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Brummie Ghosts

Nicholas

Nicholas

master brummie
Hiya All,

I've just popped on to the forum (after a considerable break) to see how the thread on 'Birmingham Ghosts' was progressing........

Paranormal happening - or am I just a dozy ding-bat - but it's either vanished, or I just plain cannot locate it now?????

In the event that it has gone into the great beyond - is there anything anyone might want to say on this subject (on Brum ghosts, I hasten to add and not the demise of a thread!)????

Regards,

Nick
 
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The WMGC membership is made up of both sceptics and believers..... We've always maintained an objective stand-point throughout our history, as there is evidently no point to running a group made up of people with the exact, same belief system...... (Which is where 99% of so called research organisations fail these days!!)

Despite my views, I wouldn't presume to cristicise anyone for their belief system within this field, as there are obviously no certainties involved.... (This is the difference between being sceptically 'objective' and just having a 'biggoted' viewpoint, of course).

Merry Christmas to all,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
ghosts?

When I got married one of the guests was our neighbour who had lived next door for over 50 years and had an obsession with cleaning, even to the point when she polished the exposed waterpipes and they started to leak because she had polished them through. We moved and only returned to live in my parents house after they had died.
We got talking to the people who lived next door and they asked us if we believed in "Ghosts", we asked why and were told that if they left items in their wrong places, when they got up in the morming they had been corrected, they discribed the person as they had all seen her and when I showed them our wedding pics they all picked the neighbour out.
Since that time there have been three changes of owners of the house and all told us about this "white haired old woman" who moves things aroud.
Pete
 
Mom told us about when "Old lady Mason" died, I understand they used to burn Underclothes but give away other clothes that could be used again. Mom was clearing out the old lady's stuff and had walked up and down the stairs a few times. On one of occasions she was walking upstairs, she stepped back and let the old lady pass her as it was not the done thing to cross on the stairs. Only after mum got to the top of the stairs did she realise what she had done and came back downstairs to find the old ladys rocking chair rocking.
Mom told us this story with conviction, I can't say I either believe or disbelieve she saw a ghost? but I am sure something happened albeit explainable.

Mom also told us that when her dad died I think in All Saints Hospital? at the time he died mom answered a knock at the door fully expecting to see her dad....... the knock was rapped out on the door in the way he usually did. No-one was at the door? and some time later a policeman called to tell her that her father had died. Time of death was the same as when the door was knocked.

Some months ago I was in John Houghtons house, sitting at a table in his living room. At the other end of the room was a peice of timber propped against the wall and angled into the corner. With no visible means the wood moved, it cant of slid because of the angle it was propped at, and it lay into a corner. Something made it move? I also noticed a very strong smell of cigarette smoke....... No one in the house at that time smoked? I guess John could tell you his thoughts about this, I'm not sure what I had witnessed, but witness it I did, and I cant understand what made the wood move, none of us were near it.

We have a local Pub/Restaraunt called the Moat House, I was in there with friends a month ago and as we left the people running the place bid us farewell and began telling us of some really strange things that are currently happening there, sure it could be waffle, but one of my friends had a bit of an experience there on the evening in question, shes down to earth and really very sensible, but as she sat in the loo the toilet roll turned in the cubicle next to hers, she was alone in the loos?

It's possible of course these stories have been embelished over the years, and I guess too that Ive added or left out bits of the story, however I believe what my mom told me to be the truth and that she had a belief that something had happened that was perhaps hard to give a rational explanation for. It's no matter that we believe in ghosts or not believe in them, it just matters that things do happen that cant be explained sometimes and perhaps one day folk will find a way to explain such events.
 
An Elderly Man Who I Knew Went Into Hospital Because He Had An Hernia.i Went To See Him Every Other Day.on The Day I Did Not Have To Visit Him .i Was Out Working And When I Got Back.the Wife Told Me Our Dog Was Stareing At The Clock On The Wall Then He Went Under The Table Cowering And Moaning .this Was At About 3pm.the Following Day When I Was In The Shower.someone Came To The House And Informed Us That The Elderly Man Had Died The Previous Day.time Of Death.about 3 Pm.
Who Knows? I Am Still A Sceptic.
 
Thanks for sharing guys.....

This is the truly wonderful thing about this subject - it doesn't matter whether you happen to believe or not, these sort of things happen to normal, rational people on a daily basis...... Of course, it will all boil down to a matter of interpretation at the end of the day - though, being an integral part of human experience since time immemorial, such affairs command (deserve) our attention and objective study.....

While I'm a sceptic (by belief), I would never presume to dismiss anyones experiences as plain bunkum...... or presume to criticise them for believing in such things.

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
While I'm a sceptic (by belief), I would never presume to dismiss anyone's experiences as plain bunkum...... or presume to criticise them for believing in such things.
Click to expand...
I agree with Nick's statement.... I have heard first hand from both Rod and John about 'That piece of timber' in John's house. I would never presume after meeting them both to tell them it was all in their minds, unless I had been there myself.

Pom :angel:
 
I have lived in this house of mine for many years and learned to live with certain things taking place Rod mentioned a piece of wood moving which shook hin up a bit as for the cigarette smoke this as taken place quite regular with many theories of what causes it by the way we have a strict no smoking rule normally but the smoke takes no notice and continues to this day it reminds me of the old night watchman smoking is clay pipe.
it does no harm except it as upset a couple of visitors going to the loo.
I have been asked who is the old man up stairs, as I don't know I can't say. i have had to fit a seperate light on the landing which switches on in our bedroom as the wife will not go out in the dark.
I will own up I use it also :go:
 
This is just a theory – A ghost is simply the spiritual embodiment of a person who dies. It's the energy of the self-image or the soul, if you will, all of us have within us. This energy never ceases to exist, not even after the physical body dies.

The personality contained within that energy wouldn’t change would it? If a person was kind and laidback and easy going, the spirit of that person will remain the same after death. Or if a person was a mean son-of-a-gun, he'll remain mean after death.

The scent of a person would also remains intact after death. With the subtle scent of perfume they used. . . or in the case of John's ghost 'smoke '

When death occurs, I guess the spirit would have the choice to either go up to the Eternal Light, or to stay here on this Earthly Plane. As the body dies, which is usually not suddenly, the soul would have some time to decide where he or she wants to go. As the systems of the body shut down, one by one, the soul, knowing it has to go somewhere, starts to make that decision. . ..

If a person chooses to go to the Eternal Light, that's where they'll remain in the natural order of things. But they would only get one chance to go there. If they decide to stay on the Earthly Plane, they're stuck, as it were. They won't get another chance unless someone on Earth intercedes for them, and shows them the way. . .

Why would a soul stay?. I suspect some liked what they had on earth too much to leave it. . .

Whether it is true or not it is said that Liberace, for example, loved the adulation of the crowds and his spirit can often be found playing his favourite piano, dressed in his favourite glittering costumes in his museum in Las Vegas.
 
I have to admit that I am the least spiritual person I know - so I certainly don't believe ghosts and hauntings have anything to do with some form of 'life after death' scenario.... (Nor do I have any time for the sort of people who claim to be able to 'talk' with the dear-departed!!)

Regarding the 'moving plank' scenario - one of our group members have a very similar experience at an allegedly haunted house a few months ago. Instead of wood, there was a mountain bike propped against a wall, leaning at an angle of about 70 degrees. As the chap was sitting talking, the bike simply lifted away from the wall - to upright - and them plopped back down again. No one near the bike at the time and it wasn't just a simple case of the bike 'slipping' - it actually rocked upright and then back down again....

With regards to smoke, this is something which occurred sometimes in my old house - an event which my grandmother always put down to my grandad 'returning' (He was a heavy smoker in life). The smell was always detected on the turn of the staircase.....

I have to admit that I always found such a choice of manifestation to be somewhat ironic really, as it had been the fags that caused his premature demise!!!

Best wishes to all,

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
In my family one aunt was a spiritualist and another a disbeliever in any faith. There were lots of very strange happenings as I grew up and one I recall vividly. My disbelieving aunt was alone downstairs her husband having gone to bed before her. She had been hoovering and left the brush leaning against the wall, it wouldn't stay where she put it, it just fell over. She was cross first of all, and then after a few tries she began to get goose bumps, and then a bit of bravado took over, she took a newspaper and folded it half and then in half again, and then sat on it. She put it on the floor and told it to open - and it did in front of her. She said she had never been quite so afraid.
 
Pinfold House

Hi Nick
Found this pic and text on the net.
17th century, altered. Timber-framed; stuccoed; old tile roof. Two storeys; 4 bays. Ground floor with a window, a modern door within modern surround but with original flat moulded hood, and 2 windows. First floor with a window, now window, a window and a blank window. All windows flush sashes with glazing bars. Moulded cornice and parapet. To the right, a lower wall hiding the office wing. the rear of exposed brick and with 2 projecting gabled bays.​
 
Thanks for the data Bilsat..... I'm on the matter already!

Di.Poppitt - As mentioned previously, this sort of thing happens to so many people on a daily basis - whatever the cause..... I have to admit that I do find it funnier when such things happen to disbelievers - just for the 'impact' value!!! OF course - I live in hope myself!!!

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Exactly my point Nick. It must have been hard for my aunt to relate the story to the family after being the sceptic all of her life.
 
There are happenings in the world that don’t seem to have any logical explanation. Examples: Ghosts, UFO’s, cropped circles, Stonehenge etc. Do you believe in the paranormal? What exactly do you believe? Has anybody got any thoughts on any of these subjects?
 
This is probably old news, and has doubtless been mentioned elsewhere on these boards, but one of the best-known Brum ghost-stories is the Haunted Telephone Kiosk in Station Road, Erdington. It's supposed to be the ghost of a woman desperately phoning for an ambulance for her sick child (or so I've heard). I knew someone who lived in Station Road ages ago and she claimed to have seen the ghost.

The other one I remember hearing about is the ghostly form that's been seen around the main entrance to Witton Cemetery in Moor Lane, supposedly the victim of a road accident.

Then there's the sound of galloping hooves in Sutton Park....

Regards,

Big Gee
 
Please don't make me beat you Beryl, there are NO ghosts, did you think with all the love this world overflows with, that if there was an afterlife or a way of getting back we wouldn't see it happening a millionfold, don't you think all our lives would be touched?
Let's look at UFO's..nothing..(and I mean nothing, exceeds the speed of light that has any mass)
So while I believe there is other life elsewhere they are just like us, strangers gazing across a sea of infinity..and please, if you COULD travel trillions of miles (light years) do you think all they would do is make crop circles? or medically probe old men? hmmm.
Think about it.
Mediums only ever tell us what we already know, why do mediums charge a fee? why not just pick out next weeks lottery numbers? (it doesn't work like that you say? amazing..it never does)
Stonehenge was made by man, easy enough to do even if very hard work, I've seen it and the standing stones in Carnac...impressive? certainly, paranormal?
certainly not.
The late Douglas Adams wrote 'Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?'
Better still, read the 'God delusion' by Richard Dawkins, I own it as a book, I have it on my ipod, if you excuse the irony, it's my Bible.
I think what we like to call 'God' is within us all, some folk operate on a higher plane that enables certain people to get closer to it.
I'd like to leave you with this..
Bach tells us what it's like to be human, Beethoven tells us what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells us what it's like to be the universe...
 
I saw a ghost once (and once was enough!) while I was walking thru Witton Lakes Park in Erdington.

It was about 8.30am and I was on my way home after a night baby sitting,the quickest way home was going thru the park.
I remember thinking I was the only one out that early on a Sunday, when I saw a lady in front of me wearing a brown coat,I was surprised to see her as I hadn't noticed her ahead of me earlier....

But I was pleased that I was not the only one about and that at least it a lady...I was pleased untill she vanished...one second she was ahead of me then bang she was gone. I wasn't near the lakes so she hadn't gone for a morning dip.

She had just disappeared.

This was in 1984 and I still think about my ghost to this day......
 
Will a Redditch ghost be ok? I was, for a time, a security guard at a factory in Redditch. While walking around the outside of the factory one night, I saw a womans facelooking at me from an upstairs window. It was quite clearly a face, and not a reflection.

I unlocked the front doors, unset the alarm, and started to go up the staircase. It was then I realised that if there was an intruder, the alarms would have gone off, so I turned around, reset the alarms, locked the door and went back to my cabin for a cuppa and a ciggy.

The other guard who worked there told me, that when he was walking through the carpentry section of the factory one night, someone pushed him in the back and sent him flying, needless to say he was alone. I can't explain either event, but we were both quite sure over what had happened to us.

barrie
 
Hello all

Ghosts well ?

Having lived and played around this area (streetly,pheasy etc ) for nearly fifty odd years I can still remember when I was a paper boy having to cover one of the other lads rounds as he was ill. This round covered hundred acre estate and there was a standing joke about watching out for the white lady riding her horse.
You guessed it I saw her or thought I did riding across hundred acre road in the first dip in the road traveling from Aldridge road .
When I got back to the newsagents and mentioned it Mr Mogg the newsagent said it was Lady Scott or my imagination or mist,or both
Who was Lady Scott I wondered ? and then forgot all about it until I worked at St Margarets for a short time many years later and the place was rife with stories from the staff (not the patients, although they did say that if you worked there long enough you ended up like one ) about Lady Scott walking and riding through the grounds.

As I look back and remember the stories of events within the hospital I can honestly say that the people who told me, showed me some odd photographs (double exposure ?) were not fools ,were high up in the hiarachy of the hospital and belived what they said.
Some of which I look forward to relating.

PS Dont mess with ouiji boards (bet I spelt that wrong)

kevin
 
My grandma lived next to the garage on The Queslet road and we were told as children never to go near the wood at the edge of St Margarets. I remember being realy scared. I went to have a look last year at the new housing there. I must say I wasn't scared at all.:)
 
Well this thread maybe in the wrong place but it's doesn't seem to want to die a ghostly death so, I'll add my bit for what it's worth.

There is no one more down to earth, sceptical and neutral (yes I know, boring) than I am. But I do know what I have seen and you may have read this elsewhere some years ago. But I'll post it again as I know for a fact that it has helped a lot of people get over some bad times.

This is a true story;

First of all I am in no way religious and certainly don't believe in God or the church. Yet I have always had the feeling that something or someone has been watching over me. I should have been dead at least a dozen times from illness and accidents. My most amazing experience, and just one of many, as kid was falling off a very high fairground attraction onto a pile of broken wine bottles, from the gypsy winos. Though I fell from a great height I floated down and landed on my hands and knees in a mass of broken glass, I scrambled away without a single mark or scratch on my body!

I will have to keep this short; I had my latest ordeal in May 2005 was a split aorta while out training on my bike. Normally with this you just drop dead, I did and saw the white light. If by a million to one chance make it alive to the operating table you die during the operation. If you survive all this then you are likely to be a vegetable. Now as fate has it I survived but it all went wrong in April 2006 and they had to replace most of my aorta again and fit a titanium heart valve to replace my heart valve, they had destroyed my aorta valve during the first op! Before the operation they had packed me in ice and brought my body temperature down to some 12° C. After a seven hour op and long coma I awoke in the intensive care unit this time with severe pneumonia from the under cooling.

Because of all the water on my lungs they had to shove a tube down my nose into my lungs and suck all the water out, this several times a day. Sucking the water out also sucked all the air out of my lungs; it was like being strangled to death. Because I fought against this 'murder attempt' they had to tie me down, hand and foot. I was fighting for my life! Now at the height of my struggle, just an inch from death, I opened my eyes and lying next to me was a Pixie. It, in the form of a 12 year old child with no fixed gender, was lying perfectly still next to me with its hands on its chest apparently sleeping. I closed my eyes and thought "if you can lye perfectly still at a time like this, then so can I". 'It' saved my life. A sort of calmness came over me and I took another look, but it had gone. Now I don't think that I was supposed to see what I did see, I think I caught it napping on the job. I hope it doesn't get the sack! If it does I hope they send a replacement.

I have told this story to a perfect stranger in America that I met on eBay. Now it turned out that this guy, Michael Bauman, is a lifetime professor of theology at university in the states. He said that I had seen something that not many people have ever seen, that is my own guardian angel. Now I am honoured but can't recommend getting into the state I was in just to see your guardian angel.

The morel is, they do exist, they are not angels or ghosts but they are real and they watch over us. Have I survived for good or bad reasons? Only time will tell, sorry but instant death would have been a blessing. I just wonder what life has in store for me next time!

Graham.

This Michael Bauman is not just anyone https://www.michaelbauman.com/aboutbauman.htm and he arrived in England last week to give lectures at Oxford. In two weeks time he is coming to Belgium on his European tour and he dearly wants to meet me in Ghent. Nothing to do with religion, he's writing a book on cycling champions.

ps, I must stress that I knew nothing about Michael or what he was, he bought a 1960's cycling magazine that featured me, on eBay. Because of this sale I had his email address and I don't know why I just had to get this story off my chest and posted it to him. He was the first person that I told about what I had seen and experienced. How strange is that?
 
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Beryl,

I'm still very much here believe me!

Just how boring would life be if we knew all the answers? There is nothing worse than a 'know it all'. And I have found my truth in that there is a reason for everything. So I've stopped searching and worrying about anything and just let life in as it comes. Even with its ups and downs there's nothing like this roller coaster, so enjoy the ride, it's a one way ticket.
 
I work in a hospital ,not in Birmingham and we know we have a presence on the ward.Occasionally we feel it or sometimes a slight brown shape is seen coming from one of the side rooms.It's not a worry and we accept that he/she is there. I'm also one of the ' old school ' of nurses who when I have a death opens the window to allow the spirit to leave.
Barb
 
Hi Kevin GS,

"You guessed it I saw her or thought I did riding across hundred acre road in the first dip in the road traveling from Aldridge road

I know this area pretty well. Can you please be a bit more specific with regard to precisely where you saw her? Is it close to the old Industrial Estate (recently demolished) or at the other end of Hundred Acre Road near Streetly School?

I think the Scott family (of Scott Arms fame) were the owners of Great Barr Hall, but can't be certain. Is Great Barr Hall still standing?

Regards,

Big Gee
 
Hi Big Gee

Yes the Scott family were owners of Great Barr Hall along with a few others a various times although I think one of them lost the lot and onother got it all back after a period of time.

Some of the Hall is still standing just, if you do a search on the web for Great Barr Hall you will find a collection of very upseting photos of its recent state.

I belive that I saw Lady Scott or something at this location if you follow my directions.

From Queslett road turn left into Aldridge road with the Queslett public house on your right, carry on past the side of Streetly School, first right into Hundred Acre Road, up the hill to the top, and as the hill starts to descend towards Woodcote Way And Hundred Acre Road throws a left
I saw going across the road from right to left something not of this world or my 12 year (at the time) old eyes were playing tricks.


Regards Kevin ...
 
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Hi Kevin,

Wow, I live pretty close to where you're describing....

...I've lived around here for close on 30 years but have never heard anything about Lady Scott's galloping ghost. However, I do know stories of the sound of galloping hooves in Sutton Park, so looking at a map maybe the shortest way from the Park back to Great Barr Hall is via Hundred Acre Road....

...scary.

Regards,

Big Gee
 
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Hi my dad ran a couple of pubs that were haunted,the Bugle Horn in Frankley and the Maypole,Kings heath.The Bugle,was a farm when blown up in a war(not sure wich one)we had chickens in the kitchen(silly as it sounds) we used to trip on things,but when we looked back there was nothing,and the farmer,his daughter and their dog walked the floor.When our dog was about six months old,he went to chase something by the stables and came back with all his hair standing on end!!!!!!!
At the Maypole,when the pub was an inn,a lady was supposed to of hung herself.the length of the landing between bedrooms was as long as the pub(iff any one remembers it!).I used to hear some one walking past my bedroom door,,,and then wonder why my ma hadnt come to say good-night!!!:(
 
I've only just noticed that I've missed a good few posts on this thread....... For some reason my automated 'post' warning seems to have failed me of late!!

Whatever - it's great to see so many people willing to share their stories!!

Concerning the ghost of Lady Scott - I'd heard many years ago that her apparition is said to walk the area around Great Barr Hall. During a (house) investigation in Great Barr earlier this year, we were told that her ghost had allegedly been seen in a road adjacent to the one we were then currently in.......

Regarding Great Barr Hall itself - I had a bizarre experience while exploring the ruin a couple of years ago. I had entered the building, through the main doorway, and had started to take some photographs of the entrance hall. While in the process of messing with my camera, I clearly heard 'someone' kicking through the long grass which grows along the front of the hall, seemingly heading in my direction. All sorts of things went through my head - nothing ghostly though - with my finally thinking that I was about to either get mugged or possibly hassled by police for trespassing. With the idea of the former option strongest in my mind, I (practically thinking) reasoned that it might be best if I was outside the Hall itself if I was going to be 'attacked' in some way.......

Heart in my throat, I stepped out of the door to meet whoever was approaching and - yes, you've guessed it - there was no one in sight!!!???!!!

At a later date, myself and a group member were walking through the Hall, with a video camera running, when we picked up the sound of a womans voice saying (what sounded like) the name 'Carmen'??? The building is exceptionally secluded and, as far as we know, there wasn't a woman within a mile or so of us. The strange thing was that the word seemed to be specifically drawn out and emphasised as two separate syllables: 'Car-Men'.........

Unfortunately, at a visit to the site last year, we found that the Hall is now securely fenced off with a static security guard and vicious rottie!!! The building had already undergone some alterations, having been stripped of it's windows, etc. Heaven only knows what it looks like now????

Keep the stories coming folks!!!

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
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