Sunshine burst through the back bedroom window of the ordinary terraced house, an unimposing regular home, seemingly like all of the others on the pleasant suburban street in sunny Blackpool.
But what happened there one summers afternoon in the early eighties was far from ordinary!
My cousin, brother and I were all still kids, with no interest in anything but enjoying the long holidays, playing outside and perhaps a spot of den building. Unfortunately for us on this particular day my mother had arranged to visit a neighbor and told us in no uncertain terms we were to stay in the house, in my bedroom and behave ourselves until her return. With strict instructions to remain indoors and not to answer the door to anyone, we were left to our own devices.

Books were read, board games were played and drawing were scribbled on sheets of paper, but minutes last for so much longer when you are young and we soon became bored with our play and each other! All of us became so disinterested with the activities on offer we began to rummage around in the wardrobe looking for a new venture to amuse ourselves, but each toy we unearthed was cast aside and deposited on the bed as nothing seemed as exciting as the glorious weather outside and the sounds of our friends having fun. A small altercation began between my cousin and brother and I as the eldest felt it was my duty to step in and sort them out. However, this only exacerbated the disagreement and we all became embroiled in a full-scale dispute.
It was then we heard the voice, a low guttural male voice, seemingly calling out to us and trying to be heard over all of the commotions. Instantly, we all froze and warily glanced around at each other. We didn't speak, words were unnecessary to convey our feelings to each other, we were all petrified! As clear as day we then heard the voice rasp "get out . . .get out!"

Clinging onto each other as if our lives depended upon it we all clasped hands and made a dash for the bedroom door, almost tripping over ourselves we hastily ran down the staircase towards the front door and salvation! Remembering we were forbidden to leave the house we paused in the hallway wondering what to do for the best we again heard the evil utterance, this time it appeared much more hostile and malicious calling us 'gits' 'swines' and 'b*stards'. No longer caring about my mother's warning we fled the house, slamming the door behind us and not daring to look back, we raced to the house she was visiting.

After tearfully blurting out our story to her and hoping for some comfort we were upset to be severely reprimanded for disobedience and horrified to be marched back home by a very angry parent indeed. Once back inside the house, we pleaded not to be made to go back upstairs and as mum had calmed down somewhat she agreed to accompany us to the bedroom and see what all the hysterics had been about.
Although the atmosphere now felt lighter there was still a foreboding air about the place, but the biggest fright was yet to come. . .  as we tentatively pushed open the bedroom door we immediately noticed all of the books, games, and toys we had left strewn around the room were gone! On closer inspection, we realized they'd been neatly tidied away by unseen hands and stacked carefully and tidily back in the wardrobe!!
Although our mother was seemingly unconvinced of the truth of our story she asked us not to tell our father what we had allegedly experienced. I subsequently discovered she had born witness to anomalous phenomena in that house many times herself . . . but that dear reader is another story for another night. Until then . . .