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Spooky Incident In A Ballet School

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mugwumpaddict

Gone But Not Forgotten
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I’ve been a long time reader of FTMB but but i haven't posted much so apologies if I mess up in some way but I just wanted to share this story with you.

When I was about 9 years old and my sister was about 7 our family moved to a new town and we started going to dance classes. The dance school was located in the converted upstairs of a terraced house.

We hadn't been going there long when my sister started getting really weird when we were in the practice room always staring at a particular place on the wall between us and the hall. Whatever else she was meant to be doing in class her gaze would always return to that spot on the wall. When I asked her what she was looking at she'd go silent and just shake her head. Soon my sis didn't want to go to dance anymore and would have tantrums if my mum tried to get to the bottom of it.

As she was showing quite a lot of promise in dance and it was so out of character for her the ballet teacher got involved. Well she had more luck than the rest of us. This is when my sister blurted out that she didn't want to go to ballet anymore because she didn't like the old ladies looking at her through the wall. The ballet teachers’ face went white and she went and got a photo from her front room and showed it to my sister asking her if this was the ladies and my sister excitedly said yes it was.

This is when the ballet teacher asked if she could have a quiet word with my mum and told her that the picture she showed my sister was of the previous tenants of the house who had been murdered and the murder was never solved. Incidentally the place where my sis said she saw them looking through was a serving hatch before the house was remodelled into a ballet school.

I’ve always been disappointed that I didn't see anything and have often asked my sister about it since but she cannot remember anything about it although me and mum remember it very well.

link to article about the murders:

ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2007/12/1956_ormesher_murders_in_ormsk_1.html
Link is dead (as is the website). No archived version found.

The murder to which this story refers is the 1956 Ormesher Sisters Murder:

Murder of the Ormesher Sisters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_the_Ormesher_Sisters
 
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Fascinating tale! A real classic, in fact. Not only do we seem to have ghosts of murdered persons, but also a ghost serving hatch.

Interesting too that the sisters name started with the first part of the name of the town, Orm. In some placenames, this element equals Worm (or dragon). Are there any interesting legends about the district?

When did you sister have these experiences? (Ie, how many years after the murders?)
 
Odd coincidence, I was in Ormskirk a couple of weeks back for the first time in nearly 20 years for a funeral, and we were talking about the murder case as we drove past the site of the house.

Ormskirk's known for having one of the few churches with a tower and a steeple.

Orm may be the name for worm, but it's also a Viking personal name and the town's supposed to be named after a Viking who converted to Christianity and built the first church, or so one of the stories goes.
 
:yeay:

What a fantastic story. Great stuff. :D
 
Thanx for your replies. I thought this might be a good story to share. For a while i've wanted to get more involved in the FTMB.
Ormskirk and west Lancs does seem to have its fair share of strangeness, black Dogs, ABCs, ghosts, most of it pretty unknown. I'll try and post some on the appropriate parts of the message board. I also have some other stuff to post on 'It happened to me' section,when i have time.
my sis had these experiences around 26 years after the murders occured.
What's strange is that i have an interest in unsolved murder and this case in particular, as it happening in my home town, yet i only remembered the details of this incident when my mum sent me a clipping about the murder case.
When i rang to thank her she mentioned what happened in passing as my niece was going to be starting ballet classes soon.
I have asked my mum if she knows any more about it like had other people seen what my Sis had. Frustratingly she didn't know as she didnt want to upset the teacher anymore than she already was. We just startd to go to dance classes somewhere else.
 
Great story, it was a pleasure to read. The link was a thoughtful addition, thank you so much for posting and welcome! Looking forward to reading about your other experiences.
As I was reading I thought you were going to say they had been buried in the wall but the serving hatch was a nice twist :D
 
First of all, amazing story. Thanks for sharing!

mugwumpaddict said:
I have asked my mum if she knows any more about it like had other people seen what my Sis had. Frustratingly she didn't know as she didnt want to upset the teacher anymore than she already was. We just startd to go to dance classes somewhere else.
Click to expand...

ISTM that someone must've had some similar experience at some point, if the teacher had a photo of the sisters to hand? Even if she had to dig for it a little bit. I'm assuming the photo wasn't anywhere where your sister would've seen it previously (e.g., hanging on the wall somewhere).

BTW, how well-known was the story? Would people generally have known that the ballet school was in the same house? I'm guessing your sister wouldn't have, but I'm curious if it would've been a well-known association.
 
Sorry about the delay in replying decipheringscars, I just haven't been onto the boards for a while.
I agree with you that somebody must have had a similar experience at some point but I'm not aware of any.
The photo had to be rummaged out of the back of the draw. I only remember pictures of ballet dancers on the wall.
As to how well known the story is it depends on who you speak to. There are many people living in Ormskirk whose families go back generations in the area. It's a well known story amongst this group especially as they carried out a mass fingerprinting of the male population of the town and it was up until reacently the only murder comitted in the town for 60 years. But Ormskirk has become commuter belt in recent years and i guess if you asked this group not many people would have heard of it.
Before this incident i knew that the murder had been comitted in the row of terraced houses but not which house it was and i think many people where the same knowing the general story and general area it took place but not the specifics.
incidently the article about the murder seems to make out that they were harmless old ladies whereas in actuality they where moneylenders and had a reputation in the town not being very nice.
 
*bump*

I love this story. :D
 
Does the building still stand? If so what is it used for now, is it a private home or a business premises?

Really enjoyed reading that, thanks. :D
 
The building does still stand and i think has reverted to a private residence. I think the reason it wasn't knocked down is that it is in the center of a row and so would be difficult to demolish.
I have not heard of anything else happening recently, maybe it has faded over the years to just a funny feeling that doesn't bother the new tenents, but will keep my ears open.
Thank you for your replies.
 
Is it possible one of the other children had told your sister of the houses unpleasant history and this had set her imagination to work?
 
This is such a great story!
While the previous knowledge of the murders could well have influenced a young girl's imagination, the serving hatch element is genuinely spooky.

The fact that your sister doesn't even remember the incident now is also an intriguing factor ..... young enough not to have the 'psychic filter' which then blocked the memory when it later kicked in? Or just embarrassed about or genuinely not remembering having told a silly lie based on childish imaginings, or a dislike of ballet/that teacher/that school or whatever?

When you went to the new, different classes, did your sister enjoy them, did she fulfill her promise?
 
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