Esoterica: Memory of Ghost Attack -- The Birmingham Poltergeist -- Paranormal History of the Tonawandas
A Tamworth science teacher who does not believe in ghosts has broken a 13-year silence to reveal the spooky goings-on he experienced as a night security guard at Drayton Manor.
Richard Kingstone says he and his two colleagues found patrolling the popular theme park at night spine-tinglingly creepy.
But the most terrifying incident of all happened one dark night when Richard and another security guard, both clad in their fluorescent yellow jackets, saw a man in a grey overcoat close to the Pirate Adventure ride.
Richard said: "He was standing with his back to us and we approached him.
"We were around ten to 15 feet away and could hear the sound of heavy breathing when he suddenly turned round and it wasn't a man at all.
"It was this grotesque thing and it leapt at us. I was terrified, I ducked and hit the floor.
"My mate went to hit it with his torch but it went straight through us and disappeared.
"It was a brown, horrible, hairy thing with no face, absolutely petrifying.
"I'm a science teacher and I didn't believe in ghosts – I still don't really – but there were things going on there that were really creepy and certainly things I couldn't explain.
"There is certainly some sort of presence at Drayton but I don't know what it is."
Other spooky experiences which kept the men on their toes included strange mists and the sounds of horses' hooves and running footsteps.
Richard was training as a teacher back in 1999 when he took up the post.
He added: "We used to stand at the top of StormForce 10 [one of the rides] and we would hear footsteps running from the offices down the hill towards the tea shop.
"Then we'd hear more people running beneath us but we could see nothing.
"A more recent security guard has said that he thinks he has heard the sound of horses' hooves in the same place.
"That path is the original road to where Drayton Manor, the Peel family's stately home, once stood.
"The ghost of Robert Peel? I don't know but a lot of people are said to have seen someone on horseback in the area." - thisistamworth
Handbook of Drayton Manor. With short descriptions of Tamworth Church, Castle and Town ... Eighteen illustrations. [The preface signed: W. M.]
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Residents of Thornton Road, Ward End, still speak in hushed tones about the police investigation that turned into a paranormal probe.
Yet the trauma remains for those who lived through the nightmare – which left cops and churchmen baffled.
For three years from 1981, windows were smashed repeatedly by polished stones that seemingly rained continually from the night sky.
Roofs were also damaged and frightened householders even erected barricades after what they feared were paranormal attacks.
Yet despite round-the-clock surveillance by police officers who camped out in gardens, hid in trees and set-up secret cameras, the culprits were never caught.
Even ballistic experts couldn’t help.
In desperation, paranormal investigators and the clergy were called in.
Poltergeist activity was reported at Thornton Road, Ward End
At the height of the problems, Chief Inspector Len Turley, in charge of the investigation, spoke of his frustration.
He said: “We have spent more than 1,000 man hours on this case. We are keeping an open mind about the whole thing. We don’t know why it’s gone on for so long.
‘‘If we even knew the reason for it, we would be one step nearer.”
The strange case repeatedly made headlines in national newspapers and was even aired on TV by acclaimed sci-fi author Arthur C Clarke.
Even now, householders are torn over whether they were in the midst of poltergeist activity or simply victims of vandalism.
Three homes – numbers 32, 34 and 36 – bore the brunt of the damage, with rear windows continually smashed and roofs damaged.
At the height of the trouble, residents placed chicken wire over windows and erected corrugated sheeting.
In May, 1982, the Birmingham Mail reported: “As dusk falls tonight on a Midland suburban road, frightened residents will check their barricades and prepare to fend-off yet another mystery attack on their homes.”
The colourful piece was accompanied by a picture of Evelyn Malcolm, with the tin hat she wore for protection.
Other householders wore safety helmets and laced cotton thread around their gardens to see if it would be broken by the culprits.
Amazingly, despite their properties being trashed, the cords were never snapped.
Natalie Holford was just 17 when the attacks started at her home – Number 32.
Today, she has an open mind over links with the afterlife. She told the Mail: “Nowadays, I believe very much in psychic things. I just wish I knew then what I know now.
‘‘At the time, I said there was someone who knew what was going on – but I’m more open-minded now.
“It was like being stalked, as if someone was watching us. The police would leave here at 2am and by the time they had reached the police station, there would be another attack.
“You could hear the stones rolling down the roof. It was so weird.
‘‘It always happened when you were falling asleep. I was studying for A Levels at the time and it took its toll on me. My A Levels were rubbish.
“It got to the point where you couldn’t sleep, you were just waiting for something to happen...
‘‘It was happening so regularly.
“There were police everywhere and they even put a camera in one of our rooms. My mum was at her wits’ end, it was the lack of sleep.”
The home of Geoffrey Sidebotham and sister Gwenneth Donnelly sustained the worst damage.
They still live at 36 – the home they shared with their parents.
Geoffrey, aged 67, said: “I’m still very bitter. It was an absolute nightmare and hastened the death of my mother, without a doubt.”
His mother, crippled with arthritis and emphysema, died in 1982.
Geoffrey worked nights for the Co-Op so was not present when windows were put through.
But he was sceptical about the ghostly claims. Someone – not something – did it, and got away with it.
“It upset the whole household. There were police everywhere, even in the trees, freezing,’’ he recalled.
“Windows were smashed every night by stones. As soon as you replaced one, it would be put through again.
‘‘One bed was covered in glass. We weren’t fully insured, so it must’ve cost a fortune.”
Gwenneth wept as she recalled the nightly torment.
The 64-year-old said: “It took my mother’s life. I can remember a stone coming through the window and landing right by her wheelchair.
‘‘I used to go to bed with a Bible under my pillow and prayed every night for it to stop.
“A vicar came to our house and he was convinced it was the work of vandals.”
Police never bought into the poltergeist theory, believing the culprit was using a giant catapult to bombard houses from a 200-yard distance.
In December 1981, Supt Baden Skitt vowed officers would get their man.
“We have devoted know-how and manpower of major murder hunt proportions,’’ he said.
“We are not treating it as a game.
“A very serious crime is being committed.
‘‘The culprit holds all the aces, but we will get him in the end. He will slip up.”
He – or ‘it’ – never did.
And that’s a very bitter pill for Geoffrey Sidebotham to swallow.
“After all those years, I would still like to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
The truth, as TV’s X-Files so famously said, is still out there... - birminghammail
Hidden City Haunted City: Birmingham Ghost Stories
Return To The Cemetery:More Ghosts And Hauntings
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Underground Railroad passages, battlefield sites, a presidential assassination and heralded architecture are all things that make the Buffalo Niagara region unique.These same things share something else in common. They make the area, especially the Tonawandas, “one hell of a haunted place,” Western New York author John Koerner told a captivated crowd of more than 50 people Thursday night at the City of Tonawanda Public Library, where he gave a lecture about ghosts in the Niagara Frontier.
Koerner’s presentation was an eye opener for Kimberly Starner, 17. “I didn’t even realize there was so much around here,” she said of the area’s ample ghost tales. “It’s kind of creepy, especially the North Tonawanda stuff.”
The region has a particularly high volume of ghost stories because of its places of transition — railroads, bridges, the Erie Canal and Niagara River — and because the area began to boom post-1825, Koerner said, adding that it takes ghosts an average of 200 years to stop appearing at a particular site. “We’re pretty young in terms of ghost stories,” he said.
Koerner theorized that it takes spirits roughly twice the human life span to achieve whatever it is they’re doing in the paranormal world.
And just as there are good and bad people in the physical world, there are ghosts both righteous and malevolent in the paranormal one.
Koerner shared three Tonawandas-related ghost stories as part of his lecture:
• This one involves a North Tonawanda family with a little girl who has two imaginary friends, Koerner said, adding that the family wishes to remain anonymous. One night, the girl’s mom went into her daughter’s room, on the second floor, and found the bedroom window opened. “My imaginary friend said that mommy and daddy would like it if I jumped out the window,” Koerner said. “Negative entities tend to attach themselves to very young girls,” he said.
According to Koerner, negative entities are drawn to names derived from Mary or Ann, because of their religious significance. This particular’s girl name is Bethany.
• Koerner’s next tale was titled “The Incident of 1920.” The story involves a 7-foot winged ghost that haunted a family on Bryant Street in North Tonawanda and also was seen flying around Sweeney Street Cemetery.
• The third anecdote took place at the former Our Lady of Victory hospital in Lackawanna, where a gift shop volunteer was attacked by a robber. According to the volunteer, and a witness from Tonawanda, before the gun-brandishing robber caused any harm, the spirit of Father Baker appeared, causing the gunman to leave, Koerner said.
Another alleged hot spot for ghost stories is the famed Riviera Theatre. “If you see a theater, you can pretty much guarantee it’s got some stories,” Koerner said.
For all of the stories he’s researched, Koerner does have one of his own. He said he saw a ghost once while he was walking to his apartment in Rochester while in college. He said he saw a ghost in an alley playing “mournful music” on a violin. He later learned the building was used by faculty of the Eastman School of Music.
Koerner’s lecture resonated with City of Tonawanda resident Janet Holler, who said she’s read extensively about many of the stories Koerner shared. “I’m inclined to believe it,” she said. “I think there is some kind of energy left when we die.”
Haunted New York: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Empire State (Haunted Series)
Haunted Buffalo (NY): Ghosts of the Queen City (Haunted America)
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An Animal Ghost?
DO YOU HAVE A GHOST STORY OR A HAUNTING ANECDOTE?
FORWARD IT TO lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com AND I'LL ADD IT TO 'ESOTERICA'
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