Then yesterday I went up to early (7.30 ish) to my craft room to work on the quilt repairs, and suddenly the harp was plucked - just one string, but loudly! I looked up sharply, and then went to check . There were three broken strings - I was trying to remember how many there were before as Tam stopped playing it for that reason. I thought perhaps a string had just suddenly snapped for some reason, although that seems odd.
Then a little while later, suddenly the SACK of grain sound again from the kitchen, very loudly. Pippi was with me and ran away. Lulu hurtled up the stairs, scared, and when I went down, Alfie was hiding under the table. Nothing to be seen, but I had the feeling what had happened was a sort of time-slip with one of the grooms from Victorian times, heaving a heavy sack of oats off his shoulder onto the floor. It was very much that sort of sound. The kitchen and Utility were the old stables, from Georgian times, with the stalls at the front and so probably the back part of the kitchen was the feed room.
I have made sure I am grounded today and we will see if anything happens after this. I know some of you will be sceptics, but I have had this sort of thing happen to me all my life - starting with knowing when letters were going to arrive, or who was on the phone, or even what they were going to say, as well as experiences with atmospheres and emotions. The old house was quite challenging in this respect!!
Anyway, I went across to Aber to help Tam, but as Jon had a meeting with a friend, we weren't able to achieve what we had intended, to finish painting Rosie's bedroom. We needed Jon there to lift/mend the broken wardrobe. Anyway, Tam got smaller jobs done and then took me out for a lovely drive up in the hills, so that we could get Rosie off for a car nap. It was SO beautiful.
Lovely now, but a bit bleak mid-Winter!
As you can see, it was a lovely drive out. Such beautiful scenery and interesting history too. Frongoch mine had a terrific output at the height of its working life, silver too of course as that is always found with lead. Plus it was important for a mineral, "brilliant hair-brown" pyromorphite crystals, which are rare.
Quiet here so far this morning. I will get ready to venture out to the Charity car boot sale in Llandod.
I believe you that strange things do happen, a time slip as you say. But you are not frightened are you? Then there is the beautiful physical world that you saw on your drive and the vast amount of history that clings to the earth must still emerge.
ReplyDeleteNot frightened here, but at Ynyswen I would NOT sleep there on my own!
ReplyDeleteI was listening to an amazing podcast yesterday about Irish gold hoards which had been found in late Georgian and mid-Victorian times. The earlier ones were largely all melted down but one particular mid-Victorian one - though much depleted by the time the Antiquarians etc got to see some of it - had originally been something like 40 kg in weight! Amazing, truly amazing things. Much of it again, was sold to jewellers and never seen, but a small amount is in museums. (Amplify Archaeology podcasts - Prehistoric Gold, Episode 22. The one on Kinship, Culture and Death in Neolithic Ireland was brilliant too :) Made my day, listening to those on the way to Tam's and back.
Funny because I have just written about M. R. James, writer of ghost stories. I have often been in spooky houses and am a firm believer. Rachel
ReplyDeleteI will note those to watch when I have company I think!
DeleteI always seem to know when I'm going to receive bad news via the phone, I get a worried/depressing feeling. But no ghosts or odd goings on in our 3 year old home, although it was built on the site of a foundry built in 1890. It took the developers 5 years to get planning permission, with earth, flower, tree, bat and other wildlife surveys. Have visitors tomorrow for lunch, bringing a cot for Baby C. It used to be ours but we had loaned it to them. Watching the Grand Prix as Tennis WAS NOT going well for Emma! Xx
ReplyDeleteGlad you have an atmosphere-free home. The return of the cot will be beneficial when you have Baby C.
DeleteI have been gardening but shaken some flowering grass I am allergic to and despite my strong antihistamine, have a runny nose, so will rest up with a book and a cuppa now.
Creepy! You tell a good ghost story. Can you think of any real life explanations? Like, a bat or bumble bee hit the harp string,or humidity changed its tension. I have no ideas for the grain sack sounds tho---critters in the ceiling or cellar?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the summer countryside and ruined buildings pics, thanks. It's beautiful for you there in Wales.
Hope Rosie gets her own room soon. She's such a big girl already.
lizzy
The sound of the sack of oats hitting the floor was very real, very loud, the cats all heard it and it happened. No explanation for it at all. I know the sound of horse feed landing on the floor as I've hefted sacks myself. Sounds just like what I heard.
DeleteThe drive out into the countryside was so lovely. I didn't want it to stop!
Rosie needs her own room soon.
Perhaps the grooms were startled by Little Whale exploring his new territory in the old stables. I always found that speaking out loud about the cause of the noise as it happens quells the continuance of it. So sort of ... 'Watch out for the cat.'
ReplyDeleteL. Whale used to spend lots of time in his cat bed in the Victorian stables across the yard (our house was the older Georgian ones). I did speak out to the . . . presence. I also grounded myself. Nothing today. If we're reunited with our animals on the other side, then perhaps Keith sent me a message . . .
DeleteI’m a sceptic when it comes to ghosts, I really don’t believe in any of it. As far as I’m concerned they don’t exist and there is an explanation for it. The local lunatic asylum was converted into housing and I kept hearing the people say their flat is haunted more like they hear things. My dad dropped dead in the kitchen of my first house and though I moved away from it over 40 years ago I do wonder if he is scaring the people who live there. There are a couple of places near where I live that people died do their spirits still wand nearby, I’ll let you know if I see them
ReplyDeleteI have never seen anything ghostly (apart from an orb which burst through my bedroom curtains), but plenty of hearing things and feeling them. Some of us are more aligned with things which are on a different spectrum, though most of us can still pick up the atmosphere in a room where there has just been an argument.
DeleteMy mum lived in a 600 year old coach house that belonged to a stately home. That house was 'not right'. My mum had no choice but to make it work but would describe the feeling of a foreboding presence in the dark hallway leading down to the bathroom, getting right up behind her as if looking over her shoulder. She said she could sense it whenever she vacuumed LOL My sister refused to stay in the house alone and dreaded being asked to water the plants when my mum took off on a trip. My husband sat in the front room and told me he kept 'seeing' someone sitting on the end of the sofa out of the corner of his eye but of course no one there when he actually looked. So I don't know. The last time I stayed there before my mum passed away in that very same house I couldn't sleep barely at all, so unsettled. I had 5 hours of sleep in an entire week. Exhausting!
ReplyDeleteEssdee
There are definitely places where it is not comfortable to be, as I know from living in our old house. Most of the time ok, but it had its moments. Ask my kids! I bet you were glad not to have to visit the coach house any more.
DeleteI am also very good at knowing who is calling before the phone even rings and also knowing when certain letters will land on the mat, even though I don't actually know that they've been sent. I grew up in a house with a resident spirit. When my mother died and I locked it up for the final time I stood in the living room and asked 'Fred' to behave well to the new owners. 'He' wasn't at all frightening, but he could be a bit naughty at times.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I pick up on them when they are posted - so that would be a sort of intention coming across the ether? You were probably glad to pass Fred on to a new resident . . .
DeleteI have had strange things happen when we lived in our mobile home. After our daughter was killed, our youngest son would walk down the hall holding someone's hand and talking to someone. When I asked him about it Kris, looked at me like I was daft and said "Krista of course, she visits with me for awhile each night." After about a month or so this stopped and when I asked he replied "She told me she had to leave now."
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I am so sorry that you lost your daughter. Comforting in a way that she came to your son and he was able to see her for a while. Some things just cannot be explained.
DeleteThe idea of time slips is fascinating. I like Sue’s comment about speaking out loud.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x