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Something In The Vicarage

 

My father was an Anglican vicar, and at that time (early 1960s) clergy houses tended to be large, old, difficult to heat, quirky,characterful,inconvenient and often beautiful. The Vicarage we lived in at the time was all of the above, (except beautiful, although to me it was, and is... It's still there, though no longer a vicarage). I also thought as a kid that it was really old, but my dad told me it was built "only 60 years ago ": a red brick, late Victorian/early Edwardian detached house in a huge garden, surrounded by trees. It was on a quiet lane that became a path that led into the woods, there were maybe half a dozen other houses on the lane, and a small park opposite.

The garden was great for playing in, for making dens with friends, climbing trees, hiding from parents, and I loved it. The house, though I loved it too... That had its moments. All the main downstairs rooms and all the bedrooms except mine still had the push-buttons for the electric bells that rang in the kitchen, left from the days, long before our time in the house, when there had been a housekeeper and maid to answer them. Above the kitchen door was a panel with markers that showed from which room the bell was rung. This was the room we used all the time for everyday meals and activities, being more like a family living room linked by an always open door to another room where the cooking /kitchen things happened. It was also the warmest room with a big coal fire and a cat, a slow ticking clock and a radio, and a lot of my toys and games. It was homely and cosy and comfortable. Except when a bell rang from an EMPTY room.

I'd be sitting there drawing or reading, or talking to my grandma; my dad out, Mum where I could see her in the Cooking part of the kitchen, my sister away at boarding school, and a bell would ring, and the little marker would indicate "Dining- room " or "Study ", or any other room that I knew was at that time unoccupied. I don't remember any sort of regular time for this to happen, or that it came more from one room than another, but I do know it happened fairly regularly. It did scare me and I wanted answers to HOW? WHO? And WHY?. Mum and Dad said it was something causing a short in the wiring that made the bells ring, and I remember feeling that particular type of child's skepticism at the adults' explanation (" Yeah, right, whatever, but I'll pretend to believe you ") but eventually I got used to the bells that rang by themselves and just accepted it as one of the quirks of the house. But I was always a bit wary of going into those rooms in case Something was there.

And then one day when I was about seven, I was doing my piano practice in the lounge. This was a large bay-windowed room, making it one of the lightest rooms in the house. Sitting at the piano, the window was diagonally to my right, and slightly behind me. On my left, and almost opposite the window, was the door to the hall. I could see the door and the velvet curtain over it (draughty house!) in my peripheral vision as I practiced scales and arpeggios, possibly not with the application they required, because I noticed the door was slowly opening and I heard my name said twice, as though someone wanted my attention. As I turned fully to look I caught a glimpse of a head with white hair just disappearing back round the open door as though they'd just peeped into the room and called me. Thinking it was my grandma who wanted me I said " Yes Nanna? ", but there was no answer.

I hopped off the piano stool and went to the partly open door, expecting to see her in the hall but she wasn't there. I looked towards the stairs to see if she was on her way up them but there was no sign. I assumed she'd gone back along the hall to the kitchen, though I was surprised she'd been so quick, as the hall was long and she was in her eighties and didn't move fast, so I made my way to the kitchen to see what she wanted me for. There she was, in the armchair by the fire, talking to Mum, who immediately wanted to know why I'd stopped my piano practice after only 10 minutes? I told her it was because Nanna had put her head round the door and called me just a couple of minutes ago, and I'd come to see what she wanted. And yes, I'm sure you know where this is going... Nanna had been there in the kitchen with Mum the whole time I was a playing the the piano in a different room. There was no-one else in the house at the time, and the only person there with white hair was my grandma, who had never left the kitchen. But something opened that door, and something said my name, and something with white hair peeped into the room.

Needless to say, they thought I was looking for an excuse to get out of piano practice so I had to go back and finish it. I wasn't particularly scared by this, just completely unable to find an explanation for what I'd seen and heard, and really annoyed that they didn't believe me. I did however push a small coffee table up against the door this time. Just in case.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Seekings, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

KenS80 (1 stories) (40 posts)
+2
7 months ago (2023-08-29)
That Rocks Seekings. Guitars are cool.

Always keen to hear more on the vicarage when you're up to it.

Cheers, Ken

✧⁠◝⁠ (⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠) ⁠◜⁠✧
Seekings (1 stories) (13 posts)
+2
7 months ago (2023-08-27)
KenS80... It wasn't exactly eerie, more unsettling and puzzling to me as a kid. I think I just accepted that it was normal for weird things to occasionally happen in that house.

Sadly my piano skills are pretty rusty these days as life and no room for a piano got in the way of keeping them up. I do however play my guitar (s) regularly so all those music lessons weren't wasted! 😆 😊
KenS80 (1 stories) (40 posts)
+2
7 months ago (2023-08-26)
This must have been eerie Seekings. I enjoyed reading your memories of the vicarage. How's your piano skills these days.

Cheers, Ken
(⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠)
The_Morrighan (2 stories) (44 posts)
+3
3 years ago (2020-12-15)
I'm late to this account but wanted to thank you for submitting it: it was fascinating, beautifully written and very believable.
Bright blessings.
Morri.
Sasanaa (1 stories) (5 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-07-25)
Hi Seekings,
I enjoyed reading your experience. It was really interesting. I think whoever that entity was he/she meant no harm.
Good luck to you. ❤
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-07-18)
Greetings, Seekings, and welcome.

I enjoyed reading this account; I laughed aloud at your childhood reaction, "really annoyed that they didn't believe me." I've been in that situation, too.

Best,
Biblio.
Seekings (1 stories) (13 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-07-18)
[at] VeronicaMarie

No, I don't recall having a sense of her presence after she died, (in a nursing home, aged 94) though I did once or twice think I heard her coming out of what had been her room in the next vicarage we lived in, a much newer house.

[at] LuciaJacinta

All I know of previous residents is the name of the vicar who preceded my father in the parish. As far as I'm aware he simply moved on to another parish. I did try to find out more about the house and its past but wasn't very successful. I don't think it was originally built as a vicarage and I don't know what the house was called before the Diocese acquired it. Also it's current use makes getting information about it a little sensitive.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-07-17)
Enjoyed the story. Very nicely written. Any past stories of previous occupants perhaps that might have died there? Could be a prior resident.
VeronicaMarie (5 stories) (106 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-07-17)
Aww, I love that "Little Sunbeam" nickname. Sounds like you were extra-special to her. After she passed away, did you ever strongly sense her presence or anything like that?
Seekings (1 stories) (13 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-07-17)
VeronicaMarie thank you for your comment, that is a possibility I hadn't really thought of and certainly something to consider. Thinking back, I would say I did have a pretty close bond with Nanna as she lived with us most of the time. She was always good for a game of Snap or Snakes and Ladders, and told me lots of stories about when she was young which I was fascinated by. I was her youngest grandchild and her " little sunbeam "! Not sure my parents would have described me as that! 😁
Glad you enjoyed my story.
VeronicaMarie (5 stories) (106 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-07-17)
Hi, Seekings...

Ah, these stories of people glimpsing a family member where they shouldn't be fascinate me. I feel convinced that it was your grandma looking in on you, but *how* that could happen is the question. I wonder if you were strongly in her mind at that moment you saw her, that she was sitting in that cosy room wishing you were there too, and you somehow picked up on that by actually seeing her fleetingly. Did you and your grandma have a very close bond?

Thank you for sharing that lovely and intriguing story.

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