大象传媒

Strange reports

It may not sound like the most atmospheric setting for a haunting, but there have been many witnesses of supposedly supernatural goings on at the Biggleswade Poundstretcher.

Natalie has heard the testimony of 10 separate witnesses, half a dozen of whom have worked in the shop.

She first came across their experiences in a local Facebook page in 2015. It seemed that whenever anyone posted about paranormal experiences or stories on that group, the store was mentioned.

Helen, a former employee, said it was “always freezing” in the shop. Alongside this cold temperature was a sense of unease, or of being watched; the hairs on the back of the arms and neck prickling.

Some reported a gentler sensation, of feeling like someone else was there. Not necessarily a frightening feeling – just unexplainable. There were places in the building where these feelings or the presence were particularly strong, such as the attic.

Mary, another ex-employee, described hearing voices. She said she heard someone call for her from the back store room, which she assumed was one of her colleagues. But when she reached the top of the stairs to see what they wanted, there was no one there. Footsteps were also often heard on these stairs when no one else was in the building.

Then there were the reports of “crying” being heard coming from a back room.

The appearance of Aggie

Three witnesses, Becky, Jodie and Millie, say they have seen an apparition or a ghost at the shop.

Jodie claims to have seen someone, a female, moving around when it was closed for Christmas at the time. She thought it was odd, but had no idea that the shop was reportedly haunted. She came forward when she saw other people talking about it online.

A customer called Jenny describes the ghost as being that of a young maid who died in the building, and says that her name was Aggie. She says: “I felt her presence, and I also felt someone watching me when I was working in the office, but I was never scared.”

Another post about the apparition was shared on Facebook in 2015 by someone who didn't work in the Poundstretcher, but had heard that Aggie was the victim of the Great Fire of Biggleswade.

The Great Fire

The identity of Aggie indeed raises a lot of questions. “Was it a nickname to make it easier to be there in the shop with her?” our host Natalie asks. “Or was it based on real knowledge of a person who died there? I wonder if it's a joke: Aggie being short for ‘aggro’. But it could genuinely be because they thought the ghost was an Agnes or an Aggie.”

Natalie decided to do some research on the fire, to see it could be linked to anyone named Aggie. The Great Fire of Biggleswade started on Thursday 16th June, 1785 only three or four doors away from the building. Could there be evidence of a folk memory of a victim of the fire?

Four days after the fire, the Northampton Mercury published a report of “a most terrible fire” that “consumed near 200 dwellings”.

However, in all of the reports that Natalie read, contemporary and otherwise, she found no mention of human casualties.

So, what to make of these ghostly accounts?

“I'm not a paranormal investigator,” says Natalie. “I don't go out with ghost busting equipment trying to capture evidence. Neither am I here to disprove the existence of ghostly phenomena. I am neither team believer nor team sceptic. I am firmly team ‘not sure’, but I do believe these women's accounts.

“They witnessed strange things, and some of them saw things that they can't explain. I don't know if there's a practical, psychological and or sociological explanation, or a spiritual one for what happened to them, but I believe that they believe something profound was happening to them when they worked there.”

The story continues on Weird in the Wade. To hear more about Aggie and other spooky goings on, listen now on 大象传媒 Sounds.