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Junior Acolyte
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2015
- Messages
- 45
In 1978 I began working for Greens Cameras and Hi-Fi (a now defunct retail outlet) at their branch in Feltham, Middlesex. It was a small shop, built in 1966, although there were a couple of unused storeys above the shop floor that had once been a sub-aqua showroom. There were only a couple of other staff at the store, another sales assistant and the branch manager, and soon after I started work there they began to tell me that the shop was haunted - I took the stories with a pinch of salt as I thought they were just playing "wind up the new bloke". More often than not it was just two of us working in the store at any time, it was rarely busy (I remember on one occasion we cashed up and the entire takings for the day came to 38p - the only item we had sold was a battery).
Anyhow, I digress. One afternoon my colleague and I were chatting behind the shop counter when a loud crash came from behind a partition that separated the shop floor from the manager's office. We both went to investigate to find that, somehow, a heavy door that had been wedged between the partition and a work bench was now laying on the floor, seemingly having levitated there. My work mate was visibly freaked out, previously he had claimed that "something" had passed by him when he was walking down the stairs from one of the upper levels where we had our stock room. Shortly after the door incident he handed in his notice. The burglar alarm would often go off in the middle of the night and, as I lived close to the shop and had the keys it was me who had to go and reset them after getting a call from the police - there was never any evidence of attempted break ins and the alarm company could find no fault or reason for it.
One morning I was passing by the shop on my day off and popped in to say hello to the manager. I found her on the phone talking to the police, but as soon as she saw me she told them it was OK and put the phone down. She was visibly upset as she told me that someone had locked themselves in the toilet on the mezzanine level, when she had opened the shop that morning she had gone to use the facilities but couldn't get in to the loo, which could only be secured by a draw-bolt on the inside of the door, the window was sealed and there were heavy bars on the outside. Anyhow, we went upstairs and I banged on the door, shouting that whoever was inside should come out or I would kick the door in. After a few minutes of doing this with no response, I was left with no option but to carry out my threat. Luckily I was wearing steel toe-cap Dr Marten boots and, after a few hefty kicks, the bolt gave way, to reveal an empty room! There was no way it could have been locked from the outside, nor could anyone have locked it from the inside and left the room. The bolt was still in the closed position, my kicks had just dislodged the screws of the bit it fed into to secure the door. If only Jonathan Creek was around in those days...
It's a Chinese Restaurant now, I often wonder if they are feeding hungry ghosts...
Anyhow, I digress. One afternoon my colleague and I were chatting behind the shop counter when a loud crash came from behind a partition that separated the shop floor from the manager's office. We both went to investigate to find that, somehow, a heavy door that had been wedged between the partition and a work bench was now laying on the floor, seemingly having levitated there. My work mate was visibly freaked out, previously he had claimed that "something" had passed by him when he was walking down the stairs from one of the upper levels where we had our stock room. Shortly after the door incident he handed in his notice. The burglar alarm would often go off in the middle of the night and, as I lived close to the shop and had the keys it was me who had to go and reset them after getting a call from the police - there was never any evidence of attempted break ins and the alarm company could find no fault or reason for it.
One morning I was passing by the shop on my day off and popped in to say hello to the manager. I found her on the phone talking to the police, but as soon as she saw me she told them it was OK and put the phone down. She was visibly upset as she told me that someone had locked themselves in the toilet on the mezzanine level, when she had opened the shop that morning she had gone to use the facilities but couldn't get in to the loo, which could only be secured by a draw-bolt on the inside of the door, the window was sealed and there were heavy bars on the outside. Anyhow, we went upstairs and I banged on the door, shouting that whoever was inside should come out or I would kick the door in. After a few minutes of doing this with no response, I was left with no option but to carry out my threat. Luckily I was wearing steel toe-cap Dr Marten boots and, after a few hefty kicks, the bolt gave way, to reveal an empty room! There was no way it could have been locked from the outside, nor could anyone have locked it from the inside and left the room. The bolt was still in the closed position, my kicks had just dislodged the screws of the bit it fed into to secure the door. If only Jonathan Creek was around in those days...
It's a Chinese Restaurant now, I often wonder if they are feeding hungry ghosts...
