Paranormal Investigator Damon Simms has explored many of Staffordshire's spookiest locations. This week, he tells the story of an innocent jewellery purchase and a frightening encounter with a poltergeist.
POLTERGEISTS. The word alone inspires fear. As a child I was terrified of the very thought of poltergeists, popularised through movies, and they became a thing of nightmares for me. I still vividly remember dreams of invisible hands grabbing at me and pulling me from my bed into a dark corridor. Terrifying.
The word poltergeist derives from the German and, roughly translated, means "noisy spirit".
Generally, believers and researchers suggest that if poltergeists could be the result of negative spirits coming together to create an almost "super ghost" which has the power to frighten the living by physically moving (sometimes with great force) every-day objects or items of furniture or attacking people by pulling hair, scratching and even biting them.
I was contacted recently by John who is 54 years old and lives in Cheadle with his wife of 30 years.
They have lived in the town since they got married and, until four months ago, neither had ever experienced anything which could be described as 'supernatural'.
John works for a well-known manufacturer of plant equipment in the area and had just finished work one day in late July and was on his way home.
It was close to his wife's birthday and John always liked to get her something unique. This year he had chosen an old necklace he had found in an antique shop in Leek.
The necklace had been gift-wrapped and John carried it and a bottle of red wine into the house. He placed his presents on the small cupboard by the door with his car keys and went to the pantry to remove his jacket and work boots.
When he turned around the only things left on the side were the car keys and the bottle of red wine. John searched high and low for the gift-wrapped necklace but couldn't find it anywhere inside or outside the house.
Later that night and still confused as to where the gift had gone, he was just falling asleep with his wife next to him when John suddenly felt a cold chill in the bedroom. It was a warm night and so he was confused. John told me he could even see his breath in the cold room.
Looking around he started to feel like he was being watched. Confusion turned to fear and he noticed what felt like someone or something sitting down at the foot of the bed.
"The bed even creaked as it does when you sit on the bottom of it," he told me.
Frightened now, John tried to wake his wife but just as he did this something grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. She started to scream. John pulled back against the invisible force and managed to grab his wife from the bed.
They both ran across the landing and were just about to flee down the stairs when their tormentor once again grabbed at John's wife.
This time the force targeted her arm and proceeded to pull her back towards the bedroom. Eventually it let go just before grabbing her one last time.
Finally free of the invisible assailant they made their way out of the house and around to a neighbour.
They told the incredulous woman next door what had happened.
John said: "I still don't think she believes us - even now. We must have seemed mad when we showed up late at night shaking with fear and saying we had been attacked by a ghost!"
The couple contacted John's sister who lives locally and stopped there overnight.
The next day they returned home and, as they entered the house, everything seemed fine. The ornaments and pictures were all in place; the kitchen looked neat - as did the bathroom.
Finally John and his wife walked hand in hand into the bedroom and, as they did, they both stopped in their tracks.
There on the bed it looked like someone or something had pulled the bed clothes up into a twisted pile and stacked the four large pillows on top of each other.
Terrified, John edged towards the tower of pillows.
That's when he noticed something on top. He reached out to grab the item.
It was the necklace – torn from its wrapping paper which lay on the bed. The chain had been tied in a knot and looked like it had been laid out in the shape of a cross. John and his wife immediately left the house and headed straight for their local church.
A blessing was conducted at their home soon after and, during that service, it was suggested by the priest that the necklace may have been the cause of the 'negative energy' in the house.
John and his wife then disposed of the necklace in a nearby canal.
The supernatural activity never occurred again.
My final thought is this: John wished to stress to me during the interview that just because we don't understand some things doesn't mean they are not real. His wife has undergone counselling since the incident.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment