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Hello all.

This is probably not the most exciting story posted, but rest assured that everything that I am going to tell you certainly happened.

This story is not the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me, but it is certainly the most baffling experience that I have had.

To give a bit of background, I had a job back in 2001 doing IT work. At the office where I was working it was possible to gain access at any day and time through the use of a swipe card to open the main door. You had to then sign in and out using a book left at reception, as the receptionist would not be there outside of normal office hours.

One Friday night, I had been home from work for a few hours when I realized that I had left my phone charger in the office. Since I did not have a spare charger, my phone battery was almost flat and the office was only a fifteen minute drive from my flat; I decided to go in to pick it up. That evening I was reinstalling Windows onto my home PC so I needed to download some drivers, but I did not have the internet in my flat. So - I could do two jobs in one trip.

I got into the office at about 8PM. It was mid-October, so it was dark when I got there. The office building itself is quite old - built in the 1950s it had wood flooring throughout, single panel windows, and big chunky cast iron radiators. It was also surrounded by tall trees, and the interior lighting at night was barely adequate. A lot of people found the place spooky even in the daylight! The place never bothered me to be honest; well - up until this night!

In order to get to my desk it was necessary to enter the main doors, walk past the reception desk and then turn left, and push open some double doors which lead into a long corridor. This corridor has doors to a number of small offices on the left hand side, and the last door on the left led to a bigger open plan office that had my desk. The right hand side of the corridor also had doors to smaller offices and a large meeting room. The corridor ended with a double door fire exit with a "push to open" bar on it.

I got to my desk and put on a desk lamp I had on it. The lights in the office were off, but I could see to get to my desk due the light coming in from the corridor. I pocketed my charger, and started using my work PC to open up the website with the graphics card drivers I wanted. I clicked download and sat back in my chair watching the progress bar. I always remember the fact that the download had got to 13% - probably due to the fact that at that point I heard this very loud scraping noise coming from the meeting room.

To me, it sounded exactly like a metal chair being dragged across the wooden floor - indeed the meeting room had that kind of chair. The striking thing was that the sound was so loud and piercing that it sounded like someone was pushing down hard on the chair while dragging it across the floor - the kind of thing my mates in school used to do to annoy the teachers at the end of a lesson. The noise was so loud it made me jump.

I got up from my desk and went to the meeting room - entirely expecting to meet a cleaner, security guard - someone like that. When I got into the corridor I saw that the meeting room door was a few inches open, and the lights inside the room were off - you see that jet black look in the open gap as you are standing in a lit corridor. I stuck my hand into the gap and reached in for the light switch - rather nervously I must admit! I flicked the lights on and pushed the door open - only to find nobody in there. The chairs were all tucked up under the table. Everything was in order.

I had become quite concerned about burglars at this point, so I checked that the windows were all locked - they were. No broken glass either. There was only one door in and out, and I even looked under the meeting table. Nothing. The thing that struck me was that the room was bitterly cold - like walking into a winters night.

I then went back into the corridor and checked all the smaller offices - all the doors were locked. This was not a surprise as the people who had their own offices would routinely lock them when they went home every night. As I was trying all the door handles, I realized that there was no way someone could have gotten out of the meeting room and ran to the end of the corridor to get to reception and outside - it only took me five seconds to get to the corridor from my desk, so I would have seen them - and there was a hard wood floor, so I would have heard their footsteps as well. If they had tried to go the other way to get to the fire door I would have walked into them as they would have had to come past my office door. The fire door was also closed and secure, and it makes a lot of noise when opened as well - so I would have heard it opening.

I was not frightened - I just felt baffled, as it didn't make sense. I knew from the sign in book that I was the only person in the building, and I had checked all possible hiding places as well. There did not seem to be anything else I could do, so I went back to my desk, pulled my USB key out of my work PC and got the hell out of there!

As a footnote, the people I work with were quite fun guys and I decided after the event to keep my story to myself, as I knew that they would find the whole thing hilarious and I would never hear the end of it. I kept quiet for a couple of years - until I left the company. On my last day the team took me to the pub for a farewell drink, and since I was leaving I told my boss my story. I entirely expected him to laugh at me but instead he went quiet for a few seconds, and then proceeded to ask me why I thought he used a laptop for his work instead of a more powerful desktop PC. When I told him I thought he just preferred a laptop, he told me that the actual reason was that he always makes a point of packing up and going home before it gets dark outside - and he had a laptop so he could keep on working from home during the autumn and winter when it got dark before our finishing time of 6PM. I asked him why this was, and he told me in all seriousness that on a number of occasions when he had been working late in his office, he had stopped what he was doing as he was getting in his words: "a strong sense of threat and menace" from the corridor outside his office. He added that on a few occasions he had gotten up from his desk to check the corridor, as he got a very strong feeling that someone was standing by his office door. He never saw anyone. The thing with my old boss was that he was a big ex-rugby player who was very no nonsense and was not scared of anything, so for him to tell me that some invisible force could unnerve him enough to make him leave the building was quite a shock to hear.

I know that when this story gets posted it might attract criticism or people trying to investigate further, so I have not mentioned any specific names or places. I am also still in contact with my old co-workers, so in order to protect their privacy (and my career!) I have not mentioned any names. Rest assured that all these events happened as stated.

In conclusion, I want to state that I don't believe in ghosts at all. I personally think that anyone who claims to have seen one is either mistaken, or a hoaxer. However, to this day I cannot come up with an explanation for the source of that sound. I was alone at the time, so there is nobody that can back my story up; but I know what I heard.
This is a lovely story - full of wonderful details, but I'm not so taken with these Things Going Bump in the Night tales - I mean in terms of anything paranormal. Most buildings make noises - it;s just that we don't hear them in the daytime through all the chatter, phone calls and car engine noises.

A while back I used to work as a roving security guard and did so for just over two years.This meant that I stayed long hours throughout the night alone in many different types of buidlings.. I have no ghost stories to tell (although some of my longer serving workmates did) but I have a few Odd Noises stories...

One night I was stationed at a textile factory - some kind of lockstitcher or weaver kind of place. It consisted of one storey containing a number of rather old machines which were automatically ticking over on their own (sometimes letting out jets of steam, for example). I suspect my main role was to function as a firewatcher.

The night passed without incident. However, towards the end of my shift - maybe at around 6 am (but still dark as it was winter) - I began to hear scrabbling and pounding noises that sounded as though they were coming from the roof. I began to fear that someone was up there - such as intruders, or, more likely, a bunch of kids and became quite nervous.
( A paranormal explanation never occured to me)* So I rang Control (this was a fairly big deal because we were meant to ring them at a set time every hour - but otherwise not bother them unless there was something serious to report).. I told them that I thought someone might be up on the roof. They asked me to wait for a bit.

The next thing I know, I get a call from some comatose geezer who turns out to be a foreman, or something, from the factory (I must have got him up). He asks me to go and look at a certain dial on a certain wall. Is the red hand pointing upwards? I go and look.The red hand is indeed pointing upwards and I report this back to him. `Ah,` he says. `That'll be the sound of the water entering the pipes.`

It turns out that at a certain time in the morning a whole load of pipes on the ceiling (I look up and suddenly notice a lattice of metal pipes up there) are flooded with water - to send to the machines, or cool them down or yadayada...whatever - in preparation for the working day. But what an unholy rumpus it made! And nobody ticked me off for raising the alarm.

* And this is significant in terms of `confirmation bias`. My job was to deter and report intruders - so that's what I was looking and listening out for. If I had been there for some other purpose I might have framed things quite differently.
 

Zeke Newbold - Great Story!​

I was just thinking that being a security guard must be a good job - no co-workers bugging you, no office politics, peace and quiet, getting to explore different buildings. Having said that I would imagine the sleep disruption and lack of company would grate after a while!

I would venture that if unexplained noises sound for some time there is an opportunity to investigate the source. On the other hand - being sat in a silent place, and then getting jolted by a sudden loud noise that lasts 2 or 3 seconds and then stops again would just leave a person standing in a corridor scratching their head thinking “eh?”.
I wish the noise had carried on for longer, so I could have investigated. Having said that, in reality I would have lost my nerve and scarpered!
I would probably would have left my phone charger and USB key of windows drivers behind as well. :D
 
I can identify with that and all the rest of your post!

Things are no better now I'm retired. I try joining in with things (eg U3A) but always having to rely on lifts just leaves me feeling really bad about myself. For sure people are more than willing, but even though I always insist on giving petrol money it's still leaves me feeling uncomfortable.

Of course I no longer have to wait about or run for a bus/train, on account of being freed from the 9-5 type of contraints, which is one blessing. However I still feel trapped in a way as society seems to run on the assumption that everyone has a car.

So at least the cleaners panic as mentioned in the OP seems to have an explaination.

Sollywos x
I live three miles from the nearest bus stop. No buses come any closer to my village. I'd far rather use public transport, but it's just not possible out here in the wilds. In Britain public transport is so expensive and unreliable it's not really fit for purpose.
 
Sheesh! I must have been out of the Old Country for too long! I have always thought (and always tell my students) that an offer of a cup of tea us the automatic default response of any Brit to someone entering their home, or place of work. Things really have come to a sorry pass if this is now seen as a great act of kindness!
Good sir, in America we prefer to throw tea into the nearest harbor! :wink2:
 
Morning catseye it’s just the same where I live.The bus service is terrible it’s because it is rural and ministers and councillors all have cars and prefer to ignore all the old retired people waiting for the bus.The b*##*rs are soon there when someone sorts a minibus out to get said pensioners about.Good publicity
 
Here in deepest Hertfordshire there are an embarrassing numbers of buses. Sometimes multiple different numbered buses on virtually the same route.
I have never seen a full bus.
Mostly they will have (and this was pre-pandemic) a total of about 30% occupancy at best.
And they all look like either glazed-eyes, soulless individuals travelling to some unknown fate, or pensioners.
I needed to use a bus once, several years ago.
It made me realise why people shun travelling on them.
I felt like I was being transported in a tumble-dryer on wheels.
 
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During my hotel career I sometimes had to cover for an absent night porter and did so in two country hotels that were reputedly haunted. The first was Passford House in the New Forest (UK). This was haunted by a grey lady and in the office was a painting of her appearance to a doctor and family some years earlier (hidden from guests I should add...!). Alas, nothing during my stints. The second was Dartington Hall in Devon which has a well-known grey lady and reports of music from locked rooms, amongst other paranormal goings-on. A grey lady witness:

https://www.dartington.org/kay-starr/

Here I did witness unexplained loud noises and multiple voices from locked rooms, and on occasions whilst in the company of bar staff finishing up for the night. One example was a tremendous crash from the locked kitchens and yet nothing unusual found on investigation, another was loud cheering and applause from the locked banqueting hall (location of the above grey lady encounter).
 
Here in deepest Hertfordshire there are an embarrassing numbers of buses. Sometimes multiple different numbered buses on virtually the same route.
I have never seen a full bus.
Mostly they will have (and this was pre-pandemic) a total of about 30% occupancy at best.
And they all look like either glazed-eyes, soulless individuals travelling to some unknown fate, or pensioners.
I needed to use a bus once, several years ago.
It made me realise why people shun travelling on them.
I felt like I was being transported in a tumble-dryer on wheels.
People don't 'shun' travelling by bus, necessarily. It's just that if you've got to walk half a mile to the bus stop and then a mile at the far end from the bus stop to the destination, when you can drive door to door, why would you?
 
I live three miles from the nearest bus stop. No buses come any closer to my village. I'd far rather use public transport, but it's just not possible out here in the wilds. In Britain public transport is so expensive and unreliable it's not really fit for purpose.
My car parking permit is about to expire, and because of my residential postcode, I am no longer eligible for a renewal. The Uni's new sustainability rules now decree that if you live in these postcodes, within a 40 minute journey by public transport, or within the local Stagecoach area, then there's no parking permit unless you have certain extenuating circumstances.

There used to be a bus that ran directly to the Uni from the Tesco's just above us, which is a 2 minute walk. Okay, the journey took about an hour, but the bus stopped right outside my building. Except now it doesn't. The Uni bus runs between the two campuses, and the bus that runs from Tesco goes to the railway station instead. I think it's still an hour's journey. There is a University bus that runs to my campus from the station, but it's a minibus, so prone to filling up fast. The walk from station to campus is about 15 minutes, but up one of the steepest hills known to man (St Clement's Lane, for all Exonians in the know.)

I could get the train to St James' which is only a 7 minute ride, but I'll be walking 15 minutes to the station at my end and another 15 minutes - uphill - at the other end.

The In House GP initially suggested I walk to work - 4 miles each way, 5 days a week - but his parents raised queries about the state of my knees (not good!). So instead I'm getting a powered bike. It's a good job it doesn't rain much in Exeter - oh wait... So between public transport and the British weather, I'm about to embark on new adventures in commuting!
 
What a great thread, an enjoyable OP from @gavin burnett and have really enjoyed the discussion and comments.

The Ghosts Of The Underground appears to be on YouTube, so will give it a watch:


In terms of the infrasound comments, I need to find and read the relevant threads, but it did remind me of an investigation by Steve Parsons I read on the ASSAP website regarding an old farmhouse and paranormal events reported by the family there. He found that their electrical wiring was old and in urgent need of repair - when this was carried out the events ceased. I just had a look on the website again to provide a link but alas the report does not seem to be on there. If anyone recognises the report I am referring to and has a link, I would be grateful if you could oblige!
 
It's just that if you've got to walk half a mile to the bus stop and then a mile at the far end from the bus stop to the destination, when you can drive door to door, why would you?
So you don't get fat?
 
My car parking permit is about to expire, and because of my residential postcode, I am no longer eligible for a renewal. The Uni's new sustainability rules now decree that if you live in these postcodes, within a 40 minute journey by public transport, or within the local Stagecoach area, then there's no parking permit unless you have certain extenuating circumstances.

There used to be a bus that ran directly to the Uni from the Tesco's just above us, which is a 2 minute walk. Okay, the journey took about an hour, but the bus stopped right outside my building. Except now it doesn't. The Uni bus runs between the two campuses, and the bus that runs from Tesco goes to the railway station instead. I think it's still an hour's journey. There is a University bus that runs to my campus from the station, but it's a minibus, so prone to filling up fast. The walk from station to campus is about 15 minutes, but up one of the steepest hills known to man (St Clement's Lane, for all Exonians in the know.)

I could get the train to St James' which is only a 7 minute ride, but I'll be walking 15 minutes to the station at my end and another 15 minutes - uphill - at the other end.

The In House GP initially suggested I walk to work - 4 miles each way, 5 days a week - but his parents raised queries about the state of my knees (not good!). So instead I'm getting a powered bike. It's a good job it doesn't rain much in Exeter - oh wait... So between public transport and the British weather, I'm about to embark on new adventures in commuting!
Couldn't "extenuating circumstances" extend to your bad knees. IHGP could write you a note:D
 
Watched Ghosts On The Underground late last night.

What a cracking documentary! - better than I remembered.

I really liked the shots of the deserted tube stations - very spooky.

Also enjoyed the fact that most of the program simply had the tube staff telling their stories - no hype or jazzing things up; just ordinary people and their accounts.

I think my favorite story is the figure in white overalls that can only been seen on CCTV - if I was on the phone to someone who told me "He's standing right next to you!", I would have done my best Usain Bolt impression!

And, I must mention: "Did you see the face?". :wide:

Vic Tandy seemed like a nice guy. He seemed highly amused by the dimly lit tunnel with the door straight out a horror film - you could not get creepier than the slow creak and loud bang it made.

Paul McGann pitched his narration exactly right as well.

Great stuff.
 
the only ventilation available was to open all the windows up.

Due to this, were there any windows open at the time? I suspect it might be policy to shut them at the end of the day but people often don't.

If they were open then could the sound have come from outside? It is very common for buildings to have very strange acoustics, making sounds appear to come from somewhere other than their actual source.

Just a thought.



Actually the whole post reminded me of this. A few years ago I was undertaking some residential training. This was held at a government facility that used to be a heavy bomber base in World War 2. Obviously lots of ghost stories, lots of men did not return from their work. One night I was in the main training area which used to be the main operations room - big room, very high ceiling, tall windows. It was largely empty except for around ten of those chairs with the little shelf that flips up. It was probably about 21:00 and I was finishing some work. My fellow trainees were much younger and liked to party a little at night. So - it was quite common for me to be working late and I could usually hear them in other parts of the building having fun. On this one night I was working and suddently realised how silent everything was...couldn't hear anything at all, the room seemed suddenly inuslated from any sound, I got the impression that the whole facility had suddenly been deserted...I was kind of teasing myself, "oooo isn't this creepy...wonder if you see a ghost...ooo", as you do. I wasn't scared whatsoever (obviously ha ha ;) ) I continued working, almost trying to wind myself up, "how creepy would it be of the lights went off?" And then they did. I had to smile to myself. I very calmly, as possible, folded my papers away, stood up and left the room. Trying, and being succesful in doing so, holding my shxt together :D

Maybe I caused it?
 
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The roof of the property my top floor flat is part of is quite complex and has an odd flat area in the middle - around three square metres, hidden by the surrounding roof and only visible from above. When I first moved in I was mystified by somewhat disconcerting scratching sounds - as well as the occasional quite loud grinding and scraping coming from above the ceiling. When I got up on the roof to investigate, I found an ancient aerial array had been pulled down and left loose in the space. It was clearly this that was creating those noises – blown back and forth across the roof when the wind picked up (which is quite often up here). In other parts of my flat - which is quite large - it was not obvious where the noises were coming from.

I’ve also stayed on the top floors of modern hotels with flat rooves where the noise from trapped debris, banging vents and loose cables slapping around and dragging across surfaces in the wind can be really quite intrusive. (There’s a Travelodge on St Mary’s Street in Edinburgh where, in high winds, you would swear a raiding party had been dropped by chinook and was crashing around above you in the early hours.)

I therefore just wonder if the grinding sound could actually have been something loose and moving on the roof. Although I suspect it's an issue which is probably more common on flat rooves, it can be a source of noise on pitched rooves as well – especially where loose cables run across the slates, or where there are damaged aerials.

(I should point out that, although I think it's always worth exploring every possibility in regard to environmental elements - I also think that the implication that explicable environmental factors automatically also explain away possible hauntings reduces the issue to a simplistic binary process which may not actually reflect how the world works. I believe that thoroughly worldly factors can be intrinsically wrapped up in events which seem much less temporal.)
It is interesting how you can read more into something sometimes. Back in the 1980s my girlfriend at the time started to think that her car might be 'possessed' . She would be driving along when the inside of the windscreen would suddenly mist over accompanied by a strong smell of decay which would last a few seconds then vanish again. It would only happen now and again and wasn't following any particular pattern. After much searching around I found an air intake right at the bottom of the engine compartment for the heater which had become clogged with damp leaves and must have, now and again, sucked the smell into the car along with blocking the windscreen vents -hence the fogging up.
 
I had a vauxhall astra once which had a badly fitting casing around the bit where the 'cabin pollen filter' sat.
This allowed rainwater to get in there and the filter just stayed wet all winter, which caused all of the windows to immediately steam up and a stench of damp decaying gunda whenever I turned on the heater.
Took me months to work out what was going on!
 
My car parking permit is about to expire, and because of my residential postcode, I am no longer eligible for a renewal. The Uni's new sustainability rules now decree that if you live in these postcodes, within a 40 minute journey by public transport, or within the local Stagecoach area, then there's no parking permit unless you have certain extenuating circumstances.

There used to be a bus that ran directly to the Uni from the Tesco's just above us, which is a 2 minute walk. Okay, the journey took about an hour, but the bus stopped right outside my building. Except now it doesn't. The Uni bus runs between the two campuses, and the bus that runs from Tesco goes to the railway station instead. I think it's still an hour's journey. There is a University bus that runs to my campus from the station, but it's a minibus, so prone to filling up fast. The walk from station to campus is about 15 minutes, but up one of the steepest hills known to man (St Clement's Lane, for all Exonians in the know.)

I could get the train to St James' which is only a 7 minute ride, but I'll be walking 15 minutes to the station at my end and another 15 minutes - uphill - at the other end.

The In House GP initially suggested I walk to work - 4 miles each way, 5 days a week - but his parents raised queries about the state of my knees (not good!). So instead I'm getting a powered bike. It's a good job it doesn't rain much in Exeter - oh wait... So between public transport and the British weather, I'm about to embark on new adventures in commuting!
We've just got a new shop built. Area manager has told us workers that we are not to park in the shop car park, which means that, for those of us who rock up to start our shifts during 'normal' hours (9-5) the only place to park is right at the top of town. Fine, it's all downhill about a quarter of a mile on the way TO work. On the way back to the car though, at half past ten at night, past every single pub our little town boasts and all the 'lads' hanging round outside, and you're the only female walking alone... yeah, we're all going to ignore the area manager and park outside the shop.
 
Coastaljames:

The windows in the meeting room were definitely closed, as my initial thought was that someone had broken in by forcing one of the windows open - but I found they were latched shut, all the glass panes were intact and there was no damage to the frames. I did not explicitly check the windows in my office, but I am quite confident they must have been closed as it was early autumn and the office would only get uncomfortably hot at the height of summer. I would guess that if a window in my office was open I would have noticed the colder air coming in.

The whole place was quite the echo chamber though.
 
Coastaljames:

The windows in the meeting room were definitely closed, as my initial thought was that someone had broken in by forcing one of the windows open - but I found they were latched shut, all the glass panes were intact and there was no damage to the frames. I did not explicitly check the windows in my office, but I am quite confident they must have been closed as it was early autumn and the office would only get uncomfortably hot at the height of summer. I would guess that if a window in my office was open I would have noticed the colder air coming in.

The whole place was quite the echo chamber though.
Just had a thought, are there any trees adjacent to the meeting room windows, ive heard branches screaching across glass panes before, that can sound like a chair being dragged across a floor
 
The trees were quite old and tall (planted the same time the building was built I guess), and from what I recollect they were 20 or 30 meters away from the building - so I don't think any branches would have been near any windows. The wind blowing through them would be quite noisy though, and a lot a leaves used to get blown in to reception in the autumn.
 
The trees were quite old and tall (planted the same time the building was built I guess), and from what I recollect they were 20 or 30 meters away from the building - so I don't think any branches would have been near any windows. The wind blowing through them would be quite noisy though, and a lot a leaves used to get blown in to reception in the autumn.
As i said just a thought that came in to my head
 
Nthing the mechanical systems thing. My workplace has a habit of "there's people working in the end cubicles, and so they're hidden from sight-- oh look there's no one there". It's got to be the a/c, and I'm sure it is, but it's a fairly common occurrence for me to not know whether I'll find someone there or not when I go to look at the end of the day. I'm supposed to turn out the lights if I'm the last one out, and depending on how busy we are it could be either, but I don't know until I check. I hear people either way...
 
In the mid nineties I was working late in the office (was a one off - I detested the place). A persistent banging was audible from another office, when I thought the place was empty. Stupidly I pushed open the office door to find the boss "enjoying" his secretary on his desk. Relationship went downhill after that and I left shortly after.
 
In the mid nineties I was working late in the office (was a one off - I detested the place). A persistent banging was audible from another office, when I thought the place was empty. Stupidly I pushed open the office door to find the boss "enjoying" his secretary on his desk. Relationship went downhill after that and I left shortly after.

Perhaps you shouldn't have requested to join in?
 
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