A most haunted house Read online

  © G L Davies 2013

  The Paranormal Chronicles presents

  A most haunted house

  By

  G L Davies

  The house first came to my attention a few years ago. I'd heard rumours of a prolific paranormal case that exhibited all the aspects of a good haunting. It’s always difficult when studying possible paranormal incidents to decipher fact from fiction and to explore the truth behind such talk. As always first dismiss rational explanations for the events. A birds nest in the attic and an over-active imagination can suddenly become a very real and frightening paranormal experience. Only when a thorough investigation has taken place, can an assessment be made. Often investigators in this field tend to be too open minded and fall foul of the power of suggestion and a desperation to prove that these things do exist. Whilst others are so sceptical that even if there were proof of a paranormal phenomenon they would simply dismiss the notion. It’s all about balance and working through a series of processes. Eliminating the options until eventually you are left with (hopefully) either an explanation or, an event. Nine times out of ten it is something simple and mundane, but there are those rare cases when rational thought and science cannot explain what is happening.

  One element of the story that did capture my imagination was, that the house and the people that lived there wanted to remain anonymous. Either this was nothing more than a spooky story with no substance, or something had been happening to the people and they wished it to remain private for fear of ridicule. In my experience, people don't wish for real incidents of paranormal phenomena to be made public. They have to live and deal with, what can be very confusing and frightening phenomena. People have approached me in the past claiming spectral, poltergeist or even alien activity. In reality, they craved attention and wanted to have the sense that something special was happening to them. Consciously or not, they were desperate for their existence to have more meaning and feel they had been chosen or selected by a higher unknown force.

  A source gave me the general location of the property and to my surprise, I found it not to be some gothic or ancient looking building, but a stereotypical street of terraced houses in Pembrokeshire in the centre of Haverfordwest. The area being mere minutes walk from local supermarkets, schools, shopping centre and amenities.

  Haverfordwest serves as the market town for most of the county of Pembrokeshire, west Wales. It forms an important hub between other towns in Pembrokeshire such as Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock, Fishguard and St David's as a result of its position at the tidal limit of the western Cleddau River. The majority of the town, comprising the old parishes of St. Mary, St. Martin and St. Thomas, lies on the (west) bank of the river, whilst on the left bank are the suburbs of Prendergast and Cartlett. At this point, a pair of sandstone ridges extending east-west and separated by a deep, narrow valley, are cut through by the western Cleddau. This leaves two high spurs on the west side of the river. On the northern spur, the castle and its surrounding settlement form the core of St Martin's parish. On the southern spur, the High Street ascends steeply from the river, and forms the core of St Mary's parish. From the foot of each spur, ancient bridges cross the river to Prendergast: St Martin's Bridge ("the Old Bridge") and St Mary's Bridge ("the New Bridge", built in 1835). St Thomas's parish occupies the south side of the southern spur. From these core areas, the town has spread, mainly along the ridges. In addition to the four ancient parish churches, the remains of an Augustinian priory are visible at the southern edge of the town. Haverfordwest has a deep and rich history of folk lore and hauntings and even numerous UFO sightings during the 1970's that lead to the area becoming known as the Welsh triangle.

  Some investigating led me to believe that I had found the exact location of the house in which this haunting was said to have occurred. I was excited, but deeply anxious on how to approach the persons involved. I did not wish to seem overly presumptuous or assertive, or to be viewed as obnoxious or to be deemed insensitive. I decided to simply write a letter, explain who I was and my background as an investigator. I explained that if they did have a possible haunting, I would very much like to investigate it. I assured them that I would at all times respect their anonymity, and may perhaps be able to offer a solution or help them make sense of what was happening.

  Two weeks went by and I had decided that perhaps I had been misled or had mistaken the property for the one in the story. If that was the case, further research was needed to either confirm such a house did exist or to simply close the file as just an example of hearsay or urban myth. Then I received the email.

  It was from a gentleman who had lived there at the alleged time of the incidents. He had been forwarded the letter, had mulled over the notion of an outsider wishing to scrutinise a very private matter and had needed to speak to the other people connected. He politely informed me that those involved, did not and would not speak to me and to never make any contact with the residents of the house or to mention his name. I replied, profusely apologising saying that my intent was of a scientific and investigative perspective rather than one of glorification or an attempt to exploit the people affected.

  Had someone else been barking up this tree? Had others called in the name of paranormal study or with claims of abilities to help stop the antics of something intangible to science? Was the rumour of this haunting malicious, created for some malevolent reason perhaps during some personal feud? Or maybe, just maybe there was some substance to this. As compelled as I was to pursue this further, I had to respect the man’s wishes. Dispirited, I closed the case and moved on.

  With Pembrokeshire’s rich tapestry of paranormal stories interwoven into the fabric of its history, I was soon busy again investigating and generally enjoying the subject in the beautiful county. But, like a seed starting to germinate, the house in Haverfordwest grew and grew in my mind. Soon it was eclipsing my everyday thought and haunting my dreams. I had cerebrally connected to the house in a way I could not understand. I was tempted to walk by it but rationale and resolve told me to stay away, to respect the people’s wishes and not be discouraged by the failure to study the case in depth. I decided I needed a break and booked a flight to Ireland to visit an old girlfriend.

  After two days of relaxing and enjoying the Guinness, I checked my emails to discover rather unexpectedly, a message from the man from the house. My first presumption was that perhaps someone had told him I was still pursuing the case and that had agitated him. Surprisingly, he said that all involved had decided to talk to me about the house on the prerequisite that they were to remain anonymous and that the location of the house never be revealed. I was to take no photos inside or outside of the house and that arrangements would be made for me to speak to everyone involved so that concurrent and thorough documenting could take place. They hoped that it would be a cathartic experience and it may begin to make sense to them if explained to an outsider, particularly one with experience of the subject. They hoped there was an answer, I knew now that something was indeed happening in the house. I was delighted beyond belief but at the same time, there nagged a dark, foreboding about the house and it burrowed deep within my mind.

  Two weeks later, the interviews had been completed and I have arranged these into a chronological order of events. The names of the people have obviously been changed along with any key information that may link the house and the people involved. Those I spoke to have nothing to gain from this recanting and there was genuine emotion and a sense of dread, fear and confusion and if what did happen there is true then this is truly one of the most disturbing and prolific hauntings investigated.

  I shall leave you, the reader, to decide and draw your own conclusions.

  ***

  John and Sarah are the
principal witnesses to the events that occurred. I met John at a coffee shop by the River Cleddau in Haverfordwest for his interview over a period of two days. At a later date I met Sarah at her home a few miles away. All names in this transcript have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved. Neither currently live at the address. I also had the opportunity to speak to other relevant people who were witness to occurrences and events which have been included. I have edited the conversations into a more flowing fashion for the reader. Everyone involved has given me their consent for the publication of the events for which I am grateful. Here are the testimonials and I gladly extend the opportunity to the reader to decide for yourself, based on your own personal views and through the evidence presented to create your own theory on the case.

  John: I met Sarah through work. It was one of those incidents that we both clicked straight away. This was about ten years ago, so I was in my late twenties and she was a little younger. Everyone would tease us about getting together but the timing was always wrong. She left and came back a year later and we both hit it off again and started dating.

  Sarah: John was different back then, always laughing and joking, always kind and friendly and was always so confident. I liked him so much, I was very attracted to him, but I guess we didn’t want to ruin a good thing but yeah…we got together eventually and it was great. It was a good time in my life. Wow, it seems so long ago now.

  John: After a few months, we got a little flat together in the town centre a few minutes’ walk from the shops. It was a nice time. We had no T.V, and would drink wine and chat and smoke and listen to music. The flat always seemed so bright and airy in hindsight. It sounds berserk now, but it was almost as if it was blessed.

  Sarah: John loved that old flat so much; he could see the castle from the window. He loved popping down to the bakery to get fresh bread, or the paper or coming home with a few bottles of wine. People would visit all the time, it was nice as we were literally in the town centre so our friends and family would pop over on a Saturday on their way through town and we would have friends over in the evenings for supper. It felt good, it felt grown up, maybe a little pretentious with the music and wine and no T.V but at that time we were happy with each other and we didn’t need anything else.

  John: Not to say it was perfect as we did have rows as every couple does, couples who say they don’t argue will one day have a huge row and that’s when things go wrong, quickly. My advice is to not let things fester. It was a good time, I never wanted to leave, but I guess we were heading towards thirty and it was a one bedroom flat. I think Sarah might have started thinking about having a family and settling down, not paying rent and working and paying towards something that was ours, but if there was a time machine then I would jump in it and travel back to August 1st 2003 and make sure that day played out differently. I will never forget that date, never, and I never wanted to leave. But a relationship is about two people not just one, you think that your doubts are just manifested through fear of the unknown, or because you don’t like the idea of being tied down to a massive responsibility. It was never because I did not want to live and spend my whole life with Sarah, that was never the case.

  Sarah: We were in work together and I was reading the local paper the Western Telegraph and I saw the house up for sale and I couldn’t believe it, some friends of mine had lived there for a bit and I had stayed over after a night out. I remembered it being a cool place and I thought I’d love a place like this one day. It had so much character. So many houses have the same set-up, this was different. It was lovely.

  John: I was sat in the office when Sarah came in with a great big smile and a copy of the paper under her arm. She showed me the house, a little black and white advert of a terraced house that I had walked past a million times and never even noticed. I have to admit that I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to go from the flat and rush into anything, I guess my lack of enthusiasm was painted on my face as her smile just vanished and she looked really hurt. I remember we had a huge bust up.

  Sarah: We had a discussion on the future and where we were going, I could not believe why he wasn't more excited. Even to just go and look at it. I knew if he just looked at it then he would love it.

  John: Sarah was furious when I said that we should have some kind of pre-nuptial. I think we had been together close to a year and surely that’s not long enough. I laugh now but I had seen so many of my friends and family lose homes and end up with nothing. That sounds terrible right? It’s like I was thinking the worse before it even happened but realistically everyone likes to think it through…yeah? Anyway I felt bad about it and told her to book us a viewing. As I said, if I could travel back in time I would have said no. I know we would have been at odds, maybe even had a huge falling out but we would have worked through it. I loved her so much. She was so beautiful and smart and I think that love was what made me say yes to view the house. What was the worst that could happen right?

  Sarah: I did feel a little selfish but I knew it would be for the best and we were paying something near £350 to £400 a month for a small town flat plus bills on top of that. Also we could have no pets apart from a hamster, there was no garden and guests had to sleep on a bed settee in the living room, plus we were only a little bit further away. It was no difference in the time it took us to get to work or to go to the shops. John sulked for a bit but men do have a tendency to do that anyway when they don’t get their way. I felt that we were basically wasting money renting and at the time it felt right for us to take that next big step, to commit to each other and really start thinking about our future. It feels so strange saying that now.

  John: To be honest, I didn't know much about buying a house, all I knew was that it was hard work and took a long time, in my mind we would view it and not be able to afford it or someone else would gazump it. Gazump, that is a word right? The house was valued at something crazy like £125K and I thought on our wages combined we could not afford that. But Sarah was the smart one, always was and always will be, she had done her research and even before the viewing of the house, in her mind it was ours. She came in on the 1st to tell me and the viewing was on the 3rd! I was livid, I was hoping it would take longer. So off we went from work one evening, to see this place.

  Sarah: I remember being so excited and it was a beautiful evening and the sun was shining. We got to the house and I squeezed Johns hand so hard. I knew, I just knew he would love it. I had had a call from the estate agent a few hours before to say that they couldn't make it, but the woman who owned the house was happy to show us around.

  John: It looked nothing special on the outside, there are a hundred or more houses in Haverfordwest that look the same. It was quite near a main road and I liked the fact that our flat was down a little lane out of the way but still in the centre of town. Sarah knocked on the front door, and this woman, sullen and joyless, probably a bit older than us answered. She didn’t seem that excited that we were there. In my mind she would have been baking bread, tidying and arranging flowers around the house to make it more homely. In hindsight I bet she thought we were just another dumb young couple, looking to play grown-ups and there was no way she was going to get us to buy so she could get out of the house with a profit. It was like she was just going through the motions. She made absolutely no effort in her appearance or making the house look nice and tidy. I’m not a snob but seriously? Make an effort. Also it seemed a bit weird that even the estate agent didn’t turn up. I just thought they were probably enjoying a pint in a beer garden somewhere like maybe we should have been doing. At the time you don’t notice things like that but I just thought the woman who owned the house was a bit of a weirdo.

  Sarah: I have to admit the woman who owned the house didn’t give us much of a welcome. It was like we were a nuisance. We went in and she said "this is the living room, dining area over there; kitchen and bathroom back there and have a look upstairs". She explained the layout in about a minute and said to look a
round if we wanted. It was like the life had been sucked out of her. I thought maybe she worked nights or something.

  John: I thought wow! She’s selling this so well, this woman should be on "The Apprentice". This was a £125k investment to us, not a second hand lawn mower. Her lack of enthusiasm made me want to just walk out.

  Sarah: It was easy to sense that John was upset by the woman but thankfully, I had been in the house before and I knew where everything was so I conducted the tour of the house.

  John: She hadn’t even tidied up but I I’ll admit, with the sun shining through the window, I was surprised by how long the house was, it looked tiny on the outside and stretched way back. I could see why Sarah liked it, it was like a TARDIS. However, that woman’s attitude really pissed me off.

  Sarah: I took John up the stairs to show him the three bedrooms.

  John: The advert said three bedrooms, there were in fact two. There was a master bedroom, a strange shaped attic conversion and a box room so small that a cat would get claustrophobic.

  Sarah: I didn’t know that there was a child living with the woman and when we went up to the attic conversion she was lying on the wooden floor colouring in some pictures she'd drawn. She was only about seven and the first thing she asked was “Are you going to buy this so we can find a new home?”

  John: What a strange question then it clicked, the mum had put the kid up to it as emotional blackmail! In hindsight I wish I had paid more attention to what the girl was drawing, as it was probably of me chained to the bed, with my head spinning and spewing pea soup or something. It was such a weird set up, you don’t prepare for these things but seriously, it was such a strange evening.

  Sarah: I asked the woman what came with the house and she said the carpets and the kitchen furnishings. I asked her how low would she go in terms of the offer for the house and she said £105K. I was shocked as it was advertised at £125K and she was happy to drop twenty thousand pounds. She quickly added that was what she had paid for it.