• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Brummie Ghosts

I was "channel-hopping" yesterday and caught part of a program about celebrities who had ghostly experiences. A famous lady said she had stayed at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham,( formerly the Midland Hotel). During the night she heard footsteps on the floor above her, it disturbed her sleep. she mentioned to the concierge next morning that the person was not considerate only to be told there were empty attics above her!
rosie.
 
around 1997.i went in nechells baths with a man from the council.to collect some items. it was all shuttered up and locked.when we went to the swimming pool we saw a woman standing by the old diving boards.. then she was gone. it was weird so we both left quickly.
 
I was "channel-hopping" yesterday and caught part of a program about celebrities who had ghostly experiences. A famous lady said she had stayed at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham,( formerly the Midland Hotel). During the night she heard footsteps on the floor above her, it disturbed her sleep. she mentioned to the concierge next morning that the person was not considerate only to be told there were empty attics above her!
rosie.

I was looking for this episode on Youtube, after hearing about it, a shortish while ago, Rosie. (In vain, however!!) I believe it was Edwina Curry who reported that experience?
 
around 1997.i went in nechells baths with a man from the council.to collect some items. it was all shuttered up and locked.when we went to the swimming pool we saw a woman standing by the old diving boards.. then she was gone. it was weird so we both left quickly.

Thanks for posting, mw0njm!! Can you possibly offer a description of the figure, please?
 
I have written before in this thread, about weird happenings in my life, but there was was one occasion that I had forgotten, whilst on "Arctic Training ", in the 60's in Norway, Vos to be precise, we were on a scouting patrol, on ski's, when it came on hard to snow. It was a total "White out", we eventually came across a small cabin. The Norwegians cleared the snow and we got inside, grateful to be out of the wind. We lit the stove, and got comfortable, looking round the place looked as if it had been deserted for some time, on the ram shackled shelf's there were old tins of stuff, and we found some newspapers near the stove, we could't read Norse, but the dates were from the 30's. Any way a peaceful night ensued, and we packed up and left in the morning. When back a base, I was talking to Lt Arno Signassund NDF, and he said it peculiar because the hut was't on any of the Military maps, which normally they all were. Some years later I met up with him at Narvik, and I talked about that bad snow storm, he told me casually that the strange thing was nobody could locate that hut ever again!!! Paul
 
Thank you for sharing Paul Stacey!! I've heard quite a few stories of seemingly 'disappearing buildings' over the years - including an example from nearby Stourbridge, it seems!!

Ghosts aside though, Paul... I certainly envy the scenes / experiences you describe here, it has to be said!!
 
thanks Nick, and all, , grey cells weak now at 73 odd,years. Never thought anything of that time for some 50 years now, this thread brought it all back, glad you enjoyed it. Paul
 
Hi. Just found this thread, and although I am probably more sceptical than not, I have experienced a few things during my time that make me wonder. I worked for a while at Selly Oak Hospital, and occasionally worked nights as the crew to the internal ambulance. Part of our duties included locking the various outlying buildings and one in particular, I think it was J Block if memory serves, we used to go upstairs, switch of all the lights and go down to lock the main doors. By the time we had got back in the ambulance all of the lights would be turned back on again despite two of us checking all doors and windows and verifying that the building was empty. This would happen on a regular basis. Although I never saw her, apparently a "grey lady" was responsible, people who saw her thought she was dressed as an old fashioned matron type figure. I also worked at the old QE hospital which is built on a roman fortress and several colleagues reported seeing roman soldiers at different times during my time there. A colleague of mine worked nights and one night he was crossing the link corridor between east and west blocks on the second floor, by the old max/facial dept. and was grabbed around the throat and actually had marks on his neck. Perhaps the most compelling experience for me was when I took my girlfriend (now wife) to Eastbourne where I lived for a while. I took her to Beachy Head one evening to see the new viewing station that had been built and as we walked down the path, just as it was dusk and starting to get dark, we passed a bench and I carried on going talking to my girlfriend thinking she was behind me, but when I looked round she had stopped at the bench. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she was talking to the old lady sitting on the bench, although there was nobody there. When we got back to my Nan's where we were staying, she chuckled as apparently this is quite a well known spirit. Another experience which I posted about elsewhere on the site, was when I worked at Beeches Management Centre in Bournville. We used to cater for all sorts of organisations for residential conferences, and as managers we took turns to lock the building at the end of the week. The centre consisted of an original house with several extensions added over the years. I used to have to walk through the old house to get to new wing and other buildings to check security, turn off lights etc. In the old house I would always have the feeling of being watched, although I never actually saw anything/body. One day a delegate from one of the conferences told us that he was a psychic medium and that he sensed the presence of a first world war soldier which would tie in with the history of the building being used as a hospital during WWI although I wasn't aware of that at the time.
 
Hi. Just found this thread, and although I am probably more sceptical than not, I have experienced a few things during my time that make me wonder.......

Thank you for sharing in such detail, JonnyH...!! Much appreciated!! Sceptics make the best witnesses, by far.......

Strangely - despite having been an outpatient at the QE in the past, it's only been in the last 12 months that I'd heard about the 'Roman' connections, I must admit!! Rolls eyes!! Someone had happened to mention to me, on social media, that there were related 'ghost stories' too......!

I'd not heard of an 'old lady ghost' associated with Beachy Head, but there is a long-standing legend concerning some 'negative' influence, attached to the region, that supposedly causes people to leap to their death, at times!? I remember reading quite a bit on this topic in the past: hardly 'objective' research, however, from what I can recall?
 
Hi Nicholas, my pleasure. The negative influence at Beachy Head is purportedly a "Black Monk" who, as you say, encourages troubled souls to jump. Legend has it he was expelled from a nearby monastery, maybe Alfriston, and prowls Beachy Head to exact some form of revenge. There is also a lady dressed in Victorian attire who is often seen to jump over the edge. Having lived down there for a while and visited the area regularly, there is definitely a vibe there but whether that is because you are subconsciously aware of the history of the place I don't know.

Re: the QE, before the site was redeveloped, approaching from the large visitor car park there was a building called the Postgraduate Medical Centre. This was on top of a hill but if you looked closer, the hill was terraced in classic roman fortress style. Most of the sightings of roman soldiers that I recall took place around the radiotherapy department which was in the area at the top of the main corridor closest to the Postgrad Centre and thus the fort area. Although I stress that I personally never witnessed anything but knew several colleagues who did and remember one particular incident when one of the cleaning staff went to service the department on a saturday lunchtime and came back really shook up claiming to have seen a centurian standing guard at the top of the corridor.
 
Thank you very much for your reply, JonnyH!

I remember first reading about the Beachy Head matter as a youngish child, I believe... but it's a topic that seems to have greatly 'disappeared' from most paranormal literature in more recent decades, perhaps? It's been so long (since I remember seeing it) that I couldn't rightly recall much of the story associated with such sightings / experiences, I'm afraid.....

Typically, I don't have to visit the QE any more, otherwise I would have viewed the place / locality with considerable interest on any future appointments!! Chuckle!!
 
This is a pretty old thread but id like to add my story. As a child I used to live down Mossfield Rd in Kings Heath, in a detached house which was near to Wheelers Lane Junior School end of the road. We moved there in 82 and lived there until the late 80's . When we moved in I always thought there was someone watching us. At first , my sister and I shared a bedroom at the back of the house. I used to note that items would move around the room on their own, for example, id put a pen on my bedside table and when I turned back it was on the shelf underneath. If it had rolled off the table it would have landed on the floor as there was an extended lip to the table as it were, but no. there it was sitting pretty on the shelf underneath.

One night, my little sister woke me up terrified. She said a ghost was looking at her by the side of her bed. Being the big sister, I calmed her down and tucked her into bed telling her there was no such things as ghosts. I then looked around the room and I saw what looked like a roman centurion looking straight at her. He was halfway through the floor, transparent and by the side of her bed. I asked her there and then what she thought she saw and she described what I was looking at. Well, I was slightly freaked out to put it mildly. I told her I couldn't see anything so she must have dreamt it. I then dived under my covers and hid. Around 10 minutes later, I looked again and he had gone.

The worst thing to happen to me was when I moved to the front bedroom which was situated above the garage and it had a little room adjoining which was over the small outhouse that was joined to the garage. On a regular basis, in the middle of the night, I would be woken by the sound of the sawing of wood. It was loud and it would continue until I got up out of bed . The sound always came from the outhouse. It didn't matter how quiet I was, I could be silent, but as soon as I put my feet on the floor it would stop. I used to tell my parents and my extended family about it but they would say it was the wind I was hearing. I knew it was not the wind as it would happen on the calmest of nights.

Fast forward 30 years later. Im having lunch with my elderly auntie. She knew the people who owned the house before us, as she lived across the road from us. I had no knowledge of these people, except that the female owner passed away after falling and breaking her hip. Hence us buying the house. Anyway, I was telling her 'my ghost story' about the sawing of the wood and she gasped. She told me that the former owner had a husband who had died before her. A tree had fallen in the garden and she said he refused to hire someone to get rid of it. He apparently was sawing it up, when he felt unwell and went to lie down. He then promptly died of a cardiac arrest. It all made sense and it was then I knew I wasn't imagining it. I swear down i had no knowledge of this man and how he died before this day.

I often wonder if he is still there, sawing away , and if the current owners hear him too. I hope he has crossed over by now and is at peace. Thanks for listening.
 
hi folks and hi nick. i have only just read through this thread and thought you may be intersted in my story. i think a am a reasonably sane and rational person (i hope) so here goes. in about 1967 i lived in villa st hockley and shared the attic with my bro and sister. one night i woke up and sat up in bed and there at the bottom of the bed on the right hand side was this figure just standing there. quite tall with what a can only describe as wearing a black cloak with a hood. i could not see a face. i had no fear of it and thought i must be dreaming so i lay down and put my head under the covers for about 10 secs when i looked again it was still there. i cant understand why i wasnt scared witless but anyway i just lay down went to sleep and in the morning i just put it down to a dream and basically forgot about it and told no one and never saw it again. this next bit of my story really nails it for me that it wasnt a dream. as i said that was in about 67 now in 72 we moved from villa st and it would be round about 1980 me and mom where talking about the old end and to my surprise she said to me how she couldnt wait to move from there. i asked he why this was as i thought we had all been happy there. then she told me that she had seen a ghost twice. i asked her to explain what she has seen to me. apparently when dad was working nights at joseph lucas gt king st she had the same experience as i had the same figure had appeared at the end of her bed and she was scared..so scared that dad had to come off nights. anyway the 2nd visit it payed to moms bedroom about 2 weeks later dad was actually there but this time it was standing by the wardrobe. mom was shaking and sweating dad woke and thought she was having a heart attack. neither of us saw it after that but i have to beleive it was real as mom didnt know about my experience and i didnt know about hers till many years later and i cant see us both being so wrong but we worked it out that all 3 sightings happened within about a month of each other.neither mom or i saw it again.. i have tried to work out what it may have been and why he was there and the only thing i can come up with is i believe the roman road from icknield st may have ran very close to villa st on its way to sutton park and could he have been a roman soldier. hope you all dont think im mad but this was very very real. wales.
I believe you too xx
 
I camped in a cemetery where over 350,000 people are buried, actually sleeping on top of unmarked graves. Also wandered around there alone at night several times. No ghostly occurrences. I think it's the living we should worry about.
 
Back
Top