Real Ghost Stories
The Estate By Steven Marshall-Law
As a young child I would often stay at my grandmother's flat along with my younger brother and my cousin.
my grandmother was divorced from my grandfather and as a consequence lived alone but her house was always full with
my aunts and uncles. One night myself, my Nan and my brother and my cousin were sat in the front room watching tv
when we heard a knocking sound coming from one of the bedrooms.
having no sense of any real fear, my cousin and I went to investigate, as we approached the door the knocking sound
stopped. my cousin opened the door and switched the light on. The walls were covered with insects and the window
was open, my Nan came in behind us and screamed at the sight before her eyes. None of the wallpaper was visible, it
was just a black cluster of hairy wings. My Nan regained her composure and cleared the room using a newspaper.
Once the room was cleared and we'd all calmed down we returned to the living room. in the middle of the living room was
my little brother sat crossed legged on the floor laughing and talking to the wall. My Nan asked him who he was talking
too and my brother turned around pointing at the wall and said "the solider". We dismissed it and told him to stop being
silly.
I remember my dream from that night's sleep as if it were last last night dream, crystal clear.
My Nan lived in a council estate that comprised of two long 4 story blocks that faced each other with a playground and
a number of fenced off gardens in the middle. Huge black wrought iron gates and fencing separated the estate from the
main road. I remember sitting on the steps to my nan's block and seeing 2 horse drawn coaches approaching me, the
horses were jet black and had black plumes strapped on their heads and the coaches were decorated in black and deep
purple.
I could see people walking behind the coaches, all of them dressed in black. it looked like a funeral precession. I looked
up at the coach as it passed me and a skeleton draped in a black hooded cloaked stared back at me.
I woke up in the morning and my sheets were soaked through with sweat.
A few weeks later both of my Nan neighbours died, one from cancer and the other from a brain tumour. my Nan was
close with her neighbours and she was deeply upset so my uncle stayed with her for a few days. I saw my Nan and my
uncle at Sunday dinner and they were telling us that my nans flat was haunted. they told us how all the draws and
cupboard doors in the kitchen would just fly open, how my nans collection of ornaments would be found scattered
around the flat and the cabinet door locked. Their claims were met with ridicule and laughter.
My aunt was moved onto the estate in the opposite block to my Nan, she never told us of any strange happenings. I
stayed there on many occasions and I always felt watched, especially in the corridors that spanned the entire block. My
aunt's flat overlooked an old people's home, it was the same layout as my nans estate but only two story and it had an
orchard in the middle. I remember looking at the old terraced building that looked as if it had been around for over a 100
years. No matter what time of day you looked at it, it was dark, always in the shadows.
As I looked out of the window and across the roofs into the orchard I spotted a figure walking across the grass. It
stopped and vanished. I moved from the window and told myself that I was imagining it.
I left my aunts and visited my Nan across the way. my uncle was sitting on the sofa watching TV. I joined him.
He asked me to pass him his lighter and cigarettes that were on the coffee table, as I reached forward they rose from the
table and flew across the room. my uncle and I looked each other, grabbed my Nan and left the flat.
A priest exorcised the flat the next day and my Nan was moved the following week.
I later learned that my nans estate used to be part of the old peoples home before the council bought the land and built
the estate. the land the estate was built on was a private cemetery for the occupants that died who had no family.
Over 2 years later my mothers friend told us that her friend had moved onto the estate a few weeks ago and she was not
happy. She would go out and when she returned her furniture would have been rearranged, it happened every single
day.
Strange?
Thats without mentioning the voice of the women who died from cancer calling out her children's names in an empty flat.
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