The Bloke

Horror Stories - The Bloke

The following incident took place at a certain house in Liverpool, England in 1985. The ghost in the story is still active, but as the people who currently live in the haunted house aren't yet fully aware that they have a resident ghost on their premises, the street can't be mentioned in the story.

In the late summer of 1985, a 12-year-old boy named Alan was sitting having breakfast with his family, when suddenly, a jar of marmalade in front of him slid a few inches across the tablecloth, startling everyone. The boy's parents and 7-year-old daughter were naturally quite astonished, but Alan just smirked and whispered, "Stop it, Jarvis."

His mother's mouth dropped, and she looked at the marmalade jar, then looked at Alan and said, "How did you do that?"

"I didn't Mum." said Alan, "Jarvis did it."

"Who?" asked Alan's father, who had been reading the newspaper.

"The bloke from upstairs." Alan replied, and resumed eating his cornflakes.

"Eh? What bloke son?" Alan's father was very intrigued at his son's comments.

Alan had a lot of explaining to do. He said, "Well, Dad, this bloke comes into my room of a night. He tells me stories sometimes, and he looks as if he's a ghost, cos you can see through him. He's like a fuzzy shadow, and I told him that I'd never tell anyone about him. He said he's French and his name's Jarvis something. I can't remember his second name. It isn't Smith or anything."

Alan's parents looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or be concerned. Alan's sister, Kelly, giggled and put her hand to her mouth. She said, "Stop telling fibs Alan. There's no bloke upstairs in your room. Stop giving him pocket money Dad, cos he's telling lies."

That night, Alan's Dad left his bedroom to go to the toilet, and as he walked past his son's bedroom, he heard a conversation. He thought his son was talking in his sleep, and opened the door to look in, and saw Alan sitting up in bed with his bedside lamp on. Near the foot of the bed there was an outline of a shady figure which vanished as he looked at it.

Alan's Dad slapped the light switch to turn the light on and looked in complete disbelief at the space at the end of Alan's bed where the ghostly figure had stood seconds before. He grabbed his son by the arm and yanked him out the bed, then dragged him to his bedroom, where he closed the door and put a chair against it. Alan's Mum woke up and asked what all the noise was about. Her husband said, "I saw it! I saw the ghost. He's bloody right! There is a ghost in his room! I can't believe what I saw."

Alan said, "Oh calm down, Dad. It's okay. Jarvis is all right. He's sound, honest."

"I'm frightened." said Alan's mother, and she got up and turned the light on.

"Shall we stay over at your mum's?" Alan's father asked his wife.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming love?" Alan's mother asked her husband.

"I know what I saw!" he shouted, and suddenly there was a rapping at the door. Alan's parents jumped and his mum screamed.

"Mummy." said a girl's voice. It was little Kelly. She'd woken up with all the commotion.

Kelly's parents opened the door and took her in the room. "It's all right Kelly. You can sleep with Mummy and Daddy tonight." said Kelly's mum.

"I'm tired Dad, " complained Alan, and he yawned and said, "I want to sleep in my own bed."

"No you can't. There's a - you know what in there - " replied his father in a harsh voice. He couldn't mention the ghost in case he scared Kelly, but he seemed to be the most terrified.

The whole family slept in the same double bed and hardly got any sleep. Throughout the night, Alan's parents kept jumping at every little sound.

On the following day, when the kids were at school, Alan's parents visited a Catholic priest. He was very sympathetic and said he himself had seen a ghost many years ago and told them that he thought he was a bit psychic. He promised he'd visit the house in the evening and bless Alan's bedroom.

The priest turned up and interviewed Alan in his bedroom for over an hour, taking notes throughout. After talking at length to the child, the priest came down to the living room and checked a few details he'd taken down in his notebook. He sat facing Alan's parents and Kelly, and said, "Is it true that there was a break-in about three months back?"

"Yes, " said Alan's father, "but nothing was taken. They broke in through the back door. Why?"

"And the robbers took nothing. Don't you find that unusual?" said the priest, scratching his head. He looked at Alan's parents over his spectacles.

"What do you mean?" said Alan's mum.

"According to your son, the ghost, Jarvis, scared the robbers away from the house." said the priest.

Alan's parents looked at each other in disbelief, and the priest quoted the other notes from his little black book, "Er, let me see. Then there was a chip pan that went on fire, but a damp tea-towel mysteriously put the fire out - even though no one remembers who put the towel on the fire? Then you madam, " the priest addressed little Kelly. He said, "You were playing in the street with Alan and ran out in front of a car to get an ice cream, and something lifted you off your feet and pulled you out the path of the car. Is that true?"

"Oh yeah Mum. That's right. I forgot." said Kelly.

"And you sir," the priest addressed Alan's father, "lost your car keys, and looked everywhere for them - then found them on the roof of your car. Is that true?"

"Yes. That was weird. But what are you driving at?" said Alan's dad.

"All the work of one ghost named Jarvis. Your son says he's a friendly ghost who looks after you all like a guardian angel. I can't exorcise good ghosts, only evil spirits. You'd be better just turning a blind eye to him. He's done a lot of good." the priest then chuckled, and after drinking a cup of tea, left the house.

Unfortunately, only Alan and Kelly could accept poor Jarvis, and so Alan's cowardly parents moved their family from the house. According to Alan, on the last night in the house, he heard Jarvis crying.