The Voice from Beyond
By Ian S. Richardson
Editor's note: Contributor Ian S. Richardson, whose story "A Ghost Story in Time" appeared on Heart of Hollywood Magazine earlier this month, returns with a memory from his own childhood: the day an unseen voice warned him of danger on a country lane near Brankstone Estate. It is published in the author's own words, with light corrections to spelling and punctuation.
[PHOTO TO INSERT: author photo (DSCI3119.JPG). Caption: Author Ian S. Richardson. Photo courtesy of Ian S. Richardson]
When I was very young, we lived in a large house where my mum was a staff member. It looked more like a castle. I have various memories of things inside: at the main stairway stood two full-size knights in armour, which always made me feel uneasy, and there were passageways that ran between our rooms.
On this bright and sunny day, I left the house and made my way through a wooded area towards the cottages of the foresters, who looked after the trees and so on. I reached the country lane and started to walk towards the cottages. I was approaching one of those large wooden farm gates that gave farmers entrance to the fields, held in place by two large wooden posts.
I was close to the first post when an unseen voice spoke to me clearly. It said, "The moment you cross the gate, the person or something will come running towards you, and he or it will murder you."
Now, can you imagine this at the age of four? Anyway, I stopped and carefully decided to look round the large wooden post, and there before my eyes was someone or something in human form with its back to me. It was also completely dressed in black.
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I could see the foresters' cottages not far away, so I decided to count to ten and run as fast as I could towards them. The moment I appeared to cross the gate, just as the unseen voice had said, this figure all in black turned round, threw something on the ground and began running towards me. Even in those mini seconds, I could sense evil and hate in its eyes. But I was also running as fast as I could.
I got to the cottages and told the people, and they in turn sent someone or more out to search, but to this day I was never told, nor heard, whether they found anyone or something else. I do not know if the police were told. My mother, if she knew, never spoke about this to me either. I can only assume it was because of my age, and that no one wanted to frighten me more.
Now here I am as an adult, living to tell you how a real-life spoken voice saved me that day from being murdered at the hands of a monster, human or otherwise. So heaven be praised for that unseen voice that spoke so clearly to me. If I had not taken it seriously, I now realize I would not be sitting here typing this real-life story to you.
P.S. This very large house may still be standing in its grounds, but I believe it changed hands a number of times. It was then known as Brankstone Estate.
Ian S. Richardson
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