Spooky Ghost Story

by Sarah Hoyland, Runcorn, UK

 

I became obsessed with spooky stories at a young age, and my Grandad bought me lots of books on the subject. I adored seeing ghostly photos and reading about poltergeists, but little did I know my family had our own ghost story. I'll try my best to explain what I remember, but it has been a long time since the story was told properly to me.

 

We live in Runcorn, a town near Liverpool in the UK. The incident in question took place in Halton Village. We have several stories of spooks in this area, including prisoners who still haunt the castle, ruin dungeons, ghostly goings on in an old library, and supposedly a phantom traveller (the rumour is that if you listen closely you can hear the sound of the horse's footsteps...before you know where it's coming from, it's passed you by and is trotting into the distance; no horse or traveller to be seen). You'll have to forgive my lack of knowledge regarding dates and years. It began in the days when travel was done by horse and carriage. There was a massive house on Main Street in Halton Village, and it was used as a doctor's surgery. There was a stable on that area of property the doctor owned, and also a massive garden. The man who worked in the stable and looked after the doctor's and patients' horses was a man named Harry. He worked very hard at what he did. That is until one day, he heard a strange noise approaching the house. To Harry's utter shock and dismay, he learned that the wealthy doctor had purchased an automobile.  Harry panicked. The doctor had a car. A car meant "no horses." No horses, in Harry's eyes, ultimately meant "no job." Instead of being calm and realizing there were still patients who would be travelling by horse and carriage, Harry went into the stable, and took his own life.  He hung himself from a beam.

Years went by, and the house (along with the massive garden and stable) was sold to my grandma. Grandma had big plans for this property. It became Halton House Residential Home.  But what of the stable, where the poor man had taken his life many years before?  Grandma had it converted into a small house where she lived with my grand dad, my great grand dad (grand dad Tom), my mother, and my aunt. She knew of the story of Harry, but there were no disturbances for a while. Things began to happen when my mother was roughly seventeen and training to be a nurse.

 

One night my grandma was in bed when she became very aware of someone else in the room with her. Grand dad and Grand dad Tom were downstairs, and her daughters were in their rooms, as far as she knew.  The door hadn't opened, but there was very definitely someone in the room with her. She sat up and peered into the darkness at the foot of her bed. At first she thought it was my aunt she could see, but as her eyes properly adjusted, she realised it was a man...a tall man, taller than my grand dad or grand dad Tom.  He seemed to glow dimly, like he wasn't quite there. As quickly as my Gran put the light on to confront this strange man, he'd vanished. The door remained closed. No-one had entered or left through it.  Gradually, strange occurrances like this became the norm in the household.  Most notably was the cold spot in the living room that was by my Gran's chair. She said to me, "I used to sit there with your grand dad in that toasty warm living room, and suddenly, the air in a certain place underneath a main beam would go icy cold.  We used to say "Oh, Harry's come to visit." However, living with cold spots, hairs standing up on the back of necks, and an odd smell (I'm sure my grand dad said every now and then the house smelled horrid for no reason) was easy enough for my family. What my Grandma couldn't take was when the ghost scared her children.