HAUNTED WIRRAL - The gothic street ghost

In this latest tale, Tom examines the mystery of the gothic street ghost ...

FOR reasons that will soon become clear, I have changed some names in this strange story, which dates back to August 1971.

The haunting centred on Philip Martindale, a 45-year-old 'setting out engineer'; a highly-qualified person in the construction industry who is concerned with the preliminaries of checking sites where a building will go up, demarcating areas and placing markers on the site with great precision.

Philip lived on Silverdale Road in Oxton with Marjorie, his wife of ten years.

Whenever he said he had to work late at the office on a new building project, she had her suspicions, but was too timid to confront him over her hunches.

Many times Philip had come to bed in the wee small hours reeking of a woman's perfume.

This time he said he had to stay late at the office as he worked on plans for a big project for Norwest Holst, but in fact he was seeing a woman named Jan at her house on Gothic Street, over in Rock Ferry.

Philip was not only seeing Jan - he was also after her 19-year-old daughter Kate.

On the night of August 12, 1971, after Philip had made love to Jan, he went downstairs and Jan made him a drink before he was due to return home to his long-suffering wife.

Jan's husband Mike would be back from his night shift at one.

She picked up a glass, but seeing the lipstick mark on it grimaced and said, "Kate's lipstick - yuck."

Philip sipped a scotch as Jan went to the toilet, and then he picked up the glass with Kate's lip-print on the rim and kissed it.

When Jan returned he asked her how her daughter was, and she told him how Kate's husband was also working on lates at the same factory as her own husband, Mike.

Philip couldn't help himself.

He drove from Jan's house to Kate's home on Sycamore Road, Tranmere, and taking a huge risk, told the teenager he loved her.

She told him to go home and that he must be drunk but Philip said he was stone cold sober, and practically forced his way into the house.

Kate said she'd call her mum if he didn’t leave and Philip pretended to cry.

He ended up kissing Kate and she kissed him back, but said it was wrong and made it clear she would not have an affair with him.

Philip apologised but planned to make further plans to bed the daughter of the woman he was seeing.

"Please don't tell your mum," he said, before he got into his Jaguar.

"I won't, if you stop coming round," was Kate’s reply, and she was blushing.

Philip reached his home around 1:15am and as he was pouring himself a gin in the lounge, the telephone started to ring.

Jan didn't have his number, so who was it?

He picked up the handset and he heard a woman say, "The wages of sin is death!"

"Who is this?" Philip asked, slamming down the gin on the phone table.

The unknown caller screamed: "Thou shalt not commit adultery! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife! You philanderer! You will burn in the lake of unquenchable fire!"

Philip swore and slammed the handset down.

He then heard Marjorie coming down the stairs.

The door of the lounge opened and Philip's wife peeped in at him.

She still had on her reading glasses.

"Hello dear - was that someone on the telephone then?"

"Yeah, some drunk - he dialled the wrong number," Philip replied, then told Marjorie, "I'll be up soon."

Throughout the rest of that night, Philip had nightmares in which a shadowy, faceless woman was chasing him with what looked like a knife.

On the following evening, Philip visited Jan at her terraced Gothic Street home, and Kate was there.

She blushed when she saw him.

When Jan went to make a cup of tea for him, Philip kissed Kate, and she pushed him away.

"I'll come and see you one night when you're on your own," he whispered.

He took out a pen, scribbled his phone number on a slip of paper and shoved it in the girl's hand.

Kate left around 10pm and then Philip went upstairs with Jan.

He left the house at four in the morning when it was starting to get light, and as he walked to his car, he heard a woman's voice shout: "Fornicator! You shall be condemned to all eternity in the pit!"

Philip looked about, but the street was deserted at that hour.

He drove home and once again the telephone started to ring.

He answered it and heard the same voice he'd heard last time.

"The wages of sin is death! You are beyond redemption!

"You are a double adulterer - with a woman and her daughter!

"Straight to Hell!"

Philip hung up but the phone started ringing again so he unplugged it.

On the following day he drove to Jan's house, told her what was happening and asked her if she knew any "Bible thumper" who could be playing a prank on him.

Jan said she didn’t. At 3am he left Jan’s house - and heard a woman shout: "Straight to Hell!"

Philip turned - and saw a woman dressed in old-fashioned black clothes with a red aura around her body.

She had bulging eyes and she lunged at him with a pair of scissors, stabbing him in the arm and neck.

He felt excruciating pain but there was no blood.

He ran to his car and drove home, realising he had encountered a ghost.

Philip never had an affair again after that terrifying encounter.

The ghost's identity remains a mystery.

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