A ghostly encounter in Suffolk

Who doesn’t like a ghost story at Christmas? Alan Graham’s excellent story in OBM439 reminded me of another ghostly tale told to me and other members of the Swaffham motorcycle gang in our usual meeting place at the Greyhound pub in the early 1960s.

The tale was told by Phil Mason, sadly like so many lifelong mates no longer with us. Now, if anyone else had told this story then I would have had my doubts but Phillip was what we would call ‘a steady old boy’, not given to flights of fancy.

Phil was riding his Tiger Cub home to Swaffham after spending the week at college in Harlow. It was winter, dark, mid-evening.

Phil had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there are dense trees one side of the road and a flat open grass area to the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly into Phillip’s path. He had no time to do anything but put his head down and brace for the impact.

But there was no impact. He had seemed to pass through the figure. Totally in shock, Phil stopped and turned around to shine his headlight on the spot where he was convinced he would find an injured person. There was nothing to be seen. After a few minutes to calm down he continued his lonely journey home.

I would like to finish the story by saying that when he arrived home and removed his helmet, his mum said: “Are you all right? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost” but that didn’t happen! Bill Woolnough Swanton Morley, Norfolk