November 14, 2023 • 36 mins
A crime has been committed. A guilty man has been identified. But will the punishment fit the crime?
Many a ghost story revolves around acts of injustice. An act of evil is committed, and then a terrifying, chilling act of supernatural vengeance is enacted to right it. But justice is a slippery thing. We may revel in seeing an act of revenge be carried out, but are we forgetting to ask whether that revenge is appropriate? Did the victim really deserve what happened to them?
Hear the extra bonus ghost story at - https://newghoststories.substack.com/
Patrons help to keep this English gothic podcast going. If you'd like to become one, just visit https://www.patreon.com/newghoststories
Tags: Chilling, Uncanny, Haunted, Horror, Nightmare, Chiller, Fireside, Unexplained, Frightening, Occult.
Many a ghost story revolves around acts of injustice. An act of evil is committed, and then a terrifying, chilling act of supernatural vengeance is enacted to right it. But justice is a slippery thing. We may revel in seeing an act of revenge be carried out, but are we forgetting to ask whether that revenge is appropriate? Did the victim really deserve what happened to them?
Hear the extra bonus ghost story at - https://newghoststories.substack.com/
Patrons help to keep this English gothic podcast going. If you'd like to become one, just visit https://www.patreon.com/newghoststories
Tags: Chilling, Uncanny, Haunted, Horror, Nightmare, Chiller, Fireside, Unexplained, Frightening, Occult.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The story you're about to hear wastold to me in the strictest of confidence.
Certain names, dates, and locationshave been changed to protect that confidence.
Events that feature in this story maybe part of the public record.
If you believe you recognize any ofthe people, places, or events that
appear in this story, ask younot to reveal any information publicly out of
respect for the subject's right to remainanonymous. My name is David Paul Nixon,
(00:44):
and this is the New Ghost Storiespodcast where we delve into the New
Ghost Stories archive to hear new andclassic cases of the supernatural stories that could
be delusions, lies, fantasies,or perhaps even the real thing. Just
don't make your mind up until you'velistened. One of the many things I've
(01:14):
learned while researching and recording these Newghost Stories is not to take things at
first value. I've met a lotof different people during the years I've been
working on the project, people ofall ages and all backgrounds. Some people
who are open, easy and straightforwardto deal with, some who are much
more challenging, people whose pain andscars were closer to the surface or just
(01:38):
out there in the open. I'dlike to say that I walked into all
these encounters without judgment. But I'mnot without my biases, and I'd be
lying if I denied that those didn'tplay a part in the way that I
listened to and evaluated many of theclaims and accounts that I've heard over the
years. There certainly being occasions wherecaution was appropriate, those cases where I
(02:04):
was dealing with someone with, say, addiction problems or mental health struggles.
But there were people who I'm sureI judged too quickly, people who found
it difficult to communicate, people whowere anxious or uncomfortable, some who were
just eccentric. It's hard to knowat this point whether I turned down any
(02:25):
cases which might have been promising basedon some of these biases, whether the
conclusions I drew were tainted by assumptionsrather than just on the dispassionate facts.
It's something I believe I've got betterat over time. Time and time again,
I've found myself surprised by people forcedto empathize with subjects who are not,
(02:50):
at least at first easy to understandor warm to, but whose stories
whose personal struggles I couldn't help butrespond to and sympathize with. Everyone whose
story is featured on this podcast hasbeen tested in ways that most of us
never will be. They've gone throughthings real, imagined, or somewhere in
(03:13):
between that I can never truly appreciatewhat it was like to go through.
I won't say that every one ofthem was necessarily a good person. There
have been contemptible characters on this podcast, some people who have committed terrible crimes,
but there are many who have shownincredible strength and overcome considerable adversity.
(03:38):
People take time to show who theyreally are. It's not cut and dry,
and while we can, of coursemake judgments about people based on what
they say and how they behave,what counts most is what people do,
and indeed what they choose not todo. I don't want to say any
(04:00):
more than that. I'll just getstraight into this month's case. It's called
clean Me. It's New Ghost Storiescase number four hundred and fifty six,
and you can hear it in fullafter these messages. Just a quick reminder,
there is an extra bonus episode overon my substack, a reading of
(04:21):
Graham Green's Horrifying A Little Place offthe Edgeway Road. You can hear that
by visiting New Ghost stories dot substackdot com. They also recently discovered that
the q and a section on Spotifyexisted. So I want to thank you
to all the people who have leftcomments there. I have seen them and
they have all been published, andnow on with the story. I wasn't
(04:46):
expecting Keith to show up in theafternoon, and my first thought was that
I was in trouble. Keith showingup anywhere is bad news. Him showing
up unexpectedly is even worse. Needto torture for a secon second, he
said, and he looked serious.Part of Keith's thing is that he's always
joking around, trying to be funny. Something really was up. I dropped
(05:10):
my tools and walked over to hisfilthy white van. What time was it
yesterday when I saw you at thePolish Ladies? He asked, Hata no.
Eleven thirty maybe, and Luke wasthere right? Yeah? How long
was he there for? After that? I said slowly, I'm not sure,
not too long. Five minutes,ten minutes at most? Was she
(05:36):
giving him money? That's when Iknew some shit had gone down. I
caught Luke cleaning Lottie's car the daybefore, and you weren't supposed to do
any moonlighting. You weren't allowed todo odd jobs for the old folks privately
off the company's books. I didn'tsee anything, I lied. Keith stroked
(05:58):
his stubble. It's gone missing.You know what? Has the old bince
money? That big water cash shehad. I'd already covered for Luke once.
That same day, I was comingout of the bathroom and I saw
Lotty doling out notes to him topay for the car wash. She had
a lot of money there, andshe shouldn't have been flashing it around.
(06:21):
I didn't say anything about it,but then I bumped into Keith in the
hall. He just let himself intothe house. I had to keep him
busy, so I started talking reallyloud so Luke would hear me. Then
that daft old lady walked into thehall carrying the notes, just sort of
holding them behind her back. Lottydidn't like Keith anymore than the rest of
(06:45):
us, but she couldn't resist thechance to complain about how long all the
work was taking, even while holdingall this cash. I saw Keith watch
her as she went into the bedroomwith it. And it's really rare to
see people with that much paper moneythese days. My reporter to the council,
Keith had said later, you shouldn'tbe in sheltered housing if you've got
(07:06):
that much cash knocking around. Jesusthese old bags shorn out to put it
away. Now that money was gone, and it sounded like Keith was saying
Luke had stolen it. Can't believeLuke would take it, I said.
He definitely wasn't there for much longerafter you left. He could have come
(07:27):
back, said Keith. He couldhave left the front door or the back
door unlocked. And that's if hedidn't have a key himself. You know
he does odd jobs for her,right. I didn't say anything about that,
But Luke's such a nice guy.He wouldn't steal from an old lady.
Someone's taken it, he said.And it wasn't you, was it?
No, of course not. Keithwas looking at me intensely. I've
(07:53):
been there all day doing the gardening. Luke had just been there for a
couple of hours. Come on,Keith, you know I wouldn't. He
took a second before saying, ofcourse not, I know you wouldn't.
We heard the sound of someone shoutingLottie's house was at the bottom of the
street, but we could both hearher. She must have been hysterical.
(08:18):
Keep this under your hat, hesaid, and don't talk to Luke about
it if you see him. Hegot back in his van and pulled out
the driveway. This time someone hadwritten also available in white in the dirt
on the side. For once,it didn't make me laugh. That was
a weird summer, the one Ispent stuck between heaven and hell. I
(08:43):
should have said to my dad atthe start that I didn't want to work
with Keith. I've never liked Keith. I've known him since I was a
kid, and I've always hated him. But him and Dad have been friends
for years, so I felt likeI couldn't say anything bad about him.
First thing Dad said after I askedhim for a job is, oh,
(09:03):
Keith needs some help down on thepension as a state, and I just
couldn't think of any way to getout of it. Keith is a lot.
There's something about him that's off.Maybe he doesn't really get boundaries,
or he doesn't understand social situations.Even though I think he thinks he's really
(09:24):
good with people. He always actslike he's pleased to see you, grins
at you in this really creepy way. He makes lots of jokes that would
be fine if they were just dadjokes, but they're often really dirty jokes,
and he's like this sweaty man inhis forties. He also mocks people
(09:46):
a lot too right to their face. It's just a bit of banter,
you know. Sometimes he'd say thingsthat were really nasty, and that's what
I really don't like about him.You know how some some people act like
they're joking, but they're not joking. That's what they actually think. I
never thought Keith was joking. Itwas always an act. He put on
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an act because he actually doesn't likepeople that can see it in his eyes.
There's something just really nasty about Keith. I remember on my first day
when he came to pick me upin his dirty white van, such a
cliche, and he said, I'llput you on a good house first,
(10:31):
one of the nice old birds.He looked over at me. They're not
all nice, you know, really, I said, smiling awkwardly. Oh
yeah, he said, nodding,breathing in, looking like he'd seen some
bad shit in the war. Theyterrorize you. Some of these coughing dodgers,
never happy. You have to watchout for them joking but not joking.
(10:56):
But then there was Luke. Keithdid his best to embarrass me.
As soon as we met. Luke, who's also Polish, was doing the
gardening over at this tiny old deer'shouse. Keith introduced me to them in
the most cringe way possible. Borea handsome young man, via, he
said to the old deer. Hethen turns to me and says, you
(11:16):
gotta watch this one. She eatsyoung men for breakfast. She was like
ninety, she laughed, but Ibet she was afraid not to. Keith's
a big guy. He then showsme to Luke and says, green behind
the ears. This one never donea proper day's work in his life.
He slaps me on the back.Don't give him anything too complicated to do.
(11:41):
He was so embarrassing. The thingyou have to understand about Luke is
and I really have to make thissuper clear, is that Luke is fit
as fuck. That first day hewas in tatty denim's and a sleeveless vest,
(12:01):
biceps pumping, thrusting his hoe intothe soil, bending it back,
leavering the weeds out, mopping sweatoff his forehead. I was nearly speechless.
I didn't know shit about gardening whenI started, but Luke was patient
with me, didn't rip the pissout of me like Keith would have.
(12:22):
Even when I was trying to cutthe hedges, literally one branch at a
time, he showed me what todo. He put his arms around me,
guided me with his ripped body,showed me how to do it properly.
It was almost too much. He'sthe strong, silent type Luke.
At least at first. We didn'tvibe right away. I had to take
(12:46):
him out of his shell a bit. He used to work most of the
day quietly, without saying a word. I used to have earbuds, but
they kept falling out, so Iasked if I could bring a radio.
The moment I heard him humming alongto Super Trooper while he stoked his chainsaw,
and knew we could get along andcross our cultural boundaries. He was
(13:07):
just shy, really. He alwaysbrought a healthy lunch with him. After
going to McDonald's for the first fewdays, I started to bring my own
sandwiches so we could eat lunch together. And connect. His bio was that
he'd move to England so he couldmake a bit of money. This was
before the Brexit times. He usedto send money back, but he hated
(13:28):
being away from his family, sohe talked his wife into moving over here.
He could tell he really loved hiskids. He beamed when he talked
about them. One was six andhad been diagnosed as dyslexic, so he
was concerned he might start to fallbehind. His youngest was about to start
school, so his wife was goingto start working and hopefully that would pay
(13:50):
for extra tuition. But he wasworried for his youngest too, because he
was already starting to forget Poland andwouldn't speak Polish to Luke unless he forced
to. He loved England when hefirst came here, but now his family
had settled, all he could dowas think of home. He'd take his
family on day trips to English villagesat the weekend because they'd remind him of
(14:13):
the small villages where he grew up. His kids had got bored of this,
so he'd started to take them tocastles instead, But British castles,
he said, were mostly ruins.Poland has lots of stunning forts, and
he took me through tons of pictureson his phone. Who was a sensitive
guy under his tough exterior, buthe was hetero. He would never be
(14:37):
mine. Best I could do wasto stare from afar watch while he bent
down to pick up his clippings orwrenched plants out of the soil with his
fork. I had a thing withan estage agent from Bista that summer,
but I was always thinking of Luke. And when each day was over,
(15:00):
Keith's van would still be there,waiting, ready to drag me away and
take me home. He'd offer togive me a lift back whenever he was
on site, and if I sawhis filthy van parked on the street,
I'd have to wait there for himso he wouldn't be offended. There weren't
tons of places to park on theestate, so he often parked in disabled
(15:22):
spaces. I'd go and stand bythe van to wait for him, and
angry old people would come out andyell at me, as if it was
my fault he'd park there. Keithused to say to them, I'll just
be here for a few minutes,mate, I'll be back in a minute,
and walk away quickly knowing they'd neverbe able to catch up with him.
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This one guy reported him eventually,and Keith was so mad. I
remember that he saw the guy afew days after, pushing his wife in
a wheelchair, and he turned tome and said, I could just drive
up onto that curb and send himto heaven early. The only fun thing
about getting a lift home with Keithwas waiting to see what was written on
(16:03):
the side of his van. Keithhardly ever cleaned it, and someone somehow
was always sneaking up to it andwriting something on it. It always perped
up my day to see someone hadwritten clean me in the dirt, or
dirty mind, dirty van, orracist blackface van. The idea of some
(16:25):
old geezer or granny creeping over thereand doing it when he wasn't looking like
a naughty kid. It always mademe laugh. If Keith made me wait
too long, I used to drawcock and balls in solidarity. That night,
Keith was mostly quiet. On thedrive back, he told me Luke
had been suspended. I asked ifhe'd owned up to it, and Keith
(16:49):
said, no, your dad's goingto want to ask you about it.
He went on, you just tellhim what you told me, and you'll
be fine. Dad confirmed that Lukewas suspended and would probably be sacked unless
the money showed up. I askedif he had any actual proof Luke had
taken it. He said no,and when I asked whether Luke could claim
(17:12):
unfair dismissal, he said that hewas moonlighting, which was against the rules
anyway, so he wouldn't be ina strong position to do it. Only
me and Luke had been at thehouse, so unless Lotty had lost it
and it turned up later, eitherme or Luke had to have taken it,
and if I hadn't taken it,it must be him. I got
(17:34):
the logic, but I didn't buyit. I just didn't think that Luke
was a thief, and he hadn'tbeen there for long after I'd left,
so he wouldn't have had time tosteal it, would he. The next
day, I was mowing the lawna few houses away from the Polish lady
Lotty, and I saw her talkingto Bruce, one of Keith's goons.
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I knew they were talking about Lukebecause she allays talks like she's shouting.
Then she went quiet all of asudden. I looked over and saw she
was throwing shade in my direction.Lotty liked Luke a lot. They could
speak Polish together, but he alsoused to wear a small silver cross.
(18:17):
Lotty was a Jesus freak and hadlittle shrine in her conservatory with a big
cross, statue of the Virgin Maryand photos of all the recent popes stuck
on the wall. Lotty had takenagainst me from the start, maybe because
I'm gay, but also because hergarden was badly overgrown from the start and
(18:37):
someone should have taken care of itearlier. That wasn't my fault. I
don't control the scheduling, but allI got from her was hate. I
had to spend all day gardening inthe rain without even a hot cup of
coffee. After Luke said if Iwanted her to be nice to me,
I should agree to go to churchwith her, she was always asking him
(19:00):
his faith and which CHURCHY went to, even though he wasn't really religious.
He just wore the cross because ithad been a present. He was starting
to run out of excuses to tellher. Maybe if I'd gone over there
sworn on the Bible that it wasn'tme, prayed for forgiveness for not starting
the garden earlier, perhaps she'd stopstaring at me. I was getting frosty
(19:26):
vibes from the rest of the crewtoo. They all probably thought Luke was
taking the fall for me. Nowwas the boss's kids, so they had
to cover for me. Did theystill think I'd be working there if I
had wads of cash? They'd overlookthe obvious villain? Keith he was there
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that day, true, not forvery long, but he'd walked right into
that house like he owned the placelot he never let him in. He's
a manager for the company. Hecan get killed ease to these houses if
he wants to, and he'd seenher with the money. He could have
come back later, and it probablywouldn't have taken him that long to search
(20:08):
for it in her bedroom. WhenI thought more about it, the way
he talked about it with me,it was like he was saying, keep
your mouth shut and let Luke takethe fall. Otherwise people will think it's
you to keep me quiet, becauseif I could help him blame Luke,
(20:29):
he could get away with it,couldn't he. It was a quiet trip
home that night, with Keith tryingto make conversation and me basically just ignoring
him and giving him one or twoword answers. He seemed genuinely offended.
Kept rubbing the back of his neckawkwardly as we spoke, like he was
getting anxious. Maybe he knew thatI knew. What was I going to
(20:55):
do about it? Though I didn'thave any evidence I could show Dad,
and he was Keith's friend, hewasn't going to believe me unless I could
prove it. I just said avery quick goodbye when I got out of
the van. As I walked alongthe curb to the garden gate, I
couldn't help noticing that he didn't driveright off. He just sat there as
(21:17):
if something was bothering him, rubbingthe back of his neck again. And
just as I was going through thegarden gate, I noticed something strange.
Someone had written on the side ofthe van again, but this time,
instead of the usual stuff about howdirty it was, someone had drawn something
on it strange little signs, smallsymbols. One was kind of like a
(21:45):
star, some were more like letters, but I didn't recognize any of them.
There were seven or eight of them. I think there wasn't any language
I've seen written down. The symbolsweren't that big either. When some one
writes with their finger on the sideof the van, they do it in
big capital letters because you can drawthem quickly. These symbols were smaller detailed.
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They'd been drawn slowly and more carefully. The van started back up and
Keith drove on, and I didn'tthink much more about those marks. Just
then Keith had wiped them off bythe next morning, when he came around
to pick me up. He announcedthat morning that I was going to be
working with him all day. WithLuke gone. He was short handed,
(22:33):
and he was promoting me to juniorbuilder and dog's body. I said okay,
and tried not to look revolted.As the journey went on, I
started to wonder if this was somekind of play on his part. Did
he know that I suspected him?Was he keeping me close, trying to
(22:53):
work on me so I wouldn't sayanything about him. We stopped at some
point red lights, and I sawhim scratching the back of his hands and
his arms, and then after hewas rubbing the back of his neck again.
We finally arrived at this two bedroombungalow, and as soon as we
got out of the van. Hewas scratching himself, scratching around his belly,
(23:15):
up his back. I saw morethan I wanted to. I'm so
itchy this morning. He said anold couple were getting their kitchen replaced,
so I was going to help Keithtear out the old one. Even I
couldn't get that wrong. The husbandwas asking, pleading with us to be
(23:37):
careful not to get dirt everywhere becausetheir carpet was new, and that it
hurt his wife's back to vacuum.And Keith is nodding along, and all
the while he's rubbing his arms andscratching. I wondered if he was on
something the way he was standing there, all jittery, like he was anxious,
just nodding and looking like he can'twait to get away. I wondered
(24:02):
whether this might explain why he neededthe money. That maybe he had a
habit and he'd been really good athiding it until now. Perhaps it had
gotten really bad and he'd gone fulladdict, and that was why he needed
the extra money. We laid downa trail of plastic to protect the carpet
(24:22):
before we started taking the kitchen apart. We worked quickly and screwing the doors
first and putting the old parts inthe back of the van before getting to
the more difficult job of taking theunits apart. This created a lot of
dust. Specks of paint and sawdustand plaster were in the air, and
it made things worse for Keith.His arms were starting to go red,
(24:47):
and I spotted him lifting up histrousers to scratch his legs too, and
his ass. When he thought Iwasn't looking at lunch, he asked me
to go to Boots and get himsome E forty five cream and moisturizer.
I came back an hour later andI couldn't find Keith right away. The
kitchen and living room and garden wereall empty, so I started to wonder
(25:08):
if he'd gone over to one ofthe other houses to speak to some of
the other guys. But then Iheard the shower going. Couldn't quite believe
it at first. It's pretty cheekyusing someone else's shower without their permission.
I knocked to check it was himthat you. He said back to me,
are you in the shower? Iasked? You get the stuff?
(25:30):
Sure, I said, I hearthe shower stop and him get out of
the tub, and for a secondI thought he was going to open the
door naked, and I froze tothe spot. But luckily he just opened
the door a little and put hisarm around to grab the boots back.
I remember thinking, I hope thatold couple burns that towel. I didn't
(25:55):
see him much for the rest ofthat day. He was talking on the
phone or going to talk to otherpeople people. He left everything for me
to do. I was tired bythe end, but I didn't look as
bad as he did. He waslooking so sore now, and he was
still squirming shifting around in his seatwhile he was driving. I was worried
he wasn't paying attention to the road. Might have to go to the doctors
(26:18):
tomorrow for this skin thing, hesaid, scratching under his shirt. Yeah,
I'd do that, I said,desperate for him to put both hands
back on the wheel. What hedidn't say was that he wasn't going to
pick me up the next morning.That next day, I stood waiting for
over half an hour before I hadto beg Mum to drive me in.
(26:40):
I think she must have told Dad, because while I was cutting my lawns,
he showed up, then asked meif I'd seen or heard anything from
Keith. He'd been trying to callhim all morning. He was supposed to
attend a meeting at the office,but no one had heard anything from him.
I told him Keith had said hemight be going to the doc,
but that didn't explain why he wasn'tanswering his phone. I said it was
(27:04):
just about a thing with his skin. But Dad started to get really worried.
Keith is tied to his phone.He always gets back to you.
Nothing had been heard at all fromKeith. By the afternoon. Just as
I'm about to knock off, Daddecided he's going to go over to his
place and makes me go with him. It's about a thirty minute drive away,
(27:27):
and its flat is above a launderette. Dad parks up in a yard
behind the store, which has areally nasty smell coming from a couple of
the skips. There, just thesort of grotty place I imagine Keith living
in. He headed up some steelsteps and we walked along this landing until
(27:47):
we got to a black door.Dad tried the bell and knocked loudly.
When Keith didn't answer, he bentdown to shout through the letterbox, Keith,
you in there. There was stillno answer. Perhaps he's just gone
out, I said. Dad triedhis phone again. We could hear it
(28:11):
ringing from inside. Outside his door. Keith has one of those plastic Victorian
lamps. Dad lifted the pointed topoff. There was a spare set of
keys, blue tacked inside. Hepulled them out and unlocked the door.
We both felt it right away.The air is damp and the carpet is
(28:33):
soaked with water. Dad went intothe flat shouting, Keith you hear.
He found Keith's phone face down onthe living room carpet. It's coming down
the stairs, I said to him. The staircase carpet was very dark.
It was wetter than the rest ofthe hallway carpet. Dad charged upstairs,
(28:57):
his shoes making loud, squelchy soundswith each step. I went up after
him, but stayed a few stepsbehind. On the landing. We can
hear a noise. It's this buzzingnoise. There's a buzz sound for a
few seconds, and then it stopswith a clunk, Then another clunk,
(29:17):
and another, and then the buzzingstarts up again. It repeats itself buzzes,
then clunk, clunk, clunk.The bathroom door isn't quite closed.
Dad went to push it open,and as I go after him, I
see water pouring from the bathroom floorand onto the carpet. The water is
(29:38):
a pinkish color. I can seethe bathtub as Dad opens the door.
It's overflowing with water. It's theshower making all the noise. It was
bussed burnt out. It buzzes whiletrickles of water fall from the head,
and then it clunks as it seizesup before trying to do its job again,
(30:00):
turned and put out his hand toblock me from coming in. He
shouted at me, don't look cornambulance. I went back onto the landing
to make the call. I hearda squealing sound from the bathroom, so
I ducked into one of the bedrooms. After they pick up, I realize
I don't know Keith's address, soI had to run downstairs to see if
I can find a letter with itwritten on. They said they'd be there
(30:23):
in ten to fifteen minutes. Iearned the call and everything seems quiet again.
I walked to the bottom of thestairs and looked up. That's when
I heard a scream, Dad,I said, but not too loudly.
I was shitting it. I walkedback up the stairs, slowly, shaking
(30:45):
really badly. There was another squealas I reached the bathroom. I can
see that Dad is on his knees, kneeling in the water. There are
smears of blood around the door handle. I didn't touch it as I've pushed
the door open further. Dad washolding a hand over Keith. He wanted
(31:07):
to put his hand on him toreassure him, but he was too afraid
to touch him because Keith was redraw. He looked like meat. Dad
said, it's okay, mate,the ambulance is coming. It's on its
way. Keith was beneath the sinkin the fetal position. He was shivering.
His blood was coloring the water.There were thousands of plucked hairs floating
(31:32):
around him and long, thick,curling strips of human skin. I can't
get clean. That's not the kindof guy to get worked up about things.
He's a fixer. He thinks thatyou can fix everything if you know
(31:53):
the right people and if you havethe right tools. The look on his
face that day he did not knowhow to deal with that I didn't like
Keith, and I was pretty surethen that he'd stolen that money, but
fucking hell, I'd never seen anythinglike that, and I did honestly feel
(32:14):
proper sorry for him. I kepthaving nightmares about it for the rest of
that whole summer. I don't knowwhat did that to him. I think
it was for revenge, and Ido think that the symbols on the van
had something to do with it.I told my dad about them, and
he said I was being ridiculous,but it shitted him up too. He
(32:37):
just wouldn't admit it because what happenedto Keith, you don't just snap and
start ripping your skin off. That'snot how people are. I had to
keep the whole thing secret. Inever said anything to anyone at work.
All they heard was that Keith hadgone to stay with his brother because he
needed to take it easy for awhile. Everyone knew something had gone down,
(33:00):
but no one knew anything more thanthat, and I never found out
anything more then, never really talkedabout him again. All he would say
after was that he was in hospitalgetting better and his family was looking after
him. Eventually he started telling methat he'd gone to stay with his brother,
(33:22):
as if I didn't know the realstory, maybe he did. I
never saw him again, But thereis one more thing to tell you about.
A couple of days after Keith's accident, Dad was driving me into work
and he just drops into the conversationthat Luke is back. That daft old
(33:45):
cow. She found the money afterall, he said, totally surprised.
I asked him where did they findit? She said it had fallen down
the back of the bed. Heshook his head. You never know with
these pens, they drive you crazy. It was good to see Luke back,
(34:06):
who went over to say hello andcheck if he'd been doing okay.
He seemed relieved everything had been sortedout and he could get back to work.
But there was also something a bitweird about him. He seemed nervous,
a bit anxious. He didn't havethat strong stoic vibe he'd had before,
and it didn't all sit right withme anyway. I knew that Keith's
(34:30):
guise had turned that place over tryingto find that money. They'd been there
searching for hours. If it hadjust fallen down the back of the bed,
they'd have found it. They'd searchedthat bedroom top to bottom. All
I could think was that someone musthave put it back. A few days
later, I was cutting the ivyaround the fence on the house next door
(34:52):
to Lottie's. One of the fenceposts had fallen out of place, and
I could see right through into thegarden. And when I looked really closely,
I could even see into a conservatory. I could see that crazy Polish
lady there in front of her Jesusshrine. I watched her and I could
(35:14):
see that she wasn't alone. Lukewas in there with her. They were
there on their knees and holding hands. Then they started to pray together.
(35:37):
Thank you for listening to the Newghost Stories podcast. If you've enjoyed the
podcast and want to support what Ido, please like, comment, or
leave a review on any platform andsubscribe to hear future releases. You can
also support the show by becoming apatron and visiting Patreon dot com slash New
ghost Stories. The show is writtenand produced by me, David Paul.
(36:00):
If you like to read more fromme, visit my substack New ghost Stories
dot substack dot com, and youcan also find me on Instagram. Threats
mastered on Facebook and the website formerlyknown as Twitter at New ghost Stories.
Next time on the newgost Stories podcast. Be careful what you eat this Christmas
The story you're about to hear wastold to me in the strictest of confidence.
Certain names, dates, and locationshave been changed to protect that confidence.
Events that feature in this story maybe part of the public record.
If you believe you recognize any ofthe people, places, or events that
appear in this story, ask younot to reveal any information publicly out of
respect for the subject's right to remainanonymous. My name is David Paul Nixon,
(00:44):
and this is the New Ghost Storiespodcast where we delve into the New
Ghost Stories archive to hear new andclassic cases of the supernatural stories that could
be delusions, lies, fantasies,or perhaps even the real thing. Just
don't make your mind up until you'velistened. One of the many things I've
(01:14):
learned while researching and recording these Newghost Stories is not to take things at
first value. I've met a lotof different people during the years I've been
working on the project, people ofall ages and all backgrounds. Some people
who are open, easy and straightforwardto deal with, some who are much
more challenging, people whose pain andscars were closer to the surface or just
(01:38):
out there in the open. I'dlike to say that I walked into all
these encounters without judgment. But I'mnot without my biases, and I'd be
lying if I denied that those didn'tplay a part in the way that I
listened to and evaluated many of theclaims and accounts that I've heard over the
years. There certainly being occasions wherecaution was appropriate, those cases where I
(02:04):
was dealing with someone with, say, addiction problems or mental health struggles.
But there were people who I'm sureI judged too quickly, people who found
it difficult to communicate, people whowere anxious or uncomfortable, some who were
just eccentric. It's hard to knowat this point whether I turned down any
(02:25):
cases which might have been promising basedon some of these biases, whether the
conclusions I drew were tainted by assumptionsrather than just on the dispassionate facts.
It's something I believe I've got betterat over time. Time and time again,
I've found myself surprised by people forcedto empathize with subjects who are not,
(02:50):
at least at first easy to understandor warm to, but whose stories
whose personal struggles I couldn't help butrespond to and sympathize with. Everyone whose
story is featured on this podcast hasbeen tested in ways that most of us
never will be. They've gone throughthings real, imagined, or somewhere in
(03:13):
between that I can never truly appreciatewhat it was like to go through.
I won't say that every one ofthem was necessarily a good person. There
have been contemptible characters on this podcast, some people who have committed terrible crimes,
but there are many who have shownincredible strength and overcome considerable adversity.
(03:38):
People take time to show who theyreally are. It's not cut and dry,
and while we can, of coursemake judgments about people based on what
they say and how they behave,what counts most is what people do,
and indeed what they choose not todo. I don't want to say any
(04:00):
more than that. I'll just getstraight into this month's case. It's called
clean Me. It's New Ghost Storiescase number four hundred and fifty six,
and you can hear it in fullafter these messages. Just a quick reminder,
there is an extra bonus episode overon my substack, a reading of
(04:21):
Graham Green's Horrifying A Little Place offthe Edgeway Road. You can hear that
by visiting New Ghost stories dot substackdot com. They also recently discovered that
the q and a section on Spotifyexisted. So I want to thank you
to all the people who have leftcomments there. I have seen them and
they have all been published, andnow on with the story. I wasn't
(04:46):
expecting Keith to show up in theafternoon, and my first thought was that
I was in trouble. Keith showingup anywhere is bad news. Him showing
up unexpectedly is even worse. Needto torture for a secon second, he
said, and he looked serious.Part of Keith's thing is that he's always
joking around, trying to be funny. Something really was up. I dropped
(05:10):
my tools and walked over to hisfilthy white van. What time was it
yesterday when I saw you at thePolish Ladies? He asked, Hata no.
Eleven thirty maybe, and Luke wasthere right? Yeah? How long
was he there for? After that? I said slowly, I'm not sure,
not too long. Five minutes,ten minutes at most? Was she
(05:36):
giving him money? That's when Iknew some shit had gone down. I
caught Luke cleaning Lottie's car the daybefore, and you weren't supposed to do
any moonlighting. You weren't allowed todo odd jobs for the old folks privately
off the company's books. I didn'tsee anything, I lied. Keith stroked
(05:58):
his stubble. It's gone missing.You know what? Has the old bince
money? That big water cash shehad. I'd already covered for Luke once.
That same day, I was comingout of the bathroom and I saw
Lotty doling out notes to him topay for the car wash. She had
a lot of money there, andshe shouldn't have been flashing it around.
(06:21):
I didn't say anything about it,but then I bumped into Keith in the
hall. He just let himself intothe house. I had to keep him
busy, so I started talking reallyloud so Luke would hear me. Then
that daft old lady walked into thehall carrying the notes, just sort of
holding them behind her back. Lottydidn't like Keith anymore than the rest of
(06:45):
us, but she couldn't resist thechance to complain about how long all the
work was taking, even while holdingall this cash. I saw Keith watch
her as she went into the bedroomwith it. And it's really rare to
see people with that much paper moneythese days. My reporter to the council,
Keith had said later, you shouldn'tbe in sheltered housing if you've got
(07:06):
that much cash knocking around. Jesusthese old bags shorn out to put it
away. Now that money was gone, and it sounded like Keith was saying
Luke had stolen it. Can't believeLuke would take it, I said.
He definitely wasn't there for much longerafter you left. He could have come
(07:27):
back, said Keith. He couldhave left the front door or the back
door unlocked. And that's if hedidn't have a key himself. You know
he does odd jobs for her,right. I didn't say anything about that,
But Luke's such a nice guy.He wouldn't steal from an old lady.
Someone's taken it, he said.And it wasn't you, was it?
No, of course not. Keithwas looking at me intensely. I've
(07:53):
been there all day doing the gardening. Luke had just been there for a
couple of hours. Come on,Keith, you know I wouldn't. He
took a second before saying, ofcourse not, I know you wouldn't.
We heard the sound of someone shoutingLottie's house was at the bottom of the
street, but we could both hearher. She must have been hysterical.
(08:18):
Keep this under your hat, hesaid, and don't talk to Luke about
it if you see him. Hegot back in his van and pulled out
the driveway. This time someone hadwritten also available in white in the dirt
on the side. For once,it didn't make me laugh. That was
a weird summer, the one Ispent stuck between heaven and hell. I
(08:43):
should have said to my dad atthe start that I didn't want to work
with Keith. I've never liked Keith. I've known him since I was a
kid, and I've always hated him. But him and Dad have been friends
for years, so I felt likeI couldn't say anything bad about him.
First thing Dad said after I askedhim for a job is, oh,
(09:03):
Keith needs some help down on thepension as a state, and I just
couldn't think of any way to getout of it. Keith is a lot.
There's something about him that's off.Maybe he doesn't really get boundaries,
or he doesn't understand social situations.Even though I think he thinks he's really
(09:24):
good with people. He always actslike he's pleased to see you, grins
at you in this really creepy way. He makes lots of jokes that would
be fine if they were just dadjokes, but they're often really dirty jokes,
and he's like this sweaty man inhis forties. He also mocks people
(09:46):
a lot too right to their face. It's just a bit of banter,
you know. Sometimes he'd say thingsthat were really nasty, and that's what
I really don't like about him.You know how some some people act like
they're joking, but they're not joking. That's what they actually think. I
never thought Keith was joking. Itwas always an act. He put on
(10:11):
an act because he actually doesn't likepeople that can see it in his eyes.
There's something just really nasty about Keith. I remember on my first day
when he came to pick me upin his dirty white van, such a
cliche, and he said, I'llput you on a good house first,
(10:31):
one of the nice old birds.He looked over at me. They're not
all nice, you know, really, I said, smiling awkwardly. Oh
yeah, he said, nodding,breathing in, looking like he'd seen some
bad shit in the war. Theyterrorize you. Some of these coughing dodgers,
never happy. You have to watchout for them joking but not joking.
(10:56):
But then there was Luke. Keithdid his best to embarrass me.
As soon as we met. Luke, who's also Polish, was doing the
gardening over at this tiny old deer'shouse. Keith introduced me to them in
the most cringe way possible. Borea handsome young man, via, he
said to the old deer. Hethen turns to me and says, you
(11:16):
gotta watch this one. She eatsyoung men for breakfast. She was like
ninety, she laughed, but Ibet she was afraid not to. Keith's
a big guy. He then showsme to Luke and says, green behind
the ears. This one never donea proper day's work in his life.
He slaps me on the back.Don't give him anything too complicated to do.
(11:41):
He was so embarrassing. The thingyou have to understand about Luke is
and I really have to make thissuper clear, is that Luke is fit
as fuck. That first day hewas in tatty denim's and a sleeveless vest,
(12:01):
biceps pumping, thrusting his hoe intothe soil, bending it back,
leavering the weeds out, mopping sweatoff his forehead. I was nearly speechless.
I didn't know shit about gardening whenI started, but Luke was patient
with me, didn't rip the pissout of me like Keith would have.
(12:22):
Even when I was trying to cutthe hedges, literally one branch at a
time, he showed me what todo. He put his arms around me,
guided me with his ripped body,showed me how to do it properly.
It was almost too much. He'sthe strong, silent type Luke.
At least at first. We didn'tvibe right away. I had to take
(12:46):
him out of his shell a bit. He used to work most of the
day quietly, without saying a word. I used to have earbuds, but
they kept falling out, so Iasked if I could bring a radio.
The moment I heard him humming alongto Super Trooper while he stoked his chainsaw,
and knew we could get along andcross our cultural boundaries. He was
(13:07):
just shy, really. He alwaysbrought a healthy lunch with him. After
going to McDonald's for the first fewdays, I started to bring my own
sandwiches so we could eat lunch together. And connect. His bio was that
he'd move to England so he couldmake a bit of money. This was
before the Brexit times. He usedto send money back, but he hated
(13:28):
being away from his family, sohe talked his wife into moving over here.
He could tell he really loved hiskids. He beamed when he talked
about them. One was six andhad been diagnosed as dyslexic, so he
was concerned he might start to fallbehind. His youngest was about to start
school, so his wife was goingto start working and hopefully that would pay
(13:50):
for extra tuition. But he wasworried for his youngest too, because he
was already starting to forget Poland andwouldn't speak Polish to Luke unless he forced
to. He loved England when hefirst came here, but now his family
had settled, all he could dowas think of home. He'd take his
family on day trips to English villagesat the weekend because they'd remind him of
(14:13):
the small villages where he grew up. His kids had got bored of this,
so he'd started to take them tocastles instead, But British castles,
he said, were mostly ruins.Poland has lots of stunning forts, and
he took me through tons of pictureson his phone. Who was a sensitive
guy under his tough exterior, buthe was hetero. He would never be
(14:37):
mine. Best I could do wasto stare from afar watch while he bent
down to pick up his clippings orwrenched plants out of the soil with his
fork. I had a thing withan estage agent from Bista that summer,
but I was always thinking of Luke. And when each day was over,
(15:00):
Keith's van would still be there,waiting, ready to drag me away and
take me home. He'd offer togive me a lift back whenever he was
on site, and if I sawhis filthy van parked on the street,
I'd have to wait there for himso he wouldn't be offended. There weren't
tons of places to park on theestate, so he often parked in disabled
(15:22):
spaces. I'd go and stand bythe van to wait for him, and
angry old people would come out andyell at me, as if it was
my fault he'd park there. Keithused to say to them, I'll just
be here for a few minutes,mate, I'll be back in a minute,
and walk away quickly knowing they'd neverbe able to catch up with him.
(15:43):
This one guy reported him eventually,and Keith was so mad. I
remember that he saw the guy afew days after, pushing his wife in
a wheelchair, and he turned tome and said, I could just drive
up onto that curb and send himto heaven early. The only fun thing
about getting a lift home with Keithwas waiting to see what was written on
(16:03):
the side of his van. Keithhardly ever cleaned it, and someone somehow
was always sneaking up to it andwriting something on it. It always perped
up my day to see someone hadwritten clean me in the dirt, or
dirty mind, dirty van, orracist blackface van. The idea of some
(16:25):
old geezer or granny creeping over thereand doing it when he wasn't looking like
a naughty kid. It always mademe laugh. If Keith made me wait
too long, I used to drawcock and balls in solidarity. That night,
Keith was mostly quiet. On thedrive back, he told me Luke
had been suspended. I asked ifhe'd owned up to it, and Keith
(16:49):
said, no, your dad's goingto want to ask you about it.
He went on, you just tellhim what you told me, and you'll
be fine. Dad confirmed that Lukewas suspended and would probably be sacked unless
the money showed up. I askedif he had any actual proof Luke had
taken it. He said no,and when I asked whether Luke could claim
(17:12):
unfair dismissal, he said that hewas moonlighting, which was against the rules
anyway, so he wouldn't be ina strong position to do it. Only
me and Luke had been at thehouse, so unless Lotty had lost it
and it turned up later, eitherme or Luke had to have taken it,
and if I hadn't taken it,it must be him. I got
(17:34):
the logic, but I didn't buyit. I just didn't think that Luke
was a thief, and he hadn'tbeen there for long after I'd left,
so he wouldn't have had time tosteal it, would he. The next
day, I was mowing the lawna few houses away from the Polish lady
Lotty, and I saw her talkingto Bruce, one of Keith's goons.
(17:56):
I knew they were talking about Lukebecause she allays talks like she's shouting.
Then she went quiet all of asudden. I looked over and saw she
was throwing shade in my direction.Lotty liked Luke a lot. They could
speak Polish together, but he alsoused to wear a small silver cross.
(18:17):
Lotty was a Jesus freak and hadlittle shrine in her conservatory with a big
cross, statue of the Virgin Maryand photos of all the recent popes stuck
on the wall. Lotty had takenagainst me from the start, maybe because
I'm gay, but also because hergarden was badly overgrown from the start and
(18:37):
someone should have taken care of itearlier. That wasn't my fault. I
don't control the scheduling, but allI got from her was hate. I
had to spend all day gardening inthe rain without even a hot cup of
coffee. After Luke said if Iwanted her to be nice to me,
I should agree to go to churchwith her, she was always asking him
(19:00):
his faith and which CHURCHY went to, even though he wasn't really religious.
He just wore the cross because ithad been a present. He was starting
to run out of excuses to tellher. Maybe if I'd gone over there
sworn on the Bible that it wasn'tme, prayed for forgiveness for not starting
the garden earlier, perhaps she'd stopstaring at me. I was getting frosty
(19:26):
vibes from the rest of the crewtoo. They all probably thought Luke was
taking the fall for me. Nowwas the boss's kids, so they had
to cover for me. Did theystill think I'd be working there if I
had wads of cash? They'd overlookthe obvious villain? Keith he was there
(19:47):
that day, true, not forvery long, but he'd walked right into
that house like he owned the placelot he never let him in. He's
a manager for the company. Hecan get killed ease to these houses if
he wants to, and he'd seenher with the money. He could have
come back later, and it probablywouldn't have taken him that long to search
(20:08):
for it in her bedroom. WhenI thought more about it, the way
he talked about it with me,it was like he was saying, keep
your mouth shut and let Luke takethe fall. Otherwise people will think it's
you to keep me quiet, becauseif I could help him blame Luke,
(20:29):
he could get away with it,couldn't he. It was a quiet trip
home that night, with Keith tryingto make conversation and me basically just ignoring
him and giving him one or twoword answers. He seemed genuinely offended.
Kept rubbing the back of his neckawkwardly as we spoke, like he was
getting anxious. Maybe he knew thatI knew. What was I going to
(20:55):
do about it? Though I didn'thave any evidence I could show Dad,
and he was Keith's friend, hewasn't going to believe me unless I could
prove it. I just said avery quick goodbye when I got out of
the van. As I walked alongthe curb to the garden gate, I
couldn't help noticing that he didn't driveright off. He just sat there as
(21:17):
if something was bothering him, rubbingthe back of his neck again. And
just as I was going through thegarden gate, I noticed something strange.
Someone had written on the side ofthe van again, but this time,
instead of the usual stuff about howdirty it was, someone had drawn something
on it strange little signs, smallsymbols. One was kind of like a
(21:45):
star, some were more like letters, but I didn't recognize any of them.
There were seven or eight of them. I think there wasn't any language
I've seen written down. The symbolsweren't that big either. When some one
writes with their finger on the sideof the van, they do it in
big capital letters because you can drawthem quickly. These symbols were smaller detailed.
(22:11):
They'd been drawn slowly and more carefully. The van started back up and
Keith drove on, and I didn'tthink much more about those marks. Just
then Keith had wiped them off bythe next morning, when he came around
to pick me up. He announcedthat morning that I was going to be
working with him all day. WithLuke gone. He was short handed,
(22:33):
and he was promoting me to juniorbuilder and dog's body. I said okay,
and tried not to look revolted.As the journey went on, I
started to wonder if this was somekind of play on his part. Did
he know that I suspected him?Was he keeping me close, trying to
(22:53):
work on me so I wouldn't sayanything about him. We stopped at some
point red lights, and I sawhim scratching the back of his hands and
his arms, and then after hewas rubbing the back of his neck again.
We finally arrived at this two bedroombungalow, and as soon as we
got out of the van. Hewas scratching himself, scratching around his belly,
(23:15):
up his back. I saw morethan I wanted to. I'm so
itchy this morning. He said anold couple were getting their kitchen replaced,
so I was going to help Keithtear out the old one. Even I
couldn't get that wrong. The husbandwas asking, pleading with us to be
(23:37):
careful not to get dirt everywhere becausetheir carpet was new, and that it
hurt his wife's back to vacuum.And Keith is nodding along, and all
the while he's rubbing his arms andscratching. I wondered if he was on
something the way he was standing there, all jittery, like he was anxious,
just nodding and looking like he can'twait to get away. I wondered
(24:02):
whether this might explain why he neededthe money. That maybe he had a
habit and he'd been really good athiding it until now. Perhaps it had
gotten really bad and he'd gone fulladdict, and that was why he needed
the extra money. We laid downa trail of plastic to protect the carpet
(24:22):
before we started taking the kitchen apart. We worked quickly and screwing the doors
first and putting the old parts inthe back of the van before getting to
the more difficult job of taking theunits apart. This created a lot of
dust. Specks of paint and sawdustand plaster were in the air, and
it made things worse for Keith.His arms were starting to go red,
(24:47):
and I spotted him lifting up histrousers to scratch his legs too, and
his ass. When he thought Iwasn't looking at lunch, he asked me
to go to Boots and get himsome E forty five cream and moisturizer.
I came back an hour later andI couldn't find Keith right away. The
kitchen and living room and garden wereall empty, so I started to wonder
(25:08):
if he'd gone over to one ofthe other houses to speak to some of
the other guys. But then Iheard the shower going. Couldn't quite believe
it at first. It's pretty cheekyusing someone else's shower without their permission.
I knocked to check it was himthat you. He said back to me,
are you in the shower? Iasked? You get the stuff?
(25:30):
Sure, I said, I hearthe shower stop and him get out of
the tub, and for a secondI thought he was going to open the
door naked, and I froze tothe spot. But luckily he just opened
the door a little and put hisarm around to grab the boots back.
I remember thinking, I hope thatold couple burns that towel. I didn't
(25:55):
see him much for the rest ofthat day. He was talking on the
phone or going to talk to otherpeople people. He left everything for me
to do. I was tired bythe end, but I didn't look as
bad as he did. He waslooking so sore now, and he was
still squirming shifting around in his seatwhile he was driving. I was worried
he wasn't paying attention to the road. Might have to go to the doctors
(26:18):
tomorrow for this skin thing, hesaid, scratching under his shirt. Yeah,
I'd do that, I said,desperate for him to put both hands
back on the wheel. What hedidn't say was that he wasn't going to
pick me up the next morning.That next day, I stood waiting for
over half an hour before I hadto beg Mum to drive me in.
(26:40):
I think she must have told Dad, because while I was cutting my lawns,
he showed up, then asked meif I'd seen or heard anything from
Keith. He'd been trying to callhim all morning. He was supposed to
attend a meeting at the office,but no one had heard anything from him.
I told him Keith had said hemight be going to the doc,
but that didn't explain why he wasn'tanswering his phone. I said it was
(27:04):
just about a thing with his skin. But Dad started to get really worried.
Keith is tied to his phone.He always gets back to you.
Nothing had been heard at all fromKeith. By the afternoon. Just as
I'm about to knock off, Daddecided he's going to go over to his
place and makes me go with him. It's about a thirty minute drive away,
(27:27):
and its flat is above a launderette. Dad parks up in a yard
behind the store, which has areally nasty smell coming from a couple of
the skips. There, just thesort of grotty place I imagine Keith living
in. He headed up some steelsteps and we walked along this landing until
(27:47):
we got to a black door.Dad tried the bell and knocked loudly.
When Keith didn't answer, he bentdown to shout through the letterbox, Keith,
you in there. There was stillno answer. Perhaps he's just gone
out, I said. Dad triedhis phone again. We could hear it
(28:11):
ringing from inside. Outside his door. Keith has one of those plastic Victorian
lamps. Dad lifted the pointed topoff. There was a spare set of
keys, blue tacked inside. Hepulled them out and unlocked the door.
We both felt it right away.The air is damp and the carpet is
(28:33):
soaked with water. Dad went intothe flat shouting, Keith you hear.
He found Keith's phone face down onthe living room carpet. It's coming down
the stairs, I said to him. The staircase carpet was very dark.
It was wetter than the rest ofthe hallway carpet. Dad charged upstairs,
(28:57):
his shoes making loud, squelchy soundswith each step. I went up after
him, but stayed a few stepsbehind. On the landing. We can
hear a noise. It's this buzzingnoise. There's a buzz sound for a
few seconds, and then it stopswith a clunk, Then another clunk,
(29:17):
and another, and then the buzzingstarts up again. It repeats itself buzzes,
then clunk, clunk, clunk.The bathroom door isn't quite closed.
Dad went to push it open,and as I go after him, I
see water pouring from the bathroom floorand onto the carpet. The water is
(29:38):
a pinkish color. I can seethe bathtub as Dad opens the door.
It's overflowing with water. It's theshower making all the noise. It was
bussed burnt out. It buzzes whiletrickles of water fall from the head,
and then it clunks as it seizesup before trying to do its job again,
(30:00):
turned and put out his hand toblock me from coming in. He
shouted at me, don't look cornambulance. I went back onto the landing
to make the call. I hearda squealing sound from the bathroom, so
I ducked into one of the bedrooms. After they pick up, I realize
I don't know Keith's address, soI had to run downstairs to see if
I can find a letter with itwritten on. They said they'd be there
(30:23):
in ten to fifteen minutes. Iearned the call and everything seems quiet again.
I walked to the bottom of thestairs and looked up. That's when
I heard a scream, Dad,I said, but not too loudly.
I was shitting it. I walkedback up the stairs, slowly, shaking
(30:45):
really badly. There was another squealas I reached the bathroom. I can
see that Dad is on his knees, kneeling in the water. There are
smears of blood around the door handle. I didn't touch it as I've pushed
the door open further. Dad washolding a hand over Keith. He wanted
(31:07):
to put his hand on him toreassure him, but he was too afraid
to touch him because Keith was redraw. He looked like meat. Dad
said, it's okay, mate,the ambulance is coming. It's on its
way. Keith was beneath the sinkin the fetal position. He was shivering.
His blood was coloring the water.There were thousands of plucked hairs floating
(31:32):
around him and long, thick,curling strips of human skin. I can't
get clean. That's not the kindof guy to get worked up about things.
He's a fixer. He thinks thatyou can fix everything if you know
(31:53):
the right people and if you havethe right tools. The look on his
face that day he did not knowhow to deal with that I didn't like
Keith, and I was pretty surethen that he'd stolen that money, but
fucking hell, I'd never seen anythinglike that, and I did honestly feel
(32:14):
proper sorry for him. I kepthaving nightmares about it for the rest of
that whole summer. I don't knowwhat did that to him. I think
it was for revenge, and Ido think that the symbols on the van
had something to do with it.I told my dad about them, and
he said I was being ridiculous,but it shitted him up too. He
(32:37):
just wouldn't admit it because what happenedto Keith, you don't just snap and
start ripping your skin off. That'snot how people are. I had to
keep the whole thing secret. Inever said anything to anyone at work.
All they heard was that Keith hadgone to stay with his brother because he
needed to take it easy for awhile. Everyone knew something had gone down,
(33:00):
but no one knew anything more thanthat, and I never found out
anything more then, never really talkedabout him again. All he would say
after was that he was in hospitalgetting better and his family was looking after
him. Eventually he started telling methat he'd gone to stay with his brother,
(33:22):
as if I didn't know the realstory, maybe he did. I
never saw him again, But thereis one more thing to tell you about.
A couple of days after Keith's accident, Dad was driving me into work
and he just drops into the conversationthat Luke is back. That daft old
(33:45):
cow. She found the money afterall, he said, totally surprised.
I asked him where did they findit? She said it had fallen down
the back of the bed. Heshook his head. You never know with
these pens, they drive you crazy. It was good to see Luke back,
(34:06):
who went over to say hello andcheck if he'd been doing okay.
He seemed relieved everything had been sortedout and he could get back to work.
But there was also something a bitweird about him. He seemed nervous,
a bit anxious. He didn't havethat strong stoic vibe he'd had before,
and it didn't all sit right withme anyway. I knew that Keith's
(34:30):
guise had turned that place over tryingto find that money. They'd been there
searching for hours. If it hadjust fallen down the back of the bed,
they'd have found it. They'd searchedthat bedroom top to bottom. All
I could think was that someone musthave put it back. A few days
later, I was cutting the ivyaround the fence on the house next door
(34:52):
to Lottie's. One of the fenceposts had fallen out of place, and
I could see right through into thegarden. And when I looked really closely,
I could even see into a conservatory. I could see that crazy Polish
lady there in front of her Jesusshrine. I watched her and I could
(35:14):
see that she wasn't alone. Lukewas in there with her. They were
there on their knees and holding hands. Then they started to pray together.
(35:37):
Thank you for listening to the Newghost Stories podcast. If you've enjoyed the
podcast and want to support what Ido, please like, comment, or
leave a review on any platform andsubscribe to hear future releases. You can
also support the show by becoming apatron and visiting Patreon dot com slash New
ghost Stories. The show is writtenand produced by me, David Paul.
(36:00):
If you like to read more fromme, visit my substack New ghost Stories
dot substack dot com, and youcan also find me on Instagram. Threats
mastered on Facebook and the website formerlyknown as Twitter at New ghost Stories.
Next time on the newgost Stories podcast. Be careful what you eat this Christmas
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