The few experiences I’ve had that could possibly have a paranormal origin – Part 2

Part 2: Shadow Person Sighting (and other anomalous phenomena), Ipswich, Suffolk  

A welcome I would always remember

 

Once upon a time........
Many years ago, when I first came to work in Suffolk back in 2001, I initially stayed with a friend for a couple of months, to test the water before relocating fully, as I wasn’t sure that I would remain with the company I was working for at the time, which was moving its Head Office from my native South Wales to Ipswich.

As things transpired, I was very fortunate to have my friend’s house all to myself for the first week - she had previously booked a holiday and had already departed before I arrived, allowing me to settle in and...... clean up any mess I’d made during the week on the seventh evening.

I picked up the keys for the property from a relative whilst driving through Ipswich, on my way to work, then took the decision to continue onto the office, rather than pop into the house quickly beforehand.

My first day in the office passed quickly and the working day soon came to a close. I decided not to stay on at work for too long and left, arriving at the house at around 5:30pm – it was a hot sunny evening, during the height of summer. Too hot and sunny for my liking, the truth be told.


The adventure begins 

The house is here, somewhere.

I had only one thought on my mind, simply to get out of the suit and switch into some comfortable, light clothing.

I parked up and walked down the path to the front door, keys in hand. Little did I know what the next couple of minutes would hold.

Alone?
Unlocking the door, I opened it and entered. I  found the house empty, as expected and didn’t give the matter any further thought.

Walking along the hall and past the staircase on my right, I made my way to the lounge at the rear of the property, on the left hand side of the hallway.

Finding the door slightly ajar, I pushed it open and headed right as I entered the room, to face the French doors overlooking the garden. 

Immediately and totally unexpectedly, I saw what I can only describe as a ‘shadow person’, approximately six foot tall, leaning slightly over the dining table next to the patio doors, as if studying something.

It was not blurry in anyway shape or form, it was clear and sharp, totally black and I, for some reason, perceived it to be male. 

It did not have a hat on as far as I could see.

Having caught my eye, the figure disappeared in an instant, it didn’t fade away, one second it was there, the next it was gone, vanished into thin air.

My immediate thought when I initially spotted the form was that it could have been another family member, who possibly had access to the house, but it quickly registered that what I’d seen was nothing of the sort. 

Although it seems strange, looking back at the event now, I didn’t really think much about what I’d seen at the time - I just simply put it down to the possibility I was seeing things, although for transparency, I must say that I was well aware of the shadow people phenomena at the time of the sighting. 

However, at this moment in my life, due to the pressures of work and the challenges of relocating, the paranormal and all its wonders was as far away in my mind as far as it could have ever been at that precise moment and, it would remain so for some time after. 

But, I haven’t really finished yet – there quickly followed another curious event that could possibly be linked to the shadow person, which occurred early the following morning.


Seconds out, round two.
After a good night’s sleep, I awoke to the alarm and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. 

In no particular rush, I slowly made my way to the kitchen, which was next to the lounge at the rear of the property, with a solid wall (as opposed to a partition) separating the two. When I entered the kitchen, to my complete astonishment, I found that all of the cabinet doors and draws in the kitchen units were swung wide open or, pulled out fully. 

Now, whilst I freely admit I wasn’t the tidiest of people at the time (Laura convinced me to see the errors of my ways when we met several years later), I have absolute confidence I didn’t leave the kitchen that way when I went to bed the previous evening. The odd draw or door slightly ajar, perhaps – but most definitely not all of them and, the draws fully extended.

An interesting disclosure
Despite the apparent flurry of anomalous activity that greeted me during my first twelve hours of being in the house, no other events occurred (to my knowledge) during my stay. However, when the time had come to move to my own house, I was enjoying a glass of wine with my friend on my final evening at the property, when she unexpectedly came out with “so, your last night in the witches’ house then?” 

My ears pricked up, curiosity piqued. 

I immediately pressed her as to what she had meant by what she had said. She replied that she believed the house to be haunted and, she frequently saw shadows scurrying out of the way when she entered rooms, even in the daylight. 

Not wishing to cause any alarm, I never told her of my experience on my first night, but her comment made what I’d witnessed all the more interesting and, possibly provided validation that I was not the only one who was experiencing similar phenomena there.

Not a shadow person......

Epilogue
A few years later, I eventually sat down and decided to research the property in earnest.

I was able to establish that the semi-detached house was constructed in the mid 20th Century, during a period of housing expansion in Ipswich, upon agricultural land which has previously seen service as an orchard. 

Indeed, to this day there still stands an old apple tree, in the centre of the garden, which presumably remains from the former orchard.

However, apart from this sparse information, I was unable to find any further history from my initial searches that could help provide an insight relating to what I saw, or indeed what was being witnessed by the family in general during their day to day life there. 

Neither could I be sure that any deep dive into the history would throw any further light to the narrative. 

Mark.

 

For my next article, although there will be a delay for the final final submission in the series, due to 'technical challenges', I shall discuss a curious event I experienced at a rural Suffolk Church which, some have said, has a dark and ominous, more recent history.

The few experiences I’ve had that could possibly have a paranormal origin - A Series

 Part 1: Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, England

Tutbury Castle - the sole surviving buildings

When I look back at the length of time I’ve spent researching the paranormal, I can only recall three, perhaps four occasions, outside of my research with Laura, where I’ve been witness to something which left me thinking perhaps......., events that even to this very day, I am at a loss to explain rationally.

Whilst none of the events in themselves could be described as particularly earth shattering, they have left a significant mark on me at a personal level. In the general scheme of things, I think perhaps now is the time to share the experiences, possibly in case any others have experienced similar phenomena in their lives at some time and wish to have the opportunity to discuss them, or simply just to record part of my paranormal journey to date.

A word of warning, the events are not in a chronological order, nor a decreasing level of importance to me. In reality, my chosen order of disclosure is probably a reflection of how easy I was able to decipher my personal notes more than anything else.

The first event I shall share occurred in the early hours of a cold winter’s morning, in the Undercroft at Tutbury Castle, which is located near Burton on Trent.

The Tutbury Castle Incident
All the way back in January 2006 I was contacted and asked if I would like to help out at a paranormal event that had been organised at short notice, at Tutbury Castle.

I usually steer clear of these sort of things, as I’ve written many times before. However, as it was a call for assistance from a friend, I felt that I really couldn’t decline the invitation, although I could really do without the likely eight hour round drive it would entail.

After detour for a rendezvous with the organisers near Chesterfield, we drove back south and found ourselves eventually arriving at the Castle.

Background
The event progressed through the evening and into the early hours, without incident. My only real lasting impression being of how little of the indoor areas of the Castle actually remained, contrary to how it was usually presented in the television shows in which it featured. 

As prearranged, at around 3 am, everyone packed up their equipment and gathered at the muster point in the entrance hall for refreshments, with many wisely taking the opportunity to take a nap.

I welcomed the opportunity to grab a hot cup of coffee, as I was, by now feeling the effects cold and, with my cameras having already given up the ghost.

With only a few people remaining awake, I poured myself another coffee and thought about the long drive home, when the peace was disturbed by the caretaker (of the Castle), who had accompanied us throughout the evening to ensure that we got up to no mischief, unexpectedly shouted out an invitation, to those still awake, to accompany him to the Undercroft and attempt a ‘calling out’ session. 

This raised a few eyebrows amongst us, as we’d earlier been informed (and it had been made very clear to us) that we could NOT have access to this area, not in this lifetime anyway.

The Incident
And so, it came to pass that the few hardy souls amongst us who were still conscious, found ourselves, braving the cold icy early morning air, locked away, huddled together in the even colder Undercroft.

Looking around, I did a head count and quickly calculated there was probably only ten of us, plus the caretaker, from the total group of attendees, who were present in the Undercroft.

After a short time spent acclimatising to the dim lighting provided by a couple of barely concealed torch beams, questions were asked out aloud, in no particular pattern and the claimed ‘sensitives’ amongst the group started, or so we were assertively informed, picking up information and, even being ‘touched’.

As proceedings progressed, a gentleman volunteered to stand on the spot where one of the spirits that was said to haunt the Undercroft, was allegedly ‘standing’.

The gentleman concerned was a mature chap, who I judged to be in his mid-fifties and didn’t seem the type to stand for any nonsense, which I presumed was why he put himself forward for the task in the first place.

He later confessed to me that he had no real interest in proceedings and was only present that evening to accompany his wife, a keen paranormal enthusiast.

Now by luck or by fate, the choice is yours, the spot where the ‘spirit’ was said to be standing just happened to be immediately in front of where I was sitting - on a bench, against the outside wall, about 15 feet to the right of the entrance door, as you entered the Undercroft.

As you can imagine, even in the dim light, this afforded me a great view of proceedings, with the gentleman stood about three feet away, my head directly level with his chest.

The gentleman was instructed to stand perfectly by the Caretaker and, soon one of the sensitives in the group asked the 'spirit' to touch him (the man).

Tobacco Tin - other brands are available

Almost immediately there was a loud clicking in response, which I can best describe as being very similar to when a tobacco, or sweet tin lid is flexed back and forth, as people of a certain age will probably remember very well.

This noise, as far as I could tell, came from the left breast pocket of the thick flannel shirt that the gentleman was wearing, which was his side nearest to me.

The gentleman himself had his hands clasped behind his back for the entire time the clicking was occurring, in full plain view.

The clicks continued for a couple of minutes, to order, in response to the questions now being asked, although there was no apparent pattern to the clicks that I could discern.

For further clarification, there was nothing at all contained in the gentleman’s breast pocket, which was flat against his chest. I particularly made a point of noting this, as by this stage of proceedings I was absolutely certain that the noise was originating from the area of his chest pocket, on his shirt.

After a couple of minutes the gentleman was, by this time, becoming visibly distressed, which was perhaps understandable in the circumstances, so the session was brought to a swift conclusion which, in turn, finally brought the whole event to a conclusion.

Aftermath
Whilst most of the group started to file out of the Undercroft, back to the muster point, the gentleman remained in situ, talking to his wife who had now crossed the room to join him.

Likewise, I remained behind, with the intention of discussing the incident with the man, to establish his perspective of events. 

When I suitable moment arose, I took the opportunity to ask the gentleman if the noise was originating from his breast pocket, as I had assumed, or elsewhere.

Without hesitation he confirmed that this was indeed correct, the noise had came from his breast pocket, which was clearly empty of any contents. 

I then asked if he had physically felt anything during his experience, which he confirmed this was indeed the case, going onto describe that he had felt a strong tapping on his chest, in time with the clicking and confirmed the physical tapping and the clicking were related and, was the same event.

The whole incident was captured in full, on camcorder, albeit from the gentleman’s rear and observed or heard by all present in the Undercroft and, from my perspective, right in front of my own eyes.

Unfortunately, although I was aware of who possessed the video, I was never able to secure a copy, in spite of promises, although I was informed that, having being shot from behind the gentleman, the video only recorded the clicking sound and nothing else of interest.

In the cold light of day, I have on many occasions tried to reason out what I had witnessed, although I will not bore everyone with my deliberations here.

Still, to this day, I haven’t a clue as to the cause of the phenomena, nor do I have any rational explanation for it.

Ever since, I've sought out and diligently read any reports of ghost hunts or investigations I could find, that have taken place at Tutbury, but, to this day, I've yet to read about any similar phenomena being witnessed.

Some seven years later, I was encouraged by a respected member of the paranormal community to contact Lesley Phillips, who has been the curator at Tutbury Castle since 2000, to discuss my experience and establish if any similar reports had been received by Leslie or her team directly.

I received a very quick response from Lesley, who thanked me for reporting the event, but at the same time unfortunately advised that she wasn’t aware of any reports of similar phenomena being witnessed in the Undercroft, although she commented that this was the area which produced most reports from witnesses of paranormal phenomena, in her experience.

Mark. 

In the next article, I shall be discussing my possible sighting of a shadow man, in full daylight, in the hot summer sun.