Supplied by Richard Naseby of Barnard Castle for the Spirit Murmurs programme.
Richard, a resident of Barnard Castle, came forward with this chilling tale which occurred in 1982. At the time, Richard was living in 6, Vere Road with his grandmother whom he simply called Nana, and their dog Wilbur. He was a young man at the time and not prone to hysterics, not by a long chalk. But, one bright moonlit evening he began to question his own resolve. Richard had retired to bed just before midnight. Nana was already asleep in the next room with Wilbur the dog plonked on the landing outside her door where he always slept.
All was still and calm, much like any other night and Richard was drifting off to sleep when he was shocked to his senses by a noise. A creak from the bottom of the stairs. During the day he wouldn't have even picked up on it, but it was night time - when all sounds seem to be amplified ten fold - so he was quite alarmed. Richard knew for sure Nana was in bed and he was the only other person in the house. What seemed to be an age of puzzlement (but was really only a matter of seconds) passed and he put the creak down to the house settling. Until it came again. And again. And again. Creaks from the stairs were growing louder as though someone, or something, was walking up the stairs.
Any hope it was simply Wilbur the dog were taken from his mind as Wilbur's whimpering from outside the room next door were audible too. Richard says he's not faint hearted, but at that moment he was frozen with fear.
The handle on his bedroom door was brass, old and dented in places, so it was easy to see if the thing moved - which it did. Slowly, the handle turned to - just before - the point it would open the door, then snapped back. Hardly daring to breath, Richard tried to take in everything that had happened and listened hard for any further noises. None came, and after a few more minutes Richard scolded himself for his over active imagination. He was being silly and his senses were muddled by being half asleep. Nothing more. Feeling a tad embarrassed, he tried to go back to sleep, which he eventually did.
Morning came and Richard remembered the event like one would a dream, because after all, that's exactly what it had been. Hadn't it?
On entering the kitchen he greeted Nana who was preparing breakfast. She didn't answer. A moment or two later Richard sensed the old lady was not herself and asked if she'd had a bad night's sleep or something. She glared at him. Angry and afraid, she told him she had tried to call for him in the night but words had failed her. For Nana too had had an experience, but hers was all the more terrifying.
She had been awoken, at around midnight, by the sudden terrible feeling she was not alone. With bulging eyes, in the moonlit room, she saw the figure of a man stood at the foot of her bed. She instantly knew it was not her grandson. The figure was indeed male, but it was not living as she could see right through it and saw her wardrobe, chest of drawers and other bedroom features through the thing. Fear gripped her heart seeming to choke the breath out of her because she had none in her lungs to scream out for Richard. It seemed to sense that she could see it and turned to face her. It stepped briskly, but silently, towards her. In a croaked whisper, the feisty old lady thought of her beloved grandson's safety and offered herself to it instead. She told the thing 'If you want me come and get me!' This brave response must have had some effect on the entity as it promptly turned and stepped out of the room through the closed door.
Nana lay awake all night, still unable to scream, but thankfully the thing did not return.
This was the only supernatural experience Richard and Nan had to endure in the entire time they lived at that address. They don't know the full history of the property, but had heard a rumour that a previous tenant had died there. Other than that they have no explanation for the events of that spine chilling night.
