56 replies to this topic

[ubergroov]

Thanks to all for your kind welcomes. I find this forum to be refreshingly friendly.

Earth-spirit and Mykiedave, I appreciate your suggestions. My father is a great story teller and it would definitely behoove us to put his tales to tape.

At the risk of getting the details skewed, I will share one of his tamer, but nevertheless delightfully spooky tales about the house he lived in with my mother, my infant self, and a dog named Bongo back in 1972. It was a small and old two story house located in the tiny village of Kings Ripton, dating from at least the 13th century. A wooden rocking chair sat in the downstairs living room. This chair would creak, but only under the weight of a sitter; if you were to push it with your hand, it would rock in silence.

One night my dad joined my mother in their upstairs bed and turned out the lights. Shortly thereafter, he was disturbed by the slow, rhythmic creak of the rocking chair. He got up, walked down the stairs, and opened the door to the living room, intending to put out the obvious culprit, Bongo the dog. The chair before him was motionless and he quickly confirmed that Bongo was already outside. My father made a quick check of the downstairs and made sure all doors and windows were secured before returning to bed. Within minutes, the chair began to creak again. Knowing that the chair would only do so under strain, my father was understandably concerned at this point. He again trudged down the steps and opened the living room door. THe chair was motionless and the sound had ceased. He again went to bed, but now could not sleep. It didn't take long for the chair to recommence its creaking. This time, my father stepped very slowly and carefully down the steps until he silently came to the door. He threw it quickly open and stared at the chair. There it sat, vigorously rocking of its own accord. It slowly came to a stop before his astonished eyes. My dad closed the door, climbed the steps, and did his best to ignore the resuming creaking. This chair continued its disturbing nighttime activity for a few weeks and then stopped as suddenly as it started. Years later, my mother confirmed for me that this story is indeed true.

I will encourage my father to share more of his stories here.

By the way, the Freddie Jackson photo is very intriguing. I'm no expert on photography, but I've seen plenty of pictures that are obvious fakes, and that photo is definitely not one of them. I wonder what the exposure time was on those old photos. If it was long, could it possibly be a duplication of the man standing in front of "Freddie"?

[Mykiedave]

Nope, if you look closely you'll see that he is the ONLY male without a hat. It makes sence since he would have been buried without his hat on.

[earth_spirit]

Anyone who's ever been in the military will point out that a GI never goes outside without his "cover" or hat.  If the man in the photo had been visible, he would have been reprimanded on the spot and told to put his hat on.  

One of the few exceptions to that rule would have been when working on the flight line because of the fact that the propwash would have made it nearly impossible to keep a hat on your head.  Odds are, Freddie was bareheaded when he died . . .    

[Caesar]

great point, he would be out of uniform

[ladygrim]

wow cool story ...

[earth_spirit]

Welcome to the thread, ladygrim.  I see you're from the UK, so I wondering if you'd ever heard  anything about a creature matching the description of the one in ubergroov's story.  

[Mykiedave]

Quote

Anyone who's ever been in the military will point out that a GI never goes outside without his "cover" or hat.  If the man in the photo had been visible, he would have been reprimanded on the spot and told to put his hat on.  

One of the few exceptions to that rule would have been when working on the flight line because of the fact that the propwash would have made it nearly impossible to keep a hat on your head.  Odds are, Freddie was bareheaded when he died . . .    

ESPCIALLY since he reportedly walked into a propellor.

[earth_spirit]

It seems that the flying crews at Alconbury weren't the only ones who suffered losses.  I found this interesting blurb on a 95th Bomb Group message board about an accident where quite a few maintenance people were killed at Alconbury in 1943:

http://www.95thbg.or...TID=39&get=last

[earth_spirit]

It seems there's still quite a bit of interest in the paranormal activity around Alconbury. This article appeared in the Cambridge News (UK) a few months back:

Quote

Investigating ghostly goings on at RAF base

FURTHER frightening encounters have been discovered by an investigator carrying out research into paranormal happenings at an RAF base.

John Hanson has been looking into reports of hauntings at RAF Alconbury and the surrounding area made by former USAF security staff working there, especially in the 1970s.

Reports of children's voices, possibly linked to a Victorian train crash, hav.come in since Mr Hanson's story was highlighted in the News.

Mr Hanson said, in addition to the reports of ghostly voices, he had been told how searchlights had gone out inexplicably and it was found a switch in a secure building had been turned off.

He said he visited the area with local paranormal investigator Emma Vachos seeking information about the train crash at Abbots Ripton in 1876 in which 14 people, including at least six children, had died.

"Whether the ghostly children's voices heard by a number of airmen at the base in the 1970s can be connected with this accident is, of course, impossible to say, although we should take some solace in the fact that the voices sounded like happy children playing, rather than the opposite," he said.

Mr Hanson said they had also been told of strange sightings of monk-like figures in the Monks Wood area near the base and a former security policeman at Alconbury who had worked at the high security nuclear bomb store recounted how colleagues had heard the children's voices and seen a "hairy creature" which lived in woods adjacent to the airfield.

Mr Hanson, from Alvechurch, Worcestershire, said he had been sceptical when he first became interested in paranormal happenings, but felt there must be something to the sightings because of the weight of the evidence.

"There is no doubt the strange happenings that took place at the airfield are still continuing to this present day," he said.

He said he hopes people working at the base or others with information about unexplained happenings and the Abbots Ripton train crash would contact him at 31 Red Lion Street, Alvechurch, Worcestershire.

Too bad Mr. Hanson doesn't have an e-mail address. I guess I'll have to send him a note and invite him to logon to GV

[earth_spirit]

Quote

It seems that the flying crews at Alconbury weren't the only ones who suffered losses. I found this interesting blurb on a 95th Bomb Group message board about an accident where quite a few maintenance people were killed at Alconbury in 1943:

http://www.95thbg.or...TID=39&get=last

The link died so I'm updating it with a new Wikipedia listing:

Quote

From 15 April to the first week of June 1943, the 95th Bombardment Group was stationed at RAF Alconbury. The 95th Bomb Group consisted of the 334th, 335th, 336th and 412th Bomb Squadrons, flying B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft.

On 27 May, at approximately 20:30, ground personnel were arming B-17F 42-29685 in the dispersal area when, inexplicably, a 500 pound bomb detonated. The explosion, in turn, set off several other bombs. In an instant, 18 men were killed, 21 injured, and four B-17s completely destroyed on the ground. Eleven other B-17s were damaged.

Hopefully, no one will try to tell me that flight line area at RAF Alconbury doesn't have a few spooks floating around My latest sources indicate that the base has been turned over to the RAF, but the runway and flight line has been torn up and converted into an industrial area.

[earth_spirit]

I did a little searching and found this photo showing the aftermath of the May 1943 explosion:

[earth_spirit]

Here's the wikipedia link for the base:

RAF Alconbury

[little turtle]

How interesting. I loved all the stories that have been told...wish there were more.

[earth_spirit]

This one's for you, Norcalwreckchaser!

[pgrichards]

I was in the AGE branch at Alconbury in the 80's. I spent many long nights alone in the aircraft shelters there. I used to take oil samples with a flashlight going from shelter to shelter. Other than myself- there might have been 5 other people out there. I never saw anything strange in 3 years. My house at Upwood did have a ghost but it was nothing scary. Doors would unlock and open and close. There were protesters that always were jumping the fence and doing stupid stuff like that.
One thing I will say; the flight line there is really really dark at night.