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!
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