Hypnogoria: Hypnogoria Halloween Advent Calendar - Door 30

Transcript from the Into The Night radio show, broadcast on Radio Redvale, Monday 30th October 2023

No, I don’t give a hoot what Caldecott says, I am putting out an appeal on air! You know it’s the right thing to do, they are just covering their incompetent backsides… Wooah ah! Hello folks! Apologies for that! Some gremlins in the works! So then where were we! Oh yes!

And thanks Tim for the weather update! Well it looks like we are in for a fine crisp night ahead, and the omens are good for a fine and dry Hallowe’en tomorrow. This is Into the Night with me, Mike Nelson! And don’t forget, tomorrow tonight we are having a very special Into the Hallowe’en Night special, full details on the spooky shenanigans coming up a bit later in the show! First up though, thank you for all our entries into our Hallowe’en Poetry Contest, we have been overwhelmed by the response and very glad to see so many of you getting into the spirit of the season! It’s gonna be tough choosing a winner let me tell you!

And there is still time to enter if you are quick! Remember first prize is an all expenses paid trip to stay in a real life haunted hotel! So get your writing quills out!

Now then, just a quick personal announcement from me - have any of you out there seen Mr Michael Dalby, the brilliant fella who runs the Local Studies section in our beloved town library! I’ve not been able to reach him and he hasn’t been in work since Friday. If you know where he is, please get in touch with me here at the station, as I’m a bit worried about him! Yes, yes, I know old Mikey is a bit of clucking mother hen… steady on Rach, I said clucking! But seriously, I am a tad worried, and if you know anything, please let me know ASAP!

Ok, in other news, don’t forget there is the big lantern parade tomorrow night in the market square, and we here at Radio Redvale will be bringing you live coverage of the big event! Plus there is that very very special edition of Into the Night tomorrow. For yours truly, Mr Mike Nelson will be going a-ghost hunting. And it’s all happening live and one air! And just where will I be broadcasting from.. Ah well, I will announce that in just a little while, so you all have to keep on listening!

But now, for the penultimate time, let’s open up the old Ghost Bag!

*Ghost Bag jingle plays*

Man, I love that jingle! Right then, enough backslapping from me and on to our first letter of the evening. Now then guys, as I am sure I need not explain again, we are going to try and bag the world record for most haunted village in all of England, and the current title holder, Pluckley in Kent, only have twelve.

Now then, over the last few weeks, we've rounded up a dozen of our own local spooks, and we've not actually wheeled out all the big guns just yet either! So then, onto what is most definitely our number thirteen! Unlucky for some? Well, very lucky for us!

So then if you find a random person somewhere in the UK - and lord knows there are plenty of randos out there - and ask them if they have heard of Haggleton, provided they don't just say "where?" I'm betting the answer you will get is "oh that's the place with the haunted station that was on the telly!"

Yea, it's our claim to fame sort of! In fact, because your ever diligent host did done do his homework, Fring Station has turned up on the old gogglebox, three times now! Back in 1975, current affairs programme, Nationwide - it was sort of like the granddad of The One Show for younger listeners - did a feature on vintage railways and our little station was featured. And being the spooky ‘70s, when lots of telly got scary, they even mentioned its resident spook!

Then in the early 1990s, old Michael Aspell’s show Strange but True featured the haunted railway too. And then just a couple of years back we had Most Haunted here. But we don't like to talk about that, do we! Dearie me, so much screaming over what was clearly a moth!

But I digress! Yes, I would have been very surprised, nay make that shocked and stunned, if we didn't have at least one letter about an eerie encounter at Fring Station! And indeed I wasn't disappointed! You folks are the best, you know! So then to our first letter which comes from Charles Keeping, who writes -

Dear Michael, just dropping you a line to recount my encounter with one of our most famous ghosts. Now I admit, I was very familiar with the stories, but to be honest I did not believe a word of them. I have travelled many times from our station and never seen anything more shocking that the prices they charge these days for a sandwich!

My encounter happened in the middle of the day. I had arrived early at the station to catch the 12.20 to Ashlington, and I had arrived in good time. It was a lovely spring day, so I was content to sit on the platform and read my newspaper.

I was engrossed in the crossword when a voice spoke to me, and I looked up to see an elderly man dressed in an old fashioned British Rail uniform. Now I hadn't took a train journey for several months, so I assumed they had decided on yet another rebrand and had gone for a retro look. The old man smiled politely and asked to see my ticket. Now as I am a bit of a dinosaur, I still always print out a copy of any tickets for travel just in case my phone goes on the blink.

So I said “just a moment,” and had to rummage through my bag to retrieve it. I only looked away for mere seconds, yet when I presented it with a smile, I was completely alone. There was no one else on the entire length of the platform and literally nowhere the old railway man could have got to.

Well, there you have it! And Charles isn't the only person to have seen the old railway man either. He has been seen regularly since the 1920s, and seems to enjoy doing this little vanishing trick. It is thought he is the ghost of one Henry Stephenson who worked all his life at Fring Station, and seemingly hasn't let a little thing like dying stop him coming into work still!

However he is not the only spectre at Fring Station, as we shall see in our next letter. It's from Kevin Aitkin, who writes -

Hi Mikey, quick one from me about Fring Station. I was there one November night waiting for the last train to come in. I was there to pick up my good lady who had been up to Ashlington on a hen do. As it was, the bloody train was late, and by this point the shop and ticket office was closed and shut up, so I was left on me tod on the freezing platform. Bloody perishing it was that night too.

While I was waiting I saw a light in the tunnel and I thought brill, trains here at last. But I couldn't hear nothing. The light come nearer and nearer and then I hear footsteps, like crunching on the gravel of the tracks. Who's this silly sod, I thought, he'll get himself ruddy flattened.

Anyhow, the light comes out of the tunnel, all red and smoky, and I seen it was a lantern, old looking thing, a sooty bloke carrying it. But here's the thing, the look on that fellas mush put the wind right up me. I know it sounds daft but I was convinced he meant me harm, so I chucked me can of lager at him shouting "cop for that you crazy mothe-"

And I wont read out what Kev called him folks! But I think strong language was justified on this occasion, particular considering what happened next. Kev continues…

But the can went right through him, like it was smoke. The geezer just grinned that horrible grin and then just sorta, well, come apart, you know how like clouds drift to bits? Just like that, disappeared into a sooty mist. Seconds later the train came thundering out of the tunnel and I nearly messed myself. Drinks cabinet took a pounding when we got home.

I am not surprised! I hope the hangover wasn't too severe! But yes, young Kevin is not the only person to have had an encounter with this sinister gent. He is always described as being dressed in black, is covered in grime and soot, and is often carrying a lantern that burns with a smoky red light. Who is he? Well, we just don't know. However nearly everyone who has seen him reports a strong feeling of hostility and menace from him!

However there appears to be another ghost at Fring Station, or rather just outside the station and seen by folks who have got a train there. Now this one is a bit of a scoop I think. Old Henry and the Lantern Man, who are our thirteenth and fourteenth ghosts, are rather well known. Both have been mentioned on the telly, and can be found listed in various gazetteers of ghosts and paranormal locations.

But the next phantom at Fring, we have found purely through your own letters. I have five messages, all sent independently, all reporting the same phenomena. All are relatively recent, occurring the last few weeks, and well, what they describe is quite odd. In fact, so odd it's not the kind of thing a half dozen folks would choose to make up! I will read you the most detailed sighting. It comes from a lady who wishes to remain anonymous, for what she saw was very strange indeed, and she was concerned about her sanity. She was of course delighted when I told her that other people had had the same uncanny experience. See it's good to share folks! Anyhow, this is what happened…

I had taken a train to go and pay my sister a visit. I booked a ticket online and made my way to the station. It was a wet day, part of that horrible damp spell we had last week. Luckily the train was on time, and the carriage was very quiet.

The train set off, and although it was a dark, misty afternoon, I was enjoying looking out of the window, and taking in the lovely colours of the turning leaves. As I am sure everyone knows, the railway line winds its way out of town through Thistle Forest, and the display of trees crowned with gold, red and amber was quite breath-taking, despite the miserable weather. However nothing is ever perfect in this world for I could see one large tree that I thought was a bit of an eyesore really. It was tall and crooked, completely leafless, with sparse black branches. I assumed it was dead, you know a tree that has either got some disease or been struck by lightning. I know it sounds stupidly judgemental but I was utterly repelled by it. It looked slimy and well, unwholesome somehow. I thought someone should come and cut it down.

Just as I thought that, it was as if the tree had heard me and it moved. At first I thought it must be falling down. But that wasn't it, there was no arcing over to the ground, rather it was more like the black monstrosity turned and lumbered off, black branches quivering as it disappeared into the forest. I have never been so shaken all my life.

As I said I was able to reassure this lady that she isn't going crazy, for I have four other letters describing something very similar. Another correspondent writes -

Dear Mike, don't know if this counts but it certainly creeped me out. Had to bob up to Aisling last week, for a work training course. My motor was in the garage so I took the train. It was a horrible wet day and we had had that storm overnight. Anyhow on the way out, I noticed a big dead tree near the edge of the forest. It was black and twisted and I thought it must have been hit in the storm. So I got to Aisling and found the course had been cancelled, so less than half an hour later I was back on the train and coming home. But on the way back there was no sign of that black horrible tree. Don't know what to make of that, but it's really bothering me.

Again I have assured the gentleman he is not seeing things. But I must say I'm not sure what to make of it either! But I have three other sightings here in front of me, another person on a train who saw it and then found it had vanished when they looked again. A lady who saw a large black thing moving through the trees from the train. And another gentleman who had a very close encounter indeed. He wasn't on a train but out walking, he passed a large ugly tree he did not recall seeing before, one that smelt, in his words, like an open grave. He hurried passed on his way, but then heard strange noises behind him. When he looked round, the tree was gone.

All very strange! Now they have all happened recently, and from talking to all concerned I know exactly where their sightings happened and they are all very close together. Now I won’t say on air where exactly or when because If I keep those details back I can corroborate any future sightings and weed out the jokers as it were. As for what is being seen, well I have no idea! Perhaps some sort of elemental? A ghost tree? If you have any ideas, do get in touch! But I think that counts as number fifteen!

Now then, before we close the old Ghost Bag for tonight, it’s time to announce where tomorrow’s Into the Halloween Night special is coming from. Well, I’m going to be broadcasting from perhaps one of the most eerie places in the village, certainly the building with the darkest history. For tomorrow night I will be doing a live ghost hunt on air from the basements of the Mains Museum! Yes, from the Old Morgue itself! It’s going to be quite the night! From 6 PM onwards my colleague Trish Hartley will be bringing you live coverage of the annual All Hallows lantern parade and then from 9 onwards I will be broadcasting live from a place some say is the most haunted in all Haggleton! Don’t miss it!

Right then, time for some music, and here’s a suitably seasonal piece called October Games!