| THE PRIEST ON THE STAIRS |
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I have often heard tales of people appearing to friends and loved ones at the point of death- and my first husband (Giles*) finally relented one night and told me his first-hand account of such a happening�
Giles� mother (Magda*) was a �Brummie Lass� through and through, and well known for her Civic duties and work. They were a big family, well travelled, and not prone to what my husbands father referred to as �fanciful thoughts�. Magda was a religious woman, and among her closest friends was a priest whom she had known since living in Birmingham, many years before I knew the family. Often, the family (especially Magda) would visit her friend, and take her youngest child� who just happened to be Giles. Giles did not dislike the man, nor the visits he and his mother made� but as a young boy he felt bored, and realised as he grew older that this was a duty and a responsibility for both his mum and himself. Occasionally the priest would visit and stay with Magda and her family - and these visits increased as the family friend grew older and quite ill. Giles was about eight years old when he decided he was too old to return for a visit to Birmingham - boys his age had much better things to do with their weekends. So as time passed, Giles gradually saw less and less of the priest. One day, Magda called a �family meeting� to discuss her dear old friend. He was terribly ill, and she wanted him to come and stay with her for a few weeks. Giles was to give up his bedroom for the old man to come and stay� not a happy prospect for a twelve year old boy. But what Magda said, went in her house - and so it was arranged. |
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| That night, Giles awoke from a terrible dream� someone was calling his name in the dark and he couldn�t find who it was. He was disorientated when he fully awoke - of course, he was not in his room, but staying in his sisters� old room ready for his mothers friend to come and stay the following day. Giles rose from his bed, deciding to go downstairs for a glass of water. It was nearly ten o�clock at night.
He crept down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as he could�barefoot and chilled. At the bottom of the stairs, he felt suddenly uncomfortable� as though he was being watched - and the hairs on the back of his neck bristled with a hint of fear. He mentally shook himself. He was nearly thirteen years old! He wasn�t afraid of anything! He turned and looked up the stairs� and saw nothing at all. Just the dream he had awoken from making him silly in the head! Giles got his glass of water from the cold kitchen, and started up the stairs again. Two stairs up from the bottom was as far as he got when he noticed his breath� forming little clouds in front of his face - and his water seemed awfully cold. Once again, he told himself to stop being so ridiculous - what would his dad say? He looked up the stairs to see where he was going, and noticed the priest at the top stair, waiting to come down. �Oh, sorry Father� I didn�t see you there� said Giles� his voice sounding too loud in the dark stillness of the night. �I didn�t think you were coming until tomorrow. Lucky I�m staying in my sisters room already for you�� The priest didn�t look so ill� Giles was a little put out that he had to give up his room for a man who didn�t appear to be as sick as his mother had tried to make out. But, he was a polite lad and didn�t want to say anything that seemed rude. Giles turned and walked back down the few stairs he had ascended. �Bad luck to cross on the stairs, mum says� Giles laughed� almost more to himself than the priest coming down the stairs. The priest slowly walked down the stairs� so slowly that Giles found himself counting each step in his head. Perhaps the old man really was more ill than he looked, he was walking so terribly slow. One step� Two steps� Three� �Can I get something for you, save you coming all the way down the stairs?� Asked Giles. He just wanted to get back in a warm bed and sleep. The priest stopped on the stairs, smiled and shook his head. He was five stairs away from the bottom when he reached his hand out as though to pat Giles on the head� and just faded from sight. Magda heard the scream, and scrambled out of her bed and to the stairs where she found Giles in a small heap at the bottom. Her first instinct was to rush to his side, thinking he had fallen down the stairs. But the closing of the lounge door at the bottom of the stairs startled her somewhat, and she stopped mid-stair. Giles roused� and almost wept when he saw a figure at the top of the stairs� then his vision cleared and he realised it was only his mum. Magda was just about to ask what had happened, when the phone began to ring shrilly in the hall. Magda ran downstairs, helping Giles up to his feet quickly before answering the phone. It was the hospital in Birmingham� Magdas dearest, oldest friend, the priest, had died at hospital a few minutes beforehand. Giles tried to explain that he had seen the old man right there, just a few moments ago� but it really couldn�t have been him, as the family friend had been in hospital in Birmingham since the late afternoon. And Birmingham was nearly two hundred miles away. Giles hated that house from that moment onwards. He never went down the stairs at night if he could help it. He has tried to reason the whole experience a thousand times� and yet he knows in his head and heart that he saw the ghost of the family friend� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just a small note here� There have been no haunting at this particular house, and no other paranormal activity discovered. Sadly, Magda passed away in 2005 and a new family live in her old home. They have reported no unusual incidents.. |
| * ALL NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED |
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