FEATURED TALES
Old Guards Never Die
During 1996 I was working night shifts as
a security guard on an office complex with a colleague in Leeds northern England when around 1am we got a phone call
from the alarm monitoring company to inform us that the silent alarm had been
tripped in the admin block . I (stupidly) volunteered to go investigate taking
my guard dog Henry with me.
On entering the admin block I locked the main door
behind me and went to check the alarm panel. It indicated that an in-fared
sensor had been tripped in the accounts area upstairs . The accounts area is at
the end of a long corridor running the whole length of the building. I unlocked
the accounts door and had a look around but found nothing untoward.
As I left the room I locked the door and turned around to see a security guard walking
away from me down the long corridor. This was the last thing I expected to see;
initially I thought it was a member of our security staff as he was short and
bulky with grey hair like the day guard we had although his uniform was a bit
outdated - he was wearing a peaked cap and black tunic. I called out a greeting
but he ignored me and continued to walk away.
Slightly un-nerved I
challenged him but still he ignored me and continued his leisurely pace down the
corridor. By this time he was almost at the opposite end. Annoyed, I voiced a crude
insult and he stopped dead then turned around. I then
got my first look at his face and I realized that it wasn't the day guard at all!
In fact, it was nobody I knew from the security staff.
For what seemed like an
eternity he stood staring at me with a kind of blank sinister look on his face,
then he began walking back towards me. I quickly radioed my colleague for
assistance but only got static over the speaker. I issued a warning to him that
I would not hesitate to cave his head in if he tried anything aggressive; he
gave no reaction. I threatened to set the guard dog on him but still he didn't
even pause his slow stroll towards me and his unflinching stare.
The spell was
broken when I felt Henry tugging at his lead. I looked at the dog and was
amazed to see he was cowering behind me with a look of sheer terror on his face
and nothing I said could rouse him into his usual aggressive state. Several
things then occurred to me all at once:
1. my guard dog had never flinched from
anything in all the years I owned him.
2. the man's ankles seemed to sink into
the floor so I could not see his feet, and
3. his skin tone seemed
unnaturally pale.
then realized what I was looking at.
Having just locked the accounts door I had nowhere to run except towards him but I wasn't keen on
doing that so I just stood there petrified as he got nearer and nearer. He was
only a few meters away when his form became blurred and his face seemed to
become disfigured. His head was about at my chest level when he walked through
me; the feeling was like walking through a freezing damp fog (I actually felt
moisture). My guard dog Henry then let loose a loud yelp and ran away down the
corridor.
I stood there dumbfounded for about 10 minutes until I came to my
senses and went back down to the main door . When I opened the outer door I
found that the police were waiting outside. My colleague Craig had heard my
call for assistance but was unable to get in the admin. block as I had locked the
door and I had our only set of keys. They were about to force entry. Everyone
wanted to know what had happened but I didn't think anyone would believe me so I
told them that the intruder had escaped through a fire door and they seemed to
accept that. Shortly afterwards we found Henry wandering the ground floor
offices in a confused state and he was none the worse for his experience. I
still own Henry and he has never acted that way since.
I had always been a
skeptic and thought ghosts were for bedtime stories but it just shows how wrong
a person can be. It was the most terrifying experience of my life and it took
me years to get over it. I never worked there again so I never got the chance to
investigate the buildings' history. I sometimes wish I had told everyone the truth that night
but I was too afraid of ridicule ultimately and I took the easy way out.
-Unsigned.