Here is Part 3 of our GHOST STORIES series. We talked to Steven, a 21 year old fashion student who shares a dark secret with some friends from his home town. You can read Part 1 HERE
and part 2 HERE.
INTERVIEW: ROBERT FOSTER
What happened in your house?
Well, it was actually an old house I stayed at for a bit one summer when my family were away. I was about 12 or 13. The guy who owned it was dumb rich and it was a massive old mansion – the pool house was as big as my parent’s place. It had a wall around it, which is where the magic happened…
Did you know something weird was up when you first moved in?
Yeah, they had this massive dome-shaped hallway, with stairs that split into two and went round the second floor. On the side of the dome adjacent to the walkway there were pictures of all the old dudes who lived there and their servants. These portraits were from the 1800′s I’m guessing. One was this old lady who appeared to have a metal arm. Apparently she was a maid who had lost her arm in a farming accident.
Did something happen with her?
Some friends were over late one Saturday night, high on Wham! bars and Lucozade, when we were startled by this banshee-esque shriek. At first we assumed it was a fox or some other nocturnal creature but when it wailed again, this time in our direction, we thought it best to have a peek out the window. We were shitting ourselves, so it was an ordeal to find someone who actually had the courage to peel back the curtain. The room we were in was at the back of the house, and it looked out on the wall that surrounded the building.
One of us opened the curtain and froze when he saw a glowing, druid-looking figure walking away from the wall towards the window. We all had a peek and shat ourselves, then closed the curtain only to open it again 10 seconds later. This time the phantasm was standing pretty much right next to the fucking window – it had gotten there at a ridiculously inhuman time. It was the fucking woman from the painting, staring us straight in the eyes. We all freaked out and started jumping around hysterically, while she just stood there for ten seconds. The guy who opened the curtain held it still, he was frozen in fear, then basically fell over and the curtain closed. We pumped ourselves up for one last look, this took maybe a minute, but by then there was nothing.
Why do you think she visited you?
We all kind of got the feeling she was really sad, but also a bit angry, it was like she’d projected her emotions onto us. We all felt really drained afterwards.
How do you know it was real?
Fear. It was this weird fear I’ve never felt before or since. We were fucking cold, afraid and getting hysterical. It was a supernatural affair, I’m telling you.
Was it a local legend?
Well, apparently, the woman with the iron arm had died in an accident. The wall that backed out onto my buddy’s room had fallen on her somehow. I didn’t believe this story but as I was seeking a logical explanation to the figure we’d seen, the next day we went out and sure enough about where we’d seen said apparition the cement between the blocks was a different colour, and had definitely been rebuilt.
How many people have seen the ghost?
I don’t know if anyone else has, as it goes. The four of us though: 100%, no question.
Did you believe in ghosts before?
I would never rule out the possibility of anything.
Do you now?
I am little skeptical now for some reason, as the years have passed the possibility of ghosts seems unlikely. I think it was something else, an alien or something. A time traveller perhaps.
