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| Gather round for my Ghost Story, Dear Reader |
Have you ever experienced a haunting, Dear Reader? As it's almost the time for Hallowe'en, I thought it was time to trot out the (short) tale of my only brush with the Otherworld.
In the way of such madcap adventures, our setting was Merrie Olde England. Mr. P & I were living there for a while around the year 2000, and would take ourselves off from time to time to explore the countryside. So it was that we spent a night at a Grade II listed Georgian country house in Sussex.
Alas, there were no spooky signs to put one on alert when it came time to toddle off to bed; there was no driving wind nor lashing rain without, no mysterious blackouts or eerie hotel staff within. Just warm hospitality and a chintzy and comfortable bed in a huge but friendly sort of room. So when my ghostly visitors accidentally woke me up during the night, I had quite the shock.
It was a man and a woman who were whispering to one another about us, and right in my ear. Of course, I just knew there couldn't be anybody physically there, there was no breath on my face, no smell or warmth of bodies, just the two voices, so in the instant I awoke, and with a pounding heart, I kept my eyes tight shut. I could hear Mr. P's breathing behind my back, evidently sound asleep or not able to hear them. No help! It was frightening to know we were being watched and talked about, but the couple were just curious. After a while I gathered they had enough for the whispering stopped, and when it had been quiet for a bit, I tried a little peek. Nothing there.
And that was that. My ghosts had gone and there seemed no point in waking Mr. P to tell him what he missed, so I went back to sleep.
Image credit: Via Pinterest
You wrote "Mr. P's breathing behind my back, evidently sound asleep or not able to hear them. No help!"
ReplyDeleteHa ha. Never wake a sleeping husband, unless you have something great to offer: either a great root or a great glass of expensive whiskey :)
Oh, dear Hels, you are too funny!
DeleteHmmmm! In Sussex as well. I'm not really a believer in Ghosts, but I did once see a floating ball of lightning in my bedroom. It seemed that it was a reasonably common phenomenon caused by static. Very strange.
ReplyDeleteNeither do I, dear Cro, and I've no time for superstition but the Sussex hotel experience I consider the exception to prove my rule!
DeleteOh Pip, what an exciting adventure! Didn't you peep with just one eye?? I would die of curiosity - well, but maybe I would be afraid that they were NOT ghosts - then it is better to feign sleep.
ReplyDeleteAnd later - did you tell Mr.P later?
Never in my life have I met a ghost. I refuse to read ghost stories - not even those I possess from my favourite E.F.Benson - but since a teacher of mine, Fräulein Köhler, told us (we were about12 years old) ghost stories from her South American Heimat, I am still now not able to look at a dripping faucet without hearing a voice behind me:"Sieh dich vor! H." ("You'd better watch out! H.")
Query: did you stay in that hotel?
Dear Britta, I was quaking in my boots (or bed socks) and didn't dare peek. They were so close as to be right in my ear. Did not want to look! Yes, we stayed in the hotel, just the one night and I told Mr. P as soon as I woke in the morning and we mused over whether to tell the hotel staff but in the end I didn't.
DeleteCreepy ghost stories aren't fun to read, especially in bed, and Fräulein Köhler made your reading life marginally more manageable by spooking you so, so her ghost stories were public services, hahah.
Hello Pipistrello, Obviously, those ghosts were sizing you up preparatory to doing you both a bit of no good, but when they saw you were Australian, they realized you were made of stern material, and so vamoosed. My own (real) ghost story I published a while ago (which makes me realize once again how shamefully I have neglected my blog):
ReplyDeletehttps://roadtoparnassus.blogspot.com/2017/10/halloween-on-hemlock-lane.html
--Jim
Dear Jim, you must dust off your marvellous blog! Your ghost story was very entertaining and I didn't know you were such a Hallowe'en party aficionado. Your spider in the attic with the locked chest of gory decor would make anybody faint with horror :)
DeleteHello. It's been a while since I visited. Those whispering voices in the night sound scary. I would have woken my husband up for sure as I'm not very brave.
ReplyDeleteNot brave, dear Loree, just frozen to my pillow, hahah!
DeleteHm, I can't serve with supernatural adventures. I can only tell that once, south of Inverness, I was comfortably eating some shortbread on a seawall when suddenly a voice politely asked: "May I have one too?
ReplyDelete"You're welcome. Here you go."
After that we chatted for a while about this and that, then Nessie and I said a friendly goodbye to each other.
Hahah, I always expected she was polite, as those shy and retiring types often are. A close encounter, hey, dear Sean!
Deleteyes yes yes what a marvelous post.
ReplyDeleteIn my house there is Henrik the ghost who counts as a ghost but not a very good or satisfactory one.
Thank you, dear Ur-spo. Henrik sounds a dear, despite what you say; just a bit inarticulate, which is dull for you. Mine were complete gossips, which upon reflection is probably the last thing you want when you're trying to sleep.
DeleteYOU HAD MY ATTENTION FROM THE DESCRIPTION OF THE OLD MANOR!
ReplyDeleteXXX
Dear Contessa, there are so many interesting places to stay in the Old World, no? However, Mr. Google tells me that my Haunted Hotel is no longer a hotel but a private residence again.
DeleteHi Pip ..... sorry, I'm a bit late to the party !!! Quite spooky and a little frightening. Did you ask at reception if any other guests had had a similar experience or if they felt the Hotel was haunted ? I have never experienced anything ghostly apart from playing about with a ouija board as teenagers. Things 'sort of' happened but I think one of us was messing about !!!!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie, how lovely to see you again! No, I decided not to say anything as the whole story seemed so absurd and I didn't fancy appearing foolish, hahah. Oh, you played with ouija boards? I'd heard spooky things about them when I was young and was too chicken to find out if it was true! xx
DeleteVery disturbing - as is the face mask and the décolleté!
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary, you don't find the Bat-woman's get up terribly alluring then? I thought I was going for a sophisticated look, hahah!
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