It was Halloween 2005, I was 20 years of age, and as a regular tradition, we, including family and friends continued drinking at The Spotted Cow pub for Karaoke on Saturday nights. Since we had lived there, I made this our social hub, and although at this point in my adult life, I had experienced unexplainable moving objects, and ghostly phenomena I continued on with life as normal.
It was a fancy dress party, my brother and his girlfriend made a big effort that year, they usually did, but on this occasion, they pushed the boat out, both of them were dressed in matching White Elvis jumpsuits and diamontes, custom-made and delivered from America, I, on the other hand, made a last-minute effort dressed as Rambo, my girlfriend as Cruella de Vil.
The time was approaching close to last orders when my brother and his girlfriend decided to order a cab home, they left quietly without saying goodbye until the front doors of the pub burst open with my eldest sister running through screaming as loud as she possibly could, our brother was being beaten up outside!
Instantly the pub froze, everyone went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, the feeling was intense and awkward, I was already standing close to the doorway, I had little time to think and went outside to help, but surprisingly the drama was over, I couldn’t see any commotion other than to the right of me were three guys standing outside as spectators, they seemed pleasant enough, I asked them what had happened, whilst I continued to scan the area for the cause of the aggravation, I still saw nothing except for my brother holding his nose and leaning into the back of a white cab, then one of the guys pointed to my left indicating there were others, as I looked in the direction he was pointing, I soon became aware of my mistake as I felt a huge sucker-punch to the right of my face.
Next to me was a lower, but slightly raised wall which led into the entrance of the doors, but rather than hitting the floor immediately everything slowed down into bullet-time, and to my astonishment, I could feel myself floating mid-air, realising I had been punched I was anticipating to feel the hard impact of the concrete floor beneath me, worryingly, I was falling over a wall backwards, Instead of feeling the impact, I hear a pleasant and gentle voice of a female, instructing me she said “Raise your head forward”, she then paused, “A little more”
I too was expecting the back of my head to hit the concrete, with a little more effort I felt my head shift slightly forward, and then in a split-second, time resumed before feeling the impact of the concrete floor onto my back. Thankfully my head was slightly forward. I was also wearing a padded suit as part of my Rambo costume, which absorbed most of the impact.
Although still incapable of rising, I see my girlfriend defending me, punching and kicking my attacker. Shocked but also proud of her commitment, I eventually got to my feet and could see the guy standing around, I instinctively charged towards him, he turned to face me as he saw me coming, and raised his hands in front of him, indicating he is now wearing handcuffs, but I don’t see the police either, my blinkers are removed when I see a female police officer walk out from the shadows and nearby parked car, I can’t even recall seeing their lights flashing, but I had no choice to relent and allow them to serve justice.
Our attacker was known to the police and had a long history of violence, he had been recently discharged from the Army for similar offences, but his actions were random and unpredictable. All victims were awarded £100 in compensation.
Other than the reason for my assault. I didn’t give much thought to the paranormal I had experienced, but if the lady in White is a guardian or an angel, why was there no prevention, and why was there a continuous effort to make me aware of her existence..?
I remember being blamed by the publican for involving the police, but this wasn’t my decision, they were at the scene before I had the chance to retaliate, I also didn’t attend the court hearing, and still, I was blamed for the cause of their investigation, I understood the pub was old school, a spit and sawdust type of venue, and being a friend, they should have known me better, for this, I remember feeling betrayed by their ignorance and so I decided to distance myself from their establishment. It was never the same thereafter and eventually converted to flats.
That week, or shortly afterwards there was a knock at my home, it was an unknown elderly white male with heavy cataracts, looking annoyed and unpleasant he started to shout at me, accusing me of blocking his car from leaving his home, I ask him to calm down as I go outside to see for myself, granted, my front two wheels of my car were over the markings painted on the main road, but with enough room to unload a lorry I couldn’t understand his problem, yet he just kept barking insults at me, I say to him, “You have more than enough room to move your vehicle in-and-out”, but this just makes matters worse as he points to his eyes with frustration and shouting, “Can’t you see my fucking eyes” Id never met him before, it was obvious he shouldn’t have been driving, but I move the car anyway and think no more of this unpleasant incident.
The next morning I returned to my car and saw two of my side windows smashed, my glove box had been ruffled up a bit, but nothing missing, this was a message, I knew better, or so I thought, not to involve the police and considering my recent attack of the blame for the incident at the pub, I didn’t feel the reason to start pointing fingers without evidence and cause more friction and unpleasantries.
Ever since the knocking over of the Eiffel Tower, hostilities towards me grew and became more apparent in my way of life, While being conscious of this phenomenon, I felt targeted, and with an unhealthy attachment to my awareness.
I was aware of spiritual matters which affected me consciously, I was aware of the general ignorance on these matters from people in daily life, I was aware of crimes I had experienced as being unrelated, I was aware of how the justice system operated based on evidence, not superstitions, as for superstitions, I had no idea where to begin. Everything was becoming so complicated.
A divide between the logical everyday world and my disbelief in how spiritual phenomena could exist became my confusion, and although I was raised in a catholic primary school, I still found religion hard to accept.
I’m not a religious person, and neither was my mother, but my father was, intensely, and was the reason for attending a catholic school, but he was absent from my life from the age of three with one visit every Sunday, he also suffered from mental illness, this was implicated from his battle with religious Dogma, and another reason for me to doubt the acceptance of religion.
My disbelief was from a practical point of view, at school, I would consider the what-ifs, and question why so many people blindly accepted their faith, and if I were to believe, what would change if I didn’t?
I needed a technical understanding before adopting a belief system, I was always fascinated by science, and I questioned the hows, whats, when and where’s, but answers continued to evade me, faith alone was never enough for me. If God existed, I wanted credentials.
General ignorance was the only solution to my spiritual matters or remaining in perpetual confusion. I couldn’t find the answers I sought, but something continued to stir within me. I just couldn’t place my finger on the pulse.
To combat this, I began working harder, and as a couple, we both began to focus on our careers in a bid to start afresh, we decided to marry, before purchasing a home, to leave the remainder of the spiritual nonsense in the past…or at least I thought.