• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Strange Person At Leeds Railway Station

I quite like OWB's explanation for this:

The gods know I have had my fair share of platform confusion at Leeds railway station, and that might explain why she was staring over: not at you, as such, but at the platform, as they tried to figure out which one they ought to be standing on.

My second theory, apologies for its 'spotterish nature. If heading to the Yorkshire Riviera by train from Leeds, aren't there two basic options: to Hull and thence up the coast, or to Scarborough and thence down? Is it possible that your mystery couple took the other route, if you're sure they didn't do a last-minute platform switch?

But the explanation that appeals to me the most is that they, too, have noticed that your paths keep crossing. Her husband might have nudged her and said, in an urgent whisper, "Psst! Ethel! There's that bloke again, look! What does he keep following us round for?" No wonder she was peering over at you ;).
It just seems all a bit to strange and coincidental to be honest to be bumping into the same person again and again,perhaps though they maybe thinking the same about myself saying"Look there's that bloke again"You never know ;)
 
If you're heading to Scarborough from Leeds, then you'd really only go one way, train to York and then on to Malton and Scarborough. The Hull trains only go to Brid as far as I remember, there's no coastal connection.

I still favour the explanation that an old couple, who live in or near Scarborough, were waving somebody off on the train at Leeds, then drove back home via the fish and chip shop... the reason Kev keeps seeing them near his mum's is because....they live near his mum's.
I'm not convinced as once we went out and travelled miles away from the coast and into the countryside and there they were again.The lady in question even smiled at my mum as if she knew her.Very strange indeed
 
I'm not convinced as once we went out and travelled miles away from the coast and into the countryside and there they were again.The lady in question even smiled at my mum as if she knew her.Very strange indeed
Are your encounters with this couple always on days when you're spending (or planning to spend) time with your mum? Has she ever mentioned them?
 
Are your encounters with this couple always on days when you're spending (or planning to spend) time with your mum? Has she ever mentioned them?
No not at all and the lady in question even smiled at my mum as though she knew here when we were out for dinner.Just to add here that my mum does not know this lady
 
could it not be a range of different individuals being mistaken for the same ?
 
I highly doubt it
that seems the likeliest explanation from afar, maybe next time engage them in conversation ? if you proceed with that intention and find them no longer appearing at every turn then you may just have your answer
 
that seems the likeliest explanation from afar, maybe next time engage them in conversation ? if you proceed with that intention and find them no longer appearing at every turn then you may just have your answer
Yes your right as it's always been to late after the fact but yes next time i will
 
We used to have a real tramp that would arrive twice a year hang about for a few days and be on his
way, if I saw him usually near the car park I would take him a warm work coat and maybe boots sometimes
a lump of fruit cake to see him on his way.
One of my sayings is this "It's nice to be nice"It was nice what you did,there's not many of us around you know ;)
 
I had a somewhat similar experience at London Paddington train station in the early hours of the morning, also involving a raggedly-dressed man on crutches (I can't remember if he only had one leg though)!

It was about 4 or 5 am on a Sunday morning. I was working in London at the time and sharing a flat with another colleague in Reading. That weekend her brother had been down to visit us so we'd taken him on a night out around London and were now waiting for the first train back to Reading.

The station was pretty busy with other people like us, waiting for trains home after partying all night. We'd just bought coffees to warm ourselves up (it was mid-December when this happened) and were sitting on a bench on the main concourse drinking them.

All of a sudden I looked up and spotted a man charging across the concourse. He caught my eye immediately because of how out of place he looked amongst the drunken revellers. He was dressed head to toe in black - black hat, black overcoat, black trousers, black gloves and carrying a black briefcase. He was striding quickly with real purpose and seemed very annoyed about something.

As I continued to watch him, he made a beeline for another man who appeared, from his clothes and general appearance, to be homeless. This homeless man was also on crutches, as mentioned earlier.

As the man in black approached, the homeless man caught sight of him and appeared terrified, backing up against the wall, wide eyed and with his mouth hanging open. When the man in black reached the homeless man, he started yelling something at him and jabbing a finger into his chest (I was too far away, however, to hear anything that was being said).

Then as quickly as he'd appeared, the man in black turned and quickly stalked away. I kept my eyes on the homeless man for a few moments, wondering if he was okay, but he soon became lost in the crowd. The man in black had similarly disappeared by the time I turned to look for him again.

It was at this point that I turned to my friend to ask if she'd seen the same thing, but sadly she hadn't noticed anything.

It's puzzled me for years what I might have witnessed that night (if it was anything at all). At the time I had an overwhelming sense of having seen something that I shouldn't have...although to be fair I was still pretty tipsy at that point. A part of me wishes I'd gone in search of the homeless man to ask him or at least make sure he was okay, but being a young, tipsy, skimpily dressed woman in London in the early hours, I'd thought best to leave it alone at the time.
 
Krepostnoi,

A few years back I was the cause of something similar at Leeds.

I was on my way home from working abroad and was sat on the train. I was looking for some people who were supposed to be meeting me and traveling the last leg of the journey on the train; but they were not there.

Unfortunately, I was on the opposite side of the carriage from a lady who was reading a newspaper, and after a while I noticed she was getting more and more agitated and kept glancing furtively in my direction.
In the end I had to address her and explain that I wasn't staring at her, of even trying to read her paper, merely watching for some one across the by the gates on the other platform. She just happened to be sat in my line of sight.

INT21.
 
couldve been a guerrilla film shoot, guy in black, train station, hobo, fracas, ive been there
Okay, that's actually very possible and not something I'd considered before. I didn't see anyone filming, but then with the amount of alcohol I'd had that night, I wasn't in the most alert of states! Intetesting take on it, thanks :)
 
Last edited:
lot of (serious) film-making done on phones these days, big student town like leeds, youd never have known

shot the final scenes of a film (on actual film) at end of one of the platforms at manchester victoria in mid-90s ... although i had permission to shoot not all the drivers (or maybe none) had been briefed, so as a train rolled past me and dr gonzo, with replica guns at each others necks, the driver called in an emergency situation, was subsequently referred for counselling (swinging the lead i always thought)
 
"...waiting for the first train back to Reading."

I've been working in Reading for a couple of years now and get the train into Reading main station every day.
Even though it's a modern station, it's built more or less on the site of a station dating back to the middle of the 19th century.
Like, I suppose, most stations, it feels fine during daylight commuting hours, but has a vaguely creepy feel, when I've been on a team meal or booze-up and have to get a late train home.
 
In the days of steam engine crews would sometimes try to disguise the engine
numbers if they noticed filming going on only reason I could I was ever given
for this was that it was bad luck, You would also see the fireman on a 8F with
a fitted freight hiding the star under the number if it had one but that was
nothing to do with luck.
 
Many British railway stations have lovely underground/under-track tunnels. Ones the public use are tidied up but non-public ones are often tatty with peeling paint and flickering lights and something audibly dripping in the background...

A video of the Crewe public underground tunnel - formerly used by the Post Office - purports to include supernatural sounds.
 
Agreed! The rushing water, arches, darkness - brilliant!
 
Gare Du Nord in Paris is a train station to be experienced. It's bloody huge and on a few levels.

Not Fortean, not even that interesting but...

...went to Paris on the Eurostar back in the early noughties. Great trip organised by my then girlfriend/now wife (definitely a keeper!).

The journey back started at the Gare du Nord and Monty python's Terry Jones was on the platform, hot drink in hand and sporting a red scarf around his neck.

We went to the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried before our journey back (the name escapes me, Pere le something ). Spotted just about every other famous grave apart from Jim's!
 
Not Fortean, not even that interesting but...

...went to Paris on the Eurostar back in the early noughties. Great trip organised by my then girlfriend/now wife (definitely a keeper!).

The journey back started at the Gare du Nord and Monty python's Terry Jones was on the platform, hot drink in hand and sporting a red scarf around his neck.

We went to the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried before our journey back (the name escapes me, Pere le something ). Spotted just about every other famous grave apart from Jim's!

Père Lachaise cemetery.
 
Agreed! The rushing water, arches, darkness - brilliant!
Such evocative imagery! I love it!:adored:

Gare Du Nord in Paris is a train station to be experienced. It's bloody huge and on a few levels.
The whole Paris metro/RER system is one of my favorite worlds—it's a giant maze, and a conduit of the most diverse collection of humanity I've ever experienced. I hope someday to visit London and the other cities of England, since they sound like they offer the same richness and depth of experience which I've found in Paris. Ancient cities are fascinating. They each have a great and beguiling genius loci (the best way I can describe it) that has evolved organically over centuries, which at the same time allows individual spirits to stand out with great clarity.

Sorry, I get carried away by my adoration . . . And now, :botp:
 
Back
Top