The following is a matter which has been playing on my mind for a few weeks now - so I just wondered what other forum users might think on the subject?: I should begin by stressing that I loved my previous house – my home from early childhood and then onward for some 26 years – with a passion. It was where I spent the best years of my life and I would not have left it for the world if I’d have had any say in the matter. While skimming for the sake of brevity, it should be stressed that, at the time of leaving the property, a lot of anger and frustration went into thoughts of the place. Just prior to this and during the period of leaving, a considerable degree of abnormal or ‘troubled’ psychology was played out there. As some of my friends still live in the area concerned – certainly not a million miles from my current home – I still occasionally walk past the house. I’m sure a lot of people would know what I mean in saying that it ‘physically’ hurts me to see the place at these times, knowing that someone else now lives in ‘my home’. Despite the fact that I’ve been in my current address for some 13 years now, started a family and so on, the old house is still regarded as ‘home’ – the image that immediately pops into the minds eye - when anyone mentions the word. Since leaving the property, I have, on a regular basis, re-visited the house in my mind; walking through every inch of the place, trying to refresh and re-refresh my memory of every nook and cranny, stair and floorboard creak. I don't mind admitting that, for some years now - and given my interest in such matters - I had half joked about ‘myself’ possibly ‘haunting’ my old home in some way(?) In thinking about the house, I had got into the way of seldom missing out a ponderance over whether, at some points in time, my ‘apparition’ isn’t witnessed by the current occupants, shambling across the living room carpet or perhaps bounding up the stairs of the property! On this subject, I must admit that I have taken the notion further in actually ‘wishing’ myself on the property at times. I’m embarrassed to admit that this had been done in mixture of frustration and misguided anger at thoughts of my unwanted ejection from the place and the current residents…. “Look at me!” my ghost rages, “This is ‘My’ home that you’re living in!”. While moderately cliché, the subject of a thousand and one haunted house stories, this is a scenario that – embarrassment again – I have envisioned, in one form or another, oh-so-many times….. Come forward to the time of tapping out this piece – January 2010 – and, a few days ago, I receive a phone call on my mobile. (Contact via this medium – ahem! – mainly being ghost related, as this is the phone no. logged on our web site). There is a youngish sounding woman on the line who seems rather hesitant to speak with me to begin with; but this is certainly no surprise when dealing with ghostly topics, as pretty much everyone starts off with a rather ‘shy’ manner when discussing such matters. She asks me if I can possibly help her with some details on the history of a particular house – her mom and dads home – adding that she has called me without their knowledge? When I reply ‘if I possibly can….’ she throws me with the information that it is a place which she believes is known to me…. being my previous home! I initially thought that someone was possibly having me on, but – perversely and instantly intrigued - still ask what sort of things have supposedly been going on there. She tells me of some fairly standard happenings – including footsteps heard coming from upstairs and voices – and I instantly jump on the latter, asking what the voices sounded like and if anything could be heard clearly? It's bizarre to relate, but I’m instantly looking for a connection with either myself or the relative I lived with, and find myself crestfallen when she says the voices heard are those of their own family members who allegedly did not make the noises heard at the times they have been reported. On the same tracks, I then ask her if anything has been ‘seen’ in the house….. but, again, I’m told that only fleeting ‘shapes’ have been witnessed, or, on one occasion, a small child seemingly saw the figure of 'a man', but was far too young to describe anything about him in detail. Regarding the details of the happenings, I have been asked not to divulge too much, but suffice it to say that I could make no blatant or direct connections with myself or any of my family members and the activity concerned. What is mentioned appears to be a standard, poltergeist-like effect, quite typical of pretty much any other alleged haunting currently being reported in the early 21st Century. I was told that another family had briefly lived in the house immediately after my departure and in the mere 12 or so months that they were there, they had experienced some rather worrying happenings. The current family had taken over the property at the end of January and, by mid-February, ‘things’ apparently ‘began happening’. A quick digression should be inserted here on the subject of, so-called, ‘Apparitions Of The Living’. Such things are a recognised phenomenon in ghostie-related circles and, according to statistics, 'more apparitions of living people are seen than apparitions of the dead'. Personally speaking, I think such a quote is utter hog-wash, but where 'mechanics' are concerned, the common notion about such things is that someone might think about a building so much, through a passionate love of the place, for example, that they somehow, by some para-physical means, actually ‘project’ an image of themselves onto the site concerned. Any comments? Regards to all, Nick
