Thanks to John P. Harris for this fascinating story:
East End Bombsite: Napoleonic Timeslip
While on
an ‘Anomalies’ themed chatroom back in 1998,
I found one user called Elizabeth,
and kept as a regular
contact. While discussing themes such as UFO sightings,
crop circles, she then mentioned a case that her aunt had experienced after
the Second World War. I was curious, so Elizabeth sent fragmented
details via instant messenger of
her aunt’s incident. Elizabeth’s aunt ‘Beryl’ [actual name omitted on request] who felt she
might have slipped back to the early 1800's while exploring bomb
sites with her elder sister Daisy.
On enquiry, I was told at the time that Beryl
constantly reflects on what she experienced,
emphasising it was not a hallucination or
a fragment of false memory.
It was 1947, and though the war had ended, it was still a tough time. Beryl
as a seven-year-old had returned to her parent’s home after
being evacuated from Mile End Road , situated in
London's east end. She
was sent to live with relatives in
Lincolnshire. Even as a child she found her original
home rather strange, but spent time like all of the other east end kids
by playing hopscotch or skipping in the semi derelict
streets.
Beryl and her friends would use one of the battered
Victorian lampposts by lashing some old rope on the struts
to make a swing. Beryl always wanted to tag along
with her older sister Daisy and explore the
bombsites, as for most kids they were an adventure
playground.
‘Sometimes you can find hidden treasure’ said one
of Daisy's friends and added ‘Someone
I know found a load of silver 'thrupneys' in
an old vase'. Beryl, used to keep ‘mithering’ her elder sister
to tag along, Daisy always said no and kept repeating ‘it’s too dangerous.’
However, on this occasion Daisy said ‘Come on then but don’t wander off because
you will fall down a massive hole.’
Beryl described this particular day. ‘It was cold we walked what
seemed for ages down the grimy damp streets as most of the buildings were in
various stages of falling down.’
Beryl told her niece about how dangerous
it was. ‘The houses that were partially standing up were propped up
with massive wooden frames.’ In addition, you would get ‘half a house’
with the top room window frames with shards of glass sticking out like icicles,
tethered to ripped curtains.
They ended up on a street called Wellclose Square. 'It was an
odd place' said Beryl.
She remembered how strange it was that some of
the buildings were not touched, but still remained empty
as most of the buildings were boarded up, except for one
tallish looking house that had a gap in
the wall like a giant mouse hole.
The house with the gap in the wall had a
back garden, which was choked with weeds, but for some odd
reason, Beryl found this
particular house enchanting. One of triggers of
the experience was the weeds; ‘The smell of the weeds
created a strange atmosphere.’
Daisy was close by,
but decided to explore an old outhouse
and told Beryl to stay put.
Beryl clambered across the garden and decided to
sneak into the hole that was under
the window.
As Daisy and her friends were throwing rocks onto
the roof of shed, Beryl peeked into the gap, as she was small enough
to squeeze through. While crawling through the gap trying to avoid the
loose bricks and cobwebs, as she squeezed through,
halfway into a room.
Beryl noticed a woman in old-fashioned
clothes wearing a white linen cap, peering over big metal
pot that was placed above a large open fireplace.
Taking a second glance, two other people appeared out of nowhere, one woman who
was dressed in grey clothes wearing a crumpled bonnet, moments later,
a man wearing a green coat with ribbings on the front, and a shako
hat walked into the room.
Beryl described the scene ‘It was just like out of
the Gainsborough films we used to watch at
the pictures.’ [Gainsborough Studios, a London based film Production
Company who on occasions would produce historical
dramas].
Beryl added, ‘Inside the furniture looked really old-fashioned
spindly chairs, striped wall coverings even though a large fire was roaring
away in the large fireplace, I did not feel any heat.’ As she sneaked in
for a closer look, suddenly a small boy who
was dressed in a blue calico gown gave Beryl an
inquisitive look and waved at her, then began shouting.
Somehow, as the toddler made such a noise, the other two
people did not hear him or did not take
notice. The boy continued to point and shout though
Beryl could not hear any sound, but crept back slowly and ran off.
‘Hey Daisy‘ as she scrambled across the foot strangling
weeds, ‘there are people in that empty house.’ Beryl tugged Daisy’s
jumper and pulled her towards the garden.
‘What people?’ ‘It’s an empty house?’ said Daisy, ‘she
was a bit miffed.’
Daisy still reluctant to follow Beryl across the weed strewn garden ‘you first
Daisy,’ said Beryl. Daisy said ‘Alright then I
am not scared’ and headed towards the ‘mouse hole’ in
the wall. Moments later,
Daisy replied ‘there’s nothing here just a dusty
room full of bricks and rubble. ‘Beryl then followed
inside, all she saw was a pile of wood, rubble and bits of coal strewn against
the wall and it smelt damp, which ruled out there ever been a fire. They
went back to the same place two days later.
The gap in the wall was not there, Beryl added
‘it looked intact as if there never had
been any hole or any form of damage,’ ‘
I even took a closer look at the exact
spot,’nothing it seemed untouched.’ I asked Elizabeth, what she thought. Her
viewpoint was that the location had a curious history and highlighted the
connection of the ‘people’ Beryl had seen.
Elizabeth studied the description of the man by researching historical records,
as the man, whom Beryl describes, may have been a soldier who might have been
off to war.
or had returned home, he was dressed in the British army uniform that
could have dated to the Napoleonic war (1803-15).
© John p Harris
