Back in 1989, I bought a beautiful old early 18 century two up two down Victorian terraced house. As you walked in, it welcomed you like an old friend, begging you to share its history of the past. Little did I realize that this house had a more interesting tale to tell than most.
At that time, I was working for Newspaper wholesalers, and amongst many of my tasks, was to do promotions for various newspapers. On one particular morning, I had met a man who had just rescued six beautiful six week old black kittens, and was desperately looking for homes for them. Somehow I ended up with all of them! That was the beginning of this story, because that evening that I got the kittens, my boss announced (as he handed me a very large video recorder, and stand) that I was to do some recording work as an exercise, so he could see what and where I went to in my daily travels.
I'm not good with anything electrical, and especially with something as high tec as this machine was. (It was, at that time, the all singing all dancing, best that money could buy job!) You also needed a degree in social science to work out how to use it. In the instruction manual, 250 pages worth, it had complicated descriptions, like, 'As you press button one, synchronise with button 5, making sure lens has been set at 400-450, then switch to automatic mode, then press enter, twice'!' P.S phone the doctor for a bottle of valium, you’re going to need them!
I was on the point of refusing to use it, when suddenly I thought about the kittens, I could practice videoing them.
That night, that’s exactly what I had done. Plugged it all in, put the battery onto the side of it, and for an hour watched/filmed these enchanting little baby kittens chase each other around, causing havoc, as two of them dived into a waste paper basket, attacking the shredded paper like it was going out of fashion! The other four played merry hell in the linen basket, throwing all the newly washed and ironed clothes out of the basket, and onto the floor! That will teach me to put things away! Eventually after two hours of careering around like demented chickens, they all collapse onto the end of my bed, snuggling up on the thick and very soft blanket, and closing their tired little eyes, fell fast asleep.
At three am the following morning I was abruptly awoken, by a loud banging noise. I looked around me in a rather dazed state of sleep. The kittens were all fast asleep, purring for England. The bright light from the full moon poured through the large window, sending shimmering shadows across the room. All was quiet; I must have had a bad dream.
Suddenly, my attention was drawn in the direction of the camera which was a few feet away from the end of the bed. It had switched itself on. A bright red light came on, showing me it was filming. But how could this be? The battery was not attached to it, and it certainly hadn't been left on.
I was just about to get out of bed, when unexpectedly; the main lights in the bedroom and the hall landing came on together. At first, the room was not that bright, but as the seconds ticked by, the lights got brighter and brighter. I was scared. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would explode. I tried to switch the lights in the bedroom and landing of, but to no avail. I nervously walked down stairs, and as I did, all the lights in each room came on, one after the other, starting on a low scale and again just like the bedroom and landing lights, got brighter and brighter, including the ones in the large cellar. What was so extraordinary, and to this day I have never been able to explain what happened, but every time I tried to switch each light out, they wouldn't go off.
I went and sat in the drawing room to try to make sense of it all. The house felt very cold, and without any warning, I suddenly felt a cold breeze go quickly through me. I shivered in silence. Little did I realize, this was to be the beginning of my journey into the world of spiritualism. Though I lived alone, I was to discover, I was anything but alone.
Next time: The unexpected visitor.
By Jackie. Pin number 500285.