Free Ghosts at Christmas by Darren W. Ritson

evening, a young teenage servant girl was in her room when a thundering series of knocks were beaten upon her door. Thinking that someone was there, she ventured over to the door and opened it, but found that there was no one around. As she peered around the corner she was shocked to see that a candlestick that had been placed on a shelf along the corridor was hurtling towards her. She moved out of the way and the candlestick narrowly missed her head. Upon checking the area to see if anyone was there, she again found no one. This, by all accounts, was the start of the paranormal incidences within the walls of the Emlyn Arms.
    A neighbour going by the name of Mrs Jenkins was walking past the property one night on her way home when she heard tremendously loud screaming coming from within. She and her niece, made their way over to the pub to see what was happening and, upon entering the inn, saw many household objects flying around of their own accord. She contacted her husband, who was the village policeman, and he arrived some time later to lend his assistance. He was a no-nonsense type of chap and so ventured forth straight into the now empty pub to apprehend the intruder responsible for the commotion. He admitted he could feel an ‘eerie presence’, but ventured into the house nonetheless.
    The policeman heard the sound of padding feet shuffling across the upper landing and so made his way upstairs to see who it was. Being sure he would catch the burglar in the act, he pounced round the corner – to find no one there. As he did so, he was attacked by an invisible assailant who threw glass bottles at him. The bottles smashed around him yet he could see no one actually throwing them.
    Still convinced there was a burglar in the house, he made his way into the bedroom and looked under the bed. He found no one there. Suddenly, a vase came from nowhere and smashed right next to his head. By now half the village had gathered downstairs in the living area. They were all dumbstruck to see household objects being moved around and thrown about without any human assistance. It was a truly spectacular sight.
    Mrs Meredith and the rest of the inn’s residents had now decided that enough was enough and left the pub to stay with friends. The next day they all returned to the inn, whereupon the strange activity began once more. PC Jenkins, assisted by the villagers, formed a tight circle (like a cordon) around the inn to stop any intruder from escaping. However, no one was captured – for the simple reason that there was no one inside the inn causing the mayhem. PC Jenkins, and everyone else for that matter, was forced to conclude that the strange events at the Emlyn Arms were down to ‘unexplained means’.
    Not long after Christmas 1909, the disturbances that had plagued the pub for a week, ceased just as abruptly as it had begun.

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C HRISTMAS I NVESTIGATIONS
    The following chapter contains previously unpublished investigation reports from the personal files of the author Darren W. Ritson.
A N OT S O S ILENT N IGHT : D OXFORD H OUSE C HRISTMAS I NVESTIGATIONS 2008 – P ART O NE
    Doxford House is a magnificent privately owned stately home in the Silksworth area of Sunderland and on Saturday, 1 December 2008 it belonged to GHOST (Ghost and Hauntings Overnight Surveillance Team). Situated on land known as ‘Silksworth manorial lands’, which was once owned by a family named Robinson, Doxford House is a spectacular eighteenth-century mansion built by William Johnson between 1775 and 1780. It is said that the land it was built on was separated from Silksworth manorial lands’ main estate sometime before the 1600s and, more interestingly, a medieval chapel is said to lie under the ground at the side of this beautiful mansion.
    A Mr H. Hopper of Durham acquired the house after William Johnson’s death in 1792; he was the family lawyer and a good friend of William Johnson. Mr Hopper subsequently left it to hisnephew, Thomas Hopper.