Anyone had any scary/paranormal experiences on the bank?

[Anthony Pearson]

Whilst fishing on the Nidd I did have the hairs on my back bristling when what appeared to be a BIG black cat (definitely non-domestic) raised it's head briefly in the tall undergrowth on the opposite bank. Took my breath away!

 

[Simon Archer]

Back in my match fishing days, we fished a march on the Oxford canal at a section called Ivy Bridge, near Braunston. If my memory is correct, we had to cross the canal, then turn right down a track to the canal. There was nothing down this track over than a church. You drove down the track past the church, and parked next to the bridge that gave the section it's name. On this particular day, as we got close to the church, we were greeted with Police everywhere. Cars, vans, the lot. They stopped someone and asked what we were doing. After a brief discussion, we were allowed on our way.

At the draw, we were told that there had been a "gathering" the previous night, and blood had been found on the door and the steps of the church. In the days before the internet and mobile phones, it took a while to find out what had happened. Turns out the blood wasn't human blood thank goodness, but was animal blood. Never really knew what had gone off, but some people said it was some sort of religious sacrifice.

Don't think i ever fished there again.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

Not long back now, whilst fishing, a barbel took my bait - I landed it too! I was in such disbelief to believe the whole episode a figment of my imagination, that that barbel in my net was indeed an apparition, but I'm telling ya, it really happened!

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

I have a had a few odd experiences , here is one for starters . Many years a go I was fishing with my then 9 year old son Patrick [ he's 33 now !] We were fishing on the Yorkshire Ouse at night , pitch black and it was hammering down with rain , so heavy was the downpour we had to shout at each other as we cowered under our very inadequate brolly . Eventually the storm passed and we sat in silence staring at out rod ends , suddenly there came a very loud rasping noise that seemed to surround us and got louder and louder , we were used to the sounds of the night but this one was new and scary . We were riveted to the spot , eventually I thought I am going to have to do something . With great trepidation I got up and peered round behind the brolly , suddenly there was a huge thundering as 6 cows legged it , they had been licking the brolly, hence the rasping sound ! Oh how we laughed ...

 

[Chris Belcher]

. . .told this on another forum years ago, still bugs me to this day. . .

Was fishing a very small day ticket water on my own one summers eve and had the water to myself. . .the carp were holed up at the far end under the usual bushes and I was having fun free-lining mixers and playing hit and hold off the top . . .
The lake is surrounded by a metal fence and there is a creaky gate at the opposite end to the swim I was fishing that 'clanks' whenever somebody opens and closes it - the baliff came round at about 7pm, took my money and disappeared - I knew he'd be back around 10.30pm to lock up at dusk. About 9.45pm the gate opened and I thought 'he's back early . .oh well, perhaps he wants to chat etc' however after about 10 mins he hadn't appeared (the swim was well covered by undergrowth front and back) so I reeled in and walked up the bank to see what he was up to.

What I actually saw was initially plausible however it soon become clear that there was some strange stuff going on . . . a girl, about 10-11 years old was standing on the far bank by the gate, seemingly staring at me. I waved, no response - I then shouted 'you alright?' . . no response. Kids did occasionally frequent the lake, however usually in groups and wearing jeans, trainers, tracksuit tops etc . . .this girl was wearing a pinafore dress (50's style) and had an unconventionally short haircut . . .the temp was dropping (I had a fleece on) so this child looked really out of place . . .I shouted again 'you ok?' . . .no response. The light was fading fast by now and the child continued to stare across the water - this was when some really strange sh*t happened . . .she started to whistle with a very high pitch, but tunefully . . .she put her hand in the air and a small bird landed on her finger (a bit like snow white in the Disney kids film). . .I shouted again, 'hello?' but with no response . .


It was starting to feel REALLY cold now (bizarre for mid-summer) and I was extremely nervous - I scuttled back down to my peg and starting packing up straight away . . this was too weird. Next thing I hear the gate clanking again and I'm now sh*tting myself with my mind racing . . .I turned around in a panic after hearing the undergrowth crack directly behind me and there was the bailiff . . 'you ok?' he asked. With relief I recounted the whole story, and he started to laugh . . .I was nuts apparently! I asked him whether he knew of any kids drowning etc back in the day - apparently not.

Now to be fair I was heavily into the rave scene from 1989 onwards and I've hallucinated plenty of things under the influence, I'm also creative in nature and in my work . . . .however, I saw what I saw and would stand in a court of law and recount the same tale. . .I haven't been back to the same lake since . . . . . . . .

 

[Connor Smith]

Not strictly on the bank, but as I was on a fishing holiday it is near enough.
Isle of Sky, 21st May this year , about 11.25 am .
We were doing a tour of the northern tip of Skye , and came across a ruined church at a place called Hallin , which is a very isolated headland, no houses nearby at all .

The graveyard was still in use , but had some very old graves in evidence . My wife is a photographer and once we find somewhere interesting she spends quite some time composing shots, leaving me to amuse myself . I took a couple of quick snaps on my phone and wandered around looking at a few war graves , and some much older ones .
Our car was parked nearby, no other vehicles at all , nice day , no sound but the occasional Curlew.
I was crouched down reading the inscription on one of the graves when suddenly I was startled by a softly spoken voice saying “ Its a good place to rest when your time is over “ the voice was male with a soft highland accent.
I stood up and looked around, stood about 8 feet away there was an elderly gent, about 80 ish I would say ,tall, slim, clean shaven wearing a black suit,and black tie , quite out of place really . The suit was of a very “ dated “ appearance . The man had very shiny shoes , and a shock of grey hair which was neatly trimmed . He was very smart in an old fashioned way .
I said something like “ Yes its lovely here “ the man nodded and said “ All my family are here and he pointed to a grave , saying “ My younger sister , I visit her most days”

I nodded and said “Thats a lovely thing to do, and she is resting in a lovely place”

We stood together for a moment looking at the grave, the man said “I must be away now” He walked away behind the ruins of the church . I stood for a few seconds looking where the man had walked , and my wife appeared from the same direction that the man had walked off . I asked her if she had seen the man as he passed she said no , there was nobody here but us two . It was impossible for him to have vanished, there was nowhere to go, just the ruin of the church, basically a single wall, the graveyard and the surrounding fields .
I quickly searched around , nobody in the car park , nobody walking over the fields etc. The gate to the graveyard had not clanged shut as it did when we entered .
I told my wife what had happened, she took it in her stride , we went to the grave that the man had pointed out .I took a quick snap on my iphone.

View attachment 26140

Noticing the name Mackinnon I thought that maybe her brother was buried here , then realised her surname was her married name . Taking the year of her death, 1944, age 41 years and she had been his younger sister , he should be probably a year older at least .

You do the sums .

He should have been at least 121 years
old .
Looking back it was so peaceful there nothing seemed out of place , nothing sending “shivers up your spine” .
In fact both my wife and I said if we had to meet a ghost he would be the type to settle your nerves , even though she had not seen him.I saw the man , spoke to him and it is in my library of the unexplained .

David

Awesome story David, I enjoyed that one .

 

[Neil Smart]

He was prone to doing drugs...he was fishing alone, it was dusk. The mind can play some strange tricks.
I had a very weird drug induced episode in hospital 2000. I was given Tramadol a pain relief drug and experienced in the night a horrific 'trip" that I was being hounded by evil which I had to get away from to the extent I attempted to jump out of the 2nd floor window. I would have done if the window haf not had a security fitting that prevented opening to just an inch or so.
We all now how the brain can control our what we consider 'real' experiences and this is apparent in sleep dreams...imo a lot of these experiences can be related to dream like experiences but in a semi awake state.
Consider if any of these weird ghostly encounters were real that would be a huge if not the biggest event as what we understand as what life and death is. Nothing would be impossible therefore, from Creation to time travel to any old crackpot theory that we all treat as fascinating but the majority of us just view it as, just that.

 

[Neil Smart]

I have a had a few odd experiences , here is one for starters . Many years a go I was fishing with my then 9 year old son Patrick [ he's 33 now !] We were fishing on the Yorkshire Ouse at night , pitch black and it was hammering down with rain , so heavy was the downpour we had to shout at each other as we cowered under our very inadequate brolly . Eventually the storm passed and we sat in silence staring at out rod ends , suddenly there came a very loud rasping noise that seemed to surround us and got louder and louder , we were used to the sounds of the night but this one was new and scary . We were riveted to the spot , eventually I thought I am going to have to do something . With great trepidation I got up and peered round behind the brolly , suddenly there was a huge thundering as 6 cows legged it , they had been licking the brolly, hence the rasping sound ! Oh how we laughed ...

 

[Paul Whiteing]

Not scary or paranormal but funny ..........

Was fishing years ago with my father-in-law, and brother-in-law and his wife. My B-in-L was just swinging a 1/2oz lead from his rod to make a cast when a horse on the far bank farted. Everyone laughed and his cast went awry, the lead flew pretty much vertially up in the air and landed square on B-in-L's head. Had he not had a hat on I think he would have had a nasty cut.

 

[Graham Tremble]

Hi Guy’s
in 1996 I was a young (ish) embryonic Barbel fisherman whetting my appetite on the Teme and lower Severn. The Teme was in it’s pomp then and a little piece of fishing heaven. My Barbel P.B. had not attained the magical ‘ double figures’ but had seen me net a few 9lbers . In fact I had never seen an actual double figure Teme barbel. That changed one hot July afternoon.
With the sun high in the sky the fishing was understandably’hard’ and I decided to reel in and take a tea break withe my fishing partner Keith. Tea taken I decided to take a break and do some fish spotting and bade Keith goodbye for a few minutes. After scouting out a couple of swims I literally bumped into a guy fishing on a shallow gravel run. Being careful not to ‘skyline’ I asked if he was enjoying his day. He very casually informed me that he had earlier caught an 11lb 8oz Barbel. My expression must have indicated that I simply doubted his word ( It was not unusual for people to ‘guesstimate’ weights here.)
Smiling he pulled his net ( I know ) onto the pebble beach, the Barbel that appeared was simply huge and I knew there and then that he had accurately weighed that fish.
I scurried back to Keith who was only half convinced of the truth of my tale. I always fished with Keith in those days and he always liked to fish within hailing distance and somehow we never returned to fish in that meadow.
The following June I was back on the Teme and with Keith on a family holiday I could actually please myself where I fished. I soon found the double figure swim but as I surveyed the swim I was strangEly hesitant. The truth was I felt a little uncomfortable looking at that swim and I had no idea why. I chuckled to myself and entered the swim and set myself up, it was a shallow swim and I knew any fish would be under the far bank willows and probably wouldn’t feed until dusk. I poured myself a cuppa and stretched out my legs, weirdly I shivered even though it was a warm evening. The time passed and I found myself constantly putting on more warm clothing and unaccountably looking over my shoulder time and time again. The truth was I wanted to leave that swim but I refused to give in to this childish feeling that I shouldn’t be there.
l eventually looked at my watch it was 9.50, in 10 minutes I was leaving no matter what happened. A few seconds passed and my rod hooped round as a Barbel shot towards the far bank willow roots. I did not mess about and leaned into that fish not just because I knewI couldn’t give line but also because I ‘knew’ I had to be out of that swim by 10 o’clock. A lovely Barbel was soon in the net and I quickly weighed her and took a hurried photo. The fish shot off and I looked at my watch, nearly 10 o’clock and pitch black and freezing cold under the large willow tree where my gear was stashed. I quickly threw my gear together and hurried away without looking back.
I suddenly realised that I didn’t feel like I was leaving, I felt like I was escaping something. Back at the car I noticed I was no longer cold or nervous, everything felt ‘normal ‘ and the Teme was a lovely unthreatening river again.
That fish was my first Teme double and that swim had produced the only two Teme double figure fish I had seen.
I never fished it again.
You work it out……
G.T.

 

[Neil Smart]

'" I didn't feel I was leaving, I felt I was escaping "

 

[Paul Richardson]

My mate hooked this in the Swale earlier this season. He sent the pic to another friend of ours who is a retired GP and he confirmed what we all thought...
He then called it in and quickly had CSI there, cordoned off the area etc. and confirmed they were 99% sure it was human.
Perhaps the poor soul did get hit with a wayward lead??
But along with monster fish, we never know what lies beneath….

 

[Daniel Earl]

I’m just plan scared of the dark

I jest, used to fish a swim apparently haunted at an old estate lake, so many stories of why it was called that never a true one though but I was very dark cold and mysterious never felt quite alone.. but that being said the baliff always wanted to know why you was catching when he wasn’t so he may of been hiding watching

 

[Gary Knight]

Not scary or paranormal but funny ..........

Was fishing years ago with my father-in-law, and brother-in-law and his wife. My B-in-L was just swinging a 1/2oz lead from his rod to make a cast when a horse on the far bank farted. Everyone laughed and his cast went awry, the lead flew pretty much vertially up in the air and landed square on B-in-L's head. Had he not had a hat on I think he would have had a nasty cut.

Gary Knight

 

[Matthew McIntire]

the only weird thing I've had happen on the bank was at wyreside lakes years ago, we were sat chatting late on and suddenly the radio he had turns its self on playing tubular bells from the exorcist.


now non fishing ones, I have a few very creepy ones after working in some very old hotels and pubs when I was a chef.

 

[Connor Smith]

the only weird thing I've had happen on the bank was at wyreside lakes years ago, we were sat chatting late on and suddenly the radio he had turns its self on playing tubular bells from the exorcist.


now non fishing ones, I have a few very creepy ones after working in some very old hotels and pubs when I was a chef.

Old hotels and pubs produce the best ghost stories, I've never had any paranormal experiences but really enjoyed reading these ones. I hope they keep coming

 

[Matthew McIntire]

I'll put a couple up tonight after work.

 

[Chris Belcher]

He was prone to doing drugs...he was fishing alone, it was dusk. The mind can play some strange tricks.
I had a very weird drug induced episode in hospital 2000. I was given Tramadol a pain relief drug and experienced in the night a horrific 'trip" that I was being hounded by evil which I had to get away from to the extent I attempted to jump out of the 2nd floor window. I would have done if the window haf not had a security fitting that prevented opening to just an inch or so.
We all now how the brain can control our what we consider 'real' experiences and this is apparent in sleep dreams...imo a lot of these experiences can be related to dream like experiences but in a semi awake state.
Consider if any of these weird ghostly encounters were real that would be a huge if not the biggest event as what we understand as what life and death is. Nothing would be impossible therefore, from Creation to time travel to any old crackpot theory that we all treat as fascinating but the majority of us just view it as, just that.

Not sure if this was directed at me but if so this event happened in about 2008! I'd vaguely grown up / knocked raves / substance abuse on the head circa '98 - my last full blowout was New Years Eve '99 millennium (Bamboo Forest Rave - Goa, India) so I was well in remission by 2008 . . . On a point of detail (and if you were never a raver you'll never know) I (and others) have indeed had non-hallucinatory MDMA related flashbacks since but with dance music ALWAYS being the catalyst - never sleep deprivation or indeed fishing related!

 

[Neil Smart]

Not sure if this was directed at me but if so this event happened in about 2008! I'd vaguely grown up / knocked raves / substance abuse on the head circa '98 - my last full blowout was New Years Eve '99 millennium (Bamboo Forest Rave - Goa, India) so I was well in remission by 2008 . . . On a point of detail (and if you were never a raver you'll never know) I (and others) have indeed had non-hallucinatory MDMA related flashbacks since but with dance music ALWAYS being the catalyst - never sleep deprivation or indeed fishing related!

Hi Chris...I thought I read your story was of a friends experience not yours...however I hope you are still raving it does help.

 

[Alan Palmer]

Many years ago I was fishing into dark on the Ouse, was probably about midnight and a strange glowing light caught my eye a couple of fields away. I continued to watch this light for about 5 minutes just slowly moving across the horizon and intermittently stopping then moving on, then suddenly, with a crack of thunder sound, shooting vertically at incredible speed, to then suddenly reappear in the field behind me almost immediately, only reason I knew this was because of the sudden agitated sounds a herd of cows were making in the field behind me. So looking behind me I again saw this glowing light just hovering over the field behind me watching it for about 30 seconds before it once again shot vertically at an incredible speed into the atmosphere not to be seen again. I have no explanation for what I saw but it certainly started my interest in UFOs ever since. Maybe it was some natural phenomenon but I am adamant it wasn’t a conventional craft as there was no mechanical/engine sound at all. And just the way it moved implied it was under intelligent control.