The Wraith of Westcombe Park
Kirsty recently arrived 5 mins early for her train at Westcombe Park Station. She tells me that another lady needed the loo,(have you ever never noticed the loos up the Charlton end of the platform? No neither had Kirsty - or, I, for that matter.)
"When she came out, the Southeastern guy asked if she felt she’d been watched," she tells me "He had a rather loud voice and it was such an odd question I just had to listen in… "
No need to apologise, K, ear-wigging is a time-honoured tradition. If people want something to be secret, they whisper, or at least talk out of earshot of Kirstys and Phantoms...
"Anyway, he went on to say that ‘the chaps in there’ (thumb jerked towards office) reckon that WP station is haunted. Apparently a dark figure drifts through. Supposedly a late Victorian (very late – 'scuse the pun) stationmaster who just couldn’t let go. Sadly the train drew in so I didn’t have time to ask any more questions."
Well. I took myself off to Westcombe Park Station, to find these loos for myself. They were locked. No one around, but the ticket machine was vandalised (apparently the local toughs jam-up the credit-card hole so that people are forced to use cash, then jam up the rejected coins slot, so that they think they've lost their money. When the train's been and gone, they un-jam the rejected coins bit and pocket the ill-gotten gains.)
I've tried several times, whilst in the guise of 'buying a ticket' or 'asking for a timetable' to bring the subject round to ghosts, but - well - you know how it is - how do you bring up a delicate subject like that? I mean - you can't just come out with it - "Is your station haunted?," can you - they could be offended or traumatised for months, having to walk round a deserted station with nothing but a spectral Victorian gentleman and the local toughs for company...
So. I've not been able to get anything on this one but if anyone fancies doing a spot of digging (not literally, unless there's something really very wrong at Westcombe Park) I'd love to know more about this local ghost for local people.
"When she came out, the Southeastern guy asked if she felt she’d been watched," she tells me "He had a rather loud voice and it was such an odd question I just had to listen in… "
No need to apologise, K, ear-wigging is a time-honoured tradition. If people want something to be secret, they whisper, or at least talk out of earshot of Kirstys and Phantoms...
"Anyway, he went on to say that ‘the chaps in there’ (thumb jerked towards office) reckon that WP station is haunted. Apparently a dark figure drifts through. Supposedly a late Victorian (very late – 'scuse the pun) stationmaster who just couldn’t let go. Sadly the train drew in so I didn’t have time to ask any more questions."
Well. I took myself off to Westcombe Park Station, to find these loos for myself. They were locked. No one around, but the ticket machine was vandalised (apparently the local toughs jam-up the credit-card hole so that people are forced to use cash, then jam up the rejected coins slot, so that they think they've lost their money. When the train's been and gone, they un-jam the rejected coins bit and pocket the ill-gotten gains.)
I've tried several times, whilst in the guise of 'buying a ticket' or 'asking for a timetable' to bring the subject round to ghosts, but - well - you know how it is - how do you bring up a delicate subject like that? I mean - you can't just come out with it - "Is your station haunted?," can you - they could be offended or traumatised for months, having to walk round a deserted station with nothing but a spectral Victorian gentleman and the local toughs for company...
So. I've not been able to get anything on this one but if anyone fancies doing a spot of digging (not literally, unless there's something really very wrong at Westcombe Park) I'd love to know more about this local ghost for local people.
Labels: Ghosts, Halloween, Regional Greenwich, Weird Greenwich
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:56
6 Comments:
Many years ago someone told me that the downside building was demolished because someone hanged themselves there.
Westcombe Park was given a mighty refurbishment 20 years ago (remember Network SouthEast) but before then was a very dilapadated and spooky station - so I could have believed it back then, but not now...
I use that station every day and the only spooky thing I've seen is a train turned up on time there once...
I used to get the feeling I was being watched in the gents up at Blackheath Standard
That was me, Tony. Sorry.
As of Sunday, 2 Nov, the Maze Hill ticket machine was jammed in the same way.
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