The Story of the Ghost in my Kitchen
An exploration of what it means to carry with you the ghost stories of lost loved ones
Alongside Rev. Peter Laws, I was recently asked to investigate a haunted house for BBC Radio 4’s Uncanny podcast. Uncanny, which is hosted by Danny Robins, offers a place for people to recall their strange, spooky encounters – from ghost sightings to UFOs and more. Case 9 focusses on the story of Hannah who grew up with her large family in a house that is considered to be host to a lot of potentially paranormal activity. It’s an intriguing haunting and possibly one of the most interesting I’ve been asked to research.
You can listen to the episode here if you’d like to hear both the story and also mine and Peter’s thoughts on what is reported. One of the main themes which runs through the story is that Hannah’s mum seemed to have an awareness of the strange things happening in the house but shielded her children from the full details. This does mean that we only have second-hand eye-witness testimony to rely on which means we can’t really draw proper conclusions about what is reported. However, what I found most interesting about the case is that Hannah’s mother and her experiences remind me somewhat of my own late mum.
I grew up in a house in the ancient village of Hilperton which is just outside the county town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire. From a very young age, I was convinced that the house was haunted by an elderly lady who just about tolerated there being children in the home (I have a brother who is 4 years younger than me.) I remember often feeling a sense of presence and not feeling comfortable alone in certain areas of the house (mainly our dining room, main hallway, and kitchen.) I was a very nervous child as a result of this, and my parents struggled to get me to go to bed on my own, and for a long time I was too frightened to venture too far from the safety of my bedroom at night-time because it always seemed as though the lady was out there somewhere in the house.
As such, when I was very young, if I needed to go to the bathroom in the night, or if I wanted a drink, I would always wake my poor mum up to come with me. That’s how we came to both be in the hallway one night, standing outside of the kitchen door when my mum first saw the ghost.
I would have been about 7-years-old at this point and I was thirsty one night so woke my mum up and asked for a drink. I remember quite clearly how I followed her down the staircase into the darkness of the main hallway of the house. Then, we double-backed on ourselves and walked adjacent to the staircase and along the hallway until we reached the closed kitchen door. My mum was ahead of me and opened the door so that we could enter the kitchen but then abruptly stopped with her back against the hallway wall, and holding the door closed so that the inner part of the door was against her stomach, effectively wedging herself into the gap between the door and the doorframe.
At the time, I was a tired, clueless child but I do remember thinking that it was odd that mum had stopped. After a moment we then continued into the kitchen and then back to bed. Many years later, when I started to show an interest in researching ghost phenomena as a teenager, my mum confided in me that one night when taking me to the kitchen to get a drink, she opened the kitchen door and saw the figure of a woman standing in the kitchen and looking through the serving hatch in the wall through to the dining room. Upon mum opening the door, the woman apparently turned around and calmly walked out of the back door (or “through it”) which was sat in the wall behind and opposite to the serving hatch area.
Now, when you consider this in the context of case 9 which we investigated for the Uncanny podcast, does this prove that the house I grew up in was haunted? Of course not. And you’re having to rely on my retelling of the story as told to me by somebody who is no longer alive. Much like many aspects of Hannah’s own story. However, what we know for sure is that like Hannah’s mother, my mum had a profound and scary experience that night, which was very real to her regardless of what may or may not have actually happened. It spooked her so much that she didn’t share the details with anybody and only felt safe telling me when I showed an active interest in going out and hunting for ghosts many years later.
Do I think Hannah’s mother saw something paranormal in their house? I don’t know. I don’t have any evidence or much first-hand testimony to work with, which makes it difficult to draw any solid conclusions on the case. All that I am able to do is speculate and share my ideas in the episode of Uncanny. However, do I believe Hannah when she tells us that she and her family had strange experiences in their home? Absolutely, I do.
I think this is why Uncanny (and Haunted, which Danny hosted before it) are quite important podcasts. Not because they necessarily prove anything (in my opinion, sorry...) but because they offer a space in which people can share their encounters free from judgement. I think it’s really important to lessen the stigma which surrounds people who speak out about paranormal experiences they’ve had. As a researcher, the more people who are willing to talk openly about the baffling, bizarre things they encounter, the easier it is for people like me to find solutions to mysteries. That’s why although I don’t often talk about the spooky experiences I’ve had throughout my life (even though I’m a non-believer) I felt compelled to share with you the story of the ghost in my childhood kitchen.