On May 19th, a member of the West Midlands Ghost Club was asked to speak on the Danny Kelly Show on BBC Radio WM, concerning the recent release of a publication concerning spiritual contact from recently deceased loved ones.......
Connected with one of our other, recent radio appearances this intriguing matter (below) was thought worthy of a mention to blog visitors and followers:
The primary account - dating from 2005 - is fairly short, to be honest, but was sent in to the group by a woman who said that her husband had worked on a particular shop in Birmingham in the late 60's, or early 70's, and - along with a
workmate - had experienced a number of 'strange occurrences' while
toiling there.....
When they first arrived to run an estimate on the work needed, the manager started to show them around the premises. One of his first comments to the duo was: 'Do you believe in ghosts, at all?' He went on to tell them the premises were quite badly haunted, saying that - on occasion - he and his wife had been out for the evening and would arrive back home to find ornaments had been re-arranged in their living quarters.
Apparently, the Head Office of the company that ran the store knew all about these peculiar happenings and actually had considerable problems keeping a manager long enough to run the shop! The manager that they'd dealt with had a young baby and sometimes found when he and / or his wife entered the baby's room that the crib was actually rocking to and fro, of it's own accord. Sometimes, the manager would get up in the morning and go down into the store to find produce scattered about, all over the shop floor. Activity became so bad that the premises eventually had to be exorcised by a vicar and while he was carrying out the ritual and walking down the stairs the bible he was carrying was said to have closed of it's own volition(?)
Whilst the husband was still working there, they apparently had the "top brass" come down from company HQ to generally hold a meeting and pressured the workmen to keep quiet about what they had seen!
Many years later, the husband was driving past the shop. He decided to call in (on the pretext of buying something) which would possibly give him the opportunity to speak to the staff and so forth. Entering, he'd blatantly asked the man behind the counter something like 'How is the ghost doing?' or some such ice-breaker!! Laugh!! The member of staff looked around the shop - as if checking to make sure no one else was within ear-shot - and eventually said to the husband: 'What do you know about the matter? Please tell me everything you know.....?" As the husband actually started to relate his story the man cut in and said... 'If my wife walks in then please don't say anymore, as she doesn't know anything about the ghost.....!!'
Unfortunately, my account regarding this matter is decidedly stunted as - in our correspondence on the matter - there was a suggestion (by the woman concerned) that we actually meet with her husband so that he could relate his story to me fully. We'd clearly made 'positive noises' in response to this........ but our notes just 'go dead' at that point and there are no further details to draw on!?! Clearly - we didn't go and meet with the man as suggested...... but this is now something that we're currently kicking ourselves over and - hopefully better late than never - an omission that we'll be able to rectify after all of these years!?!
Anyway - we only come to mention this matter now, as - in reading through the above account again - we were, as mentioned above, reminded of one of our recent BBC Radio WM appearances (earlier this year), when a chap called in and mentioned that he used to work for a shop off the Hagley Road when he was a youth..... and the property concerned had been haunted!! From what he related on the show, he had actually worked at the property mentioned here...... and actually baby-sat for the family concerned when they'd gone for a night out and whatnot!? He happened to mention that the place had to be 'exorcised' at one point and, while not actually being privy to the process, he was actually in the property - looking after the baby - when it was carried out!!
When they first arrived to run an estimate on the work needed, the manager started to show them around the premises. One of his first comments to the duo was: 'Do you believe in ghosts, at all?' He went on to tell them the premises were quite badly haunted, saying that - on occasion - he and his wife had been out for the evening and would arrive back home to find ornaments had been re-arranged in their living quarters.
Apparently, the Head Office of the company that ran the store knew all about these peculiar happenings and actually had considerable problems keeping a manager long enough to run the shop! The manager that they'd dealt with had a young baby and sometimes found when he and / or his wife entered the baby's room that the crib was actually rocking to and fro, of it's own accord. Sometimes, the manager would get up in the morning and go down into the store to find produce scattered about, all over the shop floor. Activity became so bad that the premises eventually had to be exorcised by a vicar and while he was carrying out the ritual and walking down the stairs the bible he was carrying was said to have closed of it's own volition(?)
Whilst the husband was still working there, they apparently had the "top brass" come down from company HQ to generally hold a meeting and pressured the workmen to keep quiet about what they had seen!
Many years later, the husband was driving past the shop. He decided to call in (on the pretext of buying something) which would possibly give him the opportunity to speak to the staff and so forth. Entering, he'd blatantly asked the man behind the counter something like 'How is the ghost doing?' or some such ice-breaker!! Laugh!! The member of staff looked around the shop - as if checking to make sure no one else was within ear-shot - and eventually said to the husband: 'What do you know about the matter? Please tell me everything you know.....?" As the husband actually started to relate his story the man cut in and said... 'If my wife walks in then please don't say anymore, as she doesn't know anything about the ghost.....!!'
Unfortunately, my account regarding this matter is decidedly stunted as - in our correspondence on the matter - there was a suggestion (by the woman concerned) that we actually meet with her husband so that he could relate his story to me fully. We'd clearly made 'positive noises' in response to this........ but our notes just 'go dead' at that point and there are no further details to draw on!?! Clearly - we didn't go and meet with the man as suggested...... but this is now something that we're currently kicking ourselves over and - hopefully better late than never - an omission that we'll be able to rectify after all of these years!?!
Anyway - we only come to mention this matter now, as - in reading through the above account again - we were, as mentioned above, reminded of one of our recent BBC Radio WM appearances (earlier this year), when a chap called in and mentioned that he used to work for a shop off the Hagley Road when he was a youth..... and the property concerned had been haunted!! From what he related on the show, he had actually worked at the property mentioned here...... and actually baby-sat for the family concerned when they'd gone for a night out and whatnot!? He happened to mention that the place had to be 'exorcised' at one point and, while not actually being privy to the process, he was actually in the property - looking after the baby - when it was carried out!!
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