Back in 1992 when I was still in the British Armed Forces we did a two day yomp into the middle of Dartmoor for Navigation/Survival exercise. If you've ever been to Dartmoor you'll know that it's very unforgiving terrain, some outcrops of rocks scattered here and there but loads and loads of soggy marshland, interspersed with dilapidated old farming enclosures that have long since collapsed. Day one went pretty much as expected, covering various trig points and spanning about an area of twenty or so miles. As usual for November it was extremely chilly with frost hiding many of the sinking puddles that you could quite easily sink in up to your waist if you weren't careful.

At night we made camp between two south-facing walls that were on a slight rise, careful to not keep any gully between us in case of heavy rain or flooding. To the east of our camp were the remnants of what looked like an old sheep pen, obviously disused since there was very little still standing but if you squinted hard enough you could just about make out a boundary wall that had two large gate-post style rocks.

As it was an exercise we had to treat it like a military operation so we were all told as usual we had to rotate a guard, each of us taking it in turns for 1 hour periods, there would be two stationed at one end of the camp and two of us at the other end (I forget the exact distance, but it was roughly 200 metres as I recall).

We all got some scran down our necks and me and my oppo had drawn third guard which was roughly one o'clock in the morning, so four lads went on guard whilst the rest of us got some shut-eye.

Well, at one o'clock we were rudely awakened by our team mates to take our turn. The weather had got milder and what greeted us as we took our posts was what can only be described as torrential rain. Instantly we were all pissed wet through and miserable. We were also however, wide awake.

About half an hour passed, uneventfully apart from the odd owl hooting away. It was pitch black and cloudy and there was just a chink of moonlight coming through onto the moor.
We expected this to just be another 'character-building' miserable uneventful two-nighter but what happened next will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Let me just say right now that I've never believed in ghosts, apparitions spirits etc and I still don't think I do.
What follows is the honest truth of what five soldiers (including one chief petty officer) saw that night.

My mate Chris turns away from me, squints into the distance and shouts 'Royal Navy! Who Goes There?!'
The wind is picking up and the rain is still teeming down. I thought Chris was trying to shit me up but again he just repeated himself and pointed in front of him.

'Royal Navy! Who Goes There?!

So as I try and see what he's pointing at, I look off into the distance and about 40 metres in front of us I can just make out a shape.
It's a man. Leaning on a gate. He looks about 40-50 years old and he's wearing a shirt and what appears to be brown(yellow?) trousers.
He was barefoot.

Just for clarity, we are about ten miles from civilisation, swamp all around us  and its pissing down with rain.
No way has this guy walked it to our position barefoot.

The man never moved. Just leaned on the gate like it was a summer evening. He seemed to be leaning back, facing us, looking into the sky.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Our CPO was in the tent roughly next to ours so Chris ran and woke him up which he wasn't impressed with.
I kept my eyes on the man at the gate as the chief started blurting expletives but when he saw what I was pointing at, the chief quickly stopped in his tracks.

'Royal Navy! Who Goes There?!'

Nothing.

'Royal Navy! Who Goes There?!'

The other lads at the opposite end were running towards us, we could hear their boots hitting the ground  behind us.

So there were five of us watching this guy leaning on this gate, when all of a sudden the man seemed to notice us.
He seemed to look straight through us. As if he'd heard us but not actually seen us.

Then, he simply wasn't there any more. Neither was the gate he had been leaning on.

We did a search immediately and found nothing. No footprints. No sign of a disturbance.

The next day we conducted another search but came up empty-handed. Just two old stone markers where there had once been a gate.
It only occurred to the five of us that the man we had been staring at for a good 5-6 minutes was stood out in the rain with us yet didn't seem to get wet.

When we got back to Gosport we had an interview and we had to write a report on the events.
I'm out of the forces, nearly 30 years later. I lost contact with some of my friends, one of which passed away recently.

I still cannot explain what I saw, but I will never forget.

My parents had the manor castle pub in Sheffield until I was 5 years old. My dad saw a cloudy figure with no feet walk through the wall behind the TV twice. They looked into it, and the pub as it stood then was the old coach house to the castle, to which there used to be another wing and one of the interconnecting doors was behind the TV. Mum never saw anything but occasionally  when she was stood at the kitchen sink and only there, whether she was washing the pots or peeling potatoes, she would feel taps on her shoulder, she would turn around and nobody was there. I only have vague memories of the place, we left when I was so small so I don't remember anything. However, I've had a few experiences in my life that make me believe that ghosts (or residual energy, or spirits erc) are among us. Not in the way its portrayed for clicks and views mind you, but I'm a believer!

The only spirits I believe in,  come in bottles 😊

I was waiting for a knock on the van window 🎃🕷️🎃🕷️🎃

Just watched your video from last November  ,here's my ghost story. When I was young I was a student nurse in our local. Psychiatric hospital  ,One night I was outside walking to the canteen at midnight. When I past a Sister ,in a Cape with keys jangling on her belt, I said good evening to her, she didn't look at me just went past up the road. That's when I noticed I couldn't see her feet!, she was walking on the original path ,which had been raised in recent years with tarmac!, I flew down to the canteen ,but I did t tell anyone  as I was In a mental hospital  ,😮

We moved into a deceased estate here in Sydney Australia.  The lady who lived here had been here most of her life.  She disowned her only son when she found out he was gay:(  Her name was Flora, and we use to get mail for her long after she died.  BUT, she wasn't sure about us to start with.  She made herself known with random bangs and once, the kids were screaming because apparently the cereal box moved on it's own.   Our daughter slept in her old room, and we taught her to always talk out loudly nicely to Flora.  Flora was not very thoughtful and made many noises that would wake our daughter up.  So after many months of this, we told her to tell Flora in a stern voice, that she was scaring her and would she please go away.  It worked, for a while.  Sometimes our animals will get spooked and jump up for no reason.  She still makes herself known from time to time, but we just treat her as part of the family.  We always tell guests not to worry about Flora, she has been here her whole life and death!

Your content never disappoints 🎉

The worst horror movies are on the news..

In the 90's  my wife and I went a walk which was featured in Country Walking magazine, and set off from the Danby Moors Centre, N.Yorks  on a circular walk.
   Near the end of the walk, the path took us over the moor, next to a stone circle. The  instructions warned not to enter the circle as it was bad luck. I  walked on the stones at the edge of the circle.
     When we got back to the car park, I put the key in the boot of the car to open it and it felt as though it was melting;  it didn't open  but I was able to pull it out of the lock. The key was now spiral shaped, as though it had been in a furnace. Unfortunately it was the same key for the other doors so we had to call out the AA.  All the AA mans efforts to get us into the car failed so we had to be towed back to Barnsley!

Brilliant Vlog. My Nan,(who died in 1990), used to tell us about her Mother, Hannah's experience.  So Nanna's Mum, Hannah, was in bed, smoking, she fell asleep, but was shaken awake and awoken by her own Mother, (My Nan's Grandma), shouting, "Hannah! Hannah! Wake up the bed's on fire!" Hannah's Mother had been dead for years. Hannah insisted that she heard, felt and saw he own Mother that night and says she saved her life. My Nan was a straight talking Grantham lady. My Nan also had a big doll (approx 3ft tall), who she had named,' Big Pat.' When my Grandparents both died and we were clearing the house out, Big Pat, who had always been there, every single time before-had disappeared from the place under the stairs where she always lived for years and years. Big Pat had never been out of the house in all the years I can remember and all the family knew the doll-nobody in the family has Big Pat or has seen or heard of her since.

Only just watched this. Ive got a photo of my mum in my garden.....2 years after she passed away. There's 100% afterlife 😊

Helen looks like shes going to burst out laughing when your telling us your family ghost stories lol xx

Hi James\Helen My spooky experience: I used to drive a truck to Glasgow every night and one stormy night about 1am I was driving over the A66 nr Appleby and I indicated to pull into a layby for a pee and at the beginning of the layby i saw the figure of a women all in black stood in the pouring rain trying to sort her umbrella out it had gone inside out. I thought what is she doing out here on a night like this it was horrendous there were no other vehicles in the layby so i found it strange. I got out of my cab and she was not there totally vanished , really spooked me . When i got home told the wife ,we looked on tinternet we read somewhere that apparently the A66 is supposed to be haunted only saw it the once in 2 years of driving across there and back but it was really eerie and everytime i passed the spot i use to get the chills. Really enjoyed your stories.

I would be more scared being alone in a van with you, Helen deserves a medal 😂🤣🤣 😂😂

Years ago we used to go poaching around there and on that side of the valley my Lurcher would never leave my side and would'nt hunt.

Great video. Loved your ghost stories. I also grew up in a house where several generations of family experienced "unusual phenomenon". When I was quite young my friend who lived nextdoor had a sleepover but she left before I woke up. When I asked her why she left, she said she was scared of the little old man playing the fiddle in our kitchen! I had an aunt who fled in the middle of the night in the dead of winter, for the SAME reason. Other ghosts were also seen in our home by my parents & my older brother. (Both my grandfather & great grandfather were fiddlers.)

Wish someone had knocked on window James, I was on edge watching you both walking in dark.Good one .  X

Ever since my inlaws passed away we’ve had a lot of activity in this house plugs being turned off items being moved the smell of cigarette smoke he smoked a lot we don’t smoke they only lived straight across the road we’ve also seen mist like smoke forming

They will think your out dogging 😂😂

You are a good storyteller.