- Joined
- Aug 15, 2001
- Messages
- 270
Just thought I'd let everyone know that we've got another ghostwatch coming up at the hostel on the 26th. Maybe we'll get more convincing evidence than the fuzzy blobs that showed up on camera last time! My assistant's doing the setting up, as its his sort of thing, and he says someone from the Guardian's going to be there. As I'm still under threat of closure because of the council's reluctance to spend any money repairing the place, I need any publicity I can get. The "Save the Manor" campaign starts here. Personally I'm not too bothered about the Youth Hostel (I can move on to another somewhere else), but if the YHA pulls out of Portsmouth I can see the actual house just being boarded up and left to fall down, given that the council have tried to demolish it in the past, and as far as I can see, have spent as little money as possible on its upkeep in the 42 years that we've been renting it from them. This would be a terrible shame, as its one of the few surviving ancient manor houses left in Hampshire, and even gets a mention in the Domesday Book.
Not a great deal of ghostly activity to report recently. Maybe the scary council workmen who came to rip the walls and floors out of several rooms have frightened them off! Anyhow, whilst they were committing GBH on my dormitories, they found some funny little lead artefacts under the floorboards, so I thought I'd stick up attachments of them here. They look like medieval pilgrims tokens, but apparently they found a load more in 1946 (the last time the floors were up) and they were identified as 1850s forgeries. They're known in the antiques trade as Billies and Charlies, after the two London dockers who first had the idea of forging them and selling them to gullible collectors.
The workman who found them pinched one and took it home, but his wife insisted he brought it back as she felt it was "evil". I'm sure his telly and computer both blowing up that night was just a coincidence. It's the oval one with pointy top and bottom and the two sinister little figures. I've put them all in frames and stuck them on the wall, and nothing nasty has happened to me yet...
The same workman told me that when the photos of the work were developed, one of them showed a misty face superimposed over that of one of the other men, but I can't vouch for this as I haven't seen it. He also said that they all felt there was a "funny" atmosphere in the room they were working in, and they were a bit spooked all the time they were in there.
At the same time, a guest took a photo of the hall, which showed a mysterious figure on the gallery overlooking Reception. I was there when he took it, and can vouch for the fact that we were the only two people in the house at the time. I have seen this one, and it certainly looks like a solid figure, possibly wearing a hood or cowl. The gallery is one of the places the ghostly nun has been seen. I've been promised a print of this, and as soon as I get it I'll post it here to see what you all think.
Brr... just realised I'm alone here (moved into the hostel in April), or maybe I'm not...
Not a great deal of ghostly activity to report recently. Maybe the scary council workmen who came to rip the walls and floors out of several rooms have frightened them off! Anyhow, whilst they were committing GBH on my dormitories, they found some funny little lead artefacts under the floorboards, so I thought I'd stick up attachments of them here. They look like medieval pilgrims tokens, but apparently they found a load more in 1946 (the last time the floors were up) and they were identified as 1850s forgeries. They're known in the antiques trade as Billies and Charlies, after the two London dockers who first had the idea of forging them and selling them to gullible collectors.
The workman who found them pinched one and took it home, but his wife insisted he brought it back as she felt it was "evil". I'm sure his telly and computer both blowing up that night was just a coincidence. It's the oval one with pointy top and bottom and the two sinister little figures. I've put them all in frames and stuck them on the wall, and nothing nasty has happened to me yet...
The same workman told me that when the photos of the work were developed, one of them showed a misty face superimposed over that of one of the other men, but I can't vouch for this as I haven't seen it. He also said that they all felt there was a "funny" atmosphere in the room they were working in, and they were a bit spooked all the time they were in there.
At the same time, a guest took a photo of the hall, which showed a mysterious figure on the gallery overlooking Reception. I was there when he took it, and can vouch for the fact that we were the only two people in the house at the time. I have seen this one, and it certainly looks like a solid figure, possibly wearing a hood or cowl. The gallery is one of the places the ghostly nun has been seen. I've been promised a print of this, and as soon as I get it I'll post it here to see what you all think.
Brr... just realised I'm alone here (moved into the hostel in April), or maybe I'm not...
