A ghostly presence reached out from beyond the grave, haunting me with eerie messages and unexplained encounters, writes Spooky Isles reader PAUL ROWSON
Some years ago, I was living in a tower block in Poplar, East London. I’d been there since 1992, and for years, nothing strange had happened — it was just a flat.
Then, in 2005, my grandad died. It was a horribly depressing experience, but the grieving process came and went, and that was that.
At the end of 2007, my long-term relationship broke down, and I went on to have a series of internet dates. One of these dates was a bit of a disaster. A few days later, I received a very strange call from her: “You have to get to a spiritualist church; your grandad has a message for you!”
I can’t remember mentioning my grandad to this woman (I may have done), but I was in so much shock I just got angry at this odd attempt to make contact with me. I put the phone down and left it at that.
Unsettling Urges
But this weird message echoed through my head for years, even though I never acted on it.
Some time later, maybe 2010, I got involved with someone new. This time it was something more serious, in a fun way, and something I wanted. We weren’t really a standard couple, but we hung out as a couple for a few years, so I’ll call her my girlfriend here to keep it simple.
One night, this new girl was at mine. I remember sorting through some shelves while she was in the kitchen, and I found my grandad’s self-winding watch behind some books (the type that works on kinetic motion).
I gave it a shake, looked at the clock on the wall, and noticed that, although I hadn’t seen it for a few years, it was showing the right time! It was one of those ‘Twilight Zone’ moments where I felt the hairs on my neck raise.
At that point, I had this overwhelming, uncontrollable compulsion to go back to his old house, about 10 miles away in Chadwell Heath (East London/Essex borders). I had no idea why, but I grabbed my keys, grabbed my girlfriend, and we pretty much shot down there.
We sat outside his house in my old campervan, but there was nothing — no idea why I was there. After about an hour, we drove back home.
This happened three or four more times, always with her, as if she was some kind of catalyst for spooky happenings. I would be with her, and suddenly hit with the urge to go to places around his area, like I was driven by a motor and couldn’t understand why.
Totally baffled, every time I’d go on one of these ‘adventures’, I’d always be asking myself why I was there.
One trip was to the hospital where he died. This was a spookier one because, as we walked the path to the prefab ward where he died, the streetlamps along the trail started to flicker on and off.
Strangely, on another random trip to the same area, we popped into the local Halfords and got talking to the shop assistant. He started telling me about his racing team, and, strangely, the name of it matched the unusual username I’d used for online dating! My girlfriend and I looked at each other, both having our own ‘Twilight Zone’ moment.
But again, nothing, no further insights into why I was compelled.
Signs from Beyond
However, around the same time as these random urges, strange things started to happen in my home. I’d wake up to find my computer cables had been disconnected in my sleep. Objects like ornaments were going missing and reappearing. A painting literally threw itself off the wall and smashed in the middle of the room. One night, I was woken up by the sound of my Velcro sandals unstrapping themselves next to my bed.
One evening, while driving, I told my girlfriend off for jabbing the back of my seat — and then turned to realise her hands were nowhere near my backrest! She told me she had experienced the same thing when driving her own car.
As I mentioned, it was a campervan, and while out camping, the independent gas heating system started to turn itself on randomly, even though the control knob was out of reach of the bed!
So, remembering the phone call from years ago, I finally went to a Spiritualist Church. I was chosen by the medium, but it wasn’t anything really insightful. There was some information from someone who claimed to be my late mother, but it all seemed to relate to the 1990s and nothing to do with my grandad.
It felt like the medium was playing some kind of recording from history which, while odd in itself, didn’t offer any new insights. There was no mention of my grandad, but some mention of the life I had when my mum was alive — very odd! The whole experience with this church is for another story, but ultimately, I left none the wiser.
Then, the final two compelling urges came. One was to drive to St. Katharine Docks, near Tower Hill. Again, I got there, wandered around, and had absolutely no idea why. My girlfriend said, “Maybe you’ll live here!” My response was, “I doubt it, there’s no way on Earth I could afford this area!”
The last urge was to visit the Tesco where he shopped. Again, I had no idea why I was there, but as I wandered around the store, I heard an inner voice say, “It will all be alright!”
That was that — a very simple message, and after that, there were no more spooky activities, no more missing items, no more weird compulsions, nothing. An anti-climax perhaps, but nonetheless weird; maybe that was the only message that needed to be relayed.
This whole business lasted just over six months from start to finish. However, three years later, I was surprisingly decanted from the tower block to a council flat at St. Katharine Docks — the random prediction from my then-girlfriend actually came true.
What do you think about this story of a supernatural experience? Have you ever had an unexplainable event happen to you? Share your thoughts in the comments!
