AN HISTORIAN is writing a book about the ghostly experiences which have haunted him for a lifetime.
David Eason from Lillington says he has experienced paranormal activity since he was two-years-old.
And the writer, who explored the murder of Sarah Dormer at Ashow’s Dial House Farm in his earlier book ‘Whisper her Name’, is recounting his experiences for another title – ‘Ghosts & Hauntings of Warwick District’.
David’s first encounter occurred in his childhood home in Kenilworth when his mother described the tot as giggling and transfixed by something she could not see in a corner. Similarly, the family’s Alsatian Karl would frequently bark at empty spaces and circle the duo every time they made their way from the isolated farmhouse to the road. Another incident involved a woman dressed in a swimsuit walking past the window at the house. When his father checked outside no one was on the premises.
The trio abandoned the house following a string of unexplained commotions and mysterious sightings, making their landlord promise never to rent out the house to another tenant.
Other chilling occurrences took place around Leamington’s Pump Room Gardens where David claims to have seen figures melting into the darkness and heard a heavy splash in the water.
He later connected the incident to the story of a soldier in the First World War who had drowned there.
David believes one ghostly stranger had been a messenger sent to reassure him over loved ones and friends he had lost in the Gulf War.
He said: “I was drawn to him and noticed he had a wonderful smile. I moved so he could pass, but he moved towards me. I noticed his face which I can only describe as angelic with wonderful eyes.
“As he came up to me I had a wonderful feeling of peacefulness. I stopped and he asked if I had a light for his cigarette. I gave him a light, he smiled, said thank you and passed by.
“I felt I had to look back – I’d gone no more than a few steps and as I turned, he had gone. He was no where to be seen and my first thought was the poem ‘Pennies from Heaven’”
To date, David says his most haunting experience took place in the dark belly of Potterton’s Portobello factory in Warwick.
It was there on his shift as a nightwatchman David heard two girls laughing and talking which he initially shrugged off.
He continued patrolling before he was stopped in his tracks by a sound like a heavy metal object being slammed on a concrete floor.
He said: “This was when I realised something really scary – whatever was doing this was in reaction to what I was doing. It was watching me.
“Plucking up enough courage I thought I would push it a bit further and see what would happen. I heard a growl which I can only explain as being from some prehistoric dinosaur. It was horrendous and I withdrew back to the office until first light.
“It still haunts me today to think the young girls voices were nothing more than an entrapment, and there was a logical being behind it that knew what I was doing, and then reacted accordingly to warn me not to go any further. I still ask myself, what would have happened if I had gone further?”
David’s later discovered rumours the factory stood on the former site of a house where two young girls had drowned.
Another experience resulted in the watchman calling the police, after seeing a figure of a man on the CCTV screen, stood at a second floor window with a torch.
David pressed the panic button to alert the police. The officers, including a dog-handler, turned up to check the premises.
After shouting erupted, an officer ran back to David saying he had seen a young man run down the stairs, who froze to look at the officer, before fleeing back to the top floor. The dog-handler was sent up as a precaution, but the man had vanished. According to the historian, the tape revealing the man at the window was mysteriously replaced the next evening.
David resigned shortly after recalling what a guard had said on his first shift – ‘Not everyone you see on the night shift has clocked on’!
The writer is asking residents to share with him any of their own experiences they would like included in the book.
Those who would like to share their stories, can email [email protected] to send David their spooky experiences locally.
