Fortean Times: It Happened To Me vol.1 MagBook: v. 1

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Eventually my growing mix of curiosity and horror made me decide that I simply had to see more. I took the risk of cutting into the lane of traffic beside me so I could draw level with the Head. I think I gradually realised that there was an intermittent banging noise that I could hear above the music and chat. I went into the next room to try and find it. The rational part of me thought it must be the plumbing so I ran the taps in there, without success. The ceilings were really high and the sound was reverberating. Feeling confused I drew my colleagues' attention to it. At this point 'poltergeist' had also popped up in my head - not really as a genuine suggestion, but just that the description of ludicrously loud banging noises (as made by a sledgehammer or something) is repeated so often in the reports I'd been reading. And here I am, in a spooky old house in the dark, listening to inexplicable loud banging noises that sound like someone's hitting something with a sledgehammer. This is not strictly a It Happened To Me, Then I Realised It Hadn't story, but it does tally with some of the above accounts in terms of our capacity for self-delusion, particularly where wishful thinking is concerned. So then I moved from jealously to excitement ... I must be seeing one of those fantom houses that's the only explaination! Oh er ... I kept my eye on it as I got nearer looking forward to seeing what the rest of it would be like!!!!! Then the white paint started to gradually turn blue which was even more spooky and quite thrilling in a way! Some colleagues and I found ourselves reccieing somewhere that we could take a large group of people to stay next year. We went to look at this massive georgian house surrounded by woods and fields and nothing and nobody. The staff say they're going home and the four of us'll be there on our own overnight. Oho that sounds spooky we jest. After returning from a meal out we sat in one of the big downstairs rooms to enjoy a beer or two... it's quite late by now.

Second thought: I left the TV on some nature special when I went to the kitchen. The special had ended and a new one started. I then fell into a terrifying time loop, the light strobed and buzzed away, and I listened to the same moment of football happening over and over, the same roar of the crowd, the same goal... I gripped the sink and waited for it to end. It didn't, an eternity crawled past... I began to accept that I would be in there forever, the reality around me skipping like a record, a lost soul trapped in The Eternal Toilet Of Boredom.My distance eyesight was pretty good And the object was not that far away. I looked at it, trying to fathom if I was mistaken, trying to make it into something more recognizable. After an indeterminate period some girl hammered on the door, which confused me. Perhaps she had escaped the loop? I unbolted it and stepped out to face this enigma... But no. We both agreed about it - it was a metallic sphere with a series of rotating lights in the top. Almost a cliché UFO. There was a circular walk that I did a couple of times a week and on this particular day as I started up the hill I noted to my astonishment that a house had been built at the top. I could clearly see the white painted pine end (what the gable end is known as in Wales) nestled among a small group of trees so I could see it was orientated the perfect way to get the views.

There was one road in particular that we actually found scary-as-hell; it just had this awful, awful vibe. Naturally, we only went to this one when we *really* wanted a scare. So it was that myself and 7-8 friends decide to head out there late one Friday night. As we approached, everyone started to get that "bad vibe feeling". Driver pulls over and only myself and J. deign to get out of the car and look around. When it comes to fortean things, poltergeists are one of my absolute favourites. I've been reading a lot about them for a few years, and delving into the archives for cases. So my recent 'it didn't happen to me' seemed weirdly appropriate. And hence, perhaps a bit fortean after all. Like a sort of cosmic joke.Realization: After I finally caught my breath and my heart resumed beating naturally, I looked over at the TV...the sound was that of a bull elk in rut, bugling. The sound is bloody otherworldly and you'll never forget it.