Hello and welcome to many episode 34 of Real Life

Gold Stories. I've got two gorgeous ghostly, ghoulish tales for you today.

Excellent illiteration. Thanks very much. I tried to actually

detry. I was frantically when I said ghostly I was already trying to think of

another G word. Story number one comes from Maria. My dad was a student at a

college near Manchester England in the early 1980s. The college a Catholic

Teacher Training Centre had been set up in the historic house of a rich

family who had owned land in the area since the 12th century. My parents met

there and have many fun memories of the time they spent at college with friends

during their student years. The site of the college was sadly abandoned some

years later and is now a listed building in need of extensive renovation. I'm sure

that there are many stories worth exploring about this historic building.

However, the story that I'm about to share takes place off campus in nearby

Cacilton, Rochdale. After completing their first year at college my dad and

several of his friends were in need of a place to rent. Like most students, they

were short on money, but eager to secure a roof over their heads. Eventually they

found a place in nearby Cacilton, a typically Northern red brick and terrace

house with a small alleyway leading around the side of the property and giving

access to the rear of the house. This will be important to our story later. The

house wasn't especially close to any shops or bars nor was it particularly close

to the college, approximately a 45 minute walk, but it was unusually cheap to

rent, making it even more of an attractive proposition to a group of

...