Neil gave a crooked smile, recalling his youth. ‘I used to meet with my friends and use an Ouija board for a laugh. One night we all met in the bottom of the garden shed and brought the board. We lit some candles and locked the shed door from the inside. We sat around the board asking questions as we usually did. We all had our fingers on the glass, and it was really moving back and forth. Someone asked a question. The glass shot across the board and smashed on the floor. We all jumped up as a cold breeze blew over us, extinguishing the candles at the same time. We began yelling we wanted to get out, but in all the panic someone dropped the door key. We were trapped. The door was locked, and everyone was screaming. We got the fright of our lives. That was the last time we played with an Ouija board.’
I was entertained by the story, but it raised more questions than it answered. Could Neil’s past dabbling in the supernatural be connected with the problems in our home? I treated the situation the same way I would any investigation. Find the source of the incident then deal with it. It worked fine with flesh and blood people but was not so easy when dealing with the paranormal. We went over other unusual events that occurred in our lives throughout the years. Neil explained when he was in his twenties, he worked as a manager of a leisure centre. One night he was locking up after everyone left. When the lights went out, a cold breeze came over him as a child’s voice whispered his name. He turned around and saw a little girl in Victorian clothing standing there, staring at him. She had an unearthly appearance. Neil panicked and ran out of the building as the vision of the little girl disappeared. He later spoke to his work colleagues about his experience. Apparently, the sighting of the little girl was not uncommon, and he was not the first person to report it.
Later in life he had other strange experiences, but closed himself off to them as he was uncomfortable with the feeling they brought. When he was twenty-eight, he moved to Ireland to work for his family business, and that is where we met. After five years together in Ireland, we had Alice and moved to England along with Joe and Sarah, my two children from my first marriage. It was a big step for us, but a welcome one as I looked forward to starting a new life overseas. We rented a house in Clacton on Sea. It was near Neil’s parents, who moved there after retiring. Strange incidents occurred in our rented house. A spare downstairs room remained freezing cold while the rest of the house was warm. Our normally placid dog often stood at the door of the room looking inside, barking at thin air with her hackles up. Whispers woke me from my sleep, but when I checked, there was nobody there. Footsteps echoed up and down the stairs. I got out of bed to scold the children, only to discover they were all sound asleep. I made enquiries and found the previous tenants. They told me an elderly woman used to live there and had died in her sleep in that downstairs room. I did not know how to react at the time. I had never encountered anything paranormal in my life until then. Neil took it in his stride.
One day I walked into the downstairs room. Feeling a little foolish, I said we were sorry if we upset anyone and were not staying there very long. A few days afterwards the room temperature was normal, and the dog never barked at it again. Whatever I had said seemed to work.
This sparked an interest in all things spiritual. Neil and I were both Catholics and our religion frowned on dabbling in the paranormal. However, my curiosity was spiked and I attended a Spiritualist church a few times out of interest. Eventually I stopped going. Life was busy, and we settled back into a normal routine.
After renting for a couple of years, we were keen to buy a new house, and found a proposal for new builds. Set in a quiet rural village, it seemed idyllic. We viewed the plans of the house and instantly fell in love with it. Its four bedrooms and three bathrooms were ideal for our growing family and I loved the prospects of living near the beach. By the time we were in a position to buy, the house was built and we put an offer in. We moved in that summer and a few months later David was born. It was perfect. Our family was complete, and we were happy.
It was several years before anything strange occurred. I enjoyed working in the Police, which was varied and interesting. The older children were settled in school and David was due to start the following year. Neil got a job in security with Lee and met his friend Chris at a local pub.
Overall, the house felt peaceful, but as time went on, Neil felt very low. He could not explain it, but sometimes he felt depressed for no reason, which was so unlike him.
Keys were sometimes found in strange places and things went missing, but we put it down to our memory playing tricks on us. Looking back, I wondered if it had been a sign of things to come.
The buzzing of the oven timer brought me abruptly back into reality. I dismissed thoughts of the past, knowing the answers did not lie in the recesses of my memory. I took the steaming chicken from the oven as Neil set the table.
That night I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The glow of the streetlight provided little comfort as my eyes chased the shadows in the dark corners of the room. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed a black figure looming in front of the wardrobe. I peered into the dark, fumbling for the bedside light. Shit! A coat. It’s just a coat hanging up. Stop overreacting. I exhaled loudly as my heart fluttered in my chest. David snored gently between us. I leaned forward to check on the rest of the children, asleep on their mattresses. Staring at Neil through the dim light, I willed him awake. ‘Neil,’ I whispered, ‘are you asleep?’ The thoughts of something in our house made my skin crawl. I could not shake off the uneasy feeling it was watching me.
Neil rubbed his eyes and turned to face me. ‘I haven’t really slept, what time is it?’
I looked at my digital clock, its numbers glowing red. ‘It’s gone two. I keep thinking about what happened,’ I whispered.
‘I know. The growling noises are playing over and over in my head,’ he whispered, rubbing his face with his hands as if trying to wash away the memories. It was the closest Neil would get to admitting he was scared.
‘Try not to think about it. We’ll be fine,’ I said in my most convincing voice. I did not want to discuss growling noises and was desperate for sleep. David murmured restlessly. I put my arm around his little body and cuddled into him. The children were my life, and I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to them. After a long night of unease, I fell asleep.
The next morning we woke early for church. The day passed without incident and we started our evening watching a movie on our oversized television. Lee called in, and the atmosphere in the house was relaxed as we watched TV. I lay in my usual position, curled up beside Neil on the red cushioned sofa, David and nine year old Alice cuddled up beside me. My attention was drawn to the lights flickering in the living room. Neil and I glanced at each other, trying not to jump to conclusions. I switched on the lamp and turned off the lights for peace of mind. I was tired and hoped for an uneventful night. Lee sat in the chair across from us, chatting as he picked at the fray in the knee of his jeans. I raised my head and sniffed the air. ‘Does anyone smell smoke?’
Neil looked up. ‘Yeah, I think so. You’d better check the kitchen.’
I followed the direction of the smoke out to the kitchen as our smoke alarms in the hall beeped a piercing chorus. Smoke came billowing through the door as I opened it. Hearing the whirr of the oven, I turned it off, then grabbed a tea towel from the counter and pulled the smoking tray from the oven. Choking a cough, I threw it into the sink and turned on the tap as the drenched tray hissed in protest. I opened the back door and gulped in the fresh air. ‘Has anyone turned on the oven and forgotten about it?’ I shouted, hoping someone would say yes. Silence. Neil approached me as I flapped the smoke alarm with a tea towel.
He spoke in a low voice to keep the others from hearing. ‘I’m worried by this. I don’t like the prospect of the oven coming on by itself. What if the house goes on fire when we’re in bed?’
‘I don’t think that could happen. Don’t forget the smoke alarms,’ I said, pointing out the obvious.
‘Oh. I didn’t think of that.’ Neil turned off the electricity supply switch on the wall to keep it from happening again. Regardless, the switch clicked into life and the oven turned on four times in total that day. We decided to stay and settled back down. I refused to be bullied out of the home I loved, and hoped that by ignoring everything it would leave us alone. However, it was not to be. Lara, our black Cocker Spaniel stared in the direction of the kitchen, narrowing her eyes and emitting a low rumbling growl. I watched as she stood with one paw raised, guarding her territory. She snarled a warning into the silence. Neil tensed beside me. ‘Lara, here baby, what’s wrong?’ I called. She snapped out of her trance, wagging her tail while padding over to me, casting one last glance behind her. Neil walked to the kitchen to check. ‘Everything okay?’ I shouted.
‘Yeah… oh.’ A small clattering noise followed.
I jumped off my chair to check if he was all right. I found Neil looking up at the ceiling and back down at the floor while rubbing the top of his head.
He turned to me, confused. ‘A pen just missed my head. It’s weird, it seemed to come from the ceiling.’
I looked at the pen on the ground. ‘And I hoped for a quiet night,’ I mumbled under my breath. I packed a precautionary bag and left it by the front door in case we needed to get away in a hurry. Alice did not like to go into any of the rooms on her own and followed her sister Sarah around for most of the day. Despite everything that happened, the children did not want to leave for Clacton. I dragged out their mattresses, back onto the floor of our bedroom in preparation for the night ahead. Lara, our cocker spaniel, seemed to sense my worry and walked into our bedroom, her head bowed. She knew she was not allowed in, and I ruffled the fur on her head as she sat next to me. ‘What are we going to do, eh Lara?’
She responded by licking my hand, her tail drumming a beat against our carpeted floor.
That night as the children slept, I regretted our decision to stay. The brave face I had been wearing began to melt away as I lay in the darkness. Neil’s breathing grew shallow, and I fought the urge to wake him. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax, but could not block out the worrying thoughts that demanded an audience. As I grew drowsy my thoughts grew more disturbing, intermingling with scenes from every horror film I had ever watched. I had just fallen into a light sleep before being awoken by a clatter, followed by a chorus of dog barks downstairs. I looked at the clock that glowed three a.m. A feeling of dread washed over me as I tried to muster up the courage to get up and check. Neil was in a deep sleep. After glancing over the children, I pulled the duvet up to my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the world. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. I felt like such a coward, but couldn’t bring myself to check out the cause of the noise. I preferred walking into a room full of burglars than what could be waiting for me downstairs. The dogs settled down. I tried to slow my breathing. It was a long, endless night. Sunlight filtered through the window blinds, and I fell asleep.
The activity ceased as mysteriously as it had begun. Every day without activity was a glimmer of hope. I did not want to take any chances and arranged for investigators to attend. They were a small team of people, which consisted of mediums and paranormal investigators. Neil believed the activity ceased as the entity was lying low until the mediums left. Entity. That was what Neil called it. I looked the word up in a dictionary, something that has real existence, being, considered as distinct, independent, self-contained. The meaning was not as creepy as the word implied, and an improvement on Poltergeist, spirit, or demon. I sighed, trying to come to terms with the alien words that were becoming part of my everyday language.
CHAPTER FIVE
Mediums & Misunderstandings
The mediums arrived the next day. I watched as they unloaded cameras, electronic voice phenomena recorders and various other bits of electrical equipment I did not recognise. ‘Never a dull moment,’ I murmured, peering through the living room blinds before putting on a kettle for coffee and tea. Right now, I would welcome a little boredom into my life. Introductions were made with the family and Lee, who was present to offer his support. The lead investigator was a short red-faced man in his early thirties. He told us to call him *Steve, and introduced a tall slim man named *Greg, whose main concern was the equipment he carried. He nodded a curt acknowledgement as he fiddled with electrical leads.
Steve gestured to the short woman standing behind him, introducing her as *Beth. Her eyes danced around the room, and I guessed she was psychic. I nodded a smile and her bracelets jangled as she shook my hand. She wore a black dress with delicate beading, and her dark hair tumbled down onto her shoulders.
She stepped back as Neil extended his hand to shake hers, unwilling to make the gesture. Putting her hand to her mouth, she tried to explain. ‘I’m really sorry, but I can’t come too close to you.’
Neil smiled quizzically at her reaction.
‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m a sensitive and pick up on things. Unfortunately, you make me feel quite sick.’
‘I’ve never been told that by a woman before!’ Neil said laughing.
‘I noticed it the minute I walked in. I just need to keep my distance, and I will be fine.’ Beth smiled and went on about her business.
Steve was also a psychic. ‘Is it true nobody has lived here before you?’
‘Yes,’ Neil replied. ‘It’s just as I said on the phone, we bought this place new.’
Steve rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ‘Hmmm, curious.’
‘You can have free rein to wander around. I’m willing to sacrifice a bit of privacy so you can help us out,’ Neil said.
I nodded in agreement, ‘Yes, the children are staying in Clacton tonight so you won’t be disturbing anyone.’ I realized we were beginning to sound a bit desperate, so I left them to it.
The investigators explored the house, and after half an hour, they joined us downstairs. Steve sat with Neil and Lee in the living room. ‘There’s nothing malevolent in this house,’ Steve declared, ‘but it’s clear you are the focus of attention.’
Neil narrowed his eyes, clearly unhappy with the sweeping statement.
Steve threw a pen on the ground. ‘Can you move that with your mind?’
‘Of course not,’ Neil said.
‘What if you’re angry, do you think you could do it then?’
‘No, Steve, I couldn’t.’
‘Do you get mad at things, are you bad tempered?’
I quickly intervened, ‘Neil’s not an angry person, he likes a quiet life.’
Neil failed to hide his annoyance, and I began to regret inviting the strangers into our home.
Steve asked Lee the same questions. He picked up the pen and threw it again.
Lee laughed and looked at Steve as if he was mad. All the same, he stared at the pen for a few minutes. It did not budge.
Steve turned off the lights and tried communicating in the dark. With no apparent response, he suggested a different tactic and asked if I had any mirrors. I hauled out our full-length framed mirror from my bedroom and held it in the centre of the floor as instructed. Steve asked Neil to stare into it. He visibly cringed, not enamoured by his reflection at the best of times.
The legs of the dining chair screeched against the wooden floor as Neil dragged it towards the mirror. Sitting down, he leaned forward and stared into the reflective glass.
It’s like a scene from Bohemian Rhapsody, I thought as I peeped into the mirror to see Neil’s face framed by the other watchers in the dimmed light. I stood until my legs ached, then sat back down, convinced if you stared at anything long enough, something strange would appear. Neil joined me on the sofa, giving up on the mirror experiment.
Before the mediums left, they spent time meditating in sil
ence in an attempt to find some answers.
I looked at my watch. It was getting late and the lack of activity left me disappointed.
Steve suddenly snapped his eyes open and raised his hand in the air. ‘Wait, I’m picking something up. Neil and Lee, you both have a bond, pervading through from past lives together.’ This gained Neil’s attention, and he leaned forward in anticipation. Steve closed his eyes and sat in silence for a few more seconds before continuing. ‘Whatever is causing this has also shared a past life with you. In fact, it’s possible you were three brothers.’
Beth agreed, ‘I’ve been getting that too. I keep coming up with the words, ‘Band of Brothers’.’
Steve agreed with her findings and continued to describe the image of Neil, Lee and a young blonde haired male. They were wearing army uniforms, military style jackets and boots. He described a war ground, tanks, and explosions all around them. ‘A bomb went off,’ Steve paused, his eyes closed, ‘the third man died of a head injury… this affected his rational thought after he passed away.’ Steve nodded, as if in silent conversation. ‘Yes… He is happy Neil and Lee are back in each other’s lives, and he wants to spend time with them together.’ Steve opened his eyes and gazed in the distance.
That was all he could tell us. I wondered if it was true. The story of Neil and Lee having a past connection was interesting.
Steve pointed out the way they were both dressed. ‘Why, look at your clothes? I prove my point.’
I couldn’t help but laugh. He was right. Neil and Lee were identically dressed in light blue jeans, cream coloured sweatshirts, white trainers. They both had the same cropped hairstyles, and the same adolescent sense of humour. Neil discussed the other links he shared with Lee. They both originated from England. They moved to Ireland at around the same time and lived just miles away from each other. They moved back to England at around the same time and took up residence in the same area. It was then that they met, at the local pub.
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