Wednesday 21 March 2018


Wednesday 21st March 2018

Some years ago now - going back to the early 'noughties' - we were briefly involved with an allegedly haunted ruin situated close to the West Midlands / Staffordshire border.  At the time we became aware of the site in question, there was very little left of the place.... though it had been a substantial and reasonably well-to-do property in it's actual lifetime.....

What actually drew our attention to the place was a phone call from a woman who said members of her family had worked at the site - many years earlier - and the figure of a cloaked and top-hatted man had been seen around the place (including by her, as a child).

As frequently happens, however, we discovered no more about the place and, despite a few visits to the site over time, nothing more came of the matter.

Coming forward to recent weeks, however, and we have just learned that a gentleman had been driving along the road in which the ruin stands when he received a phone call and pulled over to deal with it.  While so engaged, he witnessed the figure of an elderly man - dressed in what he estimates to have been Victorian or Edwardian-style clothing - walk across the road in front of him and 'disappear' as he reached the other side.....!?

As well as the period style dress, he described the figure as remarkably clear, but the facial features were 'blurred'.... akin to when you use eye drops, and your vision clouds over.  The figure appeared to be walking with purpose - as if it had somewhere to go - but was seen to 'fade away', like cigarette smoke, after it had passed over the kerb!?

Something that I always like to personally hear when speaking to someone about their encounters is that the witness concerned describes himself as a 'no nonsense, no bullsh*t kind of person..... not given to flights of fancy'.  In fact, a non-believer.... until he had this experience a couple of weeks ago!?  Also, interestingly, the man concerned had no idea of any 'ghostly reputation' to the area concerned - a fairly secluded spot - so that coincidence alone, given the previous history of the place, is fairly impressive!?

Intriguingly - along with the sighting - the gentleman appears to have potentially 'picked up' some (what he describes as) 'random things' that crossed his mind at the same time......  While maintaining that he would not regard himself as 'psychic' in any way, he got the impression of the year '1909', 'coal' and a specific, nearby, 'railway station'? 

While we have checked the location concerned in historical records for '1909', we have not been able to locate any specific details that seems to tie-in with that year.  Re. 'Coal'.... this is invariably going to be a reasonably vague reference at best, as - with the bulk of the Black Country and surrounding areas for some distance - coal mining was an integral part of the regions history, in some way, shape or form, for at least two centuries?  With regards to the railway station, we have discovered an account of an accidental 'decapitation' there in the very early 20th Cent. - someone was hit by a passing train after straying onto the line - but such things were certainly not a rarity in those days, by any means......  

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