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I've just been filtering through the vast repository of interviews that the Imperial War Museum has made available online.
The following are a number of examples of references to ghosts and the supernatural--some are fleeting, others more involved.
I have supplied a brief indication of what, when and where:
Ronald, Robert Marks
British stoker served aboard HMS Exeter in South Atlantic, 1939-1940. Was stationed ashore in the Falklands and saw the apparitions of his dead crewmates who had been killed during the Battle of River Plate in South Atlantic at the end on 1939. He had earlier been obliged to sleep in the bed of one of these men while wounded.
Reel 2 but Reel 1 required for context:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009020
Greggain, Lawrence
British NCO served with 5th Bn Borders in GB, France and Belgium, 1939-1940; served on anti-fifth column work with 4th Bn Border Regt in GB, 1941-1943; civilian lecturer with Dig for Victory Campaign and farmer in GB, 1943-1945. Encountered a naked black woman at night in an old school near Lowick.
Reel 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80018061
Harding, John Thomas
British civilian worked as shepherd and waggoner in Montgomeryshire, GB, 1910-1914. Trooper served with Montgomeryshire Yeomanry in GB and Egypt, 1914-1916. Discusses local agricultural and farming superstitions, ghosts (including 'Jack o' Lantern', a marsh light; a drowned baby crying ) and 'fairy music' (which sounded like a heavenly mouth-organ in the distance) in 1910 in Wales--he attributes this to newts!?
Reels 3 & 4:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80000379
Fergusson, William
British served with Gordon Highlanders Depot in GB, 1952; served with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders in Malaya, 1952-1954. Briefly discusses unexplained bangs and ghost skeletons allegedly discovered in the walls in Fort George, Inverness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80031117
Campbell, William Ian
British officer served with 2/12th Bn Frontier Force Regt in India, 1938-1940; served with 2/12th Bn Frontier Force Regt, 22nd Indian Infantry Bde, 9th Indian Infantry Div in Malaya, 4/1941-2/1942. Tells a 'ghost story' that took place at the Royal Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehradun . A gale blew up out of nowhere when he was sleeping in one of the towers. Allegedly a Sikh general's body (Harry Singh) had earlier (presumably in the first half of the nineteenth century) been stored in thos tower and the body 'displayed' to the local Pathans in order to give the appearance that he was alive. The subject's dog was much affected by the atmosphere here.
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012954
Bale, Anthony Ronald
British schoolchild in Sheffield, GB, 1939-1945; NCO served with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1951-1952. Briefly mentions distinctly hearing ghostly horses' hoofs and chains while on guard during the night at the Tower of London.
Real 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80017504
Brett, Fred
British private served with 1st Bn, Northamptonshire Regt in Italy, 1951; NCO served with 1st Bn, Royal Norfolk Regt in GB and Korea, 1951-1952. Briefly mentions an Australian soldier walking through the wall of the marquee and disappearing at night while he was on guard duty as a regimental police officer in Korea.
Reel 5:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80029640
Jim O'Neil
British NCO served with 1st Bn, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, West Indies, GB, Kenya, Germany, Bahrain and Muscat, 1947-1968. Relates a guard witnessing ghosts walking from a cellar, across a parade ground and into another cellar at Whitfield Barracks in the New Territories, Hong Kong.
Reel 11 (numbering incorrect):
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80031209
James, Wyndham
British private served with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt Depot in GB, 1940; NCO served with 16th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, North Africa and Italy, 1940-1943; NCO served with 6th Bn Infantry Reinforcement Training Centre in North Africa and Italy, 1943-1945; NCO served with 159 Transit Camp in Italy, 1945-1946; NCO served with O Garrison Company in Italy, 1946. Speaks of Shadwell Court, his accommodation in Thetford in Norfolk in 1941, being haunted--his being warned of this fact by an old man--and his men subsequently moving out: unexplained knocking, the ghost of a black-clad woman. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001019
Reel 12:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80024594
Elliot, George Dennis
British private trained at Durham Light Infantry depot in GB, 1932-1933; served with 1st Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1933; private served with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in India, Sudan and GB, 1933-1939; private served with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1939-1940; private and NCO served with 50 Div Headquarters in GB, France and Belgium, 1939-1942; NCO served with 70th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1942-1943; NCO served with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, and North West Europe, 1943-1946. Discusses his early work in a mine as a pony driver at Shotton and Wheatley Hill Collieries and his ghost sighting on the site of an earlier man's death. He was moved to a different area, and a miner was killed at the coal-face the same night. Frustratingly, the ghost is not described.
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80010380
Ashurst, George
British NCO served with 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers on Western Front, 1914-1915; served with 1st Bn Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli, Egypt and on Western Front, 1915-1916; served with 16th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers on Western Front, 1916-1918. Describes the 'Tontine Ghost', some kind of poltergeist, claimed to be the ghost of a thief ("George ????") who was hanged and buried nearby. Can anybody make out the name?
Reel 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009658
Hubble, Terrence Lionel
British NCO served with 1st Bn Black Watch in GB, Germany, Korea, Kenya, Cyprus, Oman and Northern Ireland, 1950-1977; civilian Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London, 1979-1999. Alleges that he and others saw the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh while serving as a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. Adds an amusing anecdote of his relating the tale to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Describes this at some length along with other sightings of a supernatural nature.
Reel 31:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80032303
I shall dig up more in the future.
The following are a number of examples of references to ghosts and the supernatural--some are fleeting, others more involved.
I have supplied a brief indication of what, when and where:
Ronald, Robert Marks
British stoker served aboard HMS Exeter in South Atlantic, 1939-1940. Was stationed ashore in the Falklands and saw the apparitions of his dead crewmates who had been killed during the Battle of River Plate in South Atlantic at the end on 1939. He had earlier been obliged to sleep in the bed of one of these men while wounded.
Reel 2 but Reel 1 required for context:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009020
Greggain, Lawrence
British NCO served with 5th Bn Borders in GB, France and Belgium, 1939-1940; served on anti-fifth column work with 4th Bn Border Regt in GB, 1941-1943; civilian lecturer with Dig for Victory Campaign and farmer in GB, 1943-1945. Encountered a naked black woman at night in an old school near Lowick.
Reel 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80018061
Harding, John Thomas
British civilian worked as shepherd and waggoner in Montgomeryshire, GB, 1910-1914. Trooper served with Montgomeryshire Yeomanry in GB and Egypt, 1914-1916. Discusses local agricultural and farming superstitions, ghosts (including 'Jack o' Lantern', a marsh light; a drowned baby crying ) and 'fairy music' (which sounded like a heavenly mouth-organ in the distance) in 1910 in Wales--he attributes this to newts!?
Reels 3 & 4:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80000379
Fergusson, William
British served with Gordon Highlanders Depot in GB, 1952; served with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders in Malaya, 1952-1954. Briefly discusses unexplained bangs and ghost skeletons allegedly discovered in the walls in Fort George, Inverness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80031117
Campbell, William Ian
British officer served with 2/12th Bn Frontier Force Regt in India, 1938-1940; served with 2/12th Bn Frontier Force Regt, 22nd Indian Infantry Bde, 9th Indian Infantry Div in Malaya, 4/1941-2/1942. Tells a 'ghost story' that took place at the Royal Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehradun . A gale blew up out of nowhere when he was sleeping in one of the towers. Allegedly a Sikh general's body (Harry Singh) had earlier (presumably in the first half of the nineteenth century) been stored in thos tower and the body 'displayed' to the local Pathans in order to give the appearance that he was alive. The subject's dog was much affected by the atmosphere here.
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012954
Bale, Anthony Ronald
British schoolchild in Sheffield, GB, 1939-1945; NCO served with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1951-1952. Briefly mentions distinctly hearing ghostly horses' hoofs and chains while on guard during the night at the Tower of London.
Real 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80017504
Brett, Fred
British private served with 1st Bn, Northamptonshire Regt in Italy, 1951; NCO served with 1st Bn, Royal Norfolk Regt in GB and Korea, 1951-1952. Briefly mentions an Australian soldier walking through the wall of the marquee and disappearing at night while he was on guard duty as a regimental police officer in Korea.
Reel 5:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80029640
Jim O'Neil
British NCO served with 1st Bn, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, West Indies, GB, Kenya, Germany, Bahrain and Muscat, 1947-1968. Relates a guard witnessing ghosts walking from a cellar, across a parade ground and into another cellar at Whitfield Barracks in the New Territories, Hong Kong.
Reel 11 (numbering incorrect):
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80031209
James, Wyndham
British private served with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt Depot in GB, 1940; NCO served with 16th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, North Africa and Italy, 1940-1943; NCO served with 6th Bn Infantry Reinforcement Training Centre in North Africa and Italy, 1943-1945; NCO served with 159 Transit Camp in Italy, 1945-1946; NCO served with O Garrison Company in Italy, 1946. Speaks of Shadwell Court, his accommodation in Thetford in Norfolk in 1941, being haunted--his being warned of this fact by an old man--and his men subsequently moving out: unexplained knocking, the ghost of a black-clad woman. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001019
Reel 12:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80024594
Elliot, George Dennis
British private trained at Durham Light Infantry depot in GB, 1932-1933; served with 1st Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1933; private served with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in India, Sudan and GB, 1933-1939; private served with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1939-1940; private and NCO served with 50 Div Headquarters in GB, France and Belgium, 1939-1942; NCO served with 70th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1942-1943; NCO served with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, and North West Europe, 1943-1946. Discusses his early work in a mine as a pony driver at Shotton and Wheatley Hill Collieries and his ghost sighting on the site of an earlier man's death. He was moved to a different area, and a miner was killed at the coal-face the same night. Frustratingly, the ghost is not described.
Reel 2:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80010380
Ashurst, George
British NCO served with 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers on Western Front, 1914-1915; served with 1st Bn Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli, Egypt and on Western Front, 1915-1916; served with 16th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers on Western Front, 1916-1918. Describes the 'Tontine Ghost', some kind of poltergeist, claimed to be the ghost of a thief ("George ????") who was hanged and buried nearby. Can anybody make out the name?
Reel 1:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009658
Hubble, Terrence Lionel
British NCO served with 1st Bn Black Watch in GB, Germany, Korea, Kenya, Cyprus, Oman and Northern Ireland, 1950-1977; civilian Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London, 1979-1999. Alleges that he and others saw the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh while serving as a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. Adds an amusing anecdote of his relating the tale to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Describes this at some length along with other sightings of a supernatural nature.
Reel 31:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80032303
I shall dig up more in the future.
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