Ghostly Encounters
My dad is convinced his little council bungalow is haunted. Things would move and turn up in odd places (a screwdriver once went missing whilst he was repairing a door and turned up a week later in a bag of potatoes!) and the dog would often stare at the corner of the room, look up and growl at nothing. Anyway.

I didn't really take it too seriously until I went to visit him for a few days. One morning I woke up to a strange tapping noise in the room. As I tried to get out of the bed a breeze of air caught the curtains (like someone had run through the room) and I felt a heaviness on my chest (like someone was sitting on my chest) and worst of all, two cold hands around my neck, throttling me. For close to five minutes I couldn't scream or move. I didn't tell my dad, but five years on I've owned up that I've also had my own ghostly issues with the bungalow and given him a digital camera and minidisk recorder to catch any strange goings-on.

So far we've only caught black shapes on camera, but oddly whenever you take anything battery powered (rechargable or otherwise) into the bedroom the power saps instantly.

Scarily, 13 years into his tenancy dad has gotten used to his visitor and often can communicate with him (her?) crudely - when the tapping starts late at night my dad says 'come on now, shut up' and it stops instantly.

What are your spooky tales?
(Northern Lovely, Thu 12 Apr 2007, 13:30, Reply)