Ooooer!

Let me make this quite plain from the begining. I do not believe in ghosts, ghouls, goblins, fairies, feiry-folk, dwarves, demons, dragons, witches, werewolves, vampires or Vladivostok. Okay, I may believe in the last a bit. The supernatural to me is a closed door. I am a twin, and in my childhood I pretty-much always knew where my twin was, but whilst my mother used to say it was some weird psychic ability I put it down to either me knowing my twin well enough that I knew where she would be *or* the fact she;d told me not two minutes prreviously where she was going...

Aliens, spirits, hauntings...all, in my opinion, are due to illusion, psychosis, wishful thinking or just plain deception. It doesn't mean I don't like reading about fantasy and the fantastick, or watching TV and film (heck, I really enjoyed Buffy. IYSWIM ) but I just plain don't believe, and in spite of some searching I've never seen the evidence to convince me otherwise.

However...(isn't there *always* a however?)

I walk Willow in what used to be Wood End, and now...isn't. it has been bulldozed, leveled, grass-seeded and flattened. Where houses used to stand now there are large areas of not particularly attractive grassland. Strangely, however, the paths, walls, boundary fences and streetlights have been left, and here and there one small row of terraced houses stand open, derelict and abandoned, doors and windows swinging in the wind. No worries, as I say, I have no concern about The Spirit World.

Except...(isn't there *always* and except?)

This morning, 5:30am, ish, I was treading one of my chosen routes, whilst Willow ran on the exposed grassland either side of the path. About 100 yards on one side were trees and the stream, and the same distance the other side were occupied houses. The path was lit in the nauseous orange of the sodium street light. Concrete bollards occasionally thrust through the ground, like petrified mushrooms, whilst all around was the low susurrus of wind in trees.

And footsteps. Loud, slightly irregular footsteps in the leaves, behind me.

At that moment I realised Willow was stood so close to me as to nearly be sharing my boots. She was looking behind me, in the direction of the footsteps.

I turned as the footsteps got nearer. The path, well illuminated, was totally empty. Except for the approaching footsteps. And now I could hear wheezing.

Then they passed me. *Nothing* walked past me, and as I live and breathe I moved out of the way to let it pass. I moved out of nothing's way, so it could pass me.

I know you're all waiting for the *hahaha!* ending. The pun. The bad joke. There isn't one. Apart from my appearance as I tried very hard to walk casually back the way I came, without looking behind me, without running, without peeing myself...and until we crossed the bridge back to *our* side of the stream Willow continued trying to get in my boots...

Let me make this quite plain from the begining. I do not believe in ghosts, ghouls, goblins, fairies, feiry-folk, dwarves, demons, dragons, witches, werewolves, vampires...but today I nearly did.

Very spooky, I would have been a gibbering wreck.

I had a strange experience at home once which has resulted in me not sleeping at night since, I was told by my local reverend I had been visited by an angel.

I'm a non-believer too, Gaz. However, that was definitely a spooky experience!

Next time you are lying awake ask in your head who the angel is.You will get an answer I expect.Even if you think the answer comes from you ask the angel questions in your head, ask why it is visiting you. If you feel frightened at any point ask it why it is frightening you.

If you are still frightened protect yourself with an imaginary golden bubble, start at your feet and put the bubble round you.

rune--------who wishes reverends wouldn't try and help sometimes!

oooh, spooky stuff. I have to admit I do believe in stuff like that...so it's possible it was some poor old ghostie wondering where his house went

I remember my Grandad telling me how something very similar happened to him once, a long long time ago....he was born in 1896 and this happened whilst he was a young man. He was very very definitely a non believer....in anything supernatural, good or bad!! This really shook him and opened a tiny chink for him, although he still said there were no ghosts he usually added "I think".
Makes you think though lol.
Maybe if you go back again at the same time..............????

I will be interested to see whether Her Ladyship will walk with me on the same route on Monday

What makes you think it was a woman?

rune

think he means willow !! LOL

I'm so glad you're almost converted with your experience this morning, coz I've had 3 experiences during my lifetime which have kind of confirmed it for me, but that's another story!

There are some well known (well reported) supposed haunted woods a mile or so from where I live. A very good friend of mine was walking her dog in there a while ago up one of the wider tracks. She heard horse's hooves behind her but couldn't see a horse, so she carried on. The horse's hooves got louder, so she grabbed her dog and pulled it into the side to let the horse go by. There was no horse, no rider, but the sound of the hooves went passed and up the track! She never went in there again