Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

As a youth I was a little wayward in my exploits which unfortunately had me incarcerated in Strangeways prison for 3 weeks. The old prison (pre riots) was filthy,inhumane and oppressive. There were 3 – 4 inmates per cell at the time and I thought I was lucky as I was given a cell all to myself. All I had in the cell was a metal bed, a jug, bowl and bucket and nothing else. During the afternoons I would have a sleep and this particular July afternoon was no different, except for a turn of events that I have never been able to explain since.

I woke with a start, unsure if I was dreaming that my bed was rocking backwards and forwards. Thinking it was a dream I lay my head back on the pillow. An acrid stench made me gag and as soon as this happened, the air felt like it had been sucked out of the cell in a single Whoosh. I couldn’t breathe and to make things worse the bed began to rock violently backwards and forwards. I couldn’t breathe because I could physically feel a huge pair of hands pushing down on my chest so violently the bed was rocking. My mouth wide open and breathless, I tried to scream but nothing came out. The huge pair of hands moved down to my waist and I felt them wrap around me and try to tug me off the bed. They were wrapped so tightly my stomach groaned, yet the tugging persisted and the metal bed squeaked louder and louder as it rocked backwards and forth. It lasted for about 20 seconds before I felt the huge hands move to my ankles and this is where the most pressure was applied. My legs were now coming off the bed and as I resisted I managed to grab the metal head bar of the bed and as I did this, my body was raised off the bed. Within seconds it was over and the air came back into the cell. I could breathe again. 

It was another few seconds before I recovered from the shock and I ran to the door and pounded it and screamed until an Officer came and opened it. As soon as the door opened I ran out babbling and the officer just stood there, smiling at me.

I screamed at him and asked what was so funny and his reply was “not you as well” and told me to go to the office, where I explained what had happened to me, to the Senior officer. The S.O went on to explain to me that, until the abolition of the death sentence, certain cells around the prison, were kept as Condemned Cells, or Death Cells as they were nicknamed. Condemned Inmates would spend up to a week in these solitary cells before being hung, so they could be watched round the clock on suicide watch. He then went on to tell me that some inmates did not go so quietly and would struggle with the guards to the death chamber. He also told me that the hands I felt on my body could of been those of a sadistic guard who spent all his time on death duty and he himself was murdered by an inmate who bumped into him in the street.

I was moved the next day to another cell. I never spoke of it again for fear of ridicule. I was just another number who had an experience in the Death Cell.

Sent in by “D”, Copyright 2008, TrueGhostTales.com