Strange but True Names and locations changed for confidentiality. My father died in December 1950 on Boxing Day, he passed away in hospital after a short illness, and I was sixteen at the time. About four weeks after the funeral, just before my seventeenth birthday, I experienced a very strange happening. One day at the end of January, about 11.00am, I went upstairs to get a book from my bedroom, As I was climbing the stairs, and when I was half way up, I experienced an exceptionally pungent hospital smell of ether. This odour was only noticeable in the area of three treads of the stairs. Altogether there was 13 stair treads and there was no smell what so ever until I was standing on the treads numbers six, seven and eight! One step up to number nine or one step down to number five there was absolutely no smell what so ever. Neither was there any trace of this odour anywhere else throughout the house. Altogether it lasted not more than twenty seconds, and at the time I was alone in the house. After the smell dissipated I immediately checked to see if I could locate the source of it but was unable to do so. I checked the stair carpet by smelling it with my nose up tight to the surface of the carpet and also checked underneath it. I checked if there were any solutions or other items in the house that could have been used or spilt on the stairs but there were none. A check was made on all windows but they were all tightly closed, a further check was made outside the house and also with my next door neighbours, all proved negative. Later when the rest of my family was home, I checked with them but this also was negative. Two days later about 03.30pm I went upstairs to the bathroom and experienced the same thing once more. Once again the same overpowering smell and once again it was only noticeable on the same stair treads as before. Again I was alone in the house and again the smell only lasted for about twenty seconds. I went through the same checks as before and once more drew a complete blank. This was the last occasion on which this was experienced. Some might say that this was psychological and that it had been my imagination playing a game as a result of recently loosing my father - I think not. I do not have an overactive imagination and I was not under any stress or taking medication. There are those who have and will, theorize about what caused this strange phenomena, but in all truth neither I or anyone else can say with one hundred percent certainty. One possible theory is that when the ambulance came to take my father to hospital, the ambulance men had to carry him down the stairs, as they couldn't get him down by stretcher. Could it be possible that the experience I had was a sign from my father that he was alive in another dimension? [Top]
A Further Strange but True Experience Whist serving in the army during my National Service the following strange and unexplained occurrence happened. It was in 1959 and I was based in an old ex-Cavalry barracks. On the occasion in question I became ill with influenza and by evening was feeling really ill. I went to bed thinking I would try to sleep it off and then see the Medical Officer the following morning. I was in a billet with about fourteen other soldiers and instructed them not to disturb me or to send for the MO as I intended to report to him the following morning. Feeling really ill, I fell asleep and did not remember anything else until I awoke about eleven a.m. the following day. Two beds down from mine, was a chap called Greg, he was deeply religious and sat quietly reading his bible nearly all the time. In his off duty evenings he ran the camp cub and scout troupe. Later in the day Greg expressed his surprise to me that I was so religious, I informed him that I was not and asked why he should think I was. He informed me that he found this hard to believe, as throughout the whole night I was quoting page for page, word for word from the bible and that I had kept everyone awake. He said that a number of our colleagues had sat on and around his bed following what I was saying from his bible, evidently I was word perfect. The rest of the chaps confirmed this. What's so strange about that you may ask? Strange because I had never read the bible and certainly never went to church. I had never discussed religion with anybody and didn't come from a religious background. Once again there are those who would theorize and say it may have been thought transference, it could possibly have been, although I doubt it for I was not in any state of mind at the time which would be conducive to the conditions for it to be successful. [Top]
Willie and The Coal. Mrs X and her family were devout Catholics; they lived in a semi-detached house having moved into the property after moving from Ireland. Willie was just eleven years old; he was a cheerful, well-mannered little boy always-willing to help people he knew. He lived with his fourteen-year-old sister and mother who was a lone parent, her husband having deserted her leaving her with the two children. Financially, times were hard for the family and the worry and stress had taken it's toll on Mrs X. Whilst she was OK with Mary her daughter, she seemed to take it out on Willie. He was always blamed for most things and was always dressed like a little ragamuffin, he was given many chores to do but despite of this he always remained cheerful ever willing to do as he was told. One of his chores was to get up early and clean out the fire-grate, get the coal from the outside bunker then light the fire, ready for when his mum and sister came down. Willie always filled the coal-bucket outside at six thirty each morning throughout the autumn and winter months. One Saturday, Willie asked his mother if he could go to his school jumble sale that was being held that afternoon. Permission was given and accordingly off he went on his own as usual. Upon arriving at the fete Willie bought a raffle ticket and then wandered around talking to his friends and looking at the various attractions. Just before the fete was due to close at five o'clock, Willie found that he was the winner of the raffle, it was a second hand boy's bicycle, just what he always wanted. Ever willing to please and help, he stayed behind to help with the packing up of the tables etc, eventually leaving on the bicycle that he had won. It was dark by this time and whist cycling home along an unlit road; a car collided with the bike, which had no lights. Poor Willie was killed instantly. Willie's body was eventually taken to the house where it remained until the day of the funeral. About three weeks after Willie was buried, Ann, a fifteen-year-old girl who lived next door and who slept in the back bedroom was woken up by the sound of someone shovelling coal into a bucket. Ann looked at the clock on her bedside cabinet and noticed the time was six thirty. See opened the bedroom window to see who was making the noise but no one was to be seen, the next door coal bunker's flap was closed but the sound was still coming from there. After a few minutes it stopped. Ann who was a sensible and intelligent girl was quite unnerved by this experience; she mentioned it to her mother and father who informed her that they had also heard the same but not as loud, (they both slept in the front of the house). They decided not to say anything to Mrs X or her daughter in case it caused unnecessary upset. Ann and Mary always walked to school together but that morning either girl mentioned anything about the noise. The following morning at six-thirty once again the same noise woke Ann up, she immediately opened the window again but nothing was to be seen although the sound once again was coming from the coalbunker. It was Friday, and as usual the two girls walked to school and again no mention was made of the event. The sound of coal being shovelled was repeated on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings at six thirty. When Ann called for Mary on the Monday to go to school, she found both Mary and her mother to be quite upset. Mary explained that she wouldn't be going to school that day because for the last few mornings they had been woken up by a noise that Willie use to make when he shovelled coal in the mornings. She said that her mother believed it was a sign from Willie that he was not at rest and that her mother wanted her to be at home that day. She explained that her mother had contacted the priest and that he was making a visit to the house in order to hold a family service for them and to bless the house. After the service was held, no further noise of coal shovelling was ever heard again. Some time after, it transpired that the couple who lived on the other side of Mrs X and her daughter, had also been woken up by the same noise. They too had looked out of their window but saw no sign of anyone in the garden or around the coalbunker. Strange but true! [Home][Top][Return To About Us][Back] If page is loaded out of frames click Here
|
