A GHOST STORY

I know that it is the custom to tell ghostly tales on the eve of All Hallows but I have a true story to tell you and it happened to me thirty seven yeears ago this very night. I was living in Coventry at the time and attending Drama School there. I had always had an interest in the paranormal, the sort of interest that comes from spending most of my childhood living in a very haunted house. I had struck up a friendship with a couple of girls of around my own age and very quickly became even firmer friends with the parents of one of these,I was just nineteen , had been married only four months and had never been away from home before ,these two splendid people, we shall call them Dora and Eric adopted me and their kindness warms my heart still although they have both been dead for many years. On one of our visits to their house the subject of ghosts was raised and Dora said that if there were any sceptics in the place she would cure them in a single night, and so it was the two weeks later on the twenty third of October 1973 a party of us set out for the village of Kineton in Warwickshir
The party consisted of Dora and Eric and their daughter Amy, my husband and myself, another girl called Nina,a sixteen year old boy named Sam and two very small,very cute little dogs. We were to witness the spectral re-enactment if the English Civil War battle of Edge hill., what we actually saw was more dreadful and harrowing than even the battle,it was the terrible aftermath that we were to see,and God help us,hear.

We were in high spirits has we set off squashed like sardines in a large ancient motor car which rattled even more loudly than we did as we bowled along,We arrived at our destination and unravelled our selves from the tangle of limbs and dog leads that the journey had made of us and piled giggling into a quaint old pub to fortify ourselves with a drink to keep out the chill before we set off. The youngest member of our party, Sam was vociferous about not being allowed to have any alcohol and fidgeted even more than the dogs,I used to say that there was nothing wrong with him that a few years would not cure and I was right but for now he was a noisy distraction and we all wished we had left him behind.
Fortified with our round of drinks we set off into the dark lane and made our way to the place where the action was said to take place,still chatting cheerfully amongst ourselves but also a little nervous behind the laughter. We were heading down a hill on a small country road and as we reached the valley floor a cold mist began to gather so quickly that in a matter of moments we could barely see each other and were obliged to hold hands to keep together. The actual site of the battle was now occupied by an army base and we knew that we would be unable to enter but Dora assured us that it would not matter. The cold became piercing and the mist seemed wetter than rain as we walked on. Our talk became disjointed as one by one we came under the influence of our surroundings,but as we became silent the dogs began to whimper and whine continuously,constantly straining against further progress and at last we were forced to carry the poor things in order to go on

All at once a violent explosion came from a short distance away and the thick mist shook with the sound,we giggled a little and Sam said that it was probably a firework., we were glad to agree,Then we began to see lights all around us and by now the dogs were frantic. I had seen this behaviour in animals before, as a child I had seen dogs act so in certain parts of our house and I knew what it meant, Nina was scared to death and did not want to go on so I went back with her and the dogs while the others walked off into the mist. Over the years I have often wished with all my heart that I had gone with them, because as it happened we got the worst of it, but it,s no use wishing and the memory of what happened next still haunts my dreams . We reached a bend in the road and waited for the others to return and now the noises began,horses hooves thudding upon turf and the jingle of harness unmistakable and coming straight at us in the dark. We had no Idea which way to run as the sound was all around us and were amazed when the sound of hoof beats began to fade,they had passed right through us and we had seen nothing, We walked on a little and stood in a gravel lay by and then................more hoof beats and much worse the shouting and the groans of dying men and worse than all the continuous screaming of dying horses all around us tearing into our very souls, and still we saw nothing. Now and then a shot would hiss through the mist, perhaps some ghostly soldier putting a horse out of it,s pain. It seemed to go on for ever Nina and I clung to each other with the dogs between us, we just closed our eyes now and prayed for the others to return. After several ages had passed we heard the others coming towards us and the other sounds ceased. They too had heard strange noises close by, so close that even in the mist the people and animals making the noise should have been visible,but they were not. They had been spared the dying horses,lucky devils`
We were all pretty badly shaken I had grown up with several resident ghosts and had previously considered myself bomb proof, it was chastening to discover that this was not the case.
Just as we had decided to head back to the car we all saw three figures approaching us from the lane, they were dressed as King's men and certainly looked the worse for wear,particularly the middle one who seemed drunk. Of course we began to laugh a little ,so sure that these were just people in fancy dress out for a lark to scare a few ghost hunters.............until we realised that they were walking on thick gravel...and making no noise at all, they walked on and dissolved in to the mist We had all had quite enough but there was more to come,as we rounded the bend we all saw dozens of tiny lights like candles flickering in the darkness and as the mist began to clear it was plain that these lights were unaccompanied. Dora told us that we were looking at a mass grave where unclaimed bodies were burred after the battle.

I could not get warm that night hot drinks and hot water bottles were of no use an I shivered until morning. Next day we at last began to talk about what had happened and Dora told us that she had seen it all before during the second world war when she had been stationed in the area,and she was right ,after that night every one there would swear to the existence of ghosts for the rest of their lives and even those of us who needed no convincing would shudder at the remembrance,For my self the dying screams of those horses re-echoing down the centuries still lives with me and on this night each year I have never been able to sleep, and I suppose now I never shall.