A ghost lived under my bed
Julie Cook, 43 from Southampton
Slipping my notes into my folder, I stashed it carefully under the bed before pulling the duvet over me. I was writing a book about the Titanic and that fatal maiden voyage in 1912 in which more than 1,500 people lost their lives. I’d read my notes last thing at night to get ideas for chapters and research gathering, then slide them under my bed in a folder before I went to sleep.
My great-grandad Will died on Titanic – leaving my great-grandma to raise five children on her own with no breadwinner – so it was a very personal project to me.
But then something began happening.
One night the bed started rocking. ‘Stop doing that, I’m trying to get to sleep,’ I snapped at my husband.
‘I’m not doing anything,’ he protested.
‘Yes you are, you’re wriggling and it’s shaking the bed,’ I replied.
He swore that he wasn’t doing anything, but the bed kept rocking. In the end, I kicked him out to sleep on the sofa.
But the next night, the same thing happened – and my husband Cornel wasn’t there. It was as if someone was rocking the bed to rouse me.
I told myself I was just imagining it, tried to stay calm, but it spooked me. And after that, it kept happening, again and again.
Ghostly voice
Then one night, as it happened and I woke in terror, I heard a voice say, ‘You know who I am and what I am trying to tell you.’
At the time I’d been researching a young man who had died on Titanic and had been found with a love letter in his pocket from a girlfriend. I felt sure it was him.
Next day I moved my notes from under my bed, stashing them away downstairs, by my computer instead.
The next night I slept soundly! The minute I moved the notes, the bed rocking and waking in terror stopped.
I feel sure that keeping the memories and words of people who lost their lives on the Titanic under my bed brought their sorrow, despair and longing out and brought them into my room.
My book is now out and contains the story of the young man who died too soon. He was obviously very keen for me to tell his story, and I hope he’s found some peace now.
The Titanic And The City of Widows It Left Behind by Julie Cook is available from waterstones. com, £19.99
The bed started rocking