Things that go bump in the night

Do you believe in ghosts?  I'm not sure.  I wouldn't rule it out and like most people strange things have happened that might be easier to explain by saying it's a paranormal phenomenon.

When I was younger I used to cycle to Ingatestone and would go to the gates of the Hall, where I thought I saw 2 big black dogs.  When we visited it later in the year I asked the woman about the dogs and she said they didn't have any dogs.  Could they have been ghosts?


I certainly believe that places retain the energy of strong emotions that have happened there, you can certainly feel grief at Tyne Cot cemetery and all theatres hold a feeling of excitement and anticipation.  But is that energy a ghost?


Imaginary friends?  I had an imaginary friend called Baby Cumby but I can't really recall what it was all about. When my daughter was about 3 she had a succession of imaginary friends.  They would appear for a while and when they annoyed her she'd ask them to leave.  She would be able to tell me details of where they were from. I remember a girl from New Zealand, a boy from Germany and an old lady from New York.  She could name street names of the places her 'friends' were from and Aileen (93 from New York) would help her 'make' our imaginary breakfast - corn and grits!  She insisted that her longest lasting friend was my grandmother.  She called her Tiggy Lamb (not my grandmother's name) and she would tell my dad that Tiggy Lamb was disappointed at how messy his shed was and how he needed to clean it up.  One day she sighed and said, "Tiggy Lamb is in the garden again eating the rhubarb!"  When I expressed surprise she said, "Well, it keeps you regular" A vivid imagination or maybe ghosts?

When my dad had a heart op he says he saw his dead relatives sitting on the end of the bed.  A reaction to anaesthetic or ghosts waiting for him to join them?

The church the youth orchestra rehearses in is probably haunted.  When you are in there on your own you hear all kinds of bumps and strange sounds, particularly from the organ pipes.  Sometimes you hear the organ playing (and then you realise that the church organist has let herself in through the back door and crept up the stairs to practice.)


There is another explanation, though.  I could just be bonkers!