As a parent of young children that I love dearly to actually swear on their lives is not something that I do and should never be done in situations of uncertainty, but the story I tell below allows me to do so. Whatever your religious beliefs, put them to one side, and with an open mind read below a story from my new book, Alan Bates “True Ghost Stories” to be published at the end of February. 

The reason for me posting this story is because it is the anniversary today of the event that shook my life 7 years ago.

The Deadly Shade

We can never forget the date nor the time, January 12th, 2010 for it was just two days before the birth of our beautiful daughter, Amber Elizabeth Bates, My wife Steph and I were very excited and looking forward to our new addition to our family. We were driving to Arrowe park hospital for a pre-arranged, pre-natal appointment. It was 4-00pm and the weather conditions on the day were cold and dry but with a good visibility. 
Along with our young daughter Keira in the back seat of the car we left our home on Greendale Road and in approximately 200 yards I slowed and prepared the car for a very sharp right turn under the brick constructed old railway bridge arch into Ellen’s Lane, (as seen in the picture). This manoeuvre in the road is one I did at least three times daily so I knew every aspect of the layout and road surface. As I turned my brain was on autopilot, but also at the same time I was very consciously aware of the traffic around me, an old lady dressed in out-of-date clothes, approximately 5-2 in height wearing an old brown coat and cream colour headscarf was standing in a stooped position in my blind spot in the middle of the road, and her head was in a bent over position. Due to her posture I could not see her face but she was standing on the wrong side of the road which had no pavement. The narrow carriageway had two lanes only with a single narrow pavement on my off side so I had to apply a very hard brake to miss her, but I failed. I was restricted on how far I could deviate on the road due to the bridge wall on my left hand side, and the line of stationary traffic queuing at the junction on my right and so, inevitably “I drove straight through her”. Just writing this account now and reliving the memory is giving me palpitations, this should have resulted in the woman’s most certain death.

I safely stopped the car several meters past the bridge and Steph and I just looked at each other, we both thought the inconceivable, I had just run over an old lady and with all probability she was dead. However, looking back over our shoulders, the old lady was still there, standing proud in the middle of the road, and in the same stooped position! Steph and I were in utter shock and disbelief; we had both witnessed this unbelievable shared apparition! 
It is established that that the human sensory experience is actually real and inside our own mind, and a hallucination is unreal. However, with a hallucination only the receiver is aware of the observation. If this had happened to me while driving on my own I would be open to lots of possibilities to logically explain the apparition, but what we both witnessed that day was special and considered a shared consensual reality.

 If any reader knows of a similar event in the area I would like to hear from you.