Speaker 1: Have you ever had a moment that made your skin crawl,
Speaker 1: a shadow where there shouldn't be one, a whisper in
Speaker 1: an empty room, or something you simply can't explain. If so,
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you here at the Haunted
Speaker 1: UK Podcast. We're always on the lookout for spine tingling
Speaker 1: stories to feature in our end of season listener episodes
Speaker 1: and our short Haunts series. Whether it's a chilling encounter,
Speaker 1: a mysterious experience, or something that's haunted you for years,
Speaker 1: we want your tale. Send your story to contact us
Speaker 1: at Haunted UK podcast dot com, and don't forget to
Speaker 1: follow us on social media Facebook, x at Haunted Ukpod,
Speaker 1: TikTok and Instagram at Haunted UK podcast, or visit our
Speaker 1: website www dot hauntedukpodcast dot com. Now, if you love
Speaker 1: what we do and want even more Haunted goodies, then
Speaker 1: you can support the show on Patreon and Coffee. We've
Speaker 1: got two brilliant tears, Possessed and Spooked, both packed with
Speaker 1: bonus content, exclusive episodes and extra material that'll keep you
Speaker 1: up all night. But that's not all. We've launched a
Speaker 1: brand new sister podcast, Haunted UK Fiction, and we're calling
Speaker 1: all storytellers, whether you're a published author, an aspiring writer,
Speaker 1: or someone with a natural gift for spinning ear retails.
Speaker 1: We're looking for original fictional short stories and novellas with
Speaker 1: strong paranormal or supernatural themes. Think suspenseful, mysterious, atmospheric, terrifying,
Speaker 1: thought provoking, even darkly magical. If your story is selected,
Speaker 1: we'll professionally narrate, record, mix, some master it into an
Speaker 1: audiobook style format, then feature it on the show. You'll
Speaker 1: get a copy of the finished production to use however
Speaker 1: you like, and you'll retain full ownership of your work.
Speaker 1: So admit your story to Haunted UK Fiction at hotmail
Speaker 1: dot com and follow us on Instagram at Haunted uk fiction. So,
Speaker 1: whether it's truth or fiction, if it's haunted, we wanted
Speaker 1: now sit back and enjoy the episode. I took a
Speaker 1: huge breath and walked through the door. I found nothing,
Speaker 1: no one. A very cold and dark feeling swept over me.
Speaker 1: I grabbed my bag, went back into the hall, closed
Speaker 1: the window at the back of the stage, switched the
Speaker 1: lights off, made sure the kitchen lights were off, and
Speaker 1: got outside. It was still daylight and the mood was
Speaker 1: so much lighter. But I had no idea what I'd
Speaker 1: just experienced in that community hall. This is episode sixty
Speaker 1: four of the Haunted UK podcast, and in this episode
Speaker 1: will be taken to a haunted community center. But isn't
Speaker 1: this kind of haunted place so much worse than castles,
Speaker 1: manor homes and remote deserted cabins in woods because it's
Speaker 1: a place most of us know, a place which is
Speaker 1: typical in so many towns in the UK, A place
Speaker 1: we've been to for parties, weighings, jumble sales, you know
Speaker 1: it well. A place where chairs are stacked to the
Speaker 1: side for events, with a small stage and musty curtains,
Speaker 1: a kitchen with a tea and serving hatch, posters on
Speaker 1: the wall advertising yoga toys, stash just under the stage
Speaker 1: for a preschool group, pantomimes at Christmas, committee meetings on Tuesdays,
Speaker 1: all very tame, all very every day. And it's not tame,
Speaker 1: And it's not something you can stack away neatly to
Speaker 1: the side or hide behind a stage curtain, although you
Speaker 1: may want to after hearing this. Yes, a real life
Speaker 1: ghost story is so much worse when it's a place
Speaker 1: we walk past every day. Perhaps you yourself are involved
Speaker 1: with such a place. Perhaps you're the one to lock
Speaker 1: up at night, the last to switch off the lights,
Speaker 1: and if you are well, take care caretaker. This episode
Speaker 1: might sting. So we've had so many listener stories since
Speaker 1: the show started back in June twenty twenty one, and
Speaker 1: with the kind permission of a few listeners, their stories
Speaker 1: have been developed into full episodes. This episode is another
Speaker 1: one which joins those before it, an episode which takes
Speaker 1: us on a journey through the experiences of a woman
Speaker 1: called Jan. It's been quite some time since her story
Speaker 1: was sent into the show, but it was so gripping
Speaker 1: and astounding that we felt that it needed its own episode.
Speaker 1: Jan was extremely kind enough to allow us to develop
Speaker 1: her story and experiences, but she was also incredibly brave
Speaker 1: enough to give us her blessing to share this story
Speaker 1: with all of you, and brave with what she endured
Speaker 1: in that community center tasked with turning off those lights.
Speaker 1: We've said so many times on this show that everyone
Speaker 1: who has had a paranormal experience should be allowed to
Speaker 1: tell their story without the risk of fear or ridicule.
Speaker 1: They should be comfortable to share their experiences with a
Speaker 1: community who will not only listen, but will also give support.
Speaker 1: And it's you, amazing listeners of this show who do
Speaker 1: just that and more. And with that said, it's now
Speaker 1: time to hand over to Jan and hear her account.
Speaker 1: Get ready to hear something phenomenal, an extraordinary experience in
Speaker 1: such an ordinary place. I've been a fan of the
Speaker 1: show for quite a while now, and although the following
Speaker 1: story happened over ten years ago, it's still taken all
Speaker 1: of this time to gain the courage to type it out.
Speaker 1: My name is Jan, and I've been retired for six years.
Speaker 1: My husband and I lived in a town in the
Speaker 1: northwest of England for over twenty years, and it was
Speaker 1: here where I experienced what I'm certain were a series
Speaker 1: of paranormal events, but also something else, something very very dark.
Speaker 1: To give you some backstory, I'd worked in an office
Speaker 1: environment since i'd left school. It was a career that
Speaker 1: I fell into but thoroughly enjoyed. I made so many
Speaker 1: valuable friends over the years and had some really memorable times.
Speaker 1: But all of that changed when, at fifty years old,
Speaker 1: I suffered a huge heart attack. Everything in my life changed.
Speaker 1: I was encouraged to quit my job, being told that
Speaker 1: the stress of a busy office environment could bring on
Speaker 1: another one, and it could be fatal. My husband and
Speaker 1: I were both devastated. All of our plans, our hopes
Speaker 1: now put on hold. My husband continued to work, and
Speaker 1: because we'd been quite savvy over the years with our finances,
Speaker 1: we actually owned our house outright. So I began to
Speaker 1: do other less stressful things, lighthousework, going to the local
Speaker 1: park for walks, gardening. But how much gardening can you do?
Speaker 1: Year after year after year? For eight years? I did
Speaker 1: what I was told, stepped back from the more stressful
Speaker 1: things in life and took a more relaxed and backseat approach.
Speaker 1: Holidays were a much slower affair, not doing too much
Speaker 1: at all. But I always felt I was wasting away,
Speaker 1: felt that my life was passing me by. I couldn't
Speaker 1: do this any longer. I had to do something. The
Speaker 1: community center in our small town hosted all types of
Speaker 1: events and meetings, from nursery play days, birthday parties, and
Speaker 1: wedding receptions to small gigs, council meetings, and even company
Speaker 1: team building days. I'd seen an advertisement attached to the
Speaker 1: announcement board asking for a cleaner and part time caretaker
Speaker 1: I'd simply had enough of gardening and wanted to do
Speaker 1: something else. My husband and I had a good chat
Speaker 1: about the risks of me going back to work, but
Speaker 1: I was insistent that I wanted to do this, insistent that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, I needed something to get my teeth into,
Speaker 1: something to get involved in. I called the number on
Speaker 1: the advertisement, and a few days later was invited to
Speaker 1: an interview with the local council house. There were obviously
Speaker 1: concerns about my health, but I hadn't had any problems
Speaker 1: with my heart for around eight years, and I was
Speaker 1: more than happy to go through all of the checks
Speaker 1: which would enable me to be present at daytime nursery
Speaker 1: gatherings with children as well as kids' birthday parties. I
Speaker 1: so desperately wanted this job, so desperately wanted to feel
Speaker 1: as if I was valued again. To my surprise, I
Speaker 1: was offered the job. I was absolutely over the moon
Speaker 1: and called my husband at work to let him know
Speaker 1: that I've been offered the role of cleaner and part
Speaker 1: time caretaker. I would be starting in just under two
Speaker 1: weeks time. On the first day, I walked to work.
Speaker 1: It was fairly close to home and wasn't a strenuous
Speaker 1: walk at all. As I approached, I noticed a man
Speaker 1: standing outside the entrance of the community center. As he
Speaker 1: saw me, he smiled and walked out onto the pavement
Speaker 1: to greet me. He reached out a hand to shake
Speaker 1: mine and introduced himself as Tom. He was around sixty
Speaker 1: years old, quite tall and very pleasant and polite. Tom
Speaker 1: opened up the building and began to show me around.
Speaker 1: After entering the double doors at the front of the building,
Speaker 1: you had a large kitchen to the left, down a
Speaker 1: short corridor. To the right was a cloakroom, storage space,
Speaker 1: and two separate toilets. Coming back to the entrance hall,
Speaker 1: there was another set of double doors which led into
Speaker 1: a large hall. Down at the far end was a
Speaker 1: stage with two doors either side. There was also a
Speaker 1: bar on the left hand side, but this was only
Speaker 1: opened and operated by a train staff. The door to
Speaker 1: the left of the stage led to another set of toilets,
Speaker 1: as well as storage rooms and a changing room, which
Speaker 1: had a door leading to the side of the stage.
Speaker 1: There was also a fire exit. The door on the
Speaker 1: right hand side of the stage had a similar layout,
Speaker 1: but instead of toilets, there were changing rooms in a
Speaker 1: large office. As Tom was showing me around, he mentioned
Speaker 1: that the building used to be part of an old school.
Speaker 1: The school had been converted into offices for the local
Speaker 1: council and the hall was assigned as a community center.
Speaker 1: This had happened years before my husband and I had
Speaker 1: moved to the area, so whilst we knew of the buildings,
Speaker 1: we'd never really taken too much notice of them. The
Speaker 1: place had a good feel to it, nothing unusual at all.
Speaker 1: Tom went off to the kitchen to make us a drink,
Speaker 1: and I wandered around the hall and got up onto
Speaker 1: the stage. It was fairly large with stage each lighting
Speaker 1: mounted onto a frame which looked like it was attached
Speaker 1: to the ceiling. There were also long black curtains either
Speaker 1: side of the stage, covering the legs of the frame
Speaker 1: which held the lighting. I heard the doors open again
Speaker 1: and Tom appeared holding two mugs of coffee. We had
Speaker 1: a general chat about what the job entailed, when I'd
Speaker 1: be working, and if I'd be interested in out of
Speaker 1: hours work. Tom said that there were sometimes things such
Speaker 1: as cancel functions, birthday parties, and wedding receptions that took
Speaker 1: place until around eleven PM. I had no problem with
Speaker 1: this at all, and Tom said that he and another
Speaker 1: woman called Tammy, and myself would share the offers of
Speaker 1: work as they came in. I was incredibly happy and
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to get started. Weeks went by, and most
Speaker 1: of the time I was clearing up after kids' parties,
Speaker 1: sweeping up, re stacking the chairs, and generally tidying up.
Speaker 1: But but it was one of these parties that things
Speaker 1: started to happen. Now, I have to say this for
Speaker 1: the record before we go any further. I've never had
Speaker 1: any reason to believe in the paranormal or the supernatural
Speaker 1: my whole life. I'd never seen a ghost, never experienced
Speaker 1: a poltergeist, never felt an oppressive and overwhelming atmosphere. I
Speaker 1: even messed around with the weija boards when I was
Speaker 1: a teenager, but never saw what all the fuss was about.
Speaker 1: In other words, I was pretty much a skeptic. So
Speaker 1: let's go back to the first incident. I'd been supervising
Speaker 1: a children's birthday party on a Saturday afternoon, and the
Speaker 1: aftermath was like a bomb had gone off in the
Speaker 1: main hall. Little by little, parents and children filtered out
Speaker 1: of the building, leaving me alone to begin cleaning up
Speaker 1: and tidying away chairs and tables. All of this was
Speaker 1: pretty light work, and to be honest, it was good
Speaker 1: to be busy. I cleaned, then collapsed the tables, stacked
Speaker 1: the chairs, and used the sack truck to move them
Speaker 1: into the storage rooms. Either side of the stage. On
Speaker 1: the back wall of the stage was a large window
Speaker 1: that had a black curtain pulled across it. A section
Speaker 1: of this window could be opened, and because it was
Speaker 1: quite stuffy in the hall, I pulled the curtain back
Speaker 1: and used the rope pulley to open the window. The
Speaker 1: cooler air from outside began to fill the hall, making
Speaker 1: the room feel immediately better. I made my way back
Speaker 1: to the kitchen, where I'd stacked all the cups and
Speaker 1: mugs which had been used by the parents, and began
Speaker 1: to fill the sink so I could wash them, dry them,
Speaker 1: and put them away. I was quite happily washing up
Speaker 1: when I heard a door bang. It sounded like it
Speaker 1: was one of the doors in the main hall. I
Speaker 1: grabbed a towel, dried my hands, and went out to
Speaker 1: the entrance hall. I checked the main door, but they
Speaker 1: were locked, and it was me that had locked them.
Speaker 1: After the last party guests had left. I quickly checked
Speaker 1: the door opposite the kitchen and had a look around,
Speaker 1: but nothing. Well, it could be a guest still in
Speaker 1: the main hall, I remembered, thinking maybe they'd gone into
Speaker 1: one of the rooms at the side of the stage.
Speaker 1: I went through the double doors into the main hall. Nothing.
Speaker 1: I checked the rooms to the left of the stage
Speaker 1: again nothing. The fire exit door was still secure as well.
Speaker 1: I went back into the hall and opened the door
Speaker 1: to the right of the stage, and as I walked inside,
Speaker 1: I heard another noise coming from the hall. I immediately
Speaker 1: went back into the hall and saw one of the
Speaker 1: double doors slowly closing. I was really beginning to get
Speaker 1: nervous now, and my mobile phone, my only chance of
Speaker 1: getting hold of someone, was in my handbag in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: I shouted hello a few times, but nothing came back.
Speaker 1: Hello Hello. I was torn between just going back and
Speaker 1: leaving via the fire escape and going through those doors
Speaker 1: and confronting what was there, And that's what I did.
Speaker 1: It could only be a member of the party. All
Speaker 1: the doors were locked. I took a huge breath and
Speaker 1: walked through the door. I found no one, nothing at all.
Speaker 1: A very cold and dark feeling swept over me. I
Speaker 1: grabbed my bag, went back into the hall, closed the
Speaker 1: window at the back of the stage, switched the lights off,
Speaker 1: made sure the kitchen lights were off, and got outside.
Speaker 1: It was still daylight and the mood was so much lighter,
Speaker 1: but I had no idea what I'd just experienced in
Speaker 1: that community hall. Around a week or so later, my
Speaker 1: next encounter with the paranormal happened. It was a similar event,
Speaker 1: a children's birthday party, and as previous, the place was
Speaker 1: a mess. After everyone had left, I had to get
Speaker 1: everything cleaned up and ready for Tammy, who was turning
Speaker 1: up at around six p m. There was a party
Speaker 1: which was being held in the evening, and Tammy had
Speaker 1: agreed to take the work on. The bar would also
Speaker 1: be open so she wouldn't be on her own. After
Speaker 1: everyone had gone again, everyone from the party that I
Speaker 1: was looking after had left, and I did my usual
Speaker 1: thing of locking myself inside the building. I decided to
Speaker 1: tie the up tables, plates, mugs, get them washed and
Speaker 1: put away. Then I'd move into putting the toys back
Speaker 1: into storage and stacking the chairs. I came out of
Speaker 1: the kitchen through the double doors and into the hall
Speaker 1: and was simply stopped in my tracks. At the far
Speaker 1: end of the hall, a toy pushchair was just sitting there,
Speaker 1: toward the left hand wall. In a mixture of pure
Speaker 1: terror and a star punishment, I watched that pushchair move
Speaker 1: by itself around ten feet across the room. It moved slowly,
Speaker 1: and there was no way that it was the wind
Speaker 1: or the draft from a door that was doing this.
Speaker 1: It was happening right in front of me. I could
Speaker 1: feel my skin crawl, the hair on my neck stand
Speaker 1: on end, but I couldn't move. Maybe it was the
Speaker 1: feeling of terror that was gluing me to the floor.
Speaker 1: After what seemed like minutes, I was able to move
Speaker 1: and ran to the kitchen to get my bag. I
Speaker 1: made my way outside and grabbed my phone and called
Speaker 1: my husband. I asked him to come down to the
Speaker 1: hall as quickly as possible. He asked if I was
Speaker 1: all right? Was everything okay? I told in I needed
Speaker 1: him to come down to the community center as soon
Speaker 1: as possible, and I'd be waiting outside. It wasn't long
Speaker 1: before my husband arrived, and he came straight over to
Speaker 1: me and hugged me and asked what was wrong. I
Speaker 1: took a deep breath and told him. He asked if
Speaker 1: we could go back inside so he could take a look.
Speaker 1: Of course, I agreed, and after we got through the
Speaker 1: double doors and into the hall, there was the pushchair
Speaker 1: back in the same place as it was before it moved.
Speaker 1: I felt a complete fool. I wasn't imagining it. I
Speaker 1: saw it move. I know I did. My husband offered
Speaker 1: to stay while I finished up, but I asked him
Speaker 1: to carry on home. I'd stay behind and wait for
Speaker 1: Tammy to turn up. I wanted to ask her a
Speaker 1: few questions. Surely I wasn't the only one who'd experienced
Speaker 1: something in this building. Just before six p m. Tammy
Speaker 1: walked in, happy as anything until she saw my face.
Speaker 1: Everything okay, jan, she said. I told her I needed
Speaker 1: to ask her a serious question. She seemed obviously worried,
Speaker 1: but told me to ask away. I told her what
Speaker 1: I had experienced, and also told her that I wasn't
Speaker 1: imagining it. I saw it happen. There's a reason that
Speaker 1: I don't like working here during the day. Tammy said,
Speaker 1: I've seen it twice. She went on to explain that
Speaker 1: her first sighting of it happened a few months after
Speaker 1: she started work and took place in the main hall.
Speaker 1: There were no noises, no warning signs. It just happened.
Speaker 1: She explained that she came out of the kitchen and
Speaker 1: threw the double doors in into the hall and just
Speaker 1: stopped there. Stood down by the stage was a man
Speaker 1: in what looked like an old fashioned suit, maybe from
Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties or thirties. Tammy said she couldn't make
Speaker 1: out the features on the man's face because there seemed
Speaker 1: to be a strange shimmering effect that surrounded him. She
Speaker 1: said that this man was probably in front of her
Speaker 1: for around twenty seconds before he walked towards the door
Speaker 1: to the left of the stage and walked straight through it.
Speaker 1: As you can imagine, Tammy was filled with a mixture
Speaker 1: of terror and disbelief, but it was her second sighting
Speaker 1: that really frightened her. She said that it took place
Speaker 1: around six weeks after her first encounter. There was nothing
Speaker 1: actually booked for the afternoon that she was there, but
Speaker 1: she was asked by Tom to get the hall ready
Speaker 1: for an awards presentation which was taking place that evening.
Speaker 1: Chairs and tables had already been left out in the hall,
Speaker 1: so it was just a question of Tammy setting them
Speaker 1: out to the floor plan which had been left with her.
Speaker 1: She said that she'd begun to unfold the tables and
Speaker 1: lay them out when she decided to get herself a coffee.
Speaker 1: As the kettle was boiling, Tammy said that she heard
Speaker 1: what she could only describe as furniture moving, but on
Speaker 1: a large and noisy scale. She said that she instantly
Speaker 1: felt uneasy, frightened, wanting to get out as quickly as possible,
Speaker 1: but she also felt compelled to go back into the hall.
Speaker 1: She said it just felt as if something was drawing
Speaker 1: her back there. As she opened the double doors and
Speaker 1: walked into the hall, she was astounded by what she saw.
Speaker 1: Every table which she'd set up had now been shoved
Speaker 1: against the stage at the far end. She even admitted
Speaker 1: to walking down to the pile of tables and just
Speaker 1: standing there, trying to rationalize what had just happened, but
Speaker 1: there was no explanation. Then a noise came from the kitchen,
Speaker 1: a crashing noise, as if plates and cups had been
Speaker 1: dropped on the floor. Tammy said she ran back through
Speaker 1: the double doors, expecting to see a complete mess, but
Speaker 1: instead saw the outline of the same man that had
Speaker 1: appeared in the main hall. Tammy recalls that the figure
Speaker 1: looked like it had its back to her this time,
Speaker 1: and there was no shimmering effect, and after a few
Speaker 1: seconds it disappeared. There was not one cup, mug or
Speaker 1: plate had been smashed. Nothing was out of place. Tammy
Speaker 1: then said that she immediately left the building, locked the doors,
Speaker 1: and contacted Tom. Upon his arrival, Tom was taken inside
Speaker 1: and Tammy led him into the hall and to the
Speaker 1: pile of tables. She said that he helped her set
Speaker 1: everything up and then sat down with her with a
Speaker 1: coffee and listened intently to what had happened. He then
Speaker 1: told her that this wasn't the first time that somebody
Speaker 1: had seen or heard something at the community center. One
Speaker 1: council employee in particular, refused to ever set foot in
Speaker 1: the building again. After coming out of the toilet and
Speaker 1: finding themselves face to face with the shadowy figure of
Speaker 1: a man standing by the exit door. Two other people
Speaker 1: were brought in to operate the bar. One evening swore
Speaker 1: that they heard voices while they were alone and cleaning down.
Speaker 1: These voices seemed to be moving around the hall and
Speaker 1: the two bar staff left before finishing, instead choosing to
Speaker 1: come back the following morning to finish up. I was
Speaker 1: so pleased that Tammy had shared her experiences with me,
Speaker 1: and I could fully understand the reasons behind neither her
Speaker 1: nor Tom deciding to tell me that the building that
Speaker 1: I was about to stop working in was haunted. So
Speaker 1: many wouldn't believe that anyway, and to be honest, I
Speaker 1: don't think I would have either had I not seen
Speaker 1: what I had. But where did that leave me? Did
Speaker 1: I want to continue to work in this environment? I
Speaker 1: decided to get in touch with Tom to have a chat.
Speaker 1: I invited him around to my home, a more comfortable
Speaker 1: location where we could sit down and talk in confidence.
Speaker 1: As we sat down, he seemed to have a feeling
Speaker 1: what was coming. As I began to tell him what
Speaker 1: I'd seen and also the fact that I'd spoken to Tammy,
Speaker 1: Tom stopped me. He said that he was sympathetic, knew
Speaker 1: exactly how I felt, and would totally understand if I
Speaker 1: wanted to leave the position. Also said that nobody had
Speaker 1: ever come to harm because of the spirits that were
Speaker 1: inside the building, and that statement tripped me up. Spirits
Speaker 1: I said, I thought there was only one the man
Speaker 1: in the suit. No no, no, said Tom. There are
Speaker 1: apparently two spirits. Around five years ago, I was looking
Speaker 1: after a wedding reception, so it was going to be
Speaker 1: a late night. The bar staff were in and the
Speaker 1: night went well. As the last of the guests were
Speaker 1: leaving and we were tidying up, a woman approached me.
Speaker 1: She was probably in her fifties, maybe early sixties anyway.
Speaker 1: She asked if I was the manager. I told her
Speaker 1: that the council owned and ran the building, and if
Speaker 1: she wanted to hire the hall, I could put her
Speaker 1: in touch with the relevant people, but she said that
Speaker 1: wasn't what she wanted. Now, I must admit I've never
Speaker 1: seen anything at all. I felt things dark and dreadful atmospheres,
Speaker 1: and I've even heard voices, but I've never seen anything. Anyway,
Speaker 1: getting back to this woman, she told me that she
Speaker 1: was a medium, and as soon as she said that,
Speaker 1: I could feel my eyes wanting to roll. But it
Speaker 1: was what she said that really caught me off guard.
Speaker 1: She asked if anyone had ever seen a ghost in
Speaker 1: the building, to which I honestly answered yes. She then
Speaker 1: said that there were two spirits. One was a man
Speaker 1: dressed in a suit, probably from around the nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: and she felt that he was something like a headmaster.
Speaker 1: Now I knew that this was correct. A head master
Speaker 1: had indeed died in the school in the nineteen thirties
Speaker 1: of a heart attack. But then she went on to
Speaker 1: tell me about the second spirit, and this was quite disturbing.
Speaker 1: She said that there was a very dark and oppressive atmosphere,
Speaker 1: an atmosphere that could take different forms, that could influence
Speaker 1: its surroundings. But it wasn't something that was born from
Speaker 1: the passing of a person. This atmosphere was brought into
Speaker 1: the hall. By this time there was hardly anyone around,
Speaker 1: but I was so intrigued that I had to find
Speaker 1: out more. How could this thing have been brought into
Speaker 1: the hall? The medium said that it could have been
Speaker 1: attached to something like a piece of furniture, an item
Speaker 1: of jewelry, or a person. Yet she felt that this
Speaker 1: spirit had been in the building for a long time. Now,
Speaker 1: this made a lot of sense to me, the feelings
Speaker 1: of dark atmospheres. But there was more. We spoke a
Speaker 1: little further than she left. Over the years that I've
Speaker 1: worked here, there have been so many people, counsel employees
Speaker 1: and members of the public that have seen a dark,
Speaker 1: shadowy figure, a shape, a mass, and while I've never
Speaker 1: actually seen anything, I believe I felt it. Tom stopped
Speaker 1: there and said again that he understood if I wanted
Speaker 1: to leave the position, but to seriously consider us. Nobody
Speaker 1: had ever come to any harm. We chatted a little
Speaker 1: while longer before I finally put Tom out of his misery.
Speaker 1: I told him that I wanted to stay in the job.
Speaker 1: I genuinely enjoyed it, and in a strange way, it
Speaker 1: was exciting. It was a few weeks before the next
Speaker 1: thing happened, but it wasn't me who would have the experience.
Speaker 1: It was my husband. The scenario couldn't have been more innocent.
Speaker 1: Tammy had been looking after a party the previous evening,
Speaker 1: but went home without cleaning up due to sickness. She
Speaker 1: gave me a call the following morning and told me
Speaker 1: about the situation, warning me that the hall in kitchen
Speaker 1: would need tidying up. It looked like she got food
Speaker 1: poisoning and wouldn't be in for a while. I was
Speaker 1: totally fine about this and reassured her that I would
Speaker 1: get in asap. And get the place sorted at. I
Speaker 1: drafted him my husband to help, much to his annoyance
Speaker 1: as he was planning to play golf, but he grudgingly
Speaker 1: he agreed to come with me and give me a hand.
Speaker 1: We arrived at the hall at around eleven a m.
Speaker 1: And I opened up and immediately put the kettle on
Speaker 1: to make us both a drink. My husband went into
Speaker 1: the hall and started to tidy up the rubbish from
Speaker 1: the tables. We made good progress, slowly but surely getting
Speaker 1: through the list of jobs. I began to take the
Speaker 1: bin bags of rubbish out to the industrial bins outside
Speaker 1: while my husband carried on inside. I shuttled the bags
Speaker 1: to the entrance, then moved them to the bins. I
Speaker 1: was probably outside for a matter of a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes when my husband came out, looking very out of sorts.
Speaker 1: He started to move the bags to the bin very quietly.
Speaker 1: I asked if he was okay, and he just said yes,
Speaker 1: nothing else. Something was wrong, very wrong. I sped and
Speaker 1: held his hands and they were shaking. I asked him again,
Speaker 1: are you sure you're okay? He looked at me and paused,
Speaker 1: then said, I think I've just seen a ghost. I
Speaker 1: was shocked, to say the least, but I knew that
Speaker 1: he was telling the truth. If there was one thing
Speaker 1: that my husband wouldn't do, it's fabricate stories. I asked
Speaker 1: him if he'd come back into the community hall, just
Speaker 1: into the kitchen and I'd make us a drink. He agreed,
Speaker 1: but said that he didn't think he could go back
Speaker 1: into the main hall. We had a coffee and he
Speaker 1: told me what had happened. He said he could hear
Speaker 1: me moving the bim bags from the entrance, and so
Speaker 1: just carried on collapsing the tables down and stacking them up,
Speaker 1: ready to move them to the storage areas either side
Speaker 1: of the stage, when he heard footsteps coming from behind him,
Speaker 1: very definite, loud footsteps which moved from the stage area,
Speaker 1: passed my husband and went towards the double doors. He
Speaker 1: said that he could literally track where the footsteps were going,
Speaker 1: they were that clear, and as they got to the doors,
Speaker 1: they stopped. And that was when it appeared. From nowhere,
Speaker 1: a black cloudlike mass began to take shape, the darkest
Speaker 1: black that my husband said he had ever seen. Jeez,
Speaker 1: oh my god. He said, it seemed to take form
Speaker 1: from everywhere quickly coming together to form the shape of
Speaker 1: a person in some sort of cloak or hood, similar
Speaker 1: to a monk. It then moved from the doors, floating
Speaker 1: silently towards the stage, passing within a few feet of
Speaker 1: my husband, who was frightened, stiff, and glued to the spot.
Speaker 1: My husband said he watched this black, cloudy mass get
Speaker 1: to the stage and then fade away. It was then
Speaker 1: that he said he panicked and got outside as quickly
Speaker 1: as possible. I asked sim if he felt comfortable enough
Speaker 1: to go back into the hall with me, we could
Speaker 1: both finish up sticking together and not letting each other
Speaker 1: out of our sights, and then we could leave. I
Speaker 1: assured him that if he didn't want to, I could
Speaker 1: give Tom a call and ask him to come down.
Speaker 1: My husband didn't want to disturb Tom and told me
Speaker 1: that each stay until we finished, but he wasn't to
Speaker 1: be left alone in that hall. Whatever this thing was,
Speaker 1: it had really shaken him up and got to him. Now.
Speaker 1: I have to say straight away that there was no
Speaker 1: way that he could have known about any of the
Speaker 1: other incidents that Tom and I had spoken about. He
Speaker 1: wasn't there, and I didn't speak to him about them,
Speaker 1: so he had no idea, but he just described what
Speaker 1: some of the other witnesses had seen, a black shadowy vigor.
Speaker 1: This experience changed my husband. It really affected him, worried him,
Speaker 1: made him think about things in life which he'd normally
Speaker 1: have just dismiss his own mortality. For instance, he'd come
Speaker 1: back to the community hall on a regular basis to
Speaker 1: help me out if I needed it, but he refused
Speaker 1: to be left alone. He simply admitted that he didn't
Speaker 1: ever want to repeat of the experience, and he got
Speaker 1: his wish. He never saw anything else again. It was
Speaker 1: a kind of strange setup because between Tammy, me and Tom,
Speaker 1: we'd just carry on, never really discussing any sightings or
Speaker 1: experiences we had. Occasionally we'd briefly mention things, but we'd
Speaker 1: never have a full on conversation. Things continue to happen
Speaker 1: to me though. Noises such as footsteps were kind of
Speaker 1: regular thing, as well as doors opening and closing, voices,
Speaker 1: and cold atmospheres that could descend at any moment. But
Speaker 1: one experience that I was involved with changed the life
Speaker 1: of one particular person forever. He was on holiday, so
Speaker 1: Tom asked if I'd be interested in cleaning up after
Speaker 1: a panto that had been put on by the local
Speaker 1: amateur dramatics club. I jumped at the chance, partly because
Speaker 1: it was a little more money, but mostly because I
Speaker 1: could watch the panto for free. You have to get
Speaker 1: your priorities right. The panto finished at around seven thirty pm,
Speaker 1: and on this particular evening, my husband wasn't available to
Speaker 1: pick me up as he was out at a function
Speaker 1: at the golf club. He was a member of this
Speaker 1: club and had been for years. This wasn't a problem
Speaker 1: at all, As I said, I was able to watch
Speaker 1: a panto for free and earn some extra money. As
Speaker 1: it was the last evening of this production, there was
Speaker 1: a lot to pack away as far as stage sets
Speaker 1: and equipment were concerned. I left this to the people
Speaker 1: who had put on the panto and just busied myself
Speaker 1: doing bits and pieces, waiting for them to leave so
Speaker 1: I could get chairs and things put away. By around
Speaker 1: nine pm, I was alone and did the usual thing
Speaker 1: of locking myself inside and getting on with the job
Speaker 1: at hand. I got up onto the stage and pulled
Speaker 1: the curtain back, exposing the large window on the back wall.
Speaker 1: I pulled on the rope and opened it wide to
Speaker 1: let some fresh air into the hall. Looking back at
Speaker 1: the hall from the stage, I could see that I
Speaker 1: still had lots to do. No point hanging around, I thought.
Speaker 1: Starting from the front of the stage, I began stacking
Speaker 1: the chairs and moving them back into storage using the
Speaker 1: sack truck. I was around five or six rows in
Speaker 1: when I heard a noise coming from the storage area
Speaker 1: where I'd been taking the stacks of chairs. I'd wedged
Speaker 1: both doors open either side of the stage, and the
Speaker 1: noise was definitely coming from the rooms to the left.
Speaker 1: It sounded as if someone was trying to break in
Speaker 1: via the fire exit door. I could see it shaking,
Speaker 1: so I shouted that I was going to call the police.
Speaker 1: I'm caring the place. The shaking stopped, but as I
Speaker 1: walked back into the hall, there was an almighty bang
Speaker 1: on the fire exit door. Then another one, but this
Speaker 1: one sounded like it came from the front door. This
Speaker 1: happened again, and I was getting more frightened and more
Speaker 1: spooked than ever. It's one thing being afraid of the paranormal,
Speaker 1: but it's another being afraid of the threat from real
Speaker 1: people who was trying to get in. I decided to
Speaker 1: call Tom. The banging stopped, but Tom wasn't answering his phone.
Speaker 1: I went to the front doors and unlocked them, fully
Speaker 1: expecting someone to be outside, but there wasn't anyone there.
Speaker 1: The usual evening traffic was passing by and a few
Speaker 1: people were walking down the road, but nothing at all
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary. But who was trying to get
Speaker 1: in through the fire exit. Although it was dark outside,
Speaker 1: there was ample light from the street lights, and I
Speaker 1: was beginning to feel brave, so I went to walk
Speaker 1: to the back at the community hall to check out
Speaker 1: the fire exit door. Then my phone rang. It was
Speaker 1: Tom returning my call. He apologized for missing my call
Speaker 1: and asked if everything was okay. I told him what
Speaker 1: had happened, but I assured him that I was okay.
Speaker 1: He asked if I wanted him to come down and
Speaker 1: help me finish up then drive me home, but I
Speaker 1: said that it was fine, I'd call a taxi. I
Speaker 1: couldn't see anyone around by the fire exit, but I
Speaker 1: didn't go all the way around the back of the building.
Speaker 1: I returned inside, locked myself in and kept my phone
Speaker 1: with me. Now I need to set the scene for
Speaker 1: what was about to happen. At the rear of the
Speaker 1: community building where the fire exit is located, is a
Speaker 1: walkway type barrier I'd say roughly twelve feet wide. You
Speaker 1: can use this to walk all the way around the
Speaker 1: back of the building, returning to the opposite side and
Speaker 1: back to the front. Along the length of this walkway
Speaker 1: is a fence. Now, this fence was constructed of concrete
Speaker 1: posts with a standard six foot panel which sat on
Speaker 1: top of a gravel board, so the combined height would
Speaker 1: have been around seven feet. At the back of this
Speaker 1: fence at the time was wasteland, but this has since
Speaker 1: been developed. Many of the local news would gather there
Speaker 1: and well, do what youws do. You got to know
Speaker 1: the various groups where they frequented, if they'd been in
Speaker 1: trouble with the police, that sort of thing, And I'd
Speaker 1: never personally had any problems with any of them. However,
Speaker 1: they did have a habit of climbing the fence at
Speaker 1: the back of the community hall and using it as
Speaker 1: a shortcut to the main road. So going back to
Speaker 1: me locking myself in the hall for the second time
Speaker 1: that evening, I was at the front of the hall.
Speaker 1: I can't quite remember what I was doing, but a
Speaker 1: creaking noise drew my attention to the large window at
Speaker 1: the back of the stage. As I focused on the window,
Speaker 1: trying to through the reflection of the hall coming back
Speaker 1: at me and outside, I caught a shape on top
Speaker 1: of the fence. I began to walk towards the window,
Speaker 1: and as I got used to the reflection, I could
Speaker 1: see the figure a person perched on top of the fence.
Speaker 1: It was one of the youngsters who would hang around
Speaker 1: on the wasteland. I went back to the front of
Speaker 1: the hall and switched off the bank of lights on
Speaker 1: the stage, and this made things much clearer. I walked
Speaker 1: back down towards the stage and was fully expecting him
Speaker 1: to jump off the fence and run, but instead he
Speaker 1: just stayed there, staring. I shouted out something like if
Speaker 1: you don't move on, I'll call the place, but he
Speaker 1: stayed there, staring, with a look of complete terror on
Speaker 1: his face. It was then that I realized that he
Speaker 1: wasn't staring at me, he was staring at something behind me.
Speaker 1: I immediately got goosebumps and felt a terrible feeling of
Speaker 1: dread and fear wash over meling itself to me. I
Speaker 1: turned around but saw nothing, but I definitely felt something.
Speaker 1: I remembered what Tom had said about him picking up
Speaker 1: on very dark atmospheres in the building. Was this the
Speaker 1: same dark, oppressive, ominous atmosphere. I turned back to the window,
Speaker 1: and the young lad was still there, and he looked
Speaker 1: utterly petrified. He dropped off the fence on to the
Speaker 1: walkway and ran towards the main road. I'd had a
Speaker 1: really good look at him and thought I'd seen him
Speaker 1: around the area a few times. He'd be easy to find,
Speaker 1: I thought. I got up onto the stage and went
Speaker 1: over towards the window, pulled the rope and closed it up,
Speaker 1: then pulled the large curtain across. Then the lights went out.
Speaker 1: I stood on the stage, absolutely frozen, scared. Then for
Speaker 1: a split second, I thought that maybe it was a
Speaker 1: power cut, And then I thought that it could be
Speaker 1: the youths playing a prank somehow, getting inside the building
Speaker 1: and switching off the lights. But I'd have heard the
Speaker 1: doors open, and I knew they were locked. What little
Speaker 1: light from the street lights barely made any difference, But
Speaker 1: I knew that I had to get off that stage
Speaker 1: and out of the building. I still had my phone
Speaker 1: in my hand should I call Tom again or the police.
Speaker 1: But before I could even raise my hand to make
Speaker 1: a call, a blue light appeared in the middle of
Speaker 1: the hall. Very small at first, probably the size of
Speaker 1: a golf ball. It was like an electrically charged ball
Speaker 1: of light. That's the only way I can describe it.
Speaker 1: I couldn't move again and watch as the light began
Speaker 1: to grow in size and get brighter and brighter. It
Speaker 1: had to be around the size of a football, and
Speaker 1: it was illuminating the entire hall with this amazing blue light.
Speaker 1: It also began to give off a type of pulsing sensation.
Speaker 1: It's so difficult to describe, but it wasn't something that
Speaker 1: you heard, but more felt as if waves of energy
Speaker 1: were lightly hitting you, passing straight through your body, similar
Speaker 1: to how the ripples on a pond would spread out
Speaker 1: after a stone is dropped. This ball of energy or
Speaker 1: electricity or whatever it was, grew to the size of
Speaker 1: a beach ball. Then, as quick as a flash, it
Speaker 1: rocketed towards the double doors of the hall, passing straight
Speaker 1: through them. The incredibly strange thing was was that when
Speaker 1: you went through the doors, they moved slightly, as if
Speaker 1: being influenced by the ball of light. The hall went
Speaker 1: instantly dark. Then a few seconds later all the strip
Speaker 1: lights began to flicker back to life, returning the building
Speaker 1: back to normal. I had no idea what I'd just
Speaker 1: seen or experienced, no explanation for it, no reasoning for it.
Speaker 1: I stood fixed to the spot for probably five or
Speaker 1: ten minutes, any my composure, but also working out what
Speaker 1: to do next. I knew for a fact that I
Speaker 1: wasn't going to continue that evening, but should I call
Speaker 1: Tom and tell him what had happened. I decided to
Speaker 1: phone him, and I told him that everything was fine,
Speaker 1: but I would finish up in the morning. He said
Speaker 1: this was absolutely fine, but before I ended the call,
Speaker 1: I asked him if he'd meet me at the community
Speaker 1: center at nine a m. The following morning to give
Speaker 1: me a hand. Again, this wasn't a problem, so the
Speaker 1: call ended. I gathered my things, made sure all the
Speaker 1: lights were off, locked everything up, and stood outside. I'd
Speaker 1: called a taxi, and within around fifteen minutes I was
Speaker 1: back home. I must admit that I didn't get much
Speaker 1: sleep that night at all. So many questions were swirling
Speaker 1: around my head. What had I seen in the hall
Speaker 1: was it the spirit of the Headmaster. Was it the
Speaker 1: spirit of someone or something else? Was I at risk
Speaker 1: of being harmed by it? What would Tom think when
Speaker 1: I told him I was outside the community center at
Speaker 1: around eight forty five a m. The following morning. A
Speaker 1: few minutes later, Tom turned up and he unlocked the doors,
Speaker 1: and we both went inside to find all of the
Speaker 1: lights on and the double doors to the hall opened up.
Speaker 1: I swore to Tom that I'd made sure all of
Speaker 1: the lights were off and everything was secure. He assured
Speaker 1: me that he had no doubt that I was telling
Speaker 1: the truth. It was then that I sat him down
Speaker 1: and told him what had gone on the previous evening,
Speaker 1: which was the real reason behind me finishing early. Whilst
Speaker 1: he was shocked and concerned, I assured him that I
Speaker 1: was fine, a little shook up and in disbelief, but fine.
Speaker 1: We both began to get to work and tidy up,
Speaker 1: and around an hour had gone by when there was
Speaker 1: a knock on the main front doors. As usual, we'd
Speaker 1: locked ourselves inside, but that didn't stop us both from
Speaker 1: stopping in our tracks and staring at each other in silence.
Speaker 1: I can remember one of us asking if we should
Speaker 1: answer the door. Then another series of knocks rang out.
Speaker 1: We both went to the main doors and unlocked them,
Speaker 1: and standing outside was a young teenager dressed in jogging
Speaker 1: bottoms and a hoodie, the same teenager that was on
Speaker 1: the fence the previous night. After what had happened with
Speaker 1: the appearance of the blue light. I had forgotten all
Speaker 1: about him, but he said that he was the one
Speaker 1: who I'd seen through the window and he wanted to
Speaker 1: talk to me in private. He apologized several times for
Speaker 1: climbing the fence and running off, and said that he
Speaker 1: didn't mean to scare me or cause any harm. We
Speaker 1: invited him inside the building and went to the kitchen
Speaker 1: and all sat down. For the purposes of this story,
Speaker 1: we'll call this person Jamie. He sat in silence for
Speaker 1: a short time, then asked again if we could talk
Speaker 1: in private. He looked very uncomfortable and awkward, so I
Speaker 1: tried to reassure him that whatever he had to tell
Speaker 1: me it would be okay. I also told him that
Speaker 1: Tom was a good friend and he wouldn't judge him
Speaker 1: at all. Tom also told Jamie that anything he said
Speaker 1: would be in complete confidence. Jamie then began to speak
Speaker 1: and what he told us, left me in complete shock.
Speaker 1: He said that a few of his friends had been
Speaker 1: messing around on the waste land at the back of
Speaker 1: the building when they noticed the curtains being pulled back
Speaker 1: from the window at the back of the stage. Jamie
Speaker 1: admitted that they were thinking of having a little fun
Speaker 1: at my expense by tapping on the window with a
Speaker 1: long stick. It turns out that he was volunteered by
Speaker 1: his friends to play the prank, so he grabbed his
Speaker 1: stick and started to climb the fence. He said that
Speaker 1: as he managed to get to the top and steady himself,
Speaker 1: he could clearly see me wandering around inside the hall,
Speaker 1: but dropped the stick before he could start. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of hushed laughter from his friends, apparently, and
Speaker 1: he said that he was in hysterics himself until he
Speaker 1: looked back through the window. He said that in front
Speaker 1: of the double doors at the opposite end of the hall,
Speaker 1: a dark, cloudy fog started to appear. It began to
Speaker 1: take shape into what Jamie described as a shadow man, tall,
Speaker 1: taller than the double doors, wider than any adult he'd
Speaker 1: ever seen. There were no distinct features to this figure,
Speaker 1: such as a face or hands, it was just a large, dark, smoky,
Speaker 1: foggy figure. Jamie said that he couldn't believe what he
Speaker 1: was seeing, and his friends were asking what was wrong,
Speaker 1: but he didn't answer them. He just continued to watch
Speaker 1: this frightening shadow figure. He said that it began to
Speaker 1: move slowly towards the stage and me, But Jamie said
Speaker 1: that I didn't seem to be aware of what was
Speaker 1: behind me. Instead, I was more concerned about who was
Speaker 1: on the fence outside. He said that he saw me
Speaker 1: walk towards the double doors, and the shadow figure moved
Speaker 1: to the side and then followed me. I then switched
Speaker 1: off the lights on the stage and walked back towards
Speaker 1: the window, and Jamie said that the figure continued to
Speaker 1: follow behind me. He said that as I stood there again,
Speaker 1: staring out of the window at him, the figure began
Speaker 1: to grow behind me. It got taller, wider, darker, until
Speaker 1: it was so large that Jamie thought it would completely
Speaker 1: swallow me, which was when he panicked and dropped from
Speaker 1: the fence and ran. He was adamant that what he
Speaker 1: saw was real, but I never saw anything yet I
Speaker 1: truly believed what he was saying. Why would he have
Speaker 1: come back to the hall to speak to me specifically.
Speaker 1: Why did he run away that evening? Why did he
Speaker 1: have a look of complete terror on his face as
Speaker 1: he watched this shadow figure move around the hall. I
Speaker 1: told Jamie about what I'd seen after he dropped from
Speaker 1: the fence and ran, and he was gobsmacked. But what
Speaker 1: have we both encountered? A few weeks went by and
Speaker 1: things still happened. Mugs and cups would move, noises and
Speaker 1: voices would be heard on a regular basis. It was
Speaker 1: as if the activity was somehow ramping up in frequency,
Speaker 1: but what was causing it? I even felt the sensation
Speaker 1: of something breathing down my ear one morning, and that
Speaker 1: wasn't a pleasant experience at all. I can remember it
Speaker 1: like it was yesterday, and me telling whatever it was
Speaker 1: to leave me alone, leave me alone. It was after
Speaker 1: this incident that a chance meeting took place in the
Speaker 1: local supermarket. I say chance meeting, but something influenced it.
Speaker 1: I'm one hundred percent certain of that now. As I
Speaker 1: was wandering around the various aisles, I kept noticing a
Speaker 1: woman loosely following me around the door. She looked in
Speaker 1: her sixties, beginning to ring any bells. Yet as I
Speaker 1: left the supermarket, she followed me outside and called out
Speaker 1: to me, excuse me, she said. I stopped and turned around.
Speaker 1: She asked if I was the caretaker at the community center,
Speaker 1: and I confirmed that I was. She then asked if
Speaker 1: the other man who worked there had seen anything yet
Speaker 1: I assumed she meant Tom. I asked who she was
Speaker 1: talking about and what she meant. She said she was
Speaker 1: a medium who'd been at a party a few years
Speaker 1: ago and she'd had a conversation with the man who
Speaker 1: was looking after the building at the time. Ever since
Speaker 1: that night, whenever she was in town, she would simply
Speaker 1: walk past the building and feel the evil inside her words.
Speaker 1: So this was the medium that Tom had spoken about.
Speaker 1: She asked if we could go somewhere to talk, and
Speaker 1: while I agreed to go to a coffee shop with her,
Speaker 1: I have to admit that I had my doubts about
Speaker 1: her being a medium, being able to see and contact
Speaker 1: the other side. It wasn't something that I attributed any
Speaker 1: level of authenticity to. As we sat there sipping our coffee,
Speaker 1: she said that she knew I'd had experiences. She could
Speaker 1: feel it, and she also said that the dark spirit
Speaker 1: which brought fear to the building, had made itself known
Speaker 1: to me. This was certainly true, but I hadn't actually
Speaker 1: seen it, But I had seen that strange blue light.
Speaker 1: The medium who will call Kelly said that the blue
Speaker 1: light was the energy of a spirit who was trapped
Speaker 1: in the building, the man in the suit the headmaster,
Speaker 1: and he couldn't move on until the dark spirit, or
Speaker 1: the elemental as she started calling it, was either calmed
Speaker 1: down or banished completely. She asked if she could come
Speaker 1: along to the community Hall at the quickest available moment
Speaker 1: to help bring peace to the building and the spirits within.
Speaker 1: Now many would have thought me mad for even considering this,
Speaker 1: but many people would have thought me mad for admitting
Speaker 1: to what I'd seen too. But for some out of
Speaker 1: this world reason, I agreed to take her to the hall,
Speaker 1: but only if Tom agreed to let her inside. I
Speaker 1: called Tom there and then and explained that I was
Speaker 1: having a coffee with his medium friend who he'd met
Speaker 1: a few years ago. As soon as I mentioned her,
Speaker 1: he remembered and amazingly agreed to let her inside the building,
Speaker 1: but only on one condition that he was there as well.
Speaker 1: He didn't want a situation on his hands, which could
Speaker 1: get back to any council workers and landers in Trumple
Speaker 1: whatever this medium was going to do. Tom was sure
Speaker 1: that no employee of the local council would believe, let
Speaker 1: alone agree to let this strange woman inside the town's
Speaker 1: community center to calm and cleanse the building of its
Speaker 1: resident spirits. Even typing this now makes me understand reactions
Speaker 1: from skeptics, but that's exactly what I was before all
Speaker 1: of this. Kelly said she needed a few things from
Speaker 1: home which would help with the cleansing ritual which she
Speaker 1: was going to perform in the hall, So the three
Speaker 1: of us agreed to meet up the following morning at
Speaker 1: nine am. When she mentioned the word ritual, I did
Speaker 1: seriously have doubts about letting her back inside the building.
Speaker 1: What if what she was going to do made the
Speaker 1: whole situation worse. My husband thought I was mad when
Speaker 1: I told him what we were going to do the
Speaker 1: next day. Hearing advice from him like you don't know
Speaker 1: what you're messing around with was certainly strange to hear,
Speaker 1: but he was correct. I personally had no clue what
Speaker 1: was going to happen. I got to the community center
Speaker 1: at around eight forty five am the next morning, and
Speaker 1: as I was the first one there, I opened up.
Speaker 1: But as I put the key into the lock to
Speaker 1: unlock the door, it suddenly swung open. It was Tom,
Speaker 1: but there seemed to be something wrong, something off. He
Speaker 1: gave me an envelope and said that due to cuts,
Speaker 1: the council were letting me go with immediate effect. I
Speaker 1: was stunned, completely side swaped. What had I done? Was
Speaker 1: there an explanation? Was it to do with what I'd
Speaker 1: organized with Kelly? He didn't explain, just asked for my
Speaker 1: set of keys. This was not the polite, good natured,
Speaker 1: kind in caring Tom that I knew from my time
Speaker 1: working at the community center. This was someone else. It
Speaker 1: just didn't make sense. I asked if I could come
Speaker 1: inside to at least talk about the situation, but he refused,
Speaker 1: saying that he'd been told not to let me into
Speaker 1: the building. Then I heard a voice from inside, a
Speaker 1: female voice, the voice of Kelly. Lock the door, come
Speaker 1: back inside. I asked what was going on, but got
Speaker 1: the coldest stare I'd ever seen from Tom, and with
Speaker 1: that he closed the door. I immediately went back home,
Speaker 1: completely lost for words, but also very very frightened. Something
Speaker 1: way beyond my understanding was going on here, and there
Speaker 1: was no way that I was going to kick the
Speaker 1: hornet's nest and make things worse. There was one thing
Speaker 1: I was going to do, however, called Tammy quickly. I
Speaker 1: opened the letter which Tom had given to me, and
Speaker 1: everything looked official. It was even signed by the person
Speaker 1: who interviewed me. I called Tammy and she picked up
Speaker 1: the phone. She sounded as normal as always, so I
Speaker 1: began to tell her what had happened. She said that
Speaker 1: she'd also received a letter in the post that very morning,
Speaker 1: explaining that she'd been let go because of budgetary reasons,
Speaker 1: that internal sources were being assigned the duties that we
Speaker 1: used to take care of, and she was to return
Speaker 1: her set of keys at the quickest convenient moment. She
Speaker 1: also said that whatever was going on, it must have
Speaker 1: been planned weeks previously, because her working hours were slowly
Speaker 1: but surely dropping off, and she had no idea why,
Speaker 1: but didn't take too much notice. I had to admit
Speaker 1: that my hours had also been slowly reducing, but as
Speaker 1: Tammy pointed out, you just don't think too much of it.
Speaker 1: After all, we were only part time anyway, and that
Speaker 1: is where the story ends, sudden and with no explanation.
Speaker 1: I would continue to see Tom around town every now
Speaker 1: and then, but there was never conversation, just quick acknowledgment.
Speaker 1: I kept in touch with Tammy for a while, but
Speaker 1: even that slowly eroded away over time. My husband was
Speaker 1: the only one person who felt the same way as
Speaker 1: I did that there was some sort of ulterior motive
Speaker 1: behind what had happened, a darker, more sinister reason, but
Speaker 1: something that will never find out. It sounded like an
Speaker 1: episode of The X Files unfolding in a small town
Speaker 1: in the north of England, and I can fully understand
Speaker 1: many people simply turning their backs and rubbishing this whole story.
Speaker 1: But it happened. Not long after all of this took place,
Speaker 1: we both decided the change was what we both needed,
Speaker 1: big change, so we sold up and moved to the
Speaker 1: Devonshire Coast and fully embraced retirement. I have to say
Speaker 1: that we're both loving life, tending to our garden, going
Speaker 1: on walks and getting involved with the local community, a
Speaker 1: far cry from the life that we were embroiled in
Speaker 1: back up north. I'm also happy to say that I've
Speaker 1: had no other strange, paranormal or supernatural experiences since moving,
Speaker 1: and neither my husband nor myself are in any rush
Speaker 1: to have any repeats of what went on years ago.
Speaker 1: It's here in my little conservatory that I listened to
Speaker 1: your podcast, and it's here where I decided to tell
Speaker 1: you my story. Whether it's believed or not is of
Speaker 1: no concern to me. I'm just happy to have finally
Speaker 1: shared it. Keep up the great work. All the very best,
Speaker 1: Jan Well. First of all, I have to thank Jan
Speaker 1: for her incredible bravery for sending in her story to
Speaker 1: the show. As with every story we receive from our listeners,
Speaker 1: we're so humbled and grateful that you have the confidence
Speaker 1: in us to be able to share your experiences. As
Speaker 1: with the wishes of Jan, all sensitive information such as
Speaker 1: names and places have either been changed or left out
Speaker 1: entirely because, as Jan put it, there's no point kicking
Speaker 1: the hornets nest. So what happened here? What exactly was
Speaker 1: inside that building? And why did the medium, if that's
Speaker 1: what he really was, have such a vested interest in it?
Speaker 1: I do have one theory. It's a little out there,
Speaker 1: but here goes was the dark spirit inside the community
Speaker 1: Hall something which had been summoned by some sort of
Speaker 1: Dare I say it a cult type ritual performed by
Speaker 1: a select group of people, maybe even involving a number
Speaker 1: of council officials? Has the medium been involved all along?
Speaker 1: Tom had mentioned his first meeting with her back at
Speaker 1: the wedding reception, But was this just to keep Jan
Speaker 1: calm and quiet after the incident with the shadow figure
Speaker 1: seen by the teenager? Had things become too complicated? It
Speaker 1: seemed that as the experiences and witnesses slowly racked up,
Speaker 1: the decision to pull the plug, so to speak, and
Speaker 1: bring things back under control was triggered. But for what purpose?
Speaker 1: As with many elements and threads of the paranormal and
Speaker 1: this story, we'll probably never know. But I do think
Speaker 1: Jan did the right thing, stayed away, didn't kick that
Speaker 1: hornet's nest, because who knows what could have happened. So
Speaker 1: all that is left to say is that it's over
Speaker 1: to you. What do you think happened? What theories do
Speaker 1: you have? And have you experienced anything like this before?
Speaker 1: If you have, or you somehow recognize the places in
Speaker 1: this story where these events happened, and you want to
Speaker 1: share your experiences then get in touch with the show.
Speaker 1: Were you ever in that community center? Did you sense
Speaker 1: evil spirits more than any kind of community spirit? Did
Speaker 1: you ever see the hooded figure by stacked chairs and
Speaker 1: collapsed tables, see a mysterious ball of blue light float
Speaker 1: through the serving hatch? Ever banned from the premises because
Speaker 1: you were getting maybe too close to the truth. If so,
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you, because the next person
Speaker 1: to feature in a dedicated Listener episode could be you.
Speaker 1: Bok poll Book and bull Book