Bumping this in case anyone hasn't read it, its a great read 
In reply to Post #1548
It sure is 👌
It sure is 👌
I agree, some good material here & I'm slowly making my way through the posts.
I wish I had a scary fishing related tale to add but unfortunately I've had no such "luck".
I wish I had a scary fishing related tale to add but unfortunately I've had no such "luck".
In reply to Post #1550
double post
double post
In reply to Post #1550
I had the great pleasure of living in the grounds of Bramshill House in Hampshire which is a Grade 1 listed building and rumoured to have 14 ghosts living in the house and grounds.
It used to be a police facility before I lived there, and was apparently where the police top brass went to live it up, and later a police training facility. It was apparently given up when the police budget got cut.
Only police and residents could join the fishing club that controlled several lakes on site, so when I got a flat there I jumped at the chance - having never lived near a lake before.
There are several stories I have from this place from my time living there for about 18 months, it's hard to know which one to tell.
The story I usually tell first is how I loved to walk around the grounds alone just watching the water and taking in the sunsets. The main lake has an amazing air of mystique around it, I didn't find it foreboding very often but more enticing and in summer I'm sure you will agree it is a beautiful lake.
What I noticed over time is that I could never complete a lap of this lake after dark. I realised one day that there was always some reason not to walk right round, such as getting called back to the flat or the path was cordoned off for tree felling... All very obscure reasons.
It became a challenge for me to walk round this place after dark and it was a joke among my friends for some time. I invited them to join me for some night fishing and to see for themselves what a strange place it was.
Several of us bivvied up on the road bank closest to the flats and there were four of us in a row, all within 100 yards of each other. We walked round in the day and everything seemed pleasant, it was a nice calm summers day and the grounds were in full bloom.
When dusk came we had all settled in and started to wind each other up about ghosts and such, I was telling a story about lights I had seen coming from the stately home building that was locked up and inaccessible when we started seeing lights on the other side of the lake. It was like someone was using a mirror to bounce light around in ways we could not explain. There were green lights reflecting off the water surface as if there was something on the other side of the lake, but there was nothing emitting light to cause a reflection.
We agreed two of us would wind in and go to investigate whilst two stayed with the bivvies. Two friends went off and it was only a few minutes later when one came rushing back for his car keys saying he had a call from his wife and had to go because their son was playing up crying for his dad and she had enough.
Down to three, one stayed in our swims and two of us went to walk round. We made it to the far side on a faintly open bank, about to head into a thick wooded area. My friend bottled it and said I should go first and he would wait... This was the feeling of resistance that I had felt many times, I felt it too. I really didn't want to walk into those trees, my entire body wanted to turn back like I had every time before.
I had come this far, and with a friend for company I decided it was now or never! Taking a few steps my friend called out to say he could no longer see me in the darkness and we carried on talking to help me stay calm for as long as we could hear each other.
It was a few hundred metres through the woods to an open area so I thought it's not far. As I walked through, it opened up into a less dense wooded area with a nice shimmering moonlight on the water I stopped to take it in. It wasn't so bad and I had a deep sense of calm. I continued to walk through and came to a tree that will always stick in my mind. It was different to the others, older and had lots of felled wood around it.
I had the great pleasure of living in the grounds of Bramshill House in Hampshire which is a Grade 1 listed building and rumoured to have 14 ghosts living in the house and grounds.
It used to be a police facility before I lived there, and was apparently where the police top brass went to live it up, and later a police training facility. It was apparently given up when the police budget got cut.
Only police and residents could join the fishing club that controlled several lakes on site, so when I got a flat there I jumped at the chance - having never lived near a lake before.
There are several stories I have from this place from my time living there for about 18 months, it's hard to know which one to tell.
The story I usually tell first is how I loved to walk around the grounds alone just watching the water and taking in the sunsets. The main lake has an amazing air of mystique around it, I didn't find it foreboding very often but more enticing and in summer I'm sure you will agree it is a beautiful lake.
What I noticed over time is that I could never complete a lap of this lake after dark. I realised one day that there was always some reason not to walk right round, such as getting called back to the flat or the path was cordoned off for tree felling... All very obscure reasons.
It became a challenge for me to walk round this place after dark and it was a joke among my friends for some time. I invited them to join me for some night fishing and to see for themselves what a strange place it was.
Several of us bivvied up on the road bank closest to the flats and there were four of us in a row, all within 100 yards of each other. We walked round in the day and everything seemed pleasant, it was a nice calm summers day and the grounds were in full bloom.
When dusk came we had all settled in and started to wind each other up about ghosts and such, I was telling a story about lights I had seen coming from the stately home building that was locked up and inaccessible when we started seeing lights on the other side of the lake. It was like someone was using a mirror to bounce light around in ways we could not explain. There were green lights reflecting off the water surface as if there was something on the other side of the lake, but there was nothing emitting light to cause a reflection.
We agreed two of us would wind in and go to investigate whilst two stayed with the bivvies. Two friends went off and it was only a few minutes later when one came rushing back for his car keys saying he had a call from his wife and had to go because their son was playing up crying for his dad and she had enough.
Down to three, one stayed in our swims and two of us went to walk round. We made it to the far side on a faintly open bank, about to head into a thick wooded area. My friend bottled it and said I should go first and he would wait... This was the feeling of resistance that I had felt many times, I felt it too. I really didn't want to walk into those trees, my entire body wanted to turn back like I had every time before.
I had come this far, and with a friend for company I decided it was now or never! Taking a few steps my friend called out to say he could no longer see me in the darkness and we carried on talking to help me stay calm for as long as we could hear each other.
It was a few hundred metres through the woods to an open area so I thought it's not far. As I walked through, it opened up into a less dense wooded area with a nice shimmering moonlight on the water I stopped to take it in. It wasn't so bad and I had a deep sense of calm. I continued to walk through and came to a tree that will always stick in my mind. It was different to the others, older and had lots of felled wood around it.
In reply to Post #1552
Continued... Part 2
I walked back to my friend to say it's not so bad, let's go through together...only to see their silhouette walking back the other way in the distance.
I had to choose to follow them or go back and complete the full lap I had promised myself, and I felt more confident now. Like there was only something to gain by continuing through and everything to lose by turning back.
I went back to the tree, it's really the only bit I remember now. I sat on one of the stumps that had been cut and immediately zoned out and had a very weird thought pop into my head.
"it's not yours to take" I thought to myself but it didn't feel like a normal thought, it felt intrusive. It happened again and I new then that something was up, like I had lost control of my own thought processes. I sat there and wrestled with strange thoughts about life, relationships and even work. It all seemed so clear and precise and I learned two things that I still believe are impossible. I had a realisation that I was being communicated with and put straight on so many things.
There was a sense of joy quickly followed by intense sadness and I could feel parts of me being torn down and interrogated, like branches being cut from a tree as they were analysed, and commented on by thoughts that seemed clearer than my own. I later discussed this with some friends who think it sounded like an 'ego death' - something I had heard can happen when taking psychedelics but I was completely sober.
After some time I continued to walk through and eventually reached the swims... I was asked 'where' s Mark??' as I got nearer, and I said I thought he had walked back. He hadn't walked back at all, he was still round at the trees where we parted company and was still talking when I got back round to him. The thing is, he was convinced he had been talking to me the whole time!
The look on his face as we walked back round together was insane, he was only just about able to hold it together. He said one moment my voice was talking to him from the dark woods and then the next I appeared behind him!
We then heard from our friend who left to go back home, it turns out his son had got hold of his mrs' phone and called him but she hung up, thinking she got it before he would have seen a missed call. She says she never spoke to him and didn't ask him to come home.
We have spoken about it several times as if we 'don't know what happened, and can't work it out' but we all really know there is only one explanation...
We later recounted the story to neighbours in the flats and the they said the green light is a known phenomenon and often thought to be the 'green man' Henry Cope who was an eccentric who always dressed in green.
Whatever it was it wanted me there alone on that occasion, which seems odd because I had ventured there many times on my own before... only to be called away by unforeseens. I learned things I still do not think I would ever have found out otherwise and made several changes in my life, every single one for the better.
Continued... Part 2
I walked back to my friend to say it's not so bad, let's go through together...only to see their silhouette walking back the other way in the distance.
I had to choose to follow them or go back and complete the full lap I had promised myself, and I felt more confident now. Like there was only something to gain by continuing through and everything to lose by turning back.
I went back to the tree, it's really the only bit I remember now. I sat on one of the stumps that had been cut and immediately zoned out and had a very weird thought pop into my head.
"it's not yours to take" I thought to myself but it didn't feel like a normal thought, it felt intrusive. It happened again and I new then that something was up, like I had lost control of my own thought processes. I sat there and wrestled with strange thoughts about life, relationships and even work. It all seemed so clear and precise and I learned two things that I still believe are impossible. I had a realisation that I was being communicated with and put straight on so many things.
There was a sense of joy quickly followed by intense sadness and I could feel parts of me being torn down and interrogated, like branches being cut from a tree as they were analysed, and commented on by thoughts that seemed clearer than my own. I later discussed this with some friends who think it sounded like an 'ego death' - something I had heard can happen when taking psychedelics but I was completely sober.
After some time I continued to walk through and eventually reached the swims... I was asked 'where' s Mark??' as I got nearer, and I said I thought he had walked back. He hadn't walked back at all, he was still round at the trees where we parted company and was still talking when I got back round to him. The thing is, he was convinced he had been talking to me the whole time!
The look on his face as we walked back round together was insane, he was only just about able to hold it together. He said one moment my voice was talking to him from the dark woods and then the next I appeared behind him!
We then heard from our friend who left to go back home, it turns out his son had got hold of his mrs' phone and called him but she hung up, thinking she got it before he would have seen a missed call. She says she never spoke to him and didn't ask him to come home.
We have spoken about it several times as if we 'don't know what happened, and can't work it out' but we all really know there is only one explanation...
We later recounted the story to neighbours in the flats and the they said the green light is a known phenomenon and often thought to be the 'green man' Henry Cope who was an eccentric who always dressed in green.
Whatever it was it wanted me there alone on that occasion, which seems odd because I had ventured there many times on my own before... only to be called away by unforeseens. I learned things I still do not think I would ever have found out otherwise and made several changes in my life, every single one for the better.
In reply to Post #1553
Another belter
Another belter
In reply to Post #1553
Another belter
Another belter
Somewhat fishing related,entirely true as I tell it. When I was very young, perhaps 10, my dad worked in a silk mill with ties all the way back to the Atlantic slave trade, situated near a river Weir it was an ideal spot for a big mill ( 4 storeys at least , foreboding , imposing structure ) there was a private toll road alongside it where you and to pay a pound to cross in a vehicle. Strange place.
Anyway, the three Engineers ( my dad and two others ) had been doing split 8 hrs shift to keep a computer automated lathe running 24hrs a day, the unlucky person who drew the overnight shift 8-6 was in the mill alone, there had been plenty of spooky rumours etc.. Anyway we had a phone call at about 10pm on a Saturday night , my dad had completed the day shift , that day , it was one of the engineers and he was begging my dad to come to the mill. I remember distinctly my mum and dad having a heated debates about , why my dad had to leave , but he couldn't drive as he'd been drinking etc.. so basically , all five us ( mum,dad, two brother and me were driving to the mill about 10 mins later, funny thing memories, my youngest brother woulda been 6 and had a raggy he slept with, I remember him half asleep in the car seat with raggy 🤣 ) anyway we get to the mill and it's totally deserted, doors wide open , lights on but nobody was home.. by this point it's hammering down and pitch black so we're all out the vehicle, mum and dad inside mill, me and two brother sorta sheltering in this covered area outside... The other engineer eventually appears with my mum and dad , by this point they'd been gone 10 mins or so.. my dad shuts all the machines down, set alarm and we bolt off, leaving other engineer driving in opposite direction. Nothing was said in the car on way home, no questions asked or answered for a good few years.. anyway when got a bit older my dad told us what had happened. The engineer had set another machine cycle running, got up and headed over to the enclosed glass housed massive metal lathe, he told me dad there was like an electrical presence and the machine malfunctioned, lights flickered, machine crashed and when the lights returned ( they were only out for a split second ) a full body apparition of a foreman was standing with the engineer 😬😬, he obviously crapped himself and legged it to the village phone box and refused to go in the building alone ever again. Years later I often went fishing on the weir catching Chub and the odd barbel..but never stayed past dusk
Anyway, the three Engineers ( my dad and two others ) had been doing split 8 hrs shift to keep a computer automated lathe running 24hrs a day, the unlucky person who drew the overnight shift 8-6 was in the mill alone, there had been plenty of spooky rumours etc.. Anyway we had a phone call at about 10pm on a Saturday night , my dad had completed the day shift , that day , it was one of the engineers and he was begging my dad to come to the mill. I remember distinctly my mum and dad having a heated debates about , why my dad had to leave , but he couldn't drive as he'd been drinking etc.. so basically , all five us ( mum,dad, two brother and me were driving to the mill about 10 mins later, funny thing memories, my youngest brother woulda been 6 and had a raggy he slept with, I remember him half asleep in the car seat with raggy 🤣 ) anyway we get to the mill and it's totally deserted, doors wide open , lights on but nobody was home.. by this point it's hammering down and pitch black so we're all out the vehicle, mum and dad inside mill, me and two brother sorta sheltering in this covered area outside... The other engineer eventually appears with my mum and dad , by this point they'd been gone 10 mins or so.. my dad shuts all the machines down, set alarm and we bolt off, leaving other engineer driving in opposite direction. Nothing was said in the car on way home, no questions asked or answered for a good few years.. anyway when got a bit older my dad told us what had happened. The engineer had set another machine cycle running, got up and headed over to the enclosed glass housed massive metal lathe, he told me dad there was like an electrical presence and the machine malfunctioned, lights flickered, machine crashed and when the lights returned ( they were only out for a split second ) a full body apparition of a foreman was standing with the engineer 😬😬, he obviously crapped himself and legged it to the village phone box and refused to go in the building alone ever again. Years later I often went fishing on the weir catching Chub and the odd barbel..but never stayed past dusk
In reply to Post #1553
Wow that sent shivers down my spine
Wow that sent shivers down my spine
In reply to Post #1553
What a captivating story & chilling experience!
What a captivating story & chilling experience!
In reply to Post #1553
That's a great read! I'm sure everyone would love to read about your other experiences there.
That's a great read! I'm sure everyone would love to read about your other experiences there.
In reply to Post #1559
You ought to tell about your 'strangling'in that pool I told you about which you fished years ago ,and the Crypt up nearby in the wooded area .
That swim is still there ,...
You ought to tell about your 'strangling'in that pool I told you about which you fished years ago ,and the Crypt up nearby in the wooded area .
That swim is still there ,...
In reply to Post #1560
Come on Sam, please tell..
Come on Sam, please tell..
In reply to Post #1556
Sod the night shift
Come on Sam, spill the beans
This is like waiting for the next episode of a really gripping programme
Sod the night shift Come on Sam, spill the beans
This is like waiting for the next episode of a really gripping programme