Around 1998 I was a serving British Police Officer working in the Central Region of the UK.
One night, around 3.30 am in early November, I was double crewed driving my Police vehicle along a street in a particularly bad neighborhood of town.
Public order had been breaking down and some of the local miscreants had taken to throwing petrol bombs at Police and other emergency vehicles. Home
made spike strips were sometimes left in the road to prevent emergency vehicles from entering the estate. Fire crews would not enter the street
without Police back up and much of the area had been earmarked for demolition and regeneration with several houses already demolished.
On this particular night, the street was deserted, nothing stirred apart from the odd stray cat. The air was thick with fog presumably from recent
Bonfires and ground hugging mist flowed from a nearby Canal.
As I meandered the Police car along the street, carefully avoiding broken glass and other obstacles when our attention was drawn to the remains of a
smoldering burnt out vehicle that had been abandoned on a dirt track leading to the canal.
We got out of our car and approached the wreck, which to my surprise turned out to be the remains of a vintage 1950's Wolsley. (See stock photo) ( My
late Father had once owned a similar model)
Fortunately, the registration plate of the vehicle was metal, and using my radio, I was obtained the last known keepers address which was less than a
mile away.
We drove directly to the keepers address in order to speak with the owner. The house was a large dilapidated old white painted bungalow. An old
cartwheel sat under the front bay window and the house had certainly seen better days. Fortunately, despite the late hour, we could see lights on
behind the curtains of the front room window, so we decided to try and speak with the occupants.
My partner Dave, knocked on the full length rippled glass front door several times, whilst I stood directly behind him.
A dog began barking inside the property and after some time we could clearly see the outline of an old man walking toward the door and the smaller
shape of a dog by his feet. The rippled glass made it impossible to see the man clearly but I could make out that he appeared to be wearing glasses.
Suddenly the Man shouted " Yes..... What do you want ? "
We identified ourselves and I placed my Warrant card against the glass door but the the man just stood still behind the closed door in total silence.
We explained our reason for calling through the din of the barking dog but the man just stared at us silently less than 8" or so from the door.
I asked if he could open the door but before I had even finished my sentence, the house plunged into darkness and we could no longer see the outline
of the man.
Fearing the occupant may be deaf, antisocial or suffering from an age related illness, we decided to postpone our inquiries to a more suitable hour.
We thought nothing more of the situation until we returned to the property at around 22.30 hrs the following evening.
This time the door was answered almost straight away by a lady in her mid 40's. We explained that we had called the night before regarding the burnt
out Wolsley and I expressed my sorrow that such a classic vehicle had ended its life in such a way.
The woman appeared confused and asked us to wait a few minutes whilst she spoke with her Mother.
Shortly after, she returned alone and invited us inside the hallway.
Clearly upset, She suggested that there must be a mistake or a mix up. I asked her if she was ok, to which she simply replied, come this way.
She then led us through the house and into the kitchen. She explained that she lived at the house taking care of her elderly Mother whilst her Father
had been ill in Hospital. She went on to tell us that her Father had just passed away the early hours and that both she and her Mother had spent all
the previous day and evening at the Hospital prior to his death. She insisted that house had been empty when we had called.
Dave turned to me and asked if we had came back to the right address. I said I was sure but I then took out my notebook on which I had written the
cars details. The lady confirmed that we were at the address given but worse, she then began to cry as she opened a small side door directly off the
Kitchen, saying "look!"
We walked to the doorway and were both stunned to see an old Wolsley car, half covered in dust sheets, sitting in the garage. Even more peculiar, the
registration number of the vehicle was the same as the one on the burnt out car.
We all stood in silence for what felt like an age, all I could hear was the soft sobs of the woman and the stunned silence in the room.
As the lady calmed down, I asked her what time her Father had died. She replied, "Just after 3 am last night".
Just then I Remembered the barking dog and I asked if they still had one. "My Dads little dog died just a week ago", she said. "They were
inseparable, my Father was broken hearted when he died"...... She then pointed to a framed photograph hanging in the hallway, a man wearing glasses,
holding a dog and standing by a well polished Wolsley smiled back at us.
Suffice to say, we convinced the lady of a mix up, apologized and left but in reality, it was the right address and the right vehicle.
We walked confusingly to our Police car and Dave pointed out the white Cartwheel that still sat beneath the front bay window of the
house..........
We drove back to the street where the car had been abandoned the night before but it was gone. All that remained was burnt grass and lumps of soot,
not a trace of the car could be found.
To this day, I have no answer as to what happened that night. We clearly saw an old man walk to the door, the very same door of the ladies house with
the very same glass, 1000%.
The rest, is a mystery and so too was the fact that Dave resigned shortly after this incident but I have no idea if it was related to this event. I
never saw him again.
Not exactly the same scenario but that old guy definitely appeared alive and when when we visited yet according to the occupants he wasn't.
Time slip, parallel world, ghost other high strangeness, I have no idea, I simply don't have a rational answer.
edit on 25-2-2018 by studio500 because: (no reason given)