Tuesday 5 December 2017


Tuesday 5th December 2017

A reasonably amazing coincidence occurred within the last week, when - within hours of each other - I happened to speak to 2 separate people who reported experiences with what appeared to be 'ghostly policemen', wearing antique costume!?  In all - including these two encounters - I believe there are only a very small handful of experiences incorporating this particular motif for the whole West Midlands region..... so to discover 2, unrelated stories in the same day was most peculiar, to say the least!?

In the first instance, the witness and his wife were driving along a lane in the Walsall area, late one night, when the figure of a policeman was suddenly illuminated by the vehicle headlights.  The figure was holding his hand aloft, as if warning them to keep clear of the spot, so they ended up going back the way they had just come.  After only a few meters, however, man and wife looked at each other in one of those 'Hang on a minute!!' moments.........

..............The figure that they'd seen was wearing an old fashioned 'cape' and had what appeared to be a metal spike on top of his helmet!?  His face was white - almost skull-like - and was sporting a handle-bar mustache.

Immediately turning and returning to the spot, there was, however, nothing at all to be seen......!?

As soon as I was told of this experience, I took a look at the history of the spot concerned and the only matter with any possible connection was a piece in a local  newspaper, from near the turn of the 20th Century, reporting on an attempted suicide in the lane concerned.  Luckily, the man involved had failed in his endeavours to kill himself, but, coincidentally, the press report mentioned mainly covered evidence being given in court by a local policeman who had been called to the incident!?!

The 2nd account involved a small party of people who - one icy, Winters day, almost 20 yrs ago - were out taking a walk in some Black Country woodland.  As they carefully cleared a stepped incline with a bridge at the bottom of it, they found themselves passing by a figure dressed in old-fashioned police uniform, complete with cape......!?  The person relating the encounter admits that they didn't take all that much notice of the figure, because they were more concerned about addressing the matter of the icy bridge... but the policeman apparently acknowledged at least two members of the party, by tipping his helmet and speaking!!

Only a matter of seconds later - after crossing the bridge - the witness looked around..... but there was no sign of the policeman anywhere!?  They told me that the party had taken a long time to navigate the incline, icy as it was, so there was no way that the man could have done the same - though ascending, of course - in the time that it had taken them to literally turn around!?  Of considerable interest was the simple fact that no footprints from the policeman could be seen on the ground!?

Again - as a matter of interest - the history of the woodland was briefly looked into and it was clear that the region would have surely been rather well-known to Black Country constabulary over the space of many decades.....  While secluded, the woods had played host to both illegal 'cock-fighting' rings and, later on, 'dog baiting' too.....  Raids by the local law had been carried out and many arrests made!  At least two sexual crimes had been carried out there during the Victorian era too, so it's no real stretch of the imagination to consider that the land involved would have most probably featured on the 'beat' of many a copper over the years!?!    

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