Have you ever had a moment that made your skin crawl, a shadow where there shouldn't be one, a whisper in an empty room, or something you simply can't explain.

If so, we want to hear from you here at the Haunted UK Podcast.

We're always on the lookout for spine tingling stories to feature in our end of season listener episodes and our short Haunts series.

Whether it's a chilling encounter, a mysterious experience, or something that's haunted you for years, we want your tale.

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We've got two brilliant tears, Possessed and Spooked, both packed with bonus content, exclusive episodes and extra material that'll keep you up all night.

But that's not all.

We've launched a brand new sister podcast, Haunted UK Fiction, and we're calling all storytellers, whether you're a published author, an aspiring writer, or someone with a natural gift for spinning ear retails.

We're looking for original fictional short stories and novellas with strong paranormal or supernatural themes.

Think suspenseful, mysterious, atmospheric, terrifying, thought provoking, even darkly magical.

If your story is selected, we'll professionally narrate, record, mix, some master it into an audiobook style format, then feature it on the show.

You'll get a copy of the finished production to use however you like, and you'll retain full ownership of your work.

So admit your story to Haunted UK Fiction at hotmail dot com and follow us on Instagram at Haunted uk fiction.

So, whether it's truth or fiction, if it's haunted, we wanted now sit back and enjoy the episode.

I took a huge breath and walked through the door.

I found nothing, no one.

A very cold and dark feeling swept over me.

I grabbed my bag, went back into the hall, closed the window at the back of the stage, switched the lights off, made sure the kitchen lights were off, and got outside.

It was still daylight and the mood was so much lighter.

But I had no idea what I'd just experienced in that community hall.

This is episode sixty four of the Haunted UK podcast, and in this episode will be taken to a haunted community center.

But isn't this kind of haunted place so much worse than castles, manor homes and remote deserted cabins in woods because it's a place most of us know, a place which is typical in so many towns in the UK, A place we've been to for parties, weighings, jumble sales, you know it well.

A place where chairs are stacked to the side for events, with a small stage and musty curtains, a kitchen with a tea and serving hatch, posters on the wall advertising yoga toys, stash just under the stage for a preschool group, pantomimes at Christmas, committee meetings on Tuesdays, all very tame, all very every day.

And it's not tame, And it's not something you can stack away neatly to the side or hide behind a stage curtain, although you may want to after hearing this.

Yes, a real life ghost story is so much worse when it's a place we walk past every day.

Perhaps you yourself are involved with such a place.

Perhaps you're the one to lock up at night, the last to switch off the lights, and if you are well, take care caretaker.

This episode might sting.

So we've had so many listener stories since the show started back in June twenty twenty one, and with the kind permission of a few listeners, their stories have been developed into full episodes.

This episode is another one which joins those before it, an episode which takes us on a journey through the experiences of a woman called Jan.

It's been quite some time since her story was sent into the show, but it was so gripping and astounding that we felt that it needed its own episode.

Jan was extremely kind enough to allow us to develop her story and experiences, but she was also incredibly brave enough to give us her blessing to share this story with all of you, and brave with what she endured in that community center tasked with turning off those lights.

We've said so many times on this show that everyone who has had a paranormal experience should be allowed to tell their story without the risk of fear or ridicule.

They should be comfortable to share their experiences with a community who will not only listen, but will also give support.

And it's you, amazing listeners of this show who do just that and more.

And with that said, it's now time to hand over to Jan and hear her account.

Get ready to hear something phenomenal, an extraordinary experience in such an ordinary place.

I've been a fan of the show for quite a while now, and although the following story happened over ten years ago, it's still taken all of this time to gain the courage to type it out.

My name is Jan, and I've been retired for six years.

My husband and I lived in a town in the northwest of England for over twenty years, and it was here where I experienced what I'm certain were a series of paranormal events, but also something else, something very very dark.

To give you some backstory, I'd worked in an office environment since i'd left school.

It was a career that I fell into but thoroughly enjoyed.

I made so many valuable friends over the years and had some really memorable times.

But all of that changed when, at fifty years old, I suffered a huge heart attack.

Everything in my life changed.

I was encouraged to quit my job, being told that the stress of a busy office environment could bring on another one, and it could be fatal.

My husband and I were both devastated.

All of our plans, our hopes now put on hold.

My husband continued to work, and because we'd been quite savvy over the years with our finances, we actually owned our house outright.

So I began to do other less stressful things, lighthousework, going to the local park for walks, gardening.

But how much gardening can you do?

Year after year after year?

For eight years?

I did what I was told, stepped back from the more stressful things in life and took a more relaxed and backseat approach.

Holidays were a much slower affair, not doing too much at all.

But I always felt I was wasting away, felt that my life was passing me by.

I couldn't do this any longer.

I had to do something.

The community center in our small town hosted all types of events and meetings, from nursery play days, birthday parties, and wedding receptions to small gigs, council meetings, and even company team building days.

I'd seen an advertisement attached to the announcement board asking for a cleaner and part time caretaker I'd simply had enough of gardening and wanted to do something else.

My husband and I had a good chat about the risks of me going back to work, but I was insistent that I wanted to do this, insistent that, in my opinion, I needed something to get my teeth into, something to get involved in.

I called the number on the advertisement, and a few days later was invited to an interview with the local council house.

There were obviously concerns about my health, but I hadn't had any problems with my heart for around eight years, and I was more than happy to go through all of the checks which would enable me to be present at daytime nursery gatherings with children as well as kids' birthday parties.

I so desperately wanted this job, so desperately wanted to feel as if I was valued again.

To my surprise, I was offered the job.

I was absolutely over the moon and called my husband at work to let him know that I've been offered the role of cleaner and part time caretaker.

I would be starting in just under two weeks time.

On the first day, I walked to work.

It was fairly close to home and wasn't a strenuous walk at all.

As I approached, I noticed a man standing outside the entrance of the community center.

As he saw me, he smiled and walked out onto the pavement to greet me.

He reached out a hand to shake mine and introduced himself as Tom.

He was around sixty years old, quite tall and very pleasant and polite.

Tom opened up the building and began to show me around.

After entering the double doors at the front of the building, you had a large kitchen to the left, down a short corridor.

To the right was a cloakroom, storage space, and two separate toilets.

Coming back to the entrance hall, there was another set of double doors which led into a large hall.

Down at the far end was a stage with two doors either side.

There was also a bar on the left hand side, but this was only opened and operated by a train staff.

The door to the left of the stage led to another set of toilets, as well as storage rooms and a changing room, which had a door leading to the side of the stage.

There was also a fire exit.

The door on the right hand side of the stage had a similar layout, but instead of toilets, there were changing rooms in a large office.

As Tom was showing me around, he mentioned that the building used to be part of an old school.

The school had been converted into offices for the local council and the hall was assigned as a community center.

This had happened years before my husband and I had moved to the area, so whilst we knew of the buildings, we'd never really taken too much notice of them.

The place had a good feel to it, nothing unusual at all.

Tom went off to the kitchen to make us a drink, and I wandered around the hall and got up onto the stage.

It was fairly large with stage each lighting mounted onto a frame which looked like it was attached to the ceiling.

There were also long black curtains either side of the stage, covering the legs of the frame which held the lighting.

I heard the doors open again and Tom appeared holding two mugs of coffee.

We had a general chat about what the job entailed, when I'd be working, and if I'd be interested in out of hours work.

Tom said that there were sometimes things such as cancel functions, birthday parties, and wedding receptions that took place until around eleven PM.

I had no problem with this at all, and Tom said that he and another woman called Tammy, and myself would share the offers of work as they came in.

I was incredibly happy and couldn't wait to get started.

Weeks went by, and most of the time I was clearing up after kids' parties, sweeping up, re stacking the chairs, and generally tidying up.

But but it was one of these parties that things started to happen.

Now, I have to say this for the record before we go any further.

I've never had any reason to believe in the paranormal or the supernatural my whole life.

I'd never seen a ghost, never experienced a poltergeist, never felt an oppressive and overwhelming atmosphere.

I even messed around with the weija boards when I was a teenager, but never saw what all the fuss was about.

In other words, I was pretty much a skeptic.

So let's go back to the first incident.

I'd been supervising a children's birthday party on a Saturday afternoon, and the aftermath was like a bomb had gone off in the main hall.

Little by little, parents and children filtered out of the building, leaving me alone to begin cleaning up and tidying away chairs and tables.

All of this was pretty light work, and to be honest, it was good to be busy.

I cleaned, then collapsed the tables, stacked the chairs, and used the sack truck to move them into the storage rooms.

Either side of the stage.

On the back wall of the stage was a large window that had a black curtain pulled across it.

A section of this window could be opened, and because it was quite stuffy in the hall, I pulled the curtain back and used the rope pulley to open the window.

The cooler air from outside began to fill the hall, making the room feel immediately better.

I made my way back to the kitchen, where I'd stacked all the cups and mugs which had been used by the parents, and began to fill the sink so I could wash them, dry them, and put them away.

I was quite happily washing up when I heard a door bang.

It sounded like it was one of the doors in the main hall.

I grabbed a towel, dried my hands, and went out to the entrance hall.

I checked the main door, but they were locked, and it was me that had locked them.

After the last party guests had left.

I quickly checked the door opposite the kitchen and had a look around, but nothing.

Well, it could be a guest still in the main hall, I remembered, thinking maybe they'd gone into one of the rooms at the side of the stage.

I went through the double doors into the main hall.

Nothing.

I checked the rooms to the left of the stage again nothing.

The fire exit door was still secure as well.

I went back into the hall and opened the door to the right of the stage, and as I walked inside, I heard another noise coming from the hall.

I immediately went back into the hall and saw one of the double doors slowly closing.

I was really beginning to get nervous now, and my mobile phone, my only chance of getting hold of someone, was in my handbag in the kitchen.

I shouted hello a few times, but nothing came back.

Hello Hello.

I was torn between just going back and leaving via the fire escape and going through those doors and confronting what was there, And that's what I did.

It could only be a member of the party.

All the doors were locked.

I took a huge breath and walked through the door.

I found no one, nothing at all.

A very cold and dark feeling swept over me.

I grabbed my bag, went back into the hall, closed the window at the back of the stage, switched the lights off, made sure the kitchen lights were off, and got outside.

It was still daylight and the mood was so much lighter, but I had no idea what I'd just experienced in that community hall.

Around a week or so later, my next encounter with the paranormal happened.

It was a similar event, a children's birthday party, and as previous, the place was a mess.

After everyone had left, I had to get everything cleaned up and ready for Tammy, who was turning up at around six p m.

There was a party which was being held in the evening, and Tammy had agreed to take the work on.

The bar would also be open so she wouldn't be on her own.

After everyone had gone again, everyone from the party that I was looking after had left, and I did my usual thing of locking myself inside the building.

I decided to tie the up tables, plates, mugs, get them washed and put away.

Then I'd move into putting the toys back into storage and stacking the chairs.

I came out of the kitchen through the double doors and into the hall and was simply stopped in my tracks.

At the far end of the hall, a toy pushchair was just sitting there, toward the left hand wall.

In a mixture of pure terror and a star punishment, I watched that pushchair move by itself around ten feet across the room.

It moved slowly, and there was no way that it was the wind or the draft from a door that was doing this.

It was happening right in front of me.

I could feel my skin crawl, the hair on my neck stand on end, but I couldn't move.

Maybe it was the feeling of terror that was gluing me to the floor.

After what seemed like minutes, I was able to move and ran to the kitchen to get my bag.

I made my way outside and grabbed my phone and called my husband.

I asked him to come down to the hall as quickly as possible.

He asked if I was all right?

Was everything okay?

I told in I needed him to come down to the community center as soon as possible, and I'd be waiting outside.

It wasn't long before my husband arrived, and he came straight over to me and hugged me and asked what was wrong.

I took a deep breath and told him.

He asked if we could go back inside so he could take a look.

Of course, I agreed, and after we got through the double doors and into the hall, there was the pushchair back in the same place as it was before it moved.

I felt a complete fool.

I wasn't imagining it.

I saw it move.

I know I did.

My husband offered to stay while I finished up, but I asked him to carry on home.

I'd stay behind and wait for Tammy to turn up.

I wanted to ask her a few questions.

Surely I wasn't the only one who'd experienced something in this building.

Just before six p m.

Tammy walked in, happy as anything until she saw my face.

Everything okay, jan, she said.

I told her I needed to ask her a serious question.

She seemed obviously worried, but told me to ask away.

I told her what I had experienced, and also told her that I wasn't imagining it.

I saw it happen.

There's a reason that I don't like working here during the day.

Tammy said, I've seen it twice.

She went on to explain that her first sighting of it happened a few months after she started work and took place in the main hall.

There were no noises, no warning signs.

It just happened.

She explained that she came out of the kitchen and threw the double doors in into the hall and just stopped there.

Stood down by the stage was a man in what looked like an old fashioned suit, maybe from the nineteen twenties or thirties.

Tammy said she couldn't make out the features on the man's face because there seemed to be a strange shimmering effect that surrounded him.

She said that this man was probably in front of her for around twenty seconds before he walked towards the door to the left of the stage and walked straight through it.

As you can imagine, Tammy was filled with a mixture of terror and disbelief, but it was her second sighting that really frightened her.

She said that it took place around six weeks after her first encounter.

There was nothing actually booked for the afternoon that she was there, but she was asked by Tom to get the hall ready for an awards presentation which was taking place that evening.

Chairs and tables had already been left out in the hall, so it was just a question of Tammy setting them out to the floor plan which had been left with her.

She said that she'd begun to unfold the tables and lay them out when she decided to get herself a coffee.

As the kettle was boiling, Tammy said that she heard what she could only describe as furniture moving, but on a large and noisy scale.

She said that she instantly felt uneasy, frightened, wanting to get out as quickly as possible, but she also felt compelled to go back into the hall.

She said it just felt as if something was drawing her back there.

As she opened the double doors and walked into the hall, she was astounded by what she saw.

Every table which she'd set up had now been shoved against the stage at the far end.

She even admitted to walking down to the pile of tables and just standing there, trying to rationalize what had just happened, but there was no explanation.

Then a noise came from the kitchen, a crashing noise, as if plates and cups had been dropped on the floor.

Tammy said she ran back through the double doors, expecting to see a complete mess, but instead saw the outline of the same man that had appeared in the main hall.

Tammy recalls that the figure looked like it had its back to her this time, and there was no shimmering effect, and after a few seconds it disappeared.

There was not one cup, mug or plate had been smashed.

Nothing was out of place.

Tammy then said that she immediately left the building, locked the doors, and contacted Tom.

Upon his arrival, Tom was taken inside and Tammy led him into the hall and to the pile of tables.

She said that he helped her set everything up and then sat down with her with a coffee and listened intently to what had happened.

He then told her that this wasn't the first time that somebody had seen or heard something at the community center.

One council employee in particular, refused to ever set foot in the building again.

After coming out of the toilet and finding themselves face to face with the shadowy figure of a man standing by the exit door.

Two other people were brought in to operate the bar.

One evening swore that they heard voices while they were alone and cleaning down.

These voices seemed to be moving around the hall and the two bar staff left before finishing, instead choosing to come back the following morning to finish up.

I was so pleased that Tammy had shared her experiences with me, and I could fully understand the reasons behind neither her nor Tom deciding to tell me that the building that I was about to stop working in was haunted.

So many wouldn't believe that anyway, and to be honest, I don't think I would have either had I not seen what I had.

But where did that leave me?

Did I want to continue to work in this environment?

I decided to get in touch with Tom to have a chat.

I invited him around to my home, a more comfortable location where we could sit down and talk in confidence.

As we sat down, he seemed to have a feeling what was coming.

As I began to tell him what I'd seen and also the fact that I'd spoken to Tammy, Tom stopped me.

He said that he was sympathetic, knew exactly how I felt, and would totally understand if I wanted to leave the position.

Also said that nobody had ever come to harm because of the spirits that were inside the building, and that statement tripped me up.

Spirits I said, I thought there was only one the man in the suit.

No no, no, said Tom.

There are apparently two spirits.

Around five years ago, I was looking after a wedding reception, so it was going to be a late night.

The bar staff were in and the night went well.

As the last of the guests were leaving and we were tidying up, a woman approached me.

She was probably in her fifties, maybe early sixties anyway.

She asked if I was the manager.

I told her that the council owned and ran the building, and if she wanted to hire the hall, I could put her in touch with the relevant people, but she said that wasn't what she wanted.

Now, I must admit I've never seen anything at all.

I felt things dark and dreadful atmospheres, and I've even heard voices, but I've never seen anything.

Anyway, getting back to this woman, she told me that she was a medium, and as soon as she said that, I could feel my eyes wanting to roll.

But it was what she said that really caught me off guard.

She asked if anyone had ever seen a ghost in the building, to which I honestly answered yes.

She then said that there were two spirits.

One was a man dressed in a suit, probably from around the nineteen thirties, and she felt that he was something like a headmaster.

Now I knew that this was correct.

A head master had indeed died in the school in the nineteen thirties of a heart attack.

But then she went on to tell me about the second spirit, and this was quite disturbing.

She said that there was a very dark and oppressive atmosphere, an atmosphere that could take different forms, that could influence its surroundings.

But it wasn't something that was born from the passing of a person.

This atmosphere was brought into the hall.

By this time there was hardly anyone around, but I was so intrigued that I had to find out more.

How could this thing have been brought into the hall?

The medium said that it could have been attached to something like a piece of furniture, an item of jewelry, or a person.

Yet she felt that this spirit had been in the building for a long time.

Now, this made a lot of sense to me, the feelings of dark atmospheres.

But there was more.

We spoke a little further than she left.

Over the years that I've worked here, there have been so many people, counsel employees and members of the public that have seen a dark, shadowy figure, a shape, a mass, and while I've never actually seen anything, I believe I felt it.

Tom stopped there and said again that he understood if I wanted to leave the position, but to seriously consider us.

Nobody had ever come to any harm.

We chatted a little while longer before I finally put Tom out of his misery.

I told him that I wanted to stay in the job.

I genuinely enjoyed it, and in a strange way, it was exciting.

It was a few weeks before the next thing happened, but it wasn't me who would have the experience.

It was my husband.

The scenario couldn't have been more innocent.

Tammy had been looking after a party the previous evening, but went home without cleaning up due to sickness.

She gave me a call the following morning and told me about the situation, warning me that the hall in kitchen would need tidying up.

It looked like she got food poisoning and wouldn't be in for a while.

I was totally fine about this and reassured her that I would get in asap.

And get the place sorted at.

I drafted him my husband to help, much to his annoyance as he was planning to play golf, but he grudgingly he agreed to come with me and give me a hand.

We arrived at the hall at around eleven a m.

And I opened up and immediately put the kettle on to make us both a drink.

My husband went into the hall and started to tidy up the rubbish from the tables.

We made good progress, slowly but surely getting through the list of jobs.

I began to take the bin bags of rubbish out to the industrial bins outside while my husband carried on inside.

I shuttled the bags to the entrance, then moved them to the bins.

I was probably outside for a matter of a couple of minutes when my husband came out, looking very out of sorts.

He started to move the bags to the bin very quietly.

I asked if he was okay, and he just said yes, nothing else.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

I sped and held his hands and they were shaking.

I asked him again, are you sure you're okay?

He looked at me and paused, then said, I think I've just seen a ghost.

I was shocked, to say the least, but I knew that he was telling the truth.

If there was one thing that my husband wouldn't do, it's fabricate stories.

I asked him if he'd come back into the community hall, just into the kitchen and I'd make us a drink.

He agreed, but said that he didn't think he could go back into the main hall.

We had a coffee and he told me what had happened.

He said he could hear me moving the bim bags from the entrance, and so just carried on collapsing the tables down and stacking them up, ready to move them to the storage areas either side of the stage, when he heard footsteps coming from behind him, very definite, loud footsteps which moved from the stage area, passed my husband and went towards the double doors.

He said that he could literally track where the footsteps were going, they were that clear, and as they got to the doors, they stopped.

And that was when it appeared.

From nowhere, a black cloudlike mass began to take shape, the darkest black that my husband said he had ever seen.

Jeez, oh my god.

He said, it seemed to take form from everywhere quickly coming together to form the shape of a person in some sort of cloak or hood, similar to a monk.

It then moved from the doors, floating silently towards the stage, passing within a few feet of my husband, who was frightened, stiff, and glued to the spot.

My husband said he watched this black, cloudy mass get to the stage and then fade away.

It was then that he said he panicked and got outside as quickly as possible.

I asked sim if he felt comfortable enough to go back into the hall with me, we could both finish up sticking together and not letting each other out of our sights, and then we could leave.

I assured him that if he didn't want to, I could give Tom a call and ask him to come down.

My husband didn't want to disturb Tom and told me that each stay until we finished, but he wasn't to be left alone in that hall.

Whatever this thing was, it had really shaken him up and got to him.

Now.

I have to say straight away that there was no way that he could have known about any of the other incidents that Tom and I had spoken about.

He wasn't there, and I didn't speak to him about them, so he had no idea, but he just described what some of the other witnesses had seen, a black shadowy vigor.

This experience changed my husband.

It really affected him, worried him, made him think about things in life which he'd normally have just dismiss his own mortality.

For instance, he'd come back to the community hall on a regular basis to help me out if I needed it, but he refused to be left alone.

He simply admitted that he didn't ever want to repeat of the experience, and he got his wish.

He never saw anything else again.

It was a kind of strange setup because between Tammy, me and Tom, we'd just carry on, never really discussing any sightings or experiences we had.

Occasionally we'd briefly mention things, but we'd never have a full on conversation.

Things continue to happen to me though.

Noises such as footsteps were kind of regular thing, as well as doors opening and closing, voices, and cold atmospheres that could descend at any moment.

But one experience that I was involved with changed the life of one particular person forever.

He was on holiday, so Tom asked if I'd be interested in cleaning up after a panto that had been put on by the local amateur dramatics club.

I jumped at the chance, partly because it was a little more money, but mostly because I could watch the panto for free.

You have to get your priorities right.

The panto finished at around seven thirty pm, and on this particular evening, my husband wasn't available to pick me up as he was out at a function at the golf club.

He was a member of this club and had been for years.

This wasn't a problem at all, As I said, I was able to watch a panto for free and earn some extra money.

As it was the last evening of this production, there was a lot to pack away as far as stage sets and equipment were concerned.

I left this to the people who had put on the panto and just busied myself doing bits and pieces, waiting for them to leave so I could get chairs and things put away.

By around nine pm, I was alone and did the usual thing of locking myself inside and getting on with the job at hand.

I got up onto the stage and pulled the curtain back, exposing the large window on the back wall.

I pulled on the rope and opened it wide to let some fresh air into the hall.

Looking back at the hall from the stage, I could see that I still had lots to do.

No point hanging around, I thought.

Starting from the front of the stage, I began stacking the chairs and moving them back into storage using the sack truck.

I was around five or six rows in when I heard a noise coming from the storage area where I'd been taking the stacks of chairs.

I'd wedged both doors open either side of the stage, and the noise was definitely coming from the rooms to the left.

It sounded as if someone was trying to break in via the fire exit door.

I could see it shaking, so I shouted that I was going to call the police.

I'm caring the place.

The shaking stopped, but as I walked back into the hall, there was an almighty bang on the fire exit door.

Then another one, but this one sounded like it came from the front door.

This happened again, and I was getting more frightened and more spooked than ever.

It's one thing being afraid of the paranormal, but it's another being afraid of the threat from real people who was trying to get in.

I decided to call Tom.

The banging stopped, but Tom wasn't answering his phone.

I went to the front doors and unlocked them, fully expecting someone to be outside, but there wasn't anyone there.

The usual evening traffic was passing by and a few people were walking down the road, but nothing at all out of the ordinary.

But who was trying to get in through the fire exit.

Although it was dark outside, there was ample light from the street lights, and I was beginning to feel brave, so I went to walk to the back at the community hall to check out the fire exit door.

Then my phone rang.

It was Tom returning my call.

He apologized for missing my call and asked if everything was okay.

I told him what had happened, but I assured him that I was okay.

He asked if I wanted him to come down and help me finish up then drive me home, but I said that it was fine, I'd call a taxi.

I couldn't see anyone around by the fire exit, but I didn't go all the way around the back of the building.

I returned inside, locked myself in and kept my phone with me.

Now I need to set the scene for what was about to happen.

At the rear of the community building where the fire exit is located, is a walkway type barrier I'd say roughly twelve feet wide.

You can use this to walk all the way around the back of the building, returning to the opposite side and back to the front.

Along the length of this walkway is a fence.

Now, this fence was constructed of concrete posts with a standard six foot panel which sat on top of a gravel board, so the combined height would have been around seven feet.

At the back of this fence at the time was wasteland, but this has since been developed.

Many of the local news would gather there and well, do what youws do.

You got to know the various groups where they frequented, if they'd been in trouble with the police, that sort of thing, And I'd never personally had any problems with any of them.

However, they did have a habit of climbing the fence at the back of the community hall and using it as a shortcut to the main road.

So going back to me locking myself in the hall for the second time that evening, I was at the front of the hall.

I can't quite remember what I was doing, but a creaking noise drew my attention to the large window at the back of the stage.

As I focused on the window, trying to through the reflection of the hall coming back at me and outside, I caught a shape on top of the fence.

I began to walk towards the window, and as I got used to the reflection, I could see the figure a person perched on top of the fence.

It was one of the youngsters who would hang around on the wasteland.

I went back to the front of the hall and switched off the bank of lights on the stage, and this made things much clearer.

I walked back down towards the stage and was fully expecting him to jump off the fence and run, but instead he just stayed there, staring.

I shouted out something like if you don't move on, I'll call the place, but he stayed there, staring, with a look of complete terror on his face.

It was then that I realized that he wasn't staring at me, he was staring at something behind me.

I immediately got goosebumps and felt a terrible feeling of dread and fear wash over meling itself to me.

I turned around but saw nothing, but I definitely felt something.

I remembered what Tom had said about him picking up on very dark atmospheres in the building.

Was this the same dark, oppressive, ominous atmosphere.

I turned back to the window, and the young lad was still there, and he looked utterly petrified.

He dropped off the fence on to the walkway and ran towards the main road.

I'd had a really good look at him and thought I'd seen him around the area a few times.

He'd be easy to find, I thought.

I got up onto the stage and went over towards the window, pulled the rope and closed it up, then pulled the large curtain across.

Then the lights went out.

I stood on the stage, absolutely frozen, scared.

Then for a split second, I thought that maybe it was a power cut, And then I thought that it could be the youths playing a prank somehow, getting inside the building and switching off the lights.

But I'd have heard the doors open, and I knew they were locked.

What little light from the street lights barely made any difference, But I knew that I had to get off that stage and out of the building.

I still had my phone in my hand should I call Tom again or the police.

But before I could even raise my hand to make a call, a blue light appeared in the middle of the hall.

Very small at first, probably the size of a golf ball.

It was like an electrically charged ball of light.

That's the only way I can describe it.

I couldn't move again and watch as the light began to grow in size and get brighter and brighter.

It had to be around the size of a football, and it was illuminating the entire hall with this amazing blue light.

It also began to give off a type of pulsing sensation.

It's so difficult to describe, but it wasn't something that you heard, but more felt as if waves of energy were lightly hitting you, passing straight through your body, similar to how the ripples on a pond would spread out after a stone is dropped.

This ball of energy or electricity or whatever it was, grew to the size of a beach ball.

Then, as quick as a flash, it rocketed towards the double doors of the hall, passing straight through them.

The incredibly strange thing was was that when you went through the doors, they moved slightly, as if being influenced by the ball of light.

The hall went instantly dark.

Then a few seconds later all the strip lights began to flicker back to life, returning the building back to normal.

I had no idea what I'd just seen or experienced, no explanation for it, no reasoning for it.

I stood fixed to the spot for probably five or ten minutes, any my composure, but also working out what to do next.

I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to continue that evening, but should I call Tom and tell him what had happened.

I decided to phone him, and I told him that everything was fine, but I would finish up in the morning.

He said this was absolutely fine, but before I ended the call, I asked him if he'd meet me at the community center at nine a m.

The following morning to give me a hand.

Again, this wasn't a problem, so the call ended.

I gathered my things, made sure all the lights were off, locked everything up, and stood outside.

I'd called a taxi, and within around fifteen minutes I was back home.

I must admit that I didn't get much sleep that night at all.

So many questions were swirling around my head.

What had I seen in the hall was it the spirit of the Headmaster.

Was it the spirit of someone or something else?

Was I at risk of being harmed by it?

What would Tom think when I told him I was outside the community center at around eight forty five a m.

The following morning.

A few minutes later, Tom turned up and he unlocked the doors, and we both went inside to find all of the lights on and the double doors to the hall opened up.

I swore to Tom that I'd made sure all of the lights were off and everything was secure.

He assured me that he had no doubt that I was telling the truth.

It was then that I sat him down and told him what had gone on the previous evening, which was the real reason behind me finishing early.

Whilst he was shocked and concerned, I assured him that I was fine, a little shook up and in disbelief, but fine.

We both began to get to work and tidy up, and around an hour had gone by when there was a knock on the main front doors.

As usual, we'd locked ourselves inside, but that didn't stop us both from stopping in our tracks and staring at each other in silence.

I can remember one of us asking if we should answer the door.

Then another series of knocks rang out.

We both went to the main doors and unlocked them, and standing outside was a young teenager dressed in jogging bottoms and a hoodie, the same teenager that was on the fence the previous night.

After what had happened with the appearance of the blue light.

I had forgotten all about him, but he said that he was the one who I'd seen through the window and he wanted to talk to me in private.

He apologized several times for climbing the fence and running off, and said that he didn't mean to scare me or cause any harm.

We invited him inside the building and went to the kitchen and all sat down.

For the purposes of this story, we'll call this person Jamie.

He sat in silence for a short time, then asked again if we could talk in private.

He looked very uncomfortable and awkward, so I tried to reassure him that whatever he had to tell me it would be okay.

I also told him that Tom was a good friend and he wouldn't judge him at all.

Tom also told Jamie that anything he said would be in complete confidence.

Jamie then began to speak and what he told us, left me in complete shock.

He said that a few of his friends had been messing around on the waste land at the back of the building when they noticed the curtains being pulled back from the window at the back of the stage.

Jamie admitted that they were thinking of having a little fun at my expense by tapping on the window with a long stick.

It turns out that he was volunteered by his friends to play the prank, so he grabbed his stick and started to climb the fence.

He said that as he managed to get to the top and steady himself, he could clearly see me wandering around inside the hall, but dropped the stick before he could start.

There was a lot of hushed laughter from his friends, apparently, and he said that he was in hysterics himself until he looked back through the window.

He said that in front of the double doors at the opposite end of the hall, a dark, cloudy fog started to appear.

It began to take shape into what Jamie described as a shadow man, tall, taller than the double doors, wider than any adult he'd ever seen.

There were no distinct features to this figure, such as a face or hands, it was just a large, dark, smoky, foggy figure.

Jamie said that he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and his friends were asking what was wrong, but he didn't answer them.

He just continued to watch this frightening shadow figure.

He said that it began to move slowly towards the stage and me, But Jamie said that I didn't seem to be aware of what was behind me.

Instead, I was more concerned about who was on the fence outside.

He said that he saw me walk towards the double doors, and the shadow figure moved to the side and then followed me.

I then switched off the lights on the stage and walked back towards the window, and Jamie said that the figure continued to follow behind me.

He said that as I stood there again, staring out of the window at him, the figure began to grow behind me.

It got taller, wider, darker, until it was so large that Jamie thought it would completely swallow me, which was when he panicked and dropped from the fence and ran.

He was adamant that what he saw was real, but I never saw anything yet I truly believed what he was saying.

Why would he have come back to the hall to speak to me specifically.

Why did he run away that evening?

Why did he have a look of complete terror on his face as he watched this shadow figure move around the hall.

I told Jamie about what I'd seen after he dropped from the fence and ran, and he was gobsmacked.

But what have we both encountered?

A few weeks went by and things still happened.

Mugs and cups would move, noises and voices would be heard on a regular basis.

It was as if the activity was somehow ramping up in frequency, but what was causing it?

I even felt the sensation of something breathing down my ear one morning, and that wasn't a pleasant experience at all.

I can remember it like it was yesterday, and me telling whatever it was to leave me alone, leave me alone.

It was after this incident that a chance meeting took place in the local supermarket.

I say chance meeting, but something influenced it.

I'm one hundred percent certain of that now.

As I was wandering around the various aisles, I kept noticing a woman loosely following me around the door.

She looked in her sixties, beginning to ring any bells.

Yet as I left the supermarket, she followed me outside and called out to me, excuse me, she said.

I stopped and turned around.

She asked if I was the caretaker at the community center, and I confirmed that I was.

She then asked if the other man who worked there had seen anything yet I assumed she meant Tom.

I asked who she was talking about and what she meant.

She said she was a medium who'd been at a party a few years ago and she'd had a conversation with the man who was looking after the building at the time.

Ever since that night, whenever she was in town, she would simply walk past the building and feel the evil inside her words.

So this was the medium that Tom had spoken about.

She asked if we could go somewhere to talk, and while I agreed to go to a coffee shop with her, I have to admit that I had my doubts about her being a medium, being able to see and contact the other side.

It wasn't something that I attributed any level of authenticity to.

As we sat there sipping our coffee, she said that she knew I'd had experiences.

She could feel it, and she also said that the dark spirit which brought fear to the building, had made itself known to me.

This was certainly true, but I hadn't actually seen it, But I had seen that strange blue light.

The medium who will call Kelly said that the blue light was the energy of a spirit who was trapped in the building, the man in the suit the headmaster, and he couldn't move on until the dark spirit, or the elemental as she started calling it, was either calmed down or banished completely.

She asked if she could come along to the community Hall at the quickest available moment to help bring peace to the building and the spirits within.

Now many would have thought me mad for even considering this, but many people would have thought me mad for admitting to what I'd seen too.

But for some out of this world reason, I agreed to take her to the hall, but only if Tom agreed to let her inside.

I called Tom there and then and explained that I was having a coffee with his medium friend who he'd met a few years ago.

As soon as I mentioned her, he remembered and amazingly agreed to let her inside the building, but only on one condition that he was there as well.

He didn't want a situation on his hands, which could get back to any council workers and landers in Trumple whatever this medium was going to do.

Tom was sure that no employee of the local council would believe, let alone agree to let this strange woman inside the town's community center to calm and cleanse the building of its resident spirits.

Even typing this now makes me understand reactions from skeptics, but that's exactly what I was before all of this.

Kelly said she needed a few things from home which would help with the cleansing ritual which she was going to perform in the hall, So the three of us agreed to meet up the following morning at nine am.

When she mentioned the word ritual, I did seriously have doubts about letting her back inside the building.

What if what she was going to do made the whole situation worse.

My husband thought I was mad when I told him what we were going to do the next day.

Hearing advice from him like you don't know what you're messing around with was certainly strange to hear, but he was correct.

I personally had no clue what was going to happen.

I got to the community center at around eight forty five am the next morning, and as I was the first one there, I opened up.

But as I put the key into the lock to unlock the door, it suddenly swung open.

It was Tom, but there seemed to be something wrong, something off.

He gave me an envelope and said that due to cuts, the council were letting me go with immediate effect.

I was stunned, completely side swaped.

What had I done?

Was there an explanation?

Was it to do with what I'd organized with Kelly?

He didn't explain, just asked for my set of keys.

This was not the polite, good natured, kind in caring Tom that I knew from my time working at the community center.

This was someone else.

It just didn't make sense.

I asked if I could come inside to at least talk about the situation, but he refused, saying that he'd been told not to let me into the building.

Then I heard a voice from inside, a female voice, the voice of Kelly.

Lock the door, come back inside.

I asked what was going on, but got the coldest stare I'd ever seen from Tom, and with that he closed the door.

I immediately went back home, completely lost for words, but also very very frightened.

Something way beyond my understanding was going on here, and there was no way that I was going to kick the hornet's nest and make things worse.

There was one thing I was going to do, however, called Tammy quickly.

I opened the letter which Tom had given to me, and everything looked official.

It was even signed by the person who interviewed me.

I called Tammy and she picked up the phone.

She sounded as normal as always, so I began to tell her what had happened.

She said that she'd also received a letter in the post that very morning, explaining that she'd been let go because of budgetary reasons, that internal sources were being assigned the duties that we used to take care of, and she was to return her set of keys at the quickest convenient moment.

She also said that whatever was going on, it must have been planned weeks previously, because her working hours were slowly but surely dropping off, and she had no idea why, but didn't take too much notice.

I had to admit that my hours had also been slowly reducing, but as Tammy pointed out, you just don't think too much of it.

After all, we were only part time anyway, and that is where the story ends, sudden and with no explanation.

I would continue to see Tom around town every now and then, but there was never conversation, just quick acknowledgment.

I kept in touch with Tammy for a while, but even that slowly eroded away over time.

My husband was the only one person who felt the same way as I did that there was some sort of ulterior motive behind what had happened, a darker, more sinister reason, but something that will never find out.

It sounded like an episode of The X Files unfolding in a small town in the north of England, and I can fully understand many people simply turning their backs and rubbishing this whole story.

But it happened.

Not long after all of this took place, we both decided the change was what we both needed, big change, so we sold up and moved to the Devonshire Coast and fully embraced retirement.

I have to say that we're both loving life, tending to our garden, going on walks and getting involved with the local community, a far cry from the life that we were embroiled in back up north.

I'm also happy to say that I've had no other strange, paranormal or supernatural experiences since moving, and neither my husband nor myself are in any rush to have any repeats of what went on years ago.

It's here in my little conservatory that I listened to your podcast, and it's here where I decided to tell you my story.

Whether it's believed or not is of no concern to me.

I'm just happy to have finally shared it.

Keep up the great work.

All the very best, Jan Well.

First of all, I have to thank Jan for her incredible bravery for sending in her story to the show.

As with every story we receive from our listeners, we're so humbled and grateful that you have the confidence in us to be able to share your experiences.

As with the wishes of Jan, all sensitive information such as names and places have either been changed or left out entirely because, as Jan put it, there's no point kicking the hornets nest.

So what happened here?

What exactly was inside that building?

And why did the medium, if that's what he really was, have such a vested interest in it?

I do have one theory.

It's a little out there, but here goes was the dark spirit inside the community Hall something which had been summoned by some sort of Dare I say it a cult type ritual performed by a select group of people, maybe even involving a number of council officials?

Has the medium been involved all along?

Tom had mentioned his first meeting with her back at the wedding reception, But was this just to keep Jan calm and quiet after the incident with the shadow figure seen by the teenager?

Had things become too complicated?

It seemed that as the experiences and witnesses slowly racked up, the decision to pull the plug, so to speak, and bring things back under control was triggered.

But for what purpose?

As with many elements and threads of the paranormal and this story, we'll probably never know.

But I do think Jan did the right thing, stayed away, didn't kick that hornet's nest, because who knows what could have happened.

So all that is left to say is that it's over to you.

What do you think happened?

What theories do you have?

And have you experienced anything like this before?

If you have, or you somehow recognize the places in this story where these events happened, and you want to share your experiences then get in touch with the show.

Were you ever in that community center?

Did you sense evil spirits more than any kind of community spirit?

Did you ever see the hooded figure by stacked chairs and collapsed tables, see a mysterious ball of blue light float through the serving hatch?

Ever banned from the premises because you were getting maybe too close to the truth.

If so, we want to hear from you, because the next person to feature in a dedicated Listener episode could be you.

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