things that go bump in the night

[jazzaroo]

I remember that there was a luminous grave stone, i think that it was an angel, just inside the cemetary gates on stonesby ave on the saff that used to give me the creeps, I had a schoolmate named Tony Hulls who lived opposite the gates and it never bothered him and he used to wind me up about it. didn't help that we had a flickering streetlamp right outside my bedroom window on meadow gardens ,i used to wake up in the night and this light would be the first thing that i saw ,i was sure that it was connected to the gravestone, I used to try and stay up as late as i could until i was ordered to bed where the flickering street lamp seemed to be waiting for me,  stephen king eat your heart out !! anyone got any other strange memories,

[Alan]

Mary De Castro.  Looking for bodies as kids in them days did in the grave yard.  Vision around twenty kids milling round in the dark.  Bodies everywhere.  In our minds.   Suddenly a scream, we all looked up to see an angel floating towards us across the grave stones and crypts wings out spread.  Kids running everywhere screaming.  Only later we found out it was the vicar running to chase us off.  His cloak bellowing out behind him.  It was a long time before we ventured anywhere near that church again.
If you remember where they said they beheaded people outside the old castle.  A small hole appeared.  There was a queue of kids to look down the hole; all swore they could see the chopped off heads.  I do not think kids today would be that gullible but great times.
Then the ghost tunnel on the LMS line under Welford Road.  Strawberry  Bank.  AT night the train crash could be seen, again bodies lying everywhere.  Every kid that went there saw the crash.  Only years later I found out that there had never been any rails laid there let alone trains using that tunnel.   As said before great times to grow up. 

[jazzaroo]

Phantom vans M1
I used to travel from leicester to London in the early days of the M1 ,on the return journey always at night there was a stretch of motorway around the newport pagnell area  , there was a slight bend in the road and an overhead bridge, and on more than one occasion i swerved to avoid what appeared to be a huge furniture van wth no lights displayed , this was common knowledge in the area and i certainly did not imagine it as other motorists had had a similar experience, there were reports about these ghost vans (as there was more than one)in the national newspapers and it was put down to a trick of the light and also smog from the nearby London brick company whose chimneys were clearly visible in dayligt when travelling south , but they looked pretty real to me, anyone out there ever come across this phenonama !!!

[Allycat]

I remember being dared to run across a church graveyard in the dark. I did it, but I was convinced dead people were going start popping up out of the ground and grabbing my legs. I probably sprinted across that small graveyard at olympic speeds!

[jazzaroo]

Talking of graveyards, a brummie took a shot cut through a graveyard after a heavy drinking session but collapsed and fell asleep behind a gravestone,upon waking up the next morning he was confronted by a grave digger who asked him, did you come here to die, the brummie answered  no i came here yesterdie, apologies if you are not familiar with the brummie accent but i'm sure that someone will explain it to you.

[flyer]

I remember being dared to run across a church graveyard in the dark. I did it, but I was convinced dead people were going start popping up out of the ground and grabbing my legs. I probably sprinted across that small graveyard at olympic speeds!

Our first hovel on Abbey park rd had its own Ghost with 10in spiders thrown in foe effect

[jazzaroo]

re the phantom vans on the M1
by pure coincidence i met some people from Hemel Hempstead who remembered the ghost vans,seems it was there and not newport pagnell that they were sighted although i think that newport pagnell was not too far away if i remember correctly, could be wrong as all this took place in the early sixties.

[Alan]

They were the days when the M1 reached Jun 21.  Down to the docks in the early hours not another vehicle in sight.  It was great after A5 or A6 struggle, now a nightmare.

[jazzaroo]

Hi Alan, yeh i remember the pre motorway journeys, the switch backs on the A5 in the fog and the steady grind behind trucks and farm vehicles which added hours onto the journey, the motorways were a breath of fresh air at the time but i do miss the character of the trunk roads especially the transport cafes and places like the busy bee on the A41

[Alan]

When you think back over the years how thing have changed. Now new roads everywhere Leyland Buffalo no heaters that worked.  Coming over Shap on the A6 took 7hours of digging all the way to cover three mile in the snow with little or no heaters to speak of.  Another year 20 ton of anti-freeze on board heading for Glasgow when the radiator blew up with the cold on shap they said it was minus 18 that night..  I finished the journey to Carlisle with no water in the engine If I had stopped I more than likely would not have made it.  After leaving the marines my son now drives heavy goods, he made me sick when he showed me his truck. It is like a little hotel room,  fridge bed TV air con.  The days of roping and sheeting as gone for ever.  Ah well I enjoyed it.   

[jazzaroo]

Hi alan, i well remember the winter of 1963, i was making regular trips to london and birmingham at the time in a ford 5cwt thames van with no heater and no roof lining, icicles used to form from the condensation from the metal roof and the only way you could clear the windscreen of freezing fog,(remember that) was to open the bonnet which used to open from the windscreen end and prop it open with a block of wood so that the heat from the engine  would keep the screen defrosted, there were no screen washers either and some of the journeys were a nightmare, this was the time when the diesel used to freeze and wax up and it was not uncommon to see lorry drivers lighting fires under their fuel tanks, also front wheel drive cars were not the norm and we had to reverse up icy hills to obtain some grip, the good old days, i don't think !!!