Halloween thoughts ...

Are there ever unexplained  events in your life for which no rational argument may be found?  Things which possibly go bump in the night, household objects not where you left them?  As it is the period of Halloween it seemed appropriate to mention a few apparently odd happenings ...

There have been a number of odd events in my life for which I have no explanation, the only thing that cannot be said is that they leave me as a sceptic of the paranormal.

My first encounter was on Halloween Eve 1961at about eight o'clock in the evening.  I was cycling West along Bell Lane, Enfield near to Albany School, it was a chilly night with a light mist falling.  From the mist something seemed to be coming towards me on my side of the road.  As the distance between it and myself closed it appeared to be four horses drawing what I can only describe as an old fashioned stage or mail coach with the driver seated high on his box.  One odd thing was that it was not actually on the road but  floating about a foot above it, another was an eerie silence.  Just as I thought that I might be run down I was passing between the leading pair of horses, the driver seemed not to notice me as he urged his team on.  I went through the front of the coach with fleeting glimpses of Georgian or Victorian style dress worn by the passengers.

 Suddenly the coach was gone.  Stopping my bicycle I turned to look behind in the direction which the coach was travelling.  There was nothing to see whatsoever, no evidence that something untoward and very odd had apparently happened.  Was it all in my mind or had I witnessed something spectral, spiritual from another world?

Subsequent research showed that historically there was a regular coach route that passed along this way to Colchester and Harwich pausing at the Bell Public House in the Enfield Highway for refreshment before fording the River Lea eastwards.  A friend put me in touch with the editor of the Enfield Gazette local newspaper, where a search showed that a small number of local people had also witnessed the same incident at various times past, not in that exact location but along the route of Hoe Lane and Bell Lane.

Well, that I thought eventually was the end of the matter.  But no, other odd events were to happen ...

Some  years later I worked a a bus inspector for London Transport, my regular roadside point at one time was near the top of Barnet Hill opposite the police station.  It was approaching midnight, I was in my little hut writing up the days events in the log book.  It was a Monday evening,always very quiet then, no buses were on the stand and there was nobody about.  During this spell of admin I felt a tap on my shoulder, turning to see who was there I was surprised to see nobody. 

Some twenty minutes later I felt yet another tap on my shoulder, turning again I saw that I was alone.  It was a very odd feeling that despite being the only person there I was apparently not by myself, almost as if there was another person near me.  It was just a feeling, that's all, I was not frightened but slightly puzzled but with  a feeling of calm and reassurance.

That was the first time that anything such as this had happened but not the last.  On other occasions it was not only when I was alone at work, at home or in busy public places.  By now my curiousity had got the better of me so I spoke in confidence to a close friend whom I knew to be interested in the spirit world.  She suggested that I meet with a friend who was a medium which i did a few weeks  later at her home.   Having introduced herself she asked why I had come to see her, having explained past events she then sat quietly for several minutes.  Eventually breaking her silence she explained that it was my late mother's way of contacting me to reassure me that everything would be fine, at this time I was going through a very difficult period in my personal life and that she was watching over me.

She then went on to describe physically spirits that were standing behind me.  When she began I was naturally somewhat sceptical,she then described what my late father was wearing, it was his typical day off around the house attire, even to his red leather paint spattered slippers.  I was somewhat astonished, even more so when she described my late mother very accurately and her dress as well as a unique purse that she had owned along with its very personal contents.  Furthermore she saw my grandfather telling me of his unique record in the First World War before mentioning several other significant family members who had been part of my life including our Alsatian dog named Rover that we had many years before.

It must be stressed that I had never before met this lady and that she knew nothing of my past nor family.  Sincerely I believe that she was a genuine medium with a singular gift, there is no way which she could possibly have know the personal things that she related.  Finally she said that I had a brother.  This could not be possible because  I am an only child, shortly after my birth Mum contracted tuberculosis making further children impossible for her.  Linda, however, was adamant that she could see a young baby in my mother's arms despite my protestations.

So the evening ended leaving me me astonished as well as a little confused.  Despite my best efforts over some considerable period of time I was unable to trace either birth nor death certificates for my unknown sibling.

Fast forward some ten years, my wife and I were staying with my sole remaining uncle, my father's brother.  An opportunity arose when we were alone to ask about a possible brother.  My uncle sat quietly for a few seconds before telling me that indeed I had a brother born about a year before me who sadly died shortly afterwards.  Shocked?  Astonished?  Incredulous?  I was all of these things and more besides,  it took more than several minutes for me to assimilate what I had been told before asking some further questions.

Several years after this a very few effects from my late father were eventually passed on to me, nothing of material value but of immense personal and sentimental interest.  As mentioned previously Linda had described my mother's unique purse and contents.  The only thing that was missing was an eternity ring but everything else was there, pieces of jewellery that I had bought for Christmas and birthday  presents, a silver threepenny piece and other small items.  I had last seen that purse more than fifty years previously but remembered it very distinctly. 

Given my spectral and psychic experiences there is little choice but to agree that such things exist, that there is a spirit world which some can see in greater or lesser degrees.  Often I feel that here are invisible people around, spirits if you wish, at home, out and about, wherever I may happen to be - not all of the time but often.  There is one particular place that I never feel alone although I am rarely able to be there these days as it is back in England, a particular motorcycle racing venue.

 Motorcycles have been a large part of my life particularly racing, at this particular track I have enjoyed the company of so many wonderful friends over the years some of whom have sadly passed on whether by accident or natural circumstances.  It is never a lonely place even if here is nobody else there, it is a happy joyous place to me with friends all around.

In recent years we moved abroad and now live in a four hundred year old house.  Despite its age I have never experienced any of the other world there apart from a smell of burning Golden Virginia tobacco on an almost daily basis.  Neither my wife nor I have smoked for many a long year but it was always my father's favourite brand.  The smell is confined to just one very small corner of a room on the first floor, move more than a metre or so  away and it cannot be detected.  I am assured that it is Dad's way of letting me know that he is here.  As for my mother she also has her own ways of being here.

Sceptic?  Doubter? Nay sayer?  There is no choice but to believe ...