Friday 31 October 2014

Draw nearer ...

It must be the time of year. But for me the changing colours, abundance of mists, smell of woodsmoke and 'nip in the air' go hand in hand with the telling of tales. 



As I've already mentioned my post last year correlated almost exactly with the one this year in which  spooky tales abound. 
And when I threw down the gauntlet to the rest of you I wasn't sure what to expect. 
But as ever my fears were unfounded as you have provided me with so much to 'consider'!

So now it's time. 

Draw up a chair. 

Turn off your phone. 

And read ...

The first comment to my post had the hairs on my neck standing on end. It came from Angel  Jem.

Lacock Abbey. And a cold hand on the shoulder .....

Others agreed. It's not somewhere I know, but in those few words Angel Jem has summoned up a terrifying atmosphere.

Irene hints at strange goings on with this comment.

I have had a few spooky/weird things going shortly after my Father died. Clocks chiming, blinds going up and down and strange sensations in the house. Thankfully all is quiet now.

How many of you can empathise with that?

Pam tells us of a strange everyday experience that she had.

My husband went upstairs to use the bathroom while tea was cooking. I was in the dining room. I felt someone go past the dining room door so I went into the kitchen to ask hubby if tea was ready. But he wasn't there. So who went past the door?

Say no more.

Melody relates a story she shared with her mother.


Happened many years ago. My Mum and I were at her Aunt's big, old house cleaning (Aunt was in the Hospital) ~ we were the only ones there. The house had two set of stairs, the main stairs ~ and the back stairs that lead from what would have been the "maid's quarters" in times gone by, directly to the kitchen. I was in the kitchen, on hands and knees cleaning the stove. I heard Mum walk down the entire wooden stair case, and then stop at the closed door. So I got up, figuring she must have had her hands full, to open the door. I did, but she wasn't there. I was confused, so I went up the stairs to find her?? She was in the bathroom, cleaning the tub on her hands and knees.. with the water running. Yup, true story. ~ and my only personal encounter with restless spirits. 

Mum spend a lot of time in the house growing up... and always heard people walking around, stairs creaking from feet, and closing doors. It seems who ever lived there before just couldn't bear to leave?

Linnet in Oriel provides us with a tale that has become family legend.

My Granny used to tell me a story that her Granny used to tell. Great Great Granny Margaret had a little son named Hughie. One day she noticed that something was up with the little fella and asked what was wrong. Oh dear, he said, but I am going away, some where far and very cold. Poor Hughie died within the year and they said that when his mother was nearing death she swore that young Hugh never left the end of her bed....

For more detailed stories you wont be disappointed if you visit Wendy over at September Violets. Her story is not only fascinating but features the most wonderful photography - with an unexpected twist at the end!

Mrs Black also thrills us with an experience that she stumbled over after taking a different turn in the road. Just be careful when driving in the rain!

Frances over in New York shows us just how Hallowe'en is celebrated over in the Big Apple with fantastic pictures from her neighbourhood.

So what about you?

Does this time of year make you look sideways - instead of straight ahead? 

If nothing else this goes to show that the age old tradition of story telling is alive and well. 

And maybe closer than you think.


Jane
xxx

13 comments :

  1. Love this post and all the spooky stories.
    Happy Halloween!
    Meredith

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  2. I told you I had houses with pasts … so here’s one for you. In 1983, my husband and I bought a house in Rowley, Massachusetts. It was one of the older houses on the town green – called The Nathan Hobson House. We loved it, but were constantly aware of a ‘presence’. A man would pass through the lower hallways – always in the corner of the eye, always letting his footsteps be heard. This would happen at all hours of the day. Often, I would ask my husband if he was making toast, as the smell of toast would come from the kitchen area in the evenings. Upon investigating, I’d find nothing amiss in the kitchen., but the smell was definitely there. Even my husband would nod his head and admit that it was uncanny. The presence of the man reached a peak when we were working on the house in preparation of putting it on the market. I had stripped wallpaper and was stenciling walls and cleaning out and putting up wallboard in the closet in the bedroom of my two young daughters ( 4 yrs and 6 yrs old). One night, I woke to footsteps in the lower hall. I woke my husband and asked him to turn the lights on, that someone was downstairs. He turned on the lights and we listened. All was quiet, so we turned the lights back out and started to settle back down. There were steps outside the bedroom door in the upstairs hallway and then my daughter (the 6 yr old) cried out. I dashed out and down the hall to her room. She sat up in the bed and pouted at me, “ Mommy! Tell that man to stop patting my shoulder!” So … I turned and around and faced the center of the room and demanded, “ You need to stop this right NOW! Children are sacred and you are stepping over the bounds! STOP!” Then, I crawled into bed with her and we went to sleep. My husband said that in the morning he heard the footsteps in the downstairs hallway again, but Kate was never bothered again. When the girls got older, though, they admitted to always being kind of scared to walk past the attic door that was right outside their bedroom door. They always thought they heard movement in the attic – something that my husband and I were never aware of …

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    1. Good heavens Susan - I don't know if I'll be able to go upstairs alone tonight! Thanks for sharing x Jane

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  3. This is definitely a post to read in bright daylight!

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  4. Boo! loved this post have been popping all over blogland with all those links....
    bestest daisy j xxxx

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  5. Great post, but I'm glad I didn't read this last night! xxx

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  6. I take no notice of Halloween as it's all rather silly and boring. No one seems to know why they are dressed up as superman while others are zombies and what anything has to do with anything anyway. It's all a bit ugly and pointless so I ignore it. Thankfully I live in a quiet road so I don't get the running around tricking and treating which is just intimidating.

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  7. Jane, thank you for including me in your Halloween links.

    As usual, the best costumes I saw yesterday on children doing trick or treat in the shop, or adults on their way to the big Village Halloween parade were th home made ones. Let individual spirit and inspiration rise at least once a year.

    xo

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  8. Great post. Did make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck ..... is that a creaking on the stair I can here? oooooooh!
    Jacqui xx

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  9. A good collection of stories.

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  10. This was a great idea Jane, and I loved reading other's stories. It's the smallest of unexplained incidents that give you that creepy feeling. I have another from my very good friend who I've known for about 35 years, and I believe her word. My friend Linda had a grandmother who lived in a very nice red brick house in the centre of town. Her grandmother grew up in the house, and Linda and her sisters and brother visited her often. The house was haunted. The grandmother told them the ghost lived in the attic. It was always pushing the attic door open. Her grandmother always placed a small box in front of the door to the attic to keep it from swinging open, but every morning, the door was open again and the box had been pushed aside. Linda also remembers how she and her sister discovered they could "float" down the stairway from the second floor to the main floor. They would stand at the top of the stairs, jump up, and then be carried all the way to the bottom of the steps by something unseen! It wasn't just a one time event, she and her sister would look forward to doing this whenever they visited as children. Whoever the spirit was, they were not unfriendly, and it seems the spirit was enjoying a bit of fun through the years. I once stayed overnight in her grandmother's house while Linda was house sitting. She showed me the attic door, which was open!, and invited me up into the attic, but I was too scared to climb the stairs. Wendy x

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  11. Excellent posts and following comments. We have had shared a couple of houses with previous occupants too. My favourite was an old lady that used to stay down in our kitchen which would have been a cellar at one time. She seemed to be stirring something or may be she was washing with a posser, but it always looked like she was watching what was going on in my microwave, we also had 'someone' who would loiter on our stairs up to our bedroom, there was always a cool feeling as you went past this 'person'. We felt that it was a young man in breeches with longish hair. Another house we had was patrolled regularly by a cat - the type that you could see in the corner of your eye but when you turned to have a look, nothing. Both my husband and I saw it several times. But, my favourite - if you could call it a favourite, is this, I was visiting a friend who had a regular 'visitor' who'd trail around her house in several different guises. I'd had been fooled into thinking I was following my friend and chatted to her as we were taking plates to the kitchen. My 'friend' was only a pace or two ahead and when we reached the kitchen - was no longer there, I turned around to find my real live friend behind me. She saw the confusion on my face and explained that I had just met her resident and she'd taken on the guise of my friend - that one kinda freaked me out somewhat!

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