Hello again all! Well where to begin? The Muswell Hill Geisterfest was an ENORMOUS success – thanks and credit are due to everyone involved, not least the community of Muswell Hill young old and in between who all turned out to make the day special. Great to see ‘little Polly Hancock’ again, as Peter referred to her, oh the cheek! And Alice from the London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy who I haven’t caught up with in person since the last Swearing on the Horns at The Bull – see you at Macbeth, Alice! David and I also caught up with Carrie Kirkpatrick from Oracle TV, who dropped by to do some filming in advance of her Sunday night Hallowe’en Special which focussed upon Queens Wood. The kids all loved it (well apart from the ones I made cry – not intentionally of course!), and the community spirit was amazing. Particular kudos to Deanna Duda Bogdanovic, Mel Pretorius, JoMichaels, Peter Thompson, Cara Jenkins, Chris Ostwald, Donagh Wyley and local MP (and now Home Office Minister!) Lynne Featherstone for all their hard work in making it happen. What a planning committee! A dreamteam indeed.
Speaking of dreamteams, a HUGE thank you is owed to Lorcan Maguire of Newton Photographic with whom I did a FANTASTIC photoshoot at lunchtime, and Dave Milner and Drew Hartley, who dutifully lugged around camera equipment and drove paranormal author Paul Adams, my husband David Farrant and myself all over the place on what was certainly the busiest night of the year. We had a book stall at O’Neill’s where many of the Geisterfest events were taking place, and it was lovely to meet so many people willing to share their paranormal stories from around Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End. And thanks to everyone for the round of applause when I stepped off stage after my little talk, I was pretty nervous!! Especially as I only had ten minutes to prepare and didn’t realise I was going on! But it was all good fun.
Paul Adams may have inadvertently created another two urban legends to add to N6 and N10’s pantheon of mysteries; pity the poor boy who mistook him for a ghost on Muswell Hill Broadway! Likewise anyone who saw him, in full Victorian costume including frock coat and top hat, running up Muswell Hill Road towards The Woodman chasing a copy of Haunted Highgate which he had left on his car roof! His outfit was amazing, and I am not surprised that he was mistaken for a Victorian ghost! Walking behind him down Swains Lane at midnight was pretty scary I must admit.
Speaking of ghosts, in all the hectic melee at O’Neill’s I wasn’t expecting to encounter one for myself. O’Neills, also known as The Church Pub, is a large art nouveau church completed in 1903 which has now been converted into a pub. On two separate occasions on the night of the Geisterfest I was touched gently but firmly on the shoulder – both times in full view of multiple witnesses who saw nothing. This happened on the west end of the gallery. Very strange, especially after hearing about a similar thing happening to staff in the Muswell Hill Bookshop, although this wasn’t frightening at all. Perhaps it was my Victorian / Edwardian costume which attracted the ghost, who knows? If any readers have had any paranormal experiences at O’Neill’s please do get in touch or leave a comment below.
One other weird experience of a less supernatural nature was meeting the singer Facio, who made my heart stop on sight! Don’t worry, things are better than ever between David and myself! But he does bear a frightening similarity to David circa 1972. Despite being about 15 years older than David was then – that boy’s got a good skincare regime I suspect! What does everyone else think? I think I might just envegle Facio to play David in my forthcoming documentary ….
Anyway, check my blog later to find out just happened after the Geisterfest – it was a long day but well worth it! Also some filmed footage of the’fest to follow!
Thanks again to everyone who took part, it was a wonderful night,
Della