A Spiritual Experience by Harry Riley

‘A Spiritual Experience?’

by Harry Riley

First of all let me say that I was baptised in the Church of England but have since acquired no great religious leanings or spiritual convictions. If there is a God up there I cannot think why he would want to concern himself with our short little lives.

My mother was of Irish Catholic extraction and eloped from a nunnery to marry my father, the son of a Methodist Lay Preacher in a small Derbyshire village.

During the summer of 1982 when I was fit and in my early forty’s I was recruited as a salesman for T. C. Thompson, a large Manchester Engineering Works manufacturing the Thompson Crown and Regal lithographic machines. Then supplied with a new company car and a set of road maps I was told to go to it and bring in lots of ‘serious customers’ for on-site factory demonstrations of the many virtues of the British Printing Press. My working day was to be a mixture of fixed appointments and some cold calling.

One day I was in Stoke on Trent, one of the English Staffordshire ‘Pottery Towns’ on business and with a free couple of hours, having already fulfilled my quota of appointments, I decided to hunt around for printing works in the backstreets of the town. To me this was the fun part of the job, never quite knowing what I might turn up and if this day might bring me the ‘Big Order.’ I had never been to this region before and had no connections, friends or relatives living there, it being a good many miles away from my hometown.

As I parked up and walked further from the centre I saw the streets were lined with rows of neat back-to-back houses. Turning a corner I became rooted to the spot. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt a cold chill running down my spine.

Looking to one side my gaze was drawn to a small red brick terraced house with a grey slate roof that showed no outward signs of having been modernised, unlike some of the others in the street. I instinctively recognised this dwelling as familiar. ‘I knew this house!’ The feeling was so intense it was déjà vu. Yet in truth I also knew I had never been to this town before. The building was so welcoming that I had the strongest urge to open the plain front door and walk right in. I had to literally drag myself away. This false memory, weird experience, hallucination, call it what you will, has lived with me since then. I hasten to add I am not of a nervous or excitable disposition and have never returned to that spot.

Science has given us many answers but it cannot explain away everything; for instance we know that gas and electricity are around us but we cannot see either. I have since learned, that over half the population have had this phantom feeling of déjà vu at some time in their lives. With some folk it has happened as a repeat conversation and with others it has been just like mine.

As it was a very personal sensation I was totally perplexed, unclear what to make of it, if anything at all, but the memory of that house just got stronger as the years went by and so to exorcise the demon and to try my hand at something entirely new, I eventually decided to write a novel that I called ‘Sins of the Father’ whilst building my own experience into the plotline.

The main character of the story is James Parker, a young doctor who feels very close and protective towards Rosie, his crippled younger sister. When she becomes hooked to a man the doctor believes to be a psychopathic killer he is terrified for her safety and yet no one else believes him. He is very intense and there are times when he hallucinates; he knows he doesn’t have all the answers and that some things remain a mystery even to modern medicine and so he questions if ghosts exist. Rosie is eventually killed and Brother James takes his own form of retribution for her untimely demise that lands him in the death cell awaiting the hangman’s rope. It is then that he seriously considers the merits of spiritualism as Madam Gloria, a Psychic Medium and relative of his cell guard, smuggles a note into the prison stating he will not hang. At a time of great stress he begins to believe his dead sister is watching over him.

I have just finished writing an anthology of short mystery and ghost stories, ‘Captain Damnation’ and other strange tales, exploring the paranormal theme in many different ways, suggesting ghosts or spectres really do exist, if only in our minds. This book will be released for paperback publication on 28^th. May 2010 by Pneuma Springs

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A reader’s review of Harry Riley’s: ‘Sins of the Father’ Pneuma Springs Publishing.

A brilliantly executed murder mystery novel which is ideally suited to reading whilst either lounging under the hot summer sun or curled up in front of a fire on a dark winters evening. A book that is riveting and kept me engrossed with its sinister plot and many twists and turns. Set in the beautiful countryside of Northumberland, in a typical village close to the River Tweed the story sets a fast pace from the outset. The leading characters are believable and the author manages to draw the reader into the dark depths of the psychotic and terrifying mind of Billy Turpin. A strong and at times, enigmatic character, evoking varied emotions from sympathy to outright disgust. The other main man, Doctor James Parker is a complete opposite and one with which the reader can probably identify and sympathize. To begin with he comes across as an unassuming and timid character but his strength and tenacity shine through as the novel takes the reader first to the Congo and eventually to New York. There are numerous murders some of which are surprising and the plot keeps the reader on tenterhooks right up to the last page. I now await with eager anticipation a sequel featuring some of the other minor characters from the village of Norbridge. Review by Heather Webster.