Sunday October 2nd 2022
I must admit that I never buy newspapers these days - I haven't for a long time now - but, if something of potential 'spooky interest' does come up in one of the local journals, there are a number of friends on social media who will kindly 'send me a link' and let me know. One such notification in the past few days drew my attention to the article being mentioned here - see original, 'Daily Star' piece by clicking this LINK - which concerns a middle-aged lady, April Brown, who apparently believes she is being haunted by a 'Black Witch'... the entity concerned apparently following her from her former home in Walsall to a new address in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
As frequently happens, I subsequently shared the link concerned with a couple of friends and one recipient, my good friend John Chance, of 'GhostcallersUK', sent a return message to say that he believed he'd had dealings with April Brown at some point during the past decade or so, possibly? As John is infinitely more 'free-flowing' than myself, re. hands-on / face-to-face activities and visits, etc, I wasn't entirely surprised by his suggested pangs of recognition?...
In immediately looking back at the piece involved, I suddenly found myself also experiencing a sensation of - albeit quite distant - familiarity with the name 'April Brown' and desperately stared at the accompanying photographs for some sort of lead..? Eventually, the penny did actually drop and I dug into my older diaries to discover that I had indeed met April previously...
It transpired that, speaking to a relative in September, 1999, I was told that they had just heard a news report (on local radio) concerning a (then) Darlaston family that had apparently 'had to' move house 5 or so times because they were supposedly being dogged by 'ghostly activity'. I instantly called the station concerned and explained my interest to a member of their news team... and they promised to pass my contact details on to the family concerned.
Within 24 hrs of the call, I was contacted by the mother of the family - April herself - and invited to go along to her (then current) home to speak with her about what had been going on. A little strangely, I had been informed that the family wished to remain completely anonymous in this matter, but, as I arrived at their comfortable, little flat, I happened to pick up a copy of the local, free-paper (which had just, coincidentally, dropped on their doormat) and, in casually looking at the front page, discovered a headline article about the haunting... including full details, such as names, addresses and so forth!? (See article above). This information didn't go down at all well with April, who said that she would be contacting the paper concerned and complaining.
With regards to the 'activity' supposedly experienced, initial reports seemed to indicate that they were experiencing a considerable amount of poltergeist-like effects, which had seemingly started with a knocking noise heard coming from the headboard of the parents bed, which seemingly moved from one side of the board and back again. Quite soon afterwards, other, peculiar, matters developed, such as glasses being heard smashing in the kitchen and wax crayon found to have been scribbled down the walls of the staircase, in a position where it would have supposedly been very hard to accomplish such vandalism. April's underwear had also been found to have 'gone missing' at times: either never to be seen again, or, sometimes, returning under mysterious circumstances!?
Intriguingly, it was mentioned that one of the addresses that they had moved into – while attempting to flee their own peculiar problems – had actually 'already been haunted', which, she believed, had made their own troubles worse? She reckoned that the already existing haunting had given their own activity more impetus, possibly?
A disturbing 'phenomenon' that they claimed to have been experiencing, at the time that I spoke with them, was a typical 'Old Hag' scenario - or episodes of 'Sleep Paralysis' - during which they were seemingly (and quite typically) 'pinned down' by something and found themselves unable to move. This was experienced by both April and her partner at different times. I was told that, during such episodes, they had also sometimes seen a 'black figure' in the room and heard what seemed to be a 'shuffling sound'. April informed me that she believed two, separate 'spirits' were taking part in these attacks – one performing the 'pinning' activity and another moving around the room and producing the 'shuffling' sound. The episodes also seemed to be preceded by a pulsating sound – a 'wow-wow-wow' effect – described as akin to something from a Sci-Fi movie!? These attacks were, at the time in question, occurring approximately every two weeks or so. (It was also mentioned that this was something of a 'reduced figure' re. regularity, as they had been more frequently experienced previously). The last 'attack' had happened to April some 4 nights before our initial contact. It was suggested to me that the assaults tended not to happen if the lights were left on and 'they' certainly seemed to 'favour the dark'. Sue admitted that she had – on occasion – experienced the 'pressing' effect at different times throughout her lifetime. One such attack had occurred in a hostel that she was staying in and was witnessed by another girl sleeping in the same room. (*Needless to say, this type of experience is entirely explainable - as a human, sleep-related phenomenon - but it is still worth noting here to simply record that such events are frequently associated with / reported in 'paranormally charged' situations. In the last couple of years, for example, I was asked to visit a family living in my own street who were experiencing poltergeist-like activity AND episodes of paralysis along the lines mentioned. This 'connection' is a very common motif).
Throughout our meeting – at different points - April emphasised that she was desperately worried about the effect that the activity concerned might be having on her young child. She believed that they were already able to 'see' things in their bedroom that the parents could not, as they seemed to be 'watching something invisible' moving around the room at times. She basically lived in fear of the child being assaulted in some way, the same as both she and her partner had supposedly experienced.
The church had allegedly become involved in these matters some 8 or so times during the course of the experiences – at different properties across the Black Country region – but activity still persisted. One vicar had told the family that their problems had something to do with the practice of 'devil worship' and that 'something' was now 'after their souls'!? At an address they'd occupied in the Halesowen region, they had discovered a box full of books that appeared to be 'Satanic' in nature. It should perhaps be added here that - as a brief 'life history' for April - there had seemingly been a degree of (what would be construed as) 'occult activity' relating to her family and family life, including dabbling in forms of 'negative' magic, as well as devotion to the usage of the Ouija board too.
It was also mentioned that, when April was some 8 or so years old, her mother had been to see a clairvoyant and was told that April was 'highly gifted', in a spiritual sense. I was asked if this might have something to do with the problems they had been experiencing? She admitted that she believed herself to have had certain powers or gifts throughout her lifetime, which she openly tied in with what was currently happening around her.
It should just be noted here that, regarding the references made by the vicar above concerning 'Devil Worship' and details mentioned in the recent article also, we have to take it that a 'potted history' of what had been going on - including family / life history, etc - would have been mentioned to all characters 'entering the scenario'. As a result, such details as 'something being after their soul' and the 'haunting by a Black Witch' motif (as well as many other paranormally biased angles) have potentially been suggested purely 'as a result of' people simply learning and reacting to such 'pro-spooky' and 'leading' data?
With regards to the newer article, I have made endeavours to contact certain, relevant sources, purely to discover precisely who has been involved in the ongoing saga - i.e. just who are those 'paranormal experts' mentioned? - and a small handful of other considerations. As with a lot of these posts, I refrain from giving my personal thoughts on 'what might be going on' in the brief write-up - at least in any real detail - and simply try to remain neutral in greatly relating matters 'as they came to me'...
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