Th ings I Have Seen and Felt
For as long as I can remember I have been sensitive to 'other things'. I have seen ghosts and felt spirits often during my life. Some experiences I have had are just a feeling, a prickle, and others involve seeing a 'ghost' or spirit. Most of the time I see the event at the point of death. Having this experience does disturb me sometimes - it is not pleasant watching someone die - but the disturbed feeling does go away. Below are all the experiences I can remember and put into words. I have tried to be as detailed as possible.
July 1994, Curwen Hall, Workington, Cumbria - It was late and dark. We had finished that evening's open air Shakespeare production and were clearing away. I was standing on my own near the main doorway and all of a sudden it went cold and a lady in grey swept past me. I was later told that the 'Grey Lady' used to live in the hall and drowns herself in the near by river every night. I am not the only one to have seen her.
July 1995, Brougham Castle, Brougham, Cumbria - It was mid-afternoon. We had just finished the matinee open air Shakespeare and had some time to spare before the evening performance was due to begin. My mum, a friend and I (same three as at Tynemouth Abbey - significant??) went in. I was wearing a rune stone pendant with the symbol for 'protection'. Not for any particular reason other than the fact that I liked wearing it as jewellery not as a talisman to ward off evil. We walked up one of the towers and I was rushing around as I really enjoy being in any old ruined building - I don't know why but I feel safe and incredibly revitalised. It's as though the energies held there recharge my batteries or something. Anyway, I was at the top of the tower leaning over the railings looking down. My friend suddenly grabbed me and pulled me back saying he could 'see' me falling over. Ok, I thought. We then worked our way back down and sat for a bit in the courtyard before deciding to leave. Mum and our friend both said that walking through the gateway and the portculis etc it was like wading throgh syrup. Afterwards, when we were outside in the car, Mum and friend kept looking at the castle as though their gaze was drawn to it.
September 1996 to June 1998, Newcastle upon Tyne - Ever since Mum and I had moved in to our Victorian terraced house, we felt very uncomfortable about the dining room. It was always cold and felt strange. In June of 1998 Mum invited her friend up to stay with us. She is psychic and clairvoyant. She went into the dining room and used crystals and candles to heal it, just as you would do with people and chakra stones. Afterwards the room felt lighter and airier as if some heavy something had been lifted. It was then a very pleasant room to be in.
July 1998, Tynemouth - There is a ruined abbey in Tynemouth that looks over the sea. I was there with my mum and a friend. I was sitting in the main bit of what is left of the building and suddenly a woman with black hair and a red dress was running towards me. A man was chasing her holding a knife. They both disappeared just as he pulled her to the ground and raised the knife. This was mid-afternoon, broad daylight. I was later told by my friend that while he had been sitting looking out over the sea in another part of the abbey he had had the sensation that he was sitting exactly where a condemned man had sat before he was due to be hung.
September 1998, Tynemouth - I went up to Tynemouth for a book fair and was walking past the abbey only to find it closed. A policewoman was barring entry. While standing and watching the building I suddenly 'saw' someone hanging - I knew he had killed himself. Soon, three fire engines arrived and more police cars. I found out from a newspaper the following day that a young man had hung himself in the abbey.
December 1998, Newcastle upon Tyne - I was told by a man who had been in our house about four or five times that the house was haunted by an 11 year old girl in Victorian costume. The terrace of houses was built in 1815 for the doctors who worked at the hospital just up the road. He said that he had seen her with me on a number of occasions. He said that she was 'watching over me' and would probably stay with me after leaving the house. Every now and then I feel her presence. It's as if she's looking after me and steering me in the right direction.
March 1999, Chepstow Castle, Chepstow, Gwent - I was there on my own. No friends or family, just walking around. It was the first time I had been there, I have been many times since. I was walking around and I could 'feel' as though I had been there before, walked there, lived there, eaten there. It was a lot stronger than deja vu. It felt as though I could 'see' one of my previous lives acting out in front of me. Quite unnerving but reassuring at the same time. I could see, in my mind's eye, the place filled with the ghosts of the people who lived there with me.
October 1999, Cambridge - As we arrived at the second or third stop on the tour, a little alleyway, I leaned over to Rachel and told her that someone had fallen off that building, the white fairly new one. We waited to hear what you were going to say. While listening to you talking about the ouija board and explaining the blocked up window I 'saw' a man fall from nowhere, from the building opposite the building you were talking about. It freaked me. When we first arrived at that spot I just felt something.
Norwich Cathedral - I cannot remember the date but it is since I have lived in Chepstow (so since 2001). My partner and I were visiting the cathedral and walking slowly round. In the trancept to the right of the alter I had a 'heavy' feeling and my gaze was drawn upwards. I 'saw' a man fall from one of the top galleries. I felt that I just knew he had died during the construction of the cathedral.