Friday returns and again I am dictating to my acolyte the next stage of my teachings. I shall start immediately with the continued recount of the haunting I investigated last summer. First however, I should say that my acolyte is exuding a peace which was hitherto lacking; he zealously welcomes the times he can spend serving the wisdom which I am blessed enough to hold – he truly senses and loves the divinity which has awoken within me. Soon, he shall find that immortal essence within himself.
Should this missive be shorter than the last, it is on account of the bath my acolyte’s wife invited, nay insisted, that I have before we dined this evening.
As I reported last time, I had returned from my second trance in the house, to find that the young men were busy shouting animatedly and bashing their sensitive equipment about. I felt rather drained, so much so that I wondered if I was succumbing to the effects of alcohol – something I have not experienced for years; it became apparent that the young men were concerned with several factors. Firstly, a recorded drop in temperature, secondly, some microscopic manifestations in the air caught on camera and thirdly a variety of noise phenomenon. Not only were the rapping sounds heard but the young men variously claimed to have heard a voice shouting ‘faintly’, a rumbling from below the house and scraping noises from beyond and below the churchyard wall!
There was also a suggestion that a figure had appeared in the garden, ‘all faint in the sunshine’.
As they were so keen on validating these impressions on their machinery, I decided to absent myself from this oppressive building and I found myself wandering back to the Cheshire Cheese at the bottom of the hill: a quiet corner and the fermented products of the English field would prove a welcome tonic from the house and its investigators.
No sooner had I purchased a pint of Liverpool Organic than I was assailed by the sight and sound of Mr Crass. I am free of all attachments but even a saint can recognise a profound social irritant. Thankfully Mr Crass was largely sober and less cantankerous than when I had first met him although I could not share his enthusiasm for drops in temperature etcetera – indeed I did wonder if the real medium of spirit investigation were technology rather than myself – a mistake which is very easy for those chained to the material world to make!
When the other gentlemen inevitably joined us, their anxiety had been subsumed by excitement. They had apparently found a number of phenomena on their recording devices that they could not explain and for purely professional reasons they had decided to leave the house so their equipment could run without any living presence that might, presumably, deter any spirits that might otherwise manifest. I am of the opinion however, that it is the living who are the mediums through which the dead appear – or rather it is an innate quality within the living attuned to a certain type of physical surrounding.
Deeming the operation a success, the young men indulged in much celebration, although we were warned byAquinas not to reveal to any outside parties our mission. Apparently the unofficial leader of the group, Aquinas also decreed that there was not enough money for us to dine at the pub and began, after a period of carousing, to insist that we all leave. A dreary altercation blew up at this point and with the landlord’s assistance, Aquinas was able to remove us all from the Cheese and purchase Chinese food from a 'Chippy' in the row of shops at the bottom of the road. It appeared that money was the issue although the notion of buying food and cooking it was beyond the resources of these young men. I have no idea why the owners of the house did not leave sufficient food for their nephew – or whatever relationship he may be to them – perhaps I have spent too long in a country which takes its obligations to dependents seriously.
Fortunately any residing irritation was dissipated by Crass leading an expedition to the off-licence, which I volunteered to be part of. The evening was warm although the western sun was swallowed in a dense furrow of clouds that cloaked Wales. A wind had picked up and by the time we were eating our chips and Chinese vegetables, the storm hit. We had been debating the existence of a cellar when the rising winds suddenly gusted and then battered at the windows. The whole house commenced a prolonged groaning and as the tumult persisted, various creaks and raps sounded throughout the place. We fell silent, save for the occasional burp or crack of an opening beer can until a shattering sound resonated from the window and they all jumped, expecting the thing to be cracked, but as the sound came again, it was commented that hail was flung in flurries at the glass. The sounds of the hail, the wind and the house all conspired to lure me into a state where I expected a snapping, growling bark to snare my consciousness and I perceived a pale shape suspended, writhing, in the air outside the window. I watched, transfixed, until Crass announced, ‘there’s sea gulls, blown into the yard.’
After tea had been cleared away – and I applauded the fastidiousness with which the young men disposed of everything into bin-bags which were then dumped into the back of the van outside – preparations were made for the evening’s investigation. Crass found some sort of football match upon the television and announced that he would monitor interference of the electrics. Whilst the rest bumped and bashed and bickered, I located the cellar. It was a small space, stuffed full of detritus and boxes so that the sandstone walls could hardly be seen. I managed to fit down the stairs but it would require a major operation to remove all of the items and I decided to return to the staircase.
For the evening investigation, Aquinas decreed that one of the fellows would sit on the stairs of the cellar, with another in the kitchen, whilst myself, he and the third would monitor the staircase. Once the television room door was closed, muffling Mr Crass’ monitoring of the electrical equipment, I began to chant once again. It emerged that the spectres associated with the house were waiting for nightfall before their most vivid manifestations were to occur...
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