I’ve mentioned several times on this blog about living in a haunted house in a haunted area. Actually, I don’t think it’s all that unusual. Almost everyone I’ve ever spoken too has seen or heard something ‘ghostly’ in their home at some time or another.
That said, some houses are more haunted than others. Some are nicely haunted, meaning you don’t feel threatened, others have a real pall of gloom and doom about them. When I first went to view this house I went with one of my daughters and we immediately fell in love with it. Yes, there was ‘something’ here, but it wasn’t unpleasant, in fact it felt quite welcoming.
Then my husband came to view it, with three of our daughters, including the one who had come with me. This time the house seemed positively hostile and darkly malevolent. They said they felt glad to get out of the place in one piece and all sorts of strange spooky phenomena seemed to have followed them home.
We still – for a variety of reasons – moved here. We realised the house had some kind of gateway in it (and two more outside) which meant there was a lot of psychic movement to and fro. There are hostile ghosts just as there are hostile people. We made it clear we didn’t mind the gateway but we expected certain standards of behaviour. Mostly it cleared up – in the sense it was still ‘busy’ but pleasant.
One or two visitors still gave cause for concern. There is the child in the old nursery who will get into bed with anyone sleeping there, and play with ornaments etc. And there is the dark haired man in the front room who feels the house is still his. We’re working on that.
We also – believe it or not – have a house brownie. Look in British folklore and you will see that brownies are very helpful creatures who will gladly do housework etc., in return for some food. Mine isn’t keen on housework but is very good at finding lost items.
Now I can understand some people reading this far will shy away from accepting this sort of statement. If I’d read it twenty years ago I’d probably have felt the same myself. But the truth is, that there really isn’t any other explanation that makes sense. Things disappear, we search high and low for them, then they reappear in the middle of a completely empty table. Nobody else is present and unless I accept that objects are materialising and dematerialising of their own free will, there isn’t really much explanation (unless I’m going mad.)
Also the brownie shows signs of interacting with us. Nowadays when something goes missing we tend to say, ‘House brownie, will you help us find it please?’ and he does. He’s even been known to find things we have lost outside the house and bring them back to us. For example, one day I wrote out a cheque in a shop about fifteen miles away and made a mistake so had to write out another. I forgot to pick up the dud cheque and when I got home I had my handbag and my pockets out – frantically wondering where it had gone. Nowhere. Not a sign. Not even a ripped corner.
And then, in the middle of the kitchen – in the middle of thin air! – it materialised right in front of us, fluttering down to the ground.
I have a theory that there are quite a lot of these helpful beings around – most of the time we don’t recognise them because we don’t expect them to be there. The more you observe and notice, the more there is to see.
Seeking the Green by Tylluan Penry, published soon by Capall Bann. For more info - watch this space!
