- Joined
- Feb 4, 2016
- Messages
- 101
Of all the weird, odd and generally spooky happenings that I have experienced over the years, the one I am about to tell you about is one made such an impact on me, that it sticks in my mind. It was my first encounter with a fully formed apparition/spirit/ghost whatever you want to call it or both myself and my boss at the time were hallucinating the exact same thing at the exact same point in time. I will apologise now for the length of this post, but I will try to keep it as short as possible - that said I hope you like reading.
Back in the 80's, i worked in a small grocery store. The shop was bigger than most 'corner' shops but was perhaps slightly smaller than your average Spar. There was one entry/exit to the shop and that was the front door - there was no back doors or windows. At the time of these events, renovations to knock through to the shop next door had recently taken place. I would arrive at my place of work at 8am and should finish at 5pm, but was often asked to work until 10pm. The only other member of staff was the shop owner or her husband. The shop owner would also arrive at 8am and would leave at 9am and I would be left alone until her husband arrived at 5pm or 10pm dependant on what time i was working till . Only on a wednesday afternoon would there be anyone else in the shop and this would be the cleaning lady that would do a deep clean of the floors and shelves.
I arrived that wednesday morning at 8am as usual and began the early chores before we unlocked the door to the schoolchildren and their mums at 8.30. My boss came through with our first brew and asked if the gentleman needed help. I looked up and pointed my gaze in the direction she was indicating, there in front of the greetings cards i saw the man to which she was referring. I apologised to him and told him to ask if he needed my help. He smiled the most beautiful smile. The sort of smile that reaches right to the eyes. In those few moments I seemed to become very aware of him - an immaculate blue pinstripe suit, a flower in his buttonhole, a pocket chain, a flat cap with white wispy hair that poked out. He looked to be dressed in his sunday best. After me acknowledging his presence, I busied myself again only to be disturbed again a minute or so later by my boss asking where the old gent had gone. I had no idea. He hadnt gone by me to get out the shop, so he must still be in there. My boss walked around the shop and found no one and I walked the opposite way and also found no one. She walked over to the door thinking we had left it unlocked and he had left without us noticing somehow, but the door was still locked and the keys were still in place. We were both completely at a loss to where this gent had gone and also how he had got in in the first place without one or the other of us seeing or hearing him come in. Due to the fact it was now time to open to the public, we had no time to discuss it further at that time, so we left if hanging whlst we set about with our day.
My boss left at 9am as she usually did and made nothing more than a passing reference to our 'visitor' that morning and for the rest of the early part of the day I was left alone until noon when the cleaning lady arrived. The rest of the morning passed uneventful. When the cleaner arrived at 12, I told her of the happenings earlier in the day, but due to us both having work to do and customers needing assistance, we didnt really get to talk much about anything.
Thursday morning arrived and I got into work as normal. All was quiet and my boss said she had experienced nothing more that morning before i got there. The morning progressed steadily and quietened down a little come 10.30am, when I chose to clean the glass countertops and fronts of sticky little fingermarks. I will mention at this point that the door to the shop is about 6 feet away from where I am working and to my right side. Without any warning the paperwork and paper bags kept on the counter began to blow around. The door was shut and there were no open windows. When I say blowing it was like a fan on high speed had just been placed beside. I stood there trying to make sense of what was happening and trying to work out where the 'wind' was coming from when I felt a hand resting on each shoulder. Without consciously moving my feet, I was turned around to face the person that had their hands on me. I looked directly into the deepest, sparkliest blue eyes I have to this day ever seen and realised I was looking into the eyes of the elderly gent that paid us a visit the morning before. I have no idea how long I stood there just staring but it was most likely only a few seconds, when the gent started to disintegrate. He started to disappear from his feet upwards, like the curl of smoke from a cigarette, until he was no longer there at all. I'm sure I cleared that six feet or so to the door in one step grabbing the telephone as I went. My boss came back striaght away and but for the fact I was visibly shaking and there was still paperwork everywhere, all looked as it did when she left that morning.
I never found out if he ever appeared again as I never went back to work there again. I refused to be alone in the shop and she wouldnt either stay with me nor would she employ someone else to be there, so very scared and confused about what I had witnessed, I left. Since then I have had numerous experiences of people that are there one minute and gone the next but never one that made it quite so obvious when his visit was over.
Back in the 80's, i worked in a small grocery store. The shop was bigger than most 'corner' shops but was perhaps slightly smaller than your average Spar. There was one entry/exit to the shop and that was the front door - there was no back doors or windows. At the time of these events, renovations to knock through to the shop next door had recently taken place. I would arrive at my place of work at 8am and should finish at 5pm, but was often asked to work until 10pm. The only other member of staff was the shop owner or her husband. The shop owner would also arrive at 8am and would leave at 9am and I would be left alone until her husband arrived at 5pm or 10pm dependant on what time i was working till . Only on a wednesday afternoon would there be anyone else in the shop and this would be the cleaning lady that would do a deep clean of the floors and shelves.
I arrived that wednesday morning at 8am as usual and began the early chores before we unlocked the door to the schoolchildren and their mums at 8.30. My boss came through with our first brew and asked if the gentleman needed help. I looked up and pointed my gaze in the direction she was indicating, there in front of the greetings cards i saw the man to which she was referring. I apologised to him and told him to ask if he needed my help. He smiled the most beautiful smile. The sort of smile that reaches right to the eyes. In those few moments I seemed to become very aware of him - an immaculate blue pinstripe suit, a flower in his buttonhole, a pocket chain, a flat cap with white wispy hair that poked out. He looked to be dressed in his sunday best. After me acknowledging his presence, I busied myself again only to be disturbed again a minute or so later by my boss asking where the old gent had gone. I had no idea. He hadnt gone by me to get out the shop, so he must still be in there. My boss walked around the shop and found no one and I walked the opposite way and also found no one. She walked over to the door thinking we had left it unlocked and he had left without us noticing somehow, but the door was still locked and the keys were still in place. We were both completely at a loss to where this gent had gone and also how he had got in in the first place without one or the other of us seeing or hearing him come in. Due to the fact it was now time to open to the public, we had no time to discuss it further at that time, so we left if hanging whlst we set about with our day.
My boss left at 9am as she usually did and made nothing more than a passing reference to our 'visitor' that morning and for the rest of the early part of the day I was left alone until noon when the cleaning lady arrived. The rest of the morning passed uneventful. When the cleaner arrived at 12, I told her of the happenings earlier in the day, but due to us both having work to do and customers needing assistance, we didnt really get to talk much about anything.
Thursday morning arrived and I got into work as normal. All was quiet and my boss said she had experienced nothing more that morning before i got there. The morning progressed steadily and quietened down a little come 10.30am, when I chose to clean the glass countertops and fronts of sticky little fingermarks. I will mention at this point that the door to the shop is about 6 feet away from where I am working and to my right side. Without any warning the paperwork and paper bags kept on the counter began to blow around. The door was shut and there were no open windows. When I say blowing it was like a fan on high speed had just been placed beside. I stood there trying to make sense of what was happening and trying to work out where the 'wind' was coming from when I felt a hand resting on each shoulder. Without consciously moving my feet, I was turned around to face the person that had their hands on me. I looked directly into the deepest, sparkliest blue eyes I have to this day ever seen and realised I was looking into the eyes of the elderly gent that paid us a visit the morning before. I have no idea how long I stood there just staring but it was most likely only a few seconds, when the gent started to disintegrate. He started to disappear from his feet upwards, like the curl of smoke from a cigarette, until he was no longer there at all. I'm sure I cleared that six feet or so to the door in one step grabbing the telephone as I went. My boss came back striaght away and but for the fact I was visibly shaking and there was still paperwork everywhere, all looked as it did when she left that morning.
I never found out if he ever appeared again as I never went back to work there again. I refused to be alone in the shop and she wouldnt either stay with me nor would she employ someone else to be there, so very scared and confused about what I had witnessed, I left. Since then I have had numerous experiences of people that are there one minute and gone the next but never one that made it quite so obvious when his visit was over.