CHAPTER 18 FOOTBALL SKILLS

 

“See you tomorrow Del!” I had said waving at Bruce, who was waiting with Derek for the Women’s Institute to arrive for a booking until 8pm.

According to Derek it started as a mostly uneventful evening.

The Womens’ Institute had their meeting and he and Bruce sat in our office next door to the library. He said they only came out to ask where the toilets were once. He directed them to the toilet in the office on the other side of the entrance hall. When they returned he started reading the Daily Mirror.

Bruce, who had been lying on the floor quite contentedly, now sat up, staring down the corridor, ears bolt upright, back rigid, lifting his paws one by one.

Derek said he watched him closely. Bruce was watching someone…or something down the hall corridor! He looked like he was trying to make sense of something.

Derek said it took a great deal of nerve to bend to the left and look down there but when he did, he saw nothing. He put his hand out to stroke Bruce but the dog ducked his head, not wanting to lose sight of what it was looking at.

Derek said he heard a noise, quiet at first but then it continued and increased in volume, a constant noise like a marble or something rolling across the floor.

He looked at Bruce who was staring even harder at something, moving from paw to paw faster.

Then, it happened.

A netball slowly rolled into the room stopping between Bruce’s front legs. Dennis said he nearly passed out, he could feel the blood drain from his face but he watched as Bruce rested his head on the top of the ball and then stood up and nudged the ball out of the room and into the foyer.

Derek had told me that Bruce was an expert dribbler with a ball and had kept 12 men at bay in the car park of the working mans club next to West Hams ground which was then in Upton Park. For over 20 minutes they could not get the ball off him.

Out in the foyer Derek watched Bruce run around with the ball, serving left and right, spinning around, heading the ball when it bounced in the air after hitting a chair for around ten minutes. Derek started to smile, his love for watching Bruce having fun took the place of his first question: where did the ball come from? It didn’t take long for him to realise something else.

Bruce was ducking, swerving, spinning around and nudging a ball, but Derek suddenly understood that he was playing against someone or something that only he could see!

To Dennis, there was only Bruce. Why did he keep stopping, defying someone else to try and take the ball away from him?

After a further few minutes, Bruce nudged the ball back into the office and lay down next to it, looking down the corridor. Dennis left with the Womens Institute and put a lead on Bruce and walked him home. His mind was all over the place. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.

CHAPTER 17 BRUCE MEETS EVERYONE...LITERALLY

 Derek opened the school up next day. I met him outside and we went into the front doors. The cleaners, who congregated at the front gate every morning came in with us. I’d decided it was best to open the school from the front entrance doors rather than from opening the gates in Manbey Street and then the rear door of the school and make your way through an empty school in the dark, turning on lights as you went.

It was a break from decades of routine but it made sense to me. I should have made the change before. It was strange to think that walking in with 14 old ladies of retirement age was any form of protection, but I saw it as a deterrent to anything that might happen. There were now too many witnesses. Less chance of a Ghostly interruption, or so I thought!

One of the cleaners, Flo, started moaning to me at the top of her voice about doors not being unlocked in time for her to get into them to dust the surfaces, which was all they really did in the mornings, unless they were cleaning up after a meeting the night before in one of the rooms on their area. It was almost impossible to understand what Flo was saying sometimes so you just smiled, nodded and agreed.

Derek was making his way around unlocking doors and being directed by the cleaners which was a fatal thing to do. They knew the routine but were taking advantage of the ‘new guy”.

Flo was shouting at him which was standard procedure as she had been born stone deaf. She could lip read, which was good sometimes but bad other times, like when John had been subjected to a deafening torrent of abuse from her before she stormed off, only to turn back and stare at him just as he whispered, “Bugger off you old cow!” under his breath resulting in her throwing a mop at him. He got his own back by sitting in an armchair watching her vacuum the staff room carpet. He flicked the plug socket off and the vacuum died. Flo spent the next ten minutes cleaning the pipe, emptying the bag, replacing the bag, shaking the hoover and then, at the moment when she took the head off the metal pipe and stared down it under the light, he got up and flicked the switch on and shot out door and up the first staircase. No one knew until that moment that Flo wore a wig. It was never the same once it was retrieved from the hoover bag.

This was a day when the pupils came in to discover who their new form teacher was going to be and to discuss what they wanted to achieve at the end of the school year. It was a new way of planning and a little confusing for them. It confused me, but it was nothing to do with us. The cleaners finished and left. Derek went home and I stayed.

I’d written my resignation letter over the weekend. Well, Wanda had. She was determined to get me working with her. I had thanked the people at the council; I’d cited a new job offer away from the council as my reason for leaving and gave the required 2 week notice. I read it sitting at a table in the Library next door to our office. I put it in an envelope. I would place it in the internal mail bag that was picked up every morning at 9am by a council worker in a van. There were no emails in those days.

As I'd read it I was aware that three books had fallen off of the shelves. There was no reason for it. I picked them up one by one. One book was called ‘D.O.S. computing.’ And the two others were Denis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out and Anthony D Hippisley Coxe’s Haunted Britain. ‘Who the hell picks the library books?’ I thought.

I smiled as I looked at them and put them on a shelf. I told myself that I was soon out of here.

A few things happened with the staff and kids that involved me but apart from those it was a very quiet day until 4pm when Derek arrived. Just before he put his head around the door I heard a little bit of movement outside and some strange footsteps. Quick and light footed they came nearer to the door and then..

A dark Brown and white Jack Russell sat in the doorway staring at me expectantly.

“Good afternoon”. Derek said in a rough fake goofy dog voice from behind the doorframe.

“Hello Bruce!” I said to the dog. He walked nearer and sat between my feet, leaning into my right leg just below the knee. I reached down to stoke him and he immediately lay on his back with his legs in the air.

He was a very friendly, lively, fast dog. Full of energy and very alert.

Derek set off to check parts of the school and lock them up. Bruce was following behind, his tail wagging furiously, looking for adventure. Nearly all the kids and most of the teachers had gone. I should have too, but Wanda was picking me up at 5:30 so I waited for her. The cleaners had emptied their bins and dusted down and were leaving. Next day was a normal routine.

Suddenly I heard Bruce barking and growling. Then some doors closing and being locked. They were being locked frantically and noisily. I got up, threw my newspaper on the desk and took off running down the corridor, (again, at what I didn’t know) just as Derek and Bruce got to the corner. Bruce was staring at the locked corridor doors, barking madly, giving it his best and directing his rage at what was there on the other side. Derek bent over with his hands on his knees looking like he was having a game of leap frog, catching his breath.

Bruce was barking so hard his paws were coming off the ground.

I looked down the corridor to where the doors were and we followed him as he walked towards them. Each blue door was solid apart from each one having, at head height, an eight inch by five inch glass window in them. I looked through one of them at the point where both Giles and I had seen the shadow figure. There was nothing but an empty space of corridor with the science lab doors on either side.

I turned back to Derek.

“What happened?”

He took a moment to catch his breath. Bruce had calmed down and was sitting at his feet.

“He started barking in there and when I looked I saw someone in there near the cupboard where all the chemicals are kept. I couldn’t make out who it was. It was in the shadows, a figure, big, it was dark and it just disappeared. Bruce kept on barking and I grabbed him and we got out into the corridor but it felt like it was coming for us. I had to pull Bruce down the corridor and I locked the doors. He wanted to get it!”

“You keep saying ‘it’” I told him. “What do you mean?”

“That thing you were telling me about, what you and John saw.”

“Right?” I replied,

“I heard a voice saying, GET OUT!”

I was amazed and obviously looked it.

“Seriously Dave. It was a horrible voice! Over and over again.”

I had been standing with my back to the doors and I leaned back on them to think, now aware that our problems were getting more regular. I slowly became aware of the doors being slowly pushed from the other side, making me stand up straight, they moved about an inch. I looked back through the glass but there was nothing.

We walked back to the front entrance.

Derek had to ready the Library for the Womens Institute meeting. I knew he was glad it was next door to the office, I would have been too. Wanda beeped the hooter of her car outside having seen me in the hall.

Tomorrow Giles was calling with his findings…

Bruce lay down on the mat in the office.

Till tomorrow…

“See you tomorrow Del!” I said waving at Bruce.

CHAPTER 16 WALKING AND RUNNING!

 

As mad as my decision was, I didn’t have a better idea. It was impulsive, intuitive, and every other adjective instead of Sane.

I ran towards the noise, my face creased with anger, at something I couldn’t see but was certain was there, coming towards me. Fists clenched, arms wide and roaring my head off, at something I could only hear coming my way. I had no idea where what was walking towards me was, but I remember the freezing patch of air I hit. I passed through what felt like ice and stopped. I felt like I had just stepped out of a freezer. Looking behind me I could see what appeared to be a distortion in the air. Then, slowly, it faded. Everything I saw through the haze, the doors, the office, was bent a little out of shape. It was like looking through a prism, and then it was gone. Everything was back to normal.

I just stood there, waiting. Nothing. No response, no noise, no reaction, nothing. I walked back, retracing my steps to the office and sat down in a chair next to the radiator. I was slowly warming up again when I heard John and Derek coming back down the corridor I had just run down. As if I needed confirmation, I stared at their feet. They were both wearing trainers, not shoes. Their feet made no sound. I wasn’t insane.

John made his goodbyes after Derek reassured me that he was ready take over from him. It wasn’t a difficult job, as I said before, it was ‘reactionary’. You dealt with what happened on a daily bases. I knew a lot about that. Anything could happen at a moment’s notice. I knew a lot about that too.

I shook hands with John and wished him good luck in his new role in East Ham as I walked him to the front door for the last time.

“I filled Derek in on what’s happened here Dave.” He said, “He had heard a lot from others in the council. It’s quite common knowledge it seems.”

I nodded, as I had been asked by at least 8 other caretakers and assistants about it so it was no surprise.

Every time we went to the Pyramid Building in Stratford to pick up our wages quite a few people I did not know nodded to me and the occasional whispering happened. Some even gave that pitying big grin that people use at funerals as if it conveys a message of ‘I understand what you are going through’.

I waved John off and he got to the end of Deanery road, turned around and looked back, waving. and giving me a double thumbs up.

As I waved back I noticed he looked to the right at the windows in the offices and staffroom on the ground floor of the school. Something had caught his eye. He backed away, around the corner of Water Lane towards the Romford road and he was gone. I never once saw him take his eyes off the school. He was staring at something.

I stepped back into the large Foyer and thought about locking the front door but thought better of it.

I walked back to the office and found Derek had made a cup of tea for us. We sat there in silence for a while. I kept thinking about John staring at the windows in the offices.

“I’ve got a dog. Only a little one. A Jack Russell. Would it be OK if I brought him in with me if I am doing a letting? He’s no trouble. If I give him a ball he amuses himself for hours.”

I was still miles away but had heard him. I knew dogs were very intuitive and picked up on all sorts of things.

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Derek. An excellent idea!”

“Thanks, Cheers!” he said clinking our mugs.

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Bruce!” He said with pride.

“Well, here’s to Bruce!” I said. “Cheers!”

Yes. This was an excellent idea!

 

CHAPTER 15 OPENING UP

Wanda and I spoke about all the ‘happenings’ in the school over the last few months. She was fascinated, even to the point of taking her Filofax out of her bag and making notes! 

She was up to speed on the initial stuff but after a while I stopped updating her about the heightened level of experiences. She was livid about being kept in the dark about the latest Ghost Club involvement. I was still training people at different companies in sales techniques in my downtime from the school and Wanda had her company D.I.S.C. which was getting busier. 

I had helped her start that up and had trained the 5 girls that worked for her on customer persuasion techniques and closing skills so they can upserve their clients from one filing cabinet of records transferred to floppy disk (yes! A Floppy disk) allowing Wanda to come in and upgrade the contract from one department to the whole company.

By 10pm we were ready to leave so we headed to the usual wine bar, the Charleston near Maryland Point. We had decided that I was going to leave the Council and join her as her partner in D.I.S.C. We celebrated with a bottle of champagne and then got a taxi back to her flat in Harold Road in Leytonstone. The future looked bright, and it was for a few years.

Giles called my Gordon Gecko Mobile phone on Saturday afternoon. I think it was a Motorola DynaTac but I could be wrong. It was a real housebrick. Giles had already changed his arrival to the Monday at around 10am but maybe a little later. I spent the time thinking about how to leave the Council. A new assistant was coming on Monday and I needed to get him up to speed. My car was still parked outside the school in Deanery Road so I got a cab and went and picked it up. I looked it over in case there had been any tampering and looked up at the front entrance. I could see that the hall doors were open. I knew they were shut when we left. Whatever it was, it would wait until Monday. I would deal with that fresh hell then.

On Monday I did exactly as I had decided to do. I waited in my car for any signs of life. It would be John, Giles or Derek. My money was on Derek. I heard a car coming down Deanery Rd behind me. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Bertha, Giles’ ‘half-timbered’ car, getting nearer and nearer, and then slowing down to park behind me.

I looked to my left at the school entrance and noticed the hall doors were closed. I felt a chill go through me. They were open Saturday morning, and I hadn’t closed them.

I opened my car door and said hello to Giles who was pulling out a reel to reel tape recorder from the back of the car.

I looked across at the school and pointed.

“Giles, I left my car here on Friday night, when I came to pick it up Saturday Morning the doors either side of the hall were open. They’re not now.”

“Can they shut on their own? Wind or anything?

“No, like all the doors around the hall the hinges have a point where, if you open it past that point the door has to be pulled shut.” I became aware of someone approaching fast from my right.

“Dave, I’m Derek.”

“Hello Mate,“ I said, shaking his hand.

“And who are you? A teacher?” he asked, looking up at Giles.

“I am just working here for a couple of days.” Giles answered diplomatically.

“Not the Ghosthunter then?” Derek sounded disappointed.

“Yes!” Giles told him, confusing Derek a little.

I reached into my jeans pocket.

“Derek, take this key, let yourself in, turn left and our office is on the left.” I told him as I unlocked the padlock and chain on the front gate, “Bung the kettle on and get settled in. John will be here to show you the ropes in about ten minutes.”

“Great, thanks.” Derek trotted off.

Giles and I formed a plan for him making his recordings. He would go and wander around and see what happened. I took that as meaning he was going to agitate it into life if he could.

John whistled as he came around the corner at the junction of Water Lane with Deanery Road and waved.

We spoke a while and I had to admit that I had got him the new job. Darren had told him anyway. Typical! John shook my hand and thanked me for doing that and said he would be glad to finally leave the place. He wanted to rush through the induction of Derek but wouldn’t.

I followed John up the steps and in, and a few minutes later Giles came in, Nodded to me after I gave him a master key and he walked off down the corridor and turned left in the direction of where we had both seen the shadowman.

I looked in the hall and everything seemed to be just as it had been left. Strange. Why were the doors open and then shut?

John was over in the Old School with Derek taking him through all the cleaning machinery that we had in the store cupboard.

The phone on the desk rang, it was Wanda, asking if I had told the council I was leaving?

“Not yet,” I told her, “Give me a chance!”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“Hmm, let’s think, work in a haunted school or help you with world domination? Tough choice.”

“I have to go, Jackie is here, she’s off to start work at Virgin”.

“When did they come in as a client?”

“It’s only a small office of theirs near Paddington.”

CRASH!

A door must have slammed shut in a corridor in the new school, so loudly it sounded like a gunshot. Even Wanda heard it down the phone.

“What was that?”

“I have no idea, it was a door slamming. It must have been the wind.” I told her.

“OK, be careful. I will see you later!”

She hung up and I stood up to put the phone back on its cradle. I heard a noise, a shuffling sound in the distance, at the bottom of the corridor in front of me. I looked down there but couldn’t see anything. Then it happened again. And again. It went silent for a while, then a door closed. Suddenly, Giles turned the corner and started to walk purposely and speedily towards me.

He told me that he had recorded some amazing things, some responses, in the science department where we had seen the Shadow man standing previously. He was going to take the recordings back to the Institute for Psychical Research and see if he can clean up the recording and isolate the voice. I didn’t have a clue what he meant in those days but I do now. He wanted to call me if, or more probably, when he found clear evidence on the recordings and hurried off to do his magic, whatever that was. He seemed very intense when he left, I didn’t even get the chance to see if he needed any help with his bag. It seemed that whatever was in the school had given him a real sense of....

CRASH

..concern! This time the noise was even louder. It suddenly occurred to me that John and Derek were in the old school going over the contents of the storeroom and I had no idea if they were OK. It may have been them. I stood looking down the corridor. There was no more sound…apart from…no nothing. I was sick to death with this situation. The sound had stopped.

Then I heard the footsteps. Slow footsteps, clear as day. The sound of a shoe hitting the floor, then another, then another. Then they started to speed up and get louder. They were coming from the science lab area and were getting louder as they got to the corner then they sped up again. I could tell the footsteps were now in the corridor that I was looking down but there was no one there.

They were right at the other end but coming at me. They were getting louder and louder as they got nearer and nearer. I stood my ground, I’d had enough. Whatever it was that was walking faster and faster, the steps getting heavier and heavier, was directly coming my way. I wasn’t scared. I was angry, livid, at my wits end, and I’d had enough.

I decided to run towards it to meet whatever it was head on… 

CHAPTER 14 VIGIL PART 2

 

VIGIL PART 2

Twenty minutes into the vigil we were still sitting there listening for any noise. There was the constant pitter patter of the rain and the occasional roll of thunder but nothing serious. Suddenly, the power went out.

Not in the school, just the equipment. None of the camera shutter remotes worked. Giles and Mark frantically checked the connections using the light from the scanner, but nothing. They were positioned in such a way that no ambient light from the corridor through the glass panelled doors helped. Then the lights went out on the scanner. There were no lights on the box and the small screen was blank, the green swirly line that jumped every time a noise was made had gone out. They were concerned that a fuse had blown on the multi power socket. They started unplugging and plugging everything to just check but nothing worked.

My limited electrical ability told me this was unusual.

"If there's a problem with the multi power socket it would knock out everything, not just some things." My common sense statement made them stare at each other for a second, and then attack the connections again.

Here we were sitting in the near dark, at the bottom of a flight of stairs that went up to the top floor of the old school. Stairs that I had come down hearing something coming after me only for nothing to reach the steps at the bottom. This was, to me, madness, but I went along with it. Maybe I was the mad one?

Now the equipment wasn’t working, it was dark here and out, wind was blowing and thunder was rumbling.

I could wait no longer.

“Lads, are we out of our minds, sitting here in the dark? This isn’t a great plan.”

The voice recorder lit up. A little light in the darkness.

“It may be atmospherics.” Giles said making Mark nod his head.

I pointed at the Voice Recorder.

“Why is that on and nothing else?”

All three Cameras flashed scaring the life out of us. The Cameras were lying down and flashed the stone floor and illuminated the area for a second.

“This isn’t right.” Giles muttered under his breath. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

“You’re telling me!” I told him.

Mark and Giles did their best in the dark to get all the cameras and equipment together. The remaining ambient light came from the fluorescents in the Linkway corridor which were still lit, as were all the other lights that I could see through the windows.

There was a deafening, CRASH! Then another....and another.

The double doors this end of the Linkway corridor, that were locked, by a key in the door and the right hand door by a bolt at the top and bottom were being hit from the other side, from within the airlock between these doors this end and the other set of doors at the other end. Giles looked around the corner of the wall down the Linkway and dropped the Pentax camera, its lens bouncing off and hitting me on the leg.

“My God!” he said, then repeating it again. He raised his arm and pointed down the corridor. Both Mark and I moved to stand alongside him, and to be honest, further back. It took a second or two for what we were seeing to register in our minds. It was impossible.

There, in front of the double doors at the other end of the corridor, outside the two doors of the toilet block, was a child. A girl, standing with her back to the doors. looking in our direction. She was wearing a below the knee dress, with a frill. A long dress that was burnt black and I could see smoke swirling around as clear as I see this laptop I 'm typing on.

Giles stepped forward slightly, looking on the floor for a camera that was still intact, still looking up now and then. He started staring, lifting his glasses and lowering them as if he thought it was a trick of the light.

Then we noticed the shadow man standing behind her on the other side of the glass panelled doors. The girl backed away as Giles rummaged on the floor for the only camera with a lens. As he reached for it both Mark and I saw the girl blend into and through the door to where the Shadow man was and they both faded from view. Mark and I stood staring, as if they were still there. Giles stood with the camera poised but the back was open, the film was destroyed and useless. Giles cursed under his breath.

Mark looked at me for answers but I had none. They were the professionals, what do I know?

I became aware that we were still in the dark with equipment on the floor and a staircase open to the top floor. Then, after a while we started to move again in slow motion, like a dreamlike state. and then speeding up as our location and situation came back to the forefront of our minds.

“Hold it!” I whispered. “we need to get out, right. I don’t suggest we go that way!” I said pointing down the corridor.

“How do we get out then, Dave?” Giles asked. I could hear the nerves beneath the calmness of his voice.

“There’s another way.”

Without knowing what it was they both said “Let’s go!”

If I had said, "Let's jump out the window and run" they would have been with me.

I asked Giles if he had all the equipment in his bag but he said he would come back and collect it next day. He wanted out and so did Mark. I wanted out too. This was enough for one evening.

I opened the ground floor hall door and we stepped in to the darkness. I flicked one of the switches on and a couple of lights came on. I locked the door behind me and led the two guys quickly over to the diagonal corner door, opened that into the pitch darkness of the ground floor landing, the exact mirror image of where we had been on the other side. I turned the light on and then turned the hall lights off and shutt door, opened the exterior door and led them out into the rear playground. I locked the door and led them around a corner to the school gates in Manbey Street and unlocked the padlock on the chain holding the gates shut, locking it behind us. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief. We walked towards Water Lane with the Manbey Arms on our left and turned right. We hurried along down Water Lane in the light rain and then turned right into Deanery road to the front entrance of the school. They followed me up the steps.

“Are your coats in the office?” I asked.

They both nodded.

“Wait here”

I unlocked the front door and stepped into the hall, Giles held the door open. I hurried to the office and grabbed my coat from behind the door, and their coats off the chairs, shut the door behind me and hurried back to the front door. Locking it behind me. They would be back in the morning at 10am. I thought it best to sit in my car until they arrived instead of going in on my own in the morning.

I got to the Phoenix Apollo to meet my girlfriend, Wanda. She was sitting at a table on her own, holding a glass of something. She waved madly at me. I went over and sat down.

“I got here 10 minutes ago. A bit early but it’s a quiet evening. Wow, what a day I have had.”

She looked at me as I sat there thinking.

“Had a hard day too?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”.

“Try me!” she replied.

I told her, every detail.

"What?" She was astounded, shocked and amazed and downed the remains of her glass of white wine in one.

“Well you did ask!”

She was reaching for the Wine bottle but I grabbed it quickly and refilled her glass.

"That tops my Staff issues", she said, then she went quiet. I looked around as the place started to fill up. My friend, the boxer Nigel Benn arrived with his girlfriend and some others. He waved, I waved back then Wanda snapped out of her dream and said,

“I want to have a look around that school? Can I, take me there over the weekend.”

I smiled and looked at the menu but we both knew that off by heart.

I stared at the specials board instead, realising I was going out with a girl madder than me!

But I was not so mad as to stare ahead on the way down Water Lane with the school on my right. If Giles and Mark had looked at the school like I did, instead of mumbling to each other and comparing notes they would have seen the large shadow figure in the corridor window like I did. Irrespective of what Peter Underwood had said to me, or what Giles and Mark thought, I needed to be rid of these ghosts as soon as possible.

CHAPTER 13 VIGIL

 

VIGIL

The next day, I let John go early at 2pm. The Kids were back on the Monday and there was nothing to do. Giles was back sometime in the afternoon, with someone else, so nothing was really required. John had said earlier that he had a call at home from Darren Mendez, about a cleaning supervisor job at the Technical College in East Ham and he was going to ask me if he could leave earlier. This Darren wanted to speak to him in person. I knew it wouldn’t be as cushy as working here but hopefully, a less terrifying experience! I wished him well and never told him I had arranged it with the caretaker of the College saying he needed a change, having seen how stressed he really was yesterday, and gave him a glowing reference and he went for the job after speaking to Darren, the caretaker, on the phone that morning. Darren had called and gave some story of hearing that he needed a change from working here and said he should come over that afternoon and have a chat. Darren was well aware of what was happening at this school as I used to see him in the Boleyn Pub at West Ham home games as well as at ‘the Pyramid, the council offices in Stratford at the end of the road this school sat in. He was so interested in what was happening he should have worked here himself. Darren understood that he needed a change of scene and he was becoming withdrawn, so I waved John off, and wished him luck. He left and walked over to his old banger of a car and drove off not knowing that he already had the job at the College in the bag. I had done my bit. John was, and still is, a great guy and a real family man. These events really turned his mind though.

I would get a new assistant arriving on Monday from a pool of ‘floating’ assistants who went to any school they were needed at. John would also be there for a while that day to show him his routine. He was Derek, a man in his early 60’s who always brought his Jack Russell with him on a late shift. He also had a revolting habit of making his own Jellied Eels and eating them for breakfast in the office at 7am. He knew about the issues at the school but had declared them a ‘load of old rubbish’ saying he wasn’t bothered. I knew it was going to be interesting, especially for him.

No sooner had I sat back in my chair in my office when I heard a noise out in the hallway and waited. I couldn’t hear a thing. Then, another noise, like a rustle of clothing. I put the newspaper down as quietly as I could and, stood up and took a step to the door and peered around the frame. Giles had arrived with another man who turned out to be a chap called Mark. He was carrying all the paraphernalia in.

“Sorry we’re late,” Giles apologised.

“I didn’t know you were late?” I told him, “I just expected you sometime.”

“Mark, this is Dave...Dave Moore.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said shaking his hand. He went for the one quick shake and done. “Not DaveDave Moore though!  Just the one ‘Dave’ will do Mark,” we all laughed.

I stepped back into the office and boiled the kettle as Giles and Mark immediately grabbed the comfy chairs. Tea made and handed out, we discussed a plan.

“It will start getting dark in a couple of hours, I wondered if you would permit a night vigil?” Giles asked, making Mark nod frantically to emphasize the point.

“Do you want me in attendance?” I asked horrified he would say yes.

“Yes,” they both nodded, “It would be best for verification if anything happens. Not overnight, just a vigil in various areas of the school. The hot spots, as it where.”

“I can stay until 8 if that’s all right? I have other plans that I can’t get out of. Council business”

I was actually meeting my Girlfiend and having a meal at the Phoenix Apollo Steak House in Stratford.

“Can I suggest we work until 8 and then call it quits? We could come back next week for an all nighter?” Giles suggested and we all agreed.

“Excellent.” Giles replied. “It’ll be good if we get a feel of the atmosphere and see if we can make any contact.”

“Giles told me about yesterday and the shadow figure you both saw.” Mark said.

“Yes,” I nodded.

I confirmed Giles description and also the events with John who they seemed to be happy had now left. He was an ‘easy target’ they thought and was suffering mentally from the events. He would be better elsewhere away from this. I knew that to be true.

“Is anyone else here Dave?” Mark asked.

I shook my head, “No, there was supposed to be a delivery but they are coming on Monday.”

Mark looked to his left again.

“I keep seeing something on my left out of the corner of my eye at the bottom of the corridor.”

“That’s where we were standing yesterday!” Giles whispered.

“I know,” I whispered, “Why are we whispering?”

Mark was concentrating on the far end of the corridor.

“There’s a noise, like something being dragged on the floor. It’s in the distance.” Mark said tilting his head.

I could hear it but it suddenly stopped.

We got up and walked slowly down the corridor, trying to make no sound as we got nearer to the end where a corridor crossed it. Nothing. The sound had stopped.

Giles suggested that it could have been the entity making its presence known.

“This could turn out to be a very fruitful endeavour!” he said sounding like he relished the challenge. Mark had a puzzled look on his face. I looked at my watch. It was 4pm and the sky was darkening. A storm started to rumble as the rain began.

“It’s 4 o’clock!” I said loudly. I was a little shocked. “I didn’t realise it was so late.”

“May I suggest that we convene at an appropriate place, say the base of the old school stairs and see what we can pick up?

“Great idea” I said, not liking that bloody idea one bit.

“We could stay here as we saw the shadow Man down there to our left yesterday but as you said the Piano Tuner was at the base of those stairs down there.” He pointed down the linkway corridor, “And you waited for something that was chasing you down the stairs in the same place as that, it could be a real hotspot. Mark, get the equipment please. Is every external door closed and locked?

I nodded, “Yes, I locked them all earlier and the one you came through at the front.”

“Then let’s begin.”

When Mark returned with the bag and the small suitcase, Giles suggested we go down the corridor, locking the doors behind us and sit on the bottom flight of stairs. Mark started to unpack the bag. There were a couple of expensive looking Pentax cameras and a folding tripod. There was also a large wooden box with dials and a meter on it that Giles called a portable voice scanner, and quite revolutionary for 1988. It didn’t look all that portable to me but all I had to keep remembering was that these guys knew their stuff, and they were here to help.

Giles had set up the cameras on small tripods and they faced all directions. Mark had set up the recorder and had a switch in his hand that went from the microphones on his and Giles’ collar and the main microphone on the box. There were wires all over the place. If we panicked and had to run, we would probably still be tied up here in the morning from the confusion!

“We need to sit here in silence, listening to the thunder and the rain and for ANYTHING we hear that may come from any angle. Any direction. We can call out to try to If we talk we must immediately stop if another noise becomes apparent. We have a tape recorder going and the cameras will take photographs should we need to. I can trigger them remotely. But they do have a sensor of sort that picks up motion hence they are all facing away from us. Hopefully we will make some form of contact or experience something unusual. We may be very lucky. The Shadowman may manifest himself!”

“He won’t be the only one” I thought!

“Lets open our minds and wait.” Giles stared at the small monitor that was showing sound waves. We waited. We didn't wait long.....

CHAPTER 12 THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS

I spoke to John over Christmas. He was still seriously toying with the idea of leaving. I had no right or reason to talk him out of it but the last experience with the Piano Tuner had given him a big shake up and though he livened up in the pub afterwards he had expressed his reservations about staying. He had thought of getting a transfer but he lived fairly near to the school so finding an adequate reason for leaving and working further away was going to look odd. I had suggested he tell them I was making life difficult for him, cracking the whip etc, but the fact that we regularly saw three of the main guys from the council and caretakers association in the Manby Arms next to the school wasn’t really a believable one. Wanting a transfer because of ghosts wouldn’t work either. He would more likely be classed as not fit for work, and/or sacked.

 

He seemed very pleased that the Vicar had been postponed. I didn’t know why, nor did I ask. I assumed he thought, like me, there was a chance of things escalating, especially as Peter Underwood had suggested it might. He agreed to come back and actively make moves to find another position within the system.

 

“Great!” I said, “Kids are back on the 8th Jan. I’ll see you on the 5th, when the Ghost Hunter’s there doing his investigations.”

 

I hung up quickly as John started asking a question. I shot out the front door. I heard the phone ringing as I locked it.

 

A few days into January a green Morris Traveller pulled up outside the front entrance in Deanery Road. It was in immaculate condition and the wooden frame on the rear was highly polished. A tall lanky man in his mid to late forties jumped out of the driver’s seat, slammed the door and bounded up the four steps to the front entrance where I was standing inside the tall metal framed glass doors. I opened them and he stepped in with his hand outstretched.

“You must be Giles Draper?” I said as he shook my hand frantically.

“Dave Moore I take it.”

“If I’m not, this is a very odd coincidence!” I said and we both laughed, while he continued shaking my hand like it was going out of fashion.

“That’s a lovely car. You don’t see many on the road around here.”

“I have had Bertha for 8 years.” He replied. “ She’s a Lovely car and very reliable. My wife hates her. Too clunky for her.”

“I take it your gear is in the back?”

“Oh yes. I wanted to survey the scene of the apparitions first. Is that OK?”

“Whatever you want Giles.” Let’s walk”.

“Super!” Giles replied

We both walked up the entrance steps to the school.

John was looking around the corner of the office door and made a ‘cup of tea’ sign.

“This is John, he works with me here, he’ll make us all a cup of tea while we look around”

“Super” Giles replied.

 

I walked down one of the corridors toward the linkway corridor. Giles had this gangly gait walk, He reminded me of my old Chemistry teacher, oversized stone colour cable woollen sweater, massive black plastic framed glasses, brown corduroy jeans and slip on shoes. The archetypal ‘Blue Peter Presenter’ from the 70’s. He was extremely knowledgeable about his job. My God did he know his stuff.

 

I pointed in all different directions and pointed down the linkway corridor towards the old achool.

 

He started listing all of the experiments he had the equipment for, how spirits react, why they don’t react, what can make them do this, do that…..the list was not only long but it went over my head.

“How did you get into all this Ghost Hunting?” I asked him.

 

As we walked back to the office he told me that his parents had won £80,000 on the Football pools and then, tragically, they both died within the year through ill health. They had left a house and all their money to him. He and his wife ran a small antiques shop in Marlow, not far from Windsor. The influx of the funds left to him allowed his wife to continue running the shop with no problems and he could go off and make his hobby a full time job, doing the investigation for ‘The Ghost Club’.

 

“Sounds ideal,” I replied, “Are you ever scared?”

 

“Regularly!” He took a sip from his tea, John had given him a saucer too with a biscuit.  Where he had got that from I had no idea!  He was a bit of a dark horse!

 

“But the trick is to question, question. question. See it for what it really is, not for what you THINK it is.”

He asked me for more details about the ‘happenings’.

I gave him the full history of the events, from the washbasins, to the stairs, to the Piano tuner. John explained about the Tai Chi class and the chairs and the workman falling off his ladder because of the little girl. He was very interested in the stairs and the door handles turning and made some very small notes in a flip notebook.

“My goodness, I now understand why Peter asked me to come. This is wonderful, so exciting.”

“Are you fuckin’ joking mate?” John suddenly blurted out.

“I’m sorry,” Giles muttered as John stood up shaking.

“It’s not wonderful to me pal, safe in your antique shop, it’s bloody terrifying to me. Every day coming in here is a nightmare. I feel like I am being watched all the time. I walk somewhere and look around the corner before I go further. Every single sound puts me on edge. It’s not wonderful mate, it’s a living hell. I am trapped here, I can’t find another job. I can’t get away. I have a family to feed, rent to pay, and I don’t know what to do next! And you think this is wonderful? Exciting?”

John stood up and threw his cup into the sink where it shattered. He ran both his hands through his hair and closed his eyes, facing up to the ceiling. He turned and faced the wall.

Giles looked terrified and his mouth was trembling. I smiled at him.

“Let me show you around,” I said, as if nothing had just happened, “so you get a feel for the place,” and led him out the door to where his bag of tricks sat on the floor.

“Erm,” he said, but I put my finger to my lips and smiled while motioning through the double doors in front of the office.

“Just down this corridor is the linkway corridor, let me show you that.”

We walked down the corridor in silence leaving John in the office.

At the end of the corridor I started to speak to Giles again. The doors we had come through were back down the corridor on my right.

“There’s no need to say anything. I can only apologise for John, the strain of all this is wearing us both down. The cleaners walk around in pairs and the teaching staff leave as soon as the kids do, they don’t hang around anymore. I have two night cleaners here starting at 10pm. I don’t know how they work here. People don’t want to be here unless they have to be. Not because of what happens, but because of what might”.

Giles nodded ,“Goodness me, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I didn’t mean to upset him.”

“I know, I know. It’s a volatile situation. People are on edge more than they let on.”

Giles looked at his mini tape recorder and started to record.

“I think I should record as we look around. You don’t mind being recorded I hope?”

I had no issue with that. All I wanted was him to find something and let me know what they could do.

The door at the end of the corridor near the entrance opened and John stepped through. He told me he was going home. I had no issue with that.

“I’m, sorry Giles.” He said, his voice echoing down the corridor.

Giles waved and muttered,’No problem!’

John nodded and waved.

I looked to my right at the door John had stepped through. I had no idea he was so bothered by what had been going on. I knew he was looking to leave but he had kept this pent up fear and aggression under wraps.

“Is he another one of yours?” Giles asked, looking over my shoulder and nodding down towards the science labs.

My blood run cold and I didn’t move.

Giles continued to stare over my shoulder down the corridor behind me. He nodded and waved.

“Can’t make him out.” He said. “Not moving. Just watching us.”

“There is only you and me in the building Giles. His face changed to one of ‘WTF?’

I spun around, there it was. The same shadow as we saw with the piano tuner.

“That’s it!” I whispered.

Giles suddenly understood that he was looking at the same shadow that we saw with the Piano Tuner too.

Giles continued to stare down the corridor while rummaging in his shoulder bag. I looked at the bag as he found his Pentax camera and took a photo without realising the figure had gone.

“I will be here before 11 tomorrow. Can you show me around then and I will start the investigation, I will bring a friend if that’s OK?”

“The more the merrier” I told him. Let me show you out.” I turned and looked to where the shadow man had been. There was nothing there at all.

I locked the office and walked out the front entrance with Giles locking the doors behind me. For some reason it was all I could do to stop myself looking back through the glass doors at the corridor doors.

“So, see you tomorrow Giles.” I said, “Thanks for taking this on.”

“I will start tomorrow, I need another person to cover the area. If the children are not back until Monday we have time. This is extremely interesting but it’s dangerous. This is obviously a spirit, an entity that isn’t bothered about being seen. It has to be very powerful and it will have been here for years, it builds up its power over time until it can appear at will. I have only seen this once before on an investigation.”

Giles put his bag on the passenger seat as he got into the drivers seat and started the engine.

“How did it go?…”

Giles was lost in thought

“I beg your pardon?” he asked breaking his trance.

“How did it go on that investigation?”

He frowned and replied, “Let’s just say I hope this one turns out better!”

He nodded and smiled, a smile that seemed to me to convey hope. Maybe!

 

 

I spoke to John over Christmas. He was still seriously toying with the idea of leaving. I had no right or reason to talk him out of it but the last experience with the Piano Tuner had given him a big shake up and though he livened up in the pub afterwards he had expressed his reservations about staying. He had thought of getting a transfer but he lived fairly near to the school so finding an adequate reason for leaving and working further away was going to look odd. I had suggested he tell them I was making life difficult for him, cracking the whip etc, but the fact that we regularly saw three of the main guys from the council and caretakers association in the Manby Arms next to the school wasn’t really a believable one. Wanting a transfer because of ghosts wouldn’t work either. He would more likely be classed as not fit for work, and/or sacked.

 

He seemed very pleased that the Vicar had been postponed. I didn’t know why, nor did I ask. I assumed he thought, like me, there was a chance of things escalating, especially as Peter Underwood had suggested it might. He agreed to come back and actively make moves to find another position within the system.

 

“Great!” I said, “Kids are back on the 8th Jan. I’ll see you on the 5th, when the Ghost Hunter’s there doing his investigations.”

 

I hung up quickly as John started asking a question. I shot out the front door. I heard the phone ringing as I locked it.

 

A few days into January a green Morris Traveller pulled up outside the front entrance in Deanery Road. It was in immaculate condition and the wooden frame on the rear was highly polished. A tall lanky man in his mid to late forties jumped out of the driver’s seat, slammed the door and bounded up the four steps to the front entrance where I was standing inside the tall metal framed glass doors. I opened them and he stepped in with his hand outstretched.

“You must be Giles Draper?” I said as he shook my hand frantically.

“Dave Moore I take it.”

“If I’m not, this is a very odd coincidence!” I said and we both laughed, while he continued shaking my hand like it was going out of fashion.

“That’s a lovely car. You don’t see many on the road around here.”

“I have had Bertha for 8 years.” He replied. “ She’s a Lovely car and very reliable. My wife hates her. Too clunky for her.”

“I take it your gear is in the back?”

“Oh yes. I wanted to survey the scene of the apparitions first. Is that OK?”

“Whatever you want Giles.” Let’s walk”.

“Super!” Giles replied

We both walked up the entrance steps to the school.

John was looking around the corner of the office door and made a ‘cup of tea’ sign.

“This is John, he works with me here, he’ll make us all a cup of tea while we look around”

“Super” Giles replied.

 

I walked down one of the corridors toward the linkway corridor. Giles had this gangly gait walk, He reminded me of my old Chemistry teacher, oversized stone colour cable woollen sweater, massive black plastic framed glasses, brown corduroy jeans and slip on shoes. The archetypal ‘Blue Peter Presenter’ from the 70’s. He was extremely knowledgeable about his job. My God did he know his stuff.

 

I pointed in all different directions and pointed down the linkway corridor towards the old achool.

 

He started listing all of the experiments he had the equipment for, how spirits react, why they don’t react, what can make them do this, do that…..the list was not only long but it went over my head.

“How did you get into all this Ghost Hunting?” I asked him.

 

As we walked back to the office he told me that his parents had won £80,000 on the Football pools and then, tragically, they both died within the year through ill health. They had left a house and all their money to him. He and his wife ran a small antiques shop in Marlow, not far from Windsor. The influx of the funds left to him allowed his wife to continue running the shop with no problems and he could go off and make his hobby a full time job, doing the investigation for ‘The Ghost Club’.

 

“Sounds ideal,” I replied, “Are you ever scared?”

 

“Regularly!” He took a sip from his tea, John had given him a saucer too with a biscuit.  Where he had got that from I had no idea!  He was a bit of a dark horse!

 

“But the trick is to question, question. question. See it for what it really is, not for what you THINK it is.”

He asked me for more details about the ‘happenings’.

I gave him the full history of the events, from the washbasins, to the stairs, to the Piano tuner. John explained about the Tai Chi class and the chairs and the workman falling off his ladder because of the little girl. He was very interested in the stairs and the door handles turning and made some very small notes in a flip notebook.

“My goodness, I now understand why Peter asked me to come. This is wonderful, so exciting.”

“Are you fuckin’ joking mate?” John suddenly blurted out.

“I’m sorry,” Giles muttered as John stood up shaking.

“It’s not wonderful to me pal, safe in your antique shop, it’s bloody terrifying to me. Every day coming in here is a nightmare. I feel like I am being watched all the time. I walk somewhere and look around the corner before I go further. Every single sound puts me on edge. It’s not wonderful mate, it’s a living hell. I am trapped here, I can’t find another job. I can’t get away. I have a family to feed, rent to pay, and I don’t know what to do next! And you think this is wonderful? Exciting?”

John stood up and threw his cup into the sink where it shattered. He ran both his hands through his hair and closed his eyes, facing up to the ceiling. He turned and faced the wall.

Giles looked terrified and his mouth was trembling. I smiled at him.

“Let me show you around,” I said, as if nothing had just happened, “so you get a feel for the place,” and led him out the door to where his bag of tricks sat on the floor.

“Erm,” he said, but I put my finger to my lips and smiled while motioning through the double doors in front of the office.

“Just down this corridor is the linkway corridor, let me show you that.”

We walked down the corridor in silence leaving John in the office.

At the end of the corridor I started to speak to Giles again. The doors we had come through were back down the corridor on my right.

“There’s no need to say anything. I can only apologise for John, the strain of all this is wearing us both down. The cleaners walk around in pairs and the teaching staff leave as soon as the kids do, they don’t hang around anymore. I have two night cleaners here starting at 10pm. I don’t know how they work here. People don’t want to be here unless they have to be. Not because of what happens, but because of what might”.

Giles nodded ,“Goodness me, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I didn’t mean to upset him.”

“I know, I know. It’s a volatile situation. People are on edge more than they let on.”

Giles looked at his mini tape recorder and started to record.

“I think I should record as we look around. You don’t mind being recorded I hope?”

I had no issue with that. All I wanted was him to find something and let me know what they could do.

The door at the end of the corridor near the entrance opened and John stepped through. He told me he was going home. I had no issue with that.

“I’m, sorry Giles.” He said, his voice echoing down the corridor.

Giles waved and muttered,’No problem!’

John nodded and waved.

I looked to my right at the door John had stepped through. I had no idea he was so bothered by what had been going on. I knew he was looking to leave but he had kept this pent up fear and aggression under wraps.

“Is he another one of yours?” Giles asked, looking over my shoulder and nodding down towards the science labs.

My blood run cold and I didn’t move.

Giles continued to stare over my shoulder down the corridor behind me. He nodded and waved.

“Can’t make him out.” He said. “Not moving. Just watching us.”

“There is only you and me in the building Giles. His face changed to one of ‘WTF?’

I spun around, there it was. The same shadow as we saw with the piano tuner.

“That’s it!” I whispered.

Giles suddenly understood that he was looking at the same shadow that we saw with the Piano Tuner too.

Giles continued to stare down the corridor while rummaging in his shoulder bag. I looked at the bag as he found his Pentax camera and took a photo without realising the figure had gone.

“I will be here before 11 tomorrow. Can you show me around then and I will start the investigation, I will bring a friend if that’s OK?”

“The more the merrier” I told him. Let me show you out.” I turned and looked to where the shadow man had been. There was nothing there at all.

I locked the office and walked out the front entrance with Giles locking the doors behind me. For some reason it was all I could do to stop myself looking back through the glass doors at the corridor doors.

“So, see you tomorrow Giles.” I said, “Thanks for taking this on.”

“I will start tomorrow, I need another person to cover the area. If the children are not back until Monday we have time. This is extremely interesting but it’s dangerous. This is obviously a spirit, an entity that isn’t bothered about being seen. It has to be very powerful and it will have been here for years, it builds up its power over time until it can appear at will. I have only seen this once before on an investigation.”

Giles put his bag on the passenger seat as he got into the drivers seat and started the engine.

“How did it go?…”

Giles was lost in thought

“I beg your pardon?” he asked breaking his trance.

“How did it go on that investigation?”

He frowned and replied, “Let’s just say I hope this one turns out better!”

He nodded and smiled, a smile that seemed to me to convey hope. Maybe!

CHAPTER 11 GHOSTBUSTER

 

I was amazed.  I had written to Peter Underwood using an address in the back of one of his books I’d bought..  It was simply, Peter Underwood, c/o The Savage Club, London.  It was so much simpler in those days.

I had given him a brief overview of what supernatural challenges we had, and how scared we and the staff were.  He asked me for more in depth information about the staircase and the little girl who made the Electrician fall from his ladder.

I also told him about the Piano Tuner and the shadow man he was talking to.

The phone went silent.

“Peter?” I said, “are you there?”

“A shadow man?”

“Yes, is that significant?”

“Fully formed?  Clear to the eye.”

“Just a matt black figure.  Around 6ft.”

“How far away were you?”

“Around 20ft away!”

“How can you be sure of the height?”

“It was next to the piano tuner. I’m six foot one and he only came up to my shoulders when I met him when he arrived.”

“My goodness,” Peter replied, “This is most disturbing.  This sounds like a fully formed spirit, an entity that can interact with the natural world.  There must be something on that staircase that is a gateway through which all manner of spirits can come through.”

“You lost me a little there Peter.  Have you come across something like this before?”

“Not for a while, but yes.  Devilish buggers, difficult to deal with.”

“We have a priest coming here on the 2^nd of January and…”

“I strongly advise against it.”  Peter sounded agitated. “On no account should you bring anyone into the school at present from the priesthood.  This entity is very strong.  Controlling even.  Everything that is happening is happening because of it.”

“Well he’s booked,” I said, “And the head teachers want this dealt with.”

“Listen, David.  It’s up to you but, I can only advise you that you must not bring a priest into the situation at present.  This entity will not like it.  It will target him!  We have no real idea of its power but I am sure it is what you heard on the stairs coming after you that night.”

“Well, what do you suggest?  I wrote to you in the hope you may give me some advice.”

“David, listen.  I spend this time of year in Scotland, have done for the last couple of years.  I can get someone to your school, a colleague, before the priest arrives to investigate and assess the situation.  I have to tell you that this is a very interesting case and one that we would be interested in investigating thoroughly.  Can I get someone over to you the week after Christmas?”

A swift calculation told me that the Vicar needed rescheduling to the following week, and an evening.

“He will call you tomorrow around 2pm to make the arrangements.  Is that OK?”

“OK, thanks.  I didn’t expect you to do anything, just a little advice, so thank you.”

“Thank you David, and please.  Do not let the vicar into the building.  It will not be safe for him.”

“Ok, I won’t.  I promise.”

“We will speak again soon, Bye bye”.  The line went dead.

I stared at the wall, phone in hand.

John stared at me, brain doing somersaults

Now to break the news to the Head.

Chapter 10 ENTER THE VICAR

I tried to clear my mind of the Ghosts and the ghostly noises at the school.  A lot was
depending upon this meeting.  If we were to be rid of these spirits this could be the way.  I walked through the churchyard, with its haphazard arrangement of graves, the umbrella I held faring badly against the heavy rain which, for the time of year, was quite unexpected.

I had an appointment with the Vicar of the local church in West Ham Lane.  It is a Norman church from the 12^th century and was built out of large white stones, with Turrets and tunnels underneath it that disappear in all directions and come out in various old buildings or open spaces in the borough.  One of the tunnels ran to a Convent only two streets from where I lived.  I had decided that this was the vicar I needed after attending one of his services after the schools choir had sung at the harvest festival celebrations the week before. 

He was an old grey bushy bearded Vicar whose black suit was covered in dandruff, a real fire and brimstone speaker who I thought would be more than a match for whatever was in the school.  He had put the fear of God into most of the childrens choir AND the music teacher and I wondered if there were a few more undead kids back in the Old School his magic would work on.

 “This church has been listed since 1181 and the clock in the tower was made in 1857 to Lord Grimthorpe's design.  Did you know it is the prototype of Big Ben.” The Vicar told me as I sat down in the office of West Ham Church.  “The headmistress of the school said you wanted to tell me about something I may be able to help you with.  What can I do for you?

“It’s a beautiful church, Vicar”, I said, as a very sprightly older women came in pushing a trolley with tea and muffins,“and I would love to know more but my reason for meeting with you is very important and, to be honest, a little strange.”

“Mrs Goodwin (name changed) gave me a few details, things that have happened there over the past few years and I have to admit I am a lover of all things weird and wonderful. I find it fascinating, I do, I do. Ghosties and goulies and…well, you know the rest.”

“Things that make you scream in the daylight?” I suggested, “I may need to bring you up to speed.” And reality, I thought.

I went on to tell him that the school was haunted and we needed a blessing of some sort.  He’s expression was blank throughout.  He didn’t appear to be averse to getting involved or even doing an Exorcism either, though the actual term ‘Exorcism’ was never mentioned.

“What have you seen?  You….what have YOU seen?” he asked me.

I told him about my ghost experiences and then Johns paranormal experiences and the fact that the teaching staff were also aware and had seen things and had reports of activity. As I went on and detailed everything that had happened including the workmens experiences, I could see him becoming more and more uncomfortable. His muffins had become cold.

He raised his hand.

“I think it best if I make arrangements to visit the School when the children have gone.” He said suddenly to my amazement.

 “OK that would be great.” I replied, not knowing if it would be.

“I may bring a friend with me; Gerald, he works in the church, very keen photographer.  Who knows, he might catch something?”

“I hope you understand the seriousness of this Vicar?  It’s not a Jolly Boys Outing!”

“Oh I assure you I do.” He said, raising his hands.  You are experiencing things in the school and you want me to verify it.”

What the….?

“NO! As I said we, the collective we, the teaching staff and the caretaking staff, the workmen, the delivery men, the cleaners, some of the kids…..WE are experiencing ‘things’ and we want it got rid of.  That’s where you come in!”

“Me?”

“Specifically, the church. The school is haunted, I have seen and heard something paranormal.”

Oh, erm, I see….well. shall we say January 2nd?”

“January 2nd?” I repeated, saying it, for some reason. “what about January 2^nd?”

“I think the sooner the better, but its Christmas.” He replied. “I can come then, have a look and see what needs to be done.”

I nodded.  I put the date in my Filofax. Ever the Yuppy.

“The teaching staff will be there but the kids won’t be.  There’s a few more days before St Trinians comes crashing back.”

“1pm?”

“Whatever suits you, I said, “It’s the same day or night.”

“Oh, I see.” He muttered.

I was a little surprised at how he had taken the news about a haunting in the school and his urgency in booking the first available time gave me some concern.  It was almost as if he hadn’t yet understood the gravity of the situation.

If he hadn’t: he soon would.

“You do understand Vicar, that I believe, well, we believe that help may be found through the church to rid the property of any evil spirits in there, it’s not a photo opportunity or a bit of a laugh.  We are deadly serious.  I can get the Head to call you later and reiterate our concerns.  It won’t be long before the local paper, The Newham Recorder, get a whiff of something happening.  The last thing you want is to be seen as someone who thought we were all imagining it.”

“Oh no, heaven forbid.” He replied, shaking my hand like it was going out of fashion.

As I shook hands with the vicar he looked quite startled and I left, making my way back up Vicarage Lane to the School.  The head was standing in the foyer of the new school when I got there.

“It’s all arranged,”

“When is he coming” She asked, looking relieved.

“January 2^nd.  1pm. Do you know him well, you said he’s a friend?”

“Only met him twice, Governors meetings. Seems like a nice man”

“I got the impression he is coming in here thinking we are all mad and seeing things.  Didn’t matter what I told him.”

“Oh dear!”

“Judging by his demeanour, I think he is on a collision course.”

The look on the Heads face confirmed she thought the same.

I heard the phone in our office ring once and then it stopped.

John poked his head around the door frame.

“Dave, Peter is on the phone!”

“Let’s speak later”, the Head said as she walked out the main doors.

“Peter who?” I asked John, “I don’t know a ‘Peter’.”

I took the handset from John.

“Hello, this is Dave.”

A voice at the other end said,

“Ah, David, I got your letter.  This is Peter Underwood.”…..