THE LITTLE GHOST BOY IN THE BASEMENT

* As told by Jo

The ‘Ghost-Busting’ and paranormal investigation team arrived at around 7 PM at our old shop as pre-arranged. The group’s leader was a tall, striking woman who was a renowned clairvoyant and medium, and the rest of her group was made up of her two sisters, and six other women of varying ages. All the members of the team had varying levels of abilities and sensitivities and all had had paranormal experiences throughout their lives.

The group walked quietly through the entire shopfront and back building while my husband Robin and I told them of the twenty or so experiences of both ourselves and our staff members, particularly over recent months.  As we moved through the building we pointed out where the incidences had taken place.
Stopping at the stairwell leading to the basement, the group leader told us that she sensed a little boy around us.  We told her then that the child of one of our regular customers had said that he’d seen a little boy crying in a corner just a few weeks earlier.

Moving to another section of the large old store, the group leader began speaking of an elderly lady sitting by a tiny table with a very old-fashioned sewing machine in front of her.  She was hunched over the machine, intently trying to thread a needle that wasn’t there.

I felt the hairs on my arms and the back of my nick prick up instantly.  There was something about the description of the old lady with the sewing machine that seemed familiar somehow, but I just couldn’t place it.  I tried to put it out of my mind as we continued on towards the back store rooms.

One of the team leader's sisters (the younger of the two) had gotten ahead of us a bit, and turned back to call to the rest of us following behind.  She stopped mid-sentenced and stood stock-still staring at something above our heads.  We all instinctively looked up, but personally, I could see nothing.  A couple of the group members murmured and whispered between themselves.  The temperature in the room had dropped dramatically and a cold breeze seemed to waft around us ... almost through us it seemed.

In a moment or so (although it felt like an age) the temperature returned to normal and the leader began moving forward again on her quest to seek out any lurking spirits and ghosts.

Coming back towards the basement stairwell, the group leader and both her sisters immediately sensed the little boy she had encountered earlier.  As we gathered around the top of the stairs, a couple of others in the group were able to sense him as well.  One of the ladies proceeded down the stairs into the darkened basement, while the team leader lead us off towards the old kitchen area, where she was immediately drawn towards the large walk-in pantry.

She glanced across at another of the group members and nodded to her subtley.  The younger woman opened the door to the pantry and walked in, closing the door behind her.  The rest of us stood there looking on until the group leader motioned us towards the hallway leading back to the front of the store.
It was round about time for my husband Robin and I to head home and leave the team to do their job.  I didn’t envy them at all they night’s stay in our big old shop.

The following morning Robin and I returned to meet up with the paranormal group back at our shop.  They’d all survived the night it seemed.  Over hot coffees and hot rolls that Robin and I brought along with us, the team leader and her group told us of their adventures during the night, and of the (expected) results.

As it turned out, the little ghost boy in the basement had been the son of a previous owner, who had misbehaved and had been put in the basement on his own as punishment, by his father – the shopkeeper of the time.  The little boy had become bored very quickly so had began snooping amongst the old boxes and crates strewn throughout the basement.  According to the psychics amongst the group, the little boy had been playing in a big old wooden tea chest, when the heavy lid had fallen, sealing the poor boy in the box.  He’d tried and tried to push open the heavy crate lid, but he was no match for it’s over-powering weight and density.  The boy called and called, but his father was upstairs manning the store and too busy with customers to hear the distressed young child.

In time, the little boy must have nodded off to sleep in the big wooden box ... and that was the last thing he remembered.

The group assured me that the little boy had ‘gone to the light’ and was met by his mother and father, who had been waiting for him on the Other Side for a long, long time.

The identity of the old lady by the sewing machine hadn’t been established, but I was also assured that her spirit had moved on and she would no longer spend her eternal time attempting to thread a needle that didn’t exist.

According to one of the group members, the ghost-lady in the pantry had been a serving girl and kitchen-hand back in the days when the railroad came through and the passengers from the nearby station would come in for scones and tea before catching the next train out.

The group leader spoke of another two ghosts or entities that had presented to them during the night, and told us that collectively, all of the ghosts or spirits had now left the building and would not be returning.
Robin and I only hoped that she was right.

... two years on and we are about to sell our business to finally retire.  We haven’t had any disturbances and nothing unusual in the shop or basement since the paranormal team’s visit  -  and I just hope it stays that way for the new owners.

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