Bladon Methodist Church, 3am. The building is dark and silent. Suddenly there is a ghostly whistling noise. Could it be the Grimmitt Organ Ghost that is known to haunt the church? Not on this occasion - it's one of the 28 children spending the night in the church as part of our church sleepover event.
The evening started when the children, aged from 5 to 14 years, met at the church at 6.30pm. This was followed by 2 hours of energetic games on the sports field in Blenheim Park before returning to the church for supper. The children then amused themselves with a variety of activities such playing snooker, twister, board games etc. There was also a TV and DVD player although we unfortunately had to interrupt a screening of Harry Potter to watch the latest eviction from the Big Brother house!
At about 11.30pm we settled down to sleep or to ghost-watch. The church is known to be haunted by at least 2 ghosts. Several church members, working late in the building, have heard the organ playing yet have found no-one at the keyboard. This is known as the Grimmitt Organ ghost after the family who paid for the organ. The second ghost is the schoolroom walker. When in the church late at night, footsteps have been heard walking across the wooden schoolroom floor towards the church - yet there is never anyone there.
By 7am everyone was awake having cereal and toast for breakfast. Then there was the opportunity for some more games before the children were collected at 10 o'clock. Everyone had a really great time and left happy . . but tired!
Despite all these confirmed hauntings, the night was relatively uneventful. Possibly the ghosts were frightened off by the large number of excited children in the building! The only unexplained happening was how everyone woke up in the morning with smiley faces drawn on their cheeks!
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All photos taken by Junior Church member Luke Drummond
