Red,
Probably, but I am not an expert....I find it pretty frightening stuff though.
Grown men (some of them ex-military men who had seen active service in WW2) became scared to close up the building, a furniture sales warehouse, alone after dark because something unseen kept prodding them hard in the back and they heard loud, inexplicable noises in one area of an upstairs floor including noises like footfalls on the stairs when no-one else was there.
The cleaning lady complained to the manager about having seen furniture and other stuff moving across the room by itself while she was upstairs. She would replace it then off it would go again. She was apparently convinced that other employees were playing tricks on her. One day a heavy armchair floated by her two feet up and a replica ornamental spinning wheel was seen operating by itself. She quit as soon as she realised that they had all been occupied elsewhere and knew nothing about it.
The incident I referred to in my earlier post happened when I was about 12 years old I was alone in the same upstairs area where all these strange things had previously occurred, but at that time I was unaware of them. I heard someone blow their nose very loudly like some old men do. On turning round, a large advertising sign on the wall was swinging wildly on its string as if someone had just held it up and let it go. I couldn't see anyone and there was nowhere for a person to hide. I went downstairs and asked my father who was up there. He laughed and said it was probably just "Tom" and not to worry about it. Actually, there was no-one else in the building except my father plus one other employee and they hadn't been upstairs.
Years later I learned that he was referring to an man called Tom H. He and his family had previously lived in the building. Tom, apparently an alcoholic, had been knocked down by a bus and killed whilst crossing the road fom the pub opposite. After his death, family moved away and their accommodation became part of the adjacent commercial property which became the furniture warehouse.
What really freaked me (and everyone else at the time) was to learn that the peak of activity occurred in the late 1960s when the now ancient Mrs. H had passed away and was temporarily laid to rest in the funeral parlour a few doors away up the adjacent road!
Activity also increased whenever any changes to the inside of the building took place. One day, my father was discussing re-arranging a display of furniture with two other employees. In front of them all, a large table lamp moved horizontally off a table, hovered for a second or two and was then dashed to the floor.
Most recently, just before my father retired, while building alteration was being carried out, damage kept occurring inside the building whilst it was locked and supposedly unoccupied. The builders kept complaining that work they had carried out on Saturday evening was undone by Sunday morning and debris was being scattered right across the floor. They had been required to block off a doorway with heavy plastic sheeting in a 2" by 2" wooden frame to prevent dust affecting the furniture on sale on that floor. Twice it was inexplicably wrecked, the wood smashed up and the plastic completely shredded. My father had the only set of keys at home; they were delivered back to him each time the builders finished work. Strangely, as part of the alterations the builders had to uncover the old main doorway entry and staircase that had been part of the previous occupants' house. It was probably where "Tom" was heading for when he was run over. The builders refused to work alone after my father explained that they were the only ones in the building all weekend on both occasions.
I fully appreciate this is weird stuff and difficult to accept. Apologies for it being off thread (although stuff was flying about!)but it is all true to the best of my knowledge. My father insists all he has told me is correct and he always gives exactly the same details.
[One further thing I had forgotten. A lady customer was once badly startled by "the old man" she saw looking down at her from the shop stairs. No-one was up there at the time].
(Names edited out, relatives may be embarrassed.
[ 10 November 2001: Message edited by: ShyTorque ]