New Supernatural Stories by Lionel Fanthorpe & Patricia Fanthorpe

Author:Lionel Fanthorpe & Patricia Fanthorpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Supernatural, Horror, Strange, Weird, Eerie
Publisher: PS Publishing
Published: 2023-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

THE POLTERGEIST PERIL

THE REVEREND MICHAEL Newton was trying hard to get used to the idea of being a parish priest instead of a curate. He was sitting in his study in the huge old rectory barely thirty yards from his church, the church of St. Vincent Ferrer, in the parish of Kingsworth in Norfolk, where Michael was the new rector.

His sheet of sermon notes lay on the broad old oak desk in front of him. As the basis of his sermon, he was thinking of how Christ had raised Lazarus from the dead, and linking that with the strange story of how his church’s patron saint had reputedly performed a similar miracle in the 14th century, when he brought a dead man back to life in his church in Valencia, in Spain.

Michael’s housekeeper, Mrs. Rosemary Simmons, entered with a tray of coffee and biscuits. In the few days that he had been rector, he had become more and more appreciative of her. The huge old rectory required a great deal of cleaning work, and she kept it immaculate. He enjoyed three nutritious meals a day, with coffee and biscuits strategically placed between them. Michael was a caring and observant priest, and as Mrs. Simmons put the tray down, he noticed that she looked troubled.

“Is everything all right?” he asked gently. “You look worried.”

“I’ve been housekeeper here for over thirty years,” she answered quietly. “And there are strange things in this old rectory.”

“Strange things?” asked Michael, sympathetically.

“Yes, sir, things that ought not to happen; odd, unnatural things.”

“And has something like that happened recently?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.” She paused. “I noticed it when I got back to the kitchen a few minutes ago, after I’d finished clearing the breakfast room.”

“What was it?” asked Michael supportively.

“One of the big old kitchen chairs had moved across from its normal place by the table—right over to the other side of the room.”

“I’ll come and have a look at it with you,” said Michael sensitively.

“Thank you, sir, I’d really appreciate that.”

He followed the housekeeper into the kitchen, and saw at a glance what she meant. The kitchen table was placed with one side close to the north wall, leaving space for three big, old, traditional, wooden kitchen chairs next to each of the other three sides. Two were in their normal places. The third was several feet away, on the far side of the kitchen.

Michael picked it up and carried it back to its usual place.

He motioned to Mrs. Simmons to sit at the table with him.

“When I was in college a few years ago, there was one very old dormitory where students had lived-in at college in the past, and which was still used if there were late evening lectures. There were very odd, inexplicable things in that room sometimes—beds would move, wardrobes would move.” He pointed to the chair that he had just replaced. “Things like that.” He paused. “The college principal gave a talk on it one day, because some of the students were getting seriously worried and frightened.

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