Paranormal Story Archives
September 2002 –
Page 4
Old
Windsor Haunting
by Suzanne F.
This is a true story experienced by myself in Old Windsor in England. The whole surrounding area is very historical: Windsor Castle, the signing of the Magna Carter, extremely old buildings and protected areas make the town have a mystical feel to it and is absolutely beautiful to boot.
I used to work at a big conference and training centre in Old Windsor. The place had loads of history to it. The facilities included two restaurants, two bars, 200 bedrooms, 150 conference and meeting rooms, the first indoor swimming pool in the UK, tennis and squash courts, fantastic grounds including a war memorial and a small gravesite for kids and teachers that died on the premises from when it was previously owned. It was actually used as an all-boys boarding school during WWI and WWII.
I worked in the top part of the original building, which was the spookiest part of the centre (from the outside it looked like the White House in D.C.). There was a small winding stairwell that led up to the third floor to my office. I felt safe there during the day with people buzzing around and the daylight helped, BUT working late was unnerving and scary. I always looked to the same corner of the room, feeling as though someone was watching me.
We had many nights after staff parties going on ghost hunts around the building as there were loads of nooks and crannies to explore. There was one cupboard in particular called "Matthews cupboard." He is said to have always been sent there for being naughty, but unfortunately he died falling down the main stairwell. The room was used to store computers and we often had to venture in there, and although it was the smallest and highest room in the building it was always FREEZING.
My boss, Tina, decided to make use of the staff house on the premises (this was as old, if not older than the main building). The place was an old cottage that had been left for a few years, so it needed some work doing on it. I offered to her help move in and get settled as it was a big two-story cottage with about four or five bedrooms. Tina set up her bedroom in the biggest room above the living area. If you went up the stairs turned left at the top, you have to pass the bathroom and the first four bedrooms along a narrow corridor before getting to her room at the very end.
We were unpacking when strange things started to happen. (By the way, we were celebrating the move with champagne, so we were very drunk and found the whole thing hilarious... until later that night!) Tina was putting her pictures up on the wall, when they all fell down at the same time. I stood up to help her put them back up, but the hammer shot across the room fell at my feet. I started to laugh when the smoke alarm turned on scaring the crap out of both of us.
Things calmed down after that, and we went to bed laughing it off as a "freak" occurrence. Later that night we were chatting in bed when we heard footstep outside (the driveway outside was gravel). I looked out of the window, but nothing was there even though we could still hear the gravely footsteps walking back and forth. Getting scared, we both lay there silently trying to hear where the noise was coming from. We heard nothing and decided to try to go back to sleep. About 15 minutes later, we were both woken up again this time by heavy footsteps and the sound of someone being dragged up the stairs. It continued left at the top of the stairs and moved slowly toward our bedroom along the narrow corridor. At this point we were both under the covers not brave enough to see if anyone came into the room, but the sound vanished as it reached our bedroom door. This happened again about two hours later, in exactly the same way.
Over the next few weeks I was a regular house guest for Tina as she was to scared to stay there on her own. During my interesting stays we heard the footsteps again, the dragging sound up the stairs to her room. Also sometimes we would hear talking downstairs for short periods of time. There wasn't any other explanation for this as the cottage was on its own far away from any of the main buildings.
My friend Tina had some bad experiences there not just in the house but with her personal life as well. She decided that the house was a bit of a bad omen and after I refused to stay there anymore with her she soon moved out.
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