Spooky Isles reader RACHELLE OAKLEY delves into her childhood in a haunted Victorian flat in Tooting, South London, to reveal many creepy paranormal memories
Ghosts of Tooting
I was born and raised in Tooting, Wandsworth, South London, in a draughty, ground floor Victorian rental maisonette. Our flat had no central heating or a bathroom and had an outside toilet. It may sound prehistoric for the 1970s, but we bathed in a tin bath in front of our electric fire. My siblings and I bathed in the butler’s sink, and my parents used the tin bath.
Our house was so close to Tooting Broadway station that, as I lay on the floor watching Top of the Pops, I could feel the vibrations of the underground trains passing below. If I put my ear to the ground I could hear the rumbling and the ghostly howl as the trains passed by. Despite being poor, we never felt deprived because everyone around us had the same circumstances, with some families living in council towers that replaced the buildings bombed during the Second World War.
An early encounter with the invisible
My earliest memory of a paranormal encounter took place in that flat. My bedroom, which I shared with my younger brother, was halfway down the building. One evening I was sitting up in bed, leafing through picture books, with the door open, giving me a clear view of the hallway to the front door. I saw a man walking from the front door through the hallway, past my room, towards the kitchen. Our German Shepherd, Jason, who was sleeping in the hallway, looked at the man and got up to follow him.
Curious, I went to the front room and asked my father who the man was. My father, not one to mess with, stormed down the hall, but found no one there. Although he assured me that I had seen things, Jason refused to return to his bed in the hallway and instead slept on my bunk bed, a habit he continued thereafter. I later realized that the man was dressed in clothing typical of the 1930s and 1940s, a revelation prompted by a World War II TV program featuring similar clothing.
The paranormal medium aunt
Two of my favorite aunts growing up were Aunt Joyce and Aunt Dolly. Aunt Joyce was a psychic medium, although I only discovered this as an adult. She had a warm appearance and I felt attracted to her. We didn’t see her often because she was separated from my uncle. She lived in a large house with a beautiful garden, a stark contrast to our small garden.
One day, when I was visiting her, I was playing in the garden and met an older lady next door. She showed me her plants, including a small cluster of flowers near her pond called ‘mind your own business’, which I thought was hilarious. Finally we reached a small summer house where we played with a vintage fortune telling tin. After a while I heard my name being called and ran back home.
When I told my mother and aunt about the meeting, my mother turned pale, but my aunt was smug. The neighbor had died about a month earlier. My aunt had told my grandmother that she believed I had an old soul connected to the spirit world, an idea that my grandmother, a sweet, open-minded woman, accepted, although my mother disapproved.
A visit from an angel
Years later my aunt Joyce was in the hospital. While visiting my grandmother, I was helping my grandfather roll cigarettes when I saw Aunt Joyce as an angel, bathed in golden light, smiling at me before disappearing into a tunnel of light. My grandparents noticed my distraction and I told them what I saw. Ten minutes later my grandmother received a call confirming Aunt Joyce’s death, which confirmed my view.
A final farewell
Seven years later my cousin was getting married and I was going to be a bridesmaid. The night before we left, my mother noticed a cloud of smoke forming around our electric fireplace. She believed it was Aunt Joyce thanking her for supporting her daughter. Later, a medium confirmed Aunt Joyce’s presence, further convincing my mother of an afterlife.
In a twist of fate, during a shopping trip after the medium session, I asked for a grapefruit, a word that was on a list the medium had given to my mother. This eerie coincidence strengthened my mother’s belief in the afterlife and the ability of mediums to communicate with the other side.
Have you seen a ghost in Tooting or South London? Tell us about it in the comments below!
RACHELLE OAKLEY, a retired teacher in Surrey Hills, Surrey, is a paranormal witch who shares witchcraft and life rants on TikTok as @issyoakleysmum. She is fascinated by UFOs, the paranormal, cryptids and ancient history, especially lost civilizations and historical anomalies.
