The paranormal

I visited a school in south Norfolk about a month ago that the staff said (quite casually) was haunted by a headteacher that was raped and murdered in the bungalow next door in the 80s. Apparently the perpetrator was due to be released and paranormal activity had stepped up a gear in recent weeks. This had included the sound of someone pacing up and down, doors banging and keys turning round and round in locks. And - yes - the hairs on the back of my neck did stand up on end as we sat in what had been that headteacher's office.

So I returned to my office and recounted the tale to some colleagues. All I can say, is I have been surprised by how many people have a story of the paranormal. One colleague embarked upon a monologue about his childhood home. There were regular goings-on: strange shadows, baby crying noises and levitations. So much so that when he was offered the house later in life (for a bargain price) he declined. Another colleague started his story with 'I really do not believe in all that stuff but....I was walking from Reedham to Reedham Ferry late one evening when I heard loud footsteps clearly behind me. I turned but no one was there. I have since learnt it's notorious for hauntings and I certainly won't be walking down that stretch of road again on my own.' He had another story about a encountering a ghostly vision while walking his dog too.

Which brings me to Hingham!!! Apparently those with sensitivity to the paranormal cite Hingham as being a place full of paranormal activity, and unhappy activity at that. A scientist, that is ashamed of her ability to pick up on such strange activity avoids Hingham for this reason. I've been there and felt nothing, so clearly some of us can and some of us can't!

I think we can never be so arrogant as to think we know everything (we've still not worked out how everything came to exist, for example)...so my jury is definitely still out. Plus I secretly want to believe in anything out-of-the-ordinary.

And now for Norfolk's paranormal database.....
http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/norfolk/norpages/norfdata.php

Comments

  1. Molly Potter1 December 2009 at 19:11

    I met someone from the same school in Norwich last weekend. Her classroom is next to the old, haunted part. She said she has had to leave a school immediately through fear some evenings because of all the paranormal activity. This is a different teacher to the one I met when I visited the school! The evidence mounts.

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  2. Nick14 January 2010 at 10:55

    I am I have to say an uber-sceptic, having said that, I still have at least three different bits of unexplained activity. Here's some.

    First, a few days after my old man died in 1983, I was in the garden having a crafty fag, and I glanced round, he was standing at the bedroom window in his dressing gown smiling at me, I blinked, he'd gone. The feeling was so warm, it was very odd. I rushed inside and told my mum, She informed me quite calmly she'd bumped into him at the top of the stairs earlier as well. I put this down to memory imprinting, somthing should be there, but it isn't, so your brain puts it in, it's marvellous. It still makes the hairs on my neck stand up.

    In our current house, when we first moved in and for a couple of years after we did, One corner of the front room would suddenly inexplicably smell of lavender, usually at night. In the end I had a word, it stopped, it was a bit odd, but not unsettling.

    The most bizarre though happened several times in different ways in The Magpie on Magpie Road in Norwich, were I worked for some friend in the 1990s. One busy night behind a frantic rather slippery floored bar, I was aware of someone standing behind me, treading on my heel, looked down and saw a brown shoe and leg move out of my line of site, a few minutes later, I asked to Tim the landlord why he come behind the bar to do that, he raised on eyebrow and waved a black booted foot at me. Apparently it was the ghost of one of the old landlords, unsettled by the building work...

    This went further, I babysat for Tim and Tracey after a quiet shift. The ruke was, help yourself to beer, so I did, going back down for a refill I knew I'd turned the working light off, but it was on, so I turned it off. When Tim and Co came back, they'd forgotten their keys, So I went down to let them in. Tim immediately spotted the lights were back on again, for a second time. we were all quite spooked. I never did like the cellars in that place either. They ha a length of flint wall that was footings for the old city wall running through them it just felt really odd and old down there.

    I can't explain any of it, like I said Uber-sceptic, but...

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