HAUNTED HOTEL Part two

As I was lying in bed reading my book the handle of my bedroom door suddenly rattled very loudly indeed. Someone was turning it backwards and forwards very hard indeed and trying to get in the room. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I put on my glasses and glanced over at the door with my heart thumping. The brass ring was swinging backwards and forwards. Oh my goodness did my heart thump. I tried to calm myself and put it down to someone trying the door having got the wrong room. In reality that wasn't very likely. I have explained the layout of the hotel and how this room was placed well away from the others.

There were only two other rooms on this side of the hotel and they were at the bottom of the stairs which were used to reach where I was. I knew it couldn't be a mistake really, but I had to try and calm myself. In those days I didn't even have a mobile telephone as I didn't believe in them. Lying there quite cut off from the rest of the hotel, I had to try and calm my nerves. There wasn't much chance of there being an axe murderer or anything in this tiny village so I had to calm my imagination.

I had just settled down with heartbeat back to normal when there was the most enormous bang. It sounded like one of the bedroom doors downstairs had slammed shut. But the force of it made the room shake. Again my heart thumped. Oh my God, what on earth had made me think staying in this place was a good idea? Again I tried to think sensibly. I did deep breathing to calm myself and said that it must be the wind. Although my room had its own bathroom, I knew others didn't due to the age of the place. Maybe someone had got up to go to the loo and the wind from an open window had caught the door.

Before my heart had stopped thumping, the same thing happened again. Oh no. Heart thumping completely wildly now and with hands visibly shaking, I decided to tell myself that they were back from the bathroom and the wind had caught the door again. What else could I think? It was too difficult to settle and so I got up and put on the kettle. Good old British cup of tea sorts everything out doesn't it. As the kettle was boiling, I sat on the chair and picked up my book. I had no sooner picked it up than I hear the stairs creaking outside my room. Someone was coming up the stairs. This was nearly midnight by now. I really didn't like this place. I was getting more and more scared by the minute. I didn't know what to do. There was no telephone in the room, no mobile and I was cut off from everyone else. Oh dear.

Yet again the door handle rattled very strongly and I could see it turning. Eventually it stopped turning and just swayed. Well sod it, I wasn't going to sit there petrified for the rest of the night. I hadn't heard the steps creak and groan again so whoever it was must still be outside my door. I decided to throw open the door and face whoever was trying to scare me.

Very silly I know, but when you're that scared it's amazing what you'll do and I've never been one to give into fear, I would rather face it. I tiptoed to the door so as not to alert them I was approaching, unlocked it and threw it open. No one. Nothing at all. Impossible. There was no way they could have got down the stairs that quickly and disappeared. Well, they must have because no one was there. I assumed it was some silly idiot in one of the two rooms at the base of the stairs who had dived down and rushed into the room quickly. They had probably heard it was a middle aged woman on her own and that it would make for some good fun to scare her out of her wits. Or words to that effect!

The second I locked the door, literally the second, the handle rattled and shook again. I jumped out of my skin and scooted to the far side of the room. I stood there staring at the door and shaking like a leaf. Now I KNEW no one was out there and that if they were, it was a physical impossibility to have done that so quickly. What on earth was going on.

All went calm for about quarter of an hour. Again I started to relax. I went back to making the tea and this time managed to get it done. I sat in the chair drinking my tea and watching the door for what seemed like hours. It was probably only half an hour, but at that time of night in a village miles from nowhere, with no telephone and the night completely silent and black as only the depth of the country can be, half an hour can feel like an eternity.

I eventually got the courage to crawl back into bed. This time, I had put on the bathroom light and pulled the door so that a small glow of light would shine into the bedroom. No way in the world was I sleeping in a room with no lights on after what had been going on. If I should be able to sleep, then I wanted to be able to see what was going on should I be woken up by anything.

As you know I am a medium and by now, I was starting to wonder if this was a ghost. I kept telling myself not to be silly that there weren't such things. The dead can't hurt you - can they? Well I have watched my fair share of horror films with ghosts and ghoulies and it does make your imagination run riot at a time like this. At that point, I wasn't sure what would be worse. A human being trying to frighten me, a human being out to hurt me, or a ghost which I knew nothing about or what to expect from it.

I decided that a ghost would be better. If I was a medium then why wasn't I picking anyone up? I had never come across this before and so it was very strange and scary. A feeling I never get when practising mediumship. Lying there with the bedside light still on, I tried to "tune in". Nothing. Come on, I thought. If there's anyone there then let me know. Anything is better than this not knowing. I had a whole night to get through. Still nothing. I got up and went to the loo. My thinking was, if I DID manage to get to sleep, I didn't want to be woken up wanting to go to the loo. I would just end up petrified again.

I crawled back into bed and taking courage in both hands switched off the bedside light. Everything was pitch black. I shut my eyes tightly and then re-opened them. This time, I was able to see an outline in the dark due to the faint glow coming from the bathroom. Everything was quiet and, although not calm, I had at least managed to console myself that all was now well. I was lying on the right hand side of the double bed nearest the door in case a quick exit was needed and was just about to turn onto my side to prepare for sleep when - someone got into bed next to me! I went cold. I know now what "a chill went up my spine" means.

I actually felt the mattress sink down as someone got onto it. How had they got into the room. Eyes staring wide so that they were almost popping out of my head I turned to look. Nothing and no one. The air next to me was icy cold. I pulled all my mediumistic ability to the fore and tried to tune in. Nothing. I couldn't believe it. How could someone be there and me not know it.

At least now I knew what the problems had been. the hotel was obviously haunted. I had always wanted to stay in a haunted hotel but not alone and like this. I was petrified. I knew by the cold air what it was. When I read for people and link in, there is a coldness that comes around me, usually on my left side. By that, I always know I have linked in so to speak. This air is exactly what that felt like only much colder. I decided to speak to whoever it was.

I told them (in my mind) that they were very welcome to be here as they were here before me. I told them that they had really scared me and asked them not to do it again. I then asked if they would let me share the room with them that week and that I was very tired and needed a good night's sleep. Next thing I know it was morning. I don't even remember falling asleep or finishing the conversation. Obviously, whoever it was had decided they would let me stay there and share the room with them. The fact that I had acknowledged them seemed to settle them down. The rest of the week, I was allowed to be aware of a presence in the room but was never disturbed again by being frightened by whoever it was.

The next morning at breakfast I was asked how I slept. I relayed the night's events and it was only then that they told me I was the only guest in the night before. Each other night the hotel was fully booked, but that one night I was the only one. I said about the bedroom door downstairs and she then told me that they were both locked and no one had been near them. Everything was down to my ghost. She later told me that those three rooms were known to be haunted and that's why they put me there. They had wanted to know if I would pick anything up. Oh I did that all right. Thanks very much! It was also on this second day, that I was to have another very extraordinary evening that would involve most of the village residents but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

THE HAUNTED HOTEL Part one

A few years ago my husband went abroad for a week and I decided to use this time to stay at an Inn about 2 miles away from where my sister lives. Several times over the years whilst visiting her, I had thought it looked an interesting place in which to stay. This was an ideal opportunity and so I booked a double room, half board.

You can see this place on the Internet. It is called The George at Nunney (Somerset) and is a 15th century Hotel opposite the ruins of a moated 14th century castle. I love the place and was really looking forward to staying there. I knew nothing about it at all, but did wonder if it was haunted or if I would "pick up" anything whilst staying there. Now, I may be a psychic medium, but I have never seen a ghost which is a totally different thing to what I do. I still haven't seen one, but, I now know they exist. My first night was about to be very scary in some ways.

On arrival I was shown to my room which was sort of on the 2nd or 3rd floor. The main stairs take you to a first floor hotel lounge. From this room there are three exits. One takes you back the way you came, the furthest door takes you to all the main hotel bedrooms and the third exit on the right hand side of this room, takes you to where I was to stay. It led to two bedrooms on that level, but there were about six steps leading to another room on its own at the very top of the Hotel. This was the room given to me. These three rooms were quite cut off from the main body of the hotel and even though it was very nice, the fact I was alone made me a little nervous at being so cut off. Little did I realise then, that I was actually the only guest staying in the hotel that night.

I unpacked my things, had a quick wash and then left to go and visit my sister who lived in an adjoining village. She was to join me for dinner on the Friday evening, but the first two nights I would dine alone. I got back to the Inn at about 4pm with the intention of having a relaxing bath, a lie down reading for an hour or so and then a walk around the castle opposite before coming back and having a drink (or two) outside by the river before dinner. All best laid plans and all that.

As I came back into the hotel, there were two ladies sitting there with a cup of tea. They said hello and asked if I would like to join them. They introduced themselves as the owner and her friend who was also the hotel receptionist. It was kind of them to ask and so I agreed. We had a cup of tea and about an hour later we all had a glass of wine. Why not, I thought. I was on holiday and wasn't driving anywhere. How pleasant was this.

Where we were sitting was in the reception area. The reception desk was mainly in the hallway, but you could look through from the desk area into the bar which was behind a thick stone wall. As I sat there with them both sipping my wine I asked a question without thinking what I was doing. I looked at the owner and asked her who the man was who used to come in every day and sit on a stool at the bar in a corner by the door. I told her he smoked as he had just blown smoke into my nostril, that he wore a soft cloth cap and was called Tom. I don't know who was more stunned, them or me.

I am not now talking about the ghost. This was me picking up something mediumistically. This never used to happen to me like that but this place was something else and my gifts have never been stronger than they were in the George that holiday. I was asked what I was talking about and they were fascinated by my answer. They looked at each other knowingly but never said why. I found out the next morning why they had looked at each other like that. In fact, later that night in reality. Anyway, they said they didn't know who it was as the owner had only been there for about two years so wasn't sure about past regulars.

I later went up to my room, had my bath and went down for dinner. There was the residents dining room or another eating area for non residents in the lounge bar. I chose to eat in the lounge bar area as it had more character and I wanted to see what the local villagers were like. It was a good decision. I had a superb meal and then after I had finished was approached by the landlady. She told me that a man called Richard was bound to be in at any minute and that he had been a regular each night for many years. If anyone knew who I had been talking about earlier, it would be him.

He arrived and they asked him if they knew a man who smoked, wore a cloth cap and sat on the same stool in the corner at the bar every night. Before they could say more, he said "Oh yes, that'll be old Tom". You could have knocked me for six. He told us more about him and then we left it with no more said. I was asked if I could pick up any more, but I couldn't as I was tired by now and ready for my bed. The next night in the hotel was to be an incredible experience for me and the whole village. This night, however, was to be the most incredible experience I have ever had.

At this point, I still did not know that I was the only guest in the hotel that night. I knew there was no one else in to eat, but in a hotel (or village Inn) so far from anywhere, I put it down to them having eaten in Bath or somewhere else they had been to see that day and assumed they would arrive later. Wrong! With what happened next all I can say is thank goodness I didn't know that night that I was alone apart from the owners, who were in another part of the hotel. If I had known then,due to what happened later, that I was the only one, I would have been petrified out of my skin. As it was, I put it down, at first, to someone playing a joke on me.

My room was very pleasant, quite spacious, had a pleasant outlook and a decent sized bathroom. It had an old wooden door with an old fashioned latch with a ringed handle. You know the sort. Twist the ring handle and the latch lifts. The weather was very hot and so I had the sash window wide open for air and to try and get a breeze in the room. I washed, changed and did all the usual and got into bed with the bedside light on, picked up my book and prepared to read to make my eyes tired enough to sleep. And then the first thing happened.

MY HOUSE IS ON THE MARKET

Well it was last year, but it isn't now. Due to falling prices we took it off until things settled. Listening to people moaning about Estate Agents, yet again, reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago. I thought that those of you selling your homes, or thinking of it, may well be able to relate to this. I hope you enjoy it.


MY HOUSE IS ON THE MARKET


My house is on the market
And I feel that I am too
For they ask such personal questions
Why are they all so rude?

I've cleaned and polished, gardened too
Bleach in hand, I've scrubbed the loos
Straightened the curtains and hoovered the carpets,
The table's done, so please don't mark it.

Up and down and in and out
they poke their noses all about
They come they go, as well you know
In all the places not on show.

Now time has passed and the agent's rung,
"I've sold your house" he says
He seems very pleased but can't understand
Why I am seeing red.

For he only wants his commission,
it really isn't fair,
He' reduced my house down more and more
And doesn't seem to care

It's very strange how things have changed
All in the space of a day
To sell I was told, "prices are low"
But as a buyer "they've all shot higher"

Now another home I need to buy
Doing it his way I can't afford
So I'll stay where I am, or do it myself
And give him back his board.