Strange goings on here, too...

I read with interest your recent article on the Electric Lady Tattoo Parlour (‘Objects ‘fly across room’ of haunted Chichester shop’, Observer online) and as such would like to offer one or two comments.

I live in a house in Chichester which dates from around 1860. I have had very similar experiences to those detailed in the article.

Everything started in 2011/12 when we obtained and subsequently proceeded to gut and refurbish the house. The first thing was the drops of water which fell out of absolutely nowhere. This phenomenon commenced when I started knocking internal walls and chimney breasts down.

There were no water pipes in the building, yet these drops of water started to land on or near me on a regular basis. They invariably tasted salty and seem to be of a fairly consistent size.

It is well worth Googling ‘drops of water from nowhere’ but the general consensus is that they are caused by spirits with the primary intention of letting you know that they are there, attention seeking as it were.

The activity was at its most prolific during the building works and gradually petered off after the completion thereof.

Things do still go on from time to time but it would generally appear that our other-worldly fellow occupants are now content with what we have done.

I strongly suspect that they are adverse to change and prefer things to remain as they were when they were fully alive as per our understanding of being

alive.

We have had photos and other objects come off of shelves and land quite some distance away in the middle of the floor, totally in defiance of the basic laws of gravity.

These days all we tend to get is electrical appliances turning on by themselves or just doing strange and inexplicable things, in short going haywire, but not that often, touch wood.

Spirits do seem to like playing around with televisions in particular for some reason. I cannot possibly list all of the things which I have witnessed but I just wanted to reassure those girls in the shop that they are not imagining things or going mad, indeed such occurrences are quite common in old buildings with a lot of history.

I spend a fair amount of my time working in a wellknown Chichester building which dates from the 1700s, and I can vouch that very strange things have been known to go on there too.

Finally, I firmly believe that spirits of this sort do not intend any harm but just want us to know that they are there. I genuinely do not believe that they are to be feared, however I think that is most important to treat them with respect.

After all, they were most likely here a long time before we were. I also firmly believe that when we stop doubting or denying them, they acknowledge our acceptance and will be far more inclined to leave us alone and exist quietly alongside us in harmony.

STEVE HAWKINS Florence Road, Chichester