Doreen's Story 

          

It was the week before Christmas, early 1960’s in the village of Coppull Lancashire.

 One evening Doreen was sat with her sister in law May, when they both heard carol singing coming from the front door of the (old pit cottage) on Preston road. These were very old cottages according to Doreen who said one was slightly recessed from the others.

They looked at each other and remarked how nice the singing was. Doreen stood and went to the door. On opening there stood a boy and girl, aged between 8 – 10 yrs.

 ‘Oh how sweet the singing was’ it was in perfect harmony in fact they sang descant.

 Both dressed in blue hats and scarves, they sang ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ and one or two more carols. Doreen left the door ajar in order to hear the children, and sister in law May stood to get her purse and treat the children to half – crown (Quite a lot of money to a child) plus Doreen had some loose change too.

Both children smiled and thanked Doreen for the money and as she remembers they were very polite in doing so.

Doreen recalls they looked like brother and sister and may have even been twins.

After closing the door they wondered whether or not the pair had gone next door to sing and decided to have a look outside but the pair was nowhere to be seen.

So after looking up and down for a few minutes, Doreen began to notice an eerie silence and realised they had just vanished totally. It was just ordinary night weather wise and it became obvious the children could not have gone from sight in all directions.

After this odd disappearance of the children they asked neighbours the next day or so had they seen the lovely carol singers, but no one had seen nor heard anything of them.

The following Christmas, and for subsequent years to come they often thought of that night and those lovely carol singers.

But it was many years later when Doreen was going about her everyday life she met a man who used to live in the old cottages back in the sixties, and they were both reminiscing. Doreen then recalled the day the children came singing and mentioned it to him.

Mr H, who lived in one of the cottages was quite aware of the children, “Now then, did you not know the story of such twins who died in the area” he replied. 

Doreen was shocked, and still remains moved by his answer and speak until this day about the beautiful twins.

Linda's story 

Linda from Blackburn was in her early twenties when she moved into the deck access flats on Shadsworth road. 

The caretaker showed her around and mentioned that a seventy year old man had been the previous tenant.

   Everything was quiet for the first few months after moving in but then she started to hear banging noises, mainly coming from the kitchen.

  But there was nothing loose in there to make such noises. One evening Linda invited her friend to her flat and they were sitting quietly when yet another loud crashing noise came from the kitchen. This time a pan had somehow fallen from the cupboard landing on the floor. Linda’s friend was scared to death by this unexpected crash and Linda was also quite shocked and nervous at this point. She recalled the caretaker’s words and thought the old man who lived there might just be a ghostly explanation to the noises. 

  Some weeks later when Linda’s boyfriend came to stay, and there were more strange activities in the flat. One evening when he decided he was going to bed early, Linda stayed up to watch TV. She sat on the floor in the middle of the room and felt something or someone was behind her but was far too scared to turn around to see who or what was there. Still nervous from this, a cup then landed on the floor next to her foot. This time Linda turned around but there was nothing at all there, and this really put the shivers into her as the cup had been sat on the arm of the settee and it seemed as if it had been thrown. Considering she was sat quite a way from the settee, it was impossible for the cup to make it so far to her foot.

Sometime later Linda’s boyfriend moved into the flat with her and they decided to get a cat named Gnasher. When Halloween came Linda recalls her boyfriend had obtained a record saying it was (voices from beyond the grave) actually his brother had found the record in a magazine. The record would not play, and the stylus just shot across the record.  Gnasher's tail was about 3 inches thick and was baring her teeth and with ears pinned back was leaping around. They had never seen a cat so scared. 

  Following these odd events and on one particular night, Linda was sat in bed with her partner. The heater in the bedroom was the big old storage type and was very heavy to move. As they were just about to fall asleep there came a loud scratching noise coming from behind. Linda sat up and asked him what he thought the noise was or where it came from. He just replied it was nothing and probably just a mouse. As Linda lay quietly thinking typical man! The scratching started again, but her partner would not get out of bed to investigate. This continued for a while leaving Linda even more scared considering recent events. To add to this the net curtain at the window started blowing, but it was only slightly open. Linda got out of bed to close the window when they spotted Gnasher, and with a sigh of relief Linda followed it out of the bedroom but lost sight of her. She went into the living room only to find their cat Gnasher asleep on the settee. 

It couldn't have been Gnasher, and it wasn’t a mouse. Maybe it was just a ghost which moved on after those

spooky nights 

My personal experiences

Story 1 2004

                                                        

On the outskirts of Blackburn there are many old cottages, and in this case the location shall remain a secret. 

On a very cold and damp Sunday afternoon and looking out of the porch window, I spotted a young girl dressed in Victorian clothes. She stood there peering into the garden through the gate. The young girl stayed for just twenty seconds or so before fading away. I saw her face clearly and the fact she was soaking wet through. I told his tale several times to the local folk and none knew of any such sightings.

But one night I was drinking in one of the local pubs near to the cottage and told my tale one more time to a man in there. The man then confirmed he had the same sighting many times in his garden at the top of the lane. He described in detail what the girl was wearing and also confirmed she was soaking wet. 

He seemed to think after his research that the girl worked in the pit nearby. 

To add to this the local farmer and land owner, told his tale of seeing a man wearing a top hat and walking down into the ground as though there were steps leading somewhere. 

He and his friends were all in a car going up the farm lane and all saw the apparition which scared grown men. 

To this day they remember the ghostly man and get the shivers. This was the same pit lane where I saw this young girl. 

      

                 Story 2  1980’s

 Whilst working at a house in the town of Gt Harwood Lancs. I heard a voice coming from the bottom of the stairs in a large old house. I was the only person in the house at the time so it made me wonder who it was who was calling my name.

The voice came many times when I was going about my job and each time I stopped to look who was speaking but there was no one there at all. I obviously thought the owners had returned on each occasion, but they hadn’t, however it was clear that I wasn’t alone. 

As the job progressed I could feel the presence of someone watching me very closely. One day I was walking out of the rear bedroom, when the spirit of whoever came straight into my face, and indeed passed straight through me. The feeling was totally weird as I felt the spirit come out of the back of me, causing my skin to rise into hundreds of goose bumps. I was aware for many years of being psychic, but this sort of paranormal activity was new to me, so I decided to tell the house owners when they arrived home. 

That evening I sat and explained to them what I had seen, heard and felt near the back room. They were absolutely amazed as they had heard nothing at all.

The following weeks I returned to the house to be paid for my work, and the lady of the house told me she had been for a psychic reading for any information she might know of this ghostly event. She went on to tell me that the medium mentioned the ghost of an old man lived in the house and was present in the back room. She also confirmed I was working there and had picked up on the ghost of the old man. The lady of the house gave no information of the location or me. I do not know why but the family moved some time later, perhaps the ghostly event made their mind up.

            Story 3  2009

During my time living in Whalley Lancs, I had more psychic feelings than anywhere I had ever lived before. Sitting in my chair there was a clear picture of a face, which seemed to appear each time I looked. The strange thing was the face appeared in a tree opposite the houses. So each time I walked home down Mitton road and passed this particular tree. I stopped and gazed for ages up where the face appeared, but could see nothing at all. 

The sightings kept on and intensified and one day whilst sitting in my chair, I saw the broken face of an angel’s statue in the room, this was the turning point of the sightings really. The next time I walked down Mitton road I decided to climb over the old graveyard fence into the grounds. I suppose I was trying to discover more about the soldier and the angel and someone from the other side was prompting me so. 

As I entered the old graveyard I could see the vandalism which had been done some years previous, and the place was also badly neglected. I approached the section for WW1 soldiers and then it all came together. The angels head was lying there in the weeds, which had been smashed from her shoulders so I picked her up and place her back together. This was the start of some more psychic feelings regarding the soldier. At this moment I hadn’t made a connection to the face in the tree, but decided to visit an old medium friend in Blackburn.

Liz had spoken to me regarding my psychic abilities and was clear to say I possessed healing properties within my hands. I mentioned the face in the tree and she gave me the answer I was looking for. She didn’t know where I lived, but pointed out the cemetery and how I was next to an old field hospital. The tree overhung the little bridge into the hospital cemetery. The soldier had died on the train on the way into Caldertstones probably from the Spanish influenza. It seems like a guess but there is one more thing to mention in this series of psychic events, this is the fact that every morning as I awoke the words were clearly in my mind of the flower Heliotrope. This is strange but not quite as strange as you may imagine. 

The Spanish influenza which killed so many soldiers both in France and on their way home was given a name! Heliotrope cyanosis! because of the way it starved oxygen to the victim and turned the lips purple just like the flower. Liz pointed out the soldier died tragically like so many others of this cyanosis and before his time. He was unable to pass over to the other side as he was locked in misery. I never saw the soldiers face again but was sure he watched me put the angels head back. I prayed that day at the angel’s side and hope to this day he passed into the light. 

    Story 4 2009

Whilst living in the same place I had many psychic feelings, one which comes to mind quite clearly is the apparitions of three females at the foot of my bed. One woman, and two girl’s one aged fifteen maybe, and one eight years old at a guess. They stood and stared at me for about thirty seconds but the woman held out a blue box and opened the lid toward me. 

I wondered all day about the apparition but could not even place any reason why they should appear in my room. What were they trying to tell me, and what significance had the box. Again I asked my friend Liz the medium why and what was going on with this display. Her answer was quite clear as she said that they were telling me again, I had the ability to offer spiritual healing to others and I should offer to do so. 

As I lived in the village of Whalley, I had to walk into the centre to get any provisions or to see friends. I used to walk the same route daily and this meant on my return I always walked through Whalley churchyard. I took the same path every day without fail as the local shop was near there. One particular day I was drawn toward the lower path, into the bottom section of the graveyard. Someone was clearly leading me as I walked straight to a marble memorial and read the epitaph. I wasn’t at all surprised to find the names of the three females who visited my room with the blue box. Tragically all three died in a horse drawn carriage accident in Victorian times in the village

       Story 5