Grimmauld Mineshaft!

[changeling67]

By chance, I met a lady (JS) who I had known in 'Grimmauld Place' and I asked her about the ongoing roadworks outside the properties.  The news had totally slipped passed my radar and in fact the road is closed because a dirty, great mineshaft had opened up over a year ago.  Cracks had appeared in kitchen walls and the residents were told that the small hole was nothing to worry about and that it was to do with the water board.  That changed when the ground shifted. Work began re shoring the site at Christmas last year and is still ongoing. Originally, it was between no.17 & no. 23; now the digging and shoring has stopped short of my old place. Huh, I thought - there is no way that house is moving anywhere. I bet the place has armed itself. I say that, because there had been several incidents which made me consider that the house was haunted.

Whatever it was, it used to scare the bejeebus out of my former partner - children's footsteps at the dead of night, sensations that someone has brushed passed you etc.  I spent several months away from the property, yet it was the only one that hadn't been burgled in that time (they couldn't have taken much, but I did have both a gas and an electric meter - yet everything was intacta).  Also, there was a series of terrible gales when I lived there, which had damaged all my near neighbours' rooves and had not touched mine.

I have been back a handful of times since, but this was the first time I stopped to take a proper look.  Whilst talking to JS, I briefly spoke to another lady who lives in my old house now.  Sadly, she is badly affected by mental health problems and therefore the conversation was brief.  She has lived there for over 20 years, so I gleaned that she was the lady who took up residence less than a year after I left.

Back to today's world and to a hole that is thirteen properties wide. The residents have been told that they should be ok as their properties were built on blue alvin rock. Then again, the ones who OWNED the properies in that row, had been told by the council that the site was originally just farmland - with nothing else residing there, other than tractors and ploughs, grazing in the Atlantic sunshine.  Looking up blue alvin (which sounds like a rootsy seventies rockstar), I can find comparatively little on the subject and if I was still a resident, I would be hoping that it is good old sturdy igneous rock, rather than possibly-prone-to-crumbling metamorphic/sedimentry rock.

Originally, I would have cheered if the whole lot had been swallowed whole (without casualties, of course).  Now, I feel a bit at odds with that idea.  Wonder what the impact this will have on my dreams of the place?

Good luck sleeping tonight, Calico_Pye :-/

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is really interesting and more than a little scary. have you ever written anything up about your experiences there?

Pleasant dreams?

[calico-pye.livejournal.com]

I have only written in LJ about it, under the tag '9 Grimmauld Place' as a joking nod to the Harry Potter series (plus, it made the place seems more objective if I lodged it under a pseudonym).

As previously stated, the house itself has had a conflicted history, with at least three cases of domestic violence and sadly a suicide (though the latter happened after I left). Former partner felt something pass across his bare shoulders whilst he was stripping wallpaper in the dining room and he insisted that I stayed in the room with him, til he had finished the task. Children's footsteps running at three in the morning. Former partner and I were sleeping apart towards the end of the relationship - he alleges that that there was an almighty thump on the bedside table one one occasion and that he woke with the bed shaking on another.

I was never afraid to be there, but there was an odd vibe. A sense that the house 'tolerated' me, but basically 'don't get comfy - you are just passing through...'

Pleasant dreams? One can only hope.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it saw you as a visitor and not a trespasser, unlike your roommates. I am going to have to check those other entries out - thanks!

[bluegerl.livejournal.com]

wwhoooooer... what a nasty sounding place. Poor partner - men don't scare easily! Mind you, I'm not surprised ... houses do acquire 'vibes' or something. I've met several ghosts.. and until you can find the reasons why it is jolly difficult to cope. One house I lived in had had an accidental death that involved a Coal hod - which spilt all over the floor- noisily. And a gorgeous thatched place when first hub and I tried to live - local doc told me after that it did NOT tolerate married couples! Spinsters yes!!! Marriage NO! And he was serious!

Did you have a pet then? If so, did it/they show any signs? And with that name.. GRIMMAULD... erm.. not pretty! I wonder if that place didn't tolerate couples? Pity you can't dig and find the histories.
The children's feet worry me!

[calico-pye.livejournal.com]

'Grimmauld' is its nickname - and it definitely did not appear to tolerate couples. I can count of at least 5 separate unions who have split there, the last one beat up his wife then hung himself in the bathroom.

I am fairly open minded (I grew up in a family who were spiritualist mediums, though it is not a belief system that I currently hold) and I am more likely to find logical explanations rather than jump on the ghost bandwagon. However, it was distinctly odd - it would also be a pain in the ass to decorate. Some wllpapers freshly hung, would just look wrong or peel off (and I am an ace wallpaperer).

Funny though, I feel a bit protective over it now :-/