** Ghost Story **

There is accommodation on the top floor of the building I work in. It's for employees staying over for various courses and is often used by staff who, for one reason or another, need a temporary home. It's even been used as a place to crash for people who have been out on the town. It's basically a long corridor with rooms coming off of it that would make a Travelodge look palatial. According to one of my colleagues who has been staying there for a few weeks, it's haunted. 

The sound of someone in heels pacing down the corridor can be heard at three o'clock in the morning. When anyone is foolhardy enough to try and catch the culprit, there is no-one there. My colleague says he doesn't believe in ghosts but is at a loss to explain it. Many people have experienced this according to my colleague but I have not had a chance to verify it with anyone else. I see no reason to doubt him; he seems quite reliable and is unlikely to make himself look like a chump by mentioning it otherwise. 

I have spoken to many people over the years of supernatural matters and most people seem to have a personal ghost story, even if they are reluctant to mention it initially for fear of looking like an idiot. We used to have friends who recounted a story involving an attic room and a door. I don't remember the exact circumstances but I do remember the conviction with which he recounted the story. This otherwise level headed couple were unshakably convinced it was a ghost and couldn't be swayed otherwise.

Dearly Beloved and I booked to go to to a hotel that purported to have ghosts. We were originally going there with my most excellent and northerly 

Brother and Sister in Law who believe in this kind of thing but they had to pull out which was a great disappointment; Dearly Beloved and I went anyway. The reported apparitions were a large black dog that appeared on the stairs and a woman who walked down another flight of stairs that no longer existed. They didn't make a big fuss about it at the hotel although the dog had been seen the previous week by a guest who had no idea the place was haunted. He wandered into the bar and casually enquired who owned the dog. The Woman hasn't been seen for a couple of years the staff told me. I didn't see any such spooks myself; I can't say I'm surprised. 

I have never had a definitive event to prove to myself one way or another although I did once have an experience that was quite strange. I was in army cadets at the time and we were running about in a forest on Army land when our unit came across what looked like a stately home set in a clearing. It had manicured lawns and a gravel driveway leading to large metal gates, the house itself was behind a 10 foot high surrounding wall. Our unit ran across the lawns and along the wall to the back of the house and back into the woods. I could feel the lawns soft and springy under my boots and starlight sky above was crystal clear. In the morning it became clear that there was no such house or clearing anywhere near our location. Our little party discussed it at the time and even afterwards when we were back home. In fact two persons who were there are recipients of this blog, my brother Gary and my oldest friend Simon, perhaps they could verify the story and prove I am not suffering from early-onset dementia. 

For me, the jury is still out although I have spoken to people who have had experiences who believe wholeheartedly. The is no reason why a ghost would want to haunt my place of work and all the theories explaining their existence seem like superstitious mumbo jumbo to me, but still, the stories persist despite our technological age of reason and they do say there is no smoke without fire.