been tasked with doing a project which took him to an old Farrier's forge. There he met the old man and chatted and took photos etc. He had the fortune of having a cine camera or video camera and had been panning around the old building when it ran out of film and he thought no more. The old boy had been proud to show off his craft although he no longer shod horses and had shared with my friend that he'd lost his wife recently- there was a sense of sadness at this point. Anyway, off back to college he went and then handed in films etc of the project expecting no more but his pass mark etc. Back came the most astounded lecturer who had reeled the video film out and played it right through to find a distinct form of an elderly woman hanging in the corner of an old forge. Yes, I said hanging. Shivers as I write this and as he told me. He had no idea what happened to the film but it seemed to be confiscated. I will ask him which college- didn't think at the time. They may have archives or his old lecturer's archives- who knows but it is spooky.

  10. #26
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    Edgar allan poe is my all time fav mystery wrter

  11. #27
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    Hi All, I am priviledged again! This may seem to many to house a family feud - well it certainly is causing one. My sitting room has turned into a store room as my Man has recently let his Mother's flat out so all the contents were removed and much of it has ended up in boxes here. My son's Xbox was plugged into the TV in this room and into the internet connection. These lay alongside the boxes.Anyway, we got up yesterday morning to find a trail of water in a perfect U shape from the XBox to the door. (it's hard to describe but it is as though it had been perfectly poured and it wasn't a glass full- more like a bucket) There was no water on or in the boxes - they are bone dry but the XBox and headphones were blown as they were connected to the electricity. Each of us looked at the other and we have had heated frank discussions and have agreed that not one of us had done this and wouldn't so how could this have happened? Motives;My Man dislikes the XBox so he does have that, I don't particularly like it. Neither of us would be driven to any such level to want to cause damage etc and my son wouldn't destroy something he gets daily pleasure from and something he paid hard earnt cash for.We are stumped. My assumption is our watery friend. I don't think he/she likes the electrical activity. I leave it to you...
    Last edited by Gladys; 09-06-2011 at 01:32 PM. Reason: Spelling

  12. #28
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    hallo Gladys,
    Speaking of strange things. My friend moved a couple of years ago to sheltered accommodation - a new bungalow built on what was once a part swampy gypsy meadow. Sometimes when she gets up in the morning her beadcover is wet. About a foot wide and bed width, and occassionally so is her hairdamp. The room is dry -no sign of water around and within an hour it has gone.Rub your hand across the patch and it is soaked. It doesn't go through the cover. some times she hears horses hooves thudding in the night. The meadow was cleared whentheriver up the road was culverted and these 20 bungalows were built.There was great controversy then, as the gypsies had used the land for over ahundred years and tethered their horses there. someone said the gypsies had cursed the land as nothing much can be grown in the gardens, although the soil looks rich. my friend is a keen gardenerso now grows her plants in pots and troughs and last year she won best garden award..She is not fazed , but I would be.
    I do believe in the gypsy power of the mind.
    Last edited by cathidaw; 09-06-2011 at 10:39 PM.

  13. #29
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    Cathidaw, I am intrigued. Gypsies do seem to have some sort of power from my experience of meeting them. Your friend isn't being hurt and she isn't too worried by all of this so in fact I would say she too is a priviledged soul. I would want to ask more about the gypsy encampment and the families that settled there. There must be some one nearby who knows more. As for a ghost that does housework; Mari. I'd love one of those. This one is a little mischievous and has a fetish for water but doesn't seem to touch the washing up but who knows, maybe he or she will surprise me! (I believe it is a he)

  14. #30
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    Gladys,
    When I say gypsies camped here, this was local legend when I moved here 40 years ago.
    Locals called them 'diddicoys', a word I 'd never come across.I was fascinated by it but it was used in this instance as a derogatoryterm. The whole land was a swamp and there was a 3 foot wide planked bridge here then.I rode my bike across it witha child on the back taking them to school
    . When the river was culverted and the M6 built nearby,no recording was done on this ancient site, which was criminal as I'm sure many things would have been found to establish it'sformer use,( Bedworth was mentioned in the Domesday book.) The place , 40 years ago was surrounded by broken cottages --some lived in.The conditions were terrible .I worked for social services for a year back then and and had quite a culture shock even tho' I'd see poor conditions previously. Most of them had packed earth floors, and earth privies at the end of the gardens.I have looked at the archives and the only thing which is mentioned is a windmill now long gone.I used to ask thegypsies who came around from somewhere else, selling pegs, lace, wooden floweres and telling fortunes if they remembered anything. They knew about the place fom the elders but all were vague as they moved around a lot.
    The only people who seem interested are the 40 years of newcomers to the area, the indiginent s were too busy keeping alive as this was then one of the most deprived places a mining town, and a bad one at that. The old name still sticks --old Beduth.

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    Cathidaw, This is indeed a dreadful shame that an area rich with history and a way of life long gone has been literally lost and built over. I expect the builders and the surveyors not to mention the Local council have much they would rather not admit to. It may be worth a few Qs to the Council and their Highways and Surveying Department?
    Mari, I am sure you were gripped with feelings and memories of happy days now gone. Places and smells seem to be triggers to events of the past. It must feel somewhat reassuring now to look back and have the memory of that intense emotion which once again brought your Dearly beloved Aunt and Uncle to be with you again. It is a lovely story- Thank you.

  16. #32
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    Gladys,
    I have asked more than a 'few questions' from the council, but have come to the conclusion that nothing was recorded. Money talks and if anything historically is found which wlould be likely to hold up the work it is passed over. This happens over most of this country where a alot of the archaeology is commercial.
    Talking of gut feelings,--we were weren't we?
    My son and daughter bought a house in Newcastleupon Tyne.to live in whilst at university.I had never been there before, but strangely enough I knew some of the old places and roads around the town. I felt quite comfortable there , even in the grotty parts I felt at home.
    Then a couple of years later Ilearned that my Grandad had been born where the football stadium now is, in a little cottage, and also he and granma were married in the church there.. A shiver has gome up my spine just to write this. How exciting is this !

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