7th Hallowe'en Post - Closing Up for the Night
The last in the series of mostly true stories that describe some of my unexplained experiences returns to the telephone exchange I worked in during the 1970’s. This one is called, ‘Closing Up for the Night'.
In an earlier story I described events which took place where I worked forty years ago. It was a telephone exchange built on the site of an old brewery where an ex-employee had hanged himself. All but one person believed they saw strange figures, especially on the staircase, but this story involves the one person who did not believe.
He and I were the only two left in the exchange at closing up time one evening. The upper floor lights were off and the door locked, we were in the process of doing the same on the ground floor. My colleague was at the switchboard end of the long room looking along the length of the building at the ends of the racks towards an open door which led into a small back room which had no external exit door. At the same time, I was working my way down the multitude of aisles switching off lights.
As I reached the switchboard, my colleague called down to the far end of the building: “Shut the door.” By this time, I was fairly close to him, but he wasn’t looking my way. He called again, a little more firmly: “What are you doing just standing there, shut the door.”
I looked at him quizzically from the side, but he was getting more frustrated, apparently with me. “Don’t just stand there, shut the *&%*ing door,” he yelled. “Hey, Les,” I said casually, “who are you talking to?”
He jumped out of his skin, looked at me, then looked back to the far end of the exchange. Just for a fleeting moment, we watched a shadow disappear through the open door. Sheepishly he told me he thought I’d been standing there, but then I realised what had happened and told him he’d just seen the ‘ghost’. Still not believing, he stormed off towards the open door intending to find the culprit in the back room.
There was no-one there, but he searched so diligently in the room for someone hiding, it was very obvious he’d seen something very clearly. He never argued against the ghost so much after that, but still he wouldn’t openly admit what he’d seen.
So that’s the last of my short tales describing some unexplained incidents that have occurred to me over the years. All of the stories are close to being described accurately as I remember them, and in all, there was an element of the unexplained. The supernatural? I don’t know the answers, I don’t know what I believe. All I do know is there is much we don’t understand, but perhaps science may one day explain what goes on, seen and unseen, all around us. Until then, we can enjoy our horror stories, watch horror movies and generally scare ourselves with tales of what goes bump in the night, especially during this Hallowe’en period.
On the final days approaching Hallowe’en, I will add a very short ghost story I wrote called, ‘Are You Locked In?’ in 3 even shorter parts. This, of course, is entirely fictional. Part 1 will be posted 3 days from now.
In an earlier story I described events which took place where I worked forty years ago. It was a telephone exchange built on the site of an old brewery where an ex-employee had hanged himself. All but one person believed they saw strange figures, especially on the staircase, but this story involves the one person who did not believe.
He and I were the only two left in the exchange at closing up time one evening. The upper floor lights were off and the door locked, we were in the process of doing the same on the ground floor. My colleague was at the switchboard end of the long room looking along the length of the building at the ends of the racks towards an open door which led into a small back room which had no external exit door. At the same time, I was working my way down the multitude of aisles switching off lights.
As I reached the switchboard, my colleague called down to the far end of the building: “Shut the door.” By this time, I was fairly close to him, but he wasn’t looking my way. He called again, a little more firmly: “What are you doing just standing there, shut the door.”
I looked at him quizzically from the side, but he was getting more frustrated, apparently with me. “Don’t just stand there, shut the *&%*ing door,” he yelled. “Hey, Les,” I said casually, “who are you talking to?”
He jumped out of his skin, looked at me, then looked back to the far end of the exchange. Just for a fleeting moment, we watched a shadow disappear through the open door. Sheepishly he told me he thought I’d been standing there, but then I realised what had happened and told him he’d just seen the ‘ghost’. Still not believing, he stormed off towards the open door intending to find the culprit in the back room.
There was no-one there, but he searched so diligently in the room for someone hiding, it was very obvious he’d seen something very clearly. He never argued against the ghost so much after that, but still he wouldn’t openly admit what he’d seen.
So that’s the last of my short tales describing some unexplained incidents that have occurred to me over the years. All of the stories are close to being described accurately as I remember them, and in all, there was an element of the unexplained. The supernatural? I don’t know the answers, I don’t know what I believe. All I do know is there is much we don’t understand, but perhaps science may one day explain what goes on, seen and unseen, all around us. Until then, we can enjoy our horror stories, watch horror movies and generally scare ourselves with tales of what goes bump in the night, especially during this Hallowe’en period.
On the final days approaching Hallowe’en, I will add a very short ghost story I wrote called, ‘Are You Locked In?’ in 3 even shorter parts. This, of course, is entirely fictional. Part 1 will be posted 3 days from now.
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