Ghosts in the attic…
Many horror stories start with, ‘Don’t go into the attic’ and late at night Overbeck’s, in Devon, is no exception. The first strange things to happen were to scouts and school groups who would experience strange noises. Beds being lifted off the floor and cold hands clasping the shoulders of those who scoffed at the idea. An intelligent ghost? A local builder did not think so when he was doing work to wind down that area and remove the beds. Knelt on the floor he heard footsteps approaching him, looked behind but saw no one. After a few minutes had passed he once again heard the footsteps, once again no one appeared. This time he searched the area but to no avail so he carried on working. What happened next was to stay with him for the rest of his life. The footsteps grew closer, but he carried on working until a cold hand gripped his shoulder. Looking round to see who was holding him sheer terror took over as he continued to feel the grip but saw no one. In panic he picked up his tools and fled to his van through the garden. Leaving the Y.H.A. staff bemused for it was only 11.30am. There is a more sinister entity, which lives in the attic, and it guards the house from the water tank room. What is so sinister about this entity is that it appears to be able to take the form of loved ones who have passed away and appears to ‘challenge’ visitors to the attic.
Another incident is of a man working at the property who had seen his fiancée cruelly cut down in her prime by a drunk driver. The busy season had just ended. Thoughts were on Christmas and the getting ready for the next season during the five months closed. Overbeck’s was quiet on the winters eve when he was about to go home but noticed blue lights in the attic. Fearing intruders, he made his way to the attic with his dog, just in case. Opening the door before moving into the long corridor, he noticed a figure at the far end. Before he could utter a word, the figure was upon him. It was his dead fiancée whispering the words ’remember our promise’. He was so upset that he rushed down to tell the staff of the Y.H.A but they reported that “Remember the Promise” had appeared on a blackboards all evening whilst they were cleaning up parts of the Y.H.A.
We found out later that the promise was that should one of them pass away before the other, then it would be for the other to take their own life … and join their dead partner. So was it really his fiancée or the hidden dangers of Overbeck’s … maybe one day we shall discover the real powers behind such events. The incident did prompt him to visit the grave with the flowers on the anniversary of their ‘marriage’.
Some weeks later, an old woman approached him and said, “Do not believe all you see here…some are just shadows from a door left open in the old place” but before he could ask anything of the old woman she had vanished.
