So, did you enjoy the first episode of Phil Rickman’s Midwinter of the Spirit? I did, although I watched from behind the dog. Parts of the book scared me silly and the same parts of the TV adaptation did too!
In episode one Huw, Merrily’s deliverance mentor played by the wonderful David Threlfall, explained his theory of ghosts – they’re an imprint; something of the person stays in a place where they have experienced great emotion.
Have you had any experiences of the supernatural, or had anything happen to you that you simply can’t explain?
In my writer’s bio it says I share my house with a ghost called Zoe. It’s only half a joke. We’ve had one or two unexplained things happen here. I’m positive I’ve heard someone running along the landing when I’ve been alone in the house – or was it a crow or jackdaw stomping about on the roof? Objects have been moved around when no one claims to have done it. Perhaps we were just being absent minded? The oddest thing was when a window opened apparently by itself. I live in a converted hop kiln which has weird nooks and crannies. I’d noticed it was cold upstairs for a while. It was only when I walked back from posting a letter and looked up that I saw a window wide open. There’s no way of getting to this particular window without using a loft ladder. Had the catch loosened and the wind caught it? Or had something or someone else opened it?
Even stranger perhaps is that since we’ve had the dogs, nothing inexplicable has happened. After a series of strange phone calls from a man asking for Zoe and insisting he had the right number for her – he even claimed he was her doctor and had test results! – we named our ‘guest’ Zoe. She’s a very benign presence, although mischievous on occasions and obviously isn’t keen on spaniels.
Maybe I had Zoe in mind when writing Hetty in While I Was Waiting. She appears as Henrietta Trenchard-Lewis as a young girl, as a young widow in World War 1 and as an old woman living in Clematis Cottage. Something profound happens there because her spirit lingers. She tries to guide Rachel against making the same mistakes she did. A benevolent ghost – or imprint, if you will.
I’ll be tuning in for the second episode of Midwinter (with dog at the ready to hide behind) but something tells me the spirits in this particular drama are not of the kindly type!
Let me know your spooky experiences – I’d love to hear them!
Love,
Georgia x