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A15 Lincolnshire Road Ghost (Ruskington / Sleaford)

CuriousIdent

Not yet SO old Great Old One
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Warwickshire, England.
Back in the days shortly before I was a student (1997/98) I watched a shit load of daytime TV.

This in itself is not interesting.

However, I seem to remember at some point while watching the general garage of late 90s daytime TV there was a broadcast of ITV’s This Morning one day where they ran some kind of Supernatural Phone-in. I think that the Rev Lionel Fanthorpe may have been involved. It was the late 90s, Fortean TV was still on the air. It was likely.

Now, during the course of this phone in, amongst the usual mentals you'd expect from a live TV phone-in, they received a call from this guy who sounded pretty damned shook up relaying his experience. If I recall rightly he'd been driving late at night on a road (near either Nottingham or Lincoln I think..?) and all of a sudden hit a figure in the road who clung to his windscreen for a while before being brushed off and disappearing. There wasn't anybody actually there, though. This definitely appeared to be a ghost.

He claimed not to be they type of guy to believe in such things, but this shook him up so badly. The guy had been terrified by the experience.

Nothing much more was thought of this, other callers were put on, the segment ended. Job done. Only at the end of the show they said that since that guy had phoned in they'd received several other calls, all relaying the same story on the same patch of road.

Now this was at the point where This Morning was still fronted by Richard Madely and Judy Finnegan. But Judy was... absent through ill-health, I believe. So there was a rotation of guest presenters alongside Richard.

And by all accounts during that period Richard was prone to going a bit... mental. (I seem to remember one week he tried to start up an impromptu 'This Morning Band' which he would sing with at the end of the week) He was clearly doing anything which he felt that he wanted to, very much on a whim. And so naturally he insisted that they looked into this further! He pulled up a map with the spot on the road circled upon it (in an At o Z) and off they went.

I remember seeing the first follow up section they did of this, which included some more of the many accounts the show had received from people since going off air that day. All on this same stretch of road.

The follow up was pretty disappointing from what I recall. A rushed attempt to drive down the stretch of road in the daylight, which yielded nothing. They'd also discovered that the road was supposed to be some kind of 'witches hollow' at some point (with no real evidence to support that), and that there might have been a connection to a local RAF base or something? I don't remember. But they did say that they were intending to do another more detailed follow up piece.

I never saw that.

Does anybody remember this broadcast? Or more specifically a) which stretch of road it was supposed to be and b) a slightly better researched explanation of it.

Like I say it was somewhere in the Nottinghamshire or Lincolnshire area. But other than that it was over 10 years ago, and I'm buggered if I can remember which, now. :)

It sounded, from that piece on the show at least, like this might have been something worth reviewing and researching. With enough people having reported similar things voluntarily.

Edit: Correcting typos from 8 years ago, which have basically been annoying me all that time.
 
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It was in Sleeford Lincolnshire, I remember because my cousin has been based at RAF Sleeford for years, and had never heard of the ghost I seem to remember. The original segment was shown on a Monday after which Richard decided the whole week would be devoted to it, which as you say amounted to bugger all.
 
oldrover said:
It was in Sleeford Lincolnshire, I remember because my cousin has been based at RAF Sleeford for years, and had never heard of the ghost I seem to remember. The original segment was shown on a Monday after which Richard decided the whole week would be devoted to it, which as you say amounted to bugger all.

A did a bit of searching on this last night, but searches referring to Sleaford (Apparently spelled with a 'ea' in the middle there) yielded limited results. There was one report posted up on BBC Lincolnshire's - Lincolnshire Unexplained, though, which fits in with what I recall from that broadcast.

Posted by a Jason Skinner, was the following:

Hi i wanted to tell you about a strange experience that my wife and I experienced on the way home from Lincoln to Bourne. We had just been the the lincoln cinema, it was around midnight. We were chatting and laughing and talking. We were following another car, around 2 seconds behind them.
As we passed through a number of small viliages we had passed sleaford and was in the middle of sleaford and bourne, there were no houses or villages near by, it was really issolated.
In the headlights of the car infront of us both my wife and I spotted a figure on the far side of the road walking towards us. He got our attention becasue it was so dark and there was no sign of life or civilation in the direction in which he was heading. Also his clothes were very strange, he had on a shirt with a a long three quarter leather waiste coat on, he had a full beared, and my wife said a hat. As the others cars headlight were passing him, he seamed to take a large step or stumble in to the centre of the road. I slammed on the brakes at the same moment my wife called stop! As we passed where the figure should have been, i expected him to be hitting my car or very near. But he was right back to the side of the road again...no one could move that fast!!! Both of us were left shocked and our hearts were beating so fast, and we felt chilled.
Then when we looked up we noticed that the car infront of us never broke once. This surprised me. We were outside Rippinggale or one of the small villages near it. Has anybody else seen anything on this strech of road.

No date for the post, sadly, but it came from this page:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/unexplained/your_sightings.shtml
 
gncxx said:
There might be more about it on this thread:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 32&start=0

Thanks, gncxx. This actally did eventually yield the exact result I was looking for. Although it took a while to find it. Remember, at the time I was searching for 'Sleaford'. What I actually should have been searching for is 'Ruskington'.

This would have lead me to a Roadghosts.com page detailing the exact This Morning broadcast described above:

http://www.roadghosts.com/CasesUKaccounts7.htm

The road in question? The A15 in Lincolnshire. The same A15 which not only goes through this stretch near Ruskington, but 5 miles down the road also goes through Sleaford! :shock: :lol:

A number of similar testimonies in that article, quoted from the show. Most seem to refer to the 'ghost' in question appearing like a white or black sheet in the distance and then either coming upon the car or brushing past the car. Some say it's in period dress. Some say it's kind of like a negative photo image, in terms of colour. Most say that it was in some way raising its hand or arm.

This really interests me because it's been reported by a significant number of people, and over a number of years. Granted, if you get that number of people in a room talking about their experience you will find a certain amount of bleeding of details through suggestion, but there really are enough here that it surprises me there hasn't been more investigation into this.

An earlier, albeit second hand, reported sighting interests me from that show too:

Christine Lee described her father's experience, evidently some time ago, when he worked at the RAF base at Cranwell. He and some friends decided one night to cut across the fields on their return to barracks when "this white ghostly figure came from up high [and] put his hand out as if to say ‘don’t go’." Christine's father grabbed his companions and led them away, taking the long way back to the barracks.

Christine said he had believed the fields may have been marshy or boggy, and that by the figure's gesture they were being warned of the danger.

At a later date, he apparently saw it again, whilst driving, and turned off to avoid the A15.

I'll have to look into RAF Cranwell as well.

You can find a full transcript of the first two broadcasts here:

http://www.roadghosts.com/RuskingtonTranscript.htm

Sadly, much like m'self, the guy who did the article never saw the conclusion show.

Did anybody out there see this? I'd be greatly curious to know what else came up.

But moreso has anybody on here ever driven this route? Do you drive it regularly, and was it at night? I'd be fascinated to know whether you've ever experienced anything.
 
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For the benefit of the Lazy, I thought I'd post up some of the accounts from those who spoke to This Morning, back in 1998. As I say, obviously, after the very first account I suppose you have to take things slightly with a pinch of salt, as they phoned in AFTER hearing the initial account broadcast. But for the sake of comparing experiences, and descriptions it might be worthwhile.

The initial caller was Kevin Whelan, who at the time was a resident of Sleaford. He described the following to Richard Madely and Julia Carling (Judy Finnegan's Stand in that day):

RM: Now hang on, Kevin, you’re telling us the truth?

KW: I’m telling you the complete truth. First of all, before this experience, I didn’t believe in ghosts. If anyone said anything to me, I’d have ridiculed them like anyone else.

RM: Gotcha. Right, what happened?

KW: Right, a fortnight ago, I was driving...I live in Sleaford...I was driving from Lincoln toward Sleaford -

RM: A lonely road that is.

KW: A very lonely road, the A15.

RM: Yeah, I know it.

KW: Just before the Ruskington turn off I saw, on the horizon, like a white shadow. I didn’t know what it was. I thought it could have been car lights. I didn’t give it much thought. When I got to that white shadow, all of a sudden from the driver’s side of the car a face appeared around the front pillar, and it was on my windscreen, with the left hand up. I had been travelling probably a little bit faster than I should have been, and it completely - well, it just got me by surprise.

RM: Could you see through it?

KW: No, I couldn’t; that’s what everyone asks me. It had dark hair; it was like a Greek-looking person; the skin was olivey-green; it had a pitted face; I could see the teeth; I could see everything. One hand was up. From the neck down was like a sort of - on a photograph when you photograph someone with a flash on, it’s too bright, you get that white fluorescent sort of look.

RM: And how long was it there?

KW: It was there, I’d estimate 40..50 seconds?

RM: Did you stop the car?

KW: No, I didn’t. I didn’t stop the car.

JC: How did you control the car?

KW: I don’t know. The tape player was on very loud. My immediate reaction... because it scared - .the tape player was on, and I was completely baffled...I put the front of the tape, the fascia, I just threw it out. It didn’t just go away, it faded into obscurity down the side of the car. When I got back in...I just bombed it back home. When -

JC: I’m not surprised.

KW: When I got in, and my wife was asleep, I left just left the car unlocked. I got inside. I locked the door behind me - which I never do - I woke my wife up, I looked in the mirror and I was white; my skin looked like a turkey, it was all goose bumps. I was crying.

RM: And you said first thing the next day you went to the car wash?

KW: I had to put the car through the car wash.

LF: That’s very understandable.

KW: I’ve been back since - I had to go back, I went back last Saturday -

RM: At night?

KW: At night - the same time and I videoed it -

RM: Anything?

KW: No, but I’m going to go again, because I’ve got to prove to myself -

JC: Maybe it's because you were going too fast?

KW: That’s what everyone says to me.

JC: Do you think there might have been an accident there or something and this guy was warning you perhaps or...

KW: I have been told - a friend of mine has told me - the police don’t recognise this sort of thing, but a police officer has told a friend of mine that in the last 18 months a motorcyclist was killed there, with both legs were taken off in the accident.

RM: But just tell us exactly which - it’s the A15?

KW: The A15.

RM: Heading towards Sleaford?

KW: You’re heading towards Sleaford.

RM: And where exactly is it on the road?

KW: On the road, where you come to a very very tight bend, and it’s just before. There’s a turn-off left to Ruskington, and a turn-off right to Cranwell -

RM: Right to Cranwell - the RAF place?

KW: That’s right, yeah. And just before the turn-off to Ruskington, there’s a house on the right and it happened between the very very sharp bend and the house on the right.

Now I remember watching the broadcast, and this guy was kind of babbling a little at the time. That's not to say that he was a babbler by nature. :) Relaying the story was clearly freaking him out a little.

Now the most interesting thing about this to me is quite the amount of detail he gives. Not just a vague 'there was a ghost in the road and it scared me,' he's quite specific.

He could see a face, he could see it's teeth, and he didn't pass through it. At a distance it was a 'white shadow' and the it just appeared in his windscreen, around the driver's side, as a solid thing.

And it was holding its hand up.

The total surprise of the experience scared the shit out of this guy. And rightly so, tbh.

At the end of hearing Kevin's account Madely asked anybody else who might have experienced something on this stretch of road to call in. And much to the show's surprise people actually did. The first of which was a Rob Burkett, who relayed a very similar experience:

RM: Rob and Sarah have called in, and they feel sane again, because they had the same experience. Rob, hi, you on the line?

RB: Yeah, hello.

RM: You must have had goose bumps when you heard Kevin tell that story?

RB: You ain’t kidding.

RM: We both want to hear your story. What happened?

RB: It was about half-past eight at night. I used to deliver day-old chickens, because there are an awful lot of chicken farms down in Lincolnshire.

RM: Of course, yeah.

RB: And I'd finished a delivery. It was around about October-November time, about 14 years ago. I used to stay at a B&B in Ruskington - I can’t name the pub now, I don’t know what it was - I was going into Ruskington, as I say, about half-past eight/quarter to nine at night, and wallop, all of a sudden, this thing on the side of the road, with his hand up and he seemed to walk out. And I seen it -

RM: And this is on the A15, the Ruskington turn-off?

RB: Yep.

RM: Blimey.

RB: Yep. Yep. And I just broke the speed limit.

RM: To get away?

RB: Yep.

RM: And just like Kevin said, one hand was raised?

RB: Yep.

RM: What, as if in warning?

RB: Yep.

Now this is where Madely starts to lead the callers, I feel. Suggesting an arm raised in warning. But clearly Mr Burkett had seen a figure with it's arm raised, and again appearing from the side of the car. His experience took place earlier in the evening than Kevin's, and he does not reference seeing it in the distance first. He says it stepped out from the side of the road.

Still, he clearly felt that Kevin's account was strikingly similar enough to his own experience to call in.

But of course his account is from the early 80s. That overrides Kevin's assumption that it might have been related to the motorcycle death the year before. Well, unless the motorcycle death had been prompted by a startled motorcyclist, who encountered the same. :shock: But that's a fair old leap of logic there.

The third account came from a Sarah Martin, who back in 1998 was living in Cranwell, where the local RAF base is, which Madely had mentioned while talking to Kevin, above. Her account is similar, but slightly different in description:

RM: Where are you calling from Sarah?

SM: Cranwell.

RM: Cranwell? Which is very close.

SM: Yeah.

RM: When did you see something there?

SM: Last year. On exactly the same place as the Kevin said before.

RM: Now, listen, you’re us telling the truth, aren’t you? It’s not a wind up?

SM: No. I was coming from Lincoln - we’d seen the pictures - coming to Cranwell where we live, and on that particular corner near the house that Kevin said I was driving along there and this black silhouette figure of a man, I would think, ran out from the ditch and went straight in front of the car as though...obviously, y’know we should have hit it, but it wasn’t -

RM: Nothing there.

SM: 'Cause I sort of gave a quick sort of yell, and my partner didn’t even see a thing.

RM: You’d got a silhouette without a face. And he didn’t see anything but you did?

SM: Yeah, that’s right.

RM: [to off-camera crew member] Tim, have you found it yet? Let’s have a look. We’ve got the map now. [RM is handed a road atlas].

JC: The amazing thing is none of these people have had accidents because of it. You’d imagine if you’d see this ghost it would freak you out and you’d have an accident.

SM: I wasn’t actually driving; my partner was driving. Like I say, if it was a person obviously we’d have hit it. But...it was horrid, it was really frightening.

Now this interesting. Because in both other cases this thing has popped up in the driver's view. But in this case the driver himself did not see it. Only his partner, presumably in the passenger seat. she refers to this as being a 'black silhouette' as opposed to the white shape which Kevin described, and she was unable to see the face clearly as Kevin had done. But as Kevin also described it as looking like a photo negative that could still tie in.

Again, Sarah saw this as a figure walking into the road from the side. I suppose it is possible that if it was at the side of the car as they passed her partner might not have seen it, but she may have, through the side window, while he was concentrating on the road.

Note though, that in this first account she does not mention a raised arm.

Still, three accounts, all taking place on the same specific stretch of road. One in 1998, one in 1997 and one in 1983/84.

That kind of thing warrants further investigation. I'll post up some other accounts from the second show shortly.
 
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And now a couple of notes on the second broadcast.

Firstly, this segment began with a researcher (Named 'Harry' on camera)relaying the story from the day before. with the accompaniment of video footage of the A15 in the hours of daylight. The details differ a little from Kevin's own account the day before, but as to whether this is because 'Harry' or somebody else on the show has discussed the incident with him in more detail, or whether Harry has read in his own interpretation of events is unclear.

Harry: Right, this is where Kevin three weeks ago, and about 2 a.m. in the morning, he was driving about 60 miles an hour. Just after that sign, a face appears on the windscreen, a Greek face, black and green, it stays there, and he’s absolutely petrified. He looks in the mirror, he’s white, he goes past the turning to Ruskington which you see on your left, he carries on going, he puts his foot on the accelerator -

This is the first reference to a nailed down specific speed of travel. Rob Burkett had said he was breaking the speed limit. Kevin had previously stated that he had been travelling 'a little faster than he should have been'. 60 MPH is the speed limit (Or at least was in 1998) for an A Road. This Might have been bought into line to avoid admitting speeding on live TV, who knows...?

Harry also states the Kevin looked in the mirror and observed that he had turned pale white. Whereas in the previous account he had stated that it was not until Kevin got home and looked in the mirror that he noticed this.

I'm not saying that Kevin had changed his story. I don't believe he had, but it might be worth mentioning. Certainly this was a small change in the narrative as delivered by the the This Morning team.

Harry: It’s still there, It’s still there, it’s still there. He’s going down the road, and he’s coming to this dip down here; just when he gets to this dip it suddenly dissolves, and goes away. And he couldn’t see through it. He doesn’t know how he managed to stay on the road.

Now in his previous account Kevin never mentioned that dip. He said that the figure was there for 40/50 seconds before fading, but not the circumstance, nor that it 'dissolved'.

I'm not trying to discredit Kevin's story here. I genuinely feel that he saw something that night, and that these words from a researcher are not his. But like I say possibly worth referring to, as what Harry is saying fleshes out the story a little. Take that fleshing out with a pinch of salt.

One other point that might be worth considering, Madeley announces that:

RM: Now we can’t actually transmit live from that spot on the road junction because there’s an RAF base nearby, and apparently our satellite was interfering with their own transmission. But we are going live now to the Duke of Wellington pub, near Ruskington - which is where Kevin, and Sarah Martin are - they also called in yesterday; they saw something in ‘96.

And again we return to RAF Cranwell. Now the sceptic in me might want to draw some kind assumption that if there is a strong transmission signal in the area that signal might be able to on some level explain why people do seem to be experiencing such an odd number of experiences around this strip of road.

But of course that doesn't exactly explain why they are also all experiencing such a similar 'apparition'. Madely points out that since the phone in the previous day 'We’ve probably had about 5 dozen calls' all from people experiencing something on that road over a progression of time.

Also note that Sarah Martin had previously said that she had seen something along the road the previous year, but that now actually seems to have been a year earlier - in 1996.

Again, I'm not trying to discredit that at all. If I were put on the spot, relaying something which had happened to me - at short notice - I too would probably get some details a little off. Omit something, maybe get the month or year wrong. That's how memory works. Working it through in your head, comparing times and dates to other specific events later can pinpoint such details better.

Before I move on could I also point you back up to that Lincolnshire Unexplained post, above, by Jason Skinner. While his story does sound a little more vague in locational details, he says that he was travelling from Lincoln to Bourne - much further south than other accounts. But he was coming home from going to the cinema in Lincoln. As, of course, was Sarah Martin in 1996. If you pull up a google map of Sleaford to Bourne you will see that a very plausible route follows the same stretch of the A15. But what Jason claims to have seen was further down the road - between Sleaford and Bourne. He says Rippinggale or one of the villages close to it.

That's definitely beyond the Ruskington turn off. But still on the A15...

He saw a figure which he says walked towards them from the far side of the road.

Again, from the side. The Driver's side.

But his details differ from the pitted skin and greek-looking face Kevin described. Jason states:

Also his clothes were very strange, he had on a shirt with a a long three quarter leather waiste coat on, he had a full beared, and my wife said a hat.

None of the other three accounts mentioned period dress. Or a beard.

However:

As the others cars headlight were passing him, he seamed to take a large step or stumble in to the centre of the road. I slammed on the brakes at the same moment my wife called stop! As we passed where the figure should have been, i expected him to be hitting my car or very near.

Does sound very similar to Sarah Martin's description of how they should have hit him, but didn't. Also the car Justin was following did not see it. Much like Sarah's partner did not.

I think there is enough similarity for this to be considered as part of the same 'case'. Regardless of where on the A15 it occurred. I wonder what speed Justin was going...? ;)
 
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As far as the speed goes, around here the nighttime speed limit is five miles below the daytime speed limit. Isn't that true over there, too?
 
PeniG said:
As far as the speed goes, around here the nighttime speed limit is five miles below the daytime speed limit. Isn't that true over there, too?

It's the same at day and night over here. The top speed limit for dual carriageways and motorways is 70 mph (and widely ignored), for single carriageways it's 60 mph (and ignored). In built up areas it's 30 mph, though they've just started with some 20 mph zones outside schools. You'll also find 40 and 50 mph limits on some to meet local traffic conditions
 
I have a feeling that the stretch of the A15 in question may well now be a 50 mph zone. In the last year many of the UK's National Speed Limit Country routes, A and B roads in particular, have been lowered to 50 mph, as part of a trial initiative. I know there has been petitioning for quite some time to lower the limit to 50 on Country Roads.

However, back in 1998 the speed limit would have been 60 mph, but mostly ignored. ;) It's a quiet country road, with nobody around... who's going to know? It's the way it goes sadly, until a fair few people actually die on a road, and speed camera gets put in.

Interesting though, that in the majority of reports of seeing this thing, whatever it truly is, the driver HAS been speeding.

I'm not suggesting that this is a finite method of reproduction, or anything, but interesting.
 
Both Kevin Whelan and Sarah Martin were present on camera, in person, for the broadcast the day after. Rob Burkett was not. Although to be honest it was kind of short notice.

Both had come to the Duke of Wellington Pub in Leasingham, the next town along, and out of RAF Cranford's satellite range. :lol:

They both extended their stories in more detail. Not by much. But I think it was more a case of clarification than embellishment. Kevin repeated his story at request of Richard Madeley, back in the studio:

KW: It was 2 weeks ago, 2 weeks ago in the early hours of Sunday morning. I was coming back from Lincoln, to Sleaford. At a very sharp bend just before the Ruskington turn-off, as I got around the bend, I saw in front of me like a white image - like a large bin bag - white bin-bag - that’s the only way I can describe it - floating in front of me - and I didn’t really give that much sort of thought for concern really, because it could have been car headlights or anything like that -

So, a Sunday morning. Early hours. And again a white image. But he describes this very much as floating like a bin liner. Previously he had described it as a 'white shadow' but in all honesty that does seem in keeping with his original description.

KW: and as I got to where I saw that, all of a sudden in front of me a face appeared from the - a face appeared.

RM: OK, if you look at the television screen now Kevin, was it on the top right of your windscreen?

KW: It was yeah - I’m sat in the drivers seat, obviously - the pillar - it just sort of came around the side of the pillar of the car, diagonal, and just appeared in front of me with it’s hand up like that.

RM: Okay, show us again; show us your hand movement again.

RM: Like that.

Now, it having been over a decade since I saw this footage I cannot say what gesture that actually was.

But once again he describes the face rather suddenly appearing. And, effectively, from the side of the car. Around the pillar of the frame between the windscreen and door.

This is a UK road. The Car is on the left hand side of the road, and so this would mean, in theory, that this thing has come from the opposite side of the road. The 'far side' to echo the earlier Justin Skinner report.

And with its hand up.

KW: Like that, yeah, it just sort of stayed over the front of the car.

JC: I don’t know how you kept on the road, I really don’t. That’s the most amazing thing.

KW: I don’t know. I was sort of doing a good 60 miles an hour, I should think. Probably a bit faster. Absolutely disorientated. I threw the tape player - the fascia of the tape player out - because the car was full of sound, I just didn’t know what to do, and it was just staring at me all the time; mouth was open, jet black hair, I could see the eyes, the pitted skin, olive...a very very olive, green complexion -

An admission that he probably was going over the speed limit there. And of the reports Kevin is the most adamant that this face stayed over the car for some time.

The mouth was open, he could see the eyes, and skin was olive green and pitted.

RM: And you say that you got the impression, Kevin - that it was in - whatever this thing is or was - it was in a state of some distress?

KW: It was very very very distressed, yes, I didn’t know if it was trying to - people say to me it was telling me to slow down, and it may well have been -

Now in his first account Kevin did not mention it being in distress. But, to be fair, he was ratting information off for a quick fire TV phone-in the day before. Thinking on his feet. Was it telling him to slow down? The arm might suggest that. But at the same point this may have been read in by other people suggesting it. Including Richard Madeley, the day before.

JC: So you talked to people about it afterwards, did you?

KW: Yes, yes, I did.

JC: And did they believe you?

KW: Most people did believe me, because they know the sort of character I am - that I wouldn’t be taken in by this sort of thing. I am a sort of disbeliever to be honest.

RM: Well, Kevin, you told us on the phone-in yesterday that when you got home you woke up your wife and for the first time she that can remember you were in floods of tears, you were very very upset.

KW: I was.

To be fair, from memory, this guy did come across as being a very mild-mannered, genuine guy. Not a local nutter, or somebody who WANTED to see a ghost. This whole think had shook him up badly. Virtually scared the wits out of him. He certainly seemed genuine to me.

Sarah Martin was also interviewed again.

RM: Now you were watching the programme yesterday. Where from? Where do you live?

SM: Cranwell.

RM: Cranwell, just round the corner. And you heard this story from Kevin, and you nearly fell off your chair?

SM: Yeah.

RM: Tell us what happened to you.

SM: Well, I’d been to the pictures at Lincoln, and I was going down to Cranwell -

RM: When was this, Sarah?

SM: This was ‘96. And on the way home, the same place as where Kevin saw his - this black shape - silhouette - ran out of the dyke and ran straight in front of the car. It was just all black, from head to toe, and we went straight through it.

Now, once again, the figure Sarah describes what she saw as a silhouette. All black. Which does seem a little at odds with e 'white bin liner' description Kevin gave. However, to go back to how Kevin had described it the day before, he did refer to it as being like a photograph negative, with the Olive skin, and black hair as well. I still feel the two tie together enough.

Sarah says that it ran out into the road in front of the car. It certainly seemed to move quickly in Kevin's telling also. But they passed straight through it. It did not linger in view as it had with Kevin.

RM: And what did you say to your boyfriend, who was driving the car?

SM: Well, I just screamed, really, and he didn’t see a thing. He didn’t know what was wrong or anything, so I told him what it was, but obviously if it was real we would have hit it, but we went straight through it.

Now, you would think that if this thing ran out the driver would have seen it. Especially as she says that they should have hit it. Why her other half did not is a little curious. And again I wonder what speed he was doing?

There were other mentioned accounts too:

JC: We also had another caller yesterday - Rob - remember he was driving the chickens?

RM: That’s right.

JC: - and he saw the same thing. Somebody else called in - and this is the amazing thing - because back in 1960 he was driving a coach with a whole load of school kids in the back. He did exactly the same thing -

RM: He’d thought he’d run somebody over -

JC: And he’d thought he’d run over it.

RM: That’s right. And he actually got out of the car - the van...the coach, rather, and he went back down the road and of course there was nothing there. He called in. We’ve had actually a lot of calls -

JC: So many.

RM: We’ve probably had about 5 dozen calls, from people who are all very credible, and we believe them, and some of them are now gathering at the pub, aren’t they?

JC: Yeah.

So that's another year to add to the list. 1998, 1996, 1983/4 and 1960. That's quite a range. Also note that in that experience the driver got out of his coach and went back to look for who he had hit. And there was nobody there. This is the first example of somebody actually seeing this thing and stopping. All the others have driven on.

But, of course, this is where you have to start questioning things a little. The crew of This Morning have gathered all these people who phoned in (Or as many as could come) into a pub. And naturally, in THAT environment, people are going to exchange stories. And in so doing it's likely that some will, even subconsciously, inherit parts of other peoples experiences and amalgamate them into their own.

That said though, that's a LOT of people to all have experienced this. Even this many, and despite the media attention, that's enough to make the concept slightly more credible.
 
This would make a good FT article! You've practically written it here.
 
This would make a good FT article! You've practically written it here.

I agree, and not only is it a cracking good ghost story, but it involves Richard Madeley as well, I don't think you could get more fortean than that! (I would have put a smiley face here, but I just get a load of java script when I try)
 
To be fair, from memory, this guy did come across as being a very mild-mannered, genuine guy. Not a local nutter, or somebody who WANTED to see a ghost. This whole think had shook him up badly. Virtually scared the wits out of him.
It's because of cases like this that I believe in 'ghosts' - even though I have no idea what they are.

In every generation, people come forward and say "I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself..."

Maybe just a quirk of human psychology - and maybe not! :shock:
 
Certain things about the story stand out for me.

Firstly that it was late at night, or rather a Sunday morning in a rural area. Far be it from me to suggest that Kevin had been at a boozer somewhere and was on his way home, but he wouldn't be the first, I'm sure.

Secondly the bit about the cassette player. He says the player was on then he was baffled and threw the fascia out. Out of the window? An open window? A window left open to give him some fresh air on his way home late at night? Whilst he sang along to his cassette player? I do the same thing (apart from throwing things out of the window) when I'm on my way home late at night, to stop myself from falling asleep at the wheel. I bet I'm not alone here, right?

I'll not proud of it, but I'll confess that it hasn't always worked and I've jerked back into wakefulness with a start, heart hammering as I find myself belting down the road ("faster than I should have been"?), crapping myself at what I've allowed to happen and thanking my lucky stars I'm still in one piece. Sometimes it has been the appearance of someone running out in front of the car that has startled me awake, or large animals, typical hypnagogic hallucinations.

To me Kev's story sounds just like he fell asleep or was falling asleep at the wheel, perhaps after a couple of sherberts, and woke suddenly, befuddled, as he travelled a stretch of road which knows has had at least one recent fatality (he also states that it happened just before "a very very tight bend"). I think his unconscious mind was shaking his conscious mind back into full control before he hit that tight bend when it would have been curtains for both minds!

Add to that the fact he thought the face was there for 40 or 50 seconds during which time it seems he threw his cassette fascia out. This sounds strange to me. Did he throw it at the face, or as I interpret it, just out of the window? If you saw what looked like a person at your window at such a time, would you throw your cassette fascia out of the window, or brake hard? To me, the appearance of a face by the window at speed would trigger an immediate jamming on of the anchors in a normal, wide-awake sober driver, throwing something out of the window is just not natural, even if something has terrified you. I know that I'm falling asleep when I start thinking sentences that don't make sense, complete gibberish, and do things for no apparent reason. I've yet to chuck my tape player out of the window, but there's always a first time.

Anyway, I would imagine you'd get a bloody good look at it, 40 or 50 seconds is a long time - get your stopwatch out and see, more than enough time to be sure of what the hell is going on. Unless, of course you aren't fully awake.

You'd cover a considerable distance at 60+mph as well, can anyone local drive past the scene and estimate how far he'd have gone with this "bin bag" hanging off his wing mirror?


I think more interesting than the supposed ghost angle is the RAF transmitter which apparently prevents TV broadcasts. To me, the answer to multiple experiences in this locale is more likely to be related to MOD transmission equipment, secret or not, and some kind of electro-magnetics.
 
LordRsmacker said:
...Add to that the fact he thought the face was there for 40 or 50 seconds during which time it seems he threw his cassette fascia out. This sounds strange to me...

That's one of the details which jumped out at me too. That's an awful long time to be driving with something so alarming stuck to your windscreen.

I would however add the proviso that it's notoriously difficult to judge time in stressful circumstances. (I was once in an incident in which the vehicle I was travelling rolled several times down a steep slope. To this day I would swear the episode lasted a minute or so - in reality it was probably all done and dusted in under 15 seconds. And my brother, who, back in the day, was shot at by a sniper in Northern Ireland, describes the bullet 'slowly' peeling a section of tarmac out of the road in front of his feet as if a very sharp finger were being gently pushed under the surface and then ripped out).
 
rynner2 said:
To be fair, from memory, this guy did come across as being a very mild-mannered, genuine guy. Not a local nutter, or somebody who WANTED to see a ghost. This whole think had shook him up badly. Virtually scared the wits out of him.
It's because of cases like this that I believe in 'ghosts' - even though I have no idea what they are.

In every generation, people come forward and say "I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself..."

Maybe just a quirk of human psychology - and maybe not! :shock:

I know what you mean. Regardless of whether you 'believe' or not there is still a convincing argument when so many people come out with similar testimonies years apart. Stories which many of them won't have told other people because frankly they wouldn't believe them.

It's when the ordinary every day guy suddenly experiences something he'd never even thought about, and certainly would have laughed at if somebody else had claimed it, but has totally shocked him to the core - because he can't explain it. That's Fortean. That's a story.

LordRsmacker said:
the bit about the cassette player. He says the player was on then he was baffled and threw the fascia out. Out of the window? An open window? A window left open to give him some fresh air on his way home late at night? Whilst he sang along to his cassette player? I do the same thing (apart from throwing things out of the window) when I'm on my way home late at night, to stop myself from falling asleep at the wheel. I bet I'm not alone here, right?

In both of Kevin's testimonies he mentions the cassette player (How wonderfully 1990s :D ) but while he does mention tearing the fascia off it, because 'there was too noise in the car', he doesn't state what he does with it. There's no indication that the window was open, or that he threw it out, from either of those descriptions of events.

I think that it was more a case of trying to turn the damned thing off, and keep an eye on the road and this thing which was staring at him - which was so scarily compelling. Fumbling blindly, without looking at the tape player. The result was that the fascia came off, as is the case with many in car stereos for security. The tape player come stereo I had in the mid to late 90s certainly had that.

LordRsmacker said:
To me Kev's story sounds just like he fell asleep or was falling asleep at the wheel, perhaps after a couple of sherberts, and woke suddenly, befuddled, as he travelled a stretch of road which knows has had at least one recent fatality (he also states that it happened just before "a very very tight bend"). I think his unconscious mind was shaking his conscious mind back into full control before he hit that tight bend when it would have been curtains for both minds!

While Kevin does mention that there was a fatality on this stretch of road the previous year it was at a point in his story after the event is described. And it sounds as if this was something he found out after the event.

Sure, it's possible that he fell asleep at the wheel. Maybe he dreamed this. Even just for a second. But then again, how come all these other people have come forward to say that they have seen a figure in the road here, performing the same routine Kevin observed.

If it were just his word for it, I'd totally agree with you. But I think there are so many similar accounts here that it's hard to dismiss it with quite such a straightforward logical explanation.

LordRsmacker said:
Add to that the fact he thought the face was there for 40 or 50 seconds during which time it seems he threw his cassette fascia out. This sounds strange to me. Did he throw it at the face, or as I interpret it, just out of the window? If you saw what looked like a person at your window at such a time, would you throw your cassette fascia out of the window, or brake hard? To me, the appearance of a face by the window at speed would trigger an immediate jamming on of the anchors in a normal, wide-awake sober driver, throwing something out of the window is just not natural, even if something has terrified you.

Now here I agree with what Spookdaddy is also saying about judging time in stressful situations. I'm going to say forget about the fascia for a moment, because I think you're reading in this throwing it out of the window, as I've said. But when you're in shock your brain processes time very differently.

Aged 14 I was rowing in a three man canoe, in October, with three shool-mates at an outward bound place in Shropshire. We were rowing by a weir on the river, and through the inability of my fellow rowers to steer properly ;) we turned over. I kind of came to in that cold water under the upturned canoe (its base now a canopy above our heads), looking at one of my friends. We were in shock from the temperature of the water. We ducked back out and made our way to the shore. It felt like we were under that boat for 5 minutes. It was, I'm reliably informed no longer than 15 seconds. And we were out of the river in under 2 minutes. But it felt like an age.

When I was 19 I wrote off my car. It was the Sunday after Christmas, and it had been peeing down with rain. I was on a 40 mph road, with the hidden turning for a pub on my right, behind a thick line of trees. The car in front suddenly spotted that tuning, and slammed its brakes on. It never actually put its indicators on, but clearly was intending on turning into the pub car park. At that point there was no way I could have avoided hitting that car with my own. I broke in good time, but my car skidded on the wet road surface. I trued to steer away from the car ahead, but still hit it with my front right. The impact was harsh. Steam was thrown up from my radiator, the car was a write off.

The impact of course happened in under 2 seconds. But in my mind's eye everything slowed down. I could tell you exact details of the crash, because everything slowed down in my memory of it, and has been replayed in my mind a hundred times since. But of course, in reality, time did not slow down. It was under 2 seconds.

When something shocking happens to you judging time is pretty much impossible. I honestly believe that when this thing, whatever it was, popped into Kevin windscreen view the shock of it had the same result. 40 to 50 seconds it may have seemed, but I'm guessing it probably was much shorter. Just instantly memorable.

LordRsmacker said:
I think more interesting than the supposed ghost angle is the RAF transmitter which apparently prevents TV broadcasts. To me, the answer to multiple experiences in this locale is more likely to be related to MOD transmission equipment, secret or not, and some kind of electro-magnetics.

Which is actually in part why I highlighted that from the broadcast. Madely had said that it was their own broadcast equipment which was blocking RAF Cranwell's equipment. But there clearly IS a strong signal in this area. And probably has been for as long as the base has been there. Electromagnetism can do some cooky things to the human brain, in certain doses. It has been used as the scientific explanation FOR people experiencing phenomena such AS ghosts.

And of course Kevin himself would have experienced this whilst his radio/tape player was on. Electromagnetism is required for those speakers.

What it doesn't explain, though, is quite how so many people who have all experienced something down this stretch of road, saw something so similar - namely a figure move into the road an lift its arm up.

There were of course other accounts beyond those I've highlighted so far. So I'll post those up in my next post.
 
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To continue, in the Duke of Wellington pub that day, this morning had gathered a number of people who had called in. Local people to Sleaford and Ruskington, by and large. Local historians and a local journalist too.

They also had a back up plan, in case the broadcast hadn't been possible. They had some callers from the previous day with them back in the studio, in London.

The Outside broadcast was being run by Nina Myscow, who interviewed several people on site. Another point was also mentioned in the studio:

RM: The pub is busy today. They’ve all got a handle on this thing. Everyone knows about it around there. I think you said it was mentioned in one book?

JC: Somebody’s called in, actually - from the Atlas of Magical Britain, and there’s a reference about the Ruskington ghost. It says along the road, it used to be full of witches and the last witch apparently was innocent, and she became the black-figured ghost.

Now, does anybody know of this book? Has anybody got access to it? Sarah Martin described what she saw as a black figure. But the majority of accounts describe this as a male figure. If anybody has access to that book, and wouldn't mind typing the entry into a post, that would be great.

Now, of course there is the danger that when you get a set of people together like this, when you create a nit of a media furore, that you do start to get people spinning a story for the attention. This was briefly addressed on that second broadcast:

NM: Yes, it’s quite extraordinary, because everyone you talk to has heard something or seen something or knows something about it, and it really seems to be an area which is quite sort of prevalent with these things. And nobody seems surprised by it; they seem to be very accepting of it. And that’s the strange thing. I’d be terrified to go out, or to live here, with the things I’ve heard. But people accept it, it’s part of local life here.

RM: And we’re not talking about sort of mass hysteria here, are we? I mean this isn’t sort of mass hysteria. These are totally individual people, and most of them don’t even live there; they’ve come down especially for this programme.

NM: Absolutely. It’s all very very calm indeed; it’s just accepting this is part of life.

If anybody on here lives locally to Ruskington and Sleaford I would be very interested to know if that honestly is the case. I'd be intrigued to know just how well-known it is.

The first person interviewed inside the pub was Sue Whelan. Kevin's wife.

NM: I’m going to talk first to Sue, because Sue is married to Kevin. Now, Kevin, I have to say, is the least likely person to come up with an hysterical tale. You’re very very down to earth, and yet Sue what happened when he came home that night at half-past two in the morning?

SW: Well, I was asleep in bed, and he literally came in the bedroom and he said - he was a bit like a child, really, and he’s like "Sue, Sue", like all in a panic. And he was like standing there, he was white, he had tears streaming down his face, and I sort of went "what’s the matter?" and he said "I’ve seen a ghost". He said, "You’re not going to believe this, I’ve seen a ghost." And he was so adamant, and like in the thirteen years together I’ve like never seen him anywhere near that sort of state over anything, and he was just really distraught, distressed. I’ve never seen him like it before.

NM: Had he been drinking?

SW: He doesn’t really drink anyway, very rarely does drink. He doesn’t believe in ghosts. He would ridicule somebody. He’s not that type of person.

Now for the benefit of LordRsmacker, no that that doesn't discount the possibility of alcohol being involved. If I recall correctly Kevin was sitting beside her while these questions were being asked. I personally believe that they were telling the truth here. Kevin did seem very genuine.

Next we had a new report. This time from a Catherine Stephenson. Adult now, but not at the time of her experience:

NM: OK. We’ve got here - we’ve got Catherine Stephenson. Now Catherine, what happened to you? It was when you were 15?

CS: Yeah, I was 15. I used to walk to Ruskington to school. It was behind me, I felt a cold shiver up my back; and then I just turned round and there was this figure and it was like head and shoulders, but from the waist down it was just like a sheet.

NM: What could you see? What did the figure look like?

CS: It was just a head and the shoulders; you didn’t see any arms or anything.

NM: And it came out of the -

CS: Out of the ditch, yeah.

Now this is kind of interesting. I can't recall quite how old she was on screen. But I think this experience would have predated Rob Burkett's 1980s account. And more interestingly this is the first account of a person on foot, rather than by car.

Catherine's description of the waist down being like a sheet kind of fits in with Kevin Whelan and with Sarah Martin's description of that bin-liner like object.

And again from the side of the road. Sarah Martin also referred to this thing stepping out of the ditch in here original call in.

No thorough description of what it looked like sadly, or how long it was visible, or how Catherine responded. Nina Myskow was being hassled to get around and talk to as many people as she could in as short a time as they had in the show's schedule. A shame.

There was a brief conversation with one of the show's researchers on the subject of the number of people that had reported something:

RM: Yes, thanks. You see, the thing is, you get all these general stories of ghosts haunting certain areas, but what we’re interested in is this specific one. We sent our researcher, Michelle Baulker, down there last night, and she’s been talking to lots of people, and, Michelle, I gather that a lot of people will tell you off the record that they have seen something but they don’t - they think they’ll be laughed at - and you’ve actually to your own satisfaction found that there are enough credible witnesses there - and you are a television researcher - that you think too that they are telling the truth - that they’re not in this to get on the telly, because they won’t come on the telly.

MB: That’s true, Richard, yes. Several people have actually witnessed very similar things to what Kevin and Sarah - who we spoke to earlier - had seen, but, yeah, they were too frightened to come on, for fear of retribution, really. I mean, I actually drove the route - Kevin and Sue showed me the route last night. At midnight I got in my car and I actually drove it. I’ve got to admit I was really really scared, it’s pitch black, it’s open countryside, there’s no traffic, it’s very very atmospheric - and I wouldn’t do it again actually. Fortunately nothing happened to me.

Of course Michelle was driving down there expecting to see something. None of these others did. And I think that may well be a key factor in play here. Isn't it always the case in try to document these kind of things...? :roll: ;)

Two further accounts were given by two guests in the studio, in London. As I mentioned these two were the back up plan, in case the outside broadcast didn't work out. The first, Jenny Sellars, was doing the reverse of the route Sarah Martin had taken, travelling up to Lincoln at the tail end of the 80s.

JS: It was about 9 / 10 years ago and I was driving from Sleaford to Lincoln, and I wasn’t driving particularly fast because its quite a dark stretch of road, and this white - I can only describe it as a sheet or a bit of plastic, which I thought it was -

RM: Just like Kevin said: he thought it was a plastic bin liner.

JS: Yes. It just came down in front of the windscreen and I just slammed on my brakes because I thought I’d hit something but knew I hadn’t because there was no impact or anything on the screen. I stopped the car, and as I stopped the car, it went round the side of the window. And I only sat there for not very long. I did actually open the door of the car because I was convinced I must have hit something although I didn’t actually feel that I’d hit anything, and there was just nothing, y’know, when I -

RM: stopped -

JS: Yeah, there was nothing on the ground, there was nothing. It was just black.

Now most interestingly here Jenny refers to having seen a white plastic sheet, much like Kevin Whelan had. it matches his description pretty well. ?The cynic in me would say, fine, but she has already heard his own account. Maybe that's why. But all the same...

As with Kevin's report it came down onto her windscreen, but as opposed to Sarah and Kevin, she stopped the car. At which point she said it slid past the side of the car. And much like the anonymous coach driver from the 60s, she got out to see if she'd hit something. But no. Nothing was there.

The details do sound very similar, but like I say there could be a reason for that. I still wouldn't utterly disregard it, though. And that would be another 1980s sighting. A shame though (And again this was mostly due to time restraints) that we couldn't get a physical description of what she saw in/on her windscreen. And no conformation of a raised arm.

The second account was that of Christine Lee, which I posted earlier. I'll quote it again here, for ease.

RM: What did your father see?

CL: Well, He said when they were coming back from a night out - they were going back to their barracks -

JC: He used to work at the RAF base, didn’t he?

CL: Yeah. Yeah.

RM: Cranwell, yeah.

CL: Yeah. And he was saying they were walking across the fields and this white ghostly figure came from up high; put his hand out as if to say ‘don’t go’ -

RM: Now we keep hearing this, we keep hearing that there’s this hand coming up. This is a common feature in this particular haunting.

JC: It’s the warning.

RM: It’s the warning sign. Get back.

CL: Yes, he said he put the hand up, and five of them were walking - my father and his friends saw this figure, and grabbed hold of the other three and said we’re not going that way, we’re going this way and took the long way back round to the barracks.

RM: Right. They were that frightened? They didn’t want to carry on.

CL: Yeah, yeah, and what he was worried about, he said, because it was all fields they wasn’t sure if it was marshy or boggy, and he was just telling them what was there.

JC: Not to go.

RM: And didn’t he see it again, when he was driving?

CL: Yeah, later on he said he went back up there when he was driving, and he saw it again. And he just turned off and went through the other way. He said he wouldn’t go further up on the A15.

Now this one is very interesting. Because that first sighting was not on the road. It was in fields, we presume, between the road in question and the barracks of RAF Cranwell. we don't know what year this was, though. Christine looked to be in late 30s. And it certainly sounds as her father no longer worked at RAF Cranwell. This could have been another 60s sighting. Maybe even 50s plausibly. It's hard to say, but it sounds certainly happened some years earlier.

Again we have a raised arm. And Christine's father has interpreted this as a sign of not going any further into the field. Now that actually interests me more. Is this field by the side of the A15? I wonder what could actually be in that field? Possibly buried? Who knows.

But this is the first recorded instance of somebody seeing this thing TWICE. The second time he saw it on the A15 itself, and again took an alternate route when he saw it.

Two more calls were commented on:

JC: I mean, we’ve had calls exactly the same. I’ve just picked a couple, y’know. Lynn Gothing from Essex here saw same thing one-and-a-half years ago. She said it looked like a monk waving. And Helen Carter - the same thing - holding the hand up, as a warning. You know, don’t come this way, isn’t it?

RM: And apparently all these people - you included [to Jenny and Christine] - all the people we were talking to in the pub - almost everyone, has never spoken about this before, it’s only because it kind of erupted yesterday on the programme.

A monk waving? Interesting. That would probably fit with the darker shadowed figure some have reported. I find it greatly interesting that quite so many all report a very specific arm being raised. Some interpret it differently to others, but you've got to admit that's an awful lot of people reporting a very similar experience.

Filter out the odd attention seeking loony and that's still a significant number in my opinion.
 
Whilst doing some random searches on t'internet last night I did also stumble upon another account. In the most bizarre of places. On 'The Maggotdrowners Forum,' which appears to be a forum for people who enjoy fishing.

The post was made in August of last year, in a forum off-topic thread about ghosts, and who believes in them. A post by a Joe Pell, who posts there as 'Pelly'. He had posted the following:

I'm a believer in ghosts because I've heard things I cannot explain. I've been on a few ghost hunts with some friends to find out the truth, so at an old monastery near me called Haverholme Priory, we walked upto it, but couldn't get in due to electric fence and also it would be unsafe to go in anyways. We hear footsteps around the priory, they just didnt stop and we made sure we all were stood still and that there was no-one in the area, couldn't work out where the footsteps were coming from, seemed like it was with us and faded away as we got away from the priory.

Another incident was on the A15 junction near Ruskington, once I was driving home with a mate and I saw a figure appear and it was very freaky, it was like, almost on the window screen near me and it looked a bit like a highway man.

Now doesn't that sound familiar?

The guy appears to have a Blog in his signature on that site. I think I'm going to see if I can contact him through it.
 
CuriousIdent said:
In both of Kevin's testimonies he mentions the cassette player (How wonderfully 1990s :D ) but while he does mention tearing the fascia off it, because there was too noise in the car, he doesn't state what he does with it. There's no indication that the window was open, or that he threw it out, from either of those descriptions of events.

Um, well we'll have to disagree on that one then, because in both accounts I can see, he states he "threw it out". Not tore it off, ripped it out, or pulled it off (oo-er), but "threw it out". That to me, M'lud, sounds like he "threw it out" of the window. As you do.

CuriousIdent said:
While Kevin does mention that there was a fatality on this stretch of road the previous year it was at a point in his story after the event is described. And it sounds as if this was something he found out after the event.

In the middle of BFE like that, when a hanging basket gets nicked it makes the local paper. I would suggest that if a motorcyclist had lost both his legs near that location, at any point in history, Kevin would have been aware of it, even if it was at the edges of his memory. He also mentions the "very very sharp bend" (Note the double use of the word "very", his, not mine). Once again I would suggest this is a notorious accident blackspot, one that he has always been well aware of.

I bet you, as do I, know the accident blackspots near your home, and like to think you are never caught out by them. You expect to be ready for them........unless you fall asleep and wake up finding yourself on top of one. That would give you a start, you know how dangerous the road is, how the hell could you have lost concentration? It happens!




CuriousIdent said:
Now here I agree with what Spookdaddy is also saying about judging time in stressful situation. But when you're in shock your brain processes time very differently.

Indeed, no problem with that, I can tell you every tiny detail of when I rolled a car years ago, the breaking glass tinkling down onto me, how I was thinking my escape route from the wreckage before I'd even done the first flip.

However, this is at odds with the explanation you gave above, that he was confused and groping for the tape player. I would suggest he was either in a confused state for 40-50 secs and groping for the tape player, or he was seeing time in crystal clear slow motion as some doom-laden scenario unfurled in front of him, but not both. Take your pick.
Being in a situation that produces shock is not the same as having the shit scared out of you, or finding yourself startled and confused.


CuriousIdent said:
Sure, it's possible that he fell asleep at the wheel. Maybe he dreamed this. Even just for a second. But then again, how come all these other people have come forward to say that they have seen a figure in the road here, performing the same routine Kevin observed

Um, three stories*, as far as I can see, plus others who gathered at the pub when the cameras were there. Hmmm, well, this was before the X Factor days, but we did have Publicity Whores back then in the 80s and 90s too, who would have drank their own puke to get on TV (Jesus, that brought back memories of "The Word".... :shock: )

CuriousIdent said:
There were of course other accounts beyond those I've highlighted so far. So I'll post those up in my next post.

Good fella, let's have some more. :lol:

CuriousIdent said:
If it were just his word for it, I'd totally agree with you. But I think there are so many similar accounts here that it's hard to dismiss it with quite such a straightforward logical explanation.

The fact there are apparently many similar accounts points to there being a logical explanation in my mind. In the same way, there are apparently straight roads which people keep careering off (also in that area, interestingly enough), which have been shown to have adverse cambers combined with optical illusory effects which cause people to misjudge slight jinks in the road and crash. Perhaps the combination of road surface, terrain and electro-magnetic factors is responsible. To me this is more feasible, even if the science is beyond me, or even beyond scientists at large, rather than the "face" being proof of the existence of "ghosts" (ie the restless shades of the deceased)

Either way, as you state above, definitely a Fortean experience, and one worth a debate.


*Edit. Curious posted more apparent sightings whilst I was typing.
 
Now here's a link which even I have trouble believing in...

Synchronicity & Coincidence - Temple Bruer
Hauntings
This is not so much about Temple Bruer , but the area in general.

About a year ago the local Sleaford Standard ran a story about the A15 being one of the most haunted roads in Britain.

This doesn’t surprise me, as I believe the veils of the dimensions to be thinner around energy /vortex points on the ley grid. This is further reinforced when we look at where the sightings have occurred in relation to the geometry.

As I read the article I made a note of the position of the regular sightings….one being the A15 turn off to Ruskington. According to the article many sightings have been reported of a ghostly figure running out into the road at the turn off to Ruskington.

Including one by a school bus driver .

Some believe the figure to be a monk or hermit and that the location is an old highway man’s haunt….known as hangman’s haunt.

The area was also featured on ‘This Morning’ programme in the nineties after people had reported numerous sightings.

It’s a dangerous road junction and I checked the map position for geometry.

What a surpirise , it was right on the Vesica Piscis south circle….the line going straight through it.

It’s also a natural high point ….reinforcing the idea that the physical manifestions in 3d relate to natural energy flows of the planet, based around geometry, which can also be seen in the run of the ridge through the pentacle along the heath.

Dorrington church, which is also involved in the geometry, is said to be haunted and built on an older pagan site and a natural high point.

All over the Lincolnshire heath from village to village you will hear tales of restless spirits, especially around Navenby /Wellingore/Temple Bruer. …worth a mystery tour out to see the sites involved.

Here is the list of the most haunted roads in Britain….if you live near one, it might be worth checking to see if the Knights Templar had a site nearby .

1.A229- BLUE BELL HILL ,KENT
2.A616-STOCKSBRIDGE,YORKSHIRE
3.A75-ANNAN,DUMFRIESHIRE
4.A361-FROME,SOMERSET
5.A12-NORFOLK
6.A15-RUSKINGTON
7.A23-LONDON TO BRIGHTON
8-.HOLT BRIDGE WREXHAM,WALES
9.-HIGH STREET-PRESTBURY
10.A30- CORNWALL.

http://www.templarmechanics.com/vaults_detail.asp?vaultsid=4

Yeah, this one is from a site about Templar Mechanics - the sacred geography of Templar sites in the UK.

Not something I'd generally buy into. But another possible connection I guess. I wonder if the field mentioned in the account of Christine Lee's Father also fell under this aledged line. It being the only example of the figure appearing away from the A15 road itself.
 
You know what? After dismissing that article so offhandly last night I did just notice that the A12 in Norfolk and Blue Bell Hill in Kent are both listed as fitting into that mechanic. I know thatboth od those have had reported hauntings. Blue bell Hill is actually probably one of the most reported Road Ghost sites in the UK.

Hmmm. Does make you wonder if those mechanics weren't tailored to the sightings though... :lol:

EDIT: No, wait. That's just a list of Britain's alleged most haunted roads. However the guy seems to want to know if there are any people who live in the vicinity of those whether they could confirm or deny if there are templar towns or sites close by. If you do, I suppose it would be interesting to find out. Not really tied so much to this thread though...
 
I tried contacting that guy from the Maggotdrowning forum, via the Blog in his forum signature. Got a failed delivery receipt, sadly.

Fortunately a mate of mine has contacted him through that forum, and pointed him the direction of this thread.

So, if you are Joe Pell, and you're reading this 'Hi'. If it's not too much to ask, would you mind registering with this forum and sharing your experience with us?
 
Top thread, guys.

This doesn't directly relate, but somewhere (else) I've got a very interesting book on 'Phantom Hitchhikers and Road Ghosts' which is published by ASSAP and I believe written by a Michael Goss.

I remember one of the points that he makes is that very similar apparitions are reported in cultures other than Britain, but are not necessarily associated with spirits of the dead - in Hawai'ii it is apparently possible to pick up manifestations of Pele and other Gods off the side of the road.

So further relating to the craaazy article about the lines and the energy vortex... Could it be that this is not a 'ghost' so much as some kind of physicalized genius locus, or animist spirit/small god? Or just a build up of 'energy' incarnate?

Anyway, fascinating stuff, and nearly enough to reinstate my faith in ghosts - I find this one strangely convincing.
 
James_H2 said:
Top thread, guys.
...
Anyway, fascinating stuff, and nearly enough to reinstate my faith in ghosts - I find this one strangely convincing.
Yes, but one thing annoys me - the thread title!
The "Anyone remember this?" bit is totally redundant!
 
Aha, that's because CuriousIdent has embarked on an experiment to implant false memories of the show into readers of this thread. In 5 years time we'll all look back and swear we saw the show. :lol:


Nice work Curious, you've certainly put some effort into this subject, a rare thing in this day and age. Granted, "research" online is a lot easier than real-life foot slogging like people did in the Good Old Days, but attention spans are far shorter these days, so hat's off to you for your perseverance. Well done too for putting the link to that Templar Mechanics thing (I confess I've yet to look at it, I need to prepare myself, I fear), once again these days people like to conveniently forget about info they find that doesn't fit their particular way of thinking.


James, the manifestations of Pele that you pick up by the side of the road, are they pre or post-Viagra?
 
CuriousIdent said:
I tried contacting that guy from the Maggotdrowning forum, via the Blog in his forum signature. Got a failed delivery receipt, sadly.

Fortunately a mate of mine has contacted him through that forum, and pointed him the direction of this thread.

So, if you are Joe Pell, and you're reading this 'Hi'. If it's not too much to ask, would you mind registering with this forum and sharing your experience with us?

Hello guys, I got these messages from your mate and I signed up last night but had to wait a little while to get my account confirmed.

Anyways, this shadow I saw was pretty much a human shape on the side of the road on my right (I was heading towards Sleaford from Lincoln) and I saw a figure on the right for a good 10 seconds till I passed it, it didn't seem to notice me at all and the shape of the figure was a fairly tall man and from the barely noticeable features I could see, it looked like a highway man I have read about and seen pictures of in books and movies about them.

I didn't get a sight of its face as I was driving and focusing more on the road at the time and I think it had its back to me, it didn't appear to be moving, just stood there.
 
James_H2 said:
Top thread, guys.

This doesn't directly relate, but somewhere (else) I've got a very interesting book on 'Phantom Hitchhikers and Road Ghosts' which is published by ASSAP and I believe written by a Michael Goss.

I remember one of the points that he makes is that very similar apparitions are reported in cultures other than Britain, but are not necessarily associated with spirits of the dead - in Hawai'ii it is apparently possible to pick up manifestations of Pele and other Gods off the side of the road.

So further relating to the craaazy article about the lines and the energy vortex... Could it be that this is not a 'ghost' so much as some kind of physicalized genius locus, or animist spirit/small god? Or just a build up of 'energy' incarnate?

Anyway, fascinating stuff, and nearly enough to reinstate my faith in ghosts - I find this one strangely convincing.

You know I've long since thought that rather than seeing a 'ghost' or spirit of a dead man/woman in such reported sites what people might actually be experiencing is like a little rift or fault-line in reality, in which echoes from times past might kind of get trapped. They might be seeing, if only for a few seconds, a semi-solid echo from hundreds of years prior, stuck like a photograph or replayed few moments of cinematic film, in a faw in the physical plane of our world.

I personally think that's more believable, and might also explain why people report seeing an figure performing the same set of actions in numerous cases, or why often you get two schools of very different reports from multiple witnesses in a given location.

A good example of that would be in the Blue Bell Hill case where at the same stretch of road we have multiple accounts of a phantom girl walking into the path of and being hit by cars (And in the best known report actually being carried to the side of the road :shock: only to be gone when the police arrived) but also a phantom hitch-hiker girl on on this same stretch.

In this thread I've very much gone into detail covering accounts of this one figure, repeating the same sequence, for several people. But there are actually other accounts of different 'spirits' being sighted down here. Some more than once.
 
rynner2 said:
James_H2 said:
Top thread, guys.
...
Anyway, fascinating stuff, and nearly enough to reinstate my faith in ghosts - I find this one strangely convincing.
Yes, but one thing annoys me - the thread title!
The "Anyone remember this?" bit is totally redundant!

Ha ha. Yeah, I've rectified that, now. It was only really relevant while we were still trying to work out which strip of road we ere talking about.

Incidentally, I did a bit of research into speed cameras on the A15 last night. Further towards Bourne (Where Justin Skinner's account was reported) there are cameras in place.But as far as I can tell I don't think that the Sleaford Ruskington strip does have one.

I'm trying to weigh up the idea of a pilgrimage, to try driving that strip at 2 am one Sunday, breaking the speed limit and with my radio on... :lol:

LordRsmacker said:
Nice work Curious, you've certainly put some effort into this subject, a rare thing in this day and age. Granted, "research" online is a lot easier than real-life foot slogging like people did in the Good Old Days, but attention spans are far shorter these days, so hat's off to you for your perseverance. Well done too for putting the link to that Templar Mechanics thing (I confess I've yet to look at it, I need to prepare myself, I fear), once again these days people like to conveniently forget about info they find that doesn't fit their particular way of thinking.

Cheers, Lord. I figured that Templar page was worth a mention. Just for curiosity value. :)

pelly said:
Hello guys, I got these messages from your mate and I signed up last night but had to wait a little while to get my account confirmed.

Anyways, this shadow I saw was pretty much a human shape on the side of the road on my right (I was heading towards Sleaford from Lincoln) and I saw a figure on the right for a good 10 seconds till I passed it, it didn't seem to notice me at all and the shape of the figure was a fairly tall man and from the barely noticeable features I could see, it looked like a highway man I have read about and seen pictures of in books and movies about them.

I didn't get a sight of its face as I was driving and focusing more on the road at the time and I think it had its back to me, it didn't appear to be moving, just stood there.

Welcome, Mr Pell.

And thanks greatly for coming and posting a few words. Really. Interesting to hear, actually. You wouldn't be the only person to have described a Highwayman. Perfectly plausible. at least one of the accounts above actually mentioned a tri-cornered hat. :lol:

Was this a legend you were aware of before having seen the figure itself? Or indeed that This Morning Broadcast.

Interesting that you mentioned the possibility of it having its back to you. The right hand side of the road certainly seems to tally with the other reports. Anything in these other accounts sound familiar?
 
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