Office Poltergeist 2008 (Republished from About Paranormal)

December 2008

Office Poltergeist

I am going to outline a serious of strange events that cover a period of time from 2004-2008. I have now left the company and that particular office, and I am glad that I do not have to go back to it.

I worked in a large, very old building in London, which has many offices. In the fall of 2004, my line manager and I found what we believed to be a quiet room to conduct a review of my performance. We both sat down next a large fireplace. It was a Friday night and practically everyone else had gone home. My bosses were the only ones still working as they were senior and had a lot to do. From out of the air itself, the ghost started to wolf whistle, ''Phew-we'', as a workman or builder would. It struck up an unrecognizable tune. It kept repeatedly doing this, louder and louder, to gain our attention. Both of us could not believe what was happening, so we continued with the appraisal.

My Head of Department walked in, drawn by the noise. She said, "What was that noise? Someone was whistling in here a few seconds ago." Obediently, the ghost stopped, and my Head then disappeared back to her office. It then resumed the whistling from where it had left off. This time, though, I could hear many voices in the background. It sounded like a busy marketplace with many stalls. Embarrassed, I did not know what to say or do, so we both continued the appraisal. When we finished, I got up and left silently. My boss lingered in the room and tried to work out where the sounds had come from. Of course, there was no one there, and there was no building work going on at the time.

In January, 2008, I came back to work in the same office after some years away. I knew the room was haunted, but bravely I told myself not to worry. I did not want to let the ghost win, so I stubbornly told myself that it was a long time ago and it was no longer there. Of course, I was totally wrong; the ghostly presence was still there.

I first became aware of it when I phoned in to say I would be sick and off work. I got through to my new line manager's phone. I got through to the answering machine, and in the background I could here something whistling -- exactly as I had first heard it in October, 2004. It was a loud 'phew-with', done repeatedly to gain my attention.

I would come in on a Monday morning and find papers that I had left on my desk disturbed. In chatting to my work colleagues, I casually mentioned that the section was haunted. They, of course, all laughed. Inexplicably, the ghost had been watching us because it developed the habit of rushing through the office. We all knew it was a presence because we could feel a very strong breeze or gust of wind and a sudden drop in temperature. The office was linked by a dark connecting passageway, which went through to the next door. I never liked the passageway as it was always dark and unlit.

The ghost, with greater frequency, started to focus on an unlocked, large wooden door. My boss, work colleagues, and myself were working. We all heard four or five sharp raps on the door, and we noticed that something was pushing it open and then putting the door back in its place. My colleague went to investigate. Of course all he found was an empty corridor. My phone would sometimes ring unexpectedly and I would find myself connected to various out-of-office recorded messages and the speaking clock. No one was there and it was definitely not my friends playing tricks on me.

One Friday morning after a meeting, everyone was present in the room. The door was wedged open. There was a sudden strong breeze blowing through the section and something swept through. The force of the wind was so strong it blew the door off the wedge before being jammed open.

A week or two before Christmas, everyone had decided to go out for a long, team-building lunch. I was late and did not want to go because I was working on an urgent task which I needed to complete. I had nipped out to go to the toilet and had locked the door. I put the key in the lock, and entered and that was when I saw it. I was not shocked because I have seen ghosts before. It was over really in a fraction of a second and I did not get much of a chance to look at it. I was aware of a shadow or blurred outline. It was standing next to my colleague's desk and the door to the passageway. My boss, who would get cold, would often shut the door. I was aware, as was the presence, that I could see it. It took one look and then shot off at great speed and opened the shut door, went through, and shut the door behind it to the passage. I decided to keep quiet about what I saw as I did not want my colleagues to become fearful of working in the office.

By now I had enough, so I arranged a meeting with the Head of Department. I went in and explained the whole thing about seeing ghosts and how I had seen many. I also explained that I wanted to leave the section as I did not believe it was now safe for me. I feared that the ghost would form an attachment to me and I did not want it to follow me home. My Head of Section, who finally believed me, said callously, "Ok, so the section is haunted. What do you expect me do about this?" I did nothing and went back to my desk.

Christmas came and went and it was now January. My Head of Section decided to rearrange the office, including the desks and furniture. This brought on for me a new kind of fear. I had read that the paranormal activity increases when building work or disruption takes place to a room. I discussed this with my Head of Department and he reassuringly suggested that I take a few days off, until the layout had been changed. I returned to the office and all the desks had been moved. It was, of course, an improvement. A few days afterward, my colleagues on the other side of the room started to be curiously affected by the coldness. They would complain all the time that it is very cold in here, and they started to wear jumpers. They called the heating engineer out to fix the radiators. But the room remained very cold. They brought in a thermometer for a couple of days to measure the Department. The Head of Department walking through the section knew what was going on but he never let on to them.

Some months later, I was required to stay late one Friday to get some urgent work done. This was the only time I could get it done as I had been off work, ill. Everyone had gone home and I continued to work. I forgot about the ghost, and the sense of urgency of the work distracted me from thinking about it. By now it was dark outside, and everyone had gone away for the weekend. I got on with my work and was well into it. Suddenly, I was startled by the light above me, which suddenly failed. All the other lights in the room over everyone's desk remained on except for mine. I got up from my desk and walked over to the light switch. I flipped the light back up into the up position and the light above switched on. There was, of course, absolutely nothing wrong with it. So whatever was in the room had flipped the light switch.

I returned to my desk and resumed my work. As I sat there, I heard in my ears loud footsteps and banging in the long dark passageway that led to the next door office. I got up and went to look and, of course, there was no one there. Completely freaking, caution got the better of me and I hurriedly left the office. No amount of work or money could get me back. After that I never stayed late again.

Some weeks later, I was working in the office and my Head of Section and I heard loud banging on what sounded like pipework. The noise was coming from behind me. I presumed at the time that it was workmen. My Head of Section said, "Do you hear what I hear? The loud banging?" I said, "Do not worry. It's only workmen." My boss replied, "It cannot be. There are no workmen here. The wall behind you is totally thick. There is nothing there, other than a thick solid wall." Both of us fell silent and we resumed our work, as we wouldn't speak again of this.

I eventually left the office and found work with another company. At home, two weeks after leaving, I came down the stairs and replayed the answering machine messages back. There was one that left me stunned and cold to the bone. There was hissing and a lot of interference... and then a man's voice, which spoke in a harsh tone. The language was "gobbly gook" and it was unintelligible. Startled, I said to my father, "It is the ghost." He played it back once and then immediately hit the delete key.We never spoke of this again, and fortunately for me I have not since that day ever received another. I feel for my work colleagues who are left to work in that section. The one with the office poltergeist