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The story I'm about to tell is completely true, with no exaggeration or embellishment. In fact, some of the events are so extreme, that I feel rather embarrassed to tell it, because some people will think I'm either mad, or a liar. It's an account of events that occured in the last house I used to live in, some six years ago.


The history
On September 26th 1988, just before my 21st birthday, my mother, my sisters and myself moved into an unassuming council house in South Manchester. It was not until nearly nine years later, just before we left, that a neighbour, who had been there for decades, told us of the previous occupants. A sister and brother had lived in the house, getting on well together. The brother then got married, and brought his wife to live with him. Some time later, the sister died in the house, in a bizarre way. She was found sat up in bed, staring, with her mouth wide open. Some time after that, the brother then died, leaving his wife alone. She left shortly afterwards.

The First Incident
The first notable incident occured after six months. My mother went to use the downstairs loo, and as she approached the door, which was closed to, but not completely shut, she saw a shadow of movement beneath the door, and heard somebody clearing their throat. She assumed that one of us was in there. So my mum went to use the bathroom upstairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard that the rest of us were in conversation upstairs. My poor worried mum went back to the downstairs loo, pushed open the door, and found it was empty!

The Knockings
These were heard by all family members over the years, but I can't remember exactly when they started. The knocks would be heard on all upstairs doors, including the bathroom. They increased in frequency as time wore on. I remember the sound clearly. A sharp loud knock...knuckles against wood.

Sometimes, there would be the feeling of a person on the other side of the door. On several occasions, people in the bath would hear someone moving about outside the door, followed by a knock, then nothing. The knocks would happen on closed doors, or even on almost closed doors. As the years passed, footsteps began to be heard, as well. In later years, my sister heard the knock, as she was stood near her bedroom door, and the door, which wasn't completely shut, swung inwards slightly, bumping into my sister, who understandably, was shaken when she realised no one was there. On another occasion, I heard (bizarrely) someone rustling a bin-liner outside my door.

Footsteps Above
As the years passed, whenever we were all downstairs, the sound of footsteps overhead became more frequent. These were heavy footsteps, moving from one room to another. Occasionally, the sound of someone sitting on a bed, or even flushing a toilet! It became so common, that in the end, we just began to ignore them. Our attitude was, "Oh...footsteps in my room again...that'll be the heavy-footed ghost."

The Front Door
We would often hear someone letting themselves in through the front door. Key in the door...latch turning, door opening. But when we went to look, the door was closed, and no one was in sight. We thought it was burglars at first, then kids mucking about, and eventually, like the footsteps, it just became one of those things. A quick glance to make sure all was secure, and then back to whatever you were doing.

Voices
We heard voices on several occasions. My sister was walking up the stairs one evening, when she heard someone whispering in her ear. She can't remember the exact words, but it was a sneering voice that said something along the lines of, "I'm watching you." She would also sometimes hear my mother calling her, but when she asked my mother what she wanted, my mum would point out that she hadn't shouted. Myself, I would occasionally hear a distant voice calling me, late at night. I could never tell where it came from.

My Bizarre Sleep-Paralysis Event
I awoke suddenly one night. My room was in darkness, except for a tiny slither of light around my partially open bedroom door. I find total darkness suffocating, so I always left a gap of about an inch. I felt someone pressing down on me, and saw an outline, blocking out the light. The entity stroked my back gently, and with an affectionate, motherly voice said, "there, there Delta." And suddenly I was up out of bed, making my way downstairs very fast!

It gets stranger. My mum was already awake in the kitchen downstairs, (directly beneath my room) despite it being the early hours. My mum was sat there, and she suddenly felt strange, as if she had gone into a trance. She heard a distant whirring noise, that lasted for a few minutes. It was during this noise, that I had my sleep paralysis incident. When my mother saw me run into the room, she knew instantly that something had happened to me.


To be continued in a second part...

Below is a house very similar to the house in question (a dozen or so streets away in fact), but is not the actual house.


Cuff

Wow! What a string of strange events! And you stayed there for quite some time... Can't wait for part 2!

crikey that's some story, the bed incident is seriously freaky. Ghosts in bedrooms (or even worse sitting on your bed) always freak me out as you're normally at your most vulnerable when you're in bed and the last thing you need is a ghost joining you

Can't wait for pt. 2

Thanks for your response, everyone. It's taken a bit of time to pluck up the courage to post it, but a good friend felt I should. I hope to post the final part of it before the end of the day.

And the question about why my family put up with things? We had nowhere else to go.

Cuffy.....where's part 2? we're all waiting with baited breath here lol

Oh by the way, don't be worried about people thinking your mad..that story is way more believable than my haunted castle one and no one's called me nuts yet ( well not that I know about anyway )

Thank you to everyone for your responses and kind words. What follows is the second part of my account. I've divided it into two, not for reasons of suspense, but simply because of the length. I didn't want reading it to be a chore.

Part two:


Other Strange Things
My sister was upstairs one afternoon, and in the gloom saw a small black creature perched on top of the door frame leading to my bedroom. The figure was a classic imp/demon-like creature. No sooner had she spotted it, it was gone.

Another time, while looking out of the window of my room at night, with the room behind me reflected in the glass, I saw a small orb. The small orb was white, the size of a marble, and moved swiftly, but steadily, at head height across the room. It wasn't a light from outside, because it passed behind me.

The Black Cloud
My mother awoke one night, with the room in darkness. She looked above her, and saw what she can only describe as a swarming black cloud, a couple of feet across, three-to-four feet above her head. My mother felt transfixed by the thing, which pulsated, almost like it was alive. She heard no voice, but felt it was trying to communicate. And what it was communicating was, mockingly, "here I am, here's your proof". And then suddenly, she fell unconscious, again.

The Exorcism
This was the final straw, and my mother contacted our local church. They eventually put us in touch with a priest who was prepared to carry out an exorcism. The priest arrived, and we duly explained the events to her. To say that she was a little disturbed was an understatement. She fetched her robes and equipment, and immediately carried out a room by room exorcism. My mother was stood with her as she did it, and at one point, heard a voice in her head saying (about the priest) "I wish she'd go away and leave us alone". My mum was horrified to have such a thought. The priest then told us that things should be quieter. Mostly, they were. No more knockings or anything major, but the occasional sound as the months passed.

Leaving
We left the house, less than a year later, and moved to our current home. What happened next, we know from our old neighbours, who were hardly friends of ours. They would often play very loud music, and on occasion, my mother thumped on the wall, and shouted for them to turn it down. We left the house at eight o'clock, on the Friday evening. On Saturday night, with the house in darkness, a banging began on our neighbours wall, at approximately eight o'clock. A woman's voice screamed out at them. This banging and screaming got so loud, that the husband went to look, assuming someone had broken in to the empty house. The house was in darkness, and secure.

This happened every night for a week, then stopped. The council were even called in to check out the house, and were disturbed to find it untouched. Apparently, this has become a bit of a legend within Manchester Council, who unofficially now regard it as haunted. When we ran into the neighbours a few weeks later, they told us this story with ashen faces.

Experiences of the other Neighbours
I've done a bit of asking around since, and discovered the following: Our long term neighbour was deeply religious, and when my sister once asked her about sightings of anything ghostly, her reply was, "I have seen things, but God says you don't see these things." The other neighbours, the ones who heard the banging, who were'nt there for long before we left, would often be up late at night, because their daughter refused to sleep in her room. On several occasions, her mother could be heard shouting about there being nothing to be afraid of.

When that particular house had been empty over the years (four families lived there in nine years), we often heard noises coming from it. Doors opening and closing, toilets flushing, and scratching sounds (this last one possibly mice).

The First Few Weeks in our New (Current)Home
My mother was in the kitchen in our new home, a couple of weeks after we first moved in. That same voice as before popped into my mother's head. "Come home," it said. This happened on three occasions, but luckily, never since.


Further to this, we have had a number of problems in our current house, but they don't appear to be connected to the events of the last house. Anyway, make of it what you will. Thanks for reading this far.


Cuff

Cuff, hat off my friend for posting this.. and I have to say getting through it with mind and soul still fairly evenly balanced..... and I don't mean that in a nasty or sarcastic way.

It's just that experiences like that are bound to change you and your out look on life. thank you for sharing

Thanks Celti.

It certainly does affect your outlook on matters paranormal.

And I've come out of it with most of my sanity intact.

I have to agree I'm glad I hung around and waited for you to post part 2 .
Were there any other incidences involving the dark shadowy thing ?

Oh my Gawd!!!!! that was soooo worth the wait Cuffy. Do you know any of the history of the house or the site it's built on? and is anyone living there now?



And just for the record, if you can stay in a house like that for so long without going nuts, you aint no " big girls blouse" ......more like a big, heavy duty lumberjack shirt in my book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cuffy ~ well done for having the courage to post this. I think you & your family have shown real courage and dignity.
I'd like to respond if I may.....

It sounds like a real mixture to me. There are the ‘classic’ residual incidents; sounds of the front door, footsteps, the screaming heard by the neighbours etc.
All this could be explained by the Stone Recording Theory.

The most common type of haunting is sounds, then smells……..I’m sure you know that.

But then we have the other, more sinister part…….

The knockings………well, you said that you and the neighbours didn’t get along. Perhaps most of the knockings were down to them? On the other hand, knocks or raps are the most common feature of a Poltergeist case. In fact, the whole thing seems rather like a Poltergeist manifestation. The toilet being flushed is very common. The voices, your names being called – common again in both ‘traditional’ and Poltergeist cases.
The small ‘imp creature ~ well believe it or not, this kind of thing has been reported in many Polt cases too…….it’s as if the energy guesses what the witness wants to see. Some see monks, some see old ladies, others see little black demons.
The black cloud, as I mentioned too you earlier is also a recorded phenomena. Have a look at that Runcorn Poltergeist case I mentioned a while ago.

The Exorcism…well, the fact that your mum had the thought “leave us alone” is extremely interesting. Some families in these cases are caught cheating by researchers, but they have no conscious memory of doing so. As if the Polt gets into their minds…….as if it ‘tunes in’.
Paradoxically, the Exorcism seemed to work. This is very unusual. Do you think it was the thought that it was going to work actually stopped it? Was it centred around your sister? She had many encounters with the thing so maybe she was the epicentre, the ‘engine’. Is it the same sister who sees the current ghost? Could it be that is was a Poltergeist and it’s now getting back into the swing of things?

I hope this is of some help to you!

Hammy x x x

wow all in all an amasing experience(s)!

I expect you've tried looking at old maps to see if there was any farms or something near to the house, found anything interesting? If not www.old-maps.co.uk has Victorian OS maps online (c. 1890), might help.

Thanks, Algenon. And thanks for that link. I'll definitely try that one out.


Hammy.

Thanks for your support, twinkle. It means a lot to myself, and my family. It's helped a lot just by talking about it and writing it down.


And thanks to everyone for their kind words and comments.

Cufflink ~ I have nothing but the greatest respect for you.
Well done & I'm glad posting this has helped.

Hammy x x x

Wow, what an amazing and frightful experience! A small black creature ? How freaky! Thank you very much for sharing your experience! The 2nd part was definitly worth the wait. I'm glad that you & your family made it out of that house while still maintaining your sanity.

Cuffy ~ I'm trying to find you some links about the little critter and the Runcorn case. Bare with me, am not so fast at the moment.

Hammy x x x

Village Ghostmistress? Does that mean me?
Had you said 'Village Idiot' I'd have known that you meant Cuffy ~ LMAO

The only reference I've found so far about little black critters is in an old Fortean Times book. A family plagued by poltergeist activity, blah blah blah, kids say a little Demon is on top of the door at night, blah blah, mother sees it watching her from the top of a cupboard one evening.....panic....they move out.....story over.....give me a little more time to find out more Cuffy

Hammy x x x

WOW. That was a freaky story. I would have moved after the swirling black cloud. It sounded like a mixture of ghostly and demonic activity to me. very spooky.

Cuffy!!!!!!!!!!!
I've found another 'Black Cloud' story!!!!
It's really freaky actually ~ it zapped a doggie.
I'll type it up and post it for you.

Ok ~ here's some info on another black cloud thingy;

Mr Sam Jones was working at the time for a local farmer, Mr Crowther. In the middle of August, three of Crowthers’ prized pigs died for no apparent reason. At the end of a fortnight, every one of his 5 pigs were dead. Five vets examined the bodies and were totally at a loss to explain the deaths. Two days after the death of the last pig, Crowther was astonished to see what he described as ‘a huge black cloud, seven feet in height, shapeless except for two prongs sticking out at the back’ coming down his yard, as if looking for more pigs. He mentioned this to no one, but a few days later his wife told him that she had seen a black cloud floating around the yard. A week later Crower discovered it in his kitchen. He brushed past it and said that it felt ‘solid’, and the two prongs went for his throat. As soon as the light was turned on it vanished leaving both Crowther and his wife very frightened. A few minutes later, Sam Jones called to ask for Crowthers urgent help. Crowther made his way to Bryon Street and upstairs to John Glyns’ room. To his utter horror, the back cloud was there. Floating above Glyn. It soon disappeared again.
On the morning of December 13th, Crowther saw the cloud for the last time. He had let his two dogs out and they both rushed off barking furiously. He turned to see the dogs perusing the black cloud. It dissipated into the morning air. And strangely enough, the poltergeist haunting at Byron Street ceased that very day.

Hammy x x x

Thanks Hams.

I'm beginning to realise that these black cloud entities are more common than I thought. Mind you, it seems they're as nasty as we thought.

Hells Bells, Cuffy!

That's some experience you had there, I take that what your dealing with now isn't in the same league?

i dont buy it-how long would the average person stay in a haunted house-think about it-all that knocking and footsteps-and the sitting on the bed -its all you would think about-you would never shut the lights off-you could never be at ease-nobody would or could-its -b/s-everybody likes a scary story!!!!!!!!!!

Yes sometimes there are other factors that prevent a quick escape from such places. That and false hopes like exorcisms that fail.

The phenomena aren't 24hr 7 days a week occurances either so there's always the thought/hope that they have ceased, or may do.

RonW60 ~ having had a similar experience to Cuffy I find your comments rather hurtful.
Have you ever had any of these experiences yourself?

These things happen slowly at first - an odd noise, a touch, something being moved. You put it down to imagination. Then they seem to build, get up steam if you like. When an incident happens you are scared......and then you get over the fear. And nothing else will happen for maybe a week, two weeks, a month............then another thing will happen. As Agent says, it's not a relentless onslaught 24-7.
Also, leaving your home is not that easy. It's your home. Where you feel, or where you should feel safe. We never thought once about leaving our home. We just battled it out.
Councils in the UK are notoriously bad at re-housing familes also.

Please take the time to the subject, and try to understand the thoughts and emotions of those involved.

Regards

Hammy


PS ~ yeah, I edited this cos when I first wrote it out I was knackered and in some considerable pain.....so I was cranky

Ron, your basing your views on how you think you'd react in this situation, which is most probably completly different to what you'd do if it were happening to you.
You've got to keep in mind that people can put up with the most dreadful things for quite some time, it's part of the human spirit, a sense of 'I won't let this beat me', if you will. I think Cuffy's shown real courage, not only in going through this, but also in releasing his account for public scrutiny.
Whether you believe him or not is up to you, but try to be a tad more sensitive and constructive in your comments, mate.

Ron, I'm in complete agreement with A21, Hammy and Pasiphae.

It's easy to sit back and say oh I'd do this I'd do that, but when it comes down to it people rarely do what they say it loads of situations.

There are many reasons you don't immediately leave the house, you've no where else to go, you can't afford to go anywhere else, it's going to take several months to get another house.

Plus it's human nature not to give in, how many people have bad neighbours but don't pack up and leave immediately - lots. So you will put up with something until it becomes intolerable.

Hammy, Agent, Pasiphae and Algenon....

Thanks, everyone. It's good to have your support.

Delta?
or Dealt a...?

I see. WOuld've been my last straw too.

am still trying to figure out what 'Delta' meant in this instance.......

could it have been a foreign language Cuff?
Latin?