TALKING OF GHOSTS....

Some time ago (around 2012) my blogging friend, Ron,  posted an item about ghosts and  asking if anyone had a similar experience.  Well, I once had a ghost in my house, and the following is a brief (!) description.

MY TRUE GHOST STORY IN BRIEF

Time: during young son's infancy
Location: home, a ground floor flat 

First sign: 

A present given to Jon: a cone thingy that shot table tennis balls into the air. Ball falls to the lounge floor and rolls under a chair. Chair’s location was in front of a small radiator affixed to the wall, the other side of which (in kitchen) was the airing cupboard. Immediately moved the chair to retrieve the ball, but it wasn’t there. Searched high and low but couldn’t find it. It’s not often you can say you actually saw something disappear, but I actually did watch it go. 

Other signs: 

Small items of clothing disappearing from airing cupboard in the kitchen, adjacent to the radiator on the other side of the wall where the ball disappeared; small toys disappearing from all over the flat and an unexplained fruity smell in the kitchen.

All the above occurred over a seven year period, until Jon went to boarding school. Only during holidays did things go wrong! 

Second sign:

A Christmas gift bottle of sherry from workmates was placed on stereo near television. Curtains were drawn, and the room lit by a single table lamp. Jon and I were sitting on the settee watching a programme when suddenly a shaft of light circled the bottle before hovering over the ceiling then swooping out of the room via the open door. I thought maybe Jon was playing silly whatsits with his watch but he was sprawled out and engrossed in the telly. He wasn’t wearing his watch. That was the only really scary occurrence. I went into the garden to check if someone was there (not afraid of the dark in those days) but there was no-one. There wasn’t even a chink in the curtain so if there had been someone no sighting could be had of the room. 

Advice:

Several years later, a spiritualist husband of a work colleague sent a message to say I should call the ghost’s bluff and ask for the return of the table tennis ball, which was the first thing to go missing. I thought it worth a try so I chose a time when I was alone. Ooooh I did feel a fool talking to thin air and asking for my ball back. Well I did it and there the matter ended. Nothing else disappeared from that moment on. 

Conclusion, months later:

Talking to neighbour, Joan, she expressed surprise that Jon wasn’t at school. When I told her he was, she said she’d heard him in the garden quite late at night when she herself was out calling for her cat to come in. ‘Come on, Blackie’ she called, and a child’s voice said ‘He’s here, Mrs M.’ Interesting! The only child in the area was mine and he was definitely at school. All the residents were elderly and they never had night time visitors. I told Joan she must have been mistaken, but she was adamant she’d heard a kid out there. I didn’t think about the conversation until later in the day when I went into my garden and found a table tennis ball on the back step. 

History of House:

We later discovered that years before I moved into the house a little girl died there. I cannot remember clearly but I think she died in an accident. Theory goes that her restless spirit returned to play and my son was the first child to inhabit the property after her death.