If you follow me on twitter you'll probably have noticed that every once in a while I mention the ghosts of my house. People who have never experienced ghosts are under the misapprehension that if you live in a haunted house you hear things all through the night, things get thrown around and it never really stops. This is not the case at all.
The house I currently live in was built in 1860 as a dockers cottage, it's old and small but perfectly cosy. The most active ghost is of a lady called Agatha.
When I first became aware of Agatha's presence it was very subtle, I'd often notice a smell of freshly cooked bread filling the house. It was odd but comforting and I began to wonder if I wasn't quite alone. As I began to take more notice the smell of cooking food was happening more frequently. It was always traditional english foods I'd smell like steak and kidney pies, bread, cakes for tea. All very comforting and the sort of things you'd expect a Victorian lady to cook. I'd then start to hear the sound of pans from the kitchen, not loud as if being thrown just the sounds you'd expect to hear if someone was cooking. One day I called out "Is anyone there, I know you are I can hear you" and I'd hear a slight sound in response.
One night I was lying in bed trying to drift off to sleep and felt someone lightly tucking me in, just like my mum would when I was a child. Again it was comforting. A few months later I again tried to make contact. When I asked out loud what her name was the name Agatha came to me out of nowhere. Since then that's what I've call her.
Agatha isn't an evil spirit and doesn't cause mischief, unlike Poltergeists. However if I have ever ignored her little sounds she'd do something to make me take notice like nudging the bed so it jolted a little or dropping something in the kitchen. When I have caught brief glimpses of her she is dressed in Victorian dress which matches the age of the house. I've noticed her being very curious about modern technology. One night I remember turning off my old windows pc upstairs and it all shut down as usual. I switched it off from the plug and went downstairs. My Mum who was there at the time then walked past the stairs and said "You've left the computer on" to my amzement as I looked up the stairs you could see a blue glow coming from the dark room. As we went to investigate the computer had indeed switched back on. Turning it all off again I again left it. For the same thing to then happen. after the third time it happened I said "Agatha what are you doing?" and it stopped.
On another occasion I was cooking dinner for me & my Mum, I had left the pasta sauce cooking in the pan. I left the kitchen for a few minutes and it had started to burn. My Mum walked into the kitchen and saw the saucepan be moved across off the heat onto the cold hob. Again it was Agatha helping out by making sure it didn't burn.
I've come to accept that this house was Agatha's first so whenever I've had building work done I've sought her permission. One time we had the decorators in. We kept the bedroom door closed and told them to not go in there if they didn't mind. They agreed, they were decent blokes who had been working on the house a few weeks. We left them to go shopping. I had told them Agatha would be keeping an eye on them. On returning home one of the decorators was as white as a ghost. He said "I'm really sorry I know you said not to but I heard someone in the bedroom and thought someone had got in through the open window" as he opened the door to look it was indeed empty. he couldn't believe it.
I've become used to having Agatha around and although she's not active everyday you always know when she is about.
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