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The Link – Matthew Manning

There were twenty-six boarders occupying the dormitory, which was square in shape, with a large square ground to ceiling cupboard in the middle. All of us were in the-fifth form, due to take our "O" levels that term. My bunk was in the corner of the dormitory, by a window, and away from the other beds.

It did not stay away from the other beds for very long. On my second night back at school it shifted itself out from the wall soon after -the lights had been switched off. I got out of bed and pushed it eighteen inches back into the corner. Within two minutes it was moving again, much to the amazement of several other boys who could see it from where they lay. This time I did not return it to its proper place, but let it stay where it was, about eighteen inches away from both walls; shortly afterwards an empty bunk next to where mine had been, began to move sideways towards another block of beds. This bunk stopped after about six feet leaving an empty area near my bed, which was soon filled by my bunk which shuffled about four feet in the same direction as the other one. This caused a great commotion among the occupants of the dormitory, and the lights were switched on.-

The disturbed beds were returned to where they belonged and with much chattering the lights were extinguished.  When my bed moved out again I- left it where it was, and slept with it out of place for that night.

Surprisingly enough, the events of the night were only discussed within the circle of the occupants of the dormitory, which meant that only those people knew anything about the moving beds, except, of course, the Headmaster and the Matron who had been told –by a friend of mine. Nobody talked openly about the beds for some weeks, because the other dormitory incumbents were frightened of being made to look stupid by anyone who had not actually experienced these events.

The same occurrences took place on the following night, with much the same reaction from everybody in the dormitory; some of them were quite unnerved by the fact that the bunks were difficult to move, let alone with somebody inside. The bunks had heavy metal frames, the feet being tipped with rubber buffers and without castors…………….

The next night, as if to make up for lost day time, we were subjected to more phenomena and poltergeist displays in the dormitory. Not only did my bunk move as it had done on the previous three nights, but two other bunks as well, much to the surprise of their occupants. It soon became apparent that objects were being thrown around the room, and when the lights were switched on, the floor was found to be covered in pieces of broken glass, screws and nails. We got a broom and quickly swept the glass and the other objects into a heap in a corner. When the lights were put out, they again flew to all corners of the room. This continued for about an hour, and seemed to die down as people went off to sleep……………..

During the following night, Thursday, the same things happened again, and various apports were hurled around the dormitory. These included broken glass, pebbles, cutlery and pieces of wood, which were thrown apparently with great force towards a wall or a window, where they would cause much noise. It was quite clear that none of the boys caused this mischief, because the dormitory, being without curtains, was at this time of year still fairly light at about ten o'clock.

Anyone throwing these objects would have quickly been seen by someone. Naturally everybody, although timidly, was on the look out for anyone who might be throwing these objects.