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We are writers mainly from Australia and New Zealand who write speculative fiction with romantic elements. Be it fantasy, paranormal, dark urban fantasy, futuristic and everything in between.

Friday 5 October 2012

Real Life Paranormal

With Kelly Ethan
 
In my early twenties I headed to England with my father. We toured around various tourist sites and ended up visiting Dover Castle and the tunnels underneath.
The tunnels had been around since medieval times but had been in use in World War one and two for a headquarters and for communication and other secretive actions. In fact some of the lower tunnels are still in use today and store classified materials.
A tour guide showed the upper areas first and then we moved into lower rooms and passages. Lighting was dim and sometimes non-existent. Atmosphere was somewhat suffocating but the tunnels were freezing cold. Everything looked like the operators had just walked out for a smoko and would be back any minute. An eerie feeling.
We moved with a group into a small room and the tour guide excused himself to speak to another staff member in the tunnel outside. Part of the room was roped off and full of old desks and communication equipment and lots of wires. My father and I were at the back of the group. By this stage I was tired and just wanted food and drink. I was counting the minutes down to the end of the tour.
I’m not claustrophobic but the tunnels had my teeth on edge from some reason. Bored, I looked over into the corner and saw an older man in a naval uniform with a small beard. He was in the shadows of the room but you could easily work out his face. I thought he was a mannequin until he nodded to me. Very serious man, no smile but not intimidating. I was impressed at the fact the guides had dressed up on the tour and mentioned it to my father.
He looked over but couldn't see anything. When I turned back there was nothing there. A few minutes later the guide came back and gave us the spiel of the room. Apparently there'd been quite a few deaths in the room as the power would go off and people would accidentally walk into the wires and electrocute themselves. He then told us about a naval officer who had died there in the blackout. A gentleman with a beard.
I freaked out when I realized that’s who I'd seen. My father continued with the tour but I chose to head to the cafe. 
Completely freaked out.

 
Kelly Ethan enjoys writing paranormal and urban fantasy both adult and young adult.
No matter the genre, Kelly loves kick-ass and sarcastic heroines who like to save the day and the hero.
Writing is her outlet for madness. She has worked as a library assistant and reviewed category romance novels. She moves regularly around Australia every few years and is a supernatural/paranormal TV junkie.

7 comments:

  1. Kelly, those tunnels alone would have given me the chills, worse that I'm claustraphobic. Very eerie! =)

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  2. Great story, Kelly! I know exactly the feeling you're talking about in those tunnels. Here in my home town, they do underground tours of an old mine shaft that was in operation during the gold rush in the 1800s. I've been down there for a tour, and yes, while its cold, its also stuffy. I'm not claustrophobic either, but at one stage they turned out all the lights and obviously it was pitch black... almost had a panic attack at that stage!

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  3. That is really cool, Kelly. Imagine being privy to an etherial plane. Wow!

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  4. Freaked the heck out of me. I just got my little body out of there as quickly as possible.

    Kelly

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  5. I don't blame you for feeling claustrophobic. It's freaky but it also has me asking more about this man and why he is still there. At least he wasn't intimidating :) Thanks for sharing, Kelly.

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  6. Kelly...Interesting story. I used to spelunk in the early '70s in NY, USA. In one particular cave, we used to crawl through a section nicknamed appropriately the 'gun barrel'. This tunnel was 45m long and less than a meter in diameter. On one trip in, one mate got wedged and stuck. Luckily, we eventually freed him and he decided to lose some weight.

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